12/29/2010

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DELIVER TO: Postal Patron Mechanicsville, VA 23111

PRSRT. STANDARD U.S. POSTAGE PAID Mechanicsville, VA Permit No.141

Vol. 27, No. 35 | Richmond Suburban Newspapers | December 29, 2010

STOPS AT EVERY HOME IN TOWN

Leaders’ retirements top news for 2010 By Melody Kinser mkinser@mechlocal.com Retirement became a surprising word in Hanover County in 2010, as two officials decided to step down from their leadership positions.

1 — Cook and Roberson

COOK

After ser ving 20 years as sheriff, Col. V. Stuart C o o k left the county’s hig hest law en-

forcement office on Sept. 15. His official retirement date was Oct. 1. Startling news then came on Dec. 14 when Dr. Stewart D. Roberson, superintendent of Hanover County Public Schools, announced his retirement plans. He will leave the school system at the end of the 2010-2011 term. Moving into the sheriff ’s seat was C o o k ’s “r i g h t h a n d m a n ,” Lt. Col. David R. ROBERSON

TOP 10 OF 2010 1 — Cook and Roberson 2 — County budgets 3 — Tornado 4 — Emergency center 5 — YWCA honorees 6 — MRMC success 7 — Community spirit 8 — Rutland Center 9 — Kirby Porter 10 — Ax attack trial

Hines, who was promoted to colonel on Sept. 16. The Hanover County School Board will appoint a Superintendent Search Committee to fill the vacancy Roberson’s retirement creates. Cook, who retired after 45 years in law enforcement, was employed by the Richmond

Police Department when Hanover County Circuit Judge Richard H.C. Taylor approached him about the office. Cook came into the office following the retirement of Harold E. Bradley, who left due to illness. Roberson’s letter of resignation was accepted following a long pause during the School Board’s regular December meeting. It was reported in the Dec. 22 edition of The Local that his impending departure “ended a long and fruitful relationship between Roberson and Hanover County Schools, a period he described as a pinnacle of his career.” Roberson has been in public education for 35 years, 21 as a superintendent. He assumed the top spot in Hanover’s edu-

File photo/Melody Kinser

A tornado that ripped through Mechanicsville on Wednesday, Oct. 27, flipped a camper over on Little Sorrel Drive.

Dec. 31, 2011. cational system in 1995. A day after Hines became sheriff, he told The Local, “Our 2 — County priorities haven’t changed. The priorities remain the same as budgets they were yesterday.” Hines is the county’s 53rd The operations of county sheriff and fills Cook’s unexsee TOP, pg. 4 ` pired term, which runs through

Project Lifesaver becomes deputy’s cause A sergeant with the Hanover County Sheriff ’s Office, Sutton has been with Project Lifesaver from Tim Sutton’s life changed in 2003 its beginning here. The Hanover when he became involved with Project County program was the first in the Lifesaver. That assignment has since Richmond Metro area. become his cause and passion. Seventy families in Hanover

By Melody Kinser mkinser@mechlocal.com

FREE

County take part in the program, Sutton said, “half of which are individuals with dementia and half of which are special needs, mostly autistic children.” In the late 1990s, the City of Chesapeake Sheriff ’s Office “started

realizing they were going out searching for people with Alzheimer’s [disease] who had wandered off.” Sutton said the department was “spending a lot of manpower hours” searching for

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