Respect the hunters

In response to the “Respect your fellow Vermonter” letter (Nov. 5) and the stories on page 1, “Complaints trigger another look at hunting rules” (Nov. 12) and “Hunting banned in Five Tree Hill park” (Nov. 19), I have to say, I’m in favor of the hunters.

I’m not a hunter myself, but have family who have hunted for generations on Vermont land. It amazes me that people continuously build in the woods, next to hunted areas, then complain there are hunters during hunting season.

How long does the season last? A couple weeks? I grew up on a farm and roamed the woods throughout my childhood, and during the short hunting season, we were told to stay close to the house. We kept our animals close to the house as well. No one complained. That was the way life was; people hunted, and we respected that.

Now homeowners want to build in the woods, then ask to be respected by those who have likely grown up hunting those same woods. Why shouldn’t the homeowners respect the hunters those couple weeks and stay close to their homes, or hike where there are no hunters? We had a lot of deer in our area, and we could hear gunfire when there were hunters in the woods, but we all grew up without a nick from one.

It seems people have become pretty selfish. People post their land and complain that others hunt to help feed their families. Sad to have to adjust for a very short time to someone else’s needs.

You can wander and hike the woods all year long with the exception of a couple weeks in November. Why be so stingy and want that, too? Why crowd out those who have been here longer than most in this community and hunted what’s left of the hunting land for most of their lives?

Kimberly Townsend, Williston

Meals on Wheels bids adieu to two Williston drivers

On behalf of the Williston Meals on Wheels team, I’d like to extend a long-overdue thank you to Thelma Osborne and Shirley Faverty for their years of service with Meals on Wheels. They both “retired” from this volunteer position this past summer after delivering meals for nearly seven years.

Our current team of drivers covers two routes in Williston. This team delivers hot lunches and optional cold suppers every weekday to people throughout Williston, rain, snow or shine. They volunteer their time and gas to make sure our clients get a nutritious, balanced meal every day — as well as a daily visitor. If you know them, please extend a warm thank you to Williston’s drivers: Betty Emery, Shirley Miles, Martha Huber, Carl Runge, Bethe Ogle, Kelly DeSantos, Jane Stickney, Barb Powell, Tom Johnson, Carol Burbank, Charlie Magill, Denise Keefe, Mary King, Bob Pasco, Giovanna Boggero and The Williston Chittenden Bank Team.

If you’re interested in receiving Meals on Wheels, please call the Champlain Valley Agency on Aging at 642-5119. To be eligible, you must be over 60 (or married to someone over 60), at nutritional risk, or unable to shop or prepare meals. There are no income eligibility rules. The Meals on Wheels program does ask for a nominal suggested donation per meal (or what one can comfortably afford). We will happily deliver on an ongoing or temporary basis.

Patty Pasley, Williston MOW Coordinator

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

By having a criminal trial in Federal Court in Manhattan, the Obama Administration confers Constitutional rights and the presumption of innocence on this Guantanamo Bay enemy combatant. Did the Senate not confer the authority for the president to wage war?

Note: 1,600 Vermont National Guard troops are not heading into a crime scene. Should those soldiers advise people shooting at them of their Miranda rights?

Why do we send predator drones to kill Muslim adversaries and those near them when we have granted due process rights to those who have confessed their guilt in an attack that killed thousands of innocent U.S. civilians?

Both the president and Attorney General Eric Holder have claimed the detention and treatment at Gitmo were illegal (Holder’s law firm represented Gitmo detainees before he was appointed attorney general). If U.S. captors water-boarded Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and threatened to kill his family if he didn’t talk, is the Federal Court going to be OK with that and uphold a conviction? The taxpayers foot the bill for a dog and pony show so those who attacked our country can be exonerated and spew anti-U.S. hate.

Thanks Barack Hussein Obama, good call for America.

Shelley Palmer, Williston

Abortion and health care

In the latest move by pro-life activists to restrict access to abortion, Bart Stupak, a Michigan Democrat in the U. S. House, introduced an amendment that would remove all coverage for abortions from any insurance plan offered in the new health care plan. Anyone receiving federal subsidies to purchase health care would not be allowed to choose a plan that offers abortion coverage. The measure passed 240-194, with 64 Democrats voting in favor.

This measure will not only affect people who rely on subsidies to get coverage. Insurance companies will have much less incentive to offer coverage for abortions to anyone, since doing so might cost them their subsidized clients. So, even if women are using their own money to purchase insurance in the new exchange, they will not be able to get coverage for this legal procedure. This is wrong and it is not fair to risk losing the health care bill over this issue.

Nathanael Vander Els, St. George