SouthsideCentral

Major Repairs In Progress!

SouthsideCentral — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 02:52:26 +0000

Due to my webhosting company getting hacked, I’ve had to blow up SouthsideCentral & HalifaxCentral. I’m restoring what I can from backup, but it will be slow going. Bear with me while I get things going.

Also, don’t forget about the SouthsideCentral Photoblog which is hosted over at WordPress.com (and you can get a free blog there too). I’m going to post some Christmas photos over there and maybe a few here too. Here’s the direct link: http://southsidecentral2.wordpress.com

Thanks for reading SouthsideCentral… it’s been a struggle getting new content here. I really appreciate you for coming to check in.

One injured in Danville shooting

SouthsideCentral — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 06:03:05 +0000

I may not be on Star News anymore, but I’ll still try to bring you the best news coverage in Danville. The news doesn’t happen just between the hours of 1 & 9 PM, folks.

Here’s the latest from the Danville Police Department…

On 11-15-11 at approximately 7:15 PM, Danville Police responded to a report of a subject admitted to the Danville Regional Medical Center suffering from an apparent gunshot wound. Police interviewed the 52 year-old Danville resident and he reported he was in the 1100 block of West Stokes Street when he got into an altercation with some individuals there. He said the altercation was over and the subjects left only to return a few moments later. One of the subjects produced a gun and started shooting resulting in the victim being struck. The victim is currently being treated for his injuries and is listed in stable condition at this time. The police investigation is ongoing.

Some thoughts about tonight’s Danville City Council meeting…

SouthsideCentral — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 05:49:35 +0000

It was good to get back into swing of things and attend a Danville City Council meeting in person. Here’s some Random Thoughts about it…

(Editor’s Note: This is about the Tuesday, November 15th meeting)

I’m going to start it off by saying that the current mix of City Council members are the best Danville City Council that I can ever remember. All of them are open to citizen’s comments and have a strong knowledge of the issues. They may not vote the way I want to on some of the issues, but I always have respected their point of view.
In the same line of thinking, Danville will have a great loss if David Luther does not run for re-election. Luther provides a strong voice of business knowledge which is sorely needed in today’s governmental workings. That statement is not meant as a slight to the other council members that will be up for election, of course.
Danville city workers deserved that one-time bonus and council did the right thing in approving it unanimously. Although I’ll single out the policemen, firemen and teachers as especially deserving of the bonus, every city worker had not had a raise in three years. I talked with Budget Director Cynthia Thomasson before the meeting and she told me stories that some workers had their workload increased by a third because of staff cutbacks, yet the affected employees got nothing for the extra work. The economic timing wasn’t right for an across-the-board raise, but this was $1,100,000 well spent by the city.
David Luther & Fred Shanks “get it”. In an effort to make the process of getting the “ghost signs” into city code, the Planning Commission & city staff concocted a process that rivaled the IRS tax code. Luther immediately said “We’re supposed to make this simpler” and the issue was sent to the work session to make it happen.
Mayor Sherman Saunders continues to count the number of debate points in issues that he’s not involved in. Heh.
Thank goodness that somebody’s going to do something with the Northside Tire & Northside Video derelict properties. I was beginning to think the city should demolish those structures instead of yet another house in the Washington St. area. The Northside Tire store is ready to reopen, however the city staff said the old video store has building code issues. Perhaps it will be demolished after all, but it’s good to see some progress on that property no matter what.
O’Kelly’s rocks! They’re a giant success because they sell great food at reasonable prices. City staff & council know it’s good policy to help a growing business continue to expand. It’s also a good thing for council members to say nice things about local businesses unsolicited. Council members are people too and not just nine talking heads on the platform.
“East Franklin Turnpike” is a stupid name for the bypass connector, but we’re now stuck with it.
The public attendance numbers for the council meeting is horrible. Danville residents should attend them more often.

Finally, I want to think the council members for the warm welcome back to the media table. The words of encouragement mean a lot.

TossUp!: “Simple Request” or “Chilling Effect”?

SouthsideCentral — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 03:29:37 +0000

County sheriff elections are bad for the amount of animosity… but they make for good TossUps!

(Editor’s Note: I’ve had my differences with HalifaxTalk before, but I’ll defend anybody that is dealing with a potential free speech issue.)

HalifaxTalk: Jeff’s FOIA Stuff

Let’s go over some background information quickly. Jeff Oakes is the former sheriff of Halifax County who was defeated by Stanley Noblin in the 2007 election cycle. Oakes is still quite bitter over that and is Noblin’s biggest critic. We’re now in the 2011 election cycle and Oakes is trying to dig up any less-than-favorable information about the Noblin administration. Oakes claims he has used the Freedom Of Information Act to get lots of documents that will show Stanley Noblin should be defeated in his first re-election bid. Oakes has used the HalifaxTalk message board to lob attacks at Noblin and Noblin has chosen not to reply.

Let’s FastForward to the current TossUp! Oakes has came forward with two documents and Darrin Talbott (the owner of HalifaxTalk) decided to host them on his personal webspace that he gets from being a GCROnline customer. Talbott got an email from GCROnline asking him to remove the documents from his personal webspace, saying that they didn’t want to have any political content there. This has brought some howls of protest from supporters of Fred Clark (Noblin’s challenger) saying that this decision was politically motivated. I decided to check out this story and see what both
Talbott & GCROnline had to say about it.

In an email conversation with Glenn Ratliff (the owner of GCROnline), he said that it was just a request. After follow-up questions about the request, Ratliff said (via email), “As a private company, we don’t reveal too much about our customer
relationships. Darrin can provide you with all the information you need if he chooses to provide it.”

Talbott went ahead and removed the documents from and posted the documents on his own website that he pays for. In an email conversation with Talbott, he said that he complied with the request but “I told them that it disturbed me to have to move it.”

I called GCROnline today and spoke with Glenn Ratliff. he said that although there is nothing in the company’s Acceptable Use Policy barring political content, the members’ site is described as “Personal web pages are a useful medium to convey your hobbies and interests to a large audience, the world.” He also said that once this election cycle is over, his company may clarify what is wanted on the personal website area. I asked him what he would have done if Talbott had refused his request and he said that they would have moved on. Ratliff was clear in saying that there was no political motivation in the request and that is was a simple request to keep the members site politically-free.

So that happened. I feel that both Darrin Talbott & Glenn Ratliff are trustworthy and I’m inclined to believe what they say. Perhaps it was just a “Simple Request” and not an attempt to stifle political speech in a “Chilling Effect”. There are plenty of free webhosting services on the internet, so there are plenty of places to put whatever content you want out there. I can also see the point that Jeff Oakes and the Fred Clark supporters have in saying this decision was politically motivated.

What do you think?

(Editor’s Note: I attempted to make contact with Fred Clark today, but he did not return my call. On a side note, I have left multiple messages at different times for Fred Clark to return my calls with not much success. I’m disappointed in that.)

RumorCentral: Walgreens coming to Danville?

SouthsideCentral — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 03:55:58 +0000

Walgreens has stores located all around the Danville area, so it seems logical.

The rumor mill has been flying around the SouthsideCentral region saying that Walgreens is going to open a store in Danville. More unconfirmed rumors say that they have an agreement to purchase customer records from Professional Pharmacy & Commonwealth Pharmacy.

At work today, I talked to Walgreens’ media relations department who said “No Comment”, but you could tell there was a smile in his voice. I called Professional Pharmacy and Commonwealth Pharmacy but nobody “was available for comment” and nobody returned my calls. That’s leading me to put more credence into the rumor. I also spoke with Danville’s economic development office and they said that they have no business dealings with Walgreens at this time.

In the last hour, I’ve read a rumor that says Walgreens will retrofit the existing Professional Pharmacy building on Watson St. I find that hard to believe since the area is extremely run-down and in a non-desirable location for business.

If Walgreens comes to the area, they’ll want an existing customer base to start so that would logically mean buying out independent pharmacies. They’ll want to build a new store in a high-traffic area and won’t have much of a need for the small pharmacies’ existing space.

All of this leads me to a 90% chance that Walgreens will be open in Danville within the next 12 months.

Sign up for the daily SouthsideCentral email!

SouthsideCentral — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 12:00:44 +0000

Can’t remember to check out the website every day? No problem, we’ll email the previous day’s new content to you every morning!

Just type your email address in the form below and then click on the confirmation link. Every morning between 7 & 9 AM, you’ll get the latest SouthsideCentral content in one easy-to-read email thanks to Google’s Feedburner service. If there’s no new daily ocntent, you won’t get an email… simple as that!

Thanks so much for being a part of SouthsideCentral. We know that without our readers and commenters, we’re nothing!

What’s happening with “Art on Main”?

SouthsideCentral — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 03:56:11 +0000

“Art On Main” was an awesome street festival in May, and I was hoping for just as much open-ended fun for the fall edition. I’m starting to doubt if that will happen.

The second edition of “Art on Main” was held on May 7, 2011. I didn’t get to attend the first one in Fall 2010 because of work obligations, but I wanted to check the second one out. I went there fully expecting to spend about 30 minutes getting photos and then I’d move along to my next stop. Four hours later, I was still there and having a great time just seeing what the local arts community actually consists of.

I knew diddlysquat about Southside’s art community until I saw what it was all about. I knew that Melissa Charles was a catalyst for getting arts-related people organized and that she is a genius when it comes to that stuff. I spent well over four hours just walking around the two blocks of Main St and was amazed at what I saw. Crafters, photographers, singers, dancers, performance art… even a well rehearsed flash mob dance. I met new friends, saw new things and was totally amazed at what I saw and what the Southside art community was all about. There were even plenty of things or children to do there.

Let’s get real, folks. I’m not in the hoity-toity Art Appreciation Society where people look at paintings, tell you loads of bullcrap about what it really means, then look down on you because you think the painting looks like it was done by a chimpanzee. “Art on Main” was great because it was fun for People Like Me. “Art on Main” was a complete success and I promised that I would spread the word. I was really looking forward to the Fall 2011 festival for another round of laid-back fun and entertainment.

(insert sound cue of tires screeching & cars crashing).

Danville Arts & Humanities has taken over “Art on Main” and it’s now part of the new “River District Festival”. “Art on Main” in October is now the “1st Annual Art on Main Juried Show (An Official Event of the Danville River District Festival”. Melissa Charles now has nothing to do with the event, nor it seems does she have anything to do with Danville Arts & Humanities. Melissa is a class act, and she won’t (nor do I expect her) to say anything about what’s happened. That being said, I’m wondering what’s going on. The loss of Melissa Charles’ leadership, talent and skills is a giant loss for this festival.

From what I see at the River District Festival’s website, “Art On Main” is becoming a formalized juried art show. The prices for the vendors have more than doubled, the talent performances now include a talent competition (tough luck if you’re over 35 years old and wanted to perform in that). The website says…

The River District Festival is proud to host an eclectic array of local and visiting–vocalist, musicians, performing artists, and dancers. The day’s entertainment will divide into professional visiting performances, local professional performances, and an amateur talent competition.

… but I have no idea what that means. I thoroughly enjoyed the “very less than professional” entertainment at the May festival, which included pretty much ane range of anybody that had a decent amount of talent.

“Art on Main” was a festival for the regular Joe and that’s why I stayed there for over four hours. The museum held “Art on the Lawn” at the same time that day. I stayed there about 10 minutes in the High Society until I couldn’t wait to get back to the fun on Main Street. I don’t want to see a juried art show with high vendor fees. I don’t want to see only professional talent. I want to have fun like I did at May’s street festival.

“Art on Main” worked fine the way it was in May. I have no idea what’s going on with Danville Arts & Humanities or why a growing street festival seems to be having all the fun sucked out of it and is being replaced with a hoity-toity juried art show all in the name of the new “Danville River Festival”. Does anybody else know what’s going on?

Don McEachin, please shut up.

SouthsideCentral — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 20:31:41 +0000

We’re starting our rebirth with a bang! (ugh… horrible pun)

If I’m wrong on something, I’ve got no problem admitting it. On the other hand, Don McEachin prefers to stick his fingers in his ears and say “LA LA LA I CAN’T HEAR YOU!”

Gun crimes drop at Virginia bars and restaurants

A bottle of whiskey 30 feet away from a legal concealed-weapon permit holder isn’t going to change that person into somebody who is going to shoot people. Anybody who thinks otherwise is an idiot… needless to say, Don McEachin thought otherwise. What’s worse, is that Don McEachin still seems to think otherwise.

When confronted with the numbers (which don’t lie), McEachin said…

“Most folks obey the law, and that’s a good thing,” said McEachin, who remains staunchly opposed. “But I don’t think it takes a rocket scientist to figure out that just like drinking and driving doesn’t mix, guns and drinking don’t mix.”

Hello, Don? Boing! It’s illegal to drink alcohol in a bar while carrying a concealed weapon. It was before then, too. Nothing’s changed. As a subset of the general society, concealed weapon permit holders are much more law-abiding. It’s called “responsibility”, Don. Almost 100% of concealed weapon permit holders understand and accept that responsibility.

I’d be a lot more impressed with McEachin if he introduced legislation (or even helped to enforce the current laws) to control the illegal concealed weapon carriers in Richmond and Henrico County. I’ve heard they have a murder problem up there.

SouthsideReborn!

SouthsideCentral — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 19:45:39 +0000

SouthsideCentral is coming back! (Not that we ever went anywhere…)

Back in the days, SouthsideCentral was known to be a place where you could go and see what was happening in the region. We had news. We had viewpoints. We had content. Once I took a job at a TV station, it became difficult to devote the time needed to keeping SC up and running with fresh stuff. Today, I looked at what I wrote when I started SC…

We’re more than just HalifaxCentral now… much more.

We believe that Southside VA needs another voice that’s fresh and new.
We believe that Southside VA needs a website where people can come to and see what’s happening…a place with news infused with opinions and humor.
We believe that Southside VA needs a website that features local, regional, state, national and international items.
We believe that Southside VA needs a website that has various opinions on lots of topics and isn’t afraid to publish them.
We believe that Southside VA needs a website with fun stuff to go right along with all of the serious stuff.
We believe that Southside VA needs a website where anything could appear at any time (that makes it fun!).
We believe that Southside VA needs a website with the capabilities to deliver information LIVE!

We believe that Southside VA needs SouthsideCentral.com and the SouthsideCentral blog.

Welcome, Southside VA. We hope you like what you see and read here. We hope you participate with comments and story ideas.
Most importantly, we hope you visit often.

We’ll be adding content and gadgets on a regular basis which will make the SCBlog even more informative for you… stay tuned for the new stuff!

I’m Bruce Hedrick. I am the owner of this site and the main author of most of these articles. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them on the article’s page or use the Contact Us! link at the top!

That’s when I realized it was time to make time for the site and bring SC back. I’m not sure how much content I will be able to provide, but I’ll do my best. Guest writers are always welcome… just contact me.

Let’s make one thing clear, though. Anything that’s said here is strictly MY opinion on things and has nothing to do with my employer, my coworkers, my friends or my cat. If you’ve got a problem with anything that’s here, contact me directly. I’ll be glad to talk to you.

Welcome back to SouthsideCentral. We’re going to have fun.

Thumbs! (4/6/10 Edition)

SouthsideCentral — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 04:26:37 +0000

Wow! It’s been a while since those Thumbs! have been going up-and-down, hasn’t it? Let’s jump on it.

Move those Thumbs!

Thumbs UP! to Danville’s City Council for getting the message across that now isn’t the time for a tax increase. Speaking of taxes…
Thumbs DOWN! to Pittsylvania County Supervisor Marshall Ecker for a DOA suggestion to start taxing lottery tickets. Ecker is why the Dillon Rule is still needed in Virginia.
Thumbs UP! to a Pittsylvania County citizens group for attempting yet again to get Sunday beer/wine sales in the rest of the county.
While we’re talking about Sunday beer/wine sales in the county, I have to give a Perpetual Thumbs DOWN! to Supervisors Tim Barber & Coy Harville for their attempt to bypass the will of the voters in the last election cycle. The voters in the Callands/Gretna District approved the Sunday sale law, yet Barber & Harville attempted to keep the actual law off of the BOS agenda. When the voters speak, the supervisors must listen. I’ll never forget that episode.

Ok, enough about government & taxes. Let’s move on to other things…

Thumbs DOWN! to Jerry Meadors. In a recent R&B article, the former director said the failure of the operation was lack of funding from the city leaders and local foundations. Really, Jerry? Look at what the Prizery has done in South Boston and take some lessons from that. You had a grant opportunity for $110K if you had raised $60K. You failed that test, so why should anybody else try with public money?
Thumbs UP! to Darriel Burnett. He’s the leader of the Danville Tea Party, and he “gets it”. You may not agree with his political philosophy, but you have to admire the way that Burnett has brought rationality and calmness into the organization that was once known for their ridiculous stunts. You’ve still got a few Danville Tea Party people who shout at telephone poles, but Burnett is trying to straighten the ship’s course. It looks like the local Tea Party is finally going to get into local issues and if they do things in Burnett’s style, they should be able to make their voices heard.

That’s enough Thumbs! for now. Got any comments? Post them here.

NewsSpotting: Only seven months to go…

SouthsideCentral — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 03:39:17 +0000

It’s News. It’s a ThreadSpotting. It’s complete stupidity about the upcoming Halifax County Sheriff’s race. It’s all of those combined!

HalifaxTalk: Traffic Checks

Let’s get to the news part of this first. Here’s the press release from the Halifax County’s Sheriff’s Office…

In a joint effort to curb drunk and/or drugged driving, and to step up child safety-seat enforcement, four seperate traffic checkpoints were set up in locations throughout South Boston and Halifax Co. this past Saturday night ( 4/2/11 ). The Halifax Co. Sheriff’s Office, Virginia State Police, and the South Boston Police Dept. conducted these checkpoints. As a result, citations or warrants were issued for the following violations: four charges of driving under the influence; one felony driving after having been declared an habitual offender; one possession of a controlled substance; one driving to elude police; ten driving on suspended licenses; one driving with no license; three child safety seat; four seatbelt; and twenty-nine other traffic charges were levied. Two broken down motorists were also assisted. Sheriff Noblin would like to remind citizens that with the oncoming warm weather, which increases highway traffic, deputies and police will be increasing the frequency of these checkpoints to ensure the safety of motorists and the public in Halifax County.

So that happened. Now to the ThreadSpotting…

Jeff Oakes (PRCFPO) says there were only two arrests that he was aware of. Unsurprisingly, he’s not in the loop of sheriff’s office communications anymore and is quite wrong.
Jeff Oakes (OMGSTFU) says there was ZERO publicity. Looks like he depends on the local newspapers and he’s quite wrong again. There are other sources for news.
TomTen who only seems to comment on Sheriff’s office things, unsurprisingly comments on this Sheriff’s office thing.
SidJay (Sheldon Jennings) continues to take shots at Jimmy Clay (but not in this thread…yet).
AndyR makes perfect sense as usual.

Final Thoughts : This Halifax County Sheriff’s Race is going to as bizarre as the last one was. If Jeff Oakes files for this race, it will be even more bizarre. (Disclaimer: I have spoken with Oakes on this and have offered him a one hour talk show to make that announcement provided that he sits for an interview & takes viewers’ calls.) Personally, I don’t think he’ll run again. I’ve read that one person has said that they don’t read the local newspapers and depend on HalifaxTalk for news… and that deserves a facepalm. As of now, Stanley Noblin is the favorite to win the November election, but it’s going to depend how crowded the candidate field turns out to be. More to come on that…

ThreadSpotting: Hidden Agenda!

SouthsideCentral — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 02:55:43 +0000

I said you wanna be startin’ somethin’, you got to be startin’ somethin’…

Yeah, I had almost forgotten about HalifaxTalk, too. But thanks to three submissions, let’s get a mild ThreadSpotting out of the way.

HalifaxTalk: I have a question for y’all

So somebody joins that message board and their first post just happens to be a question about Virginia’s gambling laws that everybody ~~knows~~* should know the answer to. Haven’t we been here before? At least HomeStyle shows her smarts and smells a rat from the beginning. Let’s see how this one goes.

* = Facepalm.

Happy Trails, Lucky City!

SouthsideCentral — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 05:28:41 +0000

Bad things usually happen when you piss off people in government.

As regular readers well know, I recommended Reidsville’s “Lucky City” as a good place to go. Well, not anymore because Lucky City has closed down.

I got an email from Debbie Moore on Friday saying that Lucky City was going to close that night. I was quite surprised and after some interviews, we found out that Richard Moore had gotten a “7 day intention to terminate” the lease and they had to get out. That’s quite bizarre because they had always paid their rent on time… so I’m trying to find out why the building owner (Dr. William Bradford) decided to get rid of a paying tenant.

Let’s get some things out of the way. Richard Moore pissed people off at times. He thumbed his nose quite regularly at “The Establishment”, and often came out on top because he was usually right. He started a “Reidsville Downtown Merchants” Facebook page after the previous one was deleted and proceeded to mock the downtown businesses in a fun way. He unofficially changed the name of Lucky City to “Reidsville Public Library” for no apparent reason, causing some confusion among people. He continued to have fun at the expense of local & county government officials. In short, it was “Richard being Richard”. You may not like the way he did things, but Lucky City was a quirky, successful business that added a lot to to Reidsville’s downtown. Unfortunately, it looks like Richard pissed off one too many people. I, along with many others, will miss their selection of beer and wine. I’ll also miss the group of friends I met that considered themselves Lucky City’s “regulars”.

We’ll probably never find out who orchestrated the downfall of Lucky City (unless you count Richard’s antics as the reason… which I don’t). That’s the biggest shame of all.

Not so fast, Walter.

SouthsideCentral — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 16:00:36 +0000

Some of the anti-uranium folks seem to think that I’m in favor of uranium mining. As I’ve said before, they’re quite wrong.

I’m in favor of an independent study to determine if uranium can be mined safely. I’m smart enough to know that I’m not smart enough to know if it can be mined safely or not. I get completely frustrated by the anti-uranium nutballs who say that Southside VA will be glowing for 500 years or other assorted ridiculous claims like that. People like Jack Dunavant irritate me when they try to control the debate using intimidation (remember his beloved “Chemical Trespass” idea that got obliterated?) and other heavy-handed tactics.

Well, there are tactics by the pro-uranium mining side that piss me off just as much. Walter Coles, come on down!

Uranium VP: Mining bill likely in 2012

Walter, just like the gloom-and-massive-doom nutballs on the other side, you have no idea if uranium mining can be done safely. Patrick Wales can spin your remarks in any way he chooses but by making this speech, you have severely damage the respect that I have of you and your company. I always believed that you were in this business to make a profit, but now I’m wondering if that’s the only motivation that you have.

Informative (yet highly inappropriate) Sign of the Day!

SouthsideCentral — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 02:04:43 +0000

Signs that warn you of danger are always a good thing, right? Well… maybe not always.

Back in 2010, 5-year-old Kolton Karnes drowned at the low-head dam at Danville’s Dan Daniel Park. The dam is a safety hazard and will be removed soon but until that happens, the city has put up lots of warning signs to remind people about the dangers.

Although I’m sure that the city’s artistic design team didn’t mean to make a sign which was a highly realistic representation of a small child being caught in the potentially fatal hydraulics of a low-head dam, they did just that…

Mr. Picard will express my sentiments on this sign.

Support my first attempt at legislation! (HB 1927)

SouthsideCentral — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 05:35:52 +0000

If you think Virginia restaurants should post their latest health inspection reports where you can see them, I’m asking for your help.

Since I work in North Carolina occasionally, I notice that North Carolina restaurants have to post a card with their latest health inspection rating and score. That rating card has to be posted so that you can see it as you walk in. If a restaurant has anything less than a “A” rating, I’m not going to eat there. I looked up the laws in Virginia and found out that Virginia restaurants are only required to post a certificate that says that the Health Department has approved them (and nothing about the rating).

Armed with that information, I called Danny Marshall‘s office a few months ago and told Mary Franklin (his legislative aide) that I had an idea for a new state law that would require Virginia restaurants to post their latest inspection report. Danny and Mary started the process on checking out existing laws. After an opinion from the State Health Commissioner saying that she didn’t think such a law was necessary due to inspection reports being available on the internet and her opinion that public display of inspection reports would possibly subject the inspectors to undue pressure from restaurant owners. After reading her letter, I was outraged at her objections. If I decide to go into a new restaurant, I’m not going to stop and check the internet for the report. As for the “undue pressure” reason, I feel that is an internal policing matter for the VDH to deal with and not my problem.

FastForward to the chase. Danny Marshall agreed to introduce my idea as a new bill in the General Assembly… and here it is!

HB 1927

Display of restaurant inspection reports. Requires every restaurant licensed by the State Board of Health to display a copy of the most recent restaurant inspection report, which shall include evidence of the number of critical violations found during the inspection, in a place where it is readily observable by the public transacting business with the establishment.

If you agree with me and think this is a good idea, I am asking you to contact your legislators and ask them to support HB 1927. If there is a lot of support for this bill, there’s a chance that this idea could become a law. Whether the bill passes or fails, I’m learning a lot in my first attempt to get a bill through the General Assembly.

Here’s one way to destroy Danville’s good business climate…

SouthsideCentral — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 23:00:18 +0000

The “Union at Swedwood” talk is starting again.

Union decries Swedwood conditions

Danville’s getting a good reputation as a place that’s business-friendly. The only big union employer in the area is Goodyear, and Goodyear pretty much told the union what concessions they would have to take to keep the plant open in the last round of contract talk. The local USW members stomped their feet a little bit, made a little noise, then did the only rational thing they could do and accepted the company’s terms. I gained a lot more respect for the local USW membership when they did the right thing. Goodyear played fair as well in that situation by telling exactly what was needed, then rewarded the local plant by expanding. That being said, the absolute last thing that Southside needs is a new unionization because that would pretty much destroy economic development efforts in the region.

Now you’ve got this union that is trying to insert itself between the Swedwood workers and the company. The violations noted in the article are quite minor, and the plant seems to be doing well. It seems that this union will do anything to get their name out there.

Building and Wood Workers’ International led a protest against Swedwood Danville conditions on Dec. 7 at the IKEA in Geneva.

Oh, I’m sure that accomplished a lot.

Swedwood maintains it hasn’t violated the agreement and that when Swedwood learned of the claim that workers wanted to join the union, it suggested a secret ballot process to determine the accurate position of workers, Steén said.

“And, we will respect the result of the election process,” Steén said. “This offer has, however, been declined by union representatives.”

Gee, I wonder why? Could it be because this union knows they wouldn’t have a chance in hell of winning? When the company encourages a union referendum, you have to believe that things are going well inside the walls. If you ever wanted a reason on why the “Employee Free Choice Act” (card check) is horrible legislation, all you have to do is point to this example. I’m not totally anti-union because in plants like Goodyear, the USW can actually help with safety issues. I am totally against union thuggery (looking at you on the picket line, USW!) and the way that lots of unions have became mouthpieces for politics.

There still is a small place for labor unions in this country, but Swedwood isn’t that place.

Felony charges? Shmelony charges!

SouthsideCentral — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 02:34:58 +0000

How much jail time does a person get for “Felony Assault on a Police Officer” and “Felony Assault on a Police Dog”? Nothing!

“Willow Lane Brawl” case comes to an end

Two “assault on police” charges just go away. Interesting…

Were the original charges overstated or is this a good lesson that money can buy you out of most trouble?

Photos from the 2010 Reidsville Christmas Parade

SouthsideCentral — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 05:16:20 +0000

The 2010 Reidsville Christmas Parade was held on Saturday, November 20th. Here’s a slideshow of photos from the parade!

It’s a Miracle!

SouthsideCentral — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 19:18:56 +0000

The powers of modern medicine on authors never cease to amaze me…

Author Rebecca Skloot to speak at Prizery.

No, she’s not. She calling in sick.

Really? She looked to be in good health Wednesday night.

It’s a Miracle!

Photos from the 2010 Danville Veterans Day Parade

SouthsideCentral — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 02:06:55 +0000

Enjoy this slideshow of the November 7th Veterans Day Parade in Danville!

Ready for a Christmas event?

SouthsideCentral — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 02:42:23 +0000

Me neither…but it’s happening on November 19th, and I’ll be there.

Make your way to Downtown Reidsville, NC on Friday, November 19th. It’s time for the “Old Fashioned Christmas” celebration from 6 to 8 PM. Christmas carols, the lighting of the Christmas Tree at Mural Park, and the telling of the Christmas Story. Santa Claus will make his arrival and there will be hot chocolate & cookies. There will be a gift certificate drawing at 7:55 PM and you must be present to win.

I’ve got a pretty good feeling that we’ll be broadcasting this event LIVE! on WGSR, but I hope to see you there in person!

Some thoughts about Tuesday’s congressional elections

SouthsideCentral — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 05:29:52 +0000

So that happened. Now that my self-imposed gag order has expired since the elections are over, it’s time to say some random thoughts about what happened in Southside’s Congressional elections.

Here we go…

5th District Thoughts

Tom Perriello was doomed from the start of this election season, but he fought hard until the end. Sitting across the interview table from Tom last Thursday, I could feel the passion of his talk, along with a slight bit of desperation because the clock was running out. I don’t give a damn if you stand for the exact opposite of everything Tom Perriello stood for, Tom Perriello has earned my highest respect for truly believing in (and standing behind) his actions.
Likewise, Robert Hurt was in the driver’s seat from the day he declared his candidacy. Robert Hurt surrounded himself with smart people who knew how to play the political game, and it worked perfectly. Chris LaCivita is a political genius, no matter if you like what he does or not.
Robert Hurt and his handlers ran a campaign that I just simply didn’t like, but damn, did it work. As a person, he was very hard to make contact with and he didn’t do much with the “little people”. But when you’re ahead of a sitting incumbent all throughout the campaign, the correct gameplan is “Don’t Make Mistakes”. Hurt didn’t make any mistakes, and he’s the new Congressman.
I am immediately pissed off at the “OMG The 5th District Made A Horrible Decision And The Sky Is Going To Fall” attitude that I’ve started to hear from the extreme-partisan part of the losing side. Extreme-partisanship sucks, no matter which side of the aisle you represent. The world isn’t going to end. We’re going to be just fine, just like we would have been if Tom Perriello had won. Your guy lost. Let’s move along and work together with everybody. Together, we truly can make this a better place. Just to make it clear, I would have said the same thing about the Extreme-Republican side’s inevitable same type of whining that would have came out if Hurt had lost.
Robert Hurt is a conservative. Anybody who said otherwise during the campaign was full of crap.
Tom Perriello wasn’t a liberal. Anybody who said he was during the campaign was full of crap as well.
Jeff Clark’s candidacy turned out to be perfect for everybody. He got his point across and neither of the major parties can say he ruined things for them. I truly hope that Jeff Clark stays around in the political way of life and would be very interested if he runs for Danville’s City Council in 2012. Jeff Clark earned my respect for what he did during this campaign, despite a few missteps along the way.
If you voted for Jeff Clark because you believed what he stood for, you did the right thing. If you voted for Jeff Clark because you thought Robert Hurt wasn’t conservative, you were an idiot.

Enough about the 5th District… let’s talk about the 9th District.

Wow. Rick Boucher lost. Wow again. I never thought it was possible, even when Morgan Griffith started running one hell of a campaign.
One vote can make a difference. I’m not talking about an individual’s vote, but Boucher’s vote for the “cap-and trade” legislation. No matter how Rick Boucher tried to explain that he did it for the coal industry, the voters saw it as a vote against his own people. “Cap-and-trade” ended Boucher’s 28-year career as a Congressman.
Although I’ve got a firm position against out-of-area political candidates, there’s no way I could paint Griffith that way considering his property line was the 9th District boundary, and the fact that he’ll be in the 9th District after redistricting. Boucher’s “He’s not from here” advertisement simply pissed me off.

More “thoughts” coming about other election results soon…

Guest OpinionCentral: Dave Cline

SouthsideCentral — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 16:49:30 +0000

At SouthsideCentral, we welcome article submissions from our readers. In this OpinionCentral, Dave Cline weighs in on the 5th District election.

(Editor’s Note: This article is solely the viewpoint of the author and not necessarily the opinion of SouthsideCentral.)

I find it greatly interesting, yet tremendously sad that a sitting congressman has decided that, instead of running on his record and telling us why we should send him back to DC, has opted instead to work to get out the vote for an opponent. That’s right. He is actually encouraging people to vote for someone other than himself.
Odd, huh? Most reasonable people would find it strange that a politician would actually encourage voters to cast their vote for someone other than himself, yet that is exactly what Tom Perriello is doing.

All across the fifth district we see TV ads, hear radio spots, and receive mailers from our congressman and his tremendously supportive democrat party touting the attributes of an ‘independent third party candidate’. These advertisements essentially encourage conservatives and independents (who are obviously not going to vote for Perriello) to cast their vote for this candidate thereby taking potential votes from Republican Robert Hurt and increasing the chance of Perriello squeaking his way back to Washington. Remember he won by a mere 700 votes or so last time.

The liberal democrat congressman knows that the majority of the voters in the 5th district do not support the big spending, heavy taxing, job killing agenda running amuck in DC that he has walked in lockstep with. He knows that higher taxes, greater regulation, and deeper entrenchment of federal government control over the economy is not what we want. However, being the big spending progressive liberal that he is he just cannot help himself. So instead of telling us the truth; that he is going to keep doing what he did before and walk in lockstep with Obama and Pelosi – he seeks to siphon enough votes away from Robert Hurt by encouraging them toward another candidate hoping to once again pull out a win.

The people of the 5th district are smarter than that, Mr. Perriello. We see exactly what you did while in DC and what you are doing in this campaign. We will not be deceived. Your political spin and games will not work.

Congressman, we hope to bid you a genuine and heartfelt farewell on November 2nd. I wonder though, Ya still got that apartment you where you lived in New York before running for congress in the 5th district of Virginia in 2008? I think you will need it.

Let’s all send a message to Washington. Stop the spending, balance the budget, and do not raise taxes. We send just that message by .voting Robert Hurt on November 2nd.

I’m Dave Cline, and I approved this message!

Dave Cline
South Boston, VA

5th District Happenings (Update #2)

SouthsideCentral — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 03:42:52 +0000

It’s been a long time, hasn’t it? Let’s get this update started with a statement on why it’s hard to talk about political topics, then we’ll get to what’s been going on.

As many of you know, I’ve taken a job in broadcast media. Because of that job, I’ve had to work with a lot of political candidates regarding advertising so I have to deal with ethical conflicts of interests when I make political observations. Next, I try and stay as objective as possible when I am representing the TV station, both when on-air and out in the community when I’m covering the news. Although I have made it clear to my readers that SouthsideCentral is my personal site when I express my personal opinions, I’d be a fool to believe that all of my readers are able to make that distinction. That’s another thing that I have to consider. (By the way, my employer is perfectly happy with me continuing to express my personal opinions and observations, to some of my detractors’ dismay.) When I combine all of these potential pitfalls, I have to tread carefully but I am continuing to produce SouthsideCentral content. That being said, I am reminding my readers that the following is my personal opinion.

Let’s get started with observations about the three candidates in the race.

Tom Perriello – Money talks. Perriello’s got plenty of money and although some rumors floated around that he was going to lose funding as being in a “non-winnable race”, I firmly believed that was a load of horsecrap the moment I heard it. Perriello’s campaign is rolling along quite well and it’s being guided on the right path. He’s mostly doing the right things and is in the race to win it.
Robert Hurt – Hurt’s running a well-oiled campaign as well except for one major flaw. The “refusing to debate if Jeff Clark is present” may be perfect political strategy, but it’s coming at a cost to his campaign. Hurt needs to get one high-profile debate in with both of his opponents to shut up the people who are claiming he’s cowardly. Once that happens, Hurt would be able to point to that debate and say “I gave him a chance.”
Jeff Clark – Even if you’re totally against Clark even being in the race, you’ve got to give him credit for sticking it out despite being outgunned & out-funded.

Now let’s get this thing started in the semi-dreaded (Very) Random Thoughts format!

One of my callers last week made a good point by saying none of the candidates are telling her why she should vote for them.
With one month to go, let’s play “Follow The Money” and see where donations and finding comes from.
WMDV caught Robert Hurt at his Danville fish-fry event on Monday and he said that he would come on WMDV for an hour show.
Unsurprisingly, I’m seeing a lot of the “I’m Republican but I don’t like Robert Hurt” people showing support for Robert Hurt. I told you so.
Here’s a funny story from the last Danville Tea Party meeting. Angry Old Man stands up and says “Jeff Clark says he’s a tea party guy but he’s not one of us!” (or something like that, but you can feel the get-off-my-lawn outrage in his voice). When it’s pointed out that Jeff Clark is sitting two rows behind him and that he is welcome to talk to Clark, Angry Old Man sits down and shuts up. Lesson learned: Shouting at a telephone pole is fun when the telephone pole can’t point out your shortcomings.
Hurt’s latest attack ad just pissed me off by calling the health care reform the “Pelosi-Perriello Healthcare Plan”, however if there was a Full-Truth In Negative Advertising law, there wouldn’t be any negative ads. Why confuse the voters with the truth?
As a voter, your job is to pick the best candidate. If you truly feel that Jeff Clark is the best candidate, you should vote for him. There’s no shame in that.

That’s enough for now… thanks for the patience as WMDV gets going!