Cyclists Are On a Roll
Good news for cyclists: Main Street in Etna has been repaved. Hallelujah. Why it took so long is beyond explaining; let’s just say the town did what the state should have done 20 years ago. Does this offset the thoughtless narrowing of a portion of the Lyme Road last year, which at one point forces a southbound rider into the travel lane? No, not at all, that make-work project is likely to put Hanover on the list of bike-unfriendly communities. (All that needed to be done there was a widening of the sidewalk. Duh.)
In other safety improvements, Main Street in Bradford, Vt., no longer resembles a tank training area. Route 5, with its superb views of the valley, was repaved all the way from Wells River south through Newbury to Bradford. Oddly though, while striping has created a wide shoulder southbound, there appears to be little or no shoulder northbound. An error perhaps?
On the rails-to-trails front, the parent company of the B&M Railroad has announced abandonment of 6 miles of corridor from Boscawen, N.H., south to Horseshoe Pond in Concord. That is almost sure to allow extension of the Northern Rail Trail to within a mile of the Statehouse. Up at this end, fencing of the old rail bridge over I-89 in Lebanon is a good indication that the Mascoma River Greenway has moved to the implementation stage. That extension of the Northern should be in use by this time next year from the Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital area to upper Glen Road, surface to be determined.
I want to reiterate a comment on the ultimate goal of the Greenway to White River Junction. Planned replacement of the “dry bridge” on South Main Street in West Lebanon must include space for two tracks and a trail, otherwise we’ll never get to the Westboro Yard and the bridge to Vermont, all of which is publicly owned. The rail operator lessee won’t want to share, but we own it and they’re going to have to. Hallelujah.
Dick Mackay
Hanover
A House Intentionally Divided
“We are a divided nation,” tweeted Donald Trump recently. “Look at what is happening to our country under the weak leadership of Obama and people like Crooked Hillary.”
He has heard Abraham Lincoln’s famous quote, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” But the presumptive Republican candidate has ignored Lincoln’s warning and instead uses social media to declare that we are already hopelessly divided — and it’s the president’s fault.
Blame for social and racial unrest is shared by many facing each other across the social divide. But in Mr. Trump’s dark world, blame belongs to leaders of the opposition party. He remains blameless. It worked for other demagogues in recent history and he is counting on it to work for him.
We need healing, words of comfort for families who have lost loved ones, time for reflection and resolve to work out solutions to today’s social ills, not blame from those who despise our president and fear the erosion of their power in our diverse society. It is no mystery why the National Rifle Association and gun lobby enthusiastically endorse Mr. Trump: There is money to be made from the fear and hatred which he promotes.
As Mr. Trump drags those who follow him into his personal black hole, how many lost souls like John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald and John Hinckley Jr. are out there today listening, seething with rage, and seeking revenge against “the other” who they perceive is to blame for their troubles?
Don McCabe
Norwich
What do Chickens Want? — To Live
The editorial “Empathy for Animals” on July 2 applauded Perdue for “adopting a better standard.”
Perdue is quoted as saying, “We are going to go beyond what a chicken needs and give chickens what they want.”
I find it ironic that, with the premise that we now acknowledge that these critters feel pain and even “deserve” a life free from “discomfort, disease and distress,” the editorial observed that, “It is hard to say what a chicken wants.” I have a feeling it is safe to say that a chicken would prefer to end its life naturally, rather than being slaughtered and eaten, even if it is numbed beforehand. Nice going, Perdue.
Susan Malerich
Bridgewater
The Truth About Clinton
In a letter published in the Valley News on July 12, Jim Newcomb of North Haverhill asks whether Hillary Clinton ever tells the truth, and the answer is, of course, yes. That suggests a genuine question about honesty in the coming presidential election: how Hillary Clinton compares with the competition in that regard.
The answer is unequivocal: Hillary Clinton tells the truth vastly more often than presumptive Republican nominee, Donald Trump. She also told the truth more often than any of the other leading candidates who were in the Republican primary race.
While much of Trump’s behavior represents an anomaly among national political candidates, lying — whether about Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, or about diplomatic, economic, scientific, domestic or geopolitical realities — has become business as usual among both Republican candidates and the leadership of their party. That fish stinks from the head. One example is economic inequality here at home: a mere four years ago, Republicans were supporting one another in claiming that any mention of systemic economic inequality among Americans amounted to class warfare, and as such shouldn’t be discussed. Thankfully that cat is out of the bag, as witnessed by the phenomenon of Bernie Sanders’ campaign, and it’s being acknowledged as our most crucial domestic challenge.
Hopefully, Trump’s candidacy will result in motivating Republicans to reconsider their strategy of lying about the issues facing our nation and to begin to engage in fact-based debate about solutions to real-world problems. Hillary-bashing is not leadership — nor is it effective governance — any more than Obama-bashing has been. We will need a loyal opposition with some measure of integrity if we are to succeed and to prosper as a nation. The Republican party is failing all Americans in that regard and the Trump campaign is a manifestation of that sorry state of affairs.
Let’s compare Hillary Clinton, and Donald Trump as well, to the alternative that we the people have chosen, actively or passively. This is the hand we’ve dealt ourselves. The question is how we’re going to play it.
Chris Weinmann
Norwich