Category Archives: Burlington

Man faces assault charge for brandishing pistol

BURLINGTON — A Vermont man is facing a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after Burlington police found him driving around with a loaded 9 millimeter pistol that he allegedly pointed at another motorist.
Burlington police say they received a report early Sunday evening that 55-year-old Ronald G. Charette of Georgia was driving from his hometown to Burlington with a firearm in order to confront an individual he believed was in a dispute with his daughter.
Then, police received a 911 call from a 17-year-old motorist not connected to Charette who reported that an individual had pointed a firearm at him.
Charette was located about 7 p.m. He was taken into custody without incident.
He’s due in court Monday.
It’s unclear if he has a lawyer.

Burlington’s Civic Symphony presents Pops at Stowe

STOWE – The Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center’s Peak Family Series will present the Burlington Civic Symphony for a summer pops concert on Saturday, August 17 at 7:30 p.m. in Stowe.
Music Director Daniel Bruce will lead a rousing program featuring light classical selections by Mozart and Berlioz; Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture”; and popular themes from movies and musicals, including “The Lord of the Rings,” “Star Trek,” “Phantom of the Opera” and “Les Misérables.”
The Burlington Civic Symphony (BCSO) is Burlington’s premier auditioned community orchestra. Founded in 2011, the orchestra’s membership has quickly grown to more than 60 talented musicians from Burlington and surrounding areas.
Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at door; call 802-760-4634, or go online to www.sprucepeakarts.org.

Two Canadian kids hit by pepper spray during BTV melee

BURLINGTON — Two children are fine after they were caught in the path of some pepper spray used by man involved in a fight at Burlington’s City Hall Park.
Police arrested Joseph Hopkins on Thursday afternoon. They said he had pepper spray on his hands after spraying Richard Davis in a dispute.
Police said the children, a boy and a girl ages 8 and 10, were in the vicinity and were contaminated with mist from the spray. They were treated at the scene by the Burlington Fire Department and released. The children were members of a family from Montreal who were visiting the city.

In wake of layoffs, state to hold two job assistance sessions in Burlington

MONTPELIER – Layoffs at IBM have promoted the Department of Labor to hold another Rapid Response session July 11 and an employer and training provider job fair July 15.

The sessions are for laid off IBM and other workers who need assistance with their job search activities.

Both events will be held at the Sheraton on Williston Road in South Burlington.

The Rapid Response session July 11 will focus on understanding the services available to dislocated workers, and will include workshops on resume writing, interviewing skills, and financial restructuring following a layoff.

The sessions will be held from 9 to 10:30 a.m., and from 10:30 to noon.

The employer and training provider job fair will be held July 15 from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. It will allow job seekers to visit booths set up by employers, training providers, financial advisers, and health care program representatives. Job seekers are encouraged to wear “business casual or business professional” attire, and bring multiple copies of their resume.

Governor appoints Wengroff to Vt. Commission on Women

MONTPELIER (AP) — Gov. Peter Shumlin has appointed a former aide to the Vermont Commission on Women.
Ariel Wengroff of Burlington joins six other members of the commission that works to reduce sex discrimination and increase opportunities for women.
Wengroff formerly worked as a constituent correspondent and then special assistant to the governor. She currently is communications and finance director for Congressman Peter Welch. She also blogs for the Huffington Post and is an award winning poet.
As a member of the commission, Wengroff says she hopes to focus on pay equity and ending workplace discrimination.

French mayor to sign friendship pact with BTV

BURLINGTON — The mayor of the French city that was the hometown of the explorer who discovered Lake Champlain is going to be in Vermont to mark a sister cities agreement with Burlington.
Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger will sign a friendship agreement Wednesday with Mayor Michel LaMarre, of Honfleur, a city in the Lower Normandy regional of France.
Lamarre and other officials from Honfleur are in Vermont to mark the signing of a Friendship Agreement.
Marcelle Leahy, the wife of U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, also will attend with her husband. Her ancestors came from the Normandy region of France.
French explorer Samuel de Champlain was the leader of a 1609 expedition of the first Europeans to see Lake Champlain.

Vermont woman wins $43 million settlement from accident

BURLINGTON (AP) — A 51-year-old Vermont woman has been awarded a $43.1 million jury verdict against the manufacturer of a car seat that allegedly collapsed during a 2007 car accident, leaving her a paraplegic.
The award is believed to be the largest civil verdict in state court in Vermont history.
Dzemila Heco of Essex Junction was injured on Aug. 4, 2007, when the car she was driving was rear-ended.
Heco’s lawyers argued the car seat back collapsed, causing severe spinal-cord injuries. Heco was wearing a seat belt.
The jury returned the judgment Friday against Johnson Controls, Inc., of Milwaukee after a two-week trial.
The Burlington Free Press reports Johnson Controls (http://bfpne.ws/puc3t) disagreed with the verdict. The company says the seat exceeded all government and industry standards. The company is considering an appeal.

Grand jury convened to investigate police shooting

BURLINGTON (AP) — A grand jury is being convened in Vermont state court to determine whether criminal charges should be filed against a police officer who shot a mentally ill man while arresting him following an assault in April.
Winooski Police Chief Steve McQueen tells the Burlington Free Press (http://bfpne.ws/19ktIDy) he learned about the grand jury from his employee, Cpl. Jason Nokes, who received a concussion and a broken nose when he was struck by Isaac Sage during the arrest.
Sage was shot in the leg April 25 aftershocks from a stun gun failed to subdue him. He spent three days in jail before being hospitalized.
A psychiatrist says Sage suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and that he was insane during the alleged assaults.
Prosecutors dismissed the charges.

Police officer injured by knife-throwing woman

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — Police in Burlington say a woman who was zapped by a stun gun has thrown a knife at an officer, injuring the officer.

Burlington police say the officer was checking on a woman who was bleeding and holding a knife to her neck and threatening to further harm herself when police used a stun gun on her.

Police say Burlington resident Amy Beede threw the knife, hitting the officer in the leg. The officer suffered minor injuries.

Beede has been arrested on a charge of aggravated assault on a police officer. She’s been jailed and can’t be reached for comment. She’s expected to be arraigned Wednesday.

It’s unclear if Beede has a lawyer. She has no listed home telephone number.

Champlain College warns of data security lapse

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A Vermont college is offering data protection services to more than 14,000 students and their families after a computer drive containing their Social Security numbers and other data was left unsecured in a computer lab.
Champlain College in Burlington says it has no evidence of any attempted or actual misuse of the information, but is taking the steps out of an abundance of caution.
The data security lapse is said to have affected 14,217 students who applied for admission over a four-year period ending this year. Some of those students didn’t end up enrolling at Champlain.
The college says a small number of graduate and Continuing Professional Studies students may also be affected.
The college has offered those affected free information security monitoring by an independent company for a year.