We can do better

I’ve read all the articles on Berlin Pond, and now I guess it’s my turn.

I started fishing Berlin Pond over 60 years ago. A friend and I were stopped by a game warden years ago. All he wanted to do is check our fishing licenses. I always believed a body of water over a certain size belonged to the state of Vermont, not a landowner or town or city. So the sportsmen have now lost the right to fish Berlin Pond for 100 years? Has the city of Montpelier paid for the water it has sold for 100 years? It might own most of the land around it, but it is in the town of Berlin and it is a state body of water.

Back years ago, before the water treatment plant was built, farmers at the upper end put fences out in the pond so his cows could get water. Now all animals — cows, deer, beaver, muskrats, geese, ducks, loons and fish — do need to relieve themselves. The water treatment plant is not just a screen to take out the chunks so they don’t clog your faucets, that plant does a lot more than that. We, as sportsmen, should keep this pond as clean and pristine as possible. If you see someone doing otherwise, try to talk to them. Just one cigarette butt is littering.

We don’t need swimming, boats with motors (gas or electrical). If you want to fish, get some exercise, too. Littering should be steep fines plus loss of license for a period of time. It would make people think.

Nate Smead wrote a very good letter a few weeks ago about being on the pond at about sunset. I have seen this and I know what he is talking about.

So Vermonters, sportsmen and people from Berlin, it is up to us. P.S., I was a resident of Berlin for about 20 years before going into the military.

Robert Alexander

Worcester