Newport - page 2

NEWPORT — A few familiar faces appear as characters in a crime novel set in Newport that was recently published.

Officer Joshua Lillis and K-9 Ozzy made their debut as characters in “The Obsession,” written by Carol Kravetz.

Kravetz is an internationally published author, and her latest novel was published earlier this spring.

The novel is the fourth installment in Kravetz’s Bathville Books series.

As she was researching K-9 tracking for her book, Kravetz contacted Lillis to learn more.

He taught Kravetz all about the process of tracking with the help of a police dog, and the work he and K-9 Ozzy are trained to do to locate victims and suspects.

“This was a unique, fun opportunity to explain what K-9 Ozzy and I do when we work together, and to help Carol realistically portray what K-9 tracking actually looks like in her novel,” Officer Lillis said.

In addition to including Lillis and K-9 Ozzy as characters, the novel is set in the Newport, area.

“When I started communicating with Officer Lillis, outlining what I needed, he responded promptly with photos of Ozzy and advising he would love to help,” Kravetz said.

Kravetz says he answered a lot of questions and explained patiently and willingly the intricacies involved with tracking a victim or suspect, right down to getting a scent, locating the person, and how Ozzy will work tirelessly until told to stand down.

“He taught me a lot by showing me how important a K-9 team is and I can’t thank him enough for taking the time to help me bring that part of my story alive,” Kravetz said.

“Hopefully, when people read the book, they’ll understand a little more about K-9 tracking, all while enjoying the narrative Carol created,” Lillis added.

NEWPORT — The Vermont Downtown Development Board recently allocated over $600,000 in grants to improve eight downtown areas, and some of this money is going to support sidewalk improvements in Newport.

Newport is set to receive $85,000 for safety improvements to one of downtown Newport’s busiest intersections, a priority identified in the recently completed Downtown and Waterfront Master Plan.

Money from the grant will be used to address the Fyfe, Main, and Second Street intersections.

The project includes extending the curbing and installing “rapid flashing beacons” at the intersection.

Fyfe will be slightly widened to accommodate delivery trucks, and the municipal lot will see some changes as well.

The one-way parking on Second Street will be flipped to allow better intersection alignment.

City officials say they expect work to start late in the summer-autumn months.

NEWPORT — The Vermont Agency of Transportation will be closing Route 105 in Newport Center for 4 days starting May 20 through May 23.

In order to replace a failing culvert, the AOT will be closing the road approximately 3.6 miles west of the VT100 intersection, between Bear Mountain Road and the Perrault Farm.

The road will be closed to all traffic, including motor vehicles, bicycles, and pedestrians.

Travelers should look for detour signage and take alternate routes around the closure.

NEWPORT — Police arrested two people yesterday after they allegedly led police on a high-speed chase in a stolen SUV.

According to the report, Justin Morgan, 27, of Newport, was charged with aggravated operation without owners consent, attempting to elude, grossly negligent operation, excessive speed, attempted aggravated assault on a police officer, recklessly endangering another person, and possessing stolen property.

Carrie Tetreault, 32, of Sheffield, was charged with aggravated operation without the owner’s consent.

Police say they were tipped off on Monday that a white 2016 Toyota Rav4 had been stolen and was likely being operated by Tetreault.

Officers were working a detail on Glen Road when they saw the vehicle at approximately 12:26 p.m, which they identified by its license plate.

Newport Police say that they knew Morgan and recognized him as the driver of the vehicle.

When police attempted to perform a motor vehicle stop, the vehicle allegedly took off at a high rate of speed after initially pulling over.

According to a statement issued by police:

“The vehicle sped through a construction zone in the road, endangering the lives of workers, one of whom was placing cones and signs in the roadway. The vehicle almost struck Sheriff Kirk Martin, who was deploying spike strips at the intersection of Fern Street and Glen Road, but the vehicle swerved onto a lawn. The SUV reached speeds in excess of 90 miles per hour and nearly struck a pedestrian walking his dog on West Echo Lake Road.”

Police say after the vehicle got stuck in the mud on Sanderson Hill Road, Morgan and Tetreault led on foot.

They were tracked by police with the assistance of K-9 Ozzy and placed under arrest after they were found running behind a residence on Route 5A.

“This was a dangerous incident involving two people fleeing from police in a stolen car who were willing to endanger the lives of pedestrians, road workers and police officers,” Chief DiSanto said.

Morgan was held on $2,500 bail at Northern State Correctional Facility.

Tetreault was released on the condition that she appear in court for arraignment.

The suspects were scheduled to be arraigned in Orleans District Court today.

NEWPORT — Police have arrested and charged a Newport man following a crash early Sunday morning.

At around 1:15 a.m. police say they came upon fallen telephone pole wires which led them to the scene of a crash involving a motor vehicle into a telephone pole near Union Street and Prouty Drive.

The driver of the vehicle, identified as Ryan Brewster, 32, of Newport, was charged with a second offense of driving under the influence, gross negligent operation, criminal refusal and false information to law enforcement.

Police say he sustained injuries and was medically cleared by EMTs following the crash.

According to the report, a female passenger refused medical attention and did not appear to have any injuries from the crash.

Both Union Street and Prouty Drive lost power temporarily after the crash, and Prouty Drive was closed until approximately 9:30 a.m. on Sunday.

“Reckless driving endangers the life of the driver, passengers and everyone else on the road,” Chief DiSanto said. “Let this serve as a reminder to our community that it’s crucial to drive responsibly, pay attention and follow the rules of the road.”

Brewster will appear in Orleans Criminal Court on May 14.

DERBY — Community National Bank President Kathryn M. Austin announced the promotion of Jennifer Daigle to Vice President and Senior Credit Officer.

Daigle joined the bank in February 2005 as a Commercial Credit Analyst and in 2006 became the Supervisor of the Commercial Credit Department.

In 2009, she was promoted to Credit Administration Officer and in 2012 to Assistant Vice President.

In 2016, Daigle became Vice President of Credit Administration.

In her new role as Senior Credit Officer, she will be responsible for analyzing the bank’s commercial loan activity and overseeing the Credit Administration Department.

Continuing her education, she has taken the Principles of Banking class through the Center for Financial Training and Education Alliance and attended the Northern New England School of Banking.

She has taken several courses through the Vermont Bankers Association and Risk Management Association (RMA) covering financial statement analysis, risk management, tax accounting, and management and financial accounting.

Daigle formerly served as chairperson of the RMA Vermont Chapter and continues to be an active board member.

She assists several non-profit organizations with their financials and actively takes part in fundraising initiatives to benefit the Department of Children and Families in Newport.

Daigle resides in Troy with her husband Rene, daughter Ashley, son Travis Letourneau, and two foster children.

NEWPORT — After months of waiting, spring finally made its appearance with a splash in Newport on Saturday.

The Lake Memphremagog “ICE OUT” contest, now in its 5th year, garnered a record 1,444 guesses this winter.

“The number of guesses more than doubled this year, largely thanks to our Recreation Committee who put a lot of volunteer time and energy into selling tickets,” Jessica Booth, Director of Parks & Recreation, said.

Predictions came in from across the country online as well.

Many of the online submissions came from around New England, but some came from as far as Colorado, South Carolina, Wisconsin, and Georgia.

“Entering them was a little tedious, but it was interesting to see where the guesses were coming from and which dates and times were most popular,” Laura Smith, who had the pleasure of entering all 1,444 guesses into an electronic spreadsheet, said. “Five different people chose April 1 at 11:00 a.m. for example. April 20th at 4:20 was a popular guess too.”

Parks Foreman Mac McKenny happened to be at Gardner Park on Saturday fishing with his sons and nephew when “Vanilla Ice” broke through near the Causeway Bridge at 11:07 a.m.

“It was cool to actually see it go down,” McKenny said. “It started to tip and after a few minutes, the whole thing dropped. We got to see the clock stop, which was a first for sure.”

While everyone is excited that spring has finally arrived, the announcement is most exciting to first-time ICE OUT contestant Steve Lawson who submitted two predictions on Town Meeting Day in March.

His winning guess of 10:05 a.m. on 4/13/19 was just one hour and two minutes ahead of the actual time.

“My first prediction one was way too early,” he admitted and couldn’t attribute his strategy for the winning prediction to anything more than a lucky guess.

The Lake Memphremagog ICE OUT contest is an annual fundraiser for Newport Parks & Recreation.

This year the event brought in $3,166 toward the Gardner Park Playground and Splash Pad project.

Lawson took home $1,583 as his half of the 50/50 cash prize.