THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 2006

THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 2006

Our View

Rappahannock

for the people

On June 26, the Rappahannock Board of

Supervisors will meet to hear the public for the

second time on the proposed 2007 budget. The issue from the budget that has grabbed the most attention has been the proposed Conservation Easement District, and the two-cent tax rate hike that will go along with it. On the scale of a $19 million budget, the $300,000 at stake on this issue doesn’t seem like so much, but citizens have turned out in force to represent their side, with letters to the editor, multiple petitions, and a lot of spirited discussion.

Everywhere in the county, citizens are suggesting alternatives to this plan, debating the merits of roll back taxes and the long term effects of easements on the tax rate. The Rappahannock people are fired up about this, and while no one wants to be screamed at over PDRs, this is a good thing. The citizenry of Rappahannock are organized and motivated to have their voices heard in politics, and that is how the right things get done.

At the June 1 State’ Water Board meeting in Richmond, Board member Komal Jain described the DEQ public hearing for Washington’s proposed Sewer Treatment Plant held at Rappahannock County High School as the most well attended, public hearing she had ever officiated, and County Administrator John McCarthy made jokes about working in such a politically active community.

Well, it’s no joke. Rappahannock cares, and they don’t just talk about it, they act. In the debate over Washington’s draft permit, Elizabeth Haskell and her neighbors formed a political group, the Friends of the Rush River, out of whole cloth to oppose the goals of a whole municipality. Now, with the Conservation Easement District, Jean Lollard seems to have created a similar group out of nowhere to organize opposition to the tax rate hike. She denies that it’s an organized group, but they seem to show up in force at the right meetings, they stand up on command in front of the supervisors, and they focus on the specific text of the ordinance. Lillard didn’t even have the organizational framework or ready made initials of her opposing petition drafters at the Rappahannock County Conservation Alliance (RCCA), who have been just as active in demonstrating support for their side of the conservation easement debate.

Rappahannock cares.

People are ready to become involved and control their own destiny. Contentious political debate can be intimidating, but democracies only work right with an informed, involved public.

The proposed Conservation Easement District may divide the county, but that’s a sign that the process is working.

See you on Monday.

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