Category Archives: Greene County

$17.4 million awarded to Greene County Career Center Awarded

Posted on March 30, 2010 by | Leave a comment

According to State Representative Jarrod Martin, the state Controlling Board approved $17.4 million for a complete renovation of the existing career center building located in Xenia, Ohio.

“The Greene County Career Center plays a vital role to the education of our community.” Martin said. “These renovations will help to ensure that Greene County citizens continue to have state of the art facilities in which to expand their minds and grow their capabilities.”

The Controlling Board approval means that the Greene County Career Center will be able to move forward with the first phase of the project. The initial phase will include a partial roof replacement, upgrading the heating system, interior and lighting upgrades and is estimated to cost $6.2 million.

The Greene County Career Center serves approximately 603 students from the Beavercreek, Fairborn, and Xenia school districts as well as those of Yellow Springs, Greeneview, Sugarcreek TWP, and Cedar Cliff.

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Posted in economy, Greene County, news, politics, schools

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Former Air Force officer to challenge incumbent Steve Austria in May 4th primary

Posted on March 2, 2010 by | Leave a comment

John Mitchel, former Air Force officer, is seeking the 7th Congressional District seat. He will be the sole challenger in the Republican primary to first term incumbent Steve Austria. Mitchel is not new to politics. He challenged Bob Taft for governor in 1998, and George Voinovich in the 2004 Republican primary when he received more than 195,000 votes.

In response to the announcement, Mitchel said, “America is at the abyss, and we are not far from the point of no return. Since 1983 we have had a series of career politicians representing the 7th Congressional District including Mike DeWine, Dave Hobson and Steve Austria. It’s time for that line of succession to end.”

Lieutenant Colonel Mitchel stakes out what he says are three irreconcilable differences with the incumbent: His passion for government reform, term limits and tax reform, specifically the FairTax.

“It all starts with government reform. Recall the 1994 Contract with America when the Republican caucus drafted a bill that declared Congress must live by the same laws as the people. That was a virtual confession that 435 congressmen and women were operating outside the law, but nothing changed,” commented Mitchel. “It’s time to bring citizen legislators to Washington; term limits and a tax code that is fair, simple and pays the bills will help make that happen.”

At A Glance:

Name: John Mitchel; Age: 62

Education: USAF Academy graduate; MBA, Michigan Tech, masters degree in economics, Wright State University

Career: Air Force Lieutenant Colonel; served more than 22 years as instructor pilot and in the defense acquisition corps; currently systems analyst at Wright Patterson AFB

Top issues: Government reform, term limits, tax reform

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Posted in Greene County, news, politics, taxes

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The rest of the story

Posted on February 4, 2010 by | Leave a comment

RE: “Greene County snubs advocate of its interests,” Dayton Daily News, Friday, January 29, 2010. Greene County Commissioners Marilyn Reid and Alan Anderson were correct in significantly reducing taxpayer contributions to the Dayton Development Coalition (DDC), except their rationale for doing so didn’t reveal the whole story. True enough, the budget is tight, but even in good times our elected officials shouldn’t be throwing money over the fence to special interests without competition for that work, without value added and without oversight. That’s precisely what happened in 2005-2006 with the Base Realignment And Closure (BRAC) Initiative Agreement between Greene County and the DDC. The simple truth is the only jobs protected by this effort were high priced consultants, lobbyists and career politicians who received kickbacks to their political campaigns. Here are the facts to support that assertion.

In 2005 and 2006, the last 21 months of the $1.9 million BRAC Initiative Agreement, the Dayton Development Coalition also received a $2.34 million Third Frontier grant through Development Research Corporation, a non-profit company fronting for the DDC. In 2005-2006 the DDC paid over $500,000 to their President and CEO, over $300,000 to a Washington lobbying firm currently under investigation by the FBI, $190,000 to Qbase which is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, and over $200,000 to two other consultants, not to mention at least $50,000 on domestic and foreign travel.* Although this is just the tip of the iceberg, it’s hard to disagree that it reveals a broad pattern of self-dealing, waste and abuse, if not blatant corruption by the Dayton Development Coalition and their inner circle.

Ms. Reid and Mr. Anderson finally understand that Greene County and Ohio taxpayer dollars had minimum impact if any at all on saving or creating jobs at Wright Patterson. But what they did impact was the financial well-being of the special interests that recycled that money back to the politicians who in the end took credit for job creation they had nothing to do with. This is an insult to Greene County taxpayers, not to mention Wright Patt professionals that day in and day out provide the real value added to our warfighters who put everything on the line to protect our freedom and liberty.

*Source: BRAC Initiative Agreement, Internal Revenue Service, Federal Election Commission records and other documents obtained in a public records disclosure lawsuit against Greene County Commissioners (Case #: 2009CV0305).

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Posted in economy, Greene County, news, politics, taxes

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Jamestown Liberty Group Hosts Lt. Col. John Mitchel, Public Invited

Posted on December 21, 2009 by | Leave a comment

The Jamestown Liberty Group welcomes Lt. Col. John Mitchel USAF (Retired) to their monthly meeting this Monday, December 21st at 6pm at the Phoenix Restaurant in downtown Jamestown.

Lt. Col. Mitchel is a member of the Greene County Republican Central Committee and is the founder of Patriots Against Public Corruption. He is a former congressional candidate for Ohio’s 7th district and has written a book entitled “America Into The Abyss: A View From The Heartland” which exposes the corruption and pay to play politics here in Greene County and Washington DC.

Lt. Col. Mitchel will discuss the ongoing law suit against the Greene County Commissioners and the County Prosecutor along with current events and the upcoming 2010 elections.

Please support our local hometown small business by arriving early for a delicious home cooked meal before the meeting. For more information call 937-414-6182

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Posted in events, Greene County, Jamestown, politics

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Support Liberty In Jamestown

Posted on December 19, 2009 by | Leave a comment

The Jamestown Liberty Group welcomes Lt. Col. John Mitchel USAF (Retired) to their monthly meeting this Monday, December 21st at 6pm at the Phoenix Restaurant in downtown Jamestown.

Lt. Col. Mitchel is a member of the Greene County Republican Central Committee and is the founder of Patriots Against Public Corruption. He is a former congressional candidate for Ohio’s 7th district and has written a book entitled “America Into The Abyss: A View From The Heartland” which exposes the corruption and pay to play politics here in Greene County and Washington DC.

Lt. Col. Mitchel will discuss the ongoing law suit against the Greene County Commissioners and the County Prosecutor along with current events and the upcoming 2010 elections.

Please support our local hometown small business by arriving early for a delicious home cooked meal before the meeting. For more information call 937-414-6182

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Posted in events, Greene County, issues, Jamestown, politics

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Austria announces WPAFB commission…

Posted on December 14, 2009 by | Leave a comment

By Andy Myers

I sure hope this time around, the people of Greene County don’t fall again for Steve Austria’s “re-election” photo op he’s so well known for. The pictures of Steve meeting with various community leaders, students and business leaders are nothing but visual campaign ads he’s hoping might get him re-elected to a second term to the District of Criminals.

Mr. Austria is nothing more than a career tax-feeder, uh, I mean politician. He’s been groomed early on and is the “chosen one” with the local Republican Party. You get to be the “chosen one” because you sell out the Constitution and the oath you swore to uphold, and instead insure nothing drastically changes that would upset the “balance of power” here at home. Mr. Austria is also “bought and paid for” by the same old major players and special interests in our district who cough up hundreds of thousands of dollars to his election campaign to insure our confiscated tax-dollars flow back “to them” so that they can graciously put us poor saps back to work on our dime, all thanks to them. It’s nothing more than “welfare” and a redistribution of your hard earned money to “pay to play” players in his district.

Mr. Austria fits right in with the socialist philosophy in Washington. He voted FOR HR 1388, Obama Camps or better known as Generation Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act. Somewhere in the Constitution he saw where he along with the other confiscators could vote FOR the Garrett amendment to HR 3269 authorizing another $2 Billion for the Cash for Clunkers. He voted FOR HR 2647 or the Hate Crimes Creation Act. And the list goes on. But hopefully this should be sufficient to get the good people of Congressional District 7 to hand Mr. Austria his pink slip in 2010.

We don’t need another politician who embraces the political ideologies of socialism. We need a leader who will stand up against those who have taken America to the brink of destruction. We need a statesman who understands and takes seriously the oath they swear by. We need someone who understands the limits of federal law according to article 1 section 8, someone who will represent the people instead of going along with the party and the beltway mafia. We need another Dr. NO in congress.

Andy Myers is Region Coordinator of the Ohio Freedom Alliance

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Posted in Greene County, news, Ohio, politics, taxes

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Austria’s Contracting Commission An Insult To Wright Patt Professionals

Posted on December 14, 2009 by | Leave a comment

By John Mitchel

RE: “Contracting process discussed,” Dayton Daily News, December 7, 2009

Steve Austria’s Blue Ribbon Commission on contracting is a classic example of “moral hazard,” or dishonest agents manufacturing a need that doesn’t exist. The tragic irony in Congressman Austria’s action is that he is asking special interests to “shed a light on the contracting process” that is dictated by Congress and Congress alone. Wright Patt acquisition professionals are bound by law to follow rules and regulations that emerge from Congress, so if Austria thinks he needs to alter or fix the process, he needs to go back to Washington and deal with the other 534 members of that “elite” body.

The simple truth is; Austria’s Blue Ribbon Commission is a reelection tool. He realizes he has done little to warrant a second term, and with the May 2010 primary approaching, he’s desperate to convince his constituents, not to mention his campaign contributors that he deserves the opportunity to get two years closer to qualifying for lucrative retirement and healthcare benefits, and other perks that go along with belonging to that elitist group known as “career politicians.”

Steve Austria’s motives are an open book and have been for years, but if you still aren’t convinced, a simple question will seal the deal. Ask Mr. Austria how he feels about term limits, self-imposed or otherwise. His answer will probably go like this, revealing yet another moral hazard – Mr. Austria most likely will respond, “I cannot leave Congress because no one else is capable of serving the 7th District as well as I can.” That is the deception that plagues America, and will continue to do so until we elect citizen legislators who serve the people, then return to their hometowns and families to enjoy the liberty and freedom they helped protect.

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Posted in economy, Greene County, news, Ohio, politics

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Rep. Steve Austria Commission On WPAFB Contracting With Local Business

Posted on December 14, 2009 by | Leave a comment

In a recent Dayton Daily News report, Rep. Steve Austria announced the formation of a local commission to study ways to improve contracting relations of area business with Wright Patterson Air Force Base.

The goal of commission of 20 regional industry, academic, and government leaders is to study WPAFB is to find ways to assist area business win more contracts. Another goal is assist the Pentagon with its plan to identify and hire defense contractor employees in order to expand its work force of contracting specialists for acquiring aircraft, weapons and services.

The completion of the commission’s study is expected to take about 5 months. Austria plans to share the final report with the community.

The news report failed to mention is goal of helping the business community take full advantage of the huge government stimulus under HR 1 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 being used to fund new building programs at federal institutions like Wright Patterson AFB and the Veteran’s Administration Hospitals.

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Posted in business, economy, Greene County, news, Ohio, politics

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Dirty little secret in Greene County

Posted on December 4, 2009 by | Leave a comment

By John Mitchel

RE: “Invasion of privacy isn’t fault of Ohio’s taxpayers,” Dayton Daily News, November 26, 2009:

In his “Other Voices” column, Mike DeWine rightly points out that, “The Attorney General may not represent an employee who acts recklessly, maliciously or in bad faith outside the scope of his employment.” To be sure, Ohio taxpayers should not have to pay to defend government officials who act outside the law. That’s precisely what happened in a lawsuit filed against Greene County Commissioners. To add insult to injury, taxpayers also paid for a cover-up perpetrated by the Greene County Common Pleas Court (Reference Case No. 2009-CV-0305).

In my public records lawsuit I asked the Greene County Common Pleas Court to force the Greene County Commissioners to produce public records related to the 2003 BRAC Initiative Agreement with the Dayton Development Coalition. Tragically, the Court dismissed my lawsuit on a procedural technicality, then less than 24 hours later, the Greene County Prosecutor’s office released 26 boxes of requested records, but only after at least two public investigative agencies got involved. Greene County elected officials suddenly realized they broke the law three times; once when they withheld public records from a private citizen, again when the County Prosecutor defended their illegal action, and finally when the Greene County Common Pleas Court covered up their malfeasance.

But perhaps they finally got it right in October when they hired a private Columbus law firm (Downes, Fishel, Hass, Kim, LLP) to defend them against further actions. Trouble is; the taxpayers will pay for that too, which could add up to $50,000.

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Posted in Greene County, news, politics, taxes

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Funding for Xenia’s Juvenile Rehabilitation Center Approved

Posted on December 1, 2009 by | Leave a comment

In a November 24 press release, Ohio Representative Jarrod Martin announced that the state Controlling Board had approved $192,750 for general renovations at the Miami Valley Juvenile Rehabilitation Center in Xenia, Ohio.

“These dollars are crucial to the regular upkeep of the facility in order to reduce major repair costs to the taxpayers over the long term,” Martin said. “This center is an important place of reintegrating our troubled youth back into society as productive members and citizens.”

The Controlling Board approval means that the facility can move forward with such renovations as roof replacement, kitchen improvements, fence repairs, parking lot resurfacing and security system improvements, among others.

The center houses 30 male and female youth and provides post-adjudicated rehabilitation for the felony youth that are housed there. Ten Ohio counties are served through the Miami Valley facility.

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Posted in Greene County, news, Ohio, politics, Xenia

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