Yes.and I thank you in advance for doing that. But as a school teacher for Henrico, I am concerned about all the buses rolling out tomarrow morning and us having to drive home on slick and then dangerous roads that have not been treated. Also, busses will be traveling with America’s future in their seats.  When a storm such as being called for tomorrow arrives, the schools should close and not put so many lives at risk.

I have a bone to pick with Appalachian power.  I live in Vinton Virginia in a small two bedroom one bath townhouse and our electric bill has gone through the roof.  This time last year the bill was on average no more than $100 per month.  The last two bills we have received have been $250 and $277.  This is absurd and unacceptable.  AEP has called for rate increase after rate increase until it has come to a point where an area with a 15% unemployment rate cannot take it anymore.  According to an article on tradingmarkets.com “Rate increases alone, when comparing December 2007 with December 2009, have boosted by more than 60 percent the monthly bill of an average residential customer who consumes 1,000 kilowatt hours a month.”  Also, AEP has helped to add to the unemployment rate in this area by recently laying people off so my question is why the hell they need a rate increase.  If they have laid people off then overhead should go down therefore resulting in a rate decrease.  I mean come on, its standard business practice.  Decrease the amount of overhead you pay out the cheaper it is to operate.  It’s not like they have lost customers since they have a monopoly on electric service in this area.  The government is focusing on increasing the number of jobs and trying to fix the mess we are in, which is a wonderful objective.  However, the fact that AEP is pissing all over the little guys cannot go unnoticed.  AEP has had more rate increases in the past few years than the average person gets in wage raises over the same period of time.  I haven’t had a 60% increase in my salary since 2007 so why should they.  I voted for both Bob McDonald and Bob Goodlatte and I am hereby calling out to them to make a change.  Crackdown on AEP and give this area some relief.  This area of the commonwealth cannot stand to pay these outrages power bills.  People have to choose between paying the power bill and paying for food.  This is not how we should be living.  So I’m asking for help from the government of great Commonwealth to act on the peoples behalf.

Declaring a state of emergency in VA prior to the expected snow storm is a great idea! Now we are officially, not just as individuals, but as a state and as a community, ready to face the storm and potential damage from the storm. This is a huge improvement after having spent the night stuck on Interstate 81 during the snow storm in December. Thank you Governor McDonnell, an excellent call!

Linda Kugelman

national weather service says the snowfall will beat records.

I hope that everyone stays safe.

I think that opening the rest areas is one of the top priorities right now and to help pay for it my suggestion is to cut back on welfare and food stamps. If it wasn’t for the truckers we wouldn’t have any food in the stores anyway!! Please open the rest areas ASAP!!!