It’s that time of year, when peace, love and gladness ring in hearts all over the Blue Ridge.

Except for in mine. I am “sinister, brilliant and beautifully foul.” That’s how Roanoke reader Whitney Hollingsworth described me on Facebook one day in November, and I feel indebted.

By Grant Jedlinsky

It’s also a perfect description for the Grinch. Which means it’s time to give out the infamous Dano Awards, which are more or less Oscars for glaring stupidity.

They are named after me for obvious reasons. Month after month, people compete with reckless abandon to outdo me, no easy feat. But there always are standouts. So here we go:

For the first time, we’re handing out a national award, the Dano for Political Backfire. Congratulations are in order for Virginia Del. Kathy Byron, R-Lynchburg, who also represents northern Franklin and southern Bedford counties.

In a strange way, she probably did more to assure the re-election of President Barack Obama than any other state-level lawmaker in the country.

READ THE REST OF THIS COLUMN HERE.

By Grant Jedlinsky

It hardly seems like a year has gone by since we last celebrated glaring stupidity.

You’ve got to admit, there was no shortage of that in 2011. Which means it’s time for the annual Dano Awards, named after yours truly.

Many believe I’m king of this genre; that I will never abdicate its throne. But there are plenty of princes, princesses and poseurs out there. This yearly effort is dedicated to them.

The Dano in the “Thou Shalt Burn Taxpayers’ Money” category goes to the Giles County School Board, which is being sued because of its 3-2 vote to allow the display of the Ten Commandments in public schools.

True, the school board’s lawyers are volunteers. The rub is, the attorneys for the plaintiffs are not, necessarily.

When and if the board gets torpedoed in court, Giles County may be forced to pay a bunch of commandments-curbing lawyers for their time and effort. In similar cases, that’s amounted to hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars.

They may even have to pay extra because their attorney-volunteers tried to intimidate the plaintiffs into dropping the lawsuit. Stick that thought in your Christmas stockings, Giles taxpayers.

READ THE REST OF THE COLUMN HERE.

By Grant Jedlinsky

It’s that time of year, Gonzos!

The last column of each annum is a look back at some of the amazingly boneheaded things people in our region have said and done.

Each of those folks gets a coveted Dano, which is named after me because it celebrates glaring stupidity.

For some reason, this is always one of the most talked about columns of the year. My email box fills to the brim and the phone rings off the hook.

Today, I’m soliciting your nominations. In the comments, name the category (which you can make up if you wish to) and then tell us the name of the person or panel who deserves the Dano. Please include a link if you can.

This year’s column will run Dec. 18, so time’s a wasting.

Ksbrown | Wikimedia Commons

He liked the Dano Awards column, but thinks I missed a few

A bigger Dano goes to Morgan “low tax” Griffith for vehemently supporting Abuser Fees, aka Balanced Budget Taxes, under the fiction that suddenly the Legislature discovered (I’m shocked, shocked) that a satanic class of speeders known as Joe Average were not only speeding but endangering democracy as we know it, and by golly, they all must be reformed in Financial Re-education Camp !!

Nail every one of those evil people !!

It’s a sudden moral crusade !!

And idiotic voters get a Dano for not remembering.  As Al Smith wisely counseled America, “Let’s look at the record.”

Keep up the good work.  You have certainly found yourself a niche.

Robert A. Young
NORTHERN ROANOKE COUNTY

By Grant Jedlinsky

One of last year’s most talked-about columns was the Dano Awards for Glaring Stupidity. It raked over the coals just about everybody who deserved it and probably a few who didn’t.

The 2010 awards column will appear sometime in December, after I go on holiday vacation to escape the heat that it no doubt will generate. This is your chance to weigh in with nominations, readers.

I’m looking for public acts of stupidity. In some cases they were committed by public officials; in other cases by private individuals whose stupid actions, unfortunately for them, became public.

In other words, the candidates have been in the news sometime during the year. Please confine your nominations to people in Southwest Virginia, except we”ll allow you to nominate state officials as well. And I always win one, too, so feel free to nominate me for any boneheaded move I made or wrote.

Your nominations should include:

1. Name of the individual and category (making up a category is allowed, and even encouraged).

2.  A brief explanation of what they did to merit the award, and when they did it.

For example: In the category of Highest Ranking Official to Solicit Campaign Cash from a Con Man, the Dano would no doubt go to Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who in August of 2009 begged for a contribution from the founder of a phony veterans charity, the U.S. Navy Veterans Association. The con man’s stolen name is Bobby Thompson. (This qualifies  because the contribution didn’t become newsuntil this year).

There are two ways to make your nominations: as a comment posted here to this blog, or by e-mail me at dan(dot)casey(at)roanoke(dot)com.

Thanks for your help, bloggers!