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G L O U C E S T E R - M AT H E W S

THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 2021 VOL. LXXXIV, no. 3 NEW SERIES (USPS 220-560) GLOUCESTER, VA. 23061 | MATHEWS, VA. 23109 two sections 26 pages 75 CENTS

MLK talkFriday morning, on the 92nd birthday of Martin Luther King Jr , Sen Tim Kaine spoke via Zoom to a group of Gloucester High students about the legacy of the slain civil rights leader See story on page 11A

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The COVID-19 Vaccination Resource Center is being staffed by Gloucester County staff members and is being housed in the Gloucester Main Library’s Community Room

Gloucester sets up Vaccination Resource CenterGloucester County, in coor-

dination with and in support of the Three Rivers Health District, opened a COVID-19 Vaccination Resource Center on Tuesday in the Community Room of Gloucester Library, Main Street Center. While es-tablished in Gloucester, the service is available to all resi-dents of the 10-county Three Rivers Health District, includ-ing Mathews.

Staffed by Gloucester Coun-ty employees, the call center which can be reached by call-ing 804-824-2733, will be op-erational Monday through Fri-day from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., excluding state holidays.

The Vaccination Resource Center is being operated by county staff, with Virginia De-partment of Health represen-tatives also on hand to help answer questions related to the COVID-19 vaccine.

In addition to the newly ac-tivated Vaccination Resource Center, residents are encour-aged to visit vdh.jebbit.com/amkwk6m1 to fill out a form and be notified when the vac-cine is available to them.

Call volumes into the Vac-cination Resource Center are expected to be very high for the foreseeable future. Resi-dents are asked to remain patient and keep trying if all

lines are busy when attempt-ing to call in.

More information is also

available on VDH’s Vaccine Response website at vdh.vir-ginia.gov/covid-19-vaccine.

Mathews teacher pleads against

staff reductions

Chairman Michael C Rowe Vice chairman Melissa Mason

Rowe, Mason to lead Mathews board in 2021

CHARLIE KOENIG / GAZETTE-JOURNAL

Back on the matMathews wrestlers returned to the mat last weekend, taking on King William and York high schools in a tri-meet Gloucester High School sports resume this week, including a wrestling tri-meet on Saturday at MHS against the Blue Devils and Poquoson Bull Islanders Here, MHS wrestler Lexi Deagle (113 lbs ) dominates a King William opponent on Saturday She went 2-0 on the day as the Devils defeated both teams For more on high school sports, see pages 13A-14A

Gloucester approves one-time

bonuses for employees

BY TYLER BASS

The Gloucester Board of Supervisors approved a one-time bonus for county employees at a total cost of $191,086 during an electronic work session on Jan. 19.

The motion came from vice chairman Christopher Hutson after the board decided not to approve a cost-of-living ad-justment catch-up in the same amount proposed by County Administrator Brent Fedors.

Due to budgetary con-straints, COLA increases were eliminated in FY19 and FY20, and Hutson raised concerns that an additional increase would be required next year if approved. He asked if the board would have to pay $382,000 next year, which Fe-dors confirmed. Other mem-bers of the board echoed Hut-son’s concern that raising the COLA at this time would not be responsible.

Given the uncertain state

Three Rivers moves to next vaccination phase

The Three Rivers Health District—which includes Gloucester and Mathews counties—began vaccinat-ing people this week in the Phase 1b priority group. The vaccinations are not open to the public.

Those eligible to receive the vaccine during Phase 1b, according to a press release, are police, fire and hazmat response personnel; those living and working in cor-rectional facilities, homeless shelters, and migrant labor

camps; child care and K-12 teachers and staff; food and agriculture workers; and manufacturers.

Also eligible are grocery store workers; public transit

BY CHARLIE KOENIG

On the same night that the Mathews School Board moved ahead with its pro-posed budget that includes plans for the eventual con-solidation of the county’s ele-mentary and middle schools, the board heard an impas-sioned plea to reconsider moving ahead with consoli-dation and any accompany-ing staff reductions, at least until the dust has settled over the pandemic.

Joy Drummond, an early childhood special education teacher at the county’s el-ementary school, asked the board to hold off on moving ahead with this change.

Speaking on behalf of about 20 teachers attend-ing Tuesday’s meeting in the Mathews High School auditorium, she asked board members “Why make this big change in the middle of a pandemic?”

The group of teachers, all wearing orange and black “Tiger Strong” T-shirts, stood in unison as Drum-mond delivered her com-ments.

“They are standing be-hind me to show their sup-port for the words I have for you tonight,” she said. “The thoughts and opinions I ex-press belong to all of us, not

BY SHERRY HAMILTON

The Mathews County Board of Supervisors elect-ed its officers for 2021 dur-ing its annual organizational meeting last Wednesday, which was held virtually on the Zoom platform.

Mike Rowe was selected as chair on a 4-1 vote, with Paul Hudgins dissenting. Melissa Mason was unani-mously elected vice chair.

Deputy County Adminis-trator Julie Kaylor will con-tinue as clerk of the board, with Communications Man-ager Caroline Oxley con-tinuing as deputy clerk.

ScheduleThe board is required to

name a physical meeting place for its monthly meet-ings, and voted to make Mathews High School its primary meeting location from February through June, while pandemic pre-cautions will likely still be required. However, mem-bers made it clear that virtu-al meetings will still be held as necessary, on a case-by-case basis. All meetings will be held on the fourth Tuesday of the month, at 6

p.m. to reduce the possibility of conflicts with high school activities.

The regular January meet-ing will be held virtually, at 1 p.m. this coming Tuesday via Zoom.

There will also be a virtual Budget Public Input Meeting at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 27, to give residents an oppor-tunity to express concerns or make suggestions about the budget before the budget pro-cess gets underway.

Beginning in July, the sched-ule will return to normal, with meetings in the historic court-house at 6 p.m. in July, August and September, and at 1 p.m. in October, November and De-cember.

Code of Ethics and Rules of Procedure

The board unanimously ad-opted the proposed Code of Ethics, but not before Hudgins remarked that he thought the board would have a problem with the code “because of the way it conducts itself at times.”

Mason reminded Hudgins that all board members were given an opportunity to con-

Gloucester adds 6 COVID-19 deathsBY SHERRY HAMILTON

While the Three Rivers Health District moved to Phase 1b of the COVID-19 vaccination program on Tuesday, offering some hope of relief from the pan-

demic, the post-holiday surge in cases and deaths continued locally.

In Gloucester, six people died of the virus during the past week, for a total of 18

SEE MATHEWS SUPERVISORS, PAGE 7A

SEE MATHEWS SCHOOLS, PAGE 7A

SEE COVID-19 UPDATE, PAGE 7A

SEE EMPLOYEE BONUSES, PAGE 7A

SEE PHASE 1B, PAGE 7A

Y M C K

2A GLOUCESTER-MATHEWS GAZETTE-JOURNAL THURSDAY JANUARY 21, 2021Gloucester GleaninGs

Gloucester-MathewsGAZETTE-JOURNAL

P.O. Box 2060Gloucester, VA

23061A consolidation in 1937

of the Gloucester Gazette (1919) and the Mathews Journal (1904).

Published every Thursday at Gloucester, Virginia by Tidewater Newspapers, Inc. Periodicals postage paid at Gloucester, Virginia. Postmaster: Please send change of addresses to: Gazette-Journal, P.O. Box 2060, Gloucester, VA 23061.

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Roadside cleanupD’Shawn Wright of Body By D/Wright Cuts organized a cleanup last month of Indian Road in Gloucester, lending a hand to make the county a little less lit-tered. Among those taking part were, from left, Cristian Wright, Melanie Pyle, Ethan Brister, Wright and Jenny Joyner.

Pizza delivery Linda Triolet, a team member in the Clinical Documentation Integrity department at Gloucester’s Riverside Walter Reed Hospital bought and delivered a large number of pizzas on Friday for fellow team members working tirelessly on the front lines of the pandemic. “Our team members work so hard and I wanted to give back to them for all they do and encourage others to do so as well,” Triolet said. With COVID-19 cases surging, Triolet said she hopes others will follow her lead. “We need to continue to love and appreciate our frontline health care workers … they are the real heroes.” Triolet, right, is shown with colleague Daniel Minnick outside Walter Reed ready to hand out pizzas.

GCF makes COVID-19 grant awards

GVFR PHOTOS

House fireGloucester Volunteer Fire and Rescue responded to a house fire in the Holly Beach neighborhood on Tuesday afternoon. The first units on the scene found the fire concentrated at the front of the home, and were able to put it out. The home-owners were not home. Two pets were lost, while one dog was resuscitated by medics and taken to a veterinarian. Ac-cording to GVFR, the cause of the fire is still under investigation. Five fire units and one medic responded, along with 14 personnel. Gloucester County Animal Control was on the scene to assist.

The Gloucester Community Foundation has been helping to address the continuing CO-VID-19 crisis by funding non-profits working on the front line of the pandemic. In March, GCF created a COVID-19 Re-sponse Fund to support im-mediate needs and eventually long-term economic recovery efforts in the county.

The Gloucester County CO-VID-19 Response Fund was ini-tially funded with unrestricted grant money available to the GCF Advisory Board. A coali-tion of GCF fund donors and community members joined the effort to ensure that re-sources were available to lo-cal nonprofit organizations re-

sponding to needs of the most vulnerable residents.

“The pandemic came quick-ly, and in March, it was hard to predict the breadth and depth of the virus’s impact in our region and beyond,” said Regional Grants Officer Lincoln Boykin. “This fund is designed to address both im-mediate and long-term needs as they arise.”

GCF developed a short-ened application specifi-cally designed for COVID-19 needs. Nonprofit partners, who suddenly found them-selves scrambling to rework programs in response to the pandemic, appreciated the trust and support shown to

them by GCF. Grants totaling $43,500 have been distributed to Gloucester nonprofits pro-viding essential services in health care, child care, hous-ing and food security.

“Our COVID-19 Response Fund demonstrates the flex-ibility of a community foun-dation,” said Warren Deal, GCF Advisory Board Chair. “While we are here to build long-term endowment funds for future needs, we also po-sition ourselves to act quickly when unexpected needs arise. No one knows what the next challenge for our community may be, but GCF will be here to help our neighbors and the many nonprofits that make Gloucester a special place.”

Y M C K

THURSDAY JANUARY 21, 2021 GLOUCESTER-MATHEWS GAZETTE-JOURNAL 3A Mathews Mirror

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Firefighters with the Mathews Volunteer Fire Department prepare to enter a home in Cobbs Creek on Sunday. The house, on Linden Avenue, sustained extensive damage to an attic bedroom, and both the bedroom and the roof will have to be replaced.

Fire damages Cobbs Creek homeA house on Linden Avenue

in Cobbs Creek sustained around $50,000 in damages from a fire that started at around 2:30 p.m. Sunday.

Chief Ronnie Lewis said the fire began on a futon-style bed in an attic space that had been converted into a bed-room. The father was at work and the mother tried to extin-

guish the fire but was over-whelmed by smoke. She and her three children escaped unharmed, along with their dog and several cats. One cat that had remained in the house downstairs was res-cued by firefighters. It briefly suffered from smoke inhala-tion, but recovered.

The attic area of the house

was a total loss and will have to be replaced, along with the roof, said Lewis. The down-stairs sustained only a small amount of water damage.

Three engines, a tanker, and a rescue truck responded to the fire, along with approxi-mately 24 firefighters.

Christmas Blessing Fund will still distribute funds

The 2020 Mathews Ruri-tan Club Christmas Blessing Fund is preparing to distrib-ute funds for heating costs to deserving Mathews County citizens.

Unsolicited donations of $9,555.40 have been received thus far, according to the fund’s secretary/treasurer Raymond Hunley.

Although the fund did not set a goal or send out mail requests this year because

of COVID-19 and other con-cerns, the residents, church-es and organizations “still came through with their wonderful generosity and love,” Hunley said. By using some reserve funds, the fund will be able to help the same number of recipients this year as last with the same amount of monetary help.

There is still time to make a donation to help the re-cipients as there are no over-

head costs. Tax-deductible contributions to assist needy families in Mathews with home heating costs may be sent to: Christmas Blessing Fund, P.O. Box 74, Mathews, Va. 23109. If you have any questions, contact Charles H. (Sonny) Richardson Jr. at 804-815-8422.

Thus far, donations were received from: Scott F. Abeel, Dinah S. Ash-berry, Carson H. and Polly W. Barnes, Bay Properties, Bethel United Method-ist Church in Honor of Church Musi-cians, John A. III and Lori Jackson Black, Jane D. Blanock, T.C., III, and Martha C. Bowen, Karen J. and Charles W. Bridges, John E. and Rebecca W. Brown, Bernard C. and Amelia M. Buchanan Sr., John Lee Callis in Honor of Loved Ones, Paul Townsend Sunday School Class Cen-tral United Methodist Church, Cen-tral United Methodist Church, Central United Methodist Women.

Also, Doris W. and Gordon Terry Clarke, Richard I. Clements, Margaret E. (Libby) Crawford, Gaylen Davis, Jo-seph B. and Beverly M. Diggs, Audrey R. Faulkner, Susan E. Fauver, Sandra J. Forrest, David N. and Suzanne M. Free-man, Kathryn K. Freeman in Memory of Louis and Adele Knight, Eunice P. Gar-rett, Nina W. and Pete Guy, Claudia K. Hale, Peter R. Hall, Debra F. and Earl W. Hancock Jr., Spencer R. Jr. and Linda Hodges, John E. Horner, Pat Hudgins, William E. Jr. and Deborah H. Hudgins, Charles H. and Carol M. Hudgins, Peggy D. Hudgins.

Also, Fleta W. Hunley, James E. and Janet B. Husband, Judith M. Jay, Gene E. and Sylvia R. Jenkins, Arthur H. and Susan L. Jennette, William C. and Car-olyn A. Joyce, Candace F. Junker in Honor of the Modica Family, Paul and Nancy B. Katsuki, Paul and Nancy B. Katsuki in Honor of Friendship Class of Mathews Chapel UMC, Maryann Lafrin-iere and Lewis J. Hubbard, Louis M. and Marianne Lawrence Jr., Reed B. Law-son, William B. and Peggy Leigh, Juan-ita B. Lewis, Mathews Baptist Church, Mathews Ruritan Club, Diana McDon-ald, Cheryl H. Mise.

Also, James Russell Mitchem, David N. and Mildred L. Montgomery, Brenda L. Moore, Pam M. and Nelson Morris, Al-len S. and Elma J. Moughon, Christo-pher A. and Patricia B. Moughon, New Point Friends Church, Paul C. and Vir-ginia P. Owens, L. Kendall Jr. and Karen P. Palmer, Janice H. Phillips, Florence F. Rainier, Carl Wilson and Donna K. Roane Jr., Howard R. and Maureen P. Sampson, Delores P. Sanger, Joseph M. and Jane F. Senyk, James M. Shinault II.

Also, William S. and Charlene R. Small, Mary Wade H. Smith, Paul B. and Mary Ellen Stimson, William F. and Mar-tha Van B. Story, Virginia L. Sutton, Tide-water Newspapers, Inc., L. Frederick Tomlinson Sr., Shawn E. and Janice W. Towne, Barbara and Peter Van Emmerik, Paul A. and Rachel A. Vanden Bout, Paul S. and Elsa C. Verbyla, Barbara J. Via, Pa-tricia A. and James J. Walsh, Robert W. and Elizabeth J. West, John T. White III, William H. and Mary B. Whitley, Freder-ick B. Wynn, Kathy O. Yent in Memory of Donald Yent, Barbara Harvey, John Van Over, Beth Kloke and Suzy Jones.

Smart Poles to be operational by next weekBY SHERRY HAMILTON

Smart Poles in Mathews County should be fully us-able by next week, when the Mathews Broadband Adviso-ry Board plans a media blitz to provide the public with maps and internet access in-formation.

In addition, Mathews Me-morial Library expects to have its Mi-Fi units available for checkout by next week for people who seek to have in-ternet access in their homes.

Broadband consultant Jeff Beekhoo told the advi-sory board during its meet-ing Tuesday that most of the Smart Poles were fully equipped and operational. The only thing still miss-ing was information for the portal page, and that would be ready once the board ap-proved the document.

The library’s head of tech-

nical services, Greg Lewis, said there was no heat in the building, so employees were working from their homes. This has caused a slight de-lay to completion of the work required to prepare the Mi-Fi units for use, but they should be ready by the end of the week for next week’s launch.

The board learned that the awarding of the Virginia Tele-communications Initiative grant the county applied for last year has been delayed until at least April. Beekhoo said the maps submitted with the grants all had to be updated to reflect the award of a huge share of Rural Digi-tal Opportunity Fund money to SpaceX, which gives the company the right to de-velop broadband in many rural localities. While there was initial concern that this could upend current efforts to develop broadband lo-

cally, Beekhoo said in an ear-lier meeting that it would not affect many tracts of land in Mathews County. However, the maps need to be updated before VATI grants can be awarded.

Beekhoo also reported that he had completed a strate-gic plan for development of countywide broadband for Mathews that he plans to submit to the Mathews Coun-ty Board of Supervisors for approval on Tuesday during the January board meeting.

At the end of the meeting, Mathews County Planning and Zoning Director Thomas Jenkins, who was hosting the virtual meeting on the Zoom platform, said the entire meeting had been streamed through the Smart Pole that was recently installed in the County Administration park-ing lot.

MCF accepting 2021 grant applicationsThe Mathews Commu-

nity Foundation is accept-ing applications for its 2021 grants program.

The foundation offers a competitive grants pro-gram for eligible 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations and agencies providing programs or services that directly impact and im-prove the quality of life for Mathews residents. The deadline to apply is 4:30 p.m. on Monday, March 1, with award recipients an-nounced in May.

The awarding of grants is focused on investing for a healthy and thriving com-munity, through four strate-gic focus areas: Educational Success—young people achieve in school, engage in their community, and are prepared for the workforce; Health and Wellness—com-

munity members are safe and healthy; Cultural Vi-brancy—community mem-bers have access to and an appreciation for arts and cultural opportunities; and Economic Prosperity—the region’s resources are sus-tainable and its residents are economically stable and secure.

In 2020, the founda-tion awarded more than $134,000 for community impact and COVID-19 re-sponse grants, support-ing programs and services across the county.

The MCF Advisory Board oversees the competitive grants program. Grants are supported by unrestricted, field of interest and special funds.

For information on the MCF 2021 Community Im-pact Grants Program, and

the link to the online applica-tion, visit www.MathewsCF.org click on “Grantseekers” and “Our Grants Process.” For more information, con-tact the foundation at 804-725-3454.

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Gloucester County officials have been closely monitor-ing local economic indicators since onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and are pleased to report that, since the low point in March/April of last year, the county’s economy appears to have recovered well so far (relative to many other communities in Hamp-ton Roads and across Virgin-ia) despite ongoing pandemic related challenges, according to a news release.

The county’s unemploy-ment rate has come down to 3.8 percent—less than half the number it was in May, and year-to-date excise (meals, sales and lodging) tax revenues show 9.3 per-cent growth over the same reporting period last year, with steady month-to-month trends. Meanwhile, Glouces-ter’s tax on-time payment rate remains steady, with current fiscal year real estate tax col-lections lagging less than half of a percentage point versus multi-year high points real-ized in the prior fiscal year.

Unemployment rateGloucester’s unemployment

rate decreased more than 50-percent from May to No-vember, according to recent numbers provided by the Vir-ginia Employment Commis-sion, overall showing a very sharp decline since hitting a high of 10.2 percent in April of last year, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This is very positive for Gloucester,” said Sherry Spring, the county’s Econom-ic Development Director. “It’s a testimony to the diligent ef-forts of our local leadership and organizations that have been key players in getting our residents connected with meaningful job opportuni-ties.”

According to the numbers provided by the VEC, the num-ber of unemployed residents in May of 2020 was 1,485, at a rate of 7.8 percent. By Novem-ber, that number had dropped to 724 people unemployed, at a rate of 3.8 percent. This is below the state’s November 2020 Unemployment Rate, which was 4.6 percent, and well below the regional Hamp-ton Roads Unemployment Rate for that same month, which came in at 5.2 percent.

“We are fortunate to have a strong and resilient workforce

in Gloucester County,” said Dr. Robert “JJ” Orth, chairman of the Gloucester County Board of Supervisors. “Our board has long been committed to supporting business growth in the community. I feel like these numbers attest to the fact that we are making great progress in attracting employ-ers to our area and retaining and growing existing employ-ers—despite the challenges that 2020 and 2021 so far have brought us.”

In 2020, The Gloucester County Board of Supervisors appropriated more than $1 million of federal CARES Act funds to assist Gloucester businesses adversely im-pacted by the pandemic. The funding went to the “Back to Business Gloucester” grant program, which was designed to facilitate reimbursement of costs incurred by local busi-nesses as they made invest-ments to change their operat-ing practices in response to the pandemic. As part of this local business support initia-tive supervisors allocated special funding for a Rent and Mortgage Relief Program to help aid businesses that were facing foreclosure or eviction due to the financial impacts of COVID-19. A similar Rent and Mortgage Relief program was established for residents.

In May 2020, Gloucester’s Economic Development Au-thority also funded a gift cer-tificate initiative to benefit independently owned, local small business owners and the public. The program, im-plemented by the Gloucester Chamber of Commerce, al-lowed patrons to purchase gift certificates at a participat-ing local businesses and the EDA added 25 percent to the purchase, giving local busi-nesses instant cash flow when it was desperately needed, while also benefiting the con-sumer with enhanced buying power.

Gloucester’s Economic Development Department continues to offer an exten-sive array of information and services that are designed to assist businesses during this time. For more information on the department and available resources, visit www.glouces-terva.info/1190/Economic-De-velopment.

Excise tax revenuesFive months into fiscal year

2021, Gloucester County has already received 56 percent of budgeted fiscal year revenues from the combination of local excise (sales, meals and lodg-ing) taxes, noting that such revenues were budgeted as-suming a sharp pandemic re-lated decline, with the county suspending capital improve-ments so that fund balance could be used to fill the an-ticipated gap. These fiscal-year-to-date revenues, when compared to last fiscal year’s revenue budget (unaffected by COVID-19) represent 48 percent of what would have been expected for the full (pri-or) fiscal year, well outpacing prior fiscal year projections. Setting COVID-19 budgeting impacts aside, excise tax rev-enues show a (normalized) 9.3 percent growth over prior fiscal year.

Sales tax receipts through November 2020 show that the county has already received 59 percent of its (COVID-19 modified) revenue budget for the current fiscal year. These fiscal-year-to-date revenues, when compared to last fiscal year’s revenue budget (unaf-fected by COVID-19) repre-sent 51 percent of what would have been expected for the full (prior) fiscal year, leading the trend among the other ex-cise taxes. So far, five months into the fiscal year, Gloucester County has received $2.4 mil-lion in sales tax revenue com-pared to $2.17 million during the same time period last fis-cal year—a (normalized) 10.6 percent increase.

As far as the meals tax is concerned, fiscal year-to-date revenues remain stable when compared to prior fiscal year, with just under 1 percent growth.

“With retail being Glouces-ter’s primary industry, these numbers demonstrate that the local economy is strong and has demonstrated sub-stantial resilience despite the challenges that have been endured over the past ten months,” said Brent Fedors, Gloucester’s County Admin-istrator. “I firmly believe that if we continue to do the right thing and follow safe practic-es to see us through the final stretch of this global pandem-ic, we will be seeing an even stronger, more resilient local economy in the years ahead.”

Property taxGloucester’s real estate tax

collections are relatively sta-ble when compared to what they were prior to the pan-demic. The first-installment collection rate is reported at 97.86 percent compared to 98.16 percent at this point in fiscal year 2020 (a 0.30 per-centage point difference), and the second installment collec-tion rate is reported at 95.05 percent versus 95.59 percent at this point in the prior fiscal year (a 0.56 percentage point difference).

Finally, personal property collections rates are down 1.94 percentage points and 2.75 percentage points for first and second installments (respectively), with declines likely attributed to delays on DMV registration hold pro-cessing associated with the county’s conversion to new software over the past 12 months—such delays are not anticipated to recur in future years.

Both collection rates for the fiscal year are considered within normal limits, with prior fiscal year (fiscal year 2020) being reported as one of the best years in recent his-tory.

“While local government tax revenues are not in-and-of-themselves direct indicators of a healthy local economy, they are lagging, indirect in-dicators of business receipts (on which excise taxes are based), consumer confidence, and the community’s capabil-ity to spend, invest, and meet its financial obligations,” Fe-dors said.

He added that “as the trends we’ve been monitoring also show low volatility over time, confidence in the sustainabil-ity of local economic health increases substantially—es-pecially when coupled with a normalizing unemployment rate.”

Coleman Bridge maintenance

work todayAlternating single-lane

closures are planned from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. today on the George P. Coleman Bridge over the York River, for maintenance work, the Vir-ginia Department of Trans-portation has announced.

FILE PHOTO

Super Bowl BBQThe Guinea Heritage Association will be selling BBQ for the Super Bowl. The cost is $10 per pound with a limit of five pounds per customer. People can order online at guineaheritage.org or call 757-251-8074. Order forms are also available at Lyn’s Mini Mart in Bena. Orders must be in by Thursday, Jan. 28, and pick up will be on Saturday, Feb. 6, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Money raised will go to the continued restoration of the Buck’s Store Museum. Here, William Ellis is shown preparing BBQ for another GHA sale last September.

Economy proving resilient, despite pandemic

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Chesapeake Bay’s health gets a D+ in biannial CBF report cardBY TIMOTHY B. WHEELER

BAY JOURNAL NEWS SERVICE

The overall health of the Chesapeake Bay has stag-nated the last two years, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation reported last week, with up-ticks in water quality offset by a worrisome decline in striped bass, the popular fin-fish known regionally as rock-fish.

In its State of the Bay report for 2020, the environmental group rated the Chesapeake’s health a D+. That’s the same grade the group gave it in 2018, even though its overall score on a variety of indica-tors has actually slipped by a point, to 32 out of a possible 100.

Foundation president Will Baker called the continuing

low grade “a sober reminder that the road ahead remains steep and the clock is ticking.”

He criticized the Trump Administration, saying it had rolled back dozens of air and water regulations and under-mined federal protections for wetlands and forests, which he warned would increase pollution to the bay in com-ing years unless they are reversed. He called on the incoming Biden Administra-tion and watershed states to accelerate efforts to meet the bay’s 2025 cleanup goals.

The Annapolis, Md.-based group takes stock of the bay every two years, assessing 13 indicators in three categories: pollution, habitat and fisher-ies.

The report said water qual-ity had mostly improved, with

ELSA VERBYLA / GAZETTE-JOURNAL

A sanderling at Bethel Beach in Onemo searches for a meal in the cold, clear waters at the edge of the Chesapeake Bay.

nitrogen and phosphorus pollution down some, while water clarity and levels of fish-sustaining oxygen in the water made slight gains. Toxic pollution showed no change, though tests in the past year have found so-called “forever” chemicals in freshwater fish and oysters in Maryland.

Habitat conditions declined overall, the group said, with dips in scores for the extent of underwater grasses and streamside forest buffers, two types of vegetation that help improve water quality and provide shelter for fish and wildlife.

The foundation marked down the fisheries grade by the most it has in a decade, driven largely by a 2019 as-sessment of striped bass, which was found at unsus-tainable levels of the coast-wide population of the Ches-apeake’s most important recreational and commercial finfish.

The report’s scores for oys-ters and crabs improved, but Chris Moore, the foundation’s senior regional ecosystem scientist, called the rockfish decline “deeply concerning”; estimates of adult female striped bass dropped about 40 percent from 2013 to 2017, he noted.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which regulates fishing of migra-tory species in waters along the East Coast and in the Bay, ordered all states to cut their striped bass catch by 18% in 2020. Although both Mary-land and Virginia responded by closing and shortening cer-tain fishing seasons, Moore faulted Maryland’s approach as “piecemeal,” saying it did not do so at the times of year that would have been most ef-fective at conserving rockfish in state waters.

The foundation’s president said he was optimistic that President Biden and his ad-ministration will be more committed to protecting wa-ter quality and human health than President Trump’s. He said he hopes Biden will de-clare the bay restoration a

national priority, as previous presidents have, and push for more federal funding to re-duce pollution from farmland.

Baker and other foundation staff also said more effort is needed from all of the Chesa-peake Bay states, particularly Pennsylvania, which is lagging badly in meeting its pollution reduction commitments.

“We need to have significant state and federal investment in Pennsylvania and in Penn-sylvania agriculture, where the majority of [bay] pollu-tion is coming from,’’ said Beth McGee, the group’s di-rector of science and agricul-ture policy.

“Basically, it all comes down to providing Pennsylvania farmers with cost-share fund-ing to put in place the prac-tices which keep the farmland [soil] in Pennsylvania,” Baker said, “as opposed to flowing into the Susquehanna River and down into the mainstem of the bay.”

He said Pennsylvania legis-lators have been “reluctant” to provide the same level of financial help to its farmers that Maryland and Virginia have. But he also faulted the

U.S. Environmental Protec-tion Agency, which he said should have been urging Congress and other federal agencies more aggressively to provide more help to Penn-sylvania farmers.

The Chesapeake Bay Foun-dation and several other groups, as well as three states and the District of Columbia, sued the EPA last year for not taking stronger action against Pennsylvania and New York for submitting inadequate cleanup plans. Baker said the

foundation would continue to press the litigation unless the Biden Administration wants to negotiate a settlement.

“We must finish this job,” he said.

Tim Wheeler is the Bay Journal’s associate editor and senior writer, based in Maryland. You can reach him at 410-409-3469 or [email protected]. This article was originally published Jan. 6, 2021 by the Bay Journal and was distributed by the Bay Journal News Service.

Balloons, plastic ribbons form deadly litter on Virginia’s beachesLatex balloons, foil bal-

loons and plastic ribbons are deadly forms of litter, and they are a top source of debris found on Virginia’s re-mote beaches, according to a new report by Clean Virgin-ia Waterways of Longwood University.

Litter was surveyed on Virginia’s barrier islands, Fisherman Island National Wildlife Refuge, Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge, and other beaches between 2013 and 2020 revealing that balloon-related litter is often the number-one most fre-quently found type of debris.

“Balloons and plastic rib-bons are among the deadli-est types of ocean trash to all kinds of wildlife includ-ing sea turtles and birds,” said Christina Trapani, a researcher who conducted more than 250 surveys that documented the balloon-related litter on Virginia’s beaches. “While balloons can be found littered any-where, our research shows that they accumulate in coastal environments be-tween the high tide line and the dune vegetation, which is critical habitat for nesting shorebirds, sea turtles, and diamondback terrapins,” Trapani said.

“The amount of balloon litter that can be found on

a small stretch of remote beach is quite alarming. In November 2020, a total of 212 pieces of balloon-related litter were documented—and removed—from just one-half mile of shoreline,” said Laura McKay, manager of the Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program, a state agency network led by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. The Virginia CZM Program pro-vided support for much of the research through fund-ing from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin-istration Office for Coastal Management.

Research cited in the re-port was done in conjunction with behavior research and a social marketing campaign in Virginia to understand and reduce the intentional releases of balloons dur-ing memorial and celebra-tory events. The campaign was created by the Virginia CZM Program, Clean Virginia Waterways, and the NOAA Coastal Management office and Marine Debris Program. This campaign has inspired an expanded campaign effort in the Mid-Atlantic also refer-enced in the report.

All of CVW’s reports on marine debris and litter in Virginia can be found at www.longwood.edu/clean-va/publications.html.

Planners vote to recommend utility text

amendmentBY MELANY SLAUGHTER

The Mathews County Planning Commission held its first meeting of the year virtually Tuesday night. At the meeting, planners voted unanimously to recommend a text amendment to the zoning ordinance pertaining to utilities.

According to planning and zoning documents, as staff continues “to work on Com-prehensive Plan and Zoning Ordinance updates to ad-dress utility-scale solar, this amendment is being pro-posed to protect the county from any major utility use potentially being permitted by right under current Zon-ing Ordinance language for Utility (public).”

The amendment would allow for minor utility com-ponents as a by-right use in each zoning district, while major utility use would re-quire a Conditional Use Per-mit.

CIPNext on the agenda was

the discussion of capital im-provement projects for fis-cal year 2022. According to Planning and Zoning Direc-

tor Thomas Jenkins, the En-terprise Resource Planning Software is a high-priority item for the county and is projected to cost $130,000.

Other necessities dis-cussed included the duct-less HVAC for the Emergency Services Building which is projected to cost $6,000 and an ADA ramp for the Admin-istration Building which is projected to cost $8,500.

The planners unanimously voted to recommend fund-ing for the software, the ductless HVAC system and ADA ramp.

One hot-button issue was the CIP for Mathews County Public Schools. The planners discussed the funds needed for the window replacement/repair for the schools which is proposed to cost $50,000 every year for the next five fiscal years.

The planners unanimous-ly voted to recommend that funding of $25,000 be used for the boiler burn-ers at Thomas Hunter Middle School and funding of $10,000 be used for the window replacement/repair project for the schools for fiscal year 2022.

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POETIC REFLECTIONS|

Know your county board: Gloucester

A new year is here, and for that we are exceed-ingly grateful.

Who knows exactly when we’ll return to anything approaching a pre-pandemic “normal,” but there is likely a backlog of projects that have been put off as all attention has shifted to battling COVID-19.

At some point in 2021, once the majority of peo-ple are able to get vaccinated, we hope to see a re-turn to spirited public debates on the issues that matter to local residents. And, in Gloucester, the seven men who will chart the county’s course re-quire the input of their fellow residents in order to know how best to proceed with the decisions they will face along the way.

Fortunately, it’s easy to let your county supervi-sor (or the entire board) know your thoughts on the issues of the day; their contact information is shared on the county website.

So, if you have a pressing concern and wish to let a supervisor know how you feel, here’s how to do it:

If you wish to send a message to the entire board, you can email [email protected]. If you wish to contact your local representative, or an-other specific board member, you can do so here by mail, phone or email:

Chairman Robert “JJ” Orth (Abingdon Dis-trict), 6076 Seldon Pond Road, Gloucester, Va. 23061, 804-693-4762, [email protected].

Vice chair Chris Hutson (Gloucester Point), P.O. Box 1609, Hayes, Va. 23072, 804-642-9900, [email protected].

Phillip Bazzani (York), 8116 Little England Road, Hayes, Va. 23072, 804-642-5631, [email protected].

Ashley Chriscoe (At-Large), 7871 Paynes Land-ing Road, Gloucester, Va. 23061, 804-693-0471, [email protected].

Mike Hedrick (Ware), 5774 Gockley Lane, Gloucester, Va. 23061, 804-693-4702, [email protected].

Kevin Smith (At-Large), 7294 Stokes Drive, Hayes, Va. 23072, 804-384-7072, [email protected].

Mike Winebarger (Petsworth), 5979 Glen Au-burn Lane, Gloucester, Va. 23061, 804-815-1449, [email protected].

You can also reach Gloucester County Admin-istrator Brent Fedors at [email protected] or 804-693-4042.

When contacting a supervisor, please remember to be respectful. A kind word will go a long way to making sure your point is heard.

Sudden outrageEditor, Gazette-Journal:

Washington under siege! Yes it was. Back in May when homes and businesses were being destroyed, much like Portland, Oregon; Seattle, Washington, and many other cities around the country. People’s lives and livelihoods were destroyed.

Where were Warner and the other politicians then?

Now that it is in their own backyard, they are suddenly outraged. And, by the way, many of the pictures shown by the media about the events on Jan. 6 were taken during the riots in May to convince us how bad it was and how much danger they were in. Of course, none of them were hurt, none lost their businesses or their jobs (though many should).

Interesting that the May riots were blamed on Trump because the perpetrators hated him and had a “right” to protest. The events of Jan. 6 were also blamed on Trump because the perpetrators supported him but had no right to “protest.” Interesting country we now live in when one party makes up and controls the narrative while suppressing opposing views. Good luck to all of us and to our country!

Tom BernardZanoni, Va.

A selfish politicianEditor, Gazette-Journal:

So now we’ve seen the true nature of Nancy Pelosi. This self-serving, evil, and immoral politician has shown her true colors. She stalled COVID relief for more than eight months but managed to im-peach a president in one day. Pelosi even said, “We don’t want to do it [COVID relief] before the election, but let’s keep working so that we can do it after the election,” she told MSNBC. Thousands of Americans are dying because our government is politiciz-ing who gets the vaccine and when.

Thousands of small busi-nesses have suffered because of Pelosi. She earlier wanted $3 billion to bail out misman-aged Democrat states and cities. She didn’t even care about small businesses to help maintain their payroll and keep operating. At 80, this woman, who is worth $114 million, should retire and enjoy her family and grandchildren. Here we have a politician who cares only about her self-enriching career and not the American people. Even Harry Truman once said, “Show me a man [or woman] that gets rich by being a politician, and I’ll show you a crook.”

And I’m not so sure Repub-licans are looking out for us either. Based on my observa-tions, it appears that both parties are part of one big swamp. God help our coun-try!

Susie H. BazzaniBena, Va.

GLOUCESTERVA.INFO

Members of the Gloucester County Board of Supervisors are, front from left, Mi-chael Winebarger, Phillip Bazzani, Robert Orth; back row, Kevin Smith, Ashley Chriscoe, Christopher Hutson and Michael Hedrick.

Hope for the FutureBY JOE STIES, BAVON, VA.

The New Year’s here, it’s twenty twenty-one,A better year, we hope, than that just passed.Miraculous vaccines have come at last,And isolation’s fears will come undone.

What have we learned, what wisdom have we gained,What deep insightful knowledge now is ours? Are we more mindful of those inner powersThat met the challenge, and our faith sustained?

Pandemic’s curse has tested our resolve.It strained the limits of our self-control.It asked behavior for the common good.It made us search the fabric of our soul.

Inspect your life, critique and reappraise.We start anew, the balance of our days.

Bad timesEditor, Gazette-Journal:

How about this crazy coun-try? When they riot, burn cit-ies and loot stores, it’s called peaceful protests, but when others visit “our” house and it gets a little out of hand, it’s sedition.

Things have gotten so bad in this country that decent people refuse to run for polit-ical office. Democrats in par-ticular use nasty techniques to further their agenda of lies and deceit. Morality is a thing of the past.

Children growing up today will never know what real freedom is. When I was a child, my mama and daddy would guide me to church, in my stiff starched shirt, and place me on the front bench.

I remember a story from so long ago concerning the cit-ies of Sodom and Gomorrah. Are we there yet?

S. Harlan BrooksMoon, Va.

This is unity?Editor, Gazette-Journal:

Democrats, please be aware that the 1st Amend-ment is for all Americans.

A racist groupEditor, Gazette-Journal:

The article about Mr. Sweet of Mathews in the Jan. 14 Gazette-Journal was “sweet” and gives the impression that he and the right-wing, white supremacist group he belongs to, the Hiwaymen, are good Christians and the height of innocence. Just the opposite is true.

By their own words, they are a neo-Confederate, anti-LGBTQ, anti-Muslim, anti-Jewish, anti-immigrant group that associates with pro-Nazi organizations. They are rac-ists. For example, in 2017 the Hiwaymen took their violent gang to the Unite the Right white nationalist conclave in Charlottesville, Virginia. Ac-cording to Mr. Sweet, he was there.

In 2019, the Hiwaymen had several appearances, one of which was signing up for tickets to an LGBTQ event so they could go to the gather-ing and disrupt it. They also rallied “at the Arkansas state capital with Nazis from the Shield Wall Network to pro-test gun rights” and later that year “attempted to disrupt the Human Rights Campaign Arkansas legislative planning meeting” but were refused entry.

Mr. Sweet knows full well the philosophy of the group he belongs to. Although the Hiwaymen have been labeled “the low-hanging fruit of the Alt-Right,” they are danger-ous. It would be very inter-esting to read the email that Mr. Sweet received showing the intent of the group’s D.C. visit, where he and others were arrested and issued citations.

So the innocence exuded in Mr. Sweet’s story about entering the Capitol to help doesn’t ring true. If he was really there as a peaceful pro-tester, he would have stayed outside with the others. Oh, but he wanted to address the Senate. Without an invitation? No, that is not his right. This is a fantasy interview. The Wall Street Journal did a very good article that included Mr. Sweet as did the Daily Press.

Joan PerkinsGloucester, Va.

The 1st Amendment was written for the purpose of all Americans to speak their minds. Nowhere in the Constitution does it say that these rights are only for people who vote for one particular party.

The left has used “cancel culture” to harass and quiet non-Democrats; Democrat leaders have called for vio-lence against non-Democrats, by Maxine Waters. Now the Constitution is being mis-treated and redefined as rights only for the left. You are sadly mistaken. Name calling, lies, threats, election fraud does nothing to unite the country. Biden uses a word like unity while he and his ilk are treating non-Demo-crats like we do not deserve a position in the USA.

The media, print and social, is 99 percent in the tank for Democrats. They have lied, misled, withheld the truth and harassed non-Democrats. This is unity? Stories printed by media frauds are 90 percent against Trump and his followers. This is unity? Disenfranchising 72 million voters by defrauding the election. This is unity? Many people from the right have had their accounts closed or locked by the social media dictators, in violation of the 1st Amendment, thanks to our weak Congress. This is unity? Opening the borders and allowing illegal immigra-tion to the detriment of Amer-ican citizens. This is unity?

The left must be made aware that non-Democrats will not be pushed, insulted and treated like less than what we are, Americans! Serv-ing in the Army took me to a lot of foreign lands. While living in these places, one immediately notices why the USA is so great. I served proudly, feeling that the sacri-fices of the soldiers and their families would ensure this great country remained great.

Sadly, I feel that we have failed. We fought, bled and died to keep America strong and free. Now the left wants socialism in the country. You are spitting on the graves of the men and women that have their lives to keep us free. You are telling the men and women that they gave their all for nothing.

Now the left is once again opening up borders to illegal immigrants, giving them benefits that many Americans do not even enjoy. I firmly be-lieve that Americans should take care of Americans first. When there are no homeless or starving Americans in the USA, maybe then we can look to support people who are not as deserving as “We the People.”

In closing, I would like to say that all politicians are liars and cowards who have little care for anything that is not the next election. Politi-cians caused the problems then hide behind guns while they try to take our guns away. When citizens want to redress their grievances, they are treated as pariahs while Antifa and BLM burned and murdered their way across America with support from the left. Enough is enough. America first, party later!

Paul M. Burlingame1st Sgt., USA-retired

North, Va.

We ignore it at our perilEditor, Gazette-Journal:

This past year has been a wet one here in the Tide-water. We had 10” more rain than normal and this was without a major hurricane.

Extreme weather events like this or the storms which were inflicted on Texas last year are predicted to become more frequent. Scientists tell us that these are the prod-ucts of global warming and resulting climate change. They tell us that this warming is mostly due to the burning of fossil fuels and the result-ing atmospheric discharge of harmful gases.

So we must do everything we can to prevent this. With a worldwide effort this can be done. But emphasizing emission controls without adapting to climate change is misguided because, even with our best efforts, the planet will continue to warm for decades before a positive result can be seen.

So adapt we must. In our area the main problem will be

the predicted rise in sea level. Our economy is now global and all businesses, large and small, are dependent in some way on our ports, all of which are vulnerable to flooding. This is not a local problem. It is a national problem and should be a priority of the federal government. There is no time to waste.

We need to look for advice from the Netherlands. Shortly after a disastrous North Sea flood in 1953, they embarked on a project to protect their country from flooding. The engineering they developed is amazing. It was and is a massive project costing bil-lions of dollars. It is not yet complete and is updated as new data are acquired. This is obviously very expensive for a country less than half the size of Virginia. But their very existence depends on their land and the port of Rot-terdam. They had no choice.

Because the United States is so much larger and our ports widespread, a similar project will be much more difficult and painfully expen-sive. But, as with the Dutch, we have no choice. We must protect our ports. This will be a long-term project and the sooner we begin, the bet-ter off we will be.

Whether we believe it or not, global warming will be with us for a long, long time and we ignore it at our peril.

Arthur H. JennetteCardinal, Va.

The paper pushes onEditor, Gazette-Journal:

It’s been almost a year since this horrible plague took over our world and yet, our hometown paper pushes on.

I can’t imagine the strength to keep covering the news, while putting yourselves at risk.

I want to thank each of you for your tireless work.

Because of you, we still know what’s available, where we can get something to eat and unfortunately, who we have lost.

We are a little more mobile than last March, but we have a long way to go before we are back to “normal.”

Please keep doing what you’re doing and know that you are appreciated.

Sarah Traband CaramiaMathews, Va.

Letters To The EditorLetters to the Gazette-

Journal on any subject of public interest are always welcome. The newspa-per, however, cannot con-sider for publication a letter which does not carry the writer’s signature and ad-dress. Letters should also not exceed 200 words. Writers will please include a telephone number where they can be reached dur-ing the day. The right is re-served to edit letters.

The Gazette-Journal will not accept letters to Readers Write which com-ment on articles published in other periodicals. Also, space limitations often pre-vent publication of thank-you letters.

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Christmas Store would not be stoppedEditor, Gazette-Journal:

Even though COVID-19 made for a different type year, the Mathews Christ-mas Store would not be stopped. Precautions were put into place, making sure shoppers and volunteers were safe. The Christmas Store was increased by one day and was moved to the YMCA/Boys and Girls Club gymnasium for more space to allow for social distanc-ing. Each shopper was required to wear a mask, answer health questions and sanitize hands upon entry. We also had sanitized shopping carts.

Our supporting organiza-tions did not disappoint and the Mathews Department of Social Services would like to thank them: USCG Milford Haven, Mathews Scout Troop 124, Mathews Rotary Club, Mathews YMCA, Piankatank Ruritan Club, Mathews Ruritan Club, American Legion Post 83, Mathews Fire Depart-ment, MHS Beta Club, MHS Class of 1964, Mathews Lions Club, Central Method-ist Church, Kingston Parish, Spring Hill Baptist, Salem United Methodist Church, M&M Building Supply, Dollar General, Food Lion, Kloke, The King’s Daugh-ters, Mathews Chapel, and Emmanuel Methodist Church. There was also an unbelievable outpouring of donations from the busi-ness, civic and our faith communities. Without their support and donations, this event could not take place.

We would also like to thank our individual volunteers who tirelessly worked at the Christmas Store from Wednesday through Saturday, set up to shut down: Rosemary Eaton, Charlene Small, Dana Brown, Marti Bowen, Pearl Sadler, Judy Sowden, Sue Jennette, Wendy Turner, Jeanne Helms Roberts, David Parker, Leary Clark, Henry Clark, Gaylen Davis, Roney Leitner, Jimmy Ea-ton, Linda Dalgety, Ashley Wood, Jan Mohr, Kathryn Bowen, Lee Thompson, Kelsey Desmond, Barbara Churray, Josie Thorpe, Lynn Abrams, Lee Simmons, Dia Lawless, Ned Lawless, Frances Hudgins, Tom Reed, Trish Reed, Angie Gilbert, Tim Hudgins, Ken Doyle, Alda Barnett, Hunt Thompson, Scott Witthaus, Pam Witthaus, Jim Warren, Mary Warren, Bobbi Hatton, Reed Lawson, Becca Brown, Phyliss Hudgins, Carol Mur-doch, Kippy Gilbert, Nina Guy, Lisa McCann, Cleo Hayes, Brooke Tidwell, and the volunteer staff from So-cial Services—Rachel Boles, Lisa Burns-Brown, Gretchen Carson, Jill Coffey, Tessa Combs, Tiffany Gordon, Sharon Hayes, Maria Sadler, Kamala Tidwell and Belinda Anthony.

Without the hard work of these incredible individu-als, this event could not take place. Thank you to Dana Brown and Charlene Small for always being on the lookout for the best bargains year round. To 110 volunteers taking 465 hours to make the magic happen. We want to thank Nelda Gibbs who brought delicious lunches each day. We would like to express special thanks to Lauren Oden for her year-round tireless work organizing and coordinating.

The most important person to acknowledge and thank for the success is Ber-nadette La Casse. Without her high-energy, organiza-tional skills and dedication to the continuance and success the Christmas Store would not have taken place. The Christmas Store served 335 adults and 204 children this year and 68 children shopped for their parents in the Elf Shoppe. As always we appreciate the com-munity coming together to make this event a success. We are looking forward to and already planning for the 2021 Christmas Store.

Tiffany Gordon, directorMathews Social Services

Mathews, Va.

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just myself.”Declining enrollment has

forced the school board to consider making a number of staff reductions in its pro-posed 2021-2022 budget, in-cluding the elimination of two elementary school teachers, the CTE teacher at Thomas Hunter Middle School, an el-ementary aide, changing four support position contracts from 12 months to 11 months, changing two support posi-tions to 10-month contracts and one bus driver.

The budget, based on an enrollment of 875 students, represents a decrease of little more than half a million dol-lars over the current operat-ing figure.

The school board will move ahead with a public hearing on its $14.87 million draft bud-get at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the

MHS auditorium, followed by a work session.

“Ten years ago, there was a big reduction in force in the school system,” Drummond said. “Thirteen people were let go just at the elementary school … Since the last reduc-tion, the elementary school has never completely recov-ered. Some grade levels have only three teachers which makes larger class sizes where there is only one assistant in [each] grade level to assist teachers. We need sufficient staff to accommodate student needs more than ever and the needs are growing each year.”

Those needs, she said, ex-tend far beyond the academic to include socioeconomic and emotional.

Drummond also expressed concern over placing the add-ed burden of administering both an elementary and mid-

dle school in the hands of one principal. “To have one princi-pal for two schools will pres-ent a hardship on, not only, that administrator, but also on the teachers and staff of those two schools,” she said.

“We realize the student pop-ulation is down due to COVID,” Drummond said. “We know that some families have opted to transfer to private school and some are home-schooling to give their children the op-portunity to learn in ways oth-er than virtual. However, we also feel that, once the pan-demic is over and school re-sumes normally, many of our students will return. When this big change is made and our numbers increase, what will happen then? This move will have lasting effects on the students in both schools. A big move like this will be hard to change back.”

“We have the same con-cerns as you and it’s not our first choice, by any means,” school board member Linda Hodges. “We do not take this very lightly,” chairman John Priest said. This preliminary budget, he said, is a “plan for the worst case scenario.

“Our priority is maintaining teaching positions … and a quality education for our chil-dren,” Priest said. “Trust me, combining the schools is not what we want to do.”

The proposed budget does call for one staff addition, a full-time technology support person, a need that has been driven home during the pan-demic and the switch to vir-tual instruction.

Mathews will switch over to a hybrid teaching model beginning Tuesday, with half of the students able to come back two days a week and

the other half coming back two other days, with Wednes-day reserved as a day for vir-tual instruction and a deep cleaning of the facilities. As Mathews moves to a mix of in-person and online instruction, completely virtual instruction will remain an option for all students.

The week after the pub-lic hearing on the proposed budget, there was scheduled a joint dinner meeting with county supervisors where the two boards would hash out the details of the budget pro-posal. That Feb. 2 meeting has been changed to just a meet-ing of the two board chairs, superintendent of schools Nancy Welch and county ad-ministrator Mindy Conner.

It is anticipated the school board will adopt its 2021-2022 budget at its Feb. 16 regular meeting.

tribute to the code of ethics and originally signed on to it saying that they were commit-ted to carrying it out “regard-less of our personal opinions of each other.”

“We’re not going to agree on the same things,” she said. “But what matters is that we do right for the county as a whole, not for one set of con-stituents … If some people thought we were going to do for a segment of the popula-tion on certain particular in-terests, that’s on them.”

She urged members to get along and move forward with a plan to make things happen “for the good of the county,

not the good of a few.”The proposed Rules of Pro-

cedure were adopted on a 4-1 vote, with Hudgins dissenting.

The board decided to sched-ule a required FOIA Training Meeting and a staff-suggested Strategic Planning Meeting at a later date.

Board appointmentsAll board members’ ap-

pointments to various com-missions, committees, and outside agencies remain the same as last year. Rowe will represent Mathews on the Middle Peninsula Criminal Justice Services Board, the Middle Peninsula Planning District Commission, the Mid-

dle Peninsula Regional Secu-rity Center Board, and the Wa-terways Ad Hoc Committee.

Mason will serve as liaison to the Mathews Market Days Committee, Mathews Social Services Board, and Middle Peninsula Planning District Commission.

Amy Dubois will continue to serve as representative to the Mathews Broadband Advisory Board, Mathews County Community Policy Management Team, Middle Peninsula Alliance, and Vir-ginia Association of Coun-ties.

Jackie Ingram’s appoint-ments are to Emergency Ser-vices (alternate), Mathews

Broadband Advisory Board (alternate), Mathews Main Street Committee and Mathews Memorial Library Board of Trustees.

Hudgins will continue to serve as Emergency Services Director and as liaison to the Mathews Planning Commis-sion and the Waterways Ad Hoc Committee.

Other appointments were: —County Administrator

Mindy Conner, Deputy Di-rector of Emergency Ser-vices; Administrator for the Mathews County Community Policy Management Team, Middle Peninsula Alliance, and the Waterways Ad/hoc

Committee; alternate to Middle Peninsula Regional Security Center; and rep-resentative to the Virginia Peninsulas Public Service Authority.

—Sheriff Mark Barrick: Deputy Coordinator of Emer-gency Services, and repre-sentative to Middle Peninsu-la Regional Security Center.

—Hal Bourque: EDA Repre-sentative to the Middle Pen-insula Alliance.

—Director of Planning, Zon-ing and Wetlands Thomas Jenkins: alternate represen-tative to the Virginia Peninsu-las Public Service Authority and staff for the Waterways Ad Hoc Committee.

workers; mail carriers (both U.S. Postal Service and pri-vate); anyone aged 65 or older; and individuals aged 16-64 years with high-risk medical conditions.

Several “point of dispens-ing” vaccination clinics will be scheduled each week, said the release. Those be-ing vaccinated will need to provide a personal form of identification, such as a driver’s license, and may also be asked to show proof of qualification, such as a work ID, in order to verify eligibility.

Essential employees will be scheduled through their employers. Vaccination planning teams are reach-ing out to coordinate with employers in Phase 1b, said the release. Those employ-ers will be asked to create a spreadsheet that includes all the qualifying employ-ees’ names and contact information, and indicate which employees are will-ing to receive the vaccine.

Individuals 65 and older and those 16-64 with high-risk medical conditions should contact their pri-mary care physician if they are affiliated with a health care system such as River-side or Bon Secours. If their health care provider is not affiliated with a health care system, they should call the Three Rivers Health District COVID-19 Resource Center to request an appointment. That number is 804-824-2733. The release said that the health district is expe-riencing a high volume of calls and asked that callers be patient.

Virginians who don’t fall into any of the priority phases will be offered the vaccine when it is more widely available, said the release. Once it is rolled out to the general public, distri-bution will be similar to the flu vaccine.

In the meantime, said the release, “it is important to remain vigilant … Continue to protect yourself and oth-ers: cover your mouth and nose with a mask, wash your hands often and well, stay at least six feet away from others, avoid gather-ings with anyone who is not a member of your house-hold, and get a flu shot.”

To determine eligibil-ity for the vaccine and find out more about the phases, visit www.vdh.virginia.gov/covid-19-vaccine.

people in the county who have lost their lives to COVID since the pandemic began. Mathews saw one additional death, for a total of five, while two Middlesex residents died during the past week, for a to-tal of 15.

Gloucester’s case count once again rose significantly, as well, with 151 new cases di-agnosed, for a cumulative to-tal of 1,278 cases since March, or 3.4 percent of the popu-

lation. In Mathews, 19 new cases were added, for a total of 390 cases, or 4.4 percent of the population, while Middle-sex added 39 new cases, for a total of 360, or 3.4 percent of the population (Population figures are from the U.S. Cen-sus Bureau’s American Com-munity Survey).

Hospitalizations locally re-mained steady, with just two added in Gloucester, for a total of 38, and no new hos-

pitalizations in Mathews or Middlesex, each of which has seen 16 residents hospitalized since the pandemic began.

Across the 10 counties of the health district, 82 people have died from COVID-19, 13 of them during the past week. There have been a total of 6,459 cases diagnosed since the pandemic began, an in-crease of 628 cases during the past week, and the district has had 269 people hospital-

ized, with 12 of those added since last Wednesday.

Since the pandemic began, 5,861 Virginians have died from COVID-19, with 309 of those deaths occurring dur-ing the past week. A total of 455,591 people have been di-agnosed with the virus, 43,046 of them in the past week alone, while 20,231 have been hospitalized at some point during the pandemic, 761 of them in the past week.

of the economy, Hutson mo-tioned to turn the $191,086 into a one-time bonus for county employees. The mo-tion was approved with a vote of 5-1, with Mike Winebarger casting the only no vote.

Also on a 5-1 vote, the board also voted to reinstate and fund the county Arc Flash project, with Winebarger be-ing the lone no vote. The proj-ect was requested last year but was suspended due to the pandemic. It will cost $87,150 and will be funded by sales tax revenues. An arc flash is an electrical explosion, and the project is to increase the safety of all county electri-cal equipment by purchasing signage and providing mainte-nance.

In other actions, the board

also voted unanimously to:—Appropriate $9,615 to

Gloucester County libraries. The additional funds came from the Virginia General As-sembly, which added $1 mil-lion for FY2021 state aid for public libraries. The addition-al funds brought Gloucester’s total aid amount to $173,490;

—Accelerate the FY22 CIP for Gloucester County Schools to fund the Motorola Bus Communication System. In December the schools were award a School Secu-rity Equipment Grant for $250,000 with $240,411 be-ing used for this project. The grant requires a local match of 25-percent for the funds to be used. The board appro-priated the grant funds and approved the local match of $60,103. The $60,103 will be

from the unassigned fund bal-ance, and

—Board chair Robert Orth announced at the meeting’s start that the board would continue with electronic

meetings for the foreseeable future due to a recent rise in COVID-19 cases. He said that the board will resume in-per-son meetings once they be-lieve they can do so safely.



MATHEWS SUPERVISORS: Rowe, Mason to serve as chairman, vice chair in 2021

(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A)(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A)


EMPLOYEE BONUSES: Gloucester supervisors approve one-time bonuses

MATHEWS SCHOOLS: Board mulls possible consolidation of elementary, middle schools

PHASE 1B COVID-19 UPDATE: New deaths recorded this past week in region

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8A GLOUCESTER-MATHEWS GAZETTE-JOURNAL THURSDAY JANUARY 21, 2021

MARY LEE DARLINGMary Lee Darling died

peacefully in her Williams-burg home on January 13, 2021 from complications related to congestive heart failure. Born Feb. 12, 1930 at Capahosic in Gloucester County, Virginia, she was the first child of Mary Eliza-beth Trevilian Oliver and James Andrew Jackson Oli-ver. She grew up on a farm in Gloucester, attended the Botetourt School (later Gloucester High School), and became the first in her family to attend college, earning a Bachelor of Arts

degree from Mary Washington Women’s College in 1951. She was also elected student body president. On Jan. 31, 1953 she married James Sands “Jock” Darling Jr. of Hampton, Virginia. In 1961, the couple settled in Williamsburg and purchased a home on Jamestown Road, where she lived the rest of her life. She was a member of Bruton Parish Church, where her husband served for 46 years as organist and choirmaster.

Mary Lee Darling was a devoted wife, mother to five chil-dren, an educator and counselor, and an energetic commu-nity leader and problem solver. In 1976, she earned a mas-ter’s degree in psychology from the College of William and Mary, and for many years served as the Guidance Counselor and Psychology instructor at Walsingham Academy in Wil-liamsburg. In this capacity, she assisted countless students in their quest for college educations and future careers. She also cared very deeply about the Williamsburg community. Her civic contributions began as a member and then chair of the board of the Williamsburg Public Library. She was elect-ed to Williamsburg City Council in 1976 and served numer-ous terms including several where she was selected by her fellow council members to serve as Vice Mayor for the city. In the 1986 election, she famously prevailed by having her name pulled from a tricornered hat when she and a fellow in-cumbent tied in the popular vote. Her service on the council continued until 1994 when she retired from the body, having helped guide the city through a time of significant growth and development. Her service to the community continued. In 1997, she became the first female president of the Williams-burg Kiwanis Club. She also served on the boards of several prominent non-profit organizations, including Williamsburg Community Hospital, Williamsburg Landing, and Literacy for Life. Her politics and leadership were people-centered, eminently local, and dedicated to building consensus for the common good. And, as her granddaughter recalls, “she was no-nonsense, except for the good kind of nonsense.”

Above all else, Mary Lee Darling devoted most of her ener-gies and intellect to her loving partnership with her husband and to her children. Her home is well-remembered as a wel-coming haven for learning, growing, hospitality, friendship, and endless activity. She could produce dessert for 40 choir members on a moment’s notice, and always offered a listen-ing heart to those who needed it. She cultivated within her family a sense of inclusion, where all others are to be greet-ed as friends. To her children she offered guidance without direction, empowerment without dependence, opportunity without fear, and love without condition. In her later years, she was happiest with a cup of coffee, a book, and her family around her—engaging with her, with one another, and with the world.

Mary Lee Darling is survived by James Darling, her hus-band of 67 years; brother, Walter Morgan Oliver; sister, Jean Anne Jiacinto; children, Elizabeth Ann Darling, Russell Chris-tian Darling, James Andrew Darling, Jonathan Lee Darling, Sarah Trevilian Darling and their spouses and partners; grandchildren, Scott Christian Darling, Christina Elizabeth Brown, Joseph Sands Darling and Kathryn Joan Darling, and great-grandchildren, Chloe and Caelynn Brown. She was pre-deceased by her brother, Larry Norman Oliver.

In keeping with her final wishes and out of concern for the health and safety of community and family, no in-person viewings or gatherings will be scheduled under the current threat posed by the pandemic. Donations in her memory to Literacy for Life, or other charities that she served in life, are welcomed and gratefully encouraged.

Obituaries

DANNY LEE BEANERDanny Lee Beaner, born July 6, 1942, went to be with his

Lord and Savior on Sunday, Jan. 10, 2021, at VCU Medical Center, Richmond, Virginia, from complications from heart surgery.

He previously owned Beaner Auto Parts in Davidsville, Pa., and Beaner Marine/CB Pizza in Shanksville, Pa. He was president and vice president of Lake Stonycreek Valley De-velopment Corporation. Danny was an avid fan of drag rac-ing. After retirement, Danny moved to Virginia and worked at Sherwin-Williams and O’Reilly Auto Parts.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Donald Lee and Natalie M. Beaner, and his brother-in-law, Edward “Andy” An-derson.

He is survived by his wife, Donna Kaley Beaner of Mathews; two daughters, Tracy McGee McClemens of Berlin, Pa., and Cristi Waltz of East Freedom, Pa.; two sons, Craig McGee (Tracey) of Mathews, and Darin Beaner (Lisa) of Florida; a grandson, Jacob McGee of Gloucester; a granddaughter, Victoria Beaner of Florida; a sister, Donna Jean Anderson of Johnstown, Pa.; a special cousin, Gail Watson of Ocala, Fla., and special canine companion friends, Annie, Jolo, Lulu and Sugar.

A service will be held at Walker Cemetery, Shanksville, Pa., at a later date.

Faulkner Funeral Homes, Foster Faulkner Chapel, Mathews, is assisting the family.

DELIA HOPE LEMON HUDGINSDelia Hope Lemon Hudgins of Hayes, passed away on Jan. 12,

2021 surrounded by family. Delia leaves behind a loving son, Zachary Wilde Phillips; fiancé, Bruce Bischoff; brothers, Wil-liam Lemon Jr. (Christina) of California, Patrick Lemon (Vick-ie) of Gloucester, Edward Lemon (Mary) of Gloucester; sister, Lana Lemon of Williamsburg; sisters-in-law, Dana Black (Don), Mary Ann Raddin; brother-in-law, Michael Hudgins (Becky); father-in-law, Winfred Hudgins, and a host of nieces and neph-ews. She was a member of Severn Church, loved biking, hik-ing, singing, art, horses, her dog and especially her family and friends. Her personality was magnetic always so welcoming to everyone. She loved sharing laughter and encouragement with others, as well as giving gifts adorned with her beautiful bows. However, her greatest joy in life was being a mother; she spoke of Zack all the time and would say he was her whole world, which was clear to those around her. Her life touched so many and we are grateful for every moment we had with her. Her laughter and love will never be forgotten. She will be missed terribly by so many, but it is with great comfort that we know she is with the Lord and has reunited with her parents in Heaven. A graveside service conducted by Pastor Bill West was held at 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 16, 2021, in Providence Bap-tist Church Cemetery, Gloucester.

The stars look a little dimmer. The moon looks a bit melancholy. The air is a little less sweet. The flowers hang their heads down low. The birds sing a sad, sad song. All of nature mourns with us. The world just isn’t the same. Then the sunrise comes, and we are reminded of the beauty that awaits us. A beauty you’re seeing that we can only imagine.Services under the direction of Hogg Funeral Home.

DAVID ALLEN HAYDENDavid Allen Hayden, 71, passed away on Saturday, Jan. 16,

2021. A full obituary can be viewed at www.andrewsfuner-alservices.com.

Andrews Funeral Home & Crematory, Gloucester, is in charge of arrangements.

HAROLD DOUGLAS HAMNER JR.Harold Douglas Hamner

Jr., son of the late Harold D. and Thelma Doyle Ham-ner, passed away on Jan. 17, 2021. Doug was a native of Amelia County, born Dec. 27, 1926 in Ammon, Va., with his father’s brother James as the family physician.

Doug was preceded in death by his parents; his first wife, Nancye Foscue Hamner of Lawrenceville, and his sister, Mary Ham-ner Burton, all of which were lights in his life. He is survived by his wife, Betty Jo McMillan Hamner; his

sons, William Douglas (Michelle) of Ashland, Nathan Carlisle (Nancy) of Richmond, Harold Douglas III (Cindy) of Rich-mond; and by five adult grandchildren, Shandy Nederostek (Chris), Gray Hamner (Kerrie), Catherine Hendrick (Ben), Annie Hamner (Xavier), and Elizabeth “Libbie” Hamner. In addition, he is survived by special cousins, Mary Lloyd Wad-den and Frances Hardy of Washington, D.C.; five nieces and nephews, Dr. John Burton III of Suffolk, Mary Jean Burton of Richmond, Craig Ripley (Weezie) of New Orleans, Ward Rip-ley (Carol) of Metairie, and Susan Hilliard of Houston.

A proud native of Amelia, Doug was educated in Amelia public schools. Doug graduated from Virginia Military Insti-tute in 1950 as a Distinguished Military Graduate in Civil En-gineering. His active military duty with the U.S. Air Corps kept him from graduating with his Brother Rats in ’48-B. Dur-ing his cadetship he enjoyed baseball and was the business manager of The Cadet newspaper.

Having already served in World War II in the U.S. Army Air Corps, Doug was recalled during the Korean Conflict by the U.S. Air Force from his position as engineer with the city of Alexandria, Va. Returning from service in 1952, he became Director of Public Works with the city of South Norfolk. In 1954, Hamner was appointed Town Manager of Front Royal, Va. After serving that community for nine years, in 1963 he was appointed City Manager of Hopewell, Va.

In 1966, Hamner was appointed by Governor Mills E. God-win as Director of the newly created Division of Engineering and Building for the Commonwealth of Virginia. He remained in that position through administrations of Governor Holton and Governor Godwin’s second term in office, until appoint-ed Director of the newly created Department of General Ser-vices by Governor John Dalton. He held this position until his retirement in 1985, becoming the last remaining appoin-tee of Governor Godwin’s first administration.

Under Hamner’s leadership, the Public Procurement Act was passed in 1982 which contained comprehensive and modern procurement laws for the Commonwealth and all political subdivisions; the state insurance programs affect-ed significant monetary savings; Design-build and Construc-tion Management procedures were established for efficient state construction; and many major construction programs were completed over the 20 years in all Virginia colleges, universities, community colleges, mental health institutions and correctional facilities, as development reached historic levels in Virginia.

A former president of the Virginia City Managers Associa-tion and an Honorary Member of that organization, Doug was the cofounder and first Chairman of the Southeastern States Capital Outlay Conference. In 1980, he was elected to the Executive Committee of the National Conference of State General Services Officers and became Chairman of that na-tional organization in 1983. During his chairmanship, he was successful in effecting a relationship between state and lo-cal governments and the National Academy of Sciences in the establishment of the Public Facilities Council for new research in the broad area of public construction.

Named to a number of Who’s Who in Virginia, in the South, and the Nation, Doug was active in VMI Alumni affairs in many capacities, including serving as Class Agent for ’48-B and on the VMI Parents Council. Two of his three sons at-tended the VMI.

Upon retiring to Gloucester County, he served as Chair-man of the Gloucester Foundation Development Authority while he built a home for Nancye on Sarah’s Creek. Nancye and he travelled extensively and enjoyed the remainder of her life on the Middle Peninsula.

Later, Doug married Betty Jo McMillan Hamner and moved to Lynchburg where he lived until his death. There, he was an active member of First Presbyterian Church and an avid golfer at Boonsboro Country Club. He also served as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Westminster-Canter-bury of Lynchburg.

He was a Master Mason and a veteran member of the Du Pont Lodge #289 in Hopewell, and the Hiram Royal Arch Chapter #45 of Royal Arch Masons of Virginia. He was also a longtime member of the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colo-nels.

Doug lived a remarkable life, full of humor, wit, joy and ambition. He was a natural conversationalist and storyteller who left laughter and friends everywhere. He taught his sons from an early age to appreciate local wildlife, hunt quail, and fish in Ammon, and to appreciate the frustrating art of golf at every opportunity!

He could tell a joke with the timing of a pro, or provide fluid guidance to his three sons, at the drop of a hat. His sporty nature may have been revealed early Sunday morn-ing in Lexington, Spring of ’47. Before church services, it was determined that ‘Minks’ from Washington & Lee University had absconded with one of the four cannons from the Cadet Battery beside the statue of Gen. Stonewall Jackson. Under keen leadership, Company A fell out of ranks and set out to locate the beloved artillery piece. Faster than the Cadet Guard could react and report the unfortunate theft, the Cadets located the cannon at a W&L fraternity house, con-vinced the fraternity of their mistakes, and enlisted two pa-jama clad Minks to pull the sacred cannon back to barracks under the good guidance of a Company of Cadets. As they arrived at VMI, Doug Hamner was riding atop the cannon!

A Christian burial with masks and social distancing will be held at historic Blandford Cemetery in Petersburg, Va., at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 23.

To honor his memory, in lieu of flowers the family sug-gests donations be made to the First Presbyterian Church of Lynchburg, the VMI Alumni Association in Lexington, or a local charity of your choice.

ROBERT DALE ‘BOB’ FORINASH SR.Robert Dale “Bob” Forinash Sr. of Foster, Virginia, passed

away on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021. He was born on Aug. 19, 1936 in Huttonsville, West Virginia. Bob retired from Ball Metal in Williamsburg, Virginia, after 27½ years as a machinist.

He was predeceased by his wife, Velma, and his parents, Dale and Hallie Forinash.

He is survived by his children, Brenda Gardner of Gloucester, Va., and Robert “Bobby” Forinash Jr. and his wife Eva of Fos-ter; grandchildren, Melissa Gardner and Sarah Gardner of Gloucester; step-grandchildren, Melissa Davidson of Seaford, Va., Ashley McGown of Ware Neck, Va., and Jonathan Patrick of Newport News, Va.

An entombment service was held on Monday, Jan. 18, 2021. at 11 a.m. at Windsor Gardens Cemetery & Mausoleum, Dut-ton, Va.

Faulkner Funeral Homes, Foster-Faulkner Chapel, Mathews, Va., assisted the family. Please be advised that current state-mandated guidelines applied to all in attendance, including so-cial distancing and appropriate face coverings.

AUDREY SMITH PIERCEAudrey Smith Pierce, 93,

of Mathews, passed away on Saturday, Jan. 16, 2021. She was born on April 19, 1927 on Gwynn’s Island and grew up during “The Great Depres-sion.” She shared many sto-ries about those times on the Island and it was a real histo-ry lesson. Audrey studied at Virginia Wesleyan College and was a graduate of Mathews High School Class of 1944. She completed 30 years of government service as a civil service employee, finishing her career as the Base Librar-ian at Dam Neck Naval Base,

Virginia Beach, Virginia. She loved cooking, sewing, crafts, Scrabble and spending time with her family and friends. She was a charter member of New Town United Methodist Church, Williamsburg, Va.

Audrey was predeceased by her parents, Aubrey D. Smith and Virginia Dare Ashberry; her baby sister, Shirley; her broth-er, Thomas W. “Dickie” Smith, and her sister, Minnie Palmer Hubbard.

She is survived by her son, James E. Cole IV and his wife Nell; her daughter, Virginia Carol Cobb and her husband Rus-sell; six grandchildren; 14 great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandson.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a service will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to New Town UMC, 5209 Monticello Ave., Williamsburg, Va. 23188. Faulkner Funeral Homes, Foster-Faulkner Chapel, Mathews, is assisting the family.

DANIELA MARIA LAFATADaniela Maria LaFata, age

50, of Hayes, died unexpect-edly at her home on Dec. 31, 2020.

Born in 1970 in Brooklyn, New York, and in 1972 Daniela and her family moved to Vir-ginia residing in Gloucester County. She worked in the restaurant business for most of her life; that included working close with her fam-ily. However, her greatest achievement in life was be-coming a mother to three beautiful girls and being a grandmother to two beauti-ful grandchildren.

Daniela is the mother of Nadia Lyerly, Ivana LaFata, Michela LaFata; grandmother of Skylar Aurora Bridgeman, Adam An-tonio Fisher; daughter of Salvatore Leone Jr. and Rosalia; twin sister of Rosa Leone Hogge; sister of Salvatore Leone III and Maurice Leone. Graveside services were private and she was laid to rest on Jan. 5, 2021. Services under the direction of Hogg Funeral Home.

AARON CARL ASHLEYAaron Carl Ashley, 49, of Hayes, died at his home on Jan.

6, 2021.A full obituary will follow; services under the direction of

Hogg Funeral Home.

TERI LEIGH BROWNTeri Leigh Brown, 52, of Gloucester Point, died on Jan. 18,

2021.Services under the direction of Hogg Funeral Home.

CAROL JEAN CURRIERCarol Jean Currier, 68, of Hayes, died at her home on Dec.

28, 2020.Services under the direction of Hogg Funeral Home.

CARRIE FIELDS LEGGETTCarrie Fields Leggett, 80, of Wicomico, died on Jan. 19, 2021

at Gloucester House.A full obituary will follow; services under the direction of

Hogg Funeral Home.

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JOHN WADE STEWARTJohn Wade Stewart, 79, of

Mathews, Virginia, passed away peacefully on Tues-day, Jan. 12, 2021. He was born on April 8, 1941. In his earlier years he worked at the shipyard and Hyco Ser-vice Station. He later took over ownership of Hyco Service Station for 15 years. Later in life he was a long-time employee for Grover’s Auto Repair, then ventured off and became owner and operator of Stewarts Pool Supplies with his daughter Lisa. He touched so many people’s lives with his kind-

ness, gentle heart, loving personality, and always wanted to give a lending hand to friends and strangers. He was a long-time NASCAR fan and loved the Chesapeake Bay, but most of all he loved his family. He was preceded in death by his parents, Clyde and Rachel Stewart; mother of his children, Joyce Harrow Stewart; his special aunt, Erlise Powell, and son-in-law, Anthony Evans. He is survived by his children, Cheryl Evans, Chris Stewart, Pam Taylor (Gerald), and Lisa Morris (Chris); grandchildren, Brandy McKee, Logan Taylor, Olivia Stewart, Nikki Taylor, Nathan Morris, and Emma Mor-ris; his great-grandchildren, Sophie Taylor, and Bella Ann Taylor; brothers, Bobby Stewart (Janice) and Richard Lee Stewart (Betsy Ann); sister-in-law, Sally Harrow; his brother-in-law, Ed Harrow (Karen); his four-legged companion, Regi-nald, and a host of nephews, nieces, and friends. Arrange-ments are being made for a graveside service to be held at a later date and to be handled by Vincent Funeral Home. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Mathews Vol-unteer Fire and Rescue Squad or Gloucester-Mathews Hu-mane Society.

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We Remember

Esther Boroody GauthierJune 17, 1929

January 17, 2020Remember

Fill not your heartwith pain and sorrow,

but remember mein every tomorrow.Remember the joy,

the laughter, the smile.I’ve only gone to rest

for a little while.Although my leavingcauses pain and grief,

my going has eased my hurtand given me relief.

So dry your eyesand remember me,

not as I am now,but as I used to be.

Because I will rememberyou all,

and look on with a smile.Understand in your hearts,

I’ve only gone to restfor a little while.

God love you and all theones you love.Roland, Mark,

Valerie and LynnThe family of Wade H. Powell would like to thankRiverside Hospice for the wonderful care from theaides and nurses who came to his house while he wasill, as well as Dr. Wathen and the girls in her office.The cards and notes we received since his passingwere appreciated so much.Also, thank you to everyone who donated in Wade’smemory to Gwynn’s Island Baptist Church, CornerstoneChurch, Mathews Rescue Squad, and the Mathews FireDepartment.

We will never forget your thoughtfulness!Mary Ellen, Lynne, Joe and Sean

Your kind and thoughtful expressions of sympathy are deeply appreciated and gratefully

acknowledged for Willie Edward Dixon.Thank you,

The Dixon Family

IN MEMORIAM|

CARDS OF THANKS|

SOLES--The family of Lois S. Soles would like to thank everyone for their kind expressions of sym-pathy and love during our time of loss.

JAMES HAROLD WRIGHTJames Harold Wright of

Hopewell, died Jan. 13, 2021. He graduated from the

University of Kentucky and received a Master’s degree from Southern Bap-tist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He served numerous churches throughout the rural areas of Virginia, including Beech Grove Baptist of Coke.

Survivors include his wife, Barbara; a daughter, Beth Wright Seder of Apex, N.C.; son, David M. Wright of Morrisville, N.C., and two

brothers, Joe Wright and David C. Wright.There was a private burial at the Bruington Baptist Church

cemetery.In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made

to Bruington Baptist Church, 4784 The Trail, Bruington, Va. 23023 or the King & Queen Branch Library, 396 Newtown Road, St. Stephens Church, Va. 23148.

GRAYSON MCNEIL SHELTONGrayson McNeil Shelton,

16, of Deltaville, a senior at Middlesex High School, passed away early Monday morning on Jan. 18, 2021 at M.C.V. Hospital in Rich-mond. He was the owner and operator of Grayson’s Lawncare along with his best friend, Austin Lundy. Grayson had been cutting grass since he was eight years old. He had a strong work ethic at a young age and never turned down the opportunity to help some-

one. Grayson helped his dad sell tires at Virginia Motor Speedway during the summer months.

He was a member of the Middlesex Volunteer Fire Depart-ment in Urbanna and the Briar Swamp Hunting Club. Grayson lived a life full of love, laughter, and passion for helping others. He never met a stranger and always willing to lend a helping hand. Grayson was known for his quick wit and ability to put a smile on everyone’s face he met. Despite his health conditions, Grayson enjoyed hunting, fishing, and spending time with friends and countless conversations with his mom and dad.

Preceded in death by his grandparents, George and Diane Bowles of Fredericksburg, Grayson is survived by his par-ents, Mark and Susan Shelton; grandparents, Carroll and Pa-tricia Shelton of Deltaville, and David and Claudia Cooper of Boston, Massachusetts. Grayson is also survived by his uncles, Tommy Cooper (Barbara), Brent Cooper (Kyle), and Geoff Cooper; cousins, Kyle, Rachel, Elizabeth and Abigail.

A graveside service will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, Jan. 22 at Hermitage Baptist Church Cemetery, Church View.

The family wants to give a special thanks to the pediatric cardiac team at M.C.V. Hospital.

Donations can be made to the Middlesex Volunteer Fire Department, P.O. Box 71, Urbanna, Va. 23175.

Please be advised that current state-mandated guidelines will apply to all in attendance, including social distancing and appropriate face coverings. Arrangements by Faulkner Funeral Homes, Bristow-Faulkner Chapel, Saluda.

WILLIAM EDWARD TENAN, JR.William Edward Tenan Jr.,

age 69, of Hayes, died at Riv-erside Walter Reed Hospital on Jan. 15, 2021. Mr. Tenan retired from the U.S. Army following 22 years of ser-vice to our country and he was a professional bowler. He is survived by his wife of 47 years, Kathy; sons, Tra-vis (Barbara), Sean (Bev-erley); four grandchildren; one great-grandchild; sister, Judy Randall, and fur baby Apollo. The family will re-ceive friends Friday, Jan. 22, 2021, from 5-6:30 p.m. at Hogg Funeral Home. Masks

are required for entry and social distancing will be mandato-ry. Private graveside services will be held Saturday with mili-tary honors. In memory of our loved one, contributions may be made to Hampton Roads Junior Gold Traveling League at Sparetimes Bowling Center, Hampton, Va. Services under the direction of Hogg Funeral Home.

JOHN THOMAS WIGHTJohn Thomas Wight, 61, of Port Haywood, died on Jan. 15,

2021 in Williamsburg.A full obituary will follow; services under the direction of

Hogg Funeral Home.

Fishburne to hold Zoom talks on her illustrated bookFormer Gloucester pe-

diatrician Harriette B. Fish-burne, now a Charlottesville resident, has published an illustrated book, “Our Family Is So Special.” She will have a virtual discussion of the book from 2-3 p.m. on two Mondays—Jan. 25 and Feb. 15—via the Zoom platform.

The book was written af-ter Fishburne and her hus-band Cary traveled to Ko-diak, Alaska, which includes photos of a family of grizzly bears that Fishburne took during the 2018 trip. Fish-burne tells of flying around the area on a floater plane, living on a small boat with a group of photographers, and making day trips to the Katmai National Park, where she was able to observe and photograph the bears.

For instruction on join-ing the conversation, call 804-694-6276 or email [email protected].

Harriette B. Fishburne relaxes on a downed tree trunk in Alaska’s Katmai National Park as the bears she photographed wander in the background.

Chesapeake Writers to meet Jan. 27; members update on booksThe Chesapeake Bay Writ-

ers will hold a Zoom meet-ing at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 27, featuring Dr. Bradley Harper. His topic will be “It’s Never Too Late to Write.”

CBW president Carol Bova said information to access this meeting is posted on the group’s website, chesapeake-baywriters.org.

A news release about the meeting said that Harper started writing when he was 63 years old, following a 37-year Army career.

Bova said the group is plan-ning more online events as COVID-19 restrictions con-tinue.

In other news, she said CBW members have new books, as follows:

Edgar Doleman’s novel “Ar-len’s Gun: A Novel of Men at War” was published in late 2020. This is a novel set in Vietnam about a young air-man whose gunship crashes during monsoon season.

Sharon Canfield Dorsey’s new poetry and art book,

“Walk With Me,” was pub-lished by High Tide Publica-tions in late 2020. The poems are said to illuminate the stages of life. Information at sharoncanfielddorsey.com.

Cindy L. Freeman and High Tide Publications have launched her new book, “Af-ter Rain,” described as “a col-lection of devotions for com-fort and peace prompted by a worldwide pandemic that has created isolation and anxiety for many.” Proceeds will benefit Hospice House and Support Care of Wil-liamsburg. More information is at cindylfreeman.com.

Roger Gosden has a work of fiction for middle grade students, “Brother Adam’s Favorite Hive,” under edito-rial review. He describes this as stories of a beekeeper, his hive and a secret. His blog is on https://rogergosden.com.

Sonja McGiboney contin-ues her photo books for youth featuring Jazzy the dog in a commissioned work, “Jazzy Explores Murfrees-boro, N.C.” and is finishing “Twelve Jazzy Days of Christ-mas.” See www.jazzybooks.com.

Caterina Novelliere pub-lished “Tale of Rouen” in De-cember, and said of it, “some-

Bradley Harper Edgar Doleman Sharon Dorsey Cindy Freeman

Roger Gosden Sonja McGiboney Caterina Novelliere Christian Pascale

times necessary secrets trap one in an endless cycle of tragedy.” For more informa-tion, visit caterinanovelliere.com.

Christian Pascale has a new “dystopian novel” titled “Windows of Heaven,” due out in mid-summer. He de-scribed the book as “a quest to reopen not just the skies above us, but find a solution to an apocalyptic future.” More information is at chris-tianpascale.com.

Blues soloist to perform

Blues soloist Eli Cook will perform at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Flat Iron Crossroads in Gloucester. Cook has opened for the late B.B. King and has performed at the Kennedy Center and the Library of Congress. He has been featured in Gui-tar Player and other magazines. Doors open at 5 p.m. Food will be by Shore Bites Food Truck, and beverages will be available for purchase. The cover charge is $5. For more information, visit flat-ironcrossroads.com.

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AARP Tax Aide prepares to help residents with 2020 returns

AARP Foundation Tax Aide volunteers at Gloucester Point and Middlesex are planning for preparation of 2020 tax returns for people with low to moderate in-come.

The site location for Gloucester Point has been changed to Gloucester Point Baptist Church, located at 7741 Terrapin Road. Hours will be from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. on Wednesdays begin-ning Feb. 10; reservations are required.

After receiving all W-2, 1099 and other forms, tax-payers can come to the church to pick up an infor-mation packet with instruc-tions and intake sheets. At the time of package pick-up, appointments to return with the completed forms and tax documents will be made.

Appointments will all be on

Wednesdays between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. and will be 20 min-utes long. At that time, tax-payers will wait while their documents are scanned into a secure cloud-based sys-tem.

Tax returns will be pre-pared remotely by volun-teers working from home. The counselor and quality reviewer may phone taxpay-ers to clarify any questions that arise. After the docu-ments are scanned, packets will be returned and an ap-pointment will be made for the taxpayer to return, re-view, sign and receive a copy of the completed return. The return will then be e-filed with both the IRS and the state of Virginia.

“The systems and pro-cesses are all new and will require getting used to and working the bugs out,” said

local coordinator Jeff Breaks. “We ask anyone wanting our service to carefully read and complete the packet instruc-tions. We look forward to a productive season.”

The Tax Aide group in Middlesex County will be following the same basic procedures as the group at Gloucester Point. The first step is for taxpayers to pick up a packet which will be available at the end of Janu-ary at the entrance of the Deltaville Public Library, Lo-cust Hill’s Cryer Center or Urbanna Public Library.

After gathering all forms and completing the packet, the taxpayer may then call for an appointment at a spe-cial phone number listed in the packet instructions. All appointments will be on Wednesdays and include a couple of evenings to accom-

modate those working dur-ing the day.

After all documents are scanned and returned to the taxpayer, another appoint-ment will be made for the following Wednesday for the taxpayer to review the re-turn, sign the authorization for Tax Aide to e-file and re-ceive a hard copy.

During the tax preparation, the taxpayer may receive a call from the counselor or quality reviewer if questions arise. It is important for the taxpayer to recognize the phone number and answer the call.

“This year, taxpayers have more upfront work to pro-vide information,” said local coordinator, Godwin Jones. “We ask anyone using our services to carefully com-plete the packet instruc-tions.”

THURSDAY

RESOURCES COUNCIL: The Mathews County Resources Council will meet at 9:15 a.m. today via Zoom, with login starting at 9:05. Joi Ball, pres-ident of Friends of the Library, and Michael Cannon, manager of the bookstore, will discuss the group’s work in support of Mathews Me-morial Library. For login information, call 804-210-9169.

Eltham Bridge work begins next weekA year-long maintenance

project on the Eltham Bridge, which carries Routes 30/33 over the Pamunkey River between West Point and New Kent County, be-gins next week.

The Virginia Department of Transportation said mo-torists will encounter sin-gle-lane closures during the work, which will also involve crews, equipment, and work zone barriers. Minimal de-lays are anticipated, VDOT said, and the bridge will con-tinue to be open for marine traffic.

As lanes are closed, VDOT and its contractor, BDI Inc., will identify bridge beams

needing future repair. Once the work is completed on the Eltham Bridge, attention and work will move to the Lord Delaware Bridge, which car-ries Route 33 across the Mat-taponi Bridge between West Point and King and Queen County.

“The Eltham and Lord Delaware bridges are safe for travel, and our regular in-spections find these bridges consistently remain in fair condition,” said Annette Ad-ams, P.E., VDOT Fredericks-burg District Structure and Bridge Engineer. “However, since opening these bridges in the mid-2000s, we have learned that a portion of the

grout used during construc-tion did not properly set in all locations. Since this find-ing, we have been steadily exploring options for repair, while closely tracking the bridges’ condition.”

Adams continued, “This project will allow crews to further investigate and identify specific locations for grout rehabilitation. It ensures we have the best in-formation possible to carry out the construction proj-ect which is necessary to improve the bridges and en-sure their future long-term service for these communi-ties.”

After 2022, the construc-

tion project to rehabilitate the bridge is anticipated to be scheduled.

Route 14 detourAt the same time, work

is getting underway to replace the Poropotank Creek bridge on Route 14 between the Gloucester and King and Queen Coun-ty lines. That project is scheduled to continue through July.

Through traffic will be detoured to Routes 17 and 33 between Glenns and Shacklefords.

THURSDAY

SOCIAL SERVICES: The Gloucester County Social Services Board will meet at 7:30 this morning via electronic means.

MONDAY

PARKS AND REC: The Gloucester Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee will meet at 7 p.m. Monday via electronic means.

TUESDAY

SUPERVISORS: The Mathews County Board of Supervisors will meet virtually at 6 p.m. Tuesday via the Zoom platform. The meeting will also be shared on Facebook.BZA: The Gloucester Board of Zon-ing Appeals will hold an elec-tronic meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday.GO GREEN: The Go Green Gloucester Advisory Committee will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday via electronic means. Requests for invitation to meeting should be emailed to

Regional special ed board to meet

next weekThe Board of Control

for the Middle Peninsula Regional Special Education Program will meet at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 27. The meeting will be virtual, held via Zoom.

The MPRSEP serves students with autism and multi-disabilities from Gloucester, King and Queen, Mathews, Middlesex and West Point. The meeting is open to the public. For more information, call Patty Dial at 804-693-7944.

COMMUNITY GROUPS|

PUBLIC CALENDAR|

[email protected].

WEDNESDAY

EDA: The Gloucester Economic Development Authority will meet at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 27, via electronic means.

S U P E R V I S O R S: The Mathews County Board of Supervisors will hold a public input meeting and presentation on FY 2021 budget requests from outside agencies at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 27, in the Harry M. Ward Auditorium at Mathews High School.

Y M C K

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Sen. Kaine discusses legacy of MLK with GHS studentsBY SHERRY HAMILTON

Sen. Tim Kaine paid homage to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Friday morning by discuss-ing the civil rights leader with students of Gloucester High School social studies teacher Dianne Carter De Mayo. In-cluded among the students attending virtually were sev-eral members of the school’s W.E.B. DuBois Honor Society.

Speaking from his home on the Zoom platform, Virginia’s junior senator talked about the impact King had on his life and on the nation as a whole. But he didn’t stop there. He went on to talk about civil rights in general, including about local civil rights figure Irene Morgan, and to respond to questions from students about current events, includ-ing the recent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Born in 1958, Kaine said he grew up in an all-white neigh-borhood in Missouri, but still some of his earliest memories were connected to civil rights issues. He recalled coming home from kindergarten to find his mother crying be-cause President John F. Ken-nedy had been assassinated.

“When you see adults cry, it makes an impression on you,” he said.

That incident was followed by seeing King’s marches on the news and by reading about what he was trying to accom-plish. Although there were “very divided opinions” about King across the nation, Kaine

said the civil rights leader was someone his parents admired, and he was raised to admire and respect him, as well. That was why one experience he had stood out to him.

Kaine said he was 10 years old when King was assassi-nated, and his parents were away on a trip. Kaine and his siblings were left with a family friend who regularly babysat for them, a 70-year-old lady whom they loved like another family member. They were all watching television together when a bulletin came on say-ing that King had been killed, and the woman vehemently commented that “it serves that (N-word) right.”

“That was like the end of childhood,” said Kaine. “You tend to think the adults who love you are perfect, and that confused me. In church they always said ‘love thy neigh-bor.’ How could a person who loved us say such hateful things? It was a pivotal time.”

Kaine said that Dr. King wasn’t a revolutionary. In-stead, he “embraced the mis-sion” of “bringing us back to our principles.”

Reiterating a story that’s familiar to many local resi-dents, Kaine spoke of Irene Morgan, the Gloucester native whose civil rights case led to the U.S. Supreme Court rul-ing that public transportation that crossed states lines must have a uniform set of rules and therefore could not prac-tice discrimination against Black people.

Kaine said that the struggle for civil rights will go on for-ever because people aren’t perfect. While the creator of the Declaration of Indepen-dence, Thomas Jefferson, was a very flawed person who owned slaves, said Kaine, he nevertheless created “a per-fect idea.”

“He had the moral insight to articulate the notion that we’re all equal,” said Kaine.

A statue of Robert E. Lee was recently removed from the U.S. Capitol building and will be replaced with one of then-teenager Barbara Johns, who led a school walk-out in the early 1950s to protest seg-regation. Kaine said the idea was to emphasize that young people have a role to play in the future of the nation. “Stu-dents can tour the Capitol and realize they don’t have to wait until they’re adults to have an impact,” he added.

U.S. Capitol breachIn response to a question

from a student, Kaine de-scribed his experience during the breach of the Capitol as “very, very bizarre.

“I never would’ve imagined it would happen, I’ll never for-get it, and I hope it never hap-pens again,” he said.

The counting of the Elector-al College votes normally “is not a big deal,” said Kaine. “It took 17 minutes in 2016.”

But because the president encouraged people to flock to Washington, D.C., to object to the results of the election, and because some lawmakers did

object, the Senate and House of Representatives had to go in separate chambers to de-bate the matter, he said. Kaine had left his cell phone in his office because he didn’t want any distractions from the mat-ters at hand, but he said other senators began getting texts. Then Vice President Mike Pence was told to get out. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) tried to leave, as well, but was turned around, said Kaine, and every-one was told the Senate was under attack and the doors would have to be barricaded. The large, heavy doors were all slammed shut.

Kaine said he could tell from the noise that the situ-ation was “very serious.” It took about 35 minutes for of-ficers to clear the protesters from one part of the build-ing and allow senators to get to the basement, then into the tunnel, and finally to the Hart Senate Office building. At one point while they were exiting, protesters saw them and began yelling at them, he said. They remained at the Hart Building for around five hours, until the Capitol was cleared out and prepared for their return. Kaine said the sergeant-at-arms suggested that they could continue their debate while waiting, “but we said no, we will go back and finish in public.

“My overwhelming emo-tion was not fear,” said Kaine. “My overwhelming emotion was anger. I was so mad at the president for spewing lies

and trying to get the crowd to stop us from doing our Consti-tutional duty.”

Statues and monumentsOn the issue of statues and

monuments, Kaine said that the removal of monuments such as the Stonewall Jackson statue that was previously lo-cated on Monument Avenue in downtown Richmond is “not trying to erase history, but to determine who is worthy of honor in 2021.” The Lee stat-ue from the U.S. Capitol was taken to the Virginia Museum of History and Culture, where it will be displayed, he said. Such statues may be taken to museums, cemeteries, or an-cestral homes. Each state is allowed to have two statues on display at the U.S. Capitol, he said, and Capitol rules al-low them to be changed once every 10 years.

“It’s just a reality that over the course of history there might be a whole lot of people you want to honor,” he said.

Other discussionAsked whether polarization

in the country is real or if the media exaggerates it, Kaine

said that issue has been mag-nified by both the media and by irresponsible leaders. He said that it’s never been Presi-dent Trump’s intent to try to unify the nation, but to divide it and stoke division.

One student wondered whether Kaine, a known de-vout Catholic, had ever had his faith challenged, and his reply was, “all the time.

“I’m completely into trying my best to live out the gospel teachings—to save others,” he said. “Whether as a civil rights lawyer or a senator, in every walk of life, you can be a servant.”

Kaine said he approaches every job from a service lens, seeking “the greater good.” While he personally believes the death penalty and abor-tion are wrong, “My job as an elected official is not to take Catholic doctrine and make it law.”

Following his talk with GHS students, Kaine held a similar roundtable discussion with students at Oscar Smith High School in Chesapeake.

Sen. Tim Kaine

Y M C K

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Here’s what’s easy to overlook when you’renew to thinking strategically about yourmoney.You set aside funds for the daily bills, includ-ing the mortgage, utilities, gas and food. Youplan for college and other educational ex-penses. You decide how much you can con-tribute to a 401(k).Don’t forget about fun, reminds financial ad-visor Margie Wiley. “You have to budget in fun for any sort oflifestyle,” she says. “Fun will blow up yoursavings plan, your retirement plan, your lifestrategy if you do not plan for it because no-body plans for fun.”You define what’s fun. What do you valuedoing the most? Maybe it’s splurging on aventi Mocha Frappuccino two shots of ex-presso. Could be that alligator wallet withmatching shoes. Many of us relate fun to ex-perience: an afternoon at the rock gym or acruise to Alaska with your hubby. Fun can alsomean entertainment — a Netflix subscrip-tion or buying the hard copy to read beforebook club. These days, fun coincides withwellness, whether it’s a pedicure, massage ora peaceful night at home with a favorite bottleof wine. You define your idea of funand decide how much tobudget for it — typically nomore than 30% of yourmonthly income but oftensignificantly less, all de-pendent on your financialsituation. Wiley can helpyou decide the amountthat fits your budget. But itcan’t be zero no matterhow much you prioritizesaving.If you don’t take the timeto build in some moneyfor fun, you’ve set up anunrealistic budget and alifestyle you can’t sus-tain.

Once you decide how much per month will gofun, the only rule-of-thumb is to stick to thatamount or adjust annually based on yourgoals. What you don’t want to do is borrowfrom your retirement plan or hand off yourcredit card to make up the difference. Just asyou set aside a designated amount for themortgage, you do so for fun. Sometimes that means taking a holistic viewof the small stuff to save up for somethinglarger. You might have to limit eating lunchout every day if you can’t afford the vacationyou want.Planning for fun might sound boring, Wileyadmits, but it’s a critical part of keeping yourbudget on track so you and your investmentadvisor can achieve all of your investinggoals.Any opinions are those of Margie Wiley,AAMS, Financial Advisor and not necessarilythose of RJFS or Raymond James. The infor-mation contained in this report does not pur-port to be a complete description of thesecurities, markets, or developments referredto in this material. You should discuss any taxor legal matters with the appropriate profes-sional.

Don’t take the fun out of budgeting

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Asset allocation is to invest-ment planning what the foun-dation is to a house or the chassis is to a car. It’s what everything else is built upon. And just as important as con-structing a house on a firm foundation, having the right asset allocation can be vital to helping you work toward your financial goals.

Although the name may sound intimidating, asset al-location is just technical term

for a rather simple concept. Asset allocation is merely how your portfolio is divided up among different types of investments, such as stocks, bonds, and what are called “cash alternatives.”

How asset allocation worksUsing asset allocation to

build a portfolio designed to help you reach your long-term goals requires taking three primary factors into consideration:

Goals. These are simply what you’re investing to

achieve. For many of us, a major goal is to enjoy a finan-cially secure retirement. If you have younger children or grandchildren, helping them afford higher education with-out building a mountain of debt is likely another goal. Or maybe you’d also like to make a luxury purchase—such as buying a vacation home or dream car or taking an exotic vacation—down the road.

Time horizon. One reason why knowing your goals is important is because it helps determine your time horizon (how long you have until you need to tap into your invest-ments). If you’re 28, for exam-ple, and want to retire at 68, your time horizon is 40 years. Simple as that.

Risk tolerance. Your risk tol-erance is the amount of vola-tility in your portfolio’s value you’re comfortable with. If you find you can’t sleep be-cause you’re worried about your investments—especially when there’s market volatil-ity—you probably need to ad-just your asset allocation to suit your risk tolerance.

Putting the pieces togetherWith those factors in hand,

you can begin to piece your

asset allocation together. The primary building blocks, at least to begin with, are likely to include:

Stocks. Historically, stocks have offered attractive re-turns, but along with those returns, there’s also been periods of volatility. If you’re young, you should have a long time horizon—especially when it comes to retirement. That may allow you to have a larger allocation to stocks be-cause you have longer to ride out any short-term market volatility that occurs.

Bonds. One reason inves-tors like bonds in a portfolio is because their prices have historically been relatively stable. By owning bonds, an investor’s aim may be to help manage his or her portfolio’s overall value when there’s volatility in the stock market. The larger the proportion of bonds, the more steady the portfolio’s overall value should remain. Keep in mind, however, that bonds’ returns have been significantly less than stocks.

Cash alternatives. These are relatively lower-risk, low-er-return investments. On the upside, they can be easily be

converted into cash when it’s needed. On the downside, their returns may not even keep up with inflation.

Of course, there are many other investments to con-sider, such as real estate in-vestment trusts (REITs) and commodities. Just remember that you should intend for each type of investment you choose to play a particular role, such as providing the potential for growth or in-come or stability, in your overall allocation. Alternative investments, such as those mentioned above, also have their own unique risks that you should fully understand before investing.

Once you’ve decided on the types of investments to include, you need to deter-mine how much of each is appropriate. If you’re looking to grow your investments’ value, you’ll likely have a

larger stock allocation and a smaller one for bonds. The result would be a portfolio with more potential volatility than one with a larger propor-tion of bonds. You should ask yourself if that’s a trade-off you’re comfortable with.

Get help if you need itAlthough asset allocation

is a relatively simple con-cept, you can see it has lots of “moving parts.” That’s one reason why many investors opt to work with a profession-al financial advisor. If you de-cide to seek help, look for an advisor who will first get to know you and then help cre-ate an investment plan that’s built around (what else?) an appropriate asset allocation.

Asset allocation cannot eliminate the risk of fluctuat-ing prices and uncertain re-turns.

United Way’s COVID-19 fund continues to help those in need

United Way of the Virginia Peninsula’s COVID-19 Emer-gency Fund continues to serve the growing and immediate needs of the Peninsula com-munity, according to a release from the nonprofit.

This fund provides resourc-es and services to residents affected by the health and economic damage of the pan-demic, the release said.

The fund has assisted non-profit organizations working on the frontlines of the pan-demic, supporting the essen-tial needs of economically vul-nerable populations hurt by closures, cancellations and/or health issues related to COVID-19, United Way said.

With the COVID-19 vaccine on the horizon, some funding streams have already shifted from crisis response to relief and recovery initiatives.

The nonprofit community and local human service agencies have seen increased needs for child care, rent/mortgage assistance, and ba-sics, such as food, shelter and medical care. Contributions to this fund are designed to sup-port agencies responding to these issues.

For more information on United Way’s response to COVID-19, visit www.uwvp.org/covid-19.

“People who never thought they would be in a position to need help have encountered challenges too significant to overcome on their own, even with savings,” said Steven Kast, President and CEO of

the United Way of the Virginia Peninsula. “Any contribution, small or large, is immensely appreciated and unites our community for the greater good. There is still a long road ahead, but together, we can make a difference for our neighbors in need.”

To donate to United Way’s COVID-19 Emergency Fund, visit www.uwvp.org. Checks can be mailed to United Way of the Virginia Peninsula at 11820 Fountain Way, Suite 206, New-port News, Va. 23606.

For residents of Gloucester and Mathews who are in need of assistance as a result of CO-VID-19, call 757-594-4636.

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Emergencies Seen Promptly

SportSGHS wrestling, basketball move ahead with abbreviated seasons

BY KIM ROBINS

Gloucester High School Ath-letic Director Kristy Hunter is still trying to get the GHS win-ter sports season schedules together but as of Tuesday she provided the following events:

GHS wrestlers will travel to New Kent at 6 o’clock today, Jan. 21. They will next take on Poquoson and Mathews at 11 a.m. Saturday at Mathews High School and host Tabb High School at 11 a.m. on Sat-urday, Jan. 30.

The wrestlers will travel to

York at 6 p.m. on Feb. 2 and the Region 5A tournament will be held on Feb. 6 at Green Run High School in Virginia Beach.

In basketball, the var-sity girls and boys will play Mathews on Friday (varsity girls at home; JV and varsity boys at MHS). The JV boys

will travel to Grafton on Sat-urday.

The varsity boys and girls are tentatively scheduled to host Catholic High School on Monday, Grafton next Friday, Jan. 29 and York on Feb. 1 The JV boys will host New Kent on Wednesday, Jan. 27. The varsi-

ty girls will travel to Mathews on Feb. 4 while the varsity and JV boys will host Mathews on Feb. 4. Finishing the regular season, the varsity girls and boys will travel to Hampton Christian on Feb. 5.

There is no GHS girls’ junior varsity basketball team this

winter. Under Virginia High School

League guidelines for the 2021 athletic activity calendar, the fall sports season comes next and football practices can be-gin Feb. 4. Cross country, field hockey, golf and volleyball practices can begin Feb. 15.

MHS girls crush Broncos, fall

to Cavs, 50-48BY CHARLIE KOENIG

The Mathews High School varsity girls overwhelmed the Franklin Broncos last Thursday, 53-20, but dropped a 50-48 heartbreaker Tuesday against King Wil-liam. The basketball team currently holds a 3-2 record.

“I was extremely impressed with the way the girls kept fighting throughout the game,” head coach C.K. Ambrose said fol-lowing Tuesday’s loss.

“King William is a good team and the girls stood toe-to-toe with them. Even though we lost, I’m encouraged with what I saw and feel that we can be a tough team to beat moving forward,” he concluded.

Connie Johnson and Joice Small were the top scorers for Mathews against the Cavaliers, ending the night with 11 points apiece. Abbie Hudgins was right behind with nine points, while Stacie Thomas (four points) and Reese Brock (three points) rounded out the scoring.

In last Thursday’s win over Franklin, Thomas had the hot hand, leading the Lady Devils in scoring with 17 points. Hudgins scored nine points, Johnson followed with eight, while Kayla Carr and Small each had six. Small led the team in rebounds with seven, while Sarah Ashbaugh pulled down five. Ashbaugh also had two points as did Zayle Darby. Brock scored three points, and also led the team in assists with four.

JV girlsThe Mathews High School junior varsity

girls also split a pair of contests in recent hoops action. On Jan. 12, the JV Lady Dev-ils opened their season with a 20-19 victo-ry on the road against West Point. Trinity Reynolds was the top scorer in that game, ending the night with 11 of the Devils’ 20 points. Emmillie Smith, Lannah Callis, Grayson Griffith and Olivia Ashbaugh also scored points in the win.

On Tuesday, the JV girls fell to the King William Cavaliers, 47-21. Aameria Forrest led Mathews in scoring with eight points, followed by Ashbaugh, Smith (four points each), Callis (three points) and Reynolds (two points).

Tonight, the MHS girls will host West Point, with the JV game starting at 5:30 and the varsity at 7. On Friday, the MHS varsity squad travels to Gloucester to face the Dukes with a 5:30 p.m. tipoff. On Monday, the varsity and JV girls have a re-match with King William at home.

Devils post wins over Charles City, King William

LOCAL TIDES Mobjack Bay, East River Entrance

HIGH LOW Thursday 2:41 a.m. 9:21 a.m. 1/21 2:56 p.m. 9:09 p.m. Friday 3:38 a.m. 10:21 a.m. 1/22 3:57 p.m. 12:21 p.m. Saturday 4:39 a.m. 11:17 a.m. 1/23 4:48 p.m. 10:53 p.m. Sunday 5:34 a.m. 12:08 p.m. 1/24 5:52 p.m. 11:44 p.m. Monday 6:23 a.m. 1/25 6:41 p.m. 12:57 p.m. Tuesday 7:08 a.m. 12:34 a.m. 1/26 7:28 p.m. 1:42 p.m. Wednesday 7:52 a.m. 1:22 a.m. 1/27 8:12 p.m. 2:23 p.m.

Tide adjustments at other points: York River, Tue Marsh Light—Subtract

5 minutes. York River, Yorktown—Add 5 minutes. York River, Allmondsville—Add 1 hour,

5 minutes. York River, Entrance to Perrin River—

Add 1 minute. Brown’s Bay—Subtract 7 minutes. S.W. Branch Severn River—Add 4

minutes. Ware River—Subtract 4 minutes. North River—Subtract 4 minutes. New Point Comfort—Subtract 1 minute. Piankatank River, Cherry Point—Add 1

hour. Piankatank River, Dixie—Add 1 hour,

33 minutes. Urbanna—Add 2 hours, 50 minutes.

THE SUN THIS WEEK

Sunrise Sunset 1/21 7:15 a.m. 5:19 p.m. 1/22 7:14 a.m. 5:20 p.m. 1/23 7:14 a.m. 5:21 p.m. 1/24 7:13 a.m. 5:22 p.m. 1/25 7:13 a.m. 5:23 p.m. 1/26 7:12 a.m. 5:24 p.m. 1/27 7:11 a.m. 5:25 p.m.

THE MOON THIS WEEK Moonrise Moonset 1/21 12:02 p.m. 12:49 a.m. 1/22 12:13 p.m. 1:46 a.m. 1/23 1:03 p.m. 2:45 a.m. 1/24 1:42 p.m. 3:44 a.m. 1/25 2:26 p.m. 4:42 a.m. 1/26 3:18 p.m. 5:39 a.m. 1/27

4:17 p.m. 6:32 a.m.

JANUARY MOON PHASES

Last quarter 1/6 New moon 1/13 First quarter 1/20 Full moon

1/28

First deerCayden Stultz, 12, of Amelia County took his first deer (left photo) on Dec. 23 and took his first buck on Dec. 31 while hunting with his grandfather, Mathews native Jeffrey Armistead, in King and Queen County.

BY CHARLIE KOENIG

Following a pair of victories this past week over Charles City and King William, the defending state champion Mathews High School varsity boys’ basketball team now holds a 4-1 record.

Mathews won both contests by convincing margins. On Friday, the MHS boys made quick work of the visiting Charles City Panthers, 75-57. On Tuesday night, the Devils kept the streak going on their home court with a 62-49 vic-tory over the King William Cavaliers.

In Friday’s Charles City game, Caleb KK Thomas was the standout performer for the Blue Devils, scoring 26 points and pulling down 20 rebounds. Two other Devils also ended the night in dou-ble digits, with Nasir Thomas scoring 12 points and Jackson Putt adding 10. Rounding out the scoring were Brandon Gandee (nine points), Jamarri Henderson (eight points), Tae Legette (seven points) and Mi-chael Brooks (three points).

On Monday, it was Nasir Thomas’s turn to shine, as he scored 21 points in the win over the Cavaliers. Putt (14 points) and Landon Greene (13 points) also finished the night in double digits. Ca-leb Thomas (eight points), Legette (three points) and Dawson Adams (three points) provided the rest of the Blue Devil scoring.

The varsity and JV boys will travel to West Point, with the JV game starting at 5:30 and the varsity at 7. On Friday, Mathews is on the road once again, facing next-door neigh-bor Gloucester in a JV/var-sity matchup. On Monday, the boys travel to King William in a rematch with the Cavaliers.

JV boysMeanwhile, the JV boys’


Mathews High School’s Nasir Thomas (#1) scored a dozen points on Friday as the Devils beat the visiting Charles City Panthers, 75-57. On Tuesday, Thomas led the Devils with 21 points in a 62-49 win over King William.


Blue Devil Caleb KK Thomas works the ball past Charles City’s Kameron Johnson (#21) in Friday’s 75-57 win over the visiting Panthers. Thomas and Johnson were the top scorers for their teams, ending the night with 26 points and 31 points, respectively.

SEE MHS BASKETBALL, PAGE 14A

Y M C K


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Gloucester PRT offers self-defense, yoga classes

most recent game ended in a 61-33 loss at the hands of the visiting King William Cavaliers on Tuesday. Andrew Greve (nine points), Ryan Bacelar (seven points) and Jordyn Cosby (six points) provided the majority of the scoring for Mathews, with Thomas Hub-bard (four points), Tre Greene (three points) and Cameron McDonald (two points) com-ing up with the rest.


MHS BASKETBALL The Gloucester Parks, Rec-

reation and Tourism Depart-ment is offering the following programs:

SELF-DEFENSE FOR GIRLS: Beginning March 19, Self-Defense for Girls ages 9-12 will be held from 6-7 p.m. on Fridays in the Whitcomb Lodge at Beaverdam Park. The four-week program is focused on empowering stu-dents towards personal and collective strength through self-defense, traditional mar-tial arts, and unique fitness training. All classes are fe-male-led in a safe, judgment-

free space. Open to women and girls of all experience and fitness levels. Instruc-tor Sensei Paula Asbell. The fee is $45 and the deadline to register is March 14.

SELF-DEFENSE FOR WOM-EN: Self-Defense for Women/Girls ages 13 and older will be held from 7:10 p.m. to 8:10 p.m. on the same days as the previous program in the Whitcomb Lodge. Classes begin March 19 and end April 9. Instructor Sensei Paula As-bell. The fee is $45 and the deadline to register is March 14.

NAMASTE YOGA: Namaste Yoga is being held from 5:30 to 6:45 p.m. Tuesdays from 5:30-6:45 p.m. at the Whit-comb Lodge. The next ses-sion is from Feb. 9 to March 2. This class offers a full yoga workout to improve balance, flexibility and strength. The single class fee is $9 per class or sign up for a session for $32. Instructor Nichole Knott. Deadline is the Thurs-day before the class.

GENTLE YOGA: Gentle Yoga is held from 5:30-6:45 p.m. on Thursdays at the Whitcomb Lodge. Gentle

yoga features a slower paced workout, while still achiev-ing the benefits of flexibility, balance and stretching. The single class fee is $9 per class or sign up for a session for $32. The next session runs from Feb. 9 through March 2. Instructor Paula Stefanic. Deadline to sign up is the Monday before the class.

All classes require the wearing of masks; once par-ticipants are in their dis-tanced workout space, they may remove their masks. For more information, call PRT at 804-693-2355

WEATHERThese readings were compiled

at the Buchanan Weather Station at Gwynn.

DATE MAX MIN Prec. Wind1/12 45 28 0 16nne1/13 51 27 0 15ssw1/14 50 31 0 12nnw1/15 52 30 0 13sw1/16 49 33 .49 22w1/17 51 30 .17 29w1/18 49 35 0 24w

SummaryThe National Weather Ser-

vice, Wakefield, forecasts sunshine today through Sunday, 50s today and Fri-day, low 40s on the week-end, in the prediction issued Wednesday.

MHS wrestlers go 2-0 in debutThe Mathews High School

wrestling team opened up its season on Saturday, hosting a tri-meet against King William and York. The Blue Devils won both contests, defeating King William by a 35-23 mar-gin and besting York, 39-30.

Five Mathews wrestlers—Lexi Deagle (113 lbs.), Joshua Rosadino (120 lbs.), Tyler Schaller (138 lbs.), Cody Deagle (145 lbs.) and Brady Wright (182 lbs.)—were un-defeated on the day.

The Devils’ next event was a

tri-meet at home on Wednes-day, Jan. 20 vs. Franklin and New Kent B. On Saturday, Mathews will host a wrestling triangle against Gloucester and Poquoson.


Joshua Rosadino (120 lbs.) went 2-0 on Saturday. The Blue Devil, who placed fourth in the state last year, is shown here pinning back the arm of his King William opponent.

Permit now required for launching vessels from state boating ramps

As of Jan. 1, anyone throw-ing a canoe or kayak on the top of the car and launching it at a state ramp is required to have a permit issued by the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources. DWR is in charge of enforcement.

The new law that took ef-fect with the new year applies to four Gloucester-Mathews ramps: Tanyard Landing on the Poropotank River, Gloucester Point Landing on York River, Deep Point Ramp on the Piankatank, Warehouse Landing on Ware River, and Town Point Landing on East River.

To launch a boat at these ramps, the access permit is re-quired, unless the boat has a current certificate of boat reg-istration issued by DWR, or a valid Virginia hunting, fishing or trapping license, or a DWR Restore the Wild membership.

Passengers in these boats do not need a permit, just the operator. Those 16 and young-er do not need permits.

The permit requirement in-cludes participants in a group trip with a kayak, canoe or tubing tour or rental compa-ny. Day permits can be pur-chased too.

DWR sells permits online

through the Virginia Depart-ment of Wildlife Resources.

Proceeds will be used to “help DWR meet the increas-ing demand for outdoor recre-ational opportunities through land purchased, ongoing maintenance of current boat-ing access sites, construction of new boating access sites, and maintaining more than 225,000 acres that are open to the public to enjoy,” DWR said.

One local tour guide, Dianne Campbell of Mobjack Kayak-ing in Mathews, said the new regulations will probably not impact her much, because she prefers launching on sand rather than the concrete of state ramps.

She said the permits are $23 a year, and that she has ob-tained one; day permits are $4, she said, but they have to purchase it. The day passes can be obtained online in a matter of minutes, she said.

“It’s not really that big of a deal,” for her operation, she said.

Area ramps included in the new rule in addition to those in Gloucester and Mathews include Melrose and Water-fence at Mattaponi in King and Queen County; and the West Point Landing on Mattaponi River.

Middlesex landings include Mill Stone at Parrotts Creek, and Mill Creek and Saluda on the Rappahannock River.

Kayakers and canoeists using state ramps now need access permits. This photo shows a 2020 kayak trip sponsored by Mobjack Kayaking of Mathews.

gloucester-mathews · 2021. 1. 20. · y m c k 2a gloucester-mathews gazette-journal gloucester...

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