McLain Ward and Quimi Del Maset won the $226,000 classic Sunday at the 170th Upperville Colt and Horse Show. Full story, page 19 June 14, 2023
Our 206th year | Vol. 206, No. 24 | www.Fauquier.com | $1.50 VIRGINIA PRESS ASSOCIATION: BEST SMALL NEWSPAPER IN VIRGINIA 2017-2022
Lee candidates won’t bar data centers, want Fauquier to stay rural By Shannon Clark
Fauquier Times Staff Writer
Daron Lee Culbertson, owner of an agricultural fencing company, and farmer Joseph J. Gray are vying for the Republican nomination to run for the Lee District seat on the Fauquier County Board of Supervisors. And with no Democrats nor independents yet announced in the race, the June 20 primary could determine who fills the Lee District seat next January. Both Culbertson, 38, and Gray, 35, spoke
with the Fauquier Times about their ideas on data centers, school funding and community improvements. Gray is one of two candidates who could become Fauquier County’s first Black supervisor if elected this year. Independent Raeid Ebrahim, an 18-year-old recent graduate of Fauquier High School, is also vying to make local history with his run in the Center District. See LEE, page 20
Daron Culbertson
Black Lives Matter vigil participants have held their weekly Saturday morning demonstrations at Eva Walker Park since May 13.
By Peter Cary and Jill Palermo Fauquier Times writers
A decision to relocate the weekly Black Lives Matter vigils from Warrenton’s Courthouse Square to Eva Walker Park due to safety concerns will stand, the Warrenton Town Council decided Tuesday. The council voted 4-3 on Tuesday, June 13 to reject an appeal of Warrenton Police Chief Tim Carter’s May 11 decision to move the group’s demonstrations a few blocks away to the town park. The appeal
By Jill Palermo
Fauquier Times Staff Writer
ganizers appealed to the Warrenton Town Council. Carter, hired in March, is the town’s first Black police chief. During the discussion, one leader of the BLM vigils pushed back. Vinicent Holland, associate pastor of the First Baptist Church of Warrenton, noted there had been no traffic accidents at the square in the three years the vigils have taken place and argued that people jaywalking across Main Street after eating and drinking in local restaurants posed more of an accident threat. See BLM, page 6
See RAISE, page 4
Warrenton officials relocate Black Lives Matter vigil was brought by the six groups who have organized the vigils for the past three years. Carter told the council that even in the absence of the BLM vigils and All Lives Matter counter-protests across the street, the square sees numerous near-accidents. Carter said he, himself, was nearly hit by an auto while walking in a crosswalk there. The issue was before the town council because the groups behind the BLM vigil first appealed Carter’s decision to acting Town Manager Frank Cassidy. When Cassidy upheld Carter’s decision, the or-
School board mulls its 1st pay raise in 20 years Serving on the Fauquier County School Board could pay a bit more starting in 2024. The school board discussed on Monday a proposal to raise the salaries of the five elected members between 25% and 33% when the newly elected board is sworn in early next year. If approved, the raises would be the first for Fauquier County’s school board members in two decades, according to School Board member Donna Grove. During the board’s Monday, June 12 meeting, Grove (Cedar Run) introduced a proposal to raise the school board members’ annual salaries from $12,000 to $16,000; the vice chair’s salary from $13,300 to $17,000; and the chairman’s salary from $14,400 to $18,000. Added together, the annual cost of the raises would be about $18,300. The school board took no vote on the proposal, but Grove said the move would likely be on the agenda for its June 20 meeting.
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Town council backs police chief over safety concerns
Joseph Gray
Fauquier Times names a new publisher, page 2
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