Reporter seeks damages for arrest on Lowell Mountain

Posted on January 9, 2013 by BethanyMDunbar

by Paul Lefebvre

copyright the Chronicle 1-9-2013

The legal fight between Green Mountain Power (GMP) and Chronicle publisher and reporter Chris Braithwaite has shifted from criminal to civil court.

Defense attorney Phil White filed a civil complaint late last month alleging that GMP had violated his client’s civil rights when Mr. Braithwaite was arrested on December 5, 2011, for covering a wind protest on Lowell Mountain.

Mr. White charges that GMP and its agent on the site, David Coriell, “knew or should have known that Braithwaite had permission to be on the property and that, at the very least, misinformation provided by Coriell and GMP to law enforcement had caused Braithwaite to be wrongly taken into custody, arrested, and subsequently charged with and prosecuted for unlawful trespass.”

The civil complaint comes close on the heels of a ruling handed down by Judge Howard VanBenthuysen that dismissed a criminal charge of unlawful trespass brought against Mr. Braithwaite and forbids the state to bring the charges back at a later date.

In dismissing the case with prejudice, Judge VanBenthuysen noted that he failed to see how the state could bring back the charge against the journalist in light of the e-mails among GMP officials giving the press permission to be at the site.

After noting the e-mails only came into view as the case was about to go to trial, the judge wrote: “Consent is a key element of the offense, and GMP apparently consented to the presence of media at protests, and gave instructions that the media should not be arrested.”

In her brief to the court, Deputy State’s Attorney Sarah Baker argued against dismissing the charge with prejudice, saying the state could still make a case against Mr. Braithwaite by bringing Mr. Coriell, who has since left Vermont, back to testify.

The judge concluded, however, that was stretching the point, as it was unlikely that Mr. Coriell could give testimony that would rebut the evidence found in the e-mails.

“Under the circumstances this is the rare case in which a dismissal with prejudice is appropriate, given the late revelation of consent.”

The ruling was released on December 24 and the day after Christmas, December 26, Mr. White filed a civil complaint against GMP. Along with the complaint, Mr. White also asked the court to revise a protective order to return to GMP documents that were sealed when the criminal case was still active.

Mr. White argued in his brief that he wanted to retain the documents on the grounds they constitute evidence in the civil suit he is pursuing against GMP. If the court grants his request, the documents would be kept from public view until further court order.

The civil suit filed by Mr. White seeks damages on four counts: false arrest; false and malicious prosecution; fraud, slander and false report; and fraudulent concealment.

The suit asks for compensatory damages in the amount of $22,530 (Mr. White’s fee for Mr. Braithwaite’s criminal defense) along with attorney’s fees and expenses in the civil case. The suit further alleges that Mr. Braithwaite’s civil rights were violated, and seeks punitive damages, which are characteristically sought as a deterrent.

In his discussion of the events leading up to his client’s arrest, Mr. White says that GMP anticipated Mr. Braithwaite’s arrival at the protest and spelled out a course of action for its agent at Lowell Mountain.

GMP officials, according to the complaint, “gave Coriell explicit directions to inform law enforcement that Chris Braithwaite and any other members of the working press who showed up to cover this protest had GMP’s consent to be there to cover this event and that they were not to be arrested.”

As it turned out, Mr. Braithwaite was the only reporter present at the site, and was arrested when he refused a police order to leave. Mr. White argues that after his client was arrested, GMP failed to step forward to explain their instructions to Mr. Coriell and reverse the arrest.

Their failure to do so, the attorney further argues, violated Mr. Braithwaite’s civil rights. The attorney said that Mr. Braithwaite, as a journalist, had written “fierce editorials opposing GMP’s commercial wind project” on Lowell Mountain.

“At all times material to this complaint GMP and its agents, including Coriell and Orleans County law enforcement officers have jointly participated in the planning and execution of arrests of protesters,” charges the complaint.

“GMP and/or Coriell were acting under the color of law and engaging in ‘state action’ when they maliciously gave the government false and misleading information with the purpose of causing the government to engage in false arrest and wrongful prosecution.”

Green Mountain Power did not respond Tuesday to a request for comment. Nor has the company filed a response in court to the complaint. When the possibility of a civil law suit was raised last month, a company spokesman told a reporter that any legal claim against Mr. Coriell would be frivolous.

contact Paul Lefebvre at paul@bartonchronicle.com

For more free articles from the Chronicle like this one, see our Editor’s Picks pages. For all the Chronicle’s stories, pick up a print copy or subscribe, either for print or digital editions.

To read court documents connected to this case, please click on the links here: No1-citation

No2-recordcheck

No3-information

No4-Sheriff’s affidavit

No5-Coriell’s affidavit

No6-Brooks affidavit

No7-Motion to Dismiss

No8-state’s response to No7

No9-Defense Memo in support of No7

No10-renewed motion to dismiss

No11-motion to dismiss with prejudice

No12-state’s opposition to No11

No13-judge’s ruling on No11

No14-civil complaint

Breaking news: Charge against publisher dismissed “with prejudice”

Featured

Posted on December 27, 2012 by BethanyMDunbar

Wind towers at Lowell Mountain, as seen from Irish Hill Road. Photo by Bethany M. Dunbar

copyright the Chronicle 12-27-2012

Judge Howard VanBenthuysen has dismissed “with prejudice” a criminal charge of unlawful trespass against Chronicle Publisher Chris Braithwaite.
Continue reading →

Abenaki buy forest and farmland in Barton

Featured

Posted on December 19, 2012 by BethanyMDunbar

by Tena Starr

copyright the Chronicle 12-19-2012

BARTON — For the first time in two centuries, an Abenaki tribe in Vermont can claim tribal forestland. As of Monday, the roughly 1,000-member Nulhegan Abenaki own 65 acres in Barton on the May Farm Road. Title is held by Abenaki Helping Abenaki, a nonprofit created several years ago to preserve the culture of the Nulhegan Abenaki.

The tribe, which the state of Vermont officially recognized in 2011, has been working on the purchase for more than a year. The Vermont Land Trust holds a conservation easement on the property to make sure it remains undeveloped.

Tribe members will continue, and ultimately expand, an existing sugaring operation on the land. It will also be used for a tribal community garden, said Luke Willard of Brownington, former tribe chief and a current trustee who was pivotal in organizing the purchase.

“All Nulhegan Abenaki land has been gone for a long, long time,” Mr. Willard said. “This is the first community-owned piece of land for the tribe in literally over 200 years. We’ve got a lot of celebrating to do. This is a really big thing for the leadership and the citizens of the tribe.

“It’s also a big thing for the town of Barton and surrounding communities,” Mr. Willard added. “The way we’ve set it up the land will be conserved forever. We’re allowing public access. We’re not allowing motor vehicles, but foot travel, horseback riding, cross country skiing, bird watching, hiking within reason. We’re willing to share the woods with folks.”

The land was paid for largely through fund-raising and grants. Prior owner Eric Lanou sold the development rights to the Vermont Land Trust.

“We worked hard to raise this money,” Mr. Willard said. “But everybody loved this project. People wanted this to happen.”

Tribe members plan to sugar on the land this spring, gradually increasing the size of the operation as time goes on, Mr. Willard said. They’ll do it the old-fashioned way, with buckets rather than tubing.

Eventually, the Nulhegan hope to tap as many as 3,000 or 4,000 trees and to develop their own brand of syrup — not just pure Vermont syrup, which has its own fame, but the first brand of Vermont Abenaki-made syrup. “This is going to be the first maple syrup produced by an Abenaki tribe in centuries,” Mr. Willard said.

The sugaring operation will be labor intensive. “Our intention is to take folks who are unemployed or underemployed and put them to work for the season,” Mr. Willard said. “It’s going to be done fairly old school.”

Also, he said the tribe will invite schoolchildren to come see how sugaring is done the old-fashioned way.

“And we want to have a small exhibit where folks can actually see how maple sugar was produced prior to Colonialism,” he said. “It’s very laborious compared to contemporary sugaring.”

Money from the sugaring operation will go to support the tribe’s programs, such as Nulheganaki Youth Outreach, which does presentations about Abenaki history and culture. When that program first started audiences were tiny, sometimes no more than a half dozen people, Mr. Willard said. These days presentations are made to much bigger groups of 50 or more people.

“It’s grown incredibly with zero funding,” he said. “So can you imagine what they could accomplish in that program with $4,000 or $5,000 in revenue generated from sugaring?”

The Nulhegan also operate a program called The Seventh Harvest, which is basically a community garden.

Mr. Willard said it started years ago, largely as a typical food shelf to help the needy. “We realized we were helping people who were down and out, but we weren’t really empowering them to help themselves,” he said.

By coincidence, a Johnson State College professor took an interest in the Abenaki gardening practices, which were still being used by some.

“He was under the impression that these practices were pretty much extinct,” Mr. Willard said. “When we realized that was the common belief, we worked with JSC and got a grant from the Lake Champlain Basin Program to study these agricultural technologies. It became apparent to us that these ancient practices could be extinct in as little as a generation.”

The study, combined with a desire to provide healthier food, led to a community garden at Mr. Willard’s home in Brownington.

That garden will move to a clearing on the Barton land. It could provide food for 15 or 20 families.

The rules for its use are that growers must learn traditional Abenaki growing practices, if they don’t already know them, and they must agree to pass that knowledge on to someone else in order to keep traditions alive.

The little clearing with its rich soil was one of the reasons the Barton land was so appealing, Mr. Willard said. “I looked at it, and I saw mound gardens.”

Although the land has practical uses, it also has more symbolic ones as well.

A tribe is not an organization; it’s a body politic, just like a town, Mr. Willard said. But the Nulhegan have not had a communal meeting place.

“There are Abenakis who own their own land,” he said. “But we didn’t have a community place to meet like towns do. We were always borrowing places to meet. It’s difficult to maintain a government when you don’t have a central place.”

The tribe will use the land to hold meetings, events and celebrations.

“Part of our creation story is that the creator wanted us to be the stewards of the land,” said current chief of the Nulhegan Abenaki, Don Stevens, who takes a more spiritual view of the acquisition. “After the land was taken from our ancestors, we were no longer able to be the stewards we were asked to be. Our hearts are heavy with that burden. With our own forest, we can pick up the soil, feel it, smell it, and know that our ancestors walked on this land and it is ours to protect. For this land, we’re able to fulfill our promise.”

Gaining official recognition for the tribe, as well as others in Vermont, was a long and contentious process. Mr. Willard said that was, at least in part, because some believed the tribes would make land claims or try to establish casinos.

Nothing could be further from the truth, he said. The tribe paid for the Barton property, which it intends to share with everyone. “Our intentions were always positive.”

contact Tena Starr at tena@bartonchronicle.com

Publisher’s trespassing case dismissed

Featured

Posted on December 12, 2012 by BethanyMDunbar

The Lowell Mountain wind towers as seen from Irish Hill. Photo by Bethany M. Dunbar

by Paul Lefebvre

copyright the Chronicle 12-12-2012

NEWPORT — A utility wind developer company that tried to do the right thing by the press appears to have shot itself in the foot when it allowed the arrest of a reporter and then failed to step forward and rectify an action contrary to company policy.

The Orleans County state’s attorney’s office last week dismissed a criminal charge of unlawful trespass brought against Chris Braithwaite, a reporter for and publisher of the Chronicle in Barton.

Mr. Braithwaite, who had been spearheading his paper’s coverage of the wind project on Lowell Mountain and the controversy it triggered, went to the site on December 5, 2011, to cover a demonstration that protesters had scheduled for the morning.

Police intervened and arrested six protesters, who became known as the Lowell Six. A jury found each of them guilty of unlawful trespass this summer. Mr. Braithwaite also was arrested despite his claims he only had gone to the site to cover the demonstration as a reporter.

When news of his case’s dismissal was announced last week, Mr. Braithwaite, 68, of West Glover, released the following statement:

“On the day after my arraignment on a charge of unlawful trespass, I wrote that I believed my conduct on Lowell Mountain on December 5, 2011, satisfied the dictates of common sense and the ethics of journalism. What remained was the daunting task of demonstrating that it was also within the law. That task came to a successful conclusion today.”

Dismissal came as the case was preparing to go to trial and after defense attorney Phil White subpoenaed internal e-mails that passed back and forth among officials of Green Mountain Power Company (GMP.)

The documents show that GMP intended to give Mr. Braithwaite and other reporters access to its Lowell Mountain site, where protesters were demonstrating against the construction of a 21-turbine wind project.

“Does anyone know what happened,” asked Robert Dostis, a GMP official who works with communities and who was responding to colleagues about an editorial against the arrest.

To GMP’s site manager at Lowell Mountain, he went on express surprise that an arrest had occurred.

“Frankly, I don’t understand why Chris was arrested since you gave exact instructions that he not be,” he wrote in an e-mail dated December 10.

A day later, a second official struck a similar note.

“I think now we have to put an end to the notion we tried to stop the media, when we simply did not,” wrote a GMP consultant Stephen Terry in an internal e-mail sent six days after the arrest.

He then repeated a question asked earlier by the company’s public relations officer: “Did the leadership instruction not to arrest CB just not get relayed fast enough Monday morning?”

While release of the e-mails helped to end the criminal charge, they may have opened a new chapter in the case.

Attorney White said Monday he had asked for an apology from GMP as well as compensation for expenses and legal fees that came to $22,330.

“Had Green Mountain Power disclosed this information to the State Attorney’s Office promptly, Chris never would have had to undergo a year facing criminal charges,” wrote Mr. White in an e-mail.

“Instead, GMP sat on its hands and did nothing, absolutely nothing.”

Mr. White said he hoped that GMP would “do the right thing” by apologizing and paying Mr. Braithwaite.

But that appeared unlikely Tuesday.

GMP Public Relations Officer Dorothy Schnure said that it was Mr. Braithwaite’s refusal to leave the site that caused him to be arrested. And once an arrest occurred, it was out of GMP’s hands.

“It’s not our case, it’s the state’s,” she said, adding later: “While we had hoped he wouldn’t be arrested, that’s what played out.”

She declined to comment Tuesday if the company had received Mr. White’s request of GMP to pay for his client’s legal fees and expenses.

In an e-mail later in the day Ms. Schnure stated:

“Frankly, the proposition that David Coriell acted inappropriately and that it gives grounds for a legal claim by Chris Braithwaite is frankly frivolous.”

On Monday Judge Howard VanBenthuysen, who presided over the case, released some of the documents, which had been sealed under an agreement between the defense and prosecution.

The judge noted they had been submitted in support of the defense motion to dismiss with prejudice and were now part of the public record.

He also said he would not rule on the motion to dismiss the case with prejudice until the state had a chance to respond. If a case is dismissed without prejudice, the state can bring it again. He set a deadline of December 26 for the prosecution to respond.

Deputy State’s Attorney Sarah Baker said in an interview Tuesday she would file a response opposing the motion because there is still evidence available that would enable the state to win the case.

She said her motion would also explain why the state dismissed the charge, adding that her office did not want to inconvenience a witness and former employee of GMP who has since moved from Vermont. Ms. Baker also said there were documents in the file that had not been unsealed and that would help the state prove its case, in the event it was brought back.

The documents that came to light this week indicated that the state’s dismissal may have hinged on the failure of a GMP employee at the scene on the day of the arrest to correctly inform police officers of the company’s policy toward arresting Mr. Braithwaite and any other journalists covering the protest.

As GMP officials scrambled to learn what had happened, David Coriell, its representative at the site during the protest, tried to explain to his bosses in two e-mails why the arrest had occurred.

The first e-mail sent on the day of the arrest stated: “Braithwaite and another woman stopped at the edge of the construction site and started taking pictures. Phil Brooks, the Orleans Co. Chief Deputy, asked Braithwaite and the woman to get back another 50 feet to the Nelson property. The woman complied. Braithwaite chose to stay. Brooks approached Braithwaite and after a short conversation he asked him to leave or come back and stand with those willing to be arrested. Braithwaite walked back and stood with those being arrested.”

In the second e-mail, dated December 11, Mr. Coriell told his bosses that the no-arrest instructions “didn’t get relayed to all the officers involved.

“That said, I know the Sheriff had no intention of arresting Chris. Chris actually arrested himself by physically walking back to the middle of the crane path.”

He went on to say that Mr. Braithwaite called the officer an expletive. The officer charged that the reporter had stepped “over a professional line.”

Ms. Schnure said Tuesday the scene that day at the site was confusing, with cell phones losing signal and people milling around. She called the arrest Tuesday “a breakdown in communications.”

Concerned that another protest at the mountain was coming, GMP officials huddled and considered what they should do about access and the press, and what instructions to give the police. An e-mail from Ms. Schnure to GMP managers on December 11 laid out a possible course of action.

“Dave confirm that sheriff will be there early if at all possible. Ensure sheriff knows media has permission to be there. Tell Sheriff we really don’t want any reporters arrested.”

Mr. Terry, the consultant, agreed, calling the proposed instructions “a good way to pre-empt another journalism arrest which was never our intent or purpose here.”

While it is still unclear how far the documents went in convincing the state to dismiss the charge, they did provide a picture of GMP managers working to ensure similar arrests of reporters would not occur at future demonstrations.

“We have to minimize the public and political fallout of decisions made on the mountain,” wrote Mr. Dostis in a December 10 e-mail.

“Arresting reporters will do more harm than good.”

Ms. Schnure said repeatedly Tuesday that it was Mr. Braithwaite’s actions that caused his arrest. And that he was not owed an apology by GMP.

contact Paul Lefebvre at paul@bartonchronicle.com

Braithwaite trespassing charge dismissed

Posted on December 5, 2012 by BethanyMDunbar

Chronicle publisher Chris Braithwaite issued the following statement after his trespassing charge was dismissed today (December 5):

On the day after my arraignment on a charge of unlawful trespass, I wrote that I believed my conduct on Lowell Mountain on December 5, 2011, satisfied the dictates of common sense and the ethics of journalism. What remained was the daunting task of demonstrating that it was also within the law. That task came to a successful conclusion today.

It is my hope that journalists who find themselves in a similar situation will bear this case in mind when they are ordered to leave the scene of important public event.

And I hope that police officers will bear this case in mind, when they encounter journalists at the scene of significant public events who are just trying to do their job.

I regret that the documents which would help to explain the state’s decision to dismiss my case remain under court seal. The Chronicle has asked the court to release these documents, and I hope that my colleagues in journalism will join me in an effort to make this information public.

Below is the story that ran in the newspaper this week (printed in the morning just before the case was dismissed):

by Paul Lefebvre

copyright the Chronicle December 5, 2012

NEWPORT — A jury has been picked for the trial of Chronicle publisher Chris Braithwaite who was arrested as a reporter covering a wind protest on Lowell Mountain roughly a year ago.

The trial is scheduled to start next week on Thursday, December 13, and is expected to last a day.

The trial’s start-up date may be delayed due to a motion filed Tuesday by defense attorney Phil White, asking the charges be dismissed for lack of evidence.

The evidence offered in support of the motion has been largely redacted as a result of the court’s protective order on internal GMP documents subpoenaed by the defense.

Mr. Braithwaite, 68, of West Glover is accused of unlawful trespass for allegedly refusing to obey a police order to leave a mountaintop site while covering demonstrating protesters on December 5, 2011.

Known as the Lowell Six, the protesters were demonstrating against a 21-turbine wind project being built by the utility Green Mountain Power (GMP). A jury this summer found each of the protesters guilty of unlawful trespass.

Mr. Braithwaite was arrested on the same day and at the same place as the protesters. But the two cases went their separate ways over an issue whose resolution still remains uncertain.

Presently pending before the court is the issue of whether Mr. Braithwaite will be tried as a private citizen or as a member of the working press who was arrested while doing his job.

Since his arraignment last December, Mr. Braithwaite has asserted that he had only gone to the mountain that day to do his job as a reporter.

Early in the case, Mr. White tried to get the charge thrown out on constitutional grounds, arguing that Mr. Braithwaite had gone to the mountain as a journalist “to cover a protest.”

And as a member of the working press he “should enjoy a special right and privilege under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution to cover protest on private property and the government response,” argued Mr. White.

Mr. White was unable to cite any case law in support of his privilege argument and his motion failed.

“There is no legal authority” that gives a member of the working press “privilege to trespass on private property,” wrote Judge Robert Gerety Jr.

Last week, however, the argument was rekindled as both sides prepared for trial before a new judge who recently began his term in Orleans County Superior Court.

Judge Howard VanBenthuysen is expected to rule on a motion this week that will determine if jurors will get to hear defense arguments that a working reporter has special privileges when it comes to gathering news.

Mr. White has put the names of two Northeast Kingdom journalists on his witness list: Ross Connelly, publisher of the Hardwick Gazette; and Robin Smith, a reporter for the Caledonian-Record.

The state, in turn, has asked the court to strike the two journalists from the list.

Prosecutor Sarah Baker wrote in her motion that neither individual “was a witness present at the time of the offense.”

A deputy state’s attorney with the county, Ms. Baker has asked the court “to exclude any witness whose testimony is offered solely as evidence of a privilege or right of press to be on private property without permission to report on a state response.”

While the judge’s decision is still pending, he did allow Mr. White during last Friday’s jury draw, November 30, to question prospective jurors over how they view the press’s role in a democracy.

For example, the defense attorney asked one juror how important it is for the press in a democracy to report the news.

“I feel strongly that the press have an important role in the democratic process,” she replied.

One juror said she often found the news coverage “very biased.”

But another who was the subject of a news story disagreed.

“They wrote what they saw fit, and I liked what they did,” he said.

Support among members of Mr. Braithwaite’s profession has been slight, with the exception of two Northeast Kingdom newspapers.

Mr. Connelly, who publishes the Hardwick Gazette, spoke out strongly immediately after the arrest in an editorial that said the press must have access if it is to report the news.

“Had Braithwaite not been at the protest site, the press would not have been able to report on the behavior of the protesters or the… police enforcing a public trespass order, sanctioned by the state courts and enacted by the State legislature.”

Mr. Connelly ended the editorial by saying officials were undermining the democratic process “when they sanction the arrest of journalists for doing their jobs.”

Vermont Press Association Executive Director Mike Donoghue acknowledged in an e-mail Tuesday that the arrest could have a chilling effect on the ability of the press to gather news.

“The press has the responsibility to report the news as it happens,” he said. “The public, who can’t always be present, expects us to be their representatives monitoring government in action. And that is a privilege.”

Caledonian-Record publisher Todd Smith suggested in an interview last Friday that regional bias may have played a role in the lack of attention the case has received. He said around the state the Northeast Kingdom is seen as the “red-headed stepchild” and that the Vermont media in general were “a little busted” as a professional organization.

“I support Chris’s principles in going after this, and avoid agreeing to any plea,” said Mr. Smith. “Journalists have to get access to a site and bear witness to do their job.”

Questions about access to the site and GMP’s role with the press may come to light during the trial, or even sooner.

Last week the court signed a protective order that allows only the prosecutor and the defense to see confidential communications between GMP and others regarding the Lowell Mountain project.

Among other communications, the material to be examined includes documents and internal e-mails created between September 1, 2011, and January 31, 2012, pertaining to “press access or arrest of trespassers on the Project property.”

As a result of the defense request, GMP is required to turn over any documents mentioning Mr. Braithwaite or the Chronicle.

Mr. Braithwaite editorialized repeatedly against the project in his paper. According to the protective order, GMP received the paper during the September and January time frame.

What the documents and e-mails say may be revealed if Mr. White prevails in his pre-trial motion to dismiss the charge against his client.

“Based on their obvious relevancy and the lack of any corporate interest to keep them sealed, we would respectfully request that they be unsealed by order of the court,” he wrote in his latest motion that was filed this week.

That request exists alongside with another, asking for a pre-trial evidentiary hearing in which GMP officials would be required to give testimony.

The attorney also renewed an earlier argument that dismissal of the charge would be in the interest of justice.

contact Paul Lefebvre at paul@bartonchronicle.com

Statement from attorney Phil White, Esq.:

I’m pleased and thankful that this case has been dismissed by the Orleans County State’s Attorney’s Office. Anytime a reporter is arrested while covering the government’s arrest of protesters, it is a serious matter. It raises fundamental concerns about the freedom of the press to act in its constitutionally recognized role as The Fourth Estate.

We have argued that when property rights clash with First Amendment Rights of the working press (particularly when it is acting as the Fourth Estate covering transactions of government), a balancing test should be applied (as it often is when constitutional interests collide). That issue will not be reviewed in this case any further. Chris Braithwaite and The Chronicle, to their credit, were fully prepared to seek review of any conviction by the Vermont Supreme Court and even The United States Supreme Court. It has been an honor to represent him. And, I hope this discussion will continue.

Border Patrol Agents nab two on Derby Road

Featured

Posted on December 5, 2012 by BethanyMDunbar

U.S. Border Patrol agents and Newport police apprehended two New Hampshire men on the Derby Road in Derby Monday. New Hampshire police sought both men in connection with a shooting in Nashua which it is believed they witnessed. The two were arrested, however, on federal charges unrelated to that shooting, New Hampshire Assistant Attorney General Peter Hinckley said. Photo by Cindy Sanville

by Tena Starr

DERBY — U.S. Border Patrol agents and local police arrested two men on the Derby Road here Monday who were wanted in New Hampshire in connection with a shooting in Nashua.

Tuesday night, New Hampshire Assistant Attorney General Peter Hinckley said both men have been arrested on federal charges, one of them regarding charges in Vermont.

He said he is not involved in that prosecution and could not say what the charges are.

As far as the New Hampshire shooting goes, the two men were sought only in connection with their possible role as witnesses, he said.

An adult male, whose name was still being withheld as of Tuesday pending notification of all family members, was shot in Nashua Sunday night, according to a press release from the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office. The press release says little more about either the incident, or the victim, who is hospitalized.

“Our agents received a lookout from the Nashua PD,” said Melissa Isaquirre at Vermont Border Patrol headquarters in Swanton Tuesday.

She said that, while on patrol, agents saw a vehicle that matched the description they had received — a 1995 Toyota Avalon — and stopped it. The two men are Daniel DeGrace, 31, and Benjamin Mayberry, 30.

Mr. Hinckley said both men are being held in Vermont.

Cindy Sanville, a real estate agent with Century 21 Farm and Forest Realty, noticed the growing collection of law enforcement officers outside her work office Monday and went out to snap pictures. She said that, by the time she arrived, Border Patrol agents, who were carrying guns, had both men on the ground.

“Before I realized what was going on there were six vehicles lined up,” she said referring to law enforcement cars. She said Border Patrol agents were circling her office building.

Newport Police helped apprehend the men.

contact Tena Starr at tena@bartonchronicle.com

Lowell wind project nears completion amid noise complaints

Featured

Posted on November 28, 2012 by BethanyMDunbar

The Lowell Mountain wind towers as seen from Irish Hill. Photo by Bethany M. Dunbar

by Chris Braithwaite

copyright the Chronicle 11-28-2012

LOWELL — All 21 turbines of the Kingdom Community Wind project have generated power, a spokesman for Green Mountain Power said Tuesday. And with the project making power, it has beaten the December 31 deadline to qualify for federal production tax credits that should total between $40-million and $48-million over the next ten years, said the spokesman, Dorothy Schnure.

She emphasized that “every penny” of the tax credits “goes to lower the cost of power for our customers.”

Ms. Schnure stopped short of saying the project is complete. “We still have some fine tuning work to do on them,” she said of the turbines.

Meanwhile complaints about noise continue to be heard from the project’s neighbors. And the distances the turbines’ sound can travel continues to surprise people.

Mary Davis, who lives about four miles east in Albany, across the valley of the Black River and a little east of Page Pond, said she heard them early Monday morning.

“I was taking the old dog out for a three o’clock stroll,” Ms. Davis said. “She’s almost 15, and when she’s got to go, she’s got to go.”

Ms. Davis found the sound novel, but hard to describe. “It was just something different,” she said.

“It must be awful” for the project’s close neighbors, Ms. Davis commented, “if you can hear it this far back.”

On the other side of Lowell Mountain, on the Farm Road, one such neighbor arrived home from his overseas job late last week.

“At approximately 3 on the morning of November 25 I along with four of my house guests were woken by thumping noise that lasted for over two hours coming from the wind turbines behind my home,” Kevin McGrath wrote in an e-mail to Susan Paruch, a consumer affairs specialist at the state Department of Public Service.

“The noise was similar to a heavy object rotating in a clothes dryer,” Mr. McGrath wrote. “Later on that morning at about 10 the noise levels penetrated my home and sounded like a waterfall gushing directly behind my home.”

Mr. McGrath lives in one of about 50 structures that sit inside a “1.5 mile buffer” drawn around the project by RSG, Inc., the White River Junction firm that drafted the final sound monitoring protocol for Green Mountain Power. His home is also one of about 19 structures within a smaller zone where, RSG estimates, turbine sound will reach between 40 and 45 decibels outside the home.

In granting the project a certificate of public good, the state Public Service Board set sound limits at 45 decibels outside neighboring homes, and 30 decibels in their bedrooms.

The extended family of Don and Shirley Nelson celebrated Thanksgiving in their farmhouse, which also sits well inside the 40-to-45-decibel zone.

Among the 19 people present, Mr. Nelson said Monday, two suffered migraine headaches, and some thought their ears were going to pop. “Some of their stomachs didn’t feel right,” Mr. Nelson said, “and I don’t think it was Shirley’s cooking.”

“Shirley can hear it in the house,” he said of the turbine sound. “Her ears are ringing all the time now. They never did before. If we go away two or three hours, it stops.”

Mr. Nelson, who was one of the migraine sufferers, said it’s impossible to know what causes such a headache. He added that he expects complaints from his household to be discounted by Green Mountain Power and state officials, because the couple has fought to stop the project since it was proposed.

At Green Mountain Power, Ms. Schnure said the utility has received two more noise complaints since a particularly noisy weekend surprised many Albany residents in early November. Both of the recent complaints came from hunters, she said.

“If people have concerns about undue noise they should talk to us,” Ms. Schnure said.

The Public Service Board imposed strict noise limits on the project, she said, “and we will meet those standards.”

contact Chris Braithwaite at chris@bartonchronicle.com

Brighton selectmen poll voters and taxpayers on industrial wind

Posted on November 21, 2012 by BethanyMDunbar

Wind towers on Lowell Mountain, as seen from Irish Hill Road. Photo by Bethany M. Dunbar

by Richard Creaser

ISLAND POND — Within the next few days every registered voter and property taxpayer in the town of Brighton can expect to receive a ballot in the mail. That ballot asks the recipient whether or not they favor, oppose or remain undecided on the issue of industrial wind projects on ridgelines within the town. Though the results of the balloting are non-binding, the town’s selectmen agreed that they would support the majority decision expressed by respondents.

The ballots were mailed on Tuesday and must be postmarked no later than December 7 to be included in the voting. The selectmen agreed to wait a few extra days for any wayward ballots but only those mailed on or before the due date will be eligible for consideration.

Ensuring the integrity of the balloting process was paramount, chairman of the selectmen Melinda Gervais said. Each envelope provided with the ballot contains the return address of the recipient allowing town officers to check off the voter or taxpayer.

The ballot within will be kept folded before being secured in a locked ballot box stored in the vault in the basement of the municipal office, Ms. Gervais said. Only Town Clerk Teresa Potwin has access to the key that opens the vault, she added.

“We’re doing everything we can to make sure no one can get in there and stuff the ballot box,” Ms. Gervais said. “We want this to represent the wishes of this town.”

Earlier in the evening the selectmen were asked what measures the town would take to protect the people of the town from possible negative effects of industrial wind turbines. Resident Kathleen Nelson expressed her concern that oversight of the developers is sorely lacking. The Public Service Board, she said, appears to have no interest at all in evaluating the financial capability of developers. If a project fails or produces negative effects, would the taxpayers of the town become responsible for making reparations, she asked.

“How are you going to stop these people from ruining everything I’ve worked so hard to build?” Ms. Nelson said. “What are you going to do to protect me?”

It is difficult to say what steps the town can take considering the project has not even passed the met tower stage, Ms. Gervais said. Protecting the public is a job best suited to the regulators both at the state and federal level, Selectman James Webb said.

“I guess that’s where the state and whatever regulations they have come into play,” Mr. Webb said. “As long as they follow the rules, I don’t see what we can do.”

The state’s interest in protecting the public seems tenuous at best, resident Joe Arborio said. The Public Service Board makes its decisions without ever needing to accept any responsibility for the outcomes of those decisions, he said.

“If it goes wrong they have no responsibility,” Mr. Arborio said. “It’s what I imagine living in a dictatorship would be like — here it is, deal with it.”

Evaluating the financial stability of a developer falls outside of the town’s jurisdiction, Brighton Administrative Assistant Joel Cope said. As long as the developer comes in with the money in hand there is no reason for the town to become involved, he said. It would be different, however, if the developer sought the town’s support for a grant, Mr. Cope added.

“If the town became involved in the financing of a project we would certainly involve an attorney and closely review the risk,” Mr. Cope said.

Ms. Nelson also expressed concern about the potential for the town to become mired in litigation should the developer fail to live up to its promises. Given the problems that have surfaced around other wind projects both in Vermont and around the nation, the potential for the town needing to litigate seems high, Pam Arborio said.

“I think this is going to end up in the judicial arena before it’s all over,” Ms. Arborio said.

While some people have come forward to express concerns about the negative effect wind turbines would have on the town, those fears represent only half of the issue, Selectman Mike Worth said.

“The other half will be asking what we’re going to do to promote renewable energy in this state,” Mr. Worth said. “That’s why we’re doing this survey — so we can find out what the majority of people want. I will do what the town supports.”

Ms. Gervais concluded the discussion with a pledge to give serious consideration to all sides of the issue. What stance the selectmen will adopt going forward will be heavily influenced by the outcome of the balloting.

“We all have our own opinions about this but we’re willing to put that aside and represent the people of this town,” Ms. Gervais said. “We’re trying to prepare and get our information ready for when the project finally comes down.”

Bollard crashes

In other business the selectmen gave thought as to how to prevent drivers from crashing into the concrete posts that delineate travel lanes at the Rail Depot building. The large, immovable yellow posts have been struck no less than seven times in recent months. The posts were originally placed there to prevent tall vehicular traffic from crashing into and tearing off the canopy roof adjacent to the Community National Bank’s drive through.

“We thought we were fixing one problem but ended up creating another,” Ms. Gervais lamented.

The trouble with the posts, or bollards as they are properly known, is that they can easily disappear in the blind spots of larger trucks and SUVs, Mr. Worth said. Indeed, he also admitted that he has experienced near misses of his own with the bollards.

The selectmen authorized Mr. Cope to investigate the purchase of curbing to provide at least some warning to vehicles before they strike the posts.

contact Richard Creaser at nek_scribbler@hotmail.com

Sims asks for recount in Orleans-Lamoille House district

Posted on November 20, 2012 by BethanyMDunbar

Moderator Tod Pronto chats with Orleans-Lamoille House Katherine Sims and Mark Higley. Photo by Joseph Gresser

by Bethany M. Dunbar

NEWPORT — House candidate Katherine Sims of Lowell has asked for a recount of the ballots in the Orleans-Lamoille House district.

Mark Higley was re-elected in that district by a vote of 920 to 887, according to unofficial results collected by the Chronicle on election night. The same numbers are listed on the website of the Vermont secretary of state.

Sue Pion at the Orleans County Superior Court said the recount has been scheduled for December 5. On that day, ballots from Eden, Jay, Lowell, Westfield, and part of Troy will be delivered to the county court. Each bag will be opened one by one, Ms. Pion said, and recounted. There will be representatives of the Democratic, Republican, and Progressive parties on hand.

In an e-mail, Ms. Sims said she decided to ask for a recount because the difference was less than 2 percent.

“The race was very close with a difference of only 33 votes (less than 2 percent). I feel that I owe it to my supporters to follow through with the recount process and to ensure that every vote was counted.

“This has been a positive campaign so far, and I feel confident that the recount process will move forward swiftly and smoothly. I have really enjoyed the opportunity to campaign and to meet so many of my neighbors. This is a truly special place. No matter what the outcome of the recount, this election has demonstrated the power of a grassroots campaign to bring people together to talk about the important issues facing our community,” the e-mail said.

Mark Higley is a Republican and served in the House for two years on the Government Operations Committee. Katherine Sims is a Democrat and Progressive. This is her first campaign.

The 33-vote margin between them is 1.8 percent of the total votes cast.

contact Bethany M. Dunbar at bethany@bartonchronicle.com

Rifle season opening sees mixed results

Featured

Posted on November 14, 2012 by BethanyMDunbar

Thirteen-year-old Camden Devereaux decided to hold out for a buck this year. He came up empty on Youth Hunting Weekend, but was rewarded with this eight-point buck, shot in Barton on the first day of regular rifle season. Photo courtesy of Karen Devereaux

by Paul Lefebvre

Mixed results from the 2012 opening weekend of deer season suggest that bragging rights for the biggest deer might be shifting locations in the Northeast Kingdom.

Once the hallmark of the big woods in Essex County, deer weighing over 200 pounds were increasingly showing up at reporting stations this weekend in Orleans County.

“It’s rare in a season to get two deer weighing over 200 pounds,” said Bob Booth, whose Bob’s Quick Stop in Irasburg is one of the county’s premier big game weighing stations.

“Now we’ve got three and it’s only the first weekend.”

Of the 40 deer reported at Bob’s Quick Stop late Tuesday afternoon, the largest belonged to Chris Marsh of Orleans — an eight-pointer weighing 215 pounds.

Elsewhere around the area, early reports suggest that the 16-day rifle season that opened on Saturday got off to a slow start.

No one was calling it global warming, but over at Currier’s Quality Market in Glover, Windy Currier thought the weather might have been a contributing factor

“It’s been so warm,” she said, commenting on a warm spell that sent temperatures up to 65 Monday in West Glover.

Despite a slow start, the count at her store had risen to 30 by Tuesday.

No such drastic turnaround occurred at E.M. Brown in Barton. By Tuesday only one deer had been reported — an eight-pointer weighing 152 pounds shot by Jed Lyon.

Further to the west, at the Four Corners Mini Mart in Troy, the weekend action was equally slow.

“Haven’t been that many reported,” said Barb Major, speaking from the store Tuesday where seven deer had been reported.

Ms. Major was careful to note, however, that the low reporting numbers might have more to do with the hunters than the deer.

“They could be going somewhere else, I don’t know,” she said.

Up in Island Pond, gateway to the big woods, the season got off to a promising start.

“Opening day wasn’t too bad,” said Walt Driscoll, whose taxidermy shop serves as a reporting station.

He checked in 12 buck Saturday, but then saw the number dwindle over the next three days to five, one, and one for a Tuesday total of 19 deer.

Like others, he suspects the unusual weather may be a contributing factor.

“It has been warm,” he said.

While tough winters traditionally have meant fewer deer in the Northeast Kingdom than elsewhere in the state, people at the Fish and Wildlife Department were optimistic that the statewide harvest would be up this year.

A press release issued by the department last week said that archers in October had taken 2,420 deer, which was significantly higher that it has been over the last three years.

“This represents nearly a 20 percent increase over the average for the past three years at this time, even though there are few concentrated food supplies such as apples and nuts this year to attract deer,” according to a press release dated November 7.

Locally, so far no one is predicting that the 2012 rifle season is going to be a banner year.

Over in Newport at Mr. O’s Sporting Goods, Mike Olden said Tuesday that between 25 and 30 deer had been reported in what he was calling an average year.

And while the numbers may be nothing exceptional, he said the deer were looking healthy.

“They’re very, very fat this year,” he said, adding it may be a sign that the deer already know it’s going to be a tough winter.

One of the largest deer reported this early in the season was shot in Irasburg on opening day. It weighed 198 pounds, carried an eight-point rack, and was shot by a Newport hunter who had gone 15 years without shooting a buck in Vermont.

“I usually miss,” said Mike Fedele, who has had more success hunting deer in Maine than he has in Vermont.

One of the surprises at this point in the season is that the bigger deer are coming from places other than the big woods.

“They’re shooting some big deer outside the Island Pond area,” said Mr. Driscoll, who recently completed a term on the state Fish and Wildlife Board.

“They’re not getting anything like that out there,” he said, referring to the 133,000 acres of woods once owned and managed by paper companies.

The heaviest deer reported at his station were running around 175 pounds, whereas hunters in Orleans County were bringing in deer that were 20 pounds heavier and more.

Of the deer reported in Glover, Ms. Currier noted that several were exceptionally heavy. Jon Hinton of Brownington shot a four-pointer that tipped the scale at a whopping 197 pounds.

Big deer may run in his family as his cousin Nate Carrier of Albany brought a five-pointer into Currier’s that weighed 194 pounds.

“You could say he beat Nate out by three pounds,” said Ms. Currier.

The department estimates the state deer herd at 125,000, with the largest numbers found in the southwest, east central, and northwestern regions of the state.

“Deer populations have benefited from excellent survival during the mildest winter recorded over the last four decades and good fawning conditions during the spring and summer,” according to deer project leader Adam Murkowski, who was quoted in the department’s release.

The mild winter may also have boosted hunters’ confidence. Mr. Olden said license sales at his store were up this year. Meanwhile over in Irasburg, Mr. Booth said he was seeing a lot more hunters and they all “seemed to be pretty happy.”

The 16-day season ends on November 25.

contact Paul Lefebvre at paul@bartonchronicle.com