Rutland Daily Herald from Rutland, Vermont • A6

Local State Rutland City Rutland County Middlebury A6 Rutland Daily Herald Thursday, January 7, 2016 Lawmakers discuss privacy rules Vermont call and say, 'We want all of Sears' phone said Sen. Richard Sears, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which took up the bill Wednesday. Sears said the bill is one the three most important bills expected to come through his committee this session, along with marijuana legalization and increased protections for Department for Children and Families workers. Already, there is agreement among the committee members on some an individual. The committee appears to have reached consensus to allow law enforcement to retain information gathered by automobile license plate readers for 1 8 months, which Sears called a "hard-fought" compromise between not keeping the data at all and retaining it forever.

The committee spent much of its Wednesday morning reviewing two proposals one from the Department of State's Attorneys and Sheriffs, the other from the American Civil Liberties Union governing how police access an individual's electronic information, from cellphone records to online activity. There is some consensus between the two organizations that sit on opposite ends of the ideological divide regarding privacy. Both would require police to obtain a warrant before accessing the contents of an electronic communication such as a text message or an email or the location data of a user. However, the two sides See Rules, Page A7 By JOSH O'GORMAN VERMONT PRESS BUREAU MONTPELIER Lawmakers are mulling ways to protect personal privacy in the face of technological advances. The Senate Judiciary Committee is reviewing an omnibus privacy bill that seeks to limit the ways law enforcement can gather and use electronic data on the public.

"The goal is clearly to prescript law enforcement access to electronic communications, and what time will they need a warrant, and what time they could facets of the bill, such as requiring law enforcement to obtain a warrant before using an unmanned aerial device or drone to gather information on ANSWERS TO THE OFT-ASKED 'WHAT'S Man dies trapped under vehicle KILLINGTON Police said a man died when a car fell on him off East Mountain Road Tuesday. Killington Police Chief Whit Montgomery said he did not believe the man's next of kin had been notified as of Wednesday afternoon, so he was unsure when the name could be released. "It appears someone was doing some work underneath their vehicle and the jack failed in some way," Montgomery said. Teen will face weapons charge A Whiting teenager is facing charges after allegedly bringing a pocket knife to school. On Monday in Rutland criminal court, Judge Thomas A.

Zonay ordered a judicial summons for Victoria Hunt, 18, to appear on a weapons in school charge. Hunt was charged by Brandon Police with possession of a dangerous or deadly weapon in a school, which carries a maximum penalty of one year in jail. At 8:50 a.m., May 8, the Brandon Police School resource officer at Otter Valley Union High School received a call from Bonnie Seelye, the special education administrator, about a knife taken away from Hunt, police said. Officer Anne Brandy said it was a Northwest Trail pocket knife with a 3-inch blade. Police said that a teacher saw the oudine of the knife in her pocket.

When the teacher asked Hunt about what was in her pocket, she pulled out the pocket knife. Hunt's arraignment is scheduled for Jan. 25 in Rutland criminal court. Logging rules hearing planned Rutland City will host a hearing on proposed logging regulations. The hearing, from 5 to 7:30 p.m.

Feb. 2 in the Howe Center rail room, is part of the public comment process on a proposed amendment to the state's Acceptable Management Practices for Maintaining Water Quality on Logging Jobs in Vermont. A state law passed last year requires the Department of Forests, Parks Recreation to adjust its regulations to "prevent or minimize discharges of sediment, petroleum products, and woody debris The proposed amendment can be found at fpr. vermont.gov and www.sec. state.vt.us.

More public hearings are scheduled for Jan. 26 in Lyndon and Jan. 28 in Berlin. Staff reports ROBERT L7WMAN STAFF PHOTO Chef Elena Gustavson discusses proper knife-straightening techniques with her class at Godnick Adult Center in Rutland Wednesday. Judge to decide agency tax status Doubt voiced at Act 46 forum By LOLA DUFFORT STAFF WRITER ORWELL If recent State Board of Education decisions are any indication, the state will likely give the Addison-Rutland Supervisory Union the all-clear this month to consolidate its six town school districts into one.

But residents in Orwell, Fair Haven, West Haven, Hubbardton, Castleton and Benson who must approve consolidation by a majority vote in each town for the proposal to pass could be much harder sells. Even as ARSU officials pitched the supervisory union's plan under Act 46 to a skeptical, packed Town Hall in Orwell Tuesday night, many school board members joined residents in expressing doubt about the plan. Alyson Eastman, an Orwell School Board member and the ARSU Act 46 committee chairwoman, told the crowd she was "60 percent" in favor of the measure. As a parent in the Orwell district, she said, she felt short-changed when her child had a string of substitute teachers for the bulk of a school year after a teacher fell ill. A single district among towns would allow schools to share resources, and allow a small school such as Orwell access to a permanent, licensed substitute.

"We have 180 days in a year to educate those students, and they deserve a licensed teacher in front of them," Eastman said. But prompted by a resident later in the meeting, Eastman said she wouldn't support the measure if the state didn't have the power under the new law See Orwell, Page A7 are state-funded, though the center also does its own fundraising and typically gets money from the city. One of the agencies receives funding voted on during town meeting annually. Lawyers for each side City Attorney Charles Romeo and John Kennelly declined to comment as the case is under review by the trial judge. Filings, however, spell out a dispute over the criteria in state law that render an organization tax exempt.

A 1989 Vermont children who have been designated by the state" thus failing to meet a strict definition of "public." The center's filing argues for a broader view. "Few, if any, educational and public services provide benefits that are 'direct and immediate' to anyone but the student and his or her family," Kennelly wrote. "Education and addressing childhood needs are a service that benefits the entire society the public at large." gordon.dritschilo rutlandherald.com Supreme Court case regarding the American Museum of Fly Fishing in Manchester laid out criteria including the property being "dedicated unconditionally to public use" and that it serve "an indefinite class of persons who are part of the public, and must also confer a benefit on society as a result of the benefit conferred on the persons directly served." The city's filing makes note of the Parent-Child Center directly serving specifically defined populations "parents and By GORDON DRITSCHIL0 STAFF WRITER A civil court judge will decide whether the Rutland County Parent-Child Center is tax exempt. While most social service organizations in the city do not pay properly taxes, the center does, and the long-running dispute over the group's status went to trial in Rutland civil court just before Christmas. The Pleasant Street center provides a variety of child care and parenting education programs.

Many of those programs Ex-aide admits sex act with teen student Alexandra Fusco, 26, of Bennington, pleaded guilty Tu ay in and a misdemeanor count of providing false information to police in order to implicate another person. Attorney Christopher Montgomery, who represented Fusco, said Wednesday a lot of work had gone into what was a difficult case. "I believe that the resolution was fair and wish my client the best," he said. Montgomery said before Fusco was sentenced, she declined to make a statement to the judge. Fusco was arraigned in August 2014 and charged with one felony count See Fusco, Page A7 By PATRICK MCARDLE STAFF WRITER BENNINGTON A local woman who was a teacher's aide and counselor at a residential school for troubled students in 2014 was sentenced to serve two to 15 years in prison Tuesday for having sexual contact with a boy younger than 16.

Fusco criminal court to a felony count of lewd and lascivious contact with a child With host Amanda Wheele IB lMm on 2015 Floor Models 4 Your Fmnt Row Seat To )j lllllllllllllllllll All Things Rutland County! REDC Changes ROBO-Rattlers 26305 HnmolniAn MnJV I 1 'flnHHI Whooping Cough Business Coaching More! Small Business Management for Private Sector and Nonprofit Leaders Jan. 1 3 April 6, 201 6 Wednesdays, p.m. Professional Continuing Education, Enrichment and Development CONVENIENT 12-WEEK PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT TRAINING SOLUTIONS i j. ran jwi .1 i I ll See us on Facebook. PEG RUTLAND COMMUNITY ACCESS BLsH Ynu I Connecting the Community.