| Mitch Sneed at Large (in Culpeper) |
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Election Day in Culpeper is special
May 06, 2008
If politics in a small town is a religion, then Culpeper could very well be the Holy land.
Tuesday was Election Day here, with four council seats up for grabs, and 11 candidates hoping to get a chance to represent our town.
Yard signs have been clustered along street corners for months. Candidates have shaken so many hands that they will be checked tomorrow for carpal tunnel syndrome.
People like the bereted Jerry Beckett were spotted Monday evening knocking on doors in the massive Lakeview community. I bet he didn’t have to hit the Powell Wellness Center after that workout Monday night.
Chris Snider sent out a mass e-mail to friends reminding them to vote. Others worked the phones, visited diners and walked the town streets hoping to meet a new voter and introduce themselves.
In a day when the 30-decond sound byte and billion-dollar presidential campaigns are saturating our lives, this type of election makes you understand what our founding fathers had in mind when they wrote the Constitution and formed our great country.
At the polls Tuesday morning candidates gathered outside the polls in law chairs and matching shirts, hoping to become visible to voters waiting to make up their mind as they entered to vote.
Those who knew your face said hello, others made a point to introduce themselves and politely ask for your vote.
It was like driving onto a car lot on a slow sales month; every salesman wanted to give you a card and make you a deal. They were circling waiting for you to slow down.
Some may see it as much ado about nothing, but it shows me how much these people want to serve. If elected they won’t make much money for the countless hours and rubber chicken dinners they will be asked to endure. You have to want to do this and to campaign with so much energy renews my faith in the system.
Sappy? I suppose I am.
But voting is the best way to inject yourself into the future of your community. So I will wear my “I Voted” sticker with pride as I munch on the chocolate chip cookie that Chip Coleman’s campaign handed out as I left the polls. Is that a great idea, or what?
I say it every election: If you don’t vote, you can’t gripe when things don’t get done.
I voted. So I have the right…
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In a county already besmirched by one of the most blatantly racist actions ever performed within this community, this election served to show others within our state and elsewhere, Culpeper is not as bad as the recent decision to not appoint James “Chuck” Holmes makes us appear.
I feel, as do many others, the “illegal immigration” issue stance taken by the four HPC candidates had as much to do with race as it did with an interpretation of the word “illegal.“ But, it, like most demagogic actions, was aimed at a small, comparatively defenseless group at which inaccurate and wildly untrue statements could be hurled with no threat of verbal retaliation.
Unfortunately, the Chuck Holmes disgrace was apparently based upon the same assumptions. I have tried to convince myself that there was no racism involved. Culpeper means too much to me to accept such a repugnant observation. But, the more one studies this travesty, the more convinced one is that the sole reason Mr. Holmes was passed over was due to his color. His qualifications, loyalty, dedication and resourcefulness, based on over 20 years experience make any other conclusion impossible.
Thanks to all the voters for preventing our town from sliding deeper into the muck stirred up by the Holmes case.
Such a
of Culpeper
May. 21, 2008 at 02:54 PM
I agree 100%. I am so grateful to live in a country where I have the privilege of voting that I never miss a chance to do so. Sometimes I worry that I am not as well informed as I should be and maybe everyone would be better off if I didn’t vote in some elections, but I do vote!
May. 13, 2008 at 08:03 AM
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