The Shadow
Welcome back, Shadowers! “There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says “Morning, boys. How’s the water?” And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes “What the heck is water?”
As American Novelist David Foster Wallace so cleverly points out, people can get so cozy in their surroundings that they have gotten good at ignoring the blatant corruption happening all around them. Kind of like driving past a bunch of trash on the road. “Hey, not my problem…I didn’t put it there, I deny seeing it and it doesn’t exist… Squirrel!” All’s fine and dandy over at the “Ignore the problem” department until the tax man shows up to collect your share of the cleanup service.
Wait a minute… I’m responsible for paying for someone else’s bad behavior? Yes.
Recently the Alleghany Highlands Chamber of Commerce hosted several critical candidate forums for the upcoming elections. (Big thanks to Josh Taylor and the Chamber!) All candidates have appeared so far, mostly offering safe, sometimes meandering answers to broad questions that never got too deep into the weeds.
What’s striking about the AH Chamber forums is the lack of voter attendance. The Clifton Forge forum had a disappointing 10-20 people in the audience at the Masonic Theatre, and both viewer counts from the Virginian Review and the Alleghany Journal’s livestream never made it past the low double digits. The Covington debate was a bit better attended, but both livestreams again posted low double-digit viewership.
Morning boys, how’s the forums? What forums?
What’s more concerning here is, if you have been following the news and events around the Highlands, you know this isn’t the time to be a voter ignoring the political trash piled up outside your door. Since January alone, we’ve seen at least 7 public servant resignations mostly involving bad behavior, coupled with many documented violations of state laws for ignoring fire safety, more than a dozen state and federal violations in safely managing our drinking water, shutdowns of city departments for issuing illegal permits, blatant acts of favoritism, lying, nepotism, ignoring zoning laws, sexual harassment and discrimination cases. (You can find the complete documented facts in the Shadow July 16, 2024 article.)
Morning boys, how’s the corruption? What corruption?
Why aren’t voters asking about these systemic failures and demanding an end to the bad behaviors within our administrations? Perhaps the forums are too early in the election season, or they didn’t ask the right questions? Maybe voters just want to ignore the political trash and leave it to someone else to clean up? Or maybe folks think it’s a popularity contest anyway and their vote won’t matter? Maybe some folks are benefiting from the corruption and like it the way it is?
Wait a minute… If we ignore the corruption, what could possibly go wrong?
Perhaps a third lawsuit will finally get our attention? Apparently an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) based complaint has been filed against the City of Covington. EEOC based complaints are usually for discrimination, harassment or retaliation claims in the workplace. Discussion on the complaint was slotted for a closed-door work session on Sept 3, beyond the reach of a FOIA request. The Shadow has polled several folks about the situation, and while there are no court filings currently available to the public, most folks concur that it’s probably about our administrators’ bad behavior finally catching up with them.
Bad behavior? I don’t see no bad behavior…
It must be something pretty egregious by the very worried look showing up on the Mayor’s face at the work session. And the EEOC-based complaint now joins two other lawsuits involving other alleged bad behaviors of our public servants in the local Department of Social Services and Alleghany County Sheriff’s Department. So far the taxpayers could be liable for a whopping $10M in damages with potentially more financial liability rain on the way.
Now here’s a novel idea, how about holding our public servants accountable at the ballot box before it happens, instead of accepting bad behavior and being on the hook for their legal bills afterwards?
If you missed the AH Chamber forums, you’ve still got one more chance. The Virginian Review is hosting its election debate on October 3, at 6pm, which will be held at the Historic Masonic Theatre and livestreamed on the VR’s Facebook page. I’ve heard a question survey for the debate and a poll is going out this week to the community, so make sure you have your voice heard and make your informed vote count.
In a previous article, The Shadow mentioned that sources have indicated that the Alleghany side of the Gathright dam might be closed next year. However, Bill Wilson from the Jackson River Preservation Association (JRPA) noted that the Ranger who manages the campgrounds has been working on upgrades and such. Hopefully, that means that the facilities will stay open past next year.
Speaking of murky waters, Tom Botkins presented to the Alleghany County Board of Supervisors on Sept 3 about the Jackson River Scenic Trail project and the recent unpermitted discharges at Cedar Creek. He states, “I can document that the Alleghany County administration as well as their consultant and contractor have been less than truthful regarding the project. We are starting Revision 4 and have the same county administration overseeing the project as well as continuing to rely on the same consultant and contractor. This is a perfect example of stupidity. I would like to see some accountability.”
From the disgraced halls of unethical acts of favoritism and operating above the law, the Covington administration finally acknowledged some of their unethical and illegal behavior. As you might recall, the City gave Recover VA the old Edgemont school for their offices, complete with the City apparently paying their rent and utilities. When citizens objected to the blatant favoritism and the City Manager ignoring his own zoning laws, months and months passed before the city finally did anything. Apparently they were counting on the old “kick the favoritism can down the road to the point where the taxpayer forgets” trick.
However, the citizens didn’t forget, forcing the City to finally follow their own laws and evict them. However, the favoritism continued, and the city spent more time and taxpayer dollars to find them another spot. Recover VA then moved to the C&O train depot, which invoked more outcry and more FOIA requests. I don’t know who finally blew the whistle on the City administration’s bad behavior, but Recover VA was finally relocated to its own home on Maple Ave, apparently now off the taxpayers’ dime. It’s good to see they have found a permanent home and all is resolved. Thank you citizens for helping keep the city administrators adhere to the oath they seem to constantly forget.
I’m out of time and coffee, but I’ll leave you with Matthew 7:3-5, “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?”
