March 26 28, 2015 issue

Richmond Free Press © 2015 Paradigm Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

VOL. 24 NO. 13

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA

www.richmondfreepress.com

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Hampton Pirates, VCU Rams out of NCAA tournament

MARCH 26-28, 2015

‘Bloody, but unbowed’ U.Va. student beaten by ABC agents; Gov. McAuliffe orders all agents retrained

By Joey Matthews

The photo of Martese Johnson lying dazed, bloodied and bruised on the pavement is almost iconic.

Blood streams like huge tears from the gash on his forehead and covers his face. His shirt is saturated with blood.

The gruesome image of the University of Virginia honors student was captured in photographs and by video only seconds after he was slammed to the ground by state Alcoholic Beverage Control agents outside a Charlottesville bar last week on St. Patrick’s Day. The images, posted on the Internet, have gone viral — drawing fire from people across the nation as yet another example of unwarranted police brutality unleashed against a young black male.

This time, in Virginia, it’s closer to home.

Immediately, top Virginia officials voiced concern, including U.S. Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring and Brian J. Moran, the state’s secretary of public safety and homeland security.

Eating healthy

Gov. Terry McAuliffe asked Secretary Moran to conduct an independent investigation of the incident with the Virginia State Police.

The governor followed that Wednesday with a formal, executive order requiring the retraining of all ABC agents in “use of force, cultural diversity, effective interaction with youth and young adults, and community policing” by Sept. 1.

His order also calls for an “expert review panel,” made up of local and campus law enforcement agencies and sheriff’s offices, to complete a review of the ABC and to make recommendations for additional changes by Nov. 1.

“Threats to student safety must be addressed, whether the sources of the danger is external or internal,” said university Rector George K. Martin in a statement issued Tuesday.

“We will obviously wait to see what the state investigation yields, but we do not want to pick up a newspaper ever again to see a picture of one of our students with a bloody face. That should not happen.”

University President Teresa Sullivan said in a statement, “Today, as U.Va. students, faculty and staff who share a set of deeply held values, we stand unified in our commitment to seeking the truth about this incident. And we stand united in our belief that equal treatment and equal justice are among our fundamental rights under the law.”

The Virginia Legislative Black Caucus issued a statement saying its members were outraged by the incident.

“These actions by the ABC officers are appalling and totally unacceptable,” the Caucus stated. “We applaud the actions of President Teresa Sullivan and the University of Virginia Community for coming together to condemn the actions against this student.”

The Caucus also expressed appreciation to the governor for calling for the State Police investigation.

Mr. Johnson, a 20-year-old, third-year student from Chicago, had been denied entry to the Trinity Irish Pub located a few blocks from the U.Va. campus because of his age.

Kevin Badke, co-owner of the pub, said Mr. Johnson was polite and cordial after he was

Andrew Shurtleff/The Daily Progress/Associated Press

University of Virginia student Martese Johnson, center, stands with his attorney, Daniel Watkins, right, and his mother, Dychea, and older brother, Michael, last Thursday at a news conference before his attorney read a statement from the honors student about his arrest.

When freedom came

Urban garden’s reach grows deeper into city’s ‘food deserts’

Please turn to A4 Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

Tricycle Gardens project manager Claire Sadeghzadeh delivers fresh apples and other produce to Song’s Market in the East End.

By Cindy Huang

An urban garden that started out selling fresh produce and fruit at discount to two Richmond convenience stores will grow to serve 13 stores by this summer.

But Tricycle Gardens wants to be more than a fresh food provider for Richmond’s food desert pockets. The nonprofit farm wants to be a magnet for grocery stores and farms in those pockets by highlighting the demand for fresh foods.

“We want to show there’s a vibrant food community,” said Tricycle Gardens project manager Claire Sadeghzadeh.

The single-acre farm at 9th and Bainbridge streets in Richmond’s South Side sells 70 to 140 pounds of kale, spinach, collard greens and other vegetables every week to nine stores across the city, including Song’s Market in the East End. Since the program began in 2013, the farm has delivered almost 3,000 pounds of fresh food to Richmond food deserts, said Ms. Sadeghzadeh. Four new stores are expected to be added by June on North Side, South Side and the East End. Food deserts are defined as pockets of the city where fresh, healthy eating options are scarce.

Please turn to A4

Library of Congress Collection

The U.S. flag flies once again over the city of Richmond on April 3, 1865, proclaiming Union victory over Confederate forces in the city and liberation for thousands of enslaved men, women and children. It also signals that the Civil War, which ravaged the nation for four long years, would soon come to an end.

In celebration of the 150th anniversary of the liberation of Richmond and its people from the bonds of slavery, the Free Press is publishing a three-part series providing an overview of the African-American experience in the war and in Richmond and vicinity during this momentous time.

The first installment appears on A5. A schedule of events for the city’s commemoration appears on B8.

Morrissey announces Senate bid as G.A. officials close his House office

By Jeremy M. Lazarus

Joseph D. “Joe” Morrissey once again is injecting drama into staid Virginia politics.

In a fresh twist to his political career, the combative legislator quit the House of Delegates this week to begin his quest to replace incumbent Rosalyn R. Dance of Petersburg in the state Senate.

His move comes barely two months after he defied Democratic and Republican House leaders and won a special election as an independent to keep his seat in the 74th House District after being convicted of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a misdemeanor. That conviction forced him to commute to the legislature from jail on work release, the first Virginia delegate Mr. Morrissey ever to do so.

Confirming a Free Press report last week, Mr. Morrissey, who was released from jail earlier this month, stood with about 35 supporters in front of the Temple of Judah in Church Hill on Wednesday to announce his bid for the 16th Senate District seat and his departure from the House of Delegates.

The Senate district stretches from Richmond — including the city’s East End — to Petersburg and includes parts of Hopewell and of the counties of Chesterfield, Dinwiddie and Prince George.

Mr. Morrissey will take on Sen. Dance in the June 9 Democratic primary, along with another announced candidate, Petersburg Delegate Joseph E. Preston, who also is giving up his seat in the House.

Another candidate might be preparing to enter the race — pastor and Richmond School Board member Derik Jones, who was Please turn to A4

Song by local music minister up for Stellar Awards

By Joey Matthews

James Johnson was aboard a plane last spring bound for a recording session with the Arkansas Gospel Mass Choir when inspiration struck.

“I was looking out at the clouds, at his creation, and I was thinking about just how great God is,” he recalled.

At that moment, Mr. Johnson, the minister of music at Richmond’s Cedar Street Baptist Church of God, wrote the verses and the end of the song, “You Alone.”

The song is among nominations for the Stellar Awards, which recognize the top African-American gospel artists and

television and film stars in the nation.

“I didn’t write it thinking it was going to be a hit,” Mr. Johnson told the Free Press last week. “I just wanted it to be a song that would help draw people closer Mr. Johnson to God. “What blesses me the most is when people share with me, ‘This song changed my life’ or “It really helped me through some tough times,’ ” he said.

Mr. Johnson, 31, explained that co-writer

Michael McDowell had sent him the song’s chorus before he flew to Little Rock, Ark. In less than a hour, Mr. Johnson had written the words and ending to the song that the choir recorded under his production.

“You Alone” became the title of the 2014 gospel hit by the Arkansas Gospel Mass Choir. It spent dozens of weeks on Billboard’s Top 15 chart for gospel songs, eventually reaching No. 1.

Mr. Johnson said other Richmond musicians worked on the CD, including drummer Brandon Taylor, organist Lawrence Taylor, bass guitarist Alvin Spratley and pianist Please turn to A4

James Haskins/Richmond Free Press

Top this, dad!

Michael Walker and his exuberant, high-flying daughter, Sage, 6, share the stage Sunday at the eighth annual Date With Dad Dinner and Dance at the Trinity Family Life Center on North Side. The event, organized locally by CAMP DIVA, was part of Date With Dad Weekend 2015, which is intended to draw dads and daughters closer together. Additional photographic coverage, please see B4.

Richmond Free Press

A2 March 26-28, 2015

Local News

VSU receives big money gifts at Founder’s Day Virginia State University has received a $100,000 gift from an alumnus to create an endowed scholarship honoring his late wife, Annase Wilks Hill.

Charlie W. Hill, a 1966 graduate now living in Hampton, is the donor for the scholarship that will benefit young women seeking a career involving STEM fields — science, math, engineering and technology.

The gift was announced March 18 during VSU’s Founder’s Day celebrating the 133rd anniversary of the university’s founding in 1882.

Also at Founder’s Day, VSU received a $25,000 gift from the Richmond Ambulance Authority. It was presented by Terone B. Green, chairman of the authority and a member of the VSU Board of Visitors.

Mr. Hill The late Mrs. Hill earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in microbiology from VSU and went on to a career in science. She was best known for her work in diagnosing HIV and AIDS and providing treatment to patients at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Hampton.

Slices of life and scenes During her career, Ms. Hill also worked for Abbott labs, ZVRI (z18) Richmondin Free Press Richmond Baltimore City Hospital, Langley Air Force Base Hospital and the University of Virginia Medical Center.

The university said the newly established Annase Wilks Hill Minerva Circle Endowment will be used to benefit instate students who achieve a 3.5 GPA or higher during their freshmen or sophomore year and are seeking a degree in a March 25 – March 31, 2015 STEM field.

VSU said the endowment is timely in seeking to encourage more women to become involved in STEM careers. Recent studies indicate that fewer women than men are entering science and engineering fields.

Mr. Hill said his family’s history and strong connection to VSU led him to create the endowment. “I asked myself, ‘What would make a difference right now?’” he said. “I realized this endowment could serve as a model for others.”

He is a retired executive vice president for human resources for Landmark Media Enterprises Inc., publisher of The VirginianPilot newspaper in Norfolk. He also is a co-founder and president of the Hampton Roads Prostate Health Forum and a founding board member of the Community Free Clinic of Newport News.

— JEREMY M. LAZARUS

Cityscape

Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

This barrier now detours traffic from Fairmount Avenue, one block from the avenue’s intersection with 25th Street, Nine Mile Road and S Street. There, heavy equipment is digging up asphalt to create a new roundabout that will replace traffic lights at the busy intersection. Simons Contracting was awarded a $784,500 contract for the work that will disrupt traffic for three months. Total project cost: $1.2 million.

HOP INTO

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Value Pack

Electronics recycling on March 28 at Broad Rock Park Richmond residents are being offered another opportunity to safely recycle broken and outdated TVs and electronic equipment.

The city’s next E-cyle Day will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. this Saturday, March 28, the Department of Public Works has announced.

Location: Broad Rock Park, 4835 Old Warwick Road.

City residents can drop off small electronic items at no charge. Examples: Printers, computer monitors, radios, VCRs, camcorders and microwaves.

TV disposal costs $10 per unit.

Also, the event will include on-site document shredding.

Residents can bring up to five boxes of paper for shredding.

Further details: Clean City Commission, (804) 646-8325.

Federal grant to help SNAP job training More than 3,760 food stamp recipients will gain greater access to workforce training to help them find jobs in highdemand fields, Gov. Terry McAuliffe has announced.

Virginia will use a new three-year, $22.3 million federal grant to make that happen, Gov. McAuliffe stated in his March 19 announcement.

The grant is from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and will be used to beef up existing state efforts to aid the job search efforts of recipients of food stamps, now known as SNAP or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the governor stated.

The USDA grant will be used to aid selected recipients to gain certifications, apprenticeships, occupational licenses and college certificates, the governor stated. The target group involves SNAP recipients ages 18 to 49 who either dropped out of high school or who finished high school, but are still not ready for college, he stated.

For the past 10 years, the state Department of Social Services has worked with three community colleges, Danville, Patrick Henry and Tidewater, to offer such training services to SNAP recipients.

The grant will allow the program to expand to four additional community colleges: Piedmont, Southside Virginia, Thomas Nelson and Virginia Highlands, the governor stated.

The grant also builds on at least three years of efforts in Richmond and other communities to provide job search, job training and volunteer opportunities to help recipients become more employable and to end their dependence on food aid.

The current program is called SNAPET or SNAP Employment and Training. SNAPET participants can qualify for such supportive services as child day care, transportation and medical-dental services, according to the Richmond Department of Social Services.

SNAP is best known as the first line of defense against hunger. Last month, 856,500 Virginians received SNAP benefits to buy food.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, in announcing the SNAP employment grants to Virginia and nine other states, stated that “helping people find good jobs is a far better strategy for reducing spending on food assistance than the across-the-board cuts” that Congress is proposing. — JEREMY M. LAZARUS

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Richmond Free Press

March 26-28, 2015

#4 of 11

CAN RELIABLE ENERGY GENERATE EVEN MORE THAN A BRIGHTER FUTURE?

Dominion and its project partners take pride in providing the communities we serve with reliable electricity and natural gas at affordable rates while creating jobs and additional tax revenue. For example, our plans to build the Atlantic Coast Pipeline will generate significant economic gains throughout the region. In addition to helping heat and light homes and businesses while lowering fuel bills, the Atlantic Coast Pipeline will also generate both short-term employment and the long-term benefits that come from annual taxes, new businesses and the jobs they create.

Natural gas is one of the cleanest, most economic and efficient fuel sources available. According to a recent report from ICF International, a leading economic consulting firm, the natural gas supply from the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a large-scale public utility project, will save Virginia and North Carolina consumers roughly $377 million annually through lower energy bills. More than $240 million of those savings will flow to Virginians. And with more than a quarter of Virginia’s power generated from natural gas, these benefits will reach across the region. Gas lines are proving to be true economic assets. For example, the Columbia Gas line, which has run through Virginia’s Augusta, Albemarle and Rockingham counties for decades, has benefitted businesses and homes throughout the region with abundant natural gas at affordable rates.

The Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a joint venture including Dominion, Duke Energy, Piedmont Natural Gas and AGL Resources, will also bring increased employment opportunities, beginning with nearly 3,000 construction jobs. And once construction is complete, consumer savings could support an additional 2,200 permanent jobs. At the same time, low-priced natural gas will help attract new businesses to the region while enabling existing firms to expand—and that will result in even more jobs.

Once the pipeline is operational, the 26 counties along its route will benefit from the more than $25 million in annual property taxes that Dominion and its partners will pay. In fact, all three states through which the pipeline will run—West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina—stand to gain an average of more than $8.56 million in tax revenue from the pipeline in the next 10 years. Virginia’s Nelson and Augusta counties alone could see a combined $3.1 million in annual revenue. So while many local governments are facing challenges to fund schools and provide other essential services, this new revenue can make a big difference in our communities.

Dominion and its partners want to keep the lines of dialogue open as plans for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline take shape. Stay informed of the latest developments by visiting dom.com/acpipeline, emailing us at acpipeline@dom.com or calling us toll-free at 844-215-1819.

Dominion provides affordable, reliable power to more than 5 million retail energy customers in the Midwest, midAtlantic and Northeast. Increasing the role of natural gas as an energy source is as important to the economy as it is to the environment—creating more jobs, keeping energy prices reasonable and helping make our air cleaner.

dom.com/acpipeline

A3

Richmond Free Press

A4 March 26-28, 2015

News

Three candidates vying for 74th House District nomination

By Jeremy M. Lazarus

A three-way race is shaping up to replace former Henrico Delegate Joseph D. “Joe” Morrissey in the General Assembly.

David Lambert, son of the late Benjamin J. Lambert, a former state senator, officially became a candidate this week.

He announced Tuesday that he would challenge two other contenders — Henrico School Board member Lamont Bagby and the Rev. Leonidas B. “Lee” Young II. All three will be seeking the Democratic nomination in the party’s June 9 primary, which is expected to be decisive in determining who will occupy the 74th House District seat.

The district includes a single precinct in Richmond’s North Side, most of Eastern Henrico County and all of Charles City County.

Mr. Morrissey quit the House seat Wednesday to run for a state Senate seat.

Mr. Bagby has emerged as the front-runner in terms of endorsements.

He picked up key support this week in Charles City County, including the endorsements of two Democrats who previously sought the House seat — retired labor leader Kevin J. Sullivan

and Floyd H. Miles Sr., vice chairmember John Montgomery. man of the Charles City County Several Richmond officials also Board of Supervisors and a former have announced support for Mr. delegate from the district.

Bagby, including City Council President Michelle R. Mosby and three Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Miles duRichmond School Board members, eled with Mr. Bagby late last year Jeffrey M. Bourne, Kimberly B. for the Democratic nomination to Gray and Derik E. Jones, son of challenge Mr. Morrissey, who won Mayor Dwight C. Jones. as an independent in a January Mr. Bagby also has gained the special election.

Mr. Bagby Mr. Lambert Rev. Young endorsement of at least 16 pastors Mr. Sullivan won the Democratic Party nod, but lost to Mr. Morrissey in the Jan. 13 special elec- of African-American churches, including the Rev. Roscoe D. tion. Mr. Sullivan initially indicated he planned to run in the Cooper III of Rising Mount Zion Baptist, the Rev. Michael Jones, founding pastor of Village of Faith Ministries, and the June primary, but now has given his support to Mr. Bagby.

Mr. Bagby also gained the support of the three members of Rev. A. Lincoln James Jr., pastor of Trinity Baptist Church, which owns the fellowship center in Henrico where Mr. Lambert the Charles City County School Board.

Those added to the endorsements Mr. Bagby already has announced his bid.

Among the 13 other ministers backing Mr. Bagby are the Rev. garnered from Henrico Democrats. For example, he has won the support of Frank J. Thornton, a 20-year member of the Henrico Duane Hardy, pastor of Seven Pines Baptist Church and president County Board of Supervisors who is seeking re-election, as well of the Henrico Ministers Conference, and the Rev. Van Jones, as Varina Supervisor Tyrone Nelson and Varina School Board president of the Charles City County Clergy Council.

Aird to seek 63rd Morrissey announces Senate bid House District seat Continued from A1

A protégé of state Sen. Rosalyn R. Dance has jumped into the race for the 63rd House of Delegates District seat.

Lashrecse Aird, 28, announced that she would compete with three other announced candidates for the Petersburg area seat that Sen. Dance previously held. The current delegate, Joseph E. Preston, is giving up the seat to challenge Sen. Dance in the June 9 Democratic primary.

Ms. Aird Ms. Aird is a former legislative aide to Sen. Dance and currently is executive assistant to the president of Richard Bland College.

The Virginia State University graduate also is chair of the Petersburg Democratic Committee and a member of the Petersburg Planning Commission.

She announced Tuesday she would run in the June 9 primary, which could decide the winner in the majority-black district.

The three other candidates, all of whom are running in the primary as well, are the Rev. Larry D. Brown Sr. of Dinwiddie County, Petersburg School Board member Atiba Muse and Petersburg businesswoman Gerry J. Rawlinson.

The district includes Petersburg and parts of Hopewell and of three counties, Chesterfield, Dinwiddie and Prince George.

— JEREMY M. LAZARUS

circulating petitions Wednesday to run. Dr. Jones, son of Mayor Dwight C. Jones, could not be reached for comment and had yet to file at Free Press deadline.

Mr. Morrissey promised to be a voice “for the little guy” and to provide the same constituent services that he said had been a hallmark of his eight years as a delegate.

He also said he would stand in contrast to Sen. Dance, whom he said voted with Republicans to expand the death penalty and allow a state takeover of Petersburg’s public school system. Mr. Morrissey said she also voted to approve GOP-devised budgets that eliminated funding for GRTC’s Petersburg service and to expand Medicaid.

“Mr. Morrissey is being shameless in trying to misrepresent my record,” Sen. Dance retorted in a quick statement. Describing herself as an “effective senator” and ready to defend her record, she said “Mr. Morrissey … cares so little for his constituents that he abandoned them just after being re-elected.”

At Mr. Morrissey’s announcement news

conference, Coleman Pride, a Morrissey critic, stood facing Mr. Morrissey and behind TV cameras holding up a sign saying he is the father of the young woman with whom Mr. Morrissey was convicted of having a sexual relationship while she was 17, or underage. Now 19, Myrna Pride just a delivered a son on March 14 in an Atlanta hospital. Neither she nor Mr. Morrissey has disclosed the child’s name or paternity, despite speculation that Mr. Morrissey is the father.

During the news conference, Mr. Morrissey turned aside a question about Ms. Pride and the baby, saying he would have something to say at a later time. He played down the significance, saying the people he meets “are more interested in the issues that affect them than in my love life.”

Mr. Morrissey is jumping into the primary even as he prepares to defend himself against new felony charges of forgery and perjury in a trial set for late April. He said he expects “to crush the prosecution” and be acquitted of what he has said are phony charges.

Meanwhile, House Speaker William J. Howell issued a statement Wednesday

‘Bloody, but unbowed’

Local minister up for Stellar Awards Continued from A1

Continued from A1

denied entry, when two Virginia ABC agents came up and grabbed him.

A witness said a startled Mr. Johnson initially tried to pull away from officers, who then wrestled him to the ground, knees pressed against his back.

On a video posted on YouTube, an agent can be heard telling him to stop fighting.

On the ground with his head and face bloodied, Mr. Johnson is shouting to the officers: “I go to U.Va.! I go to U.Va.!”

He was handcuffed, arrested and charged with two misdemeanors — obstruction of justice without force and public swearing or intoxication.

In an arrest report, Mr. Johnson was described as “very agitated and belligerent.”

But the bar’s co-owner has contradicted that assessment.

A Breathalyzer test showed Mr. Johnson was not intoxicated. It took 10 stitches to close the gash on his head.

Mr. Johnson will plead not guilty at a scheduled court appearance Thursday, March 26, said his attorney, Daniel Watkins of Richmond’s Williams Mullen law firm. There’s also a question about whether charges against him will be dropped at some point.

Mr. Johnson stood by at a news con-

disclosing that Mr. Morrissey’s office in the General Assembly building was being closed. Speaker Howell also stated he was notifying Gov. Terry McAuliffe that the 74th House District seat is vacant.

Election specialists consider it likely the governor will not call a special election as a result of difficulties created by state law, but allow the seat to be filled in the November general election.

As the Free Press reported last week, and as confirmed by paperwork he submitted this week to qualify as a candidate, Mr. Morrissey left his residence in Henrico County and moved to a Shockoe Bottom apartment to establish required residency in the Senate district.

As Speaker Howell noted, the change of address triggered a provision of the Virginia Constitution that automatically forces out of office senators and delegates who do not live within the districts they were elected to serve. Mr. Morrissey apparently is the first legislator to trigger that provision, according to House Clerk G. Paul Nardo.

Mr. Morrissey’s new residence is in the 70th House District that Delegate Delores L. McQuinn represents.

Bryan Beaubrun/Associated Press

Bloodied University of Virginia student Martese Johnson is held down by an ABC agent after being slammed to the ground last week outside a Charlottesville pub.

ference March 19, the stitches visible in his head, as his statement was read by Mr. Watkins. He said he was “shocked that my face was slammed into the brick pavement three blocks from where I attend school. I trust that the scars on my face and head will heal, but the trauma from what the ABC officers did will stay with me forever.”

He said his “head lay bloody, but unbowed,” and he urged calm.

The incident has galvanized a large and diverse group of supporters for Mr. Johnson, who serves as leadership development chairman for the university’s Black Student Alliance.

About 200 African-American students stormed out of a forum with the Charlottesville police chief last Friday designed to quell tensions on campus.

Chanting “Black lives matter!” they ar-

gued that their questions over Mr. Johnson’s arrest were not being addressed. A panel of seven law enforcement, state and federal officials led the forum. They said they were hesitant to discuss specifics of the incident because the investigation is ongoing.

“We have nothing to lose but our chains,” shouted Aryn Frazier, a leader of the demonstrations.

Mr. Martin, who is managing partner at the Richmond office of McGuire Woods LLP in Downtown and the first AfricanAmerican rector in the university’s history, stated, “Reflecting on this episode, I cannot ignore the fact that Martese is an African-American. I cannot ignore the fact that I have been contacted by AfricanAmerican alumni who are concerned. But I also have been contacted by alums who are not African-American and they, too, are concerned about Martese.”

and auxiliary keyboardist Darryl Johnson, who co-produced it.

The song is nominated in six categories: Song of the Year, CD of the Year, Choir of the Year, Traditional CD of the Year, Traditional Choir of the Year and Praise and Worship CD of the Year.

The multitalented Mr. Johnson grew up attending church in Baltimore. At 17, he entered the Baltimore School for the Arts, where he studied writing and performing. Among the school’s most famous alumni: The late rapper Tupac Shukar and actor Jada Pinkett Smith.

Mr. Johnson expects to complete a bachelor’s degree in music performance this spring that he began at the Peabody Institute of John Hopkins University.

He has been at Cedar Street Baptist for the last seven years.

He said about 10 members of Cedar Street will join him at the 30th annual Stellar Awards when the celebration is taped Saturday, March 28, at the New Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.

It is scheduled for back-to-back airings on TV One at 8 and 10 p.m. on Easter Sunday, April 5.

Mr. Johnson received a rousing Stellar Awards sendoff Sunday at the East End church’s two worship services led by its pastor, Dr. Anthony L. Chandler.

The sendoff was by punctuated by a stirring musical performance by longtime gospel artist Beverly Crawford, another Stellar Awards nominee.

A five-minute video contained tributes to Mr. Johnson from his wife and children, Dr. Chandler, members of the multiple choirs he directs at Cedar Street and other family members who traveled from Baltimore to attend.

“We are so proud of you,” his grandmother, Lucy Gross, told a tearful Mr. Johnson near the end of the second service.

“I’m speechless,” Mr. Johnson told the congregation. “This is an honor to God who continues to blow my mind with his favor.”

He later told the Free Press, “Whether I win or lose, I already feel like I won after the way the church recognized me today.”

Urban garden’s reach grows deeper into city’s ‘food deserts’ Continued from A1

“We try to be more of a grocery store than a convenience store,” said Xavier Cibes, owner of Song’s Market at 1400 Mechanicsville Turnpike.

Mr. Cibes said the lack of fresh food in the area is partly because of a “misunderstanding” between store owners and customers. Store owners are waiting for an increase in demand for fresh food to sell it, he said, but people in the area won’t ask for vegetables if they don’t see it as a local option.

The cycle of supply and demand for junk food has to break on both ends.

“It’s not easy to break the old patterns. We think it will take awhile,” he said.

Douglas Rowlett, who was shopping at the market, wants more fresh food available to residents of the city’s East End. But he said there’s a “get it and go” and “quick fix” attitude toward

food in many of Richmond’s economically depressed neighborhoods.

With tight budgets, some residents are more focused on staying full than staying healthy, he explained.

About 20 percent of Richmond residents don’t have access to nutritional food due to a lack of local options and limited transportation to grocery stores, according to a 2010 study by the nonprofit Feeding America.

A 2013 report by Richmond’s Food Policy Task Force found that people living in the city’s food deserts are nutrition-starved because local convenience stores sell highly processed, low-nutrient foods. The report said the lack of healthy food options leads to diet-related problems, such as diabetes and heart disease.

“Many Richmonders are going hungry — if not in quantity of available food, then in quality of food with sufficient nutritional value to keep them healthy,” the report stated.

Danny Avula, deputy director of

the Richmond City Health District, said that cities like Philadelphia and New York have many local stores with fresh food, which “changes the landscape of what food is available and, over time, that changes the culture of food.”

Dr. Avula said to improve public health, communities have to both change the environment by increasing the fresh food options and encouraging people to choose fresh food.

“Just because you put it in there doesn’t mean people will buy it,” Dr. Avula said.

He said people struggling with poverty may not have the resources to find and buy fresh food.

“It’s lower priority than just getting some food on the table,” Dr. Avula said.

“We need to help change the culture, help people think about what they’re eating with long-term goals.”

The Healthy Corner Store Initiative, which is receiving about $56,000 this fiscal year from local and state funds,

also includes in-store tastings to win over the taste buds of local residents, said Ms. Sadeghzadeh.

She said she convinces local store owners to buy fresh foods from the farm by pointing out the successes of participating stores.

She also buys back any fresh food left over by the end of the week. That amount is diminishing to about 10 pounds a week collectively from all the participating stores, she said.

In 2013, the program received about $39,000 in state and local government funds to expand to more stores.

Mr. Cibes says he sees an increased interest in fresh food by shoppers in his store, but he still struggles to get people to notice those offerings.

Fresh foods fill two refrigerator cases in his market. On a recent week, the one in the front of the store showcased cabbages, radishes, squash and apples. The other had white onions, tomatoes and green peppers.

“Every week, someone says, ‘Oh,

you carry produce,’ ” Mr. Cibes said.

His noontime shoppers buy sodas, chips and packaged pastries, largely ignoring the cabbage, radish, spaghetti squash and apples at the front of the store. Mr. Cibes said his fresh foods are sold mostly around dinnertime to young mothers who are going home to cook.

Roosevelt Hicks, 47, said he goes to Song’s Market every day because it’s around the corner from his home.

He said his wife regularly purchases vegetables there for the family’s dinners.

Crystal Witcher, a Church Hill resident, said she learned about the health risk of eating junk food through Facebook posts and news reports.

She buys fresh foods from Song’s Market to make sure her three kids eat vegetables every day.

But she said breaking bad habits can be difficult.

“I’m addicted to soda,” she said sheepishly.

Richmond Free Press

March 26-28, 2015

A5

150th Anniversary of Richmond’s Liberation The Free Press presents a three-part installment chronicling the African-American experience during the liberation of Richmond in April 1865 and the final days of the Civil War. This is Part One.

Library of Congress Collection

A swath of rubble and destruction through Richmond’s central district is visible in this stereograph

by Alexander Gardner originally published in April 1865.

When freedom came

By Elvatrice Belsches

The evacuation of Richmond had been rumored for weeks.

It was late March 1865, and Richmond, the capital of the Confederate States of America, was suffering from a lack of food and fuel, as well as fatigue brought on by a Civil War that had taken its toll over the previous four years.

The city, whose pre-war population had swelled from roughly 38,000 to more than 100,000 with an influx of refugees fleeing from the fighting, was still working to support a Confederate army that had been under siege by federal Union troops for the last nine months just 23 miles south in Petersburg.

If Union forces could capture Petersburg, then Richmond would fall soon after. Capturing the Confederate capital essentially would bring an end to the war and to a death toll nearing 700,000 by recent estimates.

It also would mean a fateful and fitting end to a way of life that for more than two centuries had depended on the free labor of black people.

Slavery fueled Richmond’s economy. The work of enslaved and free black people in households and as laborers, stevedores and artisans sustained and grew the city’s tobacco industry, ironworks, mills and other commerce.

Richmond and its many merchants also prospered from the export of slaves. Thousands of black people were bought and sold from the dozens of slave auction houses in Shockoe Bottom, making Richmond one of the largest sources of enslaved Africans on the East Coast from 1830 to 1860.

By 1865, as Richmond’s population exploded, so, too, the city’s black population grew from the roughly 12,000 enslaved and 2,600 free black people counted in the 1860 Census. So it was no wonder that news had traveled to Richmond and circulated widely among the city’s black population that freedom might be near.

“The evacuation of Richmond for some weeks has frequently been announced in The Press as being actually in progress. It is now credited in the best military circles to such an extent as to make a disposition of the forces to meet such a contingency.

“The authorities obtain their information from scouts and reliable persons, which is to the effect that all cumbersome munitions of war and contraband property are being removed from the city. [Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee] must either assault our works, and what is more difficult, defeat our armies, or vacate his stronghold, if he would save his hordes from immediate capture.” – Thomas Morris Chester March 28, 1865 Thomas Morris Chester, the only known black reporter to cover the war for a major daily newspaper, was traveling among

Courtesy of the Liljenquist Family Collection/Library of Congress Collection

An unidentified Union soldier poses with his wife and two daughters in this photograph taken circa 1863-1865.

a former slave, would prove prophetic. Upward of 180,000 black men served in uniform in the Union army, making up 10 percent of Union forces, according to the National Archives.

Another 18,000 or so black men and women also served in the Union Navy.

In one battle in Henrico County alone, 14 black soldiers would be awarded the Medal of Honor. They were cited for heroism at the Battle of New Market Heights on Sept. 29, 1864.

All told, 25 African-Americans, including seven sailors, would be given the nation’s highest honor for bravery and gallantry during the Civil War, despite harsh conditions, deprivation, injustice and death.

About 40,000 black soldiers died in the war, with 30,000 succumbing to infection or disease.

“Out of eighty-three colored soldiers who were captured last July and confined to Danville, only five survived the barbarous treatment which has been perpetrated Mr. Chester against them.

“One of the returned prisoners assures me that two of our colored soldiers, who were captured about last July, were taken into the woods by rebel officers, and placed as targets, where with their pistols they fired for their amusement and to improve their aim.” – Thomas Morris Chester Feb. 22, 1865 Eager to see the war come to a quick end, President Abraham Lincoln traveled with his wife and son by boat from Washington and arrived on March 24, 1865, at City Point, now Hopewell, to meet with Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and other top military advisers, 22 miles southeast of Richmond.

“Another event of yesterday which attracted considerable attention in this army was the arrival of President Lincoln, and his reviewing parts of the 24th and 25th Corps. Both white and colored troops looked well, and, if possible, marched better than on former occasions. It was a grand sight, and must have been a source of considerable satisfaction to his Excellency, Mrs. Lincoln, Miss Wells, and other ladies who accompanied the President to the front and witnessed the martial ceremonies.”

Library of Congress Collection – Thomas Morris Chester March 1865 First African Baptist Church at Broad and College streets in 1865. Many In addition to viewing white and black troops African-Americans took refuge in the church, fearing they would be made and visiting wounded Union and Confederate into human shields by Confederates. soldiers in hospitals, President Lincoln traveled black troops with the Army of the James under Brevet Maj. Gen. by train and horseback to the front lines around Petersburg to see A.V. Kautz and Maj. Gen. J. Godfrey Weitzel. He chronicled for the carnage firsthand. the Philadelphia Press many of the significant final events in this Deprivation knew no color or boundaries. Civilians struggled tumultuous period in American history. for food, which was at a premium. Merchants charged exorbitant Black people had long served in support capacities for the prices for basic items, such as bread, milk and flour. The uncerUnion forces. And many black men, both free and slave, were tainty of war had become a heavy burden. conscripted, or pressed into service working for the Confederacy When Union troops forged a victory on April 1, 1865, at the in building fortifications and working as hospital attendants, mes- Battle of Five Forks near Petersburg, cutting off road and rail sengers, launderers, cooks and artisans. supply lines for Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, the surrender However, as early as 1861, an ever-growing chorus pressed the of Petersburg and Richmond was imminent. need for black men to serve as soldiers for the Union.

On the morning of April 2, 1865, Jefferson Davis, president of “Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letters the Confederate States of America, sat worshipping at St. Paul’s U.S., let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his Episcopal Church near the capitol when a messenger arrived with shoulder and bullets in his pocket, there is no power on earth correspondence from Gen. Lee. which can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship.”

The message: Gen. Lee could not hold Confederate lines at Those words by abolitionist Frederick Douglass, himself Petersburg. Richmond must be evacuated.

The messenger: Richard Chiles, a black man of mixed parentage.

(Mr. Chiles, who is believed to have been in his 40s at the time, was the patriarch of what would become one of Richmond’s most venerable families of color.)

His son, John R. Chiles, born circa 1860, would become a wealthy businessman, civic leader and board member for the Mechanic’s Savings Bank started by black newspaperman John Mitchell. His twin, James Alexander Chiles, would graduate from Lincoln University and later, in 1889, the University of Michigan Law School. After practicing law briefly in Richmond, he would become a pioneering attorney in Kentucky. His daughter, Marietta L. Chiles, spent nearly 40 years teaching freedom’s first generation of black students in public schools in Richmond.)

(There is no relation to the Chiles’ Funeral Home family in Richmond’s East End.) Mr. Davis left the church. Word spread quickly that Richmond was about to fall.

He ordered the evacuation of his government. The plan also called for any supplies that could benefit Union forces to be destroyed.

As Mr. Davis and his cabinet officers packed as much as possible and prepared to set out for Danville by train, chaos erupted in the streets.

Confederates set fire to arsenals, factories and supply warehouses. In accordance with military orders, hundreds of barrels of whiskey were broken open and flowed freely in the streets.

Suddenly, Richmond was going up in flames. Fires raged out of control in the heart of the city around the capitol.

Mobs of people, both white and black, roamed the streets, pilfering from the newly opened storehouses all the items they previously were denied.

Homes and businesses alike were destroyed. The chaos was punctuated by earth-shattering explosions that killed several civilians.

Fleeing troops and civilians stuffed their pockets and bags with valuables and personal treasures.

Mr. Chiles “To Major General Godfrey Weitzel was assigned the duty of capturing Richmond … After midnight explosions began to occur so frequently as to confirm the evidence already in possession of the General-in-chief … The immense flames curling up throughout the rebel camps indicated that they were destroying all that could not be taken away.” – Thomas Morris Chester about overnight events of April 2, 1865, in Richmond According to an eyewitness account, Robert Lumpkin, a Richmond slave trader and proprietor of Lumpkin’s Jail in Shockoe Bottom, tried unsuccessfully to protect his property and business investment — his slaves.

He quickly shackled together 50 enslaved men, women and children and headed to the train depot to flee to Danville.

He hoped to travel on the train with Mr. Davis and his cabinet.

He was not allowed to board.

Scores of black people took refuge in First African Baptist Church at Broad and College streets, afraid that they would be used as human shields by Confederates when Union soldiers arrived. They stayed at the church, praying.

For them, and for thousands of others, the morning of April 3, 1865, would bring about a dawn like few others.

Courtesy of the City of Richmond

Sketch of Lumpkin’s Jail from “A History of the Richmond Theological Seminary.”

The writer

References for further reading

Elvatrice Belsches is a Richmond area historical researcher, author and lecturer who has served as a special projects researcher for the National Park Service and The American Civil War Center at Historic Tredegar. She has been a historical consultant on documentaries and was an in-studio historical researcher on director Steven Spielberg’s 2012 motion picture “Lincoln.”

“Thomas Morris Chester, Black Civil War Correspondent: His Dispatches from the Virginia Front,” edited with a biographical essay and notes by R.J.M. Blackett, Louisiana University Press, 1989.

“A Grand Army of Black Men: Letters from

African-American Soldiers in the Union Army, 1861-1865,” edited by Edwin S. Redkey, Cambridge University Press, 1992.

“Richmond Burning: The Last Days of the Confederate Capital,” by Nelson D. Lankford, Viking 2002.

Richmond Free Press

Face of a daffodil in North Side

Editorial Page

A6

March 26-28, 2015

Missed opportunity Talk about a missed opportunity to put Richmond in the spotlight.

We are talking about the celebration next week of the liberation of our city from the grip of slave power and the human oppression that was taken for granted since the nation’s founding.

This should be a huge event. After all, Richmond was at the epicenter of a dramatic struggle for the soul of America.

For four terrible years, the question of whether a flawed democratic nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all people are created equal was debated in blood and cannon fire.

Foes of that proposition roared defiance from Richmond and waged a rebellion that sought to make slavery the lynchpin of a new nation built on white supremacy and the labor of men, women and children kept in perpetual bondage.

But on April 3, 1865, that defiance ended as mostly black American troops bearing the flag of freedom entered this city, took control and quelled the fires that the retreating army of slavery supporters created.

Suddenly, the bustling slave auctions were shut down.

Suddenly, people could no longer be stripped naked and auctioned for the highest price. Suddenly, people could not be arrested for learning to read. Suddenly, the once mighty oppressors could be held accountable for whipping and beating and killing the oppressed.

Suddenly, the future of AfricanAmericans in this country took a sharp 180-degree turn.

The political, social and cultural upheaval the Civil War unleashed is now more visible, though the struggle continues to force Library of Congress Collection this city, this state and this nation to live up to the promises of its founding.

That is why we are focusing on this great moment in time in a three-part series, the first installment of which appears on A5 and in providing a schedule of events that appears on B8.

Still, you might think our city and our state would want to go all out to mark the 150th anniversary of the surrender of Richmond to the forces of liberty — a capstone of that great, horrible war.

You would think there would be some buzz in the community, some anticipation, some level of interest among the populace — fueled by a marketing campaign to alert everyone.

Alas no.

Oh, there will be various programs and even a wonderful parade of re-enactors of the U.S. Colored Troops who liberated this city and all those being held as slaves.

But it will all be minor league, attracting maybe a few thousand, and then quickly over — a typical Richmond yawn to a grand milestone moment in the history of our city, our state and our nation.

For our mayor and our City Council, the big events this year for Richmond involve the arrival of a brewery and an international bike race coming in September.

How could the 150th anniversary of the Civil War’s climactic moment compare with that?

This is the kind of event to which you invite national and international figures.

This is the kind of event where you blow off fireworks and celebrate in high style with parades, with art, with great concerts of music and dance.

This is the kind of event that is taught to our children in our public schools. This is the kind of event for which social media was designed.

We saw what happens when people in leadership understand the importance of history just a few weeks ago in Selma, Ala. We watched in awe as President Obama led congressmen and tens of thousands of ordinary people across the Edmund Pettus Bridge to mark the 50th anniversary of a major battle for voting rights. And we listened in awe to his moving remarks that were broadcast to the world — imprinting Selma in the minds of untold millions.

But the president will not be coming here to talk about his idol, the Great Emancipator, Abraham Lincoln, and his impact on our world today. Nor will any world figures of any stripe or color.

Our Civil War events are considered so unimportant that our City Council could not be bothered even to pass a resolution of support. The commemoration is regarded as so unimportant that Mayor Jones didn’t even mention it in his latest “Building the Best Richmond” newsletter.

The events are considered so unimportant that even the state’s tourism promotion website left them off this week’s list of upcoming Civil War events around the state that might interest visitors.

It is hardly surprising that people can be expected to be far more focused on Easter than on remembering a day so long ago, even if it is one of the greatest moments in the history of our city and our country — a turning point when the arc of moral justice bent toward justice.

Our prediction is that all of the planned activities for this Civil War moment will hardly bestir as much interest as the annual Easter on Parade that will take place Sunday, April 5, on Monument Avenue.

Sadly, we are too often a place of small plans. And as Richmond great Maggie L. Walker and many others have advised, “Make no small plans, for they have no power to stir the soul.”

Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

Black vote must count in Ferguson Ferguson, Mo., will hold municipal elections April 7.

The mayor and five of the six city council members are white.

Three are up for re-election.

Since Michael Brown was gunned down by former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9, the one loud refrain has been how could a city where AfricanAmericans make up the overwhelming majority of the population be policed by a nearly all-white police force, and governed by a nearly all-white city administration? The thought was that the Brown slaying angered and engaged so many thousands that it was almost a done deal that the first chance black residents got they’d jam the polls and totally revamp city government in Ferguson.

The revamp would mean the election of a majority black city council and mayor. This in turn could quickly mean the hiring of a black city manager and other top level administrators. This in turn could mean an overhaul of the police department to make diversity and reform a reality.

Eight months after the Brown slaying, the April elections will

put that thinking to the test.

The early signs aren’t good.

In the nearly three-month period between the day Michael Brown was slain and Oct. 8, a worse than anemic 204 eligible adults in Ferguson newly registered.

A month later, fewer than half

Earl O. Hutchinson of the nearly 25,000 registered voters in Ferguson bothered to go to the polls in the midterm elections.

The one faint stir of optimism is the recall petition filed against current mayor James Knowles.

He has made it clear he won’t step down. He moved quickly to pose as the change agent, held a high profile press conference, and has mobilized black support to beat back the recall effort.

Despite his protestations and promises to jump hard on the reform train, he can’t separate himself from a rigid, racially balkanized city governmental structure that has maintained iron-clad political control, and a racially polarizing police force and city administration.

The reasons for the chronic past no-shows of black people at the Ferguson polls in part mirror the reasons for the persistent low minority voter turnout in local and national elections in past years. The oft

cited reasons are apathy, disinterest, GOP voter suppression, the sense that their vote won’t change anything, that there’s little difference between the two parties, and the inherent distrust of politicians. There’s also the deep sense that the Democratic Party routinely takes the black vote for granted.

A standard rule in American politics is that politicians appeal to, mobilize and champion programs and initiatives that are dear to the voters that are likely to vote for them. The other part of that rule is that those voters and constituents are for the most part white, middle class and politically vocal. The poor, especially the black poor, have never fit that demographic. Ferguson has been a near textbook example of the cycle of neglect and snub of black residents by a city council, mayor and city administration.

African-Americans in Ferguson in turn have read the political tea leafs and repaid that with their indifference and disinterest.

Despite this entrenched pattern and past voting obstacles, there are compelling reasons for black people in Ferguson to rush to barricades this time to vote. One is the prospect of a regime change at city hall and the police force. Another is they could move to dump the despicable near shakedown

Fight with ballots, not bullets It’s time for another Revolutionary War. Not a violent conflict like the one that brought this country into existence, but instead one that should be fought with ballots, not bullets.

The necessity for this new war of American liberation became clear to me just days after President Obama led a 50th anniversary march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., to celebrate the event that sparked Congress to pass the 1965 Voting Rights Act. That legislation opened the way for millions of disenfranchised voters — mostly black and Hispanic — to exercise this democracy’s most basic freedom.

It provided federal protections to ensure that state and local governments did not create barriers to voting for black people and other minorities.

In his Selma speech, President Obama called on Congress to restore a part of the Voting Rights Act that was struck down in 2013. It required states with a history of racial discrimination, including Virginia, to get pre-clearance before making voting law changes.

“Right now, in 2015 … there are laws across this country designed to make it harder for people to vote,” the

DeWayne Wickham president said. “As we speak, more of such laws are being proposed.” Then he called on members of Congress to “make it their mission to restore the law this year.”

His words got a thunderous applause from those who gathered in Selma for the march’s jubilee celebration — but were quickly rejected by Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, who is responsible for scheduling floor votes in the Republican-controlled chamber. Sen. Cornyn said President Obama’s call for reinstatement of the pre-clearance provision is just an effort by the Democratic president to “create phony narratives.” The Senate, he said, should not take up the matter.

Sen. Cornyn is an unrelenting opponent of the pre-clearance provision and a staunch advocate of voter ID laws, such as the one that has been imposed in his home state. It requires Texans to show one of seven forms of government-issued photo identification in order to cast a ballot. Residents can use a U.S. passport, a military ID,

a driver’s license, a concealed weapons license, a citizenship certificate, a special new photo ID card or a certificate that the state created for voting purposes.

A federal court concluded that there are at least 600,000 registered voters in Texas who are unable to vote because they can’t meet any of these tests.

Voter ID laws and efforts to roll back the Voting Rights Act are the footings of an American apartheid — an effort to keep power disproportionately in the hands of the white population long after black people, Hispanics and Asians supplant them as this nation’s majority group.

But these hurdles can be overcome. How? By voting in record — revolutionary — numbers, the president told me the morning of his Selma speech. Many minorities whose path to the polls does not have high hurdles still don’t vote.

Getting these people to show up at the polls, he told me, “would transform our politics.”

Failing to do this will make it possible for this democracy to morph into an apartheid nation with a political makeup that produces the kind of internal upheaval that once made South Africa a pariah state.

DeWayne Wickham, dean of Morgan State University’s School of Global Journalism and Communication.

The Free Press welcomes letters

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

racket that city officials have run for years that criminalizes virtually the city’s entire black population. Police and the courts issued 16,000 arrest warrants in one year in Ferguson, a city of less than 25,000. Many of the warrants were for unpaid parking and traffic tickets. The offenders were arrested, and sometimes rearrested with the fines doubling and tripling. The fines enriched city coffers as well as the pockets of a few public officials.

Another is there’s no excuse.

The only requirement to vote is to be age 18, a U.S. citizen and a resident of Ferguson.

The April 7 election can be a turning point for Ferguson.

If it’s not, and Ferguson stays Ferguson, then black people have no one to blame but themselves.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst.

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Richmond Free Press

March 26-28, 2015

Letters to the Editor

Racism is stupidity There has been a lot in the news this past year about racism and hate crimes.

But to me, racism is the stupidest kind of stupidity there is.

I just cannot fathom hating someone because of the color of their skin.

Maybe a little bit of it has to do with the way I was raised.

My first lesson in racism came when I was 4 or 5 years old.

My family was living in Alabama in the mid-1950s. My dad was stationed at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Ala., and we lived in on-base housing.

There was an African-American pilot who lived three doors down. His children and my older brother and I played together all the time and the pilot played with us.

One day, a racist officer came over and told my dad he shouldn’t allow this fighter pilot to play with his kids. The guy said the African-American shouldn’t be allowed to live in the on-base housing.

My dad let him have it. My dad said it was not his business who the kids played with. He said the fighter pilot had more rights to on-base housing than he did or my family because this guy was a commissioned officer and we were just reservists.

I also am embarrassed to say that before I moved to Richmond, I didn’t know anything about Maggie Walker or Oliver W. Hill Sr. Unfortunately, I think that is true of probably the majority of people in this country.

In a place and time when women — never mind black women — did not go into business, Maggie Walker got tired of being mistreated by white bankers and opened her bank.

My favorite American hero is George Washington Carver.

He was treated by society and the political system as less than a second class citizen, but he accomplished miracles.

Kind acts should be recognized

There are many acts of kindness in the Richmond community that I think go unrecognized and deserve more attention.

I’d like to point136388_02 out three that I know of: Eight-year-old Marty Cobb was killed last May trying to protect his 12-year-old sister from a sexual assault. He made

the greatest sacrifice: He gave his life for his sister.

Longtime community activist Donald Hatcher, who died in February, always fought tooth and nail for equal justice for everyone and is sorely missed.

And the late Dr. Vernon J. Harris, a longtime Richmond dentist, once took

the time to provide assistance to a little girl who could not walk and his efforts later helped her to walk.

These were all acts of pure kindness that have stuck in my mind.

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Richmond Free Press

A8 March 26-28, 2015

Sports Stories by Fred Jeter

C’evon Jones wins NCAA track title

For years, C’evon Jones trained for a moment like this. And when the moment arrived, she was ready.

The Virginia Union University sprinter won the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field title in the 60-meters competition March 14 in Birmingham, Ala. The junior from Pompano Beach, Fla., was timed

at 7.35 seconds. Taking second place was WinstonSalem State University’s Raven Covington with 7.42 seconds.

Sixty meters is the equivalent of 65 yards.

The national championship didn’t come easy. No stone was left unturned leading up to the Alabama race.

“We decided to make a commitment prior to the

championships,” said VUU Coach Wilbert Johnson.

“During the last two weeks, we got up a 4:45 a.m. and drove to Hampton to practice at the Boo Williams Complex.

“Commitment, hard work and dedication proved to be the correct formula for C’evon.”

VUU does not have access to a suitable indoor facility in the Richmond area.

Hampton Pirates defeated in NCAA second round

University of Kentucky forward Karl-Anthony Towns shoots over a trio of Hampton University defenders last Thursday in the No. 1 seed Wildcats’ 79-56 rout of the No. 16 seed Pirates in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Confronted by superior forces, Hampton University refused to surrender.

The MEAC champions put forth a valiant effort — albeit in defeat — against intimidating, undefeated, top-ranked University of Kentucky March 19 in the NCAA Tournament’s second round.

The HU Pirates actually led briefly in the early going, and played the Wildcats nearly even following intermission before bowing 79-56.

The Pirates faced long odds and long players.

“When they come at you with two 7-footers and then bring two more 7-footers off the bench, it tends to wear you down,” said HU Coach Ed Joyner Jr. “That’s just what they did. They wore us down.”

NCAA games are supposed to be contested on neutral floors, but this Midwest Region setting with No. 1 seed Kentucky against No. 16 Hampton University was far from even in a game that didn’t start until 10:18 p.m.

The crowd of 21,639 at Louisville’s KFC Yum! Center was overwhelmingly pro-Wildcats.

Still, Hampton had its moments.

The Pirates’ 6-foot-6 junior Quinton Chievous led all scorers with 22 points, to go along with 10 rebounds.

Hampton even led 4-3 on a Chievous bucket at 17:45 during the first half.

During the game’s final 20 minutes, Kentucky out-scored Hampton only 38-34.

Freshman Karl-Anthony Towns, a likely lottery pick in the NBA June 25 draft, led the Wildcats with 21 points and 11 rebounds.

HU became the 35th feather in Kentucky’s unblemished cap.

The Wildcats are bidding to become the first NCAA champion since Indiana in 1976 to go undefeated.

Finishing 17-18, HU was a long shot simply to make the 68-team field. The Pirates were seeded sixth in the MEAC tournament in Norfolk and had to win four games to capture the title and automatic NCAA berth.

Even then, the Pirates had to defeat Manhattan College in a First Four play-in game in Dayton, Ohio, March 17 just to reach the Midwest Region.

Future landscapes appear rosy for Coach Joyner’s squad.

Hampton played throughout the MEAC tournament, the Manhattan game and against Kentucky without top scorer/rebounder Dwight Meikle, a junior, who was injured.

Only senior back-up center Emmanuel Okoroba won’t be coming back next season.

Chievous, outstanding throughout the postseason, is a native Chicagoan who transferred to HU from the University of Tennessee.

His father, Derrick Chievous, played several years in the NBA with the Houston Rockets and the Cleveland Cavaliers and is the University of Missouri’s all-time scorer.

David Stephenson/Associated Press

VCU falls in nail-biting overtime to Ohio State Working overtime in the everyday world helps pay the bills.

By contrast, working overtime in college basketball carries no guarantees and can often break your heart.

For the second straight year, Virginia Commonwealth University trekked across the country only to lose its first-round NCAA Tournament game — in overtime — to an under-seeded foe.

This time, it was to Ohio State University, 75-72, in Portland, Ore. Last year’s first match overtime defeat was to Stephen F. Austin State University, 77-75, in San Diego.

The loss to Ohio State was a classic nail-biter with six ties and 10 lead changes, before 13,616 wild fans at Moda Center.

VCU’s Milton Johnson had 17 points and Doug Brooks had 14 points, but Treveon Graham was a poor 3-of-12 from the floor, Mo Alie-Cox played just 20 minutes because of fouls, and the Rams were able to get only eight points off turnovers.

Although the Rams rallied to win the Atlantic 10 Tournament on March 15, the program’s frenetic defense — Havoc — lost its sharp teeth following a season-ending knee injury to Briante Weber on Jan. 31.

When Havoc turns into serenity, the Rams struggle. Threepointers are VCU’s answer when quick scores aren’t coming off the press.

The Rams nailed 10 3-pointers in Portland and notched 39 in four victories in Brooklyn during the Atlantic 10 Tournament.

Reload: VCU fans won’t weep long.

Starting with the 2009-10 season, Coach Smart’s records have been 27-9, 28-12, 29-7, 27-9, 26-9 and 26-10 this season.

His overall mark is 163-54, including 74-30 in combined Colonial Athletic Association and Atlantic 10 conferences.

Despite the loss of his best offensive player, Graham, and top defender, Weber, Rams fans have learned to suspect no falloff.

Returning for the 2015-16 will be senior Johnson (1,031 points in three seasons, 175 3-pointers) and a host of confident juniors and sophomores.

Rising juniors include Alie-Cox, Brooks, JeQuan Lewis and Jordan Burgess, and sophomores-to-be Terry Larrier, Justin Tillman, Jonathan Williams and Mike Gilmore.

Close the book: Departing senior Graham, who played in 105 wins, finishes as VCU’s second all-time scorer, with 1,882 points. Only Eric Maynor, with a record 1,953 points, was uncatchable.

Graham doesn’t appear on the NBA radar. Europe beckons.

Rams alumni playing abroad include Brad Burgess and Juvonte

Greg Wahl-Stephens/Associated Press

Virginia Commonwealth University Coach Shaka Smart consoles senior Treveon Graham after the team’s 75-72 overtime loss in the NCAA Tournament to Ohio State University last Thursday.

Coach Shaka Smart’s dance card Virginia Commonwealth University has made the NCAA Tournament – “The Big Dance” — five straight years under Coach Shaka Smart. Here are the results: 2011: Defeated Southern California, Georgetown, Purdue, Florida State and Kansas before losing to Butler in the national semifinals.

2012: Defeated Wichita State, lost to Indiana.

2013: Defeated Akron, lost to Michigan.

2014: Lost to Stephen F. Austin State University.

2015: Lost to Ohio State.

Coach Smart’s NCAA Tournament mark, once 5-1, is now 7-5.

Reddic (Italy), Rob Branderberg (Austria), Jamie Skeen (France) and Darius Theus (The Netherlands).

The suitors: Who will be in this year’s Shaka Sweepstakes?

The most likely courtship could come from Indiana if muchmaligned Tom Crean is pink slipped in Hoosierland.

Since coming aboard in 2008, Crean is a so-so 121-111 at a university and basketball program with some of nation’s loftiest expectations.

And how about “Carolina Blues?”

Will Roy Williams survive the embarrassment of the academic

scandal that received recent Sports Illustrated coverage in the March 16 issue?

Another prominent program that may have a vacancy is the University of Texas, where the buzzards are circling Rick Barnes.

Wherever attractive openings occur, expect Coach Smart’s name to surface.

Strength of schedule: The Rams entered the NCAAs with the nation’s 15th toughest schedule, according to the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI).

During the regular season, VCU had defeated NCAA teams Cincinnati, Northern Iowa, Belmont, Oregon, Davidson and Dayton while losing to qualifiers Virginia and Villanova.

Reinforcements: Touted incoming freshmen will be 6-foot-7 Tevin Mack from Columbia, S.C., 6-foot-7 Jordan Murphy from San Antonio and 6-foot-3 Kenny Williams from L.C. Bird High School in Chesterfield County. Mack averaged nearly 29 points per game for Dreher High School in South Carolina.

Big Apple bound: The Rams will play four November games in the 2K Classic to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project. Other schools playing in the classic include Duke, Georgetown, Wisconsin, Bryant, Siena and Radford (coached by former Coach Smart aide Mike Jones).

VCU will have two home games and then play twice at Madison Square Garden Nov. 20 and 22.

March 26-28, 2015 B1

Next chapter.

“We started writing African American Boys when Josh began his doctoral program with me a few years ago. With everything facing young black males in communities across the country – especially now, with situations like Ferguson – people were definitely ready for this book. So were we.”

Faye Belgrave, Ph.D., professor Joshua Brevard, Ph.D. candidate

More moments at makeitreal.vcu.edu an equal opportunity/affirmative action university

B2 March 26-28, 2015

Richmond Free Press

Happenings

Personality: Coach R. Vance Harmon Spotlight on the Henrico High Warriors’ winning coach As a basketball player at Virginia Union University, R. Vance Harmon drew attention for his shooting, his passing, his passion for the sport … and, oh yes, for the color of his skin.

One of only two Caucasians ever to suit up for the historically black university, Coach Harmon played for the Panthers from 1990 to 1993, and was a member of VUU’s 1992 NCAA Division II national championship team.

Also in 1992, the 5-foot-9 guard won the CIAA 3-point shooting contest prior to the conference title game at the Richmond Coliseum.

Coach Harmon earned a degree in history and political science in 1994, ranking third in his graduating class.

“I had a great experience at Union,” said Coach Harmon, who was a fan favorite. “I played for a Hall of Fame coach (Dave Robbins), was part of the CIAA and NCAA championships, and made lots of friends. What’s not to like?”

An admitted “gym rat,” he never strayed far from the hard court while putting his basketball knowledge and VUU degree to good use.

Following a coaching stint at J.R. Tucker High School in Henrico County, Coach Harmon accepted the coaching reins at Henrico High in 2003. He also serves as chairperson for the school’s History Department.

His 13 seasons as the Warriors’ coach have produced a 290-74 record, with state championships in 2013 and again this year.

Coach Harmon’s squad won the State Group AAA title in 2013 and added the State 5A crown March 14, trouncing Norfolk’s Norview High School 78-64 in the Virginia High School League final at the Siegel Center. The Warriors completed the season 28-1.

During an illustrious playing career at Douglas Freeman High School in Henrico, Coach Harmon became the county’s all-time scorer with more than 1,600 points.

His signing with VUU raised some eyebrows.

The Panthers’ only other white player was Tom Leary from Henrico’s Hermitage High School, who played under VUU Coach Tom Harris in the early 1970s.

Coach Harmon says his decision to attend an HBCU has long been a source of confusion with acquaintances.

“People will ask me where I went (to college), and I say, ‘VUU.’ They’ll look at me kind of funny and say, ‘Don’t you mean VCU?’ “They just can’t believe it.”

Perhaps Coach Harmon’s most memorable game at VUU was in the 1991 NCAA quarterfinals in Springfield, Mass.

Trailing No. 1-ranked North Dakota by 18 points early in the second half, Coach Robbins sent in the “Mighty Mites,” consisting of smallish guards Aaron Gosa, Tic Hill and Harmon.

Wre a k i n g h a v o c w i t h their pressing defense and quick-strike scores, the “Mighty Mites” rallied VUU to a 64-63 victory.

Meet this week’s Personality, Coach R. Vance Harmon: Date and place of birth: Dec. 30 in Richmond.

Number of years coaching: 21 years. I began teaching/coaching

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in the fall of 1994.

Coaches should be: Honest, dedicated to the kids and should treat their players the same way you would want your own children taught.

Family: Wife, Christy, (married 12 years this April); children, Virginia Anne, 10, and Margaret, 5.

Reaction to Warriors winning the championship: Thrilled for our team, school, and the North Side of Richmond. Excited to win a second state championship in a three-year period.

Did you expect to win: Yes. Each time we practice, workout and play a game, the expectation is that we are preparing to “win” that day.

The key to winning the title: Having a talented group of young men that played unselfishly, were completely coachable and sacrificed individual glory for team success.

You’ve won two state titles in three years. Would you call that a dynasty? We have been fortunate to have a great deal of success during our 12 years at Henrico High School. We strive to play to the best of our abilities each season, but we will let other folks label our program.

How much time do I spend coaching: Teaching and coaching is what I enjoy doing. A large majority of my day is spent trying to figure out ways to improve my teaching and coaching craft. If I am awake, I’m trying to improve.

Who influenced me to become a coach: My parents, Ron and Anne Harmon, always encour-

aged me to pursue things that I enjoyed. Whether it was playing sports, hobbies, school, etc., they would say, “Do the best you can do, and you will never look back and have regrets.” My father was a teacher and coach.

Role of sports in developing young people to become good citizens: Sports can help shape people in ways that would seem impossible. The lessons that athletics can teach are a microcosm of our society. Competing to the best of your abilities, handling yourself with dignity, displaying sportsmanship and conducting yourself with class will go farther in life than winning some ballgames.

Advice to youngsters interested in a coaching career: Coaching the games is about 10 percent of the actual part that most people see. The preparation, mentoring your players, practice, scouting, washing uniforms, mopping the floor — many of the less glamorous tasks — are what comes with the package of coaching.

Favorite basketball coach: My father; my college coach, Dave Robbins at VUU; my high school coach, Larry Parpart at Douglas Freeman High School; and longtime Henrico High School Coach Guy Davis.

Reason: Each individual has a knowledge of the game of basketball and the ability to teach and share that knowledge. Our program at Henrico is the product of those four gentlemen.

Biggest chance I’ve ever taken: Switching teaching and coaching assignments from J.R. Tucker High School to Henrico High School. I was at a place at Tucker where I enjoyed going to work each day, but knew the potential to be a part of something really special at Henrico was a real possibility. I can’t imagine not being a part of the pride that has grown in the North Side over the past few years.

How I face the day: I get up each day and go to bed each night reading my daily devotional book. It gives me a sense of purpose, guidance and closure to my day.

Nobody knows that: Spending time with my family keeps me balanced and thankful. Playing golf and ping-pong are some of DiamonDs • Watches JeWelry • repairs 19 East Broad strEEt richmond, Va 23219 (804) 648-1044

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Best late-night snack: Country Style Donuts and a glass of chocolate milk.

The book that influenced me the most: “Daily Bread Devotions” by Dr. A. Purnell Bailey, a local minister at Reveille United Methodist Church.

My next goal: Help another group of students and players achieve their dreams by challenging them to work harder than they ever thought they could.

The Richmond Chapter of the National Association of African-Americans in Human Resources is excited to have

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Commemoration of the Fall of Richmond and the Beginning of Emancipation

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Richmond Free Press

March 26-28, 2015

Congratulations to these outstanding principals – recipients of the

2015 r.E.B. awards for

distinguished Educational leadership

Nancy O. Disharoon Stonewall Jackson Middle School, Hanover

Sarah G. Fraher Manchester Middle School, Chesterfield

Katina W. Otey Ridge Elementary School, Henrico

Kiwana S. Yates George Washington Carver Elementary School, Richmond

These educators exemplify leadership by supporting their teachers, inspiring their students and building positive relationships between their school and community.

140728-01

The awards program is administered by the R.E.B. Foundation and The Community Foundation. It is designed to recognize public school principals who go beyond the day-to-day demands of their position to create an exceptional learning environment.

The Foundations, together with the public school systems of the City of Richmond and Counties of Chesterfield, Hanover and Henrico, recognize the 2015 award recipients.

B3

Richmond Free Press

B4 March 26-28, 2015

Happenings

Photos by James Haskins/Richmond Free Press

Date with dad

Fathers and daughters show off their dance moves at the eighth annual Date With Dad Dinner and Dance. Right, Robert W. Brown Jr. shares a treasured moment Sunday with his daughters, Kendell, 2, and Morgan, 4, at the Trinity Family Life Center on North Side. The unifying event was part of the Date With Dad Weekend 2015, held March 20 through 22 at various Richmond locations. Other father-daughter events were held at the Downtown YMCA on Friday, a 5K race and block party at Armstrong High School on Saturday, and a father-daughter dance

for inmates at the Richmond Justice Center on Saturday. The weekend of activities is to strengthen the bonds between fathers and their daughters, according to the two organizing groups, Richmond-based CAMP DIVA, which is a part of the national organization Girls for a Change. Several celebrities appeared in Richmond for the events, including actor Chad L. Coleman of the hit AMC television show “The Walking Dead.” On March 17, Mayor Dwight C. Jones officially commended the girls for belonging to CAMP DIVA.

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Flamenco showcase Cori Bernal, left, and Ginette Perea dance the flamenco to the music of Spanish guitar maestro Michael “Miguelito” Perez. They were among the crowd-pleasing artists who performed at the VCU Flamenco Festival V last Saturday. Location: The Singleton Center for the Performing Arts on the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University.

Raymond H. Boone Jr./Richmond Free Press

Making a difference mentoring Mothers from the Richmond Chapter of Jack and Jill of America gather at Lucille Brown Middle School, where they conducted a career readiness program recently for young girls in a special mentoring program. The volunteers also provide tutoring and lessons in etiquette, dress and hair care to the group. Their efforts are supported by a grant from the National Jack and Jill Foundation. The Richmond Free Press donated newspapers and tickets for the students to attend the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus at the Richmond Coliseum.

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Richmond Free Press

March 26-28, 2015

B5

Faith News/Directory

Bishop T.D. Jakes uplifts Richmond audience

By Joey Matthews

Bishop T.D. Jakes strutted, danced, shouted and spoke in hushed tones Saturday, adding a thunderous exclamation mark to the 2015 Transformation Expo, an annual faith gathering hosted by Radio One. Time and again, fiery exhortations by the 57-year-old, best-selling author and filmmaker who leads the 30,000-member Potter’s House church in Dallas drew the enthusiastic audience of about 4,500 people to its feet. They applauded and shouted approval during his moving onehour message.

The event, at the Richmond Coliseum, also featured about a dozen gospel artists.

As is his penchant, Bishop Jakes was sweating profusely within a few minutes. He repeatedly wiped away beads of perspiration from his head with the trademark towel he holds in one hand as he preaches.

He warmed the audience when he said his Richmond hosts had spoiled him.

“I may move to Richmond” because of their hospitality, he said.

“I ate at the Croaker’s Spot (restaurant) and broke all of my dietary rules,” he said, drawing laughter from the audience.

“He has that gospel flair,” Henrico County resident Mark Hamlin told the Free Press. “He’s one of the premier ministers of our time and one you have to put on your list of people to see in person.”

Turning serious, Bishop Jakes said, “I’m on a divine mandate to be in Richmond.”

He introduced his biblical sermon from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 8, verse 43. It told of a woman who was healed by faith after touching the hem of Jesus’ garment.

“Everybody in here has an issue,” he said, titling his sermon, “A Journey Toward Wholeness.”

“In all our lives, we have some fragmentations, some areas in which we’re lacking,” Bishop

Paulette Singleton/Richmond Free Press

Bishop T.D. Jakes delivers inspiration and a spiritual message to an enthusiastic audience of 4,500 people last Saturday at the 2015 Transformation Expo at the Richmond Coliseum.

Jakes said. “Everybody in here is on a journey toward wholeness in at least one area.”

As an example, he said, “Some people are good spiritually, but financially whack.”

He added: “It takes you half of your life to know another person is not going to make you whole. You’ve got to stand on the integrity of who you are in God.” The bishop, whom TIME magazine has dubbed “America’s Best Preacher,” encouraged audience members to move forward regardless of where they are in life and “to applaud yourself for small steps. Kiss yourself in the mirror or

take yourself out to dinner,” he said.

“If you are going to reach wholeness, you have got to become radical,” he added.

He told the audience to believe a breakthrough is coming in 2015.

“I want to talk to radical, relentless and tenacious people who have made up their minds, ‘I’m going to come out of this,’ ’’ he declared, as audience members cheered.

“God wouldn’t have given you the miracle of endurance,” he said, “if he wasn’t going to give you the miracle of deliverance.”

First Baptist Church of South Richmond

M A U N D Y T H U R S D AY W O R S H I P

Thursday, April 2, 2015 - 12:00PM

New Light Baptist Church, 2000 East Broad Street, Richmond, VA 23223

Rev. Dr. Vernon J. Hurte, Pastor of New Light Baptist Church, Speaker “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do” Luke 23:34

Rev. Delores McQuinn

Associate Minister, New Bridge Baptist Church “Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise” Luke 23:43

G O O D F R I D AY W O R S H I P The Seven Last Expressions of Christ

Friday, April 3, 2015 - 12:00PM Sixth Mount Zion, 14 W Duval Street Richmond, VA 23220

“My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

Matthew 27:46

Rev. Dr. Mary Young

Rev. Dr. Marquita Burton

Pastor, St. John’s United Holy Church

“Woman, behold thy son...

Behold thy mother’’ John 19:26-27

“I thirst” John 19:28

Pastor, Antioch Baptist Church - Mathews

Rev. Dr. James Sailes

Pastor, Antioch Baptist Church – New Market

Rev. Angelo Chapmon

Pastor, Pilgrim Journey Baptist Church

“It is finished” John 19:30

Rev. Dr. Jerome Ross

Pastor, Providence Park Baptist Church “Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit” Luke 23:46

Rev. Dr. John Kinney

Pastor, Ebenezer Baptist Church - Beaverdam

Baptist Ministers’

CONFERENCE of

Richmond and Vicinity

Judging by the smiles and conversations among people as they left the Coliseum, Bishop Jakes left his audience feeling in a much better place spiritually.

“This is what I came for,” said Monique Colley of South Side. “He was speaking to me today. He is truly a man of God.” Though Radio One officials would not say how much the media company paid Bishop Jakes to appear, reports have stated he and other high-profile evangelists get up to $100,000 for speaking engagements.

Dr. Dwight C. Jones Senior Pastor

1501 Decatur Street, Richmond, Va. 23224 Phone (804) 233-7679 • Fax (804) 233-7683 www.fbctoday.org

Hull Street Location Sundays 8:00 AM Early Hour of Praise 11:00 AM Morning Worship

Rev. Derik E. Jones Pastor

Iron Bridge Road Location Sundays 9:15 AM Meadowbrook High School, 4901 Cogbill Road

Broadcast Sundays 9:30AM on CW13

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Richmond Free Press

B6 March 26-28, 2015

Faith News/Directory Church Grayland’s pastor to preach his retirement sermon FirstM iBaptist dlothian

By Joey Matthews

The Rev. Clifton Whitaker Jr. says he is eternally grateful to the members of Grayland Baptist Church for allowing him to be their pastor.

“They took a chance when they hired me,” he told the Free Press. “I was still a student in the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University. I had never pastored anywhere else before.”

Now, 33 years later, it’s apparent the spiritual marriage between Rev. Whitaker and the congregation at 2301 Third Ave. on North Side was a match made in heaven.

Rev. Whitaker has served the 350-member church since 1982. During his tenure, he has overseen the building of a new sanctuary after a 1996 fire gutted the original church building. He also has shepherded in a new fellowship hall.

The 73-year-old pastor has announced he is retir-

Zion Baptist Church 2006 Decatur Street Richmond, VA 23224

ing. He is scheduled ican in the department He holds two honorary to preach his final to win the Excellent doctorates from the Richmond sermon as pastor 10 Police Duty Medal,” Virginia Seminary. a.m. Sunday, March he said, for making He has been married to Do29. He has titled the several noteworthy lores Whitaker for 52 years. sermon, “The King is arrests while working Coming,” recognizing undercover.

Palm Sunday and the While at Grayland, week before Easter. he received the MinisRev. Whitaker Rev. Whitaker said ter of the Year award 2604 Idlewood Avenue his daughter, the Rev. Gina from the Ushers Union of Richmond, Va. 23220 (804) 353-6135 Whitaker Cannon, an assistant Richmond and Vicinity. www.riverviewbaptistch.org pastor at Grayland, will lead the He also was appointed acaRev. Dr. Stephen L. Hewlett, transition. demic dean at the Richmond Pastor “I think it’s time,” Rev. Virginia Seminary at Cedar Rev. Dr. Ralph Reavis, Sr. Pastor Emeritus Whitaker said of his decision Street Baptist Church of God SUNDAY SCHOOL - 9:45 A.M. to retire. under the pastorate of the late SUNDAY WORSHIP SERVICE He said health issues — he Dr. Benjamin Robertson Sr. 11:00 A.M. had surgery recently to repair two aneurysms — also factored Mission Statement: People of God developing Disciples for Jesus Christ through Preaching and Teaching of God’s Holy Word reaching into his decision. the people of the Church and the Community.

Rev. Whitaker graduated “The Church With A Welcome” from the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology in 1984.

He decided to enter the 22 E. Leigh Street, Richmond, VA 23219 • 643-3825 ministry in 1979 after retiring thesharonbaptistchurch.com Rev. Dr. Paul A. Coles, Pastor because of a job-related injury as a detective with the Rich- THURSDAY SUNDAY, MARCH 29, 2015 MarchM30ONDAY - April 2 - Noon Day Service mond Police Department.

8:00 a.m. .... Morning Worship WEDNESDAY “I was the first African-Amer9:30 a.m. .... Sunday School

Riverview

Baptist Church

Sharon Baptist Church

Moore Street Missionary

Baptist Church

1408 W. Leigh Street • 358-6403

Dr. Alonza Lawrence

�

Pastor

Dr. Robert L. Pettis, Sr., Pastor

Sunday

Sunday Service 10 a.m.

Church School 8:45 a.m.

Wednesday Bible Study 7p.m.

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

March 29, 2015

Palm Sunday

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

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

11:15 a.m. ...Morning Worship

Koinonia Christian Church

3600 McRand St., Richmond, VA (804) 231-0092 All are Welcome!

celebrates

11:00 a.m. rev. Keith E. Edmonds, Sr., Koinonia Senior Pastor 3:30 p.m. rev. dr. robert A. Winfree, New Life Deliverance Tabernacle

Sixth Baptist Church

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

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Phil. 4:13

Worship: 11:00 a.m.

Message by Rev. Pamela Newton, Student Intern, Virginia Union School of Theology “Another Bridge to Cross” Isaiah 40:30-31

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Sixth Baptist Church: A Church for the Entire Family Twitter sixthbaptistrva

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Seven Last Expressions: 7:00 p.m.

Seven Great Preachers, don’t miss it.

Wednesdays - 7:00 p.m.

BiBle ACAdeMy CouRSe The Last 24 Hour of Jesus Christ on Earth Rev. Dr. Yvonne Jones Bibbs, Pastor 400 South Addison Street Richmond, Va. 23220 (804) 359-1691 or 359-3498 Fax (804) 359-3798 www.sixthbaptistchurch.org

New Deliverance Evangelistic Church

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

WMission Purpose

omen with and

ance with Reverence Relev

g inin Dr. Morris Henderson, Senior Pastor b om v C SunDayS Church School 9:30 a.m.

Morning Worship 10:30 a.m. v

Now open each second Sunday immediately following the morning worship service.

823 North 31st Street Richmond, VA 23223 (804) 226-0150 Office www.31sbc.org

Bible Study 12 Noon

Wednesday Youth & Adult Bible Study 7:00PM Prayer & Praise 8:15PM

Van Transportation Available, Call 804-794-5583

17TH

ANNUAL CONFERENCE

Theme: “In His Presence” Bishop G. O. Glenn D. Min., Founder Mother Marcietia S. Glenn First Lady

Sunday 8:00 a.m. Sunday School 9:00 a.m. Worship Service

Wednesday Services Senior Citizen Noonday Bible Study 12noon-1:00 p.m.

Sanctuary - All Are Welcome!

Bible Study Count: noonday #62 Wednesday night #116 7 p.m. Prayer Midweek Revival/Bible Study 7:15 p.m.

Saturday

8:30 a.m. Intercessory Prayer You can now view Sunday Morning Service “AS IT HAPPENS” online!

Also, for your convenience, we now offer “full online giving.”

Visit www.ndec.net.

Rev. Pernell J. Johnson, Pastor

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

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

2015 Theme: The Year of Moving Forward



11:00 AM Mid-day Meditation

Sundays

8:00 a.m.

Early Morning Worship 9:30 a.m.

Sunday School 11:00 a.m.

Morning Worship

Tuesdays

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

Noon Day Bible Study

Wednesdays

6:30 p.m.

Prayer and Praise 7:00 p.m.

Bible Study

St. Peter Baptist Church Sundays:

Morning Worship Church School Morning Worship

Scripture: Psalm 16:11 (NIV)

April 17-18, 2015 For more information visit Register Now @ www.ndec.net

Holy Week Services APRIL 1, 2015 Holy Wednesday - 7:30pm APRIL 2, 2015 Maundy Thursday 7:30pm APRIL 3, 2015 Good Friday Service 7:30pm APRIL 5, 2015 Resurrection Sunday SonRise Service - 6:00am Breakfast - 8:00am Worship Service - 10:00am

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

Unity Sundays (2nd Sundays) Church School Morning Worship

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

Thursdays:

Mid-Day Bible Study 12 Noon Prayer & Praise 6:30 P.M. Bible Study 7 P.M. (Children/Youth/Adults)

Palm Sunday Service

Good Friday Worship

Sunday Morning Worship 11:00 a.m.

Thirty-first Street Baptist Church

Tuesday

Worship Opportunities

Theme for 2015: Becoming a Five-Star Church of Excellence

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

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

- Matthew 4:23

Church School 9:45AM Worship 11:00AM

Dr. Kirkland R. Walton, Pastor

Palm Sunday

Pastor and Founder

Sunday

SundAy, MArch 29, 2015

Sunday, March 29, 2015

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

Service Times

Family & Friend’s Day

It’s A Family Affair

Reverend Dr. Lester D. Frye

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

March 29, 2015 8 a.m. & 11 a.m. Services

Maundy Thursday Service April 2, 2015 7 p.m.

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

Ebenezer Baptist Church 1858

“The People’s Church”

216 W. Leigh St. • Richmond, Va. 23220 • Tel: 804-643-3366 Fax: 804-643-3367 • Email: ebcoffice1@comcast.net • web: ebcrichmond.org Sunday Worship Sunday Church School Service of Holy Communion Service of Baptism Life Application Bible Class Mid-Week Senior Adult Fellowship Wednesday Meditation & Bible Study Homework & Tutoring Scouting Program Thursday Bible Study



11:00 a.m.

9:30 a.m.

Every 3rd Sunday 2nd Sunday, 11 a.m.

Mon. 6:30 p.m.

Tues. 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Wed. 7:45 p.m.

Wed. 4:30 p.m.

Wed. 6:00 p.m.

Thurs., 11:45 a.m.

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

Richmond Free Press

March 26-28, 2015

B7

Legal Notices/Employment Opportunities 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 Monday, April 6, 2015 at 1:30 p.m. in the Fifth Floor Conference Room of City Hall and the Council of the City of Richmond has scheduled a public hearing on Monday, April 13, 2015 at 6:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers on the Second Floor of City Hall, located at 900 East Broad Street, Richmond, Virginia, to consider the following ordinance: Ordinance No. 2015-51 To amend Ord. No. 2014188-173, adopted Oct. 13, 2014, which closed to public use and travel a portion of right-of-way known as Lewis Street, located between its intersection with Williamsburg Road and its intersection with a CSX Transportation, Inc. right-of-way and consisting of 24,300± square feet and a portion of right-of-way known as 37th Street, located between its intersection with Lewis Street and its intersection with Nicholson Street and consisting of 5,985± square feet, for the purpose of modifying certain terms and conditions upon which the portion of right-of-way was closed.

Interested citizens who wish to speak will be given an opportunity to do so.

Copies of the full text of all ordinances are available by visiting the City Clerk’s page on the City’s Website at www.Richmondgov. com and in the Office of the City Clerk, City Hall, 900 East Broad Street, Suite 200, Richmond, VA 23219, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Jean V. Capel City Clerk

Divorce VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF CHESTERFIELD SHAWN M. ROACH, Plaintiff v.

ANTANAS K. GALABOV, Defendant.

Case No.: CL15-0407-00 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of this suit is to grant Shawn M. Roach, the Plaintiff, a divorce from Antanas K. Galabov, the Defendant, on the ground that the Plaintiff and the Defendant have lived separate and apart for a period in excess of one year.

WHEREFORE, an affidavit having been filed that due diligence has been used without effect to ascertain the location of Antanas K. Galabov, it is hereby ORDERED that Antanas K. Galabov appear before this Court on April 28, 2015, at 8:30 a.m., to protect his interests herein.

AN EXTRACT TESTE: Wendy S. Hughes, Clerk Rick A. Friedman, II, Esquire (VSB #46870) Wyatt J. Taylor, Esquire (VSB #79754) Friedman Law Firm, P.C. 9620 Iron Bridge Road, Suite 101 Chesterfield, VA 23832 (804) 717-1969 (telephone) (804) 748-4161 (telecopier) rfriedman@friedmanlawva.com wtaylor@friedmanlawva.com Counsel for the Plaintiff VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER JULIA DIAZ, Plaintiff v.

LUIS DIAZ RODRIGUEZ, Defendant.

Case No.: CL15000698-00 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 15th day of May, 2015 at 9:00 a.m. and protect his interests.

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

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of May, 2015 at 9:00 a.m. and protect her interests.

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

It is ORDERED that the defendant, who has been served with the Complaint by posted service appear here on or before the 8th day of May, 2015 at 9:00 a.m. and protect his interests.

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

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 6th day of May, 2015 at 9:00 a.m. and protect his interests.

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

day of April, 2015 at 9:00 a.m. and protect his interests.

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

months.

It is ORDERED that the defendant, whose whereabouts are unknown, appear here on or before the 22nd day of April, 2015 at 9:00 a.m. and protect his interests.

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

17, 2015 at 9:20 a.m.

Shunda T. Giles, Esq. 730 E. Broad St., 8th Floor Richmond, Virginia 23219 804-646-3493

any improvements thereon will be sold “As Is” without representations or warranties of any kind. Delivery of possession of the Property will be the responsibility of the Purchaser. The Property will be sold subject to all matters of record taking priority over the Deed of Trust, if any. The Purchaser, at the time of the closing, shall be required to pay all closing costs. Additional terms may be announced at the time of sale. The successful bidder will be required to execute and deliver to the Substitute Trustee a memorandum or contract of the sale at the conclusion of bidding.

This notice is an attempt to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for that purpose.

Ronald R. Wesley, Substitute Trustee For information contact Substitute Trustee P.O. Box 5 Richmond, VA 23218-0005 (804) 644-2888 Mr. Tim Dudley, CAI, AARE Motley’s Auction, Inc. T/A Motleys Asset Disposition Group 3600 Deepwater Terminal Road Richmond, Virginia 23234 (804) 232-3300 tdudley@svn.com

VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER LEXY COPE, Plaintiff v.

JESSE COPE, Defendant.

Case No.: CL15000702-00 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 15th day of May, 2015 at 9:00 a.m. and protect his interests.

A Copy, Teste: FRANK D. HARGROVE, JR., Clerk I ask for this: Dorothy M. Eure Counsel for Plaintiff VSB# 27724 8460 Mount Eagle Road Ashland, VA 23005 (804) 798-9667 VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER ROXANNE HILLIARD, Plaintiff v.

CHARLES HILLIARD, SR., Defendant.

Case No.: CL15000697-00 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 15th day of May, 2015 at 9:00 a.m. and protect his interests.

A Copy, Teste: FRANK D. HARGROVE, JR., Clerk I ask for this: Dorothy M. Eure Counsel for Plaintiff VSB# 27724 8460 Mount Eagle Road Ashland, VA 23005 (804) 798-9667 VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER CHRISTOPHER AKINOLA, Plaintiff v.

ARIELE ROBINSON, Defendant.

Case No.: CL15000572-00 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 6th day of May, 2015 at 9:00 a.m. and protect her interests.

A Copy, Teste: FRANK D. HARGROVE, JR., Clerk I ask for this: Dorothy M. Eure Counsel for Plaintiff VSB# 27724 8460 Mount Eagle Road Ashland, VA 23005 (804) 798-9667 VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF HENRICO COUNTY KEMAR MAURICE LEWIS, Plaintiff v.

TURUNESH NIAMBI PANTON, Defendant.

Case No.: CL15-320 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

This CAUSE came to be heard upon Plaintiff’s Complaint for Divorce filed herein.

And, it appearing by affidavit filed according to law that the defendant resides at an unknown address.

It is therefore ORDERED that the defendant appear on or before the 8th day of June, 2015 at 9:00 a.m. before this Court and do what necessary to protect her interests.

A Copy, Teste: YVONNE G. SMITH, Clerk I ask for this: Tamar Jones, Esq. VSB# 83221 8501 Mayland Drive, STE 101 Richmond, VA 23294 Phone: 804-249-4747 Fax: 571-384-1817

VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER JESSIE HUTCHINSON, JR., Plaintiff v.

CAROLYN HUTCHINSON, Defendant.

Case No.: CL15000612-00 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 6th day of May, 2015 at 9:00 a.m. and protect her interests.

A Copy, Teste: FRANK D. HARGROVE, JR., Clerk I ask for this: Dorothy M. Eure Counsel for Plaintiff VSB# 27724 8460 Mount Eagle Road Ashland, VA 23005 (804) 798-9667 VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER JANET MEJIA LAMOTHE, Plaintiff v.

ROBERTO MEJIA LAMOTHE, Defendant.

Case No.: CL15000569-00 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 6th day of May, 2015 at 9:00 a.m. and protect his interests.

A Copy, Teste: FRANK D. HARGROVE, JR., Clerk I ask for this: Dorothy M. Eure Counsel for Plaintiff VSB# 27724 8460 Mount Eagle Road Ashland, VA 23005 (804) 798-9667 VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER MONTERRY FISHER, Plaintiff v.

HANJIN KIM, Defendant.

Case No.: CL15000592-00 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 6th day of May, 2015 at 9:00 a.m. and protect his interests.

A Copy, Teste: FRANK D. HARGROVE, JR., Clerk I ask for this: Dorothy M. Eure Counsel for Plaintiff VSB# 27724 8460 Mount Eagle Road Ashland, VA 23005 (804) 798-9667 VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER JAMES HICKS, Plaintiff v.

MISTY HICKS, Defendant.

Case No.: CL15000615-00 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 6th day of May, 2015 at 9:00 a.m. and protect her interests.

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

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

RODNEY BURGESS, Defendant.

Case No.: CL14001617-00 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of this suit is to obtain a divorce from the bond of matrimony from the defendant on the ground of living separate and apart without any cohabitation and without interruption for a period exceeding twelve months.

It is ORDERED that the defendant, who is a nonresident, appear here on or before the 6th day of May, 2015 at 9:00 a.m. and protect his interests.

A Copy, Teste: FRANK D. HARGROVE, JR., Clerk I ask for this: Dorothy M. Eure Counsel for Plaintiff VSB# 27724 8460 Mount Eagle Road Ashland, VA 23005 (804) 798-9667 VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER LAWRENCE FITZGERALD, JR., Plaintiff v.

RACHAEL BRUNSON, Defendant.

Case No.: CL14-2496 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of this suit is to obtain a divorce from the bond of matrimony from the defendant on the ground of living separate and apart without any cohabitation and without interruption for a period exceeding twelve months.

It is ORDERED that the defendant, who is a nonresident, appear here on or before the 6th day of May, 2015 at 9:00 a.m. and protect her interests.

A Copy, Teste: FRANK D. HARGROVE, JR., Clerk I ask for this: Dorothy M. Eure Counsel for Plaintiff VSB# 27724 8460 Mount Eagle Road Ashland, VA 23005 (804) 798-9667 COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE COUNTY OF HENRICO STEFFANIE ANN MARQUEZ, Plaintiff v.

TIM OLIVER MARQUEZ, Defendant.

Case No.: CL13-866 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of this suit is to obtain a divorce from the bond of matrimony from TIM OLIVER MARQUEZ on the grounds that the Parties have lived separate and apart continuously and without cohabitation or interruption for a period in excess of one year.

A n a ff i d a v i t h a v i n g been filed that TIM OLIVER MARQUEZ, defendant, is not a resident of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and that due diligence has been used by or on behalf of STEFFANIE ANN MARQUEZ, plaintiff, to ascertain in what county or city the defendant is without effect;

UPON CONSIDERATION WHEREOF, this order of publication is granted and the Defendant, TIM OLIVER MARQUEZ is hereby ORDERED to appear before this Court on the 4th day of May, 2015, at 9:00 a.m., and protect his interests.

A Copy, Teste: YVONNE G. SMITH, Clerk The undersigned respectfully requests this: Jacqueline W. Sharman, Esquire (VSB#: 71569) bowen ten cardani pC Attorney(s) for the Plaintiff 3957 Westerre Parkway, Suite 105, Richmond, Virginia 23230 (804) 755-7599

VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER WINDELL EASTER, Plaintiff v.

IZABEL EASTER, Defendant.

Case No.: CL15000696-00 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 15th day

VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER NICHOLAS PRIMEAU, Plaintiff v.

SARAH PRIMEAU, Defendant.

Case No.: CL14001829-00 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.

VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER MARIETTA CROSS, Plaintiff v.

JAMES CROSS, Defendant.

Case No.: CL15000365-00 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of this suit

VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER STEPHANIE COOKE, Plaintiff v.

MARKO CEKIC, Defendant.

Case No.: CL14002861-00 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 22nd

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VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER NATOSHA MIDKIFF, Plaintiff v.

KYLE MIDKIFF, Defendant.

Case No.: CL15000496-00 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 22nd day of April, 2015 at 9:00 a.m. and protect his interests.

A Copy, Teste: FRANK D. HARGROVE, JR., Clerk I ask for this: Dorothy M. Eure Counsel for Plaintiff VSB# 27724 8460 Mount Eagle Road Ashland, VA 23005 (804) 798-9667 VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER EMMA GREGORY, Plaintiff v.

OSCAR GREGORY, Defendant.

Case No.: CL15000494-00 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 22nd day of April, 2015 at 9:00 a.m. and protect his interests.

A Copy, Teste: FRANK D. HARGROVE, JR., Clerk I ask for this: Dorothy M. Eure Counsel for Plaintiff VSB# 27724 8460 Mount Eagle Road Ashland, VA 23005 (804) 798-9667 VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER HELEN VALENTINE, Plaintiff v.

JAMES HOUSE, Defendant.

Case No.: CL15000487-00 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 22nd day of April, 2015 at 9:00 a.m. and protect his interests.

A Copy, Teste: FRANK D. HARGROVE, JR., Clerk I ask for this: Dorothy M. Eure Counsel for Plaintiff VSB# 27724 8460 Mount Eagle Road Ashland, VA 23005 (804) 798-9667 VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER ARIENA LARA, Plaintiff v.

JOSE HERNANDEZ, SR., Defendant.

Case No.: CL15000490-00 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 22nd day of April, 2015 at 9:00 a.m. and protect his interests.

A Copy, Teste: FRANK D. HARGROVE, JR., Clerk I ask for this: Dorothy M. Eure Counsel for Plaintiff VSB# 27724 8460 Mount Eagle Road Ashland, VA 23005 (804) 798-9667 VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER STEVE GREEN, Plaintiff v.

GINA GREEN, Defendant.

Case No.: CL15000442-00 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

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CUSTODY virgiNia: iN thE Richmond JuvENiLE aND DOmEstic rELatiONs District cOurt Commonwealth of Virginia, in re EGYPT LAREECE TOWNES OrDEr Of puBLicatiON

The object of this suit is to: Terminate the residual parental rights (“RPR”) of Latina Kay Townes (Mother) and Terry Wright (Father) of Egypt Lareece Townes, child, DOB 5/6/2013, “RPR” means all rights and responsibilities remaining with parent after transfer of legal custody or guardianship of the person, including but not limited to rights of: vistation; adoption consent; determination of religious affiliation; and responsibility for support.

It is ORDERED that the defendant Latina Kay Townes and Terry Wright appear at the above-named Court and protect his/her interest on or before June 29, 2015 at 9:00 a.m.

Kate D. O’Leary, Esq. 730 E. Broad St., 8th Floor Richmond, Virginia 23219 804-646-3493 virgiNia: iN thE Richmond JuvENiLE aND DOmEstic rELatiONs District cOurt Commonwealth of Virginia, in re JADIUS WINFREE OrDEr Of puBLicatiON

The object of this suit is to: Terminate the residual parental rights (“RPR”) of Lakeisha Suntrese Banks (Mother) and Unknown Father (Father) of Jadius Winfree, child, DOB 8/29/2007, “RPR” means all rights and responsibilities remaining with parent after transfer of legal custody or guardianship of the person, including but not limited to rights of: vistation; adoption consent; determination of religious affliation; and responsibility for support.

It is ORDERED that the defendant Lakeisha Suntrese Banks and Unknown Father appear at the above-named Court and protect his/her interest on or before May 13, 2015 at 9:20 a.m.

Shunda T. Giles, Esq. 730 E. Broad St., 8th Floor Richmond, Virginia 23219 804-646-3493 virgiNia: iN thE Richmond JuvENiLE aND DOmEstic rELatiONs District cOurt Commonwealth of Virginia, in re ALLISON CHAZIR COLLINS OrDEr Of puBLicatiON

The object of this suit is to: Terminate the residual parental rights (“RPR”) of Andrea Shawn Collins (Mother) and Unknown Father (Father) of Allison Chazir Collins, child, DOB 7/21/2014, “RPR” means all rights and responsibilities remaining with parent after transfer of legal custody or guardianship of the person, including but not limited to rights of: vistation; adoption consent; determination of religious affliation; and responsibility for support.

It is ORDERED that the defendant Andrea Shawn Collins and Unknown Father appear at the above-named Court and protect his/her interest on or before June

PROPERTY TRUSTEE’S SALE OF 2030½ Chamberlayne Parkway Richmond, Virginia Tax Map #N000-0478/004

In execution of a deed of trust dated February 11, 2009 and recorded February 12, 2009, in the Clerk’s Office, Circuit Court, City of Richmond, Virginia, as Instrument # 09-2795 (the “Deed of Trust”), a default having been made under the Deed of Trust and having been so directed by the holder of the note secured by the Deed of Trust (the “Noteholder”), the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at public auction conducted

by Motley’s Auction, Inc., T/A Motleys Asset Disposition Group, the real estate described above, and more particularly described in the Deed of Trust (the “Property”), on April 28, 2015 at 2:00 p.m. at the front of the Property, 2030 ½ Chamberlayne Parkway, also known as 2030 ½ Chamberlayne Avenue, Richmond, Virginia 23220.

Terms: Cash. A bidder’s deposit of Fifteen Thousand Dollars ($15,000.00) PAID IN CASH OR CERTIFIED CHECK will be required at the time of the sale. A Buyer’s Premium of Ten Percent (10%) or Two Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($2,500.00), whichever is greater, will be added to the high auction bid. The balance of the sales price shall be payable in cash or by certified check within thirty (30) days after the sale. Time is of the essence as to the closing date and payment of the purchase price. The Noteholder and the Substitute Trustee reserve the right (i) to waive any deposit requirements; (ii) to extend the period of time within which the purchaser is to make full settlement; (iii) to withdraw the Property from sale at any time prior to the termination of the bidding; (iv) to keep the bidding open for any length of time; (v) to reject all bids; (vi) to postpone or set over the date of sale; and (vii) to determine the order of sale at the time of sale. The Property with Continued on next column

BIDS COUNTY OF HENRICO, VIRGINIA CONSTRUCTION ITB # 15-9759-3CE – Cobbs Creek Reservoir Utility Corridor Preparation This project consists of providing 72-inch diameter prestressed concrete cylinder pipe; microwave radio communication system and accessories; access road; clearing and grubbing of approx. 90 acres; and final stabilization of disturbed areas. Due 3:00 pm, April 23, 2015. Additional information available at: http://henrico.us/ purchasing/.

Security Guard PT-Outpatient treatment facility downtown.

Must be DCJS certified.

Email resume to marym@hricorp.org, or fax 804-644-6310. EOE.

The City of Richmond is seeking to fill the following positions: Code Enforcement Inspector I (Electrical) 05M00000031 Planning and Development Review Continuous Family Services Supervisor, Education and Professional Development 27M00000206 Social Services Apply by: 4/5/2015 Family Services Worker, Family Preservation 27M00000191 Social Services Apply by: 4/5/2015 Family Services Worker, Homeless Services 27M00000142 Social Services Apply by: 4/5/2015 Maintenance Technician III 29M00000537 Public Works Apply by: 4/5/2015 Plans Examiner (Mechanical) 05M00000065 Planning and Development Review Apply by: 4/5/2015 Utility Operator, Waste Water 35M00000004 Public Utilities Apply by: 4/5/2015 ****************** For an exciting career with the City of Richmond, visit our website for additional information and apply today! www.richmondgov.com EOE M/F/D/V

Continued on next column

Mortgage Servicing Payoff-assumPtion sPecialist VHDA is seeking a Payoff-Assumption Specialist to process lien releases and assumptions for its mortgage loan portfolio. The primary function will be to prepare lien releases timely and accurately in accordance with state and county requirements. All assumptions will be processed according to investor and regulatory guidelines. Responsibilities will include accountability for production goals, compliance and the prevention of monetary penalties associated with lien releases. Successful candidate will work with attorneys, title companies and clerk of court offices.

A broad knowledge of mortgage servicing and/or operations along with experience in lien release preparation and/or assumptions is preferred. The incumbent must have experience with interpreting and analyzing various legal documents, strong prioritization and organizational skills. Ideal candidate will also have strong communication skills, proficiency in MS Office, and the ability to work independently or in a team environment.

Qualifications: • • • • •

A.A. degree or equivalent work experience Multiple years of mortgage servicing/operations experience 3 years of previous lien release processing preferred Knowledge of Truth in Lending requirements for assumption processing Ability to multi-task, high attention to detail and accuracy skills

We offer a competitive salary with a generous benefits package. Submit resume with cover letter stating, salary requirements, before April 3rd 2015, online only at: http://www.vhda.com/about/careers An EOE Hiring Range - $43,637 – $56,726 Background and credit checks will be performed as a condition of employment.

Richmond Free Press

B8 March 26-28, 2015

Local News

U.S. Colored Troops re-enactors to march into Richmond for 150th anniversary events A four-day commemoration in Richmond organized by a coalition of organizations called The Future of Richmond’s Past will mark the 150th anniversary of the liberation of Richmond, ending its role as the epicenter of the slave trade.

A major highlight will be the “Blue Coats Parade,” starting 9:30 a.m. Saturday, April 4. It is a commemorative procession along East Main and Bank streets from Rockett’s Landing to the State Capitol to follow the route of the United States Colored Troops who led the Union Army in liberating Confederate-held Wednesday, April 1 • “Christian Perspectives on Faith, Then and Now”: 7 to 8:30 p.m., 2nd Presbyterian Church, 5 N. 5th St.: Exploring the meaning of the end of enslavement and the Civil War in Richmond through the lens of the faith community.

Thursday, April 2 • “Richmond Burning”: 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 815 E. Grace St.: Exploring the story of the Confederate evacuation, featuring remarks by Dr. Nelson Lankford of the Virginia Historical Society, author of “Richmond Burning.”

• Jefferson Davis and the Confederate Evacuation: 1 to 2:30 p.m., meet in front of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 815 E. Grace St.: Retrace the steps Confederate President Jefferson Davis took just prior to the evacuation of Richmond.

• “So Foul and Fair a Day – The Fall of Richmond”: 3 to 5 p.m., American Civil War Museum/White House of the Confederacy, 1201 E. Clay St.: Explore the final days of the Confederate capital and the first days of the liberating Union troops through a walking tour.

• The Burning of Richmond: 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., tour starts at Bank and Governor streets: An evening illumination of Richmond’s Downtown cityscape will represent the evacuation fires with projected images on modern buildings. Guided lantern tours and re-enactors will give tourists the experience of the horrors of the fires.

Friday, April 3 • The Union Army’s Advance into Richmond: 6 to 8 a.m. and 9 to 11 a.m., Richmond National Battlefield Park’s Fort Harrison Visitor Center, 8621 Battlefield Park Road in Henrico County: This tour will follow the route of the Union Army’s march into Richmond in the morning hours of April 3, 1865.

Registration is $20. Seating is limited. Reservations: (804) 771-2035.

• The Union Capture of Richmond: 9:30 to 11 a.m., tour starts at the Washington Equestrian Statue in Capitol Square, 1000 Bank St. This tour along city streets explores the reactions of Union soldiers as they seized the capital of the Confederacy.

• Living history public theatre: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., various sites, mostly in Downtown: Small teams of re-enactors will appear at historically significant sites in the city.

• The Civilians’ Experience: 11 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., tour starts at the Washington Equestrian Statue in Capitol Square, 1000 Bank St.: This tour will review the experiences and reactions among Richmond’s civilian population during the climactic first two weeks of April 1865.

• Davis and Lincoln: A Themed Tour of the White House of the Confederacy, 11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. and 2:15 to 3:15 p.m., 1201 E. Clay St. (free parking at VCU Medical Center, 550 N. 12 St.): This tour will examine Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis as politicians, leaders, husbands and fathers. Limit 25 people per tour, advance registration required.

Details: www.moc.org/RVA150.

• The United States Colored Troops Legacy of National Redemption and Democracy: noon to 1 p.m., National Park Service Visitor Center at Historic Tredegar, 470 Tredegar St.: Asa Gordon, Secretary General of the Sons and Daughters of United States Colored Troops, will discuss the civil rights legacy of the black troops.

• The Life and Career of Godfrey Weitzel: noon to 1 p.m., American Civil War Museum/White House of the Confederacy, 1201 E. Clay St.: Author G. William Quatman explores the liberation of Richmond from the perspective of Union Maj. Gen. Weitzel, who led the liberating troops into Richmond.

• A Photographic Tour of Capitol Square, 1865, 1 to 2:30 p.m., meet at the Washington Equestrian Statue in Capitol Square, 1000 Bank St.: More than 40 photographs were made in and around Capitol Square in 1865. This tour will examine what those photographers saw.

• The Federal Occupation of Richmond: 3 to 4:30 p.m., meet at the Washington Equestrian Statue in Capitol Square, 1000 Bank St.: This walking tour explores the reactions and thoughts of the Union troops as they struggled to restore order to Richmond after its liberation.

4 to 11:30 p.m., Shockoe Bottom and the African Burial Ground, both sides of the 1500 block of E. Broad Street: An evening program to observe the 150th anniversary of emancipation in Richmond and to pay ancestral homage.

Highlights of the program are as follows: • Waking Up Tomorrow: Resistance and Liberation in Shockoe Bottom, 4 to 5:15 p.m., beginning at the Devil’s Half Acre, Lumpkin’s Jail: This procession symbolically creates a Sacred Ground Memorial Park while marking sites related to the trade of enslaved Africans in Shockoe Bottom.

• Declarations of Suffering, Resistance and Liberation in Shockoe Bottom: 5:15 to 5:45 p.m.: Presentations on the history of Shockoe Bottom, Richmond’s slave trade, the end of enslavement and the future of Shockoe Bottom.

• Opening the Door: 5:45 to 6:15 p.m.: An exploration of the Middle Passage and the culture stolen from

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Richmond. Re-enactors will march west along East Main Street, follow 14th Street to Bank Street and enter Capitol Square along 9th Street between 10:30 and 11 a.m. Contemporary military units will join the procession.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe will make remarks and will be joined by the choir from Virginia Union University and others in a ceremony from 11 to 11:30 a.m. on the Capitol Portico.

Other venues across the state also will commemorate the sesquicentennial of the surrender of the Southern army under Gen.

Africans transported to the United States to be sold into enslavement.

Undertones: An Aural Suite: 6:15 to 7:15 p.m.: An aural memorial for Richmond’s African Burial Grounds constructed by melding jazz orchestration, improvisation, African rhythms, chants, narratives and dance by Ashby Anderson.

Anointing the Veil: An elevation ceremony to release from bondage the memory of enslaved African ancestors in Virginia: 7:15 to 7:45 p.m.: A candlelight procession and calling out of names based on the Virginia Historical Society’s Unknown No Longer database.

African American Reflections on the Civil War: 7:45 to 9:45 p.m.: Witness the lives and roles of Africans and Africa’s descendants unfold in this original drama from the Elegba Folklore Society. A discussion will follow.

Bound: Africans vs. African Americans: 9:45 p.m.: A documentary by Kenyan director Peres Owino that connects enslavement and colonialism with contemporary self-view, world view and relations between continental Africans and African-Americans.

A discussion will follow.

Saturday, April 4 • In the Footsteps of Abraham Lincoln: 9 to 11 a.m., tour begins at 17th and Dock streets: This two-mile tour traces where President Abraham Lincoln went during his visit to Richmond following its liberation.

• The Start, Spread and Containment of the Evacuation Fire: 9 to 11 a.m., meet near the Visitor Center entrance on the State Capitol grounds: This tour explores the evacuation fire that destroyed more than 20 city blocks.

• Richmond Slave Trail Tour: 9 to 10:30 a.m., meet at shuttle stop on Bank Street: A walking tour follows part of the Richmond Slave Trail, including Lumpkin’s Jail and the African Burial Ground.

• The Capture of Richmond: 9:30 to 11 a.m., meet near the Washington Equestrian Statue at the State Capitol: This program explores the reactions of Union soldiers as they grasped the reality of liberating the epicenter of the slave trade.

• The Virginia Capitol, 1788 – Present: 10 a.m., 1 p.m., 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.: Meet inside the Capitol’s visitor entrance located at the bottom of the hill at 10th and Bank streets: The tour will feature historic statues and paintings, exhibits and restored old and new House and Senate chambers.

• Court End and the Capitol in the Civil War: 10 to 11:30 a.m., The Valentine, 1015 E. Clay St.: A discussion of the people and places of Court End and Capitol Square during the Civil War and the reason Virginia was chosen as the capital of the Confederacy.

Cost: $15 per person or $5 for Valentine members.

• Elegba Folklore Society presents “Africans in the Civil War”: 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., near the Bell Tower in Capitol Square: A program to focus on Africa’s descendants, including educators, soldiers, doctors and emancipators.

• In the Footsteps of Presidents: The Confederate White House: 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m., 1:15 to 2:30 p.m. and 3:30 to 4:45 p.m., near the Washington Equestrian Statue in Capitol Square: A tour to focus on Jefferson Davis’ last days in the Confederate White House and Abraham Lincoln’s historic visit to the site. Limit 25 people per tour, advanced registration required. Details: www.moc.org/RVA150.

• Richmond Slave Trail Tour: noon to 3:30 p.m., meet at the shuttle stop on Bank Street: This threemile walking tour begins at the Manchester Docks on South Side and includes stops at Lumpkin’s Slave Jail and the Negro Burial Ground.

• “Go! Discover Richmond” Tour: noon to 2 p.m., meet near the Visitor Center entrance in Capitol Square: Guides from the Valentine will explore historic sites on the Richmond Liberty Trail.

• Civil War Capitol Tour: noon to 1 p.m. and 3 to 4 p.m., meet inside the Capitol’s visitor entrance at 10th and Bank streets: A tour will focus on events related to the Civil War that took place at the Capitol.

• The Civilians’ Experience During the Evacuation of Richmond: noon to 1:45 p.m., meet near the Washington Equestrian Statue in Capitol Square: The tour will examine citizens reactions during the first two weeks in April 1865 when Richmond was liberated by the Union Army.

• Examining the Trading of Enslaved People: 12:30 to 1:45 p.m. and 2:30 to 3:45 p.m., meet at the shuttle stop on Bank Street: This tour will examine the business of buying and selling enslaved people in Shockoe Bottom.

• The Untold Civil War Stories of Children and Adolescents: 1 to 1:30 p.m., Capitol Portico: A group of children imagine what life would have been like living in Richmond during the last months of the Civil War. • Civil War Sampler: 1 to 5 p.m., the Valentine, 1015 E. Clay St.: A look at Richmond’s role as the capital of the Confederacy. A bus tour costs $25 per person and $20 for Valentine members. Reservations are required at (804) 649-0711, ext. 301.

• The Post-War Period in Richmond: 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., meet at the shuttle stop on Bank Street: This bus tour will focus on African-American Richmonders from the end of the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement.

• “Backstory with the American History Guys”: 2 to 3 p.m., inside the Capitol Visitor Center: A public

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Robert E. Lee on April 9, 1865, at Appomattox Courthouse.

The events April 1-4 in Richmond will include programs, tours of the city’s historic areas and an evening projection of images on modern Downtown buildings representing fires that burned as the city was evacuated.

The full schedule will be available at www.OnToRichmond. com and www.RichmondsJourney.org. Most programs and tours begin on the grounds of the State Capitol.

Highlights include:

radio program exploring Richmond’s journey from the end of enslavement and the Civil War to today, hosted

by University of Richmond President Edward Ayers, Dr. Peter Onuf and Dr. Brian Balogh.

The Federal Occupation of Richmond: 2 to 3 p.m., meet near the Washington Equestrian Statue in Capitol Square: This program explores the reaction of the Union army as it faced a huge rebuilding task after liberating Richmond.

Scenes from “Our American Cousin”: 3 to 3:30 p.m., Capitol Portico: Henley Street Theatre and Richmond Shakespeare perform readings of scenes from “Our American Cousin,” the play that was being performed at the time of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination at Ford’s Theatre.

Fort McHenry Guard Fife and Drum: 4 to 4:30 p.m., Capitol Portico: A performance of 19th century music by the Fort McHenry Guard.

In the Footsteps of Abraham Lincoln: 4 to 7 p.m., tour begins and ends at 17th and Dock streets: A tour that traces President Abraham Lincoln’s visit to

Richmond following its liberation.

• The Future is Now: 6 p.m. to midnight; African Burial Grounds, both sides of the 1500 block of East Broad Street: 6 p.m.: Indigenous powwow drumming greets attendees as they pass through the portal.

6:30 p.m.: Performers Red Crooked Sky express the indomitable spirit of Virginia’s native people.

7:15 p.m.: An African inspired libation ceremony features West African masquerades that symbolize oneness of spirit with the physical world.

7:45 p.m.: Singer-songwriter Boo Hanks performs Piedmont blues. He’s a descendant of Abraham Lincoln on his mother’s side.

8:45 p.m.: Elegba Folklore Society’s African dancers, singers and drummers will perform.

9:45 p.m.: Grammy Award-nominated singersongwriter Maimouna Youssef will perform.

11 p.m.: Drums No Guns band presents “Wake Up America – The Time Has Come.”

The event will close with an interactive finale.

NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC OF VIRGINIA ELECTRIC AND POWER COMPANY’S REQUEST TO REVISE ITS FUEL FACTOR CASE NO. PUE-2015-00022 On February 27, 2015, Virginia Electric and Power Company d/b/a Dominion Virginia Power (“Dominion Virginia Power” or “Company”) filed with the State Corporation Commission (“Commission”) its application (“Application”) pursuant to § 56-249.6 of the Code of Virginia seeking a decrease in its fuel factor from 3.018 cents per kilowatt-hour (“¢/kWh”) to 2.406¢/kWh, effective for usage on and after April 1, 2015, on an interim basis.

The Company’s proposed fuel factor, reflected in Fuel Charge Rider A, consists of both a current and prior period factor. The Company’s proposed current period factor for Fuel Charge Rider A of 2.374¢/kWh is designed to recover the Company’s estimated Virginia jurisdictional fuel expenses, including purchased power expenses, of approximately $1.6 billion for the period July 1, 2015, through June 30, 2016. The Company’s proposed prior period factor for Fuel Charge Rider A of 0.032¢/kWh is designed to recover approximately $21.9 million, which represents the net of two projected June 30, 2015 fuel deferral balances.

In total, Dominion Virginia Power’s proposed fuel factor represents a 0.612¢/kWh decrease from the fuel factor rate presently in effect of 3.018¢/kWh, which was approved in Case No. PUE-2014-00033. According to the Company, this proposal would result in an annual fuel revenue decrease of approximately $512.3 million between April 1, 2015, and June 30, 2016. The total proposed fuel factor would decrease the average weighted monthly bill of a typical residential customer using 1,000 kWh of electricity by $6.12, or approximately 5.3%. Dominion Virginia Power also proposes a modification to the Commission’s Definitional Framework of Fuel Expenses for Virginia Electric and Power.

The Commission entered an Order Establishing 2015-2016 Fuel Factor Proceeding (“Order”) that, among other things, scheduled a public hearing on June 18, 2015, at 10 a.m. in the Commission’s Second Floor Courtroom located in the Tyler Building, 1300 East Main Street, Richmond, Virginia 23219, to receive testimony from members of the public and evidence related to the Application from the Company, any respondents, and the Commission’s Staff.

Any person desiring to testify as a public witness at this hearing should appear 15 minutes before the starting time of the hearing and contact the Commission’s Bailiff. Individuals with disabilities who require an accommodation to participate in the hearing should contact the Commission at least seven (7) days before the scheduled hearing at 1-800-552-7945 (voice) or 1-804-371-9206 (TDD).

In its Order, the Commission also allowed the Company to place its proposed fuel factor of 2.406¢/kWh into effect for usage on and after April 1, 2015, on an interim basis.

The public version of the Company’s Application, pre-filed testimony, and exhibits are available for public inspection during regular business hours at all of the Company’s offices in the Commonwealth of Virginia. A copy of the public version of the Company’s Application also may be obtained, at no cost, by written request to counsel for Dominion Virginia Power, William H. Baxter, II, Esquire, Dominion Resources Services, Inc., 120 Tredegar Street, Riverside 2, Richmond, Virginia 23219. If acceptable to the requesting party, the Company may provide the documents by electronic means.

Interested persons also may review a copy of the public version of the Company’s Application in the Commission’s Document Control Center, located on the first floor of the Tyler Building, 1300 East Main Street, Richmond, Virginia 23219, between the hours of 8:15 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. In addition, unofficial copies of the public version of the Company’s Application, Commission orders entered in this docket, the Commission’s Rules of Practice and Procedure (“Rules of Practice”), as well as other information concerning the Commission and the statutes it administers, may be viewed on the Commission’s website: http://www.scc.virginia.gov/case.

On or before June 11, 2015, any interested person wishing to comment on the Company’s Application shall file written comments with Joel H. Peck, Clerk, State Corporation Commission, c/o Document Control Center, P.O. Box 2118, Richmond, Virginia 23218-2118. Any interested person desiring to file comments electronically may do so on or before June 11, 2015, by following the instructions on the Commission’s website: http://www.scc.virginia.gov/case.

Compact discs or any other form of electronic storage medium may not be filed with the comments. All such comments shall refer to Case No. PUE-2015-00022.

Any person or entity may participate as a respondent in this proceeding by filing a notice of participation on or before April 24, 2015. If not filed electronically, an original and fifteen (15) copies of the notice of participation shall be filed with the Clerk of the Commission at the address set forth above. A copy of the notice of participation as a respondent also must be sent to counsel for the Company at counsel’s address set forth above. Pursuant to Rule 5 VAC 5-20-80 B, Participation as a respondent, of the Commission’s Rules of Practice, any notice of participation shall set forth: (i) a precise statement of the interest of the respondent; (ii) a statement of the specific action sought to the extent then known; and (iii) the factual and legal basis for the action. All filings shall refer to Case No. PUE-2015-00022. Interested persons should obtain a copy of the Commission’s Order for further details on participation as a respondent.

On or before May 8, 2015, each respondent may file with the Clerk of the Commission and serve on the Commission’s Staff, the Company, and all other respondents any testimony and exhibits by which the respondent expects to establish its case. If not filed electronically, an original and fifteen (15) copies of such testimony and exhibits shall be submitted to the Clerk of the Commission at the address set forth above. In all filings, respondents shall comply with the Commission’s Rules of Practice, including 5 VAC 5-20-140, Filing and service; 5 VAC 5-20-150, Copies and format; and 5 VAC 5-20-240, prepared testimony and exhibits. All filings shall refer to Case No. PUE-2015-00022.

VIRGINIA ELECTRIC AND POWER COMPANY

Employment Opportunities ANCHOR/REPORTER

MASTER CONTROL OPERATOR WWBT, the NBC affiliate in Richmond, VA seeks part time Master Control Operator responsible for operation of all systems within a multi station master control. Duties include, but are not limited to, operation of station broadcast automation systems, editing on-air playlists, setup and record satellite and other electronic delivery feeds, ingest and prepare video content onto servers, live on-air switching and quality control of all programming and transmission systems. Must have ability to understand and adhere to basic FCC rules including EAS systems and logs. Work shift could include weekends and holidays. Must work well in a high pressure, fast paced, live news environment and possess superior level computer skills in Windows 7 and applications. Good communication/ people skills required. 2 years previous master control experience desired. Apply on line at https:// careers-raycommedia.icims.com. No phone calls please. EOE-M/F/D/V.

Richmond’s No. 1 news organization seeks anchor/ reporter with proven track record of successful anchoring and reporting. Successful candidate must be dynamic performer and excellent communicator who excels in a breaking news environment. Apply on-line at https://careers-raycommedia.icims.com.

EOE M/F/D/V Drug Screen required.

Music Director

Mount Olive Baptist Church in Glen Allen, Virginia is seeking a full-time Music Director. Degree in music from an accredited college or university preferred and minimum of 2-3 years of music director experience. Position is opened until filled. Previous applicants do not need to reapply.

For more information, please visit www.mobcva.org.

Criminal History Background Check required.

Henrico County, Virginia

Henrico County, a progressive employer of choice, provides job seekers with the promise of fair and competitive compensation; a close-knit atmosphere with low employee turnover; and a benefits package that helps secure financial stability. Henrico County is among the top-rated counties in the nation.

For employment information please visit our Jobs Website at henricojobs.com.

Henrico County is an equal opportunity employer.

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

Richmond City Public Schools Teacher Opportunities 2015-2016 School Year For a list of teacher opportunities and to complete an application, access website at www.richmond.k12.va.us. Richmond City Public Schools will conduct a background investigation, tuberculosis screening and drug/alcohol testing as a condition of employment. EOE.

The Richmond Free Press is seeking a reliable and creative person for a part-time graphics position.

Enthusiastic individual must be proficient in Macintosh Creative Suite Design software (Indesign and Photoshop) to produce accurate, high quality camera-ready advertisements and news page layouts for print production. Duties will include weekly website maintenance. Meticulous attention to details. Ability to be flexible and work under deadline cooperatively in a team environment is essential. Submit resumé and samples of work to address: Human Resources, Richmond Free Press, P.O. Box 27709, Richmond, Virginia 23261 No phone calls please