Week in review
Toolbox
Published: October 10, 2009
Our thoughts on the news of the week:
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Thank heaven for Judge Geoffrey Crawford. Someone had to put a stop to the chicken shenanigans and be a voice of reason. You always can count on a judge to send everyone back to their respective corners to think about being more rational and lawful. In this case, it needed to happen. Everyone, it seemed, was getting pretty irrational.
At a hearing in Washington Superior Court this week, Crawford slapped down Barre Town officials and ordered them to return roosters that police seized from outside Kathy Rubalcaba's East Barre home on Wednesday. "I did not expect the town would rush ahead and try and beat the court to the punch," he said in his scolding.
While the judge's decision ultimately clarified who knew what when in the days and even hours before the warrantless raid, it was his calls both for the clearly defined process now in place to be followed to the letter of the law and for immediate mediation that deserve the highest praise.
In effect, Crawford called for a time out in this game of chicken.
For more than a year, tempers between Rubalcaba's neighbors and the chicken-and-egg farmer have escalated into such a frenzy, even crowing roosters couldn't be heard over the squabbling. There have been accusations, name-calling; apparently, there has been spying, taunting and baiting; there have been character assassinations; and there has been plenty of wasted time and money.
The judge's order that the two sides come to the table is precisely what should have happened from the get-go. Now, later this month, those talks will begin, and hopefully, cooler heads will prevail, and the sides will reach an equitable solution. And a conclusion to all of this bizarre behavior.
But we are not hopeful. The judge's orders are not likely to yield the kinds of results that would keep this high-profile spat out of the courtroom in the end. Instead, the deep-seeded animosity that has formed has soiled a small, tight-knit neighborhood, pulled in unwilling parties from the town and state, and become the butt of jokes near and far. (One letter writer to this paper was able to pen his entire rant using poultry puns and clichιs.)
No one is blameless here not Rubalcaba, the neighbors, Barre Town, the state, nor the media. Everyone has had a hand in a story that has become a storm of rhetoric and emotion. It has taken on circus-like characteristics in what began months ago now as a principled debate over agriculture and business rights in a small community. As has become evidently clear, anger has taken the place of rational thought. In the haste to stop the fighting, the law had to be defined, and a judge had to call for order. Crawford is right to put all faith in the law and the process as defined. Somewhere there, a middle ground can be found.
Barre Mayor Thom Lauzon and State Sen. Dick Sears are right to give a thumbs down to any plans to cut back probation and parole staffers. As Sears said this week, the need for adequate community supervision was made clear during the Brooke Bennett killing and subsequent hearings. Yes, Vermont does have budget problems, and cutbacks are necessary. Everyone would agree. But there are some areas and this certainly is one that should be held harmless for the sake of public safety. Other options must be explored first.
Share your thoughts on the news by writing to letters@timesargus.com.
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