‘Food Story of the Year’

I’m lifting a cold glass of Monument Farms milk to Melissa Pasanen and Seven Days for the Vermont food story of the year hiding in plain sight [“Dairy Kings: As Vermont Milk Producers Struggle, Fourth-Generation Monument Farms in Weybridge Succeeds by Keeping It All in the Family,” July 15]. Monument Farms is the only milk I buy: I keep its skim milk, whole milk and two bottles of cream on hand at all times, and a little bottle of its chocolate milk is my guilty pleasure when I’m shopping.

The fridge of the food shelf at HOPE in Middlebury, where I volunteer, is filled with Monument Farms milk, yet I had never stopped to consider who was behind it. That Monument Farms is a genuine family farm that espouses environmental practices just makes its milk taste even better. Thanks for a thoroughly engaging story.

Right on Agriculture

I just loved Melissa Pasanen’s article about Monument Farms [“Dairy Kings,” July 15]. There’s no writer in Vermont who captures the nuance, beauty, challenges and complexity of local food and agriculture better!

So many people are either romanticizing or hand-wringing when it comes to agriculture. Neither is especially helpful! It means a lot to see real and balanced representation.

Thank you for telling these stories.

Story to Savor

Great story on Monument Farms [“Dairy Kings,” July 15]. Loved reading about the operation and savored the knowledge that a good, old Vermont dairy farm still exists. May it live long and prosper!

‘Great Milk, Great Family’

Thank you for running a great article on Monument Farms [“Dairy Kings,” July 15]. Great milk, great family with a wonderful history. One of just a very few farms like theirs in milking cows and processing fluid milk that is left in our state.

‘Why I Read Seven Days’

The July 15 issue is a classic “why I read Seven Days” (and am a Super Reader). In back-to-back stories, you featured two institutions that make Vermont Vermont. First, the piece on the Vermont Green FC women’s team [“Squad Goals: Fans Rally to Support the Inaugural Season of the Vermont Green FC Women’s Team”]. I’ve been a men’s season ticket holder for four years and was lucky enough to win the lottery for a women’s season ticket for this epic inaugural season. They have played with grace, hustle and aplomb in every match to win the hearts of the sellout crowds.

Then you turn the page, and the Monument Farms story [“Dairy Kings”] showed me why I’ve been buying this milk almost exclusively for the past decade-plus. Back in the day, we’d seek out bars that had Switchback Brewing beer on tap. Now I try to shop where I know I can find Monument Farms milk.

And to have it written by another Vermont treasure: Melissa Pasanen. When I’m reading one of your food stories, there’s always a descriptive phrase that makes me seek out the byline. Most of the time it’s by Melissa (who actually got me to try gefilte fish! Once!).

‘Car Brain’ Kills

Thank you for your coverage of the heartbreaking killing of Shiloh Skalka [“Teen Cyclist Killed in Collision With Minivan in Burlington,” July 17]. I did not know her or her family but am devastated to know that she was hit and killed while biking in my neighborhood. 

I am also devastated by the online comments I have read on other news outlets’ coverage of this story. It is genuinely appalling to see how many people in our community feel that death is an acceptable or reasonable outcome for anyone who dares to ride a bike on the road, and I am infuriated by the persistent focus on whether the bicycle Shiloh was riding had an electric battery, as if that somehow justifies her life being snatched away. 

It is clear that we are not doing enough to combat the “car brain” that is rampant in our community, causing generally tolerable people to lose all respect for the well-being of their fellow humans as soon as they are required to imagine sharing the road with those humans.

I sincerely hope that Shiloh’s family and friends are eventually able to find some solace in their grief, and I further hope that Burlington can become a city where the homicide of a high school girl elicits compassion instead of a torrent of disgusting car-brained victim-blaming. We have a long way to go.

Road and Ruin

The opening of the wasteful Champlain Parkway is nothing to celebrate [“Road Not Taken: Burlington Officials Celebrated the Champlain Parkway as a Testament to Public Process. Some Critics Still Question Its Worth,” July 8]. Former mayor Miro Weinberger and Public Works Director Chapin Spencer should be tarred and feathered for this waste of taxpayer money. Shame on Burlington for allowing the road to be finished.

No one talks about the negative impacts of this road on both South Burlington and Burlington residents. They include the difficulty of emergency services to get to anyone west of Pine Street. Residents south of Home Avenue are forced to travel more dangerous routes to go south.

The Howard Center Baird School cannot bring students to South Burlington’s Red Rocks Park to use the beach in the summer; there is no pedestrian access across. Having to use Shelburne Road is extremely dangerous, cars do not like stopping for red lights, and have you tried driving Queen City Park Road lately?!

My neighborhood of Queen City Park no longer gets city bus service, thanks to this road. None of the Burlington officials mentions the environmental impacts to wildlife, nor the thousands of trees they cut down to build this monstrosity.

Choose Grossman

[Re “Community Activist Grossman Launches Bid for Vermont Senate,” March 9, online]: Folks, it’s time to choose our representatives in the Senate. I was an elected local official in South Burlington for a good long time — 14 years — long enough to know most of the people on the candidate list through and through.

I respect anyone willing to serve and know personally the sacrifices they make. Elected officials have a key position, and we give them our voice to make policy on our behalf.

If you vote Democrat, think about what is most important to you. Is it community and community building? Is it the community provided through our public schools? Is it health care over profits? Is it secure housing that people can afford? Our small businesses? Is it our natural areas, streams and lake, which will sustain us well into the future so that our communities can thrive?

If your answer is yes, I urge you to vote for Joanna Grossman. She has the heart, the mind and the guts to fight for us, our values, ideas and enterprise. She actively listens, seeking to learn from us and others how to accomplish these goals most effectively, responsibly, sustainably. She is in this for future generations of Vermonters, our children and grandchildren, whose well-being depends on what we do now.

Don’t sit this one out or vote for the status quo. Vote for what you know most matters to us now and tomorrow.

Grossman’s Deception

The article “Community Activist Grossman Launches Bid for Vermont Senate” [March 9] came out before any recognition that Joanna Grossman had deleted her social media posts.

Deleting those posts erased her organizing activities from public view. However, the posts had been preserved as screenshots by members of Jewish Voice for Peace.

Those screenshots reveal that Grossman organized and led a pressure campaign against U.S. Rep. Becca Balint for voting no on a bill for aid to Israel. They show that she mobilized people against a ceasefire resolution in Hartford; for a new federal definition of antisemitism designed to chill speech critical of Israel’s government; and against a boycott resolution up for consideration by the Burlington City Council.

I called attention to her organizing and asked a question related to these issues at a recent Senate candidate forum. Grossman responded not by defending her record but by accusing me of antisemitism and of attacking her Jewish heritage.

That response is a problem. Deleting posts and then claiming victimhood when their substance is revealed is an evasion of accountability.

Voters have every right to know where a candidate stands, especially on issues that affect our tax dollars, U.S. policy and 2 million human lives in Gaza.

According to a Quinnipiac University poll, 60 percent of U.S. voters support halting military aid to Israel, and 77 percent of Democrats believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

Many Jews — including myself — hold to a Jewish heritage that includes a commitment to equal rights and human dignity for all people.

Clavelle on Gamelin

Prior to being elected mayor of Burlington, I served as executive director of the Vermont Department of State’s Attorneys and Sheriffs. The office and role of the Chittenden County sheriff is a very serious one. The sheriff is responsible for police patrols; transporting prisoners between jails and courts; and providing safety and security at roadside construction sites, nonprofit organizations, businesses and courthouses. The sheriff is also responsible for serving official legal papers. Our county depends on an experienced and serious professional to run the office. As stated in [“New Sheriff in Town?” July 22], “The candidates are a study in contrasts.”

I have known and worked with Sheriff Dan Gamelin for over 40 years. He is capable, compassionate and experienced and has the training and expertise to keep the Chittenden County Sheriff’s Office functioning at a very high level, delivering reliable and professional services to our community. That is what our community needs from our local sheriff, and that is what Dan delivers. He has served our county well and deserves to be reelected.

McLaren for LG

[Re “LG Hopeful McLaren Says Democratic Party Showed Bias,” April 6; “Vying for LG, Gray and McLaren Raise Similar Amounts of Money,” March 16, online]: I have been involved in Vermont politics for nearly three decades and have witnessed up close the strengths and foibles of countless politicians. I am also familiar with the attempts of party insiders to manipulate electoral outcomes on behalf of favored candidates. There are two main types of politicians: those who participate because they seek power and prestige, and those who work to promote progress on behalf of the people they are elected to serve.

Ryan McLaren is running for lieutenant governor because he genuinely believes politics is a public service that demands a commitment to placing the public good ahead of personal ambition. His entire life has been dedicated to serving others: working for AmeriCorps, in Vermont state government and for U.S. Sen. Peter Welch; serving on his local school boards; and coaching youth sports. Even after a catastrophic accident left him paralyzed, Ryan continued his work and is raising a family in the town where he grew up.

Ryan will use the office of lieutenant governor as an opportunity to advocate for Vermonters whose interests are too often undermined by the constant pressure and influence exerted by high-priced lobbyists. Ryan will be an advocate for the people, not the privileged.

Gray’s Way

[Re “LG Hopeful McLaren Says Democratic Party Showed Bias,” April 6; “Vying for LG, Gray and McLaren Raise Similar Amounts of Money,” March 16, online]: I worked closely with Molly Gray when she was executive director of the Vermont Afghan Alliance. In three years, Molly built it from a volunteer-led, GoFundMe-funded program into a statewide organization that quickly helped the 650-plus Afghan allies living in our state who risked everything working for our government in their home country.

She talks about growing the Vermont tax base and workforce and did just that at the Afghan Alliance. Molly trained and employed Afghan community members and launched successful programs to support employment and housing placement, driving lessons, immigration legal services, and more.

While attorneys don’t always rank among the most beloved professions, this is a time when having those skills matters. Molly served as an assistant attorney general. She can help Vermont hold the line, like she did at the Afghan Alliance.

When President Donald Trump tried to defund the alliance, Molly fought back and secured the support needed to keep our promise to Afghan allies.

When Trump and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement started detaining people, she stood up for Afghans, ensuring they had immigration attorneys, and she helped free an Afghan man held by ICE from deportation back to Afghanistan.

She’ll use those same skills to protect every Vermonter’s fundamental rights and interests.

I’ll be supporting Molly Gray, whose credentials, experience and professionalism are exactly what an average Vermonter like me needs in our lieutenant governor.

George Must Go

[Re “Pleading Their Case: Bram Kranichfeld Says He Should Be Chittenden County’s Next State’s Attorney. Reform-Minded Incumbent Sarah George Objects,” July 1]: When casting my ballot on August 11, I just need to ask myself one thing: Does Burlington feel safer over the past nine years, or does it feel much, much more dangerous?

I have lived in Burlington for nearly 30 years and have never seen our city in such rough shape. Drug addicts, homeless people and criminals have taken over our city, taken over our parks. In the past two weeks I have encountered three dangerous situations while walking in downtown Burlington with my 8-year-old daughter.

One of them was last week: Minutes before my daughter was about to perform with Very Merry Theatre in front of Fletcher Free Library, two drug addicts were screaming and fighting with each other right next to the theater wagon. They were screaming about stolen goods and missing drugs. It made the kids and audience very uneasy. This is a normal scene for downtown. It happens every day. What has happened to our great city?

We need accountability, and we need it now. We need to take the kid gloves off and hold people accountable for breaking the law. I am so tired of my kid seeing open drug use downtown.

Bram Kranichfeld will work hard to support victims and survivors, strengthen the path to treatment and recovery, and make sure restorative justice programs include accountability.

‘Frightful Situation’

On August 11, please vote Bram Kranichfeld for Chittenden County state’s attorney [“Pleading Their Case,” July 1]. Like incumbent State’s Attorney Sarah George, Bram cares about people in crisis. As state’s attorney in Franklin County, he gained a solid reputation helping addicts and the mentally ill get help they desperately need. But that doesn’t give anyone in our society a free pass to harm innocent people, game the judicial system or inflict damage on their communities. Innocent people and victims have rights, too.

We all know something is terribly wrong when a recent local public safety poll found 68 percent of likely voters feel “unsafe walking alone in downtown Burlington at night.”

Regardless of your political persuasion, none of us should feel comfortable allowing this frightful situation to continue for another four years.

Bram strongly believes that everyone must be held accountable for their actions. From day one, his office will work closely with law enforcement, courts and municipalities to take decisive action against traffickers of street drugs, repeat offenders, vandals who deface public property, and those who damage our businesses and communities.

His office will demand that offenders charged with a crime show up before a judge. Weak excuses will not be tolerated. Based on common sense and long experience in judicial proceedings, Bram knows that requesting a cash bail greatly improves chances that one charged with a crime will not skip his day in court. It only happens when offenders have skin in the game.

Burlington Needs Change

[Re “Pleading Their Case,” July 1]: We can’t have nice things like safer parks, libraries, concerts and covered bus stops because, through ideology and policy, we’ve chosen to become a low-trust society to signal our enlightenment. It would be great if it worked, but it doesn’t. Just ask your friends in Seattle, San Francisco or Portland, Ore. These cities share similar legal philosophies, and they’ve failed with far more resources, but we’re going to succeed with less? Please.

Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George’s approach has a similar high tolerance for social disorder and has let roughly 300 individuals dominate Burlington because she hasn’t prioritized community safety or a healthy social and business environment.

She also supported terrible ideas, such as decriminalizing drugs in the way that Oregon tried, but it failed so horribly that they had to rescind the law. George also responded in a previous candidate debate that she could consider supporting a city tax to make retailers whole for shoplifting. Imagine that, paying more taxes for consequences that could have been avoided with effective law enforcement? I’d prefer a state’s attorney who consistently enforces the law. That’s why I’m voting for Bram Kranichfeld. He emphasizes accountability and a safer Burlington with far less of the ideology and policies that don’t work in reality.

We will never be back as a city until George’s policies are replaced and the heart of Burlington is no longer blighted. Until then, we can’t have nice things.

Day in Court

After reading your cover story [“Pleading Their Case,” July 1], I visited the Chittenden Superior Court to see what actually happens there. The prosecuting attorney was Sarah George. Defendants had public defenders.

Someone from Howard Center was in court and talked to most of the defendants about support programs they already were in or could get in. About half the defendants were “weeklies” who must come in every week to confirm that they are in good standing with their agreed-upon help program. A no-show gets an arrest warrant, and once apprehended the person must post bail to avoid jail. (None of this population can afford to post bail, so bail effectively means jail.) If they are not in good standing in their support program, they will go to jail. Any new arrest means jail.

Some other defendants re­–quested “weekly” status, which was granted.

One man had previously promised to get into one or more programs but failed to keep any of his promises. Ms. George argued vigorously for jail. His attorney argued vigorously for one more chance. The judge gave him five more days to get into a suitable program and reappear in court. The judge was clear that if he failed, he would go to jail.

Overall, I felt the court was neither too harsh nor too lenient. The emphasis was on keeping people out of jail, but only if they behaved.

I have no idea if what I saw that day was typical. Anyone can go and have a look; the court is open.

Correction

Last week’s story “Home, Ski Home” reported the wrong anticipated opening date for the new housing at Bolton Valley Resort. Some units could open next year.

This article appears in July 29 • 2026.