Vermonter.com

A new lighthouse for the Lake Memphremagog waterfront came rolling down Newport’s Main Street early Wednesday morning with a State Police escort.

Lighthouses typically light the way for boaters around obstacles. Early Wednesday morning a lighthouse was placed on the shores of Lake Memphremagog, not to light the way for boaters, but to light the way for a brighter future for downtown Newport.

“This is awesome,” Newport City Mayor Ellwood “Woody” Guyette repeated numerous times as he watched the replica of the old-fashioned light house being erected on the lower end of Main Street near the railroad bridge in the general area of what will become known as Steamboat Wharf (the name of a dock that once stood there). The lighthouse is a dream come true for Bill and Nancy Cook of Newport. In addition to having the lighthouse built, the couple are in the final stages of bringing the days of the tour boat back to the lake that stretches from Newport, Vermont, about 30 miles north to Magog, Quebec. Hopes are that the Newport Belle, a 70-passenger tour boat, will set sail on the lake in July. A new website is also in progress at http://www.newportbelletours.com/
“This is just the beginning of the downtown revitalization,” Guyette said optimistically, commending the Cooks for making their dreams become reality while bettering the city.

Read the full article with photos at the Vermont Northland Journal.

MONTPELIER, VT, United States (UPI) — A group of Civil War re-enactors is fighting the state of Vermont in an attempt to hold onto a bronze cannon that the state owns, but they use.

The cannon, cast in 1863, was used by a Vermont artillery unit during the Civil War, The New York Times reported Sunday.

The re-enactors say their claim to the cannon lies in the fact that they repair and fire it around the state and country on a regular basis.

State officials doubt the cannon is safe and say it should be on display in the Vermont Veterans Militia Museum and Library.

‘It’s enormously painful,’ said James Dassatti, of the Second Battery Vermont Light Artillery re-enactment unit, which has used the cannon since the 1970s. ‘Not only is it painful that we could potentially lose it, but it’s painful the way it’s been put upon us. For many of us the last 30 years of our lives have been intertwined with the cannon.’

The cannon has sat at the Watervliet Arsenal in Watervliet, N.Y., since the dispute arose in January and will remain there until the issue is resolved, the newspaper said.

Associated Press – June 2, 2007 10:55 AM ET BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP)

- Burlington — Searching for a slogan. That might have to do until someone comes up with a more catchy phrase for the Vermont city.

A Lexington, Massachusetts, consultant was brought in — for $35,000 — to help Burlington come up with a brand identity. In its 11-page report, the firm takes a slap at New Hampshire, saying Vermont without Burlington is like, well, New Hampshire. It calls the Granite State a nice-looking, but rather drab state with little to do.

The report prepared for the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce found that Burlington is quirky, hip, friendly, inclusive, optimistic, creative, lively, surprisingly diverse, but never staid.
Comments from the Burlington Free Press website:

Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2007 5:37 am
There are many who sooner would have Burlington change it’s location to New York rather than it’s “name” . This is nothing more than the aging hippies wanting to impart their crap on us natives again. Of course, “Queen City” does carry it’s own connotation in some people’s minds…..

Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2007 6:29 am
WEIRD CITY might be one slogan to use as I was there on Church Street just yesterday and couldn’t believe the human sights…purple hair, panhandlers all over, dirty looking people hanging out and then the few shoppers who looked like what I remember in the past. The queen city is what it was called years ago and I would like to know who this queen was…there must be a story.

Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2007 8:05 am
Burlington Vermont: “Our leaders spend $35,000 dollars to find us a slogan. And you think George Bush is dumb.”