Town Meeting
VermontNumber 21 |Winter 2008 CommonsVisit us online at www.vtcommons.org VOICES OF INDEPENDENCE Reviving Town Meeting “A Gem — literate, thought- Town Meeting: A Space Vermont’s Energy Future: provoking, radical.” for Communal Liberty 10 Reasons for Hope Orion magazine By Frank Bryan By Greg Strong Vermont Commons is a print and online forum for am unsure of the exact date but the fall of 1957 ith all of the hoopla swirling around the exploring the idea of Vermont independence—politi- Iwill do. Forces in Montpelier were (and had Wtopic of the state’s energy affairs (can you cal, economic, social, and spiritual. We are unaffili- been for some time) making war on the small say: “$100 dollars per barrel,” “expiring power ated with any other organization or media, and inter- schools of Vermont. I was a sophomore at New- contracts,” “commercial wind energy,” “energy ested in all points of view. We welcome your letters, bury High School which, on a good year, gradu- efficiency funding,” “nuclear energy safety,” “food thoughts, and participation. ated about a dozen students. I was to graduate in versus biofuels,” and “carbon footprint”?), we 1959, a very good year indeed. My class had seven thought we’d jump into 2008 by focusing on IN THIS ISSUE students. what’s going right on the Vermont energy front. I was 15 in the fall of ‘57 and, like most of the Our rationale? Just maybe, a focus on the posi- 1 Town Meeting: A Space for Communal students, was opposed to the “consolidation” of tive will inform our next steps toward a more Liberty, by Frank Bryan Newbury High with schools from another town.
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