The “Please Brake for Sydney” signs are heartrending. So are the masses of flowers at the entrance to Forest Lakes South near the spot where she died.

Let’s see if we have this straight. Albemarle County allows rural landowners to defer a hunk of their real estate tax annually. That’s if they agree not to develop their property.

In the Commonwealth of Virginia, public universities have witnessed state support for higher education on a relentless march toward zero since the early 1990s.

So why are middle class folks so bent out of shape and fretting over their family’s future?

A few years ago I saw a teenage girl wearing a sweatshirt with “Help Stamp Out Middle-Class Values” printed on the front.

There are only nine states in the U.S. that have combined local, state and federal gasoline taxes lower than Virginia.

Anyone with a memory of the 1970s may see more than a faint connection between the Khmer Rouge of yesteryear and the “government” of Myanmar (a.k.a. Burma).

Today’s lesson is about excessive taxation on cigarettes and how that encourages crime. It’s brought to you by co-sponsors New York State and New York City.

For those in the audience who have the chilling sensation that this spring has been cooler than normal, now comes the National Climatic Data Center with this news flash:

For years, planners have advocated the construction and development of roads and corridors parallel to U.S. 29 as a tonic for heavy traffic on eight lanes there. Improvements over the years to roads such as Berkmar Drive and Rio Road constitute Exhibit A evidence such corridors help ease the burden on the region’s main thoroughfare.

The latest illustration of that maxim confronts our city and county governments and Piedmont Virginia Community College. With cooperation from local officials, PVCC can truly take advantage of change and seize an opportunity.

The curtain went up to community applause last week on Martha Jefferson Hospital’s plans for a new 176-bed facility on Pantops. The hospital’s design, and its siting on an 88-acre plot at Peter Jefferson Place, were unveiled at an appropriate venue, the Paramount Theater. Those involved in the design and siting discussions deserve rave reviews.

Bill Bramanti will be buried some day in a Pabst Blue Ribbon coffin.

OK, so you don’t ride around in your car carrying a laptop with secret, sensitive information. (Or do you?)
Still, you should be concerned about protecting your valuables from theft, even if those valuables are “just” a run-of-the-mill iPod or a camera containing irreplaceable family photos.
Here are some tips from several law enforcement agencies and safety sites:

Don’t shoot the cougars. Not that there are any cougars in our neck of the woods — not officially, at least.

The university area looks to be losing another mid-sized concert hall, with the announced closure of Satellite Ballroom on the Corner.
Charlottesville has seen the rise and fall of several medium-sized, student-focused, concert-dance spaces.

It’s one of the most basic of rules: Don’t leave valuables in your automobile in plain sight.

On one coast, the collapse of salmon fishing.
  On the other, the collapse of crab harvesting.
On both coasts, emergency efforts to prevent the collapse of the species.

A homeless shelter will close in Charlottesville.
  A trailer park will shutter in Fluvanna, creating new homelessness.

Hooray for the hero!
  Slap him on the back and buy him a round of … um … dog biscuits.
A black Labrador retriever named Guinness saved his family from fire last week with his persistent barking.

Robert Fulghum returned to kindergarten for inspiration — why not UVa?
A University of Virginia group staged what used to be called “a happening” this week, based on a theme as unpretentious as show and tell.

Government by gridlock?         
Surely, we can do better.
Progress on the Meadowcreek Parkway has stalled again, this time over design of the interchange at McIntire Road and the U.S. 250 Bypass. Charlottesville City Council rejected a proposed design — but lacks consensus over what should replace it.

We’ve said it before, but it’s worth saying again:
Sen. John Warner is, as Chuck Robb described him, a “true Virginia gentleman.”
We reject the pessimistic idea that his is a disappearing breed, but truth be told there are few leaders left of his stature and strength.
And few, too, with his longevity.

It was sad to lose a pre-Revolutionary War home in Schuyler to a fire recently.
But it was appalling to learn that a pre-Revolutionary War building in Zion Crossroads had been given up for destruction.
Enter rescuers Diane and Paul Manning.
Historic Hall’s Tavern dates to the 1750s; it was a stop for travelers between Richmond and Charlottesville.

Thirty days to win better rail service?
Well, let’s get moving.
Improved passenger service to Washington has long been a goal of rail advocates and ordinary passengers alike.
The one daily D.C. train that now serves Charlottesville and points north and south is typically booked so far in advance on weekdays that many travelers can’t get a seat.
Amtrak did try adding extra seating a few years back. But the cars that it used to provide that capacity were described by commuters as atrocious.

Hindsight is perfect, so it should be clear by now that the U.S. 29 Main Street concept is not working as well as it should and that a bypass ought to have been constructed around Charlottesville.
True, a bypass route once was chosen, and the Virginia Department of Transportation even went so far as to start buying up rights-of-way.
But it was the wrong route.
The so-called close-in bypass was ultimately doomed by politics. But had it been built, it would not have solved the community’s traffic problems.

Virginia has some pretty cool place names, but Alaska may have us beat.
Can we match Dakeekathlrimjingia Point or Nunathloogagamiutbingoi Dunes?
A Virginia resident may be the authority on Alaska place names. Donald Orth compiled the “Dictionary of Alaska Place Names” in 1967 for the U.S. Geological Survey, for which he worked as a geographer and cartographer.

Foxfield is becoming increasingly pro-active in its efforts to curb illegal drinking at the spring event so popular with the college crowd.
And that’s excellent.
At last spring’s races, 85 people were arrested — 84 in the student section. Last year, emergency medical technicians treated 107 people — 106 for alcohol-related symptoms.
Those statistics tell the story about what’s one of the major problems at the Foxfield Races and who are the major problem-makers.

Charlottesville City Council is to be commended for its willingness to try something new to address the affordable housing problem.
Council will make $1 million available to private developers from its economic development fund in the form of loans.
The fund usually is targeted toward traditional development projects such as businesses — even though the businesses themselves might not be conventional (the Pavilion is an example).

“We have to find the right balance between regulation and market demands,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt, recently returned from a visit to Asia amid controversy over defective products coming from China.
Events prove that balance remains elusive.
The problem of a contaminated blood thinner containing an ingredient made in China has expanded into a worldwide health risk.