Rusty Mack - time to bring in the Pros from Dover

At nearly the final hour, it seems that the Colonial Heights commonwealth's attorney thinks he needs to bring in a "pro from Dover" to handle what remains of the Rusty Mack case. And given how the case has gone so far, maybe it is the right thing to do.

I don't relish William Bray's job in this case. It is high-profile to say the least, with nearly the entire community taking one side or the other. On its face, the case seems open and shut: the four came to his apartment twice and the second time, a fight ended his life. But those who defend the actions say it is not that simple.

No doubt this is a difficult case to try. Much of the evidence is hearsay and the case is charged with personal feelings. It doesn't surprise me in the least that Bray would comment how the case has raised tremendous depths of feeling and antagonism.

Some people who do not know all the facts of the case want what they perceive as justice for Rusty. They reduce the incident to its bare minimum: four on one. While they may not have meant to kill him - and I am reasonably sure that's the case - one man is dead and four are not.

In our innermost feelings the case screams for justice. We, the public, see what we think is injustice and demand that the wrong be righted. Unfortunately, the case must work its way through the justice system, which often is neither just nor fair.

It's hard not to think how much this case resembles the Trayvon Martin case in some respects. Even before the first person set foot in the Sanford, Fla., courtroom, masses of people had the case already figured out and George Zimmerman already jailed. But the public had only heard pieces of the evidence. Again, it seemed so obvious that an unarmed youth getting shot dead would have to be some kind of murder or killing. But in the end, Zimmerman walked.

And so it is with this case. A vast amount of information has been bandied about in virtually every conceivable form of communication. In person, by cell phone, and worst of all on the Internet via FaceBook - that notorious font of accuracy - and all of it with the natural bias of whoever was commenting. To be true, it is practically impossible to get the real story in Rusty's case, just as it was nearly impossible to get the real story in the Trayvon Martin case.

But in Florida, the state brought in a special prosecutor from the get go. They didn't wait around for a year trying to figure out what to do, only to have the matter get out of hand. Murder charges aside, it's hard for me to believe that no one is to blame for Rusty's death. There is, one would think, at least an assault charge that could be made.

But then again, not sitting in court and not hearing the presentation of the evidence makes all the difference. For those who sat around their Sanford homes and elsewhere throughout the nation, the result of Zimmerman's trial is probably equally baffling.

Maybe there just is no answer?

Still, it's a monumental move for the commonwealth's attorney to step aside, especially this late in the game. Maybe Bray should have called in some assistance from nearby Chesterfield County. The county has several high-profile litigators who might have been helpful in assessing charges and prosecuting those who were charged. And then again, maybe he did talk to other litigators.

Presenting evidence in court is not always easy. Making a case is not always easy. By and large, the cases heard in court are typically decided before the judge's gavel strikes for the first time. More often than not, the defendant is guilty and just looking for some sort of damage control, such as a plea bargain or pleading to a lesser offense. But some cases rise above the norm. Rusty's case in particular is difficult because of the nature of the events, but even more so because of its effect on the community. From the first day, it has been the talk of the town, and now, as every defendant seems to be slipping through the net, changing prosecutors seems like a last ditch hope for the commonwealth to earn a conviction and justify the cost of the trial.

Drones to Deliver Amazon Goods

Maybe it was the effectiveness of the Afghanistan drone policy or perhaps the way gifts are presented by parachute to the tributes in The Hunger Games, but somehow Amazon has caught onto a great idea:  use drones for local delivery of ordered goods.

In a 60 Minutes interview Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos told Charlie Rose that using drones to deliver small (under 5 pounds) merchandise would be the wave of the future. And Amazon, the Internet giant, wants to offer that service to their customer base.

Forget Next Day Air. Prime Air, the delivery company, would deliver a purchased item to the buyer in 30 minutes or less. Now that’s service. Put your order in using a smart phone and voila in less time than it takes to get a Domino’s delivery your “gotta have it now” gift is plopped down in your front yard. Even Santa Claus would be impressed, and maybe in the winter we could make the drones look like a sleigh or reindeer, too. You know, just to join in the festivity. Not to leave anyone out, they could also make them look like flying Menorahs or whatever religious or political symbol might seem appropriate.

Bezos said we can expect to see this technology put to use in about 5 years. But, with the advent of flying cars, which also could be coursing the skyways in the same amount of time, I would think the airspace might be a bit crowded. Still, getting my goods in 30 minutes beats the heck out of driving to the mall or Richmond, but do I really need an item so quickly that sending it by drone is the way to go?

Sure, I know how it could be. You’re sitting there in front of the boob tube, LCD and HDMI connected, and your spouse or significant other starts to feel a bit of a chill. So, you take a second or two dig out your current I-phone and go to the Amazon website. In very short time, you’re browsing the Snuggies list and find one that meets your needs. You click the selection and then get the pop up that asks if you want it delivered in 30-minutes or less. Click that and then it’s merely a very short waiting game.

At some point, you get a message on your phone that the snuggie is about to be delivered. Head outside and look up into the sky. What do you see? Not one, but dozens of these drones careening through the night and making deliveries everywhere. For a second, you worry that you won’t get the snuggy you ordered. No instead, you end up with a couple medium pizzas from Domino’s.

Oh well, at least it made it there in under 30 minutes and you don’t have to tip a robot. So all’s good and you can move along and dine on your neighbor’s pizza. In the meantime, your Amazon order skims in and drops from the drone. And there you have it:  dinner and a snuggie. Who could ask for anything more?

Ok, so does this sound plausible to anyone? Really?

It works in Gettysburg, why not in Petersburg?

If there’s one thing that can bring all of the Tri-City area localities together it’s the Civil War history that dots every community. From the Howlett Line that runs from Chester to Colonial Heights, to City Point in Hopewell, to Violet Bank in Colonial Heights, to Five Forks in Dinwiddie, and the Great Beefsteak Raid in Prince George every county, city, and town in the area has strong ties to the Civil War. And that isn’t even taking into account Pamplin Historical Park, which can serve as a model for the Tri-Cities.

So it just makes sense that any expansion to the Petersburg Battlefield Park would reap tourism benefits for the entire area. Just take a look at Gettysburg. What the people of that area have been able to do to make the park a growing tourist mecca goes without saying. In fact, it would serve as a great model of what can happen right here.

There is no better single tourism attraction around. Over the years gobs of money has been spent by all localities to try to reap tourist money. But there is nothing like the Civil War, not even Disneyland can compare. By increasing the size of the park, you open opportunities for everyone.

It seems to me that Petersburg in particular has been trying it’s best to revitalize the city. They have developed, redeveloped, and re-re-developed the Old Town area so much in trying to get people to “come to town” that it has almost become a joke. How many times has there been a push to re-open Petersburg harbor?

The two cities and those portions of southern Colonial Heights could create a sort of Civil War Triangle, from Battlefield Park to the Civil War Museum to Violet Bank as main attractions. In fact, they already are major attractions, but if somehow the localities and National Park Service could put their heads together, why couldn’t this become the next Gettysburg? Why not take advantage of what already exists and then expand it.

City Point could easily be added to the fold, as well as the Five Forks Unit in Dinwiddie. Is it so hard to imagine how bundling all of our local sites into one could bring in tourists not for a day or a weekend, but for whole weeks at a time? It’s interesting enough and would certainly take a large amount of work. But the Citie of Henricus was little more than a clump of trees with some old foundation blocks when it first started. But a few people had a vision and it has become a pretty big tourist attraction.

If you have ever taken a trip to St. Augustine, Florida, you can see another example of how history can create a tourist Mecca. St. Augustine is the oldest city in America. If you go, it takes about four days to really check things out. The entire area thrives on tourists and the money they represent, of course it is Florida and not Virginia, but hey the same kinds of things would work right here.

They have a trolley system that runs between all the sites and for which you pay a nominal fee for a certain number of days. The drivers serve as docents and inform the people of everything that they can see at all the different sites. It would be easy to see such a trolley line extending from City Point, the Battlefield Park, Violet Bank, Petersburg Civil War Museum, and Pamplin Park. St. Augustine also has a late night ghost tour bus that travels from several different places pointing out haunted houses and buildings and areas. If I’m not mistaken, this area has its share of haunts, hauntings, and specters. Why not use St. Augustine as a model?

One way we might be able to make this whole thing work is to develop a master plan of the sites in the area. What is available for tourists, what parameters are there, how far and wide do we want to extend the trolley idea? Really, this requires some planning.

But some people are already making plans. Do you think the National Park Service wants to double the size of Petersburg National Battlefield Park simply to hold onto the land? I don’t. Take a look at City Point. Twenty-five years ago, the National Park Service was just starting to work there. Now they have a very nice place for tourists to come. And a short walk on Brown Avenue will take you to City Point Early History Museum at St. Dennis Chapel.

The Tri-Cities is full of place like St. Dennis Chapel. And there are tons of driving tours, like the Howlett Line Driving tour which runs approximately from Chester to Colonial Heights. The Howlett Line is the Confederate defensive positions that kept the Union from being able to attack Richmond from the south and Petersburg from the north.

In the end, Union forces attacked Petersburg from south of the Appomattox instead, resulting in the siege. Tell me one piece of Civil War history that is more pivotal than the siege? Gettysburg, Atlanta, Chickamauga, and Chattanooga were merely battles. Sure there was fighting and what goes along with that, but most of those battles were over in a day or so. In Petersburg the fighting lasted 10 months from June 1864 to April 1865.

To me, expansion of the park is a great idea. In addition, the Tri-Cities should join forces to make the entire area a place to go for Civil War history buffs. That alone would draw a huge amount of tourism. The benefit to the area is almost incalculable. Think about it, maybe it is time to work together.

Keep Hopewell buses running for the greater good

It seems kind of dumb to even entertain the idea of shutting down the Hopewell bus circuit, even though it doesn’t pull its own weight in terms of profitability. What the service provides to the people who use it more than makes up for the $140,000 shortfall for the route. People who use the bus service, in all likelihood, would have to either get a ride from someone or hire a cab.

Of all three cities in the area known as the Tri-Cities, Hopewell is by far the most difficult to reach. It is miles from I-95 and pretty far from I-295, if you don’t have some means of transportation. Using the Hopewell circuit and its tie into the Petersburg Area Transit (PAT) system, it’s possible for a Hopewellian to access Richmond for the price of local bus fare.

PAT, which supports the bus line now, has said it is one of their most used routes. Currently, the route operates because of grants and those grants are about to run out. Seeking another grant may be problematic, as money to support such things is starting to dry up. Isn’t available funding drying up everywhere?

But some things are worth doing just because it provides a useful and necessary service to the community. And, like it or not, our “community” isn’t Hopewell, Petersburg, and Colonial Heights anymore. What happens in any of those communities has an effect, positive or negative, on the other two. We have stood together for many things in the past under the Tri-Cities banner, and it’s time we start to think even more on a regional basis.

Sure, there are things that are city specific, but I suggest that people using the Hopewell circuit do so to get to jobs and go shopping in the other two cities, not to mention Richmond. With the cost of fuel soaring and not likely to come down this century, it just makes sense to try to build up some kind of transit system. With PAT, we have one sitting there waiting.

The situation in Hopewell is just one example of ways in which the communities could come together to enhance the entire Tri-Cities. There is a history of the area working together for the betterment of all. Lake Chesdin and the Appomattox River Water Authority is a fine example of what can be done when divergent communities put their minds together to improve the lot of the local citizens in the area. Five communities took part in creating Lake Chesdin back in the ‘50s:  Chesterfield, Colonial Heights, Prince George, Dinwiddie, and Petersburg.

If those communities could set down their brickbats and bury those old political hatchets that make it impossible to move forward on missions to improve the area, it seems to me that everyone would benefit. We get caught up in finger pointing and he said-she said arguments so much that the localities can never reach agreement on things as simple as whether it’s raining or if the sun is out. Some would argue one way and others the other just because of the locality they represent.

That kind of mentality has to change.

The Tri-Cities has an opportunity to move forward over the next few years. As the financial situations start to draw tighter, it just makes sense to look at ways the three cities can work together to improve the lives of their constituencies. In the case of the Hopewell bus line, it seems a no brainer.

Now, I know some look at the shortfall and say let the route fail. But according to PAT statistics, more than 100 people use the bus every day. That probably means jobs, retail sales, and opportunities for more people than just those who ride the bus. How can that be bad?

Yes, I realize it’s another $140k someone needs to find. But some money is better spent than other money that is spent, in this case the needs of the riders and the communities involved outweigh the cost. Most city budgets contain little pockets of funding that kind of get lost in the budget process. It’s the nature of the administration to leave those small areas of fat in order to offset any last minute calls for further reductions. How do I know this? Simple, I followed the budget battles between the school systems and the local councils for years. No school system in the area has had to shut down due to lack of funds.

So, my belief is that the funding can be found. It may take a bit of working together, God forbid, but I think between Petersburg and Hopewell, and if necessary Colonial Heights (they have the Southpark Mall route) some creative financing can fall into place to make such transportation possible. Without it, we are looking at adding a large number of additional vehicles to the already clogged roadways we have today, not to mention the increase in pollution, and the loss of jobs and increase in local unemployment.

Rusty Mack - Change of Venue, Change of Outcome

Score one for change of venue in the first of four court proceedings regarding the case of Rusty Mack, who died of wounds inflicted in a beating on February 11 of this year.

More than anything else having this case heard outside the confines of Colonial Heights probably had as much to do with the verdict than Jonathan Guy’s purported guilt or innocence. And perhaps change of venue is the right thing in this case. The purpose of change of venue is to ensure that a defendant be treated fairly in court with a jury pool that is not biased one way or the other.

Still, it’s hard to believe that Guy does not share some responsibility in Mack’s death. While it’s apparent that Guy did not commit the very act that eventually ended Mack’s life, a kick to the head that fractured the young man’s skull, Guy was certainly involved in the fight. Surely some charge should apply?

It’s rare for a judge to invoke change of venue. In most cases, I think, the court is wont to allow a defendant to be tried by a jury of his peers. And, when the crime happens in a specific area, the jury should come from that area. Instead, this jury came from Henrico County. I am not saying that the outcome was not fair, but it seems to me that Henrico is not very much like Colonial Heights. Henrico is home to about 300,000 people; Colonial Heights houses about 17,500.

The move takes away the community’s right to judge its own citizens. There is a significant amount of public outrage over this incident, and maybe for that reason, Guy and the remaining three defendants would have had an uphill battle in defending themselves in Colonial Heights.

But the facts of the crime are enough to incense anyone; anyone from Colonial Heights anyway. Maybe in Henrico County such matters are seen more as self-defense. Maybe this is the same kind of stand-your-ground sort of thing that enabled George Zimmerman to gun down Trayvon Martin. There is little question that the whole thing was unnecessary.

Whatever the dispute between Guy and his cousin Mack at some point someone should have realized enough is enough. When the person on the ground does not get back up—fight’s over. Perhaps Mack shares part of the blame for the event that led to his death. Perhaps he initiated the brawl that ended with him getting kicked in the skull and dying.

But according to testimony, he also asked his assailants to leave. According to testimony, the four being tried drove to his apartment to confront him. What other purpose did they have in coming to his home than to administer a beating?

It’s somewhat interesting to see the application of the law. In some cases, when involved in a felony and that felony ends in loss of life, the defendant can be charged with the death; even if that person was not directly involved in the action that ultimately led to the death. In this case, that’s the kick to the head that fractured Mack’s skull.

As this case plays out in the courts over the next several months, it will be interesting to see how the defendants prevail. It may well be that when following the law all of the remaining defendants will be found not guilty. It may be that allowing change of venue in the first case will lead to change of venue requests in the other cases, too.

Still, it seems to me that moving the case to Henrico had as much to do with the verdict as the law did. Moving the case out of the jurisdiction robs the citizens of the right to hear the case and pass judgment. Is it the court’s contention that the citizens of Colonial Heights are incapable of rendering a just and unbiased verdict? One would have to assume so given the courts action to move the case. Attorneys for the remaining three defendants:  Ashley Mack, Margaret Blair Dacey, and Francis Blaha III, now have a road map to a not guilty verdict.

Voting for Governor Who Cares

As we now get past the election season it’s pretty easy to see how people get elected. In many ways it’s like the person who tells his cohort that you don’t have to run faster than a Cheetah in order not to get killed by it, you merely have to run faster than the person next to you. And so it is with elections and politicians, you don’t have to be the best possible selection you just have to be better than the person who is running against you.

Why is it, do you suppose, that we continually seem to get contenders who have plenty of ambition and perhaps not very much ability? Like Francois Villon recounts in his ballad about long lost loves, “where are the snows of yesteryear?” I say, where are the politicians of yesteryear?

Our current harvest of politicians isn’t much better than the blue crab harvest in the Chesapeake. They run small, Napoleonic, and immature. They pay millions to get elected to an office that pays a few hundred thousand and expect the electorate not to make the connection that something else must be going on. Can you say pandering?

Do I believe that the vast majority of elected officials take advantage of the positions that they are in? Really, do you need to ask? After all, in this day and age, it’s human nature. Whether it’s accepting a plane ticket, getting some hard to find tickets to a sporting event, or just a freebie Rolex it’s really all the same. No way would these people be getting such gifts if not for the positions they are in; iIf not for the sense that they may in some way influence some item the quid part of quid pro quo desires.

Call it influence peddling if you have to put a name on it. The only thing, I think, more prevalent than the unabashed acceptance of graft in our political system is the rife and growing sexual exploitation of kids in our society. And perhaps, like most officials like to say, it’s merely the media who are responsible for keeping this kind of news in the headlines. Never mind that things like Governor McDonnell’s legal woes, Jerry Sandusky’s life sentence (yeah, it’s only 60-odd years, but do you think he’ll live to 120?), and the raft of small-time payouts that litter local politics happen with a regularity that is astounding.

How many Richmond City Council members have gone to prison over the past few years?

Then City Councilwoman Gwen C. Hedgepeth was found guilty of four felonies by a Federal jury. Three counts of bribery and one of lying to the FBI, which in reality shouldn’t be a charge at all. Who wants to tell them anything?

Then there’s the sad story of Saad El Amin, a city councilman who surrendered his law license in 2002, following a 1999 Virginia State Bar suspension. He followed that up with a 2003 tax fraud conviction.

And who could forget Leonidas Young, who was sentenced in 1999 for mail fraud, obstruction of justice, and filing a false tax return—all of which have that curious aroma of plea agreement. I mean, after all, they charged him with 14 felonies.

Now take a look at what’s going on today.

Are we so naïve that we believe these previous cases have rooted out all the problems with politicians on the take in Richmond, not to mention Virginia and Washington D. C. It’s really just very hard for me to swallow that politicians in general are not out for themselves and the constituency be dammed. They may make a good case during the election process, but in the end it’s all hope and change—in other words, lies.

So, as we get down to the nitty-gritty in voting for the Next Governor of the Great State of Virginia it seems no one really wants to endorse either Ken Cuccinelli or Terry McAulife. Sure they are getting support from their respective parties, Republican and Democrat, but do we really think either one is better than the other? Maybe the best way to know is to elect one of them, you know like the best way to know what is in the Affordable Care Act is to pass the legislation. And that worked out just fine now, didn’t it?