To The Editor:
I know Waterbury doesn't really count as part of The Valley, but it's close and we all drive through it a lot. So do the tourists and visitors. It is a gateway to The Valley.
Thus, I feel the depressing tragedy unfolding there must be mentioned. Has anyone noticed the spectacular folly of Waterbury's self-destruction? Each day for the last couple weeks, the wood butchers have spent their time cutting down the beautiful and healthy old trees on Main Street, planted with such care 50 to 100 years ago as a softening and shading streetscape. It'll be for sewer, power or whatever – there's always an excuse.
But the pedestrian-friendly and traffic-calming trees are gone, replaced by sad stumps and a new bleak urban strip landscape. Perhaps there is a lesson here? Check out the contrast between trees and no trees. Go out and hug one and help the Waitsfield and Warren tree planting programs with their work.
Gregory and Carolynn Schipa
Warren Village, Vermont
