Westford News

• Age: 17 • School: Bellows Free Academy Fairfax • Parents: Eileen and Jim Kerkes • Hometown: Fairfax • Top 5 accomplishments: Achieving a black belt in Kenpo karate; participating in The New England Music Festival on bassoon; learning how to ski just about anywhere; earning the RPI Math and Science Award; being able to do 100 consecutive push-ups without crying. • In the community: Volunteering in National Honor Society blood drives; working at my church's annual chicken pie supper. • Favorite spare time activity: Practicing Kenpo around the house, alpine skiing, and playing ultimate Frisbee • After graduation: RPI (hopefully!) • Career plans: Some sort of engineering career • Your bedroom in one word: Dangerous • Dead person to meet: Bruce Lee; he is one of the greatest contributions to the martial arts world. • Your biography title: 'Blood, Sweat, and Incredible Good Looks' • Three 'luxuries' on a desert island: My laptop, a punching bag, and 10 gallons of root beer • Personal motto: When danger approaches, sing to it. -- Arab proverb • Age: 18 • School: Bellows Free Academy, Fairfax • Parents: Bruce and Linda Root • Hometown: Westford • Top 5 accomplishments: Class salutatorian; three varsity sports freshman year, Student Council vice president, All State Soccer Team for three years, high school band for four years • In the community: I help coach a basketball camp in the summer and do a lot in our school's National Honor Society. • Favorite spare time activity: Sports, singing, playing the flute, hanging out with friends and going to the movies. • After graduation: College, but not sure where. • Career plans: Undecided, possibly something involving psychology • Your bedroom in one word: Bright • Dead person to meet: Vivian Leigh; she was an amazing actress. • Your biography title: 'Liv and Laugh' • Three 'luxuries' on a desert island: My iPod, my best friend Casey, and a really good book to read. • Personal motto: Don't worry. Be happy.

Homicide investigators say they're postponing a search for the remains of a Vermont grandmother who police say was shot to death and incinerated by her daughter and buried by her grandson.

Authorities are confident they have enough evidence to convict a Westford woman for the murder of her mother three years ago, even though investigators still have no body, murder weapon, or motive.

Vermont State Police suspended their three-day search Saturday for the remains of Mary Wilcox in a wooded area behind the Westford Elementary School.

The Vermont State Police spent the day searching and processing two crimes scenes that are in connection with the alleged murder of Mary Wilcox, age 78 of Westford who was reported missing in November 2006.

Searchers are back on the scene of an elementary school and a home in Westford, looking for the remains of a 78-year-old grandmother who was shot to death, burned and then buried.

WESTFORD, Vt. - Vermont State Police say a 78-year-old woman with Alzheimer's disease who was reported missing in 2006 was killed by her daughter, who then burned her body in the backyard and had her son - the victim's grandson - dispose of it.

Median income rose slightly in 2008 for Vermont couples filing joint tax returns, a pair of economists reported Tuesday.

SHELBURNE -- Jenna M. Endresen, daughter of Rejeanne Jalbert of Westford and Erik and Teika Taylor-Endresen of South Burlington, and Alexander Matthew Doe, son of Matthew and Beverly Doe of Richmond, were united in marriage Sept.

My recent decision to review the supervisory union makeup of the Essex Town Supervisory District has generated lots of discussion and opinions.

The Essex Town School Board started the process of finding a new superintendent without knowing how long the district will have that post available to fill.

Vermont Education Commissioner Armando Vilaseca is urging a renewed look at school-district consolidation.

The Vermont Board of Education voted yes Tuesday to study a potential merger of two supervisory unions in Chittenden County.

WESTFORD -- A three-hour search Sunday night for a missing 74-year-old man ended with the man being located, safe and uninjured.

Two events having to do with "consolidation" in public education this week show that the debate boils down to what we gain versus what we give up by joining two or more schools together.

Economists Jeff Carr and Tom Kavet said this was the first time in two years they had some good news for state leaders.

The Vermont Commissioner of Education is considering whether to recommend to the state Board of Education that schools in Essex and Essex Junction consolidate into one supervisory union.

Lukas LaRiviere Age: 17 School: BFA Fairfax Parents: Neal LaRiviere and Dolores Eckert Hometown: Fairfax Top 5 accomplishments: Selected for National Honor Society, on honor roll for four years, 3.8 GPA, traveled to England with school group, member of Ultimate Frisbee Club.

Girls on the Run Vermont is in the process of expanding its roster to 115 sites statewide, and volunteer coaches are needed in the areas of Westford, Essex, Hinesburg and Charlotte.

The two roosters prowling off South Williams Street on Friday were not the first ones seen -- or heard -- in this settled neighborhood at the west edge of the University of Vermont campus.