The announcement of the closing of the Kleen commercial laundry service is a blow to our local economy, and specifically to its employees and customers (“Kleen to shutter laundry plant,” June 26). But this story need not have an unhappy ending.
The situation here is similar to what took place in Cleveland, Ohio, several years ago. There, a collaboration among several organizations and city government created the Evergreen Cooperative Initiative, an effort to launch worker-owned businesses, including an industrial-scale laundry, that thrive because they are serving “anchor” institutions, like hospitals and schools, that are permanently rooted in the community.
Consumer cooperatives, such as the superb food co-ops in our region, are familiar to most of us; worker-owned co-ops are another form of collective ownership that are models for a “New Economy” that strives to be fair, democratic, empowering and loyal to the community.
With suddenly unemployed workers and a demonstrated need for laundry services, the Upper Valley has an excellent opportunity to replicate the success of the Evergreen cooperatives in Cleveland. There is more information about them at www.evgoh.com. I urge economic development organizations, institutions and local governments to look into this possibility.
RON MILLER
Woodstock
After reflecting on the Oxbow Unified Union School District meeting and hearing others’ thoughts, I’m left with more questions and concerns than I’d expected, and that is disturbing (“Voters in Bradford, Newbury, Vt., OK budget for Oxbow school district,” June 19).
First, after Newbury switched to Australian ballot voting years ago, our school meetings have generally not been well attended (unless there was a real issue), so I was looking forward to good discussion in the town meeting format.
Unfortunately, we left the meeting without a single question being addressed to any of the administrators about the $16.3 million proposed budget or programming at the schools. It seemed the majority of voters just wanted to get it over with and trust the board and administrators to handle it.
Second, emotional or ill-informed statements were left unchallenged by the board or administration, which, it seems, should be their role.
Third, we still have not heard a reasonable explanation for why last year’s operating budget deficit at one school should be absorbed or shared by taxpayers of another district. Knowing that this consolidation was on the docket, wouldn’t responsible financial management have tried to minimize any such deficits (as, it appeared, happened in two of the three schools)? Further, while the final outcome on debt is still to be determined in the courts, asking one town to share in paying a large bond balance over the next several years doesn’t seem to have resulted in a bit of empathy from the original debtor.
Fourth, given the relative sizes of the two towns, it’s not comforting to know that future decisions associated with Newbury Elementary School can be decided largely by people who do not live or pay taxes in Newbury.
With those concerns in mind, I’m asking the school district board and the superintendent to consider holding one regular monthly board meeting in Newbury and to establish a committee made up of community members to meet regularly with school and supervisory union officials to review financials, ask questions and to generally be engaged with this $16.3 million entity.
MARVIN HARRISON
Newbury, Vt.
I was heartened to read in The Washington Post that, according to a study by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, racial intolerance hasn’t increased since Donald Trump’s election.
Unfortunately, there’s reason for skepticism given the study’s reliance on self-reporting, enabling respondents to put themselves in their best light. One can speculate a similar study on anti-Semitism in Hitler’s Germany would have yielded similar results.
Consider the number of Germans who, after the war, denied knowledge of the Holocaust, which happened in front of their own eyes. This is to say, human beings have an incredible capacity for rationalization and denial, particularly when self-interest is at stake. This enabled well-meaning Germans to support Hitler despite his vitriolic appeals to bigotry. What is undeniable is that, whatever the level of German hostility toward Jews, whether Germans supported Hitler because they hated the Jews or because they believed in “Germany first” and thought Hitler would make Germany great again, the result was the death of 6 million people.
While America is not Nazi Germany, and Trump is not Hitler, there is much that greatly offends. The news reports one indecency after another. Children separated from their mothers and held in cages with no plans for family reunification is but one example. We will never know if Trump has increased America’s level of hate or if it is just too high anyway.
One thing is clear, Trump is the pied piper of the bigoted.
In The Boxer, songwriter Paul Simon wrote, “A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.” Trump supporters who disclaim support for his bigotry can be likened to Italians who voted for Mussolini because they wanted the trains to run on time.
Ignoring ugly truths cannot absolve personal responsibility when the soul of the nation is sold for 30 pieces of silver known as MAGA. The stench that comes from shaking hands with the devil can never be sanitized. Whether motivated by hate or willful blindness, in the words of an old blues song, “Evil is going on.”
LEN ZIEFERT
Enfield
We encourage Valley News readers to write to the Forum to comment on matters of general public interest. We publish letters regardless of their politics, providing they are in good taste and address a subject of broad concern. To keep the Forum open to all, we request that you keep letters to about 350 words, and that you write no more often than once every two weeks. Please email letters to forum@vnews.com. You may also send a letter using the form at our website, www.vnews.com (click on “Opinion,” and then “Submit a Letter”). If you cannot send email or use the website, address letters to Forum, Valley News, P.O. Box 877, White River Junction, Vt. 05001. In all cases, please be sure to include your name and address, along with a daytime telephone number (for confirmation purposes only). All letters are subject to editing.