By Angelo Lynn Editor’s note: Angelo Lynn is the editor and publisher of the Addison County Independent, a sister publication of the Mountain Times.  Vermont Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.), were joined by Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) in sending a letter to President Biden expressing their serious…

By Jim Hurt Editor’s note: Jim Hurt is a resident of Woodstock. News flash: Enlightened Republicans have been sighted deep in the forest, traveling in small herds with Bigfoot and other tree huggers who are guiding them gently back into the light. These tired, huddled conservatives are yearning to be free of Trump’s shadow. They…

Dear Editor,  I knew Tom Fagan really well. But I never met him in person! Despite that fact, he is the reason I was in Rutland’s Annual Halloween Parade this year (2023)! Let me explain: I grew up in a little seashore resort town called Wildwood Crest, New Jersey, located near the southern tip of…

Dear Editor,  For years, I often have asked people conversationally the question, “What is the one thing that notably separates humans from most other animals?” Some answers included bipedalism, brain size, religion, etc. At no time, however, did any woman or man answer, “menopause.”  Menopause is a natural evolutionary selection in human females with profound…

  Dear Editor, In late June, The Vermont Federation of Sportsman Club announced it was building a war chest to file challenges against Vermont’s existing high-capacity magazine ban, as well as a new 72-hour waiting period that was just passed this year.   We at Cragin’s Gun Shop in Rutland are confident that neither of…

  Dear Editor, As the real winter too fast approaches, there are people and animals in dire situations, and having the good fortune to live in our neighboring towns, we don’t see the reality. My husband and I left the Paramount Theater in Rutland last week (a great place to volunteer for some wonderful shows)…

By Bill Schubart Editor’s note: Bill Schubart is a retired businessman and active fiction writer, and was a former chair of the Vermont Journalism Trust, the parent organization for VTDigger.  I once weighed 485 pounds. I now weigh a bit over half that. My addiction to sugar and refined carbohydrates was killing me. When I…

  By David Moats David Moats, an author and journalist who lives in Salisbury, is a regular columnist for VTDigger. He is editorial page editor emeritus of the Rutland Herald, where he won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for a series of editorials on Vermont’s civil union law. At a time when facts, science, and the…

  Dear Editor, For the benefit of Vermont, it is our duty and our obligation to serve, educate, and sustain our citizenry, yet Vermont allocates fewer public dollars to its state college system than any other state. How do we ensure stability in our public colleges, engage the public, and insist that the Vermont Legislature…

  Dear Editor, Join Vermont students, advocates, nonprofit leaders, equity directors, and more for an event on Nov. 8. In 2023, the Vermont Student Anti-Racism Network and the Rutland NAACP sent out a survey asking about student experiences with racism in schools. We got alarming — but not necessarily surprising — results.  At this event,…

Dear Editor,   In August the Expeditionary School at Black River and Ludlow Legion hosted a sold out chicken BBQ, raising just over $2,000 and selling out of over 120 chicken meals.  At that time, ESBR was still in the midst of the Vermont State Board of Education’s Approval Process. Although it was important for…

By Angelo Lynn Editor’s note: Angelo Lynn is the editor and publisher of the Addison County Independent, a sister publication to the Mountain Times.  Out of the chaos of the past three weeks, is Rep. Mike Johnson, the newly elected U.S. House Speaker, a ray of hope that the can finally govern?  Perhaps. Rep. Johnson,…

Dumb and Dumber, the left’s two worst ideas By Jules Older Editor’s note: Jules Older is a Vermonter turned New Zealander who works as an executive consultant, medical educator, crisis counselor and writer. Don’t let that headline fool you — I bat left. I know the 2020 election wasn’t rigged, I think abortion is a…

  Dear Editor, Recently I bought a few chrysanthemums and asters from a local hardware store, but as I was about to plant them, I wondered if they too had been laced with the neonicotinoids I’d so carefully avoided when buying my summer bedding flowers. Neonicotinoids are neurotoxic insecticides. They are systemic, permeate the entire…

The meat industry scares me Dear Editor, I have no fear of zombies, witches, or evil clowns lurking on Halloween. What really scares me is meat. This is the industry that deprives, mutilates, cages, then butchers billions of cows, pigs, turkeys, chickens — animals who feel joy, affection, sadness, and pain, as we do ……