I want to comment on the audacity of Dartmouth’s Energy and Society Institute accepting money from Irving Oil, Irving family members and a family foundation (“Dartmouth Unveils New Institute; Donation to Fund Energy Research,” Sept. 17). President Hanlon’s comment, “The past is the past,” regarding Irving Energy’s record, is preposterous and utterly shortsighted. Irving Energy does not have a stellar environmental record, nor is the company focusing on a renewable energy future. In fact, it is doing the opposite and investing in tar sands oil projects.
What a company has done in the past is unequivocally important and can be a predictor of future actions. Accepting $80 million dollars of oil money to fund an institute focused on energy and society is equivalent to buying blood diamonds. Oil and gas extraction has destroyed countless ecosystems, contributes to climate change and endangered an untold amount of human lives. Dartmouth has ignorantly continued its “business as usual” policy and should be ashamed that it has not led society into a clean energy future.
Dartmouth should get out of bed with industry interests and show the college is serious about solving society’s energy woes.
Michael Mezzacapo Canaan
Irving Oil and the Irving family just gave Dartmouth College $80 million for something we did not know we needed. How generous of them: the $80 million must have come from the whole community of customers who paid too much. Irving could not figure out how to spend $80 million dollars. It’s tough. Dartmouth, always the helpful spirit, helped them.
Would it have been better for the whole community if Irving took $8 million a year for 10 years to offer oil for heating the homes of those now getting public assistance for home heating?
Now they will be building another office building and the community will be looking for housing for the homeless and heatless.
I’ll bet they still have $80 million left.
Herbert Kummel Hanover
Youth are indeed the future of Vermont. On behalf of Windsor County Partners (WCP), we are sponsoring a forum on youth on Sunday, when gubernatorial candidates Sue Minter and Phil Scott will address such pressing issues as education, volunteerism and youth leadership, work readiness, addiction and civic engagement, to name a few.
WCP creates and supports mentoring partnerships between caring adults and local youth to help build healthy communities
Sunday’s event, moderated by Anne Galloway of VTDigger, will be held at 4 p.m. at Damon Hall in Hartland. It will begin with a reception with the candidates followed by the forum from 5 to 6:30 p.m. The forum is free; donations will be accepted to support WCP’s youth mentoring. Both events are open to the public. For more information call 802-674-5101 or visit our Facebook page.
Donna C. LaFleur Vice President of the Board of Directors Windsor County Partners Quechee
Egads! Why do you, our erstwhile thoughtful news source, resort to headlining and continuing the falsehood on Page One, finally admitted by Mr. Trump, about President Obama’s place of birth? The facts of the birth claim have been known for a long time, so why focus prominently on his admission, not sadness about the nonsense of candidates’ banter, and simply avoid prominence for the outlandishness he lives on? Balanced reporting of candidates statements need not include retractions of admitted make-believe. It trivializes what we expect of potential leaders and what newspapers find newsworthy.
Andrew Taylor Grantham
I read with great interest the informative article on Dartmouth-Hitchcock’s expansion in the Sept. 11 Valley News (“Rural Additions Help D-H Grow”), which included a discussion of the decision to close the Clough Center, the nursing home of the New London Hospital, an affiliate of D-H.
According to Dr. James Weinstein, the CEO of D-H, the decision to close the Clough was made by the board of trustees of New London Hospital, not by D-H. As much as Dr. Weinstein tries to deny ownership, D-H cannot back away from the fact that the decision to close the Clough in three months was supported by a vote of the New London Hospital Board of Trustees, which included several representatives of D-H on the board. As the parent company, D-H has the final say over major financial and strategic decisions of their affiliates and thus has the power to change decisions taken by their affiliated hospitals.
Closing the Clough in a three-month time frame was bad judgment. If the decision-makers had thought less about the bottom line and more about the cruel effect on the residents and their families, they would have expanded the three-month deadline to at least 12 months. A reasonable deadline would have given residents time to adjust to the move and make choices about their future without the stress and anxiety produced by an unreasonable deadline. Some might have been able to live out their lives at Clough, comforted by familiar faces and routines.
The residents of Clough have been relocated now, but at a cost. Witnesses have reported confusion and despair and even tears as these seniors try to adjust to new environments. Their families face the challenge of extra traveling time and thus fewer visits at a time when family visits are especially therapeutic.
There has been another unexpected cost: the shadow cast over the image and reputation of the community’s hospital.
Fay Bronstein New London
Golf is sometimes humorously called “a good walk spoiled,” but I would call golf for a good cause an opportunity to support your community. And, in several weeks, a charity golf outing for the Good Neighbor Health Clinics will offer that opportunity at the Hanover Country Club.
Starting at 10 a.m. on Oct. 15, the first annual Good Neighbor Golf Outing will allow golfers to enjoy time on the links with friends in a scramble-style tournament, complete with lunch and raffle prizes, to benefit the medical and dental clinics in White River Junction.
For almost 25 years, the Good Neighbor Health Clinic and the Red Logan Dental Clinic have provided free care to those in the Upper Valley who are in need, but without the means to pay. At the time these clinics were dedicated, Gov. Howard Dean stated that he figured the need for them would no longer exist in 20 years, but now, in the age of Obamacare, they are an even more necessary and valuable community resource.
To register to participate in the tournament, please sign on at goodneighborhealthclinic.org under the “events” tab. Or, for more information, email Eula Lee Kozma at eula@goodnhc.org, or call 802-295-1868. I encourage anyone who is spoiling for a good day of golf or who wants to give back to the community to sign up to play with your neighbors, become a sponsor, or just contact Good Neighbor Clinic to find out more about how they serve the Upper Valley.
Jon Gilbert Fox Hanover
Recently I had the pleasure of working with a volunteer team from Hypertherm at the Greensboro Ridge Natural Area, owned by the Hanover Conservancy. Five associates spent a hot, muggy morning clearing an overgrown meadow and trail, and made the work fly by with interesting conversations and plenty of jokes.
I want to thank Hypertherm, King Arthur Flour and the many other local companies who encourage their employees to give back to the community — you truly make a difference! Meeting volunteers makes my job so meaningful; I couldn’t be prouder to live in the Upper Valley.
Courtney Dragiff
Program Coordinator, Hanover Conservancy Hanover
On a recent Sunday morning I found a Kelly Ayotte advertising card pinned to my door. There was a quote from the senator — “When you reach out with an open hand, and you focus on the issues that you agree on instead of always focusing on things that you disagree on, you can get great things done for New Hampshire and for the country.” That statement seems to epitomize her politics. She reaches out only to those she agrees with.
Based on her time as attorney general in New Hampshire, I thought New Hampshire might have elected a senator who would pay attention to her constituents and provide positive leadership. Unfortunately, she has followed the guidelines of the GOP leadership in Washington. As far as I know, she seldom wavers from voting a straight GOP party-leadership line. This is certainly true of her stance on the GOP presidential candidate. Support, but not endorse, is exactly the same kind of word play as in her quote above.
It’s important for New Hampshire and our country to elect Maggie Hassan in November to the U.S. Senate. We need someone who will listen to all her constituents and act to work with each of us if necessary. She has done that remarkably well as our governor with a GOP Legislature. It will continue when she arrives in Washington.
Franklin Gould Lebanon