BATTLE TOUGH: The Battlefield wrestling team rolled to the Cedar Run title. Sports, page 11
February 6, 2019 | Vol. 18, No. 6 | www.PrinceWilliamTimes.com | 50¢ Covering Prince William County and surrounding communities, including Gainesville, Haymarket, Dumfries, Occoquan, Quantico and the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park.
Local officials united on Northam: Resign By Jill Palermo
Times Staff Writer
PHOTO BY GEORGIA GEEN, CAPITAL NEWS SERVICE.
Gov. Ralph Northam (D), standing beside his wife, Pamela, speaks at a Feb. 2 press conference at the Governor’s Mansion in response to the racist photo on his medical school yearbook age. Northam said he would not resign.
Scandals rock Richmond
Governor, Lt. Governor navigate controversies By Jill Palermo
Times Staff Writer
Despite calls for his resignation from elected officials of both parties from across the commonwealth, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam stubbornly clung to power this week, refusing to resign over a racist photograph that appeared in his 1984 medical school yearbook and vowing instead to lead an effort toward racial reconciliation. “I cannot in good conscious choose the path that would be easier for me in an effort to duck my responsibility to reconcile,” Northam (D) said in a 40-minute news confer-
ence from the governor’s mansion Saturday. “I believe this moment can be the first small step to open a discussion about these difficult issues and how they contribute to the greater racism and discrimination that defines so much of our history.” Northam sought to explain Feb. 2 why he first apologized Friday for appearing in the offensive picture in his Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook, which depicted one person in blackface and another in a Ku Klux Klan hood, and then decided he wasn’t in the picture after all. See SCANDAL, page 4 INSIDE Calendar.............................................15 Classified............................................21 Lifestyle..............................................13 Obituaries...........................................17
A photo from Gov. Ralph Northam’s Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook page.
In an almost unprecedented show of unity, Prince William County’s elected officials issued statements this week calling on Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam to resign over the offensive photograph that appeared in his 1984 medical school yearbook. The sentiments came from all levels of government and across the political spectrum – from the local board of supervisors to the county’s representatives in Congress. Democrats make up the majority of Prince William’s delegation in the state legislature – holding 10 of the 13 seats that represent parts of the county – and led the charge to demand that Northam step down despite the governor’s denial Saturday that he appeared in the photo, which depicted one person in blackface and the other in a Ku Klux Klan hood. Northam issued an apology Friday, Feb. 1, saying he was “deeply sorry” for appearing in one of the costumes – he didn’t say which one– but then changed his position on Saturday, saying he is now convinced he was neither person in the picture. State Del. Luke Torian, Prince William County’s most senior Democratic state delegate, joined the Virginia Black Legislative Caucus in calling for Northam’s resignation Friday, as did Dels. Hala Ayala, D-51st, Jennifer Carroll Foy, D-2nd, See RESIGN, page 4
Opinion.................................................9 Puzzle Page........................................10 Real Estate..........................................16 Sports.................................................11
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