Letters to the Editor for Friday, October 16, 2009

LU, Local Politics, 23rd District

Back off, writer says
I was happy to see Jerry Falwell Jr. completely out himself as to his particular ambitions. Liberty University has no interest in running the city of Lynchburg he was quoted in The News & Advance on Oct. 10, but we’d like a little more freedom to grow and expand without approval and without restriction. The LU dictionary must offer as full a definition of democracy as it does history and science.

Without approval and without restriction? The growth of Liberty was restrained? I missed that.

Several years ago when the City Council voted down Jerry Falwell Sr.’s attempt to re-name Candlers Mountain Liberty Mountain, he simply tattooed it with a giant LU. A travesty that was so ill-conceived and poorly designed that the bottom of the LU circle is sliced off by the access road at its base, making what was already an enormous eyesore lopsided.

The campus, and I’m being generous with that term, is an architectural train wreck that fits in perfectly with the strip malls that surround it. There was clearly never a vision of what the campus should be, how it should look or even the way it should be utilized. Each building was obviously slapped up whenever the real estate and the money were available with no thought at all to function or form. I’ve seen mining towns that are easier on the eye (and probably more rewarding to study in).

It’s tragic really. Imagine what all that power and money over all those decades could have created in our otherwise gorgeous city (think Cornelius Vanderbilt and his university, Andrew Carnegie and his institute, Thomas Jefferson and his academical village at the University of Virginia).

Liberty has no interest in running the city of Lynchburg. That’s a good thing, Mr. Falwell, because we wouldn’t let you. We’ve seen your handiwork.
ANNE SCOTT CARDWELL
Concord

Students deserve a voice
Elizabeth M. Austin (Letters to the Editor, Oct. 15) is right in that our forefathers fought hard against taxation without representation.

Just so you know, according to projected city numbers, Lynchburg will have collected more than $10 million in meals tax in 2009, up from $5 million in 1999.

Sales tax revenue will have increased from $10 million in 1999 to more than $14 million in 2009, and lodging tax dollars will increase from about $900,000 to $1.5 million in that same time frame.

Where does the majority of those tax dollars come from? The Wards Road corridor. While students and their guests are not the only ones spending money there, rest assured, they do pay taxes, the same taxes you pay on food, sales items and lodging.

As such they do have the right to representation.
DEBORAH HUFF
Forest

For Valentine
Shannon Valentine is dedicated to serving us, her constituents, whether we are Democrats or Republicans, rich or poor, black or white, male or female.

She is deeply religious, but doesn’t wear her faith on her sleeve. Rather, she demonstrates it in her life as she follows that great commandment of “doing unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

Her accomplishments at the state level are numerous, including (just to mention a few) the new train service, work in promoting a comprehensive energy plan that creates new jobs and expanding access to health care.

Unlike her opponent, she has conducted her campaign in a very positive manner, highlighting her many accomplishments at the state level rather than tearing him down.

From his campaign for City Council when he spent far more money than anyone else, to the School Board ouster of a member (who has since been reappointed) engineered when several council members were away, to the fake telephone polls that his campaign is sponsoring (I have received two different ones), to misleading statements about Valentine in his campaign literature and in their debates, I do not find that Scott Garrett is a person whom I would trust to represent me and my neighbors.

Valentine, a principled and tireless advocate for every one of her constituents here in Central Virginia, deserves to be re-elected in a landslide! 
PEGGY HOWELL
Lynchburg

For Valentine
I am extremely disappointed in Scott Garrett and his deliberate misuse of information for his own personal and political gain.

At the Windsor Hills debate, Del. Valentine read a statement from Virginia FREE, a strong, pro-business organization which represents more than 500 companies across Virginia, including Centra Health and B&W.

The Virginia FREE Candidate Questionnaire and Del. Valentine’s positions as expressed in that questionnaire apparently are being misrepresented by her opponent. The questionnaire does not ask candidates whether they would support tax increases for transportation. To assert otherwise is deliberately misleading. The questionnaire seeks to establish a starting point for continuing the dialogue with state leaders on issues that are important to business and job creation in Virginia.

It is unfortunate that Valentine’s opponent did not bother to answer the questionnaire, instead, he has been making his own questionnaires in the form of telephone polls clearly geared to provide false negative impressions about Valentine while furthering his self-centered agenda, asking questions in such a way to make himself look good.

It is clear to some that Scott Garrett is not only deliberately misleading us. He is antagonizing business leaders across Virginia. How is that good for business?

Valentine will get my vote because when I needed help for my elderly mother, I called her office. She personally made sure her office provided the help I needed for my mother. She even had one of her efficient staff members follow up to check that the problem was resolved. We are lucky to have a representative like her.

Please vote for Shannon Valentine on Nov. 3. We need her wisdom and diplomacy in the General Assembly.
LIANE BENWAY
Lynchburg

For Valentine
Well before Shannon Valentine first ran for the House of Delegates, we spent many hours canvassing neighborhoods together.

It was during this time that I saw her ability to connect with people because of her real interest in what they had to say and her compassion for their situations. She has carried this interest and compassion into her work as the representative for the 23rd District.

As just one example, she sponsored a bill to identify best practices for diagnosing, treating and managing autism for children in Virginia. The study that was conducted as a result of this bill found that there are several programs available, but that for some children needs are not being met. The outcome has been that several agencies have been directed to develop plans for improving services and report during 2010.

She is a person who listens to our concerns and is effective is addressing them. She is exactly the kind of representative we need.
CAROLYN SHERAYKO
Lynchburg