Letters to the Editor (4/5/23) 

Pandemic Not Over

[Re From the Publisher, "Write of Passage," March 22]: Paula Routly stated "...the pandemic is officially over." Wow, that sounds so definite. I hadn't heard. I knew President Joe Biden decided to end the federal emergency on May 11, but who said the COVID-19 pandemic is over? I started searching online. Apparently, it is not over. Keep your masks handy. You may even want to keep using them, especially if you are older or otherwise immunocompromised, or if you are living with or visiting someone who is.

According to an article in the Hill on March 9, 2023, "Is the Pandemic Over?," Dr. William Moss, executive director of the International Vaccine Access Center and a professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said there are still more than 2,000 deaths a week from COVID-19 in the United States. There are also 20,000 to 30,000 people in U.S. hospitals with COVID-19 at any given time.

Fortune also has a good article from January 30, 2023, "Believe It or Not, It's Still Officially a Pandemic, the WHO Says. Welcome to Year 4 of COVID." You can google it and find many reliable sources that say the same thing.

Let's keep each other safe and not spread hopeful — but misleading and potentially harmful — news.

Tree Spaulding

Burlington

Editor's note: Routly was referencing President Biden's February 10 announcement about the public health emergency ending in May: "Today, we are in a different phase of the response to that pandemic than we were in March of 2020, and my administration is planning for an end to the national emergency, but an orderly transition is critical to the health and safety of the nation."

'Chillingly Dickensian' Image

The young child pulling the Brattleboro motel drapes aside to peer out at the world ["No Return," March 22] on page 18 is chillingly Dickensian. Like the "Ghost of Christmas Present," she calls us in her innocence to recognize the cost of want, ignorance and addiction that is now and will be paid in many ways by those with no ability at all to control or improve their lot in life. This picture should haunt us all.

Richard Pecor

Colchester

Study Legislative Pay

It's been several years since I served in the Vermont Senate. Many of my colleagues were serious policy makers whom I admire to this day and who spent little or no time counting the costs of service.

In the years since my service, I've made little criticism of any legislature in service. Until now. The news in the March 22 issue of Seven Days ["Vermont Lawmakers Are Preparing to Double Their Salaries"] leaves me angry and disappointed.

That the just-elected legislature is hastening, feverishly, to turn its public service into self-service will smear the fine reputation that legislative service has had in Vermont. This doesn't mean that legislative service should not be remunerated; it does mean don't use your power to get into the state treasury with a shovel.

Rep. Ashley Bartley of Fairfax claims she lost her job because of trying to "juggle" the job and legislative service. No! Check the Vermont statutes — 21 V.S.A. § 496. The statute protects legislators to hold jobs if they need to take a leave.

I suggest that the governor, or some neutral entity, form a commission to study legislative pay and benefits and report to the legislature. (My little town of Charlotte does this. Then voters say yes or no.) That, at least, will free policy makers of the charge of feathering their own nest because they have the power to do so.

J. Dennis Delaney

Charlotte

Delaney served as a Republican state senator representing Chittenden County from 1983 to 1988 and 1991 to 1996.

Legislators Deserve More

Thanks to Kevin McCallum for his story "Vermont Lawmakers Are Preparing to Double Their Salaries" [March 22]. I empathize with Rep. Ashley Bartley on losing her job and her health insurance after she became a legislator. This is criminal.

It is also not unusual in Vermont. Rep. Bartley is perhaps the state's most high-profile victim of it. I, too, have been subjected to it. I once lost my job, and my health insurance with it, after a life-threatening illness. I had become a medical loss for the company's insurer. My sickness cost them money.

I support S.39 for all the reasons given in McCallum's article. Our legislators work hard for us, often against impossible odds. It is reprehensible that the pay is so low and they lack these other things.

Yet, as S.39 weaves its way through the process, the heath care part is particularly galling. To date, our legislature (though not all members, of course) has consistently and emphatically denied the health care they seek for themselves in S.39 for the rest of us, the very "Vermont working families" of whom Rep. Bartley spoke so fondly, who will have to pick up the bill's tab. Meanwhile, two bills that would provide universal primary care for "Vermont working families" and all Vermonters still idle away on the walls of the health care committee rooms.

This is also criminal. How does leadership justify this?

Walter Carpenter

Montpelier

Return the Money

[Re "Feds: Crypto Execs Schemed to Donate to 'Woke Shit,' So a PAC Got $1 Million to Back Balint," February 23]: Once again, we are made aware of the hijacking of our elections by politicians with questionable morals. They are being put in office to ply their personal agendas and do the bidding for the sleazy lobbyists who slither from office to office. They act like the sycophants they are and appeal to the narcissistic impulses of these fools in the legislature.

U.S. Rep. Becca Balint and U.S. Sen. Peter Welch should give that money back to the donors, not the charity of their choice. Investors lost their money to theft, just like the LGBTQ PAC knew when it put the red box on the website for the candidates. Derek Brouwer and Sasha Goldstein deserve an award for that. The print and TV news won't tell this story. Pete and Becca should hide their faces. That is election theft.

Gordon Spencer

Lowell

Class Act

An English teacher at Proctor High School, Sarah Cheney, instructed students in her "Writing for the Workforce" class to submit letters to the editor. Here are some of their submissions. Read more about the students in deputy publisher Cathy Resmer's column on page 13.

I read your article "Black High School Athletes Speak Out About Racism in Vermont Sports" [February 1]. I believe it is wrong to discriminate against people. It is in a public place with families and kids around, and when they hear words of discrimination, they will then think it's OK to say those things.

Discriminating against people playing a sport using foul language will not be tolerated and should get you banned from all sports events for the rest of the year.

I am a student athlete, and, while playing, I hear racial slurs that don't make me feel good; it makes me want to quit playing the sport I love. Sometimes I hear different teams saying slurs to each other, and it usually gets heated between the two teams. They start playing nasty with each other, and the game gets out of hand. In some cases, I have heard fans discriminating against players and yelling racial slurs at a team that had African American players.

Riley Cannucci

Proctor

I was reading about the recent events that occurred at a middle school basketball game that led to the decision to ban fans for the rest of the season ["After Alburgh Brawl, School District Bans Fans From Basketball Games," February 2]. As a student athlete, I am disappointed in the actions of the spectators of this event. These events clearly show that many parents and fans need to catch up on the point of school-sanctioned athletics.

Team sports teach students and athletes many lasting life lessons that can be applied to various areas of life, such as the value of hard work, teamwork, sportsmanship and respect. These values are most important to be learned at lower levels, such as middle school sports.

Events such as what happened at the Alburgh seventh and eighth grade boys' game only take away from these lessons and display the exact opposite of what athletics should teach students. This behavior is unacceptable at any level, especially in middle school.

To ensure that behavior such as this is not displayed again, spectators and parents of athletes need to do better. These games at the middle school level are not about the spectators. The lessons learned are more important than the outcome of the games.

Aidan Page

Chittenden

I am a high school athlete in 12th grade. I play basketball and baseball and have experienced some fan altercations during the games.

I read your article "Alburgh Man Dies After Brawl at Middle School Basketball Game" [February 1], and it made me think about how, in high school sports games, parents should not yell or get into fights. It's unacceptable.

Fans should relax at school sports games. Parents should be mature enough not to scream at the refs, coaches or players. I understand the game gets competitive. But let the players play, the coaches coach and the refs officiate. Limit how many people are allowed at games. If the problems get worse, ban the fans from coming.

I play sports. I have for my whole life. Parents do yell and scream quite a bit. I have never seen a fight between fans. I have heard about parents getting heated in games and videos. There have been a few altercations between players. I understand that refs make "bad" calls once in a while, but they are human. The refs are human and make mistakes just like everyone else. The kids are out there to have fun and to be competitive. Fans need to remember that!

Jacob Patch

Rutland

[Re "Alburgh Man Dies After Brawl at Middle School Basketball Game," February 1]: As a student athlete, I think that if parents can't control themselves, they need to be banned from high school sports in Vermont. A man died after a middle school basketball game in Alburgh. No one would be dead if parents wouldn't fight.

Think of during the pandemic, when there were no fans in varsity high school basketball games. It was quiet, but there wasn't any fighting going around or complaints. Parents need to be quiet and watch; let the players play, coaches coach and refs officiate.

If a kid is not going in the game, then that's on them for not putting in work like the rest of the team. Instead of yelling or complaining, parents should work with the player to get better. Parents are putting their kids in danger and ruining their season.

Chase Razanouski

Proctor

I was reading the article "Vermont House Advances Shield Law for Reproductive Care Providers" [February 9], and it made me glad to read that Vermont's moving so quickly to give protection to reproductive care providers.

When Roe v. Wade was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, it seemed as if the world had flipped in seconds. Nothing seemed right anymore. However, to know that Vermont is becoming a safer place for many is a relief.

To feel safe in a world full of such chaos is a feeling that is almost indescribable. To know that the people who are in Vermont are lucky in some cases, such as this, when others may not be, makes one look at their life through another lens.

Maura Thompson

Rutland