1942 Sunday. Dad slept Most of Day. Harris came by. Homer is working days at L.A. Dry docks at San Pedro.
1943 post: Tearing out is tearing down or rigging down. To dismantle a drilling rig and auxiliary equipment following the completion of drilling operations.
RIP in pieces with the German long 75mm meta at it's most likely BR. I bought it anyways because it's sexy though.
"The Char B1 remains one of France’s most iconic WW2 era tanks not just due to its instantly recognizable visual appearance, but also due to its widespread use editing during the warthunder release in 2017"
Chairman Challstrom called the meeting to order at 7:32 p.m. In attendance were commissioners Brenda Gumula, John McClelland, Peter Nagrod, Freda Temple and Steve Werts. Also in attendance were Mayor Joli McCathran, Councilor Georgette Cole, HPC member Wendy Harris, and residents Joe Clark, Audrey Maskery, Bud O’Connor, Jane Seegal and Jim Snyder. Attorney Charles Chester was in attendance representing resident Jim Snyder (201 Maple Road).
Brenda Gumula moved, Peter Nagrod seconded, that the agenda be approved. Chairman Challstrom added three (3) items. Approved: 5-0.
Peter Nagrod moved, Steve Werts seconded, that the Planning Commission minutes for May 7, 2014 be approved. Approved: 4-0; McClelland abstained.
409 5th Ave. – Fence: Brenda Gumula reported that the resident would like to replace some very old fencing and a gate. The fence will be 100% on the resident’s property. All property corners have been located. Steve Werts moved, Peter Nagrod seconded, that the building permit for a replacement fence at 409 5th Avenue be approved. Vote: 5-0.
201 Maple Road – Extend and Enclose Carport: Attorney Charles Chester brought forth the following as the basis for his argument as to why Jim Snyder is entitled to enlarge and enclose his existing carport;
The brick walkway between the existing carport and the main house constitutes a connection which is required by ordinance.
This home has the main door on the side of the house not facing a walkway or a road making it unique to the historical precedent.
Jim Snyder addressed the Commission stating that 12 of the 18 homes on Maple have garages and all are larger than what he proposed. In addition, half of the garages are closer to the road than his. He asked the Commission to remove the ordinance “mumbo-jumbo” and figure out what is reasonable from the citizen’s point of view. Charlie Challstrom thanked Mr. Snyder for his input and stated there is a clear understanding about the front yard and address of this property. He also stated the Town ordinances are clear in defining a front yard. Town Attorney Suellen Ferguson stated the frontage question has been decided by both the Planning Commission and the Board of Zoning Appeals. State law dictates once a determination has been made and no additional information is brought forward, that decision cannot be overturned. Doing so would be considered arbitrary and capricious. Because nothing new has been presented, the original decision must stand. Mr. Chester stated although the Town may consider it so, no res judicata has been determined by a judge. Ms. Ferguson re-stated the decision cannot change. There was a lengthy discussion about the perceived erroneous decision by the Planning Commission, the timing for arguing a BZA decision (30 days after the hearing), the BZA and its purpose, the interpretation that the brick walk constituted a legal connection to the main structure, Sections 5.31 & 5.32A of the Town Code, comparable properties in Town, Town Code vs. practicality, the original facts of the original decision, changing the ordinance to allow for enlargement of a non-compliance and a proposed change to the original plans. Ms. Ferguson stated no decision about a new project would be made tonight and asked if they were requesting a decision about the brick walk connection and how it is defined. Mr. Chester went on to say there was no further encroachment because of the brick walkway already exists. Ms. Ferguson re-stated this request has been fully discussed, heard by the BZA who upheld the Commission’s decision and the decision cannot be overturned. Chairman Challstrom stated the Commission is open to reviewing other options and ideas for the proposed enclosure of the carport. He also read the requirements for attaching two (2) separate structures by means of a breezeway. It was asked if they wished to withdraw the application. Mr. Snyder and Mr. Chester left the room to discuss. They returned asking if the application could be withdrawn and a decision deferred, thus, allowing Mr. Snyder a little more time. Ms. Ferguson stated the application could be withdrawn and an amended application presented in its place. Mr. Chester asked if the discussion and vote could be tabled while Mr. Snyder decides his next course of action. There was a discussion about what it would mean to table this (To what end?), alternate plans and appeals. Ms. Ferguson suggested the Commission could allow this to be tabled to a time certain.
402 Grove Avenue: Joe Clark presented a picture of “cosmetic roof” that he would like to put on his home to break up the blank walls facing Acorn Lane. The proposed roof is more of a cantilevered architectural feature. Charlie Challstrom suggested Joe have a brief conversation with the HPC about this addition. The Commission agreed that no permit was necessary for this.
Joe Clark also came to discuss building a pergola in his yard and asked about permit regulations for that structure. Charlie Challstrom directed Joe to Article IV and the definition of a pergola. Joe explained that he would like it to be eight (8) feet tall. A discussion ensued. Joe was advised to apply for a simple Town building permit for this project.
PEPCO: Chairman Challstrom reported that PEPCO has requested a PWPP for work to be done in connection with the Deer Park Bridge project. A few transformers and gang switches will be moved and three (3) poles along Brown Street will be replaced. The Commission reviewed PEPCO’s maps and plans. Brenda Gumula moved, John McClelland seconded, approval of the Public Ways and Property Permit application for this project. Vote: 5-0.
Discussion on Permits for Parking: Chairman Challstrom gave the background for the recent construction of a gravel parking area mostly on Town property on the southern border at 201 Washington Grove Lane. He stated when he and the Mayor met with the residents they explained they needed additional parking and were trying to resolve drainage/water issues. Charlie also referred to a similar project at 123 W.G. Lane along with a State law that required the Commission’s approval of improvements on Town land. He also quoted the 2009 Master Plan Parking Policy and then made reference to the new Public Ways & Property Permit exemption of driveways. A discussion about equal enforcement, driveway permits, better education to prevent such things, construction of parking pads on Town property, boundary surveys, property markers and grandfathering what currently exists. The Commission will think about the process, rules, equity and read the PWPP again in order to understand the ramifications of removal the sentence exempting driveways.
Building Standards Compliance Checklist: Brenda Gumula reported that it is still taking about one (1) hour per home to complete the compliance checklist. She, Georgette Cole and Freda Temple will continue to work on the eight (8) homes listed in Ordinance 2014-03.
Draft Ordinance to Authorize Permanent Easements for Main Buildings Initially Constructed in Part on Land Owned by the Town: Chairman Challstrom distributed Ordinance 2014-03 as introduced by the Town Council on May 19, 2014. He also explained the reason for the addition of “a unique line type” as suggested by Surveyor Joe Snider. A discussion produced the following concerns;
There was another discussion about bringing these concerns to the public hearing on June 9th and the process in general.
John McClelland reported that the May 19th meeting of the Town Council included two (2) public hearings. The meeting also included the swearing-in of officials and assigning areas of responsibility to the Council.
Charlie Challstrom gave an update on the Deer Park Bridge project. He directed the Commission to the recent explanation published in the June Town Bulletin. He also reported that the meeting with CSX last week was good and included a discussion about the bad drainage caused by the partially blocked CSX drain.
THAT’S ONE…. Over the last month or so, there’s been an aggressive push among Republican leaders to insist that tax cuts don’t need to be paid for, because they pay for themselves. This notion — often characterized as belief in the Tax Fairy — isn’t taken seriously by any credible economist or expert, and was even rejected by Bush/Cheney economists, but has quickly become the standard GOP tax policy in 2010.
Indeed, when Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) got the ball rolling on this point, he insisted that his bizarre views are endorsed by “most of the people in my party.” And sure enough, Republicans rallied behind the obvious nonsense.
I couldn’t find a single GOP lawmaker in D.C. willing to reject this garbage. It’s only fair, then, that I mention that one has finally shown up.
A number of old Republican hands warning of a deficit crisis have split with the GOP leadership over extending the George W. Bush-era tax cuts.
Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio), President Reagan’s budget chief David Stockman and former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan have each argued that extending the tax cuts — set to expire at year’s end — would increase the nation’s $13 trillion debt.
OK, that’s one. A grand total of one GOP member of Congress is willing to acknowledge, out loud and on the record, that the basis for the party’s tax policy doesn’t actually make any sense.
Of course, Voinovich is retiring from politics this year, and need not worry about reprisals. When lawmakers head out the door, their appreciation for candor seems to go up. Imagine that.
Of course, it would have been far more helpful had Voinovich acknowledge reality far sooner — say, when he was voting for the Bush/Cheney policies that got us in this mess in the first place. For that matter, it’s also worth emphasizing the limits of Voinovich’s wisdom — he realizes the Tax Fairy doesn’t exist, but he’s nevertheless fought vehemently against every Democratic measure in this Congress that reduces the deficit and grows the economy.
Still, credit where credit is due. I asked for one Republican to acknowledge reality, and one has. How very exciting for us all.
In yesterday’s White House press briefing with Jay Carney, CBS’s Norah O’Donnell pressed the point that the left is deeply unsatisfied with the debt-ceiling deal struck with congressional Republicans. First she pressed Carney on the non-existent new revenues in the agreement, and followed up asking, “But you have Democrats saying, ‘You gave them everything they wanted and we got nothing.'”
That seems like a fair exchange. For those who watch White House press briefings with any regularity, reporters routinely ask spokespersons to respond to various charges from a variety of corners. It’s practically a daily occurrence, and ordinarily, O’Donnell’s question wouldn’t even have been noteworthy.
At Commentary, Seth Mandel implausibly claimed O’Donnell had harangued White House spokesman Jay Carney during a briefing about the debt deal, complaining “we” got “nothing” out of the negotiations. In other words, Mandel pretended O’Donnell, speaking on behalf of the liberal media, was mad about the debt negotiations. (Not progressive enough!)
The report in Commentary coincided with a clip at Andrew Breitbart’s site which edited the video to make it say what the right wanted it to say. Viewers saw O’Donnell saying, “You gave them everything they wanted and we got nothing,” rather than the full quote: “But you have Democrats saying, ‘You gave them everything they wanted and we got nothing.'”
For its part, Commentary‘s headline read “CBS’s O’Donnell to Carney: We got nothing.” The piece told readers that O’Donnell’s question offered an example of a reporter “peeling back the veneer of impartiality to reveal the liberal advocacy sitting just beneath the surface of the mainstream networks.”
In other words, Commentary and Breitbart’s site lied. They took a fair question, removed the words that undermined their political message, and repackaged the question out of context to advance a dishonest agenda. Other conservative sites, including Michelle Malkin’s, ran with this, too.
Commentary‘s John Podhoretz later offered a defense — which still didn’t include the full context from the briefing — insisting that if one focuses on the tone of O’Donnell’s “delivery,” it seems as if she’s expressing her own personal opinion.
It’s often difficult to understand why so many rank-and-file conservative voters seem so terribly confused about reality. Some of this confusion is clearly the result of relying on media outlets that lie to them.
It seems like this happens at least once every admissions season. This year Vassar College apparently told about 75 high students that they had been admitted to the school who actually hadn’t.
Megan Curiel, from San Antonio, saw the good news on her iPhone and sobbed. Her father called relatives. She ordered two Vassar sweatshirts — one for her and one for her mother. They popped Champagne. “I was in,” Ms. Curiel said, “for about three hours.”
About 4 p.m. Friday, Eastern time, scores of early-decision applicants to the college, in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., were mistakenly told they had been accepted, the school said.
As colleges move to cut costs and increase efficiency, many have moved to the electronic notification system for admission decisions. The trouble with this is that, while it saves paper and money, it also greatly increases the potential for colleges to screw something up. It’s basically a huge data dump into a program. If the unpaid junior staffer (or work-study student) puts the wrong name or email addresses into the program, well, it’s hard to correct that problem. Flegenheimer:
Jeff Kosmacher, a spokesman for Vassar, said on Saturday that a “test letter” that had been intended as a placeholder for the real admissions decision had not been replaced before students checked their application statuses online. The error was discovered around 4:30 p.m., he said.
Guess I wasn’t paying attention to the run-up to yesterday’s violence in Garland, Texas, but turns out Pamela Geller wasn’t the only agent provocateur involved. As you may have heard, the famous Dutch Islamophobic politician Geert Wilders was on hand in Garland, and may have even been the target for the now-deceased shooters. But he was in the U.S. at the invitation of exactly the kind of people you might expect (per Dave Weigel):
Last week, Iowa Representative Steve King brought Dutch politician and speaker Geert Wilders to Washington for a series of briefings with conservatives. The visited culminated in a daytime, outdoor news conference, where King, Wilders, and Texas Representative Louie Gohmert took 30 minutes of questions. Many focused on Wilders’s criticism of Islam as not a religion, but a violent ideology that had to be defeated. King kept bringing the discussion back to free speech.
“He brings with him a message of the experiences they had in Western Europe,” said King. “Open dialogue is what’s taking place.”
Just days later, gunmen opened fire on a Garland, Texas, contest that encouraged attendees to draw the prophet Muhammad, in defiance of Muslim extremists who claim that any such portrayal is offensive. “I have been dragged to court on hate speech charges for speaking the truth about Islam. I was acquitted, but now the authorities are prosecuting me again,” said Wilders. “We are harassed, but sympathizers of the Islamic State are left in peace.”
I’ll say it again: Pamela Geller and Geert Wilders are protected by the First Amendment, and obviously no one has a right to try to forceably silence them, by gunfire or any other method. But they, and King, and Gohmert, where clearly trying to provoke a reaction that justifies their efforts to demonize Islam and shut down immigration, and they succeeded on this occasion.
Weigel says Republican pols are being cautious about accepting IS’s claim of responsibility for the attacks in Garland. That’s the first responsible thing I’ve heard from them on this subject in a good while. Wish I believed it would stick.
AT&T Corp., New York, won a modification of a telecommunications contract for the State Department, worth up to $49.9 million, the Department of Defense announced May 21.
The award was issued under the Consolidated Telecommunications for Domestic Installation contract, first issued in 1993 by the Navy Regional Contracting Center, and due to expire in December 2003, according to market research firm Input Inc., Chantilly, Va. AT&T's Business Communication Services unit, located in Washington, won the modification. The unit will install and maintain secure voice, voicemail and e-mail systems as well as support global satellites. The work is scheduled to be finished in September 2003.
The work will be performed mostly in Washington with additional work in Warrenton, Va., New York, Charleston, S.C., and 18 other sites, according to Defense Department.