One small step for a game – One large step for a county
For the past few years I’ve had the pleasure of visiting many high schools, junior colleges and universities in Northern Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley – including Rappahannock high school. Just two weeks ago I enjoyed a morning with 30 high school students attending a summer filmmaking program at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. I participate in these seminars and lectures not simply because it’s agreeable to spend time with young people, which it is, but because at a certain age we feel a responsibility to guide, tutor and share whatever wisdom we have with the up-and-coming generations.
All of us do what we can for our children. All of us have their interests at heart. Sometimes however, in our zeal to do what we believe to be in their best interests, we may succumb to the law of unintended consequences. Sometimes, even when we strongly believe we are in the right, we may be inflicting unforeseen collateral damage. Artificially lighting up the night skies of Rappahannock County is a kind of collateral damage. There are real losers here, including our own children.
A friend owns more than a thousand acres in a rural corner of Virginia. Every summer weekend, at his own expense, he buses in kids from DC and Northern Virginia – children who otherwise would not experience the great outdoors, open-space, wildlife, quiet and dark night skies. These children from the big cities, who already have artificially lit athletic fields, are the deprived – not the children of Rappahannock. Our children have the opportunity of Huck Finn - Tom Sawyer childhoods, amid rushing streams, rolling fields, forests, mountain trails and abundant wildlife. Our children play sports, yes, but they also hike and canoe and camp out. They are interested in botany, animal husbandry, farming, forestry and astronomy as well. And for the study of the stars they need the darkened night sky.
No one is proposing that children should not play baseball or football or soccer. Children in Rappahannock County have played these sports with exhilaration and distinction for generations – through all seasons and in natural light. Our children are not the deprived ones. And they will not be the least deprived by not having their playing fields artificially lit after dark. On the contrary – their natural world, their beautiful surroundings and their spectacular night sky will be preserved for their own childhood as it was for the rest of us who were lucky enough to grow up in rural areas. They will be entering the greater world of bright lights and non-stop noise soon enough.
The Board of Supervisors has a tough decision when it meets on Monday, July 21. It’s tough because the benefits requested by the athletic association come with real and enduring costs – which are not just financial. There is an intangible cost to the quality of life and to the distinctive character of this special place in which we live. A decision to approve these lights will fundamentally and unalterably affect everyone in this county for the rest of their lives, particularly our youth – for they have the longest to live.
As we could see all too vividly from the photograph on the front page of this week’s issue of the Rappahannock News, these lights are bright and can easily be seen from miles away by anyone with an unobstructed view. Anyone who doubts this should visit the football field at Skyline Stadium in Warren County.
Athletics in Rappahannock County have been successfully played without artificial light from the days of Thomas Edison’s invention until now. The county shouldn’t be unnecessarily coerced into a decision because of what an outside vendor wants, because of “shop now” enticements or because of some arbitrary time-table. The stakes are just too high and the consequences just too long lasting.
The approval and installation of these lights would be taking a long stride down the slippery slope. It doesn’t take much imagination to anticipate the requests that will be forthcoming for additional night lighting for all sorts of valid sounding reasons. If anyone needs a preview of coming attractions just take a drive down the road to Culpeper, Front Royal or the eastern side of Fauquier County. Can’t we at least protect this one last unspoiled place in Virginia east of the Blue Ridge Mountains?
Team sports don’t have to be played under artificial lights. A false choice is being fostered upon us. There is no contradiction between scholastic athletics and protecting the unique natural beauty of Rappahannock County. To tell our children otherwise is to do them and ourselves an injustice.
Ronald F Maxwell
Flint Hill