State of the Union address

So did anyone watch President Obama’s State of the Union address? If so, what did you think?

Elections

I’ve had a few people ask me which positions are up for election this year. There are actually very few local positions up for election, but many statewide elections. Here’s the info:

Filing deadline – Noon, Thursday, June 10
Primary election – Tuesday, Aug. 3
General election – Tuesday, Nov. 2

Local positions

Special election for sheriff

Special election for register of deeds

County Commission – Alison Mueller’s position is up for election, which includes Hanover, Barnes, Greenleaf area.
Township officers – This includes the precinct committeemen and committeewomen who have been very busy in the last few years with appointments of county attorney, county treasurer, county sheriff and register of deeds!

State positions
Governor/Lt. Governor
Secretary of State
Attorney General
State Treasurer
Commission of Insurance
State Representative (Sharon Schwartz’s position)
State Board of Education
Supreme Court/Court of Appeals
District Court Judge
District Magistrate Judge

National positions
US Senator (Sam Brownback’s position)
US Representative (Jerry Moran’s position)
Brownback is running for Governor and Moran is running for Brownback’s senate seat.

Who would you like to see run for these positions? Or if someone has already filed, who are you promoting? What issues need to be discussed?
Or use this space to announce your candidacy.

TVL schools considering consolidation

The Axtell, Bern, Summerfield school board (USD 488) is considering consolidation, but will not do so for the 2010-11 school year, according to a story in the Marysville Advocate. Because of state budget cuts and declining enrollment, the district is considering options but would not be able to make a deadline in order to accomplish a consolidation for the next school year.
The district, which includes Axtell High School and Bern High School, is considering options with the Sabetha, B&B and Nemaha Valley districts.
For comparison sake, USD 488 has about 95 students less than Barnes-Hanover-Linn, which is also a two high school district.
I suppose for the TVL, losing those two schools would still leave the league with 11 schools. However, I’ve also heard rumors of Wetmore wondering about their future, so who knows what the future holds.
(As a side note, there have been rumors about Belleville’s declining enrollment, but they have huge classes (50s) in their lower grades so after a short term drop, they should jump back up.)
Needless to say, I think there are schools around that are smaller than they should be and probably do need to talk about what their future holds. At some point, a small school might be good to have for the economic benefit of the community, but might start being a negative for the students’ education. Where that line is, I don’t know. But what are schools there for?

What about the future of the old hospital?

If the new hospital is built this year, what do you all think should happen to the old hospital.
I, for one, am not sure it would be cost-effective to retrofit it for a new purpose. There has been discussion about turning it into office space for various governmental entities like the health department and Pawnee Mental Health. I don’t know if that would work out or not.
If it is to be torn down, the property might be an ideal location for a housing development. Roads, water and utilities are already there so the city wouldn’t have to extend it like they would if housing was built around the new hospital.
I don’t know anything about this sort of thing, but I think housing would be better than a vacant building or an empty lot.

Let’s make Washington “Something to believe in”

I thought this comment from under the tax post deserved its own post.

From “Something to believe in”

Let’s pretend we all want Washington to remain a viable community. Which I’m sure we all do.
Now I know this is a stretch, but let’s pretend that we need some sort of medical care here. Whether it be a new hospital, a renovated hospital, or even a chopper service, we WILL need physicians here to accomplish that, to maintain any level of sustainability.
What would the community say to these prospective physicians to settle in this community? Regardless of how amazing you and I know Washington is, she has competition.
The shortage of primary care physicians is only getting worse, and I can promise you, communities all over Kansas are vying for them. Offering state of the art hospitals, hundreds of thousands of dollars in cancelled loan debt plus huge sign-on bonuses, some even throw in a new house and Harley Davidson Motorcycles!
I assure you that regardless of what we do, we need doctors. As talented and hard-working as Doctor Hodgson is, he can’t do it on his own forever. So what makes Washington so special? What could we possibly offer them? I can tell you right now that regardless of how wonderful our town is, how determined we are to make Washington a better community for years to come, no young physician will ever take the time to fall in love with it without this new hospital. It speaks volumes to young physicians when a community can unite behind a common goal to accomplish something that will benefit the whole of the area in the long run, even during hard times.
Because when an emerging doctor decides to settle somewhere, especially in primary care, they are taking a risk, the risk that the size of Washington will not do what it takes to survive. And he or she will have to start all over somewhere else, with little or nothing to show for their hard work. And I’m sure that is how many entrepreneurs of Washington County feel as well.
But it isn’t too late. Washington has so much going for it that many others never did! And despite the fact that there are differing opinions on almost every post on this site, there does seem to be one commonality, one inspirational fact – everyone is trying to do what they think is right for Washington, for us, and that speaks volumes to any family considering making Washington their home, especially a physician.
Now let’s show them that Washington is worth believing in. We may have been here for 150 years, but lets how ‘em we can make it another 150!

TVL tourney scores

If you know any TVL tourney scores, please post them. Thanks for the help!

Boys
Clifton-Clyde 42, Axtell 33
Valley Heights 65, Onaga 62 (OT)
Frankfort 71, Wetmore 33
Blue Valley 69, Linn 39
Centralia 69, Bern 39

Girls
Onaga 55, Washington County 44
Blue Valley 38, B&B 37
Bern 32, Axtell 19
Clifton-Clyde 40, Wetmore 37
Hanover 64, Linn 39

Amazing!

From Yahoo:
Fake viral videos, like the one of Kobe Bryant jumping over an Aston Martin, have become so commonplace that when something genuine hits YouTube everybody’s first impulse is to call it bogus. That’s why a majority of the comments on an awesome clip of Cole Aldrich leading some Kansas teammates on an amazing half-court shot streak claim it’s fake.
It’s the real deal.

1% sales tax increase?

Governor Mark Parkinson in his State of the State address last night proposed a 1% sales tax increase, raising the state’s sales tax from 5.3% to 6.3%. The provision would sunset after three years, but with a .2% increase remaining to fund highway projects.
For Washington County, that would make the sales tax 7.3% for the next three years. For Washington City, which passed a 1% sales tax increase to fund the new swimming pool, sales tax would be 8.3% for the next three years.
What do you think of this proposal?

Of course I’ll tell you what I think (and thereby break a new year’s resolution to be less opinionated in 2010.)
An 8.3% sales tax in Washington and 7.3% countywide would accomplish one thing – it would send a lot of people to Beatrice and Fairbury to shop at Super Wal-Mart.
It would not stave off school funding issues because the majority of our funding problems come from declining enrollment.

The legislature should not pass a sales tax increase. Especially not during hard economic times like we’re experiencing. Raising taxes is not the way to turn the economy around. We’re all going to have to pull up our boot straps and play with the hand we’re dealt. Our forefathers did it during the Great Depression, surely we can do it for another year or two.

Contact your Senator and Representative to give them your opinion:
Representative Sharon Schwartz – 785-296-7637 or sharon.schwartz@house.ks.gov
Senator Mark Taddiken – 785-296-7371 or Mark.Taddiken@senate.ks.gov

Global warming followed by cooling?

People seem to like to take sides on the global warming/climate change debate. I have been on both.
I find the following article pretty fascinating. More snowy winters ahead for Kansas? Maybe!

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/01/11/years-global-cooling-coming-say-leading-scientists/

Help document local culture with your photos

To get a thorough documentation of Washington’s culture during its 150th anniversary year, please consider contributing some digital photos.

Check out the details on the 365washington150 project page.