Published 07/11/02 in issue #23 of the Hook

There's a word for using someone else's property without asking permission.

It's called stealing.

If you were to use your neighbor's lawnmower, or drive away in his car, without his permission, you would not call it an "oversight."

Yet the officers of the Rivanna Trails Foundation ["Trail nix," Cover Story, July 4, 2002] characterize their failure to secure permission of property owners before running a public footpath through their land as an "oversight"-- and The Hook lets this shameful bit of excuse-making pass without judgment.

It's not clear which is the worse "oversight": the Foundation's neglect of its legal and moral responsibilities, or The Hook's failure to take the Foundation to task for it (or at least find a disinterested party willing to do the same).

We all learned in kindergarten that it's wrong to take things belonging to others. This rule applies equally to toys and land.

Richard Sincere
Charlottesville

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