In the spring of 1977, [Julia Williams] drove a banana-colored Datsun up the driveway of Grymes Memorial School to her appointment with Headmaster Joseph Y. Rowe. She was applying for the first grade position and had years of teaching experience, along with a master’s degree to recommend her.

In looking back through the years – either recently or years back – describe your best or most interesting Fourth of July experience.

What do you plan to do after graduation? (The question was asked to Madison County High School seniors earlier this month.)

Welcome class of 2009, teachers, administrators, parents, brothers, sisters, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins and friends. I think that I can say for the most of us seniors that today is certainly a day of celebration and we thank you for sharing it with us. Over the last four years, we have all had our share of high school drama, tardies, and, of course, the inevitable arguments with “the parentals.”

A roving vessel is making its rounds on a mission to help make at least a small corner of the world a better place. Misbehaving “pirates” improperly board it, halting it from making any further progress. A stand-off of sorts ensues and the vessel remains out of service. This sounds something like last month’s Maersk Alabama drama in which pirates operating on the high seas off the coast of Somalia boarded the large container ship as it was en route to delivering, among other things, relief supplies. But we’re actually talking here about Madison County’s mobile recycling trailer and events that took place in Banco, not Mogadishu.

I am writing this letter to voice my disappointment and the disappointment of Board of Directors of the Madison Chamber of Commerce on the “non vote” on April 2, 2009, by the Town Council for the proposed zoning text amendment dealing with mixed use zoning in the Town of Madison.

With the downturn in the economy causing workplaces to cut back and cut corners, resulting in more and more people losing jobs, many people – particularly people in their middle or late middle age – have been forced to rethink their entire job history and to re-inventory what gifts and graces they bring to the next place where they will work.

April is National Poetry Month. The inspiration came from the successful 1956 celebration of Black History Month (February), Women’s History Month (March) and based on studies of booksellers, teachers and Liberians, April seems to be the appropriate time during the year to give attention toward the art of poetry and encourage poetry readers.

We have crossed over that secular “holiday” of Tax Day. We may have even seen or participated in a TEA party recently. Money has been on our minds this week, even this week after the great celebration of Easter. It certainly has been on our minds this year as we have seen great sums lost by just about everyone, and we have had great sums proposed and passed as stimulation to our economy and for our governments upcoming budget.

We join the community in a doff of the chapeau to this season’s incredible Madison County High School boys basketball team – or should we instead say a tip of our Mountaineer raccoon-skin cap?

One of the nice things about living in Virginia is that the weather is more moderate in the winter. One can actually hike, bike, jog or walk in the middle of January without risking frostbite or dressing to look like the Michelin man. Hiking seemed like a good choice for a new outdoor adventure and my husband swears it’s the best.

By now, we all know of someone who has been adversely affected by the state of our nation’s economy. In fact, it probably would be correct to say that we have all been adversely affected, either directly or indirectly.

In “Hedges: Protective Walls Insuring Good Marriages,” or as Dr. Jerry Jenkins simply calls his best-selling book, “Hedges,” it tells how you should love your marriage enough to protect it.

I attended the first public hearing on the county budget a few weeks ago and read all the letters on the subject in The Eagle. Almost all were critical of the Madison County Board of Supervisors and the possibility of even a very small tax increase.

Upon arriving in Madison County, I was just a woman from New Jersey with very little knowledge of anything south of the Mason-Dixon Line. Of course I had sampled biscuits and gravy and was definitely a fan, although my waistline wasn’t. The local produce was very tasty but I was still partial to a Jersey tomato. (And) nothing, in New Jersey could have prepared me for the numbers of “Earl’s.”

Dear President Obama, The air is crisp and fogged with each breath of the four million people watching, waiting for a new chapter in history to begin. The date is Jan. 20, 2009, Inauguration Day. However, this Inauguration Day won’t be the same as any other. Today history unfolds as you, the first black American president, are sworn in.

The Hoffman Round Barn in Wolftown has been accepted for listing in the Virginia Landmarks Register. The application to list the historic barn built by Haywood Montebello “Tiny” Dawson on the historic Hoffman Farm (now owned by Joyce Gentry and farmed by her son and daughter-in-law, Brad and Amy Gentry) was prepared and submitted by Beth Pastore of Piedmont Environmental Council in October 2008. The Board of the Virgina Department of Historic Resources voted its approval on Dec. 18, 2008.

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.