Having read in Sunday’s Free Lance Star an article that Orange County plans to advertise a six-cent increase in the real estate tax rate, I feel the need to express my opinion.

Because George is now 84 and I am 78-with many years of snows in our past-one would think that we should have enough experience in country living to have planned a little more sensibly in such perilous circumstances.

The recent consideration by the Orange County Board of Supervisors to reduce the planning commission from 10 to five members is not in the best interests of Orange County should this change take place.

Everyone is aware of the constitutional obligation our state representatives have to balance the budget.  What you may not be aware of is they also have an obligation to adequately fund public education.  Article VIII of the Virginia Constitution states - “The General Assembly shall provide for a system of free public elementary and secondary schools for all children of school age throughout the Commonwealth, and shall seek to ensure that an educational program of high quality is established and continually maintained.“ 

Many of our elected officials, both national and local, are committed to lowering or not raising taxes, regardless of the consequences.  In the long run, this kind of thinking could cost us more money and simultaneously provide us with less service.  A few representative examples follow.

Art is as old as fire.  Art is as old as mud.  Music is as old as the first thud of a stick against a hollow log.

George C. Shifflett Jr. is mistaken when he claims that the taxpayers of Orange County have given the Boosters club only $10,000 over the past five years.

I just want to share a few facts for those who are concerned about the recent council decision to put the general public use of the Orange Community Room on hold.

I want to address District 1 Supervisor Mark Johnson’s true-or-false statements in his campaign advertisement.

It takes the experience of going up against the big insurance industry to realize why we truly need to give it competition.

This should have been done at a regular meeting so that some people might be heard.

It is sad that so many outsiders have protested this Walmart. The

Orange is, and should be, concerned about image.

I would like to announce my candidacy for school the District 4 seat on the Orange County School Board.

I am asking you to think while you can, because what they risked and died for just might be slipping away before your eyes.

A letter in the June 18 edition of the Orange County Review, “Better jobs out there than Walmart” got me thinking.

However, if Walmart is built near the Route 3/Route 20 intersection, we will shift our shopping there.

I am writing to address an alternate location that would not pose a threat to the historical battlefield grounds, not stress the existing congested intersection of Routes 3 and 20, and provide Orange County with the much needed tax base and employment.

At the planning commission’s Walmart hearing on May 21, I was taken by the fact that a number of the speakers spoke about the needed job opportunities offered by Walmart.

For those of you that do not yet know me, my name is Ronald T. Matalavage. Please call me Ron.

Two of these future sites are in the inundation zone for the dam on the small lake at Lake of the Woods.

Open your eyes!

The voters of District 1 have an opportunity to express their opinion of one who cannot.

I was greatly pleased to I learn I was certified as a candidate for District 1 Orange County School Board.

That letter was not about Mr. Jones. 

Dr. Edward de Bono once asked “If you never change your mind, why have one?“

The proposed Wilderness Walmart has evoked a national response reminiscent of the Manassas-Disney controversy.

I am convinced Ms. Pace is the right person to continue representing the voters of District 4

If Rea says that he believes Johnson is good for Orange County, then I do also.

I will dedicate myself to preserving the rural character of our county, while working to bring back clean industry where our citizens can be employed, and to restore that once bustling business we had in Orange and Gordonsville.