DELIVER TO: Postal Patron Mechanicsville, VA 23111
PRSRT. STANDARD U.S. POSTAGE PAID Mechanicsville, VA Permit No.141
Vol. 27, No. 12 | Richmond Suburban Newspapers | July 21, 2010
STOPS AT EVERY HOME IN TOWN
Former prosecutor Cook leaving office found dead in Az. SHERIFF RETIRING
with trail of successes By Melody Kinser mkinser@mechlocal.com
H
e always wanted to be a policeman, and, after a 45year career in law enforcement, V. Stuart Cook has decided it’s time to retire. For 20 years, he has been Hanover County’s No. 1 law enforcement officer as sheriff. On Oct. 1, Lt. Col. David R. Hines will step into that position. “My last working day will be Sept. 15,” Cook said last Tuesday in an exclusive interview with The Mechanicsville Local. He officially leaves office on Oct. 1. A strong and confident man, Cook has a presence when he enters a room. He is the epitome of a sheriff. “I have had a great career,” he
said while seated in one of the conference rooms in the Vaughan-Bradley Public Safety Building on the grounds of the Hanover County Government Complex. “I have been blessed in my 45 years.” Pursuing a career in law enforcement had been a dream since “I was a little
boy,” Cook said. “I had always looked up to police officers.” He fondly recalled the influences of TV with programs such as “Dragnet” and Westerns. Cook was working for the Richmond Police Department when Hanover County Circuit Judge Richard H.C. Taylor “came to see me,” asking him to consider the position. Due to illness, Harold E. Bradley had announced his retirement as sheriff. “I initially declined to accept the appointment,” Cook said. “I had been in law enforcement for 25 years and had never liked the fact that you had to run for election. I don’t consider myself a politician, nor do I feel like law enforcement and politics really mix.” “I turned it down,” he said of Taylor’s offer, “and he asked me to think see COOK, pg. 4 `
By Melody Kinser mkinser@mechlocal.com A body found July 12 at the Grand Canyon has been identified as Mechanicsville attorney Kirby Porter, 50. Shannan Marcak, public affairs specialist for Grand Canyon National Park, confirmed the former Hanover County commonwealth’s attorney’s identity on Thursday. The Coconino Medical Examiner’s Office determined the cause of death to be injuries sustained in a fall. “The manner of death,” Marcak said, “cannot be determined at this time.” File photo/ Ken Odor According to Marcak, a body was retrieved Kirby Porter, center, is shown with Lt. Gov. last Monday just below Moran Point on the Bill Bolling, left, and Rosewell Page in this file South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. photo from 2007. Page was hosting a campaign see PORTER, pg. 8 `
reception at his home, Oakland, in Montpelier.
Summer school projects on schedule By Jim Ridolphi For The Mechanicsville Local A list of summer projects slated for Hanover schools is moving ahead at a steady pace according to Hanover Construction and Planning Manager Paul Carper. Several roofing projects and HVAC improvements top the list of changes going on in Hanover schools while the students are on vacation. Carper said the original
planned list of projects was expanded when additional monies became available due to low bids on some of the projects. He said the county took advantage of a favorable construction market and added several more projects to the already ambitious list. “Due to the wonderful market conditions as well as the opportunity to have some referendum funds, we were able to do a number of other projects,”
Carper said. Work is taking place at most of the county’s’ schools or facilities. “We have about 28 projects at 18 facilities,” Carper said at last week’s School Board meeting. The additional funds allowed Carper’s department to move forward replacing the system’s fluorescent lights present in many schools. “The current flusee SCHOOL, pg. 8 `