Hearing held on detention center

NEWBURY—Dozens of residents who oppose a state plan to develop a juvenile detention center in rural Newbury registered their objections at a state land use hearing on Aug. 25.
The Vermont Department of Children and Families and the nonprofit Becket Family of Services want to remodel a two-story building on Stevens Place which was originally a bed and breakfast and which Becket had been running as a treatment center for several years. It will hold up to six male offenders, aged 12-17, in state custody. The facility and property will still be owned and operated by Becket subsidiary Vermont Permanency Initiative, but it will be leased to DCF and renovated with state funds.