Dear Editor:
Often we are unaware, and unappreciative, of the people and agencies that provide humanitarian and emergency help in times of need.
Last weekend this was made dramatically evident to my wife and me when we called 911 because we were having a flue fire in our home at the remote end of the Jacox Road outside Hillsboro. When the volunteer fire crew pulled into our driveway they secured the fire, cleared the flue and damper, and helped contain the water damage.
These guys are all volunteers who are willing to sacrifice their Sunday afternoon to help someone they don’t even know, who is in great need.
The Evanses certainly are huge fans of the Hillsboro Volunteer Fire Department.
Dick and Sue Evans
Hillsboro
Dear Editor:
Sound of Freedom
As a retired Navy Pilot, I might be a little prejudice on this subject. We live on Drennen Ridge right as the land drops from Edray down toward Marlinton. The land is open with a large barn and a yellow farmhouse, both with bright green metal roofs. We get many direct fly overs as we are easy to see. Before this issue came up I discussed with my wife that I wanted to paint “Fly Navy” on the barn roof this summer and still plan to.
As a Navy pilot, I know the importance of valid training. While our terrain is not like the “Sand Box,” it is very much like Eastern Europe where Putin is causing world tension. We need to keep these low level navigation training areas open. I love the Sound of Freedom. So do our horses as they don’t even raise their heads while grazing as the jets fly overhead.
As a side note, I would recommend that the Pocahontas Tourist Bureau contact the F-18 Wing at Oceana, Virginia, and invite the pilots and maintainers to come see our beautiful county from the ground. I’m sure they would love to participate in the Greenbrier River Race.
“Go Navy, Beat Army!”
Mike McNaull
CDR USN Retired
Edray
Dear Editor:
I wish to inform you and your readers of misinformation presented in Dominion’s column, “The Pipeline” in the March 12, 2015 issue of The Pocahontas Times. Therein Dominion says that it is a myth that natural gas speeds up climate change. It is a known fact that methane, the largest component of natural gas, is many times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. According to scientists, pound for pound, the comparative impact of methane on climate change is over 20 times greater than carbon dioxide, over a 100-year period. Methane is being released continually in the processes of obtaining natural gas through the practices of well drilling and hydraulic fracturing. Leaks in natural gas pipelines also release huge amounts of methane.
In the article, Dominion also says that the pipelines are virtually invisible. That is obvious because the pipelines are buried. However, the wide swath of forest that pipelines remove and must keep cleared of trees and shrubs is totally visible and leaves scars on the landscape. An internet search will yield tons of images of these scars, or one can visit southern Monroe County, West Virginia and see for oneself. Remember that the Atlantic Coast Pipeline will be one of the largest of its kind, at forty-two inches in diameter. Dominion has not yet revealed how it plans to keep the pipeline corridor free of trees. If they use herbicides to do so, the impact on our watershed could be damaging.
Readers of The Pocahontas Times should be disturbed by the deception presented to them in Dominion’s newspaper column. I would hope for more integrity from the company that purports to be strong stewards of the environment and that will be entrusted by our residents to do the right thing as they impact the resources of our county. I would also hope that Dominion would show more respect for the intellectual integrity of the readers of your paper.
Sincerely,
Tom Epling
Cass
