News & Citizen

Serving the People of Lamoille County with News Since 1881

Volume 123     No 10 No 5569         November 1,  2007 Thursday                           Morrisville, VT 05661                        Web Edition

Town Offices on the Move! by Amy Kolb Noyes WOLCOTT – The new Wolcott Town Offices, on School Street, officially opened for business Tuesday, October 30, although there was still plenty of unpacking to do. The Town Clerk’s Office was up and running Tuesday, while construction workers were putting the finishing touches on the building and listers Tom Martin and Tracey Laporte were unpacking boxes and arranging furniture. Town employees have a week to get everything in order before the Town Offices open house next Tuesday, November 6. Students Raise Money for New Teen Project by Hailee Laidman, Johnson State College student Johnson State College’s nonprofit certificate program is leading a fundraising campaign to benefit a new initiative engaging and supporting Johnson Elementary School students in alternative after school activities. Click here to check out the new Lamoille Restaurant Guide Scheduled Flu Shot Clinics Both Copley Hospital and Lamoille Home Health are offering public flu vaccination clinics throughout Lamoille County again this year. Clinics start the week of October 22 and are open to all adults over 18, regardless of risk factors. Costs for the clinics vary. More information can be obtained through the contact information listed below. Lamoille Home Health Clinics Tuesday, November 6, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Second Congregational Church, Jeffersonville Thursday, November 8, 10:30-11:30 a.m., Waterville Town Hall Saturday, November 17, 9-11 a.m., Lamoille Home Health Agency, Morrisville Tuesday, November 27, 2-4 p.m. Stowe Community Church Thursday, November 29, 3-4 p.m., Sterling View Community Center, Hyde Park For more information or to confirm a scheduled clinic has not changed, call Lamoille Home Health at 888-4651 or log on to the Vermont Department of Health website at www.healthyvermont.gov Additional Copley clinic dates to be announced. For more information call Linda Shaw at 888-8369. For Questions or Comments on this web site please contact webmaster at dan@kingdomsedge.com At your service!  Wolcott¹s new Town Clerk¹s Office opened for business Tuesday, October 30. Shown here, at the new customer service window, are (l to r) Town Office Assistant Sally Ammons, Assistant Town Clerk Belinda Clegg and Town Clerk Linda Martin.                  Noyes photo An Eye on Climate Change by Amy Kolb Noyes WOLCOTT – Vermont Academy of Science and Engineering President Dr. Alan K. Betts came to Lamoille County this month to talk about global warming. Lamoille Valley Osher brought Betts to our area, where he gave a talk entitled “Global Climate Change: Vermont and our Earth” in Stowe and at Wolcott’s Glee Merritt Kelley Community Library. On a rainy day, three year old Sydney Trutor checks out her new play setfrom a dry location. Smith photo LHH&H Here to Stay by Amy Kolb Noyes MORRISVILLE – Lamoille Home Health & Hospice is not going anywhere. That’s the message this week from LHH&H Executive Director Ann Mallett. LHH&H is the nonprofit Visiting Nurse Association covering Lamoille County. It is not affiliated with the Professional Nurses Service, a private company facing closure by the end of the year unless it can secure $650,000 in a matter of days. Read all the News, Sports and More Click Here To Subscribe Today Copyright © 2004 News&Citizen Inc. All rights reserved. Have a press release? edit@newsandcitizen.com e-mail correspondence concerning advertising should be addressed to news@newsandcitizen.com

Things Look This Way to Me

Editorial by J.B. McKinley 11/1/07

Local, State & Federal Potshots

Since my last venting in this column, three irritants cropped up in conversation here at the newspaper office that arose from each level of our government. You might ask is that all, but maybe that’s being too cynical!

Taking aim at local government for my first potshot, it seems to me that it is long past time for the Town and Village of Morrisville to completely and finally resolve the many issues over the sewer plant and department. Many meetings have occurred over a period of decades; agreements have been crafted and drafted – then elected officials change and everything stagnates nearly at Step One. Sure, the situation is very complex with the Village’s Water & Light Department, accountability to ratepayers, the  moribund nature of Village government with declining responsibilities, all balanced against the many demands on town government at a time of record high taxation. But, having sewage regulations and an attendant bureaucracy that a supplicant can have a reasonable chance of understanding and satisfying, for example, if a business needs an increased sewage capacity, is a necessity.

Having a reasonable chance to develop something new without months or years of hassle and hiring attorneys is simply necessary to growth in housing and our local economy. Someone has to knock down many of the hurdles. What will MSI do, if and when it grows? What will happen if something big wants to go into the field across 15 from Kinney’s? Well, I’m guessing the folks at HearthStone will tell you the way things stand, nothing will happen. Nothing will be built.

Okay, now I’m shooting for the 10-ring on the state target! Loyal readers who also look at The Transcript may have read Amy Noyes’ story on Wolcott School’s hike of the Pinnacle recently. There is a bit of follow-up story. Apparently someone read this article and the State of Vermont was made aware of the hike. The school was called and emailed with the peremptory news that all hikes of this nature involving 20 persons or more needed a permit from the state to hike.

What?!!!! This has got to be a regulation/law about as enforced as no spitting on the sidewalk. Horsemen or women hang a bag under your mount’s tail and if you’re taking your car out for a spin make sure to have a horse drag it through the village so as not to disturb the horses! Boy Scouts, have you always requested state permission to go on a hike?

So, apparently the solution is to form groups of 19 and go hiking. Enjoy the heck out of yourselves as long as you don’t have a 20th friend.

Finally, I’ve reached the federal government. I guess I could just aim anywhere to slay an irritant, but this time I’m thinking of the “contractors” (read mercenaries) like Blackwater employees. Two things about the situation with contracting military workers angers me. First, they are paid far better than our soldiers, who, increasingly, are our neighbors. Secondly, the use of contractors radically decreases the political impact of whatever military action we are taking. We, the people, simply don’t feel the impact of 100,000 mercenaries sent to war.  Those 100,000 persons are merely a budget item in a budget so huge a pickup truck can’t carry it. This is not the way it should be. Our soldiers should be paid fairly for their patriotism and service. Their mission should be worth the pay, effort and sacrifice. All costs of a conflict should be made as obvious as possible. On this third and last target, don’t you agree? I’ve finally hit a bullseye.