This morning’s Rutland Herald contains an article about John McLaughry’s Ethan Allen Institute’s newsletter in which an anonymous source ponders the murder of an anti-Vermont Yankee lobbyist.  McLaughry is quoted making light of the threat, suggesting if anyone is upset they should talk it over with a psychiatrist.  McLaughry is the one who should be talking to a psychiatrist.  The article ends by saying the newsletter announces McLaughry’s retirement, but he will continue to write columns.

I will be writing to the news outlets that routinely publish John McLaughry’s commentaries and ask them to please stop giving him ink.  While I hardly ever agree with him, I value the right to free speech and like to hear alternative viewpoints, so my stance is not to try and censor him.  But he has shown poor judgment at a time that our society cannot afford to make light of threats to people’s lives.  I hope you will join me in asking news outlets to drop him.