Reader interest in the annual calendar published by the Central Virginia Weekly Group – which includes The Madison County Eagle and its two sister newspapers – the Greene County Record and the Orange County Review – remains high. When we asked readers this past fall for their scenic photos of Madison County for us to consider using in the calendar, they flooded us with them.

For years, I’ve actively supported the Piedmont Environmental Council — giving it spare money, attending annual meetings, and, most recently, staffing the PEC hospitality tent this past Election Day. I loved sharing home-baked cookies, local apples and cider with fellow Madisonians after they voted. I especially loved hearing about hopes and fears for our future, and that inspired my main message here: PEC is here to help address our concerns, but as a 501C3, nonprofit, membership-based organization, PEC very much needs our tax-deductible support.  Even a small contribution will help. 

The turnout for the Madison County Veterans Day observance on Nov. 11 at the Madison County High School was disappointing and disturbing. Most all who attended were veterans and family members of veterans and most of the seats in the auditorium remained empty. What was most disturbing was the absence of our community leaders in Madison and the public officials who had the day off to celebrate Veterans Day.

Now that the presidential election is over, we should heed the calls for unity from both President-Elect Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain. This is needed not just nationally, but in Madison County as well. No matter how your political tastes run, we all need to work together to overcome the big challenges of the day. And while it’s fine to experience the joy of a new president’s inauguration, you should temper that with the realization that he inherits many weighty problems that will not likely all be solved quickly.

Compared to other places, Madison County generally has a strong voter turnout for presidential elections. Although Registrar Diana Eanes declined to make any specific predictions on the turnout for this Tuesday’s voting, when asked if she thought it would be a higher percentage turnout than the 75 percent of the county’s registered voters who cast ballots in the 2004 Bush-Kerry race, she replied, “Oh, sure.”

Written in 1787 and ratified in 1788, the United States Constitution is one of the most influential documents in the history of our country. In what was originally a meeting to revise the “Articles of Confederation,” our founding fathers painstakingly crafted this new document in secret one summer, closed up tight in the Philadelphia statehouse. They created a living document; a supreme law that would change with the times and the people.

“What’s the difference between gambling and playing the stock market?“ asked Bucksnort Bugle Editor Roy Seabrooks Jr. “A lot of folks lost their britches recently in the market. Isn’t investing your hard-earned money in the stock market gambling?”