Letters to the Editor: March 20

Remember, without nature man will not survive

To the Editor:

It is no surprise that the environment here in Vermont and around the world is changing faster than most people realize. Here in Charlotte we have the ability to help the town with climate resiliency. It all has to do with beavers.

At one time in America there were tens of millions of beavers, but from the 1600s to the 1800s most of them were killed for fur. But let’s not go back but forward to a Charlotte that embraces the beavers.

During last year’s storm that blew out a big portion of East Thompsons Point Road, a beaver dam behind my barn on Thorp Brook took the deluge head on and did not break. The lodge was destroyed, but the dam held back the flow and slowed it down.

It is time to help the beavers make all the streams in the town resilient to the storms and floods. Sure, they take up some room, but they also enhance the landscape, bringing with them aquatic brethren, nesting areas for birds and reptiles, food for all animals and slow the flow of water through the landscape. Even the state of Vermont is getting in on it.

On April 19, during Earth Month, the Charlotte Library will hold a talk on beavers with Bob Hyams at 1 p.m., and a beaver walk will happen after as well with yours truly. Good times!

I know some people are opposed to beavers, but they are a valuable resource that can help clean up the lake and provide numerous benefits. And to the local farmers, the size of the dam can be managed through beaver deceivers, and there is even grant funding to help.

Let’s take this time to embrace nature for everyones benefit.

Pete Demick
Charlotte

Week that ends March 23 highlights coyote benefits

To the Editor:

The week of March 17-23 is Coyote Awareness Week. Coyotes are sometimes maligned and misunderstood. Yet, many Vermonters coexist with coyotes in our rural state where many backyards are in forest habitat for coyotes and other wildlife.

According to the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department, the Eastern coyote first appeared in Vermont in the 1940s, and they play an important role in the ecosystem. While coyotes have only been recorded in Vermont since the 1940s, they have a long history of living alongside humans, even in our urban environments. According to the New York Times bestselling book “Coyote America,” coyotes lived in the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan, in what is now Mexico City. In fact, a suburb of the Aztec Capital was called Coyoacan, or “place of the coyotes.”

In Vermont, we’ve honored the coyote not by naming a suburb but by naming a basketball team. This year marks the first season of the Barre-based Coyotes, a minor league team under the American Basketball Association. The team’s name is a reflection of the close presence of coyotes in the lives of Vermonters today.

Coyotes benefit our ecosystem by helping to control rodent populations and limiting disease transmission. Vermonters also report that coyotes make them feel closer to nature and enjoy hearing coyotes yip and howl as they establish territory and bond with family.

A 2024 study in the journal Conservation Science and Practice showed that some Vermonters expressed concern that coyotes negatively impact Vermont’s deer population. However, the study details that, according to the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department and scientific studies, this is a misunderstanding, and coyotes do not threaten Vermont’s deer population.

Animal Wellness Action Vermont, which works to prevent cruelty to animals, is one of several Vermont organizations celebrating Coyote Awareness Week. As the organization’s state director, I’ve heard some Vermonters express a desire to kill as many coyotes as possible. I’m hopeful that with more education and a growing group of people who enjoy viewing wildlife, more people can enjoy sharing the landscape with coyotes instead of viewing them as enemies. Personally, I feel lucky to live in a beautiful setting in the woods, and I’m happy to share this space with coyotes and other wildlife.

Cassie Burdyshaw
Warren
(Cassie Burdyshaw is Vermont state director for Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy, which have members throughout Vermont.)

Outdated regulations, lack of providers challenge eye care

To the Editor:

I didn’t always know I wanted to be an optometrist. My first career was as an audio engineer. But I did know I wanted to do something fulfilling and stable. While I grew up familiar with optometry, watching my grandfather work at his optometry practice, it wasn’t until my mid-20s that I decided to pursue a degree in the field.

I completed my education, including advanced studies in anterior segment disease and a residency in ocular disease, at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry.

Residency is optional for optometrists, but I wanted to gain additional experience — often equated to four or five years in general practice — by working alongside some of the best professionals in the field.

After graduating in 2018 and completing my residency in 2019, I worked in an ophthalmology practice in the Washington, D.C., area, where I learned the value of collaborative care between optometrists and ophthalmologists.

I also witnessed the challenges created by restrictive state laws.

Entering the workforce, Vermont stood out as a place where my skills were needed. I was attracted to the quality of life here, but what ultimately convinced me was the overwhelming shortage of optometric care, particularly for routine and disease management services, and in rural areas lacking access.

Like D.C., Vermont’s scope of practice laws currently prevent optometrists from performing certain procedures they are fully trained to do, forcing patients to wait for long periods of time between appointments or travel out of the state for care.

In my practice, I often see a common post-cataract surgery condition called posterior capsular opacification, which can be treated with a quick, low-risk laser procedure. In states where optometrists are allowed to work under a full scope, this procedure can be easily performed in the office when it is identified.

In Vermont, patients might wait weeks or months for an available ophthalmologist.

The same is true for administering steroid injections to treat small lumps and bumps. Optometrists are trained to perform these procedures, yet we must refer our patients out because of outdated regulations.

The proposed optometric scope expansion bill is not about pushing boundaries or patient convenience. It’s about creating more access to vital healthcare services by allowing optometrists to provide their patients a full spectrum of care to better serve their communities.

Long wait times have a significant impact on elderly patients, those on Medicaid and people in rural areas who already struggle with accessing health care.

Expanding the optometric scope would allow patients to receive timely care while reducing the burden on overextended ophthalmologists, who could then focus on more complex surgeries like retinal repairs, corneal transplants and cataract surgery.

Beyond patient care, expanding Vermont’s optometric scope would likely have a positive economic impact on Vermont. The state would become a more attractive place for optometrists to live and work, creating job opportunities and encouraging young professionals to settle here.

It would also minimize the need to refer patients outside the state’s borders for care.

When I moved to Vermont, I knew I would be limited in my work due to state laws. But it is frustrating to see patients suffer unnecessarily because of outdated regulations.

Healthcare policy should be based on education and evidence — not arbitrary restrictions.

By expanding the optometric scope, Vermont has an opportunity to improve patient care, reduce wait times and welcome more optometric professionals.

The time to act is now.

Alexander Van Dyck
Montpelier
(Alexander Van Dyck practices optometry in Williston.)

Remember Vermont’s Medal of Honor recipients on March 25

To the Editor:

As a veteran, when I hear the words “Medal of Honor” I think of those military men and women who have gone far beyond their expectations of duty, many giving their lives to save their fellow comrades or shipmates. Vermont has had a number of Medal of Honor recipients, 66 to be exact, that were born or enlisted in Vermont, with the honor being credited to Vermont.

Dating from the Civil War when the Medal of Honor was established, Vermont holds some unique recipients, like Willie Johnston, only 13 years of age from Salem, now part of Derby, who remains the youngest individual to receive the Medal of Honor. The first submariner and only enlisted submariner, Henry Breault of Grand Isle, was presented the Medal of Honor by Pres. Calvin Coolidge, also from Vermont.

Time slowly washes away the heroic feats of the remaining Vermont recipients from the memory of the public consciousness. In 1991, Pres. George Bush signed the law establishing March 25 as Medal of Honor Day. On March 25, 1863, the first Medal of Honor was awarded, so that date should remind us of the valor, bravery and courage the recipients displayed while in harm’s way.

Over 40 million men and women have served in the U.S. military. Just over 3,500 have been awarded the Medal of Honor. The list of Vermonters who have received the Medal of Honor is too long to list here; I encourage you to visit the website at https://tinyurl.com/45mej6u8 to learn more about those fellow veterans and Vermonters and give a moment of pause to honor their service to our state and country.

For information on the Medal of Honor, its history and recipients, visit cmohs.org.

Every day, America’s service members selflessly put their lives on the line to keep us safe and free. Please take a moment to let our troops know how much we appreciate their service and sacrifice.

On March 25 at approximately 10 a.m. there will be a Legislature resolution to honor the Vermont Medal of Honor recipients. All veterans able to attend this reading are encouraged to attend at the State House in Montpelier.

Bill Mattoon
Springfield
(Bill Mattoon is commander of the Green Mountain Base of the National Organization of United States Submarine Veterans.)

Thanks for overwhelming support of school district budget

To the Editor:

On behalf of the school board and administration, we write with gratitude for your overwhelming support of the Champlain Valley School District’s fiscal year 2026 budget. On Town Meeting Day, 4,494 people, or 70 percent of voters, cast ballots in favor of next year’s school budget. The “yes” votes were among the highest ever recorded in CVSD’s history as a consolidated district.

These figures demonstrate two things: significant community support for our schools and the hard work of those who support and educate our 3,700 students every single day. With this budget, the school district will continue to innovate and provide a high-quality educational journey for students that honors identity, forges connection, develops proficiency and fosters direction.

While the district and school board are thrilled with the outcome of Tuesday’s vote, we also recognize that this budget reflects the challenges affecting our entire state. As we’ve shared throughout this process, the fiscal year 2026 budget’s cost containment measures require the reduction of nearly 40 staff, faculty and administrative positions. These reductions directly affect our students, colleagues and community.

The Champlain Valley School District has long been known as an educationally progressive organization that benefits from a community that recognizes the vital importance of public education. Tuesday’s vote underscores that commitment to education, our students and the work of our educators.

Thank you for your support of our schools,

Meghan Metzler, board chair
Adam Bunting, superintendent

Access to government records more important than ever

To the Editor:

As the days are getting longer and snow is melting it is fitting that this is Sunshine Week — an annual celebration of government records and information as the cornerstone of government accountability and transparency.

A government “of the people, by the people and for the people,” as President Abraham Lincoln famously stated in his Gettysburg address, means people must have access to authentic and reliable records and information. Without this, we’re in the dark. As we face an increasingly complex landscape of disinformation and misinformation, access to authentic, reliable and trustworthy government records and information is more important than ever.

Sunshine Week coincides with a poignant time in our history. It is alarming that our fundamental rights as Americans are currently under threat from an unprecedented dismantling of the federal agencies and unauthorized destruction of federal records and information. Both are critical for ensuring government accountability and transparency, fiduciary responsibility to taxpayers and the public’s right to know. The effectiveness of all government programs and services relies on authentic and reliable information. Further, the public’s trust in these programs and services relies on transparency, accountability and civic engagement.

Yet, authentic and reliable records and information are being removed from Federal websites, despite being an efficient and cost-effective way to provide publicly available information and actively engage Americans in the Federal programs and services they rely on. Federal civil servants responsible for the management, technologies and use of Federal records and information are being fired or have “voluntarily” resigned or retired. Those recently affected include employees at the National Archives and Records Administration, United States Digital Service, 18F (a digital services team within the General Services Administration) and key Federal agencies dedicated to data collection and research. All told, the recent and ongoing loss of institutional and expert knowledge is staggering.

For Sunshine Week 2025, it is crucial to shed light on Vermont’s laws for a transparent and open government. The state of Vermont’s commitment to manage and safeguard its local and state government records and information, especially from unauthorized destruction, was established by state law in 1937. Following the Watergate scandal of 1972 and subsequent Congressional action to further ensure government accountability and transparency, while also balancing individual rights to personal privacy, state legislatures, including the Vermont General Assembly, shored up state laws to require the same. Today, government accountability and transparency are governed by what is called the Vermont Public Records Act (1 V.S.A. §§ 315 – 320) and its importance cannot be overstated: access to authentic and reliable government records and information is a fundamental right. 

The Secretary of State’s office, through the Vermont State Archives and Records Administration fulfills a relatively simple, yet essential, role in the Vermont Public Records Act. It is charged with supporting Vermont government in systematically managing its records and information “to provide ready access to vital information, to promote the efficient and economical operation of government and to preserve their legal, administrative and informational value.” (1 V.S.A. § 317a). The archives, records and information professionals at Vermont State Archives and Records Administration rise to this challenge without fanfare. 

The baseline the Vermont State Archives and Records Administration sets for Vermont public agencies is compliance with all six parts of the Vermont Public Records Act – policy, access, exemptions, management, procedure and enforcement – and with the specific laws and rules that govern each individual agency’s records and information. This work is done in collaboration with managers, technologists, legal counsel and other agency stakeholders. The outcomes are effective policies and procedures for managing and safeguarding Vermont records and information and publicly available documentation of what types of records and information are created or received by each public agency. Full transparency. Full accountability. 

Why is this important? Full transparency and accountability of what records and information are created or received and the requirements relating to their management are critically important, especially for legal certainty of their authenticity, reliability and trustworthiness. Government programs and services depend on them and the public does too. We, as a nation, stand to suffer profoundly if our nation’s freedom of information, public records and right to know laws falter for any American. 

The Secretary of State’s office is doing and will continue to do, everything in its power to ensure that the public’s access to authentic, reliable and trustworthy government records and information is neither disrupted nor prevented. This includes preserving Vermont’s rights to a transparent and open Federal government as well.

Tanya Marshall
Williston 
(Marshall is the Vermont State archivist and chief records officer and director of the Vermont State Archives and Records Administration, a division of the Vermont Secretary of State.)