Blue Ridge Leader News -
July 25, 2010
The Bright Side
Kinda nice to start our morning off on a positive note; one of our missing teenagers is back safe and sound after being gone for over a month. Ana Maria Ferster turned up in Reston this past Thursday; she’d been missing since June 12.
And I know you want to know why she was gone and what she was doing in the meantime, and a bunch of other things while we’re at it.
Well, she’s a teenager.
That should answer the first question and pretty much quell the need for the second.
Even missing kids- and their families- have certain privacy rights.
Do you remember wanting to run away when you were a teenager?
I do.
Heck, I feel like running away now, sometimes.
How about if we just offer thanks for her return, and for our own more or less well-being in the bargain, alright?
Tick Tock
And, while I’m offering free advice, it’s about time to look yourself over for those darn deer ticks again. Yeah, the local medicos are warning us to keep on the lookout for those awful little critters; they’re hard to spot, but if you miss one, the penalty could be a bought with a very serious illness: Lyme disease.
Loudoun County notched over 200 cases of the scourge last year; that’s over one-fifth of the total for the Commonwealth.
I saw somewhere that a survey revealed that only a little over a third of the local Lyme disease patients could recall their tick bite; that’s sort of the crux of today’s message: you may already have the illness.
I could.
One of my best friends just discovered he’s had it for probably 10 years or so; he never noticed the tick or the hallmark of the sickness: the so-called bulls-eye rash a few days (or up to a month) later around the bite.
And you know how big a tick is?
O.
About the size of that letter ‘O.’
And that includes the legs.
So, you’ve got your work cut out for you.
Parents, your job’s even harder: inspecting each member of your tribe- on a daily basis.
I know it’s a pain.
But it’s better than the alternative.
Lyme can lead to all sorts of medical complications, like encephalitis- nothing to mess with.
Nothing Was Delivered
I’m not one to keep uttering, “I told you so,” but in this case, I really did. Just last week, I predicted nothing satisfactory from our Board of Supervisors in the case of the Courthouse Square displays.
They delayed any decision for a couple of months.
Judge Thomas Horne asked them to wait for his input on the matter (he pretty much runs the show in and around the halls of justice in Loudoun County, so I guess that’s only fair).
The Board is reacting to the recommendation of the Courts Facilities and Grounds Committee to ban all religious displays on those historic grounds- mainly due to legal concerns should the County appear to offer any favoritism in whom they allow to put up holiday icons or what have you.
The Supervisors came up with a complicated stop-gap measure for last December, and the Committee’s had time to again put their concerns to paper, so here we are.
You can pretty much figure out for yourself where the local residents stand on this; most want the traditional (mostly Christian) holiday displays on the courthouse lawn (I mean, who doesn’t like walking past the annual Leesburg Rotary Christmas Tree?)
[Almost annual- they washed their hands of the whole mess after being turned down last year- then hastily given permission after the story made national headlines. This all came after decades of putting up a tree- for our pleasure- at their expense.].
A few local residents want the privilege of courthouse displays extended to everyone- whether they worship Jesus, Mohammad, Satan or Donald Duck.
Not sure what the other religions say, but I thought I read about this whole argument at the end of the Bible.
I’m sure teams of lawyers are standing by, ready to step in in case the Supervisors ban all displays.
Or in case they allow all displays.
Or if they allow only some.
Revelation, all over again.
Bay Fray
It may be just do gol-darned hot to get into this one, but one County Board Member set up a couple of meetings in order to exchange thoughts on the Chesapeake Bay protection ordinance. Ashburn Supervisor Andrea McGimsey organized two sessions for this week in Sterling: Tuesday evening at 6:30 at the Galilee United Methodist Church, on Winding Road; the second is Thursday night at 7 at the Cascades Senior Center on Whitfield Place.
The Board may- or may not- adopt this controversial- and messy- series of regulations in September; the Bay Preservation Ordinance would require landowners to adhere to strict regulations in, on and around local waterways.
Don’t ask my opinion on this; I’ve spent the last couple of months watching the highlights of the BP Gulf Oil Disaster on CNN.
In the Heart of the Heart of the Country
Now, we told you about the Fair last week, so no need to get into all of that again; just want to put in a reminder that it looks like a brutally hot week coming up, so you might want to schedule your visit in the early morning or the evening. And remember- Sykes Hall is AIR CONDITIONED.
Makes it a lot more bearable to spend a leisurely hour or more poring over a year’s worth of 4-H and adult projects.
It’s one of my favorite attractions anyway- about as local as you can get.
So, when the heat and the dust and the midway noise and the kids get to be a bit much, head on over to Sykes to cool off and step into another time zone.
For those new to the game, we’re talking about the annual Loudoun County Fair- starting today and running through Saturday- at the grounds just off Dry Mill Road about three miles west of Leesburg.
Don’t forget your hat, bandana and sunglasses.
It’s Just Too H…
All of that said- the missing teens, the ticks, the Christmas Trees, the Bay, and the Fair- I gotta congratulate you- and me- for surviving as our real top story of the day; anyone who can live through this summer’s heat deserves a round of applause. And a good night’s sleep- thanks to air conditioning.
Having spent about half of each work day outside six days a week, I certainly wouldn’t wish this on anyone- especially me.
But, thanks to several frozen plastic bottles of drinks each day, I’ve made it this far.
And so have you, evidently.
Keep your eye on the kids, and seniors- and animals, too.
One thing I’ve learned to get through this stuff is to force myself to drink water and energy drinks by the quart whenever I’m outside for an extended period.
I drink early and often.
If I waited for my thirst to kick in, I’d have a much tougher time.
So- keep yourself hydrated.
That goes double for the kids, seniors and animals, remember.
I’d still rather have this than the snow and ice of last February.
I’d rather sweat than swerve off the icy roads- or slog through the three-foot drifts.
At least, that’s what I keep telling myself.
We’ll get through this.
All we have to do is survive.
The time will pass.
Keeping it Green
Did you water your garden? I got mine before the sun came up.
You won’t catch me out there again until this evening.
Thanks for sitting in. Thank God for iced coffee.
Tim Jon for the Blue Ridge Leader
