Last year, state officials went to the Legislature with a problem: The 306-foot Bennington Battle Monument — an obelisk commemorating the 1777 Battle of Bennington — was saturated with 66,000 gallons of water. At the time, the cost to restore the monument was estimated at $40 million. The high price fueled debate over whether to restore the monument or deal with the challenges of the waterlogged, more than a century old structure another way. Vermont art collector and proprietor of the Vermont