Dear Editor, If you do anything before putting up your Christmas tree you are making a huge mistake. For example, if you buy your presents first, what do you do with them? Do you keep them in the trunk of your car? Smuggle them into the house and wait for a tree? Get your tree…

Dear Editor, As 2022 itself draws to a close, the winter is only just getting started. With new progress underway, the Ludlow Recreation Committee is excited to share the most recent updates. To start the season the Ludlow Parks and Recreation Department hosted a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning, a familiar race that this year…

Dear Editor, In response to Mr. Emerson Lynn’s guest editorial “The Peril of OneCare’s failure,” which ran in the Nov. 30-Dec. 6 editon of the Mountain Times, OneCare’s failure would hardly impact Vermont’s health care because it has always been a failure to begin with. I commend Green Mountain Care Board (GMCB) members Owen Foster…

Dear Editor, It’s time for the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department (VTF&W) and elected state officials to act on the wishes of the majority of Vermonters and ban recreational and fur trapping for furbearers (bobcat, otter, fisher, coyotes, beaver, red and gray fox, muskrat, raccoon, opossum, weasel, mink and skunk). VTF&W recently commissioned a survey…

Dear Editor, As you may have heard or read, The University of Vermont is now pushing a medicare “advantage” plan in partnership with MVP health care, a local non-profit we are told in direct competition with more affordable traditional medicare plans. Additionally and to their discredit, rather than promoting what civilized nations around the globe…

Dear Editor, The Itty-Bitty Committee wants to thank all those who have been volunteering with decorating the Fair Haven Park. We had many folks share their creative talents with us in October making stick figures. The figures decorated the park throughout the month of October. November saw the committee gather several times to create stick…

By Annette Smith Editor’s note: Annette Smith is the executive director of Vermonters for a Clean Environment. She lives in Danby.  Not long ago, utilities envisioned a new renewable electricity system that would involve time-of-use rates and load management via smart meters. The idea was that customers would do laundry and charge electric vehicles (EVs)…

Dear Editor, Listening to the presentation to the Climate Council on the cost savings they are claiming will be associated with the Climate Action Plan, I was reminded of the classic scene from “Caddyshack” where Bill Murray’s character tells the story of his compensation for a round with Dalai Lama: “Oh, there won’t be any…

Dear Editor, I offer this commentary to all retirees of Vermont state government, their families, and to all active state employees and their families, because this can affect them all. Gov. Phil Scott is strongly considering substituting a Group Medicare Advantage plan in place of the BlueCross BlueShield health insurance all retirees and active employees…

Dear Editor, April Hudson has always been a writer. At the age 79, her dream of publishing her memoirs has finally become a reality. April has been a well-known resident in the small northern Vermont town. A true craftsman and artist, she opened a ceramic teaching studio and designed her own line called Hudsonware. She…

Dear Editor, By some miracle, we have an animal called a beaver that builds, maintains and improves rich wetlands. However, damming behavior also creates challenging and sometimes expensive beaver-human conflicts. Partly because of their rarity, which has been increased greatly by development, wetlands like those that beavers create have enormous value. They are critical habitat…

Dear Editor, In a landmark ruling destined to save billions of animal and human lives, the Food and Drug Administration has ruled that meat cultivated from animal cells is safe to eat. The ruling was granted to Upside Foods, funded by Bill Gates and Richard Branson, but also by meat industry giants Cargill and Tyson…

Dear Editor, Vermont should adopt the Purple Paint Law (PPL) to replace the annual posting of private property. The PPL allows landowners to “post” their property with stripes of purple paint applied according to specific instructions on trees or fence posts. Most states stipulate the stripes must be vertical and not less than eight inches…

Dear Editor, The battle over proposed herbicide use in Lake Bomoseen has not ended, despite what some community members may assume. The LBA / LBPT ProcellaCOR permit application was not withdrawn. It is simply on “technical hold” while the boards of directors of those organizations belatedly try to rally support for their plan. They have…

Dear Editor, We’ve probably all have read about the use of cameras along some highways to measure the speed of vehicles, replacing the police stationed at various points with radar guns. Perhaps some of us have driven in the various states or foreign countries that utilize this technique. There seems to be an outcry in…