Volunteers honored during Girl Scout Annual Meeting

AFP

Volunteers — the lifeblood of any nonprofit organization — were honored Jan. 29 by Girl Scouts of Virginia Skyline Council during its annual business meeting. Virginia “Jinx” Weary of Trefoil service unit in Roanoke, received the Thanks Badge, the most prestigious award presented to an adult in Girl Scouting. The Thanks Badge recognizes outstanding service…

Community Mourning: Waynesboro loses local arts icon

Chris Graham

The Waynesboro arts community is in mourning today over the sudden passing of artist, dramatist, author and retired Waynesboro High School teacher Duane Hahn. “Duane … how can we imagine creative Waynesboro without you? I’m heartbroken,” wrote author and friend Elizabeth Massie on a Facebook post Thursday morning. Hahn was an icon to the local…

Mike London discusses his 2011 recruiting class

Chris Graham

Transcript of Virginia football coach Mike London’s Feb. 2 press conference discussing UVa.s 2011 recruiting class. COACH LONDON: First of all, I’d like to acknowledge the hard work of my staff. They did a tremendous job going out into the various areas representing the message of the University of Virginia very well and establishing relationships…

Chris Graham: American Community What?

AFP

Ever heard of the American Community Survey? I hadn’t either, until I got the first of two threatening letters in the mail from the Census Bureau. “You are required by U.S. law to respond to this survey,” the letter read, as did its followup. “This survey” is a 28-page survey that took me about a…

Help JMU knockout a world record

AFP

Fans attending James Madison’s home men’s basketball game on Wednesday night against William and Mary at 7 p.m. will have the opportunity to be part of a Guinness World Record. JMU’s Athletics Marketing staff plans to host the world’s largest game of basketball knockout. Following the game all fans of any age in attendance will…

Artisans Center of Virginia launches education series

AFP

The Artisans Center of Virginia and Piedmont Virginia Community College are teaming up to offer a series of business classes for artisans. ACV Studio School courses are offered at The Stultz Center for Business & Career Development, 501 College Drive, Charlottesville, at the intersection of I-64 and Va. 20. To register, call 434.961.5354 The course…

Fund targets business sectors for growth

Chris Graham

The Staunton Creative Community Fund, a provider of loans and assistance to empower small businesses, is launching a new outreach campaign targeting emerging businesses with the potential to spawn new industries in the Shenandoah Valley and beyond. With Virginia’s unemployment rate in November remaining at nearly 7 percent for the third consecutive month with traditional…

Guns don’t kill people?

AFP

Not making an argument for tighter gun control, but for common sense. Popular on Facebook the past few days has been a repost about how guns don’t kill people, people kill people, so stop blaming the guns. OK, let’s have at it. Using me as an example. I’m a hearty guy – can benchpress over…

Morris, WHS athletics director, passes

Chris Graham

What I’ll remember about longtime Waynesboro High School athletics director Mel Morris, who passed away Friday night from an apparent heart attack, was seeing him in the stands at WHS football games every Friday night in the 2009 season. AugustaFreePress.com did live Internet broadcasts of WHS football in ’09, and Jerry Carter and I traveled…