This is an unpaid political ad from Lee McWhorter. It should say “authorized by the campaign for Lee McWhorter” on it. Note that this blog now says “authorized by the campaign for common sense: Richmond in District 1″ at the bottom of the blog menu on the right. The Blog isn’t “paid for” by anybody. Blogs are free.
Alice,
You can post this where ever you want. It is about the airfield and grants. As well as an answer for any/all concerned blog readers about why as the “CHAIRMAN” I would vote to keep the airfield open with taxpayer dollars.
So if you do not care about spending taxpayer bucks on a strip of land with a runway you can just quit reading.
For the rest of you…..
No, not all of the grants would have to be repaid if the airfield were to close I was wrong about that.
Now I said “NOT ALL OF THE GRANTS” but some {maybe most} have a very strong string attached that could under certain circumstanses be jerked back by the grantors, a string that usually does not eaisly break.
The note on this string says that, in order to get the grant in the first place, the airfield must be open with an official manager or whatever in charge and on site. With this string attached I have to call the field an “AIRPORT” not just an unattended airstrip of land that I was calling an “airfield”.
Definations are important…so..
AIRFIELD…noun-a level area, usually equipped with hard-surfaced runways, on which airplanes take off and land.
Also….
1.The area of fields and runways where aircraft can take off and land.
2.An airport.
AIRSTRIP…1.a small landing field having only one runway.
2.a temporary or auxiliary aircraft runway.
3.See landing strip.
landing strip
n. An aircraft runway without airport facilities. Also called airstrip.
AIRPORT…1.a tract of land or water with facilities for the landing, takeoff, shelter, supply, and repair of aircraft, esp. one used for receiving or discharging passengers and cargo at regularly scheduled times.
2.Nautical. a porthole designed to be opened to the outside air.
and..
1.A tract of leveled land where aircraft can take off and land, usually equipped with hard-surfaced landing strips, a control tower, hangars, aircraft maintenance and refueling facilities, and accommodations for passengers and cargo.
2.Such an installation in which the landing area is on water.
Now, with that over, any one of reasonable intelligence should be able to figure out what we started with and what we have now.
A few facts are that…
1.The airfield was never private like I said it was when it started.
2.Although it began with a handshake, {in other times that was garrantee enough for most folk}, I guess I could call that a “wink and a nod” and not be out of bounds. Between the land owners and the town and county and ground work on an “IDEA” or a “WISH” or a “DESIRE” for an airport in the county began.
I suppose [hope and pray] that like all civic minded folk, the intentions of all involved were to make PAGE COUNTY VIRGINIA a better place to live. That’s why I’m running for chairman, I’d like to be on the record as stating that I am not running against any one or anything, rather I am running to make PAGE COUNTY VIRGINIA A BETTER PLACE to live, recreate, procreate, visit, [possibly] work, or other wise enjoy your stay or life here, making you also a better person for your time spent here .
3.It next became jointly owned by the town of Luray and the county of Page with public administration by the luray caverans corp, after the land holders gave up their vested interest in ownership and the new owners {the town and couny} or the taxpayers became the new owners of the whole enchilata
The caverns removed themselves I believe, although I do not know for sure, and the Airport Commission was created and began to take over day to day operations and any expansion activity.
As we know with “project clover” full disclosure to the rabble is not always the case in “PAGE COUNTY VIRGINIA” at times it is more expedient for the board to create an “authority” or a “commission” that does their bidding unobserved, {please, you all, note that I did not say in “secret”} usually meeting at times when public or taxpayers are working and therefore cannot attend.
This is not a page county invention it has been going on in the “DEMOCRATIC SOUTHERN BIBLE BELT” at least, maybe the tatic is used in other place as well, for as long as I can remember being interested in politics. Which I consider to be most of my 64 years in this life.
Now over the the 30 or so years that I have been here in PAGE COUNTY VIRGINIA this has been going on.
It just may be high time to stop it and get transparent and take the lumps and or punches that the taxpayers give the board just to get information about what in the world is going on.
Over the past 30 years the commission has entered into numerous enhancement ventures, with grants from the FAA, that were intended to expand the airfield into and airport {see definitions to under stand the differences}.
One of those grants that I remember well, one of the larger ones {10 million}, would have to be returned/repaid if the airport were not to remain in a “staffed and always open daily status” there were other similarily worded grants that we as taxpayers have signed on to through the authority granted to the commission from the town and county administrations over the years.
Please understand that you have to speak up if you do not like the way your taxdollars are being spent.
Not only do you have to speak up, you also have to assure yourself that the governors understand you after you spoke up. Of course you know about the syndrome of in one ear and out the other do you not???
Rest assured I undersstand language and vernacular or at least I know how to find out what the meaning of something that interests me is in any number of languages.
So you can trust that I now know that we will indeed have to repay some of the larger grants if we fail to follow the rules, because we [you and I] are the owners and responsible parties of the airport, and I know or at least believe that most of the taxpayers in PAGE COUNTY VIRGINIA {as owners}will not want to repay 20 million or more dollars back to the FAA.
For god sakes do the math we are about 100 million dollars in debt!!!! A small county that flys under the radar and by the seat of its pants with only 24,000 +/- residents how have we done this to ourselves most importantly WHY???
I’m not sure but I think/trust that we can still turn this boat around. To survive the next few years I implore you all as taxpayers to involve yourselves now more that ever and cause the next board to become better than the last.
MAKE GOOD MEN AND A WOMAN {MAYBE 2}, BETTER MEN AND A WOMAN [OR 2] you as citizens can do this if you ONLY try.
LEE NOV3.
Alice’s comment: Other political candidates are also welcome to post their messages here. So are existing officeholders, and Planning Commission members, and EDA members, and anybody else who wants to say something to the public. Just make a note on your comment that you’d like to have your own space, and I’ll post it. The only caveat is that I’m not interested in hearing any complaints about what the comments are. And I definitely don’t want to hear all those complaints that say, “make them sign their name.” Political discourse, discussion, and information must be open and free if there is any democracy here at all, and there can not be retaliation for diverse viewpoints.
July 15, 2009 at 8:53 am
Maybe I am mistaking, but I thought Lee stated in previous posts that if elected he would listen to what the taxpayers had to say and side with the majority. Now he tells us how and why HE is going to handle the airport situation. Keep digging that hole and sooner or later it will cave in.
July 16, 2009 at 1:01 pm
Here is the referenced post:
Alice Richmond Says:
June 18, 2009 at 2:00 am
So, Lee, if you were Chair, and the voters appeared to be overwhelmingly against this deal, you would respond to the wishes of the taxpayers, right? Is that what you said?
Reply
lee mcwhorter Says:
June 18, 2009 at 8:31 am
Yes! If they were to appear before the board and express their collective wishes I would listen and try my best to follow their wishes.
July 16, 2009 at 4:35 pm
That sounds exactly right.
On the other hand if less than a consensus appears or siginifies their wishes then I would have to assume that more do not object than object to a particular issue.
In other words I intend on representing the majority where ever they stand on an issue, and not my own wishes or a special interest wish.
In the case of something like project clover, 51% or more of the registered voters or +/- 6000 folk would to me constitute a majority. So all other things being equal I would vote the majority what ever they wished.
July 16, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Lee. The majority of people are not paying attention. Are you actually saying that you would think 6,000 people would have to show up and signify their wishes for you to believe that most people wanted something?
Most people are unaware of what is happening. However, you, as a representative, can find out what most people think by taking samples and polls. You don’t actually have to have a vote in order to know what the general consensus is.
July 17, 2009 at 8:14 am
Alice,
Representation and consensus go hand in hand.
I intend to represent the majority of taxpayers not the miniority.
Consensus means
1. majority of opinion:or 2.general agreement or concord; harmony. another meaning is
1.An opinion or position reached by a group as a whole: “Among political women . . . there is a clear consensus about the problems women candidates have traditionally faced” and 2.General agreement or accord: government by consensus.
Now majority means
1. the greater part or number; the number larger than half the total (opposed to minority ): the majority of the population.
2. a number of voters or votes, jurors, or others in agreement, constituting more than half of the total number.
3. the amount by which the greater number, as of votes, surpasses the remainder (distinguished from plurality ).
So yes I do mean that I intend on representing the majority of the voters and taxpayers on every issue that comes up.
Don’t you?????
Extrapolation on the other hand is nothing more than an educatated guess…. 1. to infer (an unknown) from something that is known; conjecture.
2. Statistics. to estimate (the value of a variable) outside the tabulated or observed range.
In either case it is nothing more than conjecture
1. the formation or expression of an opinion or theory without sufficient evidence for proof.
2. an opinion or theory so formed or expressed; guess; speculation.
In my humble opinion 6,000 + would be the magic number for a clear majority of voters on every issue.
Just look over the definitions and believe that the folk around here are paying attention if they can afford it.
The ones who are to poor to pay attention is another matter.
July 17, 2009 at 8:22 am
Lee, the question is how do you know what the majority want? Are you expecting to wait for 6,000 people to show up at a Board meeting, before you acknowledge that the people want something?
July 17, 2009 at 9:50 am
To me they could show up in person, or write, sign and send a letter expressing their views.
Or leave a message with the office leaving a
return number, or send a surrogate or in some way express their wishes making it clear to everyone just where they stand.
That is the standard that I keep hearing folk
say that they
want to hold
the sitting supervisors to so why isn’t that good enough for the people they represent to be held acccountable for, this is a 2 way street not a one way lane.
July 17, 2009 at 2:45 pm
Another way they could express their opinion would be to show up at the polls and deliver an overwelming land slide of a vote. now that woould get some attention.
July 17, 2009 at 9:26 am
As long as the rules permit binding decisions to be made in secret, behind closed doors, that we all have to pay for…will someone else, besides me, say what type of rule this is?
I appear to be the boy who says ‘but he hasn’t got anything on.’ From the tale, ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes.’
In this system as it currently exists, ANYTHING is possible. Am I the only one who is not OK with this?
Heckuva job, Brownie.
But no one could have anticipated…
July 17, 2009 at 9:35 am
I think we’re just trying to eat the elephant one bite at a time, Susan. We can do something about the behavior in Page County, so that’s what we’re doing. There are other organizations and groups who focus on other, wider issues at the state and national level. It’s just good project management practice to focus on simple actions that can be taken, and leave the philosophy to another forum. Lest we crash and burn before succeeding.