A Jaded View

Liberal Media Bullies vs. Sarah Palin

2008-10-03T08:06:00.000-07:00

The liberal media felt so threatened by Sarah Palin after the GOP convention that they went after her, guns blazing, and made her a caricature.

This liberal media tactic of belittling and ridiculing her is akin to bullies in a middle school and proves the absence of media objectivity. The pundits sit around and smirk and sneer, much like a group of catty teenage girls.... Jealous teenage girls who don't want any competition and engage in a campaign to disparage and destroy.

I don't like anything mean-spirited and I think Sarah has been treated horribly; no wonder she had trouble finding her voice. - She seems to be an idealist and she was probably shocked that so many people could be so unfair to her. I think she is sincere and her conservative views, although wacky, are really what she believes, after living in such an isolated culture in Alaska. I could never accept her views but I do accept that she is sincere. And that goes a long way!

People don't need the media-made characterizations of Palin in order to make up their minds.

NO, I don't want McCain-Palin to win - nor do I want Obama to win. I am going to lay low, tune out and wait for 2012.

John Edwards - Feet of Mud

2008-08-10T11:19:00.000-07:00

For the first time in my life, I invested myself, practically full-time, in the 2004 presidential campaign. My first choice for president was John Edwards, so, naturally, I supported Kerry-Edwards.

Before I ever saw John Edwards give a speech, I saw Elizabeth Edwards on C-Span. She was so impressive - seemingly so down-to-earth and sincere - that I began looking at her husband. Like countless others, I quickly got caught up in their family story - their son's death, John's career, etc.

I was very upset when Kerry-Edwards lost the election, and even more upset when the news of Elizabeth's breast cancer was announced. But I was STUNNED to learn that she had a LARGE breast tumor, and had not had a mammogram in FOUR years. - She said she had been "too busy."

OK - Well, I don't like to be judgmental but I lost respect for Elizabeth at that time. After all, she had those two young children, the younger one born when she was 50! She must have taken a barrel full of hormones to sustain those pregnancies and that alone, in my view, probably put her at higher risk for breast cancer. Even if she didn't subscribe to that theory, she should have, at least, had an annual mammogram - because all women her age should.

Bottom line: I thought she had failed her children by not practicing preventative care. She was out on the campaign trail talking nonstop about healthcare issues, but we learned that she had not even taken care of her own health. To be "too busy" to have a mammogram, at least every year, was irresponsible; now it is costing her life.

At the time, I also wondered why John Edwards had not found the LARGE tumor.

Elizabeth seems to be a brilliant woman, but I think she put her husband's political career ahead of everything, including her own health.

I have read about how selfless Elizabeth is because she always puts the needs of everyone else before her own. - These statements were written like this is some kind of a virtue, but I thought she was just plain stupid, considering she had an obligation to take care of herself so she could live to raise those young kids.

I can still picture John and Elizabeth last March when they came out together to announce that her breast cancer had spread and is now terminal. But now, after hearing the sordid story of John's affair, I suspect that news of Elizabeth's condition was music to John's ears! In fact, just the week before, the kooky mistress, Rielle Hunter, had a baby that is probably his.

Sadly, if the National Enquirer hadn't revealed their secrets, this whole charade would have worked out fine for the John & his mistress. All he had to do was stick with Elizabeth for the short term - UNTIL SHE DIES - and squeeze all of the sympathy and good press he could get from that.. Then he could gradually bring Rielle and baby out in the public.

HAVE I BEEN TOO HARD ON ELIZABETH?

All along, I have thought that Elizabeth made a bad choice when she sacrificed her health in order to help John realize his political aspirations. - But now I wonder if maybe she wanted him to succeed in politics as much - or even more - than he wanted to.

And when she made a statement following her husband's confession, she seemed to blame the National Enquirer for her pain. So disappointing!

Knowing how smart and perceptive Elizabeth is, it is not believable to me that she is really buying the fishy story her husband told in the ABC interview. Rather, I believe that she helped him write the script, in an effort to minimize the importance of the affair and try to salvage his reputation.

I would hate to think that they were both frauds... just playing the role of humble, ordinary people, in order to advance John's political career...

But to give Elizabeth the benefit of the doubt, I will hope that her only fault is loving her husband beyond everything. However, JOHN, the husband who didn't find the "large tumor," was not worth her love and devotion.

And don't forget about John's parents; one can only imagine their anguish over this.

An interesting article in Newsweek... http://www.newsweek.com/id/151783 - sheds light on the character and personality of Rielle Hunter.

A May 2007 article in Time reveals that John Kerry had questions about the sincerity of Edwards before he chose him as his running mate.

"Kerry talked with several potential picks, including Gephardt and Edwards. He was comfortable after his conversations with Gephardt, but even queasier about Edwards after they met. Edwards had told Kerry he was going to share a story with him that he'd never told anyone else—that after his son Wade had been killed, he climbed onto the slab at the funeral home, laid there and hugged his body, and promised that he'd do all he could to make life better for people, to live up to Wade's ideals of service. Kerry was stunned, not moved, because, as he told me later, Edwards had recounted the same exact story to him, almost in the exact same words, a year or two before—and with the same preface, that he'd never shared the memory with anyone else. Kerry said he found it chilling, and he decided he couldn't pick Edwards unless he met with him again. When they did, Kerry tried to get a better personal feel for his potential number two; as rivals for national office since 2000, shortly after Edwards had entered the Senate, the two men hadn't spent a lot of time together. Kerry also wanted a specific reassurance. He asked Edwards for a commitment that if he was chosen and the ticket lost, Edwards wouldn't run against him in 2008. Edwards agreed "absolutely," as Kerry recalled him saying. If Kerry had shared this at the time, I would have told him what I did later: it was naive to think he could rely on a promise like that. Unlike Joe Lieberman, who'd been plucked from relative obscurity by Gore, Edwards had made his own mark in the primaries. He was ambitious—and if he saw his chance the next time, he was likely to go for it."

And what would WADE think of his father now?

Smoking? - Just STOP!

2008-07-15T10:46:00.000-07:00

As I have said 1000 times, I don't think intermediate remedies, such as gums, patches, etc., are the best type of intervention to stop the act of suicide-by-cigarettes.

#1, I truly believe that the pharmaceutical companies do NOT want people to stop smoking and get on the path to better health. And the tobacco companies certainly don't want people to stop smoking either.

Since I stopped smoking TWICE, I have the lived experience. Of course, individuals are different and stopping smoking is a unique experience for each person.

I always think that the problem with stopping is that the common perception (gleaned from various sources)is that stopping is going to be UNBEARABLE.

This is the same regarding pain, such as when people go for a dental procedure or have surgery. In psych, I was taught that much of experiencing pain is LEARNED. And then a fear of pain develops.

A friend recently had a root canal, which used to be a major ordeal. Now, the minute a root canal is done, there is no pain because the root is dead; I have had 6 of them. But my friend took Lortabs for 48 hours after because he feared pain. He figured that if the dentist gave him the pills, he must need them - all of them - for the excruciating pain that must be coming.

This is so common with all sorts of minor procedures. - I take nothing and there has never been any pain. After major surgeries, I took nothing (because of sensitivity) and it was not unbearable.

The point is that we are conditioned to think that we will suffer if we have surgery --- AND if we stop smoking.

By TV commercials, we are told that we need the lozenges, gum, patches and pills to gradually wean ourselves away from the nicotine addiction.

NO WE DON'T.

And I smoked A LOT! Even as an RN, I worked in psychiatry, the only part of the hospital that, years ago, allowed nurses to smoke while on duty. It was considered therapeutic to sit and smoke with the patients, 99.9% of whom smoked, as well. It was certainly not a place for non-smokers because with no ventilation, there was a constant haze of cigarette smoke that affected everyone.

So I know about being addicted and about the difficulty of quitting.

COLD TURKEY IS THE WAY TO GO and in THREE days I was fine. It was ONE DAY AT A TIME but, honestly, it was OK, and the three days were NOT unbearable.

I had stopped for about 10 years and then made a choice to start again... maybe because I knew I could quit when I wanted to. The second time, I smoked for about 2 years and then my mother died and I quit.

Having said this, I do accept that some people simply don't seem to be able to stop. Maybe it is a matter of having a strong enough conviction about what is important in your life. If you want to live to see your children grow up, marry, have children, then you have to do whatever you can to be healthy.

The State of West Virginia - Fred Armstrong

2008-07-11T07:01:00.000-07:00

Recently, I learned that several weeks ago the West Virginia state Public Employees' Grievance Board denied former state Archives and History director, Fred Armstrong, a hearing regarding his abrupt firing after twenty-two years of service.

Funny that in February, Chief Administrative Law Judge, Janis I. Reynolds, refused Commissioner Randall Reid-Smith's motion to dismiss the case. As stated in a previous blog on this subject, Reid-Smith is the career-challenged, former opera singer who was appointed to the position of Commissioner of the Division of Archives and History by Governor Manchin. It is probably just a coincidence that Reid-Smith's BFF is Gayle Manchin, the gov's wife.

Judge Reynolds retired in March and, sadly, the case was reassigned to acting chief administrative law judge, Denise Spatafore. Her interpretation of the law was evidently different from that of Judge Reynolds, and she denied the hearing Mr. Armstrong had asked for --- and DESERVED (IMHO).

Anyone who has followed this "saga" knows that Fred Armstrong was probably fired for insisting that Commissioner Reid-Smith comply with state law. Unfortunately, Fred did not BLOW THE WHISTLE, but maybe his case would be stronger if he had gone to the upper echelon and made claims of activities that did not comply with the law - sort of like a Whistle Blower. - Don't Whistle Blowers have some sort of rights and protection? Aren't they often rewarded for taking the risk to bring unlawful activities to light? Didn't some Whistle Blowers become Time's Person/People of the Year in 2002 for speaking out about the misdeeds at Enron, etc.?

I dont think there is any doubt that Fred Armstrong was defending a priciple - and probably the law. Of course he can't prove 100% that Gayle Manchin's BFF dumped Fred for these reasons... and HOW CONVENIENT that they could dispense with Fred, once and for all, under the blanket of the "WILL & PLEASURE" provision that allows political appointees to be dumped for no reason at all.

When Fred was first fired and escorted from the building by security guards, masses of people were outraged and protested the cruel and inappropriate treatment of such a beloved man and long-time public servant.

But there didn't seem to be a tremendous reaction to the court's refusal to hear his grievance. That's because human nature is just that way. We can become all riled up about something... but usually not for too long, unless it impacts us directly.

We should not forget about Fred Armstrong or the abomination perpetrated upon him by Randall Reid-Smith, probably with the full knowledge and support of his BFF and her hubby. - While the firing may be supported legally, it sure doesn't seem like it was RIGHT.

The Addition - Closing the Door

2008-06-20T15:27:00.000-07:00

More than three months ago, construction started on the addition - a bedroom, bathroom and closet in the upstairs of my house. Today, I am stating that I am SO done with it. It has been a dreadful experience and a real blow to my idealistic worldview that is all about people being fundamentally fair and honest.

But before I close the door on this project, I want to state some of the grievances I have, mainly pertaining to the contractor, Kevin Stevens, who has not returned my calls in 10 days.

I have stated most of the points in the rambling earlier blogs, so this is sort of an "at a glance" presentation.

In my mind, I have been thinking that Kevin abandoned this project and left us "high and dry." But it just came to me that the cliche "high and dry" means a good thing and, therefore, it is not fitting in this scenario.

Because Kevin is not a man of his word, I have no faith in him and I am experiencing periods of anxiety regarding the safety of the new room. With all of the shadowy, inexperienced people he brought here to work, I am not confident that things were done correctly... and nothing was inspected because he never got a building permit. - Is the room going to fall through the ceiling?

#1 - The worst thing is the floor in the stairwell. I have been calling it the stairwell but I mean the frame and floor area around the stairs that were built to go upstairs. To reiterate, there was NO footer poured and the frame for this part is built right on my patio, which slopes to the grass. A quasi-level floor was built on and it is covered with handmilled heart of pine. From a distance, it looks great! I should have made a video and posted it on YouTube, showing the reaction people have when they step from the existing wood floor - glued on concrete - onto the new floor that is built on this sort of platform. One woman stepped onto the floor and said, "WHOA!" She stated she had the sensation that she had stepped onto a trap door. The hollow sound is disturbing. - We had to have a gutter installed so the rain doesn't run under it; caulking does not make me feel too secure. - We have to live with this because it can't be undone at this point.

#2, and the worst thing in terms of actually using the new room, is the fact that Kevin left us with a room that is too hot to sleep in, despite having air conditioning. Because Kevin never looked at anyone's work and was basically Missing in Action after week 4, he failed to notice that the room was HOT - when it shouldn't be. He managed to put in the tile floor in the bathroom, yet failed to notice that despite the A/C, the room felt almost as hot as the attic. Even after it was brought to his attention that insulation was missing, he did not move to remedy the situation. By then, he was off to Spanish Town, probably on his best behavior so he could get future jobs in that rich community. WE ended up having to add the insulation. Later I discovered more areas of inadequate insulation, which we also dealt with. The room feels somewhat better but Kevin promised to install an attic fan, which is a necessity.

#3, the painters did not do what he said they were going to do. Perhaps not their fault but that matters not! After 10 days of the painters and Kevin failing to do the job, we were left to do a week's worth of painting. But we could NOT do the painting of the bare wood on the new addition that was overlooked by the painters. TODAY, I paid someone to paint the bare wood.

#4, Kevin failed to fix the threshold under the door. The last time I spoke with him, almost two weeks ago, he was coming "in a day or two." Again, he didn't show up so we figured out how to do it ourselves.

#5, Kevin failed to return the calls of the electrician's helper, Randy - and me - regarding a downstairs switch for the stairwell light and the line for the attic fan. Randy was ready and willing to come a week ago. When I heard nothing from either Kevin or Randy, I had to make alternative plans. - TODAY, I paid $975 to have an attic fan installed. The light on the stairs is not something I care about right now.

#6, Kevin failed to have the roof leaks fixed. TODAY, I paid someone to come and check on some of the leaks... Impossible to find them all, they said, and the roof WILL have to be replaced. - Kevin hoped he would be out of Dodge before we discovered this fact.

#7, Kevin repeatedly stated he would fix the mess (i.e. spackled wall) under the sink in the new bathroom... He never did and we sanded and painted the wall that is nothing more than a half-gallon of spackle.

#8, Kevin and the first plumber he brought here left a pedestal sink installed improperly, thus exhibiting a reckless disregard for the safety of of my family.

#9, Kevin had NO concern or respect for the property of my next-door neighbors - or ours. At one point, he asked WHAT happened to neighbors who would cooperate when such projects were underway. The fact is that they DID cooperate but WHY should they have to wait for a fence repair or the repair of their yard while Kevin was working week after week at Spanish Town? We had to take care of their fence and yard ourselves. - But what can one expect when Kevin went up to my new room and promptly layed his tools on my new bedspread? He never cleaned up after himself and has no respect.

#10, Kevin consistently did the cheapest thing possible. There are too many examples to list but I am keenly aware that when I decorated, it was like putting lipstick on the proverbial pig. Kevin Stevens substituted cheaper products without consultation and, in the case of the double crown molding I was supposed to have, HE decided not to do it.

#11, the workmanship on the stairs is atrocious! (See previous blogs regarding the half-assed job Kevin did.)

At this time, I am too tired to write more. If Kevin Stevens ever comes across this, he won't feel bad because it is obvious to me that he has no conscience. He is a smooth talker and, believe me, he walked me down the Primrose Path. He was defensive rather than embarrassed or apologetic for the unlevel stairs, the inferior materials he used, and his failure to start the job with a concrete footer. He expressed disdain for architects, the parish building inspectors and anyone who thought, as I did, that his workmanship was not adequate.

I did find online that he has had some brushes with the Louisiana Building Contractors Board - and was found guilty. Maybe he is getting by - - but he is not an honorable man.

Technically, Kevin left this job without settling the final payment of $1500. Obviously, he would never get $1500 because we had to pay far, far, more - not counting our labor - to complete this project. I suspect that he factored all of this into his bid, so there was not a chance that he could actually lose money himself.

PLUS, we are stuck for the duration with the shoddy workmanship of Kevin Stevens. His philosophy seems to be this: Contract for the highest amount possible and then make the most profit by providing the lowest quality for the lowest price.

I have to say that I was gullible for a very long time. I would get furious with Kevin and then he would come by and say everything I wanted to hear. I don't like conflict and like things to be happy, so it was easy for me to believe that he was going to do everything he said he was going to.

This blog will only come down when Kevin Stevens pours a footer under this floor, provides DOUBLE crown molding like he was supposed to, patches all leaks in the roof, and fixes the molding on the stairs so they look like they are supposed to look.

The Addition - Leaks, Squeaks & Creaks

2008-06-15T15:21:00.000-07:00

The weeks have flown by as I have waited for the contractor to come back and finish this addition. Gullible and trusting to a fault, even I now recognize that he is not coming back. I think I paid him too much up front and now the remainder is so small that it isn't worth it to him to spend the time and money to finish.

We managed to put the shoe molding around the stairwell floor and everything is painted, albeit unprofessionally. Things always seem to crop up and today we need to spackle around the light on the wall on the way up the stairs. There is a gap around the light fixture base, which is apparently not something the painters believed to be in the realm of their responsibility. Never mind that I paid them the extra $250 for NOTHING. Certainly, that did not garner me any better quality of work.

I know I should not be sympathetic to the painters but everything was so rushed and stressful with the wood floor being put down the last day they were here. It just would have been nice if SOMEONE had taken the time to go over the job and see if something --- like the base molding just inside the living room and the crown molding to the left of the bookcase - might have been overlooked.

3 or 4 weeks ago, the contractor went on vacation for a week. He told me that while he was away, he would have the electrician (electrician's helper) come back to fix the light on the stairs, so it could be turned on/off from downstairs. He said the electrician (helper) would also do the wiring for the attic fan and the roofer would install the fan. The week came and went and I didn't hear from anyone. Finally, I called the electrician (helper) and the roofer and they said that Kevin, the contractor, never mentioned anything to them about coming here, or about the attic fan.

Kevin said he would be back here on Thursday, which I think was June 5. He was going to put the quarter round (shoe) molding on and fix the threshold, etc., but he has not come back.

This past Tuesday, he actually took my phone call. He said he had hurt his knee and was not working. He said in "a day or two" he would come and do what needs to be done here. I told him that we can't do the threshold but that I had done the molding, the painting, etc., myself. Kevin said he was going to get the electrician over here and that he was having the Heating and Air person do the attic fan. --- The electrician (helper) has called him repeatedly and Kevin has not called him back. He ignored my calls of yesterday. So I don't think he has any intention of contacting these people, nor does he plan to come back here.

Kevin Stevens always seems so nice and sincere but I guess I am not a good judge of character, after all.

I am left with bare wood showing near the old roof on the new part of my house and I am afraid that will cause it to rot. The roof is still leaking and Kevin's roofer said the whole back of the roof needs replaced - which he said should have been part of the construction. Naturally, Kevin denies that. The last time the roofer came to fix leaks, he put tar on the roof and it is on the white trim on the new part.

The $50,000 addition is too hot to stay in, despite having air conditioning. An attic fan is a necessity - so we will have to call and have one installed.

For three months we have been without a threshold under the back door. Today, my husband fixed one that is actually pretty OK.

Walking on the wood floor, with the squeaks and creaks, is sort of a shock after walking on the existing floor.

So we have leaks, squeaks, and creaks.

This entire experience has gone from bad to worse. It seems that once the painters came here the first time and started talking to Kevin about the job in Spanish Town, he completely left here, mentally. He got onto that and became completely disorganized, with his work of a very inferior quality. We have spent lots of money trying to get things done and he evidently doesn't care.

The Addition - Additional Woes

2008-05-23T08:54:00.000-07:00

Today is May 23, so fully into the 3rd month of this agonizingly slow-going project to build an upstairs bedroom and bathroom in my house.

At the moment, I am having a meltdown.

Last Thursday, the electrician's helper and his helper came to do the electrical trimout, which was not completed by the first two electricians on the job. They did their best, I presume, but still outstanding is the issue of the light in the stairway that has no switch downstairs. After several days, the contractor's calls to him have not been returned.

The electrician's helper and I had located the electrical outlet that was buried under the stucco by the stucco people. About 25 holes were made while trying to find it and they have to be repaired. However, after a full week, the stucco person has not returned the contractor's calls regarding repairing the holes.

Also last Thursday, the roofer came - after the roofing contractor indicated that I should pay his employee to come and stop the leaks on the roof that they were already paid to fix before. - When he arrived, I said we have the 3 areas of the leaks marked in the attic. I had already pulled down the attic ladder but he declined to go up to look at the marked areas. I had stated that one was on the roof by the furnace vent - which they had installed. Another was near the corner of the flashing and I pointed to a shingle that seemed to be lifted up, and said that maybe the water was running under it. - Without ever going to the attic, the man came to the front door and said he had fixed all of the leaks. At that time, I asked again if he wanted to double check in the attic. He did not.

Yesterday, it rained; last night it rained harder. My husband found water in the bucket in the attic under the leak near the furnace vent. In my bedroom, in the area of the leak described near the flashing, I could hear water dripping into the bucket. [With all of the leaks, it seems to depend on which direction the rain is blowing.]

I've noticed that when people are called back to fix something, they are defensive - or is it passive-aggressive?

May 24 --- THE PAINTERS. They came here for the first time on April 14, which was the end of week three. They were supposed to do all of the priming and painting and then come back about A WEEK later and do their trimout. By that time, the floors were supposed to be in and the quarter round molding on. At that time, they could touch-up, paint the woodwork, etc. But on the first leg of this job, they were here for a full week. They primed and painted the exterior siding and trim on the upstairs dormer, then went into the new space and supposedly prepped. This was followed by the ceilings being sprayed and the walls painted. The crown molding and the trim around the window was was also primed and painted. The game plan when the painters left on Friday, the end of that week, was that they would come back the following Thursday, which would be April 24. The contractor stated that he was having the electrician come to do his trimout on Saturday and the plumber would follow in 3 or 4 days. He said he was planning to have this job done by the end of the week after the painters were done. So he was saying that he was planning to have everything done by about April 25.

This all changed when the contractor could not manage to get the stairs built and the stairwell floor done.

To reiterate, today is May 24 and things are not done.

When the painters left the first time, I knew they had not been able to work in the stairwell but I was told by one that the upstairs was done except for the molding around the floor, which would be painted after the flooring was put down and the quarter-round added. Upon hearing that, I pointed out some things that I didn't think looked good - but they were left that way. Later, in preparation for their return, I went up and put post-it stickers on more than 50 places that were nail holes, screw holes, dimpling, wrinkles, gaps, etc. Then I was told by the painter on the phone that the upstairs was really NOT done at all and they would fix everything when they came to do the trimout. - Since it is possible that I had misunderstood in the first place, I gave them the benefit of the doubt and also accepted the contractor's word that the painters were responsible for the problem areas. In fact, to show respect, I took down most of my stickers, thinking I would let them finish and then see if there were places that still needed fixed.

In the olden days, I believe painters came in and did the prep work FIRST, i.e. patching, filling, sanding. Now, apparently, the primer and first coat are done FIRST, then the prep work.

Long story short, the painter didn't come back to do the so-called trimout until May 12. Instead of being here one day, there was so much detail work that it was clear they would be here for a week. Not only did they have to complete the upstairs bedroom, bath and closet, they had to stain and polyurethane the stair treads, paint the stair molding, crown molding, risers and spindles, and they had to give the walls in the stairwell a second coat.

Since they were only getting paid $500 total for the trimout, I felt really bad for them. They would be here the whole week and the job was much bigger than they signed up for. I could hardly stand it so I gave them an extra $250. - [I paid the contractor an amount for the project and he hires the subs and pays them.] - I also paid the head painter to paint the ceiling in my living room. - Actually, I could have insisted that the contractor take care of painting the ceiling because it was damaged during the construction. The same with the kitchen; I paid the painter extra. We did the bathroom ceiling ourselves. We also said we would do other painting to help out. WHY I felt we should be helping to paint, I don't know.

It was an agonizing week with the painters here all day every day. They even had to come last Saturday, the sixth day -- and then one came back on Monday.

Since the stairs were getting coats of polyurethane, we could not go upstairs to look at the paint until Sunday. [Plus, the electrican's helper didn't have the lights on until late Thursday night.] Knowing that only one painter was coming on Monday - and only to paint the spindles, it was very upsetting to see the problem areas upstairs. The bedroom walls and ceiling were much better and I went ahead and started putting the room together. I saw that they had painted down to the shelf in the closet, covering the 4 inch stripe above the shelf, which they apparently originally thought was unnecessary to paint because no one standing on the floor could see the area of the missing paint.

But the closet was a mess. There were big bumps of mud from the sheetrock installation, really bad corners, and wrinkles galore. - In fact, it was the same as it was after the first time they were supposedly "done" with the painting, which the contractor said was the painters' responsibility. There were all kinds of issues... so when the head painter brought the other painter on Monday, my time was limited. For one thing, the men were coming to put the heart of pine floor in the stairwell floor. - I went upstairs with the painters and they said it is not their job to deal with the flaws in the sheetrock - the hangers were. Case closed.

The contractor eventually came this week and he said it IS the painter's responsibilty. - Ultimately, it is the up to the contractor to see that it is done and done right. - But shouldn't he and HIS painters have been on the same page with this? - OF COURSE! But the contractor NEVER checked any of the work of the subs and obviously didn't resolve the issue with the painters. It seems like they are afraid to rock each other's boat because of leads to future jobs; the painter and contractor are both sources of new work.

Getting back to the paint matter, I remember that the sheetrock guys had worked 20 hours on the weekend because the contractor was going to start his trimout on Monday, April 7. Didn't happen. And I recalled that to save himself some money, the young sheet rock hanger had done the finishing himself rather than having to pay his regular finisher. That probably explains why there were so many flaws.. I like the sheetrock hanger and he worked very hard. If the contractor had told him he needed to come back and clean some things up, he certainly would have... But the contractor never really looked at the job and when I raised the subject, each time he said the painters would take care of it.

So while the contractor and the subs wobbled about who is responsible for what, time is flying and I am not close to being done with this addition.

The contractor came this week and proceeded to sand and spackle some of the sheetrock issues. He also tried to straighten the bathroom vanity cabinet under the vanity sink. The cabinet is now damaged, the quarter round has to be redone, and most of the bathroom has to be painted because of the mess incurred. The sink is sitting on the vanity better now but it is not exactly right, leaving the cabinet off-center. - He also did something to stop the toilet from leaking, and he put up the tissue & towel holders, and drilled holes for the cabinet pulls. By the time he was done, the bathroom floor was dirty and wet and had to be cleaned. As I did that, I noticed that one of the tiles around the toilet is cracked. And while sitting on the toilet seat, the first thing I noticed is that the wall between the bedroom and bathroom caused the line of tile in the bathroom to be off about 3/4 of an inch, from one end to the other.

Everything seems damaged!

Did I mention that the contractor put all of his tools on my $300 bedspread?

Well, he first said he is coming on Monday, Memorial Day, to do the threshhold for the back door and do the brick step. Now, he said it will be Tuesday. In addition to that, he said he is coming here on Tuesday with the one painter and they are going to repair and paint everything right this time. He said he will also have the electrician (or helper) here AND the man who will sand and stain the heart of pine floor in the stairwell floor. THAT WILL BE A GOOD TRICK! But typical of the planning of this contractor. How can the floor person do the staining if there are people working in the area painting, etc.

Not trusting a word he says at this point, and knowing that he makes messes wherever he works, we are fed up! We have given all of the workers chance after chance to do things right... and now we are going to do most of the rest by ourselves, even thopugh so many aspects of the poor workmanship are irreparable. They would have been perfectly happy to walk away and leave things done in a half-assed manner - and just hope we were too dumb to notice. - I mean, really, should I have had to tell the contractor that the three bottom steps were so slanted to the back - by 3/4 of an inch - that it was a hazard? Should I have had to point out the various errors made during this construction? He is the supervisor that I paid to oversee this job. - All I can say is that if I had been this careless, casual and incompetent during my working career (nurse), there would have been dead bodies.

May 25 -- In the new bathroom, we are going to redo the quarter round that he broke and then caulked. - That was acceptable to him but not to me; it is a reflection of the inferior quality of work he does. We will have to live with the vanity sink that is not on quite right... and the cracked floor tile... and the tile line that way off... and the wall under the sink that is built with a half gallon of spackle.

We are also going to paint the areas that the contractor sanded and spackled. I cringe to think of him in the new addition with a can of paint. He would probably sit the paint can on my new comforter!

All he will have to do upstairs is put the reducer strip between the bedroom and bathroom. - He said last Wednesday that he would do the punch list on Thursday and would arrive at 7:30; he arrived at noon and wrestled with the sink and did a few other things as quickly as possible. He said he would do the reducer strip on Friday. He came at noon and he did have the strip with him. He even carried it upstairs! However, he could not put it in because he had not brought his table saw to cut it with. So, that is put off until some future time.

He also said he was going to adjust the air conditioner valves or something in an effort to make the room cooler. He said that for two days and he left both days without doing it.

I already told about my discovery a few weeks ago that no insulation was put around the bathtub. We eventually did that ourselves. Then I realized this week that there the heat from the attic was actually UNDER the new floor, which is elevated from the attic floor. There is insulation below the space (above the downstairs ceiling) but none in the space. SO, I thought it was a good idea to somehow put insulation in the space and also try to seal off the space from the attic heat. - First, the contractor kept saying that there was already insulation under the room... There is, but not in the space directly under the floor. - So he said he would seal off the space from the attic. - My husband decided that insulation should be stuffed into the spaces between the floor boards of the room so he did that. He also put a skirt around, to try to keep the attic heat out of the space.

STUCCO - The 25 holes in the stucco that were made while searching for the buried electrical outlet were supposed to be repaired yesterday. On Friday, a week after he first called the stucco people, he said "They will be here tomorrow morning." Gullible as ever, I waited in good faith for them to appear on Saturday. Naturally, they never came and never called.

This kind of inconsiderate and disrespectful behavior is not uncommon, particularly since Hurricane Katrina. The workers have so much work that they can keep moving on without worrying about the satisfaction of the customers they leave behind. So sad. - I remember that when contacted about doing the job, the stucco man was here the very next day - but is not easy to get them back.

Construction Project - The Results

2008-05-23T08:48:00.000-07:00

Two months ago (almost 9 weeks), the contractor started building the upstairs addition. I have described the early weeks and some of the issues that arose. Finally, the project is nearing completion - but, although I am tired, I know I will have to fight to the finish!

Several weeks ago, the contractor got a job in Spanish Town, restoring the old mansion of a Baton Rouge attorney. At that time, my project sunk like a rock to the bottom of his list of priorities.

It is my perception that he sees the Spanish Town job as a gold mine, with the potential for lots of wealthy clients. From the time he got that contract, he became preoccupied and has been mentally 'missing in action' at my house. He has become extremely disorganized, evidenced by his failure to follow through on unfinished tasks, oversee the sub-contractors' work, and obtain supplies. On numerous occasions, he failed to show up at his stated time, and he once said he had forgotten all about me. - This, after I sat here day after day, waiting, still trying to believe he was a man of his word.

He was also caught in a number of lies. Example: I called him one day when he didn't show up. At first he said he was in bed, trying to recover from a back injury. In the same conversation, he stated he could not give me a phone number I asked for because he was in his truck. He quickly caught his error and said, "I'm running an errand." - Another day, he promised to stay until he got my trim done. After about an hour, he left abruptly, saying he had to meet with his wife and a realtor regarding selling his house. (I thought his wife said they had already sold their house!) Four hours later he returned, but since he was so exhausted, it was more likely that he had rushed to his other job. - Why lie?

Since I am an idealist and have great faith in people, it is not easy for me to be critical. However, in this case, I think my kind and sincere demeanor was construed by Kevin Stevens to mean I am stupid and gullible - and therefore easy to exploit.

Ultimately, I had to be assertive or I would have left in a worse situation than I find myself in now.

Rather than going into the minutiae, this is a summary of my position, as of today, May 20:

(1) Kevin Stevens did not pour a footer at the outset of the project, despite saying he was going to do so. The stairwell is built on the patio, which has water issues during heavy rains. He initially put flashing along his plywood frame but it was NOT effective because the patio is not smooth concrete and water ran under the flashing. - After his plan to put siding on the exterior did not work - because it would not match up with the existing siding - I had to pay the $400 above the cost of siding to have a stucco finish on the exterior. We had to pay $250 for a gutter to channel some of the water away from the patio. Even with the gutter, the water still runs under the patio, with caulk and a treated 2x4 the only barriers.

The floor in my new stairwell is freshly milled heart of pine. It is nailed onto plywood that is nailed to a few 2x4s that were first tapered and then bolted onto the patio floor, creating a quasi-level surface. Next week it will be sanded, stained and then coated three times with polyurethane. It will probably look nice but it is certainly not constructed in a professional way. As the floor installer stated, "Because of the way the floor was built, it will always creak and crack like an old floor."

Nevermind that mold might grow on the patio under the floor and could actually kill people who are sensitive to it - including me.

Honestly, walking on this floor reminds me of the floors in my childhood home that were made of pieces of Masonite, held up by car jacks located in the dirt basement.

I wish I had a dollar for every time I was asked this question by the people who have worked on this addition: "Why wasn't a footer poured for this floor?"

My additional costs related to this stairwell floor debacle: $650. But the cost is greater in terms of the years we will have to listen to the "creaks and cracks."

(2) The stair risers were painted white, and the treads were stained, followed by two coats of polyurethane. Despite numerous leftover pieces of milled oak, there is patching in a very conspicuous area. The treads, as stated earlier, were placed against the molding, rather than placing the tread first and trimming it with molding. Every gap is caulked or filled with wood-filler, resulting in another half-assed, unprofessional-looking job. Kevin Stevens was told three times that this was not acceptable, but he ignored my comments.

Kevin leveled one of the severely slanted, hazardous steps that I wrote about before. The riser of the one he leveled is very noticeably shorter than the two below it. He did not bother with the other two steps, which prompted me to ask why they could not be level, too. - He fixed one more step and the risers of the bottom three steps are now of varying heights. He said he couldn't level the bottom step at all because of the position of the posts. - At least if someone trips and falls on that one, they won't have far to fall.

(3) The pedestal sink, knowingly installed without regard to safety or plumbing standards, was removed last week. Even though I was originally supposed to have a vanity with a cultured marble vanity sink, I was required to purchase those items myself. I had to pay an additional $180 for an unpainted vanity cabinet and I bought a vanity sink top for $115. My original budget from the money paid to Kevin was $75 for the sink, plus the unfinished cabinet, which I presume would have been $180. $180 + $75 is $255. He substituted the $255 vanity sink and cabinet with a cheap pedestal sink, so I should be entitled to the credit for the difference between the two.

Plumber #2 came to install the cabinet and the sink. Long story short, he did NOT put the cabinet flush against the wall on the left side before he secured the vanity sink top to it. Since the sink top IS against the wall, the vanity cabinet is VERY CROOKED beneath it. - Where did Kevin Stevens find some of these people?

Under the cabinet, the plumbing mess on the wall, which includes a half gallon of spackle, will be a chronic reminder of the "pedestal sink debacle." After weeks of Kevin Stevens saying he would sand and paint it so no one but he and I would be able to tell, he never did so. My husband sanded & painted the spackle of this sub-standard result. The metal parts overlap rather than being flush against the wall.

(4) The TOILET is very small. I said I didn't mind if he got a cheaper toilet than the one I originally ordered... but that was a mistake! WHO KNEW that he would introduce a child-size commode that leaks and "runs" and then expect me to be OK with it? Both a master plumber and Kevin himself tightened the bolt on the tank and it still leaks. Who wants to have to tell guests to "jiggle the handle" or "take the back off the toilet and put the plunger down?"

(5) As stated earlier, electrician #1 didn't return 4+ weeks ago to do the trimout. Over the next month, for reasons unknown, Kevin was unable to get the electrical trimout done. Finally, after numerous cancellations, I said he better find an electrician THAT DAY or I was going to call Home Care and he would have to pay. He said he was sending two electricians; when asked, he stated they were licensed, which, of course, they weren't. One was an electrician's helper and the other was the electrician's helper's helper. - This lie, after I stated earlier that only a licensed electrician would be acceptable.

The men were here 4 hours and managed to get the job done, somewhat, although they had not been told the scope of the task. At that time, they added a separate switch so the two outside spotlights would not come on with the interior ceiling light in the stairwell.

Problem: There is a light on the way up the stairs. There is no switch at the bottom of the stairs. One could go up the stairs and turn the light on in the bedroom. The light could be turned on before coming down the stairs, but since there is no way to turn it off downstairs, the light is essentially useless. (!)

(6) Since Kevin didn't bother to look at the work of the subs, damage is done that can't be undone, unless we make the corrections ourselves. The sheet rock in the closet is not done well, but I was told, "The painters will take care of it." Evidently, the painters are unfairly charged with fixing all of the mistakes of the carpenters and sheet rock people. The closet - and other numerous other areas - remain significantly flawed because the painter said the problems are the fault of the sheet rock hanger and, therefore, beyond his responsibility.

I don't blame the painter because DAYS of work were added to his original job and he would not have received additional compensation. We tried to help and ended up paying extra for many jobs that the contractor was responsible for. Some of these are:

*Bought paint and painted the two downstairs bathroom ceilings that were patched after being stepped through.
*Painted the attic stair pulldown
*Bought kitchen paint and paid painter to paint walls that were affected by the removal of a window.
*Bought paint and paid painter to paint the living room ceiling, also damaged by the construction.
*Primed, sanded and painted the vanity cabinet in new bathroom
*Agreed to refinish both sides of wood door in stairwell, including the trim.
*Painted upstairs window and trim

Approx. cost of paint, $120. Fee to painter, $260.

I wonder when Kevin thinks it would be a good time to decide who is responsible for sinking nails, then filling and painting? And who IS responsible for the wrinkles and bumps on the sheet rock in the attic?

(7) At the outset of this construction, the contractor told the next door neighbors that he would put top soil on their yard to fill in the trenches left by his truck and those of his subs. The neighbors were very accomodating and tolerated the damage. However, their patience was strained when the painters used their water and splashed paint on their house. Their fence was also damaged by the contractor's trailer.

When the fence damage was brought to the attention of the contractor, he said he would stop and pick up a replacement board. A week passed and the board was not forthcoming - or mentioned again. We replaced it ourselves.

The painter power-washed the paint from their house. The spots occurred when the painter fell off his ladder and the paint can flew into their yard.

After 9 weeks of damage to the neighbors' yard, a heavy rain revealed the depth of the depressions caused by driving trucks on it. Since it will be weeks before this job is done, as a result of Kevin Stevens' poor management of the project, it was finally time to be considerate and respectful of the neighbors. We bought sod and placed it in the affected areas.

(8) At the outset, when Kevin Stevens described his approach to a project like this, he said that "every evening" he would put the trash on his trailer and haul it away. He did that about 3 times in the early weeks and then once later.... So about 4 times in 9 weeks. MOST of the garbage was bagged by my husband and put out with our trash. I'm sure that Kevin never noticed.

One thing I brought to Kevin's attention was a huge black bag filled with concrete stucco. It sat in our grass for weeks and then Kevin realized it could not be picked up. He said he would get his football players to move it but that didn't happen. Finally, so the grass beneath it could grow, we chopped the concrete up with a hammer, put it into about a dozen bags, and then disposed of it. - Like the unused wood that remains in the backyard, Kevin has not been concerned about the damage to our property - or the appearance.

(9) Prior to hanging the sheet rock, a man came and installed the insulation along the frame of the new structure. Weeks later, even after Kevin had been in the bathroom to lay the tile floor, I noticed that the walls in the bathtub area were very warm to touch; they actually seemed to radiate heat. - Reason: There was NO insulation behind those walls, therefore nothing to protect the walls from the heat in the attic. Kevin was going to "take care of it" but after 6 days we added the insulation ourselves.

The addition is still uncomfortably hot, despite A/C, and I think he might have failed to put insulation UNDER the room to keep the attic heat out. The room is elevated above the attic floor and the heat may be filling the space beneath the floor.

(10) The crown and base molding used in this addition is almost exclusively made of some type of sawdust or wood particles. This may be the "green" thing to do but it was a cost-cutter in this scenario. Since I had no idea that a contractor would use such inferior materials, I was stunned to discover that the molding wasn't much better than cardboard.

In addition to the cheap product used, I was supposed to have double-crown molding in the bedroom. When I noticed there was only one piece, Kevin said HE had decided not to use two pieces. Such disregard for the contract, not to mention the disrespect for me, is not acceptable.

I also expected that the crown and base molding in the addition would be the same as the rest of the house. It is not. In fact, he had planned to use the same mismatched molding in the stairwell, even though it meets the existing trim. When I learned of that, I stated that it had to match the existing. - The crown molding in the living was not repaired in a quality way. "Caulk!" was the answer to that.

(11) The laminate floor in the upstairs room is not the worst I have seen but it was cheaper than the one I selected. My choice would have required that Kevin purchase the pad that goes under the laminate but the overall cost was within the budget. - I objected to the fact that Kevin told me he was going to Home Depot to pick up my choice of flooring - but instead drove to Sam's Club and bought a differnt product. He dropped it off here without comment to me. Obviously, he thought I would never know the difference.

(12) Kevin left here on Friday, May 2, and said, "I'll be back Monday morning." The next time I saw him was the afternoon of May 12. Over the next week, essentially nothing was done and it took two weeks for him to finally finish the molding in the stairwell.

On two occasions, Kevin came and then had to leave because he didn't have the necessary supplies.

When his carpenter came to re-do parts of the upstairs floor, he had not remembered to pick up the flooring; I had to get it. When the carpenter needed a second box of flooring, we had to get it.

When electrician #2 came, the necessary supplies were not here. Even though he left without completing the job and never returned, Kevin never did mention the supplies. Knowing he was not on top of this job, I bought them myself and had them here. And a good thing! Last week, prior to the electrician's helper coming with his helper, Kevin asked if electrician #2 had the spotlight.... NO, WHY would he have it? That was one of the missing supplies and electrician #2 did not purchase anything... I did.

Kevin owes me $60 for the wood flooring; $45 for the electrical supplies; $20 for purchase and installation of board to neighbor's fence, and the difference between the $255 budget for vanity & sink and the cost of the pedestal sink.

My reimbursement will come from the outstanding money owed to Kevin. All of the points made in this blog will be discussed and negotiated. It only seems to fair that he be penalized for poor quality work.

Did I mention that this was a "TURN KEY" job? That was supposed to mean that we would not be burdened with all of these problems. - Right now, the biggest problem I have is Kevin Stevens, who is still MIA in terms of my addition.

Construction - The Saga of the Pedestal Sink

2008-05-23T08:46:00.001-07:00

The new upstairs bathroom was supposed to have a vanity sink like the one in the downstairs guest bathroom.

When it was time to install the vanity sink, the contractor asked if a pedestal sink might be considered. I stated that a pedestal sink would be acceptable, as long as it was one that had enough space to sit items, such as a soap dispenser & cup.

On the day the plumbers came for the trim-out, said contractor drove up, handed off the toilet and the pedestal sink to the plumber, and then drove off without comment. Within 15 minutes of his departure, the plumbers had finished installing the sink and toilet. They had arrived before the contractor, and they presumably did some preliminary work.

They, too, left without comment, at which time I went upstairs and saw a large hole in the drywall behind the sink. I also noticed that the pedestal sink had absolutely NO place to sit a soap dispenser – or even a toothbrush! The sink was 24 inches wide, which was not as wide as the medicine cabinet/mirror I had already purchased.

Trying to be agreeable and hoping to get the project behind me, I took the medicine cabinet back.

The contractor said he could fix the hole in the wall behind the pedestal sink and he proceeded to patch and fill the hole with Spackle. He planned to sand, texture and paint it. – It did not seem like the result would be satisfactory, but, again, I acquiesced.

After a half gallon of Spackle was applied - but before the repair was finished - I noticed that the pedestal sink was not level. I called the contractor, and the plumber eventually came back. He grabbed the sink with both hands and twisted it counterclockwise until the sink was level.

During this adjustment, it was obvious that the pedestal was wobbly. The plumber stated that he did not care for pedestal sinks because they are not stable and might fall over if bumped. – That seemed rather scary, so I went to the computer and started looking for information about the installation of pedestal sinks.

ALL literature states that the sink must be installed like a wall-mount sink. The sink must be anchored to TWO studs. It is also preferred - and safer – to also use good-quality wall brackets. The sink must be installed securely and the pedestal should NEVER be relied on for any significant support.

Additionally, MOST of the online literature about pedestal sinks says that the pedestal should be bolted to the floor. Only one site stated that an adhesive caulk could be used to secure the base to the floor.

HOWEVER, in the case of my pedestal sink, the pedestal was not anchored to the floor at all.

WORSE, the plumber admitted that the sink was NOT bolted to TWO studs; only ONE side was anchored. There were NO brackets. Without question, they were relying on the pedestal to support the sink.

THE PLUMBER STATED THAT HE HAD TOLD THE CONTRACTOR that he was not able to install the sink on two studs -- because there were not two studs.

So a Licensed Master Plumber and a Licensed Contractor knew the installation was not proper and they walked away, ignoring the major safety issues, and evidently hoping we would never notice.

It is my perception that this all came about because the contractor decided that a pedestal sink would save him money. For about $100 or less he got the pedestal sink, rather than having to pay about $250+ for a vanity cabinet and vanity top.

The plumber had done the original rough-in for a vanity sink and was then asked at the trim-out to make changes necessary to accommodate a pedestal sink. – But when he realized it could not be done properly, due to the lack of studs to anchor it to, why didn’t he refuse to do it?

After I told the contractor that the sink was only anchored to one stud, he said he could go behind the wall and add more support pieces. WHY didn’t he or the plumber do that in the first place?

But the concept of safety was challenged by the contractor. When he looked at the sink, he pushed straight down to demonstrate how sturdy it was. Of course, that motion would cause the pedestal to support it… but if bumped, the sink moves and so does the pedestal.

Because I had zero faith that the pedestal was ever going to be stable – and after the contractor didn’t show up for a 10 days, I called him and said the pedestal sink was not acceptable. I asked him to order the vanity cabinet, which he did. He said he will return the pedestal sink and credit me for the refund.

I paid $180 for the vanity cabinet and $115 for the vanity sink. Since I was supposed to have the vanity and a cultured marble sink to begin with, does he seriously think I am going to pay the difference?

Construction Project - Going Nowhere Fast!

2008-05-23T08:42:00.000-07:00

Construction Project - Going Nowhere Fast!

Now that I am sixty, perhaps I am not as sharp as I used to be in judging character.

When I hired the contractor to manage this addition to my house, I went with my gut feeling that he was sincere and trustworthy. And, after all, he was a MINISTER. Nothing better than that to seal the deal!

When he told us that the Parish didn't really require a building permit for this type of project, it all sounded reasonable to us at the time. Essentially, we were just adding to the interior of our existing home, he said.

I should have tripped over the red flag that immediately popped up on DAY 1. That is when the contractor came and glued and bolted treated 2x4s to my patio. The DAY BEFORE, he had stated that he was going to pour a concrete footer, transporting the concrete to the back of the house in wheelbarrows.

Naturally, I was skeptical about the bolted 2x4s but I thought maybe it was going to become the form for the footer - or something.

Not wanting to appear overbearing, I waited. Then the next thing I knew, there was a framed wall built on the 2x4s. I asked what happened to the footer and the contractor said: "The patio is sloped and the concrete would only be this thick" (indicating about an inch with his fingers). It seemed to me that the floor in the house was about 4 or 5 inches deep where it met the patio, and the patio sloped down as it went toward the grass. Common sense says that when a footer was poured - LEVEL - the concrete would be at least 4-5 inches deep where it met the existing floor, and inches thicker at the outer part.

This contractor's standards dictated that he follow his chosen course and build on the patio with no footer. I stated at the outset that water was a problem there and I did not feel comfortable having only a treated 2x4 to keep the water away from the stairwell.

Trying to be positive and think the best of him, I ignored that huge red flag. Besides, this contractor is a minister and he seems to be the nicest and most honest person on the face of the earth.

Otherwise, things started out great, mainly because of the excellent work ethic of the Mexicans, but also because the weather was good and there were no delays in getting the new upstairs room under roof.

WAIT! I just had a flashback! It was about DAY 3 and I noticed that the contractor's helper - a high school student - came into my house and walked toward the bathroom. Lots of the workers used the bathroom, but he walked in and then came right back out. I didn't think anything more about it. Since I don't use that bathroom, so I didn't know what had happened until late that night when my husband told me there was a hole in the ceiling. Evidently, someone in the attic had stepped through it. The bathtub, floor and sink were covered with sheet rock dust, dirt and blown insulation. The next day I told the contractor about it and he said, "I know, they told me about it as soon as it happened. We'll take care of it." - So that is why the guy went into the bathroom...to assess the damage. But why didn't they tell me when I was right here in the house? Why didn't they clean it up - or at least offer. [The answer to the latter is that they are all very messy and show norespect for my home.] - But that was sort of sneaky......

However, by the end of the second week, it actually seemed like the entire project would be completed in another two weeks. The room was framed, the siding was on, the window was in, the roof was on, the electrical and plumbing rough-ins were done. A carpenter came and put in the insulation.

At the beginning of the third week, the sheet rock people came and spent a week getting the bedroom, bathroom, closet, stairwell and stairs done.

That is when things started going downhill.

The sheetrock sub was a young guy and had started his own business. He needed to get established, I think, and had to keep his prices low enough to compete with the illegals - which means that he is not making much. In this case, he got this job via his cousin, Leland. My contractor is in the same church as Leland and they have "worked together for 37 years."

Leland is also the contractor whose Mexican crew did the framing of my new addition, the siding, sub floors, etc.

Leland had been here at my house prior to the framing and he saw the scope of the project. My contractor asked him to get a bid for the sheetrock job and that is when Leland contacted his cousin, the young guy. Leland described the job and the guy gave him a bid that was apparently low enough for him to get the job.

Unfortunately for the sheetrock guy, when he got here, he found that the job was significantly more extensive than he had been told. Yet, he was locked into the bid he quoted. When he pointed out the extra work to the contractor, the contractor indicated he would be compensated. However, when it came time for the payoff, the contractor failed to pay him the additional $500 incurred, stating, "I'm running tight on this job." - This upset me because I felt like the young guy had been exploited. However, I said he should learn from the experience and in the future make certain that he went to the job site prior to bidding.

Politics play a big part in such scenarios. The sheetrock guy was misled about the scope of the job and he probably did a day of extra work without pay. But he can't afford to alienate the contractor because the contractor might be a source of future jobs.

The sheetrock guys had worked about 20 hours on the weekend because they had been told by my contractor that the wood trimout for the crown & base molding, stairs, etc was scheduled for the next day. - These guys worked very hard for long hours, all the while breathing in the sheetrock dust. - Such a hazardous occupation!

They needn't have worked the weekend because the trimout didn't get started in the new room until the end of the week. In fact, now into the 8th week, the molding is still not done.

My contract is not detailed but one thing in writing is that I am to have double crown molding in the new room. When only single crown was done, the contractor said, "I decided not to do double." Without consultation.

Did I mention that I got sick with bronchitis from the demolition dirt and sheet rock dust? I coughed for 5 weeks and, at times, I was too sick to argue; I just wanted them to get done and get out!

The painter came at the beginning of week 4. He was surprised to find that the stairs were not completed (treads & risers, trim, spindles, rails), the molding in the stairwell not started. He was dismayed to learn that the oak treads are to be stained and the risers, spindles and trim to be painted white. This is all time-consuming detail work, of which they had not been informed. There were also other painting tasks for which the contractor was responsible. When these were pointed out by me, such as the attic stair pulldown, the back door frame, the touchup of the white paint on the patio ceiling, the painter was understandably annoyed.

Always generous to a fault, we had already bought the paint and painted the ceilings in our two downstairs bathrooms that had been "stepped through" when the furnace was being moved in the attic, when the plumbers were up there, etc. - My generosity continued when I paid the painter to paint the walls in my kitchen that had to have new sheetrock after a window was removed for the construction project. An additional $50 was required to repair a major seam crack in the kitchen that also occurred during the removal of the window.

The painters did a cursory job of painting and could not even complete phase one because the contractor had not finished his work in the stairwell. When they left here at the end of week 4, they were supposed to come back in a week to do the punchout.

At the beginning of week 8, the painters have not returned because the trim/molding is still not done.

Meanwhile, for 4 weeks the floor in the stairwell was not built. We had no idea what the plan was but we found out. - A carpenter was hired to bolt 2x4s to the patio floor, now inside the stairwell. He seemed perplexed and asked me why no footer had been poured. They had to be cut in such a way (tapered) to make a level floor, to which thick plywood was nailed. The space beneath the floor is my old patio. - Is this an acceptable building practice?

At one point, the contractor was supposed to put the siding on the exterior of the newly built stairwell. At the outset, I said I wanted stucco. He insisted that Hardie Plank was the way to go. He said it would line up with my existing and would "not look like and add-on." OK. - When I saw the siding, I didn't see how it was going to work, mainly because the planks are higher than the existing. How could they possibly line up? -- The answer is they couldn't and that was proved when he put up the first piece... So, I stopped that and told him it had to be stucco. He agreed but I had to pay the difference in price between siding and stucco -- $400.

The stucco is good but they buried the rough-in for the electrical outlet and that has to be found and the stucco repaired. Water could still get under the stucco and possibly into the floor of the stairwell, so we had a gutter put on the roof above it - $250.

While the contractor was still on course to put the oversized siding on the exterior stairwell, he addressed the water problem by placing metal flashing - like that used on the roof - around the bottom of the structure. The flashing would forever protrude onto the patio --- and since the concrete on the patio is not smooth (it has stones in it) the water even ran under the flashing. - His answer to eveything is to "caulk."

A major problem is that the contractor seems to have mentally left here when the painters did at the end of week 4 and he has never returned. He has done some work on the stairs but it is really a half-assed job. As I always say, if I would be satisfied with a half-assed job, I would do it myself.

The problems with the steps are these: (1) Some are not close to being level, front to back; ergot they pose a hazard. (Did I mention that my husband already fell down them?) (2) The trim for the treads was nailed to the wall BEFORE the treads were put on. Therefore, instead of the tread being neatly surrounded by trim, the tread is simply up against the trim molding - somewhat - and an abundance of caulking is placed in the multitude of gaps. I told the contractor that he needed to take the trim off and put it over the stair tread. He didn't do it. - This inferior work will not be rewarded.

The contractor had a carpenter install the wood floor in the new upstairs room. - The first problem was that the contractor left here to go to Home Depot to pick up the floor I had specifically chosen, per allowance in my budget. Within 30 minutes he returned and had the painters help unload the boxes. He drove off. I immediately recognized the boxes as having come from Sam's Club -- cheaper than my choice of flooring at Home Depot. I told him I was upset that he substituted without consultation - but, again, I let it go.

Then the installation: Unfortunately, because the wood could not be inserted under the door frames, there were major gaps at the 3 doorways. Yesterday, the beginning of week 8, the carpenter came back, cut the bottoms off the door frames, and improved the appearance. However, a casualty of the re-do was the bottom of the closet doorway that was cut off too high and completely crooked. "Caulk it!" said the contractor. - This morning, I cut a small piece of molding (like the door frame) and glued it in. It might look OK after it is painted.

Did I mention that the electrician didn't come back to do his trimout? Well, he left his family and evidently his personal problems threw him off track. A week later, the contractor found another electrician, Jonathan. When he came here initially, he said he would do the job the next day, which was a Saturday. That was postponed to the following Wednesday and then to the next day, Thursday. He came that day but (1) the contractor had forgotten to buy some of the materials needed and (2) the electrician had failed to realize the scope of the job and needed another electrician to assist him with dropping the lines to the electric box. He left and said he would return "on Saturday or Sunday." He scheduled for Sunday but canceled. He said he would be here "mid-week" but that came and went and no word from him since.

It has been more than 3 weeks since the electrical work was scheduled to be completed.

The next issue: The first major rain occurred at the beginning of week 7 and we have leaks in the roof around the furnace vent on the roof. Naturally, the roofer moved on long ago but he needs to come back and fix this.

The bathroom is the VERY SORE subject of Part 3, particularly as it pertains to the "Saga of the Pedestal Sink."

Construction Project - The Illegals

2008-04-07T07:59:00.000-07:00

Rather than go through the aggravation of moving - again - I decided to build a bedroom and bath upstairs in our "garden home."

We had downsized from a larger home with a pool more than 10 years ago, when we thought our kids were independent and we didn't need to maintain a large home.

Long story -- and huge mistake?

Although I had done the contracting myself when I built our last house, I hired a contractor to build this addition. Since Hurricane Katrina, it is nearly impossible for an individual to get the subs required to do such a project in a timely manner.

As always, I find myself interested in the people who are doing this very hard work.

The frame carpenters are probably undocumented workers from Mexico (Don't ask, don't tell.) I say that because a majority of the actual workers who do the framing, roofing, etc. are Hispanic, but there are also people from Peru, Nicauragua and who knows where else.

Certainly, the issue of illegal immigration is a major one, particularly in this political season. However, it seems so complicated and I don't see anything clear cut about any of it.

In Louisiana, we have had masses of people on welfare for generations. The problem has been so enormous for so long that there are not enough state employees to investigate the welfare rolls or the system. Millions of able-bodied people here have lived off the state their whole lives and they actually believe they are entitled to do so, as if they had inherited the right from their ancestors.

Hurricane Katrina threw a major wrench into this culture of career welfare recipients but many probably managed to get in the system in another part of the state or in another state. - Again, too much to investigate and not enough resources to look at the individual cases.

[Even before Katrina, there were far too many welfare recipients working full-time, often in good-paying construction jobs, but getting paid under the table. That seems to be a common practice here.]

As volunteers were coming from around the world to help with recovery efforts following Katrina, many of the "victims" wanted to continue with the old life - that of being chronically dependent - rather than jumping in and helping. There was certainly plenty of work for anyone who wanted to work, including paid jobs. But these are the same people who would not consider working for minimum wage.

As a man once told me, "The government should take care of us. Working should be an option." He was a black man, proud of his status as a career welfare recipient.

But the people who have done the most to rebuild New Orleans and the people who do most of the building here are the illegals. NO ONE ELSE WILL DO IT. NO ONE ELSE WILL DO IT AS WELL OR AS QUICKLY.

The illegals are willing to work 12-14 hours a day, seven days a week for less money than Americans. They are seen on Saturday morning at the Post Office sending Money Orders to their families. On Sunday they go to Wal-Mart to buy their supplies for the week. Groups of 8 to 12 men, more or less, often share a single room and sleep on the floor. They don't need much more, I guess, because they are working most of the time. Usually, at least one knows some cursory English and communicates with contractors and others. Most of their families are in the home country.

I sympathize with them. - Not long ago, one of these groups of hard-working illegals was gunned down in the room they shared in Baton Rouge. Robbery was probably the motive. Maybe it was a Friday night and they had cash because they hadn't yet bought the Money Orders.

Some American workers feel cheated by the illegals because they can't compete with the low wages the illegals are willing to work for. They also have difficulty competing with the work ethic.

In general, I don't believe in discrimination. However, there is one exception: I do think there should be discrimination against the LAZY.

One more plus for the Mexicans is that they act like professionals, they are very respectful, they don't ask to use the bathroom, and they don't spit on my patio every time they walk out the door.

WV History Day '08 - Bum's Rush!

2008-02-24T08:44:00.000-08:00

West Virginia History Day is an annual event held at the Cultural Center, Archives & History, in Charleston.

On History Day, "History Hero" awards are presented to individuals who have made significant contributions to the preservation of local or regional West Virginia history. The idea for the award was initiated by former Governor Underwood, and the governor typically presents them.

In 2005, Governor Manchin was present at the event. Despite a busy schedule and stating he couldn't stay, he spoke for at least fifteen minutes before relinquishing the hosting duties to the First Lady, Gayle. She, too, spoke at length and then presented the awards. She appeared in the individual photos of the honorees.

Assisting Mrs. Manchin that year were Robert Conte, chairman of the Archives and History Commission, and Kay Goodwin, secretary of Education and the Arts.

It was nice event. It made the History Heroes feel valued and honored. It was worth the travel time and expense required to attend because the governor and his wife spoke so eloquently and they seemed to truly appreciate the hard work and dedication of the award recipients.

The 2008 History Hero event stands in stark contrast.

The event began late - after 10 a.m. - and Governor and Mrs. Manchin were nowhere to be seen. Perhaps a statement was made to explain their absence, but no one seems to have heard it.

The governor was, indeed, expected because the award notification letter stated, "Governor Joe Manchin is scheduled to present you with your History Hero certificate, with photograph to be taken."

But this is not simply about the no-show of the governor; it is about the event, in general. [His office stated to one offended honoree that he had to attend a family funeral. - That is beside the point.]

The aforementioned Robert Conte and Kay Goodwin were apparently conducting the event. Mr. Conte made some cursory remarks, which some thought would lead to the introduction of a featured SPEAKER. However, no speaker was forthcoming.

Mr. Conte immediately launched into the presentation of the awards. His tone was flat. Occasionally he made personal comments to people he knew there. All very casual. Too casual for the people who considered this an important event that should have been conducted with more dignity and ceremony.

Mr. Conte had apparently not reviewed his introductions of the honorees in advance, and he seemed ill-prepared.

That fact was certainly highlighted when he came to the nominees from the Marshall County Virtual Genealogy Society. The statement about their achievements was the longest in the printed program but they were introduced with the fewest words: "The team of James Edward Dague and Karen Dennison Hucko spent many months recording tombstone inscriptions at Mt. View Cemetery, one of the largest cemeteries in Marshall County." Period. The next words in the program are, "It was a challenge for James, who was born with cerebral palsy...."

All of the introductions were abbreviated, which is perfectly understandable, but theirs was probably the shortest of all. It had the effect of belittling their achievements.

The photos of the 2008 History Heroes will eventually be presented on the Archives website and may contradict this observation, but it appears in PHOTOS taken from the audience that Ms. Goodwin held the two award certificates as the photos were taken, rather than handing them to James Dague and Karen Hucko. And it does not look like she ever shook their hands. It was insulting.

Yes, James has cerebral palsy but he is a great multi-tasker. Therefore, Ms. Goodwin should not have looked so uncomfortable. James is a college graduate and is currently living in Charleston, working for the State Legislature [JAMES' OFFICE AT THE STATE CAPITOL]. He functions independently and the extent of his activities and achievements would put most of us to shame.

Please read THIS LETTER that James wrote upon hearing of his History Hero nomination.

James and Karen are certainly both qualified to hold a certificate and shake a hand. And had Mr. Conte read further, both he and Ms. Goodwin would have realized that James, the man before them, had managed to navigate the difficult terrain of the huge Marshall County cemetery and recorded nearly 2000 inscriptions!

All of the awards had been distributed by 10:35 a.m. and the History Hero program was concluded. Some - perhaps all - left feeling extremely disappointed - and certainly not honored or valued.

The following sentiment was expressed in an email by a woman in attendance: "But what I really thought was disgraceful this year was the speed with which they dispensed with the honorees. For some of the people who weren't there, only their names were mentioned, and it seemed they were lucky to get that! It just was not handled in a professional, respectful manner. It was almost like...we've got to do this but let's get it over with!!!"

Mr. Conte said there would be plenty of time to make our way to the House of Delegates, where the History Heroes were to be recognized on the House floor by the delegate from their district.

He was right about that; there was certainly plenty of time! The History Heroes were there so early that they had to wait in a crowded hallway for at least 30 minutes before the House was in session and they could enter the House Gallery.

To add insult to injury, some of the delegates failed to acknowledge the History Heroes from their districts. Had the History Hero committee conveyed the information to the delegates as they were supposed to? It is known for certain that the delegate from the 3rd District was presented with the information at least twice.

Yet, some West Virginia History Heroes sat there for more than an hour and were never acknowledged.

It was NOT an uplifting experience to witness these debacles on West Virginia History Day.

The History Hero award is important. The recipients are dedicated volunteers who love West Virginia and work their hearts out to preserve the wonderful history of the state.

When notified of a History Hero nomination, with the promise of an award from the governor, it is exciting! It is a special event! Some people buy new clothes and reserve hotel rooms. Often, families and friends are so proud that they even fly in from other parts of the country to attend the once-in-a-lifetime event.

This year, two people were honored posthumously as History Heroes. Their bereaved children and relatives came from around the country to receive the honor...

It is really a very sad day when the hard-working, unpaid preservers of the state's history are treated with such disrespect.

BOTTOM LINE: The History Heroes deserve to be treated in the same dignified and respectful manner as any other V.I.P. that walks through those doors! It is bad enough that the introductions of the honorees were so botched, but abbreviating the History Hero program and giving them the "Bum's Rush" is absolutely NOT acceptable.
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UPDATE 28 Feb 2008: TODAY, James Dague was recognized on the House Floor and the record of last Thursday's History Day was corrected. James was also given a special citation in the House Chambers. Don't know if anyone took a photo.

I thought James said yesterday that he was scheduled to be photographed with Governor Manchin, but that is not yet a fait accompli.
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UPDATE 6 March 2008

Editor, News-Register:

An open apology — but first a plea for understanding. On Feb. 21, it was History Heroes Award Day at the Legislature and I have no excuse for not recognizing Wheeling’s four History Heroes — Edward Dague and Karen Dennsion Hucko (nominated as a team), Judi Hendrickson, Wheeling; and Deborah M. Smith, Wheeling.

Please understand that as members of the West Virginia House of Delegates we do not have personal staff to do things such as open and respond to our mail, read and respond to our e-mails, read all communications and enter into our calendars important dates and appointments as to who is going to be in Charleston from our home districts. We do these things ourselves and, as an elected official from the Third Delegate District, I take my job very seriously. I attend ALL committee meetings (minor and major) and I do not miss votes. Please remember that this is the reason I was elected, to serve the constituents in my district and the state of West Virginia and this is my No. 1 priority.

Having said that, I have no excuse for missing Wheeling’s History Heroes. I would like the History Heroes and all others who have traveled from my district to Charleston but were not introduced by me, to please know how proud I am of all of you and that I am truly sorry.

In the future, if constituents would please give me a call a day or two before you are scheduled to be in Charleston and let me know when you will be arriving, I will promise that I will meet you and introduce you to the Legislature. My number at the Capitol is 304-340-3378 and my cell phone number is 304-639-4319.

Orphy Klempa

Delegate Third District
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UPDATE 9 March 2008

Seven Honored as West Virginia History Heroes
By LINDA COMINS Arts & Living Editor

http://www.theintelligencer.net/page/content.detail/id/506817.html

In case the article disappears, it is the info from the History Hero program provided at the event. The nominating organizations submitted the text.

Next year’s event is scheduled for Thursday, March 5, 2009. Without question, it will be a better event -- or at least it will be if Joe Geiger is in charge of it.

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UPDATE 10 March 2008

James Edward Dague was photographed with Governor Joe Manchin!

Politics '08 - Biased Media

2008-01-28T11:49:00.000-08:00

The 2008 campaign season started way too early, but I managed to stave off my quadrennial obsession until this month. - It looks like nothing was gained by starting early, I might add, so I'm glad I didn't waste my time.

But now things have heated up and it's .... it's .... Well, it's disgusting and upsetting to me.

Harkening back 8 years, I was a John McCain supporter, only to watch the assassination of his candidacy in the primaries by the Bushes.

Then 4 years ago, I would have been for McCain but he wasn't the nominee. He acquiesced to the Bushes and pretty much sold his soul, probably for promises of support this time around. - I lost all respect for him.

The day after Edwards and Kerry lost, I sent a message to former Virginia Governor, Mark Warner, and said he should consider a Warner-Obama team for the next election. I had seen Obama in his senate campaign and was very impressed.

By 2007, I hoped that Republican, Chuck Hagel, would run, perhaps even as an independent, because of his views of how to end the war.

I took an online poll a few weeks ago that supposedly matches voters up with the candidate that best reflects their views. - Mine was Dennis Kucinich.

While still undecided about a candidate, I am not undecided about the media's campaign to shape the election.

One thing is for sure: They hate the Clintons!

First, Oprah Winfrey, the queen of racism, is the one who injected race into the scenario when she was on the campaign trail in the fall, trying to give Obama's campaign a much needed boost. She shot straight at the heart of the blacks by saying that Martin Luther King could only dream about an African American president -- now Obama could really be one.

Like everything else, from toenail fungus to natural disasters, Bill and Hillary Clinton are blamed for injecting race into the campaign.

On Bill Maher's show last week, one of his guests (apparently forgettable) repeated the myth that the Clintons had played the race card... Maher asked him to state specifically what the Clintons had said. He gave the example of Hillary saying "slumlord," which she did in the debate last week. That is NOT one of the statements the media has used against them regarding race. In other words, he really didn't have an example... Like too many people, he simply heard "Clintons used the race card" and he ran with it. - I just don't see it that way and I have watched and read everything.

Matt Taibbi, a writer for Rolling Stone magazine, gave a great example of the clueless media a couple weeks earlier on Maher's show. He said that when John McCain put a banner on the side of a bus that said "Straight Talk Express," an hour later the media was saying, "He's a straight talker!" - That's about how it is.

The Clintons are smart, and few disagree with that. They would be the last people on the face of the earth to play a race card. Instead, it is the media that sees a racial angle in everything the Clintons say. The MEDIA is fixated on Obama's race and they seem to view everything through black colored glasses. - They want conflict and animosity!

They want Hillary to lose.

It is actually VERY difficult to find a blog or website that is supportive of Hillary, so I have to wonder where her primary votes are coming from.

Although I watch both FOX and CNN, I have enjoyed the fact that James Carville and Paul Begala have been advocates for Hillary.. On FOX, Britt Hume, Dick (likes-to-suck-toes-and-be-naked-on-a-dog-leash) Morris and their cronies sit around and smirk as they ridicule Hillary, like a click of catty teenage girls.

Now I see that the two voices for Hillary - Carville and Begala - are suspended from commenting on CNN until after the Democratic candidate has been chosen. Reportedly, Obama's campaign has complained about their bias, supposedly because they are on retainer by the Clinton Campaign. - Haven't I seen parades of pro-Obama people on CNN, retained and otherwise? If Obama can't handle the 99.9999% pro-Obama forum of CNN, how could he possibly cope when under fire from the Republicans?

Has CNN caved in to the pressure? I think so. In the 2004 election, when they had that whiny Judy Woodruff, the political commentators bent so far to the right that they were hardly visible on my TV screen. They were hypersensitive to being labeled the liberal cable outlet and they completely succumbed to conservatives. For more than a month before that election, I stopped watching.

I want balanced coverage and I want the facts straight from the horses' mouths. And I don't want to watch a candidate say something and then have the media tell me what I heard and what I should think about it.

Now, Wolf Blitzer has become as mealy-mouthed as Judy Woodruff and it is getting hard to take. They are obviously biased in favor of Obama, all day every day. They are patronizing - along with walking-on-eggshells, lest they be accused of racial discrimination.

I think that is the direction things are going and it will be interesting to see how FOX handles Obama as an adversary if he gets the nomination.

Frankly, I think race relations are going to be set back 50 years or more by the time this election is over.

For CNN to suspend Carville and Begala because the Obama campaign thinks they are biased, is outrageous! HOW can this be after the incredibly negative coverage of President Bush for eight years and the Clintons for eight years before that!

Last week, I noticed that John Edwards was not mentioned for days on ~~The Obama Channel~~ CNN. The media was so focused on generating more dysinformation for Obama and the Clintons to tangle about that they forgot all about Edwards. He noticed, too, and he finally got some attention after he complained.

CNN is on now and guess who is being interviewed? I think Suzanne Malveux on ~~The Obama Channel~~ CNN is auditioning for Press Secretary. She has lost her objectivity and that has been apparent for a long time.

Hillary seems smarter than any of the men in the campaign - but too many people don't like her, especially insecure men (like those on FOX) who feel threatened by her. I think she wins all the debates hands down but that is mainly because Obama is afflicted with a case of circumstantiality - - thus, is not clear and almost never gets to the point.

None of the candidates suit me but I'll keep watching.

Love this!

Stop The Spam.... Blockers!

2007-12-05T05:50:00.000-08:00

The only thing worse than SPAM itself is a SPAM BLOCKER.

Well, actually, the worst is a spam blocker & anti-virus combo.

My advice: If you use a SPAM blocker, please check the folder often and don't choose the setting that automatically deletes spam and suspicious messages.

As the webmaster for many websites, I often receive a hundred messages in a day. I answer each and every message promptly. If someone writes to me and does not receive a reply, chances are, they are using a SPAM blocker/firewall program that is interfering.

The problem is getting worse and I am frequently assailed with caustic messages about how awful, rude and inconsiderate I am for not having the courtesy to reply to a reasonable question.

I DID reply to the original message and also to each subsequent message - but they can never get there if they are blocked - or automatically deleted.

God only knows how many people think I am simply not answering messages.

ONE reason my messages are blocked/quarantined/deleted is because "FLU" appears in my email address and also in my surname - Fluharty.

It is bad enough having the surname and now I am stigmatized in cyberspace because of it. - Get it? FLU is a VIRUS - Ergo, that means the message must contain a VIRUS. How irrational is that?

Well, no more irrational than the numerous people who hear my sister's surname, WHITWAM, and ask, "Is that an Indian name?" Because it sounds similar to wigwam?

My sympathy really goes out to people with other surnames. They must have a heck of a time on the Internet!

A few months ago, I was trying to send a text file to the West Virginia State Archives. It was simply a transcription of a letter related to the Civil War. - I sent it 30+ times and could not get it to go through.

The WV Archives uses a SPAM filter/firewall called Barracuda. - Trust me, if you want to stop spam and viruses, that is the program for you! The downside is that it is so sensitive that you may never receive another email in your lifetime!

It turned out that the reason the message was stopped by BARRACUDA is because it contained the surname PRICKETT. This is not an uncommon name but it was stopped cold!

At least people who use that program don't have to worry about getting cussed at in an email.

But I have to wonder what communications on the Internet are like for people with surnames like Prickett, Raper, Shitler, Shittle, Cuntz, Bastardi, etc.

The Firing of Fred Armstrong

2007-11-05T15:41:00.000-08:00

Last Friday, I was stunned when I saw in the online Charleston Gazette that Frederick Armstrong, the longtime state archives & history director, had been fired the day before - by the commissioner, Mr. Reid-Smith.

Sure, Fred served at the pleasure of the state administration and never had "job security" - but it is shocking that after nearly thirty years of dedicated service, he was dropped faster than Governor Joe Manchin can say "Open For Business."

Is that what is happening? Is the West Virginia government heading toward a "profits not people" philosophy, that is all about business and not about the hearts of the people?

I'll admit that I cringed when I first heard that Manchin wanted to change West Virginia's slogan from "Wild, Wonderful West Virginia" to "Open For Business," but the firing of Fred Armstrong has caused me to wonder if that slogan-change idea is actually a statement about the true objectives of the Manchin administration.

Charleston Gazette reporter, Dawn Miller, wrote a nice story about Fred's achievements and I wrote to her. My reply might appear in Letters to the Editor.

This is what I wrote:

I just read your article about Fred Armstrong... Very much needed and appreciated.

Since I live in Louisiana, I am out of the loop of politics, but I am very involved in West Virginia and I have done lots to preserve the history. I do many free websites - genealogy, history, Civil War - and I contribute Civil War materials and make other occasional donations to the Archives.

In 2005, I was a "History Hero" and I visited the Archives. It was very important to me that I meet Fred Armstrong, as well as some of the other people I have communicated with over the years. I have a pretty jaded view of most institutions, especially affiliated with government, but I found the Archives to be quite exceptional.

Although the pay is probably low, I have to say that the personnel I know there are the most sincere and dedicated employees I have encountered anywhere. They seem to have a passion for their work and they are not simply going to work to collect a paycheck.

I know exactly nothing about what caused the firing of Fred Armstrong but, regardless of the circumstances, his termination was not handled in a professional and dignified manner. The idea that security guards were called in to remove him from the premises is unseemly, to say the very least, given his decades of service.

In my view, the Archives has lost a caring and loyal servant. That position requires someone who can communicate effectively with the public and I think Fred's shoes will be hard to fill in that regard.

Thank you for presenting the story about the achievements of Fred Armstrong; he will certainly be missed by many because he made people feel that he truly cared about them, their families and their research projects.

I'm sure Fred's heart is broken and he will never get over this, particularly the cruel and uncivilized manner in which his termination was handled.

I thought about the subject today and I have to say that the manner in which Fred was fired speaks volumes about the Commissioner of Archives & History, Mr. Reid-Smith. - [Did I read that the guy is a singer?] - In any case, it takes a certain type of personality ~~disorder~~ to be able to cold-bloodedly fire an employee of such long duration and then call security guards - as if Fred was an axe-murderer!

That was a power play, plain and simple, and it reveals an insecure man, who probably has feelings of inadequacy and felt threatened by Fred's knowledge and expertise, not to mention his popularity.

Anyone who could be that insensitive and cruel, when Fred was probably in a traumatized state, is not someone who should be in charge of anything. - In fact, he sounds like the "Michael Vick" of the archives.

It is a sad day for West Virginia if this is the new standard for the treatment of state employees.