Letters

Editor
Northern Virginia Daily

Sir:

Recently at a public meeting I had an opportunity to ask Ellen Murphy, our commissioner of the revenue and whose department appraises all properties in Frederick County, if she ever told the School Board it was about to spend $520,000 on property assessed at $240,000. As of last month the assessed value was only $308,000.

She said, "It wasn't my place to tell them they were spending too much for the land to be used for the new school bus transportation facility." Actually, as the commissioner of the revenue, it is her place to safeguard our taxpayer money.

At the Republican primary I asked Board of Supervisors Chairman Dick Shickle if he was bothered by the School Board's lack of fiscal responsibility, demonstrated by the purchase of this property. In what struck me as an arrogant reply, he said, "Not a bit."

He said that he had to keep at "arms length" from the deal, which typically means he was in some way associated with the sellers of the land. One of the past owners was an Orndorff. This is a familiar name in the local world of politics and government.

Perhaps an explanation of the history of ownership and evolution of the property from worthless, part flood plain and adjacent to a sewage treatment plant to the purchase price of $520,000 could be provided to clear the air of any cronyism.

Who authorized the spending of taxpayer money for hiring an architectural firm to develop plans for this transportation facility, more than a decade before the county or School Board owned the property? How did they know where the facility would be built? Perhaps that is why the designed facility is now undersized and inadequate.

Steven H. Kastuck
1357 Senseny Road
Winchester
Sept. 21, 2011
Editor
Northern Virginia Daily

Sir:

President Obama with the help of his able secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, has achieved remarkable successes in foreign affairs.

Early in his presidency, Obama gave a landmark speech in Cairo, promoting moderation in the Arab world and enunciating an even-handed approach by the United States in the Middle East. By holding up America as a beacon of hope in the oppressive "Arab street," Obama helped shape the historical forces culminating in the "Arab Spring" this year. The "Arab Spring" produced relatively peaceful democratic revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt.

When Libyan rebels challenged Col. Gadhafi, Obama fashioned the brilliant strategy of "leading from behind." This allowed the Arab League and NATO to impose a "no-fly zone" over Libyan air space, thereby averting a bloodbath in Benghazi by the heavily armed and organized Gadhafi loyalists.

America provided only technical support. The Gadhafi regime was toppled without the loss of a single NATO or American life. Libyan oil will soon be flowing from a now friendly pro-Western government.

To assure that the Arab revolutions stay moderate the Obama administration did ratchet up the pressure on Al Qaeda by killing Osama bin Laden and recently the terrorist organization's second in command.

Obama persisted in the slow slog of Afghanistan and focused drone attacks in the tribal areas of Pakistan. Arab youth have turned their aspirations away from terrorist activity toward democratic reform.

Syria is feeling the heat of the "Arab Spring" and Western sanctions asserted due to its violent crackdown on dissidents. If the Syrian uprising forces regime change in Damascus, the result will be a severe blow to Iran and its allies in Lebanon.

Unlike the invasion of Iraq, which strengthened Iran's influence in the region, Obama's policy has effectively weakened Iran and the anti-Israeli extremists. By the removal of corrupt Arab dictatorships the framework for a comprehensive Middle-East peace is taking shape.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration by steadfastly and firmly pursuing a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian question creates the potential for a peaceful settlement of this intractable conflict.

WARREN D. GOLIGHTLY
874 Carpers Valley Road
Winchester
Sept. 10, 2011

Editor
Northern Virginia Daily

Sir:

The Sept. 11 arrest of Frederick County firefighter Tyree Cather on charges of domestic assault, with a minor child present in the home, is yet another prime example of why the native populace of the Shenandoah Valley and its environs are considered to be little more than ignorant inbred clodhoppers, ridge runners and stump jumpers by the rest of America.

Robert A. Dowie
805 N. Beverly Ave.
Covington
Sept. 21, 2011

Editor
Northern Virginia Daily

Sir:

When Barack Obama ran for office, he said he would have U.S. forces leave Iraq and Afghanistan.

When the Libyans rose up against Gadhafi, Obama sent American airplanes into the battle. He did not get the OK from Congress. He did not follow what the U.S. Constitution stated. He became a dictator and went it alone. I read that the United Nations asked for the U.S.'s help to fight Gadhafi.

Who is running our country? The U.S. Congress? Obama? Is the United Nations superior to our U.S. Congress?

We must withdraw membership in the U.N. It likes to find causes for the USA to support. Everywhere some country needs help. Who decides which countries get help from the United States, the U.S. Congress or the United Nations?

Who is paying for it? Does the USA have a large deficit?

Kenton Gambill
484 Walton St.
Strasburg
Sept. 21, 2011

Editor
Northern Virginia Daily

Sir:

I still get phone calls about town affairs, but three recent ones come to mind that bear mentioning.

First, on two occasions I called the police department about speeding drivers. On both occasions the responding officer went to the young men I complained about before he came to me. He didn't seem interested in my explanation at all and appeared to believe them, not me.

I thought it odd at first that he went to them before me until I came to the conclusion that they were both his young age, not a grumpy old man. I believe this procedure is not fair in any manner to all elderly citizens.

Second, the contractor resurfacing the roadway recently near the intersection of Criser Road with Route 522 was dumping excess asphalt into nearby Happy Creek.

Responding to a phoned complaint, the policeman asked "What's wrong with that?" When told that asphalt is a petroleum product and pollutes the water downstream, he said "I didn't know it was made with petroleum."

I suggest he be ordered to a required visit with a grammar-school class teaching about spoiling the environment by such acts. But I ask, what can we do about old clunkers leaking oil on the pavement and parking lots and washing untreated into the Shenandoah River?

Third: While responding to a citizen complaint a few days ago about a fawn, an officer was told not to touch it because the mother would reject her fawn because of the human smell. He tossed the little creature across the road and said "It can't get up," pulled out his service pistol and shot it dead.

The lesson I've learned from this is if I hear a sharp bang in town, it may not be a firecracker or engine backfire, it may just be another helpless fawn killed by a policeman.
I suggest remediation of these three happenings. Soon.

Joe Swiger
119 Gloucester Road
Front Royal
Sept. 12, 2011

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