It’s that time again for the Coupon Queen to reply to some of her reader mail.
Vermont mystery author Archer Mayor entertained guests at book discussion.
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Governor plans to retire in 16 months
Serving Addison and Chittenden Counties
From the editor:
‘Feral housing’ comes to Vermont
Smacking its lips like a lion hovering over a pinned wildebeest on the Serengeti, the Democratic Governors Association is moving Vermont into its top tier of targeted 2010 liberal pickup races, as Gov. Jim Douglas, a long-time moderate Republican of Middlebury, announced his retirement last week. Douglas was Addison County’s first governor to serve in Montpelier since the 19th century. Douglas had faced overwhelming Democrat opposition and vetoes, especially on budgetary issues. “Vermont voters have always embraced common sense leaders who are willing to deal with problems
Feral housing is a relatively new term derived from the world of urban decay. Feral houses are abandoned homesteads, overrun by weeds, shrubs, and vines. In some places—such as inner city Detroit where the term was coined—feral houses are often used by the homeless, gang members, illegal drug users, and abandoned pets. Now, the term is being applied to what appears to be an increasing number of abandoned structures right here in postcard Vermont. You can see these neglected homesteads in Burlington and Rutland, even in touristy Woodstock. Elsewhere, quasi-rural places such as Ferrisburgh and Bristol sport a few feral houses and farms of their own. In Vermont, abandoned houses and farms have been blamed on everything from high taxes and unsettled estates to the current recession and Acts 60/68. In the case of the dairy business, the continued decline in family farming has resulted in a number of abandoned farms across the state. Let’s look at an unlikely place for feral housing: Woodstock. This gentrified community, which sports sidewalk dining, art shops, and ersatz sheep grazing on a hillside, has been cited in the news recently as a place where affluence and abandoned buildings manage to coexist, though maybe not so peacefully. In a recent Vermont Standard commentary,
See DOUGLAS, page 9
See HOUSING, page 5
From Eagle Staff & News Reports
P.O. BOX 338 ELIZABETHTOWN, NY 12932 POSTAL PATRON
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September 5, 2009
Dems eye Douglas’ seat
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A feral house on East River Road in Lincoln. Photos by J. Kirk Edwards
Supervisors concerned with slow action on bridge Project will miss out on federal stimulus money, they claim By Fred Herbst fred@denpubs.com
ROUND-THE-TOWN—Mary Johnson Summer Program leaders Kim Stanley and Sabrina Butterfield, with a group of young hikers, stopped by to visit Addison County Chamber members at the Painter House in Middlebury recently. TAM hikers recorded their impressions of the 16-mile loop trail around Addison County’s shire town. Photo courtesy of Addison County Chamber of Commerce
CROWN POINT — When Crown Point Supervisor Dale French attends the next Champlain Bridge advisory committee meeting later this month, he’ll have a simple message — let’s hustle. “It’s like the project isn’t important to anyone but us,” French said. “It’s frustrating that we can’t get any action.” The aging Champlain Bridge that connects Crown Point with Vermont will be renovated or replaced beginning in 2013. That’s not soon enough for French and other local leaders who believe the project will miss out on federal stimulus money now being made available for such
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work. “We have a lot of people who depend on that bridge to get to and from work every day, farmers who have cattle on both sides of the lake, people who go to Vermont for medical appointments and shopping,” French said. “We need that bridge.”
Moriah Supervisor Tom Scozzafava agrees. “The Lake Champlain bridge is critical to our community,” he said. “We have a large number of people who depend on that bridge every day. “There are billions of
See BRIDGE, page 8
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