Small Business Needs Nurturing

Many people in Page County make skilled crafts as a hobby. Beautiful hand-crafted items, from artisan -crafted knife handles, to silk scarves, pottery, jewelry, and even furniture, abound in people’s homes. Throughout American history, handmade products have been valued for their quality and artisanship, and have been turned into small businesses. In these days of WalMart, however, we often think that no one will value our handiwork. Stores on Main Street don’t have enough traffic to support a family from an artisan craft business of one product. So, people keep their handmade products as a hobby, and go look for a job. The job may turn out to be a long commute out of the county, and then the artisan is too tired to create art after the commute from work. The dreams are lost.

In some counties, small startup businesses find a friendly environment. No rules and regulations should prevent operation of a business out of our homes, when it is in the startup stage. Broadband Internet would provide the distribution channel for our products. Resources and contacts are available, through agents of the local county government. Provision of a small business “incubator”, which offers marketing, finance, business advisors, and coordination of grants and loans for small businesses are a valid function of local government. It is something we could do in Page County. It is an act which would allow the people to help themselves and empower themselves.

When these small businesses are nurtured, they grow. As they grow, they hire locally. This is what I believe would help our unemployment problem in Page County.

Alice

 

Ethics. What are they? Let’s delve in.

This is a story being sent out by the campaign for John Lesinski. I probably wouldn’t have posted it, but I am still waiting for a response from Gilbert about the Project Clover stuff, and it’s annoying me that the email to the Governor didn’t have a followup. So I’m passing along this story from Camron Gourguinpour.
__________________________________________
From the Lesinski campaign:

I hope you’re all doing well. There is an incredible story from the campaign trail that you should be aware of. Please forward this email to anyone you think may be interested.

At 1:38am on Friday, Delegate Todd Gilbert posted stolen information from the Lesinski Campaign on his Facebook Page and proceeded to gloat about it. If you find this hard to believe, so did I. But it’s true, and you can find the information on Gilbert’s Facebook Page. [Note: If the posting is removed from Gilbert's Facebook page, digital copies have been made and are available.]

The illicit information released by Gilbert was a photograph of one of Lesinski’s direct mail advertisements that had not yet been released to the public, along with specific information about when the item was to be delivered by the United States Postal Service. It is unclear whether Gilbert has obtained any other illicit materials regarding the Lesinski Campaign.

“No need to worry about how we got a picture of it in advance, we’re just good like that,” wrote Gilbert, referring to the direct mail advertisement.

Regardless of the information’s source, Gilbert’s deliberate use of ill-gotten campaign information is blatantly unethical and potentially illegal. Moreover, Gilbert’s posting of illicit campaign materials on Facebook and his subsequent pride in engaging in political espionage represents a grave lack of judgement and character.

The campaign materials in question were in my sole possession from the time I picked them up at a Pennsylvania printer until I delivered them to a mail house in Harrisonburg. Other than John and me, only the mail house and United States Postal Service have had access to the advertisement and knowledge of its delivery date. Somehow, the information left either or both of those locations and was received by Gilbert.

In response to his actions, we are seeking the following:
1. A public apology; and
2. A public disclosure of the source of the illicit information and the circumstances by which he received the information.
If you feel like our requests are reasonable, please let Delegate Gilbert know. Here is his contact information:

Phone: (540) 459-7550
Email: deltgilbert@house.virginia.gov

Thanks!

-Camron-

 

Need a confirmation

This is a rumor.

The rumor is: the Town of Luray put out a contract to build a bathroom with two toilets and two sinks for the Greenway. I need someone reading this to confirm for all of us:

a. was an RFP released to build it?
b. how many bidders were there on the RFP?
c. what were the bid prices?
d. who won it?
e. where is the money coming from to pay for it?

Hopefully, the answers to these questions will dispel the horrible, nasty rumor which is circulating.

The Blog doesn’t post rumors. When you read it here, there are documents behind it.

Alice

 

Page County and Sheriff’s Office Sued for $10M

For Immediate Release
October 23, 2009
Luray, Virginia

Page County and Sheriff’s Office Sued for $10M

A complaint was filed in Page County Circuit Court today against Mr. Daniel Presgraves, Mr. John T. Hennessy, Mr. Dwight Farmer, Mr. Jeffrey Scott Kibler, Mr. Chris Mathias, Mr. Larry Ritenour, Mr. Wayne R Freeze, Jr., Mr. Bo Cook, the Commonwealth of Virginia, the County of Page, the Page County Sheriff’s Office, and the Northwestern Regional Adult Detention Center (the Winchester jail.)

The complaint alleges that Mr. Kenneth Leo Alger was wrongfully arrested and incarcerated from March 18, 2008 until October 27, 2008. The complaint describes a situation in which an agent of the Page County Sheriff’s Office, Jeffrey Scott Kibler, who was a parolee acting as a confidential informant for the Sheriff’s office, fabricated a story that Alger’s then-9-year-old son was in danger because he was allegedly living with a mother who was using, selling, and distributing drugs. Alger, with his uncle as a witness, told this story, which had been fabricated by Kibler, to then-Sheriff Daniel Presgraves, who set Alger up with a Drug Task Force consisting of Dwight Farmer and two other agents of the sheriff’s department. The Drug Task Force told Alger that Kibler(the parolee) would work with them to do a “sting” operation.

The “sting”, it turned out, was on Alger. Beginning the day after his visit to Presgraves, Alger was secretly tape-recorded by the sheriff’s office. According to the complaint, Kibler eventually bilked Alger out of $13,000, while telling him he needed the money for his costs while he was helping the sheriff’s office. Alger’s attorneys report that a file with Alger’s name on it was found by the FBI in a bank box in Presgraves house.

The complaint states that on numerous occasions, Investigator Dwight Farmer told Alger the sheriff’s office was working with Kibler to purchase drugs from Alger’s son’s mother and a fictitious person named “Brandon Tate.” The complaint alleges that the fictitious name was invented by the sheriff’s office or its agent, Kibler, but was acknowledged and used by the sheriff’s office, as if they believed Brandon Tate was an actual person. Alger’s attorneys state that eventually, shortly after Alger obtained the phone number of then-federal prosecutor Thomas Bondurant, and informed agents of the sheriff’s office that he was going to “call Bondurant”, Alger was arrested and charged with solicitation of murder – of the fictitious person.

Page County Circuit Court records of the earlier Alger incident describe Alger being held without bond on the advice to the court of Commonwealth Attorney Jack Hennessy. While in Winchester jail, Alger contracted a MRSA infection, which required two operations. Alger lost over 50 pounds and nearly died from the MRSA infections before the charge of “solicitation of murder” was withdrawn. The charge was withdrawn shortly after the indictment of Mr. Presgraves.

For further information, contact: Alice Richmond, prof.richmond@gmail.com, 540-843-0348

 

Tom Cardman Gets Contract

Oh, I forgot to mention. At the Board meeting last Tuesday, the Board voted to give Tom Cardman a contract. I think it’s a one year contract, at his present salary, so he doesn’t get Belton’s salary, just his own, which is $86,000 (about, I think) PLUS a car, including the maintenance, insurance, and gas for said car. And a cell phone, like most county employees get.

And at the next Board meeting, November 17, there is a public hearing to make it so if you want to subdivide your property, you have to wait five years before you can subdivide it again. What does that mean? It means if you have more than one child, and you want to break off pieces of your land for them, you have to wait five years between the actions of breaking them off.

When I am on the Board . . . things will be different. I guarantee it.

 

Let’s Wave the Flag Here

This is a guest blog from Jay Dedman:

Since this whole Project Clover scheme was announced last year, I have not met or heard a single Page County citizen who has said “I want Project Clover to happen”.

I’ve heard approval from folks who will profit from getting it built (local engineering firms, law firms, developers). I’ve heard people defend the entrenched leadership because of their loyalties to one party or another. I’ve heard people try to shut down any debate by calling it “negative”.

But I have not heard one person say, “I believe in Project Clover. I believe in the county leadership. I believe in it so much I’m willing to pay higher taxes for the next 40 years.”

I have seen the 1800 residents who have signed the petition against Project Clover. I’ve had long conversations in the street and in stores with folks who are confused and angry. I’ve met many people who just shake their heads and say, “That’s just the way it is. You can’t
stop them.”

I don’t think I’ve seen one letter in the Page News and Courier supporting Project Clover this whole year. Plenty of letters against it.

Yet at the same time, I hear Tommy La France and other Supervisors publicly say they have great support from citizens. Mr. La France has said he’s had personal conversations with these people. And this gives him the strength to make these difficult choices in the face of overwhelming opposition.

So I would love for folks to use the comment section to tell us you believe in Project Clover. I’m not here to argue with you or belittle you. I simply want to hear your reasons. Let your voice be heard. If you’ve really thought it through and believe that using tax payer money is an appropriate way to bring jobs here, we should hear your voice.

I know using aliases are common on the blog, but I hope that you believe in your convictions strongly enough to use your real name as I have. Now is the time for honesty.

 

Project Clover Rezoned Industrial

Tommy LaFrance says the Board’s job is to make the “hard decisions”.

See the Channel 3 coverage at
http://www.whsv.com/home/headlines/65110922.html

Not many people showed up at the Page County Board of Supervisors in Shenandoah Elementary School on Oct 20. Maybe it was because citizens knew the Board’s decision to rezone the Hudson Farm land from agricultural to industrial was a foregone conclusion, for which public input was, once again, a charade which would have no impact on the Supervisors’ decision. For a few, however, the effort continued to present to the non-receptive Supervisors, just to get the facts on the record. Citizens stood before the Board and pointed out:

1. There are no means to pay the loans for purchase of the land at three times market value, nor to build the infrastructure that would turn it into a viable business park.

2. There were multiple apparent conflicts of interest on the EDA, which will now control the property, with no regulating power from the county Board.

3. Ethically, the land should never have been purchased with taxpayer dollars, without a voter referendum, without voter input, and behind closed doors for everything including the strategy to even have an industrial park in the first place. This action violates the spirit and the intention of Virginia Code.

4. The purchase was advertised to the public as being dependent on the anchor of a Premier Technical Services Data Center. That Data Center was never built, and has no pending prospects of financing. Citizens pointed out that the Board failed to do its financial due diligence in promoting that project to the Governor of Virginia as a Governor’s Opportunity Fund investment. Jim Turner played an audio clip of Tommy Ray LaFrance saying, earlier in 2009, that the decision to move forward with this Hudson Farm purchase would be dependent on the presence of this Data Center.

5. The county’s own engineering consultants issued a report that the Stanley waste treatment would not handle the load of any industries, and is currently under constraints that require it to be upgraded even for its present load. County engineering reports estimate the costs at between $2M and $10M. The engineer’s report recommended a repurchase of the Alma waste treatment facility.

6. Citizens have submitted FOIA requests repeatedly for the financial analysis of the return on investment of the Hudson Farm purchase, and have been told either that there isn’t any, or that the analysis is proprietary to Stowe Engineering, which did the studies on the land.

Five of the six candidates for the Board of Supervisors in this November’s election have come out publicly against the Hudson Farm contract, and have committed to ending it. The exception is sitting Board member Carol Lee Strickler, who strongly backs the project.

Citizens asked the Board to postpone the rezoning decision until the new Board members are seated. In December of 2007, Tommy Ray LaFrance insisted on pushing through the purchase of the Atwood Property, AKA Emerald City, which was a land purchase of 9 acres of land in the flood plain for $600,000, when it was assessed at less than $50,000, and now sits empty and unused. At that Board meeting, citizens begged the Board to postpone the decision until the new Board members could be seated. Tommy Ray gave exactly the same reason for refusing to postpone the decision this time. It was because he was “responsible”, and made the “hard decisions.” Mr. LaFrance was the former manager of the Wrangler plant, which left Luray, laying off hundreds of county employees. He narrowly defeated Lee McWhorter in the elections of 2005, for Board chairman. He will not run again in this year’s election.

The Supervisor’s decision:
1. Larry Sours, after being told due diligence was not done on the Premier Technical Services data center project, which caused the Board to not realize financing would not be in place, turned to David Tong, President of Premier Technical Services, and asked if the project was on schedule. Tong reported that he was still on schedule to build in the fourth quarter of 2010, which, he said, was what he had promised all along. Tong’s word was good enough for Mr. Sours, so he voted YES to the rezoning.

(County documents show projected tax revenue from Tong’s business coming in in time to make the January, 2010 payment to Mrs. Hudson. The original Governors Opportunity Fund grant EXPIRED in March, 2009, so at one point, Tong must have promised some action before that date. So obviously, either Tong promised at one point to build earlier than 4th quarter 2010, or a county employee misrepresented the deal to the Supervisors, the governor, and the public.)

2. Gerald Cubbage, with a catch in his voice, voted to “bring jobs to Page County for our future and the children.” He thought this was done by buying farm land at three times market value, so he voted YES.

3. Carol Lee Strickler denigrated the citizens petition, by mistaking the nearly 1,800 signatures as trivial, calling it 768 signatures, and implying that they weren’t all registered voters. She voted YES to the project she strongly backs.

4. Charlie Hoke, ever the potted plant, voted YES, for no given reason.

5. Tommy Ray LaFrance, after cueing county attorney George Shanks to give a little speech about how everything was done to the letter of the law, and there were no conflicts of interest, no failure to follow procedures, no missteps in legal structure, stated that these horrible citizens who were getting in the way of this action and taking their hateful comments to the USDA, were doing a terrible thing to the county, and it was his job to be the Man and make the hard decisions, no matter what the annoying public thought. (Yes, I paraphrased his statement, but that was the gist of his message.) He voted YES to the rezoning.

6. J D Cave urged the Board, before voting, to reconsider and postpone the decision until after the new Board members are seated in January. His comments were quashed, the vote was taken. J D Cave voted NO to the rezoning.

Of course, there is no pending USDA loan to repay Mrs. Hudson by January 2010. There is no pending business to act on the rezoning. There is no construction on the Data Center. Whatever KoolAid is being ingested by Mr. Cubbage and Mr. Sours, let’s hope the effects wear off when the new Board members arrive. When the three new Board members are seated in January, this action, like all actions of a county Board, can be reversed.

However, citizens are now organizing to file an action in Circuit Court. If you would like to be part of that action, please email me, Alice, at Prof.Richmond@gmail.com

 

Clover Rezoning and Candidate Forum

Tonight, at the Shenandoah Elementary School at 7 pm, the Page County Virginia Board of Supervisors will take the next step toward hamstringing future generations of Page County citizens with higher taxes and no benefit for it. They will vote to rezone the Hudson property from agricultural to industrial. We know they will do this. We know there is no stopping them. We know they have closed their minds and their ears, and will accept no arguments against what they are doing. We also know something new: we know that to proceed on any infrastructure at this weed field of dreams they call a “business park”, they have to fix the sewage problem in Stanley. We know this is going to cost more millions. I am receiving documents about this today, and will post the information as soon as I get it.

Also tonight, at the same time, is the candidate forum, held by the Farmers Association at Page County High School. This is a really good thing. At this time, five of the six candidates running for the Board of Supervisors have announced their opposition to the Hudson Farm purchase. The only exception is Carol Lee Strickler, current member of the Page County Six, who did this deal. What that means is, assuming the residents of District 5 do not re-elect a member of the Page County Six, the three new Board members will come into office, having publicly committed themselves to stop the Hudson Farm purchase. Three out of six against it, no matter who wins. This is a Win for the citizens of Page. It is our acts as citizens, with Jim Turner’s petition leading the way, that influenced all the candidates to say they were FOR what the citizens of Page are for.

That is a great stand for self-governance, and for showing elected officials who they work for.

Now, some might say, “oh, well, 3 out of 6 is a tie, so you would lose anyway.”

No, the psychology of groups is that, once 3 out of 6 get inside those closed meetings and shovel the snow out the door, at least one other person will cross over and join the winning side. And if they don’t? That’s easy. You just WORD THE MOTION so that “no” is the answer you want. A tie defeats the motion, so you put it in words that you want defeated. Example: “I move that we vote to pay Mrs. Hudson her interest payment.” The three new people vote NO. The three old people vote YES. It’s a tie. The motion is defeated. Three people got what they wanted with a tie vote. So, yes, 3 is enough.

Make sure, when you hear your candidates talk or debate, that they do not waffle on their commitment to end the Hudson Farm purchase. Yes, they will say things like, “if it’s legal.” I have heard that our esteemed county attorney says “That contract is IRONCLAD.”

So are the rights of taxpayers, IRONCLAD. And that right says, “NO TAXPAYER MONEY IS COMMITTED TO THIS DEAL.” Unless the Board of Supervisors votes to pay it.

Smile, Page County, we, the taxpayers, have just gotten all 3 of our new Supervisors, to take a public stand that they are on OUR side. Somebody ask at the forum tonight, “What steps will you take to shut down Project Clover.”

 

Lottery Winner

Having a $200M lottery winner in Shenandoah is quite a phenomenon. There was 1 chance in 176 million, and a family in Shenandoah got it. This brings up an interesting thought. What if Page County won the lottery?

What would our local government do if it got $80M after-tax dollars?

Post your ideas! What should the local government do with money, if it had it?

 

One More Time: There ARE NO NUMBERS!

On Sept 26, another FOIA request was sent to the EDA, asking for the financial analysis for Project Clover. The request was posted here.

One More Time: Where are the numbers?

The answer came back, from Tom Cardman and Lowell Baughan, hereafter on this Blog to be referred to as “TweedleDum and TweedleDee”. It was: Thank you for your request. Your request was a question, not a document, so we are not required to respond. Regarding the documents you requested, they are proprietary to Stowe Engineering and can’t be shown to you.

Now, why did it take 12 days to answer that?

As you know, Blog readers have previously requested the financial analysis for Project Clover and gotten similar answers. Susan Guest’s request was answered by giving her the three page Board resolution that said the Board agrees to conscript taxpayer dollars and hand it over to TweedleDee as his private venture capital fund.

I, and many others, have been talking to the USDA contact people who will process this “loan request” to pay Mrs. Hudson. They assure us that the USDA will require financial analysis before any loan is approved. They assure us this is, so far, just a “pre-application” for which the financials have not been submitted. They assure us this loan is NOT imminently pending.

The vote for the Board of Supervisors to hand over $378,000 of taxpayer money, which is not in the budget, to Mrs. Hudson is due in December, 2009. To prevent default on that loan, that vote will have to occur on December 15, 2009.

I have heard that George Shanks, the county attorney, has called that contract with Mrs. Hudson “ironclad.”

An ironclad contract that commits taxpayer dollars, in defiance of Virginia Code?

I don’t think so, George.

Attention, Page County Six! TweedleDum and TweedleDee refuse to tell the citizens of Page County what the Return on Investment and financial analysis is for the Project Clover contract. We have submitted FOIA requests worded umpteen different ways, to try to get it. They will not tell us. Or, they did not prepare documents which analyzed the financials.

It is YOUR JOB to ask these questions and get these answers.

Do your job.