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By WENDY SIZER
Democrat Staff Writer Many public servants are not in the most enviable of positions. Frequently they sit in the hot seat when members of the public or members of the press ask pointed and demanding questions about important public issues. And when the public wants to know, some officials meet a controversial issue head-on. In recognition of the candid and open manner with which he has handled many volatile issues in his years of service to Fauquier County, Donald R. Askew, Fauquier-Rappahannock resident engineer for the Virginia Department of Highways and Transportation, was given The Fauquier Democrat 1982 Freedom of Information Award in a ceremony Friday.
"We are in the information business,” George L. Barton, IV, the newspaper’s editor, told a small audience comprised of family, colleagues and reporters gathered for the presentation, “but the two men who receive these awards today recognize they are in the information business also.
“We feel both men have gone the extra distance, answering questions patiently and, in some cases, providing assistance and information about areas not directly concerned with their normal duties. We feel this concern is one they would show for any other private citizen seeking information...to make intelligent decisions and to lead more productive lives,” Mr. Barton said.
VDHT Culpeper District Engineer Donald B. Hope admits Don Askew “is hard-headed at times,” but he possesses the characteristics that lend themselves to the entire department’s “spirit Of cooperation.”
“Don is a good manager and has an ability to get along with people,” Mr. Hope says. It is an essential quality for the job, particularly when it comes to contact with the public and county ernment officials.
All too often highway issues become controversial largely because revenues are few and demands are many. The completion of the Warrenton Bypass and the widening of Route 17 North are two good examples. Public sentiment runs high, and frequently Mr. Askew finds himself saying “no” when he would prefer to say “yes.”
“It is hard to say no,” says Mr. Hope. But what Mr. Askew does is to ex
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