Peter Wohlleben’s excellent book, The Hidden Life of Trees describes how trees can smell, taste, learn and remember. Their interconnectedness is part of what he calls the “wood wide web.”
Thanks to the town of Hartford for its vision in providing resources and support for the tree warden, Brad Goedkoop. His online town inventory helps to monitor the condition of our trees, and allows us to prepare for climate and environmental changes. He also directed the recent pruning and maintenance of our handsome downtown hardwood trees, improving the value of our green infrastructure.
We can only wonder at the ways these trees interact, but we’ll all benefit from their shade and beauty for years to come. Have you taken time to notice these improvements, or to wonder about the hidden life of trees?
Karen Watson
Wilder
The writer chairs the Hartford Tree Board.
The Second Amendment states, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” When this was ratified, in 1791, America had just come out of a bloody fight for independence with a foreign power, Britain, and without the armed citizen militia, we would have lost the war. The Bill of Rights was written to ensure our country was governed fairly and was protected from future despotic rulers.
Webster’s Dictionary defines “militia” as “a part of the organized armed forces of a country liable to call only in an emergency.” A militia is a group of people uniting for the common cause of protection against a foreign entity. It is not an army of one who thinks it is OK to kill dozens for revenge or the thrill of it.
The hysteria surrounding gun control borders on paranoia. The argument the government is going to confiscate your guns is false. Unless you have committed a felony or the gun was used in a crime, no one can seize your weapons because it is unconstitutional.
Gun control is not about disarming all citizens. What it will do is curb the damage a single weapon can inflict by limiting magazine size, and require background checks that will help keep firearms out of the hands of those with a propensity toward violence and who are mentally unstable.
We as rational people must combat the inflammatory rhetoric of both the National Rifle Association and gun manufacturers. According to The Washington Post, Remington touts semi-automatic weapons as giving “you the confidence and firepower to get the job done.” What ‘job’ are they referring to? Surely, we are not being invaded by zombies, aliens or a foreign army.
There is a place in this world for guns — in the hands of law enforcement, the military, and law-abiding and responsible citizens. If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear from gun control.
Sandra Cutler
Brookfield, Vt.
Hartford’s Sherman Manning Pools are a public space. The facility provides recreation for the children of working parents all summer long. Its loss for a year is tragic. Any longer is a violation against those who use it. Don’t close the Sherman Manning Pools.
Griffin Shumway
Wilder
Your readers may not be aware that editorial cartoonist Jeff Danziger once lived in Plainfield, Vt. He had a wonderful strip called Out in the Sticks which was truly funny and relevant then and would be now if newspapers could republish it. He gently skewered all of us. It is available in book form, which I cherish and read over and over.
Susan Brown
Enfield
According to “Trump’s Secret, Sweet Deal with Sinclair,” by Jud Lounsbury for Tribune News Service (April 6), it was Jared Kushner who broke the news of Sinclair Broadcasting Group’s agreement with Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Sinclair, with more than 170 stations, is still in the news due to its intent to buy Tribune Media (adding 42 more stations) in a merger allowing it to reach 72 percent of U.S. households. Sinclair needs FCC approval for the $3.9 billion deal, but to me it’s unclear if the approval will given, since broadcastingcable.com has said the “deal still fails to provide sufficiently clear picture of post-merger company.”
Whatever. As evidenced by the mandatory “fake news” warning read April 2 at Sinclair outlets across the country, freedom of speech is being suppressed. Sinclair Broadcasting Group is the active agent here, but the FCC is complicit transitively. Rights are being quashed by the FCC in another arena, net neutrality: When providers mete out most of the bandwidth to their wealthy patrons, the poor suffer. When they restrict access, our freedom’s repressed. When they sell our data, it’s not our wallets that swell.
Surely the Trump regime isn’t the only oppressor of us users; just ask Mark Zuckerberg what he’s been busy with lately. Has anyone thought to check if the other “social” media keep our data safe?
Kevin McEvoy Leveret
White River Junction
With all the vicious name-calling that comes out of Donald Trump’s mouth daily against people who oppose him in any way, he reminds me of a mafia character out of a racy thriller novel. I imagine a Cosa Nostra character named Donnie Pickles, so named by the mob because of his dubious acts that put him and others in a proverbial ongoing “pickle” on many levels — from hush money to prostitutes to FBI investigations dealing with our deadly adversary Vladimir Putin to money laundering. And then there is his bungling lawyer, Mikie Get Rid Of, who lurks in the shadows cleaning up all of Donny Pickles’ pickles. This book has all the elements of a best-seller and could be a TV series. But wait — isn’t that already playing out on TV nightly?
Jackie Smith
Sunapee