March 9 11, 2017 issue

Spring forward ➜

Daylight Saving Time will arrive 2 a.m.

Sunday, March 12.

Turn your clocks ahead one hour to stay on time.

Obamas’ book deal sets record high B2

Richmond Free Press © 2017 Paradigm Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

VOL. 26 NO. 10

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA

www.richmondfreepress.com

ee Fr

Fr ee

c e l e b rat ing o u r 2 5 t h A nniv e rsar y

MARCH 9-11, 2017

Stoney offers $681M budget Spending plan raises trash fee, utility rates but avoids tax hike

By Jeremy M. Lazarus

Richmond Public Schools teachers and city police officers and firefighters would gain pay raises, but most city employees would have to make do with their current wages.

City residents would pay an extra $2.50 a month for improved trash pickups, particularly of tree limbs, mattresses and other bulk items, but would lose vacuum leaf collection.

Richmonders also would face an average 5 percent increase in bills for drinking water, sewer service, natural Mayor gas and stormwater control.

Those are among the limited highlights of Mayor Levar M. Stoney’s first budget — a largely stand-pat proposal.

As he promised during his campaign, Mayor

Walker papers return home

By Jeremy M. Lazarus

The Maggie Walker papers have been returned to the Stallings family, ending their seven-year sojourn at the College of William & Mary and forestalling a potential conflict.

Ron Stallings, a Jackson Ward developer, told the Free Press this week that he picked up the papers from the school in Williamsburg on Tuesday and brought them back to the Richmond home of his mother, Margaret T. Stallings, who had requested their return.

Stoney did not propose any increases in personal property and real estate taxes in the 2017-18 budget plan he presented to Richmond City Council on Monday, saying he would not do so until he could prove that the city’s operations meet citizens’ expectations.

He also shied away from proposing Richmond’s first tax on cigarettes to add new revenue for a city that he said is not generating the kind of income needed to address the major problems it faces. Those problems range from the high level of poverty that grips one in four city residents to worn-out school buildings, aging Stoney city buildings, broken sidewalks and pothole-filled streets.

While Mayor Stoney described his spending plan for the 2017-18 fiscal year that begins July 1 as “fiscally responsible and lean,” with targeted investments in priorities like education and public safety, he preached the same message as his predecessor, Dr. Dwight C. Jones, about the lack of money.

“Let me be clear,” Mayor Stoney told the council in introducing his proposed $681 million budget, the smallest general fund budget in four years. “This is a budget that is built on very limited resources.

“We are four years behind in sidewalk maintenance. We don’t have the resources to repair all the potholes or our roads,” he told council.

And the city has only 42 plows to clear the 60 snow routes, he said.

His proposal amounts to spending about $3,100 for each of the estimated 220,000 city residents, down about $180 per person from the current budget.

Please turn to A4

Please turn to A4

Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

Who are the Capitol Police protecting?

The noise was deafening last Saturday when an immigrant rights group held a rally in Capitol Square at the same time Republican gubernatorial candidate Corey Stewart held an “End Sanctuary Cities” rally espousing an opposite viewpoint. At least two of the Stewart supporters, one at right, openly carried military-style weapons and guns and stood just yards away from the ICE Out of RVA protesters. Capitol Police formed a line between the two groups, as shown here. But their backs were to the men carrying the weapons. Please see more photos, A5.

‘Trumpcare’ health plan would strip insurance from millions Free Press staff, wire reports

Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press

Who is that ‘cat in the hat?’

First-graders at Overby-Sheppard Elementary get a treat — Richmond Sheriff C.T. Woody Jr. reading Dr. Seuss’ “The Cat in the Hat” to teacher Rita Robinson’s class. The event last Friday was part of Read Across America, a celebration of reading and Dr. Seuss’ birthday, sponsored by the National Education Association. Under volunteer coordinator Lola McDowell, more than 75 “celebrity” readers from the Richmond community read to students at Overby-Sheppard, including members of Richmond City Council and the School Board, Virginia Commonwealth University professors, actor Daphne Maxwell Reid, University of Richmond President Ronald A. Crutcher, state Secretary of Education Dietra Y. Trent, comedian Micah “Bam-Bamm” White and Delegate Jeff Bourne, former chair of the Richmond School Board. Elementary schools across the city hosted celebrations last week, with some observing the day this week.

WASHINGTON Impressed by President Trump’s campaign promises to make health care more affordable, Mavis Reivis crossed her fingers and voted for him.

But the 52-year-old Richmond resident and millions like her are now facing reality: The new GOP health care plan that President Trump endorses to replace the six-year-old Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, is likely to rip away their health coverage.

The “Trumpcare” plan that House Speaker Paul Ryan unveiled Monday and is now seeking to push through the Congress over the next month, would eliminate the subsidies that have helped Ms. Reivis and others secure comprehensive coverage and replace the subsidies with smaller tax credits that would put the cost of insurance out of reach.

The plan also calls for shrinking Medicaid coverage for low-income adults who cannot afford any policy and

Students hope to draw global links

on Pocahontas history trip

By Holly Rodriguez

Four hundred years after the death of Pocahontas, her life will be commemorated with a program designed to honor her legacy, beginning with 14 Richmonders traveling to St. George’s Church in Gravesend, England, where she died in March 1617.

Replenish Richmond, a local community development organization founded by Rick Tatnall, has organized the Pocahontas History Project to weave a connection between Pocahontas’ birthplace in Virginia and her burial site in England.

Four Franklin Military Academy students and three Please turn to A4

Courtesy of Franklin Military Academy

Those involved with the project include, forefront left to right, Franklin Military Academy students Lil’Meal Boyd, Saki Nowacki, Shakiyah Bolden-Jones and Alyssa Brown. Also, rear left to right, teacher Megan Scott, Principal Sheron Carter-Gunter, Commandant Carlton Day, teacher Danielle Bowers and Sen. Tim Kaine’s Central Virginia regional director, Tyee Mallory. Col. Day and Ms. Mallory are not traveling to England.

eliminating specialty “My employer women’s health serdoesn’t provide covvices, despite Presierage,” Ms. Reivis dent Trump’s promtold the Free Press ises of providing a on Tuesday. better, more accesShe is a restaurant sible health program hostess and cashier that would benefit and pays for her own everyone. insurance through Obamacare althe ACA. Mr. Trump lowed 20 million “I’m scared about people to gain insurance cover- what is being proposed because age, including 11 million people I could lose what I have. I who have benefited from the don’t want to think about not expansion of Medicaid in 33 having insurance at my age. states.

But that’s what could happen,” Early analysis of the GOP she said. plan suggests that 6 million to With earnings of about 10 million people would lose $360 a week after taxes, she health insurance, with sugges- said she now strains to pay the tions that those numbers would $270 a month that is her share increase because of people of her comprehensive health whose employers do not provide health benefits.

Please turn to A4

And the Nutzy goes to…

Warren Beatty to award Nutzys at The Diamond

By Fred Jeter

The envelope please …

In reaction to the recent Academy Award mix-up when the wrong Best Picture winner was announced, the Richmond Flying Squirrels are planning some light-hearted fun.

Richmond native and film star Warren Beatty, who was caught in the middle of the Oscars Mr. Beatty snafu as a presenter of the misdirected award, will be coming to The Diamond on Aug. 13 for a unique promotion.

Mr. Beatty will present Oscar-like statues with the likeness of The Flying Squirrels’ mascot, Nutzy, to the first 1,000 fans.

He also has been invited to throw out the first pitch.

“We checked the envelope three times and it said ‘Nutzy,’ so we actuPlease turn to A4

Richmond Free Press

A2 March 9-11, 2017

Local News

Photos by Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

The new Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University continues to take shape on the southwest corner of Belvidere and Broad streets.

Crews are working to complete the interior of the unique landmark, called the Markel Center after a major donor.

Left, Fred Cueller works on the space where a café will be located. Right, workers install ductwork on the second floor of the building designed by Stephen Holl Architects, a New York-based firm.

The $41 million, threestory building is set to open Oct. 28 and will feature a Slices of life and scenes 240-seat auditorium for film in Richmond screenings and live performances, an outdoor garden, a learning lab and flexible space for displays of modern paintings, sculpture and other works.

The opening will happen about three years after big machines began digging up the 1-acre site to prepare the ground for construction. The institute is being financed with private donations. To date, the institute has raised about $35 million.

The planned opening exhibition, Declaration, will feature new work by artists from Richmond and around the globe.

Cityscape

UR dean, former Va. first lady named to state Board of Education

Despite efforts, bank branch in Highland Park to close March 21

Dr. Jamelle S. Wilson, dean of the University of Richmond School of Professional and Continuing Studies, and Anne Holton, former state secretary of education, were recently appointed by Gov. Terry McAuliffe to the Virginia Board of Education.

Dr. Wilson has a long tenure in the field of education. She served as superintendent of Hanover County Public Schools from 2011 to 2015. Prior to becoming superintendent, she worked in the Hanover County school system, working her way up through the ranks from classroom teacher, lead teacher, assistant principal, principal and assistant superintendent.

A native of Spotsylvania, Dr. Wilson was the first in her family to attend a four-year university. She earned a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Virginia, where she also earned a master’s in teaching from the Curry School of Education and a doctorate in education in 2002.

She also earned a master’s degree in English from Virginia Commonwealth University.

In 2015, she was honored among the Strong Men & Women in Virginia History by Dominion and the Library of Virginia.

“As a product of Virginia’s public schools, I am keenly aware of the power of education to make a difference in the life of a child — to change one’s life course,” Dr. Wilson said in a statement to the Free Press.

“We know that quality education is a key attribute of healthy families, resilient communities and a vibrant, productive society.”

Ms. Holton, a former Virginia first lady, is the wife of U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine. She attended Richmond Public Schools when her father, A. Linwood Holton, served as Virginia’s governor in the early 1970s.

She earned a bachelor’s from Princeton University and a law degree from Harvard Law School. She served as a judge on the Richmond Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court and stepped down in 2016 when Gov. McAuliffe named her state secretary of education.

Ms. Holton resigned her position last July when her husband became the vice presidential running mate of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Their three children also graduated from Richmond Public Schools. — HOLLY RODRIGUEZ

interested credit union.

“I was told it would take about 180 days for the Bank of America is not backing down on its decibank to put together a donation,” she said, so “this is sion to close its Highland Park branch on Tuesday, something that we need to get moving on.”

March 21, according to Richmond City Councilwoman After the bank announced its plans to close the Ellen F. Robertson. branch, Ms. Robertson joined with various commuHowever, the 6th District representative said bank nity groups to rally residents to save the last Bank officials told her they are prepared to keep an ATM of America branch in a majority-black community open at the location, 1307 E. Brookland Park Blvd., in Richmond. to accept deposits and dispense money.

The Free Press helped spotlight those efforts in During negotiations Monday, she said bank officials January in reporting on the pending closure.

Ms. Robertson appeared to be open to the idea of donating the building While the bank has other branches within four miles and its parking lot to the city or an appropriate nonprofit. of the Highland Park location, the North Side branch has been She also indicated that officials did not object to the idea of convenient for people who rely on bus service. having a credit union move into the space, and indicated that However, the options for saving the branch became limited the bank might even be financially supportive. after federal regulators, including the Office of the Comptroller She also suggested that the officials showed some interest of the Currency, declined to intervene. in possibly providing support for the city’s Affordable HousDuring the past six weeks, Ms. Robertson has focused on ing Trust Fund, which makes loans to developers who seek to ways to reduce the impact of the closing in meetings with bank provide apartments with reduced rents or to build lower-cost officials. homes.

Bank of America acquired the branch when it took over Ms. Robertson said she hopes the city’s Department of Eco- Sovran Bank years ago. Sovran gained it when it took over a nomic and Community Development will assist in the effort smaller bank. to find a new use for the building or to develop or locate an The branch seemed to have a limited future since Bank of American began closing hundreds of branches in response to customers now banking on their smartphones, by computer or through sophisticated ATMs. The Highland Park branch is just the latest to be closed in large measure because it has limited business compared with other branches.

The branch reported about $13.5 million in deposits last year, far below the average for the 22 other Bank of America branches in the area, all of which reported $30 million or more in deposits, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

When the branch closes, SunTrust Bank will be the last big bank to operate branches in areas most other banks have left.

SunTrust still has branches in the 1500 block of Hull Street in Bank of America branch at 1307 E. Brookland Park Blvd.

Blackwell and the 2500 block of East Broad in Church Hill.

Correction An article published in the March 2-4 edition of the Free Press about George Wythe High School alumni and their connections to Nat Turner incorrectly stated that Mr. Turner’s skull was found on the Southampton County family farm of Richmond resident Evelyn Hawkins.

According to Mrs. Hawkins, a retired librarian at John Marshall High School, Mr. Turner hid in a cave on the farm following the 1831 slave revolt he led and was discovered there by authorities.

From there, according to accounts in National Geographic magazine and other publications, Mr. Turner was tried, hanged and decapitated.

His purported skull was given in 1900 to Richmond physician Albert Gallatin Franklin by a patient who claimed to have inherited it from her father, the doctor who handled Mr. Turner’s body after he was hanged.

The skull was passed down in the Franklin family for three generations before Bob Franklin of Elkhart, Ind., gave it to two civil rights activists in Elkhart, the Rev. Franklin Breckenridge and his wife, Cora.

In 2002, the couple gave the skull to the Rev. Richard Hatcher for his proposed National Civil Rights Hall of Fame in Gary, Ind., the city where he once was mayor.

Last October, Rev. Hatcher turned the skull over to two of Mr. Turner’s descendants, cousins Shanna Batten and Shelly Wood of Washington.

Ms. Batten and Ms. Wood, who are related to Mrs. Hawkins of Richmond, turned the skull over to forensic anthropologists at the Smithsonian Institute for analysis, including DNA testing, Mrs. Hawkins said.

Turner family members and others reportedly provided DNA samples for the study to see if the skull can be definitively determined to be that of Nat Turner. The study is being done in cooperation with National Geographic Studios.

The Free Press regrets the error.

By Jeremy M. Lazarus

12 candidates to be interviewed for 3rd District School Board seat Twelve people will be interviewed next week as the Richmond School Board moves to fill the vacant 3rd District seat.

Schools officials said that 17 people submitted applications to be considered for appointment to the seat, which was left vacant when former member Jeffrey M. Bourne was elected in February to the House of Delegates.

Five of the applicants were eliminated because they did not meet the Feb. 27 deadline to be considered or they didn’t meet the criteria to qualify. Candidates must be registered voters and live in the city’s 3rd District.

The 12 viable candidates will be interviewed by School Board members at 4 p.m. Monday, March 13, in the board’s offices on the 17th floor of Richmond City Hall. The interviews are open to the public, with people having an opportunity to comment on the candidates.

The board will announce its appointee on Monday, March 20. The person will serve until a special election is held in November.

The candidates:

Tanya Arney is a professor and consultant in anatomic pathology. She has a doctorate in bioethics from Loyola University in Chicago.

Hassan Fountain Sr. is founder of Foundation for Youth, a literacy advocacy organization, and logistical lead operator for Coca Cola Consolidated. He has studied at Bryant & Stratton College.

Kenya Gibson is a marketing strategist at HTK Marketing Communications and vice president of a parent-teacher organization who has a master’s in architecture from Yale.

Patrick R. Hanes is a partner at the law firm Williams Mullen and adjunct professor at the Washington and Lee University School of Law. Joann Henry is founder and director of Dream Academy, a nonprofit adult education center, and a former assistant principal with Richmond Public Schools. She has a doctorate in education leadership from Nova Southeastern University.

Lathaniel Kirts is a Richmond Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court clerk who has worked with at-risk youths through Intercept Services. He holds a

doctorate of divinity from Virginia Union University.

David Lambert is optical director at American Eye Center/Optical Sensations and a former tutor for Richmond Public Schools. He is an alumnus of Howard University.

Cindy Menz-Erb has led two nonprofits in New York City, worked with equity and justice issues in public schools and now with low-income communities.

She holds a master’s degree in community development from North Park University.

Norma Murdoch-Kitt is a licensed clinical psychologist and former Richmond School Board member.

Robert Peck is a teacher in Henrico County Public Schools and director of the Center for Leadership, Government and Global Economics.

Hilary Scribner is a small business owner who formerly worked as a teacher.

She has a master’s in education from Loyola Marymount University.

Eric Spivack is founder of Alchemy Coffee. He has a bachelor’s in marketing from the University of Minnesota.

Richmond Free Press

March 9-11, 2017

A3

Black-ish available on XFINITY TV app.

5 excitable cousins. 3 night sleepover.

1 way to keep everybody happy.

When life gets crazy, stay sane with XFINITY X1. Enjoy instant access to the latest episodes of the top 100 shows and loads of kids’ programming. With the X1 DVR, record and watch up to six shows at the same time and much more. Plus, XFINITY Internet delivers the speed you need for all your devices.

X1 will change the way you experience TV.

XFINITY X1 Triple Play

89

$

99

a month for 24 months with a 2-year agreement

X1 DVR service included for 12 months

Ask how to get a $200 Visa® Prepaid Card when you step up to a Complete HD Triple Play

Call 1-800-XFINITY or visit xfinity.com today

Offer ends 3/12/17, and is limited to new residential customers. Restrictions apply. Not available in all areas. Requires subscription to Starter XF Triple Play with Digital Starter TV, Performance Pro Internet and XFINITY Voice Unlimited services. Early termination fee applies if all XFINITY services are cancelled during the agreement term. Equipment, installation, taxes and fees, including regulatory recovery fees, Broadcast TV Fee (up to $7.00/mo.), Regional Sports Network Fee (up to $5.00/mo.) and other applicable charges extra and subject to change during and after the promo. After promo, or if any service is cancelled or downgraded, regular charges apply (subject to change). Service limited to a single outlet. May not be combined with other offers. TV: Limited Basic service subscription required to receive other levels of service. XFINITY On Demand selections subject to charge indicated at time of purchase. Internet: Actual speeds vary and are not guaranteed. Money-back guarantee applies to one month’s recurring service charge and standard installation charges up to $500. Voice: $29.95 activation fee applies. If there is a power outage or network issue, calling, including calls to 911, may be unavailable. Two-year term agreement required with prepaid card offers. Early termination fee applies if all XFINITY services are cancelled during the agreement term. Cards issued by MetaBank®, Member FDIC, pursuant to a license from Visa® U.S.A. Inc. Cards will not have cash access and can be used everywhere Visa® debit cards are accepted.

Money-back guarantee applies to one month’s recurring service charge and standard installation charges up to $500. © 2017 Comcast. All rights reserved. EMPIRE TM & © 2017 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved. NPA199442-0002 DIV17-1-203-AA-$89TPsale-A8

120601_NPA199442-0002 Sleepover ad_A8_11x21.indd 1

2/13/17 5:22 PM

Richmond Free Press

A4 March 9-11, 2017

News

Mayor Stoney offers $681M budget Continued from A1

While some of the decline in spending involves shifts of money from the general fund to other parts of the budget as special funds, the Stoney administration is dealing with actual reductions in some areas.

Most notably, public utilities, a cash cow that has long enabled the city to avoid tax increases, is projected to provide $33.4 million to the general fund in the 2018 fiscal year. That’s a $4 million decline from the current fiscal year, when city general fund income from utilities was set at $37.4 million.

Even so, the mayor proposed that council raise average monthly residential utility bills by $1.77 for gas; $2.14 for water; $2.65 for wastewater and 19 cents for stormwater control.

In order to squeeze enough revenue to balance the budget, Mayor Stoney told the council that he has tasked the Finance Department staff with raising the tax collection rate from 96 percent to 97 percent to bring in an additional $2.4 million to ensure “everyone does his or her fair share.”

He said he also would revive the tax amnesty program next fall to enable delinquent taxpayers to avoid interest and penalties by paying off past due amounts to bring in another $2.4 million.

In addition, he has launched a review of the

performance of city agencies in hopes of finding ways to save money, including potentially reducing the most costly element — personnel.

On the spending side, he said that he would provide Richmond Public Schools with an additional $6.1 million “to keep our valuable schoolteachers in classrooms instructing our children” and for other staff. He would seek to earmark money to improve teacher salaries, particularly for veteran teachers whose pay has moved closer to a starting teacher’s salary because of a lack of salary increases.

He called it the “largest single-year increase” to be proposed by a mayor since Richmond adopted the elected mayor form of government in 2004, although it is less then the $7 million increase City Council approved for schools this year and far short of the $21 million increase that the School Board had sought.

“The needs are not going away,” School Board Chair Dawn Page, 8th District, said. She added the mayor’s proposal would require the board to slash initiatives, “prioritize and find efficiencies” to balance its budget.

As for school maintenance, Mayor Stoney proposed to return to the city’s parsimonious ways. Saying the city has maxxed out it credit card and had little borrowing room left, he proposed only $1.6 million for schools to use to improve infrastructure, far short of the $9

million the city is providing this year and just a pittance of the $41 million the school system requested to improve buildings.

He also proposed virtually no new initiatives in capital spending on the city side, essentially embracing plans the council and his predecessor advanced for spending $60 million in 2017-18 on projects regarded as more essential.

For city operations, Mayor Stoney put public safety first. He proposed providing $1.3 million to provide a step increase for current police officers, $1.7 million to fully fund 40 police recruits whose training is beginning before July 1 and to provide additional funds to pay for a sonar system that will help police more quickly detect the location of gunfire.

Another $1 million will go to the Department of Fire and Emergency Services to provide a one-step increase in pay for firefighters and additional funds to pay for new recruits already in training.

On the trash front, Mayor Stoney is proposing that the council increase the current $22.99 a month fee for trash and recycling collection to $25.50 a month to raise an additional $2 million for the Department of Public Works.

The money would allow the department to buy eight new trash trucks and hire 15 people to beef up collection of tree limbs, appliances and other bulk items. Instead of responding to

calls, the department would do pickups every two weeks across the city, if council approves, the mayor said.

Following the lead of other cities, he also is proposing to end the vacuum leaf collection that cost the city $1.7 million this year and allow the department to use that money to improve other elements of its services. Residents would have to bag their leaves to get them collected as bulk trash.

He also plans to shift $1.1 million from a potential surplus from the 2016 fiscal year to Public Works to enable the department to more quickly mow grass and launch a new alley blitz to address part of the backlog of 3,200 requests for repair.

In other proposals, the mayor wants to spend $200,000 to set up a fund he could use like the governor to attract and retain businesses.

He also proposed to spend $500,000 to hire six new people to beef up workforce training.

Still, this is all far less than he had hoped to undertake.

“I want us to get to the point where we are talking more about cutting ribbons on new developments than cutting services,” he said.

“There are no quick fixes,” he said, but he said his budget plan represents “the first stop on the road to ‘One Richmond.’ Many more will be necessary in the coming years.”

‘Trumpcare’ health plan would strip insurance from millions Continued from A1

James Haskins/Richmond Free Press

In this 2015 photo, Wanda D. Stallings, left, and her mother, Margaret T. Stallings stand outside the St. Luke Building, 900 St. James St., in Gilpin Court. The Stallings are coowners of the building that served as the headquarters of Maggie L. Walker’s business and fraternal order activities.

Maggie Walker papers return home Continued from A1

Wanda D. Stallings, sister of Mr. Stallings and a co-owner of the papers with her mother, said the plan is to donate the more than 30 boxes filled with documents to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.

For years, the papers were stored in the attic of the vacant St. Luke Building in Gilpin Court. Ms. Stallings and her mother also co-own the building, the former headquarters of the mutual aid society that the late Maggie L. Walker once led and through which she founded and operated a bank, insurance firm and a newspaper.

In 2009, students of William & Mary adjunct history professor Heather Huyck were exploring the St. Luke Building and found the stored papers. With Mr. Stallings’ permission, the papers were taken to the college, where Dr. Huyck launched a preservation effort. The documents offer fresh insight into the crusading Mrs. Walker and the work of the long-defunct Independent Order of St. Luke.

In the years since, a team of volunteers and students has spent untold hours cataloging, digitizing and placing each of the more than 15,000 documents in acid-free holders and then into acid-free boxes.

This week, Dr. Huyck will join the National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites to celebrate the completion of the preservation project and the people who participated in making it possible.

The invitation-only event is set for 10 a.m. Friday, March 10, at the Hippodrome Theater, which the Stallings family also owns.

“I’m very happy the papers were returned,” Ms. Stallings said.

insurance. She said she is grateful that, through the ACA, the government pays the remainder of the cost — about $720 a month — particularly because she recently was diagnosed with kidney disease.

Ms. Reivis was hoping that President Trump could come up with a way to reduce her personal cost.

However, under the House plan, she would receive $3,500 in tax credits, or $5,140 a year less than the $8,400 in annual subsidy the government now provides to assist in the purchase of her insurance.

“From what I’m hearing, I won’t be able to afford insurance.

And then my doctors won’t see me,” said Ms. Reivis, who is starting to feel betrayed by a president who campaigned on the promise that “we’re going to have insurance for everybody,” with coverage that would be “much less expensive and much better.”

Indeed, experts indicate the only winners from the Republican plan are likely to be businesses that do not offer health insurance and wealthy individuals and couples with incomes of $200,000 or more a year.

Both groups have been taxed to help pay for the ACA and now would have those taxes eliminated if the ACA is repealed.

That’s a collective estimated gain of $600 billion over 10 years in reduced taxes, according to analysts.

The only good news for Ms. Reivis and others who could be booted off insurance is the fact the “replacement” plan has been met with strong resistance, including from Republican members of Congress. Observers say the plan may not pass both houses of Congress, which would be a shocking rebuff to the president and his allies who hold majorities in Congress.

Among the early foes of the plan is GOP Rep. David A. “Dave” Brat of Henrico County, a Tea Party member who wants to rip out the ACA root and branch and leave health care to the states. He has said the ACA is too costly. However, he pronounced Trumpcare “dead on arrival” in the House a day after it was unveiled.

Rep. Brat said Tuesday he and fellow GOP members of the Freedom Caucus are not going to support a bill they view as “Obamacare Lite,” or a plan that keeps much of the ACA intact, including popular items like mandating coverage of people with pre-existing conditions and allowing children to stay on parents’ policies until age 26.

For Rep. Brat and other caucus members, the refundable tax credits appear to be government subsidies that would add to the nation’s $20 trillion deficit. He said the credits are just another entitlement program the country cannot afford.

Conservative donors like the Koch Brothers have announced plans to lead a media campaign to attack the plan and urge a simple outright appeal of the ACA, which is what they say Republicans promised to do.

Meanwhile, more moderate GOP representatives are skeptical about a plan that would eliminate health insurance for so many.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine is among those indicating they cannot support the bill because of the huge numbers of people who would lose insurance coverage and the likelihood that the premiums would skyrocket, particularly for older people.

The Republican plan would allow insurance companies to charge people age 50 and older five times as much for a policy as those who are younger.

Opposition also is coming from Republican governors, many of whom have supported the ACA and the expansion of Medicaid based on the government’s promise to cover 90 percent of the cost. Under the Republican plan, Medicaid reimbursement would be slashed by 2020 and fewer people covered with federal payments, leaving the states to pick up the difference.

Negative reviews also are flowing in from groups ranging from the AFL-CIO to the American Medical Association and

Warren Beatty to award Nutzys at The Diamond Continued from A1

ally made the award look like him,” joked Squirrels Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Todd “Parney” Parnell.

“Seriously, the Oscars are a big part of American entertainment and we have decided to celebrate it by putting our own Nutzy spin on it,” Mr. Parnell said.

“We are looking forward to celebrating in August.”

The celebration also marks the 50th

anniversary of Mr. Beatty’s iconic role in the film “Bonnie and Clyde” in 1967.

Mr. Beatty grew up in North Side with his sister, award-winning actress Shirley MacLaine. The family lived on Fauquier Avenue in the Bellevue neighborhood before moving to Arlington when Mr. Beatty was 8, in 1945.

Mr. Beatty has been nominated several times for the coveted Academy Award, including for Best Actor in a Leading Role for “Bonnie and Clyde.” He won

Best Director in 1982 for “Reds,” a film in which he also starred.

In 2000, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Board of Governors presented him with the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, a recognition given to “creative producers whose bodies of work reflect a consistently high quality of motion picture production.”

Information, including ticket prices: www.squirrelsbaseball.com or (804) 359FUNN.

American Academy of Pediatrics.

The Black AIDS Institute, in a statement, noted the Republican plan would “basically kick poor people, old people and sick people under the bus” and ensure that “we cannot end the HIV/AIDS epidemic” because it would “take away health care from those who need it most.”

Republican supporters have only a narrow margin to pass their plan over the virtually unanimous objections of Democrats, including Virginia Reps. Robert C. Scott of Newport News and A. Donald McEachin of Henrico County, as well Virginia’s two senators, Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine.

In the 435-member House, Republicans need 218 votes and can only lose 21 votes. And with 40 conservatives like Rep. Brat, that seems difficult.

In the 100-member Senate, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell could lose only two of the 52 members of the GOP Caucus. A 50-50 tie could be broken by the Republican Vice President Mike Pence. With at least six GOP senators expressing skepticism, Senate passage could be difficult.

The Republican plan is uniting congressional Democrats, who have been spending time in their districts collecting stories from people like Ms. Reivis.

“The Republican bill to repeal the ACA is fundamentally flawed,” Rep. Scott said in a statement Tuesday, “because it purports to cover pre-existing conditions without an individual requirement to purchase insurance,” which is now the case with ACA. “In states that have tried this,” he stated “the markets have gone into total chaos. Furthermore, the tax credits proposed are likely to be insufficient for low-income working families.”

Sen. Tim Kaine also has added his voice to the opposition: “Republicans had seven years to pull together a plan, and now they insist on rushing to pass a bill without taking the time to analyze the cost and impact on the American people. I will not support a plan that dismantles Medicaid, raises costs for Virginia’s middle class families and seniors and defunds Planned Parenthood services for women while massively cutting taxes for the wealthy.”

Sen. Warner also is dismissive of the Republican plan, noting that Trumpcare cuts and caps Medicaid, “which means that a state like Virginia, which did not expand Medicaid, will get the short end of the stick.”

In his view, the House is rushing this bill through without saying how much it adds to the budget deficit.

Rep. McEachin also is scathing. “Republicans promised to replace the Affordable Care Act with, in President Trump’s words, ‘something great,’ ” he stated. “This bill is proof that those were hollow, meaningless promises. Instead of fixing what is wrong with the Affordable Care Act, Republicans are pushing a bill that helps fewer and increases costs.”

Students hope to draw global links on Pocahontas history trip Continued from A1

administrators, personnel from James River Park System and members of the Eastern Chickahominy Tribe will visit England next week.

Plans for the seven-day journey that starts Thursday, March 16, include a stop in Richmond’s English namesake, Richmond upon Thames, a borough in southwest London.

“The goal is to get past the mythos and do what we can to look at Pocahontas as a real person,” Mr. Tatnall said. “We want to go beyond the myths portrayed in places like the Disney movie, ‘Pocahontas.’ ” Upon their return, the travelers will participate in additional projects to expand upon what they know and learn about Pocahontas, daughter of Native American Chief Powhatan.

Among the four additional projects is “Richmonds of the World,” designed for students to make cultural comparisons and contrasts with cities around the world called Richmond.

Another program involves a service-learning project focused on supporting and maintaining the James River Park System trails, with a possible twin landscaping project by students in Virginia and England along the James River and the River Thames.

The study abroad experience is being funded by private donations, Mr. Tatnall said. Replenish Richmond has teamed up with Friends of Richmond Trails and the Enrichmond Foundation to raise $44,000 for the trip and to fund the four projects.

Travelers are responsible for raising $500 toward the total cost of the trip, which is $1,750 per person.

Richmond Free Press

March 9-11, 2017

A5

Local News

Zeus plays to crowd at Mama J’s Zeus McClurkin, a member of the legendary Harlem Globetrotters basketball team, captivates the room of 37 George Wythe High School honor students during a special luncheon Wednesday honoring the young people at Mama J’s Kitchen in Jackson Ward. The Columbus, Ohio, native engaged the students with a pep talk before showing off his skills. The event was part of Richmond’s first Black Restaurant Week highlighting black-owned and operated restaurants in the city. The promotion, with fixed-price lunch and dinner specials at 20 restaurants, runs through Sunday, March 12. Mr. McClurkin and the Harlem Globetrotters have an exhibition game 7 p.m. Friday, March 10, at the Richmond Coliseum.

Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press

Former Old Dominion Bar Association president faces disciplinary hearing

By Jeremy M. Lazarus

By all accounts, Vinceretta Taylor Chiles has long been regarded as having a stellar legal career in and out of court.

The Richmond lawyer’s long résumé includes her past service as president of the Old Dominion Bar Association and recognition as an advocate for diversity in the legal profession.

Among other honors, Virginia Lawyer’s Weekly legal publication named her to its 2014 class of Leaders in the Law. But now, Ms. Chiles is facing serious accusations from the Virginia State Bar, which regulates attorneys.

The bar alleges she mishandled the cases of several clients and sought to block the bar’s investigation.

Ms. Chiles is scheduled for a public disciplinary hearing on Friday, March 24.

In one case, the bar alleges that Ms. Chiles filed lawsuits on behalf of a mother and daughter injured in a traffic accident, but did not contact the insurance company

as required. As a result, the lawsuits were purged for failure to timely serve notice of the suits, according to the bar.

Separately, the state bar has alleged that Ms. Chiles received a $15,000 fee in 2015 to represent Ms. Chiles a client in a criminal matter in Brunswick County, kept the money and did not follow through.

According to the bar, Ms. Chiles claimed to have received only $250 from the client.

However, the bar’s investigation turned up a receipt that Ms. Chiles provided to the client’s wife that stated that the full amount had been received and that the balance on the account was zero. The bar found no evidence the money was placed in Ms. Chiles’ trust account, and alleges that she improperly converted it

Sen. Kaine’s son arrested during protest at Trump rally

to her own use.

The bar also states that Ms. Chiles notified the court that she was representing the client in the case involving revocation of a suspended sentence, but then failed to submit a brief on the client’s behalf by the deadline, failed to appear at two scheduled hearings for the client and then did not respond to calls for an explanation from the prosecutor or the client and his family.

The client ultimately hired another attorney, who later tried the matter and secured a dismissal, according to court records.

However, when Ms. Chiles did not return the $15,000, the bar stated, the client’s family filed the bar complaint.

Ms. Chiles has since repaid the $15,000, according to her attorney, Paul D. Georgiadis of Richmond.

The bar also stated that Ms. Chiles told investigators she missed the hearings because her phone fell into water, wiping out her calendar.

Free Press staff, wire reports

ST. PAUL, Minn.

The youngest son of U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia was one of six people arrested while protesting at rally of President Trump’s supporters last weekend at the Minnesota Capitol.

Sen. Kaine ran for vice president in November with Hillary Clinton, President Trump’s Democratic Party opponent.

In a scene that played out at similar rallies, anti-Trump protesters in St. Paul clashed with hundreds of Trump supporters who had gathered at the Capitol rotunda Saturday to extol the president.

Linwood “Woody” Kaine of nearby Minneapolis was among protesters alleged to have set off a smoke bomb inside the Capitol to disrupt the Trump rally, St. Paul police spokesman Steve Linders said Wednesday.

Mr. Kaine, 24, ran from the scene Mr. Kaine and was arrested about a block away.

He was taken into custody after he was pepper-sprayed for resisting, according to Mr. Linders.

Mr. Kaine was booked into the Ramsey County Jail on a recommended second degree riot charge, but was released Tuesday after the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office declined to file criminal charges.

Prosecutors found insufficient evidence to substantiate the charge, according to office spokesman Dennis Gerhardstein.

The St. Paul City Attorney’s Office is reviewing the case, but has yet to say whether that office would bring charges.

Sen. Kaine, a St. Paul native, and his wife, Anne Holton, released a statement following their son’s arrest.

“We love that our three children have their own views and concerns about current political issues,” they stated.

“They fully understand the responsibility to express those concerns peacefully.”

VCU professor files suit alleging ‘pattern and practice’ of sexual harassment by colleague

By Jeremy M. Lazarus

Virginia Commonwealth University is being accused of turning a blind eye for decades to complaints of sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation involving a top clinical psychologist in its medical school, Dr. Jeffrey S. Kreutzer.

The highly embarrassing claim is contained in a lawsuit filed in Richmond Circuit Court by a disabled clinical psychologist who reported to Dr. Kreutzer.

According to the lawsuit that seeks $2.5 million in damages, at least nine female Ph.D.s quit because of the treatment Dr. Kreutzer meted out, including assistant and associate professors who reported to him.

The plaintiff in the lawsuit is Dr. Emilie Godwin, who once appeared to be a rising star as a clinical psychologist at VCU, according to the suit.

In just four years after she was first hired in 2009, she rose from a staff researcher to an instructor to an assistant professor while also building a counseling practice.

However, she alleges in the suit that after she rebuffed the sexual innuendo and what she believed were advances from Dr. Kreutzer, her star quickly faded.

By 2015, she claims she faced such a wave of hostility and discrimination from Dr. Kreutzer and a staff member who reported to him that she became physi-

cally ill and unable to continue working.

According to Dr. Godwin’s suit, VCU officials did nothing when she filed documented complaints about the hostile environment Dr. Kreutzer is alleged to have created.

Dr. Godwin Reached Tuesday, Dr. Kreutzer referred questions about the suit to VCU’s legal office, while a VCU spokesman declined to comment, citing the school’s policy of not commenting on pending litigation.

For more than 30 years, Dr. Kreutzer has been an influential figure in clinical psychology at VCU. Among other roles, he currently serves as director of neuropsychology and rehabilitation psychology in VCU’s medical school and hospitals.

In her suit, Dr. Godwin recounts her story and also names the nine female Ph.D.s whom she alleges left VCU after facing similar problems with Dr. Kreutzer. She also names two men who allegedly suffered similar problems under Dr. Kreutzer.

Despite this alleged “pattern and practice” and the complaints from those involved, she alleges in the suit that VCU officials took no action against Dr. Kreutzer,

nor sought to end his “unlawful hostility… discriminatory and harassing behavior based on sex and/or disability.”

In her suit, Dr. Godwin claims that VCU officials have been fully aware, citing a statement Dr. Kreutzer from Dr. Mary Wells, whom Dr. Godwin alleges left full-time employment as a clinical psychologist and as an assistant clinical professor at VCU as a “result of sex-based harassment, discrimination and retaliation” from Dr. Kreutzer.

According to the suit, Dr. Wells was told at her exit interview in 1993 “that Dr. Kreutzer’s misconduct towards women was well known and was not specific to her.”

The case has been brewing for some time.

Dr. Godwin, who is out on disability that she alleges is connected to the conditions she faced at VCU, filed the suit last October. However, Dr. Kreutzer and other parties only began being served this week, according to her attorneys, Colleen M. Quinn and Katie Kitts Dean of Locke & Quinn.

No trial date has been set.

Wilder School town hall March 22 A community conversation about the current political climate, leadership and how people can get involved will be the central topic of a town hall sponsored by Virginia Commonwealth University’s L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs.

The town hall, “Popular Politics, Populism and Donald Trump: Who Are ‘We the People?’ ” will be held 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 22, at the Grace Street Theater, 934 W. Grace St. The event is free and open to the public.

The discussion will be led by former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder; Robert Holsworth, managing principal at DecideSmart; John Accordino, dean of the Wilder School; Jack Trammell, author and associate professor of sociology at Randolph-Macon College; Meghan Gough, chair of the Wilder School’s Urban and Regional Studies and Planning Program; and Alexandra Reckendorf, assistant professor of political science at VCU. VCU President Michael Rao will make remarks.

For more information, please contact Angelica Bega at aebega@vcu.edu or (804) 828-8520.

Dueling rallies

Photos by Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

At left, a protester who identified herself as Gabriela Salong leads a chant during last Saturday’s rally at the Bell Tower in Capitol Square organized by ICE Out of RVA, a coalition of Latinos, African-Americans, Muslims, LGBTQ and other individuals, to show solidarity for refugees and immigrants. The coalition held the demonstration to counter a rally scheduled by Corey Stewart, a GOP candidate for governor, who calls for an end to “sanctuary cities” that he says blatantly violate federal laws by not turning over undocumented immigrants to authorities.

Last month, Richmond Mayor Levar M. Stoney stopped short of designating Richmond a “sanctuary city,” saying the state’s capital is welcoming, inclusive and diverse.

He also signed a policy directive that continues having the Richmond Police Department avoid agreements with federal Immigration Customs Enforcement that would turn city officers into immigration agents.

At right, Stewart supporters Justin Hall, left, and Brandon Howard, carry military-style weapons and sidearms as they participate in the “End Sanctuary Cities Rally.”

While Virginia law allows for the open carry of firearms, Capitol Police formed a human barricade between the two groups.

Reports indicated that the immigration rights coalition

did not have a permit for their rally, but were not ejected from Capitol Square.

Col. Anthony S. Pike, chief of the Capitol Police, had not responded to a Free Press request for information and comment by Wednesday’s press time.

Richmond Free Press

Blooming saucer magnolias

Editorial Page

A6

March 9-11, 2017

Dollars and sense Mayor Levar M. Stoney and the Richmond City Council may find themselves trying to make bricks without straw this year.

The $681 million budget plan the new mayor announced for 2017-18 tries to do the best it can to address an overwhelming score of needs with few new resources.

We are pleased that Mayor Stoney is putting his money where his mouth is. He campaigned on a platform to improve education in the city. His budget plan dedicates $6.1 million in increased funding for the city’s public schools. Although he and the Richmond School Board members understand that is not enough, it marks a start in boosting teacher salaries, one of the many issues the school system has been grappling with as it works to retain professionals in a system marred by aging and worn-out facilities.

The mayor’s capital budget proposal includes only $1.6 million for school maintenance, a paltry amount given that school building needs are more in the hundreds of millions of dollars for replacement of leaky roofs and old heating and air conditioning systems, among other necessities.

With public safety a critical need in the city, Mayor Stoney has proposed $1.3 million for salary increases for police and firefighters.

We cannot argue with any of these planned expenditures, and we hope that all parties will continue on a harmonious path to approving a spending plan for the city.

While transparency is paramount to ensuring that harmony, we remind Mayor Stoney, members of City Council and the School Board and schools Superintendent Dana T. Bedden that accountability is just as important. We want to make sure the dollars are going where they are supposed to be — even the small amounts.

We again call on City Council to strike the allowance for severance pay for nonclassified employees. The city paid more than $243,000 in severance to four people who served on the staff of former Mayor Dwight C. Jones and three others who were aides to former City Council members. The city should see some savings if that is eliminated.

And we urge the mayor to continue with his forensic analysis of city spending by department to eliminate what is unnecessary. Such an analysis is sorely needed for Richmond Public Schools, and we urge School Board members to incorporate that into their 2017-18 spending plan.

Already, Mayor Stoney has gotten rid of the executive protection team former Mayor Dwight C. Jones used that took Richmond police officers away from their regular duties in the city to accompany him.

Smart move, Mr. Mayor. You are leading by example. The people need to see that. Where the head goes, the body will follow.

Grave parity We were heartened by Free Press staff writer Jeremy M. Lazarus’ front page report published in the Feb. 23-25 edition on the Virginia General Assembly approving funds to maintain gravesites in East End and Evergreen cemeteries.

The historic African-American cemeteries in Richmond are the final resting place of people who were instrumental in the causes of racial equality, education, economic progress, civil rights, voting rights and overall advancement of not just people of color, but all citizens of Richmond and across the nation.

Many of them were pioneers in their fields and role models we can turn to today for blueprints for success. Others, whose names are not known, have their own history as leaders in their families and neighborhoods who helped bolster the forward movement of our race.

We highly commend Delegate Delores McQuinn for spearheading the successful legislative effort to secure state funds to help preserve our history for generations to come.

We also are shocked to learn that, for 100 years, our tax dollars have been going toward the upkeep of the graves of Confederates. AfricanAmericans have been helping to pay to spruce up the cemetery plots of people who fought to keep us in chains. There is something very macabre and twisted about that. And it speaks volumes about what has remained important to those in positions of power in this commonwealth.

If we believe in the humanity of all, then we must show that through how and where we place our funds.

The state budget is a window into the hearts of our legislators that allows us to see what they hold dear and important. For generations, we have paid to maintain monuments to traitors, to those who would want us enslaved, perhaps even to this day.

It is hard to reconcile such cruel and grim notions.

But if we believe in the full humanity of all, we should open the door further so that the full scope of history is preserved. This includes the graves of our ancestors as well.

Dr. Michael Blakey, director of the Institute for Historical Biology at the College of William & Mary, is an anthropologist perhaps best known for his work with the African Burial Ground in New York City, now a national historic site run by the National Park Service.

Here in Virginia, he co-directed the “Remembering: Slavery, Resistance and Freedom Project” leading up to the sesquicentennial of the Emancipation Proclamation. As part of the project, community conversations were held across the state to identify sites that are important to the history of slavery, resistance efforts and freedom.

More than 300 African-American cemeteries, including family plots, church graveyards and other places, were identified and are in a database at William & Mary.

According to Dr. Blakey, the payment of state dollars for the upkeep of Confederate cemeteries shows a “disregard for the full humanity of African-Americans that goes back into slavery.”

He noted that a law in the late 17th century in Virginia denied AfricanAmericans the right to burial, in part because of fears that rebellion could be hatched or plotted during funeral gatherings.

“It was the same concern the Union had” following the Civil War, when efforts were taken to clamp down on Southerners for fear of uprisings after the South lost.

What is important now, Dr. Blakey says, is to think about what has changed and to use the law as a good, fair and accessible means to petition for funding for maintenance of other African-American graveyards across the state.

Dr. Blakey’s work has given us a starting point for identifying some of the hundreds of cemeteries around the commonwealth that hold our ancestors and our history. What is important now, as he notes, is to “involve people who care and who can carry things into the future.”

He says the forces that caused our graveyards to be neglected — bureaucracy, the notion of white superiority, the loss of our own institutions, such as the fraternal burial orders and beneficial societies, are still out there ready to drag down our efforts.

If we want to ensure that our history and our markers to those who carried African-American progress forward are there for the future, then it is up to us to work to do it.

Delegate McQuinn and the volunteers doing the back-breaking work of clearing the undergrowth from East End and Evergreen cemeteries have started. Let’s roll up our sleeves and help.

‘Kremlingate’ President Trump proved once again that he suffers from delusions.

This time, he believes that former President Obama wiretapped Trump Tower during the presidential campaign.

President Trump issued that allegation last Saturday in an outpouring of mentally jumbled tweets, although he offered no evidence to back up his claim.

Even Jim Comey, the wishy-washy FBI director, asked the Justice Department to publicly shut him down.

Alas, we are stuck now with congressional committees tacking this look-see onto the real investigation — President Trump’s dealings with the Russians, along with those of his campaign staff, prior to the November election.

Did the Russians hack the election? Did Mr. Trump promise the Russians anything if he won the election? Is President Trump financially in the pocket of the Russians? Is he politically in the pocket of Russian President Vladimir Putin? Who’s really running the United States of America?

Enough of President Trump’s delusions. We need to get to the bottom of “Kremlingate.”

Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

For-profit prisons trample basic human rights Tuesday, March 7, marked the 52nd anniversary of Bloody Sunday, the historic march and shocking police riot in Selma, Ala., that helped build public support for passage of the federal Voting Rights Act. Now, a halfcentury later, an avowed critic of that law — former Alabama Sen. Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, who was born in Selma — has been confirmed as attorney general of the United States. In one of his first acts in office — reversing former President Obama’s order to phase out the federal government’s use of private prisons — he has begun to weaken civil rights protections.

The decision on private prisons reflects President Trump’s desire to repeal all things Obama. It expresses the ideological bias of reactionaries like Mr. Sessions toward privatizing public functions. It also reveals the pervasive corruption already apparent in the Trump administration. According to Reason magazine, the two largest for-profit prison companies in the United States — GEO Group and CoreCivic, formerly Corrections Corporation of America — and their

associates have contributed “more than $10 million to candidates since 1989 and have spent nearly $25 million on lobbying efforts.”

When President Trump stoked public fears of violent crime in our cities, called our prison system a “disaster” and endorsed “privatizations and private prisons,” the industry ponied up hundreds of

Jesse L. Jackson Sr. thousands of dollars to support his candidacy. Since November when President Trump won the election, share prices of GEO Group and CoreCivic have soared more than 100 percent. In our corrupted politics, Mr. Sessions’ act helps consolidate their return on investment.

Reviving private prisons, however, represents far more than mere anti-Obama venom, ideological preference or even political corruption. It tramples basic civil and human rights. And AfricanAmericans and Latinos who disproportionately populate our prisons will suffer the most.

Incarcerating people in forprofit prisons is morally indefensible. Locking people up and turning them over to companies whose primary concerns are profits and return to investors is a recipe for abuse.

The record of private prisons demonstrates repeatedly that abuse

is pervasive. In Mr. Sessions’ home state of Alabama, for example, white people constitute two-thirds of the total population but only 42 percent of the prison population.

African-Americans represent only one-fourth of the total population, but more than half — 54 percent — of the incarcerated.

This is the cause of repeated upheaval and scandal. Private prisons suffer more violence.

Underpaid guards too often punish prisoners without accountability.

Private prisons, President Obama’s Justice Department found, aren’t as safe for prisoners or for guards as public prisons. They lack the services that might revive hope rather than crush it, such as educational programs and job training. Despite their companies’ claims, private prisons don’t save government much money either.

Worse, the thirst for profit overrides the needs of the incarcerated.

Private prisons are notorious for skimping on food, facilities and health care. They gouge prisoners even for using the telephone to stay in contact with loved ones.

Nearly two-thirds of private prison contracts mandate that state and local governments sustain an occupancy rate — usually 90 percent — or taxpayers pay for the empty beds. At the federal level, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, budget is mandated by the Congress to

Charter schools: Don’t believe hype Last week, Antione Green, former president of the Richmond Crusade for Voters, shared his support of and endorsement for more charter schools in Virginia. I wish to share that any support for charter schools should be tempered and all endorsements should be accompanied with longterm specifics regarding accountability and oversight.

I’m relatively new to the Richmond area, but I am an experienced charter school administrator from Detroit. With experiences within charter schools and my extensive research comparing Detroit charter schools with Detroit Public Schools, one thing comes to mind regarding the enthusiasm for more charter schools.

It is most eloquently stated by the iconic rap group, Public Enemy: “Don’t Believe the Hype.”

Last June, The New York Times ran a story, “A Sea of Charter Schools in Detroit Leaves Students Adrift,” which details the state of public education in Detroit after 20 years of charter schools.

To be succinct, Virginians should be leery of charter schools.

Charter schools are public schools because they are funded by public dollars. The most remarkable difference is oversight — oversight being an elected school board for traditional public schools compared to appointed charter school boards by the charter schools’ authorizers and management companies.

When comparing actual dollars that go toward instruction — teacher salaries and classroom supplies and materials — charter schools in Michigan lag behind public schools there. Most public schoolteachers are more experienced and are more

likely to hold advanced degrees, which means their salaries and benefit packages are higher, compared to charter schoolteachers who tend to have less experience and may only hold a bachelor’s degree.

In no way does that diminish the effort and skill of charter

Dr. Sabin P. Duncan schoolteachers. But it distinguishes that despite their lower budgetary costs, with lower salaries and benefits, charter schools in Michigan continue to invest less money on instruction than traditional public schools.

To be fair, not all charter schools are the same. In fact, my doctoral research showed that the closer the decision makers are to instruction, the more likely the quality of instruction will be higher.

By that, I mean the worse performing charter schools in Michigan are led by national conglomerates — National Heritage Academies, The Leona Group, etc. By comparison, the higher performing charters are independently run and their decision makers have a vested stake in the outcomes of the school.

In a data sample from my research on charters and public schools, I ranked each elementary school — charter and public — based on its proficiency on the statewide standardized assessment.

The top 19 schools were Detroit Public Schools. The 20th school was a charter school authorized

by Detroit Public Schools.

Below 20, charter schools were interspersed in the rankings between 21 and 70.

The data also showed the 30 poor performing schools were public schools.

When averaging the proficiency of the 70-plus public schools and comparing it to the average of the fewer than 30 charter schools, the

charter school proficiency average was higher, less schools along with a less pronounced distribution of scores.

Closer investigation revealed that the top performing charters were independent and locally run and the lesser performing charters belonged to national conglomerates, with people far removed from Detroit making decisions about the education for Detroit children.

But back to Virginia. Are charters the panacea for public education? Empathically, no.

Can some charters — particularly those with dedicated local leadership that spends more money on instruction and less money on administrative oversight — benefit children, particularly those who have limited educational options?

Occasionally, yes.

In Michigan, although the legal language expressed the option of closing the charter school if the school underperforms academically, that never happens. The charter schools that did close in Michigan closed for financial reasons.

Which brings us back to the long-term specifics about accountability and oversight.

What I would hate to see for Virginia is private corporations swoop in with upfront cash to start charter schools, recoup their investment and additional profits by shortchanging spending on instruction and leaving families who bought into the hope and hype for something better with more pronounced disappointment because of the lack of foresight of their community leaders.

I may be new to Virginia, but the pot-of-gold-at-the-end-ofrainbow myth of charter schools being the remedy for public education is old news.

The writer is director of the Freddye T. Davy Honors College at Hampton University.

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.

maintain detention beds for at least 34,000 immigrants daily.

Mr. Sessions’ order impacts some 14,000 federal prisoners, a number that has been trending down in recent years. Most of the 2 million prisoners in America are sentenced and held at the state and local level. To them, Mr. Sessions is sending a strong signal — the federal government will be ramping up detentions, particularly of immigrants. It signals to states and localities, many of which have been souring on private prisons, that the federal government is all in for privatization.

President Trump has promised a new day for what he calls America’s “inner cities.” But what we’ve seen so far is a return to the failed policies of the past — law and order rhetoric combined with calls for tougher police tactics, harsher sentences and now a corrupt and indefensible embrace of privatized prisons. With Mr. Sessions heading the Department of Justice, President Trump’s divisive racial rhetoric is about to turn into policy.

The writer is founder and president of the national Rainbow/ PUSH Coalition.

Richmond Free Press 422 East Franklin Street Richmond, VA 23219 Telephone (804) 644-0496 FAX (804) 643-7519 Mailing Address: P.O. Box 27709 Richmond, VA 23261 ______________

Founder Raymond H. Boone President – Publisher Jean P. Boone Managing Editor Bonnie V. Winston bonniewinston@richmondfreepress.com

Vice President – New Business Development Raymond H. Boone Jr.

jrboone@richmondfreepress.com

Vice President – News Enhancement Jeremy M. Lazarus Vice President – Production April A. Coleman Staff Writers Fred Jeter, Frances Crutchfield Hazel Trice Edney Photographers Sandra Sellars, Regina H. Boone, James Haskins, Rudolph Powell and Clinton A. Strane ______________

Vice President – Administration Tracey L. Oliver Advertising Traffic Coordinator Cynthia Downing Advertising Fax: (804) 643-5436 e-mail: advertising@richmondfreepress.com classifieds@richmondfreepress.com

National Advertising Representative EPMG ______________

Distribution Reed Marshall LLC ______________

Richmond Free Press is published weekly by Paradigm Communications, Inc. Copies of the Richmond Free Press (one copy per person) are free of charge at outlets in the Richmond area. Back copies are available at the Free Press office at $3 per copy. Bulk orders can be made prior to any upcoming edition at special rates.

A Publication of PARADIGM COMMUNICATIONS, INC.

422 East Franklin Street Richmond, VA 23219 Telephone (804) 644-0496

Richmond Free Press

March 9-11, 2017

A7

Letters to the Editor

Public should defend progress on climate change

‘I’m confused!’

I love zodiac and horoscope information because it tells you a lot about a person.

President Donald Trump is a Gemini, the sign of the twins.

On Feb. 25 at 2:02 p.m., the “good” Gemini twin of Donald Trump tweeted something good about Tom Perez, the newly elected chair of the Democratic National Committee.

Then at 6:33 a.m. Feb. 26, the “bad” Gemini twin of Donald Trump tweeted that the DNC race for chairman was rigged.

I’m confused!

It’s not the media giving out “fake news.” It’s those Gemini twins within President Trump that are confusing everyone.

The current state of the environment is a pressing concern for Richmond. In 2015, we were No. 1 in ragweed, pollen and ozone pollution, and currently are No. 2 in the country for asthma count.

With the current administration’s stance on climate change and environmental policy, there is little hope for any of these situations to get better. As asthma affects our community at a more frequent rate than most of the U.S population, this should be an area of concern.

With our nation more divided than ever, we will have to

SHARON M. DEASE Richmond

Crusade for the truth

Free Press ‘jumped to conclusion’ Re Editorial, “Mis-education,” March 2-4 edition: I was very surprised that you jumped to the conclusion that Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Trump, “kicked off her shoes and tucked her feet up under her on the sofa in the Oval Office to check her cellphone like she was at home.”

She had just knelt on the sofa to take a group photo and was checking it.

Perhaps you’ll be big enough to acknowledge your mistake, and while you’re doing that, perhaps criticize Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-La., for his, according to the Huffington Post, vile comment about Ms. Conway.

Re Editorial page column, “Black newspapers needed more than ever,” Feb. 23-25 edition: Your recently published piece in the Free Press by Oscar H. Blayton was timely and spot on. What’s often missing today is a mechanism to put pieces together in a way for people to see and understand the situation without obfuscation by others.

Uncertainty can paralyze those who are not grounded in a foundation of strength, intelligence and competence. Education is key.

I used to wonder why my parents, especially my mother, were so adamant that I participate in the Crusade for Voters. It was years later that I understood why it was called a “crusade.”

Imagine to return to Richmond 40 years later to learn that the organization still exists.

We need reminders that carry forward messages from those before us whose voices have been silenced through the passage of time. Thank you for your reminder.

NOREEN BROWN Richmond

YOLANDA BRUCE BROOKS Dallas

fight for our beliefs at every turn. We cannot do this if we are not informed.

With the administration’s attacks on the press, it is more important than ever that the media covers the ongoing attacks on our environment and that our elected officials fight tooth and nail to defend the progress we have made in reducing pollution, protecting our open spaces and combating climate change.

MALIK HALL Richmond

Public Meeting

City of Richmond Bike Infrastructure Plans When: Tuesday, March 21 Where: Main Library, 101 E Franklin Street Time: 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

The Department of Public Works is seeking your feedback on the design of bicycle infrastructure along 9 corridors across the City, totaling 25 miles, to implement the vision and goals of the City’s Bicycle Master Plan.

Join us to ask questions and get up-to-date information on the proposed recommendations and 90 percent detailed design plans for the following important corridors. Your feedback is encouraged!

• South 17th Street (from the Capital Trail to the Farmer’s Market) • Brook Road (from Charity to Azalea) • Government Road (from 36th to Williamsburg) • Grayland Avenue (from Robinson to Harrison) • Malvern Avenue (from Cary to Cutshaw) • Patterson Avenue (from Commonwealth to Thompson) • Semmes Avenue (from Forest Hill to Cowardin) • Westover Hills Boulevard (from Forest Hill to Nickel Bridge) • Williamsburg Avenue/Road (from Main Street to Government Road) We also want to hear from you about potential future corridors for bike infrastructure including the proposed bike-walk street on 29th Street in Church Hill and buffered bike lanes on 1st Street and 2nd Street in downtown and Jackson Ward.

Learn to Be Prepared for Disasters Saturday March 11, 2017 Locations throughout Central VA Sign Up at www.SurvivorDay.com or dial 2-1-1

FREE

Check in starts at 8 am Class runs from 9 to noon

Learn about:

Survivor Kit One per household (Must complete training)

Weather Awareness Household Safety First Aid & Hygiene Planning & Documents Basic Active Shooter Awareness

• • • • •

Don't Miss Don't Miss One Word Don’t Miss ■

■

■

■

Charles City

Hanover

Powhatan

Government Center Building 10900 Courthouse Rd Charles City VA 23030

County Board Room 7516 County Complex Rd Hanover VA 23069

Powhatan Village Building 3910 Old Buckingham Rd Powhatan VA 23139

Chesterfield

Henrico

Prince George

Eanes-Pittman Public Safety Training Ctr 6610 Public Safety Way Chesterfield VA 23832

Henrico County Training Center 7701 E. Parham Rd Henrico VA 23294

J.E.J. Moore Middle School 11455 Prince George Drive Disputanta VA 23842

Essex

Hopewell

City of Richmond

County Administration Building 202 South Church Lane Tappahannock VA 22560

City Hall - Council Chambers 300 North Main St Hopewell VA 23860

Main Library 101 E Franklin Street Richmond VA 23219

Goochland

Petersburg

Individuals with disabilities who require reasonable accommodations should contact Kathy Robins, Senior Planner, at the Richmond Regional Planning District Commission at 804-323-2033 or by email at krobins@richmondregional.org at least 10 business days prior to the event. Every effort will be made to provide reasonable accommodations.

One Word one Word

End the inconvenience of emptyPetersburg newspaper boxes, fighting Fire-Rescue Station #1 Fire Training Division 180 River Road West 1151 Fort Bross Road the weather and hunting down back copies.

Petersburg VA 23805 Manakin-Sabot VA 23103 Also,the support the Free Press.

We’renewspaper always working forfighting you.

End inconvenience of empty boxes,

the weather and hunting down back copies.

Presented by the Central VA Emergency Management Alliance with funding from the US Department of Homeland Security. Points of view or opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of FEMA's Grants Programs Directorate.

Also, support the Free Press. We’re always working for you.

volunteer subscription

subscribe volunteer subscription

YOU CAN STILL FILE

For your convenience, the Richmond Free Press

For your convenience, the Richmond Free Press offers you the offers you the opportunity to receive the Richmond Press the mail. opportunity to receive the Richmond Free Free Press inin the mail.

Don't Miss Don't Miss One Word Don’t Miss

ary offers you the iversPress For your convenience, the and Richmond Free n a Just take a minute fill out thencoupon below: h FR t 5 2Richmond ee in the mail. g opportunity to receive the Free Press n i t a r b s e l s $99.00 for a 12-month subscription (First class mail) e c e s r s e forra 12-month subscriptione e Pclass mail) r (Third ree P F Check or money F$50.00 Justorder take aenclosed. minute and fill out the coupon below: d n Bill my: chmo $99.00R foria 12-month subscription (First class mail) ell, A6

Get rid of debts that you can’t pay.

“Get A Fresh Start” Keep paying on your house and car as long as you owe what they are worth.

One Word ew nt r a F one Word e ARY

JANU

, Inc.

tions

igm

rad 17 Pa

unica Comm

© 20

FR ee

Chapter 7 Bankruptcy

. erved

hts res

All rig

12-14,

2017

Also Chapter 13 “Debt Adjustment” STOPS FORECLOSURES, GARNISHMENTS AND HARASSING PHONE CALLS

.com

ress

eep ondfr

m

.rich www

INIA

G D, VIR

MON

Card number (please record all digits)

$50.00 for a 12-month subscription (Third class mail) Expiration date ■ NO. 2 . 26 End the inconvenience of empty newspaper boxes, fighting VOL Check or moneyCardholder's order enclosed. name (please print) the weather and hunting down back copies.

Bill my: RICH

OTHER LEGAL SERVICES PROVIDED: Divorce, Separation, Custody, Support, Home Buy or Sell

id s e r P ama Ob volunteer subscription Cardholder's signature (required for credit card purchase)

Also,the support the Free Press.

We’renewspaper always working forfighting you.

End inconvenience of empty boxes, Card number (please record all digits) Expiration date g the weather and hunting down back copies.

Name ______________________________________________________ ica o to Ch gan s n r ■ Cardholder's (please print) Address _____________________________________________________ retuworking Also, support the Freename Press.

We’re always all be for you. chief ere it ■

■

Start with as little as $100

Don't Miss Don't Miss One Word Don’t Miss ain t rem s, mus we must n, citizen at we, as al aggressioe values th 00 st as rn th “So ju ainst exte kening of owd of 18,0 his ag cr ea a ed nt w at la ld br gi ta to O vi ard agains we are,” he re he cele American rts G po A re ire CHIC the gu e us who cago, whe Africaness w st to ak Pr hi fir m l C e Free rewel ch that people in 2008 as th bid fa 7 in spee on A bama emotional edge overy election eech ent O on rit an Presid esday in a country istent secu ald he His sp es.

Tu rs rt on even,” s d Stat nation to comfo anges, pe ublican D Unite has been un s alway e ch th ep ht ha R ic dy. ss of t of soug econom antra, presiden our progre democracy imes bloo els ection et ign m rapid s and the el “Yes, he work of us and som it often fe campared a speech s hi threat d, ul tio “T en ll of rcef p. id. rwar t offe in Trum a final cae presiden that — fo blic sa hard, conto steps fo ith fa a pu his t tw been With can,” th Chicago ck.”

— was untry For every e step ba ma arguedened by wha of we he “Yes hometown l at others als the co it. take on ent Oba rength s, and fu in his es and tear e many tritakes his exr U.S. we Yet Presid ly been st eight year rs.” ou d on e past ha be a at tim tion on th t Obama and up fo ntly eric ould d th ge st meditaas Presiden icans to ation. He vision Am witnesse future sh to A4 ’s er he faces urged Am discrimin brace his of the he ared: “T Please turn ject em He me oted decl and re blic to ing so values d the pu le repudiat Trump promouse. prodde ress whi ident-elect e White H og of pr s that Pres ign for th s. dres policie his campa ll ad rewe g his fa durin liver

er in e_________ h wh City ____________________________ State Zip _________ mand pe c s Cardholder's signature for credit card purchase) Com is(required final

subscribe volunteer subscription

For your convenience, the Richmond Free Press for hBox Send to: Free Press, 27709, ForRichmond your convenience, theP.O. Richmond Free Richmond, Press offersVA you23261 the offers you the opportunity to receive

Name ______________________________________________________ the Richmond Press the mail. opportunity to receive the Richmond Free Free Press inin the mail.

Address _____________________________________________________ City ____________________________ State _________ Zip _________ For your convenience, the and Richmond Free Press Just take a minute fill out the coupon below: offers you the

receive Richmond FreeRichmond, Press in theVA mail.

Send to:opportunity Richmond to Free Press,the P.O. Box 27709, 23261

euters

$99.00 for a 12-month subscription (First class mail) $50.00 for a 12-month subscription (Third class mail) unity omm Check or money Justorder take aenclosed. minute and fill out the coupon below: hmond C s told Ric U nurse er jobs Bill my: s to

ve a wa

am t Ob

iden

Pres

the cr

takes as he owd

Chica e in

ag the st

to de

IC for oth apply

rus

za M. La

remy

Cardholder's signature (required for credit card purchase)

■

Free

pu urs mel group’s re unit at Ri n Seco ca A Bo lic hospita intensive tho ed the Ca its five-b ain maint

Name ______________________________________________________ Cardholder's name (please print) Address _____________________________________________________ City ____________________________ State _________ Zip _________

■

Press

ts undercu to intends

By Je unity to that it d to the Expiration date ovide blic claim mond Comm mo pr ch

o Cardholder's icted signature (required for credit card purchase) convCard number (please record all digits) Expiration date

■

Gress/R

Call Rudy McCollum at (804)218-3614

One Word one Word day

Tues go on

$99.00 for a 12-month subscription (First class mail) Card number (please recordeall digits) $50.00 for a 12-month subscription (Third class mail) aid ilder lem ent Check or moneyCardholder's order enclosed.

W name (please print) e z z im t e g b n Bill my: m o L fe

■

John

24-7. Talk to an attorney for free

and get legal restrictions, fees, costs and payment terms.

Rudolph C. McCollum, Jr., Esq. McCollum At Law, P.C.

Mail to: P.O. Box 4595, Richmond, VA 23220 422 E. Franklin St., Suite 301, Richmond, VA 23219 (Franklin & 5th Sts.)

We are a federally designated Debt Relief Agency under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code and we help people file for bankruptcy.

Send to: Richmond Free Press, P.O. Box 27709, Richmond, VA 23261 End the Name inconvenience of empty newspaper boxes, fighting ______________________________________________________ Web Address: McCollumatLaw.com Address _____________________________________________________ E-mail: rudy@mccollumatlaw.com the weather and hunting down copies.

City ____________________________ Stateback _________ Zip _________ Send to: Richmond Free Press, P.O. Box 27709, Richmond, VA 23261 Also,the support the Free Press.

We’renewspaper always working forfighting you.

End inconvenience of empty boxes,

the weather and hunting down back copies.

Also, support the Free Press. We’re always working for you.

For more information, contact Jakob Helmboldt at (804) 646-7141 or jakob.helmboldt@richmondgov.com

A8

March 9-11, 2017

Richmond Free Press

Sports Stories by Fred Jeter

VCU ready to take it to the final at A-10 Virginia Commonwealth University’s legion of basketball fans have learned to pack an extra change of clothes when traveling to conference tournaments.

The Rams excel at extending such events to the max.

VCU has advanced to six straight Atlantic 10 conference tournament championship games dating to 2011. During that run, the Rams have posted a 15-4 tournament record, winning the A-10 title in 2012 and 2015.

Coach Will Wade’s squad aims to extend that string this weekend at the Atlantic 10 Tournament at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh.

As the No. 2 seed, the Rams play 6 p.m. Friday, March 10, against the survivor of a matchup Thursday, March 9, between No. 7 George Mason University and No. 10 Fordham University.

The Rams finished the regular season 24-7 after trouncing George Mason 72-60 last Saturday on Senior Day at the Siegel Center in Richmond.

Seniors JeQuan Lewis, Mo Alie-Cox, Doug Brooks, Jordan Burgess and Torey Burston were honored during the 99th consecutive sellout at the Siegel Center that drew 7,637 fans.

Dominating inside, junior Justin Tillman hit 12 of 14 shots, scored 24 points and snagged 11 rebounds.

A VCU victory on March 10 would set up a possible third match of the season with the University of Richmond in Saturday’s semifinal games at 3:30 p.m. VCU has beaten the UR Spiders twice so far.

The No. 3-seeded Spiders open at 8:30 p.m. Friday against the winner of the George Washington University-Duquesne

VUU teams head to NCAA regional tourney The Virginia Union University men’s and women’s basketball teams are heading to the NCAA, but both may be a bit rusty for the occasion.

VUU’s men’s team is the No. 7 seed and will face No. 2 Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania on Saturday, March 11, in the NCAA Division II Atlantic Region at Fairmont State University in West Virginia.

The Lady Panthers have drawn the third seed for the Atlantic Region at California University in Pennsylvania. The Lady Panthers will play No. 6 Wheeling Jesuit University of West Virginia on Friday, March 10.

The women’s regional games run through Monday, March 13, with the regional champs advancing to the Elite Eight March 21 through 25 in Columbus, Ohio.

The men’s team is 22-7, but haven’t played since losing to Bowie State University on Feb. 23 in the CIAA Tournament quarterfinals in Charlotte, N.C. The Lady Panthers are 23-4, but have been idle since a Feb. 24 loss to Johnson C. Smith University in the CIAA semifinals.

The CIAA holds its tournament a week earlier than most conferences.

Shippensburg University is 26-3 and the champion of last weekend’s Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference.

Other men’s first round matchups at Fairmont State University will be No. 1 Fairmont State against No. 8 Bowie State University, the CIAA champions; No. 4 Indiana University of Pennsylvania against No. 5 Kutztown University of Pennsylvania; and No. 3 West Liberty University of West Virginia against No. 5 Wheeling Jesuit University.

The semifinals are Sunday, March 12, with the regional championship on Tuesday, March 14. Regional champs advance to the Elite Eight March 22 through 25 in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Atlantic 10 Tournament March 8-12, PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh Friday March 10: 6 p.m. Virginia Commonwealth University plays the winner of George Mason University-Fordham University game University of Richmond plays the winner of the Duquesne University-George Washington University game.

Saturday, March 11: Semifinals at 1 and 3:30 p.m.; games to be broadcast on the CBS Sports Network. The VCU Rams and UR Spiders are in the 3:30 p.m. game bracket.

Sunday, March 12: Championship game at 12:30 p.m.; game to be broadcast on CBS.

University game.

VCU’s past four Atlantic 10 tournaments have been at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. The Rams lost the 2013 final to St. Louis University and the 2014 title game to St. Joseph’s University. VCU won the 2015

championship, defeating Davidson College in the final. The trips to the finals all were under former Coach Shaka Smart.

Last year in the first season under Coach Wade, the Rams lost in the championship game to St. Joseph’s University.

Before joining the A-10, the Rams won the Colonial Athletic Association title in 2012, defeating George Mason University in the finals at the Richmond Coliseum.

The last time VCU failed to go the distance was in 2010, Coach Smart’s first season, when the Rams were semifinal losers to Old Dominion University in overtime.

The A-10 champion advances automatically to the NCAA Basketball Tournament.

Regardless of Pittsburgh results, the Rams are looking good for a seventh straight NCAA invitation.

VCU likely would be an at-large selection, with a RPI power rating of 23 out of some 347 NCAA Division I programs.

The A-10’s No. 1 seed is the University of Dayton, which has a 21 RPI. The University of Richmond is at 85 and likely needs to win it all in Pittsburgh to ensure a trip to the NCAAs. The Rams’ first conference tournament was 1978, when Coach Dana Kirk’s squad lost to St. Bonaventure in the finals of the Eastern College Athletic Conference-South.

Since then, VCU has played in Sun Belt Conference (1980-1991), the Metropolitan Collegiate Athletic Conference (1992-1995) and the Colonial Athletic Association (1996-2012) before joining the Atlantic 10 Conference.

MEAC Tournament this weekend in Norfolk

Men’s games at the Norfolk Scope Thursday, March 9 6 p.m.—Morgan State University plays winner of Coppin State University-Howard University game.

8 p.m.—Hampton University plays winner of University of MarylandEastern Shore-North Carolina A&T State University game.

Friday, March 10 Semifinal games at 6 and 8 p.m.

Saturday, March 11 Championship game at 1 p.m.; game to be televised on ESPN2.

If Hampton University in both 2015 and 2016 and is to “three-peat” as MEAC gained the conference’s autobasketball champion this matic NCAA bid. The Pirates, weekend, much will depend however, were eliminated in on Jermaine Marrow. the NCAAs by the University The 6-foot freshman from of Virginia last year and by Heritage High School in Newthe University of Kentucky port News has been a catalyst in 2015. this season for veteran Pirates North Carolina Central Coach Ed “Buck” Joyner.

University won the recent HU, seeded fourth in the regular season title and is tournament, will open play Jermaine Marrow the No. 1 seed in the MEAC at the Norfolk Scope on Thursday, Tournament. The Eagles’ Patrick Cole March 9, with an 8 p.m. quarterfinal was named MEAC Player of the Year game against the survivor of the No. 5 and LeVelle Moton was selected as University of Maryland-Eastern Shore MEAC Coach of the Year. game against North Carolina A&T State Norfolk State University, led by AllUniversity.

MEAC player Jonathan Wade, is the No. Marrow, dubbed “Mayno,” figures 2 seed and began play on Wednesday. to be in the middle of the action for an The Free Press did not have results by HU squad that enters the tournament press time. If the Spartans won their with a 14-15 overall record and an 11-5 opener, they would be pared at 8 p.m.

MEAC mark.

Friday, March 10, with the survivor of In earning All-Rookie team honors, the Morgan State University-Coppin Marrow averaged 15.4 points, 3.2 State University-Howard University rebounds and 3.2 assists. He posted matches.

10 games with 20-plus points, with a If Hampton University wins Thurshigh of 31 points against Florida A&M day, the Pirates will play at 6 p.m.

University.

Friday, March 10, against the survivor Marrow was named MEAC Rookie of the North Carolina Central-Delaware of the Week five times and also MEAC State University-Bethune Cookman Player of the Week on five occasions. University matchups.

Last winter, Marrow was named State The MEAC Rookie of the Year is 4A Player of the Year after averaging Howard University’s Charles Williams 31 points and leading Heritage High to from Milwood School in Chesterfield the state quarterfinals.

County. Williams averaged 16 points and HU won the MEAC Tournament led the Bison with 60 3-pointers.

Wythe, Marshall remain positive despite losses at state tourney Both George Wythe and High School of Lynchburg.

John Marshall High schools A year ago, Chantilou averare looking forward to conaged 28 points for the Bulldogs tinued basketball excellence JV team. next season — and the next, Coach Coker goes so far as and the next. to compare Chantilou to former Two freshmen who made George Wythe All-State guard their mark this winter figure to Maliek White, now a freshman provide the Bulldogs and Jusplayer at Providence College. tices with long-term success.

White was State 3A Player of George Wythe’s Ikechi Chanthe Year in 2015 for the state tilou and John Marshall’s towerchampion Bulldogs. ing Isaiah Todd are rare talents “My first year here, I was around which coaches can build fortunate to have Maliek as championship foundations. a freshman,” recalled Coach George Wythe’s season Coker. “Ikechi is as advanced ended Friday, March 3, with as Maliek was then, perhaps a 42-32 loss to I.C. Norcom even more so.”

High School of Portsmouth in Also expected to return to the State 3A semifinals at the Coach Coker’s roster next year Siegel Center in Richmond. The will be rising seniors Eugene Bulldogs finished 23-7 in Coach Williams, Ja’Rec Brown and Photos by James Haskins/Richmond Free Press Willard Coker’s fifth campaign Darrell Purdie, and rising junior John Marshall High Coach Ty White, above, walks to the locker Antonio Bridy. on the South Side.

John Marshall fell to North- room with his dejected ballplayers after the Justices’ 72-59 John Marshall High certainly side High School of Roanoke loss March 2 to Roanoke’s Northside High School during a looms as a future state contender, 72-59 on Thursday, March 2, in quarterfinal game at the state 3A tournament at the Siegel with the 6-foot-10 — and growCenter. At right, George Wythe High’s Antonio Bridy snags the 3A quarterfinals, also at the the ball during the Bulldogs’ victorious quarterfinal match ing— Todd the centerpiece. Also Siegel Center. The Conference against Heritage High School of Lynchburg on March 2. The expected back as juniors will be 26 champion Justices ended Bulldogs fell to I.C. Norcom High School of Portsmouth during the backcourt tandem of Levar the season 19-7 under veteran the semifinals on March 3.

Allen and De’Marr McRae. Coach Ty White.

Coach White will lose James The George Wythe team should be formidable in 2017-18, Madison University-bound Greg Jones, the Conference 26 Player as all the headliners are returning, with the exception of rugged of the Year, and Isaiah Anderson from his frontcourt. rebounder Qyante Parham.

A Baltimore transplant, the surprisingly quick and nimble Chantilou is a slender 6-foot-2 wing with a smooth outside Todd averaged 13 points, seven rebounds and three blocked stroke and quick-striking moves to the basket. The ninth-grader shots as a 15-year-old ninth-grader. popped in 17 points in Wythe’s quarterfinal win over Heritage He figures to be the most heavily recruited post player from

this area since Douglas Freeman’s Colin Ducharme in the mid1990s. Already with a national reputation, Todd has scholarship offers from the likes of the University of Kansas, the University of Maryland and the University of Virginia.

Since the Virginia High School League went to a six-tier classification system for high school athletics four years ago, George Wythe High has won one state title, a state runner-up finish and this year’s state semifinal run.

During that time, John Marshall High has won one state crown, a semifinal finish last year and this year’s quarterfinal effort.

Don’t expect that local dominance to end anytime soon.

March 9-11, 2017 B1

Section

B

Richmond Free Press

DiamonDs • Watches JeWelry • repairs 19 East Broad strEEt richmond, Va 23219 (804) 648-1044

Happenings

www.wallErjEwElry.com

Personality: Emilie G. Webb

The Richmond Branch NAACP Will Hold Its Monthly Meeting On Tuesday, March 14, 2017 7P.M Military Retirees Club 2270 Sledd Street Richmond, Virginia 23222

Spotlight on nonprofit Assisting Families of Inmates Silent Auction chair Every week, dozens of individuals and families with incarcerated loved ones benefit from Emilie Webb’s decision to pursue a career in nursing instead of art.

An art enthusiast from a young age, she still remembers the pride she felt when one of her original drawings, a picture of ducks drawn using pastels, showed up on the bulletin board outside her principal’s office.

She says that a lack of courage eased her into her nursing career, and that if she’d had guts, she would have pursued art instead.

“But I was too chicken,” the retired psychiatric nurse says.

“When thinking about how I was going to support myself, and with my mother working as a nurse and my interest in science, I decided to follow the same career path.”

Ms. Webb, 81, retired in 2001 after nearly 30 years in the nursing profession. Her experience working with patients as a psychiatric and substance abuse nurse fuels her passion to help families stay connected through Assisting Families of Inmates.

The nonprofit organization provides bus rides to prisons in Virginia three weekends a month for families who have loved ones behind bars, as well as video visitation at seven sites to 18 prisons.

Ms. Webb says her experience as a nurse enabled her to see firsthand the stabilizing impact of maintaining familial bonds in helping individuals rebuild their lives.

“The kids need to see that their loved one is OK, and seeing family provides a stable foundation for inmates that can lower rates of recidivism,” she says.

In addition to the family visitation programs, AFOI also runs “Milk and Cookies,” an after-school program serving about 75 youngsters at four Richmond schools. The youths have parents who are incarcerated. The program has a curriculum based on the seven principles of Kwanzaa, Ms. Webb says, and offers field trips and summer programs for students.

Primarily funded by the organization’s annual silent auction, AFOI started in 1978 with parishioners from several churches in Downtown Richmond using their personal vehicles to transport families to prisons to visit their loved ones.

Today, the organization works with a local charter bus company to provide transportation.

Ms. Webb serves as treasurer of the board of directors for AFOI and is chair of the organization’s three-day annual silent auction. The auction will be held 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sunday, March 12, Sunday, March 19, and at the organization’s annual meeting 6 p.m. Thursday, March 16, in the Heritage Room at Second Presbyterian Church, 5 N. 5th St. in Downtown.

A l l e v e n t s a re f re e and open to the public.

Dr. David Coogan, a Virginia Commonwealth University

Other leadership roles in community: Second Presbyterian Church Board of Deacons, Shortterm Visitation Committee, Flower Committee and weekday desk volunteer.

writing professor and author of “Writing Our Way Out: Memoirs from Jail,” will speak.

Meet this week’s Personality, Emilie Gustafson Webb: Occupation: Retired registered nurse. I was nurse manager of the psychiatry and substance abuse in-patient units at McGuire Veterans Administration Medical Center.

Date and place of birth: Feb. 4 in Cambridge, Mass.

Current residence: Richmond’s Fan District.

Education: Bachelor of science in nursing, Simmons College in Boston; master’s in psychiatric mental health nursing, Virginia Commonwealth University.

Family: Two sons and six grandchildren.

No. 1 volunteer position today: Treasurer, board of directors, Assisting Families of Inmates, and chair of the annual silent auction.

Why I became involved in Assisting Families of Inmates: I was invited

by Lorna Barrell, former head of the Department of Mental Health and Psychiatric Nursing at Virginia Commonwealth University, who worked on mental health issues at the church. I wanted to contribute but in a different area. So I went from mental health and substance abuse to prison ministry.

What AFOI means to me: A way to learn about and help families in need in an area with less community support than other areas, and working with engaged, committed people.

AFOI’s financial support comes from: The generosity of individuals, churches, community civic groups, foundations and grants. We charge a small fee for Saturday riders.

No. 1 challenge: Funding, which leads to developing a basis of support, continuing evaluation of the needs of our population and changes in the criminal justice system.

How we plan to address it: Ongoing community outreach and education.

These programs are important because: With the Milk and Cookies program, each child knows that they are not alone. We get reports of improved behavior and grades as anxieties are relieved.

What it takes to become an AFOI volunteer: A willing heart and willingness to learn about the justice system. Having Department of Corrections experience of some kind is helpful, but the rest of us come from the fields of social work, law, education, nursing, business and more.

Kindergarten taught me: Not to let my mother know when I was scared because I remember standing on the playground scared out of my wits.

My outlook for the day: Gratitude for my life every day.

How I unwind: Sit on the sofa, put up my feet and read.

Person who influenced me the most: My mother.

The best thing my parents ever taught me: To love God and your neighbor.

Book I just finished: “Why Read Moby-Dick?”

by Nathaniel Philbrick.

What I’m reading now: “Writing Our Way Out: Memoirs from Jail” by Dr. David Coogan.

My next goal: For AFOI, I’d love to figure out how to have a stable funding source. Personally, to enjoy transitions in life with the grandkids. You want to be there and enjoy it.

Newly reNovated moderN private office suites!

$

Sta rt

199

ing

E Z Car Rental 3101 W. Broad Street

(804) 358-3406

WINTER SPECIAL

Cars starting at

29

SmallMediumLarge

95 a day

• ReCeptioniSt • ConfeRenCe RooM • 24 Hour secure electronic access 1618 Hull St. | Call Ms. Lisa Smith Hicks: 804.301.6986

The CityModern of Richmond Announces private office suites: Receptionist, Conference Roo

secure electronic access starts at $199. 12 month lease, last m 1618 Hull St. Call Ms. Lisa Smith Hicks 804 303 14

The 2017

MYA Summer Employment Programs • Junior • Counselor in Training • Arts Institute • Work Experience Apply online: www.RichmondGov.com/MYA Apply in person by appointment (804) 646-7480 All Applications Are Due By 5 p.m. March 24

Deadline to apply ends this week!

Mayor Dwight C. Jones

MayorsYouthAcademy@RichmondGov.com Announces The 2014 MYA Summer Employment Programs Life Stage Work Experience NEW! MYA Junior STEM Program For ages 13+ Applications will be accepted through March 24

Apply online: www.RichmondGov.com/MYA Apply in person: Mondays & Wednesdays 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.

East District Initiative 701 North 25th Street For more information, please call (804) 646-7480

FREE Pickup in Richmond Area

NO CREDIT CARD NEEDED

MayorsYouthAcademy@RichmondGov.com

www.ezcarrentalsrva.com

NCLEX REVIEW

NCLEX PN/Review NCLEX RN/Review Small groups

(1-6 Attendees) Sessions held in Chester Contact Dr. Booker to reserve your seat!

Dr. Corliss Booker, APRN, FNP,-BC cvbooker@gmail.com (804) 239-4758

NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR Beautillion 2017

Investitur� Ceremony o�

MAKOLA M. ABDULLAH, Ph.D.

14th

PRESIDENT OF VIRGINIA STATE UNIVERSITY

PROC Foundation, Inc. is currently accepting applications for its 2016 Beautillion. All male high school sophomores and juniors are welcome to submit an application. The “Beaux” will participate in community service projects, social etiquette classes and leadership development workshops. The culmination of the Beautillion Season will be a formal presentation of the young men at an elegant black-tie affair on November 18, 2017 at the Richmond Convention Center. In addition to cultural and educational activities, participants will have an opportunity to earn scholarships and prizes. An Information Session will take place on Sunday, March 12, 2017 at 3pm in the Fellowship Hall of Holy Rosary Catholic Church located at 33rd and R Streets. The Information Session will provide the necessary information to help you make your decision on participation. A mandatory Orientation Session will be held on Sunday, March 26, 2017 at 3pm at the Fellowship Hall of Holy Rosary Catholic Church. To obtain an application or additional information, contact Mrs. Brenda J. Foster at beautillion@procfoundation.org , 740-6162 or visit our website at www.procfoundation.org. The deadline to submit an application is March 26, 2017.

Professionals Reaching Out to the Community (PROC) Foundation, Inc. is a not-for –profit, non-stock corporation of Pi Rho Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.

at

per mo nth

Counselors In Training

C.L. Belle’s

$

Importance of family to inmates: Maintaining relationships is important to those in and those out of prison. Children need to see that their parent is OK. Upon release, those with families have access to housing and possibly jobs. Research shows less recidivism and better outcomes when there are support systems.

MARCH 24, 2017 10 A.M. VSU MULTIPURPOSE CENTER 20809 2ND AVENUE, PETERSBURG, VA 23803 The Investiture Ceremony is free and open to the general public.

For more information, visit www.vsu.edu/inauguration.

Richmond Free Press

B2 March 9-11, 2016

Happenings

Obamas sign $65M book deal Free Press wire report

File photo

Michelle and Barack Obama

NEW YORK Barack and Michelle Obama have book deals.

The former president and first lady have signed with Penguin Random House, the publisher announced last week.

Financial terms were not disclosed for the books, which several publishers had competed for, although several reports stated the joint deal was worth $65 million.

Both Obamas have published through Crown, a Penguin Random House imprint.

But Penguin Random House declined comment on which imprint or imprints the books would be released through.

“We are absolutely thrilled to continue our publishing partnership with President and Mrs. Obama,” Penguin Random House CEO Markus Dohle said in a statement.

“With their words and their leadership, they changed the world, and every day, with the books we publish at Penguin Random House, we strive to do the same.

Now, we are very much looking forward to working together with President and Mrs. Obama to make each of their books global publishing events of unprecedented scope and significance.”

The Obamas were represented in negotiations by Robert Barnett and Deneen Howell of Williams & Connolly. Mr. Barnett has worked on deals with President Obama’s two immediate predecessors, former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, and with Mrs. Obama’s predecessors Hillary Rodham Clinton and Laura Bush.

The Obamas plans to donate a “significant portion” of their author proceeds to charity, including to the Obama Foundation.

President Obama’s book is a strong contender to attract the largest advance for any ex-president; the previous record is believed to be $15 million for President Clinton’s “My Life.”

The unique dual arrangement announced Feb. 28 is for books that are among the most anticipated in memory from a former president and first lady. President Obama is widely regarded as one of the finest prose stylists among modern presidents, and his million-selling “Dreams from My Father” and “The Audacity of Hope” are considered essential to his rise to the White House.

Mrs. Obama has given few details about

her time as first lady. Her only book is about food and gardening, “American Grown,” released in 2012. Both the former president and first lady are widely popular with the public in the United States and abroad.

Titles and release dates were not immediately available. The books will reflect on the Obamas’ White House years, although Penguin Random House declined to give further details.

A publishing official with knowledge of the negotiations said that President Obama’s book will be a straightforward memoir about his presidency, while Mrs. Obama plans to write an inspirational work for young people that will draw upon her life story.

The official was not authorized to discuss the negotiations and asked not to be identified.

Presidential memoirs have contributed little to the literary canon, a tradition many believe President Obama will change. But recent books have found large audiences.

President Clinton’s book and President Bush’s “Decision Points” were million sellers. Books by first ladies, including Mrs. Clinton’s “Living History,” have been dependable best-sellers.

Charlie Wilson, Fantasia, Johnny Gill in Richmond April 1 R&B artist Charlie Wilson, the lead vocalist behind the legendary R&B group The Gap Band, will perform 7 p.m. Saturday, April 1, at the Richmond Coliseum for his “In It to Win It” Tour.

The All White Attire Concert, promoted by Richmond’s Hosea Fox, also features artists Fantasia and Johnny Gill.

Mr. Wilson is touring to promote his latest solo album, “In It to Win It,” released last month and featuring collaborations with Snoop Dogg, Pitbull, Robin Thicke, Wiz Kahlifa and T.I. In a career that spans 45 years, Mr. Wilson launched his solo career in 2005 with his album, “Charlie, Last Name Wilson,” highlighted by collaborations with R. Kelly, Justin Timberlake, will.i.am and others. The album sold more than 500,000 copies. His

Johnny Gill joined the charttopping R&B group New Edition in 1987 following Bobby Brown’s abrupt departure. Mr. Gill recorded hit singles such as “Can You Stand the Rain” and “N.E. Heartbreak” with

Charlie Wilson

Fantasia

2010 album, “Just Charlie,” included the hit single “You Are,” which held the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Urban Adult Contemporary chart for 13 weeks.

He has received 11 Grammy Award nominations and six NAACP Image Award nominations. In 2014, he received an Image Award for Outstanding Album for “Love, Charlie.”

Prior to that, he received the 2009 Soul Train Icon Award

Pine Camp exhibits honor Women’s History Month The expression of beauty through silhouette figures and models representing the merge of beauty, fashion and lifestyle will be the subjects explored in art exhibits at Pine Camp Arts and Community Center in honor of Women’s History Month.

“Painted” features large photographs of models with face and body art created by Painted by Niko Swan, the brainchild of Yewande Lewis and Nichole Mines.

An opening reception at Pine Camp’s Spotlight Gallery will be Painted Niko Swan model 6 p.m. Friday, March 10, with a fashion show at 6:30 p.m. in the Pine Camp Theater featuring models with hand-applied face pain and stylized clothing.

In addition to “Painted,” work by artist Shantell Lewis will be featured on the Community Art Wall.

The exhibits will be on display through April 7.

Pine Camp is at 4901 Old Brook Road. The Spotlight Gallery is open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays.

The exhibits are free and open to the public.

For more information, call (804) 646-6722.

the group before launching his solo career a few years later. In 1990, his second, selftitled album included hits such as “My, My, My” and “Rub You the Right Way.” He has received four Grammy Award

nominations.

Tickets range from $79.50 to $112 and can be purchased at the Richmond Coliseum Box Office, 601 E. Leigh St., through Ticketmaster.com or by phone (800) 745-3000.

Johnny Gill

and the 2013 BET Lifetime Achievement Award.

Mr. Wilson recorded 15 albums with The Gap Band, a party group responsible for such hits as “You Dropped a Bomb on Me,” “Outstanding” and “Party Train.”

After 15 albums, the group announced their retirement in 2010.

Fantasia’s career was launched in 2004 when she was a contestant on the television show, “American Idol.” Her debut album, “Free Yourself,” released the same year, went platinum. Her latest single, “When I Met You,” was released in January.

She has also appeared on several television shows, in films and as a guest star on Broadway.

Ava Reaves

Jack and Jill Cotillion Teens in the James River Chapter of Jack and Jill of America Inc. enjoy a special dance at the organization’s 5th Annual Richmond Renaissance Cotillion last Saturday at the Claude G. Perkins Living and Learning Center at Virginia Union University. The theme: Springtime in Paris. Twenty middle school students participated in events leading up to the cotillion, all of which were designed to build confidence through interpersonal and communication skills, etiquette, ballroom dance, community service and social activities.

VIRGINIA UNION UNIVERSITY Cordially Invites You to

— 5th ANNUAL —

SCHOLARSHIP GALA and MASQUERADE BALL Hosted by The Honorable Levar Stoney Friday, April 7, 2017 | Reception 6:00 p.m. | Elegant Dining 7:00 p.m.

The Richmond Marriott Hotel | 500 East Broad Street, Richmond, Virginia Live Entertainment | Dancing | A Black-Tie Affair, Mask Optional Reserved Seating for Sponsors | Individual Tickets $200 ($75 tax-deductible) For more information: www.VUU.edu | 804.342.3938

PRESENTING SPONSOR:

Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press

Fun times Comedian Sheryl Underwood, center, smiles for photos with sorors Sherry Crawley, left, and Jillian Mayers of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority on Saturday in Glen Allen. Members of the sorority’s Sigma Delta Zeta Chapter hosted a brunch for Ms. Underwood, who was in town to perform at the Funny Bone comedy club. Ms. Underwood, a host of the CBS show “The Talk,” served as the 23rd International Grand Basileus of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority in 2008. She pledged in 1990.

MARRIOTT | THOMPSON HOSPITALITY | BANK OF AMERICA | WELLS FARGO

Richmond Free Press

March 9-11, 2017

B3

Faith News/Directory Morgan State University Choir to perform March 21 at Fifth Baptist Church The Morgan State University Choir will perform at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 21, at Fifth Baptist Church, 1415 W. Cary St. The choir, which has performed throughout the United States and around the world, is noted for its repertoire of classical, gospel and contemporary music, as well as its emphasis on preserving the heritage of spirituals.

The Richmond performance is sponsored by the Morgan State RichmondPetersburg Alumni Chapter.

Tickets are $10.

For more information and to purchase tickets, contact Audrey Watson at awatson54@comcast.net or call (804) 874-6316.

  

1408 W. eih Sree  ichmo a. 0 804 5840



 Church School Worship Service

8:45 a.m.

10 a.m.

 ile Su

1 p.m.

 e ercies iisr  a.m. ul ile Su :0 p.m. ie oore Sree o

Faith leaders, politicians: New immigration order still anti-Muslim Free Press wire, staff report

Federal judges may find President Trump’s new executive order on immigration more acceptable than the last.

But many religious groups and faith leaders see no meaningful difference in the new measure, which President Trump signed privately last Monday.

“Make no mistake, this is the Muslim ban that President Trump and his aides have been promising,” Farhana Khera, president of Muslim Advocates, said in a statement. “The administration is just rearranging the chairs at the same table.”

Critics of what Ms. Khera calls “Muslim Ban 2.0” argue that it still singles out only Muslim-majority nations and fuels Islamophobia that already is on the rise in the United States.

“President Trump’s revised executive order is still a Muslim ban and it’s still bigoted and un-American,” said Rabbi Jack Moline, president of the Interfaith Alliance.

The new ban differs from the executive order President Trump signed on Jan. 27 on several points that the Trump administration hopes will blunt criticism and help the new order pass legal muster.

A federal appeals court stayed President Trump’s first order on Feb. 3, with a Virginia



federal district court judge also issuing a preliminary injunction on Feb. 13 barring the travel ban’s implementation in the commonwealth.

In a statement issued late Monday, a spokesman for Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring said the office will review the president’s new order and filings in the Virginia case to determine “how best to move forward in a way that protects Virginia and its residents.”

In a statement, Mr. Herring said the new order “still sends a horrible message to the world, to Muslim-Americans and to minority communities across the country without any demonstrable benefit to national security.”

Under the new order, no refugees will be accepted into the United States for 120 days. After that, the number of refugees allowed to enter will not exceed 50,000 in a year — compared to the 110,000 refugees allowed to enter the United States under former President Obama.

The revised executive order: • Allows Syrians to be resettled in the United States after a 120-day ban. They were indefinitely excluded under the previous ban.

• Drops Iraq from the original list of seven Muslim-majority nations from which foreign nationals are blocked for 90 days

from entering the United States.

The remaining six countries are Yemen, Somalia, Libya, Sudan, Syria and Iran.

• Removes the preference given to refugees from members of minority religious groups, such as Christians — a distinction many Christian groups considered un-Christian.

(U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner, Virginia’s senior senator, said while President Trump’s new order may avoid some of the issues attached to his initial executive order, “improving the implementation of a poor policy still results in poor policy.” (“There is no evidence that immigrants from the countries listed … pose a heightened threat to our security. There are serious people at the Department of Homeland Security and within the intelligence community who have been considering this issue for years,” his statement continued. “Perhaps a better approach would be to allow them to recommend what our policy should be.”

(Sen. Tim Kaine, who ran for vice president in November with Mr. Trump’s Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton, said the new administration’s immigration orders “remain a mess.” (“Discriminating against people from certain countries with no evidence that they pose any greater risk than those from other countries not

affected is more about politics than about safety,” he said in a statement. “And perpetuating the stereotype that refugees fleeing humanitarian disasters are suspicious is cruel. (“Congressional Republicans and Democrats should join together and do what the Senate did four years ago — pass comprehensive immigration reform to address these question in an evidence-based way.”)

Faith leaders also take issue with the new order’s limitations on the resettlement of refugees as a refutation of the religious requirement to shelter the most vulnerable.

“While it appears that the administration has sought to correct some of the flaws contained in the first executive order, this newly issued one still prevents us from undertaking life-saving work during the most critical time for refugees and displaced persons in human history,” Linda Hartke, president of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services, said in a statement.

“The new order doubles down on demonizing refugees — implying that America should fear those who have been persecuted, tortured, threatened and victimized by terrorists,” she continued.

But some who advocate for the Middle East’s beleaguered Christian minorities worry that the removal of

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

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

Sunday, March 12, 2017

WEDNESDAYS

THURSDAYS

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

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

1:30 p.m.

Bible Study

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

Holy Communion

special protections for minority religions necessitates a new order to address their suffering at the hand of the group known as the Islamic State.

“There’s a dire need for President Trump to issue a separate executive order — one specifically aimed to help ISIS genocide survivors in Iraq and Syria,” Nina Shea, director of the Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom, said in a statement after the new executive order’s release.

“For three years, the Christians, Yizidis and others of the smallest religious minorities have been targeted by ISIS with beheadings, crucifixions, rape, torture and sexual enslavement,” she said.

The new order, set to go into affect Thursday, March 16, also contains exceptions for dual citizens and holders of green cards who want to travel to the United States from the restricted countries.

“It is the president’s solemn duty to protect the American people,” Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters after the president signed the new order. “As threats to our security continue to evolve and change, common sense dictates that we continually re-evaluate and reassess the systems we rely upon to protect our country.”

Faith leaders disagree with the original ban and the changes.

“The language of the ban is slightly changed, but the results for refugees are the same,” said Mark Hetfield, CEO of HIAS, a Jewish agency that resettles immigrants.

“Even for the thousands of refugees who have already followed all the rules and have already been subject to extreme security vetting, President Trump will not allow them into the United States.”

Garland Avenue Baptist Church celebrates

MEN’S DAY

Sunday, March 19, 2017 11:00 a.m.

Speaker:

BAPTIST MINISTERS CONFERENCE OF RICHMOND & VICINITY PRESENTS

The Steps of a Righteous Man

Theme:

Dr. Jeffery O. Smith, Pastor 2700 Garland Avenue, Richmond, Virginia 23222

3 6 Prayer and Praise 6:15 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Worship begins at 7:00 p.m.

GUEST SPEAKER: MARCH 13-14 MONDAY & TUESDAY

GUEST SPEAKER: MARCH 15-16 WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY

Rev. Dr. William Curtis

Rev. Dr. John E. Guns

Mount Ararat Baptist Church Pittsburgh, PA

St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church Jacksonville, FL

REV. DR. CHERYL IVEY GREEN, BMCRV PRESIDENT

Dr. Ralph Reavis, Sr. • Pastor Emeritus Riverview Baptist Church • Past President Virginia University • Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology Virginia • Adjunct Professor-Church History Union University

Richmond Free Press

B4 March 9-11, 2017

Obituary/Faith News/Directory

Thomas W. Kenney, 93, dies; former owner of Spring Lake course Thomas Waymond Kenney worked as a meat years. “We did it together,” she said, from mowing cutter and janitor most of his life, but ended up a the greens to keeping up the sand traps and welcommillionaire through his love of golf. ing players.

For more than 20 years, Mr. Kenney, known as When he reached his late 70s, he leased the course “Jelly” and “Big Game” to his golfing friends, owned to John Houze and his wife, but continued to play. the Spring Lake Golf Club — the now closed, 9-hole Final tributes were paid to Mr. Kenney, a Hencourse off Mountain Road in Henrico County that rico County native, on Monday, Feb. 27, at Pilgrim once was the only place in Metro Richmond where Journey Baptist Church in Henrico, where he had African-American golfers could play. been an active member for 81 years.

Mr. Kenney, who died Friday, Feb. 17, 2017, at his Mr. Kenney chaired the church’s trustee board and residence at age 93, bought the course in the 1980s served as the church’s financial secretary for more for $159,000 and sold the property in 2006 for more than 30 years. He also participated in the church’s than $3.5 million for a subdivision development, mid-week Bible class.

Mr. Kenney according to his family.

Before retiring and buying the golf course, Mr. Streets in the subdivision now bear his name and that of his Kenney worked as a meat cutter for Hygrade Meat Co. and as wife of 20 years, Johnnetta C. Kenney, as well as the name a custodian for Best Products, his wife said. of the Houze family, which operated the course for five years His family had a longtime interest in real estate. His late before it was sold for home development. parents, Mason and Clara Kenney, purchased and owned 400 “Developers were always after him to sell the land, and he acres of property in the county, including land on which the kept turning them down,” said Mrs. Kenney, a retired nurse. Waffle House sits at 7109 W. Broad St. “But they kept offering more and more money until he finally In addition to his wife, survivors include three daughters, couldn’t say no.”

Mary Rose Kenney, Theresa Kenney and Thomasina Lawrence; a Before the sale, he and his wife maintained the course for stepdaughter, Shanja Buckner Scott; and seven grandchildren.

Delegate McQuinn to lead cleanup Union Baptist Church Saturday at historic cemeteries Fresh from winning state funding to support two historic African-American cemeteries, Delegate Delores L. McQuinn will lead a cleanup of the Evergreen and East End cemeteries this weekend.

She is seeking 500 volunteers to assist with removing vines, overgrown grass, trees and weeds from the gravesites from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, March 11.

A light lunch will be provided to participants.

Delegates Jeff M. Bourne of Richmond and Lamont Bagby of Henrico plan to join Delegate

Good Shepherd Baptist Church 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)

11:00 AM Mid-day Meditation

Sixth Baptist Church Join us for worship

Youth Sunday

Sunday, March 12, 2017 10:45 AM Worship Service Christ Kids And Christ Teens Worship Every Sunday Nursery During Church School and Worship Twitter sixthbaptistrva

400 South Addison Street Richmond, Va. 23220

Facebook sixthbaptistrva

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

Mourners will pay final tributes to this much loved woman at noon Friday, March 10, at Fourth Baptist Church, 2800 P St. Survivors include her brother, William Lomax of Richmond, a well-known barber and the last of the 12 children in the family of Mary and Millard H. Lomax of Richmond.

Mr. Lomax offers his thanks to friends and customers for their expressions of sympathy.

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

Early Morning Worship ~ 8 a.m.

Sunday School ~ 9:30 a.m.

Morning Worship ~ 11 a.m.

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

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

Sermons Available at BRBCONLINE.org

“MAKE IT HAPPEN” Pastor Kevin Cook

Mar. 12, 2017 10:30 A.M.

Anniversary Dinner following Morning Worship 1813 Everett Street Richmond, Virginia 23224 804-231-5884 Reverend Robert C. Davis, Pastor

Join Us for Worship!

Colle

U

i

1858

“The People’s Church”

216 W. Leigh St. • Richmond, Va. 23220 Tel: 804-643-3366 • Fax: 804-643-3367 Email: ebcoffice1@yahoo.com • web: www.richmondebenezer.com 11:00 a.m.

9:30 a.m.

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

Mon. 6:30 p.m.

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

Wed. 6:45 p.m.

Wed. 4:30 p.m.

Wed. 6:00 p.m.

Thurs., 11:45 a.m.

E

~

t

7

Wear your College gear for morning worship & after church activities!

Women’ss Day ~ Marc Women

1177

Speaker for the day will be Rev. Dr. MarQuita Carmichael Carmichael-Burton

“The The Sto ”

er Play ~ April 15, 2017 20177 20

Purchase Tickets at MMBC on Sundays or through our members.

Weekly W Sundays @ 10:30 A.M. Church School: Sundays @ 9:00 A.M. Bible Study: Wednesdays @ Noon & 7:00 P.M. 2901 Mechanicsville Turnpike, Richmond, VA 23223 (804) 648-2472 ~ www.mmbcrva.org Dr. Price London Davis, Senior Pastor

Mosby Memorial Street Baptist Church Thirty-first “A Caring Community Committed to Listening, Loving, Baptist Church Learning and Leaning While Launching into our Future.”

everence e with e evanc R ing Dr. Morris Henderson, Senior Pastor Dr. Kirkland R. Walton, Pastor bin Lenten Season Upcoming Eve o ❖ C College Day ~ March

SUNDAYS Wear your College gear for morning worsh

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

Church School 9:30 a.m.

Good Medicine for the Soul Morning Worship 10:30 a.m.

An afternoon of music, laughter, spoke

Unity Sundays (2nd Sundays) Church School 8:30 A.M. Morning Worship 10 A.M.

❖

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

“The Story” Easter Play ~ WEDNESDAYS Purchase Bible StudyTickets at MMBC on Sundays o 12:00 p.m. & 7:00 p.m. ❖

MONDAY-FRIDAY Nutrition Center and Clothes Closet 11:30 a.m. & Events 1:00 p.m.

Upcoming

Rev. Dr. Price L. Davis, Pastor

(near Byrd Park)

Ebenezer Baptist Church 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

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

Sundays: Morning Worship Church School Morning Worship

Martha Irene Lomax Wright,

widow of Joyce Wright, died March 1, 2017.

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

Black History Celebration

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

2017 Theme: The Year of Elevation (First Peter 5:6)



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

Sundays

8:00 a.m.

Early Morning Worship 9:30 a.m.

Sunday School 11:00 a.m.

Morning Worship

Tuesdays

Noon Day Bible Study

Wednesdays

823 North 31st Street Richmond, VA 23223 February 26, 2017 (804) 226-0150 Office During Morning Worship… www.31sbc.org We will have Black History moments, a presentation from our Creative Arts Ministry and end the day with a shared meal.

New Deliverance Evangelistic Church

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

en

6:30 p.m.

Prayer and Praise 7:00 p.m.

Adult Bible Study

1

Rev. Dr. Yvonne , Pastor

Theme: Celebrating 95 Years: “Rooted In Faith; Anchored In Hope” Scripture: Romans 15:13 Colors: Yellow, Green & White

Baptist Church

Worship Opportunities

We Embrace Diversity — Love For All!

A 21st Century Church With Ministry For Everyone

Speaker: Rev. Dr. Grady W. Powell, Pastor Emeritus Gilfield Baptist Church Petersburg, Virginia

St. Peter Baptist Church

Theme for 2016-2020: Mobilizing For Ministry Refreshing The Old and Emerging The New

Funeral notice

Sunday, March 12, 2017 11:00 A.M.

Riverview

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

MARCH 12, 1913

Missing you, Love you ~ Your Family

w

6:30 PM Prayer Meeting

Willie Mae Lawson

Church Anniversary

McQuinn at the site, along with members of the Maggie L. Walker High School Class of 1967, Friends of East End Cemetery and the Baptist Ministers’ Conference of Richmond and Vicinity.

The cemeteries are located along Stony Run Parkway in Eastern Henrico County and can be reached from either Nine Mile Road or East Richmond Road.

Details: Keith Westbrook, (804) 698-1270; Marvin Harris, (804) 240-1418; or DelDMcQuinn@House.Virginia.gov.

1127 North 28th St., Richmond, VA 23223-6624 • Office: (804) 644-1402

Happy Birthday

h Annual Wom se t 9 urpo ission & P

M ith

Conference

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



“Working For You In This Difficult Hour” 2300 Cool Lane, Richmond, Virginia 23223 804-795-5784 (Armstrong High School Auditorium)

Sunday Morning Worship 11:00 a.m.

k

Pastor and Founder

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

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

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

- Matthew 4:23

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

Wednesday Services

Come Join Us! Reverend Dr. Lester D. Frye

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

Joseph Jenkins, Jr. Funeral Home, Inc.

Noonday Bible Study 12noon-1:00 p.m.

Attendance Sanctuary - All Are Welcome!

2011-2049 Grayland Avenue Richmond, Virginia 23220 (804) 358-9177

Wednesday Evening Bible Study 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

Attendance

Joseph Jenkins, Jr., Founder (Dec. 19, 1938 - Dec. 9, 2006) Joseph Jenkins, III. • Jason K. Jenkins • Maxine T. Jenkins

You can now view Sunday Morning Service “AS IT HAPPENS” online!

Also, for your convenience.

k

Saturday 8:30 a.m. Intercessory Prayer

THEME:

Friday, April 21, 2017 and Saturday, April 22, 2017 at 9:00AM

In His Presence “Living For His Glory”

SCRIPTURE: For in Him we live, and move, and have our being.

(Acts 17:28a NIV)

Friday and Saturday, April 21-22, 2017 - 9 AM

For more information and to Register go to: www.ndec.net or call 1-844-699-4054 Doubletree Hotel Reservations: 1-800-222-8733 or 804-379-3800 {Reference New Deliverance Evangelistic Church}

Tune in on Sunday Morning to WTVR - Channel 6 - 8:30 a.m.

Richmond Free Press

March 9-11, 2017 B5

Legal Notices/Employment Opportunities PUBLIC NOTICE Pursuant to 23 U.S.C. 134 and 135; 49 U.S.C 5303 and 5304, the TriCities Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) hereby provides area citizens an opportunity to review and comment on the Transportation Improvement Program.

This transportation plan has been developed by local and State agencies represented on the TriCities Area MPO. A copy of this draft document has been made available for public viewing during regular visiting hours at public libraries in the TriCities Area during a 30 day public review period beginning February 19, 2017 and ending March 22, 2017. One public meeting will be scheduled to receive comments on this draft plan on March 22, 2017 from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Petersburg Multi-Modal Station located 1 0 0 W. Wa s h i n g t o n Street in Petersburg, VA. Persons in need of special accommodations to participate in these public meetings are requested to forward this information either by contacting the Crater Planning District Commission at 804-8611666 or by email using the address listed below one week prior to the meeting date. Persons with a hearing impairment may contact the Virginia Relay Center at 1-800-828-1120 to forward information to the Crater Planning District Commission and Tri-Cities Area MPO. The purpose of the Transportation Improvement Program is to recommend highway and transit improvements for the Tri-Cities Area. A copy of this draft plan and other information related to the Tri-Cities Area MPO has been made available in electronic format located http://craterpdc. org/transportation/mpo. htm The Crater Planning District Commission and the Tri-Cities Area MPO assure that no person shall, on the grounds of race, color, national origin, handicap, sex, age or income status, as provided

by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and subsequent nondiscrimination laws, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be otherwise subjected to discrimination under any program or activity. Written comments on Transportation Improvement Program should be addressed Crater Planning District Commission, P.O. Box 1808, Petersburg, Virginia 23805 and or sent email dhyder@craterpdc.org and received within the review period ending March 22, 2017.

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

GREGORY THOMAS, Defendant.

Case No.: CL17000574-00 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 25th day of April, 2017 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 OTELIA THROWERMEADOWS, Plaintiff v.

RUSSELL MEADOWS, Defendant.

Case No.: CL17000573-00 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 25th day of April, 2017 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

Continued from previous column

Continued from previous column

Continued from previous column

Continued from previous column

Continued from previous column

Case No.: CL17000586-00 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 25th day of April, 2017 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

in re johnette allen Case No. J-82401-08-09 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of this suit is to: Terminate the residual parental rights (“RPR”) of Dwayne Anthony Holloway ( F athe r ) & Ta s h i a Nicole Allen (MOTHER) of JOHNETTE ALLEN child, DOB 06/19/2001, “RPR” means all rights and responsibilities remaining with parent after transfer of legal custody or guardianship of the person, including but not limited to rights of: visitation; adoption consent; determination of religious affiliation; and responsibility for support.

It is ORDERED that the defendant Dwayne Anthony Holloway (Father) & Tashia Nicole Allen (Mother) to appear at the abovenamed Court and protect his/her interest on or before May 10, 2017 at 2:00 PM, Courtroom #5.

Diane Abato, Esq. 900 E. Broad St., 4th Floor Richmond, Virginia 23219 804-646-3493

named court and protect his or her interests on or before 04/04/2017 10:00 AM.

Instrument Number 08-22154, who are not residents of the Commonwealth of Virginia, have not filed a response to this action, or their heirs, devisees, assignees or successors in title; that RONALD W. ADOLF, As to $15,000.00 Interest, who may be the holder of $15,000.00 Interest in a certain Note secured by a secured by a Balloon Deed of Trust dated July 17, 2008, with respect to said property, recorded July 17, 2008, in Instrument Number 08-19501, has not been personally located and has not filed a response to this action; that WALTER L. HOOKER, P.C., A Terminated Virginia Corporation, Trustee of a certain Note secured by a Balloon Deed of Trust dated July 17, 2008, with respect to said property, recorded July 17, 2008, in Instrument Number 08-19501, AND Trustee of a certain Note secured by a secured by a Balloon Deed of Trust dated August 13, 2008, with respect to said property, recorded August 14, 2008, in Instrument Number 08-22154, or his successor/s in title, have not been located and have not filed a response to this action; that WALTER L. HOOKER, who may be deceased, or his Successor in Interest, As Former Director and Trustee in Liquidation, has not been located and has not filed a response to this action; that MARC DENNING, As to part of an $80,000.00 Interest, and PAULA SEFCHOK, As to part of an $80,000.00 Interest, who may be the holders of $80,000.00 Interest in a certain Note secured by a secured by a Balloon Deed of Trust dated August 13, 2008, with respect to said property, recorded August 14, 2008, in Instrument Number 08-22154, who are not residents of the Commonwealth of Virginia, have not filed a response to this action, or their heirs, devisees, assignees or successors in title; that DENNIS MCCLEES, As to a $40,000.00 Interest, who may be the holder of a $40,000.00 Interest in a certain Note secured by a secured by a Balloon Deed of Trust dated August 13, 2008, with respect to said property, recorded August 14, 2008, in Instrument Number 0822154, has not been located and has not filed a response to this action; that JAY S. SCHWARTZ, As Agent for BERNICE SCHWARTZ, GREG WOOLWINE, HOPE WOOLWINE, RICHARD D. KRIDER, SHERRIE BECKER, PATRICK BECKER, JAY S. SCHWARTZ, JAY S. SCHWARTZ, As Trustee for the JAY SCHWARTZ TRUST U/A 11/6/1992, JAY S. SCHWARTZ, As Trustee for the EDWARD J. BECKER MARITAL TRUST, who may be creditors with an interest in said property, have not been personally located and have not filed a response to this action; that THEODORE SELLMAN, Who May Be Deceased, and the Heirs, Devisees, Assignees or Successors in Interest of THEODORE SELLMAN, who may be creditor/s with an interest in said property, have not been located and have not filed a response to this matter; and that any heirs, devisees, assignees, successors in interest, successors in title and/or any creditors with a current or future interest in said property, have not been identified and/or served despite diligent efforts to do so and are defendants to this suit by the general description of “Parties Unknown.”

IT IS ORDERED that CLAYTON INVESTMENT GROUP, L. L. C., A Cancelled Virginia Limited Liability Company, SADIE GARY, As to a $5,000.00 Interest, who may be the holder of a $5,000.00 Interest in a certain Note secured by a secured by a Balloon Deed of Trust dated July 17, 2008, with respect to said property, recorded July 17, 2008, in Instrument Number 0819501, MULLIAN FAMILY L.L.C., As to a $29,500.00 Interest, which may be the holder of a $29,500.00 Interest in a certain Note secured by a secured by a Balloon Deed of Trust dated July 17, 2008, with respect to said property, recorded July 17, 2008, in Instrument Number 08-19501, or said holder’s heirs, devisees, assignees or successors in title, ALLAN M. MULLIAN, who may be deceased, as Registered Agent for The Mullian Family LLC or his Successor/s in

Interest, JOEL FINE, As to part of a $80,000.00 Interest and LAURA FINE, As to part of a $80,000.00 Interest, who may be the holders of an $80,000.00 Interest in a certain Note secured by a secured by a Balloon Deed of Trust dated July 17, 2008, with respect to said property, recorded July 17, 2008, in Instrument Number 08-19501, AND JOEL FINE, As to part of a $40,000.00 Interest and LAURA FINE, As to part of a $40,000.00 Interest, who may be the holder of part of a $40,000.00 Interest in a certain Note secured by a secured by a Balloon Deed of Trust dated August 13, 2008, with respect to said property, recorded August 14, 2008, in Instrument Number 0822154, or their heirs, devisees, assignees or successors in title, RONALD W. ADOLF, As to $15,000.00 Interest, who may be the holder of $15,000.00 Interest in a certain Note secured by a secured by a Balloon Deed of Trust dated July 17, 2008, with respect to said property, recorded July 17, 2008, in Instrument Number 0819501, WALTER L. HOOKER, P.C., A Terminated Virginia Corporation, Trustee of a certain Note secured by a Balloon Deed of Trust dated July 17, 2008, with respect to said property, recorded July 17, 2008, in Instrument Number 08-19501, AND Trustee of a certain Note secured by a secured by a Balloon Deed of Trust dated August 13, 2008, with respect to said property, recorded August 14, 2008, in Instrument Number 0822154, or his successor/s in title, WALTER L. HOOKER, who may be deceased, or his Successor in Interest, As Former Director and Trustee in Liquidation, MARC DENNING, As to part of an $80,000.00 Interest, and PAULA SEFCHOK, As to part of an $80,000.00 Interest, who may be the holders of $80,000.00 Interest in a certain Note secured by a secured by a Balloon Deed of Trust dated August 13, 2008, with respect to said property, recorded August 14, 2008, in Instrument Number 0822154, or their heirs, devisees, assignees or successors in title, DENNIS MCCLEES, As to a $40,000.00 Interest, who may be the holder of a $40,000.00 Interest in a certain Note secured by a secured by a Balloon Deed of Trust dated August 13, 2008, with respect to said property, recorded August 14, 2008, in Instrument Number 08-22154, JAY S. SCHWARTZ, As Agent for BERNICE SCHWARTZ, GREG WOOLWINE, HOPE WOOLWINE, RICHARD D. KRIDER, SHERRIE BECKER, PATRICK BECKER, JAY S. SCHWARTZ, JAY S. SCHWARTZ, As Trustee for the JAY SCHWARTZ TRUST U/A 11/6/1992, JAY S. SCHWARTZ, As Trustee for the EDWARD J. BECKER MARITAL TRUST, THEODORE SELLMAN, Who May Be Deceased, and the Heirs, Devisees, Assignees or Successors in Interest of THEODORE SELLMAN, and Parties Unknown, come forward to appear on or before MARCH 24, 2017, and do what is necessary to protect their interests in this matter.

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

VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER AJA RIDDICK, Plaintiff v.

KENELM RIDDICK, Defendant.

Case No.: CL17000425-00 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 11th day of April, 2017 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 HEATHER WATSON, Plaintiff v.

JOHN WATSON, Defendant.

Case No.: CL17000427-00 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 11th day of April, 2017 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 OF THE COUNTY OF HENRICO GALINA RAMSEY, Plaintiff v.

BILL W RAMSEY, Defendant.

Case No.: CL 16002125-00 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of this suit is to obtain a divorce from the bond of matrimony from the defendant on the ground that the parties have live separate and apart, without cohabitation and without interruption, for more than one year.

An affidavit having been filed that the present residence of the Defendant is unknown to the Plaintiff and the diligence has been used by and on behalf of Plaintiff to ascertain in what county or city the Defendant is located, without effect, it is ORDERED that the defendant appear before the Circuit Court of Henrico on or before March 20, 2017, and do what is necessary to protect his interest herein.

A Copy, Teste: Heidi S. Barshinger, Clerk VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE CITY OF RICHMOND TONY R. BOND, Plaintiff v.

BRANDI L. BOND, Defendant.

Case No.: CL16005582-3 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of this suit, brought by Tony R. Bond, is a complaint for divorce. It appearing from an affidavit that the Defendant, Brandi L. Bond, cannot be found, and that due diligence has been used without effect to ascertain the location of the Defendant; it is hereby ORDERED that the Defendant appear before this Court on or before March 24, 2017 to protect her interest herein.

A Copy, Teste: EDWARD F. JEWETT, Clerk 4551 Cox Road Suite 120 Glen Allen, Virginia 23060 (804) 330-9220

CUSTODY

VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER DUSTIN TYSON, Plaintiff v.

TIANNA WILLIAMS, Defendant.

VIRginia: IN THE Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court of the City of Richmond Commonwealth of Virginia,

Continued on next column

Continued on next page

VIRGINIA: In the CIRCUit Court of the City of Richmond Commonwealth of virginia, in re QUentin JOYNER Case No. CL17-445 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of this suit is to: Change minor child’s name

It is ORDERED that Christopher Joyner appear at the above-named court and protect his/her interests on or before March 27, 2017 An Extract,Teste: Edward F. Jewett, Clerk VIRginia: IN THE Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court of the City of Richmond Commonwealth of Virginia, in re YOLANDA HARRIS Case No. J-91792-05-06 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of this suit is to: Terminate the residual parental rights (“RPR”) of Charlie Moses Harris (Father) & Betty Jean Spencer of YOLANDA H A RRI S c h i l d , D O B 10/19/2014, “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: visitation; adoption consent; determination of religious affiliation; and responsibility for support.

It is ORDERED that the defendant Charlie Moses Harris (Father) & Betty Jean Spencer (Mother) to appear at the above-named Court and protect his/her interest on or before April 24, 2017 at 9:40 AM Courtroom #4 Kate O’Leary, Esq. 900 E. Broad St., 4th Floor Richmond, Virginia 23219 804-646-3493 VIRginia: IN THE Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court of the City of Richmond Commonwealth of Virginia, in re Clementine Donna Abbott Children’s Home Society of Virginia v.

James Tucker and any unknown birth father Case No. J-93871-2, J-93871-3 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of this suit is to: Pursuant to VA Code § 16.1-277.01. Children’s Home Society of Virginia is requesting that the residual parental rights of the named birth father James Tucker, whose whereabouts are unknown and any unknown birth father, whose identity and whereabouts are unknown, and transfer custody of the infant, Clementine Donna Abbott, d/o/b 10/30/16 to the Children’s Home Society of Virginia with the right to place the infant for adoption.

It is ordered that the defendant James Tucker or any Unknown Birth Father appear at the above-named Court and protect his interests on or before 04/25/17 9:00 AM. virgiNia: iN thE JuvENiLE aND DOmEstic rELatiONs District cOurt Of the COunty of Chesterfield Commonwealth of Virginia, in re Carcamo De Leon, Carlos Rosario Carcamo v.

Jose Miguel Quintanilla Salgado Case No. JJ091120-01-00 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of this suit is to: (1) Determine custody of Carlos Carcamo De Leon (DOB: 10/30/99) whose mother is Rosario Carcamo, and whose father is Jose Miguel Quintanilla Salgado, pursuant to Virginia Code Section 16.1-241A3. Father’s whereabouts are unknown in El Salvador (2) To make factual findings that would permit Carlos Carcamo De Leon to apply for special immigrant juvenile status through the US Citizenship & Immigration Service pursuant to section 101(A)(27)(J) of the Immigration & Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. section 1101(A) (27)(J).

It is ordered that the defendant appear at the aboveContinued on next column

virgiNia: iN thE JuvENiLE aND DOmEstic rELatiONs District cOurt Of the COunty of Chesterfield Commonwealth of Virginia, in re Portillo Molina, Josue A. Yanira E. Molina Gonzalez v.

Jose S. P. Portillo Carranza Case No. JJ090713-01-00 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of this suit is to: (1) Determine custody of Josue Alexis Portillo Molina (DOB: 09/25/08) whose mother is Yanira E. Molina Gonzalez, and whose father is Jose S. P. Portillo Carranza, pursuant to Virginia Code Section 16.1-241A3. Father’s whereabouts are unknown in El Salvador

(2) To make factual findings that would permit Josue Alexis Portillo Molina to apply for special immigrant juvenile status through the US Citizenship & Immigration Service pursuant to section 101(A)(27)(J) of the Immigration & Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. section 1101(A)(27) (J).

It is ordered that the defendant appear at the above-named court and protect his or her interests on or before 04/04/2017 10:00 AM.

Property VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE CITY OF RICHMOND John Marshall Courts Building CITY OF RICHMOND, Plaintiff, v.

CLAYTON INVESTMENT GROUP, L.L.C., a Cancelled Virginia Limited Liability Company, et al., Defendants.

Case No.: CL15-3219 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of this suit is to subject the property briefly described as 1016 North 32nd Street, Richmond, Virginia, TaxMap/GPIN# E000-0723/034, to sale in order to collect delinquent real estate taxes assessed thereon in the name of the owner of record, CLAYTON INVESTMENT GROUP, L. L. C.

An Affidavit having been filed that said owner, CLAYTON INVESTMENT GROUP, L. L. C., A Cancelled Virginia Limited Liability Company, has not been located and has not filed a response to this action; that SADIE GARY, As to a $5,000.00 Interest, who may be the holder of a $5,000.00 Interest in a certain Note secured by a secured by a Balloon Deed of Trust dated July 17, 2008, with respect to said property, recorded July 17, 2008, in Instrument Number 08-19501, has not been located and has not filed a response to this action; that MULLIAN FAMILY L.L.C., As to a $29,500.00 Interest, which may be the holder of a $29,500.00 Interest in a certain Note secured by a secured by a Balloon Deed of Trust dated July 17, 2008, with respect to said property, recorded July 17, 2008, in Instrument Number 08-19501, or said holder’s heirs, devisees, assignees or successors in title, have not been located and have not filed a response to this action; that ALLAN M. MULLIAN, who may be deceased, as Registered Agent for The Mullian Family LLC or his Successor/s in Interest, have not been located and have not filed a response to this action; that JOEL FINE, As to part of a $80,000.00 Interest and LAURA FINE, As to part of a $80,000.00 Interest, who may be the holders of an $80,000.00 Interest in a certain Note secured by a secured by a Balloon Deed of Trust dated July 17, 2008, with respect to said property, recorded July 17, 2008, in Instrument Number 08-19501, AND JOEL FINE, As to part of a $40,000.00 Interest and LAURA FINE, As to part of a $40,000.00 Interest, who may be the holder of part of a $40,000.00 Interest in a certain Note secured by a secured by a Balloon Deed of Trust dated August 13, 2008, with respect to said property, recorded August 14, 2008, in

Continued on next column

Continued on next column

BIDS COUNTY OF HENRICO, VIRGINIA CONSTRUCTION ITB # 17-1321-2CE – Bathroom Improvements Adams, Glen Allen, & Highland Springs Elementary Schools - The work consists of Renovations, Finish and Fixtures upgrades, ADA Accessibility alterations.

Due 3:00 pm, March 30, 2017. Additional information available at: http://henrico.us/ purchasing/.

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL The University of Virginia seeks a firm to provide: McLeod Hall Scaffolding To view a copy of RFP # JG030217 go to Procurement Services Site:http://www.procurement. virginia.edu/main/ publicpostings/RFP.html, or email pur-rfp@virginia.edu

TransiT sysTem

GRTC TRANSIT SYSTEM MARKETING PROMOTIONAL ITEMS GRTC Transit System invites all interested parties to submit bids for providing marketing promotional items. Interested firms may download a copy of IFB# 156-17-02 from GRTC’s website www.ridegrtc.com (menu options: About Us, then Procurement) or obtain a copy from Derek Pratt at (804) 358.3871 ext. 350.

A mandatory pre-bid meeting will be held on March 14, 2017 at 10:00 am for this procurement. Responses are due no later than 11:00 am on March 28, 2017. All inquiries pertaining to the request or any questions in reference to the solicitation documents should be directed to: Derek Pratt (804) 358.3871, extension 350 Supplier diversity program-“providing equal opportunity for small businesses”

To advertise in the

Richmond Free Press call 644-0496

Pediatrician in Henrico, VA. Diagnose & treat infections, injuries, & various types of organic disease & dysfunction in infants, children, adolescents, & young adults. Mail resume to D. Slayden, VCU Health System Authority, 701 East Franklin Street, 9th Floor, Richmond, VA 23219.

Peninsula Cleaning hiring in Richmond!

Janitorial (PT) General Cleaners, Floor Techs, Team Leaders & Supervisors Must be skilled & reliable to clean and maintain commercial & medical facilities.

Valid DL & bkgd check are req’d.

Apply online @ www.peninsulacleaning.com or

Call (757) 833-1603 for more info.

EOE AA M/F/Vet/Disability

CarMax Auto Superstores Services, Inc. in Richmond,VA seeks Senior Analyst, Application Infrastructure (TIBCO) to maintain the Tibco product environments, including recommending, planning for, and applying updates, maintenance packs, patches and fixes to all environments. Reqs Bachelor’s degree in IT or rltd. + 5yrs exp.; To apply visit www.jobs. carmax.com , Req ID 7293.

Pastor Vacancy

The Parrish Hill Baptist Church in Charles City, Virginia is prayerfully seeking a Pastor, called by God who will be the spiritual leader of the congregation. The qualified candidate will be responsible to God and the church to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to teach the Bible, to provide Christian leadership in all areas of the church and to engage in pastoral care for the congregation. The candidate should have qualities in the following areas: leadership, salvation and brotherly love, spirituality: teaching and preaching, finance and facilities and community outreach. Interested and qualified candidates should submit a resume to phbc143@gmail.com or Parrish Hill Baptist Church Pulpit Committee Chair P.O. Box 185 Charles City, Virginia 23030

The City of Richmond is seeking to fill the following positions: Administrative Project Analyst – Multicultural Outreach Specialist 14M00000033 Department of Human Services Apply by 03/19/17 Chief of Fire & Emergency Services 42M00000423 Richmond Fire Department Open Until Filled Auditor 09M00000003 Auditor Apply by 03/19/17 Construction Inspector III 35M00000220 Department of Public Utilities Apply by 03/26/17 Deputy Director II 30M00000017 Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities Open Until Filled Family Manager I – Healthy Families 27M00001000 Department of Social Services Apply by 03/19/17 Human Services Coordinator I – Language Access Coordinator 14M00000034 Department of Human Services Apply by 03/19/17 Librarian II – Emerging Technologies Librarian 03M00000102 Richmond Public Libraries Apply by 03/19/17 Pretrial Probation Officer – Supervision 15Grant0027 Department of Justice Services Apply by 03/19/17 Capital Project Manager 29M000001050 Department of Public Works Apply by 03/19/17 Systems Developer Lead 20M00000038 Department of Information Technology Apply by 03/19/17 Water Utility Specialist – Distribution (Day/Night Shift) – Multiple Positions 35M00000330 Department of Public Utilities Apply by 03/26/17 ****************** 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

Richmond Free Press

B6 March 9-11, 2017

Sports Plus Stories by Fred Jeter

Armstrong athletes excel Frank Mason III at state track and field competition of Petersburg If “Happy” artist Pharrell Williams were to sing of Armstrong High School, it might be titled “Hoppy.”

Don’t hold back; clap along if you feel like a Wildcat.

Armstrong High juniors Jordin Poindexter and Kendra Scott have bounce-bounce-bounced to the upper tier of Virginia track and field.

Poindexter was state 3A runner-up in both the 55-meter dash and his new-found passion, the triple jump, at the State Indoor Track & Field Championships on Feb. 25 at Roanoke College in Salem.

Meanwhile, the versatile Scott bounded to third place in the 55-meter high hurdles.

Scott seemed destined to wear the Wildcats’ blue and orange for veteran Coach Tim Crossin.

She’s following in the spike marks of her older sister Kaitlin Scott, a former multi-event standout for Armstrong High who now is competing on a track scholarship at Hampton University.

Kaitlin Scott was the MEAC indoor runnerup in the pentathlon earlier this winter in Landover, Md. “Kendra is a lot like Kaitlin. She has a chance to be just as good, maybe even a little better,” said Coach Crossin.

Poindexter reluctantly went out for track. It was an after-thought, an effort to upgrade his football speed and status.

“I used to be slow — well, not really slow, but I didn’t think of myself as that fast,” Poindexter said.

“I tried track to get faster. It surprised me when I started winning events.”

Explosive out of the starting blocks, Poindexter placed second in the 55 meters in 6.55 seconds to Blacksburg High School’s Cole Beck, 6.41, at the state competition.

In the triple jump, Poindexter bounded 45-6, second only to Heritage High School of Lynchburg’s Tre’Juan Cash, 47-9.

“Jordin scratched on a jump that might have been past 47,” said Coach Crossin. “He’s got a 47 in him.”

The triple jump — once known as hop, skip and jump — is perhaps the most technical of all track events. It requires speed, spring and a hard-to-teach rhythm.

Poindexter wasn’t introduced to the event until last spring, but he has been a quick learner.

is semifinalist for coveted Naismith Award

James Haskins/Richmond Free Press

Kendra Scott and Jordin Poindexter, both juniors at Armstrong High School, show off their track skills after strong finishes in the State Indoor Track & Field Championships in Salem.

“Everyone else talks about how hard it is.

But it’s not that hard to me. My goal is 49-50 this spring,” he said.

“Coach Crossin taught me how, showed me what I was doing wrong. Also, I watch a lot of video, trying to learn from jumpers better than me.”

Both Scott and Poindexter were sensational last spring at the Conference 26 meet.

Showing her multitasking skills, Scott was first in the 100 hurdles, high jump, pole vault and triple jump. She was second in intermediate hurdles and shot put.

The 6-foot, 168-pound Poindexter went 3-for-3 in the conference meet, claiming the 100 meters, 200 meters and triple jump.

Already Poindexter is credited with the Wildcats school records in the 55 (6.49) and

100 (10.84), according to Milestat.com.

In the triple jump, he is chasing an Armstrong High legend, Ernest Wilford, who sailed to 48-5 in 1998.

Wilford went on to star as a football wide receiver at Virginia Tech and then in the NFL with Jacksonville and Miami from 2004 through 2010.

In the record book, Kendra Scott is looking up to her sister, Kaitlin, who holds a wide variety of records, including for the indoor and outdoor high hurdles.

During the current school year, Poindexter passed on football and ran cross-country during the fall to maximize his conditioning.

“Starting off, I played football and never thought of track,” he recalled. “Now I prefer track to football and hope to run track in college.”

Employment Opportunities DRIVING OPPORTUNITIES WITH GREYHOUND

LET’S PUT THE WHEELS IN MOTION Now Hiring Motorcoach Operators in Richmond Steer your driving talent, commitment to safety and customer service focus to a company where your efforts get the most mileage: Greyhound. We’re going places, and so should you.

Greyhound proudly offers: • Free travel passes • Competitive Pay and Paid Training • Comprehensive benefits including 401(k)

COME DRIVE WITH US. Apply on-line at:

apply.firstgroupcareers.com

Celebrating 100 Years as a Leader in Ground Transportation

PASTOR Fourth Baptist Church of Richmond, Virginia is currently seeking a Full Time Pastor.

Fourth Baptist is 157 years old and located in historic Church Hill. We are seeking a pastor who has a strong calling to minister. Minimum requirements are a Master of Divinity Degree from an accredited educational institution and a minimum of five (5) years of pastoral experience. Qualified candidates should mail their resume to the following address.

Postmarked no later than April 30, 2017.

Pastoral Search Committee, P. O. Box 26686 Richmond, Virginia 23261

Project research sPecialist

Richmond The Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP) seeks a Project Research Specialist in the Research Division to write comprehensive, customized proposals to market Virginia and its communities to prospective new and existing businesses considering a Virginia location. Responsibilities include: researching and evaluating comprehensive and diverse data and parameters for the development of proposals, RFI responses, and customized incentive packages, developing and maintaining topic databases for proposal production, and conducting special projects.

All candidates must apply through our website: http://www.yesvirginia.org/AboutUs/Employment.

Application deadline: March 17, 2017.

EOE/M/F/V/D

Freelance Writers: Richmond Free Press has

1 PCA or 1 CAN

needed for 12 hour shift at Assisted Living Facility.

Also need 1 PCA or CAN to work as a relief person on 12-hour shift.

Please bring a current TB report when applying.

All references will be checked.  Good pay  Good days off Need licensed medication aide for 12-hours shifts.

Call for appointment (804) 222-5133.

Triumph Baptist Church

Darlington Heights, Virginia Has an opening for the following position:

Pianist/Choir Director Interested persons should contact Belinda M. Gee, Church Clerk

Triumph Baptist Church P. O. Box 1337 Pamplin,Virginia 23958

A Division of FirstGroup America • Equal Opportunity Employer

BAYARD ADVERTISING AGENCY, INC

For full job description or An application or resume may also be emailed to: bastiff@embarqmail.com

immediate opportunities for freelance writers. Newspaper experience is a requirement.

To be considered, please send 5 samples of your writing, along with a cover letter to news@richmond freepress.com or mail to: Richmond Free Press, P. O. Box 27709, Richmond, VA 23261 No phone calls.

Richmond Free Press

NOW HIRING!

Diesel Mechanics in Richmond, VA!

$1,500

is seeking a reliable and creative person for a parttime graphics position.

Enthusiastic individual must be proficient in Macintosh Creative Suite Design software (Indesign and Photoshop) to produce accurate, high quality cameraready advertisements

Sign-On Bonus, Tool Allowance and Much More!

and news page layouts

Requirements: 18 Years or Older Valid Driver’s License 2+ Years Experience

to details. Ability to be

Competitive pay, GReat Benefits!

is essential. Submit

Call, text or apply online for immediate consideration!

work to address: Human

1-877-220-5627 Text “WASTE” to 51893 to Learn More jobs.wm.com

Equal Opportunity Employer Minority/Female/Disability/Veteran

for print production.

Meticulous attention flexible and work under deadline cooperatively in a team environment resumé and samples of Resources, Richmond Free Press, P.O. Box 27709, Richmond, Virginia 23261. No phone calls please.

The University of Kansas’ Frank Mason III is flirting with college basketball’s highest individual honor — and his fans can have a voice in the final decision.

Mason, who graduated from Petersburg High School in 2012, is one of 10 semifinalists for the coveted James A. Naismith Trophy awarded to college basketball’s most outstanding player.

Four finalists will be announced Sunday, March 19.

The winner will be announced April 2 in Glendale, Ariz., coinciding with the NCAA Final Four.

Mason, a 22-year-old senior point guard, is likely to still be in action that weekend at University of Phoenix Stadium. The Kansas Jayhawks began this week 27-3 and ranked No. 1 nationally.

Here’s how Mason’s admirers can get into the action: Naismith Trophy balloting is conducted by a national voting academy. However, from Monday, March 20, through Friday, March 31, fans also can vote online at naismithtrophy. com/vote. Fans’ votes will count 5 percent of the total.

Mason, wearing No. 0 jersey, has been brilliant this season, averaging 20.3 points and 4.6 assists per game, while hitting 50 percent of his 3-point shots and 84 percent at the foul line.

He has spearheaded numerous late-game rallies that resulted in thrilling Kansas victories.

On Senior Night on Feb. 25, Mason scored 23 points in Frank Mason III rallying Kansas from 10 points down to defeat Oklahoma 73-63.

“I don’t think there is a tougher player than Frank Mason — best guard I ever coached,” UK Coach Bill Self told the media. Coach Self has been coaching since 1993 and at Kansas since 2003.

Mason was joined at his final home game in Lawrence, Kan., by his father, Frank Leo Mason Jr., and his son, Amari. Mason’s mother is Sharon Harrison.

A four-year starter at Petersburg High, Mason twice led the Crimson Wave to the State Group AAA finals at the Siegel Center. He scored 2,003 career points for Petersburg under Coach Bill Lawson III. Initially, Mason signed a scholarship offer to play at Towson University in Maryland, but instead spent a post-graduate season at Massanutten Military Academy in Woodstock Mason joined Coach Self’s program for the 2013-14 season and quickly became a dominant figure for the Big 12 Conference juggernaut.

If the 5-foot-11 Mason is to win the Naismith Trophy, he will become only the second winner under 6 feet. The University of Texas’ T.J. Ford, also 5-foot-11, won in 2003.

Mason’s stature is the main reason why his name isn’t showing up on many NBA mock draft lists.

Mason could become the fifth Virginia native to win the Naismith Trophy.

Ralph Sampson of Harrisonburg High School and the University of Virginia won in 1981, 1982 and 1983.

David Robinson of Osbourn Park High School in Manassas and the Naval Academy won in 1987. Joe Smith of Maury High School in Norfolk and the University of Maryland took the honor in 1995, while J.J. Redick of Cave Spring High School in Roanoke and Duke University prevailed in 2006.

The only winner from the University of Kansas is Danny Manning in 1988 after leading the Jayhawks to the NCAA crown.

The first Naismith Trophy winner was UCLA’s Lew Alcindor in 1969. He later changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Last year’s recipient was the University of Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield.

The trophy is named for Dr. James A. Naismith, who is credited with inventing basketball in Springfield, Mass., in 1891. Coincidentally, Naismith later became the first coach at Kansas in 1888.

Mason is one of only two seniors among the 10 semifinalists, joining Josh Hart of defending NCAA champion Villanova.

Mason is no stranger to high honors. In 2015, he was named Most Outstanding Player after leading Team USA to the World University Games title in South Korea.

In his first 139 games at Kansas, Mason had 1,740 points, 537 assists, 471 rebounds, 159 steals and 170 3-point baskets heading into the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City.

The University of Kansas has won the Big 12 each of his four seasons as a Jayhawk. He is an overwhelming favorite to capture the Big 12 Player of the Year title.