11/26/2014

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Powhatan, Virginia

The hometown paper of J.D. Moore

Vol. XXVII No. 46

November 26, 2014

Two boards examine facilities study By Laura McFarland News Editor

T

he Powhatan County Board of Supervisors and Powhatan County School Board met jointly last week to start the discussion on a comprehensive facilities review of the county’s school buildings. Doug Westmoreland, vice president of Moseley Architects, gave a presentation on possible renovation and construction projects that came out of the study in a joint meeting held during the supervisors’ workshop on Monday, Nov.

17. Over the summer, Westmoreland presented the findings to a steering committee that then examined the options and made recommendations to the school board on which one to choose. While two of the supervisors served on the steering committee, the Nov. 17 presentation was the first time the board as a whole was presented with the findings. Jason Moore, who represents District 2, and Bill Melton, District 4, were on the steering committee. Since Westmoreland began presenting the findings this summer, updated cost esti-

WESTMORELAND

mates and more feedback on how it has been received were added to the presentation. Westmoreland laid out five options that were presented to

the steering committee as well as one that came from the members during discussions . He also offered updated cost estimates for all of them. The most popular choice among steering committee members with 68 percent of the vote was Option 3, which involves a renovation and addition to Powhatan Junior High School, closes Pocahontas Middle School and causes a grade realignment of prekindergarten to fifth grades at the elementary schools and sixth to eighth grades at the renovated junior high. The estimated cost of the project is $33 million.

Option 1, the cheapest at $21.2 million, leaves all schools and grade alignments the same with deferred maintenance when necessary for long-term operation at the middle and junior high schools, Westmoreland said. All of the other options would involve grade realignments. Option 2a is a $40 million project that would close the middle and junior high schools and build a new middle school for grades six to eight on the former site of the junior high. Option 2b, estimated at $43.5 million, would close the middle see STUDY page 4A

Beautiful homes and history By Laura McFarland News Editor

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he Coalition of Powhatan Churches is giving people a peek into their neighbors’ homes in time for Christmas. The local nonprofit will hold its first Village Christmas House Tour at Powhatan Courthouse to spread some holiday cheer, high-

light Powhatan County and do a good turn for the community, Patsy Goodwyn, director of the coalition, said. The event will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 6 in the Village area. Tickets are $30 per person. The coalition will open eight homes and local sites to the public to tour as a fundraiser for the Ruby

Leonard Food Pantry building fund, Goodwyn said. Powhatan County is a special place with a closeknit community, but there are people joining that group all the time who haven’t experienced what the county is all about, she said. “We are all about giving. So hopefully we will

Wilma Weimer will open her home in Scottville for the Village Christmas House Tour at Powhatan Courthouse, which benefits the Ruby Leonard Food Pantry building fund. PHOTO BY LAURA MCFARLAND

see HOMES page 2A

Powhatan student sees world through a lens By Laura McFarland News Editor

NATHAN WHEELER

Standing on the sidelines of the Powhatan High School Homecoming game on Oct. 17 with a camera in his hand, Nathan Wheeler stopped to take a look around. All eyes were appropriately glued to the football field, as were half a dozen lenses as various photographers sought to capture the action with their cameras. While Nathan, an 18-year-old senior,

loves capturing sports action shots, he didn’t want to do what everyone else was doing. Instead, he turned his lens where few others were looking – the stands and the sidelines. The resulting video he put together – with images ranging from cheering crowds to band members to cheerleaders and even some football action – is one of the budding filmmaker’s favorite projects to date. “It just feels right. Looking through the lens gives me a different perspective of the world than just my two eyes,” Na-

than said. Nathan, the son of Lori and Jim Wheeler of Powhatan, said he feels most at home when he has a camera of some kind in his hands. He has been shooting photographs and videos since he was a child and got his hands on a Handycam. He remembers being at his aunt’s house and filming everybody just to play with the camera. From then on, he shot everything he could – making movies with neighborsee LENS page 2A

F O RU M S A I M TO B R I D G E G A P W I T H P O L I C E By Laura McFarland News Editor

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he Powhatan Chapter of the NAACP and the Powhatan County Sheriff’s Office continued efforts to work together for the betterment of the community this fall. The NAACP chapter sponsored a second forum focused on cooperation between community members and law enforcement and improving understanding between the two, Rovenia Vaughan, president of the chapter, said. The seminar, held on Aug. 23, featured several guest speakers, including Sheriff Greg Neal, and focused on the “Community, Neighbor, Law Enforcement Collaboration,” she said. “We were focusing on the whole community, it was not just a black thing,” she said. “We were trying to say that criminal justice affects everybody. Civil disobedience is the concern of all citizens, especially when it affects their property and

lives being invaded.” The NAACP and local law enforcement agencies worked together on a similar forum in September 2012 called “You and the Law,” she said. Four local law enforcement officials spoke in a panel discussion on how citizens – particularly young people of color – could learn how to have better, safer and more pleasant experiences with the police. This year’s panel went beyond only law enforcement. In addition to Neal, the other members on the panel were the Rev. Vera Rhyne, pastor of First Antioch Baptist Church in Powhatan, and the Rev. James Taylor, pastor of Race Street Baptist Church of Farmville and professor and program chairman of the criminal justice department at Southside Virginia Community College, Christanna campus. Similar to the topic at the first forum, PHOTO BY LAURA MCFARLAND Taylor spoke about dealing with the police Rovenia Vaughan, left, president of the Powhatan Chapter of the NAACP, in a respectful manner, Earl Hobson, legal Sheriff Greg Neal and Earl Hobson, legal redress chair for the chapter, participated in a forum designed to improve cooperation between com-

see FORUMS page 7A munity members and law enforcement.

Happy Thanksgiving

from the staff at Powhatan Today

Sports B1 Ryleigh Roberts’ has thrived in the niche sport of artistic roller skating.

Index Calendar A3 Classified B8-9 Crime Report A5 Letters A8 Obituaries A5 Opinion A8 TV Listings B6-7


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