By SHARON KILPATRICK

By SHARON KILPATRICK

- Rappahannock Newt SUIT Writer

A debate at the Town Council fneeting on Wednesday, June 12, over signs.to be placed at both ends of towji ps part of Washington’s 200th Birthday Celebration had all the eleJn$n$ of the controversies that customarily divide the council. ; hast month the council approved installing “somewhat permanent” signs to be placed on property belong- ■ ingdolthe Washington Volunteer Fire Department and Rayner and Lois Snead at both ends of the entrances to JowtJ. The major discussion at that council meeting was about whether the signs should be just for the bicentennial year or whether they should remain. Laurie Marshall had done the sign design as part of her work on a committee making plans for the celebrati&n.

* Mayor Stewart Willis took the design to the Architectural Review Board for their comments the next evening. Apparently there was not much enthusiasm on that board for the: design and member Patrick O’Connell said the Inn at Little Washington would volunteer design work for the signs. . Two proposals came out of that design work, one noting that Washington is the home of The Inn at Little Washington and the other, identical -in all other respects, noting that Washington is home to America’s first five star inn.

.By last Wednesday evening two rpore designs were on the table. One by Tanya Richey and another by “Skippy” Giles. Mrs. Richey’s design was similar in some respects to Ms. Marshall’s. Mr. Giles submission was more similar to the ones proposed by the owners^of The Inn without any mehtion of The Inn. Another submitted by Mr. Giles, apparently in jest, noted that the town was home of Skippy Giles with Sara Snead Realty. ; The stage was set for the usual brouhaha. . Member Peter Skowronski said he had no problem with the signs designed by Ms. Marshall or Mrs. Richey, but the two submitted by The Inn’s designer “take me by surprise. I would be 100 percent opposed to something like this.” ‘ At that point member Steve Cfitzer submitted the Mr. Giles’s proposals.

' Member Charlie Tompkins said, “I find ‘200 Years of Democracy’ important. I wish we could find a way to make this a unifying thing.”

Mayor Willis said his original idea had been to have “something •more sophisticated than a banner TtCMfOSs the streef.<Foi- '2X)(rydk¥s Washington has governed itself, as,a town. I think we should recognize it ^and celebrate it as on the sign by Laurie Marshall. The sign suggested by The Inn looks good, but it serves a different purpose. It is a permanent sign....It does commercialize the; sign. I’m not sure it is appropriate.”

Treasurer Louise van Dort said the council should consider two matters “shape and content....In Europe citizens are proud of the establishments contained in their boundaries.” She noted that in West Virginia the town has a sign recognizing the