In Honor of our Veterans

For the protection of the home owner

The Van Buren County health department recently decided to increase the bonding requirements of contractors installing rural septic systems from $1,000 to $10,000. Even though there was no enforcement for the $1,000 bond they would begin to enforce the $10,000 bond for the “protection of the home owner”, or so they claimed. One contractor took exception to these efforts claiming he had liability insurance and should not be required to be bonded as well.

The Van Buren county T.E.A. Party started looking into this matter by reviewing the authority of local public health under Iowa code chapter 1036. Iowa code clearly states that.

137.104  Local boards of health — powers and duties.

Local boards of health shall have the following powers and duties:

1.  A local board of health shall:

a.  Enforce state health laws and the rules and lawful orders of the state department.

b.  Make and enforce such reasonable rules and regulations not inconsistent with law, the rules of the state board, or the Iowa public health standards as may be necessary for the protection and improvement of the public health.

While bonding requirements seemed a bit of a stretch as “necessary for the protection and improvement of the public health”, we also found the following.

 (2)  Rules of a county board shall become effective upon approval by the county board of supervisors by a motion or resolution as defined in section 331.101, subsection 13, and publication in a newspaper having general circulation in the county.

(4)  Before approving any rule or regulation the local board of health shall hold a public hearing on the proposed rule. Any citizen may appear and be heard at the public hearing. A notice of the public hearing, stating the time and place and the general nature of the proposed rule or regulation shall be published in a newspaper having general circulation as provided in section 331.305 in the area served by the local board of health.

We then set out to prove the bonding requirements had been adopted in a lawful manner. When asked for copies of the local rules and regulations covering this we were at first given copies of the County Board of Health meeting minutes from Sept. 1991 and April of 2011. To the credit of the local Dept. of public health, with sufficient time they were able to produce the 1991 rules and regulation as well as copies of the required newspaper notifications. The local Board of Health had taken all the necessary steps in 1991 to pass their regulations, but do not appear to have taken those steps in 2011 for the changes.

Upon review of the 1991 “Van Buren County on-site wastewater treatment and disposal system rules and regulations” we discovered under section 3b “$1000 bond or letter of credit is required to be filed with the Van Buren County board of health for each calendar year”, and under section 3c “any individual who has on file with the Van Buren County board of health……risks forfeiture of his or her bond or letter of credit to the Van Buren County board of health”. While forfeiture is due to lack of compliance to permitting the salient point is that the money does not go to the home owner, as was repeatedly claimed,  but to the local Dept. of public health. This forfeiture is in addition to simple misdemeanor charges and state fines.

We then set out to find if the County Supervisors had passed the Health Boards regulation. To date the only evidence provided is county ordinance 96-1 that was passed in 1996 enacting Iowa administrative code 567, enforcement under Iowa code 455B.172(4), and penalties under Iowa code 137.21. Ordinance 96-1 does not even reference the local board of health regulations.

Great credit is due the county public health dept. and auditors office for providing the information as requested.

UPDATE: It seems the county supervisors and county board of health do not think they are required to follow state law in approval of local board of health regulations, we will see what the county attorney advises them to do.

Critical Thinking in our schools

                  

Click on the highlighted wording for additional links and information.

   The video “Iowa did you know” shown at the Aug. 2011 school board meeting indicated a new way of teaching our kids was being implemented across the state. Our school system is to abandon what they deem “low level factual recall” that has served us for generations, for a new methodology called “critical thinking”. 

                     While on the surface this may not seem like much, if you research the definition and origins of the term it is quite frightening. While the use of this term is permeating our society and has many applications and meanings our education system is using it as it was intended by the group that created it. Key aspects of the definition from the Iowa Department of Education web site are: “Critical thinking utilizes abstractions and non-rules based strategies to guide decisions, behaviors and actions….suspension of judgment while collecting evidence to make determinations”. This methodology has real limitations when dealing with math and science, a stone cannot long be suspended in air no matter how much critical thinking you do because of the law of gravity, but on social issues this eliminates all social norms and opens its self to wide array of conclusions.

                     “critical thinking” is a subset of what is known as “critical theory” which originated at the “frankfurt school” in Germany. This school was founded by students of non-other than Karl Marx and was instrumental in the founding of the Communist party in the USA. These Marxists were dumbfounded when the US did not descend into anarchy, seeking a socialist revolution after the two world wars and set out to find out why and correct the problem. It was their conclusion that we were not accepting of their beliefs because of our culture, and they set out in the 60’s to change it, and these efforts continue to this day.  Key to this was reforming the family structure. Our patriarchal system created a population that respected authority so they sought to marginalize the influence of fathers on the family.  Our morals and patriotic standing with our country and its founding principles were also to blame and are to be undermined by the “abstract and non-rules based strategy…of the… suspension of judgment”.

                     There are a multitude of writings by highly educated people utilizing “critical thinking” to depict the founding fathers as “rich white men” who’s only motivation was personal gain, and only the total suspension of judgment lends any credibility at all the writings that support polygamy, bestiality, adult incest, or even sex with children. How long before anyone who questions these issue’s on moral grounds is depicted as having some form of phobia that disqualifies them to discuss the issue.

                     Van Buren school systems curriculum is permeated with this term, and is even used in board policy. Ironically enough this term is used in the policy #608 that sings the praises of differing views and open debate but ends by stating:

Individuals or groups outside the public schools should not be allowed to:

2.      Determine which viewpoints will be presented or avoided in public schools.

                     Individuals and groups would that be like parents and tax payers?

                    

                     In 1963 the communist party of the US put on congressional record their goals. Here are just some of their achievements:

17. Get control of the schools….Soften the curriculum..

26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."

28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools

29. Discredit the American Constitution

30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers.

Personal opinions on these issues not withstanding, there can be no question regarding their success’s since 1963.

Here is additional information on the frankfurt school.

This has all happened under our noses and a result of allowing bureaucrats to push the communities out of the education process.

The real question is what does this all mean? Has the education system hijacked the Marxist cause and used it for good? Has the education system been duped into doing the biding of the Marxists? Is it all just a coincidence that multiculturalism-intended to devalue our culture, political correctness-intended to silence dissent, and the green movement-intended to destroy our economy, have all been weirdly adopted by our education system? Is it a coincidence that so many of the 45 goals of the communist party have been realized? Does anybody know the real truth, or are we all left to utilize our own variation of "critical thinking" to form our own opinions?

Unofficial-school board election results

September 13, 2011

Van Buren County election results

JEFF HUTTON
Ottumwa Courier

KEOSAUQUA — Harmony School District



Director District 1

Kirk Murguia 187 votes

v William Rice (Inc.) 190 votes



Director District 2

Julie Creath 165 votes

v Tracy Hudson (Inc.) 190 votes



Director District 5

v Cody Warth (Inc.) 303 votes





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Van Buren School District

Director at-large (vote for 1)

Clint Kobelt 58 votes

v Kara McEntee (Inc.) 194 votes

Timothy Roush 149 votes



Director District 2

Doug Dick 193 votes

v Jean Dorothy McIntosh (Inc.) 203 votes



Director District 4

v Stan Whitten (Inc.) 356 votes



Director District 5

v Charles Kirt Horn (Inc.) 300 votes

Jean Dorothy McIntosh-Incumbent-Van Buren Community School District Director District #2

Please leave comments on interview and candidate.

Clint Kobelt-Van Buren Community School District Director at Large candidate

Post your thoughts on the interview and candidate.

Special apology to Clint from the interviewer for the epic failure in reusing cheat sheet.

Tim Roush-Van Buren Community School District Director at Large candidate

Post comments on the interview and candidate.

Special thanks to Chris Bennet.

Kara McEntee– incumbent Van Buren Community School District Director at Large candidate

Post your thoughts on the interview and candidate.

School Board election update

The Regular School Election for the Harmony and Van Buren Community Schools will be held on Tuesday, September 13, 2011.  Polls will be open from 12Noon until 8:00PM.

Candidates that have filed and will appear on the ballot in the Van Buren Community School District are: Director at Large-Clint Kobelt of Keosauqua, Kara McEntee (I)of Keosauqua, and Timothy Roush of Milton, Director District #2 (to fill a vacancy)-Doug Dick of RR Douds and Jean Dorothy McIntosh(I) of Douds, Director District #4-Stan Whitten(I) of RR Keosauqua, Director District #5-Charles Kirt Horn(I) of Stockport.

Appearing on the ballot in the Harmony Community School district is Director District #1-Kirk Murguia of Bonaparte and William Rice(I) of RR Bonaparte, Director District #2-Julie Creath of Farmington and Tracy Hudson (I)of RR Farmington, Director District #4-Cody Warth (I)of Bonaparte.

Questions for School Board candidates

We are quickly approaching the next local election cycle, that being for School Board. The Van Buren Tea Party will be offering video interviews to all school board candidates that get on the ballot.

It is our intention to ask a standardized set of questions in each interview and post the interviews in their entirety, or in an unedited sequence as we are limited in video time with you tube.

We would like to keep these questions within the core principles of the Tea Party, fiscal responsibility, constitutional government, and free markets. This may be difficult given the multitude of problems facing our local schools, as well as the limitations placed on the local school board.

We are seeking input on what questions you would like to see asked at these interviews. Feel free to add your questions below this posting as anonymous.

R.B.

We the People

The consent of the governed

The Declaration of Independence states that “Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed”. that consent is most plainly expressed at the ballot box on election day. It is our civic duty to exercise that right, otherwise that consent is granted to our elected officials by a very few, the power to tax, spend, regulate, and govern over all of us is controlled by an elite group who vote. This is the cycle that has repeated itself time and again simply because “we the people” have failed in our responsibility to our selves, our families, and our community. The Declaration of Independence goes on to state, “whenever any form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it”. No institution of Government could possibly fit this description any better than our school boards. Schools no longer serve to educate our kids to the highest standard we can afford. Schools instead focus on indoctrinating the kids in socialism, the green movement, and a bizarre form of tolerance, all the while showing intolerance to anyone who questions the programs. Thanks to the unions we now spend more money than we can afford to employ as many administrators and union members as possible, with no regard for their performance on the job. It is only through the actions of we the people that this cycle will be broken. We must find the best possible candidates for these positions by paying attention to what they stand for. We must educate our friends and neighbors as to which candidates have all of our best interest in mind. We must get out the vote. We must pay attention to when the elections are held and tell everyone all day long of their responsibility as citizens of a free state to help in getting the right people elected. If we cannot “alter” what is going on within the existing process, we will be forced to abolish it by other means.