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We have three pieces from the community in this week’s Letters to the Editor. You can submit your thoughts and voice concerns about community issues by emailing editor@farmvilleherald.com. Letters to the Editor have to be received two days prior to publication.

Let the community come up with a plan

Dear Editor,

I see all the hate being thrown at everyone from Cumberland committee members to supervisors and I have to go in the opposite direction. I’ve run businesses in my time and I know it takes a while to get everything sorted out. Anybody pitching a fit and expecting companies to move in immediately just isn’t living in the real world. First, you need a business plan. It appears that Cumberland hasn’t really had one of those in a while, so it makes sense to just go and build one big one, making the county’s mission statement clear. They’re in the process of doing that, as I read in the paper. They’re trying to figure out how to help companies partner with each other. Ok, that’s another good step. I would like to see more of a focus on forestry, not just farming, but to each their own. We have to give people time to put this together. If we want it done right, it can’t be rushed. That would just end up with a sloppy, rushed piece of paper that nobody can use. How does that help anybody? 

We need to give them time to finish this thing and then to come up with a plan about how to use it. Now if we’re in the same spot two years from now, then that’s another conversation. But it seems like everybody involved knows what they need to do. Let’s step back and let them actually do it. 

Dennis Deems
Cumberland

Why can’t we be thankful?

Dear Editor, 

I really don’t understand some people. I don’t understand why some people are still up in arms, even after a grocery store has been both announced and work has started on it. This is what you wanted, right? This is at least what I wanted. We don’t need some massive chain store and they don’t want to come here anyway. How many studies, newspaper stories or other evidence do you need? Food Lion isn’t coming to Cumberland. Aldi isn’t building here. Lowes Foods won’t stop by either. At least not right now. We don’t have the number of people they want and, let’s be honest, we don’t have the money they want. 

What we do have, and what should be celebrated, are people in this community who want to fix that problem, who want to put together a grocery store. When did a small business, a community business, become a bad thing? Just because something doesn’t have Food Lion on the sign, you feel the need to run away from it? Why? All I need is a place where I can get food for my family. My dad is most likely going to be a staple over at the butcher’s counter, and I can imagine plenty of days I stop off at the deli to pick something up on the way home. So to everyone involved in the new grocery store, we appreciate you and the hard work you’re all doing to put this up here. To everyone that’s now pouting and longing for a national chain store, why? When another small business launches, a retail store or something like it, will you start demanding a Target? 

Maggie Zenker
Cumberland

Correcting an issue in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor,

I am writing to address one inaccuracy in the April 23, 2025, article “Board Approved,” which discusses the Prince Edward School Board’s budget. I appreciate the Herald’s coverage of local education.

The article indicates that the budget allocates $1,952,937 for a 4% raise for teachers. In actuality, the School Board and Board of Supervisors approved a budget that allocates $1,469,203 for a 3% raise for teachers and a pay step increase. This discrepancy could mislead the public about compensation for our educators. It is essential that our community be informed of the correct pay increase for all parties involved to ensure transparency in how educational funds are allocated.

Clear and accurate information strengthens our community’s ability to engage in informed discussions about school priorities. Thank you for your dedication to keeping the Farmville community informed and for making this clarification.

Joseph Cox
Interim Superintendent
Prince Edward Schools