Dispatches from Sterling: Government-Sponsored Blight
Author | joe | Posted on | June 23, 2008 | 90 Comments
[After you read the following, you can find more on this topic at this post, a week later]
This is what “blight” looks like from the house across the street, and this is how it is allowed to happen. (click on photos for larger images)
For all of you who don’t have firsthand familiarity with the illegal alien problem in Northern Virginia, let me share a true-life story which might help paint the picture of what has been happening here in Sterling for the past five to seven years. In sum, I believe segments of our government at every level are at war with the legal residents of our nation, an economic war conducted on behalf of powerful business interests, a war that most citizens don’t even realize has already been declared on them.
I am going to relate this tale about Sterling to demonstrate what has gone wrong at the micro level – because the macro-level issues have been so thoroughly politicized that most people who are not on the front lines can’t make heads or tails of the controversy. Facts about border security and what the federal government is or isn’t doing are remote and opaque. Facts about what is happening at the neighborhood level are much easier to grasp.
In most American communities, where the rubber hits the road on the illegal immigration problem lies in the actions of three local government functions: Public safety, business licensing and zoning enforcement. We have covered the first two in substantial depth on this blog over the years (check here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.) We’ve touched on zoning, but it is time to probe a little further.
When we turn over this particular log, as most Sterling residents know and which was amply testified to at the May 14 community meeting, the reality is not pretty. Both the Sheriff’s Office and the Zoning Administration division received abysmally low grades from local residents.
This was no major surprise to me.
From my personal experience with filing zoning violation complaints in Loudoun County for the past two-plus years, I believe the Zoning Administration division of the Department of Building and Development is worse than ineffective. From my vantage point, I believe this particular section of the county government is, like Robert Mugabe’s Ministry of Justice, “part of the problem.”
Frankly, I don’t understand why our Department of Building and Development has not yet been investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), because it appears to me this department is engaged in violations of Title 8, Section 1324 of the U.S. Code:
(iii) knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that an alien has come to, entered, or remains in the United States in violation of law, conceals, harbors, or shields from detection, or attempts to conceal, harbor, or shield from detection, such alien in any place, including any building or any means of transportation…
A harsh assessment? Yes, because this is a very bad situation. From what I can see, and from what many other Sterling residents have said, this is government-sponsored community degradation.
The problem is not who they are, but what they do
During an interview with the Washington Post a couple weeks ago, the reporter was surprised to hear me say that Loudoun County’s focus on “quality of life” problems was just as welcome as the previous board of supervisors’ focus on illegal immigration per se. The previous board investigated cutting off publicly funded benefits for illegal aliens and imposing restrictions on illegal businesses; the new board is attempting to crack down on overcrowding and badly-kept properties. Both approaches, in my view, are different angles of attack on the same problem.
The reporter asked: “But if they clean up these houses by forcing them to comply with community standards, the residents STILL might be here illegally. Isn’t that a problem for groups like Help Save Loudoun?” I replied: “If the residents are living like everyone else, then no one would care if they were here illegally or not. I don’t think any Help Save Loudoun members would take time off from their lives to advocate against people who follow the rules and happen to be here illegally.” If it is one family in one house like everyone else, and they follow the rules, who cares?
What is happening here is an underground economy which depends on illegal workers living in our neighborhoods on a residency model where formerly single-family homes are transformed into boarding houses. The residents are migrant workers who have no buy-in to the mores of American society or any of our community rules and regulations. The owners of the properties are able to subsidize their mortgages by renting out floor space, which can be a very profitable endeavor and which is explicitly forbidden by law. Furthermore, many of these workers are employed by unregistered subcontracting firms – some also having financial interest in the housing arrangements – businesses being run from homes – and in which the construction equipment along with the personnel are quartered at the respective residences. They don’t have to maintain a storefront, they can operate off the tax rolls, and the owners don’t give a rat’s patoutie whether they adhere to neighborhood customs. Consequently, if you drive through Sterling in the evening or on the weekend, you will find what used to be normal neighborhoods transformed into industrial parks.
If the actions of the new BOS result in a true crackdown on any of these violations, the whole economic house of cards will fall down. If you can no longer keep a legion of migrant workers at your property, and you have to comply with community standards for the upkeep of your property, and you can’t run a business from it, the business operation is going to have to leave because you will no longer be able to provide the cheap labor which is the central cog in the illegal machinery.
This may be politically incorrect to say, but it is the absolute truth which everyone in Sterling already knows: While we cannot say who is legal or illegal, we can definitely make certain observations about the newcomers which leads us to conclude they are probably illegal aliens.
- If they flagrantly break the rules, including zoning regulations and other laws, and show no interest in conforming to community standards, they give the appearance of not being on the track to seeking citizenship but appear to be merely migrant workers with no investment in the community.
- If they do not speak English they certainly do not appear to be on the track to seeking citizenship.
- And, most importantly, if they are always given a free pass by certain government entities for violations that would certainly land legal residents in trouble, they appear to be operating under the corrupt umbrella of official latitude which has been the cornerstone of the massive problem in eastern Loudoun County. When certain government agencies investigate and consistently exonerate behavior which every local resident knows is unlawful, the citizens know the fix is in.
When all three of the above conditions apply, the burden is on the newcomers to at very least show proof of legal residency.
And if this seems even mildly controversial, please just focus on the first criteria: If you are breaking the law, the onus is on you to prove legal residency. In 99.9% of cases, the suspected illegal aliens are living in illegal housing and working at illegal businesses where the vehicles are not licensed and equipment is illegally housed at residential properties. They may also be throwing trash out in the yard and turning the property into a public pig sty, but overcrowding and running a business out of the home are nearly always the core components, which any reasonably competent government agency should be able to quickly identify and prosecute.
Here in Loudoun County, unfortunately, “reasonably competent” is not even on the horizon.
Something rotten in the Loudoun County government
If you see a violation of the zoning laws in Loudoun County, the only way you can report is via the Zoning Violation Form. You complete the form, and then fax, mail or hand carry it to the Zoning Administration division offices. I have personally been familiar with dozens of such filings over the past two years.
Often, legal residents are reticent to submit the complaint forms because they are afraid of retaliation. Many of those most impacted by the illegal alien influx are the elderly, female citizens, or generally people who shrink from confrontations. In the typical scenario, a formerly single-family home changes ownership, and a large number of non-English speaking male, Latino construction workers moves into the house. Neighbors who are retired, or housewives, or families with daughters, observe with consternation the new gathering of young adult men who let the property go to pot and who act in ways that make the neighbors uncomfortable. Like, in my neighborhood, hanging out in the front yard, staring at wives and daughters and shouting things like “Hey, Baby” at women walking their dogs.
When I first got involved with Help Save Loudoun, one of my initial tasks was to educate members of the community on how to submit zoning violations. The number one concern I heard was that residents did not want their names to appear on forms, because in the past when complaints had been submitted there were instances of intimidation and acts of retaliation such as minor vandalism. The people who filed the complaints believed strongly that their names were given to the offenders by Loudoun County Zoning Administration workers.
So as one lady told me: “After I filed the complaint, the men glared at us in the morning when I drove my daughter to school.”
Back in 2006, therefore, I began submitting complaint forms on behalf of people in my neighborhood, because I did not care if anyone knew I filed the reports. A number of other Help Save Loudoun members did the same thing. Over time, I learned about the adjudication of many dozens of zoning complaint cases throughout Sterling.
If I had to summarize the illegal immigration problem in Sterling, it would be as follows: The crux of the problem is that illegal aliens have been moving into eastern Loudoun County on a massive scale, and the citizens of Loudoun are afraid to report even the most egregious violations of the law because they think they will become victims of retaliation. Neither the Sheriff’s Office nor the Zoning Administration division will do anything on their own – they do no pro-active enforcement whatsoever – and therefore the problem only continues to get worse.
It absolutely amazed me that the only possible avenue to address the hundreds of illegal alien fortresses which had become established throughout Sterling was for individual citizens to file complaints, and that these filings could not be kept confidential. After all, the complaint form specifically says if you check the box to retain anonymity your name will not be divulged to the offending parties.
In case after case, I learned that people who filed zoning complaints felt their identities had been disclosed. My neighbor three houses down had submitted a complaint about a house across the street, where the people appeared to be running an illegal day care facility from the home (in addition to housing a bunch of workers). Zoning Administration investigated, and said there was no day care … and after the investigation my neighbor noticed that when he came home from work, the people picking up their kids from the “nonexistent” day care waited down the street until he went into his house, before continuing to the house in question to pick up their children.
From the reports I received, it appeared that in the majority of cases, Loudoun County Zoning Administration staff seemed to have revealed the names of those who submitted complaints to the offenders. Maybe this is anecdotal, and maybe the people I talked with were not representative of the largest share of the Zoning Administration’s work – but talk about a chilling effect on the only possible way for citizens to report violations … violations which the County would never otherwise investigate.
On the evening of September 19, 2007, during a board of supervisors’ Committee of the Whole meeting at the Loudoun County government building, I had a chance to speak with Terry Wharton, Director of the Department of Building and Development. I told him there was a big problem with the way his agency handled zoning complaints, and I rattled off descriptions of numerous instances where zoning complaint forms had been filed and afterwards the complainants’ identities seemed to have been revealed to the alleged violators.
Mr. Wharton replied: “Well, they could get that information anyway from a Freedom of Information Act request.”
Think about this: In other words, the head of the department is of the opinion that giving out the identities of those who file complaints is no big deal! I wonder if that trickles down to his staff.
Obviously, anyone can get almost anything from a FOIA request, but that does not mean the government has to make it easier to hurt the citizens of Loudoun.
So this tells us all we need to know about how our local government thinks about us, and the fact that Loudoun County is taking the side of the offenders. Terry Wharton’s attitude of giving the benefit of the doubt to the illegals is exemplified in the performance of his zoning inspection personnel. The game is rigged against the law-abiding citizens of Loudoun County.
I gave up on filing any zoning complaints last year, because from what I saw the department was worse than ineffective, and told some of my fellow Sterling residents that filing complaints was a waste of time. Some of them continued to file complaints and have told me of the resolution.
A little over a year ago, the Loudoun County Zoning Administration division was reduced in personnel to having only one Spanish-speaking inspector, a woman by the name of Juanita Toriello. By way of comparison, when the town of Herndon next-door, with 10% of Loudoun County’s population, decided to address their zoning problems, they hired 8 Spanish-speaking inspectors.
For quite a long time, all of the significant complaints in Sterling have gone to Juanita, because virtually all of these cases have fit the profile described above – a large number of Hispanic men moving into a formerly single-family house.
Juanita has been identified as follows:
Juanita Toriello works for Loudoun County as well as continuing to help immigrants though part-time work for an immigration law firm.
Maybe it is no small wonder, then, that of the cases I have seen Juanita has exonerated, excused, given a pass to pretty much EVERY SINGLE ONE.
Let me be clear on this: For all I know, Juanita has prosecuted every case I am not aware of and has ensured all of THOSE cases have been rectified according to Virginia law.
But in every case I am aware of, Juanita has let just about every single one of them off the hook. I can’t recall a single case that has resulted in enforcement, excepting one in which she maintained that an illegal kitchen that had been built in a basement had been removed. Sure, this is anecdotal and only my personal impression, but a drive around Sterling will demonstrate very clearly the Zoning Administration division has accomplished exactly bupkiss in terms of actual zoning enforcement.
A case study: House A
Let’s get into some specifics. Across the street from my house is a house that has followed the pattern that many, many people I know in Herndon and eastern Loudoun have said precisely exemplifies what has been happening for the past seven years in this area. It shows why the illegals are a problem, and it shows why our government is impossibly corrupt and ineffectual.
I’ll just call it “House A” so we don’t impinge on anyone’s privacy. It is right across the street from my house. If I had more time, I could easily write a longer post dealing with houses “B” and “C” and “D” on my block, because we have illegals all over the place on this street. We would be talking about events all within eight houses from mine. From my front yard, I could throw a baseball and hit every one of the properties. But I only have so much free time, so House A is all we can deal with tonight.
So here’s how it happens, folks.
On April 3rd, 2008, a bunch of new people moved into the house across the street.
It was a single family home, but suddenly a whole bunch of construction workers moved in. I sent a call out to friends, and they almost to a tee described what would be happening because they had seen it over and over in their own neighborhoods in Herndon and Sterling.
Large numbers of men and construction equipment showed up simultaneously. There were 5-7 pickup trucks and various pieces of heavy equipment parked on the street every night. From a normal neighborhood street, the front of my house changed to a semi-industrial park. I called the Sheriff’s Office about the heavy duty air compressor parked in the street; the deputies tagged it, and the equipment was moved into the driveway. (Funny how the violators always seem to find out that commercial equipment in the street is under the Sheriff’s jurisdiction, but in the driveway it becomes Zoning’s jurisdiction, and Zoning is much less responsive.)
Nights and weekends, for periods of time the property becomes like the Port of Baltimore: Vehicles and heavy equipment moving in and out, lots of people being unloaded, equipment being unloaded. Trucks are zooming down the street, metal clanking, people yelling, most nights of the week.
The guy next door submitted a complain to Zoning. Juanita Toriello “investigated” and reported there were no violations at the property, that there was a “family of six and two unrelateds”.
This is significant because it demonstrates the utter BS our government – specifically Terry Wharton and Juanita Toriello – feeds us: By the letter of the law, a “family” and “two unrelated” is what is exactly allowed and coincidentally a substantial number of Zoning exonerations fit this schema. “A family of XYZ and two unrelateds”.
In this case, the “family” would have been six of the young adult men living there, and the “unrelateds” would have been two more of the young adult men. My neighbor who submitted the complaint, and was incredulous about her report that this industrial operation was a “family”, was told my Juanita “I can’t check their DNA.”
In other words, “Shut up, you idiot citizen.” And this has been the pattern. If we report a day care, the result is “it is not a day care.” If we report a boarding house, the result is “technically this is not a boarding house.”
And let me point out here that almost every single case I have seen investigated by Juanita has resulted in complete exoneration for the accused parties. I have not seen one single overcrowding or commercial vehicle violation fixed by the Loudoun County government. To repeat, maybe Juanita closed every other case satisfactorily, but it does seem strange that her office has such a perfect record of ineffectiveness on the many cases I know about.
So if you want to know why Sterling looks so screwed up, follow the government investigations. Follow the work product of the Loudoun County Department of Building and Development staff. Why the heck have not Kirby Bowers or ICE looked into the incredibly ineffectual job these people have been doing?
As Greg Stone stated in his letter to Leesbug Today: “The Loudoun County Zoning Department is broken and in desperate need of repair.” This was the overwhelming sentiment at the May 14 community meeting. The board of supervisors should force Kirby Bowers to make a serious change. My suggestion was: Fire Terry Wharton and Juanita Toriello, and bring in representives from Herndon’s Zoning Enforcement division to show Loudoun County how to enforce the law. Herndon drastically reduced its caseload of overcrowded houses, so obviously it can be done.
Money talks
Why is this being allowed to happen? I can’t say for sure. What I can say is what I observed, which at least in the case of House A points to the policies of a certain large corporation currently doing business in eastern Loudoun County.
First it was the air compressor in the street, which quickly became the air compressor parked in the driveway every night, and all of the pickup trucks parked in front of our houses. It took approximately two seconds of sleuthing to figure out who all these construction workers were ultimately employed by:
Of course, the spools of bright orange cable were another giveaway. During the day you can see the air compressors, pickup trucks and spools of cable around Sterling neighborhoods where Verizon is in the process of laying it’s new FIOS cable, after work you could see them parked in our neighborhood.
Other trucks at these work sites carried another insignia, that of a company called “Ivy.”
You could google “Verizon,” “Ivy,” and “illegal alien” and learn that there is in fact some recent history down in Hampton Roads. I will save you the trouble:
A contractor hired by Verizon Communications to install fiber-optic lines is blaming a subcontractor for employing 14 suspected illegal immigrants who were detained by federal authorities earlier this week.
Ivy H. Smith Co., with a local office on Curlew Drive, issued a statement Thursday saying it has opened an investigation into the hiring practices of its subcontractors.
The Ivy subcontractor got prison time for using illegal workers. More here.
Punishment of Verizon and Ivy H. Smith? Not so much. So my initial take on what is happening in Sterling was, “these companies sure did not learn their lesson.”
But on second thought, I realized: They actually learned the lesson perfectly. Keeping the illegal workers a couple levels away by using subcontractors of your subcontractors means you can get away with anything.
Resolution
Now you may be wondering what makes me think the Verizon subcontractor operating from the house across the street was employing illegals.
Let’s start with the last two of my test rules: Don’t speak English? Could not tell for sure of all the workers, but never heard a word of English in two months. Inconclusive, though likely the rule fit.
Free pass from local authorities? Gosh yes. Check out the photos below, recall Juanita’s final decision, and the fact neither Zoning nor any other county department lifted a finger about any of the following.
Breaking rules? Yes, they broke all sorts of rules, very flagrantly. Oh, did they ever. Of the five to seven vehicles operating from there for the roughly two month period, none had Loudoun County stickers, and most had out of state plates. The house was definitely a boarding house, as the “family” of six adult men actually changed as more men showed up, different overnight vehicles came and went, and groups of workers were often ferried in and out in a variety of different vehicles from week to week. Even if by some crazy anomaly all the workers were legal, the subcontractor was breaking numerous laws.
There were all kinds of subtleties that indicated what was going on – too miniscule for our crack employees at the Department of Building and Development to notice, apparently, but which anyone with a brain could pick up on in an instant. Here was the scene from a couple weekends ago:
Men and equipment being dropped off for the day.
More men being dropped off.
Hey-oh, here comes the heavy equipment. “Family of six and two unrelated.”
Just in case you can’t read the sign on that backhoe trailer:
And the second compressor comes home for the night.
Still on the topic of “broken rules,” notice the window screen busted out so the window could be used as an entrance. What you can’t see so well are the empty Corona cases around the front yard, the fact the grass was over a foot high, and the pile of several trash bags next to the front stoop. On the side of the house, in front of the backyard fence, was a pile of around 10 large trash bags and various construction-related trash. This latter is what finally made me contact the police. The house had never had trash pickup since April 3, and there was the evidence that trash was piling up.
Although I have been harshly critical of the Sheriff’s Office on this blog and even in this post, something happened a couple weeks ago to slightly change my perspective, and that is why I bothered to place that call. (Was NOT going to waste my breath on Zoning, however). A friend told me that there was one Sheriff’s deputy who occasionally worked in Sterling who seemed to take an interest in what was happening here. I contacted him, told him there was a troublesome situation developing in the house across the street.
He showed up on the first weekend in June, the day after several of the photos above were taken. When the deputy arrived, one of my neighbors was in the process of mowing the lawn at House A – rather pissed off, I might add – so the deputy talked to my neighbor, then knocked on the door to the house and talked to one of the residents. After about 20 minutes, the deputy came over and talked to me, and informed me that in the back yard of the house there were something like 30 – 50 large trash bags laying in the back yard and that the back deck was also filled up with trash bags. So the trash we could see from the street was simply the overflow.
Just a family of six and two unrelated. Thank you, Loudoun County government.
The deputy also told me the resident said they were all being evicted because the house was in foreclosure and that everyone would be gone the following week. So what Terry Wharton and Juanita Toriello could not accomplish, reality did. Apart from the fact that when this house is sold by the bank it is likely to reduce our property values even further, the story has ended on a more or less happy note in that we no longer have the Port of Baltimore across the street.
Of course, the Verizon FIOS digging in Sterling is far from completed, and I strongly doubt the subcontractor who was working out of House A got himself a warehouse to keep all the equipment, so I would bet the equipment and illegal workers have simply been moved to another neighborhood in the Sterling area.
Well, not all the equipment. This photo was taken two hours ago (tonight, June 23).
Yep, the Verizon cable truck is still parked there every night, totally illegally.
Is there by chance any county agency interested in the fact that Verizon equipment is being stored on residential property? Contact me and I can probably help you track down the above illegal item. We’ll start the search from my driveway and … we’ll be on our quarry real quick like.
But my faith in the Sheriff’s Office has increased dramatically. We know there is at least one deputy who cares about our neighborhood, and just this afternoon I received an e-mail from our esteemed Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio reporting that Sheriff’s deputies had temporarily shut down Pepe’s “restaurant” in our local shopping center. Pepe’s is trouble central, responsible for all kinds of problems – but that is a post for another day. Suffice it to say, I am going to keep an open mind on Sheriff Steve Simpson from here on out. Maybe at least one arm of the local government is no longer going to write off Sterling as unsalvageable.
I have to wonder why our Treasurer and our Commissioner of the Revenue, not to mention our Commonwealth’s Attorney, have not taken a more active interest in this unfolding scandal. The vehicles are all supposed to be registered, and these subcontractors are probably supposed to have business licenses to work here. It looks like what happened in Hampton Roads is in full bloom in eastern Loudoun. And where is Virginia’s Attorney General, for goodness sakes?!
I know someone who works with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, to whom I will forward this info, and needless to say I will send it to ICE. I don’t expect any of them will do anything, however. A few ruined neighborhoods are probably viewed as a small price to pay for a world class fiber-optic network – collateral damage, if you will.
Tags: Ivy > Verizon
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90 Responses to “Dispatches from Sterling: Government-Sponsored Blight”
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June 24th, 2008 @ 8:16 am
Joe,
Excellent pissed-off post with plenty of resources. Let me help you fill in a few gaps.
1. FIOS contractors living (boarding) here aren’t necessarily working only in Sterling.
2. S&N Communications is another contractor with an almost total alien workforce.
3. It actually started with the CABLE TV companies and Cox is STILL building hot and heavy with the same contractors (those are the guys on the corner at the end of the street. Why do you think they built that tall fence around their backyard?)
Building permits and inspections (at least when I was in the business) would come out on complaints to try and find “violators” who were building illegally. I know for a fact and called in the house next to me. The new owner built a kitchen in the downstairs (his profession is home loans) and then he became absentee as the other family with 2 unrelated moved in. This is a clear violation of which the kitchen can be completely dismantled and then made to get a permit for inspecting purposes. The guy hooked up gas and electricity and with what I have seen from this “new” labor force (even had some of that crap work done to my house) I have fear that the neighbor’s house will just blow up or burn down one night. Buildings dept. CAN be a champion in this cause.
I still think that there will be too little done. What needs to happen I just won’t say here but I think those in the county should consider that they are on notice.
June 24th, 2008 @ 9:42 am
Yeah the guy who seemed to be in charge at House A had some type of “cable installer” label on his work shirts, and I think he was from North Carolina, so I get the impression they are following work around from more than one company.
June 24th, 2008 @ 10:01 am
I hope elected officials at all levels use this testimony posted in an extremely prominent fashion is used as a learning manual on how the federal, state and county governments can be corrupted and how policies can now be corrected. Perhaps the entire package could be used as a basis for legislative initiatives with corrections or solutions sponsored in Richmond, in various county seats and in Washington, D.C.
June 24th, 2008 @ 11:09 am
Joe, Do you have an active HOA or is there even one in your neighborhood/development?
June 24th, 2008 @ 11:50 am
Joe,
I believe the ethics committee of the Virginia Bar Association would be most interested in the potential conflict of interest of having a Loudoun County employee also working for a law firm in matters that are so closely related to her government job. Eric F. Schell used to be the chair. He’s in Fairfax and can be located via Google.
June 24th, 2008 @ 12:03 pm
Cathy, we have an HOA, I am not sure what their authority is. Guess I should get up to speed on that.
Geez, thanks, am contacting them now.
June 24th, 2008 @ 12:04 pm
Supervisor, thank you for stopping by!
June 24th, 2008 @ 12:24 pm
As an HOA board member, we are having to dedicate most of our volunteer resources dealing with these type of issues. LoCo zoning has proven to be very ineffective. Zoning administration is seriously broken, we as taxpayers are not getting anything close to our moneys worth. The time has come for butts to start getting kicked out the door.
If Keith Fairfax can’t fix it, he should go. If Kirby Bowers can’t fix it, he too should go.
Maybe it is time we incorporate Sterling, and resolve our problems with our tax dollars. Given the lack of support from the county, maybe it is time to tell them to take a flying leap..
June 24th, 2008 @ 12:53 pm
HOA’s vary so much but that would be a great line of attack.
If the HOA is toothless, perhaps there is a want/need for more enforcement, which would mean volunteering, etc. That is always the catch – you want something to happen, they will ask for help.
June 24th, 2008 @ 8:08 pm
ACT, I’ve seen “Verizon contractor” trucks twice in the past two days making drop-offs at the house on the corner, so it’s not just COX down there anymore.
June 24th, 2008 @ 10:00 pm
I talked to ICE this afternoon, very nice guy took my report, and informed me unless you have an address for the subcontractor they won’t take any action at all.
“But you see, this IS Verizon and Ivy again, the same ones who got nailed in Virginia Beach. The subcontractors have moved somewhere out of my neighborhood, but it’s the Verizon FIOS project.”
He replied, “We can only take a report if you can provide a specific address of the company that is directly hiring illegally.”
“So, Verizon gets off scott free no matter what?”
“Yes,” he said. “And believe me, I am with you on this 100%, I see the problem the same way you do, but that’s the way it works.”
So instead of nailing the problem at the source and putting some pain on Verizon, the feds force us to basically fight it out house by house. We need our local and state government officials to step up and ensure their own laws are being enforced. They need to back us on this.
June 25th, 2008 @ 6:56 am
Verizon sits high and dry. “We just don’t know what those sub-contractors do and we don’t care whom they hire as long as the job gets done – cheaply!”
Those with might
have the right.
June 25th, 2008 @ 8:40 am
Joe, Can you provide ICE with Verizon’s local corporate address? I guess you would have to establish if the contract work is actually being dispatched from that location, but if it is an address they want, give it to them.
Or am I missing something?
June 25th, 2008 @ 9:36 am
What the ICE guy was telling me was, they are not going to touch Verizon as long as there is at least one layer of subcontractors between Verizon and the workers – which there is. Pretty nice loophole.
June 25th, 2008 @ 9:52 am
Sorry, should have ready the entire original post.
June 25th, 2008 @ 10:41 am
Other businesses in the area overcrowd on a regular basis, and because deputies eat free, or get drunk at those establishments, they are not punished. Pepe’s Place is a Hispanic owned business and has been the target of racial profiling, and undue scrutiny given the managerial turnaround. Some Loudoun County Sheriff’s deputies are intent on shutting the establishment down even though they cannot cite real recent incidents behind their intent. Some may cite the recent Assault by Mob that occurred where ten where arrested. What you don’t hear is that all the charges against the arrested suspects were dropped, because the Sherrif’s Dept had a piecemeal case. What really happen was the response to the incident by the department was un-organized, racist, and “minute man like” as multiple innocent Hispanic people were arrested. Deputies often bad mouth and chastise other law enforcement officials when they do not concur with their unwarranted beliefs. All businesses make mistakes; the Loudoun County Sherrif’s Dept. should be working with the establishments to ensure that compliance is met. Unfortunately, the majority of deputies are white and non-Spanish speaking. This is a cultural, and language barrier that causes the department to act in a discriminatory manner against Hispanics. A few months ago the Loudoun County Gang Unit, in cooperation with ICE violated several Hispanic owned establishments civil liberties by allowing ICE to enter the establishments and racially profile customers for possibly gang participation. This was done under the pretext of an administrative alcohol and beverage control check. Something that ICE has no mandate over. Now that the Loudoun County Sherrif’s Dept. is participating in the 287-G program with ICE, one can only assume that this widespread misconduct will only worsen if left un-scrutinized. The corruption in the Loudoun County Sheriff’s department is disheartening, and very concerning. An organization called the Law Enforcement Misconduct Organization has been established to watch such un-constitutional and illegal incidents by the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Dept. Such incidents if they occur again will be fully documented and investigated to the fullest extent possible and legal ramifications may result.
June 25th, 2008 @ 10:46 am
If enough consumers dropped Verizon over this, the problem would go away. Every time Verizon comes around trying to sign me up for FIOS TV, I tell them DirectTV does not use illegal alien workers, and I will not switch until Verizon does the same.
Btw, if you want to see blight, head toward Herndon on Lincoln, turn right onto Butternut. Go down to Acorn Ct., the 3rd left I believe. Note the home straight ahead. It has been this way for a couple of years.
June 25th, 2008 @ 11:08 am
Bob, can you provide some links that support your assertions ?
I agree with you that if Pepe’s management spoke English, that would solve any communications difficulties they are having with LCSO.
June 25th, 2008 @ 11:11 am
“Bob Smith” -the Sheriff’s department is actually starting to do a very good job around here and the BS ACLU action is going to go absolutely nowhere. 287(g) is in place all over the country – in Herndon alone it has allowed for removal of many illegals. Thank goodness we now have it on this side of the county line!!
June 25th, 2008 @ 11:13 am
For a long time now some top Wall Street analysts have been knocking Verizon stock to their investors/clients. Among other things, there is a strong feeling that VZ will never recover the expense of installing their fiber optic network etc. “Ill conceived commitments” was one phrase I recall. So there is extreme pressure to reduce capital outlay costs. New technologies–improved wireless for example could well render their present investment in Fios and other projects obsolete. Thus a skilled taxpaying American worker with a family to support–well you know the rest.
June 25th, 2008 @ 11:14 am
Dan, thanks for providing that address: Presumably at some point someone from the Zoning Administration will find this thread and go check out the Acorn Ct location. Someone who is NOT working for an immigration law firm, that is. Maybe Keith Fairfax can take a swing by.
June 25th, 2008 @ 12:20 pm
Citizens, Patriots and Sportsfans:
Joe has done a terrific job of illustrating the scope of the problem. The existing Loudoun County Zoning system in General and more specifically their response to citizens complaints IS broken and in dire need of repair.
We need all interested and concerned parties seeking workable solutions to join us.
More to Come
June 25th, 2008 @ 12:53 pm
I wonder when the fact of Juanita Toriello’s “continuing to help immigrants though part-time work for an immigration law firm” is going to be probed by our Board of Supervisors. According to the publication this is what Juanita was doing last summer, which I can tell you is when I saw evidence of the utter ineffectiveness of her work, with case after case exonerated.
It’s fine to do legal advocacy for immigrants, by the way, but not if you are supposedly a point person on enforcement of zoning regulations in Sterling, where the vast majority of problems are related to “immigrants’ residency and business practices.
This is a blatant conflict of interest, and all nine of our Supervisors should haul Kirby Bowers before the Board to explain why it is allowed to persist.
Or maybe we should do a better job getting the word out to our fellow Sterling residents; I imagine quite a number would be interested in knowing why zoning enforcement has seemed nonexistent.
June 25th, 2008 @ 1:14 pm
Have you seen the rabid liberal mindset of the new board members? I see Burton coming around on issues as well as York. Waters is working her butt off and Eugene has always been there. The rest are working on what seems to be a “me” agenda. This new board seems to be focused on MORE gov’t intrusion-not less. I thought they were going to clean the internal clock works-not clean the citizen’s clocks, especially after the new budget fiasco. I know where we can save some money. That would be the salaries being paid in zoning.
June 25th, 2008 @ 3:39 pm
[...] Joe at NOVATownHall has the very extensive scoop on what he is calling government-sponsored blight. It is an utterly shocking expose of government corruption, rampant lawlesness and a community that is utterly under seige. Free pass from local authorities? Gosh yes. Check out the photos below, recall Juanita’s final decision, and the fact neither Zoning nor any other county department lifted a finger about any of the following. [...]
June 25th, 2008 @ 8:44 pm
I had to link to this post at TC. This is absolutely ridiculous.
June 25th, 2008 @ 8:58 pm
Much obliged, Blog Fu and LI. Getting this story onto the premier local political blogs definitely increases the chances of action being taken. It seems like a potentially juicy story for the mainstream press, so maybe they will pick it up from one of you.
June 25th, 2008 @ 9:30 pm
[...] a report from the front lines Joe B. over at novatownhall Blog has an absolutely stellar post detailing his personal experience with the illegal immigrant problem here in Loudoun County complete with pictures, histories, and all the trimmings. It’s a positive must-read for [...]
June 26th, 2008 @ 6:35 am
Can we have a demonstration at a Verizon office – if we can get a crowd and some media attention, it may do somehting.
June 26th, 2008 @ 11:42 am
[...] they can. They harbor illegal aliens in overcrowded single family residences in places like Sterling Park. They unlawfully employ illegal aliens, fail to withold taxes on these unlawful employees, and [...]
June 26th, 2008 @ 2:02 pm
[...] by bwana on June 26, 2008 This report on illegal immigration problems in Loudon County is a must [...]
June 26th, 2008 @ 8:07 pm
I experienced the beginnings of this in Loudoun all the way back in 1990, when I lived at Hunters Crossing apartments in Leesburg. Things were fine at first; then Blake Landscaping rented an apartment for their employees. There were 8 latino men living in a 2BR apartment above me. The roaches made it to my apartment less than 3 weeks after they moved in, I endured late night tejano music at loud volumes, and they came and went at all hours, letting the heavy metal door slam every time. They leered at me, sometimes waiting in the dumpster area, beer in hand, for females to be so bold as to take out the trash and said the same 4 or 5 phrases to me over and over again. I jotted them down and visited my high school Spanish teacher, and learned that they were all disrespectful, sexual and even deviant.
When I was a kid, we often followed a football game at Bill Allen field with a trip to Friendly’s in the Sterling Park shopping center without a care in the world. When I worked in Sterling as long ago as 1993, I was appalled by what had become of that shopping center, and afraid to go there at night. I’m only talking about 10 years difference in those experiences.
I have personally witnessed carloads of latinas removing their gold jewelry—more gold jewelry than my mother, my 4 sisters and I combined have ever owned—before entering the Loudoun County Health Department to apply for and receive WIC, free pre-natal and general healthcare, etc.
The almighty dollar prevails. The problem is that it’s a house of cards. The disrespect of illegal aliens for our laws, our culture, and our people is palpable. It’s only a matter of time before they become so emboldened that they demand more competitive wages, etc. and the impact on the economy will be far greater than that even of the cost of a barrel of crude or a flood in our heartland.
One final thing—is cabling work that Americans won’t do? I hardly think so. In the case of fast food work, it’s not that my 16 year old daughter WON’T DO IT–it’s that I choose not to allow it, because in that environment she will be subjected to sexual harassment on a daily basis, and even the managers seem to believe that it’s culturally acceptable.
June 26th, 2008 @ 9:56 pm
Karen,
“One final thing—is cabling work that Americans won’t do? I hardly think so.”
Good question. The correct answer is:
When the telcom boom started back in the late 80’s, fiber for the long distance companies was cheap; AT&T had a break-up and spurred massive competition for a piece of the big pie. Then when all rules were set aside, cable TV and local phone wanted to get into the long distance business as well as internet and video. This created a boon for first, the cable TV industry and next (now) local telephone.
Because of greed to get those bucks as quickly as possible, they hired ever cheaper and un-skilled labor. When you have an industry that is flourishing like wildfire and you don’t need a doctorate to participate, there will be an influx of common labor. If there isn’t enough locally or nationally, foreign labor moves in.
Capitalism is a great economy. Greed is a corrupt economy!
June 27th, 2008 @ 6:36 am
Karen:
My wife and I also lived in those same apartments
in the early 1990s before buying our first townhouse in Sterling. Your memories are correct. The Landscaping companies did use that property as housing for workers.
June 29th, 2008 @ 1:16 pm
Joe
I completely agree with your assessment of what is happening to our neighborhoods here in Sterling. I have lived next door to a “House A” since July, 2005 when an “investor” purchased the home next door to mine. The residence has housed a carpet business, a house cleaning service, and all of the employees of the neighborhood dry cleaner as well as all of these people’s children. Drugs have been sold from basement windows and prostitutes have been brought to the house in the wee hours for entertainment purposes. Vans have been disassembled in the front yard to be used as recliners as cases of corona have been sucked down by construction workers. Children left alone in the house by their parents have hung out of second story windows begging me for food and I have been hissed at as I mow my own lawn. I also had to excavate my back yard where it abuts this property to remove rat burrows.
I have submitted several zoning complaints and have worked with Keith Fairfax, John Javelle and Juanita. Mr. Delgaudio has been extremely sympathetic and helpful. I have also called the sheriff’s office for assistance when necessary. In my experience, when provided with detailed information such as photographs of the premises, lists of license plates and property transfer and business records, the complaint office is very effective as far as it can go. Messrs. Fairfax and Javelle (who is no longer at zoning) have been extremely helpful in my case hindered only by the “cure” provisions contained in our overcrowding and other statutes. In almost every instance in which I submitted a complaint, violations were found to exist and the violating property owner was given 10 days to correct the problem without penalty. These violations were found to exist even after the tenants stalled the inspectors for up to a week (during which they emptied out people and garbage by the truck load) by refusing to let them in to the residence until the owner was present. Even after my sixth and seventh complaint, when violations were found again, the property owner was entitled to this “cure” protection and did not receive any monetary penalty despite my request that she be sanctioned with the maximum fine available. All she had to do was relocate some of her tenants and haul away the 30 bags of garbage from the back patio. The property owner, by the way, is a legal American citizen, who in my view, exploits the illegals who are renting from her.
Fortunately for me, this property is on the market because the “investor” bit off more than she could chew. Her 4 other “investment” properties in Sterling have also changed hands — thank God! As prospective purchasers come to look at this property I approach them at the street to advocate for family values. In one weekend, I approached more than 40 realtors and prospective purchasers and the neighbors and I made known that another “investor” was not welcome here.
Our legislators need to craft more effective laws and without regard to our political views, we as a community need to focus our attention on a strategy for encouraging businesses to give back both money and attention to the quality of life here in Loudoun. Which bank or realty company, for example, will be the first to tout on its foreclosure listings that a property for sale lies in a tax map where your property taxes will be abated if you revitalize it? I couldn’t find even one current foreclosure listing in Sterling that includes this and most realtors aren’t even aware of it. In my view, if a property lies in a tax revitalization zone, it should be mandatory that this perk be included on its listing. If we want to improve our community, wouldn’t this make sense? Which one of our local fast food joints will sponsor citizenship and life skills classes for those illegals who wish to be law abiding, valued members of the community?
Political negativity and back-biting will never foster a climate that encourages companies like Verizon to change their operations. We need innovative, positive solutions and a lot of volunteerism to get our community in shape.
June 29th, 2008 @ 6:24 pm
Barbara, yeah, I understand what you have done to try and wring some action out of Zoning – but don’t let them fool you.
When the new Mayor and Town Council of Herndon took office in July, 2006, the town had almost 90 active zoning violation cases working, most characterized by overcrowding/boarding houses and commercial vehicles or equipment – symptoms of illegal immigration.
As of three months ago, the number of cases was hovering between 5 and 8.
So it can be done. Though I will admit our feckless zoning dept. is pretty good at hand-holding and responding to your inquiries while telling you nothing can be done. They are personable. They just don’t enforce the rules very often. I suggest it is because they do not believe they should be enforced when the violators are illegal aliens, which is why we have has such a mess in Sterling for so long.
June 29th, 2008 @ 8:16 pm
I understand and agree with all comments made in this article. Just recently I had cause to file a zoning complaint and as stated as a option, faxed the complaint to zoning. Well don’t you know, I did get a reply.Nothing can be done until the orginal signed complaint is sent in. Meanwhile, another violation occurred, same response. By the way, I know for a fact, one person from the zoning office did give my name out and admitted it to me on the grounds the person in question had the right to know “because they asked”!What a load of BS. Time to clean house I say, and I like the idea we become a town or city, let our taxes go for our own good! I’ve been here almost 40 years, but I can’t say I’ll stay much longer!
June 29th, 2008 @ 10:43 pm
Incorporating would solve a lot of problems, that is for sure. I can already think of a couple people I would like to see in the Sterling Police Department. The key questions are what would it cost, and would enough residents go along with the idea? Seems like an idea worth researching.
June 30th, 2008 @ 7:40 am
I’ve been writing the Loudoun BOS, The Sherrif, and my Congressmen and Senators for literally 5 years now about Illegal Aliens, delapidated housing in Sterling and the crime associated with all of it and no one but Supevisor Delgaudio has done a God Damn thing about any of it! I’m so sick of everyone in the Loudoun County Government and their complete disregard for every citizen of Sterling. It defies logic why these elected officials continue to let our community rot because they don’t have the backbone to say or do anything about the Illegal Immigration issues that plaque this community. I am please to see that Sherrif Simpson has FINALLY entered into the 287G program, But come on, too little , too late! I guess maybe I’ll do what the Loudoun BOS wants me to do; Learn to speak Spanish and park a dozen cars in my front yard. Asta La Vista!
June 30th, 2008 @ 10:31 am
Thank you Joe for this article, it really does communicate well what you have been going through and what others, like yourself, have also been going through. I agree whole-heartedly with Mike A., that Eugene D., has been the only one doing anything about it, but what can he do if he is constantly out number by the other supervisors? Basically, if the county doesn’t enforce the zoning laws in Sterling than they shouldn’t be enforced anywhere else in the county, there needs to be equal treatment for all the towns.
June 30th, 2008 @ 10:43 am
Joe, Was there a turn over in the zoning department in Herndon after the Mayor and Town Council got booted?
June 30th, 2008 @ 11:39 am
Cathymac,
No there was not a turn over in the zoning dept. in Herndon. They hired more inspectors and received better training as to what evidence you need for the courts to comply and convict. June of 2006 there were about 140+ active cases and now there is fewer than 30. The process for each case is long but with the collecting of needed evidence for the judges to convict and fine it makes a lot of difference. Herndon does listen to the community now and responses. We still have a long way to go but it is lots better.
June 30th, 2008 @ 11:42 am
Dan – is that you? I used to be on the HOA where the Acorn Ct. house sits…well, what used to be the Acorn Ct. house, since it burned down 3 years ago – and the shell and debris are still there. I contacted Zoning many, many times about the house. They would only cite the car in the driveway as a violation and the car was towed. But, the shell of the house and debris remain. It’s an unbelievable eyesore and just plain dangerous, since any of it could fall at any time, especially in high wind. Zoning won’t do anything about it. I have called, written letters, everything – they say there’s nothing they can do. Go figure!! I’m no longer on the HOA, but we did take action against the homeowner for HOA violations. But, the problem with that is the homeowner can just pay the fines and still not do anything about the house! Why won’t Zoning do anything about it?? I have no idea. I exhausted all my resources on that property.
June 30th, 2008 @ 12:24 pm
Thanks for clearing up my numbers, NLH. The figures I had were given to me a couple months ago … but the proportion is about the same, anyway.
I hope our Supervisors take the initiative to get some lessons from the Herndon Mayor and Council!
June 30th, 2008 @ 12:27 pm
Anne,
I saw that house in question the other day and I was amazed that it is being allowed to stand. The liability alone is worth addressing.
There was issue not too long ago about a boarded up business on Rt. 7 just into Loudoun County and the complaintant stated that it was the first thing people saw when entering the county. Is that what Loudoun wants to transmit to people visiting/looking to live here? The only reason it got recognition was it made it into one of our “liberal” papers. Although the house on Acorn is nestled amongst the trees and all but out of sight-if you can get the local paper to run with it, something will most assuredly be done.
We are fighting battles that people don’t know about just because we can’t raise ire thru media coverage. If we can’t get the effective word out, who will champion our cause?
June 30th, 2008 @ 4:35 pm
Anne, Last year the county implemented a blight abatement program, and this house was turned over to them.
Anyone who sees this house and feels motivated by it to send an email to the BOS, I am sure the neighbors would appreciate it.
If you are the Anne I am thinking of, yes it is me. Red Mustang ?
June 30th, 2008 @ 8:39 pm
Dan,
So now you think of yourself as an Irish Mustang? I always likened you to a Shrek!
June 30th, 2008 @ 11:55 pm
ACT,
Actually no. Being of British, German, Swiss, Scottish, French, and Irish descent, I am somewhat of a mutt..
Not too much Irish, as I am able to screw in a lightbulb by myself
July 1st, 2008 @ 9:56 am
Hey! Not cool. Irish can srew in a light bulb just fine, unless of course it’s at night and then we probably had too much to drink. Though I am only 50% Irish and 50% Italian I have seen it happen to 100% Irish men, it’s a scarily funny sight.
July 1st, 2008 @ 12:58 pm
Ben R,
“Irish can srew in a light bulb just fine”
Yes, but can they sthpell after a couple pints? Ha, ha!
July 2nd, 2008 @ 10:19 am
Joe,
Our neighbor got a reply from Juanita and she definately had an apologetic tone about her. Seems that after 2 years and at least 7 complaints, zoning has finally found thehouse next to him to be in violation of overcrowding. The illegal kitchen is still there. This is what I like. Within 6 days of notice the house is EMPTY! Not just the ones downstairs but the whole house. If all that needed to be done was eliminate the “excess” then why did everyone leave? And the family of 5 upstairs was of no relation to the rest.
Scarcity of jobs? Epiphany to the illegals? Harrasment to conform too much to abide? Don’t know and don’t care. At least I shouldn’t be getting the rats in my yard for awhile. But I do think something may be shaking at zoning and I hope some jobs are about to have vacancies! Viva la Revolucion! (heck, I can’t spell in ex-spanic either!)
July 2nd, 2008 @ 12:27 pm
[...] even recognize the problem, is indeed causing a brewing tempest in eastern Loudoun. Following on my June 23 post about a case in point, here is coverage in today’s [...]
July 2nd, 2008 @ 12:37 pm
What a difference it would have made if Zoning had been doing its job all along! I am positive that Help Save Loudoun would never even have been formed.
Just goes to show how much damage is done by one government agency, in this case the Department of Building and Development, deciding not to do its job. The taxpayers should be reimbursed for the past five years of salaries of every employee in Zoning Administration. What a crime.
July 3rd, 2008 @ 8:54 am
Dan – yep, that’s me.
I thought the neighbors next to the Acorn house had already contacted the media. But that would have been a couple of years ago. I think they’ve given up. Something needs to be done; it is a dangerous situation. Not only that, but the trees surrounding the lot have overgrown and I certainly hope they will not have to clear-cut all the mature trees to knock down the house. Didn’t the HOA put a lien on the house? That was the direction they were in last I knew. They could seize the property and make it into common area. That’s why they pay the attorneys. I always said that I’d like to see that happen.
July 3rd, 2008 @ 4:40 pm
[...] June 23 [...]
July 3rd, 2008 @ 11:39 pm
[...] touch on whether this was the same equipment that had been parked across the street from MY house several weeks ago. In fact, I am not sure if they even mentioned Verizon by name. But it’s a good start to [...]
July 4th, 2008 @ 12:07 am
Joe,
Thank You For All You Have Done/and Are Still Doing for us in Sterling!…Our Quality of Life has been hanging by a thread for Soooo long now.
You have “Opened Up The Eyes” of them ALL.
KSB ***God Bless America***
July 4th, 2008 @ 12:28 am
YOU are the lifeblood of the community, gal.
July 6th, 2008 @ 12:02 am
[...] One: House A from our June 23 post. You know, the one Loudoun County Zoning assured us idiot citizens was perfectly above-board: [...]
July 20th, 2008 @ 9:51 am
Thanks Verizon for relocating your contracting crew to the various unkempt and foreclosed properties on Amhurst Place, at the entryway to Sterling Park. Lookin’ good!
July 20th, 2008 @ 10:32 am
Unbelievable what they get away with – and it’s not going to be on Verizon, it’s the subcontractor’s doing, some guy who takes a check from Verizon and does not need to pay for storage space for his equipment.
Shoot, I have to travel, if you get a chance can you take a photo?
July 20th, 2008 @ 10:36 am
Sent the photos to you already!
August 1st, 2008 @ 1:18 am
[...] In case you are new to the area, here is a basic primer: Boarding houses in neighborhoods are considered a bad thing because the boarders tend to behave badly. [...]
September 2nd, 2008 @ 12:46 am
[...] The neighborhood in which this incident occurred, in the area of Ironwood Road, Redwood Road, and Greenthorne Avenue, is one of the worst-hit in Sterling by illegal aliens. I have spent some time driving through the area over the past couple years and I can attest that it is terrible, with numerous residences displaying the signs of illegal flophouses, including screen doors propped open (signifies “rooms for rent”), lots of cars per residence, plenty of signs of MS-13 activity, and a generally crappy atmosphere. I am told by people familiar with zoning enforcement complaints that the area has been the subject of many overcrowding complaints sent to the completely non-functional Loudoun County Department of Building and Development (aka, the Black Hole), and, as we have established, it is apparently just another section designated for Loudoun County Government-sponsored blight. [...]
September 19th, 2008 @ 2:09 am
[...] out such women. I hope the Loudoun County detectives are cross referencing those occupations which may be using illegal laborers against the data on where attacks have [...]
September 19th, 2008 @ 2:14 am
[...] Dispatches from Sterling: Government-Sponsored Blight [...]
September 23rd, 2008 @ 3:30 am
[...] you can see from the LCA posts, which hark back to my June report, the scofflaws are operating out in the open. The government agencies charged with enforcing our [...]
November 1st, 2008 @ 3:15 am
IIixpex? Jowtuja? Who the Hell forgot to lock the doors of the asylum?
November 8th, 2008 @ 2:29 pm
Obama is now your President of the United States of America. To hell with your cause. In time, you race-mongers will pershish from the face of this earth.
November 8th, 2008 @ 2:37 pm
Perish from the face of this earth, and the times of racial unity will be forever present. You closet racist are apart of a dieing breed. If only all your hearts had compassion for those who are less fortunate then you are. Well now all those less fortunate people have a beacon of hope to observe in the mist of their hopelessness. Barrack
Hussein Obama– The next President of the United States of America, and the new face and voice of what America is becoming, and will one day be.
Bob Smith
November 8th, 2008 @ 2:43 pm
I thought we had done away with this retard. Everyone ignore him, please.
November 8th, 2008 @ 3:48 pm
Hey, my sister is retarded.
November 8th, 2008 @ 5:49 pm
Joe – apology needed. “Retard” is used by elementary school age kids. I KNOW you’re a little older than that, at least chronologically.
November 8th, 2008 @ 10:07 pm
Lovisa,
When someone is looking for a derisive term to apply to a person acting in a method much lower than what they should the word “retard” was used for many years. The modern “politically correct” terminology would much rather not degrade those of intelligence below 80, so Joe is a little out of line … those with limited intellect should not be associated with the putrid dog vomit with gangrenous encrusted maggots that Joe was talking about, it degrades those that are only retarded (used in the clinical sense of the word) and therefore are not morally deficient.
Joe, you should apologize to the retards of the world — they cannot help their behavior.
November 8th, 2008 @ 11:40 pm
Who exactly are these “putrid dog vomit with gangrenous encrusted maggots” people? People who supported Obama?
November 9th, 2008 @ 12:05 am
Brian, point taken. I could say “moron” but I feel I need something stronger and with more brevity than your phraseology. I am open to any suggestions.
November 9th, 2008 @ 12:21 am
You have a lot of nerve calling people names, Joe, when you smeared our future first lady by pushing the API hoax and still don’t have the guts to apologize for it.
November 9th, 2008 @ 1:25 am
Joe, you have to be careful … even saying stupid as a rock could be insulting to the rocks. They certainly don’t have any choice in what they do.
November 9th, 2008 @ 1:30 am
Hmmm, I just thought of a word, that means someone, not necessarily of low intellect, but of moral deficiency: fool. Biblical usage of fool had nothing to do with lacking in intellect, but only with lacking in moral judgment.
I think the reason people started equating “fool” with lack of intelligence is based on a false impression that the only reason someone would do something wrong is if they just did not understand.
November 9th, 2008 @ 2:18 am
Ok, good advice, Brian. Fool it is. Let’s ignore this fool.
November 9th, 2008 @ 8:24 am
Brian surely adds color to the language!
Putrid dog vomit – Gangrenous encrusted maggots -
Retardation is an innate condition, while folishness is acquired. Quite a difference IMO.
November 9th, 2008 @ 5:20 pm
I’m not so sure that folly is not innate, but it is moral. People are not born good, they have to become good by fighting the innate tendency toward evil that is in all of us (you never have to teach a child to lie).
Just because something is “how we are wired” does not mean we should not overcome that tendency.
November 9th, 2008 @ 5:22 pm
Joe,
Just who is it that you suggest we ignore? (I was speaking strictly in the abstract, I’m not sure which fool you mean.)
November 9th, 2008 @ 7:16 pm
Brian,
“intelligence below 80″. Actually 80 on down to 70 is potentially just a dimwitted person. Below 70 is technically the cut off, though even a 68 or 69 could be considered borderline intelligence.
November 9th, 2008 @ 10:03 pm
Brian,
I think Joe branded Bob Smith a fool.
November 9th, 2008 @ 11:51 pm
Yeah, it was a reaction to “Bob” – last one of those I promise.
Travel is finally over and I should be able to blog again soon.
December 7th, 2008 @ 11:20 pm
Leaving her. She bentforward and they werent fools enough lauren holly nude to.
January 20th, 2009 @ 3:40 am
karyn parsons fake
January 30th, 2009 @ 4:06 am
[...] I never knew the man, but he was responsible for hiring the people who populated the segment of Loudoun County government which was so incredibly ineffective and which had such an immediate bearing on my life: Loudoun County Zoning Enforcement. [...]
May 14th, 2009 @ 3:20 am
[...] has in my neighborhood. And the factors in my neighborhood that concern me are chiefly the people who break the rules and make things worse for everyone. Yes, I care about the macro picture, I care about what is happening to our schools and the whole [...]