March 2004

• Can this be spring? - by Ben Blankenship
  
  Mercy!
  
  You'd think winter was just starting, not ending:
  
  --It's Bush the ornery dunce versus Kerry the flip-flopper.
  --A majority may rule in South Africa but not in Iraq?
  --A jobless recovery accompanies a stalled stock market.
  --A cute pig gets vetoed here while PETA erects a billboard showing one,
  with a vile Easter message, "He died for your sins--go vegetarian."
  
  Just as tasteless, an old joke (For their wedding anniversary, let's congratulate Tim and June--and Tom) begins to ring true in Massachusetts. Still, that state's fun couple remains Blue Blood Kerry and Red Nosed Kennedy.
  
  And may you enjoy your own April Fools too.
  
  But let's be honest, nobody's perfect. Not even here in enlightened Aquia Harbour, it seems. Case in point:
  
  We now contend with malicious horse stabbers, probably home-grown. Or hadn't you heard about them? Sometime early on March 6, vandals apparently snuck up on the three horses in the paddock across Aquia Drive from the stables. They stabbed one in the shoulder,another in the shoulder and a third in the face with a sharp object.?The wounded horses were said not to be seriously injured, though.
  
  Not content with that viciousness, our vandals also trashed four parked Stafford school buses next to the paddock, denting, breaking and tearing things up. It's thought they also were responsible for bashing numerous mail boxes in the 1300 block of Aquia Drive during the same spree.
  
  This version of the horse stabbing event differed from one provided by an owner of two of the injured horses. Cyndie Scott claimed they were stabbed during the day inside the barn, and security cameras focused there logically would reveal such.
  
  Whenever and whatever the particulars, the crimes--which were yet to be sorted out at this writing--have one distinction for sure.. They join a short but storied list of other really notable criminal events here in the Harbour.
  
  You'll recall we harbored a really professional gang of teens a couple years ago. They burgled the safe from the Clubhouse Restaurant and hit several other businesses in the Fredericksburg area, skillfully working with ski masks, walkie-talkies and tight coordination. Except they finally got caught and jailed and convicted, with instrumental help from Aquia's police.
  
  Then there was a secretive dominatrix. Honestly. And illegally. She advertised on the Internet for customers for her Sex Dungeon, ratcheer in the Harbour. Our finest finally caught her, too, but probably didn't horse-whip her.
  
  Should such publicized affronts concern us greatly? Of course. We have a reputation to uphold as an unusually safe? community in a county that also is comparatively tame. Our sense of security must be maintained, our police supported. Our property values mustn't flag; they likely represent most owners' primary financial investments.
  
  In any event, we have little to worry about now concerning property values, unless it's to gripe over the tax consequences of our ever-elevating assessments.
  
  Of course we are ashamed that such abominations as animal cruelty could have happened here. At the same time, remember we can be proud of the high quality of virtually all the youngsters we have raised here.
  
  * * * * * Who immediately comes to mind is 2nd Lt. Jeff Graham. As you may have heard, he got killed by an Iraqi bomb last month. This fine young man and his family had once lived here for some time, with Jeff graduating from Brooke Point High School with honors in 1998. He was on the school's golf team.
  
  His death brings to mind the consoling thought that our community has established a permanent Sept. 11 memorial garden to honor those like him who have given their lives in the war on terror.
  
  We had a ceremony on Sept. 11, 2002, to commemorate that special place, now illuminated, with a large Aquia stone, plaque and American flag just across the bridge into section two, where most residents can see it daily.
  
  --And remember fondly the sacrifice of Jeff, plus our two residents who earlier died in the terrorist attack on the Pentagon: civilian employees Marian Serva and Martha Reszke.