A catered lunch, and a canceled workday
Column by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
“I could understand it if somebody donated the lunches. Maybe that happened, I don’t know. But it just seems to me to send the wrong message. I mean, they’re facing a $2 million shortfall, $3 million, whatever, and they’re having a catered lunch? Something doesn’t add up there.”
The hot tip was called in to me on Friday – that the Waynesboro school system had served catered lunches to teachers and staff apparently across the city’s seven schools, which, if that was the case, would be a head-slapper of a dumb move for a school system that is indeed facing down pretty substantial budget cuts in the 2010-2011 fiscal year.
I got in touch by e-mail with School Superintendent Robin Crowder, who quickly got back to me that he wasn’t aware of any school luncheons on Friday, and further explained that schools occasionally provide refreshments or lunches for staff on workdays and parent-teacher conference days.
A little later, I was contacted by Renae Deffenbaugh, the principal at Westwood Hills Elementary School, who identified her school as a host of a catered lunch on Friday. As Crowder had indicated, the lunch was related to a planned parent-teacher conference day, which had originally been on the schedule for Friday across the city school system. Read more
Packed Third Fridays schedule in Downtown Waynesboro
‘Radio Hour’, Children’s Hour, It’s All About the Kids (And Parents, Of Course)
Edited by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
The ‘River City Radio Hour’ combats the winter blues: The “River City Radio Hour” is bringing up the temperature with its Friday, Feb. 19 performances.
The ever-popular Boogie Kings headed by Richard Adams with William Hayes on keyboard and J. T. Fauber on percussion will warm the hearts with a new set of tunes. Joining them will be Andrea Saunders. Saunders has been singing since she was 13 and has won numerous talent contests and performed for many Valley benefit events. Active in area theatres, she was heralded for her exception performance of Always Patsy Kline at ShenanArts. Saunders serves in the National Guard as a combat medic and will be leaving soon for Texas to continue her military training as physical therapist.
February also marks the second installment of Bob Crawford’s new Night Hawk Mystery. In Chapter One of Night Hawk and Murder at Stan’s TV and Appliances, Chester Burch, aka the Night Hawk, agreed to locate Sally Swisher’s brother, whom she feared may have broken into Stan’s murdered the manager. Before they can locate the brother, they were lured into a basement room at Arnold’s Book Emporium and locked in with the rats and bats. In the new installment, Night Hawk must free them and find the lost brother before there is another murder. Featured in the role of Night Hawk is Bob Lunger. Read more
UVa. basketball: Back to reality
Choke points at point, center put Cavs’ NCAA run on the ropes
Column by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
All season long I’ve been saying the same thing about the Virginia basketball team that for a good run had everybody thinking, improbably, that the Cavs were headed back to the NCAA Tournament in Tony Bennett’s first year in Charlottesville.
How are they doing it?
Seems like opposing coaches are starting to figure out that this year’s UVa. group, at least, has not one, but two, choke points – at one and five.
“They’re leaving Jontel Evans all alone out there,” broadcaster Dan Bonner observed in the first half of Virginia’s 61-55 loss at Virginia Tech Saturday night, observing astutely that opponents aren’t all that concerned about the freshman starting point guard on the perimeter, nor should they be.
Evans is shooting 43.1 percent from the field, 18.2 percent (2-for-11) from three-point range and 50 percent (5-for-10) from the free-throw line in 2009-2010, horrific numbers across the board for a guard in the Bennett motion offense, which is designed first and foremost to get players open looks from the mid-range and from three. Read more
Business at Breakfast covers social media
Greater Augusta Regional Chamber of Commerce
www.augustachamber.org
Host: Greater Augusta Regional Chamber of Commerce
What: Business At Breakfast
When: Wed., Feb. 17, 8–9 a.m.
Location: GOE Plan, 540 Lew DeWitt Blvd., Suite 2, Waynesboro
Topic: How to use social media-in any kind of business.
Details: Speakers Jeff Goering, GOE Plan, and Chris Graham, Augusta Free Press Publishing, will be focusing on Facebook, Twitter and Linked In; providing samples of what and how to use these professional networks.
RSVP: chamber@ntelos.net, 540.324.1133 or 949.8203
Political Blogs: Sunday, Feb. 14
Featured: Jim McKelvey, Bill Bolling, Creigh Deeds
Jim McKelvey: Senate Bill 481
www.mckelveyforcongress.com
Once again politicians at every level of government do not get it. State Sen. Robert Hurt introduced SB 481; this bill essentially lowers the number of new employees a business must hire to be eligible for a tax credit. We need to stop writing new bills to solve private-sector problems. Instead we need to remove bills that weigh down business.
As a businessman I am not interested in another bill to give tax credits for hiring employees. People in the private sector are hired based on free-market demands, not on tax credits. As a small-business owner, try this on for size: cut taxes, drastically reduce the size of government, slash government spending and get rid of the over-burdensome regulation placed on business.
This bill and others like it are produced by government bureaucracies bent on writing new bills to justify their own existence. I have a tremendous respect for the new McDonnell administration and wish them all the best, not only for them, but also for the citizens of our great Commonwealth. But please, bring accountability and common sense back to our government.
Simplify, simplify, simplify! Read more
AFP.com Life Blogs: Sunday, Feb. 14
- Dad’s Point of View: Marriage – it’s complicated
- The Dinner Diva: More veggies
- The FlyLady: Make it fun, and the family will help
A Dad’s Point-of-View: Marriage – it’s complicated
Column by Bruce Sallan
www.brucesallan.com
My wife took me to see Nancy Meyers’ new movie, “It’s Complicated,” which stars Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, and Steve Martin. She had seen it a day or two before and wanted to see it with me saying, “It would be good for us.” Honestly, I do tend to like what is typically labeled “chick flicks” but don’t like director Nancy Meyers’ perfect world, perfect rich characters, perfect looking people, dressed and coifed just perfectly. But, for the sake of marital harmony, I agreed.
I didn’t expect what followed. Throughout the movie, my wife was jabbing me in the ribs whenever she wanted me to notice a point being made that she felt related to me or us. So, I left with bruised ribs, which ached even more toward the end of the movie during the one, truly hilarious scene. I really enjoyed laughing that hard, in spite of the pained ribs, which I’ve totally exaggerated for sympathy anyway.
Without a doubt, the best thing about the movie is that comic scene near the end. “It’s Complicated” is also that rare movie title that really works and has so many other relevant meanings related to life, marriage, raising kids, and even a facebook status. Read more
Check out the new WaynesboroGenerals.net
Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
The Waynesboro Generals debuted a new home website today – www.waynesborogenerals.net.
The site features updated news on the team and features on the people who make up the Waynesboro Generals organization.
The site debuted with a story about the 2010 schedule for the Generals, who open the 2010 Valley League season on the road at New Market on Saturday, June 5, then return home a night later on Sunday, June 6, to open their home schedule with Rockbridge.
The 44-game schedule includes a six-game series with the rival Staunton Braves, including the home opener against Staunton on Wednesday, June 9, and home games on July 6 and Aug. 1, the latter game part of a two-game home-and-home mini-series that could factor heavily in the 2010 playoff race.
You can download the schedule here. The schedule is also reproduced below. Read more
Valley gets $5M for green job training
Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
Blue Ridge Community College and James Madison University are among a group of Shenandoah Valley partners that will take part in a new program to train workers for jobs in the emerging green sector.
U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Jim Webb on Friday announced a $5 million investment from the federal economic-stimulus package that will go to the Shenandoah Valley Workforce Investment Board to get the job-training program off the ground.
“The formation of the Shenandoah Valley Energy Partnership is exactly the kind of forward-looking collaboration we need to help jump-start our economy and create next-generation jobs in the clean energy field,” said Sen. Warner. “This investment in training workers for new green energy represents an exciting opportunity for the entire Valley region.” Read more
Freeman throws hat into ring for Waynesboro City Council
Retired basketball referee in the running for Ward C seat
Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
Waynesboro native Jeff Freeman announced on Friday that he will run for the Ward C seat on Waynesboro City Council in the May 4 city elections.
“It’s a huge leap. I’m excited about it. I’m not a trained politician. You probably could tell that,” Freeman told AugustaFreePress.com after a brief speech in front of 25 people in the Council Chambers at the Charles T. Yancey Municipal Building.
The speech was light on specifics. The closest that the recently retired basketball referee came to sharing his thoughts on city government matters was a brief statement on industrial development. “We need to keep the industry we already have here. I believe we can do that without raising taxes and imposing fees, and that’s my hope and vision,” Freeman said. Read more
The Rant | An empty chair on health care
Video Essay by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
The response to President Obama’s invitation for a public dialogue among congressional leaders has been as deafening as silence can be.
It’s hard to dialogue with an empty chair, editor Chris Graham points out in today’s Rant. Read more
Poll: Hurt is the early frontrunner in the Fifth GOP race
Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
The conventional wisdom in the Fifth District Republican congressional race has been that Southside State Sen. Robert Hurt is the early frontrunner. A poll released Friday morning confrims the conventional wisdom.
Hurt leads the seven-candidate field with 22 percent of projected primary voters surveyed by Public Policy Polling this week expressing a preference for the veteran state legislator. Albemarle County Board of Supervisors member Ken Boyd is the only other candidate to register support in the double-digits, at 12 percent.
The tab undecided stands at 51 percent, indicating that there is much room for movement in the nearly four months leading up to the June primary that will decide on the Republican Party nominee. Read more
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David Reynolds: Bag it!
Posted on February 14, 2010 · 1 Comment
Column by David Reynolds
Submit guest columns: freepress2@ntelos.net
No wonder conservatives are so unhappy. They insist on having government both ways – less spending and fewer taxes. Why can’t they compromise on a couple of silly principles?
Therefore it is time for those nay saying Republicans to get off the president’s back. After all, our freshman president, a former freshman senator, is still learning the ways of Washington. How else can you explain blowing the cover off his health care plan? We found out that it had little to do with our bodies – more to do with the size of the body of government. Now I ask you, would Mr. Kennedy have been so greedy?
Sorry, I digress. Back to the ingenious ways governments pick your pocket and line theirs. They play a shell game with nickel and dime taxes. They think you won’t sweat the small stuff no matter how many ridiculous taxes and fees are levied. Besides, with each new tax there needs to be new government hires to administer them. Ah, those lawyers! They have us coming and going. Read more
Filed under Blogs · Tagged with david reynolds, grocery bag tax, grocery bag tax anacostia river, washington d.c.