Editor,

At the board meeting Dec. 17, I was disappointed by the lack of civility and order. Residents of Prince Edward County who voiced approval of the Second Amendment Sanctuary proposal were allowed their three minutes of time uninterrupted, while those residents who disagreed were shouted down by a crowd of 500 extremists. My ending comments were barely heard over the jeers so I include them here: My concern as a resident of this county is the safety of my family and I voted for a safer Virginia in November because I believe gun laws save lives. I believe in the process of democracy and the power of a vote to change the general assembly in Virginia. Thousands of Virginians in this county and across the state did too! The laws made in Richmond do reflect the values of citizens like me who want a safer Virginia, despite what you saw in the room that night. We may disagree about many things but couldn’t we at least agree that we value life and the rule of law over guns? We all want to keep our family safe, see our children grow with dignity and have the same rights as any American. There are many issues in this county we can join together to work toward – let’s put more resources and our time toward the school, food banks, our elderly, low-income communities.

Our community can be the start of a hopeful conversation but we have to stop yelling and listen.

In Christ’s love,

Susan Halliday

Farmville