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Established 1890 - Blackstone, Virginia, USA |
Published: Thursday, August 7th, 2008 |
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Not to worry! |
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Much has been said recently about Blackstone’s debt. The Town owes about $10
million, a sizeable sum and one that equates to about $2,600 for every man,
woman, and child in this community.
Blackstone could have avoided much of that debt by refusing
to assume ownership of the water and sewer plants at Fort Pickett, where this
town has been getting all the water it needed, and had its sewage processed
since 1942. Bringing those two plants up to modern standards, which would be
certified by the state, required a good part of the $10 million.
If Blackstone had not assumed ownership of those two vital
functions, they might have been taken over by private enterprise, and every
consumer of water and sewer services would be at the mercy of strangers.
As it is, Blackstone has excellent drinking water, and plenty
of it. Its sewage is also not polluting any streams. There are towns and cities
all over this country which would love to be in such a position, and you don’t
have to look far to find them.
Blackstone also spent a considerable sum to upgrade its
electrical distribution system. It is rare for Blackstone consumers to be
without power for as much as an hour. The Town’s electrical system provides more
than $500,000 in profits each year, which are poured back into making this town
a - |
better place to
live.
The water, sewer, and electrical systems not only provide vital
services, but they are paying-off the very debt about which some complain.
If Town officials had sat on their hands and failed to take
the bold action outlined above, they would, and should, have been run
out-of-town on a rail.
What business hasn’t been in debt at one time or another in
order to make improvements or buy machinery or something else to enable them to
better serve? Government, at any level, is big business. How many firms in
Blackstone have a budget of $24.5 million?
So, don’t worry about Blackstone’s debt. No lending agencies
are coming to get our children, repossess city hall, or sell our new fire house
and renovated Police station.
Blackstone is making its payments. One can live here as
cheaply as almost anywhere else, and a lot cheaper than in many places. Life is
good. We are safe in our homes and on our streets. Most of us have more than
enough to eat, and more blessings than we can count.
Even so, it’s always good to let elected officials know they
are being watched, if for no other reason than to remind them who they work for. |
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He must not win! |
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Southside Virginia voters, will, before the November Presidential election, hear
many times that Barack Obama is the most liberal person ever to seek the highest
office in this land. That’s a fact, but voters need to understand just what his
liberal record will mean.
He is devoted to raising taxes, a move which many see as a
sure way to ruin the economy. He believes in bigger government. It makes no
difference what he says. His record speaks for itself.
Of most importance to Americans, who believe strongly in their
right to bear arms, is his position on gun control. Obama has a long record of
favoring gun control and has either voted for or provided support for:
• A ban on all handguns
• A ban on the sale or transfer of all semi-automatic firearms.
• Ban the right to carry in every state, - - |
nationwide.
• Ban firearms in the home, even for self-protection.
Obama’s position on gun ownership would make criminals out of
good, decent Americans, who just want to be able to protect their families and
defend themselves. He supported Washington, D.C.’s total ban on handguns in the
home for self-defense.
Barack Obama is considered the most anti-gun politician ever
to set foot in Washington, and he may be just a step away from taking over the
Oval Office.
Every person who owns a firearm, every person who likes to
hunt, every person who likes to shoot, every person who wants to be able to
defend his loved ones from criminals, must not only vote against Barack Obama
but work to make sure he is defeated.
If disarming Americans is his idea of national security, he
has no business in Washington. |
On The Front Porch . . .
WITH DOUG COLEBURN
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Thoughts about mules and farming
It has been too hot in recent weeks to enjoy
the front porch, even late in the evenings. So, I have been forced to do my
thinking inside. I don’t think as well inside without the wind blowing across
the fields and where I can see a doe deer emerge from the woods with her two
spotted fawns.
Such sights inspire good and pleasant thoughts and make me
hope that perhaps this day I will see a black bear or maybe even that Mountain
Lion, which keeps showing-up unexpectedly in backyards. I’d like to see it but I
don’t want to invite it to dinner, especially if I’m the main dish.
Our fields are not green and pretty. They need mowing but I
won’t get to that until later this month. I have seen a number of pairs of quail
and I am afraid of destroying a nest if I mow now. The fields will just have to
wait. Maybe by then the cost of tractor fuel will be less, but I doubt it. That
pair of mules I sold 42 years ago would come in handy now, if I knew how to use
them.
The mules came with the farm when we bought it. I don’t
remember their names, but they were beautiful animals. One of them may have been
named Pearl. I enjoyed listening to them eat their ears of corn in their troughs
when they finished their day’s work. I can’t tell you what it sounded like but
you old timers know. It was a sound that was heard across this land every
evening before Ford, Farmall, Case, John Deere and other manufacturers made
mules obsolete. With fuel prices so high, mules may make a comeback.
The late Henry Mayton answered my ad in this newspaper when I
put the mules up for sale. He said he wanted a fine pair of mules. He was all
smiles the day he drove them down the lane and to his place in the Jonesboro
neighborhood. Sadly, Mr. Mayton told me later, one of the mules died within a
week. I don’t know what caused such a healthy-looking animal to die and I doubt
that Mr. Mayton knew. It was just one of those things. Unlike a tractor, there
are no mechanics to rebuild a mule.
Except for the wagons and plows, most of the old horse-drawn
equipment had been converted so it could be pulled with a tractor. I still have
the old wooden manure spreader. I broke the mowing machine when I hit a terrace
with it. Terraces were the “thing” back in the 1930s but I think they have
killed more farmers than they have saved soil. I sold the antique grain drill to
my neighbor across the road. Mr. Ottinger paid me all but $1 of what I was
asking. He said he never paid anyone full price. He liked the challenge of
getting a better deal.
Mr. Ottinger was a hard working farmer, who proved that a man
could make a living and support his family on a 100-acre farm that was mostly
hills. I rode a combine on his place cutting his wheat and tying 100 pound bags
of grain, that slid to the ground and which had to be picked-up and loaded onto
a truck before the day’s work was done. I think such jobs prepared me for
sitting in an office and writing stories. There had to be an easier way of
making a living than bouncing on a combine, and lifting bags of wheat.
There was one benefit, however, that doesn’t go along with
newspapering. That was sticking my feet under a farmer’s table and filling up on
things like country ham and all of the trimmings. Wholesome food and lots of it
was something you could count on in those days.
Farm wives often had to cook for their families and numerous
hired hands. I remember well the great meals prepared by such ladies as Mrs.
Wesley Irby and Mrs. Emory Jones. Mrs. Irby’s sons, fresh back from WWII, were
doing extensive farming and Mrs. Jones’ son, “Bull,” needed help at harvest
time. I’ll always be grateful to them for my experiences and for helping to
create in me a love for the soil.
The one big difference between me and a farmer is that a
farmer makes his money in the country and spends it in town while I make mine in
town and spend it in the country.
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