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The author is a CASP volunteer.
BRATTLEBORO-I was quite disappointed that Mary Kay Sigda didn't include reference to CASP, the Community Asylum Seekers Project, which was founded in 2016 as a small volunteer effort that offered legal, social, and community support to asylum seekers (vs. refugees) in southern Vermont.
Bronna Zlochiver, Kathy Korb, Lynne Desmarais, Nancy Brosz, and Janis Pereira co-signed this letter. VERNON-Dear Editor, We are very grateful that the Reformer and The Commons took the time to cover the event on Sept. 23 regarding the battery storage facility meeting in Vernon. We would like to further...
-With Democrats otherwise sweeping the statewide races amid a massive nationwide political rout in Tuesday’s midterm general election, Vermont’s incumbent Republican governor was re-elected to his sixth term. Gov. Phil Scott withstood a determined challenge from Democratic/Progressive candidate Amanda Janoo, an economist from Burlington. With 98% of the votes...
Nancy Braus, a retired independent bookseller, is a longtime activist. (This piece was written, and this week’s Voices section was prepared, before the outcome of the 2026 election, which you can see on the front page of this week’s newspaper.) GUILFORD-If you are the kind of person who has deep passions, you probably have lived life as I have: Do whatever you feel is important, do it as well as you can, do it when you are needed, and then...
BRATTLEBORO-In March, Vermont Public Service Commissioner Kerrick Johnson stated on Vermont Public's Vermont Edition: "Vermonters should be able to determine [Vermont's] energy portfolio." Fair enough, though he and Gov. Phil Scott seem to have gone ahead and made that determination for us. As reported in the Connecticut Mirror, on Sept. 30, at the National Governors Association's 2026 New England Regional Nuclear Policy Summit in Lowell, Massachusetts, after noting that other New England states don't want to be the first to...
Peter Barus writes: “I have quite a lot of information about the nuclear power/weapons industry, and the AI industry, and a lot to say about them,” which is central to his volunteer work with the Veterans for Peace Uranium Weapons Working Group. JACKSONVILLE-Even after generations dealing with the atomic industry, the town of Vernon was pretty much on its own in negotiating with the wave of government contractors across America, targeting somewhat battered parcels of land. Nuclear power left its...
PUTNEY-The Commons’ coverage of the celebration of the completion of Alice Holway Drive housing in Putney included a quote mentioning the beauty of the adjacent community garden and Sunday farmers market. I write to add part of the backstory. The grassroots nonprofit, Green Commons of Vermont, came into being in 2020 specifically to purchase the parcel where the market and garden have been active since 2010. Windham & Windsor Housing Trust’s development vision included the transfer of this 1 acre...
WESTMINSTER WEST-In addition to the evils of Dan DeWalt ["Ever more dangerous to speak up," Viewpoint, Sept. 30], the author should vehemently denounce the awarding of the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize to the rabid anti-Israel propagandist Navi Pillay, who had the temerity of saying Israel had committed genocide in Gaza. Also, for what it's worth, Athens is not "one town over" from Newfane. But who cares? Geography can often be anti-Israel, too. Josh Lurie Westminster West This letter to the...
BELLOWS FALLS-Last week, several staff and executive board members of the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board (VHCB) toured housing projects that they have supported around Vermont, including ones in Bellows Falls and Putney. They were joined Oct. 27 by local housing activists and by Elizabeth Bridgewater, the executive director of the Windham & Windsor Housing Trust (WWHT), which has worked with the VHCB on several projects in the county, including the recently completed Alice Holway Drive Apartments, which opened on...
BROOKLINE-In her response to Dan DeWalt's Viewpoint ["Ever more dangerous to speak up," Sept. 30], Linda Coulombe (the "constitutional law enthusiast") describes a country that I vaguely recall living in and would like to again someday. One where constitutional protections are actually afforded to all as they were meant to be. One where the institutions designed to protect us aren't used instead to punish us, to intimidate us, to silence us. One where those responsible for enforcing our laws aren't...
BRATTLEBORO-When State Treasurer Mike Pieciak asked his father what he earned after moving to Brattleboro in 1970, the answer was $10,000 — about $80,000 in today’s dollars. On that salary, his father, the family’s only wage earner, supported a child and owned a home. “To think about what family could have one spouse working, have a child, and own a home on an $80,000 salary — it doesn’t feel realistic,” Pieciak told a packed Latchis Theatre on Oct. 28. “What...
BRATTLEBORO-I’ve become quite concerned about some of the misunderstandings that are circulating about Winston Prouty’s new, middle-income housing project. Two big misconceptions are keeping the project from garnering the full enthusiasm and support it needs and deserves. 1. Myth: “The housing being built at Winston Prouty is low income.” This housing is middle-income and focuses on attracting new businesses and young families as well as retaining retirees. If our goal is to rejuvenate southern Vermont, we need places for professionals...
CLAREMONT, N.H.-Some of us disagree with Dan DeWalt's Viewpoint. Some of us are not anti-Israel. I know that I cannot change Mr. DeWalt's opinion, which he is entitled to, nor his ability to put his skillful rhetoric into the newspaper. (Hey, he's one of the newspaper's founders.) If allowed, I could write a short history of the Israel-Palestinian issue, devoid of rhetoric, focused on facts. That might change the opinions of some of the readers. But again, there's no way...
