My experiences while serving as an At-Large member of the Gloucester County, Virginia Public Utilities Advisory Committee (The 2nd in a series of articles about my experiences and findings)

Utilities' Equipment Storage Yard

As I previously shared; I visited Utilities’ office, equipment storage yard and water treatment plants after being appointed to the PUAC. I began by visiting the equipment yard first and was astounded at its’ dilapidated and unorganized condition. Being retired from the military and from the dirt work side of the construction industry, I am well aware of what an equipment and vehicle storage yard should be like and why. Utilities’ equipment yard is located in the courthouse area, behind Southern States and behind Main Street Center. Access to the yard is limited as it is gained through the Southern States shopping center parking lot and along narrow roads behind the shopping centers. The floor of the yard is made up of various slopes covered in dirt, gravel and grass/weeds. One of Utilities’ heaviest used and oldest sewer pumping stations is located in the rear of the yard. Beyond the pumping station are wetlands with a stream that flows to the Ware River. 

Inside the yard I observed several portable emergency pump units stored under a pole shed with various usable and unusable pipeline fittings and other items and debris. These pumps are necessary when one or more of the sewer pump stations become inoperable and they vary in price from $35,000 to $50,000 or more. Many of the hoses and fittings to the pumps, which are not cheap either, were lying on the ground in the dirt. Several of the pumps had flat tires and were missing various components. The batteries, like the rest of the pump units, looked like they had not been maintained for a very long time. When I asked Utilities’ employees how many of the pumps actually worked; they said probably none. They said all of the pumps’ batteries were likely dead because they had no way of plugging in chargers to keep them charged. They said when a pump is needed they take what is needed from the other pumps to get one running. I did not find this hard to believe due to the un-maintained appearance of the pumps and other items stored in the yard.

I was shown what was called “Utilities’ repair shop”. This “shop” consisted of what appeared to be an old portable wooden storage building with a ramp at the entrance. There was a riding lawnmower sitting in the middle of the floor with hardly enough room to walk past it on any side because of everything else being stored in the building. I was also shown a small recently built storage building where the employees said mostly copper and brass fittings were stored. I guess the intent was to better secure items that tend to walk away on their own or deteriorate rapidly when left outside on the ground. This building was the best looking and most organized area in the yard.

Utilities has a vactor truck which is essentially a huge shop vac on a truck. The truck is used primarily to vacuum up sewer water and debris and to flush out sewer pipelines. Vactor trucks are necessary pieces of equipment in utility departments like Gloucester’s. Utilities’ vactor truck, which likely cost $150,000 or more when new, was parked under another pole shed type structure. Like the other pole shed in the yard, there is no electricity. This would not be a problem for most any other truck type piece of equipment, but because vactor trucks have water tanks along with numerous fittings and lines that contain water; storing in such conditions during periods of freezing weather will cause many of the water containing components to freeze and burst. Utilities does a pretty good job of minimizing damage due to freezing; but don’t you think there should have been a heated facility for the truck to call home, before it was purchased?

There was no restroom facility or drinkable water located at Utilities’ equipment yard. When I first visited, there was a single user cinderblock outhouse facility inside the chain link fencing and to the right when you first enter the gates. The outhouse no longer had a door or place to sit; in other words it was unusable and appeared to have been like that for a long time. The outhouse has since been torn down and removed. I first thought there may be restrooms in the small cinderblock building that is to the left as you enter the gates. That was not the case, as there were no restrooms or drinkable water anywhere in the yard. An employee said they would typically urinate somewhere out of sight or go to the main office or somewhere else to relieve themselves.

There was a dump truck, backhoe, water trailers and others types of utility related equipment parked in Utilities’ yard. Even though all of the department’s equipment was not present, the yard appeared too small and uneven to safely move and store such equipment. There is also a lack of space to store pipe, fittings and other supplies necessary to repair and maintain our public water and sewer systems. The small amount of storage space within the yard is inadequate and does little to protect supplies from the weather.

Utilities has been in need of a new storage yard and office for a long time. (More about the office later in the series) Several years ago several million dollars were borrowed to, in part, design and construct a new yard. Tens of thousands of dollars was spent to have the design work done and drawings created. Unfortunately instead of making adjustments to the plans and continuing forward, the whole idea was pretty much scrapped by the current Board of Supervisors in 2013. The director of Utilities at that time wanted to buy land for the new yard, but the BOS did not agree and directed Utilities to search properties already owned by the County, to see if there was a parcel suitable for their needs. There was not much of a selection and the only suitable parcels are owned by our school system, so everything pretty much came to a halt. From that point forward I continually suggested constructing a new utility yard and office on the old Page Middle School property as the first step in consolidating certain County and school system functions. (More about the utilization of the old Page property will come later in the series)

The last I heard about Utilities’ yard from one of our Supervisors is they were thinking about building a temporary yard close to the school bus garage to establish a presence on the property; in hopes that someone will want to develop the property and, be willing to pay to relocate Utilities and the school bus garage to another property they hope the developer will purchase; all in exchange for the bus garage property and old Page property. I told the Supervisor nothing should be done if taxpayer money was going to be wasted on such speculative nonsense. Now the BOS and the school board have consented to spending tens of thousands of dollars on a study to determine the best place for the school bus garage facility and Utilities’ facilities to be located. Study after study, hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy “so called” expert opinions. What a waste of tax dollars.

After visiting Utilities’ yard I notified appropriate County staff and the BOS of the following safety concerns:

-No restroom facilities at the yard

-No potable water at the yard

-Unsafe equipment maintenance area at the yard

-No eyewash apparatus at the yard

-No readily accessible fire extinguishers at the yard

I did not perform an in-depth safety inspection by any measure. The concerns I noted were nothing more than first glance observations.

In my next article I will describe my visit to Utilities’ water treatment facilities. In upcoming articles I will also share some of my concerns about safety, accountability, water and sewer rates and a few other topics. If you pay taxes or pay for water or sewer in Gloucester County; you should not miss any of the articles in this series.

The third article in this series will be published after the new year begins. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours!!

Kenneth E. Hogge, Sr.

Gloucester Point, Virginia

Schools: who's the master of the plan?

On the afternoon of November 28th, the Gloucester School Division's three Superintendents hosted a tour of the high school and a viewing of a movie titled "Most Likely To Succeed" after which there was a presentation and discussion among those attending. While the seating was limited to 350, according to accounts "less than 100" attended, and of that number who were parents of children in the system, "maybe two dozen." The movie, a Sundance Festival entrant, has made the circuit around the country and is yet another attempt by education management elites to foist yet another methodology on the tax paying public's check book and patience. The mantra is "project based learning" but the echo is "college and career." What's all that mean?

If you follow this stuff and you should because lots of money is at stake, the other side of the school day coin with its inventive curriculums and testing regimen includes "life ready" and "later-life outcomes." That's the "what will I be when I grow up" part of the equation. But parents need to know that all the research in the world hasn't been able to connect what happens in a public school including all the test scores that your kid accumulates, with any correlation to their success in life. What does count is what happens at home. The best place for a child to be raised and taught is with their biological parents in a stable family, learning the virtues necessary for and the joys that spring from the pursuit of the truth. There's no "winter break' on that calendar.

Government Departments of Education get giddy with the possibilities of technology but forget that it threatens to take away the human to human connection essential to the learning of truths that lay beyond the dull drone of today’s culture that rob kids of their imaginations and threatens the victory of reason.

So why are parents forced to send their children to public schools? Well, they aren't as long as they provide learning at home or at a private or parochial school; and more are doing that every year. But it can be expensive and a lot of parents organize their life expecting that government will be there with child care of some sort while one or both parents pursue their day's activity. It's a heck of a conundrum, but there are helpful tools and good meaning people with advice and help if anyone is interested. Heck, there are even some great old movies and books that teach character, and heroism, and civic history. That's a start!

In a newspaper account of Gloucester High School deficiencies and a master plan, the author said the students were "herded" into hallways that were crowded and noisy. It's been a long time but I recall school classes being dismissed and me walking unassisted into halls and the next class, or lunch, or gym. No one shooed me through a door. So what's really going on? Read this carefully. The Gloucester School Division has an operating budget of over $60 million a year for around 5,500 students. Hypothetically that's almost $11,000 per student and a class of 30 kids represents gross operating revenue of $330,000 per classroom per school year. Say the teacher and their salary, retirement and benefit account takes around $80,000. of that gross. That leaves $250,000 per classroom for maintenance, supplies, phone bills, electricity, loan payments and non teaching staff. Again, that's $250,000 a year per classroom. Are any business owners with accounting skills paying attention? Does the $250,000 seem excessive when the crucial relationship is teacher-student?

So now the superintendents have hired a consultant for a fee of $100,000 to tell them how to go forward with AC and heating problems and some remodelling. I think the entire Gloucester community -- hey Supervisors, I'm talking to you too -- should be yelling "Stop" and then asking why anyone would use the word "herd" when talking about schools. If that word applies at all, it's to the taxpayers and the money they are forced to ante up.

Coincidentally on the Monday following the school tour, Gloucester property taxes were due. How much was your tax bill?

Ken Larson
Ware Neck, VA

My experiences while serving as an At-Large member of the Gloucester County, Virginia Public Utilities Advisory Committee (The first in a series of articles about my experiences and findings)

I was appointed to the Gloucester County Public Utilities Advisory Committee (PUAC) in August 2014, as an At-Large member. From the outside looking in, it appeared to me that Gloucester’s Utility Department (Utilities) was not being managed very well. Being that I am now retired due to disabilities and possess knowledge and experience in water, sewer, and many facets of business management, employee and equipment utilization, safety and a few other areas; I was looking forward to and excited about the opportunity to give back to the community where I grew up.

From the very first meeting I began to realize the PUAC did not serve any realistic purpose and had no true sense of direction. From my very first visits to Utilities’ office, equipment and storage yard, water treatment plants and sewer pumping stations, I could tell everything had been neglected for numerous years. I also noted numerous workplace safety violations which I immediately shared with the Board of Supervisors and appropriate members of County staff. After thinking about the situation for a while I decided I would offer some suggestions to make things better, instead of trying to place blame on those responsible for the excessive neglect of Gloucester taxpayer's and utility customer's infrastructure.

One of my first suggestions as a committee member was the development and implementation of a Utilities enhancement program. The following was my proposal:

Gloucester County Public Utilities Enhancement

(Proposal)

As we all know Utilities is not financially self sufficient, numerous areas have degraded for one reason or another over the years and systems expansion is stagnant.  Developing and implementing an enhancement plan utilizing an ownership approach will help considerably in turning Utilities into an efficient and self supporting department.  In order to establish an ownership relationship with Utilities, each committee member would have to look at Utilities as if it were their own personal investment or business.

Each committee member would have to become familiar with Utilities’:

-missions

-leaders

-assets

-intradepartmental roles in completing missions

-weaknesses

-strengths

-finances

-growth potentials

Collectively the committee would have to identify the areas in which each member has experience or expertise so those talents can be applied accordingly throughout the enhancement process.  For example; if one or two committee members have experience in office management they could focus on areas related to such.

All intradepartmental leaders would need to give a short briefing to the committee in which they define their areas of responsibility, statistics related to their areas, their manpower, etc.  After such briefings, there would need to be an open discussion period for all of the leaders and the committee.  The primary purpose for such briefings and discussion period would be to establish professional, face to face relationships among those responsible for the functionality and care of Gloucester’s utility assets.

Each committee member would need to visit the varying sections of Utilities at least one time per month.  Such visits would serve to educate committee members on what is entailed in performing day to day operations and will help instill the ownership concept.  When employees see people taking interest in what they are doing they tend to perform better.  Such visits would need to be completely observational and educational in nature and all observations and suggestions would need to be presented to the committee before shared with others.  The only exception to this would be for safety concerns.  Situations where a person or persons’ safety is at risk should always be brought to administration’s attention immediately, through whatever means available.

A high level of participation and dedication would be required from all Utilities employees and the advisory committee to insure success of an enhancement program.  The frequency of committee meetings would have to change from bi-monthly to monthly and there would likely be frequent special meetings as well.  Increasing the number of committee meetings would be necessary to heighten focus, enhance the committees’ knowledge base, expedite the enhancement process and establish and maintain forward momentum through all process phases.

Once the above steps are in motion, the committee would then be able to begin to establish concise goals and desired results of the enhancement plan.  That is when the real work would begin.

No interest was shown in developing such an enhancement plan as it never even made it off the table. Changing the frequency of the meetings did not fly either, as it was unanimously voted down by my fellow committee members. I sensed my fellow committee members were unwilling to dedicate the necessary time to fulfill such a plan. From that time forward, the PUAC basically continued along the same path I can only assume it was traveling prior to my appointment; one of no direction or purpose. There will undoubtedly be those who will claim the PUAC has and continues to serve a worthwhile purpose and that everything is fine within Gloucester’s Utility Department. If that were the factual case, none of the articles that will be contained in this series would be necessary. In upcoming articles I will share some of my concerns about safety, accountability, water and sewer rates and a few other topics. If you pay taxes or pay for water or sewer in Gloucester County, you shouldn’t miss any of the articles.

Kenneth E. Hogge, Sr.

Gloucester Point

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What the Heck is Happening to Gloucester’s Public Education System??

On Monday, November 28, 2016, I and some other folks attended an open house and viewed a film at Gloucester High School. The school system appeared to be prepared for 350 or so people, but only 60 to 65 people showed up. I believe more Gloucester People would have attended if the school system had scheduled it for a Saturday event from, say 9AM to 3PM and advertised it vigorously within the community. Instead, the event began at 5:15PM and lasted until around 8PM, on a Monday. Aren’t most people either still at work or driving home at 5:15PM on weekdays? The event time was also during dinner hours for most folks.   

Having attended GHS for a couple of years shortly after it was built, I was amazed at the great condition of the schoolhouse. After hearing stories for the last several years about how bad of shape GHS is in; I was expecting the place to be in shambles. That was absolutely not the case.

There likely needs to be a significant amount of money spent on our schoolhouse, but not as much as our school administrators are trying to make us believe. One of their complaints is the undependability and inefficiency of the heating, ventilation and cooling system. Considering the schoolhouse was built in the mid 1970’s, it is probably time to replace the entire system. The administrators complain the roof needs to be replaced. Well, roof maintenance is part of maintaining any building, so if there is a need to replace the waterproofing components of the roof, then it needs to be replaced before other components are damaged. If a future replacement account for major schoolhouse components had been started when the school was built, money would be available when needed. Every year monies could have been added to the account as part of the schoolhouse’s operating expenses. When a school system builds a schoolhouse it is provided with information that identifies the life expectancy of such things as HVAC and roofing systems. Our local, state and federal governments choose to wait until something falls apart, then borrow money to fix and replace things. Operating this way is costing us far more than investing money in a replacement fund every year. Just let it accumulate interest each year and then pay cash when things are needed. Maybe someone needs to look into who is benefiting from all of the interest money we pay each year.

During our tour we spoke with teachers who said noise transfer from neighboring classrooms and hallways interferes with teaching and learning. I asked if changes in the methods of teaching had increased the noise level in today’s classrooms. The answer was along the lines of “probably”. Upon asking more questions it became apparent that a lot of the noise is generated by small groups from varying classes being sent in the hallway to work independent of the rest of their class. I found all of this odd because when I attended GHS, we had 25 to 30 students per class and we broke down into small groups at times, but we remained in the classroom. Everyone was taught and expected to be conscious of the volume of their voice and to respect each other by not disrupting the class. As a matter of fact, most of the classrooms didn’t even have doors. (Doors were installed some years later though.) We as students were expected to keep the noise level down and for the most part we did. If noise transference is a problem, there are ways of fixing the problem without reconfiguring the entire inside of the building.

Speaking of reconfiguring; that appears to be our school system’s ultimate objective. After touring several areas of the schoolhouse we were directed to the auditorium to watch what I consider an indoctrination film titled, “Most Likely to Succeed”. Chuck Thompson published a review of the film on GVLN and can be found at this link http://www.gloucestercounty-va.com/2016/11/the-state-of-education-in-gloucester.html  I must say I agree with Mr. Thompson’s opinions.

America’s public education system has been under siege for a long time; the ultimate objective being to lower America’s educational standards and success in order to bring our Country inline with the objectives of the United Nations/New World Order. Every aspect of their objectives entails weakening the strong and empowering the weak, on a global scale.  

America used to have the most robust and successful public education system in the world. Our public education system significantly helped make America the country with the strongest economy and military in the world. Though there have always been efforts to compromise America’s educational success, none triggered a rapid decline in American public education quality like George H.W. Bush’s commitment of America to the provisions and objectives of United Nations Agenda 21. Don’t get me wrong; there were efforts prior to 1997 to implement Socialism/Communism into America’s public education system. It wasn’t until Old Man Bush sold America out that everything really began to snowball. Mr. Obama further committed America to U.N./New World Order Rule when he committed “OUR”  Country to U.N. Agenda 2030 which has set the efforts of implementing Socialism/Communism into our public school systems into overdrive.

Gloucester County has not been immune to what our so called Presidents have done to our public education system since old man Bush committed America to Agenda 21. We never see those we elect at the local level truly fight back against the plague that is engulfing our country. We elect them to be our voice and all they do is remain silent. They remain silent because we allow them to by not speaking up and telling them we are not going to allow the federal and state government to herd us down the road to Socialism/Communism.   

Former Gloucester Public Schools Superintendent, Howard B. (Ben) Kiser was successful in steering our elected representatives into pushing the Socialism/Communism envelop, by shoving the design of Page Middle School down this community’s throat. Now Mr. Kiser is in a position to influence all school districts in Virginia as the Director of the Virginia Association of School Superintendents. The schoolhouse designs Mr. Kiser and others who I consider to be Socialist/Communist oriented traitors to America are pushing on us, were created after thousands of America’s so called educators like Kiser visited Finland on indoctrination trips. They claim Finland’s way of educating is the best way because Finland currently has one of the best rated public education systems in the world. Rated at what measures and by whom; other New World Order propagandists? What our elected leaders and school administrators don’t tell us is; Finland is a Socialist Country where the government foots the bill for everything including educating teachers. They don’t tell us that Finland educators say they have equal success in older box style schoolhouses as they do in modern, more expensive designed schoolhouses like Page Middle School. They don’t tell us the personal income tax rate in Finland averaged 52.96% from 1995 until 2016, reaching an all time high of 62.20% in 1995 and a record low of 49.00% in 2010. (How would you like the government taking over half of what you earn?) They don’t tell us Finland’s schools practice collectivism. They don’t tell us collectivism is a trait of Communism and Socialism. They don’t tell us that in collectivist cultures, identity is based on the social network to which one belongs and with the implementation of collectivism in our public schools, individualism will be erased. Everything will be about what is good for the group and completely ignoring what is best for each individual. This will erase the potential of there being other great individuals like George Washington Carver, Louis Pasture, Ben Franklin, Thomas Edison and so on. The only way to achieve the goal of collectivism is by “leveling the playing field”; in other words the strong must be weakened and the weak must be empowered. In the education spectrum that equates to lowering standards to make it appear more students are successful in academia land.

I believe we need to take back control of our public education system and return it to an educational institution that reflects the values, morals, traditions, customs, quality and superiority that empowered America to become the greatest and freest nation in the World. Common Core must go, but more importantly, the federal government must be stopped from blackmailing our public education system into submitting to the Socialist/Communist ideology of the United Nations.

Look for a future article on, “where the money will come from to pay for our school administration’s $100,000,000 vision”.

Kenneth E. Hogge, Sr.

Gloucester Point, Virginia

Parent Warrior 

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All About Vodka

Vodka.  Almost everyone you ask what Vodka comes from, the typical answer is that it comes from potatoes.  Well, that answer is both correct as well as incorrect.  Yes, you can make Vodka from potatoes, but you can also make vodka from any ferment-able substance or biomass.  Vodka can be made from sugar, corn, wheat, rice, sorghum,  rye, barley and the list goes on.

  What a distiller is doing is creating as pure a form of ethanol as possible from a base alcohol.  When this is done, there is pretty much nothing left from the base flavors in the final product.  In other words, you will not get any flavors of potatoes in Vodka nor any base flavors of whatever base is used to create Vodka.

  So what gives Vodka it's flavors?  As a pure ethanol, vodka only has 5 known flavors.  Those flavors only come from two components.  Those two components are the local water supply of the distillery when the distiller proofs down the Vodka, which means watering down the Vodka, and the yeast that was used in fermenting the base mash for making the base alcohol.  There are hundreds of variations of yeast out on the market today and each one has a different flavor.  Those yeast flavors do in fact transfer to the final product.  It does not matter if we are talking about Vodka, Whiskey, Gin, Rum, Brandy or and variations of liquors.

  With that note, what is the difference between a $10.00 dollar bottle of Vodka and a $100.00 bottle of Vodka?  $90.00.  Marketing.  That's mainly it more than any other aspect of the product.  Now there are some other variables that can distinguish a good Vodka from that of a bad one and that is all dependent on the distillery and their practices.

  What is distilling though?  It is merely the concentration and at the right distillery, the purification of alcohol.  What is done in a distillery is, a base, either liquid or a full mash, that has been fermented to produce a base of either beer or wine, is entered into a still.  The still heats the base alcohol up to where alcohol becomes a gas and travels upward in the still.  It then goes through a cooling process to come out as a concentrated liquid spirit.  For Vodka, you run the still at about 190 proof or better which is a near pure ethanol, stripping out the base flavors and smells.

  The first thing out of a still is the lightest forms of alcohol known in the industry as heads.  Heads have some nasty chemicals in them known as hexitones, acetone, and methanol.  These chemicals are very bitter tasting and is the stuff nasty hangovers come from.  Not what you want in your main product.  But, there is no legal requirement to take them out.  These chemicals are in your beer and your wine and there is no real way to get them out except through distillation.  A good distillery will take out these nasty chemicals.  Other distilleries leave them in which will give the final product some very nasty flavors.

  But this is not the only area where nasty flavored chemicals can come into play during the distillation cycle.  At the very end, as distillation is coming to a close, the last part coming out are the heaviest forms of alcohol that are referred to in the industry as tails, which are lighter in taste but again contain some nasty flavors.  Most distilleries separate the tails from the main product, but again, there is no legal requirement to do so.

  So if you leave in both the heads and tails in the main product, you are going to get a rather nasty tasting product.  Are there ways to remove these nasty flavors?  Yes.  Charcoal filtering is probably the most commonly used tactic to rid the product of the nasty taste of these other alcohols.  My own preference is to buy and consume products where the distillery takes out the heads and the tails from the main product.  How do you know which one's do this?  You don't.  There are no requirements to report this information to the public.

  This aspect of heads and tails is true of all spirits produced, not just specific to Vodka.  So these are some of the other aspects that differentiate one product from another.  Finding an inexpensive Vodka that is just as good, if not better than, a very expensive one isn't all that hard when dealing with Vodka.  That isn't the case with other spirits.  Other spirits have many more variables to factor in.

  Pictured at the top of this article is Platinum Vodka.  It's inexpensive and fully agreeable.  Not considered the best out there, but I have no issues with it.  It's 7 times distilled.  What does that mean?  It has more marketing meaning than anything else in my own opinion.  There are two ways to achieve 7 times distilling or 3 times 5 times or whatever anyone wants to claim for their product that seems to separate them from everyone else on the market.  But let's cover the bases here anyway.

  There are a number of different stills out on the market from which to make spirits.  The three main types of stills are the continuous still, the pot still and the column still.  We won't cover the continuous still as that would not be used for this type of statement in production.  That leaves the pot still and the column still.  If you are using a pot still, 7 times distilling means you have put the alcohol through the distilling process 7 different times which is a real time nightmare.  In a column still, one only needs to put on 7 heads on the column.  Each head on that column produces it's own distillation and the 7 heads covers the term, distilled 7 times.  Another term would be a 7 times re-flux system.  One run still equals 7 times distilled.

  At present, Vodka sells more cases nationwide as well as worldwide than any other spirit on the market according to Beverage World.  Whiskey produces more revenue, but bottle volume, right now Vodka is number one.  That changes a great deal.  Usually whiskey is the number one consumed spirit throughout the world.  Flavored Vodkas have had a massive impact on the market which is starting to soften according to industry insiders.  Most of the flavored Vodkas are referred to as Candy Vodkas by many in the beverage industry.  Vodka takes just about any flavor well as again, Vodka has little in the line of flavor profiles on it's own.

  Now here is some fun.  How many people know what Vodka means?  It has a number of meanings from little water, to burnt water to even burned wine.  Vodka as we know it today is mostly a 20th century product dating back to only 1934.  Earlier products called Vodka were usually strong flavored spirits of all kinds and from various bases for production.  The name Vodka goes way back to the 8th Century and possibly even earlier.  No one is sure and research still continues.

  Enjoy responsibly.

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Propaganda Film Most Likely To Succeed Shown At Gloucester High School

This is only a clip from BYOD, whomever they are, that praises the propaganda film, Most Likely To Succeed, the film that was shown at the Gloucester High School last night.  It's a positive promo spin for the film that does not seem to be available to the public and that is no surprise that it is being hidden from the public.  Tried to research this Lip, BOYD entity and nothing other than what you see above could be found.  Again, not a surprise.

  Here is a link to the Daily Press article on the subject.  http://www.dailypress.com/news/gloucester-county/dp-nws-mid-gloucester-high-study-meeting-20161128-story.html

  Now the link to the film makers website.  http://www.mltsfilm.org/  Film not available for viewing unless you are a collectivist school board member and want to host a viewing, or it comes down from above and you have to host a viewing because some elite collectivist has dictated that you do or get a new job somewhere else.  (The enemy is entrenched from within).

  Collectivists always hide what they don't want you to find out until it's to late and you can't fight it anymore.  Then they can say that you had the opportunity, when chances are high you didn't, so therefore silence gives consent.  This is not about the children, it's about the takeover of our freedoms.  Make no mistake about that.  We will continue to dig and publish any new findings.

The State of Education In Gloucester, Virginia And The Nation: And it's not good.

The future of education was unveiled last night at the Gloucester High School.  The future is very bleak by the admission of the video they showed us.  But the school board and the school administration is excited about the opportunities in this bleak future.  Why is it so dark?  According to what they showed us, the claim is that technology is now becoming the center of productivity where computers are replacing people at so many levels and that it's only a matter of time that technology leaves little to no jobs left.

  You get flash back memories of movies from the past such as the Terminator series or I-Robot.  That means the masses will have to compete in new ways to become one of the few that will get the privilege to actually work and make a living while the rest of humanity becomes obsolete.  Now of course the school board and school administration will deny that this was the intent of the film, that is because those areas were downplayed and you had to be astute enough to catch that.

  The new school curriculum of the future looks nothing like the past and is being designed, whether we like it or not, as a bee hive, collectivist mentality.  So your children will go to school to be indoctrinated into a collectivist society never understanding what freedom is or ever was.  They will not ever challenge it because they will not understand it.  They will become incapable of even debating what freedom means.  Not that many of them can now.

  Now I am not going to criticize anyone on the school board nor the school administration.  I talked with a few of them last night and I think they either have blinders on or can't see what the real issues with where all of this is going, or some might actually be supporters of the collectivist mentality.

  There are many forms of the collectivist.  Socialists, fascists, communists, dictatorships, are various forms of the collectivist mentality.  None want freedoms as America has known in it's past.  All want to squash individualism and freedoms except what they allow and will tell you are your so called freedoms.    Under collectivist propaganda, opportunities are held from the masses and jobs are scarce.  Resources are not available to the average person.  Only a select few are allowed certain opportunities and or resources that are well controlled from above.

  The model that was shown in last nights propaganda video explained these issues in very very low key areas or you had to read between the lines for some of the clues, while playing up the very very limited upside to the concepts.  They expect failures, and there must have been a ton of failures as not  one was shown at anytime.  Only a few, what they call, successes, were highlighted in an attempt to minimize the failures.

  Even more troubling is the violations to what are now standards, students put on plays with guns and violence in the name of education.  But try this in any other school in the nation and no way would it ever go through.  The students were actually using model guns.  Not presently allowed in any other school system anywhere in the US.  This was one of the success models they were promoting in the video.

  The other success model they were all in love with is a great piece of fun engineering, but the main person they gave all the credit to, was a person who did have the vision for it, but they failed to mention all the others who were highly integral to it's overall success showing that the main purpose of this new model is to identify the upcoming future elitists.  (You had to see the video to understand this area, and it was not something that was said, you had to read the meaning of it all).

  I agree with both the school board and school administration that change to our educational system is long overdue.  I can not agree with them that a collectivist, beehive, propaganda model for indoctrination of our children is the answer.  Many of them do not even see these issues based on discussions with them last night.  This isn't just a local movement, this is a nationwide movement.  It is being pushed in every state from the state level on down.

  Beware the enemy within.  I am not trying to say our elected officials or the present school administration is the enemy, yet, but if they do not wake up and start taking a stand against this collectivist mentality and model, then they do become the enemies of freedom and future growth.

  The enemy of our future is the collectivist mentality.  Their claims are false and can only come to fruition if they are fully in charge to control such.  Under freedom, the opportunities are limitless.  Today our nation remains stagnant as the collectivists take more and more control and bleed the freedoms from the people.

  With the amount of people that showed up last night, hardly anyone from the county, it is clear that no one understands what is really at stake for our future and our freedoms as well as our country, actually, under this model, we will no longer have a country and we will end up under full UN control and no one will think anything of it.  Trust me, that will be no utopia.

  I made no bones about it to several people last nigh, Dr Walter Clemons and Charles Records, both wonderful to speak with, that I found the video appalling and a collectivist mind set.  Neither of them were able to see it or would not admit they saw it that way.  I was with a group, each of us saw it as clear as daylight.

  Now, here is the kicker.  The school board and school administration made this publicly available and gave the entire county a chance to come and view this, but almost no one bothered to show up.  Silence is consent.  (Collectivist mind set).  So now you have no way of knowing what is on the table for our country's future.

  Now for the other part of why we went.  The question of the 44 million dollars to 65 million dollars the school board and administration is looking for.  Within the group I went with last night, we received a tour of the present high school and had an opportunity to speak with staff, teachers and students.  What we found was a structurally sound school with highly committed teachers.  The school does not need to be rebuilt under any circumstances nor does it need a massive face lift like the school board and administration would like.

  We agree that the school does need some minor renovations to update the electrical outlets and from one of the people I was with, and knows these matters, can be run through the ceilings of the school at a low cost.  Other potential options where to knock out some walls in some areas and sound proof some other areas of the school.  Some equipment updates can be justified as well.  What was discussed in our group is that the school maintenance department along with, if needed, some outside contractors, all of the work that is needed, can be done fairly cheaply.  The concept of needing even 12 million is just not justified.  The school is very structurally sound.

  We did get complaints from teachers that certain areas in the school are too loud and thus disruptive to the classes.  With a lot of questioning, what we found is that certain classes move their students into the hallways to conduct group session classes making the noise level higher than it should be.  When we viewed the propaganda film with the new modern open school designs, those classes held in the open are a lot more noisy than present day conditions.  So moving to these new open designs is not in the least bit conducive to education from the complaints we are getting from the present teaching staff.  From what we can tell, the only reason to move to open design is to indoctrinate our youth, not educate them.

  So there are a number of us who oppose the collectivist mindset we see coming deeper and deeper into our American freedoms.  There are always those who create for themselves an elitist leadership role so that they may be in control and determine who gets what and even if they should.  They oppose freedoms of self determination, responsibility,  the right to control one's own destination, and decide what they want out of life and how they should live life.  But they also deny these accusations even though the accusations fit.  Again, I am not saying our school board or administration fits within these parameters, but I am not sure they do not at this time.

  Collectivists will tell you that you need a certain degree from a certain school to be able to do certain jobs or tasks.  A common question from them goes like this.  Would you want a person operating on you for a heart transplant who is not a doctor?  My answer back is one they never like, if their success rate is as good or even better, then yes.The collectivist mindset will lock out a more qualified person because that person did not pay for their piece of paper that says the person spent a ton of money to go to the right school and get indoctrinated by them.  But how many of you are already indoctrinated?  You would never think of allowing someone to operate on you without them having the right piece of paper.  And that is all it is.  A piece of paper that says they were indoctrinated by some group that may not actually be the best qualified to even make that call, but no one else is allowed to challenge that anymore.  In fact, doing so can be considered a crime by those also not qualified to make that call.  The poison of the collectivist is fully set in most of us and it continues to grow.

  I'm not against education.  I am against the dissemination of disinformation in the guise of education designed to steal the freedoms of the people for the gain of the few also known as the collectivists.  There will be more published on this as at least one other, Mr Hogge Sr, will also be posting his views on this matter soon.

  On a final note.  We were impressed with what the teachers and staff already have to work with and it's well beyond what was available when I went to school.  The complaints that the equipment is outdated, well we all suffered that when we went to school and no one is any the worse by it.  That is what college or other continuing education is for as well as work experience.  The students that stayed were great.  Very helpful and took us on tours of the school and classrooms.  The food that was available was beyond any expectations, and we figured costly as well.  It was nice, but beyond the costs of what should have been made.  Plus, soda was available.  I hardly ever drink soda but indulged in a a couple of cans of Coca Cola.  No expense was to great?  Guess you want to schmooze the people when you want money from them.

2005 Gloucester High School Facility Report

This report was created in 2005 and is relevant to actions currently being taken by Gloucester, Va.'s public school system. Howard Mowry chaired the committee that created the report. This historical data should be included in future studies.

Facilities[1] from Kenneth Hogge Sr

Gloucester School Board Asking For 44 to 65 Million Dollars Throwing Taxpayers Deeper In Debt

The Gloucester County School Board is asking the taxpayers of Gloucester County to shell out another 44 million dollars to renovate the present high school or shell out 65 million to build a new high school.  These elitist board members fail to take into consideration what that kind of money will do to the average family in the county.  Higher taxes is a burden on families that are struggling now just to make monthly expenses in the present economy.  This hurts everyone with the few exceptions of those who can afford those higher taxes.  It does not matter if you are renting, it means your rent will have to go up to cover the new taxes.  And for what?  We are always told it's about the children.  Someone please show me the figures of how many students Gloucester has graduated that have moved on to an Ivy League college.  Does anyone have that figure?  

  Just because you throw money at something does not mean education improves.  Gloucester wants to put those huge windows in the high school like they have at the new Page Middle school, which by the way are on the wrong side of the building now costing tax payers a bundle in extra heating costs because the windows face north instead of south.  

  How can we trust them not to make all the same mistakes they made with Page which is a disaster by most measurements and considered as such by many throughout the county.  

  How many people will be put over the edge financially because of an ever growing tax demand by school officials who seek nothing more than to build their own empires?  We have a shrinking student base, not a growing student base.  We have had a shrinking business base, not a growing business base in Gloucester.  So where is that money coming from?  Where is the budget to help the poor, disadvantaged, homeless people in the county?  I would rather see that kind of money go to helping the local people who need it, not some ego hungry empire building school board that wants to throw money at looks, but it has nothing to do with education.  How does improving the looks of a school or building a new school improve education?  It doesn't.  But these elitists will do everything to sell you on the idea that it does.  Don't buy the hype.  Check into every aspect of it yourself and learn everything you can.  Just because they make it sound good, does not mean it is good.

  Demand justification for every benefit they try and sell you on.  Demand that the school board stop the wasted spending on over priced staff that has nothing to do with education but instead called administration.  As taxes continue to escalate, people will move to cheaper areas to live forcing yet higher taxes on those who remain further decreasing the value of improving looks of a school and shrinking the student base that is already in decline with no improvement in sight.  

  How these elitists justify grabbing more of your money?  Well, they live here too.  But as their empire grows, so does their pay.  And if the pay is still to low to cover the new taxes?  Pay raises are demanded to meet educational needs.  It's a great game they play against us because they can't loose.  

  This article is not meant to reflect on all of the hard working highly dedicated teachers that work for the Gloucester County School Board.  Overall the teachers do a great job with ever lower budgets despite ever increasing tax money given to the school board.  Where is that money really going is a wonderful question to ask.  The school board did not need to renovate an old school they closed and make it their headquarters, but they are empire building so........

  We highly recommend that everyone stop buying the slogan that it's all about the children.  They know that the slogan is very hard to argue against.  But it's nothing more than a slogan.  

  So here is our counter slogan:  "When elected officials see the citizens as nothing more than their own private bank, it's time to replace our officials.