I hope you enjoy the show.

The Southside tour started with Chatham on Monday, Danville on Tuesday, Martinsville on Wednesday, and South Boston on Thursday. Let’s go to the “random thoughts” board…

• Attendance seems to be way down compared to last year, and that’s a big surprise to me with this being an election year. What’s the reason? Health care reform was the dominating issue last year, but there doesn’t seem to be one dominating issue out there.
• The attendance may be down, but the cordiality is significantly up. The ones I’ve seen have been nowhere like the one last year in Danville… except for one glaring example.
• Gary Bender (at the Danville meeting) was an embarrassment to himself. I’ll say what I said last year… “I don’t give a damn if you hate the man and think he’s Satan. He deserves a degree of respect no matter what.” Bender (in a two+ minute crazy-ass rant) called Perriello a “liar and a hypocrite” before getting booed (rightfully) by the audience.
• Has anyone ever seen Tom Perriello in anything except a light blue dress shirt and a red tie?
• Some people are complaining about the times that these town hall meetings have been scheduled for, with some starting at 7:30 AM. With the number of meetings that Perriello has scheduled, those complaints are horsecrap. There’s no way that everybody can be pleased and to have the meetings at various times throughout the day is a good idea. If you didn’t like the Chatham 7:30 AM start time on Monday, you could easily drive the short distance to Danville for the 6:00 PM meeting on Tuesday.

More random thoughts to come…

First, thanks for the birthday wishes. It means a lot.

Next, let’s talk about what’s getting ready to happen for Halifax County. If you’re a Comcast cable subscriber in the South Boston/Halifax system, you’re about to get a brand new TV station. WMDV-TV is currently broadcasting over-the-air on channel 47.2 to southern Pittsylvania County, all of Henry County, Danville, and Caswell & Rockingham Counties in North Carolina. Because the station’s transmitter is on White Oak Mountain, our broadcast signal doesn’t reach Halifax County at this time so WMDV has reached a retransmission agreement with Comcast. WMDV-TV will be seen in South Boston/Halifax, Danville, Martinsville, Chatham, Gretna & Altavista. We have made all of the arrangements necessary for Comcast to start delivering our station to the area and WMDV could be on the cable systems as soon as this week.

WMDV-TV is part of the Star News Corporation and also has TV stations in Martinsville & Reidsville, NC. We specialize in local programming and feature news/talk call-in shows. We also feature guests from all walks of life including local government and elected officials. We invite our viewers to call in to our shows and talk to our hosts & guests about what’s really going on and we promise that you’ll have a voice with your elected officials on WMDV (as well as have a chance to express your own opinions). The network affiliate TV station cover our area as well, but they don’t have the time to devote themselves to in-depth coverage of things that happen here. At WMDV, we plan on producing a minimum of two to four hours of local programming each weeknight and will supplement that programming with coverage of local & regional events. In other words, it’s a type of TV station that the Halifax County area has never seen before. It’s worked well in the Martinsville & Reidsville areas and it’s going to work well in Halifax County.

You may notice that I used the word “we” up above and that’s because I am heading up the WMDV-TV efforts. I will be the host of the majority of our on-air programming. I have been working for Star News Corporation for the past four months and am currently hosting shows on our existing stations. I have a good knowledge of the region and have a good working relationship with the region’s government leaders and elected officials. I have already started the progress of booking guests from Halifax County (and the region) for our talk shows and look forward to filling our programming schedule with content that you will want to watch. As you know, I always maintain an open line of communication with my friends and I am keeping that philosophy open with the new viewers that watch our stations. I want to hear what’s on your mind, what’s going on, and what you want to see on the station. Star News Corporation is known for covering and televising local events and we look forward to continuing that in the WMDV coverage area. We’re community-based, and we’re going to give Halifax County a new way to talk & something to talk about.

We will also offer television advertising packages that will include commercials, short & long-form infomercials and TV show type programming at the lowest media rates ever seen in the area. If you’ve got a business or service that you want people to know about, you will be able to reach well over 35,000 households in the Southside Virginia area at prices that will be affordable for you, no matter what size your business is. WMDV does all of our advertising production in house and doesn’t charge production fees for advertising contracts that meet our minimum time-frames. We have plenty of references available that will be glad to tell you how much Star News advertising has done for their business.

As you can tell, I’m excited about this new career and also excited to bring this endeavor to Halifax County.

Now, let’s get to the HalifaxTalk part of this essay. As you know, Darrin Talbott banned me from the HT message boards after my comments in this thread. I made an attempt to talk to Darrin and documented it in this SouthsideCentral article. Darrin replied in a thread called “Free BruceH”, and I made my response here. After that, I’ve had no communication with Darrin and only passing conversation with Bunny. I thank all of my friends for the support. Through credible sources and friends, I’ve found out that it’s just not Darrin that recommended my banning and continue to not want me back. I have no need to be allowed back on HalifaxTalk but with the imminent arrival of WMDV, I feel that it’s time to move forward.

I feel that WMDV & HalifaxTalk could both benefit from working together. The majority of elected officials and government leaders have no desire to participate at HalifaxTalk due to the anonymous sniping and hostile attitudes that have been demonstrated quite often in the past. That hasn’t been the case at any of the other Star News stations and it will not be the case at WMDV. When you’ve got a potential audience of over 35,000 subscribers, leaders and people will participate. Let me make this perfectly clear… I will not (nor never) apologize for any of my statements on HalifaxTalk. I stand behind what I say and always will. I am opinionated at times and I have no problem offering up those opinions. If you don’t like me, I don’t care & I can sleep well with that knowledge. I’ll do just fine without your support. If you do like me, I’ll be there for you.

Here’s what I’m proposing… If Darrin & Bunny are willing to work with me & WMDV, I would be willing to set up a section on HalifaxTalk where I could tell people about what’s coming up on our programming. I would open threads up for people to submit questions for our guests and to suggest potential show topics. I would also respond to viewer’s comments just as I currently do via phone, email and our Star News Facebook page. I want to make sure that people know that Halifax County will not be the sole focus of our WMDV programming, but we feel it’s an underserved market area and needs a local TV station that covers this area.

So there you have it, folks. I’ve told you about WMDV and our plans. It’s going to happen and I want you to be a part of it. I cordially invite everybody who reads this letter to come visit the new WMDV studios in Danville. We’re located at 3334 US 29 N, and that’s 2/10′s of a mile past the Market Square shopping center and the Danville city limits. Make contact with me, and I’ll let you know when I’ll be in the studio and we’ll work out a good time for you to come visit. If you’re on Facebook,I invite you to add me on as a friend if you haven’t already & I also invite you to find our Star News fan page and join it. You can email me at any time at bhedrick@southsidecentral.com or bruce.hedrick@wgsr47.com. You can also call me as well. I’ll be glad to give you my direct phone number on request or you can call 336-446-WMDV (9638) at any time. I will continue to operate SouthsideCentral, and here’s a SC article that tells you all of the ways to contact SC & see additional SC content. I’m also actively looking for guests that have a story to tell, so feel free to let me know any ideas that you have on that. As for the HalifaxTalk issues, the ball is now in Darrin Talbott & Bunny Propst’s court. I would like to work together with HalifaxTalk… but if that doesn’t happen, WMDV is coming to the area anyway.

I thank you for taking the time to read this open letter. If you have any questions or comments, I’m always available to talk.

Sincerely,
Bruce Hedrick

Mountain Road Resident Requests Lower Speed Limit

Lovely. If this passes, Halifax will now have even more areas for revenue enhancement operations and it won’t change one thing about the safety level.

City’s Bluffwalk tab nears $1 million mark

My mind truly boggles. Guaranteeing a $3.2 million dollar loan to a private investor wanks right up there with Buena Vista building their own golf course. I just checked the Craddock-Terry Hotel’s prices out and I just don’t understand why they aren’t at full capacity. Gee, you would think they’d be turning people away because their “Best Available” rate is only $159.

OddsMakers on this business venture going bankrupt and sticking the Lynchburg taxpayers with the entire bill: 97%

The Register & Bee’s John Crane wrote an excellent article about the meeting, so I’ll refer you to that for the play-by-play. I just want to touch on two experiences I had during the meeting.

First, let’s look at the suggestion of a name for the industrial park. Given, they didn’t hire a big-name advertising firm to arrive at the first suggestion, but I firmly believe that a second-grade class could have came up with something more catchy than this…

Even Danville Economic Development director Jeremy Stratton doesn’t look very pleased with the largest industrial park in Virginia being named “MA”. Drawing board. Get back to it.

Second, I met some of the strongest anti-uranium mining supporters at the meeting and I was very surprised at their friendliness towards me despite my strong opinions against their cause. Although I completely disagree with their group’s tactics at times, I have a great deal of respect for Nancy Smith and George Stanhope for their resolve and belief of their cause. As Stanhope said to me after the meeting (paraphrased), “There’s nothing about this issue that stops us from being friendly to each other.” Truer words have never been spoken. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for Anne Cockrell. While the RIFA board went into closed session, the majority of people went into one of the other conference rooms to relax during the downtime. After a few minutes of conversation, Cockrell turned to me and said “We’re going to have a meeting now, would you mind leaving?” My reply was “Not gonna happen.” Cockrell stared at me incredulously as if she didn’t believe that somebody in the media was going to defy her wishes. I stood my ground as she puffed up and said “Then we’re not going to speak.” Shortly after that, she glared at me, pulled a member of the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors out of the room and went to the lobby to continue her conversation.

Members of the anti-uranium group: Anne Cockrell’s type of bullying tactics make your group look bad. Cockrell’s behavior is similar to SCC leader Jack Dunavant, who is known for trying to exert his influence to make people do things his way. Based on my first impressions of Nancy Smith & George Stanhope, I feel that if the anti-uranium group adopted their demeanor, they’d get more people to listen to them.

Danville’s first public hospital falls victim to old age

It didn’t fall victim to “old age”. It fell victim to owners that didn’t give a damn about about the property, a neighborhood that’s a war zone and a fire that happened 14 years ago. Now that the wrecking ball has finally entered the building, we’ve got an outcry of “Save The Historic Hospital!”

The owners, the historic societies and people with enough money to actually do something with this building have had plenty of time to do something about this dilapidated eyesore and they have done absolutely nothing. The current owner, Cora Tucker, is a landlord in Durham NC and has had seven years to try and make the building livable. How’d that work out?

Of course, Danville’s history is important and certain things should be preserved… but this building has gone past its lifespan. Unless a Millionaire with Magical Money steps up in the next week, it’s time for the City of Danville to show that it’s fighting blighted properties no matter what building it is.

Danville Utilities awards $12,000 grant to Habitat

During the past winter, customers of Danville Utilities frequently complained about high electric bills. Despite assurances from the mayor and city council who said “We’re listening to you”, nothing has came out of this listening yet and we’re five months past the issue. Danville has a Utility Commission that meets monthly but again, we’ve heard nothing about any billing policy changes. Now comes this donation of $12,000. It’s a good program and it’s a good cause, but there’s no explanation where the $12,000 came from. That amount of money wouldn’t affect anybody’s utility bill, but it’s the image of giving money away when customers are complaining about utility rates that cast this donation into a bad light.

Good donation. Bad timing. Danville Utilities should have seen this public reaction coming.

Two years ago, I swore that I would never have the need nor desire to get a smartphone. I was totally wrong on that and quickly found that a smartphone is almost a requirement to run a website and do business in today’s world. Today’s “accident” really taught me a lot about the cellphone business.

Let’s rewind to this morning. I’m making my way to Danville’s City Hall carrying my laptop, backpack, a TV camera and a tripod. Needless to say, that’s a load to haul. Unknown to me as I walk past the Masonic Temple River City Towers building (Yeah, I still call it the Masonic Temple), my Blackberry phone holster flips and dumps my phone onto the pavement. Blissfully unaware of this fact, I proceed to the City council chambers and set up for the meeting. As I’m finishing getting everything ready, I decide to check my messages and realize that my phone is missing. I resist the urge to go into total panic mode and pull out my emergency prepaid phone that I carry and call my number to see if my phone is nearby. Of course, there’s no sound around as my phone isn’t anywhere close. That’s when the total panic mode kicks in and I start to retrace my steps. I make it back to the scene of the mishap and find my phone laying on the sidewalk with the battery door about 5 feet away. There’s no damage to the phone but I notice my battery is missing. Uh-oh! There are steel grates on some of the downtown city sidewalks that have been sealed up for a very long time and six feet down, there’s about 3 inches of water. Yep, you guessed it. My battery’s at the bottom of that nasty bacteria frappe. Lovely.

Well, I’m overdue for an upgrade on my phone so after I finish my work at the City Council meeting, it’s time to go shopping for either a new battery or a new phone. I quickly found out that finding a Blackberry phone battery in Danville is impossible. No problem, because I know we’ve got two Verizon “Authorized Retailers” in Danville. I make my way over to the “Wireless Zone” at Coleman Marketplace. I walk in and the salesclerk behind the counter takes my information… sorta. Obviously, her text messaging is much more important than actually taking care of a potential new customer. Verizon’s customer service needs to call me to confirm my account information, but since my phone doesn’t have a battery, that’s not possible. I ask if she’d let me borrow her battery for a minute so that we can authenticate my account, but clearly that’s not possible because she’s too busy sending three more friggin’ text messages while not giving a damn about me. Going once… going twice… and… NO SALE! I walk out of there and head to the one on Mount Cross Road.

I head to “A Wireless”. That’s an interesting name which was deviously picked out because when you’re an Authorized Retailer, Verizon makes you put your business name before the words “Authorized Retailer” on your business signage. So with that business name, it makes the sign look like “A Verizon Authorized Retailer” and lots of people think you’re dealing with Verizon directly when you’re not. Anyway, I walk into the store and immediately get greeted by four employees. I tell them my situation and that I’m running short on time today, so we get my account information confirmed and start talking about what’s available. While aggressive salesmanship can be useful at times, I was completely overwhelmed by the “We need to close this sale now” attitude. To top that off, I know that this store’s pricing is way higher than what I can get by directly dealing with Verizon. I start to leave and the aggressive salesperson says “You’ll be back by 4, right?” and “I can deliver this phone to you today, just put this $250 on your credit card now”. NO SALE! I bail out of there quickly and get to my office. (Edited to add: Not only did Mr. Buy The Phone Now! try to push me around, he even very strongly hinted that I needed to add another phone line to my service. Mouthy’s smart, but he can’t use a cellphone yet.)

Once I get to the office, I go online and pick the phone that I want. I call Verizon and tell them exactly what I want, what I’m willing to pay and the services I need. I talk to a very friendly and knowledgeable salesperson and we work out a deal. I order the phone online while I’m on the phone with her and she immediately applies the discounts that we worked out. The phone that the aggressive salesperson wanted me to pay $250 for becomes a phone that costs me $50 and it will be delivered to me at my office tomorrow morning.

Moral of the story: Pay attention to your customer and they just might buy from your store. Don’t push your customer aggressively and they just might buy from your store. Take the time to listen to what your customer needs and make the necessary small steps needed to close the deal and the customer will buy from you. I’ve been a Alltel/Verizon customer for over eight years now and with the service I received from Verizon today, I’ll be a customer for a long time. As for the “Authorized Retailers”… never gonna happen, folks.

Update #1: I’ve just received an email from the owner of the “Wireless Zone” store in Coleman Marketplace that is very apologetic for the poor service that I got last week. She’s asked me to call her on her personal cellphone to discuss this further. I’ve got to admit that I’m quite surprised by this email and I’m also very pleased. I’ll update this article again once I talk with the owner.

Update #2: I had a nice phone call with the owner of the “Wireless Zone” store. Shes got the right attitude that it takes for customer service and I believe that she was make sure my experience doesn’t happen to any other customer. Based on our talk, I’d be verywilling to go into her store and give them another chance to earn my business.

Danville council approves zoning changes

Let’s start off with the good decision: Council approved the rezoning of 1624 South Main St. into the commercial category, overruling the Planning Commission and city staff’s recommendation. That area of South Main St. is already pretty much a commercial area and although some residents objected to the zoning, it was clear that this tax preparation business would not cause any more traffic issues than is already present in that area. David Luther showed his business wisdom by pointing out that the house already had a commercial history. City Council did the right thing on this decision… but I’ve got some problems with what happened before.

First, the Planning Commission totally blew this in voting to recommend denial of the zoning change. The second problem I’ve got with this process is a big one and Adam Tomer zeroed in on it. When interim director of community development Ken Gillie Jr. remarked that there were plenty of other vacant storefronts in the area available for rent, he (and the staff & planning commission) just didn’t get it. Hilda Hatchett said that she had paid over $100,000 in rent and let’s face it, that rent money was going down the toilet. If a business in the city has the opportunity to buy property, they should be able to do that. Adam Tomer said that city staff have no business in basing their recommendations on whether rental property is available, and he’s 100% right. Gillie (and any other city staff who participated in this process) overstepped their bounds on this, and I highly praise Adam Tomer for calling them out on this.

Unfortunately, my praise for City Council stops there. In the next zoning issue before council, they were asked to rezone 204 Woodland Avenue to Transitional Office status to allow Averett University into an office building for their maintenance department. The Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve this, however some of the nearby residents objected to the rezoning. One of those residents was City Manager Joe King who said (as a resident of the area & a private citizen) that “This rezoning will initiate incremental erosion of the neighborhood’s character”.

Nobody spoke at the public hearing, which is a sad fact that people don’t want to get involved. After the public hearing, Council immediately went to the vote without any councilmember making comments. Three councilmen voted “No” without telling why, yet the matter passed on a 5-3 vote. City Council may have discussed this in a work session but I feel that in a case like this where there is some definite opposition, there needs to be some explanation of the votes that will be cast. I’ll find out what was going on this week and add something to this article once I get some answers.

Crowd spoke truth about mining

While I’m very sorry that Frederick Towle died from leukemia as a result of uranium exposure, that has absolutely nothing to do with uranium mining and the technology of today. Nobody knows if the uranium in Pittsylvania County can be mined safely using the advances of modern technology. That’s why I support the scientific study that will have come to a conclusion based on people that are a heck of a lot smarter than I am.

As I have done before, I strongly condemn the anti-uranium crowd’s use of tactics that have absolutely no basis in fact as they try to scare the people that don’t have the intelligence to think on their own. If the scientific study comes back with the conclusion that uranium can not be safely mined, I’m perfectly willing to continue the ban that’s currently in place. On the other hand, if the study reveals that the uranium can be safely mined, the anti-uranium crowd have already declared that they will not accept that decision. An open mind is a good thing… especially when it comes to an issue like this that could potentially bring great economic benefits to a region that definitely could use it.

Early this morning, Danville City Council member and former Mayor Ruby Archie passed away at the age of 76. She had taught in the Danville Public School system for 37 years before her retirement then embarked on a 16-year political career with City Council.

Ruby was an inspiration to me as a GWHS student and was one of the best teachers I ever had. She always had the right words of encouragement to lead me into doing my best. When I attended my first City Council meeting and announced the plans for SouthsideCentral, after the meeting she came over and wished me the best. Ruby was a faithful SouthsideCentral reader and often told me her opinions on what I had written.

When I made the WMDV-TV presentation in front of City Council earlier this month, I glanced over to Ruby and saw her smiling. It was one of those smiles that said “Another one of my former students has gone on to do good things for my city”, and I smiled back at her.

Danville won’t be the same without you, Ruby.

Beware trick knowledge of history

Wow. After reading that, I feel that I should apologize for my part in keeping the black man down. Of course, that feeling quickly subsided when I realize that Mr. Minister Malvester Muhammed (should I refer to him in the future as 4M to make it easier to type?) is a racist jackass who sets back interracial relations every time he opens his big mouth?

Hey, Mal? I don’t see color. I don’t give a damn if you’re black or white.

• I had a bad feeling that even though this was supposed to be about the socio-economic study, it would devolve into people’s opinions about uranium mining in general. It wasn’t as bad as I feared, but the anti-mining people were out in full force. Oh well…
• Originally, I was pleasantly surprised at the first set of speakers who spoke were in favor of the studies (although that’s not what the meeting was about). However, it’s been shown that the deck was stacked. The pro-study group signed up at least 12 speakers before anybody else got a chance to put their name on the list. At a meeting held this time of night, all media is on a deadline so that we can get the story out as quickly as possible. Our coverage consisted of only the first hour of speakers. We had to hustle back to Danville and prepare the video for our 8 to 9 PM hour. As much as I’d like to laugh at the use of less-than-honorable tactics being used against a group who’s known to use less-than-honorable tactics, I can’t do that. I still believe that the scientific study is the best course of action, but this “stacking the deck” tactic was dirty and I strongly condemn it.
• Regarding this tactic, Karen Maute was referenced in a Register & Bee article as saying “the move was a corporate strategy to dominate the meeting while the press was covering the proceedings”. I know some people aren’t going to believe what I’m about to say, but she’s correct. I’m very disappointed in the Virginia Energy Independence Alliance for orchestrating this tactic and I feel they’ve set the pro-study faction’s cause back because of this maneuver.
• On the other side of the “less-than-honorable tactics” coin, Jack Dunavant yet again played the “scare tactics” card by saying that something like of uranium scrap would be lining the banks of the Banister River. As usual, Jack Dunavant is pulling scary so-called “facts” out of his butt. Face it, uranium-mining foes… none of us have any idea what can or will happen if uranium mining is allowed. That’s what the scientific study is for because you can’t use data from uranium mining efforts in the past to say that’s what would happen while using today’s technology. I’m honest enough to say I have no idea, and that’s why I’m backing the scientific study.
• I was pleased to hear the opinions of Don Merricks, Danny Marshall and Robert Hurt who spoke positively about the studies and how inclusive they should be.
• I’m very disappointed in the closed-mindedness of the elected officials who are strongly against uranium mining before the scientific data is in. If  nothing else, the potential economic impact to this region should be enough to keep an open viewpoint. While I can almost excuse this behavior in small-town councils like Halifax that are  led by Jack Dunavant, I’m amazed (and not in a good way) at House of Delegates member James Edmunds’ staunch anti-mining stand. Although he’s said that he’s completely opposed to uranium mining even if the government says it’s safe, I can always hope that he will understand the economic boost that would happen if mining is proved to be safe.
• I agree with Halifax Town Manager Carl Espy (and others) who believe that the socioeconomic study should be secondary to the scientific study. I also strongly agree with Halifax County Chamber of Commerce president Nancy Pool who said that $200,000 wasn’t going to buy much of a study and that the better research groups may not have interest in responding to the study proposal for that relatively small amount of money.

So that happened. I learned a lot by listening to the speakers but I’m still dismayed over the tactics used by the anti-mining group. I have lost a lot of respect for the Virginia Energy Independence Alliance because of their smart yet stupid “stack the deck” tactic that they’ve used. I remain in favor of the scientific study and believe that the socioeconomic study should come afterwards.

• The first blunder of this campaign belongs to Robert Hurt’s team. After originally saying he was willing to add Jeff Clark into the inevitable debates, his campaign immediately backtracked (Editor’s note: After recieving a comment that said “immediately” was wrong, I’ve deleted that word.) and said that Hurt had no interest in debating Jeff Clark. Robert Hurt is guilty of being eager to jump into the campaign (which isn’t a sin at all), but he’s also guilty of political naivety be failing to remember a cardinal law of political debates… “You don’t want to debate somebody when you have little to gain from that person. Jeff Clark’s most fervent supporters have very little interest in Robert Hurt and probably will vote for Clark in the end. The good news about that is that those fervent supporters are relatively few people and it probably won’t affect the election’s final results. When Clark’s supporters are known for saying the infamous “I’d rather have Perriello for two instead of Hurt for 20″, there’s absolutely no sense in devoting valuable campaign resources to attempting to switch those voters’ minds at this stage of the campaign.
• This debate kerfluffle shows that Robert Hurt has campaign managers who know how to play the game. In the short-term, this makes Hurt look bad for “going back on his word” and his opponents can get some early hits in. I’m predicting that the Hurt & Perriello campaigns will come up with debate rules which will include “anybody that is polling more than X% in the polls” which will surgically exclude Clark. It’s a common debate rule that was used in the 2005 Kaine/Kilgore Virginia’s governor race. In that race, the campaigns agreed on a 15% threshold which eliminated Russ Potts from consideration. Potts and his campaign screamed “Unfair!” to no avail and he ended up sequestered in a TV station office and had to answer the debate questions in front of a chroma-key wall and be edited into the debate footage (and very few people watched the “created” version). Potts went down to 2.2% in the general election and was a non-factor.
• Tom Perriello’s campaign (to no surprise) is saying that they’re eager to have Jeff Clark in the debate schedule for now, as the vast majority of Clark’s supporters are the far-right “fringe” voters who predominately vote for the Republican candidate. Perriello’s campaign is perfectly happy to let Jeff Clark do whatever he wants at this stage of the game. That “free play” time will come to a screeching halt if Clark starts attacking Perriello. If Clark believes that he can win this election (he can’t), he will have to start changing the minds of Perriello voters. That’s another reason why I think both the Hurt & Perriello campaigns will agree to debate rules that will exclude anybody that has less than X% in polls.
• Money fuels campaigns and wins elections. Robert Hurt has a lot of money. Tom Perriello has a boatload of money. Jeff Clark has no money. Hurt & Perriello are going to have a continuous money stream until Election Day. Clark doesn’t have that stream of money and I don’t foresee any money miracle happening for his campaign.
• Let’s talk about Jim McKelvey. He used everything he had against Hurt yet came up well short in the primary. His campaign released an email on the election night which seemed to throw his support behind Hurt then went off in his own direction, creating his own political action committee. Over the past week, McKelvey has been quiet. What’s he up to? Jeff Clark seemed to have a close working relationship with McKelvey during the primary, even letting McKelvey run a mini-office out of his office space is downtown Danville. McKelvey is a potential source of funding for Clark, but even McKelvey’s money won’t be nearly enough for Clark to participate in the inevitable advertising onslaught.
• What’s going on with Mike McPadden? He finished in 3rd place in the primary with a very respectable 10%, but performed poorly in Southside. He’s the only former candidate (besides McKelvey) not to throw his support behind Hurt. Personally, I feel that McPadden has taken his defeat personally and if that’s so, I hope he gets past that quickly. I firmly believe that Mike McPadden has a future in this region’s political arena if he wants one.

That’s enough for now. We’ll be featuring regular updates on the 5th District happenings on a regular basis.

• BAM! I was right on pretty much every prediction. With the exception of one local race (looking at you, Mike Newman!), SouthsideCentral is the place to come for your best political commentary. We attempt to infuse objectivity with a dose of accuracy, yet still keep it entertaining. SouthsideCentral is just not all about politics though and we hope you keep visiting the site. We’re only as good as our readers think we are. Thank you for visiting often. Of now that the shameless promotion and humility is taken care of, back to your regularly scheduled random thoughts.
• Surprises of the night: Robert Hurt finishing 2nd in Albemarle County over 3rd place Mike McPadden, Laurence Verga only getting 802 total votes, Ken Boyd’s 34 total votes in Campbell County, and Robert Hurt’s 48.4% overall total.
• Disappointment of the night: Mike McPadden’s final total of 9.7%. He’s a damned good man who’s got the principles to go far in politics (and hey, “you people”, going far in politics isn’t a bad thing if you’re good). I’m glad to have met Mike McPadden during this campaign and am proud to consider Mike McPadden a friend. I’ll gladly support McPadden in any of his future endeavors.
• I was quite honestly surprised with Robert Hurt as his victory celebration today. I’d heard the various complaints that he wasn’t a good speaker and how he wasn’t charismatic. As I said earlier tonight, “Whoever said that Robert Hurt isn’t a good speaker is full of horsecrap.” Perhaps it’s the pressure of the primary behind him, or the drudgery of saying the same thing over and over at the numerous forums, but Hurt knocked it out of the park tonight.
• Numerous people asked me how I thought Jeff Clark’s candidacy will affect the general election. As of now, I predict that Clark will draw the far-right fringe of the teaparty crowd, and that’s about all. Clark will get at most 4% of the general election vote and should be a non-factor.
• The Register & Bee’s Catherine Amos said “Danville Tea Party leader Nigel Coleman says they’ll support Robert Hurt”. That’s a logical step for any group that opposes Tom Perriello. Unfortunately, a few Usual Suspects are starting to yell that the Danville teaparty has “sold out”. That’s ridiculous yet not surprising.
• As I’ve said before, what in the hell happened to Laurence Verga’s campaign? He went from possible contender down to 2.3% of the vote. Unbelievable.
• After the horrible final three weeks of Feda Morton’s campaign, she finished with 4.6% of the vote. Nice call, Bearing Drift. I’m available if you want to send “Agricola” back to the farm.
• Tonight, “Angry Man” Jim McKelvey is sending mixed signals. He’s saying “I will not abandon all those who shared their hopes and ideals with me during the campaign.” paired with “We, as conservatives, must be unified to defeat Tom Perriello this November.” If he throws his support behind Robert Hurt, Jeff Clark becomes a total non-factor. Anyway, I’m betting that there’s a used bus for sale tomorrow morning. Perhaps Mark Lloyd will be watching Craigslist.
• There are going to be some “republicans” that won’t support Robert Hurt. They’re quite foolish.
• Smart political strategy, smart campaign workers & money wins elections. That’s the bottom line, like it or not. Teaparty-like shouting & outrage are useless in this area.
• First prediction on the general election vote percentage: Hurt 48%, Perriello 48% Clark 4%. If McKelvey throws his support behind Hurt, it becomes Hurt 49+%, Perriello 49+%, Clark <2%.
• First OddsMakers on the general election winner: Hurt 50%, Perriello 50%, Clark 0%. Yep, it’s a fresh start and a toss-up right now.

The election is over. The election begins now. You know there’s more to come here at SouthsideCentral… thanks for visiting often!

Let’s play the feud!

• If your favorite candidate is Feda Morton, Laurence Verga, or Ron Ferrin, then your favorite candidate is going to lose and get less than 10% of the vote.
• Older people vote reliably. Older people are highly partial to Robert Hurt. Younger people vote occasionally. Younger people aren’t as partial to Robert Hurt. Figure out who benefits by those facts.
• Every time I try to believe that the regional teaparties and their members are heading down the right path, I hear things that make me do a giant facepalm. In the pst few days, I heard one member quoted as saying they would rather have Tom Perriello for 2 years instead of Robert Hurt for 20. My mind. It boggled. I replied by saying “Considering “Hurt for 20″ is WAY out there, how’s your nose you cut off to spite your face? Here, we vote for 2-year terms.” This person doesn’t like Robert Hurt and has said so many times. Why? He’s the “establishment” candidate. See, kiddies? The “establishment” is bad! Don’t trust “the man”! I strongly encourage anybody who believes that way to keep doing just that, because Robert Hurt’s going to do just fine without them. Hurt’s campaign figured that out quickly and moved along.
• Mike McPadden’s a great guy and if he wins the nomination, I’ll have no problem with that at all. He’s a very intelligent man with an excellent understanding of the issues. The odds are stacked against him in this primary, but I hope that this won’t be the last we’ve heard of McPadden.
• Jim McKelvey hasn’t impressed me at all. His “Angry Man” routine has played good to the far-right 10% but that’s not going to be enough for him to win. His thoughts on the issues have ranged from the unwise (limiting himself to six years in office which would put Southside at the bottom of the seniority list yet again… term limits don’t work unless everybody is subject to them) to the bizarre (his pledge to cut federal spending by 50%). McKelvey has allied himself to the regional teaparty rhetoric, but the regional teaparties have yet to accomplish anything except provide discord. Unfortunately for McKelvey, that teaparty hot streak will continue. McKelvey never offered me a ride on his bus either.
• Feda Morton keeps on rumbling through the mudbog that her campaign devolved into. I don’t see how, but I do give her credit for continuing to push forward. Of course, she’s not going to win.
• Laurence Verga continues his freefall into obscurity and I still don’t understand how it happened so quickly.
• Ron Ferrin’s got no chance to win but he continues to make me laugh. His attempt to win black votes in this primary… heh. This primary is going to be whiter than the crown at Danville’s “Friday at the Crossing” this past weekend.
• Ken Boyd’s photo should be posted on one of those “Missing People” bulletin boards here in Southside.
• I’m not sure what’s up with Jeff Clark. He’s trying to court the far-right 10% teaparty voters that think Robert Hurt is the Tax Raising Antichrist Establishment Dude (boo hiss) but he hasn’t been warmly received by the teaparties so far. He’s going to be monetarily steamrolled by the Hurt & Perriello machines in the general election and he won’t be invited to any of the upcoming debates. Clark could use his powers for the side of good, but his virtual “HURTSUX” license plate is going to make him a pariah for anything else in politics for a long time. He’s another Russ Potts from the 2005 Virginia governor’s election… remember him? I didn’t think so.
• Robert Hurt is going to win this primary. I can already hear the howls from the other candidate’s supporters as they read this. I support Robert Hurt. I also support Mike McPadden but he’s just not going to pull this one off. I consider Mike McPadden a friend and still will after this election. McPadden’s ran a great campaign and I support the vast majority of his stands of the issues. Unfortunately for McPadden, he’s outgunned in this race by a well-oiled political machine. Unlike the most vocal of the teapartiers, I don’t have a problem with a well-oiled political machine.
• I have respect for anybody that has supported their candidate because of their stands on the issues. I have zero respect for anybody that has used the line “He’s not Robert Hurt” as rationale for their support.
• If I’m proven wrong on Tuesday night on any of this, I’ll have no problem admitting that. I stand behind my opinion and statements.

And there you have it for now… you know the drill for comments.

Seven days to go until this election is decided is decided in the voting booth. Let’s do a quick update on whats happened in the last two weeks.

Let’s look at each candidate (in random order)…

• Feda Morton – Morton seems to have semi-survived her campaign’s meltdown about the nasty divorce issues and the plagiarism. She’s lost some of her endorsements, but most of her endorsement list are from the “who the hell are they?” list. Since our last update, Morton comes out EVEN.
• Jim McKelvey – McKelvey continues to run a good campaign, but he’s really stretching the truth on his mailers. However, at this stage of the game the only way that he’s going to beat the frontrunner is to constantly attack. His “Angry Man” character is still attracting a subset of the voters. Since our last update, McKelvey comes out SLIGHTLY UP.
• Ron Ferrin – Ferrin’s having a damned good time in this campaign and it shows in his demeanor. It won’t help him pull any more votes, but it’s fun to see a candidate enjoy the race. Ferrin’s latest play is to tout his endorsement from the Frederick Douglass Foundation to get black votes. It may very well work and get him both of the black votes that will be cast. Since our last update, Ferrin comes out EVEN.
• Robert Hurt – Hurt continues to absorb the attacks from the other candidates and it’s seeming like the attacks don’t bother him one bit. He’s been very quiet over the past month and is coasting to the finish line. Since our last update, Hurt comes out EVEN.
• Mike McPadden – McPadden is keeping his head above water in this race but hasn’t done anything spectacular to set him apart from the rest lately. Since our last update, McPadden comes out EVEN.
• Laurence Verga – Is Verga still in this election? Whatever support base that Verga had is eroding quickly. Since our last update, Verga comes out SLIGHTLY DOWN.
• Ken Boyd – Boyd is still missing from the Southside area, so I’m guessing he’s banking on the Albemarle County vote to carry him to victory. Not gonna happen. Since our last update, Boyd comes out SLIGHTLY DOWN.

Now for the thoughts & observations section…

• Mike McPadden & Robert Hurt are being hit with attack websites that distort their stands on the issues. I’ve got my suspicions on who’s behind this, but no proof yet. All that’s listed on the website is the phone number of 434-262-0706 which has gone to voicemail every time I’ve tried it. The sites are hatchet jobs and I won’t link to them here.
• The Bearing Drift website has endorsed Feda Morton which boggles my mind. I never thought that Nigel Coleman & Bearing Drift would have common ground.
• What in the hell happened to Laurence Verga’s campaign? His campaign started out so strong, and now he’s hovering at the 1% support level.
• I’ll say it again. Ron Ferrin’s having fun with this campaign. Good for him. He’s brought some much-needed humor into this process (although he has no chance of winning)
• Thumbs UP! (hey, that’s another SC feature) to all seven candidates for giving the middle finger to the regional (so-called) pundits who have begged somebody to drop out of the race. If you’ve invested this much emotional and financial capital into your campaign, to hell with the people asking you to drop out.
• For the people that say that there won’t be a consensus winner in this primary, cram it. Yep, the winner is going to get around 40 to 55% of the vote. When you consider that there’s only going to be (at most) 5% turnout for this primary, the results are not going to be anywhere close to indicative of the November election.
• Virgil Goode is not going to run, people. Forget about it. Get over it. Next. Topic.
• Robert Hurt continues his strategy of laying low. It’s working.
• Too. Damned. Many. Forums. (as I’ve said before). Nothing’s changed.

Seven days to go and the finish line’s in sight. More to come?

850 articles, 2500 comments, 45000 visitors and over 410000 pageviews in the first 12 months. It’s all thanks to you!

SouthsideCentral started off as the rebirth of HalifaxCentral. We started building up a following in the HC days, but then quickly realized that there was a need to cover all of Southside Virginia (soon to expand to a full regional coverage area including northern North Carolina). The domain name was available so we quickly snatched it up and made plans to expand. On June 1st, 2009, SouthsideCentral debuted with a story about an upcoming Danville City Council meeting and the fun started. It hasn’t stopped yet, and I doubt it ever will.

I pride myself on making sure that SouthsideCentral has something for everybody. We’ll make you laugh, we’ll make you cry, we’ll make you think and we’ll make sure you enjoy what we have on the site. SouthsideCentral is a mixture of news, opinion and fun. SouthsideCentral also thanks our contributors who put their own touch into the articles that they write, and we’re always looking for more people to write for the site. Most of all, SouthsideCentral thanks you. You’re the person that visits the site and reads our articles. Without you, we’re just another website on the vast internet. With you, we are what we have become… and we’ll never forget our obligation to you to provide the content that sets us apart from the rest.

I have to say this one more time to make it clear. Thank you very much for visiting often.

I rarely look at anything political that’s direct-mailed to me. (Who uses the mail anymore?) A good friend of mine tipped me off on this one, and I’m glad he did.

Ok, let’s look at the header on this one. “What do donkeys and rhinos have in common? A lot more than you think.” Hardy Har Har. RINO! Get it? Anyway, bear with me and let’s look at why Jim McKelvey thinks Hurt’s sorta like Perriello…

• Tom Perriello & Robert Hurt are both lawyers, and Jim McKelvey isn’t. – Oh The Horrors! They’re both LAWYERS! I wonder how many of those evil lawyers McKelvey’s had to use in his real estate investments. Yeah, I thought so.
• Tom Perriello & Robert Hurt aren’t businessmen, and Jim McKelvey is. – OK. Thank you for that… unless you’re implying that one can’t run a business practicing law. Anyway, whoopee.
• Tom Perriello & Robert Hurt are both “career politicians”, and Jim McKelvey isn’t. – That’s right, folks. We’re guessing that he means anybody that holds public office can’t be trusted. You must need the “Angry Man Who’s Never Been A Politician.”
• Tom Perriello & Robert Hurt voted for record tax increases, and Jim McKelvey hasn’t. – There we go! It took us to the fourth entry to get to OMGWTFBBQ ROBERT HURT IS TEH TAXRASIN ENEMY! I’ll say yet again that others voted for the same budget, and nobody’s got the guts to say Charlie Hawkins & Danny Marshall are EVIL TAXRASERS! (because none of them are, of course)
• Tom Perriello & Robert Hurt aren’t for the fairtax, and Jim McKelvey is. – On the fifth line of this mailer, we get to our first total horsecrap statement. Hurt said he’s still researching the issue and doesn’t know. Considering there’s a 0% chance of the fairtax being passed in the next two years, “I’m interested in it. It’s the kind of bold thinking we have to have. I agree that we need to eliminate the IRS. Taxes must be simpler.” is an answer I can accept. McKelvey’s dishonest on this one.
• Tom Perriello & Robert Hurt don’t support term limits, and Jim McKelvey does. – Term limits will not work for an individual representative unless everybody is subject to the same term limits (and that’s never going to happen). McKelvey says he’ll limit himself to six years. So if he gets elected, the 5th District will go right down the seniority crapper. Thanks, Jim. Include me out of that idea.
• Tom Perriello & Robert Hurt (support) giving rights and benefits to same-sex couple, and Jim McKelvey doesn’t – Listen, Jim. The federal government’s got a hell of a lot more serious stuff to deal with than nosing around in people’s private personal lives. I’ve got friends who are gay and they’re just as good as any of my other friends. I don’t give a damn if your moral compass points them straight to your version of hell. Yep, you guessed it. This issue really gets under my skin. By the way, McKelvey happens to be full of horsecrap on this too. Hurt’s website says that he “opposes civil unions”.
• Tom Perriello & Robert Hurt don’t support “allowing police to ask if someone is an illegal alien”, and Jim McKelvey does. – I have no idea where this came from. There’s no cites to prove Hurt’s opinion on this and I couldn’t find anything on it. Based on the track record of the rest of McKelvey’s other attempts, I’m just not believing this either until I get proof.

And there we have it. The sad part about this direct-mail piece is that some people actually believe that Robert Hurt is really similar to Tom Perriello. But then some people believe that the moon landing was faked, that vaccines cause autism and that the Dave Matthews Band’s music is good.

This mailer isn’t worth the cardboard it’s printed on. I feel this mailer is probably the last chance that Jim McKelvey has to try and derail Hurt’s speeding train. To me, it just paints McKelvey as a man who’ll do anything to energize the far-right 10% (as in teaparty) into voting for him. It’s not going to work.

Fifth District candidates face off

Let’s go to the not-so-relevant points…

• Robert Hurt wasn’t there due to a prior commitment… but it’s a pretty good strategy now to let the other candidates implode.
• Everybody Hates Hurt – because he’s clearly in the lead now. Even Mike McPadden is taking shots at him, but only about “not showing leadership in the State Senate”? Hello? Boing? If one of these candidates wins the November election, they’re going to have no leadership opportunities at all. Who cares?
• “Robert Hurt raised taxes!” – The same blah blah blah over and over again. I’ll counter that with the same thing I’ve said in the past. Charles Hawkins & Danny Marshall voted for the same thing. Nobody’s calling them “tax-raisers”. I understand why the candidates are sticking with the “Hurt Raised Taxes” line… it’s really all they’ve got to use against him with the clock running out in the game.
• Jim McKelvey continues to play the part of The Angry Man. His bus picked up an endorsement from Mark Lloyd, the chairman of the Lynchburg Tea Party. He’s got a poll from the Not Really Rasmussen Company saying that he’s number 2. Insert your own “Number 2″ joke there, folks.
• Feda Morton copies the same statements she’s said at the other forums, which is slightly different from copying other people’s statements. Coincidentally, she’s done that also.
• Laurance Verga was seen by a majority of the people that attended this forum, so that’s pretty good proof that he’s still in the campaign. Looking at the Not Really Rasmussen Poll brought to you by the Vance Wilkins Company, Verga’s got 1% support. Based on the margin of error of the “reputable” poll, that means Verga’s support could really be between 6.5% or negative 4.5%. Insert your own joke there as well.
• Speaking of hilarious jokes, the Ron Ferrin Stand-Up Comedy Hour was at Liberty as well. It featured that old “Adam & Steve” kneeslapper that’s always good for a laugh from the conservative crowd.
• Ken Boyd is to be commended for making it close to the Southside area.
• Robert Hurt gets a score of zero for this forum because he didn’t show up due to that prior commitment.
• I’m getting so sick of hearing the Crazy Crew of Candidates say the same thing, so that score of squadoosh wins the forum.

Can you tell I’m getting tired of these repetitive forums? I’ll have a serious race update later this week.

Halifax Town Council wants Coles Sr. to resign from committee

Jack Dunavant & the Southside Concerned Citizens group are known to use dishonest tactics to advance their agenda if you’re in opposition to them. In February 2008, Jack Dunavant used his bullying style and Halifax Town Council passed a “chemical trespass” ordinance that was quickly blasted into oblivion by the Attorney General’s office. I’ve written numerous articles about the “scare tactics”, where Karen Maute & The Usual Suspects say that this area will be radioactive for hundreds of years if uranium mining is approved. This time, Wacky Jack himself has gotten the members of Halifax Town Council to pass this resolution which attempts to paint Walter Coles Sr. as a man without integrity to recuse himself from any applicable vote. Walter Coles Sr. serves only on the committee that advises the commission and he’s only one of 23 members.

This Time, Wacky Jack & His Minions have gone too far (again). Walter Coles Sr. has done nothing wrong and unbiased people should be able see that easily. The members of Halifax Town Council should be ashamed of themselves for passing this resolution that was orchestrated by Jack Dunavant and should rectify this assault on a man’s character by rescinding this hatchet-job. Halifax Town Council should also stop being a rubber-stamp for anything that Jack Dunavant wants.

No matter what side of the uranium mining issue that you’re on, you should realize that trying to impugn a man’s reputation with no cause whatsoever is totally wrong.

NOTE: Halifax Town Councilman Tommy Reagan was not present for this vote.

Ten days from our first update, let’s see what’s been going on in the 5th District.

Let’s kick it off with an update on each of the candidates (in random order).

• Jim McKelvey – McKelvey is starting to spend (his own) money and is running TV ads. He’s picking up some name recognition in the Southside region. Since our last update, McKelvey comes out UP.
• Robert Hurt – Hurt continues to saturate the region with direct mail. He’s also released a poll that shows himself in a big lead. He’s still got a lot of money to do even more advertising and it’s finally looking like his campaign is fully in gear. Since our last update, Hurt comes out STRONGLY UP.
• Ron Ferrin – I have no idea what his campaign is doing because I haven’t heard anything out of him. He’ll make it to the finish line, so I guess that’s something. Since our last update, Ferrin comes out EVEN.
• Mike McPadden – His campaign has pretty much defeated the negative things that have came out in the past few weeks. Money doesn’t seem to be a limiting factor in his campaign and he’s going to need it to get any significant part of the Southside votes. Since our last update, McPadden comes out EVEN.
• Ken Boyd – Boyd still has his group of supporters but he’s not doing much to add people to that group. He’s got to get money and spend it quickly. Since our last update, Boyd comes out EVEN.
• Feda Morton – Ugh. This has been a disastrous time period for Morton’s campaign. She’s hammered by the release of child-custody case information (more on that later) and today she was hit by strong allegations of plagiarism. Her statement on the plagiarism allegations was horrible, as it’s pretty clear that the plagiarism happened. Add all of that to a severe lack of money and it’s not looking good. Since our last update, Morton comes out STRONGLY DOWN.
• Laurence Verga – Verga’s advertising on radio, but his latest ad repeats the same “Robert Hurt Raises Taxes” crap. If it wasn’t for that, I’d have thought that Verga’s campaign had mailed it in. Since our last update, Verga comes out EVEN.

Now for some thoughts and observations…

• At this stage of the game, EVEN ain’t gonna cut it. The finish line is finally in sight and every candidate should have already started throwing everything they have into their campaigns.
• Feda Morton is a very nice person, however I’m fearing that we’re watching her campaign implode. It’s not pretty.
• There’s one “observer” in this race who is completely useless. He’s made up his own prediction numbers under the guises of “best educated guess” and adjusts them wildly based on how the wind changes.
• Today (Wednesday), both the Danville & Lynchburg Tea Party leaders came out with their endorsements. One was well-written and one was unexpectedly bizarre. It’s way too early for SC’s endorsement on this race.
• Even though the Tea Party leaders came out with their endorsements, the other members of the groups seem to be in disagreement with their choices (especially in Danville).
• Money is the factor that’s determining the tiers of campaigns. The more money that the candidate has, the better they’re going to do. It’s a sad but true fact.
• Feda Morton’s child-custody issues have no relevance to her campaign and anybody that thinks that they do is a jerk. Divorces can be nasty and crap like that is useless when pulled out years later. Morton’s a good person and nothing like those documents make her out to be.
• That being said, the plagiarism stuff isn’t good for Morton at all. Her statement about it completely blew it off and that’s compounded the negativity.
• I firmly believe that this primary election will be decided by the Lynchburg & Southside areas because the Charlottesville region seems to be split by the home-area candidates. The candidates have got to get advertising & name-recognition in Southside to have a chance in the election.

That’s it for now. Let’s hear what you have to say.

• I remember the first few Festival In The Park events quite fondly because I was involved in them through the Danville Public School system. Students submitted their artworks, middle and high-school bands performed quick concerts. Those traditions continue with the DPS music departments putting on concerts and the “Youth Art Gala”.
• You’d never recognize the plain concrete main stage after the festival’s vendors set up their equipment. It looked (and sounded) very impressive.
• Talking about the main stage area, it was an excellent idea to fence it off and create a “beer garden” area. Bonus points are awarded for having reasonably priced ($2) draft beer available. You can still have a family atmosphere at the Festival and still be able to enjoy a cold adult beverage.
• Crafters’ Row was filled with vendors and it seemed that people were buying things. There were so many people in that area that it almost became difficult to move around. In this economy, that’s a good problem to have.
• One crafter was packing up at 3:30 PM? That made no sense to me as the area was still full of potential customers.
• Food’s an important part of any festival like this and this year’s Festival had a good variety of food vendors. Although there was a bit of controversy about the selection of this year’s food vendors, there were consistent lines at their booths.
• Back to that food vendor controversy, I don’t understand the logic to restricting it down to 10 food vendors. I’ll touch on this later, but there’s plenty of unused area in Ballou Park for more food vendors.
• The “Pigs In The Park” BBQ competition had became a Festival tradition and it was abandoned this year. As discussed above, there is plenty of unused area in the park. Utilities could have been worked out. I’m not buying what they’re selling on that, and the loss of the “Pigs In The Park” was a bad thing.
• I found it interesting that the Festival’s committee didn’t run their normal insert in the Danville Register & Bee, as they used the Piedmont Shopper instead. Alan Lingerfelt & his crew are doing a good job with their publication and the main thing that’s holding them back is circulation problems. Is this the first sign of the Piedmont Shopper gaining more credibility at the expense of the R&B?
• There’s still a few people (mainly the Usual Suspects at the R&B comments section and old people) who still seem to remember the Horrible Incident where fights broke out at the Festival over 15 years ago. It’s grossly unfair to hold one incident like that against the overall success rate over the past 36 years.

Danville’s Festival In The Park is good, clean family-based entertainment with something for everybody. That being said, it’s not the Festival from 20 years ago and could easily be a lot larger. It’s a shame to leave a lot of Ballou Park’s area unused. The Festival In The Park organizers were able to pull off another good festival even with the loss of the “Pigs In The Park” event. If you haven’t attended the Festival in the past few years, you should definitely give it a try.

It all started today as I was getting ready to head to our Reidsville studios when I got a call saying we had “Breaking News in Martinsville”, so I’m needed in our Martinsville studios. Our sources had already told us what was going to happen so we were just waiting for the official announcement. By now, you probably know what happened. Today was another tough day in the media business…

• Star News’ Bob Sharp was outside the Stanley Furniture plant in the Stanleytown area. The employees were in a meeting with the CEO of the company and were getting the bad news. Bob interviewed some of the employees as they drove out and I was totally surprised at the employees’ attitudes. There were a few that had tears in their eyes as they contemplated their futures, but the majority of the attitudes were a surreal form of acceptance. We talked about that in the studio.
• Unlike the American of Martinsville plant closing, the management of Stanley Furniture gave the employees over four months notice before their jobs will be lost. I’m guessing that factored in to the “acceptance” attitude.
• Once we got the official word from Stanley Furniture, the enormity of the job losses hit home. Henry County simply can’t take any more job losses of this scale, or any scale for that matter.
• We broadcast over 5 hours of continuous coverage on this and heard from lots of viewers. There was a sense of defeat in almost everybody’s voice whether or not they were personally affected by the Stanley Furniture news.
• As a libertarian at heart, I never want to think that the government is obligated to help in any way… businesses should prosper or fail on their own merits. Today, I have a large exception to that theory. Henry County is dangerously close to falling apart. Local, state and federal government must get involved quickly to attract industries to Henry County, and those industries must locate quickly. They’re out there somewhere and it’s time to devote every resource to reach that goal.

Sometimes, people think that we enjoy reporting stories like this. We don’t. We’re human and we hurt along with everyone else when news like this happens… but it is news, and we’ve got a responsibility to make sure everybody knows all of the facts in stories like this. We did a good job today doing just that.

But that doesn’t make days like this any easier.

Today, Gibbs International (the parent company of White Mill Development LLC) released the following statement on their White Mill Development blog…

White Mill Development, LLC went into this transaction with the YMCA with high hopes and a willingness to work together with the YMCA and the Danville Regional Foundation to accomplish the goal of bringing the YMCA to the heart of the downtown Danville area, as a significant benefit to current and future members of the YMCA and the citizens of Danville and Pittsylvania County, and as one of the major components of economic development and growth in the downtown Danville area. We believe statistics will show that a vibrant YMCA in an easily accessible downtown area draws current and future members to the YMCA who in turn make maximum use of the facility and the programs offered at the facility, and is essential for development and revitalization in a downtown area. In fact, we had visions of a buzz of activity at the new downtown YMCA from early morning until the late evening, which would lead to a need for new commercial, retail and housing being developed around the White Mill and YMCA projects.

When we were approached by the YMCA site selection committee back in June 2009, we were not actively trying to market or sell any of the White Mill property. However, the idea of having the YMCA on the 4 acre White Mill site was intriguing and was a win/win/win/win situation for the YMCA itself, current and future members of the YMCA, all the citizens of Danville and Pittsylvania County and White Mill Development, LLC. As such, we entered into good faith negotiations with the YMCA for the 4 acre White Mill site, and we signed a binding purchase and sale contract in late November 2009 with a refundable deposit from the YMCA that also included a 120 day due diligence period. Thereafter, we were in attendance at the announcement of the new YMCA site in early December 2009. As information, the 120 day due diligence period was structured in such a way to allow the YMCA to jump start its fund raising effort based on a very desirable site having been selected. At that time, there was significant momentum associated with the YMCA project and a very high degree of excitement because we believe most everyone understood how much of a benefit it was for all parties involved to have the YMCA on this site, for maximum utilization of the facility and programs offered by the YMCA to current and future members of the YMCA, and as a catalyst for development and the revitalization of the downtown Danville area. We believe it is the perfect site for the YMCA and the perfect site for the City of Danville and Pittsylvania County. As previously mentioned, we were not actively marketing the 4 acre White Mill site, but we quickly realized that as a location for the new YMCA, a better site could not be found for the YMCA, itself, for current and future members of the YMCA, and for the City of Danville and Pittsylvania County. The 4 acre White Mill site sits on the latest extension of the River Walk Trail, providing access to a major recreational gem to the citizens of the area, but more importantly, the 4 acre White Mill site sits at the end of the MLK Bridge, right at the gateway and entrance to the downtown district of the City of Danville. We realized that the YMCA locating on a portion of the White Mill property would be a major catalyst to development in downtown Danville by drawing people to the area (current and future members of the YMCA), who would then need to eat and shop downtown, much like what has happened in Greenville, SC, Austin, TX and other cities and towns where downtown economic development and revitalization has really taken root. While downtown economic development and revitalization in the City of Danville is not an obligation of the YMCA nor a direct benefit to White Mill Development, LLC, we as a corporate citizen of the City of Danville and Pittsylvania County realized the tremendous opportunity for the City of Danville and Pittsylvania County, and we worked diligently to help make that a reality for the YMCA and for current and future members of the YMCA, as well as all of the citizens of Danville and Pittsylvania County.

Unfortunately for all of us, and unbeknownst to most of us including our White Mill Development team, there were several members of the YMCA board that were not in favor of this transaction to build a new and updated YMCA on the 4 acre White Mill site, despite the tremendous public support that was demonstrated leading up to the December 2009 announcement, and afterwards. Since the December 2009 announcement, to my knowledge, the YMCA has continued its fund raising efforts to build the new YMCA on the 4 acre White Mill site, but has found it slow going due to the current economic conditions. Despite the current economic conditions, though, we understand that there have been several significant pledges made to this project, and we hope that the 4 acre White Mill site, being the site that had been selected, helped in that fund raising effort. Since the announcement in December 2009, it is also my understanding that the naysayers on the YMCA board have continued their nay saying. In late March 2010, prior to the expiration of the 120 day due diligence period, we received word from the YMCA board that they were having a difficult time raising the necessary funds for the land acquisition of the 4 acre White Mill site under the terms and conditions of our purchase and sale contract, but the Danville Regional Foundation was willing to work with the YMCA board to enable the process to continue to move forward, provided an interim fund raising goal would be met by the YMCA (we believe the interim fund raising goal was $2.7 million, of which $2.0 million has been pledged to date), at which point sufficient funds would be advanced to the YMCA by the Danville Regional Foundation to acquire the 4 acre White Mill site, with fund raising by the YMCA to continue. At this point, we need to be sure to clarify that the purchase price for the 4 acre White Mill site is not $2.7 million. Rather this was the interim fundraising goal that the Danville Regional Foundation had set for the YMCA, that would need to be achieved in terms of pledges, before funds would be advanced to purchase the 4 acre White Mill site. Accordingly, we agreed to amend our purchase and sale contract with the YMCA to extend the due diligence period for an additional 60 days through June 1, 2010, provided the YMCA board was willing to have their refundable deposit become non-refundable over that 60 day extended time period such that on June 1, 2010, the deposit would be fully non-refundable. We felt that it was important at this late stage in the process that the YMCA demonstrate a financial commitment to this project, so there was some “skin in the game” so to speak, especially given the fact that $2.0 million in pledges had already been received against the $2.7 million interim goal set by the Danville Regional Foundation. The YMCA board agreed to this stipulation related to its deposit, and an amendment to our purchase and sale contract was drafted and executed by all parties that still allowed the YMCA to terminate the purchase and sale contract and receive a full refund of its deposit prior to the close of business on April 9, 2010. After April 9, 2010, the deposit would begin to become non-refundable on an incremental basis.

On April 9, 2010, we received a termination notice from Hunter Byrnes with the Danville law firm of Clement & Wheatley (President of the YMCA board) on behalf of Sarah Folmar (CEO of the YMCA) notifying us that the YMCA had decided not to purchase the 4 acre White Mill site and to terminate the purchase and sale contract due to “unresolved issues”. Other than that notice of termination, and a brief conversation that I had with Mr. Byrnes after the fact, we have had only very limited discussions with respect to this project as to what happened, why it happened or how we can work together with the YMCA and the Danville Regional Foundation to try to get this transaction back on track and bring it to fruition. Yet, at the same time, while we have been inundated with inquires, I have had absolutely no negotiations of any sort, with anyone involved with the process, much to my chagrin. Subsequent to the termination notice, we have learned through third parties that the naysayers on the YMCA board had succeeded in convincing a majority of the YMCA board to terminate the purchase and sale contract, under the pretext of the YMCA board exercising its fiduciary responsibility and doing what the YMCA board perceived to be in the best interest of its members, because there was an aversion to having any of the deposit put at risk. It is my understanding that there was also disagreement on some of the terms and conditions that the Danville Regional Foundation put on the funds that would be advanced for the purchase of the 4 acre White Mill site, in the event the fund raising effort was not ultimately successful in the long run. In other words, it appears that the YMCA board, under the pretext of exercising its fiduciary responsibility and doing what the YMCA board perceived to be in the best interest of its members, did not want to take any financial risk on this project and decided to terminate the transaction, rather than risk any of the deposit that was in place when the purchase and sale contract was executed, or face any financial consequences in the future if the fund raising effort was not ultimately successful. This position leads us to think that now, the focus of a majority of the YMCA board is more of avoiding the consequences if the fund raising process is not successful, rather than focusing on what has to be done to insure that the fund raising process is successful; approaching the issue from a negative perspective rather than from a positive perspective. In fact, it is our understanding that several alternate locations are now being reconsidered in lieu of the 4 acre White Mill site, including the Langston site and a portion of the Long Mill site, neither of which will put the YMCA in the strategic center of the downtown Danville area, but both of which can provide an opportunity and a location for a new YMCA. Additionally, we have heard many rumors and innuendoes regarding some of the parties to this transaction, none of which we believe are accurate or helpful to the process, but that do call in to question the character, integrity and business ethics of some of the parties involved, which is a travesty to all, in our opinion. We don’t believe any progress can be made by the YMCA for the benefit of its current and future members, without risks being taken, when stones are being thrown, when there are egos involved or when personal agendas get in the way of progress for the benefit of all. Up until today, we had held out hope that this project could be brought back on track, that cooler heads would prevail. Unfortunately, as of today, it is our understanding that this project has died on the vine, a slow death.

From our perspective, we are very disappointed as to the outcome of this process, having gone into the transaction in good faith, only to have the transaction terminated at the 11th hour because of an aversion on the part of the YMCA board to taking a financial risk, and I think a vast number of current and future YMCA members and other citizens of Danville and Pittsylvania County should, and will, be equally disappointed. It appears that the naysayers finally found an opportunity to stop the process and had been reconsidering alternate sites prior to the termination of the purchase and sale agreement, despite the validity of the purchase and sale agreement that was in place prior to its termination, and despite the fact that these alternate sites were previously considered prior to the purchase and sale agreement having been negotiated and executed. We don’t agree with this course of action on the part of the YMCA board, for obvious reasons, but then again, we are not part of the YMCA site selection decision making process, although we did feel that we were part of the YMCA team at the onset of this process.

To be sure, no progress is ever made without financial risks being taken by the parties involved, and I don’t think this transaction will be any different. An example of this is when the City of Danville took the risk and a leap of faith to install the Mid Atlantic Broadband Fiber Optic service through the center of Danville. The City of Danville made the commitment and spent the money, and there were no known customers of this service at that time. Now, the Mid Atlantic Broadband Fiber Optic service is a catalyst for development in the downtown Danville area. It is the primary reason for the White Mill project. Despite these recent actions on the part of the YMCA board, we will continue as a good corporate citizen in Danville.

Wow. The tone of that press release says it all.

There was almost no chance that the community would have let this YMCA initiative fail. They were looking at very little risk versus one giant reward. It’s a shame that a few people on a 20+ member board of directors use scare tactics and influenced the others to make this opportunity go away.

Starting at the bottom of our last Food Chain and working up, we’ll go over each candidate’s last five weeks of campaigning and related activities. Let’s go to the board!

• Jim McKelvey – McKelvey has became one of the tea party’s favorite candidates and now he’s got to convince the other likely voters that he’s the man to vote for. He’s got the money to make it to June 8th. In the past five weeks, McKelvey comes out UP.
• Feda Morton – Most people (including me) believed that Feda Morton’s campaign was dead in the water. Somehow, she’s continued a viable campaign despite a severe lack of money. Morton’s picked up endorsements from numerous sources. In the past five weeks, Morton comes out UP.
• Ron Ferrin – Ferrin hasn’t been heard from lately and time’s running out. In the past five weeks, Ferrin comes out DOWN.
• Laurence Verga – Verga started with a lot of potential but it seems like it’s falling apart for his campaign. That’s the wrong momentum at this stage of the game. In the past five weeks, Verga comes out DOWN.
• Ken Boyd – Around the Southside, Boyd’s been missing in action lately. In the past five weeks, Boyd comes out DOWN.
• Robert Hurt – Hurt’s got top-shelf strategists working for him, but I’m starting to wonder what the hell they’re thinking. It seems that the strategy is to continue to let Hurt take shots and not playing any defense. He’s not going to sit on the money that he has (is he?) but with the clock running out, when is he going to use it? In the past five weeks, Hurt comes out SLIGHTLY DOWN.
• Mike McPadden – McPadden seems to be holding steady despite starting to get an increasing number of attacks. He seems to have the money to make it to the finish line, so let’s see how he uses it. In the past five weeks, McPadden comes out EVEN.

Thoughts:

• A relatively quiet five weeks is yet another bizarre twist in this bizarre race. I find it hard to believe that any candidate is going to leave money on the table so I’m getting ready for advertising blitzes.
• The candidates that are lacking in money will get steamrolled during this predicted ad blitz.
• If somebody could run a real poll using real statistically valid methods, we’d finally be able to get some sense of order on the lower two-thirds of the field. It’s clear that Robert Hurt & Mike McPadden have a relatively strong amount of support, but Feda Morton & Jim McKelvey are likely starting to surge to some extent. A real poll could tell how the candidates are trending. Unfortunately, I’m betting that there won’t be a poll like this done before the primary.
• Straw polls are friggin’ useless, people. All they show is how many supporters that a specific candidate brought to one event. Faked polls are even more useless, because they’re going to knock down credibility.
• Who’s going to vote in the primary on June 8th? The tea party groups seem to think that they will control the election, but that’s not going to be the case if the impending ad blitz is effective. If the candidates are smart, they’ll focus their word of the people that are Republicans but don’t participate in the tea party movement. From what I’ve seen in the “grassroots” organizations, the challengers are very unlikely to change their mind from their choice that they have right now.
• We’ve also got to think of the crossover subterfuge vote potential because this primary election is open to all voters. With so many candidates in the race, this election could very well be won with 30% of the vote. If an organized Democratic effort gets out and votes for a candidate near the bottom of the Food Chain, hilarity could definitely ensue with the results.

Recap: In my objective opinion, there seems to be three tiers of candidates right now. Hurt & McPadden are on top, Morton & McKelvey are the middle tier and Verga, Boyd & Ferrin are trailing. “Money changes everything”, and that saying is probably going to come true when the polls close on June 8th.

Residents debate what’s best for health care in Danville

We’re up to the “Allowing Centra to come to Danville will cost jobs!” speech. Well, nothing else has worked for them to try and change the public’s opinion, eh? Here’s a novel thought to blow that argument out of the water… Centra would hire local people for their new facility! Anyway, you just have to love a public hearing like this when DRMC keeps their employees on-the-clock if they “choose” to go and speak their opinion. Gee, I wonder how unbiased they were when the hospital’s CEO was staring at them?

I firmly believe that this entire “Certificate of Public Need” process is a crock of horsecrap anyway. If I want to spend the money and open up any other kind of business, there’s no governmental regulatory board that has to approve my plans. The justification for this process is that with too many medical facilities for too few customers, the prices would be artificially raised to ensure that they’d make a profit. I just don’t buy that line of reasoning anymore. Competition is a good thing.

Danville Regional Medical Center is no longer a community-based organization that is supposed to help the community. It’s now a business that is supposed to turn a profit. Let the free market system determine if Centra’s new business venture works or not.

Editor’s Note: Micah Robertson was not convicted of trespassing. The judge took the case under advisement for 12 months.

Chatham man issued fine, ordered to stay away from church for year

So, Micah Robertson lost. Or did he? After the trial, Johnny Robertson pursued the pastors of the church out of the court and they refused to stop and answer his questions. After listening to over two hours of calls from our viewers, there seems to be no middle ground. The callers that were supportive of Johnny Robertson and his methods wouldn’t budge when asked questions. The callers who were against Johnny Robertson stated their opinions then when asked questions to clarify their positions.. well, some of them got quite belligerent. This pattern seems to continue in the R&B’s comment section on the linked article.

If you’re looking for answers here, you’re in the wrong place. Because I can objectively see both sides of the arguments at times, I’ve came to the conclusion that I just don’t know what to think about this topic. The only thing that I do know is that this trespassing charge was a horrible idea, because all it does is throw gasoline on top of an already burning fire.

Dickey’s Barbecue Pit is a franchise of a national chain with restaurants in 29 states. Their Danville restaurant is located at 1555 Meadowview Drive, just west of the Danville city limits. It’s in a small strip center that intersects with Berry Hill Rd. I’ve always wondered why they picked a location that was out by itself, but we’ll get to that later. I decided to give the place a try for lunch on Friday, getting there around 12:30 PM. I was quite surprised to see only 5 other people eating there at the lunch hour. I took some time to inspect their menu and it all looked good (as expected).

I picked the beef brisket sandwich and chose the “Fried Onion Tanglers” & “Baked Potato Casserole” as my side items. The beef brisket was served without any BBQ sauce (their two signature sauces are available (heated) at the drink bar). Based on the other BBQ restaurants around here, I was surprised at this method of serving. That being said, it worked out well as I was able to choose what I wanted. The beef brisket was very dry, but that was easily remedied by the choice of BBQ sauces. The side items came in very ample portions and the entire platter was more than I could eat at one serving. The “Baked Potato Casserole” side item had came highly recommended by a former co-worker and she was right. It was mashed potatoes with lots of bacon bits throughout, topped off with shredded cheese and sliced green onions. The “Fried Onion Tanglers” were bits of chopped onions lightly breaded in a slightly-spicy batter then quickly fried.

Let’s get to the ratings…

Service: I got a warm greeting when I got to the counter and felt comfortable taking my time to examine the menu. Bonus points for having two different employees walk around to make sure everything was good. I had a nice conversation with the manager after my meal and she was very nice. Score: 95 (A)

Food: I could easily make a meal off of their side items and they impressed me more than the BBQ sandwich did. That being said, the sandwich was also very good. You were able to clearly take the smokehouse flavor in the meat. I look forward to trying more of their choices. Score: 92 (A)

Atmosphere: There’s plenty of open space to walk around the tables. All of the decorations are the typical type found in franchise restaurants with nothing original to set it out from any other BBQ place, but that’s not a bad thing. The kitchen area was visible to the public and was very clean. Speaking of cleanliness, the rest of the place was also very clean. Two large-screen LCD televisions were good additions to the place. Score: 85 (B)

Intangibles: They leave the TV remote controls out for customers to watch what they want… nice touch. I still have serious doubts about the location of the restaurant because it’s so far away from any other business, but it’s been working for them so far. Pricing is an issue, with my lunch meal approaching the $9 mark. I got my money’s worth out of it because it was enough food for two meals, but the price points are on the higher end of BBQ restaurants in this area. The pricing issues are the main complaint that I’ve heard from others, as well. There’s plenty of parking, but that’s also a by-product of the restaurant being the only business in the strip center. They’ve also got a party room with plenty of seating for large groups and they offer a big catering menu. Finally, they offer an interesting choice of free add-on foods to your meal… whole dill pickles and soft-serve ice cream. Lots of pros and cons in this category, but it’s all worth of a good score. Score: 82 (B)

Overall: Dickey’s is a place that I’d like to go to more, but it’s just hard to choose them over any of the other places around town because of their location. That’s one big reason on why I hadn’t tried it until now. Now that I have eaten there, it’s a place I will want to try again. I have some doubts on whether this restaurant can survive with such limited customer traffic (but that doesn’t affect the rating score at all), but I do plan on eating there more often.

Overall Grade: 89 (B) – SouthsideCentral recommends Dickey’s for a “different kind” of BBQ restaurant and we think it’s worth the drive to go there and have a meal.