Fear and Loathing in Waynesboro column by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net

“Voices in the blogosphere had been murmuring in the tatter of keyboards that the conservative bloc had endeavored to subvert open meetings law along with city regulations in reforming the Finance Committee a week ago with only Williams and Lucente as members,” The News Virginian editorialized tonight.

I might be jumping to a conclusion here, but I’m thinking they might have been talking about little ol’ me.

If they were, they overstated what this voice in the blogosphere had to say on the matter by half.

 - From our July 1 “Winners and Losers“: “PUSH: Tim Williams revives Finance Committee - The new Waynesboro mayor said the committee, dormant for at least the past four years, will be a ‘fact-finding committee’ after appointing himself and Vice Mayor Frank Lucente to the body this morning. It will be something that we will have to learn more about before any of us can pass judgment on the matter.”

- From our July 3 “Winners and Losers“: “PUSH: Shakeup with Finance Committee? - Details are still coming together on this, but I’m hearing that there might be issues with the makeup of the committee appointed by new mayor Tim Williams. Fueling the talk is the placement of an item on Monday’s Waynesboro City Council work-session agenda to discuss the committee and its mission. Don’t have much more than that right now, unfortunately.”

- From our July 7 “Fear and Loathing“:

“A question has arisen regarding the makeup of the Finance Committee appointed by Mayor Tim Williams last week at city council’s reorganization meeting.

“The question - doesn’t the committee appointed by Williams, consisting of Williams and Vice Mayor Frank Lucente, need to have one more member from the council to comply with the city code?

“The answer - a qualified yes. I say qualified because the rules governing the makeup of the committee are delineated in the city code, not in the city charter, meaning we could still end up with the two-man committee that Williams envisioned.

“The committee, according to Section 2-36 of the city code, is to consist of three members who are appointed to serve out two-year terms. Section 2-36 does not spell out other specifics about the mission of the committee or meeting frequency. My scan of the city charter came up with nothing in terms of specifics regarding the Finance Committee, with only a general provision in Section 3-1(b) granting city council the power to ‘appoint all such boards and commissions as may be deemed proper or required and prescribe the powers and duties thereof’ serving as any kind of guide.

“This is important, because it would appear that since the provision governing the seating of the Finance Committee is contained not in the charter, which is an act of the Virginia General Assembly that can only be amended by the state legislature, but in the code, which is an act of the city council that can be amended as deemed appropriate by the city council, it would only take a majority of the city council to change the requirement for the committee to consist of three members.

“Another question then arises - why would city council want to amend the provision requiring three members?

“I’m reading tea leaves here, but one possible answer comes to mind right away. Meetings involving three members of city council have to be open to the public under provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act unless they meet one of the specific exceptions provided for under state law. My guess is that, then, Finance Committee meetings held to discuss city budget and finance issues would have to be open to the public, including members of the press. I don’t know that Williams and Lucente necessarily want that kind of scrutiny for whatever it is that they have planned for the committee, though I could be wrong on that, most certainly.”

Three items on the matter - raising simple questions about the revival of the committee, the makeup of the committee, and issues involving the city code and city charter that had been raised by members of the two city-council factions and members of the city staff behind the scenes.

If it’s me that they’re mad at, they’re mad because I caught wind of the questions being raised behind the scenes, and brought them to the public forefront.

I dunno, isn’t that the news media’s job? I think it is. It’s definitely not to not have the first clue as to what’s going on in City Hall. Or worse, to not know, and then pretend that it doesn’t matter anyway.

“Who cares?” the NV editorialized on the matter of the questions that had been raised regarding the Finance Committee. “The committee has no more power to act than does the night custodian, whose work will likely prove significantly more evident.”

I know that the NV had a reporter on hand for the city-council work session that featured a quite knowledgeable discussion of the Finance Committee and the related issue of oversight to be provided by city council to fiscal matters in City Hall. The work session will replay several times between now and the next regular business meeting. You can see for yourself how high the stakes were on this. On both sides of the political aisle. And no, the custodian didn’t end up playing a role in the debate that ensued.

“The time has arrived for (former vice mayor Nancy) Dowdy and others to sweep aside the residue of bitterness over the results of the spring election,” the NV opined a little later, and let me tell you, this one is starting to hit close to home. This is a repeat of a smear that two critics who have graced our pages here have given up trying to perpetuate about the motivation for Fear and Loathing, namely, that it’s sour grapes (comments to that effect here and here) over having lost the May 6 election.

Far from it, and anybody who has read this website more than once or twice the past six years knows that. It’s our job in the news media, as the saying goes, to “comfort the afllicted and afflict the comfortable.” Given the compliant and borderline lapdog approaches of some of our brethren in the local news media, sure, it looks like we take things to that end to the extreme here at the AFP.

But really, we ain’t doin’ nothin’ remarkable. It’s called asking hard questions and demanding answers. It’s fun when you do it and it works.

“Let Dowdy and backers of the minority cry from the rooftops over issues of genuine significance, starting with stormwater,” the NV soldiered on (been there, done that, wrote the book).

“Let them also leave aside petty potshots and speculation over ulterior aims of meaningless effect. They and the city have better to do with their time.”

Yes, “petty potshots.” Dismissing a stream of legitimate issues raised on these pages that have received exactly no consideration from the NV - the John Lawrence story being one example, the identities of the chief campaign contributors to the new majority being another - as “the residue of bitterness over the results of the spring election” is about as petty a potshot as you can get.

Of course, as I’ve been saying throughout this column, I’m assuming a lot here.

I mean, it could be other “voices in the blogosphere” that they were aiming at with this editorial.

I’d try to sleuth who it might really be that they were trying to kick in the shins, but somebody has to hold our city officials’ feet to the fire, and I’m guessing the stenographers for the officialdom that pass for editorial writers in this town have better to do with their time.

Compiled by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net

WINNER: Tim Williams shows some backbone

If you get a chance to catch the replay of the city-council meeting on Channel 14, please do take a look. Around the 20-minute mark, you’ll see a debate over the makeup of the Finance Committee between Vice Mayor Frank Lucente and former vice mayor Nancy Dowdy that ends when Williams suggests a compromise appointing Lorie Smith as the committee’s third member and then getting the entire council involved by shifting the work of the committee to the full council work session.

Given what preceded it, I’m left wondering if Williams cleared what he offered up with Lucente, and I’m guessing that he didn’t.

Good for him.

LOSER: How much coverage of the park can we stand?

“Gypsy hill sees quiet Monday after hectic weekend.”

“Families spend last day of Fourth of July weekend driving, relaxing.”

“Vintage cars cruise in to Gypsy Hill Park.”

“Preparing Fourth of July festivities.”

Another day, another story in the Leader about the park.

Which is why a friend from the News Virginian called today to ask, tongue in cheek, ”Are you covering the park beat today?”

Maybe I should have been. Seems to be a good source of news.

TODAY’S HOT OR NOT: The News Virginian is printing in Lynchburg now

Ugh. This can’t be good. Not only for the editorial schedule, which has to be pushed up way, way beyond any point of common sense - I mean, how are they going to get high-school football and basketball games that end at 9:30 in now, not to mention late-breaking local-government meeting news?

I know the answer is that you’ll have to go to the website to get that kind of stuff, but has the business model evolved to the point where the losses that you can bet will be coming and coming soon on the print side can be made up for on the web side? I’m not so sure.

My gut tells me that this move wasn’t done so much with the business model in mind as it was done with the Sword of Damocles hanging over a bunch of people’s heads.

Special Commentary by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net

The battle for next year’s Democratic Party nomination is ever-so-quietly heating up.

House Democratic Caucus chair Brian Moran seems to have been focusing his attention on cornering the Mark Warner market at the outset of the ‘09 nomination race. Moran has some of the big guns from the Warner run at the head of Virginia government lined up on his side - with Warner confidant Mame Reiley running his fundraising operation and Warner ‘01 campaign manager Steve Jarding and Warner State Board of Elections appointee Jean Jensen among his consultants.

Moran’s opponent for that nomination, former thisclose attorney-general candidate Creigh Deeds, meanwhile, is fighting back with a couple of key endorsements from Moran’s NoVa backyard.

“Creigh Deeds is a leader who deliver results: whether it was working with Mark Warner to reform our budget and make record investments in education or writing one of the most progressive environmental protection laws in the nation,” NoVa State Sen. Chap Petersen wrote in an e-mail that went out last week.

“Just listening to him talk about his vision for Virginia’s future, you know right away he understands the concerns of everyday families and has thoughtful, innovative ideas for moving us forward. Deeds doesn’t believe in the gimmicks or the divisive politics that are so popular in our nation’s capital - and all too often in Richmond, as well - but do nothing to build consensus and find solutions. He has always led with an optimistic, commonsense vision for Virginia’s future, and I know he is the best candidate to continue the Warner-Kaine brand of leadership that has brought us so far in recent years,” Petersen wrote in the e-mail.

This next endorsement from another NoVa state senator, Mary Margaret Whipple, should sound familiar.

“When he announced he was running for governor, I was proud to add my name to his growing list of supporters. Creigh Deeds is the Democratic candidate who will continue the Warner-Kaine brand of leadership that has brought us so far and will stand up every day for our shared progressive values,” Whipple wrote in an e-mail that also went out last week.

Whipple’s parting words spelled out the stakes of the ongoing jostling for position.

“It is all but certain that Attorney General Bob McDonnell will be the Republican nominee for governor next year. Creigh proved to us in 2005 - when he was our Democratic nominee - he could beat McDonnell by coming within just 360 votes out of more than 2 million cast. This despite having just half the resources of the Bush-Cheney-funded Bob McDonnell,” Whipple wrote.

“We can’t let the policies and politics of George W. Bush’s Republican Party take control of state government here in Virginia. We must defeat Bob McDonnell, and I know that if we unite behind Creigh early, he will be successful next year,” Whipple wrote.

That’s why things are heating up now, one would have to suppose.

Item by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net

Staunton lefty Adam Hoyt was honored by the Valley League as one of its pitchers of the week for his complete-game victory last week over Woodstock.

Hoyt (Radford) struck out seven in the 11-2 Braves win to raise his record to 2-1 on the season with a 2.86 ERA.

Other players honored by the league for their performances last week include …

- Haymarket righthander Chris Greiner (Hartford) gave up six hits and struck out 11 in a complete-game 5-1 win over Harrisonburg.

- Winchester first baseman Tyler Townsend (Florida International) hit .636 with three homers and four RBI in 11 at-bats last week and is hitting .387 with a .489 on-base percentage and .707 slugging percentage on the season.

- Fauquier first baseman Ryan Gauck (Marist) hit .625 last week with a homer, four RBI and seven runs scored. Gauck is hitting .389 this season with a .491 OBP and .568 slugging percentage.

- Luray catcher Steve Stropp (Florida International) hit three home runs and drove in nine runs in 10 at-bats last week.

- Covington utility player Ty Rivers (Radford) had eight hits, two RBI and nine stolen bases in his first week in the league.

Dull Ache column by W.R. Marshall

It’s the silent softener.

The disease that weakens not only the backbone, but preys upon the very resolve of men and women who once had both.

It’s a tragedy unfolding everyday in America, but unlike most disorders, it doesn’t infect the poor and disenfranchised, but it’s rampant among the rich and powerful. (However, there is residual affect among those not contaminated.)

It’s called Democratmalacia, and it has reached epidemic proportions in the hot zone. (Also known as Washington, D.C.)

But we can help; we can give these sad, often confused people new hope and perhaps a way back to health.

We’ve all the seen the horror that this disease brings: waffling, flopping, flipping, caving, anticonstituionalism, reidoma, pelosiitis, and in its final stages, intense and incurable libermanalgia (a pain no one should bear.)

Science is working diligently to find a cure, but this is a rather pesky and somewhat crafty virus. It often appears to be something it’s not.

On first inspection, Democratmalacia appears to be a hardy, cellularly different microbe; presenting a genuine and discernable alternative to the body politic. But as the disease begins to mature, in spite of all its posturing and, if one may use such a term when speaking of these things, bravado, it often becomes undistinguished and indistinguishable from its surroundings.

Said environment is frequently uninhabitable by normal citizens or anyone with a low - or given current circumstances, a very high - threshold for discomfort, incredulity and outright indifference.

Early research treated this disease as something viral, an airborne contagion that spread quickly once the patient was exposed to his or her own name in the Congressional Record. However, regardless of protocol, nothing was found to be effective and research began to examine the disease as a genetic disorder.

Democratmalacia appears to unidirectional, meaning it always moves out from the hot zone, never toward it. However, once infected, the patient presents all the outward signs of the disorder regardless of physical environment.

A brief case study will showcase the horrifying effects of this disease:

Patient #1 is a 47-year-old male of mixed racial background (Luo father, Caucasian mother). He is in excellent health and above-average intelligence. By all outward appearances Patient #1 seems to be the picture of health.

Yet in recent weeks, symptoms of Democratmalacia have begun to present and, while no conclusion can yet be made, the disease seems to have taken root. Patient #1 has recently softened in many areas where he once stood resolute. This could be a statistical aberration, but should this trend continue - which will result in unmistakable libermanalgia - we can only be left with the singular determination that Patient #1 has full-blown Democratmalacia.

How can we, Jane and Joe America, help? It won’t be easy, and it will be painful, but each of us can do our part. Just snip off a little piece of your spine and send it to:

DNC

430 S. Capitol St. SE

Washington, D.C. 20003

Make sure to put “Stamp out Democratmalacia” on the envelope. (And ask not to be put on any mailing lists, or the next thing you know, someone will be hitting you up for a donation to end Republicanpenia.)

Item by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net

Gallup has the Barack Obama-John McCain race tightening, while Rasmussen has Obama opening up a slightly larger lead.

The daily tracking poll at Gallup has Obama up by a 46 percent-to-44 percent margin over McCain, who gained a point in the three-day rolling poll over where he was yesterday.

Rasmussen’s daily tracking poll has Obama up by a 49 percent-to-43 percent margin with leaners included. The lead for Obama in the Rasmussen rendering was 49-44 yesterday.

Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net

Media General apparently isn’t making enough money at The Daily Progress in Charlottesville to justify spending the “several million dollars of repairs, refurbishing and rewiring” needed to continue long-term operations at its printing plant on West Rio Road.

These can’t be good days at the Richmond-based Media General, the parent company of the Progress and the Waynesboro-based News Virginian, which has been under internal pressure to cut costs after a dissident shareholder group bought up a significant amount of Media General stock and forced its way into the family-owned company’s board of directors earlier this year.

The Daily Progress is now being printed at the Hanover County plant of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, a 74-mile, one hour and 17 minute drive one way to the paper’s headquarters on Rio Road, according to Mapquest.com. The Progress announced the move in its Monday edition.

The NV, meanwhile, will now be printed in Lynchburg, where Media General publishes the daily News & Advance. The NV had moved its printing operations to Charlottesville at The Daily Progress in 2004.

The move involving the Daily Progress printing plant included the layoff of 25 employees in the paper’s printing-plant operation.

“This is a difficult business decision we made after weighing the extensive capital investment required to continue the printing operations here,” Progress publisher Lawrence L. McConnell said in a statement. “We deeply regret having to say good-bye to an important part of The Daily Progress family here in our pressroom and mailroom. Parting with valued employees is very difficult, and all the more difficult in light of the strong contributions these employees have made here.”

Both McConnell and News Virginian editor and general manager Lee Wolverton tried to spin the move by hyping enhancements in print quality that will come with moving their printing operations to Richmond and Lynchburg, respectively.

“Advertisers will have more options for use of color in their advertising messages because of the versatility and capacity of the newer, larger Richmond press equipment,” McConnell said.

“This change will provide our readers and advertisers with sharper, more dynamic color and a better-looking newspaper. It’s another step forward in our ongoing effort to improve our product,” Wolverton said in a statement in today’s NV.

The NV product will appear to suffer some, though, in the process, with an earlier deadline necessitated by the move to Lynchburg. The News & Advance’s printing operation is located 71 miles and an estimated hour and 25 minute drive away from the News Virginian office in Downtown Waynesboro, according to Mapquest.com. The paper reported in a note to readers on the front page of its Tuesday-morning edition that late sports scores and nightly lottery-drawing information will move to the NV website because of the earlier press deadlines.

A note in the Daily Progress article about the printing-operations news might foretell more cuts to come in the future at Media General. The company has adopted measures to reduce spending across its properties including reducing capital spending, reducing the amount of newsprint and leaving some positions unfilled as they become open due to retirement or employees leaving.

Fear and Loathing in Waynesboro column by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net

Is Frank Lucente hedging on his pledge to back the voters’ wishes regarding a West End fire station? An indication that he might be comes from WHSV-TV3 reporter Keith Jones in his report on last night’s discussion of pre-emptive devices that could be used to improve response times for fire crews by getting them through busy intersections with traffic signals up to a minute quicker in some instances.

The report by Jones had Lucente on camera saying that the pre-emption devices would allow “fire trucks to go through the lights, clear out the intersections before they get there,” and cut 30 seconds to a minute off the response time in the process.

Then Jones came back on camera to report that “Lucente says funding another fire station just isn’t as cost-effective when firefighters can change the traffic signals.”

I’ll point out here that Lucente told The News Virginian for a story in its edition this morning that he will still back the voters’ wishes on the fire station. Waynesboro voters approved a bond issue for a new West End fire station in a referendum last year.

Pre-emptive signals, Lucente said, are “certainly something we could do to improve response time. That’s what the West End Fire Department was all about. It’s not to say we’re not going to do it, but the West End fire department only increases response time in 18 percent of the city, whereas this will increase response time in the entire city,” Lucente said.

That number, incidentally, sounds a bit dubious to me. City fire chief Charlie Scott disputes the figure that Lucente has long cited to buttress his case against the need for a new fire station in the West End as a misread of an analysis that Scott conducted himself.

So now maybe we have two signs that Lucente is trying to move us in a different direction than forward with the fire station. He’s pottymouthing the fire station’s value in improving response times, one, and two, he’s saying there’s a cheaper ($421,400 for the pre-emption devices, versus $2 million-plus for a new fire station) and more effective fix waiting in the wings.

Stay tuned, ladies and gents. Considering that we haven’t actually dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s on the bond issue yet, we could be in for something in the way of action on this front this summer and this fall.

Listen to “The Augusta Free Press Show.”

AFP editor Chris Graham joins Fox Sports Radio-WREL1450’s “Online with Jim Bresnahan” to talk about the latest involving former Virginia Tech quarterback Michael Vick, the upcoming college-football season and more.

Show Length: 26:53

Item by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net

Fifth District Democratic nominee Tom Perriello is talking about economic revival in Southside and Central Virginia.

Perriello launched his REVIVAL plan for the economies of the Fifth yesterday at an event in Martinsville, which has the highest unemployment rate in Virginia, at 10.5 percent in May, and that was before a major employer laid off half its workforce last week.

The Perriello REVIVAL plan focuses on workforce development, investment in infrastructure, support for small businesses, work toward real energy solutions, a boost in education funding and putting Virginia workers first.

“American of Martinsville’s recent layoffs are just one example of a deepening problem in Southside,” said Perriello, who is challenging incumbent Republican Virgil Goode in the Fifth District race. “An economic revival focused on jobs will be my number one priority in Congress. This district needs a leader willing to roll up his sleeves and work as hard as workers here do to bring living wage jobs back home. There are no shortcuts or quick fixes — only a major commitment to economic revival for our communities.”

Op-Ed by Joe Russo

I have never visited Virginia, even though I know their slogan is “Virginia is for Lovers.” I might convince my wife to take a vacation there with me now; I don’t know about the “Lover” part of it, but at least I’ll be in the company of “thinkers and doers.”

Apparently, Virginia, at least Fairfax County, anyway, has a board of supervisors that may not only be “Lovers,” but are also a pretty smart bunch and actually represent their constituents.

They have recognized the foreclosure problem as being pretty serious, they saw the vacant homes, they saw the for sale signs, they read the court actions, they paid attention to the auctions; they actually paid attention. Then somebody realized that they had to take action fast.

Federal officials were not responding quickly enough, and I am sure that whatever is agreed on by the House and Senate in Washington will be full of unrelated spending and too bureaucratic in nature to move quickly enough.

Just as reminder, the estimates are showing foreclosures across the country are running in the thousands per day. I have read estimates as high as 7,000 per day. That means 7,000 families have lost their homes, children displaced, pets in the streets, vacant homes, et cetera, et cetera, every day.

Well, the folks in Fairfax County realized that this was going to get worse before it gets better, and decided to tackle the problem head on. They set a plan in motion that is a good start to stem the tide of the foreclosure plague that has gripped the country and Virginia especially.

As reported by the Associated Press, “Fairfax County’s plans, approved Monday, involve spending nearly $3 million to buy and repair up to 10 foreclosed homes the county believes are falling into disrepair and pulling down the value of neighboring properties. The county, which borders Washington to the west and has a population of more than 1 million, also plans to help as many as 100 first-time homebuyers purchase foreclosed properties for up to $385,000.

“Gerald Connolly, chairman of the county’s board of supervisors, said in a prepared statement that the initiative ‘will help restore stability for residents and neighborhoods affected by the foreclosure crisis.’ He also said the county will work with nonprofit groups to who want to buy distressed properties.

The county plans to spend $6.5 million over the next two years on the program. The remainder is to come from an existing credit line and more than $2 million in federal funds.

“A report released last month by George Mason University’s Center for Regional Analysis said the region has one of the fastest-growing foreclosure rates in the country. According to Fairfax County statistics, the county experienced more than 3,500 foreclosures in the first quarter, just over 1,000 short of the total for all of 2007. Nationwide, 261,255 homes received at least one foreclosure-related filing in May, up 48 percent from the same month last year and up 7 percent from April.”

Look, I know this is not the perfect solution, but at least it is a start. Something has to be done, and I commend the supervisors for at considering this problem serious enough to come up with something. It certainly is better than what the feds are doing, which is nothing. The feds have been doing nothing for almost a year. The latest news out of Nevada is that the two senators there can’t agree on something that is being slipped into the proposed legislation, and I am sure the federal proposal will be full with a lot of pork anyway.

I really believe that unless the feds see the problem first hand they won’t understand the problem. I hope that over the Independence Day vacation, when they when home, for sale signs were seen, constituents were seen that are now homeless, animals that were left homeless were seen wandering around and report of displaced children were read about. I hope they realized that the store and restaurants had less business, the roads had less traffic, and if they lived near the coast or a lake, there were fewer boats to be seen. I also hope they saw fewer trucks on the roads, because the truckers are going out of business, and I hope they saw that the local Starbucks has fewer customers. I hope they saw that some backyards were empty, and the barbecues were not lit, because the homeowners were forced to leave. The holiday was not celebrated by some, because they had no cash left.

I hope that our representatives and senators had to fill their own gas tank, and fill up with over $70 of gasoline and experienced the shock of high prices.I wonder if they noticed that military foreclosures are running at a level four times higher than non-military families. What a disgrace!

If they actually witnessed what is going on, when they settle in back in their comfy Washington office, they just might take some action and do something. (Truth be told, I don’t believe in a federal bailout plan, but a federal plan to let the states manage their own problem would be better.) If the feds are going to do nothing, fess up and tell us they are going to do nothing rather than dole out false hope.

The Fairfax County politicians actually did something, and their actions should serve as an example to the DC politicians; actually their actions should serve as an example to other politicians throughout the country. They took action at the risk of criticism they will receive from others who are doing nothing.

Fairfax actually realized that besides all the other aforementioned problems, if nothing was done, the county revenue stream would be affected, budgets would have to be cut, school lunch programs, raises, infrastructure maintenance, health programs, food programs, social programs, education programs, et cetera, would have to be scaled back.

Only something good can come out of the action by the Fairfax County supervisors.

I even see some jealousy from some people who are claiming that politics will come into play on deciding which properties are tended to. With the entire country watching this bold experiment, I am sure the process of selection will be carefully monitored.

Fairfax County should be proud of their leaders - they have celebrated their Independence Day well. I hope the rest of the localities in the nation don’t wait until next year (Independence Day) to wake up to the reality that we all have a major problem with foreclosures.

What the heck, give them 2 GOLD STARS plus a salute - They deserve it!

Joe Russo is a freelance journalist specializing in real estate, mortgages and consumer-credit issues. He has recently published a book titled Selling Your House/Condo in this Housing Emergency of 2008 (www.AmericasBestAgent.com).

Item by Jim Bishop

Eastern Mennonite University has named a new director of the Summer Peacebuilding Institute, which is part of the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding.

Lynn Roth, CJP executive director, announced that Sue Williams will succeed Pat Hostetter Martin, who is retiring after giving 10 years of leadership to the program. The Summer Peacebuilding Institute draws upwards to 200 persons from more than 50 countries to campus every year during May and June for intensive courses taught by CJP faculty and guest instructors in areas of peacebuilding, trauma healing and restorative justice. More than 2,200 participants have attended SPI since the program began in 1996.

“Sue brings 25 years of experience to the SPI and to the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding,” said Lynn Roth, CJP executive director. “We’re pleased to have Sue join us to lead the SPI program to the next stage of development and leadership in peacebuilding training around the world.”

Since 2000, Ms. Williams has worked as an independent consultant, assisting and training in conflict analysis, management, prevention of escalation of violence, program design, strategic reviews and evaluation of projects in countries including Rwanda, Northern Ireland, Cambodia, Guatemala, Sri Lanka, Kenya and Myanmar.

Since 2005, she has also served as special consultant to Folke Bernadotte Academy in Stockholm, Sweden, providing training for the new Mediation Support Unit of the UN Department of Political Affairs.

From 1998 to 2000 Williams directed the Policy and Evaluation Unit of INCORE at the University of Ulster/United Nations University where she helped in the development of “best practice” and evaluation approaches for conflict resolution as a field.

From 1994 to 1998 she worked with Responding to Conflict, where she served as director for Policy and Process Skills and course organizer and tutor. From 1984 to 1994 she worked for Quaker Peace and Service (British and Irish Quakers). Williams and her late husband, Steve, were representatives in East Africa and in Northern Ireland. They provided support for a variety of reconciliation and peace initiatives, including political mediation and dialog, and lived in Northern Ireland for nearly 20 years.

Williams’s publications include joint authorship of “Working with Conflict: Skills and Strategies for Action” (Zed Books, London, 2000) and “Being in the Middle by Being at the Edge: Quaker Experience of Non-Official Political Mediation” (York, Sessions, 1994).

She holds BA and MA degrees in French and politics from Brown University.

“I am especially interested in helping SPI to explore its vision and role with colleagues in a rapidly-changing world of conflict and conflict transformation and supporting practitioners to strengthen and systematize their work and to draw, test and share hypotheses from it,” Williams said in applying for the position.

Item by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net

Six historic overlooks in the Shenandoah National Park are on the hook for modifications to make the compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Architectural Barriers Act - but first the National Park Service wants to know what you think about the whole deal.

The six - Jewell Hollow, Stonyman/ Hughes River Gap, Timber Hollow, Crescent Rock, Franklin Cliffs and Hazeltop Ridge Overlooks - will be the subject of a public-comment period running through Aug. 1.

The park service is proposing to lower curbstone in the area at all six to no less than five feet and no more than 13 feet - with rocks from the curb in the area where the change occurs being replaced flush with the overlook pavement to allow access to the guard rail, and the stone curbing tapering at each end to meet the actual curb height - to make them compliant with the provisions of the ADA and ABA.

Comments can be submitted at http://parkplanning.nps.gov/shen/ or mailed to: Superintendent, Shenandoah National Park, 3655 US Highway 211 East, Luray, Va. 22835.

Winning at Working column by Nan Russell

“I don’t know,” the Gen-Y acquaintance mused. “I’m thinking about grad school, but it’s more work than I thought to prepare for the GREs. Then if I do all that and don’t get into the program I want, it’s a waste of time. Plus, did you know it could cost more than $40,000 to get a masters degree? I don’t want that kind of debt, especially since I’ll never make it up in a starting salary.”

By the end of answering my question about his post gap-year plans, this young man described several options he was pondering for his future. But woven into threads of indecision and idealism, I recognized limiting beliefs punctuating his words. It’s “too hard.” It’ll take “too long.” It costs “too much.” I also recognized he hadn’t yet discovered who he was doing the work for.

He’s right. Getting the work you want, creating your future, developing your skills can be hard, take time, and cost money. But this isn’t a generational issue; it’s a life-potential issue. We can hold these self-limiting beliefs whether we’re Gen-Y, Gen-X, Boomers or Traditionalists.

When we think we work for other people instead of working for ourselves, we’re less likely to make the investments in self-development, put in the time and determination, or make the trade-offs necessary to achieve the goals we desire.

When we think we work for “the boss” we’re less likely to push ourselves, take on the challenging project, volunteer for extra assignments, or offer the best of who we are to our work, whatever that work may be.

When we work for other people, we’re less likely to use our unique gifts to make a difference in our work group, community, or world. And we’re less likely to have the internal drive and passion to sustain us through those workplace potholes.

Working for yourself is not about being an entrepreneur, owning your own business, or being self-employed. It’s a vision, not a vocation.

You can give away the power over your future to bosses or other influencers in your life, or you can keep that power to fuel your dreams. As Nashua Cavalier put it, “Man’s biggest mistake is to believe that he’s working for someone else.” When you believe you are, that’s when work becomes work.

People who are winning at working work for the right person - the one looking back in mirror. That differentiation changes everything. It’s easier to know what jobs to seek, skills to enhance, and opportunities to seize. It’s easier to know when you should change paths, companies or bosses. And it’s easier to weather workplace stresses when you’re the one holding the compass for your life.

People who are winning at working accept the accountability for inventing their future, realizing it’s not the boss or the work or the company politics that stand in the way of their success. These can be obstacles to maneuver certainly, but the real obstacles are self-inflicted: fear, limiting beliefs, victim-thinking or misplaced perspectives. These are what hold your life-potential in check.

Want to be winning at working? Start working for the right person.

Author of Hitting Your Stride: Your Work, Your Way (Capital Books; January 2008), and host of “Work Matters with Nan Russell” weekly on www.webtalkradio.net. Nan Russell has spent over 20 years in management, most recently with QVC as a vice president. Sign up to receive Nan’s “Winning at Working” tips and insights at http://www.nanrussell.com.

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