Things Look This Way to Me
editorial by J.B. McKinley
Trying to Stay Informed1/6/05
Here's a story about trying to stay informed of the movements of our
local National Guard personnel over a period of the last year or so.
Let's start with last week. One day I came into the office, cracked open
my Burlington Free Press and saw an article mentioning Co. C in
Morrisville. Here was news that we, here at the Citizen, have always
chased. Over the years we have monitored every tiny news item about our
local guardsmen from changes in training programs to acquisition of
newer weapons to a new roof at the Morrisville Armory. Now that soldiers
are actually being sent to war zones, you can imagine that we are
(without much exaggeration) just about in a frenzy to keep abreast of
developments. But what happens, despite numerous calls to the state
guard's Public Relations numbers we are not getting adequate notice or
information.
On this particular day, we called the person we have been officially
given as our contact point. That person's phone message said she was
unavailable until the 29th - several days past our deadline. And this
was on the day that major news was released! Of course, newspapers in
every community affected by this latest deployment would be screaming
for details! Oh yes, the phone message said to call another number if
you wished to speak with someone - that number got us a message that
said the back-up person was on vacation until January 7 and sent us back
to the first number! Guys, gals, this is no way to run a war. Oh yeah,
just in case we got lucky, we called our local armory for info, but we
have inferred in the past two years or so, that our guys have been given
instructions to kick everything upstairs - so they're pleasant, but
can't help us.
Our next move was to call another state's national guard (with which our
guys were to be affiliated) where the most efficient, helpful person we
have called in years answered. He gave us all the information, and more,
than we ever thought we'd get.
The above story and several more, are leading us to conclude that
nobody's telling the Vermont National Guard any more than they are
telling us. Well, that's one conclusion...

Things Look This Way To Me
editorial by J.B. McKinley 12/30/04
Another Year Passed
Another year is over, what can we write about it? If I had to go on
general memory and overall impression I'd say "disaster" was down in
Lamoille County this year. We weren't the murder capital of the state.
We didn't have a county-wide flood. We had the Johnson Fire Department
blaze... but it seemed as though fewer residences were burned. On the
plus side, several large scale disaster drills were conducted and all
our emergency agencies from the local Vermont Department of Health to
our CERT team were exercised and trained. Homeland Security money flowed
into our county in irregular lumps, providing vehicles, other materiel
and training.
Looking at the private sector, construction didn't seem to languish,
each time I asked "How's business?" at a lumber company the answer was
either "Good," "Busy," or "OK." In the meantime, I saw new roofs, homes
being resided and garages going up everywhere. It certainly looked as
though the economy, if not booming, was "OK" for quite a few folks -
even us locals.
Of course, the price of gasoline, diesel and home heating oil took a
bite out of paychecks, dairy products leapt in price to the consumer and
folks on a tight, or fixed, budget may have found that the squeeze was
on to provide basics. It was a fact that you had to be driving a real
small car not to spend a twenty every time you stopped at the pumps. If
those basics also included prescriptions or significant healthcare
expenses, the news was not good this past year. There wasn't much relief
in sight for healthcare costs.
Then, there's the bigger picture and that has to include all our
thoughts about the war in Iraq. Sure we have the everyday stuff to deal
with at home - gas at $2 and milk at $3 - but underneath it all we're
thinking about the guys and gals who are overseas welding scrap metal to
the sides of their humvees. More and more of them are Vermonters.
Last week a high school student came over to the paper to ask if anybody
here remembered what was going on in Lamoille County during the Vietnam
"Conflict." Well, I said, I'm not a Vietnam veteran, but I was around
Lamoille County back then. We talked awhile and I'm still not altogether
sure exactly what the student wanted to hear. I am sure of what
crystallized in my mind as we talked. That time in the county was very
much like today. Everyone watched the casualty reports every night on
the TV. They were a lot bigger numbers then, but the same kind of
underlying awareness of our losses is happening today and the same kind
of uneasiness about our overseas actions is alive and well. It's
disturbing that reporting seems to me to have actually been better from
Vietnam (and many of us suspected we were being lied to at the time),
than it is from Iraq.
So I guess, 2004 was an OK year for Lamoille County, but a less than
great year for the world and our nation. We can hope 2005 will improve.
Maybe our economy will boom and the Iraqi elections will be at least a
decent success. So, that's my hope for the New Year...may it be just a
tiny bit better than 2004.
 

Around Town with J.B. McKinley 12/23/04

Hey Doc! Getta load a this! The fat middle-aged editor, who you said
after 10 or 20 years of promises had to lose weight and exercise or
start taking buckets of medicine - went skiing last weekend!
OK, I know this isn't worthwhile news for most of you readers, but I've
got to tell someone the story and you guys are perfect. I mean, what can
you do? Just turn the page and ignore, or if you are slightly into
psychic self-flagellation and suffering you'll read the rest of the column.
Just to be long-winded I'll start at the beginning. My father (May he be
reading this from on high) was a skiing fool. All of us in the family,
without regard to sex, race, or creed, had to ski and at the very least,
appear to enjoy it. His training began at the age of 2 for me, as I
snowplowed between the tips of his surplus Mountain Division six foot
six boards. Things progressed from there, until skiing got too expensive
for me.
That point was 23 years ago, when I skiied for the last time. Then, last
year, my son who disdained downhill skiing for 15 years, tried downhill
and loved it. Since then I'd been toying with the idea of skiing again.
The problem was that the price hadn't gone down.
But folks, I'm here to tell you (as others did me) that THERE ARE WAYS.
I volunteered for the Morristown Ski Program, scurried around buying old
rental skis and bindings. (My ski equipment was too old to be allowed on
the slopes) I even borrowed a pair of plastic boots (what no leather?)
from Jean Wickart, a lady who is responsible for hooking a bunch of kids
on skiing.
So, there I was last Sunday up at Little Spruce with a few minutes
before my instruction as a beginner instructor was to start. I fought my
way into the coffin-like boots, stepped into the skis and awkwardly
climbed to the fast new quad lift. (Hey, it stops for you to get on!)
Dumped up at the top, I looked around for sympathy and asked a guy which
trail was the easiest? He looked at me like I was crazy, wasn't I
already on the easy mountain? He gestured left and right, as though to
say "Take your choice, Dad."
Shamed into action, I pushed off. My left leg wobbled, my ski tips
banged together and rebounded. The slope looked like a vertical drop and
I had moments of fear...
But I made it, and I loved it. So some Sunday, if you happen to see an
old guy in a '70s type Peruvian wool hat, blue jeans and a Johnson wool
jacket (how could you miss me?) that would be me. See you on the slopes.

 

Things Look This Way to Me 12/16/04
editorial by J.B. McKinley
You Spoke, But Didn't Explain
Not to put too fine a point on it, the Green Mountain Tech Center
building proposal went down to serious defeat with the voters of six
towns. Okay, the voters' voices came through the hub bub loud and clear
- NO.
What remains unclear is WHY? And, the disturbing point to be noticed is
that this is not the only recent vote where low turnout had its way with
a proposal. With turnout as low as it was for the recent Wolcott School
addition proposal and for the Johnson water system vote, who can say
that such a few people are actually indicative of the majority? Beyond
that simple wondering, be that as it may, the question of why still remains.
Are only "no" voters turning out to vote? Was it only voters with big
property taxes to pay who went to the polls? Did folks stay away from
the info meetings because their minds were made up, they didn't care, or
they somehow missed all the attempts by officials to communicate? Did
folks fall back on that old saw that their vote wouldn't count? That's
one argument that simply won't fly - at least on the local level. Here's
how all GMTCC's 823 ballots counted; just divide the project cost by the
number of votes, that's what each vote was worth in money saved or spent.
So, voters in six towns didn't want the GMTCC project? Does it need to
be scaled down? Is simply no increase in property taxes acceptable? Do
Wolcott voters agree the school and library need to be bigger and if so,
how much? Only 48 extra voters turning out, and voting against, could
have defeated such an important project.
Okay, okay... maybe property taxes have actually reached their limit
after many years of predictions by conservatives like me. Even so, it's
only fair to come right out and say so. Let your officials know if
nothing is going to fly.
 

Around Town with J.B. McKinley

Let me share a personal parable of how not to get ready for Christmas.
As you may soon be able to discern - I'm really not a worrier.
First and foremost, if you are one of those rarer and rarer families
that drive third and fourth-hand vehicles like me, you have to schedule
all your vehicle inspections for December. Here's what's happened so far
to impact my shopping season. The other day She Who Must Be Obeyed
informed me that her truck's four wheel drive was making some noise.
Sure 'nuff, the boy and and I pulled it into our garage (SWMBO calls it
the "Garage Mahal") in four wheel and heard these terrible thumping
noises. Yep, we had a problem. We subsequently discovered three bad
wheel bearings, a destroyed universal joint. While underneath the thing,
we also found a leaky rear brake cylinder. Nine garage hours later, She
Who Must ... was back on the road. Of course, my own 14 year old winter
transportation, also four wheel drive and also without a good universal
joint, is scheduled for inspection December 18. How's that for holiday
timing?
Second, you must have a kid who needs to be needled to complete college
applications byg January 1 (they all need this help). Keep at the
forefront of your mind the expense that will accrue to you if you are
successful in getting the kid into some expensive lodge of learning.
Somehow this all seems self-defeating, and definitely relieves the
Christmas urge to buy gifts. She Who Must Be Obeyed likes jewelry, but
this year is looking grim for her, I forgot to get anything ahead of
time at the Champlain Valley Fair. ( You can then wrap it in a paper bag
from some expensive jeweler, who's to know?)
In the meantime, as I'm agonizing over gift lists and prices and keeping
something running to get us to the stores, which seem to be receding
from our local area, the wife's been buying expensive Christmas trees to
benefit charities. I ask you, what happened to the perfectly adequate
ones we used to harvest at home?
Finally, never, EVER, write a column like this, because it's sure to
land you in hot water and you're likely to spend Christmas enjoying
dinner the way a lobster does from plateside.
 

Things Look This Way to Me
Editorial by J.B. McKinley 12/204
Savoring the Pork
Sincere congratulations, Johnson, on funding the Main Street Project - I
mean that. After it's completed Johnson will look better. Pedestrians
may be safer. The town may have an increase in business and, at the very
least, the capital improvements of new curbs and sidewalks will remain
for decades. Isn't it amazing how good pork tastes when it's on your
plate, but how bad it looks on other tables?
When it comes to all the coverage in national media of the Omnibus bill
that provided the latest platter of pork, nationally and
internationally, it's mostly been negative. But one question looms in my
mind and that's the higgledypiggledy manner in which the projects get in
the bill. What and whose priorities rule the picks?
Here's what I'm getting at, and please look at this as an extension of
last week's editorial about our county's growth and needs. What's more
important in your mind, the GMTCC expansion that will help train those
of our children who don't wish an academic career for a good paying job
or the Main Street project? What's more important Federally Qualified
Health Care status for primary care practices in the county, so we can
all get cheaper medicine, or the Main Street project? Okay, do your own
"what's more important" scenario for some project in your town, and then
look at what your U.S. Congress is giving you and your county. What if
the choice in Johnson had been the new water system they just voted or
the Main Street project?
To my thinking the real problem with the Omnibus pork is the randomness
of whose plate the roast gets thumped down upon. The question of need
seems not to be linked in any way.
Well, that's too bad, but we can only remember the recent Thanksgiving
and offer our thanks for what we receive.
 

Things Look This Way to Me Editorial by J.B. McKinley 11/25/04
Growing Pains?
You may have noticed.
Multi-million dollar local building projects have been popping up on the
front page of the News & Citizen often in the past few months and more
often in the past five years than in the previous 20 years. Let's just
take a look at the most recent, Cambridge looked at a centralized town
building complex last spring. Morrisville is still struggling with
library expansion and a need for town office, storage and meeting space.
Johnson just voted a great new water system. Wolcott needs library and
school space, not to mention town office space. Cambridge bought a new
rescue building. Hyde Park is just finishing a library expansion. The
tech center addition and renovation is about to go to a vote. LUHS/LUMS
is relatively new. Also in Hyde Park, the Court House may undergo $5
million in changes and growth. Jeffersonville is currently fundraising
for a library addition. And that's just building projects!
Then you may also have noticed the growth in budgets for programs and
departments that most or all of the county's towns once never had.
Things like historical societies, recreation departments, town parks of
one kind or another, and police protection (Gone are the days of the
sheriff sitting in his rocking chair in Hyde Park - he was the
"department.") Then take a look at our rescue and fire departments
around the county - it would be fun some day to compute the cost of just
the emergency vehicles that run in Morrisville or Jeff's 4th of July parade.
Are these things bad? No, they are signs of growth and though we like to
think poor, talk poor and vote poor, they are signs of a healthy
economy. Lamoille County is the second fastest growing county in
Vermont; this statistic carries costs. Do we have to be cautious with
our spending? Yes, but being thrifty is importantly different from being
miserly. Thrifty is worth striving for, miserly is worth avoiding.
Then again, there is such a thing as spending beyond our means. Perhaps
the central question we must ask ourselves is, can we actually afford
what we think we need? When we look at our vaunted growth, we must also
examine how much wealth, how many businesses and jobs are locating here?
How are our salaries and wages growing?
The decision of what is thrifty is one each voter will make for himself.
Of course, given how much we've all missed the Ames store in
Morrisville, I think we'll be OK.


 

Things Look This Way to Me
editorial by J.B. McKinley 11/18/04
While We're Waiting
Here we all are waiting for the first significant snowfall to bury us
and signal the onset of winter, these last 10 days or so seems to be the
"between and betwixt" season. Surely that will change overnight and the
whole state will wear a mantle of frosty ermine. Local service people
are being called up for often unspecified "security" duty in faraway
lands. The holiday season is almost upon us and it's as though for a
number of reasons, we've all been holding our breath in anticipation of
breaking events. I guess we've survived the expensive campaign season,
so what's next?
We can be sure events will come along speedily. Our servicemen and women
will soon be immersed in training and deployment, our free time will be
booked in holiday preparations, and we, on the home front, will be
shoveling, snowblowing, and plowing.
In the meantime, a number of folks have told me they've recently been
passed outrageously and dangerously while driving along at roughly the
speed limit. Apparently this is happening all over Lamoille County,
although I've been made aware of instances mostly on Route 15. In
Morrisville, the driver's complaint that I'm hearing most often is that
everyone is running stop signs, using the parking area at the blinking
red in Morrisville for turning and, at the same spot, tagging along,
going tandem - two at time - under the stop then go rules. It's actually
quite odd that this is the second year that folks have voiced complaints
about dangerous driving at the same time of year. What's the deal? Are
we all in such a hurry for winter?
I'm certain that's not my reason if I'm caught leaking through a stop sign!

Things Look This Way to Me
editorial by J.B. McKinley 11/4/04
What's the Message?
Well, Vermonters what mandate have we given our newly elected officials
and what message have we sent to our incumbents? Vermonters have chosen
decisively to ride two different horses for the next few years, Mr.
Kerry for president and Mr. Douglas for governor. This can't mean we
have a state with a split personality. It's more likely we all want
basically the same things: more and better jobs, our kids safe from the
draft and a safer, greener world. Could the message simply be that
Vermonters want to travel a more moderate road to the same end?
I think many of us (and I include myself) would have been happy to vote
for a presidential candidate who combined a thoughtful, educated
approach to issues from a base of moral certainty. But this was a
candidate I don't think we had on tap. Meanwhile, back here in Vermont,
we chose Jim Douglas, who can certainly be described as a moderate,
perhaps an "old fashioned Republican" who wants to fix the economy and
create jobs.
The message included the example we created out of Elizabeth Ready -
whether you are on the D side of the street or the R - no one trusts a
liar, especially with your money!
To end this preliminary look at our election results, I can only add the
astounding turnout of voters that is around 70% of registered voters in
Lamoille County. This kind of interest in voting puts an exclamation
mark at the end of our message to our elected officials.
So, when we have had time to further analyze the messages our election
day choices made - they may sound something like this, "We want some
changes, we want less radical moves (right or left) and we mean it!"
When Election Day rolls around again, those who hear the message, will
survive.
 

Things Look This Way to Me 10/14/04
editorial by J.B. McKinley
Let Us Explore!
The age of flight has been determined by some pundits as having begun in
a Dayton, OH, bicycle shop, when two somewhat eccentric brothers
conceived a desire to fly and had the dedication to pursue their dream
on a shoestring budget.
The Wright brothers may have ushered in the era of flight, but it's
equally possible that we all have watched the true birth of the space
age last week. SpaceShip One, the first all privately funded space
vehicle has carried two astronauts into space and proven it can do it
more than once. It's likely that the price of a trip into space has just
plunged from many millions of dollars to an estimated $190,000. How long
will it take to drop that price even further? This time a plume of
burned rubber and whipped cream propellant launched the vehicle. What
will be next?
Well, SpaceShip One has proven the sky is NOT the limit.
SpaceShip One is yet another dream of designer Burt Rutan, who
appropriatelly first achieved fame designing a bicyle-powered aircraft
that crossed the English Channel. Software billionaire Paul Allen was
the moneyman behind the effort. These two guys and their team
refreshingly proved once again that everything wonderful does not need
to be achieved by governments, endless board meetings and cadres of
pennypinching, politically correct decisionmakers.
It may be time that our government takes a long look at space travel.
Maybe it's time to let commercial entities take over the international
space station and near earth space. Let private people take the risks
and reap the benefits of space. Exploration has always been risky and
lives have been lost. The difference is that when government has a
disaster, like the loss of the space shuttle, everything is shut down
for years, but if the effort were private - one company might go
bankrupt, but another would be jostling for the business the next day.
Take another look at SpaceShip One's example, the pilot, Brian Binnie,
is no spring chicken. You would never have seen a wrinkled guy in
glasses flying a NASA vehicle. If his name wasn't John Glenn, he'd never
have even gotten a ride into space as a passenger. But he had the skills
and the desire to be successful. He saw the sky turn black and launched
a cloud of M&Ms weightlessly around his head.
What does Binnie's example mean? It means relatively ordinary people can
dream of space. Space may now be in the future for almost all of us.
Look at it like the "American dream." The American dream isn't that we
could all grow up to be President, sure that's possible but not
realistic. It's that we all have a chance to own our own homes, get a
good job - be the best we can be. This is a goal more attainable than
getting an astronaut's slot and for a dream to take hold I think it has
to be one that's at least wildly feasible to our common sense.
I hope we don't stifle our dreams and our future in space with excess
government. Our children deserve better.
 

Things Look This Way to Me
editorial by J.B. McKinley 10/7/04
Chiming in on Ready Controversy
I thought I'd post my resume for my readers, so you would all have a
good idea just whose opinion you are reading.
I graduated valedictorian from high school, picked up a bachelor's
degree in three years from Harvard after being admitted a year early. I
was working on my master's at MIT when my Fulbright Scholarship came
through and I spent three years in Oxford exploring English literature
with a minor interest in international affairs.
Of course, you may have found the details of my academic credentials on
my website any time over the past few years.
Wait a minute! Someone out there was in my high school class and didn't
remember anything about my early graduation...
Well, in that case, let me say one of my reporters must have gotten the
wrong idea from things I've said. Then, the website guy really doesn't
know me. Hey, I've been busy for 10 years or so, there hasn't been a
chance to correct these oversights.
Actually folks, I think I did get a college degree somewhere...but it
might have taken a few years and, well, I've never set foot in England.
All right, you get the idea. If there is anyone out there who swallows
our state auditor's line now - they deserve to be hooked. This lady
should fade into the night.
Bye, bye, Liz.
 

Things Look This Way to Me
editorial by J.B. McKinley 9/30/04
Out of Africa
"Daybreak on the African savannah, half asleep and smelling the dust
after hours following wildebeest migration trails, my head nodded and
lurched, my chin struck my chest again and I banged against the door
handle. How I avoided a knock on the roof of my Land Rover, I couldn't
imagine. Down I drove into a dry thorny gully. Crack! The front axle let
go..."
I woke from my daydream at 7:30 a.m. yesterday and found myself halfway
through the summer-long zone of construction along Brooklyn Street in
Morrisville.
Folks, let me say that I am writing this column at the very rare request
of a number of people. You have to understand readers almost never
suggest (far less request) the subject of an editorial. So, to my friend
Scott Corse, superintendent at Morrisville Water & Light, I offer my
apologies in advance.
But here's the scoop, drivers have had it up to their gizzards. They've
had an ever lovin' crawful of the rough road left by the construction.
It's not even the wait for the one lane traffic that irks.
"At first," complainers explain to me, "we were patient, we understand
things have to be fixed."
Then, there's the fact that absolutely everyone I talk to, wonders why
the dips in the patches aren't fixed. Why aren't the patches leveled?
Rumor is the state told the construction crew to leave the asphalt
patches dipped. Huh? That must be 'cause they're not paying for our
vehicle repairs.
Well, this is certainly a bonanza for shock absorber, tie rod and ball
joint salesmen! One person I know, though travelling slowly, has managed
to dent the car's aluminum rims. Another has broken loose a muffler and
at one point three hubcaps were displayed in front of the three houses
immediately across from my office!
As I write, the big trucks outside slam down into the cross lane
mini-ditches and the cement pad here at the Citizen vibrates. Even the
plastic Jesus on top of our newspaper file in the office was toppled
yesterday.
Then, there's the fact that anyone travelling this obstacle course on a
regular basis can't discover any logic to the number of times the same
hole has been dug, filled, patched, re-dug, filled, patched - well, you
get it.
So, just in case the buzz hasn't reached the right ears, here's the
feeling out there. Construction has gone on long enough, let it be done,
and by gad the new pavement better not be laid down by some amateur.
Coming into winter, folks are going to expect Brooklyn Street to be as
smooth as a baby's butt!

Things Look This Way to Me
editorial by J.B. McKinley
Rather Watch Another Network?
Would you rather watch a network other than CBS after talking head Dan
Rather nearly foisted a scandalous batch of forged documents on the
American public that may have tipped the balance of a close presidential
election?
Whatever your answer, the real lesson for the public is to take in your
information with a huge grain of salt. While the news media often seems
to me to be obsessed with "objectivity" and telling both sides of the
story, it looks like there's a more fundamental problem - lack of accuracy.
Consider the last few years. The New York Times and before that The
Boston Globe had reporters who wrote convincing fictional stories that
easily slid by management and the public. Now, we've got a TV giant so
focused on the big story that he or his staff couldn't do a simple
search on the internet or call a few friends and get the skinny on an
informer who appears essentially a disgruntled nutcase.
With the Times, the story was the snipers around Washington, DC., this
time it's background for a presidential election. If these mistakes were
made with huge stories, how much is wrong with the little stuff that is
less scrutinized? If Dan Rather is telling us about a tornado in Texas,
is the name of the town correct? Did the tornado footage come from a
tornado two years ago in Kansas? Maybe we are going to have to
re-evaluate just how much we are taking on trust.
For my part, a newly awakened skepticism of the media would be a really
good thing. Let's leave the big news stories aside and talk about
Lamoille County news for a second. It's easy to make mistakes. It's easy
for a reporter to misunderstand. First, reporters don't ever get all the
facts. In addition, not everything people tell them, that they often
treat as facts, is true. Yet these misunderstandings, mistakes and
blatant lies often get into print. There's a vast difference between a
genuine document and a document of genuine and true facts. We can quote
an official word for word, but that doesn't mean the man speaks truely.
All we can do is try, but folks, don't believe everything you read or
see. Find another source, watch two networks, log onto the internet and
find an eyewitness. It's a big world and sometimes the truth isn't
simple, but is an agglomeration of facts pointing us in the right direction

Things Look This Way to Me Sept. 16, '04
editorial by J.B. McKinley
Bad Cowboy?
This week's comment stems from a possibly true event that may have
happened recently in a local school that so wildly contrasted with the
distant school days of this editor, it prompted this column. I'm making
no attempt to find the facts of the matter; it would be equally worthy
of comment if someone made up the story.
I've heard that for some reason young local school children produced
some sort of self-portraits or artwork. One young man allegedly decided
to draw a cowboy. The outfit included a sixgun holstered at his side.
One imagines this is a fairly common image for Americans of a certain
age, boy or girl. But there was one thing wrong with this picture -
apparently this is an excessively violent world-view. The child was
ordered to paste a patch of paper over the offending evil weapon, after
which this portrait was okay for public display.
How things change! I attended this same school about 40 years ago. In
junior high school, my friend and I brought our .22 rifles to school in
the morning. The teacher kindly put the rifles in a closet and gave them
back to us when school let out so that we might hoof it out back, still
mostly on school property, to go squirrel hunting. We did not shoot at
our schoolmates, our teachers or even remotely contemplate any kind of
unholy slaughter. Maybe our world view was violent, but then watch
tonight's news - see any violence?
A variety of Hollywood cowboys were our heroes as were a similiar
variety of fictional idols such as the comic book's Sgt. Rock and Vic
Morrow, of TV's "Combat." You are going to have a tough time convincing
me that these role models were all wrong. Though violent characters, the
essential difference between these guys and their defeated enemies, was
that we knew they were the good guys. These were the guys in white hats,
Tommy guns, sixguns, helmets, cigar stubs and all. The thing we have to
keep our eye on is that everyone understands the moral issues involved
with idols. Teach the difference between right and wrong.
For my part, this type of censorship of art, especially children's art,
is not teaching. Teaching means exposing children to new thoughts, new
philosophies, new everything. It does not mean narrowly channeling them
to some politically correct world view. Just who gets to decide what's
correct? Never mind the gun issue - the whole concept of "political
correctness" is an affront to our liberties. If something is within the
law, then let's write about, draw it, talk about it, photograph it and
discuss it. If a boy wants to be a cowboy, it's all right. If he wants
to draw Ted Bundy or idolizes the Boston Strangler - then we've got a
problem. Otherwise, let him draw.
 

Things Look This Way to Me
editorial by J.B. McKinley
First Day of School
Lamoille Union teacher Wayne Nadeau is back in the news this week as a
petition is picked up and presented to the Lamoille School Board with
around 500 signatures of people who do not want to see him teaching
locally. What can the effect of this petition be? The fact is that
Nadeau is reinstated. He is teaching this week and presumably for the
rest of the year. It's doubtful that anything can be changed for the
school year, unless a change is initiated by Mr. Nadeau himself.
According to some folks, the situation on the first day of school was
deplorable and unacceptable. And we won't argue either way. But there is
another consideration or two, or one might say each student in the
classroom is a consideration worthy of our thoughts.
Mr. Nadeau long ago admitted the transgression for which he received a
20 day suspension. In essence, he's paid his debt. One wonders how much
those of us who are incensed over the whole Nadeau situation are really
angry with the former superintendent, the lawyers, the state's handling
of the initial complaint, and the deep silence of the sitting school
board members at the time? In these matters, we should not transfer our
anger to Mr. Nadeau.
Then, comes the Russia trip. The fact is that Mr. Nadeau faced those
various allegations and has been vindicated. He has been exonerated and
reinstated. Now it seems, as always, we and he have the rest of the year
ahead of us. It is up to us to choose what approach we will follow for
the future. Will we choose to accept reality - let the entire situation
be finished, but not forgotten? Or will we continue to stir the pot of
contention?
Perhaps we should sum the current situation up this way: the
petitioners' signatures register their unhappiness and their
unwillingness to accept the new status quo. Meanwhile, the reality is
that the year must be faced. We should make the best of it for the students.

 

Things Look This Way to Me 8/19/04
editorial by J.B. McKinley
Life's Little Beefs
Presumably you bought your pickup truck to lug things around - right? So
how does it help to have to lift everything over the tailgate to get it
in? Let me answer that and, for a moment emulate the original Ralph
Nader. My darn tailgate doesn't work and it's a pain in the heinie. And
therein lies the little beef. (No pun intended.)
I have owned three old trucks: a 1933 Ford, a 1951 Ford and a 1953
Chevy. All three had extremely functional tailgates that, as I recall,
utilized your basic hook and eye principle. Perhaps not surprisingly
these were the days when Made in America commercial vehicles dominated
the world market. A chain with an S-hook on the end was placed through a
bracket to hold your tailgate in position or closed. This system was
simple and practical. I, totally, cannot see how it could be improved
upon. In at least one case I am absolutely sure that it is still working
71 years later. Let me contrast that to the complicated, cheaply built,
hard to get at, and nonfunctional tailgate on my 1994 Ford.
My newest tailgate has a cast handle that has already broken once. It
features internal plastic connectors that have become brittle and are
broken. It has long metal rods that are weak and too flexible. It has
parts located at the latch, where it is most prone to rust, that will
detach and drop into inaccessible recesses and the whole thing is only
reached through a panel that if left open means you can't walk on your
tailgate. I'm told no other manufacturer's tailgate latching system is
much better.
So there you have it. Give me back my chains!
 

Things Look This Way to Me
editorial by J.B. McKinley
When the Law Isn't the Law

The law isn't the law when Phish comes to town. What do I mean?
I recently saw a law enforcement officer quoted in a newspaper speaking
words to the effect that, obviously, laws were being relaxed for the
Phish invasion and that someone smoking pot in front of a state
policeman would not be prosecuted. Presumably this was due to the
logistics of the situation.
Naturally, we all understand that when 60,000 or more people descend
like locusts (albeit money-carrying locusts) on Coventry, the situation
gets flexible. Naturally, 2,000 people caught smoking a joint can't be
hustled off in non-stop paddy wagons.
But, in my book that's called situational ethics. Since when does the
practice of the law have much to do with ethics? Then, aren't ethics all
about what is right and wrong?
What's right about someone in Lamoille County being picked up for
possession of marijuana, having to go the whole court route and assuming
a lifelong criminal record, when all he had to do was whip on up to
Coventry and puff his brains into mellow city without a care in the world?
It's obviously become accepted since sometime way, way back, maybe in
the '60s, that concertgoers were going to be smoking pot. TV clips and
magazine pictures have given us Woodstock-like vignettes for decades.
But why can't the cops pass out pre-printed tickets for violations? Why
can they take a video picture of your license plate and catch you for
running stoplights or speeding, but they are happy to let you do drugs
at a concert? If you were a policeman how hard would you go after your
neighbor who's growing a few plants, when you just watched more than a
thousand people toking up publicly in Coventry?
OK, probably it's dreaming to think that anything is going to change,
but let's just give it a moment's thought.
 

Things Look This Way to Me
editorial by J.B. McKinley
Getting to the Bottom of It All
Over here in Morrisville at the objective distance of nine miles up
Route 100, we are hearing and reading much about the pain of the
unprecedented property tax increase in Stowe.
A secondhand story I've heard is the tale of a person who bought a
modest home 10 years ago in Stowe for a bit over $100,000 and last year
the tax for that home was around $3,000. Her house is now appraised over
$300,000 and this year's tax approaches $8,000. That's a bitter pill to
swallow.
The Stowe tax increase was not unheralded. Stowe has fought the good
fight for lower property taxes in the courts, with voluntary school
contributions and voting power, but the tax bear is just too big for the
Stowe bulldog. Why?
Well, blame for the property tax increases statewide is being laid in
loud voices at every door imaginable from Democrats and Republicans, to
an amorphous something called "the state" to our Supreme Court, Act 60,
and Act 68. Even the long suffering, hard-working Rep. Richard Marron
(whose position on higher taxes always looked straightforward to me)
seemed to take a hit in a recent letters column. But I've an idea on
blame and I think we're all skimming the top of the creamery can on this
issue, we need to dive to the bottom to look for causes.
It's the the cost of schooling that is making every organization scurry
for ways to raise more money. The huge ever-expanding expense of asking
our schools to "educate" our kids is the root of the need for tax money.
For some reason we are simply asking our schools to do too much for us.
We've closed institutions for mental health care. We expect schools to
mainstream special education students. We expect schools to teach about
every social issue that arises from AIDS to cultural and racial
diversity and English as a Second Language. We expect schools to test
the results of their own work. We expect them to provide a perfectly
safe environment in a world no one can ever honestly label safe. We ask
them to teach democracy, character and moral values all without
mentioning religion. We ask them to provide after-school care until a
parent can come home from work, in a world where each parent may well be
working two jobs. We are increasingly asking them to provide child care
at what was once considered pre-school levels. (When will the term
"pre-school" disappear, since there soon will be no such time in a
child's life?)
All these things and more our schools try to do, and they try to do them
using union labor, paying union scale in a state where almost no one
else is paid on that scale. Can we expect the job to come in under budget?
The facts indicate to me that folks will continue to pay for all the
services offered by schools, until the pain and effort of doing some of
the schools' job by ourselves, outside the government and public arena,
appears less than the pain of paying the taxes. When will that be - never?
 

Things Look This Way to Me editorial by J.B. McKinley
The Convention in BostonFolks who know my general political inclinations
and remember that I have actually run for office on the Republican
ticket may not want to read my take on the Democratic Convention now
ongoing in Beantown. But, I figure some folks may have been avoiding TV
and radio this week and might like some word of the speeches aired to
delegates.
Last night, our own Howard Dean addressed the crowd and was treated to
an ovation that certainly challenged for length (some three minutes)
that given to former President Bill Clinton. Then, I can only guess to
combat the image of him screaming at voters earlier in his campaign, he
gave a decent but calmly delivered speech. Here's my thought on the
performance and its reception. It looks to me like Howard has a future
in politics.
In his speech the night before, Gore emphasized his goring by the
Florida vote counters and the Supreme Court to an extent that may have
caused people to discount his opinions. It looked to me like it's time
for him to get over it or get out of politics. For his part, Dick
Gephardt, of Missouri, had a probably final chance at the national
podium Tuesday night and has made his decision to get out after failing
to carry next door neighbor Iowa in his bid for the Oval Office.
Then there was the Reverend and Vietnam swift boat comrade of John
Kerry. He represented an immediate contrast to the politics at the
convention. It's amazing how, a real believer, a real, genuine true blue
supporter can influence others. The Rev. believes in Kerry and makes
others re-think, too.
Following the Reverend at the microphones were both NY Sen. Hillary
Clinton and her husband. Let me be frank, both are public personalities
who I believe have serious character flaws. Nevertheless, both gave
extremely persuasive speeches in support of the Democratic plans for the
Kerry administration. Both appeared to have grown considerably in
stature since Mr. Clinton left office. Should we be looking out for the
Hillary/Howard ticket eventually?
At any rate, part of the way through the Democratic Convention I'll
venture a bet that John Kerry gets considerable "bounce" from this
convention. Only an unusually dismal performance of his own can change
that now.
 

Things Look This Way to Me editorial by J.B. McKinley
Traffic
Perhaps the only thing you've noticed is the blue atmosphere hovering
over the Brooklyn Street construction as you've sat in your vehicle
waiting to get the flag, but that may be too strong. In fact, most folks
seem to have taken the wait phlegmatically. Many have been waiting for
minutes and have still been kind enough to wave me out of the News &
Citizen parking lot ahead of them. (Thanks!) But it's not been the hot
wait in the stationary car that's got me thinking. It's been the fact
that when I got through the construction and on into downtown
Morrisville the traffic has moved much more quickly than usual through
the four way light.
Can this mean that a traffic light somewhere on Brooklyn Street might
actually ease passage through the village? Would a light at Northgate
Plaza or at the intersection of Brooklyn and Bridge smooth traffic? I
don't know, but the construction-mandated stoppage has somehow changed
the traffic dynamic. Can traffic lights be tried out, or simulated?
Folks have suggested that there are so many curb cuts and accesses along
Brooklyn Street, near Northgate Plaza, that they don't think a traffic
light would work because vehicles couldn't effectively merge into the
stopped line of cars. Hey, I'll admit it's too complex for me. All I can
say is do a little experiment on your own; after you get through the
construction travelling into the village center, do you then pass
through the downtown more quickly than you did before?
 

Around Town by J.B. McKinley
Folks call me many things: the first one that really hurt was "pompous." That was about 30 years ago and I've been working on it. Others are not news and are not fit to print. As far as I know no one has every called me vain, but after reading this column you might think so.
About two years ago, I remembered to schedule a tooth cleaning (teeth cleaning?) Naturally, I flossed and brushed better than at any moment in the preceding six months. I leaned over the wash basin, turned up the lighting and snarled at the mirror, twisting this way and that to see that my teeth were at their very best. After all, how often does someone really get in your face and look over your teeth? This can be a very embarassing moment. And that's without even discussing coffee breath. After an inordinate time with the mirror, a place I usually see only blearily while shaving in a fog of steam, I was satisfied. All morning at work, I disciplined myself to avoid bagels and donuts and anything that might cake between my teeth. I think I allowed myself an apple - figuring that would freshen everything up.
Quite satisfied with myself, I hopped in my car, tooled off to the dentist's office and was in due course installed prone on the Naugahyde couch, completely at the mercy of the smiling hygienist. And that's when it happened. It was something new. The nice lady called in a helper, hefted some kind of mouth-sized measuring stick or caliper, (it's tough to see what they're sticking in your mug, you know) and started calling out numbers.
"Two" "three" "three" "two" and so on. No "ones." A couple of "fours." Meanwhile, I lay there mystified and figuring like mad. In this numerical scale was one best, or was 10 best? How come I didn't have any ones and I couldn't seem to top four? At any rate, by the time I added all the numbers up to more than 40 and was worriedly losing track of the exact total, the exercise was over.
"What was that all about?" I queried.
It proved to be a measurement of how much my gums had receded at each tooth.
Giving me a severe look, the hygienist informed me that the threes were bad - very bad. She cheerily added that, of course, I could probably have oral surgery that MIGHT repair things should deterioration continue. I knew that she meant if I was still too lazy to floss enough. (You know dentists now say it's more important to floss than to brush!)
I fantasized that they'd use bits of flesh from unsavory areas of my anatomy to graft around my teeth.
I have lived in fear ever since that day. Naturally, the fear only really appears as dentist day occurs. But even on a day like yesterday, when I drove my mother to the dentist, I checked out my gumline before leaving on the trip. Not yet blind, I was forced to notice I'm getting a bit long in the tooth.
I guess I can only go home, floss and hope my hygienist reads this and treats me with sympathy and gentleness. When it comes to receding gums, am I the only one out there with a fragile ego?
Kids, take it from one who knows. Don't forget to floss.
 

Things Look This Way to Me
editorial by J.B. McKinley 7/1/04
What Will They Call It?
Supposedly Iraq has been handed its sovereignty as of June 28. Will this
be known as Iraq's Independence Day? Doubtful. It hardly seems a day to
rejoice or, in the future, remember. Personally I think the President's
scrawled comment on a note from "Condi" at the recent NATO conference in
Turkey was sadly overblown. "Let freedom reign!" maybe it's our press
coverage, but I didn't see or hear of anyone rejoicing.
Here we are on the eve of celebrating our Independence Day, which, by
the way, is the day we declared we were independent of England. Other
than that, it's not too correctly descriptive, because we didn't win our
genuine independence until we won a war. Will that be the case in Iraq?
What war are they going to have to win? We won the war against Saddam.
But will they have to win a civil war? It's certain that the Iraqis will
choose the date of their independence, not the United States. England
didn't choose July 4th for us.
Yes, June 28 may not prove to be a date to remember. It seems strangely
reminiscent of the Vietnamization we did in the 1970s, before we handed
over Vietnam and helicoptered away with folks clinging to the choppers.
Boy, that was a high point in our history. Let freedom reign, my foot.
Tell that to our South Vietnamese allies who attended reeducation camp.
Let the Iraqis decide for themselves when they've earned a red letter
day in their national history. It's increasingly obvious that our
country is not going to be playing the part of the hero of the story. So
what were our objectives when we decided to rain war down on Iraq for a
second time? Where do we stand on these objectives now that sovereignty
has been handed back?
We have ascertained there is no stockpile of weapons of mass
destruction. We have captured Saddam and pals. Are we confronting
terrorism in Baghdad and Fallujah instead of in Manhattan? Have we
changed anything for the Israel/Palestine situation? Have we planted
democracy among the Arab states? Have we increased our standing in the
international community or guaranteed our flow of natural resources?
Have we answered the prayers of any segment of the Iraqi people, such as
the Shiites, the Kurds, or the Sunnis?
Nope, I'm not going to remember June 28 as Iraq's Independence Day

Things Look This Way to Me
editorial by J.B. McKinley
How Long 'Til We're Affected?
There were two developments in national news in the past week that
actually eclipsed our international fumblings from this editor's
perspective. The national media reported that the U.S. Senate had voted
in agreement with the Defense Department and administration's ban on
photographs of the coffins of our returning war dead. At almost the same
time, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it was proper for police to
request your name and that you must give it or go to jail.
In my opinion we should all vigorously protest these decisions from two
branches of OUR government. Of course, we are entitled to record and
publicize in any manner or media we choose our soldiers. Without
question the returning dead hold no secrets. Pictures of their
flag-draped caskets will not aid or abet our enemies. The issue is very,
very simple. The privacy of the dead soldier and his or her family is
not breached and we should not fight unseen wars. The dead that are
returning from Iraq are not numbered in the single or double digits.
These are not dead spies. They should not be sneaked home. Nor should we
be allowed to remain unaware of their sacrifices.
This decision goes hand in hand with the lack of visible data concerning
the numbers of our wounded and missing in action in this War on Terror.
Our country has suffered enormous loss of life in other wars and it
either has, or has not, affected the will to continue prosecuting the
war of the time. But it should be us, not our politicians and
bureaucrats, who decide whether we've had enough.
As for the decision that we must announce our names to the police, there
can be little doubt over time that this will nudge the acceptable
envelope so we will eventually have to divulge our address, our various
ID numbers, or even have to show an identity card. I understand the
opinions of the dissenting judges indicated that they were diametrically
opposed to those who voted to support the mandatory name giving. I, too,
am a dissenter.
 

Things Look This Way to Me editorial by J.B. McKinley
Qualified Teachers
The statewide press is informing us that 94 percent of Vermont teachers
qualify under the specific requirements of No Child Left Behind
regulations to be teaching in their "core" area of expertise. In
simplified language this means if he or she is a history teacher they've
had some college level history courses. Though this method of measuring
competency is required by federal law, each state is allowed to set its
own parameters on what "highly qualified" means in terms of education or
experience.
Leaving aside the six percent of Vermont teachers who now have two years
to either find documentation for credits or experience they actually
have, or to take a couple of courses, the state's parameters for the
highly qualified tag are what really matters if this whole process is to
mean anything. How so? Well, for example, in some states having taken a
college course on how to teach history is a qualification - never mind
that you may not have ever taken a college level history course.
So, in summary, congratulations are truly in order for our Vermont
teachers who, using what measure of qualification we now have, are ahead
of the curve. As for our part, we should make sure that the state has
qualification standards that are relevant and of genuine use.
Locally, we will try to bring you specifics for Lamoille County's
supervisory districts, that is, exactly how many teachers (if any) are
not yet listed as "highly qualified." Keep in mind that there will also
be teachers leaving or retiring, so simple numbers don't tell the whole
story.
 

Things Look This Way to Me
editorial by J.B. McKinley
Beginnings
To tell the truth I was scratching my head considering what to write
this column about and had discarded a diatribe about the arrogance of
"outsiders" telling us not to welcome Wal-Mart (No, I'm too
opinionated), a snide comment about why our Brooklyn St. sidewalk
project hasn't begun (No, it's no different than any other construction
project) and I thought about whether the June 30 hand-off in Iraq means
we've lost a war. Then I thought about the ending of school.
It's trite to say that graduation is a beginning, but hopefully it's
true. The hope part lies in the hope that anyone who reaches a red
letter day in their life, such as graduation, will move onward and
upward. Hopefully, high school achievements will be easily eclipsed in
graduates' futures.
This thought was reinforced when the telephone rang and it was the
director of the Green Mountain Technology and Career Center. He was
telling me about next week's commencement ceremony. It is purposely held
at Johnson State College to give exiting students even this exceedingly
subtle suggestion to continue their educations.
So this early part of June, which has been very spring-like this year,
is a time of beginnings. It is the beginning of haying time. It will
mark the beginning of a new Iraqi nation. It is the beginning of either
a lifetime of work or of a few years of college for students. It's the
beginning of summer. The very word "commencement" means beginning, not
graduation.
Why don't we recognize beginnings, instead of endings? Births hold
promise, while deaths hold only history. The fact is that the endings,
such as graduation, that we formally and ceremonially recognize may only
be worth our effort if they are looked at as just one step in an upward
staircase.

Things Look This Way to Me editorial by J.B. McKinley
GO CAREFULLY
Be careful, be cautious. That's good advice for ladies young and old at
all times, but perhaps it is a bit more timely right now. The newspapers
and TV (yes, we are at it, too) are highly publicizing the latest
missing woman and looking for threads to tie to the cases of three
missing women together - as though one mysterious
disappearance/abduction is not scary enough.
The intent of this column is certainly not to create more fear or any
kind of over reaction, but we thought it wise to remind women moving
around alone to exercise all the cautions that they already know about,
but probably get careless in exercising. Things like parking under a
security light. Don't get out of the car for a stranger or anyone acting
unusually - just drive off. Got a cell phone? Use it. Better yet, if you
are concerned or have a routine where you must travel around alone in
lonely areas, call an expert or talk to your neighbor who's a cop and
get some tips on how to handle yourself. We certainly claim no expertise
here at the paper, and personally, I haven't got a woman's viewpoint -
so who am I to talk?
With luck, the three recent disappearances will not be linked and we are
needlessly worrying, but why not make your own luck and make it be good
luck?

Around Town with J.B. McKinley

Got an off the wall subject for folks this time around, maybe some old
timers or the horse owning crowd will get a kick out of it!
The other day, my family was presented with an old saddle and the
leather was a bit dried out. It is a good quality saddle so I was not
tempted to just wipe it down with any of the several brands of boot
dressings I happen to have on hand. Upon investigation most people
suggested several light coats of neatsfoot oil to bring back the
leather's suppleness. Since I had used my last small can of neatsfoot
oil, I went off to shop for a new one. Finally, we get to the story.
No offense to anyone I talked to at various stores, but I was astonished
to learn that many folks (OK they might be younger than I) don't know
what neatsfoot oil is, or does. I was also astonished that two hardware
stores I visited didn't carry it and one sent me to the paint
department. Then, although I knew it was for treating leather, I
realized I wasn't sure exactly what neatsfoot oil is.
The word neat once meant any hoofed animal. Thus, neatsfoot oil was oil
made by boiling the hooves and shinbones of cows, pigs and horses. The
oil is light yellow and it, along with tallow, is still the main
ingredient in most commercial leather conditioners. For your store of
esoteric information, you can tell if your leather conditioner has
tallow in it, if when it dries you get white spots or streaks in the
creases of the leather. Turns out my "Snowproof" had tallow in it.
Anyway, here's where I really started learning. It seems that most U.S.
neatsfoot oil is no longer pure and may not contain hoof oil, even
though it's still labelled neatsfoot oil. I discovered the story on the
website of Summit Industries the makers of Lexol, currently one of the
most recommended conditioners for fine leathers such as leather jackets.
Back in the 1930s the U.S. military must have had trouble getting enough
neatsfoot oil, so they set up standards, or MilSpecs, for the stuff.
Neatsfoot oil is now mostly made from lard and may contain ingredients
such as used motor oil and other mineral oils.
Naturally this is more than anyone wanted to know about this oil my kids
might label "gross," but one fact is useful, petroleum based oils are
usually bad for leather and if you are in search of a leather
conditioner, pure original neatsfoot oil would be the stuff to look for.
That's because it won't deteriorate natural fibers like cotton, probably
used to sew up your leather item. Only four to six light applications a
year will keep your leather in fine shape.
With that thought, I'm off shopping around town. Someone must stock it...
 

Things Look This Way to Me editorial by J.B. McKinley
Please Vote
There is at least one preeminently important point where I am in
agreement with opponents of the library expansion/town hall project. I
utterly agree that folks should turn out to vote.
The people of Morristown, in a vote that represented a good turn out,
voted on Town Meeting Day for the building project. If voters will take
the time to vote again, then I am confident their votes will show they
want to build a quality cost effective project in a location that will
enhance and serve the town for generations.
By the time you read this, anyone who really wanted to know more about
the facts, plans and financing details of the project will have attended
the informational meeting held tonight, Wednesday, May 12. So I only
have three specific thoughts to share on the project before simply
asking those folks who supported the project the first time around to do
so again.
First, building plans have been heavily on the minds of the library
staff and trustees for very nearly 20 years. Very similar architectural
plans were actually publicly disseminated more than a decade ago.
Surveys of library users were done asking what wasn't working and what
they'd like to see at the library. Meanwhile, in the background, the
state is waving handicapped access regulations. The time to act inched
closer.
Second, town government has acted fairly with regard to the library
trustees and we have supported the joint project from the first - which
was almost exactly a year ago. We had been aware of the site selection
process, but were, at first, a bit surprised the many possible sites
sugared down to the colocation with the library. Within several weeks,
the advantages of our site with an expanded lot were obvious.
Third, there are a few rumors circulating that the library is very
secretive about its money. We supposedly already have all kinds of money
to build our own addition. Not so. What we actually have is an endowment
fund (Yes, it totals about what our building addition will cost), built
up over 100 years, that is used to pay half of each year's operating
expenses. This money came mostly from people's wills upon their deaths.
We use only the interest earned by this sum to pay operating expenses.
In a few cases, the gift money can only be used to buy books. If we used
our endowment to build a building, we would have no money to operate,
but we could still buy several thousand dollars worth of books each
year. The fact is that without money other than the endowment, the
library will not build an addition, because we will not jeopardize
operations. Having books in any library without the means to lend them
is stupid. In reflection, the library is in a very similar situation to
what it faced way, way back in 1913. Then the library had books, had a
vision and a mission. They'd carried on for more than a decade in less
than adequate circumstances in borrowed and crowded facilities. They
needed new space and between Mr. Carnegie and the town's voted pledge of
support, they got it.
I sincerely hope voters will see the long term wisdom in supporting this
project and grasp what I actually see as good financial timing before
interest rates skyrocket again. Whatever your decision, please vote May 18.
 

Things Look This Way to Me editorial by J.B. McKinley
Enforced Inefficiency
Readers of this paper may have noticed last week's article about the
Brooklyn St. sidewalk/stormwater/water project in Morrisville most
likely stretching out into two years. Once again, I venture into
territory where I'm a bit uninformed, but detractors will no doubt shrug
and think "what's new" and others may find a kernel of truth here
somewhere. The only real intent of the following remarks is to have
folks ask some questions of those who might have the power to act.
The word is that everyone involved, the Morristown road people, the
Morristown town government officials and staff, and the Morrisville
Water & Light utility people, has all worked hard for several years to
line up a combination of funding sources and has been determined to
arrange things so that the travelling public will be least
inconvenienced. By that I mean, the planning was meant to allow a one
time digging up of the road and a one time repaving. The idea was that
maximum efficiency, (read: common sense) could and would be achieved
this way by excavating, burying pipe, and building sidewalk at the same
time.
But that's not to be. Without going into detail it seems that the bean
counters (I think at the state level) are so afraid of fraud or of any
possibility that dollars from the variety of pots might become mingled
that one type of construction must be completed almost entirely
separately from the other. On the face of it, their concern is laudable.
But here's what it means... inefficiency and the possibility of extra
cost. This will include a rougher road, more knotted up traffic, more
flag people's time and that's just the very, very obvious direct costs.
What about businesses such as Palmer's, News & Citizen, Cook's Corner
and Munchy's that will have two summers of dust and confusion for
customers and suppliers?
Hey, could this be cleared up by a few calls from legislators? After
all, we've got the leading contender for Speaker of the House and the
top money legislators of the Senate and House representing us, how about it?
 

Things Looks This Way to Me editorial by J.B. McKinley
Don't Borrow for Maintenance
Sure we're all tired of the broken pavement on I-89 as we make a trip to
Burlington or Montpelier. Hopefully we're also aware that many of our
highway bridges are lacking in maintenance. But borrowing our way out of
trouble is not going to solve the situation. Call it GARVEE bonds, call
it whatever you want, legislators appear to be giving thought to
borrowing money and paying interest to fix our roads. And, not just fix
them, it's also for new construction projects that we are now told have
tripled or more in price since they first hit the drawing board.
Here's the way it looks to me - Act 68 has given us taxpayers a two or
three year break in the escalation of school taxes, but the situation is
not permanently fixed and the state's long term answer is a tiny grant
to study "school governance." Plus, the state still faces burgeoning
expenses in health care and Corrections. Meanwhile nobody can read the
economy - it's OK, but not providing any extras. Given these facts, how
can we justify what amounts to deficit spending for the roads?
What we need to do is drive along on our roads as best we can, just as
we did by driving slower after less salt was used this winter. Maybe the
conditions of the road can be a reminder that politically activates us.
Every time your car plunges into a pothole, think "I'm going to make our
politicians curb unnecessary spending and fix these roads instead." We
need to demand that the problems and luxuries that are making our money
disappear down drains are addressed. It's quite clear that some of the
frills in government spending have got to go. It's an old fashioned
idea, but let's do some saving and create some budgets that honestly
look ahead before we go into debt to fix highways and bridges that, it's
the simple truth, we haven't been able to afford to fix for at least a
decade. How then are we going to pay for the fixes with interest today?
Like so many others, this argument is leading just two ways - lower
spending or raise taxes. Guess which one will win?

Things Look This Way to Me
editorial by J.B. McKinley
Organizer par excellence Anthony Pollina said, summed up in one word
most of the comments of 30 people attending a CREST-sponsored roundtable
meeting concerned "participation" in government, local, state and
federal. He met with the loosely formed citizens' group at the
Morrisville VFW, this past Tuesday evening.
Pollina addressed the folks who expressed concerns about taxation,
perceived non-responsiveness of elected officials and governmental
employees and an un-Vermont-like champagne appetite by government.
Pollina said he was not concerned with specific issues, which he
indicated often had roots in problems that must be addressed beyond the
local level. What he did offer was help in giving a group of people a
voice in government.
Writing now as one who attended the meeting only to be an openly
declared advocate for the Morristown library/town hall project which is
facing a revote, I found his advice encouraging and positive. Pollina
gave the assembled folks some ideas for developing a power base that he
felt could have some effect within three months. But, he warned, these
problems (such as property taxation) took a long time to develop and
aren't solved in a moment. Pollina offered specific suggestions for
getting people involved in local public affairs. These included
face-to-face coffee klatches, spaghetti dinners with a brief message,
and larger community celebrations of what is good about a community (in
this case Morristown) with a stated component of "what do we have to do
to keep it this way?"
Once again, as an observer (not unbiased in this case), I thought the
entire meeting was primarily upbeat and the goal of gaining a voice for
people, perhaps mainly for folks having a more difficult time making
ends meet financially, was laudatory, valid, and focused. What I think
was not represented, nor should it have been, was the viewpoint of those
folks in town, who I believe are becoming a new majority in Morristown
and probably most of Lamoille County, if not Vermont. Naturally, a group
that either is or is approaching a majority has a direct electoral
effect on our government.
The group I'm talking about is a group made up of those people who have
arrived in the last 15 years, when Lamoille County has been either the
first or second fastest growing county in Vermont. These upwardly mobile
folks often came here for the believe-it-or-not better than average
schools and our rural lifestyle. Our collectivley growing numbers and
the new expectations demand more services, which in Morristown has
translated into public and private initiatives including: a conservation
commission, a rec/trails group, an arts group, CREW, talk of a teen
center, a downtown revitalization group - Morristown Alliance for
Culture and Commerce, more or better sidewalks, an extension and
upgrading of water and sewer infrastructure, the Oxbow Park, the
community garden, and we haven't even talked about the school system!
The fact is growth is our challenge and in many cases, it has been met.
Mr. Pollina's most valid point, mentioned somewhat in passing, was that
the real problem is not if, but how we are going to pay for all these
expectations. I know that he has a great number of folks spending their
evenings on voluntary boards asking themselves the same question. Yes,
sir, in the end, participation can only bring us all together to meet
the challenge.
 

Things Look This Way to Me editorial by J.B. McKinleyLesson from
Kindergarten
"Sticks and stones can break my bones, but names can never hurt me."
Remember that one? It seems policy makers for our country, both here and
in Iraq, have forgotten some basics.
This week we read that newspapers have been closed down in Iraq for
publishing lies - even though it had a reputation among Iraqis as being
inaccurate. Closing this newspaper, or any other, is simply wrong.
Iraqis can only conclude that we do not believe in free speech and the
free press. As in most cases, the action of closing down a newspaper
speaks far more loudly than the lies that were being printed. It would
have been more effective to air drop leaflets shouting "Go ahead, look
at these lies - and still we allow them to print!"
Meanwhile back home in the U.S., misdirected "security" measures also
threaten free speech and American influence on the remainder of the
world. Remember the cold war with the USSR? During that decades long
period we couldn't wait to get our hands on manuscripts smuggled out of
Russia, in order to rush them into print, while they languished
unpublished in their own country or countries. Books were often copied
and circulated clandestinely in these countries without a free press.
But, in Britain and the U.S. we printed them and made authors like
Alexander Solzhenitsyn international celebrities. That's not happening now.
Now, a branch of the Treasury Department has decreed that foreign
manuscripts from a certain list of countries may not be edited.
Apparently they can be published, but it would have to be in unedited
form. Recently, a New York Times article speculated that someone
correcting a typo in a manuscript from a country like Iran might face a
$500,000 fine and up to 10 years in jail.
What are we thinking? What have we to fear from ideas freely circulated?
On a similar issue, we have raised the fee for visas, applications are
way down and foreign students are choosing educations at home or in
countries other than the U.S. Even if this should make us by some small
increment more safe in the short run, it can only make us less safe in
the long run as American ideals lose influence.
Put simply, end these short-sighted and paranoid practices.
 

Things Look This Way to Me
editorial by J.B. McKinley
Transitional Weather
Here we are looking for robins, thinking about crocuses peeking from
fading snowbanks, but we must not forget the accompanying weather of
freezing rain, black ice, and slippery sugar snow storms. Sunny days and
freezing nights may be ideal for maple syrup, but this past week must
serve to remind us that springtime roads are dangerous.
I have to tell you I asked my reporters as I began to type this column,
is it being "too preachy" to write an editorial about highway safety?
They agreed that if this publicity could help prevent one accident - who
cares if it's preachy.
This past week, road conditions and weather had to have contributed
greatly to three highway fatalities in Lamoille County. Almost not
worthy of mention is the amount of property damage that probably also
resulted from numerous forays into the ditches and fender benders.
So here's the preaching, no matter how much we wish it was summer - it
isn't. Look out for bad road conditions. Don't let spring fever claim
you as a victim. Put off that unnecessary nighttime trip to Burlington
during a spring "flurry."
Reflect on stories we reported earlier in this paper that road sanding
and salting policy has changed. All these factors mean drive more
carefully and often more slowly.
 

Thing Look This Way to Me editorial by J.B. McKinley
Rumors
I've heard or read of some things recently of which I can claim very
little knowledge, but I sure wish our federal legislators would look
into. The concerns deal with the way our servicemen/women are being
equipped and treated.
First, I heard some months ago that wounded soldiers who were returned
to the U.S. for treatment, recuperation and rehabilitation were being
housed in very substandard facilities at an outdated World War II fort.
It was also reported in several national media that wounded soldiers
were waiting quite a while for medical care that was less than very
critical. We even tried to find out more through our Vermont National
Guard, but never received a return phone call from the person to whom we
were directed. Given the fact that there are many more wounded than
dead, this would seem a critical issue to me. Why have we heard no more
of it?
Second, in TV coverage and even in a photograph sent here to the News &
Citizen, the personal equipment seems to be lacking for our soldiers.
Why are soldiers patrolling in a desert wearing mixmatched camouflage
uniforms or plain OD uniforms? The idea of even having camouflage would
seem absurd if it's not the correct kind.
Thirdly, and I believe this issue has even been mentioned on the recent
presidential campaign, why haven't all our soldiers received
state-of-the-art flak jackets and helmets? Why does personal equipment
seem to come last?
It's wishful thinking, but wouldn't it be nice if some of the powerful
(read Washington-based) would take a look at the details and quietly do
something to save lives? Maybe that's the job for our Representative
from Vermont, or our Senators, we're not going to land a Boeing contract
for the next bomber anyway. Let the others bicker over that stuff. Pay
attention to the soldiers.
Things Look This Way to Me editorial by J.B. McKinley
Putting My Oar In
An editor I have known once told me an editor isn’t doing much of a job
unless he has made a great many enemies. To put it mildly, often when an
editor puts an oar into the water of somebody else’s lake, it’s not
appreciated. But, heck, what can I do, the only lake we’ve got here at
the paper is the big mud puddle by the front door and with this you’ve
now heard enough about that!
The lake I’m jumping into with an opinion this week is over Hyde Park
way. Lamoille North Supervisory Union is looking for someone to replace
Bob McNamara, who is sensibly taking a job closer to his home. Luckily,
since it seems the pool of available superintendents is small, our very
own director of the Green Mountain Tech Center wants to step up to the
plate. Frankly, I don’t think he needs an endorsement, but he’s going to
get one anyway. Dr. Terry Bailey is the right man for the job. Please
don’t waste any time or money searching elsewhere.
 From one seat or another here at the paper, I’ve known all the
directors at the vocational/tech/career center and most of the
superintendents at LNSU. I met Terry darn near as soon as he stepped
into the state and I’ve watched him, talked with him (occasionally on
sensitive issues), and reported on him. I believe what Joe Teegarden
says about Mr. Bailey’s honesty is fact. He is an honest man.
Look at his record, call him up at his office if you have questions. But
actually, Mr. Bailey needs someone to do his bragging for him because he
is too modest. His time at the Tech Center has been productive. There
are new and newly successful programs. There are modern programs
responsive to the work environment. I think enrollment is up. He is
respected. His budgets pass and I believe it’s because voters are smart
- they know when they are getting their money’s worth.
Dr. Terry Bailey for Superintendent of Lamoille North. He’s got my vote.

Things Look This Way to Me editorial by J.B. McKinley
Appreciation
For those of our readers outside of Morristown, I apologize for not
choosing a subject of broader interest for my column this week. But I've
warned everyone I'm unabashedly prejudiced in the favor of libraries. So
the subjects I had slated for this week, namely issues over personal
equipment for servicemen and a federal ban on editing foreign-authored
manuscripts, will just have to wait!
By now you probably all know that Morristown voters answered the prayers
of the Morristown Centennial Library Trustees; they voted to build a new
library addition. The bond vote passed with the approximate numbers of
513 - 444. Thank you! I know I speak for all the trustees in saying that
we remain committed to getting our patrons and taxpaying supporters the
most for their money. If we can raise money to lower the total needed
for the bond, we will. We will still be raising $380,000 to outfit and
finish the library portion of the total building project.
Let me describe the scene at the Centennial Library's annual meeting at
7 p.m. Town Meeting Day. All 10 trustees, including our newest member
just elected hours before, Librarian Mary West and our President Dawn
Andrews were seated in front of the fireplace commencing our meeting
when Morristown Selectman Shaun Bryer called us with the results of the
voting. Assistant Librarian Mary Lemieux picked up the phone and handed
it to me. All eyes turned to the phone. In my ear, Shaun was carefully
telling me that the unofficial count (that would need to be checked and
confirmed) was 513 to 444. I asked to hear it again and gave everyone a
thumb's up!
At that point it was as near pandemonium as it can get in a library!
Needless to say, the trustees were very pleased, thankful and
appreciative that the townspeople supported the building project.
For myself, I can only say "thank you all." The town hall/library
project is one that I believe will serve the town well for a very long
time and end up being seen as a bargain that will, in effect, be a very
fine gift to the town's future.

Things Look This Way to Me editorial by J.B. McKinley
Growing Pains
Your Town Meeting this year is probably going to show signs of your
town's growth. Lamoille County is one of the fastest growing areas in
terms of population in Vermont. We have new residents moving in and many
nonresidents choosing to own property in our area for their own myriad
purposes. That growth creates demand.
That's demand not just for a store to replace Ames in Morrisville, but
for public services, more regulation and growing government.
Take a look at what's happened or is planned around Lamoille. Johnson
built a new town office recently. Their fire department burned and will
be rebuilt - and the state was so anxious to support their water rescue
squad that they chipped in nearly $200,000 in addition to the cost of
rebuilding already covered by insurance!
Peoples Academy and Lamoille Union have each had recent extensive
building projects. Hyde Park has built and renovated its elementary
school,as we speak has more renovations planned. There's a new library
addition and the town is thinking about new office space. Wolcott is
looking at a modest school addition. Stowe wants to build a new rescue
and fire facility. Cambridge officials thought it was time to build a
combined town facility, but had it turned down last year. Morristown
wants to double the size of its library. Waterville has renovated and
revitalized its Town Hall. Elmore built a new fire station and renovated
its Town Hall.
Population growth is driving most of this building. Last night I
attended the informational meeting in Morrisville for the school and
town budgets and the bond proposal for the library/town offices. One of
the town clerk's facts in support of the new building was illuminating.
Morristown amassed 90 volumes of land records in the 200 years from 1789
through 1989, but has already saved (and must save) 38 volumes in the 13
years from 1990 to 2003. For me that's a revealing statistic that shows
us only one of the kinds of growth town governments face. Don't forget
planning and zoning records and financial records. Ask your town clerk
or selectpersons.
The effects of growth are many and complicated, I know I'm not stating
it well and am oversimplifying. The ramifications of growth are clearly
evident with our towns inability to keep up with the state's common
level of appraisal requirements. Townwide reappraisals are coming fast
and furious. It seems as though everything impacts property taxes.
Town Meeting Day is next Tuesday. We will all be voting on articles that
are in front of you as a response to growth. Whether it's money for a
land conservation fund or for a new person at the town clerk's office,
chances are growth caused it. The main thing I keep trying to keep in
mind was recently stated after a meeting in Morrisville. "If you want to
have anything, you've got to pay for it." It's obvious, but it's true

Around Town with J.B. McKinley
OK, where is it? Where’s the mellow weather that is ususally evident by
Town Meeting Day? I’m thinking back to all those town meetings I’ve
attended where I hopped between parking lot puddles and snowmen were
melting on lawns seen on the drive over. I seem to recall summer-type
birds singing and, some years, warm sunshine. I don’t know about you,
but I’m ready.
Spring just has to come when you’re sick of the seed catalogs, the
winter clothing sales are just about over, and the studs in your tires
are so worn down they no longer amount to much.
Here we are practically at the first of March and the snow’s too deep to
prune your fruit trees. I’ve noticed that sandpiles are sadly depleted
at various town garages. Folks are ready to switch their felt-lined
boots for rubber pacs.
Bring on mud season! Oh for that feeling of sashaying down dirt roads
with a randow bone jolting rhythm! Let’s get the sap running. Let
sugaring begin.
Here at the News & Citizen we actually had a robin perch on the crab
apple out front a couple of weeks ago. The poor thing was all puffed up,
but seemed healthy. Guess it must have been some new hybrid robin the
geneticists have cooked up to give Eskimos hope.
I know, I know, I’m probably pushing the season a bit. Maybe that’s what
happens when we don’t get a January thaw. Still, as least as near the
top of my priorities for Town Meeting Day as getting a chance to vote,
is my wish to smell just a hint of spring in the air, to have just a
little give underfoot, and maybe to let my down jacket hang open in the
parking lot while talking to neighbors and friends. Is that too much to ask?
Yup.
 

Things Look This Way to Me
editorial by J.B. McKinley
Aren't You Glad You Live Here
Aren't you awfully glad you live here?
I am. When things like the Johnson Fire Department blaze happen, that's
when I appreciate I live in Lamoille County.  I know that despite the
disaster, whatever Fortune throws our way, folks in  town and in the
greater surrounding community will gather round. Suddenly those feelings
that most New Englanders hold with ?  disappear. I'm  talking about the
feelings that some say make us standoffish; they were best described by
Robert Frost when he stated "Good fences make good neighbors."
But when a fire department burns down, there's flooding, or even for
such a little thing as having your car stuck on the way to school,
that's when you find you do have neighbors, and we do live in a
community.
Perhaps I'm looking too hard for the silver lining, but it's a fact that
seeing what happened after Johnson's unfortunate fire is actually a
cheering experience. In minutes, folks arrived with food and drink,
fellow firefighters lent clothing and equipment. Within 24 hours, the
governor arrived on scene, at least to offer condolences. We may accept
all this as commonplace, but then, we're Vermonters.
What's happening in Johnson is more important than the fate of any
single building and it is happening  just when we're heading into Town
Meeting. So often it seems Town Meeting Day is when everyone goes to the
meeting to be against something.  "We don't need this; we can't afford
that..." In actuality, maybe the thing to remember is that we should go
to Town Meeting to work together for the common good. If that means it's
necessary to defeat something, so be it, but take the time to think
about it and be informed. How many folks does it hurt and how much?
Conversely, how many folks benefit and how much? With the idea of the
common good in the forefront of our minds, it might be easier to see
community expenditure with a balanced, objective, collective eye.
Town Meeting isn't really about what is best for me, or any individual ?
which, of course, is always lower taxes. Without using our collective
eye, we would have no schools, no decent highways and no law. Ours would
be a very different world and it would certainly not be the tightly
woven community that I extol above.
Johnson's misfortune  has and will draw people together and Johnson will
likely be an even better place to live. I hope we can all confidently
say the same after Town Meeting Day.
 

Things Look This Way to Me editorial by J.B. McKinley
Renewable Energy
I stand for building wind generators ? even if I can see one from my
house. Until now I haven't had a public opinion on the various wind
energy proposals, but by now I've heard enough and much of what I've
heard has accumulated for the last 40 years. This information makes the
hypocrisy of taking a stance against the wind generators impossible for
me. What am I talking about?
Clean energy, energy conservation, green renewable energy have been
buzzwords since at least the early 1960s when I recall people buying
compact cars like the VW, the Corvair and the Falcon. Visitors to
Niagara Falls were shown the incredible hydropower project created there
and were told that hydroelectricity is the cleanest, cheapest method of
generating electricity and, best of all, it was renewable. (It's still
Vermont's cheapest electricity). Since that long ago time, something has
happened; all of a sudden hydroelectricity is bad. Dams planned so far
north they are halfway between us and the North Pole are protested. Dams
developed a century or more ago right here in Vermont are protested and
demolished. The mix of power flowing into our utility lines every day is
more expensive and less renewable.
Meanwhile  we Vermonters think of ourselves as environmentalists and
antipollution crusaders. We pick up our Coke and Bud bottles. Our
lieutenant governor wants to make us the "Green Valley" so we can export
our environmental solutions to the Chinese and the world. In short, we
celebrate Green Up Day and then send bundles of money out of state to
buy import oil and coal and uranium to generate electricity that runs
our Efficiency Vermont light bulbs. Do you see anything wrong here under
our oh so correct fluorescent spotlight?
We are a bunch of hypocrits. We are trying to preserve our state as some
kind of park while we talk the talk and fail miserably to walk the walk.

We don't want wind generators because they will look bad. Boy, I'll bet
the farmers in Holland thought that when they built those high tech
windmills. Now you can't get a picture of the place without a tulip or a
windmill. Take a trip  to the Plains, walk into a Western art gallery.
Surprise! Nearly every one has a painting of a cow beside a water tank
with a wind powered pump standing by it. Here at home we cut ski trails
on our highest mountains, (save one, so we could put it on a quarter)
and apparently love to look at them. What the heck, seen from our
windows, each speck falling down the trails is 60 bucks.
Scenery is what you get used to. Vermont had bare hilltops once before.
Trees grow back quite well in our climate. Wind generators will not mean
denuding our hillsides. Maybe we can find an off the ridgeline
compromise such as Gov. Douglas suggests. The fact of the matter is that
wind generators can provide electricity at competitive prices over the
long term. It can make Vermont greener, more honest, and more
self-sufficient. These are more than enough pluses to make me a
supporter.
 

Things Look This Way to Me editorial by J.B. McKinley
Be InformedBe informed ought to be the official voter's motto for all
Americans. And it is certainly  good advice in advance of the upcoming
expensive bond proposal to build a new combined Morristown town hall and
library addition. The bond asks for $2.8 million and voters will have
the absolute say on its outcome on Town Meeting Day when they cast their
votes, but here's the pinch.
Voters will not, literally,  be saying anything publicly on Town Meeting
Day because the vote is by Australian ballot and discussion of the
issue  is not allowed on the floor at Town Meeting. If you wish to cast
an informed vote you must read everything you can, talk to town
officials, or (and this is the easy way) attend one of several public
get togethers before Town Meeting.
I am biased. I am on the Centennial Library's Board. So there's my
disclaimer!  Let me say that in talking with folks I've had a lot of
support for the library project, but I've also heard about how much it
will all cost. Because I happen to be in the loop on this issue I have
been forced to take the time to hear the town's arguments and have been
shown their case for overcrowding and have changed my mind. This is not
because I have been brainwashed or have an ax to grind; it's because I
have become informed.
Give Mary Ann Wilson a chance to present the evidence. Take the time to
go see the town/library's presentation on the building bond vote. I have
changed my mind and so may you. It's simply true that you and I don't
work in the town offices and don't know the facts.
For those of you with a little bit longer municipal memory, you may
remember the year Morristown voted to buy a gravel pit. It was a lot of
money and I remember folks telling me (one of those spend-crazy
selectmen at the time) that we were paying too much. Funny, that gravel
pit looks like a heck of a bargain today.
I admit to feeling hugely intimidated by the price tag of the library
addition alone, but I've come to consider that the heavier weight on the
balance of decision, is how huge a bargain this building project will
look like in 2104.  Consider how expensive the current library building
seemed in 1913.
At the library we've lived on the foresight and generosity of earlier
generations for a century and the town has done business at the original
Union Bank under the same conditions for half a century. It may well be
time to show a little foresight ourselves.

 

Things Look This Way to Me editorial by J.B. McKinley
Public Swearing
A move is afoot to have the former Freeman's Oath, now Voter's Oath,
"self-administered."
Perhaps you all recall the oath, but here it is as your town clerk
ususally administers it. "You solemnly swear  that whenever you give
your vote or suffrage, touching any matter that concerns the State of
Vermont, you will do it so as in your conscience you shall judge will
most conduc[iv]e to the best good of the same, as established by the
Constitution, without fear or favor of any person."
At the time the oath was conceived, people were aware that oathbreaking
was once a capital offense. Taking or making and oath was serious
business. It seems our current take on oaths is very casual.
Self-administered means you will be able to sit in your house, or at a
bar, or wherever, and read and sign a form, and then you may go vote. In
effect, self-administered means you will not have to "swear" the oath.
You will no longer be reminded in a solemn moment by stating out loud,
in public, that you will consider the precepts of the Constitution, nor
will you swear not to sell your vote (that's the favor part).
The oath, as presently administered, is a witnessed and solemn pledge to
carefully and honestly cast your vote as you, and only you, believe is
for the best. When you take that oath, you become part of our
government, part of the body politic, and a functioning member or our
society. Ours is arguably the most free and most self-determined state
ever on Earth.  In the eyes of the state, you have arrived.
Well, what the heck, let's throw that moment away. Why should we
maintain any of the trappings or ceremony of our democracy? Why not
cheapen the value of your vote by stealing the 30 second administration
of the oath?
Because it can't harm to take a moment to reflect on the solemnity and
importance of your own vote, your personal vote that you will have for
the rest of your life. That carefully cast vote may close a school or
keep it open, as was the case in Belvidere this week.
Do we really think that repeating the oath after the town clerk is
keeping people from voting in the same way, literacy tests excluded
black voters in the South? I don't. I think the oath is an affirmation
of your desire to cast your vote with respect for the community and
civilization into which it's not enough to just be born, some duties
remain ? and voting is one of them.
I will keep my oath. I hope the State of Vermont keeps ours.
 

Things Look This Way to Me
editorial by J.B. McKinley
Getting My $14 Worth
Having  excruciatingly chosen Christmas gifts individually tailored to
my family members in Colorado and taking the time zones into
consideration, I called my sister too early Christmas morning - for
feedback, of course. I was prepared to bask in praise for sending such
wonderful gifts (and such bargains,too!) In the course of the first few
laughs I asked her how they liked the gifts.
"What gifts?" she said.
"The package we sent a week or so ago," I exclaimed, as though our
package hadn't been late for about 10 of the last 20 years.
"We haven't got it," said she.
Naturally, my sister always gets her gifts to us weeks in advance and
carefully packaged to the point that I'm always thinking she's sent one
of those Russian nesting dolls. What we take out of her package is
absolutely impossible to ever stuff  back ? it's like the gifts are
sucking up humidity and expanding upon release. Anyway, she passed the
phone to my brother-in-law, who added a couple soothing remarks, such as
"probably get your package tomorrow" and it'll be nice to have something
more to "anticipate."
That all sugared off into a short phone call, after which She Who Must
Be Obeyed and I discussed the date the package went out (December 17)
and the fact that we purposely didn't put insurance on it. (Darn!)
Yesterday the package returned to us and I've got to tell you the story
because I just can't believe employees of a business can be this
heartless.
Hey, you guys, you know you kept a little kid from getting The Cat in
the Hat for Christmas? Now she'll get it for Martin Luther King Day.
(Sis, if you read this don't tell her.)
 Here's the story. First, the package we sent was in a recycled beer box
from The Elmore Store. It seems alcohol can't be sent by airmail. That
meant our priority package was slated for surface transport. Never mind
that you could shake the box and know it wasn't full of beer bottles.
Never mind that the beer printing only has to be scribbled out with a
marker. Next, the address for my sister was old and it seems her
forwarding had expired. Never mind that the Colorado post office wrote
her correct address on the box before sending it back. Never mind that
every year round resident of her town probably knows who she is ? as
they obviously did at the post office.
Granted we, as mailers made mistakes, too, but really where's the sense
or even the economy in sending the whole package back to us when they
KNEW where it was to go? Why not send us a postcard telling us how bad
we were? Could your business run with this kind of reverse customer
service?
At any rate,  thank you for listening, it's a relief to know at least I
got a column out of my 14 bucks. Maybe the next infusion of cash will
get my package delivered. They should give it a ribbon for most miles
travelled.
 

Things Look This Way to Me editorial by J.B. McKinley
Driving Expectations
I don't know for sure about you, of course, but I suspect most of us
feel, deep down, that we are expert winter drivers. After all, we have
driven X number of Vermont winters without a serious accident. We
probably blithely head out in the midst of  blizzards to grab some
french fries at Al's in Burlington or dinner in Barre-Montpelier.
Starting this year, we just might be looking to modify some of that smug
behavior.
Let me give everyone a friendly reminder that was brought home to me
personally, a day or so ago. My friends ? "stuff" still happens. There I
was running along just a little bit too fast and just a little bit too
closely to one of my neighbors the other day and despite thinking I was
going to stop in time,  when he stopped suddenly, I rapped his back
bumper at something less than walking speed. Luckily, there was no
damage, but this little lesson would have been serious had I struck
someone standing by a mailbox instead. Then, it would have been tragic,
instead of instructive.
And we all have more reason to drive carefully this winter. It seems the
state highway crews have been told to adhere to a more austere budget
for salt than has been the case. We, as drivers, have been pampered for
a decade or so, we may have to attend to our own  "adhesion" now ? to
the road! Despite all the front wheel drive sedans, pickup trucks and
sports utility 4X4s we are driving, our state has been using more and
more salt and sand to keep our roads driveable even DURING snowstorms.
Well, that's come to an end. If you haven't noticed already, the state
has rededicated itself to a salt budget and says drivers must slow down
and expect snow on the road until after the storm is over.
So, okay, we can complain and cavil. We can even rage, but the fact is
we are going to be treated with less salt than last year, quite a lot
less. We are going to have to drive more slowly and be more watchful of
road conditions. Why! we may even have to plan ahead a bit and lay in
some canned/frozen goods, an extra gallon of milk and a loaf of bread
some evenings instead of making that extra trip to the store.
I don't think it's going to be all that bad, since by and large our
tires and vehicles are better than they were before the salt budget
started swelling. But the state is reminding us that ultimately it is up
to us to keep ourselves safe.
So, drive safely and have a safe winter. That's my New Year's wish to
you and your families.

AROUND TOWN by J.B. McKinley

Here it is almost exactly a week before Christmas and there's been some
heavy spending going on. I don't know about you and your family, but I
can guess that lots of us are a bit over-extended about now.
At my house, an unexpectedly large phone bill and the bill for a repair
contracted for on a "no hurry" basis back about August conveniently
arrived this week.  It may be time to dump the  pocket change jar and
start wrapping. And I thought I had enough to do just with wrapping all
the outgoing presents! Good thing I bought She Who Must Be Obeyed her
gift already!
I guess I should have been more thrifty. This year I really went all out
(though, as all things are relative, you may not think so). Take the
case of the Christmas tree. The old friend who usually offers me one for
free, didn't happen to mention anything about a tree this year. He also
sold many of them and I think he was feeling the pain ? or something.
(Maybe he's just sick of me freeloading) Anyway my son headed out in the
fresh snow with his antique snowmachine the other day and scouted our
property for a suitable tree. After I heard his motor for about 20
minutes and watched clouds of smoke pour up from clearings here and
there, he returned a bit glumly.
"What'd you find?" I asked.
"Not much," he said, hat in hand (by the way it was my 30 year old
Moriarty hat; haven't bought a lot of hats recently).
"Well, what's the best one?"
"Probly the one by the edge of the orchard," he offered.
"One of those by the ditch that I trimmed?" I queried cheerfully.
"No," he said, giving me an incredulous look. " Come take a look."
So off we went to check out his chosen tree. It wasn't too bad as wild
trees go. However we had to give it the sniff test as a final
determinant. It was one of those spruces with reallly sharp needles and
looked like a "cat" spruce. Thankfully, the cat spruce odor was not
there, so we cut her down and hauled her up to the house.
About a half hour later my sister called and we learned that anywhere
from a half dozen family members to howsomeever many folks were going to
visit Christmas Day. Taking another look at the somewhat thin "kitten"
spruce, I felt some doubts brewing.
The solution was a neatly trimmed balsam from a lot. My first
store-bought tree in many years. An incredible splurge of resources.
However, there may have been brownie points scored with She Who Must Be
Obeyed. You have to understand that putting the tree on whatever strange
kind of tree stand she thinks is the best this season and actually
getting it set up is my job each year and that each year it is not
always done with an excess of Christmas spirit bubbling from Dad. Well,
the store-bought tree was already erected when Dad got home last night.
Does that tell me anything?
Yes, it's going to be a good Christmas and I'll just have to pay the
bills somehow.

Things Look This Way to Me editorial by J.B. McKinley
Railroad Talk
Just when you thought the old Saint J___ and Late Coming Railroad, which
hasn't actually run a loco over the tracks for a few years now, is
stirring up a lot of talk and getting ink at least on the editorial and
op-ed pages of  Vermont newspapers.
I think I'm secure in saying that just about every cogent reason for not
turning the LVRR right-of-way into a trail has already been better
stated (and in more detail) than I could in this column. Only two
arguments really stand out for me. I think adjacent landowners should
get their land back if the railroad goes defunct. No one ever signed on
to have a snowmobile freeway in their backyard. And, two, this is a
tourist state and I believe a WELL RUN tourist train is economically
feasible on a year round basis.
The only reason tourist railways work in other areas and were off to a
slow start (but steadily gaining) here is that old time railroad people
are fixated on freight and don't want to deal with entertaining,
feeding, and keeping people comfortable. It's the old give 'em  clean
bathrooms and decent food argument and they'll come.
At any rate, wouldn't it be interesting if by some miracle trains ran
once again through Lamoille County? I hereby pledge to take my
out-of-state guests on a  train ride every summer. And, by the way, I
think the "multi-use" trail sales ploy is a fraud. Are you taking your
kids snowshoeing where machines are hitting a hundred? Then, what about
summer? How can ATVs be banned if snowmachines are allowed in winter?
One might also note that  trains run on a narrow track and pass only at
sidings.  Passing and meeting of other machines at speed  on a RR
right-of-way may be touch and go.
I also couldn't help but wryly notice that more actual, physical work
has been done to restore the Wilkins Ravine culvert ? by VTrans ? for
the use of snowmobilers, than was done for any reason other than to
dismantle the LVRR  in the past 10 years. Maybe everybody at VTrans is a
VAST member?

Things Look This Way to Me editorial by J.B. McKinley
Make History Pay
I know it's always dangerous to make an assumption, but I'll bet a lot
of folks reading this column have read the "News & Citizen" for quite a
few years. Therefore, I'll bet over recent months and years you and I
have both noticed how much interest there is in local history. It seems
as though almost every town in the county has started some sort of
historical society or finished an historical project of some kind.
Let's just take a look at the list that comes to mind. Belvidere folks
have rejuvenated a wreck of a church. Hyde Park  now has an historical
society and has worked at the North Hyde Park Grange Hall. The much
older Morristown Historical Society has had a burst of energy in recent
years with expanded events and hours, even a fulltime summer docent at
their Noyes House Museum. Cambridge  formed an historical society and it
took off like a rocket, quickly securing and renovating an historic
building. Waterville has just erected a war memorial and put a new
foundation under its imposing Town Hall. This week's front page screams
that Johnson citizens are collecting historic photos and artifacts, and,
let it come as no surprise, is thinking of forming an historical
society.
Isn't it all great?
Just before Citizen Hogwood wrote his Johnson photo story, I had been
reading a "New York Times" article about the depopulating of the Great
Plains states. It seems towns are dying, only the elderly are staying.
There are no jobs. States like Kansas and Nebraska are building
industrial parks and empty incubator buildings dot the land where
buffalo roamed. Since attracting industry is not working for the Plains,
what is?
Here's where there was a serendipitous tie-in. History is what works to
revitalize Plains communities. Various places have become stopping
places on the tourist trail because they have fixed up Pony Express
stops, capitalized on being the home of  "Little House on the Prairie,"
etc. You get the picture. My thought is very simple. If these folks can
cash in on history, why can't we? Here in New England we've got twice as
much of the stuff as Kansas. Since the same is true of snow and we've
already made that pay, we've got to be able to think of something to do
with history.
That's it, folks. That's our challenge!

Things Look This Way to Me
editorial by J.B. McKinley
QuagmireMy first rather inconsequential thinking about a topic for this
week concerned the programming on pay-for TV, like cable and satellite.
I thought I might address our expectations that when we finally had to
pay for TV, we'd have it without advertising. That if there was
advertising it would be less than the Big Three showered on us in their
heyday. How could we have been so naive as to think re-runs might be a
thing of the past with so much competition and hundreds of channels...
But, what's happened? Just as many ads and even more re-runs.
Then, I thought "How can I be thinking about TV when Vermont just lost
another patriot and son who died in Iraq in a helicopter affair? Without
guilt, how can we be thinking about the economy and Howard Dean's
campaign money? Heck, the economy would probably be acceptable if we
weren't spending 87 billion in Iraq. Without the Iraq issue, Dean's
candidacy would be a dead issue, too.
More and more we are seeing the word "quagmire" applied to Iraq along
with cautious comparisons to Vietnam ? even if it's just folks writing
that so far Iraq can't hold a candle to the quagmire that was Vietnam.
And that's good; let's hope the situations can never really be
comparable. But the question remains, what the heck are we going to do
in Iraq?
It's a question I can't answer, but I have a suggestion. It's obvious
that Americans don't understand Iraqis and vice versa. If  there was
ever a time for an organization like Project Harmony to jump in and
bring some Iraqis to the U.S., it's now. We desperately need some
understanding. Bring on some schoolchildren and principals. Bring on
some folks with open minds.
If all our history since World War I hasn't shown us that we need a
better understanding of the world and of  cultural geography, then we
haven't learned much. Our ignorance and insularity is costing us lives.
Yes, I know a few cultural exchanges won't end the occupation of  Iraq.
The only hope is that somewhere down the road, things don't have to be
as bad.

Things Look This Way to Me editorial by J.B. McKinley
School Safety
Those of you who follow "The Burlington Free Press" and WCAX have
probably noted the tempest being stirred up by the tv's expose of
strolling unannounced into several schools. Personally, when I first
noted the issue all I could think was  ? "Oh No!"
Let me commend Johnson Elementary School for being way ahead of the
curve on this school security thing. Some of our readers may remember an
issue we had with access for one of the N &C reporters at JES a few
years ago. I wrote an editorial at the time decrying the lack of openess
at public schools that you and I need to visit freely. I believe the
policy at JES at the time was merely for visitors to check in at the
office.
My groan for the newfound television notoriety of  the school safety
issue I can only imagine was  amplified a hundredfold by principals and
superintendents around the state. How do you balance the openess and
free access necessary to involve your community and pass budgets with
tight security?
No kidding folks, this is a real problem. It is just another face of our
changing society that stems from September 11 and harks back to
Columbine in Colorado and earlier psycho school massacres.
Frankly I'm not sure there are any correct answers. I am sure that some
schools have a lesser need for tight security than others. There's also
no question, but that the schools will be wrong which ever tack they
take ? too much security or too little. Here's a situation where I
really wish everyone just  made the best of a bad situation. School
administrators, I'm on your side. I feel for you because I don't believe
there is any possible path you can take to make all your parents happy.
 Not to be blase, but to try and be honest and practical, I  believe our
embedded perception of school as a sort of womb-like haven for our
kiddies is just wrong, impractical, unenforceable or maybe even
undesirable. The school is a facet of a very unsafe, unpredictable world
where anything can and does happen. How can this facet be pure? So, what
can we do? Can we put guards at the doors? Run visitors past explosives
sniffing dogs and metal detectors?
These questions are not going to go away and whatever we do it will
lessen our sense of community and change the optimistic American way of
life. Just how much security are you willing to accept?

Things Look This Way to Me editorial by J.B. McKinley
Jurors & the Right to Know
OK, let's suppose a real easy scenario, you and I are members of the
public living in a county that has experienced a quadruple murder.
Relatively few details of the murders were released by police in the two
years before the trial. Not everybody has time to sit through the
week-long trial. Wouldn't you and I like to know why, as exactly as
possible, that the jury decided the murders were all first degree? What
was the most convincing witness or testimony? The jury deliberated for
several hours, it's rumored that the decision may not have been as cut
and dried as some court observers thought as they filed out after the
jury was charged.
So, you and I would like to know, but there's a catch. Though I believe
it is perfectly legal for a juror to speak to the press, or anyone about
a case that is concluded, the judge is rumored to have told them to
watch their mouths, don't talk to the press. Let's just keep the
workings of your's and my legal system secret even longer. Maybe someone
will write a book about these murders 20 years from now. Apparently the
jurors took the judge's warning so to heart that they requested their
names not be released to the press.
Now, of course, they all sat in the jury box for over a week, so we know
who they are. Personally, I will respect their desire for anonymity, but
I believe the judge is wrong to try and control their actions beyond the
reach of  the court's authority. What is he trying to do? It is said the
thought was that their post-trial words could affect an appeal. Well, if
that's the case then change the applicable law so it has no effect. Is
the judge afraid for the jurors that the murderer will roam free too
soon? Then it is for the court to set the appropriate sentence to see
that does not happen.
Don't gag the jury when their job is done. It's wrong and I don't think
it's legal. The public has a right to know the function or disfunction
of the legal system it pays for and in which we place our faith and hope
for security and justice.

Around Town with J.B. McKinley
Do your kids always get sick at the worst possible moment? I mean, it's
truly inconsiderate. A few minutes before I first stared at my keyboard
to write this column, I received a call from school.
"Your daughter is sick. We can't reach her mother..."
Of course, unsaid was that it was now time for dad to drop everything,
rush to the car and pick the little darling up with a minimum loss of
time, all the while exhibiting a caring demeanor. Never mind the fact
that it is deadline day and a heck of a one at that.
When that call came, my two reporters were trying to put out the work of
three on one of those weeks when not only the Lamoille River was in
flood stage, but so is local news.  Peoples Academy and Lamoille soccer
teams were all being post-season successes. Peoples' cross country
runners were suddenly league champs. The first murder trial in about a
decade is ongoing in Hyde Park, trying no less than a quadruple murder
suspect! On top of all that, there was a tragedy of a propane accident,
school vandalism and a teachers' local questioning the Nadeau thing
just when everyone was breathing a sigh of relief over that.
But, forget it all. The rain pounded down Wednesday morning as my
wipers, on high speed, tried to clear the windshield on the way to
school. I picked up my offspring and headed  home, limiting comments on
spousal responsibility  to just one under my breath. I should note that
my daughter did look drawn and sick. She was aware of my deadline
predicament and had asked the school to let her wait for her mother ?
but they were unsympathetic. (Odd how duty looks different from a
different viewpoint isn't it?) Still trying to be helpful, my daughter
informed me that she felt much better after losing her stomach contents.

I tested her electric window.
Oh well, no fault now. You can see how I used the time after I returned
to the office. Maybe I should have stayed home with my daughter ? hope
she really is feeling better.

Things Look This Way to Me editorial by J.B. McKinley
Fallen Apples and Sport
Some of you may know that I like guns, shooting and have been a hunter
(albeit a poor and relenting one). I'm even willing to stand before you
humbled and admit to that most un-politically correct failing that's
akin to having a Communist Party card in Joe McCarthy's time ? I (gasp)
have been a member of the National Rifle Association.
So, if you are all over that shocking public catharsis, I have to
discuss something with you all ? and that's apples.
Have you noticed that lots more apples seem to be headed for deer
mealsites this fall? You know, I remember when "sporting" magazines
first began to advertise buffalo hunts for the well-heeled who had to
have a buffalo head on their wall. I think it was "Audubon Magazine"
that published a lengthy and descriptive article on the semi-ambulatory
big city "sport" who arrived at some South Dakota ranch, checked into a
La-Z-Boy, looked through  his 10 power scope            and through the
fence at a big bull 10 feet away and pulled the trigger.
This performance no doubt called for immediate cocktails in front of a
roaring fire. It was said to provide money for such things as Native
American tribes, conservation, etc.  This was the mitigating argument
for what I, then and now, see as a truly sad situation and comment on
the race of sportsmen. But how does this story of quite awhile ago and
faraway relate to Lamoille County?
Well, here it is. I got a call from a farmer a few days ago. He said,
and I paraphrase ? "I've been seeing fellows dump these loads of apples
here and there and it's going to be a slaughter...where's the sport in
that?" I suggested that he write us a letter to the editor, but let me
assure you, this farmer wouldn't let a travelling salesman get the
better of him! He halted a moment, laughed and said, "Why should I when
I can get you to step in it?"
 At that point, I figured I'd just forget the whole thing, and did, for
about three days. But then I scraped my car window a couple mornings,
noticed apples fallen in my overgrown orchard, sniffed the autumn air
and considered going partridge hunting. Archery season for deer also
began... well, you've heard my take on the situation. It seems more than
a little bit unsporting to shoot a deer over a pile of purchased apples.

I thought they had a law about this? What say you game wardens out
there?

Things Look This Way to Me editorial by J.B. McKinley
Town Halls & Bigger Tax
This week looks like clean-up week for me. A couple of events of
interest seem to have happened within recent weeks.
Within those same recent weeks, two Town Halls have been re-placed on
new foundations. This seems to me to be a singular occurrence. How many
times in history has Lamoille County seen two Town Halls built or
renovated within a month or so of each other? I don't know the answer ?
but it can't have been many. This restoring of historically valuable
infrastructure is an event to be noticed and applauded.
In some minds, the week's big news (now already old in our fast-paced
world) is the firing of LUHS teacher Wayne Nadeau. It's fair to
speculate that everyone involved, from those at the level of involvement
of reading this column to the school directors, is probably happy the
affair looks to be over. The big remaining question is ? is it over? We
will eventually know if Mr. Nadeau does not choose to file suit within a
reasonable length of time.
My thought on the issue is not to lose sight of the three improprieties
of the situation. First and second are the actions of Nadeau and
un-named aide, third, the foolishness of the board in offering a
contract under the known circumstances. One can only guess that if
anyone thought the situation over at all, they thought Mr. Nadeau was
going to quietly be promoted into the Neverland of the NEA and be gone.
But, it didn't work out that way.
A separate piece of news, really more of reminder, will likely have
longer lasting effects on us. As you read this you will be paying one
cent more of sales tax to the state for every dollar you