Local Publications

[fangz1956]

WO...........

Ever considered writing a book about your experiences and travels? Might make for an interesting read.

Might I ask a personal question here? Are you multi-lingual? I am merely curious as some of your comments remind me greatly of my brother. He's a world traveler, holds dual citizenship, and speaks 11 languages. People like you and my brother fascinate me.

[Wise One]

English is my third language. I never had a first or second language. Let's talk about my 4th and 5th languages.

But seriously, folks.

I do OK in English, contaminated only by my Rockbridge birth and raising.
I struggle and muddle in German and Dutch with middling vocabulary and awful grammar, often mis-using a word in one language for its counterpart in the other.

My wife is German but won't speak her native language with me. Which tells you something about my proficiency, or her distaste for her origins, or both.

She had an EU passport before her naturalization, a really great thing to have. When traveling, one frequently encounters situations where either the US or EU passport is superior. She was so keen to Americanize herself, because of Germany's Nazi era, that she deliberately let the EU passport lapse. She regrets it now.

We were in Brazil once and had to pay $200 only because we had US passports. Nobody else had to pay. Brazil was retaliating, to the penny, for the charge we levy on them when they visit the US.

Sigh.

[fangz1956]

Your wife sounds like a very smart lady. As for your stories.......I still say you should write a book. It would be an interesting tale, I'm sure.

[Wise One]

This month's Rockbridge Advocate, as usual, is a delight to peruse. Notable contents include perhaps the best letter I've ever seen in that publication, by Peter C. Keefe regarding the House Mountain management flap.

Also significant is the coverage of the ongoing Buena Vista train financial wreck caused by the golf course. This is perhaps the most vivid example I've ever seen of how important it is to elect officials who have good sense, and how painful the consequences can be when we don't.

My takeaway on Buena Vista: beware the politician who says, "Elect me, what we need to do is run this government like a business."
The purposes of government and how it must run to be successful, have little to do with business. Government, as BV shows so clearly, can cause huge damage when it confuses its goals with business goals.

[fangz1956]

This is my two cents regarding the July 2014 issue of The Advocate, which did an incredible and throrough job of investigative reporting on their lead story "Could CSB have prevented Deeds family tragedy?"

By far and away, this was one of the best pieces I read on this issue. I read everything I could find...from any source I could find. Stories such as this interest me on a personal level. If you have ever had to ECO/TDO another person, someone close to you, for being a danger to themselves or others, you are/were already well aware of the cracks and shortcomings that are system-wide. This sort of thing is not solely a failing of the Rockbridge CSB.......it is a failing of the state and federal governments whose first priority seems to be cuts to mental health services at every whipstitch. Could the CSB have done a better job here? Yes, they could have. The problem seems to be the lack of clearly defined and up-to-date policies, procedures, and protocols....but that seems to be evident in most localities whose services are under continuous slash and burn legislation. I have encountered similar problems within the system here in the Roanoke Valley on more than one occasion. It is frustrating and maddening to a point that defies description. I can personally feel the pain of the Deeds family over the outcome of this situation.

Now then, it seems the CSB is highly pissed at The Advocate for running the July story. From where I sit, they shouldn't be. They should be grabbing at the opportunities for improvement that were highlighted in this story. In other words, they should be taking the ball and running with it toward the goal of improved policies, procedures, and protocols. They should be embracing this opportunity to make things better for the communities they serve. People who work in healthcare (any of it, not just mental health) know that the outcomes of sentinel events always lead to changes and improvements in protocols and procedures. Now, it shouldn't take the death or serious harm to a patient for that to happen.......but it often does.

The CSB can sit and play their victim card here and threaten to pull their ad revenue from The Advocate, or they can man up, own their errors, and work toward improved outcomes for all ECO/TDO cases. The choice is theirs and I, for one, hope they choose the high road in the interest of the communities they serve.

Before I close this, I just want to express gratitutde to The Advocate for running this story in July. It lets people like me know that there are people in the area who are interested and who care deeply about this issue and the need for major improvement to the system. Thanks for shining the light in area where a lot of folks don't even know its dark.

[Raiz]

I've noticed for the past few weeks that The Weekender isn't in our mailbox anymore. Has it stopped being delivered? Getting normal mail as usual, but we miss The Weekender!

[Crux]

YUP. It is no more my friend. Welcome to the forum, where progressives and so called LIBERALS run the roost.

[1Centrist]

Oh, great, Crux! Just try to bias the newbie before he can even take a breath!

Raiz, welcome. Be assured we're charming and open minded here, with a few exceptions. I'm sure you've already determined what the crux of the problem is.

[Crux]

TOO KIND.

Let's just rattle off the participants on the left: Trendy, Juggler, wiseone, fangz, amy p, neck-ain't, bigbux, Buck, auntie N, coondog.

Those are the regulars, other than crux who is like a libertarian, conservative true liberal, and Centrist, who weaves left, and right.

Centrist just jumped in!!! I have been holding my own for 5 years against the CABAL, with a little help from Kevsky now and then...
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

My positions are decidedly CENTRIST. Pro Choice, but no government funding or 3rd TM abortions of healthy babies. Pro civil unions, but don't call them "Marriage". Anti PARTY, as in D and R. APPROPRIATE government, local, state and federal. Pro capitalism. Pro self defense. Pro domestic energy. Pro sovereignty. Ett Sett Err Ahhh...

I am polite too. I don't call folks Nazis, ass holes, racists sexists or homophobes either!!

[Coondog]

Right!

And, if you believe that, there's this bridge, see, across the Maury River which you can buy dirt cheap.

[Wise One]

I'm a hard news junkie, but found myself on the pages of the March 18, 2015 News-Gazette looking for, what else, a hard-hitting local Editorial.

This week they've really gone out on a limb. It starts out softly enough, but by the end you get the faint impression that they might be, kind of, in favor of Spring, a little, if you read carefully between the lines. Naturally, they hedge their bets for fear of offending their pro-Winter readers, by saying lots of nice things about that season also.

They've done it again. They offended nobody in the entire county by taking an editorial position that is even faintly controversial, complex, or nuanced.

Good work! And there's no need to pass the Pablum, thank you, I've had mine already.

[Trend Setter]

I never looked at it that way, but now that you've alerted us I've been paying attention. You're right. The News-Gazette is the most bland publication ever. They will do NOTHING that might arouse controversy in a single reader.

Which brings me to the latest Rockbridge Advocate. I found this month's really interesting, not least of all because it defends a lunkhead (Raymond Agnor) who harbors crazy and hurtful prejudices. Well, it's not so much the lunkhead that Doug Harwood defends, as his right to express those lunkhead opinions via the Press. Doug has an excellent exposition on why and how important that First Amendment right is to all of us.

And does anybody else like "The News" as much as I do? That collection of one-liners always has a gem or two hidden it it, nice enough to motivate me to keep digging as I read the whole thing!

[Neck-aint-red]

Speaking of the News-Gazette, two things popped out at me in the May 25, 2016 edition:

• Miracle of miracles, the Editorial actually contains substance. There are intelligent, thoughtful and somewhat controversy-provoking remarks concerning the Brownsburg zoning battle over Heritage Woodwork. I hope it's not a one-time brain-fart, so keep it up ... you may become a real newspaper yet.
• The Courts Update is always interesting, we so love to revel in the misfortunes of others. This one left me with the impression that we could easily cut our crime rate in half by dumping awful drug laws that live on like zombies after the failed War on Drugs. Half the listed arrests are for minor drug use/deals. Let's junk these laws ... they clearly do no good and cause a lot of cost/damage.
• Hugh Bouchelle is still batshit crazy. And of course announced to nobody's surprise that he'll vote for Donald Trump.