Trip to France

Kenneth R. "Ken" Plum

Most of my columns are intended to be public policy statements, and some include personal recollections.  This one is about a personal experience with a public policy issue thrown in.  Jane and I are finishing a wonderful two weeks in France.  We could not have had a more relaxing, entertaining, and educational time.

As we were planning our vacation we were invited to join a delegation of legislators from Virginia who were going to France sponsored by Virginia Uranium, Inc. to see a uranium mine.  Virginia has a large deposit of uranium in the Southside area, and there will be an attempt to lift the current ban on mining uranium in the state.  We accepted the invitation by agreeing to meet the group in Paris at the end of our vacation.  Subsequent to leaving on our vacation I learned more information about the trip.  It was not going to an active uranium mine but rather to a mine that closed 60 years ago, and the area had been reclaimed.  I also learned that the trip was going to be very expensive.  Newspaper accounts indicated that the trip would cost $10,000 per person.  This new information left me very uncomfortable, not because I thought it would influence how I would vote on lifting the uranium ban or on any other issue, but that others might perceive that having been on the trip would influence me.  I called the trip sponsors from my vacation in France and told them a couple of days before they left the United States that I would not be participating in the trip and that I would not be meeting them in Paris.  I advised them that I would fully reimburse them for any expenses they had incurred for me.  For my own education I did go to Areva Headquarters in Bessines-sur-Gartempe to learn more about the company and to see the reclaimed mine.  I met with their Director of Communications and visited one of the reclaimed mines.  I will write more about uranium mining in future columns.

Aside from the diversion to the mine the rest of the trip was for relaxation and fun.  We rented a car and followed the advice of Rick Steves for a journey that took us from Honfleur on the English Channel to the moving experience of the American cemetery of more than 9,000 white marble crosses marking the graves of Americans who lost their lives on Normandy beaches. We spent a night at a small hotel on Mont St Michel.  We visited Brittany and the Loire Valley where we saw medieval villages and chateaux by the dozens.  We constrained ourselves to touring just five of them and walking the streets of about a dozen medieval villages.  We are traveling to Versailles today and then to the popular sights of Paris.

We have hundreds of photos if you would like us to bring them by sometime and tell you about our trip in more detail.  I learned some basic information about uranium mining on my own time and at my own expense that will help me as I have to study the issue this year.  That basically was our trip to France as our summer vacation, but this is not the last time you are likely to hear about it!

On Saturday, July 16, 2011, Arlington House will commemorate the 150th anniversary of the launching of Battle of First Manassas military campaign.  The event will take place at the historic home where the campaign was planned.  The campaign ended in the first pivotal battle of the American Civil War.  The commemoration will include both an afternoon program and an evening program; all events are free.  The afternoon program, noon to 5:00 p.m., will include a Union Army encampment where visitors may learn more about the lives of the soldiers who fought in the Civil War, demonstrations of Civil War drilling and musketry, period music by "The Fort McHenry Guard Fife and Drum Corps," activities for children, and guided tours highlighting the Arlington House grounds and the surrounding graves where many of the dead from the Battle of First Manassas were buried.  The evening program, from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m., for which reservations are required, will include a multi-media presentation on the Battle of First Manassas military campaign on a large outdoor screen in front of Arlington House at approximately 9:00 p.m.  Reservations can be made by calling 703.235.1530.  Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial, is located in the center of Arlington National Cemetery and is accessible from the Arlington Cemetery Station on Metro's Blue Line.  Walk from Metro's exit to Arlington House is about 20 minutes.  Vehicle parking is available during the day at the Visitors Center.  Vehicle access to Arlington House for the evening program will be granted with a reservation.

The National Crayon Recycle Program has diverted more than 47,000 pounds of crayons from landfills.  The company has a mail-back program that accepts unwanted and broken crayons for recycling into new crayons.  Visit http://crazycrayons.com/recycle_program.html and learn all about it.

A new law provides added incentive for Virginians to renew their driver's licenses and ID cards through DMV preferred services (Internet, telephone, mail) rather than paying an additional $5 to renew in person at a DMV office.  Visit www.dmvnow.com for information and options.

Limited Liability companies (LLCs) can now pay their annual registration fees using the State Corporation Commission's eFile.   The new functionality will allow approximately 98 percent of the 428,000 business entities of record in the Clerk's Office to use the Internet to pay their annual fees collected by the SCC.  Owners of all business entity types should check with their registered agent to stay current on all entity-related correspondence from the SCC.  Registered agent and office information can be retrieved and maintained using SCC eFile.  Visit the SCC eFile website at https://sccefile.scc.virginia.gov for additional business entity transactions.

The Initiative for Public Art-Reston (IPAR) is compiling an inventory of all the public art works in Reston in preparation for an exhibition and to develop a rich resource for the community.  This database will serve to educate and support appreciation of the array of public art in our area.  Contact nejlaizadi@publicartreston.org for ways you can be involved.

Various rebate programs are now available for Virginia homeowners.  Click on the links below to learn more about each program and to apply for rebates on eligible items.

Energy Efficiency Appliance Rebate Program:

www.dmme.virginia.gov/DE/ARRA-Public/ARRA.shtml

Home Efficiency Rebate Program:

www.dmme.virginia.gov/DE/ARRA-Public/HomeEfficiency.shtml

Geothermal Heat Pump Rebate Program:

www.dmme.virginia.gov/DE/ARRA-Public/GeothermalHeatPump.shtml

The rebate programs are administered by the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy, using funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.