Well, here we are again — the highest levels of management have made a pile of failed judgments, including failed business plans and actions designed to save money. The answer to these upper management failures is, of course, layoffs, as recently reported at Dartmouth-Hitchcock by these same failed managers and officers. But not at their level — perish the thought.
Just the potential loss of standing at the country club would be catastrophic, not to mention having to live off the meager earnings provided by their golden parachutes, likely barely enough to support two summer homes. No, these changes will, of course, hit much lower.
Perhaps I overstate the country club and golden parachute aspects. Perhaps. What is not overstated is the impact on the hard-working staff of poor decision-making by folks who are not going to be affected. They will be the ones deciding how to clean up the mess of their previous failed decisions by making further poor and questionable decisions.
I saw the report about their top earners, and I will say I am not at all averse to people making a lot of money, certainly not when it is comparable to similar positions. But the problem is that those people are making repeated failed decisions and retaining their jobs. Just cutting staff does not solve their managerial inability.
Bob Jobson Lebanon
Before we tear each other apart with little productive result, how about an understanding that free speech is about expressing oneself as an individual, not in an employed position or representing a group. Government and private-sector employees including teachers, corporate executives, union workers, Hollywood entertainers and athletes should do their jobs, and only their jobs when on the job, and express their social and political opinions on their own time.
Robert Fox Quechee
In October 2015, I began volunteering as a reading mentor at the White River School in Hartford. I had heard about the sponsoring organization — Everybody Wins! Vermont — through a friend. Once a week, through the spring of this year, I spent an hour reading, chatting and playing games with a second-grade boy during his lunch period.
I think it was after our third session when he turned to me and said, “I really like doing this with you!” Boy, did that make me feel great. Unfortunately, funding for the program, which is statewide at 24 schools with 600 mentor-student pairs (and 85 at White River School), ran short and it had to shut down several weeks before the end of the school year.
But with the 2016-17 school year now underway, Everybody Wins! Vermont is preparing to begin again in October. Please consider helping out — either as a mentor, by making a financial contribution or both. Go to everybodywinsvt.org for more information, to complete a mentor application and to donate.
Todd Allen Hartford
I was bemused recently to see plopped among a cluster of political candidates’ campaign signs by the side of the road a sign promoting one of the Upper Valley’s newest churches in perky colors and terms any savvy retailer would envy.
I wondered whether we should vote for the church or shop at it. Perhaps its backers would appreciate both. If so, then I propose we should hold it as accountable as a politician and tax it as any business.
Cameron Clifford West Hartford
For the past 39 years, the Philip Read Memorial Library book sale has been providing a valuable service for book lovers in the Upper Valley and surrounding areas. The 2016 sale will take place on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday (half price) from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Plainfield Town Hall on Route 12A.
This year there will be a special sale of Maxfield Parrish items, as well as homemade refreshments. We have an unusually large selection of high-quality books about antiques, hard cover and paperback fiction, business, art, and military history books. Net proceeds will help the Friends complete a 20-year fundraising campaign for construction and expansion of the library to include a special collections room dedicated to former Library Director Nancy Norwalk, teen and junior areas and a community meeting room. Book donations will be accepted through Friday at the library on Route 12A in Plainfield. We welcome donations of books, manuscripts, prints, maps, memorabilia, CDs, DVDs and books on tape. We do not accept or sell textbooks, home recordings made on videotape, CD-R or cassettes. Questions can may be directed to Norwalk at 603-675-6866. We look forward to seeing you at the sale!
Cindy Heath President, Friends of the Philip Read Memorial LibraryPlainfield