Summer House
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Hospice home planned in Orleans.
Northeast Kingdom chapter holds kickoff.
Kids store offers costumes, clothing, parties, and photo sessions.
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the Chronicle THE WEEKLY JOURNAL OF ORLEANS COUNTY VOLUME 39, NUMBER 17
Grandparents struggle to pick up the pieces
TWO SECTIONS, 52 PAGES
APRIL 25, 2012
EIGHTY-FIVE CENTS
Women’s shelter is planned
by Tena Starr
At 60 years old, Jasmine (name changed for privacy reasons) finds herself bringing up a child again, this time her eight-year-old granddaughter. The girl has lived with her for about a year and Jasmine is working on adopting her. She spent seven years fighting to get the guardianship she’s happy to finally have, but like many grandparents who are raising their grandchildren these days, she notes that there are difficulties — with time, with the system, and with legal and financial issues. Jasmine runs a business in Newport City and is experiencing all the strains of a single, working parent, but as an older woman with less energy than she had when she was 30. After all, she doesn’t have grandparents to help. “I’m not feeling sorry for myself,” she said. “But sometimes you just wish somebody would help a little bit. It’s time, you know. There’s doctors and dentists appointments. She should be in organized sports.” The demands of both work and the schedule of a child can be too much to fit into a day, especially when you’re not young and brimming with energy. “In ten years, I’ll be filling out college applications,” she said with a laugh. “I’ll be 71 years old, damn it. “I didn’t expect to be doing this, not at 60, but it’s well worth it. You don’t think about doing it; you just do it. If you thought about half the things in your life, you wouldn’t do them.” Another Newport businesswoman has been raising her grandson since he was three months old. At 55, she had not planned to be mothering a young child again either, but she is. She takes some comfort in the knowledge that she’s far from alone. “We’re not young, who are raising these (Continued on page twenty.)
Amdi Mystafa hopes to build a shelter in Newport Center for women who are victims of violence. The building pictured above would be a laundry room or storage space attached to the ten-bedroom home. Photo by Tena Starr by Tena Starr
NEWPORT CENTER — Many years ago Amdi Mystafa saw a woman being beaten as she worked, and it deeply troubled him. “I felt sorry for that lady,” he said. “I’ve always been on the woman’s side.” His said his own mother was a victim of abuse. So Mr. Mystafa, who lives in Newport, has decided to build a shelter for women who suffer from violence abuse and don’t know where to go to be safe. “They can stay here for a while until they have a place to go,” he said. He’s building the home, where he ultimately
plans to have ten comfortable bedrooms, on a one-acre lot in Newport Center at the intersection of routes 100 and 14. Mr. Mystafa is originally from Serbia. Although he still has the Serbian accent, he spent 40 years in Manhattan, at least 35 of those working as a master chef, he said. He ended up in Vermont because his wife and son wanted to live here. “My dream was to be a professional chef,” he said. “I’ve lived that dream. Now I want to do something else. You want to do something else when you’re older.” And this is what he wants to do now — (Continued on page twenty-four.)
Ratepayers could get public defender Legislature this week
by Paul Lefebvre
MONTPELIER — Ratepayers may get their own public defender under a proposal now before the House Committee of Commerce and Economic Development, which has been reviewing the role the Department of Public Service (DPS) played in the proposed merger between the state’s two largest utilities. “We have identified the problem so let’s be
proactive and fix it,” said Glover Representative Sam Young, who sits on the committee and helped craft the proposal with Representative Paul Ralston of Middlebury. The idea that ratepayers need someone to represent them in cases before the Public Service Board comes after testimony that said DPS — known as the public watchdog — owes its first allegiance to the “general good of the state.” That role was spelled out in testimony Tuesday by DPS Commissioner Elizabeth Miller. The commissioner told members of the committee that her department serves the broader interest of what is good for the state. Ratepayers, in other words, are not its first priority. Mr. Young said he believes the committee will
support the proposal, which says in its findings “there is a need for an independent voice in regulatory proceeding representing residential ratepayers, small businesses, and municipalities.” The proposal would appoint a work group to come up with a model for what is being defined as “a business and consumer advocacy model.” If the proposal wins the committee’s approval, it would likely wind up on the House floor before the week ends as an amendment to a broader bill dealing with both the department and the PSB. Lawmakers have been looking for an expanded role ever since dissension spread through the State House over an agreement between DPS and GMP that would plow a $21million loan from CVPS ratepayers’ money into (Continued on page twenty-six.)
Page Twenty-six
House passes anti-poaching measure (Continued from page one.)
an efficiency fund. Legislators objected and roughly 78 House members signed onto an amendment that could have been a deal breaker for the proposed merger. Essentially, the amendment said the merger could only go through if the $21-million was paid directly back to the ratepayers. The our-way-or-the-highway amendment may have been too much for the committee. They rejected it Tuesday on an eight-to-one vote, with two members abstaining. Mr. Young said in a late Tuesday interview that he could guarantee the amendment will resurface when the bill goes onto the floor. Earlier he called it “the right thing to do,” but also added a cautionary note about the Legislature intervening in a case that has already gone to the PSB. “Everyone in here has some hesitancy about getting into the process,” he said. But supporters of the intervention like Representative Norm McAllister of Franklin see the amendment as an opportunity for legislators to speak up for the people in an election year. “It’s a win-win situation,” said Mr. McAllister, a Republican who announced this week he would be running for a seat in the Senate. Monday was the deadline for parties involved in the merger hearing to file final arguments. Each will get another chance to respond before the board closes evidence in the case. Commissioner Miller said a ruling could come by the end of June. Concern that no one had represented the interests of ratepayers during the hearing before the board were raised Tuesday by Representative Ralston. He asked the commissioner if DPS had worked on behalf of ratepayers to be repaid the $21-million, or if any attempt had been made to prevent the utilities from raising rates to recoup the money that was to go into the efficiency fund for winterization. Previous testimony had already sowed seeds of suspicion among committee members. Last week Representative Oliver Olsen of Jamaica took the committee on a point-by-point critique of the memorandum between Green Mountain Power and the DPS.
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As far as he could tell, he said of the $21million that was to go into the efficiency fund, only $12.5-million would be in cash. The balance, he said, would be represented in cost saving environmental benefits, like reducing carbon emissions, which would have no actual monetary value for ratepayers. But on Tuesday, Commissioner Miller said the department had worked during negotiations to add value to the $21-million and had “to decide what rock to push uphill” to improve on an order
As a public advocate, the person might also help cash-strapped towns in the Northeast Kingdom that want a more vigorous voice before the PSB in such matters as utility wind projects. issued previously by PSB over what to do with the money. According to her testimony, the PSB ruled back in 2007 that ratepayers should receive benefits, but at the same time did not define the source. She said her department pushed for value added as in giving back $1.20 in benefits for every $1 loaned. “We believed we improved what the board ordered,” she told Representative Ralston. The commission said the efficiency fund would create added benefits for ratepayers and be “a good thing for Vermont as a whole.” The sheer complexity of the deal bothered Representative Ernie Shand of Windsor. “Why are we doing this?” he asked. “Why does it get so complicated?” The state allows utilities to operate as monopolies by regulating the rates charged for power and by capping profit, Commissioner Miller said. She went on to say that her department gets involved in energy planning and making policy for the “general good of the state.” According to her testimony, the department
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The House passed a bill Tuesday designed to keep convicted poachers from jumping from another state into Vermont to obtain a hunting license. On its way to the Governor’s office, the bill would enable Vermont to join with other states in the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact. Representative Bob Lewis of Derby said that under the bill, out-of-staters who had their hunting license pulled for a violation would not be able to get one in Vermont.
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would not advocate for ratepayers unless the greater good of the state was also served. Since the PSB hearings got underway over the merger, charges have dogged Commissioner Miller that she and her department have been working to implement the policies of Governor Peter Shumlin, who gave his early support to the merger. At some point during Tuesday’s hour-long hearing, Representative Young wanted to know how the Governor approached the department once news of the proposed merger was announced. Commissioner Miller said the Governor wanted the idea scrubbed or closely reviewed by her utility experts. She also told committee members that any intervention by the Legislature over one point or another would undermine the department’s ability to negotiate with other parties in future proceedings. Commissioner Miller said in negotiating with GMP, her department had followed the lead of the PSB, which years ago had rejected a cash refund and decided it would take the $21-million issue up at a later date. The proposed merger, she added, would provide that opportunity. Mr. Young said Tuesday night that under the proposal a public intervener — as in someone appointed from the Attorney General’s office — would serve independently from the department. As a public advocate, the person might also help cash-strapped towns in the Northeast Kingdom who want a more vigorous voice before the PSB in such matters as utility wind projects.
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Page Twelve
the Chronicle, April 25, 2012
Lowell wind opponents hold open house
Representative Sam Young of West Glover, pictured at far left, warms himself at the campfire atop Lowell Mountain on Sunday. He was one of about 30 people who attended an open house organized by opponents of Green Mountain Power’s industrial wind project on the mountain. The event didn’t provide a good view of the project, which lies just beyond the people in the background, because a cloud that settled on the mountain sharply reduced visibility. In the background, wearing a knapsack, Pat Sagui of the Lowell Mountain Group, which opposes the project, answers questions about its environmental and economic impact. Will Young stands next to Representative Young, who has made opposition to such projects a key part of his bid for a seat on the board of the Vermont Electric Cooperative. Photo by Chris Braithwaite
Somes joins cosmetology board by Bethany M. Dunbar
NEWPORT — Jon Somes of Newport has been named by Governor Peter Shumlin to the Vermont Board of Barbers and Cosmetologists. Marsha Descheneau of West Charleston is also on the board. Vermont statutes say the board is responsible for establishing standards for sanitation and safety at barber shops, salons and cosmetology schools. It also establishes the standards for internships, courses and licenses. For instance, in order to get a license to be a nail technician, a person must be at least 18 years old and have a high school diploma or general educational development certificate. The manicurist must have studied for at least 400 hours at an approved school of cosmetology and then completed an internship of six to 12 months (600 to 900 hours),
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