Ignoring Basic Points

It makes little sense to get into an extended argument with BOS Jamieson, PhD, following his response to my 25 November letter (I can get plenty of credentialism and ad hominem attacks on social media if I want), but since he avoids several of my original points, I’m just going to repeat extended versions of them here.

First, he continues to castigate past BOS members for their supposed poor choices regarding the Villa Avenue location. He ignores that a lease, even a free lease, does not allow the County to modify or sell the building, which they could have done at any time after purchase. This is not of zero value. He also ignores that the 2011 BOS decision solved Samuels Public Library (SPL) debt and capital investment shortage; perhaps that was “substantial justification” enough for them? Just an idea, but since the County records aren’t clear, perhaps he could contact some of the retired BOS members from that time and ask them?

Second, he continues to make specious arguments over the Handley library system comparison. As others (like Bill Grewe, COL, USA, RET) have said, it’s disingenuous to pick the largest library system and compare it to Samuels. It is especially rich when he complains that we shouldn’t point out that per capita expenditure – which is spending per person – is lower for a library system in a population 3.5 times the size of ours. To repeat, he should engage with the figures from Orange, Gloucester, and Botetourt libraries instead, which are much closer in population size to Samuels (or comparable single-building libraries such as Staunton or Culpepper).

Finally, and this really gets to the bottom line, he accuses me of not addressing core governance. He apparently missed the part (hint, it is in the fourth paragraph) where I said the BOS could avoid all this time, effort, and expense, by sitting down and talking with Samuels’ already existing board in good faith. Indeed, given the flat funding for Samuels since 2018, doesn’t that illustrate that current oversight already works? Nor does he address the question of outside contractors or capital investments needed to replace the current system – shouldn’t we know those costs before doing anything rash? What does he think is going to happen if Warren County BOS tries to conduct a hostile takeover of SPL? Will the costs and disruption in services be worth it? Bottom line – how is any of this going to help the citizens of Warren County?

Timothy L. Francis, Ph.D.
Front Royal, VA

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