On March 27th, the Institute for Legal Reform issued this press release: West Virginia Rates Last in Legal Fairness. The ILR (a unit of the U. S. Chamber of Commerce) also began running ads showing a man whose mouth is filled with cash. The caption reads: Please Don’t Feed The Trial Lawyers.
I think this ad and the accompanying survey results that formulate the Chamber’s claim about West Virginia’s legal system are disingenuous at best. Big businesses’ cheap shot portraying trial lawyers as money-eaters reminded me of a one-time candidate for Harrison County Sheriff named Raymond Richards who answered a reporter’s accusation by saying, "Pot called Kittle, ‘Blackie!’"
Mr. Richards, one of the dimmer bulbs in the stagelights of political theater, was unsuccessful in his run for sheriff. But his unique way of saying, "The pot called the kettle black." has forever been recorded in my collection of West Virginia euphemisms.
In this matter of a legal fairness survey, the Chamber’s Pot is tarnishing the Trial Lawyers' Kettle.
I could not have arrived at this conclusion without the aid of our state Supreme Court of appeals. For on March 29th, the court (split 3-2 as expected) voted against hearing an appeal of the award of legal fees in a Putnam County case involving a defective car.
A Mr. and Mrs. George purchased their 2000 Dodge Intrepid from Nitro Dodge and later claimed there were problems with the car. To make a long story short, they sued the dealership and the manufacturer, Daimler Chrysler. Upon hearing the case, the jury awarded the couple $6,950 in damages. But that was just a small tip of the iceberg.
The George’s attorneys filed a motion to recover legal fees and submitted their bill of $143,026 to the court. In order to determine the "fairness" of the claim, the judge asked defense counsel to submit its fees for services so that he could make a comparison. If you think $143,026 is exorbitant, then hold on to your hat-Chrysler’s legal bill was actually higher!
My advice to the Chamber of Commerce is twofold. First, quit wasting your money on pseudo-scientific surveys about legal fairness. And second, change the caption of your ad to: Please Don’t Feed The Lawyers-Theirs and Ours.
As for the lawyers involved in this case, I do not fault them for their excessive billable hours. They played by the court’s rules and billed the parties for $300k. If big corporations and insurance companies are stupid enough to wage Pyrrhic wars when a can of STP might have fixed the problem, then so be the outcome.
The members of the jury in this case should be applauded. They decided that the car did have problems but chose not to make the plaintiffs whole by awarding them a new car or a carload of money. They only awarded the repair bill ($4,500) and some money ($2,450) for the George’s aggravation. The jury did its job. And most likely, the jurors felt insulted after listening to five days of courtroom claptrap when they could have been home or at work.
The U. S. Chamber of Commerce wants to make a statement about the high cost of litigation in our nation. They have quoted a 2004 study that estimates the tort system cost $260 billion or $886 per citizen. There is a better way to determine the true and actual cost of litigation as well as a better way to give that number real meaning.
The Chamber should push for a change in accounting rules and seek to have product liability costs and claims included in Cost of Goods Sold instead of being classified as General and Administrative expenses. This change would let Daimler Chrysler shareholders know right away how much the Putnam County litigation has added to the cost of manufacturing each new 2006 Dodge automobile.
When shareholders are given a line item under Cost of Goods Sold that clearly defines product liability litigation costs and product recalls, then management will either respond with better products and better service or the shareholders will change management.
When consumers and shareholders have accurate information, the marketplace will settle the question of legal fairness faster than any other mechanism.
Friday, April 7, 2006
Friday, March 10, 2006
Road Projects Defy Both Description and Explanation
The year was 1961. President John F. Kennedy rewarded West Virginia for its role in his bid for the White House by drawing a line from Pittsburgh to Charleston and calling it I-79. The road had not been contemplated when America laid out its version of the German Autobahn-the Interstates. But that oversight mattered little. Our stretch of I-79 was a political payback, pure and simple.
My father’s construction company won the contract to build the first section of I-79, essentially the South Fairmont interchange at exit 132. The interchange had already been planned as part of the new US250 bypass. In fact, one of the Tygart’s Valley River bridges had been completed before the groundbreaking for I-79 took place. And what a groundbreaking it was!
Gov. W. W. Barron, U. S. Senator Jennings Randolph, and JFK’s Commerce Secretary, Luther Hodges, were just three of the dignitaries who spoke to a crowd of several hundred. The highlight of the day’s activities was the actual groundbreaking. My father had purchased a new bulldozer for the occasion and the aforementioned dignitaries all took turns at the controls scraping away a few tons of earth. Screw the hand shovels! This was a big deal!
For those of you who live in Fairmont and have wondered for 45 years about the US250 bypass around your town, you now know that it was given up for a higher purpose. For everyone else, this "groundbreaking" vignette provides an informed look at how roads get built in West Virginia. Always remember this: The new king doesn’t have to finish what the old king started. The new king can do as he pleases.
In Morgantown, over a quarter-century has lapsed since an old king started building Route 705. But Route 705 has yet to be linked with I-68. During this interlude, other kings spent money on the Mon-Fayette Expressway. It, too, is unfinished. Morgantown is booming and desperately needs a completed 705 as well as a north bypass highway and a widened Beechurst Avenue in the downtown. How many more kings will it take to finish this patchwork quilt of a road map?
Clarksburg was promised a south bypass (Route 98) by the mid-1980’s. United Hospital Center fronts on that road. But rather than wait for another unfulfilled decade to pass, UHC decided to move out of the city to Jerry Dove Drive-a road that a former king built for the FBI center.
West Virginia has had a long history of changing its road priorities. You can see that history in the old two-lane primary roads. After negotiating miles of curves, you’ll come upon two miles of fairly straight road and then it’s back to the chicanes.
The West Virginia Turnpike best defines our highway metamorphosis-not even Charles Darwin could tell you what it’s supposed to look like when it’s full-grown. The Turnpike began as a two-lane, driver’s survival course but has morphed into a regional tourism commission that operates a flea market for the well-to-do traveler. What’s next? That much-needed horse center? Or the Glade Springs exit?
From my perspective in the northern part of the state, the King Coal Highway and Coalfields Expressway look like payoffs for the glory days of 120 per cent voter turnout. Had these roads been built in the 1950’s or 1960’s, there’s a good argument that they would have spurred regional commerce. Building them now is too little, too late for the coalfields economy and too bad for Jefferson and Berkeley, two growing counties that actually need better roads.
Well, at least our Interstate highways are complete. Unfortunately, the Interstates are designed to move people and goods from one end of the nation to the other. They are not local development highways, regardless of how many businesses locate at the exits.
In this century, West Virginia politicians need to forget about grandiose highway schemes and concentrate on improving the primary highway system. And to entice our future kings and their knaves to pursue that course of action, I recommend using this sure-fire approach-let them ride on the bulldozer at the groundbreaking ceremony.
My father’s construction company won the contract to build the first section of I-79, essentially the South Fairmont interchange at exit 132. The interchange had already been planned as part of the new US250 bypass. In fact, one of the Tygart’s Valley River bridges had been completed before the groundbreaking for I-79 took place. And what a groundbreaking it was!
Gov. W. W. Barron, U. S. Senator Jennings Randolph, and JFK’s Commerce Secretary, Luther Hodges, were just three of the dignitaries who spoke to a crowd of several hundred. The highlight of the day’s activities was the actual groundbreaking. My father had purchased a new bulldozer for the occasion and the aforementioned dignitaries all took turns at the controls scraping away a few tons of earth. Screw the hand shovels! This was a big deal!
For those of you who live in Fairmont and have wondered for 45 years about the US250 bypass around your town, you now know that it was given up for a higher purpose. For everyone else, this "groundbreaking" vignette provides an informed look at how roads get built in West Virginia. Always remember this: The new king doesn’t have to finish what the old king started. The new king can do as he pleases.
In Morgantown, over a quarter-century has lapsed since an old king started building Route 705. But Route 705 has yet to be linked with I-68. During this interlude, other kings spent money on the Mon-Fayette Expressway. It, too, is unfinished. Morgantown is booming and desperately needs a completed 705 as well as a north bypass highway and a widened Beechurst Avenue in the downtown. How many more kings will it take to finish this patchwork quilt of a road map?
Clarksburg was promised a south bypass (Route 98) by the mid-1980’s. United Hospital Center fronts on that road. But rather than wait for another unfulfilled decade to pass, UHC decided to move out of the city to Jerry Dove Drive-a road that a former king built for the FBI center.
West Virginia has had a long history of changing its road priorities. You can see that history in the old two-lane primary roads. After negotiating miles of curves, you’ll come upon two miles of fairly straight road and then it’s back to the chicanes.
The West Virginia Turnpike best defines our highway metamorphosis-not even Charles Darwin could tell you what it’s supposed to look like when it’s full-grown. The Turnpike began as a two-lane, driver’s survival course but has morphed into a regional tourism commission that operates a flea market for the well-to-do traveler. What’s next? That much-needed horse center? Or the Glade Springs exit?
From my perspective in the northern part of the state, the King Coal Highway and Coalfields Expressway look like payoffs for the glory days of 120 per cent voter turnout. Had these roads been built in the 1950’s or 1960’s, there’s a good argument that they would have spurred regional commerce. Building them now is too little, too late for the coalfields economy and too bad for Jefferson and Berkeley, two growing counties that actually need better roads.
Well, at least our Interstate highways are complete. Unfortunately, the Interstates are designed to move people and goods from one end of the nation to the other. They are not local development highways, regardless of how many businesses locate at the exits.
In this century, West Virginia politicians need to forget about grandiose highway schemes and concentrate on improving the primary highway system. And to entice our future kings and their knaves to pursue that course of action, I recommend using this sure-fire approach-let them ride on the bulldozer at the groundbreaking ceremony.
Friday, February 3, 2006
A January Warm Enough To Ripen Watermelons
When the temperature is warmer than normal, my thoughts usually turn to Al Gore and global warming. I have this indelible vision of Al Gore as a bean-eating cowboy in the "campfire" scene in Mel Brook’s "Blazing Saddles." For that matter, I always think of the "schnitzengruber" scene from that same movie whenever Bill Clinton’s name pops up. January was downright balmy so you can imagine where my mind has been.
If you live in Beckley, however, your mind hasn’t been on January’s warm weather. No, you’ve been thinking about the "Governor Lepetomane Toll Road" scene from "Blazing Saddles."
What struck me as so odd last month were not the warm temperatures but the incredibly ripe watermelons at the supermarket. It’s just wrong to shop for ripe watermelon in mid-January. Or at least it once was.
It hasn’t been that long ago that even the most exclusive restaurants had to limit their fresh fruit offerings to whatever was "in season." Whether you were dining at the Greenbrier or the Four Seasons mattered not-their menus clearly announced that seasonal disclaimer. Then it was left to your waiter to announce the fruit du jour.
Eating watermelon in January in West Virginia tells us a great deal about the choices available to us in the 21st Century. We have come a long way in the 700 years since Marco Polo first delivered peppercorns to exclusive French restaurants. But both events are the result of the exact same system-the marketplace. The marketplace has always been defined by supply, demand, and the consumer’s choice based on price, quality, and availability. While these are tangible choices, a great intangible factor (The customer is always right!) has long been the force that drives the gears of the system.
In many respects, there is merit to the paucity of the old ways. In olden times, it was the custom in some villages to give each child an orange at Christmas. That doesn’t sound like much of a gift in our time. But if you had been dining on dried beans and salt pork for two months, a sweet orange would have been a real treat. I dare say that a child of yore had more fond memories of eating a single orange in winter than modern kids have of ubiquitous X-boxes.
When we were a society that dined "in season", we had a greater appreciation for nature, the seasons, and the bounty of our garden crops. We began each meal with a blessing and we properly thanked God for putting food on our table. Today, it is disingenuous to say a blessing when the table has been prepared by Pizza Hut, KFC, Taco Bell, or Long John Silver.
Having choices, on the other hand, doesn’t mean that we have become blasphemers hell-bent on scrapping our old social values. That’s the beauty of an economy that allows the consumer to have choices. All that is different now is that practicing the old values has now become a choice whereas before, it wasn’t.
Let’s call it the Wal-Mart phenomenon. We talk endlessly about preserving our old downtown retail districts. We wax eloquently about the family-owned stores that once graced Main Street. We lament that the big box stores along the interstate have completely rearranged the retail district. And who can forget Blue Laws and restful Sundays?
Fifty years ago, we did not wax eloquent about parking meters. We also carped that Smith’s Bicycle Shop had no competition and that they sold Schwinn bikes for an arm and a leg above wholesale. We also complained about Blue Laws. Just because the shopkeepers needed a day off shouldn’t have resulted in laws punishing the rest of us.
Consumers want choices-the more the better. That’s why Marco Polo appears in the history books. That’s why some folks prefer the Martha Stewart stuff at Kmart to the same kind of stuff at Target. In olden times, soup was a necessity, invented as a way to eat precious leftovers. Today, you can fill your pantry with canned soups of each and every kind, with or without salt added.
The Luddites of our age sincerely believe that, by encumbering Wal-Mart with "Blue Laws", they can turn the clocks back to 1950. But that is not going to happen. F. A. Hayek demonstrated correctly, and well before 1950, that consumers are the force that defines the marketplace.
Al Gore’s flatulence notwithstanding, that’s why watermelon was "in season" last month.
If you live in Beckley, however, your mind hasn’t been on January’s warm weather. No, you’ve been thinking about the "Governor Lepetomane Toll Road" scene from "Blazing Saddles."
What struck me as so odd last month were not the warm temperatures but the incredibly ripe watermelons at the supermarket. It’s just wrong to shop for ripe watermelon in mid-January. Or at least it once was.
It hasn’t been that long ago that even the most exclusive restaurants had to limit their fresh fruit offerings to whatever was "in season." Whether you were dining at the Greenbrier or the Four Seasons mattered not-their menus clearly announced that seasonal disclaimer. Then it was left to your waiter to announce the fruit du jour.
Eating watermelon in January in West Virginia tells us a great deal about the choices available to us in the 21st Century. We have come a long way in the 700 years since Marco Polo first delivered peppercorns to exclusive French restaurants. But both events are the result of the exact same system-the marketplace. The marketplace has always been defined by supply, demand, and the consumer’s choice based on price, quality, and availability. While these are tangible choices, a great intangible factor (The customer is always right!) has long been the force that drives the gears of the system.
In many respects, there is merit to the paucity of the old ways. In olden times, it was the custom in some villages to give each child an orange at Christmas. That doesn’t sound like much of a gift in our time. But if you had been dining on dried beans and salt pork for two months, a sweet orange would have been a real treat. I dare say that a child of yore had more fond memories of eating a single orange in winter than modern kids have of ubiquitous X-boxes.
When we were a society that dined "in season", we had a greater appreciation for nature, the seasons, and the bounty of our garden crops. We began each meal with a blessing and we properly thanked God for putting food on our table. Today, it is disingenuous to say a blessing when the table has been prepared by Pizza Hut, KFC, Taco Bell, or Long John Silver.
Having choices, on the other hand, doesn’t mean that we have become blasphemers hell-bent on scrapping our old social values. That’s the beauty of an economy that allows the consumer to have choices. All that is different now is that practicing the old values has now become a choice whereas before, it wasn’t.
Let’s call it the Wal-Mart phenomenon. We talk endlessly about preserving our old downtown retail districts. We wax eloquently about the family-owned stores that once graced Main Street. We lament that the big box stores along the interstate have completely rearranged the retail district. And who can forget Blue Laws and restful Sundays?
Fifty years ago, we did not wax eloquent about parking meters. We also carped that Smith’s Bicycle Shop had no competition and that they sold Schwinn bikes for an arm and a leg above wholesale. We also complained about Blue Laws. Just because the shopkeepers needed a day off shouldn’t have resulted in laws punishing the rest of us.
Consumers want choices-the more the better. That’s why Marco Polo appears in the history books. That’s why some folks prefer the Martha Stewart stuff at Kmart to the same kind of stuff at Target. In olden times, soup was a necessity, invented as a way to eat precious leftovers. Today, you can fill your pantry with canned soups of each and every kind, with or without salt added.
The Luddites of our age sincerely believe that, by encumbering Wal-Mart with "Blue Laws", they can turn the clocks back to 1950. But that is not going to happen. F. A. Hayek demonstrated correctly, and well before 1950, that consumers are the force that defines the marketplace.
Al Gore’s flatulence notwithstanding, that’s why watermelon was "in season" last month.
Friday, January 13, 2006
We Needn't Accept Mediocre Education in West Virginia
The foundation stones of our public education system are wobbly bricks, not boulders of substance. It was designed in such a manner by Count Bismark in order to churn out common denominators to staff the factories (and armies) of the industrial age. And here we are, a century and a quarter later, still churning out common denominators as if big mills dominate the landscape.
The education bureaucracy has avoided changing this ancient formula that generates common denominators because modern standardized tests have been tweaked to mathematically prove that most students test "above average." Why should the bureaucrats change the system when they can fudge the test results? The parents, more than anybody, are happy with the outcomes.
Parents hate to spend their evenings going over homework with their kids when they’d rather watch reality programming on television. ("My Name Is Earl" can be considered in this genre.) Parents love the fact that their kids are almost guaranteed to graduate from high school. Parents are thrilled when their sons and daughters are bestowed with "honor student" bumper stickers. Parents cherish the PROMISE scholarship for students with grade-inflated B averages.
You’ve read in your local newspaper that one-third or more of high school students are not only on the honor roll, but one-third of that group has a 4.0 average. You have also read in your local newspaper that high school graduating classes now typically have multiple valedictorians. Six valedictorians are not uncommon and a dozen or more is no longer rare.
This has gotten out of hand, but there is a solution.
Across the state, we have a cadre of outstanding teachers. Perhaps the best algebra teacher is in Mason County. Perhaps the best English literature teacher is in Berkeley County. And so on. Why not let these peer-reviewed, outstanding teachers teach every student in West Virginia high schools? Technology can make it happen.
In this day and age, Mr. Jones could stand before a camera in Point Pleasant at 9 a.m. and broadcast his algebra class to every high school in West Virginia. Ms. Smith could then go on at 10 a.m. to broadcast her views on "Great Expectations" from Martinsburg. Every hour, your sons and daughters would receive instruction from the best teachers available. This method of teaching would outshine even that of the most exclusive prep schools.
For my great expectation to work, barriers would have to be demolished. First and foremost, the teachers' unions would have to admit that most teachers are mediocre and then convince mediocre teachers that they would be better off as highly-paid classroom monitors and teachers' aides.
The second, and even more difficult task, would be getting the parents on board. Parents understand that Ms. Smith would have great expectations of her students when they took the exam on "Great Expectations." No longer would a last-minute read of "Cliffs Notes" on the internet suffice for an A or B grade. Little Johnny might not be so learnéd in Ms. Smith’s class!
When one out of eight (12%) high school students make the honor roll, then you know that the system is doing its job of not only raising standards but also of weeding out the students who are not college material. When one out of three students make the honor roll, then you can appreciate why colleges and universities struggle to graduate half or fewer of their matriculating classes.
There is one other aspect to my high-tech classroom of the air that merits consideration. If done right, snow days would be a thing of the past. Broadband can bring the classroom of the air to every house via satellite, DSL, or cable. And don’t tell me that there are households that cannot afford broadband. For decades, the satellite dish has been known as West Virginia’s state tree.
An education is not something you should ever sell out for. When you do earn an "A", your first question should be "Why wasn’t the class harder?" Yet under our education system, we have embraced low expectations and rewarded ourselves handsomely with Ozian certificates for successfully guessing answers from multiple-choice lists.
The day is coming when China, Japan, and India challenge our position as world leader. Asian parents have long understood that their children’s education is the way to success. Unlike Americans, they could care less about bumper stickers.
We have given government a monopoly on public education. That doesn’t mean we should accept mediocrity and an archaic system of teaching.
The education bureaucracy has avoided changing this ancient formula that generates common denominators because modern standardized tests have been tweaked to mathematically prove that most students test "above average." Why should the bureaucrats change the system when they can fudge the test results? The parents, more than anybody, are happy with the outcomes.
Parents hate to spend their evenings going over homework with their kids when they’d rather watch reality programming on television. ("My Name Is Earl" can be considered in this genre.) Parents love the fact that their kids are almost guaranteed to graduate from high school. Parents are thrilled when their sons and daughters are bestowed with "honor student" bumper stickers. Parents cherish the PROMISE scholarship for students with grade-inflated B averages.
You’ve read in your local newspaper that one-third or more of high school students are not only on the honor roll, but one-third of that group has a 4.0 average. You have also read in your local newspaper that high school graduating classes now typically have multiple valedictorians. Six valedictorians are not uncommon and a dozen or more is no longer rare.
This has gotten out of hand, but there is a solution.
Across the state, we have a cadre of outstanding teachers. Perhaps the best algebra teacher is in Mason County. Perhaps the best English literature teacher is in Berkeley County. And so on. Why not let these peer-reviewed, outstanding teachers teach every student in West Virginia high schools? Technology can make it happen.
In this day and age, Mr. Jones could stand before a camera in Point Pleasant at 9 a.m. and broadcast his algebra class to every high school in West Virginia. Ms. Smith could then go on at 10 a.m. to broadcast her views on "Great Expectations" from Martinsburg. Every hour, your sons and daughters would receive instruction from the best teachers available. This method of teaching would outshine even that of the most exclusive prep schools.
For my great expectation to work, barriers would have to be demolished. First and foremost, the teachers' unions would have to admit that most teachers are mediocre and then convince mediocre teachers that they would be better off as highly-paid classroom monitors and teachers' aides.
The second, and even more difficult task, would be getting the parents on board. Parents understand that Ms. Smith would have great expectations of her students when they took the exam on "Great Expectations." No longer would a last-minute read of "Cliffs Notes" on the internet suffice for an A or B grade. Little Johnny might not be so learnéd in Ms. Smith’s class!
When one out of eight (12%) high school students make the honor roll, then you know that the system is doing its job of not only raising standards but also of weeding out the students who are not college material. When one out of three students make the honor roll, then you can appreciate why colleges and universities struggle to graduate half or fewer of their matriculating classes.
There is one other aspect to my high-tech classroom of the air that merits consideration. If done right, snow days would be a thing of the past. Broadband can bring the classroom of the air to every house via satellite, DSL, or cable. And don’t tell me that there are households that cannot afford broadband. For decades, the satellite dish has been known as West Virginia’s state tree.
An education is not something you should ever sell out for. When you do earn an "A", your first question should be "Why wasn’t the class harder?" Yet under our education system, we have embraced low expectations and rewarded ourselves handsomely with Ozian certificates for successfully guessing answers from multiple-choice lists.
The day is coming when China, Japan, and India challenge our position as world leader. Asian parents have long understood that their children’s education is the way to success. Unlike Americans, they could care less about bumper stickers.
We have given government a monopoly on public education. That doesn’t mean we should accept mediocrity and an archaic system of teaching.
Friday, December 30, 2005
It's Time for a New Year!
After several years of intensive research, I have finally completed my genealogy study. It has been an amazing experience in learning who my ancestors were. Some were notable, most were just regular folks, and a few obviously were scoundrels. I thought I’d pass along biographical sketches of a few of the more interesting ancestors in my family tree.
ADMIRAL BEAUREGARD PIERRE LAROQUEFORT:
The Admiral is my only known ancestor of French origin. He was declared a hero during the Battle of New Orleans by Andrew Jackson. During the battle, Captain LaRoquefort sailed into New Orleans with a hold full of bananas. His ship was a month late arriving at port and the bananas had ripened to a rich brown color. But all was not lost as he directed his crew to spread the bananas on the streets of the French Quarter, thus causing the British soldiers to slip and fall during their advance. Jackson awarded a field promotion to Admiral for my great-great-grandfather LaRoquefort.
Based on further research, I also learned that France built the Maginot Line along the arc of a banana to honor the exploits of Admiral LaRoquefort.
RUGBY QUILP D’URBERVILLE:
He was an itinerant cobbler from Exmoor in Devonshire. He arrived at Boston in 1693 claiming to be the sole heir of Lord Bartelby Pecksniff D’Urberville, Twelfth Earl of Exmoor. It turned out that he was the illegitimate son of Lord Bartleby and Miss Tess Mountoffen. She worked in the Lord’s castle as a pastry maker and was renowned for her meat pie concoctions.
"R. Q.", as he was known in Massachusetts Bay Colony court records, convinced many Boston merchants that he was the scion of royalty and ran up quite a tab before being sentenced to Debtor’s Prison in London. Before leaving Boston, he had managed to impregnate my great-great-great-grandmother, Dorcas Micawber.
GEORGE WASHINGTON ALLEN:
First of my ancestors to settle in what is now West Virginia, he served in the Revolution and was given land in lieu of wages for military service. As was the custom in that age, he was required to clear the land and plant corn to prove his homestead claim. He then turned his interests to distilling his crop which allowed him to increase his landholdings. He married Peg(gotty) M’Choakumchild and they had thirteen children that lived to adulthood.
EDGAR ALLAN ALLEN:
A fourth cousin, I include him because of his literary skills. He went west in the 1870’s and wrote famous short stories such as: The Mule of the Baskervilles, A Tale of Three Cities, The Casket of Lemonjello, and The Pit and the Metronome. For two decades, Edgar Allen was a newspaper reporter and wrote obituaries for the Tombstone Gazette.
Here’s hoping that your 2005 helped you find your roots.
ADMIRAL BEAUREGARD PIERRE LAROQUEFORT:
The Admiral is my only known ancestor of French origin. He was declared a hero during the Battle of New Orleans by Andrew Jackson. During the battle, Captain LaRoquefort sailed into New Orleans with a hold full of bananas. His ship was a month late arriving at port and the bananas had ripened to a rich brown color. But all was not lost as he directed his crew to spread the bananas on the streets of the French Quarter, thus causing the British soldiers to slip and fall during their advance. Jackson awarded a field promotion to Admiral for my great-great-grandfather LaRoquefort.
Based on further research, I also learned that France built the Maginot Line along the arc of a banana to honor the exploits of Admiral LaRoquefort.
RUGBY QUILP D’URBERVILLE:
He was an itinerant cobbler from Exmoor in Devonshire. He arrived at Boston in 1693 claiming to be the sole heir of Lord Bartelby Pecksniff D’Urberville, Twelfth Earl of Exmoor. It turned out that he was the illegitimate son of Lord Bartleby and Miss Tess Mountoffen. She worked in the Lord’s castle as a pastry maker and was renowned for her meat pie concoctions.
"R. Q.", as he was known in Massachusetts Bay Colony court records, convinced many Boston merchants that he was the scion of royalty and ran up quite a tab before being sentenced to Debtor’s Prison in London. Before leaving Boston, he had managed to impregnate my great-great-great-grandmother, Dorcas Micawber.
GEORGE WASHINGTON ALLEN:
First of my ancestors to settle in what is now West Virginia, he served in the Revolution and was given land in lieu of wages for military service. As was the custom in that age, he was required to clear the land and plant corn to prove his homestead claim. He then turned his interests to distilling his crop which allowed him to increase his landholdings. He married Peg(gotty) M’Choakumchild and they had thirteen children that lived to adulthood.
EDGAR ALLAN ALLEN:
A fourth cousin, I include him because of his literary skills. He went west in the 1870’s and wrote famous short stories such as: The Mule of the Baskervilles, A Tale of Three Cities, The Casket of Lemonjello, and The Pit and the Metronome. For two decades, Edgar Allen was a newspaper reporter and wrote obituaries for the Tombstone Gazette.
Here’s hoping that your 2005 helped you find your roots.
Friday, December 9, 2005
Along With Atlas, West Virginia Shrugs
In 1991, the Library of Congress and Book of the Month Club surveyed readers and asked them to name books that had made a difference in their lives. As you would expect, the Bible finished in first place. You will be surprised to learn that Ayn Rand’s 1957 novel, Atlas Shrugged, was in second place, leading all other books.
Jeff Allen, a railroad-hopping hobo, is one of my favorite fictional characters. We meet him in "The Sign of the Dollar," the 20th chapter of Atlas Shrugged. Jeff is discovered hiding in Miss Dagny Taggart’s personal rail car. Miss Taggart, by the way, is no mere rich dame on holiday; she is the Operating V. P. of Taggart Transcontinental railroad.
Rather than have the conductor throw Jeff Allen off the train, Miss Taggart unexpectedly invites him to join her for supper. And it is their dinner conversation that succinctly explains Ayn Rand’s view of communism and compulsory unionism. The dinner scene, in many ways, is the essence of Ayn Rand’s philosophy.
Jeff Allen had been a machinist and shop foreman at the Twentieth Century Motor Company plant in Wisconsin. When the owner of the company died, his heirs recommended a new employee compensation plan: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need. Still ashamed of his actions after twelve years, Jeff Allen admits that he and the other workers voted the plan in.
Jeff Allen’s dialogue, spoken in the inner sanctum of Ayn Rand’s heroine, is both riveting and compelling. He explains how unproductive workers bled the talented and ambitious workers of not only their paychecks, but of their will to work. No matter how much the ablest produced, the needs of the non-productive were never satisfied.
With regard to the author’s writing style, her metaphors are often over the top and harsh to a fault. Even so, I would submit to you that the answer as to why West Virginia’s best and brightest young people have left here in droves for jobs in other states is because West Virginia government has adopted a semblance of "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need" in its tax laws and spending policies. For decades, the business sector has been charged ever-escalating taxes and fees to pay worker compensation benefits, unemployment benefits, Medicaid benefits, public employee benefits, and public education costs. For decades, businesses have closed or moved their operations out of state. For decades, West Virginia’s students have learned the three R’s-readin’, writin’, and route 77.
But wait! Times have changed. We now have a new slogan: West Virginia is open for business. Yes, there certainly have been some noteworthy changes in public policy over the last year or two. Unfortunately, there is a great deal of talk in the halls of the Capitol about allowing state employees to organize collective bargaining units.
Let’s leave it at this-saying you’re open for business while saying you’re in favor of a closed shop is a contradiction in terms.
For all practical purposes, public school teachers already represent a collective bargaining unit. That system, while never tightly glued to begin with, is starting to unravel even more. Eastern panhandle teachers want pay adjustments for the region’s higher cost of living. Since they can’t get that pay increase under the present system, many have opted to teach in Virginia. Ironic, isn’t it, that our teachers can earn much more money in a right-to-work state?
To be sure, Atlas Shrugged is a work of fiction; there was no Twentieth Century Motor Company nor did Taggart Transcontinental rule the rails. The story line, however, rings true with readers because Ayn Rand eloquently translates this simple truth: Employees are not simple pegs to be driven into convenient holes by the powers that be.
If West Virginia does allow state employees the right to form collective bargaining units, then organized labor faces a very risky situation. In recent years, unions haven’t had much luck winning elections. Should state employees reject union representation, and there is likelihood that they will reject the union if given the chance, it would have the same effect as if West Virginia passed a right-to-work law. Now that message really would announce: West Virginia is open for business.
Let ‘em vote.
Jeff Allen, a railroad-hopping hobo, is one of my favorite fictional characters. We meet him in "The Sign of the Dollar," the 20th chapter of Atlas Shrugged. Jeff is discovered hiding in Miss Dagny Taggart’s personal rail car. Miss Taggart, by the way, is no mere rich dame on holiday; she is the Operating V. P. of Taggart Transcontinental railroad.
Rather than have the conductor throw Jeff Allen off the train, Miss Taggart unexpectedly invites him to join her for supper. And it is their dinner conversation that succinctly explains Ayn Rand’s view of communism and compulsory unionism. The dinner scene, in many ways, is the essence of Ayn Rand’s philosophy.
Jeff Allen had been a machinist and shop foreman at the Twentieth Century Motor Company plant in Wisconsin. When the owner of the company died, his heirs recommended a new employee compensation plan: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need. Still ashamed of his actions after twelve years, Jeff Allen admits that he and the other workers voted the plan in.
Jeff Allen’s dialogue, spoken in the inner sanctum of Ayn Rand’s heroine, is both riveting and compelling. He explains how unproductive workers bled the talented and ambitious workers of not only their paychecks, but of their will to work. No matter how much the ablest produced, the needs of the non-productive were never satisfied.
With regard to the author’s writing style, her metaphors are often over the top and harsh to a fault. Even so, I would submit to you that the answer as to why West Virginia’s best and brightest young people have left here in droves for jobs in other states is because West Virginia government has adopted a semblance of "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need" in its tax laws and spending policies. For decades, the business sector has been charged ever-escalating taxes and fees to pay worker compensation benefits, unemployment benefits, Medicaid benefits, public employee benefits, and public education costs. For decades, businesses have closed or moved their operations out of state. For decades, West Virginia’s students have learned the three R’s-readin’, writin’, and route 77.
But wait! Times have changed. We now have a new slogan: West Virginia is open for business. Yes, there certainly have been some noteworthy changes in public policy over the last year or two. Unfortunately, there is a great deal of talk in the halls of the Capitol about allowing state employees to organize collective bargaining units.
Let’s leave it at this-saying you’re open for business while saying you’re in favor of a closed shop is a contradiction in terms.
For all practical purposes, public school teachers already represent a collective bargaining unit. That system, while never tightly glued to begin with, is starting to unravel even more. Eastern panhandle teachers want pay adjustments for the region’s higher cost of living. Since they can’t get that pay increase under the present system, many have opted to teach in Virginia. Ironic, isn’t it, that our teachers can earn much more money in a right-to-work state?
To be sure, Atlas Shrugged is a work of fiction; there was no Twentieth Century Motor Company nor did Taggart Transcontinental rule the rails. The story line, however, rings true with readers because Ayn Rand eloquently translates this simple truth: Employees are not simple pegs to be driven into convenient holes by the powers that be.
If West Virginia does allow state employees the right to form collective bargaining units, then organized labor faces a very risky situation. In recent years, unions haven’t had much luck winning elections. Should state employees reject union representation, and there is likelihood that they will reject the union if given the chance, it would have the same effect as if West Virginia passed a right-to-work law. Now that message really would announce: West Virginia is open for business.
Let ‘em vote.
Friday, November 4, 2005
West Virginians Endured After 1985 Flood
As happened in 1888, most of West Virginia was covered by flood waters in 1985. And as before, the deluge was more like a flash flood than slow rising waters. The damage done in 1985 was, of course, much worse.
After any natural disaster, it is almost impossible to describe the devastation to man-made structures in relevant terms. The reason we lack the words is that Nature exerts forces that humankind cannot begin to fathom. When Nature goes on a rampage, we have but one option and that option is evacuation.
In November 1985, nobody thought that the Tygarts, Cheat, Potomac, and Greenbrier rivers would rise as fast and as high as they did. Nearly fifty people drowned as a result. Were it not for the fact that "higher ground" is always one step away in our state, the death toll could have been in the hundreds, if not thousands.
When I surveyed the flood area, the damage that concerned me the most was the wholesale loss of important bridges. Highways are nothing without bridges. With some two dozen main highway bridges completely washed away, it was obvious that recovery efforts would be much more difficult.
Although many towns and rural hamlets were initially isolated from outside help, that isolation did not stop the people who lived there from immediately beginning the clean-up. And that is not so surprising because people who live in the mountains or on farms are much more self-sufficient than their urban cousins. How many urbanites own a chain saw or a shovel?
If I had to characterize the West Virginians that I met during the flood recovery, I would call them "resilient." I remember a Pendleton County family who lost their house and possessions but had not left their land. They had covered an outbuilding with tarpaper and moved in rather than leave for a faraway motel. How many urbanites have outbuildings?
There are big differences between urban and rural areas when it comes to natural disasters. The first is that showboating reporters like Geraldo Rivera ignore rural disasters. The second is that urban disaster areas are almost totally dependent on government agencies for recovery efforts.
As we recently saw in New Orleans, the local, state, and federal governments were routinely criticized for mounting such a slow response. But if one were to be objective in his critique, it takes time (sometimes days) to get to the disaster area. Just because the rain stops doesn’t mean the surrounding floodwaters have started to recede.
In West Virginia, state agencies and National Guard units have earned pretty good marks for flood response over the years. There does tend to be criticism of the federal response but that is primarily due to the fact that people expect FEMA and the SBA to open their checkbooks wider than Congress has authorized.
In the end, government cannot make victims whole again. Government executives as well as grandstanding politicians should paint a realistic picture when it comes to disaster response. False hopes in a time of disaster are usually more devastating than the sense of hopelessness that victims experience on the day of the disaster.
In any natural disaster, a community’s self-sufficiency is its best hope for a speedy recovery. West Virginians were the model of resiliency in the aftermath of the 1985 flood. Not only did they help their neighbors by donating food, clothing and money, but they banded together to rebuild their communities.
I was very proud to be involved with relief and rebuilding efforts in 1985. Those of us at the Department of Highways did our best to get the roads and bridges rebuilt before winter set in. But in my heart, I know that our best would not have been good enough had the people in the flood area been as helpless as the city folk in New Orleans.
There’s something to be admired about people who can hold their own until the cavalry arrives. In recognizing the 20th anniversary of the great West Virginia flood, we should remember the resiliency of the survivors.
David G. Allen served as Assistant Commissioner of the WV Department of Highways, 1985-1986.
After any natural disaster, it is almost impossible to describe the devastation to man-made structures in relevant terms. The reason we lack the words is that Nature exerts forces that humankind cannot begin to fathom. When Nature goes on a rampage, we have but one option and that option is evacuation.
In November 1985, nobody thought that the Tygarts, Cheat, Potomac, and Greenbrier rivers would rise as fast and as high as they did. Nearly fifty people drowned as a result. Were it not for the fact that "higher ground" is always one step away in our state, the death toll could have been in the hundreds, if not thousands.
When I surveyed the flood area, the damage that concerned me the most was the wholesale loss of important bridges. Highways are nothing without bridges. With some two dozen main highway bridges completely washed away, it was obvious that recovery efforts would be much more difficult.
Although many towns and rural hamlets were initially isolated from outside help, that isolation did not stop the people who lived there from immediately beginning the clean-up. And that is not so surprising because people who live in the mountains or on farms are much more self-sufficient than their urban cousins. How many urbanites own a chain saw or a shovel?
If I had to characterize the West Virginians that I met during the flood recovery, I would call them "resilient." I remember a Pendleton County family who lost their house and possessions but had not left their land. They had covered an outbuilding with tarpaper and moved in rather than leave for a faraway motel. How many urbanites have outbuildings?
There are big differences between urban and rural areas when it comes to natural disasters. The first is that showboating reporters like Geraldo Rivera ignore rural disasters. The second is that urban disaster areas are almost totally dependent on government agencies for recovery efforts.
As we recently saw in New Orleans, the local, state, and federal governments were routinely criticized for mounting such a slow response. But if one were to be objective in his critique, it takes time (sometimes days) to get to the disaster area. Just because the rain stops doesn’t mean the surrounding floodwaters have started to recede.
In West Virginia, state agencies and National Guard units have earned pretty good marks for flood response over the years. There does tend to be criticism of the federal response but that is primarily due to the fact that people expect FEMA and the SBA to open their checkbooks wider than Congress has authorized.
In the end, government cannot make victims whole again. Government executives as well as grandstanding politicians should paint a realistic picture when it comes to disaster response. False hopes in a time of disaster are usually more devastating than the sense of hopelessness that victims experience on the day of the disaster.
In any natural disaster, a community’s self-sufficiency is its best hope for a speedy recovery. West Virginians were the model of resiliency in the aftermath of the 1985 flood. Not only did they help their neighbors by donating food, clothing and money, but they banded together to rebuild their communities.
I was very proud to be involved with relief and rebuilding efforts in 1985. Those of us at the Department of Highways did our best to get the roads and bridges rebuilt before winter set in. But in my heart, I know that our best would not have been good enough had the people in the flood area been as helpless as the city folk in New Orleans.
There’s something to be admired about people who can hold their own until the cavalry arrives. In recognizing the 20th anniversary of the great West Virginia flood, we should remember the resiliency of the survivors.
David G. Allen served as Assistant Commissioner of the WV Department of Highways, 1985-1986.
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