Barring complications, Shenandoah County citizens are on the way to getting a public shooting range. In August, County administration received a handwritten note:

Daniel Jones and Leon Lagerman request a meeting with the County Safety Committee on the 26th of September to get approval for a public shooting range in Shenandoah County on County property.

(Signed)

To begin with, there is a need for shooting ranges. Unfortunately the County doesn’t own enough unused land for a public range; the training area for law enforcement at the landfill isn’t suitable to contain the longer ranges and higher power of sporting firearms. Committee members suggested looking for sites on federal lands.

One-fifth of Shenandoah County’s acreage is in National Forest. Though available for a number of other activities, by their nature these lands have restricted utility. Expanding the range of uses is in everyone’s best interests, and allows privately owned property to be used for those activities that federal lands prohibit.

Recent regulations now prohibit target shooting or sighting-in on National Forest lands except at approved ranges. The nearest range, West Side Shooting Range, is over an hour’s drive away; west of Harrisonburg on Route 33.

The county Comprehensive Plan calls for the preservation of current rural-agricultural land uses and cultural heritage, in which hunting is an element. The management and harvest of wild game is a part of this, in addition to the role of hunting in crop damage control. Recent declining deer harvests —and the resulting increased deer population— indicate we need more hunting pressure to keep a healthier herd balance.

At the next Committee meeting on October 24th, we hope to hear from National Forest representatives to begin this process. The meeting in the Board’s conference room—as always— is open to the public.

Though everyone knows my conflicts with them, I give credit where credit is due. It is due here. Saturday night the Shenandoah Preservation League honored Noah Dellinger for his part in preserving the Dellinger Brothers Farm in Shenandoah County.

The farm is one of Shenandoah County’s 25 Century Farms, but is far older than a mere century. It pre-dates the American Revolution, in the Dellinger line since it’s beginning.

At 91, Noah is patriarch of the family, co-owning the farm with the three sons of his brother John, who passed on at his son’s house a couple years ago.

Like his brother before, Noah has lived his life there, farmed his life there, married and buried his love there. The boys —now men— carry on the same.

There’s nothing wrong with environmental education, ecological awareness, and preservationism; but they are shallow reflections of what these men live in their life. Noah —as well as Charles, Gary, and Richard— deserve the honor.

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“Shenandoah County is a beautiful place, a gorgeous place to live. Everyday we are treated to more of the Creator’s splendors than many people see in a lifetime.”

Everyday. . . Every . single . day.

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, in early 1942 MIT mandated draft registration for the entire MIT student body. My parent’s was the class of 1944, a class that never graduated.

Not long after the mandate, the university announced all classes were accelerated, and MIT students started shipping out starting in 1943. It was a deliberate maneuver by the War Department colluding with the university, but there were few complaints. America needed officers, MIT students understood what “duty” meant, and they fulfilled it — another story for another time.

Despite media reports about student protesters of this-n-that, in 2006 MIT students still understand what “duty” means. In their long tradition of complex, engineering pranks, this year’s ‘hack’ is to honor some special people.

This was carried out in secrecy, performed in the dead of night; a full-scale model assembled on top of the Institute’s dome. As usual, an awesome work of planning, coordination, and engineering.

This year’s hack was a fire truck honoring 9-11 firefighters. It was entirely carried out in the dead of night and assembled at the 150 foot height, the truck is complete down to its brass gauges, a flashing red light, and two model firefighters at the controls.

On its side is the MIT seal, but the Latin logo, Mens et Manus (mind and hand) was altered to Meminimus —We Remember.

Smart and capable college kids; who still understand the meaning of “duty”. My parents would be proud.

(More photos here.)

Governor Timothy M. Kaine today signed Executive Order 35, creating an Office of Telework Promotion and Broadband Assistance:

“Telework is a family-friendly, business-friendly public policy that helps us recruit and retain a high-quality workforce in a competitive job market,” Governor Kaine said. “It also protects environmental quality and promotes energy conservation by reducing traffic congestion and vehicle emissions. Telework also allows a better balance between work and family. …”

All true. Virginia’s public policy pundit, Jim Bacon, is ecstatic. His reaction is simply “Bravo!” Color me deeply cynical.

The Governor has it backwards. It should be the Office of Telework Promotion Assistance and Broadband Assistance Promotion. The state is a colossal employer, and as the executive Kaine doesn’t have to ‘promote’ anything to make institutional changes toward telework. It’s the various offices under his administration that may need assistance transitioning to changed telework patterns.

On the other hand, broadband carriers and facilities are almost entirely in private hands. Private enterprise needs incentive —through tax code, SCC regulations, and VDOT rights of way— to expand equitable internet services into less profitable areas. Unless a 21st century ‘Byrding’ of the state’s bandwidth is intended, public financing of telecommunications infrastructure as ‘assistance’ is the very last resort.

The focus of assistance should be on the telework positions, a personnel policy matter. If that succeeds, the demand (and capacity to pay) for improved broadband will follow.

The Washington Post has an article on intersex fish —male fish having immature eggs inside their sex organs— in the Potomac River and it’s tributaries. Formerly only known of in the Shenandoah River, it’s apparent this phenomenon is widespread.

The article engages in scare-mongering by omission. What the Post fails to tell its readers is the discovery of this occurrence was made with fish (smallmouth bass) from the Shenandoah and Cowpasture Rivers.

This is important. Fish biologists for the Shenandoah River Fish Kill Task Force originally chose the Cowpasture River as a control against the Shenandoah.

The Cowpasture originates in Highland County (population 2,536) flows through sparsely populated areas of Bath County (population 5,048) where vast areas are forested, its agriculture less dense and of very different types than the Shenandoah and Potomac drainages, and it’s a different watershed.

In short, the Cowpasture River has almost none of the characteristics normally blamed for pollution. It was chosen as a comparator for those reasons.
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The Zirkle Mill’s dedication ceremony was held concurrent with a Sons of the American Revolution meeting. About 30 people attended, listened to some speeches, toured the mill, and enjoyed a great lunch.

The mill, a Virginia Historic Landmark, and dating to the Revolution, was slated to be demolished for its parts by Museum of American Frontier Culture. The ceremony marked the end of a successful local campaign to keep this historic landmark in place and intact.

The event also marked the recognition of the Zirkle Mill into the National Register of Historic Places. As the first private preservation effort in Shenandoah County, its success is a great omen.

The drive to save the mill started with the enormous resources of the Virginia’s Department of Education pitted against (more…)

The Winchester/Frederick County Chamber’s annual Hob Nob in the Valley was held tonight, with a wide spectrum of politicians and political hopefuls. In real-life, elected representatives have to get along with each other, and this event was no exception.

A short-lived rain brought the event inside, and some people just didn’t come thinking it would rain more. Food was served by the ever-great Shaffer’s of Shenandoah County.

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