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Powhatan, Virginia
The hometown paper of Sylvester Shiflett
Vol. XXIV No. 50
December 15, 2010
Visit www.powhatantoday.com for photos from this year’s Powhatan Christmas Parade
Tea Party activist seeking BOS seat
Schools, County to debate fines
SPREADING CHRISTMAS CHEER
School system facilities director says charging schools for water violations makes little sense
Todd Rojcewicz is readying himself for next year’s District 4 race By Michael Copley Staff Writer
By Michael Copley
Todd Rojcewicz, a Tea Party activist and chairman of the Powhatan Taxpayers Alliance, will seek the Republican nomination for the District 4 seat on the Powhatan Board of Supervisors this Spring, ahead of a county-wide general election in November 2011. “Everybody that’s been leaders in the Tea Party like I have, it’s Rojcewicz time to take our words and put them into action and try to make a better community for everybody,” Rojcewicz said Dec. 8 on 1140 WRVA’s Doc Thompson show. “Powhatan is currently a great place to live,” he said. “If we get some principled, common sense leadership in the administration building we can even make it a better place to live than it is now.” Rojcewicz moved to Powhatan in 2004 with his wife, Julie, and the couple’s daughter. He served for 12 years in the United States Marine Corps and the Virginia National Guard and is a 2010 graduate of the Powhatan Leadership Institute. With slumping revenue projections from the county’s finance department and a shrinking state budget, Powhatan should encourage “balanced and sustainable” economic development in order to ease its reliance on personal property taxes for funding, Rojcewicz said. “The biggest thing we’re going to have to do in Powhatan is figure out a way that we can find better balance for how we receive our revenue,” he said. “I will aggressively see Race page 3A
Staff Writer
PHOTOS BY ROSLYN RYAN
This polar scene is just one of many that adorn the front yard of a Powhatan couple’s home. The two estimate it takes weeks to get all the decorations complete.
There they glow again Couple’s annual display a shining example of Christmas spirit By Roslyn Ryan Editor
W
hile a good many people in the county had probably settled in for a night in front of the tube by 6:30 last Thursday evening, Powhatan resident Jim Willis was not among them. Instead, Willis found himself hunched over a miniature reindeer, the light-decked kind that moves its head and seems to crop up in hundreds of yards as the holidays approach. This deer, it seemed, had suffered some kind of electrical malfunction. “They usually don’t give us any trouble at all,” said Dana Ford, frowning as Jim continued meticulously scanning the deer’s front legs, looking for the offending kink in the animal’s circuitry. Fortunately, as they say, one reindeer don’t stop no show. And this time of year, out in the couple’s front yard, it is a spectacular show indeed. It’s tough to do justice, in print, to just how thoroughly the two have transformed what would otherwise be an ordinary tract of land on Beaverrun Road into a Christmas wonderland. A tour of the lawn reveals a different holiday-themed tableau, literally, around every corner.
The Abominable Snowman is a part of a scene based on Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
There’s a seascape complete with a snowwhite seal and a blue ground covering of lights. Just a few yards away sits a gingerbread house the size of my first post-college apartment. This year, they added The Land of Misfit Toys (from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer) including the snow monster and even the see Lights page 3A
Got photos of your neighborhood’s best Christmas decorations? Send them to editor@powhatantoday.com
The Powhatan County School Board is expected to use at least a portion of a Dec. 16 meeting with the Board of Supervisors to address fines that have been leveled against the schools for the quality of the wastewater its facilities are releasing into the county’s sewage treatment system. The School Board was told at its meeting in November that the schools incurred $15,000 in fines over a two-month period. In March 2000, the Board of Supervisors approved the Powhatan Courthouse Wastewater System Ordinance, which established waste limits and surcharges for exceeding those limits, according to Christopher Rapp, director of utilities and general services for the county. In June 2009, the county’s 24 “strong waste customers” – users whose wastewater has characteristics other than normal domestic effluence – were notified that they would be billed for effluence that exceeds permitted levels, said Rapp. He said a sample bill specific to each customer was sent out with the letter demonstrating the calculation as well as the anticipated amounts should the customer continue to exceed the limits. The school system is in non-compliance due to organic nitrogen levels, zinc, copper, suspended solids and various substances that are causing oxygen depletion at the treatment center, according to Rapp. Rapp said food scraps and cleaning supplies see Sewer page 3A
Inside
Sports
Index
A10 Your holiday survival guide Gift ideas for even the hardest people to buy for
B1 The new girls After reaching state semifinals last season, BSH girls basketball rebuilds
Calendar Classified Crossword Extra Points Horoscope
A4 B12 A13 B1 A13
Obituaries Opinion Quotes Real Estate TV Listings
A5 A12 A2 B11 B8-9