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Record-breaking aircraft visits Middlebury airport.
“Art for Agrarians” auction will support local farms, artists.
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Serving Addison and Chittenden Counties
July 31, 2010
Gov. Douglas visits Iraq Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas was in Iraq July 21 with a delegation of governors to meet with troops and receive a first-hand update about the situation in Iraq. Douglas, a resident of Middlebury, first visited Iraq in March 2006. The governor departed from Andrews Air Force Base after meeting with Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn and visiting Walter Read Army Medical Center during the day. He arrived at Baghdad International Airport this morning and had an opportunity to meet with Vermont soldiers at Camp Victory and Al Faw Palace. During the day he also received a briefing from Lt. Gen. Kenneth Hunzeker, the deputy commander of U.S. Forces in Iraq and the NATO Training Mission in Iraq and had a hands-on MRAP vehicle demonstration. “The Vermonters who have served and who are currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan are an inspiration to us all,” said Douglas. “The sacrifices our troops and their families back at home have made to bring peace and security to this region of the world are tremendous. It is a privilege to be able to see firsthand the work they have done in Iraq.”
Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas talks with Vermont troops in Iraq.
Storms knock out power By Lou Varricchio newmarketpress@denpubs.com Residents of the region may have received a reprieve from last week’s hot, humid weather, but it came at a price. When a cold front came through the area on the afternoon of July 21, it brought with it a line of severe thunderstorms. The storms tracked west to east across a wide portion of Vermont. Nature’s violence knocked out electrical power to over 11,500 CVPS customers including Rutland and Addison counties. Rutland County was hit hardest by the thunderstorms, according to Christine Rivers of CVPS. “About 7,100 customers were without power in Rutland County, 1,900 in Orange County and 1,200 in Windsor County, with 300 in Addison and 450 out in Chittenden County— with scattered outages throughout the state,” said Rivers. Chittenden County was hit hard earlier in the afternoon in an erratic line from Charlotte to Hinesburg. Crews were in the field July 21 during the evening hours to remove downed trees and limbs from the storm front’s high winds—some gusts exceeded 52 mph. Crews had to deal with the downed trees before they could get at power lines. “Crews reported having to pull over to the side of the road due to high winds bringing down trees and limbs, and heavy rain and hail severely reducing visibility. Many CV workers reported trees and limbs down everywhere,” Said Rivers. Crews worked into the early morning hours of July 22 to restore power.
Up a lazy river: Modern day steamboaters Steamboaters cruise Otter Creek By Lou Varricchio newmarketpress@denpubs.com
Charlie: All this fool talk... goin' down the river. Rose: What do you mean? Charlie: I mean we ain't goin' to do nothin' of the sort. Rose: Why, of course we're going! What an absurd idea! —”The African Queen” (1951) Steamboaters seem to quote “The African Queen” a lot, probably because, to many of them, the Hollywood movie’s star attraction isn’t really Humphrey Bogart or Katherine Hepburn — it’s the film’s river steamboat, The African Queen. For steamboat hobbyists, the classic film captures the adventure and romance of river steamboating. New England and Middle Atlantic States members of the North American Steam Boat Association hauled their “retro” steam launches over hill and dale to Vermont’s Otter Creek. Sixteen elegant
steamboats — modeled after their Victorian and Edwardianera predecessors — along with 30 individuals, steamed up and down Otter Creek between Lake Champlain and the Vergennes Basin, as part of a second annual gathering at River ’s Edge Cottages and Campground last week. “As you can see, we love steamboats,” said Russ Steeves of Chlemsford, Mass., skipper of the fetching S.L. Redbud. Steeves is a retired aerospace engineer who loves to tinker with mechanical things. “Well,
technically our boats are called steam launches or S.L. for short.” Steeves was proud to give this reporter a cruise up and down a portion of the Otter Creek to demonstrate the retro, dare I say steampunkish, ways of a 21st-century reincarnated steam launch. Complete with a brass-trimmed wood-fed boiler, locomotive-like steamboat whistle, a mini-blackpowder cannon for signalling the social hour, mahogany-teakwood deck and gunwale, as well as upholstered Victorian bench seats, the S.L. Redbud would be the ideal vehicle for a neo-Bogart and Hepburn to explore the mist-shrouded Otter. “Our members’ steam launches are really new boats made to look old — many use
See BOAT, page 15
Pictured above is Russ Steeves aboard his Victorian steam launch Redbud.
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