By Lani Duke
updated
Wed, Dec 28, 2011 08:50 AM
BAD ROADS, WEATHER TRIP UP FAIR HOPES
In addition to the hardship she inflicted on Vermont as a whole,
tropical storm Irene put a crimp in plans for what had promised to
be a record year for the Vermont State Fair. Advance sales, concert
tickets, and admissions all appeared ahead of the previous
year.
Washed out roads, clogged culverts, and general sogginess awaited
this year's fairgoers. So did rain for half of the fair's open
days. The Rutland County Agricultural Society took a $67,791 loss;
Society president Richard Rivers predicts a need to find some
additional financial help for winter bills, but concessionaire
money will provide for a normal opening.
Getting to the 2011 fair was problematic at a time when many of
Vermont's roads needed repair to approach adequacy. Total
attendance was down, 60,722, rather paltry compared to 2010's
84,766. Receipts are down too, about $440,000 below the previous
year, with some of that weakening from a lack of summer concerts
and monster truck extravaganzas.
Weather and the overall economy permitting, Rivers expects better
results in 2012.
Next to the railroad tracks and close to the state's major western
highway crossing, the fairgrounds has appeared ripe for alternative
development, according to some community forces. The subject
periodically comes up, can "we" do something else with the
fairgrounds.
Any changes to the fairgrounds must conform to the initial intent
of the local landowners who donated this choice piece of river
bottom to the community with the stipulation that it host an annual
agricultural exposition. Activities are controlled by a 172-person
countywide board, with a lengthy waiting list of individuals who
hope to be on the board someday. Generally, they support the fair's
traditional activities, including horse racing, livestock shows,
and educational programming for young people. If the fair were to
disappear, the land would revert to the original donors or their
estates.
METHADONE CLINIC
Rutland may yet be home to a methadone clinic. A notion that seemed
absolutely impossible when the effort was considered a decade or so
ago. After statewide debate, then-Governor Howard Dean signed
legislation that allowed the health commissioner to approve up to
five opiate addiction treatment program clinics. The popular
opinion was that there would be three of them: in Burlington,
Rutland, and Brattleboro.
The rules adopted by the state Department of Health in 2001
followed the language of 18 VSA § 4702(b)(7), placing such
treatment programs be established only in medical hospitals or
medical school facilities. However, additional legislation allowed
programs outside a hospital or medical school, in a multi-use
building so that anyone entering the building would not suffer from
being identified as someone with an addiction problem. Programs
must be close to other medical and social services, not in
geographically isolated settings.
Although Rutland Regional Medical Center and Rutland Mental Health
Services were among the effort's chief backers, law enforcement
officials, local doctors, and community members were not sure they
wanted a clinic to treat addicted individuals in their community.
Concern grew. Seventy-one doctors at RRMC signed a petition against
the plan; grass-roots group "Rutland First" hosted a forum at the
Howe Center that drew an audience of more than 100 to hear a panel
of doctors and out-of-state law enforcement officials opposed to
methadone. Local plans for a methadone clinic were shelved.
Some 10 1/2 years after the Rutland First meeting, establishing a
methadone clinic in the City is again under public scrutiny. Now,
public perceptions are favorable. Why? Numbers and
familiarity.
A decade ago, heroin sale and use seemed to be an urban problem,
far away from Vermont's pastoral setting. In the intervening years,
the number of addicts in Vermont who were seeking help rose from 49
in 2000, to roughly six times that number, 315, in 2008.
Initially, the Rutland First group had expressed concern that
hosting a treatment center would draw addicts from other areas to
Rutland, an occurrence that did take place in Pennsylvania. Nor had
there been any other community experience in Vermont; the first
methadone treatment facility in the state, the Howard Center in
Burlington, had not opened yet.
But now Vermont holds seven treatment centers, with access readily
available pretty much across the state other than the Rutland area.
Ten years of operation in Burlington have resulted in no
discernible increased number of addicts in the vicinity, nor has
the four years of operation of another treatment center in
Brattleboro.
And methadone as an addiction treatment is proving to be less of a
threat to the community when compared to other drugs which lack
such strong federal controls. Unlike methadone, administered to
patients under strict controls inside a clinic setting,
buprenorphine drugs may be prescribed to treat addicts, but they
are allowed to take it home to use - or, unfortunately, abuse. And,
like methadone, buprenorphines may be enjoyed outside their
medicinal context. The growing number of individuals addicted to
prescription painkillers has also changed the picture of what type
of addiction clinic is needed in Rutland. So has the number of
burglaries - often undertaken to score funds for drugs.
There is growing awareness of the need for a more complex approach
to curing addictions, one that combines input from law enforcement
officials, medical providers, housing providers, and case workers,
working together to coordinate and oversee every facet of the
recovery process. Recovery is a process, our society is finding
out, not a matter of diagnosis and prescription dispensation.
WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT MAY BYPASS COLLEGE
Locals from the Rutland Region Workforce Investment Board brought
back some new ideas from the statewide Workforce Development
Council. Keynote speaker Dr. William Symonds, Harvard University
College of Education, told the group that urging all high school
students to prepare for and pursue college is a mistake. A better
approach is to aim for middle skill positions that require either
an Associates degree or specific certification. Wahoo! A practical
academic!
HOUSING BLIGHT
What's one person's idea of blight may be another's idea of quaint
or even cozy. So what is blight? There's been a lot of talk about
blighted properties in Rutland. Some may appear derelict; others
may be merely vacant; still others may be livable but "iffy."
If the Rutland Redevelopment Authority is to work on clearing
blighted properties from the City, it first needs a determination
on what it will (and perhaps won't) do. RRA exec. director Brennan
Duffy has asked the aldermanic board for a committee to write an
ordinance. The ordinance should include steps to define a
blighted property, steps toward remediation and the rights and
responsibilities of property owners.
The aldermen have discussed whether an ordinance is needed or
whether those powers are already included within the charter, but
agreed to create the committee. Duffy's goal is to have an
ordinance ready soon after the first of the year, in time to be put
on the town meeting ballot if necessary.
COMING SOON ON YOUR BALLOT
Voters will most likely have the opportunity to vote on a bond
issue to cover the city's share of work on high priority bridges
over the upcoming five years. Those bridges listed are West Street
and Crescent Street over East Creek, Ripley Road over Otter Creek,
River Street over the railroad and over Otter Creek, Forest Street
over Moon Brook, and Church Street over Tenney Brook. The $2
million bonded would leverage about $8 million in grant
funding.
Now is a good time because bond interest rates are likely to
increase within the next year or two. These bridges have long been
sources of concern to the areas they serve and to emergency rescue
planners.
LANI'S PICKS
Wednesday, Jan. 4 - What makes a classic movie; how is it different
from others of its time and genre? Rick Winston, former co-owner of
the Savoy Theater and program director for the Green Mountain Film
Festival, discusses some of the elements that seem to reappear most
frequently in those movies we've taken to our hearts. Rutland Free
Library, 7 p.m.
Tagged:
rutland report
