labs are without water or gas, because there’s no

labs are without water or gas, because there’s no space for an expanded curriculum, because teachers must move from room to room after every class, preventing the maximum use of planning periods.

It isn’t just educational needs that have been postponed — and postponed — and postponed. For years, the county provided no building inspector even though the position was required by the state. For years, the sheriff and his deputies drove their own cars and were paid mileage. For years, Rappahannock had no local jail facilities and depended instead upon neighboring localities to house its prisoners.

We still don’t have a county land fill accessible to all county citizens in compliance with the law. We still don’t have a dog pound that comes anywhere close to meeting state specifications.

The judges who administer the criminal justice system from the bench in the court courthouse must have labored to do so over the noise of window air conditioners and other shortcomings in the facilities provided them. They have now asked for improvements. The federal government has just tied the receipt of revenue sharing funds to compliance with handicapped access regulations on both public buildings and public programs.

Add up all these delayed projects and it comes to quite a bill, a portion of which falls due in 1984-85. Supervisor Charles Estes acknowledged the impact at Monday’s board meeting: “What we’ve done is coasted along for years and now we're trying to pick thing up and put them back on track.” He added that it can’t all be done at once; that to lessen the financial blow to local taxpayers, the catch-up period will have to be spread over several years.

We agree but we think the supervisors did the right thing in separating school needs from the rest of the needs that will have to wait a little