Freyne Land

Moonlight in Vermont tonight. And the moon is in compassionate Pisces. Thought you’d want to know.

Good morning. It's 7:15 and the Freeps hasn’t posted its online stories for today, so I checked the “Corrections” still posted from yesterday's edition.

Poor Mark Shepard.

When it’s not going your way, it’s not going your way. The Sunday Freeps carried Terri Hallenbeck’s excellent feature profile on the two talented Republicans running for the U.S. House. Generalissima Martha Rainville and Bennington County State Sen. Mark Shepard. Very different campaign operations. The Rainville part was about all her staffers. The Shepard part was about the wife and the kids campaigning in the old RV.

By the way, Mark Shepard isn’t going to win Tuesday’s primary. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t one of the most decent, intelligent, interesting and caring individuals you will ever meet in politics.

Apparently the Freeps provided the wrong website address for Shepard on Sunday, since they ran this yesterday:

CANDIDATE WEB SITE
Republican congressional hopeful Mark Shepard's web site is www.markshepard.com. The address was incorrect on Page 4A of Sunday's Free Press.

So since the local Gannett chain paper is late posting today’s edition, I had the opportunity to notice it and time to click it. Go ahead, you, too!

What the____?. That sure doesn’t look like the Mark Shepard I know who's running for Congress in Vermont. This one's a hypnotherapist, “Courage Coach” and performance artist in New Haven Connecticut.

A new career for Sen. Shepard?

The funny thing is, The Burlington Free Press didn’t really have to run the Wednesday inaccurate "correction" in the first place.

That because the address provided loyal readers in the Sunday story was www.markshepard.us.

Go ahead, try it. You’ll see what I mean.

Sometimes absolute perfection need not be the end result.

On today’s playlist:  Marvelous Martha doing a 10 o’clock presser at her HQ. And Scudder's booked for a 1 o'clock at the DEMOCRACY “statue” downtown. Let's see if he gets TV cameras to capture his planned "visual,"  eh?  And, yes, we’re hoping for sunshine. Improves the bicycling.

Just heard it -  the first aerial quaking of the season by flocking ducks getting ready to head south.

And earlier there was lots of political quacking on WVMT’s “Charlie & Ernie Show” with a 7-8 A.M.  in-studio, head-to-head, bill-to-bill debate between Mad Dog Jim Barnett (GOP) and Bill Lofy (Democrat).

Four years ago,  Barnett was the fiery young opposition researcher and attack dog serving on State Treasurer and gubernatorial candidate Jim Douglas’ talented campaign team. (Neale Lunderville was the campaign manager.)

Fast forward to the present. Mad Dog is the salaried chairman of the Vermont Republican Party. Mr. Barnett turned 30 a couple weeks ago. Happy birthday, James!

Mr. Lunderville, the Boy Wonder, worked on the governor’s Fifth Floor staff until this spring. He briefly took a job with Pfizer Pharmaceuticals out of Boston (yes, the Viagra manufacturer). But Sec. Dawn Terrill's sudden departure over at AOT quickly brought the Boy Wonder home to Vermont to fill  the important hole. Lunderville is our state’s current Secretary of Transportation at 32. ( Hey, you can drive at 16, right?)

OK. Who is Bill Lofy?

Whoever he is, that’s the best performance I’ve caught by a Democrat in a radio cockfight with Mad Dog Barnett....ever!

So, who the hell is Bill Lofy?

Well, Bill was a friend and confidante of  U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota. He worked on Wellstone’s staff for six years. Wellstone died in a plane crash on October 25, 2002 along with his wife, one child, two pilots and three campaign staffers.

In 2003, Bill went to work for as communications director for Wellstone Action. Lofy wrote and in 2005 published Paul Wellstone: The Life of a Passionate Progressive. But guess what?

Vermont is where he’s always wanted to live. His wife went to UVM. (Besides, I spent three winters in Minnesota in the early 1970s - it’s too damn flat!)

Bill popped up on the Vermont political scene last January as a part-time communications consultant for House Speaker Gaye Symington. Gaye was frustrated her message wasn’t getting out. So she organized a political action committee, raised the bucks and hired Lofy!

Today he’s running the coordinated campaign for the Vermont Democratic Party. Bright guy and it showed against Mad Dog in Mr. Lofy’s inaugural appearance on “Charlie & Ernie” this morning.

Hey, who in the Vermont press has paid heed sooner and shown more respect for Young Barnett’s talent than yours truly? A master at opposition research and a brutal debater - no one changes subjects faster when cornered - Mad Dog is one key reason the party of Bush-Cheney holds three top jobs in DNC Chairman Howard Dean’s home state: governor, lieutenant governor and state auditor. Does Karl Rove somehow not know this?

Meanwhile, the rest of America thinks of Vermont as the most left-wing, anti-Republican state in the nation.

Interesting.

We look forward to the Barnett v. Lofy rematch!

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*Update*

Lunchtime, Wednesday ! And I just updated the Tuesday Rummy item below.

St. Patrick's remarks on the U.S. Senate floor last night are worth a little read.

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**Update**

After reading today's “Inside Track” item on the Democratic Lite-Gov Primary, State Rep. Harry Monti of Barre just called to point out the fact his name is posted as a supporter on both Matt Dunne and John Patrick Tracy’s websites!

“I don’t know why [Dunne] has my name down,” said Rep. Monti. Harry made it perfectlty clear over the phone he supports Tracy, not Dunne, in the Democratic Primary.

On Dunne’s website, we found 40 Democratic House members listed as supporters.

On Tracy’s website, we counted 35. Hadn’t noticed the duplicates. Bummer.

Also posted as supporters on both Tracy and Dunne’s campaigns are the names of State Rep. Kathie Keenan, State Rep. Richard Howrigan, State Rep. Alice Nitka, State Rep. Linda Martin, State Rep. Helen Head, State Rep. Tim Jerman, State Rep. Al Perry and State Rep. Ken Atkins.

Interesting.

Tuesday is "Inside Track" writing day for the print side of Seven Days, so we did not attend Democrat Congressional hopeful Peter Welch's presser on Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Welch said in his press release:

“Secretary Rumsfeld first misled us to war, then failedto execute that war effectively, and now has gone out of bounds in our democraticsociety by challenging the patriotism of citizens who question his failures. He must go.”

No surprise there. Welchie's been saying it since last December.

But what is a surprise is that two prominent Republican candidates have gone public with their calls for Rummy to go ober the weekend. The Associated Press reports out of Trenton, New Jersey that "New Jersey Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tom Kean Jr. called for the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld yesterday, days after a new poll showed the Iraq war was hampering his U.S. Senate bid."

In Ohio, The Columbus Dispatch reports that Republican U.S. House Rep. Pat Tiberi has also gone public with a call for Rummy to resign.

"I can’t defend how the president laid out the need for (going to war in Iraq). I don’t support Rumsfeld," Tiberi said.

A trickle that will become a waterfall?

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*UPDATE*

(Wednesday September 6 at noon.)

Last night, Vermont's senior senator, Patrick J. Leahy, had a few points to make on the Senate floor and, would you believe, Rummy's name came up:

"Secretary Rumsfeld and Vice President Cheney struck the absolute wrong note when they recently labeled as "appeasers'' the majority of Americans who recognize the disastrous war in Iraq as distracting them from winning the war on terror. Basically, they are saying anyone who questions their mistakes or points out their mistakes is nearly treasonous. My God, we have not heard talk like that since the days of King George. And that led to the revolution that made us a country!

"Again, this week, the Democratic leadership reached out to the President on this important issue. Rather than name-calling and seeking to divide Americans, rather than fostering fear and seeking to scare Americans into staying the disastrous course on which the Government remains headed, I urge Republican leaders to join to fight a smarter war on terror so we can make America safer....

"During this past month, I have gone all over the State of Vermont.  I have talked to people. I have attended funerals of brave soldiers killed in Iraq from Vermont. Vermont has lost more soldiers per capita than any other State in the country. And it is interesting, in a small State such as ours, as to the people you see at these funerals, everybody knows everybody else. I walk out and I see people whom I went to grade school with or people who knew my parents or I knew them or their families. We are there, and the other Members of the congressional delegation, the Governor, and nobody goes by a title. Our adjutant general is usually referred to as Mike. I am called Pat. There is Jim and Bernie and so on.

"We're a very proud State. We're a very patriotic State. We're a very honest State. We're the 14th State in the Nation, and we have answered the call. People wonder if maybe the call has been distorted this time. They wonder what this war does for our security. As I said earlier, I believe it has made us less secure as a nation, not more secure. They wonder where the failures were in Government that allowed 9/11 to happen in the first place. And, of course, as more information has come out, it could have been avoided, should have been avoided, should have been avoided. And they wonder if the lessons have been learned about that.

".....and I heard this from Republicans and Democrats alike in my State--when the Secretary of Defense and others in the administration say if you raise questions, if you point out their mistakes, somehow you are aiding the enemy, however defined, that you are not being patriotic. I am reminded to paraphrase Mark Twain. He said: Love your country. Question your Government.

"A lot of people in my State--Republicans and Democrats--say there is a great deal to question today.

"I hope they will continue to do so. I hope they will never fail to do so. I hope that those people who have the audacity in America -- the freest democracy on Earth -- that those leaders in our Government who have the audacity to question the patriotism of Americans who question their mistakes will themselves be quiet and leave--leave the stage!!!"

Thank you, Sen. Leahy, for sharing!

If you like chilly, damp, dark, dreary Vermont mornings, this one's for you! The west coast of New England will be cloudy but rain-free according to the National Weather Service:  A slight chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 69. West wind between 6 and 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

Two big items on the agenda - three, actually -  and lots of politician-sightings in the forecast. Burlington's Old North End Labor Day March this morning (10:30) and noon rally at Battery Party. Sources say even Republican politicians will be in attendance!

Then at 3 p.m. - same location - a new band of tree-huggers will be wrapping up their five-day walk from Ripton. They've called themselves "Vermonters Walking Toward a Clean Energy Future." More here. And the group's key organizer and promoter, Bill McKibben, is someone intimately familiar with the subject matter at hand.

As you know,  McKibben is the polite gentleman and the intelligent, visionary and courageous  writer whose 1989 best-seller "The End of Nature" allegedly opened eyes to Global Warming. McKibben became an award-winning writer and a much sought after after-dinner speaker at the best conferences and conventions coast-to-coast. Everyone smiled, applauded, bought the book and went on with their lives as they had been living them.

So fast-forward 17 years. Ol’ Bill lives in Ripton, Vermont. Has some gig going at Middlebury College. And today in 2006, the center of the planet's global-warming blind spot if Washington, D.C. And he’s reached what I’d call the  “I’ve Got To Do SOMETHING Besides Write Fricken’ Books And Give Friggin’ Speeches” Phase of his life.

About fecking time, eh?

After all, Texan Joe Barton, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the committee that controls energy issues and items, thinks “Global Warming” is total BS.

As he said when the Bush administration took office (looking back, was that a dark day or what?),  "As long as I am chairman, (regulating global warming pollution) is off the table indefinitely. I don't want there to be and uncertainty about that.”

No, sir!

After all, he's on the same page as the White House...when it comes to uncertainty.

Check back for a late afternoon update. And all the while, the third big Burlington, Vermont event of the day will be underway on the streets of downtown - bike racing! It's the 2006 Green Mountain Stage Race and today is the Louis Gameau Burlington Criterion.

One day a year - downtown streets without cars and trucks. What a sight!

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****UPDATE*** 7 p.m.

The Labor Rally attracted all the usual suspects. In fact, only the usual suspects. Bernie gave the expected pro-worker stemwinder. After all, Eugene Debs is his hero, was on the wall of his Burlington Mayor's office in the 1980s. Ah, memory lane!

Even with free food, the Labor Rally crowd was only around 250. Democratic pols for everything from governor to state rep and Chittenden County state's attorney. On Ch. 3 News Brian Joyce even managed to work the "usual suspects" angle into his report.

Come back two hours later and it's a whole new crowd, a much bigger crowd, and a stream of Bill McKibben's global-warming walkers stretching for blocks and blocks up Pearl Street towards the post office. Big crowd -  estimate based on me and Jeezum Jim Jefffords' rep splitting it in half and counting  = 1000 plus) Also, in addition to the usual suspects, Republican candidates attended and spoke at this one.

An unscientific survey in the back of the crowd indicated there was a high expectation Tarrant would attract some heckling. After all, everyone's seen those TV commercials he's been showing down Vermont's throat, right?

While waiting his turn, Richie, stood off to the side with Tim Lennon his campaign manager. We did not see him approach voters one-on-one. Strange. Though not mixing with the crowd,  Tarrant deflected their potential hostility by quickly signing the big Global Warming Pledge and then telling the attentive crowd he realizes "the Bush administration is taking the country in the wrong direction."

I got my copy of the pledge in a nice folder handed out by Marijke Unger, a "media officer" for  Greenpeace-sponsored projecthotseat.org.  Marijke flew in from Greenpeace in Denver, she said. She's a Middlebury College grad. Damn, they're everywhere!

The punch line on the Big Pledge is: "I will work to promote global warming solutions, such as a national renewable energy standard of 20 percent by 2020 and an increase in mileage standards to 40 miles per gallon."

Republican U.S. House candidate Martha Rainville also signed the Global Warming Pledge and spoke. A different kind of crowd for the Generalissima. Candidate Rainville  made note of the fact she didn't see many Republican candidate signs or stickers in the crowd. "If this is going to work," said Martha, "we have to find ways to bring people together."

Good point. In fact, she didn't see Vermont's current Republican governor or Republican lieutenant governor in that crowd.

Ol' Bill McKibben brought 1000-plus people together today for a reason and they're not going to forget it.

Gutsy performances by the two Rs who did show.

Well, it sure would have been an interesting story to cover - District Court Judge Ed Cashman's appearance at the Statehouse this coming winter to seek reappointment to another six-year term on the Vermont bench. But it ain't gonna happen. Cash will retire after his next cycle on the bench - this time up in Newport. The A.P.'s Dave Gram reports in Saturday's Vermont press.

Ol' Cash gave us the first big story of the year with a controversial sex-offender sentencing back on January 4 at the Judge Edward Costello Courthouse across from what's now Macy's in downtown Burlington. Because of that sentencing, yours truly ended up watching right-wing forked-tongue Bill O'Reilly on Fox for three whole weeks that month! Yuck! And we heard a lot of familiar names. We called it "Fox News Declares War on Vermont." You remember, right?

And here's a Cashman profile by Chris Graff (requires Boston Globe registration.)

****Update**** But all were topped by the Jan. 20 op-ed article that Republican state senator, Essex County prosecutor, St, Mike's grad and former Freeps reporter (in the 1970s) Vince Illuzzi penned for the Boston Globe:

A Rush to Judge the Judge

By Vincent Illuzzi

THE LAST TWO weeks have seen a frenzy of publicity, both in Vermont and across America, over the sentence handed down by Vermont District Court Judge Edward Cashman in the case of State v. Hulett.

Unfortunately, much of that national outcry has been based on the grossly inaccurate report of a remark the judge never actually made.

Mark Twain, a one-time reporter, said, ''A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes." If you wanted an example of the truth of that saying, this case is it.

And that's why we need to avoid a rush to judgment of Judge Cashman.

Television reporter Brian Joyce of Burlington's WCAX began the national roller coaster coverage on Jan. 4 with this inaccurate and highly inflammatory lead, according to the WCAX website:
''There was outrage Wednesday when a Vermont judge handed out a 60-day jail sentence to a man who raped a little girl many, many times over a four-year span starting when she was 7. The judge said he no longer believes in punishment and is more concerned about rehabilitation."

That was the lie that made it halfway round the world. The truth was quite different.

Cashman never said he did not believe in punishment. What he did say, which Joyce never quoted in that first story, was the following, according to the court transcript:
''And I keep telling prosecutors, and they won't hear me, that punishment is not enough."

Cashman used the example of Ed Towne, a graduate of the sex-offender treatment program who later murdered a 15-year-old girl. The judge wanted to be as sure as possible that defendant Mark Hulett did not reoffend. The sentence was structured -- based on available options -- to ensure treatment sooner rather than later, and to ensure long-term supervision.

But soon, across America, there were headlines about a Vermont judge who didn't believe in punishment and who felt that 60 days in jail was enough of a sentence for a child rapist.

The national news media had no idea what Cashman actually said or did, and no idea what options the Department of Corrections told him were available at the time of sentencing. They relied on the WCAX report.

Self-proclaimed victim advocates began to call for a boycott of Vermont if we did not get rid of this judge.

Some of my colleagues were only too happy to grab some national press, repeating the WCAX story, calling the judge names, and demanding his resignation. These ''probusiness" legislators readily spread the misinformation that has led to national radio and television commentators calling for people to shun the Green Mountain State.

I respect the importance of punishment, not only for public safety or rehabilitation, but for the value of punishment itself. Justice demands that when someone does a very bad thing, something very bad ought to happen to that person as a consequence. But punishment alone is not enough.

The inadequately punitive aspect of the sentence has been widely reported, but the role played by the Department of Corrections in the formulation and execution of that sentence has been largely ignored. I guess it's easy to criticize an individual instead of a faceless department. One policy would not offer treatment for this offender while incarcerated, while another policy would release him after serving just 60 days of his 60-day to 10-year sentence, followed by treatment.

Did the judge properly balance the statutory objectives of sentencing -- punishment, rehabilitation, incapacitation, and restitution? The reconsideration motion filed by the state last week will give the court a chance to revisit that question. The case isn't over yet.

In the meantime, I would urge all reporters, before they write another story about this case, and all legislators, before they take any action relating to this case, to read the Jan. 4 hearing transcript.

In its words lie the facts of the matter -- not in the sadly inaccurate reporting that has helped to make this case a national sensation and create a lynch-mob mentality.
Vincent Illuzzi is a Republican state senator in Vermont. 

Finally, (for now,) here's Ol' Cash's retirement letter to Chief Justice Paul Reiber:                                                                                     

                                                                                        August 30, 2006                   
Chief Justice Paul L. Reiber                   
Vermont Supreme Court   
111 State Street Drawer 9
Montpelier, Vermont 05609
                        
Dear Chief Justice:
    Please be advised that I will retire from the position of District Court Judge at the end of this judicial term in April of 2007.  I will have completed 25 years of service as a Judge, and 36 years of service to the State of Vermont in a variety of other capacities.  I feel very fortunate to have had these opportunities.
    I send this letter now, rather than in January, because 4 V.S.A. 604 sets September 1 as the deadline for announcing my intention to seek another judicial term.   I did not want you or the others in the judiciary left wondering.
    My family and I have discussed this issue for some time.   Now in my mid-sixties, I must face the reality that I am no longer a young man.  The prospect of another six years of the intense effort and attention needed to properly perform this function may exact a cost my family and I are no longer willing to pay.  I have serious reservations as to whether or not I could continue with the 60-70 hour weeks the position demands. The stress of the decision-making in the trial courts, while difficult at times, is not as draining as other less visible demands of the position.    
    The toll also comes from the nature of the work and the timing of tasks.  I feel a constant concern about keeping up with the work load and allocating the time to write quality findings.  The multiple demands after normal work hours    (preparing jury charges, awaiting jury verdicts, the long commuting requirements) all contribute to daily fatigue. 
     Added to that is the work at home the public is unaware of:  calls at all times of night for juvenile emergencies, temporary orders in the relief from abuse petitions, and applications for search warrants.
    The social isolation has also had its impact over the years.  A judge’s life is indeed monkish, yet ironically, also lacks privacy. Both of these add to the load.
    I would like to take this opportunity, while I still have the vitality, to redirect my energy and efforts in two areas that interest me intensely:  my family and teaching. 
    Like most families in this mobile society, my children have spread to the winds.  I would like to visit them on a regular basis.  The demands of the trial bench do not permit this.
    Secondly, I have taught at the college level for the past nine years, and I would like to expand that part of my life to offer more courses at several local colleges, and in some graduate programs.      
    I do not see myself leaving the judiciary, as much as playing a reduced role.  I am looking forward to part-time activities, not only in traditional retired judges’ duties as needed, but more importantly, in continuing work with the mentally ill who come into our court system.
    I am deeply indebted to those within the judiciary:  the Supreme Court justices, the trial court judges, and the assistant judges, who have supported me over these years.  I would also include the patience and support of the trial lawyers, the bar association, the clerks and court managers, the many jurors I have worked with, the sheriffs departments, the Department of Children and Family social workers, the many employees of the Department of Corrections, the police, and most importantly, the ever polite, ever patient, and ever supportive trial court staffs.   
    I especially want to acknowledge my indebtedness to the Court Administrator and his employees.   I began in the judiciary in May of 1972 as a County Clerk.  At that time, lawyers referred to the Supreme Court Building as the State Library.   Three employees managed the work within the clerk’s office. Time and conditions have changed for the better for all in the judiciary. We now have an excellent, well-coordinated and well-managed trial court system because of the long time efforts of our current court administrator and his staff.   I am grateful to have been part of these changes.

With warmest regards,

Edward J. Cashman
District Court Judge

I stood by Ol' Cash last January when the you-know-what hit the fan. And, as I recall, with the exception of the local Gannett-chain Freeps,  Vermont's editorial pages did, too.

Why?

Because Cashman was right. Not popular, but right.

Change is the only constant in life, they say. These days we're hearing that Rutland Republican State Sen. Wendy Wilton, a top Cashman critic who appeared on O'Reilly, is facing a tough reeelection bid.

The thing that got me back in January was to hear Wilton and other Cashman attackers like Burlington GOP Rep. Kurt Wright (who also appeared on O'Reilly), freely admit they knew absolutely nothing about Cashman, his 20+ years as a black robe, or even a single other case he's handled that they had a problem with. Not one!  But they still wanted him strung up.

Ah, but there was a Fox TV spotlight waiting to be filled!

Still, since it was a fellow Vermont public servant's head in the noose, you'd think Wilton and Wright would have had the decency to do a little nosing around and research to learn something about the judge and his record before calling for his execution.

Live and learn, eh, when political grandstanding is involved?

Just got the news from Channel 3 at noon.

Jessica Abo was live on the scene of the charred remains of the landmark Midddlebury restaurant The Dog Team Tavern.

She told viewers there had been reports of an explosion overnight. Only the chimney was still standing.

BUT the big question was: Where is the Dog Team's Owner Christopher Hesslink, 42, of Monkton?

Abo told Ch. 3 viewers his truck, with dogs inside, had been found parked in the back. However, no one's been able to find Mr. Hesslink.

We Googled and found this - are you sitting down?

From a recent edition of The Burlington Free Press:

Dog Team Tavern owner pleads no contest to sex charge

Published: Saturday, July 29, 2006
By John Briggs
Free Press Staff Writer

Christopher Hesslink, 42, of Monkton, the owner of the Dog Team Tavern in New Haven, pleaded no contest July 21 to a misdemeanor sex charge involving a former employee.

Hesslink was originally charged with sexual assault, a felony, but the Attorney General's Office, which prosecuted the case, unexpectedly reduced the charge to a single misdemeanor count of lewdness in return for Hesslink's plea. He was fined $100 and instructed by District Court Judge Matthew Katz to donate $1,000 to a community organization involved with sexual assault issues. A $15 "victim's restitution" charge was also imposed.

The girl who made the complaint said she was assaulted May 14, 2005. The Free Press does not identify victims in sexual assault cases.

She told state police that Hesslink assaulted her in the tavern's upstairs office at about 9:45 p.m. as she sat on the floor counting out the night's receipts, according to an affidavit. She said Hesslink pushed her to the floor, straddled her, and assaulted her. When she began screaming, she said, Hesslink "looked surprised at her face" and allowed her to leave, the affidavit said.

Hesslink denied to police that he had assaulted the girl, though he admitted earlier sexual contact with her that he described as consensual but which stopped short of intercourse.

Hesslink, speaking by phone from the Dog Team Tavern, said he was glad the case was over but was critical of prosecutors and the police investigation.

"They don't care what happens to people," he said. "I don't think they look objectively at a case. There was no physical evidence -- just the word of one person."

Robert Keiner, Hesslink's Middlebury attorney, said Hesslink's defense "all along, was that it didn't happen, period."

for the rest click here.

The plot thickens considerably.

Here's an Addison Independent update.

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*UPDATE*

From an April 25, 2006 Valley Voice history story about the Dog Team by Dale Piper:

Ready for retirement, in November of 1987 the Joys sold the restaurant to Christopher Hesslink, who was then operating one of the Perry Group's restaurants, the Dakota Steakhouse in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.  Ready for his own place, he came upon the Dog Team, not only a turnkey business with no problems to correct, but a prominent historic landmark as well.  “All I have done is maintain the quality and add some menu items,” said Hesslink.  One major change he did make, however, was the addition of catering services, which have been a great success.

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*** Just posted my first blog CORRECTION below in yesterday's "Last Day of August" item. At issue: just exactly what press attended Scudder Parker's presser? Appreciate Terri Hallenbeck over at the Freeps, the newspaper that had no one attend either Parker or the Guv's Thursday morning Montpelier pressers, for correcting us. It's the new age of journalism, folks. Right in front of our eyes!

Bonjour, mes amis!   ***Check FRIDAY UPDATES below****

9:45 am - Just listening to Republican Lt. Gov Brian Dubie on “The Mark Johnson Show” on WDEV. Can only get it online down here near the Big Lake, and Ol’ Dana didn’t flick the online switch for the 7:05 morning news this morning, so I gave up and went to VPR.

Missed anything the Doobster might have said about wind power policy and his recently announced disagreement with his running-mate, the guy at the top of the ticket - Gov. AntiWind.  Anybody listening?

More coming re: our lovely U.S. House Race!

***UPDATE*** RE: Dubie's wind comments on WDEV. We quickly got this report from some "one_vermonter" person who listened in:

"I listened to bits of it. Mostly it was Dubie doing his trademark rambling routine. But one part you'll be interested in:

"Mark asked the Doobster if Global Warming was a man created problem.

"Dubie dodged and weaved. He even said that rotting trees create some global warming.
And then Mark asked the question again. Doobie's answer, "Yes, I believe that it is a man made problem."

"Somebody should tell his buddy Marty Rainville."

-One_Vermonter

"The Doobster said that he thinks global warming is a man-made phenomonon."

Thanks, blogo-mate! This is fun and gets results, too!

Anybody else catch the 'DEV broadcast?

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***UPDATE***

11:20 am - Congresswoman? Or Congressman?

That is the question and it should be decided sometime before midnight on the evening of November 7, 2006.

Will the winner be the Pisces Fishes?  Or will the Taurus Bull be victorious?

Here's the necessary information:

"Pisces is the twelfth Sign of the Zodiac, and it is also the final Sign in the Zodiacal cycle. Hence, this Sign brings together many of the characteristics of the eleven Signs that have come before it. Pisceans, however, are happiest keeping many of these qualities under wraps. These folks are selfless, spiritual and very focused on their inner journey. They also place great weight on what they are feeling. Yes, feelings define Pisceans, and it's not uncommon for them to feel their own burdens (and joys) as well as those of others. The intuition of the Pisces-born is highly-evolved. Many people associate Pisceans with dreams and secrets, and it's a fair association, since those born under this Sign feel comfortable in an illusory world."

Hey, I'm a Scorpio, and actually read up on astrology during those atheistic Seventies. Was living on the West Bank in Minneapolis. That's the "West Bank" of the Mississippi, which was looking pretty cruddy in 1972. The river, that is.  The West Bank was in the process of being town down for progress-purposes.

I respect astrology for its insights into human personality and the perspective it offers. It's truly ancient human knowledge and awareness. The fundamentals of the four elements etc. and so forth. I've learned some things about me from it, and have considered it an ally.

Does it help predict the future?

If it did, I'd be at the ponies in Saratoga today.

And Taurus the Bull?

"Taurus, the second Sign of the Zodiac, is all about reward. Unlike the Aries love of the game, Taurus loves the rewards of the game. Think physical pleasures and material goods, for those born under this Sign revel in delicious excess. They are also a tactile lot, enjoying a tender, even sensual, touch. Taureans adore comfort and like being surrounded by pleasing, soothing things. Along these lines, they also favor a good meal and a fine wine. The good life in all its guises, whether it's the arts or art of their own making (yes, these folks are artistic as well), is heaven on Earth to the Taurean-born."

OK...pick!

Martha the Bull and Fishy Pete?

Or vice-versa?

Answers & More coming.

No cheating!