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| August 14, 2008 |
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Tires on the move
ABC Metals owner Gilbert Rhoades points at a truckload of tires, one of two he's required to remove from his salvage yard under agreements reached through the courts last fall. The tires came from an estimated pile of 200,000, which the state wants removed because it's deemed a health and fire hazard. Rhoades was supposed to have the truckloads removed by the end of July, but he cited unforeseen setbacks as reasons that the deadline wasn't met. Regardless, the Attorney General's office filed a motion for immediate enforcement of the agreement, which was codified in a court order last fall. Rhoades said the truckloads are ready to go, but declined to “publicize” when they'd leave his place of business. Three local youths hit with felony theft charges By NATHAN LAMB | Milton Independent Staff Writer A trio of local youths is facing over two dozen larceny charges—including one felony-- in connection with a spree of thefts from unlocked vehicles in late July, according to Milton Police. The arrests were announced last week, following execution of a search warrant at a Milton residence, which recovered numerous items reported stolen between July 26 and July 31, said arresting officer Christopher Grenier. Names are being withheld due to age, but Grenier said the perpetrators are local and aged 16, 14, and 13. All three are facing a felony count of grand larceny, with nearly 30 petit larceny charges divided between them, according to their individual cases, he said. The arrests were announced via department release on Aug. 6. While Grenier did not go into specifics, he said the search warrant came after police followed up several calls related to the investigation. “We were able to develop some leads and gather enough information to have a search warrant printed,” he said. Over 50 incidents of larceny from unlocked cars were reported from the village area in the last week of July, with more coming forward as word of the incidents got around, said Grenier. [FULL STORY]
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Forecast uncertain for Milton Municipal Forest By NATHAN LAMB | Milton Independent Staff Writer
The 134-acre Bove Property was acquired by the town in 2006 to provide public access to the Milton Municipal Forest. However, returns on that $299,500 investment are hard to find at this point: with no trails or parking where Westford Road meets the thin corridor of property leading to town-owned wilderness. The casual visitor could easily miss it altogether, since the Westford town line is the only benchmark of the wooded area. How long that configuration remains in place is an open question, but the timeframe for change will likely hinge on when policies are adopted to govern usage of the area, explained town planning director Regina Mahony. “Just logically, we should have a pretty solid understanding of what uses we want to allow on this property before we open it up,” she said. While the access remains unimproved, trails are already in place around much of nearby Milton Pond, which was the village water supply until 1993 and become centerpiece of the 350-acre Milton Municipal Forest after the town joined the Champlain Water District in the late ‘80s. The wilderness area was established legally by revisions to the town charter in 1993, which specified that it would be maintained, “using proper forest and wildlife practices.” However, that document gave no clues how the relatively remote parcel would be access-ed, or what uses the town should allow there; unresolved questions that have lingered and have apparently become linked in recent years. Both items are questions for the Selectboard, which has passed on several management plans for the property—most recently one from the Conservation Commission and Recreation Commission in 2004. [FULL STORY] Milton #2 in Chittenden for registry enrollment By NATHAN LAMB | Milton Independent Staff Writer There are 42 registered sex offenders living in Milton, a population statistic that trails only Burlington (101) among all of Chittenden County (307). Those numbers were provided by Detective Sgt. Arthur Cyr of the Chittenden Unit for Special Investigations (CUSI), which investigates sex crimes and enforces registry regulations with periodic sweeps. Asked what the statistics mean for Milton residents, Cyr said people should be aware of them and take precautions, but not overreact. “I don't think they live in an unsafe community,” he said, of Milton. “The majority of sex offenders are in compliance {with the conditions of release}.” Verifying that is part of the job for CUSI, which conducted a countywide compliance sweep of offenders earlier this summer. “We had 307 offenders that we checked throughout all of Chittenden County and out of that there were 27 people who were out of compliance,” said Cyr. “That may have been simple as…they changed addresses and they didn't notify us.” Under state law, those listed in the registry have three days to notify authorities about change of address, and face possibility of arrest if they don't. The sweep this summer was the second by CUSI in less than a year. Asked about how Milton's registry numbers effect local police work, Police Chief Brett Van Noordt described it as another source of information, adding the accompanying work is shared with several agencies. [FULL STORY]
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