Disheveled Appearance Shocks Former Resident

Editor, Times-Dispatch:

A recent visit to Chimborazo Park left me astonished that the Old Weather Station is still being used as a visitor's center. The park is a disgrace. The streets are in disrepair and apparently are never cleaned. The hillsides appear not to have been cut in 30-40 years. I suppose the old playground and Horseshoe Bend curve are still there but because of the undergrowth, I couldn't tell. There once was a horizontal walkway going down the hill, but I couldn't see if it was there or not. The steps going to the bottom were overgrown with vines, etc. and impassable and the spring is in accessible.

When I was a kid growing up on Church Hill, the park was meticulously maintained. Two-man teams with a long rope and a push mower kept the hillside manicured. We would slide down the hill on cardboard until the park policeman, Mr. Moran, ran us away. This would be a prime challenge for a summer work force. Unfortunately, this is Richmond and the city leaders couldn't give a rat.

Libby Hill Park is obviously maintained by its neighbors because of its neat, clean, and flowered appearance, except for its hillsides. They shouldn't worry about the proposed condos blocking the view -- the underbrush will take care of it in a few more years. Just ride down Main Street and look up.

For shame's sake, please move the tourists information center. We should be ashamed that visitors are carrying this disgraceful image of a national treasure back home.

Here's an idea: Sell it to a developer and let him build condos. At least it will get cleaned up and some people will have a wonderful view. And, think of the revenue for the schools.

Henry Boschen Jr. Chesterfield.

Soldier's Death Stresses Need for Better Care

Editor, Times-Dispatch:

The news story, "Solider Returned from Iraq, but Battlefield Never Left Him," regarding the passing of Pfc. Joseph Dwyer further enhanced my impression of our military and those who serve. Dwyer's story is truly sad and disheartening. However, there are still roughly 150,000 troops on the ground in Iraq and many thousands on the ground in Afghanistan who are proudly serving their country, and they should rightly be considered heroes when they come home. They serve despite the possibility of having to participate in combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and still not having appropriate levels of medical care upon returning home.

How many Joseph Dwyers will be in that returning number? Will the politicians in Washington have fixed the problems that plague the veterans hospitals? No, but contrary to Mrs. Dwyer's comment that "every second that goes by, there is another soldier just like Joseph," the vast majority of the returning military personnel will resume their careers and family lives as regular American soldiers and citizens.

Because I have not served in the military and therefore never have experienced the horrors of combat, I can't begin to understand the mental anguish that is impressed on those heroic enough to do so. They sacrifice far beyond the norm for their country and for that we should all be eternally grateful.

We should also expect our veterans hospitals to be outfitted with the capability to care for all veterans upon their return. The fact that these hospitals are failing in that regard is an issue that needs to be rectified immediately. Our politicians are more willing to play politics than do what is right for our troops. With those friends, our troops need no other enemies. I say godspeed, Pfc. Dwyer, and God bless all our troops.

Thomas J. Wilson. Richmond.

Name Bad Roads After Bad Politicians

Editor, Times-Dispatch:

Let's see if I've got this right: The General Assembly can't figure out how, or even if, we should fix our aging bridges and roads, but lawmakers sure thought it important enough to name some of them after war heroes, state troopers, and a former candidate for governor. At least they thought about transportation infrastructure during this last special session.

To honor and thank our lions of leadership for their latest effort in trying to solve our state's transportation issues, I propose we continue the tradition they began. There's a particularly nasty pothole on Interstate 64 East, just before the Staples Mill Road merge, that I've decided to name after my favorite do-nothing delegate, Morgan "No New Taxes" Griffith, R-Salem. Traffic snarls on the Shockoe Valley Bridge workday mornings should be named for the entire week after a delegate picked at random, one who has offered no solutions of his or her own but never failed to vote or act against a bill that anyone else has proposed.

I don't want to pay taxes any more than the next guy. Maybe there's a way out of this without having to do so and maybe there's not. But we're electing these people to figure this out. What I am sick and tired of is the triumph of nasty political partisanship and knucklehead ideology. And that situation permeates our politics at all levels -- national, state, and local. We deserve a lot better than we've been getting and we should start demanding it.

John C. Ficor. Richmond.