Boss Hogg Needs to Go

Last evening, a post on my facebook feed caught my attention. It was from the sheriff on his personal facebook page. He has his professional one too and didn't post this particular item there so he probably thinks it's ok. I don't. But, maybe it's just me.

Quick review: Sheriff Pat Kelly has a 'Sheriff Pat Kelly' facebook page and a 'Pat Kelly' facebook page. He posts a lot of the same stuff on both. Awhile back, some people were complaining that he shouldn't be posting official sheriff stuff on his personal page so he made the sheriff page so he could do that. I have an issue with some of the stuff he posts on that page because it comes off sounding like the arrested persons are already determined to be guilty when we STILL have innocent until proven guilty in this country. I think. If I were a defense attorney, I'd be all over that for my client. A whole nuther issue.

Anyway, last night I saw this:

Pat Kelly

Thanks so much to my family, friends and supporters that came to walk with my campaign group and to my staff, employees and reserves that came out and participated in the parade with my office. Thanks to Pearl Graham for driving the SALT float and all the members of SALT that participated. To Becky and Suzie for preparing a wonderful cookout. To Smith Concrete for your support. To everyone and especially Jim Childs for your support and the job you do. Thanks to all!

Sweet that he's thanking his supporters and all but some of those supporters are "staff, employees and reserves" and "especially Jim Childs".

Stuff like this kinda bothers me. Even if there is no coercion from 'boss' to 'employee', or employee sucking up to boss, it looks wrong.

And that's why we have laws. We have the Federal Hatch Act and the Ohio “Little” Hatch Act. These are not obscure laws that no one has ever heard of. If you've ever been a public employee, you probably know what they mean, generally speaking.

Basically, if you are a public employee, stay out of partisan politics. You can vote, you can have an opinion, and you can be involved in nonpartisan campaigns and run for nonpartisan offices (school board and such), but to be on the safe side, stay out of the fun part of politics.

Christina L. Corl wrote a pretty good overview.

There is good rationale for this going in both directions. An employee can't be forced to campaign for their boss, which used to happen frequently, and employees can't curry favor with their boss by campaigning for him.

What adds flavor is we went through this before. Back when the race was between the current sheriff and the previous sheriff, one of the deputies was fired for campaigning against his boss. Termination of employment is the penalty that is to be paid but since an arbitrator over-ruled the initial finding, the deputy got his job back and 75K besides. And now that deputy is Sheriff Kelly's "friend and sounding board" according to Pat Kelly's facebook posting of this afternoon. Nope, no impropriety here.

Having employees and other underlings (rumor has it Explorer Scouts too) campaigning may seem rather frivolous to some. I find it quite important because if the sheriff chooses to ignore some laws, how does he enforce any laws? The sheriff is not above the law nor are the deputies.

If this particular issue isn't quite enough to cause alarm, try adding a couple of issues that reveal a pattern of behavior. A county commissioner who beat his wife and had pot in his house was treated much differently than someone else under similar circumstances. The hiring of a convicted felon as a deputy - the son of a friend who campaigned for him. And we'll not get into the money issues from that office - yet.

And I'm going to pay attention when the sheriff says I can't drive my truck in the snow. Hold your breath.

And I'm suppose to follow his orders if marshal law is ever declared. Hold your breath.

If Sheriff Kelly loses the election this fall, is he going to delete his personal facebook profile or turn it over to Mr. Kane? After all, the url is facebook.com/athenssheriff.

Opower

Do you know what Opower is? Yea. I didn't either.

Every other month for the past 18 months or so, we get this letter from American Electric Power telling us how we're using too much electricity. The first one I mostly ignored. The second one, however, I had to see what it was. So I called AEP to inquire why we were getting these mailings. That was a funny 20-minute conversation that ended with me saying: "this is the only company I know of that doesn't want to sell it's product." The only thing I knew when I hung up was that AEP didn't want us to actually use any electricity.

I still don't have the answer to that mystery but after doing a little bit of digging, I found out why the conversation I had with the lady who works for AEP was so funny. She didn't have a clue what I was talking about. She knew the letters were sent and a basic overview of what they were, but she couldn't answer the questions that came from my paranoid persona such as, What does AEP care how much electricity we use if we pay our bill every month? Are they trying to say that if we don't slow our usage as a collective, there's going to be blackouts? She babbled something about our carbon footprint and I told her I preferred to employ coalminers. I don't think she got the reference.

AEP doesn't generate the letters. The letters are generated by Opower. I don't know who actually mails them and I don't think it really matters, but the graphs and charts are made by a relatively new company - Opower.

So, what is Opower? Basically, Opower is an international computer programing company. They design and run the software that gathers data from a utility company, evaluates customer usage, and generates reports which are sent to 'encourage' consumers to use less energy by shaming them into thinking their neighbors are more energy efficient than they are. They are also looking to convince utility companies to develop websites that encourage their customers to interact with energy management tools. I didn't look but I bet there's an app for that.

I don't know about you, but this garbage sends shivers down my spine. It doesn't stop with an every other month mailing. They worship smart meters of course and the more of those there are, the better they can manipulate the data.

They also want to convince the utility companies to text you part way through your billing cycle if you are on track to use more energy than normal. I suppose the reverse might also apply. You get a smiley face text when you come in under your monthly allotment. Yes. A smiley face.

The logo for this company is a smiley face. And the one on their website winks at you when you hover over it. Creepy.

This whole company seems rather juvenile. I don't know. They really only manage to piss me off to the nth degree. They put a smiley face on your evaluation for cryin' out loud. Anyway, as you peruse their website and you get to the careers page, you'll see all the perks. And there are a ton. Great! It's a private company. Coffee bar, kitchen, free lunch, farm-fresh milk, ping pong, scooters, among other things. I wonder when nap time is? And can't forget the annual mustache contest called Viva Cinco de Moustache. Yea, it's in May. I'm not sure exactly how many of their employees might be old enough to actually grow a mustache or if they can paste one on.... Of course, they might eat the paste.

Find the "Meet the Team" link at the bottom and you'll find a bunch of black and white's of the employees. Hover. It's cute. If you're running a daycare center. Maybe it's me.

Go to the Ometer link. This is where they make their claims about the amount of energy being saved because of their program. (Be sure to click on the arrows) Maybe it's true, maybe it isn't.

We've taken more than 90,000 homes "off the grid" so far.

We've effectively added more than 6,000 acres of rainforest (which could sequester as much CO₂ as we've abated)

We've created 790 jobs (not counting the 230 people working at Opower)

You could drive a Chevy Volt around the world more than 160,000 times on our current energy savings

Their argument is that by sending the consumer this information, the consumer then takes steps to reduce their energy consumption because their neighbor is using less and we have to keep up with the Jones' after all.

Sure. In our household, we are using less electricity. But it has nothing to do with getting those stupid letters. They of course are going to take credit for it.

Let's start by examining the latest letter we received.

On the back are energy saving tips. I so love these. This months' tips include:

Hang laundry to dry. Did you know that reduces wear and tear on clothes? That's what they said. I happen to know for a fact that is false. If you have ever been poor enough or old enough to hang laundry on a clothes line in the back yard, you know that the sun deteriorates fibers much quicker than any clothes dryer. Nevermind the fact that it is quite labor intensive.

Use fans instead of AC. Do you know how much electricity fans use? And you're gonna need more than one.

Use and switch off power strips. Plug all the devices around your tv into a power strip, then switch the strip off when you're not watching tv. I pay extra for the dvr thing. If there's no power to it, it doesn't record anything. I watch nothing live. Even the news gets recorded. That way I can skip through commercials. Our dvr is either recording or playing back more than it isn't.

On the front, our graphs show that we are not keeping up with the Jones' very well. We're doing better than "similar homes" but this 2-months we used 70% more than "Efficient Similar Homes". Let's define those. Efficient Similar Homes are the most efficient 20% of similar homes. Similar Homes are approximately 100 occupied apartments or condos that have electric heat and are either in the same building or nearby (avg 5.4 miles away).

Since only a few will recognize just how funny this is, I'll explain. We live in the biggest freakin' condo. Most people call it a house. Just the two of us live here at this address. There are no other apartments. The other buildings are called barns. There are quite a few residents but they all have four legs. Also, I know that there is not a single apartment building or condo within 5.4 miles of us. So our consumption on a farm is being compared to the consumption of those who live in apartments and condos. Sounds like maybe these guys went to Harvard or something.

I assume AEP is paying Opower. But at least some of the reports that Opower is generating is extremely inaccurate. Does AEP care that the reports are b.s.? Usually, private companies are very diligent with accuracy doing that which they were hired to do. At least that was always the goal of any business I've been involved in. Unless they're doing government work. We'll have to have a look at that.

Back to why we are using less electricity. Electric rates have been increasing by double digits each year over the last few years. This past January, they were due to spike and they did by 45% or more in some cases. Last summer, we decided to go back to burning wood. Quite a few of our friends made the same decision. So the real result? Electricity consumption went down and wood consumption went up. Trees were cut down, sawed up, and tossed in wood burners where they made smoke. Probably a lot more smoke collectively than the electricity generating plants that use coal but hey, we used less electricity. Met the goal. That's what matters and we solved the problem they're claiming we have. Didn't we?

Get Off the Drugs and Do for Yourself

We're doomed. Society has become so dependent on 'authority' we don't even know how to get rid of our leftover dope. Or maybe we're too stoned to think and do for ourselves.

The war on drugs was waged over 40 years ago and as far as I can tell, nothing much has changed. If anything, it's gotten worse. How long must it go on before we realize it isn't working?

Today, one of the battles was fought in Athens County. They had one of those pill drop off sites. You know, where people drop off the meds they didn't take and turn them in to be properly disposed. I suppose it makes people feel better. Ahhhhhhh Get the bad drugs off the street.

If those bad drugs include old vitamins. Come on. You don't really think people are turning in their oxy do you? Heck no. That stuff was already ripped off by the dealer of the family.

So why do we need these little shows. They do the same thing with guns. Turn in your guns and we'll give you a $25 gift card. Sure. I'm going to bring in a perfectly good gun for 25 bucks. Nope. Don't think so. Those guns that get turned in are completely worthless. Just like the meds, they have zero street value. But it makes people feel better to think something is being done. It doesn't matter what that something is, just so it's something. The media gets a story they can sensationalize showing those bags of drugs and the sheriff looks like he's busy.

Evidently, it doesn't occur to people to go ahead and dispose of these leftover meds/vitamins on their own. Is that illegal now or something? And, why are they leftover anyway? Why didn't you take them? Or is it one of those you just had to ask your doctor about and he wrote the script even though it wasn't right for you? Isn't that what every other commercial says? "Ask your doctor if _____ is right for you".

Maybe there is a drug problem in this country. But it's really difficult to tell the kids to just say no to the illicit drugs when their parents are hooked on the prescription ones. It's difficult to tell the kids to say no to illicit drugs when the parents are getting the kid his own fist full of scripts.

At least today, they got all those nasty vitamins off the street. The street value had to be pretty high. $0?

The War on Farming

We have so many 'wars' gong on in this country, what's one more?

The regulations on farming are bad enough but they're about to get worse.

In Michigan, they're dealing with a 'feral swine' ban. Anyone raising certain species of hogs had to dispose of them by April 1 of this year. Hog farmers are being subjected to raids and searched for the now illegal swine. Some other states have instituted similar legislation. NY wants to tell you how much salt to use and CA says you can't buy your kid a happy meal. And how many places have shut down lemon-aid stands?

Now come the feds. The Department of Labor wants to regulate what farm kids can do on the farm and the Department of Justice is seizing the bank accounts of farmers.

This country is turned upside down and spinning on it's head. The idiots are in charge.

Locally, and I'm sure in other places as well, there is a group pushing the '30-mile meal'. The idea is to buy as much as possible within 30 miles of your home. By doing this, you are supporting your farmer neighbors, getting fresher food, and reducing your 'carbon footprint' by reducing the miles required to transport food. Even though the majority of the people involved in this little project are on the opposite end of the political spectrum from me, I still like the idea.

If a project of this type were to really catch on and take off, the government MUST get the hell out of the way. I want to be able to visit for a minute or two with the neighbor when I stop to buy milk. Can't buy milk from the neighbor now. The government says so. I can't have a neighbor butcher my calf for me. The government says so. I can't have a neighbor buy goat meat from me. The government says so. Want to sell excess produce from your backyard garden? Forget it. It's not that it's impossible to do these things, but if you are going to do them legally, it is time consuming and very expensive to get the permits and build the facilities the government requires.

Evidently the government doesn't think they have enough control. The government is now telling farm families they can no longer have their children do farm chores. And if you don't deposit all of your earnings into your bank account, the government takes it from you under The Bank Secrecy Act. This kind of legislation will drive small producers out of business. The small producers are you and your neighbors.

Why? The government says our kids are too fat. They should get more exercise and eat healthier they say. Yet they now want farm kids to sit and do nothing and would rather kids eat produce from Mexico as opposed to buying lettuce from a local farmer. The government keeps pushing the idea that we should be using less gas and reducing our carbon footprint but makes it impossible to do that when it comes to buying our most basic needs. They are taking control of the food supply at an alarming rate and we are either powerless to stop it or too stupid to see the big picture.

He who controls the food supply, controls the people.

Soylent Green anyone?

Going to Mexico with Malia

I've been trying to imagine what sort of parent would allow their 13 year old daughter to go to Mexico with her friend. I can't think of a single one of my friends who would have been allowed to go. Back when I was 13, we didn't get a spring break unless you count Good Friday as spring break. And some years we didn't even get that if we had too many snow days to make up.

Malia and her friends going to Mexico is utter nonsense. If I were 13 and one of her friends who were invited to go, the trip wouldn't happen because my mother would have stopped it.

The problem with trying to put my 13 year old self into this situation is that it would never have happened. Not because Malia and I wouldn't have been friends, I lived nowhere near D.C. But because, when I was 13, parents had more sense and they actually parented. Something that seems to have been lost somewhere along the line. And my mother would have laughed thinking there was a punchline somewhere. We didn't know anyone who went to Mexico.

But this is how I imagine the conversation would have transpired had I been a friend of Malia and we actually got a spring break:

Me:  Mom, I got invited to go to Mexico with Malia for spring break. Can I go?

Mom: The country?

Me: Yes, the country. What other Mexico is there? Geez. (eyeball roll)

Mom: No! Not at 13 you're not. Thirteen year olds don't go to Mexico for spring break. Thirteen year olds don't go on spring break.

Me: But all the other girls are going.

Mom: You aren't all the other girls. If all the other girls jumped off a bridge, would you? Who the hell would take their kid to Mexico? (said to air) I'm not going to Mexico so you aren't going to Mexico.

Me: It's just us girls going. Malia's dad is paying for it and he told her she could take her friends.

Mom: Are you out of your mind? By yourselves? You're not going to Mexico. It's not safe for adults never mind a group of 13 year old girls. Parents aren't going?

Me: But there will be plenty of secret service guys going with us.

Mom: I don't care if there are a hundred secret service guys, you're not going and that's final.

And my 13 year old best friend would have been standing right there with me for moral support and would have had to answer the question: "What did your mother say?" To which she would have replied: "We haven't asked her yet."

At this point my mother would have been on the phone dressing down Moochelle about allowing 13 year olds to go to Mexico which would have included a couple of "Who the hell do you think you are? You don't tell 13 year old girls they can go to Mexico." Unless it was Mr. Obama who answered the phone then it would have been even more entertaining because that conversation would have included the part about how much it would cost the taxpayers and she would have tossed out the figures of the salaries of 25 secret service agents, the cost of flying down there, and all the other expenses involved.

And I would have been mortified as I ran across the road to my best friend's house to ask her mother where the conversation would be eerily similar.

If after all of that, the trip was still a go, the conversation between my mother and the other mothers would have left Malia to go alone, thus halting the trip, I would think. My mom would have been communicating with the other moms at the various mom functions of the day - girl scouts, PTA meetings, ball games, church - where the moms would compare stories thus making the part about all the others going b.s.

My mom had the nads to actually call. My daughter and I would have had a similar conversation but I wouldn't have made the phone call.

Just Because You Can, Doesn't Mean You Should

Athens County Auditor, Jill Thompson, is in the midst of a battle with the sheriff, Pat Kelly, and the prosecutor, Keller Blackburn, over where some of the funds for their offices should be kept. It seems the sheriff and the prosecutor want to move money to outside accounts and the auditor is questioning the appropriateness of their requests, as well she should.

According to The Athens Messenger:

Blackburn and Sheriff Patrick Kelly sent Auditor Jill Thompson letters instructing her to move money from their Drug Law Enforcement and Law Enforcement Trust Fund accounts into outside bank accounts they would control.

Maybe it's just me but it sounds a bit shady.

Blackburn seems to think it's ok since it's not tax money but money from criminal cases. Ummmm, I disagree. Regardless of how the money is generated, it still belongs to the citizens of the county to be used on their behalf to catch criminals and prosecute them. There must be a system of checks and balances, so to speak, for the citizenry to have some semblance of faith in the government that the officials aren't lining their own pockets.

And that's where the auditor comes in to the picture. We have a great auditor in Athens County. I'm convinced the reason she lost her bid for state representative had more to do with voters not wanting to share her with the rest of the district. I heard those sentiments expressed by R's and D's both. Keep in mind, she is one of two elected R's in this superD county.

If the auditor doesn't have oversight on the various accounts that are set up for each of the county departments, how can we, as citizens and taxpayers, know that the money is being spent appropriately? As a citizen, I don't need to know every microscopic detail of the budgets in the county. I'm sure it would make my head explode. That's why we have an auditor. But if something doesn't sit right with me, I need to be able to have a look at the books. If each department gets to utilize outside accounts for this, that, or the other, I can never be sure that the money isn't being used nefariously and the auditor loses the ability to do what she was elected to do.

Both the sheriff and the prosecutor are claiming that it is because of the 'sensitive nature' these particular funds are used for as the reason they need to do this. It seems to me that a big part of both departments deal with things of a sensitive nature.

Also, in the Messenger:

Blackburn said that if Thompson issues the checks so the money can be moved, she would not face any future state audit liability because she has documented her concerns.

That isn't the point, Keller. Jill is doing her job. Just because she has documented her concerns, doesn't mean you are entitled to get your way. Maybe if you concentrated more on doing your job, there would be fewer criminals getting away with murder.

And, there is a track record already that these funds are misused. The sheriff's Furtherance of Justice account (which is allowed by Ohio Revised Code) audit showed expenditures without supporting documentation as well as money spent on carpet, which is not a valid expense for this account. Pat says he thought that was an okay purchase. Wrong.

So if you don't even know what is and is not approved purchases, why should the auditor give you another account to manipulate? That's like doubling a kid's lunch money this week because he spent last weeks' lunch money on video games. So now he can get a video game AND lunch. Or maybe two video games.


And your argument that other counties do it is so lame. When I tried to make that argument as a kid to my mother, she said: If the rest of your friends jump off a bridge, are you going to do it too?

Of course not. And that is what I gather Jill is trying to say too. You, Pat and Keller, have your jobs to do. Let Jill do hers. It goes a long way with the citizens who follow such things to know that the money is being watched closely and that the system of checks and balances we have within our government is working. If you're given too much financial latitude, there will always be a sector of the public who is suspicious that some shenanigans are going on with their money. And they should be suspicious. Because even if it isn't happening, the possibility that it could happen is enough for your credibility to be questioned. That makes getting reelected that much more difficult. Doesn't it?

Just as I was about to post this, this showed up on my facebook feed:

WSAZ NewsChannel 3

Mason County Sheriff David Anthony files for re-election after being indicted earlier this month for misuse of gov't funds and wanton endangerment. Even though it's innocent until proven guilty, can he overcome the court of public opinion? Details at 5:30 and 6!

So That Others May Shop...

Have we really gotten to be that self-centered?

When I was a kid, (eyeball roll), almost everything was closed on Sundays and holidays. There were, and still are some, 'blue laws'. Blue laws prohibit certain activities on Sundays. Some time in the late 70's, some of these bans were lifted and various establishments started to conduct business on Sundays and holidays. All for the sake of the almighty dollar.

Sunday used to be reserved for family. It was a day of rest. We went to church in the morning and gathered with family the rest of the day. We went to our grandparent's house where we had the opportunity to play with our cousins while the adults talked about whatever adults talked about. That's why I know my cousins. It's why I know cousins of cousins. Even after our grandparents passed, we still got together on Sunday's with family. We did the same thing for holidays.

While I don't like laws that try to dictate morality, they generally don't work anyway, I do think that the easing of blue laws gave us an excuse to start ignoring an extremely important aspect of our life - family.

Instead of spending the day breaking bread with family, we haul our kids to yet another activity, soccer, baseball, whatever. Sunday has become a day to catch up on those things we didn't get done during the week. Sunday has become just another day of the week of running errands. When did it become ok to schedule ballgames on Sunday anyway? I know what my mother would have said. "Too bad. You'll just have to miss this game."

But we've gone even a step further now. Again, for the sake of the almighty dollar, we have stores who are going to open their doors for shoppers on Thanksgiving Day to get in a couple of extra hours of Christmas shopping. Really?

That means that some poor souls have to forfeit their Thanksgiving with their families so the self-centered, in-debt-up-to-their-eyeballs, I-just-can't-get-it-done-without-these-couple-of-extra-hours, people can get a 'great deal'. Give me a break. Can't you wait until a respectable hour on Friday? Isn't 6 am Friday early enough to start your Christmas shopping?

The Santa Claus magic should have gone away when you became an adult. There's nothing wrong with kids, even teenagers, thinking, on Christmas morning, that all that stuff magically appeared overnight with the help of little elves. But do you realize that doesn't happen in the stores? Someone has to be there to stock and restock the shelves. Someone has to ring up your order so you can run that over-used credit card through the little machine. Someone has to watch the mob come through the door and be there to help your fellow shopper up when you run them over trying to beat them to the coveted item the marketers said you just have to buy or life just won't go on.

All that takes a lot of someones. Those someones have to be at work well before the doors of the store open to you. Those someones are going to try and cram in a quick Thanksgiving and get some sleep before heading off to work.

Yes. I know there are a lot of people who work holidays. I was one of them. There are jobs where it is critical for people to work the holidays, hospitals, fire and police departments to name a few. And others not so critical. But can we keep it to a minimum? Must we add retail stores?

I've never been shopping on black Friday and really don't understand the hysteria. There's always been more than enough things in the store to buy in the middle of December and somehow guys manage to find stuff on Christmas Eve. Besides, internet shopping means I can have a cup of coffee in hand while wearing sweats and I'm not infringing on someone else's family time no matter when I want to do my shopping.

So this year, when I venture out to the brick and mortars, it will be Sears or JCPenny's which are resisting this ridiculous trend, somewhat. And there's always the little mom and pop places that usually have incredible customer service. And if for some really weird reason I find the shelves empty at those places because I didn't show up in time, there's always the orange, peppermint stick, and nuts as a back up. Oh, and the turkey, ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, homemade noodles, pies....

.....and we'll eat too much and talk about how we didn't miss out on Black Thursday over a game of Euchre.