March 31, 2008
Feats are just fine with me

Tim Conlon, a good buddy of mine, has a longstanding radio show at the University of Virginia.

For tomorrow's segment, he's running a special two-hour set of live recordings of Little Feat, one of my favorite bands, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. EDT.

To hear the show on the web, go to the WTJU website and click on option #3 under Windows Media.

Should be a lot of fun.

March 31, 2008
Adventures in Card Culture

Last Wednesday my wife and I traveled to Philadelphia to see the Baseball As America exhibit at the National Constitution Center.

We highly recommend it.

Most of the exhibit items, and there are hundreds if not thousands, are from the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

My personal favorite was a small container of highly valuable trading cards. The label for this container says simply, "Box of Trading Cards Thrown Out by Your Mother."

Grins all around.

My mother was an avid baseball fan herself. She would not have thrown out the card collections of any of her four sons (my sister didn't waste her allowance on baseball stuff). She would have loved this exhibit, especially the special segments on the Phillies.

Seeing these cards brought back some nice memories. Trading cards were a major betting commodity on the parish parking lot that doubled as the lunchtime recess playground at St. John the Beloved, about 45 years ago. Some of the kids were remarkably good at flipping their cards to cover several others, leading to easy acquisitions of hotly desired cards, such as Juan Marichal or Johnny Callison.

When used with a clothes pin, the cards were also a great way to convert your bike into a motorcycle--by sound effects, if not otherwise.

The exhibit stays in Philadelphia until May 11. See what kind of memories it will trigger for you.

March 26, 2008
Been a while

I had to take a break from blogging here for a while. Sorry about that.

I had a fast-paced bit of litigation in Chancery Court that began with the original complaint filed on February 22, and concluded with a final decision from Vice Chancellor Noble, issued this week. That was, of course, in addition to the usual day-to-day stuff, so something had to give.

In the meantime, however, I kept up with my golf writing.

Here are the links for those offerings, if you'd like:

Hogan's Real Swing Secret?
March 21, 2008

Ten years ago I posted a short review of Five Lessons, Ben Hogan’s classic golf instruction book, at my then-new golf web site.

The book first appeared in 1957, but remarkably remains in print even today, with millions of copies sold. More..

Cape golf team begins spring practice--in winter
March 14, 2008

Sometimes I’ll stop by to visit the Cape Henlopen High School golf team, and become a little jealous. More..

Local Clubs Seek Members for 2008 Season
March 7, 2008

The new golf season is about to begin, and Cape Region country clubs are seeking new members.

That’s an old story line, but it’s true again this year. More..

New Hacker mystery a Masterwork
February 29, 2008

Not long from now, I will receive an annual invitation I have always been unable to accept. More..

Short Subjects
February 22, 2008

This winter’s surprisingly warm weather in the Cape Region has been an unexpected boost to local golf courses, even when the occasional snowstorm reminds us that it’s not yet spring. More..

February 27, 2008
Three Claudes for hiding behind an attribution

Sometimes headline writers try to disguise the banality of their work with the magic of attribution.

There's a good example today in the News-Journal, leading a story about a police raid on an upstate suburban home that was allegedly the scene for high-dollar poker games, complete with barely clad ladies:

High stakes, nudity were draws for gamblers, police say

And I thought it all about the camaraderie and good sportsmanship.

The other good thing about this story is that it helps fight against that old stereotype of boring suburban living--not on that little cul-de-sac, at least.

John Cheever would have been delighted.

The headline earns three Claudes, and would have earned more without the lame attribution.

February 13, 2008
Grace under falling pressure

Nobody likes to lose, but under many social situations, the loser is nonetheless expected to congratulate the winner.

The gesture may be completely insincere, and often is, but it's still expected.

For example, not long ago a legendary curmudgeon, New England Patriots coach Bill Bellichek, managed somehow to shake Giants coach Tom Coughlin's hand in the final seconds of this year's Super Bowl.

Peggy Noonan wondered recently whether Senator Clinton would show the capacity to lose gracefully in the ongoing presidential race. The former speechwriter suggested that skill might not be in the Senator's personality profile:

[S]he does grace the way George W. Bush does nuance.

With a string of primary and caucus victories favoring Senator Obama, including yesterday's sizeable wins in Maryland, Virginia, and DC, there was a fresh opportunity to see if Noonan's assessment was on the money.

It looks like she called it correctly:

For the second election night in a row, Hillary Clinton failed to acknowledge or congratulate Barack Obama after he won the day in dominating fashion.

On Tuesday in El Paso, hours after Virginia had been called for Obama, she ... mention[ed] Obama by name, only to chide his health care plan. ***

Clinton congratulated Obama and John Edwards after their first and second place finishes in the Iowa caucuses. Obama returned the favor in New Hampshire, saying Clinton “did an outstanding job.” That courtesy continued through the early states.

But as the race has shifted to a delegate chase with dozens of states in play around the country, the notion of congratulating one’s opponent seems, for Clinton, to have fallen by the wayside.

If you can't show as much grace while losing than Bill Bellichek, that's not good.

Hat tip: Drudgereport.com.

February 11, 2008
Shameless promotion

This weekend I posted my newest golf book review.

Club Life: The Games Golfers Play is a witty collection of John Steinbreder's columns for Golfweek Magazine.

You might also enjoy this week's column about the kinds of wintertime renovation projects that golf course superintendents tackle, when the grass isn't growing and the members aren't in their way.

For example, they do things like this:

.

February 6, 2008
Just a little twisted emphasis on status

Charles Hill recently made a brief comment about the lack of BMWs in his company’s parking lot:

We don't have a lot of high-zoot vehicles where I work...; mostly it's trucks and sport-utilities. Then again, damn few of us are overpaid.

He linked to a piece by Andrew Dederer about the fact that the owners of BMW cars in the 3 or 5 series are in a different demographic, with a distinct attitude about the signaling effect of their choice of transportation:

No car is more identified with a particular rung of the corporate ladder than BMW. Nothing says “mover and shaker” more than an alphabet soup 3 or 5 in a reserved parking place. We’re not talking about the top slot; the truly highly-placed drive something with more presence. BMW is the ne plus ultra for upper middle execs, corporate clones whose cars must stand out from the “ordinary” (cynics might say “practical”) machines driven by the company’s lesser lights.

Overpaying is part of the cachet, “I’m going places, and I don’t need to worry about what it cost.”

For at least one new Federal criminal defendant in Delaware, that last comment was right on the money, as it were:

Anthony J. Lofink admitted in federal court Tuesday that he and four associates stole more than $1.2 million of state money, which federal prosecutors say paid for cosmetic surgery, expensive cars, clothing, jewelry and start-up money for a tanning business.

In court, Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas McCann said that between May 2005 and October 2007, Lofink used the money to lease a BMW 330i, purchase a Porsche Cayman and get $3,800 worth of cosmetic surgery.

***

Lofink, who made about $31,000 a year as a state accounting specialist, also was in the process of using the stolen money to open up a tanning and day spa franchise with one of his co-defendants, according to McCann.

Lofink is to cooperate with the authorities in the upcoming criminal court proceedings against the others involved with the scheme, in which he caused escheat funds to be sent to dummy entities, with the criminal proceeds shared with his buddies in crime.

This is the same infuriating case I wrote about last November, and the story is worse than previously expected:

Prosecutors said Lofink took advantage of an apparently lax system where he was responsible for both processing claims and issuing checks.

Once Lofink processed a claim, two levels of supervisors were supposed to verify its legitimacy. But McCann said in court that Lofink's supervisors "trusted him" and only did a cursory review of the paperwork.

Connolly said Lofink also had the computer password for one of his supervisors and used it at times to verify the fake claims he was putting through. The supervisor's password was the word "password."

Geez.

February 4, 2008
T'weren't foolin'

I recently posted a short note complaining about a proposed downzoning of the Rehoboth Elementary School property by the City of Rehoboth Beach, and suggested I was going to do something about it.

I wasn't kidding around.

Here's a recent story about the controversy, as it ran in The Cape Gazette:

A new bill has been proposed in the Legislature that would restrict rezoning of school district properties and protect school property values statewide.

The bill states that if a municipality amends its zoning code or changes property uses in a way that reduces the value of public school-controlled land, the municipality must repay the difference in value to the state and the school district. The repayment value will be determined based on the property’s fair market value, calculated as if the property were vacant and available for full development.

I appreciate the support that Senator Bunting and Representative Schwartzkopf are providing by their sponsorship of this legislation.

The bill goes beyond this single dispute, because I think that it is possible that county governments and municipalities other than Rehoboth Beach may one day be similarly tempted to create new open space without actually paying for it.

Once the bill is assigned to a committee, it will be available online. I'll provide a link to it when that happens.

UPDATE: It's Senate Bill No. 206, and assigned to the Executive Committee.

January 29, 2008
Different strokes

Last night my wife and I chatted about our different "fitness regimens," if that's what they can be called.

She's partial to long swims at the local YMCA, but that option doesn't work as well for me.

Because I am far past legally blind without my contacts, I tend to bump my head or arms against the pool edge during laps. This can be discouraging, as well as extremely painful.

Instead, I use our stationary bicycle in our basement, six or seven times a week, all year long. It's hard to fall off of it, and there's no traffic.

In addition, I use the time to watch videotaped replays of the most recent PGA Tour events.

As soon as I explained this arrangement to my wife, she made a face and strongly suggested that the combination of exercise biking and watching golf would be perfectly acceptable to the Marquis de Sade.

Different strokes, I suppose.

January 25, 2008
It never fails

A few weeks ago, before the South Carolina primary, I decided to send a check to Fred Thompson's campaign, and did.

It had the usual, if unintended effect--he's now dropped out of the race.

Geez.

Nonetheless, I liked his recent address in Iowa, especially his statement of general principles.

It's now running on the home page here, in the quotations column on the right side.

Maybe someday others will accept and act on those same principles.

January 21, 2008
Not up for this downzoning

A recent news story mentioned that the City of Rehoboth Beach continues to remain interested in downzoning the longtime Rehoboth Elementary School property.

According to the Coast Press, it’s one of the topics for a city commissioners’ meeting tomorrow, and not everyone shares their goals:

The commissioners will consider a resolution to set a public hearing for their plan to rezone the Rehoboth Elementary School from its current residential zoning to a newly created educational district – a move which school district officials are opposed to over the property’s potential devaluation.

The district officials are not alone. Some of the rest of us are not that keen on this idea, either.

Here’s why:

The state and public school districts, which are political subdivisions of the state, use taxpayers' money to acquire property that may eventually be sold if no longer needed for school purposes. Those proceeds are then potentially available for further school district or other public purposes. Municipalities, which are also political subdivisions of the state, should not be permitted to downzone these properties for open space or other goals, without fully reimbursing the state and school district for the loss in value. 

After all, taxpayers indirectly own the investment in these properties.

With the Atlantic Ocean and its award-winning beaches forming the eastern boundary of the City, it is perhaps understandable that Rehoboth Beach has failed in the past to assure itself of sufficient open space in other parts of the square-mile municipality. Nonetheless, I don’t think it’s right that the City should create open space on school property through its zoning authority-- at least, not without paying for the privilege.

They have the money, so that’s not why so they’re so reluctant to do what’s right.

As noted in another recent news story, the City has some extra cash from last year’s revenues.

Furthermore, the City has not yet moved forward to increase its property tax revenues, now that an artificial limitation on that stream of cash has been lifted.

Unfortunately, at least some of the City’s leadership seems bound and determined to obtain for free what they should pay for, no matter what.

I’m inclined to do something about this, however, and I believe I will.

January 16, 2008
Didn't quite fit the situation

Earlier this week I traveled to DC for the annual Transportation Research Board meeting.

Fortunately, the session schedules were open enough that I could fit in a quick trip to the National Gallery of Art, to see the wonderful Edward Hopper exhibit (ends January 21, so hurry there if you can).

While walking along Pennsylvania Avenue on the way to the Gallery, I came across a bright yellow, late-model Chevrolet Corvette parked along the curb. The front license plate proudly announced that the owner belonged to something called the Big Bad Boys Club of America, complete with a membership number.

That made sense.

On the other hand, when I glanced into the cockpit, I also noticed a Diet Snapple bottle in the center console cupholder.

That bottle didn't seem to fit the situation, but it certainly did make me laugh.

January 12, 2008
Need to start finding a new home for a LULU

As a government attorney, I lead an acronym-filled life, but it has its moments.

For example, the state’s transportation planners are well aware that a new highway is considered by many folks to be a classic LULU (Locally Unwanted Land Use).  This fact of life often makes the process of selecting possible alignments for these projects fraught with challenges.

The same can be said for many other public works, which almost everybody will agree are necessary in the abstract, but who also object if proposed to be built near them. Think of new prisons, new sewer treatment plants, and the like.

This is sometimes called the NIMBY effect when limited to a single project (Not In My Backyard).

However, with enough LULU or NIMBY opposition about proposed government improvements, the BANANA effect can be achieved.

That is, Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything.

I thought about this potential result as I read Tom Noyes' recent thoughtful post about a related problem involving the Delaware Solid Waste Authority’s Cherry Island Landfill.

As he notes, this week a legislative proposal to postpone a regulatory limitation on yard waste going to the one major landfill serving New Castle County was withdrawn. This means that unless otherwise blocked, new rules barring grass clippings and such from Cherry Island will go into effect later this month.

That restriction, as well as recycling and waste-to-energy, are well worth considering as part of the solution toward dealing with all the trash we produce. Nonetheless, none of these ideas will suffice to avoid completely the really big problem facing upstate Delawareans:

Where should we put the next New Castle County landfill, when the Cherry Island facility finally fills up?

Here are two graphics to help illustrate this challenge.

First, here’s a link to a Google satellite photograph of the Cherry Island landfill site.

Second, here’s a link to a Google satellite photograph of the DSWA’s landfill that serves Sussex County, near Millsboro.

Both of these photos are on the same scale, at roughly 1 inch = 2000 feet.

Now click back to the Google map of New Castle County above, and while keeping to the same scale, try and find another location equivalent to either of these two current landfills anywhere above the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal.

Not easy, is it?

Much of the apparently vacant land above the Canal is already a State Park, such as White Clay Creek SP, Brandywine Creek SP, or Lums Pond SP. Beyond those out-of-consideration parcels, look at all of the other development crowding around what little remaining open space remains above the Canal.

It’s not appreciably easier below the Canal, either, and down there is the additional obstacle of all the wetlands dotted throughout southern New Castle County.

This fundamental dilemma will not become less expensive over time, and the environmental and other challenges to siting a new landfill will never become any easier the longer the issue is put off.

For just a hint of what that could be like, read the comments and responses to a landfill siting proposal in Wake County, North Carolina from several years ago, at this link.

Then look at the descriptive timeline for this same landfill at this link, from its initial proposal in 1990 up to its recent construction, only seventeen years later.

LULU, indeed.

January 10, 2008
Inclined to accept the explanation, on one condition

Earlier this week the U.S. Navy reported that a group of Iranian speedboats approached Navy warships operating in the Persian Gulf in remarkably provocative fashion.

The U.S. government backed up its story with a minutes-long video clip and a sound recording of a heavily-accented man suggesting that the warships would be blown up.

In response, the Iranian government claimed it was all just a hoax, perpetrated by the U.S. for its own reasons:

Perhaps the Defense Department missed an opportunity in the way they reacted to the Iranian hoax comments.

For example, I can imagine a back-channel communication telling the Revolutionary Guards that the Navy would accept their suggestion that it was a fake event, on one condition:

If and when the next such "fake" incident occurred, and the Iranian speedboats were destroyed in a fiery haze of machine gun and other Navy ordnance raining down upon them, the Navy would fully expect Iran to continue to deny that this second incident ever happened.

And this time, the first non-existent shots would be fired as soon as the non-existent speedboats came within a quarter-mile of any Navy ship.

January 6, 2008
Claude returns with a vengeance

It's been a while since I handed out any Claude awards, commemorating utterly banal or depressingly obvious headlines or passages found in major media outlets.

I'm not sure why I held off awarding them recently. Perhaps the folks writing the headlines had been doing better work, thus avoiding the dubious recognition, but I tend to doubt it.

The Washington Post produced today's winner, however, worth three Claudes at least, and brought the not-so-coveted award back into the limelight:

Obama's Rise Dismays Clinton's Supporters

Truly shocking, eh?

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Official small print disclaimer:

This is a personal web site. Any opinions or comments I express here are my own, and don't necessarily reflect the official position of my work as a government attorney or any of my clients.

That fact may be obvious, but it needs to be said here anyway.

This is a self-portrait by Thomas Frye, an Irish artist (1710-1762). A copy of this print is on our family room wall.

I am reliably informed that Frye's pose, his features, and his apparent attitude as displayed in this drawing are similar to mine--except for the wig.

© Frederick H. Schranck 2002-2008