We, the citizens of Vermont, have just one more week to let the Fish and Wildlife Department know how we feel about their heartless trapping regulations.

Five days a week, I read an analysis of news by Robert Hubbell. His facts are backed up by his annotated and vetted material. On weekends, he opens his site for comments and asks that all comments be respectful. If a comment is not respectful, it will not be printed.

On the VSC issue of digital libraries, anyone with any integrity who was involved in the decision should resign. Jeb Spaulding was correct as to what should happen.

Our president has a credibility problem that ranges from plagiarizing to outright lying. He keeps telling us he is a regular guy from Scranton, moderate, smart and a unifier. However, former Defense Secretary Gates said Biden has been wrong on every major foreign policy and national security…

The motel idea is a terrible plan — how does one ever get out of it? But, on the other hand, there is nothing else. Do we really want to see all these people totally homeless? Let's use the surplus to keep it going, meanwhile investing in a lot of low- to moderate-income housing.

I wonder sometimes about what the opposite of “woke” is. I’m still not sure, but I know an example of it.

Those of us who believe in the rule of law and the Constitution, sit on the edge of our seats as day by day, we’re exposed to the rantings of Jim Jordan, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz, Josh Hawley, and the rest of the radical Republicans, and more revelations about the c…

How did we as a country get to this point? To see how this happened, look no further than social and legacy media.

To the residents and voters of Rutland Town, just a brief message about the Tuesday, May 23, upcoming vote to construct a new public safety building to house our police, fire and emergency management functions. The bottom line to the complicated wording on this ballot is very simple. The onl…

Excessive danger

At 8 a.m. Saturday, May 13, , both Rutland Rotary Clubs (South and City) arrived at the Rotary Field gate of the historic Rutland North Main Street Cemetery. They brought wheelbarrows, pry bars, shovels, weed trimmers and most importantly, 25+ volunteers to help with the maintenance of this …

Vermonters own Vermont's lakes and ponds, 800 of them, totaling more than 300,000 acres. These waters are held in trust for us, and for the enjoyment of future generations.

What’s the difference? To all who support unnecessary abortions, since you think it’s fine to destroy an unborn child, why should you care if I die?

As the summer approaches on Lake Bomoseen, it is with a heavy heart I must remind all Vermont residents of the continuing plan by the Lake Bomoseen Association to chemically treat the lake. The LBA has been trying to gain permit approval to spray the waters of the lake with a commercial herb…

Eighty-three percent of Vermont’s Grade 4 students with disabilities can’t read, compared to just 27% of students without disabilities (2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress).

In his May 12 letter decrying the murals of Rutland, Nick Searles decrees "art belongs on canvas or in clay or photography." Leonardo da Vinci apparently missed this memo or simply chose to ignore it when he painted The Last Supper on a wall of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. But maybe Le…

The Vermont legislative session for 2023 has come to an end. There is no good news for those few Vermonters who might expect their elected representatives to respect our hard-earned tax dollars.

We are now approaching the start of the summer months and Memorial Day is right around the corner. While many think of this as a day to celebrate the unofficial start of summer, the American Legion and VFW know what this day really is. It is not about barbecues, but rather a day to remember …

There have been a couple of submissions (letters and op-ed columns) in The Times Argus of late about how noble an endeavor trapping is and how important it is.

The May 11 front page featured discussion of the opening "devotional" of the Legislature. A drag performer read from a children's book. Children's books hold many good things, but unless one was reading from Sunday school literature or a catechism, it might not properly be called devotional.

You have only to contrast the Mother's Day messages of President Joe Biden and failed ex-president Donald Trump to realize the hate-filled worlds MAGA Republicans live in.

Now that the COVID pandemic is winding down, the folks who have been staying inside their homes and apartments will want to get out. Unfortunately, in some cases, the pets they have relied on for support will become expendable. These poor animals will be dropped off at shelters and languish …

Approximately, one year ago, I read a letter to the editor by John Veritas in which he stated, "For the past few years, Democrats have worked tirelessly erasing gender in all its forms. They tell us women who have babies aren’t mothers; they are "birthing people." They insist men can get pre…

Rutland Town voters, we need your help. You have received ballots in the mail for our special Town Meeting on May 23. Heading the ballot is the request to approve increased funding and borrowing for the proposed new fire and police station at McKinley Avenue. Voters had approved this project…

I’m writing to say how unfortunate it is Rutland has decided to make its buildings look like they do.

He’s syndicated, lives in Vermont with New York connections, and Danziger political cartoons may be the best opinion journalism in the Rutland Herald newspaper.

We are faced with a situation which threatens all of us. Global warming is for real, and we are way behind in fixing the problem. Evidence is clear that we have had record-breaking temperatures, extreme weather events are increasing, melting ice and raising seas and killing reefs, and creati…

In 2014, David Green, owner of Hobby Lobby, went to the trouble of bringing a case all the way to the Supreme Court to exempt his, and other privately held companies, from covering care which violates their religious beliefs. Hobby Lobby prevailed by a 5–4 Supreme Court vote. Arguing they we…

There have been numerous letters and commentaries by anti-hunting and -trapping groups this year, denigrating trapping as an anachronistic recreational activity. Merriam-Webster defines recreation as refreshment of strength and spirits after work, also a means of refreshment or diversion, a hobby.

In a recent op-ed in this newspaper, Chris Bradley, president of the Vermont Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs, makes the specious argument that a three-day waiting period to obtain a legally purchased firearm is a violation of the Second Amendment. That simply is not the case, Mr. Bradley.

Just a few comments on the Alan Betts article in the magazine section of The Times Argus. “Church must confront its past.” My question is, which past event? The church is made up of flawed human beings. If Alan has ever attended a Catholic Mass, the first prayer we recite is the Confiteor in…

Guns, bang bang, shoot shoot, death — It won’t stop, but we must do our best to lessen the deranged devastation.

It is unfortunate that, in recent weeks, we have lost both Ed Koren and Peter Miller. I am grateful that the Rutland Herald paid homage to both men.

Vermont civics teachers are essential for our future.

I am deeply saddened to read news about the advancement of legalized sports gambling apps in our Vermont Legislature.

Imagine, if you will, a lonely, middle school level, substitute teacher with classroom management skills rated in the low zeroes. Now imagine that poor soul also having to spend several days with young teenagers and having to discuss sexual reproductive organs.

The woke culture has taken over our country. It is destroying our traditions and challenging our moral values. To many, it’s exhibiting shear madness promoted by the press, Democrats/progressives, and our education establishment.

The DeSantis answer

Further erosion

The Roberts' Supreme Court has done what every parent has done — tell their children to do what they say and not what they do. The Supreme Court's job is to decipher and apply the law. The Supreme Court's job is not to live a rule-free existence. Trust is important and that is why America ha…

In an effort to decrease our travel carbon footprint, I recently took the train to Washington, D.C., where I met my husband who had driven there for work, and boarded "The Crescent" for New Orleans. After spending a day sitting in the coach seat on the 12-hour trip from Montpelier to D.C., I…

In a recent opinion piece, the writer states, “To say somebody wins and somebody loses is wrong.” I believe this person is referring to the so-called reading wars. There are losers in this debate; I prefer to use the term victims. For 40 years, we have “debated” about how to teach reading wh…

According to stats from IRS-supplied software we use, Rutland AARP TaxAide's 15 volunteers were responsible this past season for over $707,000 in federal refunds and nearly $143,000 in state refunds. This does not include Vermont rent credits nor property tax credits, which were considerable…

I write because as much as we have done regarding COVID, we have not done enough regarding those who test positive yet are also going out in public. There are a number of reasons for this because in Vermont, many people believe they have little opportunity to stay home and many truly can't a…

A fellow Wallingford resident tends to ramble on about due process — apparently with a higher self helping to guide his keystrokes — but never makes any discernible connection between his musings and actual facts. I also sometimes write on the subject, but reference applicable laws.

In America’s most recent mass shooting (when this was written), a man killed five of his neighbors and wounded several others after they asked him to stop shooting his gun at 11:00 at night. Less than a month earlier, a gunman killed five people and wounded eight others at a bank in Louisvil…

Any real estate salesperson understands that "location, location, location" of a property is essential to its inherent value. Tucker Carlson is learning the same as Bill O'Reilly and Glenn Beck before — it's all about location. Tucker Carlson in any other forum can only generate, at a maximu…

The Supreme Court has lost its sense of ethical service to our Constitution, and it’s time to get it under control.

I hope we are not going to continue to be subjected to the complaint about the age of President Joe Biden. We know how old he is. Yet, I hope you can agree that he has accomplished much of what he promised when he ran and won in 2020. I believe he has earned a second term if he wants to cont…

Well, blow me down. Here I thought the Comstock Act was a dead letter since 1930 — not so. Here comes Judge Kacsmaryk of Texas banning the mailing of Mifepristone under … you guessed it … the 1870 Comstock Act. Among Margaret Sanger's papers at the NYU Project was a piece on "Comstockery" an…