Business sense at the Board of Education

Help me out because I do not understand the details.  Dominion approaches the Harrison County board of Education and says, we will give you $750 for a ten year lease to ensure that the South Harrison High School property becomes part of our buffer system that prevents anyone else from drilling near our assets.

The President of the Board, who will be leaving office in a matter of days, decides that this action cannot wait until the two new members of the Board take office July first. He calls a special meeting of the Board of Education to entertain Dominion’s request. Each Board member is paid $150 to attend that session. Five members are therefore paid $750.  Sounds like a great deal to the Board.  So they approve it plus whatever costs they incurred by finding independent legal council to review the contract because the guy they have on retainer has a conflict of interest between the Board and Dominion.

And how does the Board or the public benefit from this again? Did they really spend more money to give property rights away then they received in payment?

Thankfully, two seats on the Board are changing hands today. Paul J Howe III and Chuck Reider will be sworn in around 3:30.  Perhaps, we have elected two people who will start asking the obvious questions and challenging the way the Board has been doing business.

V.P. Cheney knows Sexual Deviation is Funny?

“We’d always known about the Cheney family line on my father’s side of the family, back to Massachusetts in the 1630s. My grandmother was named Tyler but it turned out she was descended from a Richard Cheney, same last name, who landed in Maryland in the 1650s,” Vice President Cheney said. “So I had Cheneys on both sides of the family — and we don’t even live in West Virginia.”  … Vice President Richard Cheney at the National Press Club June 1, 2008

Can you imagine the knee-slapping howl that Dick and Lynne Cheney’s must have let out upon discovering that their daughter, Mary, was a lesbian?

Is it ok to make incest jokes about every girl and woman in West Virginia and some how judge it to be impolitic if one mentions the VP’s own daughter’s sexual proclivities?

Both are wrong.  Some researchers are claiming some insight into a genetic basis for homosexuality. It may turn out that having Cheneys’ on both side of the family tree may, in fact, cause some recessive trait. The evidence is not yet in.  Geographical residence has little to do with it.  It is safe for Cheney to come to West Virgina. We have, unfortunately, made dueling illegal.  The honor of our people must be the lives we lead.

Remember October  2004 and the Presidential debates?  John F. Kerry took it upon himself to mention that the VP’s daughter was a lesbian.  John Edwards did the same thing during the debate between the VP candidates.  I thought they were both slime balls at the time for playing that card in the hopes of alienating the ‘religious right’ to vote for them based on making disclosures of Mary’s private life.

Lynne Cheney, speaking as a mom, made the comment in regard to Kerry’s remarks, “the only thing I can conclude is that this is not a good man.” She was right at the time.  Now she needs to lecture her husband.

Judge Drew Crislip expresses thoughts on election loss

Family Court Judge Drew Crislip is a blogger. In his latest entry he speaks from the heart on his feelings about losing the Primary Election.

It is worth reading just to remind ourselves that many office holders and candidates treat their pursuits with genuine sincerity and with a desire to serve. The rejection at the polls is a big disappointment to them personally. They put out a tremendous effort in time and money to educate the public and to seek the public’s permission to continue their work.

The losing candidates also deserve our thanks for making the effort.

Judge Crislip’s blog entry can be found HERE

WVU President

An email received from Beverly:

What about Garrison being given a  no-confidence vote by the Faculty Senate?  Who runs WVU anyway?  It looks like the Governor and Mylan Industries to me.  I think Mr. Garrison should step down so the university can go on.  Already I have seen where two major contributors are going to withhold money for the university.  I hate to think that tuition is going to go up again because we are losing contributors over Garrison.

Remind you of any Clarksburg Council Member?

Excerpts from this WSJ Article

Fifty-four years ago today, Sen. Joseph McCarthy started his televised hearings on alleged Soviet spies and communists in the Army. The spectacle grabbed the country’s attention for the next two months.

By the end of the McCarthy hearings, the senator’s career was over; before an audience that often numbered 20 million Americans, he came across as bullying and unscrupulous.

…”The problem was that McCarthy lied about his information and figures,” “He made charges against people that weren’t true. McCarthyism harmed the counterintelligence effort against the Soviet threat because of the revulsion it caused.”

The Army-McCarthy hearings followed a pattern, notes Donald A. Ritchie, associate historian of the Senate. Typically, McCarthy held hearings in executive session first, “like a dress rehearsal,” says Mr. Ritchie, who studied the transcripts of the hearings. Mostly McCarthy didn’t have any hard evidence against the people he was interrogating; he just hoped to get them to contradict themselves or to take the Fifth Amendment, or to confess.

“He interviewed about 500 people in closed session,” Mr. Ritchie told me. “He called about 300 people to public session.”

“After they’d testified in closed session, he’d go out in the hall, and he’d tell the waiting press what had just happened,” Mr. Ritchie says. “We looked at both the New York Times’s and the Chicago Tribune’s accounts and then we compared that to what actually went on inside the hearings. What he told the press grossly exaggerated what took place.”

SBA does not Fund Charles Pointe School

Back to the drawing boards. Will the property still be donated for Board of Education?

http://www.wvs.state.wv.us/wvsba/

They Forgot to tell you … B’Port Home Rule Application

The City of Bridgeport forgot to tell the public this:

The West Virginia Home Rule Board has scheduled a meeting with Bridgeport’s City Council. It will be held Tuesday, April 15 at 9:00am at City Hall in Council Chambers. The City will present their application. The Home Rule Board will have the opportunity to ask questions of the City regarding its presentation and application. The meeting is open to the public and the public will have a chance to speak to the Home Rule Board regarding Bridgeport’s application.

John Angotti to sing for Pope Benedict

From Sandy Trzcinski

Clarksburg can be quietly pleased & humbly proud of
it’s native son who was been invited to perform for
Pope Benedict’s visit to Washington,DC along with
tenor Placido Domingo, and mezzo soprano Denise
Graves. It will be held at Washing National Parks
stadium which seats 46,000 people on April 17 th.
Imagine! Of this performance for Pope Benedict in D.C.
he said: “To be asked to sing at this event with Pope
Benedict is the greatest musical event in my life………”
To learn more about John Angotti and his music,
check out: http://www.johnangotti.com. Hats off to John & his
wonderful family.

Petition to dedicate press box to Jack Fleming

From an email:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/jackflemingpressboxdedication/index.html
Do not make any donations!!  skip that part from the web host please by simply backing out of the petition.

Fellow Mountaineer fans,

My name is Jamie Clegg and I wanted to personally thank you for signing the petition of the West Virginia University Athletic Department to dedicate the press box at Milan Puskar Stadium in honor of the longtime ‘Voice of the Mountaineers’ Jack Fleming.

As you well know, we need many more signatures.  We don’t have money to give for a big donation but we can get enough signatures to make someone listen. I am asking if you could please forward this message to any mountaineer fans you have in your e-mail address books.  I feel we can really increase our scope of fans with a lot of participation in forwarding this e-mail and it will only take a minute of your time.  I appreciate your cooperation.  Don’t forget to sign for immediate family members that loved Jack as well.

For the folks who are reading about this petition for the first time:

Jack Fleming’s served the fans of West Virginia for over 50 years by allowing us to ”see” the events unfolding in Morgantown through his descriptive words.
His dedication, love, and ability to paint a picture of the events of West Virginia University athletic competition is unmatched. These attributes also helped to build the foundation of a strong and passionate fan base that continues to support the mountaineers to this day.

We feel it is time that this man is honored for his contributions to the university and we feel this would be a fitting tribute to a man who means so much to the fans, the history, and the entire entity of West Virginia University.

If you could please forward this to any mountaineer fan (student, friend, relative) that you know it would be greatly appreciated. A link to the petition is enclosed at the top of this message.

Wouldn’t it be great to have the box dedicated at a WVU home football game next season?  The tears would roll in honor of this man.

Let’s bring Jack home!!!!  Let’s goooooooo Mountaineers.

Thank you so much,

Jamie Clegg

WBOY News Coverage Link
http://www.wboy.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=36673

Awesome tribute to Jack on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-e1Zwjn03Y

Court House Space issue Solved!

The issue: A second Family Court Judge will be assuming office.  Where can the County Commissioners find space to house this new position in an over-crowded court house building?

Solution:  Move the County Commissioners out of their current space and give it up for additional court room space and offices.

There is no reason why the Commissioners must be in the Court House.  There are more reasons why a new “Court” should be in the Court House.

The Commissioners currently hold their weekly meetings in a room that is very rarely packed but is perfectly set up to support a Family Court room environment where privacy is frequently needed to protect the confidentiality of children.

What is the average attendance of the Commissioner’s meetings?  Three - four people attend and an occasional news media person who arrives late only to interview the Commissioners after the meeting is over.

It is time to recognize a need for a County Court Annex or a County Administration Building (not in Charles Pointe, Ron). The Commissioners have several buildings within walking distance in which they could rent office and conference room space to conduct their business.   It would be cheaper for the Commissioners to move out rather than provide extra armed security for a new court room away from the court house.

Begin moving more non-court related County government offices out of the Court House and you will be doing a favor for everyone who hates to empty their pockets, wallets and purses every time they wish to run into the building to get a form or check on taxes.  Put the people’s business out where it is easily accessible and leave the court rooms in between the guards and the public.

If they won’t move, let the County Commissioners meet during the evening. They can then choose any of the empty court rooms in which to hold their meetings.  Or, how about having some courts meet at night?  Why keep the court rooms empty for 16 hours a day.? The people in the orange suits coming before the courts would be pretty flexible in attending.  The old Justice of the Peace was available around the clock. Magistrates are on call when needed around the clock. Why does every judge need their own specific court-room? Why are they not managed in common and assigned on an ‘as available’ basis?

Could it be that the ’space problem” might only exist in a few heads?