Man hosed with bear spray during alleged violation

 Rutland Herald

By Brent Curtis
staff writer | September 30,2014

 

Vermont State Police say Sean T. Blake was trying to break into his ex-girlfriend’s Killington home Sunday morning when he was sprayed in the face with a product designed to fend off bears.

The 24-year-old South Burlington man was arrested Sunday — but not for trying to force his way into the Innsbruck Lane home through a window.

After Blake’s ex-girlfriend, Leslie Thompson, and a man who was at the home with her during the incident decided not to give statements to police, he was arrested for consuming alcohol, which is a violation of court-ordered conditions imposed on him by the criminal court in Burlington where he pleaded innocent in August and September to a pair of burglaries and operating a motor vehicle without the owner’s consent, according to court records.

Blake pleaded innocent Monday to a misdemeanor charge of violating his conditions of release and was freed after his arraignment on conditions of release.

He was arrested at about 5 p.m. Sunday after Thompson called police to report that Blake, who sometimes stayed at her address, was trying to break in.

Earlier in the day Thompson had dropped Blake off in Brattleboro where he was going for substance abuse treatment. When she returned home, she put Blake’s belongings in a bag and left it on her porch because she didn’t want Blake inside her home anymore, she told police.

But Trooper Daniel Meytin wrote that Blake never made it to the clinic in Brattleboro. Instead, he had two run-ins with police in that community who were called to a convenience store for a report that Blake and another man were intoxicated. At noon on Sunday, police were called to the Brattleboro Rehab Clinic for a family fight. During the call, Blake was issued a criminal citation for allegedly violating his court-ordered conditions by consuming alcohol.

How the South Burlington man returned to Killington is unclear, but Thompson told police he arrived at her home shortly before 5 p.m. and began shoving his way through a window.

Thompson told police that she told a friend, 21-year-old Evan Raszkiewicz, to spray Blake with a container of bear deterrent — a potent type of pepper spray used to drive off wild bears.

After using the spray in the home, Blake, Raszkiewicz and Thompson were all forced to leave the dwelling, according to court records.

A test of Blake’s blood-alcohol content at the scene indicated a BAC of 0.053 percent, Meytin wrote.

Blake told the trooper that after he was sprayed he poured part of a beer on himself in an effort to wash away the bear spray and drank the rest.

brent.curtis

@rutlandherald.com

Chris Karr redoing driveway with milings

Chris Karr's driveway Sat. 9/27/14

Chris Karr's House 9/27/14

Looks like Chris Karr is redoing his driveway with asphalt millings. I wonder where they came from? I sure hope they didn't come the Killington Road because according to Seth Webb, Town Manager they were only to be used on "driveways and parking lots that connect to Killington Road".

Rutland: ‘One test, one day (NECAP Science scores down)

Rutland Herald

By Bryanna Allen
STAFF WRITER | September 26,2014

 

Rutland High School performed below state average in science scores, but a local education official said the results are not solid indicators of the ability of a school to teach.

Scores for schools across the state were released Thursday by the New England Common Assessment Program, or NECAP, which tested students in grades four, eight and 11.

“NECAPs are one test, on one day,” said Robert Bliss, assistant superintendent for Rutland City schools. “There are a lot of variables that can change the outcome.”

Rutland High tested 214 students in grade 11 and 27 percent of them tested proficient and above, compared to the statewide average of 30 percent for 11th-graders. Of the tested Rutland 11th-graders, 37 percent were on the free and reduced lunch program.

Statewide, low-income students on an FRL program scored six points lower than other students.

Bliss said during the course of the next month or so, Rutland teachers will look more closely at scores to evaluate areas needing more attention.

“Teachers will work on priorities and develop new content based accordingly,” he said.

Rutland Intermediate School tested 156 eighth-graders, and 27 percent tested proficient and higher in science. Sixty percent of those students were on the FRL program

West Rutland Elementary School tested their 23 fourth-grade students and 52 percent tested proficient or higher.

The Westside eighth-graders tested lower at 21 percent of the 19 students tested being proficient or higher. The 11th-graders had 15 students and 27 percent of them were proficient or higher.

Nineteen students in Proctor High School’s junior class were tested and 37 percent of those students were proficient or higher. Principal Adam Rosenberg said scores were lower than he had hoped, but that it only left room for improvement.

“Obviously we would like to see it higher,” he said.

Proctor has created an engineering course and is trying to target related skills by using Project Based Learning, a way for students to explore academic subjects — including science — in a hands-on way that can be used in real life.

Out of the 20 fourth-grade students at Barstow Elementary School, 65 percent tested proficient and higher. Of the 33 eighth-grade students, 48 percent tested proficient and higher.

“I’m overall pleased with the final results of the students,” said Barstow principal Karen Prescott. “Obviously, there is room for improvement and we need to look at areas of difficulty and find ways to focus on those areas.”

Prescott said comparing the test results year to year was like comparing apples and oranges.

“Each year and each student is bound to be different,” she said.

Killington Elementary School had 87 percent of their fourth-graders test as proficient and higher, a decrease in their perfect score last year.

However, Principal Loren Pepe said because of the small student body — about 90 students, a jump from last year — one student testing below average can drastically throw off the results.

Not that Pepe was concerned with the outcome.

“I am more than thrilled with the achievements of the children and the teachers,” Pepe said. “But we always wonder, no matter what we are doing as a school, how we can improve.”

Pepe said because the school is so small, it takes several years to really make a solid comparison in test results.

“We tend to look at the strengths of our students,” said Lisa Laird, a second-grade science teacher at the school. “We look at what we’re doing right and try to apply that to other areas.”

Also, the school believes one reason it is doing so well is because it is using math and science in a way that applies to the children and their everyday lives.

For example, Maria Garland, a fourth-grade science teacher, had students weighing the density of sap as it was boiled down to maple syrup. Something that many of the students could relate to and therefore really understand.

Killington board ponders building solution

Rutland Herald

By Bryanna Allen
STAFF WRITER | September 25,2014

 

KILLINGTON — With the current Killington Volunteer Fire Department no longer meeting state requirements and hindering the needs of the fire department, finding a new solutions has been on the town’s agenda.

During a town Select Board meeting Tuesday night, options for a new station were tossed around and tossed aside.

The town hired architects Alan Brown and Don Walter last year to assess the needs of the department and desired results for a new station.

Brown and Walter presented options to the meeting in July and more options were presented Tuesday.

Each option required the purchasing of more land to accommodate necessities that the station now lacks.

The current station, on Killington Road, is on less than one acre of land, limiting turning space for the vehicles.

The 1974 building has uneven floors, inefficient heating, no cross ventilation and not enough storage, said Fire Chief Gary Roth. The building is also too close to the road, about 6 feet, instead of the 50 to 60 feet now required for new stations or stations undergoing serious renovations.

Roth said each time the trucks leave or enter the apparatus bays, it is a struggle because of the proximity of the road and the building.

A new sprinkler system would need to be installed, as well as an elevator and accessible entrance for people with disabilities.

“It basically makes no sense to stay on the location and fix up that building,” Walter said. “Each option is roughly the same cost and with the current site, there is no room for future additions.”

Each cost for each option is still an estimated preliminary cost, said Town Manager Seth Webb.

Chet Hagenbarth, director of the town’s highway and facilities department, presented a slideshow of options put together by Dore and Whitier Architects Inc. highlighting features of each potential building.

Several options were eliminated quickly based on estimated expense combined with the overall lack of major improvements.

“It seems like a waste to invest a large chunk of money into an inefficient site,” said Selectman Chris Bianchi, referring to the existing lot on which the nearly 40-year-old building is situated.

Select Board chairwoman Patty McGrath agreed.

“The plan is to invest in a building that will last as long as this one has lasted,” McGrath said. “But dumping money into that building makes no sense.”

One option favored was the idea of the potential purchase of a lot of land between Charity’s Restaurant and Liquid Art on Killington Road to construct a new station from the ground up.

The 6-acre lot is privately owned and is being considered for purchase. However, for now the land is simply being used as a foundation example.

“A piece of land such as this would allow for more than enough space should we decide further down the road to expand,” Hagenbarth said.

Benefits of purchasing a new piece of land include space to construct regulation-sized bays for the trucks, along with adequate parking for workers and visitors, and no required replacement for Station Two on River Road, miles from the main station.

Building from the ground up at a different location would allow the fire department to continue to use the current station until the new one is built.

“If we redo that station, we need to find a temporary place to house the trucks and equipment,” Roth said. “Not only will that cost a lot of money, but it has the potential to slow down our response time.”

Future additions to the fire department could potentially be a police station and a civic center, and even perhaps, the town offices one day.

Webb would like to see the town more united, because Killington is what he calls a “driving town,” with many of the main buildings spread across the town in an inconvenient manner.

But those options are much further down the road and depend entirely on the direction the town goes regarding the new station.

Two downsides would be the purchasing of a property and the requirement of a new storage system.

Webb said to take this a step further, the town will put together a fire department building committee — consisting of three to four residents, a Select Board member and fire department members — to help determine the need that exists for the building and works to build consensus around a final direction. The Select Board will issue a call for interested parties to serve on the committee next month, Webb said.

“We want to reach out to the community to ensure we get their input on this decision. The future of the fire department facility is a big one, and the community needs to make it together,” Webb said.

Comment: This is the beginning of the media campaign to sell the town on a new fire station. From what I observed at this presentation, the fire  department is asking for a full menu of amenities in this firehouse, including offices for all fire officers, a training center, ambulance station, police station, and down the road expansion to include a town hall.
The proposal made was to situate  the new station on what could be considered by most to be a prime piece of commercial real estate. Currently the assessed value is around a quarter of a million dollars, with the caveat that a piece of it was recently sold to Liquid Art for expansion of their parking area. A nearby like parcel is assessed at about three quarters of a million and is not on the access road. Thus I can reasonably conclude the asking price for the parcel would be close to a million if not more, even though it's apparently been taxed at the quarter million assessment for years  (and what is that all about?).
The proposal is posted on the town website http://www.killingtontown.com/vertical/sites/%7BE4345A2E-9636-47A3-9B74-2E6220745729%7D/uploads/Killington_Fire_Dept_Facilities_Update_Presentation_-_Final_9-23-14.pdf .
The cost of option 4 in all its iterations 4, 4a and 4b, would run anywhere from 4.4 to close to 12 million dollars. Option 4 is the one most everyone agreed made the most sense (if the voters determine there is a need to upgrade). It should be noted that one of the main reasons the fire department is looking for a bigger firehouse is that they committed to buying a fire engine that is too big to fit in the current firehouse - a little bit of the tail wagging the dog there.
Vito

Exchange grows tense over roads

Exchange grows tense over roads

By Bryanna Allen
STAFF WRITER | September 25,2014

 

KILLINGTON — Some voices rose and some tempers flared during the Killington Select Board meeting Tuesday night regarding the slightly delayed road work scheduled on West Hill road and Killington Road in town.

The shoulders of both roads have yet to be completed. The original schedule stated the completion of the roads would be the week of Sept. 12. Killington resident Vito Rasenas spoke during the citizens’ input portion of the agenda and accused management of not having their priorities straight.

“It’s the second most traveled road in town,” Rasenas said of Killington Road. “Town management claims this should be a pedestrian and family friendly place, but I see mothers pushing strollers along the side of that road that doesn’t have a shoulder. That is not family friendly.”

Rasenas went on to address Town Manager Seth Webb, wondering why the extra road milling — sheets of pavement used on the roads — was “given” to businesses in town after construction wrapped up. Rasenas accused Webb of throwing town money away.

Webb calmly stated that Rasenas had factually incorrect statements regarding the road milling and construction of the highway shoulders.

“The shoulders of the roads are next on our to-do list,” Webb said. “We have been waiting on the hired contractor to finish the job with the milling machine.”

Chet Hagenbarth, director of the town’s highway and facilities department, agreed with Webb and explained the situation further.

“We are waiting on an actual shouldering machine, at the mercy of the contracting company,” Hagenbarth said. “We want to make sure it’s done well and done right.”

Rasenas became angry and yelled that Webb was still withholding information from him and not answering his inquiries about the extra milling. He accused Webb of calling him a liar.

Select Board chairwoman Patty McGrath had to firmly ask Rasenas to speak to Webb in a respectful manner.

Webb acknowledged Rasenas’ concern about the pavement milling and let Hagenbarth take the explanation from there.

“We had extra pavement milling after fixing areas of the roads,” Hagenbarth said. “We could have either given it back to the contracting company or made it available to the Killington public.”

He said several business owners on Killington Road approached the town about using the milling for parking lots, exactly where it went.

Hagenbarth said after about a month, the sheets of milling stick together and are no longer usable for anything. The town decided to simply give the businesses the milling instead of selling it to them.

“We would rather see it go back into the town than back to the company,” Hagenbarth said. “And besides, they’ve already paid for it through taxes.”

Rasenas repeatedly yelled that he was “not going to get any facts” from town officials.

McGrath again firmly told him that the issue had been thoroughly addressed, that his questions had been answered and that they needed to move on with the meeting.

Back in August, the town did not receive the Pedestrian and Bike Path Grant to continue construction of the pathway from West Hill road to Schoolhouse Road.

The cost for the remainder of the work is $283,968.

The town plans on requesting another Agency of Transportation alternative grant to fund the project by October 16. If the town is successful, that grant would cover $227,174, with the remaining $56,794 coming from the town.

Comment:
What the article doesn't state is that Seth Webb stated my estimate of the worth of the millings was factually incorrect. He stated that the millings weren't worth millions which I never said. What I did state was the millings that were given away were worth in the area of $50,000, yet Webb make it sound like I made a preposterous claim of millions.
Below is a letter sent to the Select Board regarding the millings program outlining their value. This letter was discussed a few months ago at a Select Board meeting so every in the room Select Board, Webb, Chet Hagenbarth, myself and others knew exactly what the millings are worth.
Vito

To our select board                                                                                July 14 2014

Regarding the millings program ,

The town has somewhere between 110 &173 truck loads of millings or reclaimed asphalt that it is giving away . Residents and businesses that were interested in receiving some were asked to apply .( The Millings program).

 I was told that the distance from the site to the delivery location would be a priority .as it costs less to truck things closer .

I priced reclaimed asphalt ( millings ) at wilkes paving in Rutland , it costs $18.50 per ton , approximately 21 tons per truck load , + delivery $78 per hour ,

last year when we purchased this product Wilkes had the best pricing .

If one truck load were 20 tons as the e mail from the town estimated : 1 truck load would be $370 with out the delivery or trucking fee .

Why isn't the town selling these millings as it could be a significant source of income for the town ,  .

Looking at the chart below , and please correct me if I am wrong , it appears that only 7 businesses and no residential properties were selected to receive the free millings .

One individual who owns 3 businesses on Killington rd is receiving 67 truckloads , which may be more then ½ of the total available amount . Please note that I do not find fault with any business  owner or individual applying for this ,But  receiving 67 truck loads  is a lot for  one person to receive , considering that many have applied and are not getting any ,( including one resident who lives on west Hill rd right near the site) .

The individual receiving 67 truck loads would be getting a gift from the town with the approximate retail value of $24,790 with no delivery fee .

This has angered many residents , simply because it is really unfair .

Because of the value of this , the town should be selling the millings at a reduced rate of maybe $100 a truck load to tax payers . That would cover the towns expenses and put money into the general fund .Any un purchased millings should be given away by lottery or a fair equitable system that includes residents . Right now not a single residential property was awarded any millings .

A gift of $24,790 is inappropriate for  a town employee to be giving away , unless a fair system is implemented so all tax payers can benefit from this .

If you only want to do Businesses this year , give each business its fair share ,divide the amount of millings by the number of business that applied , if you own 3 businesses you can get 3 shares ,  and next year allow only residents to apply .I am sure many businesses would be happy to pay any expenses that the town would incur for trucking expenses .

Another way would be to give the millings to the highest bidder ,

Anything that puts more money into the general fund would greatly help the tax payers in the town of Killington.

Nicole Levesque

Comment: Nicole Levesque is a business and property owner, and a former EDT commissioner.

If we go by her number, and about half is worth $24,790, then it is no stretch to say as I did in my presentation to the Select Board (below), that what was given away was worth about $50,000. 

Vito

Presented by me to the Select Board 9/23/14

I’ve got to say the Killington Road business properties’ parking lots look great with the tens of thousands Killington Road millings. That however begs the question why West Hill Road’s shoulders are not done, as Seth stated at the last Select board meeting would be done . The Killington Road businesses are a private concern and certainly West Hill Road should merit priority status over them. In fact I would venture to say West Hill would have priority over the park and ride and the golf course as it is the second most traveled thoroughfare the town is responsible for.

The powers that be have been making a lot of noise in recent years about making the town more pedestrian and family friendly. Yet I have witnessed mothers walking their strollers and youngsters in the middle of West Hill Road since there is no shoulder. I would not call that pedestrian or family friendly. I would think that the town management would get their priorities aligned with what their supposed strategic plan is beyond giving freebies to the Killington Road businesses. Although I suppose that’s one way spur economic benefit for those businesses.

And as to the cost to the town, I don’t know if there is a stockpile of millings that are going to be used for finishing West Hill Road’s shoulders. But even if there is that will cost the town as it would have been way more efficient to move them to West Hill during the milling process when the trucking was paid for. If there is in fact a stockpile somewhere, then the town will have to bear the additional cost of loading and trucking the millings to West Hill.

If there is no stockpile, it’s even worse as the town will have to purchase additional material and truck it.

If the town has to buy additional material to finish West Hill’s shoulder, I would say it’s bordering  on criminal that private Killington Road business were given somewhere in the neighborhood of  $50,000 of millings while a public thoroughfare, West Hill Road,  went wanting.

The town administration needs to get a proper balance in its priorities instead of continually catering to the businesses in the name of economic development.

Police: Road rage issue led to gunshot

Rutland Herald

September 18,2014

 

Police: Road rage leads to gunfire

Police said a case of road rage led a Rutland man to fire a gun into a passing log truck Wednesday afternoon on Route 4 in Rutland Town.

Michael Barnes, 23, will be in Rutland criminal court today for an arraignment on a misdemeanor charge of reckless endangerment, said Rutland Town Police Chief Ed Dumas.

Dumas said a motorist called police around 12:10 p.m. Wednesday reporting that the driver of a black car fired a shot from a handgun at a tractor-trailer carrying logs. The black car and log truck were traveling east on Route 4 near Home Depot in Rutland Town, Dumas said the motorist reported.

The chief termed the shooting a road rage incident and said an investigation led to Killington where Barnes was taken into custody.

Dumas said a handgun was also seized. The chief said police believe the shot did strike one of the logs in the truck.

Killington: Improved access road seen for season

By Bryanna Allen
STAFF WRITER | September 18,2014

 

Anthony Edwards / Staff Photo

A banner posted next to Killington Road warns drivers about road conditions and repairs.

KILLINGTON — The condition of the access road that leads to the Killington Ski Resort has some residents and the police chief concerned.

Most of Killington Road is owned by the town, but above the Lookout Bar & Grill, ownership shifts to the resort.

The town is making construction progress on the bottom half of the road before it gets covered in ice, but the top half still requires attention.

Sam Patel is a resident who works on the road and drives it several times a day. He said he has seen a lack of effort in the restoration process in the past couple of years.

“The town does a tremendous job attempting to keep up with their part of the road,” Patel said. “But you can tell where the town line ends and the resort begins because it suddenly gets awful.”

His job requires him to interact with tourists during all months of the year, and he said customers complain they feel unsafe driving on the road.

“Not everyone who comes up the road has four-wheel drive or knows what to look out for,” Patel said. “I know where the potholes are and I still worry about my tires bursting — winter or summer, it doesn’t matter.”

Patel said the resort just hasn’t made it a priority on their to-do list.

On Aug. 30, during the Killington Classic motorcycle event, police said a biker hit some rough road that caused him to lose control and crash.

Killington Police Chief Whit Montgomery said the rider was thrown to the pavement and suffered a head trauma, among other injuries. He was airlifted to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H.

“It’s not a big secret that the road needs a lot of work,” Montgomery said.

He said he was glad to see signs put up to warn drivers about the road.

Mike Solimano, president and general manager of Killington Ski Resort and Pico Mountain, said earlier this month the original plan was to have that section of the road paved by the end of July, but delays have caused the deadline to be pushed back.

Solimano said he expects work to start before the end of the month.

Solimano also said fixing the road has become a priority for the resort and, in the meantime, parts of the road are being patched over.

The police chief said that news puts his mind a little more at ease.

“I’m happy to see the road start to get some work done,” he said.

Resort spokesman Michael Joseph said a combination of last winter’s temperature swings and the continuous traffic stream took an additional toll on the road.

“But we expect significantly improved driving conditions for the coming season,” he said.

He said throughout the delays and road work, he will keep frequent travelers to the ski area updated via social media.

bryanna.allen @rutlandherald.com

Killington is now Powdr’s flagship resort

Rutland Herald

By Bruce Edwards
STAFF WRITER | September 12,2014

 

KILLINGTON — The sale of Park City Mountain Resort by the parent company of Killington and Pico will not place the two Vermont resorts on shaky financial ground, Mike Solimano, the company’s Vermont president, said Thursday.

After a several years’ legal battle, Powdr Corp., reached an agreement to sell Park City Mountain Resort to Vail Resorts for $182.5 million.

Powdr had been embroiled in a legal dispute over the resort’s leased land that threatened Powdr’s continued operation there.

Park City was the anchor resort of Powdr’s stable of ski areas. But Solimano said it will be business as usual at Killington and Pico this season.

“Killington Resort and Pico Mountain will not be affected by Powdr’s decision to sell Park City Mountain Resort to Vail Resorts,” Solimano, president and general manager of Killington Resort and Pico Mountain, said in a statement. “Rather, this positions Powdr, which owns and operates Killington and Pico, well for future growth and success.”

SP Land Co. is in the permitting process to build a ski village at the base of Killington.

Steve Selbo, president of SP Land, said the sale of Powdr’s Utah property won’t have a ripple effect on the village plans.

“We’re stuck in Act 250 right now,” Selbo said. “It (Park City) really hasn’t affected us one way or the other and I don’t think it will affect us in the future either.”

Parker Riehle of the Vermont Ski Areas Association said the end of the legal dispute and sale of the Utah resort should benefit Killington.

“We see nothing here that would affect the operations or ownership of Killington Resort,” said Riehle, the VSSA president. “In fact, the way I view it, this certainly moves Killington to the very forefront of Powdr’s ski areas and really makes them the preeminent resort in their portfolio and I see that as certainly a positive thing.”

John Cumming, Powdr’s owner, is selling Park City’s assets, including the base area, parking, lower ski terrain and lifts, water and snowmaking to Vail. The base parking lands have approved zoning for approximately 687,000 square feet of residential and commercial development.

“First and foremost, we are very pleased to bring a permanent end to this dispute and provide assurance to the guests and employees of PCMR, and to everyone in the Park City community, that they no longer have to worry about any disruption to the operation of the resort,” Rob Katz, chairman and chief executive officer of Vail Resorts, said in a statement. “This has been a difficult period for everyone involved, and I commend John Cumming and Powdr Corp. for helping to find a solution to this situation.”

Ski Area Management, an online magazine, quoted Cumming as saying, “Selling was the last thing we wanted to do, and while we believe the law around this issue should be changed, a protracted legal battle is not in line with our core value to be good stewards of the resort communities in which we operate.”

Vail, which already operates The Canyons, next door to Park City, intends to merge both resorts for the 2015-16 ski season, which would create the largest ski resort in the U.S., with 7,000 acres of skiable terrain.

Powdr found itself in trouble three years ago when it failed to renew its lease with Talisker Land Holdings on time. A Utah court ruled that Talisker could evict Powdr, raising the specter that the resort would not open this season. Just last week, Powdr agreed to post a $17.5 million bond, clearing the way for the resort to open while Powdr appealed the judge’s ruling.

The sale of Park City leaves Powdr with eight ski areas: Copper Mountain, Colo.; Killington, Pico, Vt.; Mount Bachelor, Ore.; Boreal, Nev.; Las Vegas Ski & Snowboard; Gorgoza Park, Utah; and Soda Springs, Calif.

Vail Resorts Inc. operates Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Keystone in Colorado; Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood in the Lake Tahoe area of California and Nevada; Canyons in Park City, Utah; Afton Alps in Minnesota and Mount Brighton in Michigan; and the Grand Teton Lodge Co. in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. RockResorts, a subsidiary, manages luxury hotel properties. Vail Resorts Development Company is the real estate development and construction subsidiary.

Vail Resorts is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (MTN). Vail closed Thursday at $85.75 a share, up $8.98.

Utah ski resort sold amid long legal battle

Rutland Herald

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST
the associated press | September 12,2014

 

ap file photo

A skier enjoys the terrain at Park City Mountain Resort, in Park City, Utah. One of Utah’s largest resorts will open its slopes this upcoming ski season after agreeing to pay a $17.5 million bond that a judge said it must pay to keep the slopes open.

SALT LAKE CITY — One of Utah’s largest ski areas was sold to Vail Resorts Inc. Thursday, resolving a legal battle between two ski titans and paving the way for the creation of what could be the country’s largest resort.

The $182.5 million deal, effective immediately, gives Vail the base area and parking lot at Park City Mountain Resort, as well as lifts and snowmaking equipment. The Colorado-based company is already leasing the upper 3,000 acres of slopes, but couldn’t use them without the base area owned by Powdr Corp.

The sale will allow Vail to connect Park City with the adjacent Canyons ski area it leased last year from real estate company Talisker, which applauded the deal Thursday.

When the two are connected with a lift in the future, the resulting 7,000-acre resort will be the largest in the country, said Vail CEO Rob Katz.

“This is one of the most impactful opportunities our company has ever had,” said Katz.

Vail’s stock had shot up about 11 percent by Thursday afternoon on news of the deal.

For the upcoming season, Vail will operate the two resorts separately. They’ll honor Park City passes or allow skiers to exchange for the company’s $749 Epic Pass, which allows access at 22 resorts, or a local version. The company will maintain the two names in the future, but the connection between the two will be seamless, said Katz.

Powdr Corp. CEO John Cumming said his company entered the deal reluctantly, but it will give security to the city and the 2,000 employees who will stay in their current jobs.

“Selling was the last thing we wanted to do, and while we believe the law around this issue should be changed, a protracted legal battle is not in line with our core value to be good stewards of the resort communities in which we operate,” Cumming said in a statement.

A judge ordered Park City evicted from the slopes in May after ruling the long-running fixture had missed a deadline to renew a decades-old sweetheart lease it got from a mining company. Though they continued the court battle, the two sides also started court-ordered mediation talks.

Vail’s properties include resorts in the Lake Tahoe area and the Midwest as well as Utah and Colorado.

Powdr owns seven major U.S. ski areas, from Vermont’s Killington to Oregon’s Mount Bachelor.

At one point, the legal battle between the ski titans put the upcoming season at risk, raising concerns about thousands of jobs and millions of sales dollars in Park City.

Grub Steak Restaurant owner Hans Fuegi said the sale should relieve three years of tension, but the news is bittersweet.

“Most people have a lot of respect for not only the resort, but what John (Cumming) has done for the area,” said Fuegi, who welcomed the concept of a connected Canyons and Park City.

“Geographically, quite frankly, it should have happened a long time ago,” he said. “From the topography and the terrain, it’s very easy to join these two resorts.”

Lifts began running at what was then called Treasure Mountain in 1963, marking the start of the modern-day ski industry in the town about 30 miles east of Salt Lake City that hosted many of the events in the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Funding schools with imaginary students raises questions

Letter to the Editor
Mountain Times
September 11, 2014

Dear Editor,

After reading Gov. Shumlin’s letter to Rebecca Holcombe, secretary for the Vermont Agency of Education, dated Aug. 19, 2014, which outlines initiatives he hopes she and the Agency will pursue on his behalf to advance progress this year, I was confused on a number of topics. 

Shumlin refers to the fact that many schools benefit from the “hold harmless provision,” which limits declines in enrollment used for school funding to 3.5 percent per year. Meaning that if a school looses more students, they are not penalized financially for the additional losses in their enrollment. This, in essence means we (the taxpayers) are paying schools additional money to educate students that don’t actually exist. Which raises the questions: exactly how many imaginary kids we’re funding as a state?

Schools that have seen a dramatic decrease in numbers over the past few years are assumably being funded by this provision almost entirely, as they have not been required to cut back as much as such as a decline in student enrollment should warrant.

The governor also mentions that between FY1997 and FY2014, enrollment K-12 has dropped from 103,000 to 79,600 students, do those numbers include imaginary kids?

When Shumlin now says that this formula will be adjusted over next few years so that we are in fact not paying for imaginary students, does that mean that the schools for whom this provision has aided have caught up to the real numbers over time? Or that this provision is being eliminated and those schools should prepare for the dramatic loss of funding?

On a side note, I find it funny that actual students that are tuitioned into our schools do not count toward our equalized pupil ratio, but imaginary kids do…

If this program is indeed going to continue, can we get some of these imaginary students to help with our budget, which in turn will help with our property taxes?

Jim Haff, Killington

Police probe car break-in

Rutland Herald


KILLINGTON — Vermont State Police is investigating a theft from a car parked at the intersection of Route 4 and East Mountain Road.

Police said Killington resident Shari Borzekowski parked her gray Hundai Accent there at about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday and then left for a short walk with her children, returning about a half hour later to find the window smashed.

Borzekoski told police a brown Haiku purse with a green strap was taken, and that the purse contained items, including some belonging to her young daughter, totaling $300 in value.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is encouraged to contact the Vermont State Police at 773-9101 or submit an anonymous tip text “CRIMES” to keyword “VTIPS” or utilize Vtips.Info in order to submit anonymous information.

Crews at Pico cleanup after strong winds damage condo complex

Rutland Herald

September 03,2014

By Bryanna Allen
STAFF WRITER

KILLINGTON—Powerful winds swept through Pico ski resort around 9:45 p.m. Tuesday during a rainstorm, causing damage to two of the condominium buildings, the base lodge and surrounding trees and signs.

Parts of the condo roofs were torn off, windows were broken and several metal chimney caps—weighing a couple hundred pounds each—were tossed into the parking lot, according to Pico property manager Tom Rock.

Of the combined 60 rooms in the two buildings, only 10 of them were occupied and everyone was evacuated without injury and sent to the Killington Grand Resort Hotel for the time being.

The storm damage in Killington was isolated to the Pico resort area.

“It’s all very strange,” Rock said Wednesday morning. “It was just around here, no damage anywhere else.”

Rock said there is no estimated cost of the repairs as of yet and no next step has been planned.

“We’re just trying to clean up still,” Rock said.