Inside A5 Company faces two fires in less than a week
Powhatan, Virginia B1 Winter sports previews: Powhatan boys hoops, BSH teams
Vol. XXXIV No. o. 24
December 16, 2020
Powered Up
PCPS allows virtual students to return to in-person classes By Laura McFarland Editor
By Laura McFarland Editor
OWHATAN – Anyone who drives around Powhatan County at night knows how dark the long windy roads can get, even with people trying to light the way with festive Christmas displays. Every once in a while, drivers may stumble across a real gem of a house that is lit up with lights, decorated to the max, and obviously fully embracing the joy of Christmas, but they can be difficult to find. So once again, we are trying to take the guesswork out of those searches so our residents and people from other communities can come and enjoy the beautiful displays of some of our most enthusiastic Christmas fanatics. Now in its fourth year, the Powered Up Powhatan light display list has two new entries, several returning favorites, and a few that are taking a year off. The list this year is a mix of family and business light shows and displays that hopefully will help our residents get in the holiday spirit. With so many Christmas events canceled because of the pandemic, we know that cheer may feel in short supply. Even some of the decorators on the list talked about how they struggled to embrace the holiday cheer this year, and these are people who are so gung ho about Christmas that they spend days and weeks building these displays with thousands of lights. But each of them also said that either the very act of putting up these lights or
will have to determine if enough students are coming into different grade levels to warrant hiring any additional teachers. In the midst of this decision, Jones made it clear that division staff did not recommend making this change and having secondary hybrid students return for more in-person days at the same time. “Part of the reason that we can’t add more students safely is because we have such a high percentage of our students who are in-person currently. So, unlike some divisions that only have 50% or 60% of their students inperson, we are at (80%), and it could be (90%) by the time some of the virtual students come back. Adding more students more than two days a week is just going to be next to impossible,” Jones said. Ahead of the Dec. 8 board meeting, the school see SCHOOL, pg. 4
Christmas Mother elves hard at work
The Powered Up Powhatan list can be found on Pages 3 and 6.
Prsrt. Standard U.S. POSTAGE PAID Powhatan, VA Permit No.19
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the moment when they turned them all on really helped usher in the season fully. They hope it does the same for those who come to see their handiwork. As always, knowing the distance many of our readers will be traveling, we tried to include homes you will find worth the drive. But keep in mind, this list does not adhere to the more strict requirements of Richmond’s Tacky Lights Tour, which asks for a minimum of 40,000 lights to participate. Before you go, a few things to remember. These homes are usually found on rural roads – one is even on a private road – that will be dark and may not have many places to pull over and look at the lights (this is especially true of the Judes Ferry house). Be extremely mindful of the lack of visibility and METRO ART the speed with which everyone knows drivers sometimes use even on dark, windy roads. All of this year’s participants ask that people remain in their cars to see the displays and do not get out and walk around them. This amount of lights takes a ton of wires and it is too dark to wander around. If they have neighbors, they ask you to be respectful of them and the areas you are visiting. If your home was not mentioned but you would love to have visitors come look at your display, contact editor Laura McFarland at Lmcfarland@ powhatantoday.com.
POWHATAN – Powhatan County Public Schools intends to follow through on a promise made at the beginning of the school year to let all families who chose the full-virtual option to consider going back to in-person instruction in the second semester. Dr. Eric Jones, superintendent, presented the division’s plan to the school board at its meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 8. The board members discussed the issue but weren’t asked to vote on it, with Jones saying the division was only following through on what families were told would happen when the school year began. Under this plan, the school division sent out a binding survey on Dec. 9 to the families of the 870 all-virtual students to have them choose how they
want to proceed. They can still choose to remain on the virtual model, but they will be committing to do so for the remainder of the school year. Elementary students who opt to go back will join their fellow students in attending five days of in-person classes, while middle and high school students will be assigned to the hybrid schedule and attend two to three days a week. Those students who choose to return to in-person instruction will do so on Jan. 25, 2021, or the corresponding hybrid day. Those who do not fill out the binding survey by Dec. 16 will be contacted directly to gauge their decision so staff can get accurate numbers to begin planning, Jones said. Depending on how many people want to return to in-person instruction, staff members have significant work to do planning schedules and transportation. The school division
PHOTOS BY LAURA McFARLAND
DELIVER TO: Postal Patron Powhatan, VA 23139
Powhatan Christmas Mother volunteers handed out presents over three days of scheduled pick-ups and deliveries on Dec. 8, 9, and 11. See more photos page 8A.
Budget numbers look good in first five months of fiscal year By Laura McFarland Editor PHOTO COURTESY OF POWHATAN SHERIFF’S OFFICE
Deputy B.J. Henderson recently became a certified K-9 handler partnered with Sgt. Bane.
Deputy partners with K-9 Bane By Laura McFarland Editor
POWHATAN – At the ripe old age of 6 years old, Sgt. Bane still has the drive to show up and work. So both he and everyone around him at the Powhatan County Sheriff’s Office are thrilled that he is back patrolling the streets with a new handler, Deputy B.J. Henderson. The duo was certified on Dec. 2 by the Virginia Police Canine Association and worked their first shift together the next day. They see BANE, pg. 8
POWHATAN – The first five months of fiscal year 2021 have gone better than expected for Powhatan County based on taxes collected as of November 2020. During a joint meeting of the Powhatan County Board of Supervisors and School Board held on Thursday, Dec. 10, county administrator Ned Smither offered an optimistic update on the fiscal year that began on July 1, 2020. Smither recognized the effort both boards made during the budget season earlier this year to create a conservative budget that kept in mind the uncertainties Powhatan could be facing economically because of the pandemic. However, he said that Powhatan weathered the first five months well. Smither shared some of the revenues the county has seen as of November 2020, and when compared to November 2019, they are promising overall, he said. Real estate taxes in the first five months of 2020 were $17.04 million, which was up from $15.14 million a year
earlier, representing a 12.5% growth, he said. Personal property tax collections were down 7.7%, with $4.15 million collected as of November 2020 compared to $4.47 million the year before. Even with the reduction in personal property taxes, that still represents an overall growth rate of 8.03% in general property taxes, Smither said. Other local taxes were up 9.5%, ringing in at $1.67 million this year compared to $1.53 million in 2019 at this time. Smither pointed out that sales tax is the primary component of this category. “Sales tax in Powhatan did not take a hit like it did in other counties. In fact, our citizens are spending more money, whether by home delivery or Amazon or however they were spending the money. Our sales tax is up,” he said. Intergovernmental revenues, which includes county and schools funds, were overall down 0.4%, Smither said. The state revenues saw a slight increase of $44,023, or about 0.4%. Meanwhile federal funds decreased by $92,548, which is a 14.9% decrease. see BUDGET, pg. 6