Archive - Oct 2012
October 4th
SHOREHAM — “Home improvement” can mean building something new or restoring something old. The raising of a particular barn in Shoreham meant both.
When choosing between patching an old pair of jeans and buying a new stiff pair, repurposing last night’s dinner or starting from scratch, or deciding whether to renovate an old house versus starting from the ground up, we are often faced with decisions about salvaging the old versus investing in the new. Depending on the matter at hand, we can be tempted to either latch on to something old and sentimental or abandon what exists and start again.
While our culture grapples with how to reduce overall energy usage, buildings are a very important sector to consider.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, buildings account for 36 percent of overall energy usage and 65 percent of electricity consumption across the country. It is therefore easy to see how building more energy-efficient and sustainable buildings can have a large impact on our total energy usage.
Addison County resident and columnist Gregory Dennis recently completed construction on a new home. We asked him to comment on the process and share with our readers some of the lessons he learned through the process. Here is his response:
The biggest thing I learned was the value of working with an architect. It will save you money and he/she can take care of many of the details you would otherwise have to handle yourself. I was amazed to find out how much a good architect could do beyond just coming up with a good design.
Residents of the city of Vergennes and the other four towns that make up the Vergennes Union High School district (Panton, Waltham, Addison and Ferrisburgh) will vote on a $6.5 million school bond on election day, Nov. 6. The district school board announced a review of that proposal for Tuesday night’s board meeting and publicized it as the final public meeting before a firm amount would be warned.
BRISTOL — Tuesday’s rematch in Bristol between the Middlebury and Mount Abraham union high school boys’ soccer teams followed the same script as the first match on Sept. 10.
MUHS scored first, the Eagles fought back to tie and dominated much of the first half, but the Tigers took charge of the second half, scoring the only goal of the final 40 minutes to win, 2-1.
Since starting at the Addison Independent last month, I’ve ridden the bus each day from Bristol to Middlebury.
Vermont is among a minority of states where the governor and lieutenant governor are elected separately, and among an even smaller minority of states where the current governor and lieutenant governor are of different political parties. This situation is likely to continue after the November election, since Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin and Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Scott are both favored to be re-elected.
