Rutland Herald Story:
Vermont State Parks Annual Visitation Passes 1 Million
MONTPELIER — More than 1 million people have visited Vermont state parks this year, which hasn’t happened in 27 years.
The state will receive an estimated $6.1 million in direct revenue from this year’s visitation. The statewide economic impact from those visits is about $88 million.
State park attendance has been growing steadily over the last several years. Commissioner Michael Snyder of the Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation attributes that to park staff.
Vermont’s 52 state parks are fully operated from mid-May through mid-October. Attendance is not tracked during the offseason.
Park officials recorded more than 1 million visitors only four other times over the 91-year history of the park system.
In Wake Of The Terrible Incident At Costello Courthouse, VSEA Issued The Following Press Release Reminding Of January 2015 Report’s Call For Increased Security In Vermont’s Courthouses:
Vermont State Employees Association (VSEA) members who work in Vermont courthouses statewide have been working with their union for years to sound the alarm about potential security issues inside our state’s courthouses. Their concerns were validated in January 2015, when Judiciary Chief of Finance and Administration Matt Riven delivered a report to the legislature that was prepared by “national court security experts” and identified “significant unmet security needs in the four courthouses in the study sample,” one of which was the Costello Courthouse in Burlington. To date, the Judiciary has not acted on many of the report’s recommendations, primarily; VSEA members are told, because there is no money.
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Yesterday, VSEA learned, via a press inquiry, that the State is no longer just considering moving DCF workers from the City Place Building in Barre to the McFarland State Office Building in Barre. Thanks to the press inquiry yesterday, VSEA now knows the State is expanding the number of possible relocation sites to five.
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Terrific editorial in the Times Argus/Rutland Herald, titled "On The Front Lines," in which the writer advocates for additional, necessary resources for frontline DCF Social Workers. Here’s a couple of snippets:
"That we have a corps of people willing to take on this job is something we should be grateful for. Also, we ought to recognize that they need support. After two children who had been under the supervision of DCF were murdered two years ago, the department underwent a searching examination that found, among other things, that the department was understaffed. Gov. Peter Shumlin pledged to add personnel, but understaffing remains a problem."
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"DCF needs more manpower. It is on the front lines, and to leave it there unsupported by reinforcements would be unconscionable."
Read The Full Times Argus/Rutland Herold Editorial Here
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