I respond to Kevin Wagner’s letter to the Forum, (“Police presence at Hartford meeting was intimidating,” Sept. 9).
I attended the Hartford Selectboard meeting of July 30, which was in session from 6 p.m. until adjournment at about 11:10 p.m., when I left — though I heard that some people stayed until 3:30 a.m. I saw Hartford Police Chief Phil Kasten in plainclothes, but I saw no other police, though some may have been there. Tensions ran to the extreme. To me, that meeting felt potentially dangerous. I was relieved to find out that, as far as I know, everybody there had gotten home physically (though perhaps not emotionally) unscathed.
In consequence, I was actually a bit fearful for my own safety as I determined to attend the Sept. 3 Selectboard meeting; thus, as I entered the Town Hall, I was relieved and reassured — not intimidated — by the police presence. I thought, “Good, the police understand the gravity of this situation,” though it turned out that the Sept. 3 meeting was not nearly as heavily attended, nor was the atmosphere nearly as charged, as it had been on July 30.
I know that the Hartford police are seen by many as an arm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, and on the other hand, are seen by progressive members of the Selectboard as trusted partners in Hartford’s governance. Knowing that I speak from a position of white privilege, I think that under the leadership of Chief Kasten, Hartford policing has come a long way from May 2010, when Wayne Burwell, an African American fitness trainer then living in Wilder, was pepper-sprayed, clubbed and beaten by Hartford police officers in his own home.
PEGGY RICHARDSON
Hartford
The letter from Kevin Wagner of Bradford, Vt., (“Police presence at Hartford meeting was intimidating,” Sept. 9) was an egregious effort to totally submarine the efforts of well-meaning folks in Hartford to sort out the differences in how police interact with the community.
I’m not sure of the writer’s interest in Hartford, but if undermining the current effort is his goal, he is using spurious means to cloak the townwide effort as dark and underhanded. He describes a “massive, disproportionate police presence,” and said he “felt anxious having to pass through a gauntlet of cops.” I personally thank the police for keeping things under control.
He then accuses the Selectboard of “persistent cowardice in dealing with anti-immigrant bigots who have openly harassed people at these meetings,” and he calls on the Selectboard to apologize for “thuggish tactics.” I think he should apologize for fanning the flames in Hartford.
DAVID W. BARRELL
Quechee
Color me perplexed by the indignant defense of former Vice President Joe Biden presented by a couple of Valley News letter writers (“Coverage of Biden visit unfair,” and “Biden story was reprehensible,” Aug. 31).
Biden has mastered faux geniality well enough to patent the shtick, but note the hardening of the eyes on the rare occasions when someone’s rude enough to call him to account for any past actions.
Note, also, the state Biden represented during his long but not so august Senate career. There’s a reason all our credit card companies incorporate in Delaware. Biden was no friend of the strapped and desperate middle class during the crafting of the bankruptcy bill.
The Democrats thought they could ram Hillary Clinton down our throats. How’d that work out?
One would think even minimally rational people are now ready to reject a second term for President Donald Trump, whose administration has shown a capacity for vileness that may well earn a Guinness World Record, but the axis of the universe may perhaps not yet be fully prepared to right itself. And good old Uncle Joe, with close relatives straight out of Sleazyville, isn’t the paladin who’ll vanquish the monster for us.
I don’t like Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., but I’d vote for her, though my hand might tremble at the recollection of her corporate clients; I’d vote for Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who’s a fully authentic curmudgeon; I’d vote for Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., in the perhaps foolish hope that she’s now learned to treat underlings better.
But I won’t vote for Biden though the gates of hell crack open. Enough of salesmen hawking their own empty shells.
SARAH CRYSL AKHTAR
Lebanon
Forum contributor Margo Howland-Mastro responded to the Sunday Valley News story about professor Stephen Howe’s work (“Finding answers: Professor studies New England’s mostly forgotten ways of saying ‘yes’ and ‘no,’ ” Aug. 18) and raised the question as to how “dow” (meaning “no”) was pronounced (“A simple ‘jearse’ or ‘dow’ question,” Sept. 1).
In the 1950s, I attended Lebanon High School with a friend who worked part-time at Flanders and Patch Motor Sales. His older co-workers often used the word “dow” instead of “no.” They pronounced it to rhyme with “cow.” My friend picked up on it and would often use the word himself.
I remember that my late aunt would occasionally use the word “jearse” to mean “yes.” She came from Italy at 10 years old. I doubt if she brought the word with her. She lived in Lebanon and I have no idea where she got the word.
I communicated a couple of times with Howe, who teaches English at Fukuoka University in Japan. He suggested that the words originated in New England and invited anyone who might be familiar with the two words to participate in his online survey by visiting http://yesandno.info/survey/.
BOB CATTABRIGA
West Lebanon