Colonial Beach News

The following is a message from the Secretary of the Navy.

One day each year is set aside to specially recognize the Service and Sacrifice of the more than 23 million living American Veterans who have defended the United States at home and abroad.

Although one day is wholly inadequate to honor those who have given so much of themselves, Veterans Day is a symbol of the enormous debt we owe to our Veterans. First celebrated in 1919 as a Commemoration of Armistice Day and the End of the First World War, Veterans Day has become an Enduring Memorial to our forebears and their service. On this day, we honor those who established the Legacy of the United States Military as the finest military force in the world. We remember the Rich Tradition of the Uniform, Full of Honor, Heroism, and Sacrifice. And we reflect on the Navy and Marine Corps battles stretching back across the years, battles fought in Belleau Wood and from Scapa Flow, through Midway and Tarawa, Chosin and Inchon, Hue City, Khafji, and Fallujah, To Baghdad and Helmand today.

Our Veterans represent the Best of America. Men and women from every race and creed, they have constantly preserved the Blessings of Liberty that we now enjoy. We honor their service, and we honor you who carry on the tradition and continue to defend our nation.

Thank you for your service, Godspeed.
Ray Mabus,
US Secretary of the Navy

READERS responded to my recent column on road rage and extreme speeding with a slew of their own experiences with bad drivers.

Dateline Colonial Beach, VA, November 7th, 2009

Today, the 7th of November 2009, combined units of Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, and Venture Crew Scouts along with Adult Scout Leaders, Scout Parents and Scout Siblings cruised through the Town of Colonial Beach, VA, picking up food donation bags put out by the Town’s citizens. The day took the forty plus (40+) volunteers from Riverview Circle to Castlewood Drive, Hiking the streets, the roads and the avenues in search of bags set on poaches and steps and sometimes finding entire boxes of non-perishable food staples for those in need this coming winter.

The Scouts reported that of the 1100 bags placed out, 268 bags where picked up containing donated food for a total of 2,750 lbs of food that was sorted and stored in the food pantry of the Colonial Beach Baptists Church. The donations averaged 10.26 lbs per bag turned-in.

The Scouts wish to express their thanks to those who donated to the cause even in these times of economic difficulties.

The Scouts of Pack, Troop, and Crew 258, CBVA

When U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents at the Port of Los Angeles opened a shipping container bound for the Netherlands, they discovered a 1965 Volkswagen bus stolen in Washington state 35 years ago.

Ahead of Copenhagen summit, former US vice-president says 'non-violent lawbreaking' is legitimate in persuading governments to cut emissions Al Gore has sought to inject fresh momentum into the Copenhagen build-up, saying he is certain Barack Obama will attend and predicting a rise in civil disobedience against fossil-fuel polluters unless drastic ...

Actor and singer David Hasselhoff will perform in Berlin shortly before the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

President Barack Obama said Friday the entire nation is grieving for those slain at Fort Hood, and he urged people not to jump to conclusions while law enforcement officers investigate the shootings.

The U.S. unemployment rate has hit double digits for the first time since 1983 - and is likely to go higher.

A quote from the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. sums up the purpose and importance of public schools:

"KNOWLEDGE WILL FOREVER GOVERN IGNORANCE: AND A PEOPLE WHO MEAN TO BE THEIR OWN GOVERNOURS MUST ARM THEMSELVES WITH THE POWER WHICH KNOWLEDGE GIVES." - James Madison

‘Do people think we’re tending to the things they care about?’

By Michael D. Shear and Paul Kane (washingtonpost.com)
Updated 5:26 a.m. ET, Thurs., Nov . 5, 2009

Democrats on Capitol Hill began a nervous debate Wednesday about the course President Obama has set for their party, with some questioning whether they should emphasize job creation over some of the more ambitious items on the president's agenda.

The conversations came as WHITE HOUSE officials insisted that the party's gubernatorial defeats in Virginia and New Jersey had few implications for Obama's standing or for Democratic prospects in the 2010 midterm elections.

But moderate and conservative Democrats took a clear signal from Tuesday's voting, warning that the results prove that independent voters are wary of Obama's far-reaching proposals and mounting spending, as well as the growing federal debt. Liberal lawmakers, meanwhile, said the party's shortcoming came in moving too slowly on health-care reform and other items that would satisfy a base becoming disenchanted with the failure to deliver rapid change in government.

Disclaimer: Many of the stories on this site may or may not contain copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Where ever and whenever possible The Colonial Beach Topix Site Editor’s sources and or includes the name of the author/owner and gives them full recognition for the excellent and invaluable work they do. The Colonial Beach Topix Site Editors make such information available because of it's newsworthiness in our efforts to advance understanding of: free speech, the free press, environmental issues, political practices, human rights, economics, democracy in general, science, political and social issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material. The Colonial Beach Topix Site accepts no responsibility for the accuracy or inaccuracies of any story or opinion. The views expressed on this site are that of the authors and not necessarily that of The Colonial Beach Topix Site Editor. We run banner advertising in order to cover the operating costs of delivering the material

Attorney General's opinion says Congdon remains valid member of Colonial Beach School Board.

Date published: 11/5/2009 - BY FRANK DELANO of the Free Lance-Star

The Colonial Beach School Board has agreed to abide by an opinion by Virginia's attorney general that B. "Anne" Congdon remains a town resident qualified to continue her duties on the School Board.

"It is my understanding that Ms. Congdon clearly intends to return to Colonial Beach once her home has been rebuilt, therefore the position on the Colonial Beach School Board is not vacant," Attorney General Bill Mims wrote in an Oct. 29 letter to the School Board's attorney.

Timothy Trivett, the School Board's acting chairman, said the board agreed at its meeting Tuesday to take no further steps to remove Congdon from the seat to which she was elected in 2008.

The attorney general's opinion "is really what I expected the situation to be," Congdon said yesterday.

"But the question is whether I'll be allowed back as a [fully functioning] board member because there's been a lot of selective sharing of information and decision-making. All this reflects on how effective I can be," she said.

FULL STORY at:

http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2009/112009/11052009/505550

"As Maine goes, so goes the nation" is a phrase that at one time was in wide currency in United States politics.

In a stinging setback for the national gay-rights movement, Maine voters narrowly decided to repeal the state's new law allowing same-sex marriage.

With 87 percent of precincts reporting early Wednesday morning, 53 percent of voters had approved the repeal, ending an expensive and emotional fight that was closely watched around the country as a referendum on the gay-marriage movement. Polls had suggested a much closer race.

Maine voters also decided to expand the state’s 10-year-old medical marijuana law, approving a ballot question to allow state-regulated dispensaries to grow the drug and sell it to patients. The vote came weeks after the Obama administration announced it would not prosecute patients and distributors who are in “clear and unambiguous” compliance with state laws. Maine will be the third state, after New Mexico and Rhode Island, to allow tightly regulated, nonprofit marijuana dispensaries.

With the repeal of the same-sex marriage law, Maine became the 31st state to reject same-sex marriage at the ballot box. Five other states — Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, New Hampshire and Vermont — have legalized same-sex marriage, but only through court rulings and legislative action.

Senate Democrats are proving once again that no judicial nominee is too extreme for them to stomach.

EDITORIAL: Jesus, no, but yes to Allah
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Another immoderate judge nominated by Obama

By THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Senate Democrats are proving once again that no judicial nominee is too extreme for them to stomach. A move seems to be afoot to open debate on the Senate floor this week on the nomination of David Hamilton of Indiana to the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. This judge is a radical's radical.

Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, sent a letter on Friday to his fellow senators outlining his objections to Mr. Hamilton, who is a federal district judge. The senator first objected to Judge Hamilton's stated belief that judges should effectively amend the Constitution - "writing footnotes to the Constitution," the judge called it - through evolving case law. Second, Judge Hamilton has publicly and specifically embraced the president's "empathy standard," which even Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has now openly rejected.

Third, Judge Hamilton in many cases has shown an extreme hostility against innocuous expressions of religion in the public square. Mr. Sessions noted, though, that Judge Hamilton's odd ruling in Hinrichs v. Bosma "prohibited prayers in the Indiana House of Representatives that expressly mentioned Jesus Christ ... yet he allowed prayers which mentioned Allah."

Fourth, Mr. Sessions pointed out that "lawyers in the Almanac of the Federal Judiciary describe Judge Hamilton as one of the most lenient judges in his district on criminal matters," including the case of a police officer who videotaped his own sexual encounters with two teenagers. The senator also objects to the judge's extreme actions in blocking an "informed consent" law on abortion.

Finally, in light of the property rights movement stemming from the Supreme Court's infamous Kelo decision, property rights advocates may want to take a close look at his representation of the city of Indianapolis in 1992 in Reel Pipe and Valve Co. v. City of Indianapolis, in which property owners were forced to sell property against their will to benefit other private "economic development."

Mixup over legal notice forces Colonial Beach to delay public hearing on comprehensive plan until December Date published: 11/4/2009 A public hearing scheduled for Thursday on a new Colonial Beach comprehensive plan has been postponed until next month.

A column by Thomas Sowell , an African American economist, teacher, writer, and social commentator entitled "Dismantling America" is causing quite a bit of buzz on the Internet and talk radio.

His OP ED Comment was featured in the Free Lance-Star today, 11/3/09.

The Thomas Sowell column begins with this stark warning: "Just one year ago, would you have believed that an unelected government official, not even a Cabinet member confirmed by the Senate but simply one of the many "czars" appointed by the President, could arbitrarily cut the pay of executives in private businesses by 50 percent or 90 percent?"

The Thomas Sowell column goes on to list the Obama administration initiatives that would have been unimaginable just a year or so ago. These include efforts to suppress talk radio, subsidize newspapers, federalize health care decisions, suborn school children to support partisan positions of a President, and a national police force. Listed so baldly, the Barack Obama agenda seems something akin to fascism, if one takes it to be the control of as much of life as possible under the purview of the central government.

Dateline Colonial Beach – SCHOOL BOARD TO REVIEW LETTER ON FINANCES – by Frank Delano

The Colonial Beach School Board has called an emergency meeting at 5 PM today, 11/3/09, at it’s office on Irving Avenue to discuss te board’s response to a letter approved by Town Council seeking financial information from the schools.

Council gave the board until tomorrow, 11/4/09, to sign the letter of agreement. Acting School Board Chairman Timothy Trivett said the meeting will be closed because it involves personnel and legal matters.

- Frank Delano

Disclaimer: Many of the stories on this site may or may not contain copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Where ever and whenever possible The Colonial Beach Topix Site Editor’s sources and or includes the name of the author/owner and gives them full recognition for the excellent and invaluable work they do. The Colonial Beach Topix Site Editors make such information available because of it's newsworthiness in our efforts to advance understanding of: free speech, the free press, environmental issues, political practices, human rights, economics, democracy in general, science, political and social issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material. The Colonial Beach Topix Site accepts no responsibility for the accuracy or inaccuracies of any story or opinion. The views expressed on this site are that of the authors and not necessarily that of The Colonial Beach Topix Site Editor. We run banner advertising in order to cover the operating costs of delivering the material

The following people were indicted recently by a King George County grand jury: Robert Dudley Beanum, King George, malicious wounding.

Fishing, bottles of beer, cooking devices, tents and gatherings of 25 or more people may become illegal on the beaches at Colonial Beach.

Reported by - John Davenport, Rivers District Commissioner and Timothy Gaylord, Rivers District Chairman, Heart of Virginia Council, BSA

[Pictured from L2R: District Chairman Timothy Gaylord, Sam Bridgeman and Betty Bridgeman]

On the 24th of October, 2009, the Rivers District of the Heart of Virginia held it’s Annual Rivers District Recognition Dinner at the King William Volunteer Fire & Rescue Building in Aylett, VA.

It is at this time that the District recognizes and celebrates the accomplishments of Scouting in the Rivers District over the past year. The District, which is made up of counties of Essex, King & Queen, King William, Lancaster, Middlesex , Northumberland, Richmond, and Westmoreland, recognized each unit for their dedicated work over the past year and several unit leaders were specially recognized for their service to Scouting.

The Guest Speaker for the evening was the Honorable General District Court Judge Ret. and USMC Col. Ret., T.T. [Tris] Hyde. Judge Hyde was also the former District Chairman of the Northern Neck District prior to combining with the Rappahannock District and becoming the Rivers District.

Members of the District who were honored and recognized for the service to the District’s youth were:

PRESIDENTIAL CALL TO SERVICE LIFETIME AWARDS:

· Sam Bridgeman, Chairman of Troop 215, Committee Member of Venture Crew 212, and Rivers District Eagle Board Coordinator, was awarded and presented with the President’s Call to Service Lifetime Award for his 50 years of Volunteer work with Scouts. It is approximated that Sam has 38,000 hrs plus during this time. Sam was also the recipient of the Scouters Veteran Award and received his 50 year Tenure Pin as well

· Betty Bridgeman, District Finance Vice-Chair for Special Events and always at her husband’s side, was surprised as well with the President’s Call to Service Lifetime Award for her 50 years, and 38,000 hrs plus as well, of Volunteer work with Scouts.

· Thomas “Tom” Reade, the District Advancement & Recognition Chairman, who has 35 years (approx. 27, 000 hrs) as an adult Scouters received the President’s Call to Service Lifetime Award for his Volunteer work with Scouts.