02/14/2013

SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF CHESTERFIELD COUNTY 2.14.13

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CONTRIBUTED REPORTThe Chesterfi eld County

Black History Month and Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War com-mittees, in partnership with Virginia State University and the Chesterfi eld Historical Society of Virginia, will pres-ent a symposium from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday,

Feb. 16, at Virginia State University.

The symposium, “From Civil War to Civil Rights: The Effects of the Emancipation Proclamation,” will explore the history and impact of the Emancipation Proclamation from 1863 to 1963 to the present.

Dr. Edward Ayers,

president of the University of Richmond, will be the mod-erator, and featured speakers will include Grady Powell, Emmanuel Dabney, Dr. Edna Greene Medford, Herbert Coulton, Dr. Lauranett Lee and Dr. Lucious Edwards.

This event is free and is open to the public.

Lunch will be provided.

Registration is required and may be done online at chesterfi eld.gov or by calling 804-318-8181.

For more information, including a list of Chester-fi eld County’s entire series of programs commemorat-ing Black History Month, visit http://www.chesterfi eld.gov/blackhistorymonth/.

Black History Month symposiumEmancipation Proclamation to be explored

CONTRIBUTED REPORTProsecutors, law enforce-

ment personnel, victim advocates and allied profes-sionals are invited to a free training session from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 26, at the Chesterfi eld-Colonial Heights Department of Social Services in the in the Multi-purpose Meeting Room of the Smith-Wagner Building at 9501 Lucy Corr Circle in Chesterfi eld,.

“Serve the Underserved: Effective Handling of Do-mestic and Sexual Violence Cases with Underserved Victims” is sponsored by

the Chesterfi eld County Domestic and Sexual Vio-lence Resource Center in cooperation with the Offi ce of the Attorney General.

Continuing Legal Education, or CLE credits, for attorneys and Partial

In-service Credit, or PIC, for police offi cers are pend-ing.

The registra-tion deadline is

Thursday, Feb. 21. For more information,

contact Hunter Fisher at 804-692-0485 or hfi [email protected] or Melissa McMenemy at 804-692-0592 or [email protected].

Chesterfi eld County’s Sustain Our Community Committee (SOCC) will present its second Empower-ing Neighborhoods Forum from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 9, at the

Eanes-Pittman Public Safety Training Center at 6610 Pub-lic Safety Way in Chesterfi eld.

Attendees will get infor-mation about property main-tenance, code enforcement and crime prevention to help

kick off the revitalization of their communities.

Chesterfi eld County’s new Home Modernization Guide also will be unveiled.

This event is free and open to the public.

Register at www.chester-fi eldcommunities.com by Thursday, March 7.

For more information, contact Latisha Jenkins at 804-748-1065 or JenkinsL@chesterfi eld.gov.

Empowering Neighborhoods forum set

SUBMITTED PHOTOLauren McCarey, a seventh grade student at Millwood School, won the Private School Regional Spelling Bee held on Feb. 1. She was among the students representing 12 private schools in the Richmond area. Her winning word was “oolong,” a type of tea. Lauren has attended Millwood School since kindergarten and credits her spelling ability to her love of reading. Lauren will represent Millwood School at the Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Final Local Spelling Bee at 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 9, at the Library of Virginia. Lauren is shown with her English teacher, Emily Farmer, who accompanied her to the spelling bee.

McCarey is aW-I-N-N-E-R

CONTRIBUTED REPORT

Dance, music and decadent desserts – the upcom-ing Night of Stars event at Midlothian High School will have them all.

Presented by the chorus department, Night of Stars, which will begin at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 19, in the auditorium at the school, will unveil the show choirs’ 2013 competition programs for the fi rst time and will include an appearance by Reveille, an a capella group from The College of William and Mary.

The delectable spread of desserts, donated by a variety of Midlothian area businesses, will follow the performance.

Tickets for the show and the treats are $10 at the door. Advance tickets and reserved seating are available for large groups – $8 apiece for groups of 10 or more and $7 apiece for groups of 20 or more.

To purchase tickets in advance, call 804-794-5949. The chorus department encourages local groups and com-

munities to shuttle members or residents to the program.Proceeds from Night of Stars are used to support college

scholarship for graduating seniors who have been actively involved in the Midlothian High School choirs during their high school careers.

Midlothian High Night of Stars

BY JODI DEALRegional Reporter

The halls of Providence Middle School echoed the morning of Feb. 5 as an off-site instructor told four classrooms of sixth grade stu-dents to wrap their Twizzlers around their Oreos.

They weren’t learning a weird new recipe. Rather, the students were participating in an innovative webcast lesson all about Pi, the mathematical ratio.

Ancient mathematicians discovered that no matter the size of a circle, the circum-ference is always about 3.14

times its diameter.Educators from the Math-

Science Innovation Center in Richmond drove that point home with tasty treats.

Students wrapped a piece of licorice around the outside of Oreo cookies. They then measured the diameter of the Oreos with the pieces of candy, breaking them into two red ropes of equal length and

a third just slightly longer.Students were engaged in

the webcast, listening quietly as the off-site teachers ex-plained the origins of Pi.

When questions were asked of each class, the students wrote their answers on reusable sheets and waved them in the air for a class-mate tasked with running the computer.

Students took turns run-ning the computer program the classes used to connect to the MathScience Innovation Center teachers.

Although they waited patiently for the highly anticipated moment of truth, students got visibly excited when they got the go-ahead to eat their circumference and diameter props.

The rooms buzzed as students turned to each other and grinned.

“Do we get to eat them now? Do we?” students asked their classroom teachers.

As they munched, the Ore-os were universally popular, the Twizzlers, not so much.

“These Twizzlers taste like medicine!” one boy said. However, he fi nished his treat as the teachers continued their lessons.

Classes taught by Suzanne Potocko, Melike Monahan, Stephanie Burton and Richard Lane participated in the Pi program.

Twizzlers and Oreos = Pi?

TUESDAY,FEB. 26

Training aims to helphandle vulnerable victims

CONTRIBUTED REPORT

Ashland resident George Dennehy, who was born without arms,

shared his story of music in an inspiring program on Jan. 29 at Greenfi eld Elementary School.

The 19-year-old was born in Romania and adopted as a baby.

Even though he was born without arms, Dennehy developed a love of music at a young age, thanks to an introduction to classical music by his mother.

He started taking cello lessons at the age of 8, and

also has taught himself to play the guitar and piano with his feet.

Dennehy, who appeared courtesy of the Greenfi eld PTA, talked to the students about his personal strug-gles and the importance of respect, kindness and inclusion of all students in classes, group projects and recess activities.

Not the only interna-tional child in his house-hold, Dennehy has 11 brothers and sisters from all over the world. He told the students he loves trav-eling to share not only his music, but also his story.

Music witha message

PHOTO SUBMITTED BY GREENFIELD ELEMENTARY SCHOOLGeorge Dennehy of Ashland, who was born without arms, talked to Greenfi eld Elementary School students about the importance of music in his life. He plays cello, guitar and piano with his feet.

JODI DEAL PHOTOYahmel Rodgers, left, and Alonzo Coleman get help from teacher Suzanne Potocko, also shown at left.

Boy Scout troops report big successesBY JODI DEALRegional Reporter

It’s not easy planning an outing for Boy Scout Troop 2860, or for its brother troop, 2806.

Traveling with a pack of middle school and high school aged boys is never a walk in the park, but when your group’s as big as one of these mega-troops, it’s a pretty big deal. Both troops, sponsored by Woodlake United Methodist Church, report membership of about 100 boys, so that means any group outing is a crew of anywhere from 40 to 70 people.

“Buying groceries is a major ordeal for us,” Greg Smith, Scoutmaster of Troop 2860, said with a chuckle.

Even a visit to a restaurant or museum requires reconnais-sance to see if the destination has enough parking, seats and space for the crew.

The two troops are some of the largest in the area, but still make up only a portion of the Boy Scout activity found locally.

According to Brad Nesheim of the Heart of Virginia Coun-cil, there are about 4,000 kids involved in scouting in Ches-terfi eld County, and about 800 adults volunteering to help. In fact, about 20 percent of the boys in Chesterfi eld County join a scout troop – a percent-age that’s better than most places in the country, Nesheim pointed out.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Troop 2860 takes one or two cycling trips a

year. That merit badge requires multiple trips

culminating in a 50-mile ride that has to be fi nished in eight hours.

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JIM RIDOLPHI/FILE PHOTODuring last year’s Chinese New Year celebration, parents and students joined Chinese dancers on stage during a colorful celebration.

Year of the SnakeSnakeChinese celebration underway

Students at J.B. Watkins Elementary School have snakes on the brain.

2013 is the year of the snake, according to the tradition-al Chinese calendar, so festivities at the school’s annual Chinese New Year celebration are decid-edly reptilian this year.

Students have learned about snakes from Rockwood Park Nature Center naturalists and have engineered complicated paper snakes that will soon be on display at the Chesterfi eld Towne Center Barnes & Noble.

All students at J.B. Watkins Elementary take Chinese as part of a program that’s been up and running for six years. For the past four years, they’ve been un-der the tutelage of teacher Jenny Youman.

This year, for the fi rst time, the celebration will involve more than one school. Today (Thurs-day, Feb. 14), third, fourth and fi fth graders from J.B. Watkins

will enjoy a presentation by Midlothian Middle School’s Drama Club – snake-themed, of course.

The celebration will culmi-nate in the school’s annual book fair, which will be held Feb. 22, to Feb. 24, at the Chesterfi eld Towne Center Barnes & Noble.

Alongside the book fair, students also will display their original art at the store through March 3.

A tea party and reception for the art show will be held at 5 p.m. on Feb. 23, at the Barnes & Noble Starbucks.

Portions of each purchase from the three-day book fair will go to J.B. Watkins Elementary School’s Chinese Language Pro-gram. Students will be entered into a drawing for each grade.

Online purchases also can benefi t local students Feb. 22-24. Visit bn.com/bookfairs and enter book fair ID 11010949.

BY KOREY HUGHESSpecial Correspondent

What do tradi-tional ballads have to do with the news?

Everything, if you ask Greg Kimball.

See how ballads grew out of humans’ desire to know about the world around them at a concert at 7:15 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 16, at Con-gregation Or Ami at 9400 W. Huguenot Road in North Chesterfi eld.

The Richmond Folk Music Society will present Kimball’s “Singing the News – Ballads and Broadsides” as part of its annual series of traditional folk concerts.

Kimball is the director of public services and outreach at the Library of Virginia in Richmond. He also is the author of the book “Ameri-can City, Southern Place: A Cultural History of Antebel-lum Richmond.”

A longtime friend of Rich-mond Folk Music Society director Mary Smith, Kimball also performed for the group last year. That show focused on songs about work and organized labor.

The concept behind “Singing the News – Ballads and Broadsides,” Kimball explained, is that popular music has always been a mode of communicating ideas to the masses.

“For most of human his-tory, people learned about events through the singing of ballads and other types of events or topical songs,” Kimball said. “Remember, there was no mass media and many people were illiterate, so people learned of events

person-to-person (through) oral transmission.”

“Even after the rise of newspapers, radio and other media, songs still held a strong place in everyday culture. Songs of disasters, murders and notable people were recorded by major re-cord companies beginning in the 1920s, and thus became nationally known.”

Although ballads have been sung throughout much of recorded history, Kimball said it wasn’t until the end of the 15th century that popular British ballads began to be printed on single sheets of paper that were often called broadsides. The tradition continued in the United States, and American songs were both sung and printed.

The tunes told stories that were complex and sometimes explicit in nature.

“The popularity of these songs derived from people’s hunger for news and their fascination with stories of loss, love and power,” Kimball said.

“The ballads satisfi ed a basic human need for heroes and villains, morality tales, and of-ten our fascination with death and destruction.”

“We sometimes criticize our media for its obsession with murder and mayhem and its focus on the lurid. And, believe me, many of these old ballads are just as violent and voyeuristic as any TV crime drama or reality show.”

The songs that will be sung on Saturday represent a wide variety of musical traditions, and guest artists also will appear with Kimball to sing or to play their own versions of certain ballads. Sheryl Warner, a Richmond-based folk performer that Kimball said specializes in blues, will perform Bessie Smith’s fl ood song “Back Water Blues.”

Instrumentalist Ron Curry will be featured on some early country songs, such as Virginian Ernest Stoneman’s “Titanic.”

Kimball said Smith will sing “Gregorio Cortez,” which

is an example of the Corrido, a Mexican-American ballad form, in Spanish complete with a translation.

Audience members are al-lowed to sing along during the concert. “Many of these songs have choruses meant for just that, so by all means,” Kimball said.

Keeping the history of music alive is important to the Richmond Folk Society. And, as Kimball explained, ballads told stories from the perspec-tives of common people, and that’s why the musical genre will remain an important part of American history.

“I think that you could essentially tell the story of America through ballads and topical songs,” Kimball said. “These songs are also one of the few historical sources that give us a feel for how average people perceived events.”

Admission is $12 in ad-vance and $15 at the door.

For more information, call 804-647-7856 or visit www.richmondfolkmusic.com.

‘Singing the News’ set for Saturday, Feb. 16

CONTRIBUTED REPORT

Chesterfi eld County Cooperative Exten-sion and the Chester-fi eld County Master

Gardeners plan a full schedule of free lawn and garden semi-nars in the coming weeks.

Among the offerings planned are:� Spring Lawn Care - 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 20, and 10 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 23, at the Chester Library. Learn what to do now for that lush, green lawn. � How to Control Those Lawn Weeds -1 p.m. on Saturday, March 2, at the Central Library. They’re everywhere - learn to control them.� Pruning Crape Myrtles and Other Trees and Shrubs -6 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 26, and Wednesday, March 6, at the LaPrade Library. Learn how to prude the correct way.� Eat Like a Locavore - 6 p.m. on Monday, March 25, at the Midlothian Library and Tuesday, April 16, at the Clover

Hill Library. Learn to grow your own vegetables regardless of space constraints – leave with a garden plan and a plant in hand.� Critter Control - 6 p.m. on Monday, March 4, at the Midlothian Library. Get tips to save your landscape.� Flowers for Three Seasons -6 p.m. on Monday, March 18, at the Bon Air Library. A class on easy perennials and shrubs for a colorful landscape.� I Can Teach My Child to Plant - 6 p.m. on Monday, March 11, at the Bon Air Library. Learn about planting activities to do inside with your children.� Care, Feeding and Com-munication with Houseplants - 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 20, at the LaPrade Library. Are you houseplants talking to you? Bring ailing or unidenti-fi ed houseplants. The class will include a repotting demo, and participants will get a snippet of a house plant to pot and take home.

Free lawn and garden classes

BY ROSLYN RYANEditor Powhatan Today

It’s 9 o’clock in the morn-ing, a full hour and a half before DeRochonnet Delights offi cially opens

for business, and Jeanne-Lou-ise Womble is already racing the clock.

“Sorry, I have to get mov-ing,” she says brightly, hustling over to a washtub-sized machine fi lled with melt-ing chocolate. Standing in the middle of her workshop, Womble is surrounded on all four sides but what can only be described as a chocolate lover’s most delicious dream come true. There is every kind of chocolate, from dark to white to a tray full of exqui-sitely crafted truffl es.

It isn’t just the sight of all that chocolate that gets your mouth watering: from the moment you set foot on Womble’s Midlothian shop, a temple dedicated to all things chocolate, the sweet aroma en-velopes you. No matter where you stand in the store, you are only inches away from some whimsical delight.

To the casual observer, it

may look as though Womble, who founded the company with her husband in 2003, has created the world’s most perfect job.

However, that’s not exactly the case.

“Long story short, every-one thinks it’s so simple,” said Womble, but the reality of working in a chocolate shop doesn’t always quite measure up to the romantic fantasies some may have. Still, she laughs, “I try to make it look easy.”

If Womble does man-age to pull that off, it may be because she’s spent years training with some of the best chocolate makers in the world. She has studied in Canada, France, Italy and Belgium honing her technique in places where chocolate making—and enjoying—is tantamount to a religious calling.

As for the name of her shop, Womble explains that it was her mother’s

middle name, and chosen as a tribute to the woman who inspired her to turn her passion for chocolate into a business.

“Everything we do in here,” said Womble, pointing a framed photo of her mother, “is all in honor of her.”

DeRochonnet Delights is located at 13228 Midlothian Turnpike in the Village Market-place. For more information, visit the shop’s website at www.derochonnetdelights.com.

DeRochonnet Delights are sweet

SUBMITTED PHOTOJeanne-Louise and Richard Womble opened their gourmet chocolate shop, de Rochonnet delights, in 2003.

SUBMITTED PHOTO

Greg Kimball to perform on Saturday at Congregation Or Ami

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Before a youngster dives into swim team competition, a little skill honing

can go a long way.The upcoming Spring

Swim Team Clinic at the Midlothian Family YMCA at 737 Coalfi eld Road aims to do just that. Starting on Monday, March 25, and run-ning through Thursday, May 2, the clinic is for swimmers aged 5 to 18.

Registration for the Spring Swim Team Clinic opens on Friday, Feb. 15. The deadline to register for the clinic is Monday, March 22.

Daniel Smith is the aquat-ics director and head coach at the Midlothian Family YMCA.

YMCA facility members might already recognize Smith from his involve-ment with the Midlothian Tidal Waves, which is the Midlothian location’s YMCA swim team program.

“With the Midlothian Tidal Waves, we do a summer

and a fall and winter swim team season,” Smith said. “It’s all the same program.”

“The YMCA is focused on youth development, which includes things like team-work, caring and respect and critiquing their swimming ability. So, it’s critiquing them to improve on their four strokes and the core values of the YMCA.”

Although the Spring Swim Team Clinic will share the same coaching staff with the Midlothian Tidal Waves, Smith said the clinic is not related to the swim team. In-stead, the Spring Swim Team Clinic is an opportunity for all swimmers to develop their skills before participating in any swim team experience.

“It’s mainly a clinic with tutorials and drills before their summer swim,” Smith said. “This is for peo-ple who have a swim team background or are interested in becoming involved in a swim team atmosphere.”

For that reason, the clinic is not an activity for children who haven’t learned how

to swim. And, according to Smith, participants should have already attained a spe-cifi c profi ciency level before they take part in the Spring Swim Team Clinic.

“They must be able to do one length of freestyle or one length of backstroke,” Smith said. “The clinic will work on the butterfl y, the backstroke, the breaststroke and the free-style and starts and turns.”

Not only will attendees improve their profi ciencies as swimmers, but they will learn other values along the way.

“The YMCA focuses on developing the best all-around swimmer and their confi dence, not only in their best stroke but their least ef-fective stroke,” Smith said.

“So, we focus on their ac-complishments. It’s all about individual self-achievement,” he added.

Smith said swimming is a good fi tness activity for kids, but also is a skill that can serve them throughout their lives.

“We teach water safety as well. But I think that it’s a

life skill that everyone should know, especially youth,” Smith said, noting that everyone needs to know basic rules for pools, oceans, lakes and other water settings.

Swimmers ages 12 and under can participate in one or two sessions that will take place from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. and 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays.

Swimmers ages 13 to 18 can participate in one or two sessions that will be held from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. and 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The charge for YMCA facility members who only want to participate in the clinic one day a week is $50. For non-members, the fee is $65.

YMCA can participate twice a week for $70, while non-members can do the same for $100.

For more information about the clinic, pricing or the schedule, call Daniel Smith at 804-419-8547 or e-mail him at [email protected].

Spring Swim Team Clinic at YMCA

PHOTO SUBMITTED BY SANDY WHITESIDEThe Chesterfi eld County Chamber of Commerce recently held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the Bank of McKenney-Chester’s new location at 200 Johnson Creek Road in Chester.

CONTRIBUTED REPORTSamuel Little Graphic

Design was named Small Business of the Year 2012 by the Chesterfi eld County Chamber of Commerce.

“I’m humbled and honored,” Little said of the award. “It’s important to me personally and pro-fessionally to be part of Chesterfi eld County’s active business community. Being active in our Chamber, therefore, it’s a must for me.

Our county’s Chamber gives small business profession-als such as myself a sense of belonging.”

Samuel Little Graphic Design, a marketing, website development and graphic design fi rm that opened in 1995, has been a Chamber member since 2008.

Little is a Chamber ambassador and serves on the events and membership committees and the mem-ber value sub-committee.

Samuel Little Graphic DesignSmall Business of the Year

SUBMITTED PHOTO

Samuel Little receives Chamber honor

Jana Fisher a sales associate with Long & Foster® Real Estate Inc.’s Harbour Pointe offi ce at 5000 W Village Green Dr. in Midlothian has been named Top Producer for December 2012.

“We are proud to an-nounce Jana as Top Producer,” said Gary Scott, president of Long & Foster Real Estate Inc. “Jana is one of many examples of Long & Foster’s highly-trained professionals who go to great lengths to best serve clients seeking the total homeownership experi-ence.”

A real estate professional for 13 years, Fisher is an active member of the Richmond Association of Realtors®.

She holds the presti-giousAccredited Buyer’s Representative (ABR) profes-

sional designation and has consistently proven to be a high achiever since entering real estate.

Frequently cited as a top producer, Fisher also is a member of Long & Foster’s coveted President’s Club for producing more than $4 mil-lion in settled sales volume in 2012.

For more information, visit www.LongandFoster.com.

Jana Fisher named top Harbour Pointe producer

SUBMITTED PHOTO Jana Fisher

CONTRIBUTED REPORTThroughout Central

Virginia, April 11 is the date to register children for kindergarten.

Every Chesterfi eld County elementary school will register children between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 11, and parents should take their children to the elementary school they are zoned to attend.

To fi nd the correct school, parents should call 804-318-8743 or go online to the parents section of myches-terfi eldschools.com and click “fi nd my school.”

Kindergarten is a full-day program offered in every Chesterfi eld elementary school to help children learn language arts, math, science and social studies.

A child must be 5 years

old on or before Sept. 30 to attend kindergarten for the 2013-2014 school year. There are no exceptions to the age requirement.

Children should ac-company their parents to registration on April 11 so they can participate in a brief evaluation.

Parents must bring the child’s certifi ed original birth certifi cate; the child’s Social Security number is requested.

To attend Chesterfi eld County Public Schools, chil-dren must reside in Chester-fi eld County with a parent or legal guardian, so parents also must bring to registration their photo ID and one of these proofs of residency:�Lease for at least one year or deed of a residence or property in Chesterfi eld County�Contract or lease free of

contingencies to occupy a Chesterfi eld County residence within two months of the date of enrollment�Resident manager’s letter on company letterhead stating that residence is a corporate residence in Chesterfi eld County�Weekly receipts for tem-porary residence in a hotel or motel for up to 60 days (requires renewal or evidence of more permanent residency within 60 days of enrollment)

Before the fi rst day of school, parents must sup-ply medical records showing their child has had a physical examination within the past 12 months and listing the dates of each state-required immunization.

For more information, par-ents should call their neigh-borhood school.

April 11 is the date to register for kindergarten

Advertise in Midlothian Exchange!

Call (804) 598-4305 for details.

PHOTO SUBMITTED BY PATRICIA CUENINSwift Creek Middle School’s newest musicians recently debuted to a standing ovation. Shown are, from left, front, Ashley Ban, and, back, Donovan Wigfall, Kippei Shibata, Connor Johnson and band director Myren McGonigle.

Swift Creek Middle School’s Begin-ning Band students gave their very fi rst concert on Wednesday, Jan. 23, to a very appreciative audience of

parents and friends. Through their rendi-tions of folk tunes from around the world, the students demonstrated what they have learned both individually and as an ensem-ble. Student readers introduced each of the tunes and explained which skill they helped

students learn. The concert culminated with the group’s performance of four pieces of sheet music that reinforced the concepts students have learned so far, including Old MacBingo by John O’Reilly, A Festive Christmas arranged by Frank Erickson, Holiday Sampler arranged by John O’Reilly and Mark Williams and Here We Go March by John O’Reilly. The 51-member ensemble received a standing ovation.

Standing ovation for band

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23120Jan. 225200 block of Cabretta DriveSeveral unknown suspect/s were observed stealing items from a home under construction.

23112Jan. 157200 block of Full Rack DriveUnknown suspect/s broke out the glass of the rear sliding doors. Items, including fi rearms, were reported sto-len from the victim’s residence.

4600 block of Commonwealth Centre ParkwaySuspect stole items from a depart-ment store.

Jan. 178000 block of Midlothian TurnpikeTwo armed, unknown suspects en-tered a business through an unlocked rear door. The suspects displayed handguns and forced one employee to open the register to give them money. The suspects then forced the employ-ees into the walk in freezer and fl ed the scene. Items were reported stolen. No injuries were reported.

Jan. 209400 block of Midlothian TurnpikeUnknown suspect/s possibly entered the business through an unsecure win-dow. Items were reported stolen from a building at a construction site.

Jan. 217400 Midlothian TurnpikeArmed and masked suspect entered the business, forced the victims to their knees and stole currency.

23236Jan 154300 block of Sharonridge DriveUnknown suspect/s forced entry through an exterior garage door and an interior garage door that leads into the residence. Items were reported stolen from the victim’s residence.

23234Jan. 153300 block of Meadowdale BoulevardUnknown suspect/s entered residence with no signs of forced entry, but there was a hole in the drywall leading from the exterior water heater closet into the apartment. Items were reported stolen from the residence.

Jan. 196200 block of Sloan CourtUnknown suspect/s assaulted the victim outside of the residence in a parking lot.

23235Jan. 153900 block of Tanbark RoadA report of fraud/identity was reported at the victim’s residence.

All data are based on the publicly available Chesterfi eld County Police Department daily arrest and crime releases and are reported according to Federal Incident Based Reporting rules.

CRIME REPORT

The Chesterfi eld County Black History Month Committee and Ches-terfi eld County Public

Library will present a series of free programs in February as part of the county’s annual Black History Month commemorations.

To learn more about the pro-grams, visit library.chesterfi eld.gov.

The schedule includes:� Story Time and Craft with the

Virginia Historical Society from 11 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Feb. 16 and 23 and March 2 at the Midlothian Library, Meadowdale Library and

Central Library, respectively. Hear A Sweet Smell of Roses by Angela Johnson and create a Martin Luther King Jr. hand puppet. Recommend-ed for children aged 4-10.

� Unknown No Longer: A Vir-ginia Slave Name Database from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 11, and 11 a.m. to noon on Satur-day, Feb. 23, at the Chester Library and Midlothian Library, respective-ly. This genealogical tool, a project of the Virginia Historical Society, offers a glimpse into 19th-century Virginia history. Learn how to fi nd Virginia ancestors.

� Storyteller Donna Washing-ton from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. and 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 16, at LaPrade Library, Meadowdale Library and Central Library, respectively. This fun, high-energy, participatory sto-rytelling event will celebrate trick-sters, tribulations and triumphs.

� Whoop and Holler (Morn-ing Coffee Break program) from 10:30 a.m. to noon on Tuesday, Feb. 5, Wednesday, Feb. 13, and Thurs-day, Feb. 19, at Bon Air Library, Midlothian Library and Chester Library, respectively. Learn the his-

tory of the banjo in this illustrated lecture.

� Teen Studio: Feel the Beat from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Satur-day, Feb. 9, Feb. 16 and Feb. 23, at Meadowdale Library, Bon Air Li-brary and LaPrade Library, respec-tively. Become immersed in West African drumming in this djembe workshop presented by the Elegba Folklore Society. Learn percussion techniques and explore cultural traditions. Participants in this pro-gram must be between the ages of 12 and 16 years old.

Registration is suggested for all

programs, and may be done online at library.chesterfi eld.gov, or at any library branch.

Chesterfi eld County schedule of events continues for Black History Month

GUEST COLUMNIST

If you can read this sign, you’re too closeBY JIM RIDOLPHISpecial Correspondent

In the past, I’ve viewed stories on people illegally parking in the handicapped zone with a minimal amount of interest. Although I would never consider doing such a thing

myself, I withheld judgment on those who cheated on the reserved spaces.

As many of you know, I have a son with muscular dystrophy, and he qualifi ed for a handicapped sticker. Since we began using it, it has made Jack’s life much more manageable, and long walks from the parking lot have largely been eliminated.

I view the handicapped designa-tion as a blessing for disabled people whose journeys are much more diffi cult that any of us able-bodied individuals will ever recognize. The extra 15 feet can seem like miles to those who legitimately have a right to park in these zones.

My intolerance with those who ignore the designations and use the zone as a drop-off or quick parking space has grown almost daily, and it is indeed rare for us to go a full 24 hours without an incident involving an illegally parked car in the handicapped zone.

Since my children are usually with me when these incidents occur, I sometimes hold my tongue and always respect civility as fi rst order. Other times, I just can’t help letting one of these incon-siderate drivers have it – verbally, of course.

My son’s elementary school has two handi-capped spaces, and, more times than not, they are occupied by non-designated cars driven by hurried mothers and fathers. I suppose they don’t realize that their convenience is of little consequence to a disabled boy who has to walk a block in the rain so they can save that extra minute.

On one rainy morning, a father returned to his car, parked in the handicapped zone.

He could have noticed the stare I was leveling at him as I waited behind the space. He walked back

and explained. “My son had a project he needed to take to his class today,” he said apologetically.

“My son has muscular dystrophy, every day,” I quickly replied.

Laws are not suggestions. Society, in its wisdom, has seen fi t to make accessibility a little easier for those who deserve a helping hand.

Fact is, there is no good excuse for parking illegally in the handicapped zone. Just having to run in for a min-ute, or dropping someone off are not legitimate uses for the space or viable excuses for denying the rights of a disabled person.

The best I can hope for all of these offenders is they will all receive an expensive ticket for that patently self-ish act at some point in their self-cen-tered careers. Hopefully, all of you will encounter someone not nearly as nice

as me as you proceed through life thinking rules are only for us dumb ones, and will get the tongue-lashing and verbal beat-down you truly deserve. I plan on doing my part to make sure that happens, especially for repeat offenders.

I’m not sure what type of person abuses the rights of disabled people, but I’m pretty sure they won’t be receiving any humanitarian awards. Cer-tainly not from me anyway.

As I exit my soapbox, I only have one question left and that’s for the lady in the brown station wagon who parks in the handicapped zone daily at my son’s school: “What the hell is the matter with your legs?”

There’s another parent of a disabled child at his school who often arrives at the same time we do in the morning. After we both waited for that very car to pull out of the handicapped spot, we spoke briefl y on the sidewalk to the front door.

“You know, there are two kinds of people who park in those zones,” she said.

“Yeah, who is that?” I replied.“The disabled and a*******.”Truer words were never spoken.


A training session for prospec-tive foster parents was conducted on Wednesday, Feb. 13, at the Ches-terfi eld-Colonial Heights Depart-ment of Social Services.

PRIDE (Parent Resources for Information, Development and Education) is the curriculum the local Department of Social Services and many other Virginia branches use to educate potential foster parents.

According to Lindsay Britt, fam-ily development specialist for the Chesterfi eld-Colonial Heights De-partment of Social Services, about 30 people attended information sessions in November and January in advance of the current PRIDE training session. At those meetings, attendees learned about the chil-dren involved, their families and the approval process that prospec-tive foster parents must undergo.

Another information session will be set for this summer, but a date has not yet been selected, Britt noted.

“We also go over expectations for resource parents with the agen-cy and emphasize the importance of working as a team to achieve permanency for a child,” Britt said. “Permanency means return home to the birth parents, placement with relatives, or adoption when

the fi rst two are not achievable.”“Foster parents are expected to

be part of the child’s transition back to the birth parents, with relatives, or with adoptive parents in some cases. The basic role is for resource parents to provide temporary care for children that enter the depart-ment’s custody, but the role includes much more, which is defi ned throughout the approval process.”

As Britt explained, there is a need for foster parents who are willing to foster teens and for par-ents who can foster groups of two or more siblings.

“Teenagers and siblings groups are diffi cult to place in regular foster homes due to their greater needs,” Britt said. “Some of our current families are unable to accommodate teens for various reasons.”

“It may be due to the special needs (such as) behavior, aggression and intellectual disabilities, or be-cause of the ages of their own birth children in the home. Sometimes, it just takes educating the foster parents on the teenagers because many of them can be maintained in our regular foster homes.”

Foster families with stay-at-home parents also are in high demand because, as Britt explained, being a foster parent requires fl ex-ibility.

Britt added that the PRIDE

pre-service training also consists of about 27 training hours and includes lectures, activities, videos and discussion, along with some activities parents complete at home.

“Throughout the training, prospective foster parents would be submitting paperwork and all necessary background checks,” Britt said. “I would also (visit) their home multiple times throughout the process to get to know the family and assess their ability to meet the competencies and provide stable homes for the children in the department’s custody.”

Possible foster parents are checked for a variety of qualities, Britt explained, including fl ex-ibility, compassion for others and a commitment to the children and families they would serve.

“We look for people who are willing and committed to working with birth families, despite the seri-ous issues that led to their children entering foster care. Resource parents must also have their own strong support system while navi-gating through the diffi culties of fostering abused and or neglected children and working within our system.”

To obtain more information about becoming a foster parent in Chesterfi eld County, call Lindsay Britt at 804-717-6391.

PRIDE sets foster parents training

CONTRIBUTED REPORTFour Midlothian Middle School

students have qualifi ed to compete in a regional history bee in April.

Students qualify for the live competition by taking a regional qualifying exam online.

Students receive two points for questions answered correctly, and lose one point for misses.

The top 120 scorers from a region advance to the live competi-tion.

Midlothian students who made the cut include Austin Bassard, who

scored 148; Andy Monroe, with a score of 139; Samuel McCormack, with a score of 126; and Yusuf Goulmamine, with a score of 101.

Those four are now eligible to travel to the regional fi nals, set for Tuesday, April 23, at Westland Middle School in Bethesda, Md. There, students will play head-to-head on a Jeopardy-style buzzer system to answer questions about history. See sample questions and learn more about the event at www.historybee.com.

Midlothian Middle students Advance to regional history bee

PHOTO SUBMITTED BY PATRICIA CUENINVirginia First Lady Maureen McDonnell was the keynote speaker at the fourth annual Virginia Healthy Youth Day, an event aimed at promoting healthy lifestyles for the Commonwealth’s young people. About 20 students from Swift Creek Middle School attended the event, which was held at the Richmond Marriott. Specialists from the Richmond YMCA and representatives from Mad Science of Central Virginia provided interactive demonstrations and activities to teach attendees about exercising, eating right, staying away from tobacco products and other healthy concepts. Mascots from the Richmond Flying Squirrels, Richmond Kickers and VCU exercised with the students. Students from Swift Creek also visited the Library of Virginia and the Capitol during their motivating and inspirational day in the city.

Swift Creek Middle School studentsattend Healthy Youth Day

FEBRUARY 14, 2013 || 5MIDLOTHIANEXCHANGE.COM EXPLAIN NEWS || FEATURES

FOR YOUR ENTERTAINMENT

CLUES ACROSS 1. Jam into

5. Egypt’s capital

10. Disfi gure

13. Biblical Hamath

14. Vipera berus

15. The three wise men

16. “The foaming cleanser”

17. Earthquake

18. Breezed through

19. South Pacifi c island

21. Legal possessors

23. List of dishes served

25. Jai __

26. Superhigh frequency

29. Farm fanbatic

34. Double agents

36. No (Scottish)

37. Peninsula off

Manchuria

38. As fast as can be done

(abbr.)

39. Apulian city 70121

40. Talk show host Philbin

42. USA’s favorite uncle

45. More coherent

46. PBS drama series

49. Retirement plan

50. Be obedient to

51. French river

53. __ fatale, seductive

woman

56. Made a surprise attack

60. Winglike structures

61. Belittle oneself

65. Department of Troyes

France

66. Mains

67. Shoe ties

68. A carefree adventure

69. Mariner or sailor

70. Modern chair designer

71. ____ Gin Fizz cocktail

CLUES DOWN 1. Chew the fat

2. A prince in India

3. A Far East wet nurse

4. Axiom

5. The frame around a

door

6. Fruit drink

7. Ugandan Pres. Amin

8. Real Estate Services

9. Brass that looks like

gold

10. Nutmeg seed covering

spice

11. River in Austria

12. Eliminates

15. Canadian province

20. Green, Earl Grey and

iced

22. Four ball advancement

24. Vaselike receptacle

25. Highest card

26. Unction

27. 1st of the books of the

Minor Prophets

28. Symbols of allegiance

30. Farm state

31. A citizen of Iran

32. More dried-up

33. Alt. spelling for tayra

35. Perfect examples

41. One point E of SE

42. Secretly watch

43. Three toed sloth

44. __ student, learns

healing

45. Liquid body

substances

47. Act of selling again

48. Stroke

52. Selector switches

53. Speed, not slow

54. City founded by

Xenophanes

55. Picasso’s mistress Dora

57. Having two units or

parts

58. 2nd largest Spanish

river

59. Delta Kappa Epsilon

nickname

62. The cry made by sheep

63. Air Cheif Marshall

64. Perceive with the eyes

VALENTINE WORD SEARCH

ARIES - Mar 21/Apr 20Aries, be on your best behavior this

week. Acquaintances both new

and established will have their eyes

on you, and it is essential that you

make a good impression.

TAURUS - Apr 21/May 21Taurus, although you may not be

able to see into the future, you can

plan for what may happen in the

next few days. Now is the perfect

time to check in with friends.

GEMINI - May 22/Jun 21Gemini, get all of your work ducks

in a row because you want to en-

sure you are up for the next pro-

motion or pay increase. Now could

be the time to make work your top

priority.

CANCER - Jun 22/Jul 22You may fi nd that you have an easy

time of reading people this week,

Cancer. Use this trait to your advan-

tage to fi nd out how certain people

feel about your new ideas.

LEO - Jul 23/Aug 23Leo, don’t get too excited when

things seem out of whack this

week. Keep calm and fi nd out how

you can set things on the right

course. Lead by example, and oth-

ers will follow.

VIRGO - Aug 24/Sept 22Virgo, try not to participate in any

new activities this week. You are

already over-extended. Clear your

to-do lists before you take on any

other responsibilities.

LIBRA - Sept 23/Oct 23Show others how good their lives

can be if they just follow a little of

your own advice and take cues

from what you have done already,

Libra. Expect a few converts.

SCORPIO - Oct 24/Nov 22Scorpio, you may be more focused

on your fantasies and dream life

than what is going on in your real

life for the next few days. Just don’t

wander around in a fog for too

long.

SAGITTARIUS - Nov 23/Dec 21Sagittarius, it may be hard to con-

centrate this week, especially with

so many ideas fl oating around in

your head. But do your best to stay

focused.

CAPRICORN - Dec 22/Jan 20Capricron, lend a helping hand

when you see an opportunity to do

so. Donate your time to someone

in need or help a friend or family

member complete a project.

AQUARIUS - Jan 21/Feb 18Aquarius, clarify your needs and

wants. Until you can delineate be-

tween these factors you may be

spending unnecessarily, which is

not what your budget needs.

PISCES - Feb 19/Mar 20Pisces, it may take a few days for

you to handle things, but don’t let

that dissuade you from trying. Set

your own timetable.

HOROSCOPES

CROSSWORD PUZZLE

THIS WEEK’S ANSWERS

02/13-02/14

Therapeutic massage will be the topic of the Wednesday, Feb.

20, meeting of the Chester-fi eld Women’s League.

The group will meet from 9 a.m. to noon at The Villages of Charter Colony Clubhouse ay 1101 Charter

Club Way in Midlothian.A licensed massage

therapist will talk about the benefi ts of therapeutic massage.

Refreshments will be served at the meeting, which is open to members and non-members.

Newcomers to the area

and women interested in learning more about the League, which meets the third Wednesday of each month, are encouraged and welcome to attend.

Meetings feature guest speakers or other special ac-tivities of interest to women.

The League aims to

give women opportunities to make new friends, get involved in specialized inter-est groups, and support the community through charity work.

For more information, contact Carole at 804-405-7809 or [email protected].

Women’s League to learn about therapeutic massage

Joe Oestreich, an author, songwriter and musician, will take part in the Feb. 19-28 18th Annual Literary Festival at John Tyler Community College.

The festival will celebrate the written word, a power-ful force that can create haunting stories, adoring verses, imaginative lyrics, belly-aching laughs, dramatic speeches, and theatrical spectacles.

Oestreich’s memoir, “Hit-less Wonder: A Life in Minor League Rock and Roll,” docu-ments his 20-plus years in the rock band Watershed. His work has appeared in Sports Illustrated, Esquire, Ninth Letter and Fourth Genre.

He is an assistant profes-sor of English and creative writing at Coastal Carolina University.

In addition to participating in a reading and book signing event that will be open to the community, Oestreich will lead writing workshops designed specifi cally for John Tyler students.

Literary Festival events open to the public include:� Reading and book signing

with Joe Oestreich will begin at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 19, in room H109 in Hamel Hall on the Midlothian campus.� Student and faculty read-

ings will begin at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 21, in room H109 in Hamel Hall on the Midlothian campus.� Student speech contest

will begin at 1 p.m. on Tues-day, Feb. 26, in room B124 in Bird Hall on the Chester campus.� Staged reading of “The

Belle of Amherst” by act-ing teacher Catherine Bryne will begin at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 26, in room H109 in Hamel Hall on the Midlothian campus.� Midlothian campus,

Hamel Hall, room H109.� Student and faculty read-

ings will begin at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 28, in room B124 in Bird Hall on the Chester campus.

Admission is free for all public events, and light re-freshments will be served.

To learn more about Joe Oestreich, visit http://joeoest-reich.com/.

For additional informa-tion about the John Tyler Community College Literary Festival, visit www.facebook.com/johntylercc, or contact Jeff Landon at [email protected] or 804-594-1473.

For directions to John Tyler Community College’s Chester and Midlothian campuses, go to www.jtcc.edu/locations.

Rock-n-Roll writerComing to college Lit Festival

Joe Oestreich

Allison Springer has joined Long & Foster Real Estate Inc. at its Village of Midlothian offi ce.

Springer will specialize in working with homebuyers and sellers.

“We are very excited and fortunate to have Allison join us,” Dianne Flournoy, manager of the Village of Midlothian offi ce, said. “We look forward to the high quality of service to consum-ers that she has built a repu-tation and career around.”

Springer successfully completed Long & Foster’s Star Builders program, an extensive training course for newly licensed sales

associates. The program’s curriculum covers contracts, agency, prospecting, business planning, fi nance and work-ing with buyers and sellers.

Springer holds mem-bership in the Richmond Association of Realtors.

“Long & Foster Real Estate is the market leader in Central Virginia. I feel that in order to offer my clients the most profes-sional, prompt and courte-ous service, nobody does it better than Long & Foster, Village of Midlothian. I pride myself on bringing my experience as a former award-winning retail man-ager to the Long & Foster

team and look forward to meeting and exceeding all of my clients expectations in their real estate needs,” Springer said.

“The dynamics of today’s residential real estate market are constantly changing. Completing our Star Build-ers program has provided Allison with the right tools to meet those changing dynamics,” Gary Scott, president of Long & Foster Real Estate Inc., said. “We welcome Allison to Long & Foster, a company that has helped local buyers and sell-ers reach their homeowner-ship goals for more than 40 years.”

Allison resides in Ches-terfi eld with her husband Chris and twin sons.

For more information, visit www.LongandFoster.com.

Long & Foster welcomes agent Allison Springer

Allison Springer


Although the Man-chester Volunteer Rescue Squad’s main aim is quick

responses to medical emer-gencies, they’ll respond to another pressing need on Saturday, Feb. 16, in Chester-fi eld County.

The organization is host-ing a blood drive from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at its MVRS Station 2 at 7810 Winterpock Rd. in Chesterfi eld.

Manchester Volunteer Rescue Squad president Katherine Eubank said the squad began its collaboration with the American Red Cross in 2012 and that Saturday’s blood drive will continue their partnership. “We had

two with them last year, so we’re continuing those ef-forts,” Eubank said.

Because blood is a materi-al that charitable health orga-nizations like the American Red Cross need all year long, it is a crucial commodity.

When asked if there is currently a blood shortage in Chesterfi eld County, Eubank said blood is always needed. “I don’t know that there is, but I haven’t heard that they have enough,” Eubank said.

Members of the general public are welcome to par-ticipate in the event.

There are ailments, how-ever, that can hinder people from being able to give blood. “They do a screen-

ing there at the site,” Eubank said. “We’ve had people who couldn’t (give blood) be-cause of certain things.”

“If they’re sick, we don’t want them to give blood. And if they’re running a fe-ver or if they’ve been out of

the country within a certain period, they may not be able to give blood.”

As Eubank pointed out, giving blood is

a great way to help another person that doesn’t require a fi nancial investment.

“Well, whether they’re in-volved in fi re or EMS or not, they should want to help other people,” Eubank said. “It doesn’t cost anything but your time as long as you’re healthy, and I would think

that it’s a great way to help your fellow man.”

Eubank said the squad, which has another station on Courthouse Road, consists mostly of volunteers. Mem-bership requires a rigorous application process.

“They can go online or come out and do an appli-cation,” Eubank said. “Once they fi ll it out, they would meet with the membership committee and have a full background check, a hand scan and a DMV (Depart-ment of Motor Vehicles) check.”

For more information about Saturday’s blood drive or the Manchester Volunteer Rescue Squad, including how to become a member, visit www.mvrs.org.

Manchester Volunteer Rescue SquadBlood drive to be held Saturday at Station 2 location

6 || FEBRUARY 14, 2013 MIDLOTHIANEXCHANGE.COMEXPLORE YOUR WORLD || TRAVEL

SCOUTS from page 1

E-mail your event to [email protected] Subject line: EVENT

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 13 Whoop and Holler (Morning Coffee Break program) will be presented from 10:30 a.m. to noon at Bon Air Library, Midlothian Library and Ches-ter Library, respectively. Learn the history of the banjo in this illustrated lecture.

ESOL students and Art students will travel over to Midlothian High School to see their production of Treasure Island. For more information please contact Ms. Grossnick-le at 768-6156, extension 5139.

FRIDAY, FEB. 15Knights of Columbus Annual Lenten Fish Fry will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. at St. Edward the Confessor Catholic Church at 2700 Dolfi eld Drive in Richmond. The event is open to the public. The adult menu includes fried catfi sh or baked salmon, salad, baked potato, hush puppies and a beverage, all for $10. The chil-dren’s menu includes a half portion of salmon or catfi sh, macaroni and cheese, french fries and a beverage, all for $4. Children 5 and under eat free. For more information, contact John Saelens at 804-594-3801.

SATURDAY, FEB. 16 Story Time and Craft with the Virginia Historical Society will be presented from 11 a.m. to noon at the Midlothian Library, Meadowdale Library and Central Library, respec-tively. Hear “A Sweet Smell of Roses” by Angela Johnson and create a Martin Luther King Jr. hand puppet at the event, which is recommended for children aged 4 to 10. For more information, visit library.chesterfi eld.gov.

Storyteller Donna Washing-ton will appear from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. and 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. at LaPrade Library, Meadowdale Library and Central Library, respectively. The fun, high-energy, participatory storytell-ing event will celebrate tricksters, tribulations and triumphs. For more informa-tion, visit library.chesterfi eld.gov.

SATURDAY, FEB. 16Midlothian Masonic Lodge No. 211 will sponsor a charity breakfast and bloodmobile at the lodge at 13510 Westfi eld Road in Midlothian. The breakfast is a combined charity event for the Masonic Home of Virginia by Midlothian Lodge 211 and Black Heath Lodge No. 1982. The breakfast will be held from 8 to 10 a.m. For $5, the menu includes all-you-can-eat pancakes, coffee, bacon and sausage. The bloodmobile is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.The Chesterfi eld County Black History Month and Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War com-mittees, in partnership with Virginia State University and the Chesterfi eld County His-torical Society of Virginia, will present a symposium, “From Civil War to Civil Rights: The Effects of the Emancipation Proclamation” from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Virginia State University. This event is free and open to the public. Lunch will be provided. Registration is required and may be done online at chesterfi eld.gov or by calling 804-318-8181. For more information, including a list of Chesterfi eld County’s entire series of programs commemorating Black His-tory Month, visit http://www.chesterfi eld.gov/blackhisto-rymonth/.

Teen Studio: Feel the Beat will be presented from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. at Meadowdale Library, Bon Air Library and LaPrade Library, respectively. Become immersed in West African drumming in this djembe workshop presented by the Elegba Folklore Soci-ety. Learn percussion tech-niques and explore cultural traditions. Participants in this program must be between the ages of 12 and 16 years old. For more information, visit library.chesterfi eld.gov.

The Richmond Folk Music Society will present Greg Kimball’s “Singing the News – Ballads and Broadsides” as part of its annual series of traditional folk concerts. See how ballads grew out of humans’ desire to know about the world around them at a concert at 7:15 p.m. at Congregation Or Ami at 9400 W. Huguenot Road in North Chesterfi eld.

THURSDAY, FEB. 19 Whoop and Holler (Morning Coffee Break program) will be presented from 10:30 a.m. to noon on at Bon Air Library, Midlothian Library and Ches-ter Library, respectively. Learn the history of the banjo in this illustrated lecture.

Midlothian High Night of Stars begins at 7 p.m. in the auditorium at the school. The show will unveil the show choirs’ 2013 competition pro-grams for the fi rst time and will include an appearance by Reveille, an a capella group from The College of William and Mary.Desserts will follow the performance. Tickets for the show and the treats are $10 at the door. Advance tickets and reserved seating are available for large groups – $8 apiece for groups of 10 or more and $7 apiece for groups of 20 or more. To purchase tickets in advance, call 804-794-5949.

John Tyler Community College’s 18th Annual Literary Festival will feature a reading and book signing with Joe Oestreich at 7 p.m. in room H109 in Hamel Hall on the Midlothian campus. Admis-sion is free, and light refresh-ments will be served. To learn more about Oest-reich, visit http://joeoestreich.com/. For more information about the festival, visit www.facebook.com/johntylercc, or contact Jeff Landon at [email protected] or 804-594-1473. For directions to John Tyler Community College’s Chester and Midlothian campuses, go to www.jtcc.edu/locations.

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 20 Chesterfi eld Women’s League meeting begins at 9 a.m. at The Villages of Charter Colo-ny Clubhouse ay 1101 Charter Club Way in Midlothian. A licensed massage therapist will talk about the benefi ts of therapeutic massage. Re-freshments will be served at the meeting, which is open to members and non-members. For more information, contact Carole at 804-405-7809 or [email protected].

Spring Lawn Care semi-nar begins at 6 p.m. at the Chester Library. Learn what to do now for that lush, green lawn. The program is being presented by the Chesterfi eld County Cooperative Exten-sion and the Chesterfi eld County Master Gardeners. It is free of charge.

Manakin Episcopal Church’s Lenten Program will be held

STUFF TO DO

at 985 Huguenot Trail in Midlothian. Eucharist begins at 6 p.m., followed by a light supper and the program from 7:15 to 8:45 p.m. For more in-formation, call 804-794-6401 or the rector, Rev. Michael Stone, at 804-317-5083.

THURSDAY, FEB. 21John Tyler Community College’s 18th Annual Literary Festival will feature student and faculty readings starting at 7 p.m. in room H109 in Hamel Hall on the Midlothian campus. Admission is free for all public events, and light re-freshments will be served. For more information about the festival, visit www.facebook.com/johntylercc, or contact Jeff Landon at [email protected] or 804-594-1473.

Four soldiers from Echo Company at Ft. Lee will be at Midlothian High School to work out with the Fit for Life class at 12:30 p.m. For more information please contact Ms. Grossnickle at 768-6156, extension 5139.

SATURDAY, FEB. 23Story Time and Craft with the Virginia Historical Society will be presented from 11 a.m. to noon at the Midlothian Library, Meadowdale Library and Central Library, respec-tively. Hear “A Sweet Smell of Roses” by Angela Johnson and create a Martin Luther King Jr. hand puppet at the event, which is recommended for children aged 4 to 10. For more information, visit library.chesterfi eld.gov.

Unknown No Longer: A Virginia Slave Name Database will be presented from 11 a.m. to noon at the Chester Library and Midlothian Library, re-spectively. This genealogical tool, a project of the Virginia Historical Society, offers a glimpse into 19th century Virginia history. Learn how to fi nd Virginia ancestors. For more information, visit library.chesterfi eld.gov.

Teen Studio: Feel the Beat will be presented from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. at Meadowdale Library, Bon Air Library and LaPrade Library, respectively. Become immersed in West African drumming in this djembe workshop presented by the Elegba Folklore Soci-ety. Learn percussion tech-niques and explore cultural traditions. Participants in this program must be between the ages of 12 and 16 years old. For more information, visit library.chesterfi eld.gov.

Spring Lawn Care seminar begins at 10 a.m. at the Chester Library. Learn what to do now for that lush, green lawn. The program is being presented by the Chesterfi eld County Cooperative Exten-sion and the Chesterfi eld County Master Gardeners. It is free of charge.

THURSDAY, FEB. 26John Tyler Community College’s 18th Annual Literary Festival will feature a student speech contest starting at 1 p.m. in room B124 in Bird Hall on the Chester campus. Admission is free for all public events, and light refresh-ments will be served. For more information about the f estival, visit www.facebook.com/johntylercc, or contact Jeff Landon at [email protected] or 804-594-1473.

Pruning Crape Myrtles and Other Trees and Shrubs seminar begins at 6 p.m. at the LaPrade Library.

SUBMITTED PHOTOTroop 2860 members backpack the Appalachian Trail.

Patrick Holder

SUBMITTED PHOTOBoy Scouts from Troop 2806 are shown on a scuba diving, fi shing and sight-seeing trip in the Bahamas.

SUBMITTED PHOTOBoy Scouts learn fi rearm and archery skills and safety.

CONTRIBUTED REPORTSeveral local students were among the

3,097 Richmond Art Region participants who submitted works for the Scholastic Art Awards competition this year.

Several former Swift Creek Middle School students were among the award winners.

Among the 186 Gold Key winners for most accomplished works were Amy Cheng and Caitlin Harris, who now attend Cosby High School.

Their work will be on display Feb. 9

through March 16 in the new MWV Art Education Center at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

Ben O’Dell and Kenya Thomas, both of Cosby High School, and Deanna Ham-ilton of Clover Hill High School were among 206 Silver Key winners, while Cosby student Hannah Miller and Clover Hill student Tess Leftwich were among 275 students who received honorable mentions.

Information submitted by Swift Creek Middle School.

Students win art honors

Falling Creek Ironworks Park, site of the fi rst iron fur-nace in the New World, will hold its annual Falling Creek Ironworks Day from noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday, March 16.

Learn more about the 1619-22 ironworks with activities for the whole family, including period demonstrations, exhib-its, costumed interpretations,

Native American dancing and children’s activities.

Guides will lead tours of the archaeological ruins of both the 1619 ironworks and Archibald Cary’s Colonial grist mill.

A ground-breaking ceremo-ny for improvements to the park will be held at noon.

Admission is free.

This event is co-sponsored by the Falling Creek Iron-works Foundation and the Chesterfi eld County Depart-ment of Parks and Recreation.

For more information, call 804-751-4946, or visit fallingcreekironworks.org.

Falling Creek Ironworks Park is located at 6908 Jef-ferson Davis Highway.

Falling Creek Ironworks Day

The key, in Troop 2806 Scoutmaster Jeff DeHoff ’s opinion, is the number of dedicated adults who volunteer to help make the troops work. But it’s not just the numbers that are impressive, he added.

“Most of us are very committed to scouting as a way of teaching boys life-long values, teaching boys skills, teaching boys how to become men,” DeHoff said. “It’s not just kind of something you do once a week and grumble about the extra time it takes.”

Mark Wheeler, an assis-tant scoutmaster for Troop 2806, who took a turn at its helm, agreed with DeHoff.

“By having this depth of resources in our adult ranks, we almost always have a merit badge counsel-or available,” Wheeler said.

The more merit badge opportunities, the bet-ter, DeHoff pointed out. Some boys may not be as outdoorsy as others, so they may spend minimal time on more “traditional” scouting pursuits like camping and devote their time to other pursuits, like robotics or short-wave radio activities. He added that merit badge exploration recently led one of his scouts to pursue a ca-reer in veterinary medicine.

All three scout leaders agreed – the point is not just playing outside. It’s developing well-rounded adults.

“We see our role as giving them the skills to tra-verse all of these challenges they’ll have when they get out on their own,” said De-Hoff. “. . . And they’ll know how to build a fi re.”

There's a merit badge for that?

Modern Boy Scouts go for many of the same merit badges their prede-cessors have sought over the organization’s 103-year history. But as the program has grown and changed, so have its offerings.

New badges are intro-duced often, including a Search and Rescue badge Troop 2806 recently pur-sued with a huge training exercise at the Brady Saun-ders Boy Scouts of America camping reservation near Goochland. More than 100 people participated that day.

Some scouts in his troop have 30 or 40 merit badges and are pursuing more, Smith said. Boys must earn 21 required badges to attain the top rank of Eagle Scout.

“The merit badge program is so broad-reach-ing, they could choose to do more athletic-centered badges, or, for more aca-demic boys, they do more technical classroom-orient-ed badges,” Smith said. Boys can pursue badges on their own or as part of a group program.

Outside of badge pursuit, scouts go on regular trips that can range from a stan-dard weekend out in the woods or trip to a museum to much more unique expe-riences. Smith pointed out that local scouts recently visited Mt. Rogers, the highest peak in Virginia. A group of local scouts was interested in scuba diving, so the boys sought certifi ca-tion locally then went on a 10-day diving and fi shing

trip in the Bahamas the next summer, DeHoff added.

Troop 2860 even got to say the Pledge of Allegiance to introduce President Barack Obama at the Siegel Center in Richmond this spring, Smith pointed out.

Life Scout Patrick Holder, 15, a member of Troop 2860 who’s currently pursuing Eagle rank, said, “It’s some building a fi re and camping, but there’s a lot of stuff other people don’t realize.”

Holder also said he has gotten valuable leadership and life skill training that will serve him for years to come.

“It helps you not only with your occupation, but with your everyday life and what you do in the commu-nity,” Holder said. “It will help me be able to conduct myself in interviews. It’ll also help me to lead, and those skills go with you the rest of your life.

Eagle Scout Adam Ding-man of Troop 2806 agreed.

“I have been all over the country and North America – New Mexico, Canada, the Florida Keys,” Dingman said. “Those are once-in-a-lifetime experiences that we could only really achieve through scouting.”

Personal development activities have been just as important, said Dingman, noting that leadership skills he’s learned in scouting have helped him work with younger players on his soccer team. And when he’s not in a leadership position, he added, he knows how to interact effectively.

“Even when I may not be the full-on leader of a project, I understand that doing my part and doing it well will benefi t the team.”

In addition to benefi ting the team, the boys learn to work for the benefi t of the community. Scouting ca-reers culminate in massive personal service projects

scouts must complete to reach the rank of Eagle Scout. Holder is building picnic tables and a sand box for a church that doesn’t have a Boy Scout troop based there, while Ding-man created a quarter-mile walking trail for a middle school.

Eagle Scout projects benefi t the community for years after the scout’s efforts are fi nished, Wheeler noted. Troop-wide efforts also make a big splash, from food bank collec-tions to massive clean-up efforts, including a massive annual cleanup Troop 2860 conducts at the Swift Creek Reservoir, to get the boys out and involved.

“What it’s about is service to others – it’s not about service to yourself,” said DeHoff. “Any time that people in the community come across scouts and can help them along by encour-aging them or telling them they’re doing a good job on a project, or buying their popcorn, they should. The idea is really we’re intend-ing to make our immediate local community as good a place as possible to live.”

To learn more about Troop 2860, go to https://sites.google.com/a/troop860.org/public/, and visit http://www.troop806.com/ to check in on Troop 2806.

FEBRUARY 14, 2013 || 7MIDLOTHIANEXCHANGE.COM SPORTS || FITNESSEXERCISE

PHOTO BY DANIEL SANJIB MINBenedictine’s LG Gill, right, shoots over a Trinity Episcopal opponent during a game at Trinty Episcopal last month.

Waiting no moreL.G. Gill patiently waited to make his mark on Benedictine basketballBY FRED JETERContributing Writer

Charles “L.G.” Gill Jr. waited and waited in line for his chance to make his mark on Benedictine basketball.

When opportunity knocked, he was ready.

In his fi rst go-round as varsity starter, the 6-7, 195-pound senior with Midlothian and Powhatan connections has taken fl ight as a bona fi de Division I col-lege prospect.

“First and foremost, L.G. is a great kid, and I don’t use the word ‘great’ often,” said Benedictine fi rst-year coach Robert Churchwell.

“On the fl oor, he’s an all-round player … he works, he listens and he applies what he learns.”

Wearing size 16 sneak-ers, the soft-spoken son of Charles Sr. and Wanda Gill is averaging 13.5 points and 4.8 rebounds for a 25-2 Cadets team that is ranked No. 1 in Times-Dispatch area poll.

Scoring in a variety of ways, he was made 113-for-203 from the fl oor through 25 outings; that includes 20-of-57 beyond the arc.

He’d made 60 of 81 foul shoots with his smooth right-handed stroke.

“L.G. is an excellent face-up and 3-point shooter,” said Churchwell. “He also runs the fl oor hard for lay-ups.”

Despite limited expo-sure, Gill has mid-major offers from Kennesaw, Ga., State, Mount St. Mary’s, Central Connecticut, High Points and Radford.

More suitors could de-velop as the powerful Cadets near the Virginia Indepen-dent Schools tournament at Virginia State.

“I’ve waited this long; I might as well wait till the season’s over,” said Gill of his college choice.

Another possibility might be spending a year at a prep school to further spruce up his budding resume.

Gill attended Milwood School in Woodlake from kindergarten through sev-enth grade. He went to Bailey Bridge Middle in eighth grade, starring for the Bears.

As a ninth grader, he enrolled at Benedictine, a Catholic military school in west Richmond with a sto-ried hoops program boasting 32 state titles in Catholic and VIS tournaments.

With so many talented athletes in the program, success came in small incre-ments for Gill.

He was relegated to JV’s as freshman and sophomore. Last year he backed up All-State Jordan Burgess, now on VCU scholarship.

“I learned a lot from Jordan,” said Gill.

“I especially learned how to get off screens and get open … and I learned from Jordan to push yourself every day in practice.”

Gill’s father, Charles Sr.

stands 6-6 himself and is a graduate of pre-integra-tion Maggie L. Walker High, arguably the best hoops pro-gram in Richmond annals.

Charles Gill Sr., who won a sizeable chunk of lottery money in 1993, is also for-mer owner of the Richmond Rhythm of the International Basketball League in 2001.

The Rhythm, who played at Richmond Coliseum, was coached by former Univer-sity of Virginia 7-foot-4 All-America Ralph Sampson.

“I was just a little kid and I remember sitting behind the bench and thinking what a giant he was,” recalled L.G. Gill of Sampson.

L.G. Gill grew up in Midlothian. The family moved to Powhatan last year.

An older sister, Tionna, played basketball at Trinity Episcopal and is now a VCU student.

Charles Gill Jr. was just a baby when he got the tag “L.G.,” short for “Little Gill.”

Nowadays, “Long Gill” would be more fi tting.

HOOPS NOTEBOOK:Benedictine’s senior

tri-captains all hail from Midlothian-area schools. Nick Coppola and Nick Gor-ski transferred from Cosby High; L.G. Gill attended Milwood School and Bailey Bridge Middle.

Also, promising 6-6 soph-omore Andre Wright is from Midlothian. On the sidelines, assistant coach Ryan Marable is a Midlothian native. Marable played at Huguenot Academy and Longwood University and coached at Manchester and Tomahawk Creek Middle schools.

Matt Gorski’s basket-ball career at University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC) has ended before it really began.

The former Cosby High, All-Dominion center has been dismissed from the Ho-rizon League team by coach Howard Moore.

“We’re sad to announce that Matt will no longer be a member of our program,” Moore said.

“It is a privilege to repre-sent our university and ath-letic department. With that privilege comes expectations, both on and off the court.

“Unfortunately Matt violated team rules that have led to his dismissal … we wish him all the best in the future.”

The 7-foot, 244 pound Gorski never played for the Flames. He was recovering from a stress fracture in his right foot that he sustained during pre-season drills.

Gorski played for Cosby through his junior year and was enjoying a strong season in 2011 when he left the school. He fi nished the 2011 season at Princeton Day Academy in Maryland and played last season in the post-graduate program at Fishburne Military in Waynesboro.

R-MC roster is ripe with area talent

PHOTO BY CHARLIE LEFFLERMichael Trentham (James River) could develop into a remarkable college player.

Local graduates could contribute right awayBY CHARLIE LEFFLERRichmond Suburban Newspapers

Randolph-Macon base-ball coach Ray Hedrick is very upbeat heading into the 2013 season, which may come as somewhat of a surprise. The Yellow Jackets lost a majority of their hitting to graduation last year including fi rst baseman Jordan Walton; arguably one of school’s all time greatest players.

But Hedrick has reason to be optimistic. The incoming freshman class could not only turn out to be one of his most tal-ented but they are push-ing his returning players to new heights. “We have an outstanding fresh-man class,” Hedrick said. “It has brought a much needed boost of energy and competition and just overall positive outlook to the program. It’s really made our program better and it’s complimented the returning players we have.”

In addition, R-MC returns eight of their top 11 players from last season.

That’s the good news. The bad news is the Yel-

low Jackets return only two players that hit above .300 in last year when the team went 20-19-1. “We don’t have a whole lot statistically outside of pitchers,” Hedrick said.

Also, regardless of how talented the incoming class may be, not a single newcomer has seen his fi rst college pitch. There-fore until live play begins this weekend, there are

more question marks than answers.

Fortunately, R-MC’s pitching rotation should provide a solid foundation to build on and give the younger players a chance to adjust to the college game.

“I think our starting pitching is going to give you what you want out of starting pitching,” Hedrick said. “We should be able to get fi ve, six innings each out of our starters and be in the game.”

The cornerstone of this year’s Yellow Jacket rotation will be veteran right-handed

pitcher Michael Helbig. The senior out of Midlothian High School saw 11 starts in 2012 and fi nished with a 4-2 record. With a 3.66 ERA, Helbig was R-MC’s third leading pitcher and led the team in strikeouts with 42.

Hedrick measures pitch-ing experience in terms of post-season play and Helbig leads the pack. “He pitched in three conference tourna-ment games, as a freshman, sophomore and junior,” the coach said.

Furthermore, Helbig

R-MC page 7

PHOTO BY KENNY MOOREMax Chisholm of Cosby tries to maneuver for the pin against Nico Rivera of Godwin as they battle in the 106lb weight class of the Regional Finals. Chisholm defeated Rivera by 9-1 major decision, earning his fi rst regional championship.

MAX-imum reward: Chisholm wins regional championship

BY BEN ORCUTTContributing Writer

Following graduation, Cosby High School senior Max Chisholm says he’s thinking about enlisting in the United States Marine Corps.

Based on his mental and physical toughness that were on display last weekend during the 2013 Central Re-gion Wrestling Tournament at Man-chester High School, Chisholm may have what it takes to join the ranks of the few, the proud and the brave.

Chisholm marched through the regional fi eld in the 106-pound weight class in stellar fashion winning two of his bouts by pins, another by a techni-cal fall – 16-0 – and the championship match against Nico Rivera of Mills Godwin by a 9-1 major decision.

“It feels great,” Chisholm said of his fi rst regional title. “It feels so amazing. I’ve worked hard for it, but now I have this big target on my back for states so I’ve got to get ready for states. My goal is to win but I’m trying to at least place in the top three.”

The Group AAA state meet is scheduled for tomorrow and Saturday at Oscar Smith High School in Chesa-peake. The top four wrestlers in each weight class from four regions qualify for the state tournament.

Even though it wasn’t close, Ch-isholm said the regional champion-

ship match was the most diffi cult for him.

“The last one was the toughest, but it wasn’t too tough,” he said. “I had never wrestled any of these kids before. They’re just another wrestler and I just try and go out there and win. I just had to get everything right and keep [Rivera] close to me, not let him separate and win.”

Born in Russia, Chisholm came to the United States after being adopted at the age of 7. He said he didn’t begin wrestling until he was in the eighth grade.

While he was delighted with Chisholm’s regional crown, Cosby head coach Mike Stefanko said it came as no shock.

“You know what, it’s not a surprise because of all the hard work that he’s done,” Stefanko said. “Now he won’t tell you this, but he had a major concussion in the springtime last year where actually he missed the last fi ve weeks of school with a severe head injury and ended up fi ghting his way back and getting back in shape and coming back and winning this thing is just amazing.”

Cosby fi nished sixth out of 32 schools in the regional team stand-ings with 95.5 points. Matoaca, who scored 200 points, claimed its second consecutive regional title and also

swept the individual awards with Neal Richards being named the outstand-ing wrestler and Michael Moore the coach of the year.

Cosby’s Tyler Powell appeared to be on track to win the regional crown in the 285-pound class pinning his fi rst three opponents. In the championship match against Anthony Helm of Ma-toaca, Powell took a 1-0 lead during the second period, but was pinned by Helm at the 3:43 mark.

Following the match, Powell talked about his costly mistake.

“Well I was just trying to keep my legs away a little bit farther,” he said. “I let him catch my leg and after that it’s tough fi ghting off your back against a wrestler that good weighing 280 pounds.”

At 245 pounds, Powell gave up 35 pounds to Helm.

By virtue of his runner-up fi nish, Powell is headed to state competition where he will try to regroup.

“I’m just going to try to see what I got next and hopefully go out there and put together some wins for the state tournament,” he said.

Cosby also had two other wrestlers qualify for the state tournament – B.J. Lay, who fi nished third at 182 and Jordan Taylor, who captured fourth

HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING

CROWN Page 8

8 || FEBRUARY 14, 2013 MIDLOTHIANEXCHANGE.COMSPORTS || FITNESSEXERCISE

Fisher commits to Virginia TechBY BRUCE WELLSSports Editor

Last Wednesday high school athletes across the country grabbed pens and put their signatures to a National Letter of Intent to play at the college level.

Chesterfi eld was no exception, as dozens of ath-letes in football, cross coun-try, soccer and fi eld hockey made their decisions.

Holland Fisher was one of 24 local athletes to sign.

Suspended from school, Fisher, a Manchester linebacker, held his signing ceremony at home sur-rounded by family and a few members of the media

It also was the fi nal day of his 10-day suspension, which was given, according to Fisher, after he got in an argument with a teacher. Although he still could have held his signing ceremony at Manchester, he chose to stay at home.

“I wanted to have it at home with my family,”

Fisher said.Fisher said that he

continues to rehab from an ankle injury that lim-ited him to just fi ve games during his senior season. Neither Fisher nor the Virginia Tech coaching staff expect the ankle injury to be an issue.

Fisher was among the area’s most recruited play-ers. After committing to Virginia Tech in early 2012, he was offered a scholar-ship by Ohio State and Alabama. Ultimately, he stuck with his decision to become a Hokie.

Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer didn’t seem troubled by Fisher’s recent suspension.

“Holland’s got to learn from the situation, and I think he has,” Beamer said. “I think it’s been resolved.”

Cosby High School had the area’s largest ceremo-nies, with eight players signing on the dotted line. Blaine Fink signed with

Virginia Tech, Tessa Broad-water with West Virginia, Jayden Metzger and Gina D’Orazio with Longwood, Emma Manis with VMI, Rachel Block with Oregon, Emily Mead with Radford and Regan Spencer with Syracuse.

In addition to Fisher, fi ve other Manchester athletes made commitments. Cody Wilburn signed with Fair-mont State, Morgan Harris, and Miranda Carlson with Radford, Christian Rog-ers with UVA, and David Thompson will walk on at Norfolk State.

Midlothian High School had four athletes com-mit, led by Taylor Stout who signed to play foot-ball at VMI. James River High School also had four athletes commit including Tyler Shirley (football ) Air Force.

Monacan’s Connor Wingo-Reeves (UVA) and Marshall Ellick (Air Force) also committed.

PHOTO BY ZACK GIBSONCosby’s Troy Caupain (center) goes airborne for the layup against James River. Caupain fi nished with 16 points and 14 rebounds, helping the Titans beat the Rapids last week. The loss prevented James River from clinching the Dominion District title.

could close out his career as one of the Yellow Jackets’ best players on the mound. “A good solid season this year and he could poten-tially have the all-time record for wins in program history, which would be a nice little feather in his cap,” Hedrick said.

Like Helbig, junior Matt Fischgrund and sophomore Jake Bram both saw im-portant action in last year’s ODAC tournament.

Bram had a 4.15 ERA in nine starts during 2012 and fi nished with a 3-3 record. He was fourth on the team in strikeouts with 26.

It will be a group of freshman fi ghting to make the back end of the rota-tion, among those Chris-tian Sanderson, Austin Bain and Daniel Byrd out of Cosby. “Those three guys are right now battling it out for the fourth spot of the fi fth spot,” Hedrick said. The ones that do not earn a starting slot will fi ll in the role of long relievers.

The remainder of the bullpen will also be a mix of youth and experience.

Sophomore Brandon Beiler, who was R-MC left hand specialist last season, made 15 appearances and fi nished with the second best ERA on the team at 3.38. Beiler missed the fall season due to a knee injury but has been throwing well of late. Also back are soph-omores Glen McLaughlin, James Overbeek, J.T. Wil-liamson, Sid Harvey and Ryan Burrows.

Hedrick also likes what he’s seen out of fresh-men right-hander Tanner Phillips (Powhatan). “He’s going to have to have pin-

point control,” the coach said. “He’s a fastball/slider guy. He’s a very deceiving guy.”

Freshman Chris Tiller (Monacan) could also be a late inning contributor this season.

When it comes to of-fense, senior outfi elder Jeb Weymouth is the lone re-turning starter that proved consistent at the plate, batting .303 last season.

Colossal 6-3, 245 junior Jon Witt (Trinity Episcopal) saw action in 29 games as a designated hitter.

Weymouth and Witt were second on the team with four home runs each and posted slugging per-centages of .492 and .442 respectively.

Hedrick needs the Yellow Jackets’ offense to step up in 2013. Despite getting 20 wins, R-MC was outscored 247-231 and stranded 374 runners over the course of last season. Therefore the coach may look to talented newcomers to provide that boost, which always brings question marks.

“I think as the season unfolds a little bit…there’s some guys we are going to count on in key positions that haven’t played college baseball,” Hedrick said.

Two players that Hedrick can’t wait to see make their college debuts are second baseman Bryan Milten-berger (Cosby) and out-fi elder Michael Trentham (James River).

Trentham is making the transition back to his natu-ral position in the outfi eld after fi lling in as catcher for the Rapids last season. Hedrick believes if ap-plied properly, Trentham’s strength and ability could

allow him to develop into a remarkable college player. “He’s got the potential to have a breakthrough career at Randolph-Macon,” the coach said. “If he works hard and is coachable, as I expect him to be, he could be one of those guys that we’re talking about 10 years from now, like, ‘Boy, remember when Trentham played there?’ He’s got a very high ceiling.”

Hedrick places Milten-berger in the same category. “I think he was a real fi nd for us,” the coach said. “I think as the year goes on, I think he is really going to be a key contributor for our program.”

Miltenberger could also develop into the rare excep-tion of a second baseman who is also a middle of the lineup power hitter. “He’s got some real quick hands and some power from the right side.”

Freshman outfi elder Nick Williamson (Mona-can) has also impressed the coaching staff with his ability. “Athletic, can run like crazy,” Hedrick said. “If we can get him to buy into drag bunting, push bun-ting, doing the little things like that, I think he could be a legitimate option in our outfi eld because he runs so well and possesses such strong defensive abili-ties.”

Hedrick believes the team will have their sights set on regional and national levels over the course of the next few years.

“I’m excited about this team,” he said. “I don’t know what’s going to hap-pen four months from now, but I like this team.”

GRAPPLER from page 7

place at 195. While he had hoped the

Titans would fi nish higher in the team standings, Stefanko said overall he was pleased with his wrestlers’ efforts.

“I would have liked to have won more in the consola-tions,” he said. “I thought we could have had more kids place fi fth, sixth, but I thought the four that are qualifi ed for the state, those are the four that we were counting on that could do big damage in the tournament and they came through.”

Midlothian fi nished eighth in the team standings with 78 points.

“We are sending three to the state tournament,” said Trojan head coach Jimmy Cox. “The kids that we are taking to the state have worked very hard. They’re great wrestlers. They have great records. Their work ethic is a refl ection of their going.”

Wrestling in the 138-pound division, Jerry Ronnau was the highest fi nisher for the Trojans after falling 6-4 to Matoaca’s Richards in the championship bout. The defending state champion in the 120-pound class, Richards took a 6-1 lead into the third period, but Ronnau mounted a comeback and came close to pulling of a last-second win as he did in his semifi nal match against Corbin Allen of Hanover.

Down 1-0 with 14 seconds left in the match, Ronnau got a reversal against Allen and held on for dear life for the 2-1 win.

“It was an incredible feel-ing,” Ronnau said. “I think that was probably my favorite match I’ve ever wrestled.”

Ronnau said he was just hoping he could “squeeze one point out” and force overtime.

“Really I was in despera-tion,” he said. “I backed in to him and he [spun] over my head and I just happened to catch it.”

An Eagle Scout who sports a 3.9 grade point average, Ronnau was one of four regional wrestlers to receive a Ray Long Sr. Scholarship, which is awarded by the Central Virginia Wrestling Offi cials Association.

Ronnau’s plan is to attend Virginia Tech in the fall as a walk-on for the Hokies’ wres-tling team. In the meantime, he said he’s looking forward to this weekend’s state tour-nament.

“Every time I wrestle [Richards], I’m defi nitely closing the gap,” Ronnau said. “This is the closest I’ve ever been to beating him. If I ever see him again I know I can beat him. I feel pretty good going into this tournament.”

Cox said he and Ronnau knew that Richards would be a formidable opponent.

“We knew that this was the toughest weight class, but this is where he wanted to be,” Cox said of Ronnau. “That

was what he wanted and this is the best place for him to be going into the state champi-onship.

Also headed to state competition for the Trojans are Trent Parker, who fi nished third in the region at 195 and Kyle Clark, who was fourth at 220.

Recognized for the way their wrestlers handled them-selves throughout the season, Midlothian received the Steve Bower Sportsmanship Award, which is presented by the Central Virginia Wrestling Offi cials Association. This year marked the fi fth time the Trojans have taken the trophy home.

“What we do is we put the responsibility on ourselves,” Cox said. “We want to see the kids work hard. We want to see them avoid some of the calls or score points that we don’t have to worry about offi cials making bad calls. It’s not the offi cial’s fault. We want to take full responsibil-ity for wrestling and what we’re doing out there.

“It’s also a credit to our kids because we do have really good kids at Midlothian High School. They’re cool under pressure and we as coaches try to set the example for them to do that.”

The Trojans are tough, but nice, Ronnau said.

“I feel like of all the teams out there, we’re defi nitely the nicest, which I guess has its advantages and disadvan-tages,” he said. “But that’s

R-MC from Page 7

NATIONAL SIGNING DAY

PHOTO BY JIM HASKINSAmong the area’s most recruited players, Manchester’s Holland Fisher committed to Virginia Tech in early 2012. He was offered a scholarship by Ohio State and Alabama but ultimately stuck with his decision to become a Hokie.

PHOTO BY BRUCE WELLSMonacan’s Connor Wingo-Reeves (seated left) and Marshall Ellick (seated right) pose with the Monacan coaching staff. Wingo-Reeves will attend the University of Virginia, Ellick will attend the United States Air Force Academy.

COURTESY OF MIDLOTHIAN HIGH SCHOOLMidlothian’s Taylor Stout (center) will attend Virginia Military Institute.

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National Signing Day 2013

Last Wednesday was national sign-ing day for many sports, and athletes across Chesterfi eld took the opportu-nity to fi nalized their college commit-ments. Here are some of the signees:

Cosby: Blaine Fink, Soccer, Virginia Tech.Cosby: Tessa Broadwater, Soccer, West VirginiaCosby,: Jayden Metzger, Soccer, Longwood UniversityCosby: Gina D’Orazio, Soccer, Longwood UniversityCosby: Emma Manis, Soccer, VMICosby: Rachel Block, Cheerleading, OregonCosby: Emily Mead, Field Hockey, Radford UniversityCosby: Regan Spencer, Field Hockey, SyracuseJames River: Tyler Shirley, Football, Air Force AcademyJames River: Cameron Watkins, Field Kockey, RadfordJames River: Alyson Brown, Soccer, N.C. StateJames River: Ellen Taylor, Soccer, Coastal CarolinaManchester: Holland Fisher, Football, Virginia TechManchester: Cody Wilburn, Football, Fairmont StateManchester: David Thompson, Football, Norfolk StateManchester: Morgan Harris, Track, Radford UniversityManchester: Christian Rogers, Track, University of VA.Manchester: Miranda Carlson, Soccer, Radford Midlothian: Taylor Stout, Football, VMIMidlothian: Sean Willard, Track, MississippiMidlothian: Tessa Riley, Track, Wake ForestMidlothian: Kara Dickerson, Track, University of VA.Monacan: Connor Wingo-Reeves, Football, UVAMonacan: Marshall Ellick, Football, Air Force Academy

PHOTO BY JIM HASKINSMidlothian High School held a special signing day on Feb. 7 for three of their cross country/track athletes. Kara Dickerson (University of Virginia), Sean Willard (University of Mississippi, “Ole Miss”) and Tessa Riley (Wake Forest).

CONTRIBUTED PHOTOManchester’s Morgan Harris (left) will continue her track & fi eld career at Radford University. Christian Rogers (right) will take his track and fi eld talents to the University of Virginia.

PHOTO BY JIM HASKINSFrom left, James River’s Cameron Watkins (Radford), Alyson Brown (North Carolina State), Ellen “Ellie” Taylor (Coastal Carolina), Tyler Shirley (United States Air Force Academy).

COURTESY OF MANCHESTER HIGH SCHOOLManchester’s Cody Wilburn will continue his football career at Fairmont State.

PHOTO BY JIM HASKINSCosby’s top row: Blayne Fink (Virginia Tech), Tessa Broadwater (West Virginia), Rachael Block (Oregon), Emily Mead (Radford), bottom row: Jayden Metzger (Longwood), Gina D’Orazio (Longwood), Emma Manis (VMI), Regan Spencer (Syracuse).

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FEBRUARYValentine SectionPublished February 14Deadline: February 7

MARCHHealth & Wellness

SectionPublished March 14Deadline: March 7

MAYSpring/Summer Guide

Published May 2Deadline: April 25

JUNEAmelia Phonebook

Published June 27Deadline: May 31

AUGUSTBack To School Published August 1Deadline: July 25

SEPTEMBERFall Guide

Published October 24Deadline: October 17

NOVEMBER“Thank a Veteran”

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