By Peter Sterling Editor’s note: Peter Sterling is the executive director of Renewable Energy Vermont. Over the last decade or so while most of us weren’t looking, something very concerning has happened in Vermont: it has become easier to build commercial strip development like a Dollar General store in a rural town than to build…

By Laurie Gagne Editor’s note: Laurie Gagne is the retired director for Edmundite Center for Peace and Justice at St. Michael’s College. Investment in education, anti-poverty programs, and other human needs are essential to keeping our communities safe. My faith community, the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, has worked in Vermont for decades on…

Dear Editor, Regarding the onset of human life, a previous writer did not want to be constrained with “religious opinion," so I present a simple question: If the little person in the womb is not alive, why must an “abortion provider” kill him or her? Steve Briggs, Chittenden

Dear Editor, June is National Pet Preparedness Month — which is all about preparing an emergency plan that includes your pet. They are important members of the family! Here’s how to prepare for a disaster or unexpected situation with your pet in mind. This plan will help in case you need to evacuate your area,…

By Gregory M. Thayer Editor’s note: Gregory M. Thayer is a candidate for lieutenant governor. When we look at shootings, we need to stop blaming inanimate objects — the guns— for these tragedies. They are not the problem. Criminals or mentally ill people intent on murdering people will always succeed. Either they’ll acquire a firearm…

By Dan Smith Editor’s note: Dan Smith is president and CEO of the Vermont Community Foundation, which is based in Middlebury. We are out of words. The list of available adjectives is too commonplace to hold any real meaning. These events are not aberrations of a functioning society — they are the convulsions of a…

By Brian Searles Editor’s Note: Brian Searles, of Burlington, has served as Vermont secretary of transportation, as a police chief, as director of the Police Academy, and as executive director of the Criminal Justice Training Council. In the wake of yet another mass shooting in the U.S., we mourn the child victims and again ask:…

Dear Editor, As a former legislator, I understand and appreciate departing legislators’ complaints about pay and benefits. And, as a former legislator, I hope turnover based on complaints about legislative pay and benefits continues with every biennium. How can these two apparently conflicting positions be held? In 1988 I was elected to the first of…

By Joe Resteghini Editor’s note: Resteghini is the principal of Champlain Elementary School in Burlington. He lives in Colchester. In 2019, after a white supremacist racist killed 51 people with an assault rifle, New Zealand put a policy in place to ban assault-style weapons and buy back guns already in the public. It took the New…

Dear Editor, When I was a teenager, after reading the “Diary of Anne Frank,” I always asked myself if I had lived in Germany in the 1930s, would I have spoken up and done the right thing. Right now is my 1930s. On May 14, 10 innocent lives were taken by a white supremacist and…

By Linda Johnson Editor’s note: Linda Johnson is the executive director of Prevent Child Abuse Vermont. It is difficult to comprehend that there is yet another mass murder of children in our country. Nonetheless, a young 18-year-old boy who appears to have been bullied, dropped out of school, was unemployed, fighting with his parents and…

Dear Editor, Editor’s note: the following are comments Killington resident Art Malatzky submitted at the VEPC meeting held Thursday, May 26 in Killington. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. When I spoke at the Jan. 27 VEPC hearing on the original TIF application, I was dead set against the application for several reasons,…

By Angelo Lynn Editor’s note: Angelo Lynn is the publisher of the Addison Independent, a sister publication to the Mountain Times. If commonsense gun control legislation can’t convince Republican Senators to protect their constituents for fear of upsetting the gun lobby and white supremacists within their party, perhaps portraying the problem as a public health…

By Falko Schilling Editor’s note: Falko Schilling is the advocacy director for the ACLU of Vermont. This legislative session impacted Vermonters’ civil liberties in significant ways, both good and bad. Specifically, while Vermont continued to adopt smarter criminal justice policies this year, we have also seen a shockingly inadequate response to the opioid crisis and…

By Kesha Ram Hinsdale and Mike Honda Editor’s note: Mike Honda is a former teacher, principal, and school board member and served in the U.S. Congress for 16 years (D-CA) where he co-founded the Equity and Excellence Commission under President Barack Obama. Kesha Ram Hinsdale is a Vermont state senator, the first woman of color…