Letters to the Editor

How to help monarchs
I would like to thank the Fluvanna Review for helping to raise awareness regarding the plight facing monarch butterflies and all pollinators. I have received many questions from people concerned with the future of these delicate butterflies. Following is a list of things to keep in mind that will help:

•    Plant milkweed. Common milkweed, swamp milkweed and butterfly weed are all native to central Virginia. These are the plants that monarchs lay their eggs on and caterpillars will enjoy from their first meal on. When purchasing plants, be sure they were raised without chemicals. Chemicals kill fragile caterpillars.

•    Plant native nectar plants for butterflies and all pollinators. Embrace the “meadow look” in your yard. Fall nectar plants are important for migrating monarchs, and include tickseed sunflowers, asters, thistle, zinnias and goldenrod.

•    Be nice to our environment. Whether you believe in global warming or not, we are stewards of this earthly home and need to care for it. Respect nature and those we share this sacred space with. Do whatever you can to help and not hurt.

•    Stop spraying! Chemicals like Round-Up and Preen are hurting all of us, and insecticides kill all the insects – good and bad. If the pollinators go, we will go with them. They are an essential part of our food chain. And they are beautiful.

•    Tell your friends and neighbors. Most people have no idea that the monarch butterflies we grew up with are in serious trouble.

•    Get involved with rescuing monarchs.
Thanks for your concern.

Jan Crowther
Palmyra

Applaud our officers
On Friday, Sept. 23 we received a phone alert from the sheriff’s department that there was an armed fugitive being sought on our property. Shortly thereafter, we received a visit from Sheriff Hess and several deputies. They very courteously and calmly informed us of the situation. They made no demands or restrictions on us and treated us as graciously as possible in a situation of this kind. They quickly apprehended the suspect and Sheriff Hess returned and gave us the all clear.

My wife and I would like to express our gratitude for the kind and professional manner of Sheriff Hess and his deputies. This comes at a time when law officers are getting a bad name nationwide. This certainly is not true in Fluvanna County. A round of applause is due our law officers. Thanks so much.

Wallace and Brenda Browning
Cunningham

Support the rogue
Well, here we go again. If it’s not someone self-aggrandizing about their Ph.D., it’s about their time at West Point. God knows I have the utmost respect and appreciation for American institutions that produce the best and brightest philosophers and military officers. However, having gone to school and served in wartime military as well, I’ve witnessed both these types commit horrendous blunders with horrific consequences right along with unimaginable bravery and tactical ingenuity.

Unfortunately, I’ve been stunned at the intentional degrading and devolving of these institutions for decades. To specify one issue, ask why Sgt. Bergdahl is roaming free, with benefits, after committing treason. Ask why Pvt. Manning, sentenced to prison for treason, received a sex change at tremendous cost to taxpayers, while wounded warriors are left alone and dismissed to commit suicide in VA Hospital parking lots. All this and more under Obama and Clinton. Oops! Can’t touch that.

I would have rather heard the writer’s own view of Mr. Trump on the merits and not the name calling. The innuendo and sour grapes of several folks who don’t know who they are from one day to the next are not compelling. To refer to Sen. Collins of Maine as a popular Republican is ludicrous. She, among others like Republican Sen. Kirk of Illinois, is the very cause of Republican rebellion. An entire paragraph extolling Colin Powell’s ethnicity rather than his Americanism or the globalist Mitt Romney’s meaningless drivel without a single issue being discussed is another reason both mainstream American Republicans and Democrats reject Hillary Clinton and the elitists of both parties, like the ones I’m sure the letter writer has spent his life trying to elect. I also notice the editor titles the letter “Send Trump back to the Trump Tower,” which must reflect the editorial board view since nowhere in the letter is that statement found.

Voters! Study the issues, listen to the policy statements, evaluate the character of candidates and believe 10 percent of media propaganda. Together just maybe we can unify our nation.  I’m enthusiastic to support the rogue, the rebel. How about you?

Clinton not trustworthy
First let me say thank you to Marvin Moss for his service to his country. I am not a West Point graduate, but I did serve nearly 28 years in the Air Force retiring with the rank of chief master sergeant.

I too have misgivings concerning Donald Trump but am unable to support Hillary Clinton. I have been responsible for safeguarding classified material and you and I both know for a fact that if we were found to have mishandled any classified material we would have faced severe punitive actions – potentially a dishonorable discharge and possibility imprisonment.

What did she accomplish of note while a senator and secretary of state? While Hillary may not be guilty of all accusations of mishandling classified material and pay for play, there are enough red flags in these accusations for me to judge her unworthy of assuming the office of president of the United States. There is a saying that where there is smoke there is fire. In Hillary’s case there is ample smoke for her to be judged unworthy of holding any office where she may have access to classified materials.
As I stated, I have misgivings about Trump, but to my knowledge he has not handled classified material in a manner that would expose it to interception by a foreign government, thereby possibly placing our military members in harm’s way and possibly causing irreparable harm to the United States.

Hillary Clinton must not be allowed to be elected president. She is untrustworthy and lies for no reason. Remember when she stated she was under enemy fire when deplaning, I believe in Bosnia, and there was film footage that proved this to be a blatant lie? If she lied about this incident, what other lies has she told? I repeat, she is not trustworthy and is unworthy of being elected president.