Valley News from West Lebanon, New Hampshire • 2

Valley news Friday December 14 2007 Local Regional Early Season Snow Cold Help Ski Areas Get Off to Strong Start By John Cumin Associated Press Writer Montpelier Oh what a difference a year makes After struggling through a warm wet Decenter last year and a lackluster season Vermont ski resorts are awash in snow and more is on the way A winter storm bearing down on the state promised another 6 inches of snow adding to a snow pack that has skiers and snowboarders gleefully schussing through powder and those who aren't arc booking for later in the season levels have been really good" said Bonnie MacPherson spokeswoman for Okemo Mountain Resort in Ludlow have more terrain open than had in past years at this time with more snow on the way probably be 100 percent open for Christmas week' and I know when happened Last year warm weather made trouble for the ski industry What precipitation there was fell in the form of rain and temperatures in the high 30s and low 40s hampered snowmaking efforts In DecenAer 2006 Burlington got 42 inches of snow in the first 13 days of the month compared with 133 this year In the same period there were only two days in which the temperature dipped below freezing compared with the first 13 days of December this year when only three days were above freezing according to the National Weather Service snow keeps said Jen Butson spokesman for the Vermont Ski Areas Association According to that group 39 percent of 1242 ski trails were open as of Dec 10 compared with 14 percent at the same time last year At Notch last year skiing was delayed two weeks past the traditional Black Friday opening because of no snow When the Jeffersonville resort finally opened it was with only four trails Fast forward to this year when the resort opened on the day after Thanksgiving with 32 trailsopen the weather was still warm we were biting our nails a bit about our said spokeswoman Barbara fhomke soon as the cold weather hit and the snow started to come the phone started ringing completely booked for the holidays just no room at the she said As of yesterday Notch was reporting 69 trails open Eric Evenson a National Weather Service meteorologist said the snowy start to the ski season necessarily mean the whole winter will bethat way Page A2 Pick Up Sticks Maine Panel Delays Vote on Verizon Sale Workers and Communications Workers of America continued to contest it Adams said that having unanimous agreement on the deal would speed up its final resolution The unions which commended the PUC for refusing to rush to judgment said the stipulation would leave Maine residents with a financially risky company without sufficient resources to improve service quality and expand high speed broadband the finances of (FairPoint) we're primarily concerned said Pete McLaughlin business manager of IBEW Local 2327 been concerned with labor issues since the The PUCs Adams also said the newly approved stipulation left unanswered questions on at least three important matters They include wholesale market issues federal regulatory implications and privacy issues if customer call records have been released to the government without a warrant At next session the PUC could order another hearing to determine whether the objections have merit -FairPoint founder and CEO Gene Johnson said he was optimistic many of the interveners still opposing the deal will change their minds would like to start serving the people of Johnson said He added that he believe delay by the PUC will set tack action the New Hampshire or Ver- -moot any significant and that he thinks the Maine stipulation may aid the review process by clarifying issues still in question in the other two states think clarity there that wasn't there Johnson said CWA and IBEW officials say a number of issues not in the Maine stipulation have also been raised in the other two states By Gtatw Adams Associated Press Writer Augusta Maine The Maine Public Utilities Commission yesterday urged interests who still have not signed off on a Verizon-FairPoint landline sale in northern New England to get on board in the next week to avoid delays in the $27 billion transaction In doing so the PUC put off until Dec 20 consideration of a negotiated settlement or stipulation on the transaction with hopes that unanswered issues about the complex and far-reaching deal can be addressed case represents the most a important telecommunications deci-' sion this commission has made in said PUC Chairman Kurt Adams adding that it has generated of and consumed three months PUC staff and time But Adams and the other commissioners promised to give the case the time it deserves should not hurry this said Commissioner Vendean Vafiades very important we get it Charlotte NC-based FairPoint wants to take ownership of 16 million access lines along with Internet service in Maine New Hampshire and Vermont Verizon would retain its wireless phone oper- -ations in the region With a session initially scheduled for yesterday to take up the merits of the deal Maine stood to be the first of the three utility regulatory boards to rule on it Approval by Maine New Hampshire and Vermont is needed if the transaction is to go through On Wednesday an agreement on the deal was reached by Verizon Fair-Point the public advocate MPUC advisory staff and other phone carriers Others notably the International Brotherhood of Electrical 3 ruce Townsend loads logs of mixed hardwoods onto a trailer behind his tractor yesterday at Tomapo Farm on Stores Hill Road Lebanon to be taken to a nearby sawmill Townsend who along with his wife Merinda owns the maple sugar farm was clear-ng storm damage that occurred last April Despite losses to the red oak ash and white maple growing on his 400-acre property he said only four of the 1300 tapped maple trees were lost Vauzy News Jason Johns Chamber Honors Lagasse Feed and Supply Store Staff Report of the year for their efforts to raise more than $13000 for two new kennels for the department's police dogs and for donating food and training supplies for the dogs The chamber also cited the efforts to help revitalize the downtown West Lebanon commercial district by more than doubling the size of the store they bought near the former Westboro rail yard in 1993 and adding a veterinary office and a grooming shop The couple has raised thousands of dollars for area humane societies and 4-H groups In 2003 they raised more than $20000 for food tanks helping survivors of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana And just before the South Burlington Vt school system could snatch Lagasse away Pete Johnson hired Lagasse as manager of Home Center in West Lebanon Outside of work in addition to raising three children with his wife Maree Lagasse helped found the Dollars for Scholars program coached sixth-grade basketball team and Little League baseball and worked as a volunteer referee for the Mascoma Lions Qub basketball tournament He also-has volunteered at House and driven housebound patients to medical appointments The award comes in the same year that Lebanon Mice Department named them citizens Lebanon The Greater Lebanon Chamber of Commerce this week honored Ray Lagasse as citizen of the year and Curt and Sharon Jacques' West Lebanon Feed and Supply as business of the year Currently a member of the Lebanon Housing Authority Lagasse began building his Upper Valley resume in 1939 the year the former Navy navigator started teaching history and coaching basket-tall at Enfield High School Lagasse went on to direct the guidance-counseling programs of the Lebanon School District for 11 years Local Regional Briefs Vt Democrats Look to Reduce Insurance Costs By Wilson Rinq Fewlssues From Storm A storm that dropped a few more inches of snow than forecast create any major Upper Valley traffic snarls Snow that began falling mid-afternoon and lasted well into the night deposited anywhere from three to six inches in the Upper Valley according to several weather services Initial forecasts predicted one to three inches of accumulation But local dispatchers said the evening commute was surprisingly smooth and reported no major accidents last night had a couple cars slide off the road tat overall itwasa pretty typical winter storm" a Hanover dispatcher said Things were even more calm in Lebanon are either driving safer or just getting a city dispatcher said Tractor-trailers reportedly slid off Route 4 and School-house Road but there were no injuries sustained the Hartford dispatcher reported last night Dispatches from Claremont and Windsor also reported that the snow did not cause any serious problems At 7:43 pm the National Weather Service reported that the storm had moved east of the Connecticut River Valley But more snow couki be on the way Several weather services said the region could get hit by a significant storm late Saturday that could bring 18 inches of snow to the Upper Valley Mark Davis Hanover Student to Appeal Conviction Concord The Hanover High School student found guilty last month in connection with alleged test thefts at the school has appealed his conviction to the New Hampshire Supreme Court Paul Formella of Hanover the only student of nine charged in the case to have gone on trial filed his appeal Wednesday There are no court dates set yet in his case a Supreme Court spokeswoman said yesterday Formclla's parents John and Nancy Formella declined to comment yesterday Nancy Formella a co-president of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center referred inquiries to their attorney who did not respond to messages yesterday On Nov 14 Formella 17 was found guilty of being an accomplice or lookout in June to the theft of math final exams His sentence included a fine of $730 with $330 suspended if he completed a number of conditions including writing a letter of apology and an essay and completing 23 hours of community service Trials for other students charged in the case are scheduled for January and February Body Found in Peterborough Peterborough nh (ap) Police are investigating the discovery of a 22-year-old woman's body near a swamp yesterday morning Police say the woman had been visiting her father in Marlborough and had been missing since lag night Her father who was helping police and Fish Game Department officials search for her discovered the body near a swamp Peterborough Police Chief Scott Guinard said investigators have not ruled out foul play this point too early to he said The state Medical Office is expected to release autopsy results to police investigators today Absentee Ballots Increase at UNH Durham nh (ap) The presidential primary comes in the middle of college break next month so voting officials have been busy with requests for absentee ballots Many students from out-of-state declare their college towns as home so they can vote where they go to school Compared to most years there be as much crowding or same-day registration at the polls on primary day Durham Town Clerk Lome Pitt said but town voting officials have made several visits to UNH to help students apply for absentee ballots Pitt says the Clinton and Obama campaigns also have provided buses this week to take students to Town Hall to register and get absentee ballots Hair from Pants Sent tor Analysis Montgomery Vt (ap) The FBI laboratory in Virginia will test a hair found in an abandoned pair of jeans to determine if they belonged to a Montgomery teenager who went missing almost four years ago The jeans were found October 23 in a remote wooded area and turned over to the police to see if they belonged to Brianna Maitland who was 17 when she was last seen in Montgomery on March 19 2004 The Vermont State Mice says 'technicians at the Vermont Forensic Laboratory find enough DNA in the jeans to determine if they belonged to Maitland' Police say the results of the test will be made public once received from the FBI lab Vt Cited for Food Stamp Program Waterbury Vt (ap) The state of Vermont was lauded yesterday for improving access to the federal food stamp program with a US Department of Agriculture official announcing a $268193 award to the state Suzanne Biermann regional administrator for the Food and Nutrition Service said Vermont was one of four states to earn the award for boosting the number (people who are eligible for and receiving food stamps the price of fuel and other costs squeezing people food stamps play a bigger and bigger said Steve Dale commissioner of the Department for Children and Families Former Corrections Officer Convicted Concord (ap) A former prison seigeant who already is serving 20 to 40 years for raping a female inmate has been convicted of physically assaulting another female inmate Jurors took less than an hour on Wednesday to convict Douglas Tower of grabbing an inmate by the neck at the Shea Farm halfway house in Concord He argued he was just horsing around Tower was convicted in February of six counts of rape and sexual assault against another female inmate lie supervised at Shea Farm He still faces trials on chaiges of assaulting II other women and chronic illness prpgrams the state would also finance a reinsurance program to cover the costs of the most expensive illnesses Symington and Shumlin provide a plan Rather they left it to the chairmen and chairwoman of the Legislature's committees that deal with health care issues to craft a solution Gov Jim Douglas a Republican said he shared the goaLsof providing all Vermonters with affordable health insurance made a lot of progress insurance premiums are still too high We need to see what we can do to moderate Douglas said look forward to hearing more details in particular how going to be funded We have to be sure that whatever we do is Shumlin said taxpayers would end up paying for some of the program not forget that right now we are putting small businesses on the hook for covering the cost of health care for everybody else" he said it time that we did something for individuals and small business people in this Symington said that without affordable insurance even people with high-deductible insurance plans would avoid getting needed health care which would ultimately make it more expensive to treat that illness Legislature is committed to taking the next step to make sure that all Vermonters have access to the health care they need when they need it at a price they can Symington said Associated Press Writer Montpelier Democratic leaders of the House and Senate called on lawmakers yesterday to find a way to make health care insurance affordable fa small business owners and the self-employed some of whom are facing premium increases of more than 30 percent House Speaker Gaye Symington D-Jericho and Senate President Pro Tern Peter Shumlin D-Windham asked lawmakers to prepare to do the hard work needed to accomplish that goal The two said they support recommendations of the legislative Health Care Reform Commission which called for a more affordable health insurance option for small businesses and the self-employed are facing a Shumlin said at a statehouse news conference is a crisis that affects every single Vermonter It affects the ability to live He said it was clear the federal government would not step in and solve the health care problem facing the state and the country states are going to have to act Vermont is going to have to lead and when Vermont leads others Shumlin said The goal would be to offer a health insurance plan through commercial insurers that would be 20 percent to 30 percent less than similar coverage choices The lower cost would be achieved by encouraging people to stay healthy by participating in wellness.