Likes new paper feature

Editor, Smithfield Times

I really like the “Readers Have Asked” column.

I’m always heading to newspapers or TV news to find out what “that whatever I saw” was all about. Usually I’m disappointed. The news is silent and I never find out what the mysterious happening was.

I also like learning things, so this week’s column was doubly-good — answering my curiosity about the cleared field and explaining the agricultural process.

Thanks! (and keep it up).

Lynne Hundley
Carrollton

EDITOR’S NOTE: Do you have a question about something that you’ve seen and can’t explain in Isle of Wight or Surry Counties? Send an email to news@smithfieldtimes.com and we will try to find an explanation.

Double standards

Editor, Smithfield Times

This letter is in rebuttal to the letter to the Editor on Jan. 25 titled “Business Anywhere.”

As a resident of Isle of Wight County for 47 years and a business woman for just as long, I am concerned over Mr. and Mrs. Faulkner’s letter to the Editor.

She is correct that we should be aware of what type of business goes on in our county Days Point Road. However, she continues to take this issue to the extreme.

There are several businesses on Days Point Road. They do not carry inventory within their home offices. There is no need for their clients to visit their office. Invoicing is done by mail or internet. There is no need for classified business Ads. These are home offices.

However, there are huge acreages on Days Point or adjacent to, such as the Aberdeen Farm the old FFA Camp and the former Monette properties. These properties for years have been set up for business and business entertainment. These events were wonderful for our town and county and helped identify our area as a place one wants to visit.

So now I feel we have a misunderstanding of the residents of what opportunities and taxes are being lost.

It is my understanding that the Faulkners’ main concern is the additional traffic on Days point and the disruption to the neighborhood with the traffic flow. Did they not know that the property behind their home was zoned business or that the office buildings there were not going to be torn down to accommodate the fact that they want to live in the quiet country?

I must say we have double standards here, knowing that the Faulkners have run several classified ads in the past two years for their business at 18410 Days Point Road offering fabrics, crafts, zippers, buttons, ribbons etc. and that they maintain an inventory on their garage.

This is not a home office. It is an advertised retail business, inviting customers into the store and providing sales receipts and charging sales taxes.

This is a Retail Business and clearly a double standard by their interpretation.

Judy Crook Turner
Smithfield

Disheartening, not surprising

Editor, Smithfield Times

Our county has long been known for its propensity to slant toward racial bias, whether directly or indirectly, whenever there’s an opportunity. The slant favors the “racial majority.” However, continually there has been the expectation of many of us in this county that fairness and what’s truly right will prevail.

The manner in which the Isle of Wight Board of Supervisors selected the chairman on Jan. 5 is alarming. It is disheartening that four of the supervisors just happened to opt at this term to change from the tradition of past practice in selecting a chairman. Yet, the reason each had for his decision was not clearly verbalized. They stooped so low as to minimize the role of chairman.

The perception is that the decision to change was made prior to the official board meeting. It is glaring that it was a pre-planned decision by individuals on the board to maintain someone of the before mentioned “majority” as chairman. Since Supervisor Rudolph Jefferson does not hail from that majority, he was simply “passed over.”

Their decision was not about Supervisor Jefferson. The decision was about maintaining one from the before mentioned “majority” in that visible spot as chairman. Clearly, Supervisor Jefferson was not included. None of the other supervisors shared with him or afforded him the opportunity to have a say until the time of the Board of Supervisors meeting.

It is clear that Supervisors William McCarty, Dick Grice, Joel Acre and yes, Chairman Rex Alphin, inconspicuously consorted to ensure they obtained their goal.

In his quest to gloss over what the four of them had done, Rex Alphin applauded Supervisor Jefferson. That is so typical.

I commend Supervisor Jefferson for taking the high road. The constituents of the Hardy District do not take it as being slighted. To the constituents of the Newport, Windsor, Smithfield and Carrsville districts, I say don’t get mad. Instead, get active in this local area of government.

Valerie Evans
Smithfield

A list to protest

Editor, Smithfield Times

We are people of the Land, not the Sea.

Judge Anna Von Reitz has stated, “From the very beginning the states have been the sovereign units of government. Any power of “federal government” has been delegated to it by the states, not the other way round. What we call the “federal government” isn’t a government. It never has been. It is a governmental services corporation, which is a different matter entirely.” 

Thomas Williams, who has a live show Thursday night at 8 p.m. on “Spreaker” stated, “The women who marched and protested, I say why not march against the U.N. which has no Charter or sovereignty.  Why not protest against “The System?” March against the indoctrination programs called “education” or the vaccinations programs! California offered candy to children for vaccinations without parental knowledge! Why didn’t anyone march over that?

Where are the marches for the veterans lying on the streets because they have no homes or food? Where are the marches for the 500,000 children who go missing each year in our country never to return? Where are the marches for the billions sent to Israel for weapons to kill other people? Where are the marches for that? Or the increased taxes? Why haven’t we marched against the Federal Reserve, a rogue entity, which isn’t even in Charter?  Why haven’t we all marched against the IRS?”

We need to fix our government. It is up to us.  The candidates paid by international bankers won’t because they work for them. They do not work for us! We need to get our organic Constitution back and not the one of 1871. Our government should have always been “of the people and by the people!” Let’s march for that! Where is our collective mind anyway?

Linda Steffey
Carrollton