Editor, Gazette-Journal:

I would like to take this opportunity to share with our Mathews Board of Supervisors’ chair Paul Hudgins and all members, and the public, my concern about our historic monument and the land it is on.

After reading the long and disturbing article in last week’s Gazette-Journal, I feel a real need to express my thoughts. My original thought was—Darn—I was ready to ask the board to deed the land and the street light nearest Tompkins Cottage sponsored and paid for by Crawford Moving and Storage. Some years ago, it used to have a plaque on it stating such. Along comes Hunt Thompson, who blew it for me.

I have no documentation nor have I paid taxes on the land or light, so it doesn’t belong to us. It would have been great to think my family owned a small piece of land in our historic Court House.

The street light stays the same, and so should the historic monument … owned by all the citizens of Mathews. Only the American flag, memorial wreaths and pretty...