Recognizing emergency services

It was not a pleasant experience to stand by and watch our barn burn to the ground July 22.

However, it was amazing to observe the various activities of Goochland’s three “safety” departments (Goochland’s Fire Department, Rescue Squad and Sheriff’s Department) perform their tasks.

It was obvious that all the men and women had devoted many hours and years to training, learning, and practicing their skills and tasks for both team and individual assignments.

The enthusiasm, cooperative attitudes, respect and trust among all crews, and politeness with all persons, were signs of the outstanding persons who volunteer and are employed by the community.

I sincerely believe these safety organizations of Goochland are all worthy  for us to consider contributing funds to enable them to keep current with state of the art equipment to perform their responsibilities to do the jobs and maintain their  positive attitudes and dedication to their respective departments.

Thank you again for your services July 22.

Roy Roper and Adair Frayser Roper
Manakin

Golden Rule

Goochland County is a lovely place to live and enjoy life.

As The Gazette recently indicated in an article by Ken Odor it is also one of the wealthiest counties in the United States.

As the article also pointed out, one must be cautious in reading too much into those numbers.

Of the approximately 20,000 county residents, all may share the joys of the counties beauty but not all share isn its monetary wealth.

The county YMCA has about 4,000 members, and more than 60 percent require financial assistance for their membership. 

For the truly less fortunate the county does provide some important services but other contributors are individuals, NGOs, churches, etc.

The Golden Rule is very evident in the county, even in these very difficult economic times. This Rule predates the religious values and laws that speak to this Golden Rule in the Judeo-Christian and Islamic faiths by many centuries and requires us all to sacrifice in some manner our wants for others’ needs.

In the 21st century, in our very wealthy county, some of our neighbors still require wood in the winter for warmth, and lack indoor plumbing, adequate clothes for their children, important medical care and many things most of us take for granted.

The beauty of what we do is, that we do it, not the government to whom we pay a variety of taxes , we do it.

When Hillel was asked to describe the essence of the Bible while standing on one foot, he stated the Golden Rule and said that all else was commentary.

We are all judged by our actions not simply our words. It is wonderful to be a member of this caring, lovely county and to try and give back in some ways to others in need.

Richard Carchman
Columbia

Nickel-and-dimed

According to Goochland County’s Adopted FY2010 - 2011 Budget, our schools receive $20,500,000, representing 51 percent of our county’s $40,000,000.00 General Fund. 

While attending last week’s July 27 School Board workshop meeting, this taxpayer discovered how our misguided school administration, aided and abetted by our “rubber stamp” school board, keeps finding ways to dig deeper into our pockets through additional fees. 

The list starts with a $20 K-12 instructional fee.  Using last year’s 2,453 enrollment, this represents $49,060. 

Moving down the list, for the sake of brevity, why are our middle school students being charged $5.00 for science?  Why is there a high school $10.00 art/technology fee? 

When I moved here from New Jersey in 1993, many verbal examples of “southern hospitality” us “damn Yankees” heard were accompanied with the phrase, “We don’t care how all y’all did things up North!” 

My point being, the goal of public schools is educating the public, equally, with public (tax) dollars.  To further dip into taxpayers’ wallets with a plethora of egregious accessorial “educational” fees is distasteful.  I don’t care if we’ve done it here before, how we did it “up North,” or how they do it in “Henricah,” I am going on record as opposing all additional fees and will personally refuse to pay them!

I believe that it is our civic and American duty to provide a full and complete public education to all who choose the public path, to include arts, advanced placement academics (and testing), athletics, and extracurricular activities.  If, under our current, bureaucratically top heavy, budget, we can’t afford funding any or all of these items, then so be it. 

On the other hand, either denying any or all of these items to those without means, or waiving payment for any or all of these items to those without means are both discriminatory, and thus not in the spirit of public education. Imagine going to the supermarket and being charged an additional “refrigeration fee” for items which require refrigeration. 

Here’s another example - our county provides transfer stations for refuse disposal.  Can I demand a reduction in my property tax if I compost, recycle and burn, and thus do not use the transfer station whatsoever?

On the other hand, does our county tax a property owner any more if they are a family of 10 versus a single resident?  All things being equal, if both properties are taxed equally, isn’t the 10 resident property getting more county disposal/transfer services that the single resident property?

My public school days were unencumbered with extraneous fees, as my classmates and I were encouraged to participate in advanced academics, the arts, athletics and many extracurricular activities on the public “dime.”  The “haves” not pitted against the “have-nots.”   Last time I checked, my generation, as well as those prior, did not turn out half bad, and the walls of Jericho did not come tumbling down with expense of providing a holistic public education.

Then again, what can we expect from a school administration, that despite having an overhead projector and screen available at the meting, uses neither while feebly and unsuccessfully attempting to tout how we’re spending almost $2.5 million for employee health benefits and saving money?  I’ve heard more convincing, lucid and better researched arguments from my teenaged sons explaining how the dog ate the homework…
 
Michael M. McDermott
Maidens