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Thursday, March 12, 2009

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Local News: Staunton City Council meeting agenda, Thursday, 10 a.m.
Local News: Toscano to headline Augusta County Dem breakfast, Thursday, 9:45 a.m.
Local News: No More War Rally in Staunton, Thursday, 9:45 a.m.
Local News: EMU students give up spring break to do service projects in Valley, Thursday, 9:45 a.m.
Local News: Registration for summer history program in Albemarle, Thursday, 9:45 a.m. 

 

Local News: Staunton City Council meeting agenda, Thursday, 10 a.m.

Staunton City Council will meet tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the council chambers of City Hall.

The agenda for the meeting includes …

– Proclamation – American Red Cross

– Presentation – National Fire Academy Certificate

– Additional Items by Members of Council

– Planning Commission Annual Report

– Public Hearing and consideration of approval of the proposed Middlebrook Agricultural and Forestal District

– Public hearing and introduction of an ordinance regulating helmet requirements for bicycles and various motorized devices

– Consideration of the SCCF CDBG application

– Matters from the City Manager

– Matters from the Public

  

Local News: Toscano to headline Augusta County Dem breakfast, Thursday, 9:45 a.m.

Charlottesville State Del. David Toscano will be the featured speaker at the Augusta County Democratic Committee Post-General Assembly breakfast on Saturday, March 21, at 8:30 a.m. at Mossy Creek Cafe in Fishersville.

The cost to attend is $20 a person. Sponsorships are $50.

RSVP to Tom Long at [email protected].

 

Local News: No More War Rally in Staunton, Thursday, 9:45 a.m.

What are local citizens thinking about ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? As we pass the sixth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq next week, a No More War Rally will be held on Saturday, March 21, noon-1 p.m., in front of the Augusta County Courthouse in Downtown Staunton.

The rally will call for (1) ending the wars and foreign occupations, (2) bringing the troops home and using the billions being spent on war to meet health needs, education, infrastructure, and returning veterans needs, and (3) building peace through diplomacy, reconstruction and development.

Persons supporting these goals are invited to participate in the Rally. Some signs will be available. Participants are also welcome to bring their own home-made signs consistent with the above themes.

The rally is sponsored by the Augusta Coalition for Peace and Justice, a community movement that seeks to empower people to build a more peaceful, just and sustainable society.

 

Local News: EMU students give up spring break to do service projects in Valley, Thursday, 9:45 a.m.

They “gave up” their mid-semester break to perform a labor of love in their own back yard, doing so willingly and with much satisfaction.

Every year for spring break, several Eastern Mennonite University student groups spend the nine-day period doing service projects in various locales in the states – under the auspices of the Young People’s Christian Association (YPCA) – instead of going home or heading to warmer climes.

This year, for the first time, one group devoted the entire break to service projects right in Harrisonburg, March 1-8.

Co-leaders Grace Schrock-Hurst and Rebekah Maldonado-Nofziger and Nathan Hershberger, Kaitlin Heatwole, Lucas Schrock-Hurst and Debbie Vasquez worked primarily with Our Community Place (OCP), a community center on N. Main St. across from The Little Grill collective restaurant. They also related to New Bridges Immigrant Resource Center based at Community Mennonite Church.

At OCP, the students worked in the soup kitchen, helped organize activities for persons frequenting the center and laid tile in the main floor from a pattern designed by EMU sophomore Kaitlin Heatwole.

With New Bridges, the group took part in a panel on immigration issues and visited immigrants at a local trailer park.

The students lived for the week at the Dean House across Water Street from Community Mennonite Church. To add a “green” element to their efforts, They walked or rode bike everywhere they went rather than using cars. They even borrowed EMU recycling coordinator Jonathan Lantz-Trissel’s special cart to move their personal things from campus to the Dean House.

“There’s so much we can do right here in Harrisonburg,” said Grace Schrock- Hurst, a junior culture, religion and mission major from Harrisonburg. “When it’s over, we can continue the relationships we’ve started and learn more about the community.

“I would sum up our group’s experience in six words – surprising, humbling, challenging, enlightening, loving and beautiful,” Schrock-Hurst added.

Four EMU students did Christian service projects at Hattie Larlham Center for children with severe disabilities, Mantua, Ohio. Another group of 10 spent the week at Jubilee Partners, a Christian intentional community in Comer, Ga., that works with refugees who settle in Atlanta. – Jim Bishop

 

Local News: Registration for summer history program in Albemarle, Thursday, 9:45 a.m.

Registration for Extreme Journey Through Hallowed Ground Summer Camp is now open for Albemarle County, VA middle school students interested in using modern-day technology and on-site experiences to discover critical historic events in the nation’s most historic region – The Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area.

The non-profit JTHG Partnership has funded a limited number of scholarships to ensure that the cost set by each school system is not a barrier for interested youth. Registration is also open in Adams County, PA and expected to open in Loudoun County, VA, next week.

In this two-week program, students explore the region known as Where America Happened like few others have. Hiking, biking, paddling, role playing, and movie making — all are part of our Extreme Journey.

Students visit critically important historic sites from Gettysburg to Monticello, where they view life through a different lens and get the inside scoop from the experts. Archaeologists, authors, Park Rangers, reenactors as well as multimedia specialists share their passion and expertise, taking students back in time, into the mind set of men and women during a crucial time in our nation’s history. Students evaluate the roles of former leaders as well as everyday citizens to understand the complexities of their lives and then create original multimedia Vodcasts depicting the student’s interpretation of “What leadership means to me.”

“All children should have the quality of learning experience provided in the Journey program,” said Dr. Pam Moran, superintendent of Albemarle County Schools in Charlottesville, VA.

This is the fourth year that the JTHG Partnership has offered the program. The program runs from July 20-31, 2009.

“We transform traditional text-book learning into a truly stimulating experience that exists only outside the confines of the classroom,” said Cate Magennis Wyatt, president of the Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership. “Coupling the latest technology with creative curriculums, on-site visits, expert accounts, with the region’s breathtaking landscapes, Extreme Journey will leave students riveted by the past and ready to discover the future.”

For more information and to see a video from previous camps, go to: http://www.hallowedground.org/content/view/285/67/.

To register, go to: http://schoolcenter.k12albemarle.org/education/components/docmgr/default.php?sectiondetailid=79720&fileitem=41566&catfilter=12052.

Contributors

Contributors

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