Good Explanation

[Re “Bid Trouble: The Flood-Prone Federal Building in Montpelier Is Being Auctioned Off. Some Worry Potential Buyers Aren’t Getting the Full Story About Its Flaws,” June 10]: Well done, Hannah Bassett. You managed to take a really complicated problem and make it understandable. Thank you for that reporting.

So Long, Ida

[Re “Pizzeria Ida Announces Move to Manhattan,” June 9]: On Monday, June 8, the owners of Pizzeria Ida posted on Instagram: “8 years in business in vermont and we are maxed out and need a larger market. our product deserves a shot in a real food town.”

I had the opportunity to eat at Ida a couple of times when it first opened. Although I did enjoy the experience, myself and the other food rubes I was with (let’s call us “froobs”) were definitely not sophisticated enough to truly appreciate the skill that produced such a masterful combination of bread and cheese. Ida has truly brought the Olive Garden breadstick to a whole new level. I tried to go back to Ida a couple of times, but my wallet, quaking in fear, wriggled up my butt in a desperate attempt to escape.

I can see how the larger population in New York City might offer more opportunities, as there is only a thin slice (!) of the population that can both afford such a delicacy and would actually be willing to pay for it.

So, good luck to Ida. I hope you are able to escape Vermont and find the audience you so desperately need.

The sooner the better, I’d say.

‘Respect’ on Top

[Re “Pizzeria Ida Announces Move to Manhattan,” June 9]: Pineapple, anchovies, sweet corn: The debate over appropriate pizza toppings may rage on forever. One thing that goes great on any pizza? Respect.

Look, this city is spoiled for choice when it comes to pies. And I believe that a slice of pizza is only as good as the people you eat it with and the people you get it from.

That’s why Ida’s departure doesn’t faze me. I’ve been doing Friday-night pizza for 35 years, but I’ll take kind folks over great ’za any day of the week. Now let’s dig in!

Not Funny

Tim Newcomb’s cartoon from the June 3 issue implies Gov. Phil Scott has approved nuke plants to power data centers he has also approved. While I would like to believe Newcomb is just yanking our collective cranks, the very idea makes me edgy. I read Seven Days weekly. My wife gets the daily newsletter. I listen to Vermont Public, read VTDigger and watch WPTZ news, yet I cannot recall any mention of data centers in the past year.

Credit: Tim Newcomb

Does Newcomb know something we don’t know?

With the problems data centers create and the very public pushback from affected communities, this doesn’t seem like something that should be joked about.

Rodeo Hurts Animals

[Re “Vermont’s Youth Rodeo Team Prepares for a Trip to Nationals,” June 5]: As a former bareback bronc rider, pathologist and large animal veterinarian, I have both the experience and autopsy proof that rodeo injures and kills animals. Dr. Robert Bay from Colorado autopsied roping calves and found hemorrhages, torn muscles, torn ligaments, damage to the trachea, damage to the throat and damage to the thyroid. These calves never get a chance to heal before they are used again. 

Dr. C.G. Haber, a veterinarian with 30 years of experience as a U.S. Department of Agriculture meat inspector, stated, “The rodeo folks send their animals to the packing houses, where I have seen cattle so extensively bruised that the only areas in which the skin was attached was the head, neck, legs, and belly. I have seen animals with six to eight ribs broken from the spine and at times puncturing the lungs. I have seen as much as two and three gallons of free blood accumulated under the detached skin.”

Animals and humans share the same pain and fear centers in the brain. The fear center is the amygdala. The pain centers are the prefrontal cortex and the hypothalamus. Animals feel pain and fear the same as humans!

I’m a former state criminal lawyer. We prosecutors have all had cases where criminals abused and tortured animals before abusing or killing humans. What are we teaching our children when we cheer as a calf roper knocks down and drags by the neck a bawling calf? Kids cry at rodeos. Time to end animal abuse at rodeos.

Tax ‘Fairness’ Question

I was interested in Clifford Morgan’s letter [Feedback: “‘Income Sensitivity’ for Some,” May 20]. Though I have never heard any discussion of the matter, would not the fairness doctrine dictate that if you have received a subsidy on your property taxes while your home continues to appreciate with the market, it would only be fair to repay some of that subsidy upon the sale of the home?

For instance, an owner who has received property tax help on their home valued 20 years ago at $150,000 and now worth $450,000 (not an unusual case) should be required to repay some or all of that help upon sale.

Does not the fairness doctrine suggest that is reasonable?

‘Ask The Hard Questions’

[Re “Senate and House Approve Key Education Bills, Paving Way for Governor’s Signature,” May 29, online]: Too bad you can’t or won’t answer the big questions on every tax-paying homeowner’s mind: How much is the tax rate going to be? Is it going up, and at what percentage? Is the state homestead going to remain the same or not? When are the state people going to give us answers that matter to us now, not three years from now? How about asking and answering those questions?

Goody for Woodstock. Having that info doesn’t help the rest of us. I think we have waited long enough for the people in office to fix this mess and for reporters to get the answers from them. Stop being polite, and ask the hard questions. The voters need answers. At 80, I really don’t have time for this.

Next question you might ask: Do we really want to copy state education operations like those in New Jersey?

Superfund Folly

For goodness’ sake, Burlington replaced its high school because a little gas was emanating from the building materials. Now there is a plan to build housing on one of the worst Superfund sites in Vermont [“Housing Planned for Property Near Burlington’s Pine Street Barge Canal,” May 26, online]. It’s unbelievable. Think of the potential lawsuits!

Welcome Newcomers

Vermont has always been at its best when we choose openness over fear and abundance over scarcity. Reading Seven Days’ recent reporting on Migrant Justice [“From Farm to Front Line,” May 27] and the farmworkers who keep our dairy economy alive, I was reminded once again how much of our state’s future depends on the people who come here seeking safety, dignity and the chance to contribute.

The work being done across Vermont — from rapid-response networks to farmworker-led labor standards — is not just morally right; it is economically essential. Our hospitals, schools, farms and small businesses all rely on newcomers. And the national picture makes this clearer than ever. According to the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, conflict-driven displacement reached 32.3 million people in 2025, the highest ever recorded. At the same time, federal pathways for legal immigration have constricted dramatically, leaving states like ours feeling the strain.

Vermont cannot afford to lose the very people who help our communities thrive. When we welcome refugees, international students and migrant workers, we are not doing charity — we are investing in our shared future. We are choosing to remain the kind of state that believes in opportunity, fairness and the simple truth that people are our greatest resource.

In moments like this, Vermont’s example matters. Let’s continue to lead with compassion, clarity and the confidence that our best days are ahead — if we remain a place where newcomers can put down roots and help build what comes next.

Legal Immigration Is OK

[Re “‘We Don’t Have New Families’: Schools and Employers Are Feeling the Impact of Trump’s Crackdown on Refugee Resettlement,” April 22; Feedback: “Immigration Is an Opportunity,” May 27]: President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown does not affect legal immigration.

The U.S. issues approximately 1 million green cards annually. Roughly half of these are new immigrants entering from abroad. The other half are individuals who were already residing in the country and are adjusting their status.

Additionally, we have approximately 2 million to 2.5 million temporary visa holders (e.g., agricultural and specialized workers, international students, and exchange visitors) at any given time.

A portion of the authorized arrivals consists of individuals admitted through specific humanitarian programs, such as refugee resettlement and temporary legal admittance.

Instead of reacting to anti-ICE hysteria, consider visiting the USAFacts authorized immigration report or the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s immigration statistics portal.

The illegal immigrant crackdown is on unvetted entrants who snuck or were transported across our borders, mostly during the Biden administration.

According to the independent Pew Research Center, the unauthorized immigrant population reached an all-time high of 14 million in 2023.

No ‘Forest Engineering’

[“Burning Question: Federal Officials Are Drafting an Ecological Restoration Plan to Bring Prescribed Fires to an Addison County Forest,” May 27] repeats many dubious claims made by advocates of cutting and burning intact forests in Vermont.

These advocates contend that oak forests are “fire-adapted” and need to be burned to “renew” them. This is a baseless claim.

Although oaks have been uncommon for thousands of years in today’s Green Mountain National Forest, they can be found on some dry, south-facing slopes. But there is no credible evidence that they need recurrent burning to persist.

Indeed, large fires were rare in Vermont before European settlement. Then, in the 1800s and early 1900s, settlers cleared the old-growth forest and left flammable slash and scrub, which repeatedly burned. As forests have grown back over the past century, significant wildfires are once again rare.

Despite this, we are told that wildfires are not only a major threat in Vermont but also are increasing. The supposed solution is prescribed burning.

There is no credible evidence that the threat is real. But even if wildfires were a serious danger, as in parts of the West, we are learning that the most effective way to respond is by making homes less flammable, not by cutting and burning backcountry forests.

The term “forest engineering” accurately describes this kind of management. These projects are not “renewing” natural ecosystems. Instead, they are creating artificially engineered landscapes that require perpetual, intensive human intervention to maintain them.

The public is forced to pay to cut and burn our own national forest.

Grok: Not a Chatbot

Grok, the raven who lives in our woods,
Noisy at this time of year,
Wings spread wide and beak out stood;
Though dark, he brings me good cheer.

Who is he calling? Why does he waste
His baritone voice in our forest?
Over and over with no lack of grace;
Alone, not part of a chorus.

He quotes not the poets, nor Shakespeare, nor Kant,
Yet he brings back memories of yore.
I’m glad that he’s chosen my forest to haunt;
Perhaps he’s lost his Lenore.

Low-pitched his squawk, from his now leafy lair,
Is it to me that he wishes to talk?
Does he know that I’m here, does he sense, does he care?
I hear you, old Raven Grok.

Correction

Last week’s news story “Bid Trouble,” about plans for the federal building in Montpelier, misidentified one of the experts at Stone Environmental. His name is Dan Voisin.

This article appears in June 17 • 2026.