Smoking ban passes

Members of the Campbell County Fiscal Court voted 3-1 at the Wednesday evening, December 15, 2010 meeting to create a comprehensive indoor smoking ban.

Voting for the smoking ban were Commissioners Dave Otto and Mark Hayden who were attending their final fiscal court meeting and Judge-Executive Steve Pendry. Commissioner Ken Rechtin voted against the ban.

There was an amendment to the bill that would have exempted bars under certain circumstances but it was not adopted.

Anti-smokers cheered as the bill was passed but with two new commission members Brian Painter and Pete Garrett taking office January 1, the ban may be reversed before it takes affect on April 15.

Painter and Garrett were elected to the commission to replace Mark Hayden who did not run for re-election, and Dave Otto who was defeated in his bid for re-election. Painter and Garrett have both indicated that they are not in favor of a smoking ban.

We don’t think the dust has settled on this issue yet.

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Changed council making plans

The following article appeared on NKY.com and is reprinted here for your convenience.

Something worth considering?

Cold Spring hired a full-time city administrator in November 2008.

Upon review the city decided that this position as full time was not necessary.

The current city administrator decided he did not want to be a part time employee and so has decided to move on.

Cold Spring is looking to fill the position on a part-time basis saving the city money while providing the current level of service.

The full-time position paid $60,000 a year (we imagine that would be plus benefits). The part-time position will pay between $25 and $35 per hour for 25 hours per week.

Mayor Mark Stoeber said the salary will be closer to the $25 per hour wage.

Should it be time for the City of Alexandria to follow suit and analyze if it is possible to reduce expenses while still delivering the current quality of services?

Click here to read the complete article on NKY.COM.

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Opposition to smoking ban grows

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies.   --  C.S. Lewis

The following article appears at NKY.COM and is reprinted here for your convenience.

Audit review shows Alexandria deficit reduced

An initial draft of an independent auditor's review of the City of Alexandria's finances reveal an 18 percent reduction in overall debt (a reduction of $211,657), and a surplus or reserve fund of about $1.04 million.

Click here to read more

Campbell County sued over smoking ban

Old régime coming to an end

Thursday, December 2, 2010 is traditionally the last city council meeting for the year which means this will be the last council meeting that Mayor McGinley will preside over.

We are looking to 2011 with optimism and hoping that pugilistic politics will finally come to an end.

Code Enforcement “look” defies reasonable explanation

If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it probably is a duck. ~ Unknown quote

Some things just strike us as odd.

One of these is the way that Alexandria approaches outfitting its code enforcement officer.

Complaint filed over Tea Party ad

An article appeared on NKY.com reporting that a complaint has been filed with state election finance officials regarding a pre-election advertisement placed in local newspapers by the Northern Kentucky Tea Party.

Click here to read the article

Click here to read the complaint

Questions were raised here on October 29 concerning this ad.

Click here to read the post and a copy of the ad

New store coming to Village Green

A Tuesday Morning store is due to open soon in the old TJ Maxx location at Alexandria Village Green shopping center.

The exact date is not known but we have been told “real soon” (perhaps in a few weeks).

Here is how they describe themselves.

Tuesday Morning is a retailer specializing in upscale closeout merchandise, with more than 800 stores across the United States. Our successful concept was founded on a unique philosophy: sell first-quality, famous designer and name-brand merchandise at extraordinarily discounted prices on an event basis. Our 10 major events usually kick off on the first Tuesday of the month. We receive new merchandise shipments daily, and customers can return often to find the shelves replenished with new items.

When shopping at Tuesday Morning customers can expect:

· Identical or similar inventory to that found in better catalogs, upscale department stores, or specialty boutiques

· A merchandise mix divided into major categories, including upscale decorative accessories, rugs, lamps, books, crystal and glassware, china, luggage, luxury bed and bath linens, toys, gourmet foods and cookware, flatware, and seasonal items such as greenery, trim, Christmas wrap and decorations, or lawn and garden furniture and accessories

· Well-known and nationally advertised manufacturers and name brands from Europe and across the world

· Casual, self-serve in-store atmosphere with a no-frills presentation

We value our customers and are committed to providing ever-changing collections of deeply discounted closeout merchandise.

The website for Tuesday Morning’s is located here Tuesday Morning .

We will post more information as it becomes available.

The times they are a-changin . . .

The title is the name of an old Bob Dylan tune and no where is that more apparent than the election of a new mayor to lead Alexandria for the next four years.

Bill Rachford, the city’s new mayor is the polar opposite of Dan McGinley.

New Mayor and 2 new Council Members

On Tuesday, November 2, 2010 a new mayor, Bill Rachford, was elected to lead Alexandria for the next 4 years.

Two new council members were also elected, Joe Anderson and Bob Simon. Council members serve two year terms.

Council member Lloyd Rogers was not re-elected and there was vacancy to be filled as the new Mayor will have vacated his seat at the end of the year.

The Mayor/Council Line up is:

Mayor –

Bill Rachford

Council Members –

Scott Fleckinger

Dave Hart

Stacey Graus

Barb Weber

Joe Anderson

Bob Simon

The new line-up will begin serving on January 1, 2011.

Does NKY Tea Party ad skirt campaign laws?

Following the article When is an endorsement an endorsement? posted on this blog the following article appeared in The Enquirer.

Does NKY Tea Party ad skirt campaign laws?

The Kentucky Enquirer - An ad by the Northern Kentucky Tea Party has caused some people, including the Boone County attorney, to question whether the group has violated Kentucky's campaign finance laws.

Click here to read the article

Unique campaign sign

This is one of the most unique campaign signs that has been observed running around in Alexandria.

When is an endorsement an endorsement?

Judging by this ad (shown below) that appeared in The Alexandria Recorder October 28, 2010 it appears that The Northern Kentucky Tea Party is endorsing the list of candidates that it has prominently named in the ad.

But wait.

Reading the fine print at the bottom of the ad it states, “The Northern Kentucky Tea Party does not endorse or financially support candidates for public office”.

It goes on to say, “The above candidates have indicated support and promote the Tea Party principles if elected”.

The ad lists a candidate for mayor and one candidate for city council.

The fine print goes on to say, “There may be other candidates who support the principles of the Northern Kentucky Tea Party but have not made their support known.”

What a crock. We contacted some candidates that are not listed in the ad and they have told us that they were never contacted by the Tea Party in regards to their views but that they also haven’t regularly attended Tea Party meetings.

We can only conclude that in order to make the list the only criteria used was whether or not an individual went to a lot of Tea Party meetings and paid lip service. There was no effort to reach out to the other candidates and solicit their views.

The ad also states that the Northern Kentucky Tea Party “promotes the principles of fiscal responsibility, limited government and free markets”.

The ad urges you to vote yes on the adoption of the Justice of the Peace form of government for Campbell County which is in essence bigger government as it goes from 3 commissioners to 8 justices.

An ad that appears to be political endorsements but says in fine print that it is not and says the organization is for limited government but endorses expanded government seems like a group that hasn’t quite gotten its act together.

We said it earlier but feel compelled to say it again, what a crock.

You be the judge.

We can’t rely on Lloyd Rogers

Round two of the Anti-Lloyd Rogers ads. This one appeared in The Alexandria Recorder on October 28, 2010.

Open Letter to Alexandria Citizens from Bill Rachford

There were some interesting ads in The Alexandria Recorder October 28, 2010 edition.

Here is one of them.

Lloyd Rogers – The History He Wants You To Forget

Here is a paid advertisement that ran in The Alexandria Recorder October 21, 2010 Page B7.

Ghost writer?

In the Viewpoints section, page A9 of the October 14, 2010 edition of the Alexandria Recorder there appeared an article titled “Keep Dan McGinley – he’s a ‘proven leader’” by guest columnist Robert Feinauer including Mr. Feinauer’s picture.

The article reads like Mayor McGinley’s claimed accomplishments, campaign statements and talking points.

For someone who seems so well informed no one seems to ever remember seeing Mr. Feinauer in attendance at any council meetings.

Could Mr. Feinauer have a ghost writer?

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LEADERSHIP ORGANIZATION OPPOSES CHANGE IN CAMPBELL COUNTY GOVERNMENT

We asked ourselves after reading the press release (reprinted below) “Just who is CLAG”?

We don’t recall them publicly taking stands on issues or endorsing candidates before. We’ve never heard of them.

Are they some secret society of “ultra-elites”?

Well a little research shows that you can find a list of their members and you too can be a member for a payment of $50 in yearly dues.

By the way, after some careful thought we agree that a change from the commission system would not be in the best interests of the citizens of Campbell County and so we urge a vote against this goofy proposal.