The Hartford Police Department and the Hartford Community Coalition are participating in National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on Saturday. Community members can bring prescription medications for disposal to the Hartford Police Department from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; the Queechee Library from 9-10:30 a.m.; and the Wilder Library from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. See www.twinstatesafemeds.org for a full list of area drop-off locations.
Medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse and abuse. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health shows year after year that the majority of misused and abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including someone else’s medication being stolen from the home medicine cabinet.
In addition, Americans are now advised that their usual methods for disposing of unused medicines — flushing them down the toilet or throwing them in the trash — both pose potential safety and health hazards.
We hope you’ll join our efforts on Saturday to safely dispose of these substances.
Barbara Farnsworth, Board Chair
Elizabeth Kelsey, Addiction Prevention Coordinator
Hartford Community Coalition
Editor’s note: Police departments around the Upper Valley are either participating in Saturday’s event or offer drop-off locations at their headquarters. The Lebanon Police Department will have officers at River Valley Community College on Hanover Street on Saturday, from 11 a.m.-noon, and there’s a collection box and “sharps” container at its Poverty Lane headquarters.
The Valley News reports that David Hall “said he would be happy to return the land to the NewVistas Foundation if he could,” and quotes him as stating, “if the citizens in the area can help me to get it reversed back to that, that’s great” (“NewVistas Owner Disputes Claims,” April 7).
The mechanics of reversing the transfers of Vermont lands by the NewVistas Foundation, a Utah nonprofit corporation, to Windsorange LLC, a for-profit company owned by Hall, are relatively straightforward.
The transfers were accomplished by deeds executed by a legal representative of the foundation and subsequently recorded in the clerks’ offices in Royalton, Sharon, Strafford and Tunbridge. To reverse these transactions, Hall, as the owner of Windsorange, can appoint a legal representative for the company to prepare and execute new deeds transferring the properties from Windsorange back to NewVistas, and then record these new deeds in the clerks’ offices. Once this is accomplished, the first property transfers, which I have argued are improper, will be effectively erased.
Going forward, the NewVistas Foundation will have options for managing the lands consistent with state charitable laws and its current status as a tax-exempt organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
The foundation could sell the lands to third parties in arm’s-length transactions and use the proceeds to advance the foundation’s charitable aims.
Or the foundation could retain the lands indefinitely, and might work with the Vermont Land Trust or the Upper Valley Land Trust to ensure that the lands are conserved and not further subdivided in the future.
Finally, the foundation might consider donating some of the land to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which owns the Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial and has been an excellent land steward in this region for many years.
John Echeverria
Strafford
The writer is a professor at Vermont Law School and a member of the Alliance for Vermont Communities, which opposes NewVistas.
Your recent reporting on aspects of Dartmouth College’s institutional priorities reflects an unfortunate trend at America’s colleges and universities, favoring what’s been called “edutainment” over scholarship.
Save the golf course; close the University Press of New England. So much, it seems, for “higher learning.”
Vic Henningsen
Thetford Center
The Norwich Women’s Club is now inviting applications for 2018 Community Projects Grants. The club supports programs and projects that enhance educational, civic and cultural activities in Norwich. Awards are made to organizations and individuals either located in Norwich or directly benefiting Norwich residents.
Thank you to the committee and volunteers who worked on the 2018 Spring Gala, which honored Bill Hammond and raised more than $45,000 from ticket sales, auction items and donations.
For further information and to download an application form, please visit norwichwomensclub.org. All applications must be completed and received no later than May 1. Awards will be announced and funds made available after July 1.
Carol Loveland, Community Projects Chair
Norwich Women’s Club