August 27 29, 2015 issue by Richmond Free Press

Richmond’s population on the grow By Jeremy M. Lazarus

The last time majority-black Richmond recorded more than 221,000 residents was 1979, a time when the city’s population was shrinking from “white flight” to the suburbs. The city’s population peaked at 250,000

people in 1970 following the annexation of part of Chesterfield County. But almost immediately the population began to fall as Please turn to A5

Richmond Free Press

VOL. 24 NO. 35

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA

www.richmondfreepress.com

ee Fr

Fr ee

More people want to live in Richmond. For the first time in nearly four decades, based on the current rate of growth, Rich-

mond’s population could top 221,000 people when the U.S. Census Bureau releases its new city and county population estimates in January — up at least 17,000 people from the official 2010 census.

August 27-29, 2015

‘Why is this happening?’ Newborn baby taken from mother in hospital

Bike races hit bumps on the way to big start

By Jeremy M. Lazarus

“I was way beyond up upset. All I could think is ‘why is this happening?’ I never got any explanation. They just came in and took my baby.” So said 41-year-old Jane Doe in the wake of a shocking action: Richmond Department of Social Services employees, with police in tow, seized her healthy newborn daughter at Henrico Doctors’ Hospital where she was born. (The names of the mother, father and daughter are being withheld to protect their privacy.) Since Wednesday, Aug. 19, when the social workers came, Ms. Doe has not even been allowed to see her baby, who has been placed with a foster family who have no relation to her. The father also has not been permitted contact with his child. Ms. Doe said she was even barred from providing pumped breast milk for the child because she said a social worker told her that her milk was causing the baby to have diarrhea, which seems to fly in the face of the current government campaign to

By Joey Matthews

The city’s grand plan to showcase itself to the world for the 2015 UCI Road World Championships is hitting some speed bumps. First, there are lingering money issues. Richmond 2015 — the organizing group for the bike races that will run from Sept. 19 through 27 — acknowledged this week it is still about 15 percent or about $3.15 million shy of the $21 million needed to pay for the event. The group hopes to collect most of the remaining funds from the sale of merchandise, concession fees, beer sales, VIP tickets and TV rights fees, Paul Shanks, the Richmond 2015 spokesperson, told the Free Press on Tuesday. Next, a bike share system the city hoped to launch prior to the world championships remains stalled. The system would have allowed people to pay a fee and check out bicycles from docking stations, returning them after their usage time ended. The city, state and federal entities that are helping to pay the cost have yet to ink an agreement on the project. Until there is a deal, the city cannot award a contract to a bike share vendor. Officials have said it could take months for an accord to be reached. The latest snafu: Monroe Park has been dropped as a gathering site for race spectators. It was to have giant-screen TVs, food, beverages and entertainment in hopes of attracting thousands of students from nearby Virginia Commonwealth University and residents from neighboring communities. The loss could reduce the number of local people who could be counted for attendance purposes. Richmond hopes that up to 50,000 people a day from this area and beyond will turn out to view the competition. Race officials said a sponsor to fund the cost of the Monroe Park viewing site decided instead to help fund another space along the route. Race officials said they still believe throngs of fans will converge on Monroe Park to socialize and cheer on racers, but it is less certain now. Still, the loss of Monroe Park is an embarrassment to the city, which spent $73,000 to install new cement sidewalks in and around the park and damaged 300 feet of the park’s underground irrigation system in the process. That spending now appears to have been a waste of money. Mayor Dwight C. Jones and his then-

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Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

Celebrating ‘The Black Cyclone’ This new mural in Jackson Ward pays homage to forgotten American cycling superstar — Marshall Walter “Major” Taylor. Richmond artist Sir James Thornhill created the colorful mural featuring the two-wheel racing phenom. Location: 1st and Marshall streets. Dubbed “The Black Cyclone,” Mr. Taylor broke the color barrier in the sport in the 1890s when bike racing was a big deal in this country and Europe. Despite bigoted competitors attempts to injure him, he ranked as the fastest cyclist in the world into the early 1900s. The cycling Hall of Famer set seven world records and won 117 of his 168 races, while placing second in the rest. He reportedly earned $30,000 a year in his prime, an immense sum for the period.

Minimum pay rising as area businesses compete for workers

Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

A mother cuddles her newborn before a city social worker arrived to take the baby.

Sources: Upset GRTC drivers slow bus service Free Press staff report

Richard Walker is seeing more job opportunities with higher pay in the Richmond area. “I got a call from a jobseeker Monday and directed him to Chipotle,” said Mr. Walker, head of Bridging the Gap in Virginia, which aids ex-offenders. “I heard they were hiring a lot of people at good wages.” Indeed, they are, along with other Richmond area restaurants, stores and other businesses, signaling a recovering economy. And the competition for workers is starting to force businesses to offer wages far higher than the federal and state minimum of $7.25 an hour. Two years ago, many people thought fast food workers demonstrating for a $15 minimum wage were crazy. And Virginia’s Republican-dominated General Assembly called raising the minimum wage a job-killer. But with demand for lower-wage workers heating up, many businesses are ratch-

GRTC drivers, angry over a delay in receiving a pay raise, began an unsanctioned work action this week. According to sources, drivers have been refusing to work overtime while some have called in sick or failed to show up. The result is that buses have been parked rather than going out on routes, creating disruption for riders trying to get to work, make other appointments or return home. On one day this week, the runs for the Jefferson 45 route from Church Hill into Downtown started three hours late, according to a source. Carrie Rose Pace, a GRTC spokesperson, denied that bus service was being disrupted. “I’m not aware of any of that happening,” she told the Free Press on Wednesday. The action is taking place even as GRTC officials and Frank Tunstall III, president and business agent for Local

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By Joey Matthews

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‘Doing God’s work’ at The Healing Place By Joey Matthews

Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

Al Jackson, the program director at The Healing Place.

Al Jackson drank alcohol, snorted cocaine and smoked crack cocaine for 24 years. “I was suicidal, I was lost and I had no hope,” he recalls of those dark days. Today, he’s celebrating 15 years of sobriety and serves as the program director at The Healing Place on South Side. It is a long-term recovery facility for Richmond area men 18 and older who are seeking treatment for alcoholism or drug addiction. “It’s not about me,” said Mr. Jackson, who oversees recovery programs at the facility at 700 Dinwiddie Ave. “It’s about helping those men coming behind me. I’ve been where they’ve been. I see this as doing God’s work. He has restored me back to sanity.” He says he got sober after he entered The Healing Place program in Louisville, Ky. “I was pretty much in the gutter by then,” he said. “My life has never been the same since then,” he said.

Mr. Jackson is now married with children and grandchildren. He has been in his leadership post at the Richmond Healing Place for 10 years. The Healing Place operates under the umbrella of CARITAS, a Richmond-based shelter provider for homeless people. The facility opened in 2005 after the Richmond

Task Force on Homelessness identified a major need for addiction recovery resources for homeless men in Richmond, according to The Healing Place website. Men usually stay from eight to 10 months in Please turn to A4

He’s helping released jail inmates get services By Joey Matthews

Devon Simmons said he gets deep satisfaction from helping inmates leaving local jails gain a new lease on life. “Instead of warehousing them, we need to provide them with more services to give them a better chance to succeed after they are released,” he said. The 30-year-old Buffalo, N.Y., native has that opportunity in his position as the first state re-entry coordinator in the office of Virginia Attorney General Please turn to A4

Mr. Simmons

Richmond Free Press

August 27-29, 2015

Local News

James Haskins/Richmond Free Press

As these photos show, iconic cement silos, left, in the East End have come down. The once proud symbols of Lehigh Cement Co. were demolished in the past two weeks as part of $10 million in improvements the city is undertaking along the north bank of the James River. Winchester-based Howard Shockey & Sons Inc., which did not have any minority partners, cleared the silos, whose site is to be a park. Other projects: The $4 million city portion of the Virginia Capital Trail to which the city contributed $820,000 and the Low-Line

2 fundraisers split by race

Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

Project, a $1.4 million landscaping venture alongside the trail to which the city contributed $200,000 and private sources are donating $1.2 million. The city also is set to invest nearly $3 million in improvements to the former Intermediate Terminal and to create a walking bridge across the river at Brown’s Island for which the state has provided $2.5 million. These projects represent Phase I of the city’s Riverfront Plan that aims to create a uniﬁed, cohesive system of open space and recreational opportunities for pedestrians and bicyclists.

Cityscape Slices of life and scenes in Richmond

August 26 – September 1, 2015

Free Press staff

Free Press staff, wire reports

Bob McDonnell’s date with prison has been delayed again. The former Virginia governor, convicted of 11 counts of corruption, won a temporary reprieve Monday from the U.S. Supreme Court. U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts halted a mandate to send him to jail, but has referred Mr. McDonnell the issue to the full nine-member court. Five justices must vote to allow Mr. McDonnell to remain free while he prepares his appeal to the high court; otherwise, he would have to do it from prison. The nation’s highest court is expected to shortly decide that issue. Federal prosecutors delivered rebuttal briefs to the court Wednesday to challenge Mr. McDonnell’s request to stay free during his appeal. If they win, he would quickly receive a date to report to a federal prison.

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Segregation appears to be rearing its head in an unlikely place — in two fundraisers a trio of progressive women’s groups are hosting for female Democrats seeking office in Central Virginia. Intentionally or not, the first fundraiser, to be held this weekend, will feature four white candidates and the other, set for next month, will be for three African-American candidates. The fundraisers are the work of Women Matter, Women to Women and Women Leaders of Virginia, who are seeking to help their candidates achieve success in the upcoming general election Nov. 3. The organizers pooh-poohed the suggestion that race was even a consideration. “This has nothing to do with segregation,” said Eileen Davis, co-founder of Women Matter, a Richmond-based group that advocates for passage of The Equal Rights Amendment. Instead, she said geography is the reason the candidates are split up the way they are. “These fundraisers were organized to make it easiest for candidates to participate according to where they are from,” Ms. Davis told the Free Press on Wednesday. “We wanted to make it as convenient as we could for them to attend.” She said the sole intent of the fundraisers is to increase financial support for female candidates. Another is being planned for female candidates in the Hampton Roads area. In the Richmond area, the groups’ first fundraiser, featuring the four white women, will take place this Saturday, Aug. 29, at a private home in Ashland. Richmond Sen. A. Donald McEachin, who is African-American, is to speak, and Richmond singer Susan Greenbaum is to perform, according to the program. The fundraiser is for Deborah Rapp, who is competing in Senate District 12; Toni Radler who is running in House of Delegates District 55; Kandy Hilliard who is running in House District 28; and incumbent Henrico Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor. The second fundraiser — supporting the three black candidates — is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 13, at a union hall in Hopewell. Virginia Secretary of the Commonwealth Levar M. Stoney, also an African-American, is to speak, The fundraiser will feature incumbent Sen. Rosalyn Dance in Senate District 16; Lashrecse Aird, who is running in the House of Delegates District 63; and Sheila Bynum-Coleman, who is competing in House of Delegates District 62. Sen. Dance — who won a special election to fill the seat previously held by Sen. Henry L. Marsh III — is facing independent Joseph D. “Joe” Morrissey. Ms. Bynum-Coleman is challenging 12-term Republican Delegate Riley Ingram, while Ms. Aird is running unopposed for the seat that Sen. Dance previously held and that is currently represented by outgoing Delegate Joseph Preston of Petersburg. For the first group, Ms. Rapp is in a three-way race to fill the seat of retiring Henrico Republican Sen. Walter Stosch of Henrico; the other candidates are Republican Siobhan Dunnavant and independent Robert “Scott” Johnson. Ms. Radler is running against first-term incumbent Republican Delegate Hyland F. “Buddy” Fowler of Glen Allen. Ms. Hilliard is going up against Republican House Speaker William Howell, 14-term veteran. Ms. Taylor is running for re-election against Republican Tony Pham.

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August 27-29, 2015

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Richmond Free Press

A4 August 27-29, 2015

Local News

Dance-Morrissey race opens with rift over death penalty By Jeremy M. Lazarus

Petersburg Sen. Rosalyn R. Dance is promising to propose a moratorium on executions of death row prisoners if she is re-elected. The Democrat issued the pledge after her lone challenger, independent candidate Joseph D. “Joe” Morrissey, threw his first public campaign punch in accusing her of supporting expansion of the death penalty. Mr. Morrissey called it “absolutely inexplicable for an African-American legislator” who represents a majority African-American district to support greater use of the death penalty that has been “conclusively shown to be excessively and disproportionately used against AfricanAmericans.” Sen. Dance, who is seeking her first fouryear term representing the 16th Senate District that stretches from the East End of Richmond to Petersburg, quickly jabbed back. “My opponent has actually sought the death penalty and asked jurors to put people to death,”

she stated in alluding to Mr. Morrissey’s tenure as Richmond commonwealth’s attorney in the early 1990s. “He, himself, has said he believes there are times when the death penalty is appropriate. For him to imply that he is somehow Sen. Dance ‘pure’ on this issue is totally disingenuous and outrageous.” “At the same time,” she stated, “I do recognize that legitimate issues exist with capital punishment. In January, I intend to propose a moratorium on executions. This moratorium would remain in place pending completion of a thorough review of when, why and against whom the death penalty is applied in Virginia.” Such moratoriums have been proposed before, but the pro-death penalty Republican majority in the House has always killed such proposals. The give-and-take between Sen. Dance and Mr. Morrissey reflects an early opening to the

campaign season that usually heats up after Labor Day on the way to Election Day in November. Most of the contests this fall involve elections for the 100 seats in the House of Delegates and the 40 seats in the state Senate. Mr. Morrissey Now a Richmond resident, Mr. Morrissey opened the attack last week by pointing to Sen. Dance’s record of voting for bills that would make it “easier to put people to death in Virginia.” Using legislative records, he cited Sen. Dance’s votes in 2010 for two separate Republican-authored bills to expand the death penalty, including one that would have eliminated the Triggerman Rule. That rule limits the death penalty to a person who fires the fatal shot, rather than everyone involved with a killing. Sen. Dance was then a member of the House of Delegates when she cast the votes.

Mr. Morrissey, also a delegate at the time, voted against both bills in large part because of the number of people found to be wrongly sentenced to death. Quoting congressional statistics, Mr. Morrissey noted that since 1976, 1,413 people have been executed in the United States, while more than 150 people — or nearly 11 percent — have been freed from death row as the result of conclusive evidence being discovered of their innocence. Sen. Dance stated that the legislation she supported “concerned the murder of law enforcement officials, instances of murder for hire, acts of terrorism and other exceptionally violent crimes. I have always worked to keep Virginians safe, and I supported these measures from a desire to stop depraved individuals from committing heinous acts. “My opponent demagogues this issue and seeks to mislead voters about his own record,” she stated. Meanwhile, “I have always sought to keep families safe, and I have worked to ensure both fair and equal justice for all Virginians.”

‘Doing God’s work’ at The Healing Place Continued from A1

the facility, then move into an apartment community on South Side where they can stay up to a year as they transition back into society. The men undergo job training, are connected to employment opportunities and most have a job when they leave The Healing Place. The Healing Place is a 214-bed program, which includes the transitional apartments. There are 178 beds at the facility on Dinwiddie Avenue. On average, The Healing Place operates at about 85 percent of its capacity, said Karen Stanley, chief executive officer at CARITAS. While living at The Healing Place, men work on their recovery and take classes from the Recovery Dynamics curriculum, which is modeled after the 12-step program of Alcoholics Anonymous. They also attend AA and Narcotics Anonymous meetings. Near the beginning of their recovery journey, the men are required to walk from The Healing Place in the morning partnered with other clients to classes and meetings, mostly located a couple of miles away in Downtown. The challenging legwork is designed in part to help the men take ownership of their recovery process. They are encouraged to develop a network of other recovering people at the meetings and find a sponsor to lead them through the 12 steps of recovery. In different phases at The Healing Place, the men transition off drugs and are educated about the recovery process. They attend numerous 12-step meetings. They also confront and encourage each other in spirited “community” meetings of 50 or more clients led by Mr. Jackson, and serve as mentors to newer clients. As they progress, they are assigned jobs inside the facility and later at the CARITAS Furniture Bank located a few blocks away at 1125 E. Commerce Road. Separately, The Healing Place also has an overnight emergency shelter open to men with nowhere else to stay. “This a program of attraction,” said Ms. Stanley. “Men who come into the overnight shelter might see somebody that they’ve gotten high with or drunk with in the past, and they see them six months down the road and say, so and so looks good and say, ‘If they can do it, I can do it,’ and decide to enter our program.’’ Men of all ages, ethnicities and social backgrounds come to The Healing Place to seek recovery. Two men currently staying at The Healing Place are 61-yearold Eric Rice of Lawrenceville, N.C., and 21-year-old Kunyri Brent of Ahoskie, N.C. “I was living in a motel on Midlothian (Turnpike) before I came here,” said Mr. Rice, who entered the program about five months ago. “I couldn’t pay my rent. My only friend was the (crack cocaine) rock. “Every time I hit the pipe, things would get worse. I thought

Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

Residents at The Healing Place say the Serenity Prayer after a community meeting where they encourage and confront one another.

to myself, ‘What am I doing?’ I knew I needed to do something to get help. I thought, ‘What harm could I do by coming here?’ ’’ He said the toughest part for him has been staying committed to the program. “It’s difficult for me just to sit still,” Mr. Rice said. “I am a person with little patience. I used to rush all the time. I am learning to literally take it one day at a time here.” He said The Healing Place has been a godsend. “This may sound funny, but I consider my addiction to be a blessing to me,” Mr. Rice said. “I never knew I could be around so many users that had so much compassion. I’m just thankful and grateful for that.” Mr. Brent said he moved to Richmond to live with his father

and attend a private religious school. “I had some behavior issues,” he said. He said he had been drinking alcohol since age 15 and it had become a problem for him. “I was pretty much hopeless,” he said when he entered The Healing Place in February. “I came here for me. I needed a change. I want a new lifestyle. I needed something greater than me to help restore me to sanity,” he added. “I’m trying to embrace the process.” Clients are not charged to stay at The Healing Place, which relies on donations from area businesses, congregations, foundations and individuals to provide recovery services. Donations can be sent to CARITAS, P.O. Box 25790, Richmond, Va. 23260.

He’s helping released jail inmates get services Continued from A1

Mark R. Herring. Mr. Herring appointed Mr. Simmons to the post in February. The attorney general said he created the position after he met with law enforcement officials across the state to discuss their needs. “In recent years, Virginia has developed a comprehensive plan to address re-entry and recidivism for state inmates,” Mr. Herring said. “However, local correctional facilities were left with little guidance or resources,” he added. “Because of the autonomy of local jails, there has been no state-led or funded re-entry service, and localities cannot participate in state Department of Corrections programs.” Mr. Herring said he selected Mr. Simmons “because he brings an unparalleled passion and determination to make a difference. “He hit the ground running from day one, crafting a program that has never been attempted in the Commonwealth and I look

forward to seeing it come to fruition,” the attorney general said. Mr. Simmons is tasked with helping “local sheriffs prepare inmates for release and connect them with support services on the outside,” according to the Attorney General’s Office. Mr. Simmons also is charged with creating an online website for law enforcement organizations to share information, look for grant opportunities and find ways to utilize existing resources. In his position, Mr. Simmons oversees five outreach coordinators across the state. They report to him after they meet with law enforcement agencies and re-entry organizations to discuss their needs and to help them institute best evidence-based programs to aid offenders. For example, Mr. Simmons said he has helped five jails implement the DMV Connect program that issues IDs to inmates to ease their transition back into the community. Richmond Sheriff C.T. Woody Jr. said he’s glad to have Mr. Simmons’ assistance.

“He’s got first-hand experience at working with offenders,” he said. “He has enhanced my efforts to get things done, particularly with women, in being prepared for re-entry. “This encompasses all things, including helping us get more funding for our programs, so we can serve more people,” he said. Mr. Simmons said he witnessed first hand the plight of people facing re-entry from jail during his stint as a public defender in Richmond from 2011 through the beginning of this year. “I realized I could help them with whatever their legal issue was, but I never really touched what brought them to my office in the first place,” he said. “When you get the chance to speak to someone who’s gone through that (legal) process and they have made a decision they are ready for change and they finally realize there’s somebody who’s helping them, you literally can see the hope in that person,” he said. “You come away from that situation nothing but inspired.”

Newborn baby taken from mother in hospital Continued from A1

push breast milk as the healthiest option. The battle over custody of the newborn is raising questions about the willingness of city social workers to seize children with little justification. Two years ago, the department was under fire for alleged failure to do enough to protect children from neglectful and abusive parents. Now there is a real question whether the department is going overboard. This is the third case brought to the attention of the Free Press in which the department seized one or more children and placed them with foster families even though there were relatives ready and willing to take in the children. In one case, a social worker seized two young children from a mother after she sought the department’s help with a teen son who was acting violently toward her, though not toward his young sisters. The teen did not receive attention until a judge chastised the social worker for unwarranted action and returned the young daughters. In a separate case, the department seized three children after their mother tried to run over their father. Despite pleas from relatives, the department refused to place the children with them, instead farming them out to strangers in foster families and virtually making it impossible for family members to see them, except on holidays. The Free Press has learned that a social worker who protested against such forced breakups of families was fired for raising objections. In the case of Ms. Doe’s baby, Shunda T. Giles, the new city Social Services director, declined to discuss specifics. Still, she insists that state guidelines are being followed in every case.

Ms. Giles said the department takes the drastic step of removal only after making a determination that a child or children “would be subject to an imminent threat to life or health to the extent that severe or irremediable injury would likely result” by remaining with the current caregiver. The department had the option of placing the child with the father, but rejected the option, preferring to put her with strangers at a time when the bond between parent and child is being developed. However, there appears to be little or no evidence to support the claim of imminent harm. Ms. Doe has no criminal record, and there is no report showing that she is addicted to drugs or alcohol. Nor is there any evidence that the father is unfit or failed to care for three other children he has with Ms. Doe. Nor is there any indication Ms. Doe or the father were endangering the baby in the hospital. In the case of baby Doe, an investigation began when someone from the hospital called the department’s Child Protective Services and filed a complaint. It is still not clear why a mother with a health baby was referred; the hospital, citing privacy laws, declined comment. Ms. Doe believes that the hospital acted because she would not kowtow to the hospital’s pediatrician. One example, was his requirement that she bring in the car seat the child would ride home in and put the child in it for 90 minutes. “I’ve had four other children, and I’ve never been required to do that,” she said. Nor could the Free Press find any hospital that makes that standard policy. What is known is the department had previously removed Ms. Doe’s four other children on a claim she is delusional because she makes her money as a commission broker dealing in loans and overseas hotels. However, there is evidence

to support her claims, as well as testimony from the father that she is self-supporting. Even then, it is uncertain what the imminent threat was. Her three school-age children were all healthy and doing well. Aside from having her family broken, Ms. Doe has evidence that her youngest child, a twoyear-old boy, was injured after Social Services removed him. Ms. Doe said the child already had a pediatrician who objected to a medical procedure that Social Services allowed another pediatrician to perform that has damaged the child’s ability to eat. “He was starting to eat solid food, and now he can’t even chew,” Ms. Doe said. At a closed hearing Wednesday, which the Free Press was barred from attending, Ms. Doe said the excuse the department gave for taking

her child was that she had failed to seek prenatal care, even though a hospital report she obtained shows the baby is in the pink of health. A judge, Theodore Brenner, temporarily upheld the removal decision. The only modification he allowed, Ms. Doe said, was to permit her to have brief supervised visits three days a week so she could breastfeed the child. Before the hearing, Richard H. Lippson, an attorney who was appointed to be Ms. Doe’s guardian ad litem, told Ms. Doe he has seen similar cases. He said these kinds of cases start with a parent offending a doctor and a call being made to Child Protective Services “and that cranks up the machine of Social Services,” he told her. Whether justified or not, “they have control.”

Sources: Upset GRTC drivers slow bus service Continued from A1

1220 of the Amalgamated Transit Union, formally ratified the contract that union members agreed to July 31. GRTC issued a release Wednesday announcing that management and the union’s representative had signed the deal. The terms include a $1.10 per hour increase in pay over the three-year term, with an initial increase of about 16 cents an hour retroactive to Oct. 1, 2014, according to Mr. Tunstall. Pay is to increase every six months. Mr. Tunstall acknowledged that some drivers got upset when they found out the wage increase was not included in the latest paycheck and

began an “unsanctioned work action” that the union did not support. He said he has counseled members that the actions were not allowed given there was a contract in place and expects a return to normal operations within a few days. He said drivers should see the improved pay shortly, but he said GRTC has not said when that will happen. He said previously, GRTC began paying the higher wages once the union voted on a contract, but this time management decided to wait until after the formal signing. According to one source, the unsanctioned work action would continue “until we get our money.”

Richmond Free Press

August 27-29, 2015 A5

Local News

New United Way head faces fundraising challenge By Jeremy M. Lazarus

Giving to United Way is continuing to shrink. Ten years ago, the umbrella charity could raise at least $20 million between Labor Day and Thanksgiving through its workplace campaign to benefit nonprofit partners. Now the group that serves the RichmondPetersburg region has to run a 10-month campaign to raise far less. While United Way of Greater Richmond & Petersburg still has not released final figures for the 2014-15 campaign that closed June 30, preliminary figures indicate the group received about $11.5 million in pledges from individuals, businesses and government entities. That’s about $2 million less than the $13.6 million United Way reported raising in the 2013-14 campaign and 40 percent less than in 2006. United Way also receives additional funds from grants and from interest on investments. The drop in giving is impacting United Way grants. The money comes from givers who donate to United Way’s community chest for the group to divvy up, rather than designating their gifts for a specific charity that United Way passes on. Last year, United Way opened up its applications to community nonprofits. After nearly a year of review, United Way awarded

$4.1 million to 63 community organizations. The awards ranged from $25,000 to $289,000. While each of the grants was welcomed by the winning nonprofit agencies as important Mr. Taylor financial backing for specific programs, the small grants mean that all of those winning nonprofits, and dozens of others that applied and lost out, must do far more fundraising on their own. Richmond’s United Way was founded in 1911. The goal then and now was for the group to serve as a central place for people to give to charity, and thus reduce the number of organizations pleading for help. Now more than a century later, amid the rise of social networking and crowd sourcing, the organization appears to have become an also-ran in raising donations and increasingly irrelevant. At this point, United Way leaders are hoping that James L.M. Taylor can turn things around. Mr. Taylor has been named the new president and CEO of the regional um-

brella charity. He will assume his new post Monday, Aug. 31, just in time for the start of the 2015-16 campaign. He brings 11 years of experience as CEO of the United Way of Greater Lafayette, the second largest United Way in Indiana. “His strong record of innovative accomplishments in community impact and resource development, coupled with his leadership skills, make him the right person to lead our United Way,” Channing Martin, chairman of the board of the Richmond United Way, stated in announcing the new CEO. He sounds promising but the proof of his ability will be determined by his success in fundraising. Mr. Taylor will take over from interim CEO Barry Taylor, retired president of the YMCA of Greater Richmond, who will stay on to assist in the transition. Barry Taylor filled in following the departure of Lynn Pharr, who left in February for a job in Kansas after nearly three years in Richmond. The incoming CEO expressed “excitement” about his new position in Richmond. “I look forward to working with the board, volunteers, staff and the broader community to improve lives throughout the region,” Mr. Taylor stated in a release. He will be paid around $200,000 a year.

Richmond’s population growing; could top 221,000 in January Continued from A1

numerous people fled integrated schools, and the city’s numbers continued to fall for 30 years, to a low of 197,790 in the 2000 census. (In the years before the census, estimates had suggested the population could have dropped under 195,000.) According to the Weldon Cooper Institute at the University of Virginia, which tracks population changes and trends, Richmond’s new growth exemplifies a resurgence of cities across the country. The rate of growth between counties and cities in Virginia has reached relative parity, the institute reports, in contrast to previous decades in which suburban counties led population growth. Cities now make up more than half of Virginia’s 25 fastest-growing localities, the institute found, mirroring the

trend in other stats. Richmond’s population has been on the grow since 2000, and that growth has accelerated since the 2010 census. That year, the count showed 204,214 residents, according to the bureau, up nearly 7,000 people from 2000. Since 2010, the bureau estimates the city has added an average of 3,400 people a year. For 2014, the bureau estimated Richmond had 217,853 people, an increase of 13,853 people from the 2010 count, or 6.7 percent. That’s the largest percentage increase since 1970, when annexation pushed up the population by 13.5 percent. The Census Bureau’s estimate is more bullish than the state’s projection. Weldon Cooper, which provides official population estimates for localities on which the state relies, has noted less growth

for Richmond, setting its 2014 population at 213,509, or about 4,000 fewer people than the U.S. Census estimate. That’s important because the institute’s estimates are used in state formulas that determine the local share of state funding for schools, roads and other services. Weldon Cooper uses a different formula than the Census Bureau to create estimates and always seems to underestimate Richmond’s population. Based on the Census Bureau’s findings, the main elements of Richmond’s population increase has been growth in the number of white and Latino residents. Since 2010, the Latino population has grown by 2,700 residents and now totals 15,776 people, while the white population is up by about 8,600 people in that period to 101,354 The African-American

Bike races hit bumps Continued from A1

acting chief administrative officer, Christopher Beschler, went ahead with the sidewalk redo knowing that the sidewalks later might need to be redone and converted to brick walkways to conform with the master plan for the park that the city reported spending $750,000 to

develop. Back in May, Mr. Beschler said the new concrete sidewalks were temporary and eventually could be replaced by the brick walks that a recent estimate indicated would cost $500,000. Neither the mayor nor Mr. Beschler, now a deputy chief administrative officer for operations, was available for comment.

Minimum pay rising as area businesses compete for workers Continued from A1

eting up starting pay without waiting for the government. Take Chipolte Mexican Grill, which has 13 Richmond area locations. The company plans to interview 60 job-seekers at each location Wednesday, Sept. 9, as part of a hiring blitz, according to a release from the company. Those hired at entry-level positions will be paid an average hourly wage of $10 and get a 401(K) retirement savings plan, wages and benefits that are well above government requirements. Buz and Ned’s Real Barbecue also is hiring at its locations in Richmond and Henrico County at a starting hourly pay of $12.50 an hour. Also upping the ante, Ellwood Thompson’s grocery store in the West End, which recently raised starting pay to $10.10 an hour. Other companies also are increasing pay to attract the workers they need. Walmart, which will increase its minimum hourly pay to $10 by February, also needs more clerks and other store workers as it expands in Richmond with smaller neighborhood markets. The latest opened this month at 5221 Brook Road on North Side and will employ 95 people. Another opened in April at 912 W. Grace St. on the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University.

The grocery business is one of the most active in hiring. Some existing supermarket chains are growing, such as Kroger, which is seeking to hire more than 280 people for its Richmond area stores. Down the road, Whole Foods is planning to boost its presence and its workforce in anchoring a retail and office development that is scheduled to go on the current site of Pleasant’s Hardware at 2024 W. Broad St. near VCU, after the hardware store moves a few miles west. Meanwhile, new grocery chains, Aldi and Wegmans, are arriving to compete for shoppers, and they, too, are making hiring plans with wage offers well above the federal and state minimum. Aldi has plans for a Richmond store on the Boulevard as it jumps into the market. Wegmans Food Markets will be opening stores in Chesterfield and Henrico counties next year. Both will need to stock their markets with workers. Separately, there are plans for an international grocery store to go on the site of a former KMart store on South Side. All of this is good news for people seeking jobs that pay more than the minimum wage. And every business that pays above minimum wage puts pressure on those that do not to raise their pay to avoid excessive turnover. One thing is clear: Higher pay is not killing jobs, no matter how many times Republicans at Capitol Square suggest the opposite.

population also has increased by about 4,000 people in the same period to total 111,342 or about 51 percent of the total population. The city also has attracted more retirees, with the number of people age 65 and older growing by about 3,000 people since 2010 to reach nearly 25,000 people. The continuing growth has helped fuel construction of apartments and retail developments and boosted overall housing demand, helping to explain the increase in multifamily developments. The people to fill the new space are still arriving. The 6.7 percent increase in population that Richmond has experienced in the past four years tops the population growth of the city’s suburban neighbors, Chesterfield and Henrico counties. Chesterfield added 13,807 people from 2010 to 2014, a 4.4 percent increase, while Henrico added 11,084 people in the same four-year period, or a 3.6 percent increase, according to the Census Bureau. The Census Bureau estimates Chesterfield’s 2014 population at 330,043 and Henrico’s 2014 population at 318,019 people.

Let’s Talk

“Let’s Talk” is now online. That’s the promised interactive website of Richmond Public Schools. Students, parents and anyone else who wants to connect with district leaders and School Board members can now do so. The entry to Let’s Talk can be found on the front page of the school system’s website at www.richmond.k12.va.us. At the site, users click on the name of the School Board member or school official they wish to contact. That sends them to that individual’s homepage, where a list of options is available to submit comments, suggestions or questions. The plan is for school officials to respond within three business days. RPS Superintendent Dana T. Bedden said the program’s aim is to improve communications with the public and to make the district more accountable to those it serves.

Organization aims to improve health in state By Joey Matthews

Keisha Smith is on a mission to provide better access to health care for all Virginians, particularly in underserved communities such as Richmond. She aims to do so in her new position as the executive director of the Henrico County-based Virginia Health Workforce Development Authority. “We are a statewide voice coordinating with other relevant state, regional and local entities and community partners to identify and address health workforce needs,” Ms. Smith told the Free Press. The authority collaborates with community partners to provide underserved communities with “competent, qualified, well-trained health professionals,” Ms. Smith said. Ms. Smith The authority’s efforts are broad, ranging from aiding young people interested in health careers to influencing state health policy. In Richmond and other communities that she calls “health professional shortage areas,” Ms. Smith’s office seeks to identify students at an early age who are interested in health care professions in order to provide them with mentors and other resources to help them prepare for college. The VHWDA also advocates reducing the educational debt load of health professionals, increasing scholarships for students in health care fields and supporting collaborations between communities, businesses and social organizations to recruit and retain health professionals. One key to increasing access to health care in Richmond and other underserved communities, Ms. Smith said, is to increase the number of slots for medical residents at teaching sites around the state. She said research shows “that where students do their residencies is where they usually end up practicing.” The General Assembly created the Virginia Health Workforce Development Authority in 2010 during the administration of former Gov. Bob McDonnell to study how to improve health care throughout the state and to provide more health care professionals in underserved areas. Initially, it was funded with a federal grant of $1.93 million, according to its website. The authority’s 13-member board appointed the 42-year-old Lynchburg native as executive director effective July 1. The authority sets priorities for Virginia’s eight Area Health Education Centers (AHEC), including the Capital Area Health Education Center that serves Metro Richmond. The center provides student and program consulting, as well as advising on health professions, Ms. Smith said. Among the other agencies with which the VHWDA partners, in the Department historic Imperial she said, are the Virginia of Health,Building the Virginia Department of Health Professions and the Capital Area Health Network based in the East End. Ms. Smith’s small staff also evaluates AHEC activities. She said she’s proud to serve in her new role. Downtown Richmond, Virginia will be improving the “At the end of the day, the reward – 1,575 sq. ft. Ms. Smith said. overall quality of life for all 973 Virginians,”

The City of Richmond’s Office of Minority Business Development has established an overall goal of 16% for participation of Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBEs) in contracting opportunities during the City’s fiscal year beginning July 1, 2015, pursuant to 49 CFR, Part 26. Documentation on the development of this goal is available for inspection Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. until December 31, 2015 at the following address: Mr. Robert O. Holmes, Jr., Economic Development Manager City of Richmond Office of Minority Business Development 900 East Broad Street, Room 1603 Richmond, VA 23219 D/M/WBE SUBCONTRACTORS/SUPPLIERS WANTED T. A. Loving Company is seeking certified DBE, MBE, and WBE subcontractors and suppliers for the 33rd Street Pump Station Replacement/Rehabilitation Newport News, VA project which bids September 3, 2015 at 2:00 PM. Plans and specifications are available at the following locations: T.A. Loving Company, Goldsboro, NC, Rummel, Klepper & Kahl, LLP 721 Lakefront Commons, Suite 203 Newport News, Virginia 23606, and have been provided to the following plan room services: Norfolk Builders Exchange; iSqFt; and F. W. Dodge/McGraw-Hill. Potential subcontracting opportunities include but are not limited to demolition, hauling, asphalt paving, earthwork, erosion control, seeding/sodding, concrete (flatwork and cast in place), painting, electrical, HVAC, linework (utility pipeline), striping, clearing & grubbing, bypass pumping, dewatering, masonry, roofing, plumbing, insulation, survey, traffic control, fence, concrete forms, concrete rebar, landscaping and shoring. Please contact Michael Cox (mcox@taloving.com) or David Pittman (dpittman@ taloving.com) if you are interested in submitting a proposal on any portion(s) of this project. Contact via phone 919-734-8400; fax 919-736-2148; or email. All quotations will be accepted up to bid closing time on bid date. TA Loving Company is an Equal Opportunity/ Affirmative Action Employer

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Richmond Free Press

Cosmos and moth in East End

Editorial Page

August 27-29, 2015

‘Anchor babies’ Donald Trump is such a refreshing Republican candidate for president. His bluster and egomania are exposing the thinking of so many people who simmer with deep-seated hatred and bigotry. Now, with his thoughtless ranting and raving, he has become their champion to speak openly the words that are in their hearts but they dare not speak. What should be of concern is Mr. Trump’s willingness to discard history and the U.S. Constitution. Take the issue of “anchor babies,” a pejorative term Mr. Trump has helped popularize in disparaging babies born in this country to visitors and undocumented people because those babies automatically become American citizens under the Constitution’s 14th Amendment. Mr. Trump calls such birthright citizenship for babies who are born to people making illegal entry a scandal and has Mr. Trump said repeatedly that, if elected, he would end a policy that he believes is a stain on this country, allowing too many children to be here who don’t belong, the Constitution be damned. And many of his fellow Republican candidates agree, most notably Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, another candidate for president who believes the Constitution does not apply to him. (Sen. Cruz, who was born in Canada, cannot serve as president or vice president since one of the qualifications under the Constitution is to be a natural-born citizen.) Neither Mr. Trump nor the rest of his ilk have any interest in reading the amendment, let alone learning why the birthright provision is part of the Constitution. The 14th Amendment was created to provide a shield for our community and for others who have been stomped on. In 1857, just before the Civil War, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the infamous Dred Scott decision that no one of African ancestry could ever be a citizen of the United States, that citizenship was reserved solely for those with lighter skin from England or Europe. After the Union won the Civil War and stamped out slavery, the Republican-controlled Congress went even further to overturn the Dred Scott decision and ensure AfricanAmericans were recognized as citizens. Ratified in 1868, the 14th Amendment explicitly grants citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States.” Today, others are taking advantage for their children, but because those under 21 are barred from bringing relatives to this country, it does not help their parents and siblings who were born elsewhere to gain legal admission. For us, when we hear Mr. Trump and anyone else who is eager to repeal, challenge, overturn or otherwise change that amendment, we hear someone eager to wipe out our citizenship, someone who is a closet supporter of slavery and peonage, someone eager to have a group of people at their disposal who have no rights this country is bound to respect. We say to Mr. Trump, your position reflects unforgivable ignorance that renders you, and anyone who agrees with you, unfit for public office in any capacity. How could you possibly swear to support, defend and uphold the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic? You are the enemy.

At-risk mothers Remember Shanesha Taylor? She’s the Arizona mother who was arrested for leaving her children in the car while she went to a job interview. Ms. Taylor, who was homeless, said her babysitter flaked on her, and she didn’t know what else to do while she went to a job interview for a position that would have significantly improved her family’s financial situation.  You also may have heard the name Debra Harrell. She’s the South Carolina mother recently arrested for letting her 9-year-old daughter play in a park alone while she worked her shift at McDonald’s. Ms. Harrell had had her daughter play on a laptop at her McDonalds location while school was out, but the laptop was stolen from their home. So she let her daughter go to the park with a cell phone for emergencies. These are potentially risky situations for children, and for many of us it was too easy to point the finger of blame. But this, sadly, is a familiar story to all too many poor single women in Richmond and elsewhere who do not have family support, but who are trying to do their best. These mothers are not drug addicts or criminals. They are just women stuck in a swirling Catch-22: They can’t work or interview without child care, but they can’t afford child care without a job that pays enough to cover the ever-increasing cost. We need to shoulder some of the blame for, in truth, the haves not keeping the deal with the have nots. Welfare reform in 1996 ended the dole for mothers raising children. Instead, public support through Temporary Aid to Needy Families is limited to a total of five years and comes with a requirement that an able-bodied parent seek work or be working. The implicit promise was that the parent would receive subsidies for child care in order to work. Alas, that promise has been broken. State and federal child care spending last year fell to the lowest level since 2002, government data shows. Much of the money available for child care comes to states from TANF, but TANF hasn’t been adjusted for inflation since 1996. The result: TANF child care money has eroded in value by one-third in that 19-year period. Add to that the impact of the Great Recession that led states to cut back on child care spending. Such spending has dropped from $4 billion in 2000 to $2.6 billion in 2013, government figures show. That means fewer children can get subsidized care. We’ve also pulled the rug out from under any mothers who can’t find work or must take work that doesn’t pay a living wage. In 1996, welfare reached 72 percent of poor families with children. That dropped to a mere 26 percent by 2012. The message we send to women like Ms. Taylor and Ms. Harrell is that they are bad mothers because they tried to get and keep jobs without babysitters they could not afford. Instead of casting blame, we should do better by these mothers and children. One good way would be for the General Assembly or the governor to set up a review commission to consider the roadblocks we are setting up for low-income mothers who need to work and consider some creative solutions to ensure that these mothers do not have to make choices that no one likes.

Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

Carson comic relief no more A year before the first GOP presidential debate, the thought that retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson would be anything more than comic relief in the 2016 presidential contest seemed delusionary. B u t D r. Carson not only is still in the GOP’s crowded presidential field, he, like businessman Donald Tr u m p , i s ahead of the supposedly more serious GOP contenders in poll numbers. The bigger surprise is that Dr. Carson actually has become something of a minor cash cow in raising money, and there’s much talk of super PACs for him in the works.  This is pretty heady stuff for a candidate who, before Mr. Trump started zipping out a stream of silly, outrageous zingers on immigration, women and anything else that came to his mind, had the franchise on spouting ridiculous inanities. Dr. Carson hasn’t exactly reformed his ways and become the model of civility in expression:

Witness his blast of the Iran treaty deal as anti-Semitic. He’s also prompted more than a few eyes to roll with his inference that Planned Parenthood is a nefarious conspiracy to reduce the black population. This silliness doesn’t mean

Earl O. Hutchinson much, given if the poll numbers that Dr. Carson is wracking up in Iowa. It shows him with a solid base. This is crucial. The Iowa primary, the first, is the traditional make-or-break primary for presidential candidates. If Dr. Carson is willing to spend money and time needed to build a real party organization in the state, and can come up with a modicum of coherent policy initiatives, he could actually be the surprise in the primary. A strong showing here would put a stiff wind in his campaign sails in other primary states, especially in the South where his act could play even bigger and better. Much of this depends on Dr. Carson. He’s stuck around this long mostly because he’s black, has a compelling rags to success, up-by-the-bootstraps

story and can always be trotted out to take heavy-handed shots at President Obama. He took his travelling act to Harlem recently and held forth at Harlem’s famed Sylvia’s Restaurant. He then walked the block spouting his standard platitude about how liberal, Democratic polices have supposedly failed black people, and especially the black poor. That showed that he’s capable of delivering his retrograde, anti-government message to more than fawning packs of GOP ultraconservatives. The notion of Dr. Carson as a presidential candidate touches a deep, dark and throbbing pulse among legions of ultraconservatives who believe that President Obama and many Democrats are communists, that gays are immoral and that the health care reform law is “slavery,” as Dr. Carson infamously quipped, meaning a tyrannical intrusion by big government into Americans’ lives. The road to the 2016 GOP presidential nomination will be a knock down, drag out, bruising, low-intensity war. The main contenders, Rand Paul, Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie and a cluster of

Big win for health workers Almost unnoticed, more than 2 million workers in the burgeoning home health care industry finally have gained wage protection. The federal minimum wage was first established in 1938 at 25 cents an hour, but it took 36 years for the government to decide that maids and other domestic workers deserved to be covered by pay minimums and overtime rules. Now, after 40 more years has passed, it’s the turn of home health care workers — the subset of workers who provide elder and disability care — to gain wage protection. In a major win for such workers, a federal appeals court has approved Obama administration rules that will require minimum wage payments and overtime for aides who help ill and disabled people with everyday tasks. Since 1974, home health care workers hired through third-party staffing agencies have been exempt from the wage-and-hour rules of the Fair Labor Standards Act. That changed last week when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that U.S. Labor Department has the power to interpret the law to revoke that exemption, overturning a lower court’s block on the

rules that were first proposed four years ago. That paves the way for pay protections for some of the poorest workers caring for some

Michelle Chen of the most vulnerable people in our communities.   The home health care industry has evolved into a major component of care. Workers tend to a range of physical and social needs of clients, including feeding, bathing, managing medication and providing rehabilitation and recreational activities. Many of the responsibilities of the job require ongoing professional training, along with extreme hours (being on-call around the clock for intensive medical needs) and considerable manual labor (lifting fragile clients). As one such worker Meriam Jawhar put it, the reforms are less about pay scales than about recognizing her vocation as dignified work. “I want people to know that the home care is an occupation that deserves honor and validity,” she said. This ruling comes as a growing “gray wave” of Baby Boomers are increasingly seeking community- and home-based care instead of nursing homes and as mothers, daughters and sisters, who might have taken on care-giving duties a generation ago, are now working outside the home. The senior care industry has

grown to fill this need, but the wages have stayed flat at around $9.40 per hour, leaving home aides doing God’s work for a pittance, under extremely stressful and often exploitative conditions. The yearly turnover rate is an estimated 50 percent. The fact that this sector, like other domestic workers, largely attracts females, immigrants and people of color reveals much about how gender and racial divides marginalize low wage workers. The wage hike only goes so far, since most employers offer pay and many states (though not Virginia) require wages that exceed the federal wage floor of $7.25 an hour. Home health care workers are hurt most by the current failure of the government to provide affordable, high quality services to families at all income levels. Home health care was largely unaddressed in the Affordable Care Act, and in coming years demand for services is only going to increase as patient populations mushroom. The government will need to play a role in creating a longterm care system in America that works for everyone, including home health care workers. That’s why this court ruling is so important: It strengthens a workforce that will be so critical to the long-term care system that we are going to need. The writer is a contributor writer for The Nation magazine. Agence Global

The Free Press welcomes letters

The Richmond Free Press respects the opinions of its readers. We want to hear from you. We invite you to write the editor. All letters will be considered for publication. Concise, typewritten letters related to public matters are preferred. Also include your telephone number(s). Letters should be addressed to: Letters to the Editor, Richmond Free Press, P.O. Box 27709, 422 East Franklin Street, Richmond, VA 23261, or faxed to: (804) 643-7519 or e-mail: letters@richmondfreepress.com.

popular GOP governors, have money, means and a dedicated, entrenched following. They have wooed and courted the key state party leaders and potential party delegates who will make or break a candidate in the key party primaries later next year. Their work has been ongoing, and it requires a team of professional, connected and financially stout party officials to do the hard leg work required. A well-placed Dr. Carson sound bite or pithy remark won’t cut it. He’ll also need a program. Dr. Carson’s poll surge, though, does show that he’s got the eyes and ears of legions of GOP rank-and-file voters. And in a season when voters again seem sick of the business-as-usual political crowd in Washington, and want some real excitement on the political stump, Dr. Carson may have more shelf life than he deserves. The writer is an author and political analyst.

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Richmond Free Press

August 27-29, 2015

Letters to the Editor

Article on ‘tabloid-style drama’ a disgrace Re “Tabloid-style drama grips Richmond school officials,” Aug. 20-22 edition: I was thoroughly disgusted and embarrassed by this article. It gave us too much information about the allegations of Fernando Lightfoot’s alleged incompetence as assistant principal at Linwood Holton Elementary School and Holton Principal David Hudson’s alleged sexual harassment of Mr. Lightfoot. While that was more information than the public needed, neither gentleman will ever hold the same stature in public again. A person can never retain his/her reputation once these types of allegations have gone public on the front page of the largest African-American media outlet in the region. Worse than that is the recitation of the words used by Thomas Wolf of LeClair Ryan about Sa’ad El-Amin, (head of Employment Rights Advocates who prepared Mr. Lightfoot’s complaint about Mr. Hudson to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.) Mr. Wolf’s comments about Mr. El-Amin in his emailed statement to the Free Press on behalf of his client, Mr. Hudson, were far too vitriolic to just be about this matter. Why attack Mr. El-Amin and not the complainant, Mr. Lightfoot? Why not just defend his client? Mr. Wolf could have written anything he wanted to defend his client, but he chose to besmirch the messenger. This is so typical! Why would Mr. Wolf care 2 cents about a dispute between Mr. Hudson and Mr. Lightfoot (two African American males)? Mr. Wolf has represented clients that have had serious disputes before, and he has not reacted publicly like that. The writer of the story, Jeremy M. Lazarus used little to no

Police critic needs to answer 4 questions Re “Post-Ferguson progress, issues,” Aug. 13-15 edition: I have some questions for the writer of that column, Claire Gastañaga, the ACLU of Virginia executive director. 1) Before Ms. Gastañaga fired her literary scud missiles against front line law enforcement, did she spend at least 180 days as a first-response police officer in an inner-city neighborhood? 2) Has Ms. Gastañaga ever had to make a decision in less than a second to use deadly force to protect her own life or that of an innocent bystander? 3) If she has made such a decision, was she aware that all who disagreed with her decision, whether cop or civilian, would make it their sworn duty to terminate her career? 4) Has Ms. Gastañaga ever been spat on, had all matters of vile things thrown at her, received serious death threats or been stabbed, shot or verbally or physically abused? Police officers experience all the things I have asked about in those four questions. When Ms. Gastañaga can truthfully say she has experienced all those things as often as cops do, I will then consider her point of view to be worthwhile. KIRK HANCOCK Richmond

discretion. It is reflective of his style of writing through the years about African people. I only wish that the editors could see what I see. This story was a disgrace to the legacy and mission of founder Raymond H. Boone and the Richmond Free Press.

KING SALIM KHALFANI Richmond The writer is president of Commonwealth Consultation LLC and former executive director of the Virginia State Conference of the NAACP.

Correcting the record Re “Tabloid-style drama grips Richmond school officials,” Aug. 20-22 edition: I want to clarify and correct a couple of points from the article concerning Fernando J. Lightfoot and David Hudson, principal of Linwood Holton Elementary School. • You reported that Mr. Hudson received “a raise of more than $12,000 to keep him from accepting a principal position

in Henrico County.” That figure is not correct. Mr. Hudson received a salary increase at the same 1.5 percent rate as other district personnel. That resulted in him receiving an additional $1,394 for the 2015-16 school year. He also is receiving an additional $5,000 due to his selection and recognition as a principal of distinction. • The decision to transfer Mr. Lightfoot

from Linwood Holton Elementary to another RPS school in April 2015 was based upon his request to Superintendent Dana T. Bedden as part of the appeals process; it was not the School Board’s decision. RICHARD DAVIS III Richmond The writer is the communications officer for Richmond Public Schools.

Julian Bond: He inspired us He was a revolutionary. Those who knew him before his death Saturday, Aug. 15, also describe Julian Bond as a civil rights icon, a pioneer, a poet and a national treasure. A true activist, he fought for causes that were not easily winnable. He organized sit-ins as a student at Morehouse College. He passionately opposed the Vietnam War. And as NAACP chairman emeritus and board member, he advocated for marriage equality and LGBT rights. Mr. Bond was a constant campaigner for the liberation of all people, and his actions ensure he will be remembered forever as a leader in the broader human rights struggle. In 1966, when Mr. Bond should have been

sworn in as a state representative, his white colleagues in the Georgia General Assembly barred him from taking his seat because of his opposition to the Vietnam War. When a reporter asked him to explain his statements on the war, Mr. Bond said, “[It is] hypocritical for us to maintain that we are fighting for liberty in other places, and we are not guaranteeing liberty to citizens inside the continental United States.” His reach extends far beyond his own generation’s advocacy for civil rights and continues to motivate us to work to amplify the voices of black people. As a founder and communications director for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and as one of the founders of the Southern Poverty Law Center, he helped build the foundation

of the Civil Rights Movement on which all justice-oriented organizations, including ColorOfChange, stand today. Congressman John Lewis said in a recent interview about his late colleague and friend, “Julian must be remembered as one who inspired another generation of young people to stand up, to speak up and speak out.” We are part of the generation that he inspired to fight racism and oppression. ARISHA MICHELLE HATCH New York The writer is campaign director for ColorofChange.com, an online community committed to strengthening the political voice of black America.

Trump not qualified to be president

It seems to me the Republican Party has turned out to be one big circus, with Donald Trump being the head ringmaster. Why is that? It seems that the other candidates have just faded to the back. Don’t get me wrong; I’m enjoying the clown show that the Republican Party is becoming. If Mr. Trump is the best that the Republican Party has to offer, then they’re in big trouble. He has no clue about the issues. What’s scary is that he’s leading and that people are buying into his rhetoric. It just goes to show you that money can get you into anything, including the Republican race for the White House. There should be some sort of rules or guidelines for someone to run for President, such as previously holding some political office, like mayor, congressman, governor, etc. This race should not be open to some reality show joker who just wants to be relevant. But hey, who am I to say? I’m just a poor black man who understands the issues of poor people better than Donald Trump and the other Republican candidates. But here’s one thing you might want to think about.

Suppose Mr. Trump wins the nomination. Then what? Democrats and independents, we then will need to hit the campaign trail to support a qualified candidate and let our voices be heard! MICHAEL ANTHONY KING Manquin

Public Notice The Richmond Behavioral Health Authority Board of Directors will meet Tuesday, September 1, 2015 at 3:00 PM For their regular board meeting at 107 South Fifth Street, Richmond, VA 23219 2nd floor Room 203

WE LOOK

FORWARD TO SEEING YOU.

The City of Richmond is in the process of preparing its 20142015 Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER). From July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015, $7.8 million were made available to the City by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to implement various housing and community development activities. Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), HOME Investment Partnership Program (HOME), and Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) funds were used throughout the city. Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA) funds were used throughout the Richmond MSA. The CAPER discusses program progress and outcomes for each of these funding sources. Beginning August 31, 2015, a draft of the CAPER will be online at http://www.yesrichmondva.com/neighborhoodrevitalization/Federally-Funded-Programs, or a copy will be available at the Richmond Dept. of Economic and Community Development, 1500 E. Main Street, Suite 400, Richmond, VA 23219. Comments on the draft, preferably written, will be accepted until September 18, 2015 and can be provided to Mr. Yong Hong Guo at the above address, by email to Yong. Guo@richmondgov.com, by telephone at 804.646.6713, or by facsimile at 804.646.6358. The City of Richmond does not discriminate on the basis of disability status in the admission of, access to or treatment in its federally assisted programs or activities. Virginia Relay Center --- TDD users --- 711.

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Richmond Free Press

A8 August 27-29, 2015

Sports Stories by Fred Jeter

Football debut for Huguenot’s stadium In the ﬁnal scene of the “Wizard of Oz,” Dorothy says over and over, “There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home.” On Richmond’s South Side, Huguenot High’s Falcons would like to add an “amen” to that notion. After three years of “have bus, will travel,” Huguenot has a sparkling new on-campus stadium with synthetic turf to call home sweet home. “It’s like night and day,” second-year coach Bryan Jennings said of the difference between last year. “Now we’ve got the top facility around

the city … around the area.” The Aug. 29 opener against Thomas Jefferson will be Huguenot’s first home game since 2011. The last three home seasons were lost to construction as old Huguenot was demolished and replaced by an entirely new building — the first new high school building since the former John F. Kennedy building (now Armstrong’s home) opened in the late 1960s. It has been tough going for the Falcons, who haven’t had a winning season since 2006 when Richard McFee was coach. Every game and every practice has required boarding a bus. High school football Even “homecoming” involved a bus City of Richmond football opens Saturday, Aug. 29, ride to City Stadium. with a doubleheader in the new stadium at Huguenot Practices were held at Lucille Brown High, 7945 Forest Hill Ave. Middle School and the Westover Hills Along with the gridiron contests that will pit teams Playground. from North Side against teams from South Side, marching bands from Huguenot and Thomas Jefferson high Falcons can empathize with Dorothy. schools and Virginia Union University will perform. Every Friday road game was akin to Games having to battle the wicked witch and • Noon: Armstrong vs. George Wythe her flying monkeys on foreign turf — • 3:30 p.m.: Thomas Jefferson vs. Huguenot and in Huguenot’s case, there were few Tickets: $12 in advance (on sale Monday, Aug. 24, to Hollywood endings. Friday, Aug. 28, at HHS.); $15 at the gate. Now everything is comfy and cozy John Marshall opens Saturday, Sept. 5, at home against right behind the school. Booker T. Washington of Norfolk. Game time: 1 p.m. “For the first time in a long time, we’ll have Friday night lights, like other City coaches, with records schools. This will mean so much to our Armstrong: McDaniel Anderson, first year team, the band, the community, everyone,” George Wythe: Dion Foxx, first year said Jennings, a former All-Big East star Huguenot: Bryan Jennings, 2nd year (1-10) at Virginia Tech. Thomas Jefferson: Chad Hornik, 4th year (6-25) “We’re all excited, but now we have John Marshall: Redd Thompson, 2nd year (1-9) no excuses.” Conferences Huguenot was 1-10 last year and 1-9 in Armstrong, John Marshall, Thomas Jefferson and 2012 and 2013. The only three victories George Wythe again will compete in Division 3A those three seasons were over beleaguered Conference 26. South Side rival George Wythe. Huguenot will compete for the first time in Division Jennings boasts a roster with consider4A Conference 20. able of size and speed — and new found

Bolt does it again

James Haskins/Richmond Free Press

Huguenot Falcons work on offense and defense as they prepare to welcome Thomas Jefferson for the first home game on their new field Saturday.

enthusiasm. He rates linebacker Jamico Coleman, receiver Freddie Vincent, running back Rayquan Harris, quarterback Blake Paige and linemen Noah Williams and Brennan Thomas among the area’s top college prospects at their positions. And this year Jennings adds depth to go with about seven returning starters on each side of the ball. Jennings has about 65 athletes on JV and varsity combined and said, “We’re adding more every day.” Following the matinee with TJ, the Falcons will play three straight Friday nights at home against Lafayette, Manchester and James River. You almost need sunglasses to block the glare. Huguenot High has become the Falcons’ Emerald City. *** While Huguenot’s dreary era of being an

all-time road warrior is over, the same can’t be said for neighboring George Wythe. Except for a handful of games over more than a half-century, the Bulldogs have never enjoyed a true home ﬁeld advantage since the school’s inception in 1960. And here’s worse news: There’s no relief in sight. The results echo the frustration. Try as they may, the Bulldogs have suffered through an agonizing succession of 0-10 and 1-9 seasons and predictable coaching changes. Meanwhile, its breaks the Bulldogs’ tender hearts to gaze across town and see a now empty facility built in a blink to accommodate a carpetbagging pro team. It seems even more unfair when you realize that the pampered pro squad had more losses (25) than even George Wythe’s Bulldogs endured in the past two years.

Wow!

He’s still the fastest

Usain Bolt still is the world’s fastest human. The 29-year-old Jamaican kept that title by nipping 33-year-old American Justin Gatlin in the 100 meters Sunday in the World Championships in Beijing, China. Overcoming a wobbly start, Bolt zoomed from behind to break the tape in 9.79 seconds. Gatlin, who had been undefeated previously this year, took the silver at 9.80; Canadian Andre DeGrasse and American Trayvon Bromell tied for the bronze at 9.92. Bolt now has won three World titles and two Olympic crowns in the 100 meters. And no one has come close to eclipsing his world record Courtesy of IAAF World Championship time of 9.58 that he set in Overhead view shows Jamaican Usain Bolt (lane 5) edging American Justin Gatlin (lane 7) to claim 100-meter crown at the World Championships in China. This was Bolt’s third Berlin in 2009. He looms as the favorite in world title. the 100 in next year’s Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. No man has ever won three Now consider this: In 1936, Owens and other sprinters did straight Olympic 100 titles. American track great Carl Lewis was not use starting blocks and ran on dirt/cinder tracks. In Berlin, the only other double winner; he did it in 1984 and 1988. the track also was soggy from intermittent rain. Track aﬁcionados debate whom on the all-time list of runners He and other runners also used track spikes that were heavier would be the most capable of besting Bolt. than today’s models, and there was little in the way of weight One answer is Jesse Owens, who won the 100, 200, long training or nutritional aids. jump and 4-x-100 relay in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, kicking Also, track athletes in those days were unpaid amateurs. Tomud on the Aryan supremacy nonsense of German Chancellor day’s stars, such as Bolt, make a good living on the Diamond Adolf Hitler. League Pro Circuit. In Berlin, a busy Owens tied the world 100-meter record of And here’s another thing: Owens dazzled the world in 1936 10.3 seconds and set Olympic records in the 200 (20.7 seconds) when he was just 23; he retired soon after. Many elite sprinters and the long jump (26 feet 5¼ inches). He also anchored the today are still competing into their 30s. U.S. team’s record-setting (39.5 seconds) quarter-mile relay. So a footrace between Bolt and Owens might be one of the Owens ran nine heats (in 100, 200, relay) in Berlin plus he top athletic attractions of all time. If he was still around, even expended energy in the long jump qualifying and the ﬁnals. Hitler might buy a ticket to that one.

Serena wins tuneup for U.S. Open Free Press wire reports

Serena Williams got ready for the U.S. Open with a victory Sunday at the Western & Southern Open Tournament in Cincinnati. The world’s No. 1 player swept past third-seeded Simona Halep 6-3, 7-6 in the final to notch her 69th tour title, moving her and into fifth place on the alltime list. Next up: The tennis great’s bid to win the U.S. Open in New York for the second year in a row and gain a calendar year sweep of the four Grand Slam titles. Serena, 33, earlier won the other three Grand Slam titles this year — the Australian and French opens and Wimbledon — after winning the U.S. Open in 2014. She will defend her title at this year’s tournament that is scheduled to start Monday, Aug. 31, in New York City and conclude Sunday, Sept. 13. A win would make Serena the first player to win a calendar year Grand Slam since Steffi Graf in 1988. If Serena does win, she also would tie Graf’s record of 22 Grand Slam singles victories and be just two Grand Slam titles behind the all-time record holder, Margaret Court, who piled up 24. The Open win would be an early birthday present for Serena, who will turn 34 on Sept. 26. “I’m so ready for New York,” said Serena. John Minchillo/Associated Press

What a week for Jackie Bradley If Baseball Hall of Fame credentials could be based on just a week instead of a career, Jackie Bradley Jr. might already be preparing his Cooperstown acceptance speech. The 25-year-old Boston Red Sox outfielder with RichmondPetersburg area ties was almost other worldly in hitting during the week of Aug. 9 through 15. In five games that week, the left-handed hitting leftfielder had 13 hits in 22 plate appearances, an extraordinary .591 batting average that included four doubles, two triples, three home runs and 13 runs batted in. The pièce de résistance came Aug. 15 when he collected five hits (three doubles and two homers) with seven RBI in the Sox’s victory over the Seattle Mariners. Bradley’s first homer against Seattle was belted to dead center at Fenway Park — the deepest point — off former Cy Young winner Felix Hernandez. Boston’s baseball history features some of the top slugging outfielders in the annals of the game, with Ted Williams, Jim Rice, Carl Yaztrzemski, Manny Ramirez and even Babe Jackie Bradley Jr. Ruth on the team’s alltime list. None, however, ever enjoyed a week much better than Bradley, whose nickname is “JBJ.” “Every single day I want to go out there and show that I’m putting in the work,” Bradley told Yard Barker, an online sports news site. “You can’t worry about results —you’ve just got to put in the work.” Bradley had struggled in previous Boston call-ups. Before his heroic week, he was just 5-for-58 this season for the Red Sox and finished last year in a 1-for-36 rut. A 5-foot-10, 200-pounder, Bradley starred at Prince George High School and with the Richmond Braves National AAU travel team. He is the son of Jackie Bradley Sr., a Richmond bus driver, and Alfreda Hagans. Both Jackie Sr. and Jackie Jr. were named after legendary soul singer Jackie Wilson. Jackie Jr. also is proud to have the same first name as baseball icon Jackie Robinson, who broke the color barrier in the Major Leagues in 1947. In 2010, Bradley was named Outstanding Player at the College World Series in Omaha after leading the University of South Carolina to its first title. Boston made Bradley the 40th overall draft pick in 2011 following his junior year at South Carolina. He’s been up and down between Boston and the minors several times the past two seasons. His most recent chance to make “The Show” was due to an injury to regular left fielder Hanley Ramirez. Before each at bat, Bradley uses the handle of his bat to write the initials “MS” in the on-deck circle. That is a tribute to the late Matt Saye, a close high school friend of Bradley’s who died in a 2011 car accident. In Saye’s obituary, Bradley was listed as a “brother,” even though the duo were not biologically related.

August 27-29, 2015 B1

Section

Richmond Free Press

Happenings B Personality: Donald R. Raspberry Spotlight on president of the Metro Richmond Tennis Club Donald Ray Raspberry loves playing tennis. “It’s fun, it’s exciting and it teaches you a lot of great life lessons,” says the 65-year-old North Side resident. He also has a passion for teaching children the game. “You see the smiles on the kid’s faces and their excitement as they’re learning how to play,” says Mr. Raspberry. Recently retired as an information specialist from the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice, he teaches children tennis several days a week on the courts at Battery Park on North Side. Mr. Raspberry also serves as an ambassador for the game as the president of the four-member advisory board of the Metro Richmond Tennis Club. He has served in that post since 2010. “We go throughout the community asking for donations, applying for grants and holding fundraisers to raise money so more kids can play,” Mr. Raspberry says. One of the group’s big fundraisers will help raise college scholarships for participating youths in the program. It is set for Saturday, Sept. 19. Mr. Raspberry says he and about 10 community volunteers comprise the club. They offer year-round clinics and lessons to dozens of young people ages 4 to 20. More than 100 children belong to the club and pay an annual $20 membership fee. Mr. Raspberry says he and other club members seek to teach the children “honesty, community involvement and and understanding of tennis,” while helping them develop “lifelong friendships.” Richmond Police Officer

Want to go?

What: The Metro Richmond Tennis Club’s “A Night with Desiree” benefit concert, featuring Richmond jazz singer Desiree Roots. When: 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 19. Where: Fifth Baptist Family Life Center, 1415 W. Cary St. in the West End. Admission: $40. Tickets available at Eventbrite.com. Details: (804) 250-6655 or www.metrorichmondtennis club.org.

Date and place of birth: 1949, Trenton, N.C. Education: Bachelor’s degree, St. Augustine’s University.

George E. Banks — a former Virginia Union University tennis star — founded the Metro Richmond Tennis Club in 2010 to provide free lessons to children. He sought to build on the legacy of his hero, Arthur Ashe Jr., the late Richmond tennis trailblazer and human rights activist. Mr. Ashe was the first and only African-American male player to win the U.S. Open tennis tournament that is scheduled to start next week in New York City on the courts named after him. “There’s a statue of Arthur Ashe next to the courts at Battery Park,” Mr. Raspberry says, “and many days after I’ve finished giving lessons, I’ll walk to the statue and pat him on the head and thank him for all he did for tennis in this community. A close-up of this week’s Personality, Donald R. Raspberry:

Metro Richmond Tennis Club’s No. 1 objective:To have kids learn tennis so that they may use it as a tool to go to college. The opportunity the Metro Richmond Tennis Club offers young people: Mentorship, life skills, junior league tennis, educational trips, college assistance and a safe environment. The importance of Arthur Ashe’s identification with Battery Park: I feel his presence every day I am teaching tennis to young players at Battery Park. Number of Richmond youngsters in MRTC program:105. How they are recruited: Web page, Tuesday tennis programs, word of mouth, schools and social media. How volunteers can become involved: By contacting MRTC at www.MetroRichmondTennisClub.org. What young people need most: Direction and a purpose. Why I love tennis: When play-

ing tennis, you are engaged in a dialogue of strokes that create a fascinating conversation about the nature of the game and how it is played. How I start the day: Meditate and exercise. How I unwind: Listening to jazz and practicing golf. If I had more time, I would:Give more time to MRTC to help make it a better tennis club. I place top value on: Relationships, family and volunteering. The one thing I can’t stand:A person who has a positive gift and fails to share it with others. Three words that best describe me: Committed, personable and positive. Person who influenced me the most: My grandmother. Book that influenced me the most: “Portrait in Motion” by Arthur Ashe. What I’m reading now: “Mayor for Life” by Marion Barry Jr. and Omar Tyree. My next goal: Armstrong and Thomas Jefferson high schools both have tennis teams. I also want to help the other high schools in the city get teams.

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Richmond Free Press

B2 August 27-29, 2015

Happenings 3-day music festival this weekend in Virginia Beach The sounds of jazz and funk will fill the air to the backdrop of waves crashing onto the Virginia Beach shore at the third annual Virginia Beach Africana 2015. The fun-filled festival begins Friday, Aug. 28, and continues through Sunday, Aug. 30. The three-day festival celebrates family, culture and entertain-

ment of the African diaspora, according to organizers. Location: Between 23rd and 25th streets along Atlantic Avenue. Among the headliners scheduled to perform: Funk bands Con Funk Shun and the Zapp Band on Friday, classic soul artist Larry Graham & Graham Central Station on

Saturday and neo-soul artist Myra Smith on Sunday. About 20 acts are scheduled to perform. Also on tap: A Jazz to the Beat Oceanfront Day Party on Saturday and a Caribbean Family Reunion on Sunday. The festival is free and open to the public. Details: (757) 754-5697 or www.africanavirginiabeach.com.

Juvenile justice system focus of Art 180 exhibit for First Friday Youths from the Richmond Juvenile Detention Center are using artistic expression to voice their perspectives on the juvenile justice system and suggest ways to reform it. They are doing so in an exhibit known as “Performing Statistics.” The exhibit is a partnership with ART 180’s teen art center. It is to be unveiled during the First Fridays Art Walk from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 4. Location: Atlas, home of the teen art center at 114 W. Marshall St. in Jackson Ward. The exhibit also includes a large-scale, school-to-prison pipeline by ART 180’s teen leadership council ART 180 seeks to give young people an opportunity “to express themselves through art and to share their stories with others,” according to its website.

WE CARE Festival Above, cousins Ahkira Haskins, 5, and Ja’niyah Buckner, 6, pick up book bags filled with school supplies at the 9th Annual WE CARE Festival on North Side. Right, Santia Nance of RVA HoOp LOvers shows off her hula hoop skills at the event. Below, Kimber Green and Monay Williams perform on the program with a troupe from Anointed Vessels Mime Ministries of the Fresh Anointing Cathedral. Along with an array of other entertainment, the festival also featured health screenings and games along with the distribution of hundreds of stuffed book bags. Four churches teamed up with area businesses and community groups to stage the back-to-school program last Saturday. Location: Hotchkiss Community Center. The festival’s name is an acronym for wellness, education, community awareness and resident empowerment.

“Performing Statistics” is an ongoing project that connects incarcerated youths with artists, activists, and legal advocates to help transform the juvenile justice system, according to ART 180 officials. Residents are able to leave the detention facility and go to Atlas to learn new skills and explore a variety of media forms. Led by artists and aided by policy reform advocates from the Richmond-based Legal Aid Justice Center, participants created radio public service announcements, screen printed posters and T-shirts, photographs, writings and chants related to the juvenile justice system. An encore reception of the exhibit is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 2, following a justice parade from the state Capitol in Downtown to ART 180.

The receptions are free and open to the public. The exhibit will remain on display at Atlas through October 30. It then will be exhibited across the state in a mobile gallery the size of a standard jail cell. Atlas is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and by appointment. For more information on the exhibit: (804) 233-4180 or www.art180.org.

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Richmond Free Press

August 27-29, 2015

Happenings ‘Straight’ No.1 for second week Free Press wire reports

Proud graduates

“Straight Outta Compton” continues to connect with movie audiences. It is the No. 1 movie in North America for the second week. Universal’s biopic of rap group N.W.A. added $26.3 million to its coffers last weekend, according to studio figures released Monday. The film about the early days of Ice Cube, Dr. Dre and Eazy-E has collected $111 million in ticket sales through its first two weekends of release. Meanwhile, Dr. Dre apologized to “the women I’ve hurt” in comments the New York Times published last Friday on its website. He did so without specifically acknowledging the reason for the apology. The 50-year-old music mogul said that he “deeply regret(s) what I did and know that it has forever impacted all of our lives.” He pleaded no contest to criminal battery charges following allegations he violently attacked journalist Dee Barnes in 1991. Ms. Barnes published a story online last week about the assault. Other women, including Dr. Dre’s former girlfriend, Michel’le, also claimed he assaulted them. Dr. Dre said in his statement that 25 years ago, he was “a young man drinking too much and in over my head with no real structure in my life. However, none of this is an excuse for what I did.” Technology giant Apple — which bought Dr. Dre’s music company, Beats, for $13.6 billion last year — also issued a statement backing him. “Dre has apologized for the mistakes he’s made in the past. We have every reason to believe that he has changed,” the company statement read.

Newly minted Richmond Police officers march from the Leslie Cheek Theater after being sworn in last Friday. Location: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. The 30 officers are the city’s 111th recruit class. They hail from Virginia and states from Connecticut to North Carolina. They completed 30 weeks of training. They will spend the next eight weeks gaining field experience under the supervision of a veteran officer. The new officers are helping to fill some of the vacancies in the police department’s sworn contingent.

Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

y r a C s r e e l e v i b n ra n A h t 0 5 he 1

Dear Readers and Supporters of Virginia Union University: On behalf of the Board of Trustees, faculty, staff, and students, we would like to offer our sincere appreciation for your interest, engagement, and support during the celebration of the 150th Anniversary of the founding of Virginia Union University. Through the years, Virginia Union University has made significant and vital contributions to the commonwealth of Virginia and the United States of America. Over the past two years, we have planned extensive programming to tell the story of our dynamic institution. That programming includes the development of a documentary that was shown on our local PBS station and the publication of two new books, one highlighting the University’s fascinating history and the other featuring some of the University’s many outstanding alumni. Virginia Union’s extensive calendar of events during the past year led to an amazing overall expression of the value of the University to the commonwealth of Virginia and the nation. The work could not have been conceptualized and implemented without the support of many organizations and persons. While we can’t personally thank everyone, we would like to highlight a few. VUU distinguished alumnus Randall Robinson opened our year of celebration with a stirring message in Coburn Hall. Richmond mayor Dwight C. Jones, another outstanding alumnus, addressed a packed crowd at the University’s official Opening Convocation. Noted historian and former University of Richmond President Dr. Ed Ayers convened a panel of experts, including Dr. Gregg Kimball, Dr. Lauranett Lee, Dr. Raymond Hylton, and Dr. Cassandra NewbyAlexander, to discuss the first 50 years of Emancipation. College presidents including Dr. David Swinton, Dr. Mickey Burnim, Dr. Beverly Wade Hogan, and President Emerita Dr. Dorothy Yancy drew a large group to campus to discuss the significance of historically black colleges and universities.

The ribbon cutting for the new Claude G. Perkins Living and Learning Center was a joyous occasion, followed by the return of the Community Leaders Breakfast to the Virginia Union campus for the first time in many years. The sellout crowd heard from Governor Terry McAuliffe, Mayor Dwight C. Jones, and noted attorney George Martin. The University honored yet another revered alumnus, journalist Simeon Booker, as leaders from across the region honored the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the Breakfast. We would like to thank the Virginia Union University Concert Choir and the First Thursday Group Jazz Ensemble for sharing their time and talents at numerous events. We are certainly grateful to the many state and local leaders who attended numerous events, including our governor, mayor, senators, members of the Virginia General Assembly, Richmond City Council members, and members of the Henrico County Board of Supervisors. All of these Sesquicentennial celebrations culminated in a moving Rededication Ceremony at the site of Lumpkin’s Jail, Virginia Union’s first campus. The crowd was joined by Dr. Aidsand Wright-Riggins III, Executive Director of the American Baptist Home Mission Societies, which founded Virginia Union University in 1865. A Rededication March from Ebenezer Baptist Church to the Virginia Union campus followed the ceremony.

We would like to once again express our appreciation to those persons who contributed to Virginia Union University’s $30 million Comprehensive Campaign, which also culminated during the 150th Anniversary year. As we announced on April 1, 2015, our Campaign chairmen started their work seven years ago and today they actually exceeded their goal by raising $31.6 million. We are extremely grateful to our corporate partners, churches, alumni, and friends who have supported us through the years and especially during the 150th anniversary. Annual giving this past year was the highest we have seen in the last 18 years. The Virginia Union family was recently touched by the words of Virginia Supreme Court Justice William Mims in a letter to The Richmond Times-Dispatch. Justice Mims was moved as he biked past Virginia Union’s historic Belgian Building and heard the carillon in the bell tower playing “Let There Be Peace on Earth.” Justice Mims said, “There are brief moments when the Holy Spirit parts the veil and we witness God’s redemptive grace. The birth of Virginia Union University 150 years ago surely was one such moment. The Spirit continues to move on its campus today.” God bless Virginia Union University and may she continue to serve as a “Bridge to Intellectual Freedom and Equality” for the next century and beyond.

Finally, renowned sculptor Ed Dwight unveiled a 150th anniversary monument on our Lombardy Street campus this past April as a testimonial to the living history of Virginia Union University and the resiliency and transformation of God’s people. This monument joins other historic markers on the Virginia Union campus that serve as a constant reminder that the redemptive nature of the work of Virginia Union University continues to be relevant, viable, and important to our nation.

Sincerely, Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson Chairman, Board of Trustees Virginia Union University Dr. Claude Grandford Perkins President and CEO Virginia Union University

Virginia Union University This message is provided with the support of an anonymous donor.

Richmond Free Press

B4 August 27-29, 2015

Obituaries/Faith Directory

Louis Stokes, 90, Ohio’s first black congressman Reuters

CLEVELAND Louis Stokes served 15 consecutive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives during which he investigated the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. The former Ohio congressman, died from cancer on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2015, with his wife by his side. He was 90. “During his illness, he confronted it as he did life — with bravery and strength,” his family wrote in a statement. Elected in 1968, Mr. Stokes served in the House from 1969 until 1999. He was Ohio’s first black member of Congress and the brother of Cleveland’s first black mayor, Carl B. Stokes. As chairman of the House committee on assassinations,

Mr. Stokes investigated the murders of President Kennedy and Dr. King. He also was the first African-American to win a seat on the powerful House Appropriations Committee. Born in 1925 in Cleveland, Mr. Stokes was persuaded to run for office by his brother. In Congress, he used his position to increase opportunities for African-Americans, according to a House website. Mr. Stokes “I’m going to keep on denouncing the inequities of this system, but I’m going to work within it,” Mr. Stokes said, according to the House website. “The problem is that a black man has to be extra special to win

in this system. Why should you have to be a super black to get someplace? That’s what’s wrong in the society. The ordinary black man doesn’t have the same chance as the ordinary white man does.” Mr. Stokes served in the U.S. Army from 1943 to 1946. “Growing up in Depression-era Cleveland with his mother and brother Carl, Lou triumphed over hardship to become a passionate voice for those less fortunate,” President Obama said in a statement. “Lou leaves behind an indelible legacy.” Mr. Stokes received his law degree from ClevelandMarshall Law School in 1953 and practiced law for 14 years after serving in the Army. Survivors include his wife, Jay Stokes, and four adult children.

Promoter David ‘Big Daddy’ Cooper, 81, first to bring Jackson 5 to Richmond David Junior “Big Daddy” Cooper had multiple careers in Richmond — from concert promoter to private investigator to truck driver and concrete layer. His multifaceted life is being remembered following his death Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015, at a Richmond hospital. He was 81. During his heyday as a promoter, Mr. Cooper was the first to bring The Jackson 5 to Richmond, creating a memorable show in 1971. He also showcased such big name artists as James Brown, Al Green, Marvin Gaye, Jackie Wilson and The Manhattans in Richmond and other cities in partnership with Atlanta promoter Henry Wynn, said Bobby R. Gamble, a longtime friend of Mr. Cooper and his right-hand man in the concert operation. Mr. Cooper, who also was aided by his late wife, Ethel,

anyone so he got into also was a concert business for himself,” promoter for such said Mr. Gamble, gospel stars as James who said Mr. Cooper Cleveland, Shirley was like a brother Caesar and The to him. “You could Brooklyn All-Stars, trust him. When he Mr. Gamble said. gave his word, he At one time, meant it. You could Mr. Cooper and a always count on him partner, James Anto do what he said he derson, owned two Mr. Cooper would.” music stores, Hull Born in Lake City, S.C., Street Music and the Cary Street Mr. Cooper came to Richmond Music Center. Given the ups and downs of in the 1950s. He got a job as the music business, Mr. Cooper a truck driver and then as a also established a concrete security officer before openbusiness to install footings ing the concrete business, Mr. on buildings, lay slabs or do other concrete work. Earlier, he was an independent truck driver and, for a brief period, operated a private investigation business, family and friends said. To advertise As the father of 11 children, your church: he was always on the lookout Worship Service for business opportunities. Gospel Concert “He didn’t want to work for

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Mission Statement: People of God developing Disciples for Jesus Christ through Preaching and Teaching of God’s Holy Word reaching the people of the Church and the Community.

“The Church With A Welcome”

Sharon Baptist Church

22 E. Leigh Street, Richmond, VA 23219 • 643-3825 thesharonbaptistchurch.com • Rev. Dr. Paul A. Coles, Pastor

Sunday, August 30, 2015 No 8:00 a.m. Service Month of August only 8:30 a.m. ...... Sunday School 10:00 a.m. ..Morning Worship

Vacation Bible School Homecoming Revival

call 804-644-0496 Richmond Free Press

We care about you and Richmond.

Gamble said. Mr. Cooper sold the company last year, Mr. Gamble said. However, Mr. Cooper’s first love was putting on shows for the public. “Promoting was his heart,” Mr. Gamble said. Along with staging shows and selling records, Mr. Cooper also managed numerous acts and produced recordings for them, Mr. Gamble said. Mr. Cooper also produced Christian plays with his wife, including “Your Arm’s Too Short to Box with God,” and brought Broadway musicals to Richmond, his family said.

Moore Street Missionary

Baptist Church

1408 W. Leigh Street • 358-6403

Dr. Alonza Lawrence Pastor

Sundays

Church School 8:30 A.M. Morning Worship 10:00 A.M.

FirstM iBaptist Church dlothian Tuesday

Bible Study 12 Noon

8 A.M. 9:30 A.M. 11 A.M.

Thursdays:

Unity Sundays (2nd Sundays) Church School Morning Worship

8:30 A.M. 10 A.M.

Bible Study is in summer recess and will resume October 1st.

Missions Emphasis Sunday

Sunday, August 30, 2015

Emphasis during 11 a.m. service with Special Guest: Larry Bland & The Volunteer Choir

2040 Mountain Road • Glen Allen, Virginia 23060 Office 804-262-0230 • Fax 804-262-4651 • www.stpeterbaptist.net

Mount Olive Baptist Church Rev. Darryl G. Thompson, Pastor

2015 Theme: The Year of Moving Forward

“The People’s Church”

11:00 a.m. 9:30 a.m. Every 3rd Sunday 2nd Sunday, 11 a.m. Mon. 6:30 p.m. Tues. 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. Wed. 7:45 p.m. Wed. 4:30 p.m. Wed. 6:00 p.m. Thurs., 11:45 a.m.

New Deliverance Evangelistic Church

1701 Turner Road, North Chesterfield, Virginia 23225 (804) 276-0791 office (804)276-5272 fax www.ndec.net

2300 Cool Lane, Richmond, Virginia 23223 804-795-5784 (Armstrong High School Auditorium)

Sunday Morning Worship 11:00 a.m.

Come Join Us! … and Listen to our Radio Broadcast Sundays at 10:15 a.m. on WCLM 1450 AM

Jesus went throughout Galilee teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness among the people. - Matthew 4:23

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8775 Mount Olive Avenue Glen Allen, Virginia 23060 (804) 262-9614 Phone (804) 262-2397 Fax www.mobcva.org

Summer Worship Schedule

Sunday, June 7, 2015 Sunday, September 13, 2015

Worship Service 10:00 AM Sunday School and New Members Class 8:30 AM

Remember... At New Deliverance, You Are Home! See you there and bring a friend.

Dr. Levy M. Armwood, Pastor  Dr. Wallace J. Cook, Pastor Emeritus

To empower people of God spiritually, mentally and emotionally for successful living.

Morning Worship Church School Morning Worship

Pastor Kevin Cook

Rev. Pernell J. Johnson, Pastor

216 W. Leigh St. • Richmond, Va. 23220 • Tel: 804-643-3366 Fax: 804-643-3367 • Email: ebcofﬁce1@comcast.net • web: ebcrichmond.org

Pastor and Founder

Sundays:

“MAKE IT HAPPEN”

1858

Reverend Dr. Lester D. Frye

Worship Opportunities



Ebenezer Baptist Church

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Union Branch Baptist Church 11519 River Rd Chesterfield, VA 23838 804-590-2210

Early Morning Worship ~ 8 a.m. Sunday School ~ 9:30 a.m. Morning Worship ~ 11 a.m. 4th Sunday Uniﬁed Worship Service ~ 9:30 a.m. Bible Study: Wednesdays, 11:30 a.m. & 7 p.m. Radio Ministry: Sunday: 9:30 a.m. {1540 AM}

7:00PM Prayer & Praise 8:15PM

Sunday Worship Sunday Church School Service of Holy Communion Service of Baptism Life Application Bible Class Mid-Week Senior Adult Fellowship Wednesday Meditation & Bible Study Homework & Tutoring Scouting Program Thursday Bible Study

8:00AM – 4:00PM Speakers and Vendors For More Information Visit The Website www.unionbranch.org

5106 Walmsley Blvd., Richmond, VA 23224 804-276-2740 • 804-276-6535 (fax) www.BRBCONLINE.org

Wednesday Youth & Adult Bible Study

Van Transportation Available, Call 804-794-5583

September 12, 2015

Broad Rock Baptist Church

Service Times Church School 9:45AM Worship 11:00AM

Concert Featuring: Pastor Antione Hutchins & Unity The Ingrametts of Richmond, VA And Others Concert Free To The Public

Dr. Kirkland R. Walton, Pastor

Wednesdays

13800 Westfield Dr., Midlothian,VA 23113 804-794-5583 • www.fbcm1846.com

Sunday

September 11, 2015 7:00PM

St. Peter Baptist Church

Bible Study 12 noon

WEDNESDAYS 6:00 p.m. ...... Prayer Service 6:30p.m. ...... Bible Study

THE GAME PLAN: YOU GOT IT IN YOU

In his free time, Mr. Cooper was a 32nd degree Prince Hall Mason, a past worshipful master, or president, of Jonathan Lodge No. 112, F&AM, in Richmond and a member of Mocha Temple Shrine in Jackson Ward. Mr. Cooper succumbed to longtime health problems. Final tributes were paid to him on Wednesday, Aug. 12, at St. Paul’s Baptist Church in Henrico County. His survivors include seven daughters, four sons, three brothers, a sister and 14 grandchildren.

Tuesdays

New Mercies Ministry 6:00 A.M. Youth Bible Study 6:00 P.M. Adult Bible Study 6:30 P.M.

2015 Women’s Conference

Bishop G. O. Glenn D. Min., Founder Mother Marcietia S. Glenn First Lady

Sunday 8 a.m. Sunday School 9:30 a.m. Worship Service

Wednesday Services Senior Citizens Noonday Bible Study Every Wed. 12noon -1 p.m. Bible Study Count: noonday Wednesday night 7 p.m. Prayer 7:15 p.m. Bible Teaching Sanctuary - All Are Welcome!

Saturday

8:30 a.m. Intercessory Prayer

You can now view Sunday Morning Service “AS IT HAPPENS” online! Also, for your convenience, we now offer “full online giving.” Visit www.ndec.net.

Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Hebrew 12:14 (KJV) Tune in on Sunday Morning to WTVR - Channel 6 - 8:30 a.m. Sunday TV Broadcast WTVZ 9 a.m. Norfolk/Tidewater Thursday & Friday Radio Broadcast WREJ 1540 AM Radio - 8:15 a.m.- 8:30 a.m.

THE NEW DELIVERANCE CHRISTIAN ACADEMY (NDCA)

ENROLL NOW!!! Accepting applications for children 2 yrs. old to 3rd Grade Our NDCA curriculum also consists of a Before and After program. Now Enrolling for our Nursery Ages 6 weeks - 2yrs. old. For more information Please call (804) 276-4433 Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm

Thirty-first Street Baptist Church

everence e with elevanc R ing Dr. Morris Henderson, Senior Pastor bin m o ❖ C SUNDAYS Church School 9:30 a.m. Morning Worship 10:30 a.m. ❖

WEDNESDAYS Bible Study 12:00 p.m. & 7:00 p.m. ❖

MONDAY-FRIDAY Nutrition Center and Clothes Closet 11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m. 823 North 31st Street Richmond, VA 23223 (804) 226-0150 Office www.31sbc.org

Richmond Free Press

August 27-29, 2015

Faith News/Directory

Black churches do better weathering decline in number of Christian faithful By Adelle M. Banks Religion News Service

At Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, the pews start to fill more than half an hour before the service begins. Ushers guide people of all ages to their seats. Some stand and wave their hands in the air as the large, robed choir begins to sing. In September, after using a dozen wired overflow rooms, the church will start its fourth weekend service. So many people attend, church leaders are now asking people to limit their attendance to one service. “Pick your service,” said the Rev. Edward Y. Jackson, an assistant to the pastor, at the start of a recent service. “Come in, come early, get your parking space so we can all enjoy and worship God together.” A recent Pew Research Center survey found that Christians are losing their share of the U.S. population, dropping to 71 percent in 2014, down from 78 percent in 2007, with young people leading the exodus. But historically black denominations have bucked that trend, holding on to a steady percentage of members during that same period. As significant, the share of younger AfricanAmericans who affiliate with historically black churches is similar to that of older churchgoers. There are numerous reasons why some black churches retain their members, but, most prominently, the church has played a historic role in black life that has fostered a continuing strong black Protestant identity. Members and visitors at Alfred Street believe the church’s holistic ministry — the preaching, the singing and the community outreach — are what draw them in and keep them there. “I think black churches have always been very pivotal in social movements and outreach,” said Kelli Slater, 20, a Howard University student who was visiting Alfred Street at the invitation of her older sister. “I think black churches do a whole lot more than religion.” In late July, the church held its annual “Brother’s Keeper” outreach project in which it gave 2,000 low-income children backpacks and winter coats and provided health screenings for their families. In December, some members marched from the church to a local courthouse in support of the “Black Lives Matter” movement. The Rev. David Daniels III, a church history professor at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, said mostly black megachurches are gaining adherents even as smaller, aging congregations have dwindling numbers in their pews. “In some cities, there are some congregations, often with younger pastors, who’ve been able to develop ministries that are able to attract teens and young adults,” said Rev. Daniels, a minister of the Church of God in Christ. The Rev. Howard-John Wesley, 43, has been pastor since 2008 of Alfred Street, which is affiliated with the historically black Progressive National Baptist Convention and National Baptist Convention USA. He introduced a monthly “Come As You Are” Wednesday night service for young adults as well as his “Hour of Power” summer Sunday services. In the last seven years, he said, his church membership has grown from 2,300 to 7,100 people and 80 percent of the new members have been in their mid-30s to early 40s. Total attendance on recent weekends has surpassed 3,000.

Riverview

Baptist Church 2604 Idlewood Avenue Richmond, Va. 23220 (804) 353-6135 www.riverviewbaptistch.org Rev. Dr. Stephen L. Hewlett, Pastor Rev. Dr. Ralph Reavis, Sr. Pastor Emeritus

SUNDAY SCHOOL - 9:45 A.M. SUNDAY WORSHIP SERVICE 11:00 A.M.

Adelle M. Banks

The pews and the choir loft are full for a July service at Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria.

“We decided to be very concise with time,” said Rev. Wesley, who knows families need time for their kids’ sporting events. During the “Hour of Power,” he watches a 60-minute clock placed strategically at the back of the sanctuary. “The No. 1 thing people ask when they’re invited to a church is ‘What time do you get out?’” The Rev. Kip Banks, interim general secretary of the Progressive National Baptist Convention, said societal issues such as police brutality as well as efforts to be relevant to young adults — from live-streamed services to marriage, health and mentoring ministries — continue to draw African-Americans to black churches. “The church has always spoken to these issues, and the church is addressing these issues,” he said. “The black church is the place that’s always affirmed African-American life.” But Rev. Banks and others note that black churches are not immune to the membership decline experienced by Christianity in general. The Rev. Jerry Young, president of the National Baptist Convention USA, said, “There are a number of our churches that also are suffering.” Like the rest of the U.S. population, some African-Americans are disaffiliating. The recent Pew survey found that 18 percent of AfricanAmericans now describe themselves as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular,” compared with 12 percent in 2007. The share of black people who fit in the “nothing in particular” category rose at about the same rate as the general population, said Greg Smith, Pew associate director of research. There are prominent examples, such as NFL running back Arian Foster who told ESPN that he does not believe in God, telling an interviewer “faith isn’t enough for me.” Still in his new book, “Between the World and Me,” author Ta-Nehisi Coates, a prominent

Good Shepherd Baptist Church 1127 North 28th St., Richmond, VA 23223-6624 • Office: (804) 644-1402 Dr. Sylvester T. Smith, Pastor “There’s A Place for You” Tuesday Sunday 10:30 AM Bible Study 9:30 AM Church School 6:30 PM Church-wide Bible Study 11:00 AM Worship Service 6:30 PM Men's Bible Study (Each 2nd and 4th) (Holy Communion Thursday each 2nd Sunday) Wednesday (Following 2nd Sunday) 6:30 PM Prayer Meeting

11:00 AM Mid-day Meditation

black nonbeliever, writes his son has some misgivings about turning his back on the church he grew up with. “I thought of my own distance from an institution that has, so often, been the only support for our people,” Mr. Coates wrote. “I often wonder if in that distance I’ve missed something, some notions of cosmic hope, some wisdom beyond my mean physical perception of the world, something beyond the body, that

I might have transmitted to you.” Meanwhile, Richard Wair, the patriarch of a family that has attended Alfred Street for more than a century, remains hopeful that the next generation of African-Americans will continue the churchgoing tradition. “As an older person, seeing young people coming in, I feel great, I feel encouraged,” said the 84-year-old deacon emeritus. “They have to take up where we left off.”

Lecture: Role of black church in fight against apartheid Black churches played an important but overlooked role in the battle to free Nelson Mandela from prison and overturn the harsh regime of apartheid in South Africa, according to Dr. Columba A. Nnorom, a Virginia Union University adjunct professor. Dr. Nnorom will offer his perspective on the role of the African Methodist Episcopal and other black churches in that fight during a public lecture this Friday, Aug. 28, at the L. Douglas Wilder Library on the campus, 1500 Lombardy St. The program is set to run from 6 to 8 p.m. and is open to the community. Dr. Nnorom, who teaches courses on American

Zion Baptist Church 2006 Decatur Street Richmond, VA 23224

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government and international relations, is the author of “American Churches and Southern Africa: Rhetoric and Reality.” He said that most academics who study Mr. Mandela, the late leader of South Africa, never mention the activist role that black churches played, and he wants to change that. He also plans to highlight three former Virginia Union students who went on to play prominent roles in attacking apartheid, Randall Robinson of Richmond, Walter Fauntroy of Washington and Nnamdi Azikiwe, the first president of Nigeria. The lecture is the first of a series VUU will host this fall. Further details: Dr. Nnorom, (804) 822-7484.

Sixth Baptist Church Theme for 2015: Becoming a Five-Star Church of Excellence I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Phil. 4:13

We Are Growing In The Kingdom As We Grow The Kingdom with Word, Worship and Witness

Dr. Robert L. Pettis, Sr., Pastor

10:40AM Worship & Praise 11AM Divine Worship Message by Pastor Bibbs Now Registering For SBC Christ Kids (Ages 5-12) and Christ Teens (ages 13-18)

Sunday Service 10 a.m. Church School 8:45 a.m. Wednesday Bible Study 7p.m.

To register email us at info@sixthbaptistchurch.org Bus transportation provided

Transportation Services 232-2867 “Reclaiming the Lost by Proclaiming the Gospel”

SUNDAY, August 30, 2015

Twitter sixthbaptistrva

Rev. Dr. Yvonne Jones Bibbs, Pastor

400 South Addison Street Richmond, Va. 23220

(near Byrd Park)

(804) 359-1691 or 359-3498 Facebook Fax (804) 359-3798 sixthbaptistrva www.sixthbaptistchurch.org

Richmond Free Press

B6 August 27-29, 2015

Legal Notices/Employment Opportunities City of Richmond, Virginia CITY COUNCIL PUBLIC NOTICE Notice is hereby given that the Council of the City of Richmond has scheduled a public hearing, open to all interested citizens, on Tuesday, September 8, 2015 at 5:00 p.m. in the Council Chamber on the Second Floor of City Hall, located at 900 East Broad Street, Richmond, Virginia, to consider the following ordinances: Ordinance No. 2015-165 To authorize the Chief Administrative Officer, for and on behalf of the City of Richmond, to execute a Lease Agreement between the City of Richmond and the Greater Richmond Transit Company for the purpose of leasing certain portions of the properties formerly known as “the bus barn” located at 100 South Davis Avenue and 101 South Davis Avenue for public parking for the Union Cycliste Internationale 2015 Road World Championships, as well as other community events and activities. Ordinance No. 2015-168 To provide for the granting by the City of Richmond to the person, firm or corporation to be ascertained in the manner prescribed by law, of the lease, franchise, right and privilege to use and maintain certain property located at 5000 Deepwater Terminal Road for the management, maintenance, and operation of the Port of Richmond in accordance with a certain Deed of Facilities Lease Agreement. Ordinance No. 2015-169 To authorize the Chief Administrative Officer, for and on behalf of the City of Richmond, to provide the notice to the Virginia Port Authority required to evidence the City’s approval of the renewal of a Deed of Facilities Lease Agreement, under which the City leases to the Authority the property located at 5000 Deepwater Terminal Road, known as the Port of Richmond, for a five-year renewal term commencing on Jul. 1, 2016, and ending on Jun. 30, 2021. Interested citizens who wish to speak will be given an opportunity to do so. Copies of the full text of all ordinances are available by visiting the City Clerk’s page on the City’s Website at www.Richmondgov. com and in the Office of the City Clerk, City Hall, 900 East Broad Street, Suite 200, Richmond, VA 23219, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. Jean V. Capel City Clerk City of Richmond, Virginia CITY COUNCIL PUBLIC NOTICE Notice is hereby given that the City of Richmond Planning Commission has scheduled a public hearing, open to all interested citizens, on Tuesday, September 8, 2015 at 1:30 p.m. in the Fifth Floor Conference Room of City Hall and the Council of the City of Richmond has scheduled a public hearing on Monday, September 14, 2015 at 6:00 p.m. in the Council Chamber on the Second Floor of City Hall, located at 900 East Broad Street, Richmond, Virginia, to consider the following ordinances: Ordinance No. 2015-151 To amend and reordain City Code §§ 114-700, 114-710.1, 114-710.2:1, 114-710.2:2, 114-710.2:3, 114-710.4, 114-710.13, and 114-1220, concerning off-street parking and loading requirements, and definitions; and to amend and reordain Chapter 114, Article VII of the City Code by adding therein a new Division 4, consisting of sections 114-730.1 and 114-730.2, for the purposes of requiring the provision of bicycle parking facilities for multi-family dwellings, parking decks and parking garages containing parking spaces serving non-residential uses, promoting effective shared parking provisions and modifying certain screening and buffering requirements for new parking areas. Ordinance No. 2015-152 To amend Ord. No. 84311-280, adopted Dec. 17, 1984, which authorized the special use of the property known as 19-21 South Belmont Avenue for the purpose of an art and frame shop and the adaption of the building for such purpose, to authorize limited commercial uses, upon certain terms and conditions. The Richmond Master Plan designates this property as Community Commercial. Primary uses include office, retail, personal service and other commercial and service uses, intended to provide the shopping and service needs of residents of a number of nearby neighborhoods or a section of Continued on next column

Continued from previous column

the City. As compared to Neighborhood Commercial, this category includes a broader range of uses of greater scale and intensity, with greater vehicular access and orientation, but are also compatible with nearby residential areas. Ordinance No. 2015-153 To authorize the special use of the property known as 3915 Patterson Avenue for the purpose of a day nursery, upon certain terms and conditions. The Richmond Master Plan designates this property as Single-Family (low density) in the Far West Planning District. Primary uses are single-family detached dwellings at densities up to seven units per acre. Includes residential support uses such as schools, places of worship, neighborhood parks and recreation facilities and limited public and semi-public uses. Ordinance No. 2015-154 To rezone the property known as 2100 East Main Street from the M-1 Light Industrial District to the B-5 Central Business District. The Master Plan designates the property as part of the Downtown Urban Center Character Area. The existing and proposed zoning and the land use designation in the Master Plan do not establish density ranges for the property. Ordinance No. 2015-155 To amend and reordain Ord. No. 2006-295-294, adopted Dec. 11, 2006, as previously amended by Ord. No. 2009-142147, adopted Jul. 27, 2009, which authorized the special use of the properties known as 1704, 1706, 1708, 1710 and 1712 North 22nd Street as a community center, to include the property known as 1716 North 22nd Street for use as additional community center space, to authorize the expansion of the community center, upon certain terms and conditions. The Land Use Plan of the City of Richmond’s Master Plan designates the subject property for Single-Family (Low Density) land use. Primary uses in this category are single-family detached dwellings at densities up to seven units per acre, with residential support uses such as schools, places of worship, neighborhood parks and recreation facilities, and limited public and semi-public uses. Ordinance No. 2015-156 To authorize the special use of the property known as address 311 Stockton Lane for the purpose of authorizing two accessory dwelling units, upon certain terms and conditions. The property is located in the Far West Planning District as defined by the 2000-2020 city-wide Master Plan, which recommends Single-Family (Low-Density)” uses for the property. The Richmond Master Plan designates this property as Single-Family (LowDensity). Primary use for the Single-Family designation are, “singlefamily detached dwellings at densities up to seven units per acre. Ordinance No. 2015-157 To authorize the special use of the property known as 718 North 23rd Street for the purpose of a mixeduse development that includes multifamily residential and commercial uses, upon certain terms and conditions. The City of Richmond’s Master Plan recommends Mixed Use (Residential) land use for the property. The Master Plan defines the primary uses for this category as single-, two-, and multifamily dwellings, live/work units and neighborhood serving commercial uses developed in a traditional urban form. No residential density is specified for this land use category. Ordinance No. 2015-166 To authorize the special use of the property known as 3701 R Street for the purpose of the expansion of a community center open to the general public, upon certain terms and conditions. The Land Use Plan of the City of Richmond’s Master Plan designates the subject property for Single-Family (Low Density) land use. Primary uses in this category are single-family detached dwellings at densities up to seven units per acre, with residential support uses such as schools, places of worship, neighborhood parks and recreation facilities, and limited public and semi-public uses. Interested citizens who wish to speak will be given an opportunity to do so. Copies of the full text of all ordinances are available by visiting the City Clerk’s page on the City’s Website at www.Richmondgov. com and in the Office of the City Clerk, City Hall, 900 East Broad Street, Suite 200, Richmond, VA 23219, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. Jean V. Capel City Clerk

Divorce VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE CITY OF RICHMOND HEATHER ELLI MEJIA-MURILLO, Plaintiff vs. (case no.CL15-3302-1) JOSE JAVIER MEJIA-MURILLO, Defendant ORDER OF PUBLICATION The object of this suit is to obtain a divorce a vinculo matrimonii from the defendant on the grounds of more than one year of continuous separation; an Affidavit having been filed that the Defendant’s whereabouts is unknown and is not readily available for service of process; it is ORDERED that Jose Javier Mejia-Murillo appear before this Court on or before October 10, 2015 at 9:00am and do what is necessary to protect his interests in this matter; An Extract, Teste: Edward F. Jewett, Clerk

CUSTODY virgiNia: iN thE JuvENiLE aND DOmEstic rELatiONs District cOurt Of thE county Of Henrico iN rE: talif rahman crowley v. TARIQ JORDAN birth father OrDEr Of puBLicatiON The object of this suit is to: Terminate the residual parental rights of Tariq Jordan the identified birth father and any other possible unknown birth father of a child known as Talif Rahman Crowley, who was born on June 12, 2015 to Aliyah Crowley in Chesterfield County, Virginia. The birth mother having given her consent to adoption and has executed an affidavit identifying the birth father but stating that his whereabouts is unknown. It is ORDERED that the defendant Tariq Jordan birth father appear at the abovenamed Court and protect his or her interests on or before October 7, 2015 at 10:00 a.m. Christopher M. Malone, Esq. Thompson McMullan, PC, 100 Shockoe Slip Richmond, Virginia 23219 804-646-3493 VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER SABRINA STOUFFS, Plaintiff v. JOHN STOUFFS, JR., Defendant. Case No.: CL15001778-00 ORDER OF PUBLICATION The object of this suit is to obtain a divorce from the bond of matrimony from the defendant on the ground of living separate and apart without any cohabitation and without interruption for a period exceeding twelve months. It is ORDERED that the defendant, whose whereContinued on next column

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abouts are unknown, appear here on or before the 7th day of October, 2015 at 9:00 a.m. and protect his interests. A Copy, Teste: FRANK D. HARGROVE, JR., Clerk I ask for this: Dorothy M. Eure Counsel for Plaintiff VSB# 27724 8460 Mount Eagle Road Ashland, VA 23005 (804) 798-9667

Tuesday, September 8, 2015. Bids will be presented to the presiding officer of the Council of the City of Richmond on Tuesday, September 8, 2015, at 5:00 p.m. in open session and shall then be presented by the presiding officer to the Council and be dealt with and acted upon in the mode prescribed by law.

post the bond required by the ordinance.

Trustee sale NOTICE OF SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE’S SALE In execution of a Deed of Trust in the original principal amount of ($91,385.00) Ninety One Thousand Three Hundred Eighty Five & 00/100 Dollars from RUBY CLEVERT dated April 12, 2013 and recorded in land records of the Circuit Court of the City of Richmond as Instrument# 13-8421 page 282 the appointed and below named Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at public auction, at the front of the Circuit Court John Marshall building for the City of Richmond, located at 400 North 9th Street, Richmond, Va. 23219 on September 4, 2015 at 11 am, the following property: 3220 FENDALL AVE., RICHMOND, VA. 23222. (TERMS OF SALE): ALL CASH, A bidders deposit of $4,000.00 will be required in cash or certified funds. Settlement within twenty (20) days of sale, otherwise Trustee may forfeit deposit. Additional terms to be announced at sale. Property will be sold “AS IS” Without Representations or Warranty of Any Kind. The trustee reserves the right to reject all bids, extend the time to receive bids or withdraw the property from sale. Conveyance shall be by Special Warranty Deed. CONTACT: JOHN L. TAYLOR III, ESQUIRE, 2416 Jefferson Avenue, Richmond, Va. 23223 (804-649-7688)

The City of Richmond expressly reserves the right to reject any and all bids. The successful bidder shall reimburse the City for all costs incurred in connection with the advertisement of this ordinance in accordance with section 15.2-2101 of the Code of Virginia and shall Continued on next column

Please address any questions or bids to: Jean V. Capel, City Clerk City of Richmond 900 East Broad Street, Suite 200 Richmond, Virginia 23219 (804) 646-7955

NBC12 seeks part-time news/content specialist. Qualified candidates should have experience in all areas of broadcast operations including microwave, tape editing, graphics, camera and audio. Good computer and internet skills. Work schedule may include days, nights and weekends. Apply on line at https://careers-raycommedia.icims.com Drug Screen required. EOE M/F/D/V.

TRAVEL TRAINING INSTRUCTOR Closes: September 3, 2015 Temporary position: October 2015 – October 2017

The City of Richmond is seeking to fill the following position:

GRTC seeks a results oriented professional who excels in working in a fast paced environment. The selected applicant will teach current GRTC paratransit customers to use public transportation safely throughout the Richmond, Virginia metropolitan area. Duties include planning routes via bus or other modes; accompanying trainees on multiple trips until they are able to travel on their own; documenting each training and reporting activities as required; and assisting with marketing the program through disability organizations, schools and other agencies. This is a full-time temporary, non-exempt position and reports to the Chief of Transit Operations. Those interested in the position may apply online at www.ridegrtc.com. GRTC is an equal opportunity employer with a drug-free work environment.

Freelance Writers: The Richmond Free Press has immediate opportunities for freelance writers. Newspaper experience is a requirement. To be considered, please send 5 samples of your writing, along with a cover letter to editor@richmondfreepress.com or mail to: Richmond Free Press, P. O. Box 27709, Richmond, VA 23261 No phone calls.

REQUEST FOR BIDS For Lease, Franchise, Right and Privilege To Use and Maintain 5000 Deepwater Terminal Road In the City of Richmond

All bids for the lease hereby offered to be granted shall be submitted in writing to the City Clerk’s office by 4:00 p.m. on

http://eservices.ci.richmond. va.us/applications/ c l e r k s t r a c k i n g / g e t P D F. asp?NO=2015-168

TransiT sysTem

BIDS

The City of Richmond is seeking bids for the lease, franchise, right and privilege to use and maintain certain property located at 5000 Deepwater Terminal Road for the management, maintenance, and operation of the Port of Richmond in accordance with a certain Deed of Facilities Lease Agreement, for a term of 40 years, subject to certain responsibilities to be imposed by lease and subject further to all retained rights of the City of Richmond.

A copy of the full text of the ordinance is on file in the City Clerk’s office, and the full text of the ordinance and lease to be executed is available at:

Westwood Baptist Church is seeking a talented, spirit-filled drummer to serve 2 to 3 Sundays per month. Please email resume to ATTN: Personnel Committee admin@westwoodbaptist-va.org Deadline for applying is Monday, September 7

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Hazardous Material Technician 35M00000279 Department of Public Utilities Apply by 9/6/2015 Human Resources Consultant 12M00000054 Human Resources Apply by 09/16/2015 Library Assistant I 03M00000018 Richmond Public Library Apply by 9/6/2015 Library Associate I Children’s Librarian 03M00000402 Richmond Public Library Apply by 9/6/2015 Recreation Program Specialist I Before and After School Program 30M00000523 Department of Parks & Recreation Apply by 9/6/2015 Utility Plant Lead Electrician 35M00000253 Department of Public Utilities Apply by 9/6/2015 ****************** For an exciting career with the City of Richmond, visit our website for additional information and apply today! www.richmondgov.com EOE M/F/D/V

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Equipment Operator III 35M00000729 Wastewater Collections CCT Specialist Department of Public Utilities Apply by 9/6/2015

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Senior Staff accountant VHDA is looking for a Senior Staff Accountant to support the operation of our single family mortgage servicing group. This position requires 6+ years of accounting experience, financial reporting skills, bank reconciliations skills, experience in supporting a mortgage servicing operation, and a BS/BA in accounting/related field or equivalent. Preferred qualifications include a mortgage servicing accounting background, investor reporting to GSEs and experience in using the Black Knight mortgage servicing software package MSP.

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Director, Low income Housing tax creDit Programs VHDA, Virginia’s housing finance agency, is looking for a dynamic, diversified leader to manage VHDA’s Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program, including program strategy and development, management of the entire tax credit allocation cycle, operations management, directing and managing all other activities related to the tax credit program line of business. The individual will be directly involved in short and long-term strategic planning for the organization, while at the same time, serving as the public spokesman for the program and establishing and maintaining partnerships with customers, key groups and organizations that enable VHDA to provide affordable rental housing opportunities for low-income Virginians. Organizational skills, strategic planning, decision-making, judgment and relationship management are paramount to success in this role. Ability to perform analytics and track eBusiness trends as they relate to VHDA’s tax credit program are a must. Must be able to promote the adoption and implementation of automated processes. Will work with Marketing, Public Policy and Finance groups to develop and promote the tax credit program. Broad experience within the tax credit and multifamily mortgage industry, including the regulatory environment, required. BA/BS in real estate, finance, business administration or related area, or equivalent professional/technical certification highly preferred. Must have demonstrated skills in management/leadership, innovative problem solving, facilitation, and negotiations. Excellent oral, written, and presentation skills required along with proficiency in Microsoft Excel. We offer a competitive salary with a generous benefits package. Interested parties should submit a resume with cover letter stating salary requirements online only at:

Design anD ConstruCtion offiCer Come join our team! Virginia Housing Development Authority (VHDA) is seeking a highly self-motivated individual to engage in all activities related to architectural & engineering (A&E) reviews of VHDA loan and LIHTC funded developments, construction monitoring, and act as a liaison between VHDA’s Loan Officers, multi-family developers and general contractors. This person will conduct regular site visits to monitor all phases of construction for both renovations and new construction of multi-family dwellings. Responsibilities include reviewing complex architectural and engineering drawings for VHDA and building code compliance, Fair Housing Act and general accessibility compliance review, monitoring construction progress, and approving construction funding. N.C.A.R.B. registration and license to practice architecture from the Commonwealth of Virginia and statewide travel is required. The ideal candidate will possess the following attributes: • A strong background in architectural design and construction management • Excellent written and verbal communication skills • Mathematical and computer skills including Microsoft Excel, Outlook, and Word • Analytical and organizational skills • Bachelor’s degree in Architecture (or equivalent professional/technical certification) and at least 5 years related experience • A good driving record

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VHDA offers a competitive salary with a generous benefits package. Interested parties should submit a resume with cover letter stating salary requirements online only at: http://www.vhda.com/about/careers An EOE

Background, credit, and driving record checks will be performed as a condition of employment.

http://www.vhda.com/about/careers