Top Stories for Tuesday November 30, 2010

Local Teen Earns Spot On Olympic Luge Junior Team
By Cookie Steponaitis
Often referred to as “lightning with no brakes,” the sport of Luge is one of America’s least known of the Olympic sports but is steadily growing.  Ironically, Luge is one of the oldest winter sports, tracing back to the Vikings as early as 800 A.D.  The name Luge comes from the French word for sled and has been a part of the Norwegian and European Sports scene since the 1840’s. The Luge competition consists of three events; men's singles, women's singles and mixed doubles. Mixed teams can consist of two athletes of either gender. Since there was no formal Luge program at the time of the 1964 Winter Games, the United States' first Olympic Luge team consisted mainly of American soldiers who were stationed in Europe.  [ more ]

Meet Lucy Rider Meyer: A Vermont Educator And Missionary
By Cookie Steponaitis
Every local town has its hidden heroes lurking in the annals of history that changed and often revolutionized some part of American life. One such unique individual was Lucy Jane Rider Meyer, who was born on a farm in 1849 on the New Haven/Weybridge town line.  A teacher by trade, she not only founded many high schools in Vermont but went on to teach chemistry at McKendree College, at a school for freed blacks in North Carolina  and pioneered the concept of female professors.  [ more ]