Republicans says main focus isn’t social issues

Facing increased national scrutiny, state GOP downplays radical bills

By Brad Fulton
Capital News Service

RICHMOND – Facing mounting criticism and increased national attention for a spate of legislative initiatives of a social nature, House Republicans say they’re still focused on jobs, education, government reform and public safety – and dispute Democratic charges that they’re pushing a “social issues” agenda – even though by their own count less than half their bills this session deal with economic, public safety, public education and governmental reform.

Members of the House Republican Caucus discussed their priorities after “crossover day,” the mid-February, mid-session deadline for each legislative chamber to act on its own bills.

“Of 603 bills passed in the House, over 42 percent have dealt with issues of jobs, education, government reform and safety,” said House Speaker William Howell of Fredericksburg. “These are the four main points of the Republican Party.”

Democrats have accused Republicans of being obsessed with social issues such as restricting abortion and gay rights and expanding gun rights. They point to measures such as House Bill 1, which would grant “personhood” rights to a fertilized egg at the moment of conception. Some critics say HB 1 could outlaw abortion and even some contraceptive methods, but the bill’s proponents disagree.

At a press conference Wednesday, House Republicans acknowledged that bills involving social issues have received a lot of press coverage and commentary. But they said those bills are a small – albeit far reaching for individual freedoms – part of the GOP agenda.

“I think the proof in the pudding is in the fact that less than 2.5 percent of bills introduced by Republicans have been social issues,” Howell said.

GOP leaders displayed a pie chart showing that only 2.2 percent of the bills approved by the House concerned social issues. In contrast:

42.3 percent concerned education, government reform, public safety and jobs.

12.3 percent involved judicial issues.

10.8 percent address local matters.

And the rest concerned transportation, energy, the environment, health care, veterans and other issues.

One of the education-related bills would end the tenure-like system for public school teachers. Under House Bill 576, new teachers and principals would receive three-year contracts instead of continuing contracts – making it easier to fire poor performers.

“It’s going to be a good thing for good teachers, and bad teachers may find that the profession is not for them,” said Delegate Richard Bell, R-Staunton, who sponsored HB 576.

In the Senate, Republicans also touted their record this session.

Of the 684 Senate bills, 403 were approved by the upper chamber by crossover, the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus said.

“Our members should be proud of what we have accomplished so far this session,” said Senate Majority Leader Thomas Norment of Williamsburg.

“We have approved important measures that will spur economic growth, streamline our government, and improve the quality of education in Virginia. And we have accomplished this by administering the legislative process fairly and transparently, allowing bills to be presented and discussed by the senators in full committee.”

The Senate approved several components of Gov. Bob McDonnell’s agenda, including his call to reduce and streamline the state’s boards and commissions. It also passed measures aimed at spurring economic development and creating jobs.

“The wide range of bills that were considered and approved is particularly impressive,” said Sen. Ryan McDougle of Mechanicsville, who chairs the Senate Republican Caucus.

“Bills on jobs and economic development, education, public safety, government reform, health care, and veterans’ affairs have all been approved by the Senate and are headed to the House. We are on track to have one of the most productive sessions in recent memory.”

Each house now will take up legislation passed by the other chamber. Moreover, the General Assembly must turn its attention to crafting a state budget for the 2012-14 biennium.

The session is scheduled to end March 10.

Jails can continue to shackle inmates giving birth

Legislature fails to act on policy to ease constraints on female prisoners

By Zack Budryk
Capital News Service

RICHMOND – Local jails and regional prisons in Virginia can continue to shackle female inmates during childbirth – a practice that Delegate Patrick Hope, D-Arlington, says is appalling.

Hope sponsored a bill this legislative session to prohibit the shackling of women prisoners while in labor or giving birth. However, the bill is dead for this session after failing to make it out of a subcommittee last week.

But Hope isn’t giving up on getting correctional facilities to stop the practice.

“Having been the father of three girls, I couldn’t understand why they felt the need to do that,” he said.

“And as I dug into the policies and what motivated the prisons and the local and regional jails to do this, [I found that] they really didn’t have a policy; they just shackled everyone … I thought there ought to be at least some law, something codified, that says they should use the least restrictive restraints … and use their discretion to make sure that safety’s not at risk.”

Katherine Greenier of the Virginia ACLU said the health risks posed by shackled delivery are well documented.

“Pregnancy can create problems with balance that are exacerbated by shackling,” said Greenier, whose Patricia M. Arnold Women’s Rights Project lobbied extensively for House Bill 836 before its demise.

“Leg and wrist restraints increase the likelihood that a pregnant woman could trip, and they compromise her ability to brace against a fall, risking miscarriage and injury.”

Ramey Connelly said she finds the practice abhorrent regardless of the health risks.

“I … believe that shackling women during labor is a violation of the right to be free from inhuman or degrading treatment, as set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” said Connelly, a women’s rights activist in Richmond.

“The process of birth is a natural one, and women are physiologically inclined to move during labor. There is extensive documentation that, given the freedom to do so, women will move into birthing positions which are most conducive to a safe, healthy labor and childbirth.”

The Virginia ACLU was joined in lobbying for the bill by several women’s rights and prison reform groups. The ACLU, which is known for supporting liberal causes, also found an unlikely ally: the Family Foundation of Virginia, which ordinarily supports conservative and religious causes.

Hope said it was natural for his bill to attract support from groups with different political views.

“If a woman wants to have a pregnancy, and she wants it to be carried out, then we need to make sure that it’s carried out in a safe and healthy manner. That’s why [pro-choice groups] are at the table,” Hope said.

“Virginia Family Foundation’s at the table for similar reasons. They see the pregnancy as a life, and we need to make sure that that pregnancy is protected so it is safe, and it is healthy, and everyone’s happy.”

HB 836 had been assigned to the House Militia, Police and Public Safety Committee. On Feb. 9, a subcommittee of that panel tabled the bill. As a result, the full House of Delegates did not have an opportunity to act on the measure. Any bill that did not clear its house of origin by Tuesday was declared dead for the session.

Hope said he plans to reintroduce the issue next session. In the meantime, he said, he is exploring non-legislative ways of achieving the same goal.

“The legislation that I introduced is already the procedure in the [state] prison system,” Hope said. “However, at the Board of Corrections level, in the regional jails … that’s not policy yet.”

“They put out a notice for rulemaking in January, and I suspect that that will be played out over the next 12 to 18 months. When the regulatory process plays out, I’m going to be watching that process closely to make sure that there are not so many holes in [shackling regulations] that this doesn’t become like Swiss cheese.”

Connelly said it was encouraging to hear the issue raised in the first place.

“It is always beneficial to keep the conversation going. That is one of the many tragedies of the ‘correctional’ system – that the people within them are locked away and essentially forgotten,” she said.

“We cannot let these conversations die, because when they do, the people who are suffering these monumental injustices fade away into the background.”
More about House Bill 836

Here is the full text of the bill:

“No state, regional, local, or juvenile correctional facility shall use restraints on any prisoner who is pregnant during labor, transport to a medical facility, delivery, or postpartum recovery unless the warden, superintendent, or jailor finds there is a compelling reason to believe that the prisoner poses serious harm to herself or others, is a flight risk, or cannot be reasonably restrained by other means. Such facility shall use the least restrictive restraints necessary on any inmate in the second or third trimester of pregnancy.”

To comment on the legislation, visit the Richmond Sunlight website:www.richmondsunlight.com/bill/2012/hb836

More than 1,000 protest ‘Personhood’, ultrasound bills

Largest public demonstration at state capital in quarter century

By Zack Budryk
Capital News Service

RICHMOND – More than 1,000 people turned out at the Capitol on Jan. 20th to silently protest a wave of legislation that they claim undermines women’s reproductive rights.

The demonstration focused largely on two measures: House Bill 1, which would give the legal status of a human being to a fertilized egg, and HB 462, which would require a trans-vaginal ultrasound before undergoing an abortion.

Both bills have passed the House of Delegates and are being considered by the Senate Education and Health Committee.

“We want the state legislators to know that we are angry, and we will not stand idly by as our rights to privacy and access to health care are eroded; we will not be told we do not know what is best for us, or that access to care should be limited to those who can pay,” said Sarah Okolita, who helped organize the event.

“We will not have medically unnecessary procedures forced upon us. We will not give up our right to plan our families,” said Okolita, a graduate student in social work at Virginia Commonwealth University. “These are distractions. Virginia needs economic growth and recovery, not repressive, regressive and dangerous control over our bodies.”

Another organizer, Jordan Romeo, a global studies and international social justice major at VCU, said he hoped the rally would send a message to the General Assembly.

“We have been telling people to contact their legislators, to call their legislators, to write emails, to be a presence at the Capitol as much as possible,” Romeo said.

Eileen Davis, a health care provider, said that the wording of HB 1 had potentially dangerous ramifications.

Scope of legislation

“The law of unintended consequences is all over this bill,” Davis said. “Women who have to take birth control or have a barrier method such as an IUD because they’re on cancer treatment, according to this bill, would be breaking the law.

“This bill says that women who have migraine headaches cannot take birth control pills … This is a law that was written by people that don’t understand health care, medical care and the medical consequences of it.”

Delegate Bob Marshall, R-Manassas, the sponsor of HB 1, has disputed such comments as fear-mongering. The bill states that “Nothing in this section shall be interpreted as affecting lawful assisted conception.” (WCR managing editor’s note: Typically, Marshall’s comment ignored the issue at hand – limits on medical treatment and restrictions on birth control.)

Virginia would become the first state in the nation to approve “personhood” at conception. Mississippi and one other state rejected such legislation in voter referendums in recent years.

The demonstration began at 11 a.m. as participants silently lined the walkways on the Capitol grounds and linked arms.

Around 12:30 p.m., the protesters dispersed before reassembling at the Bell Tower for a rally. The rally’s featured speakers included various legislators, as well as activists such as Ramey Connelly of the Richmond Reproductive Freedom Project and Victoria Bragunier of the Richmond chapter of the National Organization for Women.

“Virginia is better than this,” Delegate Alfonso Lopez, D-Arlington, told the crowd. “We represent something better. We have for 400 years. Let’s not go backwards. This is not what Virginia is.”

Participants and organizers said they were pleased with the turnout for the demonstration, particularly after Sunday’s snow.

“We were talking with the Capitol Police here,” said Vicki Yeroian, president of VCU Young Democrats and an advocate intern with Planned Parenthood. “And one of them was kind enough to let us know that in the 27 years that they’ve been working here, they have never seen a demonstration as big as the one that we’ve had today.”

Romeo said the size of the crowd reflected how strongly people feel about the issues.

“I think the turnout has been really wonderful,” he said. “I think the fact that the legislation is so absurd and so ridiculous [means] people are angry, which I think is a really good power to make people get involved.”

Divided senate OKs help for private schools

Repub Lt. governor pushes controversial funding initiative through

By Zack Budryk
Capital News Service

RICHMOND – In yet another bill that divided Republicans and Democrats down the aisle, on Feb. 17th the Virginia Senate passed legislation to provide tax credits for individuals and businesses that fund scholarships for low and middle-income students to attend parochial and private schools.

Senate Bill 131, sponsored by Sen. William Stanley, R-Moneta, would provide a 65 percent tax credit for individuals and corporations that donate money for such scholarships. The state would cap the total tax credits at $25 million per year. Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-26th, sponsored a bill capping the tax credits at $50 million.

SB 131 was debated on the Senate floor for nearly an hour. Then all 20 Republican senators voted for it; all 20 Democrats voted against it. The bill passed when Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, a Republican, cast the tie-breaking vote.

Proponents of such “school choice” legislation assert that it would give students access to a quality of education that their families otherwise could not afford.

Low income help?

Under the bill, scholarships supported by tax credits must go “only to students whose family’s annual household income is not in excess of 300 percent of the current poverty guidelines or eligible students with a disability.”

That means a student from a family of four with an annual income of $69,150 would qualify for a scholarship. (Under the federal government’s 2012 guidelines, the poverty level for such a family is $23,050.)

The tax credit program would fund about 7,300 private-school scholarships, according to an analysis of SB 131. The bill would establish “Education Improvement Scholarships Tax Credits.” These credits would go to taxpayers “making monetary donations to scholarship foundations” approved by the Virginia Department of Education.

State funding of religion?

Senate Democrats condemned the bill, saying it amounted to taxpayer subsidies for religious schools and a violation of the principle of separation of church and state.

Sen. J. Chapman Petersen, D-Fairfax, argued that the bill would violate the Virginia Constitution, which forbids “any appropriation of public funds, personal property, or real estate to any church or sectarian society.”

“The purpose behind that [article] in our 1971 constitution is quite clear: We don’t appropriate to private entities; we give the money to public entities,” Petersen said. “That’s why we’re a public body.”

Sen. Janet Howell, D-Reston, said SB 131 would undermine the public school system.

“I think if you were to look at any history of this county … the reason why people have been lifted out of poverty is the public school system,” Howell said. She said the bill is part of an effort by Republicans to sap resources from public education.

“Right now it’s a trickle of blood,” Howell said. “But if we keep this up, this will be a hemorrhaging of blood from our public schools.”

Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Charlottesville, expressed similar sentiments.

“Our public education system has issues; it needs more funding. But what we don’t need to do is run away from it,” Deeds said. “That’s what this bill does.”

Republican social agenda

“We have heard for quite a while from many that it takes a community to raise and educate a child. And paradoxically, the burden has been placed on the state to do just that with taxpayer dollars managed by a distant government agency,” Stanley said. “This bill will initiate the real change needed to encourage investment by offering solutions tailored to solve specific problems as determined by those closest to the situation.”

Gov. Bob McDonnell has long been a proponent of such legislation. The Republican governor, who headlined a rally for “school choice” earlier in the month, praised the vote.

“Virginia students deserve a world-class education regardless of their ZIP code and socio-economic status. Public and private-sector entities must come together to provide every possible opportunity for students to get the education they need to fill the good jobs available in the 21st century,” McDonnell said in a statement following the vote.

“This legislation will increase the ability of nonprofit organizations to provide education improvement scholarships so low-income students or students with disabilities can attend the nonpublic school of their choice. It is a common-sense measure that will spur private support in educating the leaders of tomorrow and will give students a new opportunity to learn the skills they need to be successful in the future.”

SB 131 is the latest in a series of bills this session concerning hot-button issues for social conservatives; others include abortion, voter identification and drug testing for welfare recipients. This was the 10th tie-breaker Bolling has cast.

On Tuesday, the House passed its own bill providing tax credits for private-school scholarships. The 64-35 vote also was along party lines.

House Bill 321, sponsored by Delegate Jimmie Massie, R-Richmond, would support scholarships for students eligible for the free and reduced-price lunch program. (A family of four qualifies for that program if its annual income is below $41,348.)

Under the House legislation, corporations would receive a tax credit equal to 70 percent of their donations to the scholarships.

On the Web

To monitor or comment on Senate Bill 131, visit the Richmond Sunlight website:
www.richmondsunlight.com/bill/2012/sb131

Here are the 2012 poverty guidelines published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Under SB 131, scholarships supported by state tax credits could go to students from families that make up to three times the poverty levels: http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/12poverty.shtml

How They Voted

Here is how the Senate voted Friday on “SB 131 Income tax, corporate; tax credits for donations to organizations, etc.”

Floor: 02/17/12 Senate: Read third time and passed Senate (20-Y 20-N)

YEAS – Black, Blevins, Carrico, Garrett, Hanger, Martin, McDougle, McWaters, Newman, Norment, Obenshain, Reeves, Ruff, Smith, Stanley, Stosch, Stuart, Vogel, Wagner, Watkins – 20.

NAYS – Barker, Colgan, Deeds, Ebbin, Edwards, Favola, Herring, Howell, Locke, Lucas, Marsden, Marsh, McEachin, Miller, J.C., Miller, Y.B., Northam, Petersen, Puckett, Puller, Saslaw – 20.

Mr. President (Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling): YEA

Governor urges revisiting of ultra sound bill

A pregnant woman, who is expecting twins, at the Women's Clinic of Leipzig's Karl Marx University. Before the birth, specialist Dr. Renaldo Faber and his colleagues used the Doppler ultrasound method to check the red blood cells in mother and child. The hospital has a perinatal center specializing in the care of premature babies (including twins and multiple births).

By Roger Bianchini
Warren County Report

On Feb. 22^nd Governor Bob McDonnell urged caution and a revisiting of mandatory ultrasound legislation (SB 484) proposed in this legislative session of the Virginia General Assembly.

Legislation on the table mandates intrusive, internal, physical procedures invading a woman’s body to assure she can see medical imaging of her fetus prior to a decision on abortion.

The governor qualified his statement by asserting his “pro-life” political and moral leanings. However, he also addressed growing concerns that legislation championed by fellow Republicans in this session crossed personal boundaries not justified by medical necessity (nor dare we suggest, legislative authority).

“Over the course of my 20-year career in elected office, I have been glad to play a leading role in putting in place common-sense policies that protect and defend innocent human life in the Commonwealth. One of those bills was Virginia’s informed consent statute, of which I was the chief patron in the House of Delegates, finally seeing its passage in 2001 …

“Over the past days I have discussed the specific language of the proposed legislation with other governors, physicians, attorneys, legislators, advocacy groups, and citizens. It is apparent that several amendments to the proposed legislation are needed to address various medical and legal issues which have arisen.

“It is clear that in the majority of cases, a routine external, transabdominal ultrasound is sufficient to meet the bills stated purpose, that is, to determine gestational age.

“I have come to understand that the medical practice and standard of care currently guide physicians to use other procedures to find the gestational age of the child, when abdominal ultrasounds cannot do so. Determining gestational age is essential for legal reasons, to know the trimester of the pregnancy in order to comply with the law, and for medical reasons as well.

“Thus, having looked at the current proposal, I believe there is no need to direct by statute that further invasive ultrasound procedures be done. Mandating an invasive procedure in order to give informed consent is not a proper role for the state. No person should be directed to undergo an invasive procedure by the state, without their consent, as a precondition to another medical procedure.

“For this reason, I have recommended to the General Assembly a series of amendments to this bill. I am requesting that the General Assembly amend this bill to explicitly state that no woman in Virginia will have to undergo a transvaginal ultrasound involuntarily.

“I am asking the General Assembly to state in this legislation that only a transabdominal, or external, ultrasound will be required to satisfy the requirements to determine gestational age. Should a doctor determine that another form of ultrasound may be necessary to provide the necessary images and information that will be an issue for the doctor and the patient. The government will have no role in that medical decision.

“I have requested other amendments that help clarify the purposes of the bill and reflect a better understanding of prevailing medical practices. It is my hope that the members of the General Assembly will act favorably upon these recommendations from our office. We will await their action prior to making any further comments on this matter.”

State Police still seek motive in Va. Tech murder-suicide

This story originally appeared on Google+.

BLACKSBURG, Va. – The Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s Salem Field Office is continuing its efforts to identify a motive in the murder-suicide that occurred Dec. 8, 2011, on the Virginia Tech campus. State police investigators worked through the weekend and on into this week interviewing family, friends and acquaintances of Ross T. Ashley, 22, in order to piece together his movements and actions leading up to the murder of Virginia Tech Police Officer Deriek W. Crouse.

Despite investigators’ non-stop pursuit of this case, there still remains no prior connection or contact between Ashley and Officer Crouse. The Virginia State Police High-Tech Crimes Unit has been extensively reviewing Officer Crouse’s in-car camera video and surveillance video from on and off the campus. State police have secured surveillance video that does place Ashley at a local retail store in the Town of Blacksburg on Wednesday afternoon (Dec. 7).

The .40-caliber, semi-automatic handgun used in both shootings was legally purchased by Ashley from a licensed, Virginia gun dealer. He purchased the weapon in January 2011. (For more information on Virginia law pertaining to the purchase of a handgun, go to http://www.vsp.state.va.us/Firearms_PurchaseEligibility.shtm )

*Timeline (Please note that times are approximate)*

12/7/11 – 11:25 a.m. – At gunpoint, Ashley steals a 2011 white Mercedes SUV from Gilbert Real Estate in the 600 block of Calhoun Street in the City of Radford.

12/7/11 – 12:11 p.m. – City of Radford Police issue multi-state teletype message to law enforcement for a “Be on the Lookout” for the stolen Mercedes SUV.

12/7/11 – Later that afternoon, surveillance video places Ashley inside a Town of Blacksburg retailer. This video was not discovered by investigators until Thursday Dec. 8 – when they were conducting their investigation into the murder-suicide.

12/8/11 – 9:30 a.m. The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) notifies Blacksburg Police of an abandoned vehicle parked on a gravel drive near the VTTI complex. Police immediately respond, confirm the vehicle is the stolen Mercedes SUV and notify Radford Police.

12/8/11 – 12:15 p.m. –Virginia Tech Police Officer Deriek W. Crouse has stopped a car in the Coliseum parking lot along Washington Street near the intersection of Spring Road. Officer Crouse is seated inside his unmarked patrol car when Ashley approaches the officer and fatally shoots him. Ashley then flees on foot from the scene.

12/8/11 – 12:45 p.m. – As law enforcement search the campus for the shooting suspect, a Montgomery County Deputy Sheriff spots a male pedestrian walking by himself in the “Cage” parking lot along Duck Pond Drive. As the deputy drives towards the man, he momentarily loses sight of him. When the deputy finally reaches the subject, the man is on the ground and deceased from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

12/8/11 5:20 p.m. – Outside of the Greenhouses, police recover a backpack containing a wool cap and pullover worn by Ashley at the time of Officer Crouse’s shooting. At this stage of the investigation, state police investigators have found no connection between Ashley and a handwritten message on the wall of one of the Greenhouses.

The Virginia State Police, with the assistance of local and federal law enforcement, have executed search warrants during the course of the investigation. Because this is still an ongoing investigation, the warrants remain sealed at this time.

Virginia State Police has been assisted during the course of this active investigation by the Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Christiansburg and Radford City police departments, Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, FBI and Secret Service.

BREAKING: Republicans take control of the Virginia State Senate – (maybe)

By Dan McDermott
Warren County Report

Assuming current unofficial results hold, the Virginia State Senate has just switched hands with Republicans gaining two seats to form a 20-20 tie, allowing Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling to cast deciding votes.

Control of the senate rested on the results of a nail-biter in district 17 where Republican Bryce E. Reeves edged Democrat R. Edward “Edd” Houck by just 86 votes, or .2%, out of 45,056 cast. An apparent glitch in heavily Republican Spotsylvania County precinct 303 had incorrectly shown only a handful of votes cast earlier.

Republicans already hold all three statewide offices and control the House of Delegates by a wide margin. The GOP last had total control of the commonwealth from 2000 to 2002.

5.9 earthquake rocks, Virginia, D.C.

Strongest Virginia quake since 1879 damages apartment water lines here

By Roger Bianchini
Warren County Report

On Tuesday, Aug. 23, as people in the Northern Shenandoah Valley braced for possible inland rains and wind from Hurricane Irene’s projected path north up the Eastern Seaboard they got an unexpected jolt.

At 1:51 PM as this reporter was having lunch with a friend at Elements on South Royal Avenue the building was shaken by what was reported to be a 5.9 magnitude earthquake centered 4 miles from both Louisa and Mineral, Virginia. A quick map check of the USGS website indicated the epicenter triangulated by Charlottesville to the west, Fredericksburg and Richmond to the northeast and southeast, respectively.

According to the USGS the earthquake was centered at 38N latitude and 78W longitude in an area known as the Central Virginia Seismic Zone. Weaker earthquakes in the 4.0 range to 5.0 range are reported as typical of this zone.

ABC TV 7 in DC reported the quake to be the strongest one in Virginia since 1879.

The USGS reports that 4.0 quakes can typically be felt 60 miles away and 5.0 quake as far away as 300 miles, with damage typical as far as 25 miles from the epicenter of a 5.0 quake.

The Associated Press reported that two nuclear reactors operated by Dominion Power in Louisa County near Lake Anna within 25 miles of Mineral were undamaged. Those reactors were automatically shut down near the time of the quake. Four emergency diesel generators were operating key safety systems at the nuclear plants, according to AP.

The quake rolled through Northern Virginia, Washington D.C. and into the Northern Shenandoah Valley. One co-patron at our Tuesday afternoon lunch stop, Edward Jones broker George Karnes, estimated what he felt as a 2.0 to 2.5 tremor. We were unable to verify or dispute Karnes’ guess at the strength of the quake as it reached Front Royal.

Local damage

Property Manager Teresa Cherry of the Shenandoah Commons Apartment Complex off Westminster Drive told us initial reports indicated damage, primarily to water lines, in nine of 10 buildings in the complex. Some residents allowed to return to their apartments were advised not to use their stoves that evening. However following an inspection of all units it appeared only five residents and two pets were in need of temporary accommodations to facilitate repairs.

On the scene at Shenandoah Commons at 5 PM, County Fire and Rescue Officer Marti Viggiano said it seemed the county would not have to open an emergency shelter at one of the public high schools due to the small number of displaced residents. Local Red Cross has traditionally been able to utilize local motels for families displaced by residential fires in the county.

DC area damage

Some 70 miles to our east, where nerves are usually a bit more taught due to the national political machinations for control or destruction of the federal governmental apparatus, the U.S. Capitol and other federal buildings were evacuated due to the rolling tremor. DC-area TV reports showed large numbers of people milling about outside buildings in downtown Washington, including headquarters of the Washington Post.

Despite the evacuation of their building, the Post reported the quake was felt as far north as Boston, as far south as Anderson, South Carolina, and northwest to Columbus, Ohio.

The Virginia Department of Transportation initially reported no known damage to bridges or roadways. However damage reports began rolling in as the afternoon progressed.

A spire was reported to have collapsed at National Cathedral in DC, closing that building to the public. News 7 DC also reported that a building on the 6100 block of Oxon Hill Road in Prince Georges County, Maryland had collapsed. No initial details on the type or age of that building were available.

Our initial experience of the earthquake was at our downtown lunch stop. Several customers quickly recognized the source of the vibrations and rattling silverware as an earthquake. When several Elements customers countered they believed a nearby train was the culprit, another asked, “WHAT train?”

Elements owner David Gedney, who rushed outside to check his building exterior, returned quickly to report that his damage was limited to five broken plates upstairs in his Apartment 2G dinner restaurant.

Rockland report

As the quake rolled through Rockland our northside correspondent Malcolm Barr Sr. and his wife Carol were in their kitchen. Barr, a self-acclaimed veteran of many earthquakes while working in Hawaii, strolled to his front door to see “what piece of heavy equipment neighbor Thomas McGeath was driving by on Rockland Road.” Meanwhile, Barr reported his wife was talking “Armageddon” and their future daughter-in-law in Tennessee called to see if everyone was okay.

Echoing initial reactions by some of our fellow Elements lunchtime patrons, Barr observed, “Sounded like a train rumbling by.”

While used to such occurrences during his stints in Hawaii, Barr added, “I guess since we don’t have many earthquakes around here, I couldn’t quite believe my wife when she said we were in the middle of one. Those in Hilo (Hawaii) regularly bounced things off the walls; then one of the volcanoes would treat us to another ‘fireworks’ display.”

This report will be updated as information becomes available.

Residents of 25 Shenandoah Commons Way await verdict on whether they will be able to sleep at home following earthquake damage to water lines in their building.

WC Fire & Rescue Officer Marti Viggiano speaks with Shenandoah Commons residents.

TV 7 DC shows photo of North Anna Nuclear Power Plant after emergency diesel generators kicked in following automatic shutdown of the nuclear reactors after earthquake.

McDonnell vetoes gerrymandered redistricting plan (FULL TEXT)

View this document on Scribd

By Dan McDermott
Warren County Report

Gov. Bob McDonnell has vetoed General Assembly redistricting plans saying that he has “significant issues” with the senate reapportionment plan.

While the House of Delegates redistricting plan passed with bipartisan support, the senate plan was criticized for efforts to gerrymander democrats into safe districts and put four Republican senators into two districts. In one case, Sen. Steve Newman of Forest and Sen. Ralph Smith of Roanoke were put into a sprawling district that would have been a four hour round trip from Lynchburg to the West Virginia state line with much of the path through Jefferson National Forest.

In vetoing House Bill 5001, McDonnell sent both chambers’ plans back since they were in the same bill. While McDonnell indicated that the house plan would benefit from some tweaking, the Republican Gov. praised its less partisan approach.

Specifically, McDonnell said the proposed senate districts were not compact and did not properly preserve locality lines and communities of interest.

In a statement released shortly after McDonnell’s announcement, Sen. Newman said McDonnel’s veto was “a wise decision given the impact the Senate plan would have imposed on many of the citizens of the Commonwealth.”

“If an individual near the West Virginia border must travel to Central Virginia to see his or her state senator, a part of our democracy is lost. Similarly if a person on Main Street in Lynchburg must seek out their state senator down near the North Carolina border when three other senators are closer, it diminishes trust in the representative system,” he said.

The Senate plan passed on a straight party-line vote.

Redistricting plans are available online here.

editor@warrencountyreport.com

Obama holding military families hostage, Trump the ‘Apprentice Candidate’ – Gingrich

By Dan McDermott
Warren County Report

Audio and transcript at McDermottReport.com.

LYNCHBURG – Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said President Barack Obama is holding military families hostage in his budget battle with House Republicans and said that potential Republican rival Donald Trump’s newest show is ‘being Apprentice Candidate.’

Speaking at The Awakening 2011 conference at Liberty University on the eve of a potential government shutdown Apr. 8, the potential Republican presidential hopeful said that the government “doesn’t have to shut down today if the President is willing to work with the House Republicans one, to not have the military as a hostage, which as an army brat I find very offensive. I mean this idea that he won’t pay for the military for a year and take care of military families while they’re risking their lives for America I find, frankly, pretty darned offensive.”

Gingrich faced his own budget showdown with former President Bill Clinton that led to a government shutdown in 1995. He had some advice for the current president and Speaker John Boehner. “Maybe they’d be better off to break the bill into three or four components and try to solve one of them a week and keep the government rolling one week at a time. That might be the most practical way to do it. I don’t think a shutdown is unavoidable but of course they are running out of time,” he said.

Gingrich said he thinks blame for a shutdown will split along ideological lines but that most Americans think the government is spending too much money. “ Virtually every survey says the American people want a smaller deficit and less spending and they want a smaller government in Washington. I know of no survey that doesn’t generally say the country thinks this scale of deficit is impossible to sustain and so I would say the country will ultimately sort it out,” he said.

Gingrich laughed when asked his thoughts on fellow Republican Donald Trump’s statement that he had a ‘team of investigators’ combing through records in search of President Obama’s birth certificate. “I think that the Donald is such an interesting person in every way that being ‘Apprentice Candidate’ is his newest show. He’s a terrific guy. He adds a lot to the race. I can’t imagine what he’ll announce by tomorrow. He’s very inventive and I think frankly for a Republican party that is sometimes a little bit dull having somebody like Trump hang out is going to guarantee that you all have a lot more to cover. I think he is seriously inventive and I think he will have many things, none of which I intend to comment on,” he said.

Audio and transcript at McDermottReport.com.