Editorial: Remembering on Memorial Day
Fewer deaths as military operations wind down, but 22 veterans a day die of suicide.
In Arlington over the coming Memorial Day weekend, the organization TAPS, or Tragedy Assistance for Survivors, will hold its 20th annual Military Survivor seminar and Good Grief camp for young survivors, children of all ages. TAPS offers support to anyone who is grieving the death of someone who died in the military, whether from combat, suicide, terrorism, homicide, negligence, accidents or illness. http://www.taps.org/
Letter: Not the Answer
To the Editor: Delegate Ken Plum (D-36) tries to make the argument for expanded Medicaid rolls (“Contrasting Views,” Reston Connection, May 7-13, 2014), touting “free” government money, but inhibits rational argument with his inability to resist cheap partisan invective.
Column: What Price Business?
Last month Governor Terry McAuliffe announced that Virginia will participate in the Business Incentives Initiative, a joint project of The Pew Charitable Trusts (PEW) and the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness (CREC) and six other states (Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Oklahoma and Tennessee) to “reform economic development incentive reporting policies and practices.” While millions of dollars are spent on tax incentives and grants to lure business to Virginia each year, there is no evidence that the programs are actually working as intended. There is a national debate across the country about the necessity and value of tax incentives to encourage economic development.
Column: Why Doesn’t Reston Recycle?
Spring is here. The sky is a clear, lovely blue. The Reston Farmers Market is open and bustling with festive shoppers. Flowers are blooming all around us. Yet, as we walk the sidewalks, plazas, and the pathways around our lovely lakes, it is also hard to miss the unsightly plastic bottles and aluminum cans strewn along the walkways, in the yards, and worst of all, floating in our beautiful lakes.
Editorial: Virginia Proves Elections Matter
Health and economic issues are entwined.
Some people continue to assert, either with their words or by simply abstaining, that voting just doesn’t matter. Here in Virginia, nearly every day we prove that is incorrect. All of Virginia’s elected representatives who are elected by the entire state are of the same political party. They are all Democrats: Gov. Terry McAuliffe, Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, Attorney General Mark Herring and Virginia’s two U.S. Senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine.
Still Curious, But Maybe Not Dying
Although one never knows, especially if that one is living in "cancerville." And by "cancerville" I mean, euphemistically speaking, anywhere where one of us diagnosed with cancer is living. Living being the operative word. Still, as my column from a few weeks ago entitled, "Dying With Curiosity" discussed, cancer patients are often besieged by their subconscious, changing fact into fiction and manipulating feelings into inevitabilities. If only there was a switch to turn off the mind games that don’t exactly mind their "man-ners" or "women-ers" for that fact, I’d flick it in a second. Cancer creates physical problems – as we all know, but I have to tell you, it’s the mental problems that can be just as deadly.
A Tale of Two Seasons
It is not the best of times, nor is it the worst of times; it is, simply put: the time between the end of winter and the beginning of summer. It is the season known as spring, but more to the point of this column, it is the time when, if the weather cooperates/accommodates, I won’t need to turn the heat or the air conditioning on in my house. I will instead be able to ride the wave, so to speak, and not incur any post-winter/pre-summer utility bills. Possibly, I might even be able to pay off my oil-heating budget bill balance for the 2013/2014 season – before the 2014/2015 budget cycle begins, and hopefully not have to cool down the house at the same time – due to an early summer – so that on the day my oil-heating bill is due, it won’t be competing for cash with my upstart electric/air conditioning bill for money not well spent and for money hardly in abundance.
Contrasting Views
Commentary
Last week I had the honor of meeting Stan Brock, the legendary “Wild Kingdom” TV star and founder and president of Remote Area Medical (RAM). He held a press conference in Richmond to announce the details of expanding the Remote Area Medical program in Virginia. (www.RAMUSA.org) Already RAM sponsors a once-a-year health clinic in Wise County in Southwest Virginia where thousands come on a weekend for the only medical care they will receive all year. The expanded effort in Virginia will be headed by Dr. Vicki Weiss who has been providing volunteer eye care with RAM for over 15 years. Also participating in the press conference was Dr. Teresa Gardiner who serves on the Health Wagon in the region that was featured on 60 Minutes recently.
Father and Son "Twogether"
As a born, bread and buttered Bostonian (Newton Centre, a suburb, to be specific), one of my enduring and genetic passions has been to live and die (figuratively speaking; this is not a cancer column) for The Boston Red Sox. My father sold concessions at Fenway Park (the stadium home of the Bosox since 1912), during the Depression when he was a little boy (not yet an adolescent even). He was nicknamed "Beezo," (his given name was Benet, although he was always called Barry) so he could gain full acceptance to a local knothole gang. Named after the wooden planks which surrounded the old Braves Field in Boston (a National League team called Boston its home as well back in the day), the kids ("gangs") would stand and peer through the knotholes in the wooden planks which otherwise blocked their view. It was a privilege and an honor for my father to be so connected to the game this way. He grew up loving baseball, and as a parent, he passed his love of the game on to me – and my brother.
Editorial: Trending in the Right Direction
Commitment to ending homelessness shows progress, but more affordable housing is needed.
On one night in late January, local jurisdictions in our area fanned out to count the number of people who were literally homeless. Fairfax County released its numbers last week; Arlington and Alexandria will do so in the near future. In Fairfax County, the commitment in 2010 to end homelessness in 10 years has resulted in significant progress, even in the wake of the great recession. The number of people literally homeless decreased by a third from 2008 to 2014, from 1,835 to 1,225 counted this year. Many non-profit organizations have partnered to prevent homelessness one family or individual at a time for those on the brink and to house chronically homeless individuals. There is so much still to be done.
Reston Farmers Market Opens With SNAP Saturday, May 3
Independent Progressive
Question: What is the surest sign that spring has finally arrived? Answer: The Reston Farmers Market opens this Saturday at Lake Anne Village Center. The Market is back, stronger than ever: 27 of the 28 farmer-vendors return for the 2014 season, along with the problem-solving volunteers from the Fairfax Master Gardeners. And, there are some interesting and important additions. In the off-season, Market volunteers (Fran and I) recruited rancher and author, Forrest Pritchard of Smith Meadows Farm. Mr. Pritchard wrote best-selling “Gaining Ground,” the story of converting his traditional family farm into a wholly grass-fed operation. His farm adds to an already strong offering of quality meats in Reston. Smith Meadows also brings home-made pastas to the Market, to go with existing offerings including: the only fresh seafood stand in a County market; four quality bakeries; an impressive selection of fruits and veggies—including Sunnyside’s organics and Potomac’s ecoganics; fine goat and cow cheeses; honey; Virginia Vistas’ always flowering plants; and Kettle Corn.
Local Students Write Poetry and Reap Reward
To the Editor: Perhaps when your school is named for a famous poet, a flair for rhythmic verse comes naturally. This appears to be the case for students attending Langston Hughes Middle School in Reston.
Taxes, Taxes, Taxes
To the Editor: The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors (BOS) has been wrestling with the question of how to meet their self-imposed demands for more services and how to raise revenue (read "taxes") to support those demands. The first source is the real estate tax - the tax on our homes and businesses. The real estate tax is a function of the value of our property and a function of the rate of tax to be imposed based on the value of our property. Suffice to say, this is a game that is played each year - whatever you call it, about 15.5 percent more will have come out of our pockets over the past three years.
Southwestern Virginia
Commentary
For many years Jane and I have used our spring break to visit locations throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia. This year was no exception as we went to the southwestern region of the state. Although we drove about 225 miles to Roanoke from Reston, we were not yet in what the locals call Southwest Virginia. In fact, only by driving another 134 miles down I81 to Abingdon did we get to what many consider the doorstep to Southwest Virginia. It would have been possible to drive another 111 miles west with a short swing into Tennessee to get to the western-most point in Virginia at Cumberland Gap. That point is further west than Detroit. Regardless of how far you travel, the natural beauty of the mountains and streams in this part of the state are unequaled, and the local people are wonderful to meet.
Editorial: Past Time for Later Start Times
Teenagers are sleep deprived, and sleep deprivation takes a significant toll on safety, health and learning. We’ve known this for decades. But for decades, literally, Fairfax County Public Schools (and Montgomery County, Md.) have let a combination of reactionary blabber ("buck up and get moving;" "just tell them to go to bed earlier") and organizational resistance prevent implementing a solution to this very real problem. Getting up at 5:30 or 6 a.m. to hop on a school bus at 5:45 a.m. or even as late at 6:30 a.m. to get to school by 7:20 a.m. is not healthy for teenagers. It is nearly impossible for teenagers to go to sleep before 11 p.m. or midnight. Fairfax County high school students average six hours of sleep a night on weeknights. Research shows they need nine hours of sleep. Research has also quantified the costs of sleep deprivation.