Tag Archives: Jennifer Wexton

Past Time To Act On Guns

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Momsgunssign-sm

Many have found it particularly distressing given how little has been accomplished to assure citizens that they are safe from mass shootings and gun violence.

Moms, family and friends gathered to protest this past weekend – to demand action for a change.

In recent days, in Virginia Beach, a city employee killed 12 people and injured four more in a municipal building.

The killer carried two lawful .45 caliber handguns but he also had a silencer and an extended capacity ammo magazine.  The large magazine meant he didn’t have to re-load and could continue to shoot longer and kill or wound more innocents. Continue reading →

HERE COMES THE SUN – Solar Power

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The home that Erin and Brian Palmer built with solar panels on the roof

The home that Erin and Brian Palmer built with solar panels on the roof

We’re not talking about Beatle George Harrison’s twangy tune, “Here comes the sun,” but the true power of the sun, even 93 million miles away, to warm our houses, cook our food, and keep our desktops humming on social media.

The simplest way to describe how solar does its work is that sunlight contains photons, packets of energy, that strike silicon cells, creating a flow of electrons and those electrons (traveling in one direction, a DC current) are harnessed in solar panels, later, usually “inverted,” so the current is AC, alternating, and then used in the domestic (and commercial) activities that are now mostly fossil fueled. Continue reading →

Lovettsville’s Year of the Woman

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Kristen K. Swanson (left of center) convenes her Saturday organizing meeting

Kristen K. Swanson (left of center) convenes her Saturday organizing meeting

Many have said this is “the year of the woman.”

Lovettsville’s Kristen K. Swanson, a local artist, has believed that this would be “the year of the woman” ever since Donald Trump was chosen by the electoral college but lost the popular vote in 2016.

After all, the day after the Inauguration, Women marched on Washington in larger numbers than attended the Inauguration. Continue reading →

One more problematic image: The case of Ting-Yi Oei

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With all the focus on images lately – from witlessly offensive to intentionally menacing to so hilariously unexamined that the possibility of sabotage has been raised – it’s no wonder that Governor McDonnell didn’t stay longer for a photo op with Loudoun Republicans.

There’s another image for voters to keep in mind. It’s an image that a man had cause to upload to his phone one day in the course of doing his job – and he paid dearly for it, due to an inexplicable series of actions taken by Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Plowman.

TOLD THAT a judge was dismissing all charges against him, Virginia educator Ting-Yi Oei had just one thought: “Hallelujah.” Given his nightmarish prosecution on child pornography charges, it was an understandable, even restrained, reaction. What’s not understandable is why criminal charges were ever brought against an unassuming assistant high school principal who was just trying to do his job. Loudoun County residents are right to wonder about the unsettling circumstances of this case and to demand better answers.

–A Nightmare in Loudoun; Why was a respected educator subjected to baseless child pornography charges? Washington Post, April 30, 2009.

Continue reading →

Okay, so Plowman dropped the charges

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That doesn’t change the fact that you should still write in Joy Maloney for Broad Run School Board.

My issues with Mr. Kuester’s candidacy remain the same, I feel that people on the school board should believe in the value of public education, and should be fiscally responsible. Mr. Kuesters fails both those tests.

Mr. Kuesters sends his school-age children to private religious school. That’s his right, obviously. But I think someone who wants to be in charge of our public schools, who has school-age children, should be invested enough in the schools to have his children attend them.

The School Board has fiscal oversight over the schools budget. Mr. Kuesters filed bankruptcy last year and is in more financial hot-water this year with his HOAs.

And then there is the arrest. I have volunteered with LAWS, the Loudoun Abused Women’s Shelter, and I am aware of how common it is for abused spouses to withdraw complaints against their abusers. Mr. Kuesters may or may not have abused his wife, but whatever happened, it’s clear that he has personal issues that are too complex to be completely dealt with before swearing in on January 1.

Meanwhile, Joy Maloney has a daughter at Eagle Ridge, her family is on a good solid financial footing, and she’s not facing family turmoil. PLUS, she has a Masters in Educational Leadership and a Bachelors in Secondary Education. She taught high school for 5 years, and she works in a STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) field.

Write in Joy Maloney for Broad Run School Board.

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Crossposted at Doorbell Queen)

Jennifer Wexton Wrote an Op-Ed Piece

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You may not have seen it, because it is only in the print edition of Loudoun Times Mirror (and in their e-edition, scroll to page A21). It’s a rather effective critique of Jim Plowman’s role in the scandal of the innocent Vice-Principal. Here’s an excerpt.

Though the summary facts are well known, there are key aspects of the case which have been forgotten, or never publicized, which reflect poorly on Mr. Plowman. First, the original charges against Mr. Oei said nothing about child pornography.
…
Even the misdemeanor charge against Mr. Oei (punishable only by a fine of up to $500) was based on the mistaken belief that Mr. Oei had not reported the matter appropriately. After it was determined that Mr. Oei had, in fact, reported the incident to his Principal, the Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney assigned to the case agreed that the charge should not be prosecuted, and filed a motion with the court to officially drop the case.

It was at this point that Mr. Plowman became personally involved, ordering the Assistant C.A. to withdraw the motion and continue with the case. Mr. Plowman also communicated to Mr. Oei’s lawyer an ultimatum: plead guilty to the failure to report charge and resign from the school system, or be charged with felony possession of child pornography.

As Mr. Oei’s attorney later stated in a sworn affidavit, Mr. Plowman “threatened [his] intention to pursue a legally and factually unsupportable felony charge” if Mr. Oei did not resign. Mr. Plowman had taken it upon himself — without consulting the Loudoun County Public Schools and despite Mr. Oei’s 30 years as a teacher and school administrator — to determine that Mr. Oei was not fit to work in the schools, and decided to extort him into resigning.
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The Loudoun County School Board later voted to reimburse Mr. Oei for the legal fees he incurred defending himself from the baseless charges. Loudoun taxpayers were required to pick up the $167,000 tab for Jim Plowman’s witch hunt.

Mr. Plowman is an elected official, ultimately answering only to the voters of Loudoun County. In this election year, it is important to remember these egregious examples of Mr. Plowman’s poor judgment and abuse of power. – Jennifer Wexton

Since LTM wouldn’t put up a link (for reasons that are not yet known, there have been no new Letters to the Editor posted to the LTM site since February), you can read the full letter at Jennifer’s website!

And while you’re there, why not get involved? It’s time for a new Commonwealth’s Attorney.

(I provided some additional details and text from the letter to expand on this post -P13)

Went out walking with Jennifer Wexton again!

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She is so much fun to walk with! We did doors for about 3 hours on Saturday, and then she ran out of lit, so we stopped for the day. I emailed her more walk sheets for Sunday.

Speaking of Sunday, did anyone get an odd message from two of the LCDems lists that day? If you did, please let me know. liz (at) millerhousehold (dot) com.