Beamer wins Paterno Award
Frank Beamer was named this week as the winner of the inaugural Joseph V. Paterno Coach of the Year Award.
Beamer has led the Hokies to 11 straight wins, an ACC title, and a spot in the Orange Bowl versus Stanford. More impressively, he brought his team back from the brink of an 0-2 start, showing the poise and leadership that have been his trademarks for almost a quarter-century with the program. He’s the only FBS coach to win 10 or more games in each of the last seven seasons, while maintaining high academic standards and developing young pillars of the community. Virginia Tech’s latest graduation success rate is 79 percent, placing the school in the Top 25 on the field and in the classroom. Read more
Collegiate Baseball puts UVa. at #17
The Virginia baseball team has earned a #17 national ranking in the preseason Collegiate Baseball newspaper poll, as announced Monday (Dec. 20) by the publication. The Collegiate Baseball poll is the first of the major publications’ rankings to come out for the 2011 season.
Led by eighth-year head coach Brian O’Connor, Virginia returns 22 letterwinners this season from its 51-14 squad which won the ACC Coastal Division and a regional championship in 2010. Among the letterwinners are Danny Hultzen (Jr., Bethesda, Md.), the reigning ACC Pitcher of the Year and a 2011 preseason All-American, and Keith Werman (Jr., Vienna, Va.), a 2010 Second-Team All-ACC honoree. Read more
Documentary brings UVa. football history to life
Kevin Edds was moonlighting for ESPN in 1995 the night a Virginia football team upset #2 Florida State in Charlottesville. The then-recent UVa. alum purchased a tape of the game as a keepsake, but something was … lacking.
“There was no setup by a host to set the scene and put this win in perspective, so I started to write one up myself,” said Edds, now a Discovery Channel producer, whose effort to put the Florida State win in perspective led, 15 years later, to “Wahoowa: The History of Virginia Cavalier Football,” a documentary on the history of the South’s oldest college-football program.
Told in a style reminiscent of Ken Burns’ famed baseball and Civil War documentaries for PBS, “Wahoowa” goes all the way back to the Virginia football program’s origins in the late 19th century and through to the modern day. It was a labor of love for Edds, who admits sensing that “not many people could figure out how I was going to make a film about a program that had never won a national championship.”
“As a documentarian you try to present the story factually, but in order to tell the story I had to highlight the positives and at times downplay, but never dismiss, the negatives,” said Edds, who as a first-year student at UVa. in 1990 saw Virginia break its 29-game losing streak to Clemson in its home opener on the way to three weeks as the top-ranked team in the country, then drop its final three games in a blaze of inglory that included a demoralizing 38-13 loss to a three-win Virginia Tech team.
The history of Virginia football has plenty more lows to go with the highs. A particularly low point, a 28-game losing streak that spanned 1958-1960, is the point in UVa. football history that Edds boasts about the most.
“We have a hilarious photo of a sad cheerleader from those seasons, pom-poms by her sides, and frown on her face that captures the feeling surrounding the program. And we have four interviewees all talking about how bad the team was. Because of that, it makes the program’s rise to #1 in 1990 that much more impressive,” Edds said. “No one in 1960 sitting through that 28th-straight loss could ever have imagined the heights that the UVa team would reach that season and many others during the Welsh era. When Northwestern broke that consecutive-games losing streak in 1982, I was actually sad that we no longer held that distinction.”
The interview list is a veritable who’s who – a Hoos’ Hoo? – of Virginia football. A highlight for Edds was his sitdown with “Bullet” Bill Dudley, the 1940s star and college and pro football hall-of-famer who passed away in February. Edds also laments two interviews that got away – he tried but wasn’t successful in lining up interviews with CBS news anchor Katie Couric and “30 Rock”‘s Tina Fey about their UVa. years.
The film premiered at the Virginia Film Festival in November to strong audience reaction. “That was a real thrill,” Edds said.
The film is now available for purchase online at UVaFootballHistory.com.
Story by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
Governor, Republican group react to proposed state action countering DADT
Gov. Bob McDonnell wants to see the Virginia National Guard adhere to the same rules as the Department of Defense with respect to its treatment of gays and lesbians serving in the nation’s military.
McDonnell addressed the issue on his monthly call-in show on WTOP in response to questions that have arisen regarding legislation that Northern Virginia Republican Bob Marshall plans to introduce in the Virginia General Assembly next month that would ban gays and lesbians from openly serving in the Guard.
“Whatever the final guidelines of the Department of Defense, I would expect the National Guard bureau in Virginia to adhere to those rules so we would have one set of rules for the entire military,” said McDonnell, noting his personal exceptions to the legislation passed in Congress last week that ends the controversial don’t ask, don’t tell policy that had banned openly gay men and women from serving in the armed forces.
Marshall, in an interview with a Washington, D.C., TV station Monday night said he is introducing the legislation because of fears of the spread of sexually transmitted diseases from gay troops and the distraction that gay soldiers would have on straight men serving in the military.
“It’s a distraction when I’m on the battlefield and have to concentrate on the enemy 600 yards away and I’m worried about this guy whose got eyes on me,” Marshall said in the interview.
The Log Cabin Republican Group of Virginia, a gay and lesbian civil-rights advocacy group, condemned the Marshall proposal and Marshall’s “extreme and hateful beliefs.”
“With all the important problems facing our country and our commonwealth, Del. Marshall has chosen anti-gay prejudice to help gin up his base to promote his political career,” said David Lampo, the vice president of the Virginia Log Cabin Republicans. “His action is akin to the Southern bigots and officials who attacked President Truman when he ended the Jim Crow laws that governed our military, including the same weak and pathetic warnings about the ill effects he predicts our nation will suffer from ending the policy of government discrimination on the basis of service members’ sexual orientation.”
Story by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
McDonnell: Lack of access to health care is ‘just not the case’
Democrats are jumping on a comment made by Gov. Bob McDonnell on “Fox News Sunday” defending Ken Cuccinelli’s effort to challenge the constitutionality of the federal health-care reform signed into law in March.
“The fact is a lot of people that don’t have insurance are getting it right now. They’re not denied in the emergency rooms. They’re generally not denied by doctors. It’s not a pretty system, but the idea that people are not getting health care particularly for critical needs is just – is just not the case,” McDonnell said as a guest on the Sunday news show.
The notion that McDonnell thinks that access to emergency-room care is akin to protections for the 30 million Americans who don’t have health insurance “clearly shows that he and his Republican allies either don’t understand the problem or that they are unwilling to lift a finger to fix it. Whatever the cause, Bob McDonnell is woefully out of touch with the problems faced by Virginia’s working families,” said Democratic National Committee spokesman Alec Gerlach.
“McDonnell’s health care plan is simple – don’t get sick and don’t have an accident. Bob McDonnell is right about one thing however: It’s not a pretty system,” Gerlach said.
The governor’s office did not respond to a request from AugustaFreePress.com for a comment in response to the criticism from Gerlach on behalf of the DNC.
Story by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
The AFP on WREL: Busy sports holiday season
Editor Chris Graham joins WREL’s “Online with Jim Bresnahan” to talk Virginia sports.
The segment begins with the up-and-down Virginia men’s basketball team, which won in spite of itself Monday night over a one-win Norfolk State team. Which Cavs are the ones that are for real? The ones with wins on the road over Minnesota and Virginia Tech, or the ones with tougher-than-expected home wins over Radford and NSU?
Next up is a review of the classic 82-80 upset by the JMU women over UVa. Monday night at the Convo, and we wrap with an early preview of the Orange Bowl matchup pitting Virginia Tech and #4 Stanford.
UVa. escapes with narrow win over Norfolk State
Assane Sene tipped in a missed free throw with five seconds remaining to play Monday evening, and the Virginia Cavaliers survived a nightmarish effort to beat Norfolk State 50-49 here in John Paul Jones Arena.
Virginia (8-3), winning for the fifth straight time, was again without the services of leading scorer and rebounder Mike Scott, who missed his second straight game after arthroscopic ankle surgery last Thursday. But unlike Friday’s win over Oregon, in which the Cavaliers shot nearly 50 percent from the floor, tonight’s game saw the homestanding Hoos shoot a woeful 33 percent from the field. Read more
JMU women rally from 13 down to shock UVa.
The key to playing the JMU women’s basketball team is figuring out how to control senior point guard Dawn Evans. UVa. never seemed to get a handle on how to do that Monday night.
Evans scored a Convocation Center record 42 points, with 13 in the final four minutes and a most important three with 34.2 seconds left that gave the Dukes its first lead since the opening minute of the game, and JMU held on to win, 82-80, in front of a small but raucous group at the Convo.
Virginia (7-5) led by as many as 13 in the second half and led 78-68 with three minutes to go before storming back with a 10-0 run to tie it at 78 on an Evans jumper with 1:23 left. Ariana Moorer and Ataira Franklin each hit 1-of-2 free throws to give Virginia an 80-78 lead with 45 seconds left.
Evans’ three, off a high-screen-and-roll that Virginia could not stop in the final minutes, made it 81-80 James Madison. Jalissa Taylor made 1-of-2 at the line to extend the lead to 82-80. UVa. had two chances in the final nine seconds, but Chelsea Shine missed a jumper from the left corner with nine seconds left, and Lexie Gerson missed from inside the lane at the buzzer to end it.
Shine led five Cavs in double figures with 19 points.
JMU (6-5) also got double-figure outputs from Tarik Hislop (12 points) and Lauren Jimenez (10 points).
Story by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
Local roads projects moving forward
At its December meeting, the Commonwealth Transportation Board awarded several projects in the Virginia Department of Transportation Staunton District. The VDOT Staunton District serves Frederick, Shenandoah, Clarke, Warren, Page, Rockingham, Augusta, Highland, Rockbridge, Alleghany and Bath counties.
- In Augusta County a 3.6-mile paving and road rehabilitation project valued at $7,641,953.24 was awarded to Lanford Brothers Co. Inc. of Roanoke. This project is on Interstate 81 southbound between mile markers 214 and 217.6 (between exit 217 at Route 654 in Mint Spring and exit 213 at Route 11 in Greenville) and is an area where the entire road must be milled and reconstructed down below the current road bed due to failing pavement and subsurface areas. The project will include up to eight single-lane closure periods in the spring and summer of 2011. Each closure period will last from Friday night through Thursday morning with detours in place. The work includes pavement rehabilitation, guardrail and rumble strips. The completion date is June 30, 2012.
- In Page County the bridges and approaches on Route 340 at Compton Creek and the Norfolk Southern Railroad will be replaced. The $23,870,366.60 contract was awarded to Kanawha Stone Co. Inc. of Nitro W.Va. This location is between 3.48 and 1.07-miles south of the Page/Warren County line. This project replaces the two deteriorated bridges built in 1936. The roadway improvements provide two 12-foot lanes with ten-foot shoulders, four feet of which will be paved. Two lanes of traffic will be maintained at all times with the exception of minor flagging operations during non-peak hours. All residents along the project will be provided access to their property throughout construction. The completion date is October 31, 2013.
- In Warren County a $2,487,177.33 project was awarded to Perry Engineering Co Inc. of Winchester for work on Route 658 (Rockland Road). The project will realign Route 658 across from Route 627 (Reliance Road) and install turn lanes and a signal. A circular cul-de-sac will be constructed at the end of the existing Route 658 intersection with Route 340/522. This project will improve traffic flow from the Kelly Industrial Park by relocating Route.658 across from Route 627. The new intersection will be built 690 feet south of the existing intersection of Route 658 and Route 340/522. Route 658 will have two 12-foot westbound lanes with a 16-foot raised median and a single 12-foot eastbound lane. The two westbound lanes and grass median will taper to a 4-foot raised grass median. A single 12-foot eastbound lane with a left turn lane will tie Route 658 to a short connector road. The connector road consists of two 12-foot travel lanes with four-foot shoulders and extends to existing Route 658 across from the DuPont entrance. The completion date is June 1, 2012.
- A contract valued at $3,154,896.00 was awarded to DTH Contract Services Inc. of Dunn, N.C. for property management and maintenance services for the ten safety rest areas in the Staunton and Culpeper Districts. The contract term is for one year, with five one-year renewal options.
- An on-call traffic signal installation contract valued at $2,319,533.05 for work in the Staunton and Culpeper Districts was awarded to Richardson-Wayland Electrical Co. LLC of Roanoke. This project provides an on-call contractor to install new traffic signals, modifying existing traffic signals, and complete traffic signal replacement. The construction engineering cost is $278,343.97
- A regional bridge painting contract valued at $3,836,095.00 was awarded to V. H. P. Enterprises Inc. Tarpon Spring, Fla. for work in Alleghany, Bath & Rockbridge counties. The completion date is June 15, 2012.
- A contract for surface treatment paving in Highland, Alleghany, Bath and Rockbridge counties was awarded to Whitehurst Paving Co. Inc. of Richmond. The contract value is $2,048,021.84.
Edited by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
Retired auto exec challenges Dems to reclaim small-town values
Retired Ford executive Bob Terrell was reminded of his childhood while working with a U.S. soldier returning from Afghanistan struggling to get back on his feet.
“In 2001, we sent our young men and women to war to die and be wounded and maimed, and here at home 98 percent of us have gone on our way without much regard to what’s happening to those families of those troops. We’ve gone our way with greed and corruption. No-bid contracts. Hundreds of billions of dollars wasted in Iraq that no one can account for. Here we are grappling in Washington over all these little issues, and people in our country are carrying an enormous burden,” said Terrell, a first-time author at 77 with the release of Have We Lost Our Common Sense?
A small-town Kentucky native, Terrell, a military veteran who was an executive at Ford for 30 years, thinks Democrats need to stand up and reclaim the traditional small-town, common-sense values that the party was based on. Republicans have cornered the market on small-town, common-sense values of late, but to Terrell what the GOP presents as small-town and common-sense is a mirage.
“Some of the people that claim to be the biggest patriots are the ones that say no to the emergency workers in New York, say no on health care, and they’re the ones that constantly stand up for the wealthy, powerful people in this country,” Terrell said.
The gap between the wealthy and the working class has widened considerably since the Reagan tax cuts of the early 1980s. Terrell recalls getting lectured on the dangers of income disparity in the late 1980s while talking shop with friends in the Japanese auto industry.
“They said they kept an eye on the gap between what executives are making and what people on the assembly line were making,” Terrell said. “You have to make sure to protect the middle class, because that’s your base of consumers.”
It’s not all bad Republicans – Terrell is also critical of Democrats for pushing a complicated health-care reform that few congressmen took the time to read before signing on and most of us still don’t understand months after its passage.
“Most often, simple and direct common-sense ways of doing things are better than long, drawnout and complex methods that nobody understands,” Terrell said.
Terrell hopes his book can serve as a wakeup call to people on both sides of the partisan divide.
“We’ve got a lot of people who are beginning to realize that their hopes and opportunities for the future are shrinking. We’d better wake up,” Terrell said. “We’ve got a great country. It’s worth fighting and standing up for, and it takes teamwork. We can disagree, but we’ve got to find a way to work together.”
Column by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
Seminary releases evening, online schedule for spring 2011
Eastern Mennonite Seminary, a graduate school of theological education on the Eastern Mennonite University campus, is offering two evening classes and three online courses during the spring semester, 2011.
• Kevin A. Clark, assistant professor of spiritual formation, will teach “Spiritual Formation for Congregational Discernment” 6:30-9:10 p.m. Tuesdays, Jan. 11-April 26.
• Dan Garrett, adjunct instructor in United Methodist studies, will teach “Sacramental Theology and Liturgical Practice,” 6:30-9:10 p.m. Tuesdays, Jan. 11-Apr. 26.
The seminary online courses are:
• “Christ in a Communication Culture: Communicating in Today’s Global, Digital, Relational World,” led by Julie Gochenour, adjunct instructor;
• “Ethics and Nonviolence: Sermon on the Mount” led by N. Gerald Shenk, adjunct instructor; and
• “Anabaptism Today,” led by Mark Thiessen Nation, professor of theology.
These courses begin Jan. 10 and end April 29 and may be taken for academic credit. Registration ends Jan. 10.
For more information, contact the office of seminary admissions, at 540.432.4257, e-mail semadmiss@emu.edu or visit www.emu.edu/seminary.
Edited by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
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The AFP on WREL: Busy holiday sports season
Posted on December 21, 2010 · Leave a Comment
The segment begins with the up-and-down Virginia men’s basketball team, which won in spite of itself Monday night over a one-win Norfolk State team. Which Cavs are the ones that are for real? The ones with wins on the road over Minnesota and Virginia Tech, or the ones with tougher-than-expected home wins over Radford and NSU?
Next up is a review of the classic 82-80 upset by the JMU women over UVa. Monday night at the Convo, and we wrap with an early preview of the Orange Bowl matchup pitting Virginia Tech and #4 Stanford.
Filed under Blogs · Tagged with jmu basketball, orange bowl, stanford virginia tech, virginia basketball, virginia tech football