BRISTOL — Early this past November, Bristol police discovered that a Mount Abraham Union High School student was truant because the family was unable to launder clothes. Police learned that the family could not afford to replace broken appliances and then contacted the Sears store in Middlebury.
The store, without hesitation, offered to provide the family with a new washer and dryer.
“Bristol Police would like to thank our Sears Hometown Store for their dedication and commitment to the community in this time of need,” Bristol Police Chief Kevin Gibbs said in a press release.
Bristol police also addressed more typical law enforcement issues in November. According to a log of November activity released this week, Bristol police in November arrested Tara Tower, 38, of Monkton and cited her for assault and robbery and arrested Tove Tower, 39, of Addison and cited her for accessory aiding in a felony, on Nov. 4 in response to an altercation in the town park on Nov. 3. Vermont State Police assisted with the arrest.
According to Bristol police, Tara Tower had made arrangements to purchase a car CD player in the park. When she showed up, she looked at the CD player and asked the owner if it was stolen. When the man answered, “No,” Tower reportedly responded, “It is now,” and began to walk away with the CD player.
When the man attempted to get the CD player back from Tara Tower, she reportedly began to strike him in the face with the CD player, according to police. She was then reportedly assisted by her sister, Tove Tower, who had accompanied Tara in a separate vehicle. Both sisters reportedly continued to beat the man until he was able to run off.
Police said their investigation indicated that Tove Tower suspected the man had vandalized and burglarized a family camp.
The man was transported to Porter Medical Center, where he was treated for injuries to his head and face.
In Addison Superior Court in November, Tara Tower pleaded innocent to charges of obstructing justice, disorderly conduct-fight, etc., simple assault, attempted simple assault by menace, and unlawful mischief $250 or less, and was released on $1,000 bail. Tove Tower pleaded innocent to charges of obstructing justice, disorderly conduct-fight, etc., simple assault, attempted simple assault by menace, and unlawful mischief $250 or less, and was released on $500 bail.
Also in November, Bristol police conducted town-contracted traffic patrols covering Lincoln Road, Lower Notch Road, Monkton Road, and north on Route 116 throughout the month. Officers issued tickets for three speeding violations, one stop sign violation, and one for driving right of the road. Police attended traffic court on Nov. 10 and on Nov. 17 for hearings resulting from town-contracted patrols, all of which resulted in no contest pleas or in judgments for the town.
Additionally, police were contracted to provide traffic safety for ongoing work on the Main Street traffic lights on Nov. 19 and Nov. 23 (cancelled due to weather) and to provide traffic safety for Don Weston Excavating, while they worked on the crosswalks and two handicap parking spots on Nov. 24.
Bristol police also attended a number of trainings in November, including firearms training, a train-the-trainer program at the Vermont Police Academy, CPR training at the Bristol Rescue Squad, an 8-hour training on scrap metals investigation in Franklin, Mass., and training on the Valcour CAD/RMS system at the Addison County Sheriff’s Department.
In other action in November, Bristol police:
•  Assisted Vermont State Police at a domestic dispute on Nov. 1.
•  Began an investigation of a fraud involving advertising sales by a Florida firm claiming to represent MAUHS. Police notified the Vermont Attorney General’s Office.
•  Took a report on Nov. 3 from a district resident whose home had been burglarized several months earlier.
•  Assisted VSP by issuing a final relief from abuse order to a Monkton man on Nov. 3.
•  Helped to resolve a landlord-tenant issue on Nov. 3.
•  Received a public information and records request related to a traffic stop on Nov. 4 and released records in accordance with Vermont law.
•  Took a brown hound puppy found wandering near West Pleasant Street to the Bristol dog pound on Nov. 4.
•  Gave Cub Scouts from Bear Den Pack 543 a tour of the police department on Nov. 5.
•  Led an ALICE ((Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Escape) violent intruder training program with faculty and staff of MAUHS during a school in-service on Nov. 6.
•  Arrested Anthony Bedell, 28, on an outstanding warrant for escape. Police booked Bedell and transferred him to the custody of the Addison County Sheriff’s Department for transportation to Marble Valley Correctional Center.
•  Issued subpoenas to two Bristol residents on behalf of the Addison County State’s Attorney’s Office on Nov. 7.
•  Assisted a state game warden with a deer jacking complaint off Harvey Road in Bristol on Nov. 8.
•  Helped educate MAUHS students about the consequences of furnishing alcohol to minors with the department’s Sticker Shock Program on Nov. 9. Students were transported to area stores to read warning labels affixed to beer and hard cider containers.
•  Responded to a call at 1:40 a.m. on Nov. 10 from a Mountain Street resident who reported people being inside his apartment. Police found the apartment unlocked and completely empty, investigated and then learned that the man was at Porter Medical Center and had been there all night.
•  Responded to a Bristol business on Nov. 10, where store surveillance footage showed a woman apparently taking a $20 item from the store. Police cited Melissa Sird, 34, of Vergennes for retail theft.
•  Investigated the theft of a $4,000 medical device from a Lincoln woman on Nov. 10. The woman reported that the remote control for her spinal cord stimulator had been taken from her vehicle while she was at a West Street business. The device has not yet been located, and no suspects have been identified.
•  Received a walk-in complaint of property damage to a vehicle parked in a Prince Lane parking lot on Nov. 10.
•  Investigated calls from the Liberty Street area reporting gunshots on Nov. 10. Police found that a neighbor was shooting a handgun in his driveway, using a device to re-caliber shell casings. No projectiles were being used. There is no ordinance prohibiting shooting in Bristol or the district, but because it was close to dark police advised the man of the “noise in the nighttime” statute.
•  Assisted Bristol Rescue Squad with a female with altered mental status who was not cooperating on Nov. 10. The woman was transported to Porter Medical Center without incident.
•  On Nov. 11 located three teens who were reportedly leaving school and trespassing at a district residence where prior thefts had been reported.
•  Gave Tiger Cub Scouts from Pack 543 a tour of the Bristol Police Station on Nov. 11.
•  Visited a kindergarten class at Bristol Elementary to talk about the job of being a police officer on Nov. 12.
•  Responded to a false alarm at the National Bank of Middlebury at 6:39 a.m. on Nov. 13.
•  Followed up on a district resident who had failed to register a dog after several notices from the town on Nov. 13.
•  Stood by, on order of the Addison County court, as a woman gathered belongings from her former residence on Nov. 14.
•  Calmed down an arguing male and female on Adirondack View on Nov. 15.
•  Investigated a vandalism report at a Kountry Trailer Park residence on Nov. 16. Police found that damage had been caused by an attempted break-in.
•  Met with an MAUHS student in regard to a school project on LSD and its effect throughout Addison County and the state of Vermont on Nov. 17.
•  Met with a district resident who was concerned about a family matter and wanted to document information with the police department on Nov. 17. No criminal action was taken.
•  Investigated a complaint on Nov. 17 from a local business that had received two checks written from a closed account. Police identified a suspect, and court action is pending restitution.
•  Checked in on an elderly male who had dialed 911 on Nov. 17.
•  Checked in on a North Street resident who had fallen on Nov. 18. The woman’s husband had called 911 but then cancelled the ambulance. Police confirmed that no medical treatment was needed and that no other emergency was occurring.
•  Investigated a report of hemp oil being administered to a juvenile without prescription or direction of a medical professional on Nov. 18. Police found that the level of THC in the substance was below the level required for state prosecution.
•  Responded to a call from a Mountain Street resident who saw what looked like a campfire in the woods behind her house and heard what sounded like teenagers talking on Nov. 18. When the officer arrived, the fire appeared to be out and no voices were heard. Police checked the area behind the woman’s residence but found no sign of a fire.
•  Responded to a family disturbance at the Kountry Trailer Park on Nov. 19. Police found the girlfriend of the complainant at his home, accusing him of stealing her vehicle. The vehicle had been moved from the driveway to a portable garage next to the residence, and the girlfriend wanted to remove the vehicle. Officers assisted the woman by placing a call to a tow company and standing by until the vehicle was removed. Officers then issued her a no-trespass notice at the request of the complainant.
•  Met with the principal of Bristol Elementary School to discuss several truancy cases on Nov. 19, and made plans to address at least two cases.
•  Responded to a report of a vehicle damaged when high winds tore a sign from a post on Nov. 19. The vehicle had been parked on South Street. Police tried, unsuccessfully, to locate the owner and then left a note on the vehicle.
•  Responded to a teen’s report of being assaulted in the town park on Nov. 11. Police found that the teen was involved in a mutual fight that had begun with the two teens wrestling. No court action is planned.
•  Investigated a theft from a West Street business on Nov. 21. Police identified a suspect, learned she was in Burlington, and asked the Burlington police department to put out a be-on-the-lookout notification and to serve and cite her, and perform a welfare check.
•  Called a towing company to help a locked-out Bristol resident on Nov. 22.
•  Assisted a three-year-old child having difficulty breathing and the child’s parents until rescue could arrive on Nov. 22. Rescue had three calls running and was having rig issues. After rescue arrived, the child was transported to Porter Medical Center.
•  Responded to an alarm at Champlain Farms at 11:52 p.m. on Nov. 22. An electrical problem was found to be the cause.
•  Investigated a complaint from two Bet-Cha Transit school bus drivers, who reported being passed by a vehicle at MAUHS while their warning lights were on for discharging students. Police identified the operator of the vehicle as Michael P. Kenyon, 38, of Bristol and found that Kenyon’s driver’s license was criminally suspended for DUI. Police issued Kenyon a citation to appear in Addison Superior Court, Criminal Division, on Jan. 4 for arraignment.
•  Investigated a Bet-Cha Transit bus driver’s report that a vehicle followed her from MAUHS, making gun gestures, flipping off the students, and yelling obscenities. Students got the vehicle’s plate number.
•  Responded to a 911 open line in the elevator of St. Ambrose Church on Nov. 25. Police found that the 911 call button had been pushed accidentally.
•  Stopped a vehicle on Stoney Hill for defective equipment on Nov. 25. Police found that the vehicle was not inspected and had not had valid insurance since July 2015 and issued tickets on both counts. Police then had the vehicle towed and gave the operator a courtesy ride home to Starksboro.
•  Conducted a security check at MAUHS on Nov. 25.
•  Checked on an unsecured Main Street business on Nov. 26, and then located an employee to secure the business.
•  Clocked a vehicle speeding southbound on Monkton Road at 59 miles per hour at 10:46 p.m. on Nov. 26. The vehicle accelerated, even though police had not activated the blue lights. The driver then lost control trying to turn onto Burpee Road, crossed the center line, overcorrected, struck a speed sign, and rolled into a field. The male juvenile operator and lone occupant was not injured. Police issued multiple tickets.
•  Assisted the Bristol Fire Department at a brush fire on Nov. 27. The fire was close to a home and shed, both of which had flammable materials inside.
•  Served a citation on behalf of Burlington police on Nov. 28.
•  Responded to a report of a dead dog, probably hit by car, at the corner of Mountain and East streets on Nov. 28 and notified the owner.
•  Conducted a motor vehicle stop for an expired inspection sticker and seized a vaporizer and a small amount of marijuana on Nov. 29. Police issued two tickets: one for vehicle not inspected and one for marijuana possession less than one ounce.
•  Explained on Nov. 29 the no-trespass notice process to a district resident who had been having problems with a customer at his home business.
•  Investigated a report from a district resident that clothing items had been stolen from the Laundromat on Main Street on Nov. 29 at 6 p.m. Police reviewed the security video footage from the Laundromat and determined that no theft had occurred.
•  Processed Karrie Hall, 33, of Pittsford and released her on a citation for driving with a criminally suspended license on Nov. 30. She was stopped on Nov. 27 traveling through a red light at the Main Street intersection, and her license was found to be under criminal suspension for a DUI conviction.