Bob Horan Retirement Dinner

The Fairfax Bar Association held a moving tribute to Former Commonwealth Attorney Bob F. Horan, Jr. Tuesday, January 29th.

Master of Ceremonies Rodney Leffler said Horan gave Fairfax County citizens "40 years of unquestionable, unwavering service."

Horan says his guiding principle has always been a "duty to the truth."

Horan prides himself on helping to teach many young attornies who begin their careers as prosecutors.

Consider his legacy: 110 attornies who are practicing today got their start in Horan's office. Eighteen of them are now judges.

Guest speakers: Hon. Raymond Morrough, Commonweath's Attorney; Hon. Richard T. Horan, Ret. Chief Judge, General District Court; Ian Rodway, Deputy Commonwealth Attorney; James Riddel, retired Homicide Detective,Fairfax County Police; Steven Merril, Esg., Whitestone, Brent, Young, and Merril; Britt Richardson, Jr., Esq., and Tim Horan, Bob's son.

While all speakers did a great job delivering heart-felt, and often humorous memories, the best story of the night was this:

When Horan was prosecuting the young sniper, Lee Boyd Malvo, defense attornies argued that he had been mistreated by the people who raised him. Horan responded, looking straight at the jury... "Have you ever been with the Irish?"

Bob... thanks for your 40 years of dedicated service. You've helped keep this county, our home, safe. God Bless. And thanks for all the interviews. I am honored to be a member of the Horan family. My husband is one of Bob Horan's nephews.

Repeal Abusive Driver Fees

Going, going, gone. Almost. On Wednesday, January 23, a key Senate committee approved a measure to end Virginia's unpopular fees. The day before, the House of Delegates approved its own repeal of the fees.

It was amazing to see nearly every lawmaker blast the fees, even most voted for that massive transportation last year that included them! That's what happens when some 200,000 Virginia residents sign a petition. Politically, being on the other side is as unwise as spitting in the wind.

The fees were designed to bring in 60-million dollars. A 1.5 cent increase in the gasoline tax could make up that money, but the last time a gas tax increased passed Virginia's General Assembly was more than 20 years ago, so that proposal may not fly.

Del. David B. Albo (R-Fairfax), who was an architect of the abusive fees had proposed 'fixing' the problem by adding out-of-state voters (the fees not applying to out-of-staters was the biggest problem with the fees) and getting rid of some of the less serious offenses, but the House tossed his proposal asidelike yesterday's news. That's when he joined the vast majority and voted for repeal.
Albo tells me he is NOT in favor of a gas tax proposal because the Democrats will try for a 'huge increase'.

Lawmakers will continue to debate where to find the money to replace the funds lost.

Abusive Driver Fees: On The Way Out?

IT WAS MY BILL FIRST!


Virginia Lawmaker are practically tripping over each other's 'Repeal of the Hated Abusive Driver Fees". It seems everybody's got their own bill to do it. The only lawmaker I've talked to who still praises the program is Delegate Dave Albo, who authored the bill. He thinks the fees should stay but be fixed and apply to out-of-staters as well and also only apply to the worst offenses on the roads. He says his reading of the study on the impact shows the fees are helping make Virginia's roads safer.

Sorry, Dave, the horse is out of the gate. Now, Governor Tim Kaine has proposed a repeal. And here is Delegate Brian Moran's STATEMENT ON ABUSIVE DRIVER FEE REPEAL:

House Democratic Caucus Chairman Brian Moran made the following statement after legislation to repeal the Abusive Driver Fee’s passed the House Transportation Committee today (HB649). Delegate Moran has been a vocal and consistent opponent of the fees since their introduction and first called for their repeal last summer. He introduced legislation to repeal the fees in the 2008 session (HB1188).

“The abusive driver fees should never have been created and I’ve been proud to consistently oppose them. As a former prosecutor, I know we can’t use our police officers as tax collectors. Research has clearly shown theses fees do not raise the revenue needed for transportation and they fail to improve safety on our roadways.

I’m very pleased at the strong bipartisan support for repealing these fees and look forward to its passage in the full House next week.”

SMOKE FREE VIRGINIA RESTAURANTS

Advocates of smoke-free restaurants in Virginia, now is your chance to be heard.
Governor Tim Kaine proposed a statewide smoking ban in restaurants Monday to protect the health of patrons and workers.

Virginia, isn't it about time? Is it really fair for those of us who don't want to be exposed to smoke, or want our children to be exposed, to have to walk through clouds of smoke next to restaurants, such as those in Tyson's Corner? And how about those waiters and bartenders? They are forced to breathe harmful, cancer-causing smoke in order to keep their jobs. Restaurants like McLean Family Restaurant that have gone smoke-free have seen good results. More people are pleased than not. And everybody is healthier. Maryland has done it, D.C. has done it, come on, Virginia, lets go smoke-free in restaurants.

Lawmakers are going to have to hear from constituents for this to happen. They voted it down last year. Here's what happened: the General Assembly did pass legislation that would have required restaurants that allow smoking to post a "Smoking Permitted" sign on the door, and in return they would no longer have to offer a nonsmoking section. Kaine amended the bill to ban smoking in restaurants statewide. The House of Delegates voted 59-40 to reject the amendment, so Kaine vetoed the bill.