The Sacramento Bee story “Bad News Bears,” published in the Oct. 10 Valley News, doesn’t do justice to the photographs and the premise of the story, centered where the Caldor fire ran rampant. Covering bears’ impact on humans and the resulting community conflicts misses the point: Bears move into human communities after fires because of our impact on them.
I don’t dismiss the property loss and difficulties, including risk of injury in human-bear encounters. Yes, people’s homes have been trashed and yes, bear pee inside a house probably smells pretty awful. At least these stories are speeding up acceptance that the climate crisis is real.
But we need to put this in perspective.
The Caldor fire burned nearly a quarter of a million acres and still isn’t fully contained. That’s 350 square miles of habitat and food loss for animals — because of Western “megadroughts” whose intensity is the product climate change.
The result? Look at the photo of the young bear huddled with burned paws and imagine working our way for days and days through miles of intensely hot ground with sneakers that melt. We’d all go for the easiest food we could, and in great pain. Read The Guardian’s article, “Burned Paws, Hungry Bears,” and imagine that our Upper Valley veterinarians had to create burn units — not just for bears but for all kinds of animals that live in fire zones.
Next time, I hope the Valley News will cut an article like “Bad News Bears” in half and pair it with a good article on the other side of the story. In the meantime, I encourage Ben Kilham, of the The Kilham Bear Center in Lyme, to help us with a story on what bears go through. I think bear pee smell will turn out to be a minor inconvenience.
LIZANN PEYTON
Hanover
We don’t get it! Why are people so upset with all of these laws that make it harder for certain people to vote? Voter suppression is as American as apple pie! (Insert facetious, ironic grin here.)
Everyone wants to believe that in America, elections are free and fair and equally accessible to all citizens.
But when the Constitution was written, entire groups of people were prohibited from voting — those without property, the enslaved, free Black people, women, Native Americans.
People of color were denied the franchise until late in the 19th century. Even then, African Americans and Native Americans were routinely denied access to polling places until the 1960s. Women could not vote until 1920.
Today, this pattern of voter suppression continues. Bolstered by Supreme Court decisions, a number of states have enacted dozens of laws making it harder for thousands of people to vote. Many of today’s laws were enacted to ensure the “purity” of our elections — a word reminiscent of the Jim Crow era.
Today’s tactics include gerrymandering, voter purges, limiting access to polling places, eliminating voting by mail, voter ID laws and more. In many cases, the intent of all of this is to disproportionately impact Black and Indigenous people and other people of color.
So you see, throughout its history and right up until today, the ideal of free and fair elections equally accessible to all citizens eludes us in actual practice.
It matters because voter suppression anywhere impacts the results of every national election.
It matters because voter suppression determines who serves as a senator. Designed to enhance the power and influence of the slave states, the Senate favors those states most likely to suppress the vote.
It matters because voter suppression skews the Electoral College.
We are proud to be part of the movement to enhance rather than suppress the vote. We call upon all Americans to work to make the ideal a reality. Join us in advocating for free, fair and equally accessible elections for all citizens.
D. GENE KRAUS
Randolph
The writer is a member of the Peace and Justice Committee of Bethany Church in Randolph, on whose behalf this letter was submitted.
The conqueror’s history never resembles the “herstory” of the others. No man ever had to stick a coat hanger anywhere.
Women have had to give up so many of their own children for millions of years. The conquerors never recognize their slaves, those they have murdered, those they have repressed.
VICKI WARD
Barnard
After reading the VTDigger report “Teachers: Behavior out of control” (Oct. 16), which described “chaotic” and “unsafe” conditions at Vermont schools because of student misbehavior, I’m compelled to ask: Is this the way our democracy will die? Will it fail due to lack of interest? Should we expect our teachers to make up for what should have been started at home a long time ago?
These kids are our future leaders. Shouldn’t those of us who are parents do our best to make sure they understand what living in a democracy means before it’s too late?
DONNA GRANT REILLY
Hanover