Republicans sweep Virginia – local delegates easily beat back challenges

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Obenshain, V-DOT duke it out over YouTube videos

Fresh from his self-declared 'War with the Eastern Box Turtle,' Sen. Mark Obenshain is now battling with VDOT over YouTube videos he says are a waste. VDOT says they were free and draw viewers to public safety videos. Turtle photo by Flickr user fleshmeatdoll.

By Dan McDermott
Editor-in-Chief
Warren County Report

FRONT ROYAL, VA–Area Republican State Senator Mark Obenshain of Harrisonburg, recently pummeled by Warren County Report readers for his self-declared ‘War with the Eastern Box Turtle’ has set his sights on another slow-moving target, the Virginia Department of Transportation.

In a March 16 press release, Obenshain attacked VDOT for posting videos on YouTube that he says are a waste of tax money.

Obenshain’s release “expressed disappointment at learning that the cash-strapped department, which is cutting essential services to rural areas, is not so broke as to stop producing its own YouTube videos – some legitimate public service announcements, but others unadulterated examples of government waste.”

One example Obenshain cites is a video of kids sledding. Obenshain said that although VDOT officials “have insisted that limited funds give them no choice but to abandon all snow and ice removal on unpaved roads, the department had no trouble finding the resources to film children sledding during a recent snow. Instead of sending film crews to watch kids go sledding, VDOT should be clearing the roads to get those kids to school,” said Obenshain.

VDOT Chief of Communications Jeff Caldwell agrees that some of the videos are not “hard news” but says that they are an effective way to reach out to the masses. “We recognize that these are tough times. We are pulling back on traditional expensive media and are finding that social interactive web sites, like YouTube, are a great way to get our message out. Plus they are free,” he said.

Caldwell went on to say that the ‘kid’s sledding’ video was not shot with expensive “film crews,” as Obenshain claims but rather was taped by an off-duty videographer. The employee shot the video near his home with his own camera, Caldwell said.

Among the videos targeted by Obenshain’s release is one of bridge demolitions set to opera. Caldwell said that video was done using old footage and was created as a training exercise for employees working on a new video editing computer that had just been installed. “These types of videos are popular and cost us nothing to post. They draw in a lot of traffic and we find that some of those visitors will stick around and watch our other informational videos and messages about public safety,” Caldwell said.

The Obenshain release says the senator “unearthed VDOT’s YouTube Channel on Sunday.” Apparently not many people have unearthed the senator’s own YouTube channel.  Regardless of who wins this debate, the YouTubers appear to have sided with VDOT. The bridge demolition set to opera video received about 130,000 views in it’s first 12 days. Obenshain’s latest YouTube video of the senator talking about the budget received 140 views in the same period.

VDOT’s YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/vdotweb
Sen. Mark Obenshain’s channel: www.youtube.com/user/markobenshain

editor@warrencountyreport.com

Town begins online posting of meeting videos

FRONT ROYAL VA–Front Royal Town Manager Mike Graham and Director of Information Technology Jonathan McMahon unveiled the new Town of Front Royal Municipal Video Portal today. This video portal will provide citizens with the ability to view webcasts of Front Royal Town Council meetings and other video communications from the Town. Prior to this time, the only way to watch a Town Council meeting without actually being present at the meeting was to view the Tuesday night broadcast on Comcast Channel 16 (the local government access channel). Copies of the videos of Town Council meetings have always been available to citizens upon request; however, there is a fee to cover the cost of duplication.

The webcasts are available by visiting the website http://video.frontroyalva.com. At this time, webcasts of the past two Town Council meetings are available online (February 23 March 9 meetings). Mayor Tewalt’s 2009 State of the Town Address is also available for viewing, and several other webcasts will be online by the end of the week. The Town will continue posting new council meetings as they occur, with the intent of having each webcast online by the Wednesday following the Town Council meeting. Since storage space is not unlimited, the webcasts of the older meetings will be rotated out over time to allow for new meetings to be posted.

Union-breaking case against Interbake goes to federal judge

By Roger Bianchini
Warren County Report

Front Royal, Virginia – A federal trial stemming from a 48-count indictment alleging that one of the three largest cookie and cracker manufacturers in North America has engaged in illegal activities to thwart union organizing efforts at its Warren County plant concluded in Martinsburg, W. Va., on Feb. 10. At this point it can be only guesswork as to how long a federal judge will take before rendering a decision in the alleged union-busting case, but it could be months, and eventually years before a final resolution is achieved according to a representative of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) union.

“That is why the Employee Free Choice Act is so important,” BCTGM Union rep John J. Price says. “Up here where I am (in Ohio) a case has gone on for 6-1/2 years without resolution – there is no incentive to deter these companies [from anti-union activities]. There are 2000 pages of transcripts and 250 exhibits [in the Martinsburg trial]. The judge has set March 18 for briefs to be filed in that case. Say it takes until the end of August to review everything submitted and Interbake loses. They can appeal to DC and there’s another two years gone.”

The pending federal legislation Price referenced would simplify the process of unionization of the workplace. It would allow unionization through the submission of a simple majority of worker signatures on union authorization cards. Currently, companies can contest such generally supportive moves toward unionization and require secret ballot votes on labor representation.

Price pointed out the Employee Free Choice Act would fine companies found guilty of violating national labor laws, such as are alleged in the current Warren County Interbake case, three times the amount of back pay owed employees found to have been wrongly terminated for union support.

And it is this scenario of alleged management harassment and firings of union supporters that is at the root of the federal case brought by the Baltimore Regional Office of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against Interbake’s Warren County industrial bakery.

The plant specializes in cookies and ice cream sandwich wafers. Interbake’s website lists 1,100 employees at six locations in what it says is the third largest cookie and cracker manufacturing operation in North America. Interbake’s parent company is George Weston, a Canadian company founded in 1882. Interbake’s corporate offices are in Richmond, Va.

“Instead of concentrating on making ice-cream sandwiches and cookies, that plant’s management seems focused on union busting,” Price says of the union’s read on Interbake’s management tactics at its Warren County plant. “We believe it reflects a diabolical plan on the company’s part. Unfortunately in 2007, employees were required to attend mandatory company meetings that put fear [of unionizing] into workers.”

The current federal suit alleges Interbake management began a pattern of worker intimidation and profiling following an initial pro-union authorization vote shortly after the plant opened in the spring of 2006. Price said at that time about 2/3’s of the Warren plant’s workers signed pro-union authorization cards. Then, despite what he calls a mutually beneficial past relationship between the national baker’s union and the company, Interbake declined to let BCTGM in as the plant’s employee representative. It was then the trouble started, according to Price.

“Given the history of the relationship between the company and the union I have no idea why they did that. As I said, that’s the million dollar question and it remains the million dollar question,” Price said of Interbake’s initial move against BCTGM as the labor representative of its Warren County workforce. Price said that Interbake and its parent company, George Weston, actually increased its market share and profitability from an earlier relationship with the baker’s union based at a plant in North Sioux City, South Dakota. “The employer made money – they actually went from fourth to second in the industry during this relationship,” Price said.

Interbake’s Richmond-based attorney in the case, Mark Keenan, did agreed with Price on that one point – that the union and company had a previously good working relationship based at Interbake’s North Sioux City, SD facility – but that’s about it as far as concurrence on the basic issues at stake in the federal suit goes.

Timing is everything

“In 2006 before we had hired any employees, the union was demanding that they be allowed to be the employees’ labor negotiations representative. The company wanted to preserve the right of workers to choose,” Keenan said of Interbake’s move toward a secret ballot on unionization. Keenan said the company believes a secret ballot is the most effective way to assure employee’s right to vote what they believe, without undue coercion from either side.

Keenan also disputes Price’s estimate of initial and subsequent union support at the Warren County plant. He said Price’s own testimony at trial estimated the number of pro-BCTGM union authorization cards topping out between 55 and 60 percent, rather than the 66 percent Price’s referenced 2-1 margin implies. The Interbake attorney also stated that BCTGM Local 68 Business Manager Gary Oskian testified at trial that the union had “demanded” voluntary recognition as the Warren plant’s labor representative early in 2006 before the plant opened. At issue remains whether such a union “demand” predated a workforce expression of union support, be it 55 or 66 percent.

Keenan also said the company believes the timing of union allegations of worker coercion just prior to the April 2008 vote were prompted by the union’s expectation of a second consecutive loss by secret ballot of the plant’s employees. Keenan observed the union made no allegation of similar coercion in the wake of the 2007 election that saw unionization soundly defeated.

The disputed and tightly contested 2008 vote came following a decisive, nearly 2-1 defeat of unionization in April 2007. Price says the union views such marked short-term turnarounds in union support at individual plants, as he believes was the case between 2006 and 2007 at Interbake’s Warren County plant, as indicative of concerted and often illegal management efforts to crush organized labor representation.

Keenan counters that if 60 percent or less of the plant’s workers signed the 2006 union authorization cards, the numbers to affect the 2007 secret ballot turnaround could be explained by a change of as few as 20 or so votes – “which is not nearly as dramatic a turnaround.”

Labor relations

The federal trial began on Oct. 27, and concluded after 27 days of testimony on alleged violations of the National Labor Relations Act at Interbake’s plant here. The complaint was filed on July 31, 2008, three months after a still disputed secret ballot on unionization in April 2008. Among the evidence heard by US Administrative Law Judge John T. Clark was whether Interbake fired six employees for their union support prior to that April 16, 2008 election at which the company contends unionization was defeated by a 100-97 vote. Price says if the NLRB-enabled, but still contested votes of the four, fired employees are allowed to stand, the union wins the April election by a 101-100 count.

While the company says the contested employees were all fired for legitimate reasons, the union has a different read on the situation. Of fired union supporter John Robinson, Price said, “He had never missed a day; did all he was asked to do and achieved top seniority He was approached about a change to third, or the midnight, shift,” due to a specific personal situation. “All he did was question why, with his seniority, he would move to the third shift – and they fired him on the spot. Everybody at the plant knew why he was fired,” Price says.

Keenan asserts that the company’s effort to change Robinson’s shift was strictly due to medical limitations Robinson admitted to at trial. “He was a good employee but there were medical issues that limited what he could do,” Keenan asserts. Rather than shift other workers to accommodate Robinson’s situation, the company’s policy was to move Robinson to an open third-shift spot. Keenan characterized Robinson’s departure as almost a “self-termination” due to his medical limitations.

In addition to disagreeing on the particulars of specific terminations, Price and the union point to other methods of company harassment and coercion. Price cited “mandated” company meetings during which the union contends employees were threatened with lost retirement benefits and the specter of lost jobs if unionization was allowed at the plant. – “And the bottom line for any worker is they don’t want to lose their job. No wonder they were scared to talk to us after that,” Price said.

In contrast to the alleged series of mandatory management meetings the union believes were designed to scare workers away from union support, Price says the union was allowed scant opportunity for rebuttal at the plant in 2007. “We got only two, hour slots before and after shifts – it wasn’t a level playing field. Our tables were right across from management’s offices. We actually spent more time talking to managers than employees,” Price observed.

“I think that’s simply inaccurate,” Keenan counters. “Workers change their minds for a variety of reasons.” Of past labor violation allegations against Interbake in 2006, Keenan said that of 46 individual claims filed in 2006, 40 were either dropped by the NLRB or withdrawn by the union. Of the remaining complaints, Keenan says they were generally minor violations such as supervisors removing union materials from tables were they were legally set out for employees. He said the company decided it was not cost effective to litigate such minor offenses, and settled those cases out of court.

After the trial’s conclusion, one Interbake employee and union supporter spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear for his own job.

“I would like to emphasize that Interbake and it’s attorneys had a real good idea who was for union representation and who was not by the constant categorizing of it’s workforce by many surveys like demographics. Removing workers from their workstations to ‘speak’ with them about their concerns but never taking any actions, was a clear sign of being profiled. All the while, problems in production were being ignored. Training was non-existent until this federal trial. The workers at Interbake have made the plant productive despite all the obstacles, however we knew we needed representation due to the treatment management instilled on us daily, like not being allowed to go home during a state of emergency one winter.

“At the very least, now Interbake has a split shop. But they could have taken the NLRB recommendation of remedy to rehire the fired workers and count their votes to resolve the issue.

For some reason they will never admit, management chose to block their workers by whatever means necessary.”

“The Judge will decide whether or not the NLRB Regional Attorneys have proven the facts around the unlawful termination of BCTGM supporters Phillip Underwood, Connie Nelson, Christina Duval, Milo Malcomb, Clyde Stovall and John Robinson,” Price says. “Four of the six discriminees listed above voted in the April 16, 2008 election. Their votes will make the difference on whether or not 210 Interbake employees will have the right to collectively bargain a BCTGM union contract.”

Athey’s Bill to Help Virginia’s Auto Dealers Passes House

Hometown Car Dealership Protection Bill to Assist Motor Vehicle Dealers Advances to State Senate

Richmond, Wednesday February 11, 2009 – Del. Clifford “Clay” Athey, Jr. (R-Warren) , Chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee , announced that his bill to assist statewide community motor vehicle dealers passed 98-0 in the House of Delegates and will go on to the Virginia State Senate.

The following is a summary of HB -1778:

HB 1778 Motor vehicle dealers; coercion.  Revises and clarifies responsibilities of manufacturers toward motor vehicle dealers in the event of termination of a dealer franchise.

By the end of this year General Motors is expected to terminate over 5,000 of their 7,500 existing dealerships in North America. Every job related to the auto industry in Virginia will be affected by the Detroit Three auto manufacturer’s plans to eliminate auto line makes like Saturn (Chevy), Chrysler, and Ford (Mercury) as well as many others throughout the nation. Some auto parts manufacturer’s plants as well as our hometown car dealerships will be forced to close or dramatically reduce their workforce.

“My HB 1778 ensures that a small part of the Federal bailout money GM, Ford, and Chrysler received last month will be shared with Virginia car dealerships which may be forced to close their doors because the cars they sell and service will no longer be manufactured. This bill provides them a way to attract other manufacturers to replace the Detroit Three saving local jobs.

Protecting home town dealerships and their employees should be our top priority in this time of economic uncertainty not bailing out the corporate CEO’s in Detroit whose bad decisions have brought the domestic auto industry to its knees,” noted Delegate Athey.

“I look forward to moving this Hometown Car Dealership Protection Bill through the State Senate and the Governor’s desk in spite of the opposition of the Detroit Three,” Athey said.

Athey’s Bill to Fill Vacancies for Local Offices Passes House

Bill Provides That Vacancies in Cities and Towns Shall Be Filled by Special Elections

Richmond, Wednesday February 11, 2009 – Del. Clifford “Clay” Athey, Jr. (R-Warren), Chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee, announced today that his bill to filling vacancies in certain local offices and special elections passed 99-0 by the House of Delegates.

The following is a summary of HB -1780:

HB 1780 – Elections; filling vacancies in certain local offices; special elections.  Provides that vacancies in a governing body or elected school board shall be filled by special election notwithstanding any other statutory or charter provision to the contrary; thus overriding charter provisions that may allow a governing body or school board to appoint a person to serve the entire remaining portion of a term.

Athey said that his bill will ensure that the citizens within any town or city have the final word, through their vote, in deciding who is elected to represent them. “This bill arose out of an Attorney General’s opinion confirming the Front Royal town attorney’s opinion that because Councilman Shae Parker was appointed by his fellow councilmen as opposed to being elected by his fellow citizens, he was forbidden by the Virginia Constitution and over sixty state statutes from casting a vote on any issue involving the expenditure of money, the setting of a tax rate, or the issuance of debt,” Athey said.

“My HB 1780, if passed by the State Senate and signed by Governor Kaine, will ensure that any vacancy in a local office going forward will be filled by a Special Election wherein the people will decide who is best to represent their interests in elected office. I am grateful that my colleagues in the House unanimously supported my proposal to require Special Elections even though the Virginia Municipal League, representing Virginia’s towns and cities opposed my bill and demanded that the bill be amended to permit local councils to continue to fill vacancies by defining appointed officials as elected officials which in my judgment would be dishonest,” Athey said.

Related story.

Virginia state liquor monopoly to continue

Richmond, VA – On Jan. 30, the Senate Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services killed legislation introduced by Senator Mark Obenshain (R-Harrisonburg) to privatize Virginia’s ABC Store operations. Although SB 1542 will not be considered further this year, Sen. Obenshain says he will continue to work towards the goal of divesting these operations.

“Although we have considered many vitally important bills this session, few pieces of legislation struck a chord with voters as much as this one did,” said Sen. Obenshain. “The voters do not understand why the state needs to be in the retail business, and frankly, neither do I.”

Virginia’s ABC Stores are a relic of an earlier era, a holdover from the early days after Prohibition when many, including oil baron John D. Rockefeller, were concerned that the private sale of alcohol would corrupt the moral character of the citizenry and lead to moral decay.

Seventy-five years after the repeal of Prohibition, nothing has changed in Virginia – even though thirty-two states allow the private sale of distilled spirits. In fact, these “private sale” states actually experience slightly lower levels of underage drinking, driving under the influence, and alcoholism.

Sen. Obenshain’s bill would have created “package store licenses,” which would authorize the retail sale of alcohol beverages, to be auctioned off one at a time, with no less than one license in every city and county, but not more than one per 10,000 residents, adjusted every five years. The auction price would form the basis for that licensee’s annual fees, adjusted for inflation, and the state would continue to tax the sale of spirits. No licensee could locate within a one mile radius of an existing license holder, making the first license issued in any locality the most valuable.

“Handled correctly, privatizing the ABC Stores will save money and increase consumer choice,” said Obenshain, noting that privatization tends to offer consumers such benefits as greater convenience, better hours, wider selections, lower prices, and the innovation inherent in competition-driven systems.

Although the bill did not pass this year, Sen. Obenshain intends to work with interested parties to revise and reintroduce the legislation next year. Support for the measure transcends the usual political divides: “Everywhere I go, people ask me about this bill,” said Obenshain. “Democrats and Republicans, young and old, they all want the government out of the business of selling alcohol.”

A Facebook group Sen. Obenshain created for supporters of privatization efforts currently boasts over four hundred members, and in a recent survey available on www.markobenshain.com and mailed to thousands of voters across the district, seventy percent of respondents favored privatization, with nearly 85% supportive if they were assured that the Commonwealth could reap a considerable profit by the conversion. The numbers ran still higher if voters were assured that the Commonwealth could impose restrictions on the location and advertising of distilled spirit retailers. “The people of the twenty-sixth district understand what some in Richmond just don’t get,” commented Obenshain. “They aren’t ready to give up on this bill, and neither am I.”

Senator Obenshain represents the twenty-sixth district in the Virginia Senate. The district includes the city of Harrisonburg and the counties of Warren, Shenandoah, Page.

Mississippi’s Petal High Band marches into history

With a stopover at Warren County’s Skyline High for a final practice

By Roger Bianchini
Warren County Report

From left, Principal Trombonist E.J. Miller, Flute Section Leader Ericka Morris, Drum Major Greg Barr and Color Guard Captain Josie Taylor. Photo by Roger Bianchini.

Prepare yourselves for “a memory of a lifetime” was the general message of Warren County and Town of Front Royal officials greeting a high school band from Petal, Mississippi, to Front Royal and Skyline High School on Jan. 19. While school was closed for Martin Luther King Day, school administrators opened two-year-old Skyline High’s doors and grounds to allow the Petal High School Marching Band a final outdoor rehearsal prior to their appearance in the Presidential Inaugural Parade the following day.

And while the Petal Marching Band is no stranger to honors, state championships and appearances around the nation, several band members we spoke to seemed to realize the import of the approaching moment to themselves, their band, school and nation.

Preparing for the cold - what's that tuba doing on your head? Photo by Roger Bianchini.

“This is the biggest thing since Kennedy’s Inauguration,” Principal Trombonist E.J. Miller observed of the mood of many younger Americans.  For while President John F. Kennedy may be ancient history to the teens of the early 21st Century, his well reported appeal to the nation’s youth of the early 1960’s rings familiar to their own generation’s emotional connections to President Obama.

“It’s a true blessing for me to be in this organization and to see the President and to be able to march in the parade. To be in the band selected out of all the different bands in Mississippi is a true blessing and an honor,” 17-year-old T.J. Taylor said as he stood with fellow baritone player Joy Grimsley preparing to brave temperatures 30-some degrees colder than characteristic of their home town.

Petal High Assistant Band Director Chris Word is greeted by Warren County Administrator Doug Stanley and Schools Superintendent Pam McInnis. Photo by Roger Bianchini.

We asked Trombonist Miller if the cold and snow might dampen the Mississippi band’s spirits come inauguration day.
“It doesn’t matter. My mind’s not going to be focused on that, my mind is going to be focused on how awesome it is to be there,” Miller enthused, along with Flute Section Leader Ericka Morris, who agreed wholeheartedly that the weather would be irrelevant to the events of the following day for the Petal contingent.

And while the temperatures on the 19th hovered slightly below freezing throughout the day, as if on cue as the band left the comfortable confines of Skyline High’s auditorium around 1:45 p.m., the clouds lifted, snow flurries evaporated and the sun even peeked out to cast a soft glow as the 158-strong Petal Marching Band and Color Guard warmed to their task in the Skyline football stadium parking lot.

As the brass and reeds warmed both their lips and instruments at one end of the lot and the drumline beat a steady rhythm at the other end, it quickly became apparent why Petal High was one of 70 marching bands chosen to participate in the 56th US Presidential inauguration from a pool of 1,300 applicants.

“They are better than my high school band already and they’re only warming up,” Dan McDermott whispered to me in case any ghosts of his high school past were listening.

“Yea, this droning horn and reed warm up with the drums rattling away down there is pretty avant garde – I wonder what their stage band is like?” I wondered aloud.

Ninth-grade Principal Mike Lott, one of Petal High’s four principals, pointed out that 40 percent of his school’s 1,200, 9-12 grade students are involved in music in one way or another.

The Petal High School Band website – www.petalbands.org  – notes it “is the largest organization in the Petal School District, comprised of approximately 160 students in grades 9-12. During the fall, these students are a part of the All-Superior PHS Marching Band. The band performs at football games and makes appearances at parades and community events as well as competitions throughout the South. During the winter and spring, the band is divided into two performing ensembles that include the PHS Symphonic and Concert Bands. The Petal Band program now also offers winter performing opportunities with the Indoor Visual Ensemble and the Indoor Percussion Theatre. All of these groups have received continuous superior ratings in state and regional competitions.” – And some federal, state and local bureaucrats and politicians would have you believe the arts don’t enrich the US student experience enough to fund directly.

Lott said that while the Town of Petal’s population is about 10,000, the school district’s population reaches beyond the town limits into Forrest County to serve a total of about 25,000 people.

And while the band is no stranger to travel and awards, Trombonist Miller said the band’s director didn’t initially alert the band about the application for the Inaugural Parade out of fear of setting his oung charges up for a big fall.

“Our Band Director Mr. “G” (Garnard) made the statement to our Hattiesburg American Newspaper that he didn’t even expect to make it, that’s why he didn’t say anything [to us] about it. And then when he got the papers back it was a huge surprise for us.”

And speaking of huge – Warren Public Schools Superintendent Pamela McInnis noted that Skyline (60) and the new Warren County High (50) bands combined were smaller than the Petal contingent.

As the band practiced on Skyline High’s grounds under the watchful eyes of Assistant Directors Ryan Saul and Chris Word on Jan. 19, Director Mr. Mike Garnard was in DC running through the logistics of the Petal High School Band’s march through history the following day.

“We congratulate you on your achievement, and maybe someday our schools can reach the kind of achievement you have – we hope so at least,” the Petal band, school officials and sponsors were told during welcoming ceremonies in Skyline’s auditorium.

Front Royal, VA Mayor Eugene Tewalt, Warren County, VA Board of Supervisros Chairman Archie Fox, FR Vice Mayor Bret Hrbek, Town Councilmen Shae Parker and Chris Holloway and Warren County, VA Administrator Doug Stanley, his wife and family joined McInnis in welcoming the Petal contingent to Front Royal as a staging area for its jump to the nation’s capital just 70 miles to the east the following day.

Also lauded for their work in facilitating Petal’s trip north were members of Rotary Clubs and Chambers of Commerce on both ends of the trip. Local resident Stephanie Fretwell of the Linden Rotary, whose sister lives in the Forrest County-Hattiesburg area of Mississippi where Petal is, acknowledged several months of logistical efforts to see that Petal High would have their place on the national stage on Jan. 20, 2009, as Barack H. Obama is inaugurated as the 56th President of the United States. Deborah Reynolds (not that one, you aging movie buffs), both a Petal Rotarian and Chamber President thanked her local counterparts for their help, and other local officials for their support and assistance as the Petal Band got in its final practice before the big day.

And remember what the late opera singer Pavorotti said about practice, kids – “If I don’t practice for one day, I notice; if I don’t practice for two days, the band notices; and if I don’t practice for three days, the audience notices.”

The band arrived in Front Royal at about 11 a.m. on Jan. 19 after an overnight stay in a Roanoke Holiday Inn. They descended on the South Street Burger King and McDonald’s for lunch before arriving at Skyline to be greeted by Activities Adminstrator Buck Smith at 1 p.m. They will stay at the Northern Virginia 4-H Educational Center in southern Warren County the evening of the 19th before heading east early.

“I think they told us we’d be getting a 4 a.m. breakfast call,” one band member pondered. That estimate was later pared back even earlier as those around the band said they were expecting to pull out of the 4-H Center and Warren County by 4:30 a.m. for their march into the historical American landscape.

(Dan McDermott contributed to this story)

Top Mississippi high school band preps for Inauguration Parade at Front Royal, Virginia school

Story and photos by Dan McDermott
Warren County Report Newspaper

17 year-old T. J. Taylor stands in 30 degree weather with 16 year-old Joy Grimsley as the two baritone players await practice outside Skyline High School in Front Royal, VA Jan. 19.

Both are members of the 160-strong Petal High School Band in Petal, MS which was selected to represent the state of Mississippi in the 2008 Presidential Inauguration Parade in Washington, DC. More than 1,300 different bands applied for 70 slots in tomorrow’s  march through the nation’s capitol. Petal HS will be the only representative from the state of Mississippi.

A slightly shivering Taylor, who had traveled from a town 30 degrees warmer, was bursting with pride at the opportunity to represent a state of almost 3 million people at what is expected to be the largest attended Inauguration Parade in American history. “It’s a true blessing for me to be in this organization and to see the President and to be able to march in the parade. To be in the band selected out of all the different bands in Mississippi is a true blessing and an honor,” Taylor said.

Front Royal, VA Mayor Eugene Tewalt, Town Councilman Shae Parker and Warren County, VA Administrator Doug Stanley were among the local dignitaries who welcomed the band.

The students and many of their parents and boosters will spend the night at the Northern Virginia Regional 4-H Center since D.C. hotel vacancies are virtually non-existent.

Hear the drum line practicing: Petal High School Drum Line

[140 total pictures. Click on the picture above for more.]

Free complete print edition: Mid January, 2009

Click here to open

Inside this issue:

• Front Royal, VA woman loses finger in domestic dispute
• Browntown Road shooting
• Additional charges filed in Warren County, VA house ramming incident
• Two arrested in Papa John’s Pizza robbery
• Be on the lookout for Daniel Eli of Bethlehem, PA
• Driveway scams
• Openings for Citizens Police Academy
• R-MA teacher honored
• State River Park attendance down
• New Linden, VA trash site opens
• Town of Front Royal, VA approaches liaison: Let’s talk – just not about ‘that’
• Warren County, VA approves 5-pronged January liaison agenda
• Capt. Richard H. Furr makes it official – applying for Front Royal, VA police chief’s job
• Del. Clay Athey’s Report from Richmond, VA
• Neighbors point fingers (not guns) during shooting debate
• ‘Pawsitive Pup’ makes dog grooming more convenient
• NFL playoffs – Still Cheering Purple Pride
• Activities & events in Front Royal and Warren County, VA
• Opinion: The Gaza Holocaust
• Letter: History’s Revenge
• Front Royal/Warren County, VA Chamber of Commerce news
• Entire issue is free here.

Also, 2008: The Year in Review

• 2008 – It wasn’t that great: From bad weather to a lousy economy – good riddance
• Inventor John Kovak: Childhood machine could be key to clean energy production in Front Royal, VA
• CPV, Dominion Power make it official – the ‘buy’ is on
• Paying for our own noose? Front Royal, VA debates the true price of power – 50 years of coal
• Loss of father, two young children mourned at Candlelight Vigil
• Town of Front Royal, VA approves corridor, EDA resolutions  – Threat of litigation by Riverton Commons restaurants hovers over passage
• First Crooked Run Center tax revenue estimates in
• Town, FDR Services settle water-sewer rate war – Two years of litigation ends with compromise, 15-year service contract
• Should the Dow be at 3,000? Up a grand, down a grand – Great Depression 2.0?
• Show me the money – Brooks calls out EDA financing – EDA’s reduced municipal funding request opens a fiscal can of worms
• Town move on EDA assets likely futile – Virginia state law protects autonomy of economic development authorities
• Town to EDA – ‘Pretty please with sugar on top’ – Town rephrases effort to gain control of millions in EDA assets
• Abusive driver fees’ hit the dustbin of legislative history – Refunds included in ‘civil remedial fee’ repeal signed into law by Virginia governor
• Virginia Governor Tim Kaine cites importance of dialogue in state government
• Va. Supreme Court rules against NVTA road taxing – Local plaintiff, delegate weigh in on decision, state funding responsibilities
• Questions remain about Virginia state trooper collision – Public’s right to know at issue as accident investigation continues
• Humane Society board recalled under contentious circumstances – Accusations fly over membership voting eligibility, animal care priorities
• Wagner Shelter two weeks later – ‘a remarkable change’; In the wake of contentious board recall, humans & animals move on
• Monk murder mystery – A personal remembrance of a soul in wonder
• Entire issue is free here.