Log Cabin Chronicles Covered Bridge Arson Update

Log Cabin Chronicles

Torched Bridge Rebuilt

JOHN MAHONEY

It took two years but traffic is again flowing across the Black River, just outside of Coventry, Vermont. Halloween arsonists burned the 116-year-old Orne Bridge in 1997. On Monday, November 29, a near-replica was officially opened.

The dollar value of the loss was estimated around $400,000 but no one has been able to tally the historical, social, and psychological costs.

The two men who were found guilty of pouring gasoline on the bridge and putting a match to it were fined and sentenced to perform community service.

It is doubtful that Adam Brunelle, 22, of Brownington, Vermont, and Samuel Wilson, 22, of Westmore, Vermont, joined Vermont Governor Howard Dean and others at the opening ceremony yesterday.

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