Wealth inequality film/talk in Middlebury

Sen. Sanders (sanders.senate.gov)

Wealth and income inequality will be the focus as U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders hosts a film and town meeting at the Middlebury Union High School Auditorium this Sunday (March 30) at 10:30 a.m. The event is free and open to the public. An RSVP is requested (click here).

The film, Inequality for All, featuring former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, will be simultaneously shown in Middlebury and three other locations around the state: Fuller Hall of St. Johnsbury Academy in St. Johnsbury, Mt. Anthony High School Auditorium in Bennington and Brattleboro Union High School Auditorium in Brattleboro. Following the film, the audiences will merge through video conferencing for a tele-town meeting.

New town office hours

With the election of new Whiting Town Clerk Gale Quenneville, the town office has adjusted its hours. The new town office hours are:

• Mondays, 9 a.m. to noon; 
• Mondays, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.;
• Wednesdays, 9 a.m. to noon; 
• And by appointment.

The clerk can be contacted by phone at 623-7813 or by email at townofwhiting@shoreham.net.

Holiday Ham Bingo set for April 11

An evening of 

Holiday Ham Bingo 

is scheduled for Friday, April 11, 

at the Whiting Town Hall

Doors open at 6 p.m., and the games begin at 6:30.There will be a total of 20 games. Regular games have a holiday ham as prize. Four special games offer entire ham dinners as prize.

A 50/50 raffle, concession and bake sale will also featured.

Proceeds benefit the Friends of Whiting School.

Railroad plan hearings next week

State railway inventory

Two meetings have been scheduled to discuss the Vermont state rail plan currently under revision by the Vermont Agency of Transportation, according to an announcement by Christopher Parker, executive director of the Vermont Rail Action Network. The first will be held at 6:30 p.m., Monday, March 24, at the Fox Room of Rutland Free Library, 10 Court Street. The second is scheduled for Tuesday, March 25, in Brattleboro.

Plan objectives and existing rail inventory portions of the plan have been completed and will be presented at the meeting. The draft objectives for Vermont rail include:

• Support for Vermont’s economy 
• Upgrading the rail system to stay connected and competitive 
• The ability to maintain safe and efficient operations 
• Confirming adequate and stable funding 
• Balancing the needs of railroads with human and natural environments 
• Preserving rail corridors for future transportation use 

The plan is being written by consultant teams overseen by Agency of Transportation Planner Costa Pappis.

The Vermont Rail Action Network noted last week that the governor's 2015 rail budget request includes continued investment in state rail priorities, including upgrading bridges for 286,000 lb. freight and upgrading the route to Montreal. The largest amount of the requested funds is earmarked for the "Western Corridor" joining Bennington, Rutland, Middlebury and Burlington.

The largest single project in the request is a federally matched $11 million replacement of two road bridges in downtown Middlebury. More than $8 million is called for to install welded rail between Rutland and Burlington, replacing the 1940s-era jointed rail that cannot support competitive passenger train speeds.

Significant snowstorm hits region

Strong winds packed snow
against just one side of the house.

Those who calculate snowfall totals following windy storms, like the one the region experienced on Wednesday and Thursday, either have a great deal more patience or a better system than I do.

I can say with a certainty that after the storm was done there was about 30 inches of snow pressed up against the south side of our house and right about 0 inches of snow near the north side of the house (clean grass). There was about half a foot of the white stuff accumulated inside the far reaches of our barn (the winds apparently having no trouble moving flakes horizontally over great distances and forcing them through the horse's open doorway into every corner of the structure). I'm merely going to average the extremes and state that we had a 15-inch snowfall. I realize that's a bit lower than other reported totals from the area, but until I can figure out a better method, I'm going with 15.

Though the snow in this area stopped falling Thursday morning, roads remained treacherous through the afternoon. During a drive through Middlebury in mid-afternoon, it appeared that there remained at least an inch of packed snow on stretches of Route 30 and Route 7.

Schoolkids in the area got two "snow days" off. With an Otter Valley teacher in-service day scheduled for today, that gives our high-schoolers a five-day weekend.

Clerk Simonds retires

Retiring Clerk Simonds keeps things organized at last night's Town Meeting.

Grace Simonds has stepped down as Whiting town clerk/town treasurer after 33 years in the position. She kept minutes of a Whiting Town Meeting for the final time last night, as her successor was chosen and annual school and town budgets were passed. During the meeting, Grace was elected to Town Juror and Town Agent positions and narrowly lost a race for Collector of Delinquent Taxes. Grace has a passion for local history and is a walking encyclopedia of Whiting's past. She offered last night to assist local families in tracing their Whiting roots and prodded the town to finance maintenance at the town cemetery which holds graves dating back to the Revolutionary War.