Discover More from This Category: Letters

Food shelf modifies operation to crisis

March 18, 2020
Dear Editor, Because of the rapidly changing situation with respect to COVID-19 the Black River Good Neighbor Services’ food shelf and assistance programs are changing some procedures to assure the safety of our staff and of those who visit us for help. Beginning Monday, March 16 and continuing until this crisis winds down, all requests…

Thanks for your vote for VNA & Hospice

March 18, 2020
Dear Editor, On behalf of the thousands of patients we serve each year, thank you for showing your resounding support of home health and hospice care throughout Bennington and Rutland Counties. Your vote of confidence in the VNA & Hospice of the Southwest Region enables us to focus on continuing to meet the needs of…

Climate action would help all

March 11, 2020
Dear Editor, Listening to Gov. Phil Scott on Vermont Public Radio recently as he mounted objection after objection to proposals to combat climate change, I kept thinking, “He’s missing something!” For every proposed climate solution suggested to him by callers and the moderator, his answer was, “This will hurt rural and working Vermonters.” Of course,…

Who’s misleading whom?

March 11, 2020
Dear Editor, I was quite taken aback by the quote from Windsor Central Supervisory Union Superintendent Mary Beth Banios in the March 4 Mountain Times in response to Killington’s School Board Representative Jim Haff’s lobbying Killington residents to vote “no” on a rather dubious presented (by Banios) $21 million budget. Her quote is below: “It…

Time to start prioritizing people over profit

March 4, 2020
Dear Editor, Climate change is destroying our future, Governer Scott. Your inaction on meaningful environmental policy is extremely disappointing. This is a betrayal of Vermonters, your promises, and the planet. State greenhouse gas emissions are increasing. Summers are getting wetter and hotter, sugar maples’ range is trending north, and tick-borne disease rates are increasing in…

Stop demonizing candidates for big donations

March 4, 2020
Dear Editor, There is a dangerous false equivalency in our political narrative right now. A number of our current Democratic hopefuls have been sowing seeds of falsity with their supporters that accepting large donations guarantees corruption in the White House and that small donations are the only way to guarantee clean politics. This is bad…

Mosquito district work in Salisbury costly, ineffective

February 26, 2020
Dear Editor, In January, the Salisbury selectboard voted unanimously to separate Salisbury’s payment to the Brandon-Leicester-Salisbury-Goshen-Pittsford Insect Control District (BLSG) into Article 11 on the town meeting ballot. On Election Day, Tuesday, March 3 (Super Tuesday), voters in Salisbury will decide whether to pay $26,371 to BLSG or to receive no mosquito control services. Although…

Vote to take care of your neighbors

February 26, 2020
Dear Editor, Our centuries-old Vermont tradition of Town Meeting Day is just days away. This year, perhaps the presidential primary on that same day is getting most of the attention, but remember that other important business will happen on Super Tuesday. Throughout the state, Vermonters will vote on their school and town budgets. Some will…

Thank you, Slate Valley board

February 26, 2020
Dear Editor, Editor’s note: This letter was directed to the members of the Slate Valley Unified Union School District, which includes Orwell, and shared with the press. I am writing to thank you for your service. I want to thank you for your countless hours of work, your missed family dinners, children’s performances, and sporting…

Impeachment can be a lesson to youth

February 19, 2020
Dear Editor, When I was listening to the impeachment of Donald J. Trump, something just crossed my mind: I hope that every American university,  college and high school student in the United States had an assembly in the auditorium to watch it on a big screen. I know this will live in part of our…

America is lost, ‘God Trump’ has corralled enough puppets

February 19, 2020
Dear Editor, On Thursday, Feb. 6, James Hall had a letter in the Rutland Herald discussing Nancy Pelosi’s childish, provocative comments about Trump’s Tuesday night campaign speech. Hall further indicates that the Democratic Party under her is withering away. Hall further states her “disrespectful arrogance” was on display in front of “God” and everyone present.…

Health care is broken, fly to Mexico

February 19, 2020
Dear Editor, I was still trying to get used to the idea that some Americans are going to jail because they don’t show up in court when hospitals sue them for unpaid medical bills when I came across other news that seemed at first like satire.  The state of Utah has a “Pharmacy Tourism Program”…

Honor loved ones by giving blood

February 19, 2020
Dear Editor, Did you know that patients fighting cancer need more blood than patients fighting any other disease? Cancer patients use nearly one-quarter of the nation’s blood supply. In fact, five units of blood are needed every minute to help someone going through cancer treatment. Yet, only 3% of people in the U.S. give blood.…

School funding model needs revision

February 12, 2020
Dear Editor, The Vermont Rural Education Collaborative includes 44 schools from Canaan in the Northeast East Kingdom to Bradford in the Connecticut River Valley. Our school-communities have some of the highest poverty levels and include the most sparsely populated areas in Vermont. We implore the Legislature to take the recommendations of the recent University of…

All employees deserve paid leave

February 12, 2020
Dear Editor, We are women business owners who serve in the Legislature and we believe more Vermonters should have access to paid family leave in their time of need. Paid family leave should not be limited to people who work for large employers or have high-income jobs. As business owners, we know the value of…