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at the top of the Matterhorn probably has less to do with the law than with the climate.
As to asking the state to buy some ridges to protect them, I can hear the bells ringing right now. One of them chimes, if all the other • counties help pay for one of our dearest desires, what dear desire of theirs are they going to ask the state — us — to pay for as soon as they can decide what it is? Another chime: Who is going to administer this money? Do we need another bureaucracy in Richmond to take its share of our tax money (the “state” has no money other than our taxes, remember. There are no real pennies from heaven.)? Do we really want Richmond to be as disrespectful of its citizenry, as Annapolis has always been of its own?
And speaking of bureaucracies, let’s get back to Switzerland, where it is not generally permitted to cut down a tree, let alone build a house, without government permission. This is true even in the valleys and on city streets, and is it doubtful that Americans would stand for the kind of government control that the Swiss take for granted. That the Swiss can well afford, may I add, to take for granted. Their place in the world of international finance and their status as one of the greatest tourist attractions on the planet guarantee that they do not need to concern themselves with domestic taxation. We do.
Being a sovereign nation, they can be firm about who is allowed in and who is not. We are not and we can not. Do we really want to keep people out who may be able to increase our tax base considerably? Even while we are increasing our own taxes to support a bureaucracy to keep them out? I doubt it.
What we can afford, I believe, is to offer a tax incentive to those people who could build at the top of a ridge, and do not do it. No new bureaucracy, no new expenses, same lovely old scenery. Without avalanches.
EDITH A.M. POND
Sperryville
Review SOL
while you can
In an effort to restore academics to public education, I understand the State Board ""v of Education revised the state Standards of Learning (SOLs) for math, science, history, and English.
Schools are graded on how well students perform on standardized tests of these core subjects, determining the school’s accreditation (Standards of Accreditation (SOAs)).
The Board is in the final stages of amending these SOAs.
Four public hearings were
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