Opinion

THE POLICE AND FIRE FACILITIES PROJECT

It is not a mystery that the Selectboard placed the sales tax but not the Police/Fire Facilities project on the March 4th ballot as a straw or nonbonding vote.  Were they on together both would have likely been voted down.  Thus the Selectboard gave us only one choice.  In the same way the P/F project itself was presented at Town Meeting as only one choice. Town Meeting Members were forced to accept it all even if only one piece, or none of it at all seemed necessary.  It was as if the administration believed that citizen input had no place in the development of the project.  Since the vote was taken any further questions have been dismissed with ‘it’s been voted on.’  Conversation over.

I’m turning 50 this year, which means I have 15-20 years to retirement age — if all goes well.

Let’s look at the news and see if things are going well. Lost airplane, Crimea, oh wait, what’s this?  That might impact my retirement. You have my attention.

The article says collapses are a normal part of the cycle of civilization. Rome, for example. OK, we knew that. Nothing new there.

To the Brattleboro Business Community,

The Brattleboro Area Prevention Coalition (BAPC) would like
to thank the businesses that participated in the Responsible Beverage Service Trainings held in March co-sponsored by the Department of Liquor Control.

BAPC recognizes the important role that local retailers and restaurants play in preventing underage drinking. Thank you to the following businesses for participating in the training:

Several years ago I advocated that courses in the humanities be offered and taught to those within Vermont who might have otherwise gone without the opportunities and benefits of these. For example: people living in poverty; people living homeless; persons incarcerated in jails, prisons or other institutions; people living in the throes of drug or alcohol addiction.

What I had been urging be established was for programs along the lines of the Clemente Course in the Humanities model (clementecourse.org).

For years I have been warning marijuana advocates not to take the easy way out by using medical marijuana as a wedge to “soften up” public sentiment. Regrettably, many marijuana patients had this “we need our medicine now” mentality. Too many medical marijuana people were self-interested only in their needs. Some even stated to me it was more important to legalize marijuana for medical needs than it was to legalize it for all adults. The fact that millions of Americans were and are trapped in the criminal justice gulag did not matter to them, just as long as they got their meds.

As I feared, medical marijuana only muddles marijuana legalization. In the long run, the advent of pundits pushing the medical angle did so at the expense of the larger marijuana consumer population.

Before releasing your pets via a “Free to good home” ad, please do some research on this problem and arrange a follow up plan so you can see that your beloved pets DO recieve the care and love they deserve.  You can begin by typing “Free to good home” in Google and see the extent of risk of doing this.  Pet-abuse.com has some great articles on this.

Vermont is once again ranked as the least religious state in the country. Over half the people in our state are less likely to believe in God than the rest of the country. However, being the least religious state doesn’t stop the sectarian denominations from their power struggles for domain over man, land and beast. The upshot is that our state is a target for overt religious proselytizing.

Dear President Maduro, slanderous Western media, promoting war and violence for capital gains of the mercilessly amoral automaton functioning speculative interest banking industry, has put you in their spotlight to better target you with defamation. This is then your opportunity to be heard a bit world-wide. In telling the truth about the USA, you will be protecting all of us, Venezuela included.

The issue that needs to be examined is the ‘claw back’ provision of Medicaid. Unfortunately, even many legislators are unaware of this problem. This provision in the law is punitive and prejudicial. It will be imposed only on the very poor – those who qualify for Medicaid. This is a death tax that will be imposed only on the very poor. Will poor unmarried citizens be ‘penalized’ for their low income and also for not having a spouse? Those who are dirt poor will now even have their dirt taxed away from any heirs. Of course, those with accountants, lawyers, financial planners can avoid this unfair tax – but poor people do not have that kind of support system.

An open letter to Governor Shumlin and to our federal and state delegations:

This winter Route 9/Western Avenue off of Interstate 91 Exit 2 in Brattleboro has been in abominable shape.  Despite the best efforts of the Brattleboro Department of Public Works to keep ahead of new pot holes through patching, both new-timers and old-timers in town say this is the worst shape they have ever seen the road.

Traffic has slowed to a crawl as everyone tries to avoid flat tires or damage to their undercarriages. 
Drivers bob and weave like prize fighters, hopefully not into the fists of oncoming traffic.  (Of just the
drivers the DPW has heard from, department head Steve Barrett reports well over 20 blown tires.)  This focus on the decrepit road condition distracts drivers from watching for bicyclists and pedestrians.