Life on the road
Community food
Rusty plans a trip to put on a show where it all began, the Vergennes Opera House.
ACORN to host Stone Soup Summit April 3 at Vergennes High School.
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WASHINGTON – Town Meeting voters in Vermont last week overwhelmingly approved measures calling for a constitutional amendment to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens United and restore limits on corporate campaign spending. According to the latest tally, voters in 55 towns passed resolutions to amend the Constitution to ensure that corporations do not have the same First Amendment rights as people. “The people of Vermont and across America are totally disgusted with the huge amounts of money that billionaires and corporations are throwing into the political process,” Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) said March 7. “We have to overturn this disastrous Citizens United decision. I hope the message coming out of the town meetings will spark a grassroots movement across the United States.” Sanders last Dec. 8 introduced the Saving American Democracy Amendment. His proposal would restore the power of Congress and state lawmakers to enact campaign spending limits like laws that were in place for a century before the controversial court ruling.
Chili Festival was hot, hot, hot By Lou Varricchio newmarketpress@denpubs.com
Folks from the Bluebird Tavern in Burlington serve up some chili and cornbread to the crowds of the annual Chili Festival March 10 in downtown Middlebury. Photo by Lou Varricchio
Mitt Romney wins Vermont GOP primary By Lou Varricchio newmarketpress@denpubs.com MIDDLEBURY — Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney defeated his conservative and libertarian Republican rivals in Vermont’s GOP primary. However, the candidate did not winn all of the state’s 17 delegates. In Burlington, liberal Democrat Miro Weinberger defeated GOP candidate Kurt Wright for mayor of Burlington. In Rutland, voters re-elected the city’s incumbent aldermen and elected a new alderman, Gary Donahue. In Addison County, Middlebury voters approved the new fire station
You Could Win
project and the Hannaford Technical School budget, among other items.
Bristol The Town Budget of $1,717,446, the Town School Budget of $4,559,439, and the Addison N.E. Supervisory Union Budget were approved by voters by wide margins. Incumbent Town Clerk and Treasurer Therese Kirby was reelected for a one-year term in both positions. Select Board incumbents Jole Bovier and Sharon Compagna were reelected to three and four year terms respectively. Incumbent Town School Director Kelly Laliberte was reelected to a three-year term; incumbent Elin Melchior was reelected to a two-year term; newcomers Chris Scrodin and Sheryl Thurber were reelected for two, one-year terms. See MIDDLEBURY MEETING, page 12
Town officials in Leicester prepare paperwork at the polls March 6. Town Clerk Julie Delphia reported light turnout at mid day.
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MIDDLEBURY — The Better Middlebury Partnership did it again this year by organizing another wildly successful annual Vermont Chili Festival in downtown Middlebury. The chili contest event, now in its fourth year, took place March 10 under a cloudless, blue sky. Contest winners were not available at press time. Named one of the Top 10 Winter Events for the past three years by the Vermont Chamber of Commerce, the event included jugglers, live music, singing, a beverage tent where Gov. Peter Shumlin (D) greeted visitors, and chili—lots and lots of it. It was difficult to estimate how many people attended this year ’s event, but event organizer Holmes Jacobs of Two Brothers Tavern reported that every one of the Partnership’s 6,000 plastic chili sampling spoons were gone by day’s end. Over 50 restaurants, businesses, community organizations, and caterers from around the state participated. The Middlebury Volunteer Fire Department displayed a hook-and-ladder fire truck and firefighters dished out theirs chili that was hotter than you know what. Proceeds from this year ’s event will go towards the Vermont Disaster Relief Fund/Vermont 211.
Middlebury voters approve fire station project
Sen. Bernie Sanders
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