Author: Timothy Watson

Security guard shot and killed in Fredericksburg

From NBC4 in Washington, D.C.: Security Guard Shot Dead At Va. Restaurant:

A security guard was shot dead early Saturday in the doorway of a city restaurant and police are searching for his killer, police said.

Officers were called to the Mi Casa Restaurant in the Central Park shopping center about 1:15 a.m. for several reports of shots fired. When they arrived, they found the victim just inside the front door, suffering two gunshot wounds to the chest, police said.

Police said 30-year-old Dasan Ka’Wila Richardson, a restaurant security guard, died a short time later, despite live-saving efforts at the restaurant and in an ambulance.

Detectives identified a possible shooter based on witness interviews. Police obtained a search warrant and the SWAT team made their way into a teen’s home in Riverside Manor about 11:15 a.m., police said. No one was there.

Police have obtained warrants charging Brandon Lee Smith, 19, with first-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call Fredericksburg police at 540-372-1122.

January 8, 2008 – Board of Supervisors meeting roundup

Yeah, I’m late with this but you get what you pay for (hint, hint).

And since I’m lazy, I’ve linked to some stories from The FL-S so I don’t have to bother writing about stuff at the meeting that has already been covered:

Organization Meeting: Floyd Thomas (Mattaponi) was elected as Chairman, Jeff Sili (Bowling Green) was elected as Vice-Chairman.

Presentations/Reports: Nothing important (trust me, zzzzzzzz)…

Appointments: Nothing important (trust me; at least it wasn’t as boring as the VDOT presentation)…

Consent Agenda: Approved.

Public Comments: Caroline’s prosecutor wants job full time

Public Hearings:

BPOL Ordinance: (Someone correct me if any of my numbers are wrong) As originally presented, the new ordinance would exempt the first $50,000 of receipts from tax and would exempt the license fee up to $25,000. At Bobby Popowicz‘s (Port Royal) suggestion, the license fee was exempted up to $50,000. Approved.

Unfinished Business:

Adjustments to Water & Wastewater Rates: The reason as stated for the proposed increase was to help stop Caroline’s need to subsidize the system as the county is currently doing. Hearing was continued. Depending on whether the public notice for the hearing was correct in the paper, the next hearing will be January 22 (if the ad was correct) or February 12 (if the ad was incorrect).

Salary Adjustments for Full-Time Employees of Caroline Library: Approved.

Award Contact for Engineering Services for Ladysmith Solid Waste Convenience Site Expansion: Approved.

Selection of Vendor to Conduct Youth Needs Assessment [for the Youth Task Force]: Cost: $20,000. Approved.

New Business

Creation of County Wireless Authority: Caroline in early stages of pursuing public-private wireless Internet service

Acceptance of Property Donated [by the Rozell family] to County as Site for New Dawn Library: Continued until soil testing has been completed at Bobby Popowicz‘s suggestion. No sense in receiving property donated to you if you can’t use it, right? UPDATE: Library land will be tested first

And that’s about it, kids.

Next meeting: January 22, 2007.

We don’t need no stinking openness in government!, Part 2

Raising Kaine: House Republicans Reject Open Government

UPDATE: Hiliarity from the AP via NBC4: Va. House Kills Bid To Record Subcommittee Votes:

Democrats failed Wednesday in an effort to prevent bills from being killed anonymously by a handful of House of Delegates members in sparsely attended subcommittee meetings.

Open government groups and organizations as disparate as the conservative Virginia Club for Growth, the League of Women Voters and the AARP had called for requiring recorded votes when a subcommittee acts on a bill.

But on a nearly party-line 45-54 vote, the first substantial policy issue vote taken in the opening hour of the 2008 General Assembly, Republicans used their majority to defeat the amendment offered by Del. Kenneth R. Plum.

“The public’s right to know is a basic tenet of all we do. It’s why we pass freedom of information law,” said Plum, D-Fairfax.

Virginia’s part-time legislature relies heavily on its committee system to vet legislation and either advance it to the House or Senate floor or kill it. Committees appoint subcommittees to edit and amend the bills before they come before the full committee. Votes were not recorded, but subcommittees could not kill bills.

Two years ago, the House changed the rules to allow subcommittees to kill legislation. Critics objected that bills should not be killed by a few people without a recorded vote.

Plum argued Wednesday that some subcommittees consist of as few as five delegates, that they can meet with a quorum, which is three delegates, and that a majority of that quorum — just two delegates — can kill a bill with no record of their action. And because subcommittees often huddle at odd times ranging from dawn to evening hours in out-of-the-way niches across Capitol Square, it’s difficult if not impossible for the press or public to monitor them.

“The public needs to know how we conduct our business,” he argued.

House Majority Leader H. Morgan Griffith countered that requiring recorded votes for subcommittees would make an already heavy work load of about 3,000 bills over just 60 days almost unbearable.

“If we go to this process, we might as well forget about subcommittees and go to hearing all bills in full committee,” said Griffith, R-Salem.

House Minority Leader Ward L. Armstrong, D-Henry County, argued that a transparent legislature is more important to voters and taxpayers than a streamlined one.

“If want to take (Griffith’s) argument that this saves time, gee, think how much time could be saved if we didn’t bother with recorded votes here on the floor,” Armstrong said.

Caroline Rural Alert #2

From the Caroline Rural Alliance: CAROLINE RURAL ALERT: Public hearing on barn and chicken coop ban postponed:

Dear Caroline Resident,

Well, attending the Planning Commission worksession yesterday evening was a waste of time. At the outset of the meeting, the audience (all three of us) were told that since this was a worksession and not a public hearing, there would be no open dialogue permitted between the audience and the Planning Commission.

The Planning Commission decided to continue the January 16th Public Hearing to a later date due to the size (81 pages) and complexity of the changes they are considering. I wish they had decided to cancel the public hearing BEFORE publishing a half-page announcement in the Caroline Progress.

The one thing I was glad to be present for was the short discussion about grandfathering and whether Caroline County has the right to limit grandfathering to a certain amount of time. Can you imagine a business owner being told that after 50 years of operation in Caroline, that they must cease operations within two years due to a zoning reclassification? Sounds crazy, but they’re talking about it!

We will continue to follow the progress of the barn and chicken coop ban and other changes that may affect the rural citizens of the County and let you know when the public hearing is rescheduled.

Thanks!

Sonny

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Copies of the new zoning text amendments (81 pages) are available at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Caroline_Rural_Alliance/files/

“I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.” – Thomas Jefferson, 1791

Caroline Rural Alert

From the Caroline Rural Alliance: CAROLINE RURAL ALERT: Planning Commission to consider banning barns!:

Dear Caroline County Resident,

With the Planning Commission considering 81 pages of NEW land use regulation this Monday night, we have to pick our battles carefully (you commercial property owners are on your own, sorry). Just focusing on what will affect us rural agricultural (AP&RP) folks, I find three new disasters in the making. They are:

1. Restricting the construction of agricultural buildings (barns, coops, silos, etc.) to “real estate devoted to the bona fide production for sale of plants and animals” only. If you’re not in the business of selling plants or animals, NO MORE BARNS FOR YOU!

2. Banning the outdoor storage of goods for farm supply stores. Mom and pop farm stores like G+G Hardware could have to erect costly fully-enclosed buildings to store lumber and other materials that are normally stored out in the open or under a canopy. Could be a fatal blow to some locally owned small businesses.

3. The establishment of Minimum Road Frontages for the RP and AP districts. If you don’t have at least 175 FT (RP) or 250 FT (AP) of road frontage, you may be in danger of becoming a “non-conforming use,” and just like those houses that are too close to the road, you may be denied a building permit the next time you want to repair or add on to your house.

—

The full text of the new zoning text amendments (all 81 pages) and a more detailed analysis of the three issues mentioned above, are available at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Caroline_Rural_Alliance/files.

To object to these new regulations (and keep your chicken coop), you can either attend the Planning Commission Worksession at 7PM this Monday in the Emergency Operations Center of the Community Services Center, or attend the Planning Commission Public Hearing in the Auditorium of the Community Services Center on Wednesday, January 16th at 7PM.

Thanks for caring!

Sonny

“I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.” – Thomas Jefferson, 1791