News & Citizen

Serving the People of Lamoille County with News Since 1881

Volume 123     No 10 No 5569                 November 9, 2006 Thursday                           Morrisville, VT 05661                        Web Edition

Bypass Back Before Act 250 by Amy Kolb Noyes The Morrisville Alternative Truck Route is back before the District 5 Environmental Commission for an amendment to its Act 250 permit. The amendment is needed to address small changes in the design of the bypass over the years, according to Lamoille County Planning Commission Assistant Director David Pelletier. Continued on Page 2 Click here to check out the new Lamoille Home Buyer Guide Lady Wolves Are Division III State Champions The No. 1 seed in Division III Girls Soccer, the Lady Wolves of Peoples Academy, took on their arch rival No. 2 seed Marauders, of Northfield, at Middlebury on a beautiful fall morning, Saturday, November 4, to decide which is the best team in the state for D III girls soccer. There’s no doubt left at this writing – the PA girls are CHAMPS! Continued on Page 2 VEDA Backs Precision Woodworks Loan by Amy Kolb Noyes MORRISVILLE – Vermont Precision Woodworks, in Morrisville, is one of five businesses to receive a portion of $8.5 million in financing assistance from the Vermont Economic Development Authority. The VEDA board renewed a loan guarantee for up to 32% of a $1.25 million Union Bank working capital line of credit for Vermont Precision Woodworks. Continued on Page 2 Spring “Wheels” Event Planned by Amy Kolb Noyes Lamoille County’s first Wheels to End Hunger event was a resounding success, according to organizer Greg Stefanski – enough so to warrant an encore in the spring. Continued on Page 2  Visitors For Questions or Comments on this web site please contact webmaster at http://www.kingdomsedge.com dan@kingdomsedge.com Theresa Breault, of Morrisviile, casts her vote in Tuesdayıs mid-term election. Turnout was high countywide, with numbers in ranges normally only seen in presidential races. Smith photo Election Results Cambridge Selex Looking at Building Projects by Mickey Smith CAMBRIDGE – The selectboard of the Town of Cambridge held a meeting, Monday, November 6, with the town’s finance committee and a representative of the fire department’s architecture firm to discuss a course of action regarding three impending construction projects. Continued on Page 2 Read all the News, Sports and More Click Here To Subscribe Today Northern Forest Alliance Receives $10K Grant by Amy Kolb Noyes More than $230,000 was awarded to 28 organizations across the state as part of the Vermont Community Foundation’s “Sustainable Communities” grant round, which makes awards to organizations working on arts, humanities, and cultural heritage; the environment; and economic development. Continued on Page 2 Looking for something? Search for: 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 11/9/06

Incumbency is Lamoille’s Trump

If it’s not universally true, it’s certainly true in Lamoille County that being an incumbent is a very nice, comfortable place to be. How so? Yesterday’s election results sent back to Montpelier: Senator Bartlett, Rep. Martin, Rep. Smith, Rep. Westman,  and Rep. Nease. In fact, every local incumbent went back. The only new faces replace Representatives Marron and Miller, who voluntarily retired. Therefore – welcome to this winter’s Legislative Breakfasts Rep. Peter Peltz (D/Woodbury,Worcester, Morristown, Elmore) and Rep. Heidi Scheuermann (R/Stowe)!

Looking beyond Montpelier, for the next two years, we all get to sit back and observe what our votes won for us. On the national scene,  is it a “New Direction” as Sen. Sanders (I/VT) voiced loudly at his victory party? Funny, that’s the same slogan rousingly intoned by several national Democratic winners. Seems Bernie’s slogan is part of the same caucus he’s joined in D.C. The question seems to be these days, is the new direction anything truly new, or is it just a direction we’ve seen before?

Sometimes it looks to me like those little plastic slot cars you ran with a throttle in your hand, going round and round a track on the floor. Think of the cars as politicians powered by the squeeze of public opinion. Let the game begin. Here we go, spurting off the starting line, first, straight ahead. But, look out! We squeezed our car too fast into a tight corner, our car skids, pops out of its power slot drops into the slot – just one lane over – and is off! Someone else is squeezing the power pack for that lane, of course. We no longer have control, but what has changed? The direction is the same, there’s only been a small movement right or left depending on which way the corner was oriented, left or right. The next corner may swing everything back the other way, will the car enter the corner too fast yet again? Is that  the case in Washington? Or does the car ever spin in its little slot and actually change direction?  Time will tell. After yesterday, the election race is over, but the real game is back in play.

Meanwhile it seems we don’t have too much to worry about on the local and state scene because mostly we have elected the status quo. As for our new representatives, our campaigns were informative enough and hotly contested enough, that though I can’t speak for everyone, I am personally sure both are eminently suited to serve. We will be  fairly represented in Montpelier. Congratulations, winners!