Freyne Land

According to Vermont bird & butterfly man extraordinaire Bryan Pfeiffer at Wings Environmental that's a male Yehl Skipper he photographed a few years ago. What a beauty!

What's he doing, you ask?

Why, he's eating bird crap!

According to Bryan the Birdman, bird crap is a source of protein and amino acids.  And Bryan knows his bird crap. Heck, once upon a time, this Birdman was a journalist on the Vermont political beat, writing for the Rutland Herald/Times Argus Statehouse bureau and, before that,  the weekly alternative paper - the Vanguard Press.

Anybody remember the ol' Vanguard?

In fact, the birdcrap-eating Yehl reminded us of the Guv's Tuesday afternoon statement in which he ate his recent "Reefer Madness" declaration - the one where he directed Windsor County marijuana busts of first-time offenders that are conducted by state police shall henceforth be prosecuted by the Office of the Attorney General.

Apparently it never occurred to Gov. Jim Douglas that Attorney General Bill Sorrell's office is a little busy these days prosecuting things like murder and child molesting, eh?

Yikes.

Douglas claims there was a miscommunication. He thought veteran Windsor County State's Attorney Bobby Sand had a "blanket policy" of giving diversion to all first-time offenders.

Nice try, Jimbo.

Ain't true.

Got some attention this evening on Burlington's Church Street Marketplace from this suspicious-looking band of older fellas singing in the snow.

Singing pretty damn well, too. A real treat. And the snowflakes obliged.

It's the one-and-only Green Mountain Chorus!

More here.

Thanks, guys!

Just had a conversation in Uncommon Grounds about what an especially depressing Christmas Season this is given:

1. The endless Bush-Cheney War in Iraq that everyone knows is based on Dubya's success in deceiving the American people.
2. The melting ice caps and the global-warming crisis that worsens day-by-day in the Age of Exxon.
3. The cost, quality and accessibility of healthcare in our beloved America, and
4. The fact we've got more than a year left of America's worst staying in charge.

Ti's the season to be jolly
Fa la la la la,
la la la la.

Quick.

Who's the mayor of Burlington, Vermont?

Mayors come and go, folks, but the mayor's secretary doesn't change, at least she hasn't changed in the last 20 years.

Faye Lawes started behind the big desk as mayoral gatekeeper in Vermont's largest city back in 1987 when that socialist guy with the Brooklyn accent and the frequent press conferences was in the job.

And she's still the gatekeeper for the current occupant of the corner office at Church & Main - whatshisname? The quiet guy?

Stopped in for a chat with Big Bad Bob yesterday.

Interesting fellow. Loves the job.

More in the "Inside Track" on Wednesday.

Took a break over the weekend from the hustle and bustle, so I didn't catch the House Republican Caucus on Saturday In Montpeculiar.

Looks like nobody did.

Veteran Ch. 3 Reporter Andy Potter tried, but had this to tell viewers Saturday night.

Republicans held their meeting behind closed doors Saturday, without reporters present, calling it a planning session rather than an official party caucus.

Then he gave the GOP House Leader Rep. Steve Adams [left] of Hartland face time to say what terrible things he anticipates the House Democrats will try to do in terms of raising taxes.

Excusez-moi.

This is a democracy. An open government.

And the GOP holds its pre-session caucus "behind closed doors?"

Just change the name of the meeting of elected representatives from "caucus" to "planning session," and y'all can lock the damn doors and keep press and public out?

What kind of an example is that setting?

Has the law been violated?

And are Vermont Democrats, Progressives, Independents  - heck - even other Republicans - going to let such officially-sanctioned secrecy stand unchallenged in Vermont?

We'll see, won't we?

P.S. Vermont House Democrats met in Montpeculiar the previous Saturday for their pre-session caucus -  no "behind-closed-doors" secrecy.  Public and press were admitted, as usual,  to observe the discussion you elected them, and pay them, to have.
 

No, we're not getting any younger.

And this week, two People's Republic of Burlington regulars are moving on.

Michael Monte's been in City Hall since the magical election of March 1981 when the candidate of "poor people, working people and the elderly" he worked for - some guy named Bernard Sanders - won the mayor's race by 10 votes. He started up and ran the Community and Economic Development Office and proved that socialists do indeed know how to do business.

Bright, personable, fair and decent, Michael [right] was a key player [along with Phil Fiermonte who he's about to share a hug with at last night's Community Boathouse celebration], in the political revolution that changed Burlington, Vermont from a dusty, bedraggled town without a decent waterfront into the people-friendly "metropolis" that you see today.

"Well, that was the idea," said Monte. "To foment a small revolution that had some long-lasting value."

Michael starts Monday as the Chief Operating Officer at the Champlain Housing Trust.

Also departing is Chief of Police Tom Tremblay. Tommy Guns has been tapped by Republican Gov. Jim Douglas to be the next commissioner of public safety which will put him in charge of the Vermont State Police.

Maybe Commissioner Tremblay will have a wee chat with Gov. Scissorhands about the Guv's current law-and-order view on prosecuting marijuana cases, eh?

Incidentally, Windsor County State's Attorney Bobby Sand is scheduled to appear on "The Mark Johnson Show" this morning on WDEV AM-FM in the 9-10 o'clock hour.

He's the brave prosecutor who's willing to say publicly our drug laws simply do not work!

Democratic House Speaker Gaye Symington of Jericho shared with reporters, Thursday, what she described as the “still evolving outline of my vision for economic development in Vermont.”

It’s a product of her travels around the state this fall, listening to Vermonters with an emphasis on what works in Vermont and why.

“It really helped me from my thinking for this strategy for economic development in Vermont. I have, for the last five or six weeks, really been test-driving this approach, building on Vermont’s strengths, articulating and being intentional about what we do well in Vermont and why people come to Vermont to locate and grow a business and then using those strengths as the place from which to build."

She told us she intends to kick off the 2008 Legislative Opera with a “Why Vermont Works" Forum on the second Wednesday of the session. A dozen business leaders will be invited to discuss what works in Vermont and what can we be doing to make things work better.

Asked by a reporter what she had heard raised in her travels as the No. 1 concern of Vermonters, Speaker Symington said it was "the cost of health care." She said she’ll have more to say on that issue next week.

Good. Because a lot of Vermont small business opened the mail within the last few days and read that their health insurance premiums are increasing 15-20 percent.

Speaker Gaye's "Why Vermont Works" six-pager is a work in progress, but it is available for your perusing on her website - column left.

Asked where all the "negativity" out there is coming from, Speaker Gaye replied:

"There’s an increasing message and much of it is driven by Gov. Douglas and the message he puts out, but I also find it in the businesscommunity itself and I am trying to suggest there’s a more constructiveway of framing issues so that we can make progress and not getentangled in all of the negativeness."

Here's a shot of the Vermont tree all a glitter keeping an eye on the United States Capitol in Washington.

Somebody's got to, eh?

Taken by a tall, follicly-challenged Vermont guy who has a job in the building.

Thanks, Senator.

The Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce held its annual reception for Chittenden County legislators at the newly refurbished Hilton Hotel in Burlington Tuesday evening. Yours truly swung by after putting the ol' "Inside Track" to bed over at Seven Days.

The weather kept the crowd down a bit but still, more than 200 people showed: folks from the congressional offices, business leaders like Melinda Estes and Theresa Alberghini DiPalma from Fletcher Allen Health Care [aka the "Mary Fanny"], GM Paul Sands from WPTZ-TV and Bill Young, the former SRS Commish who's been running Maple Leaf Farm in Underhill the last three years.

That's Bill with State Sen. Vince Illuzzi (R-Essex/Orleans (left) and the LCRCC' distinguished Top Dog - Tom Torti. [What's Tommy Guns tucking inside his sport jacket?]

A bunch of Chittenden County legislators were there including StateSen. Doug Racine (D) whose name was in the news as "thinking about" agubernatorial bid.

Let me tell ya something. A gubernatorial candidate would have been "working the room," as they say.

Ol' Doug wasn't.

But Illuzzi, the "King of the Kingdom" was!

Why?

"Economic development in Vermont revolves around Chittenden County," Sen. Illuzzi explained. "As chairman of the Senate's Economic Development Committee," said Illuzzi, "I've got to be there or be square!"

Very upbeat crowd, I must say. Despite the gloomy, depressing times, folks were particularly open, warm  and friendly - more than usual. Hey, all we've got is each other, right?

"The stock market may be going into the tank," quipped Vince the Prince, "but you wouldn't know it in this crowd."

Amen.

Did you catch 'em on the box last night at 10 O'Clock?

First impressions?

Vermont's brand new TV news operation, finally kicked off on Fox 44 [that's Ch. 9 on Comcast] with a half-hour nightly news - seven nights a week.

Hey, the snowstorm made it easy on Opening Day, eh?

It's been a little over four years since ABC22 pulled the plug on their local news operation. It's been just WCAX vs. WPTZ since. Seems the whole Vermont news biz has been shrinking.

I sat down the other day with the folks behind getting our new TV news operation up and running. The folks behind the camera.

I'm saving that for tomorrow's "Inside Track."

Very interesting.

But that didn't stop the People's Republic of Burlington from doing the blue-box recycle run here in the South End.

And I hope you, too, are enjoying Public Safety Commissioner Kerry Sleeper's appearance with Mark Johnson on WDEV AM-FM this fine morning.

The veteran state trooper who rose to the top, Kerry Sleeper is retiring --- looking for a little consultant work as he hits his "older" years.

Kerry declined to comment directly on Windsor County State's Attorney Bobby Sand's suggestion we  take another look at how we handle marijuana and other "illegal" drugs since treating drug abuse as a crime issue instead of a substance-abuse/healthcare issue clearly has not shown any indication whatsoever of working.

Sleeper did say, however, that most young people in treatment for substance abuse are marijuana smokers.

As for the illegal-drug biz that's sparked an up-tick in violent crime in Vermont in the last year, Ol’ Kerry said it primarily involved cocaine and crack cocaine. 

One caller just asked why if Prohibition [of alcohol] didn't work in the 1920s, what makes him think prohibition of other equally popular drugs will work?

Good question.