Over at NewVaConnects a call has gone out for young professionals to step up if they desire leadership in the group that bills itself as "the young professional's voice for action."
Those who wish to join should contact Jamie at info@newvaconnects.org.
The blog doesn't list the qualifications or age limit. I suppose if one still refers to this demographic group as Yuppies then one is far too old to join.
For my Sunday column, I needed to figure out what the oath of office for the Christiansburg town council looks like. Turns out that the charter defers to the state code on the oath. The oath template:
§ 49-1. Form of general oath required of officers.
Every person before entering upon the discharge of any function as an officer of this Commonwealth shall take and subscribe the following oath: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge all the duties incumbent upon me as .......... according to the best of my ability, (so help me God)."
Interestingly, though the reference to gods appears optional, the government can require you to take your oath on a Bible:
§ 49-10. Use of Bible in administration of oaths.
No officer of this Commonwealth, or any political subdivision thereof, shall, in administering an oath in pursuance of law, require or request any person taking the oath to kiss the Holy Bible, or any book or books thereof, but persons being sworn for any purpose may be required to place their hand on the Holy Bible.
Any officer violating this section shall be subject to a fine of $100.
Dunkin' Donuts pulled an online ad featuring Rachael Ray because her white-and-black silk paisley scarf pegged her as a terrorist. Leading the charge was conservative columnists Michelle Malkin who said Ray's scarf looked like a kaffiyeh. Malkin wrote, "The kaffiyeh, for the clueless, is the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad."
Which just goes to show that some people need to find terror lurking behind every donut counter. Will we ever be safe?
For Friday: City schools are considering raising the academic requirements for its student-athletes from one of just barely passing a handful of courses (the state's requirement) to carrying a C-average. Schools that cling to dumbed-down standards under the premise that it'll keep them in school aren't doing them any favors.
On Sunday, we'll urge the governments of Alleghany County and the city of Covington to act on yet another study that shows big savings if the sparsely populated region were to merge under one government or, at the least, peel away duplicative services. The status quo will get too expensive for taxpayers to support.
In our Sunday NRV Current editorial, we will be taking a look at Tech's move toward lower emissions. The school hasn't exactly been slacking, but a more coordinated approach is welcome, especially as surrounding communities have already taken the lead on improving the environment.
A few decades ago, some engineer was designing a gas pump and asked himself, "What's the most gas could cost before this thing gets replaced?" He remembered paying a few dimes per gallon that morning and figured $4 was far off in the future. He set the gears to max out at $3.99.
Roanoke County supervisors can't know yet what Roanoke Mayor-elect David Bowers intends to do about the city's fire department budget, but they're worried -- with good cause.
Bowers has blistered the current administration for budget cuts that have left the fire department short six positions. Coincidentally, that is the same number of city firefighters assigned to Roanoke County's Clearbrook station under a mutual-aid agreement.
By James W. Laughner
Laughner lives in Roanoke and teaches physics at Cave Spring High School. He worked for Owens-Brockway in the 1970s, where he used Wien's law every day, and was a researcher in materials processing at Corning Inc. and a professor at Alfred University.
I am a materials scientist now teaching high school in Roanoke, not a political columnist. I'm not competent to comment on the political column titled "'Sound science' is damaging" (May 19). However, I feel I must correct the "sound science" essay printed that same day titled "Global warming or cooling? Who knows?"
By Al Weed
Weed is chairman of Public Policy Virginia, a Charlottesville-based nonprofit working to empower citizens to engage their communities in responding to the challenge of climate change.
A good sign in the fight against global warming is the open debate about how we should respond to our own spoliation of the atmosphere. We are no longer arguing about who caused what, but now, and more urgently, how we can reverse the carbon tide.
Read today's letters here.
"In the town where I was born, lived a man who sailed to sea."
What was the town where you were born like?
The governor has called a special session of the General Assembly beginning June 23 to try again to resolve transportation funding shortfalls. But the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports a new Commonwealth Poll shows transportation isn't the biggest worry on Virginians' minds. In fact, it ranks fourth among Democrats and Republicans. Schools, jobs and the environment are the biggest concerns among Democrats; schools, illegal immigration and jobs, ranked in that order, worry Republicans the most.
Maybe everyone should be worried that, without enough money for roads, the General Assembly will be sorely tempted in the years ahead to dip into the state's general fund, from whence state school funding comes.
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