Discover More from This Category: Letters

One year since Roe was overturned

June 21, 2023
  Dear Editor, Saturday, June 24, marks one year since the Supreme Court of the U.S. overturned Roe v. Wade in the case titled Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.  With that decision, the court ended the federal constitutional right to abortion after nearly 50 years and allowed states to ban abortion. This was a…

‘American Pickers’ returns to Vermont

June 21, 2023
  Dear Editor, I am reaching out because our show is planning to return to Vermont in August 2023! We’re looking for leads throughout the state, specifically interesting characters with fascinating items and lots of them! The way we find people and collections for our show is through spreading the word far and wide so…

Things we don’t talk about: Being the anti-hero

June 14, 2023
   By Faith Gong Editor’s note: Faith Gong has worked as an elementary school teacher, a freelance photographer, and a nonprofit director. She lives in Middlebury with her husband, five children, assorted chickens and ducks, one feisty cat, and one anxiety-prone labradoodle. In her “free time,” she writes for her blog, The Pickle Patch. I…

Direction of fire dept. is concerning

June 14, 2023
  Dear Editor, Killington Fire and Rescue was once a respectable agency made up of members that love the town they serve. Now it has gone from a group of people that are there to help the neighbors, to a boy’s club forcing out anyone the current chief and his buddies do not align with.…

Minimum wage boost needed

June 14, 2023
Minimum wage boost needed Dear Editor, On March 29, Vermont senior U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., was grilling Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz on the illegal union-busting activities used by that corporation.  In order to embarrass our senior senator, Schultz shot back with the fact that Vermont has a paltry minimum wage of only $13.18/hour. His…

Blood donations fall short

June 14, 2023
  Dear Editor,  The American Red Cross experienced a concerning shortfall in blood and platelet donations last month. The Red Cross collected over 26,000 fewer blood donations than needed in May to meet the needs of patients. The need for blood is constant, with someone needing a blood transfusion in the U.S. every two seconds.…

There is no space for poverty and misery in a rich nation

June 7, 2023
Dear Editor, Reading about the housing crisis in Vermont and all over the country, and how a judge could change in one stroke of his pen the fate of hundreds of unhoused Vermonters, it is one grave sign that our society and our governments (federal, state and local) are moving toward a catastrophic end. I…

Housing funds are still needed

May 31, 2023
  Dear Editor, Two years ago my spouse and I, ages 74 and 75, resided at the Sonesta ES Suites in Burlington. We stayed there for four weeks. We paid. We awaited a new condo to be ready that we had purchased.  We soon noticed that there were others housed there because of being homeless.…

A history of wildlife protection in Vermont

May 31, 2023
  Dear Editor, In response to a local Protect Our Wildlife representative’s letter in Front Porch Forum I’d like to offer a timeline as to how we sportsmen and women lived without “help” before the advent of non-consumptive users. This information is available to the public on the Fish and Wildlife Department’s timeline page.  Here…

Alcohol-related litter is plentiful

May 24, 2023
Dear Editor, I read with interest the editorial discussing litter and some of its causes (“Green Up: Plan to make it fun” April 27, 2023).  However, as a frequent cyclist on Vermont’s roads (preferably the gravel ones) I have an additional perspective.  Moving at a slower pace than in a car, one sees in greater…

30+ year league threatened to end

May 24, 2023
  Dear Editor, I’ve run the Killington Softball League every year since 2004. I took one year off in 2009 and was begged back the following year because of how poorly it was run. I’m not saying this to brag, it’s just I’m good at running this league and one reason people like playing in…

Keep your lawn friendly to pollinators

May 24, 2023
  Dear Editor, After a protracted winter and fickle spring, the sunlight has dried off the dew. Idle hours lie ahead. Put earmuffs on to deaden the roar of the mower. Repeat passes out from the house to the edge of the property, leaving behind a carpet of green.  Who would attempt to disrupt this…

SCOTUS needs ethics reform

May 18, 2023
  Dear Editor, The Supreme Court has a serious ethics problem, and the latest revelations about Clarence Thomas should be alarming to every American. For 20 years, Thomas has accepted high-end, luxury, all-expense-paid vacations around the world from Republican megadonor Harlan Crow. And he never disclosed any of it to the public. What’s more, he…

Elections have consequences 

May 18, 2023
  Dear Editor, The  Vermont legisl ative session for 2023 has come to an end. There is no good news for those few Vermonters that might expect their elected representatives to respect our hard earned tax dollars. The Democrat supermajority has passed an $8.5 billion dollar budget, the largest in the history of the state.…

The underlying issue with S.5: The means whereby

May 18, 2023
  Dear Editor,  Only three years after red-tagging above ground heating oil tanks for replacement to the tune of $1,800-$2,400, S.5, called the Clean Heat Act or the Affordable Heat Act, is adding another heating-related headache to Vermont households and buildings that requires the removal of heating oil tanks altogether. S.5 states right up front…