Letters 01/16/13

An amazing year

    2012 has been an amazing year for Bedford Community Christmas Station. 
    We moved into a new space at Westgate Shopping Center in September.  Volunteers from Brookhill Wesleyan Church, the Junior ROTC at BSTC, and other community groups helped us the with enormous task of moving our equipment and merchandise, setting up racks and shelves, and preparing to serve families in December. 
    Lori Moorman created beautiful and inviting window displays.  Dozens of volunteers set up departments for infant clothing, girl’s clothing, boy’s clothing, teen clothing, infant toys, children’s toys, teen gifts, household items and food.  Donations began arriving from churches, organizations, schools, businesses, families, and individuals. 
    James Wade, in keeping with a wonderful annual tradition, donated more than 50 bikes to the Christmas Station.  Dewey Gunnoe also maintained his yearly tradition of donating canned hams to include in every food box. 
    On December 6, with the help of more than 100 volunteers, we opened our doors to serve 320 low-income families.  As you may have heard, we had a moment of concern when we realized that we faced an increased need for Christmas assistance while receiving fewer donations than in previous years. 
    We sent out an appeal for donations and, as always, the community responded!  Many people came to the Christmas Station on December 7-8 to drop off donations.  Many more individuals sent in generous, thoughtful donations throughout the month of December and into January. 
    We are very happy to report that the amazing response of the community made it possible for us to cover the cost of all of the gift items that were distributed to low-income households in December. 
    We are extremely grateful to everyone that provided invaluable support to the Christmas Station. 
    This is some of the feedback we received from the families we served: 
    This is the only way my children would have Christmas.
    Volunteers were very friendly and helpful.
    You. get everything you need.
keep up the wonderful work.
    It is a true blessing
    It helps families in .need.
    For information about Bedford Community Christmas Station and how you can get involved, contact Karen Hughes, Board President @ 540 492-0382.

Karen Hughes
Board President
Bedford Community Christmas Station

Festival a
success

    I would like to thank all of those in our community who helped make the 4th Annual Festival of Trees the best ever.
     Over 1100 people visited the Bedford Welcome Center to admire the 20 trees on display. 
    I would like to thank the organizations and businesses that participated the Bedford County Landfill, The Garden Club of Bedford, Bedford International Alliance, Bedford Wine Trail, Bedford Public Library System, GFWC Bedford Woman’s Club, National D-Day Memorial, Bedford Genealogical Society, Inc., Bedford Memorial Hospital, Bedford Domestic Violence Services, The Bedford Humane Society, Sedalia Center, Rwandan Hugs, Inc., Little Town Players, Keep Bedford Beautiful Commission, Bower Center for the Arts, Elks National Home, Bedford Council of Garden Clubs, Bedford Host Lions Club, and Bedford Professional Women. 
    The hard work and dedication of a number of our volunteers make the Festival possible and I would like to personally thank each one of them.  Those volunteers include Judi and Charlie Jackson, Yolanda and Eddie Adams, Mike Trussell and the staff of the Bedford Welcome Center.  In addition a big thank you to everyone who loaned props that helped convey the theme of this year’s festival “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”. 
    With the success we have enjoyed I look forward to our 5th Annual Festival of Trees.
 
Sue Trussell
Bedford Welcome Center
Festival of Trees Coordinator

Response to Ebenezer Scrooge

    I am writing in response to Mr. David Goode’s letter in the Jan. 9 edition. I don’t usually respond to people’s opinions, but after reading his letter, it made my blood boil, and I have to let my opinions be known. It is one thing for Mr. Goode to complain about why a deer crossing sign is up and Longwood Ave. and Oakwood Street, but what really touched a nerve is when you made the statement about the Elk statue at the entrance of the Greenwood Cemetery, that at Christmastime, the Elk statue with its bonine personification would be a wonderful addition to the annual gaudy, garish, electricity wasting, traffic grid-locking fiasco at the Elks National Home.
    I am sure the Elk statue has been sitting there way before Mr. Goode was even thought of, and the Christmas lights celebration at the Elks Home has been there probably way longer than the age of Mr. Goode. My advice to Mr. Goode would be to drive a different route to avoid seeing all he wrote about in that area of the city.
    Better yet, he could just pack his bags, load up his furniture and hit the road jack, don’t look back and certainly don’t come back. Bedford won’t miss him and his complaining self.
    Instead of signing his letter by his given name, Mr. Goode should have signed it Ole’ Ebenezer Scrooge, with him being a different meaning to Ebenezer Scrooge in the worst way.

Donna Hamlett
Bedford

A Borough

    I truly think we should consider making Bedford City into a Borough. It fits nicely in between a city and town. Bedford Borough. It even sounds pretty!

Eric LaBorie
Bedford

Traffic issues

    I have called several times concerned about the speeding and racing on Blue Ridge Ave., and still the city police do not make theirself present as a reinforcement.
    I also go down Link Rd. several times a week and that area is always present with police.
    It’s going to take someone getting hurt or killed before anything is done. I hope that maybe when the city merges with the county maybe then we will get some protection. In some cases it is the same people speeding, partly because when they see that 50 miles per hour they gun it .I do see the city police do check points on this street but, is absent most other times.
    I would like for the 50 mph taken down and replaced with 35 mph until they reach the 460 highway. And while I’m on the subject the fire trucks and rescue trucks need to be more cautious. And I would also like to see arrows on the lanes telling people to get over in the other lane, I have seen people racing to be first in line.

William King
Bedford

Major decision

    I am not a scholar, in fact I am only a high school graduate. But even I know that the professed separation of church and state is because they are two different entities and the church should not dictate to the state, and the state should not dictate to the church.
    Our forefathers realized that there is a higher power than that of the state that is the power of God. That is why the Christian religious flag can be flown above the American flag.
    You cannot legislate morality, even God gave man freewill. ...
    If you profess to be a Christian, you should know this passage of scripture by heart. 2nd Chronicles, 4th chapter, 14th verse quote (If my people which are called by my name, seek my face and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.)
    The Supreme Court Justices are about to embark on a course now that could have grave ramifications on the morality and the very fabric of our way of life. That is the issue of same sex marriage. Under God’s law there can be no such thing as same sex marriage. Genesis chapter 2, verse 24. (There shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall become one flesh.)
     Below are some of the things God says about the subject:
    Leviticus 18:22 (Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind it is abomination.)
    Isaiah 3:9 (They declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul!) The biblical God just doesn’t seem to care much for homosexuals, and he gets especially upset when “they hide it not.”
    Romans 1:26-27 (For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was met.)

Alfred Lowry
Bedford