Mr. Chairman, thanks for the story about Herndon police antic-, er, tactics in bars. My dear ancestral home, my personal home for five years... this is your most annoying side. Law and Order are fine and well, but Fairfax County frequently makes a good imitation of a police state. If you believe in rigid enforcement of every law, from murder on down to parking, then Fairfax is your place. If you believe in rational law, and rational enforcement of it, then, for example, don't try driving 5mph over the limit on the Rte. 123 overpass of I-66 on certain "collection" days. And never, ever, try to win a case over a landlord or developer. The County's unforgiving police enforcement is echoed in the courts, where the judges are ruthlessly dismissive of nuance.
Don't get edgy with this criticism, you Fairfaxans, it just is. There's an air of "enforcement" in Fairfax that pervades. It comes from the top, and from tradition.
gulfcoast6: perhaps you have some thoughts on this.
She called last night asking for the date of Elvis' death. This is part of family lore. We celebrated it this Summer at our camp, as it was the 25th anniversay. That day of August 16, 1977, a bunch of us went camping at Mt. Blue in Maine. The oldest was a cousin, about 18. He was in charge of the food, and being of strong family blood, he packed last the kerosene-soaked sawdust we use for firestarter. When we got to the top of the mountain and prepared a fire, we discovered that the kerosene had soaked the entire pack. We lit the fire with the hotdog buns. The only edible food was a can of spam, and I was the only one brave enough to eat that.
Hungry, we decided to bag it. We descended from that beautiful glacial cirque and down-flowing stream by moonlight. We made our way to the nearest pizza joint where we were told in all solemnity that Elvis was dead. (He was scheduled for a concert in Augusta that night). In his honor, we fed the juke box twenty Q's all on "Blue Suede Shoes."
Silly as it is, this has become family lore, and my daughter somehow included it in an essay she wrote for a class assignment, something on situations of music and idealism, and I don't know what. This for 13-year olds, btw.
She told me that she also wrote about John and Yoko Lennon. "Really?" I said, knowing that she can't stand the Beatles, and she hates Lennon's solo work more. (When I played "Imagine" for the kids this summer as a lark, they puked). "Yeah, I wrote about how Yoko Ono makes world's stupidest art, and that her husband made even worse music."
I didn't teach her that, I swear. We'd seen the Ono exhibit at SF this summer, and she understood it -- exactly. We laughed hysterically while all the others stared in dumb belief at the inanities, such as a brass key mounted in a plastic box with a sky background. "The key to knowledge," the caption explained. Well, my daughter made fun of it all in her essay. I can't wait to see her grade.
That's my baby.
No matter, he got the van inspected on Saturday...
BTW, the remaining DMV locations are nuts now that many of them have been closed. Mr HOB spent two hours there on Monday Dec. 30 only to get out of line in disgust since he moved only 2 spaces in 2 hours. Then he went back at 8 am Tuesday morning only to spend 6 hours there before getting his tags! Sheesh! Thanks Gov. Moron!
Actually, I have found Fairfax to be extraordinarily lenient when it comes to speed limit enforcement. The City of Vienna, that's another story altogether. That's just one big speed trap. In fact, the City of Vienna preys on the fact that speed enforcement on the VA 123 hill entering the city on the east is non-existent on the county side of the boundary. VA 123 takes a long downhill run at this point, and is in the City of Vienna at the bottom. So is the city gendarme - camped out on a side street just waiting for unsuspecting people to come flying down the hill.