News & Views

At-risk preschool initiative proceeds despite funding cut

Despite a lack of financial support by the Board of Supervisors, the Chesterfield School Board is moving ahead with a new preschool initiative for at-risk children.

Last month, supervisors reduced the school system's budget by $750,000 when a majority of members opposed the program.

"We're moving forward as we promoted it," said Tim Bullis, the school system's assistant director of community relations. "We've just moved funding around."

School Board members voted unanimously last week to eliminate 18 new teacher and 12 new bus driver positions along with changing debt service to help find funding for the program.

The program will initially serve around 112 at-risk children at seven elementary schools that were selected based on student poverty levels. Participating elementary schools include Bensley, Beulah, Davis, Falling Creek, Providence, Reams and Harrowgate. It will be partially funded with a state grant.

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"A large portion of the kids in this program are in [Chairman Kelly] Miller's district," added Trammell during a later interview. "I'm just trying to point out how ironic it is that Mr. Miller who is supposed to be representing all of the people in his district, is taking a position that is in direct contrast to educational research and even his own school board member."

Complete article at The Chestefield Observer.

Ready or not, here it comes

Upper Swift Creek draft plan includes higher taxes

Almost everyone agrees that the Upper Swift Creek plan is not ready for review and recommendation by the Planning Commission on May 15, but ready or not, the commission is going to send it to the County Board of Supervisors for possible action on May 23.

Complete article at The Chestefield Observer.

Ree Hart Announces Run for Bermuda District Supervisor

In 2003, Ree Hart decided that she would take her work with the Ampthill Homeowners and Jefferson Davis associations to another level and made a bid for the Bermuda District seat on the Chesterfield Board of Supervisors. She garnered more votes than the incumbent, but fell short of winning the election.

This week, Hart is announcing that she is giving it another try. She will be seeking the seat of the Bermuda District Supervisor on the Democratic ticket. The Village News recently asked her about her decision to run:

Village News: Why did you decide to run for the Bermuda District Supervisor seat?

Ree Hart: Four years ago, I had serious concerns about issues facing the County and, especially, the Bermuda District. Now, four years down the road, those same issues have still not been properly addressed and are challenging our quality of life. Our roads continue to be congested and are not maintained; our schools are overcrowded; growth is out of control; our green spaces are fast disappearing; our historical sites are not being promoted and revitalization efforts are negligible. More significantly, the voice of citizens is ignored or silenced by the indifference and arrogance of our current Board and Planning Commission.

Complete article at The Village News.

Cracks show in Chesterfield GOP

Republican infighting could cost party its hold on county seats

When state Sen. Stephen H. Martin, R-Chesterfield, recently weighed in on two county government issues, some critics accused him of meddling. Martin's response is that he is simply doing his job as an elected official and a ranking Chesterfield County Republican when he gets involved in state and local government issues.

Martin's involvement in seeking the removal of a county planning commissioner, and in calling for a special election for county sheriff, is a sign that the 150member Chesterfield County Republican Committee is in turmoil, political observers say.

Larry Miller, past chairman of the committee, said, "Senator Martin sees himself for whatever reason as the leader of the party . . . and he's trying to act it out. And because of that, he's coming into conflict with people."

Martin says criticism comes with being a leader, and those who say the party is fractured are a vocal minority. "The guy that's at the front of the line becomes a greater target, so I'm the guy that's taking the arrows," he said.

In fact, a party that has control of nearly every elected office in Chesterfield County should be coasting toward November elections. Instead, members fear Democratic gains in November.

Complete article at The Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Senate candidate faces felony counts

Loudoun grand jury charges Tate with election fraud, perjury

Mark D. Tate, a Middleburg businessman seeking the Republican nomination to run for the 27th District state Senate seat, has been indicted on 11 counts of election fraud and perjury.

The indictment, handed up by a Loudoun County grand jury Monday and made public yesterday, lists two counts of election fraud and nine perjury counts. The felony charges relate to state-required campaign-finance reports filed this year and during a campaign in 2003, said Loudoun Commonwealth's Attorney James E. Plowman.

Tate faces Jill Holtzman Vogel of Warrenton in a primary nominating contest. The indictments come three weeks before the June 12 primary.

Edward MacMahon, an attorney representing Tate, said Tate would plead not guilty and ask for a jury trial. "I find it quite odd that the indictment came 18 days before the primary," he said.

Plowman backs Vogel. Because of that, he said, the case was turned over to Matthew Britton, commonwealth's attorney in King George County.

Whatever spin Tate puts on the indictments will not change the facts of the case, Plowman said. Campaign-finance-law indictments are rare in Virginia.

Tate sought the GOP nomination for the state Senate seat in 2003 and came within 106 votes of upsetting the incumbent, Republican Sen. H. Russell Potts Jr. of Winchester. Potts is not seeking re-election this year.

Complete article at The Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Loupassi to take on Waddell

Ex-Richmond official defeats Shewmake to win GOP primary

Former Richmond City Council President Manoli G. Loupassi crushed Chesterfield County lawyer William H. Shewmake in a firehouse primary yesterday.

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Loupassi will run against one-term independent Del. Katherine B. Waddell of Richmond in the general election this fall.

The district consists of parts of northern Chesterfield County, South Richmond and Richmond's West End.

Complete article at The Richmond Times-Dispatch.

County Unveils 2008 Proposed Budget

Last week, the largest payout in North America's lotteries' history was awarded with an estimated $370 million amount. Ironically, in the same week, Chesterfield County unveiled its proposed biennial financial plan for Fiscal Year (FY) 2007-2008, which substantially dwarfs the lottery award.

In fact, the county's proposed budget is more than three times larger than the record-breaking lottery drawing at $1.170 billion dollars.

"That's a 6.2 percent increase over the existing year's budget, which is on par with growth in population and inflation," said Allan Carmody, director of Chesterfield County Budget Management department. The year 2006 saw a 2.75 percent increase in population in Chesterfield County.

It should come as no surprise to any homeowner in Chesterfield County that the majority of funding for the proposed budget is from real estate taxes; the real estate tax revenue in comparison to last year's budget increased by 13.6 percent.

Even at the county's proposed reduced tax rate of .99 cents per $100 assessed value, nearly 29 percent of revenues - equaling almost $311 million dollars - will arise from real estate taxes.

"When we ran through all of the projections, in the end, the county realized $76.4 million dollars in new funding," said Carmody.

Complete article at WesternChesterfieldExchange.com.

Costs Grow for Common Medicare Drugs

Price Increase in Prescription Program Is Twice That Seen in Wholesale Rates

After some initial success containing drug prices, private insurers in the new Medicare prescription drug program may be losing their leverage over drug manufacturers as they try to hold down medicine costs for seniors and the federal government, House investigators have found.

Prices for 10 of the most prescribed brand-name medications have shot up an average of 6.8 percent since December under Medicare private insurance plans, while wholesale prices for the same drugs have risen just 3 percent, House Oversight and Government Reform investigators say. The cost of a month's supply of cholesterol-controlling Lipitor had climbed 9.6 percent, to $84.27 in mid-April, from $76.91 in mid-December. Over the same time, list prices climbed 5 percent.

Premiums for Medicare drug plans have jumped 13 percent over the past year, when the drug plans went into effect, the investigators say.

Complete article at The Washington Post.

Analysts' Warnings of Iraq Chaos Detailed

Senate Panel Releases Assessments From 2003

Months before the invasion of Iraq, U.S. intelligence agencies predicted that it would be likely to spark violent sectarian divides and provide al-Qaeda with new opportunities in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a report released yesterday by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Analysts warned that war in Iraq also could provoke Iran to assert its regional influence and "probably would result in a surge of political Islam and increased funding for terrorist groups" in the Muslim world.

The intelligence assessments, made in January 2003 and widely circulated within the Bush administration before the war, said that establishing democracy in Iraq would be "a long, difficult and probably turbulent challenge." The assessments noted that Iraqi political culture was "largely bereft of the social underpinnings" to support democratic development.

More than four years after the March 2003 invasion, with Iraq still mired in violence and 150,000 U.S. troops there under continued attack from al-Qaeda and Iraqi insurgents, the intelligence warnings seem prophetic. Other predictions, however, were less than accurate. Intelligence analysts assessed that any postwar increase in terrorism would slowly subside in three to five years, and that Iraq's vast oil reserves would quickly facilitate economic reconstruction.

The report is the latest release in the Senate committee's ongoing study of prewar intelligence. A July 2004 report identified intelligence-gathering and analysis failures related to weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Still pending is a study of how the administration used intelligence on Iraq in the run-up to the war.

The report was released the same day President Bush signed a $120 billion war funding bill from Congress that includes benchmarks for the Iraqi government.

In a statement attached to yesterday's 229-page report, the Senate intelligence committee's chairman, John D. Rockefeller IV (W.Va.), and three other Democratic panel members said: "The most chilling and prescient warning from the intelligence community prior to the war was that the American invasion would bring about instability in Iraq that would be exploited by Iran and al Qaeda terrorists."

In addition to portraying a terrorist nexus between Iraq and al-Qaeda that did not exist, the Democrats said, the Bush administration "also kept from the American people . . . the sobering intelligence assessments it received at the time" -- that an Iraq war could allow al-Qaeda "to establish the presence in Iraq and opportunity to strike at Americans it did not have prior to the invasion."

Complete article at The Washington Post.

Bush thanks troops; Marine says bring them home

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush urged Americans to use Memorial Day to rededicate themselves to fighting for freedom around the world and pray for the safety of U.S. troops serving overseas.

"In Iraq and Afghanistan, millions have shown their desire to be free," Bush said Saturday in his weekly radio address. "We are determined to help them secure their liberty. "

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Bush used his radio address to tell the story of Sgt. David Christoff Jr. of Rossford, Ohio, one of at least 3,431 members of the U.S. military who have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003. Christoff signed up for the Marines the day after the September 11 attacks in 2001, saying he didn't want his brother and sister to "live in fear," Bush said.

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Marine who served: End war to honor troops

For their weekly radio address, Democrats called on Elliot Anderson of Las Vegas, who spent four years on active duty with the Marine Corps, including a seven-month deployment to Afghanistan.

Anderson said patriotism is an American value, not a Democratic or a Republican one.

"I strongly oppose our involvement in Iraq's civil war, but I am still proud of my service to my country," Anderson said.

"But I know I speak for many of my friends overseas when I say that the best way to honor the troops is to responsibly end our involvement in Iraq's civil war. As long as President Bush stays committed to the same policies that aren't working, it won't be easy. But I am proud to see Democrats and now some brave Republicans standing up to him."

Complete article at CCN.com.

Report: Red tape blocks Marines' gear requests

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The system for delivering badly needed gear to Marines in Iraq has failed to meet many urgent requests for equipment from troops in the field, according to an internal document obtained by The Associated Press.

Of more than 100 requests from deployed Marine units between February 2006 and February 2007, less than 10 percent have been fulfilled, the document says. It blamed the bureaucracy and a "risk-averse" approach by acquisition officials.

Among the items held up were a mine-resistant vehicle and a hand-held laser system.

"Process worship cripples operating forces," according to the document. "Civilian middle management lacks technical and operational currency."

The 32-page document -- labeled "For Official Use Only" -- was prepared by the staff of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force after they returned from Iraq in February.

The document was to be presented in March to senior officials in the Pentagon's defense research and engineering office. The presentation was canceled by Marine Corps leaders because its contents were deemed too contentious, according to a defense official familiar with the document. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss it publicly.

The document's claims run counter to the public description of a process intended to cut through the layers of red tape that frequently slow the military's procurement process.

Complete article at CCN.com.