Submitted by Lynne Herbst

Book lovers won’t want to miss this fantastic sale! Come to Belmont, Vermont on Saturday, May 25th and Sunday, May 26th from 10 am to 4:00 pm. The Mount Holly Library will have great books at great prices for a great cause. 

We have been weeding the library collection over the winter and generous donations have added over a thousand books of interest to book lovers. All genres are represented. 

You won’t be able to beat the bargains you’ll find on this sale. Take route 103 to the flashing light in Mount Holly and follow the signs to Belmont. We hope to see you rain or shine. For further information, call 802-259-3707.

 The revenue sources proposed by the Governor in early January raised many eyebrows. His ideas to change the earned income tax credit (EITC) that helps families with children, and place a tax on break-open tickets were troubling. The amount to be raised by taxes is a moving target as the spending proposals in the budget come into focus. The Vermont House passed, without my support, the Miscellaneous Tax Bill that was seeking to raise $27 million by taxing soft drinks, bottled water, and candy, and also increasing taxes on cigarettes, meals, and income. It raised the income tax by collapsing the highest two income tax brackets, so that people now in the second highest bracket would end up paying the highest rate. There was little support to change the EITC program or tax break-open tickets as the Governor wanted.

The senate version only raises $10.2 million because they had the luxury of a later look and received news that there would be about $16.8 million more than anticipated from the state income tax. They were looking at taxing satellite TV service, break-open tickets, bottled water, and then increasing taxes on liquor, and limiting itemized deductions for mortgage interest. There was little in common between the two bodies, so a compromise was needed to work out the differences in this must pass bill.  

The Governor has been adamant that there would not be any broad-based taxes passed.

Both versions included increases in income and sales taxes, so he continued to voice his dissatisfaction with the legislature. He feels this is “not the time” to raise taxes, but we do know that the time will come when more than $1.6 billion will be needed to pay for the Governor’s health care reform program.  

My position has been that you do not need new revenue if you control spending as each of us does with our own pocketbook. What is concerning for me is that some of these proposals this year will use one-time money, leaving us with a large gap to fill next year. We are already hearing about a projected shortfall when the same tax ideas will again find a new life. We will also see if the income tax code adjustments talked about will indeed help most Vermonters. For me, it came down to the fact that the Misc. Tax and the Appropriation Bills did not raise new taxes, create any new programs, and lowered the growth of spending. I was also glad to see there is an $8.2 million buffer created against the impact of the federal sequestration. In the end, this was a responsible budget. 

I look forward to discussing the issues with each of you as we await the start of the second year of our session next January. Please contact me with your questions or concerns at ddevereux@leg.state.vt.us or 802-259-2460. 

Patrick Melvin, bass player of the Vermont trio After the Rodeo, will give a nod to his early roots when he performs with his group in Proctorsville on May 19. Although Melvin grew up in Mt. Holly, he spent much of his childhood visiting

Patrick Melvin, bass player of the Vermont trio After the Rodeo

his grandparents John and Ferris Harris on Pratt Hill in Proctorsville. The Harris couple were well known and well loved in town– Ferris worked in the library and in the small stone bank on Depot Street, while John was postmaster, athletic coach and author of the weekly newspaper column “Speaking of Sports.” John Harris was fond of telling people that Proctorsville was “the center of the universe.” Grandson Patrick grew up playing music and has been part of many groups, including Possum Haw and Whiskey Bullet. Melvin will join After the Rodeo members Matt Schrag and D. Davis to fill Proctorsville’s Gethsemane Episcopal Church with lively tunes on guitar, mandolin and bass. The concert is part of the Raise the Roof music series and will be on Sunday May 19 at 4:00. Gethsemane Church is on Depot Street (next to Crows Bakery Cafe) and is handicapped accessible. Donation of $10.00 at the door will fund future music-filled afternoons in the historic church. For more information call 226-7497.

I’m writing these notes on Friday evening, the 10th, in the midst of floor action with rules being suspended, roll calls occurring, bills being ordered to lie but then taken up later, amendments being authored on the floor and Conference Committee reports arriving regularly. The hope earlier today had been to adjourn the session on Saturday, 5/11, whatever the hour might be or on Sunday morning, sometime after midnight. Never is there a plan to work on Sundays so at least that was a given. Nothing else is predictable today. If we don’t get all the work done we will need to be here at least part of the week of 5/13 which was what was planned at the start of the session. The pages, our 8th grade messengers, who work here four days per week for six week periods really hope we will be here another week. They love their jobs and are getting their first real paychecks so naturally they would like another one. 

The Senate and House staff who reconstitute, digest, organize and format the daily calendars and journals for each day must work every night to do this for the action that has occurred during the day. They put all of this on the WEB but must also get it printed. The print shop in Middlesex works during the night printing these and putting them into booklet form. Some of the “smaller” jobs can be done in the State House in our own copy room which has copiers the size of small railroad cars. The Secretary of the Senate, John Bloomer, an attorney from Wallingford and elected unanimously by Senators of all political parties is in charge of all this work. Secretary Bloomer is a former Senator himself who represented Rutland County in the past as did his father, his mother and many other ancestors. He is the Senate parliamentarian who interprets the rules from Mason’s Manual whenever a question or action requires it, advising the Lt. Governor who makes the final decision, as the presiding officer in the Senate. They have been very busy today as Senators are striving to get bills passed in these last days and making all kinds of motions. One unusual ruling was needed on, “A point of Order” that had the Majority Leader seeking to have a Senator of this own party silenced for speaking “tediously” (a term in our rules) for going on too long. The Senate President, Phil Scott ruled the request as, “not well taken” as is the terminology and allowed the lengthy and somewhat interesting diatribe to continue. The speech had no impact and the bill in question passed. 

In the House and Senate chambers, the men wear suits or coats and ties thus it was quite amusing when one influential Senator returned to the floor after some difficult negotiations on one of the Conference Committees on which he is serving. He looked wrecked! He had his tie half off and askew, the neck of his shirt undone and was about to find out that one of his own bills might not be moving. Such is the work in the final days! 

Contact me at home at 228-8432, the State House at 1-800-322-5616 or anitka@leg.state.vt.us or PO Box 136, Ludlow, VT 05149. Find schedules and bills at www.leg.state.vt.us.

Shirley Jones and Gordon MacRae in a scene from Oklahoma

announcing a new movie musical series at the Ludlow Town Hall Auditorium this summer. Based on the results of the survey, the musical movie series will consist of three well-known Hollywood musicals. 

Starting the series will be the favorite of a number of those surveyed, “Guys and Dolls”, the story of Runyonesque underworld of New York as seen through

Rita Moreno and cast dance to ‘Puerto Rico’ from “West Side Story”

the eyes of Nathan Detroit, the gambler running the “the oldest established, permanent running crap game”. Picture above is Marlon Brando who plays Nathan Detroit. Others featured in this classic Frank Loesser musical include Frank Sinatra, Vivian Blaine, and Jean Simmons. 

This will be followed by the Leonard Bernstein/Stephen Sondheim award winning film, “West Side Story”. A modernized version of “Romeo and Juliet”, the story features an all-star cast including Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno and George Chakiris. The film won 10 academy awards and is included in the top 100 Hollywood movies by the American Film Institute. 

The final offering of this summer musical series will be a surprise. The FOLA survey results indicated that there was a great desire to see one of the movies made by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. As a result, FOLA will select one of their hit dancing and musical films to close this series. 

The movies will be shown on Sundays, starting at 7 PM at the Ludlow Town Hall Auditorium. Tentative dates for the movies are: 

All FOLA movies are free to everyone; donations are appeciated. For additional information, 228-7239, info@fola.us, and www.fola.us.

Have you ever wanted to be a real life-saver? This is a great opportunity to do so. The Cavendish Fletcher Community Library will be hosting a free CPR certification class on Monday, May 20th at 6:00 PM. The class will last approximately three hours and will cover such life saving instruction as CPR for people of all sizes and ages. The class size is strictly limited to 20. If you are interested in becoming certified, please call Kata at 226-7503 to reserve your space. 

This program is funded through a grant by the Cavendish Community Fund.

Patrick Melvin, bass player of the Vermont trio After the Rodeo, will give a nod

Patrick Melvin, bass player of the Vermont trio After the Rodeo

to his early roots when he performs with his group in Proctorsville on May 19. Although Melvin grew up in Mt. Holly, he spent much of his childhood visiting his grandparents John and Ferris Harris on Pratt Hill in Proctorsville. The Harris couple were well known and well loved in town– Ferris worked in the library and in the small stone bank on Depot Street, while John was postmaster, athletic coach and author of the weekly newspaper column “Speaking of Sports.” John Harris was fond of telling people that Proctorsville was “the center of the universe.” Grandson Patrick grew up playing music and has been part of many groups, including Possum Haw and Whiskey Bullet. Melvin will join After the Rodeo members Matt Schrag and D. Davis to fill Proctorsville’s Gethsemane Episcopal Church with lively tunes on guitar, mandolin and bass. The concert is part of the Raise the Roof music series and will be on Sunday May 19 at 4:00. Gethsemane Church is on Depot Street (next to Crows Bakery Cafe) and is handicapped accessible. Donation of $10.00 at the door will fund future music-filled afternoons in the historic church. For more information call 226-7497.

The bond articles were:

ARTICLE I: Shall the voters of the Town of Ludlow authorize the Select Board to finance the purchase of a new Fire Truck (replacement for two existing trucks) with a Municipal Bond in the amount of $180,000.00 for a term not to exceed 15 years? The cost of the said truck is estimated at $500,000.00 and will be funded from the Fire Equipment Fund ($220,000.00), Fire Department donations ($50,000.00), sale of existing rescue truck and engine ($50,000.00) and a Municipal Bond of $180,000.00.

          The vote on Article 1 was 72 for/ 20 against.

ARTICLE II: 

Shall the voters of the Town of Ludlow authorize the Select Board to finance infrastructure improvements with a Municipal Bond not to exceed $302,000.00 with a term of 15 years to make required repairs to the following?

It is anticipated that these projects will be funded by a Municipal Bond not to exceed $302,000.00 for a period not to exceed 15 years and a grant from the State of Vermont Highway Structures Program in the amount of $224,500.00 ($175,000.00 Bridge #17 and $49,500.00 West Hill Culvert).

          The vote on Article 2 was 81 for / 11 against.

Both of these articles had been approved by the March Town Meeting but, under state law, required an Australian-ballot vote to verify them.