The poorly-made reputation of PWC
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George S. Harris
Published: July 31, 2008
I just couldn’t let this week come to an end without a comment on the July 22 Washington Post opinion entitled, “Prince William, a Year Later. A crackdown’s toxic effects.” The opinion piece says that
Chairman Corey Stewart and his merry band of demagogues have managed to get national attention for Prince William County. Unfortunately, the national attention has put the county in the National Hall
of Shame for, “its drive to hound, harass and humiliate illegal immigrants…”.
The Post goes on to point out that, “Across the nation, Prince William has become synonymous with an ugly strain of nativist intolerance that has deep roots in American history but which is a slander on
the county’s generally well-educated and diverse population.”
Stewart moved into Prince William County with who knows what political agenda on his tiny mind except to bamboozle the citizens of this county into believing that the county was being eaten alive by
immigrants, particularly illegal or undocumented immigrants. He whipped up such a storm that he convinced the other members of the Board of County Stupidvisors to unanimously support a law denying
certain services to illegal immigrants and requiring Prince William County police to verify the immigration status of every soul arrested — particularly those who look like they are from south of the border.
Despite untold hours of reviewing the services in question, the county staff never could determine if any illegal immigrant had ever requested any of them. And although the county police chief Charlie T.
Deane adamantly denies that any racial profiling goes on, I wonder just how many light-skinned, fair-haired, blue-eyed immigrants the police have arrested have been the subject of the same immigration
status check as those who appear to come from Mexico or one of the Central or South American countries.
So Board of County Stupidvisors, bask in your glory. As for the rest of the county citizenry —WAKE UP! You’ve been sucker punched. You have allowed the stupidvisors to brand, “Prince William as the
one locality in the Washington area where demagoguery by elected officials has gotten the better of coolheaded public deliberation.” It is time to vote Stewart and his band of circus clowns out of office.
Prince William County deserves better government.
GEORGE S. HARRIS
Manassas
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Reader Reactions
Posted by ( kgotthardt ) on August 01, 2008 at 8:04 am
Acidic but accurate, George. Thanks for your letter.
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Posted by ( Col Stryker ) on August 01, 2008 at 7:31 am
Oh George, what a doomsayer you are. First, to quote the Wash Post is to say that you ignore their bias and believe every letter printed. I sure don’t.
Second, you state “Despite untold hours of reviewing the services in question, the county staff never could determine if any illegal immigrant had ever requested any of them.“ They were not required to check then, so how can they make any determination now?
You also state “And although the county police chief Charlie T. Deane adamantly denies that any racial profiling goes on, I wonder just how many light-skinned, fair-haired, blue-eyed immigrants the police have arrested have been the subject of the same immigration status check as those who appear to come from Mexico or one of the Central or South American countries.“ It’s pretty callous of you to openly accuse our police force of profiling without any proof. I’m more than willing to go through a few more questions if needed, providing ALL people are treated the same.
Finally, I now have two new neighbors who started considering PWC when they were looking at relocating. This all began since they knew that at least somewhere there was someone trying to do something about the illegal immigrant problem in their community. And George, no sense in name calling (i.e. “stupidvisors”) it deflates any point you’re trying to make with such a sophomoric way of thinking. I live in PWC and plan on staying. Thanks.
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Posted by ( Equality 7-2521 ) on August 01, 2008 at 6:37 am
Isn’t this all a moot point by now?
If the residency status of everyone arrested is checked, then any racial profiling would likely only be caused by a few bad apples. PWC police is definitely made up of professionals. They should be given a little more credit.
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Posted by ( willow703 ) on August 01, 2008 at 6:24 am
Yes, Things are bad in PWC. PWC has had 40 percent of the commonwealth’s mortgage foreclosures.
Don’t fret, things are looking up. Real estate sales are up, although prices are deeply depressed. Most buyers are speculating on BRAC recreating PWC as the sleepy bedroom backwater it once was.
This, of course, is not a bad thing unless you are a politician like Corey Stewart.
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