The Burlington Free Press from Burlington, Vermont • 11

1 urlmatonjftce press INSIDE Deaths 2B Crossword 4B Comics 5B SECTION BurllngtonFreePress.com Saturday, March 19, 2011 Metro Editor (800) 427-3124 Page IB Wright out of council president race What's news Lack of votes leads to decision to withdraw ft 'V I together the seven votes to forestall a Keogh victory, let alone the eight needed to win. Wright never had moved beyond exploring a But Wright said Mulvaney-Sta-nak and Brennan hadn't made a decision and were being urged by Mayor Bob Kiss to support Keogh so that Wright wouldn't have the presidency to help boost a possible mayoral bid next year. Wright spoke Friday with Mulvaney-Stanak and learned she was unwilling to commit, prompting him to drop his bid, he said. "I'm a little surprised he's pulling out," Brennan said. "We hadn't made a final decision.

Definitely, we were torn. I thought we had enough time to think things out." ney-Stanak had heard from people outside Ward 3, some of whom asked if it made sense to give Wright a "platform" from which to run for mayor. Brennan also said he and Mulvaney-Stan-kak were looking for a Progressive seat on the Board of Finance. Mulvaney-Stanak said Kiss' support of Keogh wasn't a deciding factor for her. "I take the mayor's input like I would anyone else's," she said.

Her concern, she said, was to have the council become a "fairer" body particularly in terms of committee assignments; the upcoming mayoral race was a factor, too, making the decision difficult. See WRIGHT, 6B By John Brlggs Free Press Staff Writer Burlington Councilor Kurt Wright, R-Ward 4, is withdrawing from the race for City Council president, he told the Free Press on Friday. He was trying to unseat President Bill Keogh, D-Ward 5, who decided to run for a third one-year term after it became clear that Councilor Joan Shannon, D-Ward 5, lacked the votes to be elected. Wright candidacy and was looking for support from the council's two Progressives, Emma Mulva-ney-Stanak and Vince Brennan, both from Ward 3. If he and Keogh entered the Organization Day meeting April 4 tied, it was possible, Wright said, that an Wright said he couldn't pull eighth vote could break his way.

Brennan said he and Mulva Community connections Panel advises $24 million in new taxes Revenue would help make up shortfall Two teens killed after car goes into river From staff, wire reports CLARENDON Family and friends are mourning two Rutland County teenagers who were killed early Friday when their car went off a road in Clarendon and into the Cold River, Vermont State Police said. Killed were 18-year-olds Dominic McGuire of Proctor and Paul Cormia Jr, of Rutland Town, police said. An investigation into what caused the crash is ongoing, police said. "It is unknown if alcohol or drugs were a factor" in the 12:52 a.m. crash, Lt.

Chuck Cacciatore, commander of the state-police barracks in Rutland, said in a statement. The vehicle, a Buick Century sedan, drove off Cold River Road, traveled about 100 feet down an embankment and into the river, where it came to rest upside-down, police said. A third person in the vehicle, 17-year-old Justin Slade of Proctor, suffered non-life threatening injuries. He was able to walk from the scene to a nearby home and call for help, police said. Burlington orchestra to hold concert tonight: The Burlington Chamber Music Orchestra is hosting a spring concert, "An Evening of Chamber Music" at 8 p.m.

today at the University of Vermont Music Building Recital Hall. General admission is $25 for adults; $20 for seniors (65 and older); $8 for students (younger than 18). Cash and checks are accepted. The 27-member Burlington Chamber Orchestra, founded in 2007, will perform its final concert of the season May 14. For more information, visit www.bcovt.org or contact Executive Director Sharon Radtke at 893-4082 or e-mail sharonteventsyahoo.com.

Today marks anniversary of Brianna Maitland vanishing: Today marks seven years since Brianna Maitland was last reported seen. Maitland, then 17, last was seen at about 11:20 p.m. March 19, 2004, leaving work at the Black Lantern Inn in Montgomery. Her car was discovered the following day near an abandoned farmhouse on Vermont 118 in Montgomery. In a statement Friday, the Vermont State Police said that investigators believe she was a victim of foul play.

Maitland's family continues to offer up to a $20,000 reward for information, including $10,000 for information leading to the location of Maitland and $10,000 for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons involved in her disappearance. State police are offering a $5,000 reward for information that resolves the case. Police ask anyone with information to call the St. Albans barracks at 524-5993 or tip line at 241-5355. Man accused on 5th DUI citation: A driver stopped for erratic operation at 12:07 a.m.

Friday on U.S. 7 in South Burlington allegedly was driving under the influence for the fifth time, Trooper William Warner said in a statement. Police initially jailed suspect Martin Landon 39, of Middle-bury at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington for lack of $5,000 bail, Warner said. -V1 1 EMILY McMANAMY, Free Press Pete's Greens employees attend a fundraising dinner at Claire's In Hardwick on Thursday. Supporters near and far rally around Pete's Greens By Nancy Remsen Free Press Staff Writer MONTPELIER A 27-cent increase in the tax on cigarettes, a tax on insurance claims, and tax increases for hospitals, nursing homes and home-health-care providers are among the proposals in a $24 million new tax package approved by the House Ways and Means Committee.

The committee voted 7-1 Friday on the package intended to help make up a $176 million projected shortfall. In last-minute deal-making, the panel agreed to eliminate a controversial tax on dentists that would have raised $3 million, and agreed to give 67 school districts a one-penny break on their tax rate because they met budget-reduction targets set under the Challenges for Change program. The tax break will distribute $1 million to taxpayers in those districts. "It is a tough year to raise revenue," said Ways and Means Chairwoman Janet An-cel, D-Calais. "My committee did a pretty incredible job to come to agreement." "We had a very difficult task," said Rep.

David Sharp, D-Bristol. "There are lots of provisions in this bill I don't like." Still, he voted for the bill. Rep. Oliver Olsen, R-Ja-maica, was the lone opponent among the committee members voting late Friday afternoon. Three members were absent.

Olsen objected to the taxes on health-care providers See TAXES, 6B in advance for a weekly share of the farm's yield. The CSA has 375 members (including this reporter), and an additional 75 people who buy only meat. The remaining half of his business is wholesale. Johnson's direct relationship with consumers, and the reach of his business, help explain the breadth and depth of support, experts say. "He has figured out how to make the work he does successful," said Chuck Ross, Vermont's secretary of agriculture.

"There was a time when people really wondered whether this kind of agriculture could be successful. Pete has shown that it can be. Because he was early, and he's innovative, he has become in some ways the symbol of this kind of agriculture in Vermont." After the fire, Vermonters saw an opportunity "to express their support in ways that are beyond just buying the product," Ross said. See PETE'S, 4B about $130,000 in donations. Among the losses at the under-insured farm were $200,000 worth of storage crops and root vegetables, and $100,000 of frozen meat, according to the farm.

In all, Pete's Greens suffered a financial loss of about $850,000, Johnson said. About one-third of that is covered by insurance. Craftsbury fire chief Walter Gutzmann, who heads the volunteer department, gave a rough estimate of the loss at more than $1 million this week. "In any disaster like this," Gutzmann said, "almost every day you find more things missing." "I've had more than my share of barn fires," said Gutzmann, who has run the department for 35 years. "I have never seen support, locally or statewide, like what Pete is receiving.

It's overwhelming. It's outstanding." Pete's Greens sells about half the food it grows directly to consumers through its Good Eats CSA (community supported agriculture), in which people pay By Sally Pollak Free Press Staff Writer There was nothing Pete Johnson could do after he called 911 and moved a tractor and four trucks away from his Craftsbury barn as it burned to the ground early Jan. 12. He prefers not to be idle, so he grabbed his cellphone and shot a picture of the blaze. That photograph is a big reason the fire at his organic vegetable farm has generated significant amounts of attention, concern and money, Johnson hypothesized.

"It was a photograph at the peak of the fire," he said. "To see" something like that sort of takes your breath away. Even now, when I see it, it's like, Others said it's more the man behind the camera driving wide-reaching support. Fundraisers and other forms of support sprang up almost immediately to help Johnson rebuild his farm, Pete's Greens. Johnson's farm has received Curling Challenge Free Press wins Scripps Howard First Amendment award After 9 hours' debate, House passes break bill The Associated Press f8 office and how they go about doing it.

Without access to fA 1 It ft 1 7'K- III r- i tion, there 1 ic nn mean ingful civic engage- Soga makes commit- ment. That J. ment to open government Free Press Staff Report The Burlington Free Press has won first place in the First Amendment category of the annual Scripps Howard Awards, which honors the best work in the communications industry. The Free Press entry comprised 20 editorials written in 2010 that focused on the need for greater government openness in Vermont. Editorial Page editor Aki Soga wrote 17 of the editorials and Executive Editor Michael Townsend wrote three.

Such was the extent of the newspaper's push to reduce the level of government secrecy in Vermont that election endorsement editorials each began with a paragraph that included these words: "People have a right to know what elected officials do in the number one issue in this MONTPELIER After nine hours' debate over two days, the Vermont House has passed a bill requiring employers to give workers 30 minutes of breaks during each six-hour work period. If the Senate agrees, and Gov. Peter Shumlin signs the bill, it would be a change from current law, which says only that employers must give reasonable breaks to workers. Rep. Suzi Wizowaty of Burlington, a chief sponsor of the bill, says she heard from the Burlington-based Vermont Workers Center that one of the main complaints they get from workers about conditions on the job is employers denying them breaks.

Critics of the measure mainly members of the Republican minority in the House say it amounts to an onerous new regulation on Vermont businesses. campaign." The newspaper "receives $10,000 and a trophy for its aggressive editorial stance that made open government a paramount issue in the 2010 elections and spurred reforms," a Scripps Howard news release said. Winners will be honored May 3 at a dinner hosted by the Scripps Howard Foundation in Cincinnati. OLENN RUSSELL, Free Press Gail Rosenberg of the HowardCenter in Burlington poses with some of the prizes available to the winners of this weekend's second annual HowardCenter Curling Challenge at Cairns Arena In South Burlington on Friday. The winning team gets a trophy (right); the runners-up get medals; and the team with the best spirit gets a chocolate cake creation (left) made by last year's winning team, Lake Champlain Chocolates.

For more information, go to www.firstgiving.comHowardCenter..