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Take a stand
Attending a lighting ordinance hearing at the
Rappahannock County Board of Supervisors,
we learn a lot of interesting things. Too much light can be dangerous says resident Clyde Humphrey, particularly to older people. If they roll into a light-flooded gas station bay to fill up, it will take minutes after they get back on the road for their eyes to grow accustomed again to the darkness. Ruth Richards of Piedmont District said the bright lights along many of the garish roads outside of Rappahannock are so bright that she has to shield her eyes, that they cause her pain.
The massive lighting of the Greater Washington Metropolitan Area has seeped toward the county like a flood, changing forever things that many in Rappahannock County had known and loved for years. Russ Scovill who lives off Route 637 who once basked in the beauty of a rural evening, now says he has a “good view” of an arc of light from Front Royal and Warrenton, where no precautions were taken to control the commercial lighting as the years went forward.
The owner of a bed and breakfast inn said it drives away the customers who come to Rappahannock to see the periodic solar shows that streak across the sky.
Supervisor Roger Welch who grew up in Flint Hill says the night skies are different than when he was a child, lit by the reflected ambient light 20 or 25 miles away. The pastime of watching airplanes making lazy night approaches to Dulles Airport is gone because the planes disappear into ground light much more quickly.
Many of the people at Monday’s hearing came to this county for its scenic beauty and gentle environment. They don’t see the ugliness of Route 1 south of Alexandria or the gas stations of Manassas as the accidental outgrowth of “progress,” but as the plot of avaricious international companies to use lighting as marketing, to out glare the competitor.
Jeff Cowan of Wakefield District thinks the decisions of ugly lighting are made in big corporate headquarters thousands of miles from Rappahannock. “Do we want somebody from some corporate headquarters being able to decide on our lighting?” he asks.
Many county residents believe the lighting war is nationwide as corporations run more and more unhampered over local governments and local wishes. The light ordinance which the bulk of the people at Monday’s hearing supports is, as resident Jim Gannon said, a very small beginning affecting only the few commercial zones of the county.
But the people see it as an important step for the future, a shield if you will, that says the people of Rappahannock County are willing to stand up and fight for the lives they have chosen.
The Rappahannock News stands with them. We urge the Board of Supervisors to adopt this ordinance.
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