June 8, 2013
Town mulls gate on Abbey Pond Road MIDDLEBURY „ At a Middlebury Select Board meeting May 28, members listened to a request to erect a security gate on Abbey Pond Road. Resident Jeff Forbes has requested that the town erect an access-control gate on Abbey Pond Road in the wake of several equipment thefts at adjacent gravel pits operated by Champlain Construction and Case Street Redi-Mix. Tom Hanley, chief of the Middlebury Police Department, and Dan Werner, director of operations for the town, are reviewing the request and will prepare a joint recommendation at a future board meeting. Town legal counsel and the U.S. Forest Service will be consulted regarding pending recommendations.
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On the grape trail
Vt. Winery Passport: More than wineries By Lou Varricchio newmarketpress@denpubs.com SHELBURNE „ Vermont agriculture is alive and well and moving in new, unexpected directions. Since the 1800s, the ag landscape of the Green Mountain State has changed from supporting sheep to cattle to organic vegetables. And while traditional dairy operations are clearly in decline here, there are surprising bright spots on the stateÍ s gentrifying agribusiness horizon; these bright spots point to a future with more sustainable uses of the land. One of the bright spots is the growing of a new breed of cold-hardy wine grape in Vermont. New, northern-born grape varieties„ CONTINUED ON PAGE 10
Man violates abuse order CAVENDISH „ On May 26, Vermont State Police stopped a vehicle on East Road in Cavendish. The operator was identified Tyler J. Simpson, 21, of Unity, N.H. The passenger in the vehicle was found to have an active abuse prevention order against Simpson, which specified Simpson was not allowed to have contact with the passenger. Simpson was processed for violation of the order and released. Simpson was cited to appear in Windsor District Court May 28.
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PATRIOTIC COLORS — A U.S. flag flutters along Main Street in Vergennes during the Little City Memorial Day Parade 2013. The annual event included community, church and school participants, as well as a special parade appearance by Vermont independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders. Photo by Cat Cutillo Photography
The life and death of Veronica Lake Movie star died in Vt. By Lou Varricchio
newmarketpress@denpubs.com BURLINGTON „ As a newborn baby, she was christened with a cumbersome name„ Constance Frances Marie Ockelman; that was in the maternity ward of Brooklyn Hospital in New York City on the blustery morning of Nov. 14, 1922. By the time Constance Frances Marie Ockelman achieved fame among HollywoodÍ s most desired women during the 1940s, she had gone through an amazing personal transformation. Troubled and schizophrenic, Constance Frances Marie morphed into the sexy, film noir actress Veronica Lake. Sometimes known as the ñ peek-a-boo girlî for a partially hidden eye eclipsed by her long, natural blonde hair, Veronica Lake never left the childhood problems of Constance Frances Marie too far behind. On board the submarine USS Corvina in Hawaii in October 1943, a Life magazine re-
porter jotted down the comments of a young sailor for a forthcoming story about the War in the Pacific; the sailor jabbed a thumb at a creased, movie-magazine pinup picture of Veronica taped to the bulkhead behind his bunk. He proudly told the reporter„ and in turns all the readers of Life magazine„ ñ Now thatÍ s why we fight!” While the actressÍ s submariner fan died a month later, with all hands, when the Corvina was torpedoed by a Japanese sub south of Truk Lagoon, Veronica Lake lived on a few more years. How Constance Frances Marie went from being a delicate newborn with a cumbersome name, to a silver-screen femme fatale and G.I. pinup queen, and then, at the very end of it all, to a corpse laid out in lavender in a Vermont funeral home„ dead from renal failure and an hepatitis infection at the age of 50„ is the crux of this story. VeronicaÍ s sulky personality, golden tresses and cherry lips were what lured moviegoers to view her 28 movies, spanning the years 1939 to 1970. CONTINUED ON PAGE 11