When I was a reporter covering the Upper Valley, I did a story about a controversy that erupted on the Norwich list serve. Issues often come to a boil on that email forum. This one, I thought, was amusing, yet it touched serious issues that can rile people up - like the environment and public safety.

In hydroponics, plants are fed in a greenhouse setting with fertilized irrigation water instead of soil. And when I was a commercial organic vegetable grower some thirty years ago, I would have been hard put to find any hydroponic lettuce growing in Vermont.

My town merged schools with a neighboring town about six years ago, and it’s been a great success. Newfane and Brookline have had a history of shared services since 1948, when the NewBrook Volunteer Fire Department was established.

The snow is melting, redwings and waterfowl are showing up here and there, and some sugar makers have already boiled sap. An early spring seems to be underway, even as our concerns rise for the health, perhaps the survival of American democracy. It’s town meeting time once again.

With a new democratic spirit sweeping the land, I thought it might be helpful to offer town moderators and selectboard members a little practical advice so New England won’t be left in the dust come Town Meeting Day.

We may be finally witnessing the death throes of the conservative “trickle-down” mantra that advocates for lower taxes on “job creators” and “hands-off” government regulation.

During the recent Congressional recess, stories about town hall meetings dominated the news. Large crowds attended the events. In some cases shouting down their Congressman. Some legislators avoided the meetings saying the process had been corrupted. Outside agitators were stirring the pot. President Trump tweeted about the “so-called angry crowds” calling them “sad.”

Tom Davis liked to say that he was born with a “social justice gene.” Son of Republican Governor Deane Davis and grandson of a Vermont State Treasurer, Tom was aware of political issues from a young age. Visitors to the Davis’ Barre home included 1940 Republican presidential nominee Wendell Willkie.

In the face of calls for the abolition of the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, one can appreciate just how much is at stake by looking at the life of Robert Frost.

Five years ago, when St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire built a new science and math building, a decision was made to suspend a nearly six-foot diameter, white latex-painted globe called Science-on-a-Sphere from the ceiling of the third-floor conference room.