Wilson Library adds to Board of Trustees

Chris Graham

The Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library Foundation on Tuesday announced that six members have joined its Board of Trustees: Mary Lynn Bayliss of Manakin-Sabot, Virginia; Katherine Grayson Wilkins of Washington, D.C.; R. Steven Nichols of Staunton; Hampden H. Smith III of Lexington; Rita M. Smith of Richmond; and William T. Walker Jr. of Staunton. All began…

Grant to fund extension of streetscape signage in Staunton

Contributors

Edited by Chris Graham [email protected]   The Staunton Downtown Development Association has been awarded a Main Street Improvement grant valued at $2,500 to fund the extension of Downtown Service District streetscape banners to include Churchville Avenue and North Augusta Street. “I’m sure that the new banners on Churchville Avenue will help bring a more unified…

Charter schools, when explained, get support

Chris Graham

VCU survey shows most know little about charter-school concept Staff Report News Tips: [email protected] Virginia residents are not well informed about charter schools but a majority support them when charter school programs are explained, according to a new statewide survey conducted by Virginia Commonwealth University. The Commonwealth Education Poll finds only 8 percent say they…

Queen of the Queen City: Rita Wilson retiring after 16-plus years on Staunton City Council

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham [email protected] She wasn’t trying to be Rosa Parks. “We were just tired of the separate-but-equal thing. Because it certainly wasn’t separate-but-equal,” said Rita Wilson, who is retiring from Staunton City Council on June 30 after 16-plus years on the job, and who a generation ago made her first foray into public…

Intensity in Staunton porn war ratchets up

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham [email protected] On one front in the Staunton-Augusta porn war, score one for the anti-porn forces. “I think the community is behind the board of supervisors, the community is behind the planning commission, and they want them to move forward on these strict ordinances to protect our community,” said Kurt Michael, a…

The People v. Rick Krial: Staunton obscenity case has national attention

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham [email protected] The subject isn’t evolution, and the barristers aren’t William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow. But the upcoming trial of a Staunton adult-video store owner on obscenity charges has some of that Scopes Monkey Trial flavor to it. Doesn’t it? I mean, on the one side, you have the fundamentalists who…

May-November romance: Staunton examining options for moving local elections

Chris Graham

The Top Story by Chris Graham Dickie Bell hears the question more than you would think. “I get asked quite a bit – why don’t you have your elections in November?” the Staunton City Council member said, and he admits that he doesn’t have a ready answer. Bell is among a group of members of…

Wide open: Six candidates up for four spots on Staunton City Council

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham Staunton’s all at-large election system should make for an interesting time on Tuesday. Six candidates – incumbent council members Dickie Bell, Dave Metz, Dick Robinson and Rita Wilson and challengers Doug Manning and James Welsh – are running for the four seats open on the seven-member public body.