Top Stories for Tuesday October 10, 2006
“Stick ‘Em Up” To Take On Whole New Meaning In Brandon When Police Acquire TASERS
By Ed Barna
Local troublemakers may consider Sept. 27, 2006 a dark day, because that's when the Select Board authorized the Police Department to use Tasers--but these high-tech sublethal weapons might some day save some of their lives.
Ever since inventors figured out how to boost a low-power current's voltage by putting it through the right capacitors and other electronic parts, people have been finding uses for devices based on the principle. Cattle were among the first to experience the results of such technological prod-uctivity, and electric bugswatters (which make flying bugs pop like popcorn) are among the latest devices to appear on the market.
Somewhere in between, TASER International patented a way of using the principle to effectively but nearly harmlessly disable an uncooperative person (which is why Taser is capitalized). Since the device is still proprietary, that makes it easy to determine how many police forces have adopted the technology: over 9,100 law enforcement, correctional and military agencies in 43 countries since 1998, according to the company. [ more ] Sharing Memories With Chet Ketcham
By Larry Johnson
 Some of Chet Ketcham’s puckish sense of humor and well-defined sense of justice may be a direct result of his ancestry. On one side of his family he is related to the great P.T. Barnum and on the other side to Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” and “the little woman” that Lincoln half-jokingly referred to as being responsible for the Civil War.
Chet was born in Salisbury, Vermont, on December 6, 1927, to Olin and Ruth Ketcham. It is interesting to note, he believes, that he was born the same year as and within a single month of the great flood that inundated Vermont. His parents had purchased the village store in the early 20s and this fact gave Chet, and his older brothers Russ and Art, an early opportunity at employment close to home. The store was stocked with boots, shoes, work clothes and just about every other thing that might be needed in a small town. When he wasn’t delivering orders around Lake Dunmore, Chet spent his summers stocking shelves in the store for 35cents an hour.
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