Has the local GOP passed its moderate wing by?

Chris Graham

The Politics Beat column by Chris Graham [email protected] One guy gets more votes, the other guy has friends in high places, and you can guess who wins. I could be talking about George Bush, Florida, the U.S. Supreme Court in 2000, but I’m not. I’m talking about the Augusta County Republican Committee, which elected Larry…

Bad money after good to play to the base

Chris Graham

The Politics Beat column by Chris Graham [email protected] More of your taxpayer dollars are headed toward the wastebasket. “It is my belief that Virginia’s partial-birth abortion ban, passed overwhelmingly by the people’s elected representatives in the General Assembly, is constitutional. Given the significance of the issues at stake, and the fact that the United States…

The loudest silence I’ve ever heard

Chris Graham

Fear and Loathing in Waynesboro column by Chris Graham [email protected] Silence. Absolute silence. That’s what we’ve gotten from Bruce Allen regarding the effective firing of city manager Doug Walker that he helped engineer. The official word, according to a News Leader reporter with whom I spoke Thursday, is that Allen is out of town, and…

Eagles concert provides ‘Peaceful, Easy Feeling’

Jim Bishop

Column by Jim Bishop The stage lights came up, applause and cheers erupted, and I stared down on music legends. The Eagles had landed. The incredibly popular band, formed in the early 1970s in Los Angeles, Calif., was in Charlottesville, Va., on its “Long Road Out of Eden” tour. Tickets, though outrageously priced, were available,…

War, economy, high gas prices? No, it’s the Second Amendment again

Chris Graham

The Politcs Beat column by Chris Graham [email protected] Why is Bob Goodlatte banging the drum on the Second Amendment? “You can count on me to fight to protect our rights,” Goodlatte wrote in a fund-raising letter dated May 16 that he began with mention of a case now in front of the United States Supreme…

It’s all in the detail: Banjo part of fundraising efforts for Wayne Theatre

Chris Graham

Item by Crystal Graham [email protected] It’s not your everyday banjo. With musical instruments being cranked out of big factories every day, Geoff Stelling’s handmade banjos are a true rarity. The Afton-based business produces just 200 or so banjos annually. Geoff’s son, Jimmy, who works with his dad in the business, is a banjo player who…

The high road

Chris Graham

Fear and Loathing in Waynesboro column by Chris Graham [email protected] How about the sudden about-face of our would-be mayor? “I don’t see any need to air out our discrepancies and our differences. Kind of give Mr. Walker respect,” Tim Williams said in a voicemail message to the News Leader that was reported in that paper’s…