Archive - Jan 2011 - Page
ADDISON COUNTY — Addison County is generally recognized as a state leader in bias-free policing policies. Still, members of the Addison County Farm Worker Coalition say there is work to be done.
BRISTOL — Addison Northeast Supervisory Union teachers voted on Thursday to strike on Feb. 9 unless the committee negotiating on behalf ANeSU school boards agrees to return to the negotiating table to reach a settlement.
Teachers are currently working under the imposed contract terms voted on by ANeSU board members on Jan. 5. Now teachers are urging board members to reopen contract negotiations for the remainder of the 2010-2011 school year.
ADDISON — The new Champlain Bridge isn’t due to be unveiled for another eight months, but a group of citizens from both sides of the lake is already planning a two-day inaugural extravaganza they hope will serve the added purpose of getting tourists and shoppers reacquainted with the region.
The celebration is being organized by the Lake Champlain Bridge Community (LCBC), a group that will spend the coming months brainstorming ideas and raising funds for a fitting opening tribute for the $70 million span.
MIDDLEBURY — Middlebury residents will be asked this spring to launch a multi-year makeover of Mary Hogan Elementary School’s playground facilities, including replacement of the popular Kidspace apparatus.
Residents at the annual ID-4 school district meeting in April will be asked to earmark up to $10,000 in education reserve money for Middlebury-based LandWorks to design a new playground plan for the recreation spaces along the northern and eastern borders of the Mary Hogan building.
VERGENNES — Voters in the five Addison Northwest Supervisory Union towns who want to learn more about the proposed unification of ANwSU governance under one board have a number of ways to do so before March 1 voting in each town.
ANwSU officials have scheduled one more informational forum devoted solely to unification — at the Addison Central School on Tuesday, Feb. 8, at 7 p.m.
ANwSU Superintendent Tom O’Brien also said unification questions will be welcome at school meetings in Addison and Ferrisburgh and at the annual meetings for Vergennes Union high and elementary schools.
BRANDON — There will a familiar name challenging an incumbent in Brandon on Town Meeting Day this year.
Attorney Jim Leary has submitted a petition and will run for a three-year seat on the Brandon selectboard against longtime selectman and board chair Richard Baker.
MONKTON — After tromping in shin-deep snow through some of the 11 eco-zones on the Willowell Foundation’s property off Stoney Meadow Lane in Monkton, we come to a clearing. I am sure I have stumbled upon some kind of Narnia, the fantasy land created by children’s author C.S. Lewis.
A large shelter insulated in old sails looms like a giant’s cave. The shelter’s frame is built of cedar beams the students harvested from the woods — without a single nail. The imposing structure will be replaced with a cabin this spring.
BRISTOL — On Feb. 10, a public meeting will be held in Bristol to discuss the town’s application to the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation for two variances concerning the operation of its Pine Street landfill.
According to Town Administrator Bill Bryant, the state has changed the way in which it interprets its regulations regarding the operations of municipal landfills. The new interpretation would require the town of Bristol to build enough money into the budget to cover closure fund obligations — an amount that nears $1 million, Bryant said.
