INSIDE:
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8 ‘A life too short’
11 Moncure PTO hosts spring sale
Soccer primer pays off
MARCH 4, 2016
VOLUME 27, NUMBER 51
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VIEWPOINTS, PAGE 4 | PUZZLES, PAGE 13 | CLASSIFIEDS, PAGES 14, 15
INSIDENOVA.COM
Schools’ complete request in budget TRACY BELL
Stafford County Sun
Administrators of the Facebook page FXBG Hall of Fame work to shame bad local behavior and offer good deeds in the community. Page creator Rob Oh, left, poses with his friends and page administrators Stacy Andrews, Randy Skillin and Kevin Dodd. PHOTO COURTESY/ ROB OH
Local page shames bad behavior, serves community TRACY BELL
Stafford County Sun
A Facebook group dedicated to shaming bad behavior and also providing community service is racking up followers and causing a stir. The group, FXBG Wall of Shame, got its start in 2012 under a different name when Caroline County resident Rob Oh created it. He was working in a Fredericksburg bar at the time and witnessed a lot of bad behavior, including fights. “I thought that maybe if there was a way to hold these people accountable for their behavior that it might create a change in how they behaved,” Oh said. The group monitors what’s posted on the page but the members are the page’s authors, outside of arrest reports. Its postings come from public outlets, social media, local news or user-submitted information. As the page evolved, Oh and friendsturned-page administrators Kevin Dodd, Stacy Andrews and Randy Skillin started doing charitable work for the local community as well, using the page to facilitate some of the donations and process. For instance, during the last blizzard, administrators of the group with the help of local businesses and volunteers, were able to donate 80 pizzas, $275 worth of chicken wings, 100 bags of potato chips,
soda and water to the homeless or those in need, and to plow crews and Virginia Department of Transportation drivers. The group also brought pizzas to Micah Ecumenical Ministries’ cold weather shelter in Fredericksburg. From its inception, the Facebook page evolved from posts about shameful acts in local restaurants and bars to shameful or unfortunate things occurring in the community. It became a local information source for news, current events, police activity and accidents as well as juicy tabloid-like gossip or other funny, local things, Oh said. From there, the page again shifted into helping the community out through good deeds. One day Oh and Dodd were talking about a fundraiser that Oh started a few years prior. The goal of the fundraiser was to raise money to have a dream Christmas for a local family, and that later expanded to more than one family. Dodd, a Spotsylvania resident, suggested the Facebook wall be used to help raise the donations. The group raised $5,000 in cash donations, toys, wrapping paper and gift cards and assisted 14 local families by doing so. “It was then that we realized the full potential of this group,” Oh said. While the group had everyone’s
attention as far as shaming, its organizers decided they could also do things in the community to make it a better place. At a recent event, they were able to donate items to the homeless, such as food, hand warmers, blankets, gloves and clothing. Local businesses like Home Depot and Papa John’s have helped a lot, the group said. Its members also accept and use any cash and tangible donations they acquire. When you hear, “Thanks for keeping us alive,” that really hits you, Skillin said. Andrews, who works at Home Depot in Fredericksburg as a department head, said her place of employment has jumped on board to help with the page’s projects, including donating items to homeless families at Christmas. Other local businesses assisted too, she said. Home Depot often works with military members who return from serving and are in need of ramps or modifications to their homes, Andrews said, and the FXBG Wall of Shame page has teamed with the business to help. “I’ve always believed it takes a community to raise a child, and if people could see their actions and hear the opinions of their peers it might make them evaluate their behavior and make a difference,” Oh said. FACEBOOK PAGE 12 One of the page’s shames
A proposed county budget that fully funds the schools’ superintendent’s request is a rare occurrence in Stafford County, according to County Administrator Anthony Romanello, who delivered the fiscal 2017 proposed budget Tuesday to the Stafford County Board of Supervisors. “I’ve been in public service local government for 24 years. I’ve been in Stafford County for 12,” he told the board. “I get to say something today I’ve never been able to say before. And that is, this proposed budget fully funds the superintendent’s request — first time in 24 years I’ve ever been able to say that.” The proposed $274 million budget includes $144.6 million for Stafford schools, representing an increase of $845,000. That figure would provide funding for 69.5 new positions, including 36 teachers, 29 paraprofessionals and 4.5 other positions. It includes a salary increase at 2 percent across the board for all employees, as well as market-based scale and salary adjustments for teachers and support staff. “We have fully funded the superintendent’s request,” said Supervisor Jack Cavalier, I-Griffis-Widewater. “I never thought I’d be able to say that.” The proposed budget allows for other increases too, including bus replacements and textbooks, and an increase in the Virginia Retirement System contribution rate. BOS The proposed budget PAGE 12
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