UP! or DOWN! ’em if you got ’em, boys. Thumbs, that is.
Let’s play.
Here’s the long list of Official Thumbs! Rules: UP! is good. DOWN! is bad. The. End.
It’s time to bring on that Big Board!
- Thumbs UP! to Sharon Dones. Thumbs UP! to Renee Hughes. Thumbs UP! to Philip Campbell. Thumbs UP! to Steven Gould. Heck yeah, four Thumbs UP! at once! These four people are the Danville School Board members who voted YES to move all school board meetings to Danville City Council’s chambers. That means that both school board meeting every month will be televised live and in a much more spacious area. This is a big win for more government transparency and it came at the cost of very little inconvenience. And for everybody who was hesitant, voted NO or made any excuses on what the move shouldn’t be made… a big Thumbs DOWN! to them.
- Thumbs UP! to Deborah Dix. Thumbs UP! to Karen Maute. Thumbs UP! to Philip Lovelace. Thumbs UP! to Barbara Hudson. Yep, another set of four Thumbs UP! at once. Dix, Maute and Lovelace were locked out after the Pittsylvania County Agricultural Development Board went into an illegal closed session. Barbara Hudson was the attorney that put the lawsuit together for them. The suit was dismissed because the county admitted that the closed session was illegal. Maute, Lovelace, Dix & Hudson are amazingly terrific watchdogs against the county’s lack of transparency and this is third time that they’ve won against the Pittsylvania County government. Thumbs DOWN! to Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors member Elton Blackstock for saying it was bad behavior to sue a volunteer board. Horsecrap! Blackstock is a non-voting member of that board and he had to have known that closed session was illegal.
- Finally, a Thumbs UP! for Virginia International Raceway. They’re holding a fun event this weekend, the 3-Gun Nation Regional Championship Series. Over 200 competitors are going to be there and spectators are very welcome. Tickets are $10 at the gate. We’re going to have more on this in the upcoming LightningRound! article, but I wanted you to know that the event is happening this Saturday & Sunday. There’s a lot more to do at VIR than just drive, folks.
That’s some Thumbs! for you. We’ve got more coming up on SouthsideCentral!
I don’t think Blackstock was actually at the meeting from the press report I saw. I do agree big thumbs up to those who challenged the board, though. I hope they hold the board’s feet to the fire.
Thumbs down to any school board member who votes to hold a meeting in secret at an out of town “retreat”. This may be an open meeting , but still violates the spirit of the open meeting law. City council has met several times like this at Water’s Edge or even Wintergreen. The average citizen can’t afford to travel to a meeting like that. All meetings should be held in Danville.
I don’t recall any Danville City Council meeting or retreat that meets your criteria since I started SouthsideCentral back in 2009.
Not sure what years it was. More than likely it happened before that. I understand they had a great golf outing at Wintergreen. The taxpayers picked up the green fees too.