By: Lani Duke
Sheriff grabs pot
The Rutland County Sheriff’s Department culminated a two-week investigation into local marijuana cultivation with the eradication of 249 plants found in Clarendon and Rutland Town Sept. 1. The plants were found in three separate growing areas and had a street value of about $500,000. This is the second major marijuana find in the county in a short time. On Aug. 18, sheriff’s deputies found a pot growing area in Clarendon near a cemetery.
Parking kiosks installed and working downtown
RUTLAND—High tech is up and running in the form of parking kiosks along Center Street, between Merchants Row and Wales Street, and along Merchants Row between Center and West streets. Machines take debit/credit cards and coins, but not paper currency. Parking by credit card is for a two-hour minimum ($1). Meter time in kiosk areas has a three-hour maximum (formerly two-hour maximum).
Users enter their license plate number, so there is no way for one car to leave and another to use up time remaining on the meter. Soon, cell phones will enter into the parking conversation with the WayToPark app, but that is not yet available.
Some elements of downtown parking remain the same, however. Vehicles with handicapped plates may still park for free. Enforcement is still only 50 hours a week, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
School buys bike fleet to share
RUTLAND—The College of St. Joseph recently purchased a pilot fleet of five new Cruiser-style seven-speed bicycles from Johnson & Son Bikeworks, a full-service, family-owned shop in Hampton, N.Y. They are ready for use by students, faculty, and staff in a bike-share program initiated by Kimberly Griffin, the school’s wellness coordinator and farm manager.
CSJ is on the route of Rutland City’s bike/pedestrian path, connecting the college with Giorgetti and Pine Hill parks. Not only is Pine Hill Park becoming a tourist destination with its 16 miles of trails threading along 300 acres, and Giorgetti Park a local recreational hotspot with an indoor skateboarding facility, but CSJ also supports a rapidly growing student population, many without cars, but with jobs and needing to get downtown.
Bike sharing/renting is growing on college campuses across the country, as well as in many of the nation’s large cities. Bike use is free to students, staff, and faculty, but participants must buy a low-cost helmet through the college or show proof that they own one, and complete an orientation. Bike check-out is through the college library.
Local man to open fitness club
RUTLAND—Sean Manoville plans to open Club Fitness, a 4,000-square-foot health and wellness center, at 275 N. Main Street in Rutland, with a grand opening about Oct. 15. Investment partner in Club Fitness is Jake Helm, owner of Premier Roof Solutions in Fair Haven. Manoville is a 1999 graduate of Fair Haven Union High and a 2004 graduate of Castleton University with a degree in business marketing. He’s been working in fitness set-up and promotion consulting.
