Mon Noon News Script

Mon 30-JAN-2012 Noon News Script

1} SHOCIK_FONT

Good afternoon, I'm Roger Garrity. A young teacher denied charges today that she had sexual relations with a student. 23-year-old Abby Shocik of South Burlington -- taught music at the Danville K-thru-12 school. She resigned in December -- a week before police cited her into court for sexual misconduct with a 15-year-old boy. According to court papers, Shocik had sex with the boy on five occasions -- four times in the school building before the start of the school day. School officials were alerted by someone who noticed posts about the relationship on Facebook. Today Shocik pleaded not guilty to the charges and was held for lack of 10-thousand dollars bail.

2} CHILDPORN_WHITE

An elementary school teacher in Bennington is accused of possessing child porn. John Dockum has taught fifth grade at monument elementary school since 2009. The 34 year old has now been placed on paid administrative leave -- after police say a family member found images of naked young girls on his school computer. Police do not believe any local children were victimized. Dockum faces up to two years in prison if convicted.

3} BODIES_MAP

New York police say two people found dead in Keeseville over the weekend both committed suicide. Police say 54-year-old Anthony Kusalonis was found dead in the front yard of his home on Hollywood Avenue. And inside the home, they found the body of 49-year-old Teresa Fleury. Police say they found a gun next to each victim and an autopsy confirmed that both people died of self-inflicted gunshot wounds. Kusalonis and Fleury both lived in the home.

4} NYGUARD6_VO

18-hundred National Guard soldiers in New York are beginning a new mission. The soldiers-- from the 27th Brigade Combat Team-- are departing today for Camp Shelby, Mississippi for two months of training. Then, they will head to the Middle East for a 12-month deployment in Kuwait. Scores of family members met this weekend at the National Guard Armory Morrisonville to see off their citizen soldiers. Similar ceremonies took place across the state.

5} TURBINETOPS_VO

Authorities are investigating what caused a wind turbine to catch fire in Northern New York. It happened Saturday night in Altona. Officials say people driving by the windfarm noticed the fire in one of the 400 foot turbines. Noble Environmental -- the owner of the windfarm -- says no one was injured. The cause of the fire is not known. Wind speed at the time of the fire was reportedly around 25 miles per hour.

6} COWPOWER12_VO

Vermont's largest electric company needs more customers willing to pay for cow power. Central Vermont Public Service has been helping farmers turn their cow manure into electricity since 2005. The company recently brought it's 10th farm online. The generators turn poop into power -- which the farmers use to run their operations. The excess power generated goes onto the grid -- and CVPS recoups the cost of the generation equipment by charging a premium for the power. CVPS has relied on 33-hundred environmentally-consci ous consumers who voluntarily pay the higher bills. But now there is more supply than demand -- and the company is forced to sell excess power to New England market -- often at a loss. And with four new cow power projects in the works, CVPS hopes to find more volunteers to buy the expensive energy.

7} BATSAM_VO

A national caving organization is questioning the number of bats that scientists say have been killed by white nose syndrome. Earlier this month -- scientists released new figures -- estimating that five point seven million bats have been killed by the mysterious fungal disease since it was first discovered back in 2006. The National Speleological Society believes the numbers are flawed -- because scientists last estimated the die-off at one million bats -- and NPS members say they haven't seen any more dead bats in caves than in years past. The federal government is defending their numbers -- saying the figure may actually be too low.

8} FISHAM_FONT

Something fishy is happening in Montpelier. The house has passed a bill designating two fish species as the official state fish of vermont. The bill would make the brook trout the state's official cold water fish -- and the walleye pike Vermont's warm-water fish. The Senate will now take up the measure. Only six other states do not have an official state fish.

9} LUDLOWAM_VO

Like many towns -- Ludlow is facing a long to-do list in the wake of irene. But that list just got a little bit shorter thanks to a major league baseball player. All of the Ludlow rec department's baseball gear was washed downstream during the floods caused by the tropical storm. Major League pitcher Carl Pavano spends winters in the area. He put the town in touch with a Pennsylvania charity group that replaced all of the department's gear -- 10 thousand dollars worth of helmets, jerseys, balls and pitching machines -- for the Ludlow little leagurers -- a group that would normally land on the bottom of the to do list for irene cleanup.

10} PAVANOAM_SOTVO

((howie paul: With all the chaos going on that is where they would want to go and when it's not there it makes things tough)) ((Carl Pavano: howie had said that most likely these would be things that would be left last to be picked up because of the budgets in vt and the shortfalls and stuff like that.)) Insurance will replace the dugouts and the backstop at the fields. The town is still hoping for more donations to pay for re-sodding the field and other repairs.

11} FORECAST

Monday: Snow showers ending. Clearing skies. High 23/30. Wind NW 10-15 mph Monday Night: Increasing clouds. Chance of snow showers, mainly after midnight. Low 13/20. Wind Light. Tuesday: Cloudy skies. Light snow showers likely. High 30/37. Wind Light. Wednesday: Chance of rain showers, freezing rain. High 35/45. Thursday: Partly sunny. High 33/40. Friday: Partly sunny. High 27/34.

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