To The Editor:
I would like to comment on article about the Waitsfield covered bridge. I understand not wanting kids to crawl through the floor gap and jump off the roof, but to completely forbid people to jump off the bridge would be a shame. The windows on the walkway are fine. I have been swimming at the bridge since I was 13. I am 51 now. I have never had an incident. I have also scaled the wall a few hundred times.
Swimming there and jumping off that bridge is a 100-plus-year-old tradition and to abolish it would be a shame. I would rather see kids swimming, jumping, getting exercise and having fun at the bridge than seeing them walk the streets doing drugs and getting in trouble like they do in my town. Yes, the risk of someone getting hurt is there. But it's always there in everything we do. Taking this away from the kids will lead to bigger problems than the occasional stitches or twisted ankle from jumping the bridge.
Ken Conley
Barre
