Nunzsense: Baseball could be a good fit

It's not often that I get to write about minor league baseball, and I know more than a few folks are probably happy that's the case. But here is my favorite recent column on the subject of baseball potentially coming to Winchester.

http://www.nvdaily.com/news/2012/01/baseball-could-be-a-nice-fit.php

Nunzsense: Not just a trivial pursuit

Well, got just 29 on the "Jeopardy!" test so I'll be sitting on the couch for another year wondering why none of their esteemed contestants had heard of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. But it provided fodder for my tribute to game shows.

http://www.nvdaily.com/news/2012/01/charles-pannunzio-not-just-a-trivial-pursuit.php

Nunzsense: Holiday shuffle calendar

State employees just got a four-day weekend in Virginia. Why, you ask? Here's the answer.
http://www.nvdaily.com/news/2012/01/charles-pannunzio-holiday-shuffles-calendar.php

Uh oh, the Daily messed that link up. So here's my cached version (gotta be prepared, you know).

Posted at 11:24 AM Jan. 15, 2012 | Updated: 5:28 PM Jan. 16, 2012 0 0

Charles Pannunzio: Holiday shuffles calendar

How did you celebrate the four-day holiday weekend?

If you were anything like me, you worked on Friday and, unless something unexpected happens before this afternoon, I'll be back at the office.

But today is a holiday for most government workers and bankers, and some state employees have actually been out since leaving work on Thursday.

Today is the day that Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday is recognized, although his actual birth date was Sunday. As the most recent addition to the federal calendar, observance of the King holiday remains hit-or-miss. For instance, I could pay a water bill in Winchester today since city offices are open, but I'd have to wait until Tuesday if I need to check on anything at the courthouse, since it has been closed since 5 p.m. Thursday.

That's right, Thursday. That's because Friday was Lee-Jackson Day, which honors Robert E. Lee and Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, and is observed on various dates in a number of states in the South. In Virginia, Lee-Jackson Day was celebrated on Jan. 19 for a number of years before it was moved to the nearest Monday, giving many state employees a three-day weekend.

I still remember the first time I heard of Lee-Jackson Day. My mother dropped me off at the Medical College of Virginia Hospital in Richmond one morning -- I am guessing now that it was Jan. 24, 1983 -- for a doctor's appointment. She told me to kill some time afterward and she would pick me up at noon.

Having visited the state Capitol a few times, I knew the lay of the land down there and figured the perfect place on a cool, drizzly morning would be the state library. As I went to open the door, I was surprised to find it locked. A little sticker on the door indicated that the library was closed for "Lee-Jackson Day." I guess if I was of age, I would have realized the ABC stores were closed too.

When discussion of a national holiday to honor King began, his Jan. 15 birth date seemed like a logical time, but it got wrapped up in the 1971 federal act that moved many observances to Mondays so federal workers could get a three-day weekend. That's the same act that gave us Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day and Columbus Day on Mondays, rather than Feb. 22, May 30 and Oct. 12.

In Virginia, there was resistance to adding a third holiday to the month of January, so the General Assembly eventually decided to combine the King observance and Lee-Jackson Day into "Lee-Jackson-King Day," which was first observed in 1985.

Obviously some of the resistance was not because of the when, but the who. I'll leave it to the more scholarly, and more opinionated, folks to discuss this juxtaposition, but pretty much nobody was happy with the compromise.

After a decade and a half of the shared observance, Gov. Jim Gilmore proposed the current split in 2000, with Lee-Jackson Day marked on the Friday prior to the King holiday. The General Assembly agreed to the change, which created even more of a patch-work observance, as anyone who tried to visit a government office on Friday could attest.

Lost in this entire discussion is the reason for the holiday. Hopefully those folks who have the day off will pay King tribute, either by attending one of the local celebrations of his life or by participating in a service project.

That's a nice way to honor a legacy.

• Charles Pannunzio is assistant managing editor of the Northern Virginia Daily.

 

Nunzsense: Was that Tucker Carlson?

Not to ruin the surprise, but yeah, it was.

http://www.nvdaily.com/news/2012/01/charles-pannunzio-was-that-tucker-carlson.php

NVD: Moving local elections to November: Higher turnout, more savings

This is a story I had been trying to get one of our reporters to do for several months after Front Royal decided to study the issue. They ultimately decided against a change, but I think this shows my flair for research and talking to sources years later. It ran on July 23, 2011.


http://www.nvdaily.com/news/2011/07/moving_local_elections_to_november_higher_turnout_more_savings-print.html

Nunzsense: One less Friday in Samoa

Got the idea for this column while riding back from Chapel Hill with Christina and listening to some CNN blah blah blah. Was first going to compare time zones and mention Indiana being told to stop being so contrary, but that might work for a March column, so I talked about the Liberty calendar instead. A tip of the cap to Christina for saying this sounded column-worthy.

http://www.nvdaily.com/news/2012/01/charles-pannunzio-one-less-friday-in-samoa.php