Kurt Daims

Tolerance is not a threat

BRATTLEBORO-Tom Nolan objects angrily to Brattleboro Common Sense's remarks about the banners in the Dummerston School. Please ignore the irrelevant details about the climate committee which he chaired. BCS has just as much authority, since we started the committee and had two associates on it.

We did not draw attention to either of them, as Mr. Nolan does. We only mentioned the illegal ejection of a member from the committee as an example of censorship, which is relevant to the matter of the banners in school.

Mr. Nolan says we shamed two school directors. We referred simply to "a school director" - there are seven - and we mentioned no one by name except those whom we wished to praise: Supt. Mark Speno, and especially teacher Ellen Rago, who hung the Harris and Trump banners in the school. This is the matter at hand.

Mr. Nolan complains that kids should be kids and says that "schools must also be sanctuaries for children from the idiotic din that is American-pop-culture political discourse." Mr. Nolan and BCS might agree about the tone of political discourse, but it is what it is.

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A growing intolerance and polarization

There was no evidence of political banners in the Dummerston School causing harm — just imagination and suggestions of harm, along with demands for censorship

Kurt Daims is executive director of Brattleboro Common Sense. BRATTLEBORO-Did I read this story right? A school director complained that the "M" and the "P" of a Trump banner were visible outside - reversed and sideways - through the window of the Dummerston School library? And this was upsetting...

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Emergency housing in RVs: a good, simple plan

Brattleboro Common Sense has a broad and practical agenda to address the housing crisis, including emergency housing in RVs. Rights and Democracy (RAD) and BCS are working out a joint proposal not for eviction alone, but also for rent control. We hope it will be a model for the...

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Abortion-rights resolution must go further to be effective

We are angry and disgusted with the Supreme Court's recent decision on abortion rights. But how can we harness action to anger? The Brattleboro Selectboard will soon consider a resolution supporting the right to abortion. This is not enough. A resolution (or protest demonstration) can be effective if it publishes a new idea, provokes attention in a new way, or if the number of signers and their names strengthen their idea. Martin Luther King Jr. was especially effective in organizing...

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Hands-on involvement in government — for those who know how

Sometimes people ask the wrong things from the Selectboard - things that should be brought to Representative Town Meeting (RTM). This happens because they don't know the town charter, which is the operator's manual for town government. At a recent Selectboard candidate forum, there was a show of hands of people who had read the town charter, and hardly anyone in the audience raised a hand. The surprise was that some candidates for the Selectboard and even a current member...

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'An undemocratic thing to do'

Facing an angry public and the threat of a budget referendum after the murder of George Floyd, the Selectboard formed the Community Safety Committee. This was to be a civilian committee composed entirely of residents, especially people at risk, and explicitly excluding police, modeling civilian authority over police. The committee produced a report with 41 recommendations. Brattleboro Common Sense's SAFE policing plan is recommended in its entirety as number 38, and specifically for disarming police for community tasks (such as...

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Brattleboro Selectboard gets unlimited time; Town Meeting members get scraps

At last Wednesday's Representative Town Meeting (RTM) information session, the Selectboard members were constantly visible and audible while everyone else was muted and with video turned off. The technical bugs had already been worked out during the district caucuses - District 2 was allowed 14 minutes, with no time even to welcome new members. By contrast, when the Selectboard was ready to speak, democracy was intact. Board members' time was unlimited. Selectboard gets unlimited time; RTM members get scraps. This...

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We must address new Iran emergency with forceful action

A proposal was announced on Jan. 2 for a way to interrupt the chain of command for illegal orders to start a war against Iran. It was widely predicted that Donald Trump would start a new war in order to distract people from his impeachment trial. Now, two days later, he has started the war by assassinating a general in Iran. This is a flagrant act of war and a violation of international law and U.S. law. Though not in...

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