NEWS!: EDC Action, Judge Tom Snow & more
Well, I got busy at work, and the stories I should be commenting on have built up. Rather than try to find time to do them justice, I just put together a meta-post to catch it up:
The Pal-Item reports today that the Wayne County Board of Commissioners is calling for the firing of Don Holbrook, president of the Wayne County Economic Development Corporation: Commissioners: Holbrook must go. With the major players in local politics, Holbrook’s days are numbered, but he is not one to go without a fight:
I consider the Commissioners’ action to be shortsighted and irresponsible. They have chosen to make a decision based on half-truths and innuendo, circulated and perpetuated by a former employee, political opponents and local media. I have been completely responsible with public funds and just yesterday provided a detailed written explanation of my actions to Commissioner Heyob. It is clear that some are more interested in taking unwarranted punitive steps and attempting to tarnish my reputation than they are to hearing the truth.
Some on Richmond’s city counsel are leaning the same way as the county: Some city officials agree on firing.
Yesterday, as noted by the Indiana Law Blog, the Pal-Item did a focus piece on P. Thomas Snow, judge of the Wayne Superior Court I. The article covered Snow’s chairmanship of the weighted case load study commission that represented the first full study of how judges around the state were spending their time, and made recommendations for changes that would better spread judicial resources around:
Using what Shepard called “the Snow formula,” caseloads across the state are randomly assigned so each court has a more equal load. Shepard said the system is also a reliable way to help judges figure out what regions need more judges.
Link.
Not that the judges could do anything about “more judges.” That’s up to the legislature and they use a different formula. The move to random filing her locally significantly altered the practice of law. In the past, local attorneys would choose what court to file things in. This hurt Snow because, as one of the most talented judges in the region, people would file the most complex litigation in his court, leaving him to deal with the heavy loan. 1 good product’s liability suit will take a judge about the same time as several hundred simple divorces (not that all divorces are simple, a complicated divorce might equal or exceed the time it takes to handle any other piece of litigation).
Allen County is going to start podcasting it commissioner meeting. This is a great idea. For a $100.00 investment, they have significantly increased the accessibility of their government decision making process. Why aren’t more local governments doing this? Maybe it is felt that citizens are better off not knowing what they are up to.
On to CAFO’s: A North Carolina hog producer (Smithfield Foods) has agreed to clean up its operations:
Under a consent decree, filed in U.S. District Court in Greenville, Murphy-Brown, Smithfield’s hog production subsidiary, will fund several environmental programs at its North Carolina farms, including installation of computerized precipitation alert systems that are linked to National Weather Service data, according to a Waterkeeper Alliance press release.
“The most visible difference will be it will help tighten the controls on the farms spraying during inclement weather,” said Lower Neuse Riverkeeper Larry Baldwin.
Link (via Farmed Animal Net)
Michigan has a test case: the nation’s biggest dairy operation is facing off with local regulators:
Timothy den Dulk, who owns den Dulk Dairy Farms in Ravenna Township, is one of the nation’s largest dairy farmers, according to industry information. He owns and manages several large dairy farms known as CAFOs — concentrated animal feeding operations, each with thousands of cows — in five states.. . .“The data raises serious concerns and, based on what we know about the site, it strongly suggests that Hartford Dairy is the source of at least some of the contamination,” said Woiwode, director of the Sierra Club’s Michigan chapter. “The bigger picture is that this was a test to see if the state’s CAFO.
Link. (via Farmed Animal net).
