Bennington Banner from Bennington, Vermont • 12

i LOCALSTATE Pag- 12 Bennington Banner IX eilnesday, January 30, 1983 Shaftsbury considers fire district VERMONT BRIEFS village of South Shaftsbury. But that vote was challenged by a petition. The petition, claiming voters did not understand the issues involved in an expansion, was spearheaded by an opponent of the plan, Shaftsbury village resident Edward Armstrong. Armstrong, who represents Committee For Less Government, said he packed the hall last night by knocking on doors to bring residents out. And if the measure passes today, Armstrong said he will do his best to encourage residents to attend Prudential Committee meetings.

Both governing boards, the Prudential Committee of Rosemary Lindsey, David Mattison, and Joseph Herman, and the Board of Selectmen of William Sylvester, Merton Snow, and Alvan Lawrence, came under criticism. Selectmen were criticized for changing their position on the expansion, which documents from last year show they once supported. agreement. They said since firemen accept town money to run the fire district, they will answer town fire calls. The three Prudential Committee members said little during the meeting, leaving Jacobs to make their statements for them and answer the technical questions, often on related side-issues.

However, longtime Prudential Committee member David Mattison explained his position afterwards. The Prudential Committee had simply gone to the public to ask them to vote for an expansion that would correct a mess in which firemen fight blazes outside their legal jurisdiction, he said. Prudential Committee member Rosemary Lindsey said afterwards that her committee has been stalled for years. In November, voters agreed to create a town-wide fire district, thus abolishing the small fire district that now roughly corresponds with the opponents of the expansion argue the move will cost the town more and create a cumbersome extra arm of government. Furthermore, opponents say it is not legally necessary to add a fire district since there is no doubt in anyones mind that firemen will continue to answer all fires regardless to the location in Shaftsbury.

Fire Chief Ronald Lindsey read a statement that said firemen will continue to answer all calls. Selectmen say that a simple contract between the current fire district and town can do away with the need for an expansion. Jacobs challenged the legality of a 1953 document that selectmen say shows a long-standing agreement on the part of the fire company to protect all Shaftsbury homes, both within and outside the boundaries of the South Shaftsbury Village. Selectmen then countered that the paper was not only legal but also represents a long-standing moral By WENDELL SEVERINGHAUS SHAFTSBURY The issues that face Shaftsbury in todays townwide re-vote on a fire district expansion boil down to-a-Iegal necessity, attorney Thomas Jacobs told an audience of nearly 100 Shaftsbury residents last night. Jacobs, who represents the Prudential Committee governing the fire district, said at an informational meeting that a substantial amount of the towns population lacks a legal basis for the fire protection they are now getting.

That situation that should be solved by expanding the fire district, he said. Expanding the fire district has been discussed for the past six years as proponents sought to give the present fire district legal jurisdiction to protect the whole town. As it stands, the fire district technically covers only the Village of South Shaftsbury. Residents can expand the fire district with a yes vote today, but Police issue drug paraphernalia citation By PETER CRABTREE Bennington Police issued another drug paraphernalia citation Tuesday. Local merchants did not seem concerned with the citations.

Gene Lott, 49, owner of Oasis, a store at 334 Pleasant St, was cited for possessing drug paraphernalia. Lott, who lives in Old Bennington, must appear in Vermont District Court on Feb. 11 to be arraigned on the charge. Last Friday, James H. Lukshus, 53, an Oasis employee, received two citations for selling, and possessing with the intent to sell, paraphernalia.

Lukshus was cited after four Bennington police officers and detectives aimed with a warrant searched Oasis. The store is located behind the Mount Anthony Union Junior High School. Lott estimated police took $500 worth of rolling papers and pipes as evidence in the search. Area merchants contacted Tuesday said they did not plan to stop them off the shelves, then we will too. Rolling papers have been pretty much an accepted thing ever since I was a kid, Maroney, 40, said.

Lott criticized the law as vague. The state legislature passed it last April, he said, because it was the politically expedient thing to do. Generally, the house wasnt in favor of that law even though the vote was overwhelming when it was forced on the One cant appear in any way on the record to be pro-drugs. But, Lott said, Drugs are a totally different question from this (issue) the law is tryiftgM to insist that they (rolling papers amLoipes) will be used for drugs. When Barton was asked if he was uncomfortable trying to enforce a law some call unenforceable, he replied "Our posistion is were sworn to enforce the law and uphold the law if we know of someone breaking the law, well arrest them.

selling rolling papers now that police are issuing citations. Steve Leonard, a state probation officer and owner of the Smokers Den on Hunt Street, which sells rolling papers, said we havent paid much attention to the new law. We could ask people if they intend to smoke marijuana when they buy the papers, "but theyll all say no, he said. "I think it (the law) is too vague, he said. I think it will end up being thrown out.

Jim Brown, the stores manager, agreed. "Personally, I think its a stupid law. I dont know how theyre going to enforce it, he said. Lott estimated police took $500 worth of rolling papers and pipes as evidence in the Oasis search. Bennington Police Chief Peter Barton said last week the misdemeanor citations were the result of a month-long investigation by his department and the Vermont State Police.The citations are the first the department has issued since the law banning the sale of paraphernalia took effect on July 1, 1984.

The Oasis, formerly located in the Hawks Block on Main Street, has been at its new location near the behind the school for about two months, Lott said. He said his store was not frequented by the junior high school students. Lott said yesterday that he wrote Barton last June and asked the police chief to explain what the shop could not sell. According to Lott, Barton never replied. Instead, they (the police) come in and say Gotcha, Lott said.

Barton said yesterday he would have to check his records to see if Lott was right. Ed Maroney, owner of Willys Variety, a grocery store on Gage Street, said You can go into two dozen stores in town and buy rolling papers If they (the police) come around and say every one is taking Students to study press COLCHESTER The Vermont Press Association will sponsor a High School Journalism Conference Saturday, February 9, at St. Michaels College in Colchester. The Day-long session is open to all high school students and the advisors to any high school publications, Mike Donoghue, VPA president said. The conference is being held in conjunction with the colleges journalism department and is made possible, in part through an education grant from the New England Press Association.

It will begin at 9 a.m. Many of the states top journalists and members of the colleges journalism department will participate, Donoghue said. Burlington Attorney Robert Hemley, who represents several Vermont newspapers will discuss Libel Newspaper Law. Robin Glassman, chairman of the Southern Connecticut University Jour nalism Department will be the luncheon speaker. She will also participate in some of the panels.

Donoghue said there will be individual sessions for advisors, editors and writers to exchange information. Among the topics during the conference are: Purpose of Newspaper, The Newswriting Process, Interviewing Techniques, Feature Writing, Sports Writing, Opinion Writing, Editing and Headline Writing, Layout, Advertising, Photography and Careers in Journalism. Donoghue said the afternoon will conclude with a review team providing a critique of the high school newspapers. The cost will be $4 per person and will include the cost of the luncheon. The Vermont Press Association is over 60 years old and represents the interests of the states daily and non-daily papers and also the wire services.

For more information about the conference interested persons may contact Donoghue at The Burlington Free Press at 1-800-642-3124. Additional information is also being mailed to the advisors at each Vermont High School. Hospital decline forces scrutiny MONTPELIER (UPI) If a two-year decline in the use of Vermont hospitals continues, the states hospital system may have to shrink, a group established by the Legislature to oversee health care costs said Tuesday. But the Hospital Data Council which was formed in 1983 in response to increased concern about rising health care costs said sufficient measures are in place to oversee changes in the health care system. Despite the rapid changes hospitals are experiencing, Vermont hospitals have worked to accommodate themselves to their changed said Data Council Chairman Duncan Brown.

The councils role as negotiator of hospital care costs is working and we see no need for change. Brown told a joint session of the House and Senate Health and Welfare Committees the hospitals will have-to make more changes in the future to adapt to decreased use. Greene named to Kunin post WATERBURY (UPI) A Richford woman has been named director of the State Economic Opportunity Office, Gov. Madeleine Kunin and Human Services Secretary Gretchen Morse announced Tuesday. Pamela Greene, who worked on Kunins campaign and has directed several community health programs, was to begin the job immediately, Morse said.

The economic opportunity office was established in 1964 to help poor people become self sufficient. Greene succeeds Majorie Witherspoon, who was recently named director of the National Association for State Community Services Programs. Livestock inspector regains post MONTPELIER (UPI) Agriculture Commissioner George Dun-smore says David Walker has been placed in charge of the states livestock inspection program a year after he was stripped of that responsibility. Dunsmore said Monday Walker will resume control of the program. Walker was involved in a probe of the meat inspection program two years ago, after workers said they had been told to relax inspection standards.

The state veterinarian was dismissed by the state in June 1983 for alleged mismanagement. He was reinstated three months later but stripped of responsibility for the inspection program. Stowe nixes resort aid STOWE (UPI) Town officials say they had their fellow Americans in mind when they refused to help a wealthly developer get federal funds to build a posh athletic club in their famous ski town. Resort owner Marvin Gameroff asked selectmen to help him apply for a $500,000 federal grant to build a $15 million club, complete with private homes, town houses, restaurants and riding stables, But selectmen Monday unanimously voted down the idea, in part because it would put a drain on the already limited workforce of the town. But officials said they were also concerned about the ballooning federal deficit and the effect their move would have on other less fortunate Americans.

I dont think it is the intent of Congress to put health clubs in wealthy towns, said Herbert OBrien, chairman of the Board of Selectman. There is no unemployment here there are other towns in Vermont that need the jobs. One out of five tax dollars is being used to pay our national debt, said Stowe resident William Leipert. Are we as taxpayers supposed to recommend the government go futher into debt in the town of Stowe to build more handball courts? Kunin discusses her future budget plans close watch on the recount, since two votes in the Republicans slim six-vote majority are at stake. The House also approved a bill keeping the 200th anniversary celebration for the adoption of the Vermont Constitution alive.

The House passed a bill which would allow car-owners to display commemorative license plates distributed in honor of the 1977 celebration for five more years. The bill will now be considered by the Senate. A new member also joined the House, representing Groton, Newbury and Ryegate. Richard Hausman was picked over Joyce Zampieri, former Rep. John Zampieris wife.

There were two good candidates, Im sure hell do a good job, said Kunins press secretary Robert Sherman. Champlain grant on hold come tax hike put in place to pay off the deficit erased. She said it also figures in income from an 8-cent-per-pack increase in the cigarette tax which she has proposed to help pay for her $389 million 1986 spending proposal. Kunin said her budget would require a 3.6 percent increase in state revenues a rate which has been exceeded in Vermont in eight of the past 10 years. Kunins fiscal 1986 budget included $7.8 million in increased aid to local school districts and $2.5 million for a revenue sharing program modeled on the federal program.

That was less than her campaign promise of a 20 percent increase in state aid and a $5 million revenue sharing program, and she said those commitments could be kept in 1987. Kunins budget was released as the fourth week of the session got underway. The House voted to let the Municipal Corporations Committee recount ballots in the Chittenden-; Franklin District-I race between Republican Almon Woodward of Fairfax and Democrat Bennett Greene of Westford, and in the Chittenden District-4 race between Republican Ruth Stokes and Democrat Ruth Painter, both of Williston. Both Woodward and Stokes have been sworn in with other House members and have been seated at the Statehouse for the past three weeks. Republicans are sure to keep a MONTPELIER (UPI) Gov.

Madeleine Kunin said Tuesday she expects to propose a $427 million fiscal 1987 budget next year that will continue programs she has began this year without any additional tax increases. Kunins proposal includes additional state aid to education, a larger revenue sharing program and $13 million to catch up on payments deferred in her fiscal 1986 proposal. It was provided at the request of House Appropriations Committee Chairman John Hise. Kunin told legislative leaders in a letter said she would recommend a basic appropriation increase of 6 percent, or $24 million, in addition to the $13 million. She said the total budget would be 9.6 percent higher than her 1986 proposal.

Kunin Tuesday also appointed Democrat Richard Ha usman, 39, of Newbury, to fill a vacancy in the House; replacing John Zampieri of Ryegate, a Democrat who left the Legislature to take a job as state buildings director. Meanwhile, the House voted to recount ballots in two contested House races marking only the second and third legislative recounts in recorded history. And, the House approved a bill allowing car owners to continue displaying ceremonial license plates that were to expire this year, for five more years. Kunins 1987 budget assumes the states $36 million deficit will have been retired, and the personal in BURLINGTON (UPI) A request for a $17.5 federal grant to help develop the shore of Lake Champlain has been put on hold, just days before a final decision was due. City officials had expected to hear Wednesday whether they would receive a federal grant to lend to the Alden Waterfront Corp.

as part of a $100 milion lakeshore development project. But federal officials said Monday it will be at least three months before a decision is reached. The delay added fuel to the fiery race between Democrat Brian Burnsj and incumbent Mayor Bernard Sanders, two of seven candidates in the upcoming mayoral election. Bums blamed the delay on the Sanders administrations failure to include an environmental impact statement in the grant application. Nothing is going to happen on the lakefront as long as Bemie Sanders is mayor nothing decent, Bums said.

But a federal official at the Department of Housing and Urban Development in Manchester, N.H., said the lack of an impact statement had nothing to do with the delay. I do not believe an environmental impact statement is of concern to our Washington office, said HUD spokesman Richard Hatin. Alden spokesmen said Tuesday they were looking into the need for an environmental permit. But, they said th grants are given first to more economically depressed areas, and Burlington which is quite properous ranked in the lower half of the applicants in terms of need. OBITUARIES AND FUNERALS FOR THE RECORD HOSPITAL lived in Harwich before moving to Woodford a few months ago.

Monday evening at the funeral home a wake service was offered by the Rev. William Beaudin, associate pastor of St. Francis. Entombment was in Park Lawn Chapel with burial to take place in the spring. Miss Lamontagne, a member of the junior class at MAUHS, died Saturday morning from injuries sustained in a snowmobile accident at her home Friday.

offertory gifts were presented by Joelle and Daniel Lamontagne. A prayer service at the Mahar and Son Funeral Home preceded the funeral mass. Bearers were her brother, Daniel Lamontagne, cousins Peter Murray and Robert Beauvais, along with Norman LeBlanc, William Farrell and Timothy Maskiel. Attending the services were students and administrators of both Mount Anthony Union High School and Harwich (Mass.) Junior-Senior High School. The Lamontagne family Tuesday, Jan.

29 Admissions Julia Bahan of Shaftsbury, Charlene Cary of Granville N.Y., Joseph Florio of Hoosick Falls, N.Y., Dorothy Le Blanc of Bennington, Clarence Smith of Pownal, Justin Smith of West Arlington, Alfreds Wright of Bennington. Discharges Floyd Van Orman of North Bennington, Pauline Scully and baby girl of Buskirk, N.Y. HELEN B. CONROY SANDGATE Helen Barbara Conroy, 87, of Sandgate, died Tuesday at the Southwestern Vermont Medical Center. Bom May 16, 1897, in New York City, she was the daughter of Joseph and Barbara (Schrout) Roesch.

She received her education there. Her husband, William Conroy, is deceased. Mrs. Conroy had previously lived in Yonkers, N.Y. She moved to Sandgate from Yonkers in 1960 and had been an active member of St.

Margaret Marys Church in Arlington and was a member of the Arlington Senior Citizens Club. She is survived by two sisters, Mrs. Margaret Kashuba of Rockland County, N.Y., and Mrs. Emily Quinn of Nalcrest, Fla. Friends may call at the Hanson- Walbridge Funeral Home in Arlington tonight from 6-8.

A wake prayer service will be held at 7:30 p.m. The Liturgy of Christian Death and Burial will be celebrated Friday morning at St. Columbanus Church in Peekskill, N.Y. Memorial contributions may be made to St. Margaret Marys Church through the funeral home in Bennington.

Lamontagne services Funeral services for Marielle S. Lamontagne of Woodford were held Tuesday morning at St. Francis de Sales Church, where the Liturgy of Christian Death and Burial was celebrated by the Rev. N. Joseph Pray, pastor.

Soloist was Irene Cronin. Louise Gauthier served as organist. The BENNINGTON BRIEFS The Mount Anthony Union High School repertory drama class will present the rock opera Tommy tonight and Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in the MAU auditorium. The performance is free and open to the public.

Collision causes $2,000 in car damage A two car collision Monday resulted in $2,000 in damages to a car belonging to a Bennington man. Alvin Duncan Jenkins, 71, was stopped on Main Street near School Street at about 12:23 p.m. when a car driven at about 15 to 20 miles per hour by Smith G. Stratton 21, of Bennington ran into the rear end of Jenkins car. Jenkins 1983 Oldsmobile received $2,000 in damages; Strattons 1972 Pontiac, $200.

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BOSTON (UPI) The Massachusetts lottery number. Tuesday was 2266. We Have Fresh Bagels 20 each Try our new LARGE RAVIOUS AT JOSEF'S specialty FOOD SHOP 3 PHOTOCOPIES CTC Photo Factory 254 Benmont Avenue Bennington, Vt BENNINGTON BANNER Needs a Carrier Boy or Girl Gaga St Frank St and Branch St Araa Alao Knaoc Dnva and Caroln Drrva- Call 447-7567 between 8 30 and 5 OO MOUNT ANTHONY COUNTRY CLUB Bennington LUNCHES AND DINNERS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC 442-2617 THE COUNTRY CLOSET Wants Crafts on Consignment Phone 442-2082 betwee 1 0 OO 5 OO Fn thru Mon. Quiet Valley Community Market Benrangton South St 201.