The Shadow
Welcome back, Shadowers! Lots of activities this weekend, with many folks volunteering around the community. One Shadower said, “Thanks to the all-stars who came out to help clean up Smith Creek Park and the sensory trail. Tina, Matt, Sandy, Dennis, Pam, David. The park is beautiful and we are getting a lot of people using it. Consider helping out for the next cleanup if you can.”
Other Shadowers are concerned over the condition of the Humpback Bridge. Seems it’s developed a little bit of a lean and has a growing amount of graffiti on the inside. Hopefully, someone in VDOT will take notice and do what’s needed to preserve our iconic, historical bridge.
Douthat State Park is still accepting vendor applications for their awesome 9th Annual Campsite Cook-Off on Saturday, Sept. 28. Ranger Hannah Johnson says to contact her at 540-862-8114 or send an email to hannah.johnson@dcr.virginia.gov.
Over at the Denialism Department, The Virginian Review research team has been having a heck of a time obtaining the city business text communications from Vice Mayor Crosier and Small Business Coordinator Terri McClung’s mobile devices. They have stonewalled several Freedom of Information (FOIA) requests, stating that ‘they don’t do city business on text” and then required an IT professional to perform the search for an exorbitant fee. However, the Shadow continues to receive more evidence that indeed they do use text for city business.
What cats are they hiding in those bags?
Last week, McClung finally agreed to let the Virginian Review team directly access her phone. In the search, there was almost nothing on the phone, and in particular, the texts that the Shadow has as evidence were nowhere to be found. Either McClung destroyed the texts and violated the law by obstructing justice, or, something else. The VR team compared notes and lo and behold, it appears she has a second phone. A new FOIA was sent for records on that device.
We also requested to directly search the Vice Mayor’s phone, and the City finally flatly declined, stating, “David Crosier is not an employee, Allen works for him.” What does that mean? That the Vice Mayor thinks he is above the law and cannot be forced by a FOIA, nor the City to turn over his public business communications?
Funny, Virginia State Law has a different interpretation on this matter, stating that any communications made in the course of public business, whether on a government-issued or personal device, are subject to FOIA. The vice mayor, even if not considered a formal “employee,” is still an elected official acting on behalf of the City of Covington. Therefore, texts related to city business on his personal device would be considered public records under this definition.
Welp, if he can’t be compelled by a FOIA law, nor the city to hand over public records, then looks like he’s going to find out what the knock on his door delivering a “Writ of Mandamus” is all about here shortly.
One more tidbit about the Covington Small Business coordinator before we move on. While the team was reviewing her phone, she was asked why she hadn’t honored the Virginian Review’s request to also promote it on her Small Business Coordinator’s Facebook Page like she did with the other newspaper. She replied, “There are like 520 businesses in Covington, and I try to post at least one of them a week as I don’t want to bombard the Small Business Coordinator Facebook page with all kinds of businesses.” When asked when she might get around to promoting the Virginian Review, she stated, “Right now I’m busy working with all the 520 business to make sure I have the correct… make sure they haven’t moved, so I haven’t really been on Facebook.”
Uh… then what’s the purpose of our Chamber of Commerce? Aren’t they in charge of maintaining an up-to-date list of all the businesses? I could be wrong, but it seems the Small Business Coordinator is doing a lot of extra useless busy-work when one could spend 10 minutes and ask the Chamber for the updated business information. And if McClung’s logic stands, if you’re the #520 small business on her list, be prepared to wait 10 years before she’ll promote your business. That is, unless you’re one of her favorites and get bumped to the top of the list, as she did recently for a non-local newspaper.
Last week a Shadower reported a black bear with mange wandering on Riverside in Covington. Mange is caused by a mite, and is a highly contagious skin disease that affects many wild and domestic animals. Severely affected bears are typically emaciated, depressed, and often found wandering around unaware of their surroundings, like the one on Riverside. Mange is transmissible to humans and pets that have come into direct contact with either an infested bear or an item that was touched by an infested bear, like trash cans. Human infections typically result in an itchy skin rash that usually resolves without treatment and lasts from several days to several weeks. If you see a bear with Mange, please do not feed it and immediately contact the Wildlife Conflict Helpline at (855) 571-9003.
Last week the Shadow mentioned the concerns of a couple of Shadowers over AHPS’s proper handling and disposal of vehicles and equipment. Shadower Laura Lyne gave us a good update. Laura stated, “They are mostly sold on GovDeals! As are our old school buses! However, I know a lot of the ones we did have on the lot recently have been pushed to the schools for different reasons. Also, there are shuttles that happen during the day so not all cars are here all the time.”
From the Shadow Mailbag, “The 2nd half of the Alleghany Trail has become a disaster & cannot be opened because of the danger it presents to the public. Because it was not properly constructed & shortcuts were taken, parts of the trail have slid into Cedar Creek, along with dangerous sediment which in turn flows into the Jackson. Several locals have tried repeatedly to work with the county but it appears to have all fallen on deaf ears. Now the county is asking for over $600,000 to “fix” the problem but really it’s just putting a bandaid on it. The locals have done a lot of legwork, and research, and have pictures of all the illegal permits & more. Shadow, can you help bring this out in the open & inform the citizens of our community?”
Another letter from the mailbag writes, “I just happened to be sitting around thinking about the Sheriff’s office and how Chad Wickline probably wouldn’t have left the scene of his accident unless he was allegedly drinking or drunk. No law enforcement officer would do that, they are all constantly aware of the results of their actions as they live in a fishbowl. With that said it came out during the election Kyle Moore had been charged criminally in the past while a state trooper. He downplayed the charge as a class 3 misdemeanor, no different than a speeding ticket. His charge was failing to tag a deer. To most In this area, this will be seen as not a big deal but in my eyes, it’s no different than what Wickline did.
Kyle Moore knew to tag that deer and by not doing so you are stealing a deer from the state of Virginia and he could be charged. As a hunter myself, I am very aware of what I need to do. Which in my eyes is a crime of moral turpitude. Many states have very heavy replacement fees on game. West Virginia for example is $500. a deer. In a nutshell, Kyle Moore tried to steal a deer and was caught. Knowing our local law enforcement he would have most likely gotten some professional courtesy and this was overlooked unless there were other circumstances forcing the Gamewarden to make it look as though he was doing his job. By charging Moore with the smallest charge so he could continue his career and hide it just like they have apparently done for Chad Wickline.”
The upcoming elections are starting to heat up, with lots of candidates out and about. The Virginian Review has invited all candidates to publish their introductions and platforms in the Virginian Review, and will host a 2024 Election Debate at the Masonic Theatre on Oct 3. As I understand, the event will be live-streamed now for sure, so hopefully, everyone will have it on their schedule and the popcorn machine ready.
Finally, the quote of the day comes from our Mayor of Covington, Tom Sibold who recently posted in an apparent attempt to ‘splain some things on his conscious away: “We are not responsible for the circumstances we are in…”
What? That’s like a chocolate-covered toddler denying he had anything to do with the cookies that magically jumped into his mouth. If blatant lying is one’s defense, how can one not be responsible for the mess they’ve created? Last time I checked, a little thing called accountability still exists.
I’m out of time, and out of coffee, but I’ll leave you with a little tidbit from history. In President Richard Nixon’s resignation speech in 1974, he avoided admitting any wrongdoing. Instead, he placed blame on the media, accusing them of using “leaks, accusations, and innuendo” to deliberately undermine and destroy his presidency.
