The Civil War Weekend event looked like a good time. I stopped by early Saturday and spent just about half an hour or 45 minutes to get some photos for the paper.

It was just after 10 a.m. and already there were dozens of folks listening to a youth band and strolling around the exhibits, which included reenactors in period dress and others with something to sell.

I stopped and chatted with a couple fellas from Chesapeake who were with the 3rd Virginia.

I merely wanted their names and where they were from but they gave me the entire history of the unit, which was interesting.

One has to be really committed to don those heavy, wool uniforms, give up your weekend

away from family, miles from the nearest sofa, television and air conditioners to pitch tents and mill about in the heat recreating a primitive existence.

It’s a little obsessive, I think.

I enjoy history, watching and reading, but you have to draw the line somewhere.

Tourism director Lynette Brugeman was there earning her keep, moving around trash cans.

Her department did a good job with the weekend

and I hope we get more like it.

I understand from reporter Allison Williams that Chuckatuck residents gave Councilman Joe Barlow and Del. Chris Jones a good going over at Friday’s meeting Barlow hosted on the future of the King’s Highway Bridge.

They should have expected it.

It’s ridiculous that the situation was allowed to deteriorate

to the point of closing the bridge with no prospects for replacing it in the foreseeable future.

Many of those in attendance, Williams said, came clutching a copy of that day’s News-Herald with the story about the athletic complex in Driver being pondered that has a price tag of more than $40 million.

They were understandably upset that if money exists for such a facility that there’s none for the bridge. I’m hearing the same thing from people about a real estate tax cut, the prospects of which are looking dim. We can’t afford a tax cut, but we can afford a $40 million for softball fields?

Of course, it’s not really that simple. No money has been allocated for the Driver facility, it hasn’t even been voted upon. Any council member who votes for it, however, would have to be pretty gutsy in the face of such sentiments.