Thursday, October 10, 2013

Gloucester, VA Page Middle School Dis Service Announcement 2

We continue our exploration on the communities arguments against the plans of the new Page Middle School on various levels.  Showing numerous communications between local concerned citizens and Gloucester officials responses to community questions.  We have a lot to go over within the next few days.  Everyone needs to know what is going on in this county.  





Mr. Kiser,

Thank you for responding to my questions.

In question number one I am referring to the size school which could be built on the existing Page Middle School site in comparison to building on the proposed site. Many residents including me are under the assumption there are plans to reduce the size of the new school's auditorium and gymnasium to save money. New plan design costs in comparison to purchasing pre-designed plans likely equates to somewhere in the neighborhood of 5,000 square feet of potential building. Site development costs will likely equate to over 20,000 square feet of potential building. What does that equate to in teacher’s pay, school buses, school supplies, technology, etc? Demolishing the damaged school was the sensible thing to do. Is abandoning the site at the cost of tens of millions of tax payer’s dollars a sensible thing to do?

In question number seven you say, “The new site is large enough to accommodate three schools over the years ahead.” The Virginia Department of Education recommends the following in new school site selection:

3.2 Size of New School Site
A. The following minimum usable site sizes are recommended:
Additional Acreage Per 100 Pupils in
School Type Basic Acreage Ultimate Enrollment
Primary or Elementary (grades pk-7) 4 acres
Middle School, Intermediate, Jr. High 10 acres
Senior High or Combined School 10 acres

Other considerations recommended to evaluate existing or potential school sites are:

1. Adequate site acreage to separate pedestrian, bus, and car traffic
2. Adequate site acreage to meet the needs of the outdoor physical education program
3. Adequate road frontage and ease of access
4. Availability of utilities
5. Proximity to noise and other pollution sources (airport, traffic, industrial)
6. Additional considerations would be the shape of the site, topography, and soil conditions
7. Adequate perimeter road circulation for emergency response vehicles.
8. Where possible, locate new schools in attendance areas that will
promote students to walk or ride bicycles safely to school. When
developing a new school site or altering an existing site the design
should include features that encourage pedestrian or bicycle
access to and from the school site.

Site topography, soil conditions, close proximity of wetlands, traffic and construction costs, especially construction costs, will likely never make it feasible to construct three schools on the new site.

In questions six and seven you infer vacating all School Board land connecting to Roadview Farm. For clarification; are there any conversations by the School Board as a whole or in part about the sale, trade or other means of transferring ownership of the two parcels of land known as Tax Map #39-198A and #39-198B, consisting of almost 26 acres which connect to the proposed school site and were purchased by Harry Corr in December 2011? Are there any conversations by the School Board as a whole or in part about transferring ownership of the existing Page Middle School site and or Bus Garage by sale, trade or otherwise? Careful


Gloucester Point Resident





Find below my answers to your questions in red. Take care.

Ben Kiser
Division Superintendent

A few questions about Page Middle School:

1) Why are over 25,000 square feet of school building being sacrificed to move off of the existing Page Middle School site?
· If you are referencing the portion of Page Middle School that was not destroyed by the tornado, the School Board decided, after much conversation and public input, that rebuilding on the old Page site was not the best solution and that renovating a 60-year old building was not financially prudent. As you know, the remainder of the old school was recently demolished and removed.

Do you realize how much space that is?
· Yes
3) Does the new school building design have wasted space areas that will require constant upkeep such as an internal court yard?
· No. There may be outdoor learning patios designed as part of the instructional houses but they are not interior courtyards.
4) Will the new school be designed to enhance utilization of Smart Board technology?
· Technology will be a component of the new school and smart boards may be one of the components.
5) Will additional wiring conduits for future upgrades be included in the building design?
· Electrical capacity for future utilization will be considered as part of the design.
6) What are the plans for the existing Page site?
· No specific plans at the moment. Some conversations have taken place as to the possibilities but nothing formal. The School Board still has its bus compound on the property. A solution for the bus compound may be required prior to any other use of that property being determined.
7) Are there any plans to obtain more land at the new site?
· The School Board does not have any plans to purchase additional land. The new site is large enough to accommodate three schools over the years ahead.
8) Will a model of the new Page Middle School and grounds be made available on the school website?
· As plans are refined, drawings will be available on the School Board’s website.



Greetings Mr. Kiser,
 
I know you are a busy person so I won’t take up much more of your time.  Thank you for “your” answers and opinions which you appear to be settled upon.  As I have researched Page Middle School I couldn’t help but notice you use the pronoun “I” disproportionately to “we”.  I have always been taught a community works together.  In a community setting such as Gloucester, people want to be involved.

  Gloucester County is rich in professionally intelligent and talented residents who can provide valuable advice and guidance that will never be provided by any hired commercial firms or businesses.  There are many communities who take advantage of those valuable free resources when they undertake a project such as building a new school.  Much of their resident involvement is channeled through the district representatives who seek out and make themselves available to their constituents to discuss issues.  Other community involvement is channeled through today’s technology. 

 Those communities also have meetings which are advertised and open to the public, as is in Gloucester County.  Unfortunately, that is the only community involvement aspect Gloucester County shares with those other more prosperous and content communities.  In Gloucester most residents are not willing to become involved because of what took place with the attempt by residents to unseat several county supervisors. Many people feel like there is no use in being involved because they feel those who are appointed and elected are going to do what they want with total disregard of those they are entrusted to represent.  Despite the setting being in a rural community or a major metropolis, those who are appointed and elected to ensure the education of children are supposed to work in tandem with those others who have been appointed and elected to represent the interests of the community as a whole. They are supposed to set the example of people working together for our children.  In Gloucester County that is not the way things are.

  The Gloucester School Board members have been manipulated to, among other things, take the approach of checking the required blocks as pertains to community involvement and working cohesively with other appointed and elected officials.  Resistance to working in tandem and restricting involvement of others presents a strong appearance of deception efforts which are normally perpetrated by persons with self gain agendas driven by greed.  I certainly hope that does not continue to manifest into being the case in Gloucester County.
 
Again, thank you.  You have been an enormous help in my continuing research of Gloucester County’s administrative process.



I will first say that I disagree with your assumptions and perceived savings.  The School Board has done due diligence on both sites and agreed to  the best possible solution for replacing Page Middle School after months of vetting the advantages and disadvantages of many scenarios.  Even though some individuals are assuming that several million dollars can be saved just by rebuilding on the previous site, that is simply just not the case.
 
The T.C. Walker Road property far exceeds the minimum guidelines for school construction as established by the Department of Education and will be able to accommodate a middle school, a high school, and an elementary school eventually.
 
Over the past year and a half, many conversations have taken place regarding the potential for the property adjacent to the old Page site and the new property.  At this time, no plans are in place or are being discussed by the School Board regarding the property in question.
 
As I stated in my last email, eventually, the School Board and the Board of Supervisors will agree to the disposition and future use of the old Page site.  At the moment, the School Board owns the property and has its bus compound situated on the property.  No plans have been made by the School Board regarding the future use of the site.
 
Take care.
 
 
Ben Kiser

Some of the conversations seem to be out of place.  This is how they are coming through to us and we are trying to sort them out as best as possible.  The objective however is to let everyone see all the issues surrounding the new school that is being forced on us all.  That is if we allow it to be forced on us.  What should be taken into consideration is that there is an appearance that the Board of Supervisors may have been hoodwinked in areas on this matter.  Take into consideration, if that were the case, they could have denied the funding at any time, so do not be fooled.  If no one is watching what is going on, we are all in trouble. 
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Old Lessons In Business Correspondence

books
books (Photo credit: brody4)
We are presenting a book that is now over 100 years old.  What is interesting about this book?  The wisdom contained in the pages are just as valid today as they were when the book was written.  Sure, there are some areas that are out of date, but all one has to do is apply what is relevant now as opposed to the era in which it was written and make the needed mental changes.  We think anyone in business today will find the book very useful.



Business Correspondence Vol. 3 from Chuck Thompson

You may find it useful to read the book in full screen mode.  Just click the icon at the far bottom right hand side of the Slideshare container to open into full screen.  To exit, there is a floating exit command at the top of the container.  If you do not see it, just hit the escape key on your keyboard and you will be right back here where you started.

  Free downloads of this book are available from our Slideshare site.  

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Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Preventable Medical Mistakes Account for One-Sixth of All Annual Deaths

University of Massachusetts Medical School and...
University of Massachusetts Medical School and hospital, Worcester, MA; South side. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I’ve long stated that the conventional health care system is in desperate need of radical change, and the findings published in a new report clearly backs up this assertion.
You’re probably already aware that the US has the most expensive health care in the world. In fact, the US spends more on health care than the next 10 biggest spenders combined: Japan, Germany, France, China, the U.K., Italy, Canada, Brazil, Spain and Australia.
If the US health care system was a country, it would be the 6th largest economy on the entire planet. Despite that, the US ranks last in health and mortality when compared with 17 other developed nations.
Sure, we may have one of the best systems for treating acute surgical emergencies, but the American medical system is an unmitigated failure at treating chronic illness.

I've previously posted my opinion of the so-called "Affordable Care Act".  There is always free cheese in a mouse trap, and if you've paid any attention to how our federal government names their legislation - the name is typically the opposite of the results. Just look to the "Patriot Act" or "Free Trade" agreements for confirmation, the bigger the lie the more easily it is believed.
Conventional medicine, which is focused on diagnostic tests, drugs, and surgical interventions for most ills, clearly kills more people than it saves. The lethality of the system is in part due to side effects, whether “expected” or not. But preventableerrors also account for an absolutely staggering number of deaths.
According to the most recent research1 into the cost of medical mistakes in terms of lives lost, 210,000 Americans are killed by preventable hospital errors each year.
When deaths related to diagnostic errors, errors of omission, and failure to follow guidelines are included, the number skyrockets to an estimated 440,000 preventable hospital deaths each year!
This is more than 4.5 times higher than 1999 estimates published by the Institute of Medicine (IOM),2 and makes medical errors the third-leading cause of death in the US, right after heart disease and cancer. As reported by the featured article inScientific American:3
“The new estimates were developed by John T. James, a toxicologist at NASA's space center in Houston who runs an advocacy organization called Patient Safety America...
[A] spokesman for the American Hospital Association said the group has more confidence in the IOM's estimate of 98,000 deaths. ProPublica asked three prominent patient safety researchers to review James' study, however, and all said his methods and findings were credible.”

Avoiding Hospitals Can Be 'Good Medicine'

In all, preventable medical mistakes may account for one-sixth of all deaths that occur in the US annually. To put these numbers into even further perspective, medical mistakes in American hospitals kill four jumbo jets’ worth of people each week.4
One of the reasons why I am so passionate about sharing preventive health strategies with you -- tips like eating right, exercising and reducing stress -- is because they can help you to stay out of the hospital. As a general rule, the hospital is a place you want to avoid at all costs, except in cases of accidental trauma or surgical emergencies.
According to statistics published in a 2011 Health Grades report,5 the incidence rate of medical harm occurring in the United States is estimated to be over 40,000 harmful and/or lethal errors DAILY! As John T. James writes in the featured report:
..."Perhaps it is time for a national patient bill of rights for hospitalized patients. All evidence points to the need for much more patient involvement in identifying harmful events and participating in rigorous follow-up investigations to identify root causes."

Overtesting and Overtreatment Are Part of the Problem

Scientific American also quotes Dr. Marty Makary, a surgeon at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and author of the book, Unaccountable: What Hospitals Won’t Tell You and How Transparency Can Revolutionize Healthcare. I interviewed Dr. Makary on the topic of medical errors earlier this year.

According to Dr. Makary, James’ estimate “shows that eliminating medical errors must become a national priority.” He also calls for increasing public awareness of “unintended consequences” associated with medical tests and procedures, and urges doctors to discuss such risks with their patients.
Part of the problem is linked to overtesting and overtreatment. And instead of dissuading patients from unnecessary interventions, the system rewards waste and incentivizes disease over health.

According to a report by the Institute of Medicine, an estimated 30 percent of all medical procedures, tests and medications may in fact be unnecessary6 – at a cost of at least $750 billion a year (plus the cost of emotional suffering and related complications and even death, which are impossible to put numbers on).
For the past two years, the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation, one of the largest physician organizations in the US, has released reports on the most overused tests and treatments that provide limited or no benefit to the patient, or worse, causes more harm than good. Last year’s report warned doctors against using 45 tests, procedures and treatments. This year, another 90 tests and treatments were added to the list.
To learn more, I encourage you to browse through the Choosing Wisely web site,7as they provide informative reports on a wide variety of medical specialties, tests, and procedures that may not be in your best interest.
It’s also important to be aware that many novel medical treatments gain popularity over older standards of care due to clever marketing, more so than solid science... Recent findings by the Mayo Clinic prove this point. To determine the overall effectiveness of our medical care, researchers tracked the frequency of medical reversals over the past decade. The results were published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings in August.8
The researchers found that reversals are common across all classes of medical practice, and a significant proportion of medical treatments offer no benefit at all. In fact, they found 146 reversals of previously established practices, treatments and procedures over the past 10 years.
The most telling data in the Mayo Clinic’s report show just how many common medical treatments are not helping patients at all—or are actually harming them. Of the studies that tested an existing standard of care, 40 percent reversed the practice, compared to only 38 percent reaffirming it. The remaining 22 percent were inconclusive. This means that anywhere between 40 and 78 percent of the medical testing, treatments, and procedures you receive are of NO benefit to you—or are actually harmful—as determined by clinical studies.

Safeguarding Your Care While Hospitalized

Once you’re hospitalized, you’re immediately at risk for medical errors, so one of the best safeguards is to have someone there with you. Dr. Andrew Saul has written an entire book on the issue of safeguarding your health while hospitalized. Frequently, you’re going to be relatively debilitated, especially post-op when you’re under the influence of anesthesia, and you won’t have the opportunity to see the types of processes that are going on. This is particularly important for pediatric patients, and the elderly.
It’s important to have a personal advocate present to ask questions and take notes. For every medication given in the hospital, ask questions such as: “What is this medication? What is it for? What’s the dose?” Most people, doctors and nurses included, are more apt to go through that extra step of due diligence to make sure they’re getting it right if they know they’ll be questioned about it.
If someone you know is scheduled for surgery, you can print out the WHO surgical safety checklist and implementation manual,9which is part of the campaign “Safe Surgery Saves Lives.” The checklist can be downloaded free of charge here. If a loved one is in the hospital, print it out and bring it with you, as this can help you protect your family member or friend from preventable errors in care.

Help for Victims of Preventable Medical Errors

If you or a loved one find yourself a victim of a preventable medical mistake, Dr. Makary suggests connecting with patient communities such as:
  • Citizens for Patient Safety10
  • ProPublica Patient Harm11
Besides that, he suggests:
“Ask to talk to the doctor about that mistake. If you’re not satisfied, write a letter or call the patient relations department. Every hospital is mandated to have this service. They are set up to answer your concerns. If you’re not satisfied with that, write a letter to the hospital’s lawyer, the general council. And you will see attention to the issue, because you’ve gone through the right channels. We don’t want to encourage millions of lawsuits out there. But when people voice what happened, what went wrong, and the nature of the preventable mistake, hospitals can learn from their mistakes.”

An Unacceptable Reality—a Healthcare System That Is a Leading Cause of Death

Medical errors are a large reason why the current, fatally flawed medical paradigm is in such desperate need of transformation. A majority of healthcare workers observe mistakes made by their peers yet rarely do anything to challenge them. A substantial portion of American doctors also suffer from burnout on the job, according to a 2012 study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.12
Of the nearly 7,300 doctors surveyed, nearly half had at least one symptom of burnout; 38 percent had high emotional exhaustion scores; and 30 percent had high depersonalization scores (viewing patients more like objects than human beings) – twice the rate of the general population of working adults. Clearly, this is yet another piece of the puzzle as to why US medical care is so dangerous.
So what is the solution?
From my perspective there isn't any easy one, other than to simply minimize your interactions with the conventional system, as it has very little to offer anyway when it comes to prevention or treatment of chronic disease. More often than not, conventional strategies in no way shape or form address the underlying cause of your disease.
One of the reasons I am so passionate about sharing the information on this site about healthy eating, exercise, and stress management is because it can help keep you OUT of the hospital. You can use this site to find well-proven strategies that will address most chronic health problems. Please remember you can always use the search engine at the top of every page on the site to review previous articles we have written.
If you have an acute injury, of course you need to seek immediate competent care. However, the very first step for any chronic health challenge would be to follow my Nutrition Plan as that will likely improve, if not completely eliminate, more than 80 percent of your health challenges.
In the unusual case where you are not getting better, it will be wise to seek a health coach or medical professional that can guide you through complicating factors that may be impairing your progress. Typically, the time honored local social networking strategy works well. Ask people in your local community who the best practitioners are for your problem. You can typically find many good referrals from people in independently-owned health food stores. But be sure to get a clear consensus and ask as many people as you can, as choosing a doctor is a very important step, and you want to make sure you get it right.

Basic Tenets of Optimal Health

All in all, leading a common-sense, healthy lifestyle is your best bet to achieve a healthy body and mind. And while conventional medical science may flip-flop back and forth in its recommendations, there are certain basic tenets of optimal health (and healthy weight) that do not change. Following these healthy lifestyle guidelines can go a very long way toward keeping you well and prevent chronic disease of all kinds:
  1. Proper Food Choices: For a comprehensive guide on which foods to eat and which to avoid, see my nutrition plan. Generally speaking, you should be looking to focus your diet on whole, ideally organic, unprocessed foods. For the best nutrition and health benefits, you will want to eat a good portion of your food raw.
  2. Avoid sugar, and fructose in particular. All forms of sugar have toxic effects when consumed in excess, and drive multiple disease processes in your body, not the least of which is insulin resistance, a major cause of chronic disease and accelerated aging.
    I believe the two primary keys for successful weight management are severely restricting carbohydrates (sugars, fructose, and grains) in your diet, and increasing healthy fat consumption. This will optimize insulin and leptin levels, which is key for maintaining a healthy weight and optimal health.
  3. Regular exercise: Even if you're eating the healthiest diet in the world, you still need to exercise to reach the highest levels of health, and you need to be exercising effectively, which means including high-intensity activities into your rotation. High-intensity interval-type training boosts human growth hormone (HGH) production, which is essential for optimal health, strength and vigor. HGH also helps boost weight loss.
  4. So along with core-strengthening exercises, strength training, and stretching, I highly recommend that twice a week you do Peak Fitness exercises, which raise your heart rate up to your anaerobic threshold for 20 to 30 seconds, followed by a 90-second recovery period.
  5. Stress Reduction: You cannot be optimally healthy if you avoid addressing the emotional component of your health and longevity, as your emotional state plays a role in nearly every physical disease -- from heart disease and depression, to arthritis and cancer.
  6. Meditation, prayer, social support and exercise are all viable options that can help you maintain emotional and mental equilibrium. I also strongly believe in using simple tools such as the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) to address deeper, oftentimes hidden, emotional problems.
  7. Drink plenty of clean water.
  8. Maintain a healthy gut: About 80 percent of your immune system resides in your gut, and research is stacking up showing that probiotics—beneficial bacteria—affect your health in a myriad of ways; it can even influence your ability to lose weight. A healthy diet is the ideal way to maintain a healthy gut, and regularly consuming traditionally fermented foods is the easiest, most cost effective way to ensure optimal gut flora.
  9. Optimize your vitamin D levels: Research has shown that increasing your vitamin D levels can reduce your risk of death from ALL causes. For practical guidelines on how to use natural sun exposure to optimize your vitamin D benefits, please see my previous article on how to determine if enough UVB is able to penetrate the atmosphere to allow for vitamin D production in your skin.
  10. Avoid as many chemicals, toxins, and pollutants as possible: This includes tossing out your toxic household cleaners, soaps, personal hygiene products, air fresheners, bug sprays, lawn pesticides, and insecticides, just to name a few, and replacing them with non-toxic alternatives.
  11. Get plenty of high-quality sleep: Regularly catching only a few hours of sleep can hinder metabolism and hormone production in a way that is similar to the effects of aging and the early stages of diabetes. Chronic sleep loss may speed the onset or increase the severity of age-related conditions such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, and memory loss.
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Governor Bob McDonnell Named “Public Infrastructure Official of the Year”

Governor of Virginia Bob McDonnell speaking at...
Governor of Virginia Bob McDonnell:  Photo by;  Gage Skidmore . (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Governor Becomes 5th Winner of Infrastructure Investor Magazine Award; First American Official to Gain Honor
Previous Winners: India Roads Minister Kamal Nath; Mexican President Felipe Calderon; Canadian Finance Minister James Flaherty; Australian Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Anthony Albanese

RICHMOND- Infrastructure Investor, a global magazine and online news service covering transportation investment, has named Governor Bob McDonnell its “Public Infrastructure Official of the Year.” In an article in this month’s publication, available here, and titled “Recognising McDonnell’s Vision,” the magazine states, “Having delivered more P3 projects than any state in the last five years, Virginia clearly stands out as a leader in utilizing public-private partnerships to improve transportation infrastructure.” The article further notes, “Virginia currently has 22 public-private partnerships projects in the pipeline, more than all other states combined,” and that “in the past five years, Virginia closed $8.1 billion worth of P3 deals- $6 billion closed in 2012 alone.”

Governor McDonnell is the first American recipient of the award, now in its fifth year. Previous winners are India Roads Minister Kamal Nath in 2009; Mexican President Felipe Calderon in 2010; Canadian Finance Minister James Flaherty in 2011; and Australian Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Anthony Albanese in 2012.

Speaking about the award the governor noted, “Over the last four years we’ve invested creatively and repeatedly in Virginia’s transportation infrastructure. Our roads, rail, and ports are crucial to job creation and economic growth in the Commonwealth. Recognizing that, we passed the state’s first major transportation funding plan in over a generation, putting in $6 billion in new resources into transportation over the next five years alone. We also looked for every means by which to bring the private sector into the infrastructure market to leverage state resources further. Through smart, targeted agreements we now have 22 public-private partnership projects underway. The four biggest projects generated $11.4 billion in economic activity in 2012, and supported over 58,000 jobs. Virginia is a national, and now a global, leader in the effort by governments to partner with the private sector to build much needed transportation infrastructure that will grow our economy and improve the quality of life of our citizens.”

The governor continued, “I specifically want to thank several individuals who have played key roles in making Virginia a global leader in public-private partnerships. Speaker Bill Howell was the chief patron of major transportation initiatives in 2007, 2011, and 2013. Senator Walter Stosch was the creator of Virginia’s landmark PPTA bill in 1995 that laid the groundwork for everything that has followed. Virginia Secretary of Transportation Sean Connaughton has led our work to craft financially sound agreements with the private sector to get the recent major deals done. And Tony Kinn has done a remarkable job as Director of Virginia’s Office of Transportation Public-Private Partnerships, under the leadership of VDOT Commissioner Gregory Whirley and VDOT Chief Deputy Commissioner Charlie Kilpatrick. I thank all six gentlemen for their steadfast leadership in this area. Through the passage of innovative legislation, and a focus on identifying and securing strategic projects, they have made Virginia the international model for how to build roads and rail faster and cheaper through the effective utilization of public-private partnerships.”

Senator Walter Stosch said, “As one of the early proponents of PPTAs in Virginia, I am pleased see the results of our efforts finally paying off.  During the course of the McDonnell Administration, we have worked together to streamline processes, centralize our P3 expertise, and advance several long-stalled projects.  These projects, like the I95 Express Lanes, the Downtown/Midtown Tunnel and Route 460 will not only help relieve congestion in some of our worst bottlenecks, but will also help attract jobs and economic development opportunities.  I applaud Governor McDonnell for his ongoing efforts to address Virginia’s transportation needs, and congratulate his for this award.”

“Over the last 30 years, no Governor has offered a bolder and clearer vision on transportation than Bob McDonnell,” said Speaker Bill Howell. “His work on public-private partnership projects has made Virginia a global leader. His vision, initiative and leadership produced the first major transportation funding plan in a generation. I am proud of the work that Governor McDonnell has done and look forward to building on his legacy in the years to come.”

The full article can be read here.

The four biggest public-private projects currently underway in the Commonwealth currently are the I-495 and the I-95 Express Lanes in Northern Virginia; the U.S. Route 460 Corridor between Petersburg and Suffolk; and the Midtown Tunnel in Portsmouth.
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Fool's Paradise by Spinefish, Free Mp3 Album Downloads

English: Naked girl shows to the people her bo...
 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Fool's Paradise the album by Spinefish.  A Russian Indie Band with all the songs in English.  It's dark with heavy leanings towards Gothic rock.  You can play each and every track.  Whatever you like, you are free to download and put it onto a CD, your iPod or Mp3 player, add it to your smartphone or you are even free to use the tracks in a video as long as the video is not for commercial use.  Yes you can use the video on YouTube.  Just give credit to Spinfish for the song and include the track name or names.  



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Suntex Ventures Acquires York River Yacht Haven in Gloucester, Virginia

Suntex Ventures with its subsidiary Suntex Marinas, the Dallas-based owner and operator of marina properties, is pleased to announce the acquisition of York River Yacht Haven in Gloucester, VA. York River Yacht Haven is a full-service destination marina located near the mouth of the York River on the lower Chesapeake Bay, only miles from the ICW in Sarah’s Creek.
 The 14-acre site is in a natural “hurricane hole”, storm protected from every quadrant, making it a very sought-after home for some of the finest yachts in the Chesapeake Bay. The marina includes 325 covered and open slips, boatyard, restaurant, ship’s store, pool, and a marine and boat repair facility.

“Suntex is thrilled to add York River Yacht Haven to its network of marinas along the Eastern seaboard,” Chris Petty, Suntex Marinas President, said. “With the change in ownership, York River Yacht Haven will soon see more amenities, better services, and a new restaurant tenant to better serve our customers and make the boating experience the best it can be.” The restaurant will be under lease to the owners of Riverwalk Restaurant and will be reopening soon.
Mr. Martin Lucas has been chosen to lead the property as General Manager. Martin has decades of yachting and marina management experience and has most recently served as the Director of Customer service for an internationally acclaimed marina company. Martin will be supported by the talented York River Yacht Haven team that has worked diligently to serve their customers’ needs.
Suntex Partners have owned and operated 31 marina properties and are very excited about adding York River Yacht Haven Marina to our current portfolio of 17 marinas in Texas, Georgia, Florida, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Iowa and St. Maarten. The Suntex vision is to be the pre-eminent resort marina company in the world and is actively seeking premier marinas around the world for acquisition.

About Suntex Ventures:

Suntex Ventures is a Dallas-based real estate investment fund with focus in mixed-use waterfront properties including marinas and other select assets. Through its subsidiary, Suntex Marinas, the firm provides marina and property management services throughout its portfolio. Based upon proprietary underwriting, experience, and historical success, they are focusing on high-end resort destinations.

http://www.allatsea.net/suntex-ventures-acquires-york-river-yacht-haven-gloucester-virginia/  Link back to original article on All At Sea website.

In case you missed it, Gloucester's Yacht Haven filed bankruptcy months ago.  It was announced in the local papers only in the legal announcement section.  No news story was done about this.  The is some good news for the area however.  Welcome Suntrex to Gloucester, Virginia.
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