General Article Archive Bristol VA-TN
- Selling Out New York City Children for Affirmative Action
- Remote Area Medical Clinic Returns to Wise in 2011, Government Wastes Millions
- Tri-Cities region loses 439 jobs in first quarter
- Exposing the Virginia Tobacco Commission Part 1
- Exposing the Virginia Tobacco Commission Part 2
- Southwest Virginia Exposed Again July 2008
- Washington County Supervisor Blasts Obscene Pay Raises
- $10 million in corporate welfare could yield $25 million plus for developer
- The Cause Civic ignorance in America
- Buchanan County and the Virginia Employment Commission
- Tri-Cities region loses 439 jobs in first quarter 2008; cycle starts again
- 2008 Kids Count report: poverty on the rise in Tennessee, press ignores the reason why
- Highway Pork and the Solar Hill Project in Bristol, Virginia
- Appalachia Resents Label of 'Third World' but nothing changes
- $8 million for the Wise Inn
- Study finds housing costs outstrip wages
- "Innovative" Public Housing Not Available to Working Poor in Bristol, VA/TN
- Social Apartheid and Housing at Exit 7
- Failure at Virginia High School in Bristol, Virginia
- The Obama "Change" Show Comes to Bristol, VA
- Rapper "Birdman" Arrested, and Black Crime in Kingsport
- The Bear in My Backyard
- Virginia Politicians and Highway Pork
- Fifth Liquor Store To Help Inundate Bristol, TN with Booze
- Congressman Rick Boucher Supports Earmarks
- Letter from Congressman Boucher on why he voted for an Energy Tax
Also before someone plays the race card on black Muslim Islamo-fascists, see the stupid whites in Terrorism takedown: Seven Charged in North Carolina We also can't ignore why black people are poor even with anti-white racism known as affirmative action.
- How Marxism became racism
- Why Progressivism is a Mental Illness
- American capitalism gone with a whimper
- What is (the Pseudo-religion) of Marxism?
- Why the terms Islamic or Liberal fascism?
- Scoping Out Pepe: Why We Should Get It Right, But Won't
- Illegal Alien Driver pleads guilty to wrong-way wreck
- Illegal alien nailed for child rape in Washington County Virginia
- Race, IQ, black crime, and facts liberals ignore
- Race dialogue: same old stuff: It's Culture, Not Racism
- Do 'minorities' really have it that bad?
- Black Liberation Theology and The Audacity of Rhetoric
- IQ Will Put You In Your Place
- Black/Hispanic failure in public schools is not racial bias
- The Question of IQ versus Race, and the leftist' agenda
- Morality Gap Mirrors Asian/white versus black/Hispanic IQ Gap
- Black college graduation rates under 50 percent
- Lies surround racism claims in our public schools
- ACLU sues Palm Beach over poor graduation rates
- Out migration still killing Southwest Virginia
- Issues surrounding the Minutes of Bristol Virginia Utilities
- Letter form Lilli Buck
- Gates Corporation bringing 172 jobs to Southwest Virginia
- Northrop Grumman and AMS-CGI: More jobs or more hype?
- Why the public should be angry about Bristol Compressors
- Exit 7 Fiasco
- Travelocity Debacle
- Grundy, Virginia and the $200 million Bridge to Nowhere
- Sullivan County Exposed
Local Issues
- 2700 new jobs?? Employment figures mask real truth
- Some still fighting War on Poverty after 40 years
- Critics of the Appalachian Regional Commission say many distressed areas left
- Corporate welfare and Red Lobster for Bristol VA
- Tri-Cities gains 1,300 jobs in first quarter
- Tri-Cities kids are behind economically
- Why should businesses pay for schools' failure?
- White-collar jobs joining blue-collar counterparts overseas
- Stand to Reason Commentary - Culture Wars II
- Less Welfare, Same Poverty in Heart of Appalachia
- Worlds Apart by Cynthia Duncan
- A Future Imperiled by Poverty
- How the ARC Wastes Millions
- Who Really Gets Mountain Money?
- Pierce Trial and Racism
- Poverty Myths
- War on Poverty and how the Poor Lost
- What you should know about Bristol Motor Speedway
- Defeat of the Mendota Trail in Washington County, Virginia!
- I Lived in Mendota, and Why I left
- A Town's Future Is Leaving the Country: Travelocity and Dickenson County
- My letters printed in the Bristol Herald Courier
- Washington leaders need to live in real world
- Pork Barrel Spending Doesn't Create Jobs
- Let's Work Together But Be Realistic
- Caves to Visit in the Bristol VA/TN Area
- The negative impact of kids working to pay their bills.
- It's not the workers, but the wages: a response to the press
- Businesses want job candidates already trained and ready for work, but refuse to pay for it.
- Survey: Region at risk due to critical skills gap Bunk
- Sitgreaves: 'Burger' comment aimed at lack of white-collar jobs in Tri-Cities
- Tenn. high schools leave many students behind
- Tennessee's students still not making the grade
- Students' knowledge of civics, history appalling
- (Illegal) Immigrant advocates blast Kilgore
- Va. Colleges May Bar Illegal Immigrants
- Kilgore and Cantor Urge Approval of Illegal Immigrant Bills
- Residents grateful for RAM services update 2002
- Contrast three local economic reports from the Kingsport Times-News
- Hunger and risk of hunger well known in Tennessee
Bristol Virginia Utilities
Travelocity: A warning for region? Travelocity.com got about $10 million in corporate welfare and decides to dump Clintwood, Virginia for India. Congressman Rick Boucher (D VA 9th) calls this a success story and that he deserves full credit. Companies like Sykes and Travelocity are dumping rural America in droves while the local press asked why Congressman Boucher never saw it coming.
- Controversy at the (Bristol) City owned utility: citizens will "starve to death"
- In the Cold for an "imbalance" at Bristol Virginia Utilities
- Bristol Virginia Utilities to Add On-Demand Movies, breaks promises again
- Social Apartheid and the Bristol Virginia Utilities (BVU) Scholarship Program
- Nepotism at Bristol Virginia Utilities
- BVU goes back TVA, more massive rate increases announced
- Fiber Optic Fiasco at Bristol Virginia Utilities in 2007
- Cable Ready Socialism Main Page
- Utilities Overload
- Fiber Optic Fiasco at Bristol Virginia Utilities Continues
- Travelocity Debacle
Sex and Sin in Bristol
May 20, 2005. Panic gripped the Bristol Community in April. Special called sessions of City government met in hurried discussions on the crisis. The local press screamed for action. The sanctity and moral fiber of our community was at stake. "We don't want it here," said Bristol Virginia Mayor Paul Hurley. And the City attorney is quoted as saying, I think everyone's trying to protect the integrity of the city." While the city budget is a wreck, this is what brought a wail of protest and concern to our fair community. Their efforts to end sex in Bristol had failed.
Dan Bickley the owner of Exotic Illusions Adult Bookstore, had "beat the city to the punch." He opened his store on State Street almost across from a Bible bookstore. He did it before the city could pass laws to prevent him from opening. The end result was lots of free press and a month later the City of Bristol has not collapsed into barbarism and the Bible bookstore is still in business. In fact porn has been available for years at a local flee-market on Volunteer Parkway, but the idea that we can actually see it will upset our phony homegrown Walton's image. Bickley has eight full time employees and is doing well.
Earlier, protest had broken out at the Barter Theatre in nearby Abingdon over a nude scene in a play. In 2002, Sullivan County and Bristol, Tennessee railroaded two local strip bars by the use of zoning laws. They claimed this would prevent the rise of crime. Religious fanatics that were behind it, claimed God wanted them to do it. The crime rate went up anyway along with the poverty rate.
Just released on our local news in September 2005 is the fact Bristol, Virginia has the highest rate of child abuse in Virginia. This was long before this store ever opened. In 2008 the porn shop is still there along with the Christian book store across the street.
September 22, 2005 to quote Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Governmental Studies
"The most corrupt region is Southwest Virginia...more indictments for political and public office corruption have happened in this region than all other parts of the state combined."
Nothing to cut
Printed Bristol Herald Courier May 19, 2005
I wish to commend Bristol, Virginia Mayor Hurley and City officials for their honesty regarding the City budget at the May 10th public hearing. I've seen the projected City budget and I see nothing they can cut. I suggested across the board pay cuts for all city employees that brought gasps of horror from school officials.
We can argue all day if $60 million for socialized telecom or $10 million for a new library is worth cutting teachers or police, but the public took no interest in these issues three years ago and now the day of reckoning is here.
The public is to blame.
Where was everybody while all of this was going on? Public hearings only draw interest when the bills come due or a smut shop comes to town. Bristol already spends above the state average per pupil even without the additional funds requested by the school board.
Our public employees deserve more money, but so do most Bristol workers earning among the worse pay scales in Virginia. City employees average 2.5 times the average pay of those working on Commonwealth Avenue or Exit 7. Local governments have mainly unstable meal/lodging taxes and property taxes to work with while state and federal funds are declining.
A similar problem is looming in Washington County. We whine about sky rocketing property taxes, but sit in silence as county officials committed about $50 million to Mack Trammell's strip mall or gave thousands to the Barter Theater. Regardless of merit, local residents will bear more and more of the cost.
Pretending country music hype is economic development or Exit 7 will save us is insane. Public officials must be honest even if the truth is unpopular. The public must also have reasonable expectations of our elected officials. Thank you Mayor Hurley
Lewis Loflin Bristol, Virginia
Updates March 21, 2005
Virginia Lt. Governor Tim Kaine and former Governor Lynwood Holton (his father-in-law) visited Bristol at 12 noon at the courthouse. I was there carrying my protest signs and was the first to greet them. I made it clear he was welcome and the protest was over utility bills. He and Mr. Holton are really nice people, and I was surprised he knew who I was. He got one of my flyers, and I got to visit the party inside. I met many of our top local Democrats and the City Sheriff, a really nice man. Mr. Kaine had just come from Gate City.
Updates March 11, 2005
For the background on this see Cable Ready Socialism
The big news in Bristol community is inflated utility rates, especially electric rates. While Bristol suffered large hikes in water, sewer, and cable rates in 2005, the January 1 electric rates have created real hardship for many in a community already burdened with the worst social statistics in Virginia. Anger boiled over at the city council hearings on Tuesday March 8.
This all began when Jeff Stowers started a petition drive that netted over 4000 signatures from Bristol and Washington County residents protesting high utility bills. Citizens packed City Council meeting where over 20 residents blasted away at the City Council over cost of electricity. Bristol has the highest utility rates in the area. The petitions were presented to the City Council, who didn't seem to care.
Bristol Virginia Utilities is owned by the City of Bristol who took as much as $25 million out of the publicly owned non-profit utility to pad city tax coffers at the same time the utility ran up $50 million in debt. All Mayor Hurley could say was "we hear you" while wringing his hands. The other council members sat in silence, their faces a mask of contempt and boredom.
Washington County March 2005
Bristol city residents recently got their usual four-year inflated property assessments in addition to exploding utility rates. Red McCulloch of Bristol Virginia doesn't understand why his house went up 30 percent in the past four years. Assessments are up an average of 15.5 percent across Bristol, Virginia. Red is lucky, Washington County resident Kenneth Upchurch's tax assessment went from $63,000 to $107,000 - a 41 percent increase. Across Washington County the average is 27 percent.
When Congressman Rick Boucher (D. VA 9th) held a town hall meeting, residents brought up this issue, but he refused to address it or be involved in it. He said take it to the County Board of Supervisors. According to the Bristol Herald Courier, a Request for meeting with Washington Supervisors falls on deaf ears. Quoting Supervisor Bobby Ingle, "We get jumped on every four years when this happens, There is no point in calling a meeting to have us jumped on." In other words, screw you Washington County residents.
But perhaps Bobby should discuss a little surprise the county got stuck with. Last May Bobby and fellow supervisors voted unanimously for a multi-million dollar corporate welfare package for businessman Mac Trammell. ($10 million) My supervisor Odel Owens, claimed this project was to be paid for from future sales tax receipts. To quote, "The county is looking for ways to provide the services Trammell's tenants will need, including water and sewer service...County officials say they are committed to providing the needed services, though they haven't yet said how they plan to do so." (Herald Courier 1-11-05) Real cost, perhaps $40 million to county taxpayers.
- Why Progressives Became Racists
- Progressives Are Not Liberals!
- Exploring Jonah Goldberg's Book 'Liberal Fascism'
- Marxism is a Pagan Religious Cult
- DACA Poster Child Rapes 9-Year-Old in Virginia
- Illegal Immigration Plagues Tennessee
- Machete Wielding Hispanic Shot Dead
- Romantic Notions of Mexicans Can Mean Trouble
- Drunk Illegal Alien Driver Pleads Guilty Gatlinburg, Tennessee
- Lies Surround Racism Claims in Public Schools
- IQ Versus Outcome Not So Simple
- Why Many People Shouldn't Get a 4-Year Degree
- Intelligence Predicts Economic Social Outcome
- Scientific Case for a Transcendent God
- In Defense of Classical Deism
- Obama's Science Teacher Training Initiative Politicized Science
- Fear and Loathing of Islam is not Islamophobia