Perriello blasts Senate on unemployment benefits
Edited by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
Fifth District Congressman Tom Perriello today released a statement blasting the U.S. Senate for playing politics with unemployment benefits and Medicare payments to doctors.
“The elites in the Senate may have forgotten what it’s like on Main Street for families still struggling in this recession,” Perriello said in the statement. “Hardworking Virginians who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own have been subject to the game-playing and political posturing of the Senate for too long. People depend on these benefits to put food on the table and keep a roof over their head while they search for new work. It’s unconscionable that the Senate continues to play politics with unemployment benefits and Medicare payments while the American people need action.” Read more
Shenandoah Pizza owners branch out into concert promotion
Edited by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
When Shenandoah Pizza owners Cheryl and John Huggins started following one of their favorite bands the Allman Brothers around from concert-to-concert years ago, they never imagined that a few years hence they would be hosting musicians associated with the band in their very own concert series.
“We just loved that music scene and wanted to be a part of it all back then,” said John Huggins. “Now we want to bring some of that same excitement and enjoyment to the local music scene.”
The Bruce Katz Band will headline the Shenandoah Summer Blues Fest Aug. 21 at the Steve B. Dod Amphitheater located at the Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton. Katz has toured with the Allman Brothers and still plays with Gregg Allman regularly, who says about Bruce, “He can play jazz, blues, Bach, anything. Man, he’s a heavy!”
A deep well of local blues musicians will round out the schedule, with a variety of food, drink, vendors and other special activities on tap. Read more
Mike Judge: Time for a summer hiatus
Column by Mike Judge
WeekendWatchdog.blogspot.com
I’m going to take a break from the Watchdog for the next few weeks while I enjoy summer vacation with my sons.
I hope to resume weekly updates as football season rolls around at the end of August.
You know your summer sports. Here’s your links. Read more
Ken Plum: Virginia’s Forgotten
Column by Ken Plum
www.kenplum.com
We had a wind-up Victrola at home when I was growing up. It was a handed-down piece of furniture rather than a serious music-making machine. A few cranks on the handle on the side, lift the arm and put the needle in the beginning track on the 78 rpm vinyl record, and music would come out of the ornate wooden box with the fancy top. Particularly funny to us as youngsters was the time when the needle would get to the scratch in the record, and it would keep repeating itself. A little tap and the needle would get past the scratch for at least one more revolution. Read more
Jim Bishop: He’s departed, but grandfather legacy lives on
Column by Jim Bishop
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Like the late Jimmy Dean’s No. 1 song in 1961 declared, “At the bottom of this mine lies a big, big man . . . Big John.”
He wasn’t a coal miner, even though he lived in West Virginia, but his life was cut short early. Like the legendary Big John, he was an in-charge type, a striking figure who commanded respect.
When Robert P. Dayton of Mineral County, W.Va., spoke, people did listen. I know I did, even as a youngster, which is when I came to know him.
“R.P.,” as some called him, was my grandfather, my mother’s father.
My brother Eric recently sent me a photo he obtained of Grandpa, apparently taken on the Dayton homestead in Fairview Valley around 1950. It captures the character of the man as I remember him – a mischievous twinkle in his eye, a radiant smile, a commanding presence, yet with a gentle spirit. Read more
Sanford D. Horn: Many villains, no heroes
Column by Sanford D. Horn
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Rahm Emanuel is the opportunist’s opportunist. The Obama administration chief of staff first said “never let a serious crisis go to waste.” Then, this past weekend, Emanuel referred to Congressman Joe Barton’s apology to BP as a “gift,” demonstrative of how the GOP would behave. For that, Emanuel is a villain.
Texas Republican Joe Barton chided the Obama administration last week for “shaking down” BP to the tune of $20 billion, in the form of an apology to the beleaguered oil company. Barton then redacted his apology to BP, no doubt under pressure from key GOP leadership, who may have threatened to relieve Barton of his ranking position on the Energy and Commerce Committee. For his backpedaling, Barton is a villain. Read more
Woodstock knocks off Generals, 5-2
Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
Six strong innings from Vince Voiro and a lack of clutch hitting by Waynesboro doomed the Generals to a tough 5-2 loss Wednesday night at Mathers Park.
WaynesboroGenerals.com has the story.
Waynesboro’s loss, Shenandoah County’s gain
Column by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
It’s been two years, and the upset feelings still boil up inside me. Tim Williams, on his way to being voted in as mayor by the new cabal in charge on Waynesboro City Council, was dispatched to send the message to then-city manager Doug Walker that his services would no longer be needed, and that he wouldn’t want to be around anyway, because the new backward-thinking majority on City Council was just going to undo everything that he had done anyway.
The good news for Shenandoah County is that Walker was available when the Board of Supervisors there was looking to hire a new county administrator. The bad news for Waynesboro – that Walker was available when Shenandoah County came a-callin’.
TheWorldAccordingToChrisGraham.com has the story.
Walker tapped to head up Shenandoah County government
Edited by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
Former Waynesboro city manager Doug Walker was hired last week by Shenandoah County to serve as its new county administrator.
Walker, 48, will take the job effective July 1.
Walker was forced out in Waynesboro after the 2008 city elections shifted political power on Waynesboro City Council to a conservative wing bent on undoing initiatives started by the previous City Council.
Walker served as city manager in Waynesboro from 2003-2008. He joined the St. Paul, Minn.,-based Springsted, a government consulting company, in November 2008 as a vice president.
The World According To ChrisGraham.com: Waynesboro’s loss, Shenandoah County’s gain
It’s been two years, and the upset feelings still boil up inside me. Tim Williams, on his way to being voted in as mayor by the new cabal in charge on Waynesboro City Council, was dispatched to send the message to then-city manager Doug Walker that his services would no longer be needed, and that he wouldn’t want to be around anyway, because the new backward-thinking majority on City Council was just going to undo everything that he had done anyway.
The good news for Shenandoah County is that Walker was available when the Board of Supervisors there was looking to hire a new county administrator. The bad news for Waynesboro – that Walker was available when Shenandoah County came a-callin’.
Link to column on TheWorldAccordingToChrisGraham.com.
81: Wait and see
Special Report by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
You might remember all the hubbub over what they were planning to do with Interstate 81. They were going to pave over the Valley! That was what people were saying, anyway, looking at the monstrosities of plans that we knew as the Star Solutions proposal and the Fluor proposal, not to mention what the Virginia Department of Transportation itself seemed to have in the works.
People came out in record numbers to public hearings up and down the Valley and Southwest Virginia to let officialdom know what they thought of the plans. The basic message: Thanks, but no thanks.
But there was also some ambivalence to our stand. After all, not many of us like having to deal with the truck congestion on 81, which is carrying twice the capacity of trucks that it was designed for – and considering the design flaws that any non-engineer can see with the long hills and windy curves that we’re somehow supposed to navigate to get to Roanoke or Harrisonburg or Winchester or Bristol, well, that’s saying something.
Those of us who had the time to give the issue some thought wanted to see the state look more at rail, which is to say, we wanted them to actually look at rail, as opposed to making it look like they were when we knew from reading their reports that they really weren’t. They eventually did, and released a report a few weeks ago on how increased rail capacity in Western Virginia could impact congestion on I-81.
Kudos also go out to the technocrats and their friends in the policy realm for getting to work on a new rail line connecting Manassas to Front Royal that will take some of the pressure off 81.
So we sort of got what we wanted on rail, and also sort of got what we wanted on the paving-over-of-the-Valley, because we’re now in the second decade of the 21st century, and the Valley hasn’t yet been paved over, and looking at the state’s finances, and multiple transportation-funding priorities, it’s not going to happen anytime soon, and anytime soon could be, 20 years, 30 years?
Which isn’t to say that there aren’t still issues with congestion that will need to be dealt with.
Story available for free for a limited time.
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Michael Lane: Usury
Posted on June 24, 2010 · Leave a Comment
Submit letters: freepress2@ntelos.net
At times, it seems as if Congress is the most dysfunctional institution in the nation; however, the Virginia General Assembly can give them a run for their money. For several years now the leadership of the General Assembly has been faced with a simple question: Should we ban usury and predatory lending in Virginia or protect it under the guise of the free market economy?
Overwhelmingly citizens, local governments, and civic organizations have called for a simple solution: a 36 percent APR cap on all loans with no fees, and every year the General Assembly has sided with the usurers and predatory lenders. Read more
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