I'm always looking for sources on local news and need your help. If you know something, find something good, or have an inside story--please drop me a line.
Wed. 11/11/09: Well time has moved forward since my last entry to this page. Kimball Payne didn't get removed from his position for threatening a police officer's career and being what some might call a giant jerk, and Scott Garrett won the local election. What can you say? Some you win, and some you lose. I can believe in shame on city council for not holding to a higher standard. The good old boy network seems to be alive and well right here in Lynchburg, Virginia.
And I will say too, good luck to you Dr. Garrett and we wish you the best.
Sun 8/9/09: The Lynchburg News and Daily Advance ran a
story today saying Lynchburg City is implementing a policy towards its employees--not just the police force, to forbid secretly recording a conversation even though it is allowed by STATE LAW!!!!
If there was nothing to hide there would be no problem--right?
First it is an employee "hiding behind their constitutional right"(s) (Kimball Payne see below). Now the City Government thinks they can circumvent STATE LAW.
Talk about what it says in the article, "just because something is legal doesn't mean it's the ethical or proper or professional thing to do", neither I would say is it ethical to lie, or threaten someone, or to intimidating them into compliance against their legal rights. Did Mr. Payne act professionally? Or properly? Maybe like the traffic cameras recording all our passings where there are so many that this too is against STATE LAW, maybe the city should impliment a plan to record everything that goes on in their buildings.
That would be the fair thing to do would it not?
This whole thing just smells of corruption. If it didn't, Kimball Payne's actions would show the reason why legally recording someone has a purpose and is perhaps necessary at times. But no, our city government wants to place into immediate effect a new rule giving employees at an unbalanced disadvantage where they can be threatened and lied to. Who in their right mind could believe otherwise?
If you read this, send City Council an email telling them how you feel. You can get their email addresses here but be warned they couldn't put it in HTML, instead it's in Microsoft Word.
By the way, did you know that the typical traffic camera and I mean one camera costs on average, $60,000 to $90,000 EACH! ( or Google it yourself) Count them some day and think about the city saying they want to save money. Is that honest?
Come on people, speak out. There seems to be something rotten in the city right now and we need to work together to get rid of it.
8/7/09: Kimball Payne................You need to go!
Here's a link to the local story.
And here is part of the story from WSET:
TAPE RECORDING (April 3, 2009): Kimball Payne, Lynchburg City Manager- "You're going to get away with it this time. I'm not a vindictive person, but don't pretend you can do that, because I can tell you that it's going to make a difference in your career and you'll never be able to prove that it didn't."
TAPE RECORDING (April 3, 2009): Kimball Payne, Lynchburg City Manager- "If I start to see a line of employees coming to council meetings, hiding behind their constitutional right to insult me, it's not going to work. There's going to be repercussions."
Hiding behind their constitutional rights? I believe those rights you seem to think are such a problem even circumvents your totalitarian ideas Mr. Payne. The only insults I believe were brought against city council were differences of opinion.
May I add mine? The lawsuit found here again from WSET puts it in an even worse light.
6/7/09: Remember to vote this Tuesday the 9th and may I please say vote for
Scott Garrett for Delegate.
Dr. Garrett has been a strong voice for sensible spending on the local scene and I think will represent us with a strong voice for wise government in our future. He has stood up against unreasonable budget cuts while many of the rest of town council earnestly supports millions of dollars in what looks to me like pet projects most of us could care less about. I have personally spoken to Mr. Garrett and have found him an easy person to talk to and one who actually listens to your opinions.
Our citizens need real representation, not the deaf ear we have apparently received all too many times in the past. Scott wants smaller, smarter government, to cut our taxes, to control spending, he defends the second amendment with a high NRA rating, favors traditional marriage and other conservative issues important to all of us. A vote for Scott is the right vote. Please vote Garrett for delegate on Tuesday.
Thanks!
Sat. 9/13/08: Okay, then Obama has been here and left. I do hope he got a chance to marvel at the highest fountain east of the Mississippi while he was in town. Or to view the amount of trash that covers the roadways around the burg. That's a real showing point for our fair city. Or maybe he got a chance to take in some of the fine historical sites that Lynchburg has to offer like a view of the pest house. Then if we worked it out right, we could charge him some more if he ever comes back. Even if he becomes President, we could probably charge him double or something. Who knows what the future holds? Only the certainty that we will lose even more freedoms and our economy will keep going down. And you thought it was only death and taxes! Ha! Ha! Not any more.
(Please email me if you would like to make a comment on this page. Thanks.)
