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AVON, N.Y. -- Nearly 10 fire departments were needed to help with a barn fire in the Livingston County town of Avon late Thursday night.

The East Avon fire chief said the fire was spotted by a passerby driving on Route 5 and 20. The barn on Jenks Road housed machinery and compost. Fire investigators said an engine block heater that was being used caught fire.

The chief said the biggest challenge was bringing water to the scene, but he said all the departments were ready to fight the fire.

"We have trained in this scenario several times this year. Obviously we had the practice last week in Caledonia. We've had quite a few fires in this part of the county, so we've been at this quite a bit this year," said Chris Batzel, East Avon Fire Chief.

No one was injured but the building is destroyed.

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Engine Block Heater to Blame for Avon Barn Fire

By Derek Carson

dcarson@ benningtonbanner.com @DerekCarsonBB on Twitter

Efficiency Vermont director Jim Merriam fields questions from Bennington county residents

BENNINGTON>> Efficiency Vermont hosted the fourth in its series of forums across the state in Bennington on Wednesday, hoping to learn from the community what they are doing well, and what they could do better.

The program's director, Jim Merriam, was on hand to answer questions and take comments from about 30 area residents. Efficiency Vermont is hosting these forums to hear opinions from the community regarding how they could improve their organization before the start of their next budget cycle, which runs from 2015 through 2017.

Efficiency Vermont is an organization, funded by the state of Vermont through a surcharge in customers energy bills, that has been charged by the legislature with reducing the cost of energy for all Vermonters. The organization, which is operated by the private non-profit Vermont Energy Investment Corporation, goes about achieving this goal in a variety of ways, including giving advice to homeowners and small businesses, educating students, weatherizing homes, and

Attendees expressed numerous concerns to Merriam and his team, and after the forum's conclusion, Merriam said two of the biggest takeaways he had from Bennington had been that Efficiency Vermont needs to ensure that there are sufficient contractors in the area who are able to understand and install more efficient ways of heating and providing electricity for homes, and that the general public needs to be better educated on energy efficiency. He said each town so far had had its own unique concerns and observations. In St. Albans, for example, most of the residents involved in the forum had been for generating savings for small businesses, while in Barre, much of the concern was focused on supporting agencies that provide weatherization for low-income families.

"A lot of people might not understand," said Merriam, "we're a regulated public utility, just like Green Mountain Power." Efficiency Vermont is regulated by the Vermont Public Service Board, who gives them goals that they must achieve by the end of their budget cycle, or they will lose funding next time. Merriam said that among the goals that had been handed down to them for this current cycle, Efficiency Vermont must generate $336.3 million in economic benefits for the state, generate 321,800 megawatt hour savings, "deliver high quality services for low income Vermonters," and show "increased focus on reducing heating costs for small businesses." Merriam said the organization would reach all of these goals easily, and pointed out, "For every dollar in, we have to generate almost $2 back in value to Vermonters. You won't see a credit on your bill, but you will see a lesser increase, or hopefully no increase at all."

As Merriam noted, one of the biggest complaints Bennington residents had was how few area contractors are trained or willing to do the work that Efficiency Vermont recommends. "You guys were really great," said one man to Merriam, who had been seeking advice on installing a heat pump water heater in his home, "but I'm very frustrated that it took me over a year to get this all together," noting that many area contractors tried to talk him out of the more energy efficient method in favor of more traditional methods, and some refused to install the heater all together. The products themselves were also hard to come by, he said, as many local distributors didn't carry the most efficient brands.

"That gentleman's point really rings true, about the contractors," said another woman, who said that she as well had done her research on what the most energy efficient option was for her home, only to have a local plumber try to talk her out of it.

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Efficiency Vermont forum visits Bennington

As post offices prepare for the holiday rush of cards, letters and packages, they are seeking to remind customers that a snowstorm can be just around the corner.

Considering the extreme winter weather we had last year, it is never too early to plan for this years season, Postmaster Michael Thompson said. We are asking our postal customers to keep walkways and curbside mailboxes clear of snow and ice to ensure the safe and efficient delivery of mail this winter.

Letter carriers are especially vulnerable to slips, trips and falls during the winter months. Slippery surfaces can be dangerous and costly for homeowners, as well as for their visitors including their letter carriers. By clearing a path when the snow arrives, accidents can be prevented.

Letter carriers cannot make door or curb deliveries when the approach to the mailbox is hazardous because of snow or ice. Carriers are not allowed to attempt door delivery when there is a heavy buildup of snow and ice on sidewalks, steps or porches. They are not allowed to dismount for curbline boxes blocked by snow and ice buildup.

We greatly appreciate the support of our customers in this endeavor, Thompson said. Your letter carrier will thank you.

Source: U.S. Postal Service

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Downriver post offices ask for help this winter season

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The most famous animal within Napa city limits is no beast, but a misshapen bulge from the side of a 50-foot-tall eucalyptus off Dry Creek Road.

It takes only a bit of squinting at its broad trunk to see a snout and antlers, and countless unknown passers-by have used spray paint to fill in the picture, or to create their own images.

Over the years, this three-dimensional Rorschach blot has sported the rainbow colors of the gay-rights movement, or an orange-and-black pattern after yet another San Francisco Giants world championship or the eyes, nose and mouth that complete its usual image, the head of a moose.

Soon, however, the wooden animal head well enough known to merit its own Facebook page may need a new home, as a developer seeks the citys blessing to build 14 houses near the tree bearing the moose head not to mention a sidewalk directly through where the tree stands, weathered and weakened.

Edenbridge Homes, a Cupertino firm, has filed plans with the city for a cluster of houses just east of Dry Creek Road, south of Trower Avenue. To make room for the three- to five-bedroom dwellings, and an extension of Napier Court to access them, builders plan to remove trees from a 3.5-acre plot including the moose tree.

Where many residents see a cheeky canvas, a lighthearted town symbol, Napa parks and planning officials instead see an aged and fragile roadblock.

The moose tree is in bad health, its destructive to the ground, its fire-prone, and it has heavy branches prone to breaking and some of those branches are 2 feet thick, Michael Allen, the city associate planner, said minutes before the Planning Commission met Thursday night to comb through the housing plans, including the future of the woody moose.

A handful of near neighbors to the moose tree were among the 15 people present at City Hall. But their questions were far more mundane, mostly having to do with how to enter the new subdivision, not what might or might not adorn it. Homeowners weighed in on where to build entryways to an extended Napier Court from Alexander Street as city planners wanted, or directly onto Dry Creek Road? but the wooden moose went unmentioned.

Finally, after poring over tree replacement, the removal of a buried fuel tank and filling a sidewalk gap along Dry Creek Road, the commissioners turned their attention to the moose head. They recalled the varied opinions neighbors had shared in a late-October forum on the housing plan, some treating the moose-painting as a fun tradition, others dismissing it as a garish nuisance and vandalism target.

This is a real head-scratcher, said Commissioner Paul Kelley. I understand the dangers of that eucalyptus, but theres got to be some way to preserve the character feature of that tree.

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Housing plans put Napa 'moose' tree in limbo

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Strike rate: Ed Cowan is going on the attack with the bat. Photo: Philip Gostelow

Being a resolute opener got Ed Cowan into the Test team - but by the end of last season it had sapped almost all the enjoyment he had savoured from playing the game over the past decade.

The NSW-born Tasmanian never relished the constant public depictions of him as the dour opener who served as the yang to David Warner's yin, because he felt it sold him short as a batsman. As he digested the 2013-14 season, however, he conceded it was warranted. His record of 662 runs at 38.94 was solid but his strike rate of 42.88 of was the third lowest of the Sheffield Shield's top 30 run-scorers, in front of only Cameron Bancroft and Scott Henry.

Simply, batting "had become a bit of a grind - making runs was hard work".

"I think I'd faced 300 more balls than I had in any other shield season, but I ended up with 300 fewer runs than my best year. That to me says I just wasn't scoring, I was surviving," he said.

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Cowan is not an inherently defensive player; it is just that he has been ever since he was on the radar of Australian selectors. When the now 32-year-old moved from NSW to Tasmania five and a half years ago it brought a change in approach "came about from batting on a pretty green Bellerive wicket where driving was really out of the question, unless you enjoy doing crosswords".

"I sort of manufactured a technique to score runs at home that involved cutting and pulling and locking into a front-foot defence. I held my bat up high so I could drop my bat into the line of the ball and play a perfect forward defence, but I couldn't drive the ball, let alone swing at the ball."

Cowan's response, devised while he was simultaneously electing whether to stay in Hobart or return to Sydney to better suit his family and also creating his fledgling Tripod Coffee business in what little spare time he had, was to attempt to turn back the clock a decade in terms of his batting philosophy, albeit complemented by "the mental skills of 10 years of first-class cricket".

"My technique had become a bit of a caricature of what it was reputed to be ... but I've flipped that on its head, I've changed my thinking. Now, rather than 'how is this bowler going to get me out?' it's 'how am I going to attack him?' That's come about through not only through a shift in thinking but having the mechanics to do that," he said.

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Revitalised Ed Cowan sheds batting shackles