Five Democrats are preparing to run in a “firehouse” primary Tuesday, Dec. 20, to choose the party’s candidate to replace 4th District U.S. Rep. A. Donald McEachin, who died Nov. 28.
The contenders, who include Henrico Delegate Lamont Bagby and Richmond area state Sens. Jennifer L. McClellan and Joseph D. Morrissey, are now racing to meet a noon Friday, Dec. 16, filing deadline to submit candidate petitions with 150 signatures
of registered voters and a $3,480 filing fee.
The list of announced candidates also includes Tavorise K. Marks, a State Farm agent in Hopewell and former vice president of the Chesterfield Branch NAACP, and Joseph E. Preston, a Petersburg attorney and former state delegate.
Primary voting will be offered at five locations in the district. The winner would be almost guaranteed to win the special election set for Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023, given that the district which includes Eastern Henrico County and Richmond — and
stretches through Petersburg into Southside Virginia — is rated solidly Democratic.
Rep. McEachin won the Nov. 8 general election for his fourth two-year term in his rematch with Republican Leon Benjamin, who, despite the loss, has announced plans to again seek his party’s nomination to run in the special election in a third attempt to secure the seat.
By Holly M. Rodriguez
A statue commemorating the death of Confederate Gen. Ambrose Powell (A.P.) Hill was removed on Monday, from Hermitage Road and West Laburnum Avenue where it had stood for 120 years. Gen. Hill was the last Confederate statue in Richmond, after being caught up in litigation from indirect descendants who argued the statue should not be removed because the general’s remains were buried there. But after Richmond Circuit Court Judge David E. Cheek Sr. denied the distant relatives’ request for a stay that would have halted the city’s ability to proceed while they appealed the Oct. 25 ruling, the decision ensured the removal could proceed. The relatives’ appeal for a stay was refused Dec. 8. A.P. Hill’s remains were released to the distant relatives, who plan to bury him at a family plot in Culpeper County.
“We get into this work to right historic wrongs and that was a wrong — erecting those monuments in the beginning — and now it has been righted,” Richmond Mayor Levar M. Stoney said at the site on Monday
In the past four weeks at the Richmond City Justice Center, one deputy had his shoulder dislocated after he was thrown to the ground while trying to stop two prisoners from assaulting another inmate.
Another deputy was head-butted by an inmate after refusing to provide the inmate with another prisoner’s food tray, according to information provided to the Free Press.
In addition, the Free Press has learned another inmate was stabbed during this period, apparently the fourth this year. And early Monday, the jail reported to Richmond Police the third death of an inmate this year, though the identification was not released.
For the second time since late October, an inmate who was transported to the John Marshall Courts Building was found to be carrying a concealed blade, according to information provided to the newspaper.
While incidents like these don’t occur daily, as Sheriff Antionette V. Irving has previously said, the dangers inside the jail appear to be increasing in large part because the number of sworn personnel in her department continues to shrink.
Alarmed, 8th District City Councilwoman Reva M. Trammell, chair of council’s Public Safety Committee, Tuesday filed a formal request with Gov. Glenn A. Youngkin’s administration for a probe of the sheriff’s operations.
In June, Sheriff Irving reported to Ms. Trammell’s committee that she had 160 vacancies. Six months later, vacancies had risen to 175 deputy positions, with more resignations expected, the Free Press has been told.
Sheriff Irving has not responded to a Free Press request for comment on recent incidents at the jail or about staffing levels.
However, the Free Press has learned
Richmond property owners will receive a 4.2 percent rebate on the real estate taxes they paid earlier this year, equal to $50 for each $100,000 of property value.
And City Hall will be able to pour in an additional $17 million to bolster homeless shelters, launch an emergency
fund to aid families facing a financial crisis, expand youth services, correct a glitch in first responder pay and meet other needs.
City Council at its final meeting of the year Monday approved the proposals Mayor Levar M. Stoney had earlier advanced at a total cost of $35 million.
The rebate checks that
will total $18 million are to start going out in the first two months of 2023. That payment represents the equivalent of 5 cents of the real estate tax, which a majority of council voted to maintain at $1.20 per $100 of assessed value.
Council President Cynthia I. Newbille noted the rebate means taxpayers in 2022 paid a tax of $1.15 per $100 of as-
sessed value.
The money for the rebate is being drawn from the pool of unexpended funds from fiscal year 2021-22 that ended June 30, according to Lincoln Saunders, the city’s chief administrative officer.
Though the city is behind in completing the annual com-
By Jeremy M. Lazarus
The former director of an after-school program at Fox Elementary School has been acquitted of assault and battery of an unruly second-grader in the program.
Robin Spears walked free after Richmond Circuit Court Judge Claire Cardwell dismissed the misdemeanor charge against her Monday after finding insufficient evidence to support the charge that she had hit the child.
Ms. Spears, who has been on leave since the allegation that she beat the child was first reported on Nov. 22, 2021, called it a “big relief” after the judge ruled in her favor.
A licensed social worker who has been an RPS teacher and counselor for 14 years, she had denied touching the child in the story the Free Press published Dec. 1-3 on her case.
Ms. Spears did not testify.
Georgette Williams, a 26-year veteran in Richmond Public Schools, provided the key testimony on behalf of Ms. Spears.
Ms. Williams testified she was in the office when Ms. Spears dealt with the child who was brought to her office for walking on tables and chairs and spilling milk in the cafeteria.
Ms. Williams testified that the 7-year-old knocked over and
Virginia’s public health operations will receive a boost across the next five years, courtesy of a $67.5 million grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The grant was announced last Wednesday, and is part of the funding being dispersed statewide through the American Rescue Plan Act. Among those groups included as part of the CDC’s funding, the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services and the Virginia Beach Department of Public Health will receive grant money.
The grant will be coordinated by the Virginia Department of Health, and will be focused on increasing the statewide health workforce, modernizing data infrastructure and processes, and improving organizational systems.
“This grant offers a most timely opportunity to support critical public health infrastructure in the Commonwealth,” said State Health Commissioner Collin Greene. “The funding will allow us to invest in our outstanding public health professionals and provide Virginians with enhanced systems to protect the health and promote the well-being of all.”
Mindful of the holiday season, City officials are urging residents to wear their seatbelts, avoid driving after drinking and take other measures to stay safe on the road.
Richmond’s new campaign to address vehicular-based injuries due to inattentive, unprepared or impacted drivers, is part of its Vision Zero Action Plan to end traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries by 2030.
As part of that plan, the Richmond Department and officials are seeking to address dangerous behavior on the road, with a lack of seat belt use and speeding cited by their own studies as consistent factors in many of the injuries seen on Richmond city roads.
Messages about speeding, seatbelt usage and distracted driving will be shared the next several weeks by Richmond officials to remind drivers and pedestrians about the need to stay safe on city streets.
“From Richmond Police to the Department of Public Works, the city wants our residents and visitors to take time to put on their seat belts, don’t text or talk while driving, obey the speed limits and don’t drink and drive,” reads a statement from Petula Burks, Richmond’s director of strategic communications and civic engagement.
“We ask Richmonders to take the challenge to buckle up and put their phones down.”
For more information, visit www.rva.gov/public-works/visionzero.
After more than a month of renovations and improvements, the Sandston Branch Library in Henrico County recently reopened.
The library, the longest-serving location of the Henrico County Public Library system, had been closed since September as part of a renovation project, and the new additions mark the first phase of its renovation.
“Neighborhood libraries strengthen communities and families with connection, reading and enjoyment,” Library Director Barbara Weedman said. “The updated Sandston Branch is brighter all around with new shelving and plentiful books that we hope will inspire you to learn or stretch your imagination.”
New additions to the library include modern shelves, updated audio-video equipment and lighting, refreshed paint and carpeting, and rebuilt parking lots. Future additions will include a computer work and play station, inspired by a custom design for the Fairfield Area Library.
The Associated Press
Stephen “tWitch” Boss, the longtime and beloved dancing DJ on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” and a former contestant on “So You Think You Can Dance,” has died at the age of 40 by suicide.
His wife, Allison Holker Boss, confirmed his passing in a statement published Wednesday on People.com.
“It is with the heaviest of hearts that I have to share my husband Stephen has left us,” she said. “Stephen lit up every room he stepped into. He valued family, friends and community above all else and leading with love and light was everything to him. He was the backbone of our family, the best husband and father, and an inspiration to his fans.”
Her statement did not include details on the cause of his death, but the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner confirmed the suicide.
tWitch started his tenure at “The Ellen Show” in 2014 and later was promoted to co-executive producer in 2020.
“I’m heartbroken. tWitch was pure love and light. He was my family, and I loved him with all my heart. I will miss him. Please send your love and support to Allison and his beautiful children — Weslie, Maddox, and Zaia,” Ellen DeGeneres stated on Twitter, alongside a photo of the two embracing in a hug backstage.
The last Confederate soldier on Richmond’s streets, Gen. Ambrose Powell Hill Jr., better known as A.P. Hill, was removed Monday from its pedestal at the intersection of Hermitage and Laburnum Monday, Dec. 12, 2022. After the nearly eight hours it took to remove the statue, masonry workers then searched for the general’s remains. They completed their task the next day after retrieving a skull, small bones and old cloth buried
Slices of life and scenes in Richmond
beneath molded stone under the monument.
While the statue will be moved to an undisclosed location with 11 other city-owned monuments, Hill’s remains were being moved to a gravesite in Culpeper, purchased by the City of Richmond for $1,000.
Eventually the monuments will be donated to the Black History Museum & Cultural Center of Virginia, according to City officials.
Donald J. Garrett is a rare figure among the sea of Richmond-area residents being hauled into court for eviction proceedings.
While most cases result in judgment for the landlord, the disabled 69-year-old, with help from attorneys, has notched two wins against the entities that own and manage the 1,200-unit Pointe at River City where he has lived since 2011.
First in April and most recently on Dec. 9, lawyers representing the owners of the Henrico County complex have withdrawn a suit claiming that Mr. Garrett should be evicted for the alleged nonpayment of $1,300 or more in unpaid rent, utilities and other costs.
Now he may need to do it a third time in the coming year.
On Saturday, just a day after his latest case was dismissed, he found another statement stuck in his front door, claiming he now owed $1,860.45, including an $83 fee for late payment of December rent.
The statement included a message that he needs to pay the full amount within five days or face being hit with another lawsuit seeking his eviction.
“I was really relieved when the lawsuit was dismissed,” Mr. Garrett said. “I wasn’t expecting this. I always pay my rent on time.”
The late fee assessed for the December payment appears to raise questions about whether the complex is treating him fairly.
Mr. Garrett provided copies of four money orders totaling $987 that each are made out to the complex’s current owner, AP 11 LLC, and are dated Dec. 2. He said he presented those money orders on that Friday to staff at the office, to cover his rent as well as water and sewer service and other costs and the staff provided him copies of the money orders.
The statement indicates that the money orders were received Dec. 5, the last day Mr. Garrett could pay without a late fee, but were not entered into the payment system until Dec. 6, automatically trig-
gering the late charge.
Attorney Lonnie D. “Chip” Nunley III, who represented Mr. Garrett in the December case, said that owners and managers sometimes do not keep accurate records.
A partner in Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP, Mr. Nunley said that the problem is compounded when a complex is sold, as was the case for the Pointe at River City, because the financial errors in the original owner’s books are then transferred to the new owner.
He said that the Soledar & Soledar law firm representing Pointe at River City agreed to dismiss Mr. Garrett’s case after he presented that firm substantial evidence that Mr. Garrett had paid as agreed.
He said unlike many renters, Mr. Garrett had kept all of his payment receipts.
“If they take me to court again, I’ll just have to deal with it,” said Mr. Garrett, who suffers from kidney failure and requires dialysis three times a week to survive. “But this so unfair. I pay my rent like clockwork every month. I don’t know why, they won’t let me alone.”
children’s children.
By Jeremy M. LazarusAll that 69-year-old Richmonder Yolanda D. Fox wants for Christmas is to see her granddaughter, Mariah.
It’s been nearly a year since Ms. Fox saw the 8-year-old. The last time was around 6 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 16, when her son, Stuart D. Jeffries, left her North Side home with the child and started on his way to return her to her mother and his ex-wife, Maritta Ellis.
By 6:30 p.m., her son was lying dead in the parking lot of a Chesterfield County police station in the Chester area. According to police reports, Mr. Jeffries turned the child over to her mother, but then got into a verbal exchange with a man who accompanied Ms. Ellis. The man, Corey D. Goodson Sr., then pulled a gun and fatally shot Mr. Jeffries.
Mr. Goodson was arrested almost immediately in the station’s parking lot. He has since been convicted of manslaughter and is awaiting sentencing.
Still mourning the loss of her son, Ms. Fox said she has tried and failed to make contact with the mother to make arrangements for visitation with her grandchild.
But there has been no response, and Ms. Fox said she has been unable to learn where Ms. Ellis lives.
“I have not seen or heard from my granddaughter since that awful day,” Ms. Fox said. “There is not a day, hour or minute that I do not miss her, weep for her, pray for her and wonder how she is doing.”
The retired mental health counselor is hoping that a court can help. Next Tuesday, Dec. 20, she will be at Richmond Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.
Her purpose: To have a judge consider and grant her petition for visitation under a state law that was revamped in 2021 to make it easier for grandparents to gain that right.
Ms. Fox is hardly alone in seeking to be part of a grandchild’s life.
Thousands of families are ripped apart yearly by violence, divorce, addiction and other ills, and grandparents often are called on to step in.
Veteran family attorney E. Gordon Peters Jr. said that data show that more than 62,000 grandparents in the state are now legally and financially responsible for their grandchildren, while untold others are involved in the nurturing of their
Still, unlike some states, Virginia does not have an independent law dealing with grandparents’ rights for interaction with grandchildren, Mr. Peters and other attorneys noted in blogs on the subject.
Instead, like Ms. Fox, grandparents must go to court to secure visitation or custody even after a family has been disrupted. Nothing is automatic on that score, Mr. Peters noted.
Ms. Fox said that in memory of her son, she is creating a foundation in his name to educate, assist and support non-custodial parents navigate the challenges they face. She also plans to lobby the legislature to pass laws to improve the legal position of non-custodial parents.
But first, she is focused on securing visitation. She believes that her petition will be granted if the judge fully considers the relationship that she built with her grandchild, whom Mr. Jeffries called “Butterfly.”
“When it was his time to have her, he would always bring her by to visit with me,” Ms. Fox said. “He was a humble, quiet, praying man who just wanted to love, take care of his daughter and watch her grow. He was a great father. I just want to continue to be part of her life now that he no longer can be.”
AIA Virginia Board Chairman Robert L. Easter will have an unexpected honor to reflect on when he ends his term this week.
The American Institute of Architects presented Mr. Easter its 2023 Whitney M. Young Jr. Award earlier this month. The award recognizes architects and organizations, in part, for their “social responsibility,” according to AIA.
Past recipients include the National Organization of Minority Architects in 2007 and Habitat for Humanity in 1988. Mr. Easter founded the Richmond firm Kelso & Easter Architects (now KEi Architects) in 1983.
“It’s nice to have people appreciate your contributions. But I don’t do it for the recognition,” Mr. Easter said. “I do it to make a difference.”
It’s the way he was raised in Hampton, where he now chairs the architecture department at Hampton University.
“My parents taught their children to believe in giving back, to recognize the responsibility that comes with having the privileges and benefits that we enjoyed growing up,” Mr. Easter explained.
Mitchell Ramseur, a North Carolina architect who served on the panel evaluating Mr. Easter’s nomination, praised his “relentless pursuit and desire to give back to the youth and champion inclusiveness and universal access to architecture as a whole.” Another award juror, Ricardo Maga Rojas of Texas, said Mr. Easter’s work in academia “has been critical to increasing the pipeline for young black architects.”
Marcus Thomas is one success story. A former student of Mr.
Easter’s at Hampton, he interned KEi Architects a decade ago, is now the firm’s managing principal, and is being groomed by Mr. Easter to succeed to succeed him someday, he said.
“My hope is that this shines some light on the program he has built at Hampton,” Mr. Thomas said, “and we continue to attract and retain the talent that the program deserves and continue to turn out top-tier talent that competes with the rest.”
Mr. Easter is a past president of the National Association of Minority Architects (NOMA), which seeks to foster “justice and equity in communities of color through outreach, community advocacy, professional development and design excellence.”
In 1992, he was elected to serve a two-year term as NOMA’s 15th president. During his tenure, he created the NOMA Council to recognize the extraordinary contributions its members have made to the profession. After forging an alliance with South Africa’s design community, Mr. Easter helped create a sister organization to NOMA there and traveled to Johannesburg to meet with its leadership, facilitate sessions with the South African Institute of Architects, and discuss terms for cooperative leadership, according to his AIA biography.
Additionally, Mr. Easter worked to advance critical research and documentation of African-American architects in the U.S. and partnered with AIA and other organizations to establish AIA’s first diversity conference.
The field of architecture “hasn’t always been welcoming” to Black people, he said, making it important for the profession to understand “what they miss by not honoring the abilities and capabilities” of African-American architects.
Mr. Easter’s efforts to diversify the profession date to his graduate student days at Virginia Tech. There, he was instrumental in advancing a minority lecture series that introduced an “overwhelmingly white design academy to the work of architects and planners of color,” AIA said.
And while serving in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as an instructor, he helped young officers with little experience in design, math or engineering to transition into the Corps.
Jason Pugh, the president of NOMA, said recognition of Mr. Easter is “long overdue, and we cannot thank Robert enough for his continued service, steadfast leadership and valued counsel over the years.”
Buckle up, put down your phones, officials advise
Woman seeks to visit deceased son’s daughter as holidays near
‘I pay my rent like clockwork every month. I don’t know why they won’t let me alone.’Regina H. Boone/ Richmond Free Press Compiled by George Copeland, Jr. Ms. Fox “tWitch” Boss Photo courtesy of AIA The American Institute of Architects (AIA) presented Robert Easter, second from right, its 2023 Whitney M. Young Jr. Award earlier this month. The award recognizes architects and organizations, in part, for their “social responsibility,” according to AIA.
Continued from A1
The rush to select a candidate began after Gov. Glenn A. Youngkin on Dec. 9 ordered the special election to be held the Tuesday after President’s Day and set the filing deadline for just one week later.
Alexsis Rodgers, chair of the 4th Congressional District Democratic Committee, issued a statement that the committee is “committed to a smooth, transparent and expedient process to select a nominee.”
Sen. Morrissey and Mr. Marks have both issued trenchant criticisms of the party’s decision to hold the primary on a weekday, which in their view is designed to reduce voter participation.
“That’s what the Democratic Party elites did,” Sen. Morrissey said Tuesday in announcing his candidacy in Petersburg. “This decision that they made last night (Monday) is the most antiworking class, anti-democratic, anti-women’s decision since” arch-segregationist Harry F. Byrd controlled the party.
Sen. Morrissey vowed to win the nomination, though, as did Mr. Marks, who was equally vocal. “This is wrong,” Mr. Marks said, “but we are still going to compete and win.”
Delegate Bagby, who regarded Rep. McEachin as his mentor, rushed to position himself as the front runner. On Monday, he became the first to announce, and he also released a list of 18 endorsements, including from Richmond Mayor Levar M. Stoney, Richmond Delegate Delores L. McQuinn, and two members of the Henrico County Board of Supervisors, Frank J. Thornton
threw chairs, but she said Ms. Spears never touched the child in trying to bring him under control. She said Ms. Spears tapped a table to get his attention and spoke sternly in an effort to get the child to pick up the chairs.
Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Elisabeth Linka relied heavily on the testimony of the now 8-year-old Kieran Wiilder Rose. In direct testimony, he said Ms. Spears hit him on the head, back and knee.
However, he told Ms. Linka he could not identify Ms. Spears. And he admitted to Ms. Spears’ attorney, Lawarence A. Drombetta, that he also had no independent recollection of the incident, but instead was simply remembering what Ms. Linka and other adults told him he said in preparing him to testify.
The dismissal of the case is not the end for Ms. Spears. She is continuing to seek a hearing before the School Board in trying to win a reversal of Superintendent Jason Kamras’ recommendation that she be fired.
and Tyrone E. Nelson.
Henrico Sheriff Alissa Gregory and Richmond Sheriff Antionette Irving also have endorsed Delegate Bagby, who chairs the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, as has Henrico School Board Chairman Roscoe D. Cooper III.
Sen. McClellan, vice chair of the Black Caucus, announced Tuesday and released an initial list of 50 endorsers, including three current Virginia Democratic House members, Don Beyer of the 8th Congressional District, Gerald Connolly of the 11th Congressional District and Jennifer Wexton of the 10th Congressional District.
Her endorsers also include Richmond City Council members Michael J. Jones and Katherine Jordan, city School Board members Shonda Harris-Muhammed and Cheryl Burke, two area
delegates, Rodney T. Willett of Henrico and Dawn M. Adams of Richmond, and host of others who have been engaged in state and local government affairs.
On Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine of Richmond added his endorsement of Sen. McClellan, who already appears to have taken a fundraising lead. In the first 24 hours, she reported receiving $100,000 in donations.
On the Republican side, a firehouse primary is set for 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 17, at a Colonial Heights location to allow party members to decide between Mr. Benjamin, a minister, and Dale L. Sturdifen, a retired Virginia State trooper and former chairman of the Mecklenburg County School Board. The location is Life Christian Academy, 16801 Harrowgate Road, Colonial Heights.
Continued from A1
as disassembly was underway.
John Hill, who said he is a descendant of A.P. Hill and one of the complainants in the litigation with the city, said he drove eight hours from Ohio to Richmond to oversee the removal and handling of his ancestor’s remains.
“The statue should never have come down,” Mr. Hill said, speaking to reporters at the site on Monday. “The Confederacy was not a fight for slavery — they were fighting for state’s rights, and against tariffs.”
tires that lay on a nearby tow truck. Petula Burks, strategic communications director for the city, said the overall structure had to be dismantled in sections, and each section of the statue carefully examined and moved, due to the size of the structure and the uncertainty about where A.P. Hill’s remains are buried within it. One piece of the structure that was moved, for example, was 1,000 pounds.
these monuments comes down because it creates an opportunity to bridge our community.”
Beyond the cultural controversy over what the statue represented, motorists and pedestrian activity around the base intersection long was a concern for residents of the Rosedale neighborhood near Linwood Holton Elementary School.
Another point of contention for the descendants is possession of the statue itself, Mr. Hill said. The former Confederate general’s remains were believed to have been buried in or below the pedestal the statue sat on. Retrieved on Tuesday, Dec. 13, the remains were released to the family.
The statue and the pedestal remain in the possession of the City of Richmond. Mr. Hill said the statue and pedestal are his ancestor’s headstone, and the complainants want to keep the remains and the statue together. Mr. Hill said he plans to file litigation in court for possession.
Dozens of spectators cheered on Monday as the statue was removed and placed on
One of the onlookers cheering was Amanda Lynch, a Henrico resident and former teacher for Richmond Public Schools. She said her presence there was a full circle moment for her family.
“My third great-grandmother, Mary Jane Palmer Harris, had four children by M.B. Palmer, a local plantation owner,” she said. The removal of the last statue, she said, has been a long time coming, and she has been observing as every statue came down.
Ms. Lynch’s daughter, Ava Holloway, performed with another ballerina at the site of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s monument two years ago.
Councilwoman Anne-Frances Lambert, 3rd District, shared Ms. Lynch’s full-circle sentiment.
“My fourth great-grandfather, Julius Edmund Lambert, was a Confederate soldier,” she said. “I’m ecstatic that I am here during a time when the last of
Liz Turner, past president of the Rosedale Civic Association and a member of the Richmond Crusade for Voters, lives a block away from the former monument site. She said she has seen too many accidents happen in the intersection.
“If his ancestors are really concerned with putting him to rest, then they should want him away from here because this man has not rested in peace since he was buried here,” she said. “I am also deliriously happy to see that statue go, because it represents the end of a shameful part of our history.”
Another spectator stopped by to watch after dropping her son off at school. “I stopped to watch this because it means no more celebrating slavery and all of its torture,” Joy Shaw said. “My ancestors did not live to see this day but I did, and I am recording this as an important day in my history.”
Jeremy M. Lazarus contributed to this report.
Continued from A1
testing sites, or go online at vax.rchd.com.
The Virginia Department of Health also has a list of COVID-19 testing locations around the state at www.vdh.virginia.gov/coronavirus/ covid-19-testing/covid-19-testing-sites.
Want a COVID-19 vaccine or booster shot?
The Richmond and Henrico health districts are offering free walkup COVID-19 and flu vaccines at the following locations:
• Tuesday, Dec. 20, 9 to 11 a.m. – Cary Street, 400 E. Cary St., JYNNEOS shots, walk-ups welcome.
• Wednesday, Dec. 21, 10 a.m. to noon – RRHA Stonewall Building, 1920 Stonewall Ave.; 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. – RRHA Decatur Elderly Building, 1200 Decatur St., Moderna primary shots for ages 12 and older and boosters for ages 6 and older, Primary and Bivalent Pfizer shots for ages 12 and older, Novavax, Flu shots, walk-ups welcome but appointments encouraged.
• Thursday, Dec. 22, 9 to 11 a.m. – Cary Street, 400 E. Cary St., Primary Moderna shots for ages 6 months to 5 years old and ages 12 and older, bivalent booster for ages 6 and older, Primary Pfizer shots for ages 6 months and older and bivalent boosters for ages 5 and older, Novavax primary shots for ages 12 and older and boosters for ages 18 and older and Flu shots, walk-ups welcome but appointments encouraged.
People can schedule an appointment online at vase.vdh.virginia.gov, vaccinate.virginia.gov or vax.rchd.com, or by calling (804) 205-3501 or (877) VAX-IN-VA (1-877-829-4682).
VaccineFinder.org and vaccines.gov also allow people to find nearby pharmacies and clinics that offer the COVID-19 vaccine and booster.
Those who are getting a booster shot should bring their vaccine card to confirm the date and type of vaccine received.
RHHD also offers at-home vaccinations by calling (804) 205-3501 to schedule appointments.
New COVID-19 boosters, updated to better protect against the latest variants of the virus, are now available. The new Pfizer booster is approved for those age 12 and up, while the new Moderna booster is for those age 18 and older.
As with previous COVID-19 boosters, the new doses can only be received after an initial two vaccine shots, and those who qualify are instructed to wait at least two months after their second COVID19 vaccine.
The Richmond and Henrico Health Districts are now offering bivalent Pfizer and Moderna boosters to children between the ages of 5 to 11 in clinics in the near future. Children in this age range will be eligible after at least two months since their last vaccine dose.
New COVID-19 cases in Virginia rose by 8 percent during the last week, according to the Virginia Department of Health, and data from the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association showed hospitalizations statewide increased by 4 percent since last Wednesday.
Richmond and the counties of Chesterfield, Henrico and Hanover are now at medium levels of community COVID-19. Ten localities in Virginia are ranked at high community COVID levels, while 55 were ranked at medium as of last week.
Continued from A1 Continued from A1
A total of 2,296 new cases of COVID-19 were reported statewide Wednesday for the 24-hour period, contributing to an overall state total of 2,171,414 cases in Virginia since the pandemic’s outbreak. As of Wednesday, there have been 456,817 hospitalizations and 22,568 deaths statewide. The state’s seven-day positivity rate rose to 13.4 percent on Wednesday, after reaching 11.7 percent last week.
On Tuesday, state health officials reported that over 18 million COVID-19 doses had been administered, with 73.5 percent of the state’s population fully vaccinated at the time. State data also showed that over 5 million people in Virginia have received booster shots or third doses of the vaccine.
Among ages 5 to 11 in Virginia, 341,188 have received their first shots as of Tuesday, accounting for 47.1 percent of the age group in the state, while 300,026 children, or 41.4 percent, are fully vaccinated. In this age group, 54,413 children have received a monovalent booster, making up 7.5 percent, while 28,845 have gotten a bivalent booster shot, accounting for 9.9 percent of this group.
As of Tuesday, 60,723 children from the ages of zero to four have received their first doses, making up 13.4 percent of the population in Virginia, while 46,583 are fully vaccinated, or 10.2 percent of the population. On Wednesday, fewer than 1,615,413 cases, 7,580 hospitalizations and 105 deaths were recorded among children in the state.
State data also shows that African-Americans comprised 18.6 percent of cases statewide and 18 percent of deaths for which ethnic and racial data is available, while Latinos made up 9.3 percent of cases and 3.6 percent of deaths.
Reported COVID-19 data as of Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022 Cases Hospitalizations Deaths
Richmond 59,932 1,248 551
Henrico County 84,296 1,677 1,044
Chesterfield County 94,589 1,719 854
Hanover County 27,481 842 332
Compiled by George Copeland Jr.
Continued from A1
that the sheriff ordered eight deputies to take polygraphs beginning Tuesday to determine if they provided information about jail conditions to outsiders and is prepared to fire them if they do not pass.
Her effort to maintain strict control of information comes as the total number of sworn employees appears to have fallen to 289, according to internal information the Free Press received on condition of anonymity.
According to a 14-year employee, a major reason is that the sheriff rarely allows deputies to swear out warrants against inmates for attacks on deputies or other inmates. “I left when a friend of mine was assaulted, and nothing happened to the inmate,” said the deputy who spoke on condition of not being named.
He said that deputies who remain are reluctant to leave because their pay has soared due to the mandatory overtime they are working. “Some are doubling their regular pay, and it’s hard to give that up,” he said.
Still, 289 deputies “are too few to provide even minimum staffing,” said William J. Burnett, a Richmond Police officer who previously oversaw jail operations for 11 years for C.T. Woody Jr., Sheriff Irving’s predecessor. Officer Burnett unsuccessfully challenged Sheriff Irving in 2021 in a Democratic primary.
According to Officer Burnett, who plans to challenge the sheriff again in 2025, Sheriff Woody needed about 400 deputies
to handle the workload.
In overseeing jail operations, Officer Burnett said he needed a minimum of 190 deputies to provide 24-hour coverage and allow for vacations, illnesses, family leave and other absences.
He said there were usually 35 deputies at roll call for each shift at the jail when he was in charge. “Today, deputies are lucky if 10 show up to roll call besides the supervisor,” he said. “At times, there may be only two or three deputies at the most, including the supervisor, to patrol the floors.”
Officer Burnett said the 190 deputies were only part of the force at the jail when he was there. He said that 80 to 90 other deputies were assigned to the lockup to handle booking and release of inmates; to provide protection for the kitchen and laundry operations, and to transport inmates to and from the jail, hospital or other locations.
Just as important, he said that 80 to 90 deputies were separately assigned to courthouse security, while 12 to 20 others were assigned to serve subpoenas and court papers in civil cases and to handle evictions.
Given the current staffing, he said, booking people that police arrest can tie up officers for hours because only two or three people may be on duty. He said landlords and apartment owners also are having to wait extra days or even weeks to evict tenants because no deputies are available to supervise removal.
As for the jail, Officer Burnett said
that Sheriff Irving has had no choice but to have mandatory overtime to have some deputies available.
He said deputies also are under more stress because of the increased risks.
“The most important thing for deputies is to know that it is safe when you’re coming to work and that you can leave in the same condition you came. That’s number one, more important than pay,” he said.
“But that is no longer the case.”
Sheriff Irving, who easily won her second four-year term in the November 2021 elections after her primary win over Officer Burnett, also has frustrated families who are concerned about the risks to their relatives who are locked up.
Betty Turner-Wilson expressed shock and dismay at the dangers in the jail in a Facebook post on Nov. 28. “My son is in medical right now from being jumped and shanked at Richmond City Jail,” she wrote.
Tyedell Morman also is angry that his brother, Romelo S. Aleong, was scalded with hot bleach on his upper body on Nov. 15. Mr. Aleong has required multiple surgeries as doctors at the VCU Medical Center seek to repair the burn damage he suffered.
“How could this happen? How is it possible someone could get bleach and heat it up so it could be used as a weapon?” Mr. Morman said. “When you go into the jail, you’re not supposed to be attacked. Deputies are supposed to prevent what happened to my brother. It’s just wrong.”
prehensive fiscal year audit for the first time in five years, Mr. Saunders told the council during its informal session that the rebate would take about half of the $36 million in surplus or unspent money that he expects to be reported when the audit is done. Most of the remaining $18 million is earmarked for savings.
Mr. Saunders’ estimate is significantly smaller than the $70 million surplus that the Free Press reported Nov. 17 based on information from two key members of the council. The two members, who provided the information on condition of anonymity, said the information had come from the administration.
Asked separately, the two members could not explain why Mr. Saunders’ estimate was so much smaller.
The extra spending that council also endorsed is coming from a separate pot—a windfall of real estate taxes the city projects collecting in 2023. The city now projects collecting an additional $21 million more in revenue from the tax on real estate than was included in the council-approved 2022-23 budget now in force.
The increase is based on the final assessed values that City Assessor Richie McKeithen reported when he completed
the most recent annual assessment of property in October, which were above the projections he provided when the budget was being created.
Mayor Levar M. Stoney plans to set aside about $4 million and spend the rest.
The plan includes providing $3.13 million to operate four homeless shelters at least through April, though only two in South Side are open, a 60-bed men’s shelter United Nations Church is operating and a 40-bed shelter for women and women with children RVA Sister’s Keeper is operating.
An opening date has not been set for two shelters planned for North Side, the 60-bed space Commonwealth Catholic Charities would operate at 1900 Chamberlayne Ave. and a 30-bed space that Fifth Street Baptist Church in Highland Park.
Also, $1 million would go to the Greater Richmond Continuum of Care, the area’s umbrella homeless services organization, to help their partners provide case management, rapid rehousing and other services.
In addition, the Stoney administration plans to boost to $2 million the family emergency fund that HumanKind, the new name for Presbyterian Home and Family Services, would operate. The fund is designed to aid strapped families to avoid financial disaster and eviction with one-
time help to fix a car, restore disconnected utilities and handle other emergencies.
NextUp would gain $500,000 to support and expand youth programming initiatives, while $400,000 would be awarded to the YMCA to bolster the Help 1 RVA resource directory — an online hub that connects users to service providers, employment, housing, child care and other services.
The proposal also earmarks $5 million to enable public safety agencies, police, fire and emergency communications, to cover compensation adjustments mostly for supervisors and executives who were shortchanged in the pay raises the city provided those departments earlier this year.
Another $2 million would be used to cover an expected increase in health insurance costs for city employees; $1.1 million would go to the Department of Public Works to pay for additional traffic calming measures; and $1.8 million would go to the Department of Economic Development to pay contractual costs related to the City Center and Diamond District developments.
The plan also allocates $445,000 to provide pay incentives to city employees who speak other languages to serve as translators, and provides a $130,000 contribution to support Reynolds Community College.
Rabia Kamara, a Virginia Commonwealth University alumna, was the university’s commencement speaker Saturday, Dec. 10, at VCU’s Stuart C. Siegel Center. As the winner of Ben & Jerry’s “Clash of the Cones” on the Food Network, and the bakery chef/owner of Ruby Scoops and Suzy Sno, on Richmond’s Northside,
“Whether you realize it or not, you’ve laid the foundation for what’s next in your journey, even if you don’t quite know what that may be. Whatever
it may be, I hope that it first and foremost honors you, your truth, your passion and your desires in life.
Alicia Jones of Suffolk, below right center, was among the 2,450 excited graduates at VCU’s December commencement.
Dwight and Josandra Daniel of Mechanicsville, below left, were among hundreds of parents and family members celebrating their loved ones graduation. The Daniels’ daughter, Amber Daniel, received a master’s degree in social work.
a
To all of our associates and providers – Thank you for your ongoing commitment to ensuring Bon Secours — Richmond Community Hospital is a top choice to receive care.
Your dedication to care for those we serve with expertise and compassion enables us to carry out our mission of improving the health and well-being of the Richmond community.
It’s because of your hard work that we are a nationally recognized health care leader. Congratulations on this achievement. We appreciate all that you do to bring good help to those in need.
Visit bonsecours.com to learn more.
Proud to be one of the nation’s top general hospitals
One day in the 1970s, Paul Fleisher and his wife were walking through a department store parking lot when they noticed a group of people looking at them. Mr. Fleisher, who is white, and his wife, who is Black, were used to “the look.” But this time it was more intense.
“There was this white family who was just staring at us, just staring holes in us,” Mr. Fleisher recalled.
That fraught moment occurred even though any legal uncertainty about the validity of interracial marriage had ended a decade earlier — in 1967, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down state laws banning marriages between people of different races.
In the more than half-century since, interracial marriage has become more common and far more accepted. So Mr. Fleisher was surprised that Congress felt the need to include an additional protection in the Respect for Marriage Act, which was given final approval in a House vote Thursday. It ensures that not only same-sex marriages, but also interracial marriages, are enshrined in federal law.
The 74-year-old Mr. Fleisher, a retired teacher and children’s book author, attended segregated public schools in the 1950s in the then-Jim Crow South, and later saw what he called “token desegregation” in high school, when four Black students were in his senior class of about 400 students.
He and his wife, Debra Sims Fleisher, 73, live outside Richmond, about 50 miles from Caroline County, where Mildred Jeter, a Black woman, and Richard Loving, a white man, were arrested and charged in 1958 with marrying out of state
and returning to Virginia, where interracial marriage was illegal. Their challenge to the law led to Loving v. Virginia, the landmark ruling that ended bans against interracial marriages.
The Respect for Marriage Act, which passed the Senate last week, had been picking up steam since June, when the Supreme Court overturned the federal right to an abortion. That ruling included a concurring opinion from Justice Clarence Thomas that suggested the high court should review other precedent-setting rulings, including the 2015 decision legalizing samesex marriage.
While much of the attention has been focused on protections for same-sex marriages, interracial couples say they are glad Congress also included protections for their marriages, even though their right to marry was well-established decades ago.
“It’s a little unnerving that these things where we made such obvious progress are now being challenged or that we feel we have to really beef up the bulwark to keep them in place,” said Ana Edwards, a historian who lives in Richmond.
Ms. Edwards, 62, who is Black, and her husband, Phil Wilayto, 73, who is white, have been married since 2006. Both have been community activists for years and said they didn’t consider interracial marriage a potentially vulnerable institution until the Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling legalizing abortion.
“That reminds all of us that whatever rights we have in this society are conditional — they can be taken away,” said Mr. Wilayto. ”The fact that Congress had to take up this issue in 2022 should be a stark reminder of that fact for us.”
For younger interracial couples, the thought that their right to marry could ever be threatened is a foreign concept.
“We never in our wildest dreams thought we would need to be protected as an interracial couple,” said Derek Mize, a 42-year-old white attorney who lives in an Atlanta suburb with his husband, Jonathan Gregg, 41, who is Black, and their two children.
As a same-sex couple, they were at the forefront of the long struggle for acceptance and felt the elation that followed the 2015 Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage across the country.
Still, they see the need for new protections
for interracial marriages as well.
“We’re really relieved that there is this law,” Mr. Mize said. “Protections through the courts and protections through the legislation certainly helps us sleep better at night.”
Mr. Mize said he remembers studying Loving v. Virginia in law school and thought then that it was “ridiculous” that there had to be litigation over marriages between people of different races. But after he read the Supreme Court’s ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, he said: “Who knows where it will stop?”
Mr. Gregg, a management consultant, said he sees the Respect for Marriage Act as “an added level of safety” for same-sex and interracial marriages — a federal law and Supreme Court rulings supporting their right to marry.
“You’ve got two ways to be OK,” he said. “They have to take down both of them in order for your marriage to fall apart.”
Angelo Villagomez, a 44-year-old senior fellow at the think tank Center for American Progress, said it was “unthinkable” that his marriage could become illegal. Mr. Villagomez, who is of mixed white and Indigenous Mariana Islands descent, and his wife, Eden Villagomez, 38, who is Filipina, live in Washington, D.C.
But after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, “it feels like some of those things that have just been taken for granted ... are under threat,” said Mr. Villagomez, whose parents, also a mixedrace couple, were married in the 1970s, not long after the Loving decision.
Mr. Villagomez worries about what could come next. “If we don’t put a stop to some of this backsliding, this country is gonna go to a very dark place,” he said.
“I’m worried about what else is on the chopping block.”
About two dozen people attended the third community meeting on a recent rainy Tuesday night at George Wythe High School to hear about three color palette considerations for the interior of the building and suggestions for displaying memorabilia.
Dr. Erin Brown, director of family and community engagement for Richmond Public Schools, said “We want to build schools that are community spaces, where not only students feel welcome, but families feel welcome.”
Three different color palettes — one similar to the school’s
existing colors, one slightly deviating from those colors and another very different color scheme were presented.
A number of alumni were in attendance and Jeff Harris, co-director of the K-12 Design Studio for RRMM Architects, presented suggestions for memorializing the history of the school. He showed work the company has done for other schools, asking the audience to consider one or more of the following: a statue/ sculpture of the school’s namesake, a display space with images from the past, a timeline and murals.
There was another issue to consider as well — the school’s name.
Mecca Patterson-Guridy wants to learn, but for some subjects, she isn’t always comfortable asking her teachers. So she has been turning to TikTok.
Online, the 17-year-old high school junior in Philadelphia has found videos on social media platforms about protests over police shootings, civic engagement and Black and Latino history in the U.S. The accounts she checks regularly feature segments including “Fast Black History” and “Black Girl Magic Minute.”
The videos, Mecca said, address “things that get overlooked in the classroom.”
Scrutiny from conservatives around teaching about race, gender and sexuality has made many teachers reluctant to discuss issues that touch on cultural divides. To fill in gaps, some students are looking to social media, where online personalities, nonprofit organizations and teachers are experimenting with ways to connect with them outside the confines of school.
The platform has opened new opportunities for educators looking to expand students’ worldviews.
Isis Spann, for one, said she turned to developing digital content after officials in a South Carolina school system discouraged her from sharing stories about some Civil Rights Movement figures with her kindergarten students during Black History Month. She also recalls being told by the principal’s office to remove earrings that said “Strong Black Queen” because they were deemed inappropriate.
“It didn’t sit right with me. I couldn’t help but think that if I weren’t a Black teacher I would be having a different experience,” she said.
Ms. Spann left the classroom and now runs a company, “FUNdamentals of Learning,” which provides educational materials for use in-person and online. She said she is grateful to be able to share her ideas independently from the rules of any school or administrator.
“There is no gatekeeper of
The Associated Press sorts for social media content,” she said.
In the “Black Girl Magic Minute” videos, 19-year-old Taylor Cassidy, a host on Sirius XM’s TikTok Radio Channel, highlights the stories of women who have inspired her and shares news about Black culture.
Others who are finding audiences online for their takes on history and current events include Atlanta-based personality Lynae Bogues, who hosts a segment called “Parking Lot Pimpin” on social and political topics in the Black community. Kahlil Greene, who in 2019 became the first Black student body president at Yale University, calls himself the “Gen Z Historian” on social media. He shares stories of Black history and culture.
TikTok has encouraged more educational content on its platform. In May 2020, when most American students were still learning remotely because of COVID-19, the company announced it was investing millions of dollars and teaming with experts, public figures and educational institutions to post more learning material under the hashtag #LearnOnTikTok.
Not everything posted online is educational, to say the least.
A key to help students sort reliable, educational material from everything else — including frivolity, misinformation and conspiracy theories — is teaching them digital literacy, experts say. They need to be able to identify sources and find corroborating information.
High school student Mecca Patterson-Guridy, 17, poses for a portrait in Philadelphia. Scrutiny from conservatives around teaching about race, gender and sexuality has made many teachers reluctant to discuss issues that touch on cultural divides. To fill in gaps, some students, including Mecca, are looking to social media, where online personalities, nonprofit organizations and teachers are experimenting with ways to connect with them outside the confines of school.
Parents and educators should take time to learn more about TikTok in particular to understand the platform and how to reach kids where they are, said Vanessa Dennen, a professor at Florida State University. TikTok alone has about 80 million users in the U.S., and they trend young.
“Look, the thing is kids are on TikTok because the parents and adults aren’t,” Ms. Dennen said.
The videos made by goodfaith actors that do pique students’ interest can be as educational as anything else they come across in a library or a lecture — as long as they have the background knowledge to put them in context, Ms. Dennen said.
Meanwhile, new laws passed in more than a dozen states over the last two years have put a chill on classroom discussion of topics that touch on racism and sexism.
The debates have extended to what books kids are reading. The American Library Association, which keeps track of book bans in the U.S., documented 729 challenges targeting 1,597 titles in 2021 across library, school, and university materials. That’s the highest recorded number of challenges since tracking began in 2000.
Kennedy McCollum, 18, said she learned a lot about history from TikTok videos while growing up in Phoenix. She still turns regularly to social media for news, to learn more about social movements and develop her personal finance skills.
“In high school, teachers didn’t really talk about current problems that are happening, especially when it comes to police brutality. That’s not talked about at all,” said Ms. McCollum, who now attends Hampton University, a historically Black institution in Virginia.
Before high school, Mecca Patterson-Guridy attended Sankofa Freedom Academy Charter School, which emphasizes pride in students’ African heritage. As a student now at the Philadelphia High School for Creative & Performing Arts, where she has more white teachers, she said she senses not all are comfortable with questions related to race.
There have been discussions on Black history, she said, but they felt incomplete and based in Black trauma, so she went on social media to find more positive representations.
“A lot of times Black history, Latino history, Asian history, Indigenous history gets overlooked. Let’s talk about women’s rights, sex education and abortion as well,” she said. “I think we should talk more about the things that are directly impacting us.”
Dana Fox, director of construction for the school district who was recently promoted to chief operating officer, addressed the potential for a name change at the school. She said the school board has not yet to decide, but: “Our team is going to need to know and know quickly, if the name of the school will change,” she said, because the school’s name could appear on the floor and on the school marquee. Changing those, she said, will be expensive and difficult to change once completed.
To provide context regarding name changes for RPS schools, Dr. Brown explained that Barack Obama Elementary School was a recent name change from J.E.B. Stuart Elementary School. These name changes, she explained, are because as the former capital of the Confederacy, many of Richmond’s schools are named after Confederate soldiers, generals and slaveholders.
“RPS predominantly serves Black and Brown children,” she said. “We want the kids to have school names that support the children — we want the children to have pride in their schools.”
George Wythe principal Kevin Olds said he felt like a “kid in a candy store” watching the process of a new building unfold. “This is meeting the kids where we are,” he said. “This is our city, our town, our community investing in our kids and that’s what it’s about.”
Dr. Brown said her team is going to be engaging the community in a number of ways, beyond the meetings, to get feedback on this phase of the building’s design, over the next two weeks. Family liaisons will be “knocking on doors,” and making appearances at churches and community events. Members of the engagement team will be present at George Wythe during lunchtime and also visiting sixth- and seventh-graders at middle schools to get student feedback as well.
The information will be collected and given to the George Wythe Reimagined Committee who will tally results and make recommendations to the RPS School Board based on the outcomes.
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.
State Project: 0460-67-739, P101, R201, C501
Federal Project: NHPP-0674(303), NHPP-067-4(040, 041) UPC: 115405
Senator Jennifer McClellan has dedicated her life to ensuring that all Virginians have their voices heard. She’s served greater Richmond for 17 years in the General Assembly, fighting for opportunity for all.
With her perspective as the daughter of Black educators from the segregated South and as a leader in the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, Jenn has passed landmark legislation to help Virginians:
Protecting voting rights Safeguarding abortion access Tackling climate change
Rebuilding crumbling schools Expanding Obamacare in Virginia Reforming Virginia’s criminal justice system
Jenn succeeded Donald McEachin in the State Senate and shared his vision for making sure government serves people. Now Jenn is running for Congress to continue his legacy and to deliver results for Virginia families.
Just a few weeks ago, Republican Gov. Glenn A. Youngkin and Jillian Balow, superintendent of public instruction, were publicly scolded for allegedly trying to distort the history to be taught to public school students.
Democrats, in particular, had a field day, in pillorying the errors and omissions they saw in the Youngkin administration’s proposed standards for history and social studies after reviewing what was to be taught grade by grade in those subjects.
Among other things, the Youngkin administration was accused of proposing standards that downplay AfricanAmerican achievements, ignore Asian-Americans, give short shrift to Latinos and overall, as one Democratic state senator put it, “delete major components of our history and deliberately omit the diverse perspectives that shape our commonwealth and our nation.”
But turns out that distorting the past is a bipartisan exercise.
Just this week, Virginia’s two U.S. senators, Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, issued a press release celebrating the Senate’s passage of their resolution to designate September as Africa Disapora Heritage Month.
Sounds innocuous enough until you read it and then you realize the purpose is largely limited to recognizing and celebrating the achievements of the newest wave of African immigrants who are making a substantial impact on this country.
Mimicking a similar distorted, but little noticed resolution that passed the Virginia General Assembly, the resolution that the two senators co-sponsored with other Democrats does mention those who came enslaved in past centuries, but the real focus is on the newcomers.
The resolution makes that clear in its first sentence: “The African diaspora population in the United States has grown significantly in recent years, with the number of African immigrants growing at a rate of almost 246 percent from 2000 to 2019,” including the 115,000 newcomers who reside in Virginia.
The resolution also notes that “the African diaspora community is one of the most diverse communities in the United States, inclusive of people who speak multiple languages, whose rich heritage comes from all across the African continent, and whose members practice various faiths.”
Talk about a determined willingness to distort history and the word diaspora, which is defined as “the dispersion of or spread of a people from their original homeland.”
The African diaspora has been going on almost as long as our kind, homo sapiens, have been walking the earth and that goes back potentially 500,000 years ago.
While there is debate about our origins, scientists generally agree that Africa is the Motherland for everyone, white, red, yellow and black, and that humans spread from that continent to the rest of the world.
And many of us are the living, breathing progeny of one the largest waves of the African diaspora that still impacts us today — the trans-Atlantic slave trade—the enormous and largely involuntary transfer of millions of humans from the Motherland to the Caribbean and the Americas.
The impact of that disapora on what is known as western civilization has been on a par with a comet striking the earth.
The huge civil war that was fought in this country, the development of American music and culture, the growth of the cotton and sugar industries are just a tiny sample of the ways that enforced migration has impacted this country and continues to resonate.
The senators’ resolution really is focused on the newcomers from Africa, “thousands of whom are small- and mediumsized business owners,” according to the enthusiastic press release, essentially ignoring the 46 million Black Americans who are children of that previous diaspora.
The resolution speaks of the African newcomers as having a spending power of $40 billion, while failing to mention the $1.6 trillion in spending power attributable to the entire Black population.
We have no quarrel with the senators for deciding it was important to call attention to the contributions of the newcomers, but we strenuously object deliberate mistreatment of the term African diaspora in doing so.
It is far too large a concept to be used in such a narrow way.
The United States Congress will soon have a new elected representative from Virginia’s 4th Congressional District that has, according to the U.S. Census, 789,815 residents, 51.4 percent female, 48.6 percent male.
The 4th District has been reliably represented by Democrats for several years. A special Democratic primary will take place Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2022. The winner will face a Republican opponent on Feb. 21, 2023.
Who are the candidates as of Wednesday afternoon’s Free Press deadline?
• Delegate Lamont Bagby: Chair of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus
• State Sen. Jennifer McClellan: Vice Chair of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus.
• State Sen. Joe Morrissey
• Attorney Joseph Preston
• Insurance agent Tavorise K. Marks
The ability to interview each candidate and reach an informed endorsement was compromised by the Free Press Wednesday evening deadline.
So we are making no endorsement.
We do, however, think that there is one candidate that does not merit endorsement, namely Sen. Joe Morrissey, whom we consider to be the quintessential self-serving opportunist.
If you haven’t watched Sen. Raphael Warnock’s speech on the night of his re-election in Georgia on Dec. 6, stop everything you’re doing, and watch it now. Then tell your kids to watch it. And your neighbors.
What you’ll see is 20 minutes that will leave you with a deep feeling of inspiration and gratitude, and a question: Why was this so hard? How is it that Sen. Warnock was so clearly the best candidate and had to prove it four times, in the last two years?
Let’s take the question first. The surprise victories by Sen. Warnock and Sen. Jon Ossoff in 2021 were triumphs over systemic racism and a vicious misinformation and disinformation campaign by far-right forces. Immediately after they won, Georgia became ground zero for a state voter suppression effort that included harsh
crackdowns on early and mail-in voting. The runoff system that Sen. Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker were forced into was itself a relic of 1960s white supremacy. It was created by a Georgia segregationist who hoped it would stop Black candidates from winning in a
gave the credit to Georgians for electing the state’s first Black and first Jewish senators at a time when the far right was trying to divide the country. He took on the conservative pundits claiming his victory was proof that there was no voter suppression in Georgia. Just because Georgia voters endured long lines in the rain doesn’t mean there is no suppression, he said. It means Georgians refused to have their voices silenced.
Hearing these words at a time when democracy is doubted and under attack is a restorative experience. Hearing Sen. Warnock pledge to work in a bipartisan spirit on behalf of all Americans feels like coming home, to an America where public servants used to believe that was possible. Hearing him say that he will fight for criminal justice reform because he believes we can have both justice and safety struck a personal chord with me.
crowded field where white votes were split.
Meanwhile, Mr. Walker’s entire campaign was a far-right ploy to split Black votes while giving white Republicans’ plausible deniability about their party’s racism. Most Black voters saw right through it. But the GOP mustered enormous political firepower and financial resources for their scheme. That made the race close when it never should have been close.
It made Sen. Warnock’s road, which was always going to be hard, even harder.
On the night of his re-election, Sen. Warnock addressed all of this with his usual dignity. He
The rest of his address showed that Georgia has reelected a senator who values social justice and still believes it can be achieved through representative democracy. Democracy, he said, is the political enactment of a spiritual idea: That each of us carries within us a divine spark. It is a political system that is rooted in the belief that each of us has value, that if we have value we have a voice, and that our voice is our vote. I’m paraphrasing here, and words on the page don’t do justice to Sen. Warnock’s oratory skills. Again, I hope you’ll watch the speech.
“Dance with the one that brung you,” goes the old saying.
Democrats would be wise to absorb its wisdom. In the last election, pundits expected a “red wave,” with inflation high, President Biden unpopular, and the history of midterm elections. Instead, Democrats were handed the best midterm results of any party since the 2002 midterm when Republicans were boosted by the post-9/11 sentiments.
The source of the Democratic surprise isn’t a secret. Voters under 40 – millennials and Gen Z – voted Democratic 59 to 41, while voters over 40 favored Republicans by 10 points. These two generations will constitute 40 percent of the electorate in 2024. Add the big margins provided to Democrats by African-Americans, Hispanics and single women and you have the core of the Democratic coalition. The ones who brought Dems to the dance.
Like all Americans, these voters are concerned about the economy.
The passions of these voters are expressed in their movements which challenge the staggering inequality of this society, the climate movement that demands action on this existential threat—the Black Lives Matter movement that sparked the largest interracial, nonviolent demonstrations in our nation’s history, and the women’s movements particularly in the wake of the Dobbs decision that stripped women of their right to control their own bodies. There also are the movements against
gun violence that grew out of Parkland and the school shootings that seared a generation and the insurgent union organizing that has been propelled by young workers objecting to dangerous conditions and bad wages.
For years, conservative Democratic pundits and politicians have argued that Democrats were too liberal for America. In 2022, however, exit polls showed abortion ranked second as the prime reason to vote, and those voters went overwhelmingly Democratic. Republicans spent
L. Jackson Sr.millions charging Democrats with being weak on crime, but only 11 percent of the population named that issue as a prime factor in their decision, and gun policy – gun control – ranked just as high, even though very little money was spent on that. Democrats should learn that protecting the rights of people is not only right morally; it is effective politically.
White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain hailed the young vote on Twitter, and claimed it was the result of the president who “kept his promises to younger Americans, with action on climate change, marijuana reform and student loans.
Yet, three months after President Biden’s limited relief on student loan debt was announced, not a single person has received a drop of relief. Republican lawsuits and Trump judges have blocked the program.
Not much can get done through the next Congress with the right-wing of the Republican party holding the reins in the House of Representatives. But President Biden can use executive authority to act boldly in a
range of areas. One of these is student loans. In the face of Republican obstruction, he should direct the education secretary to cancel student loan debts immediately and permanently. Instead of making borrowers apply for the program and wend their way through complicated eligibility requirements, he could make the cancellations universal, immediate and automatic.
Similarly, President Biden can and should insist that any funding for the government include full funding for lawyers in the National Labor Relations Board, giving them the resources needed to crack down on the lawless behavior of companies such as Starbucks and Amazon that are trying to suppress young workers’ efforts to organize.
The president can raise up reform attorneys general, like Minnesota’s Keith Ellison, who are championing sensible criminal justice reforms even while cracking down on gun violence. He can animate the Justice Department to go after voter suppression and racially discriminatory reapportionment that the Supreme Court refused to review prior to the 2022 elections, and much more.
The point is the White House and Democrats should be clear about championing the concerns of those who voted them into office and delivering to the extent possible.
Young voters are not apathetic. They are already more active politically than their predecessors were at the same age. They face a fearful future and are looking for fundamental reform. They are looking for who will provide that. Democrats would be wise to respond.
The writer is founder and president of the national Rainbow PUSH Coalition.
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.
I believe that too, in my bones.
My organization, People For the American Way, has dedicated itself to advancing that goal. There are so many solutions we can and should explore that will save lives.
The writer president of People For the American Way and Professor of the Practice at the University of Pennsylvania.
Richmond Free Press 422 East Franklin Street Richmond, VA 23219 Telephone (804) 644-0496 FAX (804) 643-7519
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 27709 Richmond, VA 23261
Founder Raymond H. Boone President – Publisher Jean P. Boone jeanboone@richmondfreepress.com
Managing Editor Bonnie Newman Davis bonniedavis@richmondfreepress.com
Vice President – New Business Development Raymond H. Boone Jr. jrboone@richmondfreepress.com
Vice President –News Enhancement Jeremy M. Lazarus jeremylazarus@richmondfreepress.com
Vice President – Production April A. Coleman aprilcoleman@richmondfreepress.com
Staff Writers Fred Jeter, Frances Crutchfield Hazel Trice Edney
Photographers Sandra Sellars sandrasellars@richmondfreepress.com Regina H. Boone reginaboone@richmondfreepress.com James Haskins, Rudolph Powell and Clinton A. Strane
Vice President – Administration Tracey L. Oliver traceyoliver@richmondfreepress.com
Advertising Traffic Coordinator Cynthia Downing advertising@richmondfreepress.com classifieds@richmondfreepress.com
Advertising Fax: (804) 643-5436
National Advertising Representative NNPA
The members of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus want to reaffirm that justice must be done for Donovon Lynch — who should still be alive today. Donovon was tragically shot and killed by a Virginia Beach police officer nearly two years ago.
We are certain that these past years without Donovon have been a deeply painful and emotional time and experience for his family. To date, there has been no accountability — either civil or criminal — for the death of Donovon Lynch. The members of the VLBC extend their support to the Lynch family in their pursuit of justice for Donovon.
Our prayers are with the Lynch family and we sincerely hope that they will soon find some comfort and peace as they continue to seek justice for Donovon and mourn his tragic and deeply impactful loss.
THE VIRGINIA LEGISLATIVE BLACK CAUCUSIn the fall of 1996, I, along with LaWanda Lochart, Ermajean Booker and Sara Arthur, were facilitators of the “Law Related Education” program of the Richmond Juvenile Court, an eight-session course for at-risk youths, the successfull attendance of which helped them mitigate any court issues they faced.
I found my notes, and I was moderator of session six titled “Constitutional Rights” on Nov. 5, for which I solicited A. Donald McEachin to be “discussion leader” since his law firm had represented youth who were accused of stealing the shirts they were wearing and made to leave the store shirtless, the shirt or shirts only returned
grudgingly upon proof of prior purchase as reported in the local press. I thought, what a great advocate for how the court can be your friend.
Mr. McEachin showed up at 5 o’clock that night at the Oliver Hill Courts Building, even though it was election night in Virginia, and he was then already an elected representative. He was terrific: engaging the dozen or so participants, relating what he could of that and other cases, and soliciting and answering all questions, without time constraint. I still clearly recall one participant who visibly wrestled with how much recompense it would take for him to keep from
seeking justice with his fists.
I cannot think of a better example of public service than what Mr. McEachin did that night, giving of his time to at-risk youths even though it was an important political election day and he was an elected Virginia representative, later to become one of our U.S. Congressional Representatives.
We residents of the Commonwealth of Virginia are blessed to have had him as our neighbor and public servant for the past 25 years. Thanks be to God and the universe for the life of A. Donald McEachin.
B (BEN) LACy ROSE JR RichmondLOS ANGELES
The City Council was disrupted Tuesday by another round of boisterous, foul-mouthed protests after a councilman facing widespread calls to resign for his involvement in a racism scandal defiantly returned to the chamber and took his seat.
Councilman Kevin de Leon’s appearance prompted some council members to walk out amid shouting and chanting from rival groups in the audience, while council President Paul Krekorian ordered a recess amid the outburst.
The turmoil represented a reprise of a Friday meeting where Mr. de Leon appeared in the ornate chamber for the first time since mid-October. He is the only council member involved in the scandal still resisting calls from President Biden to step down, while continuing to collect his annual salary of nearly $229,000 — among the most lucrative paydays for city council members in the nation.
Protesters were shouting and waving signs in the audience throughout the meeting. During a public comment period, most of those who spoke denounced Mr. de Leon as a racist and called on the councilman to resign, but some supporters defended him and lauded his work in his district, which includes downtown Los Angeles and the heavily Latino Boyle Heights neighborhood.
The continuing disruptions turned the meeting at times into a veritable Theater of the Absurd, with protesters screaming profanities, city staffers pleading for calm and police evicting some protesters who refused repeated orders to settle down.
When Mr. de Leon appeared about midway through the meeting, more shouting ensued, some council members immediately left the room and Council President Paul Krekorian quickly called a recess. The council later resumed business, enacting Mayor Karen Bass’ signature proposal declaring a state of emergency for homeless-
ness that she promised to propose on her first day in office.
“This is a monumental day for the city,” Mayor Bass said in a statement after the vote. “This declaration will enable us to move faster and unlock every tool possible” to take on the crisis, with over 40,000 unhoused people living in tent encampments or rusty RVs that have spread into virtually every neighborhood.
The scandal was triggered by a leaked recording of crude, racist comments from a year-old meeting involving de Leon, then-council President Nury Martinez, labor leader Ron Herrera and then-Councilman Gil Cedillo — all Latino Democrats — in which they plotted to expand their political power at the expense of Black voters during a realignment of council district boundaries.
Former President Martinez and Mr. Herrera resigned within days of the disclosure of the recording, and Mr. Cedillo vanished from public sight. Mr. Cedillo’s term ended Monday after he lost a re-election bid earlier this year, leaving Mr. de Leon as the only person involved in the scandal still holding his job.
It remains unknown who made the recording that was posted on a website, or why.
Mr. de Leon has apologized repeatedly but said he will not resign. He argues that he wants to continue working on homelessness, fallout from the pandemic and the threat of renter evictions in his district.
There is no legal avenue for his colleagues to remove him — the council can only suspend a member when criminal charges are pending.
Stripped of his ability to participate on council committees, facing widespread pressure to resign and after an extended absence from council meetings, Mr. de Leon has been maneuvering to return to the public sphere, despite being reviled by colleagues who say they cannot work with him.
Last week, he scuffled with an activist who heckled him at a holiday toy giveaway.
SALEM, Ore.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown announced Tuesday that she is commuting the sentences of all of the state’s 17 inmates awaiting execution, saying their death sentences will be changed to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Gov. Brown, a Democrat with less than a month remaining in office, said she was using her executive clemency powers to commute the sentences and that her order will take effect on Wednesday.
“I have long believed that justice is not advanced by taking a life, and the state should not be in the business of executing people — even if a terrible crime placed them in prison,” Gov. Brown said in a statement.
Oregon has not executed a prisoner since 1997. In Gov. Brown’s first news conference after becoming governor in 2015, she announced she would continue the death penalty moratorium imposed by her predecessor, former Gov. John Kitzhaber.
So far, 17 people have been executed in the U.S. in 2022, all by lethal injection and all in Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona, Missouri and Alabama, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Like Oregon, some other states are moving away from the death penalty.
In California, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom imposed a moratorium on executions in 2019 and shut down the state’s execution chamber at San Quentin. A year ago, he moved to dismantleAmerica’s largest death row by moving all condemned inmates to other prisons within
two years.
In Oregon, Gov. Brown is known for exercising her authority to grant clemency.
During the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Brown granted clemency to nearly 1,000 people convicted of crimes. Two district attorneys, along with family members of crime victims, sued the governor and other state officials to stop the clemency actions. But the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled in August that she acted within her authority.
The prosecutors, in particular, objected to Gov. Brown’s decision to allow 73 people convicted of murder, assault, rape and manslaughter while they were younger than 18 to apply for early release.
Gov. Brown noted that previously she granted commutations “to individuals who have demonstrated extraordinary growth and rehabilitation” but said that assessment didn’t apply in her latest decision.
“This commutation is not based on any rehabilitative ef-
forts by the individuals on death row,” Gov. Brown said. “Instead, it reflects the recognition that the death penalty is immoral. It is an irreversible punishment that does not allow for correction.”
The Oregon Department of Corrections announced in May 2020 it was phasing out its death row and reassigning those inmates to other special housing units or general population units at the state penitentiary in Salem and other state prisons.
A list of inmates with death sentences provided by the governor’s office had 17 names.
But the state Department of Corrections’ website lists 21 names. One of those prisoners, however, had his death sentence overturned by the Oregon Supreme Court in 2021 because the crime he committed was no longer eligible for the death penalty under a 2019 law.
Officials in the governor’s office and the corrections department did not immediately respond to an attempt to reconcile the lists.
Michael Jordan was moments away from hoisting his third of what would become five NBA Most Valuable Player awards, and then-Commissioner David Stern greeted him at the midcourt ceremony with words that were both simple and profound.
“You are simply the standard,” Stern said that night in 1992, “by which basketball excellence is measured.”
That’s never been more true.
The NBA MVP award has been renamed The Michael Jordan Trophy, the league announced Tuesday. Jordan is a five-time MVP so he has five trophies named for Maurice Podoloff — the league’s first commissioner. But after six decades of the award bearing Podoloff’s name, the NBA decided the time was right to rebrand.
The Jordan trophy will stand 23.6 inches tall and weigh 23.6 pounds—nods to his jersey number and six NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls—but is not a depiction of him. The chairman of the Charlotte Hornets approved the design, one that symbolizes someone reaching for excellence, but did not want the statue to be of himself. He also declined a request for comment through the NBA.
“Anybody should be able to see this and see themselves in it,” said Mark Smith, a longtime designer at Jordan Brand and the person who oversaw the trophy’s design. “They should feel the excellence of Michael Jordan and his pursuit. It’s got his name on it, but it isn’t him. It’s everybody. It could be a shipbuilder or it could be a teacher or a lawyer or a writer who looks at it and says, ‘That’s what I’m trying to do.’”
The league has rebranded almost all its trophies in the last two seasons, even adding some new ones. As part of Tuesday’s announcement, the league revealed that The Jerry West Award is being introduced and will be given to the NBA Clutch Player of the Year — which, like almost all other league awards, will be voted on by a media panel. NBA coaches will nominate players for the clutch award.
Also, the Defensive Player of the Year will now receive The
Hakeem Olajuwon Trophy; the Rookie of the Year will receive The Wilt Chamberlain Trophy; the Sixth Man of the Year will now receive The John Havlicek Trophy; and the NBA’s Most Improved Player will receive The George Mikan Trophy.
“Our new collection of trophies celebrates some of the greatest and most impactful players in the history of the NBA,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said. “As we recognize the league’s top performers each season, we also pay tribute to the legends
who embody these prestigious awards.”
It became evident last week that something was changing about the MVP trophy when the NBA said Podoloff’s name was going onto a new prize—a trophy that will go to the team with the best regular season record.
The MVP trophy has many levels of numerical significance related to Jordan, besides its height and weight. It has a fivesided base, a tribute to his five MVP awards. The name badge is six-sided, one for each of his championships. The base is shaped at a 15-degree angle; he played 15 NBA seasons.
“I’m always going to numbers and symbiology as key root DNA to make something specific and authentic for that person,” Smith said. “When you start putting all these things together, there’s only one person and it becomes very unique. Not different, but very unique.”
Jordan was involved at every step of the design process, Smith said. The final product was a bronze trophy depicting a player “breaking out of a rock to reach for the ultimate rock — a crystal basketball,” the league said. The trophy becomes more refined closer to the top, meant to show how hard work leads to something more polished and finally something great.
Smith said he fully expects to be emotional when he sees the new trophy awarded for the first time this spring.
“This is actually the highest achievement for a single player ... and it’s mind-blowing,” Smith said. “It’ll be a mind-blower.”
Other trophies renamed or reimagined in the last year or so include ones named for Joe Dumars (sportsmanship), Red Auerbach (coach of the year), the Kobe Bryant All-Star MVP award — along with the Larry O’Brien Trophy for the NBA champions and the Bill Russell NBA Finals MVP trophy.
New Eastern Conference and Western Conference championship trophies named for Bob Cousy and Oscar Robertson respectively were added, along with the Larry Bird Trophy for East Finals MVP and the Magic Johnson Trophy for West Finals MVP. The league also began issuing divisional championship trophies, naming them for Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton (Atlantic Division), Wayne Embry (Central), Earl Lloyd (Southeast), Willis Reed (Southwest), Sam Jones (Northwest) and Chuck Cooper (Pacific).
Brittney Griner is back in the United States after an arduous 10month saga in Russia. Yet nearly half of her WNBA peers opted to compete abroad this winter to supplement their incomes.
None are playing in Russia, for obvious reasons — Griner’s ordeal and the country’s ongoing war with Ukraine — but 67 of the league’s 144 players are in Australia, Turkey, Italy and about a half-dozen other countries.
“Our players are going to do what’s best for them in consultation with their families and their agents,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said.
“And we’re certainly here to help them think through the security risks and things like that. I think you’re seeing players take advantage of other opportunities, and we’re certainly going to provide them more opportunities to do things with the league in the offseason and keep the momentum going around the great play that they put on the court every year.”
Griner has not spoken publicly nor announced her career plans since she was freed. But if she wanted to return to the court, she would be welcomed back by the WNBA, the Mercury and USA Basketball.
Engelbert said she’d give Griner and her family some space and time before any discussion about returning to the league, whose season begins
May 19. South Carolina women’s basketball Coach Dawn Staley, who coached Griner on the 2020 Olympic team, feels that playing again could be helpful to the dominant center.
Playing overseas brings in salaries for a handful of WNBA players that top $1 million. It’s a lucrative alternative to the marketing deals that the WNBA offers players to remain in the U.S. during the offseason and promote the league; top players like Griner can now make $700,000 when factoring in all possible revenue streams offered by the WNBA.
But there’s no denying that the disparity in pay between professional men’s basketball players and professional women’s basketball players — Griner included — is still vast. The top
salaries for WNBA players are much less than the minimum salary of about $953,000 for NBA players (excluding those on two-way contracts) for various reasons, primarily the difference in profit margins and media rights.
The NBA’s revenues topped $10 billion for the first time last season, and the league has a $24 billion, nineyear television deal. Its next one, set to kick in around 2025, is expected to be worth significantly more. The WNBA does not publicly release its revenue numbers.
WNBA players have never asked to make the same as their NBA counterparts — they acknowledge it’s impossible — but have asked for an equal revenue share.
So, the WNBA players look outside
of the U.S., and Turkey has become the main destination for this winter with nearly two dozen of them playing there. Top players can make a few hundred thousand dollars playing in Turkey — significantly less than what they could earn in Russia.
Breanna Stewart, who plays for the Seattle Storm, chose to play in Turkey because it was closer to her wife’s family in Spain.
“You want to have a better lifestyle, a better off-the-court experience, and just continue to appreciate other countries,” she told The Associated Press during the FIBA World Cup in September.
Last offseason, 73 WNBA players went overseas. Five years ago, it was about 90 players.
One of the area’s oldest and most historic gymnasiums has a new tenant that’s excited about branding a reputation of its own.
Introductions are in order for the Cristo Rey Richmond Royals.
The private Catholic high school is housed at 304 N. Sheppard St., the former home of Benedictine College Preparatory. The property is owned by the Catholic Diocese of Richmond.
Coach Shawn Johnson (a former Benedictine assistant coach under Robert Churchwell and Mark Royster) heads up a second-year varsity program that shoots hoops in iconic Benedictine Memorial Gymnasium (now called Cristo Rey Gym).
“Same exact building, although there has been some remodeling; same gym, only we changed the logo in the middle of the floor to Cristo Rey,” said Johnson.
Wearing royal blue and yellow uniforms, Coach Johnson’s Royals have been a busy bunch (2-5 heading into this week) while embarking on an ambitious 29-game schedule that features some of the area’s top programs, including Benedictine and former Virginia Independent Schools state champs at Trinity Episcopal and Steward.
“We’re not shy; we’re willing to play anybody,” Coach Johnson said. “No one knows who we are now, but we’re a scrappy bunch
and we want to let the area know who we are.”
Regarding “playing anyone,” Coach Johnson was asked about cross town State 2A champion John Marshall.
“I don’t know if we’re ready for John Marshall, but if John Marshall wants to play, we’re willing,” Coach Johnson said with a smile.
The Royals will receive some mainstream recognition Dec. 20-21 in the Community Challenge, sponsored by Coaches for Change. The three-day event includes eight boys’ and eight girls’ teams.
“It’s a great opportunity,” said Coach Johnson of the event that will be at his alma mater, Henrico High School.
Coach Johnson says he is trying to get his fledgling program eligible for the Virginia Independent Schools playoffs as soon as possible. The status for this year is unclear.
With about 300 students in grades nine through12, Cristo Rey’s mission is to be a “Catholic learning center that educates young people of limited economic means.”
There are 36 similar Cristo Rey schools throughout the United States.
Coach Johnson’s Royals aren’t without talent, or height, or transfers or an energetic assistant coach, Jarrell Chandler. It helps that
Built in about 1950, Benedictine’s Memorial Gym was long a mecca for area hoops. From 1951 to 1954, it served as the home floor for the University of Richmond.
The on-campus Cadets won 25 State Catholic titles operating out of the gym, plus five more crowns for the Virginia Independent Schools.
John Kuester, Mark Crow and Ed Davis are Memorial Gym alumni who made it to the NBA. Cadets’ Coach Warren Rutledge accumulated 949 wins, the most in the state’s history, on Memorial Gym’s home floor.
Johnson also is a coach in the Virginia Havoc travel program. Lamar Walters, averaging some 19 points per game, is a transfer from West Point High, Lamar Gregg is from Meadowbrook High School, and 6-foot-8 sophomore Odell Goodman is from Church Hill Academy.
Another front-line player is Marc Turner, who is among the few seniors.
“We’re just getting started,” Coach Johnson said. “When people talk about the top private schools around, we want to be in that conversation.”
The basketball pairings are set for the second annual Coaches for Change Community Classic.
All games will be played at Henrico High School, 302 Azalea Ave.
Girls’ bracket: Monday, Dec. 19: Collegiate vs. Prince George, 2 p.m.; Steward vs. Henrico, 3:45 p.m.; John Marshall vs. Monacan, 5:30 p.m.; St. Gertrude vs. Hanover, 7:30 p.m.
Boys’ bracket: Tuesday, Dec. 20: Cristo Rey vs. Banner, 2 p.m.; Benedictine vs. Hanover, 3:45p.m.; Hermitage vs. Collegiate, 5:30 p.m.; Meadowbrook vs. Henrico, 7:30 p.m.
On Wednesday, Dec. 21, all eight teams will compete for championship and consolation honors. Prior to each game, a local person will be honored who has made an impact in his or her
community.
Coaches for Change was formed in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis Police. The organization’s co-vice presidents are Del Harris of Collegiate and Stephen Lewis of St. Christopher’s.
“We want to continue to make progress and move forward,” Harris said. “We will continue to press forward using sports as a platform to address all issues affecting those in our community — including mental health, racial inequality, conflict resolution and support uplifting the voices of our young people.”
“We look forward to continuing to inspire all and create positive change throughout the community,” Lewis said.
Tickets, available only at the door, are $12 per day and $20 for a three-day book.
It’s official.
Fred McGriff is headed to Baseball’s Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.
Known as the “Crime Dog,” the left-handed first baseman received a unanimous 16 votes from the Contemporary Era Selection Committee.
It may be time for the Heisman Trophy — college football’s top individual honor — to consider changing its title to “Quarterback of the Year.”
The University of Southern California’s Caleb Williams has become the 19th QB to win the award in the last 22 years.
A native of Washington, D.C., and sophomore transfer from Oklahoma, Williams passed for 4,075 yards and 37 touchdowns this season, helping the Trojans to an 11-2 record.
The other Heisman finalists — Max Duggan of Texas Christian, C.J. Stroud of Ohio State and Georgia’s Stetson Bennett — are also QBs.
Williams, in 2023, has a chance to become the first back to back Heisman winner since Ohio State running back Archie Griffin in 1974-1975.
Since 2006, Williams is the eighth Black QB to claim the Heisman, following Troy Smith (Ohio State, 206), Cam Newton (Auburn, 2010),
Failing to make the cut were former superstars Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling. Bonds and Clemens are linked to performance-enhancing drugs, while Schilling is tarnished by insensitive remarks he has made.
In 19 big league seasons, with six different clubs, McGriff blasted 493 home runs, accumulated 2,490 hits, and knocked in 1,550 runs.
McGriff led his league in homers in 1989 and ’92.
The 59-year-old native of Tampa, Fla., was a five-time All-Star and played for the Atlanta Braves’ 1995 World Series champions. On nine occasions he received votes for MVP.
En route to the majors, McGriff passed through Richmond several times between 1984 and 1986 as a member of the International League Syracuse Chiefs.
McGriff’s “Crime Dog” moniker stems from the advertising cartoon “McGruff” character police dog.
Formal Hall of Fame induction ceremonies are set for July 23 in Cooperstown.
Johnnie Walton, the first African-American quarterback to lead his team to a professional championship, is part of the Black College Hall of Fame Class of 2023.
In 1969, the Elizabeth City State alumnus helped the Indianapolis Capitols defeat the San Antonio Toros, 44-38, for the Continental League title.
Walton, now 75, played three seasons with the NFLPhiladelphia Eagles, appearing in 15 games in late 1970s.
Other HBCU players selected for the Hall include:
Paul Silas, who went head to head in the paint against the likes of Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell, has died at age 79.
The burly 6-foot-7 Arkansas native played in the NBA from 1964 to 1980 and served as an NBA coach from 1980 to 2012. He won 387 regular season games as a head coach, plus 13 more wins in playoffs.
Mr. Silas was head coach of Cleveland from 2003 to 2005 when a young LeBron James was breaking in with the Cavaliers.
As a player, Mr. Silas scored more than 10,000 career points, snared more than 10,000 career rebounds and was a two-time All-Star. He averaged nearly a double-double for his career.
Before heading to the NBA, Mr. Silas was an All-American at Creighton University in Omaha, where he led the NCAA in rebounding (21 per game) in 1963.
Mr. Silas’ son, Stephen Silas, is the head coach of the NBA Houston Rockets.
•Leslie Frazier (Alcorn State)
•Harry Lawrence and Tyrone McGriff (Florida A&M)
•Jim Marsalis (Tennessee State)
•Albert Lewis (Grambling)
•Elijah Pitts (Philander Smith)
Pitts scored two touchdowns for the Green Bay Packers in the first Super Bowl in 1966.
Chowan University and the CIAA are parting company.
Also honored as a coach is Pete Richardson, who led the programs at Southern University and Winston-Salem State.
The Class of 2023 will be recognized Feb. 25 at halftime of the Legacy Bowl in New Orleans with the NFL Network covering the game.
The BCHOF induction ceremonies are scheduled to take place in Atlanta on June 10, 2023.
The CIAA announced Monday that it will be ending its association with the non-HBCU school in Murfreesboro, N.C.
Chowan won the CIAA Northern Division title this past season before falling to Southern champ Fayetteville State in the CIAA championship game in Salem.
Since 2018, Chowan has been an associate member of the CIAA, concentrating on football. Chowan also is a member of the NCAA Division II Conference Carolinas for other sports.
Conference Carolinas does not sponsor football.
With Chowan’s departure, the CIAA will be down to 11 football members, six in the South and five (Virginia Union, Virginia State, Bowie State, Elizabeth City and Lincoln) in the North.
Spend and save smarter, all in one place. With impressive digital tools from Bank of America, you’ve got more power than you think.
Sometimes, the most wonderful time of the year can feel anything but wonderful. So if you need help with your business, financial future or just making paycheck-to-paycheck go further — we’re here. With personalized products, simple solutions and experts in Richmond, you can keep life moving the way you need it to.
Go to bankofamerica.com/richmond to learn more
What would you like the power to do?®
Following the end of the Civil War and slavery, the Friends Asylum for Colored Orphans formed in 1871 to aid Central Virginia children and families in need. Today that organization is known as the Friends Association for Children.
Through the years, Friends evolved into an adoption and foster care agency, and eventually became one of Central Virginia’s premier early childhood education providers. Today the organization offers care for infants and toddlers, preschool programming, before and after-school services and more.
In the early1990s, James V. Duty joined Friends’ efforts, beginning a decades-long association with the group that now has him leading its board for the third time.
His leadership is especially important as Friends works to re-establish its community services after setbacks brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the height of the pandemic, Friends assisted 170 children and 20 families. Mr. Duty envisions the nonprofit returning to its pre-pandemic status in which Friends assisted more than 200 children. However, this task is complicated by the current economic challenges many families are facing.
Nevertheless, Mr. Duty believes that the nonprofit is up for the task.
“We’re fortunate to have strong staff leadership in a number of positions, and have been graced by the generosity of our community, so that we’re financially sound,” Mr. Duty says. “We do need to fill some staff openings and to retain the people we have in order to do all that we can do for the community.”
Areas in need of staffing include child, youth and family development, health education, performing arts and more.
To address staffing challenges for Friends’ Jackson Ward and Church Hill locations, the organization has devised several methods to attract new hires, including a “sign-on” bonus for new members, referral bonuses for employees who recommend potential candidates, and other incentives.
It’s these ideas and others that Mr. Duty believes will help ensure that Friends is can continue its necessary work in for Richmond’s families and communities in need.
“Children today need a safe environment to grow in,” Mr. Duty says. “They need positive influences in their lives, nutritious meals, and genuinely caring adults that understand education and developing minds.”
Mr. Duty previously served as board president for Friends in 1996, at the request of thenExecutive Director John C. Purnell Jr. He assumed the role again in 2012 for two consecutive terms after Mr. Purnell’s retirement.
Now, he’s taken up the position a third time, and for three years instead of the usual two for the role, at the request of Friends’ Executive Director David Young. His mission: to provide continuity for a board — and nonprofit — that has gone through much in recent years.
“We have a strong board but
many are either relatively new to Friends or in key committee assignments,” says Mr. Duty.
“I hope we are able to build on our strengths,” says Mr. Duty when asked about his hopes for Friends and its clients in 2023, “and continue to meet the needs we’re positioned to do.”
Meet a frequent friend and frequent leader in community service and this week’s Personality, James V. Duty:
Volunteer position: Board chair.
Occupation: CPA, financial planner.
Date and place of birth: Aug. 27 in Lexington, Ky.
Where I live now: Henrico County.
Education: Bachelor of science, University of Virginia, and master’s in accounting, University of Arizona.
Family: Wife Becky, four adult children, eight grandchildren.
Friends Association for Children is: A nonprofit child and family agency that has served Richmond for more than 150 years.
When and why founded: Friends Association for Children was founded in 1871, as Friends Asylum for Colored Orphans. The purpose was to address the needs of children and families in Central Virginia displaced by slavery and the Civil War.
Founders: Friends was founded by a former slave – Lucy Goode Brooks, with the help of area churches – Ebenezer Baptist Church, Fifth Baptist Church, First Baptist Church of South Richmond, Richmond Friends Meeting, and Third Street Bethel A.M.E. Church. Why I became involved: I was
attracted by the mission and the effectiveness of the work I witnessed.
Why I accepted position as board president: This is my third term as board president, each in a different decade, and for a different reason. This time, I accepted to provide board continuity.
No. 1 goal as board president: To do all that we can to fulfill our mission.
How Friends is financed: Approximately half from fundraising development efforts and half from fees.
What Friends means to me: Friends changes lives in incredibly positive ways and is a trusted member of the community.
Number of families served: We currently serve about 120 children and 70 families. Friends stayed open the entire time during the pandemic and we are working to (return to) our pre-pandemic enrollment of
200-plus children.
Age of children that Friends focuses on: Infants and toddlers – 6 to 24 months; Preschool – 2 to 5 years of age; Before and afterschool – 5 to 12 years of age.
Friends partners with: Aramark, Bon Secours, University of Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth University and several other corporations and foundations.
How to get involved with Friends: Contact Friends via telephone at (804) 644-2357, via our website at www.friendsrva.org, or
via Facebook.
A perfect day for me is: Being with extended family at our annual beach reunion.
What I am continuing to learn about myself during the pandemic: I’ve learned how much I enjoy being with people. Remote work and virtual meetings are fine, but I always prefer to be with people.
Something about me that people may not know: I spent four years as a high school basketball coach at the Steward School.
A quote that inspires me: Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass. It’s about learning to dance in the rain.
My friends describe me as: Loyal, dependable, generous. At the top of my “to-do” list: Helping people.
Best late-night snack: Freshly made chocolate chip cookies.
The best thing my parents ever taught me: To do the best I could at whatever I was trying to do.
The person who influenced me the most: My father.
Book that influenced me the most: “A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens.
What I’m reading now: “Principles” by Ray Dalio.
Next goal: Figure out how best to help people.
By Debora Timms
A dream inspired Richmond entrepreneur Cecil “Cee”Miller to reach into his own pocket and fund an opportunity for new musical talent, including seven local RVA artists, a chance to further their dreams.
A native of North Carolina, Mr. Miller lived in Virginia for several years in the late 1990s. He returned to Richmond a few years ago to pursue his dual interests of music producing and boxing promotion through his company BYD LLC - which stands for ‘Build Your Dream.’
“There’s a lot of talent here in Richmond that don’t believe it can happen for them,” Mr. Miller said in a recent phone interview. “I wanted to bring something to spark that talent.”
That something was a recording project that resulted in two compilation albums and a distribution deal with Universal Music Group. P.O.W.E.R. Vol. 1 was released Sep. 30, followed quickly by Vol. 2 on Oct. 7.
The artists included cover a variety of genres including hip hop, country rock, reggae, R&B, rock and alternative Afrobeat. Mr. Miller is hoping that streaming numbers will be good enough to green light more albums and more opportunities for local artists.
Since the albums’ release, they have garnered about 100,000 streams. But in sales terms, it takes 1,500 streams to
equal a sales unit and 500,000 sales units to achieve gold status, so there’s still a long way to go.
The first release from P.O.W.E.R. Vol. 1 was “Treat U Better” by MOE Music featuring Dread Mandelaboth Richmond area hip-hop artists.
“That was pretty exciting for us and it got the ball rolling for the other tracks,” Dread Mandela said during a telephone interview in November. He’s been performing for the past six years and has a second track, “PayCut,” that also appears on the volume.
Mo, a Richmond soul singer for more than a decade, is featured on Stuicide’s “Summer Days” on P.O.W.E.R. Vol. 2. It’s a feel-good song she hopes to hear blasting out of people’s car windows once warmer weather rolls around.
“Big names all have to start out as local artists,” she said, stating the obvious in a recent phone interview. “It takes people being open to new artists and new music for us to be able to show our gifts.”
Radio support can help in getting the recognition new music and new artists need. Mr. Miller says a number of the P.O.W.E.R. tracks have been receiving airplay on Richmond area stations including WRIR97.3, WBTJ-106.5 and Urban One’s WCDX-92.1.
Urban One founder and chairperson Cathy Hughes met Mr. Miller last summer and was impressed by the entrepreneur’s willingness to use his personal resources to support local artists. In an industry that Ms. Hughes said can be compared to having “more cars than parking spaces,” that support is pretty important.
“The thing about listeners is that they prefer the familiar. To become familiar, [new artists] need airplay,” Ms. Hughes said, adding that Mr. Miller has provided a “new avenue of op-
“The
said during a telephone interview. “There were so many different ways to come together musically and everybody came correct.”
“Being on a project like this really stretches you further,” Dread Mandela said. “You are not only connecting with your fan base, but you get to tap into every other artist’s fan base as well.”
It’s the kind of exposure new artists need to keep chasing their dreams.
P.O.W.E.R. Volumes 1+2 can be found on most major
platforms.
Alphonso Hugo “Al” Bowers Jr., a veteran Richmond contractor who was outspoken in promoting Black inclusion in government building projects and promoted construction trades training program for unemployed adults, has died.
Mr. Bowers, who had been battling pancreatic cancer, succumbed Saturday, Dec. 10, 2022, at his residence, said Marva White Bowers, his wife of 48 years. He was 75.
Family and friends will celebrate Mr. Bowers’ life at a memorial service scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday, Dec. 16, at Coburn Hall on the campus of Virginia Union University.
A native of Clarksville in Mecklenburg County, Mr. Bowers and his children operated several businesses under the umbrella of BFE (Bowers Family Enterprises) Corp. and were perhaps best known for the 70-home subdivision known as Randolph West that they developed for Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority in 2005, then the largest project RRHA had ever awarded to a Black-owned firm.
Mr. Bowers sought to make the project a role model for his
vision of inclusion and ensured that other Black-owned companies gained subcontracts.
On the inclusion front, he led the Central Virginia Business and Construction Association in pressing for greater inclusion for Black businesses in construction and organized the Black Business Alliance of Virginia to continue that push after leaving the CVBCA.
He was among the members of an inclusion task force that Republican Gov. Robert F. McDonnell organized in 2014 to examine the problem and recommend solutions.
“Al Bowers was a bold and powerful voice about what he perceived as injustices in the small number of contracts awarded to Black businesses by white private sector firms and government entities,” said Bernice Travers, a Richmond business consultant.
During her service on the state’s Small Business Commission and Commonwealth Competition Council, Ms. Travers said Mr. Bowers was a major ally in helping her prepare an analysis exposing the lack of inclusion.
“He assembled an army of
entrepreneurs to address the discriminatory hurdles” at hearings those state entities held,” she said, recalling how he annually would tell General Assembly committees that the amount of contracts awarded to Black companies was “dismal, pitiful, shameful and racist.”
Mr. Bowers grew up learning about construction from his grandfather, John Bowers, a brick mason, and his father, A. Hugo Bowers Sr., a carpenter, while also working as a caddy at a segregated country club near his home.
He initially sought to distance himself from construction work after coming to Richmond to attend Virginia Union University, where he excelled in mathematics and in golf, helping lead the VUU team to three CIAA conference championships in the sport in the late 1960s.
After graduation, he began working for Burlington Industries as a computer analyst and transferred to North Carolina where he met and married his wife in 1972. He switched to construction after he and his wife built their own house.
Mr. Bowers’ daughter, Farrah
A. Massenburg, is supplier diversity manager for W.M. Jordan Company, a Richmond-based construction management and construction firm. She said that in 1975, the Bowers started their construction firm in Greensboro, N.C., and were among the first Black-owned companies to undertake a subdivision project in that community.
The couple relocated with their children to Richmond in 1992, and he left the construction field to join a car dealership firm with plans to buy a dealership.
But after a brother died, he jumped back into the contracting business with three of his six children. “My father was a role model for us, and his legacy includes the impact he had in promoting Black inclusion in contracting,” said Ms. Massenburg. “Jobs like that didn’t exist before he got involved.”
Mr. Bowers was a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity.
Along with his wife and Ms. Massenburg, survivors include five other children, Alphonso H. Bowers III, Dawn Bowers, Sean Bowers, W. Travis Bowers, Julian Bowers, Laio Morris and Katina Manning; his mother, Virginia Bowers Fenty; 12 siblings; 26 grandchildren and five greatgrandchildren.
By Charles Taylor
A memorial service for Rev. Marshall D. Burgess Sr. was held on Dec. 2, 2022, at Metropolitan African American Baptist Church in Richmond. He died on Thursday, Nov. 24, 2022, at the age of 90.
Rev. Burgess served 39 years as pastor of St. Mark Baptist Church in the Maidens community of Goochland County and had ties to many other churches in the Richmond and Middle Peninsula regions.
Born in Littleton, N.C., he was baptized at age 12 and joined Zion Hill Baptist Church.
After serving in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, Rev. Burgess returned to North Carolina. He moved to Richmond in 1955 and joined Zion Baptist Church, where he was active in the church school and ushers’ ministries.
He was licensed and or-
dained by Zion Baptist Church and later was called to pastor St. Mark in Maidens in April 1968.
During that time, he also served as supply pastor for Emmaus Baptist Church in Mathews County, Va. for nine months. He also was employed by the Richmond Afro-American newspaper as a circulation representative, account executive and advertising manager, and was proprietor of the South Richmond Barber Shop.
Rev. Burgess was a graduate of Virginia Union University with a bachelor’s in business education and a master’s of divinity from the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology. He also pursued post-graduate studies through the Boston University School of Theology.
From the 1970s until the early 2000s, his church leadership roles
included serving as president of the Baptist Ministers’ Conference of Richmond and Vicinity and as founding president of the Baptist Ministers’ Conference of Goochland and Vicinity. He also taught as an adjunct instructor of religion and philosophy at J. Sargent Reynolds Community College and was a member of Masonic Order-Hobson Lodge No. 23.
After retiring from St. Mark in 2007, Rev. Burgess continued to serve his community. He was an avid gardener who shared produce with church members, neighbors and those in need.
He was involved with the Central Virginia Food Bank, now known as FeedMore.
Rev. Burgess is survived by his son, Julian E. Burgess of Miami, and a host of cousins,
nephews and nieces in Georgia, Maryland and Virginia. He was preceded in death by his wife, Jeanette V. (Branch) Burgess and son Marshall D. Burgess Jr., both of Richmond.
On December 12, 1976, 46 years ago God called forth a beautiful little girl named Telesheia Dechell Brooks weighing 6 pounds, 12 ounces. Telesheia is named a er her cousin Cameshea Mechell. Telesheia’s contagious laughter and smile brought us together even more. Yes, producing Ti any and “Lil” Gregory. e unconditional love we shared is evidence in our lives. We have enjoyed watching your journey of life, even with the challenges that you always overcame. ank you for sharing your gi of laughter with us, love, mercy and compassion. You are truly missed! May the lessons you taught us continue in our lives everyday, through the love of Christ.
Happy heavenly Birthday. Love, Dad & Mom, Ti any, Sharod, Imani, Lil Gregory, Emmanuel, RodD, Aunt Jean Ellis, Uncle Arthur & Pamela Rucker, Bernard & Cameshea (kids), Bobbie, God parents Bishop James F. & Sylvia Harris, RAJCA church family! MTGILEADFGIM, Bishop Daniel & Eleana Robertson, Host of loving cousins and friends. I
city of Richmond, virginia cITY
Notice is hereby given that the Council of the City of Richmond has scheduled a public hearing, open to all interested citizens, on Monday, January 9, 2023 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 ordinance:
Ordinance No. 2022-310
As Amended To amend City Code § 26-1065, concerning Downtown General Special Service and Assessment District boundaries, for the purpose of expanding the Downtown General Special Service Assessment District to include the Manchester area of the city.
Interested citizens who wish to speak will be given an opportunity to do so by following the instructions referenced in the January 9, 2023 Richmond City Council Formal meeting agenda. Copies of the full text of all ordinances are available by visiting the City Clerk’s page on the City’s Website at https:// www.rva.gov/office-cityclerk, 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
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, January 9, 2023 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. 2022-359
To authorize the Chief Administrative Officer, for and on behalf of the City of Richmond, to execute a Grant Agreement between the City of Richmond, 7000 Carnation, LLC, and the Economic Development Authority of the City of Richmond, for the purpose of facilitating the construction and development of the property located at 7000 Carnation Street to provide safe and affordable housing.
(cOMMITTEE: Finance and Economic Development, Thursday, December 15, 2022, 1:00 p.m.)
Ordinance No. 2022-360 To authorize the Chief Administrative Officer, for and on behalf of the City of Richmond, to execute a Façade Improvement Program Cooperation Agreement between the City of Richmond, Virginia and the Economic Development Authority of the City of Richmond, Virginia, for the purpose of promoting economic development along the City’s Hull Street corridor by supporting projects that enhance neighborhood building façades.
(cOMMITTEE: Finance and Economic Development, Thursday, December 15, 2022, 1:00 p.m.)
Ordinance No. 2022-361 To authorize the Chief Administrative Officer, for and on behalf of the City of Richmond, to execute a License Agreement between the City of Richmond, as Licensor, and Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority, as Licensee, for the purpose of granting permission to the Licensee to use 72 unreserved parking spaces at a City-owned parking facility located at 500 East Marshall Street and ten reserved parking spaces at a City-owned parking facility located at 607 East Marshall Street.
(
c OMMITTEE: Finance and Economic Development, Thursday, December 15, 2022, 1:00 p.m.)
Interested citizens who wish to speak will be given an opportunity to do so by following the instructions referenced in the January 9, 2023 Richmond City Council Formal meeting agenda. Copies of the full text of all ordinances are available by visiting the City Clerk’s page on the City’s Website at https:// www.rva.gov/office-cityclerk, 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
city of Richmond, virginia cITY cOUNcIL
PUBLIc NOTIcE
Notice is hereby given that the City of Richmond Planning Commission has scheduled a public hearing, open to all interested citizens, on Tuesday, January 3, 2023 at 1:30 p.m in the Fifth Floor Conference Room of City Hall and the Council of the City of Richmond has scheduled a public hearing on Monday, January 9, 2023 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. 2022-333
As Amended
To authorize the special use of the property known as 2003 Dinwiddie Avenue for the purpose of three single-family detached dwellings and a home occupation with up to three employees who do not reside on the property upon certain terms and conditions.
Ordinance No. 2022-364
To rezone the properties known as 2017 Roane Street and 2021 Roane Street from the M-1 Light Industrial District to the B-7 Mixed-Use Business District. The City’s Richmond 300 Master Plan designates these parcels as residential Uses. Such areas are primarily neighborhoods consisting of singlefamily houses. Intensity of development calls for buildings up to three stories and two to ten housing units per acre. Small multi-family buildings are a secondary use.
Ordinance No. 2022-365
To authorize the special use of the property known as 2800 3rd Avenue for the purpose of emergency housing for up to 30 individuals on a yearround basis, upon certain terms and conditions.
The property lies in a “R-6 - Residential (Single Family Attached)” district, which limits emergency housing uses to thirty (30) individuals and a total of seven (7) days and only within the time beginning on October 1 of any year and ending on April 1 of the following year. The Richmond 300 Master Plan recommends a future land use of “Residential,” for which churches and places of worship (“institutional”) are recommended secondary uses; the parcel lies just outside the Six Points growth node.
Ordinance No. 2022-366
To authorize the special use of the property known as 211 East 15th Street, for the purpose of a single-family detached dwelling, upon certain terms and conditions.
The property is located in the R-7 Single- and TwoFamily Urban Residential District. The City’s Richmond 300 Master Plan designates a future land use for the subject property as Residential, which is defined as “Neighborhood(s) consisting primarily of single-family houses on large- or medium-sized lots more homogeneous in nature.” The proposed density of the parcel is 25 units per acre.
Ordinance No. 2022-367
To authorize the special use of the property known as 1219 North 31st Street for the purpose of a singlefamily detached dwelling, upon certain terms and conditions. The property is situated in an R-6Residential (Single Family Attached) zone. The City’s Richmond 300 Master Plan designates a future land use for the subject property as Neighborhood Mixed-Use. Primary Uses: Single-family houses, accessory dwelling units, duplexes, small multifamily buildings (typically 3-10 units), and open space. Secondary Uses: Large multifamily buildings (10+units), retail/office/personal service, institutional, cultural, and government.
The density of the proposed development is approximately 16 units per acre.
Ordinance No. 2022-368
To authorize the special use of the property known as 3917 Corbin Street for the purpose of a single-family detached dwelling, upon certain terms and conditions.
The property is located in the R-2 Single-Family Residential District. The City’s Richmond 300 Master Plan designates a future land use for the subject property as Residential Uses. This designation is defined as a “neighborhood consisting primarily of single-family houses on large or medium - sized lots more homogenous in nature.
Ordinance No. 2022-369
To authorize the special use of the property known as 3206 Delaware Avenue, for the purpose of two single-family attached
dwellings, upon certain terms and conditions. The property is situated in a R-6 Single-Family Attached Residential District. The City’s Richmond 300 Master Plan designates a future land use for the subject property as Residential, which is defined as neighborhoods “…consisting primarily of single-family houses on large- or medium-sized lots more homogeneous in nature.” (p. 54) The density of the proposed is approximately 22 units per acre.
Ordinance No. 2022-370
To authorize the special use of the property known as 100 West Leigh Street, for the purpose of a twofamily attached dwelling, upon certain terms and conditions. The property is located in the R-6 Single-Family Attached Residential District. The City’s Richmond 300 Master Plan designates a future land use for the subject property as Neighborhood MixedUse, which is defined as existing or new highly-walkable urban neighborhoods that are predominantly residential with a small, but critical, percentage of parcels providing retail, office, personal service, and institutional uses. The proposed density of the parcel is approximately 50 units per acre.
Ordinance No. 2022-371
To authorize the special use of the property known as 3617 Montrose Avenue for the purpose of a dwelling unit within an accessory building to a single-family detached dwelling, upon certain terms and conditions. The property is situated in an R-4 - Residential (Single Family) zone. The City’s Richmond 300 Master Plan designates a future land use for the subject property as Residential.
Primary Uses: Singlefamily houses, accessory dwelling units, and open space. Secondary Uses: Duplexes and small multi-family buildings (typically 3-10 units), institutional, and cultural.
Secondary uses may be found along major streets. The density of the proposed development is approximately 9.5 units per acre.
Ordinance No. 2022-372 To authorize the special use of the property known as 2235 Perry Street for the purpose of a day nursery for up to ten children, upon certain terms and conditions. The property is situated in an R-6 - Residential (Single Family Attached) District. The City’s Richmond 300 Master Plan designates a future land use for the subject property as Residential.
Primary Uses: Singlefamily houses, accessory dwelling units, and open space. Secondary Uses: Duplexes and small multifamily buildings (typically 3-10 units), institutional, and cultural. Secondary uses may be found along major streets.
Interested citizens who wish to speak will be given an opportunity to do so by following the instructions referenced in the January 9, 2023 Richmond City Council Formal meeting agenda. Copies of the full text of all ordinances are available by visiting the City Clerk’s page on the City’s Website at https:// www.rva.gov/office-cityclerk, 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.
CLERK Richard J Oulton, Esq VSB #29640 America Law Group, Inc 8501 Mayland Drive #106 Henrico VA 23294 (804)308-0051 Fax: (804)308-0053
vIRGINIA: IN THE cIRcUIT cOURT OF THE cOUNTY OF HENRIcO Juan Francisco villalobos Segura Plaintiff, v. Maria Elena Sanchez Hernandez Defendant. case No. cL22006795-00
ORDER OF PUBLIcATION
The object of this suit is for the Plaintiff to obtain a divorce from the bond of matrimony from the defendant on the grounds that the parties have lived separate and apart without any cohabitation and without interruption, and with Plaintiff’s intent to terminate the marriage, for a period exceeding twelve (12) months, namely since April 1st, 2015.
It appearing by affidavit that Plaintiff has no knowledge ofthe Defendant’s current address and Defendant’s present whereabouts are unknown and diligence has been used by or on behalf of the Plaintiff to ascertain in what county or city the Defendant is without effect.
It is accordingly ORDERED that Maria Elena Sanchez Hernandez whose whereabouts are unknown, appear before this court on or before the 23rd of January 2023, at 9 a.m. And do what is necessary to protect his interests herein.
A Copy Teste: HElDI S. BARSHINGER, CLERK HENRICO CIRCUIT COURT Richard J Oulton, Esq VSB #29640 America Law Group, Inc 8501 Mayland Drive #106 Henrico VA 23294 (804)308-0051 Fax: (804)308-0053
vIRGINIA: IN THE cIRcUIT cOURT FOR THE cOUNTY OF HENRIcO DARLENE KAY PATTON, Plaintiff, v. MARY FRANcYS PATTON, Defendant. case No.: cL22-6380
AMENDED ORDER OF PUBLIcATION
The object of this suit is to obtain a divorce from the bonds of matrimony from the defendant on the ground that the parties have lived separate and apart in excess of one year.
It appearing from an Affidavit filed by the plaintiff that the defendant’s whereabouts are unknown, it is ORDERED that the defendant appear before this Court on or before the 30th of January, 2023 at 9 a.m., to protect her interests herein.
I ASK FOR THIS: Shannon S. Otto, VSB 68506 L0CKE & OTTO 1802 Bayberry Court Suite 103 Richmond, VA 23226 Telephone: (804) 545-9408 Facsimile: (804) 545-9400 Email: otto@lockeotto.com Counsel for Plaintiff
vIRGINIA: IN THE cIRcUIT cOURT FOR THE cOUNTY OF HANOvER MELITO McWILLIAMS, Plaintiff v. cATHERINE McWILLIAMS, Defendant. case No.: cL22003496-00 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 12th day of January, 2023 at 9:00 AM, and protect her interests.
Dorothy M. Eure, Plaintiff’s Attorney VSB# 27724 8460 Mount Eagle Road Ashland, VA 23005 (804) 798-9667
vIRGINIA: IN THE cIRcUIT cOURT OF THE cOUNTY OF HENRIcO EBIKABORE WINIFRED ODIBO, Plaintiff v. KINGSLEY ERUTE ODIBO, Defendant. case No.: cL22-7195
ORDER OF PUBLIcATION
The object of this suit is to obtain a divorce.
It appearing from an affidavit that diligence has been used by or on behalf of the plaintiff to ascertain in what county or city the defendant is, without effect, it is ORDERED that the defendant appear before this Court on the 23rd day of January, 2023 at 9:00 AM, and protect his interests herein.
A Copy, Teste: HEIDI S. BARSHINGER, Clerk
PROPERTY NOTIcE JUDIcIAL SALE OF REAL PROPERTY Owner/s of the below listed properties are hereby given notice that thirty (30) days from the date of this notice, proceedings will be commenced under the authority of Section 58.13965 et seq. of the Code of Virginia to sell the following parcels located in the City of Richmond, Virginia for payment of delinquent taxes: 10 East 31st Street S0001587012 3505 East clay Street E0001116003 2309 Short Decatur Street S0000475004 2401 Lamberts Avenue S0080779012
The owner/s of any property listed may redeem it at any time before the date of the sale by paying all accumulated taxes, penalties, interest and cost thereon, including the pro rata costs of publication hereunder.
Gregory A. Lukanuski, Deputy City Attorney Office of the City Attorney for the City of Richmond 900 East Broad Street, Room 400 Richmond, Virginia (804) 646-7949
vIRGINIA: IN THE cIRcUIT cOURT OF THE cITY OF RIcHMOND JOHN MARSHALL cOURTS BUILDING cITY OF RIcHMOND, Plaintiff, v. MAZAL TOv DEvELOPMENT, LLc et al, Defendants. case No.: cL22-3641 ORDER OF PUBLIcATION
The object of this suit is to subject the property briefly described as 414 Marx Street, Tax Map Number S0000320001 , Richmond, Virginia, to sale in order to collect delinquent real estate taxes assessed thereon in the name of the owner of record, Mazal Tov Development, LLc
An Affidavit having been filed that said owner, MAZAL TOv DEvELOPMENT, LLc 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 MAZAL TO v DEvELOPMENT, LLc and Parties Unknown , come forward to appear on or before FEBRUARY 16, 2023 and do what is necessary to protect their interests in this matter.
cOURTS BUILDING cITY OF RIcHMOND, Plaintiff, v. MAZAL TOv DEvELOPMENT, LLc et al, Defendants. case No.: cL22-3640 ORDER OF PUBLIcATION
The object of this suit is to subject the property briefly described as 1127 North 32nd Street, Tax Map Number E0000803034 Richmond, Virginia, to sale in order to collect delinquent real estate taxes assessed thereon in the name of the owner of record, Mazal Tov Development, LLc An Affidavit having been filed that said owner, MAZAL TOv DEvELOPMENT, LLc 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 MAZAL TO v DEvELOPMENT, LLc and Parties Unknown , come forward to appear on or before FEBRUARY 16, 2023 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 804-646-7949
vIRGINIA: IN THE cIRcUIT cOURT OF THE cITY OF RIcHMOND JOHN MARSHALL cOURTS BUILDING cITY OF RIcHMOND, Plaintiff, v. JOHN J. cARY, et al, Defendants. case No.: cL22-3431 ORDER OF PUBLIcATION
The object of this suit is to subject the property briefly described as 4324 Shackleford Road, Richmond, Virginia, Tax Map Number c0090950084 to sale in order to collect delinquent real estate taxes assessed thereon in the name of the owners of record, John J. cary and Diana S. cary An Affidavit having been filed that said owner, John J. cary has been served by posting and by mailing a copy of the complaint to his last known address and John J. Cary 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 JOHN J. cARY, and Parties Unknown , come forward to appear on or before FEBRUARY 17, 2023 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 804-646-7949
vIRGINIA: IN THE cIRcUIT cOURT OF THE cITY OF RIcHMOND JOHN MARSHALL cOURTS BUILDING cITY OF RIcHMOND, Plaintiff, v. cALvIN S. TWYMAN, et al, Defendants. case No.:
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 c alvin S. Twyman and Parties Unknown , come forward to appear on or before FEBRUARY 16, 2023 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 804-646-7949
BID cOUNTY OF HENRIcO, vIRGINIA cONSTRUcTION BID
ITB #22-2452-11EAR
GASKINS ROAD PARK AND RIDE LIGHTING PROJEcT
Due: January 5, 2023 at 3:00 p.m. For additional information visit: https://henrico.us/ finance/divisions/purchasing/
DIvORcE vIRGINIA: IN THE cIRcUIT cOURT OF THE cOUNTY OF HENRIcO Mahmoud Elsayed Plaintiff, v. Flintayvia GB Williams Defendant, case No. cL22006794-00 ORDER OF PUBLIcATION
The object of this suit is for the Plaintiff to obtain a divorce from the bond of matrimony from the defendant on the grounds that the parties have lived separate and apart without any cohabitation and without interruption, and with Plaintiff’s intent to terminate the marriage, for a period exceeding twelve (12) months, namely since June of 2020.
It appearing by affidavit that Plaintiff has no knowledge of the Defendant’s current address and Defendant’s present whereabouts are unknown and diligence has been used by or on behalf of the Plaintiff to ascertain in what county or city the Defendant is without effect.
It is accordingly ORDERED that Flintayvia GB Williams whose whereabouts are unknown, appear before this court on or before January 23, 2023 at 9 a.m. And do what is necessary to protect his interests herein.
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 MARIA MARROQUIN, Plaintiff v. JAIME ALvARADO, Defendant. case No.: cL22003497-00
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 12th day of January, 2023 at 9:00 AM, and protect his interests.
A Copy Teste: HEIDI S. BARSHINGER, Continued on next column
A Copy, Teste: FRANK D. HARGROVE, JR., Clerk I ask for this: Law Office of Dorothy M. Eure, P.C.
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 804-646-7949
vIRGINIA: IN THE cIRcUIT cOURT OF THE cITY OF RIcHMOND JOHN MARSHALL
St. John Baptist Church in Richmond, Va. Is looking for an experienced Minister of Music to coordinate the Music Ministry. Please send resume highlighting qualifications to: Chairman Claude Coleman, Trustee Ministry Rev. Dr. Janet Copeland, Minister of Music, 4317 North Avenue, Richmond, Virginia 23222. Closing date: December 30, 2022
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
