MARSHFIELD – U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy on Thursday filed a petition in the United States Supreme Court concerning a case the court will hear later this year involving Marshfield resident Diana Levine.

 

In a statement issued Thursday, Leahy's office said the senator was joined by 17 members of Congress, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., in filing the petition, known as an amicus brief.

 

On Jan. 18, the Supreme Court granted review in Wyeth v. Diana Levine, a case in which a Vermont jury awarded damages to Levine, a musician, who sustained life-altering injuries due to a drug manufactured by Wyeth. Levine's arm had to be amputated after she was injected with one of Wyeth's medications.

 

Wyeth is seeking to overturn the Vermont Supreme Court's decision, which affirmed a jury verdict in Levine's favor. Oral argument in the case is scheduled for November 3.

 

"Diana Levine is a successful musician in Vermont, and the tragedy she suffered that has had a profound impact on her career, should have been prevented," said Leahy in the statement.

 

"A number of recent Supreme Court decisions have stripped protections for every day Americans in favor of shielding large corporations from liability. The Court's decision in Ms.

 

Levine's case could have far-reaching effects on the ability of all Americans to seek justice in their courts when they are injured by a defective pharmaceutical drug.:

 

Leahy has filed 10 such briefs in more than 30 years in Congress.

 

timesargus.com

 

Man cited for impersonating police officer

 

Times Argus Staff

WILLISTON – a 21-year-old Winooski man has been cited to appear in court for allegedly impersonating a police officer, Vermont State Police said Thursday.

 

According to police, officers were called on Wednesday just after 5 p.m. to a road rage incident on Interstate 89 in Williston. Upon arrival, one of the vehicles, a green Subaru Forester, was displaying emergency flashing strobe lights on the front and rear of the vehicle.

 

Police said Christopher Parker, the operator of that vehicle, turned the emergency lights on after an incident on the highway and attempted to pull over another vehicle.

 

Parker voluntarily agreed to go to the Williston barracks, where he was interviewed, processed and released with a citation. He is scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 16, police said.

 

 

Surveillance video nabs man in furniture store thefts

 

COLCHESTER — The mysterious, gradual disappearance of $13,000 worth of metal shelving from a furniture store parking lot was solved — by a surveillance camera.

 

The camera, on a neighboring store, caught the culprit in a series of pre-dawn heists at Furniture World of Vermont, authorities said.

 

Paul Lavallee, 28, of Milton, was taken into custody — it wasn't clear Thursday whether he had been charged — over the thefts, which began last weekend but weren't noticed until Tuesday.

 

The shelving, for a warehouse racking system being installed at the store, was stored in eight piles in a rear parking area.

 

On Tuesday, Furniture World owner Dan Martello noticed that the piles were diminished. When he and wife Shannon called police, an officer went to the scene and noticed that a business next door, Crowley Construction, had an exterior surveillance videocamera.

He suggested that the Martellos review images from it to see if the thefts were caught on tape. They were.

 

At exactly 5:24 a.m. on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, a man was seen pulling up in a pickup truck, donning work gloves and loading the beams onto the bed of the truck.

 

"I was surprised the guy came back every morning at the same time, and loaded up like it was his job," Mrs. Martello said Thursday. "He picked pieces from every pile, so we wouldn't notice it coming down. But he took so much on Sunday and Monday that we noticed it on Tuesday. He started getting greedy."

 

On Wednesday, a police officer was in place — hiding behind a trailer — beginning at 5 a.m. Finally, at 5:40 a.m., the man pulled up and began the daily routine before the officer arrested him.

 

Lavallee admitted taking the shelves and selling them for scrap, getting $400 for materials worth $13,000, according to Detective Michael Fish.