Archive - Jul 2009 - Editorial

The Bristol Planning Commission took a welcome stance last week when it staked out a more thorough process to solicit public comment on gravel and resource extraction that would be included in its revised town plan. The revisions have been ongoing for the past couple of years and the planning commission hopes to have the proposed draft completed for selectboard review this fall. It has finally put a full-court press on gathering public opinion on this controversial topic — but, hey, better late than never.

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What is particularly irksome about today’s record low milk prices is that they are a direct result of a national food policy that emphasizes mass-produced food that is heavily subsidized over locally produced foods. It’s irksome because the policy is driving Vermont dairy farmers (and others) to the brink of extinction and because the food system is inherently nonsensical, not to mention unhealthy.

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In the face of dismal prices for the state’s non-organic dairy farmers, New Haven’s state Rep. Christopher Bray says the ‘Farm to Plate’ legislation passed this past legislative session may be the most important bill approved in the past decade that has to do with food or agriculture. Why is Bray so optimistic about legislation the average Vermonter has never heard of? Because the initiative encourages Vermont’s local food production to grow from what is now just 3 percent of the food consumed in the state to 20 percent in the next decade.

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Suddenly, I’m a fan of Sarah Palin’s. No, not because she bailed on her job as governor of Alaska midway through her term and put her political career in jeopardy. But precisely because she didn’t care — other things, she said, were more important.

While the former vice-presidential candidate for the Republican Party tried to put a positive spin on her decision to quit the governorship at the end of the month, the news didn’t sit well with many Republicans and conservative radio shock-jocks and columnists around the country.

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In Ferrisburgh last week, about 100 residents attended a zoning board meeting to question a proposal that would build a large gasoline/diesel service station that would also include a restaurant and convenience store. The crucial issues here are the scale of the project and the “undue and adverse” aesthetic effect the project would have on the community.

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