Editorials Etc.

If you've got something to say, this is where it goes. We're lucky to have some disparate points of view in Aquia Harbour. Make sure that yours is included.

Nov 2003

  • The Wait for the Second Gate - By Clint Thatcher

    I was surprised to see that 82 members of AHPOA voted for the second gate. With as much negative information as we saw I expected the vote to be unanimous against the gate. At the annual meeting it was mentioned that they had been told they were not being negative enough. I can only imagine that was from someone who is as against the second gate as the people who wrote the reports in Harbour View. I was also surprised to learn that Garrett Corp had written a rebuttal letter but no effort was made to get that information out to the members so we could way both sides of the issue.     (Click Here to read Garrett Corp's Rebuttel from the September Website Editorials PDF Format)

    There are several reasons I can see to build a second gate but it has to be done on our terms, not dictated by any outside influence. Let me list my reasons for wanting a second gate:

     
    1. I live in the third section, my children attend Widewater Elementary School. It takes over an hour for my children to get home from school because the bus has to travel on Rt 1 to get here. A second gate would cut that trip down to no more than 20 minutes including stops to discharge passengers before reaching my home. Having a gate in the back sections would keep these buses off Route 1, thus helping to achieve the goals of the school board in creating safe routes to school.
    2. Several thousand cars pass through the main gate every day. At times the backup gets quite long. A second gate would distribute that load and reduce everyone's commute time. Those of you living in section 1, imagine not having 1/3-1/2 of the cars you currently have to contend with on the road when you are trying to get out in the morning.
    3. VRE has had a station on the Widewater peninsula on their plans for years. In talking with VRE management it has been stated more than once that two things are holding up construction of that station. Aquia Harbour access to the station is one big factor, the other is Stafford County approval.
    4. Emergency vehicles take as much as 20 minutes to reach the back of the Harbour. With access to the back sections available that time could be reduced significantly.
    5. If a major storm were heading this way and Harbour residents were ordered to evacuate, the main gate could not handle all the traffic that would be required to accomplish the evacuation in a timely manner. The emergency gate is not located in a place that would help with this situation as it puts us out on country roads that are narrow and closer to the river than we are now.
    6. As many people have stated, we were promised a second gate when we moved here. Quicker access to our home would increase the equity we have in our homes.
    7. As part of the development at Brent's Mill, Garrett Corp is proposing a shopping center right outside the second gate. How much more convenient would that be for those of us in the back of the Harbour?


    Much has been said about the cost of manning a second gate. I believe an unmanned gate with key card access could cut this cost greatly and possibly eliminate the cost if we agree to pay a fee for the cards. That way, only those who want it would have to pay for the cards and gate access.

    If you would like to see a second gate built on our terms please contact me at highspeed@ibscity.com.

    Thank you,
    Clint Thatcher
    3010 Constitution Dr.
    Stafford, VA 22554
    540-720-9931
     


     
  • County Elections: Yawn...But watch out, Jack - By Ben Blankenship

    If we wish to throw the rascals out, we may as well forget about the November elections this year. All eight candidates on the ballot we get in the Aquia District (including first section residents) are running unopposed.

    And seven of the eight in Griffis-Widewater (all you folks in sections two and three) are also unopposed. Even there, there's really no rascal involved to throw out. Rather, Aquia Harbour's very own Jack Cavalier is up for reelection.

    Politically the guy would never be classified as a rascal. I've never even seen him holler or get hot under the collar. Before winning his seat on the board of supervisors last time, He had served a good while on Aquia Harbour's board of directors and was pleasant enough.

    Even more to the point, making it doubly difficult for Harbourites showing up to vote in Griffis-Widewater, Jack's opponent Joe Graziano is really no rascal either--especially if you see nothing wrong with being a declared Republican, and also being one of our very own Aquia Harbour neighbors to boot. Frankly, I can't choose between the two. Truly. This contest could be a cliff-hanger.

    Although both look like good folks, they don't live in the first section like I do. We residents in the first section must toil another couple of years under the leadership of Kandy Hilliard on the board of supervisors. Last time, we in the first section preferred then-incumbent and fellow Harbourite Ken Mitchell. But most other folks in the Aquia District voted for Hilliard, a Democrat of all things. Even with that liability, however, here's aying she'll be hard to beat if she decides to run again. She has been working the crowd, I hear.

    We residents in the first section, furthermore, may as well stay home if there are more important things that need doing, like raking leaves. Oh, it's not that we get to vote for a new candidate on the ballot,? our very own Bob Hunt, for the school board seat earlier vacated by our very own David Kerr. It's similar to the situation for section two and three residents who will see our very own Dana Reinboldt's name on the ballot for the school board seat also. She's taking the place of our very own Barbara Cole, who decided to hang it up after a couple of distinguished terms.

    If Dana's name rings a bell, it's likely because her husband John has been a quite vocal presence lately on Aquia Harbour's board of directors and visibly in these pages via his column. More importantly, Dana has done much volunteer work in and in behalf of Stafford's public schools for quite a few years, and independently of husband John, thank you very much.

    A point I'm trying to make is that our friends in Aquia Harbour have long participated in the county's civic affairs.? And not just those mentioned above. For example, friend Chris Hoppe is chairman of the county's parks and recreation committee and friend Bill Cook--who cut his teeth and some others' for year on the Harbour's board--is a member of the county planning commission.

    Presuming you haven't fallen asleep in reading this column on local politics, because of the lack of red-hot issues, you may very well do so at the polls.

    Aside from the school and supervisor elections, all our ballots show unopposed candidates also for the six other slots up for election.

    There are our State's bigshots and Stafford residents John Chichester and William Howell, up for senator and representative. And there's commonwealth's attorney Daniel Chichester whose name is pronounced the same since he is John's kid brother. (Kid? Danny has held his office 32 years! He lived several years here in the Harbour). Then there's sheriff Charley Jett (who once served Aquia Harbour as a gate guard), commissioner of revenue Scott Mayausky, and treasurer Elizabeth Dailey. They are all a lock.

    They are, that is, unless there's a last-minute drive for some write-in candidate. Considering the likelihood of the pitiful turnout at the polls, anything could happen. For if the pattern of these off-year elections holds, we'll do good in the county to exceed the most recent 32 percent off-year turnout of registered voters.

    I don't know why so few of us vote. Maybe we should change the election to a time of year when leaf raking isn't so pressing a chore. Either that or dictate to the county GOP and Demo organizations that they must run somebody, anybody, to assure a contest. Come to think of it, that's pretty much what's happened in some years past.