BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Present: Mr. Allen Hale, Ms. Connie Brennan, Mr. Tommy Bruguiere, Mr. Tommy
Harvey and
Mr. Joe Dan Johnson
PUBLIC COMMENT –Dr. Roger Collins, School Superintendent, updated the
Supervisors on issues related to schools, reporting that all four Nelson
schools will be fully accredited again this year. He noted that there were
141 graduates in the Class of 2009 with 81 of those graduates plans to
attend a two- or four-year college. Dr. Collins reported that the schools
were able to accomplish some of their capital improvement projects and that
the expected federal stimulus monies will be allocated through a
reimbursable process.
BROADBAND PROJECT – Mr. Carter reported that information is not final on
federal stimulus funds but that there are indications that the state could
invite the county to join in an application for funds. He indicated that
the county could also file its own application or file a regional
application. In addition, Mr. Carter reported that Icon Broadband
Technologies (the consultants who conducted the earlier studies) have quoted
$5,000 to assist the county in seeking funding from VA Department of Housing
and Community Development (DHCD) and another $17,000 to prepare a Request
for Proposals (RFP) from parties interested in helping the county implement
broadband solutions. Mr. Carter asked the Board to consider approving the
following four items:
– Authority to submit a federal stimulus grant application for funding
with or without inclusion in the state’s application;
– Authority to submit a DHCD Local Innovation Grant;
– A commitment from the county for the 20% local matching funds for a DHCD
grant of up to $481,540; and
– Approval of the $22,000 contract and funding with Icon Broadband
Technologies as noted above.
Supervisors voted 4-1 (Mr. Hale voting no) to approve the four items above.
Mr. Bruguiere said that he would reluctantly vote yes although he is not
sure the project will be the benefit everyone wants. Ms. Brennan said that
broadband is needed and worth doing. Mr. Johnson said that the county has no
future without broadband for jobs and to improve the standard of living. Mr.
Hale said that high-speed internet is essential to those doing business, but
said that there are options available now.
VIRGINIA BLUE RIDGE RAILWAY TRAIL – Supervisors voted 5-0 to authorize staff
to submit an application to the Virginia Recreational Trails program for a
grant in the amount of $25,000 for the next section of the trail.
COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT – Mr. Carter reported on the following:
– Schuyler Collection Site – has been closed and cleanup has been
completed with proposals obtained for the environmental testing to be done
related to the possible presence of contaminants resulting from waste
disposal.
– Blue Ridge Medical Center – the county has received notice from DHCD of
acceptance of the initial report on BRMC’s planned construction of a dental
clinic facility at the Center’s location on Rt. 29. The county is now
eligible to apply for $3,000 in funding for the first work that was
completed and an additional $23,000 in CDBG planning grant funding to
continue the planning of the dental clinic.
– Credit card machines have been purchased and, as of July 14th, installed
in the offices of the Treasurer, Planning & Zoning and Building Inspections.
APPOINTMENTS –
Supervisors voted 5-0 to appoint Mr. Ronald Fandetti to the Keep Nelson
Beautiful Council.
AMENDMENT/ZONING ORDINANCE/CABINS – With no public comment, Supervisors
voted 5-0 to amend the ordinance as follows:
Article 2. Definitions
2-15a Cabin: A single, permanent detached dwelling unit, which may or may
not contain cooking facilities and electrical service, and/or bathroom
facilities, dedicated to temporary occupancy of no more than 180 days per
year, for purposes of recreation, education, or vacation. Rental properties
meeting this description shall be considered cabins. If approved, the
property owner agrees to place a restrictive covenant on the property that
would limit the occupancy/use of the cabin to 180 days per year.
The amendment adds Cabin as a Use Permitted by Conditional Use Permit in
Agricultural (A-1) and Conservation (C-1) Districts.
AMENDMENT/ZONING ORDINANCE/AGRICULTURAL DISTRICTS – With no public comment,
Supervisors voted 5-0 to amend the ordinance as follows:
Article 2. Definitions.
2-85a Subdivision: A parcel of land which has been subdivided into smaller
parcels or lots for the purpose, either immediate or future, of transfer of
ownership or building development. The term “subdivision” includes FAMILY
DIVISIONS, “re-subdivision”, and, when appropriate to the context, shall
relate to the process of subdividing or the land subdivided.
Article 4, Agricultural District A-1
4-2 LOTS ALLOWED and Area Regulations (replacing Division Rights and Area
Regulations)
4-2-1 A parcel of record in the Clerk’s Office of the Circuit Court of
Nelson County on the effective date of this subsection (JUNE 1, 2007) MAY BE
DIVIDED INTO NO MORE LOTS THAN ARE PROVIDED IN THE CHART BELOW
0-5 acres 2 lots allowed
5-10 acres 3 lots allowed
10-15 acres 4 lots allowed
15-20 acres 5 lots allowed
20-25 acres 6 lots allowed
25-35 acres 7 lots allowed
35-45 acres 8 lots allowed
45-55 acres 9 lots allowed
55-65 acres 10 lots allowed
65-75 acres 11 lots allowed
75 acres A parcel of land larger than 75 acres has
additional division rights, provided each additional lot created is 20 acres
or more in size.
At the time of division, the owner of the parcel so divided shall designate
the number of LOTS into which each parcel so divided may be further divided
pursuant to this section. No such division or adjustment of boundary lines
or any other reconfiguration of a parcel shall increase the number of LOTS
which may be created.
Each plat of survey reflecting a division or adjustment of boundary lines or
any other reconfiguration of a parcel shall provide therein: (i) the
original number of LOTS ALLOWED FOR THE PARCEL, together with appropriate
instrument number references; (ii) the number of LOTS CREATED in this
division; (iii) the number of LOTS remaining; and (iv) the ALLOCATION OF
remaining LOT RIGHTS AMONG THE NEWLY CREATED LOTS.
Supervisors agreed that removing “division rights” and replacing that phrase
with “lots” created less confusion.
AMENDMENT/SUBDIVISION ORDINANCE/FAMILY DIVISIONS – With no public comment,
Supervisors voted 5-0 to amend Section 2 Definitions/Subdivision to include
“family division”. In addition, Section 3-2 Exceptions to Review by
Commission was amended as follows:
(4) A single division of a tract or parcel of land for the purpose of sale
or gift to a member of the immediate family of the property owner IF THE
PROPERTY OWNER AGREES TO PLACE A RESTRICTIVE COVENANT ON THE SUBDIVIDED
PROPERTY THAT WOULD PROHIBIT THE TRANSFER OF THE PROPERTY TO A NONMEMBER OF
THE IMMEDIATE FAMILY FOR A PERIOD OF FIVE (5) YEARS. Any parcel thus created
having less than five (5) acres shall have a right-of-way of no less than
thirty (30) feet wide providing ingress and egress to and from a dedicated
recorded public street. Only one such division shall be allowed per family
member, and shall not be for the purpose of circumventing this ordinance.
For the purpose of this subsection, a member of the property owner’s
immediate family is defined as any person who is a natural or legally
defined OFFSPRING, STEPCHILD, SPOUSE, SIBLING, GRANDCHILD, GRANDPARENT, OR
PARENT OF THE OWNER. It shall be noted on the plat and in the deed that this
is a family division of property pursuant to this subsection.
AMENDMENT/NELSON COUNTY CODE/COURT FEES – With no public comment,
Supervisors voted 5-0 to amend Chapter 11 to increase court fees in each
civil action filed in district or circuit court where the amount in
controversy is greater than $500.00 and in each criminal or traffic case in
the district or circuit court in which the defendant is charged with a
violation of any statute or ordinance. The current fee for construction and
maintenance of courthouse and court-related facilities is $2.00 and an
additional $3.00 fee will be assessed. The total fee of $5.00 will be
disbursed by the Supervisors solely for the construction, reconstruction,
renovation of, or adaptive re-use of a structure for a courthouse. In
addition, the fee for the use and maintenance of the law library was changed
from $2.00 to $4.00.
Meeting adjourned.
FOR ALL..This is an important issue for the whole Nation and finding it so well defined and promoted at the grass roots level reinforces its significance. Until citizens understand that the 2nd Amendment upholds and anchors the 1st Amendment, we will continue to have individuals that seek to misconstrue the purpose and intent of the 2nd! If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it — is a dictum that should be applied to those who cannot understand this rule — especially those in the Judicial system. An evaluation of the people who are so determined to confiscate the guns of Americans should be done as it does appear that one determined element of society has such a plan and program. The question as to Why they seek to misconstrue the 2nd Amendment must be exposed!J. Richard Niemela
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STATEMENT BY KENNETH WHITE JULY 14, 2009
TO NELSON COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
Mr. Chairman and members of the Board, my name is Kenneth White, 93 Shields Gap Road, Roseland, and I am President of the Virginia Taxpayers Association. After your June 9, 2009 Board meeting, Commonwealth’s Attorney Phillip Payne wrote me a letter dated June 12, 2009 confirming his phone call to me June 4, 2009 that he would not send the matter of your violations of oath of office to the Nelson County Grand Jury.
I call your attention to the fact that my June 9, 2009 Statement in your official meeting minutes was entirely correct when I said Payne “never did” reply before that time. I strongly doubt Payne would have ever written his letter to me had I not put that wording in my prepared Statement handed to your Board members, and to Payne. Thus I COMPELLED Payne to write that letter, in case anyone thinks I have NO influence.
You should further be informed that in his letter Payne did not deny that I was correct when I said in my Statement that Payne did not even want to take a look at the overwhelming 178-packet of documents I sent to the Grand Jury foreperson.
You should further be informed that Payne did not DARE MENTION Posse Comitatus Act or try to discuss why that law is, or may, not be applicable to the present situation. He said merely (QUOTE) “The matters of which you complain are not criminal, but rather political and can be addressed at the ballot box.” (UNQUOTE)
Your attention is directed to the fact that Posse Comitatus Act is included in U. S. Code, Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure, as Section 1385. Murder is included in U. S. Code, Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure, as Section 1111.
My conclusion is that unless Payne states publicly and specifically why the Posse Comitatus Act and Murder, both in Title 18, are in different categories, he is saying Murder also is only a political matter.
And 24th Circuit Court Judge Michael Gamble’s refusal to allow the Grand Jury to take up this matter indicates he shares Payne’s indefensible opinion that the Posse Comitatus Act is only a “political matter.” In other words, both the top Nelson County judge and commonwealth’s attorney are OPENLY ENDORSING VIOLATION OF FEDERAL LAW!
Attached is a report of just another police state incident encouraged by the kind of unlawful federal Department of Homeland Security action which you Board members, Judge Michael Gamble and Commonwealth’s Attorney Phillip Payne are deliberately supporting.
I can promise you that we in VTA are going to tell this alarming story to an ever-increasing number of citizens and will COMPEL attitudes to be changed by alert people in Nelson County who refuse to live under martial law, where a dictator decides by himself what is a crime and who can be fined, imprisoned or worse for any reason whatever.
And this tyranny IS going to be LAWFULLY CORRECTED, for the safety of citizens all across Virginia as well as in Nelson County!
That concludes my Statement.
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Shreveport Citizens Disarmed By Police For 2nd Amendment Bumper Stickers
Argue With Everyone
July 7, 2009
Welcome to Shreveport: Your rights are now suspended. According to Cedric Glover, mayor of Shreveport, Louisiana, his cops “have a power that [. . .] the President of these Unites States does not have”: His cops can take away your rights.
Cedric Glover, mayor of Shreveport, Louisiana, claims to have the authority to suspend the Constitution.
And would you like to guess which rights he has in mind?
Just ask Shreveport resident Robert Baillio, who got pulled over for having two pro-gun bumper stickers on the back of his truck — and had his gun confiscated.
While the officer who pulled him over says Baillio failed to use his turn signal, the only questions he had for Baillio concerned guns: Whether he had a gun, where the gun was, and if he was a member of the NRA. No requests for a driver’s licenSe, proof of insurance, or vehicle registration — and no discussion of a turn signal.
Accordingly, Baillio told the officer the truth, which led the police officer to search his car without permission and confiscate his gun.
However, not only does Louisiana law allow residents to drive with loaded weapons in their vehicles, but Mr. Baillio possessed a concealed carry license!
What does such behavior demonstrate, other than transparent political profiling — going so far as to use the infamous Department of Homeland Security report on “Americans of a rightwing persuasion” as a how-to guidebook, no less?
Mr. Baillio made no secret of his political affiliations: An American flag centers a wide flourish of pro-freedom stickers and decals on his back windshield.
In fact, when Baillio asked the officer if everyone he pulls over gets the same treatment, the officer said no and pointed to the back of his truck.
Baillio phoned Mayor Glover to complain about this “suspension of rights” only to find that his city’s morbidly obese “commander in chief” was elated at the story: consideration that maybe [he] should not have gotten.”
Thankfully, Mr. Baillio recorded a good bit of that phone call. You can watch a video with the transcriptions here. I’ve reproduced a chunk of the call below:
Baillio: (in the context of being asked about the presence of a gun) Well, I answered that question honestly, and he disarmed me.
Glover: Which would be an appropriate and proper action, sir. The fact that you gave the correct answer — it simply means that you did what it is you were supposed to have done, and that is to give that weapon to the police officer so he could appropriately place it in a place where it would not be a threat to you, to him, or to anyone in the general public.
Glover: My direction to you is that, had you chosen not to properly identify the fact that you had a weapon and directed that officer to where that weapon was located; had you been taken from the vehicle, and the officer, in the interest of his safety, chose to secure you in a safe position, and then looked, found, and determined that you did, in fact, have a weapon…then, sir, you would have faced additional, [inaudible], and more severe criminal sanctions.
Baillio: So what you’re saying is: I give up all my rights to keep and bear arms if I’m stopped by the police: Is that correct?
Glover: Sir, you have no right, when you have been pulled over by a police officer for a potential criminal offense [which would be what?! – DB] to stand there with your weapon at your side in your hand [Baillio’s weapon was nowhere near his side or his hand, and Glover knew that. — DB] because of your second amendment rights, sir. That does not mean at that point your second amendment right has been taken away; it means at that particular point in time, it has been suspended.
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Will Grigg from ProLibertate, an excellent freedom blog, has this to say:
According to Glover, a police officer may properly disarm any civilian at any time, and the civilian’s duty is to surrender his gun — willingly, readily, cheerfully, without cavil or question.
From Glover’s perspective, it is only when firearms are in the hands of people other than the state’s uniformed enforcers/oppressors that they constitute a threat, not only to the public and those in charge of exercising official violence but also to the private gun owner himself.
NAGR spoke with Mr. Baillio, and he told us that he’s in the process of securing the official procedures and codes for firearm handling and private property confiscation for the Shreveport police department.
So far, the city has been half-heartedly cooperating with him.
“I felt sick,” Baillio told NAGR. “My uncles didn’t die for this country so I could surrender my rights like a wimp. I felt terrible. I was just thinking of all that my family has done for freedom in this nation — including dying — and here they are disarming me at a traffic stop.
What to do?
1. Read Luke’s commentary here, and participate in the discussion by leaving a comment.
2. Send this around. This kind of behavior cannot go unchecked.
3. Call Mayor Glover’s office to complain: (318) 673-5050.
I’ll leave you with one last consideration. As a licensed firearms instructor in charge of a hundred different students every month, I’m often asked if citizens should voluntarily inform police officers of the presence of a firearm during a routine traffic stop.
While different states have different laws, my answer for Colorado citizens is an emphatic “No”: Colorado law doesn’t require you to volunteer that kind of information, and this case in Louisiana proves why, if at all possible, you should never invite trouble by doing so.
In liberty,
signature
Dudley Brown
Executive Director
National Association for Gun Rights
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The faulty behavior of Nelson County officials is certainly getting a lot of attention, and I hope they change their attitude soon.
I am sure the citizens of Nelson County do not want to live under martial law and would not want a similar incident to happen in Nelson County as occurred in the Shreveport, LA, incident detailed above. I encourage the Board of Supervisors to discuss this important issue immediately!
The heavy boot of government gets bigger every year. It’s about time someone puts a stop to it. But, it seems most elected officials are too scared to take a stand. Well, lets get some that have the guts to stand up for our Constitutional rights.
Glad to see NELSON COUNTY LIFE covering this national story. Every American should stay informed about these dangerous developments.
Thanks for the kind words Carl. Though we are gladly happy to provide this forum for discussion, the fact that we allow users to post comments doesn’t
always mean we agree or disagree with a particular post as indicated in our terms. NCL is glad to make this forum available for varying views of discussion.
Henri & Elaine Weems: What a gorgeous flower photo on the weather section. I always enjoy your shots and wish there were more.
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