( – promoted by Sue Prent)

It’s your right as a Citizen of Vermont – get out to your School Budget and Town Meetings tonight and tomorrow.  It’s your way of keeping track of how your school is doing, what your town is spending money on, and who will be the next members of your School Board, your Select Board, and your Dog Catcher.

It’s your time to see old friends who’ve holed up for the winter.  See whose pipes have burst, who’s on crutches from slipping on the ice, and who pulled that 13 lb pike through the ice in early January. It’s time to hear about the solar farm down the road, and the new snow ditches along straight stretches of the road in an effort to keep drifts from closing the same stretches over and over again.

It’s time to kick the tires on the new town grader, to scoff at the financing terms secured by the Select Board, to hear of the passing of an old friend in the next town over that you missed while on vacation.  If you’re lucky, you’ll have some of the brownies or pie made by the Fortnightly Club, or purchase a few cookies in support of the 8th graders school trip to New York City.

It’s time to get away from the keyboard, shake a few hands, grab a few shoulders, and remember that you’re a Vermonter, and an integral part of what makes this state so special.  So exercise your right – VOTE.