NCCS girls are too much for AuSable Valley to handle.
Young musician from Westport is nominated for a grammy.
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January 2, 2010
Essex Supervisors mull last-minute cuts
Champlain bridge demolished
Last-ditch effort fails to reduce department head raises By Matt Bosley matt@denpubs.com ELIZABETHTOWN — The explosives on the Champlain Bridge were not the only fireworks on display the morning of Dec. 28. The Essex County Board of Supervisors held their End of Annual meeting, which started at roughly the same time the bridge was blown apart by explosives. Four supervisors were initially absent from the meeting as they attended the bridge’s demolition, and their absence cleared the way for a last-minute effort to undo spending plans. However, that effort ultimately failed to change any prior decisions. At the heart of the When you take salary as debate were large as theirs compared to two resolutions estabsome of the lower ones, lishing 2010 that is a fairly decent wage salaries for non-union increase. — St. Armand Supervisor county employees, also Joyce Morency referred to as management-confidential. Nearly all the positions were set to receive a 4.25 percent raise, based on the percentage granted to unionized employees in their negotiations. But as St. Armand Supervisor Joyce Morency pointed out, many of the elected and appointed officials mentioned in the first resolution have salaries much higher than unionized employees. “When you take salary as large as theirs compared to some of the lower ones, that is a fairly decent wage increase,” said Morency, suggesting the county could save money by trimming the percentage back for department heads. The same argument had been posed at previous committee meetings, but support for the full raises prevailed, led heavily by Moriah Supervisor Tom Scozzafava. “His feeling and mine is, being as we have planned to put a committee in place to look at each and every department head salary, that this would suffice,” said Ticonderoga Supervisor Rob Dedrick, referring to plans to establish a three-to-five-year salary schedule for management-confidential employees. Scozzafava was absent, however, as were Cathy Moses (R-Schroon Lake), Dale French (R-Crown Point), and Robert Dobie (D-North Hudson). All had previously voted in favor of the full raises. Their absences counted as ‘no’ votes at the End of Annual meeting. That, combined with the ‘no’ votes of Morency, Lori Lincoln-Spooner (R-Willsboro), Roby Politi (R-Lake Placid), Bill Ferebee (R-Keene), and Randy Preston (I-Wilmington), amounted to enough weighted vote to defeat the first resolution. “I could not support the [2010] budget because it had
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See COUNTY, page 6
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Dec. 31st - Jan. 6th
The storied Lake Champlain Bridge (circa 1929-2009) met its fate Monday, Dec. 28 as a total of 500 charges of explosives were ignited, causing 2.2 million pounds of steel and asphalt to plunge into the lake. Photos by Nancy Frasier
By Fred Herbst fred@denpubs.com CROWN POINT — After more than 80 years of service, the Lake Champlain Bridge has been retired. The span, which was closed Oct. 16 after structural problems were discovered, was demolished Dec. 28 to make
way for a new bridge. “It was a little sad,” said Nancy Frasier, Times of Ti photographer, who covered the demolition. “After all these years to see it come down like that was sad.” Construction of a new bridge is planned to start in the spring with completion targeted for summer 2011.
A new ferry service is being readied near the former bridge in Crown Point to serve motorists while a new structure is being built. The Ticonderoga ferry is also running with the help of anti-ice measures. The Lake Champlain Bridge opened
See DEMOLITION, page 6
Bridge implosion inspires song Speedy Arnold’s video viewed by thousands online By Matt Bosley matt@denpubs.com KEESEVILLE — George “Speedy” Arnold, III has written and played dozens of tongue-in-cheek folk songs over the years, but none that have caught on as quickly as his latest musical project. This well-known local jack-of-alltrades wrote a song last week entitled “They’re Blowin’ Up the Champlain Bridge” that has become a local favorite and somewhat of an internet phenomenon. The song, inspired by the now executed plans to demolish the bridge over Lake Champlain, can be seen online on the popular video sharing site YouTube. Arnold, who has sang and played as part of the bluegrass trio Three Doug Knight as well as in solo performances, said he had no plans to write a song about the bridge demolition, but it fell together Dec. 22.
Singing a serenade to the old Champlain Bridge just prior to its public demolition, were (left to right): Steve Collier, Alice Knight on mandolin and George “Speedy” Arnold on guitar. Performing at the public viewing area at Bulwagga Bay Park, the group sang Arnold’s song “They’re Blowin’ Up the Champlain Bridge,” which has gained thousands of views on YouTube in less than two weeks. Photo by John Lustyik
See SONG, page 8
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