12/02/2015

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Powhatan, Virginia

The hometown paper of E.L. Robinson

Vol. XXVIII No. 48

December 2, 2015

Pocahontas historical marker dedicated By Laura McFarland News Editor

P

OWHATAN – A new historical marker commemorating the long and varied history of what is now Pocahontas Middle School got its start because of one man’s penchant to talk about his alma mater. Dr. Lynn Clayton-Prince, principal, said she met the late Flemming Scruggs, a custodian at the school, when she started working there about 12 years ago. Conversations with him often turned to the building where they were standing and the people who once walked its halls. Built in 1937, the institution housed there started as Powhatan Colored School. It’s name would change again – to Pocahontas High School around 1941; to Pocahontas School somewhere around 1950, when an elementary wing was added, and finally to Pocahontas Middle School in 1969, when the school district became fully integrated. Clayton-Prince said she was fascinated when Scruggs showed her photographs salvaged from the trash when the once all-black school was fully integrated in 1969 PHOTO BY ANJIE HENLEY and became the middle school. As he talked with her Dr. Demetrius D. Venable, from left, Dr. Xochela Venable James, Devan Venable, Jessica C. Venable, about the students and teachers in the photographs, Clay- Alana Venable, and Geri E. Venable, all relatives of former principal James B. Venable, unveil a histon-Prince said something sparked in her and she wanted torical marker at Pocahontas Middle School on Nov. 21. The marker recognizes the history of the see MARKER page 2A school, which once only served African American students.

JROTC fights world hunger

SUBMITTED PHOTO

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The Coon family was selected by Habitat for Humanity Powhatan to be the recipient of a new home in 2015.

Coon family loving Habitat dream home

Staff Report Powhatan High School’s JROTC program went above and beyond in its efforts this year to help stop world hunger. After about nine months of fundraising, the program’s 85 cadets and

two leaders saw their hard work pay off when they were joined by fellow students, school staff and community members in packaging 70,000 meals in three hours, Lt. Col. Veronica Baksee HUNGER page 5A

N O R M A WO O D Y R E F L E C T S O N C A N C E R By Laura McFarland News Editor

By Laura McFarland News Editor

POWHATAN – When representatives from Habitat for Humanity Powhatan showed up on the Coon family’s doorstep this spring to tell them they had been selected to receive a new house, Jenna Coon said it was like Publisher’s Clearing House appearing with a giant check. “That’s the way I felt. It was akin to winning the lottery. It is just amazing. To think, a brand new beautiful home,” she said. Terry Paquette, the local Habitat group’s executive director, was on the receiving end of the Jenna Coon’s reaction, which he described as nothing short of pandemonium. see HABITAT page 2A

More than 90 people helped Powhatan High School’s JROTC program package 70,000 meals for Stop Hunger Now on Nov. 7.

PHOTO BY LAURA MCFARLAND

Norma Woody published a book this fall written during her fight with terminal cancer.

Inside

Sports

A6 Holiday Guide

B1 Indians and Knights basketball ready to roll into 2015-16 season

POWHATAN – When Norma Woody’s life was thrown into chaos, writing was her way of helping calm the stormy seas. Often she would sit looking out of a window in her rural Powhatan County home and reflect. Her thoughts fluctuated with the day and her physical condition, alternately pensive, whimsical, fearful, grateful and angry. What flowed from her mind to pen and paper was what she calls her “impressions” – thoughts, poems and essays that were a byproduct of overwhelming emotions. Releasing them was its own form of relief, she said. “It allowed me to reach a part of my mind I normally wouldn’t reach. When you are put in that situation, you have a lot of deep thoughts,” she said. “My focus went into writing. You have to focus on something or you are going to lose it when you are dealing with terminal cancer.” At the urging of friends and family who read what she wrote, Woody compiled her impressions into a book, “Impressions Behind the Pink Ribbon: Writing Through the Laughter and Tears with My Metastatic Breast Cancer.” The book was published by Brandylane Publishers Inc./Belle Isle Books on Aug. 6. see NORMA page 9A

Index Calendar A3 Classified B5-6 Crime Report A10 Obituaries A4 Opinion A8 TV Listings B8-9


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