Kettle Run girls lacrosse won the Region B title, as did the boys. Both host state quarterfinal games Friday. Pages 18, 19
May 30, 2018
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Citing alcoholism, Garrett drops re-election bid Staff Reports Rep. Tom Garrett, R-5th District, announced Monday that he won’t seek re-election this November, citing a problem with alcohol. “Any person — Republican, Democrat or independent — who knows me for any period of time and has any integrity knows two things: I am a good man Rep. Tom Garrett and I’m an alcoholic,” Garrett said, according to news stories
Webert, Riggleman enter race to replace Garrett; Vogel won’t run. Page 4 quoting from his video-taped statement. Media reports last week said Garrett was considering not running, but on Friday he announced that he would. News stories that broke that same day quoted unnamed former staff members as saying both the congressman and his wife had used staff to run personal errands and handle chores such as cleaning up after their dog. His chief of staff abruptly quit last week. Garrett, an Army veteran and former
prosecutor and state senator, was elected to Congress in 2016, representing a district that includes most of Fauquier County. He is a member of the conservative Freedom Caucus, and as an incumbent, was the Republican Party’s nominee to face Democrat Leslie Cockburn of Rappahannock County. Cockburn, a former 60 Minutes and Frontline journalist, won her party’s nomination in a party caucus earlier this month. The 5th District Republican Party Committee will now have choose a replacement candidate to face Cockburn and has a short timeline in which to do it. The Nov. 6 election is less than six months away.
As of Monday, 17 Democrats and 37 Republicans are not seeking re-election in their U.S. House districts, according to Ballotpedia. Of the 37 Republicans: • 25 are retiring from public office • 7 are seeking a seat in the U.S. Senate • 5 are running for governor
Slow days are good days for school resource officers Walking the halls, they check doors, monitor mischief, exchange fist bumps By Jonathan Hunley Times Staff Writer
A good work day for Fauquier County Sheriff’s Deputies Jeff Tindle or Art Culbertson is when nothing happens. “If I can spend the whole day walking around, checking doors and saying ‘hi’ to people in the hallway, and that’s all I have to do all day, that’s a good day,” Tindle said. Tindle and Culbertson are school resource officers assigned to patrol individual schools. They’re essentially officers who walk the education beat, making sure students and faculty are safe just like another officer might be assigned to a neighborhood in a big city. And they walk. A lot. Tindle routinely logs 12,000 steps per day at Kettle Run High School, and Culbertson records even more than that at Auburn Middle School. They check interior and exterior doors to make sure they’re locked and monitor inside and outside the school to ensure no one is on the grounds who isn’t supposed to be there.
PHOTO BY RANDY LITZINGER Fauquier County Sheriff’s Deputy Art Culbertson, a school resource officer at Auburn Middle, is in constant contact with teachers and administrators via walkie-talkie. Culbertson walks the halls at Auburn last Thursday trailed by two students. They also oversee student lunch periods to make sure there’s no mischief then. Tindle, 38, has worked at Kettle
The trifecta: Old House Vineyards, Distillery and Brewery. Business, page 11 INSIDE Business.............................................11 Classified............................................34 Communities......................................30 Health & Wellness...............................15
Run High for seven years. On Thurs- fields where cars would park and enday, he was helping prepare for the suring handicapped spaces would be school’s graduation the next day by properly marked. tackling tasks such as checking the See SROs, page 3
Overcoming scars and rebuilding confidence. Health & Wellness, page 15
Lifestyle..............................................23 Faith...................................................28 Libraries.............................................33 Opinion.................................................8
Obituaries.............................................6 Puzzles...............................................27 Real Estate..........................................29 Sports.................................................18
Historic Occoquan is worth the trip. Lifestyle, page 23
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NEWS
Fauquier Times | www.fauquier.com | May 30, 2018
PATH grant aims to improve access to broadband By James Ivancic Times Staff Writer
The PATH Foundation recently announced a grant of $90,000 to Fauquier County to improve broadband access for area residents. The funds will support the county’s effort to work with a telecommunications tower construction company to develop six towers in the targeted areas of Botha, Saddle Ridge, Hume, Green Road, Zulla, Orlean and Rectortown. The grant will assist with efforts to construct three of the proposed towers, amounting to a $30,000 incentive for each tower, according to a PATH news release.
According to the foundation, thousands of Fauquier County residents have poor or no access to broadband and/or wireless phone service, resulting in reduced access to telehealth services, educational opportunities for students, telecommuting for residents and more. “Our staff and board of directors are pleased to partner with Fauquier County in this effort to improve broadband access to area residents who have no, or painfully slow, broadband service,” said Christy Connolly, president/CEO of PATH Foundation. The PATH Foundation awards grants in Fauquier, Rappahannock and northern Culpeper counties to nonprofits and government agencies.
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NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC OF AN APPLICATION BY COLUMBIA GAS OF VIRGINIA, INC., TO AMEND AND EXTEND ITS NATURAL GAS CONSERVATION AND RATEMAKING EFFICIENCY PLAN CASE NO. PUR-2018-00057 On April 20, 2018, Columbia Gas of Virginia, Inc. (“CVA” or “Company”) filed with the State Corporation Commission (“Commission”) an application (“Application”) for authorization to amend and extend its Conservation and Ratemaking Efficiency Plan (“CARE Plan”) pursuant to Chapter 25 of Title 56 of the Code of Virginia. According to the Company, its current CARE Plan includes a portfolio of programs that promote conservation and energy efficiency among CVA’s residential and applicable small general service customer classes and a decoupling mechanism that adjusts actual non-gas distribution revenues per customer to the allowed distribution revenues previously approved by the Commission. In its Application, the Company proposes to extend its CARE Plan, along with certain modifications and amendments, for an additional five-year period, through December 31, 2023 (“Amended CARE Plan”). The proposed Amended CARE Plan would only be available to residential customers and includes three conservation and energy efficiency programs, with 16 measures. Specifically, the Company requests approval to extend the following three conservation and energy efficiency programs, with certain modifications, for an additional five-year period: (1) Web-Based Home Audit Program; (2) Home Savings Program; and (3) Residential Low-Income and Elderly Program. The Company expects to invest $3.7 million over the five years of the Amended CARE Plan. According to the Company, the proposed Amended CARE Plan is designed to recover the incremental costs associated with its conservation and energy efficiency programs, as incurred, by means of a surcharge mechanism described in Section 12.4 of the Company’s General Terms and Conditions (the CARE Program Adjustment (“CPA”)). The Company estimates that the proposed Amended CARE Plan’s CPA will cost the average residential customer approximately $3.29 in 2019. In its Application, CVA requests authority to implement the CPA effective with the first billing unit for the Company’s January 2019 billing cycle (i.e., December 31, 2018). The Company’s proposed Amended CARE Plan also includes a performance-based incentive mechanism and a decoupling mechanism. The details of these and other proposals are set forth in the Company’s Application. Interested persons are encouraged to review the Company’s Application and supporting testimony and exhibits for the details of these proposals. The Commission entered an Order for Notice and Comment in this case that, among other things, directed the Company to provide notice to the public and provided interested persons an opportunity to comment on the Company’s Application. The Company’s Application and the Commission’s Order for Notice and Comment are available for public inspection during regular business hours at each of the Company’s business offices in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Copies also may be obtained by submitting a written request to counsel for the Company, Bryan D. Stogdale, Senior Counsel, Columbia Gas of Virginia, Inc., 1809 Coyote Drive, Chester, Virginia 23836. If acceptable to the requesting party, the Company may provide the documents by electronic means. Copies of the public version of the Application and other documents filed in this case are also available for interested persons to review in the Commission’s Document Control Center located on the first floor of the Tyler Building, 1300 East Main Street, Richmond, Virginia 23219, between the hours of 8:15 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. Interested persons also may download unofficial copies from the Commission’s website: http://www.scc.virginja.gov/case. On or before June 15, 2018, any interested person wishing to comment on the Company’s Application shall file written comments with Joel H. Peck, Clerk, State Corporation Commission, c/o Document Control Center, P.O. Box 2118, Richmond, Virginia 23218-2118. Any interested person desiring to file comments electronically may do so on or before June 15, 2018, by following the instructions on the Commission’s website: http://www.scc.virginia.gov/case. Compact disks or any other form of electronic storage medium may not be filed with the comments. All such comments shall refer to Case No. PUR-2018-00057. On or before June 15, 2018, any person or entity may participate as a respondent in this proceeding by filing a notice of participation. If not filed electronically, an original and fifteen (15) copies of the notice of participation shall be submitted to the Clerk of the Commission at the address above. A copy of the notice of participation as a respondent also must be sent to counsel for the Company at the address set forth above. Pursuant to Rule 5 VAC 5-20-80 B, Participation as a respondent, of the Commission’s Rules of Practice and Procedure (“Rules of Practice”), any notice of participation shall set forth: (i) a precise statement of the interest of the respondent; (ii) a statement of the specific action sought to the extent then known; and (iii) the factual and legal basis for the action. Any organization, corporation, or government body participating as a respondent must be represented by counsel as required by Rule 5 VAC 5-20-30, Counsel, of the Rules of Practice. All filings shall refer to Case No. PUR-2018-00057. For additional information about participation as a respondent, any person or entity should obtain a copy of the Commission’s Order for Notice and Comment. On or before June 15, 2018, any interested person may file a written request for a hearing. If not filed electronically, an original and fifteen (15) copies of the hearing request shall be submitted to the Clerk of the Commission at the address above, and the interested person simultaneously shall serve a copy of the hearing request on counsel to the Company at the address set forth above. All requests for a hearing shall refer to Case No. PUR-2018-00057 and include: (i) a precise statement of the filing party’s interest in the proceeding; (ii) a statement of the specific action sought to the extent then known; (iii) a statement of the legal basis for such action; and (iv) a precise statement why a hearing should be conducted in this matter. All documents filed with the Office of the Clerk of the Commission in this docket may use both sides of the paper. In all other respects, all filings shall comply fully with the requirements of 5 VAC 5-20-150, Copies and format, of the Commission’s Rules of Practice. The Commission’s Rules of Practice may be viewed at http://www.scc.virginia.gov/case. A printed copy of the Commission’s Rules of Practice and an official copy of the Commission’s Order for Notice and Comment in this proceeding may be obtained from the Clerk of the Commission at the address above.
COLUMBIA GAS OF VIRGINIA. INC.
FROM PAGE 1
Fauquier Times | www.fauquier.com | May 30, 2018
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Slow days are good days for school resource officers SROs from page 1
On other days at the school of more than 1,200 students, he might answer teachers’ questions or talk to a driver’s education or government class. Sometimes, even parents call the school to seek his advice. They might say, “I can’t control my child. What do you recommend?” Generally, he’s there, as his job title suggests, to be a resource for students and faculty.
Schools boost security
Tindle and Culbertson are two of Fauquier schools’ eight school resource officers, all of whom are sworn law-enforcement officers assigned to the county’s three high schools and five middle schools. Like schools divisions around the country, Fauquier will add more security guards next year, partly in response to a rash of school shootings around “The main the country. goal is for Fauquier County will them to know add three more SROs and 13 civilian security guards that I’m here so that all 20 Fauquier to help them public schools will have and keep armed guards on their campuses when school be- them safe” gins next fall. FAUQUIER COUNTY A recent change in VirSHERIFF’S DEPUTY ginia law allows school JEFF TINDLE divisions to hire retired or School resource officer former law-enforcement officers with specialized training to work as armed guards in schools. The Fauquier County Sheriff’s Department is handling the hiring and the training of the guards. Sheriff Bob Mosier said his department has begun the work of vetting and checking applicants’ backgrounds to ensure they have the right temperament, experience and training to work in county schools.
Auburn Middle School School Resource Officer (SRO) Art Culbertson, above, gives a fist bump to student Hayes Talomie. Culbertson’s car, left, is always parked prominently in front of the school building so it can be seen by anyone approaching the school.
‘I’m here to help them and keep them safe’
The job can get intense at times. Tindle said he’s had to deal with some student fights over the years, as well as students who have brought weapons to school. But he said the worst situations for him are students who find themselves in mental-health crises. “Those are hard to deal with,” he said, noting students threatening or attempting suicide as some of the most difficult cases. School-resource officers and other authorities also try to act immediately when there’s a threat to students or misbehavior over social media, Tindle said. Some students grouse about having a law-enforcement officer in school, but Tindle said that most kids are pretty positive about his presence. Some have even confided in him when they have problems at home. “The main goal is for them to know that I’m here to help them and keep them safe,” he said. Tindle said that students didn’t have much to say about the recent school shooting in Texas, but he said that he emphasizes a “see something, say something” environment at the school and that
PHOTOS BY RANDY LITZINGER students are usually good about following that direction and reporting anything unusual. Kettle Run Principal Meaghan Brill said Tindle really makes connections with students, and the school is grateful for that. “The students know him, they come to him and ask him questions,” Brill said. “They’re comfortable working with him.” Culbertson, 59, also has made connections with students at his school, Auburn Middle. He said when a loved one had surgery, four boys from the school visited his home to see if he was OK. “And that really made me feel that I was of some value at that point when they did that, and I was quite excited to have them come by and make sure I was OK for once,” he said. “That made me feel really special.” Two students interviewed Thursday also had high marks for Culbertson.
“He’s always positive, and I feel safe when he’s walking around,” said 12-year-old Hayes Talomie, a seventh-grader. Ditto for Alex Fahey, 14, who said she feels really protected with Culbertson in the building. “He just has a smile on his face whenever he sees anyone,” the eighth-grader said. Culbertson is in his first school year at Auburn. He was at Warrenton Middle School before that. He said the job of a school-resource officer provides security but also a way for law-enforcers to reach out to children and form relationships with them. “To me it’s a very valuable position in light of all the recent tragedies that have been happening in our schools across the country,” said Culbertson, who also oversees the fifth-grade safety patrol program in the county’s elementary schools. Reach Jonathan Hunley at jhunley@fauquier. com
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