I read with interest the Sunday Valley News article about the homeless shelters in Hartford and the array of reactions to this commendable effort (“It’s not much, but it’s home,” Dec. 20). I got involved in designing and financing dome shelters with Simon Dennis last winter, but this fall it was clear we needed something more suitable and portable, so we developed the current design and built the first prototype in September for less than $1,000.
We have a stellar organization in The Haven, whose ministry has been somewhat curtailed due to the virus crisis. But that is no excuse to neglect the outcome of less shelter for those who do not have it. We simply cannot throw up our hands and say we tried and leave it at that.
I am grateful for the willingness of the Selectboard to support our efforts in principle — even while their hands have been tied by regulations, zoning laws and financial constraints. Our decision in the meantime was to proceed to help those we knew were in need, given the onset of winter, and to face the consequences without guilt or rancor.
There is no question there is a terrible need for shelter, and since we had the resources to do something about it, I was willing to do so simply because I am convinced it is the right thing to do. What kind of person am I — and what kind of community are we — if we do not provide care for those most in need? As Hubert Humphrey said: “The ultimate moral test of any government is the way it treats three groups of its citizens. First, those in the dawn of life — our children. Second, those in the shadows of life — our needy, our sick, our handicapped. Third, those in the twilight of life — our elderly.”
Given that we the people are the government, I cannot in good conscience wait around for the government to do something. It is my — and our — responsibility to do what we can.
GEORGE ABETTI
White River Junction
I would like to respond to the article in the Sunday Valley News regarding the construction of huts in Hartford for the homeless (“It’s not much, but it’s home,” Dec. 20). It is tragic that members of our community are sleeping outdoors in the winter; no human should have to endure this. However, this project was never a realistic solution.
These huts, in three separate locations around Hartford, all lacked landowner permission and appropriate permits to ensure safety and sanitation. The fact that at least two Selectboard members were aware of this project — and in Simon Dennis’ case, facilitated it — was an affront to Hartford residents and businesses who do follow the rules, sometimes at substantial inconvenience and cost.
My husband and I live directly above the Prospect Street shelters referenced in the article; people have camped in that location for years. We have never complained, but just made sure that the police and social services were aware. However, over the summer, the encampment grew larger, as did the impact on our neighborhood. The residents’ constant campfires (during a townwide burn ban) were the worst of many issues, creating heavy smoke and the fear that the tinder-dry woods would go up in flames and endanger everyone. When we discovered that this encampment had essentially been “formalized” by actual built structures planned and implemented by a town official, we felt particularly angry and betrayed. The town was aware of these problems.
I feel really sad for the hut residents whose hopes of a warm dwelling were raised, only to have them dashed with the plans for huts’ removal. However, this is the fault of Dennis and those advocates who did not think this through. It would have been far better for all involved if this effort had gone toward a solution that was actually viable.
LESLIE BARBOUR
White River Junction
As is obvious to any thoughtful, attentive person who actually read Joseph Epstein’s piece in The Wall Street Journal, it was addressed to Jill Biden merely on the basis of her position as the most prominent current user of the ever more unjustifiably pretentious honorific “Dr.” Regular readers of Epstein’s work also know that no one of either (!) gender is so exalted as to warrant immunity to being addressed as “kiddo.” But there’s nothing the grievance-mongers are above misinterpreting in furtherance of their dismal trade.
ANTHONY STIMSON
Lebanon
Forum contributor Alan Tanenbaum writes that he is sure the 2020 presidential election was “rigged and stolen” (“No plans to answer calls for unity,” Dec. 20). I would be interested in specifics and why he believes this. To try to invalidate the result of the election, President Donald Trump went to every court in the land more than 50 times, in many instances before Trump-appointed judges, and failed.
New Yorkers know who Trump is. The list is long and it isn’t pretty. This is not a party issue. It is about the quality of the man. I say to those who say the election was “rigged and stolen,” you will have the most experienced incoming president in history in 2021. Be glad. If ever we needed experience, it is now.
NANCY PARKER
Lebanon