Archive
July 13th, 2007
By JOHN FLOWERS
MONTPELIER — Local House Democrats voiced disappointment on Tuesday at not being able to muster enough votes to override Gov. James Douglas’s veto of H.520, the so-called climate control bill.
The Legislature convened in special session on July 11 to consider overrides of Douglas’s vetoes of H.520 and a campaign finance reform measure.
With 147 House members present, H.520 supporters needed 98 votes to override Douglas’s veto. But in the end, only 86 House members backed the override in a vote split largely along party lines.
As the Addison Independent went to press, the Senate was working on a new version of the bill that would have taken out one of its more controversial components — a proposed $25 million tax on Vermont Yankee that would have helped pay for energy efficiency improvements to Vermonters’ homes. Douglas said he was not in favor of that new tax, which would have expired in four years.
Douglas instead suggested a host of other programs — including energy credits for businesses — as alternatives, programs that critics have charged are too weak to make any measurable difference.
By MEGAN JAMES
BRANDON — Laurey Master-ton was 12 years old in 1966 when her parents died and she and her sisters moved from Blueberry Hill Inn in Goshen to New York City. But her memories of the tiny mountain town, especially of her mother’s kitchen, are as rich as her sour cream biscuits, still hot from the oven.
Now the owner of a successful catering company and restaurant in Asheville, North Carolina, Laurie’s Catering and Gourmet-to-Go, Masterton returned to Vermont last week to share excerpts from her new book, “Elsie’s Biscuits: Simple Stories of Me, My Mother and Food,� at the Brigg’s Carriage Bookstore in Brandon. In September, she plans to visit the Vermont Book Shop in Middlebury for another author event.
Masterton’s parents, Elsie and John Masterton, owned and operated the Blueberry Hill Inn from the early ’40s to the mid-’60s. Elsie, a gourmet chef, ran the restaurant, cooking every part of every meal for her guests. In her spare time, she wrote cookbooks peppered with stories.
By JOHN FLOWERS
MIDDLEBURY — Some people spend hours agonizing over pen and paper in their efforts to create memorable and meaningful prose and verse.
But it’s always come naturally to Ruth Stone — and sometimes at the most inopportune times.
“I remember when I was young, I’d be out playing and I would hear a poem way off — like it was way off in the universe, like it was coming toward me,� Stone said. “I’d rush in the house to see if I could get to pen and paper and write it down. If I couldn’t, it would go right through me and be lost forever. It was very weird.�
Weird, but the results are undeniable. At the age of 92, Stone, who divides her time between Goshen and Middlebury, continues to channel her seemingly boundless creative energy into poetry that has filled the pages of nine books and earned her numerous state and national awards. Her most recent accolade is being named Vermont’s State Poet by Gov. James Douglas, a fellow Middlebury resident.
July 8th
By ANDY KIRKALDY
FERRISBURGH — The Ferrisburgh Central School board last week hired as the FCS interim principal a Barre native with experience as a middle school principal, adjunct professor at St. Michael’s College, teacher at the University of Vermont, part-time curriculum coordinator, interim co-principal, assistant principal, consulting teacher, summer school coordinator and special educator.
JoAnn Taft-Blakely began work immediately after her hiring on July 3, and she said from the school in a Tuesday afternoon phone interview that she believes she will be able to use that extensive background for the benefit of FCS students and teachers.
“I have a really wide breadth of experience,� said Taft-Blakeley, a Colchester resident. “I think I’m pretty good at taking people where they are and helping them move forward.�
By ANDY KIRKALDY
FERRISBURGH — With its 132-page draft of new zoning laws already drawing some fire, the Ferrisburgh Planning Commission has scheduled a public informational meeting for Thursday at the town’s elementary school in an effort to explain the proposed laws, which roughly double the number of zoning districts in the town.
Planners said the 7 p.m. gathering in the school library will not be a formal hearing, but rather a presentation of maps and a summary of changes to existing zoning. That zoning has been tweaked over the years, but not fully rewritten since the late 1970s. Planners hope that after a series of planning and selectboard hearings that a final version can go to a town-wide vote next March.
Planning commission Chairman Ted Ingraham said the proposal includes many changes mandated by the state legislature in 2003, plus rules on telecommunications towers, subdivisions and flood hazards.
Given everything the proposed ordinance must do, Ingraham said planners wish it were shorter and simpler, but that a certain amount of heft was inevitable.
By JOHN FLOWERS
MONKTON — Two conservation organizations and a group of area citizens on Thursday finalized a creative deal through which 16 people will buy shares in a 115-acre parcel of forestland off Boro Hill Road in Monkton.
The 16 shares — costing $3,000 each — will entitle the holders to not only enjoy the scenic and recreational amenities of the property, but also to reap a portion of the financial benefits of periodic timber harvests that will be overseen by a forester.
At issue is the Little Hogback Community Forest LLC, developed by the Vermont Family Forests (VFF) organization. The VFF is a nonprofit organization that promotes the conservation of forest health, as well as careful cultivation of local family forests for community benefits.
July 5th
July 5, 2007
By JOHN FLOWERS
MIDDLEBURY — As a place dedicated to preserving history, the Middlebury-based Vermont Folklife Center (VFC) is creating some of its own.
The center will spend this summer welcoming a new executive director in a new building that will feature new technology aimed at helping Vermonters and tourists better appreciate its vast archive of recorded interviews, exhibits and educational programs chronicling the history and people of the Green Mountain State.
It will be somewhat of a bittersweet transition for the VFC, as it will be losing its founding executive director, Jane Beck. Beck took the helm of the organization when it was formally established in 1984.
July 5, 2007
By JOHN FLOWERS
WEYBRIDGE — For 160 years, the venerable building at 1727 Quaker St. has provided a valued venue for spiritual and municipal guidance to Weybridge residents, first as a church, and currently as a town hall.
But the deteriorating condition of the building, along with the lack of some basic modern-day amenities, is prompting town officials to take a long, hard look at the town hall and its future as a community gathering spot.
“The ultimate goal is to come to a decision on how much (money) the town wants to put into maintaining that building,” said Weybridge Selectwoman Gale Hurd. “I think we’ll have to look at all the options.”
