www.roanoke.com

We wrote a while back about Christiansburg developer Roger Woody's mean-spirited attempt to stifle criticism of his enormous pile of dirt. Woody, recall, filed a lawsuit against a few local bloggers alleging that the mean things they said about Mount Woody cost him business. He wants $10 million in damages.

They'll all be in Montgomery County Circuit Court tomorrow at 9:30 in Christiansburg for a hearing on filings in the case.

Woody's argument.

The defendant's argument.

Alas, not on trial are the town's weak ordinances that allow the dirt pile and its even weaker development standards.

(Full disclosure: The Roanoke Times is named in Woody's filings but is not party to the suit in any form.)

Blacksburg wants to know. It also wants to know why you visit and what might convince you to stop by more often. This weekend is Steppin' Out, probably the town's biggest festival. What other types of events do people want? Fill out this form and let the town know.

Thursday, we'll take a look at a state Department of Education proposal to incorporate schools' graduation and completion rates into state accreditation standards. Since 2004, Virginia has been able to track the academic lives of individual students, which will enable high schools to calculate real graduation rates rather than estimates. With accurate data, it seems logical to set a benchmark that schools would have to meet to receive state accreditation, with the aim of improving their graduation rates.

An editorial on Thursday will point out the silliness of Virginia's back-to-school sales tax holiday. It takes place this weekend. Read all about the holiday, and check out the lists of exempt school supplies and clothing.

Politics taint the Justice Department

Wanted: Prosecutors and immigration judges who love the president and hate gays and abortion. Democrats need not apply.

The Bush administration illegally turned the Justice Department into a farm system for conservative Christian attorneys. For the last eight years, political hacks ruined the reputation of the one executive department that absolutely must stand above partisanship.

Read more.

Widespread voter fraud? Hardly

The new head of Virginia's Republican Party is letting desperation lead him.

Coordinated and widespread voter fraud throughout Virginia! Yikes! Virginians would expect Attorney General Bob McDonnell to crawl all over the case -- especially since the person alleging such felonies is none other than Del. Jeff Frederick, chairman of the state Republican Party.

But Republican McDonnell isn't investigating for good reason: It's not true.

Read more.

Flights will continue in Roanoke

James M. Turner Jr.

Turner is the chairman of the Roanoke Regional Airport Commission.

I write on behalf of the Roanoke Airport Commission to address the state of the commercial aviation industry in general and how it affects the Roanoke and New River valleys in particular.

As anyone can see, the current cost of fuel is creating waves throughout the economy. While gas, food and construction costs are rising, the airline industry is dealing with fuel costs that have increased 53 percent in the last 12 months and 251 percent in the last eight years. At present, 85 percent or more of the cost of an airline ticket goes toward fuel.

Read more.

Read today's letters here.

"That's ludicrous - The great state of Vermont will not apologize for its cheese! "

What shouldn't Virginia apologize for today?

The town of Pulaski is holding its public interviews of applicants to fill a vacancy on the council this evening. Over at The Roanoke Times' New River Notebook blog, we find out two applicants have dropped out.

The one that interests me is former councilman E.G. Black. His hand-written letter announcing that he was withdrawing contains these gems:

"The originial announcement artical (sic) you only wanted a resume, but now you have changed to have interviews as well as questions being submitted by the public."

and

"I understand that some of the council thinks that Mr. Kidd be appointed since he's ran and was third. I thought that the charter was to appoint someone in 45 days without all this hassel (sic)."

Heavens forbid someone actually has to interview and answer questions from the public before serving on the town council. Maybe council used to ignore the public when you served on it, Mr. Black, but it appears that the new council is striking out on a better path. Perhaps that sort of attitude is what convinced voters not to reelect you in 2004.

Thanks for saving Pulaski the "hassel" of interviewing you.

Speaking of the GAO (see previous post), the Environmental Protection Agency last month directed its employees not to answer questions from journalists, the Government Accountability Office or the agency's own inspector general. Looks like even the tepid inquiries and investigations into the administrations shady and illegal dealings are making them sweat. Imagine if Congress or independent prosecutors actually tried to hold officials accountable.

Oh well, in the meantime, don't miss the EPA's Web videos. Propaganda at its finest. It's even a podcast. Because there's nothing the kids want to watch more than administration talking heads. At least they're trying.

According to the Government Accountability Office, 1.6 million businesses owed more than $58 billion in unpaid federal payroll taxes as of Sept. 30, 2007. The GAO also found that the IRS is lackadaisical in attempting to get the money.

Read the executive summary or the full report.

Businesses, like people, vary in their integrity. Just because it is private industry doesn't mean it is good.