Congratulations to Faye Barker, Joe Hale, Artie Hall, Tim Reeves, Gene Horney and Deborah Crigger. I sincerely wish each of you success when you assume your office in January. If you succeed, we all succeed. The answer to the question of who really won Tuesday is the people of Wythe County. For the first time in a decade, we will have a Board of Supervisors who will actually make decisions rather than rubber stamp those of Cellell Dalton.
No mandate emerged from Tuesday’s results. Each of the contested races was decided on its individual merits. The one thing that is apparent is that the Tea Party has far less influence in the county than they would have us believe. The threat to bring hundreds of Tea Baggers full of righteous indignation to the polls turned out to be just that, a threat. The Wythe County Tea Party Express seems to be only a handful of very vocal folks. Only 7156 people or 39% of the registered voters participated in Tuesday’s election. That is 4% lower than 2009, and 2% lower than 2007. Though they backed Republican candidates in each race, Buford Bailey, who lost his bid for Supervisor of the Ft. Chiswell District to Democrat Joe Hale, was the only card carrying Tea Bagger in any of the races. Mr. Bailey is to be commended for running a clean, issues oriented campaign. Some of his ideas are pretty good ones, and I hope he will continue to speak out.
I misspoke in my last post when I said that Republicans now control the BOS. Actually, there are three Republicans, three Democrats, and Gary Houseman who runs as an Independent. It will be interesting to watch this board evolve. With Bucky Sharitz gone, you can bet your damned skippy that Cellell Dalton will have far less influence than he has in the past.
With this new board in place, we can really hope that the business of Wythe County will NOT be business as usual.
I’m really pissed at you!!!! RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION???? Listen buster, I’ve been at every BOS meeting since Jan./spend $ on paperwork & gas & have spent unteen hours going over county info & asking ?’s.
My dad escaped Germany in the 40′s,fought for the US & I lost relatives who where shot on Prague because they opposed the communists. Nobody is more patriotic than me!!!!!! I believe in the Bill of Rights & The Constitution & I PUT MY MONEY WHERE MY MOUTH IS!!!!!! I’m an American, a Mom,Grandmother & a Taxpayer & I’m a proud Tea Party member & Conservtive Republican. I have worked every day of my life & contributed to my town & county.
When was the last time I saw YOU out orange bagging /helping the Forest Service , creating something good in your area??????? How many gallons of blood have you given? You do give blood don’t you? ) Are you an EMS volunteer or FD perhaps? Great if you are!
I don’t ask for a handout/expect someone else to pick up after me/think money grows on trees AND THINK I’M ENTITLED JUST BECAUSE I’M ALIVE .
AND I THINK A GOOD KICK IN THE ASS WOULD WORK WONDERS ON THE PROTESTERS ,WHO MOST LIKELY HAVE NEVER BEEN HUNGRY OR WASHED TOILETS!!!!!!
I’m ready & willing to help my neighbors & my country with whatever is needed.
Oh, by the way-I just posted the 10/9 BOS meeting on youtube………………did I see you there?????? Must have missed you!
Dear Sir; i am afraid i must reply to your post. It was nice to meet you at Max Meadows at the polls where we agreed to disagree. First of all i understand why you use the phrase “tea bagger”. it is done only to incite and bring forth the anger that we see in Mrs Meyers post. you were successfull on that one. on me you will find it is going to be just a bit different. For you see i was raised in Florida and understand the “elite” attitude far better than you know. As for the gutter language that you use. it is apparnet that you have a problem with the english language and have a limited vocabulary either that or you use the language for “shock value”. As for the influence in Wythe Co. i believe if you will check you will find i lost by only 87 votes. i really dont think that that would be considered a “mandate” by any means. I actually did succeed in what i attempted. we have two new board members who are solid Republican and will bring some sense to the board. I am afraid you will will also find that Mr Hale is a man with a clear head on his sholders and does not lean as far to the left as you assume. So Ron buddy keep it up. we all know that only 20% of the electorate is liberal. that is why they have yell so loud..Reguards Buford Bailey
Sir you are not from here and do not share our values or beliefs. You basically called the people of Speedwell inbred! Maybe you should stick to cooking!!
I don’t understand why Buford Bailey is so upset? This article sounded to me to be very kind towards Mr. Bailey.
I’m afraid sometimes that the local tea party just looks for things to get pissed at and this is one of them!
I was privileged to meet all the candidates this election season and can truthfully say that in my unpartisan opinion, the best candidates won in every race – from Barker on down to Crigger, and points in between.
Upset!
I’m annoyed & he’s annoyed at calling anyone derogitory titles like “teabagger’. I’m proud of who I am,an American, & what I (myself) stand for-which is honesty & intergity. and I think the Tea Party does too-we don’t do drugs, litter,fight,destroy property OR EXPECT a handout from anyone-we WORK for the common good of everyone in America. We ,ie Tea Party members, believe we have the greatest nation ever put together And want to see it continue as our forefathers invisioned!
actually i am not upset at all. what i did was just to show you how ron does what he does. let me say this about ron. i have met him as i said and i find him to be very personable. ron and i did agree to disagree. ron performes a very vital service to this community. He is to the left and i am to the right and as they say “never the twain shall meet”. I do appricaite his kind words. What ron does it this. we have a newspaper here that doesn’t foster much debate. if you read history this Left vs Right has gone on since the founding. it was first Federalist vs Anti Federalist. it got so bad that Hamilton and Burr had a duel and Hamilton fell on the heights of weehawken. Burrs Career was ruined. i say that to say this. you may not agree with ron or his methods (which i don’t at times). but he does provoke debate which is healthy. Our countrys form of government has always been this way and i hope it remains so. ron takes a side in issues and forces you to think. Mrs Hudson who spared with me in the paper last year, told me that i forced her to do research before she responded to my letters . that is good and healthy. ron and i do agree on this. the change in supervisors will be good for the county. I think Joe will do a good job. i think i could have done better, but that is my opinion. anyway, keep up the good work ron. you keep us thinking. regards buford
Ms. Crigger did say that. Ask RR Rescue Board and Lead Mines.
Sorry, Martha-I did the video & I do not know how to edit! They must have misunderstood in the back of the room.
The video was edited.
Mrs. Meyer, no one is questioning your patriotism, your love of country or your willingness to engage. What people question is your politics. It is abundantly clear that even in conservative Wythe County, Tea Party-esque conservatism is too extreme. I will also note, for the record, that Wythe County is an extremely progressive county from an economic development standpoint. New jobs don’t grow on trees…it takes years of cultivation – and regional cooperation. I don’t know him, but Celell Dalton is highly respected by his colleagues and others in the economic development area. I hope this makes you feel a little better, Mrs. Meyer.
I wish a candidate that wants to serve as a Board of Supervisor could use correct grammar and spelling. It is ridiculous that we have people that want to lead our communities that have little education;therefore, I would never vote for Mr. Bailey. I would put more trust in a elementary school student that could at least write using the correct conventions of writing.
Just some late posts to several of the comments above.
As to Meyer’s comments, she is either wrong about the comments by the Wythe EMS or maybe she is just not telling the truth. I was at the meeting and I did hear correctly (I was NOT in the back of the room but in the front, and Cregger did make the comments as described.
Meyer’s holier than thou attitude is just a cover-up for a self describes “pissed off” person. If she cares so much, why is she not running for office? Maybe because she does not have the support of maybe she just likes being a thorn in everyone’s side. Whatever her motivation she seems to wants to just cause problems with her mean spirited comments. Where is she from? Surely, she is not from Virginia. Maybe she should just go back to wherever she came from.
As to her friend Buford, I heard him speak and, in my opinion, he certainly was not very inspiring as a speaker or with his intellect at the candidate’s forum. Glad he lost!
Neither Myers nor good old boy Buford understands that without Progress Park and the jobs and taxes it generates (and will generate in the years to come) the county would be in a real mess. Buford stated that he wants good jobs in the county but wants to close down the industrial park. Just where does he think that the new jobs will be located.