How West Virginians see America.

Some of the states will be more funny to West Virginians than others, but all in all it’s awfully funny.

(via Not My Blog)

Took the day off from work, however, we were still out the door by 8:30, heading for the WV State Craft Fair at Ripley.

We met my brother and his wife at Parkersburg, and then continued together to Ripley. Most of what I ought I either bought right way or saw right way and bought later. My only mistake was not buying the dark blue hanging glass globe first thing, because I had to settle for a lighter blue one when I went back.

Michael somehow ended up with the camera while we were at the fair, so I only have a couple pictures.
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Just checked, and the State Arts and Crafts fair at Ripley is July 3rd through the 6th this year.

Here’s to hoping temperatures aren’t as hot this year.

Took him long enough. I was beginning to think he was as tone deaf as Bush.

WVU’s president to resign Sept. 1

West Virginia University President Mike Garrison says he’ll resign Sept. 1 to end the controversy surround the awarding of a master’s degree to the governor’s daughter.
By The Associated Press

West Virginia University President Mike Garrison says he’ll resign Sept. 1 to end the controversy surround the awarding of a master’s degree to the governor’s daughter.

Garrison told the Board of Governors on today that only he can stop debate and it’s the most difficult decision he’s ever made.

Garrison’s nine-month administration has been dogged from the start by the degree scandal and the sudden departure and lawsuit involving a former football coach. His presidency started last Sept. 1.

Garrison says no one member of the board asked him to leave and each has been a counselor and a friend.

The board called his decision an unselfish action that should begin a period of healing and recovery.

See also here.

Also? This:

Here are a couple suggestions for the next Presidential search:

First, don’t use anyone from the last search committee. Second, consider offering a salary that’s at least as much as the offensive coordinator of the football team. And third, understand that running WVU or any major university of its size requires a unique skill set.

My take on this, under the cut.
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As much as Manchin isn’t my favorite state politician, I appreciate his statement regarding the scandal and the resolution.

I am not in a position to make a recommendation to them in this instance even if I wanted to because, regardless of what it might be, it would not be viewed as being made objectively - and I absolutely understand and accept that.

I don’t think he was involved in the scandal, although I do believe that the fact he is governor strongly influenced Garrison’s decision making.

The WV Board of Governors met today in a closed session to discuss Garrison.

No decision was made in the three hour meeting.

The reporters asked several of the BOB members questions after the meeting, and I was amused by one response.

When asked if the discussion involved Garrison, (Steve Goodwin) said, “I don’t think it takes too much imagination.”

I also heard that when Garrison made several unannounced appearances at graduation ceremonies across campus, there were graduates who refused to shake hands with him, as well as a rumor that some faculty members who spoke out against Garrison have had their offices moved, however, that is just a rumor.

It astounds me that in the face of all of this, including two votes of no confidence, Garrison can continue to act as if nothing is wrong, and as if his continued presence was not only a hindrance to the functioning of the university, but an embarrassment to the state.

Hmmm… Let’s see, what are the current conditions?

Why they’re crappy!

What about the next couple days?
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The follow-up to the Faculty Senate vote happened today. The Faculty Assembly gathered for a vote of no confidence and demand for Garrison to resign.

First off, this was not the best time to have a Faculty Assembly. The semester ended this week, and summer session doesn’t start until this week, so nine month faculty members may be gone, and if you work full time, this is a good time for a vacation. So getting all the faculty members to attend was not going to happen. So there were not enough members for a quorum, however, they agreed to take an unofficial vote (not that if there was an official vote it would make the slightest bit of difference).

91% of the faculty voted that Garrison should resign in the wake of this scandal.

This comes on top of the news yesterday, from Rich Rod’s deposition. I’ll quote from the Metro News article:

Rodriguez says he was told months before Garrison was hired that he was going to be the new President. Rodriguez said he talked to Board of Governors members Steve Farmer and Drew Payne about Garrison. Rodriguez said of Farmer, “I felt he had great influence, in particular, because he told me months before President Garrison was elected that he was going to be the next President of West Virginia.”

Also:

Rodriguez admitted that when he signed a contract amendment just prior to the 2007 season that he did not ask that the $4 million buyout be reduced or eliminated. He reiterated his contention that he had been told by new WVU president Mike Garrison that the buyout would be reduced or eliminated should he choose to leave.

Why is this important? Because Garrison wasn’t yet President before the 2007 football season.

Unsurprisingly, Clinton is projected to win big in WV. So it’s simply a mater of how big the win is.

Of course there are still plenty of local races that are important.

If anyone is interested in keeping track of the state elections, live results are available on the Metro News site.

First and foremost, my concern is for the race for the State Supreme Court of Appeals. I am really hoping that Spike Maynard loses–and loses big in the primary. His associations with Blankenship are beyond disturbing, and I’d really like to see him out. Then we just have to wait until Brent Benjamin–the Republican Justice whose election was bought and paid for by Blankenship–comes up for reelection.

So I’ll be up for awhile this evening paying attention to the local results, and wondering how big of a blow-out Clinton’s win will be.

Oh, I was still unable to vote for a write in candidate with the stupid electronic voting. Time to write another letter.

ADDENDUM the First:
It looks that for a variety of reasons Joe Manchin is getting a run for his money for governor. The Garrison-Bresch scandal seems to have taken a toll, with many voters supposedly giving a protest vote to Kessler.

ADDENDUM the Second:
I decided to make a batch of cookies while listening to the results. Heard Hillary’s speech, and it wasn’t too bad. She’s nowhere near as good as Obama, but she held her own, and made many nice references to WV.

Manchin took the Democratic primary for Governor as expected, however, as of now, Kessler has 26% of the vote. Additionally, WV Public Radio asked him about today’s news that Rich Rodriguez has claimed that 1) Garrison–who was not even University president at the time–promised him that the $4 million buyout clause would not be enforced and 2) Manchin pushed Rodriguez to sign the 2007 contract.

Manchin pretty much said that Rich Rod has gotten to big for his britches and just needs to suck it up, pay the $4 million, and quit crying.

For the local House of Delegates race, Charlene Marshall is leading with Barbara Evans Fleischauer a close second. All four candidates look good to go up against Cindy Frich in the fall.

And most importantly, Spike Maynard is still in LAST place for the State Supreme court of Appeals race. Let’s hope he stays in last place and is soundly thumped.

ADDENDUM the Third:
Spike Maynard is now in third place, but he’s still eight points behind Menis Ketchum with 88% of precincts reporting in.

Natalie Tennant has taken the race for Secretary of State.

It’s very strange. As much as race and gender were supposed to be factors in the presidential primary, we’ve got a lot of women who won primary elections this year, and the top winners for the 4th district House of delegates are women.

So I wonder how much is gender and race, and how much boils down to “knowing” one candidate versus feeling that another candidate is a stranger come to call. Because if there is one state that Bill Clinton helped Hillary, it has been in WV. Because West Virginians feel like they know Bill Clinton. They’re comfortable with him and understand him. And they were willing to let those feelings roll over onto his wife.

Hillary said tonight that she would campaign hard for whoever the Democratic nominee is. Let’s hope she keeps her word and spends time in WV this summer and fall.

ADDENDUM the Fourth:
With 90% of precincts reporting in, Spike Maynard is still down 9 points.

Good.

I’m going to bed; I have to work and teach in the morning.

VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!

It’s Primary Election Day in WV!

Remember to do your civic duty and head out to the polls.

This year I’m going to ASK about the ability to write-in-candidates, and if it’s not an option, ask if there is a paper ballot, and if not, I’m going to write cranky letters again.

VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!

Remember! Elliot “Spike” Maynard is buddy buddy with Don Blankenship.

Keep that in mind when voting for State Supreme Court of Appeals.

I’m going to be insanely busy at work for the next couple weeks. We’ve got a new software package, and I’ve got a month to learn it and write the documentation.

In theory, it’s interesting, but what I’ve noticed mostly is that it runs really slowly, which could be a problem. We’ll see.

But mostly, I’m all but counting the hours–it’s finals week, and students are already leaving, and so soon we’ll actually be able to drive around town. Woo!

Got an e-mail “Statement from WVU President Mike Garrison” in response to the faculty senate vote last night.

He doesn’t address the vote or issues of the faculty senate at all, and if you read between the lines, he pretty much says, no way am I stepping down, I don’t care what you all say.

If he loves this university, then he should be considering what is best for the university, not what is best for him. And I didn’t get that from his e-mail.

As mentioned previously, everyone around here has been in at tizzy over the Heather Bresch scandal, and the actions or inactions of WVU President Mike Garrison.

Michael and I are in disagreement over what should happen. He says that there’s no proof that Garrison did anything wrong, so he should resign or be censured. I say, of course there’s no evidence. He’s a lawyer; He would have first and foremost covered his tracks.

And I think that’s where much of the university–and even the state–stands as well. Split over whether Garrison did wrong or not, and what those actions or inactions mean for WVU.

Well, today is the faculty senate special meeting to vote on whether Garrison should be forced to resign or be censured.

Mind you , this time last year the faculty senate was debating a vote of no confidence, in response to what was seen as a rigged selection process, as well as Garrison’s ties with various politicians throughout the state.

There may be no evidence as to Garrison’s wrongdoing, but I’d like to point out two things. First, this was the kind of problem many faculty members were worried about when Garrison was selected. Second, whether Garrison took action action that was unethical or not, he is perceived as acting in an unethical manner, and is thus tarnishing the reputation of the University (WVU has lost at least $1 million in donations due to the scandal.)

Even if Garrison did not directly influence the committee that gave Bresch her unearned degree, he also did nothing to distance himself from the decision and to reduce the appearance of impropriety. And when you are president of the state flagship university, appearances are just as important as actions.

ADDENDUM the First:
Faculty Senate made a vote of no confidence, and recommended that Garrison resign.

It doesn’t matter in the slightest, since the faculty senate has no power, but apparently the faculty senate overwhelmingly disapproved of Garrison’s actions (77 to 19).

A year ago when the university selected a new President, a lot of people–including a number of faculty and staff–voiced concern about Mike Garrison.

They worried about cronyism and his links to state politicians and his links to the Board of Governors who selected him.

Unfortunately, a year after his selection, he has placed WVU in the national news for cronyism and links to state politicians as an independent panel decided that Heather Bresch was erroneously given her MBA.

Why is this a big deal? Because Heather Bresch is the daughter of WV Governor Joe Manchin. Because when reports first surfaced that she had not in fact earned her degree, her first call was directly to Mike Garrison. Because when a committee was rushed together to look into whether she had earned her degree or not (they were given a single weekend to collect evidence) several Garrison staffers were on the committee. Because despite almost no evidence that she had in fact completed her course work, the committee ruled that she should be granted the credits retroactively and given her degree.

I held my tongue on Garrison’s selection last year, despite my concerns, hoping that he would show that his detractors were wrong. But now, a year after his selection, it seems that my concerns may well have been justified.

Mike Garrison, when you are in the public eye, when you represent WVU, you must act in a way that is above suspicion when it comes to the University. If there is any doubt as to the ethics or morality of an action, you must err on the side of caution, keeping the reputation on the University in mind. You failed to do that in this situation, and have instead tarnished the reputation of WVU.

This is not a good way to celebrate the anniversary of your selection.

For the first time since I’ve been voting in the primaries, WV is going to have a say in the presidential primaries.

This means that for the first time in years, lots people are going to actually be voting in the state and local primaries.

Which is why I would like to point out that Chief Justice Elliot “Spike” Maynard is up for reelection this year. (Yes, WV elects supreme court justices. That’s another subject entirely.) Previously, I had no problems with Spike Maynard. But that was before his ties to Don Blankenship became public knowledge.

Who is Don Blankenship?

He is an out of state coal baron who spent millions of his own money in an attempt to put his own people in WV politics. Luckily, last election this backfired. Unfortunately, he’d already bought a seat on the Supreme Court.

Before you think he’s just some guy who is interested in WV politics because he works in the state, this is a man who assaulted an ABC reporter. “If you’re going to start taking pictures of me, you’re liable to get shot“. He helps to run non-union mines that have had a high number of fatal accidents in recent years. And ran a nasty campaign under the aegis of for the sake of the kids when he had in fact no interest in helping WV children. “You talk about the silo near the Marsh Fork School as if it were a negative. You should know that the silo, if anything, is an improvement for the school.”

So yeah, I think local politics are pretty important. And although we haven’t heard anything from Blankenship so far, we need to keep in mind who his friends are, and make sure they don’t end up helping to run the state.

I just didn’t have anything much to say, other than gratuitously insulting Nathan.

Blue & Gold game is tomorrow (if you click on the link, please notice that all profits benefit the Children’s Hospital), so we did the shopping tonight, because this side of town gets a little messy when there is football–of any sort–over the hill.

The good part, is that I may be able to get a little gardening in before it rains. (Insert long discussion about compost here.)

Oh yeah, don’t forget it’s Tax Day if you’re in the US.

We mailed our checks last week. Wasn’t too bad. And like John Scalzi says, we do get benefits. I’m particularly fond of the Interstate highway system, public education, and the Center for Disease Control myself.

So pay your taxes if you owe ‘em. Then we’ll wait patiently for our stimulus check (which will be coming quite late for us, since we’re towards the end as far as SSNs go. Ah well.)

My only wish is the WV would fix it’s tax code, because even though Michael and I are both getting the max taken out of our paychecks (and then some in his case) we still owe the state.

Yes, it’s that time of year again. Time for the local Ramp Festivals!

April 19th is the Richwood Ramp Festival. (The website is painful, but does have some interesting information.)
April 26th is the Randolph County Ramp Festival.

And before you ask, not I’m not going to any Ramp festivals. I’m not THAT nuts.

Other good news on the WV front.

WVU School of Medicine was ranked in the top ten schools for Rural Health. But I think the most important part of the Rural Medicine program is that it has significantly increased the number of medical practitioners who go into primary care, and more importantly who go on to practice in rural areas.

Remember when I was all happy about good work news? It’s public now.

It gives me great pleasure to announce the appointment of Laura Roth as Assistant Vice President for Information Technology. This is a new position that will integrate all technology resources at the Health Sciences Center into a unified support structure. This includes networks, databases, telecommunications, the help desk, academic technologies, Computer Based Learning Center, classroom support (ETRU), telemedicine (MDTV), and web services for the School of Medicine.

Laura is perfectly suited to this new position. She started as a programmer with the University 23 years ago and has been the director of HSC Information Systems Operations for the last 12 years. Laura has received national recognition for her leadership here and has been a frequent presenter at AAMC meetings regarding technology issues.

I am confident that under Laura’s leadership the WVU Health Sciences Center will continue to create, innovate, and improve our information technology systems to meet the needs of a growing faculty, staff, and students. Please join me in congratulating her on this new position.

Laura is my boss’s boss, but I have had continued direct interaction with her since I started here in 2000. She has always taken the time to listen to our needs, and has done her best to look out for us. That the restructuring is going to be under her command gives me hope that some of the strain will be taken off my department and and our sibling department, the help desk.

But mostly I’m happy to see her get a promotion.

Just got some good news at work. Won’t be public for a few days, but I have hopes that it will make our lives a lot easier here in the coming months.

Wheee!

Avoid the following dates:

Sat, Aug 30 - Villanova
Sat, Sep 27 - Marshall
Sat, Oct 4 - Rutgers
Sat, Oct 11 - Syracuse
Thu, Oct 23 - Auburn
Sat, Nov 8 - Cincinnati
Sat, Dec 6 - USF

Unless of course you want to come sit on my porch and watch the drunks go by, in which case, COME ON DOWN!

The Steelers just signed a new contract with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. I didn’t pay much attention to this until I heard the following quote:

This is about being a Pittsburgh Steeler for as long as I can be. I don’t want to go anywhere else. I love Pittsburgh. I love the fans. I love the organization and I don’t want to go anywhere.

Danger! Danger!

WVU fans have heard similar things before!

I plan on being at West Virginia the rest of my career.

Hopefully Roethlisberger is a man of his word and not a big fat liar.

The first speaker for WVU’s Festival of Ideas has been posted.

Arianna Huffington will speak this Friday at the Mountainlair at 7:30PM. She spoke here several years ago (you’ll have to search, since I wasn’t using blogging software at that point, so didn’t have permalinks) for the same series, and I thoroughly enjoyed her talk. She’s a very dynamic and vivacious speaker, so if you have the chance, you may want to take the time to hear her talk.

And hopefully we’ll have a better idea who else is speaking soon.