I thank Darren Marcy for Valley News for covering the special meeting of the Hartford selection committee on August 2: “Hartford board member chastises himself”
Eight months ago, before running for Selectboard and after attending meetings in 2021, I raised concerns with the board about degrading or threatening public comments, citing state and city codes of conduct. . The Hartford Selectboard Rules of Procedure established and adopted on May 7, 2019 state that “Members of the public are prohibited from making personal, impertinent, threatening or profane remarks.”
I did not anticipate that we would have board members who violate this code, exposing city employees and former employees to personal harm and through social media. All of us in this community, including members of the Selectboard, have the freedom to express our opinions on issues, but not the freedom to harm others, especially through rumors and innuendo.
The legal counsel reminded us members of the city’s governance that our job is to set policies, not personnel issues, personal grievances, and certainly not sexist comments like “girls club”, a derogatory comment which should offend us all. Council continues to have procedures in place to do our city’s job.
The focus of the August 2 meeting was the statement that President Mike Hoyt read to the public. It’s hard for council to do its job when people accuse members of our team of false or misleading statements: accusing council member Kim Souza of calling a resident a “white supremacist” while talking to him of “white supremacist culture”. .” We have all been through an incredibly difficult time over the past two years.
I have received nothing but respect from all city offices, commissions and departments, and from City Manager Tracy Yarlott-Davis, who has been available and patient with me, offering information and suggestions as needed while I forward as an active member of this council.
Mary Erdei
wilder
Haitian orphanage was saved, but still needs funding
Hundreds of people have been killed and more than 1,600 displaced as gang violence has swept through Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in the past few months since the president was assassinated. It shows no signs of slowing down. Rival gangs attack people randomly. In Cité Soleil, a part of the capital where the Tysea orphanage was located, gangs are razing people’s homes. Fortunately, last November, the orphanage was moved to a quieter town, Jacmel, in the south of the country, where things are calmer.
The Save Tysea Orphanage campaign successfully funded the orphanage for the first half of 2022. Our challenge now is to fund it for the rest of the year. If you haven’t helped yet, please consider making a donation. Go to our website: PartnersinGlobalChange.com or send a check to Tysea PGC, 108 Academy Rd, Norwich, VT05055. We must believe that there is a better future for Haiti and that its young people will be at the center of this new future. Thanks.
Dr. Paul Foster
President
Partners in Global Change
Tysea Orphanage Appeal
Norwich
Pueblos stay on ancestral lands
I applaud Randall Balmer’s helpful warning about nativism in his Aug. 7 op-ed (“Nativism Isn’t New, But It’s Widespread Now,” Aug. 7), but I was distressed by his inclusion of Pueblos when he wrote that they and other indigenous people are entitled to claim damages resulting from their “replacement” by white settlers. New Mexico Pueblos were not replaced. They live on the lands of their ancestors in villages similar to those of neighboring Hispanic villages. Both communities lived in modest economic circumstances. Today, some of the Pueblo communities are relatively wealthy, thanks in part to gambling casinos and the appreciation and marketability of their crafts and art. I remember a sticker on the bumper of a car driven by Pueblo Indians that said, “America, love it or give it back,” a show of wit rather than anger. Pueblo Indians have lived in peace with their Hispanic neighbors since 1695.
Evangeline Monroe
Hanover
A proposal to reuse plastic
We recycle small items such as paper, cardboard, soda bottles, milk bottles, etc., to save space in our landfills, but we throw away large plastic items like toys, trash cans , bins, etc. . These items take up a lot of space and last forever. Why don’t towns in the area buy a chipper shredder and grind these items into smaller pieces so towns can use this material for roads or trails and keep this material out of our landfills ?
Centralize an area for the project. Open it only two days a week, the help paid by all the cities that use it, or by the people that use it. Toys or other objects that contain steel or iron must be removed by the people disposing of them. This would remove tons of plastic from the landfill and also allow the waste to be utilized. And slow down the filling rate of landfills.
Robert Pollard
Enfield
