The Burlington Free Press from Burlington, Vermont • Page 13

01 urlmgt0u Deaths 2B Court Roundup 5B Wednesday, July 10, 1985 Kunin Says Extra N.Y. Power Isn't Final Answer By DAVID GRAM The Assoc kited Preu MONTPELIER Gov. Madeleine Kunin said Tuesday the outlook for Vermont's continued receipt of a healthy share of cheap New York hydropower is better how than a month ago, but the state is not out of the woods yet. "We still cannot rest easily," Kunin said. The governor and Public Service Commissioner Gerald Tarrant told reporters they were encouraged by last week's news that Vermont will receive 125 megawatts of power this year from the New York Power Authority, as opposed to the anticipated 109 megawatts.

The revision upward results from reduced allocations to Pennsylvania and Ohio, the two said. Kunin again hailed the Vermont Legislature's passage of a bill designating the Public Service Department as a retail power seller as the reason the state remains eligible for the the cheap New York power. That bill was passed to get around a decision by the Federal Energy But Kunin struck a more conciliatory posture, saying, "We want to wait and see how this plays out." She added she hopes to talk with Cuomo about the power issue at an August meeting of the National Governors' Association. Another concern of the Kunin administration is whether a new project to ship power from Quebec to Vermont will be on line by September, when the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon is scheduled to shut down for several months for refueling and replacement of some piping. Tarrant said the Canadian power agreement could run into problems because two Quebec landowners have balked at having power lines run across their property.

The Canadian National Energy Board is expected to rule on the farmers' grievances by Monday, he said. But even if the board rules in favor of the project, Tarrant said it is doubtful the project will be on line before Oct. 1. A gap between shutdown of the Vermont Yankee Regulatory Commission that threatened to void Vermont's contract The governor said that move still could hit a snag July 17 when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission meets. If the commission attempts to block Vermont's arrangement, Tarrant said, the state probably would go to federal court for a stay of the board's order.

He added he doubts the federal commission will take that action at next week's meeting. Kunin said Vermont remains in a tenuous position regarding the inexpensive power because New York Gov. Mario Cuomo has refused to sign a long-term contract for sale of power to Vermont. A month-to-month arrangement keeps New York power flowing to Vermont, she said, adding, "There are still a lot of challenges out there." Tarrant said the state remains ready to sue New York for what it considers its rightful share of the New York authority's hydropower, which comes from Niagara Falls and the St. Lawrence Seaway.

plant and receipt of additional power from Quebec would require the state's utilities to buy power from other, more expensive sources, Tarrant said. Tarrant also expressed disappointment that hearings' have not begun before the state's Public Service Board on whether Vermont utilities should be allowed to maintain their investments in the Seabrook, N.H., nuclear power plant. He said the board is seeking information from the utilities on various effects of possible divestiture, and formal hearings are not expected to resume before August. That would move any decision until at least the end of the year, Tarrant added. He said that he hopes the utilities will cooperate in the information-seeking and hearing processes, and that "it would be in their own best interests" to complete the hearings and learn as soon as possible whether they will be required to pull out of Seabrook.

Transient Charged In Fatal Stabbing of St. Albans Man l- By RICHARD COWPERTHWAIT 'j Free Preu Correspondent ST. ALBANS Stephen Lawrence, a 30-year-old St. Jlbans restaurant owner, was fatally stabbed late Tuesday afternoon while shopping at Woolworth's department store in the Highgate Commons Shopping Center in St. lbans Town, state police said.

Police charged Monica Pollard, whom they described is a 24-year-old male transient who was passing through Albans, with the stabbing. f. Pollard, who has a criminal record in Vermont, is to I be arraigned today in Vermont District Court on a first--or second-degree murder charge, said Franklin County State's Attorney Helen V. Torino. "I don't know if we have any evidence of premeditation, so I'll probably bring a second-degree murder charge," she said.

"I would describe the stabbing as apparently unprovoked." -1- Lawrence, who ran the Home Plate Restaurant in St. I Albans with his wife, Judy, was stabbed about 4:54 p.m. Police said they were notified of his death at 6:16 p.m. State Police Cpl. Robert Stafford said Lawrence died on operating table in the Northwestern Medical Center.

Stafford said Lawrence was stabbed in the back with a knife with about a 9-inch blade, but he did not know how many times. "It (the knife) doesn't appear to have "come from the store," Torino said. An autopsy is to be performed today in Burlington. Pollard who also uses the first name of Minoca, was taken to the Chittenden Community Correctional Center in South Burlington late Tuesday, and was being held on $100,000 bail set by District Judge Edward J. Cashman.

"There is an ongoing investigation to see who this guy is and where he came from and everything else," Stafford said. He said there was no suggestion that Pollard knew Lawrence, whose restaurant also is in the shopping center. Stafford said police are still seeking a motive for the stabbing, for which there were a number of witnesses. "We understand that Lawrence may have had words with Pollard and, as a result of that, Pollard stabbed Lawrence," Stafford said. "He (Pollard) made the statement somewhere along the line to somebody that Lawrence had made a comment about his footwear," Torino said.

After being stabbed, Lawrence staggered to the front of the store near a cash register, where he collapsesd, Torino said. "He (Pollard) didn't give a confession per se to the police, but he did admit the stabbing to Woolworth's personnel," Torino said. "He not only hung around but went up to the store manager and said he did it," Torino said. Turn to SI ALBANS, 4B 1 tto 9 jr fkfv i.r i ti I 1 School Board Approves Budget Cuts of $400,000 extracurriclar budget could absorb a 23 percent cut without eliminating some programs. "I know the varsity kids will play but I am concerned about my little kids too, the freshman and junior varsity kids, the Noun magazines," he said.

Other cuts include a learning center position, the superintendent and assistant superintendent's office budgets, continuing education, local aides, school supplies, lunch subsidies, building maintenance, Chittenden County Transportation Authority bus subsidies, a community relations position, and a new health program, $60,000. The board also rejected several motions, introduced by Dan Ryan, D-Ward 4, asking the city to hand over a larger in-lieu-of-taxes payment to the School Department. The school and the city now split these payments from agencies like the Electric Department which pay no taxes. But Ryan argued that a 50-50 split is Turn to SCHOOL, 4B budget gap. Before the board voted the cuts, it beard from 35 parents, teachers and children who had crowded into the board meeting to argue against cuts in sports and extracurricular activities.

"These kids have a lot of pride and they are good kids and I don't like to see them sold down the river," said Bob Yates, the football coach. Others, such as Susan Conrad, who works on Noun Magazine, a publication of Edmunds Middle School, argued cuts had a ripple effect far beyond the students working on a project. "Everybody who reads Noun is affected. It is not just the students who work on it who are affected," she said. Superintendent Luther Gutknecht assured the audience he believed most programs can be salvaged.

"All the advisers, coaches, principals (and others involved) will sit down and broker this," he said. "If you put these creative people together, I firmly believe we can save this." Yates, however, remained skeptical. He asked how an already tight By MICHAEL POWELL Free Preu Staff Writer School lunch subsidies, a new health program and some after-school sports and activities were among $400,000 in programs lopped off the Burlington school budget at a Tuesday board meeting. The cuts will be restored only if the School Board can find additional money. Although the commissioners hope to receive an energy conservation loan from the Burlington Electric Department which could save an additional $50,000 it is expected that many of the cuts will Stand.

"It was a really tough position for me and if I did not get gray hairs when I ran for office I got them now," said Ahn "Phi" Doane, D-Ward 4, shortly after voting for the budget cuts. "But this had to be done." The commissioners had been predicting deep budget cuts ever since voters rejected a 24-cent school tax increase June 11. The Finance Committee was able to find about $200,000 in new revenues including more vocational education dollars and higher building rentals but it still faced a yawning, $400,000 Free Press Photo by JYM WIISON Swinging in the Wind Jamie Weiner, 8, of Colchester creates a breeze of his own during a visit Tuesday to Battery Park with his father. Sanders Will Get Warm Reception During Nicaraguan Anniversary Trip Panel Addresses Elderly Care Issue By SARAH WILSON Free Pre is Capital Bureau MONTPELIER A summer study committee that began work Tuesday will try to figure out how to better coordinate programs for the long-term care of the elderly and disabled, according to its chairman. tion among service providers.

Paul Wallace-Brodeur, executive director of the Health Policy told the panel the population of elderly Vermonters will increase from 62,000 to more than 75,000 in the next five years. He said although the use of nursing homes by the elderly is declining slightly, about 20 percent of people over 85 live in such facilities. He said treatment of the elderly including their likelihood of being hospitalized varies widely throughout the state. Wallace-Brodeur said the variation results from different approaches to health care and differences in the relationships between doctors and hospitals. "What you want to have Is a managed, organized health care system," he said.

He said lower use rates may reflect better links between hospitals and the communities where they are located. Young said the committee, which will meet once a month through December, is working Turn to ELDERLY, 4B international conflict, a nuclear war resulting in destruction of this planet is virtually inevitable." The issue, Sanders said, is not whether one likes the Sandinista government, but whether the United States has the right to try to overthrow it. He said he is frightened by the "mentality" that believes that communism will spread from one country to another and threaten the United States. Hundreds of millions of people are starving around the world, and if every time they attempt "to fight to protect their own children from they're going to be labeled part of the great communist conspiracy coming from the Soviet Union, then the United States is going to be at war with all of the Third World," he said. "The real war that must be fought is how, within a democratic context, the enormous economic problems facing Latin America can be dealt with," he said.

"And they are not going to be dealt with by destroying every government that tries to stand up for its own people as opposed to the needs of American corporations." Sanders said he suspected many in Burlington will not be happy about the trip, because they believe a mayor should deal with local issues. He said, however, the money spent opposing Nicaragua could be better spent in U.S. cities, and said he will miss no Board of Aldermen meetings. Alder-manic President William O. Skelton, R-Ward 4, will be mayor in Sanders' absence.

spokeman Sarali Porta. "People dress in costumes, but it is very politically oriented." The following day, Sanders will attend a cultural program with Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega as host. July 19 is the official anniversary of the revolution and, according to Hooker, 500,000 people are expected to gather in Managua to listen to speeches. The mayor also will attend a reception. Hooker said it is likely Sanders will tour the country as the government's guest.

Since Sandinista guerrillas overthrew Somoza, they have initiated land reforms and combatted illiteracy and hunger, but have been accused of stifling opposition and attempting to establish a Marxist state. Monday, President Reagan said Nicaragua was one of five nations in a terrorist partnership engaged in acts of war against the United States. Earlier this year, Reagan imposed restrictions on trade with Nicaragua. Sanders, a socialist who harbors gubernatorial ambitions, acknowledged he may be damaged politically by the trip, but he said the issue is sufficiently important. "I believe that if the policies of President Reagan are not reversed, there will soon be a bloody, Vietnam-type war in Central America which could cost us thousands of lives and billions of dollars," he said.

"Further, I believe that if the president and other world leaders continue to use military solutions as the only way to deal with By DON MELVIN Free Prets Staff Writer A spokesman for the Nicaraguan Embassy in Washington, D.C., called Burlington Mayor Bernard Sanders Tuesday one of the "real friends of Nicaragua" and said he will be met at the airport in Managua next week by a delegation from the Foreign Ministry. Also on hand to greet the mayor will be a delegation of leaders from the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua, said Miriam Hooker, the embassy press secretary. Puerto Cabezas, Burlington's sister city, is in that area. Sanders said Tuesday he intends to visit Puerto Cabezas, if fighting in the area permits. The United States is supporting rebels seeking to overthrow the Nicaraguan government.

Hooker said 300 Americans have been invited to attend the celebration of the sixth anniversary of the coming to power of the Sandinista government, but It is not known how many will attend. Officials from around the world including Fidel Castro of Cuba and U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz have been invited, as well, she said. Sanders is paying his air fare but will be lodged at the expense of the Nicaraguan government. He has promised a full report of the trip.

The mayor will arrive in Managua Monday. Wednesday, he will attend celebrations of "a day of national joy" commemorating the day on which dictator Anastasio Somoza fled the country. "That day is like a carnival," said embassy WALLACE- BRODEUR Rep. Toby Young, D-Westminster, chairman of the House-Senate committee, said many problems with long-term care in Vermont have been identified in past studies, but never really addressed. "Everyone knows what needs to be done," she said.

"Why Isn't It being done?" Young said the problems, which were cited in testimony Tuesday, include a lack of accurate data and a lack of coordina.