WMC's application for another "tax-exempt" status is advancing

Will City Council will ever challenge WMC?

In its special meeting and work session on January 26, 2010 ...

* Advanced an ordinance to approve Winchester Medical Center’s application for tax-exempt status for its diagnostic center at 300 Campus Blvd.

http://winchesterstar.com/pages/view/seize.html 

Folks, don't forget about these (in excess of revenue) profit figures that just the Winchester Medical Center (not-for-profit) alone is producing since 2001 according to Quad State Business Journal was $11.8 million.

So ... here you go ...

2001 - $11.8 million 

  '

  '

  '

2005 - $54,346,679 (per IRS990)

2006 - $57,422,678 (per IRS990)

2007 = $66,617,961 (per IRS990)

Folks, you should remember where The Pub documented that from 2001-2005, that was a 383% increase, well my goodness, from 2001-2007 that has risen even more so up to 460%.

You tell us what in the world in going on?  These numbers are getting to big for The Pub to even comprehend for this "not-for-profit" organization.  Please keep in mind, this is just Winchester Medical Center alone, there are many other revenue generating services that has not been factored in yet.

Please tell your friends who might be "charity care" candidates or "individuals who are in need" for financial assistance, that they need to "pre-qualify" and ASK questions!!!

... "pre-qualify" and ASK questions!!!
... "pre-qualify" and ASK questions!!!
... "pre-qualify" and ASK questions!!!
... "pre-qualify" and ASK questions!!!

Basically, in years past, If you did not ask, they did not tell you.  So if you were billed and made the payments, then VHS was very appreciative of your generosity.  The perception that has been developed over my nearly 24 months of research, VHS has taken money from individuals that they probably should not have taken.

How else can anyone explain these enormous profits???

Please share with your friends so they are more informed.

Setting WHAT record straight???

Setting record straight on WB

In response to Jeff Milburn's letter of Jan. 19: Yes, Winchester Baseball does start practice for most 10-, 11-, and 12-year-olds in mid-March, with games beginning in April. The season culminates in late May/early June with playoffs and the World Series.

What Mr. Milburn does not mention is the 300 T-ball and machine-pitch players who are ready to start as soon as the spring season ends! Anyone familiar with Jim Barnett Park knows that there are a finite number of fields being used by Shenandoah University, Handley High School, Parks and Rec programs, and Winchester Baseball. Therefore, it is necessary to split the programs into three distinct parts (spring baseball, T-ball/machine-pitch, and fall ball).

I take issue with Mr. Milburn’s insinuation that WB does not treat all children equally. All-star teams are picked by a panel of coaches and, unfortunately, only the most skilled and dedicated players are taken. These players, and their parents, devote much time, travel, and expense to represent the Winchester area in state, regional, and even national events!

Since Winchester and WB are in the process of trying to secure a World Series event at Jim Barnett Park, I can only assume that Mr. Milburn’s letter constitutes nothing more than a “stir of the pot”!

Todd McNemar
Winchester

OK, please respond even further Mr. McNemar ...

please set the so-called record more straight why don't you ... as several attempts have been made to get answers to the following since October 2009 but WB officials still remain silent because the perception is that they do not want to open up Pandora's box!


If anything Mr. McNemar, the motive is to get ALL of the facts out on the table for City Council to review so they can make an informed decision about the City Taxpayers dollars if it should be spent or not on this World Series during these epic budget constraints we are facing.  How can that be stirring the pot?

• - How many kids are playing in Winchester Baseball for the ages of 8-12yrs old?
• - How many kids are Winchester City residents
• - How many kids are Frederick County residents
• - How many kids are Clarke County residents
• - How many kids are Warren County residents
• - How many kids are Shenandoah County residents
• - How many kids are from WV

Are there not ALL-STAR teams practicing in the Armory during December, January and February?  How can this be fair and equal if the ALL-STAR's are pre-selected before the season even starts?

Lastly ... how much is the player fee per kid and where do you reside Mr. McNemar ... within the City of Winchester or Frederick County?  If you reside in the County of Frederick which anyone could assume you do based on an address of 1342 Cedar Grove Road with a zip code of 22603 (click on the link to view map) ... then why don't you contact your Board of Supervisors and ask them to kick in some cash for this event?  If this address is not correct, then a correction will be made.

Please respond Mr. McNemar as the nearly one-thousand unique readers of The Pub would like to view your response.

How many Americans are uninsured?

What researchers to the best of their knowledge, would like to share the following which is the opinion formed from research and interviews The Pub conducted with Dr's out of state.

Of the 46 Million that everyone talks about, it is about 12M choose not to buy and are young.

There are about 12M illegal aliens. 

There are about 10-12M citizens in the $40-80K earnings range who choose not to buy. 

The really uninsurable are about 8M.

Winchester Baseball for masses,or for select few?

WB for masses,or for select few?

Is Winchester Baseball for the masses or a select few in an effort to gain individual national prominence?

For those baseball fans who might not be familiar, WB starts practice in mid-March and some teams are out there until 10 p.m. during school nights. Is this in the best interests of the kids on those cold nights?

The regular season ends during mid-June as the regular season is over and complete for the kids who did not get selected as an all-star, which there are not even tryouts for. Why is there such a rush to end the regular season?

With the 12-and-under season running during the same time as the local high-school season, the majority of the youngsters do not have an opportunity to watch the high-school teams compete.

Based on history, the all-star teams are pre-selected with the all-star teams practicing indoors at the Armory during December, January, and sometimes into February when the regular season has not even started yet.

What are those kids supposed to do for the entire summer if they are not selected to an all-star team? Why not go back to the good ol’ days when 12-and-under baseball was played throughout the summer with a two-week local All-Star break and then the second half of the season was completed?

The league playoffs were completed in early-to-mid August just in time for school to start again.

Keep all kids involved throughout the entire summer. What is wrong with this idea?

Jeff Milburn
Winchester

Call it a conundrum ... FCPS's adventure with GameDay!

Call it a conundrum

By: David Selig
Posted: Jan. 16, 2010

Frederick County basketball fans hoping to hear live broadcasts of their favorite high schools’ games have been put largely on standby for the first half of the season.

In October, GamedayMagazine.com secured exclusive Internet broadcast rights to all games played at James Wood, Sherando and Millbrook that they decide to cover.

That agreement led Sportstalk1550.com to create a basketball schedule featuring all Handley home games.

So, play-by-play of Handley’s home doubleheaders against Millbrook (last Saturday) and Sherando (Tuesday) were streamed online free of charge.

But when the Colonels hosted doubleheaders against the Warriors and Pioneers last week, the games were not broadcast at all.

This Friday’s Handley at James Wood boys’ game was the first local one to be picked up this season by Gameday, which is available for a $139.99 annual subscription. Of the 35 games the site lists on its January schedule, only three of them feature Frederick County teams, and each of those are boys’ games.

Gameday President and Founder Andy Hayes said his broadcast schedule for February hasn’t been set yet, but he says it will feature more Frederick County games.

“We’re definitely ramping up,” Hayes said. “Our basketball coverage doesn’t really get going until we get done with all our Gameday football banquets. We’re doing games, but we’ll really be rolling it out big in about a week.”

Hayes said some of the games he planned to cover early in the season were knocked out by weather. He also said his site will feature a Northwestern District game of the week from this point forward.

As Hayes notes, the exclusive Internet agreement with the Frederick County Public Schools does not prevent other stations from carrying the same games on radio, or broadcasting games online when Gameday isn’t present.

But with Gameday not setting its schedule in stone early in the year, it would be difficult for other Web broadcasters to set up theirs without fear of Gameday coming in and blocking their coverage.

Dan Gloster, who calls games for Sportstalk1550.com, said he was a little disappointed to learn about restrictions on covering Frederick County games — “I thought that was kind of a bummer, to be honest with you,” he said — but he rolled with the punches and made sure to schedule those schools when they visited Handley.

Gloster — who will have called eight games by the end of January — said he typically doesn’t broadcast from Clarke County because of space limitations in the gym, but he has games featuring all five of the local public schools on his schedule by Feb. 9.

Gloster is limited to his station’s online stream for all night events, because the WMRE 1550 AM radio frequency only carries out to listeners during the day.

During football season, 98.3 KISS FM picked up Gloster and his crew’s coverage of five big local night games — which allowed them to call the same ones as Gameday — but Gloster said KISS is not interested in carrying basketball at this point.

It all adds up to an unfortunate set of circumstances for county hoops fans who can’t make it to the games and had previously grown accustomed to hearing them free on Sportstalk 610. (Late in 2008, the land holding 610’s radio towers was sold by Silver Lake Development Co. to make room for The Village at Orchard Ridge retirement community, and Sportstalk was moved up the dial to 1550.)

It should be said that Gameday had a stronger presence here during football season, and while some listeners may be turned off by the almost $12-per-month price tag for membership, a small portion of the money goes to the local schools if appropriate coupon codes are used.

But if Gameday isn’t delivering broadcasts of the biggest boys’ and girls’ games, then followers of the county teams will be left with dead air if they can’t attend and want to listen in.

And that will be a lose-lose for the Frederick County schools and their fans. As they say in radio land, stay tuned.

— David Selig is sports editor
at The Winchester Star

Actually, this was discussed previously on The Pub back in October ...

Saturday, October 24, 2009

WHY are the FCPS Admin's allowing this to happen???

Friday, October 30, 2009

Response to GameDay Reps and Supporters