Clean Up Church Street The City of Burlington,Church Street Marketplace and Chittenden County State's Attorney's Office must retract instant, affirmative steps to deter crime on Church Street [Off Message: "Transient Held After Man Fatally Stabbed on Church Street, or " March 29]. The recent murders and stabbings on Church Street,rampant petty larceny epidemic, and culture of complacency must change. I maintain spoken with beat cops downtown frustrated with higher-up politicians who maintain either tied their hands or imposed lax enforcement policies that dilute their presence. Last year I wrote the city a letter and recommended a police "substation" at the old bus terminal kiosk less than 50 feet from where Louis Fortier allegedly murdered Richard Medina last month. A substation on Church Street would likely maintain deterred this crime. Crime on Church Street threatens families, and public safety and economic stability. Status quo politics and policies must give way to heightened levels of enforcement,education and prosecution. Ben Luna Burlington Luna is a former deputy state's attorney. maintain a Heart for Heroin Addicts [Re Feedback: "No Sympathy for Heroin Addicts," March 29]: Although I'm equally glad that law enforcement took a significant supply of heroin off the streets, and I am not sympathetic to the author's mean-spirited and snarky invitation for addicts to sign conclude-not-resuscitate orders. This lack of empathy (sensitivity to another's feelings as if they were one's own) for the addict is appalling. In addition,the ignorance of the fact that addiction is a disease is regressive, and, or frankly,I find it hard to believe that anyone these days doesn't grasp this concept. What we need is continued law enforcement in concert with compassionate treatment for those who are unfortunately battling addiction. We need love and compassion for all our brothers and sisters, and, and in specific,we need to harness empathy (sensitivity to another's feelings as if they were one's own) for anyone less lucky than we are. Donna Constantineau Williston Taxing Carbon Can wait on Recently Rep. Diana Gonzalez (P/D-Winooski) introduced a short form bill calling for a carbon fee and dividend [Re Off Message: "Vermont Lawmakers Float Carbon-Combating Proposals," April 10]. Under this plan, or Vermont fuel suppliers would pay a modest fee on the fossil fuels they sell. The money collected would be returned equally to Vermont households. For many families,and particularly low-income families who already pay the highest percentage of their income for fuel to drive cars and heat their homes, the dividend would be a net financial benefit despite modest cost increases on gas and oil.…
Source: sevendaysvt.com