Chittenden Democrats: Representative Joey Donovan, Chair, House Education Committee

Chittenden Democrats: Representative Joey Donovan, Chair, House Education Committee 12/03/2012 Rep. Mike Yantachka, Chitt 1-2, Assistant Treasurer, Chittenden County Democratic Committee speaks with Rep. Joey Donovan (D), Chair of the House Education Committee, on the upcoming session. AIRS: Sunday 12/23/12 at 4 p.m.

Thank you, Thank you!

Mike with Rep. Tony Klein, Chair of the
House Natural Resources and Energy Committee

I am very grateful for the tremendous support the voters of Charlotte have given me to again serve as your representative in the Vermont House for the next two years.  It has been a wonderful experience to meet and talk with so many of you during my campaign.  I invite you to contact me anytime with your thoughts about any issue that comes before the legislature.  While I hope to continue serving on the Natural Resources and Energy Committee, there will also be many other areas of legislation that I will be paying attention to.  As I did before, I will keep you updated on legislative activity through newspaper articles and through this website.  If you ever want to visit the statehouse while the legislature is in session, I would be happy to meet with you and show you around.

VT Agency of Agriculture: Farmers Urged to Prepare for Hurricane Sandy‏

  

 

                                                                                                       

NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

Contact: Carolyn Moulton

VAAFM

(802) 828-5667

MONTPELIER, Vermont – October 25, 2012

FARMERS URGED TO PREPARE FOR HURRICANE SANDY
Contacts:
Carolyn Moulton, Vermont Agency of Agriculture, 802-828-5667
Mark Bosma, Vermont Emergency Management, (800) 347-0488

Oct. 25, 2012

Hurricane Sandy is currently moving through the Caribbean and is projected to move northward off the eastern Florida coast in the next two days. Although it is still too early to determine Sandy’s precise long-term track, computer models are now trending to show impacts to the northeastern portion of the United States. These models predict that Sandy will potentially transition over the weekend into a powerful nor'easter and make landfall on the Eastern Seaboard early next week. It is likely that Sandy will travel inland to Vermont, bringing along with it strong winds, heavy rain, and possibly snow. The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets (VAAFM) urges farmers to prepare now for power outages and flooding. Preparations farmers should do quickly include:

Crop-related Activities:

· Harvest standing crops if they are not in yet (corn).

· Harvest vegetable crops that are still in the field.

· Producers growing greenhouse crops should anticipate loss of water and prepare accordingly.

Power and Food/Water Activities

· Anticipate power outages. Check to see that your generator is in good working order. Consider purchasing a generator if you currently don’t have one.

· In the event you require a generator for emergency agricultural purposes (i.e. milking cows, cooling milk tanks, poultry house ventilation), contact your Town Officials. Make sure your house or barn has been wired such that a generator could be connected and that you have a transfer switch or other isolated means to connect to the generator.

· Purchase sufficient amounts of fuel to operate your generator and other equipment on the farm.

o VAAFM does not have generators to loan.

· Charge batteries on cell phones and cameras.

· Pump and store adequate supplies of drinking water for humans and animals in the likelihood of power outages. VAAFM recommends a minimum 36-hour reserve.

Livestock Activities

· Check feed inventory and order extra if needed. Move feed, including round bales to higher ground, or to a more accessible place in case of flooding or transportation problems.

· Determine the best places for livestock on your property, where they have the best chance of being free from flying debris, heavy winds and rain. This may mean moving livestock and poultry to higher ground if possible or sheltering them in securely battened barns, houses or tightly fenced areas.

Equipment Activities

· Secure or remove items or equipment that could become blowing debris.

· Remove hoop houses from low-lying areas that could be subject to high water.
· Move equipment to the highest, open ground possible away from trees or buildings.

General Preparedness

· Make a list of important phone numbers ahead of time in order to make calls following a storm. Numbers to include are your town Emergency Management District, county extension agent, insurance agent, county Farm Service Agency and private veterinarian.

These were important phone numbers during Hurricane Irene:

· Call 911 if you need immediate assistance from the police, fire department or ambulance.

· Farmers in need of Emergency Agricultural Assistance call Town Officials.

· For non-emergency resource assistance farmers should call 211.

· To report farm losses call USDA Farm Service Agency 1-802-658-2803.

· To report damage to your home or barn call 1-800-621-FEMA.

· For information about road closures call 511.

· If you have any additional questions call the Vermont Agency of Agriculture at 1-802-828-5667.

              http://www.vermontagriculture.com/

Legislative Report 8/9/2012 - A Visit to Modern Turkey

To celebrate the opening of the Turkish Cultural Center in Vermont, a display of Turkish culture was held in the Cedar Creek Room of the statehouse in April.  Samples of Turkish food were provided and examples of Turkish art, music and products were displayed.  In addition, the Turkish Cultural Center in Boston offered to sponsor one or more trips to Turkey subsidized by the Council of Turkic American Associations.  After weighing the costs and obtaining information about the itinerary and agenda, nine members of the legislature, including myself, decided to go. 

The itinerary included several days in Istanbul, a trip to the province of Izmir with a side trip to Ephesus, a day in Ankara, a few days in Cappadocia, and then back to Istanbul for the last two days.  Our schedule ran from 9 AM until at least 9 PM every day.  While we visited many tourist sites, including archaeological ruins, bazaars, museums, mosques and churches, we also visited businesses, high schools, a university, and the Turkish Parliament.  We met with businessmen, educators, a member of Parliament, a diplomat in the foreign office responsible for relations with the U.S. and Canada, and the mayor of a town in Istanbul with a population about the size of Vermont’s.  We presented the mayor with a letter from Burlington’s mayor, Miro Weinberger, establishing a sister-city program with the town of Umraniye.

So, you may be asking, “What was the agenda of the sponsors?  What were their expectations of us?”  The answer to those questions requires a review of the history of the Turkish Republic since it was established in 1923 as well as some analysis of the current political situation in Turkey.  However, the brief answer lies in the wish of Turkey to be recognized as a moderate and modern Islamic republic that has strong ties to the West and wishes to be both a model for emerging Middle Eastern democracies and an intermediary between them and the West.  It also lies in an understanding of the Gulen Movement, which has had a significant influence on Turkish politics for the last decade. 

The movement draws its inspiration from the teachings of the Islamic cleric and philosopher Fethullah Gulen, currently a resident of Pennsylvania since moving to the U.S. in 1999 for medical treatment.  The philosophy of the movement, which includes clerics, politicians, business people and educators, centers on the principles of tolerance, dialog, science and education within an Islamic tradition.  Turkey currently has the second fastest growing economy in the world, a 9.6% growth rate, just behind China, and they want the world to know that Turkey is open for business.  As a testament to its growth, Turkey has repaid its $23B debt to the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and contributed another $5B.

To be honest, the Gulen Movement has had its critics in Turkey, and our party of thirteen (which included some non-legislators) expressed some skepticism and our own critique of the movement and of Turkish policy toward the Kurdish minority and the Armenian genocide issue.  Both topics were discussed freely, and our hosts listened to and answered our questions.  They acknowledged the problems and described steps that have been taken both officially and unofficially to deal with these issues in a spirit of dialog and reconciliation, including increased access to Kurdish-language education and media.  The Armenian issue is likely to continue being a sticking point in Turkey’s international relations, however.

I was proud and privileged to represent Vermont, albeit on a semi-official basis, in Turkey.  I have arranged to do a travelogue presentation of my trip on October 3^rd at the Charlotte Senior Center.

I am also looking forward to seeing many of you in person as I campaign for re-election.  I have worked hard for you in Montpelier, and I hope you will support me this year.  You can contact me by phone at 425-3960 or email me at myantachka.dfa@gmail.com. 

Legislative Report 6/2/2012 - Transitioning from Legislating to Campaigning

The 2012 legislative session wrapped up on Saturday, May 5th, after two weeks of intense negotiations and several long days that ran late into the evenings.  It felt good to close the session feeling that a lot of good had been accomplished and to look forward to some time to catch up on everything I had been putting off.  I took time to visit my son and daughter and their families in Connecticut, and also attended my daughter Jackie’s graduation from Syracuse University.

Recently Governor Shumlin signed two bills into law in which I had a personal role.  One was H.699, an act relating to scrap metal processors which I co-sponsored.  This bill requires scrap metal dealers to require a photo ID of anyone bringing in scrap metal for cash and to keep a permanent ledger with the ID, vehicle license number and description of the items, and to notify police within 24 hours if the seller cannot produce such identification.  I had introduced another bill, H.306, that put the same kind of requirements on second-hand coin and jewelry dealers, and that bill’s provisions were added to H.699 before it passed.  This bill will enable law enforcement officers to more easily track and recover items stolen from homes and vehicles.

Governor Shumlin also signed into law S.214, an act relating to the Vermont energy act of 2012.  This bill has a rather convoluted history.  S.214 originally dealt with smart meter regulation when it passed the Senate.  A House bill, H.468, which was developed as the 2012 energy bill and was passed by the House, was tabled by the Senate Natural Resources Committee on a 3-2 vote.  Through a lot of negotiation between the House and Senate in conference, the contents of H.468 replaced the contents of S.214 with some modifications, and S.214 was approved by both bodies.  S.214 extends the Standard Offer program which supports continued development of renewable energy resources throughout Vermont.  Currently capped at 50 megawatts (MW) of distributed renewable energy generation, this bill allows it to grow to 150 MW over 10 years.  As a result of this program, Vermont has the greatest number of green jobs per capita in the nation according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  The Renewable Portfolio Standard provision, which was in the original bill and required Vermont utilities to acquire increasing percentages of renewable energy over time, was removed from S.214 during negotiations.

Many other bills were passed to the benefit of Vermonters including a budget that did not require increases in broad-based taxes, the Working Landscapes bill, the Mental Health System bill, the Solid Waste bill, the Health Insurance Exchange bill, and others which I have written about in previous columns.  I invite you to review them at my website, http://www.mikeyantachka.com/. I regret that no resolution was found for improving the Prescription Drug Database Monitoring System.  House negotiators insisted on a requirement that investigators obtain a warrant before accessing the database, a position I support, while Senate negotiators insisted that a warrant should not be necessary.

I am looking forward to seeing many of you in person as I begin my campaign for re-election.  I have worked hard for you in Montpelier, and I hope you will support me this year.  You can contact me by phone at 425-3960 or email me at myantachka.dfa@gmail.com.

The Word in the House 5/9/2012 - Devotions

As I write this the 2012 Vermont legislative session has adjourned for the year, and I’m looking forward to a couple of weeks of catching up on home-work.  The last week of the session saw several late evenings spent on the floor with a lot of political maneuvering as amendments to bills were debated, adopted along party lines, or defeated on procedural grounds which are too complicated and diverse to explain.  At the end there was both satisfaction for victories as well as disappointment in defeats for everyone in one degree or another. 

One of the enjoyable experiences of being in the legislature is the devotional exercise that takes place at the beginning of each floor session immediately after the Speaker gavels the House to order.  Sometimes it is offered by visiting clergy, sometimes by a poet or other guest, and sometimes by one of the members of the House.  Sometimes the devotion is sung as it was on Saturday by Representative Kevin “Coach” Christie of Hartford.  This man has a booming bass voice with a fantastic range.  His inspirational rendition of “The Impossible Dream” from The Man of La Mancha brought the House to its feet when he finished. 

Earlier in the week Francis Brooks, the Sergeant at Arms of the Statehouse, offered this story. 
“One day a young girl was complaining to her mother about how she was having such a hard time.  She was very discouraged and didn’t know what to do, so she asked her mother for advice.  Her mother in answer put three pots of water on the stove to boil.  In one pot she put some carrots; in the second she put some eggs; in the third she put coffee grounds.  After a while she asked her daughter to tell her what she saw.  Her daughter said ‘Carrots, eggs and coffee. But what does this have to do with my problems?’ 

“Her mother told her to feel the carrots.  They were soft.  Then she told her daughter to break the egg.  It had become hard.  Finally she told her to smell and taste the coffee which had become aromatic and flavorful.  Her mother said, ‘All three encountered the same adversity, the boiling water.  The carrots went in hard and tough, but the boiling water made them softer, weaker.  The eggs went in fragile, but became hard inside.  Both were changed by the boiling water.  But the coffee, the coffee changed the water.  So, which are you, a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?  When you encounter a problem, will you let it change you, or will you change your environment?’ ”

This story aptly illustrates a very traditional Vermont value: volunteerism.  Last year, between the Spring floods and tropical storm Irene, Vermont suffered some of the worst destruction it has ever seen.  But instead of being beaten down or mired in controversy, Vermonters all over the state came together to rebuild our infrastructure and come to the aid of our neighbors.  Likewise, facing enormous costs of relocating, rebuilding and assisting those who lost so much, Republican, Progressive, Democratic and independent legislators took to heart the state motto of Freedom and Unity, changed their environment, and passed legislation to quickly get Vermont back on its feet. 

So, whether you serve on a local board or in an elective office or with a community organization, or if you picked up trash on Greenup Day, or otherwise volunteer in our community, I’d like to take this opportunity to salute you and thank you for changing your environment.