Correspondents' Correspondence

...take place-Eliahu Salpeter Autumn in Vermont North Dorset, VT It used to be said that the Green Mountain State had more cows than people The human population now appears to be catching up with the cattle, but most of the increase is from out of state, mainly the New York City area And although the newcomers presumably are eager to escape the plasticized and polluted urban landscape, they have managed to recreate the world they fled and to destroy much of the good country life that brought them here In their quest for Lebensraum, the invading urban refugees have, in effect, played the role of economic imperialists Author Pearl Buck, for example, is "restoring" the old town of Danny with a high-priced Antique Village' run by and tor the new immigrants Many of the "old country stores" are owned and operated today by outsiders who sell artificial nostalgia at big-city prices to other outsiders "Change has been for the better," notes the proprietor of Muzzy's General Store, a genuine native emporium in nearby Jamaica, "if you like Coney Island " The natives, of course, cannot afford the chic "shoppes" of Manchester Center, the commercial hub of this region Some of them purchase their clothes at church rummage sales and buy their beef by the side, storing it in community lockers that also serve as social gathering places Many have come to comprise a new servant class for the colonialists from the south, former lumber-jacks and small merchants are now working in the ski resorts Inevitably, the inflation resulting from the influx of affluent outsiders has affected real estate values Lots that were going for a song a few years ago, according to Muzzy, are currently fetching $5-10 thousand an acre m the Jamaica area Antique and textile dealer Peter Wessner, who paid $14,500 for some land and buildings m East Manchester 20 years ago, recently turned down an offer of $96,000 Property taxes, too, have skyrocketed Wessner paid $130 in 1952 as opposed to $2,500 today, almost a 20-fold increase in as many years, and he has three buildings now compared to a dozen when he bought the place In Sunderland, assessments have more than doubled in the last two years, the township's 200 voters are paying for a new $276,-000 elementary school that has replaced the four one-room school-houses declared not up to standards by state officials While some natives remain to work in resort establishments or exploit the tourists as best they can-one woman told me of plans to turn her property into a private campground many have left Nearly the entire township of Manchester reportedly has gone to Oregon Others have moved across the state line to Washington County, New York, or to New Hampshire, where land and taxes are still relatively cheap Dramatizing the population shift, Wessner points up the road from his home "Next door is people from New York City, further up is Long Island, then there's a family from New Jersey "They talk about ecology," he says bitterly, explaining that with developers building new houses-even townhouses-and each one requiring its own well, the water table is dropping As construction continues, the wells have to be dug deeper at higher costs "Pretty soon, there'll be no water table " Development also affects wildlife The farmers-Wessner was one used to raise corn for deer to feed on m winter, and they would return to the same farms every year "We even had names for them," he recalls But the deer don't come around anymore, because there are no crops left for feed "With the real estate boom," Wessner says, "no one cares about raising crops Everyone thinks he's goig to get rich in a hurry by selling out-and leaving a swath of destruction behind There used to be nice hunting here You could always get a deer, rabbits Them days are gone Haven't seen a deer in two years I go up to Canada to hunt "In the winter, they have these ski-doos [snowmobiles] You get these city people who think it's great to take a picture of a deer They chase them The animals become winded and run off their feed The result is the animals are half-starving to death "Once they got zoning in here, four years ago, this area was dead We defeated it three times The real estate and city people who thought it was a great idea literally snuck it through The natives were all opposed to it Developers won't go into an area without zoning Now we're urbanized," Wessner says with a shrug of resignation "Fifteen percent commute to New York and come back here on weekends Within five years, this will be another Westchester County " What is happening in southern Vermont merely proves again that "progress" based solely on economic growth is often an illusion Muzzy's stopped selling five-cent ice cream cones (two scoops for a dime) several years ago But the name of a restaurant catering to out-of-state customers sums up the scene best "Deja Vu"-Eugene L Meyer...

...Correspondents' Correspondence BRIEF TAKEOUTS OF MORE THAN PERSONAL INTEREST FROM LETTERS AND OTHER COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED BY THE EDITORS Israel's Ombudsman Tel Aviv—The ombudsman, or the Public Complaints Commissioner as he is officially called, is a newcomer on the Israeli scene The office was established last year by an amendment to the State Comptroller's Law that made the Comptroller the Complaints Commissioner, too, in both of these functions he is responsible directly to the Knesset Two junior partners were subsequently set up in business as well Sincce the Commissioner deals with civilian problems only, Mimster of Defense Moshe Dayan has appointed a former Chief of Staff to act as a military ombudsman, and the Inspector General of the Police has established a similar post for officers and men m his force who wish to complain about their superiors From the ombudsman's first annual report, submitted last month, it is obvious that the public was eagerly awaiting the opportunity to voice its dissatisfactions Close to 10,000 grievances were collected-7,500 that were registered with his office and 2,500 that were mailed to the government bureaus involved Nor was this outpouring without justification 46 per cent of the 3,600 complaints that have been investigated were upheld This high proportion of malfeasance is far from a compliment to the manners and efficiency of the Civil Service, and the ombudsman had some severe remarks to make about the workers' behavior in his report In particular, he found government employes guilty of two major sins (1) They tend to ignore bothersome or unpleasant queries and applications from the public, (2) they tend to give partial, superficial and sometimes quite incorrect explanations for their actions Moreover, the Commissioner added, it is not enough for a civil servant to act in accordance with the law and the regulations, the public has a right to expect him also to behave with good sense and common decency For example, in borderline cases—especially in financial matters—he should rule m a way that is more fo the advantage of the citizen than the state Sample grievances in the ombudsman's report included refusal by a local school department to repay a teacher for health insurance premiums incorrectly deducted from his salary, failure of the Ministry of Health to enforce regulations requiring dairies to mark the date on plastic milk containers, foot-dragging by the Ministry of Defense in paying tor damages to a private car caused by a military truck, favoritism in the case of a kindergarten that had only one vacancy and accepted the child of a former teacher Sometimes, though, civil servants got reprimanded simply for talking too much On one occasion, a government employe informed a man that the tax he paid after selling his car was expected to be reduced soon The man promptly complained to the ombudsman that the official should have told him this befoie he made the payment so that he could have postponed the sale The ombudsman rejected the complaint and told the tax official that in the future he should merely explain to citizens what the existing regulations are, not advise them about what changes might, or might not...