swvacsas2

"Districts = geography and tradition conference = enrollment " With the demise of the LPD and SWD and the marked alteration of the other surviving districts the VHSL threw tradition to the winds. Geography is a more limited factor in the composition of the new districts than may first appear. "It will fill at least 4-5 games on the schedule. Just think if those games weren't set? Ask Bluefield how it goes." A great many of the district games in the smaller districts would occur anyway. Most schools can put together a four to six game schedule without trouble- its the remaining four to six that create a problem.

A lot of the districts are just too small to provide effective scheduling help. A four or five team district just doesn't fill up or solve many scheduling holes. Districts are pretty meaningless in the overall scheme of things- it would be better if all districts were just voluntary associations.

A poll is only as good as its methodology. Some polls are plainly wanting- generalized telephone surveys etc. It takes good research and time to set up a proper poll. Some states are more difficult to get in a good statistical breakdown because of the available information- as no party registration et al. A lot of the better polls are not released for public consumption. Most polls have a basis in fact, but an error in one paradigm can mess things up.

Great games from WVU, NCSU, and SC tonight. Am a Tennessee fan and graduate- but always like to see WVU do well. Wish the SEC would have let them in.

Camelot is a myth. Abingdon is Camelot. Abingdon is therefore a myth. Explains a lot.

If anyone thinks there is not a war on coal this article will enlighten you. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/23/us-coal-keystone-idUSBRE88M07F20120923 The attempts being made to block coal exports demonstrate beyond a doubt that a radical agenda exists and is being pushed by various pressure groups.

"The slide in coal prices has stirred talk that some electric utilities that have been burning cheaper gas to generate power could switch back to coal. A loss of that demand, which helped prop up gas prices all summer, could force more gas into already bloated inventories." The problem coal has is not an FOB price at arrival at the power plant- but the regs on burning and on coal ash disposal courtesy of EPA. Ash disposal is as big a barrier to coal use in many cases as are clean air regs. A lot of TVA actions are related to the bad spill at Kingston about four years ago.

Strikes me the districts are too small. A lot of teams will still have to scramble for games. The proposed larger CMD had an advantage in helping schools settle scheduling woes. Finding four to six non-league games can be tough. The schools that are islands in our area can amend the situation themselves if they had the will power- change attendance zones etc. Seems to me having both a district and a conference affliliation will create more problems in the long run.

It is only proper that state championships seem to be the most prominent criterion for coaching success. One has to remember that from '46 to '70 Virginia had no state title games- except in 1-1A. A lot of the older SWVA coaches would have really done well if they could have had the chance to do so on a state level. When I was in high school a district title was all you could shoot for- things have changed. A district title is just a rest stop on the road to the playoffs for a lot of the kids. Bradley at Graham was a pretty good coach in my day- so was Dave Rider at Tazewell-Elizabethton

Excellent article on the coal situation from the Daily Mail. Thursday August 30, 2012 Coal producers hurt by takeovers Producers' bet on metallurgical coal affected by slower steel output abroad, natural gas boom by Bloomberg News Charleston Daily Mail Four of the largest U.S. coal producers made $20 billion of acquisitions last year to reduce their dependence on the domestic power industry. Instead, those deals have added to the companies' pain. Alpha Natural Resources, Peabody Energy, Arch Coal and Walter Energy completed takeovers that boosted sales of metallurgical coal used in steelmaking. The companies bet that the coal, which sells for a higher price than the thermal variety burned to generate electricity, would benefit from booming Asian demand and counter threats from falling natural-gas prices and extra environmental regulation. That strategy hasn't worked as planned. Prices for metallurgical coal, which were forecast by JPMorgan Chase & Co. in November to jump 50 percent in 2012, have fallen 16 percent so far this year amid slowing steel output in China and Europe. That may mean the U.S. coal industry, which has already seen the bankruptcy of Patriot Coal in July, will continue to burn through free cash for another year. "There was some belief that there was countercyclicality between met and thermal," said David Gagliano, an analyst at Barclays in New York. "What we've learned is that they aren't that different." U.S. coal producers have been closing mines and firing workers this year as some power plants switch from coal to gas, which is trading close to a decade-low amid booming output from shale rock. Alpha's 70 percent drop in 2012 makes it the worst performer on the 29-member Stowe Global Coal Index, which lost 31 percent in the period. Arch is down 57 percent, and Peabody has declined 32 percent in the period. Domestic coal output in 2012 will fall 7.4 percent, or by 81 million tons, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Prices for Central Appalachian thermal coal, the U.S. benchmark, have declined 16 percent in the past year to $58.12 a ton on the New York Mercantile Exchange. "It's hard for us to imagine them getting much worse," Mark Levin, an analyst at BB&T Capital Markets in Richmond, Va., said in an Aug. 21 note. Low-volatility metallurgical-coal prices are down 34 percent over the last 12 months to $192.50 a ton, according to data published weekly by Energy Publishing. China, the second-largest economy and biggest steelmaker, expanded 7.6 percent in the second quarter, the slowest pace in three years. Its daily steel output fell in July from the previous month and domestic steel prices are at their lowest in more than two years. Adding to the gloom is the recession in Europe, the destination for about half of U.S. metallurgical-coal exports. Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steelmaker, was cut to junk by Standard & Poor's on Aug. 2. "Clearly we've seen issues in the near term with a weak U.S. economy, recession in Europe and deceleration in China," Vic Svec, a Peabody spokesman, said in an interview. "It's an unusual confluence of weakness." Metallurgical coal won't rebound in 2013, according to BB&T's Levin, Prices will average $210 next year, up 9 percent from Tuesday's price, while thermal coal will be $70, a 20 percent increase from current prices, he said in an Aug. 14 note. If metallurgical coal averages less than $200 next year and thermal doesn't "explode to the upside," then producers including Alpha, Peabody, Arch and Walter won't generate positive free cash flow, Levin said. Peabody, Alpha and Arch all reported negative free cash flow in the second quarter, meaning they didn't generate enough cash to run their businesses. This year has been unprecedented, Peabody's Svec said. The St. Louis-based company expects coal burned for power in the U.S. to be down by as much as 120 million tons, as utilities use more gas instead. That's something that couldn't have been predicted, he said. Peabody, Alpha, Walter and Arch have lost a combined $9.4 billion in market value in 2012, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Alpha paid $7.5 billion including debt for Massey Energy in July 2011. Bristol, Va.-based Alpha paid 25 times Massey's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, making it the most expensive and the largest U.S. coal takeover, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Alpha has plunged 70 percent this year, the worst performer on the Standard and Poor's 500 Index. "Our fundamental conviction is that the world is structurally undersupplied of high-quality metallurgical coal for the foreseeable future," Alpha Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Kevin Crutchfield told investors on a January 2011 conference call when Alpha announced the deal. "We continue to believe that the Massey acquisition makes great strategic sense for Alpha," Ted Pile, an Alpha spokesman, said Monday. "What we're seeing right now is a speed bump." Peabody acquired Australia's MacArthur Coal in December for A$3.8 billion ($3.9 billion) to expand its sales of metallurgical coal to Asia. Arch bought International Coal in May last year for $3.1 billion and Walter completed its takeover of Canada's Western Coal for C$5.3 billion ($5.4 billion) in April of 2011. "With the acquisition of ICG, Arch obtained some of the highest-quality metallurgical coal reserves in the world," said Deck Slone, an Arch spokesman. "The market potential for these coals will only grow in the years ahead." Paul Blalock, a spokesman for Walter, declined to comment. Not all producers made similar decisions on metallurgical coal. Consol Energy opted to expand into gas, paying $3.5 billion for assets of Dominion Resources. Canonsburg, Pa.-based Consol overtook Peabody in May as the biggest U.S. coal miner by market value. It's trading at about 17 times estimated 2012 net income, a higher ratio than Peabody and Walter, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. "Consol Energy is developing its metallurgical coal assets organically at a cost per ton well below competitors' recent acquisition rates," said Lynn Seay, a Consol spokeswoman. "Consol made a big bet on natural gas, Peabody made a big bet on Australia," said Lucas Pipes, an analyst at Brean Murray Carret & Co. in New York. "Investors in my opinion are more comfortable about natural-gas prices bottoming than about the outlook for seaborne coal prices." Most metallurgical coal that's seaborne — the industry term for coal exported by oceangoing ship — is priced each quarter based on a benchmark established by the largest exporters and users.

The conferences do make a lot of sense. If Burton and Clintwood play everyone in the LPD and Conference 48 they will have a nine game schedule- saves a lot of searching for opponents. The VHSL may indeed want to do away with districts- would personally like to see them survive with four or five schools- where each team plays one another home and home. In a four team district you would have six district games against your biggest rivals. Think it would help both gate receipts and travel time- both of which in these economic times will assume greater importance.

Speaking of districts- the VHSL has apparently shot down the proposed Lebanon, Lee, Union, and Wise district. Seems there will be no changes in the immediate future to Region D.

Kids had more endurance and stamina back in the sixties and seventies. Agree they may now be stronger for a short time- but the endurance is not there. I have seen a lot of teams in the last twenty years that were theoretically in shape and could put in three good quarters or so - but they were slogging along in the fourth quarter. Hot weather especially saps them. AC has made a tremendous difference. In the late sixties-early seventies even a lot of the stores did not have ac.

I have a sad feeling that all that 60 mil is not going to be used for youthful victims etc. I figure a lot will stick to the NCAA's hands. This is too much money for a group of sports bureaucrats to pass up. Should be a matter for the courts. Even if the NCAA and PSU agree on a penalty I believe the NCAA may be subject to some legal action from players and other affected parties.

"Freaking brilliant idea, when 51% of your country's electricity comes from coal. " One of the reasons for the recent hit in coal company stock market share prices has been a series of reports indicating the coal share of the energy generation market slumping below 40%. I saw one report listing it as 32% (think this is a bit too low). A pretty reliable survey listed current market share at 36%. They mentioned that coal fired generating capacity had fallen 19% in a year. If this keeps on coal could be reduced to a 25% or 33% share of the market by the time a new president takes office. No question the situation is dire- as bad or worse than it was in the late 50's and early 60's.

"Two, the "only game in town". Appalachian Natural Gas, for some reason, chooses by and large not to compete with AEP, which is specifically perplexing when they could virtually monopolize the SWVA market with their significantly cheaper rates.* Send them a letter. They're the ones that choose not to flex their muscles." A former chairman of the Wise County Board of Supervisors- who has been pushing for domestic gas- has told me that the gas company response is lack of customer base. The truth is that gas companies do not want to do hookups in rural areas.

In Virginia cities are not part of a county completely independent. In most other states they are part of the surrounding counties in various forms. Probably only Abingdon, Christiansburg, and Blacksburg could function as independent cities. A lot of the smaller towns will eventually have to disincorporate- they just cannot provide meaningful services. In Wise County you are better off in a business sense in Norton because you can avoid double real estate taxation and a lot of the Norton rates are lower. Norton is not really hurting as much as some of the county towns.

The easy way to go in such a scenario would be to go ahead and do the consolidation- but have two campuses. Still one would have to set up a central practice facility.

A good George Will column on higher ed, expenses etc. Subprime college educations By George F. Will, Published: June 8 The Washington Post Many parents and the children they send to college are paying rapidly rising prices for something of declining quality. This is because “quality†is not synonymous with “value.†Glenn Harlan Reynolds, a University of Tennessee law professor, believes that college has become, for many, merely a “status marker,†signaling membership in the educated caste, and a place to meet spouses of similar status — “associative mating.†Since 1961, the time students spend reading, writing and otherwise studying has fallen from 24 hours a week to about 15 — enough for a degree often desired only as an expensive signifier of rudimentary qualities (e.g., the ability to follow instructions). Employers value this signifier as an alternative to aptitude tests when evaluating potential employees because such tests can provoke lawsuits by having a “disparate impact†on this or that racial or ethnic group. In his “The Higher Education Bubble,†Reynolds writes that this bubble exists for the same reasons the housing bubble did. The government decided that too few people owned homes/went to college, so government money was poured into subsidized and sometimes subprime mortgages/student loans, with the predictable result that housing prices/college tuitions soared and many borrowers went bust. Tuitions and fees have risen more than 440 percent in 30 years as schools happily raised prices — and lowered standards — to siphon up federal money. A recent Wall Street Journal headline: “Student Debt Rises by 8% as College Tuitions Climb.†Richard Vedder, an Ohio University economist, writes in the Chronicle of Higher Education that as many people — perhaps more — have student loan debts as have college degrees. Have you seen those T-shirts that proclaim “College: The Best Seven Years of My Lifeâ€? Twenty-nine percent of borrowers never graduate, and many who do graduate take decades to repay their loans. In 2010, the New York Times reported on Cortney Munna, then 26, a New York University graduate with almost $100,000 in debt. If her repayments were not then being deferred because she was enrolled in night school, she would have been paying $700 monthly from her $2,300 monthly after-tax income as a photographer’s assistant. She says she is toiling “to pay for an education I got for four years and would happily give back.†Her degree is in religious and women’s studies. The budgets of California’s universities are being cut, so recently Cal State Northridge students conducted an almost-hunger strike (sustained by a blend of kale, apple and celery juices) to protest, as usual, tuition increases and, unusually and properly, administrators’ salaries. For example, in 2009 the base salary of UC Berkeley’s vice chancellor for equity and inclusion was $194,000, almost four times that of starting assistant professors. And by 2006, academic administrators outnumbered faculty. The Manhattan Institute’s Heather Mac Donald notes that sinecures in academia’s diversity industry are expanding as academic offerings contract. UC San Diego (UCSD), while eliminating master’s programs in electrical and computer engineering and comparative literature, and eliminating courses in French, German, Spanish and English literature, added a diversity requirement for graduation to cultivate “a student’s understanding of her or his identity.†So, rather than study computer science and Cervantes, students can study their identities — themselves. Says Mac Donald, “ ‘Diversity,’ it turns out, is simply a code word for narcissism.†She reports that UCSD lost three cancer researchers to Rice University, which offered them 40 percent pay increases. But UCSD found money to create a vice chancellorship for equity, diversity and inclusion. UC Davis has a Diversity Trainers Institute under an administrator of diversity education, who presumably coordinates with the Cross-Cultural Center. It also has: a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Resource Center; a Sexual Harassment Education Program; a diversity program coordinator; an early resolution discrimination coordinator; a Diversity Education Series that awards Understanding Diversity Certificates in “Unpacking Oppressionâ€; and Cross-Cultural Competency Certificates in “Understanding Diversity and Social Justice.†California’s budget crisis has not prevented UC San Francisco from creating a new vice chancellor for diversity and outreach to supplement its Office of Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity and Diversity, and the Diversity Learning Center (which teaches how to become “a Diversity Change Agentâ€), and the Center for LGBT Health and Equity, and the Office of Sexual Harassment Prevention & Resolution, and the Chancellor’s Advisory Committees on Diversity, and on Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Issues, and on the Status of Women. So taxpayers should pay more and parents and students should borrow more to fund administrative sprawl in the service of stale political agendas? Perhaps they will, until “pop!†goes the bubble. georgewill@washpost.com

The problem of escalating student debt has been caused by government and it is only proper that government should help solve it. I do agree under general circumstances individuals should pay the debts they owe. In the case of student debt we have a situation where a lack of oversight has caused a massive surge in college expenses.

"Being top 10 in your high school class doesn't mean squirt to colleges...they look at the other numbers: overall GPA, SAT scores, etc.... Also, I was never asked on any job interview/application where I finished in my class in high school (which, BTW, was #10 in a class with 6 valedictorians and 3 salutatorians...I made one "B" in art class for calling the teacher a "fat bi!ch"). People who think it matters are just kidding themselves..." "Class rank isn't nearly as important is PERCENTAGE. That's the rubric that colleges use (Top 5% of class, Top 10% of class, etc.). 20th out of 100 is better than 9th out of 30, and so on." Colleges vary considerably in what they look at. Indeed a great many do look at percentage- but several still look at class ranking. When I was doing resumes many years ago- have helped a few folks recently- things like class ranking were generally used to "puff" a resume. You wanted a page, wanted it to look good or sound impressive. This applies not just to high school ranking. When I was in D.C. a really nice young intern (interns didn't cause as much trouble then) wanted to stay in Washington. She had her eyes on a secretarial job over at Defense. She had a slender resume that needed fattening. In her high school days she was a head majorette. This led a creative friend of mine to translate it into "Exercised leadership skills in marching and precision drilling at an early age." We felt even that could be improved upon- she had never hurt herself or inflicted injury on anyone else with her baton. It was changed therefore to "Safely and skillfully exercised leadership abilities in marching and precision drilling at an early age." She got the job.

There is a practical side to this. Being on a top ten list gets you more attention and at one time- less so now than formerly- would attract the attention of admissions officers and scholarship givers. This has changed- to an extent- but a top ten, valedictorian, etc. still generates the attention. Looks great on resumes.

" Ervinton parents are worried that their kid wont graduate in the top ten at Haysi or Clintwood and thus miss out on the prestige that comes along w/ that. They are just showing their asses, obviously their fight against closing their school is based on selfish reasons and not whats best for all of the countys students. Not all of the parents are like that but a great many are." It is only natural that parents would want their kid to go to the school where they can have the most prestige. Immediate family, extended family, friends, neighbors, town and community are generally the pecking order of concern to most people. Enlightened self-interest. Most people in this area are pretty good at helping others- but there are a lot of grizzlies in these mountains- around here you frequently need a keen sense of survival. A person would be pretty stupid to hurt their own family etc. to build up another set of people or community. People are caring around here- but you have to look after your own first- because nobody else will usually do it for you.

"Well, it's not like they had an open checkbook. Rem., it's "government" money that runs them, and anything left over in July goes back to the county, not to their piggy bank." Wise County has never had any monies returned to it. The school system claims to spend all of the county funds. Keep in mind that federal and state funds do not have to be returned to the local government. The vast bulk of funding to most of these counties is state and federal- in the '09-'10 year for instance out of $72,000,000 in total receipts only $13,000,000 came from local sources. Wise County schools had a balance of $7,000,000 at the end of the year- which they kept. The school administration claimed to be going broke when they were raking in this money. I don't think there would have been an outcry from the rest of the county if Coeburn had kept their colors. The antis wanted to save money and the pros would have gone along with anything the admiistration wanted. The whole point on St. Paul is that all responsible people in the town said the kids would not go to Coeburn and no inducement would cause them to go there. This has proven true. A lot of money would have been saved if someone had listened.

There was no purpose in spending the large sum of money changing Coeburn's name and colors- if it could have been justified it might have been more popular. There was never any prospect at any time that more than a pitiful handful of St. Paul kids would go to Coeburn. A great many more of the remaining St. Paul elementary kids may leave the Wise County school system before long.