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<ftappaf)annocb JJetoS An Independent Newspaper Established 1877 Published Every Thursday ARTHUR W. ARUNDEL Publisher LOU HATTER Managing Editor JOHN T. McEWAN President BARBARA C. BURKE General Manager ANN BROWN, Account Executive To Subscribe Phone (703) 675-3338 BY MAIL: $10.00 a year in Rappahannock and adjoining counties $15.00 a year elsewhere in the United States BACK COPIES: 3 months or more 70c. 1 -2 years -$1.00; over 2 years - $3.00 (if available) OFFICE: Rappannock News Bldg , Washington, Va. 22747 Telephone: 703-675-3338 HOURS: 8:30 a.m. to 5 30 p.m., Mon.-Fri.
Through the cracks For five Rappahannock County residents, the fiscal austerity currently in vogue in Washington, D. C. and Richmond has had a powerful impact. It has cost them their jobs. These five people are not able to just walk down the street and apply for another position, or request assistance from the state employment commission. These five people are handicapped, and their jobs were provided by FORE, a workshop for the handicapped in Remington. For some time, FORE has provided transportation to and from the workshop, with funding first from the state and then from the Rappahannock-Rapidan Community Services Board. But with money for mental health and rehabilitation tight at the federal and state level, CSC cut off its contribution to FORE. So, the workshop asked local governments for contributions. Although Culpeper and Fauquier allocated money toward the program, the Rappahannock County Board of Supervisors declined. Faced with its own budget crunch, the obvious place for FORE to cut its program was its service to the county which didn’t contribute -Rappahannock. Now those five county residents, formerly gainfully employed, sit idle. They are innocent victims who had no say in the decision to terminate their employment. But they are the people who suffer. True, most people might not want their jobs. But for them, like anyone else, employment is a measure of selfesteem. To be unemployed, or unemployable, is to feel worthless. It’s difficult to point fingers or assign blame. The Board of Supervisors faces tough choices every year about which of a host of requests for funds deserves approval. There are always many more applications than there are appropriations. In Richmond, much the same story prevails. With federal budget cutbacks for mental health programs, the state is forced to shoulder more of the burden. That means allocating a fixed amount of money among many agencies, all with real needs. In Washington, the federal government faces a towering debt which threatens to mortgage the future of the entire country and generations yet unborn. Difficult choices have to be made. But in Rappahannock County, five formerly productive lives sit idle. Through FORE, they found support, and encouragement, and struggled to better themselves. And now, through no fault of their own, they are back where they started - with no prospects for the future. The Reagan Administration used to call such cases “slipping through the safety net.” We call it a terrible waste of human potential.
Environmental workshop •
sponsored by Garden Clubs Published by Arundel Newspapers Member, Audit Bureau of Circulation. THURSDAY. JULY 21. 1988
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