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Columns

  • President’s Day honors democratic institution

    We celebrated President’s Day on Monday, perhaps our most unappreciated holiday the entire year.
        It was originally started as a celebration of George Washington’s birthday on Feb. 22. Now it stands as an opportunity to contemplate the genius of the presidency itself.
        Our founders had created something new in the world, a system of democratic succession where the top officer of the central government could not serve for life, as kings did elsewhere.

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  • If it ain’t broke …

    Being trapped in my house by the Great Snow of 2014 has given me time to ponder some things. In spite of giving this much thought, while shoveling snow, I’m still mystified by a vote the Board of Supervisors took at their Feb. 10 meeting. Maybe I’m mystified because I’m a conservative, rather than a libertarian.

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  • Forest Fire Department to hold first fundraiser of the year

        January was a very busy month for Forest Vol. Fire Department.
        The department answered 54 calls for service during the month with an average of an hour spent on each call. The new officers have been installed and are hard at work on their various assignments.

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  • Crossover week arrives

    Senator Steve Newman
    23rd District

        This week will be the most intense week here at the Capitol. The week is called “Crossover” or when all of the Senate bills must crossover to the House of Delegates before Wednesday. Inside the Capitol, Senate committees and the full Senate are reviewing many of the most important and controversial bills of this Session.

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  • Pace picks up at the GA

        It was, finally, a snow-free week in Richmond.  But since it was the week before crossover, the halfway mark of the legislative session, the General Assembly was considering bills at a quickened pace.

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  • Sheriff Brown pioneer in combatting child sexual exploitation

    By Grier Weeks
    Executive Director
    National Association to Protect Children
    Knoxville, TN

        Tommy Foster writes so soaringly about Virginia’s proud tradition of constitutional government he almost makes me wish my kin had never taken the Great Wagon Road out of Augusta County to settle in Carolina back before the war (“Long Arc of Government,” Feb. 5). But when Mr. Foster points blame at Virginia’s greatest sheriff, Mike Brown, his political science essay crashes to the ground.

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  • Who is responsible?

    By Jerald Lowry
    Bedford

        What is the problem with the Town of Bedford and the County of Bedford Parks and Recreation?
        I have been an umpire, official, and coach for over 30 years here in the Town and County of Bedford.  Times have changed but there are still policies, procedures, disciplinary actions, and accountability for all who are involved with the Parks and Recreation program.

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  • These are the facts

    By Gary P. Hostutler
    District 4
    Bedford County School Board

        This letter is written as a representative of District 4 on the Bedford County School Board, not as chairman.

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  • Politics and the Olympics are inseparable

    As we enjoy the 2014 Winter Olympics from Sochi, Russia, no one wants to say out loud what we’re all thinking: Will there be a terrorist attack before it’s all done?
        A Muslim separatist group that launched such attacks in December has pledged to strike again during these Olympics. Hopefully, those plans will be thwarted. But few seem to have much confidence in Russian President Vladimir Putin to prevent it.

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  • Left wing extremists take control

        I wasn’t quite sure what we had elected back in November. Terry McAuliffe had no elected office track record, so it seemed we had elected a pig in a poke. Now, it’s reached the point at which the  poke has been opened and we can see what sort of pig we bought. Virginians have clearly been left holding the bag.

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