Letters: Latin Dance Party, Debt and Roses at Wing's Point
by Linda Gilber, Bob Leavitt and Hazel Prindle,
August 11, 2011, page 3.....

Latin Dance Party supports humanitarian projects in Honduras

Vermont Hands to Honduras-Tela is holding a Latin Dance Party Friday, September 9, 7-11 p.m. at the Coach Barn at Shelburne Farms. This is a benefit to raise funds for the 2012 Hands to Honduras-Tela humanitarian projects.
The popular nine-piece live Latin band, Alejandro & Grupo Sabor, will play; and Latin dance instruction with a D.J. will start off the evening. The cost is $30/person and includes great Latin music and dancing, appetizers and desserts Latin-style, a huge silent auction and much fun! A cash bar will be available.
Vermont Hands to Honduras-Tela is an eight-year-old nonprofit program that is part of the Charlotte-Shelburne Rotary Club. The funds raised will support the 2012 H2H-T projects, and many of your neighbors will travel (all at their own expense) from Vermont to Tela, Honduras, to build schools and day-care centers; complete the finishing touches on the center for expectant mothers built this past February; renovate health care centers; provide medical and dental clinics and training; provide uniforms and supplies to school children; and help create a better life especially for the children in the rural impoverished areas. Honduras is one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere.
To learn more about Hands to Honduras-Tela, please visit handstohonduras.org and on Facebook Hands to Honduras-Tela.
All proceeds go directly to the 2012 projects. For information, please call 425-3838, e-mail lindaggilbert@gmail.com or visit handstohonduras.org.

Linda Gilbert
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We got ourselves into this debt

Maybe by the time it’s time to select “letters” for the next edition, this no longer will be timely. No, wait! Severe indebtedness such as we’ve managed to construct will never be UN-timely; indeed each and every one of “us” (yes, you!) already owes “us” more than forty-$ix thou$and dollar$ to balance “our” books. It would be nice if our Washington electeds would spend less. (It’s not that we don’t have needs! If we could, we would… meet every need of every person, but…)
Let’s be truthful: “We” got ourselves into what individuals call being broke or legally bankrupt. Not with closed eyes and ears, but with knowledge aforethought, we gave money to all sorts of causes: left and right, wise and unwise, quid-pro-quo and no. It’s not that we didn’t have fiscal intelligence; we just barred the door when the brain so loudly knocked at the door. Now it’s splintering the door panels and will not be denied. Greece (too late) understands it, as do several other countries on the edge, and our “selves.”
We continue to hear of “good things” being done for this group and that. Not one concerned citizen will say we should not do “good things for good causes” or perhaps even continue to do bad things for good causes, but the wherewithal to do those “good things,” be they good or bad, is not with us – it does not exist.
Unrewarded, I watch for “photo-ops” from our Washington electeds as they smile and explain, not how much they’ve given to so and so, but how (and by how much) they’ve paid back us taxpayers, whose money they gladly dispense and whose country is so deeply in debt. Now that truly would be a “good thing for a good cause.”
(Don’t break your leg jumping down off that soapbox, Bob!)

Bob Leavitt
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Are there still roses at Wings Point?

A recent article in the Burlington Free Press regarding the gardens at Shelburne Farms reminded me that I had found sketches of the gardens at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Hill (at Wings Point) in a file drawer at the Town Clerk’s office. I know that I replaced it in the file. The property has changed owners over the years but I wonder if some of the roses are still there.
I think it was in the top drawer of an old four-drawer file. If it is still there, perhaps the Charlotte Historical Museum would like it for its records.

Hazel W. Prindle, former Town Clerk
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