My Grandmother Hiles followed her own rules and lived an extraordinary life. She stood tall, straight and thin, with unruly gray hair on top of her head. Keen, penetrating eyes peered over the top of her gold-rimmed, owly glasses. When she turned her attention to you it was best you made sense. Her nose was beaklike, reminding me of an eagle. Frankly, I don’t think she liked children.
Fifty years ago Buffalo Springfield said something was happening here and asked everyone to look at what was going down. What did they find?
They found something close to today’s climate in Vermont where the scent of revolution is in the air. Secession may well have returned to people’s minds. Vermonters may be considering becoming the Switzerland of North America.
What are the practicalities of the carbon tax bill? It would be difficult to disagree with the words of Rep. Mike Yantachka in accepting an award for supporting passage of the “carbon tax” bill in the Legislature. No question, there is a need to reduce human consumption of fossil fuels.
From oceans, lakes (“great” and “pretty good”) to rivers, ponds, creeks, icecaps, glaciers and, yes, the human body itself, water is a central element in our planet’s structure and function. We don’t always appreciate how much of a role water plays in our existence, and it has taken warming trends in the atmosphere to jolt us awake.
My husband, John, and I paused on Park Avenue in front of Mr. Saitys’ store with its enticing American Indian and Tibetan jewelry. I pressed the buzzer and Mr. Saity unlocked the door. He welcomed us as if we were former friends, although we’d never met, and began sharing the history of his jewelry. He took a prominent piece from a case.
While reading Edd Merritt’s commentary in the November 29 issue of The Charlotte News, titled “There are guns, and there are guns?” I discovered several instances of arguable and nonfactual ideas which I would like to address here.
Some years ago John and I often flew to New York City for the day on Jet Blue’s $19 round trips. We started at the Metropolitan Museum and worked our way down to Grand Central Station, stopping at places of interest.
I grew up in a gun-club family. My father and his father-in-law were avid duck hunters, and our weekend ritual during duck season was to rise before dawn, eat breakfast with other hunters in the only café in the area open at four a.m., and then hie to my grampa’s camp on a lake that was formed like a figure eight.
The holiday season is upon us! How will we ever survive the family gatherings, parties, large meals and the ever-dreaded shopping? Relax. There are a few things you can do to survive this short yet stressful period. One, remember that this too shall pass and that you will survive. Cut yourself some slack, and remember that no matter what you are going through someone else is going or has already gone through it as well. If you remember to take time for yourself, breathe and drink plenty of water, I promise you’ll make it.
I read Representative Michael Yantachka’s commentary, in the November 1 issue of The News, on Vermont’s new turbine noise rules with interest. Rep. Yantachka is a member of the Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (LCAR), which gave its final approval to the noise rules over the objections of the wind industry on Oct. 19.
This letter is in response to Rep. Mike Yantachka’s commentary from Nov. 1. It is apparent that human beings are at a critical point in our life on Earth. We are confronted with a significant number of challenges to our well-being and even our future.
One morning in the early 1990s, my phone rang. It was not a nice man from Nigeria telling me I owed the IRS money. James Lawrence was on the line. “There’s a situation with The Charlotte News,” James said. “I’m asking all of the newspaper’s contributors to meet at the Congregational Church this afternoon.” He did not wait to hear my excuses. I showed up.
I’m tired of writing critical commentaries, which my last two have been. And besides, the natural world of Charlotte is not something one can easily criticize. Its skies, landscapes, clouds and harvest moons bring together many of the reasons for choosing here as home. Too often we fail to be conscious of the role our environment plays in our lives.
When it comes to gravestones, there are as many choices as there are individuals. Some people are adamant about their ashes being spread from a mountain top, on the water, in the forest or over their garden. We will limit this column, however, to traditional burials in a cemetery with a gravestone.
Although the legislature is not in session, many legislators serve on special committees that meet between sessions. The Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (LCAR) is one such committee, and it’s been keeping me busy this summer. LCAR consists of four Senators and four Representatives and is responsible for reviewing rules proposed by agencies of the executive branch of state government. Rules spell out the process by which an agency administers laws. Examples include the health standards of hotel accommodations, licensing of professionals, and standards for fuel oil tanks in our homes. It is LCAR’s job to review the rules to ensure that
Veterans Day, eh? I should be honored to take part in it, but, frankly, the Navy and I parted company on Treasure Island, California, in late summer of 1968 and have lived in blissful ignorance of each other ever since. I put my medals in a drawer and responded to a letter from the government asking me to become an active reserve with a “Thanks, but no thanks.” The country must have had a large enough supply of people (mostly men in those days) to keep their tanks full and did not feel the need to press too hard on those of us who said no.
I read with interest Rep. Mike Yantachka’s commentary (9/20) criticizing the Public Utility Commission’s decision to reject an application for construction of a large-scale commercial solar array in the iconic Mt. Philo viewshed. My reaction to the decision was quite different from Mike’s: Finally the PUC “build everywhere” policy seems to have been modified to consider land-use planning in reviewing large-scale commercial solar and wind applications.
I admit that I watched all the sessions of Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s Vietnam history. A young adult of the 1960s, I was there during the war and played a small a part in “Rolling Thunder” on an aircraft carrier bombing the north. But that was not the reason I found the series fascinating.
We are proud to announce The Charlotte News has won “Distinguished Newspaper” in our category in The New England Newspaper & Press Association (NENPA) “Newspaper of the Year” 2017 competition.
Dealing with death and burials can be a touchy topic and is often postponed. People feel skittish talking about it.