This is written to Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.: My husband and I found Vermont while taking my son to St. Michael’s College. I am aware that you, too, are an alumnus. You have done so much for the state. However, has this all gone astray? Where is your voice that should enforce your values and your priorities, that should be representing your party, democracy and what this country stands for? I hear nothing from you and our representatives.
How dare we let this man who sits in the White House diminish the office and all that we hold dear as a country and as a people. Join together — speak loudly and clearly to let all know that we don’t take the words and actions of a monarch lightly. Speak up now and exercise the values your alma mater tried to instill in your education.
Let us hear from the honorable and moral person that you are — and let it be now.
Thank you for your service.
Lorraine Bottino
Quechee
At the risk of sounding ungrateful, which I definitely am not, I must point out that Rick Jurgens’ article about the two Hartford swimming pools — the privately run but tax-forgiven Upper Valley Aquatic Center and the strictly public Manning Pool — perfectly illustrates the maxim, “Them that gots, gets.”
Clearly, this is a complicated situation. The Aquatic Center provides services to its members and other users. It has provided local jobs and attracted people to town who have spent money in local businesses. This, of course, is all to the good. This is possible, according to director Richard Synott, because of its annual property tax break — currently $192,000 — without which “it would not be able to operate.”
The Aquatic Center has another source of tax-advantaged money — its foundation, into which supporters (especially one) have contributed, resulting in an endowment of $7 million, which generates income used for operating expenses.
On the same side of the tracks is the Manning Pool, closed because the Selectboard was unwilling to authorize $320,000 to repair it. Careful readers will notice that this is less than two years’ worth of tax breaks for the club.
So what happens? Those who can afford it continue to enjoy the tax-subsidized Aquatic Center. Those who can’t afford it are out of luck.
Perhaps what is needed is a “Friends of Manning Pool” foundation to raise funds. By my calculation, an endowment of $2 million — less than one-third of the Aquatic Center’s — would create an annual income around $100,000, enough to cover the operating expenses and help with upkeep.
Or perhaps the Hartford Selectboard needs to think harder and come up with a way to provide swimming pool access to most of its citizens. It seems like a solvable problem.
Corlan Johnson
Norwich
When I was a kid, our first idea for distant communication consisted of two tin cans connected with a string. One kid would go 50 feet away and listen while the other kid hollered into his tin can waiting for a response. Here I am today hollering into a tin can, futilely waiting for a response.
I cannot understand the reasoning of those who are willing to back a president who I believe has demonstrated a lack of morality, honesty, decency and concern for the future of our country and its society, a man who I believe has repeatedly demonstrated his personal greed supersedes his allegiance to his (our) country.
If my countrymen have become so careless as to see the actions of this president and his political cronies as anything close to normal and acceptable, then I have lost hope for the future of our free country, which has been the envy of most of the world.
I holler into my tin can: “Wake up America and save yourself before it is too late!”
It is fine for you to hate the Hillary Clintons of our world, but surely you can find an alternative without conceding the values and principles upon which this country was founded, an alternative to those who now will not hear our cries for the long-term health and well-being of all the citizens of our country, and our country itself. This, so that once again we can be admired for the example we had set for the world. Let us regain our stature as the leader of the free world. I want to be proud to be an American and have the leadership who conveys that pride to all. I do not want to make enemies of my country’s neighbors and friends of its foes.
Please don’t let my call fall on deaf ears. Think before you act during the next election.
Sylvia J. Heath
Hartland Four Corners