Shumlin lifts veil on heroin abuse in Vermont

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

No minorities either. Probably a combination of the two.

Now, that is just being racist.

[GandD 5,966]

Now, that is just being racist.

Numbers are numbers.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

Now, that is just being racist.

I keep trying to shake my racist reputation here, but it always seem to be to no avail.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Numbers are numbers.

People are not numbers.

Just remember, there are lies, damned lies, and statistics.

Edited January 19, 2014 by The Postmaster

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

different state, different rule of law as to what is a crime, I suppose....

crime rate covers (mostly) what is countable, and if'n heroin usage isn't counted, or counted properly, what's the dealio ?

I get it. High heroin use, high crime. Cute. The number of addicts to drugs are not counted in the FBI uniform crime rate. That is consistent across all the states. If it makes you feel better about where you live...feel better.

Let's you and I take aq walk across our cities at 2am on a Saturday. Alla and I actually often walk all across Burlington late at night walk from downtown to our home, enjoying the evening. Can take a couple hours. Longer if we stop to go skinny dipping in the lake. I never worry if someone across town is injecting heroin in their veins. Or if someone will take my wallet while swimming naked. Silly me.

Individual freedom is very important to me. Vermont scores way up there on that scale. I am not only free to carry a gun if I want to, I am free to walk anywhere in my city without fear. There are no "bad areas" where we would be afaid to enter. Are there any places in the largest city in your state that you would not walk at 2am with your wife?

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

People are not numbers.

Just remember, there are lies, damned lies, and statistics.

5 pages of Gary & Alla, Vermont, guns....thanks.

And you guys thought I would not post.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Numbers are numbers.

Right. Profound. In fact the most profound so far and actually correct. Numbers are numbers. Birds are birds. Fish are fish.

[Darnell 8,478]

I keep trying to shake my racist reputation here, but it always seem to be to no avail.

What seems to 'make ' you a racist, Uncle Spookies? Or is it a perception issue?

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

No minorities either. Probably a combination of the two.

This is why I always let you guys post first.

http://www.govhs.org/vhsweb/map.nsf/$defaultview/21EE3FF1F641BC40862575900053FD7B

Burlington and Vermont are leaders in Refugee resettlement and there are over 20 "first languages" spoken in local schools. Burlington is chock full of "minorities" from all over the world. And we are very proud of it. Largely from Somalia, Kenya, Sudan (yes those are African countries with people that tend to be Black) and Asia, particularly Bhutan, Tibet. Alla has taught ESL to all of them. Yes, our family helps people from Africa. I do work as an independent contractor inspecting housing for the state for refugees from Africa and Asia to make sure it will be in compliance with codes for them to live. Alla teaches them English. We are racist, right? The Association of Africans Living in Vermont (AALV) is one of Alla's top clients for interpretation. Surpising how many Africans speak Russian. Particularly from Angola and Congo. Mostly she does medical interpretation, helping them to get medical care at our local (and very big and highly rated) hospital, Fletcher Allen Health Care. Which, by the way, offers FREE medical care to any Vermont resident. We also have TWO locations of the Community Health Center offering FREE medical and dental care to Vermont residents. This is not a welfare program, it is a private organization funded by the "racists" who live in this state. We have an extensive system of FREE transportation for the elderly and Disabled...SSTA and Morf Transit. Every city bus is equipped for wheelchairs and has bicycle racks. And is powered by clean natural gas. Bicycle routes on every major street and extensive walking and bike paths (I live on one of them, it goes across my front yard, I can walk or ride on this path from my house south to Middlebury VT and north to Montreal) Vermont is the first state to implement single payer health care for ALL residents...Green Mountain Care which will be in effect for everyone after this year (NO Obamacare!)

We can do this because we are not spending our money on overtime for police protection. We can do all this because we have low crime. We have low crime because we can carry guns.

And, as you know, there is a large number of people who have escaped life in Massachusetts to live here and also The People's Republic of New York...which I can see from my front yard. Yeah, really! Lots of minorities. You maybe ought to actually come to Burlington sometime and look around. Carry a gun if you want, it's legal, but you do not have to. No one will know if you are or not and you will be safe even if you rely on calling somone else to protect your family.

Part of the freedom I enjoy is the acceptance of other people, minorities, so natural here. It would no tbe acceptable to me to live in a place that did not offer freedom to ALL people regardless of ANYTHING! The first state to allow Gay civil unions and the first state to enact Gay marriage by legislation. Signed by one of our Republican governors.

Over a 1/3 of the population of the entire state lives within our county, and almost ALL the minorities. Your statement is ignorant of the facts.

But funny.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Doesn't surprise me being I'm on that route dozens of times a week, between getting in and out(from and to Milton) and all the deliveries I do. What part was it? before or after the Sheraton?

I have never been to big fattys yet, but most people that ask us where we are we found that is normally the best way to explain it. It even works better than telling them we're a block in from battery st.

I have not had a chance to ski yet, but I don't mind winter at all. We actually landed in July so I did get to experience summer. Funny thing is my wife did not want to go back to winter(after living in wisconsin all of her life) but being so many other things attracted us to vermont it ended up being a trade off. Had to compromise on something. So like when we had that ice storm a few weeks ago or when we had those few days of -11 with a windchill of -30 she was like told you I didn't want to go back to winter. Me personally, between those two -11 days I had 12 deliveries to do and did not mind at all. I even drove to montpelier during the ice storm.

Yes, we did know even before we got here that taxes are high, but that is another trade off. I like the socially liberal aspect of this area, I do not like how fiscally/economically liberal it is. But what can you do. Arizona was really never in our considerations. It ended up being between NH, ME, and VT. Good ole new england. Are you near the colchester causeway? I love that area!

Rep Welch's office actually JUST moved from the big ICV building right next to us(30 main). I know sanders is on church st. Not sure where leahy is. Already got to meet Shumlin in person twice, he even wished my wife and I happy holidays and a happy new year.

Leahy is in the Federal Office Building on Main St and Winnoski Ave. 199 Main. Third floor. There are some of Alla's photos hanging in his office. He and Alla are both amatuer photographers. Alla worked with him on amendments to the immigration bill which, if ever passed, will eliminate the need for immigrants to go to CIVIL SURGEONS for vaccines and the I-693. They will be able to get any licensed US doctor to sign off on the I-693 vaccination supplement saving immigrants (many of them minorities GASP!) billions of $$$ every year.

Pasha went to the University of Vermont for his senior year of high school. Having completed all the available core classes at Colchester HS, the state paid for him to attend UVM for AP classes and receive college and HS credit for them! Pretty good deal. Because we can carry guns, have low crime and do not waste our money on crime fighting, we can offer our children FREE college courses when still in HS. His last semester assignmennt was to do a study of Small Business Policy for Leahy and Governor Shumlin for his AP statistics class. His final assignment was a presentation of his study to both Shumlin and Leahy in Leahy's office. Maybe it will help you someday. (lies, damned lies and statistics)

If you ever have any issues with your immigration process, I highly recommend Susan Sussman in Leahy's office to assist you.

I am not in favor of the current immigration bill but I hope that amendment gets attached to something one of these days.

In exchange for her incredible photo of St Christopher's Basilica in Moscow, Leahy gave her a photo he took over the shoulder of President Obama as he signed the "Affordable Care Act" Imagine THAT in my house.

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

I get it. High heroin use, high crime. Cute. The number of addicts to drugs are not counted in the FBI uniform crime rate. That is consistent across all the states. If it makes you feel better about where you live...feel better.

Let's you and I take aq walk across our cities at 2am on a Saturday. Alla and I actually often walk all across Burlington late at night walk from downtown to our home, enjoying the evening. Can take a couple hours. Longer if we stop to go skinny dipping in the lake. I never worry if someone across town is injecting heroin in their veins. Or if someone will take my wallet while swimming naked. Silly me.

Individual freedom is very important to me. Vermont scores way up there on that scale. I am not only free to carry a gun if I want to, I am free to walk anywhere in my city without fear. There are no "bad areas" where we would be afaid to enter. Are there any places in the largest city in your state that you would not walk at 2am with your wife?

Seems to me like you have to talk about Vermont in every breath you take to make you feel better about where you live.

[Peikko 1,575]

Ah, guns the cure all for Vermont, perhaps? Perhaps not. Did you even read the story or was it a bit intimidating because it was so long and not about you? Here are some more quotes from the piece, just in case you didn't manage to read it all:

“We all have friends whose car has been broken into, whose houses were broken into, and we didn’t used to see that,” Shumlin said in an interview in his office. “I’ve just heard of too many Vermonters who are concerned that their safety and security, which we all consider sacred, are being threatened.”

Overall, crime here spiked by more than 40 percent in just a few years after 2004, when abuse of prescription opiates began to surface, according to police data. Violence was an attention-grabbing part of that increase, Taylor said, as was a rise in break-ins and burglaries.

Hmm, seems like drug addicts in Vermont do commit crimes to support their habits after all?

The point of the article is that complacency Gary is not going to improve the situation. Who knew?

Edited January 19, 2014 by The Truth™

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

I keep trying to shake my racist reputation here, but it always seem to be to no avail.

Only among ignorant people. I wouldn't concern myself with that they think.

[Darnell 8,478]

In exchange for her incredible photo of St Christopher's Basilica in Moscow, Leahy gave her a photo he took over the shoulder of President Obama as he signed the "Affordable Care Act" Imagine THAT in my house.

That's just blasphemy, that photo, O Gary

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Ah, guns the cure all for Vermont, perhaps? Perhaps not. Did you even read the story or was it a bit intimidating because it was so long and not about you? Here are some more quotes from the piece, just in case you didn't manage to read it all:

“We all have friends whose car has been broken into, whose houses were broken into, and we didn’t used to see that,” Shumlin said in an interview in his office. “I’ve just heard of too many Vermonters who are concerned that their safety and security, which we all consider sacred, are being threatened.”

Overall, crime here spiked by more than 40 percent in just a few years after 2004, when abuse of prescription opiates began to surface, according to police data. Violence was an attention-grabbing part of that increase, Taylor said, as was a rise in break-ins and burglaries.

Hmm, seems like drug addicts in Vermont do commit crimes to support their habits after all?

The point of the article is that complacency Gary is not going to improve the situation. Who knew?

With a 40% increase in crime, we are still 2nd lowest crime rate in the country. When you only have 3 homicides in a year, a 40% increase means you have 4.2

Our crime rate is half that of the UK, even with the increase

But you make an excellent point, thank you. Many times ignorant people associate Vermont's l;ow crime rate with its low population. As I have stated many times that is not true. For 2 reasons. Crime rates are per 100,000 popualtion so already allow for popualtion differences AND when you have a low population and low rates a single crime can make a profound affect on your rates. Would ONE homicide raise the nurder rate 40% in YOUR state? And you think that is good? It further points outr our low crime is because we are ARMED, no tbecause of some anomoly of statistics.

When you walk the streets of your state's biggest city at 2am do you concern yourself with somene getting their car broken into? Someone's bicycle being stolen? I don't.

I live here, I know about the issue.

Seems to me like you have to talk about Vermont in every breath you take to make you feel better about where you live.

Profound. Who started the thread?