Archive - May 27, 2010 - Editorial

The Bristol Selectboard faces an interesting question concerning its proper role in the upcoming Act 250 board’s ruling on the proposed Lathrop gravel pit. It is common for town selectboard’s to contribute to such hearings with information concerning how the proposed development fits in with the town plan and any other matters that may contribute to the board’s over-all understanding. The dilemma facing the Bristol selectboard is how strongly they should present the controversial nature of the proposal and the public’s opposition to it in a letter to the Act 250 board.

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As Middlebury bids John and Bonnie McCardell its fondest farewell and best wishes in their new venture, there is yet one more reason to treasure their arrival in town (separately) more than 30 years ago: with a new challenge to meet emerging needs through the United Way, the McCardells have again set the bar a notch higher in ways to give back to one’s community.

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After the final episode of “Lost” aired on ABC Sunday night, three of my viewing companions and I stood around the television staring at each other wordlessly.

We were in a mostly empty Middlebury College campus house that a friend had offered as a viewing location, since none of us had cable at home. The show finished half an hour before the midnight deadline for moving off campus, and once we turned off the television the house was filled with an ear-shattering quiet.

Daniel, who had walked in that day’s graduation ceremony, shook his head.

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During the 36 years he has been a senator, Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy has spent 20 years as a member of the majority party and 16 years as a member of the minority party. Leahy will almost certainly be re-elected to a seventh term in November, but whether he will be a member of the majority or the minority party when the Senate reconvenes in January is very much an open question.

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Because so many people have asked me for a copy of the remarks I made at Sunday’s Middlebury College commencement, I’ve decided to reprint them here.

In case you hadn’t seen the news reports, I was asked to step in at the last minute for Nicholas Kristoff and Sheryl WuDunn, the scheduled commencement speakers who were last-minute no-shows. Apparently they had a Third World country to save that day and decided, for some inexplicable reason, that this was more important than giving a commencement speech.

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