The reality of emergency response in Goochland
Kudos to the residents of the Parke at Manakin Woods for turning a scary episode into a wake up call for positive action.
When Ed Stover became ill at a neighborhood social gathering on Saturday, September 26,the hostess called 911 and expected an ambulance to arrive from nearby Manakin Company 1 in a few minutes.
An ambulance arrived, from Centerville Company 3, following several subsequent calls to 911 more than 30 minutes after the initial call.
Parke residents were understandably upset.
They believed that, because they lived near a fire-rescue station, they could have EMS at their doors in a few minutes. Located at the corner of Rt. 6 and Hermitage Road The Parke at Manakin Woods is about five years old. While about 60 percent of its residents are over 60 years of age, 15 children including baby triplets also live there.
On Thursday, October 1, Parke residents filled the Company 1 meeting room to discuss the incident. Goochland Fire-Rescue chief Ken Brown, Deputy Chief-EMS D. E. “Eddie” Ferguson, Jr. and Maj. Don Bewkes from the Goochland Sheriff’s Office, which handles all emergency dispatch, spent more than two hours explaining what happened and how fire-rescue and law enforcement services work in Goochland.
A statement by Bewkes, “Goochland isn’t like where you came from,” says it all.
Ferguson began the meeting by giving detailed background on Goochland Volunteer Fire-Rescue. Pay close attention to the name of the organization. Having both EMS and fire under the same roof maximizes a limited available volunteer pool and encourages cross training to increase effectiveness.
Goochland Volunteer Fire-Rescue is well-equipped and has a proud history of achievement. Goochland EMS has been recognized for excellence in Virginia several times since the start of the decade.
County EMS providers are well-trained in aggressive life saving techniques, Ferguson explained.
However, Parke residents understandably wanted to know why it took so long for an ambulance to reach their community on September 26, especially after Ferguson stated that one of the busiest times for EMS calls is early on Saturday evening.
Parke residents were appalled to learn that there was no crew on duty at Company 1 that night. A crew had been on duty there until 6 p.m.
To further complicate matters, many Company 1 EMS volunteers are college students who returned to school in the fall depleting the supply of available volunteers there.
Company 3 did have a crew, but it was engaged with another EMS call involving law enforcement. Parke residents seemed to have overlooked the possibility that there might be other emergency calls in progress.
The heavy rain caused other Company 3 volunteers, who were not on duty, to go to their station and stand by in case they were needed. This EMS crew responded to the Parke.
Unfortunately, they made a wrong turn, which further delayed their arrival. Parke residents questioned why it took more than 10 minutes for the ambulance to get to them from Company 3.
Bewkes said that driving a large vehicle on narrow two lane deer infested roads in heavy rain with limited visibility required prudence rather than speed.
Ferguson explained that scheduling volunteers to provide coverage on weekends is an ongoing challenge.
As of April 1, the county’s first paid fire-rescue providers began work. The paid staff provides three two person crews for daytime weekday hours, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and one late night crew from 10 p.m. until 6 a.m. from Sunday to Thursday in the western end of the county.
At all other times volunteers respond to emergency calls and respond to most of the thousands of EMS incidents logged in Goochland.
All sheriff’s cruisers are equipped with automatic electronic defibrillators (AEDs) and deputies are trained in their use. Deputies, who monitor all dispatch calls, respond to EMS calls if they are nearby and not otherwise occupied.
That was not the case on September 26.
Bewkes explained that Goochland has two dispatchers, who handle both fire-rescue and law enforcement calls, on duty at all times.
The number of active EMS-only volunteers in Goochland, said Ferguson is 102, another 97 volunteers are cross-trained in both EMS and fire suppression skills. That’s 199 people to provide EMS coverage for all of the county’s approximately 300 square miles.
Active volunteers are required to be on duty for a minimum of 48 hours per month. That’s on top of working, family responsibilities and sleep.
Training required to become a basic life support (BLS) EMT is 121 hours of class time, practical skills education and precepting with experienced EMTs. The county has 134 BLS providers. Hours needed for advance life support training increase with the level of skill. EMT-paramedics, there are 14 among the Goochland volunteer corps, complete an additional 1,000 hours of training and spend many more hours honing their skills. That’s all before they can get on an ambulance and take care of people. All providers must past the same state certification tests as career people in other jurisdictions.
Some volunteers chose to become ambulance drivers. This requires successful completion of a CPR class the emergency vehicle operator’s course (EVOC,)which takes about 22 hours of class and practical education.
Many county EMS providers respond to calls from home, if they live close enough to their stations to respond in a timely manner. During times of expected increase in emergency calls, including the snowstorm on March 1, many volunteers report to their stations and stay there until conditions improve. A significant number of volunteers at both Manakin and Centerville do not even live in Goochland.
In short, EMS, like law enforcement, is a very manpower intense service.
Even if all stations are manned, a multi-vehicle traffic crash can take several ambulances out of the county for up to three hours. The advent of Rt. 288 had increased the number of wrecks that county EMS crews handle. Often, the patients from those incidents are transported to the VCU hospital in downtown Richmond.
Time and distance are major factors in response time in the county. Goochland has relatively few roads and they are often narrow and winding.
Parke residents wanted to help by raising money. One cited a recent piece of fatuous journalism that reported Goochland having the highest per capita income in America.
“If we are such a rich county, why not get all of those wealthy people to pitch in and pay for more coverage?” one man asked. He would be surprised to know that in most of the county he is considered to be one of those rich people.
Bewkes informed him that because Goochland’s population is small, about 20,000, it takes a very small number of wealthy people, he estimated 20 families, to skew the average to paint a misleading picture.
Calls for volunteers from Brown and Ferguson seemed to fall on deaf ears.
Paid fire-rescue is a very expensive proposition. The cost for the current paid providers is at least $600,000 per year.
All real estate taxes collected in Goochland fund county schools. All other services are funded through fees and other receipts. (See Goochland’s budget at the county website www.co.goochland.va.us)
Parke residents discussed purchasing an AED for their neighborhood and sponsoring CPR classes. Those are both excellent ideas. Everyone should learn the basics of CPR.
The incident illustrates how little most people in Goochland understand how things work here.
Bewkes suggested that Parke residents participate in the annual sheriff’s academy to get a close look at law enforcement in Goochland. Visit the sheriff’s website at www.goochlandsheriff.org to learn more about local law enforcement.
Goochland is blessed with outstanding fire-rescue volunteers who give tremendous amounts of time and talent to leave the comfort of home and family to go in harm’s way to save lives and protect property. Volunteers come from every walk of life and have a strong commitment to community service.
Get to know your local volunteers. Look for activities at stations to commemorate Fire Prevention Week.
The professionalism of the Goochland Sheriff’s Department is among the best in the state. Our deputies are well-trained sworn officers dedicated to providing the best public service possible.
One of the trade offs that you make for the peace, privacy and relative low taxes in Goochland is fewer public services. Law enforcement and fire-EMS are two examples. Perhaps one of the biggest threats to Goochland’s way of life is new residents who want Goochland to be just like where they came from only different.
Self-reliance is a vital part of rural character.
Fire-rescue volunteers must be at least 16 years of age, in good health, able to pass a criminal background check and have a good driving record. Volunteers come from all walks of life and it’s a great way to get to know the wonderful people of Goochland. Volunteers are always needed. Training is free to members of one of the county’s six companies. Visit the website at www.goochlandfire-rescue.org for more information.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Friday, October 2, 2009
A day late and a dollar short
Wishing and hoping won’t make it so
On September 30 the county held what was billed as a charette on the Centerville Village at Company 3. The event was intended to gather citizen input about development of the village.
This should have been done at least seven years ago when cows were grazing on what is now West Broad Village in Short Pump. In fact, a master’s thesis project completed by VCU student Brad Shelton earlier in the decade, created much of the groundwork for this scheme.
All sorts of maps of the Centerville Village, as defined by the county’s 2028 Comprehensive Land Use Plan (visit www.co.goochland.va.us for details) as well as charts and road cross sections were available for inspection. Members of the county planning staff were on hand to supply information, a answer questions and encourage people to comment.
As currently envisioned, the Centerville Village seems to have two parts. The area now considered the “village,” centered on the Broad View Shopping Center is envisioned to have neighborhood scale development. The area bordered by Ashland Road, the Henrico and Hanover boundaries and Rt. 250 is intended for more industrial and commercial use while south of Rt. 250 is residential.
Bright colors and cross-hatching on the maps illustrated current zoning. In spite of frantic efforts to create a B-3 zoning category, which accommodates hotels, a few year ago, there is still no land zoned that way.
Indeed, in spite of zoning, whether extant or intended, much of the land in the Centerville Village is either in agricultural use, or vacant. Almost five years after the Tuckahoe Creek Service District utilities went online, Centerville still has cornfields on main roads with access to municipal water and sewer.
People commented on suggested new roads, including a connector between Manakin and Rockville Roads, north of Rt. 250 to move people to the Ashland Road, I-64 interchange without going through the Village. Several iterations of the circumferential road on the north and south side of Rt. 250 were also drawn in. These are all in the center village area. There was no indication that the owners of some of the parcels bisected by these putative roads agreed or were even aware that their property could be affected.
Another suggested road would connect the soon-to be-built Gayton Road extension in Henrico with Goochland. Another good idea is connecting Hockett and Ashland Roads east of the current location using the already signalized and widened intersection to eliminate the current dangerous rush hour bottleneck to move traffic through the village.
Overlay district standards, which are a mixed blessing, should be used to ensure a visually pleasing balance of signage and lighting rather than as a bludgeon to discourage business.
Speaking of overlay district bludgeoning, the property expected to be the site of a Peace Palace behind the Bank of Goochland seems to be up for sale.
The crucial factor missing from the all of the Centerville planning schemes is the understanding by the board of supervisors that density in Centerville must be high enough to make investment there economically attractive.
Currently, the approved density in the Tuckahoe Creek Service District, including the Centerville Village, is 2.5 units per acre.
Last year, the supervisors approved a legislative initiative informing the Virginia General Assembly that Goochland is unable to create an urban development area with a minimum density of four units per acre because of limited water and sewer capacity.
How can water and sewer capacity be limited? The million gallon water tank in Centerville has never been more than half full?
What is behind the board’s refusal to designate even a morsel of territory for high density development in an area well served by roads, municipal water and sewer and perhaps even fiber optics? Could this reluctance be based on a concern that the TCSD trunk lines installed at great cost in both dollars and heartburn are too small to handle the millions of gallons of water and wastewater that have already been pledged to Goochland?
After more than seven years’ worth of dithering little private investment has been made in Centerville. Why has Goochland failed to capture even some of investment going on in Short Pump? Goochland could be collecting sales tax instead of watching as its citizens take their dollars to stores in Short Pump.
The various iterations of plans for Centerville are appealing, but until there is an attitudinal paradigm shift on the part of the board of supervisors, the plans are just wishful thinking.
On September 30 the county held what was billed as a charette on the Centerville Village at Company 3. The event was intended to gather citizen input about development of the village.
This should have been done at least seven years ago when cows were grazing on what is now West Broad Village in Short Pump. In fact, a master’s thesis project completed by VCU student Brad Shelton earlier in the decade, created much of the groundwork for this scheme.
All sorts of maps of the Centerville Village, as defined by the county’s 2028 Comprehensive Land Use Plan (visit www.co.goochland.va.us for details) as well as charts and road cross sections were available for inspection. Members of the county planning staff were on hand to supply information, a answer questions and encourage people to comment.
As currently envisioned, the Centerville Village seems to have two parts. The area now considered the “village,” centered on the Broad View Shopping Center is envisioned to have neighborhood scale development. The area bordered by Ashland Road, the Henrico and Hanover boundaries and Rt. 250 is intended for more industrial and commercial use while south of Rt. 250 is residential.
Bright colors and cross-hatching on the maps illustrated current zoning. In spite of frantic efforts to create a B-3 zoning category, which accommodates hotels, a few year ago, there is still no land zoned that way.
Indeed, in spite of zoning, whether extant or intended, much of the land in the Centerville Village is either in agricultural use, or vacant. Almost five years after the Tuckahoe Creek Service District utilities went online, Centerville still has cornfields on main roads with access to municipal water and sewer.
People commented on suggested new roads, including a connector between Manakin and Rockville Roads, north of Rt. 250 to move people to the Ashland Road, I-64 interchange without going through the Village. Several iterations of the circumferential road on the north and south side of Rt. 250 were also drawn in. These are all in the center village area. There was no indication that the owners of some of the parcels bisected by these putative roads agreed or were even aware that their property could be affected.
Another suggested road would connect the soon-to be-built Gayton Road extension in Henrico with Goochland. Another good idea is connecting Hockett and Ashland Roads east of the current location using the already signalized and widened intersection to eliminate the current dangerous rush hour bottleneck to move traffic through the village.
Overlay district standards, which are a mixed blessing, should be used to ensure a visually pleasing balance of signage and lighting rather than as a bludgeon to discourage business.
Speaking of overlay district bludgeoning, the property expected to be the site of a Peace Palace behind the Bank of Goochland seems to be up for sale.
The crucial factor missing from the all of the Centerville planning schemes is the understanding by the board of supervisors that density in Centerville must be high enough to make investment there economically attractive.
Currently, the approved density in the Tuckahoe Creek Service District, including the Centerville Village, is 2.5 units per acre.
Last year, the supervisors approved a legislative initiative informing the Virginia General Assembly that Goochland is unable to create an urban development area with a minimum density of four units per acre because of limited water and sewer capacity.
How can water and sewer capacity be limited? The million gallon water tank in Centerville has never been more than half full?
What is behind the board’s refusal to designate even a morsel of territory for high density development in an area well served by roads, municipal water and sewer and perhaps even fiber optics? Could this reluctance be based on a concern that the TCSD trunk lines installed at great cost in both dollars and heartburn are too small to handle the millions of gallons of water and wastewater that have already been pledged to Goochland?
After more than seven years’ worth of dithering little private investment has been made in Centerville. Why has Goochland failed to capture even some of investment going on in Short Pump? Goochland could be collecting sales tax instead of watching as its citizens take their dollars to stores in Short Pump.
The various iterations of plans for Centerville are appealing, but until there is an attitudinal paradigm shift on the part of the board of supervisors, the plans are just wishful thinking.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Toward a prosperous Virginia
Stop strangling the goose
Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling visited the Virginia Farm Bureau headquarters in West Creek on Monday, September 21, to chat with a handful of local business leaders about the economy. William Quarles, Jr., District 2, was the only member of the county board of supervisors in attendance.
The meeting was part of Bolling’s Jobs for Virginia Tour. He’s traveling around the Commonwealth meeting to explain how he and Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell plan get the Virginia economy moving.
“If the people of the Commonwealth elect us, I will become the chief jobs creation officer,” he told. “My job will be to do whatever it takes to get people back to work and get the economy moving again.”
Creating jobs, contended Bolling, is the key to turning the economy around and positioning Virginia to take full advantage of an economic recovery.
He outlined a commonsense array of policies (see billbolling.com for details) on everything from energy to education.
These include immediate pursuit of drilling for fossil fuels, mostly natural gas, off the Virginia Coast. This would create jobs, generate revenues and bring investment to the Commonwealth. Tax credits for creation of green jobs and investment in alternative fuel research are also included as are expansion of nuclear and clean coal energy sources.
Offshore drilling should be a no brainer for Virginia. Natural gas is the cleanest fossil fuel and the technology to create natural gas powered cars exists.
The Republican education policy advocates an increase in the amount of money that goes into classrooms in the form of higher teacher salaries and smaller class sizes while decreasing administrative funding. It also includes increasing opportunities for charter schools and vouchers, which, Bolling contended, echoes Obama administration initiatives.
Bolling believes that creation of appropriate educational opportunities for all students will ensure that graduate skill sets match the needs of the workforce.
How refreshing! There are way too many young people today with lots of degrees and few marketable skills while high paying technical jobs go begging. Not all students need to go to college, but every high school graduate should be well prepared to succeed as the next level of life be it college, the military or a job.
Bolling contended that the legislation coming out of Washington resembles a policy to destroy American business.
Goochland’s own Wayne Pryor, President of the Virginia Farm Bureau, which endorsed Bolling, concurred.
Pryor said that the proposed cap and trade legislation is a massive tax that will do little but drastically increase already punitively high fertilizer and fuel prices. Although not reflected at the grocery checkout, Pryor said that commodity prices have declined between 40 and 60 percent in the last year.
Unfunded mandates from clean water and other regulatory legislation hurts farmers. Congress assumes that the cost of implementing those measures would be covered by price increases, said Pryor, but that cannot be supported by prevailing market conditions.
Expanded Chesapeake Bay Act regulations, intended to clean up that body of water, have become an onerous burden on several fronts.
Pryor said that the current glut of milk in the marketplace has already cost Virginia 15 to 20 percent of its dairy farmers. The remainder cannot afford to comply with the Bay Act rules and stay in business.
New storm water runoff controls required by the latest iteration of the Chesapeake Bay regulations, for instance, would make existing retail and business centers that provide jobs and sales tax revenue economically unfeasible to build today, one businessman contended.
Another attendee observed that regulatory creep, the unintended consequence of good intentions, puts a serious damper on economic activity. Regulations expand, he believes, because bureaucrats need to justify their existence.
Bolling contended that the increasingly onerous Bay Act regulations are the result of resume building by Governor Tim Kaine rather than the original intent of the law’s sponsors.
He pledged to examine the entire state regulatory scheme to ensure a proper balance between citizen protection and economic activity. Regulatory reform, he said, is critical to position Virginia for economic growth so it can retain its position as a business friendly state and attract, rather than repel new investment and jobs.
Quarles brought up a subject dear to the heart of many Goochlanders— universally available broadband. Bolling did the usual tap dance stating that there is no money in the state budget for rural broadband, but there might be some federal stimulus money available.
That could be beneficial in the long run. It could well make more sense for the county to provide an atmosphere to entice private sector providers than spend tax dollars to make broadband a public utility.
Bolling’s plan to move the Commonwealth forward is straightforward and doable.
Business is the engine that powers America’s largesse. We’ve got to stop strangling the goose that lays the golden eggs or we’ll all go hungry. We also need to put those eggs in many baskets to lessen the impact of future economic contractions.
Virginians want to get back to work so they can pay their own way and determine their own destiny.
Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling visited the Virginia Farm Bureau headquarters in West Creek on Monday, September 21, to chat with a handful of local business leaders about the economy. William Quarles, Jr., District 2, was the only member of the county board of supervisors in attendance.
The meeting was part of Bolling’s Jobs for Virginia Tour. He’s traveling around the Commonwealth meeting to explain how he and Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell plan get the Virginia economy moving.
“If the people of the Commonwealth elect us, I will become the chief jobs creation officer,” he told. “My job will be to do whatever it takes to get people back to work and get the economy moving again.”
Creating jobs, contended Bolling, is the key to turning the economy around and positioning Virginia to take full advantage of an economic recovery.
He outlined a commonsense array of policies (see billbolling.com for details) on everything from energy to education.
These include immediate pursuit of drilling for fossil fuels, mostly natural gas, off the Virginia Coast. This would create jobs, generate revenues and bring investment to the Commonwealth. Tax credits for creation of green jobs and investment in alternative fuel research are also included as are expansion of nuclear and clean coal energy sources.
Offshore drilling should be a no brainer for Virginia. Natural gas is the cleanest fossil fuel and the technology to create natural gas powered cars exists.
The Republican education policy advocates an increase in the amount of money that goes into classrooms in the form of higher teacher salaries and smaller class sizes while decreasing administrative funding. It also includes increasing opportunities for charter schools and vouchers, which, Bolling contended, echoes Obama administration initiatives.
Bolling believes that creation of appropriate educational opportunities for all students will ensure that graduate skill sets match the needs of the workforce.
How refreshing! There are way too many young people today with lots of degrees and few marketable skills while high paying technical jobs go begging. Not all students need to go to college, but every high school graduate should be well prepared to succeed as the next level of life be it college, the military or a job.
Bolling contended that the legislation coming out of Washington resembles a policy to destroy American business.
Goochland’s own Wayne Pryor, President of the Virginia Farm Bureau, which endorsed Bolling, concurred.
Pryor said that the proposed cap and trade legislation is a massive tax that will do little but drastically increase already punitively high fertilizer and fuel prices. Although not reflected at the grocery checkout, Pryor said that commodity prices have declined between 40 and 60 percent in the last year.
Unfunded mandates from clean water and other regulatory legislation hurts farmers. Congress assumes that the cost of implementing those measures would be covered by price increases, said Pryor, but that cannot be supported by prevailing market conditions.
Expanded Chesapeake Bay Act regulations, intended to clean up that body of water, have become an onerous burden on several fronts.
Pryor said that the current glut of milk in the marketplace has already cost Virginia 15 to 20 percent of its dairy farmers. The remainder cannot afford to comply with the Bay Act rules and stay in business.
New storm water runoff controls required by the latest iteration of the Chesapeake Bay regulations, for instance, would make existing retail and business centers that provide jobs and sales tax revenue economically unfeasible to build today, one businessman contended.
Another attendee observed that regulatory creep, the unintended consequence of good intentions, puts a serious damper on economic activity. Regulations expand, he believes, because bureaucrats need to justify their existence.
Bolling contended that the increasingly onerous Bay Act regulations are the result of resume building by Governor Tim Kaine rather than the original intent of the law’s sponsors.
He pledged to examine the entire state regulatory scheme to ensure a proper balance between citizen protection and economic activity. Regulatory reform, he said, is critical to position Virginia for economic growth so it can retain its position as a business friendly state and attract, rather than repel new investment and jobs.
Quarles brought up a subject dear to the heart of many Goochlanders— universally available broadband. Bolling did the usual tap dance stating that there is no money in the state budget for rural broadband, but there might be some federal stimulus money available.
That could be beneficial in the long run. It could well make more sense for the county to provide an atmosphere to entice private sector providers than spend tax dollars to make broadband a public utility.
Bolling’s plan to move the Commonwealth forward is straightforward and doable.
Business is the engine that powers America’s largesse. We’ve got to stop strangling the goose that lays the golden eggs or we’ll all go hungry. We also need to put those eggs in many baskets to lessen the impact of future economic contractions.
Virginians want to get back to work so they can pay their own way and determine their own destiny.
Friday, September 11, 2009
September anxiety
We are fat, dumb and vulnerable
Today is the eighth anniversary of the most vicious attack ever perpetrated on the United States by a shadowy enemy that used our own machines to murder Americans in the centers of our economic and political power.
Backed not by a mighty military–industrial complex but powered instead by evil ingenuity, a handful of suicidal jihadists killed thousands of innocent Americans whose only crime was to go to work on that perfect September day. They felled skyscrapers, wounded the Pentagon and destroyed American innocence in a short minutes on that Tuesday morning. The only ones who had the opportunity to fight back were the passengers of Flight 93.
America troops were quickly deployed to Afghanistan and later, Iraq. Soon, military efforts were bogged down in political conflicts at home. Along the way, Americans lost sight of the fact that there are still very bad guys out there who want to kill us and destroy our way of life.
In our innocence and good will, most of us simply cannot believe that people on the other side of the world want us dead because of our value system. Unfortunately, we only have to look to the vile destruction of Second Union Church in Western Goochland to see evidence of that attitude in our own community.
During the last eight years, America has returned to what has become the new normal. We shuffle through airports shoes in hand hoping that the “enhanced security” practices will keep us safe. The absence of further attacks has lulled us into complacency.
Today, we’re more worried about the economy than terror attacks, but other threats lurk all too close to home.
Six years ago, Hurricane Isabel blew through Goochland. Many people were without power for a long time. Henrico's water system was disrupted because there was insufficient generator back up at the pumping station.
At first, the power outage was a kind of forced camping trip. As the days wore on, it got old and tempers frayed.
If our enemies want to destroy America, all they have to do is turn off the power, we’ll self-destruct.
In a fascinating novel, One Second After (ISBN-13:0978-0-7653-1758-2) available at the Goochland Branch Library, William R. Forstchen takes a detailed look at what could happen to America if the power is turned off long term.
An electro magnetic pulse, set off using relatively unsophisticated technology, probably already possessed by North Korea and Iran, destroys all electronic devices not shielded from such an attack.
The power goes out immediately. All devices with any sort of computer chip are instantly fried.
In the aftermath of 9/11, the nation was glued tearfully to television sets. In a few days we knew far too many details of that horrific day. What would you if the power went off and there was no information from the outside world?
Following deployment of an EMP, all communication stops. No one knows what happened. There is no way to ask for help and the whole country is in a world of hurt. There is no one to bring help.
Unlike previous disasters including 9/11, Katrina and earthquakes in California, help was quickly on the way, because America is a big and neighborly nation and the disaster sites relatively small.
Forstchen paints a terrifying picture of what could happen if there was no one there to help. He describes how the malfunction of those ever present chips rule our lives.
Planes, including Air Force One, crash as their computers go offline, people are stranded on an interstate when their upscale rides becomes useless lumps of metal. People turn on each other for food.
We give little thought to our interdependent society that provides strawberries in January and moves supplies of everything from popcorn to pharmaceuticals from one end of the country to the other.
What if all that were to stop. How long could you survive?
In the weeks and months after 9/11, flags flew and the country united. People wanted to get involved in their communities.
The Citizen Corps was created and helped people organize Citizen Emergency Response Teams (CERT) to teach basic first responder skills so people could take care of themselves and their neighbors until help arrive. Goochland has one. As time passed, however, we lost interest.
We Americans are notorious for our optimism. We also used to value our self-reliance. Now, we’re too busy Twittering to care about much else.
News about the H1N1 flu is everywhere, but most people figure they’ll be all right if they get a flu shot. The warnings are exaggerated, we believe.
The flu shots are a best guess effort. What if they guess wrong and huge numbers of people get sick? In an extreme case, things will pretty much shut down. Emergency responders, like our wonderful Goochland rescue squads, will soon be overwhelmed. As the first responders become sick themselves, ambulances will sit idle. It won’t matter because hospitals will overflow and be unable to properly treat patients.
Food supplies will dwindle and so on.
An exaggeration? Perhaps, but we all need to be a little more prepared.
Could you survive for three days where you are right now as you read this? Does your family have an emergency communication plan in case you cannot get home? What would you do if your cell phone didn’t work?
There are huge amounts of information about emergency preparedness on the web. One of the most comprehensive is www.ready.gov. Take a look and think about your own situation.
The world, including your own back yard, is a very scary place. Take a few minutes to plan for the unthinkable.
Today is the eighth anniversary of the most vicious attack ever perpetrated on the United States by a shadowy enemy that used our own machines to murder Americans in the centers of our economic and political power.
Backed not by a mighty military–industrial complex but powered instead by evil ingenuity, a handful of suicidal jihadists killed thousands of innocent Americans whose only crime was to go to work on that perfect September day. They felled skyscrapers, wounded the Pentagon and destroyed American innocence in a short minutes on that Tuesday morning. The only ones who had the opportunity to fight back were the passengers of Flight 93.
America troops were quickly deployed to Afghanistan and later, Iraq. Soon, military efforts were bogged down in political conflicts at home. Along the way, Americans lost sight of the fact that there are still very bad guys out there who want to kill us and destroy our way of life.
In our innocence and good will, most of us simply cannot believe that people on the other side of the world want us dead because of our value system. Unfortunately, we only have to look to the vile destruction of Second Union Church in Western Goochland to see evidence of that attitude in our own community.
During the last eight years, America has returned to what has become the new normal. We shuffle through airports shoes in hand hoping that the “enhanced security” practices will keep us safe. The absence of further attacks has lulled us into complacency.
Today, we’re more worried about the economy than terror attacks, but other threats lurk all too close to home.
Six years ago, Hurricane Isabel blew through Goochland. Many people were without power for a long time. Henrico's water system was disrupted because there was insufficient generator back up at the pumping station.
At first, the power outage was a kind of forced camping trip. As the days wore on, it got old and tempers frayed.
If our enemies want to destroy America, all they have to do is turn off the power, we’ll self-destruct.
In a fascinating novel, One Second After (ISBN-13:0978-0-7653-1758-2) available at the Goochland Branch Library, William R. Forstchen takes a detailed look at what could happen to America if the power is turned off long term.
An electro magnetic pulse, set off using relatively unsophisticated technology, probably already possessed by North Korea and Iran, destroys all electronic devices not shielded from such an attack.
The power goes out immediately. All devices with any sort of computer chip are instantly fried.
In the aftermath of 9/11, the nation was glued tearfully to television sets. In a few days we knew far too many details of that horrific day. What would you if the power went off and there was no information from the outside world?
Following deployment of an EMP, all communication stops. No one knows what happened. There is no way to ask for help and the whole country is in a world of hurt. There is no one to bring help.
Unlike previous disasters including 9/11, Katrina and earthquakes in California, help was quickly on the way, because America is a big and neighborly nation and the disaster sites relatively small.
Forstchen paints a terrifying picture of what could happen if there was no one there to help. He describes how the malfunction of those ever present chips rule our lives.
Planes, including Air Force One, crash as their computers go offline, people are stranded on an interstate when their upscale rides becomes useless lumps of metal. People turn on each other for food.
We give little thought to our interdependent society that provides strawberries in January and moves supplies of everything from popcorn to pharmaceuticals from one end of the country to the other.
What if all that were to stop. How long could you survive?
In the weeks and months after 9/11, flags flew and the country united. People wanted to get involved in their communities.
The Citizen Corps was created and helped people organize Citizen Emergency Response Teams (CERT) to teach basic first responder skills so people could take care of themselves and their neighbors until help arrive. Goochland has one. As time passed, however, we lost interest.
We Americans are notorious for our optimism. We also used to value our self-reliance. Now, we’re too busy Twittering to care about much else.
News about the H1N1 flu is everywhere, but most people figure they’ll be all right if they get a flu shot. The warnings are exaggerated, we believe.
The flu shots are a best guess effort. What if they guess wrong and huge numbers of people get sick? In an extreme case, things will pretty much shut down. Emergency responders, like our wonderful Goochland rescue squads, will soon be overwhelmed. As the first responders become sick themselves, ambulances will sit idle. It won’t matter because hospitals will overflow and be unable to properly treat patients.
Food supplies will dwindle and so on.
An exaggeration? Perhaps, but we all need to be a little more prepared.
Could you survive for three days where you are right now as you read this? Does your family have an emergency communication plan in case you cannot get home? What would you do if your cell phone didn’t work?
There are huge amounts of information about emergency preparedness on the web. One of the most comprehensive is www.ready.gov. Take a look and think about your own situation.
The world, including your own back yard, is a very scary place. Take a few minutes to plan for the unthinkable.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Water torture
It just keeps dripping along
Discussions about water, public utility water, dripped on the conversation throughout the September 1 meeting of the Goochland Board of Supervisors.
A proposed rate increase for all county users of county water and sewer drew concerned citizens to both the afternoon business session and evening public hearing.
Revenues generated by the proposed rate increase were intended to pay for upkeep of the county utility system. It seems that no thought was ever given to future maintenance when the systems, especially the Tuckahoe Creek Service District, were created.
To their credit, the supervisors concluded that they need more information about the utility system before they vote on a rate increase. Another public hearing will be held before any rate changes are voted upon and an entirely new approach to the problem may emerge in the meantime.
Comments made by supervisors and citizens alike make it clear that few people understand the Goochland public utilities system, especially those who approved the agreements that created them in the first place. More troubling is that some supervisors seem unable to differentiate between capital cost and operating expense.
One citizen was concerned that the board was preparing to impose a county wide ad valorem tax on all public utility customers. Ad valorem taxes were never part of the proposed rate change.
As the details about the Goochland public utilities department (PUD) continue to float to the surface, the whole thing, especially the Tuckahoe Creek Service District, is starting to resemble a rotting onion peeled layer by putrid layer.
Perhaps that is why former county administrator Gregory K. Wolfrey slithered out of office. The county seems to have been run using a Louis XV, whose motto was “after me the flood,” operating system during his tenure. Things are starting to overflow.
The rate increase was first proposed by interim county administrator Lane Ramsey earlier this year. He explained to the board, several times collectively in public and no doubt individually in writing, that the terms of the $63 million borrowed by the county from the Virginia Resources Authority to finance construction of the TCSD require annual certification by the county administrator that the project is able to service its debt and generate sufficient user revenue to pay maintenance costs.
Ramsey indicated that his initial review of the TCSD and other county utilities revealed no maintenance provisions and insufficient operating revenue to fund necessary upkeep. These costs could include chemicals to treat wastewater, pipe and meter repair.
New county administrator Rebecca T. Dickson, like Ramsey undoubtedly accustomed to following proper government procedures, concurred with the proposed rate increase for all county users of public utilities, not just those in the TCSD.
Oddly, no supervisor asked if certifications signed by Wolfrey in previous years were accurate reflections of the fiscal condition of the TCSD.
District 5 Supervisor James Eads expressed his opposition to the universal increase. He also reiterated his position that there cannot be a unified county utility system until users in Courthouse Village have paid “their fair share” of the cost of building the infrastructure.
Detailed documentation of the PUD is so confusing that there is some question as to the number of systems that exist.
The TCSD, James River Sanitary District and Courthouse Village system are the three generally recognized systems. Then there are the separate arrangements for water systems made by residents and developers in the River Road corridor and the West Creek Business Park. Because these lines are interwoven like a nest of snakes there is some question about which source supplies which line.
There could be as many as 12 discrete utility systems in the county. At this point, no one seems to know for sure.
Arthur Myers, a retired attorney and longtime resident of Lower Tuckahoe, told the board that he was involved in negotiations between Lower Tuckahoe and Henrico County to obtain water service. Residents took matters into their own hands about 30 years ago after the board of supervisors, which included current chairman Andrew Pryor, allegedly told the Lower Tuckahoe citizens that the county did not want growth and would do nothing to provide public utilities. Myers presented Pryor with a copy of that contract to refresh his memory.
Myers and other River Road corridor residents said that they paid their own way, incurring no debt, to install their water lines and were outraged by the proposed rate increase. They objected to paying for the dysfunction of the TCSD with increased rates.
Water users in the TCSD pay a lower water rate because the TCSD funded a portion of the construction costs of the Henrico County water treatment plant and are not charged the capacity fee paid by other Goochland users of Henrico water.
If TCSD users had been charged the same rate from the outset, there might be enough money in the kitty to pay maintenance costs. No one seemed to look, or think, that far in advance.
Water and wastewater treatment in Courthouse Village are provided through agreements between the county and the Virginia Department of Corrections.
The big picture, however, is very confusing.
During the afternoon session, for instance, the supervisors declined to approve a credit for a homeowner in the Rivergate subdivision who is in the process of installing a bathroom that will require a one inch, rather than the customary residential five-eighths inch water line. This will provide a 50 gallon per minute flow of water.
That’s a lot of water for one bathroom. Average daily household use is considered to be 400 gallons. The one- inch line can consume 500 gallons in 10 minutes. If the water capacity for the River Road corridor is limited, where is all of that water for that bathroom going to come from? Is Rivergate somehow connected to TCSD water lines? Is someone using TCSD water without paying the ad valorem tax? If so, it is probably the result of confused plumbing and not a dastardly conspiracy, but it should be clarified.
Water capacity along River Road is very limited. One developer made his own arrangement with Henrico for an additional 100,000 gallons of water per day even though his project required only about 34,000 and gave the remainder to the county. Irrigation systems in new River Road communities cannot use public water.
The Partridge Hill community was given the last of that allocation a few years ago. Its residents paid the cost of installing the water lines and connecting to lines along River Road.
When the supervisors granted this allocation to Partridge Hill, one resident whose property is part of that subdivision declined to connect, but asked to be permitted to connect should his well fail. The board granted that request even though the water allocation was exhausted. Their attitude was that they would worry about that when the time came, assuming that Henrico would agree to an increase in the River Road water allocation.
Other residents in Partridge Hill believe that all available public water has been allocated and those who did not connect are out of luck.
As Ramsey noted in his initial discussion of utility rate increases, the county is still trying to figure out if some utility users in West Creek that are not part of the TCSD were improperly included in the calculations for maintenance costs.
Pryor tasked Dickson with obtaining more comprehensive information about the situation by the next board meeting.
While restructuring the TCSD debt might be possible, it will not fund operating expenses. Getting the TCSD back on track requires a serious effort by the county to attract development there and a paradigm shift in attitude by several board members.
But wait, as they say on late night cable advertising, there’s more.
During the afternoon session, the board voted to loan the TCSD no more than $3 million from the county’s general fund. The money will fund construction of a waterline between the water treatment plant on Gaskins Road and another line on Thamesford Way along Three Chopt Road in Henrico County.
A part of the original TCSD agreement with Henrico, the county is obligated to pay for the line. If it is not built, the county will not be able to obtain the eventual 25 million gallons on water per day it expects to need sometime in the next decade or so.
The line was not built during the initial construction phase because Henrico wanted to postpone construction until it widened that stretch of road and the TCSD ran out of money.
The good news is that the original cost estimate was about $5 million.
Thanks to District 2 supervisor William Quarles, Jr. for stipulating that the loan include a three percent interest rate to give taxpayers a little protection.
Quarles commended the speakers for their interest and civility during the public hearing. To function properly, democracy requires informed citizen participation.
The real mystery is why have the supervisors been so inattentive to public utilities, especially the TCSD?
Discussions about water, public utility water, dripped on the conversation throughout the September 1 meeting of the Goochland Board of Supervisors.
A proposed rate increase for all county users of county water and sewer drew concerned citizens to both the afternoon business session and evening public hearing.
Revenues generated by the proposed rate increase were intended to pay for upkeep of the county utility system. It seems that no thought was ever given to future maintenance when the systems, especially the Tuckahoe Creek Service District, were created.
To their credit, the supervisors concluded that they need more information about the utility system before they vote on a rate increase. Another public hearing will be held before any rate changes are voted upon and an entirely new approach to the problem may emerge in the meantime.
Comments made by supervisors and citizens alike make it clear that few people understand the Goochland public utilities system, especially those who approved the agreements that created them in the first place. More troubling is that some supervisors seem unable to differentiate between capital cost and operating expense.
One citizen was concerned that the board was preparing to impose a county wide ad valorem tax on all public utility customers. Ad valorem taxes were never part of the proposed rate change.
As the details about the Goochland public utilities department (PUD) continue to float to the surface, the whole thing, especially the Tuckahoe Creek Service District, is starting to resemble a rotting onion peeled layer by putrid layer.
Perhaps that is why former county administrator Gregory K. Wolfrey slithered out of office. The county seems to have been run using a Louis XV, whose motto was “after me the flood,” operating system during his tenure. Things are starting to overflow.
The rate increase was first proposed by interim county administrator Lane Ramsey earlier this year. He explained to the board, several times collectively in public and no doubt individually in writing, that the terms of the $63 million borrowed by the county from the Virginia Resources Authority to finance construction of the TCSD require annual certification by the county administrator that the project is able to service its debt and generate sufficient user revenue to pay maintenance costs.
Ramsey indicated that his initial review of the TCSD and other county utilities revealed no maintenance provisions and insufficient operating revenue to fund necessary upkeep. These costs could include chemicals to treat wastewater, pipe and meter repair.
New county administrator Rebecca T. Dickson, like Ramsey undoubtedly accustomed to following proper government procedures, concurred with the proposed rate increase for all county users of public utilities, not just those in the TCSD.
Oddly, no supervisor asked if certifications signed by Wolfrey in previous years were accurate reflections of the fiscal condition of the TCSD.
District 5 Supervisor James Eads expressed his opposition to the universal increase. He also reiterated his position that there cannot be a unified county utility system until users in Courthouse Village have paid “their fair share” of the cost of building the infrastructure.
Detailed documentation of the PUD is so confusing that there is some question as to the number of systems that exist.
The TCSD, James River Sanitary District and Courthouse Village system are the three generally recognized systems. Then there are the separate arrangements for water systems made by residents and developers in the River Road corridor and the West Creek Business Park. Because these lines are interwoven like a nest of snakes there is some question about which source supplies which line.
There could be as many as 12 discrete utility systems in the county. At this point, no one seems to know for sure.
Arthur Myers, a retired attorney and longtime resident of Lower Tuckahoe, told the board that he was involved in negotiations between Lower Tuckahoe and Henrico County to obtain water service. Residents took matters into their own hands about 30 years ago after the board of supervisors, which included current chairman Andrew Pryor, allegedly told the Lower Tuckahoe citizens that the county did not want growth and would do nothing to provide public utilities. Myers presented Pryor with a copy of that contract to refresh his memory.
Myers and other River Road corridor residents said that they paid their own way, incurring no debt, to install their water lines and were outraged by the proposed rate increase. They objected to paying for the dysfunction of the TCSD with increased rates.
Water users in the TCSD pay a lower water rate because the TCSD funded a portion of the construction costs of the Henrico County water treatment plant and are not charged the capacity fee paid by other Goochland users of Henrico water.
If TCSD users had been charged the same rate from the outset, there might be enough money in the kitty to pay maintenance costs. No one seemed to look, or think, that far in advance.
Water and wastewater treatment in Courthouse Village are provided through agreements between the county and the Virginia Department of Corrections.
The big picture, however, is very confusing.
During the afternoon session, for instance, the supervisors declined to approve a credit for a homeowner in the Rivergate subdivision who is in the process of installing a bathroom that will require a one inch, rather than the customary residential five-eighths inch water line. This will provide a 50 gallon per minute flow of water.
That’s a lot of water for one bathroom. Average daily household use is considered to be 400 gallons. The one- inch line can consume 500 gallons in 10 minutes. If the water capacity for the River Road corridor is limited, where is all of that water for that bathroom going to come from? Is Rivergate somehow connected to TCSD water lines? Is someone using TCSD water without paying the ad valorem tax? If so, it is probably the result of confused plumbing and not a dastardly conspiracy, but it should be clarified.
Water capacity along River Road is very limited. One developer made his own arrangement with Henrico for an additional 100,000 gallons of water per day even though his project required only about 34,000 and gave the remainder to the county. Irrigation systems in new River Road communities cannot use public water.
The Partridge Hill community was given the last of that allocation a few years ago. Its residents paid the cost of installing the water lines and connecting to lines along River Road.
When the supervisors granted this allocation to Partridge Hill, one resident whose property is part of that subdivision declined to connect, but asked to be permitted to connect should his well fail. The board granted that request even though the water allocation was exhausted. Their attitude was that they would worry about that when the time came, assuming that Henrico would agree to an increase in the River Road water allocation.
Other residents in Partridge Hill believe that all available public water has been allocated and those who did not connect are out of luck.
As Ramsey noted in his initial discussion of utility rate increases, the county is still trying to figure out if some utility users in West Creek that are not part of the TCSD were improperly included in the calculations for maintenance costs.
Pryor tasked Dickson with obtaining more comprehensive information about the situation by the next board meeting.
While restructuring the TCSD debt might be possible, it will not fund operating expenses. Getting the TCSD back on track requires a serious effort by the county to attract development there and a paradigm shift in attitude by several board members.
But wait, as they say on late night cable advertising, there’s more.
During the afternoon session, the board voted to loan the TCSD no more than $3 million from the county’s general fund. The money will fund construction of a waterline between the water treatment plant on Gaskins Road and another line on Thamesford Way along Three Chopt Road in Henrico County.
A part of the original TCSD agreement with Henrico, the county is obligated to pay for the line. If it is not built, the county will not be able to obtain the eventual 25 million gallons on water per day it expects to need sometime in the next decade or so.
The line was not built during the initial construction phase because Henrico wanted to postpone construction until it widened that stretch of road and the TCSD ran out of money.
The good news is that the original cost estimate was about $5 million.
Thanks to District 2 supervisor William Quarles, Jr. for stipulating that the loan include a three percent interest rate to give taxpayers a little protection.
Quarles commended the speakers for their interest and civility during the public hearing. To function properly, democracy requires informed citizen participation.
The real mystery is why have the supervisors been so inattentive to public utilities, especially the TCSD?
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Dark days
Goochland will not tolerate hate
Second Union Baptist Church on Hadensville Fife Road in western Goochland has a proud history and prouder future.
Long a beacon of faith and bastion of goodness in the African American community and the whole county, Second Union was desecrated by vile and cowardly predators. These despicable vandals broke windows and caused other damage to the church and historic Second Union School.
All citizens of the county, especially those in its western reaches, are outraged at the actions of these animals who can find no better use for their energies than to maliciously damage a place of peace.
Goochland is a safe haven in our crazy world. It’s a good place to raise children and grow old. Community is a way of life here, not a buzz word in a developer’s brochure.
When an event like this abomination shatters the peace and security that usually calls Goochland home, we fear that it is the end of a good thing.
Authorities seem to be debating whether or not this heinous offense constitutes a hate crime. It surely was not an expression of love.
The perpetrators of these contemptible deeds must be caught and brought to justice. The loathsome creatures that took pleasure in the damage inflicted on Second Union Church must be severely punished.
Whatever sentence is handed down by the justice system, Goochland citizens must make it clear to all that respect for the universal freedom to worship and sanctity of private property is not only the law, but a way of life in Goochland.
This kind of outrage against our community will not be tolerated
Second Union Baptist Church on Hadensville Fife Road in western Goochland has a proud history and prouder future.
Long a beacon of faith and bastion of goodness in the African American community and the whole county, Second Union was desecrated by vile and cowardly predators. These despicable vandals broke windows and caused other damage to the church and historic Second Union School.
All citizens of the county, especially those in its western reaches, are outraged at the actions of these animals who can find no better use for their energies than to maliciously damage a place of peace.
Goochland is a safe haven in our crazy world. It’s a good place to raise children and grow old. Community is a way of life here, not a buzz word in a developer’s brochure.
When an event like this abomination shatters the peace and security that usually calls Goochland home, we fear that it is the end of a good thing.
Authorities seem to be debating whether or not this heinous offense constitutes a hate crime. It surely was not an expression of love.
The perpetrators of these contemptible deeds must be caught and brought to justice. The loathsome creatures that took pleasure in the damage inflicted on Second Union Church must be severely punished.
Whatever sentence is handed down by the justice system, Goochland citizens must make it clear to all that respect for the universal freedom to worship and sanctity of private property is not only the law, but a way of life in Goochland.
This kind of outrage against our community will not be tolerated
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Correction
Hickory Haven pays its own way
According to Cindy Wright, who served as president of the Hickory Haven Homeowners’ Association for about 15 years, the information presented in the previous post was incorrect.
Property owners in Hickory Haven, Sammary Forest and on Whippoorwill Lane, approximately 56 homes, were charged a total of $112,000 to connect to the Tuckahoe Creek Service District water line. Homeowners pay an additional $60.29 on each bimonthly water bill to pay off that charge until May, 2010.
The private system that was created when these homes were built, about 40 years ago, was functioning well, but had been abandoned by its original owner and was being operated by the homeowners. Connection to the TCSD water line helped the county by providing users on a line that needed frequent flushing to prevent the water in the under used lines from becoming stale.
Because the water system was already in place, the county needed to make a single connection betweeen the TCSD lines and the exisitng system.
Business owners in Centerville, in contrast, must pay all costs to connect their property to TCSD lines.
These property owners pay the full ad valorem tax, currently 23 cents per $100 of assessed valuation even though they have water service only.
According to Cindy Wright, who served as president of the Hickory Haven Homeowners’ Association for about 15 years, the information presented in the previous post was incorrect.
Property owners in Hickory Haven, Sammary Forest and on Whippoorwill Lane, approximately 56 homes, were charged a total of $112,000 to connect to the Tuckahoe Creek Service District water line. Homeowners pay an additional $60.29 on each bimonthly water bill to pay off that charge until May, 2010.
The private system that was created when these homes were built, about 40 years ago, was functioning well, but had been abandoned by its original owner and was being operated by the homeowners. Connection to the TCSD water line helped the county by providing users on a line that needed frequent flushing to prevent the water in the under used lines from becoming stale.
Because the water system was already in place, the county needed to make a single connection betweeen the TCSD lines and the exisitng system.
Business owners in Centerville, in contrast, must pay all costs to connect their property to TCSD lines.
These property owners pay the full ad valorem tax, currently 23 cents per $100 of assessed valuation even though they have water service only.
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