Wednesday, February 22, 2006
$18,000 to get out of Kansas
An interesting story out of Chesterfield County, Virginia, is that of the plane trip of Lane Ramsey, the Chesterfield County administrator. Just before New Year's Day, Ed Barber, the Chairman of the county Board of Supervisors, and its lone Democrat, was indicted on two sex-related charges. This caused a media fury in the county.
At that time, Mr. Ramsey was in Scott City, Kansas, on vacation. According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, he was driving through the city at the time when he received a call saying that Mr. Barber had been arrested and that he needed to get back immediately. According to the paper, he looked all over for a rental car and could not find one. He found that the nearest airports were Denver and Colorado Springs in Colorado, and Wichita, Kansas, all about 300 miles away. So he rented a Lear Jet for $18,000 to get back to Chesterfield County. Now the taxpayers in the county are upset about it.
$18,000 does sound like a lot. Dorothy was able to get out of Kansas for much less than that through tornado power. Ramsey's boondoggle is more like the balloon trip that the Wizard of Oz took to get from Omaha to Oz. To me, there was a lot of the story that seemed to be left out. Yesterday (2006 February 21) in the Richmond TD, for instance, it was stated that he was driving through Kansas, but he couldn't get a rental car! If you are driving, you have a car, so why do you need to rent one? And there isn't an airport in the area. True, Scott City, Kansas, appears to have no airport. But Garden City, KS, is a 40 mile drive down the road. From there he could have flown to Richmond for $303. He would not have returned to Chesterfield as soon as with the Lear jet, but is an arrest of a local county official so urgent that he needs to spend $18,000 instead of $303?
This morning's paper gives more detail. It turns out that he was not driving, but was a passenger in a large truck that was going to haul sheep back to North Carolina. He thought it was infeasible to drive the truck back to Chesterfield. Why? The truck drives as easily as a car and could have taken him back to Chesterfield in 24 hours (excluding sleep time) and to Garden City in less than an hour. The whole things seems Alice in Wonderland (not Wizard of Oz) to me; weird things are happening in Chesterfield.
I am reminded of a song by Greg Greenway called "Runaway Train" which depicts a trip, presumably by auto or train, through the Great Plains. I am especially reminded of the verses "Back where the sun rises over the ocean, I gave my promise, I made my choices." And " They say this is an ocean, wind waves in the wheat fields. But it only reminds me how far away I feel...". The song is about driving endlessly through the great expanse of the prairie, trying to get back to the East, to the place where the sun rises over the ocean. Yes, Mr. Ramsey, it is a long, long drive across infinite prairie. But it is not far away enough to spend $18,000 to hop out of Kansas.
At that time, Mr. Ramsey was in Scott City, Kansas, on vacation. According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, he was driving through the city at the time when he received a call saying that Mr. Barber had been arrested and that he needed to get back immediately. According to the paper, he looked all over for a rental car and could not find one. He found that the nearest airports were Denver and Colorado Springs in Colorado, and Wichita, Kansas, all about 300 miles away. So he rented a Lear Jet for $18,000 to get back to Chesterfield County. Now the taxpayers in the county are upset about it.
$18,000 does sound like a lot. Dorothy was able to get out of Kansas for much less than that through tornado power. Ramsey's boondoggle is more like the balloon trip that the Wizard of Oz took to get from Omaha to Oz. To me, there was a lot of the story that seemed to be left out. Yesterday (2006 February 21) in the Richmond TD, for instance, it was stated that he was driving through Kansas, but he couldn't get a rental car! If you are driving, you have a car, so why do you need to rent one? And there isn't an airport in the area. True, Scott City, Kansas, appears to have no airport. But Garden City, KS, is a 40 mile drive down the road. From there he could have flown to Richmond for $303. He would not have returned to Chesterfield as soon as with the Lear jet, but is an arrest of a local county official so urgent that he needs to spend $18,000 instead of $303?
This morning's paper gives more detail. It turns out that he was not driving, but was a passenger in a large truck that was going to haul sheep back to North Carolina. He thought it was infeasible to drive the truck back to Chesterfield. Why? The truck drives as easily as a car and could have taken him back to Chesterfield in 24 hours (excluding sleep time) and to Garden City in less than an hour. The whole things seems Alice in Wonderland (not Wizard of Oz) to me; weird things are happening in Chesterfield.
I am reminded of a song by Greg Greenway called "Runaway Train" which depicts a trip, presumably by auto or train, through the Great Plains. I am especially reminded of the verses "Back where the sun rises over the ocean, I gave my promise, I made my choices." And " They say this is an ocean, wind waves in the wheat fields. But it only reminds me how far away I feel...". The song is about driving endlessly through the great expanse of the prairie, trying to get back to the East, to the place where the sun rises over the ocean. Yes, Mr. Ramsey, it is a long, long drive across infinite prairie. But it is not far away enough to spend $18,000 to hop out of Kansas.
