Like so many people, I have enjoyed reading Dennis Jensen's columns for years. As a result, we developed a friendship, which produced a lot of good-natured ribbing from friends at the Barre Fish & Game Club.

Vermont’s health care system is a "village on fire" and the villagers don’t even get a say on the matter.

I am not a writer and I rarely write to the newspapers, but this topic has hit me hard.

Rep. Bongartz, of Manchester, has a proposed new legislation that will strip Vermont towns of local zoning control. Seems he thinks that towns need to be told by the state how to regulate zoning in their communities. Just like the recent law, passed by our legislators, that now allows for af…

Bring back Jensen

Please add my name to the growing number of Dennis Jensen fans who want his weekly column back. As others, like Tom Haley, have written, there are many of us who do not hunt or fish but really appreciate Dennis’s columns.

I have been a longtime buyer and subscriber to this newspaper and have seen a lot of changes through the years. We lost Dear Abby a few years ago and have seen fewer pages recently and now one of the few things I look forward to was Dennis Jensen's weekend outdoor column.

It is good that the Herald aims to print a range of letters and commentary expressing a diverse range of opinions. We all benefit from exposure to opinions that are different from our own, and there is a benefit in seeing the wide range of views in the community.

Real estate sales indicate that the Mill River Unified Union School District continues to draw people into the community. Our communities are wonderful places to live, raise families and attend public school.

I was dismayed to read that Dennis Jensen will no longer be appearing in the weekend newspaper. I have been reading his column for years and years, and although I no longer hunt or fish, I have very much enjoyed reading about his experiences in the outdoors. After all, being outdoors is part…

This is the year when the left has the majority in Montpelier. This would be the best chance we have to ban assault weapons in Vermont. If not now, when? Please don't wait until we have a catastrophe.

Most news pundits do not predict any productive results from today’s Congress. Why? They do not feel any meaningful passage of legislation will happen in the House unless it has the backing of the most extreme, maybe unhinged, faction of the majority party.

This has been a really terrible winter on the roads. The freeze/thaw cycles have left some car-eating potholes here and there. In the spirit of public service, I am reporting that there are particularly bad ones on West Proctor Road starting about 4/5-mile north of Wilson Castle to just abou…

The U.S. dollar took a hit in Davos when Saudi Arabia informed everyone they would accept other currencies for purchasing oil. National media ignored this, as did President Biden. The U.S. dollar has been the world’s most frequently used currency for trade since it became the reserved curren…

Your decision to cut Dennis Jensen's hunting and fishing articles down to one a month is an insult to him and to the many dedicated hunters and fisherfolk in your readership. There are many hunters out there who used to be vegans as well as vegetarians and decided to eat meat for health reas…

I have enjoyed Dennis Jensen's columns for many years. I am not a hunter or a fisherman, but still have always found his stories relevant.

I'm all in favor of the Rutland City infrastructure bond issues. But could someone please tell me why the street department can't figure out how to slope the pavement on the west side of South Main Street across from Cumberland Farms so that when it rains, the water goes into the storm drain…

So far, coverage of Ron DeSantis shows mainstream media has learned nothing from its mistakes with Trump. Once again, a fear of appearing partisan is prompting a “both-siderism” that seeks to impartially present both sides — even though one side seeks to destroy democracy.

The old Martin brick house, across from Panera Bread Inc., has been a residential home since before 1992. I hope this Rutland City house is a home for happy souls for years to come, including the beautiful backyard and trellises, bushes and trees all around the house.

This is in response to Craig Tomkinson’s commentary titled “Rutland team name” published Jan. 17.

We have just celebrated Martin Luther King's birthday. I think he was among the greatest of all Americans. In 1966, he spoke about injustice in health care and called it the most shocking and inhuman of all inequalities. There is much evidence that the care of the poor is inferior to the car…

Lt. General Hertling on CNN discussed how Ukraine's ask for material support for their defensive war against Russia is a big ask. Is it really? We spent $2T in Iraq and another $2+T in Afghanistan. I suggest people button their lips about the U.S.A. spending too much in Ukraine. The reason i…

Regards the "Rutland Red Raiders" name used by Rutland High School football teams for years, this logo or mascot name is nothing more than a fight sign for the team. This is, of course, to anyone following the debate, a moot point now that just plain Rutland is the new logo. Mascots and logo…

More comedy

Just three questions for those individuals who choose to run for the corner office on the second floor of Rutland City Hall on Town Meeting Day:

I would like to read an article more fully explaining the center photo on Page 1 of the Nov. 11 Rutland Herald.

Athletic games like football, baseball, etc., are forms of combat, usually between two apposing teams. The players are, in a sense, warriors. The Rutland mascot, Raiders, could mean any number of forces like Vikings, Rogers' Rangers, Army Rangers, i.e., outstanding warriors, the elite. To us…

The new House majority is a threat to our democracy. Last year, the American people rejected extreme election deniers in key races. But we were unable to win every fight, and a tremendous threat to our democracy remains: the new Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, and the MAGA extremists h…

Gregory Thayer's letter of Jan. 10 criticizes the "glorification" of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., by President Biden held on its second anniversary.

Ransom condoned

Regarding "Pro-Trump" via letters to the editor, opinion expression is protected by the U.S. Constitution. The letter is factually libelous and, in my opinion, it should not have been published.

The Republicans’ speaker balloting was a response to former Speaker Pelosi’s top-down legislative control where bills bypassed the committee process and Republicans were rarely allowed input. The Republicans wanted to return to regular order as set up in the original House rules.

Our exploding global population — 186,000 more people each and every day — clings for life to an exploding economy, a system faithful not to the habitat it exploits, but only the single species which gorges on it. Our economy obeys not the limits of the biosphere but the limitlessness of hum…

Your editorial on Jan. 5 begins with unfounded speculation regarding how Becca Balint feels, sitting in the deadlocked U.S. House while vote after vote fails to elect a Republican speaker. Balint, of course, is one of the 212 Democrats who has voted repeatedly for Hakeem Jeffries, the Democr…

Millions of Americans (mostly men) have been so enthusiastic about what the NFL means to them that they turn a blind eye to what the rest of us have been seeing for years: Football is not a sport that can be called life-honoring.

A friend of opposite beliefs commented that these 20 representatives holding out voting for speaker of the House are doing it for the money. Donations are coming in. That may be for most members of the House right now.

Robert Koeler's commentary (Jan. 7) extolling peaceful cooperation among nations and lamenting the huge U.S. military budget has its heart in the right place.

How would you feel about a realtor, representing you, selling your house far below its value in order to make a deal that ensures that realtor achieves realtor-of-the-year for sales?

I'm not an associate of the Democratic or Vermont Progressive parties. I've been involved in small third party movements, but I haven't even done that in 20 years.

I remember hiking the cliffs at Lincoln Gap during the Trump presidency. I saw my favorite bumper sticker there. It read: "Elect a clown and get a circus." Well, the circus sure showed up in D.C. this week. I'm not sure this is what the Ringlings had in mind. Congratulations, Republicans.

Instead of spending all this money on solar panels and electric cars country-wide, the general populace may be better served in choosing a small town/village and putting all the eggs in one basket as a pilot study. it would have to be for a decade and all federal money. This money would furn…

Why is Joe Biden glorifying Jan. 6?

Melanie Collette’s critique of the House committee investigation of the Jan. 6, 2021, event was too narrow in its scope. In contrast to the Durham investigation of the Mueller Report ($6.5 million) that fizzled out without fireworks, the House committee investigation at $4 million seems a ba…

If Vermont decides to support child care, I hope it is in the schools and not privately. If in the schools, teachers get good wages and benefits and money is not wasted. If privately, teachers get minimum wage and no benefits and thousands of dollars are wasted on specially manufactured "tre…

Trump as a third-party candidate for president likely would still wind up giving the presidency to either him or the GOP candidate. All Trump would need to do would be to pick up the electoral votes of three or four states to deny anyone the required majority to throw the election to the Hou…

I see the weekend edition contained op-eds regarding the National Commission to Investigate the Jan. 6 Attack on the United States Capitol Complex. One was saying the commission was a total waste of money and the author is affiliated with the National Federation of Republican Women, while th…

Dear Vermont property owners,

As a member of the Declaration of Inclusion Initiative which consists of Rutland County residents Bob Harnish, Al Wakefield and myself, I’d like to add a few paragraphs to Keith Whitcomb’s, Dec. 29, 2022, article which appeared under the headline “Year in Review: Declaration of Inclusion con…

So much talk and so little action: you know, Trump and whether he will be indicted for any one, or perhaps more, of his perceived criminal acts.

Hmm …. It's a word increasingly in my mental vocabulary the past few years.