Inca trip
Piers my heart
Charlotte couple to discuss their travels to South America.
Piers Morgan charms the pants off The Logger, an extraordinary fan.
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P.O. BOX 338 ELIZABETHTOWN, NY 12932 POSTAL PATRON
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Serving Addison and Chittenden Counties
March 12, 2011
New bike trails for Green Mt. Nat. Forest
Champlain bridge on schedule But contractor gets extension
By Fred Herbst
fred@denpubs.com CROWN POINT — The new Champlain Bridge is on schedule, according to the New York State Department of Transportation. That’s despite the fact DOT has granted the contractor a 65-day extension to its pr oject schedule. “The bridge is still on schedule overall, and the department has not changed its planned bridge opening date of Oct. 9, 201 1,” said Deborah Sturm Rausch, DOT communications director. “As with any major construction pr oject, unanticipated conditions and issues may be encountered that impact the work schedule,” she said. “The work to install the drilled shaft substr uctures was delayed due to unanticipated underwater obstructions. The impacts of these substr ucture delays have been analyzed and that part of the pr oject schedule has been adjusted by 65 days. “The contractor and the department ar e exploring opportunities to accelerate other critical work to mitigate the impacts of the substr ucture delays,” Rausch said. “The intent of this acceleration will be to maintain the department’s goal of having the bridge open to traf fic by Oct. 9, 2011.” Flatiron Constr uction, which is building the new span, has encounter ed underwater r emnants of the old Champlain Bridge. That debris has see BRIDGE, page 8
ECRWSS PRESORTED STANDARD U.S. POSTAGE PAID NEW MARKET PRESS/ DENTON PUBLICATIONS
Take one
By Joe Milliken
newmarketpress@denpubs.com
Voter Rodney DeGray casts his Town Meeting Day ballot in Salisbury. Photo by Lou Varricchio
Residents vote on a variety of issues
A Town Meeting Day wrap-up
By Lou Varricchio
newmarketpress@denpubs.com MIDDLEBURY — Town Meeting Day is one of Vermont’s founding traditions. It’s tr easured as small-town democracy in action. While attendance at Town Meeting Day events has been in decline, a core group of local voters ar e actively engaged in the pr ocess. Their involvement is a model to younger voters as they re-energize the two century old tradition.
In dozens of communities cover ed by the Eagle in Addison and southern Chittenden counties, voters cast their voice and paper ballots for a variety of issues. Demonstrating the decline in participation was the fact that many ar ea races wer e uncontested. The following r esults wer e available at presstime: Addison: Rob Hunt defeated Kimball Provencher for the Select Board. Steve Torrey and Lisa Davis were re-elected and elected to the Select Board. see TOWN MEETING, page 14
LEICESTER — Through the partnership and har d work of the V ermont Mountain Bike Association (VMBA) and the V ermont Youth Conservation Corps (VYCC), the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) is allocating some $154,000 to create new and improve existing mountain bike trails, as well as incr easing bike access throughout the Green Mountain National Forest. The focus of this pro ject is to improve sustainable mountain biking locations which are compatible with other outdoor activities in or der to help diversify the states’ r ecreational facilities. The VMBA is a non-pr ofit or ganization based in Waterbury, dedicated to promoting trail advocacy through education, planning, funding, establishing and maintaining multi-use trails thr oughout Vermont. They endorse responsible, environmentally sensible trail use and the cr eation of community recreation trail networks. The VYCC is also a non-profit youth, leadership, service, conservation and education or ganization that instills the values of personal r esponsibility, har d work and r espect for the envir onment. The allocation comes fr om the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and will be used to build a nine-mile mountain bike trail dubbed the Chandler Ridge-Leicester Hollow Loop T rail. The trail will start and end at the Silver Lake campground in see BIKE TRAILS, page 8
Historic storm dumps 2 feet of snow on Vermont Amid power outages, state gov’t shuts down
By Lou Varricchio & Andy Flynn newmarketpress@denpubs.com
RUTLAND — An historic snowstorm March 67 dumped close to two feet of snow in V ermont, and a mix of sleet and ice elsewhere knocked out power to more than 10,000 customers. The wors-
ening conditions forced the shutdown of non-essential state offices on March 7. As of 8 a.m., March 7, 6,600 customers are without power , mainly in W indsor and Bennington counties, with scatter ed outages in W indham, Rutland and Addison counties. The towns of Springfield and Chester have been particularly hard hit. There are numerous lines down and tre es and limbs on lines. “While this storm stalled a bit Sunday , the heavy snow and ice really began to pick up early
this morning, and outages started ramping around 3 a.m.,” said CVPS spokesperson Christine Rivers on March 7. “The winter storm warning is in effect until 1 p.m., so we expect additional outages today. Crews are reporting ice accumulations in central and southern V ermont, and we may see ice accumulations in Caledonia County later today. Crews report it is still raining in the Brattleboro ar ea. Our full compliment of cr ews, assisted by outside contractors, is making see SNOWSTORM, page 13
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