POSTAL CUSTOMER
T he
Colonial Beach • Westmoreland
Volume 39, Number 52
helping you relate to your community
RCC sponsors medical, dental, vision clinic Staff Report A Remote Area Medical (RAM) clinic, held at Richmond County Intermediate School on and sponsored by Rappahannock Community College’s associatedegree nursing program, provided free medical, dental, and vision care to 611 area patients, of every age. More than 13 percent of the patients were children. As Chef Hatley Bright, who coordinated food preparation for the event, said, “We served our community in a way that is lifechanging. Carrie Lewis and Becky White [nursing professors] led the way with the organization part, but all of the nursing program needs to be complimented!” Adding congratulations for the leaders of the entire Health Sciences department was Marlene Cralle, an RCC administrative assistant. “Your team had a dream and a vision to do something important for our community . . . and you did it!” “We could not have done anything without the support of our volunteers,” said Becky White. A total of 520 volunteers — encompassing a variety of medical, dental, and vision
Wednesday, December 23, 2015 50 Cents
We wish you a Merry Christmas...
specialties, plus emergency and nursing care, general support, and interpreters for patients speaking little or no English — donated 6,840 hours, which at normal rates would be valued at more than $354,000. In particular, volunteers from the Three Rivers Health Department administered 82 Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis) shots, 20 PPV23 shots (against pneumococcal disease, which often leads to pneumonia), and 151 flu shots. The local Lions’ Club organized bus transportation for these and many other volunteers. Patients came to the clinic from Essex (124 patients), Lancaster (27), Northumberland (91), Richmond (267), Westmoreland (86), and several more distant Virginia counties, while two came all the way from Tennessee. Many had not seen a doctor or a dentist, or had their eyesight checked, within the last five years or more. More than 1,000 dental procedures were performed, and 373 of the vision patients went home with a new pair or pairs of glasses. One of the patients stated, “I was See CLINIC, page 8
Photo by Phyllis Cook
A group of young people in King George’s Hopyard Farm community hit the streets Friday night ot offer some Yuletide cheer to area residents by performing a mix of traditional carols and contemporary Christmas songs.
Virginia schools can leave behind, “No Child Left Behind Act” program Linda Farneth
Photo by Richrd Leggitt
Frank Coates, III (left) and Frank Coates, IV, are supplying Corvettes for holiday dreams across the nation from their family-owned business in Colonial Beach.
F&A Corvettes fulfilling holiday dreams for the young at heart Richard Leggitt Classic car lovers across the nation with dreams of Corvettes this holiday season are looking to a dynamic little company in Colonial Beach, F&A Corvettes, for the fulfillment of their Christmas wishes. F&A, which supplies the classic American sports cars to customers around the nation and the world, is located at 621 McKinney Blvd. and is reknowned for its ability to provide Corvette lovers options ranging from the little white Corvettes of the 50s to today’s powerful 460 plus-horsepower models. “Business is fantastic,” said Frank Coates. IV, who operates the Beach business along with his father, Frank Coates, III. “We have 40 Corvettes here right now. Corvettes are back to where they used to be. They are more popular than ever and people are driving them more than ever.” The father and son operation prides itself on being able to offer every generation of the fast and famed sports cars. Currently the Coates are reconstructing a classic 1953 twoseater convertible that was number
263 of the first 300 Corvettes built by Chevrolet. They also have twin blue 350 horsepower 1965 Corvette convertibles, one with a hard top, available for holiday shoppers. “People loves these cars and we get calls for them from all across the country,” said Frank, III. “They don ‘t look old and Corvette lovers recall the memories of Route 66 and those kinds of things.” Frank, III is not exempt from the Corvette fever. “I was 17 and my father took me to Beck Chevrolet in Fredericksburg for the unveiling of the new model year Chevys. They took the cover off a 1963 Corvette coupe and it was like a bee sting.” “We have three buildings and they are all filled with Corvettes,” said Frank III. “I like selling these cars. They all have a story to tell. We buy and sell and we handle shipping all over the country and all over the world.” In the past year, F&A has shipped Corvettes to Washington state, North Dakota and to Sweden. “We have customers everywhere,” said Frank, III. “People contact us online, we have dealerships we work with and we get a lot of people
off the street.” “I like the saying,’ The Corvette you are looking at today and thinking about buying tomorrow is the same Corvette someone else looked at yesterday and is buying today,’” said Frank, IV. “That’s the thing about Corvettes,” Frank, IV said. “People want to look at them, sit in them, drive them and then hopefully, buy them. And, we shock them sometimes with the prices. Anybody can own a Corvette. A lot of Corvettes are not that expensive.” F&A Corvettes is one of the oldest businesses in Colonial Beach. “I have been driving Corvettes since I was 15,” said Frank Coates, III. “And I started this business 35 years ago.” In addition to Frank, III and his son, Frank’s daughter, Ashley, his wife, Candy, Frank, IV’s wife, Michelle, and Ashley’s son, Hunter, all participate in the family-owned sports car business. “It is a dream come true,” said Frank, IV. “I love to come to work every day. We get people calling or coming by all the time. We like meeting people and we like talking Corvettes. It’s fun.”
Tracey Tunstall, director of federal programs for the Colonial Beach Public Schools, announced at the Dec. 9 Colonial Beach School Board meeting that the No Child Left Behind Act is now being replaced with the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. (ESEA). The bill that would implement ESEA has passed both the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. It will now go to President Obama for his signature. Tunstall announced, “Something exciting for federal program people, finally No Child Left Behind has gone back. The good thing about ESEA is it’s going to give us a little more flexibility with our Title I spending” With ESEA, states will have much more control over several areas of instruction and assessments. The bills earlier draft focused on college and career, however the final draft does not even have those works in the bill. The previous No Child Left Behind
Act required a large amount of documentation the new act does not. “As long a we can show that the money is being used and there is a methodology to increase student achievement, we are not going to have to do line by line by line crazy authorization of every single expenditure,” Tunstall said. This bill, in contrast with its predecessor, seeks to ensure that all children receive a high quality education and close student achievement gaps according to an overview provided by the National Association of Federal Education Program Administrators. Each state has to establish challenging academic standards with this act. It is up to the states to make the decision about which standards to use, and the federal government is prohibited from providing incentives for a specific set of standards. The bill allows states to create their own rules on testing to optout of assessment. However the opt-out needs to reconcile with the federal requirement for a 95 percent
participation rate for all students in the annual state assessments. Districts can also submit a nationally recognized high school academic assessment such as ACT or SAT for approval. The state can approve such an assessment so long as it meets certain conditions provided in the bill. There are more opportunities for fiscal flexibility, allowing the use of Title I money for many puposes. Title I portability is not a part of the conference bill. However, it does include the pilot program that would allow up to 50 school districts to put their state and local funds together and distribute those funds according to a weighted student funding formula that gives districts more flexibility. The new framework would go into effect in the 2017-18 school year, making the 2016-17 school year something of a trial run year. Tunstall said, “I’m really excited about this it’s going to be a more whole school and whole student approach to making sure that students are successful.”
Carlson excited to join Montross Council addition to the town council,” Leonard Carlson said. Carolyn Carlson is excited to be on New Montross Town Council member Carolyn Carlson was well council and serve the community. “I’m just up! I’m happy to be received by the rest of the group involved in the at the Dec. 15 council council,” she said. meeting. “Happy to learn, I Mayor Joseph King haven’t given back said “She comes from in this manner good stock!” before.” Her husband, Leonard However she said Carlson, was a previous one of her personal mayor and town council challenges as a member. He is a big council member part of the revitalization will be learning group and an outstanding about town person. He describes Carlson government. Carlson’s family as “The accounting outstanding citizens who are deeply routed in the community. language is different from corporation “She is going to be an awesome or business accounting,” she said. Linda Farneth
Now you can follow local breaking news daily on our website at www.journalpress.com
Carlson is a professional accountant by trade. She has worked as a CPA in Tappahannock for almost 40 years. Her semi-retired status has allowed her to study some 3,000 pages of materials given to her to educate herself on the town of Montross. She will be attending a seminar in small town government before the next meeting in January. King said, “Carolyn is going to bring in a lot of fresh ideas, thoughts and different perspectives. We’re excited about that.”