Rural areas of Virginia and the United States as a whole have been trying to make it for generations. The brain drain, as youth and whole families left for better jobs in the cities, started during World War I.

Virginia now has a rural jobs council. It is high time the state take a look at stemming this tide. Generations of young residents of Gloucester and Mathews have found the phrase "rural jobs" to be a joke. They finish high school or college, and move away.

Some stay. Some have worked the water and made decent livings, but the promise of bounty from the Chesapeake Bay has dwindled along with the population of the edible species.

Some stay and find jobs at the shipyard, Langley, Fort Eustis, Naval Weapons Station, Canon, RockTenn, and other large industrial employers. To make this good living, they pay the price of long commutes to urban areas. They are in the majority of people in the local workforce. Most residents go outside their home counties to work.

Dr. Elizabeth ...