Letters to the Editor (4/26/23) 

No Cannabis Cartoon

Thank you, Seven Days, for not using your long-running cannabis cartoon person [in the April 19 issue]. I appreciate that you continue to cover important news stories regarding the cannabis market but that even the issue that spans 4/20 didn't blazon a cartoon persona prominently. I'm old enough to remember the "Joe Camel" fights over cigarette advertising and would like to keep marijuana for and targeting adults. Leaf-head always skirted a little too close to attracting a younger audience.

Luke Donforth

Burlington

Our Gov Could Be Worse

[Re Newcomb: "VT Groundhog Day! Punxywhatever Phil Predicts...," February 1]: I personally find the cartoon depicting Gov. Phil Scott as a groundhog to be tasteless. It does not surprise me, considering the political tone in this country. Yet, at the same time, I thought Vermont was better than this.

I have some advice for fellow Democrats: Don't get too uppity. Vermont could have a governor like Ron DeSantis of Florida, Brian Kemp of Georgia or Greg Abbott of Texas, to name but a few.

Fellow Democrats: Work with other legislators, regardless of party. Do the right thing for Vermont and its people. Let's be a model for the rest of the country.

I have never met Scott, but he seems like a nice person, one you can work with, as opposed to a fascist one. Nice matters. Be careful what you wish for.

Claire Johnson Croft

Bakersfield

Hot Air

[Re Feedback: "Clean Heat 'Fraud,'" March 1; "Senate Committee Advances the Latest Clean Heat Bill," February 17, online]: As a result of multiple complaints about heat pumps, the Vermont Department of Public Safety was ordered by the Vermont legislature to hire a consultant, Cadmus, which found:• The annual energy cost savings were $200 per year, but annual maintenance and amortizing costs would turn that gain into a loss of at least $200 per year. Not included are the monthly electricity bills, maintenance contract fees, incidental repairs, unscheduled outages and annual loan payments.• Heat pumps would not be effective if used in average Vermont houses, which comprise about 90 percent of the state's housing stock. Also noted:• Electricity bills increased significantly.• Efficiency dropped off markedly, while cost rose.• At low temperatures, the cost of operating heat pumps exceeded the cost of a traditional heating system.

Apparently, the legislature never read — or it buried — the study it mandated.

Consumer Reports found that "on average, around half of heat pumps are likely to experience a break by the end of the eighth year of ownership, which is about the midpoint of the expected life of the system. Our members said they expect their heat pumps to last a median of 15 years."

According to the Burlington Electric Department, Efficiency Vermont's estimated savings were grossly exaggerated, roughly twice the actual savings that customers participating in the evaluation study experienced. 

A Brookhaven National Laboratory study concluded that oil heat is more efficient than a cold-climate heat pump when temperatures dip below 48 degrees Fahrenheit.

Robert Wood

Holland

Don't Judge

Chris Leicht's letter to the editor [Feedback: "Don't Persecute Christians," March 22] presumed both to speak for Christians and to define what constitutes a transgender individual.

The right to freedom of religion includes freedom from religion, where every individual — and community — may determine the extent of their own faith and opt in or out of participation in organized religious affiliations and rules, according to their own counsel.

One's right to practice religion doesn't allow it to trample another's. No version of Christianity gets to decide for others who is or isn't Christian (enough) and to judge.

It is also condescension to dismiss a trans teen's circumstances as "confused." Youths should be cared for with love and patience and reared to realize their greatest potential, including self-awareness, aka love of self.

It would be wiser to know this person and their history first before judging them and their community.

To judge anyone, especially a youth, so badly doesn't comport with my understanding of Christianity.

Perhaps we can first accept every individual as a manifestation of the divine and treat them with respect and brotherly love, modeling the best of Christian virtues to aid their development.

Then we may build a community that can respectfully address the thorny issues of biological differences among athletes (gender notwithstanding) in a constructive and inclusive way.

That's a lot harder than diatribes.

I bet if we ask the kid athletes how they want to sort it all out, their solution may surprise everyone and may seem a lot more humane.

Zoltan Keve  

Colchester

Time After Time

Count me motion sick after the number of logical loop-de-loops taken in Rich Lachapelle's letter complaining about paid leave proposals [Feedback: "The Problem with Paid Leave," March 29]. A contractor in personal crisis "sounds like" he was taking his own version of paid leave, to the detriment of customers, but creating a system for leave that could accommodate such situations is somehow worse? It's good that "responsible, full-time employers already voluntarily offer" paid time off, but those goods shouldn't be extended? People employed by themselves or, say, irresponsible employers should never have personal issues? The assumed possibility of "defrauding" taxpayers by taking undue leave is worse than the actual, reported defrauding of customers thanks to a brittle system without leave?

Man, I am sick of the contortions required to justify keeping other people in vulnerable situations. I'll make my own logical leap and guess that Lachapelle is arguing from the indignant comfort of having paid time off.

Caitlin Morgan

Burlington 

'He Apologized'

[Re "Arresting Development," April 12]: Overstressed Jon Murad, with way less police force and way more crime to handle day in, day out, made a mistake. Big deal. He apologized. People forget that policing is the most unpredictable job there is, a job for which there is no template. Yet the police commission, from their warm, safe chairs, jumped on it like hungry piranhas, even though if any of them ever spent just five minutes in a police cruiser on a Saturday night, they would crap their pants. That reminds me of former racial equity director Tyeastia Green, who, from her cozy place (and with a salary over $100,000), constantly criticized privileged white males. Meanwhile, there were white males, deep in a muddy ditch, under construction lights at 5 a.m. on a balmy February morning, at zero degrees Fahrenheit and under blowing winds, fixing broken water pipes so she could brush her pearl-white teeth.

Evzen Holas

Burlington

Apology Isn't Enough

[Re "Arresting Development," April 12]: Since acting Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad has apologized for threatening a surgeon who was treating a patient with a gunshot wound, Mayor Miro Weinberger and others would like that to be the end of it. Apology aside, though, Murad is still the person who did that in the first place, and that causes me to question his character.

Since many people either cannot or refuse to apologize, those who can somehow believe it is enough. There are people who apologize frequently but don't try change their behavior. I'd like to know if the chief and the surgeon actually talked and came away with a better understanding about their respective jobs and what led to this happening. What did they learn? How will they be better? That matters more to me than knowing, "There was an apology."

Lisa Bridge

Burlington

'Not Fit' for Duty

[Re: "Arresting Development," April 12]: Once again we see that Mayor Miro Weinberger's choice for police chief is, um, well, not fit for the job. Is this his second or third bad choice? It's time for a citizen's council to make these decisions, not the mayor. Certainly not this mayor.

Baruch Zeichner

Taos, New Mexico

Zeichner grew up in Burlington.

Mayor is 'Under-Zealous'

[Re: "Arresting Development," April 12]: I miss Peter Freyne. I miss his "Inside Track" column ranting about politics. I miss his nicknames for politicos.

I am so upset by the recent revelations of the acting Burlington police chief threatening an emergency room doctor that I have taken on Peter Freyne's mantle. And it's not just the acting chief's bullying behavior that I'm upset about. Our Burlington mayor has — once again — failed to discipline another police chief. And our mayor has — once again — covered up a police chief's seemingly entitled aggressive behavior.

It's not "just" bullying. It's not just "overzealous" (OZ) behavior, as Burlington City Councilor Joan Shannon described it after the whole incident finally came to light. This behavior — and getting away with it — affects the tone of the police department. It affects the mistrust in the community. I am concerned about the lack of oversight and discipline coming from the mayor's office. I am concerned about sweeping it under the rug for months. 

Miro touts his transparency. It's a sham. It's UZ (under-zealous). Hey, Peter Freyne, in your memory, here are the new nicknames: OZ. UZ.

Sue Burton

Burlington