INSIDE
EXPO
Dining & Entertaining in Hanover
Richmond hosts 25th Great American Indian Expo
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Vol. 2 No. 18 | Richmond Suburban News | November 9, 2016
Ashland officials reject ‘third rail’ plan By Roslyn Ryan Richmond Suburban News
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SHLAND — The Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) visited Ashland on Tuesday, Nov. 1, to gather information on a proposed rail project, and the message they received was clear: Any plan that would construct a third rail line through the middle of the town’s historic district is simply unacceptable.
The option to build the third line is just one part of a project to link Richmond and Washington, D.C., via high speed rail. Since it was first announced in June, however, that option has been met with fierce opposition from residents concerned that the project would, as one local blogger put it, “tear the heart out of Ashland.” “We are adamantly opposed to a third set of tracks through the historic center of town,” Ashland Mayor
Nick Liberante The Hanover Local
Ashland Mayor James Foley speaking at the meeting about the high speed rail proposal.
James Foley said, addressing the CTB and the roughly 250 residents who had packed the seats of the Ashland Theatre. “There is simply no room for a third track. It will decimate our business district, our prime historic housing neighborhoods, and the center of Randolph-Macon College.” Stressing both the economic impact and the potential safety hazard of squeezing another rail line so close to the sidewalk in an already bustling area, Foley urged the group to work
with the town to find an option that would bypass Ashland. “Please make collaboration a part of this process, and come up with a solution that does the least harm,” Foley said. The visit was described as a factgathering workshop, and no comments or questions were taken from the audience. But that didn’t stop those in attendance from signaling their agreement — by way of thunsee ASHLAND, pg. 2
Ginger Stanley named 2016 Mid-term exams now only a Hanover Christmas Mother memory for Hanover students By Jim Ridolphi for The Mechanicsville Local
Jim Ridolphi for The Hanover Local
Past Christmas Mothers from Hanover County joined a group of volunteers and Ruritan Club members last week at an annual ceremony at Frank and Deborah Flippo’s home in Doswell to unveil this year’s selection for Hanover Christmas Mother. Ginger Stanley, former executive director of the Virginia Press Association and lifelong Hanoverian, was named as this year’s Christmas Mother. Shown are, from left, Betty Stanley (2010), Virginia Hall (1993), Ginger Stanley (2016), Gabby Crutchfield (1995), Jeanne Engleby (1986) and GiGi Foster (2009), and, standing, Gay Mitchell (2003), Laura Stanley (2008), Hilda Kelly (1987, Melanie Goodpasture (2014), Connie Smith (2005), Betty Spiers (2001), Mary Wiblin (2000), Kay Beazley (2015) and Anne Cross (2012). Story page 4.
ASHLAND — Hanover County school officials, bolstered by a consensus opinion issued by the Hanover County School Board at its recent meeting, will adjust its regulations to remove midterm exams from the instruction schedule for all students. The board received a final read on a proposed regulation change that alters the county’s current system of administering exams, and issued a 6-1 consensus opinion supporting the changes. The change did not require school board approval due to its status as a regulation, and not identified as policy, but Dr. Michael Gill, superintendent of Hanover County Public Schools, sought board approval for the revised regulation. “This is under a regulation, not under a policy, so, technically, it does not need school board approval but — because this would represent a substantive change — this matter needed to come back
Jim Ridolphi for The Local
Hanover Spanish teacher Allison Carneiro Da Silva was named this year’s Foreign Language Association of Virginia’s Teacher of the Year. She is congratulated by Hanover County School Board chairman John Axselle and Dr. Michael Gill, superintendent of Hanover County Public Schools.
to the board for public discussion,” Gill said. Last month, the board heard a report by a committee formed to study the possibility of eliminating see STUDENTS, pg. 4