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Powhatan, Virginia
The hometown paper of David Morefield
Vol. XXVII No. 27
July 9, 2014
Powhatan celebrates Independence Day
PHOTO BY LAURA MCFARLAND
Sister Beulah Martin gives a high five to Jahvon Blackwell, 4, for completing a matching game while Kelsey Coon, 3, continues to play with the cards.
Belmead embraces its educational roots By Laura McFarland News Editor Fireworks light up the sky over Powhatan at Clyde Childress’ fundraiser for the Virginia Wounded Warriors Program. Attendees join in reciting “The Pledge of Allegiance.”
T SEE MORE PHOTOS ON PAGE 8
he learning is far from over at Belmead Mansion, where the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament are embracing the educational roots of the historic property. The former plantation turned school is once again welcoming students, albeit in a much younger age category than it did historically, Sister Maureen T. Car-
roll, executive director of FrancisEmma Inc., said. This spring, the nuns had a soft opening for the FrancisEmma Day Care, to be run on the property at 5004 Cartersville Road. The program started in April in a room in the mansion, but a small building at the back of the house will be updated and turned into the designated day see BELMEAD page 3A
PHOTOS BY ANJIE HENLEY
WWII veterans asked to share their war stories By Laura McFarland News Editor
T
he stories of local men and women who served in the U.S. Armed Forces during World War II will be preserved in the Library of Congress after a visiting camera crew records their stories. The crew, part of the Witness to War Foundation, will interview World War II veterans about their wartime experiences on Wednesday, July 16, and Thursday, July 17, at the War Memorial Community and Cultural Arts Center at 2375 Skaggs Road in Powhatan. Taping will begin at 9 a.m. each day and go until the scheduled interviews for that day are finished, Karen Ylimaki, secretary for the center, said. She is still looking for interested local WWII vet-
By Laura McFarland News Editor
P
owhatan County is proving to be an attractive investment for developers with several residential and commercial projects in the
works. Construction is underway on two commercial sites in the county, and a developer recently bought another large section of land to be used for residential housing, March Altman, deputy county administrator for community development, said. Added to an uptick in people building on developments that were approved before the crash of the real estate market and “it is a good time for investment in the county,” he said. “The economy seems to be improving.”
Commercial growth Powhatan County’s 2010 Comprehen-
erans who would like to participate. “I am honored to know these veterans and get them here,” Ylimaki, of Powhatan County, said. The Witness to War Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the stories and experiences of combat veterans. It was founded in an attempt to address the complicated and profound question: What was it like to be there? The program captures the oral histories of combat veterans and preserves them for their families and for future generations. Copies of the interviews are given to the veteran, entered into the Library of Congress Veterans History Project, and kept by Witness to War for the project, she said. Program coordinators contacted Ylimaki because they were already going
to be nearby in Norfolk and had heard of her ties to local veterans groups, she said. The nonprofit provides all the equipment, but it needs a place to set up for the interviews and local ties in the community to get the word out to veterans. The program is focusing on WWII veterans because the men and women who served at that time are all too quickly disappearing, Ylimaki said. Ron Kimler, 89, of Midlothian was invited by Ylimaki to participate because she knew him through the World War II Round Table held in Powhatan. He served in the Army Air Force from 1942 to 1946 and flew as a pilot during the war. He would later join the Michigan Air National Guard and serve from 1949 to 1958. Kimler said he flew a P-47 attached
to the 366th Fighter Group, serving most of his time overseas during the war in Belgium. He was only 20 during his time in combat, and it was “a very unusual growing up period.” “The war taught me who I was when I was 20 years old,” he said. “That’s pretty good. How many kids know where they are these days?” Although he agreed to share his story with Witness to War when Ylimaki asked him to participate, Kimler said it wasn’t out of a need to aggrandize anything he did. “I didn’t do anything more important than a lot of young men who never made it back.” WWII veterans interested in participating may call Ylimaki at 804-6012643. For more information, go to www. witnesstowar.org.
Developing Powhatan
sive Land Use Plan set up a development pattern within the county that will allow for retail commercial development along Route 60 in some nodes, “from the county line to Flat Rock, from the Route 711 Village area east to the Chesterfield line, and then in the courthouse area,” Altman said. The most prominent construction project in the county is the site work underway at Stavemill Crossings, a new development at the corner of Stavemill Road and Route 60, catty-corner to Walmart, he said. Stavemill Crossing is comprised of more than 22 acres and features eight separate parcels and a section for future development, said Chris Anderson, a manager with Red Drum Capital, the PHOTO BY LAURA MCFARLAND Charleston, South Carolina, company deSite construction is underway at Stavemill Crossings, a new development veloping the property. at the corner of Stavemill Road and Route 60 comprised of more than 22 acres that will have eight separate parcels for businesses.
Inside A6 From the News Editor: Powhatan seen through a police car window
Sports B1 Taylor Myers’ dream of making it to Omaha comes true
see DEVELOPING page 7A
Index Calendar Classified Crossword Horoscope Obituaries Opinion TV Listings
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