The Burlington Free Press from Burlington, Vermont • Page 9

fchelBurlingtonjfreePress Classified Crossword Employment Real Estate Automotive 7B 4B 8B -9B section Underhill faces its zonin paradox Mount Mansfield's dominating outline on the horizon. They moved to the town because of its charm and snail-town ambiance. They don't want that to change. But they don't want their hands tied, either. They want to be able to develop or sell their properties as they see fit.

"This issue is the kind of issue where a guy and his neighbor will be on opposite sides," said Patrick Lamphere, chairman of the Board of Selectmen. "I don't want this to turn into some kind of a screaming match. We are a small community and I'm sure we can work together to solve our problems." Lehouiller, 52, came to Underhill from Canada with his parents in 1949. As did his parents before him, Lehouiller raised his family on the farm. He said, "I've got community for Burlington and International Business Machines semiconductor plant in Essex Junction.

Rodjenski said applications for building permits went up from 24 in 1982 to 42 in 1988. He said this increase, along with the creation of more than 100 available building lots through subdivision of larger property, hampers the town's ability to provide services. "What happens is that the capital resources of the town, like schools, fire houses and the landfill in town, can't keep up with unrestricted growth. So, in order to provide services for people who live here, we have to limit the growth until the capital base can catch up," said Tom Niles, a town selectman. Many who live in Underhill were seduced by its pristine, hilly terrain and By Michael Allen Free Press Staff Writer No one embodies the paradox of Underbill's proposed zoning regulations more than Marcel Lehouiller.

When the Board of Selectmen holds a public hearing today on proposals to limit building permits to 24 in each of the next two years and to have builders pay impact fees, Lehouiller will be there, speaking up, protecting his interest. So will many Underhill residents. "You have a situation where people are ready to build, and limiting their ability to get building permits hits them in the pocket," said Ronald Rodjenski, Underbill's zoning administrator-planning coordinator. Underhill was a small farming town that became a middle-class bedroom Timeout i rMHt eft MARK SASAHARA, Free Pres SiJDOM Mount Ascutney you will start getting deep, big snow. How much (it will snow) we don't know but we're hoping for a great nor'easter." The dance took place behind the resort's main hotel and against the backdrop of skiers gliding down Ascutney, an Abenaki word meaning very steep slope.

Ascutney has been making snow since November for its Turn to INDIANS, 3B SNOW APPEAL: Abenaki Indian Richard 'Black Horse' Phillips, leads the 'White Dog' dance at Mount Ascutney Resort where his family and Mike 'Gray Wolf Monteith, also an Abenaki, and Royce Coburn, a Mohawk, performed the traditional winter dance at the mountain resort. Monday, January 23, 1989 City Editor, Sam Hemingway Phone: 863-3471, ext. 2017 State notes Residents air complaints over VPR interference The Associated Press CASTLETON Vermont Public Radio is being deluged with complaints from Castleton area residents who say their reception of a New York television station has been ruined because of interference from a new radio station. At least 90 people have called or written VPR and dozens have complained to the office of U.S. Sen.

James Jeffords, R-Vt, because they can no longer receive WRGB-TV, Channel 6, the CBS affiliate in Schenectady, N.Y. Jeffords' office manager, Mary Sheldon, said the outpouring of anger has been comparable to that received on major political issues, such as Contra aid. The problem can be corrected with a device placed between a television antenna and the TV set, which blocks FM frequencies, ending the interference. But the TV viewers said they should not have to pay for the devices, some of which cost as much as $125. "I'm ripped," said Hayden Hughes of Castleton, who said he's lost all of his TV reception, except for Channel 28, Vermont-ETV.

Hughes said he tried listening to the radio station's classical programing, but "on hot nights with the windows open, I've heard better catfights. What do you gain by injuring 5,000 people, so you can have music that 500 eggheads want to hear?" Fran Renehan, a Federal Communications Commission public affairs specialist in Quincy, said Vermont viewers are outside of WRGB's area," or the 35- to 50-mile radius within which the station is guaranteed its broadcast can be viewed. As a result, the viewers do not have the right to continue receiving Channel 6, Renehan said. Attorneys for the television station disagree and are preparing to appeal the issue to the FCC. Extension Service plan would cut nine offices The Associated Press RUTLAND Nine communities across the state may lose their University of Vermont Extension Service offices because of a new reorganization plan.

The new plan, drawn up by Don McFeeters, associate director of the extension service, calls for five regional centers with two satellites, as opposed to having offices in each of the state's 14 counties. The proposal also calls for more specialists to roam over larger areas as opposed to county agents who handle a wide variety of problems. The Legislature criticized the 75-year-old organization last year and the service itself acknowledged it lacked direction. But the group is facing more criticism with the reorganization plan. "I think it will have the disastrous effect of continuing the apparent policy of the university to ignore the second largest population center in the state," said David Horgan, chairman of the Rutland County Extension advisory board.

UVM officials will make their final decision on the plan in March. The offices set to close under the proposal are: Bennington, Rutland, Winooski, Guildhall, North Hero, Chelsea, Morrisville, Brattleboro and Woodstock. Fire destroys trailer in Shelburne park SHELBURNE Fire destroyed a trailer in the Lakeview Trailer Park Sunday afternoon, Shelburne Fire Department officials said. The fire, which broke out just after 2:30 p.m., was confined to the one trailer, said Chief Frank Galipeau. The trailer was unoccupied at the time and there were no injuries, he said.

"The fire is still under investigation, but it looks like it might have been an extension cord," Galipeau said. Bickford drops out of race for mayor Burlington's mayoral race narrowed to three contestants Sunday. Edward Bickford, a former homeless man who was running as an independent, announced he decided Sunday to drop out of the contest and throw his support to Peter Clavelle, the Progressive Coalition's candidate. Democrat Nancy Chioffi and Greens candidate Sandra Baird also are running. "I just feel that Peter Clavelle is more qualified for the job than I am," he said.

Bickford has run for mayor of the state's largest city in the past, but has garnered very little attention. Bickford gained attention in the past year when he was involved in an altercation with a deputy state's attorney on Church Street. Inside DHDDfQ(o fI? a my land here," he said. Some of it I'd like to sell so I can retire on'it." He sold 100 acres to Niles two years ago. Last year he auctioned his dairy animals and farm machinery.

"Farming is just not what it used to be. It got to a point where I said the heck with it," Lehouiller said. Residential developments do not pay enough back in taxes for public services consumed by the increased population. As a result, property owners' taxes rise to meet the town's capital expenses. Lehouiller, with 250 acres he no longer uses for farming, carries a big tax burden.

He would like to shed some of that burden by selling part of his land. He said the proposed zoning regulations devalue his land because no one Turn to ZONING, 2B Aldermen to discuss March ballot By Ellen Neuborne Free Press Staff Writer March's ballot will begin to take shape tonight when Burlington aldermen consider resolutions on child care, a proposed conservation board, and several Charter changes. The two child-care resolutions address a child-care fund for Burlington residents, and child-care facilities for non-residents who work in Burlington. The $1.2 million child-care fund is the proposal of the Burlington Child Care Council formed by aldermen last May. The council recommended that $559,000 should come from the city General Fund, $250,000 from tax-exempt property own-! ers and $437,000 from the business community.

At tonight's meeting, aldermen will consider sources of funding other than the property tax to pay for city's share of the package. Extending the gross receipts tax to include beer, wine and tobacco is being considered. "These will be critical votes because they will decide what will be on the ballot," said Board of Aldermen President Nancy Chioffi. The board also will consider a proposed conservation commission. Organizers of the effort say the commission will act as a local watchdog for the environment, protecting wetlands, conducting a natural resources inventory and working to protect agricultural land.

Aldermen also will consider transferring the Community Boathouse from the jurisdiction of the Community and Economic Development Office to the city Parks and Recreation Department. Chioffi said the aldermen must consider the $30,000 deficit in the Boathouse budget. "How to deal with that must be raised so the Parks Deparment is not saddled with a debt," she said. Also tonight, the Board of Finance will consider funding for two new fire stations for Burlington, one in the New North End and the other in the South End. Chioffi said earlier discussions have shown that the price for both facilities would be approximately $1.5 million.

Skinas said developers who want more information about the archaeological survey information and sensitivity projections are welcome to contact the division for more information. "The earlier in the development procedure that they contact us, the easier it is for everyone," Skinas said. He said it is much easier for a developer to take archaeological sensitivity into consideration when planning begins, than to find a project delayed later. Skinas said his survey work, which he said was mostly just "phase 1 identification," continues to underscore the fact that this area was much more heavily used during prehistoric times than had been thought only a few years ago. Vermont officials expect the state will receive in fiscal 1990: The Alcohol, Drug Abuse and Mental Health Block Grant has dropped from $3.35 million to $3.31 million.

The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program has fallen from $11.7 million to $8.2 million. The Social Services Block Grant, which funds day-care programs and some foster-care expenses, has grown modestly from $5.8 million to $6 million. Money for weatherization projects from the Department of Energy has dwindled from $1.25 million to $1.13 Turn to BUSH, 2B James E. Bressor is chief of the Free Press capital bureau. Indians seek to end winter drought at By Kathleen Burge Free Press Correspondent BROWNSVILLE In an ancient ritual of dancing and chanting, seven Abenaki and Mohawk Indians called upon the God of Snow Sunday to relieve an exceptionally snowless Vermont winter.

About 500 spectators clustered at the base of Mount Ascutney to watch County survey finds 19 prehistoric sites used to provide better guidance to planners and developers. The area surveyed included parts of Milton and Williston, and Skinas hopes to continue his work this summer, and "further refine the sensitivity model." He is hoping for about $20,000 to fund half a dozen people working on the survey for a total of up to 10 weeks. If builders and developers can know in advance where sensitive areas are likely to be located, not only will they not find projects stalled by unexpected problems concerning possible damage or loss of archaeological sites, but they may even be able to capitalize on such sites, and incorporate them into their development plans. By Eloise Hedbor Free Press Correspondent An eight-week archaeological survey in Chittenden County has turned up 19 prehistoric sites and provided valuable indications about where sensitive archaeological areas might be found. The survey, conducted under the direction of David Skinas of the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation, involved digging about 500 small test pits, 18 to 24 inches deep, and sifting the soil through one-quarter-inch mesh screen.

Skinas said the analysis of the finds from the summer study is not yet complete, but they include everything from stone flakes identified as waste products the American Indians, clad in traditional dress, dance around a fire to the rhythm of a drum, beat with a deer antler. The ritual will produce snow in Ascutney Thursday or Friday, according to Richard "Black Horse" Phillips, a full-blooded Abenaki from Derby. "Thursday you wHl start getting sleet," predicted Phillips, a retired roofer. "By Thursday night into Friday, from the manufacture of points, to fragments of pottery in more recent sites. The estimate on the age of the sites so far identified range from 4,000 B.C.

to about 1500 A.D. "We definitely did not have a large village site that was used year after year, like those along the shores of the Missis-quoi and the Winooski," Skinas said. But the survey did find signs of small groups, "perhaps eight to 10 people, exploiting available resources" especially along old beaches, when what is now Lake Champlain was "100 to 200 feet higher," Skinas said. His work in more accurately predicting where archaeologically sensitive areas may be found, Skinas said, will be James Bressor the sum of all deficits incurred by the previous 39 presidents. What's sometimes forgotten is just how state governments have suffered under Reagan.

Vermont's robust economy has put our state in an enviable position; New York, Massachusetts and many of our other neighbors are wrestling with huge deficits. When he ran for president in 1980, Reagan sounded a theme of states' Bush should work on Reagan deficit legacy rights. The underlying notion of Reagan's "New Federalism" was that states could deliver services better and at less cost than the national government. He vowed to balance the federal budget and many governors feared he would accomplish that on the backs of the states. Those governors were half right.

He heaped a lot on the backs of states but in eight tries he never submitted a balanced budget to Congress. The federal budget just kept growing as states struggled to fill the gaps in social services and other programs that had been funded by the feds. Consider how the funding levels of the following federal grants have changed between fiscal 1983 and what Ronald Reagan has read the final lines from his presidential script and ridden off into the sunset, leaving behind two principal legacies. First, he emerged from his Evil Empire mindset and worked to reduce tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union. His approach has been correctly cautious and for this he has the support of most Americans.

Reagan's other great mark, of course, is the gigantic national debt he left behind. His buy now-pay later approach to governance turned America into a debtor nation for the first time since 1914 and wracked up an unfathomable $1.5 trillion debt. Democrats, a few brave Republicans and columnists have frequently noted that Reagan ran up a debt that exceeded 2B -2B State meetings 3B Chltt. roundup2B Births Deaths..