Letters to the Editor

To the Editor:
I want to thank Peter Trombley for his excellent article, “CVU students travel to Washington to join March for Our Lives.” He captured the tone, the message, the scope and the importance of this very stirring gathering. In addition to the 38 students and five chaperones on the CVU bus, there were hundreds of other Vermonters there, including more than a few Charlotters. Senator Leahy hosted a reception in one of the Senate conference rooms, but the true leaders of the day were under age 18. They were very powerful, and I look forward to supporting their leadership in the years to come.

Edorah Frazer, Charlotte

To the Editor:
There is something wrong with this picture. Gone are the days of “Ozzie and Harriet” and “the Sound of Music.”Our children are glued to their electronic devices nearly every waking moment. They have access to television, movies and video games that are filled with violence, murder, pornography and immorality. It has been nearly 20 years since Columbine and still the wrong questions are being asked. We have taken God and prayer out of the public schools and the public marketplace. America seems to have an identity crisis. The four essential life questions have been made irrelevant by a pluralistic society and morass of relativistic answers that leaves the human heart longing for true truth. The four questions are: origin (Where did we come from?), meaning (What are we here for?), morality (What is right?), and destiny (Where are we going?). Is it any wonder that our children have lost their moral compass? They are taught that they have evolved from primordial ooze instead of being unique human beings designed by a loving Creator-God in His image. The result is a devaluing of human life that leads to a meaning, morality, and destiny that is futile. They are taught sex is free and you can have it whenever and with whoever you want instead of saving themselves for marriage. They are even taught to question the wonder and identity of the special gender they have been created to be. 

We live in a culture of hate and anger as people look out for number one. Mainstream media only serves to fuel the flame of polarization of us all. We should know better. A few days after the tragic Parkland, Florida, school shooting, CNN staged what appeared to be a well rehearsed and orchestrated “Town Hall” meeting in the name of school safety which served to incite hostility against firearms and those who own them. Their solution? Stricter gun laws and “ban guns” as some said. Common sense gun laws need to be in place, many already are but have not been enforced appropriately and our Second Amendment rights should not be infringed. Vermont Law Enforcement Against Gun Control is opposed to the present legislation as S.55 has morphed into an overreaching document. Law enforcement personnel in Vermont say S.55 is not enforceable. Ninety percent of mass shootings have occurred in “gun free zones.” There are 27 deaths a day caused by illegal firearms but there are 2,129 lives saved by the lawful use of firearms. The Parkland, Florida shooting would have been prevented if law enforcement, the FBI, and school security personnel had done what they were supposed to do. California, Baltimore, Chicago, and Washington DC have the strictest gun laws in the nation, yet they have the most gun related deaths.

Not all firearms are used for self defense or hunting. There are many biathletes in Vermont and a few who represented the U.S.A. at the recent winter games. Biathlon tests one’s cardiovascular system while cross-country skiing and then precision shooting requiring the slowing of heart rate and breathing to shoot at targets 50 meters away the size of a CD or silver dollar with a semi-automatic 22 rifle.

The March for Our Lives was another tour de force of protesters who, when interviewed, weren’t even sure what the difference between an automatic and a semi-automatic firearm was. Many were parroting mantras they didn’t even understand saying AR15s were “assault rifles” when the “AR” actually comes from the original manufacturer “ArmaLite.” It is a semi-automatic firearm, meaning one round discharges with each trigger pull, used for hunting and recreational shooting. The law enforcement and military personnel protecting the March for Our Lives were carrying firearms.

Indeed we have a schizophrenic society. We bemoan the opioid crisis yet legalize the recreational use of marijuana. We bemoan teen suicide yet allow physicians to prescribe a lethal dose to a patient so they can end their life. We cry for school safety and protection for our children yet allow Planned Parenthood to abort 320,000 unborn children a year. Why is there no outcry to disarm Planned Parenthood and protect our most vulnerable children? Laws won’t change hearts. America needs to navigate by a moral compass based on the preciousness of life. We need to teach our children to love, honor, and respect all lives. Our Constitution’s foundation was based on the Ten Commandments. We can talk all we want about common sense gun laws, school safety, bulletproof glass, and magnetometers, but these won’t change the human heart. Perhaps the Ten Commandments should be posted once again in our public schools and venues since they outline how to love one another and God. A return to our moral moorings is the best way to cure our nation’s identity crisis and heal the mental and emotional confusion of our citizens. There is comfort and a hope to know where we came from, why we are here, doing what is right and knowing where we are going.

Sincerely,
Lynne Caulfield RN, CRNI
Charlotte

Selectboard meeting and gun control
My motion on gun control passed with an enthusiastic response at Town Meeting. But in a video of the March 8 Selectboard meeting you can see for yourself how empty a motion can turn out to be.

Fifty-one minutes into the Selectboard meeting, you will see that the motion was neither read nor discussed by the Selectboard, other than Carrie Spear saying, “I don’t like it and I didn’t like the one last year either.” At least she spoke her mind.

The rest was silence.

And they moved on to other matters.

Motions passed at Town Meeting survive at the whim and fancy of the Selectboard who keep silent during Town Meeting but vote their own beliefs at some later date.

I speak for more than my own small motion when I note that something important is gone. If we have a dictatorship by Selectboard, then why do we bother with Town Meeting?

Susan Ohanian
Charlotte