Keeping your community covered. We're committed to producing high-quality, fact-based news and information that gives you the facts in this community we call home. If our work has helped you stay informed, take action, or feel more connected to Windham County – please give now to help us reach our goal of raising $150,000 by December 31st.
Keeping your community covered. We're committed to producing high-quality, fact-based news and information that gives you the facts in this community we call home. If our work has helped you stay informed, take action, or feel more connected to Windham County – please give now to help us reach our goal of raising $150,000 by December 31st.
There has been a standoff between two slogans in Putney: Black Lives Matter and All Lives Matter.
“All Lives Matter” is being seen by many people, including people of color, as a racist rebuttal to Black Lives Matter.
When Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence “that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness,” at that time women and Black men and other people of color were not included. It took four amendments over the course of 129 years (1791–1921) to revise the U.S. Constitution accordingly.
Black lives have been kept from equality by enslavement and severe discrimination. The “Black lives matter” slogan was coined in 2013 in response to the killing of Trayvon Martin in 2012 in Sanford, Florida. It was reinforced in 2014 by the killings of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, Eric Garner in New York City, and 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland; in 2015 by Walter Scott, North Charleston, South Carolina; in 2016 by Alton Sterling, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Philando Castile, St. Paul, Minnesota; in 2018 by Stephen Clark, Sacramento, California; in 2020 by Breonna Taylor, Louisville, Kentucky, and most famously George Floyd in Minneapolis; and in 2021 by Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota.
I have been thinking back on major federal government programs. The most obvious major programs are wars. The Revolutionary War was, of course, fought by state militias (see the Second Amendment). The Department of War was formed in 1789. The 1812 war brought about the Navy and the exploits...
On Oct. 3, Leland & Gray hosted Vermont state consultant Debby Haskins to offer guidance and support to our wider community and help heal from the loss of our student, Shayne Baker. What follows is a summary of her advice, especially for parents, guardians, and students, based on her...
Two weeks before The Commons published the article, “Can law enforcement coexist with education in schools?” [Feb. 15], reporter Thelma O'Brien visited Leland & Gray and interviewed two students and me as part of her research. This letter is to correct a mistake in the report and to share more of the students' conversation with Ms. O'Brien. When Deputy Albry Crowley resigned from the Windham County Sheriff's Department, leaving the School Resource Officer (SRO) position vacant at Leland & Gray,
Thank you for the wonderful reporting on the two retiring Leland & Gray teachers, Margaret Carusona and Carlton Smith, both of whom dedicated their lives to the children and families of the West River Valley. Thelma O'Brien's writing shows insight, sensitivity, and appreciation for the thankless work of educators. Your support and coverage of Leland & Gray activities have been excellent in depth and quality. If only every school district had a local paper as thoughtful as The Commons.
Editor Anne Galloway of the news website VTDigger.org recently spent a long day driving around the state with Gov. Peter Shumlin. Among her conclusions after 13 hours of meeting and greeting is that the former state Senate leader has changed his ways and “appeared to have sworn off whiplash, headline statements.” Quite possibly, but you wouldn't necessarily know that from the comments Shumlin made, while Galloway was watching and scribbling, about the Vermont Yankee lawsuit. Please do not misunderstand. I...
When you hear the word “exotic,” you think of faraway places, different cultures, or unusual food - unless, of course, you are considering exotic flora or fauna. Then, from an ecological point of view, “exotic” has a decidedly negative connotation. The way exotic species get from one place to another is by a vector, defined as a carrier or a bearer. In most cases, the vector is human. There are no treatments once exotics are in our waters. Preventing the...
We have two outstanding candidates for the Vermont Senate we can choose in the Democratic primary this Aug. 24. One stellar candidate is our incumbent senator, Jeanette White. She has been confirmed as a Senate legislative leader by her appointment as chairwoman of the Government Operations Committee. She is the former Selectboard chair in Putney, confirming her role as a local leader. She brings an exceptional amount of knowledge to her work in Windham County and the Vermont Legislature. She...
