As a former Cornish School Board chairman, I write in opposition to splitting Plainfield and Cornish into separate House districts (“Proposal splits up Cornish, Plainfield,” Nov. 9).
The two towns border each other and Cornish is not close to Goshen or Newport. Cornish and Plainfield have been intertwined since at least the 19th century. My great-grandmother rode over to Plainfield to attend meetings at the Mother’s and Daughter’s Club well over 100 years ago. More recently, Cornish and Plainfield voted to have a single school district. As the schools are a major part of the towns, it makes no sense to me that they would be represented by different legislators, particularly as Newport is a bigger town and is not likely to share all of the same issues.
I would hope this will also lead people to reconsider having redistricting controlled by a nonpartisan commission, not by politicians who can’t possibly avoid conflicts of interest.
WILLIAM PALMER
Cornish
Congratulations to the Lebanon High School boys soccer team for a great season, achieving their goals (no pun intended) and also bringing home the championship (“Getting their kicks,” Nov. 6).
Extra congratulations and thanks to coach Rob Johnstone for continued guidance for our teams. A title does not define the efforts or years of dedication to his players, our students and this community. After 30 years it’s still nice to be able to hold the trophy, but the victories have happened in many other ways. Though this is just sport, it offers an important lesson.
To the parents: Years of hope, home games and road trips fulfilled! To the Lebanon legacies — all the teams, players, families, staff, drivers, coaches, community supporters, etc.: Everyone shares a piece of this!
ROBERT TICHNER
Lebanon
I am disappointed at the small amount of sports coverage the Valley News has provided of Windsor High School football. The team is undefeated and going for the state Division III title on Saturday. There has been very little coverage of the games. Year in and year out, Windsor has been one of the top teams in Vermont, very well coached by Greg Balch and staff. The Valley News did a great job covering the Windsor girls field hockey championship. Well done.
MARK FIELDS
Grantham
Traditionally, few would argue that our tax dollars have been better spent than on libraries. However, patronage has diminished as the internet becomes more accessible and many people now download their reading material and find most of their research, formerly accessed physically in the library, easily obtainable online.
This might be the right time for libraries to do some repurposing.
With falling academic performance in our schools, libraries have an ideal opportunity to offer schoolchildren a place where volunteer senior citizens might provide support for their academic needs. With some training, oversight and physical modifications, the library could be an ideal venue for children to go after school to do their homework with the resources the library and senior citizens could provide.
ROBERT FOX
Quechee