Letters To the Editor

It is obvious that his generally extremist political stance is causing him a bit of trouble in running for reelection. He even cites Gov. Mark R. Warner (D) and Sen. Charles J. Colgan (D-Prince William) in his mailing. He even mentions Del. Harry J. Parrish (R-Manassas), who was the only member of the Prince William delegation to vote for the tax increase and appropriations bill. (Parrish quickly became the target of ultra-conservative Republicans to defeat in the upcoming election.) The whole Del. Marshal mailing is a cleverly conceived campaign piece that flies in the face of reality, if not ethics.

Nice try, Mr. Marshall. But I suspect Prince William voters are too smart and sophisticated to be taken in by such not-so-subtle trickery.

William E. Henry

Bristow

Leave Landowners Alone

The Prince William Conservation Alliance just doesn't get it.

Charlie Grymes, alliance board chairman, believes private property owners should be denied the right to own land along perennial streams, and only homeowners associations should control these areas and are the best entities to protect the Chesapeake Bay through Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act Resource Protection Areas (RPAs) [Prince William Extra, Oct. 9].

RPAs are strict land-use restrictions placed on private property supposedly along "perennial streams" (constantly flowing) to restrict runoff. Grymes claims that placing control of RPAs in the hands of homeowners associations should "allow homeowners to build swing sets and sheds in their back yards without any government permits, protecting property rights."

In other words, to best protect the Chesapeake Bay and property rights, no homeowner should be allowed to own land along a perennial stream and such lands should be under the full control of quasi-government homeowners associations because only they can protect the environment!

In lieu of building citizen trust with private property owners and seeking voluntary solutions and financial incentives to protect natural resources on private property, similar to federal farm conservation programs in place since 1936, the alliance wants to avoid private property owners altogether and place nearly all environmentally sensitive lands, especially RPAs, in the hands of homeowners associations. Homeowners associations are entities the alliance can better influence and use to dominate, even more, the lives of private citizens.

In the end, perhaps the biased hierarchy of the alliance needs to get off their high horses and include some conservatives on their board of directors who find swing sets along backyard streams on private property tolerable. Denying children the right to swing along a stream in their own back yard within the arms of Mother Nature is simply an elitist-induced miscarriage of principle.

Robert T. Molleur