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COMMUNITY NEWS
TAKE ONE June 9, 2018
Serving Addison, Rutland & Chittenden Counties
Act 250: Are Vermonters ready for more regulation?
MOTORIST LEFT ACCIDENT SCENE
By Lou Varricchio THE V ERMONT EAGLE
MIDDLEBURY |On May 25, at approximately 4:28 p.m., the Vermont State Police received report of a crash involving a car and a motorcycle at the Jiffy Mart on Route 7 in the Town of New Haven. According to Trooper Jacqueline June of the VSP New Haven Barracks, troopers were advised that an at-fault vehicle, described as a small silver car, had left the accident scene and the operator of the motorcycle attempted to flag them down. Local agencies were notified of the incident and were advised to be on the lookout for a vehicle matching the description. Officers from the Shelburne Police Department were able to locate the vehicle and made contact with the operator, who was identified as Alexander Lucci, 29,of Pittsford. Officers observed damage on the vehicle consistent with the crash reported. Officers from the Shelburne Police Department detected signs of impairment. Lucci was subsequently taken into custody for driving under the influence. Trooper June reported that Lucci was issued a citation to appear in Addison County District Court on Aug. 20, to answer to the charge of leaving the scene of an accident. ■
By Lou Varricchio THE V ERMONT EAGLE
2018 EAGLE GRAND PRIZE WINNER 2018 EAGLE GRAND PRIZE WINNER! Chuck Clifford of Vergennes found this year’s $1,000 Eagle Grand Prize certificate hidden in a rock crevice along Bourdeau Road in Cornwall. The tell-tale clue of a clump of a six-trunked tree is on the left (with a barn and sunflowers located across the road). During the process of searching for the Eagle prize, Clifford lost his car keys, bumped his head, fell into Beaver Brook, and got a tick bite. Despite the hard knocks, Clifford now adds 2018 to his 2005, 2014, and 2016 Grand Prize wins. Eagle photo
MIDDLEBURY | A possible overhaul of Act 250 has many Vermonters questioning the past merits, failures, and likely future morphing of the state’s watershed land use and environmental control act of 1970. Vermont’s Act 250, seen as either the great “green” hope of environmentalists and central planners or the bane of many business people and developers, will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2020. Now, just two years ahead of the law’s half-century mark, legislators, legal professionals, environmentalists, and business leaders are looking ahead, and wondering, about Act 250’s next 50 years. On May 24, the Vermont Law School of South Royalton joined the non-profit Vermont Natural Resources Council (VNRC), and others, by presenting a day-long campus conference, titled “Act 250: What’s Next?” The idea behind the conference gathering of various Act 250 shareholders was to review the law’s performance to date as well as to break out into discussion groups and consider the addition of new “opportunities” for Act 250 which are not its current focus, such as climate change and forest, habitat fragmentation. Rep. Amy Sheldon (D-Middlebury), chair of the Vermont Commission on Act 250: The Next 50 Years, opened the day-long conference by outlining the mission of the new commission, formed in 2017 by the legislative bill H.47. Sheldon explained that the commission must report its findings and recommendations by Dec.15. » Act 250 Cont. on pg. 6
Opioid tax would punish drug makers, patients By Lou Varricchio THE V ERMONT EAGLE
MIDDLEBURY | When it comes to combating the opioid crisis, everything’s on the table from prevention programs to new taxes — and Vermont is no exception. While an opioid tax is off lawmakers’ workbench for now, it is likely to come back in the next legislative session. Earlier this year, the Vermont Senate Health and Welfare Committee proposed a prescription opioid tax — euphemistically termed as either an “assessment” or a “surcharge” by politicians hiding from tax increases. The effort was seen as a way to punish the pharmaceutical industry for marketing opioid drugs to doctors as means for treating pain.
Among the Vermont opioid tax’s champions is Sen. Claire Ayer (D-Addison County), chair of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee. The tax had been introduced as an amendment to H.922, but the bill never made it to the floor during this session. Meanwhile, Ayer, and others such as Senate President Pro Tem Tim Ashe, P/D-Chittenden, said that the tax would not hurt state taxpayers. “It’s not a tax on Vermonters, but it’s what’s called a morphine milligram equivalent (MME) measure. It’s a really logical way to fund opioid treatment programs, and it doesn’t take money from other programs,” Ayer was quoted by True North Reports. “The surcharge, as proposed, is based on the strength of the particular drug being
prescribed. As an example, I had surgery on my shoulder recently; the painkiller pre-
scribed to me was $8.80 a bottle, so it’s not even very expensive to begin with.” ■
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