Bloom - October/November 2018

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2018

In The Line Of Duty Harrisonburg Police Department Detective Brooke Wetherell Helps Solve Local Crimes Flip Magazine Over To Read

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INSIDE 6 Harrisonburg Police Department Dectective Brooke Wetherell finds her place in a male dominated profession.

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2018

Daniel Lin

Staff Jeremy Hunt, editor Shelby Mertens, staff writer Daniel Lin, photography Jennifer Dehoff, design Rhonda McNeal, advertising director Bloom is a publication of the Daily News-Record Copyright © 2018 231 S. Liberty St., Harrisonburg, VA 22801 For advertising information, call 540-574-6220.

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Cover photo: Daniel Lin Cover: Harrisonburg Police detective Brooke Wetherell poses outside the Harrisonburg Public Safety Building.

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MODERN BRIDES SHED TRADITIONAL DRESS RULES

Courtesy of Anna Joy’s Bridal

By Shelby Mertens

Brides should consider several factors when choosing a dress, such as the location of the ceremony, the time of year, if it’s indoor or outdoor, and the style and theme.

s weddings have become much more personalized, the days of picking out your dress according to the season are over.

For the fall, Ann Moody, owner of Anna Joy’s Bridal & Formalwear in Harrisonburg, said strapless dresses remain popular all year round, along with lace as well as dresses in pink, gold, blush and ivory tones.

She said the top trends of the fall will be ball gowns, fit and flare style, as well as long sleeve, illusion top, low back, cap sleeve and off the shoulder. “There’s no season to a dress,” Moody said. “All of them are worn anytime during the year. It’s what looks best on the bride

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and what her vision is for that day.”

It’s now more common to see wedding pictures of a bride in cowboy boots with a groom wearing suspenders inside a rustic barn, or a bride walking barefoot in a blush mermaid-fitted dress on a sandy beach, than what was previously thought of as the traditional American wedding.

We’re seeing more brides and grooms customize their weddings to fit their personality as a couple and tailored to what their interests are.

“I think anything goes.

This generation is more free-spirited,” Moody said.

“There’s a generational gap. We were told to be structured. There was a

October/November 2018

set of traditional rules and now we’ve gotten to be very personalized and individualized.” Pinterest and social media have helped drive this trend, which then results in ideas being copied over and over.

Moody said she’s selling a lot of ball gown dresses right now, and she attributes its popularity to what brides see in media. “I think people watch a lot of wedding shows on TV and whatever they’re showing, they sometimes get ideas from that,” she said.

“They also look on Pinterest.

Pinterest has a great effect on people’s choices. They’re looking for a lot of decorative ideas for weddings and themes.”

Moody said brides should consider several factors when choosing a dress, such as the location of the ceremony, the time of year, if it’s indoor or outdoor, and the style and theme.

Those factors are especially important if it’s a destination wedding.

“When a girl picks out a dress, if she’s doing a destination wedding to Las Vegas, she’ll want something sexy, more form fitting, more appropriate for that location,” she said. “If she’s getting

married at Disneyland, she’ll pick a fairy princess type of look — really decorative, a full skirt, the whole nine yards, as far as the princess illusion. If she’s getting married in a barn, they like the lace dresses to go with the cowboy boots. Some will do a high-low so you can see their cowboy boots.”

But again, not all brides follow the rules. “They’re doing anything they want.

We’re doing a full, very elegant ball gown to Las Vegas. We sold that yesterday,” Moody said.

“We’re seeing girls wear fuller skirts even when they’re going to the beach. It’s whatever the girl really wants.

What looks good. … There’s no rules anymore. There’s no season.”

The fit and flare shape, which is snug in the waistline and slightly flares out under the hips, will remain a bride favorite. “They just seem to want it to come down and flare out just a little bit to give them a nice shape,” Moody said.

Although most think of summer as wedding season, fall can be just as busy. “We see a lot of weddings in the fall,” Moody said.

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Courtesy of Women’s Legal Group

your CAREER

LAW FROM A WOMAN’S POINT OF VIEW

The female attorneys at The Women’s Legal Group: (from left) Yvonne T. Griffin, André A. Hakes, Shannon T. Morgan, Mary Ann Barnes, Laura Blair Butler, Lynn A. Bradley and Kelly Gurley Roberts.

By Shelby Mertens t’s law from a woman’s point of view” is the slogan of The Women’s Legal Group of Tucker Griffin Barnes PC, a female-centric law firm that’s known for its unconventional workplace policies.

The practice is based in Charlottesville with additional offices in Palmyra and Harrisonburg, at 590 Neff Ave. The team of attorneys specialize in the legal areas of family, accident and disability, criminal, real estate, bankruptcy and civil litigation.

Out of the six partners, five are women. Bill Tucker, the founding attorney, formed the practice in 1990 after his former partnership, a group of male lawyers, split up. He began practicing by himself with the intention of bringing

Courtesy of Women’s Legal Group

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Foster kittens have made guest appearances in the TGB conference room.

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on associates. In that quest, he began working with women attorneys.

“He shortly realized it was a huge difference in watching the ways a woman practiced law,” said Mary Ann Barnes, a Social Security disability attorney in The Women’s Legal Group. “He was impressed with the way the women around him approached law and their clients.”

Barnes said women attorneys tend to show more compassion and empathy.

“Empathy’s a big factor,” she said. “Females tend to be more empathetic. Not just to clients, but to co-workers and staff.”

The group traces its roots to around 1996, when Tucker was about to lose his paralegal. “His paralegal who he relied on tremendously, who he had for years and years, was having her second child and she said ‘I really can’t afford day-care for both children, so I’m going to stop working and stay at home,’” said Lynn A. Bradley, a workers compensation attorney in the Women’s Legal Group. “The thought of not having her terrified him so much that he said, ‘Well,

October/November 2018

why don’t you bring the baby to the office?’ That’s how that evolved. Many women have used that program and it helps to save on their day-care costs, it promotes bonding between mother and children, it allows for more regular breastfeeding. It’s just been a really good program.”

Tucker Griffin Barnes has made the office familyfriendly and strives to create a less intimidating environment. Clients, too, can bring their children. “We’ve made it very easy for people to bring their children into the firm. We have a play area, we have toys in every one of our conference rooms. We just try to make it more convenient for our clients,” Bradley said. “If you ever come to our office when there’s a snow day at school, it’s packed with children. We all bring our kids in.”

Barnes said the firm values a work life balance.

“I know that gets a lot of lip service but here at TBG we mean it,” she said. “We want everybody to have a work life balance.”

When asked what exactly the firm’s slogan means, Bradley said it refers to the dynamics of the practice.

“Obviously, a good lawyer is a good lawyer whether they’re a woman or a man … but I think [it’s] the dynamic of our office, the flavor of our office, the way you feel when you come into our office,” she said. “I think we’re extremely friendly, we’re extremely open. I think our clients feel very comfortable coming into our firm. Instead of being like a legal assembly line, we are careful with the cases we take, we’re selective, and we work our very hardest for our clients.”

The Women’s Legal Group doesn’t just take women clients. In fact, Bradley said she has more male clients because of her workers comp focus. She said both women and men have said they feel more comfortable with a woman attorney. “There aren’t many female workers compensation attorneys in this area,” she said. “I think it’s certainly something that sets me apart.”

Even though the practice is set in a more relaxed environment, Bradley said the attorneys are, “still really vigorous advocates for our clients and expect the highest legal work and legal product to come out of the firm.”

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Harrisonburg Police detective Brooke Wetherell poses outside the Harrisonburg Public Safety Building.

Following One Clue To The Next:

Detective Brooke Wetherell Solves The City’s Crimes

By Shelby Mertens

I

n May, a victim reported a robbery to the Harrisonburg Police Department three weeks after it happened. For detective Brooke Wetherell, it seemed like a fool’s errand. She had zero leads on the case and right off the bat, she was weeks behind.

All she had was a description of a van she found on surveillance. But she couldn’t see the license plate. It looked sort of like a Dodge Caravan. “How many minivans could there possibly be in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County, right?” she asked herself.

Wrong. “I sent a request to the [Department of Motor Vehicles] and I asked for a list of all the minivans. I narrowed it down to a year range of 2001 to 2007. So how many minivans could there be from 2001 to 2007 that are probably a Dodge?” Wetherell said.

The DMV sent her back a list of 17,000 vans. “Oh man, this is not going to get solved,” she told herself. “There’s just no way.” But she didn’t give up. As she clicked through the vans, she eliminated 6

October/November 2018

Photos by Daniel Lin vehicles from areas in the county, like Broadway and Bridgewater.

Then she narrowed it down to just all of the Dodge Caravans from 2001 to 2007 in the city of Harrisonburg. From there, she narrowed it down further by the license plate, color, active or inactive.

“I was able to basically come up with a list that was just a couple of pages and I just started driving around the city just checking them off because this van was pretty specific,” she said.

One day, when Wetherell was driving around the city, she drove past one of the vans on her list while she was on her way to another address. That van was one she could not find because the owners were never home. “I was like ‘Oh my gosh, that’s my van. I just know it,’” she said. “So I turn around, I get a license plate, I go back to the police department, I start doing all this digging.”

Wetherell ended up getting a search warrant for the van and was able to get a confession from the suspect. “After this beginning list of

Harrisonburg Police detective Brooke Wetherell (right) works on a case with detective Rachel Jackman.

Brooke Wetherell checks on a case with officer Seth Fawley.

17,000 vans three weeks after this robbery was committed, we were actually able to make an arrest,” she said.

It’s just another day’s work for a detective. “With her investigations, she doesn’t take no for an answer,” said Sgt. Phillip Read of the Harrisonburg Police Department’s Major Crimes Unit. “She continues to look for more answers and more facts in her case.”

It’s rewarding to bring justice, Wetherell said, but for her personally, it’s also extremely satisfying to solve the puzzle, especially a case that seemed almost impossible. “Nothing feels better than being able to go back to your victim and say, ‘Hey, remember when you reported that robbery and I told you that the chances of us solving it were basically zero? We just made an arrest,” Wetherell said. “That’s pretty cool.”

That daily challenge of problem solving and the adrenaline rush of being dispatched out to a crime scene is what Wetherell craves. But much like detective work, it took some time to find her calling.

Brooke Wetherell goes through active cases in her office.

Shenandoah Valley Criminal Justice Academy.

Following The Paper Trail

Wetherell was hired in August 2012 and started as a patrol officer.

She spent four years on patrol, as well as one year as the community resource officer prior to her becoming a detective. She’s been a detective in the Major Crimes Unit since January of this year.

“It has been the best six years of my life ever since,” she said. “I had the interest, but it wasn’t until I came here and I actually started doing this work that I realized there’s absolutely nowhere else that I would want to work. I can’t imagine myself doing anything else.”

Moving to the Major Crimes Unit was an adjustment for Wetherell because of the slower work pace. “When I first started, I felt like hard charger. I was definitely an officer who wanted to get all the dope off the streets and I wanted to go investigate all the gang crimes and I really like being on the road,” she said. “If we got double “She’s eager to learn new tones on the radio, meaning there was a hot A Fascination With Law call — lights and sirens — I was all about things and she’s eager to Enforcement that. I just liked the adrenaline.”

Wetherell grew up in Bridgewater and investigate crimes around Wetherell also wanted to become a more graduated from Turner Ashby High School well-rounded police officer. Now, instead of the city.

She’s got a great in 2010. She can recall many evenings spent rushing out to a scene and then passing the watching “Law & Order” marathons with solvability record.” case off to Major Crimes, she’s the one doing her mom growing up. “I’ve always been fasciall the investigative work. She said the paper nated with law enforcement,” she said. trail is fun, following one clue to the next. “It – Sgt. Phillip Read But after she graduated high school, truly is all the reasons why people think that she was unsure of what path to take. She they want to be a detective — [what] they see floated through community college while on TV — is true,” Wetherell said. “It’s pretty working for her father’s used car dealership cool.” in Harrisonburg. One day she sat down with her counselor and said Read promoted Wetherell to Major Crimes because of her work definitively, “I think I just want to be a police officer.” ethic and her ability to work as a team player. “She’s eager to learn “I didn’t want to do something monotonous that every day was new things and she’s eager to investigate crimes around the city,” he the same,” Wetherell said. “I knew I needed that change of pace.” said.

“She’s got a great solvability record.”

Wetherell completed the Citizens Police Academy offered by the city Wetherell is also a member of the department’s public information of Harrisonburg. There, she learned more about police work and the team because of her ability to work with the community. Read said opportunities available in the city. “I started in Harrisonburg and I Wetherell has been a “good fit” for the Major Crimes Unit. “I think fell in love with that place,” she said. “I loved the people I met.” she has the drive and the characteristics of a great police officer,” he The Citizens Police Academy is offered three hours a week for said. three months. Wetherell then completed her training at the Central October/November 2018

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Just As Capable There are around 10 women in the Harrisonburg Police Department out of 115 total, according to Wetherell. She’s had a few female mentors who have help guide her, namely, Cpl. Susan Jewel and Sgt. Rachel Hammer, a patrol sergeant who’s deployed with the military.

Wetherell admits it’s not easy being a female police officer, both in the community and in the workplace. Police work is challenging enough, she said, but it’s even harder as a woman. “As a female, if I go to a call for service … right off the bat you might have zero respect from the person you’re talking to just because of your gender,” she said. “I ignore it. But I’ve been called names and people have said things to me on the street ... just because I’m a girl. … So you can face challenges from the community in a negative sense, but I don’t see that a lot.”

“The people I’m working for are the community. I meet some incredibly beautiful people, I really do. And sometimes I meet them on their absolute worst day, but still I get to meet some pretty fantastic people.”

– Brooke Wetherell Women officers face another set of challenges in the predominantly male occupation. “I don’t feel targeted at work because I’m a female, but there are challenges that you face because you’re a female,” she said. Read said if Wetherell has come across any obstacles as a female police officer, “she’s done very well to combat those obstacles.”

When she first became a police officer, she felt like she had to prove herself more so than her male colleagues. She wanted to feel like she fit in with the “brotherhood.”

“You walk in as a new police officer and it’s intimidating because you’re around a bunch of other officers who have been there for years and years. They know exactly what they’re doing, but I felt more intimidated because I was a girl,” she said. “I felt like, if I go walk in here and maybe if I say a couple cuss words they’ll think I’m cool. Or talk about how much I love to drink beer — I hate beer — but if I come in here and act like them, I’ll be more accepted.”

But Wetherell realized that wasn’t the case. She found acceptance through just being herself. “Once you show your true colors about who you are, why you’re there, why you’re doing that job, you make friends for life,” she said. “They’re like family.”

She may not be able to do a pull-up, but she’s just as capable as her other fellow officers in blue. “Everything else, there’s zero reason that I’m not just as capable or just as able to do something as a male officer,” she said.

Wetherell believes it’s getting better for women in law enforcement.

Since she started working at the police department, the number of women officers has doubled.

Read said the Harrisonburg Police Department has made an effort to hire more women and minorities. Eric English was recently

Harrisonburg police detective Brooke Wetherell walks through North 38 Apartments on a follow-up.

sworn in as the city’s first black police chief. “Our department has been really trying to diversify and represent it’s community so, they have been actively pushing and recruiting for female officers, minority officers and officers that are bilingual,” Read said.

A Day in the Life The TV shows may portray detectives engaged in thrilling, edgeof-your-seat scenarios for the entire hour long episode, but most of the job involves paperwork, research and interviews.

A typical day for Wetherell begins with reviewing her cases.

Currently she has 15 different cases that she shuffles between. “Each day is still different, but a typical day for me is just going through my cases, getting search warrants, getting court orders, meeting with the commonwealth attorney, meeting with prosecutors and then interviews. [I’m] constantly in and out of the office” she said.

October/November 2018

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Throughout August, Wetherell and the other detectives focused their attention on locating a missing woman and her 12-year-old granddaughter who were last seen in Harrisonburg on Aug. 5. A month later their bodies were found and their abductor is charged with murder. Investigating heinous crimes can be emotionally draining, with seeing people at their worst moments and dealing with traumatized victims and heartbroken families.

Not long ago, Wetherell, the on-call detective one night, was called to a home where a man died of a heart attack in his sleep. His family members were shocked in their grief. In the mix of everything, the wife had lost a slipper. Wetherell told her that she couldn’t find the slipper anywhere. She asked the woman if there was anything else she could get her. The wife replied, “My husband.”

Not only can it be tough switching between different cases and having to put on her “game face,” as Wetherell says, it can also affect her personal life. “You definitely have cases that absolutely stick with you, things you don’t forget, things that are traumatic, things that you think about at night. Cases you wish you could solve but you didn’t solve,” she said. “The more violent crimes obviously stick with you more than the little things. The missing persons case right now, I don’t know if that’s something that I’ll ever not think about.”

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‘Good Will Prevail’ Wetherell said the key is having a good support system at home.

When she’s not working, Wetherell tries to keep herself busy with yard work, house chores, or whatever can keep her mind off things.

“Ultimately, good will prevail over evil and I have to always tell myself that,” she said. “It is meaningful. It is important. More good happens than bad. I know that in my job bad things are going to happen. You expect it to a degree. [But] sometimes it’s really hard.”

The best part of her job, Wetherell said, is the people. Both her colleagues and the people she works cases for. She strives to build relationships with the people she meets in the Harrisonburg community. “The people I’m working for are the community,” she said. “I meet some incredibly beautiful people, I really do. And sometimes I meet them on their absolute worst day, but still I get to meet some pretty fantastic people.”

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5K RACE RAISES FUNDS FOR BREAST CANCER AWARENESS

HEALTH

DN-R File

By Shelby Mertens

Racers head out at the start of the eighth annual Beat Breast Cancer 5K run/walk hosted by the Harrisonburg Department of Parks and Recreation at Westover Park.

reast cancer is the second leading cause of death among cancers for women, according to the American Cancer Society.

In the U.S., women have a 1 in 8 chance of developing breast cancer. The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2018 there will be more than 266,000 new cases of breast cancer and nearly 41,000 women will die from breast cancer.

The city of Harrisonburg is hosting the 16th annual Race to Beat Breast Cancer 5K on Oct. 20 to help bring breast cancer awareness and prevention among Valley residents.

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Proceeds from the race benefit Sentara RMH Medical Center’s RMH Foundation to provide breast cancer screenings, treatment and prevention through Sentara RMH’s Funkhouser Women’s Center. “The whole month and this race bring awareness to the importance for women to take care of themselves and care about themselves,” said Janet Wendelken, development

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officer with the RMH Foundation. “It is a wonderful opportunity to remind women to schedule their mammograms, get checked, and remind others to do the same.

The earlier that breast cancer is detected, the better the outcome.”

Last year, organizers were able to raise $14,000. The goal this year is to raise more than $15,000.

“We’re looking to build on last year’s success,” said Erik Dart, athletics and special events manager of parks and recreation, who organized the event. “We’re going to make that weekend of the 20th all about breast cancer awareness.”

Proceeds from the race help provide mammograms for women who either cannot afford them or have no insurance. In 2017, the RMH Foundation was able to cover 301 mammograms, which cost $44,557 for screening and radiology reading. Proceeds, along with additional gifts, also allowed the RMH Foundation to supply $72,000 worth of discharge patient notebooks,

and $2,340 of the revenue went toward breast cancer surgery jackets and $2,500 for stays at the Fairfield Inn and Suites for patients needing two radiation treatments a day.

The race begins in Westover Park at 9:30 a.m. following the introductions and cancer survivor testimonials at 9 a.m.

“It adds that personal touch that brings everybody together for the same cause,” Dart said.

U Fit, a private personal training and group fitness studio in Mount Crawford, will lead a warmup before the race.

Participants can choose to run or walk. The route takes participants out of Westover into the surrounding neighborhood and ends back in the park. Dart said the pink shirts will be back again this year.

Following the race, the winners in each age division will be awarded along with the most spirited team.

Last year, organizers decided to expand the race into a “pink out” weekend. Dart said the city plans to offer the same post-race activities as last year.

“It’ll be a city wide day of breast cancer awareness,” he said.

After the 5K, participants are invited to head over to Pale Fire Brewing to enjoy a pink pint and socialize. Downtown restaurants and businesses will be offering special promotions to both race participants and the general public throughout the weekend.

“We appreciate the work and involvement of the Harrisonburg Parks and Recreation to establish this race 16 years ago and make it grow,” Wendelken said.

“They are great to work with and care about this event. All funds raised stay here in our community to help women in our community.”

Early registration costs $20.

After Oct. 13, the fee increases to $25. Registration can be completed online at www.harrisonburg.va.gov or by calling Parks and Recreation at 540-433-2474.

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October/November 2018

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