Editorial: Midweek Briefing

Sunday snowfall: The weekend helping of white ground cover was a welcome sight to children wanting to sled or winter-lovers off for Presidents Day, but the accumulation of 5 to 7 inches provided another positive, according to renowned Fishersville horticulturist Mark Viette.

He told reporter Bob Stuart this week that the snow served as insulation for plants and flowers, covering and protecting the natural wonders.

“It was a real positive,” Viette said. “The snow was nice, dusty and light.”

Law-enforcement authorities also reported no serious injuries on the roads. That was fortunate, as adding just a touch of snow or ice to the pavement can sometimes cause bad crashes.

WARM: More good winter news comes from the Waynesboro Area Refuge Ministry’s cold-weather shelter. Organizers said its first month and a half of operation went better than expected.

WARM Chairman Howard Miller said that, on an average night, seven to 10 people stay at the shelter. The shelter site rotates among five different churches, and members of three other congregations have provided meals and volunteered overnight.

Main Street United Methodist Church has provided linens for guests, and St. John’s Episcopal bought new cots for the shelter. Augusta Cleaners is doing the laundry for free, and Waynesboro police have offered assistance to the volunteers and to WARM as a whole, Miller said.

The city’s social services department also helped one shelter guest find employment and permanent housing, and workers there are trying to assist others who have stayed with WARM.

It all sounds like a real community success story. May the blessings continue in the coming weeks. The shelter will be open until March 25.

Prez poll: GOP presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum overtake President Barack Obama in hypothetical matchups in Virginia, according to a recent Christopher Newport University/Richmond Times-Dispatch poll.

Santorum was favored by 46 percent of respondents to Obama’s 42 percent in a survey of 1,018 registered voters taken Feb. 4-13. Romney bested Obama 46 percent to 43 percent. The latter difference, however, was within the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

The president did better going head-to-head against some other Republican candidates. He tied Rep. Ron Paul at 43 percent, and he won out over former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, 45 percent to 40 percent.

Of course, the loser in any of these hypothetical contests would undoubtedly say that there’s only one poll that really matters: the one at the ballot box on Election Day.