Court says hotel owner must pay

Rutland Herald | May 13, 2017

The Vermont Supreme Court ruled that a hotel proprietor failed to show he wasn’t the one who owed a former employee money.

The court upheld a Rutland civil court decision against Gurdeep Nagra, awarding Sashi Airi $57,787 for work Airi did for Nagra at the Red Roof Inn in Killington as well as two hotels in Brattleboro.

According to court records, Nagra argued Airi was employed not by him, but by various corporate entities in which Nagra was involved, and that Airi’s dispute was with those entities, not with him personally.

The trial court was unconvinced, and the Supreme Court ruled Nagra’s appeal had failed to present anything it could consider.

“(D)efendant did not order a transcript of the trial,” the decision read. “Instead, he indicated in his appeal that a transcript was not necessary.”

But the court said it was necessary. “Because we cannot review the evidence, the court’s factual findings, or its ultimate legal conclusion, defendant has waived the right to raise the issue on appeal,” the ruling said.

Court records state the two Brattleboro hotels were raided in 2007 as part of a federal investigation that resulted in Nagra being convicted on charges of fraud and harboring illegal immigrants.

Airi managed the hotels when the company went into receivership following the raids, records show.

Killington to offer bikers a trail mix

Rutland Herald | May 11, 2017

By GORDON DRITSCHILO
STAFF WRITER

Volunteers celebrate their work on the first 2 miles of a 15- mile mountain biking trail in Killington. PROVIDED PHOTO

KILLINGTON — With a little more state money, the town’s network of mountain biking trails will get a little bigger this year.

The state Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation announced Wednesday that Killington has been awarded a $45,000 grant through the recreational trails program. Kim Peters, the town’s recreation director, said the money will go toward a multiyear, $300,000 project that will eventually result in a 15-mile trail network.

“We have 2 miles finished,” she said. “It was rideable last year.”

The existing trails are off Route 100, about two miles from the intersection with Route 4. 

“We’re on the east side, currently working, and our goal is to get into the west side either this summer or next summer,” Peters said. “This summer, we expect to get to Kent Pond.” 

She said the portion west of Route 100 will eventually be a large loop toward Gifford Woods.

“The Killington Resort offers the downhill mountain biking. This is more of a Pine Hill look,” she said, referring to the Pine Hill Park trail in Rutland.

Peters said the town has $20,000 alotted for the project in the current budget and the Killington Mountain Bike Club raised another $25,000.

Ben Colona, president of the Killington Mountain Bike Club, said the first mile is an “introductory” loop.

“Very flat,” he said. “Very little elevation gain or loss. Not threatening.”

The second mile i s another loop, he said, that is a bit harder, but still beginner-friendly.

“Our whole thought process is to start with beginners because there is not a lot of beginner terrain out there.” 

As they cross Route 100, Colona said, they will add 3 to 4 miles of intermediate and advanced terrain.

“More rocks, maybe a little more elevation change,” he said. “Within the next couple years, we’ll have all the skill sets dialed in.”

Mountain biking has figured prominently in the recent discussions about marketing the region collectively.

“It connects well with our strategy of growing recreational opportunity in the region,” Lyle Jepson, executive director of Rutland Economic Development Corp., said of the new trails. “It adds one more outstanding asset to what we see as a growing list of assets.”

Jepson said mountain bikers were a segment of the tourist market the local region could more effectively tap into.

“ It’s going to bring in revenue, no doubt,” he said, “and hopefully some of the people that are coming here are going to want to live here.” 

gordon.dritschilo @rutlandherald.com 

Former VRGA Chief Jim Harrison to Replace Rep. Tate

Vermont Standard

5/4/2017

By Curt Peterson

Standard Correspondent

Vermont Governor Phil Scott recently appointed Republican Jim Harrison to replace Representative Job Tate, who recently resigned his post.

Tate, who has been in the Naval Construction Brigade Reserves for some years, was called up for overseas deployment and had to resign his seat in the Legislature. He had one more year to serve, and then, he said, he planned to selfimpose a two-term limit on himself and let someone else run to take his place in 2018.

As recently as the killington Town Meeting in March, Tate was planning to finish his term.

When he announced his resignation, three candidates indicated they were interested in Scott’s appointment as Tate’s replacement: David Soucy, who is general manager of killington’s Green Mountain International Golf Course, Whit Montgomery, killington’s chief of police, and Jim Harrison of Chittenden, the former president of and former lobbyist for the Vermont Retail and Grocers Association.

Within a short number of days, Scott announced Harrison’s appointment, and he was sworn in last week as the representative for Bridgewater, killington, Chittenden and Mendon.

Harrison says he is a “moderate Republican,” whereas Tate was referred to as one of the most conservative legislators in the House.

Harrison says he plans to run for reelection when Tate’s term expires in 2018.

Harrison and his wife have lived in Chittenden since 2006, coming from Rutland Town. He earned a bachelor’s degree at Cornell, then a master’s degree in business administration at Southern New Hampshire University, and worked for almost 30 years for VRGA. He retired in late 2016 at age 63.

His previous organization opposed several controversial legislation proposals. Three examples are the tax on added-sugar soft drinks, paid family leave policy, and the Vermont Genetically Modified Organism labeling law, all popular with many Vermonters, and all directly affecting retailers and grocers in the state. Harrison had a reputation among legislators as a tenacious advocate for his organization.

But Harrison says all that is behind him. He plans to focus on economic and population growth in the state, both of which he feels are the best goals for Vermont and his constituents.

Jim Harrison

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Copyright © 2017 The Vermont Standard 5/4/2017