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Last Updated: Nov 14, 2008 - 12:49:26 PM |
Navy Enlister Deserves Attention
To the Editor:
I love the Village News since I live in downtown Chester. You recently did a story about a local, Matthew Ridout, enlisting in the Navy.
I am related to this fine man, and I believe y’all missed a great opportunity to do a better story on this great young man. Not only did he graduate from Thomas Dale High, but he also graduated from Roanoke College. During his time there, he did a lot of volunteer work, especially for Habitat for Humanity. I cannot tell you how many vacation breaks that he had spent working on someone’s house instead of coming home, doing work locally as well as in the Carolinas and along the coast damaged by the hurricanes.
After graduating college, he took a job with Habitat though he could have gotten a better-paying job elsewhere, because he believed so much in what he was doing. Now he is joining the Navy to serve his country.
There is a lot more that this young man has done that I know I am leaving out. With a little work, the story you ran could have been so much better; not just for you, but for the community to know and be proud of the people who grow up in and around our little town and go to our schools, and who move on to do great things. I just thought you should know.
John Jarratt
King Suggests Doing the Math
To the Editor:
In reference to Ms. Wargofcak’s letter to the editor in last week’s Village News, titled “Where are the Supervisors Voted in for Change?”:
Ms. Wargofcak stated, “Happy retirement, Mr. King; we don’t miss you.”
I seem to recall that Ms. Wargofcak had no love for me while I was in office; I admire her being consistent and concede: why should she feel differently today? Please don’t misunderstand; I do not feel backed in a corner and must defend my position. My voting record is a part of Chesterfield history.
I do, however, have a public confession. After serving my promised four years as supervisor, I realize now that I had grown accustomed to and appreciate a citizen’s right to have an opinion expressed publicly, even if it is mean-spirited. I shall choose to refrain from doing the same and speak on the issues.
In referencing my statement about the June 25 BOS meeting on the Upper Swift Creek Plan in which I said, “These supervisors just happen to represent the majority of Chesterfield citizens,” Ms. Wargofcak further states in her article, “Where is the data to prove this?” A fair question, I say!
The answer: At present, there are five magisterial districts in Chesterfield. Each district elects a supervisor by majority vote whom we hope votes consistently with the platform on which she/he ran. The five districts have about 60,000 citizens per district, except the Matoaca District, which is the larger.
According to the video stream tapes, the Matoaca supervisor had not given last minute changes to at least two of the supervisors. My assumption is that the distinguished supervisor from Matoaca treated all of her colleagues the same and allowed only the planning director to have a copy of her changes.
Now for the complicated part, which we learn in elementary math! With four supervisors not having the changes like the Upper Swift Creek Plan, 4 x 60,000 = 240,000, minus 1 x 65,000 = 65,000, produces a majority of 175,000. Perhaps Ms. Wargofcak knows something the public doesn’t. Did the two other supervisors have the information and exclude Bermuda and Midlothian?
Politics doesn’t seem to impress upon the citizens that compromise for the common good is sometimes essential to be effective, except when it comes to our values and morals, which must never be compromised!
Example: How much representation does a district have if the vote is always 4-to-1 against your motion? The answer is: NO representation.
Now a question for Ms. Wargofcak: Do you support the method of the Matoaca supervisor’s handling of the Upper Swift Creek Plan at the June 25 BOS meeting, or do you believe in “open government”?
I wish to thank Ms. Wargofcak for her kindness in wishing me a happy retirement. I am happier than I deserve thanks to a wonderful wife and a great family.
R.M. “Dickie” King, Jr.
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