Creature Features
Salad Smoothie
Middlebury shop takes care of your four-legged friends at Marbleworks.
Ferrisburgh school wins Farm-to-School video contest.
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Serving Addison and Chittenden Counties
March 5, 2011
Closing Vermont Yankee:
Whiteout
Big impacts?
Firefighters determine dorm arson By Lou Varricchio
From Staff & News Reports
newmarketpress@denpubs.com
newmarketpress@denpubs.com
MIDDLEBURY—Middlebury firefighters responded quickly to fight a blaze in a Middlebury College student dormitory Feb. 26. The fire call came at approximately 4:41 a.m. when smoke was reported filling up a floor at Gifford Hall. Firefighters found the third floor choked with smoke. Using air packs, crews entered the dorm and the fire was quickly extinguished with help from the building’s fire suppression system. Fire investigators from the Vermont State Police and Vermont Division of Fire Safety discovered the blaze started in a refuse container in the third floor hallway. The dormitory was occupied by students at the time of the fire, but no injuries were reported. Fire and water damage was considered moderate. Investigation revealed the fire was caused by an incendiary means. The Vermont State Police Fire Investigation Unit is assisting the Middlebury Police Department with the case. Anyone with information regarding the fire is encouraged to contact the Middlebury Police Department at 802-388-3191 or VSP?Det. Sgt. Sutton at 802-773-9101. The Vermont Arson Tip Award Program can also be contacted at 1-800-32-ARSON.
The planned shutdown of the Vermont Yankee nuclear generating station (VY)?in Vernon next year has already begun sending early shockwaves around Vermont and the New England region. Several non-partisan energy studies have indicated the shutdown will almost certainly mean higher electricity costs, business defections across the state line, and costly replacement with imported energy—via Hydro Quebec—that will make Vermont less energy independent and more vulnerable to cross-border politics. Last year, the Vermont Legislature voted on a resolution to close VY in 2012. Entergy, owner of the plant, also needs a Certificate of Public Good from the Vermont Public Service Board—an entity created by the largely anti-nuclear legislature—to continue operating. If the board withholds the certificate, Entergy will likely go to court to protect its multibilliondollar asset for its shareholders. VY could be operating while the case is in court which may take months or years to resolve. Removing VY, fully paid for, from the CO2free column is an unwise waste of CO2-free resources, according to Willem Post, of Coalition for Energy Solutions.
See YANKEE, page 10
More snow fell across the region last week with high winds and whiteout conditions on roadways. Photo by Lou Varricchio
Storm dumps foot across region By Lou Varricchio newmarketpress@denpubs.com MIDDLEBURY—Heavy, wet and blowing snow smothered the region last Friday after the National Weather Service had issued a storm-warning advisory Thursday evening. It was tough going for drivers on main and
backroads with the ever popular “greasy” snow typical of spring storms sticking to everything from windows to woolen caps. The National Weather Service at the Middlebury Airport reported northern winds blowing between 22 and 25 mph. Drifting snow and near zero temperatures Friday night and early Saturday morning had road crews working around the clock.
Kinney Drugs construction begins By Lou Varricchio newmarketpress@denpubs.com Preliminary construction work started recently on the site of a new Kinney Drugs store in Hinesburg. The store, in the early “dig phase,” is located at the intersection of Farmall Drive and Route 116. When completed, the store will be a 11,550-square-foot “prototype” Kinney Drugs unlike its
other regional stores; it is “greener” and designed to blend into a small community. Founded in 1873 in Gouverneur, N.Y., Kinney Drugs has 16 locations in Vermont. “This new state-of-the-art drug store will bring convenient pharmacy and healthcare products and services to the residents of the Hinesburg area. Kinney is an employee-owned company whose associates take great pride in de-
livering exceptional customer services to the communities we serve,”said Bridget-ann Hart, president and chief operating officer of Kinney Drugs. When completed this spring, the pharmacy department of the new store will include a drivethrough window, a pharmacist consultation area and an expansive range of health care products and services.
See KINNEY, page 10
Gifford Hall: scene of arson fire Feb. 26. Photo by Lou Varricchio
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