Archive - 2009 - Page

MIDDLEBURY — A siren cut through Monday morning’s gray, flurry-filled sky above the Champlain Bridge and suddenly the anticipatory chatter among the assembled masses waned to a collective murmur.

In an instant, the wintry tableau before them was shattered by a loud thud, punctuated by a series of brilliant yellow and red flashes. Like a sand castle hit by a tsunami, the bridge dissolved into Lake Champlain from beneath a rising plume of thick, angry smoke, debris and dust.

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Editor’s note: The change of the year is a good time to look back over the last 12 months and recall where we’ve been before diving into the 12 months ahead of us. We present this look back at 2009 to help you bring to mind the big stories of the year and also some of the smaller ones that have touched our lives in Addison County. Happy New Year!

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SHOREHAM — A Shoreham firefighter died in the line of duty while helping a fellow resident whose vehicle had slid into a ditch off an icy Richville Dam Road on Sunday, Dec. 27.

Vermont State Police said Peter J. Coe, 43, died after being struck by an oncoming pickup truck as he was helping free the stranded car from the ditch.

Coe, who had been a Shoreham firefighter for around a half-dozen years, was recalled as a dedicated volunteer who was always around to lend a hand and spread good cheer.

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BRISTOL — Faced with a diminishing number of volunteers, the Bristol Rescue Squad is at a crossroads: Unless the squad adds a paid staff member to its currently all-volunteer roster, President Brian Fox is worried the ambulance corps won’t be able to meet the demand for its services in the Five Town region.

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BRANDON — The Otter Valley Union School Board must feel like Sisyphus, a mortal in Greek mythology who was cursed to ceaselessly roll a huge boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back down, and to repeat this throughout eternity. Such is the effort to fund local schools in the face of state tax increases and unfunded mandates.

The first public meeting on the proposed OV budget for 2010-2011 was held in the school auditorium on Dec. 16. While only about 12 people were in attendance, expect that number to grow in the coming weeks.

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MIDDLEBURY — Jugs that, once upon a time, held vast quantities of mayonnaise top the tall, slender windmill in Middlebury Union High School math teacher Jay Harrington’s classroom. But just like the rest of this sculpture — cobbled together from recycled materials ranging from an old computer hard drive to pieces of a bed frame — the mayonnaise jars aren’t what they used to be, trading in their job as ho-hum food containers for the much more exciting role of windmill blades.

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MIDDLEBURY — The Middlebury Union High School boys’ hockey team on Monday capped off its 2009 schedule by defeating Lake Placid, 4-1, in the consolation game of the Tigers’ annual tourney at Middlebury College.

Even though MUHS lost, 2-1, the day before in the tournament’s first round to Stowe (at 7-1 the top team in Division II), Monday’s result left the Tigers feeling encouraged.

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ADDISON — Addison Central School officials have scheduled a Jan. 7 budget forum to explain to residents how their taxes could go up dramatically next year unless the ACS board slashes its draft 2010-2011 school budget deeply — much further than the lower spending that the board has considered already. Cuts on the table would affect ACS programs and employees.

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