When this pond was first put in, I wrote the developers, the West Virginia Department of Highways, the Berkeley County Planning Commission and the County Commission about this problem. Each placed the responsibility on someone else and nothing was ever done.
Recently, this issue became personal when my husband missed going into that pond by mere inches. Something must be done about this hazard before someone is injured or killed.
Rebekah Malatt
Hedgesville, W.Va.
Office building does not top township priority list
To the editor:
Think about how much information you receive prior to items being passed that affect you.
Did you know that this township is planning to acquire land to build a multi-million dollar complex just so that it can house all of its offices in one place?
Didn't they just build a new town building a few years ago? This is at a time when people are losing jobs at local companies and seeing their own personal expenses increase. This was on the agenda for the supervisors 'workshop on April 11. But unless you thought to just show up at that meeting, you would have had no clue.
That's because the agenda mysteriously was absent from the township Web site! Items are constantly being added to or deleted from township agendas up to the time of the meeting. Meeting minutes are at least four weeks behind being posted. A lot of times you only have 30 or 45 days to comment. Let me ask you this: How can an interested party discuss an item that is pertinent to them if it doesn't show up as an item for discussion until the day - if then - of the meeting?
People do have jobs and other commitments. But if they were given more than a few hours of notice, I'm sure that they would make arrangements to either write or be present to make their thoughts known.
Why has the public been kept in the dark?
A new municipal complex should be the last thing this township is spending our tax dollars on. Our basic infrastructure - roads, water and sewer - needs to be addressed before this.
Those of you in older sections of this township, think, when was the last time your road was maintained correctly? And I don't mean just tarred and chipped.
And how long did it take to have your roads cleared of ice and snow this winter? They will be discussing this Taj Mahal at the workshop May 2 at 7 p.m. Mark your calendars. And remember to vote Tuesday, May 15, for supervisors who are willing to listen and invite public comment and not be concerned with their own private agendas.
Terry Marie Sebold
Waynesboro, Pa.
Global warming didn't help heating bill much
To the editor:
I'm just a dumb old country boy. I certainly would not dare to take issue with Mr. Gore and his Nobel Prize success. I am searching for the answer to two questions, however.
Many, many years ago, some Vikings discovered a new land. It was covered with tall green trees and rolling green grass.
They were so impressed with their newly discovered beauty that they named it Greenland. Now that Greenland is covered with ice, are we to assume that the black, ugly soot belching from the giant diesel engines of the Vikings' ships was the cause for this drastic change?
Writings from some historians may argue that the Vikings reversed the names of Greenland and Iceland to confuse their enemies. OK, let's reverse the question.
Have any of the learned scientists looked at the Earth's gradually lessening distance to the Sun?
We're supposed to be a Christian nation. Have Mr. Gore and his rallying "tree huggers" read the Bible to see that we've been there and done that?
Finally, I'm glad the warm winter and spring are finally over. They affected everything but my heating bill!
Wake up America, and brace yourselves for the excuse of raising government costs to fight global warming.
Jack Hinton
Westminster, Md.
