VERGENNES — Between May 16 and 22, Vergennes police cited two city residents for driving under the influence of alcohol while operating ATVs illegally on city streets.
On May 17 city police responded to a report of ATVs being operated on Meigs Road and eventually tracked three ATVs being driven on King Street. Police allege Norman Dunham, 55, of Vergennes was operating one of them and that he was showing signs of intoxication.
When Dunham refused breath testing for blood-alcohol content, police cited him DUI-4 refusal. They also cited him for driving with a criminally suspended license, a suspension they said was due to three earlier DUI convictions, and for operating an ATV on a public highway. Police said they also cited in the incident another man and a woman for operating ATVs on public roads.
On May 20 police went to the High Street and Macdonough Drive neighborhood to check another complaint of an ATV being driven on the road and also on Northlands Job Corps property. They allege Justin R. Bassett was zigzagging on High Street and doing donuts on Job Corps property while carrying children not wearing helmets on an ATV.
Police allege that Bassett’s evidentiary blood-alcohol test read 0.112; the legal limit for driving is 0.08. Police cited him for DUI, ticketed him for operating an ATV on a public road, and also notified the Department for Children and Families (DCF) about the incident.
In other incidents between May 16 and 20, Vergennes police:
•  On May 16 handed child custody paperwork to city residents on behalf of DCF; the paperwork notified the parents they had at least temporarily lost custody of their children.
•  On May 16 calmed a distraught Second Street woman on the phone, and then received a second call from another woman alleging the same woman had threatened to harm the caller’s son and herself with a knife. Police learned the report of threats was false, but discovered an argument at the home when they responded along with Vermont State Police and calmed the scene.
•  On May 17 helped the Vergennes Area Rescue Squad at a Hillside Drive apartment.
•  On May 17 calmed an argument at a Macdonough Drive home after a women called to say her grandson’s girlfriend had just slapped the caller’s daughter at the home. Police stayed until the younger couple left the scene.
•  On May 17 dealt with a minor two-car crash at the intersection of Main and South Maple streets.
•  On May 18 looked into a bad-check complaint from Vergennes Redemption; the offender agreed to make the business whole.
•  On May 18 checked an illegal dumping issue on Comfort Hill: Someone had left wood on a property with a “free” sign.
•  On May 18 took a report that a car parked at Shaw’s Supermarket had been struck by a car that left the scene.
•  On May 18 helped a car owner get into a locked vehicle in a Panton Road parking lot.
•  On May 18 checked a locked Main Street business after a suspicious noise was heard inside; nothing was found.
•  On May 18 heard a complaint about a landlord from a School Street tenant, but no one would answer the door when police arrived.
•  On May 19 dealt with a series of accidents, directing traffic on behalf of VSP at a one-car accident on Monkton Road in Ferrisburgh, and responding to minor two-car accidents at the intersection of Monkton Road and Route 7 (also on behalf of VSP) and on North Green Street.
•  On May 19 looked unsuccessfully for a northbound Corvette reported to be speeding into Vergennes on Route 22A.
•  On May 20 looked for but did not find loose dogs on Hopkins Road that had reportedly chased a pedestrian.
•  On May 20 cited Martha Huber of Williston for DUI after stopping her vehicle on Panton Road; police allege her blood alcohol content tested at 0.106.
•  On May 20 and 22 ticketed drivers for possession of small amounts of marijuana and of drug paraphernalia at traffic stops.
•  On May 22 searched unsuccessfully for an ATV reported on Panton Road.
•  On May 22 told people hanging around the city skate park late at night to move along.