I’m Not Getting Smarter
I have to agree with Pete Bleyler (Forum, April 13) regarding the dumbing down of the Sudoku puzzles. For a long while, I thought the puzzles were either getting easier or I was getting smarter. Knowing the latter to not be the case, I conclude that the fault lies elsewhere. Perhaps your puzzle syndication service has slipped in simpler puzzles so we can feel better about ourselves.
Frank Dolan
Norwich
Leave Bobcats Alone
In the event the state reverses course again and authorizes a bobcat hunt, I ask hunters in New Hampshire to decide against trapping and hunting the animal. I don’t believe that they are overpopulated. When my father and sisters and I went into the woods looking for wildlife, we never saw one, and that was more than 50 years ago.
Our father was friends with a man who owned a wildlife animal farm in the 1950s, and he would often bring these animals home for a couple of days to visit. He would bring them in the house, and they never harmed anyone. We once had two bobcats and a lynx. Dad instilled in us a real love and appreciation for these creatures.
Trapping is a horrible and cruel business because the traps are not checked on a daily basis.
When I lived near the woods back in the 1980s, our cat, Benny, came up missing. We looked for him for a week. We kept calling and calling him. He heard us and finally cried out to us with one paw in this horrible trap, having suffered about a week in agony. We rushed Benny to the veterinarian after freeing him, and he had to lose a good share of his paw.
Please don’t trap or shoot bobcats. Trophy hunting is cruel beyond measure. And to trap for fur is abominable.
Marsha Sargent
Quechee
Time for Change in Montpelier
I consider myself a compassionate conservative. I believe it is our job to create an environment in which every Vermonter can thrive. Every Vermonter is special. He or she touches at least one other person; most touch many more. When we work to lift one another up, that ends up helping many more.
So how do we go about making Vermont a better place for all? We need to take a serious look at our spending. We spend the same amount as New Hampshire, but with one-half the number of residents. From what I’ve been able to analyze, our transportation budgets are essentially the same. This makes sense because we have similar infrastructure. Our spending for education is significantly higher than New Hampshire’s. I suspect that it’s because our student population is smaller, resulting in fixed costs that are higher — but this needs to be explored in more depth.
I was involved in health care leadership for more than 30 years, and I learned that there are always ways to reduce expenses and improve efficiency; one just needs to take a hard look.
I would call for an immediate freeze on hiring new and replacement state employees. Reducing the state workforce through attrition is the best way to reduce staff. Exceptions should be few — state police, for example.
I would also call for a 1 cent per dollar reduction in all spending. We should ask administrators of the various departments to work with their teams to come up with this reduction. I would then ask for another 1 cent per dollar reduction for the next budget cycle. We simply cannot afford to raise taxes and fees again. Hard-working Vermonters are already carrying too heavy of a load.
We can make “Vermont affordable again but it will require hard work, dedication and support from all Vermonters. The Democrats have tried very hard for many years now to make things better, but nothing has worked. I applaud their efforts, but now maybe it’s time to step aside for a new group of leaders and give them a chance.
John Ennis
Bethel
Biased Primary Results
I found it interesting that in the April 20 Valley News, the top-left, above-the-fold position was used for the story headlined, “Clinton Wins Big in N.Y.” She won by a 14 point margin, which was predicted.
On page 3 we read, “New York Helps Trump Regain Control of the Race.” Trump won by a 39 point margin, which was much better than polls predicted.
A 39 point margin seems more newsworthy, yet Clinton got front-page prominence. I’m not a Trump or Sanders supporter, but have to wonder if this is more evidence of what people mean when they say the media is biased.
Richard Synnott
Quechee