I would like to commend you on your fine publication. My family has lived in Addison County nearly forty years, and reads the Addison Independent, front to back, every week. My typical path through the pages is: a quick glance at the front, maybe read a bit of page two, turn to the editorial and check all the op-ed letters, and then, for some reason I take some time on the obituaries. My favorite section is the Arts and Leisure. I have considered myself an artist, so these articles have great interest.

I wish to confess this section is last to the recycling basket, because the crossword and sudoku challenge me the most. I have even taken the crossword to our Shoreham First Response meetings (second Wednesday of the month, 7 p.m. at the Firehouse) to have a bonding exercise with our members. Besides myself, there are only several others, so when a clue is anatomical or medical we usually know it. Along with Martha Teer, our secretary, we are a bit geriatric and have the personal qualifying ailments to help.

Joan and Dick Treadway have been AEMT for nearly forty years. I am only about thirty-five years a member of SFRS, and Kat Fitzsimmons and Libby Marini have been an EMT and AEMT not so long, but they are much younger. Tiffany Littlefield is just starting as a Vermont Emergency First Responder, but like the others, she has great patient skills. We usually get the job done with a lot of help from Middlebury Regional Emergency Medical Services and Shoreham Fire Department.

Neither of those last groups help with the crossword, especially the Fire Department (they are more action oriented), but they are very photogenic.

Peter Szymkowicz AEMT President

Shoreham First Response