Details missing
from SRO story

I was distressed to read Patrick Adrian's article about the elimination of the SRO position (“School board cuts SRO funding,” Nov. 21) from the School Board's budget — not because of the elimination of the position, which is overdue, but because nowhere in the article did it mention that the people of Lebanon specifically voted to end the position in March of last year. Nor did it mention the severe stresses on the district's finances, which necessitated cutting almost half a million dollars from the budget next year, which of course had to be done without running up against collective bargaining agreements. It would have been nice to see these and other things mentioned alongside all the glowing testimony about how much children love to see a police officer outside at recess.

Richard Ford Burley

Lebanon

A Christmas wish

Here’s my wish list for Christmas. It will cost you no money, only a little bit of time. Spend 10 minutes a week researching local, state and national governmental leaders who are running for office. Find and support the ones promoting harmony and help for everyone in your community. We have an epidemic of trauma right now ... of Americans turning upon themselves (suicides/drug overdoses) or on each other (mass shootings). If you’ve ever played team sports you know the importance of putting aside petty grievances and egocentric goals in pursuit of community goals.

For my religious friends, God gave you a free will and expects personal responsibility (see Jesus’ parable of the talents). Please, please spend 10 minutes a week finding religious leaders who are like Jesus of John 3:17, who came into this world to heal, not to condemn. And if your religious leader needs encouragement to be the type of leader that Jesus was — healing words and actions vs. the rhetoric of condemnation — then spend 10 minutes a week encouraging your church leader to focus on healing the world rather then condemning it. If that leader won’t listen, maybe that leader is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Lori Harriman

Hanover

Whom do financial
regulators serve?

In 2022, Metropolitan Life informed policy holders that long term care insurance premiums would more than double over the next three years. Each year, one part of the coverage could be lessened to slightly decrease the ballooning cost. I wrote my state representatives about this and was told to contact the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation, which approved the increase. I wrote the DFR and was told that its responsibility is both to Vermonters and to LTCI companies, which must be allowed “to charge adequate premiums to remain solvent and meet their promise to their policyholders.” The letter detailed the errors Met Life had made in their original estimates for arriving at premiums. Identifying those errors took at least 17 years — there were no incremental increases in premiums during that time. Met Life’s mistakes are to be remedied quickly by policy holders, while executive compensations at Met Life continue to rise dramatically (as can be seen online). It seems reasonable to wonder whether Vermonters are getting as much consideration by the Department of Financial Regulation as Met Life has been given.

Met Life is contractually able to increase rates when it sees fit. My concern is that the DFR will do nothing to impede that and eventually increases will make it impossible or at best foolish to continue paying premiums. If that happens, years of payments will have been made to Met Life for no reason other than to increase the salaries of its executives.

Don Herzberg

Norwich