A Profile in Courage
Thank you for the brilliant article on the hard work and courage involved in the passing of the civil union bill in Vermont [“From This Day Forward,” April 23]. Kudos to all the brave souls involved. Courage is needed again as we face the attempted destruction of our government. May we meet with such success.
Susan Fowler
Essex
‘A Document to Treasure’
Thank you for the beautiful tribute to the 25th anniversary of civil unions and marriage equality (but please stop calling it “gay marriage!”) in Vermont [“From This Day Forward,” April 26].
The detailed history, photos and audio created a document to treasure and pass on with pride to our children.
My husband and I were thrilled to celebrate the anniversary at Middlebury College, along with movement leaders, fellow equality supporters and the brave couples whose stories touched so many hearts and opened so many minds.
It was a joy to see proof of the conviction that marriage equality would benefit untold numbers of men, women and children and harm no one at all.
From an impossible dream, equality has evolved into a happily unremarkable status quo. While many minds have remained unchanged on the subject, those that have changed have all moved from negative or uncertain to positive — a much-needed ray of light and inspiration in these very dark times.
Judy Olinick
Middlebury
Dilution Is No Solution
Thanks to John Dillon and Kevin McCallum for [“Flowing Downhill,” April 16]. Was S.45 drafted in response to the suits against the Vorsteveld farm in Panton? It won’t solve any problems and should not include pesticides as a protected agricultural practice.
The Vorsteveld farm is causing severe pollution problems in the lower Otter Creek watershed of Lake Champlain, contaminating community drinking water, damaging a neighbor’s property, and contributing to runoff into Dead Creek, Otter Creek and Lake Champlain.
I see the suits against this farm as arising directly from the model of dairy farming promoted by the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets: “Get big, or get out.” That model involves huge numbers of animals on one farm kept in barns, while manure, urine, cleaning chemicals, hoof-washing chemicals, drugs and pesticides have to go somewhere. Miles of perforated pipes installed under many acres of farmland draw off water, nutrients and pesticides into waters of the state. The whole system relies on calculations about the farm’s ability to manage its wastes.
Unfortunately, we are seeing “dilution as the solution for pollution.” The system is not working for anyone, not even farmers, and violates the Clean Water Act.
Removing pesticides from S.45 would acknowledge that pesticide movement off-site cannot be prevented by following the label or pesticide regulations. PFAS active ingredients in pesticides cannot continue as a protected agricultural practice. The roughly three tons of EPA-registered PFAS active pesticide ingredients used in 2022 in Vermont put us all in danger.
Sylvia Knight
Burlington
Abenaki Rights
As community members, colleagues to Vermont Abenaki and land grant university employees, we address Seven Days readers, responding to Abenaki Council of Odanak’s advertisement on April 2, 2025, along with similarly oriented event news since 2022. While disturbing “race-shifting” phenomena occurs worldwide and Québec Abenaki have valid claims to territory divided by colonial borders, to cancel all Abenaki people in Vermont, many of whom remained (not going north to Odanak), contributes to ongoing cultural genocide.
Vermont’s original peoples endured here, as evident in archaeological records and their lived experience. This campaign erases them and their history. Colonial evidence of “proper written records” is inadequate for people of oral traditions whose presence was hidden or omitted. Vermont Abenaki lost more than 90 percent of their people through land theft, eugenic assaults and hidden identity tactics. We encourage journalists to research and share balanced narratives so that Vermont’s settlers can unpack our colonial history.
To learn more, go to Abenaki events; meet Abenaki; listen to their stories; read books such as Trudy Ann Parker’s Aunt Sarah, William Haviland and Marjory Power’s The Original Vermonters, Colin Calloway’s Western Abenakis of Vermont, 1600-1800, Nancy Gallagher’s Breeding Better Vermonters: The Eugenics Project in the Green Mountain State, and Mercedes de Guardiola’s Vermont for the Vermonters; and research complex relationships such as those between early Odanak and Vermont Abenaki, and current Odanak Abenaki with Hydro-Québec.
It is alarming to witness Vermont media contribute to a false, simplistic narrative that all Vermont Abenaki are fake, denouncing their legitimacy. Hard-earned state recognition, despite colonial limitations, offers some rights in their ancestral homeland.
Jess Rubin
Burlington
Katherine Elmer
Winooski
Laura Hill
Burlington
‘Another Reason to Avoid Downtown’
Burlington’s director of public works emphasizes that there will be a few delineated times when parking downtown is free [Feedback: “Free Parking,” April 23]. What he does not mention is that his department just raised the parking meter fees by 33 percent. Combined with the interminable construction on Main Street, this is yet another reason for people to avoid downtown Burlington.
Louis Meyers
Shelburne
Free Advice
Responding to the article “65 Candles” [From the Publisher, April 2], regarding Medicare, I’d like to say the councils on aging are an excellent place to get help in navigating Medicare, whether you are just applying or need help with a plan or would like to change plans during the annual enrollment period, from October to December.
It is absolutely free to get this advice — no need to pay $125 an hour — and they are not motivated by money.
I made the mistake of doing enrollment on my own, and I have to say it was overwhelming.
I landed in Supplement C, Part F, which for me was a good thing. I picked AARP for Part D, aka prescriptions. The following year the Central Vermont Council on Aging advised me to switch for Part D to a cheaper plan because I have all generic medicines and a lot of medical needs. I chose F, a higher-cost inclusive plan with high premium and no copay. It’s right for me, as I have high medical costs.
Examine what your costs are before you decide on any plans. Another caveat: My plan greatly increased in cost over the years, so I called the Council on Aging and its staff said I shouldn’t switch because of preexisting conditions.
I thought that had gone away!
Lise Ewald
Montpelier
This article appears in May 7-13, 2025.
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