Why mess with something that’s not broken?
What the heck, Board of Supervisors? Let me see if I have your story straight: You were surprised when the Williamsburg City Council ordered a feasibility study about breaking up with you. Your feelings were hurt. You decided to break up with them before they could break up with you. I see it all the time in pre-teens. I just expect better from the adults we elect to represent us.
My kids and I are all K-12 products of WJCC Schools. I’m proud to teach here. I love living here. Children in Williamsburg and James City County play on the same teams, join the same scout troops, walk to each other’s homes. Why should they have to go to separate schools?
When the City Council announced it was commissioning this study, I thought it was just nonsense. Why would anyone want to take one excellent school district and break it into two mediocre ones? I still think it’s nonsense, but I’m taking it seriously now. When did we have a conversation about this as a community? How much time was given for public comment before you decided to break what’s been working well for generations? As far as I know, the only three people in town who think tonight’s action was a good idea are the three individuals who voted for it in closed session. I stand against this rash decision.
Andrea Claxton, James City County
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What is the government responsibility?
After two years of research and interviews to study the impact of racism and racial injustice on Williamsburg residents, the Truth & Reconciliation Committee came up with five recommendations. It wants tax incentives, tax advantaged opportunities, as well as subsidies and grants. It’s not clear where the subsidies and grants will come from, but I imagine the committee wants the taxpayer to fund those as well. First of all, it is not the responsibility of the government to use taxpayer funds to invest in private businesses. Secondly, the committee could look into talking to private venture capitalists who do invest in these types of developments.
We already pay high taxes that are funneled to local private businesses to pay for some of their advertising bills. That’s also wrong.
Robert Simmons, Williamsburg
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A moral evil
The state of Florida has decided that its children should be taught that slavery was not really such a bad thing. It has mandated that its children should be told that those who were enslaved with chains around their necks and could not marry, own property, vote or learn how to read or write somehow benefitted — what? In what universe is this thinking possible? It’s like saying the Jews benefitted from the Holocaust. Have we as a nation really forgotten our history? Abraham Lincoln, who governed our country at war with itself, still provides a lesson that should never be forgotten. He insisted that slavery was a moral evil and committed “to do right as God gave him to see the right.” What followed was the Emancipation Proclamation. Americans cannot allow this evil in Florida to spread to the rest of the nation. It must be resisted at all costs. Vote!
Mike Dallas, Williamsburg
