1/8 - We read, so you didn't have to

Regardless of how you've absorbed and interpreted the Loudoun rags in the past week, we're here to set you straight regarding the valuable time you may have thus wasted. Or not.

Leesburg Today - pet peeve, will somebody get the "it" apostrophe "s" thing straight? (page 3)...moving on, New Year's news is a bit slight, with a few pretty pictures, a non-hostile approval of the BOS's continuing vice chairman (Tulloch), and miscellaneous local tidbits - including the dropping of 100 homes from the Peterson Crosstrail development project. This was ostensibly to meet concerns of being too near the airport (umm..they mean the Leesburg Excutive Airport, not the actual regional airport). LCSA wants to change their name, because folks can't remember them - we suggest "Loudoun County Garbage People", i.e the "garbage people". Andrews (a developer) and Poisson (incumbent) have launched their 2007 campaigns here in this first week of the year, only about 45 fun-filled weeks to go! The most important coverage, of course, within the very phat advertising listings (business appears to be good around Loudoun), is Tuscaraora Mill's Austrian Beer Dinner on 1/18! OK - if you're looking for the meat, 2 fairly detailed musings of the upcoming year in transportation and impact of the downzoning actions from last week - we'll recommend actually reading these - good summaries. Love the "Buffoonery" challenge in the Editorial, i.e. "don't tread on us!". Eugene checks in with his Route 28 support letter, same one as went to all the papers (quite an advertising budget, or time to spare). Oh - HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOUDOUN COUNTY!

Meanwhile, the eccentricity in Middleburg continue unabated, though the folks are slowing down to poke at the power line issue (every single one of them, in their letters) - is basically the only news and op/ed fit to print in this rag for a while.

Down at the Easterner, nice story on who's responsible for those big, orange "Supersize Loudoun!" stickers ("don't", obviously) - lesson, start a movement, get funded, create bumperstickers, get in the news; that's how your name gets on our blog! (McGimsey). There's a new publisher on board, to whom we'll offer our editing and commentary services - no doubt she'll accept, having come from a purely advertising background. Maybe that's why it's so hard to get through the ads to the grist of the paper, i.e. the action in Ashburn, Cascades and Countryside. Um - no news there, just a pancake breakfast, pot luck and bingo. At least Herring deigned to visit Sugarland, and the topic of education officially makes its debut for the new year in Loudoun!

The independent tells me there's a University in our neighborhood (Old Dominion, NOVA ctr., in Sterling) - not looking for any competition from the upcoming George Mason campus, we're sure. Hey, we've got some are residents on the state Transportation Accountability Commission - definitely need to post their email addresses in upcoming notes. Rt. 15 safety hits the Op/Ed - reflecting the same topic out of the BOS public hearing last week - this definitely needs fixin'. Quarter page devoted to "Fantasy Football" - LoudounI needs to spring for a sports reporter, obviously. (By the way, the accompanying new website for LoudounI is quite a tome, if you can actually get it opened and finagle your way through it - definitely not "Section 508" compliant.

That's it for now - will be more thorough, witty and Dulles-centric as this election year wears on.