Cemetery tree removal a travesty

We are aghast and dismayed at the recent decimation visited on the School Street Cemetery of Lebanon in which two dozen century-old trees were razed to the ground. Every single tree is gone. To repeat, every single tree has been cut down. This was a beautiful cemetery where ancient cedars and deciduous trees arched over the gravestones. This was a place of beauty and reflection, a place to wander and experience the sensation of lives well-lived within the green bounty of nature. Now all this is gone.

What remains is a sad and gray suburb of the dead. We look upon nothing but gray stones in harsh sunlight, and those buried here have no joy in renewal to look upon, nothing but the dead stumps of ancient trees that used to be. Valuable habitat, shade, carbon sequestration, history, and beauty have been destroyed and can’t be recovered. Who approved this destruction? What was the cost? Who benefited? Certainly not the residents of Lebanon.

Eric Schaller, Paulette Werger, Andrew Garthwaite, Bente Torjusen, Charles DePuy, Mary Ann Haagen, George and Linda Armstrong, Barbara and Steve Teeter, Robert and Lucy McLellan, Doreen Schweizer, and Pat McGovern

all of Lebanon

White River Junction is looking good these days

While the town fathers and mothers of Hartford work out which direction the town is headed, it’s a good time to tell people who haven’t been there lately how tremendously the appearance of White River Junction has improved recently. These upgrades began with the uptown rotaries, which have been a big hit, especially if you drove between the Veterans Affairs area and Sykes Mountain Avenue several times a day for 40 years. While Vermont’s oldest pothole is gone forever, sorting out who was to maintain the landscaping took a while. A volunteer had to haul three loads of July weeds to the landfill, but by the fall the hydrangeas and maple trees had settled in and looked great.

That was a preview of another state-funded project, the revolutionary removal of the monumental eyesore signage along the routes 4, 5 and 14 intersection near downtown that directed drivers to the interstates. For almost 60 years this state-sponsored visual terrorism had one message — you’re nowhere, keep on driving. I recall taking a visiting friend to see a new building on Railroad Row a few years ago. As we passed through the railroad underpass from West Lebanon he let out an involuntary groan at the ugliness of the huge overheard panels and the giant gantries that held them. Those are all gone, and it appears that the similar insults at the Bugbee Center intersection across the river are next up for removal. Along with all of this, the town’s work in an around the core of booming downtown replaced ancient utility lines, added sidewalks and reorganized parking — all to the good.

Now, with all of these major improvements, it’s time for a few new signs that demonstrate that White River is a destination of worth, and no longer a drive-thru on the way to somewhere else. Those signs will announce that there’s a new Rio Blanco, as they show the way to the arts district.

Dick Mackay

Hanover

Dick Mackay has been investor in uptown White River Junction for 50 years and downtown for 20.

The drum roll is sounding on Trump

I and so many other Americans are concerned that the social contracts that underwrite our democracy are being savaged by Donald Trump as he continues to regurgitate his imbecilic bombast. His body language alone is enough to make the unfortunate viewer wince!

Donald Trump is a cauldron of greed and hypocrisy, and everything that Donald Trump has attempted to influence has been compromised. Employing his redundant messaging, he has inflamed militancy in his gullible, servile underlings, and of course he continues to implore them to send some loot to his coffers to help underwrite another pathetic bid for the presidency.

Let us return to what we must not forget; it was Donald Trump who in exercising his swagger and sway encouraged the breaching of the United States Capitol where his demented legion destroyed much and injured many!

Surely we need to reflect on the fact that Donald Trump cozied up to Kim Jong-un of North Korea, and professed that they “loved” each other. Currently this North Korean dictator is directing it’s missile program to achieve the capacity to deliver an atomic warhead to the United States. But, gosh, Kim and Donald? well, they’re “in love.”

Oh, yes! and most assuredly, Putin observed the mental and moral morass that Donald Trump has promulgated in the United States. From this, it becomes apparent that Putin concluded it would be a cake-walk to invade Ukraine, subjugate its people, and bring it into the Russian / Soviet fold. Surely, such an accomplishment would swell the ego of this diminutive man.

Recall that it was Donald Trump who humiliated China and it’s preeminent leader, Xi Jinping with Trump’s idiotic way of pronouncing China. When a country like China supplies the United States with a multitude of essential products; it is not wise to hurl insults at its producers.

Donald Trump’s plethora of moronic assertions has compromised our nation and greatly catalyzed a sense of confused ambiguity.

Ah, but Donald Trump has enthroned himself at Mar-a-Largo.

However, the drum roll is sounding.

William Gilbert

Lebanon

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