Editor, Gazette-Journal:

I, as a citizen of Mathews County for the past 22 years, decided it was time for me to attend my first school board meeting on Aug. 18 to hear firsthand the arguments for and against the name change for our local elementary school instead of reading about it in the paper and online.

With an open mind I appreciated the passions and arguments on each side but there were several aspects of the meeting that disturbed me. First, I witnessed verbal disrespect shown primarily towards people who disagreed with the proposal to change the name. As the meeting proceeded some people had a difficult time expressing their points without being interrupted from the audience and subtle forms of intimidation were used.

Poor behavior as shown in some of our government corridors has now made its way to our beloved county of Mathews. I have always been proud of the fact that as a whole, people of different ethnicities, religions, economic status and political affiliations...