Opinion
Commentary, Part 2: Melanie Salins – a master of irony in accusations of a lack of truth in reporting
I concluded Part 1 of this rebuttal of Warren County School Board member Melanie Salins’ public posts questioning the truthfulness and political perspective of The Royal Examiner staff by suggesting the fact “that Publisher Mike McCool, a well-known conservative and Donald Trump supporter, and his more left-leaning editorial staff, including this one who doesn’t trust either major political party, can work together to report local news and offer individual opinions clearly labeled as such, is a strong indication our agenda is not a partisan one, but rather unity in a search for the TRUTH of local issues.”
Here I must begin by asking in contrast – is lying, either consciously or in the haphazard repeating of false information accumulated without bothering to verify its validity, a pattern with Ms. Salins, as opposed to what she dismissively terms local “leftist media”?
She begins her recent Letter to the Royal Examiner Editor reply to my VSBA membership OPINION piece with the oft-repeated lie, or perhaps we should say conservative media and Republican-circulated “alternate fact” that: “Less than a year ago the National School Board Association colluded with the Biden Administration and the FBI to deem upset parents ‘domestic terrorists’.” (See Footnote at end of this commentary regarding this contention citing the non-partisan online “FACTCHECK” website.)
Other questionable assertions made by Ms. Salins
As for Salins Letter to the Editor on our Opinion page titled “Keep control of our local schools in our local hands” in addition to that factually discredited opening, there are several other factually questionable assertions. One involves Salins claim that Warren County Public Schools is giving up its decision-making authority through membership in the VSBA. Salins writes, “The Virginia State Constitution gives supervision of the public school system to the Board of Education and supervision of local schools to the elected school boards. Nowhere does our constitution instruct locally elected representatives to hand over their thought and authority to a for-profit lobbying group such as the VSBA.”
We wondered where it was written that the VSBA asks its memberships’ boards to stop thinking for themselves or relinquish their decision-making authority for their school systems?? Royal Examiner contacted Warren County School Board Chair Kristin Pence and Vice-Chair Ralph Rinaldi about Salins claim of lost authority. Our first response was from Rinaldi by phone, who said that was not accurate, that individual school boards maintain decision-making authority for their own systems regardless of membership in the Virginia School Board Association. School Board Chair Pence verified that by email, stating, “The VSBA does not have authority over our votes or decisions as a school board.”
So, it would appear this alarmist claim of lost authority from continued membership in VSBA is simply not true.
Salins also cites additional costs tied to VSBA membership beyond the base $9,521.19 fee up to what she cited as a total of $35,454.99 in 2021. And while this IS true according to Pence and Rinaldi, what Salins does not note is that those costs are incurred voluntarily, apparently including by her as she has publicly cited attendance at various VSBA meetings, to access various services provided by VSBA to its membership. Rinaldi cited fees associated with participation in Webinars offered, as well as what he termed “BoardDocs” which are programs utilized for individual school board meeting agendas. Such programs involve costs wherever they are acquired from, Rinaldi noted. Those costs would likely increase, perhaps steeply initially were attorneys involved in negotiations, the school board vice-chairman observed.
This was elaborated on by Pence, who wrote of annual costs, “BoardDocs without VSBA is $12,000 versus the $10,200 we pay now.” She also cited some specific current costs, including $9,021.19 for membership, $500 in legal services, $3,000 for policy services, and the above-cited $10,200 for the BoardDocs service at a favorable comparable cost. “To my knowledge, additional costs would be from trainings and conferences for Board members and/staff – superintendent, clerk, etc,” the board chair added of a final fiscal year annual balance.
Salins concludes in her Letter to the Royal Examiner Editor that the only way to “restore” local authority to the Warren County School Board is to withdraw from the Charlottesville-based VSBA. But how do you “restore” something you have never relinquished?
And in a related theme Salins asks Warren County taxpayers “who you want to represent your values inside our schools. The local citizens you elected and have the ability to contact, the power to influence, and the right to elect or not elect again? Or do you want to give up control to a large for-profit organization that you have no ability to influence?” (Is she talking about VSBA or the State Republican Committee?)
As noted above, Warren County Public Schools and its elected school board have relinquished no decision-making authority to the VSBA. And as for Salins added assertion that “VSBA does not represent the local culture and values of the small-town Warren County taxpayers” one can only ask “does she?”
Is it that late in the socio-political game in Warren County that facts mean nothing? Have the population demographics here in recent years shifted so much to extremist ideologues that the type of disinformation Salins accuses us of, but which she seems comfortable in forwarding from her own partisan political perspective in an “alternate fact” universe, will determine the future of Warren County Public Schools?
It would seem the very soul of the community is at stake in this debate.
* FOOTNOTE: I will defer to the “Factcheck” website analysis of the Salins-forwarded angry parent-domestic terrorist claim against the Biden Justice Department:
“U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said that he couldn’t even ‘imagine a circumstance’ where ‘parents complaining’ at a school board meeting would be ‘labeled as domestic terrorism.’ Yet, several Republicans have continued to falsely claim Garland called such parents terrorists.
“The nugget of truth behind the political spin is that a letter from the National School Boards Association to Garland last fall argued some violent threats against school officials ‘could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism’ that would warrant the intervention of federal law enforcement. In his response, Garland directed his agency to review strategies to address violent threats and harassment against school boards, but he didn’t use the NSBA’s ‘terrorism’ language, for which the group later apologized.
“In that letter, the NSBA said that while it had been working with state and local law enforcement officials, it believed federal involvement was warranted as well. The Sept. 29, 2021 NSBA letter stated in part: ‘As these acts of malice, violence, and threats against public school officials have increased, the classification of these heinous actions could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes. As such, NSBA requests a joint expedited review by the U.S. Departments of Justice, Education, and Homeland Security, along with the appropriate training, coordination, investigations, and enforcement mechanisms from the FBI …’
“To be clear, the Justice Department did not label parents ‘domestic terrorists.’ As we said, the use of the phrase originated with a Sept. 29, 2021, letter sent by the National School Boards Association, a federation of state associations that represent locally elected school board officials, to the White House seeking federal assistance to stop what it said was a growing number of threats and acts of violence against public school board members and other public school district officials — mainly over the issues of mask mandates and ‘propaganda purporting the false inclusion of critical race theory within classroom instruction and curricula’.”
(Writer’s note: Online research indicates “Critical Race Theory” (CRT) is a 40-plus year-old “academic concept” surrounding the study of historical institutional racism evolving out of the slavery era as a means to better understand and address modern-day racial prejudice and stereotyping. It has become a hot-button political issue primarily among some Republicans and conservatives who oppose it being taught in k-12 public schools nationwide. That opposition seems to surround an assertion that the type of institutional racism CRT focuses on has not survived into modern America, so its teaching is unduly critical of American culture and unfairly targets for stereotyping America’s dominant white race. Talk about irony. There has been extensive political debate about CRT in Virginia public schools. It appears that while not an official part of the state k-12 curriculum, references to it as a tool for teachers dealing with racial issues in the classroom do exist.)
Opinion
Community Kindness Shines Through in Warren County Amid Division
Even though our Country and our County seem to be in turmoil and divided, there are still wonderful and helpful people here. On Labor Day, I was working in my yard, stumbled, and fell backward, unable to get on my feet. I was lying on the grass, and two ladies, mother and daughter, were driving past, saw me, turned their car around, helped me to my feet and to my porch, and got help for me.
Many thanks, Mary! Also, thanks to my Rivermont Baptist Church Family for the food and cleaning assistance, especially since I cannot use my right hand due to the broken wrist.
Sylvia Dawson
Warren County
Opinion
Power Grabs, Parental Guidance, and Public Libraries: A Front Royal Reflection
I am a prior citizen of Front Royal, VA. My husband and I raised seven children in our home there. As our family grew with the addition of grandchildren, several of them also lived and attended schools in Warren County, VA. Due to family obligations in North Carolina, we moved from Front Royal two years ago. We all have fond memories of our growing years in Front Royal, and those recollections include our trips to Samuels Public Library. It was with some consternation that I read an article in The Washinton Post regarding the challenge to the library via withholding funding for the library in an effort for “concerned citizens” to exercise control over the governing management of the library.
It is ironic that we relocated to a county in NC that is facing similar challenges in our local school district over school libraries and their content and availability. This challenge is also led by a group of citizens deeply engaged in their religious faith, which they strongly believe is guiding them in this process. The only difference is that extortion is not a tool available to the concerned citizens in NC against the School Board.
For the record, my children who graduated from high school in Warren County include six children who went on to college and received degrees; three have received their master’s degrees, many graduated with dual degrees, and all are successful members of their communities and in their professions. Their careers include work in the field of education, social service work to assist and support the homeless and disenfranchised, work for the Federal Gov’t directly and indirectly, and those who own/have owned their own businesses. I feel very confident making this assertion; the trajectory of a child’s life does not hinge on the content of any single book but is essentially reliant on the character of their parents or parental authorities in their lives. Allowing your children to grow into adulthood with guidance and honest conversation is so much more impactful than sheltering them from the things the parents find offensive or harmful.
I am not taking issue with someone’s concern about any content in any reading material, it is as much your right to be concerned as it is mine to feel that exposure to all aspects of society helps a child refine and develop their own sensibilities as they become adults. It seems the library has put in place a system to help parents limit their child’s exposure by allowing parental controls on their child’s access to the materials they have concerns over. That these parents feel that they need to control any other parent’s rights can be interpreted as nothing less than a desire to control more than their own child’s access and to assume control of all taxpayers in Warren County. This is not democracy, and it is not faithful supplication to God. It is nothing more than a power grab in a performative act of assumed high morality.
Furthermore, the publication of individuals’ names is nothing more than a bullying tactic hoping to incite vindictive rhetoric against those individuals. That the Board of Supervisors didn’t hold the line at the bullying “conservative activists” and then joined their ranks by withholding their funding and offering the MOA makes me question their suitability to be Supervisors. They were elected to be leaders of sorts for their districts to seek consensus in untenable challenges.
I am happy to see the Board did reach approval for funding for the library. The Town of Front Royal and Warren County are fortunate to have this institution, its friendly and helpful staff, and its commitment to the community. I was born and raised in the close suburbs right outside of the Washington DC line. When my first husband passed away, I was left with four young daughters, just reaching their teen years. I had a demanding job that kept me from keeping a normal nine-to-five routine. I felt it was critical to move to a community where we had neighbors that would look out for us and where the girls could participate in sports and after-school activities without needing transportation from me. I chose Front Royal, and although it lacked some of the benefits they had in Fairfax, it brought them a multitude of benefits that helped shape them into the adults they became. Front Royal has always had factions that didn’t see eye to eye on certain issues, but I never experienced the excessiveness that has begun to permeate the social climate in Front Royal. I hope this incident gives everyone pause to regain common civility and respect for their neighbors and allow the differences to create the best of the community and enhance the future of its upcoming generations.
Barbara Price
Hickory, NC
Opinion
County Board Chair Cook Reminded of Campaign Promises
There never seems to be any shortage of controversy in our little (but growing) community. While election season heats up, the current library distraction diverting attention away from the issues that impact ALL members of the community, and not just the whims of a local faction whose agenda appears to be ramming their opinion of morality down the community’s throat is somewhat disturbing. I don’t agree with some of the literature that is being presented in our public library, but I also believe there are freedoms that take precedence over these objections where a common ground can be achieved.
Frequently, I am reading and hearing remarks on the Fork District and Board Chairman Vicky Cook. Vicki has always been cordial, open, and non-judgmental in my professional dealings with her. However, I would like to remind her of her campaign platform, as reported in 2021. These paraphrased quotes from a written publication are worthy, in my opinion, of reprinting:
“What I bring into the mix is to have a little more critical thinking. I’m really into common sense solutions that’s gonna benefit everybody”. Continuing in this same vain, “I’m really big into integrity and transparency and accountability”.
Finally, Cook wants to “bring unity” to the community. (Warren County Supervisor Candidate Offers Management Skills, NV Daily, July 18, 2021).
Chairman Cook, I hope you continue to exercise these tenets that you publicly stated and committed to when you knocked on my door asking for my vote.
Gregory A. Harold
Warren County, VA
Opinion
Defending Samuels Public Library: A Plea for Reason and Inclusivity
Dear Mrs. Cook:
It is with a heavy heart that I write to you regarding the unconscionable withholding of funding for Samuels Public Library, which will very likely result in its imminent closing.
Our library is the jewel of Warren County. How can the Board of Supervisors allow a tiny group of fanatical interlopers – many of whom didn’t even own a library card – dictate how our library is managed?
Shame on the BOS for allowing the situation to devolve to the point where our beloved Library Director, Michelle Ross, felt compelled to resign. Shame on you! How will we ever attract accomplished, educated and enlightened applicants to fill her vacant position when the BOS allows an obtuse, misinformed and manipulative minority to control an institution which is the pride of our town. It is heartbreaking to reflect on the disrespect, contempt and lack of support which the BOS has shown toward Ms. Ross and her earnest staff. Shame!
My family has lived in Warren County for 40 years. My sister was on the Board of Trustees when the library transitioned from its previous in-town location to Criser Road, where it has become a cherished hub for ALL citizens of Warren County. I have donated countless hours to the library as a past Friends of Samuels Library board member and as a volunteer shelving books, working at community events and manning the Epilogue Bookstore. Will any of the group of library dissidents contribute any time, effort or money towards the care and feeding of our treasured library? Doubt it!
Everyone in the world has members of the LGBTQ+ community as dear friends and much-loved family members – whether they wish to acknowledge that or not. A strictly heterosexual world has never existed – neither within the human species nor within the wider natural world. To deny their existence, both within our community and within the vast literature of our culture, is to oppose reality. Same-sex families are everywhere. Come out from under your rock, open your eyes, and join the 21st Century.
The BOS and their legal team should be embarrassed at the wording of the current MOU as submitted to the Samuels Board of Trustees. Beyond the question of how the county will find the funding to pay library staff county wages and benefits, how will the county find volunteers to perform the myriad tasks which keep the library functioning as an active community center when the BOS seems bent on allowing a group of religious zealots to destroy our library as we have come to know and love it. Clearly there is no longer separation of church and state within Warren County.
In closing, as a young girl taught by Ursuline nuns in the 1960’s, one of my favorite activities was walking downtown with my friends to our beautiful Ferguson Public Library where I was allowed to take out any book I desired. When it came time to choose a confirmation name, the nuns brought my class to the much tinier Catholic library run by the Knights of Columbus to read children’s books about the lives of the saints. I would encourage the religious activists of our community to invest the time and effort required to establish their own non-secular library and to cease their undesired meddling in our honorable Samuels Public Library.
Sincerely,
Margaret E. Thursland
Fork District
Front Royal, Virginia
Opinion
Lord Fairfax Soil and Water Conservation District: A Call to Support Dr. Mark Huddleston and Write-In Candidate Emma Bricker for Soil and Water Conservation Leadership
To the residents of Warren County: Both Warren County Directorships for the Board of the Lord Fairfax Soil and Water Conservation District are coming up for election this November 7. Early voting commences on September 22.
Let me say that Dr. Mark Huddleston, the only listed candidate on the ballot and retired President Emeritus of the University of New Hampshire, is fully deserving of our vote.
To fill the second position of Board Director, we will need a write-in candidate. I heartily endorse Emma Bricker and urge you to write her name where provided on the ballot. Emma is a Master Gardener, has a degree in plant science with a specialization in native plants, and has been a leader in the recent Browntown conservation planning campaign. I know her also to be a skilled computer technician. Emma Bricker deserves our support because of her environmental capacities and dedication.
Sincerely,
Richard W. Hoover
Warren County Director
Chairman of the Board
Lord Fairfax Soil and Water Conservation District
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the letters published on this page are solely those of the respective authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Royal Examiner’s editorial team, its affiliates, or advertisers. The Royal Examiner does not endorse or take responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or validity of any statements made by the authors. The statements and claims presented in the letters have not been independently verified by the Royal Examiner. Readers are encouraged to exercise their own judgment and critical thinking skills when evaluating the content. Any reliance on the information provided in the letters is at the reader’s own risk.
While the Royal Examiner makes every effort to publish a diverse range of opinions, it does not guarantee the publication of all received letters. The Royal Examiner reserves the right to edit letters for clarity, length, and adherence to editorial guidelines. Moreover, the Royal Examiner does not assume any liability for any loss or damage incurred by readers due to the content of the letters or any subsequent actions taken based on these opinions.
In submitting a letter to the editor, authors grant the newspaper the right to publish, edit, reproduce, or distribute the content in print, online, or in any other form.
We value the engagement of our readers and encourage open and constructive discussions on various topics. However, the Royal Examiner retains the right to reject any letter that contains offensive language, personal attacks, or violates any legal regulations. Thank you for being a part of our vibrant community of readers and contributors, and we look forward to receiving your diverse perspectives on matters of interest and importance.
Opinion
Board of Usurpervisors
Rather than arbitrate business, property, and tax disputes, our board of supervisors has chosen to start a cultural conflagration within our community. It is all quite clear they did this for cheap political gain. You don’t have to be savvy or experienced to see it.
Witness these excellent letters to the editor which outline the hypocrisy and mismanagement on display:
“Facts, Accounting, and Homework, Oh My!! A Library Supporter Digs Into the Finances”
Published August 23, 2023, by Sonja Carlborg of Front Royal.
Or, these excellent pieces of lay reporting,
“Investigating the Reasons for the Book Ban Campaign”
Published August 27, 2023, by Bridget Randolph of Brooklyn, NYC, formerly of Warren County, VA.
“Fact-Checking the BOS/Library MOA Negotiation”
Published September 10, 2023, by Bridget Randolph, of Brooklyn, NYC, formerly of Warren County, VA.
I was misled, personally on the phone, in the week prior to the first June 6, 2023 board meeting, by board member Jerome “Jay” Butler himself.
He assured me this would be a simple “reshuffling of some books”, yet we have since learned it was that and so much more. We have since learned this hateful harassment campaign started in January of this year and later even involved an outdoor beer party or two, complete with prizes. I have no words to express my contempt for those on the board willing to deceive me and other citizens about a topic so dear, yet with only a week or two of foreknowledge of their duplicity.
I went to school with someone who suffered violence and spoke of being gay during the AIDS crisis in the early 1990s. And, Mr. Jay Butler, I carefully witnessed the facial expressions and the false piety on display in the front row that night on June 6, 2023, at the Warren County Board of Supervisors meeting.
I sat through the whole 4-5 hours and stood and shook your hand later, feeling sure we would quickly reach a reasonable solution. I lack polite or appropriate words for you, nor board member Delores Oates, who clearly ‘hates the queers’ enough to blow $20,000 on the topic. My God, Jesus would slap you both.
The current members of the Board of Supervisors that have voted for withholding Samuels funding are complicit in the harassment and physical endangerment of Samuels staff. They have hounded Samuels out of a caring, thoughtful, and apolitical library director, Michelle Ross. In a time of such heightened tensions as this, a time when falsehoods multiply like cultivated seeds, it is beyond reckless to encourage such things.
The current board of supervisors, minus Cheryl Cullers, who voted against this nonsense, owes the following:
1.) A private apology to Michelle Ross.
2.) A private apology to each of the library staff whom they’ve harassed and placed in increased physical danger (witness D.C. Pizzagate). This includes *everyone* on the staff.
3.) A private apology to each of the families who have suffered the suicide of a family member yet bravely came before you to testify to your wrong-headedness and plead for empathy.
4.) A public apology for being so simple-minded and politically focused that you could not see the right path from the wrong and took a bigoted, hateful, and deceitful approach to political life. More than one of our Board of Supervisors has gone against their campaign promises and mandates. Witness Jay Butler’s promise to “keep government out of our personal lives.” Yeah, right!
Should these or funding for our wonderful Samuels Public Library not be forthcoming, I can only pray for our county and republic.
Daniel Silsby
Warren County, VA
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the letters published on this page are solely those of the respective authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Royal Examiner’s editorial team, its affiliates, or advertisers. The Royal Examiner does not endorse or take responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or validity of any statements made by the authors. The statements and claims presented in the letters have not been independently verified by the Royal Examiner. Readers are encouraged to exercise their own judgment and critical thinking skills when evaluating the content. Any reliance on the information provided in the letters is at the reader’s own risk.
While the Royal Examiner makes every effort to publish a diverse range of opinions, it does not guarantee the publication of all received letters. The Royal Examiner reserves the right to edit letters for clarity, length, and adherence to editorial guidelines. Moreover, the Royal Examiner does not assume any liability for any loss or damage incurred by readers due to the content of the letters or any subsequent actions taken based on these opinions.
In submitting a letter to the editor, authors grant the newspaper the right to publish, edit, reproduce, or distribute the content in print, online, or in any other form.
We value the engagement of our readers and encourage open and constructive discussions on various topics. However, the Royal Examiner retains the right to reject any letter that contains offensive language, personal attacks, or violates any legal regulations. Thank you for being a part of our vibrant community of readers and contributors, and we look forward to receiving your diverse perspectives on matters of interest and importance.
