My Side of the Fence

The danger isn't going too far. It's that we don't go far enough.

Open Thread

lay it down….

22 Comments

  1. Seemsquite clear that “Operation Bull Run” taking down 25 local suspects within the last 24 hours is a good thing. Gets the a–holes off the streest and puts some money in the pockets of local lawyers who pay taxes. It’s a win all around. According to news reports, good coordination between our local police force and other jurisdicitions.

  2. Just seeing the nicknames of the arrested was enough for me.

    I also would like to point out this is a great example of our local law enforcement working with the Feds to take scum off our streets.

    Yet when the locals get involved with the Feds when ti comes to rounding up illegals, oh no, say the illegal alien supporters. Clearly there should never be an issue with local law enforcement working with the Feds to make our City a more safe and better place to live.

  3. “A town represents a reciprocity of moral and
    material interest, but it is in the truest sense that
    Manassas is a town of homes, churches, schools,
    commerce, manufacture and industry. It is an
    ideal place in which to live – the moral atmosphere
    is wholesome, the climate is helpful and earnest
    honest effort is rewarded. There is not a town in
    the United States that offers greater opportunity.”

    Manassas Journal (April 20, 1911)

  4. I am thankful that all of the transportation dollars being spent in Manassas, seem to be concentrated the main access routes into my neighborhood. The Godwin and Wellington construction projects make coming and going both challenging and fun. It’s nice to see all of us confused drivers trying to negotiate the ever-changing lane patterns, and it is an absolute hoot to head out one way, only to have to turn around and go another way due to roads being temporarily closed to traffic. Worst thing in the world for a driver to be is bored.

  5. Dear General Fry,
    It is good to learn of the plans for the reenactment
    of the First Battle of Manassas (Bull Run) next July.
    This will a major commemorative exercise in the first
    year of our Centennial observance.
    A battle reenactment of this nature, has dramatic
    appeal, but I know your concept of it goes far deeper
    than the clash of armies in the field. Manassas is
    remembered as an opening engagement between
    countrymen of intense and differing opinions. It stood
    at the tragic beginning of our divisive conflict. The
    reenactment of it will serve to remind all Americans
    that the bonds which now unite us are precious as
    the blood of young men. Such bonds are a continuing
    source for gratitude, a continuing source of strength.
    Out of the Civil War came a Nation tempered in
    liberty and destined for leadership in the free world.

    Sincerely,
    Dwight Eisenhower

    – President Eisenhower endorses the observance of
    the Centennial of the Battle of First Manassas in a letter
    to Maj. Gen. James C. Fry, USA (Ret.),
    executive director of the First Manassas Corporation.

    (Manassas Journal-Messenger, 9-8-1960)

  6. “So—people a thousand years from now—this is the way we were in the provinces north of New York at the beginning of the twentieth century.—This is the way we were: in our growing up and in our marrying and in our living and in our dying.”

    – Thornton Wilder, Our Town

  7. The Town of Manassas:

    Allurements and Advantages of the Battlefield City
    Varied In The Extreme

    – Population 1,217
    – Two strong banks
    – Nine churches – no saloons
    – An active Business League
    – Seven faternal organizations
    – Daily candy output – five tons
    – Twenty-one passenger trains daily
    – Daily milk shipments, fifty gallons
    – One hundred thousand railroad ties are shipped
    from here annually
    – Site of Eastern College,Manassas High School
    and Graded School system and the Manassas
    Industrial School for Colored Youth
    – Thirty-three miles from Washington. Within
    one hour’s ride pf the Nation’s Capital
    – Site commands magnificent views of the historic
    Bull Run mountains and battlefield.

    (Manassas Journal, April 20,1911)

  8. Well, we’re still thirty-thre miles from Washington.

  9. FWIW, my dad used to have “sleepovers” at Stone House. He’s told me stories of spending the night there and it being so cold that they slept in the room on the first floor with the fire place to keep warm….

  10. Andy,

    Now that would have been a neat place to have a sleep over.

  11. I’ve got a wood stove in my carriage house in old town. We can smoke cigars there but I’m not having any of you guys sleep over.

  12. http://www.roanoke.com/politics/wb/274660

    Interesting article. Do you think our council
    is like Salem’s or more open to debate and
    and differences of opinion?

  13. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/us/23doctor.html?

    The Manassas City Council has asked the Gov.
    to direct the Virginia Dept. of Health to inspect
    clinics that perform abortions. I hope he does
    so in the very near future.
    There are strong feelings on both sides of the
    abortion issue, but I hope everyone would agree
    that they need oversight to insure nothing like
    what happened in Phil. would happen in Virginia.

  14. Recommend adding the new online newspaper Manassas.Patch.com to your sources for area
    news. (I especially like the coverage of Osbourn
    High School sports – The boys basketball team
    is 15-1! And the Lady Eagles showed some real grit
    after a rough Stonewall game by coming back
    to top Loudoun Valley. Far more and better local
    sports stories than the N&M or WaPo).

    According to this week’s New Yorker, Patch papers
    are “a compendium of online newspapers that
    target small affluent communities and, via AOL
    and others, are using high tech algorithims to
    tailor their paper to each community). Interesting.

  15. I like Patch.com because you can post your own events and photos, and then link them to Facebook and Twitter.

    There’s a good story about the Stone house by Gretchen (Naisawald) Arnold, who lived in the house when her dad was park historian in “Manassas – The Times They Were a Changin'” by members of the OSHS Class of ’69.

  16. I agree with Councilman Randolph in regard to the need for the Gov. “to direct the Virginia Dept. of Health to inspect clinics that perform abortions.” One of the victims mentioned in the NYT article was a local woman. If anyone thinks the City of Manassas can’t be dragged into a law suit by a victim of our local abortion mill, please go down to city hall and offer your house up to pay any damages, “that will never happen,” just to make us silly pro-lifers look ridiculous.

    WOODBRIDGE, Va. – A Philadelphia abortion doctor is accused of killing a Woodbridge, Virginia woman.

    Prosecutors say 41 year old Karnamaya Mongar, a recent immigrant and mother of three, died after being overmedicated in an abortion procedure in November of 2009.

    Dr. Kermit Gosnell ran a West Philadelphia clinic. Prosecutors called it a “House of Horrors.”

    They say it was filthy, had body parts lying around in garbage bags and that the doctor had unlicensed staff performing medical procedures. They claim he made millions from illegal late term abortions.

    An attorney for the Mongar family says the woman had spent 18 years in a Nepal refugee camp before moving here in 2009. She discovered she was pregnant and was referred to Gosnell by a D.C. clinic.

    The family has also filed a wrongful death suit.

    http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/local/philadelphia-abortion-doctor-accused-of-killing-woodbridge-va-woman-012111

  17. Raymond Beverage

    January 24, 2011 at 11:08 am

    Steve’s question on the Council – are they like Salem’s or more open to debate and difference of opinion?

    Steve, as the City’s “Senior Statesman”, you have served across several Mayors and Members, and most likely have the best view. Only having been around 17 years myself, I can only address that block of time.

    I believe our Council is more open to debate and difference of opinion – just look at the last six months or so. I particularly like those moments when our Mayor points out he has no vote unless a tie-breaker, and then gets his opinion in. I told him those moments often make me back up and look again at the issue.

    Most of the time I hear the block vote are on matters which either are “routine business” of the City, or is something it is just logical that will benefit our CIty. The times there are split votes, each Council Member gives a clear, logical reason why they opposed or were in favor. It is effident each person on the dias may not agree with each other, but respect is there.

    Of course, when there is a split vote, that leads to lots of community discussion 🙂

  18. andy

    January 24, 2011 at 12:01 pm

    Doug, I only have a couple of rules here and one of them is that you don’t complain about other Council members. If you want to do that, write ’em a letter or call them.

  19. andy

    January 24, 2011 at 12:11 pm

    If things are running smoothly (lots of block voting) then either everything is working right or nothing is working right.

    Manassas has a great committee system and it works well – many things that come to the committees don’t make it out. That’s what keeps the meetings running smoothly. After all, Council meetings should be all about passing or killing legislation, not writing it.

  20. In article headlined -Help for at-risk youths threatened-
    (WaPo Prince William Section 1-23-2011).

    “This has been put forward as a cost-saving measure…
    but it puts localities in an awkward position,”
    Supervisor Martin E. Nohe (R-Coles) said.
    “The vast majority of these kids receiving non-mandated
    services are receiving them to prevent them from
    receiving mandated ones. This is a one-year
    savings that will be more than eaten up in the long run.”

    Cutting cost is easy in the abstract, but more
    challenging in real life. Supervisor Nohe correctly
    points out an issue facing all localities.

  21. “Manassas Illuminating Company
    Will Install New Generator

    The Manassas Illuminating Company elected
    new leadership last week and decided to
    replace the old acetylene plant with a new one.
    The machinery was ordered by telegraph
    the same day. The improved three-hundred light
    generator is expected to provide a stronger,
    steadier light and unlike all our previous generators,
    it is guaranteed not to explode.”

    Manassas Democrat (2-25-1910)

  22. Raymond Beverage

    January 24, 2011 at 4:08 pm

    Have to agree with Andy on Committees…for that matter, even full Council Work Sessions. I find them interesting to sit in the “cheap seats” and watch and listen. Debates are really there, versus Council Meeting.

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