Category: Dear Editor

Letters to the editor of local newspapers.

Brags on Supervisor Barnes

To the editor:
I would like to brag on my county supervisor. Fitzgerald Barnes has been a terrific representative for the Patrick Henry district, where I live. He supports business, education, and recreation in our county, and that’s a perfect
trifecta for me.

And I’ll tell you what else I like about Fitzgerald. He has never used his position as a steppingstone to some higher office. Year after year, he just keeps working for the people who live, work and study here.

Thank you, Supervisor Barnes. I will vote for you in November!

Jim Wolf
Louisa

This letter was previously published in the latest edition of the Central Virginian newspaper and is reprinted here with the author’s permission. 

Support Louisa’s farmers

To the editor:
Polls show that a majority of people in Louisa want to keep our county rural. We love the green fields and peacefully grazing cattle and low traffic, even if we are not personally farming.

Let’s not let residential development squeeze out farmers. To do this we need to support our farmers. They are not going to keep farming for long if they can’t make a living at it.

Our representative in Congress, Abigail Spanberger, is the chair of the Conservation and Forestry Subcommittee of the House Agriculture Committee. She recently spent a day touring various farming operations in nearby counties. From the farmers she spoke with, she learned about things like crop rotation, new ways of marketing on social media, and selling directly to consumers. She learned about the real-life impacts of various pieces of federal legislation. She said that gaining an understanding of the day-to-day nuts and bolts of the business helps her do her job. She puts in the real work. This is not lip service.

I love Louisa County and I want to thank her for doing what we need to keep it the way it is.

Mary Kranz
Louisa

This letter was previously published in the latest edition of the Central Virginian newspaper and is reprinted here with the author’s permission. 

Keep this man in office

To the editor:

I am pleased to support Supervisor Fitzgerald (“Coach”) Barnes for reelection as Louisa County supervisor for the Patrick Henry District. Supervisor Barnes has always had a vision for the needs of Louisa residents and has worked tirelessly to bring new business and employment to Louisa County. Remember when Louisa County didn’t have a Walmart as an employer? It now employs hundreds of Louisa County residents with decent-paying jobs. Supervisor Barnes has been quietly working to add employers and jobs for Louisa residents, such as the entire Ferncliff Business Park, Bio-Cat and Boxley Asphalt.

Supervisor Barnes has always been a strong supporter of business in the county. Now he has helped to bring Amazon to the Ferncliff Business Park. If you haven’t heard, Amazon will be opening a distribution center in Ferncliff soon. Now more of our young people can stay in Louisa County to live and work. Thank you, Supervisor Barnes and the other supervisors, for making Amazon’s distribution center happen.

Finally, Supervisor Fitzgerald Barnes has always been a good supporter for having residents living and working in Louisa County. Please help keep him in office by voting for him on Nov. 2nd. Mark your calendars.

Sincerely,
Melvin Burruss
Louisa

This letter was previously published in the latest edition of the Central Virginian newspaper and is reprinted here with the author’s permission.

Solar companies only out for big profits

To the editor:
I would, first, like to invite any and everyone that would like to see Louisa remain an actual rural county of cool forests and farms, quiet homes and small businesses, a delightful draw for tourists and not a roasting hellhole of eroded soil and industrial solar plantations to show up and let the board of supervisors know your thoughts on Sept. 7; better yet, call them before then and still show up.

Next, I would like to ask (and for you, too, to ask) our board of supervisors, planning commission and Economic Development Director Andy Wade just how many thousands of acres of trees will be felled, how many millions of solar panels will be installed before your plan is complete, our economy developed, our “tax base” sound but our county a giant heat sink, a solar parking lot, and ruined. How many acres? What is your plan? I see NO PLAN, just more greed for a few and nothing for the good of all the residents of this county. Nothing! Zip!

As another slap in the face, you are hiring an Israeli company to do the install. Are there no American com-panies that can put a rack of solar panels on a pole and wire them up? Has anyone looked into at least using an American company to ruin our county?

As a reminder, Israelis have already cut down all their trees, created a desert, are fast running out of water and while quick to scream “antisemitism” at the slight-est insult are even quicker to steal from and oppress their neighbors in the Middle East. This company’s lack of concern for the residents of School Bus Road shows us that their long-term concern for the quality of life in Lou-isa County is zero; their only goal is money to Israel.

It has long baffled me that the railroad that runs the length of Louisa County never comes up in develop-ment discussions. Plans are currently in the works for passenger service from Rich-mond to Charlottesville (I’d bet there will be passenger trains through Louisa before there is water leaking out of the James River pipeline). The train used to stop in Louisa. It could again, to take commuters back and forth to RVA or C’ville or bring tourists here to access Mineral, Louisa or Lake Anna, or wander the trails of Cooke Forest Park.

Call and ask Andy Wade if he’s working on any of that? Ask him or your board member what their plans are, or if they have any actual plans. Just how many trees will it be ok to destroy? How will they clean up Northeast Creek Reservoir when the tap water is orange from solar plantation sediment. How long will the power be out when the next storm takes the lines down? And remember, with solar panels on your roof, you’d still have power.

Hope to see you at the meeting Sept. 7th – we all deserve better.

Lew Holladay
Louisa

This letter was previously published in the latest edition of the Central Virginian newspaper and is reprinted here with the author’s permission. 

Veterans deserve proper care after jet fuel exposure

To the editor:
For many years our Air Force veterans who were routinely exposed to jet fuel have been found to later develop neurological disorders. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has refused to acknowledge the connection between the exposure and the diseases. The veterans who suffered as a result of exposure have been denied support or benefits. This is in spite of the connection being widely recognized.

I want to thank our congresswoman, Abigail Spanberger, for her fight for justice on this issue. She has introduced the William Collins Jet Fuel Exposure Recognition Act and continues to press for its passage in the House of Representatives. This bipartisan act would make it so veterans with this exposure would have a way to claim the connection.

This is especially meaningful to me and my family because William Collins is my husband. Bill served in the U.S. Air Force and was exposed to jet fuel on a regular basis. Later he developed Parkinson’s disease. The VA refused to acknowledge any connection between his disease and his time in the service and he has received no help for it.

This disease has impacted our lives in many ways and we are pleased to have a congresswoman who has listened to veterans on this issue and is doing something about it. This will bring not only medical
help, but also peace of mind to the thousands of veterans who have been affected.

Cathy Collins
Mineral

This letter was previously published in the latest edition of the Central Virginian newspaper and is reprinted here with the author’s permission. 

Vote for Reducing Fossil Fuel Dependence

To the editor:
“Code Red for Humanity.” That is the name of the report that came out last Monday. Made by top scientists at the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, it was an update on the danger that human-caused climate change poses to the world. We will reach dangerous levels of climate change earlier than they previously thought.

In addition, we have heard this past week about the possible collapse of the Gulf stream, the ocean current that brings warm water from the Gulf of Mexico up along the East Coast of the United States and then to Europe. This would cause some catastrophic changes to the weather worldwide.

We are now experiencing unusual weather patterns right here in Louisa, although nothing as bad as the wildfires, heat waves and flooding occurring in other parts of our country as well as the rest of the world. These are expected to worsen and become more frequent. When we hear about and experience these changes and try to imagine the future that scientists predict, our natural reaction is to deny that it could happen to us. Or to feel overwhelmed and helpless. We would like to ignore it and hope it goes away like so many predictions of doom.

But this is now well-documented as being caused primarily by carbon dioxide that goes into the atmosphere when we burn gas, coal, gasoline, and other forms of petroleum. However, the report also said that it may not be too late to keep the worst outcomes from happening. But we have to do it now. But what can I do? I can reduce my personal use of those fuels and that’s all good. But anything significant must be done at the state and federal level. These fuels need to be made so expensive that we will all look for alternatives.

This November, ask the candidates what they will do to wean us from these fuels. Let them know it is urgent and that they must act now. What has our delegate in Richmond, John McGuire, done? He has voted against every piece of legislation designed to reduce our dependence on these fuels. His opponent in November, Blakely Lockhart, though a newcomer to politics, has vowed to make it a priority.

We can’t just throw our hands in the air and give up. Each of us needs to make the phone calls, find out the facts and demand action. And it’s not hopeless yet.

Lynn Engler
Louisa

This letter was previously published in the latest edition of the Central Virginian newspaper and is reprinted here with the author’s permission.