Letters to the Editor (8/16/23)

Fuels and Floods Don’t Mix

[Re “Vermont Officials Warn: Stay Out of Rivers, Floodwaters,” July 12, online]: During the July flood, I watched and smelled thousands of gallons of basement water drain from downtown buildings that were polluted with fossil fuels from heating sources. All of this water will eventually end up in our rivers and lakes. Getting fossil fuels out of flood zones and replaced by cleaner sources is critical as Vermont rebuilds. The clean heat standard that the Vermont legislature just passed strives to help Vermont businesses and homes get off dirty fossil fuel heating sources [“Lawmakers Override Scott to Make the Clean Heat Bill Law,” May 11, online]. The inundation of these fossil fuel-based heating systems provides an opportunity to upgrade to cleaner sources as we rebuild, while also reducing the carbon pollution that contributed to the climate chaos that caused so much damage.

Joslyn Wilschek

Montpelier

View From a Jew

[Re Feedback: “Adieu, Québec,” July 12]: I really object to Kenneth Saxe’s recent letter about his experience living in Québec. I am an 81-year-old Jewish Québecer — born in Québec, as were my parents. I practice law in Québec and have for 56 years. I have construction companies in Québec and real estate operations in Vermont.

I have never found any prejudice or lack of respect from my francophone associates or competitors.

If you know anything about people, you would know that all the French Canadians want is a heritage and culture similar to what the Jewish people want in Israel. For example: the respect that the French Canadians showed when Michael Penner, a Jew, was named the chair of the board of Hydro-Québec.

I could name more instances when the Jewish people have been respected and revered, such as the millions that Québec has recently given to the new Holocaust center and Jewish General Hospital.

It is people like you who are not tolerant and don’t understand the pride that an ethnic group feels about its heritage and culture. I bet you probably think that Florida, with its politics, is paradise.

Bill Mauer

Westmount, Québec

Cash for Cannabis Ops

I read your news articles about the efforts to provide help for families, farmers and other businesses affected by the recent catastrophic flooding — and how cannabis farmers and retailers are not eligible [“Flower Outage: With No Federal Lifeline, Cannabis Businesses Count Their Flood Losses,” July 26]. Is there a way that individuals wanting to send a monetary donation can make sure it goes to a struggling cannabis farmer? Is there any organization or group of organizations specifically raising funds to benefit impacted cannabis farmers and cannabis establishments in need? Perhaps you could provide this information in a future issue of Seven Days?

Margo Howland

White River Junction

Editor’s note: Two groups are raising money specifically for flood-damaged cannabis businesses: the Cannabis Retailers Association of Vermont and the Vermont Growers Association. Some money raised from a festival hosted by the retailers association on September 15 and 16 in Cabot will also go to cannabis businesses.

The Real ‘Embarrassment’

In his letter to the editor [Feedback: “A Dark Place,” July 19] addressing “Vermont’s Relapse” [June 14], Galen Cassidy Peria said the current state of Burlington “is an embarrassment to the city of Burlington and the state of Vermont.”

Apologies that he feels so uncomfortable while he is seasonally working here and that Burlington no longer resembles the fond memories of his past. Imagine how the people who live here all the time feel, knowing that humans are suffering from addiction that stems from so many issues, including generational poverty and abuse — sexual, physical, verbal, emotional, neglect or all the above. Vermont has the third-highest rate of homelessness in the country per capita, second to Washington, D.C., and California, and pandemic housing came to a screeching halt in June.

Growing up in rural Vermont decades ago, I saw that the issues surrounding addiction mainly circled around alcohol and cocaine, but these have evolved into a beast that is seemingly impossible for people to conquer, and so many try.

We’re a small state. Consequently, issues will present as more concentrated in our largest town, especially with the rate of unhoused people here. But rest assured, this is happening state- and countrywide. You may not have it thrown in your face at the local transit center where you find yourself, but it’s there.

Whatever the issues may be, the abovementioned and more, the embarrassment is that Burlington and the rest of the country are becoming a place of the haves and the have-nots.

Meghan Brooks

Burlington

Centerpoint Is Essential

I was dismayed to learn of the upcoming closure of Centerpoint Adolescent Treatment Services [“Classes Dismissed? An Organization That Both Educates and Counsels Teens Is Poised to Close,” July 5]. With rising rates of teen depression, anxiety and substance use nationwide, access to quality services is critical. As a physician, I have worked with many families struggling to meet the needs of their children in this epidemic. As a parent, I have also experienced this issue firsthand.

Centerpoint understands this challenge. From Amanda at the intake desk, who regularly fields phone calls from families in crisis with warmth and understanding, to the quality counselors who help adolescents be heard and understood, they are a lifeline for many families and individuals in our community.

Budgets matter, but our youths are our future, and we must step up for them in their time of need. I believe that our health care system has lost its moral compass. As a society, we value technology and profit over human connection. We need to step back and look at the bigger picture regarding budgeting of resources.

I am glad that our legislators held a town hall meeting about youth mental health recently and was sorry I couldn’t attend. While I’m sure Northeastern Family Institute and Howard Center will do their best to provide some of the services that Centerpoint has offered, it is disheartening to see a creative beacon being dismantled.

I believe that we need to create a working group including members from schools, counseling services, medical providers, politicians and adolescents to brainstorm and push for meaningful change.

I’m in. Any takers?

Anne Knott

Burlington

Captain Blachly

What a wonderful article about Bill Blachly and Ann O’Brien [“Well Played: At 99, Bill Blachly Looks Back on 40 Years of Unadilla Theatre,” July 12]! Thank you so much!

I thought I might add that Bill owned a 31-foot catamaran named Ibis that he lived on and sailed throughout the Bahamas for many, many years. In fact, he would give “free” one-week cruising charters, with him as captain, on his boat for a “contribution” to Unadilla Theatre. That’s one way he helped to keep the theater alive financially for several years.

This is how I know Bill and Ann, as I lived for many years aboard my own boat and met them often in the Bahamas. It was always a memorable time, as one might well imagine about Bill. Once you have met him, you never forget him.

Marsha Fraser

Bridgewater Corners

Same Old, Same Old

I enjoyed your article on restaurant owners who garden [“Growing Their Own: Vermont Restaurateurs Add Vegetable Production to Their Long To-Do Lists,” July 26]. Back in 1970, when my husband, Steve, and I opened our first restaurant in East Montpelier, we had a big garden on the property that supplied vegetables and flowers for the restaurant. We also foraged for fiddle-necks, mushrooms, berries, etc. Over the next 20 years or so, we owned and operated several successful restaurants in central Vermont and continued to garden and forage for them. We also used locally sourced products when we could. Back then, nobody talked about farm-to-table, so we didn’t think it was anything unusual. It was just our way of life. I never expected it to become such a big deal.

Judith C. Jones

Englewood, FL