Elmer Underwood of Indian Valley believes the best way to deal with elected officials is to threaten them.

During a public hearing two years ago, Underwood told the board of supervisors that the best way to treat them for raising real estate taxes “involves tar, feathers and a rail.”

“I got rails out on my truck,” he told the board.  “I got enough for each of you and I know what to do with them.”

At this week’s public hearing on a proposed ordinance banning development on the county’s ridge lines — a move that would stop construction of proposed wind turbine generators on Wills Ridge and other places in the county — Underwood issued another threat:

They way I look at it, if I want to put one (a wind generator) in my field or something, that’s my business and it ain’t none of y’all’s business.  As long as it’s legal and all, I think I ought to be able to do it.  But if y’all can stop me on that I’ll tell you one thing.  If any one of you ever come over there to me and jump on me about something, I’ll bust your nose.

In public hearings in some other county, town or city, a threat like that can lead to arrest, handcuffs and time in front of a judge.  But this is Floyd County and, shucks, everyone knows Elmer and we’re all used to those sorts of things.

Yeah, everyone knows Elmer and those who know him best say that if you get in his face he will bust your nose…and a few other things.

Which may explain why candidates for office, as a general rule, don’t drop by his farm to ask for his vote.

Elmer Underwood: Consider yourself warned

A short compilation of some of the speakers at Tuesday night’s hearing on a proposed county ordinance to limit ridge line development.

A full story appears in Thursday’s Floyd Press and a video should go up on the press web site on that day.  Here are some photos and an expanded video will follow soon

The public hearing scheduled to begin at 7 p..m. Tuesday (Jan. 31) in the Floyd County High School Auditorium will allow residents a chance to voice their opinions, support, opposition, questions and concerns over a proposed ordinance to ban ridge line development.

The ordinance grew out of the controversy over proposed wind generator farms on Wills Ridge and possibly other areas of the county.

Proponents see the turbines as a path to increased revenue for landowners and country government and less dependance on fossil fuels or other, more environmentally threatening, forms of electrical generation.

Opponents see the 490-foot structures as eyesores that will destroy the county’s view shed, damage tourism, reduce property values and threaten a fragile water table.

A lot of claims will spill from the mouths of those who come to the podium.  Some of those claims will be based on fact.  Some, sadly, will pass on incorrect information or outright lies as fact.

The video above, shot at the December meeting of the board of supervisors, showcases what happens when misinformation is presented as fact.  The speaker first talks about political contributions by wind turbine companies.  Nordex, the primary company proposing the wind turbines on Wills Ridge, has not made any contributions as a company. Daniel Aguis, an executive with Nordex USA, has contributed to a number of House and Senate candidates — all Republicans — and was a contributor to John McCain’s failed presidential campaign in 2008.  His contributions were usually $500 or so, not “very large” contributions.  Executives of the coal industry gave much larger contributions.  The speaker passed on misinformation she admitted came in an email from an unknown source.

The second claim is that Russian mafia kingpin Grigory Loutchansky is the “president of Nordex.”  The information, she said, came from an undated article from “somebody” who had done “significant research.”

In fact, the information originally came from an anonymous author on an anti-Bill Clinton website and has been reprinted on anti-Semitic (Loutchansky is a Russian jew).  The website traces back to Victor Bilson, a Wichita silver and gold promotor, wedding photographer and operator of a pro-Ron Paul website.

Loutchansky has nothing to do with either Nordex, SA, the parent company, or Nordex USA.  He does control a company called “Nordex Commodities” in the Ukraine but it is not affiliated in any way with the wind turbine company.  I confirmed this with the U.S. Justice Department office on Foreign Corrupt Practices and Dun & Bradstreet, the worldwide business information company.  There are many companies named “Nordex” in the world but only a few are connected to “Nordex SA” in Germany or “Nordex USA” — the ones behind the wind turbine project.

We pointed this out in an earlier article and in an email exchange with the speaker who made the claim.  She promised to return to the board of supervisors and correct her mistake.  To date, that has not happened.  The false claim remains on the record with the board of supervisors.

The point here is whenever anyone — on either side of an issue — makes outrageous claims that are more hyperbole than fact, those claims muddy the issue under discussion.  Blue Ridge Muse will present a full video of the public hearing, without comment.  I will also report on the hearing for The Floyd Press.

Then this web site will go back fact check each claim made on all sides of the debate.  Those based on misinformation will be identified and corrected.

This issue — and its future impact on Floyd County — is too important to allow any misinformation campaigns to masquerade as facts.

Related articles

• The misinformation super highway (blueridgemuse.com)
• No wind turbine farms in Floyd County? (blueridgemuse.com)
• New feature: Voice of the people (blueridgemuse.com)

Roy thought I would “get a kick out of it” because I ride a Harley.

He’s right.

After I stopped laughing I knew it had to be shared.

Johnstown, PA – Local and state police scoured the hills outside rural Johnstown, Pennsylvania, after reports of three animal rights activists going missing after attempting to protest the wearing of leather at a large motorcycle gang rally this weekend. Two others, previously reported missing, were discovered by fast food workers “duct taped inside fast food restaurant dumpsters,” according to police officials.

“Something just went wrong,” said a still visibly shaken organizer of the protest. “Something just went horribly, horribly, wrong.”  The organizer said a group of concerned animal rights activist groups, “growing tired of throwing fake blood and shouting profanities at older women wearing leather or fur coats,” decided to protest the annual motorcycle club event “in a hope to show them our outrage at their wanting to use  leather in their clothing and motor bike seats.” “In fact,” said the organizer, “motorcycle gangs are one of the biggest abusers of wearing leather, and we decided it was high time that we let them know that we disagree with them using it, ergo, they should stop.”

According to witnesses, protesters arrived at the event in a vintage 1960′s era Volkswagen Van and began to pelt the gang members with balloons filled with red colored water, simulating blood, and shouting “you’re murderers” to passers by.  This, evidently, is when the brouhaha began.

“They peed on me!” charged one activist. “They grabbed me, said I looked like I was French, started calling me ‘La Trene’, and duct taped me to a tree so they could pee on me all day!”

Still others claimed they were forced to eat hamburgers and hot dogs under duress.  Those who resisted were allegedly held down while several bikers “farted on their heads.”

Police officials declined comments on any leads or arrests due to the ongoing nature of the investigation; however, organizers for the motorcycle club rally expressed “surprise” at the allegations.

“That’s preposterous,”said one high-ranking member of the biker organizing committee.  “We were having a party, and these people showed up and were very rude to us.  They threw things at us, called us names, and tried to ruin the entire event.  So, what did we do?  We invited them to the party!  What could be more friendly than that?  You know, just because we are all members of motorcycle clubs does not mean we do not care about inclusiveness. Personally, I think it shows a lack of character for them to be saying such nasty things about us after we bent over backwards to make them feel welcome.”

When confronted with the allegations of force-feeding the activists meat, using them as ad hoc latrines, leaving them incapacitated in fast food restaurant dumpsters, and ‘farting on their heads,’ the organizer declined to comment in detail.

“That’s just our secret handshake,” assured the organizer.

Of course this never actually happened but it could have if anyone from PETA was dumb enough to try and protest the wearing of leather by those who genuflect to the throne of Harley-Davidson.

Where we come from, “PETA” stands for “People Eating Tasty Animals.”

The reporter as a young man

Got an email recently from an area student who said she wanted to meet and talk about a media studies project she had pitched to her teacher.

So we met at Hollywood’s Deli near Roanoke and she asked: “Do you mind if I use you as the subject of a term paper?”

Almost choked on my sub but managed to stammer something like “are you kidding me?”

“No,” she said. “I’ve been doing a lot of research on new media and I’ve found that you’re one of the more prolific writers and visual journalists on the web and through other mediums.”

“You can’t be serious?  I’m sure there are others who have written and produced far more.”

She handed over a spreadsheet going back 52 years, a project she said she began last year when I spoke to her media class.

Starting with the first photo and story I sold to The Herald in Farmville, VA, in 1959 — when I was 12 — the spreadsheet listed number of articles written, number of photos published and estimates of words written over more than five decades.

The numbers surprised me: 371 articles and columns at the Roanoke Times from 1965-69, 119 photos published.  Twenty-nine appearances on WROV Radio from 1968-69 as the panel moderator on “Teen Talk.”

During nearly 12 years in Alton, Illinois, 1822 news articles, features and columns, 493 photos, 122 cover photos on the paper’s weekend magazine.

“How did you find all this?”

“Nexus on-line research for some and a lot of time going through microfilm at public libraries.”

She found articles I forgot I had written for publications I didn’t remember:  A feature on life in Washington for St. Louis Magazine, a profile of Phyllis Schafly for Viva, a photo essay in Look, an op ed for The New York Times while working for The National Association of Realtors.

She found that I wrote all of the stories on the front page of The Alton Telegraph nine times during my tenure there and five times over the last six years on the The Floyd Press.

Even more surprising was her research on the Internet.

“You’ve written 13,358 articles on the web from October 1, 1994 through Dec. 15, 2011,” she said. “That’s an average of more than two a day and, if you use an average of 500 words, more than 3.1 million words over the last 17-plus years.”

Wow. No wonder my fingers ache nowadays.

According to her spreadsheet, I’ve written 23,051 articles for newspapers, magazines and online, published 21,312 photos, filmed and edited nine documentaries and 584 videos. Using the 500 word per article baseline, that adds up to 11.5 million words, at least two photos a week in a career that goes back to 52 plus years.

“You, as an individual, write at least two articles a day on the Internet and have done so for more than 17 years, plus all the photos and videos,” she said.

I had no idea.

So I agreed to become a subject of her term paper and will publish the details here as well when she is finished.  She’s asked that I not reveal her name or school until the project is complete.

Then I may retire. I need the rest.

Related articles

• How does one ‘write like a liberal?’ (blueridgemuse.com)
• Visual journalism (blueridgemuse.com)

Danny Velasquez added 17 and Preston Neukirch nine but the Highlanders — who trailed by nine at the half — roared back in the second half to take the win 83-74.

Meanwhile, the Lady Buffs — top-ranked in state Group A rankings — rolled over Glenvar at home 76-67 Thursday to remain unbeaten in district play and 19-1 overall for the season.  The team racked up seven three pointers.

At first it seemed like an allergy — runny nose, watery eyes, sneezing.  Started Tuesday morning.

Allergy medication kept the symptoms under control through the Floyd County Board of Supervisors first night meeting under their new two meetings a month schedule.  But standing outside in the cool night air talking with supervisors afterwards brought on fever.  By arrival at home the sneezing turned into a hacking cough and the sweats alternated with chills.

Oh hell. The flu.  A shot of NyQuil and bed.

By Wednesday morning, two best friends are the couch and the porcelain throne.  Managed to stay upright long enough to write a story about the meeting for the Floyd Press and put together a video of the public comment period.  Then back to the couch with occasional roundtrips to the throne room.

DayQuil didn’t help much.  Neither did Mucinex. Amy had the same symptoms last week. Found some solace in plotting her demise. Coughed so hard Wednesday night and Thursday that stomach ached and always fragile back began to spasm.

Hospice called. A 24-hour virus of some sort was running through mother’s assisted living complex. She’s sick too. So is Amy.  Kleenex overflows all trashcans in the house.

A double shot of NyQuil brings much needed sleep Thursday night.  Friday morning brings some relief.  No fever, no genuflecting to the porcelain gods.  Stomach and back still ache from all the coughing but haven’t reached for a Kleenex all morning.

The will to live has returned but the desire to off wife for sharing remains.

Closed Penn Camera store on 18th Street NW in Washington

Sad news from the Washington, DC area.  Penn Camera — my “go to” equipment supplier for a major part of my photojournalism career — shuttered five of its eight stores and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this month.

“A dramatic decline in sales performance during the preceding holiday period has precipitated this action,” the company announced on its web site.

The bulk of the company’s employees are on the street, looking for work.  Those lucky enough to still have jobs say the remaining stores will probably close in the near future.

The company sold to consumers but gained its reputation for its service to the professional photographer.  During our time in Washington, Jeff Snyder served the needs of working photojournalists.

Jeff kept me stocked with Nikon gear for many years.  I bought my first digital single-lens reflex camera — a Nikon D1 — from him and when I switched from Nikons to Canon in 2004 he gave me good prices on the new equipment.

Jeff moved on to Adorama not long after we moved to Floyd County.  I followed him to his new gig.  With no professional camera outlet near here I depended on Adorama and other suppliers for equipment that arrived via FedEx or UPS.

With Penn Camera’s problems, I wonder about the future of other shops that cater to professionals.  Online retailers now offer pro equipment at prices that are too often less than the pro discounts we used to enjoy from retailers like Penn, Adorama, Roberts Camera and others.

Answer: 200. One to change the bulb, 29 to praise the change and 170 to say how much they liked the old bulb better.

A week ago, I launched a redesign of Blue Ridge Muse, the first redesign of the web site in four years. I was proud of the new look and a lot of work went into it.

Several people praised the change…at first. Then the complaints started coming in. It was too confusing or it loaded too slowly and it put too much emphasis on photos and videos or it just “didn’t feel like” the old Muse.

A long-time reader came up to my table at Blue Ridge Restaurant this week and told me that “you forgot the old rule that ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ ” Another commented after the board of supervisors meeting Tuesday night that “change for change’s sake isn’t always good.”

I’ve tweaked the new design several times to try and accommodate reader complaints but I’m starting to wonder if the best solution is to just go back to the old layout.

What do you think?