The Olympics, Stowe Derby and town meeting all happened in rapid succession. Many Vermonters and Stowe residents deserve praise for their accomplishments in those events. We’d like to recognize four in particular.

Stowe’s town meeting has come to resemble a big, cast-iron, claw-footed bathtub. It can still do the job, but it’s not efficient, it provides only one way of doing things, and it belongs to an earlier generation.