Waterbury man pleads innocent to sex charge
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TIMES ARGUS STAFF
TIMES ARGUS STAFF - Published: May 29, 2009
BARRE – A Waterbury Center man pleaded innocent to lewd and lascivious conduct Thursday for allegedly touching a 15-year-old boy in the groin area.
Rodney Companion, 38, was released on conditions after his arraignment in Vermont District Court in Barre.
Vermont State Police began their investigation in January when they received a complaint from the alleged victim in the case. The victim worked with Companion on weekends and school vacations, according to an affidavit filed in support of the charge. Companion operates a wrecker and owns a garbage business, court records state.
The victim said Companion touched him more than once, but the last time, the victim had fallen asleep as he was driving with Companion and woke up to find Companion's hand on his groin, the affidavit states.
According to court papers, Companion sent a text message to the victim that read: "I f'd up – I know. I will never hurt you again."
Two limited spaces OK'd for Barre Street
TIMES ARGUS STAFF
MONTPELIER – Two 15-minute parking spaces will remain in front of The Barre Street Market to keep customer traffic flowing.
Although a slew of people showed to speak to City Council on behalf of Barre Street Market on Wednesday, few actually spoke before an ordinance amendment was approved. The amendment was based on a proposal from an attorney, representing the market owners, presented to the council during its last meeting.
City staff visited the site, upon request from the council following the last meeting, and agreed to recommend two spaces continue to have a 15-minute time limit, while lifting restrictions on the other four spaces.
Parking complaints from the market owners brought police to the property an average of every other day last year. A neighboring business owner and Mayor Mary Hooper had suggested eliminating all time-limited parking in the area of 203 Barre St., where the market is located.
At the meeting Wednesday, Crystal Maderia, who is a co-owner of neighboring restaurant Kismet, asked the council to add a stipulation for language clarification of the signs on the street, prior to the council's decision. Members of the council approved the amendment as rewritten to reduce the number of 15-minute parking spaces from six to two.
Chris Smart, the attorney representing the market owners, explained to the council that his clients agreed to undergo a mediation process with the city's Community Justice Center, if necessary.
Open House for river projects
TIMES ARGUS STAFF
MONTPELIER – Find out what the Friends of the Winooski are working on this Saturday during an open house.
From 1 – 4 p.m. the Winooski Headwaters Community Project will host a self-paced tour of the many river protection projects in the area. Visitors can pick up a map of the sites from Twinfield School between noon and 1 p.m., the Martins Bridge site in Marshfield between 1 – 3 p.m., or print one from the Friends of the Winooski River Web site.
The Winooski Headwaters Community Project is a collaborative effort with partners that include local and state government, nonprofit organizations and interested citizens. The project is assisting the residents to restore and protect the ecological integrity and human enjoyment of the Winooski watershed, focused mainly in the towns of Cabot, Marshfield and Plainfield.
Open house stations include the following: Portable skidder bridges; see one located at Colin McCaffrey's property at 903 Route 214 in East Montpelier. In Marshfield, check out fish habitat improvements and fish tagging/tracking at the Holt Road crossing of Naismith Brook. Water quality samples have been collected for the past two years and the local Conservation Commissions will host a demonstration at the Martins Bridge. Teachers and scientists are slated to host a hands-on, in-stream opportunity to learn about mussels, bugs and other critters at the Martins Bridge.
Also, in the Plainfield village center, folks can get a look at a rain garden being constructed.
To learn more about the open house, go to www.winooskiriver.org or call Ann Smith, director of Friends of the Winooski River at 655-4878.
Lunenburg man dies in crash
CONCORD (AP) — Police are investigating a crash that killed a Lunenburg man.
Seventy-seven-year-old Lloyd F. Lewis died Wednesday night when his vehicle went off Route 2 in Concord and hit several trees. Police say the vehicle traveled 185 feet off the road before hitting the trees, with one crashing onto the roof and windshield.
AG says trooper justified in shooting at suspect
MONTPELIER (AP) — The Vermont Attorney General's office says a state police trooper was justified when she fired two shots at a suspect in Bethel who had aimed a handgun at her with a laser sight.
The suspect in the case, John Connelly, was not hit by either shot fired by Trooper Stacy Corliss in the Dec. 28, 2008 incident.
Police were called to an apartment after a report Connelly pointed a weapon at a resident and fired a gun. Connelly initially refused troopers' order to leave the apartment, but he then rushed out holding a handgun.
The attorney general's office says Corliss had a reasonable belief that she was in imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury. Connelly is facing charges in the incident.
Teacher's aide denied bail
BURLINGTON (AP) — A former teacher's aide at a Burlington school will remain in jail pending trial on charges he molested a boy in the 1990s.
Forty-three-year-old Douglas Cavett, of Milton, is charged with two counts of aggravated sexual assault. Police say he met the boy in 1991, when he was 11 and Cavett was working at Hunt Middle School, and that Cavett molested him numerous times over several years.
Police say Cavett hosted parties at his home in which teenage boys were given alcohol and marijuana
A judge has denied Cavett's request to be released from jail saying he is a significant risk to public safety.
Cavett has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Truck driver sentenced in head-on crash
WHITE RIVER JUNCTION, Vt. (AP) — A truck driver is going to prison for a head-on collision in Quechee that led to the death of an 80-year-old man.
Police say Sirell D. Fiel, 24, of Buskirk, N.Y., was driving too fast on snowy Route 4 when his truck jackknifed and hit an oncoming vehicle driven by Melvin Geno, of Hartford.
Hospitalized for more than a year with injuries from the crash, Geno died last July after being taken off life support. Lawyers had to rework a plea agreement after the judge and Geno's family objected to it, the Valley News reported.
Fiel, who pleaded no contest to gross negligent operation of a motor vehicle, agreed to a 60-day prison term and a yearlong driving restriction, which was requested by Geno's family.
Second arrest in fatal shooting of professor
BURLINGTON (AP) — Prosecutors in Chittenden County say they've charged another man in an accidental shooting that claimed the life of a retired English professor.
Twenty-seven-year-old Brad Lussier, of Colchester, is charged with involuntary manslaughter in the September death of John Reiss, a former professor at St. Michael's College. Reiss was hit with a stray bullet from a backyard firing range near his home in Essex. The bullet penetrated the wall of his home, striking him.
On Wednesday, 39-year-old Joseph McCarthy was charged with involuntary manslaughter in the case. Prosecutors say he set up the shooting range in a place where it was inherently dangerous to be firing rifles.
Vermont speller out of competition
BURLINGTON (AP) — A 12-year-old boy from Newbury has been knocked out of the national spelling bee.
Timothy Webb aced the spelling of "tegular" and "russet" but a written test has kept him out of the semifinals in the 2009 Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington on Thursday.
Webb, a sixth-grade home schooler, said that means that he and his family now have more time for sightseeing in the nation's capital.
Only 41 of the 293 contestants advanced to the semifinals.
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