Friday, September 17, 2010

Allen Evans, Ruth Rowan, and Robert Schadler Secure Funds For Camp Minco

Mineral County's three elected members of the House of Delegates presented a check to the county commission for $10,000 to help construct a new bath house for the facility. The camp is used by many groups, including the 6th grade camp program run by the Board of Education. Long time supporter and advocate for the facility Bob Harman joined the delegates and county commissioners for the official delivery of the funds.

History Day, Courtesy of the Detroit News

Three titans: From left, Edison, Ford and Firestone.
Henry Ford and Thomas Edison -- a friendship of giants
By Patricia Zacharias / The Detroit News
August 7, 1996

Henry Ford shouts in the ear of his friend, Thomas Edison, who was hard of hearing.
As a young man on his father's farm in Dearborn, Henry Ford had followed Thomas Edison's career.
Henry took a job at the Edison Illuminating Company, which later became Detroit Edison, and soon worked his way up to chief engineer.
In 1896, Ford and Alex Dow attended a company-sponsored convention in Manhattan Beach, New York. Edison was the guest of honor at the evening's banquet. Alex Dow pointed out Ford to Edison, telling him "There's a young fellow who has made a gas car." Edison asked young Henry Ford a host of questions and when the interview was over, Edison emphasized his satisfaction by banging his fist down on the table. "Young man," he said, "that's the thing! You have it! Your car is self contained and carries its own power plant."
Years later, Ford, reflecting on their first meeting, said in a newspaper interview, "That bang on the table was worth worlds to me. No man up to then had given me any encouragement. I had hoped that I was headed right. Sometimes I knew that I was, sometimes I only wondered, but here, all at once and out of a clear sky, the greatest inventive genius in the world had given me complete approval. The man who knew most about electricity in the world had said that for the purpose, my gas motor was better than any electric motor could be."
Ford never forgot those words of encouragement. After that initial meeting, Ford was always very close to Edison. When Ford became a wealthy industrialist, he cooperated with Edison in technical and scientific projects. He convinced Edison to devote significant research to finding a substitute for rubber.
Together with John Burroughs, naturalist Luther Burbank, Harvey Firestone and occasionally, President Harding, Ford and Edison participated in a series of camping trips. A major source of fun for Ford and Edison was building dams on small streams and examining old mills for a calculation of the power output.
Edison, left, and Ford on one of their camping trips.
"They think in terms of power," Firestone wrote. After his first experience with the Nature Club, President Harding joined the group whenever he could.
En route to a new campsite on a rainy day, the Lincoln touring car carrying Harding, Ford, Edison, Firestone and naturalist Luther Burbank bogged down in deep mud on a back road in West Virginia. Ford's chauffeur went for help and returned with a farmer driving an ancient Model T. After the Lincoln was yanked from the mire, Ford was the first to shake the farmer's hand.
"I guess you don't know me but I'm Henry Ford. I made the car you're driving."
A 1921 camping trip. From left, seated: Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, President Warren G. Harding, Harvey S. Firestone and George Christian. The man standing is unidentified.
Firestone chimed in, "I'm the man who made those tires." Then he introduced two of the campers: "Meet the man who invented the electric light -- and the President of the United States."
Luther Burbank was the last to shake hands. "I guess you don't know me either?" he asked.
"No," said the farmer, "but if you're the same kind of liar as these other darn fools, I wouldn't be surprised if you said you was Santa Claus."
The vagabond camping trips ended following the death of President Harding.
Edison, on the advice of his doctors, left his home in Menlo Park, N.J., for the warmer climate of Fort Myers, Fla. As would be expected of a man with 1,097 patented inventions, Edison outfitted the home with all kinds of novelties. There was an intercom system which he mischievously used to startle guests, and lights in the closet that blinked on automatically whenever the doors were opened. Edison also had the kitchen built in another building instead of the main house because he didn't like to smell food cooking.
Edison out front of his winter home in Fort Myers, Fla.
Ford was a regular visitor. In 1916, when the seven-bedroom home next door became available, Ford bought it. A wooden fence separated the two estates, but the gate always stood open and became known as the "friendship gate." When Edison's doctors ordered him into a wheelchair in the last years of his life, Ford, still brisk and active, bought one too so they could race around the grounds together.
In October 1929, on the 50th anniversary of the light bulb, Ford established the Edison Institute, which now operates Greenfield Village and Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn.
Even the rainy weather that October couldn't put a damper on the festivities. Crowds lined 30 miles of Detroit streets to cheer Edison, President Hoover and 500 nationally and internationally known guests as they drove to the museum.
The ceremonies featured the re-enactment of the invention of the first successful incandescent bulb in the original Menlo Park laboratory, which had been moved by Henry Ford with other significant buildings to the Village.
Ford had brought in seven railroad cars of New Jersey soil to place around the buildings for complete accuracy. He even tried to get an old elm tree that stood near the door of the lab, but had to settle for a cutting of the old tree planted in the same spot.
Edison signs his name in cement at the dedication ceremonies at Greenfield Village.
Edison was pleased with Ford's efforts, remarking that Ford got everything 99-9/10ths perfect. The inaccuracy, he told Ford, was that "our floor was never this clean."
Ford and Edison's assistant, Francis Jehl, who was with Edison when he developed his successful incandescent lamp, helped in the re-enactment.
Nationwide, people turned on their electric lights in honor of the historic event.
Later in the banquet hall, Edison stood up to speak, his snow-white hair disheveled, his hands and voice a bit shaky.
"I would be embarrassed at the honors that are being heaped upon me this unforgettable night were it not for the fact that in honoring me, you are also honoring that vast army of thinkers and workers of the past. If I have helped spur men to greater effort, if our work has widened the horizon of thousands of men and given a measure of happiness in the world, I am content."
His last words were for Henry Ford.
"I can only say that in the fullest meaning of the term, he is my friend."
Bibliographic Note: Edison As I Know Him, by Henry Ford; Edison, Inventing the Century, by Neil Baldwin; Detroit's Coming of Age, by Don Lochbiler and the clip and photo files of The Detroit News.
(This story was compiled using clip and photo files of The Detroit News.)
From The Detroit News: http://apps.detnews.com/apps/history/index.php?id=105#ixzz0znWlFaR1

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Tea Parties On the March


The liberal media is enjoying the so-called upset Tea Party victory over the establishment Republican candidate in the Delaware Senate primaries. They obviously hope that this indicates a division in Republicans and conservative ranks that can be exploited in November to at least head off GOP control of the Senate. Almost every indicator shows that Republicans will oust Democrats from control there.
Liberals and leftists still have a stereotype of Tea Partiers as wild eyed extremists instead of principled libertarians and conservatives. Perhaps their main frame of reference lies in the aimless protest movements of the 1960s that simply sought to gather young white suburbanites into an area to show numerical support for whatever. Tea Partiers take off of work, bring their children, and travel hundreds of miles to jon in common cause. These are not knee jerk, professional revolutionaries. They are reasonable people in unreasonable times.
The Tea Party victories do not demonstrate divisiveness among the electorate as much as a resolve to actually alter the course of events. Voters have so far rejected individuals whom they fear will compromise the change that is to take place next year. They fear adding Olympia Snowes and Lindsay Grahams to the Congress. Compromising most of your principles is no longer acceptable to the voters.
Here in West Virginia we have an opportunity this fall to help bring our nation back to the right course and also take steps to resurrect our state. It will take time and effort, but it can be done. Please help your local and state Republicans parties and their candidates this fall. West Virginia, incidentally, has had for a long time one of the most Tea Party friendly GOPs. It's good to see people of principle working hard in the common cause of saving our state and nation.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Do You Support Zoning? This Is What You Get

There are some in Mineral County that support the idea that property rights should be traded in for the strict definitions set on property use by zoning laws. The story below shows where that kind of policy can lead. You can't even quietly grow vegetables on your own property!



County Sues Farmer, Cites Too Many Crops


WSB-TV
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Posted: 5:20 pm EDT September 12, 2010Updated: 10:00 am EDT September 13, 2010
DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. -- DeKalb County is suing a local farmer for growing too many vegetables, but he said he will fight the charges in the ongoing battle neighbors call “Cabbagegate.”
Fig trees, broccoli and cabbages are among the many greens that line the soil on Steve Miller’s more than two acres in Clarkston, who said he has spent fifteen years growing crops to give away and sell at local farmers markets.
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“It's a way of life, like it's something in my blood,” said Miller.
In January, Dekalb County code enforcement officers began ticketing him for growing too many crops for the zoning and having unpermitted employees on site.
Miller stopped growing vegetables this summer and the charges were put on hold as he got the property rezoned.
WATCH: Farmer Sued For Excessive Veggies
Two weeks after approval, however, his attorney said the county began prosecuting the old charges, saying he was technically in violation before the rezoning.
“It should go away. I think it borders on harassment,” said Miller’s attorney Doug Dillard.
Miller faces nearly $5,000 in fines, but he said he plans to fight those citations in recorders court later this month.
A county spokesperson said officials can’t discuss the matter while it is in court, but neighbors were quick to come to his defense.
“When he moved here and I found out what he was doing I said, ‘Steve, you’re the best thing that ever happened to Cimarron Drive. And I still say that,” said neighbor Britt Fayssoux.
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Monday, September 13, 2010

An Explanation Is Long Overdue

Immediate Release Contact: Mike Stuart September 12, 2010 mike.stuart@wvgop.org 304.553.1084
304.768.0493
Time to Tell West Virginians the Facts
WVGOP Chair Calls on Governor & Democrat Chair to Share Truth with Public
CHARLESTON, WV. The Chairman of the West Virginia Republican Party today called on Governor Joe Manchin and Larry Puccio, Chairman of the Democrat Party, to come forward and end the speculation surrounding the confirmed issuance of subpoenas to the State of West Virginia.“It is far past time that Governor Manchin and Chairman Puccio come forward and inform the public of the facts surrounding the confirmed issuance of subpoenas and the rumors involving the Governor, members of the Governor’s administration, and the Chairman of the Democrat Party. We have been patient long enough.

We hoped that those with direct knowledge of the investigations would come forward and provide essential information to the public. Clearly, the Governor and Chairman Puccio believe information concerning federal probes, subpoenas, and the legality of the conduct of elected officials is on a ‘need to know basis.’ The people of West Virginia deserve the complete truth and they deserve it now,” Stuart stated. Stuart continued, “Piece by piece, information leaks to the public through the media from ‘unnamed sources.’ It is time for the Governor and Chairman Puccio to tell us the facts about the subpoenas and federal investigation. Any issue of public corruption is serious business. I am concerned that facts are being withheld.” “At a minimum, we need to know if Governor Manchin or Larry Puccio received a subpoena, whether either is a target of a federal investigation, and the subject matter concerning any issued subpoenas or federal investigations,” said Stuart. “Facts are stubborn things. These are facts for which the public needs and deserves answers,” concluded Stuart. ·

Who received subpoenas? ·
What is being investigated? ·
Is the Governor or Chairman of the Democrat Party the target of any federal investigation or probe? ·
Has the Governor or Chairman Puccio been named the target of any federal investigation or probe? ·
Has any member of the Governor’s administration received a subpoena or been named the target of any federal investigation or federal probe? ·
What state vendors have been notified that they may be targets of a federal probe or investigation?
PAID FOR BY THE WEST VIRGINIA REPUBLICAN PARTY
Thank you,
Mike
Chairman Mike Stuart
West Virginia Republican Party
P.O. Box 2711Charleston, WV 25330
304.768.0493 (office)
304.553.1084 (cell)
304.768.6083 (facsimile)
mike.stuart@wvgop.org