Monthly Archives: January 2019

RUSSELL BAKER – gone for now!

A past conversation with Russell Baker

A past conversation with Russell Baker

Russell Baker never thought he was eternal, and may not have appreciated how much pleasure he gave us all as a reporter, humorist and columnist, but surely he’d rather we thought of him – as just “gone for now.”

In truth, Russell Baker left us on January 22, 2019, at 93 years of age, after a fall, after a lifetime of having written barrels of ink on almost anything you can imagine, talking more hours than many people live, and hosting Masterpiece theater.

Russell was the local boy who made good as he was from nearby Morrisonville.

Russell won the Pulitzer Prize for his writing, commentary and his own biography, “Growing Up,” about how three strong women helped him “amount to something.” Continue reading

Lovettsville’s Sun Car?

The Tesla Model 3

The Tesla Model 3

The biggest challenge to the burgeoning population of electric cars is that the energy source be a renewable source, solar or wind, and not some fossil fuel.

We are not there yet but it is becoming more widely possible to fire up an electric car with a renewable energy source, solar or wind.

Here’s the challenge –

You plug your car into your house outlet but the source of energy is, to choose one regional example, a West Virginia fossil fuel source – coal. Continue reading

Justice Delayed

Judicial Forum – Lorrie Sinclair, Esq

Judicial Forum – Lorrie Sinclair, Esq

There are Lovettsville residents with cases in court, complaining that it takes too long to get their day in court.

The relevant jurisdiction is the 20th Judicial Circuit that covers Loudoun, Rappahannock and Fauquier Counties.

This Circuit Court has suffered a succession of judicial vacancies that has caused cases to back up, be delayed, not get heard, or to get heard very slowly; there simply haven’t been enough judges to handle the caseload; those who have to go to court are frustrated.

They live the uncertainty, wonder at the elusive outcome of a case, pay fees, and cost, still waiting for that final answer – the disposition in their cases.

They slowly adopt the view that any justice is a coincidence of the system, not a consequence of it.  That is an unfortunate observation but well justified. Continue reading

The Last Straw

Annee Olden & Maureen Morris

Annee Olden & Maureen Morris

There has been a move in restaurants and retail stores including Starbucks to reconsider using any plastic straws.  Also Marriot Hotels.  And Salamander.  And Mo’s coffee shop in Lovettsville.

Several years ago a marine biologist posted a video of a sea turtle off the Costa Rica’s coast with a plastic straw stuck up its nose.  They used pliers to extract the straw.  31 Million have since seen the painful procedure –  .  The reaction has been outrage and a correlative drive to ban plastic straws. Continue reading

Are Women Equal?

Do you support the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) for Women?

Equality_silouhette“Yes,” a Lovettsville woman said.

A few moments passed.

“Is that a trick question?,” she asked.

If the Virginia General Assembly supports the Amendment, constitutional experts agree, this ERA Amendment, first introduced in Congress in one earlier version in the 1920s, would finally become part of our U.S. Constitution.

Thirty-Seven states have ratified the Equal Rights Amendment, one short of the Thirty-Eight states needed for passage.

The Lovettsville woman added, “Virginia should be the State that makes passage possible.”

In Virginia, in the past, the upper House, the Senate, has supported the Amendment, but not the lower house.  There is a push to change that when the legislature convenes in January.

Opposed to the Amendment, the Vice Chairman for the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, Ralph Buona (R-Ashburn), blocked any consideration of the Amendment, and said, “The General Assembly doesn’t care what we think.”

“If that’s true,” said one ERA supporter, “then why do they send any requests to the legislature.” Continue reading