technorati tags: train reservation, News, reservation, train Train Reservation: Bus or train, you can't get there from here Last weekend I made plans to meet some friends in White River Junction and continue from there in their van to Jeffersonville. They started from Boston and I started from Brattleboro. A Greyhound bus was leaving Brattleboro on Friday at 2:35 p.m. and was due to arrive in White River Junction at 4:15; my friends were scheduled to leave Boston at 3:30, which would put them in White River Junction at about 5:30.I arrived at the Exit 3 Bus Station around 2 p.m., bought my ticket, sat a plastic chair outside the trailer, and waited. At 2:55, I went into the trailer to ask about the bus, where the attendant informed me that the bus had not yet left Springfield, Mass., and the estimated arrival time was unknown.Fortunately, I knew that a train was due to arrive in Brattleboro at 5:20 and would get me to White River Junction at 6:50, not so bad; my friends would now have to wait a little while for me. After turning in my bus ticket and getting my money back, I learned that the bus had just left Springfield and was likely to be in Brattleboro at 4:15. I headed off for the train.There is a phone at the train station that you can use to make a reservation. Once on board, you give the reservation number to the conductor along with the price of the ticket and you're on your way. Except for one small detail. The posted schedule is a myth. The tracks are in such bad shape that there are multiple "slow" zones -- sections of track where the train must travel at 10 miles an hour or less. Fortunately, the attendant at the train station, a train conductor, was very knowledgeable about the actual track condition and likely train schedule. His best guess put me in White River Junction sometime after 9 p.m., and maybe even long after 9 p.m.Frantic, I headed back to the Bus Station. Arriving there at 4:18 p.m., I had just missed the bus.My friends rerouted and picked me up in Vernon.If high gas prices have you thinking about public transportation, you better have a good backup plan. And yes, getting the trains to run on time should be a national priority.Stan Kolpa,Vernon, June 25Flower destruction was terrible error in judgementEditor of the Reformer:To the ladies and gentlemen of the Evening Star Grange: I feel compelled to apologize for the destruction of your perennial flower bed Friday night, even though I only witnessed the last few stalks being whipped to pieces by a small girl with a stick. I was so shocked.She stopped when I said, "Don't hit the flowers." She said, "They aren't flowers." I explained that they would have been, about to be yellow Tansy, which people plant, not only for the beautiful yellow flowers, but also because the plants help keep ants and others insects away. Of course a child isn't expected to know this, until you tell them. But how about a parent telling them just to stay out of and not destroy the flower beds that someone worked so hard and waited so long for.The systematic vertical slashing of each individual stalk must have taken awhile and when some other kid got tired of it, this little girl took her turn. I don't blame her in particular,she's just the one I noticed after others had destroyed many potential blossoms. But I question the need to purposely beat and destroy plant life. At the Grange, no less. Here we are, at a party to celebrate summer, not only the longest days, but the rich beauty and bounty of the earth, and earth's children are beating the flowers with a stick ... until someone teaches them differently.This is not the first time I have witnessed and been concerned about these children. I actually don't know whose children these are, but in another case of a little boy out of control at a party on the tavern lawn, I spoke to his parents on a separate occasion, while the little boy was punching his father in the stomach while they waited in line for ice cream. It doesn't go over well to use the word violent regarding an 8 year old, but what else is it? The father's excuse for the boy's behavior was that he's starting school tomorrow.I'm hoping the parents at the solstice dance will have contacted the Evening Star Grange by now and offered some sort of gift to help compensate for the destroyed Tansy bed. I'm also hoping that we will be able to continue having solstice dances in that beautiful, historic building. Even though I am not a parent, unless you count animals, my continued peacefulness on this planet depends on the younger generation's peacefulness and respect for the planet and plants and animals and people together.Annie Kellam,Putney, June 23Customer dissatisfaction with VA clinicEditor of the Reformer:Oh, please.What good does it do to have a VA outpatient clinic in Brattleboro when the VA cancels your scheduled medical appointments and doesn't inform you?Speaking from my own experience this past year and 720 miles later, no less than six medical appointments were canceled. No apology, no call, no entry into the computer and no travel reimbursement at 58 1/2 cents a mile for $4 plus gallon of gas, never mind the lost time from work.I guess the White River Junction VA could argue the need was based on reducing its carbon foot print. This way by having a VA outpatient clinic in Brattleboro they could statistically improve their performance. Based on a two mile round trip rather than a 120 mile round trip, the VA would now have 360 medical appointments they could cancel in a year and anything less would be an improvement. Then the oil companies would not have to drill off the Gulf Coast of Florida and Anwar.Ed LawidaFormer U.S. Marine Viet-VetSiege of Khe SanhBrattleboro, June 24Saxtons River drivers need to slow downEditor of the Reformer:It continues on a daily basis, the speeding on the streets of Saxtons River. Three bad accidents on the corner where Hartley Hill connects onto Westminster Street. No serious injuries and thank god no deaths.I have seen numerous close calls with people running the stop sign at the Hartley Hill junction and people nearing mach one on a 25 mph street with cold callous disregard for human beings, adults and children alike. I have seen a number of people fly around the corner and end up on the lawn of the previous girls Kurn Hattin lawn. That'sa disaster waiting to happen.I witnessed a young woman flying down Pleasant Street the other day -- it made no difference there were peopleout walking and children out side playing at the same time to that person what so ever.The State Police have been trying to remedy the situation but they are so short handed they can only do so much. And I thank them for that. Here is a thought: If the Bellows Falls Police Department wants to make some real serious cash, start writing out speeding tickets.They should consider trying Saxtons River. They could make a fortune and off set their budget with a surplus.Source: reformer.com   read more »