Show Biz
Shut down what?
Sarah Stone performs ‘Laverne DeVoe ... Isn’t She Dead?’ April 21.
The Logger has many questions when it comes to government shutdown.
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Serving Addison and Chittenden Counties
April 16, 2011
Local man is among first rescuers in Japan disaster
New bridge over budget
By Alice Dubenetsky
By Lou Varricchio
Opening will be delayed newmarketpress@denpubs.com
newmarketpress@denpubs.com ATSUGI, JAPAN — After the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami devastated much of Japan last month, one of the first r escuers to bring food and supplies to stranded citizens was Petty Of ficer 3r d Class Caleb Benedict of Middlebury. Benedict is an Aviation Warfare Specialist serving with the U.S. Navy’s SH-60 Helicopter Squadron. When the earthquake struck Benedict’s squadron was in position take to the air and fly supplies fr om Misawa Air Base, and from ships from the USS Ronald Reagan carrier gr oup, to r emote locations that had been totally cut off by the quake. The mission was detailed in the Mar ch 23 issue of Stars and Stripes magazine, which r eported that by the end of the flying operations, the Reagan gr oup, of which Benedict was a part, had moved nearly 240,000 pounds of supplies in 10 days, not including material brought directly from Misawa Air Base. Benedict r ecounted to the magazine that he had wanted to put his sear ch and rescue skills to work during earlier flights, hoping they could pull the injur ed fr om the debris, but it became obvious that would not be possible because of the complete destruction and frigid temperatures. See SOLDIER, page 2
Trout season Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin and angler Drew Price of Riverton, Vt. tried their luck fishing on theWinooski River in Waterbury on Saturday, April 9, opening morning of Vermont’s trout fishing season. Although the trout were reluctant to cooperate, both anglers enjoyed the sunny spring day and said they planned on fishing again when water temperatures increase and the trout become more active. More than 130,000 people buyVermont fishing licenses each year. Go to www.vtfishandwildlife.com to learn about Vermont’s fishing opportunities. Photo by John Hall
WEST ADDISON — It wasn’t the kind of news commuters and business owners along both sides of Lake Champlain wanted to hear. But a New York of ficial said April 7 that the pr oject to er ect a new Lake Champlain Bridge between Chimney Point, Vt., and Crown Point, N.Y., is late and millions of dollars over budget. At a public meeting held in W est Addison, New York Department of Transportation engineer John Grady said the cr ews ran into multiple pr oblems when they started to clear debris fr om the demolished 1929 bridge site. The old bridge was razed by coordinated explosive demolition in December 2009 after it was determined to be structurally unsound. The old bridge was of ficially closed in October 2009. A temporary ferry service was established south of the construction site. See BRIDGE, page 6
Possible cuts for Rutland airport By Lou Varricchio
newmarketpress@denpubs.com RUTLAND — Recent news about a U.S. House bill that would eliminate passen ger s ubsidies—called essential air services or EAS—to r ural airports, including the stateowned Rutland Southern V ermont Regional Airport, has some local travelers concerned about the airport's future. In the U.S. Senate, members’ own version of the contr oversial House bill goes in the other direction with increased funding for EAS. The Rutland airport receives $797,000 a year in EAS funding. Some fiscally conservative critics say the EAS funding is a form of “corporate welfar e” that uses taxpayer funds to subsidize airlines like Rutland’s CapeAir passenger service to Boston’s Logan Airport. However, other rural airports receive triple the amount of similar EAS funding compare d to Rutland. At the Rutland airport, Massachusetts-based Cape Air is aligned with Jet Blue and, with its link between Rutland to Boston, provides See AIRPORT, page 13
Rutland Airport Manager David Carman hopes the success of passenger service at the Rutland Southern Vermont Regional Airport will not be set back if federal EAS taxpayer support funds are eliminated by Congress. Photo by Lou Varricchio
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