Is Town Meeting obsolete? Did missing an in-person town meeting change your mind about the value of that old Vermont tradition? That's the question that will be debated live on Zoom on Tuesday, March 16, 2021. The debate will be moderated by Meg Mott, Constitution Wrangler, Professor Emerita of Politics at Emerson College, and Putney Town Moderator. One of the debaters will be Susan Clark, coauthor of "All Those In Favor: Rediscovering the Secrets of Town Meeting and Community." Audience members will have the opportunity to add their voices to the debate at the end of the formal presentations.

The debate will follow the Braver Angels Debate guidelines, "in which a group of people think together, listen carefully to one another, and allow themselves to be touched and perhaps changed by each other's ideas."

This debate is the kick-off event for the Windham County Inter-Library Debate Club. This friendly debate league will meet on the second Tuesday of every month at 7 PM, April - July, to debate topics using the Braver Angels Debate format. Anyone aged 16 and older can join the league by contacting their nearest participating library.

To register for the zoom event, follow this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0ude2vpj4pGN2JgUukFD-YxtX4JYZeiv3U or email moorefreelibrary@gmail.com While this first event (and the April club meeting) will be online and require computer or smartphone access, starting in May, the events will be in-person and outdoors.

This event is sponsored by the Moore Free Library in Newfane and is made possible thanks to funding from the Vermont Humanities Council.