MONDAY Â Â EDITION
ADDISON COUNTY
INDEPENDENT
Vol. 24 No. 52
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Middlebury, Vermont
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Bill  looks  to  slow  stolen  items  sales Would  impose  rules  on  pawnbrokers By  ANDY  KIRKALDY MONTPELIER  —  Legislation  introduced  last  week  in  the  Vermont  House  by  Rep.  Diane  Lanpher,  D- Vergennes,  and  two  colleagues  is  LQWHQGHG WR PDNH LW PRUH GLIÂżFXOW for  those  responsible  for  the  many  recent  burglaries  in  Addison  County  and  Vermont  to  dispose  of  stolen  goods.  The  law,  which  Sen.  Claire  Ayer,  D-ÂAddison  County,  said  she  will Â
formally  introduce  in  the  Senate  this  week,  would  impose  licensing  and  record-Âkeeping  requirements  on  Vermont  pawnbrokers  and  “precious  metal  dealers,â€?  require  them  to  iden- tify  those  who  sell  them  items  and  NHHS WKDW LQIRUPDWLRQ RQ ÂżOH DQG UH- quire  them  to  hold  onto  goods  for  six  months  before  disposing  of  them.  All  the  information  that  the  busi- nesses  gather  on  the  goods  they  (See  Bill,  Page  7)
Monday, February 18, 2013
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40 Pages
75¢
WhistlePig  Act  250  opinion could  affect  Vt.  agriculture By  JOHN  FLOWERS SHOREHAM  —  Raj  Peter  Bhatka’s  argument  that  his  pro- posed  whiskey  distillery  should  be  considered  a  farm  operation  does  not  hold  water  and  therefore  should  be  subject  to  Act  250  re- view  as  a  commercial  enterprise,  according  to  a  recent  opinion  is- sued  by  District  9  Environmental  Commission  Coordinator  Jeffrey  Green. And  the  reason  Green  believes  Bhatka’s  argument  doesn’t  hold Â
water  is  because  the  whiskey  he  would  make  will  hold  a  lot  of  wa- ter.  He  said  water  is  a  resource  that  cannot  be  considered  an  ag- ricultural  commodity,  thereby  preventing  the  aspiring  whiskey  manufacturer  from  meeting  the  requirement  that  more  than  50  percent  of  the  ingredients  that  go  LQWR WKH PDNLQJ RI WKH ¿QLVKHG product  be  grown  on  the  farm  in  order  to  trigger  an  exemption  (See  WhistlePig,  Page  13)
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BEATRICE  PARWATIKAR  OF  Shoreham  dances  with  other  participants  at  the  One  Billion  Rising  event  sponsored  by  WomenSafe  in  Middlebury  last  Thursday.  The  event  was  a  worldwide  day  of  action  to  raise  awareness  about  violence  against  women. Independent  photo/Trent  Campbell
Dancers draw attention to domestic violence By  XIAN  CHIANG-ÂWAREN MIDDLEBURY  —  Those  who  happened  past  Court  Square  in  Mid- dlebury  at  noon  on  Valentine’s  Day  may  have  noticed  an  unusual  sight:  around  30  women  holding  signs,  dancing,  singing  and  speaking  out.  It  was  part  of  One  Billion  Rising, Â
an  event  hosted  by  WomenSafe  in  solidarity  with  gatherings  around  the  world  that  day  to  raise  awareness  about  violence  against  women.  “We  wanted  something  that  was  an  interruption  of  the  day,â€?  said  WomenSafe’s  outreach  coordina- tor,  Foresta  (WomenSafe,  like  other Â
national  groups  that  deal  with  do- mestic  and  sexual  violence,  does  not  release  its  staff  members’  last  names  in  public  forums  because  of  safety  concerns).  “To  walk  out  and  to  pub- licly  be  seen.â€? One  Billion  Rising  is  meant  to  draw  attention  to  a  global  issue. Â
The  “One  Billionâ€?  part  of  the  ti- tle  is  drawn  from  the  statistic  that  one-Âthird  of  women  on  the  planet  will  experience  domestic  or  sexual  violence  in  their  lifetime.  The  orga- nizers’  ideal  vision  was  to  see  that  number  of  women  “risingâ€?  in  a  co- (See  Domestic  violence,  Page  7)