NEWFANE — Sometimes when I walk into the Newfane Town offices, I am overcome with nostalgic feelings of attending five of my eight years of grade school in that building.
It was in that building in sixth grade that I used to wait for Leo Laitres to hand out the Weekly Reader. Every Tuesday, I had a craving curiosity to find out how people could make positive change all over the world.
That newspaper, as well as that grade school, taught me that every citizen has power. The power of our own vote. One citizen, one vote. Doesn't matter if you're Jane Doe or Joe Blow. We're all equal in that voting booth.
To my fellow citizens, I'm here to ask you to please vote no on the proposed bond that will replace the beautiful historic Town Office with a new building.
It's more than just nostalgia for me. It's about the face of Newfane.
With so many towns in New England starting to look like homogenized board-game villages, I don't want Newfane to lose its character - I want to honor it. The town has a historic aesthetic that is unparalleled and needs to be respected and preserved.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all about moving forward. But let's move forward with history in mind.
The restoration of old buildings is part of what makes Vermont the great state it is. And don't worry, a renovated town office can have a state-of-the-art copy machine and still embody what Newfane is all about: a strong character with roots in history while living in the 21st century.
Once historical buildings are gone, they are gone. We can build a new building any day of the week, but we can't build a building whose walls tell a story of lives lived before ours.
We won't be around to teach future generations about history. Yes, they'll have books to read and pictures to view on their computers, but walking into an historic building can do a better job than a book will ever do.