At the assembly in which McDonnell promoted his plan to privatize Virginia’s ABC stores, the governor also fielded questions on a wide array of topics ranging from climate change to mountaintop removal to Chesapeake Bay cleanup regulations.

One of the last questions of the evening came from Isabel Castillo regarding McDonnell’s stance on the DREAM Act. If the name sounds familiar, you may have read about her protest and arrest in D.C. last month

Castillo, who entered the U.S. when she was six, rattled off an impressive list of scholastic accomplishments before hitting McDonnell and the assembly with, “but I’m undocumented.”

Watch video of the exchange between Castillo and McDonnell.

Her voice shaking, she posed a question to the governor: “Would you support legislation such as the DREAM Act so that young people like myself can work legally, so we can use the degrees that we have, and attend colleges in Virginia, where our parents live, work and pay taxes?”

Castillo was looking for an endorsement similar to Harrisonburg City Council’s statement of unanimous support for the proposed federal legislation in February.

McDonnell commended Castillo for her accomplishments, and addressed the larger issues of border security and comprehensive immigration reform at the federal level, adding that he has “very little authority to do much in terms of enforcing the federal immigration law” as governor of Virginia.

When Castillo pressed McDonnell for his support, he responded, “No, I can’t. Because what that basically does is look the other way, not support the law, and it allows someone who is illegally present to be given the same rights as a United States citizen.”

After the meeting, Castillo said she was disappointed, but not surprised at the response. “Coming in here, I knew that he was very conservative, and supported 287 (g). He said they need more people like me. Well, [the DREAM Act] is how he can keep us here.”

“There are 332 state-run ABC stores in Virginia under our monopoly-controlled system,” McDonnell said, noting that there are far more stores per capita in states without state-run liquor stores. “Under our proposal, we think it ought to go to maybe anywhere from 800 to 1,000 stores to maximize the amount of money we make on the licensing fees.”

McDonnell insisted that having more liquor stores does not equal a rise in alcohol-related crime. “There’s no material difference [between privatized and state-run liquor store states] in rates of binge drinking or DUIs.”

Scott Wawner, VP of sales for Eagle Distributing, a local beer distributor, spoke out against the plan. “There is an important distinction between beer and wine and hard liquor. Spirit alcohol is much more potent and it takes much less to cause serious intoxication and impairment,” Wawner told McDonnell during the Q&A portion of the evening. “You’ve said that selling alcohol is not a core responsibility of government. I would argue that safeguarding our quality of life and public safety are core responsibilities of government.”

“We do have a good system,” McDonnell responded. “The question is; can we do it just as well and just as safely without having any of those [negative aspects] in a private-sector system? The answer is clearly yes.”

The governor produced quotes from former Governors Warner and Kaine that seemed to support divesting the state of its ABC stores. McDonnell asserted that the move could add more than $500 million to Virginia’s transportation coffers at the point of sale, and more than $100 million per year after the sale. However, Warner himself has called McDonnell’s estimates for privatization “wildly optimistic.”

Earlier this month, the Washington Post reported ABC stores currently contribute $248 million in profits and taxes to the state. Some experts are skeptical that privatization could improve on that figure.

According to an analysis by the [Distilled Spirits Council of the United States], overall government collections on a gallon of liquor would have to reach $25 in Virginia to match the state’s current revenue. That would make taxes in Virginia five times the average in other privatized states.

McDonnell did not claim that ABC privatization would fully or even mostly fund the state’s transportation needs. “This is just one idea that will in part help us find transportation,” he said. “We’re going to have a lot of other ideas in the next session of General Assembly that I’m going to ask the legislators to consider.”

McDonnell is expected to officially unveil his ABC plan in more detail on September 8.

Based on Jeff Mellott’s report in today’s Daily News-Record, it seems likely the resolution will pass with the current 2009-2010 council.

The debate on the issue has been whether government should intervene or let the marketplace decide the interest rates charged, said Vice Mayor Richard Baugh. Government must intervene, Baugh argues, because true marketplace forces are not at work in predatory payday lending transactions.

“How much free negotiation are you having in those situations? The suspicion is that what you really have is very desperate people that are being taken advantage of here,” he said.

A little background:

All sorts of proposals to regulate the payday lending industry in Virginia have been introduced in General Assembly over the past several years, most of which died in committee. In 2008, lawmakers limited the number of payday loans a borrower could take at one time, but lenders found ways around the regulation by offering “open end credit” products. Lawmakers eventually closed the loophole, but interest rates have still not been capped.

It’s been reported that more than 50 other municipalities (such as Charlottesville) have recently adopted the resolution that originated with Bruce Elder in Staunton.

Preston Knight reports for the Northern Virginia Daily:

The biggest issue for agriculture is the cleanup of the Chesapeake Bay and changing the views of urban legislators who, even with good intentions of providing clean water, blame farmers for all of the bay’s ills, said Gilbert, R-Woodstock.

“It’s totally unwarranted,” he said. “They stand around at wine-and-cheese parties and complain about all these things and restoring the bay … without any regard that agriculture produced the wine and cheese they are sipping on and nibbling on . . .

“You will owe your existence to a bureaucrat in Washington,” he told young farmers.

But if they fight for what they believe in, that threat can be minimized, Gilbert said. Gov. Bob McDonnell is on agriculture’s side and is fighting for farmers’ rights in what may amount to litigation, he added.

Gilbert’s comments were a reaction to what he called “unwarranted” environmental regulations, and legislation such as the Chesapeake Clean Water and Ecosystem Restoration Act, currently making its way through the U.S. Senate.

The EPA has said they will more strictly enforce regulations on “nutrient pollution” making its way through Virginia’s waterways, into the Chesapeake Bay. In March, the Washington Post reported that, “in the Chesapeake, runoff from animal manure accounts for about one-quarter of the nitrogen and phosphorus pollution that feed ‘dead zones’ downstream.”

Council also voted to enact Section 16-4-19 of the Harrisonburg City Code. The Commonwealth Attorney’s office had recommended that the city enact the ordinance, which allows property owners or leasees to designate the police department as ”a person lawfully in charge of the property”  to determine when someone is trespassing on their property. Under the previous law, property owners or leasees would have to be present to declare a person as a trespasser before they could be arrested by police. Under the newly approved ordinance, property owners can file a letter with the Harrisonburg Police Department that declares the department in charge of the property in terms of declaring a person to be unlawfully trespassing.  Harrisonburg Police Chief Don Harper explained that the new ordinance will streamline the process by which the police can remove unauthorized people from private property.

City manager Kurt Hodgen also noted that the city was still looking to other localities for possible new ordinances that would help the city in the future to better deal with events like the April 10 block party riot. 

Other notable actions of the council included:

• Vice Mayor Richard Baugh presented the 2010 Governor’s Transportation Safety Law Enforecement award to city police officer Mike Gangloff. While the awards were originally presented at the Governor’s Mansion on July 14, Gangloff could not be present. Baugh, who serves on the Virginia Board of Transportation Safety, also noted that Harrisonburg received two of the 15 Governor’s awards, the other one going to the JMU Safe Rides program.                                  
• Council voted to endorse the city’s Tiger II grant application. The grants, awarded through the Federal Department of Transportation, would be applied to the city’s Erickson Avenue-Stone Springs Road/Southeast Connector project. 
• Council ended in a closed session for the discussion of legal matters.

I caught up with Castillo outside Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, moments after she arrived back in Harrisonburg Wednesday night.

Castillo, who entered the U.S. illegally with her parents when she was six years old, says that the protest she participated in was the result of frustration with the federal government’s unwillingness to address people in her position.

“I was not going to sit around waiting to do something for my future,” says Castillo, who cannot legally get a job, despite having obtained a college degree. “It’s been ten years and we’re not going to wait any longer.”

Castillo says that Sen. Reid issued a statement indicating that he may put the DREAM Act up for a vote this fall. “We all know that comprehensive immigration reform is not going to happen this year, so we hope that he keeps his word.”

Immigration Rally in DC. Photo by Flickr user 36widgets via Creative Commons

Many immigrant groups and their supporters have been pressuring senators in recent months to expedite passage of the legislation which would grant children of unauthorized immigrants (who arrived with their parents as minors) the opportunity to earn conditional permanent residency. Tuesday’s sit-ins targeted senators Reid, McCain, and Schumer. The Hill reports:

About a dozen young people dressed in blue valedictory caps and gowns were arrested Tuesday afternoon in the atrium of the Hart Senate Office Building . . . At about 4 p.m. [one of three groups] sat down on the floor in the center of the atrium, around a 6-foot sign that said “Undocumented and Unafraid,” and “Dream Act Now.” They sat for about 15 minutes before being handcuffed in plastic cuffs and escorted away by Capitol Police.

Meghan McNamara, State Director of Reform Immigration for America, said that Castillo, a recent graduate of Eastern Mennonite University, has been released, and is awaiting arraignment in D.C.

From an email McNamara sent Wednesday morning:

Isabel Castillo, 25 of Harrisonburg, Virginia, was arrested at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 20, 2010 in Washington, D. C. with four other college graduates. These five students, who would be beneficiaries of the DREAM Act, were arrested by Capitol Police in Senator Harry Reid’s office. Castillo said of their action, “This is an act of peaceful civil disobedience. We can wait no longer for the DREAM Act to pass. We write letters, we hold marches, we visit our congressmen and what we hear is that we must continue to wait.”

Students explained they picked Senator Reid’s office because they believe he has the ability to bring the DREAM Act out of committee and onto the senate floor for a vote. Earlier in the day 13 other DREAM activists were arrested in other congressmen’s offices.

Castillo came to the U. S. when she was six years old. She graduated from a local high school with a 4.0 GPA. She completed her undergraduate degree at a local university in three and a half years, again graduating with honors. She has a degree in social work, but is unable to work. The four other students told Senator Reid’s office staff similar stories. Each of them is from a different state and has graduated from college. They stressed to anyone who would listen how much they value education and that they just want a chance to give back.

While others negotiated for a way to discuss these students’ concerns short of their being arrested, the students remained resolute. Castillo said, “I have waited 10 years for the passage of the DREAM Act. We hear the same reasons over and over as to why the DREAM Act cannot be passed today. I am doing this for students in Harrisonburg. I am doing this for one million students around the country whose dreams are dying. The time to pass the DREAM Act is now.”

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, who introduced the DREAM Act in the Senate, has condemned the actions of the activists who were arrested.

Reached for comment following the arrests, a Durbin spokesman said, “Today’s demonstrations by some DREAM Act supporters … crossed the line from passionate advocacy to inappropriate behavior . . . Sen. Durbin believes that we will win this fight on the merits, not through public demonstrations or publicity stunts.”

Local DREAM Act supporters have planned a rally in the parking deck near Harrisonburg’s Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, scheduled to take place tonight at 8:00. “Students, parents, professors and teachers will speak about the act of civil disobedience and why they believe so strongly that Congress should pass the DREAM Act this summer,” according to the release.

McNamara said Castillo is expected to be at the rally in Harrisonburg tonight to speak about her experience.

The proposed plan updates the previous plan adopted in 2005. Major changes include combining the Bicycle and Pedestrian plans, breaking the goals into two- and five-year objectives and including sharrows, new street markings that indicates shared usage of a roadway.

Proposed bike paths would expand access in the city.

Council, led by Dave Wiens, postponed voting on the plan, citing a need to fully review it before taking action.
However, the plan was well-received by council and the approximately 100 people in attendance, with frequent applause directed at the nine people spoke in favor of the proposed plan during the public hearing. No one spoke against it.

The guidelines provided in the plan would be incorporated into the city’s Capital Improvement Plan, where they would all compete for funding City Manager Kurt Hodgen described as currently “sparse.” Several of the public commenters called on council to direct funding towards projects outlined in the proposed plan.

The city initially created a bicycle plan in 1994, with updates in 1999 and 2005, according to the currently proposed plan. The first pedestrian plan was adopted in 2005.

Other notable actions:

• Deputy treasurers Jennifer Click and Melody McConnell were recognized as having earned Master Government Deputy Treasurer status from the UVA Weldon-Cooper Center for Public Service and School of Continuing and Public Service. Certification contributes to the City Treasure’s Office receiving accreditation, which it has for the 2010 to 2011 fiscal year.
• Council, acting as fiscal agent for the Emergency Communications Center (the 911 services shared by the City and Rockingham County), approved an appropriations for upgrading outdated equipment and integrating the 911 mapping system with the computer aided dispatch system. The ECC received a grant for $325,000 and contributed a match of $89,552.41.
• This was the last meeting for Assistant City Manager Evan Vass, who will be returning to the position of New Market Town Manager.
• The animal control mediation process continues, with a final meeting expected in the next few days according to Mayor Kai Degner. Any information made public would be at the discretion of the participants, he said.
• Council ending in closed session for discussion of personnel matters

The bill, introduced in the House Thursday, addresses foreign governments such as China or Iran that “place onerous conditions on access to their markets” or make “demands for the transfer of intellectual property” in order to conduct business online. The bill threatens sanctions for violating nations, and includes the creation of a task force “that would review, prioritize, and act on attempts by foreign governments to degrade or disrupt the flow of goods, services, and/or content on the Internet.”

Declan McCullagh reports on CNET:

. . . Some U.S. politicians responded [to China's ongoing battle with Google] this week by announcing legislation that would try to pressure China and other nations with Internet restrictions into becoming better Net-citizens by invoking two very old techniques: public shame and trade sanctions.

A bill introduced Thursday, the One Global Internet Act (PDF), would require the federal government to identify “priority” Internet concerns overseas. Then the U.S. Trade Representative would be directed to begin an investigation under the 1974 Trade Act, which authorizes sanctions and retaliatory actions.

Harrisonburg’s congressional representative is quoted in a release on California Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren’s website:

“American entrepreneurs and businesses will thrive abroad if we protect their intellectual property rights and tear down restrictive trade barriers,” said Rep. Goodlatte (R-VA), co-chair of the Congressional Internet Caucus and the International Anti-Piracy Caucus. “This legislation will help ensure that Americans are getting a fair shake by highlighting restrictive trade practices, and will help ensure that businesses and individuals alike have access to one Internet free of censorship.”