Shea the Plumber?

I couldn't resist this brief moment from Thursday night's introductions at the redistricting committee meeting. Republican Shea Cook decided to inject a little humor (I think) and described himself as a part time student at Southwest Virginia Community College who was studying to be a plumber. As in Joe the Plumber? I'm not sure...

In case you don't know, Shea has his own law practice and has been the GOP candidate for Commonwealth's Attorney.



Text: My name is Shea Cook. This is the first time I've had to serve on the redistricting committee and I'm looking forward to serving along with all of you. Like everybody here I'm a lot of things to a lot of different people. I'm a part time student at Southwest Virginia Community College. That's one of the things that I do. I'm learning how to be a plumber, and uh (laughter)... so I'm looking forward to working with you all and help as much as I can the people of Tazewell County.

Second Redistricting Committee Meeting

Tazewell County's redistricting committee met for a second time on Thursday night (Feb. 24). The meeting was largely informational. Members received data on precinct populations in 2000 and on voter turnout by precinct over the last decade.

District population totals are available for the 2010 Census, but not for individual precincts within those districts yet.

Here are the 2010 population totals:

District	2010 population
Northern	9,157
Eastern	9,128
Southern	9,123
Northwestern	8,875
Western	8,795

The redistrict committee has been given an ideal population that each district should be: 9,015. But there is an allowable margin of plus or minus five percent. So district populations must be between 8,565 and 9,465 by the end of the redistrict process. While a five percent margin is allowable, the Federal courts are more comfortable with a three percent maximum variation from the ideal population number. That would mean keeping district populations between 8,744 and 9,285. All five Tazewell County districts are within that range.

With the districts all within the Federal "comfort margin," any redrawing of the count's district lines would have to be motivated by political concerns, not legal issues.

When the committee meets again the focus will likely be on individual voting precincts. A number of concerns have been raised that could impact precinct lines. Some current voting locations are developing issues with handicapped access; compliance with handicapped accessibility laws can impact federal funding for election costs. At least one precinct was mentioned where some voters have asked to be relocated to another precinct because they have to drive across a mountain to reach their voting location. The county's implementation of the 911 system has resulted in the relocation of some voters from one precinct to another as GPS mapping data created more precise maps of where those voters lived.

The committee will meet again in late March. Below you can view video of Thursday's meeting.

Redistricting Starts in Tazewell County

Redistricting always has the potential to become a political fight. With last year’s census numbers now becoming available, the process has started in Tazewell County. Tazewell County’s redistricting committee met Thursday night, February 10, for an organizational meeting. The committee will eventually make recommendations to the Board of Supervisors (as I understand the process) and the BOS will vote on new district and voting precinct boundaries in the county.

The meeting was relatively uneventful. As Chairman of the Board of Supervisor, Seth White was chair when the meeting opened. Philip Horton was elected to serve as chair and White turned the meeting over to him. Sandra Warden was elected recording secretary. There was some discussion about when meetings should be held; WVVA’s Greg Carter is on the committee but has to be on-air until 6:30pm in Bluefield. There was some talk about what data was available (2010 numbers for individual precincts were yet available on the 10th) and on where to find old data for comparison purposes.

Tazewell County has actually seen a small increase in population. Unless there has been major movement within the county, there may be little practical reason to move many precinct or district lines. Tazewell County’s five districts are supposed to come out of this process with a relatively equal population: a margin of 5% difference is evidently legal, but not optimal if it can be avoided. Precinct populations are more a matter of tradition and geographic convenience.

A number of issues were left undiscussed Thursday night (mostly because there was no reason to bring them up yet). The biggest movement within the county will almost certainly be the growth in population in the Pocahontas area of the Northern District. That growth is due to the new prison there, and the inmates count as part of the population. I will be surprised if the Northern District doesn’t lose a precinct to a neighboring district as a way of compensating for this growth. Which precinct? Your guess is as good as mine.

Another issue not yet discussed is precinct consolidation. Tazewell County has 24 voting locations and 10 of them are in the more rural Northern District. It is in the best interest of the county and its residents to keep those precinct locations open. But finding election official to work inside each of those locations can be hard to do. I suspect that the voter registrar’s office harbors a secret desire to consolidate some of those precincts into a single location. Of course, the few locations there are to vote on election day, the farther people have to travel in order to vote and the lower the voter turn on. While the current member of the Board of Supervisors for the Northern District is a Republican, the district has traditionally voted for the Democrat. In a year when Republicans hold the Board of Supervisors, the temptation to close some of the Northern District’s precinct locations will be tempting. Seth White and Shea Cook are likely to see that as part of the fruits of victory from last year’s election. We’ll see at the end of this process whether the board is more interested in a political agenda or in what’s good for voters.

Here's video of the meeting:

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Full disclosure: I was appointed to the redistricting committee before the 2009 election. In Nov. 2009 Jim Campbell was elected to the Board of Supervisors – the first Republican to ever serve for the Northern District, I think. We spoke. He talked a lot about how he was going to try to be non-partisan and that he’d run as a Republican because he had to be in one party or the other. And he told me we could work together. Then he was sworn in and took his seat. And (without speaking to me about it) he had me removed from the committee as one of his first official acts. At the moment Barnes Kidd holds my old seat on the committee. Kidd was busy elsewhere Thursday night and could not attend.

Dinner at Donnie's Place

Our favorite restaurant is closed for the week. Cheryl and I usually eat at Big Daddy's (a nice little diner about a quarter mile from our house) twice a week. But every July they close for a week. So we decided to try Donnie's Place in town.

I said on Facebook that Donnie's was an interesting experience. We haven't been there in three or four years. The menu has changed (no more alligator). The name has changed. But it's the same owner, the same basic atmosphere...

Tonight was a Karaoke contest that was slated to start around eight. We didn't know that. Donnie's is a seat-yourself place. Just about every table had a "reserved" sign on it. We found one table. It was five til seven. The waitress was there in about three minutes with our menus.

As far as I could tell there was only one waitress. She was nice enough. She was very busy...

I ordered the special (a 12 ounce NY strip), Cheryl got the seafood plate. We had our drinks and salads in just under five minutes. Iceberg lettuce, cucumbers, grape tomatoes, shredded cheese. There was also bread and butter.

We ate our salad, talked, waited, watched the place fill up with people, and waited a little more. It took our food just over 40 minutes to arrive. My stake was good. The seafood was okay.

We decided that although the food was okay, people don;t go there primarily for the food. We left just as Karaoke was about to start. $33.50 plus a tip...

Endorsement: Mike Hymes for Southern District Board of Supervisor's Race

The two videos below were recorded in Pocahontas, Virginia at the Labor Day celebration there. The top video is Democrat Mike Hymes, my pick for the Southern District BOS. Below is GOP candidate Dallas Sparks.

Hymes is the incumbent. He's served his district and the county well on the Board.

Sparks is the scariest candidate I've heard in a while. He told the crowd in Pocahontas that he wants to help "take America back." He didn't say from whom (probably radicals like me). He also talked about his job as a gun safety instructor and about how God helped craft the 2nd Amendment (dealing with the right to own a gun) - which may be true (I own several guns), but if I was looking for parts of the Bill of Rights to connect God to, they would be the parts about free speech, freedom of religion, due process, and protection against unreasonable search. In an elected office that has mostly to do with managing the county, I don't know how Sparks will "help take America back" and I'm not sure how (if he got elected) his position on the Board of Supervisors would help him protect America's gun rights.

Sparks struck me as a nut case. But you watch the videos and see what you think...

FOIA

On February 12th I filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with county government. I asked for documents connected to the interview process for filling the seat on the Board of Supervisors for the North District. Here is the text of that request:

Hi Mr. Spencer,

A newspaper article (in the Telegraph, I believe) quoted Mr. Anderson last week as saying that each of the seven candidates being interviewed for the BOS seat would be asked the same set of questions. It also said something to the effect of that the interviews were being held in executive session in order to protect the appointment process and prevent any candidate from gaining an unfair advantage by hear the others go first.

Since that process is now over, I'd like to request a copy of that list of questions under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA; § 2.2 -3700 et seq. ). I understand that the proceedings of an executive session are protected (to the extent that they do not violate any open meeting laws). But I'm assuming that this document existed in a file somewhere before the executive session began, and probably continues to exist in that same file, even though the executive session is over. So that list of questions would not be covered by whatever protections are afforded to the discussions that occur in an executive session.

As a separate, second FOIA request, I'm asking for a.) any records that were kept by the Board or county administration listing questions that were asked of individual candidates as a follow up to their answers to questions on the list covered in the first request and b.) any records that were kept by the Board or county administration regarding the answers to interview question from the individual candidates.

I make these two requests separately because of their different standings. The first request (for a simple list ofquestions that probably existed independent of the executive session) seems to me to be aimed at obtaining a document that could easily be established to be a public document. I realize that the second request covers documents that are more tentative in nature regarding their public availability.

I would also like to request that all charges for supplying the records I have requested be estimated in advance. I understand that if you determine that the charges are likely to exceed $200, I am obliged to pay that amount before you continue to process my request. If you have any questions or require additional information in order to process this request, please do not hesitate to contact me at this email address. My job situation as a teacher makes it difficult for to take phone calls during the work day, but I would be happy to give you a call if via email you tell me that we need to speak about the request.

If any of the documents exist in MS Word form, I would be quite happy to have them simply emailed to this address. If a hard copy needs to be mailed instead, my address is 1732 Mundytown Rd North Tazewell 24630. If this request needs a handwritten signature in order to be considered valid, let me know and I'll print this, sign it, and mail it.

Thank you for your time and consideration in this. Hope you're well.

Regards,

Greg

GK Cruey

I sent the request at 10pm on February 12th (the interviews were on the 11th). I sent the request (as you can see) to our county Administrator, Jim Spencer.

Jim sent me a reply from his Blackberry at 6:30 Friday morning (I was impressed), telling me he'd pass the request on to the Board of Supervisors. He checked his mail on a computer somewhere (presumably his office) about ten 'til eight that morning and I got a receipt for the actual email.

Despite the flack as Earl (Cedar Bluff Review) gives Jim, my guess is that Jim earns every penny he makes from the county...

On Thursday I got a letter from County Attorney Eric Young telling me that the documents I'd requested were not public document. Despite that, he told me that the BOS had seen fit to send me "a list of some of the questions given to the interviewees."

I got a list of seven fairly predictable questions. Which is not to say they weren't good questions. Why do you want to be the Northern District Supervisor? Questions about priorities, etc.

I also received six pages from Bill Wimmer with a note from Mr. Young saying that Bill had decided to send me his notes. Bill's notes were written on the list of questions; each sheet had a candidate's name at the top. I called Bill to thank him. I also spoke with Mike Hymes (who told me that if I really wanted his notes he'd send them to me).

What I really want is for this process to take place in public.

Mr. Young's letter is clear: "I write to inform you that those records are being withheld."

So far everyone has been professional, polite, and gracious. I've gotten more than I actually expected. But the position of BOS's across the state seems to be that it's perfectly acceptable to carry out the process of filling a seat on the Board by meeting in private to discuss it. As Tom Childress has said repeatedly, we are not hiring a custodian; and this has happened twice in four years.

It would be nice to find a way to change this practice and bring more transparency to local government on this issue...

New Supervisor, Leaks in the Party, and My Health

I'm told that Tom Brewster was appointed by the Tazewell County Board of Supervisors today to temporarily fill the seat recently vacated on the Board for the Northern District. Tom is a friend and he'll do well on the Board. (For my readers outside Virginia, most states would call this body a county commission.) Congrats to Tom.

I went to a Democratic Party meeting last night. Jon Bowerbank spoke. Jon is a candidate for Lt. Governer in Virginia. He's competing with four other people for the Democratic Nomination. He was lucid and entertaining. He was also quick on his feet in the Q&A session at the end of his time. I didn't hear anything I didn't like. Jon's on the Board of Supervisors in neighboring Russell County, which means he understands local government. I'll probably put a sign in my yard for him sometime soon...

One of the things that came out at the meeting was that when the Northern District met back in January to talk about filling our vacant position on the Board, some of the things said in the party meeting got repeated to members of the opposition party. I have to say... it pissed me off. The idea that we can't talk freely with each other without something like a spy in the room made me feel a little betrayed. I asked who it was; no one wanted to say. But I think I figured it out. We'll have to look into excluding individuals we don't trust in the future.

I haven't been particularly healthy this month. I spent four days pretty low with bronchitis. A head cold quickly moves to my chest these days. This is my third bout of it this school year. My doctor gave me Avelox and that seems to fix me right up, but I missed two days of work.

I've tried once or twice to list blog posts I've written elsewhere here so that people can see them. That's gotten to be time consuming. I'll just say that here's a list of blogs I contribute to regularly (get paid to write for) and you can reference this list from time to time if you're interested. Most get four posts each month out of me.

BUSINESS

• BizInformer
  
• BizPlanHacks
  
• BootStrapMe
  
• China Venture News
  
• TJ's Weblog
  COMPUTER
  
• Social Networking - Twitter, Facebook, etc.
  
• Search Engines
  
• Web 2.0
  TRAVEL
  
• Latina Viva
  
• Flyaway
  
• Wandalust
  
• Hidden Travel Gems
  OTHER STUFF
  
• Celebrate Wine
  
• Global Mobility - Immigration News
  
• Online Dating - Emphasis on the Internet issues (I'm happily married and don't really keep up with the dating scene, per se...)
  

Rumors (and the Board of Supervisors)

A week or so ago, Bill Rasnick resigned from the Tazewell County Board of Supervisors. (Most states call that body the "County Commission.) The remaining four members of the BOS will have to appoint someone to fill his position until a special election can be held (in November) to fill out the final two years of Bill's term.

It took about two days for someone to ask me if it was true that I was going to be the new supervisor. They told me that, according to what they'd heard, I was asking to BOS to appoint me to the position. And they told me that they thought that was a good thing. I'd make a good supervisor, they said...

I was flattered. But it wasn't something I'd contemplated much. And the rumor (that I'd already approached the BOS and was lobbying for the position) simply isn't true.

In the time since then I've thought about the BOS job. There are really two positions being discussed. The first is the appointed position as Northern District Supervisor; whoever gets that will probably take office in late February or early March. The second is the elected position as Northern District Supervisor; in November, someone will get that position and serve just over two years on the BOS, from November, 2009 to January 2012. Of course, the person who gets the first appointed position could easily also get the second elected.

The last time that a vacancy came available on the BOS, Jimmy Durham was appointed to fill the position temporarily and Mike Hymes was later elected to fill the position. Hymes had submitted a resume to the board and asked to be appointed, but wasn't.

So what is the truth about me?

Tom Childress has expressed an interest in filling both the first and the second position, being appointed to the BOS in the near future and then being elected to continue in the position in November. Childress has served the Northern District's interest through the local Democratic office since the 1970's, I think (long before I was around), and done so admirably. At least one other person has expressed interest in the elected position in November. I don't know that his interest in the position has been made public, so I won't mention his name here. But he wants someone else to take the appointed position and warm that seat on the BOS until November. And former Northern District School Board member Spot Steele tried to unseat Rasnick for the Democratic nomination for Rasnick's position back last year. I would guess that he's interested in the appointment, but I don't know for sure.

At least two other names are in play. Tom Brewster agreed to consider warming a seat on the BOS for a couple of months. But Dr. Brewster is a member of Virginia's State Board of Education and works in the Pulaski County school system (I think). Ken Franklin's name has also been mentioned as a seat warmer, but I haven't heard him express interesting in the position himself.

And the truth about me is that I hadn't really considered the position when the rumors started. I've asked some questions about it and talked to one member of the BOS about time commitments involved.

I work as a teacher during the day and I come home and work as a writer at night. Taking the position would require me to rearrange my life some and make some sacrifices. I suppose that's true for anyone who enters the level of public service we're discussing. In March, at about the time someone will fill the appointed position, I'll start the final internship for a educational leadership program I've been working on for the past two years. The internships are demanding and time consuming - at a time when the BOS will wholeheartedly involved in the budget process.

On Saturday January 10th, I stood up at a meeting of the Northern District's Democratic Committee and said in public that I wasn't interesting in running for election to the position in November. I'm really not. It probably wouldn't be fair to Northern District residents for me to put my name forward for the appointed position; I know that my internship will distract me greatly BOS activities until at least mid-April. I'm not arrogant enough to think that I can do it better than the other people who want it.

I suppose that one day I may grow more political ambition. But for this year at least, I think the BOS will have to live without me.

Finally, a shout out to Rene. I hear she reads my blog...

Barack Obama's Tazewell Campaign Office Opens

The Obama Campaign opened an office in Tazewell County today and a fairly large crowd showed up for the event. I went, even though I was a little under the weather.

A couple of pictures of the event...

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I met the campaign's Tazewell coordinator, Marilee, and realized after I left that I didn't get her last name or contact info. I'll post that later.

Several of the county's constitutional officers attended the event - Commonwealth Attorney Dennis Lee, Clerk of Court Buddy Blevins, and Sheriff H.S. Caudill.

Tazewell Democratic Party Chairman David Larimer was also there.

Puckett and Bowling both promoted party unity. Bowling supported Hillary in the primaries but was clearly excited about the Obama-Biden ticket. Puckett talked about the need to focus on the stark contrast between Obama and McCain.

Pocahontas High: How to Close a School (in 90 Minutes or Less)

Note: Visit my education blog, The Green Cup

This won't be very long because the truth is that I'm tired...

I attended the continued meeting of the Tazewell County School Board this evening and some questions were answered - kind of.

One question that got answered was how much will be saved by closing Pocahontas High School. Between $1.5 million and $1.8 million, according to Dr. Brenda Lawson, who said she was willing to stake her job on that figure. We weren't allowed as citizens to actually examine the financial numbers. They were mostly read to us, but not until after we'd been dazzled by a gajillion other statistics, so that the average person was "number numb" by the time money got discussed. The problem I saw (I should say "heard") was that "savings" seemed to be defined based on the amount of the PHS budget while most teachers at the school (about 85% of the costs) will simply be transferred to other schools. That's not savings; that's sleight of hand...

Another question that was answered: how is efficiency measured? I talked here about the Virginia Code passage that School Board chairman Mike Dennis read earlier this month when the public hearing was opened. Closing a school is supposed to "contribute to the efficiency of the school division." Efficiency (or the lack of it, at least) was defined tonight. It is disproportionate cost per student. That cost is determined by taking a school's budget and dividing it by the number of students at that school - a process obviously slanted against the county's smaller schools. I hope to have a chart next week some time for you of the cost per student at the county's remaining schools.

I find it difficult to believe that Board members really considered the numbers with any seriousness. I can't understand why the numbers weren't made available to the public before it came to a closure vote. But that's what happens: the first indications that there'd been any math done on the school closure came an hour or less before the vote to close the school. That might be legal, but it's not ethical. It's not open government.

School Board Member David Woodard correctly stated that the process of closing a school ought to take month. Instead, closing Pocahontas High took a few weeks.

Two final notes...

The award for most naïve person in the room goes to board member Steve Davis. Steve told the crowd that he had to take Dr. Lawson's numbers at face value, had to trust them. Wake up Steve! Assuming the best about Dr. Lawson's intentions, everybody occasionally makes a mistake (and having a doctorate doesn't make you immune to that). So Dr. Lawson's best work could have problems and you were elected to look at those numbers.

And the pettiest moment of the night was the refusal to allow State Delegate Dan Bowling to speak. Bowling was in Richmond during the public hearing - fighting to get the school board money in the state budget process. Chairman Mike Dennis didn't want to let Bowling speak tonight because he was "just a citizen" at the meeting and the Board didn't want to reopen public comment. I think we'd have been safe to allow all state delegates present the opportunity to speak. I used to like Mike. Oh well...

Brian Martin Tells Crowd, Iraq Vet to Freeze (GOP Mass Meeting Looks Like a Fiasco)

A friend of mine sent me a link to a YouTube video last night. In the video Pat Wade (papers in her arms), a local GOP functionary, is speaking to a group of people outside the site of the recent GOP Mass Meeting here in Tazewell County. Brian Martin (grey jacket, hands in pockets), a former member of the Tazewell County Electoral Board, seems to be serving as something like her unofficial sergeant at arms while she calls out the names of individuals who have been declared qualified to enter the meeting. Then she explains to a crowd that they are being excluded and will not be allowed back in the building.

Before I go on, let's watch the first of two videos...



I feel a little empathy for Ms. Wade. I was on the Credentials Committee at the Democratic Party's Mass Meeting last fall when dozens of unexpected people showed up to support Spot Steele's effort to knock Bill Rasnick out of the nomination for the Board of Supervisors here in Tazewell County. It took an hour longer than normal to process all the paper work. When we locked the doors at 7pm, over a hundred people were still in line. Many of the people were completely new to the political process and unprepared for the time involved with such a process. We coped. We were polite, maybe even professional (I might be biased). So I have some empathy for Ms. Wade. Just a little, though...

The gentleman asking questions appears to be Richlands attorney Shea Cook. After you know that, the dialogue becomes more ironic. Shea was once the GOP nominee for Commonwealth Attorney here in Tazewell County and for the Virginia House of Delegates, I think. He just recently returned from a stint with the Army in Iraq. Now they won't even let the poor guy into the building for a party meeting. What's up with that? (Maybe he got in to speak later, but I doubt it. And this would be a good time for me to point out that I wasn't there; I just know what I've seen on the YouTube videos.)

My guess is that the organizational meltdown started early. People seem to have been let into the meeting area ahead of time; they picked seats and threw their coats on them - never dreaming they'd eventually be locked out of the meeting. There seems to be questions about the public notice process; an attorney (Cook) is asking the questions and they don't get answered in either of the videos.

My favorite part of the whole thing, though, is Brian Martin at the end of the first video. Cook asks if the people being excluded will be allowed to at least gather their possession back up that they left inside...

Cook: Are we going to be afforded the opportunity to get our coat or are we going to sit out here and freeze.
Martin: I believe that ya'll are not sitting delegates. I'm sorry.
Cook: Well, are we going to be permitted to come back in and get our coats?
Martin: Nope. You should have brought 'em out.

The crowd begins to cackle. And to my ears Brian Martin didn't sound too sincere when he said he was sorry that Shea Cook and the others weren't sitting delegates. He even seems willing to let them freeze to death. But what do I know...

Eventually, Pat Wade comes back out to explain to the crowd why their paperwork was rejected. We learn that she doesn't take heckling well.



One of the people present was Jim Talbert of Clinch Valley News fame. Since he seems to be taking notes in a fast and furious manner, it will be interesting to read his coverage of the event and compare it to the videos.

In any event, I think the county's Democrats can look back on their party's mass meeting the past fall with a little more pride. It was hectic and tense, but we handled it. There's also someone (the loser) who doesn't like the outcome. But almost everyone got to participate. By contrast, the GOP seems to have had a meltdown over much the same situation. Pat Wade's responses in dealing with the general public there don't make her look much like a public servant. And Brian Martin comes across as, well, snide.

Red Virginia has a news story on the scandal and claims that only 27 the 137 people who showed up were allowed into the meeting. Makes you wonder about the rumor that GOP members in Tazewell County eat their young...

Academic Performance in Tazewell County, Va. (and the Absence of Real Reasons to Close Pocahontas High School)

Note: Visit my education blog, The Green Cup

If we were to have a sane, rational data-driven discussion in Tazewell County about how our schools are doing, academically, a couple of things would become clear.

1. The high school with the best academic scores in the county (as measured by the Virginia Standards of Learning test) is Graham High School.
   
2. Pocahontas High School's SOL scores are significantly better than the scores at Tazewell High School, and (when taken as a whole) not much different than the sightly better scores at Richlands High School.
   
3. The middle school with the best SOL scores in the county is Graham Middle School.
   
4. The middle school grades at Pocahontas are doing quite acceptably - significantly better than Richaldns Middle School or Tazewell Middle school.

The conclusions is simple: there's no academic justification for closing Pocahontas High School. It would be easier to justify closing Tazewell Middle School or Richlands Middle School for academic reasons.

2006-07 Middle School SOL Scores	PHS	GMS	TMS	RMS
Math 6	73	57	37	38
Reading 6	91	89	82	77
Math 7	52	58	50	53
Reading 7	71	88	70	77
Math 8	73	84	81	78
Reading 8	86	92	81	81
Writing 8	86	91	92	91
Average	76	80	70	71

So, how do I know that SOL scores at Pocahontas are qualitatively different than Tazewell High, Tazewell Middle, or Richlands Middle? I know because the Commonwealth of Virginia say so. You see, Pocahontas is fully accredited by the state, while THS, TMS, and RMS are not.

You can read erport cards on any school in the state right here. But to make life a little easier, I've put together a little chart for you...

2006-07 SOL Scores for Tazewell County High Schools	RHS	THS	GHS	PHS	RMS	TMS	GMS
English	96	94	88	87	82	84	90
Math	87	66	96	75	66	67	70
History	88	74	95	89	78	84	79
Science	84	81	93	90	90	82	94
Average SOL Score	89	79	93	85	79	79	83

Open Letter to the Tazewell County School Board

Members of the Tazewell County School Board:

I write this letter to suggest to you that your authority to close Pocahontas High School is limited. As I read the code, you may only close the school if doing so increases the efficiency of the county school system in some significant way. That has yet to be demonstrated in any convincing manner. More important than the issue of whether closing PHS will improve efficiency, I believe that you owe it to the county to have an coherent policy that is open and transparent on when school closures and consolidations are to take place - a policy that can be applied county wide at the conclusion of this current process.

School Board Chairman Mike Dennis opened the public hearing on March 3rd by referring to a passage of code that gives the school board the authority to close a school. The key concept seemed to be “efficiency.” And I think the section was #4 22.1-79 of the Virginia Code.

A school board shall:

4. Provide for the consolidation of schools or redistricting of school boundaries or adopt pupil assignment plans whenever such procedure will contribute to the efficiency of the school division;

As I understood what was read from the code, the Board has the authority to close a school IF closing that school makes the county school system more efficient. And as a corollary, that authority does not exist if you fail to show improved efficiency.

As I listened to that section of code being read on March 3rd at the public hearing, it struck me that closing Pocahontas High School is not a simple matter of the Board’s discretion. It seems you have to justify (and, by inference, document) how the closure will make the county more efficient. The purpose of a public hearing is NOT to convince you, the Board, to do one thing or another; instead the hearing provides information that may help you as board members decide whether or not closing the school will improve the efficiency of the school system. But at the end of the day, you as Board members (not the public) have the burden of being persuasive.

Nationally, school closures usually relate to one of three issues. Either a school is closed because the facility is in decline; or because the academic health of the school seems beyond repair (that reason rarely stands alone, since changing the personnel at a school can often solve that problem); or because running that school is an expensive burden that can be alleviated through consolidation.

The facilities at PHS are not in decline. The school’s SOL scores are higher than the SOL scores are Tazewell High School. This is especially true for children with disabilities. Anyone can compare the two school by looking here at Pocahontas High data and at Tazewell High data.

That leaves finances. Before voting on the closure of any school, I think your Board is obligated (ethically, at least) to produce a comprehensive analysis of the financial impact of closing that school. How many teaching positions will be eliminated in order to save money? Will new positions have to be created elsewhere? How will transportation costs change? How will utility costs change at schools accepting students from the school being closed? And so forth…

How you could vote on the issue without such a document to inform your decision is beyond me. Such a document should be produced and released to the public, and the public should be allowed to comment on that document before there is a vote. If you vote without such a document, you will be simply closing your eyes, gritting your teeth and saying “I don’t know why, but this seems good to me…”

At the end of this process, whether PHS is closed or not, I think you have a responsibility (now that this can of worms is open) to produce something like a policy or a set of guidelines for making these decisions. If PHS is closed for financial reasons, we need to be able to say unequivocally that you could NOT have saved more money by closing Raven Elementary or Springville Elementary. Reading programs under No Child Left Behind focus on grades K-3; and yet in the Bluefield area the third grade at Graham Intermediate is physically separated from grades K-2 at Dudley Primary. Is there money to be saved by consolidating those two schools into a single elementary school?

There needs to be some rational, objective, measurable process for determining when a school needs to be closed. Student population will decline and facilities will age over the next decade or so. You need to be able to point to a process that you can use to determine which school is closed next - sacrificed to efficiency. If you can’t justify the decision to close PHS in a publicly available document on finances, facilities, or academics, I’d suspect that closing the school violates the state code Mike read at the beginning of the March 3rd public hearing – and that you could possibly be in some way liable.

Greg Cruey

Closing Pocahontas High School - the March 3rd Public Hearing

I went to a school board meeting tonight. The Tazewell County School Board had a public hearing scheduled on the closure of Pocahontas High School.

It seems like the idea of closing PHS has been around forever. The school is a combined middle and high school with les then 200 students. I think it recently became the smallest high school in the state.

When I first heard about the move to close it my ut reaction was something like, "Well, I guess the time has finally come." Then I learned that the state test scores on the school were higher than Tazewell High School, that PHS was fully accredited this year when Tazewell high wasn't, and that the actual financial savings from closing the school was probably pretty slim. I say probably because there hasn't been any kind of a cost benefit paper put out by anyone.

I spoke at the hearing. Anyone who wanted to speak got three minutes. I think I was 15th in line. The hearing started at 7:30 and I got to speak at 8:15. I told the board that I thought it would be easy to get confused in the framework of a hearing like this. Everyone seems to think it's the job of affected citizens to convince the board not to close the school. The law says the board can close the school. But I think that the obligation of leadership means there needs to be some sort of openness and a clear policy that explains what justifies closing a school.

I suggested three tests. One would be fiscal. How much would it save us to close this or that school? Once we have those numbers, there needs to be some process for letting tax payers say whether the cost of keeping the school open is worth it.

Then there's an academic test. Is there something the kids aren't getting, educationally? What is it? Develop a list and look for ways to solve that problem - short of school closure. Closing the school ought to be the last resort.

Finally there's a facilities test. Is the building beyond hope?

The problem with closing PHS is that it passes muster on all three tests. So why close it?

One reason suggested at the hearing was that Graham High School has seen a decline in enrollment. If most of the student body at PHS was incorporated into Graham, it would remain a double A school. But if not, Graham would become a single A school - and could have to start playing other people in football.

I left long before the meeting was over. I guess I'll read tomorrow in the papers what happened...

Going to the Auction...

Cheryl and I used to go to the auction almost religiously. It was fun, something we could do together. It was social because there are always gobs of people there. It was a business venture to some small extent because we bought stuff at the auction and sold it on eBay.

There are a couple of auction houses here in Tazewell County, but the one we've enjoyed the most (and spent the most at) by far is Miller Auction in Richlands, Va.

A number of things in the last year have kind of worked together to keep us away from the auction. For awhile Steve Miller reduced his sales to about 1 good auction per month, on the first Saturday of the month. There's been a couple of those first Saturday's where we were simply out of town. There's been a couple where one (or both) of us had to attend a workshop of some kind. And there's been a few where we were just tired and decided not to go.

Last night we went to the auction.

The crowd was probably the biggest we'd ever seen. My guess is that there were six or seven hundred people there. Most of the items for sale were antique furniture pieces from an estate in neighboring Russell County. Proceeds of the sale went to the University of Virginia at Wise (formerly Clich Valley College).

To be honest, there wasn't much there we had a use for or wanted. Maybe if I win the Powerball we'll get a bigger house. Two of our three bedrooms are furnished with things we bought at auction. My computer sits on an oak computer desk we bought at auction. I have a roll top desk, next to it. The oak barrister bookcases in our living room, along with the oak entertainment center, hall tree, and table came from auction houses. The Persian rug in the living room and the walnut buffet in the dining room both case from auctions. There are a few other odds and ends, along with a plethora of books I couldn't resist...

Last night was fun to watch. I would have liked to have the Gunn Furniture Co. barrister bookcase pictured here, but it went for about $750 and I decided I'd wait for a better deal. there were four of five Thomas Kinkade prints, nicely framed. Cheryl considered bidding on them; but, likewise, they went for more than she wanted to pay. We also raised our paddle once on the mahogany stand pictured here, but it went to someone else.



The big item of the night was the Cherry Sideboard pictured here. Steve Miller read a history of the piece before it went on sale:

1800's Cherry Sideboard. Here is The History For This Piece. The Old Courthouse on Rt. 58 was built by Henry Dickenson & used as a courthouse from Sept. 20, 1787 to Sept. 28, 1798. Later, Frank & Mollie Etta Fugate lived in the Old Courthouse on Rt. 58, formerly Dickenson property. The property was sold to the county for restoration by the Fugate's granddaughters who were the daughters of the Virginia Fugate Muse. When the property passed out of the Fugate Family that is when James Lemuel Williams (1837-1919) the Great Grandfather of Bob Hancock bought the great big wild cherry side board from the Fugate Family. James L. Williams left it to his son Javey Williams. Javey Williams gave it to Thelma Meade Hancock (Bob's mother) for nursing him through a long 6 month battle with TB years later. This wild cherry sideboard would have been in the old courthouse sometime between 1798 & 1818 and used by the Fugate Family until it was sold into the Williams Family. Sincerely Lynda Williams Closson (Family Member)

The piece went for $11,500 - the highest price for a single piece in the history of the auction house. Since items come with a 10% buyer's premium and sales tax, I estimate that the actual price the bidder paid was about $13,000. An attorney I know bought the piece. He said he planned to take ti back to Russell County, where it belonged...

The auction started at 5pm. We stayed until about 9:30. The auction probably went until close to midnight. Tuesday night smaller and less expensive items will be on the block at Miller's and Cheryl and I will probably go.

Out, damn'd Spot! out, I say!

Okay, I capitalized the "s" in "spot." The original quote is from Shakespeare's Macbeth...

Robert "Spot" Steele lost his bid to keep his school board seat in Tazewell County's Northern District today by a vote of 615 to 483. He carried two of the 11 precincts in the district.

Spot wanted to be on our Board of Supervisors (which most states call the "County Commission"). He tried to gain the Democratic nomination for supervisor through the caucus process, but didn't seem to understand the rules very well. He showed up at the caucus and stood at the front entrance to the facility to shake hands and campaign - closer than election law allows to the entrance. He passed out flyers saying that a non-profit organization he helps run would provide groceries for anyone who came to vote. And questions remain about the voter registration drive his campaign for supervisor ran.

Spot is under investigation by a special prosecutor for violating Virginia election laws and, I believe, by the IRS for actions that could cost his non-profit its tax exempt status.

Spot's eight years as a school board member was an embarrassing time for the district. Hopefully the new board member, David R. Woodard, will do better.

Congratulations Mr. Woodard.

That Special Feeling You Get (When You Think You're Gonna Die...)

Among my favorite parts of my day is the drive to work. It’s about 20 miles from my house to the school where I work. I drive over Stoney Ridge on Rt. 16, through Horsepen, over Gary 14 Mountain, through the community of Skygusty and come out at the Blackwolf golf course – a nine hole course in the crevices between some ridges here. At Blackwolf I turn right and drive to the four miles through Pageton to the City of Anawalt.

It’s a beautiful drive. Turkeys and deer line the twisty, narrow roads. The leaves are changing at the moment so there are lots of colors. Often the roads are shrouded in mist or fog. And there are spots that would be marked as scenic overlooks if I was on an interstate highway.

For reasons unbeknownst to me, Tazewell County has decided to scatter gravel on state road 644 around Horsepen. It’s a bit like driving on marbles at the moment. It reminds me of walking on wet floors in cowboy boots, or perhaps roller skating for the first time.

This morning I got to experience that special feeling you get when you are surprised by something and you think the possibility exists that death in eminent. It’s a brief but acute feeling that people often experience on small roads with the ass end of their car tries to pass the nose of their car. Your muscles tighten up from your waist to your collarbones, your throat constricts, your teeth clench, and your breakfast tries to crawl up your throat because it doesn’t want to die with you.

In the very brief moment involved, you be trying to remember when the last time that you went to confession was. Then you remember stuff about driving…

“Steer into it, steer into it. The more you brake the harder it is to steer. Steer into it… Hail Mary, full of grace… Steer into it…”

Okay, I’m not really a Catholic.

I got the car arranged correctly again on the road and continued toward work. For whatever reason, the coal trucks hadn’t started to run yet this morning, so I didn’t have to compete with them. There’s a mile stretch where the road to work bisects an active strip mine, but it was quiet today.

I passed three turkeys on the side of the road near Skygusty, their beards almost dragging the ground. Then came the little white dog with one black eye looks like he fell out of “Little Rascals.”

A squirrel tried to commit hari-kari on the undercarriage of my explorer as I was entering Pageton. I’d decided long ago that I would not roll my explorer to save a squirrel, but today this one escaped harm.

I got to work at about 8:15 with Kenny Chesney playing on my CD player and the windows down so I could feel the cool air…

Our Visit to Lake Witten

On Sunday, July 8, we took Cheryl's Dad, Benny, to Lake Witten to fish.

Benny came down on Friday and went home on Monday morning.

The trip to the lake was pleasant. Lake Witten is a calm, relaxing place and it was late enough in the day that we were able to spend most of our time sitting in the shade while Benny fished. The Department of Game and Inland Fisheries says that Lake Witten has largemouth bass, channel catfish, and a few Walleye. It is stocked with brown trout and rainbow trout from October to May. Bluegill are the dominate species on the 53 acre lake.

That's what we saw, mostly - bluegill. We saw a few smaller bass as well.

I took the opportunity to walk the shoreline of the lake and take some pictures. One or two of the species of flowers were new to me.

However good the fishing there may (or may not) be, the lake is a nice place to walk. The lake is actually part of a larger park - Cavitts Creek Park. The lake is about two miles from out house. And there are pedal boats that can be rented if you want to just splash around on the lake.

We took Benny home about 6:30 and make pasta for dinner with seafood and a white sauce. Then we played Phase 10...

Temptations of a True Redneck?

Am I a redneck? Or a hillbilly? Or country boy? I have a small identity crisis, I suppose, when I consider the issue.

I live in a rural portion of Central Appalachia. A small creek runs through my backyard. I have a willow and a few walnut trees and four acres of land with sourwood, oak, locust, crabapple, and a few other trees. In the nine years I've lived in this house I've seen raccoons, possums, stray dogs, squirrels, chipmunks, deer, groundhogs, house cats, bobcats, my goats, and the neighbor's cows in my yard. And that's just counting the mammals. The birds are even more amazing. We've had Eastern Bluebirds in a house on our fence three of the last five years. There are scores of finches, orioles and cardinals, indigo buntings, a variety of woodpeckers, a heron that wades up our creek, mourning doves, the ever-present sparrows and wrens, robins and blue jays, and a screech owl that spends the summers in the woods around us.

I suppose anyone could live here - hillbilly or not. So my residence (and visitors) by itself doesn't make me a redneck. When I take stock of my own personal attributes that might qualify me (or disqualify me) as a redneck/country boy the verdict seems mixed, inconclusive. I've eaten escargot (snails), octopus, caviar, ox tongue and sushi - and liked it all. That probably calls into doubt my credentials as a redneck. I own a gun; but I'm not an NRA member and I haven't actually shot my gun at anything recently. I can't fix my own truck, but I do have a truck.

The fact that I don't think Larry the Cable Guy is funny further undermines my redneck standing, I suspect.

I'm not sure I want to be a redneck. While there is some semantic overlap between the three terms I'm considering ("redneck," "hillbilly," and "country boy") they are by no means synonymous. I think of "hillbilly" as almost an ethnic designation; a hillbilly is a member of the culture or society that inhabits one of the rural mountainous areas of the U.S. Being a redneck, on the other hand, seems like more of a class distinction to me and has more to do with behavior than with values or culture. Hillbillies (and country boys) grow their own tomatoes; rednecks throw them at player they don't like at ball games...

The most recent decision that I've faced that made me question my hillbilly identity occurred a week or so ago on my drive to work. I drive about 20 miles to work. When I get in my vehicle of the mornings I'm in the Tennessee River Valley. I drive north on a two lane US highway that takes me up and over a ridge and as I start to descend I enter the Big Sandy section of the Ohio River Valley. Then:

• I turn off on a state road
  
• Drive around a few hairpins
  
• Pass a few cows and horses
  
• Cross a state line
  
• Climb a mountain named after a coal mine
  
• Drive by the mine (passing a few coal trucks on the way)
  
• Go under the railroad trestle
  
• Pass a little nine-hole golf course that seems incredibly out of place
  
• Pass through a couple of unincorporated communities identified with green and white signs
  
• And arrive at the small school where I teach

On this particular day I rounded a curve and saw something in the road at 8am - a wild turkey. It was dead, recently run over by someone else. I was tempted to stop. But I was on a schedule. And turning around on that small road is a pain. So I went on to work. But I thought about the turkey much of the day. And on the way home that turkey looked to be pretty much still in tact. So I gave in to the temptation and I stopped.

In my four wheel drive sport utility vehicle I carry a Leatherman tool that my little brother gave me for Christmas (or something) one year. I took it out and used the pliers to pull a couple of feathers. Turkey feathers have some value in my part of the country and I just couldn't see passing them up.

Does that make me a redneck (or a real hillbilly, at least)? Probably not in and of itself...