May 7, 2008

Weather

This week in the Legislature

A meeting of minds on current use taxation

by Paul Lefebvre

MONTPELIER — Legislation to update the current use law may have made some new bedfellows.

Passed last week in the closing days of the Legislature, it’s a bill that has left both farmers and environmentalists smiling.

“I had misgivings when we started out,” said Representative Phil Winters of Williamstown, a farmer and an early participant in the program who “got in on day one.”

As a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, Mr. Winters, a seven-term Republican, sat on the Current Use Task Force that held public hearings last summer to see how the law was working and where it needed to be tweaked.

He was concerned that the program, designed 30 years ago to keep land open by taxing it on its use value rather than fair market value, might be gutted.

For the complete story, see this week’s paper.

More of this week’s headlines, click here

Delivering a strike

Lady Ranger Dana Leblanc, seen here delivering a strike to a Hazen batter on Thursday, May 1, is part of a great Lake Region rotation and one of the reasons the Lady Rangers have two wins already this season. Leblanc held Hazen early on, and her bats backed her up. But in the end Hazen would mount a successful comeback and steal a win.  Against Danville on Saturday Leblanc's teammate and fellow hurler, Danika Gallup, pitched seven successful innings to earn herself and her Lady Rangers the win. Earlier this season the Lady Rangers defeated Northfield for their first win of the season. 

Photo by Ryan Peter Anderson