Saturday, April 11, 2015
News to Know March 31, 2015 - Part 2
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This communication is put together and distributed on a
volunteer basis by resident Corinne Stridsberg simply in an effort to share
information and build community, it is not from the town of Berlin
Please share this with your Berlin
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On the Berlin , Vermont
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Sometimes
it's minutes, sometimes hours, after I hit the send button that I realize there
is still more news to share. There's
probably more but this will have to do for today!
I haven't
been to the "Totally Rad 80's Night Dance Party!" but Clare and
others rave about it!
Big news is that three Berlin Mobile Home Parks are
going up for Auction April 17th.
Below you will find:
CHESS - A FEW MORE
INTERESTING DETAILS
MONOPOLY
U-32 GRAD SCORES
SCHOOL-RECORD 8 GOALS FOR HUSSON UNIVER. - ABI STAAB!!
DRIVERS NEEDED
2015 "TOTALLY RAD 80's NIGHT
DANCE PARTY!" APRIL 4TH
EASTER BUFFET AT THE STEAK
HOUSE
EASTER SERVICES
9th LEAP ENERGY FAIR (and MARKO THE MAGICIAN)
MOBILE HOME
PARKS TO GO UP FOR AUCTION (APRIL 17, 2015 )
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CHESS - A FEW MORE INTERESTING DETAILS
The 28th Annual Scholastic
Chess Tournament on April 18th at Berlin Elementary School Vermont Vermont
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MONOPOLY
The surprising history
behind the board game "Monopoloy".
Did you grow up thinking Charles Darrow invented Monopoloy during the
depression? Think again.
http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/the-surprising-history-behind-the-board-game-monopoly/
If the history of Monopoly
has you intrigued there is lots more information available including: http://landlordsgame.info/;
the rules of the 1904 Landlord's Game http://landlordsgame.info/games/lg-1906/lg-1906_egc-rules.html;
and be sure to search on Elizabeth "Lizzie" Magie, her married name
was Elizabeth Phillips.
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This is fantastic!! Tom Hanks and James Corden give you a glimpse
of ALL the Tom Hanks movies... in only 7 minutes!! www.youtube.com/watch?t=399&v=1ZWLWxpBv5g
A couple more Tom Hanks
notes -
have you seen his music
video with Carly Rae Jepsen, "I Really Like You" www.youtube.com/watch?v=qV5lzRHrGeg;
and have you seen his "Hanx
Writer" App? Don't you just love
the sound of a typewriter?! I first heard about it when Tom was talking with
David Letterman about it "I've figured out how to make a computer act like
a typewriter": www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQcyi29PLCM
and here's one of the
demos to hear it and see the various typewriters and their sounds and fonts: www.youtube.com/watch?v=qg2ed8Sl1uk
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U-32 GRAD SCORES SCHOOL-RECORD 8 GOALS FOR HUSSON UNIV. -
ABI STAAB!!
Abi Staab, of Berlin , Vermont Husson University Bangor , Maine Johnson St.
Staab responded for the Eagles. She got things going when she went into the
middle and fired a low shot to beat the Badgers' goalie. Staab then gave the Eagles a lead they would
not relinquish when she came from behind the net and beat the goalie high.
Rashell Saucier, Charlotte Gerhardy, and
Deshaies scored goals less than three minutes apart giving the Eagles a 7-3
lead with 5:48 left, and two more Staab tallies made it a 9-3
with 4:44 remaining.
Nichole Weeks got a goal back for Johnson St.
Gerhardy gave Husson an 11-4 lead when her
shot beat the goalie high, and Staab tied the school record with 21:37 left when she went to the left side of the net and
once again rifled a shot by the goalie.
Staab set the school-record when she beat
the goalie with 18:47 remaining
by ripping a shot in the top corner.
Russell and Michaela Bicknell each added
tallies before Weeks scored for Johnson St. 1:47 remaining.
Staab will help coach the U-32 Varsity girls
lacrosse team this spring with Emilee Clark.
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DRIVERS NEEDED
Volunteer drivers are
needed to help transport Veterans in the Barre-Montpelier area to appointments
at the V.A. Hospital at White River Junction, even if only one day per
month. Vehicle, gas, and meal provided
by the DAV. Usually start picking up
passengers around 7am and back by 2pm . Call Don
at 229-4571.
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2015
"TOTALLY RAD 80's NIGHT DANCE PARTY!" APRIL
4TH
It's on like Donkey Kong! Are you totally ready
to get rad again!?!!
The American Cancer Society Relay For Life of Central VT: Team Ella-Vators is hosting the 4th Annual "Totally Rad 80's Night Dance Party!" $10 per person suggested donation at the door. April 4th8pm at the Montpelier
Let's go CRAZY! Sweet 80's Outfits are optional but we'll have contests for the best costume and best group costume too!!... Hmmm... are you and your friends going to arrive as the 'Breakfast Club' cast? Maybe you plan to recreate the epic parade float scene in 'Ferris Buellers Day Off'? ...maybe 'Miami Vice' attire is in your future? Whatever it is... we'll see you and your friends on April 5th. Oh and start practicing your 'Robot', 'Moonwalk' and other sweet dance moves too! Totally! We. Are. So. Like.... Psyched. Questions? Info@musicRPM.com
RPM Entertainment and Green Mountain Sound and Entertainment join forces every year to make this event happen! Thanks to them for donating their time and services to support Relay!
The American Cancer Society Relay For Life of Central VT: Team Ella-Vators is hosting the 4th Annual "Totally Rad 80's Night Dance Party!" $10 per person suggested donation at the door. April 4th
Let's go CRAZY! Sweet 80's Outfits are optional but we'll have contests for the best costume and best group costume too!!... Hmmm... are you and your friends going to arrive as the 'Breakfast Club' cast? Maybe you plan to recreate the epic parade float scene in 'Ferris Buellers Day Off'? ...maybe 'Miami Vice' attire is in your future? Whatever it is... we'll see you and your friends on April 5th. Oh and start practicing your 'Robot', 'Moonwalk' and other sweet dance moves too! Totally! We. Are. So. Like.... Psyched. Questions? Info@musicRPM.com
RPM Entertainment and Green Mountain Sound and Entertainment join forces every year to make this event happen! Thanks to them for donating their time and services to support Relay!
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EASTER BUFFET AT THE STEAK HOUSE
Sunday, April 5th 9am - 3pm enjoy the Easter Buffet at the Steak House on the Barre-Montpelier Road
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EASTER SERVICES
The First Congregational Church of Berlin 7pm service. Easter Sunday 9:30am April 5.
Interim Pastor: Rev. D. Gene Kraus.
1808
Scott Hill Road
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Christ the Redeemer Lutheran Church 2 6:30pm ; Good Friday Worship, April 3 6:30pm ; Sunrise 7am ; Easter Festival Worship: Sunday, April 5 10am . Pastor: Dustin Bergene. 46 Warner Road Airport Rd.
Other churches in Berlin
Jehovah's Witnesses, 2070 Airport Road
Interesting fact - did you
know the Christ Church 64
State Street Montpelier Berlin , Vermont
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9th LEAP ENERGY FAIR
(and MARKO THE MAGICIAN)
Saturday, April 11th at
the Crossett Brook Middle School 9am - 3pm FREE . Tour 70+
exhibits and talk with dozens of experts about energy audits, solar power, heat
pumps, weatherization, geothermal, biomass, pellet stoves and much more. Learn how to reduce fuel bills, save energy and
shrink emissions. Free electronic
recycling onsite. Kids can enjoy a free
show by Berlin 11am
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MOBILE HOME PARKS TO GO UP FOR AUCTION (APRIL 17, 2015 )
Pub. 3/31/15
Times Argus by David Delcore
The auction, which is set for
Nearly 13 years, one complicated bankruptcy and at least two trips to the Vermont Supreme Court later, R&G Properties is on the verge of losing the five mobile home parks that it hasn’t had much to do with for nearly a decade.
The mobile home parks — four in
“It’s been a while,” said Wilking, who noted he recently ran into the former employee who he assigned to manage the properties back in 2006.
“I didn’t recognize him,” he said. “It’s been that long.”
Though Neville Companies has become familiar with the parks and its tenants over the years, Wilking said he would consider it a conflict of interest to bid on any of them. If they all sell — he expects most will, though there will likely be multiple buyers — Wilking said he could be two months away from shedding an assignment that he accepted nearly nine years ago.
“We’re expecting that by the end May we’ll be done with our duties,” he said.
If one or more of the parks don’t sell that could change, according to Wilking, who acknowledged some of the properties are more attractive investments than others, but all have sparked interest as word of their looming availability became public.
The parks collectively account for nearly 150 of the 607 mobile home lots in
Two of the remaining four mobile home parks have at least 30 lots, according to a state survey, though flooding at one of them — River Run Manor — has rendered more than half of the 35 lots unusable. Located along the Stevens Branch of the
The 30-lot
Though both are somewhat smaller, the same is true of the two other
All of the parks could be sold to a single investor, or each could be purchased individually depending on which generates more money to pay off R&G’s creditors.
Arthur Hamlin, of the state Department of Housing and Community Development, said it is unlikely a nonprofit organization would emerge as the high bidder for all, or any of the properties, given the nature of the foreclosure auction.
According to Hamlin, the auction is exempt from state requirements that tenants be notified, though safeguards in the law will protect them once the properties change hands.
“Whoever owns them (the parks) after the sale, the same rights apply,” he said.
Hamlin said the new owner, or owners, would be required to follow notice requirements spelled out in state statute for everything from raising lot rents to closing the park.
david.delcore@timesargus.com
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Pub.
3/18/15 Times Argus by David Delcore
BERLIN — Concerned that panhandling might be getting out of hand in commercial corners of the community, the Select Board is considering an ordinance that would set new restrictions on those soliciting money.
On its face the draft ordinance, which the board has asked attorney Rob Halpert to review, would prohibit everything from coin drops to the Salvation Army’s red kettles — though those aren’t the kind of activities members say they are concerned about.
According to Town Administrator Dana Hadley, the goal is to address reports that a few folks asking for handouts might be getting too forceful and some who live and shop in the community are starting to feel intimidated.
“We’re hoping … to curtail the aggressive type of issues we’re having,” he said during the board’s Monday night meeting.
Chairman Ture Nelson agreed, suggesting that the ordinance was drafted in response to recent complaints and had less to do with the activity than the behavior of those who engage in it.
“The act of panhandling itself is not what we’re against,” Nelson said. “That’s not what we’re trying to restrict. We’re trying to restrict the aggressiveness, the property damage, the threats (and) people being fearful when they go into a business.”
Nelson offered his observation after board member Roberta Haskin shared conversations she has had with residents concerned about an increase in the number of seemingly homeless people on the street asking for money and with police who say that — without an enforceable ordinance — there isn’t much they can do.
“(Police) have been paying attention to the situation,” she said. “They’ve offered help, made suggestions … but a certain group of people doesn’t really want help. … They want to be out there.”
According to Haskin, one woman kicked and dented the car door of someone who had just rebuffed her request for money.
“It’s turning into aggressive behavior,” she said. “They are asking people for money, and they are getting a little aggressive about it.”
Haskin said a board-adopted ordinance would provide the Police Department a response to behavior that doesn’t rise to the level of criminal activity.
However, the draft ordinance, which the board did not discuss in detail, would go much farther than that.
Among other things, the ordinance would prohibit solicitation within 15 feet of any building entrance, any vehicle or “any handicapped parking space, taxicab stand, bus, train or subway station or stop or in any public parking lot or structure or dedicated walkway to such parking lot or structure.”
Board member Jeremy Hansen worried that sweeping prohibitions and vague language might make the ordinance vulnerable to a court challenge.
“It’s a lot more likely that this would survive legal challenge if it was targeted strictly at aggressive panhandling,” he said.
Hansen said there were provisions of the draft ordinance — including a prohibition on soliciting money for a specific need and then using it on something else — that were practically unenforceable. Others, he said, such as requiring renewable permits from the Police Department, were questionable.
“It sort of seems like a tax on poor people,” he said.
According to Hadley, the intent wasn’t to charge for the 15-day permits, simply to require they be obtained and a town-issued placard prominently displayed at all times.
The draft ordinance would also prohibit converting solicited money for private use, soliciting while under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance, and soliciting in an aggressive manner in any public place.
As defined in the draft ordinance, “aggressive manner” would include using violent or threatening language or engaging in physical contact; persisting after being refused; or “soliciting anyone who is waiting in line.”
Haskin said she’d heard from residents who turn right when leaving the Price Chopper plaza on theBarre-Montpelier Road
“That’s not fair,” she said.
The Price Chopper entrance drive and the areas aroundCentral Vermont Medical Center
Board member Pete Kelley said he was troubled by reports of aggressive behavior and suggested those concerned about the activity were looking to the board for leadership.
“If something starts to escalate there’s no reason for it to stop if we don’t stop it,” he said.
“It could get ugly,” Hadley agreed. “That’s what we’re trying to avoid.”
david.delcore @timesargus.com
BERLIN — Concerned that panhandling might be getting out of hand in commercial corners of the community, the Select Board is considering an ordinance that would set new restrictions on those soliciting money.
On its face the draft ordinance, which the board has asked attorney Rob Halpert to review, would prohibit everything from coin drops to the Salvation Army’s red kettles — though those aren’t the kind of activities members say they are concerned about.
According to Town Administrator Dana Hadley, the goal is to address reports that a few folks asking for handouts might be getting too forceful and some who live and shop in the community are starting to feel intimidated.
“We’re hoping … to curtail the aggressive type of issues we’re having,” he said during the board’s Monday night meeting.
Chairman Ture Nelson agreed, suggesting that the ordinance was drafted in response to recent complaints and had less to do with the activity than the behavior of those who engage in it.
“The act of panhandling itself is not what we’re against,” Nelson said. “That’s not what we’re trying to restrict. We’re trying to restrict the aggressiveness, the property damage, the threats (and) people being fearful when they go into a business.”
Nelson offered his observation after board member Roberta Haskin shared conversations she has had with residents concerned about an increase in the number of seemingly homeless people on the street asking for money and with police who say that — without an enforceable ordinance — there isn’t much they can do.
“(Police) have been paying attention to the situation,” she said. “They’ve offered help, made suggestions … but a certain group of people doesn’t really want help. … They want to be out there.”
According to Haskin, one woman kicked and dented the car door of someone who had just rebuffed her request for money.
“It’s turning into aggressive behavior,” she said. “They are asking people for money, and they are getting a little aggressive about it.”
Haskin said a board-adopted ordinance would provide the Police Department a response to behavior that doesn’t rise to the level of criminal activity.
However, the draft ordinance, which the board did not discuss in detail, would go much farther than that.
Among other things, the ordinance would prohibit solicitation within 15 feet of any building entrance, any vehicle or “any handicapped parking space, taxicab stand, bus, train or subway station or stop or in any public parking lot or structure or dedicated walkway to such parking lot or structure.”
Board member Jeremy Hansen worried that sweeping prohibitions and vague language might make the ordinance vulnerable to a court challenge.
“It’s a lot more likely that this would survive legal challenge if it was targeted strictly at aggressive panhandling,” he said.
Hansen said there were provisions of the draft ordinance — including a prohibition on soliciting money for a specific need and then using it on something else — that were practically unenforceable. Others, he said, such as requiring renewable permits from the Police Department, were questionable.
“It sort of seems like a tax on poor people,” he said.
According to Hadley, the intent wasn’t to charge for the 15-day permits, simply to require they be obtained and a town-issued placard prominently displayed at all times.
The draft ordinance would also prohibit converting solicited money for private use, soliciting while under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance, and soliciting in an aggressive manner in any public place.
As defined in the draft ordinance, “aggressive manner” would include using violent or threatening language or engaging in physical contact; persisting after being refused; or “soliciting anyone who is waiting in line.”
Haskin said she’d heard from residents who turn right when leaving the Price Chopper plaza on the
“That’s not fair,” she said.
The Price Chopper entrance drive and the areas around
Board member Pete Kelley said he was troubled by reports of aggressive behavior and suggested those concerned about the activity were looking to the board for leadership.
“If something starts to escalate there’s no reason for it to stop if we don’t stop it,” he said.
“It could get ugly,” Hadley agreed. “That’s what we’re trying to avoid.”
david.delcore @timesargus.com
# posted by Corinne's blog of Berlin and area happenings @ 12:45 AM 
