As we look back on the political primary season, it is interesting how the most dominant issue (Iraq) for the Democrats has virtually faded from view.

One of Charlottesville’s “best-kept secrets” got a little more visibility last week when the Federal Executive Institute celebrated its 40th anniversary.

What a disappointing decision made by the Albemarle School Board. The strings program has been undercut. One hundred thirty-eight thousand dollars was robbed from the String Orchestra Initiative, which was begun ap-proximately 10 years ago in exchange for $168,000 for the planning of the math and specialty centers and the Inter-national Baccalaureate initiative. 

A spectacular vision for a botanical garden in the center of Charlottesville is being promoted by a local group. The proposed 40 acres of trees, flowers, shrubs and pathways would attract tourists and rival the famed Lewis Ginter gardens in Richmond, supporters say.

A few years ago, this Nelson County couple grew curious about why the state game department was shutting down activities at the Montebello Fish Hatchery, a tourist attraction and de facto park for local residents.

Dogs understand a lot of things, like leading a blind person or dragging a drowning child from a pool or lake or warding off burglars.

The right to keep and bear arms is sacrosanct in our Constitution.

Recently a statement released by the Rev. Jose Funes, director of the Vatican Observatory, said that not to believe that life exists beyond our planet would be to “set limits on the creative liberty of God.”

A hundred years ago, when human relationships were free of carefully crafted propaganda and peer pressure to purchase proper designer duds, emotions were easier to moderate.

There is a perception that any combination of options other than the current plan can be strung together to create an approvable plan. That is not the case. Any plan would have to go through the same process we just went through, and there is no guarantee that it would ever be approved (as in the Buck Mountain example). Also, it is unlikely that another plan would emerge that would obtain the community support that the current plan has. 

A raised Ragged Mountain dam, never filling from its own watershed but rather with water pumped from the South Rivanna Reservoir, burdens future generations to provide energy for that pumping operation.

We applaud the decision of the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors to pass the barking dog ordinance and we are hopeful that Fluvanna County might follow suit.

The mandate of the Virginia Department of Corrections is to serve Virginia.

Olivia Heide’s Memorial Day lemonade stand started as a lesson in caring and kindness but wound up a primer on gratitude and appreciation.

Right here in Charlottesville, the Jessup family is living proof that the entrepreneurial philanthropist is not new.

There is but one “tanning butler” — the toned and tony Leo de la Hoz, who plies his trade, and his sunscreen, at the Ritz-Carlton South Beach in Miami Beach, Fla.

In “Democrats promote U.S. values” (The Daily Progress, June 13), the letter writer makes some rather amazing statements.

I was both surprised and bothered by something I read on June 17 in Eugene Robinson’s Daily Progress column, “Court keeping Bush in check.”

Seventy million dollars for a streetcar line?

After reading the letter in the May 30 Daily Progress headlined “Make naturalization laws simpler,” I felt compelled to address this issue and others facing America today.

Haste may not make waste after all.
Charlottesville City Council is wise to condense its Downtown Mall restoration project to shorten the period of disruption to businesses and visitors.
The city needn’t look too far for an example of what can go wrong.

The comments in “Shooting yourself in the Left foot” (The Daily Progress, June 8), are misguided, inflammatory and completely out of touch.

A “collapse of prosperity” was forecast at a U.S. Senate Banking Committee hearing the other day — and it had nothing to do with the mortgage crisis or the price of gasoline.

On May 15, The Daily Progress published a column by Jim Brewer criticizing management of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore under a court settlement that ended a recent lawsuit against the National Park Service (“Beaches off limits to fishermen”).

Debbie Ryan has been in our Hall of Fame for years.

Good luck to the Paramount on its new association with SMG.

Few opinion pieces have hit home with me as much as The Daily Progress editorial “Pedestrians are not safe” (June 11). Thousands of residents of Albemarle County have experienced this problem and been forced to alter their behavior to cope with it.

One day it was burning up outside and I saw a water fountain at Lee Park on the Charlottesville Downtown Mall. I ran over to it hoping to get some nice, cool water, but when I pressed the button there was no water.

This month, Charlottesville is demolishing Smith Pool to build a better fitness and aquatics facility (“Pool’s demolition imminent,” The Daily Progress, May 20). The new pool will give our community a chance to turn over a new leaf when it comes to equal access to swim facilities for children of all colors and economic backgrounds.

I just made a deposit in my spiritual future.