joining us in this chamber are sally and tommy garfano. to sally and tommy and the families of six other vermonters who lost their lives as a result of tropical irene, our admiration and support will never cease. thank you, on behalf of all vermonters. [ applause ] >> as mayor lorris and i gave what comfort we could to tommy that day at mendenbrook, something else happened that characterizes vermont strong. with route 4 shut down and community after community, isolated islands where roads and bridges once served, brothers john and doug casella had an idea. doug said, governor, you get the department of motor vehicles to lift the ban on hauling heavy equipment across what's left of our roads and get us permission to retrieve some of the rock and gravel that irene washed from our roads into our streams, and we'll partner with other private contractors like belding company, mosier excavating, wilk paving and the national guard, and we can have route 4 open in three weeks. as soon as i got high enough in the chopper to actually have cell servi