Letters to the editor-1/26/12

ODA grateful for Elswick’s work

To the editor,

The Orange Downtown Alliance is proud that long-time board member and committed ODA member Sharon Elswick has accepted the position of president of the Inns at Montpelier organization. 

We are grateful that for over five years Sharon has lent her creativity, thoughtfulness and participation to everything we have undertaken. It would be hard to find somebody in town with more energy and thoughtfulness than her. Her marketing and promotions acumen and attention to detail have been a constant benefit to us all.  It goes without saying that the entire Elswick family has been deeply involved in the activities and success of the ODA and we are thankful to each of them. 

Our sincere wishes to Sharon as she proceeds in her new position. From the entire board of directors of the Orange Downtown Alliance we extend a warm and heartfelt note of congratulations. We will miss her! 

Jeff Curtis

Executive Director

Orange Downtown Alliance

Missing Insider, publish collection

To the editor

Ever since I read in the Oct. 6 edition of the Orange County Review that Phil Audibert would no longer be writing the Insider, I have been intending to write this letter of disappointment. Margaret Johnston, in last week’s edition (Jan. 19) has beat me to it! It’s just as well, because she has expressed my feelings far more eloquently than I could.

I, too, have saved many of the articles since moving here in 1995. I have a box full of them. Could these be collected into a book? I see by Ms. Johnston’s letter that such a book was published in 1989. I would love to have that book and any sequels that may have been published, but I don’t believe they have been. Please do so.

Thanks, from an appreciative reader.

Lavinia Phillips

Orange

Why develop regs with mining moratorium?

To the editor,

Drew Jackson did his usual good job in the article on uranium in last week’s newspaper.

This issue was studied thoroughly in the 1980s and again, with newer technology, recently. I would take issue with the uranium industry in Virginia stating that it is unlikely that there are minable uranium deposits in other than the Pittsylvania County site. If that is correct why did they lease more than 12,000 acres here in Northern Virginia in the late 1970s and early 1980s? I would suggest that this is another diversionary tactic of the industry. They cannot know if a site contains minable ore unless they explore the site and test for it. This has not been done in northern Virginia. All they did back in the 1970s to determine leasable land was by radioactive readings from aerial scintillometer tests done from a helicopter. The most radioactive spot in Northern Virginia was in Orange County on the banks of the Rapidan River according to Marline Corporation in the 1980s.

Without drilling and digging they cannot determine the richness of the uranium ore. They have found .6 percent ore in Pittsylvania County, which is just above the national average of .5 percent.  This tells us that the radioactive waste retained on site in tailings piles and ponds will be in excess of 99.4 percent of the ore processed retaining greater than 85 percent of the original radioactivity to threaten our underground and surface water supplies.

Currently the governor has issued a recommendation not to lift the moratorium on uranium in Virginia this year until regulations are developed. This, of course, raises the question as to why develop the regulations if the moratorium is still in place?  Does this presuppose that he expects to lift the moratorium after the effort to write regulations despite the far-reaching potential negative effects of this mining effort in this climate which has been exposed by many studies to date?

Bill Speiden

Legislative Director

Orange County Farm Bureau

RVFD thankful for dinner support

To the editor

The Rapidan Volunteer Fire Department wishes to thank the 168 folks who braved the cold to attend our Lee-Jackson dinner. Many thanks for David Jones who helped cook that day, to Keith Walters and the rest of the Virginia Serenaders for performing period music, our local media and businesses who helped spread the word, and finally the volunteers that made it all come together.

Mark your calendars for our spring pork dinner April 13. We hope to see you then.

Cary Ann Stanley

RVFD President