Charlottesville talk show host Rob Schilling raises a worthwhile question about priorities:
Since the city presently employs an official arborist, Tim Hughes — who is paid more than $72,000 per year by Charlottesville taxpayers — it is unclear why the (Tree) Commission is necessary in the first place.
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The Charlottesville City Council never has seen fit to establish a “commission” on the defense of human babies residing in the womb (sadly, a most vulnerable location). This is in spite of ongoing, rampant and wanton destruction of the unborn in Charlottesville—often justified, and even celebrated here by secular and religious pro-death apologists.
While trees are a critical natural resource and a valuable commercial product—in both forms, important to human life—unborn babies are human life. Without human beings to enjoy and consume trees and their byproducts, the trees are of no value.
The Charlottesville Tree Commission, eh?
Now obviously, I like trees as much as the next guy (for building homes and making baseball bats, for instance) — but is it really necessary for the government to be spending local tax dollars on something the community could very well volunteer to do themselves?
Schilling makes a great point regarding priorities:
What is valued by elected representatives (and what is not), speaks volumes on the character of a community.
Righty-o. When government begins to overstep those boundaries, there no telling what they will and will not include in the definition of “public services” on your behalf.
That’s not power I’m willing to surrender to my government, to be sure.