The Nature Conservancy is a fine organization that has done many good things for the community. It has taken a serious wrong turn, however, as backer of the $143 million dollar water plan that will involve flooding the Ragged Mountain Natural Area and pumping water uphill for several miles.

I was impressed by the generosity of the letter writer who suggested that we give our tax rebate checks to the less fortunate (The Daily Progress, May 17). It is difficult to argue against such a generous sentiment.

Let’s keep the presidential primary process smoke-free!

What is it worth to you, Albemarle? Do you value clean air? Clean water? Do you like to enjoy fresh food, grown locally?

It was with a great deal of sadness that I read the front page article “Laurencin leaving UVa for U-Conn.” (Daily Progress, May 10.) The Laurencin family will be a loss to the Charlottesville community.

I have lived in Crozet for one and a half years now and as a former resident of New Jersey I must say let’s stop feeling sorry for the businesses of Crozet.

I graduated from Lane High School in 1966. All through school I felt as though I didn’t fit. In order to get out of the painful school hallways and into the business world, I enrolled in the cooperative education work program (D.E.).

I know that for some, the tax rebate will provide some much-needed extra money to pay for food, utilities, transportation, rent and other necessities. For others, this will be an unexpected windfall and they will decide how to use these discretionary funds.

For many years, Albemarle County has had a land-use program in which qualifying owners of large, undeveloped properties are taxed at a lower rate on their undeveloped land (their residences are taxed at the same rate as everyone else’s).

Now that the Democratic presumptive nominee for president has all but been selected, it would appear that the overly extended and convoluted primary process has yielded yet another seriously flawed candidate.

Running red lights appears to have become a Charlottesville tradition

In mid-March short excerpts from the sermons of Sen. Barack Obama’s pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, flooded the media. Some excerpts vehemently attacked the United States, making Americans very angry. At the time, I wondered whether these excerpts, published without context, were misleading and unfair.

Educational Assistance Act (S22) in January 2007. It now has 58 co-sponsors in the Senate. A companion bill in the House (HR5740) was introduced on April 9. It now has 250 co-sponsors.

On May 1, The Daily Progress published a full-page ad from Dominion Power touting its “new clean-coal carbon capture-compatible power station in Wise County” with “the very latest in emissions-control systems.”

It is important to understand that those of us in the rural areas are not at war with our urban brothers and sisters.

The Meadowcreek Parkway is not the true issue.

The Daily Progress article of May 2 concerning the Albema-rle County property-rights issue (“Farm Bureau allies rally for county property rights”) again illustrates how our supervisors are swinging to the left.

An April 29 Daily Progress article (“National tours will be stopping by the Jack”) described several Broadway shows scheduled to appear at the new John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville. This is both good news and bad news.

It has been wisely said that perfection is the enemy of the good. No finer example of this thought can be found than in the dysfunctional, ineffective, perpetual dithering of the Charlottesville City Council regarding the Meadowcreek Parkway.

In explaining her support for a 71-cent real estate tax rate (“Mallek’s approach becomes clearer,” The Daily Progress, April 26), Albe-marle County Supervisor Ann Mallek decided to hold on for the extra penny, which would be placed in a lock box for future economic downturns, because not ha-ving more money in county coffers to deal with decreasing revenue forecasts would have been irresponsible.

A recent letter compared the Advocates for Sustainable Albemarle Population study of the optimal sustainable population level for Charlottesville and Albemarle County to spending money to determine how many angels can dance on the head of a pin (“Popula-tion objectives are suspect,” The Daily Progress, April 16).

Re: “Soccer balls bring solace to children,” The Daily Pro-gress, April 26, about donating soccer balls to children in Mosul, Iraq:

Leaving Charlottesville by air, one becomes acutely aware of the disfigurement that would be created by a water pipeline from the Rivanna River to Ragged Mountain Natural Area - a 10-mile scar across the face of Albemarle. Is this what we want to leave for the next generation?

For 25 years I have lived in Charlottesville and have enjoyed every day, season and year here. This is a very special community and great place to live, but we all know that. Visitors see what we have, tell us about it and many return to live here

We are currently diving headlong toward the most devastating depression ever experienced. Commodity prices, including oil, are skyrocketing at an accelerated rate, without any improvements anticipated in the foreseeable future. Yet, Washington, both the executive and legislative powers, continues to fiddle a la Nero.

The Business article of April 17, “Quarterly results upbeat; stocks surge higher,” is a perfect example of “pumping.”
Nearly every finance company, JP Morgan-Chase included, is reporting terrible quarterly results, yet a vice president of a trading company is cited calling them “strong earnings” and recommending buying.

At a recent Albemarle County School Board meeting, plans for artificial plastic turf continued.
The April 20 Washington Post story “U.S. Investigates Artificial Turf’s Lead Levels” stated that the federal government is investigating whether turf contains lead that rubs off and poses health hazards.

In the spirit of earth week, I have a suggestion.

It was interesting to read the Yesteryears column in the April 20 Daily Progress (“Hair raising events in 1965 courts”).
I was a young police officer for Charlottesville Police Department in November 1967 and had to face Judge Allan Spitzer many times during the course of my law enforcement career.
I found out very quickly that he demanded respect in his courtroom, and would not hesitate to give someone a tongue lashing if they showed an attitude or tried to outwit him.

In the spirit of earth week, I have a suggestion.
If all property owners would pick up the litter thrown on their road frontage, it would keep our roadways beautiful.
It honestly does not take much time, and most of us could use the exercise.
Please consider making this a habit to help keep our state roadways clean.