Technorati Tag: blog carnival

Thanks to all who submitted!

Doug Mataconis, a libertarian Republican, takes a look at the proposed amendment to Virginia's Constitution to ban gay marriage. Then he tells us that BB&T Stands Up For Property Rights.

Roci at Rocinante's Burdens presents Size Matters?

HD Wanderer at High Desert Wanderer presents Work Hard, Ride for the Brand

While SpankingThatDonkey, Chris Green took the time to send in some interesting stuff.

Adam at Sophistpundit presents Slowing Development is the only way to maintain speedy development! Quite a conundrum. Or something. Ahem.

No longer content with the Old Dominion, the New Dominion blogger, J. Sarge, brings us first ladies of Virginia, while "Carrying on the Commonwealth's Tradition of Public Discourse".

Making sparks as usual, Kilo at SparkItUp brings us The Barter and a Timely Play.

Your Horse Wants Privacy, or so says Chris O'Donnell in this interesting piece. Mine wants carrots and apples, but he's not very bright. "Oh, Wilburrrrr."

And my nearby neighbor (and former political candidate, quite possibly the only Democrat I've voted for in 15 years), blogging from Bull Run Mountain, Bruce Roemmelt has a triplet on mine safety: here, here, and here

Coming up in the rotation:

February 6: The Countertop Chronicles
February 13: Getting Around

Have a good week, all!

Technorati Tags: Prince William County, blog carnival

I'll be hosting the Blog Carnival next week, so get your entries in by early Monday morning, January 30th. You may send entries to Richard in email. Make sure to note "VBC" or similar in the subject line. The rest of the very few rules are here [vaconservative.com]

Technorati Tags: Virginia Blog Carnival

A Nokesville woman who had her Social Security number stolen from the billing department at the Prince William County Hospital has filed over $60 million in lawsuits against the hospital, a temp agency and several credit companies.

Suzanne Sloane was the victim of identity theft in August 2003, when Shovana Sloan stole her Social Security number from hospital billing records and used it to open fraudulent credit accounts.

Sloane had left her Social Security number with the hospital months before, when she'd been a patient preparing to give birth to her second son.

"When people think of identity theft, they think about a waiter stealing a credit card number, or online shopping. Not the hospital," said John Sloane, Suzanne's husband.

The lawsuit against the hospital centers on the fact that Shovana Sloan was a convicted identity thief before she was hired to work in the hospital's billing department.

...

As a result of the identity theft, the Sloanes' credit ratings have plummeted, and the family has gone through extensive strife trying to repair their credit history.

I'm sure people expect a higher standard at a hospital, but like any business, the hospital has to hire, fire, and bill, which puts lots of patient's personal information in the hands of many office workers. PWC Hospital's problems here shold be a wake-up call to all companies who insist or allow the use of the Social Security number as a customer identifier.

It's fortunate that this victim had good luck in seeing this person caught.

Technorati Tags: Prince William County, identity theft

In December, school officials released a plan that would shuffle students all over western Prince William, but most notably would move about 58 Amberleigh Station children from Bristow Run Elementary to Glenkirk Elementary. After Amberleigh Station parents objected strongly to that idea during a public meeting in December, the planning committee went back to the drawing board and came up with two additional options.

Last Wednesday, David Beavers, the school system's chief of long-range planning, explained all three plans to a crowd of parents who turned out at Glenkirk to get information and to voice their opinions.

This time, it was Bridlewood Manor parents who were angry. One of the three plans, Boundary Plan 3b1, would allow Amberleigh Station children to stay at Bristow Run by instead moving the Bridlewood Manor community from Bristow Run to Victory Elementary.

A coalition of Bridlewood Manor parents argued that their children had already been moved from Bristow Run to Cedar Point and then back to Bristow Run. They said they had accepted each move as a necessary step to alleviate overcrowding, but now they've had enough.

School populations continue to grow and the school system, while going as fast as possible, just can't keep up with the growth. The schools in the area project student populations in excess of 100% of capacity year after year. District boundary maps and other interesting info can be found on the PWCS site [www.pwcs.edu].

If you'd like ot comment or become involved, the Somerset planning page notes:

Two opportunities for addressing the School Board prior to their vote on the Elementary Boundaries for 2006-07:

- February 1, 2006: Citizens' Comment Time
- February 22, 2006: Public Hearing on Boundaries.

Citizens may also e-mail comments and suggestions to the School Board members

Citizens who wish to address the School Board under citizens comment time must notify the Board Clerk in writing, by telephone, or by Email (select) at the address below prior to 12:00 noon on the day of the Board meeting:

Clerk to the School Board
P.O. Box 389
Manassas, VA 20108
Telephone: 703-791-8705
E-mail: pwcsclerk@pwcs.edu

Technorati Tags: Prince William County

Technorati Tags: Prince William County

A hotel and conference center and 650 houses in the Rural Crescent are among the 13 applications that Prince William County has received to amend its Comprehensive Plan, a long-range blueprint for zoning.

The Manassas National Battlefield Park is asking to be recognized as a "cultural resource" instead of open space, and some residents have banded together in an effort to reduce development from four housing units per acre to one per 2.5 acres.

The hotel and conference center sounds more ominous than it really is, though. It's described as:

"It's one of those things where if you want to have a wedding or a graduation party or a debutante ball, they would do the catering and everything," Utz said.

Utz is Raymond E. Utz, the county's chief of long-range planning.

Technorati Tags: Prince William County

Last year, when the Virginia Supreme Court overturned Loudoun County's 2003 zoning protections for rural land, the decision brought forth secessionist tendencies that had largely been lying dormant since the Civil War.

Already frustrated by the rapidly growing influx of Yankee carpetbaggers and the pro-growth actuations of the recently elected Board of Supervisors, some residents of western Loudoun launched a movement called Citizens for Catoctin County, or CCC, to establish a new, independent jurisdiction, to be called "Catoctin County."

...

However, if secession is a response to discordant values, then annexation is the other side of the coin -- a reflex that comes to the fore when similar values are being expressed. That has meant some speculation in Fauquier of the "What Ifs" -- as in, "What if we were to annex Catoctin?

...

Interestingly, Fauquier County's own Web site states that it seeks to "preserve the physical beauty, historical heritage and environmental quality of the county." Loudoun, by contrast, touts a new strategic plan to "create an innovative, globally competitive economy known for its business environment."

As a Fauquier County official observed, "Clearly, if you look at the mission statements you'll see that the secessionists are closely in tune with Fauquier's philosophy."

I love to see the term 'carpetbaggers' used in print. It's so descriptive and there's no better description to make a Southerner take notice.

Check out the Catoctin County website [www.catoctincounty.org].

Technorati Tags: Prince William County, Loudoun County, Catoctin County

The Cocaine Blues, Johnny Cash's version from Folsom in 1968, is on permanent repeat in my head. Try singing about shooting your woman down, under your breath of course, around the wife and later the kid. It's not easy.

Home early... err, on-time, from work to take the kiddo to Daisy Girl Scouts, wherein we learned about strong and courageous women. With so many to choose from, I was surprised to see Sybil Ludington, whose 40-mile ride, a la Paul Revere, featured a stick and horse named "Star", which has now come into our panoply of strong and courageous horses.

Needless to say, since we beat the rain home, someone needed to pretend to ride a horse in the dark tonight. Having a 300-foot driveway occasionally has its advantages, although its usually against Missionaries and Trick-or-Treaters. I'll leave it to you, dear reader, to imagine the depths of darkness, miles from the nearest fire hydrant, here in bear country, along that driveway. I stood in the cold and watched her canter away toward the house, not so fond of the galloping in the dark, and wished from the bottom of my soul that we could freeze the moment. Can't and shouldn't, I guess, but I'll save it here, and you can share some too, plenty to go 'round.

Technorati Tag: kids

Technorati Tags: Prince William County, Virginia Blog Carnival

The single hazard of having three little girls (beyond my prematurely-greying hair at the thought of boyfriends, tattoos, and weddings anyway... "live it three times, a special brand of torture!" But I digress...) is the profusion of stuff, all of it cute and prone to causing crippling foot injuries. These My Little Pony hair implements litter the house, no ponies in sight.

Surely, a barn full of unkempt ponies, each with trademark comical head-twist and buggy anime' eyes, exists somewhere, poorly coiffed, bringing shame to the land of the ponies (Butterfly Island). "Tsk, tsk," cluck the elder ponies, "what dishevelment, such disorder among our youth." Young lips are curled in response, eyes roll throughout the herd, a couple of cigarettes are lit: "You old nags don't understand us! WTF LOL OMG! It's not like we have dreads. What. everrrr."

Please, won't someone think of Daddy's feet!?!?

Technorati Tag: My Little Pony

Spent some time in the sun this afternoon, walking the border trail along the top of the mountain with the girls. The Virginia Outdoors Foundation [www.virginiaoutdoorsfoundation.org] owns a big chunk of the western face of Bull Run Mountain, so the scenery and quiet are quite nice. The ridge of the mountain, for the most part, is the border between Fauquier and Prince William counties.

This marker likely marks the back edge or corner of someone's property who lives on our road.

Technorati Tags: Prince William County, Bull Run Mountain

A Haymarket police officer was arrested in relation to the raid of a Great Falls (VA) poker game. It appears he was acting as "security" for the game, in some fashion.

More than a dozen Fairfax police officers raided the house Dec. 15 and interviewed each player twice. Afterward, Rahim and Robert A. Hoffman Jr., 39, a two-year member of the police force in the tiny town of Haymarket, were arrested, police said yesterday.

Rahim, 37, was charged with operating an illegal gambling enterprise and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Hoffman, 39, who has been suspended from the Haymarket force, was charged with two misdemeanors: participating in an illegal gambling operation and being an accessory to an illegal gambling operation.

...

...Rahim used Hoffman to guard the game because "he was concerned that there had been robberies in the surrounding Great Falls area."

...

Haymarket Town Council members said Hoffman's suspension will last at least until the charges against him have been resolved in court. Meanwhile, Hoffman, whose annual salary is $38,500, will resume being paid Jan. 8.

Hoffman's been blogged before [northerncrown.com], in regards to unrest on the Haymarket Police Department.

Technorati Tags: Prince William County, Haymarket

Area wine lovers have something new to look forward to this summer.

Chris Pearmund, 44, a Northern Virginia vintner and wine connoisseur, will open the fourth vineyard in Prince William County - and for now, the only one in business.

Their website [www.wineryatlagrange.com] is up and running. And see Google Maps [www.google.com] for the location.

Good Luck to Mr. Pearmund! I look forward to a bottle from so close to home.

Technorati Tags: Prince William County, wine

Two bills that address Social Security numbers being posted online with land records are set to go before the General Assembly soon.

Del. Jeffrey Frederick, who represents Prince William County, is introducing one bill. Del. Samuel Nixon, who represents Chesterfield County, is introducing the other bill.

Frederick's bill suggests posting land records online but leaving out those that contain personal identity information.

...

Nixon's bill differs from Frederick's in that he suggests a system that would allow citizens to call the clerks of court and ask that their personal information not be posted online.

And in a blind rush to adhere to a statute, Rockingham County will be posting documents containing Social Security numbers:

Whether land documents containing Social Security numbers should be posted online became a topic of interest last month, when Rockingham County announced it would be putting all deed information online by early February.

County Circuit Court Clerk Wayne Harper said the county is putting its land records online to comply with a state mandate that says every county must post its deed information on the Web by July 2006.

Harper said the county would put the documents online with Social Security numbers because it is illegal for clerks of court to remove numbers from official documents.

I'd like to think that you'd get fired in the private sector for blind stupidity such as this, but there's no guarantee. I'm just glad I don't live in his county. The PWC Land Rover [www.pwcgov.org] is free of most data usable for identity theft.

Technorati Tags: Prince William County, privacy

• Mountain-highway: 18.15 (stiff wind), 21.5
• City: 21, 20.5, 20.2
• Highway: 23.3, 20.5, 19.8, 21.7, 21.4, 20.2, 19.8

  Overall, for the trip (3,852 miles): 20.7mpg

Technorati Tag: honda pilot gas mileage

Click for 1600x1200 version. Good day.

Copyright Richard Morgan. Don't steal and post on your website. I will know.

Technorati Tag: wallpapers

Virginia Centrist has the best and worst bills [virginiacentrist.blogspot.com] introduced in the Virginia Assembly in 2005.

Bob excels, as usual!

Worst Bills:

1. Delegate Marshall's anti-pregnancy bill

...

8. Delegate Marshall's bill to charge doctors with a felony if they prescribe birth control for a minor and that minor gets pregnant

Wow, HB 187 is beyond the pale, even for Marshall.

Prohibition on the provision of certain intervening medical technology to unmarried women. No individual licensed by a health regulatory board shall assist with or perform any intervening medical technology, whether in vivo or in vitro, for or on an unmarried woman that completely or partially replaces sexual intercourse as the means of conception, including, but not limited to, artificial insemination by donor, cryopreservation of gametes and embryos, invitro fertilization, embryo transfer, gamete intrafallopian tube transfer, and low tubal ovum transfer.

You unmarried hussies don't deserve no babies! I am frankly stunned, yes, stunned.

One more link, via Virginia Centrist, the Times-Dispatch chews on Bob [www.timesdispatch.com]:

If they are smart (admittedly an open question), House Republicans will use the rules change to bury Marshall's bill in an unmarked grave. Superficially, the measure would further poison the well for the party's future -- a well already made fetid by a social agenda that moves farther beyond the pale each year. Intrinsically, it grows out of an impulse that is (the word is considered carefully) totalitarian.

...

And therein lies the bill's totalitarian impulse: Marshall's willingness to wield the coercive power of the state to abrogate fundamental rights -- to thwart one of the deepest of human impulses and crush the hopes of women desperate to bear children -- to promote his particular version of The Way Things Ought to Be. All without any of the grounds that might cloak such an intrusion into people's personal lives in a veil of legitimacy.

Technorati Tags: Prince William County, Bob Marshall sticks his nose in your sex life

Dear Gainesville Express Subscriber,

Supervisor John T. Stirrup would like to announce a Community Meeting to discuss the widening of Route 15. This meeting will be held at Battlefield High School on January 26th at 7pm. Members of the Prince William County Transportation Department will be present to discuss the plans as well as to listen to comments from residents of the Gainesville District.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Supervisor Stirrup's office at (703) 792-6195.

I'm trying to keep an open, hopeful mind and hope this is just for the yahoos south of me in those McMansions.

Technorati Tags: Prince William County, roads

Hurrican Isabel came to visit PWC in September of 2003. This photo is some damage in Haymarket, near the Winterham house. We've still got trees on the ground from that storm, even today, ones that are "down in the holler" and impossible to get to or extract and be used for firewood. We were without electricity for about four and a half days, plenty of impetus to buy a generator, after the fact.

Technorati Tag: Prince William County

A recent change in accounting rules ("Statement 45") by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board [www.gasb.org] requires changes to the accounting for postemployment benefits.

This, of course, got me to wondering about dear old Prince William. Our bond rating is top-notch, so I guessed, correctly it seems, that we're doing a good job in this area. PWC is part of the state retirement system, and as such, has better guidance and reason to properly fund and account for pensions and other postemployment benefits.

Some notes about the pension system (not bound by Statement 45), from 2004 county financial statements [www.pwcgov.org], the latest available online:

A. Virginia Retirement System Plan Description:

The County, as well as the Adult Detention Center and Park Authority component units, contribute to the Virginia Retirement System (VRS), an agent and cost-sharing multiple-employer defined benefit pension plan administered by the VRS.

Professional and non-professional employees of the School Board are also covered by the VRS. Professional employees participate in a VRS statewide teacher cost sharing pool, and non-professional employees participate as a separate group in the agent multiple-employer retirement system.

All full-time, salaried permanent employees of participating employers must participate in the VRS. Benefits vest after five years of service. Employees are eligible for an unreduced retirement benefit at age 65 with 5 years of service (age 60 with 5 years of service for participating law enforcement officers and firefighters) and at age 50 with 30 years of service for participating employers (age 50 with 25 years of service for participating law enforcement officers and firefighters) payable monthly for life in an amount equal to 1.7 percent of their average final compensation (AFC) for each year of credited service.

The VRS issues a publicly available comprehensive annual financial report that includes financial statements and required supplementary information for the VRS. A copy of that report may be obtained by writing VRS at P.O. Box 2500, Richmond, Virginia 23218-2500.

Funding Policy and Annual Pension Cost:

Plan members are required by Title 51.1 of the Code of Virginia (1950), as amended, to contribute 5% of their annual reported compensation to the VRS. The County has assumed this 5% member contribution. In addition, the County is required to contribute the remaining amounts necessary to fund its participation in the VRS using the actuarial basis specified by the Code of Virginia and approved by the VRS Board of Trustees. The County contribution rates for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2004 were 1.00% of annual covered payroll.

The required contributions for the County were determined as part of an actuarial valuation performed as of June 30, 2003 using the entry age normal actuarial cost method. The actuarial assumptions included (a) an 8% investment rate of return, (b) projected salary increases that range between 4.25% and 6.10%, depending on the member s service and classification, and (c) 3.0% per year cost-of-living adjustments. Both (a) and (b) included an inflation component of 3%. The actuarial value of the County assets is equal to the modified market value of the assets. This method was determined using techniques that smooth the effects of short-term volatility in the market value of assets over a five-year period. The unfunded actuarial accrued liability is being amortized as a level percentage of projected payroll on an open basis. The remaining amortization period at June 30, 2003, was fifteen years for the County.

Post-employment benefits in PWC are extremely limited in scope and are funded by the employees themselves. However, PWC legally and correctly notes that they were not (in 2004) required to report the small liability in financial statements.

C. Postemployment Benefits

The County provides limited postretirement health and dental benefits as provided for in Virginia state law to retirees who have 15 or more years of service with the County. The retirees are granted the option to participate by paying 100 percent of their monthly health insurance premium less a maximum credit of $45. As of the end of the current fiscal year, there were 114 retirees who participated in the County s group insurance plan that receive the credit, and 241 retirees, not in the group plan, who also receive the credit. The insurance credit is financed by payments from the County to the VRS. For the year ended June 30, 2004, the County paid $192, of which $22 is related to the Park Authority and Prince William County Service Authority retirees for which the County was reimbursed. The surplus funds are not considered advance funded because the County, its employees, and retirees have no vested rights to access the excess funds. GAAP do not require governments to report a liability in the financial statements in connection with an employer's obligation to provide these benefits.

Technorati Tags: Prince William County, accounting

Click for 1600x1200 version. Good day.

Technorati Tags: Prince William County

Technorati Tags: Prince William County, Virginia Blog Carnival

Connaughton warned the county couldn't expect much help from the state in building roads, but new roads would be needed to accommodate a burgeoning population.

"As it has become clear that the state doesn't have the financial resources to cover the costs of all identified projects, Prince William County has had to find ways to fund and or build much needed transportation projects within our community", Connaughton said.

In 2006, the county will seek voter approval for a road bond referendum for road projects around the county, Connaughton said.

The Prince William school system has gained national recognition in last year, Connaughton said.

"In 2004-2005, there were 10 National Merit Scholarship semi-finalists, three National Achievement Scholarship semi-finalists and 72 commended students," Connaughton said.

Ninety-two percent of citizens who took the county's annual citizen survey said they were satisfied with the performance of their county government, Connaughton said.

Eighty-five percent said the county was "efficient and effective" and 79 percent were satisfied with the value they received in exchange for their taxes, Connaughton said.

I ran down the survey on the PWC government site. Check it out [www.pwcgov.org]. 1,432 responses, +/- 2.6% margin of error.

Technorati Tags: Prince William County

They're having a ball down in Nokesville [www.topix.net]! Honk, honk!

Technorati Tag: Prince William County

Some berries which grow on a wickedly prickly thornbush. These grow along the driveway and are nearly the only color to be found these days, among the grays, browns, and black of the winter forest here on the Mountain.

Technorati Tag: winter

Click for 1600x1200 version. Good day.

Copyright Richard Morgan. Don't steal and post on your website. I will know.

Technorati Tag: wallpapers

The school district, which had 38,000 students -- most of them white -- when Kelly arrived, has expanded in diversity and size. About 53 percent of the county's 66,000 students are black, Asian or Hispanic. Kelly hired more minority teachers, established specialties at the middle and high schools and made a name for himself by pushing a new approach to school management.

Tagged with the wonkish label "site-based management," the approach allowed principals more authority over spending, hiring and curriculum, on the theory that they knew better what their students needed than central office administrators did.

The school administration thought enough of Dr. Kelly that letters with the news of his passing were sent home with the kids by my daughter's school (and presumably others) on Friday.

Technorati Tags: Prince William County,

The new blog just starts today, so I'll be adding content as quickly as possible.

Technorati Tag: Prince William County

I've previously written about my area (Haymarket and Bull Run Mountain) and the county on my personal blog, northerncrown.com, for the past couple of years. I'd sworn off commenting on politics, but the local races and issues have real impact on the quality of life for my neighbors and me, so I'll be including politics (more news than rant, hopefully), local stories, land use, transportation, housing, and business as they relate to PWC.

Prince William is a huge county in Northern Virginia, with many cities and towns, so I'll be tending to report more on things in the western end of the county, since that's my neighborhood. I'll occasionally stray into the neighboring counties of Fauquier, Loudoun, and Fairfax, and even on to Richmond for statewide issues that affect PWC.

I'll be leaving the prior postings on my personal blog, but likely linking to them occasionally.

Feel free to leave me a comment, or a link to your blog if you are local to PWC or NoVa. I'll be building up a local blogroll.

Technorati Tags: Prince William County, regional blogs

Some quotes from the trip, some unattributed to protect the identity of the accused:

Me (waking up): Sweet Jesus!
Laura: I know, he's all over the road.
Me (ignoring the weaving Explorer ahead of us in traffic): No, there's a Sonic at the next exit.

...

Me: Ummmmm, I think the dog might be deaf now.

...

Maggie: I don't like anything.

...

Me: There's no exit wound!

...

Abby: Raccoon tracks!

...

Me: Bobo took down the Mexican!

...

Me: $6 to see butterflies? For that, the butterflies better swoop down and kiss me on the nose.

...

May of '07? That's like a promise-ring kind of engagement!

...

We can just push-start it.

...

Abby: The ranch is perfect, I want to stay here forever.

...

Me: And then the front-desk clerk stepped off the elevator as I came out of the stairwell. Luckily, she didn't notice the dog under my arm.

Technorati Tag: vacation