Governor McAuliffe Announces More Than $8.2 Million in Community Development Block Grants

~ Projects include water and sewer service, downtown revitalization, and housing rehabilitation ~ 

RICHMOND – Governor Terry McAuliffe today announced more than $8.2 million in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding for 12 projects in Virginia. Since 1982, the federally-funded CDBG program has been administered by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), and Virginia receives approximately $17 million annually for this grant program.

Speaking about today’s announcement, Governor McAuliffe said, “In order to build a new Virginia economy, we need to use all available resources to improve the lives of Virginians.  These projects help provide better infrastructure, affordable housing, and revitalize downtown districts to create sustainable and vibrant communities across the Commonwealth.”

Speaking at an event in Bassett, Virginia, Secretary of Commerce and Trade Maurice Jones said, “The CDBG program continues to help localities across the Commonwealth make the necessary investments to stay competitive and thrive in today’s economic environment.  These funds are critical in order to help our communities, particularly those in rural areas, become the best places to live, work and conduct business.”

CDBG grants are awarded through a competitive process.  Most projects benefit low- and moderate-income persons, and many projects are targeted for the prevention or elimination of slums and blight conditions.

During this year’s competitive cycle, 22 proposals were submitted by 21 localities, and 11 projects received the initial funding, with two projects receiving multi-year funding and one project receiving a letter of intent. Multi-year funding projects are those that will receive a contract allocating a portion of the funds this year, and after achieving specific performance targets, the project will then be eligible for additional funding. The letter of intent project is worthy of funding but lacks key components necessary for the project to be immediately implemented, and the grant allows the locality to address the missing key components.

2015 CDBG Community Improvement Grant Awards:

Locality	Project Name	CDBG Award
Buchanan County	Hurley Regional Water Project Phase VI	$ 1,000,000
Town of Damascus	Damascus Downtown Revitalization	$ 659,400
Dickenson County	Georges Fork Sewer Project	$ 1,000,000
Town of Dungannon	Dungannon Economic Revitalization	$ 700,000
Henry County	Smith River Small Towns Business District Revitalization	$ 700,000
Town of Smithfield	Pinewood Heights Redevelopment Project Phase III	$ 1,000,000
Town of Strasburg	Strasburg Downtown Revitalization Project	$ 700,000
Wise County	Roda, Osaka and Stonega Sewer Phase II	$ 690,000
Town of Wytheville	Freedom Lane Housing Production	$ 505,625
Town of Appomattox	Meadowlark Neighborhood Improvement Project Multi-year Funding	$ 1,000,000
Town of Pulaski	Kersey Bottom Neighborhood Revitalization Project Multi-year Funding	$ 1,000,000
Town of White Stone	White Stone Comprehensive Project Letter of Intent	$ 1,400,000

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Gloucester, VA Animal Control Breaking And Entering? What About "YOUR" Rights? (Part 4)

This story continues to grow more interesting.  We have heard that certain Gloucester officials are running damage control.  Here is the latest information heard.  It is being said that the owners of the car pictured above were paged in Wal Mart.  Well we can tell you that we have witnesses that say no page was ever announced in the store during this situation.  The entire event was witnessed from beginning to end and at every level.  It is also being said as we have heard it, that Ms Dickie was trying to be nice to the dog in the vehicle.  Witnesses say that she was causing the dog to get upset.  She was trying to throw in dog biscuits through the windows of the vehicle to the dog, but the dog kept getting upset with her presence and barking at her for invading it's space.

  (Read part one of this story again and you can see where they got the argument about paging the owners of the vehicle and dog from anyway).  

  Now as we have been saying, this to us is an illegal search and seizure operation.  Here is what state code says about this.

§ 3.2-6564. Complaint of suspected violation; investigation.

A. Upon receiving a complaint of a suspected violation of this chapter, any ordinance enacted pursuant to this chapter or any law for the protection of domestic animals, any animal control officer, law-enforcement officer, or State Veterinarian's representative may, for the purpose of investigating the allegations of the complaint, enter upon, during business hours, any business premises, including any place where animals or animal records are housed or kept, of any dealer, pet shop, groomer, or boarding establishment. Upon receiving a complaint of a suspected violation of any law or ordinance regarding care or treatment of animals or disposal of dead animals, any humane investigator may, for the purpose of investigating the allegations of the complaint, enter upon, during business hours, any business premises, including any place where animals or animal records are housed or kept, of any dealer, pet shop, groomer, or boarding establishment.

Upon obtaining a warrant as provided for in § 3.2-6568, the law-enforcement officer, animal control officer, State Veterinarian's representative, or humane investigator may enter upon any other premises where the animal or animals described in the complaint are housed or kept. Attorneys for the Commonwealth and law-enforcement officials shall provide such assistance as may be required in the conduct of such investigations.

B. If the investigation discloses that a violation of § 3.2-6503 has occurred, the investigating official shall notify the owner or custodian of the complaint and of what action is necessary to comply with this chapter.

  

Upon "OBTAINING" a warrant.  A Warrant.  There was no warrant in the above situation.

Here is Gloucester County Animal Control Ordinance once again.

3-18

Sec. 3-18. Animals in enclosed vehicles.

(a)

It shall be unlawful to leave any animal in a vehicle without the benefit of air conditioning when the outside temperature reaches eighty (80) degrees fahrenheit or greater.

(b)

Any person who confines an animal in an unattended vehicle so as to cause the animal to suffer from heat stress, shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. The animal control officer or other officer shall have the authority to remove any animal found in an enclosed vehicle that appears to be suffering from heat stress. The animal shall be provided immediate veterinary care. The animal owner or custodian shall be responsible for all expenses incurred during the removal of the animal or its subsequent treatment and impoundment.

(c)

In the event that the person responsible for the violation cannot be ascertained, the registered owner of the vehicle, as required byChapter 6 of Title 46.2 of the Code of Virginia, shall constitute in evidence a prima facie presumption that such registered owner was the person who committed the violation.

If you look up a violation to 3.2-6503, it states that the violation is only a class 4 misdemeanor.  Why did Gloucester make this a class 1 misdemeanor?  Way to many questions.  Ethics from the county?  ZERO!  

https://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+TOC03020000065000000000000

The above link is to the Virginia State Code regarding animals.  We can not find anything in there that gives Gloucester County the right to violate everyone's rights here at all.  If someone can show us where they can, please, by all means do so.  Also, Virginia is a Dillon Rule state.  

 http://articles.dailypress.com/2012-04-28/news/dp-nws-cns-dillon-rule-20120427_1_dillon-rule-state-budget-local-governments

Here is a link to the Dillon Rule and how it affects every locality in the state and this article comes from the Daily Press.

Your 4th Amendment Rights;

IV) The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

The above is the law of the land, like it or not.  If your a socialist, move out of the country and infringe on someone else's rights.

The above sign can be found in the following locations.  Tractor Supply, Dollar Tree, and Wal Mart.  Complain about these signs to the store managers and ask that they take them down as they violate your rights.  If they refuse, then refuse to shop in those stores and tell them so.  Anyone think those signs are worth your business?

Complain to the board of supervisors.  Here is their email address.

BoS@Gloucesterva.info 

You can just click on that link above and it will open your email account allowing you to send a quick message to them.  If you are not willing to argue for your rights and freedoms then you deserve neither.

Also, we will point out once again that Laura Dickie was overheard telling the people who had the rented vehicle that she was just about to break the window and take the dog even though the temperature was below 80 degrees as we have already shown in our first post on this issue.  Who is next?  Maybe you?

Related articles

• Gloucester, VA Animal Control Breaking And Entering? What About "YOUR" Rights?
• Gloucester, VA Animal Control Breaking and Entering? What About "YOUR" Rights? (Part 2)
• Gloucester, VA Animal Control Breaking and Entering? What About "YOUR" Rights? (Part 3)
• Gloucester, VA Local Government Racketeering, Price Fixing, Real and Personal Property Theft? (Part 1)
• Gloucester, VA Government Racketeering, Price Fixing, Real and Personal Property Theft? (Part 2)
• Gloucester, VA Animal Control In Violation of it's Own Ordinances?

Gloucester, VA Animal Control Breaking And Entering? What About "YOUR" Rights?

Pictured above is Animal Control Officer, Laura Dickie, getting ready to break into a vehicle and take personal property from the people in possession of the rental car.  The folks who have the rental car are from NY and the car has NJ plates.  Why was she about to break into the car and take personal property from these people?  Well it's based on one of the Gloucester County ordinances we have been complaining about on this site now for some time.  The ordinance reads as follows;

 Sec. 3-18. Animals in enclosed vehicles

(a) It shall be unlawful to leave any animal in a vehicle without the benefit of air conditioning when the outside temperature reaches eighty (80) degrees fahrenheit or greater.

(b) Any person who confines an animal in an unattended vehicle so as to cause the animal to suffer from heat stress, shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. The animal control officer or other officer shall have the authority to remove any animal found in an enclosed vehicle that appears to be suffering from heat stress. The animal shall be provided immediate veterinary care. The animal owner or custodian shall be responsible for all expenses incurred during the removal of the animal or its subsequent treatment and impoundment.

(c) In the event that the person responsible for the violation cannot be ascertained, the registered owner of the vehicle, as required by Chapter 6 of Title 46.2 of the Code of Virginia, shall constitute in evidence a prima facie presumption that such registered owner was the person who committed the violation.

(Ord. of 7-1-2008(1), § (2); Ord. of 2-5-2013(1))

Now let's look at what the temperature reading was for the time period in question.  The time these photos were taken are from around 3:12 PM through 3:24 PM August 24th, 2014.  

We took screen shots from various weather services to see what an average overall temperature reading was during the time in question.  Well, from everything we could see, it was under the 80 degree Fahrenheit limit that the ordinance states is required to be in violation of the above listed ordinance.  Again, the ordinance is highly questionable and in our view, illegal.  There is no corresponding state code and with Virginia being a Dillon Rule state, the Dillon Rule has been violated by Gloucester County from what we see.

Here is a picture of the temperature taken just right down the road from where the incident was witnessed.  77 Degrees.  Not 80 degrees or above.  But we have found evidence that county officials have decided that they can't even follow their own codes and have decided to step up the violations.  See the picture below.

The picture you are viewing is a sign hanging up on the front door of Tractor Supply here in Gloucester, Virginia.  Note that it says nothing about the actual ordinance and what that ordinance actually states.  It also gives no warning that Animal Control will break into your vehicle and take a pet which is considered personal property if they think they can get away with this.  What one must also note is that the sign does not cover temperatures in the 80 degree range as stated in the county ordinance.  What gives?

In fact, it leads one to believe that a violation occurs at temperatures at the 75 degree range.  The picture also fails to point out whether those inside temperature readings are for open or closed windows of any vehicle.  

Getting back to the entire incident.

There was a dog in the red car which is a 4 door vehicle.  All 4 windows were down in the car and the car had not been there for very long.  This incident was witnessed from start to finish.  Laura Dickie agitated the dog inside as the dog considered her a danger.  

The man with the long white hair and camo pants is the person who called in what he considered a violation to the Gloucester County Animal Control ordinance listed above.  Just before Ms Dickie was ready to bust out the window on the vehicle, the person renting the vehicle came out of Wal Mart and came back to her vehicle.  The conversation was overheard and it was overheard that Ms Dickie was in fact getting ready to bust out the window and take the dog from the vehicle.  

  Here is a very serious question.  Where is the search warrant that would allow law enforcement to do this and where were the local sheriff's department to back her up?  Animal Control officers can not execute search warrants in Virginia.  It has to be done locally by the Sheriff's department.  Again, where is the search warrant?  There is nothing in Virginia State Code regarding animals that allows Animal Control to break into your vehicle that we have ever seen.  Please see VA Code 3.2-6500 and beyond for state Animal Control codes.

  The owner of the animal and in charge of the rental car was not charged with any wrong doing whatsoever.  But Animal Control was still getting ready to bust the window and take the owners dog, hence personal property without notice.  

  Another question that comes to mind, why didn't Laura Dickie just go into Wal Mart and see about having the owner paged before even considering such drastic measures?  Well, did you see the fine for the above so called violation? Up to $2,500.00  and up to one year in jail?  It's on the sign shown above.  That is financial incentive for Animal Control to bust out some windows on people's vehicles.  Can you imagine all the legal troubles these folks would have had to face had they shopped for only 5 more minutes?  They were from out of state and spending money here in our economy.  What kind of message are we sending visitors to Gloucester County?  What kind of message is being conveyed to the local citizens?   Anyone now understand why we have been arguing against this insane ordinance now?  And again, this is only one of a number of county ordinances that have no place being on the books as they do not meet the Dillon Rule.  It's time for this nonsense to stop.

  Oh, and the Animal Control truck above?  There is no air conditioning that the animal would be put in.  That truck only has a top air vent.  The animal would be transported in violation of the county's own code.  What on Earth is that?  The hypocrisy.

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• Gloucester, VA What Glo-Quips Didn't Tell You, July, 2014
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• Gloucester, VA County Services Outrageous Costs, $600 Per Cat and Dog In November
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