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Voter suppression, gerrymandering suffer in courts Page 4
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Police and fire department news from around the region
T he Volume 40, Number 33
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Colonial Beach • Westmoreland
helping you relate to your community
Wednesday, August 17, 2016 50 Cents
Voting in county now less arduous Westmoreland Supervisors add two new polling places for fall elections Richard Leggitt For years some citizens of Westmoreland County have complained they have had to drive as many as 40 miles round trip to cast their ballots on Election Day. Thanks to the Westmoreland Board of Supervisors that will no longer be the situation. Last week the board voted unanimously to add two new polling places beginning with this fall's elections. "There has been a long distance for people to travel for
Photos by Richard Leggitt
Beach benefit
Above left, here was a large crowd and a beach atmosphere at the Saturday fundraiser in Colonial Beach for the Saturday benefit for Vickie Coffman. Coffman, one of the owners of the High Tides Restaurant, is in a fight against brain cancer. At right, Chelsea Padgett of Daytona Beach, Fla., helps arrange the dozens upon dozens of donated silent auction items at the very successful fundraising benefit.
both of those polling places," said Westmoreland General Registrar Kris Hicks. "We are trying to make it more convenient for people." The two new polling places will be added in District 2 and District 3, Hicks said. The additional voting location for District 2 will be at the Currioman Baptist Church at 2383 Zacata Road, and the new polling place for District 3 will be located at the Family Life Center of the Oak Grove Baptist Church at 8096 Leedstown Road. "We want to encourage people to get out and vote and we want to make it easy for them to vote," Supervisor Russ Culver told a large crowd that turned out last week for the polling place vote. "We would like to express our appreciation to the board," said See Voting, page 2
Tempers flare over land sale Colonial Beach Council postpones Eleanor Park vote another time Richard Leggitt The Colonial Beach Town Council last week postponed until 4:30 p.m. on Aug. 25 a vote on whether to sell the vacant Eleanor Park waterfront property on Irving Avenue to a developer who plans to build as many as a dozen new homes on the site. Colonial Beach Mayor Mike Ham said the vote was being delayed to allow time for builder Randy Hirsch, who has bid $900,000 for the property, to respond to an offer by develSee Sale, page 2
Photo by Richard Leggitt Photo by Richard Leggitt
Colonial Beach Councilman Wayne DiRosario, center, angrily criticized the town’s attorney, Andrea Erard, at last week’s council meeting. The council again voted to postpone the sale of the Eleanor Park property. At left is Mayor Mike Ham and at right is Councilman Mike Looney.
Putting the ‘fun’ in fundraiser
The Kinsale Museum held a very popular Gilligan's Island themed fundraiser Saturday at the Backdraft Restaurant. John Lawler of Kinsale, shown with several of the Backdraft servers, was one of the key community leaders attending the event.
Local landmark heads to 19th hole Links-style Cameron Hills Golf Club has closed
King George man sentenced for chase, eluding police
Richard Leggitt Cameron Hills, the links style golf course that has offered playing opportunities to King George and Westmoreland county golfers of all skill levels and economic backgrounds for 23 years closed Sunday. "It's very sad," said Nathan Ferlozzo who has worked at Cameron Hills, where his dad served as the course superintendent. "But with the state of the industry right now, you just have to move on and have some great memories going down the road." The closing of the 18-hole, par 72, 6603-yard championship course, which also had a putting green and a driving range, creates a void for area golfers who loved the natural beauty of Cameron Hills, which was designed as a true links-style course . General Manager Jason Hill said the death last year of Cameron Hills' founder, Bill Jones, was the beginning of the end. "He was in construction and he wanted a place where everybody could play even if they were in T-shirts and jeans, a links style course that allowed golf to be a game for everybody." Jones, who was Hill's father-in-law, and Hill's See Golf, page 2
High-speed chase comes with high cost Richard Leggitt
Photo by Richard Leggitt
Sunday was the last day for Cameron Hills Golf Club and for employee Nathan Ferlozzo, whose father is the long time superintendent of the King George course.
A King George man, who was pursued by police officers in a chase through two jurisdictions last year, has been sentenced to three years and eight months in prison after appearing in Stafford County Circuit Court last week. Ronnie Lee Berryman, 47, of King George was convicted earlier this year in Stafford Circuit Court for felony eluding and possession of cocaine. Berryman was also convicted for violating probation from a previous police pursuit conviction. The high-speed chase began in the early morning of Sept. 5 when a Stafford deputy sheriff 's officer began pursuing a vehicle with a missing headlight near the Chatham Bridge over the Rappahannock River. According to officers, Berryman sped up, drove up a side street and
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made a U-turn back onto Ferry Road in Stafford. He then turned west across the bridge into Fredericksburg. Stafford officers gave up pursuit and broadcast a lookout for Berryman’s vehicle after the suspect fled the wrong way on a one-way street. Other officers spotted the vehicle a short time later driving more the 100 miles an hour north on U.S. Route 1. After a high speed chase, officers said Berryman wrecked his vehicle in the 400 block of Forbes St. in Stafford. Arresting officers confiscated a small amount of crack cocaine and charged Berryman with use of an illegal drug, eluding police and driving with a suspended license. In addition to the prison sentence, Stafford Circuit Court Judge Michael Levy ordered Berryman into a treatment program while he is incarcerated.