INSIDE Plans approved for new restaurant > page 3
Volume 57, Number 1 • January 6, 2011
Goochland reaches settlement with ex-employee By Ken Odor jodor@goochlandgazette.com
Goochland County has settled a lawsuit out of court with a fired county worker for the sum of $150,000. David F. Ligon III filed suit for $1.6 million for retaliation and defamation on August 1, 2008 against Goochland County and his supervisor, Building and Grounds Superintendent Cecil H. Youngblood, alleging he was fired in retaliation for raising questions about possible misuse of county property and personnel by Youngblood. The suit claimed Ligon was covered by the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act (VFATA). Ligon had sought $850,000 in compensatory damages and $750,000 in punitive damages. He worked as a Laborer III/ IV for Buildings and Grounds beginning in August, 2007. Goochland County Attorney Norman Sales would only confirm that the two lawsuits, one in federal and one in state court, had been settled, but was quick to add that no county money was paid out. Settlement funds were provided by Goochland County’s see Ligon > page 5
INDEX
Calendar Classifieds Education Letters
School Superintendent faces another tough budget year
Athletics and extracurricular activities may be considered for cuts By Ken Odor jodor@goochlandgazette.com
Phto by Ken Odor
David Ligon says the two and a half year legal battle with Goochland County was wearing. The county settled with Ligon last month for $150,000 in a suit he brought after being fired from his job with Buildings and Grounds.
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SPORTS GHS gets support from Jackson twins > page 9
She never planned on being a school superintendent, said the head of the Goochland School Division last week. But when Superintendent Frank Morgan announced he was resigning in 2007, Dr. Linda Underwood had a choice to make. “When Dr. Morgan left, I had to make a decision. If I wanted to stay in Goochland, I had to apply for the position,” she said, adding that her calling in education “is the teaching and learning part of it.” But hard economic times have forced Underwood to tackle successive declining school budgets while attempting to retain progress made before the recession struck. “We were doing such great things in Goochland,” said Underwood in an inter-
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view in her office last week, where her desk was covered with work papers as she prepared the budget that was to be presented to the School Board at this week’s January 4 meeting. It’s been a tough row to hoe since she took over, with each budget lower than the one preceding, and this year’s promising to be lower still. The 2008-09 school budget as first submitted was $27, 245,783. By last year, it had shrunk to $24,945,419, which was reduced to slightly under $23 million when finally adopted in June. During this period the county contribution to the school budget has dropped each year, from $20.1 million in 2008-09 to an expected $16.7 million for 2011-12, said Underwood. Underwood said her staff is still analyzing Gov. McDonnell’s proposals for support for K-12 education, but expects state funding for Goochland to decline about 4.5 percent. At the December School Board meeting Underwood said that she expects to have only about $22 million in revenues to work with this year. see Underwood > page 2
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west SERVING EASTERN GOOCHLAND AND WESTERN HENRICO
Glen Allen author releases book for teens