Dear Editor, On Monday, Jan. 13, I presented the following resolution to the Cavendish Select Board. I requested that this resolution be placed as an article on the condition that we discuss and vote on it at the annual town meeting in early March. The Select Board approved my request with the clear understanding that…

By Amy Spear Tourism is a significant economic driver for many of Vermont’s rural communities. Visitors spend more than $2.5 billion in Vermont each year, and the tourism industry employs more than 32,000 Vermonters. The tax revenue generated by the tourism industry each year equates to a $1,450 tax savings for every Vermont household. Yet,…

Dear Editor, The 2020 lieutenant governor’s race is not about the left versus the right. It is about the past versus the future. This week’s VTDigger article, where I learned about Sen. Tim Ashe’s decision, illustrates the deep divide between the prison guards of the past and our forward-looking, Small Towns*Big Hearts campaign. I entered…

Dear Editor, David Zuckerman has been at the forefront of Vermont politics over the last two decades in all the wrong ways. Throughout his time in the House, Senate, and as lieutenant governor, he has demonstrated that no tax is too large, no fee is too substantial, and no amount of frivolous spending is too…

  By Rob Roper The Vermont Legislature returns in January with a long list of daunting challenges, all with potentially astronomical price tags for Vermonters, who are already some of the most highly taxed people in the United States. Among this list includes a projected 6% increase in property taxes to fund an education system…

By Angelo Lynn Contrary to Trump’s juvenile tweet in the wake of Iran’s missile attack on two U.S. military bases in Iraq that “all is well… so far,” any realistic assessment of America’s position in the Middle East over the past couple of years would outline how much weaker we are today because of this…

Dear Editor, The end-of-year/New Year holidays seem to whiplash us from one extreme to the other: eat, drink and be merry v. the customary New Year’s resolutions: reduce social media, reduce weight, and embrace a plant-based diet! One third of consumers already report reducing their consumption of animal foods. Hundreds of school, college, hospital, and…

Dear Editor, On New Year’s Day, I was able to watch the “Mr. Chris and Friends” series on Vermont Public Television and boy, did his show lift my spirits. I already have tickets for his performance in Rutland on Saturday, Jan. 19 at noon. I hope my grandchildren can go but if they cannot, I…

By Lee H. Hamilton Here’s a basic truth about people who make decisions on public policy: they rarely have all the facts they want. Over the years, I’ve sat in countless meetings in which, after we’d reached a sticking point, someone said in exasperation, “Well, what are the facts?” We’d all look around the room…

By Sen. Jeff Flake Editor’s note: As this country enters a new decade and tries to put the first two tumultuous decades of this new century behind us, Americans face a peril unknown in the country’s 220 year history: a president who would willingly trade our democratic form of government for that of an autocracy,…

Dear Editor, Vermont’s forest-based economy generates roughly $3.8 billion annually. This figure varies from year to year. A little less than half of that revenue is associated with the timber and maple industry. More than half is generated by forest-based recreation. Vermont currently incentivizes the timber side of the equation while doing very little for…

Dear Editor, As I write this, a block of Senators and Congresspeople are preparing to deny that the Constitution of the United States is on fire. It is a fire set by the President and fanned by their own actions; actions they commit solely out of fear that they might lose their jobs and have…

Editor’s Note: Ed James wrote the following 20 years ago for the Addison County Independent, a sister paper to the Mountain Times. It seems as appropriate today as then. Dear Editor, The first day of winter — Dec.  22 — and already winter had been here since the first of November with grey, rainy days…

By Paul Costello The temptation with bad news, like that of the closing of Green Mountain College, is to sit on one’s hands, paralyzed by structural change beyond immediate local control. The alternative is to come together, line up strategies and do what is in your power to move your community forward. That is just…

Dear Editor, I realize there has been a flurry of communications regarding the state of the Woodstock Union Middle and High School. Having just attended the last tour, I feel compelled to add my voice to the conversation, as a parent, tax payer, and former school board member. It is my understanding that there will…