In the recent session, the legislature passed SB 359. It was introduced by the governor and touted as a comprehensive education reform bill. To my mind, the legislation was like putting a small band aid on a large and serious wound.

At the Legislative Recap hosted by the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce in early May, Senator Herb Snyder was asked which legislation, beside the MARC train bill, had the most local significance. His answer was the sewer bond legislation. This raised questions for me, but first a little background is in order as the legislation relates to the Chesapeake Bay.

The number of scandals is really starting to pile up, prompting some in the mainstream media to suggest that the president has lost control of his administration. The criticism is coming from sources one wouldn’t expect. In response to the recent IRS scandal Piers Morgan said this to comedian Penn Jillette on his CNN program: “I’ve had some of the pro-gun lobbyists on here, saying to me, ‘Well, the reason we need to be armed is because of tyranny from our own government,’ and I’ve always laughed at them. But, actually, this is vaguely tyrannical behavior by the American government, I think what the IRS did is bordering on tyrannical behavior.” It’s good to know that the mainstream media is beginning to realize that there is such a thing as a border.

One of the important issues regarding the revision of the Jefferson County Comprehensive Plan has to do with growth. The Plan includes proposals to address how to accommodate future growth, or as some suggest, how to control it. One of the recurring themes I kept hearing at meetings is that we need to manage future growth. I would suggest that future growth is not assured, nor should we take it for granted.

There was an article that appeared in the Huntington West Virginia Herald-Dispatch about a week ago. The article proclaimed a milestone for the Toyota engine and transmission plant in Buffalo WV; that it had produced its 10 millionth power train. According to the article, it was the first plant outside of Japan to reach that milestone.

Most people have never heard of a United Nations initiative called Agenda 21. The result of the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development that was held in Rio de Jeneiro, Brazil ,178 countries signed on to it including the United States. Wikipedia calls it “an action agenda for the UN, other multilateral organizations, and individual governments around the world that can be executed at local, national, and global levels”.