Editorial

Time is running out

What a difference a week makes. It was just days ago the region was digging out from one of the biggest snowstorms in many years. For 36 or so hours, the world around the valley slowed to a crawl for many, and came to a halt for others, as the snow clogged roads, dropped power lines, and...

The importance of open access in government

This is Sunshine Week, March 12 to 18. We’ve written quite a bit about Sunshine Week in this space, and government transparency in general. Why? Because government at its best serves the people, not the other way around. Sunshine Week, as its website declares, “Aims to promote open government...

Thanks for believing in us

To the editor:
If you read the recent Deerfield Valley News you know that the Food 4 Kids program of the West Dover Congregational Church, Loose Knit Group (LKG), received the largest donation ever for the program from the Vail Epic Promise chairlift auction. Thanks to Susan and Peter...

Town Meeting is here to stay

For most towns around the valley, Town Meeting is in the books for 2023. Following two years of uncertainty over the future of Town Meeting, driven by pandemic-related health concerns over large gatherings of people, voters were more than willing to get together in a room to talk and vote. ...

A changing landscape of Vermont’s schools: Cause for concern?

Big changes are planned that could radically alter high school choice in Vermont and the college experience at the state colleges.
A large percentage of secondary and postsecondary education in Vermont may be undergoing some extreme changes in the next few months. That will happen if...

Town Meeting 2023: An exercise in democracy

Tuesday, March 7, is the traditional Town Meeting day across Vermont.
Town Meeting has long been celebrated in Vermont as a cherished tradition and one of the purest forms of democratic governance, when citizens of a community come together to talk about the issues their town is facing...

Let’s be better role models for our children

On Tuesday Gov. Phil Scott used his weekly press conference to address recent instances of intolerance and violence, including a fight at a middle school basketball game that led to a man dying from a suspected heart attack shortly after the brawl. This is the second time in the past two months...

Bankruptcy punctuates Barnes’ mixed legacy

News last week that a bankruptcy court judge had approved the final report and disbursement of funds in the Hermitage Inn Real Estate Holding Company should close the books on the Jim Barnes era of the Hermitage Club.
It was five years ago that the Barnes-led club closed. That followed a...

A weather roller coaster

“One of the brightest gems in the New England weather is the dazzling uncertainty of it.”
― Mark Twain
The esteemed author Mark Twain clearly had a love-hate relationship with New England weather. Twain, who spent two decades living in Connecticut while writing some of his...

The dangers of extending COVID-era meeting laws

Right now the Vermont Legislature is considering extending the pandemic-driven laws that allow for virtual government meetings and Australian ballots. There are some who would like to make it permanent.
We think that’s a bad idea.
While we understand the desire to keep the virtual...