Here's My Point: Water, Water Everywhere

By Ron Fitzwater

The e-mails and letters to the editor have been rolling in this week about last week's Boone Town Council - Ashe Board of Commissioners water meeting. The authors of the letters have been freely expressing their points of view and, in some cases, they have been trying to suggest that either the paper or myself is against the folks of Todd who are opposing the project.

I feel that in-as-much as my publisher hates to have me comment on ongoing stories, I felt it is important to put a few lines down about where I stand and where this publication stands.

Speaking as the editor of the Ashe Mountain Times and an employee of Mountain Times Publications, I formally state that neither the company nor any of its publications has a position one way or the other on the issue. I feel that from the first coverage, more than a year ago, on the subject by former Ashe Mountain Times editor Jerry Sena to the most recent coverage by me in which first appeared in last week's Mountain Times in Watauga County and this week in our paper, (we went to press last week before the story was completed), the coverage has been fair and unbiased. I am proud of that, since there have been multiple writers during the time from both here and our Boone office.

From a personal standpoint, it is important to first remember that my opinions are not those of my employers but are mine and mine alone. But my most recent article on the issue was straightforward on what I witnessed Tuesday night. What I witnessed was that nothing new came from the meeting. No new points were brought up, no new data was presented, no minds were changed one way or the other and so there was no new news to report other than to say the meeting had taken place.

As I told someone in an email exchange early this week, I didn't expect anyone who is in favor of stopping the project to like the story because I didn't make Boone or the Ashe Board villains or praise the actions of the opponents.

I have the luxury of not having a dog in this fight. I don't live in either Ashe or Watauga County, I live above the New River's flow and so I get my water from a well and only occasionally have any physical connection to the river. I can look at the situation objectively. I have said, over and over again, that I think from a neighborly position, Boone is as wrong as they can be. But you can't legislate or litigate neighborliness. Boone has the right to do what they want on their land as long as what they do does not result in any environmental or health and safety dangers down stream. If they chose to do this project over other possible options for economic or even aesthetic reasons that is their right. Ashe County doesn't ask permission from Alleghany County or Galax, Va. or Hinton, W. Va., or anyone else to do something to or in the river. Whether they should or not is not the issue. As long as the great mystery report that kept being referenced at the meeting comes back and says that there are none of the aforementioned dangers, the only thing that will stop the facility will be a certifiable miracle.

Yes, at the meeting there were some questions that were asked, but nothing new. I could have dwelled on the fact that with every person who came forward, with the exception of the man who read his wife's questions, Moderator Chris Robinson had to tell them to ask their questions, which more times than not turned into a rambling addition to their statements with maybe a question at the end as timekeeper Zach Edwardson vainly waved the Times-Up flags. But what would that have done? It would have made the opposition just look rude and angry and would that help in the public eye? No.

Everything that can be against these folks who are trying to 'fight city hall' is against them right now. That is how it looked to me, so that is how I wrote it up. If I see somebody tilting at windmills, which they have every right to do, it's my job to say so. I'm not judging, just calling 'em like I see 'em.