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…

By Julia Purdy “Many very educated people who are environmentally conscious don’t want mining anywhere,” said Slack, “and yet they fully support, in many cases enthusiastically, renewable energy. You can’t have your cake and eat it, too.” John Slack is a geologist who was interviewed by the Maine Monitor, a public-interest newspaper out of Hallowell,…

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. In the movie, “Don’t Look Up,” a huge comet is approaching Earth on a trajectory that’s sure to cause cataclysmic destruction upon impact. The president, however, chooses to tell her supporters…

Dear Editor, In a few short weeks, at the end of June, absentee ballots will be available and Vermonters will begin casting their votes to determine party nominees for the fall elections. With so many candidates running, you may not hear much about the secretary of state’s race. I urge you to take a closer…

Dear Editor, On May 3, Gov. Phil Scott promised in a public statement, “The fundamental rights and liberties of all women will be defended, protected and preserved in Vermont”. Scott referenced Act 47 which codified women’s reproductive rights without government interference. Therefore, if the Supreme Court’s final decision is to send Roe v. Wade back…