Scrambled Eggs

The Harrisonburg School Board presented a report clearing coaches in the case of alleged drug use among football players. The independent investigation suggested changes in school policy to help prevent future drug use among students. One recommendation - random drug tests. As CCC suggested in a prior post, the school board will not release the entire report, citing confidentiality of both students and staff.

About 250 people showed up at a wind energy forum sponsored by Shenandoah Forum to learn more about a proposal to put 130 turbines in the George Washington National Forest along the VA-WV line in Shenandoah, Rockingham, and Hardy counties. Opponents cite harm to bird and bat populations from the 400 foot tall structures and contend this site is not optimal for year-around electric generation. Supporters contend this is one of the better sites in the mid-Atlantic and that it can boost local economic activity through tourism. Last winter the Shenandoah Valley Chapter of the Sierra Club held a similar forum in Harrisonburg on the Highland County wind farm. CCC supports the development of properly sited wind turbines when environmental impacts are minimized. It is a small part of a national energy solution using renewable sources. We must avoid the NIMBY syndrome and keep an open mind when considering alternative energy sources.

Speaking of the local Sierra Club, they sponsored a forum on railroads at Mary Baldwin College in Staunton last night. The speaker, from Rail Solution, presented a detailed and interesting overview of rail options in Virginia, the entire I-81 corridor, and nationwide. Rail offers an efficient, safe, environmentally-friendly, and economically viable option to widening the interstate. Lots of facts and figures - almost too much to take in at once. Unfortunately, there were only about a dozen people present and no media coverage. Sam Rasoul, the Democratic candidate for House of Representatives, attended and asked probing questions about costs, public-private funding, and the European experience with high-speed rail.

And more on the transportation issue - Governor Kaine has called a special session of the General Assembly to deal with transportation funding. Kaine seems to be saying "Yes, we can" while the Republican House leadership says "No, we can't." The governor has proposed raising various taxes to raise funds for roads. CCC says raise the gas tax and dedicate it totally to road maintenance and construction. The Virginia gas tax is below the national average. Would an additional 5 or 10 cents even be noticed with $4/gallon gas? Plus, unlike the governor's tax hikes, the gas tax hits those who use the roads, including out-of-state motorists.

Cluck.

Broken Eggs

CCC has often taken issue with the the Daily News-Record's editors. They usually drink, no guzzle, the Kool-Aide laced with right wing chicken crap which they spread across the Valley with reckless abandon. But, every now and then they get it almost right. The editor's call to Release the Report is, for the most part, on target. The public's business should be, well.... public. 

The story began when an investigation into a robbery led to an investigation and revelations that a football player had been selling prescription drugs to teammates. Things got worse when police suggested that some coaches knew about it. Still unclear (except perhaps in the report) is what those coaches and school administrators did in response to that knowledge.

CCC believes that the eggs of secrecy should be cracked open and this story should be brought before the community. These are, after all, serious charges of interest not only to those directly involved, but to parents and the entire community. The DNR, that bastion of the First Amendment and freedom of the press (at least when it suits their agenda), is calling on the Harrisonburg School Board to release the entire report of the investigation it commissioned. And release it now!

However a couple caveats are in order. While the DNR wants all the names and juicy gossip (gotta sell those papers), there are some legal matters to consider. Both the students and school employees involved have legal rights to some confidentiality at this early stage of the investigation. The School Board should respect those rights, as much as possible, when releasing the report. The School Board must also consider how a full release could impact the ongoing police investigation and potential criminal trials. If full release of the report hampers a fair investigation by police or creates an undue prejudice against defendants, it is reasonable withhold parts of it for now.

The School Board's investigation is rightly targeted on increasing awareness of drugs being brought into the schools and on revising administrative policies and procedures to deal with it in the future. If individuals failed in their duties, the School Board should deal with it as personnel issues. Naming names and a public chopping off of heads will not help with those goals. Release the essential findings of the report but preserve some confidentiality, for now. Allow the legal processes time to work. Only then should the full report be released. 

In the meantime, the DNR's crack reporters can dig out the names and gossip and the editors can decide to print or not. But, the School Board does not owe them an assist.