Letters to the Editor

A call to action: school arts funding—you can help!

May 9, 2022

Dear Editor:May 10th is a big day! After a long effort, there’s some good news: Loudoun County Schools Superintendent Ziegler’s current budget proposal finally acknowledges the need to invest $3.6 million into the arts to provide adequate staffing for safety and to achieve equity with athletic staffing.  BUT – he only wants to provide $1.2 million this year…

Is Western Loudoun already gone?

April 6, 2022

I was pleased to read your article in the Blue Ridge Leader, in the sense that I’m glad there is at least some conversation about what is happening in Western Loudoun due to the abuse of the Cluster concept.  We live adjacent to the proposed “Westview at Short Hill” development by Carrington and have sent…

Is the policy in western Loudoun to protect rural areas?

April 3, 2022

Dear Editor: Laura Longley’s “Is Western Loudoun already gone?” certainly brings to mind Joni Mitchell’s lyric “they paved paradise … you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.” We live on a 36-acre farm just down the hill from the 47-acre property mentioned in the article, soon to be turned into a Cluster subdivision…

Let’s take this month to celebrate Black History Month

February 19, 2022

Dear Editor: During February, Black History Month is celebrated to recognize the hardships of African Americans, and their achievements. In the past, and even now African Americans were heavily discriminated against, survived the cruelty of slavery, and later on would be segregated against because of their race. Water fountains, bathrooms, and schools would be labeled…

The cycle of unsustainable annexation must stop

February 2, 2022

Dear Editor: After reading about the proposed application for annexation of a property on the north end of Purcellville, the former Warner Brook property – currently named Purcellville Road, LLC – I was again reminded of, and unnerved by, the basic tenet of these proposals: the idea that developers can solve the very problems that…

Small and local rocks

January 12, 2022

Dear Editor: After reading the BRL’s latest article exposing the mess at the Gable Farm dump site outside Hamilton, I determined to write a letter congratulating the paper for its determined pursuit of this scandal. I was reminded of my promise by the latest issue with its story on the hot mic catching a developer and town…

Practice what you teach

December 18, 2021

Dear Editor:  When the opportunity came up to put my name in the hat for the Loudoun County Public School Board I thought to myself, this could be an opportunity for the school board to show the community that they’re listening.    I figured as a Puerto Rican, in a biracial marriage, with a special…

The con of the century

October 21, 2021

Dear Editor: Ocean’s Eleven was an iconic heist film about the con of the century. The booty was 150 million. That’ll buy seventy multi-million-dollar luxury estates, each with a couple of new Land Rovers parked in the driveway.  The 5.3 trillion COVID stimulus dollars that the Washington overseers have exacted from us over the last…

Paul Siker, a leader for making Virginia greater than ever

October 12, 2021

Dear Editor: One of your recent letters aimed to point out the “distinct differences” between Paul Siker and Dave LaRock in the race for 33rd District’s Delegate vote.  It did contrast the two candidates, but it misled the big picture.  Incumbent LaRock is a reactionary, reflecting his major supporters: the Family Federation of Virginia is a…

Let’s expand our parks and green spaces

October 9, 2021

Dear Editor: As Purcellville has grown, we have added the necessary infrastructure so our citizens can lead healthy, safe, and rewarding lives. In the time since my family moved to Purcellville, in 2002, I’ve seen the construction of three new schools, three new shopping centers, hundreds of new houses, a new road, among many other…