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SPOTSYLVANIA TO HOST VRE SUMMIT AT RIVERBEND HIGH

June 6, 2009 12:36 am

By DAN TELVOCK

For the first time in Spotsylvania County, a Virginia Railway Express summit will provide residents with access to top officials who will answers questions about the commuter rail service.

Unlike Stafford County and Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania supervisors have avoided joining VRE for almost two decades.

Reasons for not joining are varied.

Supervisor Jerry Logan, who organized the summit beginning at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, at Riverbend High School, said this will afford residents an opportunity to ask specific questions about VRE.

On the commuter rail issue, Logan is a swing vote among the seven-member Board of Supervisors. Logan said this summit may be a decisive event for supervisors, who plan to vote on whether to join VRE this summer.

Dale Zehner, VRE's chief executive officer, said he will have the regional transit system's lawyer, Steven MacIsaac, available to answer any legal questions. What Zehner will not do, he said, is debate county growth or try to sell VRE.

"I do not intend to make some sales pitch for [Spotsylvania] to join," he said. "I am kind of out of that business and we've done that in the past. I think this is really a Spotsylvania issue on whether they want to join or not, and I know there are a lot of opinions out there."

Logan said he wants the panel to supply factual information to the public about VRE. He said his role will be to follow-up on questions that he thinks might need more explaining.

He said County Attorney Jacob Stroman also will be on the panel.

"With the attorneys there, there is no reason we cannot get an answer to the questions posed to them," Logan said.

The summit will help fellow supervisors make a sound decision when they do vote this summer, he said.

"This could determine which way the county goes either for VRE or against VRE, so I think it is critical for the vote that the summit take place."

Tim O'Donnell, University of Mary Washington's director of debate and associate professor of communications, will moderate the event with Ted Schubel, an news broadcaster for WFVA-AM.

"I am there to both ask the questions that have been submitted in advance and to keep the speaker on track and on focus, and to ensure some equal time distribution," he said.

Dan Telvock: 540/374-5438
Email: dtelvock@freelancestar.com