Gratitude for Lebanon energy manager

I want to say a much deserved “Thank You” to Tad Montgomery for all his dedication and hard work in the service of Lebanon.

As a member of Lebanon’s Energy Advisory Committee (LEAC), I had the opportunity to work with Tad. Along with his many duties as the city’s Energy and Facilities Manager (EFM), Tad served as the Staff member for LEAC.

Established in 2007, LEAC is charged “to identify opportunities and make recommendations to the City Council with regard to reducing energy use, increasing energy efficiency, exploring alternative energy usage and reducing pollution, thereby cutting greenhouse gas emissions and reducing energy costs for taxpayers.”

Tad was instrumental in bringing energy saving projects to fruition, such as: solar panels installed on nine city buildings; converting street lights to ultra-efficient LED bulbs; and the landfill gas-to-energy project. Tad’s outreach to other area organizations working for a cleaner, healthier environment increased our committee’s knowledge and effectiveness.

As the city has run up against budget deficits and large increases in property tax, the City Council decided to eliminate this valuable position. I, for one, will miss working with and learning from Tad and wish him well on his next journey.

Henry Bromberg

West Lebanon

A house with ‘spidey sense’

“An itsy-bitsy spider rang our fire alarm. When the firemen came there was no harm.” My apologies to Mother Goose.

Our first spider-false-fire-alarm was on Halloween about five years ago. Our second spider alarm rang at 5 a.m. on the 2024 Winter Solstice.

The first time a Hanover fireman was excited to find the cause. A pesky spider was living in the fire alarm.

Sarah, my wife discovered the second, Solstice Spider descending on a thread from a different alarm. Maybe it did not like the noise.

The firemen advised us years ago to vacuum, blow out or dust smoke alarms when you change the batteries. We are preparing for the Ides of March spider.

William Young

Hanover

Drop the bunker mentality

In the event of a nuclear war, life in a bunker would be short and horrific, even for survivors of the immediate blast, fire, and radiation (“Nuclear bunker sales increase, despite warnings”; Dec. 21).

We now know that detonation of only a handful of the thousands of existing nuclear warheads might loft enough black carbon particles into the atmosphere to significantly lower global temperatures and rainfall for years, causing the death by starvation of perhaps a billion people. Meanwhile, electrical grids would be destroyed, eliminating communications, lighting, heat, drinking water, transportation and health care. The International Court of Justice noted in a 1996 opinion that nuclear weapons “have the potential to destroy all civilization.”

Since the end of the Cold War, we have wanted to believe that the risk of nuclear war has receded. Not so. The last two Republican presidents have abandoned treaties that long reduced that risk. Now we are spending more than $1 trillion to build new nuclear weapons, while the Russians and Chinese do the same.

Nuclear weapons manufacturers and some military hard-liners would like us to believe that a nuclear war is survivable. They have resisted our joining a verifiable 2017 U.N. treaty that would eventually ban all such weapons. Until we do, you should save the money you’d spend on a bunker and use it to eat, drink and be merry.

Stephen Dycus

Strafford

A stain on the nation

The election of Donald Trump to the is a travesty and a permanent stain on this nation. The dangerous and corrupt impulses of this immoral, vile human being, along with those of his minions and appointees, should be resisted by any means possible. Cowardly surrender to evil demonstrates as much of a moral deficit in the appeaser’s character as that of the evildoer himself.

Alice Macdonald

Newbury, Vt.