Letters to the Editor (5/10/23)

Hail to the Acting Chief

[Re “The Acting Chief,” May 3]: Three cheers for Jon Murad! As someone who frequently bicycles into Burlington, I have witnessed the increase in drug dealing and have felt an increased sense of unease when walking around. Murad’s commitment and integration into the city are extraordinary.

The idea of finding a “fresh face” is ridiculous; Burlington needs appropriate commitment, and Murad has proven himself. The last thing we need is constantly rotating that position, like with the Burlington High School principal.

Three boos for the Progressives on the city council. If Murad burns out due to lack of support, the ramifications will be even harder to fix. Get a grip already.

Robert Mann

Colchester

Blame in Bike Accident

Identifying the full name, age and town of an innocent driver whose truck was involved in the fatality of a recreational bicyclist did not add anything to [“Cyclist Killed in Crash With Truck While Riding in Rasputitsa Race,” April 30, online].

I don’t know the driver, but I assure you he has enough weighing on him already. Most importantly, for every bicyclist fatality there are countless more near misses, and the frequency of bicyclists’ reckless disregard for basic road safety and traffic laws should be a central element of discussing this tragedy.

Vermont’s transportation infrastructure should prioritize transportation — in all forms and in a manner in which motor vehicles and bicycles used for transportation can safety coexist — and not swarms of recreational bicyclists who refuse to obey commonsense traffic safety considerations.

The recreational interest of a few bicyclists trying to outweigh legitimate transportation uses is completely unbalanced. One example of this imbalance is the building of a new trail entrance to a rural road in Underhill without first applying for a permit, discussing with all impacted parties or even considering safe sight lines.

Residents simply driving to work and private landowners abutting otherwise modestly traveled rural roads shouldn’t be burdened with nearly 2,000 bicyclists flooding onto public roads for mere recreation.

David Demarest

Underhill

Cancel ‘Uppity’

The letter to the editor [Feedback: “Our Gov Could Be Worse,” April 26] was well written and sound in the concerns. However, it’s important to call out the writer’s use of the term “uppity.”

The term means “arrogant” or “presumptuous,” but it has a strong racial undertone. An online search will shed light on the harm it has caused. It is used to imply that the person is not only arrogant but also failing to recognize their place in society (implying, of course, that their place is lower than the natural superiority of the accuser). This word is used by older people almost exclusively, and it needs to be dropped from our collective lexicon.

I’m from the American South, and this word is almost always paired with a racial slur in my home state. It’s a word that makes me physically flinch.

It’s important to educate each other about hurtful words such as this one. The writer of the letter speaks of Vermont as a “model for the rest of the country,” and I robustly agree. Therefore, it’s crucial we do not use antiquated and possibly hurtful language to each other.

I’m not in any way condemning the writer; instead, I’m hoping they will consider a different word to use when advising their fellow Democrats.

Victoria Jarvis

Burlington

‘Sweet’ Tribute

I really enjoyed Colin Flanders’ story on Peter Miller [“End of an Era,” April 26]. I never met Peter in person but have very much enjoyed his photos over the years, including the famed Fred Tuttle portrait. It certainly brings me some nostalgia for a Vermont of years gone by. Thank you to Colin for the sweet writing and to Seven Days for running the story.

Jake Brown

Montpelier

Lesson Learned?

As an Addison Central School District parent, I found it nice to get a greater understanding of why principal Justin Campbell likely left so abruptly [“A Matter of Principal: The Tangled Tale Behind the Abrupt Resignation of Middlebury Union High School’s Top Administrator“]. Whether the circumstances of this story are what led to Campbell’s resignation or not, it speaks to a broader and troubling trend I have noticed in the ACSD over recent years — in particular, the district’s general desire not to be transparent about issues that should be of the utmost concern to all ACSD stakeholders. I am aware of other instances where district officials hesitated to release pertinent information when it was requested. Upon release, deeper issues were found.

Also troubling to me is the board’s tendency to either rush through tasks or work through said tasks with the goal of having a particular resulting outcome. Recent examples include the current superintendent search, now for an interim superintendent. Another example is the move in recent years of sixth grade from elementary to middle school. As part of that move, district officials did not heed staff warnings in planning for the sixth-grade move. From what I hear, the resulting troubles of last school year, the first with the new arrangement, are what the staff were warning about.

I can only hope that with the newer makeup of the district board and the eventual hiring of a new permanent superintendent, lessons from the past can be learned and heeded. When encouraging involvement of stakeholders, it helps to actually listen to and think about what is said.

Ian Ross

Cornwall

Rule No. 1

[Re “Al Gobeille, Top Exec at UVM Health Network, to Resign,” April 28, online]: It was ethically shameful that Al Gobeille was permitted to accept a $620,000-a-year position at the University of Vermont Health Network just two months after resigning as secretary of human services, a position in which he was awarding money to the UVM Medical Center. Prior to that, he was the chair of the Green Mountain Care Board, a position that gave him the power to regulate the UVM system’s budget.

Louis Meyers

South Burlington

Dems Are Doing It

[Re “First Lady Stops by Burlington on ‘Investing in America’ Tour,” April 5, online]: It was heartening to see First Lady Jill Biden touch down in Burlington recently to meet with motivated high school career center students, getting hands-on experience working with innovative electric aircraft manufacturer Beta Technologies. She spoke of much-needed clean-energy jobs and skills that never existed just years ago.

The words on the podium said it all: “Investing in America.” President Joe Biden and the first lady have been touring the country with this message of investing in infrastructure, innovation and clean energy. Providing high school students with opportunities to learn practical career skills will give them a jump on making a living and make their education more relevant.

We face a very uncertain future with the daily ravages of climate change and dangerously polarized politics. The former president and his party slashed environmental regulations. They recklessly promoted more fossil fuel production and burning while cutting taxes on the very wealthy and corporations.

Today, Democrats are funding critical infrastructure jobs, putting money in the pockets of the working class. Republicans present no practical initiatives to help everyday Americans. Instead, they wage culture wars on people who are different, ban books and freedom of expression, erase uncomfortable history lessons, deny women their rights to family planning, and insanely push unfettered access to weapons of war for anyone — weapons that, tragically, too often take down students and teachers just trying to get an education.

It’s clear which party shouts the empty slogan (MAGA) and which one steadfastly walks the talk.

Fletcher Dean

E. Calais

Off the ‘Trans Bandwagon’

If, as the Anti-Defamation League’s literature states, it is not antisemitic to criticize Israel, it surely cannot be hateful or transphobic to criticize trans ideology [“Burlington Council Denounces Transphobia Amid ‘Stickering’ Campaign,” March 13]. Yet there’s a lot of hateful rhetoric in the community toward everyone who voices opposition to the trans bandwagon.

I’m told by councilors that no trans person has been physically harmed in Burlington, while at least one trans person has been charged with attacking and knocking an elderly gay man to the ground at a Pride event. That kind of aggression has been on public display a number of times. It begs the question: Who is really doing the bullying?

For the sin of challenging “people who pump in the workplace” and “normalizing menopause,” I, too, have been labeled hateful and transphobic by a reporter.

The spirit of and language in the resolution ought to concern everyone who believes their free speech rights are protected in this city.

The two-page resolution uses the words “hate” and “hateful” 17 times and “transphobic” five times. Such accusations from trans activists are hollow. But when they come from the media and the government…

The city’s labeling of the stickerers as a hate group isn’t about truth; it’s about power.

It is an abuse of power to “enthusiastically” target “a group of residents” because the council finds “woman = adult female” distasteful.

Law enforcement has not concluded that the killing of Fern Feather, a trans person, was a hate crime. Including it as such in the grossly inflated resolution is exploitation.

Marianne Ward

Burlington