Richmond Free Press August 15-17, 2019 Edition

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VOL. 28 NO. 33

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Down again Student achievement drops again for Richmond Public Schools, according to 2018-19 SOL test results

By Ronald E. Carrington

Richmond Public Schools student achievement continues to decline, according to state Standards of Learning test results released this week by the Virginia Department of Education.

The tests, which are taken by elementary, middle and high school students each spring, show that Richmond Public Schools overall pass rates are below the state’s average in each of the five core subject areas.

The Richmond district’s biggest improvement was in math, where 56 percent of test-takers passed in 2018-19, compared with 52 percent the previous year.

Slight gains also were made by students in writing and science. Overall scores in RPS for writing were 52 percent in 2018-19, compared to 50 percent in 2017-18, while science scores saw an increase by 1 percentage point, from 59 percent in 2017-18 to 60 percent in 2018-19.

Student achievement fell 7 percentage points in historysocial science, from 62 percent in 2017-18 to 55 percent passing in 2018-19. The pass rate also dropped in reading, with 56 percent of students passing the SOL this year, compared with 59 percent in 2017-18.

Richmond School Board Chairwoman Dawn Page noted the small improvements in math, writing and science scores, but said via text, “The district and the board recognizes we are not where we need to be.

Our students deserve better.

“And with the city’s investment in DREAMS4RPS

(the school system’s five-year strategic plan), more support will be put in place for student learning ... especially in highrisk areas,” she said.

Jason Kamras, who took over as Richmond’s school superintendent in February 2018, responded to the SOL

test results noting the changes that must be made.

“One of our main priorities this year is the adoption of new math and reading curricula,” he stated in an email. “Right now, our teachers are expected to essentially create their own curricula on a daily basis and

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Simone raises bar B6

Miss Black Virginia USA B1

AUGUST 15-17, 2019

City Council spars over voter advisory referendum on $1.5B Coliseum plan

By George Copeland

that’s unfair to them and not best practice for students.”

He said the school system also is “investing in more reading specialists and other reading supports, along with more personnel such as social

Richmond residents were lining up Wednesday to speak their minds on Mayor Levar M. Stoney’s $1.5 billion Coliseum replacement and development plan for Downtown at the second of two special City Council meetings in two days.

At issue is a resolution proposed by Councilwoman Reva M. Trammell, 8th District, that would allow city voters to participate in an advisory referendum on whether taxpayers’ dollars should be used to build a new Coliseum.

At an initial meeting of City Council on Tuesday, Ms. Trammell’s resolution fell one vote short of the six needed to send the advisory referendum to Richmond courts for approval ahead of Friday’s deadline to get on the Nov. 5 ballot.

Please turn to A4

Please turn to A4

Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press

Go team!

Members of the Battery Park E2E Pee Wee 9-10 division football team huddle at the end of practice Tuesday with head Coach George Whitefield.

The coach gave the youngsters a pep talk about his expectations for the next practices before the season starts on Saturday, Aug. 31. The youngsters were practicing at Beard Field, located behind the former Albert V. Norrell Elementary School on Fendall Avenue in North Side. It is named in honor of Gaither Beard, who coached youth baseball in the city for 50 years.

University health services bracing for ripple effect from mass shootings

By Reginald Stuart

The back-to-school shopping spree in El Paso, Texas, was hundreds of miles from the Richmond area.

So were the calm summer bar scene in Dayton, Ohio and the fun-filled garlic fair in Northern California.

Yet, the impact of the dramatic turn of events at those gatherings rippled across Virginia in every neighborhood and home.

Those times of jubilation earlier this month instantly turned chaotic and miserable for many as young men went on separate senseless murder rampages in

each city, killing more than 30 people and leaving several dozens wounded from gunfire and debris.

Like the chaos triggered by demonstrations that turned violent during a rally Dr. Jenkins of white supremacists and neo-Nazis in Charlottesville two years ago this month, the American landscape was again left speechless by the senseless acts of lawlessness by a few.

This week, as area colleges and universities get ready to open their doors for the fall se-

mester, many students are returning from their summer breaks more anxious than ever about their futures and life ahead. Institution leaders are anxious, too, as no clear-cut answer or action emerges to end Dr. Lyttle the sporadic bursts of violence across the country.

The recent shootings “will add another layer of trauma,” said Dr. Vanessa Jenkins, director of the counseling department at Please turn to A4

Eugene A. Mason Jr., who served on the Richmond School Board and City Council, dies at 78 funeral service at noon Friday, Aug. 16, at United Nations Church International, 214 Cowardin Ave., From the roof of J.L. Francis Elementary with interment at Maury Cemetery.

School to City Council chambers at City Hall, The family will receive friends 6 to 7 p.m.

Eugene A. Mason Jr. was a constant force in Thursday, Aug. 15, at Mimms Funeral Home, improving public education in Richmond.

1827 Hull St. Representing the 9th District on the Richmond “Richmond has suffered a monumental loss,” School Board from 1994 to 2004, Mr. Mason said Delegate Delores L. McQuinn, who served made diversity and equity a priority, an ideal he with Mr. Mason on the School Board and the carried with him inside and outside the halls of Richmond City Council, where he served a single Mr. Mason power in Richmond. two-year term from January 2005 to December The advocate for community-based solutions to issues in public 2006, representing the 9th District in South Side. education died Sunday, Aug. 11, 2019, at the age of 78.

Please turn to A4 Mr. Mason will be remembered by family and friends at a

By George Copeland

Commentary

Virginia voters can be certain their votes count The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee concluded in late July that election systems in all 50 states were targeted by Russia in the 2016 presidential election. While the report concluded that no votes were changed in voting machines at the time, the committee’s report warned that the United States remains vulnerable to attack in upcoming elections.

In the wake of the report, the Richmond Free Press invited Christopher E. “Chris” Piper, commissioner of the Virginia Department of Elections, to address the question of just how secure is Virginia’s election apparatus.

Here is his response, penned with Michael Watson, chief information security officer with the Virginia Information Technologies Agency.

Elections are the cornerstone of the American form of government, representing the will of the people, and it is imperative that the integrity of elections is protected at all costs. With our election process so critical to the way our country functions, a threat to the process draws significant attention.

For the first time in recent history, America has experienced real-time direct attacks on our democratic process in the form of attempts to disrupt elections. Fortunately, to this point these attacks have had limited Please turn to A4

Christopher E. “Chris” Piper Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Elections

Michael Watson Chief information security officer of the Virginia Information Technologies Agency

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Richmond Free Press

Local News

City Police Capt. Bender named LGBTQ community liaison Richmond Police Capt. Michael Bender has been named the department’s new liaison to the LGBTQ community.

“Capt. Bender took over as the commander of the Community, Youth and Intervention Services Unit earlier this year, and I am pleased he has agreed to assume this additional duty,” Richmond Police Chief Will Smith stated in an announcement on Capt. Bender Tuesday.

“It’s a natural fit because (Capt. Bender) leads many of our outreach efforts,” the chief said.

A 24-year veteran of the department, Capt. Bender takes over the liaison role from Capt. Daniel Minton, who is now commander of the department’s Fourth Precinct.

Capt. Bender is available to meet with members of the LGBTQ community to discuss concerns and participate in forums.

He also will meet with residents at the department’s community walks in Richmond neighborhoods.

Colette McEachin wins Dem nomination for city commonwealth’s attorney

By George Copeland

Colette W. McEachin secured the Democratic nomination for Richmond commonwealth’s attorney in last week’s firehouse primary, defeating Alexander L. “Alex” Taylor Jr. by winning more than 83 percent of the votes cast, according to the Richmond City Democratic Committee.

In the balloting, which was conducted by the committee at set times and locations on two days, Mrs. McEachin won 2,115 votes, while Mr. Taylor received 429 votes.

“I am humbled by this opportunity and thankful to the great, great people of the City of Richmond who today have made history,” Mrs. McEachin wrote in a Facebook message following the announcement of the results on Saturday.

With no word of a Republican Party or Mrs. McEachin independent challenger for the Nov. 5 general election ahead of the Friday filing deadline, Mrs. McEachin is poised to retain the position she has held since the previous commonwealth’s attorney, Michael N. Herring, stepped down on July 1 to enter private legal practice after 13 years in the elected post.

Mrs. McEachin, a former deputy commonwealth’s attorney and the wife of 4th District Congressman A. Donald McEachin, has worked in the Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office for more than 20 years.

Mr. Taylor, who entered private practice in 2011 after spending nearly eight years as a senior assistant commonwealth’s attorney in Richmond, did not respond to requests for comment on the primary results.

Voter turnout was expected to be minimal because of the accelerated nature of the primary. Fewer than 2 percent of the city’s 150,000 registered voters turned out for the firehouse primary, which was held 6 to 7:30 p.m. Aug. 8 and from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Aug. 10 at the Main Branch of the Richmond Public Library in Downtown and the Southside Community Services Center in South Side.

Jamie Nolan, chair of the Richmond City Democratic Committee, congratulated Mrs. McEachin on her victory in a statement and commended her “commitment to reform our criminal justice system and pursue alternatives to incarceration.”

“Working together with community leaders, I know we can create a more equitable justice system for all Richmonders,” Ms. Nolan said.

Mrs. McEachin presented herself as the “innovator” the city needs, tying her campaign to her long career with the commonwealth’s attorney’s office — from being hired as one of the first African-American female employees to more recently serving as deputy commonwealth’s attorney. She said she plans to continue Mr. Herring’s efforts in ending cash bail requirements for pretrial release, while establishing a diversion program for first-time arrestees charged with non-violent offenses.

VSU to host AgFest Field Day on Aug. 28 Virginia State University is hosting AgFest Field Day 2019 for anyone interested in agriculture, fish farming, hydroponics, farming, urban gardening and ,learning about agriculture production in Virginia.

The field day will be held 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 28, at VSU’s Randolph Farm, 4415 River Road in Petersburg.

The day will include demonstrations and exhibits for all ages and experience levels. Farmers can explore the latest techniques in aquaculture, goat and sheep management, and aquaponics.

4-H programs also will provide middle and high school students with hands-on experiences in agriculture and an exploration of careers in the field.

Cost: $10.

Pre-registration is required at www.ext.vsu.edu/calendar. Click on the event and then click on the registration link.

Details: Contact Debra B. Jones at dbjones@vsu.edu or (804) 524-5496.

Henrico sets up timeline, hearings for 2021-22 school redistricting The Henrico County Public Schools has set up a timeline and schedule of public hearings for redrawing attendance zones for the county’s elementary, middle and high schools.

The changes are to go into effect for the 2021-22 school year.

The first public information session will be held 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Sept. 9, at the New Bridge Learning Center auditorium, 5915 Nine Mile Road, with an identical session slated for 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Sept. 11, at Glen Allen High School, 10700 Staples Mill Road.

Details about the sessions, and the redistricting timeline, are available at https://henricoschools.us/redistricting/2021/.

Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

Cityscape Slices of life and scenes in Richmond

A sign posted in Richmond’s Byrd Park offers motorists a friendly reminder: “Love It? Then Lock It! Or Lose It!” Despite the reminder for drivers to lock their cars to keep themselves and their belongings safe, more than 1,390 thefts from motor vehicles have been reported to Richmond Police so far this year. And 561 cars have been reported stolen in the city through Aug. 11. Both figures are down from the same period last year, when 741 cars were reported stolen and there were 1,526 reports of theft from vehicles. The campaign is neither new nor unique to Richmond.

Police departments across the nation use the same slogan to remind residents.

Judge dismisses Richardson’s suit to unseat Councilman Agelasto

By George Copeland

A legal effort to immediately remove Richmond City Councilman Parker C. Agelasto from office was dismissed last week by a Richmond Circuit Court judge.

Former City Councilman Henry W. “Chuck” Richardson was seeking a declaratory judgment that Mr. Agelasto had vacated the council seat based on a state law requiring him to live in the district he serves.

Mr. Agelasto has acknowledged that he moved out of the city’s 5th District, which he represents, into a home in the city’s 1st District, and has said he will resign from City Council effective Nov. 30.

Mr. Agelasto was not present for the Aug. 8 hearing before Judge William R. Marchant, but was represented by attorney Anthony Mr. Richardson Troy, a former Virginia attorney general.

While noting the factual evidence Mr. Richardson and his attorney David Prince provided, Judge Marchant questioned whether the court was “the correct vehicle” for the case. He dismissed Mr. Richardson’s suit, noting that going through city officials would be a more appropriate vehicle to remove Mr. Agelasto from office.

Mr. Richardson expressed disappointment in the ruling and said he will refile his challenge. He also said he will contact Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney Colette W. McEachin for further help.

Mrs. McEachin’s predecessor, former Commonwealth’s Attorney Michael N. Herring, reached an agreement with Mr. Agelasto, who initially announced he wouldn’t seek re-election in 2020. The agreement, however, required Mr. Agelasto to resign from the office to avoid having Mr. Herring go to court to remove him.

A special election is slated for Nov. 5.

When contacted, Mrs. McEachin said she had no comment on the situation.

While Mr. Agelasto has received criticism from some of his

City Council colleagues for moving out of the district, none have made moves to remove him from office.

Mr. Richardson called Judge Marchant’s decision “absurd,” saying it potentially opens the door for other people to seek office, win elections and move outside the district they represent without immediate consequence.

Mr. Agelasto has served on City Council since 2013.

Mr. Agelasto’s refusal to step down immediately also has been challenged legally by former City Councilman Sa’ad El-Amin, whose case also was scheduled for a hearing in Judge Marchant’s court.

In a telephone interview on Monday, Mr. El-Amin said he has chosen not to continue his suit after learning the results of the hearing in Mr. Richardson’s case.

He said he is “giving serious consideration Mr. Agelasto to pursuing another avenue,” although he declined to say more.

“I feel that this is a sorry state of affairs,” Mr. El-Amin said of the hearing’s result.

Mr. Prince and Mr. El-Amin both pointed to a Virginia Beach Circuit Court ruling last April as support for the removal of Mr. Agelasto from office. A judge in the resort city found that Virginia Beach School Board member Joel McDonald vacated his office by moving out of his district, leaving his district seat vacant and his former district without a representative.

In the hearing, Judge Marchant and Mr. Troy both pointed to the difference in the cases. They said Virginia Beach officials brought the case against Mr. McDonald, while Mr. Richardson holds no special relationship to Mr. Agelasto beyond living in the district Mr. Agelasto represents.

Mr. Prince said in court that view “neuters the individual,” leaving the decision to elected officials while removing the power of citizens to hold their representatives accountable.

“What would you have (Mr. Richardson) do?” Mr. Prince asked Judge Marchant. “Threaten the man? Picket outside his house?”

James River Park System now part of the Old Growth Forest Network

By Jeremy M. Lazarus

He noted that the age of the oldest trees is not certain, but 100-year rings have been counted on a downed loblolly pine and a downed chestnut oak. The park has a wide variety of trees, such as maples, oaks, hickories, cottonwoods, sycamores, beeches, birches, black walnuts, pawpaw and tulips, he noted.

The induction marked the 10th year since then-Gov. Tim Kaine, a former Richmond mayor, signed a conservation easement on May 29, 2009, covering about half of the

One of the Richmond region’s favorite parks has become part of an exclusive club, the Old Growth Forest Network, it has been announced.

The James River Park System, which lies in the heart of Richmond and annually attracts 2 million visitors, was formally inducted into the network, signifying that its trees will always be protected and will live out their lives in this green space Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press without ever being turned into Ramp to the Pumphouse, a part of the James River Park lumber, according to Parker C. System Agelasto, executive director of the Capital Region Land Con- James River Park. servancy and a member of Richmond City Council.

The easement ensures the property can never be developed.

Joan Maloof, OGFN founder and director, officially inducted The easement is cooperatively held by the Virginia Department the park’s forest at a public ceremony June 5 at the Pony Pasture of Conservation & Recreation, Enrichmond Foundation and the Rapids Park section, 7200 Riverside Drive in South Side, Mr. Capital Region Land Conservancy.

Agelasto stated.

Among the park’s components are Belle Isle, Reedy Creek, Along the East Coast, original forests essentially have been Pony Pasture, Wetlands, Great Shiplock Park, Huguenot Flatwater, eliminated since the arrival of English, Dutch and Spanish set- Manchester Climbing Wall, North Bank and Pumphouse. tlers. Ms. Maloof is working with a range of partners to create Mr. Agelasto stated that the park’s inclusion in the Old Growth new old growth forests through the use of conservation ease- Forest Network builds on the vision of those who started the ments that prevent development of certain property so the trees park more than 50 years ago. age in place.

He credited creation of the park to Joe Schaefer and Jack Keith, The James River Park, which straddles both sides of the river two private citizens who acquired undeveloped property along and encompasses 562 acres, is the seventh forest in Virginia the river and then lobbied successfully to prevent construction inducted into the network and one of 90 in 22 states across the of a highway through it. Mr. Keith and Mr. Schaefer launched country, Mr. Agelasto stated. the park in 1972 with the donation of 380 acres to the city.

Richmond Free Press

August 15-17, 2019

Thousands of jobs.

Over $500 million

in annual employment wages.

Over $1 billion

for the city and core services.

And that’s just the beginning.

You spoke. We listened. And we will keep listening. Thousands of diverse Richmond voices told us what mattered most. And that’s why Navy Hill has something for every Richmonder.

Thousands of housing units.

Hundreds of thousands of square feet for retail and entertainment.

All without a penny in additional taxes.

A downtown we all deserve, for the city we love.

Learn the facts at navyhillRVA.com Sources: Davenport & Company; February 2018 Capital City Opportunity Plan Downtown Redevelopment Economic Impact Study, VCU Center for Urban and Regional Analysis.

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News

Virginia voters Student achievement drops again can be certain for Richmond Public Schools their votes count Continued from A1

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impact. But they have sent a clear signal that we need a comprehensive review of the security measures in place protecting our elections process.

We now know that all 50 states’ election databases were targeted in 2016. We also know that several states and some localities’ databases were breached, although no votes were changed.

While Virginia’s database was not breached, the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Department of Elections, or ELECT, and your local voter registration offices have been working diligently to ensure votes are cast and counted in a secure manner and that voter data is safe.

A review of all ELECT technologies, processes and policies was undertaken to prevent the types of attacks and disruptions affecting other states across the country. ELECT and Virginia Information Technologies Agency, or VITA, are working together and are committed to ensuring that voters can feel confident in the security of the voting process.

ELECT and VITA partner with the National Guard, the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and numerous state and local law enforcement entities.

These partnerships have worked to further refine technologies and processes aimed at securing elections equipment and technologies supporting our elections process.

These partners have provided support through cyber and physical assessments, information sharing, training and exercises.

Together, we are more confident than ever in the resiliency and security of our state’s election infrastructure. The work that we have done together has built lasting relationships that will continue well beyond the 2020 presidential election.

One of the major efforts Virginia undertook was a comprehensive review of our voting equipment. This review resulted in several improvements to the type of voting equipment used and the way the equipment was used.

Before the 2017 November General Election, the State Board of Elections decertified electronic voting machines and all Virginia localities transitioned to optical scan voting machines.

The purpose of this move was to eliminate touch screen machines when casting a vote. The touch screen machines did not provide an adequate method of verifying or recounting votes once they were cast.

Optical scan machines, on the other hand, provide a paper record of each ballot cast, allowing the verification of the ballot and the machine reading the ballot. This also allows an audit to occur after an election to ensure the results provided by the voting equipment machine matches the voter’s intent.

As of 2018, Virginia began a post-election audit program, adding one more layer of security and integrity in the electoral process.

In addition to the equipment review, Virginia identified information sharing partners who understand the threat to our elections infrastructure. As part of that effort, Virginia joined the Election Infrastructure Information Sharing & Analysis Center, or EIISAC, a collaboration that brings together all 50 states and more than 1,000 election jurisdictions nationwide.

The center works with state election officials to provide realtime threat sharing, as well as cyber defense training, and has ensured that Virginia is part of a broad national defense against foreign attempts to interfere with our elections.

Virginia has taken many steps to secure our elections. We take this responsibility seriously. We understand that we must always remain vigilant and continue to evolve to stay ahead of potential threats.

We are fully committed to working collaboratively with our partners to maintain safe and secure elections for Virginia’s voters.

workers and nurses to attend to the ‘whole child.’ ” Earlier this month Mr. Kamras refused a $25,000 bonus and said his six-person leadership team won’t ask for a raise or bonus until all 44 of the city’s public schools meet the state’s full accreditation standards. Currently, only 19 do.

“SOL pass rates are just one part of accreditation,” Mr. Kamras said. “The state also looks at growth, attendance, (high school) graduation rates and other factors” in determining a school’s accreditation.

“We remain committed to doing everything necessary to achieve 100 percent accreditation,” he said.

The Virginia Department of Education will announce school accreditation ratings in September.

Looking at SOL scores at the various schools in Richmond, Thomas Jefferson High School and Richmond Community High still have the highest pass rate of RPS’ comprehensive high schools with an overall pass rate of 64 percent or more, while scores at the other high schools have dropped.

The overall scores at George Wythe High School dropped 40 percent, while Arm-

strong High School averaged a 30 percent drop, Huguenot High averaged a 27 percent drop, and John Marshall High averaged a 17.5 percent drop.

Open High School’s overall scores Mr. Kamras are up 18 percent, while Franklin Military Academy’s scores are up 6.6 percent.

In the city’s middle schools, Albert H. Hill remained the highest achieving middle school with a 73 percent average pass rate. Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School saw a 3.9 percent decrease and is still behind its peers with an overall 25 percent pass rate.

As for the elementary schools, George Washington Carver Elementary School, which is working to recover from an SOL cheating scandal carried out by its former principal and uncovered by city and state officials last year, showed low student achievement on the 2018-19 SOL tests. Roughly, one in four students passed the history SOL; one in three passed the math SOL; one in five passed the science SOL; while one in three passed the reading test.

Ripple effect from mass shootings Continued from A1

Norfolk State University.

“A lot of our students come in with some trauma in their life, “ she said. Exposure to more trauma and violence “puts them (the students) on overload.”

Like many peer institutions across Virginia, Norfolk State, which counts an alumna among the innocent people killed in the Dayton shooting spree, is readying its mental health counseling staff to be as alert and ready to help as possible, Dr. Jenkins said.

NSU’s counseling center, staffed with four full-time therapists and one part-time counselor, assists students 24-hours a day, seven days a week, at no charge. Dr. Jenkins said the center can see about 95 students a month.

“Our country has experienced another senseless tragedy,” said Dr. Darylnet Lyttle, director of the student health center at Virginia State University. “We’re committed to meeting the needs of our students … reaching out to the students who are vulnerable,”

Ms. Trammell and Councilwoman Kimberly B. Gray, who supports Ms. Trammell’s resolution, promptly called for a second special meeting of the council to allow for public comment after the 5-4 vote for expedited consideration failed, blocking the referendum from moving forward.

“Either you’re on the side of the people or you’re not,” Ms. Trammell declared after the Tuesday meeting, which attracted more than 30 people to City Hall’s modest 5th floor conference room.

The resolution would allow Richmond voters to share their thoughts on funding the massive project, but the results would be non-binding. The ultimate decision on whether the Coliseum replacement and Downtown development project is approved would be left to City Council.

Joining Ms. Trammell and Ms. Gray for the expedited consideration were Council members Parker C. Agelasto, 5th District; Kristen N. Larson, 4th District; and Council Vice President Chris A. Hilbert, 3rd District.

Mayor Stoney’s 900-plus-page proposal, submitted to City Council last week after more than a year of formulation, would divert from the city’s general fund coffers any new real estate tax revenue generated by new projects or increased assessments on existing properties in an 80-block area around the Coliseum.

Instead, new real estate taxes generated in the special Tax Increment Financing district would be directed toward paying off loans to build a new 17,500-seat Coliseum.

The TIF area would stretch from 1st to 10th streets between Byrd Street and Interstate 95-64. The new tax money from the area would be diverted for up to 30 years, under the plan, instead of going into the city’s general fund to pay for schools, police and infrastructure needs.

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“He was the voice that would come by and let us know what was going on with educating our kids and what was going on in the schools and the needs of the children in the schools,” said Bernice E. Travers, president of the Richmond Crusade for Voters.

Mr. Mason also was active in the Crusade, serving for more

Under Mayor Stoney’s plan, about $900 million would be pumped into the project by Navy Hill District Corp., led by Dominion Energy CEO Thomas F. Farrell II, who helped create the plan. The corporation, which would manage the project, would pay the city $15.8 million for the property where a 541-room hotel, 2,500 apartments and other developments would go. The property is now valued by the City Assessor’s Office at about $60 million.

Mayor Stoney and other proponents say

Ms. Gray

said Dr. Lyttle, who leads a health care staff of 11.

Both VSU and NSU, state-supported institutions, have fulltime mental health services for their students.

Dr. Lyttle, who has focused on student health services for some 26 years, echoed Dr. Jenkins and others in saying there is an increasing need for student mental health services and incidents like the ones this summer unfortunately don’t help.

Virginia has gotten smarter and more positive in its attitude about mental health needs after the tragic death of the son of former state Sen. Creigh Deeds of Bath County, she said.

“We are at work to reduce the stigma” associated with mental health issues, she said. “We want to be proactive,” she said, noting Virginia State’s mental health services helped nearly 1,000 students in the last school year.

Virginia Union University, a private institution in Richmond, offers student assistance at its Henderson Health Services Clinic through a contract with the Capital Area Health Network. No information was available from school officials on how many students have received mental health services.

Eugene A. Mason Jr. dies at 78 than 20 years in a number of roles.

Mr. Mason “led a life of meaning and dedication as a community leader and will long be remembered by those who knew, loved and cared about him,” the Richmond City Council said in a statement issued Wednesday.

“In remembrance, Richmond City Council recognizes and thanks Mr. Mason for his

City Council members spar over voter advisory referendum on $1.5B Coliseum plan Continued from A1

At Fairfield Court Elementary School, the overall pass rate was 21 percent this year, compared with 37 percent in 201718.

On a positive note, students at WestoMs. Page ver Hills Elementary School made the largest gains in science, with an SOL pass rate of 65 percent this year, up from a low 24 percent pass rate in 2017-18.

Across the state, student achievement was down slightly in three areas: 78 percent of students passed the reading SOL tests, compared with 79 percent in 2017-18; 76 percent passed the English writing SOL, compared with 78 percent last year; and 80 percent passed the history-social science SOL, compared with 84 percent in 2017-18.

Statewide, math SOL pass rates were up with the new mathematics test introduced during the spring. Eighty two percent of students statewide passed the math SOL, compared with 77 percent in 2017-18.

Science scores remained unchanged from last year, with 81 percent passing the science SOL statewide.

Ms. Trammell

the development would create thousands of jobs and net $1 billion in new tax revenue over the course of 30 years.

Discussion of Ms. Trammell’s resolution for the non-binding referendum highlighted how divided City Council is on the project.

Mr. Hilbert saw Ms. Trammell’s resolution as a more “narrowly focused” alternative to the “poisonous referendum” advocated by Paul Goldman of Put Schools First that would require 51 percent of the tax revenue from the TIF district to go toward improving and modernizing the city’s public schools.

However, Mr. Goldman said Tuesday afternoon that his petition drive to get his referendum on the fall ballot failed to get the required 10,000 signatures from registered voters.

He expressed doubts that Richmond Voter Registrar Kirk Showalter “applied the law correctly” when counting the signatures, adding that he remains “100

percent confident that I got the signatures based on the law to put it on the ballot.”

A hearing on his referendum petition is set for 11:30 a.m. Thursday in Richmond Circuit Court.

Ms. Showalter’s office said Tuesday she would be available for comment at the hearing.

As for Ms. Trammell’s referendum resolution, Councilman Andreas D. Addison questioned the language used, saying the wording assumed “a lot of knowledge on behalf of the constituents.” Ms. Gray countered that the language was directly borrowed from that of the ordinances introduced by Mayor Stoney’s administration with the project.

Councilman Michael J. Jones, 9th District, who also voted against the expedited consideration, expressed concern that he was “being asked to punt something that I haven’t gone completely through.” He also questioned the need for an advisory referendum in the face of the council convening a Navy Hill Commission to study and advise the council on the project.

“We are confusing the daylights out of the public,” Dr. Jones said.

Following the vote, NH District Corp. spokesperson Jeff Kelley issued a statement calling the resolution “disappointing.”

“The council is trying to circumvent the very process that they, themselves, created because a few Richmond outsiders are telling them what to do,” Mr. Kelley stated. “We’ll keep listening to the people of Richmond as this project moves forward and urge the council to do their job and their own due diligence.”

Ms. Gray, speaking at the conclusion of Tuesday’s meeting, said that is exactly what the council intends to do.

“We’re working to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars and we’re going to move forward making the best decisions with the best information that we can garner,” she said.

work, service and commitment on behalf of Richmond residents.”

A native of Richmond, Mr. Mason attended J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College and Virginia Commonwealth University, with a concentration in business. As the owner of Nosam Contracting and Services, he specialized in home improvement construction management.

Before his election to the School Board, he was already an active part of Richmond’s schools, serving as a “room father” for Woodville and Fairfield Court elementary schools for classes lacking male teachers and without male parental figures, according to news reports at the time.

These activities alerted Mr. Mason to academic and social flaws within the school system, which he sought to correct with programs emphasizing greater parental involvement in school renovation and a more communal decision-making process.

He cast the tie-breaking vote in a 2001 board decision that left A.V. Norrell and Whitcomb Court elementary schools open for another decade. And he helped encourage J.L. Francis Elementary students to read by promising to spend the night on the school’s roof if they each read 10 books during two months in 2004. He fulfilled the “Mr. Mason Up On The Rooftop” pledge by holding an all-night reading party at the school in December 2004.

During his two-year term on Richmond City Council, serving under former Mayor L. Douglas Wilder, Mr. Mason was appointed director of the Capital Region Arts and Cultural Funding Consortium for a year.

Delegate McQuinn characterized Mr. Mason as a kind, quiet person who was “always on the front line of just creating a better, better community,” regardless of where or whether he was serving in an elected capacity.

“Whether he was (on the School Board) or on City Council, his focus was always on trying to create a better com-

munity or better organization based on what he was involved in,” she said.

He served on a variety of organizations and boards, including the Metropolitan Business League, the Friends of the Richmond Public Library board, the Astoria Beneficial Club, and the National Kidney Foundation.

He also served as vice president of the Richmond Branch NAACP for a time and was chairman of the Richmond Afro Community Advisory Board, the Education Committee, and a member of the Richmond City Democratic Committee.

He was a longtime member of Mount Carmel Baptist Church, where he served in many capacities before joining United Nations Church International, where he served as an elder.

Mr. Mason took a break from his many activities to focus on the declining health of his wife of 55 years, Vivian Conway Mason, who died in 2017.

Following a period of mourning, Mr. Mason returned to his education activities and was recently appointed to the Richmond Public Schools Rezoning Committee representing the 9th District. He also became part of the Crusade’s Research Committee, informing the organization about what is happening with city schools.

He started a scholarship in his wife’s memory, the Vivian Conway Mason Scholarship at Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Education, her alma mater. The fund provides financial aid to education students who excel in their studies and are planning to work in urban or high-needs schools.

Survivors include his daughter, Yevette Hawley of Richmond; son, Eugene A. Mason III of Apex, N.C.; five grandchildren and four greatgrandchildren.

The family requests that contributions be made in his memory to the Vivian Conway Mason Scholarship Fund through the VCU Foundation, Development and Alumni Relations, P.O. Box 843042, Richmond, Va. 23286-0441.

Richmond Free Press

August 15-17, 2019

A5

Local News

Hampton U. turns to eSports for creating entrepreneurs Free Press wire report

Photos by Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

Gold Award in history

Deja Williams, left, of Midlothian Girl Scout Troop 635 accepts congratulatory flowers from her longtime friend, Jane McConville, after seeing her idea for a state historical highway marker acknowledging the history of the former Midlothian Elementary School come to fruition last Saturday in Chesterfield County.

The 17-year-old’s idea for a marker grew out of her work with Audrey M. Ross, historian for First Baptist Church of Midlothian and a member of the Chesterfield Historical Society of Virginia’s African-American History Committee. She learned about the roots of the school, which date back to 1866, when the church, located about a mile from the school building’s current site on Westfield Road in Chesterfield, opened a school for African-Americans. Church trustees later conveyed land to the School Board for the construction of Midlothian Elementary School on the site.

The school served generations of

African-American students from the communities of Brown Grove, Hallsboro, Midlothian, Mt. Nebo, Robious, Spring Creek and Winterpock, with the current brick structure built in 1948.

The school was closed in 1969 when Chesterfield County desegregated its schools. The building, renamed the Watkins Annex, is used by the Lifelong

Learning Institute.

Deja, a student at Thomas Dale High School, received the Girl Scouts’ highest achievement award, the Gold Award, for developing a project that will make a lasting impact on the community.

Deja, who was overcome by emotion following the ceremony, spoke at the event and helped unveil the marker.

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Students at Hampton University soon will be playing video games as part of their studies.

The university is building an eSports lab, thanks to a $340,658 technology grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Hampton Professor David Hughes said eSports is the “newest thing” in sports management. He began taking notice of the booming popularity of eSports in which players compete using video games in front of millions of fans in person or streaming online.

Last month, a 16-year-old from Pennsylvania won $3 million after beating 99 Mr. Hughes other players in the online fighting game Fortnite Battle Royale during the Fortnite World Cup finals in New York.

Fortnite is just one of the highly popular games among young people. Others include Call of Duty and Madden NFL. Hampton will create a new eSports lab in the university’s library and will begin offering eSports as an academic course, as well as a concentration for graduate students in the Department of Sports Management in 2020.

“Statistically, African-Americans are about 75 percent of the users but less than 2 percent of us are engaged in eSports,” Professor Hughes said. “As of now, there’s no HBCU offering eSports, which leaves a void in diversity.”

Professor Hughes said in addition to students being able to master the games, they’ll also be able to create video games.

“To me, that’s the biggest piece. Not only will you play it, you’ll be able to create it,” Professor Hughes said. “So some video games might be produced by Hampton students if the idea is good enough.”

He hopes the new field of study will set up Hampton students for success.

“It’s absolutely a career,” Professor Hughes said. “It’s a billion dollar industry as of now and by 2020, it’ll be a $2 billion industry. The market dictates what you do.”

He said the grant also will allow the university to invest in 24/7 access to therapists for students who might struggle with anger or video game addiction. He also noted he will be looking into limiting how much time students can spend in the eSports lab each semester.

Richmond Free Press

Crepe myrtles in North Side

Editorial Page

A6

August 15-17, 2019

A clearer vision needed We are not convinced of the need or the benefits of the costly plan to replace the Richmond Coliseum and divert millions of tax dollars that ordinarily would go to the city’s general fund to pay for the project.

No sooner had Mayor Levar M. Stoney released the $1.5 billion blueprint to build a new Coliseum and develop an area in Downtown around it with a 541-room hotel and new office buildings, stores, restaurants and 2,500 new apartments, the moneyed interests behind it — Dominion Energy CEO Thomas F. Farrell II and friends — launched an expensive lobbying effort to win public support for the undertaking.

We believe the willingness of Mr. Farrell and his Navy Hill District Corp. to spend such massive amounts on consultants, lawyers and ad campaigns to get the project approved by Richmond City Council tells Richmonders of the massive financial rewards special interests expect to reap from the project.

We know that much of the area targeted for redevelopment around the Coliseum lies within a recently designated Opportunity Zone, a low-income census tract that allows investors in those areas to receive major tax benefits, thanks to President Trump and his GOP supporters under the Federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.

While Opportunity Zones are touted as a way to encourage investments in “distressed” urban and rural communities throughout the country, their primary function is to reduce and/or eliminate capital gains taxes for individuals and businesses that invest in these zones, whether the projects are successful or not.

According to some researchers, it’s unclear whether investments in these zones actually benefit the “distressed” community, as the Jackson Ward and Downtown area around the Coliseum has been designated by federal and state officials. Some research shows it may simply displace low-income residents of those areas by increasing property values and encouraging higher-skilled workers to move in.

Meanwhile, a new Coliseum, estimated to cost $235 million, would be paid for by tax dollars generated in an 80-block area around the new building. Any increases generated by the real estate taxes from these multimilliondollar improvements for the area would go to pay for a new Coliseum. The city’s general fund, which supports Richmond Public Schools, police, fire, libraries, street repair and human services, wouldn’t reap any additional dollars for the next 15 years — and possibly up to 30 years — than it currently gets from the area because the additional money will be going toward paying for a new, larger Coliseum.

How can Mayor Stoney and other city officials justify diverting funds for critical needs to pay for a new Coliseum? Is a new Coliseum so important that it should rob potential added resources from critical needs such as schools and public safety?

Figures published previously by the Richmond Free Press show that estimates may be overblown for the number of shows, audiences and revenue a new Coliseum would generate. We believe Richmond taxpayers will be left holding the bill for decades, despite Mayor Stoney’s conjectures.

And we question whether the project will largely create a plethora of low-wage, service jobs to serve the hotel, restaurants and shops in the planned development.

Will those workers be able to afford to live in the new apartments the project anticipates? Or will they, and current residents, be priced out and pushed out?

From our review, a more financially prudent course for Downtown would be a $25 million to $35 million facelift for the Coliseum, using a combination of public and private resources. Such a renovation shouldn’t hinder private investment in mixed-use developments around the area, with a focus on affordable housing and below-market rents.

While City Council has the last word on whether this massive plan will be undertaken, we believe Richmond residents must have a voice in whether the project should be attempted.

City Council members Reva M. Trammell and Kim B. Gray are urging that Richmond voters be given a larger voice than a simple public hearing through participation in a non-binding referendum on the issue.

We agree, and see such a referendum as a way for Richmond residents to make their feelings known to city officials. Those who ultimately will pay the price for the new Coliseum and development should have a greater opportunity to express themselves on the project’s possible impact.

We know that the moneyed forces behind this project will continue to try to influence public opinion, including the outcome of such a referendum. But we hope the voice of the people will prevail.

To be clear, we share in the longtime vision for creating a vibrant Downtown that provides housing, job opportunities and cultural programming for all people.

That was the vision when 6th Street Marketplace was created in the 1980s, but special interests fought against the project’s success and the inclusion of all people.

At this point, we don’t want to see Richmonders stuck for decades with the bill for an expensive, unused Coliseum while city services and public schools suffer.

We believe a better balance and clearer vision of a development to benefit all people should prevail.

Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

Calling for a groundswell How, in a span of only 24 hours, could two cities in different states and regions suffer mass shootings — one in El Paso, Texas, a city only a few miles from the nation’s southern border, and the other in Dayton, Ohio, a former midwestern manufacturing hub?

Despite the shock of the two unprovoked attacks, family and community members in both cities must somehow cope through their grief while making funeral arrangements. These two communities are also challenging governmental officials at both the state and federal levels to take actions to prevent further fatalities.

Nationally, a profusion of prayers and condolences signaled that a tragic moment might yet be transformed into a groundswell movement that reckons with the American conscience. The profusion of assault weapons combined with easy access is a gripping issue that confronts us all.

In response to these and other tragedies, a diverse coalition of

leaders held a rally Aug. 6 in the nation’s capital. In a joint statement, the Leadership Conference for Civil and Human Rights was joined by key partners, including the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Voto Latino, the Center for Community Self-Help and the Center for Responsible Lending.

“None of this is acceptable,” said the leaders in a written state-

Charlene Crowell ment. “None of this is normal.

Our organizations are united in saying that members of Congress can no longer look away as communities of color are murdered with impunity. We must all unite and demand accountability.”

The NAACP and the National Urban League additionally called for the passage of the bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019.

Passed in the U.S. House of Representatives on a bipartisan vote of 240-190 on Feb. 27, the bill has yet to be taken up by the U.S. Senate. The bill addresses background check requirements for firearms purchases and firearm transfers between private individuals.

Now is also a time to remember that regardless of race or

ethnicity, our history chronicles the range of hate crimes that have taken the lives of Latinos as well as Native Americans, black people, Jews and the LGBTQ community. The terror now facing America’s Latinos resurrects these horrors, particularly how black people encountered racial hatred for more than a century during Jim Crow era and later during the civil rights struggles of the 1950s and 1960s.

Too many times in recent years, we remain at risk as a people. In 1998, the body of James Byrd, a 49-year-old black man in Jasper, Texas, was ripped to pieces as it was dragged more than a mile and a half by white people driving a pickup truck. More recent heinous hate crimes include the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Tamir Rice — just to name a few.

According to Rutgers University, black men today are 2.5 times more likely than white men to be victims of violence. From 2013 to 2017, 11,456 fatal encounters with police and members of the public were reported.

At the same time, the emergence of hate groups has been on the rise, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

A tribute to Toni Morrison “Oppressive language does more than represent violence; it is violence; does more than represent the limits of knowledge; it limits knowledge. Whether it is obscuring state language or the faux-language of mindless media; whether it is the proud but calcified language of the academy or the commodity driven language of science; whether it is the malign language of law-without-ethics, or language designed for the estrangement of minorities, hiding its racist plunder in its literary cheek – it must be rejected, altered and exposed.

It is the language that drinks blood, laps vulnerabilities, tucks its fascist boots under crinolines of respectability and patriotism as it moves relentlessly toward the bottom line and the bottomed-out mind.” — Toni Morrison, Nobel Lecture, 1993 A few years after being awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, for a body of work known for centering the Black American experience, Toni Morrison was asked by a white reporter when she would “incorporate white lives” into her books “in a substantial way.”

“You can’t understand how powerfully racist that question is, can you?” she asked. “You could never ask a white author, ‘When are you going to write about black people?’ Whether he did or not, or she did or not. Even the inquiry comes from a position of being in the center.”

Ms. Morrison likened herself to a Russian author, writing in Rus-

sian, about Russia. “The fact that it gets translated and read by other people is a benefit. It’s a plus. But he’s not obliged to ever consider writing about French people, or Americans, or anybody.”

Ms. Morrison’s death last week at the age of 88 is a loss not only to the literary world, but to the cause of racial justice and civil rights. And it comes at a time when her unique voice is especially relevant.

Shortly after the election of Donald Trump in 2016, she

Marc H. Morial published an essay, “Make America White Again,” in which she argued that white America’s loss of “the conviction of their natural superiority” had led to its debasement. The slaughter of unarmed men and women of color at the hands of police and the racially motivated mass murder — and white America’s apparent tolerance for all of it, she asserted — were part of the death knell of white superiority.

“If it weren’t so ignorant and pitiful, one could mourn this collapse of dignity in service to an evil cause,” she wrote.

It is telling that what the reporter noticed most about Ms. Morrison’s work was the absence of white characters. White privilege can be like air or light, notable only when it is absent.

And, according to Morrison, white voters were beginning to feel it ebb away.

“Toni Morrison” may have been as much a creation as her novels; she said she regretted using the nickname, derived from her chosen confirmation name, “Anthony,” and always thought

of as Chloe, her given name.

She grew up in the integrated town of Lorain, Ohio, and was disillusioned by what she saw as rampant colorism when she arrived at Howard University in 1949. Unlike classmates who had grown up in the South, Ms. Morrison experienced legal segregation for the first time in Washington, but could not believe it was real.

“I think it’s a theatrical thing,” she told The New York Times. “I always felt that everything else was the theater. They didn’t really mean that. How could they? It was too stupid.”

When Ms. Morrison won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993, it had been more than 30 years since an American-born author had won. But her status as the first African-American woman honored overshadowed her Americanness.

And while she had complained that her work was more likely to be taught in women’s studies or African-American studies classes than in English classes, she hoped her work “fit first into African-American traditions and, second of all, this whole thing called literature.”

Today, even high school students across the country are familiar with her work, reading her work alongside that of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Mark Twain. She has staked out the African-American experience as part of the broader American experience.

As politicians seek to divide us and racial violence swirls around us, it is this lesson — that black America is America — that we must keep firmly in our hearts.

The writer is president and chief executive officer of the National Urban League.

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.

The SPLC’s Hate Map by State shows that the largest numbers of hate groups are located in California (83), Florida (75) and Texas (73). Hate groups also can be found in 45 other states and in more metropolitan areas such as Atlanta, Chicago, New York City, Sacramento, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

Just as the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. prompted the enactment of major civil rights legislation, now is the time for our nation to stand up to the many forms of domestic terrorism that plague the nation. People of conscience and principle have a duty to stand up and speak out for the fullness of our “inalienable rights.”

The writer is deputy communications director of the Center for Responsible Lending.

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August 15-17, 2019

Commentary

Why I visited the border

By Derrick Johnson

to share between the two of them.

I shook hands with a 13-year-old As I ventured to the southern border boy whose mother told him to make near Laredo, Texas, I could not help eye contact and shake hands firmly. but think about the tragic shootings Even in the midst of horrific living in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, conditions and imprisonment, children which are stark reminders of the at the facility are still being taught to dangers that plague our communitreat people with respect, while being ties under the resurgence of white treated less than human.

Mr. Johnson nationalism, domestic terrorism, As a community of people who intolerance and racial hatred germinating from were ripped away from our homeland 400 years the White House. ago, black America understands the detrimental People of color are feeling less safe today and effects of family separation. The century that any day when we see the realities of domestic ter- followed our emancipation saw the creation of rorism and racially motivated acts of violence. policies that discriminate against black people However, we’ve yet to see any tangible mea- and largely excluded them from wealth building, sures and policy initiatives from President Trump, creating an inherited disadvantage for future only the repeated dehumanization of people who generations. are the opposite image of what this administration President Trump’s handling of the immigrabelieves Americans should look like. tion system is racist, petty and inhumane. He This is why it was imperative that the NAACP is doing all he can to punish immigrants who traveled to Texas, not only to raise awareness he believes are undeserving of this country. He and visibility of the ongoing humanitarian crisis uses this as a rallying cry for his base. at the border but to examine the current plight The crisis at the border will create a new of immigrants who have been demonized and generation of people of color who will be reeling made actual targets of President Trump’s hate- from the discriminatory policies of the Trump filled rhetoric. administration.

As I walked through the doors of The HoldMy heart may have been troubled when I left ing Institute — a nonprofit community center in the facility, but our work at the border doesn’t stop Laredo that is committed to alleviating the cruel here. In the face of this cruelty, the NAACP — and inhumane conditions faced by migrants — I as always — is refusing to agonize, and instead, was told that the facility can service as many will continue to organize. We will demand that as 25 to 100 people a day. Prior to coming to the Trump administration and Congress: the facility, all processing documentation is • Immediately remove the “zero tolerance” given to people in English, which makes it and “family separation” policies; more likely to be processed inaccurately and • Limit the time to detain children to 20 days not properly vetted. and require immigration officials to give detained I heard stories of immigrants from Ghana, minors a certain quality of life (including food, Congo and Angola who traveled to Brazil to drinking water, medical assistance in emergenassist with the construction for the 2016 Olym- cies, toilets, sinks and temperature control); pics and who were kicked out of their home • Provide appropriate and adequate funding countries and remain at the border seeking to correct the cruel and inhumane conditions of asylum. This was a much-needed reminder that detention centers and alleviate the current hearthe immigration crisis doesn’t just reside within ings backlog, shortage of judges and administrathe Hispanic and Latin American community tors to discharge asylum petitions; and but touches black people and people of color • Place a moratorium on deportation raids. from all over the world.

We also will continue to file lawsuits in I met Maricella, who had to leave her teenage defense of DREAMERS and on behalf of thoudaughter in Honduras. She traveled 22 days from sands of hard-working individuals negatively her country to the border, where she was separated impacted by xenophobia and racist immigrafrom her 27-year-old son and has not seen him tion policies. since. She now fears bringing her daughter to the This country was built on the backs of slaves border, as most young girls have a high likelihood and immigrants. Now is not the time to turn away of being sold into sex trafficking. from the crisis at hand, but to work to create I also was told about a young mother and realistic, sustainable and effective pathways to daughter being held at a nearby detention center citizenship for immigrants in America. who had not had a warm bath in months and The writer is president and chief executive were allowed only one cold burrito to eat a day officer of the NAACP.

Fairground Road (Route 632) Extension Goochland County Location Public Hearing Thursday, September 12, 2019, 5 – 7 p.m.

Goochland County Administration Building 1800 Sandy Hook Road Goochland, VA 23063 Find out about the proposed project to extend Fairground Road (Route 632) from the proposed roundabout at Sandy Hook Road (Route 522) to a new intersection at River Road W. (Route 6) in Goochland County.

The meeting will be held in an open forum style from 5 – 7 p.m. This format will provide the flexibility to allow participants to meet and discuss the proposed roadway alignments directly with project staff members.

Review the project information at VDOT’s Richmond District Office located at 2430 Pine Forest Drive in Colonial Heights, 23834-9002, 804-524-6000, 1-800367-7623 or TTY/TDD 711. Please call ahead to ensure the availability of appropriate personnel to answer your questions.

Property impact information and tentative construction schedules are available for your review at the above addresses and will be available at the public hearing.

Give your written or oral comments at the meeting or submit them no later than September 22, 2019 to Anthony Haverly, project manager, Virginia Department of Transportation, 2430 Pine Forest Drive, Colonial Heights, VA 23834-9002. You may also email your comments to anthony.haverly@vdot.virginia.gov. Please reference “Fairground Road Extension in Goochland” in the subject line.

VDOT ensures nondiscrimination and equal employment in all programs and activities in accordance with Title VI and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. If you need special assistance for persons with disabilities or limited English proficiency, contact the project manager listed above. *In the event of inclement weather on September 12, this meeting will be held on Thursday, September 19 at the same time and location above.

State Project: 0632-037-R83,P101, R201, C501; UPC: 113323

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Richmond Free Press

Sports Stories by Fred Jeter

Tournament baseball field in the city?

The Metropolitan Junior Baseball League’s recent Inner City Classic held in Metro Richmond was a smashing success.

It had tremendous talent, exciting games and tip-top organization.

But here’s the problem: The showcase tournament wasn’t held anywhere near the hustle and bustle of Richmond’s inner city.

Because of the absence of suitable fields in Richmond, the annual event was conducted in Henrico County, with grand finales at RF&P Park in Glen Allen.

RF&P Park is a first-rate facility, but it’s 13.8 miles northwest of the Capitol, deep into Richmond’s leafy suburbs and well beyond the bus line.

Other games were played at Klehr Field in Northern Henrico and Douglas Freeman, Deep Run and Hermitage high schools in Western Henrico.

“We would have liked to have had (the tournament) more in the city. But there were no fields,” said William Forrester Jr., executive director of the MJBL. Mr. Forrester That said, what the Inner City Classic and other similar events cry for is a Downtown ball yard in an easy-to-reach location.

An ideal spot would be what is now called Parker Field Annex, located on Arthur Ashe Boulevard across Robin Hood Road from the Arthur Ashe Jr. Athletic Center.

Parker Annex is used sparingly for adult softball.

“That would be the perfect location,” Forrester said. “For sure it would stimulate conversation. And if it’s not feasible, let the city officials tell us why. We need our own field.”

The MJBL’s regular season league was held at Klehr Field and J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College’s Parham Road campus in Henrico.

Forrester also suggested such a field in the heart of Richmond could become a mecca for the city’s high school baseball.

Of Richmond’s five comprehensive high schools, only Huguenot High School in South Side is up to par to consider hosting a major event.

To lift Parker Annex to specifications, the home run fence would have to be extended at least 300 feet down the lines and perhaps 350 feet to center.

The outfield fence now is about 285 feet.

There’s plenty of room for expansion at Parker Annex, except in dead right — the area now used for Travel Land Park — where construction workers would need to be more creative.

But even with that, how about a signature “Tall Wall” similar to Boston’s iconic Fenway Park Green Monster?

An artificial turf surface with adjustable bases, like the one used for Virginia Commonwealth University field hockey and intramurals, could make Parker Annex suitable for all ages of baseball, plus adult softball.

A grass infield, with 90-foot bases, wouldn’t work for younger age groups or softball that plays bases about 60 to 65 feet.

“That would be great for tourism,” Forrester said. “You’d have people riding by all day long, seeing what’s going on.

RF&P, by comparison, is secluded.”

There’s ample parking across Robin Hood Road behind the Ashe Center.

Temporary mesh fences could be erected for younger age groups.

Also there is room for more grandstands and restrooms and a concession stand down the third base line.

Sponsoring billboards could adorn the outfield fence, giving it more of a Richmond look.

“I’ve been to many Inner City Classics,” Forrester said, “and the only one I can think of that had the fields in the city was Greensboro,” North Carolina.

The name, Parker Field Annex, stems from old Parker Field, which housed Richmond’s pro baseball teams from 1954 until 1984, before being replaced by The Diamond.

Earlier this year, The Boulevard was renamed Arthur Ashe Boulevard.

So in that prime location, what could a new youth baseball/ adult softball field be called?

How does Arthur Ashe Stadium sound?

Hampton University gets new quarterback

Deondre Francois

Hampton University’s football prospects have just become brighter.

Quarterback Deondre Francois is the latest addition to the Pirates’ Big South Conference roster.

The 6-foot-2, 220-pound Francois officially enrolled at Hampton on Aug. 2 after transferring from Florida State University, where he has had an impressive two seasons

with the Seminoles.

Before signing with FSU in 2015, Francois was a consensus four-star prospect while playing for Olympia High School in Orlando and lMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. After being redshirted as a freshman in 2015, Francois was named Atlantic Coast Conference Rookie of the Year in 2016.

As a starter for the 2016 and 2018 seasons, he passed for 6,291 yards and 35 touchdowns. Francois missed the 2017 season with a knee injury.

He comes to Hampton as a graduate transfer with one year of immediate eligibility.

The Pirates open their season at home on Saturday, Aug. 31, against Elizabeth City State University. The Pirates then take on the Virginia Union University Panthers at home at Armstrong Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 7.

Ronald Acuna hopes to bat his way into Hall of Fame Hank Aaron debuted with the Milwaukee Braves in 1954 and embarked on arguably one of the most illustrious careers in baseball lore.

Ronald Acuna Jr., who broke in with the Atlanta Braves last season, shows signs of following a similarly star-lit course.

“If I put Aaron and Acuna side by side, I think they would be the same,” Ralph Garr told MLB.com.

Garr, who played two seasons in Richmond, was a teammate of Aaron’s and more recently was a hitting instructor with the Braves.

“Unless Acuna gets hurt or something, he has a chance to be in the Hall of Fame,” Garr said.

Both Aaron, from Mobile, Ala., and Acuna, who is from Venezuela, entered the major leagues at age 20, and both broke in with a bang — or more to the point, with a loud crack of the bat.

As a rookie in 1954, Aaron hit .280, with 13 homers and 69 runs batted in for 122 games. He finished his career with home run (755) and RBI (2,297) records Ronald Acuna Jr. at the time.

Aaron has a spotless reputation in a sport left field.

Acuna’s success isn’t surprising, constained by players who used performanceEach has a popular nickname. Aaron was sidering Baseball America ranked him a enhancing drugs. He was a first-ballot “The Hammer;” Acuna is “El Abusador,” top prospect in all of baseball heading into Hall of Fame selection in 1982, with 92 Spanish for the abuser. the 2018 season. His family tree seems to percent of votes cast.

Neither was drafted. Aaron signed at be made of wooden bats. He was never Acuna, a muscular 6 feet, 205 pounds, age 17 with the Negro League Indianapo- far from a diamond growing up in the port was a near unanimous Rookie lis Clowns for $300 per month. city La Guaira, Venezuela. of the Year honoree in 2018, Acuna is the eldest of four sons. His faAlso at 17, Acuna was an Atlanta hitting .293, with 26 homers Braves free-agent signee, with a ther, Ronald Sr., and grandfather, Romauldo and 64 RBI in 111 games.

Blanco, both played minor league baseball $100,000 bonus.

There has been no “sophoThe baseball draft wasn’t in the states. An uncle, Jose Escobar, played more slump” for Acuna. As a installed until 1965. Venezuelans for the Cleveland Indians in 1991. Four National League All-Star starter, cousins, Vicente Campos, Alcides Escobar, are not eligible for the draft.

Acuna was hitting .296 with 32 Acuna’s nickname fits. Few Edwin Escobar and Kelvim Escobar, all homers, 78 RBI and 28 stolen can “abuse” a pitcher like Acuna, played in the majors. bases in games this season Hank Aaron played big league baseball who unloaded an other-worldly through Aug. 10.

462-foot home run —112 mph from 1954 to 1976 with stunning talent Hank Aaron He’s a clear MVP candidate, exit velocity — in an April game and consistency. It’s a towering — some along with teammate Freddie Freeman. might say impossible — task to follow, against the New York Mets.

Acuna was voted in as a National “He’s special,” Atlanta Braves Manager even for one as gifted as Acuna.

League All-Star Game starter in July and Brian Snitker said of Acuna. “He’s not “El Abusador” has dazzled so far, but was selected to swing in the Home Run really trying to be great. He’s just doing now comes the greater challenge — mainDerby. taining that pace. his thing.”

Comparisons go beyond just offense “Acuna’s a great player, but you never Aaron comparisons aside, Acuna is a for these right-handed sluggers. front-row reason why Atlanta won the NL know,” Garr said. “We’ll see what hapBoth are outfielders. Aaron played a East a year ago and why the team is well pens. He has 20 or so more years to get flawless right field; speedy Acuna patrols out in front this season. it done.”

Washington NFL training camp ends Seven down and one to go.

The Washington NFL team concluded its preseason workouts last Sunday at the Bon Secours Training Center in Richmond.

This marked the seventh year in the pro team’s eight-year deal to train in Richmond. Washington will return to the Richmond camp in 2020, but anything after that remains a mystery.

Neither Bruce Allen, the Washington team’s general manager, nor Richmond Mayor Levar M. Stoney has made a definitive statement regarding the future.

Both sides have until June 2020 to reach a final decision.

As part of the original deal, Richmond built the Bon Secours facility specifically for the team at a cost of some $10 million.

The city also pays the team $500,000 per year in the form of cash or services.

While Washington’s deal with Richmond remains iffy, so does the team’s commitment to play at FedEx Field in Prince George’s County, Md., the team’s home since 1997. Its contract for the stadium runs through 2027. The team is dangling four other options: • Return to RFK Stadium, its home from 1961 to 1996.

• A site in Oxon Hill Farm/Oxon Cove

Park in Prince George’s County.

• A new site near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington.

• A new site near Dulles Airport in Virginia’s Loudoun County.

What is known is this: Since training in Richmond, the Washington team’s regular season record is 38-57-1 and 0-1 in the playoffs.

Washington’s next exhibition game is Thursday, Aug. 15, against the Cincinnati Bengals at FedEx Field.

The team opens its regular season Sunday, Sept. 8, at Philadelphia against the Eagles.

Former HBCU athlete hoping to remain on roster Athletes from historically black colleges and “Washington gave me another chance and I’m grateuniversities are getting harder and harder to find on ful for it,” he said. “I’m the old head now ... younger NFL rosters. players have taken to calling me ‘Uncle.’ ” The Washington NFL team has just one player from an Famous for his “sticks (tackles) and picks (interHBCU, and he’s not sure he’ll make it to opening day. ceptions) line,” Rodgers-Cromartie has career bags Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, 33, in his 12th of 447 tackles, 30 interceptions, 147 pass defenses season out of Tennessee State University, is battling to and seven forced fumbles. The 6-foot-2, 210-pound make the team as a well-traveled defensive back.

Florida native said he likes to bring “some nastiness” “I believe I can help the team inside (safety) or outside to the gridiron.

Dominque (cornerback),” he said at the team’s training camp in Rodgers-Cromartie He is big by defensive back standards and fast and Richmond. “I’ll play anywhere the teams needs me.” bouncy by all other standards. While at Tennessee Known as “DRC,” Rodgers-Cromartie is a former two-time State, he won Ohio Valley Conference titles in the 60-meter dash All-Pro cornerback originally drafted in the first round in 2008 (6.89 second), the long jump (7.7 meters) and the high jump by the Arizona Cardinals.

(2.3 meters). His best 40-yard dash time is 4.28.

He suited up with Arizona, the Philadelphia Eagles, the Denver Rodgers-Cromartie had plenty of competition in training camp, Broncos, the New York Giants and the Oakland Raiders prior starting with veteran corners Josh Norman and Quinton Durham. to signing with Washington on March 15, 2019.

There is also a cover of young secondary candidates, including Of Haitian descent, Rodgers-Cromartie actually retired from Jimmy Moreland from James Madison University.

Oakland last October, but never stopped training or looking for Whatever the outcome with Rodgers-Cromartie, the young his next gig. guys can learn a lot from their “uncle.”

Former Washington players from HBCUs Prior to the full integration of college football, players from HBCUs were once common on all NFL rosters.

No more.

Washington was the last NFL team to integrate in 1962 when Bobby Mitchell, Ron Hatcher and John Nisby joined the squad.

The franchise’s first HBCU player was defensive back Johnny Sample in 1963 out of the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore.

Here’s a look at some of the Washington team’s top HBCU players with the years they wore burgundy and gold: • Ken Houston, 1973-80, safety; Prairie View A&M University: Elected to NFL Hall of Fame in 1986.

• Deacon Jones, 1974, defensive end; Mississippi Valley State University:

Elected to Hall of Fame in 1980.

• Doug Williams, 1986-89, quarterback; Grambling University: First AfricanAmerican quarterback to win Super Bowl MVP (1988).

• Harold McLinton, 1969-78, linebacker; Southern University: Named to “70 Greatest Redskins” list.

• Lemar Parrish, 1978-81; defensive back; Lincoln University of Missouri: Had 16 interceptions during his first two seasons in Washington.

• Coy Bacon, 1978-81, defensive tackle; Jackson State University: Had a career total of 130 sacks.

• Otis Wonsley, 1981-85, fullback; Alcorn State University: Part of Washington’s famous “Fun Bunch.”

• Charlie Brown: 1982-84, receiver; South Carolina State University: Among quarterback

Joe Theismann’s favorite targets.

• Perry Brooks, 1972-84, defensive line; Southern University: A “hometown” hero from nearby Woodbridge.

• Verlon Biggs, 1971-74, defensive line; Jackson State University: Known as “Dirty Biggs” for his physical style.

• Herb Mul-Key, 1972-74, kick returner; Alabama State University: Signed with Washington out of a tryout camp and made the 1973 Pro Bowl.

• Chris Baker, 2011-16, defensive tackle; Hampton University: Had six sacks in 2016.

• Lynden Trail, 2015-16, linebacker; Norfolk State University: Played mostly on the practice squad.

• Greg Toler, 2016, defensive back; St. Paul’s College: Famous for being a player from his school to reach the NFL.

August 15-17, 2019 B1

Richmond Free Press

Section

Happenings

B

Personality: Gabrielle E. Wilks Spotlight on Miss Black Virginia USA 2020 The 2020 Miss Black Virginia crown goes to Gabrielle E. Wilks.

These were the welcoming words Ms. Wilks received in April, via phone, from the Miss Black USA National Recruitment Team, representing the official preliminary to the Miss Black USA Pageant.

The news came at a time when 20-year-old Ms. Wilks was in the throes of taking final exams at Virginia State University. Virginia’s newly crowned queen was excited and surprised when she received the call.

However, the excitement did not stop there. She FaceTimed her mother, Janies Wilks, to tell her about the accomplishment and her mother’s emotions escalated.

“She was off the wall, and was going to post the information on Facebook,” Ms. Wilks says. “I had to tell her not to post it because she was not allowed to announce it until July 3.”

Then she FaceTimed her grandmother, who was driving home after choir rehearsal.

Her reaction: “There was screaming in the car and a lot of congratulations.”

The reaction didn’t stop with her family. The reaction on VSU’s campus shocked her as well. There was a post on the university website. “Their reaction was over the moon because the student body, especially my friends, were more excited than I expected,” she says.

Ms. Wilks’platform focuses on generational health. “The way we take care of our bodies is passed down, much like generational wealth. We use recipes from generations ago, based on our greatgrandmothers’cooking, while not realizing how that affects your body,” she says.

“My purpose is for black people to take an active role in their health and realize that health is more than a doctor visit. Health is mental, emotional, spiritual and physical.”

During Ms. Wilks’ reign, all events featuring Miss Black Virginia will include a health component. On Sept.

1, Illusions Barbershop’s annual back-to-school drive, “Shaping Up Our Future” at the Petersburg YMCA, will provide students with free haircuts and backpacks.

Doctors also will donate their services for health checkups to prepare elementary students for school.

Ms. Wilks, a first generation Jamaican-American, is a

senior and presidential scholar from Douglasville, Ga., by way of Brooklyn, N.Y. She is pursuing a double major in biology and mathematics. She has a 3.6 GPA. In 2018, she was named VSU’s Outstanding Sophomore of the Year and represented the university at the prestigious Goldman Sachs HBCU Leadership Summit in New York.

At VSU, Ms. Wilks has been a uniting figure, focusing on civic engagement and community involvement. Her pioneering “Annual Women’s Tea” gives young women an opportunity to focus on the importance of determining their personal brand and embracing purpose through fellowship over food, games, giveaways, etiquette advice and guest speakers.

She also established the first VSU “Men’s Appreciation Week,” focusing on important priorities for young men to emphasize their mental, physical, spiritual and emotional well-being.

Ms. Wilks also worked on projects impacting the university and the communities of Ettrick, Petersburg and Colonial Heights, including the Petersburg School Board and business backto-school drive; a prostate cancer awareness rally; and a Thanksgiving food drive to provide meals for 40 families.

She has spearheaded STEAM DAY when elementary and middle school students visit VSU for an interactive event to learn how science, technology, engineering, agriculture/art and math play into their everyday lives.

Earlier in April, before earning the Miss Black Virginia title, Ms. Wilks narrowly lost the Miss VSU contest.

“The latter crown serves as a testimony to the fact that when one door closes another opens,” she says. “That is due to my perseverance and determination to keep going no matter the circumstances.”

Ms. Wilks is now eligible to compete in the Miss Black America Pageant, which was established by Philadelphia entrepreneur J. Morris Anderson in 1968 to challenge widespread negative stereotypes associated with black people in the United States.

As she prepares for her Miss Black Virginia 2020 reign, Ms. Wilks wants Virginians, especially young people, to understand, “No matter what obstacles are facing you in life, how you choose to respond to it, your

support our own, then who will?

My pageant platform: My year of service will focus on equal financial opportunities in education and my platform, “Generational Health.”

I want to be an inspiration not only to the youths, but the people surrounding them who also look for inspiration. The purpose of Generational Health is to encourage the active participation of AfricanAmericans in healthy lifestyles, thus breaking generational curses that plague familial health physically, emotionally and mentally.

Strategy for winning: Much like a chef, a Queen never shares her secret recipe!

Date and place of national competition: August 2020 in Washington, D.C. How I view national competition: It absolutely builds character. optimism and your positivity in those situations, will drive your success.”

Meet Virginia royalty and this week’s Personality, Gabrielle E. Wilks: Date and place of birth: Oct. 23 in Brooklyn, N.Y. Current residence: Douglasville, Ga. Education: Senior at Virginia State University majoring in mathematics and biology.

Family: I’m a first generation Jamaican-American. My family moved to the states from Kentish, St. Catherine in Jamaica.

First reaction to selection as Miss Black Virginia 2020: Very excited! It showed me that I could do more than I thought I could as long as I trust God, believe in myself and surround myself with people who believe in me.

Foremost reason I became a contestant: In a world where we are dominated by the social norms of a European America, I believe it is important to support and participate in pageants made for us, by us.

The importance of the black pageant systems is just as relevant as the importance of HBCUs today. If we canʼt

What Miss Black Virginia title requires: This Miss Black Virginia title requires presence. Our reign is truly what we make of it, and how we choose to execute our platform is solely up to us.

most people would never imagine: I love housework.

Thereʼs something about cleaning and DIYs that is very therapeutic to the soul.

But today, women have arrived. We are showing that we are more than our looks.

Our brains look just as good, and our hearts are even more beautiful.

At the top of my “to-do” list: Finish my summer class in genetics at the University of New England.

How and where I got interested in pageants: I became interested in pageantry when I started school at VSU. Campus life has always been dominated by the social organizations and a lot of our social organizations choose their queens based on pageantry.

Best late-night snack: Talenti raspberry and white cherries.

If I had more time, I would: Travel more.

The best thing my parents ever taught me: The power of having faith in God, speaking life and to love those who speak evil against you.

Career goal: To become the director of Grady Memorial Hospital of Atlanta, where I will prioritize better health care opportunities for the underrepresented population and focus on employment that will help close the cultural gap being faced in medicine today.

Person who influenced me the most: I can’t credit my upbringing to just one person.

It takes a village, so my biggest influence is my loving family.

Outlook at start of the day: How do I make today better than the day before.

The book that influenced me the most: “To Sir With Love” by Sidney Poitier.

How I unwind: Binge watching Netflix Spanish dramas and spending time with family and friends, usually over crab legs. LOL!

What I’m reading now: “The History of the Black Dollar”

by Angel Rich.

My next goal: Accepting job offers from Big Four companies after graduation and getting into an online graduate program at an hbcu for a master’s in public health administration and an mba.

A quote that I am inspired by: “Be the inspiration that drives the future to be greater.”

Something I love to do that

View of pageants: Back in the day, I probably wouldn’t have been comfortable participating because it was very much based on the physical.

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Young Achievers

(Achieving Success for the Future through STEM)

The Commonwealth (VA) Chapter of The Links, Inc. and Beta Gamma Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha are Recruiting High School Males The Commonwealth (VA) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated and the Beta Gamma Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated are recruiting males, grades 9-12 who aspire to pursue higher education after graduation. We are seeking males who attend local and surrounding schools in the Richmond-Metropolitan area to participate in a mentoring, cultural and educational enrichment program, as well as fun activities. The program will be held at a local college twice a month.

Email the following information to

cmayoprp19@yahoo.com

• Full name • Address City, State, Zip • Home Telephone No. • Cell Phone NumberEmail • High School Attending • Grade level • Parent’s Name • Parent’s Phone number • Parent email Participants from previous years also need to apply.

Chairmen: Dr. Cynthia Mayo, Ms. Stephanie White and Mr. Kaleb Ugworji

“Virginia Union University Colloquium” The 1619 Initiative Observing 400 years Since the First Enslaved Africans Were Brought to America You’re Invited To Join Us For A Riveting Series of Panel and Roundtable Discussions in a Formal Agreement Between the University and African Countries in Observance of Lumpkin’s Slave Jail, the First Educational Site of What Became Known as Virginia Union University, and the University’s Contributions to Civic Engagement”

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Richmond Free Press

B2 August 15-17, 2019

Happenings

Down Home Family Reunion this Saturday

Richmond native Jerome “Bigfoot” Brailey’s Funk Allstars is headlining the 29th Annual Down Home Family Reunion this weekend.

The free event, hosted by the Elegba Folklore Society, will run from 4 to 11 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 17, at Abner Clay Park, Leigh Street and Brook Road in Jackson Ward.

This year’s theme: 1619-2019! And We are Here! It is a tribute to the 400 years of influence by Africans and AfricanAmericans on America.

The event is a celebration of African-American folklife and will feature a variety of music, dance and entertainment for people of all ages. In the park, organizers are setting up the Annie Tyler New School Pavilion, where young artists are scheduled to perform; the Waverly Crawley Community Row for community

service providers to share information; and the Juanita Ragland Heritage Market, where an assortment of artists, craftspersons and vendors will have items for sale.

Food vendors also will be at the park.

Mr. Brailey, who will perform about 9:30 p.m., was a drummer and songwriter with Parliament-Funkadelic, co-writing such hits as “Give Up the Funk Tear the Roof Off the Sucker” with George Clinton and Bootsy Collins.

Before joining the group, the Armstrong High School alumnus was a part of the Five Stairsteps, recording the platinum single, “O-o-h Child.”

In 1997, Mr. Brailey was inducted with other members of Parliament-Funkadelic into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Earlier this year, he and the P-Funk members were awarded a Grammy

Lifetime Achievement Award for their creative contributions to the music industry.

Additional performers include Juju from Bénin, West Africa; Jah Baba; vocalist Tasha Nicole; Full Power Blues; African dance, music and oral tradition with Elegba Folklore Society.

Exhibits, games, a moon bounce for the kids, yoga and other activities also will be featured.

Representatives of the African American Historical & Genealogical Society also will be on hand to offer tips on how to do genealogical research.

While the event is free, VIP Circle tickets are available for $30 and include special seating, food and beverages.

Details: Elegba Folklore Society, (804) 644-3900 or www. efsinc.org.

Jazzin’ it up at Maymont

Ava Reaves

Thousands of music lovers turned out last weekend for the 10th Annual Richmond Jazz and Music Festival at Maymont. The weather cooperated for the festival’s final two days last Saturday and Sunday, when more than 30 acts performed on one of the three stages set up on the rolling lawn of the park.

Left, Jill Scott wows an appreciative crowd Saturday night with her vocals, as does Ledisi, right, who performed on Sunday evening.

Below left, Frankie Beverly hits the high notes with Maze in Sunday’s finale.

Stephen Marley gets into a reggae growl on Sunday afternoon, while the saxophonist from the Richmondbased brass ensemble Brunswick blows during a number on Saturday.

A member of the Florida-based hip hop duo Black Violin shows the crowd what he’s got, while New York’s Jose James celebrates the music of Bill Withers on Saturday with songs from “Lean On Me,” which he reprised on Sunday.

Sherry Winston, who has played the flute since age 11, gets into a mellow groove on Sunday.

Bottom, the musicians draw cheers and loud applause from an appreciative crowd that enjoyed the music over the two days.

The event is produced by JMI.

Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

Ava Reaves

Ava Reaves

Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press

Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press

Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

Ava Reaves

Ava Reaves

Richmond Free Press

Faith News/Directory

Churches mobilize to help families impacted by immigration raids Free Press wire report

CANTON, Miss.

The children of Sacred Heart Catholic Church streamed out into Mississippi’s blistering heat last Sunday afternoon, carrying what they said was a message of opposition against immigration raids their parents could not. “I will not sit in silence while my parents are taken away,� read a sign carried by two Hispanic boys. They were among a group of several dozen marchers who set out on foot from the church to the town square in Canton to protest the 680 migrant arrests at seven poultry plants in Mississippi on Aug. 7. “Imagine coming home and not finding your parents,� said Dulce Basurto-Arce, an 18year-old community college student, describing how parents of friends were arrested. “We are marching so no other kid has to go through what we went through. Let our voices be heard!�

The student spoke from the steps of the same courthouse in Canton where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once rallied protesters against segregation in a 1966 “March Against Fear� across Mississippi.

Churches were the backbone of the Civil Rights Movement.

Today, as President Trump and his Republican allies continue to defend the raids, churches have emerged as the top sources of spiritual and material support to the mostly Mexican and Guatemalan workers targeted by the immigration raids.

Some churches are going beyond comfort and material aid, with their response flaring into political opposition.

Mississippi’s Catholic, Episcopal, United Methodist and Evangelical Lutheran bishops denounced the raids in a joint statement Aug. 9.

The bishops said they would aid the immigrant families, saying there is “an urgent and critical need at this time to avoid a worsening crisis.â€? “We are called ‌ to speak the truth. And the truth is this is not right,â€? said Bishop Brian Seage of the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi, speaking at a

August 15-17, 2019 B3

Celebration Homecoming

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Corporate Worship

9:45AM Meal served immediately following Corporate Worship Guest Preacher: Reverend Stephen L. Artis Associate Minister Moore Street Baptist Church

Reverend Michael R. Lomax, Pastor

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Rogelio V. Solis/Associated Press

A woman prays during a Spanish Mass last Sunday at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Canton, Miss. Churches have been key to providing spiritual and emotional comfort to workers following immigration raids at seven Mississippi poultry plants.

news conference a day after the raids.

On Sunday, Trump administration officials defended their actions amid emotional pleas from children to let their parents go.

Acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan acknowledged that one video of an 11-year-old sobbing was “emotional,� but said the girl was quickly reunited with her mother. “I understand that the girl is upset. And I get that,� Mr. Morgan said on CNN. “But her father committed a crime.�

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan acknowledged that the timing of the raids was “unfortunate,� coming hours before President Trump visited El Paso, Texas, where a man who told authorities he was targeting Mexicans killed 22 people on Aug. 3. But Mr. McAleenan told NBC the operation had been planned for more than a year.

Hours after the officials’ televised appearances on Sunday, more than 250 people filled Sacred Heart to overflowing.

A few were white people there to show support, but most were Hispanic congregants who normally attend the weekly

Spanish-language Mass.

Deacon Cesar Sanchez, who is originally from Mexico’s Michoacan state and is studying to be a priest in the Jackson, Miss., diocese, gave a homily in Spanish in which he spoke of Jesus also being an immigrant and a refugee. He said the church is a pilgrim church and that “God is with his people.�

The Canton church has emerged as a hub of the community’s response to the raid. Its pastor, the Rev. Mike O’Brien, stood with parishioners until 4 a.m. Aug. 8 outside the Peco Foods plant in Canton, awaiting those freed from custody that night. Rev. O’Brien said he drove several people home who had hidden from federal agents inside the plant and emerged late at night.

Those arrested and released can’t work legally and their families may face one last paycheck as income dries up.

Immigration court dates may not be until 2020 because of a deep backlog. Those who face court proceedings also must pay for their own lawyers or go without, and may have court dates at locations hundreds of miles away. “What are their children going to eat?� the Rev. Jason

Muslim initiative raises thousands to release detained migrant parents Led by two of the country’s most prominent imams, hundreds of U.S. Muslims have raised more than $81,000 to bail out detained migrant parents.

Launched on Aug. 5 by the Islamic nonprofit CelebrateMercy, the Muslims for Migrants campaign already has raised $81,934. More than 2,500 people have participated in the effort, whose goal is to reach $100,000 by Aug. 19.

Funds will go to the National Bail Fund Network, which works with more than two dozen local community bond funds.

Last month, the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General, an independent watchdog, published a report examining the “dangerous overcrowding and prolonged detention of children and adults� in migrant centers along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Reports like that led Imam Zaid Shakir and Imam Omar Suleiman, who are helping lead the fundraising effort, to act. “When we view the sickening conditions those migrating to our southern borders are exposed to, we should be touched and moved to action knowing that our religion grants those fleeing persecution, oppression or ecological devastation, the right to migrate and to be duly considered for asylum,� reads a joint letter by Imam Shakir, who leads the Lighthouse Mosque in Oakland, Calif., and Imam Suleiman, who founded the Texas-based Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research, announcing the initiative.

Since October, seven people have died in ICE custody. Children at some facilities were deprived of access to showers, hot meals and a change of clothes, the report noted. Some detained adults were held in standing-room-only conditions for a week. “As the humanitarian crisis at the southern border deepens, there is a deafening silence from most corners of the American Muslim community,â€? the two imams wrote. “Shouldn’t the nation of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah upon him) who was himself an orphan and a migrant ‌ be the first to be moved with the images of children in cages?â€?

The imams and CelebrateMercy, a Cincinnatibased organization focused on increasing public awareness about the Prophet Muhammad’s life, rooted their campaign in sayings of the prophet and Quranic verses, as well as an article in the

Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam, all of which they say enshrined the right to asylum and migration. “Generally speaking, the same playbook that has been employed against the Muslim and other immigrant communities, specifically refugees from the Middle East, has been employed against the immigrant community as a whole,� they also noted. “Looking at a project like this, I can’t think of something that is more useful to do with your money to help detained families,� said Ryan Smith, a case manager with Chicago’s Interfaith Community for Detained Immigrants. “It’s something that’s so underfunded. And for the families I work with, it’s often eight months to a year before they’re released.�

More than 50,000 people currently are detained in Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities, while some 20,000 are in Customs and Border Protection centers. Another 11,000 children are currently in the custody of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Undocumented immigrants or legal asylumseekers detained by ICE or CBP are held in detention facilities until they go to trial, where the court will decide whether they can stay in the country, or until they are able to pay their bond.

There is no legal maximum on these immigration cash bonds, which are typically higher than bails in criminal cases. The nonprofit Freedom for Immigrants has reported bonds as high as $250,000, with an average of $14,500.

Mr. Smith said most of his cases range from $10,000 to $15,500.

Mr. Smith, who is Muslim, said he has seen few Muslim-led efforts to raise funds or volunteer to help immigration detainees. He attributes that both to U.S. Muslims’ disproportionately young population as well as the fact that many immigrant Muslims focus their charitable giving on the communities they left behind. “For me, my faith is a big part of what I do,�

Mr. Smith said, pointing to the story of a Christian king ofAbyssinia, or modern Ethiopia, who granted asylum to a group of Muslims sent by the Prophet Muhammad to escape persecution in Mecca. “Separating parents and children is just so evil, and our faith teaches us to be true,� he said. “If we’re causing that, oh boy, I don’t know how God is going to forgive us for it.�

Coker, coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in Mississippi, asked last week.

In answer, churches including Sacred Heart are collecting food, diapers and money.

They’re helping members meet lawyers.

Maria Rodriguez is one person looking to churches for help. She said Sunday at Sacred Heart that her husband, Gumensihdo Rodriguez-Lopez, had been seized by federal agents at Peco and is now held in Natchez, Miss.

As she talked, she rocked the youngest of the couple’s five children, Azael, in his stroller. “He’s sad for his father,� she said in Spanish of the fussy toddler. “Everyone is sad. “We really need him back because we have kids and I don’t work,� she said through a translator. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.�

Other religious groups are helping, too.

Pastor Hugo Villegas is a missionary for the Scott County Baptist Association, overseeing a Spanish-speaking mission in Morton, where two plants were raided, as well as two in the larger neighboring town of Forest. People have been dropping off donations for the families at the Baptist association’s food pantry and clothes closet.

But Tere Villegas, the pastor’s wife, said few Hispanic families typically come to the pantry so they are spreading the word that aid is available.

She added, English-speaking Baptists “have been helping out any way they can.�

FIRST UNION BAPTIST CHURCH, MECHANICSVILLE

R

2019 evival Invites You to Attend Its

Monday, Wednesday, August August th th

26

28

Prayer & Praise 7:00pm Worship Service 7:30pm

Revivalist: Dr. Jerome C. Ross Pastor, Providence Park Baptist Church

Guest Choirs & Vocalist Nightly Mt. Zion Baptist Church Mass Choir

Deaconess Hattie Weatherless

Pleasant Grove Baptist Church Mass Choir

FIRST UNION BAPTIST CHURCH

6231 Pole Green Road, Mechanicsville, VA 23116 www.ďŹ rstunionbc.org https://www.facebook.com/FirstUnionBaptistChurch/ Rev. Lewis R. Yancey, II, Pastor

Richmond Free Press

B4 August 15-17, 2019

Faith News/Directory Montgomery’s churches part of city’s 200-year history of slavery, civil rights MONTGOMERY, Ala. Connections between Christianity, Confederacy and civil rights — and the history of slavery — are in plain sight in Alabama’s capital.

Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church is known for its most famous pastor, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., but one of its early locations was once a slave pen.

St. John’s Episcopal Church, where Confederacy President Jefferson Davis worshipped, is across the street from the building where Rosa Parks was tried after she refused to give up her bus seat to a white man.

And just beyond downtown, Old Ship African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, a congregation that dates to before the end of slavery, sits across the street from the memorial that opened in 2018 to remember more than 4,400 lynching victims.

As the nation marks the 400th anniversary of the forced arrival of Africans in Vir-

ginia — and Alabama has its bicentennial — a walk through Montgomery’s streets reveals the legacy of slavery in America. “It is the cradle of the Confederacy and the birthplace of the modern Civil Rights Movement,� said Kathy Dunn Jackson, volunteer historian of Old Ship AME Zion Church.

Religion sometimes played a role in the violence that followed slavery, as seen at the Equal Justice Initiative’s National Memorial for Peace and Justice.

Amid the 800 6-foot steel columns memorializing those lynched from 1877 to 1950 is an example of a religious ceremony being cited as a reason to kill. “Arthur St. Clair, a minister, was lynched in Hernando County, Fla., in 1877 for performing the wedding of a black man and white woman,� reads

a sign.

The memorial, on a 6-acre site, is described by its creators as “a sacred space for truth-telling and reflection about racial terrorism and its legacy.�

About a mile away, the EJI’s Legacy Museum, which traces history “from enslavement to mass incarceration,� features holograms of black

men, women and children held in pens singing spirituals like “Lord, How Come Me Here?� and speaking of missed loved ones from whom they have just been taken.

A sign points out that in 1860 Montgomery, there were more places for trading enslaved people than hotels and churches.

church continued to be at the vanguard of major events a century after the start of the Civil War. “At the bottom of those steps is where the Selma to Montgomery march culminated,� he said. “You pack an awful lot of really significant American history into a few square blocks.�

New Deliverance Evangelistic Church

1701 Turner Road, North ChesterďŹ eld, VA 23225 • 804-276-0791 ofďŹ ce 804-276-5272 fax www.ndec.net

The Singles and Single Parents Ministries Invites all of Richmond and surrounding areas to:

2019 Singles AND Single Parents

SUMMIT

The Summit Continues Saturday, September 21 10 a.m.

“Singleness with Purpose�

Friday, September 20 - 7 p.m.

Concert by: The Stellar Award nominated Artist “G.I. God’s Image�

BRUNCH and WORKSHOPS

Additional information is available upon request by email at ndecsingles@gmail.com or by calling 757-303-7982

Moore Street Missionary

On-line registration is available from August 7th until September 18th

Cost $35

Baptist Church

1408 W. Leigh Street ¡ Richmond, Va. 23220 (804) 358—6403

Dr. Alonza L. Lawrence, Pastor

2IVERVIEW

Combined Ushers Anniversary

"APTIST #HURCH

Serving Richmond since 1887 &BTU #SPBE 4USFFU 3JDINPOE 7JSHJOJB r

10 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 18, 2019

SUNDAY 9:00 a.m. Sunday School 10:00 a.m. Worship Service

Guest Preacher

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

Dr. Walter L. Smith Church School

8:30 a.m.

“We’ve Come This Far By Faith�

400 Years of Black Presence on this Con�nent 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2019 Fi�h Bap�st Church, 1415 W. Cary Street Noon Bible Study 12 p.m. Tuesday New Mercies Ministry 6 a.m. Wednesday Bible Study 6:30 p.m. Wednesday

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

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

3HARON "APTIST #HURCH

Early Morning Worship ~ 8 a.m.

Sunday School ~ 9:30 a.m.

Morning Worship ~ 11 a.m.

4th Sunday UniďŹ ed Worship Service ~ 9:30 a.m.

Bible Study: Wednesdays, 11:30 a.m. & 7 p.m.

Sermons Available at BRBCONLINE.org

Rev. Dr. Paul A. Coles, Pastor

“MAKE IT HAPPEN�

“The Church With A Welcome�

500 E. Laburnum Avenue, Richmond, VA 23222 www.sharonbaptistchurchrichmond.org (804) 643-3825

Wednesday and Thursday Bible Study will resume in September

8:30 a.m. ....Sunday School 10:00 a.m. ...Morning Worship

Good Shepherd Baptist Church 1127 North 28th St., Richmond, VA 23223-6624 s 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

Sixth Baptist Church Theme for 2018-2020: Mobilizing For Ministry Refreshing The Old and Emerging The New We Embrace Diversity — Love For All! A 21st Century Church Come Worship With Us!

With Ministry For Everyone

SUNDAY, AUGUST 18, 2019 11:00 AM Worship Celebration Message by: Pastor Bibbs New Sermon Series: Breaking News Selected Scriptures - Part Three

18 East Broad Street Richmond, VA 23219 • (804) 643-1987 Hours M-F 9:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Sat. 9:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Honoring God ... and serving people THANKS TO YOU for over 64 years and looking for 64 more years

Ebenezer Baptist Church 1858

¹4HE 0EOPLE´S #HURCH²

216 W. Leigh St. • Richmond, Va. 23220 Tel: 804-643-3366 • Fax: 804-643-3367 Email: ebcofďŹ ce1@yahoo.com • web: www.richmondebenezer.com 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

5:00 p.m. “The Gathering�

Hosted by: SBC Young Adults

“Solid Rock Cafe�

Triumphant

(Spoken Word, Readings, Praise and Worship etc.)

Baptist Church

SATURDAY, JUNE 29TH 9:30 - 11

2003 Lamb Avenue Richmond, VA 23222 Dr. Arthur M. Jones, Sr., Pastor (804) 321-7622

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. 6:45 p.m.

Wed. 4:30 p.m.

Wed. 6:00 p.m.

Thurs., 11:45 a.m.

Dr. Wallace J. Cook, Pastor Emeritus

Rev. Dr. James E. Leary, Interim Pastor

Antioch Baptist Church “Redeeming God’s People for Gods Purpose�

1384 New Market Road, Richmond, Virginia 23231 | 804-222-8835

SERVICES

SUNDAY WORSHIP HOUR – 10:00 A.M. CHILDREN’S CHURCH & BUS MINISTRY AVAILABLE SUNDAY SCHOOL (FOR ALL AGES) – 9:00 A.M. TUESDAY MID-DAY BIBLE STUDY – 12 NOON WEDNESDAY MID-WEEK PRAYER & BIBLE STUDY – 7:00 P.M. A MISSION BASED CHURCH FAMILY EXCITING MINISTRIES FOR CHILDREN, YOUTH, YOUNG ADULTS & SENIOR ADULTS BIBLE REVELATION TEACHING DIVERSE MUSIC MINISTRY LOVING, CARING ENVIRONMENT

DR. JAMES L. SAILES PASTOR

400 South Addison Street Richmond, Va. 23220

Twitter sixthbaptistrva

Rev. Dr. Yvonne Jones Bibbs, Pastor

Community Breakfast Chew & Chat for Men

(near Byrd Park)

(804) 359-1691 or 359-3498 Fax (804) 359-3798 www.sixthbaptistchurch.org drbibbs@sixthbaptistchurch.org

Facebook sixthbaptistrva

Upcoming Events & Happenings

It’s All

If you w

Sunday Morning Worship

August 18, 2019 @ 10:30 A. M.

Church School - 9:30 a.m.

Worship Service - 11:15 a.m.

Bible Study - Wednesday - 7 p.m.

Communion - 1st Sunday

September 6-8~ Community Weekend

11:00 AM Mid-day Meditation

Usher Badges • Clergy Shirts • Collars • Communion Supplies • Much More!

WEDNESDAY 12:00 p.m. Bible Study 7:00 p.m. Bible Study

ALL ARE WELCOME

Pastor Kevin Cook

SUNDAY, AUGUST 18, 2019

Barky’s

The current site of the Montgomery church where Dr. King pastored was purchased for $270 in 1879, and that spot also has ties to slavery — specifically the heart of the Confederacy in 1861.

Steve Murray, director of the Alabama Department of Archives & History, said the Capitol steps and that nearby

By Adelle M. Banks Religion News Service

St. Peter Baptist Church $R +IRKLAND 2 7ALTON 0ASTOR

Worship Opportunities During the month of August, all Sunday Worship Services will be held at 10 a.m. Church School will be held at 8:30 a.m.

September 10-11~ Revival Weekly Worship: Sundays @ 10:30 A.M. Church School: Sundays @ 9:00 A.M. Bible Study: On Summer Break

2901 Mechanicsville Turnpike, Richmond, VA 23223 (804) 648-2472 ~ www.mmbcrva.org Dr. Price London Davis, Senior Pastor

New Deliverance Evangelistic Initial Sermon of Bro. AviChurch Hopkins

Bible Study is now in recess for summer break and will reconvene on September 19th.

Please refer to your daily readings located in your Sunday’s bulletin or visit our website.

1701 Turner Road, North Chesterfield, Virginia 23225 Marchoffice 24, 2019 @ 3:00faxP.M. (804) 276-0791 (804)276-5272 www.ndec.net

Join Us as We Celebrate this Important Moment in the Life of Our Church Family.

-OUNTAIN 2OAD s 'LEN !LLEN 6IRGINIA /FlCE s &AX s WWW STPETERBAPTIST NET

Remember...

Weekly Worship: Sundays @ 10:30 A.M. New@Deliverance, Church School:At Sundays 9:00 A.M. You Are &Home!

Bible Study: Wednesdays @ Noon 6:30 P.M.

“I See you there refuse to accept the view that and bring a friend. mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism Follow peace with all and war that the bright men, and holiness, daybreak of peace and Bishop G. O. Glenn without which no man brotherhood can never become D. Min., Pastor a reality‌.

I believe that Mother Marcietia S. Glenn shall see the Lord: unarmed First truthLady and unconditional Hebrew 12:14 (KJV) love will have the final word.� www.ndec.net —Martin Luther Jr. LentenKing, Season SUNDAY Mosby joins with the larger Christi 8:00 a.m. Sunday School Rev. Dr. Price L. Davis, Pastor Tunein incelebrating on Sunday Morning to 9:30 a.m. Worship Service the Lenten season WTVR - Channel 6 - 8:30 a.m. reflection, fasting & prayerful conse WEDNESDAY on the journey and follow along w No Bible Study CHRISTIAN during the month Calendar at www.mmbcr ACADEMY (NDCA)

We Pray God’s Ric for You & You in The New

of August.

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.

ENROLL NOW!!!

Accepting applications for children 2 yrs. old to 5th 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

Richmond Free Press

August 15-17, 2019 B5

Legal Notices 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 Monday, September 9, 2019 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. 2019-197 To authorize the Chief Administrative Officer, for and on behalf of the City of Richmond, to execute a Standard Project Administration Agreement between the City of Richmond and the Virginia Department of Transportation to provide funding for the design and construction of multi-modal infrastructure to improve the safety and operation of all users within the Virginia Biotechnology Research Park. (COMMITTEE: Land Use, Housing and Transportation, Tuesday, August 20, 2019, 1:00 p.m., Council Chamber) Ordinance No. 2019-198 To amend City Code § 26-582, concerning the eligibility of residential real property for the partial tax exemption from real property taxation, for the purpose of changing the requirement that eligible properties must have been vacant for at least two years to a requirement that eligible properties must not have had a building situated on such properties for at least two years. (COMMITTEE: Land Use, Housing and Transportation, Tuesday, August 20, 2019, 1:00 p.m., Council Chamber) Ordinance No. 2019-199 To install pedestrian curb ramps on the northwest, southwest, and southeast corners at the intersection of Juniper Street and 3rd Avenue, and on the northwest, southwest, northeast, and southeast corners at the intersection of Spruce Street and 3rd Avenue. (COMMITTEE: Land Use, Housing and Transportation, Tuesday, August 20, 2019, 1:00 p.m., Council Chamber) 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.

Candice D. Reid City Clerk

Divorce VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE CITY OF Richmond Portia Chiffon (Roberson) Allman, Plaintiff v.

Oneil Anthony Allman, Defendant.

Case No.: CL19-3900-3 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of this suit is to: Obtain a divorce a vincullo matrimonii or from the bonds of matrimony.

It appearing from an affidavit that diligence has been used without effect, by or on the behalf of the plaintiff to ascertain in what county or city defendant is.

It is ORDERED that Oneil Anthony Allman appear at the above-named court and protect his/her interests on or before the 10th day of October, 2019.

A Copy Teste: EDWARD F. JEWETT, Clerk VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER AMY POE-PHILLIPS, Plaintiff v.

TEROND TAYLOR, Defendant.

Case No.: CL19002269-00 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 whereabouts are unknown, appear here on or before the 26th day of September, 2019 at 9:00 AM, and protect his interests.

A Copy, Teste: FRANK D. HARGROVE, JR., Clerk I ask for this: The Law Office of Dorothy M. Eure, P.C. Dorothy M. Eure, Plaintiff’s Attorney VSB# 27724 8460 Mount Eagle Road Ashland, VA 23005 (804) 798-9667 VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER Continued on next column

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ALYSIA VENABLE, Plaintiff v.

CHRISTOPHER VENABLE, Defendant.

Case No.: CL19002208-00 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 whereabouts are unknown, appear here on or before the 19th day of September, 2019 at 9:00 AM, and protect his interests.

A Copy, Teste: FRANK D. HARGROVE, JR., Clerk I ask for this: Law Office of Dorothy M. Eure, P.C. Dorothy M. Eure, Plaintiff’s Attorney VSB# 27724 8460 Mount Eagle Road Ashland, VA 23005 (804) 798-9667

FRANK D. HARGROVE, JR., Clerk I ask for this: Law Office of Dorothy M. Eure, P.C. Dorothy M. Eure, Plaintiff’s Attorney VSB# 27724 8460 Mount Eagle Road Ashland, VA 23005 (804) 798-9667

a period exceeding twelve months.

It is ORDERED that the defendant, who has been served with the Complaint by posted service appear here on or before the 16th day of September, 2019 at 9:00 AM, and protect his interests.

A Copy, Teste: FRANK D. HARGROVE, JR., Clerk I ask for this: Dorothy M. Eure, Plaintiff’s Counsel VSB# 27724 The Law Office of Dorothy M. Eure, P.C. 8460 Mount Eagle Road Ashland, VA 23005 (804) 798-9667

We ask for this: Richard D. Harris, Jr., Esquire Chesterfield Meadows Park 10305 Memory Lane, Suite 201 Chesterfield, VA 23832 (804) 748-7573

IT IS ORDERED that VILMA PARKER BURRIS, LOLITA MARIE THOMPSON, and Parties Unknown, come forward to appear on or before OCTOBER 10, 2019 and do what is necessary to protect their interests in this matter.

An Extract, Teste: Edward F. Jewett, Clerk Gregory A. Lukanuski, Esq. City of Richmond, Office of the City Attorney 900 E. Broad Street Richmond, VA 23219 804-646-7940

devisees, assignees or successors in interest, have not been located and have not filed a response to this action; that said owner, BRIAN C. ELLIS, who has been served by posting and by mailing a copy of the complaint to his last known address, has not been personally located and has not filed a response to this action; and that any heirs, devisees, assignees, successors in interest, successors in title and/or any creditors with a current or future interest in said property, have not been identified and/or served despite diligent efforts to do so and are defendants to this suit by the general description of “Parties Unknown.”

IT IS ORDERED that BOOKER T. ELLIS, upon information and belief deceased, or his heirs, devisees, assignees or successors in interest, JESSIE T. ELLIS, upon information and belief deceased, or her heirs, devisees, assignees or successors in interest, DOROTHY ELLIS EVANS, upon information and belief deceased, or her heirs, devisees, assignees or successors in interest, B. T. ELLIS, JR, upon information and belief deceased, or his heirs, devisees, assignees or successors in interest, B RIA N C . E LLIS, and Parties Unknown, come forward to appear on or before OCTOBER 10, 2019 and do what is necessary to protect their interests in this matter.

An Extract, Teste: Edward F. Jewett, Clerk Gregory A. Lukanuski, Esq. City of Richmond, Office of the City Attorney 900 E. Broad Street Richmond, VA 23219 804-646-7940

v.

R. HUGH RUDD, TRUSTEE, et al, Defendants.

Case No.: CL19-1264 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of this suit is to subject the property briefly described as 4704 King William Road, Richmond, Virginia, Tax Map Number S006-0246/024, to sale in order to collect delinquent real estate taxes assessed thereon in the name of R. Hugh Rudd, Trustee.

An Affidavit having been filed that R. HUGH RUDD, upon information and belief deceased, TRUSTEE, per deed showing no designation of beneficiary filed in the records of the Richmond Circuit Court at Deed Book 93A page 472 on June 15, 1944, or his successor/s in title, have not been located and have not filed a response to this action, and that any heirs, devisees, assignees, successors in interest, successors in title and/or any creditors with a current or future interest in said property, have not been identified and/or served despite diligent efforts to do so and are defendants to this suit by the general description of “Parties Unknown.”

IT IS ORDERED that R. HUGH RUDD, upon information and belief d e c e a s e d , T R U S T EE , per deed showing no designation of beneficiary filed in the records of the Richmond Circuit Court at Deed Book 93A page 472 on June 15, 1944, or his successor/s in title, and Parties Unknown, come forward to appear on or before OCTOBER 10, 2019 and do what is necessary to protect their interests in this matter.

An Extract, Teste: Edward F. Jewett, Clerk Gregory A. Lukanuski, Esq. City of Richmond, Office of the City Attorney 900 E. Broad Street Richmond, VA 23219 804-646-7940

VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER KIMBERLY CHRISPIN, Plaintiff v.

HARRY CHRISPIN, Defendant.

Case No.: CL19002210-00 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 whereabouts are unknown, appear here on or before the 19th day of September, 2019 at 9:00 AM, and protect his interests.

A Copy, Teste: FRANK D. HARGROVE, JR., Clerk I ask for this: Law Office of Dorothy M. Eure, P.C. Dorothy M. Eure, Plaintiff’s Attorney VSB# 27724 8460 Mount Eagle Road Ashland, VA 23005 (804) 798-9667 VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER MUSTAFA DARDEN, Plaintiff v.

ANGELA DARDEN, Defendant.

Case No.: CL19001520-00 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, who has been served with the Complaint by posted service appear here on or before the 16th day of September, 2019 at 9:00 AM, and protect her interests.

A Copy, Teste: FRANK D. HARGROVE, JR., Clerk I ask for this: Dorothy M. Eure, Plaintiff’s Counsel VSB# 27724 The Law Office of Dorothy M. Eure, P.C. 8460 Mount Eagle Road Ashland, VA 23005 (804) 798-9667 VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER LEE ANN GIBBS, Plaintiff v.

AUBREY GIBBS, JR., Defendant.

Case No.: CL19002209-00 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 whereabouts are unknown, appear here on or before the 19th day of September, 2019 at 9:00 AM, and protect his interests.

A Copy, Teste: FRANK D. HARGROVE, JR., Clerk I ask for this: Law Office of Dorothy M. Eure, P.C. Dorothy M. Eure, Plaintiff’s Attorney VSB# 27724 8460 Mount Eagle Road Ashland, VA 23005 (804) 798-9667

VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER JASMINE JOHNSON, Plaintiff v.

DEION BRANDON, Defendant.

Case No.: CL19001581-00 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, who is a nonresident, appear here on or before the 16th day of September, 2019 at 9:00 AM, and protect his interests.

A Copy, Teste: FRANK D. HARGROVE, JR., Clerk I ask for this: Law Office of Dorothy M. Eure, P.C. Dorothy M. Eure, Plaintiff’s Attorney VSB# 27724 8460 Mount Eagle Road Ashland, VA 23005 (804) 798-9667 VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER RACHAEL MILLER, Plaintiff v.

CODY DAVIS, Defendant.

Case No.: CL19-1895-00 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 whereabouts are unknown, appear here on or before the 16th day of September, 2019 at 9:00 AM, and protect his interests.

A Copy, Teste: FRANK D. HARGROVE, JR., Clerk I ask for this: The Law Office of Dorothy M. Eure, P.C. Dorothy M. Eure, Plaintiff’s Attorney VSB# 27724 8460 Mount Eagle Road Ashland, VA 23005 (804) 798-9667 VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER DOUGLAS BRANCH, Plaintiff v.

ROXANNE BRANCH, Defendant.

Case No.: CL19001967-00 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 whereabouts are unknown, appear here on or before the 16th day of September, 2019 at 9:00 AM, and protect her interests.

A Copy, Teste: FRANK D. HARGROVE, JR., Clerk I ask for this: The Law Office of Dorothy M. Eure, P.C. Dorothy M. Eure, Plaintiff’s Attorney VSB# 27724 8460 Mount Eagle Road Ashland, VA 23005 (804) 798-9667 VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE CITY OF RICHMOND FRANCIS WYNN, Plaintiff v.

WAYNE J. WYNN, Defendant.

Case No.: CL19002282-00-8 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of this suit, brought by Francis Wynn, is a complaint for divorce. It appearing from an affidavit that the Defendant, Wayne J. Wynn cannot be found, and that due diligence has been used without effect to ascertain the location of the Defendant;

It is hereby ORDERED that the Defendant appear before this Court on or before October 1, 2019 at 9:00 AM, to protect his interest herein.

An Extract, Teste: Edward F. Jewett, Clerk Cravens & Noll, P.C. 9011 Arboretum Pkwy, Suite 200 Richmond, VA 23236 (804) 330-9220

VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER REGINA PEREZ, Plaintiff v.

WALTER PEREZ, Defendant.

Case No.: CL19002207-00 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 whereabouts are unknown, appear here on or before the 19th day of September, 2019 at 9:00 AM, and protect his interests.

A Copy, Teste:

VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER KATINA DYERALEXANDER, Plaintiff v.

JOSEPH ALEXANDER, Defendant.

Case No.: CL17003420-00 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

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VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER MARVIN MOJICA LOPEZ, Plaintiff v.

SANDRA CANO MENJIVAR, Defendant.

Case No.: CL19001998-00 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 whereabouts are unknown, appear here on or before the 4th day of September, 2019 at 9:00 a.m., CR#1 and protect her interests.

A Copy, Teste: FRANK D. HARGROVE, JR., Clerk I ask for this: Law Office of Dorothy M. Eure, P.C. Dorothy M. Eure, Plaintiff’s Attorney VSB# 27724 8460 Mount Eagle Road Ashland, VA 23005 (804) 798-9667 VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER SUSAN SAWYER, Plaintiff v.

MICHAEL SAWYER, Defendant.

Case No.: CL19001929-00 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 whereabouts are unknown, appear here on or before the 4th day of September, 2019 at 9:00 a.m., CR#1 and protect his interests.

A Copy, Teste: FRANK D. HARGROVE, JR., Clerk I ask for this: Dorothy M. Eure, Esquire Law Office of Dorothy M. Eure, P.C. VSB# 27724 8460 Mount Eagle Road Ashland, VA 23005 (804) 798-9667

CUSTODY VIRGINIA: IN THE JUVENILE AND DOMESTIC RELATIONS DISTRICT COURT OF THE CITY OF RICHMOND Commonwealth of Virginia, in re ZHA’MAR BARRICK MCLEMORE Case No. J-95590-06, 07, 08 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of this suit is to: Terminate the residual parental rights (“RPR”) Barrick L. Mclemore, Jr. (FATHER) & Unknown (Father) & Dynesha Cross (Mother), of Zha’mar Barrick Mclemore, child, DOB 10/24/2016, “RPR” means all rights and responsibilities remaining with parent after transfer of legal custody or guardianship of the person, including but not limited to rights of: visitation; adoption consent; determination of religious affiliation; and responsibility for support.

It is ORDERED that the defendants Barrick L. Mclemore, Jr. (Father), Unknown (Father), & Dynesha Cross (Mother) to appear at the abovenamed Court and protect his/her interest on or before 10/15/2019, at 12:00 PM, Courtroom #2.

Property VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE CITY OF RICHMOND JOHN MARSHALL COURTS BUILDING CITY OF RICHMOND, Plaintiff, v.

VERNELLE CHEATHAM, et al, Defendants.

Case No.: CL19-574 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of this suit is to subject the property briefly described as 120 East 21st Street, Richmond, Virginia, Tax Map Number S0000353/029, to sale in order to collect delinquent real estate taxes assessed thereon in the name of the owners of record, Vernelle Cheatham and Frank Cheatham.

An Affidavit having been filed that said owners, VERNELLE CHEATHAM and FRANK CHEATHAM, have not been located and have not filed a response to this action, and that any heirs, devisees, assignees, successors in interest, successors in title and/or any creditors with a current or future interest in said property, have not been identified and/or served despite diligent efforts to do so and are defendants to this suit by the general description of “Parties Unknown.”

IT IS ORDERED that VERNELLE CHEATHAM, FRANK CHEATHAM, and Parties Unknown, come forward to appear on or before OCTOBER 10, 2019 and do what is necessary to protect their interests in this matter.

An Extract, Teste: Edward F. Jewett, Clerk Gregory A. Lukanuski, Esq. City of Richmond, Office of the City Attorney 900 E. Broad Street Richmond, VA 23219 804-646-7940 VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE CITY OF RICHMOND JOHN MARSHALL COURTS BUILDING CITY OF RICHMOND, Plaintiff, v.

JOHN H. LOMAX, et al, Defendants.

Case No.: CL19-45 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of this suit is to subject the property briefly described as 2 East Bacon Street, Richmond, Virginia, Tax Map Number N0000228/015, to sale in order to collect delinquent real estate taxes assessed thereon in the name of the owner of record, John H. Lomax.

An Affidavit having been filed that said owner, JOHN H. LOMAX, upon information and belief deceased, owner per deed filed in the records of the Richmond Circuit Court at Deed Book 181C page 31 on May 17, 1904, or his heirs, devisees, assignees or successors in interest, have not been located and have not filed a response to this action, and that any heirs, devisees, assignees, successors in interest, successors in title and/or any creditors with a current or future interest in said property, have not been identified and/or served despite diligent efforts to do so and are defendants to this suit by the general description of “Parties Unknown.”

IT IS ORDERED that JOHN H. LOMAX, upon information and belief deceased, owner per deed filed in the records of the Richmond Circuit Court at Deed Book 181C page 31 on May 17, 1904, or his heirs, devisees, assignees or successors in interest, and Parties Unknown, come forward to appear on or before OCTOBER 10, 2019 and do what is necessary to protect their interests in this matter.

An Extract, Teste: Edward F. Jewett, Clerk Gregory A. Lukanuski, Esq. City of Richmond, Office of the City Attorney 900 E. Broad Street Richmond, VA 23219 804-646-7940

VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF HENRICO COUNTY In the matter of the adoption of a child To be known as Ashlyn Elizabeth Skai Beckwith, (Birth Certificate Registration Number, 851594, Registered in West Virginia) by Imani Marcus Jesse Beckwith Case No.: CA19-36 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of this suit is for Imani Marcus Jesse Beckwith to adopt the infant/child by the name of Ashlyn Elizabeth Martin and to change the infant/child’s name to Ashlyn Elizabeth Skai Beckwith.

It appearing by the affidavit that diligence has been used by or on behalf of Jessica Yvonne Beckwith to ascertain in what county or city Jonathan Wayne Robinson is without effect, it is ORDERED that Jonathan Wayne Robinson appear before this court on or before September 3, 2019, at 9 AM and protect his interests herein.

An Extract Teste: HEIDI S. BARSHINGER, Clerk

VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE CITY OF RICHMOND JOHN MARSHALL COURTS BUILDING CITY OF RICHMOND, Plaintiff, v.

VILMA PARKER BURRIS, et al, Defendants.

Case No.: CL19-451 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of this suit is to subject the property briefly described as 1002 North 3rd Street, Richmond, Virginia, Tax Map Number N0000086/005, to sale in order to collect delinquent real estate taxes assessed thereon in the name of the owners of record, Vilma Parker Burris and Lolita Marie Thompson aka Lolita Lee.

An Affidavit having been filed that said owners, VILMA PARKER BURRIS a n d L O L I TA M A RIE THOMPSON, have not been located and have not filed a response to this action, and that any heirs, devisees, assignees, successors in interest, successors in title and/or any creditors with a current or future interest in said property, have not been identified and/or served despite diligent efforts to do so and are defendants to this suit by the general description of “Parties Unknown.”

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VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE CITY OF RICHMOND JOHN MARSHALL COURTS BUILDING CITY OF RICHMOND, Plaintiff, v.

UNITY SANCTUARY CHURCH OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, et al, Defendants.

Case No.: CL19-1770 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of this suit is to subject the property briefly described as 1100 North 21st Street, Richmond, Virginia, Tax Map Number E0000514/012, to sale in order to collect delinquent real estate taxes assessed thereon in the name of the owner of record, Unity Sanctuary Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

An Affidavit having been filed that CLARENCE CO L EM A N , REC T OR of UNITY SANCTUARY CHURCH OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, who has been served by posting and by mailing a copy of the complaint to his last known address, has not been personally located and has not filed a response to this action, and that any heirs, devisees, assignees, successors in interest, successors in title and/or any creditors with a current or future interest in said property, have not been identified and/or served despite diligent efforts to do so and are defendants to this suit by the general description of “Parties Unknown.”

IT IS ORDERED that CLARENCE COLEMAN, REC T OR o f U N I T Y SANCTUARY CHURCH OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST and Parties Unknown, come forward to appear on or before OCTOBER 10, 2019 and do what is necessary to protect their interests in this matter.

An Extract, Teste: Edward F. Jewett, Clerk Gregory A. Lukanuski, Esq. City of Richmond, Office of the City Attorney 900 E. Broad Street Richmond, VA 23219 804-646-7940 VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE CITY OF RICHMOND JOHN MARSHALL COURTS BUILDING CITY OF RICHMOND, Plaintiff, v.

ROBERT SANTIAGO, et al, Defendants.

Case No.: CL19-996 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of this suit is to subject the property briefly described as 1220 North 27th Street, Richmond, Virginia, Tax Map Number E0000562/003, to sale in order to collect delinquent real estate taxes assessed thereon in the name of the owner of record, Robert Santiago.

An Affidavit having been filed that said owner, ROBERT SANTIAGO, has not been located and has not filed a response to this action, and that any heirs, devisees, assignees, successors in interest, successors in title and/or any creditors with a current or future interest in said property, have not been identified and/or served despite diligent efforts to do so and are defendants to this suit by the general description of “Parties Unknown.”

IT IS ORDERED that ROBERT SANTIAGO, and Parties Unknown, come forward to appear on or before OCTOBER 10, 2019 and do what is necessary to protect their interests in this matter.

An Extract, Teste: Edward F. Jewett, Clerk Gregory A. Lukanuski, Esq. City of Richmond, Office of the City Attorney 900 E. Broad Street Richmond, VA 23219 804-646-7940 VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE CITY OF RICHMOND JOHN MARSHALL COURTS BUILDING CITY OF RICHMOND, Plaintiff, v.

BOOKER T. ELLIS, et al, Defendants.

Case No. : CL19-579 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of this suit is to subject the property briefly described as p2001 Albany Avenue, Richmond, Virginia, Tax Map Number S0000349/008, to sale in order to collect delinquent real estate taxes assessed thereon in the name of the owners of record, Booker T. Ellis and Jessie T. Ellis.

An Affidavit having been filed that said owners, BOOKER T. ELLIS, upon information and belief deceased, or his heirs, devisees, assignees or successors in interest, JESSIE T. ELLIS, upon information and belief deceased, or her heirs, devisees, assignees or successors in interest, DOROTHY ELLIS EVANS, upon information and belief deceased, or her heirs, devisees, assignees or successors in interest, and B. T. ELLIS, JR, upon information and belief deceased, or his heirs, Continued on next column

VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE CITY OF RICHMOND JOHN MARSHALL COURTS BUILDING CITY OF RICHMOND, Plaintiff, v.

2108, LLC, et al, Defendants.

Case No.: CL19-640 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of this suit is to subject the property briefly described as 2225 East Clay Street, Richmond, Virginia, Tax Map Number E0000257/001, to sale in order to collect delinquent real estate taxes assessed thereon in the name of the owner of record, 2108, LLC.

An Affidavit having been filed that TOM BRICKMAN, Registered Agent for 2108, LLC, who has been served by posting and by mailing a copy of the complaint to his last known address, has not been personally located and has not filed a response to this action, and that any heirs, devisees, assignees, successors in interest, successors in title and/or any creditors with a current or future interest in said property, have not been identified and/or served despite diligent efforts to do so and are defendants to this suit by the general description of “Parties Unknown.”

IT IS ORDERED that TOM BRICKMAN, Registered Agent for 2108, LLC, and Parties Unknown, come forward to appear on or before OCTOBER 10, 2019 and do what is necessary to protect their interests in this matter.

An Extract, Teste: Edward F. Jewett, Clerk Gregory A. Lukanuski, Esq. City of Richmond, Office of the City Attorney 900 E. Broad Street Richmond, VA 23219 804-646-7940 VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE CITY OF RICHMOND JOHN MARSHALL COURTS BUILDING CITY OF RICHMOND, Plaintiff, v.

2108, LLC, et al, Defendants.

Case No.: CL19-641 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of this suit is to subject the property briefly described as 2225-A East Clay Street, Richmond, Virginia, Tax Map Number E000-0257/030, to sale in order to collect delinquent real estate taxes assessed thereon in the name of the owner of record, 2108, LLC.

An Affidavit having been filed that TOM BRICKMAN, Registered Agent for 2108, LLC, who has been served by posting and by mailing a copy of the complaint to his last known address, has not been personally located and has not filed a response to this action, and that any heirs, devisees, assignees, successors in interest, successors in title and/or any creditors with a current or future interest in said property, have not been identified and/or served despite diligent efforts to do so and are defendants to this suit by the general description of “Parties Unknown.”

IT IS ORDERED that TOM BRICKMAN, Registered Agent for 2108, LLC, and Parties Unknown, come forward to appear on or before OCTOBER 10, 2019 and do what is necessary to protect their interests in this matter.

An Extract, Teste: Edward F. Jewett, Clerk Gregory A. Lukanuski, Esq. City of Richmond, Office of the City Attorney 900 E. Broad Street Richmond, VA 23219 804-646-7940 VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE CITY OF RICHMOND JOHN MARSHALL COURTS BUILDING CITY OF RICHMOND, Plaintiff, Continued on next column

VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE CITY OF RICHMOND JOHN MARSHALL COURTS BUILDING CITY OF RICHMOND, Plaintiff, v.

CALVIN ARTIS, et al, Defendants.

Case No.: CL19-61 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of this suit is to subject the property briefly described as 3515 Florida Avenue, Richmond, Virginia, Tax Map Number N000-1266/018, to sale in order to collect delinquent real estate taxes assessed thereon in the name of the owners of record, Calvin Artis, Wanda Wright, Janet Wright, Tonya Williams and Trevon Williams.

An Affidavit having been filed that said owners, CALVIN ARTIS, JANET WRIGHT, WANDA WRIGHT, TONYA WILLIAMS, and TREVON WILLIAMS, who has been served by posting and by mailing a copy of the complaint to their last known address, have not been personally located and have not filed a response to this action, and that any heirs, devisees, assignees, successors in interest, successors in title and/or any creditors with a current or future interest in said property, have not been identified and/or served despite diligent efforts to do so and are defendants to this suit by the general description of “Parties Unknown.”

IT IS ORDERED that CALVIN ARTIS, JANET WRIGHT, WANDA WRIGHT, TONYA WILLIAMS, TREVON WILLIAMS, and Parties Unknown, come forward to appear on or before OCTOBER 10, 2019 and do what is necessary to protect their interests in this matter.

An Extract, Teste: Edward F. Jewett, Clerk Gregory A. Lukanuski, Esq. City of Richmond, Office of the City Attorney 900 E. Broad Street Richmond, VA 23219 804-646-7940 VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE CITY OF RICHMOND JOHN MARSHALL COURTS BUILDING CITY OF RICHMOND, Plaintiff, v.

EVELYN C. CHRISTIAN, et al, Defendants.

Case No.: CL18-6030 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of this suit is to subject the property briefly described as 3718 Cary Street Road, Richmond, Virginia, Tax Map Number W0001767/027, to sale in order to collect delinquent real estate taxes assessed thereon in the name of the owner/s of record, Evelyn C. Christian.

An Affidavit having been filed that said owner, EVELYN C. CHRISTIAN, or her heirs, devisees, assignees or successors in interest, have not been located and have not filed a response to this action, and that any heirs, devisees, assignees, successors in interest, successors in title and/or any creditors with a current or future interest in said property, have not been identified and/or served despite diligent efforts to do so and are defendants to this suit by the general description of “Parties Unknown.”

IT IS ORDERED that EVELYN C. CHRISTIAN, or her heirs, devisees, assignees or successors in interest, and Parties Unknown, come forward to appear on or before OCTOBER 10, 2019 and do Continued on next page

Richmond Free Press

B6 August 15-17, 2019

Sports Plus Free Press wire report

Four-time Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles reasserted her position as the world’s unrivaled No. 1 gymnast with an amazing winning performance Sunday at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships in Kansas City, Mo. The 22-year-old Biles clinched her sixth national gymnastics title with a historic double-double dismount on the uneven bars during competition on Friday night, followed by an even more historic tripledouble during her floor routine on Sunday.

She became the first woman in nearly 70 years to capture six U.S. senior women’s all-around gymnastics titles – matching Clara Schroth Lomady, who won her sixth U.S. national title in 1952.

Biles became the first woman to attempt — and land — a tripletwisting, double back maneuver during her floor routine Sunday night. Her “triple-double,� as it is called, served as the exclamation point of the night, with the packed arena applauding wildly after witnessing Biles redefining what’s possible in the sport.

However, Biles was not quite content even with that unprecedented move. “It wasn’t as good as in some of the trainings,� Biles told reporters afterward. “I’m just happy that I landed it because I feel like after night one, my confidence got shot down. So

Simone Biles wins record-tying sixth national gymnastics title

Charlie Riedel/Associated Press

Simone Biles competes in the floor exercise during the senior women’s competition at the 2019 U.S. Gymnastics Championships last Sunday in Kansas City, Mo.

I was really worried about it going into today. That’s all I could worry about. So I was really happy.�

On Friday night, Biles was on the verge of tears after she shorted her attempt at the move on the floor. But she became the first gymnast to attempt and land a double-twisting double somersault dismount on the high beam that night, Team USA noted.

On Sunday, she took the top scores on floor exercises, vault and balance beam, but placed third on the bars, finishing with a total score of 118.500 to beat Sunisa Lee (113.550) and Grace McCallum (111.850). “I feel like each (title) gets better and better,� Biles said, “because it’s like the fifth and, then, the sixth, so it just keeps getting more exciting.�

Biles is now two months away from a trip to the world championships — where her 20 medals are tied for the most by a female gymnast — and a year away from a return to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, where she is considered the prohibitive favorite. “She’s a freaking beast,� said MyKayla Skinner, an alternate on the 2016 Olympic team who clinched a spot on the national team by finishing eighth. “Like, I don’t even understand. I always ask her, ‘Do you realize how good you are?’ And she’s like ‘Yeah, but I don’t know.’ It just comes so naturally, it’s amazing.�

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what is necessary to protect their interests in this matter.

An Extract, Teste: Edward F. Jewett, Clerk Gregory A. Lukanuski, Esq. City of Richmond, Office of the City Attorney 900 E. Broad Street Richmond, VA 23219 804-646-7940

E0120285020 City of Richmond v. Mary W. Clayton, et. al.

CL18-4156 320 East Fells Street N0000377038 City of Richmond v.

Abtelaziz Amro, et. al.

CL18-4176 1401 North 32nd Street E0000800009 City of Richmond v. Manuel Anderson, et. al.

CL18-4178 2501 Berwyn Street S0080380025 City of Richmond v. Sarah A. Mayo, et. al.

CL18-4180 10 East 30th Street S0001345009 City of Richmond v. Rose B. Gibson, et. al.

CL18-4187 3300 Utah Place N0001075038 City of Richmond v. Pamela Jo Lester, et. al.

CL18-4189 2014 Carver Street E0001237022 City of Richmond v. George Hill, et. al.

CL18-4269 3216 2nd Avenue N0001070004 City of Richmond v. The Fndt. For Sr. Devp., et. al.

CL18-4328 1406 Bryan Street E0000604010 City of Richmond v. Juanita Burns, et. al.

CL18-4330 3408 Delaware Avenue N0001265009 City of Richmond v. Nathan Carter, et al.

CL18-3099 2021 Chicago Avenue S0000347023 City of Richmond v.

Nathaniel Winston, et al.

CL18-3144 3012 Groveland Avenue N0000985006 City of Richmond v. Terry L. McGirt, et al.

CL18-3213 3011 Veranda Avenue N0000985013 City of Richmond v. Terry L. McGirt et.al.

CL18-3215 2523 Coles Street S0090104020 City of Richmond v. Donald J. Both, et. al.

CL18-3260 7 West 20th Street S0000295030 City of Richmond v.

Orlander Burke, et al.

CL18-3571 2100 Redd Street E0000665041 City of Richmond v. Charles B. Kiser, et. al.

CL18-3936 32 East 28th Street S0001121002 City of Richmond v.

Leonard J. Byrd, et. al.

CL18-3965 713 Mitchell Street N0000280003 City of Richmond v. Ida F. Dandridge, et. al.

CL18-3995 704 Webster Street N0000280010 City of Richmond v. Mandel D. Sutton, et. al.

CL18-4001 3210 Richmond Henrico Tpk. N0001258042 City of Richmond v.

Clarence Jones, et.al.

CL18-4134 1831 Thomas Street N0000946014 City of Richmond v. Richard Harris, Jr., et. al.

CL18-4155 1831 1/3 Thomas Street N0000946013 City of Richmond v. Richard Harris, Jr., et. al.

CL18-4175 1417 North 29th Street

E0000717026 City of Richmond v.

Samover, Inc., et. al.

CL18-4177 1106 ½ North 32nd Street E0000722013 City of Richmond v. Bruce Robinson, et. al.

CL18-4179 12 East 30th Street S0001345010 City of Richmond v. Rose B. Gibson, et. al.

CL18-4186 1322 North 34th Street E0000875003 City of Richmond v. Goldie B. Terry, et. al.

CL18-4188 2617 Wise Street S0000793021 City of Richmond v. Irving B. Taylor, et. al.

CL18-4191 3713 Lawson Street S0042906030 City of Richmond v. George E. Branch, et. al.

CL18-4327 1404 Bryan Street E0000604012 City of Richmond v. Juanita Burns, et. al.

CL18-4329 3205 Stockton Street S0002132012 City of Richmond v. Got, LLC, et. al.

CL18-4356 1321 North 31st Street E0000720027 City of Richmond v.

Courtney R. Carter, et. al.

CL18-4359 2701 Selden Street E0120319001 City of Richmond v. James E. Branch et. al.

CL18-4361 1720 North 28th Street E0000864004 City of Richmond v. Isabelle T. Lasane et. al.

CL18-4372 1715 North 29th Street E0000952034 City of Richmond v. Isabelle T. Lasane et. al.

CL18-4373 2512 Porter Street S0000695005 City of Richmond v. James E. Moore et. al.

CL18-4374 2514 Porter Street S0000695004 City of Richmond v. James E. Moore et. al.

CL18-4375 1603 North 22nd Street E0000859015 City of Richmond v.

Raymond Thornton et. al.

CL18-4406 411 North 22nd Street E0000257020 City of Richmond v. Robert Ferguson, et. al.

CL18-4437 1009 Garber Street E0100071007 City of Richmond v. Helena B. Bell, et. al.

CL18-4438 2518 aka 2516 Porter Street S0000695003 City of Richmond v. Lewis Gist, Sr., et. al.

CL18-4452 1605 North 22nd Street E0000859016 City of Richmond v. George Taylor, et. al.

CL18-4453 2216 Carrington Street E0000469017 City of Richmond v. Joyce Shepherd, et. al CL18-4454 3122 1st Avenue N0001060001 City of Richmond v.

Natasher Huckaby, et. al.

CL18-4485 1209 North 31st Street E0000721023 City of Richmond v. George L. Stanley, et. al.

CL18-4564 1800 Bath Street

N0000946022 City of Richmond v.

American Home Mort. et. al.

CL18-4728 405 Catherine Street N0000208007 City of Richmond v. James Lenard, et. al.

CL18-4752 1813 ½ North 28th Street E0120427006 City of Richmond v. William T. Pitts, et. al.

CL18-4805 5304 Parker Street E0100139003 City of Richmond v. Mack W. Austin, et. al.

CL18-4866 617 Northside Avenue N0001150010 City of Richmond v. CY Enterprises, Inc. et. al.

CL18-4867 1902 Maury Street S0000290008 City of Richmond v. Richard L. Taylor, et. al.

CL18-4880 1436 Rogers Street E0000768003 City of Richmond v. Willie S. Taylor, et. al.

CL18-5020 1831 2/3 Thomas Street N0000946012 City of Richmond v. Albert Cook, Sr., et. al.

CL18-5058 1919 North 28th Street E0120401002 City of Richmond v. Rachel Harris, et. al.

CL18-5059 2024 Newbourne Street E0120285018 City of Richmond v. Harry Ransom, et. al.

CL18-5119 3810 P Street E0001768018 City of Richmond v. Thelma Earl Peay, et. al.

CL18-5237 907 North 24th Street E0000429018 City of Richmond v. Chris Howell, et. al.

CL18-5277 5512 Walmsley Boulevard C0080815036 City of Richmond v. Hiram C. Smith, et. al.

CL18-5281 1022 Kinney Street N0000619094 City of Richmond v. Mary Pauline Page, et. al.

CL18-6175 30 East 28th Street S0001121001 City of Richmond v. Jessie Hilton, et. al.

CL19-610 2401 Melbourne Street E0120278001 City of Richmond v. Clarke, et. al.

CL18-5254 2407 Melbourne Street E0120278004 City of Richmond v.

Jackson, et. al.

CL18-5255 3007 Alpine Avenue N0000983019 City of Richmond v.

Thompson, et. al CL18-5256 2110 Newbourne Street E0120286027 City of Richmond v. Nelson, et. al.

CL18-5260 1810 North 29th Street E0000951011 City of Richmond v. Minor, et. al.

CL18-5279 1110 ½ North 30th Street E0000568012 City of Richmond v. Simms, et. al.

CL18-5280 1311 West Leigh Street N0000573010 City of Richmond v. Smith, et. al.

CL18-5378

TERMS OF SALE: All sales are subject to confirmation by the Richmond Circuit Court. The purchase price will include the winning bid plus 10% of the winning bid.

High bidders will pay at the time of the auction a deposit of at least 20% of the purchase price, or $2500.00, whichever is greater. If the purchase price is under $2500.00, high bidders will pay in full at the time of the auction. High bidders will pay the balance of the purchase price to the Special Commissioner, and deed recordation costs, by a date and in a form as stated in a settlement instruction letter. Time is of the essence.

If a high bidder defaults by not making these payments in full, on time, and in the required form, the Special Commissioner will retain the deposit, and may seek other remedies to include the cost of resale or any resulting deficiency. Settlement shall occur when the Richmond Circuit Court enters an Order of Confirmation. Conveyance shall be either by a special commissioner’s deed or a special warranty deed. Real estate taxes will be adjusted as of the date of entry for the Order of Confirmation.

Properties are sold “as is� without any representations or warranties, either expressed or implied, subject to the rights of any person in possession, and to all easements, liens, covenants, defects, encumbrances, adverse claims, conditions and restrictions, whether filed or inchoate, to include any information a survey or inspection of a property may disclose. It is assumed that bidders will make a visual exterior inspection of a property within the limits of the law, determine the suitability of a property for their purposes, and otherwise perform due diligence prior to the auction.

T h e S p e c i a l Commissioner’s acceptance of a bid shall not limit any powers vested in the City of Richmond. Additional terms may be announced at the time of sale. Individuals owing delinquent taxes to the City of Richmond, and defendants in pending delinquent tax cases, are not qualified to bid at this auction. Bidders must certify by affidavit that they do not own, directly or indirectly, any real estate with outstanding notices of violation for building, zoning or other local ordinances.

Questions may be directed to Gregory A. Lukanuski at greg.lukanuski @richmondgov.com / (804) 646-7949, or to Christie Hamlin at christie.hamlin@ richmondgov.com / (804) 646-6940.

Gregory A. Lukanuski Deputy City Attorney Special Commissioner 900 East Broad Street, Room 400 Richmond, Virginia 23219

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NOTICE OF PUBLIC AUCTION SPECIAL COMMISSIONER’S SALE OF REAL ESTATE RICHMOND, VIRGINIA Pursuant to the terms of Orders of Sale entered in the Richmond Circuit Court, the undersigned Special Commissioner will offer the following real estate for sale at public auction at Motleys Asset Disposition Group, 3600 Deepwater Terminal Road, Richmond, Virginia on Wednesday August 21, 2019 at 2:00 pm, or as soon thereafter as may be effected. The sale is subject to the terms and conditions below and any other terms and conditions which may be announced on the day of auction. Announcements made on the day of the auction take precedence over any prior written or verbal terms of sale.

1610 Spotsylvania Street E0000764012 City of Richmond v. Veora Jane Allen, et al.

CL17-5821 2304 Creighton Road E0120294003 City of Richmond v. Joan M. Robinson, et al.

CL18-1142 3506 Woodson Avenue N0001552011 City of Richmond v. Wells Fargo Bank, et al.

CL18-3084 3406 Delaware Avenue N0001265010 City of Richmond v. Nathan Carter, et al.

CL18-3100 3010 Groveland Avenue N0000985007 City of Richmond v. Terry L. McGirt, et al.

CL18-3212 3009 Veranda Avenue N0000985012 City of Richmond v. Terry L. McGirt et.al.

CL18-3214 1913 Decatur Street S0000294023 City of Richmond v. Arthur Webb., Sr., et al.

CL18-3238 229 Bermuda Road C0060422006 City of Richmond v. William Elam, Trustee, et.al.

CL18-3452 2101 Phaup Street E0120259001 City of Richmond v. Daniel Bates, et. al.

CL18-3828 2810 Burfoot Street S0001121020 City of Richmond v.

Leonard J. Byrd, et. al.

CL18-3964 711 Mitchell Street N0000280004 City of Richmond v. Ida F. Dandridge, et. al.

CL18-3994 715 Mitchell Street N0000280002 City of Richmond v. Ida F. Dandridge, et. al.

CL18-3996 2803 Midlothian Turnpike S0000911048 City of Richmond v. Thelma Sor, et. al.

CL18-4098 3218 Richmond Henrico Tpk. N0001258039 City of Richmond v. Mary C. Jones, et.al.

CL18-4135 2014 Newbourne Street Continued on next column

The City of Richmond announces the following project(s) available for services relating to: RFP No. 200001643 Bond Counsel Services Due Date: Wednesday, September 4, 2019 @ 2:00 P.M. Receipt Location: 900 East Broad Street, Room 1104, 11th Floor, Richmond, VA 23219 Questions regarding RFP shall be submitted no later than Wednesday, August 21, 2019 @ 3:00 P.M. Information or copies of the above solicitations are available by contacting Procurement Services, at the City of Richmond website (www.

RichmondGov.com), or at 11th Floor of City Hall, 900 E. Broad Street, Richmond, Virginia 23219. Phone (804) 646-5722 or faxed (804) 6465989. The City of Richmond encourages all contractors to participate in the procurement process.

For reference purposes, documents may be examined at the above location.

Counselor Opioid Treatment Facility seeking a full time Counselor. Must have CSAC or license or be license eligible. EOE. Call Mary @ 804-562-2805 or you may fax your resume to 804-562-4581. You may also email your resume to marym@hricorp.org.

Assisted Living Facility accepting applications for the following positions: Experience Licensed Medication Aide, Part-time Housekeeper, CNA or PCA Please provide a current TB report when applying.

All references will be checked.

Good pay – Good days o.

Call for appointment (804) 222-5133

Thank you for your interest in applying for opportunities with The City of Richmond.

To see what opportunities are available, please refer to our website at www.richmondgov.com.

EOE M/F/D/V

Freelance Writers:

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 news@richmond freepress.com or mail to: Richmond Free Press, P.O. Box 27709, Richmond, VA 23261.

No phone calls.

FULL-TIME SENIOR PASTOR Thirty-first Street Baptist Church of Richmond VA, located in historic Church Hill, seeks a full-time senior pastor. The pastor’s education, training, and experience should include seminary degree(s) and a minimum of three years in a ministerial leadership role in a Baptist church. The pastor will be responsible for church leadership, both spiritual and biblical, through preaching, teaching, training, counseling and evangelism.

Demonstrating godly leadership and keen administrative skill, the pastor will minister to the current needs of the church, while preparing and equipping the fellowship with the tools to assist membership sustainability for the next generation church. The pastor will work collaboratively with the Trustees, Deacons, Deacons Auxiliary Ministry, staff and congregation to uphold and cultivate the church mission and vision while developing disciples.

Mail resumes to: THIRTY-FIRST STREET BAPTIST CHURCH 823 N. Thirty-first Street Richmond, Virginia 23223 ATTN: Pastor Search Committee Follow the Richmond Free Press on Email resumes to: info@31sbc.org

To advertise in the Richmond Free Press call 644-0496 @FreePressRVA @RichmondFreePressUSA

BID COUNTY OF HENRICO, VIRGINIA CONSTRUCTION BID ITB #19-1896-7JOK High School Athletic Field Improvements – Phase 3 (Deep Run, Glen Allen, and Mills E. Godwin High Schools) Due: September 10, 2019 at 2:30 p.m.

For additional information visit: https://henrico.us/ finance/divisions/purchasing/ solicitations/

2 % ! , % 3 4 ! 4 % s % 3 4

804.358.5543

AVAILABLE Downtown Richmond first floor office suite 5th and Franklin Streets 422 East Franklin Street Richmond, Virginia 23219

Bedros Bandazian

Associate Broker, Chairman

Raffi Bandazian

Principal Broker, GRI