Q: What would you like to see CFV focus on over the next year?
A: The concept of government in a state of half a million – the size of a small to medium city – must change to meet the needs and challenges of the 21st Century. Individual towns, and especially the Vermonters in them, must fend for themselves in some areas that call for uniform state standards and, especially, legal and financial support. As an example, in Morristown, ordinances and by laws passed to help citizens live in peace with one another are not enforced in a straightforward manner. If my neighbor piles years of garbage and shines a floodlight into my backyard, I am free to enforce the town codes in county court at my own expense. There is no direct enforcement, perhaps in the form of seizure with a warrant of offending means. So the town can write a ticket. Unpaid tickets eventually become a state violation, and can then be enforced as if they were unpaid traffic tickets, with license suspension leading at the extreme to jail. Or – a sufficiently inconvenienced resident can elect to try to reduce the annoyance in a directly interpersonal manner. Shades of the old west – old east, for that matter.
In the same vein, I ask why the state does not control the use of ATVs. This results in conflicts within towns, often leading to the ATVers having no place legally to enjoy their sport. See the history of ATVs on roads in Morristown. Since ATVs are used independent of town borders, it is never properly a town issue.
I am sure there are many such issues.

2. - I have seen judges release known violent offenders with minimal or no security, when, rationally, they should be kept away from public contact. Judges seem to be more at fault than SAs. I first became aware of this during Judge Mahady’s tenure (80s, 90s?) Some selectivity is called for, which, of course, calls for some intelligence, even wisdom. Lack of funds for facilities cannot be an excuse.