New council tries to put good face on divided government

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham [email protected] I would say everything went according to script at this morning’s reorganization meeting of Waynesboro City Council. Tim Williams is mayor, as Frank Lucente told me six weeks ago would be the case. Lucente, meanwhile, is vice mayor, Mike Hamp is the interim city manager, and John Kiger is still…

Polls: The people are speaking

Chris Graham

Fear and Loathing in Waynesboro column by Chris Graham [email protected] The Augusta Free Press and The News Virginian have been polling their web readers on the news involving the forced resignation of Waynesboro city manager Doug Walker, and the early returns aren’t looking good for the new conservative majority on Waynesboro City Council.

Michael departure bad news for GOP, good news for Dems

Chris Graham

The Local Beat column by Chris Graham [email protected] The Republican Party is going to miss Kurt Michael – big time. Michael affirmed in a blog posting at sixtyfour81.com on Tuesday that he will step down from the position of chair of the GOP committee in Augusta County as he had promised back in April. He…

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…