The Burlington Free Press from Burlington, Vermont • Page 11

te33urlingtonjfree33ress Vermont Teen charged with selling ground vitamins as cocaine Page 2B (V section Tuesday, April 5, 1988 vt. dairymen struggle for livelihood I US- By Nancy Bazilchuk Free Press Staff Writer BRADFORD Everal Larkham did not want to leave dairy farming. Instead, he says he was forced out a victim of a bad investment that caused overwhelming debts which he could not pay because of low milk prices. "You could work your way out of a hole if you could get a fair price for your milk," said Larkham's 24-year-old son, Glen, as he milked his father's herd of 141 Holsteins in late March for the last time. Everal Larkham's Lark-Ridge Farm went the way of nearly 75 percent of Vermont's farms since 1950 sold off.

The cows, 135 acres of fertile Connecticut River Valley farmland and the machinery were auctioned to cover the family's debts. "What is really scary to us is that the auctions don't seem to quit," said Robin Burbank, a Johnson milk hauler who is losing business because of the shrinking numbers of dairy farms. As more and more farms come up on the auction block, the question remains: Can anything be done to save the family farm in Vermont? It is a hotly debated issue that bridges state and federal policies, and, farm advocates say, requires action from consumers, milk handlers and the state's taxpayers. State government has responded with a string of programs, including approximately $4 million worth of tax abatements and a unique, one-year dairy subsidy program that will pay farmers 50 cents more per hundredweight of milk they produce. Beyond direct subsidies, more than $20 million over the next three years will be available in commercial loans to help dairy farmers, Commissioner of Agriculture Ronald Allbee said.

But the programs are just a stopgap measure until Congress passes a new Farm Bill in 1990, Allbee said. The 1990 bill is seen by many as a chance to change legislation that has had little success in controlling escalating milk production and plummeting milk prices. "The fundamental problem is federal policy," Allbee said. "The state Legislature is saying we don't like federal policy. We are putting our finger, no, our fist in the dike to say we don't like it." The problem with federal policy is that the Northeast is penalized, in the form of diminishing federal price supports designed to reduce milk production, for milk surpluses generated by Midwestern and Western states.

A bill proposed by Sen. Patrick Leahy, would change that by penalizing overproducers but would continue to allow price support cuts, a wrinkle that concerns Vermont dairy farmers. FARM SALE: Everal Larkham, left, seems dejected as auctioneer Herbie Gray sells off Larkham's farm and farming equipment. State's politicians race to save farms By James E. Bressor Free Press Staff Writer MONTPELIER From abating all property taxes on agricultural land to buying down interest rates on farm loans, Vermont officials this year have raced to shape the right farm assistance package.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Michael Bernhardt has called 1988 the year of the farmer and considering the number of farm aid proposals that have come before the administration and Legislature since January, he's right. Frightened by projections that Vermont could lose anywhere between 6 and 40 percent of its farms over the next two years as the federal price paid for milk continues to slip, state leaders have almost tripped over one another floating proposals as ways to keep farmers in business. "A lot of people, including myself, feel City Editor, Sam' Hemingway iiuiio. 000-0441, ext. zzo State notes Burlington woman, Bernie to get hitched Burlington Mayor Bernard Sanders and Youth Office Director Jane O'Meara Driscoll, after dating for seven years almost without interruption, have decided to tie the knot.

Sanders, 46, and Driscoll, 37, came to the conclusion last week following a vacation they spent together in the Caribbean, but made the official announcement Monday. DRISCOLL Driscoll said the proposal from the mayor, which left her "speechless" and "stunned," came after a year of seeing each other only as friends. "We got some distance and we realized we wanted to spend our lives together," she said. Sanders said the week together on the island of St. Lucia, "made us aware of the fact that this was the right time to make a commitment to each other." Both Sanders and Driscoll have been married before.

Driscoll has three children: Heather, 16, Carina, 13, and David, 12. Sanders has one son, 19-year-old Levi, who attends Western New England College in Springfield, Mass. Sanders and Driscoll said a civil ceremony is planned for May 28 in Burlington. "It's not going to beianything fancy. It's going to be a nice, happy time to share with our friends," Driscoll said.

Sanders said he will move from his Catherine Street house into Driscoll's Isham Street home. State revenues increase MONTPELIER State revenues increased 7.5 percent in March, as the national and state economies "continue to demonstrate impressive strength and resiliency," Administration Secretary Thomas Menson said Monday. Menson said revenues for the 1988 fiscal year, which began July 1, are up 9.9 percent. The Kunin administration last month, surprised by stronger-than-expected tax collections, revised its revenue estimates for the year, predicting a surplus of about $48 million when the state closes its books June 30. General Fund receipts for the first three quarters of the year were $375.7 million, Menson said.

March collections totaled $41.8 million. N.Y. to get Vicon ash The Associated Press RUTLAND Still without a permit to dump ash in Vermont, Vicon Resource Recovery Systems Inc. plans to send residue ash from its Rutland plant to Buffalo, N.Y., said Steven Smith, who is in charge of Vicon's instrument controls. Since the plant began operation this year, it has been sending its ash to a Pittsfield, landfill.

Company officials hope Vermont environmental officials will approve the company's application to reduce the amount of ash. Smith said the application would involve two stages. The first would be accomplished by removing metals, as well as glass, pebbles and compacted cement, from the so-called bottom ash, he said. Vicon already has applied to the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources to treat the bottom ash through the separation process. In the second stage, Smith said the company planned to apply for a permit to treat the fly ash, which is collected in the smokestack, by stabilizing the heavy metals.

Smith said the fly ash could be used in cement. Dean to study child care Gov. Madeleine Kunin has named Lt. Gov. Howard Dean as chairman of a panel that will examine ways to expand affordable child care in Vermont.

The Partnership in Child Care Committee includes representatives from local and state government and the private sector. The group will examine joint public-private funding methods for child care and promote increased training for child-care workers, according to a statement Inside Births. Court. -2B Deaths. 2B 5B New England 2B Coming tomorrow AIRPORT NOISE: Burlington International Airport officials will outline the findings of a recent noise study and present possible solutions to the problem at a meeting tonight at Winooski City Hall.

jr Growth bill faces possibility of no compromise Senate's version differs enough from House's to cause fears that growth bill won't survive In the last of a three-day series, Free Press staff writer Nancy Bazilchuk looks at what government and private industry are doing to preserve dairy farming in Vermont. Some observers, such as Rick Wacker-nagel, an agricultural economist at the University of Vermont, say the state must give more thought to the way farm income itself is taxed. "But one of the things that irks me about this talk of new loans for farmers is that it favors capital over labor and it doesn't keep agricultural communities viable," he said. Wackernagel suggested exempting both agricultural income and wages from taxes. "Both of those actions would keep people in agriculture," he said.

He did not know much such a program would cost. Richard Fallert, head of the dairy research section in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service, said some countries, such as West Germany, have consciously decided to keep the traditional way of dairying alive using tax structure and subsidies. He cautioned, however, that such an approach could be costly. "I think society will have to decide whether they will try to have policies to maintain the structure or curtail the shift in structure" away from traditional dairying, he said.

"But certainly there would be societal costs in not allowing the shift (of dairying) to locations and types of farms that have a comparative advantage." The property tax abatement program proposed by the Legislature is one such policy that will have significant costs, but it could help to ease the tax burden on Vermont farmers. Between 1966 and 1985, Vermont farmers paid the highest property taxes on a "per cow basis" of any farmers in the Northeastern states. In 1984, they paid as much as 18 times more than farmers in Maryland. Vermont property tax rates were surpassed in 1986 by New Hampshire's rates, but Vermonters also pay state income and sales tax, unlike New Hampshire residents. Despite state and federal efforts, the private sector without a doubt will be called on to make up for slumping milk prices.

Turn to 5B The proposed property tax plan, introduced last year by Sen. Scudder Parker, D-Caledonia, and revised this session, would impose a $1.14 statewide rate for education on all non-residential property. That tax would be pooled and distributed to towns for funding schools using the current state aid to education formula. Communities could continue to set the property tax rate on primary residences and up to 27 adjoining acres. The bill has special provisions for high-spending towns and transition aid for communities with a tax rate below $1 for education.

Under the plan, wealthy towns that collect higher non-residential property taxes would help poorer communities fund schools, removing the disincentive to towns to allow development that does not increase the tax base. Turn to GROWTH, 5B a dable housing will be built with help from a federal grant on Riverside Avenue, Sanders said. Sanders said the possible creation later this year of a sister-city relationship with a community in the Soviet Union will be the city's "contribution toward making our world a more peaceful and just world." 7 II. i 1- XT, I I CRAIG LINE that it is a make or break situation," said Rep. Robert Starr, D-Troy, chairman of the House Agriculture Committee.

"We could end up looking like New Hampshire, looking something like a rural state but really having no meaning to it." Concern in Montpelier goes beyond the farmers themselves. As development pressures continuing closing in on Vermont, more and more residents want the state to hang on to its open land. Unquestionably, state officials say, the best way to keep open land undeveloped is to keep it in farming. The Vermont House last week passed a comprehensive growth package that contains three proposals for making farming more viable in Vermont. The most controversial is a one-year dairy subsidy program that would have the state supplement farmers' milk checks by Turn to POLITICIANS, 5B Growth bill opponents speak in capital, 3B At an afternoon committee meeting with about 30 regional planners and others familiar with development in Vermont, several people raised the concern that the property tax sharing plan which is unacceptable to the House could effectively kill the legislation.

Douglas Costle, head of the governor's Commission on Vermont's Future, said there is a "whale of a difference" between the House bill and Carter's version, and questioned whether a compromise could be reached. House Majority Leader Rep. Paul Poi-rier, D-Barre, chairman of the special chairmen and members. Gear disagreed that Monday's action is a setback for the Republican leadership. "The Republican party is not dead.

We're not packing it in. We're alive and well," Gear said. But Riehle disagreed. "Unless some leadership is shown, the Republicans will have two board members next year." The board presidency is regarded by some as a visibile and prestigious spot that can be used as a stepping stone for potential mayoral candidates. Chioffi maintained Monday night that it is too early to discuss her political plans, and that her major goal as president will be to get more information to the board.

In addition to the board president, aldermen elected James Hiideorand, a new Republican alderman from Ward 4, and Bill Aswad, D-Ward 4, who is also new, to the Finance Board. They will serve with Chioffi, Mayor Bernard Sanders and Treasurer Jonathan Leopold. Sanders used his inaugural speech to point out that the city will spend several million dollars this year to improve infrastructure. "I think it's remarkable for a city of 38,000 people to invest $25 million in real public improvements," the mayor said in an interview prior to Monday night's meeting. 1 By Susan Allen Free Press Staff Writer The Vermont Senate is eyeing a growth bill sharply different than one passed by the House last week, a predicament that could jeopardize passage of growth-related legislation this year.

Although the Senate Natural Resources Committee is studying the House legislation, the panel has been working on a bill drafted by Sen. Harvey Carter, D-Bennington, that calls for a statewide property tax sharing plan and tougher enforcement mechanisms. "I think a lot of towns are willing to let any kind of development in to boost their tax base," said Sen. Douglas Racine, D-Chittenden, committee chairman. "I'd be very reluctant to vote for a planning bill without a tax reform." House Committee on Growth, raised a similar concern last week, saying he hoped the Senate would approve a version that could be passed by both chambers.

But several members of the Senate panel said they would oppose passing any legislation that does not revamp the state's property tax system to encourage regional solutions for problems such as development, low-income housing and education. "The function of compromise runs both ways," Carter said. "The fact that the House had three months to work on this bill doesn't mean the Senate swallows whatever comes over." Carter said planning statutes similar to the House-passed bill essentially already exist and failure to pass the tax-sharing plan would result in no substantive growth control. mi x. 1 1 1 Democrats' Nancy Chioffi wins top aldermanic seat By Enrique Corredera Free Press Staff Writer Republican aldermen, for the first time in six years, Monday night failed to nominate one of their own for board president and instead helped Ward 5 Democrat Nancy Chioffi win the election.

The four Republicans on the 13-mem-ber board joined forces with the three Democrats to give Chioffi, a downtown retailer, the seven votes she needed to win the presidency over independent candidate Sharon Bushor from Ward 2. In the previous six years, with the exception of 1984, Democrats have joined forces with Republicans to elect a Republican president not a Democrat over a Progressive or independent candidate. 1 UbgiiiuiiiiL ui a tailspin for the (Republican) party," said Theodore Riehle III, outgoing Republican aldermanic president. "It was absolutely crazy for the Republicans not to retain that seat." Veteran Alderman Allen Gear, R-Ward 4, said the Republicans supported Chioffi because none of them was interested in the presidency. "The Republicans did not have anyone who wanted to run.

It's as simple as that," Gear said. The board president moderates aldermanic meetings and assigns committee ROB SWANSON, Frse Press PRESIDENT CHIOFFI: Alderman Erhard Mahnke, independent-Ward 1, congratulates Nancy W. Chioffi, D-Ward 5, center, after her election as president of the Burlington Board of Aldermen Monday night. Chioffi was elected over Sharon Bushor, independent-Ward 2, right, the Progressive Coalition candidate. If a bill is approved in the Legislature this year, Sanders said the city will end its pollution of Lake Champlain and eliminate basement floodings.

Streets and sidewalks will be repaired and the landfill will be turned into a park, the mayor said. There will be acquisition of waterfront land for recreation, and 80 units of affor.