WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-Winner emerges in ice out betting pool on Vt. pond
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Associated Press - April 21, 2009 7:25 PM ET
WEST DANVILLE, Vt. (AP) - This year's betting pool on when the ice goes out on Joe's Pond in West Danville didn't exactly follow the script.
Normally, the clock that's tethered to a 65-pound cinder block placed atop a wooden pallet is tripped when the block falls through the ice, an event that marks northern Vermont's unofficial start of spring.
This year, however, the alarm clock stopped when the ice was blown by heavy winds.
Still, the rules provide that once the clock is tripped, the time is official.
Ash Desmond of Richmond came closest to predicting the winning time of 10:21 p.m. Monday and will take home more than $5,000. Organizer Homer Fitts told the Burlington Free Press that Desmond gets half the earnings after expenses from the 11,401 tickets sold at $1 each.
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