... and this year's darwin award goes to...

the human race.

 

alan toothman construction, inc.: BIG hole in the wall, BIG hole in the head

there's an underground hole in the outside wall of my crawl space:

the hole is BIG--about 6 ft. wide and 3 ft. high. The only other openings into the crawl space are the access door that is MUCH smaller than this BIG open hole--sealed with a removable metal door--and small vents that are covered with mesh and screen.

how stupid is that? rain, rodents, snakes, etc. can come right through the BIG hole into the crawl space.

Nicholas, our cat that we adopted from the humane society of warren county, virginia, has nailed 5 mice in 9 months--and counting. 

I suspect that the numbskull builder ran into some rock that he didn't want to excavate, so he decided to leave a BIG hole in the wall.

and how stupid is it that the numbskulls at shenandoah county would allow a BIG hole in an outside wall of a crawl space that is otherwise sealed from the outside?

"stupid is as stupid does." 

Forrest Gump                    

alan toothman construction, inc.: BIG hole in the wall, BIG hole in the head.

shenandoah county: defender of alan toothman construction, inc.

citizens of shenandoah county: 

• you deserve to be protected from construction that doesn't meet the state building code
• you deserve competent building inspection and code enforcement
• you deserve county and state government that defends you, not lawbreaking builders 

       ➤ SPEAK OUT
       ➤ SPREAD THE WORD
       ➤ VOTE

virginia 
shenandoah county
strasburg 
stony pointe 
toothman 

the latest letter from jordan bowman, private attorney and county attorney for shenandoah county, virginia, is harassment--it will NOT stand.

another letter from bowman...  (sigh)

let's look at the facts:

• does bowman have all the answers? no. he's a lawyer working for a private law firm. what does he know about construction, drainage, etc.?
• does mark griffey, building official for shenandoah county, have all the answers? no. what are his qualifications? does he have a degree in civil engineering? is he a licensed engineer? how many years' experience as a licensed engineer does he have in construction, drainage, geotechnical engineering, etc.?
• does anyone at shenandoah county have a license to practice engineering and more than 40 years' experience doing so?
• does toothman have all the answers? obviously, no. he breaks the law by not following the building code. he can't read plans, e.g., the approved grading plan for stony pointe. he thinks that water flows uphill, e.g. flexible plastic drainage pipe with peaks and valleys and buried outlet ends and gutters that are undersized and level. 
• does toothman's engineer have all the answers? no. he should know better than to come up with a cockamamie, numbskull scheme for a 80 ft. long trench next to my foundation wall that will fill up with water.  and flexible plastic pipe on a 1% grade. what some people will do for $!
• does ms. ruffner have all the answers? obviously, no. one has to look no farther than the grading in the front and rear of ms. ruffner's property to know why she has mold in her crawl space. the ground slopes towards her foundation walls--a clear violation of R401.3 in the state building code. ms. ruffner's mold has everything to do with alan toothman construction inc. and failures of shenandoah county's office of building inspection and code enforcement and county attorney's office. the mold in ms. ruffner's crawl space has nothing to do with us.

• I own the property
• I'm a retired civil engineer with a degree in civil engineering
• I held licenses to practice civil engineering in several states, including virginia
• I have 40+ years experience in civil engineering, construction, drainage, etc. 

so, if you had a flooded crawl space, caused by the builder breaking the law, with shenandoah county and ms. ruffner trying to shove the builder's "fix" down your throat, who would you give precedence to? 

• bowman?
• griffey?
• shenandoah county?
• toothman?
• toothman's engineer?
• ms. ruffner?

• or the property owner? after all, it's his property. he's also a retired civil engineer, who has a degree in civil engineering, who's held licenses to practice engineering in several states, including virginia, and who has more than 40 years' experience in civil engineering and construction.

griffey, bowman, toothman--it doesn't pass the smell test.

PS in his last letter to me bowman said: "Any building code violation is now your responsibility." minds of mush: how shenandoah co. va. mishandled a clear building code violation Now Bowman says: "If this issue is not resolved within 30 days, then the county will have no choice but to evaluate its enforcement options against you and proceed accordingly." 

This is harassment, and it will not stand. worse than incompetence is arrogant incompetence.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gadsden_flag.svg

By Christopher Gadsden (1724–1805), Lexicon, Vikrum [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/), CC BY-SA 2.0  (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0) or Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." 
U.S. Constitution, amendment 4

citizens of shenandoah county: 

• you deserve to be protected from construction that doesn't meet the state building code
• you deserve competent building inspection and code enforcement
• you deserve county and state government that defends you, not lawbreaking builders 

       ➤ SPEAK OUT
       ➤ SPREAD THE WORD
       ➤ VOTE

listen to the guy who knows:

• not bowman
• not griffey 
• not smith
• not toothman
• not lellock
• not ruffner

listen to the engineer who has 40 years experience in civil engineering, construction and drainage and who was licensed to practice civil engineering in Virginia and several other states. 

virginia 
shenandoah county
strasburg
stony pointe 
toothman 

trump legacy: lies and mean spiritedness

had enough? 

who do you trust?
- a mean spirited liar?

- or someone who you know who has similar values to yours? 
- or do you trust the republican and democratic parties that are financed by billionaire corporations and billionaire PACs that breed extremists? 

here's how government operates: 

or rather, doesn't operate.

the fix to our dysfunctional government is simple and easy--stop voting candidates who don't have values similar to yours and who don't represent the best interests of our country to move our country forward. 

If you vote for a republican or a democrat, then it's not the person who you voted for who is in control--it's the party--the hand that holds the puppet/money strings. 

In the next election--national, state or local--vote for someone who shares your values who is not a democrat or a republican. 

even with their billion dollar donors, the republican and democratic parties will shrivel up and die if no one votes for their obstructionist candidates.

Nothing will be better for our country.

two party system | See the article "Two Parties See Record L… | Flickr

File:Two party system diagram.png - Wikimedia Commons

blow it up! reorganize the catholic church

with the end of the second millennium and the beginning of the third millennium, the problem is abundantly clear. the catholic church has a serious management problem. the old model that may have worked in the first part of the first millennium just doesn't work anymore. one man simply can't manage a worldwide organization with more than one billion members--and neither can one man and a relatively small group of "good ole boys".

the catholic church needs to take a page from the secular world and from other christian churches. in the secular world, large organizations typically have a board of directors whose function is to oversee the management staff's operation of the organization. effective boards of directors have diverse members (women, men, young, old, minorities, etc.) who monitor and hold management staff responsible for meeting the organization's mission statement. 

likewise, other christian churches have boards or councils. ideally, these consist of non employees who represent the typical cross section of church members--male, female, young, old, in between, and different incomes, races and ethnicities.

an organization as large as the catholic church needs boards of directors at every level--parish, diocese, country. e.g. The National Review Board, 
Statement from the National Review Board Calls for Lay Leadership Amid Sexual Abuse Crisis

the days of the "good ole boy(s)" should come to an end quickly. 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Catholicism_by_country.png

By Ernio48 (Using paint in a Wikipedia blank map.) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons

Sturm und Drang

Brett Kavanaugh Hearings: Theater of the Absurd | National Review

"Nebraska senator Ben Sasse, in one of the best opening statements of any hearing I’ve ever heard, cut through it all.

“Since your nomination in July,” Sasse said, “you’ve been accused of hating women, hating children, hating clean air, wanting dirty water. You’ve been declared an existential threat to our nation. Alumni of Yale Law School, incensed that faculty members at your alma mater praised your selection, wrote a public letter to the school saying, quote, ‘People will die if Brett Kavanaugh is confirmed.’”

“This drivel is patently absurd,” he continued, “and I worry that we’re going to hear more of it over the next few days. But the good news is, it is absurd, and the American people don’t believe any of it.”

Sasse eloquently expanded on a point I’ve been banging my spoon on my highchair about for a while now: The legislative branch is becoming a parliament of pundits, in which both parties teem with people desperate to emote, preen, and shriek for voters and donors who follow politics like it’s a form of entertainment, and, in this case, a theater of the absurd." 

note: Sturm und Drang is German for storm and stress.

had enough? 

who do you trust?
- the republican party and the democratic party who "teem with people desperate to emote, preen, and shriek for voters and donors who follow politics like it’s a form of entertainment, and, in this case, a theater of the absurd"?

- someone who you know who has similar values to yours? who does what is necessary (e.g. compromise) to get the job done?
- or do you trust said republican and democratic parties that are financed by billionaire corporations and billionaire PACs that breed extremist obstructionists? 

here's how government operates: 

or rather, doesn't operate.

the fix to our dysfunctional government is simple and easy--stop voting for obstructionist candidates who don't have values similar to yours and who don't represent the best interests of our country to move our country forward. 

If you vote for a republican or a democrat, then it's not the person who you voted for who is in control--it's the party--the hand that holds the puppet/money strings. 

In the next election--national, state or local--vote for someone who shares your values who is not a democrat or a republican. 

even with their billion dollar donors, the republican and democratic parties will shrivel up and die if no one votes for their obstructionist candidates.

Nothing will be better for our country.

two party system | See the article "Two Parties See Record L… | Flickr

File:Two party system diagram.png - Wikimedia Commons

I feel your pain, ma'am--more virginia corruption

Bentonville homeowner questions practices of county officials, warns Front Royal | Royal Examiner

Bentonville woman starts petition for investigation into Warren County officials for malfeasance and nonfeasance | Royal Examiner 

our story from the county next door: 
minds of mush: how shenandoah co. va. mishandled a clear building code violation 

virginia 
shenandoah county
building inspections department
county attorney

board of supervisors
strasburg 
stony pointe 
alan toothman construction, inc.

don't waste your vote on a republican or a democrat

had enough? 

who do you trust?
- an ultraconservative republican or an ultraliberal democrat?

- someone who you know who has similar values to yours? who does what is necessary (e.g. compromise) to get the job done?
- or do you trust political parties that are financed by billionaire corporations and billionaire PACs that breed extremist obstructionists? 

here's how government operates: 

or rather, doesn't operate.

the fix to our dysfunctional government is simple and easy--stop voting for obstructionist candidates who don't have values similar to yours and who don't represent the best interests of our country to move our country forward. 

If you vote for a republican or a democrat, then it's not the person who you voted for who is in control--it's the party--the hand that holds the puppet/money strings. 

In the next election--national, state or local--vote for someone who shares your values who is not a democrat or a republican. 

even with their billion dollar donors, the republican and democratic parties will shrivel up and die if no one votes for their obstructionist candidates.

Nothing will be better for our country.

two party system | See the article "Two Parties See Record L… | Flickr

File:Two party system diagram.png - Wikimedia Commons