Imagine leaving for work each night, working alone with your closest backup 20 to 50 miles away. There are cars with passengers unseen whizzing by, drugs from Canada and Massachusetts, rain, limited visibility — all conditions faced by our Vermont State Troopers.
Imagine trying to evaluate the threat by viewing drivers’ actions such as obeying flashing pullover lights, persons’ demeanor in limited light, handling multiple passengers, evaluating whether a firearm is present.
Now contrast that with sitting in your warm, safe kitchen reading about the traffic stop of a good citizen, whose picture you can clearly see, and you decide if you could realistically judge the situation at night.
Frankly, it’s hard being a Vermont State Trooper, leaving to work each night not knowing if you will return each morning. Our Vermont State Troopers and fellow public safety people do not abuse power and need our unending support.
Harvey Bazarian
Hartford
John Gregg’s Oct. 5 column about the Sullivan District 1 race for state representative names a Republican candidate with interesting qualifications. In my opinion, Margaret Drye is an excellent example of the difference between leadership and the ability to lead.
The Republican’s qualifications as listed by Gregg include having nine children (procreation: check), all home-schooled (privatized personalized schooling: check), and claiming to be pro-life.
Readers may recall her 2013 Valley News column titled “Let Us Confront What We’ve Lost.” Instead of an accurate history of the fake “pro-life” label — women who are denied full reproductive health care die at much higher rates from complications — the writer published an essay of endless resentment that pregnant women are not yet legally forced to give birth. (Patriarchy: check.)
Gregg’s column also lists this candidate’s service on our local food co-op board. As a co-op member, I watched month after month as this person ruled “out of order” those she opposed and promoted those she favored, until she brought to mind the reign of former New Hampshire House Speaker Bill O’Brien, if I may mention his appalling years.
Only after she exited the board, along with other secrecy enthusiasts, could co-op members make meaningful progress toward transparency and fair-notice policy. Additional progress can now be made toward a deep audit of the co-op’s long-hidden financial details — progress I believe the Republican candidate persistently blocked with her skill-less capacity to simply lead.
Robert Spottswood
Norwich
Hiding Behind the 2nd Amendment
The Second Amendment is not limitless. When written, the technology of the day included flintlock rifles and cannon. Consider the words “well regulated militia.” Conservative gun owners dismiss the “well regulated” part and think there is no limit to the number and kinds of weaponry and ammo they can possess. Tracer bullets, anyone? Armor-piercing rounds? How about a .50-caliber sniper rifle that can penetrate an engine block? A pistol-firing drone? Back in the day, Gatling Guns didn’t exist, nor did fully-automatic weapons.
Today, a single civilian assault weapon with a hundred-round magazine could conceivably take on an entire old-time militia armed with a hundred flintlocks!
Consider the lack of conservative empathy and compassion for the Newtown victims and their families as well as other victims of gun violence. And have you heard the conspiracy “theory” that the Newtown massacre never took place, that it is just another made-up liberal lie whose purpose is gun control (aka “gun-grabbing”)? This extremist attitude is an insult to our national conscience and integrity.
Did our forefathers foresee that our government could be overtaken by religious zealots and armed extremist groups? Yes, they did. That’s why they added the words “well regulated” concerning militias, and “secular,” concerning religion. They foresaw these and other threats and took steps to prevent a takeover of our democracy.
How about corporate conglomerates and religion? “Climate change is a hoax!” This phrase is parroted by evangelicals and other conservative groups in support of the coal and oil industries. This “hoax” is a fossil-fuel energy industry campaign designed to discredit science and climatologists, conservation, environmental concerns, solar and wind competition, etc. Conservatives parrot this message because the energy industry is a source of much of their funding.
In summary: The GOP and religious right intend to achieve a permanent lock on political power by whatever means necessary. Conservative extremists have threatened the rest of us with armed revolution in recent years — that threat is very real. And they all are using the Second Amendment to justify their actions.
Wilfred Smith
Norwich
A few weeks ago, we traveled by Dartmouth Coach to Boston for a doctor’s appointment. Arriving at South Station, we needed a taxi to take us to the hospital. We asked a security officer where to find the taxis and he told us that they were to the left. When we got outside, we could see a line of taxis, many of which had writing on the side, and there was one directly in front of the bus station with no writing on the side but with a taxi sign on the top.
The driver saw us looking, opened the door and signaled us to enter. Being new to Boston, we figured he was legitimate. But during a harrowing ride we realized there was no meter in the car and were very confused. He charged us $35 for a trip from South Station to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. When we came back to the bus station, the charge was about $20 in a real taxi.
Just thought readers ought to know and be aware.
Blakeney Bartlett
Fairlee