Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 2 · column 1 of 5 · from the scan, no model involved
ONCE the Rappahannock News inspired some angry letters from local officials when we criticized them for the argument that if they didn’t join a “regional planning district’’ they wouldn’t be eligible for federal grants. That was a poor reason for joining anything, we argued, and this newspaper still feels that if grant programs are worthwhile, they ought to be distributed to communities on the basis of need, not bureaucratic convenience.
But the philosophy exemplified by the statement, “if we don’t get the grants somebody else will,” continues to prevail in many localities. Over in Fauquier, something of a new record for a grant grab must have been set by the School Board’s decision to apply for a whopping amount of federal funds to build an athletic field house, on the grounds that this would constitute “environmental education” for Fauquier students. Well, just about everything can be classified as “environmental,” if you come down to it. Breathing in and breathing out affect the environment. Using Fauquier’s yardstick, local officials could justify just about any fund request there
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