Acting VDP Chairman Jake Perkinson sent around the following note after spending the day helping folks in Duxbury clean up from Irene-spawned floods (and unfortunately, as of 7 p.m., there were reports of more heavy rainfall in some of the already hard-hit areas):

I’ve just returned from working in Duxbury today with Senator Sally Fox, Representative Tom Stevens, Burlington City Councilor Joan Shannon, the staff of the Vermont Democratic Party, and other friends and volunteers. The devastation there, and throughout many communities in our state, is staggering. We helped clear out basements, haul away saturated carpets and furniture, and sort through belongings to help people salvage what they can. There are volunteers working throughout the state and while it is making a difference, I can tell you now from personal experience that there is still so much to be done. Vermonters need all hands on deck right now because many of our friends and neighbors have lost everything. 

If you have time this Labor Day weekend, even a few hours, please consider donating your labor to help people reclaim their lives and begin the process of rebuilding. Below, along with updates about the recovery process, are a few resources for volunteering. […]

Thank you for all that you are doing at this time to help Vermont recover.

Sincerely,

Jake Perkinson

Read more from the VDP’s note below the fold.

The following information is again provided in cooperation with the Republican and Progressive Parties, the Governor’s office, and legislative leadership. I understand that there will come a time where we will be at the point of “information overload”. But we keep hearing that such information is needed throughout our state.  If you believe there are people within your community who need this but do not have access to a computer or the internet, please print this and share it in person.

New INFORMATION:

 

As of last evening (Wednesday, August 31st) , assessments found that about 120 homes have major damage or were destroyed; three more state roads opened today, 64 remain closed and Transportation crews are working into the night on those projects; 65 state bridges remain closed; four Red Cross shelters are still open, and several local shelters are also housing people who lost housing in the storm.

 

After hearing of concerns related to the 211 call center being overloaded with phone calls for information and assistance, the Governor’s office worked closely with FEMA and the United Way to triple the capacity, adding 20 new lines. Additional volunteers are needed to staff the line; anyone interested in volunteering should contact the Governor’s office at 802-828-3333.

“One of our priorities was to get the 211 telephone system staffed to the appropriate level to handle this unprecedented call level,” Gov. Shumlin said. He noted that social media, including Facebook, has also enabled Vermonters to volunteer, donate cash to help victims of the storm, and stay up to speed on road closing and other issues.

 

Power has been restored to all but about 10,000 Vermonters statewide, down from over 50,000 outages on Monday. Bridge inspectors are coming in from other states to assist the Agency of Transportation in getting bridges reopened; truck-loads and helicopter loads of food, water and supplies have been – and will continue to be – delivered to communities statewide; law enforcement is conducting welfare checks to ensure Vermonters’ safety.

Also today:

All of the 13 previously isolated communities now have vehicle access of some sort (some require four-wheel drive access). Transportation crews worked all day on the final community – Wardsboro – and provided access just before 6 p.m.

 

Recognizing that many Vermonters might be unable to meet the Sept. 1 filing deadlines for four programs administered by the Tax Department, the deadline for accepting those documents will be Sept. 30 (must be received by the Department for Property Tax Adjustment Claim; Homestead Declaration; Renter Rebate Claim; and Current Use Application.

 

The Vermont Bar Association, Vermont Legal Aid, Legal Services Law Line of Vermont and the Vermont Volunteer Lawyers Project have pro bono lawyers standing by to help victims of Tropical Storm Irene. Call 1-800-889-2047 to speak by phone with a Legal Aid or Law Line attorney, or be assigned an attorney through the Volunteer Lawyer Project. Visit http://www.vtlawhelp.org/disas… for answers to frequently asked questions.

 

Gov. Shumlin’s office is working with state agencies to make sure that state laws and permitting requirements aren’t unreasonably slowing recovery efforts.

 

The Vermont Economic Development Authority (VEDA) has allocated up to $10 million in special low-interest financing for Vermont businesses and farms who suffered direct physical damage as a result of Hurricane Irene. The Hurricane Irene Assistance Loan Program funds are available immediately.

 

Of the 327 Vermont public schools were closed Monday, all but 90 have reopened.

 

The Agency of Commerce and Community Affairs opened a call-line to report business damage from flooding : 802-828-3211.

Note: There are two sites in particular that you may want to check periodically for information on both assistance and volunteering needs:

Seven Days Blog: After Irene: How You Can Help Vermont

VTResponse.

I heard today on VPR (where the staff is doing an incredible job keeping tabs on needs and news in the affected towns) that a farmer in Royalton would be out of cattle feed as of tonight.

One woman called in to remind listeners that without electricity, the cows must be milked by hand; a large-animal veterinarian called in soon after to assure her and other listeners that the cows would be okay if they were not milked for a little while, and that it was better for the cows if farmers would stop milking altogether rather than trying intermittently to milk them.

There was discussion of mycotoxins in hay and grain that got soaked in the floods, making it unusable for animal feed – unless the crop was standing and could be washed off.

On a friend’s Facebook page I saw a photo of a former employer’s building in Brandon’s Conant Square with water up over the first-floor windowsills. This niche publisher had all of its inventory and shipping supplies in the basement, on a level with its back parking lot, a mere two feet above the pre-flood Neshobe River.

The Brandon House of Pizza, just around the corner, was shifted off its foundation by the force of the river.

Repairing roads and returning power are important steps, but they’re just the beginning.

Do what you can now, and again in three months, and in six months, and then maybe in a year we’ll begin to see some real recovery.

(This is the time for Montpelier voters to come out and be heard. – promoted by Jack McCullough)

(just to be clear, although it is a crucial point in time for them to do so, the public hearing is not limited to only Montpelier voters or residents to attend or testify. it is of course open to all and all are free to speak within the limits of time allowed to do so. there will be a sign up sheet one needs to sign if they desire to speak. the committee is hoping to end at 9:00pm tonight if possible, however if it is needed, it is my understanding that an additional public hearing has been tentatively scheduled for later in the month as well — mwb aka norsehorse)

What: Taser Committee Public Hearing

When: Thursday, September 8, 2011 at 6:30 PM (EDT)

Where: City Council Chambers, Montpelier City Hall

The public hearing will be televised on local cable channel 17 as well as streamed live online, here.

Additional information, here.

Committee members: Jeff Dworkin, Chair; Zack Hughes, Co-chair; Vicki Lane, Polly Ellerbe, Nick Marro and Marilyn Mode.

View an informational slideshow of mine on Montpelier, Vermont and Tasers, here.

{Updated: just tried again and it now lets you leave a message, explaining heavy call volume. Someone will call back within 2 hours is what it also says. Better already}

just got email from vt democratic party titled “Hurricane Recovery Update.” Our hill to the brook is now a cliff so I have some property damage, grateful it’s not more and people upstream are stranded. No time for the details, but I was glad to learn I could report property damage:

Reporting Damages

Vermonters who have property affected by the storm should report it to the state. There are several phone lines in addition to the 211 number now in operation. Please note that it is critical to acquiring recovery aid that a statewide inventory of the damage is taken. Also, if repairs are made by a property owner, it is important to take pictures of the damage, document the repairs and keep receipts for potential assistance.

Individuals: Individuals reporting property damage should call 211

If you call the number the mailbox is full and there’s no option to leave information. Just writing this quick in hopes someone can get this line functional.

Hint: before you send out a mass email with a phone number to call, make sure the number works.

( – promoted by Sue Prent)

Sadly misguided op ed in the Burlington Free Press today. Mr. Al Blakley from Brattleboro writes in to berate and belittle those of us who want to see Vermont Yankee closed as planned.

Comparing our fear of leaking, mismanaged VY with the apparent hesitation expressed by some when electric power first became available at the turn of the century, he triumphantly declares, “in the entire 50-year history of commercial U.S. nuclear power plants, no-one has ever died from radiation. How much safer can you get?”

Claiming that, “The problem is that fearing something we do not understand is not a legitimate reason for removing that thing. The responsible action is to educate ourselves and argue facts (including thorough, prudent safeguards and protections), not imagined disasters”, Mr. Blakley goes on to decry our apparent unwillingness to “look at the facts [and] come to see there is not a lot to be afraid of with nuclear power”.

And that, of course, is his mistake right there. We’re horrified at the thought of VY continuing to operate precisely because we’ve looked at the facts and come to realize that there’s quite a lot to be afraid of with nuclear power as it’s irresponsibly produced by an outfit like Entergy.

Indeed, it is not fear of the unknown that drives us, it’s fear of the known — coupled with the potential consequences of the apparent state of denial suffered by the NRC and a subset of (perhaps tritium-laced?) Kool-Aid drinkers like Mr. Blakley.  

(cross-posted from Vermont Watch, here)

There were two huge Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) trucks and their crews parked near the Vermont State House yesterday afternoon (Tuesday, August 30, 2011).

One, parked on Baldwin Street out front of the Joint Fiscal office building to the left of the state house, serves as the communications and command post for technical infrastructure and logistical support crews and staff, among others. The other, parked out front of the state house, as I understand it, serves as the hub for the public relations, social media and news desk crews and staff.

These vehicles can not be missed, not only due to their size, but also because the huge satellite dishes each has accompanying them.

Had stopped by the PR truck, but although I was able to strike up casual conversations with a few people, they all but blew me off no matter how hard I tried to ask them to at least pass along my request to speak with someone and have a conversation so I could blog some posts about their being here and what they do, etc.

That said, it is still hoped someone there will contact me, but I will not be holding my breath either.

So much for public relations or “social media”, something no one there seems to truly get, at least no one I was able to speak with yet anyway.

Tea Party Congressman Calls For Tax Breaks To Put Out Raging Wildfire In District

WASHINGTON-With a massive wildfire currently raging out of control in his district, Tea Party Caucus member Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) pressed Congress to pass immediate tax breaks Tuesday to combat the rapidly spreading blaze.

Or this:

House Republican Bill Cuts Hurricane Monitoring Funds That Help Save Millions Of Dollars

In the wake of Hurricane Irene, which caused billions of dollars in damages up and down the U.S.’s eastern seaboard, House Republicans are callously claiming that any aid to victims of the disaster needs to be offset by budget cuts elsewhere. The savings favored by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) would come from cuts to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and first responders.

Pretty hard to tell, isn’t it?

It’s admittedly an uncharitable thought. But I remember when the folks up in Killington wanted to secede from Vermont because they thought their statewide property taxes were too high.

One wonders whether, once their personal safety is assured, they might be making the connection between the help they are receiving now in getting Route 4 made passable, for example, and their taxes, perhaps regretting their former disdain for the works and costs of state government.

Naahh. To those folks, like their counterparts in NH, government is always too expensive, until their road is washed away; then once it’s fixed (to the likely accompaniment of entitled demands for faster work), they go right back to sneering at government work and governement workers.

On the other hand, maybe those tax seceders all moved to NH, and it’s only good-hearted and community-minded Vermonters left.

In either case, they need help after Irene, and they should get it. And it should make them think real hard about those taxes.

As per the Freeps, CNN apparently reported that Obama was planning to visit Irene-stricken areas in North Carolina, Virginia, and Vermont, but Senator Leahy’s office indicated than there were – as yet – no such plans for a Vermont visit.

For those who don’t get the math, it goes like this:

Virginia = Swing State

North Carolina = Lean R State

Vermont = Solid D State

In terms of Presidential photo opportunities, it goes:

Swing State > Solid D State

Lean R State > Solid D State

Solid D State < 0

Maybe we get the President to stop by and say a few words at the Burlington airport on his way somewhere else, if Senator Leahy calls in a favor. Alternatively, we could pull a Biden stop, or maybe another FLOTUS appearance. Don’t hold your breath for anything more Presidential.

(UPDATE: Had to make some changes up there, as I typed in the wrong math before. oops.)

The recall elections in Wisconsin are done but the fight’s not over.

The first Monday of September is Labor Day, and every year in Wausau the unions sponsor a parade.

Guess who’s not invited this year.

Community parades often feature local politicians waving to the crowds, but this year’s annual Labor Day parade in Wausau may be short a few elected officials.

“Usually they’ve been in the parade, but it seems like they only want to stand with us one day a year, and the other 364 days they don’t really care,” said Randy Radtke, president of the council.

At least one Republican got his widdle feewings hurt:

“Having walked in this parade in past years,” the statement read, “Congressman Duffy was hoping that for a moment, we could set our differences aside and simply have some fun in a family-friendly event.”

Guess what, Duffy: show that you support labor and maybe you get to march in their parade. How does that sound?