Letters

Editor
Northern Virginia Daily

Sir:

I would like to respond to the letters by Ron Orndorff and Suzanne Curran that appeared in the Aug. 21 issue.

Mr. Orndorff, you describe our president as a village idiot, "scratching his nose and picking his butt." I'll bet that you would never speak in such a derogatory way about a white president, no matter how disagreeable you found his leadership to be.

I find your comments disgusting.

Both you and Ms. Curran complain that this administration is trashing the Constitution of the United States. Have you read that document? I challenge you to show me one action taken by this administration that is unconstitutional. And please, when you do this, cite the specific passage in the Constitution that is being ignored by our president.

As for health management reform, I don't understand how so many people are happy to have insurance companies continue to deny us coverage, treatment, life itself, in the interest of increasing profits for their investors.

Mr. Orndorff, are you opposed to government-run VA hospitals? Will you refuse Medicare?

I hope you both appreciate the fact that your letters were published. Your right to free speech has not been denied.

Janet Brome
10 Buck Mountain Road
Bentonville
Aug. 21, 2009

Editor
Northern Virginia Daily

Sir:

On Aug. 20 I stopped at the dump on Wolf Gap Road. The animal control officer was busy trapping feral cats because someone had been bitten the day before. The intent is to capture all of the cats and rid the site of the feral colony.

Well-meaning people have been feeding the cats for years, but they haven't been doing them any favors because it has encouraged them to stay at the dump. These cats are wild and it's been determined now that it is unsafe to allow them to remain at a site that people visit all day, every day.

Signs posted by the Shenandoah County Department of Solid Waste Management instruct people not to get rid of unwanted cats by abandoning them at the site and not to feed the cats that have been living there.

From personal observation, many people don't heed any of the signs currently posted, so posting them might seem like an exercise in futility. However, the department should be commended for trying to prevent this kind of situation from occurring and, to prevent this cycle from repeating, county residents should take the warning to heart.

Having a feral colony at the dump is dangerous for the cats who must deal with cars, the compactor, disease, wild animals and each other. Based on what happened Aug. 19, we know that it can be hazardous, as well, for the people who use the dump to have feral cats on the premises.

Through no fault of their own, it is a sad situation the cats find themselves in. All captured will be euthanized. Feral cats, even if healthy, are poor candidates for adoption. Only if the site is kept free of feral cats will something good come of this episode.

Start by preventing unwanted litters; spay or neuter your cats. We residents of Shenandoah County can help keep everyone safe with a little vigilance, compassion and the exercise of commonsense.

Susan M. Walls
37 Miller Road
Edinburg
Aug. 24, 2009

Editor
Northern Virginia Daily

Sir:

I would like to draw your readers' attention to a wonderful program presented by the Shenandoah County Library in Edinburg. This is a series of foreign films that currently is drawing neither the notice nor the attendance that it deserves.

The films are shown once a month, at 5:30 p.m. on the second Monday of the month. Some of them are harrowing; some are strikingly beautiful; some are complex psychological studies. All are professionally made and eminently worth seeing. There is no charge for attending.

Taken as a group, they are more than entertainment; they are an education. You are likely to discover at least one that will stay with you for the rest of your life.

JEANNE BEATTY
P.O. Box 483
Woodstock
Aug. 18, 2009

Editor
Northern Virginia Daily

Sir:

The verdict for Jody Bradley was very hard for a lot of people to agree with.

Mr. Bradley had choices to make:

1. He could have called the police and had him picked up and/or "the intruder."

2. He could have roughed Brendon up -- anything to get his attention that he meant business about being on his property.

He chose to take a life.

A picture of a man sitting in a courtroom with no signs of feeling or remorse for what he did.

I understand that the jurors have to listen to the evidence, but he admitted his guilt. After he barred the attic door, he could have sat down and thought about what he was going to do. There was time to do something other then pick up a gun.

My heart goes out to the family of Brendon Barker at the loss of their child. Also to Sarah Bradley, who lost a friend and the horror she will have to endure for the rest of her life after watching her father do what he did.

Ruth Ann Shipe
937 Pouts Hill Road
Strasburg
Aug. 21, 2009

Editor
Northern Virginia Daily

Sir:

Most Americans want health-care reform that includes a voluntary public option. They know the status quo, keeping the system as it is today, will ultimately bankrupt our nation.

No surprise that the health-care industry wants to keep their stranglehold on Americans' health-care coverage. No surprise they don't want a public option. That would insert competition into the marketplace. Today they make billions of dollars rationing care by canceling or denying coverage and deciding whether a procedure or medicine will be covered.

Life and death issues. Talk about a death panel. No surprise they're paying lobbyists millions to distort the facts and spread misinformation.

The health-care industry, along with political organizations opposed to reform and, I hazard a guess, opposed to Obama, are lying about the facts. They are funding a fear campaign, disrupting a civil debate on the facts of health-care reform.

Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and right-wing political groups are not discussing the facts about health-care reform. They propose their own set of "facts" that fly in the face of the truth. Some Americans hang onto their "beliefs" and emotional constructs -- government takeover, death panels, rationed care -- rather than the facts.

An intractable ignorance on the issue of health-care reform is causing unnecessary fear and anxiety. We need to talk with one another and listen and learn from one another.

Don't let the lies destroy this opportunity to begin to set out house in order. Base your arguments on the facts.

We will all benefit from a true debate, not a scream fest.

SARAH VITOLS
3631 Battlefield Road
Strasburg
Aug. 21, 2009

Editor
Northern Virginia Daily

Sir:

For those who haven't gotten their living wills yet, I have a resupply and will be glad to send you one, free of charge.

Send me your name and address on a self-addressed, stamped envelope and I will be glad to send you one.

Remember, everyone needs one.

WILLIAM A. PERRY JR.
1660 Strasburg Road
Front Royal
Aug. 20, 2009

Editor
Northern Virginia Daily

Sir:

I feel compelled to write a letter to your paper in response to the sentencing of Jody Lynn Bradley (murderer).

I am a great-aunt of Brendon Barker and I live in Indiana, so I was unable to attend the trial last week. However, I felt confident that justice would be served, but clearly it was not.

I just cannot fathom sentencing a murderer of a young boy to only nine years in prison, when my nephew's life was ended at the very young age of 16.

Whoever is responsible for this sentencing obviously never lost a child to such a horrible death. The person or persons should be ashamed for giving Bradley only nine years in prison.

Although I do believe in God and his mercy, I also believe that God punishes people who hurt others, especially children. Therefore, this Bradley (I will not give the dignity of calling him a man) will be justly punished by God.

And, I pray for Brendon's parents (Gene and Janeen) and his sister (Ryan) that they may be filled with God's loving comfort and peace. I love you, Gene.

Karen McMichael
9943W, 225 S
Columbus, Ind.
Aug. 24, 2009