Opinion

For opinion pieces on any topic.

Debunking Objections to Youth Enfranchisement in Brattleboro and Beyond

by Mark J. Tully | Op/Ed

Hi. My name is Mark Tully, a resident of Brattleboro. I’ve been helping out the youth leadership of the Brattleboro Youth Vote campaign – which comes to a head in this Tuesday’s town elections with a ballot measure (Article II) that partially enfranchises youth aged 16 and 17. I’ve worked with youth leadership around the country in various political and artistic projects for over 25 years, and continue to do since moving here four years ago.

While monitoring opinions in the local press, and talking to residents during petitioning and community events, there are some common objections that arise.

Selectboard Candidate Interview – Oscar Heller

by cgrotke | Politics
Oscar Heller

Another in our series of 2019 selectboard candidate interviews, this time with Oscar Heller who is running for a one-year seat.

Give us a brief biography – who are you? What do you do?

Hi! I’m Oscar.

I was born in New York, but when I was 14 my parents picked a summer camp at random off the internet. That camp was Camp Waubanong in Brattleboro. I spent most of the next dozen summers in Vermont. In 2014 I moved here for good. I live on Elliot Street, just before the park, with my girlfriend Jessie and our two cats.

Selectboard Candidate Interview – Tim Wessel

by cgrotke | Politics, Uncategorized
Wessel Family

We continue our series of interviews with candidates for Selectboard, this time with Tim Wessel, the only incumbent and a three-year seat candidate.

Give us a brief biography – who are you? What do you do?

Hi, I’m Tim! I’m a father to a 29 year old AND a 13 month old, which is crazy and strange and pretty darned wonderful too. I work for myself running Vermont Films, a video production company here in Brattleboro, and I spend my work life shooting and editing films for many different clients, both local and national. Many people saw my appearance on House Hunters on HGTV a few years back, and I also work in production for that show about once a month, usually traveling to do so. My wife and I just celebrated our second wedding anniversary, and the first birthday of our son.

Selectboard Candidate Interview – Daniel Quipp

by cgrotke | Politics
daniel quipp

Next in our series of interview with Brattleboro Selectboard candidates is Daniel Quipp, running for a one-year seat.

Give us a brief biography – who are you? What do you do?

I’m originally from Wales and married to a person who grew up in Newfane. I have been coming to Brattleboro since 2004 and have lived here since 2014. I’m currently a crisis fuel worker with SEVCA and just started a new job with Vermont Interfaith Action working in Windham and Bennington counties.

Selectboard Candidate Interview – Elizabeth S. McLoughlin

by cgrotke | Politics

Read on for our selectboard candidate interview with Elizabeth McLoughlin, who is running for a one-year seat on the board. 

Give us a brief biography – who are you? What do you do?

My husband, Tom and I moved to Brattleboro in 2007, after 20 years of visiting relatives here in town, and we opened two small businesses. The younger of our two daughters, Mary, attended BUHS.  I opened a consulting business 10 years ago. With 30 years of experience, as an environmental planner,  I prepare environmental permits, and write environmental impact statements. 

Brattleboro Early and Absentee Ballots Available

by Not Signed In | Politics

Early/absentee ballots for the Brattleboro Annual Town and Town School District Meeting to be held March 5, are now available in the Brattleboro, Town Clerk’s office. Anyone wishing to vote prior to March 5 may apply for an early/absentee ballot until 5:00 p.m. on Monday, March 4.

Early/absentee ballots may be voted in person in the Clerk’s office, mailed to the voter by the Clerk’s office, picked up by the voter, or if a voter is in need can be delivered to the voter’s residence by two Justices of the Peace. All voted ballots must be received by the Clerk before the polls close on election day in order to be counted. For more information or to request an early/absentee ballot call 251-8157.

The Potential of Limited Self-Government

by Oscar Heller | Politics

I and many others in Brattleboro support the Vermont League of Cities and Towns in their proposal to try a pilot program of limited self-government for towns in Vermont. One of the issue articles on my website is about this issue. But the number one question I’ve gotten during my candidacy is summed up by this eloquent iBrattleboro comment by Steven-K Brooks:

“Oscar, you have done well explaining the problem. But about the solution, you have only said that Brattleboro needs more freedom to find other sources of revenue. A real solution must be more than an abstract principle: There must be a practical idea that we can develop. I think that the missing piece of the puzzle in your discussion is that you have not mentioned even one alternative way that Brattleboro could raise revenue. I think it is important for you to offer sound and practical ways that — if unimpeded by restrictions on home rule — Brattleboro could raise needed revenue.”

How’s Hubness Hurting Brattleboro?

by cgrotke | Op/Ed
Vermont Wheel Club

Having lived in Brattleboro a long time and outside of Brattleboro a short time, I continue to wonder about Brattleboro’s concern about being a “hub town” to surrounding communities.

It comes up in discussion, and the argument is generally that Brattleboro is providing free services to freeloading neighboring towns – they use our services and we aren’t compensated.

It sounds reasonable, but how exactly is Brattleboro going uncompensated? For what?

A Fresh Face Running for the Brattleboro Town School Board

by Not Signed In | Politics

Dear Brattleboro Voters,

My name is Emily Murphy Kaur and I’m writing to ask your support in my campaign for a one-year term on the Brattleboro School Board. With the merger remaining unconfirmed, we sit at the crossroads of an uncertain future of which my background in teaching, district level policymaking, and grant writing can be uniquely utilized to advocate in support of our community.

Having started my career as a public school teacher of students with significant disabilities, I’ve had a lot of experience working with teachers, school directors, and superintendents, and in building communities that are inclusive and safe places for all students to grow and learn. My work at the school level fostered a strong interest in working at the district level to ensure that teachers and the community have a voice in the broader decision-making process.

Why I’m Running for Selectboard

by Oscar Heller | Politics

Hi!

My name is Oscar Heller, and I’m running for a 1-year seat on the Brattleboro Selectboard.

I’m a small business owner and the chair of the Brattleboro Energy Committee. I’ve been coming to Brattleboro for 17 years, and I’ve lived here since 2014. I’m thirty years old, and I hope to bring a fresh perspective to the Selectboard as a young business owner. My two primary areas of focus are bringing a modern, green economy to Brattleboro, and working to address homelessness and drug addiction in our community.

Humanitarian America Takes Out Venezuela

by Lise | Op/Ed
Refinería_El_Palito,_Carabobo,_Venezuela

Ever since Trump was elected president, people have been casting aspersions at Russia for their alleged interference in that election. With the attempted coup now underway in Venezuela, we have an example of how the United States does interference — when they don’t like the result of another country’s elections, they just destabilize the government and install their own guy. In the case of Venezuela, the U.S. has been trying to take out their government since at least the time of Hugo Chavez in the early 2000s, going so far as to pull a military maneuver in which Chavez was briefly kidnapped. Chavez survived that attempt. Now it’s Maduro’s turn.

VT AFL-CIO Welcomes YPG Vet, Holds Political Convention

by Not Signed In | Politics

Over this past weekend [1/26/19], the Vermont AFL-CIO held its annual COPE Convention at the Old Socialist Labor Hall in the granite City of Barre. The day was spent strategizing Labor’s approaches to seeing a $15 an hour livable wage, paid family medical leave, and card check recognition becoming Vermont law in 2019. By passing card check recognition (S36), anytime a majority of public sector workers in a single shop sign Union cards, they would immediately be recognized as a Union without having to go through a drawn out and bureaucratic Labor Board election process (a process that provides anti-Union employers an unfair advantage and time to use scare tactics against employees). Passing card check in Vermont is a concrete way that Labor can begin to go back on the offensive here in the Green Mountains.

Brattleboro Selectboard Candidates 2019

by cgrotke | Politics

Brattleboro voters get a choice this year for all open Selectboard seats.

For the 3 year term, new candidate Ben Coplan will be running against incumbant Tim Wessel. Voters will be able to pick one.

For the 1 year term, four candidates have declared. Oscar Heller, Elizabeth McLoughlin, Daniel Quipp, and Franz Reichsman are the options. Voters can pick two.

Petitions for March Elections – Deadline Monday, 1/28

by Not Signed In | Politics

As a reminder, petitions for Brattleboro Town and Town School District Officers and Town Meeting Members are now available at the Town Clerk’s office.  Town elections will be Tuesday, March 5 at the American Legion, and the Annual Representatives Town Meeting, Saturday, March 23 at Brattleboro Union High School.

Rooms & Meals Promotion Competition A Good Idea

by cgrotke | Op/Ed

The raiding of the Rooms & Meals tax revenue has begun. Two private organizations in town have asked for 10% of the annual Rooms & Meals local option tax revenue to be given to them. They’d like nearly $40,000 and in return they offer a vague promise to promote Brattleboro.  It’s not a terrible idea, but it hasn’t been thought out much beyond asking for money.

King Damned US Wars Was Vilified in Media Shunned by Friends & Church & Murdered by Gov. Agencies

by jay janson | Op/Ed

Martin Luther King deserves being the only American whose birthday is celebrated with a three day holiday, but not only as the successful US civil rights movement’s leader, but even more for having been martyred confronting the American killing machine at its source, investors in military atrocities, covert violence and predatory finance.

Can Immigration Be Fixed? — A Ten Point Plan

by Lise | Op/Ed

After listening to Trump’s speech on immigration on Monday night and the Democrats’ response to it, I got to wondering what a humane and effective immigration policy might be. Many people seem to think immigration can’t be fixed. I believe it can. Here are my thoughts, in the form of a convenient, ten point program

Trump’s Betrayal of YPG – Paris Commune Falls Again?

by Not Signed In | Op/Ed

As an American, as a Vermonter, and as a Labor leader I have marched many times against US lead wars.  However, I do not oppose wars and US military action because I assert war as always unjust and always unnecessary.  I am not philosophically a Kantian; this is not a moral imperative for me.  I am also no liberal.  If truth be told it was only through war and armed conflict that Vermont and the United States became republics free from the British Empire.

Suggested Representative Town Meeting Improvements

by cgrotke | Op/Ed

I’ve been watching Brattleboro budgets for quite a while, through multiple selectboards, three Town Managers and one Interim Town Manager. I’ve watched many Representative Town Meetings as well and participated in a few.  That’s a lot of meetings.

While I’ve come to the conclusion that Representative Town Meeting doesn’t really work, I know that it has become cherished and it is unlikely that abolishing it will be on the ballot anytime soon. Therefore, it should be improved.

Pictures of Bush?

by tomaidh | Rumors

Today, a friend sent me a set of photos taken on the day of President Kennedy’s assassination. I have seen them before.

The pictures depict the Texas Book Depository, and purport to show GHW Bush standing in front.