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.

  • This corner of Bush country--Doin' right well - Ben Blankenship


    Prediction: Aquia Harbour and Stafford County will vote just as strongly for
    Bush this time as we did in the last presidential election.

    Bush got 62 percent of the vote in the county versus Gore. Why should he
    do just as well against Kerry?

    One reason is the war in Iraq. And lately, Kerry is turning much more
    antiwar. Here's? William Weld, former GOP governor of Massachusetts,
    writing in the Wall Street Journal: "...the antiwar John Kerry is the real John
    Kerry...and what Sen. Kerry is now saying is what he believes," in
    considering terrorism a nuisance comparable to prostitution and illegal
    gambling.

    Another reason is the county's recent population influx. I'd say the growth
    of defense-connected jobs hereabouts has brought in many more GOP
    than Democrat voters. Folks related to the military, according to a recent
    Military Times survey, favor Bush over Kerry by a margin of a mere 72 to 17
    percent.

    Another indication of lack of a contest here: Few political bumper stickers
    and competing yard signs. The outcome for Stafford has never really been
    in doubt, or for Virginia either.

    For Aquia, I guess you saw the outcome of our board of
    director elections. Let me just commend all three candidates
    for the two open slots on the seven-member board. Thank you, Adam
    Hawkins, Arlene Limas, and John Reinboldt, for stepping forward to serve
    our community. They stand tall. Nobody lost, although Hawkins and Reinboldt
    must volunteer untold hours over the next three years officially. Limas can cheer from the sidelines.


    Beyond politics, here's another prediction. Someday we'll look back on
    these early years of the 21st century as the glory era for local real estate
    values. Aren't they something?

    Stafford median sales price for homes in July hit $293,800, up 13 percent in
    a year. Astounding.

    Aquia Harbour values have shot up even more. For the summer months
    this year, the average price of the 72 Harbour homes sold was $350
    thousand. In June-August of 2003, average price of 58 homes sold was
    $276 thousand, and in the summer of 2002, for 86 homes it was $236
    thousand. One home I commented upon in an earlier column, and featured
    in a Free Lance-Star story (3615 Aquia)? sold for a recent-years high of $850
    thousand.???

    Some observers say the sales pace is slowing now. But that's true every
    fall. Regardless, let's hope that when the price bubble runs out of steam,
    and it will, its chart? will look like a plateau and not a mountain peak.