The Army soldier charged with killing 13 and leaving another 30 injured at Foot Hood, Texas, graduated from Virginia Tech, served in the Reserve Officer Training Corps. (ROTC) and had “difficulties” that required counseling while interning at Walter Reed medical center in Arlington.

Once again, Tech is linked to a brutal crime that shocks the nation. While the University cannot be blamed with creating another mass murderer, it reminds people that the of the worst shooting rampage on American soil in April 2007 and comes on the heels of the murder of two Tech students shortly after classes convened this fall. Tech not makes more national headlines for its links to shocking crimes than for its national sports aspirations.

Other colleges and universities have crime but how many had a student with a history of mental illness kill 32 and wound many others? How many had a Chinese exchange student behead his former lover with a kitchen knife at an Au Bon Pain Cafe on campus? How many mourned the loss of two students killed in a national forest right after the start of the fall term? How many universities locked down the campus on the first day of a new term because a suspect escaped from a nearby hospital and killed a security guard and deputy sheriff?

Nidal Malik Nasar did not commit his bloody crime at Tech or even in the area, but news that the Arlington native graduated from Tech comes during another national story: The search for missing Tech coed Morgan Harrington, who disappeared while attending a Metallica concert at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

Why so much violence centered around one university in Southwestern Virginia?

I don’t know but I’m sure that question will become the subject more than one post-graduate thesis in the future.

The election of Casey Clinger to the Floyd County Board of Supervisors brings another biker onto the Floyd political and governmental scene.

That’s right, Clinger rides a Harley Davidson. So does County Administrator Dan Campbell and Sheriff Shannon Zeman, along with at least one of his deputies. State Trooper Andrew O’Connor is a Harley fanatic as well.

As a Harley rider, I happen to like the infiltration of county government by bikers.

Floyd County is biker country, with nearly 600 bikes registered for road use and an undetermined number of other off-road machines.

Not just Harleys. A lot of others enjoy two-wheel motorized madness, including:

• Sheriff’s Department Chief Investigator Jeff Dalton (Honda);
• State Trooper Keith Gregory (Yamaha);
• Floyd Country Store and Crenshaw Lighting owner Woody Crenshaw (Honda for the street and a Suzuki for the track);
• And others

You’ll find bikes parked outside the Blue Ridge Restaurant in Floyd on most days and another gaggle at Tuggles Gap. The American Motorcycle Association lists two roads in Floyd County among the best riding roads in the nation, along with the Blue Ridge Parkway as a preferred route.

We’re taking over.

So, you’re going to walk into that voting booth on Tuesday, look at the touch screen with great determination and vote decisively, right?

Or maybe you’re gonna be like most of us and stare at the screen and wonder: Who the hell are these guys?

Some choice — Creigh Deeds or Bob McDonnell: A Democrat not ready for prime time versus a right-winger who wants to drag Virginia kicking and screaming back into the 19th century (or maybe even the 18th).

To borrow a quote from the late Kermit Salyer, once publisher of the Franklin News-Post, neither of these guys would make decent wash room janitors, much less governor of the Old Dominion.

Deeds has all the charisma of a wet mop and the leadership qualities of Elmer Fudd. If there was a mistake to be made in this campaign, he grabbed it.

For example, reports the web site Politico:

When Karl Rove set out to get George W. Bush reelected in 2004, he targeted the Expedition-driving, megachurch-attending, Panera-eating, McMansion-living voters in places like Loudoun County, Va. Bush won Loudoun with 56 percent on his way to a comfortable victory statewide.

On Tuesday, Republican Bob McDonnell will also win Loudoun on the backs of similar voters. These are fairly affluent voters who are new to the state and, most important, don’t have any strong party affiliation. They want efficient government but otherwise don’t have much time for or interest in politics.

McDonnell’s victory in Loudoun and in neighboring Prince William County will come as a surprise to many armchair pundits, who thought that all of Northern Virginia had became solidly blue. Many die-hard Democrats will blame Creigh Deeds’s lifeless campaign and the political environment.

But the truth is that Northern Virginia is often taken for granted as a powerful Democratic bloc. To be sure, Fairfax County has become solidly blue, but Loudoun and Prince William counties are more accurately full of independents who just happen to be supporting Democrats recently.

McDonnell is the Professor Harold Hill of politics. He sells himself as a moderate. He’s not. His right-wing extremism, bolstered by the GOP candidates for Lt. Governor and Attorney General, will haunt Virginians for the next four years.

Reminds me of an old bumper sticker that reads: “Don’t vote: It only encourages the bastards.”

Suite 6 at 201 East Main Street in Floyd sits empty today, vacated by the studio and gallery once known as Blue Ridge Muse. Amy and I, along with the help of good friend Mark Warren, finished packing up the last items and hauled them home, leaving behind two years of hope, memories and dreams.

We appreciate the condolences sent along by many readers, the friends who dropped by during the final days to say goodbye and to say how sorry they were to see us close. The comments and expressions of sorrow are very much appreciated.

Some in Floyd have offered varied opinions on why Muse didn’t make it as a business. It’s the economy, some said. Others suggest Floyd simply can’t support the number of businesses that struggle for attention. Still others suggest the time is not right but may be in future years.

One local businessman had another explanation: “You’re too controversial for retail,” he said. “You can’t make people mad and expect them to come in and buy things.”

If that is true, then so be it. I’m a passionate man, driven by strong beliefs and what some call an old-fashioned, even arcane, since of justice. I expect our elected officials to be honest, our governments to be open and spend our tax dollars fairly. I have this traditional notion that men and women of principle should conduct themselves with integrity, be they members of local, state or national governing bodies. As both a journalist and a citizen, I see things in black and white. Grey areas are not an option.

I’ve made many mistakes in my life. As both a recovering alcoholic and a human being, I struggle every day to come to grips with my failings and weaknesses. I neither claim perfection or believe it possible. All I can do is try to be the best person I can and face my shortcomings.

Our nation stands at a crossroads — both morally and historically. So does Floyd and Floyd County. When greed overtakes integrity, nobody wins. When hidden agendas replace open and honest government, everyone suffers.

Blue Ridge Muse the studio is gone but Blue Ridge Muse the web site continues. The lights may be out but the fire that burns in my belly is as bright and strong as ever.

I’ve never measured a person by the thickness of their wallet but by the depth of their soul. Those who choose to sell their integrity for money are doomed by the shallowness of their greed.

I’d rather be a poor man of principle than a rich one without a conscience.