Not only will 21 bands be there, but there will also be eight vendors and countless artists, including live-art performances featuring canvas painting, graffiti walls, hula hooping and fire dancing.

The festival has been a dream of Logan Byrd and his college friend, David Eiserman. With the help of Logan’s father, Tim Byrd, the dream has been made a reality.

“Crimora is pretty conservative, so we needed a little help getting all of this together. Ron Sites over at the Augusta Parks and Recreation helped a lot. We couldn’t have done it without him,” said Logan Byrd, whose band, Momentary Prophets will also be performing at the festival.

“We just wanted to get people together to hear good music. There are a lot of bands with a message here. The main thing is to build a community and promote conscious living,” Byrd said.

There will be talks and lectures about sustainability and ecoconsciousnes. The food provided will be all organic vegan.

The festival is a family-friendly event complete with morning yoga on Friday and Saturday mornings.

“This is just a really great way to network and bring people together with a common interest, music,” Byrd said.

Tickets are on sale at the door for $40 for the entire weekend and $20 for a day pass. Music kicks off at 5:30 p.m. Thursday evening.

To check out the full festival lineup, visit http://nomadicrootsfestival.com.
 
 

Story by Jenny Hypes. Jenny can be reached at jenny.hypes@emu.edu.

This is the fourth year in a row that the Foundation has received this honor. The Community Foundation is one of 75 not-for-profits nationwide—including arts and cultural organizations, libraries and universities—to receive a grant to host a Big Read project between September 2010 and June 2011.

The Big Read gives communities the opportunity to come together to read, discuss, and celebrate one of 31 selections from U.S. and world literature. The Big Read 2011 in Staunton, Waynesboro, and Augusta County will focus on Carson McCullers’ novel, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. Activities will take place throughout March of 2011.

“We were especially honored to receive the grant this year,” commented Christiana Shields, the Foundation’s Grants Manager. “In 2009, the NEA awarded over 300 Big Read grants. This year it was cut down to only 75, many of whom were new grantees. It really speaks to the quality of programming our community has provided over the past three years.” The Community Foundation, in partnership with the Staunton Public Library, the Waynesboro Public Library, the Augusta County Library, and The News Leader, has hosted three extremely successful Big Reads, with a multitude of community assistance, featuring events all over the community in libraries, schools, restaurants, theaters, galleries, nursing homes, and clinics, among other places.

“The arts in general – and literature, in particular – often serve as an expression of our shared values.　 This is exactly why they are so effective as a fulcrum for community engagement,” said NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman.　 “Thanks to these 75 grants, communities nationwide will be inspired, delighted and challenged by a book they are discovering for the first time, or an old favorite to which they are returning.”

Becky Kohler, the Community Foundation’s CEO, agrees with this. “We are thrilled to once again be included in this select group of communities. It is a wonderful opportunity for Staunton, Waynesboro, and Augusta County, and will serve as both a catalyst to bring our community together and a highly creative effort to encourage literary reading.”

The community’s 2010 Big Read, which centered around Ray Bradbury’s seminal novel, Fahrenheit 451, featured over 92 events throughout Staunton, Waynesboro, and Augusta County. In addition to the public libraries, over 32 community partner organizations participated. Books, Reader’s Guides, Teaching Guides, and other materials were also distributed free of charge to all the public high schools in the area. Several middle schools and Blue Ridge Community College also had students reading and discussing the book. “We had over 1,000 people participate in book discussions alone,” commented Shields, “not to mention the thousands of others who attended the theatrical presentations, musical events, gallery shows, and the multitude of other events that tied into the novel.”

The Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts designed to restore reading to the center of American culture. The NEA presents The Big Read in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and in cooperation with Arts Midwest. Support for The Big Read has been provided by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, the Boeing Company, the Poetry Foundation, and the Ford Motor Company.

For more information about The Big Read please visit www.neabigread.org.
 
 

Edited by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.

“The award winners and all of the nominees for each category are outstanding representatives of our regional EMS system,” said CSEMSC President Gary Critzer.

The CSEMSC award winners include:

· Award for Excellence in EMS – Dr. Asher Brand, Regional Operational Medical Director.

· CSEMS Senior Squad Member Award – Gary Moyers, Waynesboro First Aid Crew, City of Waynesboro.

· Outstanding EMS Telecommunications Officer/Dispatcher – Steve Reese, Rockbridge Emergency Communications Center.

· Outstanding EMS Pre-Hospital Provider – Susan Sweet, Waynesboro First Aid Crew, City of Waynesboro.

· Outstanding EMS Pre-Hospital Educator – Hunter Shomo, Staunton-Augusta Rescue Squad, City of Staunton.

· Outstanding Contribution to EMS by a Nurse – Brandy Hostetter, Carilion Stonewall Jackson Hospital, Lexington.

· Outstanding EMS Administrator –Steve Higgins, Harrisonburg Rescue Squad, City of Harrisonburg.

· Outstanding EMS Agency – Augusta County Fire and Rescue.

· Outstanding Contribution to EMS – Rockbridge County Administration.

· CSEMS Kevin Sperka Award (Junior Member Award) – Logan Parker, Stuarts Draft Rescue Squad, Augusta County.

· CSEMS High School Senior Scholarship ($1,000) – Logan Parker, Stuarts Draft Rescue Squad, Augusta County.

The award winners’ nominations have been submitted to the Virginia EMS Advisory Board to compete at the state level in the Governor’s EMS Awards. The winners will be announced on Nov. 13 in Norfolk at the Annual Virginia EMS Symposium, Critzer said.

The Central Shenandoah EMS Council serves the counties of Augusta, Bath, Highland, Rockbridge, Rockingham, and the cities of Buena Vista, Harrisonburg, Lexington, Staunton and Waynesboro. The regional EMS council is an integral part of Virginia’s comprehensive EMS system. It serves to assess, identify, coordinate, plan and implement an efficient and effective regional EMS delivery system in partnership with the Virginia Office of Emergency Medical Services and the Governor’s EMS Advisory Board.
 
 

Edited by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.

The biggest project: what is being called “Phase II” of the University Commons, a $2.4 million funded project that will largely benefit and enhance fine arts programs at EMU.

The former student center/gymnasium attached to the south end of the Commons is being turned into a 200-seat mainstage theater. The new facility will offer tiered seating, new dressing rooms and costume shop and more storage space.

This fall’s mainstage theater production, the musical comedy, “The Triumph of Love,” will be presented mid-October in Lehman Auditorium while the Phase II work continues, with completion slated for November this year.

Adjacent to the new mainstage theater will be the Lee Eshleman Studio Theater for smaller, more intimate performances. The facility is being named in honor of Lee Eshleman, a 1986 art graduate who teamed up with Ted Swartz as the actor-playwright duo, Ted & Lee, for 20 years until Eshleman’s death in 2007.

The student-run Common Grounds coffeehouse will remain at its present site in the Commons but is being enlarged with a built-in stage area and special lighting. It will also be air-conditioned and handicap-accessible.

Second floor of the Phase II Commons project will feature an advanced media lab for the VACA (Visual and Communication Arts) program. The 25′ by 45′ room will have 15 work stations with state-of-the-art equipment for video/audio editing and advanced digital imaging.

Across Park Road from the Commons, Elmwood residence hall is being completely renovated, with its companion, Maplewood to follow once Elmwood is completed by Christmas this year. Both buildings opened in 1963 and “are sorely in need of major improvements,” according to C. Eldon Kurtz, director of physical plant at EMU.

Improvements to both buildings will feature environmentally-friend heating and cooling systems, modernized safety features, improved natural and artificial lighting, expanded lounge areas serving each floor, new exit stairs and elevators in each building. Both three-story buildings will each accommodate 85 students.

Once Elmwood is completed, attention will focus during spring semester 2011 on a similar renovation of Maplewood residence hall, with anticipated completion the summer of 2011.

“When Maplewood is completed, Elmwood and the new Cedarwood residence hall that opened last fall will make up a ‘Woods Quad’ with an arched window motif and pitched roofs and shingles for visual continuity” with other major buildings on campus,” Kurtz said.

“We are working to obtain LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council on both Elmwood and Maplewood at least on the ’silver’ level,’ Kurtz added.

Harman Construction Company of Harrisonburg is general contractor for the Phase II Commons project and $6 million residence hall renovations.

But wait, there’s more. Kurtz rattled off a long list of capital improvement projects being undertaken this summer by his own physical plant staff:

- An enlarged classroom on ground floor of the seminary building for the MA in counseling program;

- A $70,000 renovation project on ground floor of Hartzler Library to allow for a merger of Information Systems user services and Learning Resources personnel. The “Help Desk” and several IS staff members are moving to this location before classes begin this fall;

- Replacing the roof of Hartzler Library to resolve water issues and preparing for the eventual installation of solar panels there;

- Repairing the flat roof portion of Lehman Auditorium;

- Installing a “green roof” over the bike storage shed at Cedarwood residence hall (“plants are already growing there,” Kurtz noted);

- Replacing the sand in the outdoor volleyball court adjacent to Roselawn residence hall;
- Installing an additional emergency alerting system that uses the 91.7 FM radio frequency. This system provides instantaneous message delivery with audible alarm and serves as another technology reinforcing existing alert systems.

- Implementing a uniform campus-wide key system, beginning with the University Commons.

Even as these projects go forth, EMU has hosted an estimated 6,000 persons this summer for events ranging from 2,000 cyclists for a “BikeVirginia” event, numerous sports camps, an interfaith peace camp, several church groups of 500-600 people and the annual Blue Ridge Running Camp.

“The biggest challenge for us this summer, apart from juggling all these capital improvement projects, is trying to maintain a level of attractiveness on campus with the prolonged heat and lack of moisture,” Kurt said, adding: “There’s certainly no shortage of things to keep us all busy, but these efforts should provide long-range benefits for students and the community alike.”
 
 

Story by Jim Bishop. Jim can be reached at bishopj@emu.edu.

The game will be played on Sunday at 1 p.m. as part of a day-night doubleheader. Waynesboro will host Covington at 1 p.m., and then play at home against the Staunton Braves in the regular-season home finale at 7 p.m.
 
 

Story by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.

The renovations, as currently planned, would likely exacerbate the VARO’s high backlog rate without solving some of its major infrastructure needs, the senators are saying.

“While we commend efforts to increase facility energy efficiencies, we are concerned that these scheduled improvements will inhibit ongoing efforts to reduce the Roanoke VARO’s growing claims backlog and will fail to address its long-term capacity issues,” Webb and Warner wrote in their letter. “We ask that you consider alternatives to the current reconstruction plan.”

The senators suggested that rather than spending over $50 million to refurbish the Poff Building, the VA could construct a new facility that meets federal environmental efficiency standards, addresses Roanoke’s current infrastructure needs, allows claims processing staff to continue working without disruption during construction, and improves convenience for veterans.
 
 

Edited by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.

“What they tell us as far as agents go is don’t talk to them until after the season that you’re eligible. It’s something that I don’t think we have to worry about, because our coach stresses it to us, and we have guys come in to talk to us and tell us how not to get in trouble,” said Tyrod Taylor, the star quarterback at Virginia Tech, which routinely sends players to the NFL.

The issue has come to a head with the recent investigations launched by the NCAA and North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Austin into possible illicit dealings between agents and two star players in the UNC football program, wide receiver Greg Little and defensive tackle Marvin Austin.

North Carolina is among the 42 states with laws on the books regulating agent-athlete relations. The NCAA has its own rules in place regarding when student-athletes can be in contact with agents or agent representatives, but the main sanction that the NCAA has is removing a player’s eligibility.

UNC football coach Butch Davis, at the epicenter of the ongoing recent controversy, thinks the key might be stricter state and federal laws.

“It may be part of the solution – that anybody that does co-opt or get kids into any kind of situation like that, maybe they do need some jail time, maybe they need some fines, maybe they need to lose their license, maybe they need to lose the ability to represent clients. That might be one of the best deterrents,” Davis said.

Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner John Swofford joins Davis in advocating for stricter laws.

“Having been an AD for 17 years before being in this job for 13, the problem has been there. Believe me, as an AD, or as a coach, you feel vulnerable, to an extent, because it’s not an easy situation to control from an institutional standpoint,” Swofford said.

Swofford also thinks the players associations with the NFL and NBA need to give the NCAA help in dealing with agents and runners who act outside the bounds of NCAA regulations and relevant state laws.

“We as a collegiate community have no (sway) with that group of people,” Swofford said.

University of Virginia senior defensive back Ras-I Dowling, a projected first-round NFL draft pick next spring, is taking the sway out of the process.

“I don’t even buy into it. I’ll wait until after the season to deal with agents. If anybody contacts me, I tell them to contact my father,” Dowling said.

The reason why might make him more valuable to NFL draft-room czars next April.

“What are we talking to agents for? We’ve still got a season to play. You don’t know how that season is going to go,” Dowling said.
 
 

Story by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.

The key to Taylor’s season, and thus the Hokies’ season, could be the continued development of his backups.

“We’re much better-equipped at backup quarterback this year than we were last year at this time,” Tech coach Frank Beamer told reporters at last weekend’s ACC Football Kickoff, talking about his #2 quarterback, redshirt sophomore Ju-Ju Clayton, and his #3, redshirt freshman Logan Thomas.

“Number one, Ju-Ju has had a lot of reps. Number two, Logan has been there the whole time, at spring practice. So we’re much more ready for a second quarterback to come in there than we were last year at this time,” Beamer said.

Cracking the code, what Beamer is saying there is that offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring can feel a little more assured unleashing Taylor’s full complement of skills. After running for 738 yards in 2008, when he split time at QB with Sean Glennon, Taylor ran for just 370 yards in 2009 as Stinespring and Beamer pushed Taylor to stay in the pocket and avoid the injury bugaboos that took him off the field for stretches in his freshman and sophomore seasons.

Taylor did see his passing numbers improve significantly from ‘08 to ‘09, more than doubling his output in terms of yards (2,311 in 2009, up from 1,036 in 2008) and reversing a negative touchdown-interception ratio (two TDs and seven INTs in 2008, 13 TDs and five INTs in 2009).

Taylor, for his part, has been preparing for the increased load.

“I think I’ve gotten stronger,” said Taylor, who is looking forward to being able to showcase his arm and his quick feet in his swan song in Blacksburg.

If Beamer had had his druthers, of course, he’d have Taylor for one more season. Beamer famously tried to redshirt Taylor in both his freshman and sophomore years.

“I wish like heck that we’d redshirted him. And we tried – we tried two times. But it was just in the best interests of our football team, in my opinion, that we needed to play Tyrod. The way the team was built, we needed him in the backfield. That’s the way it is,” Beamer said.

“The other side of it is, he’s got, when you’re playing in there, and the bullets are flying, you’re getting better, too. He’s an excellent quarterback. But sitting here today, you’d like to say, He’s got two more years. What he was in spring practice and all, I thought he was dynamic. I thought, This guy is really good,” Beamer said.
 
 

Story by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.

Four straight losses to end the ‘08 campaign brought the Verica juggernaut back down to earth, and the QB spent most of the 2009 season as the third-string signal-caller under new offensive coordinator Gregg Brandon.

Brandon is gone, Al Groh, the embattled head coach who never could decide what to do with his offense after losing wunderkind Bill Musgrave to the NFL early in his tenure, is gone, too, and Verica, a fifth-year senior, heads into training camp as The Big Man on Grounds.

“It makes a big difference going into the season knowing that you’re going to be the starter, that you have the support and trust of not only your teammates, but the coaches,” said Verica, the only veteran quarterback on a depth chart that includes a redshirt freshman (Ross Metheny) and a true freshman (Michael Strauss).

Verica being #1 on that depth chart is a confidence boost, he said at last weekend’s ACC Football Kickoff, but more valuable is the fact that being #1 means he gets extra reps with the first-team offense.

“That is completely necessary to prepare and be in the kind of shape physically and mentally to be ready for the speed of the game,” said Verica, for whom whatever issues there were at the tail end of his run as a starter didn’t seem to have an issue with the speed of the game, throwing for 2,037 yards and eight touchdowns while completing 63.8 percent of his passes.

The issues that had Virginia fans thinking that Verica was done before his time were in the area of confidence. Verica ended 2008 on the bench for much of the Virginia Tech season finale as Vic Hall took the majority of the snaps at QB in a one-trick-pony Wildcat formation, and was reduced to mop-up duty in 2009, appearing in six games and throwing for 156 yards while completing just 44.4 percent of his pass attempts.

New offensive coordinator Bill Lazor brings a new approach to the UVa. offense. The 2010 Cavs will re-emphasize the running game that was shut down internally by Brandon, and the new sets will also utilize the tight end, long a strength at Virginia, with senior Joe Torchia expected to play a big role with his size (6-6, 250), speed and pass-catching abilities creating mismatches with opposing linebackers and safeties.

“The last couple of years, it was just a little ambiguous as to what we were. Hopefully this season we can begin to establish a new identity,” said Verica, who feels the new offense, which will look a lot like the offenses that Virginia fans had come accustomed to seeing in the George Welsh years, with a power running game that sets up a passing game predicated on the play-action, is “definitely tailored to my strengths.”

The past, for Verica, is the past, the good and the bad.

“You really just have to stick it out, just stick through it,” Verica said. “There’s going to be adversity in anything you do, whether you’re in college and you’re a student, or you’re at a new job or something like that, or your new relationship. There’s going to be adversity, but you’ve just got to fight through it. That was always my focus during those hard times – not to get scared and run away, just stand your ground and push through it, and maybe eventually it will pay off.”

“Now I find myself heading into my final year as a leader on this team and the quarterback, and I’m embracing that. I’m having a great time. I’m excited for it,” Verica said.
 
 

Story by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.

The win pushed Waynesboro ever closer to clinching a playoff berth. With Woodstock’s 8-6 loss at Rockbridge, the Generals reduced their magic number to clinching a playoff bid to three.

Summers (2-1) was solid all night long, giving up three runs on five hits to go with his 10 Ks. Summers has now struck out 23 in 19 innings pitched this season.

Lamm struck out three in his two innings out of the pen. The 6-4, 215-pound righty from Vanderbilt has yet to give up a run in nine appearances and has struck out 20 in 14 and a third innings.

The Generals jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first off losing pitcher Blake Ford (2-3) with four consecutive hits with two outs in the inning. Drew Turocy and Grant Fillipitch hit back-to-back doubles, followed up by a pair of singles by Chase Worthington and Cody Hudson, to get the early runs on the board.

Front Royal tied it at 2-2 in the second on a two-run triple by Sean Jamieson. Waynesboro answered in the bottom of the second with a sacrifice-fly RBI by Drew Turocy that scored Alan Stoupa. The lead was extended to 4-2 in the fifth when Chase Worthington led off that frame with a double and came around to score on an A.J. Albee error on a grounder off the bat of Hudson.

The Cardinals tightened things up in the sixth when Jamieson picked up his third RBI of the night by drawing a bases-loaded walk from Summers, who got out of that inning by striking out Steve Rogers one batter later to strand three Front Royal baserunners.

The Cards got two on with two out in the seventh off Summers before the Generals pitcher induced an inning-ending grounder off the bat of three-hole hitter Matt Holland.

Lamm allowed just one baserunner in his two innings on the mound, a two-out eighth-inning walk to Jamieson, before he K’d Rogers to end that threat.
 
 

Story by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.