Inside A6 News FrancisEmma to be sold saddens many
Powhatan, Virginia B2 Powhatan defense solid in win
Vol. XXIX No. 19
May 11, 2016
Board passes real estate tax rate, CIP By Laura McFarland News Editor
POWHATAN – The Powhatan County Board of Supervisors last week approved in a split vote a 90 cent fiscal year 2017 real estate tax rate that, while level, is effectively a five cent increase to help fund about $54.5 mil-
lion worth of capital improvement program (CIP) bonded projects they budgeted and appropriated the same night. During the board’s meeting on Monday, May 2, the supervisors voted three-two in favor of approving the real estate tax rate at 90 cents; approving an FY 2017 operating budget net
of transfers of $78,819,047, which was an increase of 6.2 percent from the current fiscal year, and budgeting and appropriating $54.5 million worth of bonded projects in the FY 2017 FiveYear CIP. These votes, as well as ones to approve the FY 2017 Staffing Plan and amend the county’s Classification and
Compensation Plan, were all passed with the same three-two split. Chairman Bill Melton, who represents District 4, Angie Cabell, District 3, and Carson Tucker, District 5, voted for the changes. David Williams, District 1, and Larry Nordvig, District 2, voted see TAX RATE page 2A
Once again, Christmas Mother is losing home
Once the site of two pioneering educational institutions, Powhatan County’s FrancisEmma property has also served as a home for many Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. Last week, it was abruptly announced that the property will be sold.
Sale could be years off, plans forming to transition local sisters
By Laura McFarland News Editor
POWHATAN – The Powhatan Christmas Mother Everyday Committee is about to find itself in the same situation it was two years ago – homeless. While the renovation and rebuilding of Powhatan Junior High School into a new middle school promises a brighter future for Powhatan County students, the demolition of the building sometime after July 1 means the room the Christmas Mother program has been using since summer 2014 will no longer be available to them. That means that, going into its 49th Christmas in existence, the Powhatan Christmas Mother program finds itself in danger of not being able to provide see CHRISTMAS page 3A
Belmead Mansion and its surrounding property are to be sold by the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament.
By Laura McFarland News Editor
POWHATAN – The Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament announced on Tuesday, May 3 that the order intends to sell FrancisEmma Inc., the historic 2,200 plus acre property in Powhatan County that has gone through incarnations as a plantation, home to two schools for black children and, more recently, has been building a reputation for its conservation and preservation efforts. The religious order’s leadership team informed the FrancisEmma board of directors and the sisters residing at Belmead on the James on Saturday, April 30 of the sale and dissolved the board the same day, according to
Sister Sandra Schmidt, one of the counselors on the leadership team and general treasurer for the order. The religious order also announced May 3 it will sell its 44-acre Motherhouse property in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, where more than half of the 104 nuns in the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament currently reside, Schmidt said. “They are both wonderful places filled with lots of wonderful things, but looking at it as wise stewards and the finances and human resources moving into the future, we just decided that we need to sell these properties,” Schmidt said. “Then we look at the money that comes from these to be used for new ministries, new missions see BELMEAD page 5A
‘Shock, sadness, anger, grief’ Sisters, community respond to news of property’s sale. See page 6A
By Laura McFarland News Editor
POWHATAN – Great weather and entertainment and a wide selection of food and beer combined to draw a big crowd out to the Powhatan Rotary Club’s sixth annual Hops and Barley Festival despite muddy conditions. Organizers of the annual fundraiser, held on Saturday, May 7, were ecstatic about the turnout, especially as the days of rain that preceded it left the field in northeast Powhatan County a muddy mess in places, Jesse Baez, the event’s committee chair, said. “Initially we couldn’t get trucks on the field. Teams of volunteers and staff members on ATVs were trucking the vendors from their parking spots to the set up area. There was a lot of work see HOPS page 9A
May 13 ~ The Remnants
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Hops and Barley draws hundreds despite mud
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