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T he
POSTAL CUSTOMER
King George
Volume 39, Number 26
Wednesday, June 24, 2015 50 Cents
helping you relate to your community
CMC property sale set for purchase next week Phyllis Cook
Photo courtesy of the King George Family YMCA
A swim instructor at the King George Family YMCA, demonstrates water safety techniques during The World’s Largest Swimming Lesson™, held June 18 at swimming facilities around the globe, including the King George Y. The purpose of the event is to cut the number of accidental drownings, especially among children.
Area residents make a splash for the World’s Largest Swimming Lesson Staff Report On Thursday, June 18, tens of thousands of kids at more than 900 locations around the globe splashedand flutter-kicked their way through a sixth consecutive Guinness World Record™ to help combat childhood drowning by participating in The World’s Largest Swimming Lesson™. Kids of all ages splashed in the pool at the King George Family YMCA in celebration of water safety. They joined swimmers at hundreds of waterparks and aquatic facilities
from Australia to Atlanta and Lithuania to Los Angeles in taking part in the WLSL, which began at 10 am in the Marshall Islands and traveled around the globe. This year’s event followed the International Date Line as it reached 10 a.m. locally in 24 countries. More information about the event, as well as swim safety tips, can be found at www.wlsl.org. Tragically, the World Health Organization estimates that drowning is one of the top five causes of death for people aged 1-14 years for 48 of 85
countries it monitors. “Research shows participation in formal swimming lessons can reduce the risk of drowning by 88 percent among children aged 1 to 4,” said Rowdy Gaines, Olympic Gold Medalist and spokesperson for the event. “Yet many kids don’t receive formal swimming or water safety training. Drowning is preventable and insuring every child learns to swim is a powerful step toward prevention.” Team WLSL set its fifth Guinness World Record™ on June 20, 2014 with 36,564 participants from 22
countries. Since its inception, more than 120,000 people have participated in WLSL lessons generating more than 150 million life-saving media impressions. The World’s Largest Swimming Lesson™ was created by the World Waterpark Association in 2010 as a platform to communicate the fundamental importance of teaching children to swim. More than 45 different aquatics and safety organizations and publications support Team WLSL™ in their mission to help prevent childhood drowning.
KG school superintendent’s contract extended to 2019 Phyllis Cook The King George School Board last week voted to extend Superintendent Rob Benson’s contract for four years to June 30, 2019, and made a few other changes to his contract. The action took place during a special meeting on June 18 following a closed meeting session to discuss the superintendent’s contract and other personnel matters. Benson was selected three years ago from a field of 23 applicants under the leadership of then-chairman Mike Rose. Benson provided comments to The Journal following the meeting.
“I am very thankful that the school board has approved an extension of my tenure as superintendent through 2019,” he said. “I look forward to continue working with the staff, families and community members of King George to meet the educational needs of our students Benson moving forward.” Benson’s new salary on July 1 will be $141,927 compared to his initial
salary of $134,400 when he was first hired in 2012. It has gone up by a modest percentage each year, including 1.5 percent for the coming year. As with his initial contract, the new one provides for annual salary increases to match the percentage increase approved by the school board for instructional personnel. The new contract also increases Benson’s car allowance from $425 per month to $500 per month and deletes a clause for mileage reimbursement. It also ups the amount he receives for an annuity or deferred compensation plan from $5,000 to $10,000 per year, the same amount provided
to the previous superintendent. Benson will continue to receive 20 days’ annual leave not counting legal holidays, along with 20 days of sick leave per year, and all other benefits in the policy manual for other 12month employees. Benson had 23 years of experience as a career educator at the time he was hired in 2012. Prior to coming to King George, he had been an area superintendent for curriculum and instruction for the Cobb County School District, the second largest in Georgia and 26th largest in the nation. See Benson, page 8
The closing on the purchase of a 30-acre parcel by Commercial Metals Company is scheduled for June 29. Eric Gregory, King George County’s attorney, provided the latest timeline on the project to the Economic Development Authority on June 11. He reconfirmed the closing date late last week. The land purchase was originally scheduled for the end of May, but on June 2, the board of supervisors ratified a 30-day extension to the real estate sale and purchase and performance agreement with the company. “These things often require a little more time to get things lined up. Commercial Metals requested an extension and we were happy to grant that,” Gregory said. He was on hand to shepherd the authority through approval of a resolution to accept assignment from the board of supervisors for the purchase of an adjacent 8.6acre lot to the authority.
On Father’s Day, George Henry Oliff of Montross spent time with his family. He had dinner with his two sons, Bryan and Tony and their families. But, he also – as he does every day – tended to the hundreds of happy little purple martins that have adopted him. Oliff, an Army veteran and a retired meat cutter from the former Colonial Beach A&P, lives just North of Montross on Panorama Road and has been caring for purple martins for more than 40 years. Purple martins, members of the swallow family, are totally dependent on humans for their housing. They pay rent on their man made accommodations by eating hundreds of insects each day. Martins and humans have been co-
Richard Leggitt A King George mother who sold drugs in her home while her four young children were playing nearby was convicted in King George County Circuit Court last week and sentenced to almost two years in prison. Keishe Lynae Smith, 38, entered pleas of guilty to five charges against her, including distribution of drugs and child endangerment. She had originally been charged with 10 counts of drug distribution and child endangerment, but King George Commonwealth’s Attorney Keri Gusmann did not prosecute the additional five charges as part of the plea agreement. “The King George Sheriff ’s Office did their typically thorough and excellent job in the investigation of Keishe Smith and her drug dealing activity,” Gusmann said. “Because of their outstanding work, the defendant agreed to accept responsibility and plead guilty rather than take her chances on a jury trial. “Drug dealing is a particularly dangerous activity and the fact that
she would endanger her own children while selling cocaine in their presence is appalling. Further, the filthy conditions that the children were living in is equally upsetting.” Gusmann thanked the King George Sheriff ’s Office for helping gain the convictions. “Once again my office would like to thank Sheriff Dempsey and the entire Sheriff ’s Office for the professional job that they perform day in and day out,” she said. Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Jennifer Pollard told Circuit Court Judge Herbert Hewitt Thursday that a confidential informant, who was wired for audio and video, purchased drugs from Smith on three occasions, including twice in her home on Freedom Lane while her children were present. Judge Hewitt sentenced Smith to serve 25 years on the five charges for which she was convicted, but suspended all but one year and 11 months of the sentences and ordered that Smith remain on good behavior and on active, supervised probation for 10 years after her release from prison.
Corrections In the June 17 story about the candidates on the ballot in King George’s November election, the name of Kristin Tolliverwas accidentally misspelled. The Jounral regrets this error. Tolliver is the incumbent running unopposed for the James Madison school board seat.
existing in the Northern Neck since the days of the Powhatan Indians. “I had four martin houses in the 1970s, two made of metal and two made of wood,” Oliff said. “But one day a black snake got into the houses and the martins all left and for years they did not come back.” But years later, Oliff got a pleasant surprise. “Then year before last, they returned on their own,” he recalled. “One day I counted them and there were 44 birds, so I said I will put up more houses.” Today, Oliff has nine red, white or blue multi-family martin houses that have room for 16 or 12 Martin families each. In addition he has put up more 40 bucket and gourd houses for the cheerful little birds. See martins, page 8
See SALE, page 8
King George mother sentenced for drug dealing
Montross man maintaining Purple Martin Retreat Richard Leggitt
The county will transfer about $300,000 to the EDA to pay for that lot purchase. The two lots are contiguous and are both to be purchased from the Frank B. Taylor, Limited Family Partnership, one by the county, the other by Commercial Metals. The resolution also authorized the chairman, Glen Moore, to execute the necessary documents to implement the purchase next week. The economic development authority owns and operates the King George Industrial Park, which will incorporate both lots into the park after the sale is finalized. In the meantime, all systems are ‘go’ on the county side, with site plan approvals granted by both the planning commission and economic development authority, and the property rezoned to industrial by the board of supervisors, all in the last couple of months. “This is the culmination point of
The June 17 edition of The Journal also failed to credit Ruth Daiger for taking thte photos for the trip by the Washington and Lee Boys Soccer team to the state championship. The Journal regrets this oversight.
photo courtesy of Terry Cosgrove
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