Editor, Gazette-Journal:
I write this as a private citizen and attorney and not in my public capacity as Commonwealth’s Attorney. This Tuesday at 6 p.m., the Mathews County Board of Supervisors will conduct a public hearing at Mathews High School on the proposed transfer of the Civil War memorial and a portion of the historic Court Green, a.k.a. Town Square, to a private corporation.
I am unaware if such a transfer has ever occurred anywhere in the Commonwealth of Virginia. If the BOS is aware of any city or county in Virginia transferring ownership of a portion of their Town Square to a private corporation, I hope they will provide that information to the public prior to this meeting.
There is no public mandate for such an unprecedented and irreversible transfer—the referendum to not move the memorial did not authorize the memorial or portions of the Court Green to be conveyed away and no one voted for such a transfer. This BOS should show the same respect for the citizens, as did the...