Dec114

Page 1

MONDAY Â Â EDITION

ADDISON COUNTY

INDEPENDENT

Vol. 26 No. 38

Middlebury, Vermont

X

Early  snow  delivers a  white  Thanksgiving Area athlete aiming high ‡ /LQFROQ UHVLGHQW 6- *UXQGRQ LV FRPSHWLQJ LQWHUQDWLRQDOO\ DQG KRSHV WR EHFRPH DQ 2O\PSLF IUHHVW\OH VNLHU 6HH 6SRUWV 3DJH

By  ZACH  DESPART MIDDLEBURY  â€”  Addison  County’s  23  towns  bore  the  brunt  of  a  Thanksgiving  Eve  snowstorm  that  blanketed  Vermont  and  much  of  the  Northeast  on  the  busiest  travel  day  of  the  year. Forecasters  from  the  National  :HDWKHU 6HUYLFH RIÂżFH LQ 6RXWK Burlington  said  Addison  County  got  more  snow  than  any  other  county  in  Vermont,  ranging  from  8  inches  in  Vergennes  to  16.5  inches Â

in  Orwell. “That  was  the  jackpot  area,â€?  said  NWS  meteorologist  Andrew  Lo-­ conto.  â€œThere  was  a  pretty  good  snowband  which  dropped  some  good  amounts  across  the  county.â€? The  storm,  which  traveled  south-­ west  to  northeast,  brought  snow  to  Addison  County  starting  around  1  p.m.  Wednesday.  Loconto  said  the  heaviest  snow  began  around  10  p.m.,  and  by  sunrise  the  snow  fall  (See  Storm,  Page  34)

Monday, December 1, 2014

X

36 Pages

75¢

Talks  pour  new  hope  into  Middlebury  hydro  project By  JOHN  FLOWERS MIDDLEBURY  â€”  The  Mid-­ dlebury  selectboard  has  decided  to  reopen  its  negotiations  with  Anders  Holm  as  he  seeks  to  re-­ establish  a  hydroelectricity  opera-­ tion  at  the  Otter  Creek  falls. Holms’  long  running  plans  to  construct  a  1.6-­megawatt  hydro  turbine  near  the  falls  has  been  at  a  standstill  for  more  than  two  years.  Holms  owns  the  building  at  56  Main  St.,  right  next  to  the  pic-­

turesque  falls.  Operating  as  Mid-­ dlebury  Electric  Co.,  he  wants  to  install  a  water  turbine  to  generate  HOHFWULFLW\ IURP WKH VZLIWO\ Ă€RZ-­ ing  water  that  runs  underneath  his  building. Jeremy  Rathbun,  a  leader  of  the  Middlebury  Energy  Committee,  told  the  Middlebury  selectboard  on  Tuesday,  Nov.  25,  that  he  and  his  colleagues  met  with  Holm  on  Nov.  12  to  discuss  the  future  (See  Hydro,  Page  7)

Movies to screen at Bixby Library ‡ /RFDO VFUHHQZULWHU $OH[ -D\ 'XEEHUO\ ZLOO OHDG D GLVFXVVLRQ DW WKH QHZ 0RYLH &OXE RQ )ULGD\ 6HH 3DJH

Park to pop up in Middlebury ‡ 6HOHFWPHQ KDYH DXWKRUL]HG D WHPSRUDU\ SDUN IRU WKH VLWH RI WKH /D]DUXV EXLOGLQJ 6HH 3DJH

Hayden, Brahms, Tan on program ‡ $Q DZDUG ZLQQLQJ FHOOLVW EULQJV D JLIWHG FKDPEHU PXVLF HQVHPEOH WR 0LGGOEXU\ 6HH $UWV %HDW 3DJH

EAST  MIDDLEBURY  RESIDENT  Albert  LaBerge  cuts  into  the  trunk  of  one  of  two  40-­foot-­high  trees  that  were  felled  behind  the  East  Middlebury  8QLWHG 0HWKRGLVW &KXUFK HDUOLHU WKLV IDOO /D%HUJH VSHQW ZHHNV FXWWLQJ DQG VSOLWWLQJ WKH WUXQNV IRU ¿UHZRRG Independent  photo/Trent  Campbell

Local man cuts a large job down to size By  FAITH  GONG EAST  MIDDLEBURY  â€”  The  sight  of  a  man  splitting  wood  is  common  enough  during  Vermont  autumns,  and  normally  attracts  little  notice.  But  this  fall,  people  passing  the  East  Middlebury  United  Meth-­ odist  Church,  at  the  intersection  of  Routes  116  and  125,  noticed  Albert Â

LaBerge. For  one  thing,  the  trees  that  La-­ Berge  was  steadily  dismantling  were  uncommonly  large.  They  stood  over  40  feet  tall,  and,  according  to  Peggy  Peabody  of  the  East  Middlebury  Historical  Society,  it’s  possible  that  the  two  maples  â€œwere  planted  be-­ hind  the  church  as  a  property  marker Â

when  the  church  was  built  in  1847  or  thereabouts.â€?  LaBerge  estimates  that  the  largest  of  the  pair  was  4  feet,  6  inches  across.  LaBerge’s  persistence  attract-­ ed  admiring  notice  as  well.  The  74-­year-­old  East  Middlebury  resi-­ dent,  who  goes  by  â€œBert,â€?  worked  single-­handedly  beginning  in  early Â

September  to  chop  up  the  mas-­ sive  tree  trunks.  Almost  every  day  he  drove  his  Ranger  four-­wheeler  the  half-­mile  from  his  house  to  the  church,  pulling  either  a  trailer  or  a  splitter  behind  him.  (He  took  the  sidewalk  along  East  Main  Street  af-­ ter  local  police  received  some  com-­ (See  Tree,  Page  7)


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.