2007: The Year in Review
(Continued from Jan 4)
July

Colby Caleb Madden, 20, is killed in the explosion of a home-made cannon in Bethel Gilead.

Estimates for repairs at RUHS rise from $14.8 million to $22.3 million, according to estimates from Pizzigalli Construction Co. The new estimate was so alarming that the board eventually decides in August not to spend more than $10 million.

Beloved Camp Billings on Lake Fairlee celebrates its 100^th year.

Proposal for a Dept. of Corrections work camp in Randolph is explained at a meeting of 35 citizens. The proposal is still on the table; another info meeting is scheduled for this month.

Mark Corliss escapes death after being dragged underneath a trailer carrying a tractor. Quick action by his friend Rick Grant probably saved his life.

Sharon logger James A. Crowley was killed by a falling tree while he was working near Beaver Meadow Road.

Sixteen-year-old Ashley Elmore of Randolph is killed in an automobile crash on Route 12A in Roxbury.

Rochester passes its school budget on the third try.

August

Randolph Selectboard decides not to renew the contract of Town Manager Rich Schnaedter, who has been manager for three years.

Randolph property reappraised for the first time in 12 years. The total value of Randolph property has increased by 80%.

Bethel teenager Jessica LaPlante suffers a fractured spine after she is run over twice at a Stockbridge parking site. Randolph man arrested.

Upham’s Store in Chelsea sold to Eric and Stacey Flanders, also the owners of the North Tunbridge Store.

East Randolph Church celebrates its 200^th anniversary.

Carlton Clark, a 22-year-old track standout from South Royalton, is killed in a roadside bomb in Baghdad.

Vershire’s tiny library honors Ron Mura of Wellesley who read about the library in The Herald and has sent it 4000 books over the last four years.

Judicial decision saves the Randolph crabapple tree because the selectboard went into secret session improperly. Later in the year, the selectboard held a legal hearing and again condemned tree which, however, still stands.

Restoration work starts at Pierce Hall in Rochester.

Randolph’s first Mexican restaurant, The Bare Mexican, opens on South Main Street.

Two young people from Randolph, Matt Bacon and Ashley Orr, are seriously injured when the car they are in is struck by a freight train on the crossing in Braintree.

Huntington Farm in Strafford starts a search for private investors.

Mugwort and Malachite opens on Pleasant Street.

Talks of school consolidation between Bethel and Randolph are abruptly cut off.

Arson fires occur in Sharon, Royalton, Barnard and West Hartford; they appear related.

Pipe bombing case in South Royalton is solved when four teenagers are arrested with gunpowder in their car.

Bethel school gym seriously vandalized.

Cathy Mayo of Braintree wins national notice when her odd behavior on a trans-Atantic flight causes the flight to be diverted. She is arrested and later admitted to treatment.

Ethan Allen Inc. formally donates 4 acres of downtown property to RACDC for an affordable housing development.

Sen. Pat Leahy steers $750,000 grant to VTC for job raining.

Bob Hull remains as Royalton police chief; Marc Nemeth ousted from force.

New Randolph phone books come out.

September

A Rochester woman and three teenagers return from a coast-to-coast bike ride that raised $8000 for diabetes research.

Randolph Cooperative Market hires Patty Pendergast to replace former manager Jeff Dutton.

Chief Deputy Bill Bohnyak wins three-way Republican primary for Orange County Sheriff, defeating John Pellegrini and Emile Fredette.

One of the candidates for state legislature, David Atkinson, wins nomination by just one vote out of 802 cast. He was later defeated in the general election.

Fundraising by the Pierce Hall Community Center, Inc., stands at $450,000; Masons recognized for their role.

Charlie Biederman appointed to the Rochester Selectboard to fill term of Heather Masterson.

State Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) fines Randolph $4500 for a burning mattress at the landfill.

Randolph Rotary names Marty Strange its Citizen of the Year.

Powers family of Broad Brook celebrates the 100^th anniversary of a 450-mile trip in a rowboat down the Mississippi by their progenitor Joshua Powers and his brother Al when they were 14 and 9 years old.

Gifford Medical Center rates will climb 4.8%.

Despite the loss of the Demolition Derby, the 2006 Tunbridge Worlds Fair attracted record crowds.

After a dozen years, organizers of the Bethel Fall Festival confirms that it will not be held in 2006.

Judy Libby of Chelsea, a nurse at the Menig Facility, is named Registered Nurse of the Year.

Chandler Center for the Arts announces another ambitious series of events for 2006-7, including a return appearances by The Capitol Steps and the Chamber Orchestra Kremlin.

Burglars strike Fisher Auto Parts, Fullam Garage and the Three Bean Café.

Allan Baer of Chelsea is helping the Galapogos Islands develop an energy system that uses no imported oil.

October

Vermont Law School receives $1.8 million three-year grant to partner with a Chinese law school on environmental issues.

Oil prices result in 50% increase in wood stove sales at Vermont Castings.

VTC breaks ground for new $3 million addition to the SHAPE building for a "campus center."

32-year-old James Saunders of Barre is found dead in Vershire. Eight people are eventually arrested, incuding Barre teenagers who had been paid $500 each to lure Saunders to the car where he was killed.

Martha Slater, The Herald’s "incredible shrinking woman," reaches her goal of losing 227 pounds, just by eating less and walking more.

Crockett, a red Holstein ox showed by Gail Billings of Randolph is grand champion at the Fryeburg fair, the biggest ox show in the world.

Vermont schools told they must all have specific lockdown procedures in place in case of crisis.

Candidate Peter Diamondstone arrested at debate for U. S. Senate candidates at Vermont Law School.

Boys & Girls Club of the White River Valley announces it will open a center in Bethel.

The union representing Randolph town employees agrees to a three-year contract raising wages 3% the first year and 4% in the next two.

November

State Rep. ‘Rozo’ McLaughlin dies at age 54 after 10 weeks fighting an aggressive cancer. Tributes pour in.

Royalton Planning Commission finds support for a limited zoning ordinance. The town has none now.

Windsor Northwest Supervisory Union won’t renew contract of business manager Pat Regan.

Construction begins on a visitor’s center for the Justin Morrill National Historic Site in Strafford.

White River Valley voters join the rest of Vermont in electing Bernie Sanders and Peter Welch to the Congress, Jim Douglas and Brian Dubie to the governor’s office, and mostly Democrats to the state legislature: Mark MacDonald to the senate, and Sandy Haas, Patsy French, Jim Hutchinson, Mark Mitchell, Margaret Cheney, Susan Davis, Phil Winters to the House. Supporters of McLaughlin continue her campaign after her death, but Republican David Ainsworth is elected.

Gifford Medical Center expands its Menig nursing home from 20 to 30 beds.

After just five months the Tunbridge General Store closes again.

Randolph’s Development Review Board for the second time rejects Kevin Blakeman’s proposal to build a nine-unit apartment building on Sunset Hill. The board was split 4-3.

Randolph Cooperative Market confirms it is facing a financial crisis that could force it to close in six months. After this warning, co-op sales pick up through the Christmas period.

Former Randolph Planning Commission Chair Julie Iffland is appointed to be executive director of Randolph Area Community Development Corp.

Atty. Gen. William Sorrell announces that police were justified in the fatal shooting of Joseph Fortunati on a remote Corinth site.

New figures show that ClearSource Inc. in Randolph has been exceeding its permitted volume of sewer discharges.

$2000 fine levied against Douglas Finkle for a junkyard at 10 Dudley Street.

At 16, Muriel Garner is the third of three sisters to be elected president of the RUHS student council.

Murder case involving Dean Webster of Rochester, murdered in his home in 2001, is re-opened by state police.

Anichini, Inc. of Tunbridge announces contracts to provide all linens to a seven-star hotel near La Scala Opera House in Milan.

Vermont Law School’s Patrick Parenteau honored in Washington by the National Wildlife Federation.

Randolph will pay $175,000 to settle a court case brought by Scott Perkins, who was 13 in 1999 when he fractured his skull on skateboard ramps the town had put up.

"Paddy—a Ruffed Grouse Visits Our Farm," is published by Vivian Moore of East Barnard.

Ann Brandon appointed new director of the Randolph Senior Center.

December

Retiring RACDC Director Jeremy Ingpen says affordable housing is the key to Randolph’s continued successful development.

An Act of Congress creates the Battell Wilderness Area in 12,000 acres west of Route 100 in Rochester and Hancock, creating an area where motors, wheels, roads, and chainsaws will be forbidden indefinitely.

Clara Martin Center celebrates its 40^th year; Stagecoach celebrates its 30^th.

Selectboard told that important downtown streets are not owned by the Town at all. These include Back Street, Salisbury Street, and much of Railroad and "L" Streets.

Tinling Choong of Randolph is about to have her first novel published by Doubleday, with a second due to the publisher later in the year.

70% more deer shot in Orange County hunting seasons this year than last.

Controversy in Granville over whether town clerk should be required to be a Granville resident.

VTC announces a new Associate’s degree in firefighting, to be offered at the Randolph campus.

Alice Smith of Sharon turns 100, so does Katharine DuClos of Braintree.

Annette ("Sugie") West retires in Rochester after 38 years with Postal Service.

Dick Ellis of South Royalton honored as Vermont’s Music Man by the Vermont Symphony Orchestra in a performance at the Barre Opera House.

Whitcomb 8^th graders re-enact the 1770 Boston Massacre trial in a mock trial at the Chelsea courthouse.

Chelsea man purchases and sends a 50-passeger school bus to an orphanage in Degucigalpa, Honduras.

East Randolph store robbed at gunpoint.

Patty Pendergast resigns as manager of the Randolph cooperative Market.

Herald ad salesman Nathan Wright pops the question to Carrie Tuttle at a specially-arranged solo dinner at Patrick’s Restaurant. She says yes.

Chandler challenges Kimball Library to a softball contest next August to celebrate Chandler Music Hall’s 100th birthday.

VTC announces a new four-year B.A. degree in Equine Studies that will accept 15 students a year starting in 2007.

Bethel and Rochester say they are seriously interested in exploring school consolidation.

Post Office and Town Hall burglarized in Vershire.

1470 acres preserved by landowner Dick Rose in the "Chateauguay" section of Stockbridge.