Inside A10 The Rotary Club of Powhatan Casino Night photo display
Powhatan, Virginia
B1 Rain doesn’t slow Indians in 11-1 win
Vol. XXX No. 17
April 26, 2017
PHOTO BY LAURA MCFARLAND
Members of the Powhatan County Board of Supervisors listen to people speak during the public hearings of the county’s fiscal year 2018 operating budget and real property tax rates.
Substance abuse prevention in schools never stops By Laura McFarland News Editor
Powhatan Board weighs final considerations for budget, tax rate By Laura McFarland
Monday, April 17, the final meeting before the budget and tax rates were scheduled to be voted on by the members on Monday, April 24. That meeting occurred after press time. Chairman Bill Melton, who represents District 4, gave an overview of the fiscal year (FY) 2018 operating budget, real property tax rates, and FY 2018 Five-Year Capital Improvement Program (CIP) before
News Editor
POWHATAN – The Powhatan County Board of Supervisors’ public hearing on the county’s fiscal year 2018 operating budget, real property tax rates, and fiscal year 2018 Five-Year Capital Improvement Program came and went with little fanfare last week. The three issues were briefly discussed at the board’s meeting on
JIM CARVER
see BOARD, pg. 2
EARTH DAY 2017 By Laura McFarland News Editor
POWHATAN – A turnout of a few hundred people, great vendor participation and mostly good weather had organizers counting Powhatan’s annual Earth Day celebration as a success before an impending storm forced it to shut down about an hour early. The celebration, which was held on Thursday,
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see EARTH, pg. 5
P
OWHATAN – Alcohol and substance abuse prevention in youth is a goal Powhatan County Public Schools staff works toward at every level of K-12 education, the school board heard last week. Kris Gwaltney, director of transportation, and Katie Wojcicki, director of pupil personnel services and special education instruction, gave a presentation to the school board at its workshop on Tuesday, April 18, about what efforts PCPS staff put into substance abuse awareness and prevention. In the 2016-2017 school year to date, PCPS has had 20 incidents of alcohol and drug related discipline incidents, Gwaltney said. Of those, 15 of them were related to alcohol, two to marijuana and three to other drugs. That was not broken down by school or age. Gwaltney said there is a variance from one school year to the next but the incident numbers are usually fairly consistent. Upon request, she shared incident numbers from the last 10 years: 2015-2016, 12 incidents of alcohol or drugs; 20142015,
PHOTO BY LAURA MCFARLAND
PHOTO BY LAURA MCFARLAND
Pocahontas Middle School FFA students hold a plant sale during the annual Earth Day celebration on April 20.
Kris Gwaltney, left, and Katie Wojcicki give a presentation to the Powhatan County School Board about the school district’s alcohol and substance abuse incidents and prevention methods. see SCHOOL, pg. 6
Bethel Baptist Church turns
200 Staff Report
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MIDLOTHIAN – Two hundred years of serving the religious needs of Powhatan
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The Rev. Todd Bradbury, pastor, stands in front of Bethel Baptist Church, which will celebrate its 200th anniversary as a congregation on April 30, 2017.
and Chesterfield counties will be celebrated April 30 at the Bethel Baptist Church at 1100 Huguenot Springs Road. Pastor Todd Bradbury was born and raised in Powhatan
and is very excited as he and the congregation prepare for the bicentennial observance. “It’s significant I think that God has worked in so many ways over the past 200 years
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through the lives of the people that call Bethel home, and we want to pause and celebrate that and take some time to honor what God has done for see BETHEL, pg. 6