NEWFANE — There's been a reaction around the country to the Town Meeting Day vote recommending President Bush's impeachment.

Telephone calls have been fielded at the town office from around the country and local businesses have been bombarded with e-mails.

Select board member Dan DeWalt, who wrote the resolution, has been in demand among broadcasters. He said he's given at least 18 interviews as of Thursday.

The resolution called on Rep. Bernie Sanders to seek the president's impeachment in Congress, although the congressman has been lukewarm to the idea.

DeWalt said he believed the proposal had struck a chord.

"We're used to being powerless in this country," DeWalt said. "Then a group of small towns stands up and says, 'We do not agree, and we'll do everything we can to stop you,"' he said.

Although there have been some critical calls, most have been positive, DeWalt said. But the Newfane Business Association has had a number of critical responses, said president Lenore Salzbrunn. Many people said they would never spend money in Newfane and some have said they would cancel their vacations.

"This is really hurting our business climate, and we've got to stop doing that in Vermont," Salzbrunn said. "We're starting to be known as a crazy state with all these crazy issues."

Bruce Pfander said he'd gotten a number of phone calls and e-mails from previous guests at the Four Columns Inn, where he's an owner and innkeeper. They told him they didn't plan a return visit, but he replied to many of them and some appeared to back down.

"It was risky, but I don't think we're going to suffer," Pfander said. He said the discussion was welcome, although he worried how it would reflect on Newfane.

"Debate like this is healthy," he said. "My only concern is when it gets misconstrued to color the whole town."

Some of the e-mails received by Marilyn Distelberg, an owner at The Newfane Country Store, were far from supportive.

"Real Americans hate you," one man wrote. "Canada is looking for another province for their morons; looks like a marriage made in heaven."

Another message said 70 senior citizens on a bus tour would no longer stop in town.

That couldn't be verified because no company name was mentioned.

"We live in a place where government is participatory at a local level, and as a result people raise opinions that are not popular," Distelberg said. "Whether I agree or disagree with the president, I don't think it should affect people's desire to do business with the state or people in town."

Commentary: