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To the editor:
A county dispatching center is a need that has been long overlooked. I’m glad that this problem is finally being addressed, but some of the comments reported from the last Board of Supervisor’s meeting strike me as unfounded.
Red Oak Mountain would, no doubt, be a desirable location for a communications tower. But I don’t think we should hastily push for condemnation of the area, or imply that its owner has responded with “hostility and a lack of cooperation.”
I would be interested to see more information in the News concerning the “survey” that has shown Red Oak to be “the prime location for the tower.” What we need is a study, not a survey. There are' alternate sites and the appropriate one should be chosen only after careful study.
Locally, Red Oak Mountain is valuable for its agricultural, aesthetic, and recreational benefits. The mountaintop has become a sort of landmark in Rappahannock. The old fire tower—an asset to the Virginia Division of Forestry from 1934 till 1980—is historically interesting, as is the land-grant tract itself and its past ownership by the Johnson family. I happen to know that Mr. Greer, the present owner, is exceptionally ' public-spirited. His contributions to the community have included consummate cooperation with county officials in maintaining operation of the fire tower, and efforts in other areas which may never be publicly acknowledged.
1 don’t mean to belittle the need for a dispatching center, nor even to rule out Red Oak as a possible site. But let's not be so quick to condemn the land, or its owner.
LYTTELTON W. WOOD Woodville
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