Opinions

Dec. 15, 2023 Editor, The News-Gazette: Recently, Rockbridge County has been getting requests for permits for solar farms, with at least one already under construction. Whatever your thoughts are about solar generated power, it’s undeniable that they are an eyesore, and a scar on our beautiful county’s landscape.

Dec. 14, 2023 Editor, The News-Gazette: I would like to introduce to your readers two young boys. Some see them as identical twins; others as being very different.

When Sandra Day O’Connor served on the U.S. Supreme Court from 1981 to 2005, moderates held sway on the divisive issues of the day, with O’Connor providing the decisive vote on numerous 5-4 decisions, prompting many to label it the “O’Connor court,” even though she never held the role of chief justice. She was seen by many at the time as “the most powerful woman in the world.” Her vote was decisive on a multitude of critical issues, from abortion to affirmative action to the separation of church and state.

50 Years Ago

Dec. 11, 2023 Editor, The News-Gazette: I sat down to write a letter regarding the recent uproar over “Kiss Number Eight.” But just before I began, I read Glen Rose’s column in the Dec. 6 edition of the N-G and realized I had little to add to his excellent observations. He nailed it, and he did so with thoughtful, insightful intelligent writing. Moreover, he read the book.

Dec. 6, 2023 Editor, The News-Gazette: In his column, Mr. Rose resorts to the cliché “book banning” to describe the desire of some to not provide certain books to children in public libraries.

Hearing the controversy over this book I decided to learn what all the hubbub was about.

Cline Vote Against Expulsion Criticized

Editor’s note: The assassination of President John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963, made front page news everywhere in the United States, including Lexington. A story in the following week’s issue of The News-Gazette described the various memorial services held at local churches, the gun salutes fired at Virginia Military Institute and the flags displayed at half-staff throughout Lexington. The story noted that Kennedy had recently accepted an invitation to attend the dedication of the George C. Marshall Research Library that was to be held the following May. An editorial in tribute to Kennedy was also published that week, and we reprint that editorial here, 60 years later.

50 Years Ago

Nov. 27, 2023 Editor, The News-Gazette: I am a mail subscriber to your paper and was driven to respond to your “What Do You Think?” online poll topic about the preferred timing for one’s home Christmas decorating.

Nov. 27, 2023 Editor, The News-Gazette: Mr. Paxton, a response to your good column “Is the USPS Shooting Itself In The Foot?”: If our beloved USPS had been allowed to be a part of the email revolution, all those figures Mr. Paxton gave would be so different today.

A week ago, the U.S. Postal Service announced that it had lost $6.5 billion in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30. At the same time, mail volume declined sign i f i c a nt ly, and at a faster rate than in previous years.

Can we declare a truce on Thanksgiving Day? There’s a great big divide in America today, making it difficult for many of us to behave civilly toward each other. The simplest of conversations or observations can turn into full-blown arguments in which neither side wants to yield an inch.

Remember The Library This Tuesday

Nov. 17, 2023 Editor, The News-Gazette: Tomorrow is a day that requires no explanation. Whether you are 6 or 60 you grasp the meaning of giving thanks to a higher power or simply for a higher thought. None of us can fully count for all our many blessings. That’s why there’s Thanksgiving. It puts them all together on an American holiday that says as much about our country as the Fourth of July. The only difference I see is we replace fireworks with prayer. That’s not a bad difference.

Republican incumbents in last week’s elections claimed the three reconfigured districts in the General Assembly that encompass all or parts of the Rockbridge area. Republicans were also victorious in all state Senate races for districts west of the Blue Ridge.

50 Years Ago

The “choice” term is not new to politics. During the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858, the two were running for the Senate and both agreed the existence of slavery in existing states was a done deal but they debated the question of free or slave state for Kansas, Nebraska and future western territories.