The Brattleboro Reformer from Brattleboro, Vermont • 11

IL(S)(SJL Wednesday, August 10, 1988 Brattleboro Reformer Water problems loom again ordered townspeople to boil tap water for five minutes before using. Remillard said that the weather can play a large part in how soon a boil water order is instituted. Rain can help cool the water and soothe the troubled water, he explained. Brattleboro is undertaking a major renovation of its water system, including the replacement of water mains and the construction of a filtration plant at the Pleasant Valley Reservoir. Land clearing for the filtration plant has been completed and excavation work is about ready to begin, Remillard said.

The completion date for the filtration plant is next October; a boil-water order remains a possibility for next year as well, he noted. Anti-erosion steps are being taken to keep silt from the filtration plant construction out of the reservoir, Remillard added. Utility workers are taking daily water samples for testing, and three samples a week are being sent to state water-quality officials for analysis. The condition of the water in the Pleasant Valley Reservoir as of Tuesday was not as bad as it was in early August of 1987, Remillard said. At this point, were are meeting all of the standards, he added.

4 But the murkiness is increasing and complaints of discolored water have been aired on the west end of town, Remillard explained. The discoloration in the water comes from an increase in iron in the reservoir. The iron is a byproduct of stepped-up biological action in the bottom of the lake, officials have said. The turbidity in the water is not a threat to health, but the particles that contribute to the turbid condition can hide harmful bacteria from chlorine treatments, experts say. To combat the danger of infection in the past, town officials have By CHRISTOPHER ROWLAND The condition of Brattleboros municipal water supply is deteriorating with recent hot weather, and a boil-water order may be on the horizon, the towns utilities superintendent said Tuesday.

Boil-water orders have become something of an annual ritual for Brattleboro townspeople. Last year, a 55-day boil water order that started at the end of the summer broke all records for duration. So far this year, all the signs of building turbidity in the Pleasant Valley Reservoir are there and a boil water order could be issued before the end of August, Jerry Remillard, utilities superintendent, said Tuesday. I would say its going to happen, but I dont know to what extent. The only thing we can hope is its less severe than last year, Remillard said of a boil water order.

The turbidity could become a problem at the end of the month the way things are looking. AP Selectmen turn to ankee for sludge costs STABBING SUSPECT This is a composite sketch of a man wanted in the weekend stabbing of a pregnant Winchester, N.H., woman. Police said Tuesday that they are looking for a blond, clean-shaven white man, 32 years old, of medium build who weighed 150-160 pounds and was about 5 feet 6 inches tall. Police distribute sketch of Winchester stab suspect CONCORD, N.H. (AP) State police are distributing a sketch of a suspect in a brutal stabbing attack that left a pregnant Winchester woman seriously wounded.

They also said they doubt there is any connection with a fatal stabbing attack on a pregnant woman in Bedford last month. Were treating it as a separate incident, Lt. Richard Foote said after interviewing Jane Boroski, 22, the Winchester victim. He said there is no evidence to link the Sunday morning attack in Swanzey with the strangulation and stabbing death of Sharon Johnson of Bow, who was killed on July 28. Authorities say that despite the mothers multiple stab wounds, Bor-oskis unborn baby was not harmed.

Based on her description of the attacker, police said they are looking for a blond, clean-shaven white man, 32 to 40 years old. He is of medium build, weighs 150 to 160 pounds and is about 5 feet 8 inches tall. its sewage to Brattleboro early in June, following the discovery of traces of the radioactive isotope cobalt-60. Lawrence said state officials are preparing to give Brattleboro permission to resume land-applying sludge soon. However, he and the selectmen noted farmers are unwilling to take the material.

Lawrence said he is in favor of dumping the sludge in the landfill, noting that the concentrations of radiation would have to be 1 million time higher for a danger to be present. Other solutions are bound to be expensive, Lawrence and the selectmen said. Yankee should pay for it, Selectman Hugh Bronson said. The citizens of the town should not pay for it. Selectman Chairman Daniel Hannify said, Vermont Yankee is part of this, and they should bear part of the responsibilities.

Vermont Yankee spokesman Harry McBrien said this week utility officials are working on a solution to the problem of sludge disposal. No answers have yet been settled on, he McBrien said. Tuesday night that the growing pile of sludge at the sewage-treatment facility will be too large to store within the next 75 days. The state has told the town not to move the contaminated pile until further notice. In addition to Brattleboros problems, the Stratton sewage treatment plant was closed off to 'The problem for this part of Windham County is becoming super, super local septic-tank cleaners on Monday, Lawrence said.

The problem for this part of Windham County is becoming super, super critical, he observed. The sludge that comes out the Brattleboro sewer plant continues to show levels of radiation, apparently because it takes several months for sewage to work its way through the system, Lawrence said. Vermont Yankee stopped bringing By CHRISTOPHER ROWLAND The Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. should pay for the disposal of radiation-tainted sludge that is piling up at the Brattleboro sewage-treatment facility, several members of the Brattleboro Board of Selectmen said Tuesday. Also, the selectmen said, more pressure must be put on state officials to develop a plan for disposal of the towns sludge, the byproduct of the sewage-treatment process.

Brattleboro, until early this year, spread its sludge on fields with the consent of area farmers. However, fears about the heavy-metal content of the sludge and recent revelations earlier this summer about the presence of radiation in sludge piles has made that practice unpopular among landowners. State officials have determined the radiation, accumulated in what they call harmless amounts, was trucked to the Brattleboro facility from a sewage holding tank at the Vermont Yankee plant in Vernon. Paul Lawrence, Brattleboro Department of Public Works director, told the selectmen Town officials agree to hire personnel director Candidate Welch pushes federal aid to education State Senator Peter Welch, campaigning in Brattleboro for Congress Tuesday, called for greater federal support to higher education. Reductions in student assistance programs are making college educations a luxury that working families cannot afford for their children, said Welch, D-Windsor, who is president piu tern of the senate.

Federal aid to college students has dropped by 24 percent since 1980, and the remaining aid has increasingly taken the form of loans, rather than grants or scholarships, Welch said. This reflects Reagans priorities hes doubled the military budget and squeezed domestic programs, Welch said. I also fault Congress for its complicity. If elected to Congress, Welch said, he would work to cut weapons spending and spend more on the essentials: housing, education, health care, child care, he said. I think one can make a difference in Congress by being an insistent voice for re-ordering national priorities, he said.

Fridays and Saturdays during the fall and taken to a special area at the dump. The proposal, passing unanimously, was brought before the board by Ome, who represents Brattleboro on the Windham County Solid Waste Management District Board of Supervisors. The move is expected to actually save the town money because leaves in the paper bags will be accepted at the waste districts dump at a more reduced rate than normal trash. Townspeople who wish to bring their own leaves to the dump will be permitted to do so at a fee of $2 per cubic yard. Plastic bags will not be accepted, Ome said.

Approved a plan to accept bids and hire one firm to handle Brattleboro Police Department tow requests. Approved a request by the Brattleboro Recreation and Parks Department to pave the lower road at the Living Memorial Park. Granted a second-class liquor license for Tastebuds, formerly Straw and Hay on Main Street. salary and benefit reductions in several departments. In another matter Tuesday, the selectmen said they would start with an attempt to keep next years budget down by starting with the 1988-89 spending plan and adding to it.

Finance Director David Sichel said areas of cost increases for the town will be 5 percent salary increases, health insurance cost hikes, escalating dump fees, debt payments for road bond issues made in March and for sludge disposal. Selectman Cassie Carlson said she would like to increase the level of town funding to human services agencies, would be willing to spend money for the implementation of impact fees and would like to hire another person for the recreation department. In other action Tuesday, the board: Approved a fall leaf disposal program that will require town residents to purchase compostable paper bags for 20 cents each. The bags would be picked up on three answer but well wait and see, Lynch said. Hannify noted that the new staff members role as purchasing agent should save the town the cost of the $25,000 salary for the position.

The floater secretary also approved would be paid $13,000, for a total of $38,000 annually. For the first year, however, the positions will cost the town just $26,000 because the jobs will not be filled until October, well into the current fiscal year. Bronson said he was opposed to hiring a personnel manager because the position was rejected by members of the Brattleboro Representative Town Meeting last March. The Town Meeting cut $50,000 from the budget that symbolized the positions. The $50,000 was cut by Town Meeting because of the jobs that we were going to put in, Bronson said.

The town administration was able to cut $50,000 from the budget while squeezing funds from other places to cover the cost of the personnel manager and secretary for the current year. Savings were found in By CHRISTOPHER ROWLAND The Brattleboro Board of Selectmen, on a 4-1 vote, decided Tuesday night to hire a personnel director-purchasing agent for the town government. Dissenting in the vote was Selectman Hugh Bronson, who objected to hiring another administrator for the town. Bronson joined the rest of the board in voting to hire a floater secretary. Selectmen Chairman Daniel Hannify, arguing in favor of tfre personnel director-purchasing agent, said the town has a dire need for someone to handle issues related to the towns 140 employees.

Theres certain issues that are not being taken care of, Hannify said. Weve got some serious problems, mostly in communications, added Selectman Carlton Ome. Selectman Thomas Lynch, who opposed hiring a personnel manager when he was running for his position last March, said meetings with em-ployess over the past months has convinced him of the need for someone to handle personnel issues. I dont think its the complete Selectmen have questions about BACLT's endeavors another buyer for the deteriorating properties at that price. But BACLT board member Leo Berman said the trust is trying to take the buildings out of the speculation market and make them decent and affordable forever.

Were trying to be tough negotiators, Berman added. Connie Snow, BACLT manager, noted the land trust had not paid over appraised value for any of its properties. Lynch said he is willing to vote in favor of having the town act as agent for the HUD loans for the renovation work. The selectmen are scheduled to vote on the matter August 23. Selectmen Cassie Carlson and Carlton Ome said they also would vote in favor of helping administer the HUD funds.

But Hannify said he is worried that if the town accepts the role, a number of applicants for HUD rehabilitation funds will seek town help. Bronson said he wants to study the issue further. Bronson said the reason many of the buildings in the Canal Street-Clark Street area are not being fixed up is because speculators are simply buying them to turn them over. Hannify added he is not willing to attend a special work session to discuss the the BACLTs role in Brattleboro, saying he is By CHRISTOPHER ROWLAND A straw poll of the Brattleboro Board of Selectmen taken Tuesday night shows the board is in favor of assisting the Brattleboro Area Community Land Trust renovate several run-down Canal Street buildings. However, reservations about the land trusts role in town were expressed by three members of the board.

Selectman Thomas Lynch said he resented that the land trust was bailing out land speculators that are now finding their real estate too expensive to maintain. To that, Selectmen Chairman Daniel Hannify said Lynch had hit the nail right on the head. The Canal Street properties, the young land trusts first purchase in its effort to preserve affordable housing, apparently are an example of what Lynch, Hannify and Selectman Hugh Bronson were talking about. The land trust paid $364,000 for the three buildings and is seeking to spend another $237,000 in Housing and Urban Development loans renovating the properties. Eventually, the trust hopes to turn ownership of individual units over to the tenants.

Some townspeople and officials have said the seller, landlord and developer Michael Lacroix, made a killing on the deal and problably would not have been able to find CRASH in effect tomorrow The Windham County Sheriffs office announced it will be operating its CRASH program on various days of the week along with the traditional weekend patrols during the upcoming months. A spokesman for the Sheriffs office said the additional patrols were an effort to keep highways safe from intoxicated drivers. The first weekday patrol will be Thursday, Aug. 11, the report added. The problem for this part of Windham County is becoming super, super critical, he In the Service Chaita MtarSeU ARSON INVESTIGATION Vernon Police Chief Herbert Meyer, left, and State Fire Marshal David Sargent sift through the rubble looking for the cause of this fire at the former Brad Bliss residence on Route 142.

Sargent said the fire had been deliberately set. Fire marshal suspects arson in Vernon blaze Completes training Navy Seaman Recruit Kenneth L. Kirby, son of Kenneth W. Kirby of East Jamaica, has completed recruit training at Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes, Illinois. He joined the U.S.

Navy in April of 1988. Club Motes Rescue Inc. sery at the inn for children through age five. A ramp is available. For further information or reservations call 348-7727 or 256-6113.

All women are welcome. Protective Grange The next regular meeting of Protective Grange will be held Friday, Aug. 12, at the lodge hall in West Dummerston. Walter and Evelyn Cutler will be in charge of the until the work is completed. It will take a week or two, he said.

The house, which was unoccupied, suffered severe fire damage on the top floor and the front porch, and water damage on the ground floor. Brattleboro and Northfield, Fire Departments assisted at the scene, Guilford sent a cover truck to the Vernon station and Rescue Inc. stood by. There were no injuries. however, had spread into a false ceiling, and then went through the entire house.

Firefighters were hampered by the construction of the ceiling, which made it difficult to pull down. It took an hour and a half to bring the fire under control. Sargent said he did not know what substance was used to set the fire. I took samples to go to the laboratory to be analyzed. I wont know By CHARLES SATTERFIELD VERNON Firefighters were called out shortly after 4 a.m.

Tuesday to battle a stubborn fire at the former Brad Bliss residence on Route 142. State Police Fire Marshal David Sargent was at the scene, and said the fire had been set. Upon arrival, firemen found the front porch fully involved in flames, which they quickly doused. The fire, Christian Womens Club The Christian Womens Club of the Brattleboro Area will meet at noon on Tuesday, Aug. 16, at the Putney Inn.

Judy Perry of Hudson, will be the speaker and music will be provided by Robert Barnes, accompanied by Carroll Wentworth. The special feature will be a surprise. The cost of the luncheon is $7.50 and reservations andor cancellations are necessary. There is a free nur- Monday: 9:32 a.m., Upper Dummerston Road, woman fallen, 11:01 a.m., Putney Road, car accident. Tuesday: 4 a.m., stand structure fire, Vernon..