One of the trucks used for cleaning up tires had a well-decorated tailgate. Photo by Bethany M. DunbarWESTMORE — Evan Scheidet of Big E’s Garage in Sutton was having lunch at the overlook here a couple of weeks ago on the CCC Road. The overlook has a beautiful view of the cliffs of Mount Pisgah. Mr. Scheidet looked down and saw something a lot less beautiful — a whole lot of old tires had been thrown over the bank.
He decided to do something more than just complain. He got some friends together and hauled the tires out in an informal celebration of a grand Vermont tradition, Green Up Day, the first Saturday in May. Actually, Mr. Scheidet and his friends hauled the tires out on Friday, May 4. The friends had some bets — which size tire would have gone the furthest down the bank and how many tires there would be in all.
On Tuesday he reported that five men managed to haul 92 tires out. His friend Matt Elliott won the bet with a guess of 91.
Mark Duchamp, co-founder of European Platform Against Windfarms (EPAW), addresses the assembly outside the Haskell library on Sunday afternoon. Mr. Duchamp described his organization as "an association of victims of wind turbines from 23 countries." Photos by Richard CreaserDERBY LINE — About 70 people gathered outside the historic Haskell Free Library and Opera House on Sunday to voice their opposition to a proposal to erect two wind turbines on farms in Derby. At the core of the dissent was the failure to notify abutting landowners in Stanstead, Quebec.
"We are opposed to the Encore Redevelopment project," Stanstead Mayor Philippe Dutil said in his opening address. "We also want to make clear that this will have an effect on our community."
Many homes in Stanstead would be closer to the wind turbines than homes on the American side would be. In some cases, houses would be as close as 500 feet to the turbines, Mark Duchamp said. Mr. Duchamp, who is from Spain and is co-founder of European Platform Against Windfarms (EPAW), was invited to speak at the rally. He was vacationing in Quebec and accepted the invitation to address the assembly.
"Nowhere else in the world do wind towers exist so close to homes," he said.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Corporal Russell Sangster checks out the situation of a Cessna 150 that dropped into open water while taxiing to a stop on Lake Memphremagog Sunday. The plane was on the northern side of the border, but an international effort managed to free it without damage. Photos by Joseph GresserNEWPORT — Broken clouds looked down on Lake Memphremagog around noon Sunday. Between the west shore of the lake and Province Island, which straddles the border, there were scattered groups of people fishing on the ice, and an occasional pickup ferrying folks to and from shore.
A careful observer might have noticed a couple of small airplanes perched on the ice, just south of the small island, which is about a mile and a half into the lake.
The bulk of Province Island is in Canada and the strip of open land that marks the frontier on the eastern and western shores of the lake is continued across its narrow width.
MONTPELIER — Plans for a third utility wind farm on the ridgelines of the Northeast Kingdom may have created common ground for the four state senators who represent what is considered the most rural region in the state.
“It’s the first time that the four of us stood together on anything since I’ve been here,” said first term Senator Joe Benning of Lyndon, speaking Tuesday in an interview.
Mr. Benning had reason for counting votes. He was the lead sponsor of a measure that would have imposed a two-year moratorium on utility wind farm development in the state.
The measure failed by an 18 to 11 vote, but Mr. Benning said he was happy with the support he received on “an issue that was brand new to the body.”
