Moonhowlings

Manassas City Theater in the Round: Epilogue

The election has come and gone, but the theater continues. Those who have lost the most, try not to “wawl and cry” nor “mewl and puke” and instead have chosen to spin with much “pride, pomp , and circumstance,”  the post-election eulogy of their effort.  Much mirth we draw (not to mention laughter) in watching those who made such a noise for their chosen slate, try to salvage a faux victory from what is in fact a stunning defeat.

In some ways, the silence is deafening so, again, rather than charge into the fray, we have chosen to give our “ thoughts no tongue” for a time, let the dust settle, gather numerous perspectives on the election results, and develop what we believe to be a much clearer picture of what happened, and, what it all means.

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Much has been made of the intrigue the past few weeks on the various alliances and coalitions in the city election process.  Now that the dust is settling, we would like to salute the hot pink campaign, run by supporters of Sheryl Bass.  Actually, Ms. Bass didn’t run.  Her friends ran her as a write-in campaign.  Sheryl Bass supported the Republican ticket.   At last count, Ms. Bass received 1052  997 [Ed. Note:  correction given this afternoon]  votes and her name didn’t even appear on the ballot!  That means that Ms. Bass came in 4th without her running and without her name appearing on the ballot.

Ms. Bass should be proud.  She has good friends, the support and respect of  her community, and the friends of Ms. Bass did things the right way.  Several movers and shakers of this campaign had to resign from their political party to run the campaign.  THEY did the right thing.  Will they be readmitted?  Time will tell.  They knew the rules.  They followed them.  The Sheryl Bass campaign made a fine showing at the polls and everyone  showed a lot of class.

Ms. Bass has served her community and will be an invaluable resource for all the elected officials to turn to when they need advice and help.  A toast of our finest ale to Lady Bass and her ever- classy campaign.

It seems a lot of what  we hear on the Manassas blogs is a lot of bitching about Georgetown South, either implicitely or explicitely.  Some City residents have even suggesting bulldozing the place over every time there is an incident over there.  Insidenova.com  reports the flip side of all that negativity:

MANASSAS, Va. –

Shovels, post hole diggers, rakes, brooms, trash bags, gloves, garbage cans and wheel barrows were the tools for the day on Saturday in Georgetown South.

Volunteers, many from the Manassas Assembly of God, showed up for the inaugural Georgetown South Community Cleanup to help tidy up the townhouse community off Grant Avenue in Manassas.

Pastor Doug Dreesen said the Manassas Assembly of God had “kind of adopted Georgetown South as a neighborhood we want to help.”

Church member Rich Rosene said he came out to help clean up “out of obedience to my lord and savior, Jesus Christ.”

This is what we call Talking the Talk and Walking the Walk.  Hats off to the Manassas Assembly of God as well as the many  other volunteers for Walking the Walk.  I bet Cindy was over there somewhere also.  Its just so refreshing to see and hear the folks with the solutions.   Neighbors got out and met each other and lent each other a hand.

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The Conscience of a King, Act IV:     The Final Act?

As we enter act IV of our play, a few minor happenings in the wings are worth noting. Please consider these, as we make a few scenery changes behind the curtain, in preparation for act IV.

Late yesterday, we received reports from our ever vigilant roving ‘Howlings reporters. First one in was a report of hot pink flyers being delivered to homes and handed out at spots throughout the city. These flyers encouraged voters to “Write-In Sheryl  Bass” on the front, and gave a very detailed listing of her very impressive record of service to the citizens. No attacks on the other candidates. Just a positive plea by the campaign to consider Bass, as they head to the polls. We Howler ladies have to say, the way this campaign has been conducted reflects the grace and poise that Bass herself has exhibited over the years. Classy. Very Classy.  

Contrast this with a very nasty piece put out by some anonymous pitchfork bearer (or would that be pitchforker?)   that was delivered to other residents of the city. This nasty piece, full of errors and negative-spin, did nothing but attack Mark Wolfe. What we find downright hilarious is the flyer asked voters to pull the lever for Lovejoy, “Carnahan”, Way. (Is this like pull the joystick for the non-existent candidate?)

Last up, a flyer we assume was produced by Doug Brown, because it is being distributed by ABTF and linked to at bvbl, while better written, has its own bit o’ spin: Jerry Carman’s business experience has risen from that of middle management to the “corner office with a view”: He claims Carman “Managed a Fortune 500 Company”.  And what company might that be, that he was president or Chief Executive Officer of? But when you are nothing but the “Alleluia Chorus” for the House Aveni, credibility and intellectual honesty are minor considerations.

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“Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg, and howlet’s wing,–
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.”

The Conscience of the King, Act II: The Convention

“By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes”.  MacBeth, Act IV, Scene I

Yesterday, we Howlets set the stage for what may well prove to be the greatest community (political) theater we’ve seen in years. Just to recap:

-Jerry Carman, Independent uber-conservative materializes out of the mist, and begins a shadow campaign.

-Doug Brown launches “A Bridge Too Far” (ABTF) and begins catapulting [Rhetorical and Theatrical license here] everything from “severed heads” to “diseased cattle” over the MGOP castle walls, and engages in verbal sword-play with GOP chairman Steve “By the Books”Thomas.

-Baroness Aveni,  inadvertently exposes her husband’s support of the usurper, Jerry Carman. (Out, out damn spot!)

So let us now take you back to the convention held on January 28^th, 2012. Before doing so, we need to say that neither of us is a member of either party’s “machinery”.  Some of the “in’s and out’s” of convention politics are very difficult to decipher, and it took quite a bit of research to figure out just exactly what happened. That said, we feel pretty confident that our account is fairly accurate.   The up side is that, we have the scenarios from so many sources.

The way a convention works is people sign up to be “delegates,”  by filling out a form.  My dog Stoney used to get one in the mail each year.  Often those who want to run for office will get his or her supporters to fill out the  convention form so they can go vote for that person.  This form is returned by a specific date, and the MGOP checks the applicants to make sure they are eligible to vote in Manassas elections. That’s it.  Anyone who is an eligible City of Manassas voter can attend, according to the laws of Virginia. Once all the forms are collected and checked, a list is compiled and given to each campaign.

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There’s a city election on Tuesday, May, 1st, and it may well prove to be one of the most interesting city elections any of us can remember.  This one might even out-do the ill-fated Steve Chapman challenge to Rep. Harry Parrish, about 7 years ago, as far as high political drama goes.

We here at Moonhowlings have been watching the developing political drama from the audience, rather than leaping into what is proving to be “Theater in the Round”.   We did have a guest post, but that was not our observations, but theirs.  We chose to observe, gather facts and opinions and wait until we had a clear picture of not only what is playing out on the public stage, but a good understanding of the “backstage dynamics” that are driving this political theater….and theater it is:

Current Mayor Hal Parrish is running unopposed for reelection. All of the excitement in this race was settled at the GOP convention, when Hal held off a challenge for the nomination from Andy Harrover.  We like both of these public servants, as it is clear to us that they place the best interests of the entire community as priority, rather than bowing to the pressure of a very vocal few.   Neither one of them carry pitchforks or torches.

The real excitement is in the city council race. Much more so than may be apparent to the casual observer…or even to those who consider themselves “informed.”   We would like to present a clear picture of what appears to really be going on, and we promise that our dear (and not so dear) readers will not be disappointed.   This ”play” has intrigue and double-dealing, willing and unwilling and even unknowing participants.  Basically, it’s a ”play” about power and retribution, pure and simple.  We here at ‘Howlings will narrate this from stage right (or left, depending on where you sit in the audience). So let’s get to it, shall we?

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Jennifer Buske has written an article about the area plans for the Sesquicentennial for the Washington Post entitled “As Civil War anniversary nears, Manassas sees a historic opportunity.”   In the Friday the 13th  article she writes what begins as an ode to deceased event planner Creston Owen and takes us though the history of the arriving at the Sesquicentennial.  Included in the article is a comparison between the Manassas Battlefield and Gettysburg.

Any attempts to compare the two battlefields ended about the time of the battles themselves.  Manassas is not Gettysburg and never will be, based pretty much on location, location, location, both then and now.  Gettysburg pretty much is a dedicated battlefield.  Manassas is a suburb of D.C.  And here is the gist of the problem.

According to the Washington Post:

Playing off the excitement of the sesquicentennial, Corey A. Stewart, the Board of County Supervisors chairman, said he wants to begin branding Prince William as a military history corridor where people can stop at the battlefield, the National Museum of the Marine Corps and the future American Wartime Museum. That attraction is scheduled to open in 2014 and cover every era of war from World War I to Iraq and Afghanistan.

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The News and Messenger  reports the over-all tone of the Manassas City public hearing for FY2012 budget.   The City is attempting to pass a $304 million dollar budget.  Those who attended the public hearing appeared to be split 50-50 pro/ con.  Of course, that number just counts those attending the budget hearing.

Citizens were divided over BPOL tax and its impact on business within the City.  Others appeared to be concerned over adding police and fire personnel and equipment.  The average tax bill was not projected to go up that much.  Single family homes overall were projected to raise the property tax on that home by $2.00.

The Tea Party was vocal and its leaders spoke of people falling on hard times. Many homeowners are still under water. 

Our very own Raymond Beverage put all of this in terms most of us can understand.  The tax increase for most families added up to a 6 pack and 2 bottles of Sam Adams.  

Another citizen summed things up nicely:

Mark Hempen said he wanted to make sure the city was safe, clean and well run, and he supported the budget.

“It isn’t just the tax rate. I think that we have to look at the whole picture. I think the city has done a good job in a lot of ways and I’d hate to see us not accept this budget and reduce the police force and reduce other services that are greatly needed to keep the city running and to keep the city growing and thriving and flourishing,” the Manassas man said.

What do our readers have to add on the subject?  Let us know what you think.  All too often we leave off what you guys think.  The City has had some horrific crime and at least 1 very bad multi-home fire. These events  have been punctuating some of the budget discussion. 

Every once in a while it’s good to step back and look at what is really being said and by whom. 

A friend sent me a link  that I think bears watching.  First off, I am not a resident of the City of Manassas.  I have friends and relatives there and generally I try to stay out of their business.  However, every once in a while something comes along that is so egregious that it needs comment.

Apparently the Manassas Tea Party has decided to wage war on the Manassas City Council.  They decry increases for services:

Gas and food prices are soaring.  Electric, sewer, trash pickup and water rates are all going up.  As citizens, our first step in these dire financial times is to tighten our own belts and we naturally expect our government officials to follow suit. But look no further than our own Manassas City Council to find a government entity uninterested in reducing the burden on its citizens.

Services go up for everyone, including municipal government.   Isn’t trash service part of City services?  These costs will be passed along to the resident.  The City isn’t your parent, Tea Party People.  You have to foot some of this cost. 

Here are additional complaints:

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Manassas Fire and Rescue Chief Mike Wood has resigned and not as a happy man.  He has been at his post for 2 years.  According to News and Messenger:

However, by his own admission, Wood is resigning a disappointed man. He said the current fire and rescue department gave him a lot of liability and little authority. It’s also a system that he feels makes residents of Manassas less safe than they should be

“[Public safety] is an essential service and an essential service needs a strategic vision, a strategic plan,” Wood said. “Some two years into my appointment, we’ve not been able to develop a strategic plan. There are too many diverse and opposing views on what could be done, should be done and what may need to be done.”

Manassas City established a system that was a six-person public safety committee comprised of volunteer and career staff.  Additionally, there was a 5 person appeals committee.  City Councilman Andy Harrover helped create  this Manassas Fire and Rescue set-up that was organized to prevent problems.  Obviously it didn’t.  Other officials weighed in on the subject in the N & M:

Manassas Volunteer Rescue Squad president Mike Enright was a little more blunt, stating the Manassas Volunteer Fire Company “disrespected” Wood.

 “I am surprised he lasted this long,” Enright said.

Manassas Mayor Harry J. “Hal” Parrish II said it was tough for all parties involved, including City Council. Set up in January, the system established a six-person public safety committee made up of volunteer and career staffers and a five-person appeals committee made up of Manassasresidents and run by city manager Lawrence Hughes. Councilman Marc T. Aveni chaired the public safety committee.

“I can’t help but think that a great system can come together when people decide they both need and want to work together cooperatively as a team, that is the key,” Parrish said.

Woods departure is seen by many as a real set back to City Fire and Rescue. 

Assistant Fire & Rescue Chief Mike Rohs said he could’ve retired a few years ago but chose to stick around to see what Wood could do.  Both Rohs and Enright praised Wood for his professionalism, open-door policy and his ability to obtain grants for the betterment of the department.

How do volunteers and paid staff work side by side?  It never made sense to me how this works.  Obviously someone or several someones didn’t like taking orders from the paid professionals.  They probably thought they were volunteers and didn’t have to go by the same rules as those on a pay check.  Yet, the volunteers help already stretched municipal budgets and provide a great service to the community.   Regardless of what has transpired, Mike Woods seems to have the respect of most city folks. 

Prince William County has certainly had its ups and downs with this issue also.  Regardless, the next Chief needs to have a great deal more authority over all fire and rescue.  The people of Manassas deserve no less.  City of Manassas people also need to be willing to dump a few of their tax pennies into the public jar to ensure that they have the most up to date equipment.  Word on the street is, they rely a little too much on other jurisdictions to make up their equipment deficiencies.   Hopefully, city folks will help fill in the blanks here.  

Today is the Fall Festival in Old Town Manassas.  It is an annual event that brings tourists into the heart of the City from all over the surrounding area.  It is a day for the City to show off what a cool place it is and also a day for the merchants to bring in the bucks. 

Bringing in the bucks is never a bad thing, especially in this economy.  Many local shop keepers in the City and PWC have been hit hard by the recession and some have had to close their doors, as is evidenced by empty stores in and around the area.  I hope that today is a great day for those merchants in Old Town.  The weather is fabulous and it more or less defines what an October day should be like.  Hopefully no one’s political agenda will mar the event.

The Manassas City Council has been placed in a position by residents and non residents that really leaves them between a rock and a hard place.  For the most part, the council members are nice people who run for election, don’t get paid much for serving, and who are giving  their time to make their small city and community a better place.  They turn out for events and keep the public informed.  The thing I have noticed the most about them is their unwavering dedication to the City and its residents and their never-ending championing of their home turf.  This is a good thing and the good people of the City of Manassas have elected some mighty fine representatives. 

During the past month, these council members have gotten crushed in a political debate that really has gone too far.  It all started when someone noticed the store front window of KK Temptations, a soon-to-be adult boutique.  The alarm was sounded and local “anti- porn” groups sprung to life.   Several local delegates got involved and so did this blog.  We supported the right of KK Temptations to exist, especially since there were already other stores with similar content within the City limits.  Furthermore, KK Temptations had been approved for business according to City regulations. 

The City Council got to sit through what can only be described as a marathon citizens’ time.  Meanwhile, they got bombarded with requests to regulate the long standing women’s clinic that is an abortion provider.  The Religious Right was on a real roll.  No one wants to look like they like pornography.  Delegate Miller did the Council no favors coming into their bailiwick and stirring the pot.  He immediately defined the store as a “porno store.”  That set the tone and allowed all reasonable and logical discussion to be overruled by a name. 

To cause such a stink over location paints the City, and continues to paint the City as elitist.   No one worried at all that MVC is a block over from the library, Parkside or Kindercare or that Fashion Fantasy is right there on route 28 for all to see as they enter the City from that approach.  Some of those stores have been there for decades.  However, because of the way KK Temptations was defined, the City Council has been placed in the position of spending money that they probably don’t have to handle something, that in all probability, won’t be a problem. 

No elected official wants to appear to support pornography aka obscenities.  Doing so can be a real deal breaker come election day.  They also don’t want to be seen as being old fogies, so they walk a tight rope.  The can-can girls perform in Harris Pavilion and the mothers’ march on a legitimate business goes on up the street.  The Council walks a tight rope and hopes that none of the warring factions drops another lawsuit on their desk. 

I nominate the Manssas City Council for the ‘I wouldn’t want to be them’ award.  They have been put in the position that many PWC supervisors found themselves in in 2007 over immigration–between a rock and a hard place. 

It sounds like Ye Olde City Council is going to cave in to the pompous prudes of purity in their quest to extinguish all erotica in the City of Manassas. The pitch forks have been sharpened and the torches lit.  

According to the News & Messenger:

After a  closed session Monday night, the Manassas City Council unanimously passed a resolution aimed at regulating sexually-oriented businesses in the city.

City officials say the resolution will allow officials to keep future sexually-oriented businesses — dubbed SOBs in the paperwork — away from schools, churches, day care centers, playgrounds, youth activity centers and libraries.

The resolution also allows the council to hire outside lawyers to provide a “second opinion” on the validity of existing permits for such businesses. The action will costed [sic] an estimated $71,000.

The action comes in the wake of an uproar over a mother-and-daughter plan to open KK’s Temptations, an adult boutique, in Old Town next month.

It sounds like the Salem Witch Trials have begun.  It might be cheaper for Ye Olde City Council to built a dunking pond over on ye Olde Museum Property.  If it floats, it might be erotica. 

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Smoke is billowing from the fire at Sumner Lake.  Sumner Lake is a fairly new community on the site of Selwyn Smith’s farm, nestled in between Point of Woods single family homes, Plantation Lane and  upper Westgate.  The Manassas News & Messenger reports that as many as 8 houses are on fire.   It is a three alarm fire. 

Traffic is horrible around Manassas because of rubber neckers and fire and rescue  vehicles on the move.  We can only hope that there were no injuries.  The fact that this fire has involved multiple homes is no surprise.  Some of those houses don’t have 15 feet between them.  Everyone lives in the shadow of someone else.  When houses are that close, you might as well live in a townhouse row.  Actually, they are probably safer.  There are firewalls.

More from News & Messenger

Democracy, the old-fashioned way

[UPDATE: At least one other blog has launched a character assassination of some of us here on Moonhowlings. Actually, I haven't been sent a single word that is true. That's the sad part. How can people be so self-righteous and yet be so incorrect in their assumptions?]

The Torches and Pitchforks gathering at Manassas City Chambers scheduled for tomorrow night @ 7 pm just might have to take to the parking lot.  The Manassas City Council will be holding a special meeting at 6:30 in the chambers.  It will be difficult for 2 meetings to be held at the same place at the same time.  Citizens time will be held and the same standards as any other Council meeting will be adhered to. 

This meeting will follow a closed session with attorneys scheduled for 5:30 p.m. 

Since this topic  cropped up last week, I have read and heard the word ‘Christian’ thrown around quite a bit.  That’s getting a little old.  Plenty of good Christian people, as well as people of other faiths, will be in attendance at the City Council meeting supporting an upscale adult boutique.  Some of the politicians who want to trumpet their religion to their base should be just as worried about dissing those folks who don’t consider themselves part of  the Conservative Christian movement. 

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The front page of the WaPo has Kevin Ricks plastered larger than life. The Washington Post reveals months of investigative reporting that uncover the a decades-long pattern of abuse, deceit, and duplicitous behavior of 49 year-old teacher Kevin Ricks. Ricks, a former teacher at Osbourn High School, left a trail of betrayal of public trust that stretched as far away as Japan.

From the Washington Post:

Kevin Ricks was a gregarious, well-traveled English teacher at Osbourn High School, a Walt Whitman devotee who was so popular that a photo of him in class was chosen to fill the opening page of the yearbook. A writer and photographer himself, Ricks would walk the halls of the Manassas school with a leather-bound journal of his musings tucked in his bag, next to his laptop computer

What teachers, parents, students and even his wife didn’t know was that his journals contained decades of dark secrets, a running handwritten commentary of Ricks’s world of obsession, infatuation, pursuit, sexual abuse and international child exploitation.

They didn’t know about his library of homemade pornographic videos and explicit photographs capturing his tequila-soaked sex acts with teenage boys he had handpicked. They didn’t know about the makeshift shrine boxes containing mementos of the episodes, including sex toys, soiled tissues and hair trimmings.

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