SPORTS: Marcus Lewinsohn and Madisyn Carter are 2024 Highland School Athletes of the Year. PAGES 14, 15 ,17 July 24, 2024
Our 207th year | Vol. 207, No. 30 | www.Fauquier.com | $2.00 VIRGINIA PRESS ASSOCIATION: BEST SMALL NEWSPAPER IN VIRGINIA 2017-2023
Pandemic and 100-year-old building’s costs stretch shrinking congregation thin By Tate Hewitt Staff Writer
Historic Bealeton church hopes to build for future STAFF PHOTO BY FLORENCE SHEN
Alice Jackson, secretary of the St. James Baptist Church Treasury Board, poses outside the historic church — one of the oldest in Fauquier County.
Every Sunday as a child, Betty Ball walked five miles with her family down dirt roads to St. James Baptist Church in Bealeton. “We didn’t have a horse or buggy or anything,” she said. “Every now and then (we) would get a taxicab, if they would pick us up — because we were Black, and everything was white and segregated.” That walk was always worth it though, Ball said, because “this church was on fire back in the day.” But the church has faltered in the last few years, as declining membership coincided with building problems and the COVID-19 pandemic. When the church resumed in-person services in May, church members faced a leaky roof, busted air conditioning, black mold and water damage in two back rooms. Bibles, hymnals and the church piano all had to be thrown away because of mildew damage. See CHURCH, page 7
Bull riding is Fauquier County Fair’s biggest draw By Betsy Burke Parker Contributing Writer
FILE PHOTO
President Biden bows out of 2024 race, endorses VP Kamala Harris
State and local Democratic officials praised President Joe Biden for his “patriotism” and “courage” Sunday afternoon in the wake of his historic decision to drop his reelection bid amid concerns about his fitness for office. He endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to succeed him as the Democratic nominee. Visit fauquier.com/news/politics for more state and local reactions to Biden’s decision and ongoing coverage of the 2024 election season.
Clinging to a bull for what is widely considered the most dangerous eight seconds in sport can look like the rider is hanging on for dear life, but rodeo producer Daniel Lanier said cowboys spend their entire careers perfecting techniques to make it look easy. Lanier’s True Grit Rodeo provided the Fauquier County Fair’s biggest attraction for the fifth year in a row last Friday and Saturday night at the historic Old Auburn Road fairgrounds east of Warrenton. He and five other livestock contractors trucked in the actual stars of the show — 30 highly trained and perfectly conditioned bucking bulls. See BULL RIDING, page 9
PHOTO BY DOUG STROUD
A bull rider competes at the 2024 Fauquier County Fair.
The story of a Marine turned beekeeper, page 10
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