"Whenever you have a group of individuals who are beyond any investigation; who can manipulate the press, judges, members of Congress(Boards of Supervisors), you are always going to have within our government those who are "Above The Law." -Nico Toscani-

ROY’S REVIEW

"The Other Opinion"

Seeking the truth

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Published as needed to reveal an unbiased side to the biased

Guilt by association!

March 29, 2002 - It’s a shame that the Arthur Andersen accounting spotlight has been focused on all Andersen partners and employees. A courageous attempt by some of the Richmond area employees to separate themselves from the Houston, Texas employees is evidenced by a full page ad which appeared in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Guilt by association is their problem. Until the investigations are complete and the real culprits are discovered it will be difficult for anyone associated with Andersen to get a fair shake. But, it’s no different with some Enron employees. It’s no different with the scandal in the Catholic Church with bad priests.

The downfall starts at the top in each case. Without strong ethical and moral leadership, without strict written policies, enforced to the letter, you will always have deviations. The problems today are caused by bad top management and individuals serving as directors on the company boards. It’s become a greed wins over ethics situation. Their failure to do the job they’re being well paid to do is a reflection on all corporate America. When have you ever seen or heard so many highly paid people in very responsible positions claim they were unaware of what was really going on. They had no knowledge of the problems or they hadn’t been told. These people certainly don’t have GED diplomas.

We in America are seeing the excesses surfacing that were created by greed and stupidity by certain people at Enron Corporation and possibly a yet to be determined number of Andersen people. The amount of fallout on all Andersen employees and partners is yet to be determined. It remains to be seen if the honest and ethical people will have their day in court.

Fluvanna TAX increase!

March 28, 2002 - Misinterpretation or politically maneuvering the tax numbers could be the motive. Just plain not understanding or being fed a line by the politicians is another possibility. I’m referring to the front page article in the Rural Virginian this week, with the headline, "Fluvanna supervisors may reduce tax rate". Now, immediately you picture a possibility of you county tax bill being lowered. Wrong! Did you forget the reassessment this past year? There’s two ways to raise your taxes. One, raise the tax rate and two, raise the assessed value of your land and home. Since the reassessment last year raised property values about 25% overall in the county, it turns out that your taxes could go up from .58 cents (adjusted after re-assessment) to a proposed .64 cents. In any event, it amounts to a very big increase in taxes for everybody. Is it possible to tell us our taxes may go up .06 cents per hundred without misleading the citizens? Who’s trying to con us into thinking they’re maybe going to save us money?

Stealing from Veterans!  

March 22, 2002 - The United States Congress passed and approved changes to, the Veterans Millennium Health Care and Benefits Act ( Public Law 106-117 ), raising the co-payment amounts for prescription drugs and outpatient clinic for veterans. Besides increasing the costs they set a limit or maximum amount you must pay each year before the co-payment stops. The administration professes to be backing our military 100%. If you ask Congress, they'll tell you they back the military 100%. Yet, they signed up for the big tax relief package which benefited the rich. They're giving billions to the Pakistan government who's protecting and hiding Al Qaeda within their boarders. They're giving billions in aid to many other countries like Jordan in the middle east. Giving billions to state and local governments for security to protect us from terrorists. Spending millions for daily air cover which the Air Force wants to discontinue to save money. That money comes out of the Air Force budget and will take away from other essentials. Billions are spent on "Pork Barrel" favorites of Congressmen. And now, the peanut farmers are getting a huge new subsidy. And on and on.     Stealing benefits away from this nations veterans, making them scapegoats for the benefit of others, is not backing our military who will be our next generation of veterans or those who have already served their country. But it does tell us where veterans stand in this governments pecking order. Shame on Congress and the administration. Their actions don't support their political rhetoric.

A town?

March 13, 2002 - Adding another layer of government to solve existing problems at Lake Monticello, a private gated community, will just create a bigger set of problems to deal with. Creating a township, it’s infrastructure will require numerous paid positions. A town will require a mayor, secretary and paid clerical staff. A town clerk and supporting staff. Police department, vehicle and equipment expenses. Town maintenance department, it’s equipment and staff expenses. Upkeep of road system, snow plows and drivers, sanding equipment, mowers and personnel for grass cutting and weed whacking, storage facilities for equipment, town records, supplies. Purchasing department, contracts negotiator, buyer. Accounting department and support staff and equipment. These are just some of the expenses that would be associated with running a town. Granted, some of these expenses are already in place and are currently paid for with the annual dues from LMOA members.

Is this town idea an approach to get around the requirement for a referendum necessary to increase the LMOA dues? The Lake has been stymied by virtue of the public referendum. Each year the BOD proposes an increase to the dues and it’s shot down by the members. With a town, a elected town council would just have to vote for a tax increase and mail you the bill. The residents would have no say in the matter. It’s the same as the county set up. The BOS votes for a tax increase and they send you the bill.

What do you do with the very expensive new gate system, just installed last year, which is beginning to look like the old gates system, most times they are out of order. Does the golf course becomes a public course open to everyone in the county? Do town residents get preferential treatment for tee times. Do groups, existing now, get preferential treatment for playing days and times? Is the Lake open to every boater in the county? How do you limit traffic on the Lake? How about the beaches and the swimming pool, tennis courts and the club house facilities? Your inviting big problems into the community, more drugs and more vandalism. More traffic which is more wear and tear on the already run down road system. With all the amenities available to the general public there will be an increased maintenance expense and demand for more police and security which just drives up expenses. If you could charge outrageous fees to any outsiders using any amenities it might keep some people away.

Some serious though to this idea is needed and must eventually be put up for a referendum by the members. You know they’ll shoot it down in a heartbeat just like any dues increase.

Now, if it’s left up to the BOD we could be in serious trouble. Then again maybe it’s all just an attempt to convince/scare members into voting for the next proposed dues increase!

California, Maryland, Pennsylvania and.......Virginia?

March 5, 2002 - In California some of the contracts, negotiated last year by Gov. Gray Davis, last up to 20 years and force the state to buy electricity that some experts now argue it does not need and at prices up to three times market prices. Will this be Virginia's fate? Nobody in California had the foresight and understanding necessary to deal with deregulation of electricity. Nobody in Virginia has the foresight and understanding necessary to deal with deregulation of electricity. This is admittedly one huge experiment and the law is being crafted as required.(e.g.., SB554, SB554 Amended ). The fate of the citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia is in the hands of one Senator Tommy Norment, who as it may turn out, become the Gray Davis of Virginia. What are his motives? Why is he behind big business? Why is he behind the utility companies? What's in it for Senator Tommy Norment? He's obviously not the peoples advocate as you will see as this experiment unfolds. All the rhetoric, his plea for competition required to make deregulation a success in Virginia, is smoke and mirrors. He'd like you to believe you will benefit from deregulation. Virginia rates rank with some of the lowest in the country. There's no need for new laws which only guarantee higher rates for the consumer, with guaranteed payments to the utility companies for recovery of "Stranded Costs". ( recovery of money spent, wisely or unwisely in the past, for capitol improvements ( nuclear plants ). With all the gimmickry written in the law, in the form of extra special charges, which favor the power companies, there's no way you, the small consumer, will ever see lower rates or save your hard earned money because of deregulation of electricity by Senator Tommy Norment and his buddies. It backfired in California! It backfired in Maryland! In Pennsylvania, what little competition surfaced was driven off by the big guy. No competition, name your own prices! Who's telling you it won't backfire in Virginia? Only one person. Senator Tommy Norment! Then again, so what! He won't be paying your electric bill! The Commonwealth of Virginia is being made the prostitute for the utility industry with 29 or 30 new power plants proposed which will have twice the capacity as needed by the state. They found a red light district, a place to open their business a very low cost and sell their power out of state to the highest bidder. Why should they bother competing for lower rates. There's no real profit in that. And whether you believe it or not, but in time face the reality, this may turn into a very costly experiment beyond your wildest dreams, both financially as well as environmentally.

A Refresher Course!

Protection from within!

    September 12, 2002 - We are at war and we must take definitive action to protect America!

Better we err on the side of our safety, not there's!

Once again the Liberals Democrats have put us in harms way! The Democrats were in power prior to W.W.II. The Liberal Isolationists were in control of Congress. When W.W.II began, after the SNEAK attack on Pearl Harbor, the government began rounding up Germans and Japanese, in this county, and either deported them, jailed them or put them in internment camps. Years later, as the liberals got back in power, we apologized and even paid large sums of money to those we locked up.

Here we are once again, put in the same position as 1941 by all the liberals in Congress and in the government. We let our guard down! Should we repeat what we did in 1941? How will we protect America from the threat from within?

It’s blatantly obvious that the FBI and the CIA were not capable of doing their jobs. Were they understaffed and under-funded? Were they sleeping on the job? Were the agencies filled with liberals? Were they run by liberals? Were there hands tied by the Liberals on Congressional Committees? Was the Clinton administration busy fighting sex scandals and not paying attention to what was going on in the country? This all didn’t just happen now, it’s something that’s been going on for years. The Clinton administration must accept responsibility for this disaster. He and his administration allowed our country to let it’s guard down and don’t anyone forget that! The Republicans in Congress aren’t blameless, either. They were hell-bent to nail Clinton and didn’t pay attention to what was happening in the country and in the world. For that matter, nobody was paying attention. I think they will now for a while until they let their guard down once again. We seem to have short memories!

        February 22, 2002 - Five months and 11 days later:  

       Striking similarities! Now we have interred suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban terrorists in a prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. We have weekly alerts warning of possible terrorist attacks based on intelligence data collected from terrorists. We have pictures of known or suspected terrorists shown on TV with the Justice Department asking for help in finding these people. We have tribal feuding continuing in primitive Afghanistan with members of the interim government murdering each other. We have, next door in Pakistan, religious zealots murdering innocent reporters in an effort to further their jihad.

    And once again, as expected, we have all the liberal terrorist huggers wining about the treatment of the prisoners in the prison at Gitmo. I suggest we accommodate them and board them with the terrorists so they can see first hand how we are treating them. Those who make it out alive with their head on their shoulders might sing to a different tune then.

    Snooze and you lose! Remember, FREEDOM IS NEVER FREE!

Create money from thin air

February 18, 2002 - What’s deregulation of electricity? Trading paper contracts to create potentially enormous profits. It was the dream of Ken Lay. Take and create a commodity, electricity, in an unregulated environment, compliments of Wendy Gramm, wife of Senator Phil Gramm, make up a shortage of power capacity ala California, and you have the perfect recipe for wild trading and run away prices. It’s how he created money from thin air. His problem was not knowing how to successfully invest that money. That was his demise.

But the process will not go away. It’s huge potential is being passed off to others in the attempt by the utility industry and investment bankers to continue making huge sums of money at the expense of the consumer. Yes, the consumer has to ante up the money required by all the paper contracts these utility companies will create. How is that done? Simply by raising your electric rates.

All the other noise going on as a result of their deregulation campaign, all the new power plants they claim we need is but peripheral smoke to hide the real reason why they want deregulation. All the vague promises about deregulation creating competition which will hopefully drive rates down is propaganda to hide the truth from the consumer.

Unfortunately, regardless of the level of government involved in their movement, lobbyists and politicians have and continue to be funded by the utility industry and by investment bankers in the millions of dollars. The greed factor is in place throughout the utility industry and the investment banking community. It’s called Enrongreeditis! It won't go away. They'll just hide it in the back room! It will show up on the bottom line eventually given that some day the accounting industry is required to honestly report it!

Fact!  (someone's been lying !)

February 17, 2002 - The following information has been graciously provided by Cathy Neeley, who attended the S.C.C. hearing on the Aquasource request to expand outside Lake Monticello.

First, we all need to understand the difference between Aquasource/ LMSC's water and water plant capacity and their wastewater and wastewater collection and treatment capacity.  Aquasource/LMSC keeps talking about their water permits and treatment capacity which they are in the process of upgrading.  I have questions on how adequate those will be at full Lake Monticello buildout.  It is however, the wastewater capacity that is already a problem.  This is the issue which Aquasource/LMSC would like to ignore and which Mr. Anderson pretends doesn't exist.  Here are the facts which I raised and which Kevin Read, Vice President Eastern Region Aquasource could not deny.  

1) The LMSC has been operating the wastewater system under a Consent Order approved by the Virginia Water Control Board and issued by DEQ since 1994, due to sewage overflows into LM's lake.  The Order was renewed in 1999.  The LMSC could request that the Order be lifted at any time when they become fully compliant with the Order. I asked if they had requested that the Order be lifted and Mr. Read said no.

2) The beaches at Lake Monticello were closed as recently as last summer due to sewage overflows.

3) The LMSC reported and overflow into the Rivannna River just last week.

4)  The wastewater treatment plant has been operating at 95% of capacity and is faced with DEQ mandated upgrade of the wastewater facility.  The LMSC, however, has not applied for the necessary permits for expansion and cannot provide Aquasource capital budgets which show the budgeting for such an upgrade.  He described the process as in preliminary talks with DEQ.

5) Mr. Read acknowledged that the LMSC cannot meet the wastewater needs of Lake Monticello at full buildout let alone with an expanded service area.  He did however say that he believed that eventually, after upgrade, they would.  Plant upgrade could take approximately 2 years.

6) He acknowledged that The Stock Purchase Agreement added a contractual obligation to meet the water and sewer needs of Lake Monticello as priority customers and that this is an additional protection to those provided to any customer in an approved service area.

7) When asked why the CPV property was not included in the application, Mr. Read stated that Aquasource did not have an agreement to provide water and sewer to CPV and that they might never reach agreement.  I asked that this information be communicated to the SCC and the Hearing Examiner instructed Mr. Read that the Company had no right or authority to provide such services outside their approved service area.  Mr. Read said he was aware of that fact.

8) When asked about the Pace/Himes 116 acre property on Rt.600 Mr. Read said they had some talks with the property owners but had no agreement to provide water and sewer service to the property.  He stated that he was unaware that the County Rezoning request stated that Aquasource would be the source of sewer and water but that no such agreement existed.  I requested that he communicate that information to the Fluvanna County Board of Supervisors.
Now we wait for the Hearing Examiners Report.  

Sincerely,
Cathy Neelley  

Refer to the Roy's Review story dated December 28, 2001: In who's interest?

Apples and Oranges?

February 12, 2002 - There’s water and there’s water. Lack of one type will bring forth financial aid from Uncle Sam. Assistance for the farmers. It’s a drought related thing. One county supervisor, in particular, believes it’s a serious situation.

    At the same time Tenaska has applied for permission to take volumes of it from the James River, actually under the name of East Coast Transportation,a private company,who will supply it to Tenaska and anyone else who will buy it.This is the other water.

    On the one hand we have a serious water shortage requiring federal assistance and on the other hand private companies are receiving State authorization to draw large amounts of water from a major river.

    More Enronitis at the county and state government level, maybe? When the day comes to account for water in the county nobody will remember anything and take the 5th, only it won’t be the amendment. A 1/5th of Jack Daniels so they can forget about it and the problem may go away!

Restoring accounting confidence!

February 4, 2002 - Slowly but surely all the gory details are surfacing almost on a daily basis.The circus atmosphere is rising and inside the belt-line all the politicians are lining up for their opportunity to appear on the daily soap operas for their moment in history. Just as in the past, amid other major scandals and witch hunts, the parties involved attempt to point the accusatorial finger at the opposition party hoping to lay the blame at there feet. Unique to the current show is a combination of a business and government scenario, but with a third participant, a major accounting firm.

    Major public relation efforts are being crafted each day to minimize the collateral damage being caused with each new revelation. The administration is attempting to sidestep the issue claiming that it is strictly a private company internal problem. They are being accused of allowing individuals and a private company to influence the nations energy policy and appointments to several key positions in the administration. The company and it’s former accounting firm have divorced, the company firing them and accusing them of shredding documents and destroying e-mails. So, you have a triangle consisting of Enron, the administration and Andersen Associates doing battle in front of 10 or more Congressional Committees, the S.E.C., the Justice Department, the Texas Attorney General, and so on.

    The circus will run for quite some time. Congressional Committees will have no success due to the Fifth Amendment. Enron and Andersen will sue each other and those cases will last for years. Finally, the Justice Department will be the last resort for revealing fraud and any other illegal practices that may have occurred.

    When all is said and done very little will come of this. Yes, some changes may be made to the 401k laws, accounting firms may not be allowed to audit as well as provide consulting contracts, and a closer look at stretching accounting rules (creative accounting ) may result from it all. But, will the people serving on the Board of Directors be held accountable? Will the officers of Enron Corporation be held accountable? Or will this entire scandal just turn into a huge political football kicked around until the next election and then promptly die?

    What’s for sure is that it has created serious doubt in the Wall Street community and amongst investors resulting in billions of dollars melting away as this disease gradually is spreading from one major company to another. Yes, concern over Enron employee losses in their 401k retirement plans have been expressed but with all the billions of dollars in the stock market flowing down the drain in recent days, because of doubts in the accuracy in the accounting in other big corporations, mutual fund values are slipping away and with it the retirement money for millions of other Americans. Pension plan values have and will continue to be battered until there’s a confidence level restored. The question is when will we reach that level?

    Restoring confidence in the accounting community must be of the highest priority. All the rest is spilled milk!

The Capped Crusaders

The names Norment and Peace are synonymous.

February, 2, 2002 - Steve Peace was the "Capped Crusader" for deregulation of electricity in the State of California. He convinced all the uninformed representatives that his plan was the answer to solving all the future needs of the state and would also benefit the consumer. Like a bunch of mice, they followed the "Pied Piper", he led them down the rosy path to disaster and fiscal chaos. The rest is history, except now Enron is being looked at possibly having contributed to the problem.

Here, in the Commmonwealth of Virginia, we have our own "Steve Pease", accept here is known as Senator Tommy Norment, he’s our "Capped Crusader"! Just as the uninformed representatives did in California, our uninformed representatives here in Virginia, are following "our Pied Piper" down the same rosy path, but in this case the plan isn’t complete yet and to this day is being crafted by our "Capped Crusader" and his committee and his utility lobbyist buddies. As stumbling blocks surface they are being addressed with new laws passed with the speed of a slivery bullet. Any agency standing in the way of the establishment is being summarily brushed aside with excuses of a power struggle between agencies and protecting Virginians from the S.C.C. in it’s attempt to take over the state and destroy it’s very foundation of democracy. I think it’s called a power play!

Of course, truth is the S.C.C. was presenting a problem to Norment’s plan, possibly delaying new plants and maybe limiting the total number of new plants allowed in Virginia. By allowing the S.C.C. to do cumulative environmental impact studies they posed a threat, hence the Band-Aid law,SB554, was shot through the Senate in order to plug the leak in the dike.

One Senator voted in favor of SB554 because he believes that the S.C.C. will have to much power, not electricity, thus making it appear to be a power play between D.E.Q. and S.C.C..

If D.E.Q. is the permitting agency, why can’t they do the cumulative environmental impact study? That‘s their job, isn’t it? Department of Environmental Quality? What’s missing here? Exactly who or what’s preventing D.E.Q. from doing the cumulative impact study?

I voted for the bill on the 21st when it came before the Commerce and Labor committee and also when it came to the floor of the Senate. I feel that the bill is necessary to curtail the power of the SCC. Otherwise, the SCC would be able to override the decisions and policies of state, federal, and local agencies. Thanks again for contacting me to voice your opposition to this bill. I am,

Very truly yours,

Ken Stolle

District 8

Senate of Virginia

    If enough concerned citizens participate in letter writing to our members of the House of Representatives maybe they will deny SB554, Band-Aid legislation, when it comes up for a vote! 

Senator Norment delivers major blow to Virginia's environment!

Says he "believes" the agency, D.E.Q., will consider cumulative pollution

We NEED a law making it mandatory that D.E.Q. consider cumulative impact!

SB 554 Electric generating facilities.

Patron - Thomas K. Norment, Jr. (all patrons) ..... notes

Senate Patrons House Patrons

Thomas K. Norment, Jr. (chief patron)

(floor) 01/25/02 Senate: VOTE: PASSAGE (29-Y 10-N 1-A)

D. The Commission may shall permit the construction and operation of electrical generating facilities upon a finding that such generating facility and associated facilities including transmission lines and equipment (i) will have no material adverse effect upon reliability of electric service provided by any regulated public utility and (ii) are not otherwise contrary to the public interest. In review of its a petition for a certificate to construct and operate a generating facility described in this subsection, the Commission shall give consideration to the effect of the facility and associated facilities, including transmission lines and equipment, on the environment and establish such conditions as may be desirable or necessary to minimize adverse environmental impact as provided in § 56-46.1. In its consideration of whether a generating facility and associated facilities are contrary to the public interest, in order to avoid duplication of governmental activities, the Commission shall be bound by the permits and approvals of federal, state, and local agencies charged by law with responsibility for issuing permits or approvals regulating environmental impact and mitigation of adverse environmental impact or for other specific public interest issues such as building codes, transportation plans and public safety.

YEAS--Barry, Blevins, Bolling, Chichester, Colgan, Hanger, Hawkins, Lambert, Lucas, Marsh, Martin, Maxwell, Miller, K.G., Newman, Norment, Potts, Puckett, Puller, Quayle, Rerras, Reynolds, Ruff, Saslaw, Stolle, Stosch, Trumbo, Wagner, Wampler, Watkins--29.

NAYS--Byrne, Deeds, Edwards, Houck, Howell, Marye, Miller, Y.B., Mims, Ticer, Whipple--10.

RULE 36--Williams--1.

NOT VOTING--0.

January, 28, 2002 - Last night, 11:00 o'clock news, a piece about the S.C.C., having authority stripped away from them, by the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee, headed by Senator Tommy Norment, of James City County, The Republican sponsor of the bill, which, according to the reporter will result in unlimited numbers of power plants to be built in Virginia.

Norment considers himself the father of Virginia deregulation, telling everyone he's the only one who understands the new laws because of their complexity and the uncertainty of there promised results. He and his committee have been crafting legislation, as the move toward deregulation has progressed, removing any potential obstacles, such as the S.C.C., who might have provided environmental protection benefits to the citizens of this Commonwealth. Norment has removed the threat of cumulative impact to the utility industry with the crafting and passing of this latest law. It's a huge win for the polluters of the environment, the utility companies and big business. It's a huge blow to the environment and the citizens of Virginia! He's leaving the responsibility in the hands of the D.E.Q., who's record in the past has been dismal when it comes to protecting Virginia's environment, and allows power plant pollution evaluation on a individual plant by plant basis, not collectively. Norment's latest law has succeeded in protecting the interests of the utility companies and preserves their opportunity for unlimited numbers of new power plants to be built in Virginia! Is he a believer or a deceiver?

ROY'S REVIEW ARCHIVES Roy's year of adding truth to the fiction!

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