Sampson named to Hall of Fame
Former Virginia standout Ralph Sampson is one of eight members of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame’s induction class of 2011. Sampson is the first Virginia player to be selected for induction into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.
The induction class, which was announced on Monday (Feb. 28), includes players Chris Mullin, Cazzie Russell, James Worthy and Sampson, coaches Bob Knight and Eddie Sutton, and contributors Eddie Einhorn and Joe Vancisin. Read more
Mason earns spot in Top 25
After completing the regular season with a 15-game winning streak including victories this past week over Northeastern and at Georgia State, the George Mason men’s basketball team cracked the Top 25 on Monday for the first time in five years. Mason is ranked 25th in the latest ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll with 70 total votes.
The last time the Patriots entered the Top 25 of the Coaches Poll during the regular season was Feb. 20, 2006, when Mason ranked 25th. That team went on to the Final Four and finished the season ranked eighth in the Coaches Poll after the historic postseason run. Read more
Allen named ACC Player of the Week
Virginia Tech’s Jeff Allen has been selected as the ACC Player of the Week.
In earning the Player of the Week award for the third time this season and fourth time in his career, Allen averaged 17.5 points, 11.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists as the Hokies posted key ACC wins over Wake Forest and Duke. In Tuesday’s 76-62 win at Wake Forest, the Washington, D.C., native had 17 points and eight rebounds in 29 minutes of action.
Four nights later, Allen posted his eighth double-double in the last nine games, and 15th overall on the year, finishing with 18 points and 15 rebounds in a 64-60 win over the top-ranked Blue Devils.
Chamber hosts Regional Job Fair
The Harrisonburg-Rockingham Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with the Daily News-Record, is hosting its Regional Job Fair on Thursday, March 17, noon to 6 p.m. at the Harrisonburg First Church of the Nazarene, 1871 Boyers Road in Harrisonburg. This event is brought to you by the Shenandoah Valley Energy Partnership and the Workforce Investment Board.
The Chamber invites local businesses that are planning to hire in 2011 to exhibit at the event. Employers will have the opportunity to recruit from a large pool of qualified applicants.
“Attendance at the fair has grown every year,” says Frank Tamberrino, Chamber President and CEO. “With the unemployment rate holding steady at 6.7% in Harrisonburg and 5.4% in Rockingham County, we anticipate the trend will continue this year. In 2010, more than 1000 jobseekers took advantage of the Regional Job Fair.
The Chamber will offer a new service to attendees at the event this year. Career coaches will be available to provide guidance that will help jobseekers make a great personal impression and job connection. A free shuttle service, sponsored by The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and National College will also be available, making it even more convenient for jobseekers to attend. Stops will include the National College and the Virginia Employment Commission.
Booth space at the Job Fair includes an 8″ x 10″ space, one table, and two chairs. The cost to exhibit is $100 for non-members and $50 for Chamber members. Admission to this event is free and open to the public. For more information or to register as an exhibitor, visit the Chamber’s website at www.hrchamber.org or call 540.434.3862.
Robert Hurt: The Fifth District economy needs the freedom to grow
It was great to be back in Central and Southside Virginia for the past week. I believe that my ability to be a good representative in Congress depends on listening to and hearing from the people across the Fifth District, and this past work week I had the opportunity to meet with a variety of constituents, organizations, and business leaders.
With the economy remaining the number one area of concern for Central and Southside Virginians, I traveled across the district holding business roundtables in Chatham, Bedford, and Farmville and spoke with the local members of the Danville-Pittsylvania County, Halifax County, Martinsville-Henry County, Lynchburg, and Charlottesville Chambers of Commerce.
The input I heard from our employers and employees provided me with critical insight as we continue to work to get our economy back on track.
One of the overwhelming messages I heard was how the expansion of the federal government into the private sector has directly and negatively impacted businesses both small and large in the Fifth District.
Almost every one of our business leaders expressed serious concern about the number of unnecessary, government mandated regulations. Not only do these excessive and burdensome regulations end up costing critical resources in the short term, but the uncertainty of future and pending regulations stops them from being able to adequately plan for the future.
It is clear that our businesses will not have the confidence necessary to expand and create long lasting jobs for Central and Southside Virginians until we reduce the number of onerous government regulations that are injecting an incredible amount of uncertainty into our marketplace.
With this knowledge in hand, our work in Washington becomes even more important as we begin our efforts in committees to identify and eliminate those regulations that are overreaching and adding a tremendous weight and cost on business.
As we seek to put policies in place that will help move our economy forward, I will continue to take with me the important messages I heard this week from our local business leaders and the people throughout the Fifth District.
If you need any additional information on these or any other issues, please visit my website at hurt.house.gov or call my Washington office: (202) 225-4711, Charlottesville office: (434) 973-9631, or Danville office: (434) 791-2596
Robert Hurt represents the Fifth District in the United States House of Representatives.
Waynesboro Senior Center weekly update
Yard Sale Time
Everyone loves a good deal! Several of the Center members and volunteers have come together to plan a monthly indoor yard sale to raise money for the Center. The sales will be held on the first Thursday and Friday of each month from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The one for March is coming up on March 3 & 4. Anyone is welcome to come. The sale is setup in one of the rooms on the long hallway. Please do not show up before 10 a.m. because we won’t have anyone to staff the sale earlier.
Since we are planning to have this sale each month, we will also be looking for donations of gently used clean items. We are not accepting large furniture or clothing at this time. Donation drop offs can be made Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. We are a non-profit organization and donations are tax deductible as allowed by law.
Weekly Menu
MONDAY: Beef tips with mushroom gravy, rice, mixed vegetables, fruit
TUESDAY: Baked fish, potato fingers, greens, pears
WEDNESDAY: Breaded chicken breast, macaroni and cheese, peas and carrots, mandarin oranges
THURSDAY: Bbq pork, baked beans, calico coleslaw, fruit cocktail
FRIDAY: Beef piccata, diced potato, green beans, fruit
Lunch is served at 11:45 a.m. each day. All meals are served with milk and bread and provide one-third of the daily nutrition value required for adults. Call 942-1838 to make reservations by 10 a.m. on the day you plan to attend.
Waynesboro Senior Center
The Waynesboro Senior Center, sponsored by Valley Program for Aging Services, invites people 60 years of age and older to participate in a variety of programs to be offered in the coming week. The center, at 325 Pine Ave., in the Jackson-Wilson building, is open 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Transportation is provided as needed by a VPAS van driver, who also helps with shopping trips and appointments to local doctors. Contributions toward expenses are accepted. Additional information can be found at www.waynesboroseniorcenter.org.
Submitted by Janice Gentry, executive director, Waynesboro Senior Center
A letter is better
Think about your mailbox. When was the last time you received a letter? Magazines, bills, business promotions, and newsletters do not count, just a genuine personal letter from a friend, sister, brother, cousin, old classmate, or neighbor. Been a while? How about the last time you sent one yourself?
We live in an age of technology where it takes us literally seconds to contact each other. There’s email, Facebook, twitter, instant messaging services, and texting; we all have our go to sites and gadgets. However, while we are losing the seconds it takes to contact someone, are we also losing the seconds or minutes where we actually think about what we are saying? Kevin Blackford, the postmaster in Stuarts Draft, feels that we are and has decided to do something about it.
Four years ago, Blackford decided to start the A Letter is Better program, along with the help of the Stuarts Draft Ruritans Club. The idea it is to give students in grades K-8 the opportunity in a classroom setting to write and send a handwritten letter to a close friend or family member. Blackford’s attempt to bring back the art of letter writing has already involved over 3,000 students in elementary schools in the area. Previous schools involved in the program include Verona Elementary and Guy K. Stump Elementary.
Stuarts Draft Elementary was the school selected this year for participation; the school choosing to run the program school-wide, rather than just to a specific grade or class, as some schools have done in the past. “We have 603 students here; he supplied each student with a prepaid envelope,” assistant principal Patty Black explained, “Each child in the building, preschool through 5, has written a letter to a person of their choice.”
Along with Blackford, Black agrees that the younger generation needs to understand the value of communication. “I think that writing a letter is very personal. So instead of quick text message or email, I think the whole thought of deciding who you are going to write to and why it is that you want to write to them and actually then taking the time to write it down on paper makes it a very personal experience. I did have the opportunity to read a variety of letters that teachers have brought to me after they read them and even our preschool students have really important things to say to the people that they chose.”
As expected, the style of writing and the letter recipients varied according to age and circumstances of the student. Blackford stating off past experiences that, “it’s interesting to see how the interest changes depending on the age. For the very little ones, all the letters go to mom. As they get older, we’ve seen them include dad. By the time they’re in fifth grade they’re thinking about their grandparents and friends.” Examples were shown of some of the pre-k letters, showing simple drawings and either short words the students had thrown together, or sentences that had been dictated by a teacher for the students. “When you do it every year, it’s neat to watch the progression of the students’ writing.”
Black wanted to allow the students to have a choice in who their letters went to and confided that some of the results even surprised her. “We have students here who chose to write to their parents, students who chose to write to classmates that moved away that they have stayed in touch with, we have one student who is having some major health issues and he actually chose to write to his primary care physician. Some chose to send letters to grandparents; we have one child who wrote a letter to be mailed out to Mexico because he has family there. So it is completely student choice.”
Mr. Crowder, a first-year second-grade teacher, felt that the program provided an opportunity for him to teach his students more about writing structure. “I felt it was a good experience for our class because we learned the five parts of a friendly letter.” He continued by saying that all of the students used the school’s address as the return address so that the students could read to the class any responses they receive.
The Stuarts Draft Elementary administration has expressed an interest in making A Letter is Better an annual event for the entire school, and hope that the students will continue their written correspondences either through the school or at home. Blackford himself would like to expand the program into more middle schools, as well as other schools in Waynesboro and Augusta County.
With 603 students writing letters, the cost of postage is about $250, but all of this money is donated by the Stuarts Draft Ruritans Clubs; as they have done every year and for each school. “Cost is a factor, but the impact is worth it because 600 kids writing to 600 people, that over 1,000 people affected by the simple act of writing,” Blackford proclaimed with a smile.
Story by Suzi Foltz. Suzi is an intern with AugustaFreePress.com and a senior at Wilson Memorial High School.
Reading for those who cannot
After World War II ended, thousands of GIs were guaranteed a college education by the newly passed GI Bill of Rights; however, many had been blinded in combat and were unable to read the textbooks that they had been given. Anne T. Macdonald, Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic’s founder, had been working at the New York Public Library’s Women’s Auxiliary, and was moved by letters from soldiers requesting an alternative way to educate themselves. Macdonald then led the Women’s Auxiliary to record textbooks for the servicemen on Sound Scriber vinyl phonograph discs, and thus, Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic was born.
This program is a nonprofit organization that uses volunteers to record textbooks for those who cannot access the printed word. They are the nation’s largest provider of audio educational materials to those who cannot effectively read standard print. They have grown to have approximately 300,000 members, some 30 percent having visual impairments, more that 60 percent have learning disabilities, and a small percentage having physical disabilities that prevent them from being able to hold or access a book. RFB&D record every level of material – from children’s storybooks (where young children can follow along and learn to read by looking and listening) to medical school and law school texts.
The organization is very proud to still have a very strong and active Veterans Outreach component. Service members who suffered brain trauma and blindness while fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan use the audio texts to further their educations and as part of their rehabilitation. RFB&D even received an award in 2009 from the Blinded American Veterans Foundation, in recognition of these efforts; but the company has grown to mean a lot to members of all ages and of all circumstances, not just servicemen.
Mary Ann Coffey, the production director of the Charlottesville studio, who has just recently celebrated her sixth year anniversary with the organization, explains the importance of the organization by say, “We receive some beautiful notes from individuals who credit RFB&D with changing their lives, and thanking the volunteers for their help. And there is strong research, carried out by Johns Hopkins, Tufts and Rutgers, among others, that audio texts can result in significant gains in word recognition, reading rate and comprehension (leaping more than a grade level) as well as increasing motivation, self-confidence, interest in reading, and independence among students who have visual, learning or other print disabilities and need accommodation in instruction.”
Coffey had previously been a lawyer by education and work experience and only started out at RFB&D as a volunteer reader; reading law books. “I cannot imagine where I would be in my life if I could not read, so I wanted to spread that capability to those who cannot enjoy the printed word.”
All members receive their CDs or digital downloads from the company’s headquarters and digital library in Princeton, N.J. The library there has “books” that have been recorded by volunteers at 20 studios across the nation. There are studios located in New York; Princeton; Boston; Washington D.C.; Chicago; Los Angeles; Charlottesville; Athens, Ga.; Boca Raton, Fla.; Austin, Texas; Denver, Colo.; and Phoenix, Ariz. The studios have all sprouted up as the result of grassroots action.
The Charlottesville studio records 350+ books annually, with the help of 200 active volunteers who contribute 12,000 hours each year, while there are over 6,600 books recorded nationally during a year, and there are some 130,000 audio titles already available in the library.
“Our Charlottesville studio was opened in 1958, and is strongly supported by the region. We have volunteers who come from Waynesboro and Fishersville and from Richmond, among other places. Our strength is probably our medical readers; we have many people who were or are in the health professions volunteering for us,” Coffey said of her own branch. The large dependency of medical text from the area comes from the studio’s closeness to the University of Virginia’s Medical Center and the large amounts of volunteers with some medical expertise. “Studios get books based on the talent they have to read them. Each studio has a database of skills that shows whether a person there would have the capabilities to read them, and whether or not the volunteers would have enough hours to put the book through.”
One of RFB&D’s long standing traditions is their annual Record-a-Thon event. “It is our annual opportunity to make the community aware of our services, recognize and reward our volunteers with some fun books, food and attention, and raise friends and funds,” Coffey said of the event. “We are hosting an Open House at our studio on Tuesday, March 1, from 2 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., and everyone is welcome! We will have tours of our recording studio, lots of information on membership services, on volunteer opportunities and on the digital audio technology we use, and exerts to visit with. We also welcome any chance to speak to clubs, organizations, church groups, educational associations any time during the year on RFB&D.”
For anyone interested in volunteering to record, the Charlottesville studio holds a training session each month. Recording is a computer based process, and there are various steps that each volunteer must pass through, as they build on the initial training. Once the process is mastered, volunteers may audition to become a reader. Please call Marcia Rosen-House at 434.326.4956 to learn more. Marcia is available Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday each week, from 9 to 4.
Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic is solely supported through donations and grants and would greatly appreciate community support for their studio, volunteers, and members. Contributions can be made at or addressed to RFB&D, 3500 Remson Court, Charlottesville, VA 22901, or people can support RFB&D on-line at the link below and then on “Sponsor This Team” on the team page.
Dates for volunteers
- March 1: Educator and Community Open House, 2-6:30 p.m.
- Feb. 28–March 5: Volunteers record extra hours during the event
To learn more, visit www.recordathon.org/charlottesville
Story by Suzi Foltz. Suzi is an intern with AugustaFreePress.com and a senior at Wilson Memorial High School.
Chris Graham: Eat fresh? Hardly
I kept giving Subway chances because, well, you know, I want to eat fresh.
(OK, their commercials annoy me. I’m just glad Febru-any-any is only 28 days.)
It’s not the commercials that have kept me away for months. It’s the way the submakers use whatever dirty knife is laying around to cut my sub into two before wrapping it up.
I don’t like mayo, don’t like vinegar, don’t like anything on my subs except lettuce and tomato, salt and pepper.
So when I order my sub – turkey, ham, sometimes chicken – with lettuce and tomato, salt and pepper, what makes it seem logical to anybody that I’d want the knife that just cut up the sub in front of me that had everything in the store in terms of add-ons to touch my sub?
And yet … without fail, the last several times I’ve gone to Subway that’s exactly what’s happened.
And yes, i can easily just request, Hey, you know, could you please use a clean knife?
A couple of the times that I’ve done that my request has been met with sneers and then a blank stare – as if I’m being a difficult customer or something.
And maybe I am. Maybe it’s par for the course these days that you shouldn’t expect to get it your way, especially if “your way” means “clean and sanitary.”
Either way, I gave up a few months ago.
More columns by Chris at TheWorldAccordingToChrisGraham.com.
House, Senate reach budget agreement
The House of Delegates and State Senate were able to come to an agreement on amendments to the 2010-2012 state budget on Sunday – with highlights of the deal including no new taxes or fees, no earmarks for non-state agencies and no funding or debt on a new General Assemly office building.
“By setting clear priorities, the General Assembly has produced responsible and fiscally sound budget amendments,” House Speaker Bill Howell said today in a statement on the House-Senate agreement, which came a day after the legislature’s budget deadline.
A priority for the Republican-led House was holding the line on taxes and fees, and the agreement with the Senate does that and actually rolls back fee increases of $5.7 million adopted last year. Another House GOP priority line in the area of increasing deposits into the state Rainy Day Fund also found its way into the compromise package, with an additional $114 million to go to the fund in the coming fiscal year.
Edited by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
Second-inning fourspot stands up for ECU
East Carolina scored four runs with two out in the second inning, and the Pirates made it stand up in a 4-3 win over the No. 10 Virginia baseball team Sunday afternoon at Davenport Field. Virginia, which dropped its first game in seven outings this season, scored single runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings but could not dig itself out of the early hole. Read more
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David Reynolds: Pay at the pump
Posted on February 28, 2011 · Leave a Comment
Those running this state live in another state — the state of denial. As a result they believe they can get Virginia moving again by the following: building 18th Century toll roads; ending 20th century Prohibition; carving up Virginia; creating urban-rural wars; and the latest, by making interest payments instead of making roads.
None will work. Because few have the political courage to say that the solution to our transportation needs can be seen at every busy intersection. It is called the gas tax. It is almost the perfect tax — an easy to administer fee that directly benefits the user. If God imposed an angel fuel tax for every flight into heaven I would not object.
Yet here on earth the state’s ruling class believes that a hike in the gas tax is a punishable crime. The punishment, they believe, is being booted out of office. But you and I don’t hold office. So we have higher priorities. It is personal mobility and having that package delivered on time. Our punishment is different. We sit behind a wheel and don’t move. And that special package arrives late.
Virginians are smart. They know that such punishment is not necessary. They know that the state gas tax was last raised when many of us were too young to hold of a driver’s license. It was in 1987, over 24 years ago, when we last raised the tax. However, if the gas tax is raised just a Jefferson nickel, almost $200 million could be dedicated to meeting our transportation needs! Using data provided by DMV we know that in Fiscal 2010 $700 million was collected on almost four billion gallons sold in Virginia. At 17.5 cents per gallon that equals $40 million for each penny of tax.
We all know the tired arguments against raising the gas tax. Let’s take the GOP mantra: Hard working Virginians can not afford any additional taxes in these tough times. Fact: If the gas tax went up five cents an area worker commuting to Charlottesville with a car getting 20 mpg would have his weekly travel expenses increased by a whopping $1.25. That is less than the cost of one cup of coffee. For the whole week! And far less than February’s hike in pump prices.
Then there is the argument that Virginia would become less competitive with its neighboring states. Fact: The average gas tax in our neighboring states is almost a dime higher, ranging from $0.214 for Tennessee to $0.322 for West Virginia and North Carolina. Maryland is $0.235.
Then there is the argument that if the state tax is raised, the federal tax, now 18.4 cents, compounds the burden. That is one way to look at our political world — let the federal government do the heavy lifting. And complain.
As for those “No new tax” pledges, they mean no increase in the total tax burden. The voting majority will accept a “zero-sum” tax game whereby tax increases in one area are offset by deceases in another. Our new governor has failed to do that. According to one state senator, the $191 million in savings touted by Mr. McDonnell is mainly a shifting of who pays rather than addressing actual efficiencies to reduce costs.
Too many governors and too members of the General Assembly assume that every penny of the gas tax is passed on to the public. Not so. If that were the case the pump price difference would be exactly the tax difference. The wholesale distributor and the retailer are still in charge of setting prices. For example, the average pump price in North Carolina is six cents above Virginia while the NC tax is 9 cents higher. The same story holds for our other neighboring states.
Two more points. (1) When revenues are dedicated to specific programs, i.e., lottery proceeds that support public schools, there is broad public support. Otherwise we would not have lottery ads. (2) Out-of-state drivers pay up to a third of the fuel taxes collected in Virginia. I guess we don’t want others to help pay for our roads.
Now that you are with me, the issue becomes how to do it. Indexing is always politically safe. If Governor Baliles’ 1987 hike were indexed to inflation the state gas tax would be about double or 35 cents per gallon. Or a gradual increase of a few pennies a year should be politically safe. But, as usual, Richmond misreads Virginia.
So why blame government when the fault, dear Brutes, lies with ourselves. And the Japanese. Car manufacturers are building more fuel-efficient vehicles. We buy them. Why not build and buy more gas guzzlers? That way more gas would be sold and more tax collected.
Bad idea? That’s what I thought. Would you settle for buying less gasoline but add a nickel or a dime to it? Good! Virginia, we have lift off.
Filed under Blogs · Tagged with david reynolds, gas prices, road funding, virginia transportation