Discover More from This Category: Letters

Vote ‘yes’ for a five-member Select Board (Article 6)

February 26, 2025
Dear Editor, The time has come for Killington to move to a five-member Select Board. This change will bring numerous benefits to our community and help us better manage the demands of a growing town. A five-member board will reduce the need for special meetings by allowing the Select Board to create smaller committees of…

Please vote ‘yes’ for the Town of Killington, Article 4, water bond vote

February 26, 2025
Dear Editor, Hi it’s Jim Haff, and it’s election time.  I’ve been really quiet, letting you voters decide ballot items on your own, but I wanted to point out one thing on Article 4. This is the waterline that will feed the community, not the village section. This will feed the much needed parcel that…

Rob Hecker for re-election

February 26, 2025
Dear Editor, I am writing in support of Rob Hecker for election to the Killington Select Board. Rob was appointed to the board last year to fill an open seat resulting from the untimely resignation of Steve Finneron.  He has spent the past year listening and learning, which is exactly what we should expect from…

Killington needs workforce housing

February 26, 2025
Dear Editor, We’ve been part of the local community, owning a 3-family property we rent to locals, for 10 years now. Many locals recognize that housing for the local workforce is a major concern as the town looks to build the village. In a recent Mountain Times article, the developers stated that the target buyers…

Keep Doenges as Mayor of Rutland City

February 19, 2025
Dear Editor,  Mike Doenges has been doing a very good job as mayor and deserves a second term. I have known Mike since he was a teenager; he came to our house to help Art and me with our computer. He was an industrious worker then and continues to be. He is outstanding in the…

MVSU educators support Sousa

February 19, 2025
Dear Editor, Editor’s note: This letter was originally addressed to the Mountain Views Supervisory Union Board and the communities it serves and is shared by request. As district employees, we were very concerned to see the petition calling for the removal or resignation of Superintendent Sherry Sousa. Confronting racism and swiftly addressing racist incidents are…

School leaders support Superintendent Sherry Sousa

February 19, 2025
Dear Editor, We are writing to the Mountain Views Supervisory Union Board and the communities it serves, to express our support for Sherry Sousa as superintendent of the Mountain Views Supervisory Union (MVSU). As principals and directors within the MVSU, we have worked closely with Sherry towards our goal of creating and maintaining a positive…

MVSD School Board Chair defends Sousa

February 19, 2025
Dear Editor, I write this letter as a parent and grandparent, a retired French and Spanish teacher with 44 years of experience, and a current school board chair. After receiving a letter requesting the dismissal of superintendent Sherry Sousa due to a lawsuit settled a year ago, I have engaged with community members, spoken with…

Defending Vermont’s public schools

February 19, 2025
Dear Editor, The most alarming thing about Governor Scott’s education transformation proposal is that it follows the playbook of conservative billionaires who are funding a coordinated effort to dismantle public education. Americans for Prosperity, a political advocacy group founded by the Koch Brothers, recently confirmed this when they singled out and praised Governor Scott’s efforts.…

No on proposed cell tower

February 12, 2025
Dear Editor, We are writing in stark dissent of the proposed cell tower in Hartland Four Corners. Our dissension is based on several critical factors: IllegalityAccording to local ordinances, no construction shall surpass tree height, yet the proposed tower of 170+ feet far exceeds the height of any local flora. Health risksAccording to the American…

Trust in government officials through ethics standards – Vermont Act 171

February 12, 2025
Dear Editor, Act 171 has opened a door for Killington to strengthen trust between town officials and the community they serve. For seven years I was a law enforcement officer in the city of Alexandria, Virginia, a stone’s throw south of Washington, D.C. The profession comes with a heightened level of community trust, and to…

Fishers in crisis, action needed

February 5, 2025
Dear Editor, I am a conservation biologist with a specific interest in wildlife. Last April, I wrote and submitted a paper to the Vermont Fish and Wildlife board (FWB) summarizing the results from numerous studies across the U.S. and Canada indicating that anticoagulant rodenticide (AR) threatens fisher populations. Vermont had the highest exposure rate among…

MVSU district explains budget, cuts

February 5, 2025
Dear Editor, Editor’s note: the following letter was addressed specifically to members of the Mountain Views School District. As the vote on the MVSD budget approaches, we wish to further clarify the decisions that were made in the creation of this budget. Through months of meetings with the administration and board members, and consideration of…

Addressing affordability: Why fossil fuels are not the answer

January 29, 2025
Dear Editor, Nearly all Vermonters agree we want living in our state to be more affordable. When it comes to energy, continued dependence on high-cost and price-volatile fossil fuels like gasoline, fuel oil, and propane is not a path to affordability. In 2023, $2.2 billion was spent on fossil fuels for transportation and heating in…

Unaffordable Housing I:Rent-fixing

January 29, 2025
Dear Editor, Back in February 2024, Vermont Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) introduced a bill, “Preventing Algorithmic Facilitation of Rental Housing Cartels.” What does the bill’s name translate to in plain English? Rent-fixing. In a press release dated Aug. 23, 2024, the U.S. Dept.  of Justice (DOJ) announced it, along with…