That financial &uot;snapshot&uot; of our city’s fiscal condition has turned out to be a full-length-movie, co-directed by our mayor and the Commonwealth treasurer.

One city officer, the most important one, Financial Director Christina Ledford, was forced to sit beyond earshot of the dialogue. They must allow her to explain the plot of this script before casting the first stone.

And meetings should take place in front of closed doors. Current implications are that the past city manager will be handcuffed, in orange coveralls, and dragged before Council to explain shortages … but he did warn Council they were going too far with tax cuts.

So, perhaps if Council discovers a horse out of the barn, it means they should have paid more attention while playing to their constituents.

The mystery deepens; the plot thickens.

Is the Industrial Development Authority next?

One hopes the eventual explanation will make more sense than Council’s plan for electing a mayor instead of leaving it up to seven flipping coins. It’s obvious all seven are not in agreement, and to date nothing is in effect. Sam Glasscock’s observations are correct; it may be best to leave it alone. And judging by citizen interest in such elections, why not?

The bridge is falling down

As much as we admire the &uot;save&uot; efforts of the Chuckatuck Bridge Club, I fear it is all for naught. The Virginia Department of Transportation estimates it would cost $130,000 to study the Kings Highway Bridge, although there was a man from Atlanta, Paul Vanderzee, who said he could find a firm to do it for $50,000. I would do it for $20 dollars. Vanderzee’s plan was to install sensors at various locations that would transmit data to a satellite that would alert a center in New York City if the bridge were about to collapse. He even found a company, that for $70,000 a year, would provide a $6 million policy protecting the city. OK, you are halfway across the bridge in a van with six kids; there’s a loud noise and the center in New York City calls whom?

The bridge pilings are made of wood, and later were coated with concrete, but many of the wood pilings have been destroyed by worms and could sink, meaning real trouble.

VDOT claims it cost them near $200,000 each time they replaced one. This means that each bridge support would be carefully evaluated and certainly many found unsatisfactory — not to mention the bridge has substandard guardrails.

With all this information now made available to the public, and the disinclination to repair, it’s obvious the battle to save it has been lost — maybe leave a fishing pier.

I hope the Bridge Club will now go after improving the intersection of Kings Highway and Route 10 before someone is killed.

They got the wrong &uot;person.&uot;

Who was it that blamed God for allowing all those kids in all those nation’s schools to be killed by loonies with guns? They forget God is no longer welcome in our schools. And I just heard from friends down in Texas that the same thing is happening in nursing homes throughout that state.

Obviously God has no business there, though many of those residents expect they might soon be joining Him. I pray these secular purists bypass Suffolk … they have already made too many inroads toward painting faith and religion as unjustifiable.

As seen on TV

Andy Damiani’s Roundtable Talk show was split between old and new. The first half was George’s, the fine family restaurant that’s been here 30 years, now satisfying second and third generations of customers. Then on to the newest occupant of Art’s Kitchen where sushi is the main dish … couldn’t identify ingredients, but enjoyed every morsel.

Further proof we elders don’t accept the nonsense that our brains addle after passing eighty, I just finished a jigsaw puzzle in less than two months…on the box it says 2-4 years.

Contact Pocklington at robert.pocklington@suffolknewsherald.com