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Journal Editorial
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The Police Chief: What was that all about? |
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Until documents are delivered in response to the Journal’s FOIA request to Colonial Beach, Journal staff and citizens are left wondering “what just happened?”
If you’ve followed Colonial Beach news, you know that Police Chief Christopher Hawkins resigned his position on June 1, and then requested council to rescind his resignation or reinstate him as chief on June 10.
On June 10, in an open meeting and after an hour-and-a-half closed session, council instructed town attorney Andrea Erard to prepare a new contract for Chris Hawkins, after Erard announced “council would like the chief to stay.” At that meeting 23 citizens spoke to council in favor of retaining Hawkins.
So far so good … citizens got involved and let their elected council members know what was on their minds — democracy in action! It seemed to many that it was a done deal; Hawkins stays on by way of a new contract, and with that settled, council gets on with the business at hand.
And there is a whole lot of business at hand — noise ordinance, serious infrastructure issues, new zoning regulations, creation of a Capital Improvement Plan, the setting of realistic proffers, new parking regulations … the list is endless.
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Maybe change at the Beach is in order |
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Colonial Beach taxpayers pay double taxes for the privilege of living in Town and, while they are not constantly fussing about it, using that money wisely gets more important with each passing day.
This recession has put many localities in a financial hole with few funds to run their governments and no relief in sight. As a result, cities and towns are cutting services and protecting only the most vital needs of their residents. This is the exact scenario where Colonial Beach finds itself – so much need and so little money to pay the bills.
With the imminent departure of Chief of Police Hawkins, who has run a good department, maybe now is the time to take a look at the operation of the Beach’s standalone Police Department. Is it really something the Town can afford with its limited resources, or should it contract with Westmoreland County to have the Sheriff’s Department take over the Beach’s essential public safety needs.
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CBHS in the top ten, but get on the right top list |
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Without even trying, Colonial Beach Schools have made headlines again. Unfortunately, no accolades are being thrown at the school division but rather, it seems, just more criticism and demands for improvement.
Colonial Beach High School is now identified as one of the state’s persistently underachieving schools. Just take a look on the Internet at schooldigger.com and see Colonial Beach High school listed as one of the 10 worst in the state. The question begs to be asked: Why? And a sister question should be: what needs to be done to fix it and what can the newly elected School Board do about it?
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LoBuglio’s coup against transparency |
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James Monroe District Supervisor John LoBuglio just cannot seem to help himself. As a candidate for office last year, he railed against “backroom politics where the public is unaware of what is going on until everything has been decided upon.” Yet as supervisor, he revels in the “backroom politics” he campaigned against.
Is this the same man James Monroe District voters thought they were electing last year?
In this space two weeks ago we made public Mr. LoBuglio’s boasting of “working behind the scenes” and “bringing the votes together” to form a majority for increased school funding in an April 19 e-mail he later claimed he never sent out. He didn’t deny the substance of the e-mail, he simply denied he sent it out, claiming it was only a “draft.” Maybe he meant to say the e-mail was a template instead of a draft, because he sent the same e-mail, identical misspellings and all, out to several King George citizens.
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Election results show Beach residents are looking for change |
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Election season is over, the signs touting the candidates have all but disappeared and it is time for journalists and political pundits to do a final recoup of the results and prognosticate about the future for the next two years.
Selected for the next Colonial Beach Town Council are one new member, one continuing member and one former Council member. Looking at the vote tallies, it becomes obvious that voters wanted change. The new member, Shane Buzby, received almost a hundred votes more than his closest competitor.
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