Response times should be a non-issue
I write regarding inaccuracies in Ms. Lisa Ownby’s commentary on May 31, specifically her statements about voluntary fire department response times and homeowner insurance rates.
I have lived in the Croaker area of James City County for over 40 years, serving as sheriff of Williamsburg and James City County for 20 of those years. During this time, I have come to know many of the people staffing Station 1 in Toano. I find them to be dedicated, well-trained fire and rescue personnel. No complaints regarding slow or inadequate response times have ever come to my attention. According to the county website, JCC fire stations provide support within six minutes, well within the 14-minute standard set by NFPA 1720 (National Fire Protection Association), Table 4.3.2, Minimum Requirements for Volunteer Fire Department Response Capabilities.
Regarding Ms. Ownby’s statement about higher homeowner insurance rates for county residents due to inadequate fire response times, I spoke with my local insurance agent who said she had never heard anything like that. She said the rates vary, depending on proximity to a fire station or to a fire hydrant, or both, but not the fire station response time.
Someone running for public office should be careful about making inaccurate and uneducated statements.
Robert J. Deeds, James City County
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How do we repair damages from slavery?
I appreciate Terri Osborne’s response to Laura D. Hill’s prior op-ed about racial reparations. There are many ways to make reparations. When we made reparations to 120,000 Japanese Americans imprisoned in concentrations during WWII, we made reparation payments of $20,000 each — no questions asked. And the American people paid the money because our elected officials did this in our name. So there is precedent for payments to individuals and their descendants.
While no living person has a direct history of owning enslaved humans, white Americans have benefited. Fifty percent of the United States’ gross national product in 1850 was rooted in slavery’s cheap production of cotton; the cotton manufacturing industries depended on it and shipping that transported it to England. The inherited wealth of many of us today can be traced to those sources.
In addition, Social Security benefits, GI Bill education and home loans that allowed many 20th century white families to attain middle class status were generally not available to Black people following WWII, and federal loan programs that red-lined neighborhoods with any Black residents crippled home ownership for many; these factors impacting living people today contribute to white folks having 10 times as much wealth as our Black neighbors.
Let’s keep talking about creative ways to repair the damages we citizens, through our government, have done on our fellow Americans.
David Meredith Hindman, James City County
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Don’t try to fix what’s not broken
If, indeed, Williamsburg/James City County has an “outstanding school division” per Mayor Doug Pons, why has City Council voted to authorize a study regarding the feasibility of implementing an independent Williamsburg school division?
Williamsburg taxpayers should ask 1.) What precipitated this sudden concern? 2.) Who is going to do this “study?” and 3.) How much is this this going to cost the city’s taxpayers?
A simple call to West Point or Poquoson should give Council an idea of what running an independent school division will cost.
Is there an ulterior motive for approving this study or does Council just not have enough to do?
If it ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it!
John Kurec, Williamsburg
