VERGENNES — A loud muffler led to drug- and alcohol-related charges for two Vergennes-area teens celebrating Independence Day.
Vergennes police said they stopped a car on Main Street for defective equipment just before midnight on July 4; in it, they said, were four teens between the ages of 14 and 16. Police said they smelled the odor of marijuana and saw containers of alcoholic beverages in the car.
Vergennes police cited the 16-year-old driver for violating the passenger restrictions on his license, and ticketed a passenger, 15, for possession of drug paraphernalia and for being a minor with a blood-alcohol content in excess of 0.06 percent.
Police said they also notified the parents of each of the teens.
In other incidents between June 29 and July 5, Vergennes police:
•  On June 29 cited Frederick Goodrich, 28, of Panton for driving with a criminally suspended license, an action police took after stopping his vehicle on Panton Road.
•  On June 29 issued court diversion paperwork to two underage Northlands Job Corps students for consumption of alcohol.
•  On June 29 backed up Vermont State Police while they cited Joseph Stanley, 31, of Crown Point, N.Y., for driving under the influence of alcohol, third offense, for refusing testing. Vergennes police said VSP told them Stanley’s vehicle, a pick-up truck hauling a livestock trailer, nearly hit the VSP cruiser head-on on Route 22A before VSP pulled Stanley over on Canal Street in Vergennes. City police also cited Stanley for a federal offense, consumption of alcohol by a commercial driver.
•  On June 30 backed up VSP while they responded to a drinking party on Sand Road in Ferrisburgh; city police said VSP believe many partygoers were underage, and an investigation continues.
•  On June 30 directed traffic around a disabled truck on Main Street.
•  On June 30 were told that a vandal had twice kicked the door of a car parked on East Street.
•  On June 30 helped the Vergennes Area Rescue Squad lift a patient on High Street.
•  On July 1 heard from an East Street resident that she believed her two visiting daughters had stolen jewelry from her home. Police confirmed the items were missing, but said they lacked evidence to cite the two women. They issued a no-trespass order to one of the women, a Burlington resident, but could not find the other woman, a transient, to issue a second no-trespass order.
•  On July 1 took a report of a minor accident in the Shaw’s Supermarket during the day before.
•  On July 1 turned over a sex assault case at Northlands to the Addison County Unit for Special Investigations; see article.
•  On July 1 accepted a bike that a resident had found near the Otter Creek falls.
•  On July 1 ticketed a South Water Street resident for failure to control barking dogs, something police described as an ongoing issue.
•  On July 2 began investigating damage to a Bowman Road lawn caused by a motor vehicle.
•  On July 2 investigated allegedly unsafe living conditions for a child at a Jersey Street, Panton, home and filed a report to the Department for Children and Families.
•  On July 2 looked into a complaint of a man on Monkton Road asking suspicious questions.
•  On July 3 heard from a pedestrian that an unleashed Green Street dog had acted in a threatening manner.
•  On July 3 checked the welfare of a Walker Avenue woman, who was found to be OK.
•  On July 3 were told a bike had been stolen from a Green Street home; police found it later on Green Street Extension.
•  On July 3 following a complaint told people shooting off fireworks in the Monkton Road area to stop.
•  On July 3 responded along with VARS to a report of a hysterical woman at a Second Street home. Police said the woman might have been assaulted, but that she would not cooperate.
•  On July 5 dealt with a minor two-car accident on South Water Street.
•  On July 5 investigated the theft of an Xbox console and accessories from a South Water Street residence. Police learned someone in Hinesburg had used the equipment to log onto Netflix and were following that lead.