Monday, October 22, 2012

Send In The Clowns



"Send in the Clowns" is a song by Stephen Sondheim from the 1973 musical A Little Night Music.  It is a ballad from Act II in which the character DesirĂ©e reflects on the ironies and disappointments of her life.
The "clowns" in the title do not refer to circus clowns. Instead, they symbolize fools, as Sondheim explained in a 1990 interview:
I get a lot of letters over the years asking what the title means and what the song's about; I never thought it would be in any way esoteric. I wanted to use theatrical imagery in the song, because she's an actress, but it's not supposed to be a 'circus'.... [I]t's a theater reference meaning 'if the show isn't going well, let's send in the clowns'; in other words, 'let's do the jokes.' I always want to know, when I'm writing a song, what the end is going to be, so 'Send in the Clowns' didn't settle in until I got the notion, 'Don't bother, they're here' which means that 'We are the fools.
In a 2008 interview, Sondheim further clarified:
As I think of it now, the song could have been called 'Send in the Fools.' I knew I was writing a song in which Desirée is saying, 'aren't we foolish' or 'aren't we fools'? Well, a synonym for fools is clowns, but 'Send in the Fools' doesn't have the same ring to it.
How appropriate for a title of the last Board of Supervisors meeting.

The meeting as usual started off at the Courthouse, the room quickly filled.



The high school auditorium filled in anticipation of an interesting meeting.

 Parade of Improvement Association minions take up majority of meeting and push citizen comments and other important business to nearly 1 AM.


NO One, NO ONE, Mr. Fly, Joe and Jane Citizen, NO ONE has ever denied the fact that the Improvement Association has done and does do good work for the carefully selected needy of those within their area of coverage. WHAT is questioned and what many forget including Mr. Tyler and those who paraded up in front of the Board Thursday evening and previously is that Sussex County is in a fiscal crisis and every dollar appropriated MUST be evaluated against every other dollar. The Improvement Association’s allocation is not the only program that received cuts. Maybe next budget session IF things are better they will see an increase, why don’t they understand this????? I still don’t understand how just by rattling off a statement prior to making a speech why it is that Mr. Tyler is allowed to (from his seat as chair of the BOS) vote and debate on such matters. When the State budget was in a fiscal crisis we had 2 past Governors’ elect to take a pay cut to help, HAS TYLER ever thought of cutting his very good salary (he has stated over and over “I make more than $10,000 in salary….” according to tax records it’s a lot closer to $90,000 than it is $10,000) or the salary of the other employees???? If I recall correctly they spend more than 50 % of their several million dollar budget on salaries … NOT on the programs to help those need folks they so proudly talk about.

So Tyler and Caple get off your deleterious campaign to resurrect your $15 G and begin to refocus on ALL the citizens of the county. I am positive when fiscal times are better you will see funding appropriated with the full board’s approval for many programs recently cut like YOUR Improvement Association.
Well just like the meeting it seems this posting has been derailed by Improvement Association discussion. Like Paul Harvey said “Now the rest of the story”.

The evening started off at the courthouse with a public meeting about the old landfills and the monitoring of the ground water.   $60,000 a year just to monitor the two old landfills !!
The court room was not filled up during the presentation but during it more and more citizens began showing up for the regular meeting and it was soon evident that the meeting would need to be moved. Once again, County Administrator Tom Harris with his foresight had made arrangements for the HS auditorium to be available. As the crowd was being told that the meeting was to be moved,  the Board decided to go into closed session to discuss an issue or two all in an attempt to save time. While this had good intentions was this a legal move? How could they go into a closed session without having approved an agenda for the meeting which called for such a closed session? With a Board that gets so hung up on details when it’s in their best interest, singly or as a group, how is it this “minor detail” was overlooked??
After the move …. It’s now almost 8:30 PM or so.
After some standard meeting business there was a presentation on the Rt. 460 Bypass. Folks,  this is a done deal and without an internal collapse on the folks driving this,  IT WILL BEGIN construction in 2014 if not sooner. The Board of Supervisors passed a motion to look into possible ways to oppose at a cost of $20,000 but this I am afraid is a bit too little too late.
THE PARADE BEGINS ….
For exactly 1 hour and 25 minutes,  a well-planned (by whom ???? Mr Tyler ?????)  and orchestrated parade of Improvement Association employees and supporters appeared before the Board. My opening comments covered this but I would like to add what other organization would have been afforded this opportunity????  The parade began at 10:10 pm and ended at 11:35 pm.  Then the Empowerment Ministry in Waverly presented a request for $15,000 to build restrooms, water fountains, and install fencing around their newly built basketball courts.  One Supervisor had already asked this organization to wait until next year to make this presentation when they were starting budget plans, but they were encouraged by others to go ahead with the presentation.  A set up was in the make and as usual the vote was 3-3!  While a worthy endeavor, if the County ever funds this request, then where is the separation between Church and State and since when does taxpayer money go to a Church? 
Then finally the agenda goes to the payment of the Lawyer’s fees.  County Attorney Packer had written a memo detailing the authority of County Administrator Harris and the fact that Mr. Harris had contracted the attorneys for the County and was authorize to make payments up to $15,000 without Board approval.  So, Mr. Harris paid the bill !!  Needless to say, Chairman Tyler was not pleased and made several comments before and after this regarding the ability of the County Administrator and would have to see if their regulations could be changed to weaken the authority of the County Administrator.

Bottom line, Tyler does not want the County Administrator to hire, fire, engage in contracts, and pay bills.  Tyler wants to have control over all these things so that he can hire his friends, fire his enemies and pay who he wants to or not even pay them if they are owed money.  If Tyler does not agree with something, his first comment is about how he needs that policy changed.  If it is something he wants, then he parades people before the Board to voice their support for a particular person or organization.  Some of the people that he brings before the Board are not citizens of this County but are given more opportunity and time to speak than the tax-paying citizens of the County.
Let the County Administrator be the County Administrator and do the job for which he was hired !!
Then we are at nearly 1:00 am and Tyler states that it is time to adjourn the meeting without public citizen comments.  This did not go over well with the few remaining audience members and we were given our time to speak whether they heard it or not, but got our comments on the record.  

I have grouped the videos from the meeting into groups. I hope this helps in your viewing of them.

Crater Planning 1.AVI  http://youtu.be/IXaUK7wNuys

Crater Planning 2.AVI   http://youtu.be/cKlKBMsjdS0


Attorney's fees 1.AVI   http://youtu.be/jZ04COzFhu4

Attorney's fees 2.AVI   http://youtu.be/0lT034kM9Jc

Attorney's fees 3.AVI    http://youtu.be/vTqRjS7BLAE


Economic Development Planning 1.AVI  http://youtu.be/urzMDbbmFRw

Economic Development Planning 2.AVI  http://youtu.be/g3nQ3QzgVAA
98%


Improvement Association 1.AVI   http://youtu.be/aHUA-_u0CBg

Improvement Association 2.AVI http://youtu.be/Cfz1TZGUTcI

Improvement Association 3.AVI  http://youtu.be/cfo4dLY8Dz8






Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Construction Workers WANTED


If your looking for a job, Sussex County has some openings. The work will not be "fun" but will be rewarding.


The hole that Sussex County is in is getting deeper and several of our “leaders” are grabbing for the shovels and others are grabbing for the ladder. The only problem is that those digging are doing so at a pace that exceeds the capability of the ladder.
Tyler and Caple should be ashamed of their comments that were recently published in the Sussex Surry Dispatch. These just further support that they are living in a world all their own without a clue as to what it takes to allow Sussex to prosper and move into the 21st century providing real opportunities for the citizens. Oh they know (or are told by others what to know and say) what are the right words to use and comments to make that would find support among the non informed, non participatory portion of our society. Narrow minded leaders along with narrow minded citizens are creating a situation in our County that will make it nearly impossible to climb out of that hole WE yes WE dug.
Nothing is impossible, and the leaders and future leaders of our County must set aside personal agendas, personal differences, past “issues” and move on. Each one of us even if we do not inspire to become a member of the Board of Supervisors is a LEADER of Sussex County and MUST participate in the governmental process that so many folks gave their lives to make sure we have the right to do so.
If you think the tolls on I-95 or the 460 bypass are road blocks to the success and prosperity of our county THINK AGAN the biggest road block we have to that success and prosperity sits behind the table at the courthouse once every month.
Be part of the construction crew that will help Sussex County get out of that hole, fill it in with the past, and move towards a County that fulfills its posibilities.

Monday, October 15, 2012




Once again, County Administrator Tom Harris has proven why he is the right person for the job with the skills to get the job done !!  His latest accomplishment has been described by Supervisor Futrell as "the icing on the cake" !!  

What is it?  Come to the Board of Supervisors meeting on Thursday, October 18th at 7:30 p.m.  and see for yourself.

If you have never attended a Board meeting, this is the one to attend. 


If you have attended some but not regularly, this is the one to attend. 


If you attend regularly, then you don't want to miss this one !  


Again, come to the meeting to show your support for our County Administrator Tom Harris and the outstanding job that he has done.  He has accomplished things this past year that have not been done in the last 10 years.  


It's time for the citizens of this county to show their support and show their interest to have this County run efficiently, legally, and morally correct.  Only if you show that you are interested by your presence will it make the Board members take notice and hopefully think twice before they vote on certain issues.



REMEMBER:  THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18TH AT 7:30 PM

IF YOU CARE AT ALL, YOU NEED TO BE THERE !!!!!!


SPREAD THE WORD TO ANYONE YOU KNOW AND TELL  THEM TO ATTEND.