News     Citizen
Serving the People of Lamoille County with News Since 1881

 

 Things Look This Way to Me
Editorial by J.B. McKinley 10/305
Declining Enrollment?
Since the 2000 Census, Lamoille County has heard time and again that it is  the second fastest growing county in Vermont in population, nevertheless, this week Lamoille Middle School is apparently faced with declining enrollment.  It¹s a contradiction perhaps spawned by our aging population overall. Specifically, the forecasted enrollment for the next six years at LUMS is 265 students annually as seen against 297 last year.
It¹s a fact that many Vermonters have seen relatively static  school
populations while education costs have skyrocketed and  school construction has boomed. Now there¹s talk in the media and elsewhere about declining school populations, in general, all the way from kindergarten through a possible crisis in in-state applications at the state colleges. What we do as a state and what will we do in the county and locally if school enrollments decline? At LUMS, the first move has been made, the LNSU District 18 Board has voted to RIF three teaching positions. Statewide, some folks (perhaps cynically) say the move to create public preschool programs is a not so subtle way to keep school buildings full and budgets level or rising.
Meanwhile, locally we see Wolcott¹s situation with anticipated school
population growth and real immediate needs for space, made  incredibly
evident by the School St. Center operation. Yes, Wolcott needs space now. What are we to believe about the situation statewide? If the following thoughts seem to fire off in every direction, it¹s because they do! The demands of population declining or rising on the schools is mind boggling, involving everything from zoning to taxation, social trends ­ even something as weird as people moving out of cities to escape possible terrorism. Then, the inquiring mind might well question whether the enrollment decline is merely a blip and won¹t be sustained. This question should give us an insight into what our superintendents  and college administrators face. The ramifications of a continuing trend ­up or down ­ in numbers of students are wide ranging. Think about tuitioning towns who might be sending to a school district with a declining high school population. Just when they would like
to lower their  requested tuition to entice students, they probably have to
raise it to cover costs... Oh wait, maybe, can they lower the tuition enough to attract enough more students to keep the school even or growing. Suddenly, the planning seems  a real gamble, doesn¹t it?
So, if the possible future for our Lamoille County schools includes changing enrollments, school choice for all, public preschooling for all (not just for students considered high risk), testing that may reveal the need for tutoring ­ to say with certainty where we¹re going and how much it will cost is impossible. One thing is for sure, even if we have all new and sufficient buildings, we aren¹t going to be able to rest on our laurels. Don¹t forget the global marketplace. Our kids must be able to compete against anyone in the world for a living.
 

Things Look This Way to Me
Editorial by J.B. McKinley 10/27/05
Here¹s a Reasonably Priced Helping Hand The story starts with this editor daydreaming in his office, or maybe I was hunched over the keyboard agonizing over a sentence, I don¹t know. I do know
that was precisely when the publisher asked for volunteers and, if anyone else was present, they all took one step backward and you know who was volunteered to attend a luncheon at Johnson State College ­ in place of the publisher.
        Two weeks later as I approached the Stearns building on the JSC campus I had hardly a clue why I was there, but have to admit to being glad to get out of the office. A couple hours later I hiked back to my truck with a thought or two beginning to bubble about this article.
The luncheon was about mentoring. (The food was good, too) It was about the Lamoille Valley Mentoring Partnership and about Johnson State¹s increased commitment to mentoring. It was about how effective mentoring is in giving young people new directions in their lives. And, of course, at the end, it was about money. But there was the surprise; it wasn¹t about tons and tons of money. It was about the relatively small amount annually that currently supports the Lamoille Valley region¹s mentoring activities. All Lamoille Valley's activities, which now encompass over 300 mentoring relationships, run on a little over $40,000 each year. If you¹ve read this newspaper for a few months, you will readily realize that¹s not much money for such a program.
At the luncheon, if we didn¹t already know it, we were told that mentoring works. People who have had a mentor, really just another word for a friend with some common sense and experience, grow up to be useful citizens. They hold jobs, have fulfilling lives and participate in government. Without somehow slandering the concept, I might just call mentoring  ­ a cheap, effective fix.
    Here's what U.S. Senator Jeffords wrote to the folks at the lunch.
"Mentoring promotes intellectual, emotional and social competence and power to young people. It also instills values and hope, providing direction and guidance to children of all walks of life... If I sound passionate on this, it¹s because I am."
Well, Jim, the way this looks to me ­ you are correct to be passionate. For $40,000 coming from somewhere, our area can significantly help at least 371 children who, by participating, are indicating they¹d like a friend. Compare that to what is spent on an aide or two in your school, about four tuitions paid out to a high school, a new  SUV, one year of a topnotch college... If you can help with money or your time, email lamoillementoring@hotmail.com
or call 635-1668.

 

Things Look This Way to Me
Editorial by J.B. McKinley 10/20/05
Is It Time?
Well, I think it is time. It is time to vote ³yes² on the upcoming Green
Mountain Technology and Career Center (GMTCC) building  bond vote. Of course, it¹s easy for me to write that because I don¹t think my property taxes will personally go up much. But here¹s the way I see it, without getting into a detailed discussion of  what GMTCC has and what it needs. In broad strokes, what GMTCC has  is a growing student base, a largely satisfied group of  (and this is the important part) working alumni, good leadership and vital programs of teaching.
I would vote for this building bond issue because I see GMTCC graduates working in places where I spend money. I see them and hear of them making a good living from what they learned in school. How many of you can say your high school education is the only reason you are making a living now? How many of you could have stepped right out of high school into a lucrative, satisfactory and needed life¹s work, without spending many thousands of extra dollars to prepare yourselves?
Then there is the common sense way to look at the bond issue. If there are more and more students availing themselves of GMTCC¹s services, we will be building eventually. Have you seen construction costs coming down? I keep thinking of one of the last minute arguments that arose at the time of an earlier vote ­ that there was no need for the woodburning heating system. Boy, that call looks kind of silly now with $2 heating oil prices even if you¹re buying it by the tanker full. Then there¹s the always possible thought that the state/fed dollar contribution could drop way back at any time, any time at all. Fickle is not the only derogatory word to send Montpelier way, but it is one of the nicer ones.
So? How are you going to vote in early November? Now is the time to be getting answers to any questions you might have. School officials, volunteer and paid by you, have been spending lots of time trying to do this right and my sense is that they are not planning to build a palace. Talk to someone from GMTCC, see what they say. Talk to the GMTCC graduates you hire, buy from, and purchase services from.
But here is my bottom line ­ the way I see it ­ the IT experts, HVAC guys and gals, carpenters and electricians coming through GMTCC are going to be retiring early the way these  trades/professions pay these days. We better be educating their replacements. OCourse you may be looking at it differently ­ maybe you¹d like to be trained to do a new, better paying job?
 

Things Look This Way to Me
Editorial by J.B. McKinley 10/13/05
Hodge-podge
The dictionary says ³hodge-podge² was originally a stew made of a clumsy mixture of ingredients, then a legislative bill filled with miscellany, now I guess it¹s basically a mess of items thrown together. That¹s what this column will be, too.
First, I thought I¹d just pluck a small sour-sounding string out of the
orchestra of well-meaning charitable thoughts and deeds streaming into the hurricane-struck areas in our southland. That question is: are we really going to ³rebuild² an entire devasted city and several hundred miles of private coastland development at taxpayer expense? The cost is estimated at $200 billion or more. Sure, maybe it is a better investment than two years of war in Iraq, but let¹s give it a little thought.
No one, including myself, is hesitating to provide relief and to help people get on their feet, but there are other considerations. Are we going to rebuild structures that people weren¹t prudent enough to carry insurance on? Is that the government¹s responsibility? Are we going to rebuild homes and structures that were at or below sea level? Why not just give some of these folks a government funded checking account and let them move elsewhere? It would be cheaper in the long run than rebuilding in stupid locations. Many of these structures weren¹t even built under a building code that considered hurricane winds and flooding.
The fact is if we are heading into an era of more weather related natural
disasters (as many think), due to global warming, we need to rethink this
government assistance. Switching subjects, has everyone seen the new Kinney building going up in Morristown? Not to deny the importance of economic activity in town, but I can¹t help thinking back to the huge brouhaha over McDonald¹s building architecture, paint scheme and hidden garbage bins. Now it seems Kinney¹s will go up right next door,  a box without much architecture and probably a sea of roof ventilators as seen from Route 15. Meanwhile, Stowe is undergoing a valiant roof ventilator skirmish based on how camouflaged and precisely how large said ventilators should be. Curious and curiouser. Wow, whipping our thoughts to Iraq. This is the weekend of another vote. This time on the constitution. Will people turn out to vote as (perhaps) ingenuously as they did last time? Will the Sunnis take part? Will it matter? Hope you enjoyed the hodge-podge ­ maybe you¹ll ³stew² over it! Why not?
³simmer² is over.
 

Things Look This Way to Me
Editorial by J.B. McKinley 10/6/05
The Ames Space
Big Lots, the new tenant of the long vacant Ames¹ space in Morristown, will open for business Thursday, October 13, at 9 a.m., and will hold a Grand Opening October 16. OK, that may not seem to be such a big deal to you, but we will see. There are certain benefits from having ANY store in the space. My feeling was that Ames¹ demise in Morrisville may have sent a message to passersby and perhaps even to retailers that was flatly mistaken. From every thing I¹ve heard  the Morrisville location was one of the dollar producers for the chain. Morrisville took a hit, by its closing, that the location didn¹t deserve. Then we all got to look at a long empty storefront for several years. That isn¹t good for anyone¹s business. So... welcome Big Lots. As we¹ve heard, you may not be Macy¹s or even a clone of Ames, but we¹re glad you¹re here.
In the meantime, the new Kinney Drug store is taking shape across the
parking lot. Soon there will be another opening. Then, we can speculate what will go into the current Kinney location. That kind of action in the
business community can¹t help but be good. Now if it would extend into the industrial sector ­ wouldn¹t that be great for the county?
 

Things Look This Way to Me
Editorial by J.B. McKinley 9/29/05
Leading? We¹ve probably all the seen the bumper sticker, ³Think Globally, Act Locally;² that internationalist slogan came to mind as I was splitting wood after work last evening. At that very moment I was certainly acting locally, specifically on a gnarled block of overgrown beech. Global events caused my actions. Are you finding that¹s happening, too? In Iraq, things may be winding up to a civil war, partially inflamed by the constitution vote scheduled for October 15. In the U.S., we¹re counting the days until we will have lost 2,000 soldiers in Iraq. In Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi the hurricane season has literally hit and, by the way, is not over. In the Asian tsunami hit area, it looks like there may be bumper crops. In China, we are borrowing money to pay for our hurricanes. Some folks (like me) have, in the meantime, been astounded that over 100 countries have offered us ³foreign aid² in the wake of our storms. In Israel, they¹ve given up another hard-won piece of land. Does that simply give the Palestinians a more secure beachhead for terrorism? In North Korea, they are seesawing between nuclear threats and a beggar¹s whining for favors. In Iran, they, too, want the nuclear sword to hold to our throats.Threats to all humanity seem to be cropping up like a bad rash that hasn¹t  been identified.
All of the above and much more is happening, how will it all affect us?
Well, Vermont officials are looking ahead to a significantly greater need
for heating fuels this winter, since more folks probably can¹t afford the
price increases. Locally, we are feeling the deaths in Iraq more and more as they strike down our neighbors. The question that has to be answered is ³are they dying in vain?² To spread the blame, this is the question that has to be answered by the media as well as the government. The blame game shouldn¹t be the focus  of the Iraq news media coverage, what is actually happening on the ground over there should be the real news and it should have a wider focus than simply what has been the latest attack.
Meanwhile, we split wood, think about more fuel efficient cars, the kids at GMTCC are testing the burning of  biofuel for heating  and we ARE thinking globally because the world is impacting us. It occurs to me that as a nation, supposedly the only remaining superpower, we aren¹t doing much leading. We seem to be simply reeling under the blows.

 

Things Look This Way to Me
Editorial by J.B. McKinley 9/15/05
So Relieved!!
Whew! Gasoline is momentarily down to $3.19 or so ­ just under a dollar more
than we paid before Katrina. They say it¹s an ill wind that doesn¹t blow
someone some good, but it sure is hard to find any after this big blow. Gas
prices have been up and down faster than a bungee jumper at the end of his
tether.
Naturally, we can only hope the price stays at this level or lower, but one
has to wonder if it isn¹t all just a ploy? You know, up, up up with the
price ­ then down a smidgen and ³let¹s hold Oem there, boys. Whadda ya say
to that?² Can¹t you just hear the conversation in the smoke-filled board
rooms?
Meanwhile it is time for all us little guys to scramble to save a buck. I¹ve
heard more in the last two weeks about: woodstoves, kerosene heaters, buying
cordwood (the price, the benefits of green, split or blocked, by the
truckload un-blocked), wood pellets, and, of course, my thought is what do
old folks do who have no option but petroleum products for heating? The
impact of this price increase is here to stay and  more effects remain to be
revealed. Have you thought if you¹ve changed your mind on wind power
generation? Wait until the price of petroleum generated electricity rises.
Are you willing to breathe the air from coal-fired generation suddenly
booted up in the Midwest?
Sure, I am relieved the gas price has slipped back down, but anyone stupid
enough to ask me about the situation is going to know how I feel about the
shortsightedness of our government and industry, and of us consumers. Those
of you out there smart enough to be driving a really fuel efficient car or
with an off the grid solar or wind-powered home are to be commended. Dummies
like me can whine now, but we are at fault for not forcing change. The price
of oil can only really go up. Why can¹t we plan for that as a society and a
nation? Sure, I¹m a little relieved, but I¹m a lot angry.
 

 

Things Look This Way to Me Editorial by J.B. McKinley 9/8/05
Who¹s at Fault?
Somewhat as usual, I am going to comment on things that may strike some
readers as none of my business. However, I would argue that as a consumer I
literally cannot help noticing a very easily improved problem encountered as
myself and others eat, drink, and shop around the county. Then there¹s the
very real fact that as gasoline prices rise to the point where they will
soon be administered by NASA as part of the space program, we should all be
shopping closer to home and saving ourselves some big bucks. So here goes...
How often have you stood by the desk at a restaurant, looking at more than
enough empty tables to seat everyone waiting in line with you? How often
have you watched incredibly inefficient behavior by clerks? For example, why
pluck one item at time from the shelf or bin and run with it to the bag on
the counter, when you could just take the bag to the bin. How many times has
an employee of a store given you a blank look when you asked if they have an
item? How often has a clerk not looked you in the eye or listened carefully
enough to hear if you said with or without cream & sugar?
I¹m the first one to applaud anyone who is out there working for a living,
instead of staying at home and collecting a government check. Therefore, I¹m
not necessarily blaming these employees. I think management bears part of
the responsibility. Are you too busy to notice your people losing you
customers? Take a little time to walk them through the store and show them
what you stock ­ maybe even tell them what you can order if a customer asks
for it. Tell that waitress to get a beverage in front of the customer within
three minutes of seating the person. Don¹t be afraid to tell that longer
term employee that you¹ve noticed there¹s a better way to go about his/her
job. Consider hiring bright young people, too. They¹ve got to learn sometime
and will surprise you. Finally, instruct your help that ³service with a
smile² is one of your rules. How long has it been since you¹ve heard that
one?
Wouldn¹t this be a great time to capture some of the market that may be
hesitating to run down to Williston to the big boxes. It¹s clear that what
those places don¹t have is enough help. Ever waited for something off the
top shelf down there at the building supply place? Ever had anyone offer to
help you pick out clothes in WalMart?

Around Town editorial by J.B. McKinley 8/25/2005

I¹ve got a little story to tell everyone this week and it¹s about
berrypicking. I¹m going to tell it to you just as I was told, so there may
be some inaccuracy, but I think you¹ll get the picture. If you understand
the story the way I do, I think you will be surprised.
Picture a family group, a father, an 8 year old boy, and his aunt, up on the Mountain Road in Stowe near the Bingham Falls pull-off. The family
discovered a nice berry patch up there, found some berry buckets and
commenced picking. About the time their pails were half full (and no doubt the little boy put a few in his mouth) along came a state employee. The family couldn¹t read the name tag on this fellow, who I think may have been a Forests & Parks employee, but his message was clear. It seemed that the berry patch was on state land. They were told the berries belonged to the bears. Dump your buckets and find something else to do. Apparently, he then watched as the berries were dumped.
Well, when the family got home, folks in general were quite a bit put out.
Is it really the law that berries on state land don¹t belong to the people
that own the state land? A call was made to the Governor¹s Hotline, but no one knew for sure. Eventually someone was found who said, ³Yes, that  is the law.² But what about all those hikers on The Long Trail, don¹t they eat a berry or two? ³Well, we don¹t catch everybody,² was the answer. So is the answer that you can hunt and fish on state land and keep your spoils, but don¹t get caught with a berry stain on your pinkie?
Or is the answer that the bears will get the berries they want and the rare
Vermont family that still picks wild berries can have a few, too?
The family in this story now says at least one person wasn¹t anxious to see this story in print and suggested that it might be OK for them to pick
berries after all. But everybody¹s dander is up and the family now says,
³That isn¹t the point...what do Vermonters feel about a law that makes you dump your berries?²
 

Things Look This Way to Me
editorial by J.B. McKinley 8/18/05
Still Waiting
I'm still waiting for the coin to drop. When will the price of gas
actually change the way we live? What percentage of our income are we
willing to spend on fuel oil and gasoline before we accept major
changes? When will folks bitterly watch a gas guzzling Hummer drive down
the road as they follow on their scooter?
When will our government make decisive moves to respond to the price of
oil? Certainly, the latest transportation bill is not an example of very
forward thinking. Where are the emphasis/incentives on efficiency and
conservation? Where are the tax benefits and research money for
alternatives? Yes, our roads and bridges need work, but what about our
railroads, experimental monorails, maglev projects, subways and metro
systems? What about a new interurban system like the old electric
streetcars? Why not bring back the tax credits for energy saving work on
your buildings?
Yep, I'm still waiting for the point where we find convenience must be
overpowered by expense. Where the fat wallet doesn't overcome
commonsense. What do I mean? Example: OK, you can afford to have the oil
tank filled this fall, despite the price. But does it make sense to
expensively heat that air just to pump it out through leaky doors and
windows and walls untouched since 1890?
Of course, foreign policy is heavily linked to our national energy
dependence. Everyone says we must be engaged in the Mideast and all over
the world, and I believe that is true, but there remains the question of
degree of engagement. Are we engaged now because we want to be, or
because we must? Even if we continue to assure the flow of oil to the
U.S., one has to look forward and see that while oil producing countries
will have a few more years of income, there will be an end to the oil.
Who will then be the villains who obviously raped their natural
resource? This is not new thinking. Many of us thought much the same
after the first "oil crisis" in the early '70s, but that warning went
unheeded.
Thirty-five years later, we need to back away from oil use as fast as we
can. The reasons are many: its expense, its finiteness, its
environmental, social and political costs. In the end, gravity will win,
the coin will drop. Will we be ready with alternative technologies or
will we be drilling deep dry holes, in increasingly fragile areas,
looking for oil that isn't there and bicycling down dandy interstates?
 

Around Town
with J.B. McKinley 8/11/05

I suppose that to most folks, right now, today, is a time when the
garden is yielding well, windows are open all night and everyone is
enjoying a too short summer that's just over the hump, but we're not
going to admit it. Well, for me and others like me, there is an added
quirk to the season. It's the last week before I send my firstborn off
to college.
I wouldn't be writing this column, which I figured would be trite,
commonplace and not compelling reading for many, except my co-workers
posed the question "When was the last time the News & Citizen had an
editorial about sending kids off to college?" I realized I couldn't
answer that question except to say "Never."
So, here it is, my son goes to college this weekend for a quick five
days or so and then for the semester the first week of September. After
18 years of parental lectures (yes, some screaming and anger, too), lots
of fun, much mutual understanding and forebearance (on both of our
parts), and considerable mutual trust earned by working and living
together, I have to exercise that trust by throwing open the door to the
world and bursting the force field of protection and care that a family
erects.
It's not without misgivings, growing up wasn't easy for me. We cannot
divorce our forecasts of the future from our knowledge of the past. If I
were a God-fearing man, I'd ask that my son be saved from making my
mistakes. Life seems to seek out our personal weaknesses and test them.
Are you afraid to speak up on your own behalf? Then it's likely that
will be the first thing you'll have to do. Are you a poor money manager?
There's a hurdle that will be staring you in face before many moons have
passed. Are you a bad judge of character and choose the wrong
companions? Look out! Rocky road ahead.
All these and far too many more tests - leaving the academic side of
college completely out of the picture - are there to be passed.
So, upon reflection, Dad's nagging sense of loss is the least of sending
a young man off to college. Watching the many hurdles be bested will be
my compensation. Then, from time to time, I can pat myself on the back
as far into the future as I can see. "That's my boy!" I'll think smugly.
Here's 50 bucks for gas, kid, get outta here!
 

Around Town by J.B. McKinley

Hopefully, writing a column entitled "Around Town," will soon be
literally easier than in the recent past in Morrisville - because it
will be faster and easier to actually get around. I'm told that the
paving of Brooklyn Street will be complete by next Wednesday. That will be a great relief to everyone who must pass through Morrisville.
Sometimes traffic problems seem to snowball, I'm told that this past
Monday was such a day. It seems the Needle Eye Road was closed for a culvert repair - just as that route was being used by many to bypass the Brooklyn Street delay!
Well, happy camping may be on the way, let's just make it to next
Wednesday and see. I said it once before about a year ago, after a
summer's navigation of a Brooklyn Street that was about as smooth as the no man's land between the lines of WWI's Western Front, we certainly expect the final paving job to be seriously well done and SMOOTH. Hear that, pavers! Like everyone else with newer rigs, after beating my 10 or 15 year old vehicles over this wasteland for two years, I'll be happy for smooth sailing. Parts have been much more likely to fall off my car than the Space Shuttle.
Don't forget River Arts Summer Fest this Friday in Morrisville. If you
want to hear some good music and view some art, drop by, park your car and wander around the downtown for a few hours. Personally, I try not to miss any chance to soak up some culture painlessly. (I know, I know, you're thinking too bad nothin' sunk in!)
By the way, Lamoille County Field Days recorded a record-breaking year for attendance. And, that follows last year which was also an all-time high. Ten thousand four hundred and sixty attended and Saturday was the most crowded day, said Deanna Judkins, Field Days president. Friday, arm wrestling seemed to be the biggest draw, Saturday, it was the truck pull that gathered fans (I'm told diesels did well and a certain 454 Chevy provided great viewing pleasure). Of course, yours truly, attended Sunday's antique tractor pull, and that satisfied tractor buffs. The track was very well prepared and the whole (day-long) event went off seamlessly. Horse, pony and ox pulls remain popular and Judkins said no one event clearly out-classed the others. "Community support is very important to Field Days," said Judkins, who wanted to thank everyone involved, workers, exhibitors, participants, and ticket-buyers.
Let me wind this up with another important event around town, that's
Pump Boys & Dinettes over at the Opera House. Being incredibly cheap and too comfortable on my couch to heave my bulk up and enjoy a night out with my wife, I availed myself of a leftover ticket for a reviewer and ace reporter Amy Noyes took She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed out to see the show.
Since then, all I've heard is how great the show was, how marvelous the
actors (tresses) were, etc. With all honesty - I believe her - but I'm
starting to think she's going to ask me to go see it and that will
defeat my lazy purpose. So, here's the pitch... why don't you go see it?
If all the seats are filled, I'll be safely ensconced under a dim
energy-saving light reading - just where I want to be. So, please, I
entreat you.
 

 

Things Look This Way to Me
Editorial by J.B. McKinley
Focus on the Supreme Court
Here's my message to the national media - lay off the penny ante stuff!
Look around and report about and analyze the important news or even do some research on upcoming events. Here we are the day after the President announced his choice of John G. Roberts Jr. for Supreme Court Justice and, finally, the media has focused some attention on a decision that can easily reverberate 30 years into the future if Roberts is confirmed and lives at least as long as Justice Rehnquist, age 80. Now, that's important. You'd think the week or so run-up to a presidential nomination to the Supreme Court might gather some attention - especially when it's fairly widely known that many Republicans only voted for Pres. Bush because he'd probably have a chance to change the court they perceive as activist. The way I see it, the national media has just spent the last week or 10 days frittering away most of its energies on the Karl Rove/Plame CIA "outing" that may not have technically been a crime as Plame seems to have operated for more than five years in the U.S. The real heart of that matter is what the President did, not what Rove may or may not have done - unethical as it almost surely was. Okay, let's investigate this one, but who cares if it's on page one or page 10 of the second section? Not me.
Back to Mr. Roberts, he is really in for scrutiny now. The microscope
will be applied to his life and we'll see whether the President's choice
of a youngish non-minority, non-female Harvard graduate, with seemingly moderately rightist positions and a somewhat constructivist view of applying constitutional law, can be seated. His nomination seems not to have been the move most expected by liberals who, to date, have seemed to hope Pres. Bush would pick someone from the Christian radical right - probably an easy "kill" for the liberal lions. But can Roberts make it?
I'm not ready to make a prediction, but it looks like he might have a
slim chance. I'm more than ready to read, see and hear all about it.
Come on media do your job!
 

 

Things Look This Way to Me
Editorial by J.B. McKinley 7/14/05
Playing the Little Dutch Boy
OK, maybe I was a little slow, but the first I heard of the state's $54
million General Fund surplus was reading a back section article in the
Burlington Free Press about $25,000 being given to buy a piano for the
VSO. The article was accompanied by a sidebar with a couple million
dollars worth of specified surplus giveaways. It also, in general terms,
accounted for the spending of about $44 million of the surplus for the
Medicaid bail-out, other unanticipated needs, teachers' retirement, etc.
That left about $10 million of the $54 million unaccounted for.
According to my sources, the Legislature began expecting a surplus in
January and revenues were running significantly ahead through February,
March and April. Plans were made that earmarked about $40 million in
surplus for spending. Those pie-in-the-sky funds, that then existed
almost completely in the estimate stage, conveniently solved the
immediate Medicaid financial crisis. The Legislature took the economy's
pro-offered finger and stuffed it into the leaky dike of healthcare
financing. My question is: what happens when the fickle economy gives
the Legislature a different finger?
I'm told that when lawmakers start building the '07 budget, Medicaid
will start the year $12 million in the red. If that's true, we need to
hope for one of two things, either we simply gamble on the economy or
someone needs a real sustainable plan to fix healthcare. Let the economy
lag next year and a fix styled after this year's lucky break is not
going to work.
At the very least, lawmakers, you should bank any surplus in the state's
stabilization reserve to give us all a little breathing time just in
case things don't all turn up roses next year. If there is an extra
not-yet-earmarked $10 million flowing into Montpelier, let's nix any
more grand pianos, take the pork off the menu until your financial house
is in order, please.
 

Things Look This Way to Me
Editorial by J.B. McKinley 7/7/05
Big Brother?
Look out for signs of George Orwell's Big Brother in your small town!
I'm not thinking about the connotation of Big Brother that would have
you think about people spying on you, I'm talking about the fact that
your small town's government may be making some major decisions that
will really affect your lives. Big Brother can be insidious and may look
just like your next door neighbor behind a folding table. So - you say -
that's what we elect or appoint them for, right? Right... but...
Let me give you an example. Maybe your selectboard is deciding that your
town needs more police protection? Well, what about you? Do you think
you need more protection? How much more? How much more do you wish to
pay? Will this lead to a police department? How much has the cost of
police protection increased over the last decade? Is that cost in line
with increases seen for other services? Why is more police protection
being suggested? Is your town's crime rate really up? Who is driving the
perceived need? Is it second home owners worried about their investment
or is it parents worried about drug dealers in the town? To summarize,
aren't these questions you would like to see the answers to before you
open your wallet?
Here's another question that might be under study in your town; should
your town keep tuitioning students all over, or set up contracts with
specific schools? Keep in mind that your town's growth might be linked
to the fact that it is a "tuition town." Your small town may currently
allow parents a choice in schooling options - how many may not choose to
live in your town without that choice? A question worth asking? I think so.
So, you argue, these are questions my selectmen and school directors are
asking and having answered. You may be exactly correct - but what if
they are not? What if they are more easily satisfied than you? The point
is, it pays to be wary of those who too easily claim to speak for the
whole town. Have they really made an effort to find out how the town
feels? How casually have your officials taken the pulse of the
community? There are as many different points of view in town as there
are people; who do the officials agree with, you, someone else or the
majority?
These and other major questions have been considered in your small towns
and others are still in the works. More will be coming up regularly as
population growth affects our county. It's fair for us, voters, to ask
for open public debate of many of these questions. The trick is to be
aware of what's in the wind. It's important that decisions are made
stemming from something like a consensus of community need. That's
democracy.
 

Things Look This Way to Me
editorial by J.B. McKinley 6/23/05
Policies Past & Present
Files of old News & Citizens clearly reveal that many things never
change and some things change only a little... Here are a couple of
examples; we still embrace the first example and couldn't have written
it better, as for the second, we wisely get our subscriptions paid in
advance!
"We shall endeavor to prevent any personal abuse finding its way into
our columns, through the medium of local correspondents or otherwise. By
this we do not propose to abandon the duty incumbent upon every
newspaper, of freely criticizing whatever we may deem wrong, whether in
high or low places, but we promise that nothing shall be said in malice,
or to gratify any personal antipathy or grudge."
December 15, 1881 first month of publication of the News & Citizen

Things Look This Way to Me
Editorial by J.B. McKinley 6/16/05
Words to Live By
This is the season for that normally silent bird, the well-dressed guest
graduation speaker, a denizen of raised platforms and manmade nesting
areas such as lecterns and podiums. This species, whose moment of glory is fleeting, seizes his or her chance to sing a song that is often
disparaged as being trite, over-used, worn-out, certainly un-original...
I'm sure you've heard the comments. Well, call me shallow and laugh at
my pudgy eyes that tear up, I've got another opinion. All that is gold
does not glitter.
    Let's take the Ten Commandments. How many Sunday mornings have been consumed by speeches on this seemingly limited and no longer exactly novel list. A thing does not have to be original or new to be worthwhile or true. In fact, remember the words "We hold these truths to be self-evident..." That document went on to state, things the writers had already opined were self-evident. Those truths, like many others are
simply worth repeating. They are so important that they are not only
worth repeating, they are worth repeating again and again and again,
until they are remembered. Until they are part of us all.
I have stood for most of over 25 years in local journalism and listened
to two or more graduation speakers annually and, never a word in this
lifetime will pass my lips disparaging those speeches. Memories,
friendship, urgings to duty, honor, country and morality and hard work,
even that most trite of all sayings "take time to smell the roses" - all
these things and many more are the subjects of graduation speeches. They are true. They are good. And, we all can stand to hear them again.
Bring on graduation, I can't wait to see those young men and women, who are the future of humankind, standing proud in a moment of achievement, ready to take on the world and win. You don't get a lot of moments like these. (And all you honored speakers - thanks for reminding me.)
 

Things Look This Way to Me
Editorial by J.B. McKinley 6/9/05
The Time of Your Life
Seniors in many ways this is the time of your life. I know it certainly
felt like that to me as a graduating senior. I thought - "Things just
can't get better than this!!!!" That may or may not be so, but the
feeling at the time is real.
Remembering what it felt like is not as difficult for us oldtimers as
some might think. Seniors, if you're reading this, check me and see if
I'm about right...
School seems to be over after what has been a lifetime of servitude in
the institutional walls.
You have a chance to earn some real spending money.
You just got a job or were accepted at college.
You're happy with your girl friend or boy friend.
Your family's happy with you.
It's summer and the weather is great.
You may have been given a car.
You are young and aren't sick.
You are 18 and finally considered an adult in many ways.
There are more, but they all add up to the same thing. The end of the
final year of high school is a time of general euphoria for graduating
seniors. Therein lies the need for caution.
Lamoille County has been very lucky for quite a few years; this time of
year has not claimed as many young lives as it once did. Seniors, save
yourselves and your friends, take that one potentially deadly final
instant to consider what you are doing. It may be party time, but with a
few thoughts to the future - you can still have a future.
AROUND TOWN
with J.B. McKinley 6/2/05

"Cool, clear water" - sing these words, drag out the "Cooool" and the
"wahh - terr," and you've got the gist of a popular song of a few
decades ago that many may remember. Actually, I remember the cool, even cold, water of the Johnson Cold Spring far better than I remember the song. Now the Cold Spring's very existence as a traveler's mecca is in doubt. What good is a cold spring if you can't taste of it? It might as
well be a virtual reality spring you bring up on your car's onboard
computer, an artifact of an unpolluted age, if you can't stop, rinse out
a coffee cup, and partake of a chilly guzzle or two!
My first memory of the Johnson Cold Spring goes back to sometime in the 1950s when my family headed off on our bench seats (no seat and shoulder belts, no five mph bumpers, no airbags, no headrests, no car seats) for a day at the Champlain Valley Fair. In the rosy haze of memory, it was a singularly hot day and my grandfather and I were ready for a drink by the time we hit Johnson. It had been a long dusty trip from Hyde Park! I well remember mom pulling out my sister's collapsible aluminum Girl Scout cup, which was a marvel of technology to me, and serving up cups of really cold water to us all. It was not a lonely stop, others came by and chatted with us. Finally, we filled our gallon water cooler and headed off to faraway Essex Junction.
Later, I recall stopping and chatting with the Wonder Whittler of the
World, who was often found at the Cold Spring when he wasn't up at
Smuggler's Notch. At the time, he made his home in Johnson and rode a
tiny motorbike everywhere loaded with his whittlin's. He especially
loved intricate wooden chains - a fascination I didn't share, but his
other stuff was good, too.
Since these times in a galaxy that seems as faraway as Star Wars Episode III, I have often stopped, when alone, and taken a trip back in memory. While at the spring, I've picked up candy wrappers and scooped leaves out of the water or drain. I've talked to folks who have pulled up with plastic jugs to fill because their well's pump went kaput or the dry summer got to their spring. I felt sure in my mind that the Cold
Spring's utility was not a thing of the past - only good for small kids,
now old, and horses! I still think the Johnson Cold Spring is a
significant municipal resource, a useful source of water, a modest
tourist convenience and quaint attraction.
Officials, please save the Johnson Cold Spring.
 

Things Look This Way to Me
editorial by J.B. McKinley 5/19/05
Can Good Come of It?
We, at the News & Citizen are sorry for any additional pain or grief we
have caused the parents, family and friends of Annah Tilton, and we are
sincerely sorry for any effects on our informant and young writer Cat
Child. We won't pretend to feel their pain, which will continue forever;
it's unimaginable. But, we certainly feel the loss to our community.
However, we support and commend Cat Child; whom we think did everything
correctly, faced with the situation in her yard. We feel, as we believe
she did, that by telling the story of this tragic accident perhaps some
good could come of it.
How? The News & Citizen and Cat wrote and published a story that was
accurate and important. As editor, when I received Cat's submission, I
looked at the photos. The one I chose to run showed only the degree to
which the vehicle was damaged. I read Cat's story and felt her empathy
for the victims clearly rang through to readers. As editor, I felt
publishing her story could cause other drivers, with their children on
board, to take one more look and ease back for just the moment it takes
to save lives. Maybe a truck driver would read it and think "I could be
the one. It could have been my delivery truck that took a life." If this
story, that can have no happy ending, can contribute to saving a life
sometime in the future - it's worth telling. It was worth telling.
It drew additional attention to a tragic story. Since that time, the
intersection has already had stop signs installed. Maybe the
intersection will be re-aligned or other improvements made. Maybe police
will pass out a few tickets for running the stop signs.
Again, as editor, I take responsibility for running the story about the
Tilton accident. I am truly sorry if it hurt the family. But I am very
happy that something good - no matter how small, no matter how after the
fact - has occurred. Furthermore, I'm certain that a few of us will hold
Annah's story in our memories and drive just a little bit more safely,
maybe we will save a child, maybe ours, maybe yours...
Things Look This Way to Me
editorial by J.B. McKinley 5/505
Wait a Minute!
Yep, you're correct. I probably wouldn't be writing this particular
column if I wasn't staring across an unseeable decade or so to my
increasingly hypothetical retirement, while figuring out how to pay for
many years of college. But the fact is I've got a few reservations about
all the plans to "save" Social Security. So far the proposed plans look
as though they may save someone's Social Security, but only part of mine - if I live that long.
I vaguely remember studying something in school about the social
contract, implied or expressly stated, between the ruled and their
government. Philosophically and practically in the long term, both must
live up to the terms of the contract or there will be a change of
government. I think this applies to Social Security.
When I was 14 I took my first official 40 hour per week job. Despite the fact that I made a bit over $1 an hour, I didn't take home a check for
$40; Social Security was deducted. I understood, however imprecisely,
that the government was taking my earnings to help others retire and to
provide for my retirement at age 65, should I be improvident. Millions
of other workers, just like me, understood the same. Now our bought and paid for government wants to change the terms of this section of social contract. I don't think so.
Personally, I am in favor of privatized Social Security accounts and
might well have gone along with the idea at a younger age. But, it's too
late for folks well into middle age to invest and make up for what may
be taken away. Why should a handy group of victims have to work longer for less than outlined in the initial agreement?
If the government wants to change the Social Security "social contract"
then it should do it from a person's first check and first "payment"
under the contract. Anything less is breach of contract - and certainly
breach of faith.
Here's an idea. Why not have the government earmark an initial sum that
would immediately be invested for a worker's retirement upon his first
remittance, for example, $10,000. In my case this would have meant I
would have had a $10,000 retirement investment at age 14. It would have begun racking up interest and value, lo these many years. Then each payment would be taken out of your check for the government's general fund until your 10 grand was repaid, after this you could change the system to withhold whatever amount was decided between you and the government for your retirement. This would give everyone a guaranteed minimum retirement and would replace the current lax system of working a minimum of qualifying "quarters" for Social Security.
Anyway, whatever you think of my scheme, think about the contract. When it comes to the babyboomers, it seems sadly obvious that the government loved us only until our work slacked off. Now it wants us to work until we're 70 - or drop dead before they have to pay us our money!
 

 

Things Look This Way to Me
editorial by J.B. McKinley
Public is Now More Public
Twice in the past month or so, we've been accused of ruining someone's
life because of something we've published in the News & Citizen. We
might add these comments did not arise from our biggest stories. Both
comments don't make us feel very good. We grit our teeth sometimes when we see the information that reveals a story we'd rather not write. But the fact is we are not treating the information we get any differently
than we ever have. If you are accused, arrested, or proven of having
committed some kind of crime, it automatically becomes public record -
then formerly private information has suddenly become open for everyone to see or read. The question really is - who allowed that information to become public. Well, it wasn't the News & Citizen. If there is blame, or shame, or any other emotion, it isn't the News & Citizen's or the media's. Smarter people than we, wrote the Bill of Rights and defend the right of a free press.
    It's true that by sheer weight of numbers, some things get printed and
others don't. We can only try to be even-handed, we can't print items
only about people we don't know and we can't choose to write only about felonies and never about misdemeanors. Then again, an arrest or anything in Belvidere is bigger news, than the same item in Morristown. The fact is, if your name appears in court records, you are already in the public eye and may be in the newspaper.Of course, it is very true that people's access to information that may have been formerly buried in a obscure rural weekly, such as ours, has been greatly increased. One of the above mentioned comments came through the internet, it seems our website posting is ruining someone's life.
    Yes, a minor, but noteworthy, item in Lamoille County Court news, can now be accessed by the world. We'd just like to point out that this is a question only of access, not of the underlying philosophy. Nothing that
hasn't always been public is suddenly, now, public. The sometimes
greater, sometimes easier, access to information published either by the
government itself, or by the media, is something that should give the
offender cause to think, not the newspaper. They and their deeds may no longer be buried in bureaucracy and paperwork.The News & Citizen also stands ready to publish in a similar manner any acquittal in a court matter that we have formerly publicized with an article - just as we list the court's dismissals in the Court Report, which we formerly published as "Arraignments.
    "On another matter, we have recently received several unsigned letters to the editor. Once again, we just want to make clear that either the alleged facts revealed in such a letter or the opinions stated, are not
worthy of printing without the name, address and telephone number of the writer. And that is our policy.
 

Things Look This Way to Me
Editorial by J.B. McKinley
Staggered
It's fair to say that locally, we are staggered, almost stunned, by the
arrest of Skip Godfrey for the apparently random murder of Patricia
Scoville. Like it or not, Skip is one of ours. Everyone has figured
their degree of connectedness with Skip. For example, I went to school
with his brother. Fact is, most of us must have some tenuous link to him
as he's lived his life in our small community. When someone like Skip is
accused, and likely to be found guilty, of a senseless and heinous crime
as Ms. Scoville's murder, it truly affects us all by tugging on all
those little lines of connection we have with the accused. At the least,
we are intensely curious and inordinately interested in how such a man
can develop in our midst. Maybe we're even a little bit guilty. Maybe
we're thinking "Why didn't we notice this about Skip? What should we
have done that we didn't do?"
Of course, our shock is heightened because most folks thought the
murderer of Ms. Scoville was almost undoubtedly a transient person, some
serial killer who was just passing through. How could any local work
himself into a killing rage over someone who had only lived in Vermont
for three weeks?
Now, we are ready to consider almost anything with regard to Howard
Godfrey. Since an ungodly delay in state funding drew the DNA
identification process out to a matter of years, one has to wonder, what
was a man - this filled with rage against women - doing? Naturally,
police have had this thought, too. Doubtless, Mr. Godfrey's life is
under a microscope. Perhaps we should brace ourselves for aftershocks.
The story will unfold, but its exposition is unlikely to enlighten us.
What drives the dark impulses of humanity is a mystery.
 

 

Things Look This Way to Me
Editorial by J.B. McKinley
Is Red Lake About Drugs?
    Though we seem to be in a process of becoming accustomed to the type of violent and deadly rampage that happened recently in Red Lake, MN, important questions remain to be asked. Are these massacres some kind of unavoidable byproduct or symptom of our society? Do they happen because violence is entertainment on computer, movie and TV screens, everywhere?
    Do they happen because someone at the wrong time has relatively easy access to deadly force? Or do they happen because drugs are being over prescribed and over sold as panaceas to personal problems that cannot be easily solved.
    The Red Lake teen, according to once source (Minnesota Public Radio website), was taking Prozac. His family said his dosage was recently upped to three pills nightly. I don't know further details of this
teen's legal prescription, but I do know that many experts are
questioning whether drugs, like Prozac, relax inhibitions against
violence and cause leanings toward suicide. One expert says over half of
teens diagnosed with depression attempt suicide and two to five percent
succeed. Oh yes, and 1.5 million kids are on these drugs to treat
depression.
    Long time readers of this newspaper will remember a series we did about experts issuing similar warnings about the drug Ritalin, also somewhat routinely prescribed for schoolchildren.So, what are America's school massacres about? Drugs, guns, violence?
Could it really be that it's about people taking the time out of their
frenzied lives to get a little more in touch with loners and adolescent
kids? Could it be that just making a few people a little happier is the
answer? Maybe if these people, who are apparently crying out for
attention, could find someone to talk to instead of their own little
warped internet buddies, then no one would see the need for the "miracle pill" with its attendant cautions and unknown effect on behavior.
Things Look This Way to Me
Editorial by J.B. McKinley 3/24/05
Ironies
Live long and prosper, said Star Trek's Spock, which works well (if
slightly formal in these days) as a farewell, but I say live long and
appreciate irony. Take the Lamoille Valley Railroad for example. Here's
the story.
Some you may remember Tony Ciaraldi as the head of LCPC. Well, in his
day he leveraged the federal government somehow and got what, for the
times, was huge federal economic development (pork) dollars to rebuild
the LVRR's roadbed. I myself was paid $2.25 per hour to pull ties and
spread "ballast," which is the crushed limestone between the ties. The
irony is that if Rep. Sanders' promised $7.3 million comes through from
the feds this year, my kid would have a shot at being paid to pull out
the same ties I laid down and throw them away.
It seems the railroad is a wonderful thing as a make-work project. Going
on my experience, I'd have to say I expect my grandchildren at about
college-age will have a job wiping out the rail trail and constructing
some unimaginable project in its place. The real question, as yet
unresolved, is: will landowners, who originally sold railroad right of
ways for a railroad's use only, allow the state to trample their
property rights? I also find this a bit ironic, in that Rep. Sanders'
federal money is about to be thrown at a structure with a shaky legal
foundation. This is high-handed to say the least

Things Look This Way to Me
Editorial by J.B. McKinley 3/17/05
Legislative Breakfast
A "sleeping giant" was uncovered at the meet your legislators breakfast
held Monday at the Elmore Town Hall. This was the phrase uttered by Rep. Rich Westman, chair of the House Transportation Committee. Westman told the assembled crowd of about 35, although education and healthcare issues seem to be on everyone's lips in Montpelier and the media, our highway deterioration is a huge problem that won't stay off our radar screens for much longer. Why?
Westman said 53 bridges in Vermont need fixing each year and we are
fixing only 28. He said after 60 years with little or no maintenance
bridges need replacing - not fixing. Each year many more of our bridges
slip into that category. In the meantime, about a third of our roads are
categorized as being in poor conditions and in a very few years
two-thirds will be in that category as we are not catching up by any
means, but are rapidly falling behind at the current funding rates.
Westman knows many of the reasons for the continuing lack of road
maintenance, but also knows those reasons can't continue to be
compelling forever. You'll have to ask him for the details, but here
they are in a nutshell. Federal highway dollars go mostly toward the
interstate system. Vermont does not have the matching dollars to even
accept many more federal dollars. Maintenance is not a popular, sexy
vote-getting issue. The state transportation fund is paying for a lot of
things (for example the tourist information centers) that maybe should
be on someone else's budget. Eighteen and a half percent of the budget,
says Westman goes to the general fund. Department of Transportation
funding is now coming from tax sources that are flat, not growing. "The
ed fund gets everything that grows," says Westman, "the trans. fund gets
everything that's flat."
The sad truth from Montpelier is that Vermont has a fiscal pie that is
only so big and too many people are at the table. Sure, we have to
educate our kids. Sure, we don't want folks to choose between their
prescription meds and a bag of groceries. Then again, will our wake-up
call for the sleeping giant be a collapsing bridge that takes a few
trucks, cars and people with it?
 

Things Look This Way to Me
Editorial by J.B. McKinley 3/3/05
Looking Back at TMD
Town Meeting Day is behind us, what to write about it? Let me approach this from the perspective of attending my Town Meeting in Elmore. It was the best Town Meeting I have ever attended and I've been going since before I was 16 (which wasn't last year). Our meeting was kept courteous, no one got unruly or red-in-the-face angry and serious discussions were held. We heard other folks' views on subjects and then voted. What we didn't do seriously is affect the bottom line.
Except for Stowe, I don't think any Lamoille County Town Meetings
affected the proposed bottom lines. And, in Stowe, where their school
budget was defeated, it seems more of a protest of state taxation than
of dis-satisfaction with their school or school board. I think we have
all accepted our local boards are trying their hardest. No one wants to
deny their child or their neighbor's child his education. But, it seems
we are resigned to the uncontrolled rises in excess of the economy's
growth that is happening in education - a growth that is in itself
boosted by the healthcare bear. Virtually the only question about the
school budget in Elmore was "are we really paying about $20,000 for
health insurance for two employees?' And the poor man who asked the
question was almost overwhelmed by voters saying their insurance was AT LEAST that high!
My only point about our acceptance of rapidly escalating budgets is that
we need to temper this laissez faire attitude with outrage - or nothing
will ever change. As long as someone's banking the profits far above the
average, they are not going to respond to gentle nudging. The
benefactors of these rising budgets are loving our apathy.

Things Look This Way to Me
Editorial by J.B. McKinley 2/14/05
Eden Drivers
YOU CANNOT PASS!
Truth be told, I think I wrote about this week's subject last fall, but
wouldn't swear to it. Anyway, here it is again rearing its ugly,
unthinking head. It's about passing school buses. A call to the
Morristown PD, put the law succinctly - if the stop sign is out to the
side of the bus and/or the red flashing lights are operating,
YOU CANNOT PASS!
Specifically, I am pointing the finger at Eden drivers because I've had
an Eden bus driver drop by and tell me, practically with his hand on a
Bible, that you folks, even parents, up there are passing school buses
like there's no tomorrow. He says he's even been passed with his red
lights on IN THE SCHOOLYARD!
Furthermore (I'm told), even though license plates have been seen and
written down, the official system for fining these folks seems to have
broken down. Supposedly some number up in the 30s, of violations have been reported, but no driver seems to have gotten their comeuppance as yet. And there the situations lies...
So folks, if the law is out of the picture, think about the kids, your
kids and your neighbors' kids. You wouldn't have to look far to find a
tragedy should you plow over a child in the schoolyard. Might as well
kiss untroubled sleep good-bye and start packing for another state
because your friends will desert you.

For heaven's sake, we can't be in that much of a hurry.
 

Back Issues