Loudoun Independent editor John Geddie dead at 70

I’m coming off the end of a seriously busy week that’s seen me traveling (locally) a bit more than usual so I was ready to just unwind a bit when I got home this afternoon. A quick grab at the mailbox after parking the car, I began sorting through the mail even as I walked in the door. I noticed the weekly Loudoun Independent in the stack and flipped it to the front to catch the headlines. This local paper is small but it’s got some great reporting and the editorial writings of one of the sharpest men in the local news biz, John Geddie.

I wasn’t prepared for the headline under the grainy black & white picture on the front page.

John Geddie 1937 – 2007.

John Jay Geddie, 70, a journalist and newspaperman, died Aug. 22, 2007 at Inova Fairfax Hospital from kidney failure and pneumonia related to the treatment of cancer. He was a long time resident of Sterling, Va.

He is survived by his wife of 44 years, Shannon LaNelle Geddie of Sterling and a son, John L. Geddie of Reston, a brother Michael Geddie of Kilgore, Texas, as well as many beloved nieces, nephews, and friends.

I’ve mentioned this man several times in my posts here over the past couple of years. I’ve had the opportunity to shoot some e-mails back and forth with him – and he was cantankerous on occasion, as his publisher at “LoudounI” said of him in her editorial – and I always found him to be forthright in his opinion and well spoken in his expression of it. As much as anyone can do so with a connection as thin as a line of e-mails, I am mourning his passing tonight and the loss that passing represents to those of us whose lives he entered, even if only for a few paragraphs a week.

To his family and close friends, my sympathies. To his fellow newspaper colleagues, please be assured that at least this fellow Loudouner appreciates your determination to soldier on as John himself did when his good friend (and mother of the current publisher) Beth Miller passed on. We grieve with you and we wish the best and better news for you to come.

Loudoun One approved

I note that the Loudoun Board of Supervisors voted 7-2 to approve the rezoning of a chunk of land within about 10 minutes of my house to permit the building of Loudoun One, an office/retail/residential development touted as the World Trade Center Dulles. Have a read of the story for background.

I’m all for requiring developers of large establishments like this to build the interchange necessary for the traffic and to pay for infrastructure improvements. I share Chairman York’s concern (mark the date and time for that occurrence!) that the developer will pump out all the housing and retail and then slow to a crawl on the office space, if it ever gets built. I am also leery of allowing them to even start building any of that before the interchange is at least underway. If the BoS can hold the developer to their promises, I will remain cautiously optimistic like Loudoun Independent editor John Geddie. I will also remain vigilant.

Local movement to secede from county draws unintended consequence

Now for a little local flavor. Loudoun County, VA holds the distinction of being very near the top of the heap in terms of growth for counties in the United States. To say that we’ve seen massive growth in terms of population, traffic, and demands for public services is putting it mildly. In 1990, our population was about 80,000. In 2000, it was up to around 160,000-170,000. The estimate for 2006 is that we’ll have 257,000 people living here.

Loudoun also has a rural reputation. Our horse industry is known throughout the nation and we’ve got a lot of green space. The past decade has seen our Board of Supervisors chart a course that, quite literally, packed better than 80% of that phenomenal growth into the eastern part of the county. The previous Board’s efforts to protect the “viewshed” of the western part of the county included a massive zoning change that mandated landowners in the west to never subdivide their property beyond 1 house per 20, 40, and 50 acres in density. That came as quite a shock to people who needed to sell land to raise money for their families. It turned a fairly standard land investment into a massive millstone around these families’ necks. As you might imagine, those people complained mightily. The result was the 2003 elections that saw 6 of the 9 members of the Board tossed out on the street.

The western interests became incensed and started floating the idea of splitting the county in two. Loudoun would remain the east part with the “new” county being the rural west and calling itself “Catoctin County” (the historical name for an area contained within western Loudoun.) They’ve actually done an economic impact study and they’ve lobbyed for State assistance in pulling the secession off. That’s made them all feel mighty proud but it’s generated a new problem for them. The current Board is reconsidering some of the projects that are slated to be done in the west because they don’t want to toss money at an area that might leave tomorrow. (Ooopsie.)

An effort by some western Loudoun residents to split the county in two and form their own “Catoctin County” has some members of the Board of Supervisors rethinking votes on western Loudoun issues.

During the Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday Steve Snow (R-Dulles) said he is reconsidering how he will vote on some issues, including school construction and other government construction projects, in the area where secession proponents want their own county.. Snow said he will be reluctant to spend tax dollars in the area–roughly all of Loudoun County west and north of Leesburg–as long as there is an effort to separate it from Loudoun.

“Why should we spend money, taxpayer money, if folks are then going to take it from us?” Snow said.

Eugene Delgaudio (R-Sterling) said he would withhold support for rural Agricultural Districts in part because of the Catoctin county movement.

“They say we are the cause of their problems,” Delgaudio said. “I don’t want to be anybody’s problem, but I don’t want them to become a problem for us, either.”

Loudoun Independent editor John Geddie has written on the matter many times and he keeps coming back to the same question: what are the reasons, really, that the westerners want to split the county over?

While they seem sincere in whatever is bothering them, we still do not know exactly what it is. When pressed, one said he was upset because the Board of Supervisors took most of the powers from Board Chairman Scott York. Yet York supporters had done almost exactly the same thing when former Chairman Dale Myers was elected. There was no talk of secession at that time.

The other thing they seem to worry about is zoning–protecting their viewsheds in the west. They seem to have won that battle already with various land protection schemes and zoning for home lots restricted to 20 or 40 acres in some cases.

Another claim is that the east does not respect their elected officials. We have no idea what this means. Del. Joe May seems to be a pretty nice guy.

We are left to suspect they simply do not like us because we live in the east and shop in the east and go to movies in the east. They only seem to enjoy visiting here.

To every action, to paraphrase Newton, there is a consequence. The supporters of secession should not expect to have their calls for a split not result in serious consideration about where permanent facilities are built and not. And, perhaps, they can get around to articulating their concerns, if they are so important as to warrant such a split.

Illegal immigrants: Hysterical prattle doesn’t advance the debate

One of our fine local newspapers is the Loudoun Independit. (I happen to think it’s the finest local newspaper with a supremely talented staff, but that’s just my opinion.) Unlike other newpapers in the DC area, the very first page I turn to when I get the latest edition is the Editorial by editor John Geddie. Agree with him or not, the man’s got great insights, he doesn’t make unsupported allegations or try to foist his personal feelings off as gospel truth, and he’s perfectly willing to allow the opposition in any debate take the floor for their 2 cents’ worth. This is a man who’s committed to advancing a debate rather than simply making ad hominem attacks.

Equally important to me are the letters to the editor that appear weekly on the same page. These are my neighbors talking about matters both of national import and of local significance. Some of my neighbors are more eloquent than others. Just like in the blogosphere, some are simply so far off base you wonder if they can connect 2 rational arguments together on anything. So it is with one of yesterday’s letter-writers. A little background will be required for this to make sense.

Back on 23 December, a woman driving her SUV with her 2 children aboard ran off the road and overturned her vehicle into a pond here in Loudoun County. Three men on their way home from work witnessed the accident and moved immediately to assist. They got into that water – damn cold, I’d imagine – and managed to roll the vehicle onto its side. They then got all three passengers out. Rescue workers arrived and took over, airlifting the 2 children to a local hospital. The mom was treated and released. I’m afraid I don’t have further info on the kids except to say that the number of fatalities in this accident was zero. I have no doubts whatsoever that would not be the case had those three men not jumped into that pond. There is no argument that they displayed the very best of humanity and did so without hesitation or thought of reward.

Ah, but you know it’s not ending there, don’t you? Seems the men in question are all Hispanic. I direct you to this story (in another of our local papers) with a picture of the 4 men along with a freebie promo shot of their boss’s company van. What does their ethnicity have to do with anything? Nothing, in my book. Apparently, however, one of my neighbors has an axe to grind. Here’s his letter to the editor in the latest Loundoun Independent:

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Where were Minutemen? To the Editor: So I see where a woman drove her SUV into a pond, and she and her children were saved by three men on their way to work; all three of them have Hispanic last names. Were the Minutemen in Herndon off duty that day? They could have had the men deported and their employers arrested, and the woman and her kids could have drowned. No matter; the Minutemen, who have infallible knowledge and can tell which immigrants are illegal and which are not, hold immigration law above all others. So what if families don’t get fed. So what if people drown. Visit the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. Our country was founded by illegal immigrants. Everyone here is descended from illegal immigrants. Even those of us who claim to be descended from legal immigrants benefited from immigration laws first made by descendants of those initial illegals who landed at Jamestown and Plymouth Rock. Jerry Hyman Cascades

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(Letter reproduced in full since these letters are only available the week they’re printed.)

This letter is such a cornucopia of ad hominem attacks, irrelevancies, and outright falsehoods it’s difficult to know where to start. So how about we hit the easy ones and start in reverse order?

“Our country was founded by illegal immigrants. Everyone here is descended from illegal immigrants.” Bzzzzt, wrong answer. Thanks for playing. This one isn’t the matter of opinion Mr. Hyman would like everyone to assume. Simple logic: in order for something to be illegal, there’s got to be a law prohibiting it. When the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock and Jamestown, there were no immigrations laws. Ergo, arriving wasn’t illegal. Period. Everything that issues forth from the concept that the first European arrivals here were “illegal immigrants” is an invalid argument because that concept isn’t true. This is just so much hysterical drivel in an effort to misdirect people from realizing that Mr. Hyman’s arguments aren’t worth the air they’re spoken with.

In our nation, on the other hand, there are immigrations laws and people crossing our borders in violation of those laws are, in fact, illegals. While Mr. Hyman is arguing the point about the Pilgrims being illegals, he doesn’t appear to be arguing that people who slip across the border illegally are… well… illegals. It appears he just thinks that’s not a big deal. More on that later.

He does, however, appear to think that the Minutemen are a big deal, and big problem at that. I find it ironic that his comment about the Minutemen’s “infallible knowledge” of who is illegal or not (clearly a sarcastic reference intended to actually say they can’t know any such thing) follows his bald assertion that the 4 men in question could have been deported had the Minutemen been there. Who said anything about these 4 men being illegals? They’re hired on with a local electrician who’s none too shy about having his guys and his truck photographed for the newspaper. No one, at any time, questioned the status of these 4 men. That is, right up until Mr. Hyman just assumed that because they all have Hispanic names that they’re probably illegal. Then, he links the Minutemen’s activities with the automatic loss of food for families and the drowning of women and children.

So, it’s “enforce immigrations law and watch people drown?”

This kind of prattle doesn’t do anything to advance the debate. It’s just a bunch of argumentative flailing around in an effort to make people feel bad as opposed to persuading someone. It is, unfortuately, representative of the kind of arguments I hear from people who don’t like immigration law.

A new hometown paper arrives. Updated

I have linked, in the past, with a local newpaper here in Loudoun County, VA called the Loudoun Easterner. It was your typical small town paper with lots of local stories and commentary. It had a neighborly feel to it, imparted in large measure by its editor, John Geddie, and the publisher, Beth Miller. Ms. Miller was a partner of Geddie for almost 20 years. She died last year, losing that final fight with cancer. Beth’s daughter, Amy, stepped up to the plate and filled the role her mother had held so ably. A bit over a month or two ago, I was surprised to hear that Miller and Geddie had decided to sell the paper to a network of newspapers, LCNI. They’ve done a good job with the news, but there’s just an unmistakable detachment to the community. It has a more “sanitized” feel to it. It’s not horrible, but it’s there.

Today, I got an e-mail from another member of the community telling me that Geddie and Miller have started up a new newspaper, the Loudoun Independent. The first print issue was mailed this week to 65,000 homes here in the county. Ours should arrive today. I’m looking forward to having a truly local newspaper again. More to come as soon as I see the first issue.

Update: In looking through the online edition’s columns, I was suddenly surprised by something in the URL’s and – most specifically – at the bottom of each of the columns. This newspaper is using Moveable Type. In short – it’s constructed using the tools of a blog, complete with trackbacks. I’m hugely impressed! This should be the start of something truly wonderful in the next evolution of the news media.