It used to be called Decoration Day. Not a day for speeches or articles; too often the voice quivers, the prose seems so inadequate, and tears get in the way. Constant always, we can offer the gift of our Creator’s making.

Everyday Shenandoah County is treated to more of the Creator’s splendors than many people see in a lifetime. Every single day . . . and for the ability to appreciate that, we give thanks to those who made our freedom possible.

The media excitedly announced that Toms Brook is being considered for the site of a regional jail for Rappahannock, Shenandoah and Warren Counties. Lost in the shuffle are a lot of facts.

Over the next few weeks I’ll explain the process of how we go about getting new jail facilities. Following —as a first installment— are the answers to emailed questions from a Shenandoah County citizen.

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Please advise us your stand on this issue.

My stand is not to advocate ANY jail until the facts and costs are in.  In this case it will be weeks until we know if Page County’s withdrawal from the regional proposal requires a new community needs survey mandated by Department of Corrections. Though I doubt it does —I hope the current survey can be recalculated— that requirement would delay getting other facts about security and costs by 3 to 6 months. A recalculation should only take a week or two.

We need a new jail:  Our current facility is way over capacity, and we are in danger of a court order to place prisoners in other jails: the Sheriff presented figures for this in the last budget cycle. Not proceeding with new jail space is irresponsibly gambling with taxpayers’ money.

Presently the Sheriff is keeping overcrowding down by keeping other counties’ prisoners in the Shenandoah County jail. Huh you say? Well, our jail has a large block for females that can’t be used for males. We take in females from other counties to fill this cell-block; in return we ‘trade’ male prisoners to stay in those other jails.

We am deeply concerned as we used to live within 80 miles of a maximum security prison and when there was an escape all of us in a very large radius were placed on alert.

Please remember that what Shenandoah County is negotiating on is a jail, not a prison. Jails are to hold A) prisoners awaiting trial, B) prisoners sentenced to one year or less, and C) felony prisoners waiting transfer to state prison. Technically jails don’t hold prisoners longer than one year, but sometimes the state procrastinates taking a sentenced felon, so it can be a bit longer.

Jails are temporary holding facilities, from the most minor offenses to serious ones —from our neighbors and friends serving nights while on work release for drunk driving or non-payments all the way to murderers or gang members— all who were in our community before being in jail.

A regional jail is still a jail. In this case, the proposal is to combine the jails of Rappahannock, Shenandoah and Warren.

What have you learned from the mayor and the community residents that surround the prison at this other place? Have you spoken to any of those folks? What research has the jail search committee and the Shenandoah BOCS done to be better informed as to the long term ramifications of placing this facility in the middle of our county?

I assume you mean the Middle River Regional Jail near Staunton that serves Augusta County, Staunton, and Waynesboro. It’s located in that county’s Mill Creek Industrial Park and borders Staunton’s Green Hills Technology & Industrial Park. Its nearest neighbors are the Augusta County government center and Specialty Blades, Inc.

Other state-run facilities are the Augusta Correctional Center in Craigsville, Cold Springs Work Center in Greenville, Harrisonburg Correctional Unit 8 near Lacey Springs, and White Post Work Center/ Diversion Center/ Detention Center in Clarke County. With the exception of the Craigsville prison, the others hold low-risk felony prisoners and are operated by the state.

Frederick: The Clarke-Fauquier-Frederick-Winchester Virginia Regional Adult Detention Center is located on a 22-acre parcel in Fort Collier Industrial Park. As I recall (from driving past a few years ago) there are no immediate neighbors.

Rockingham: The Rockingham-Harrisonburg Regional Jail is located in downtown Harrisonburg adjacent to Whetzel’s Garden Center. Unlike many others with regional authorities, this facility is controlled by the Rockingham County Sheriff.

Rockbridge: Rockbridge Regional Jail, about a mile north of downtown Lexington, serves Lexington, Buena Vista, and Rockbridge County. In 2004 W&L journalism students have written an excellent article on the growth issues with that facility.  As of this year authorization from the General Assembly was passed and the jail is currently being expanded.

Due to geography, Highland County has its own jail, leaving Botetourt, Page, Rappahannock, Shenandoah and Warren as the last counties in the Shenandoah Valley to have local jails.

This is the day to commemorate, not the living and the dead, but the dead of our armed forces alone. Not much more can be said, or better written, than the epitaph at Thermopylae 2,500 years ago.

Go tell our people, you that passes by,
That here —obedient to their laws— we lie.

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Valley Trivia: In 1987, Francis Coppola made a movie adapted from a book by Nicholas Proffitt (1943-2006) about the Arlington Cemetery Honor Guard during the Vietnam war.

Gardens of Stone is based on many of his own experiences —he served in the Old Guard, and was later a correspondent in Vietnam— and is one of the best novels to give civilians a look ‘into’ the military experience.

It’s been a decade since I read it, but as I recall, the book is dedicated to ‘The ladies of the Augusta Garden Club’. Proffitt gave no explanation, nor did I ever find any Shenandoah connection or reason for the dedication.

Late afternoon shower, cool rain on the warm ground. Sunset tinting the mist.

Click for a large desktop

Everyday Shenandoah County is treated to more of the Creator’s splendors than many people see in a lifetime. Every single day.

With the recent focus on the Kennedy-McCain Senate amnesty bill, local public television is hosting a forum on immigration in the Shenandoah Valley. They asked me to be one of the panelists, among others who’ve focused on this issue.

The event will not be broadcast that I’m aware of, but it’s free and open to the public so you can be there to see it live!

HARRISONBURG—“Virginia Viewpoints” host Chris Graham will moderate a panel discussion on local immigration issues Thursday, May 24, at 7:00 p.m. at WVPT—Virginia’s Public Television in Harrisonburg.

A screening of segments of the PBS program “Independent Lens: Letters From the Other Side” and WVPT’s upcoming documentary “Virginia Reports: Immigration” will precede the discussion. A panel of local experts will discuss issues raised during the programs and others that have local impact.

Panelists include:

• Dr. Laura Zarrugh – James Madison University Sociology and Anthropology Professor
• Jim Patrick – Shenandoah County Board of Supervisors Member
• John Vinson – Editor of Americans for Immigration Control (website)

“Independent Lens: Letters From the Other Side” [review] features deeply personal stories of Mexican families torn apart as husbands, fathers, sons and brothers travel to the United States to find work. This program focuses on the challenges that families of immigrant workers face as they are left behind in Mexico. Produced by WVPT, “Virginia Reports: Immigration” looks at local immigration issues through interviews with immigration officials and the immigrants themselves.

The panel discussion is funded, in part, by the National Center for Outreach.

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WVPT is located at 298 Port Republic Road just inside the James Madison University (JMU) campus. Take Exit 245 off I81. Turn west at the end of the exit ramp. Travel approximately 1/10 of a mile to the stoplight at the entrance of JMU. Turn right into the JMU campus and make an immediate left into the WVPT parking lot.

For more information, call WVPT Production Manager Sarah Downs at (540) 437-2435.  (from email by Gail P. Smith, Director of Corporate Communications, WVPT)

Last year Abraham Cherrix won his case to determine his own medical treatment. This year, Virginia enacted Abraham’s Law to prevent a recurrence of the ordeal he went through. But for that good, there was a price to be paid; a toll on Abraham and his family.

Abraham’s case highlighted the inhumane results from the conjunction of social services, dogmatic doctors, and callous courts. He captured our attention when a judge ordered mandatory chemotherapy, ruling that his parents were abusive for allowing him self-determination. A last-minute concession was endorsed by the circuit court, and allowed Abraham to choose more humane treatments.

In our wish to set fair policy, let us not forget where this all started. Abraham has cancer, a recurrent lymphoma with a poor prognosis. He still has it, and he is still battling it.

It’s a testament to Abraham that —other than the cancer— he is healthy and upbeat. It speaks well of his attitude, of the doctor and treatment he chose, of his family’s support, and his friends in the Chincoteague community.

It speaks poorly that this better therapy existed; yet the state was poised to mandate a debilitating, risky treatment.   Virginia pediatricians brazenly paid a professional lobbyist to oppose Abraham’s Law, implying the Cherrix’s should have lied (to claim a religious exemption) about their wishes.   Those conformist doctors are still practicing in Virginia Beach and across the Commonwealth.

To his lasting credit, our Attorney General Bob McDonnell grasps the concept of freedom and supported the Cherrix’s decision. John Stepanovich, a nationally recognized Virginia Beach lawyer specializing in family rights, stepped in to help them.

Yet the social services-legal complex that tried to enforce compulsory submission to excruciating treatment is still in place. The juvenile court judge who created law out of thin air (ordering the parents to consent!) is still in place.

The same General Assembly that passed Abraham’s Law —a good thing— turned right around and passed mandatory anti-HPV injections of unproven worth.

The whole lot need to go back to review the basics.

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The Virginia Constitution - - Section 1; in place and unchanged for centuries, opens with,

“That all men are by nature equally free and independent and have certain inherent rights . . . . namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.”

In 1776, our representatives approved this Constitution, the core of which still stands. Many of them fought and died to obtain the promises in that Constitution; many more were wounded, hurt, had their homes and livelihoods destroyed. For that sacrifice we should be profoundly grateful.

Today people from our Commonwealth fight —and die— supporting the principles of that Constitution. No matter what your view of current conflicts, the obedience of the military to our elected authority supports that Charter. For that sacrifice we should be profoundly grateful.

The Cherrix family fought for those ideals; to be free and independent, to enjoy life and liberty. Though they prevailed, they paid a terrible price. Their business and livelihood is gone, their house foreclosed. The parents separated, and Rose can no longer school her children. In short, everything most of us consider as ‘life’ has been shattered. And Abraham has cancer.

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To say “I am profoundly grateful”, cannot begin to express the mixed feelings of gratitude, of compassion . . . . and the deep shame I feel. That the Commonwealth of Virginia has an arrangement of social services, judiciary, and organized medicine that headed the direction they did is shameful.

For those of us who value freedom, who revere humanity, it is a lesson to remember.

The Shenandoah County Sheriff’s Department is on a roll.

As Congress considers another bill to capitulate on illegal immigration,

“. . . rewarding illegal aliens with government benefits was a failure in 1986 and would be tenfold the disaster now. It was supposed to legalize at most 3 million aliens and brought 20 million more illegals. What will legalizing the 20 million bring?” - NOVA TownHall (click to read the rest)

While the Shenandoah County Sheriff’s Department —knowing the problem isn’t going away— is preparing to take action locally. Good for them.

In Wednesday’s Shenandoah Valley Herald (not online), the Sheriff’s Department announced the arrest of an online sexual predator. Several deputies went through training last year to specifically target and prosecute this type of crime.  Their first operation caught a man attempting indecent liberties with a minor.

The Department should be commended for this proactive approach. We know there are sexual offenders in our community. Some might reform and straighten their life out; others may repeat their crimes.  Shenandoah County’s law enforcement is aware of these individuals and monitors their activity.

But there are other offenders they aren’t aware of. By being alert, by intercepting perverts, they keep our community safer.  There have been —and of course there still will be— road deputies patrolling the county; now there are some ‘net deputies’ patrolling too.

Well done SCSD.  You all are on a roll!

The New Dominion is a magazine committed to publishing in-depth “insight into the how and why” of news and events in the Shenandoah Valley and Virginia. They just featured an article, The New Rural Society, on a columnist’s brief visit to Conicville.

“What they don’t realize is that around here, a person’s character is important. . . . Honesty, integrity and a little faith in a higher power will go a long way with Valley citizens” . . .

“It is this mixture of social progress and traditional values that helps to make areas like the Shenandoah Valley a beautiful place to live and raise a family.”

The article is very complimentary toward Conicville, but that’s to be expected; it’s a great place because of its people.

Another member of the ODBA breaks this great news :

Section 287(g) Update

This week officers from the Shenandoah County Sheriff’s Department, the Prince William County Regional Detention Center, and the Herndon Police Department started their training under the Section 287(g) Program. In five weeks, these law enforcement officers will be able to act as ICE agents and process for deportation any illegal aliens they encounter during the course of their normal duties who have committed any number of specified crimes, as defined in their department’s agreements with the Department of Homeland Security. . . .

Click here to read the rest.

After a citizen call, I looked over my just-received county tax bill, and I can’t say I’m happy about this. We (Shenandoah County) offer real estate ‘tax relief for the elderly’. A closer look seems like we may not actually do that —that it’s not a real break for those that need it.

“TAX RELIEF EXEMPTION may be allowed for Real Estate Taxes for those 65 or older or totally disabled by 12/3/07. Total household income must not exceed $25,000. Total assets excluding 1 acre and dwelling must not exceed $65,000 and must be primary residence.”

[In addition. no more than $500 will be deducted from any tax bill.]

The age or disability qualification is OK. Some income limit is fair, and requiring the property be their home —where they live— is reasonable.

Don’t misunderstand me; homes valued under that limit should be eligible for tax relief. But a $65,000 maximum asset limit seems low, not easy to meet the requirements. Heck, another Shenandoah County Supervisor drives a car worth more than that by itself!

This year only 224 citizens qualified; 0.7% of the county parcels. A quick review shows that only a fraction of low-income and elderly meet the conditions.

Is This What We Want To Do?

Shenandoah County appears to encourage —or even force— those who own larger parcels and are on fixed incomes, disability, or Social Security to sell off everything except their home and its lot.

It’s one thing if a taxpayer’s net worth is from stocks, bonds, bank, retirement accounts, or other liquid assets; it is quite another if their “assets” are land. More to the point, what happens to a retiree, widow, or disabled person with a (now mandated) large lot? None of it qualifies for land-use taxation.

We shouldn’t put the owners of large tracts —many of which don’t or can’t qualify for land use— in a position of forced sales. We shouldn’t even encourage sales.

If we are going to have tax relief for the elderly and disabled, it should be realistic. The current limit of maximum asset or net-worth is too low.