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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Dear Editor, I am a constituent of the Midlothian District who has encountered quite an eye opening experience while learning about how our Board of Supervisors [BOS] and our School Board operate with regard to budgetary issues. I, who sport a button on my coat pocket exclaiming, "If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention," am amazed at the way decisions are made in our county government. More frustrating is the lack of interest in these issues from the general population. On the surface, one observes genuine interest in protecting the one asset that consistently rates our county one of the top in the nation - our school system. Everyone claims to support schools, as if a sound byte were on the tip of their tongue. Yet at every pass, I see evidence of poor planning, neglect and conflicting motivations on the part of our county officials. They speak in terms of preparing our children for the global competitive landscape, but don't favor putting their money where their mouth is. Instead, they lop a slice of the financial pie for transportation - an area that is supposed to be the obligation of state government. What is truly scary is the BOS plan to plunge the county further into debt to supplement the state transportation funds by issuing a bond referendum that will tax generations to come. One can only hope that the voters will oppose this effort. Every supervisor should consider the following: you can advocate a tax rate cut while protecting our schools. Dedicating an extra penny toward education is a way to strike the balance. That penny should benefit our children rather than developers who take care of their own projects. As I dug a little deeper, I cringed to find out that because of promises made in years past, the School Board intends to pay a whopping $92 million dollars to build a replacement school that won't relieve the devastating overcrowding in 35 of our 58 county schools. Excuse me? The fiscal irresponsibility in that is beyond comprehension. Our older schools, seemingly because the communities that surround them are not the squeaky wheel, are being neglected to the point of embarrassment. If you as a citizen are worried about your property value, look no further for a cause of it plunging if we continue to treat our schools like yesterday's news. The public must realize the fact that the bond referendum of 2004 allocated $55 [million] for a new Clover Hill High School. The costs are now $37 million beyond that, which reflects a 40 percent increase - clearly more than the rate of inflation. That additional amount will impact the implementation of plans to do $9 [million] in "critical" maintenance to our older schools, expansions at Bird, Meadowbrook, Dale, Weaver and Watkins schools. [It's] time to reevaluate the architectural plans for Clover Hill High School, time to be fair to more of our schools, not just one of them. The most enlightening finding for me was discovering the disparity within our county schools - a true story of the "haves" and "have nots." As I compare schools in my district with schools in the more western areas of the county, my first thought is why are they so different? Our children do not need palaces to receive a quality education. They need quality teachers who are paid at least at the state average and programs to support learning at a higher level in the 21st century. I would urge all of the candidates for both the BOS and the School Board to consider coming back down to earth and getting in touch with what the taxpayers and voters of Chesterfield County really want. And to all the voters out there: pay attention to what our leaders are choosing to do with our money and then vote for change in the BOS and School Board. Dear Editor, You just don't know how much we appreciate your help in getting the word out [about the waffle breakfast that raised $2,500 for the county police foundation to the community]. I wish you could have been there to see the number of people that came in with the Chesterfield Observer folded to your (Mar. 21) article…[it] made so much of a difference. The police officers are still talking about the [Mar. 24] event [at O'Charley's in Chester]. That Saturday, almost 400 came in for breakfast. About $510 came from donations with $10 coming from Australia. Manager Chris Crews was very pleased. He is ready to do another already. He had told us that O'Charley's sent supplies for 2,000 meals. This is just unheard of. The police office has already been on the phone with me twice since then. They are excited about the results of the event and say their phone was just ringing off last Monday. Tammy Wyrick, assistant administrator to the chief, says the public has been calling about the results and want to know when the cruiseins will begin. They want to join us. Dear Editor, One evening several months ago, my family phoned the Chesterfield Fire & EMS at the Clover Hill 7 [station] when our smoke detectors were malfunctioning. Three firefighters arrived via a fire engine. They solved our problem and were kind enough to stay until all our smoke detectors were checked. Meantime, the firefighters were making great conversation with our two-year-old son who was in total awe of these heroes. They invited us to stop by their station at any time to get a tour of their trucks. They gave us a quick sounding of their siren as they departed, waving to our son. Several months later on Mar. 24, we stopped by to visit the station. The firefighters immediately greeted us and handed our son a badge. They gave him a royal treatment while he was speechless with excitement. They carried him from truck to truck, allowing him to sit behind the wheels and pose for pictures. They were bent down on knees; I saw high-fives, thumbs ups, making him feel like one of the guys. This was truly a memorable experience not only for our son, but also for us. Just a week after our visit, we watched as members of Chesterfield Fire & EMS battled a most horrific house fire in our neighborhood. It was an opportunity to see these heroes in action. What a contrast, these same tall, strong firefighters took a small boy into their gentle caring hands just a week ago. They were now risking not only their safety but their lives, and we could only hope these firefighters would return safely home to their families after their job was finished that evening. We'd like to send a big "thank you" to our true heroes at Chesterfield Fire & EMS who are available around-the-clock to help save our lives.
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