Skeptical About Lebanon’s Vision

After reading the June 11 Forum letter, “Opinions Ignored in Lebanon,” I am in agreement with Jen Langley. Why does Lebanon needs to fix something that does not seem to be broken?

The vision proposal for downtown revitalization sounds familiar to the original proposal presented to the citizens of Lebanon after the fire that heavily damaged the downtown area in 1964. The proposal to close off Main Street and replace it with a pedestrian mall eventually forced businesses to close for lack of visibility and lack of traffic. Route 12A became the place for area shopping and local businesses. Now, Lebanon is left with a tunnel that will cost $2 million to keep it from imploding.

How is the new proposal for rerouting traffic with roundabouts going to revitalize Lebanon? It sounds like the same bill of goods sold to us in the ’60s. The roundabouts and rerouting the traffic pattern on High and Hough streets were in existence prior to the ’60s. In the center of the roundabout was a beautiful fountain, and traffic flowed into Lebanon as well as out. Today, one only has to look at Colburn Park to realize it is its own roundabout of beauty and distributes traffic to various routes out of the city.

We have been down this road many times before. Show us the data that supports spending taxpayers’ money to revitalize, once again, downtown Lebanon.

Gary Shepard

West Lebanon

Hanover’s Community Tradition

Thank you to the local community for help with the Hanover High School All Night Party. With the support of an army of over 150 fantastic volunteers and the great generosity of over 70 local businesses, we kept over 140 members of the Class of 2016 happy and safe as they celebrated the night of their graduation.

The tradition of the All Night Party at Hanover High is over 30 years old, a testament to our community’s continued commitment to keeping our seniors safe and off the roads on their graduation night. Thank you for keeping this tradition going with gusto.

Lissy Rooney

On behalf of the All Night Party committee

Hanover

The Toll From Assault Weapons

Jo Cox, a young British Parliament member, was killed in England on June 16. This is a sad parallel to the 2011 shooting of Arizona Congresswoman Gabbie Giffords. A big difference in the incidents is that in America, weapons with high-capacity ammunition magazines are readily available for purchase and become the weapon of choice for attacks, turning them into mass killings.

In England, an angry and disturbed individual attacked and murdered a politician and slightly injured one bystander; in Arizona, because an angry and disturbed young man was able to procure a Glock 19 semiautomatic pistol with a 33-round ammunition magazine, he was able to shoot 18 people, killing six, including a 9-year-old girl, and gravely wounding the congresswoman.

In England, gun ownership became strictly controlled after a massacre at a school in Scotland in 1996 (killing 16 children and one teacher). In our own country, we suffered a massacre in 2012 at a school in Newtown, Conn., where 20 6-year-old children and six staff members were shot and killed. We did not respond to this horrendous attack with gun ownership regulation.

Assault weapons like the one used against our congresswoman or the Sig Sauer used in Orlando, or the AR-15 used in other mass shootings were originally designed for military use, with the sole purpose of killing as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time. Gun manufacturers in America with the support of the NRA have redesigned and marketed these weapons to civilians.

In striving for a more gun-safe America, we must not settle for background checks alone. We must stop gun manufacturers in this country from promoting and selling assault weapons to the general public. Banning these weapons would in no way infringe on Second Amendment rights or restrict the ownership of rifles for hunting or guns for self-protection. But without these weapons, slaughters, like the one in Orlando, would be preventable.

Dori Galton

North Hartland

Hot News Not to Be Missed

Readers of the Valley News may be forgiven for not knowing this, since the Valley News didn’t publish it, but May 2016 was the 13th consecutive month in which a record global monthly temperature was broken.

The fact that this is no longer newsworthy is newsworthy.

Charlie Buttrey

Thetford

Patients Need an Assist

In your June 17 edition, I read about the fantastic work done by the Relay For Life of Greater Lebanon. There remains a need to get people in to be tested for cancer and this can present a problem for those who don’t have a reliable escort, as any outpatient procedure involving anesthesia won’t take place unless the patient has somebody responsible to get them home.

With the advancements made with treatment and especially the emphasis on prevention of cancer, more attention needs to be placed on getting people in for testing.

Lee Walker

White River Junction