Opinions

As a part-time employee at The News- Gazet te, I have the privilege of taking Wednesdays off. This was an arrangement that was made back in April 2020 during COVID’s reign of terror. And now Wednesday is my favorite day of the week.

The Rockbridge NAACP is attempting to convey a welcoming message of inclusivity for people of all backgrounds in the Rockbridge, Lexington and Buena Vista community. Local chapter President the Rev. Reginal A. Early points out that this hopeful message may be seen via a new billboard on Interstate 81 south at mile-marker 202 with the words, “Hand in hand, moving forward together,” accompanied by a picture of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and an American flag.

Feb. 5, 2024 Editor, The News-Gazette: A frog agrees to carry a scorpion across a river, the scorpion assuring him he won’t sting because they would both drown. Being a scorpion, he stings the frog, drowning them both.

Last week, we watched the spectacle of one political party abruptly reversing their position on the combined Border-Israel-Ukraine bill, after saying for months that that was what they wanted.

Last week, a friend contacted me a nd told me that his h ome t ow n community newspaper in Iowa had announced that they were closing. His message said, “I felt like my old friend just died. Very hard to take. I thought to myself ‘now there is nobody who will record the goings-on in this town anymore.’” This is being repeated in towns and cities all across America.

Feb. 9, 2023 Editor, The News-Gazette: I have to agree with the letter from Kathleen and Gordon Ball, questioning the need for a taxpayer-funded airport in Rockbridge. I realize that many current citizens of Rockbridge weren’t here 30 years ago when this proposal was last brought up. The issue was hotly debated and most citizens came to the conclusion that although the airport would be almost entirely paid for and maintained with their tax dollars, there would be little to no benefits for those citizens not owning an airplane. The proposal was voted down by Rockbridge citizens 75 percent to 25 percent.

Feb. 10, 2024 Editor, The News-Gazette: The cartoon of Trump “goose stepping” across the cover of The New Yorker magazine was a scary wake up call to the direction Trump and his MAGAts (short for MAGA cult) have been heading. Perhaps many of the MAGAts are too young to understand the horrors of World War II and why we fought. My Dad nearly lost his life from wounds he acquired on the front in France. By the time he recovered, the Allies were halfway across Germany.

February, as it has been since 1964, is American Heart Month, a time when the American Heart Association and other organizations put the spotlight on heart disease, still the No. 1 killer of Americans.

The Generals Redoubt, an organization of Washington and Lee University graduates, has been at the forefront of creating a national Alumni’s Free Speech Alliance to help unite a growing number of alumni associations across t he c ountry. T he Generals Redoubt along with the Jefferson Council at the University of Virginia, Princetonians at Princeton University, Free Speech Alliance at Cornell University, and a Davidson College alumni organization started the national organization.

Feb. 2, 2024 Editor, The News-Gazette: As a (former) career pilot, it’s difficult to compose all of the reasons not to have another airport incorporated into the global air traffic control system. Pilots want taxpayers to build more airports, while the FAA secretly wants less airports.

Feb. 2, 2024 Editor, The News-Gazette: Heads up unaffiliated voters! Legislation (VA HB56) has been proposed in the Virginia House of Delegates that will disenfranchise unaffiliated voters.

Feb. 4, 2024 Editor, The News-Gazette: I read most of the article in the N-G about the supervisors meeting in which the proposed airport was discussed. But I had lost the first part of the story, so I don’t know who is proposing the idea or why. Based on what I read, the only supervisor who asked the right question was Bob Day: “Why build an airport for private planes?”

Feb. 5, 2024 Editor, The News-Gazette: It’s good news to hear that the city is interested in creating adog park! And (as most of us have heard before) “if you’re going to do something, do it right.” The first and most influential step in creating a dog park is choosing its location.

Jan. 29, 2024 Editor, The News-Gazette: I write opposing development of an airport in Rockbridge County. I grant that the cost would be perhaps 2% to the county. However, where does the other 98% originate? Taxpayers ‒ you and me also! These dollars could be better used for educational, drug rehab and prevention, and other humanitarian activities.

50 Years Ago

Swedish Defense Chief Visits VMI

Jan. 29, 2024 Editor, The News-Gazette: With the week-long cold snap ending, I knew I had to head to a stream, wet a line, and enjoy some “nature time.”

Editor’s note: The following editorial is adapted from a letter from Judy Casteele, executive director of Project Horizon.