Education group announces Waynesboro endorsements

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham [email protected]   The Waynesboro Education Association announced today its endorsements in the upcoming May 4 city elections – giving its nod to Lorie Smith and Robert Johnson for City Council and Kathe Maneval and Jeremy Taylor for School Board.   Free read from AFPTheMagazine.com. Includes a story and video interviews.

Jim Bishop: All the world remains a stage for Ted Swartz

Jim Bishop

Column by Jim Bishop Submit guest columns: [email protected]   It’s a telling sketch. Local actor-playwright Ted Swartz plays a college student who comes home and tells his father that he decided to change his major from theater to pre-med. “I want to become a brain surgeon,” the young man tells his dad. The father, an…

David Reynolds: Births and boards

David Reynolds

Column by David Reynolds Submit guest columns: [email protected]   “We held on as long as we could,” was the announcement. It came as no surprise. There were numerous warnings to soften this latest blow to our proud past. Still no one was happy. Parents, particularly mothers, were angry. They wanted time as much as money…

Jaime Gonzalez: Immigrants still fighting for basic rights

Contributors

Column by Jaime Gonzalez Submit guest columns: [email protected]   My parents are Americans. They are citizens of this great country, which they are proud to call home. They are also immigrants. My father immigrated to this country from Mexico in 1972 when he was 18 years old. At the time he wanted little more than…

David Reynolds: Paradise lost

David Reynolds

Column by David Reynolds Submit guest columns: [email protected]   Does anyone out there in paradise care about anybody besides themselves? If not, then we have lost a community. We have lost paradise. Over 700 area residents attended the SRO public hearing held last week at the Rockbridge County High School to hear comments on the…

Boxing coach: We’re all in the same gang

Contributors

Story by Chris Graham [email protected]    Coach, as he is known around the gym, has worked with top-level amateur boxers and for a time was a personal trainer for Hollywood celebs including Al Pacino and Julia Roberts. Working with gang members in Waynesboro has Frank Burchette’s attention now. “That’s what drew me here,” said Burchette,…

Story/Video: Augusta Health program brings tennis to the disabled

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham [email protected]    Mel Curry tries to “hit the fur off that ball.” Robbie Thomas is more an angles and drop shot guy. “My shoulders are wearing out, but I’m not going to give up any of this,” said Thomas, after a recent exhibition match against Curry, a former United States Tennis…