TLN-10-02-19

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EGACY

• GMU pursues memorial for the enslaved • Why abortion rates dropped in Virginia • Talk about Trump impeachment hardships • Woman says prayer request led to dismissal

Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow.

WEDNESDAYS • Oct. 2, 2019

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Richmond & Hampton Roads

LEGACYNEWSPAPER.COM • FREE

Most public defenders in Richmond make less than a secretary in the prosecutor’s office. They want a raise

VM - Most public defenders in Richmond make less than a secretary in the prosecutor’s office.

They want a raise

By Ned Oliver -September 30, 2019 Lawyers in Richmond’s public defender’s office, in the midst of a campaign to increase their salaries, say they’re paid so much less than the prosecutors they face in court

that it raises questions about whether low-income defendants are getting a fair shake at justice.

“If you’re going to fund one side of the courtroom, then you have to fund the other,” says Lauren Whitley, Richmond’s deputy public defender.

“And to not do that automatically results in inequity.”

The state-funded law office

represents criminal defendants who can’t afford attorneys, and while they say no one gets into the line of work expecting to get rich, their office has seen 60 percent of their staff leave over the past three years, almost always for higher paying jobs, including in the city prosecutor’s office.

Whitley says all that turnover

means defendants are often represented by lawyers with much less experience than the prosecutors on the other side of the courtroom.

They calculated that almost half their office has less than three years of experience, compared to 12 percent, or five out of 40 lawyers, in the city prosecutor’s office.

That’s because public defenders, with salaries starting at $53,000, make almost 40 percent less on average than their counterparts in the prosecutor’s office, according to the defender’s office, which used Freedom of Information Act requests to obtain and compare salary data.

Among their findings: 27 of their 29 attorneys make less than the highest paid administrative assistant in the prosecutor’s office.

While both offices are funded by the state at roughly comparable levels, the discrepancy comes down to local budgetary contributions.

Most cities and counties chip in extra cash to boost salaries in their prosecutors’ offices. But very few make similar contributions to their local public defender offices.

Richmond, for instance, contributes $7 million every year to help supplement salaries and

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The LEGACY

2 • Oct. 2, 2019

News

GMU to erect memorial honoring more than 100 people enslaved by George Mason Students and faculty members who researched his history urged campus leaders to acknowledge Mason’s past — all of it. He was among one of the state’s largest slaveholders, forcing more than 100 people into slavery over the course of his lifetime, said George Oberle, a history librarian at the university.

In 2021, the university plans to confront the man and the full breadth of his life with a memorial dedicated to the enslaved people whose labor helped Mason build his fortune.

Kye Farrow, 22, one of the students who worked on the project, hopes the research by students and faculty members will spark conversations about freedom in the United States.

Americans in recent years have clashed — sometimes, physically — over what to do with schools, statues and other structures that honor Confederate soldiers, slave owners and anti-abolitionists.

A statue of Confederate Army Gen. Robert E. Lee was at the center of violent white supremacist protests that exploded in 2017, about a twoand-a-half-hour drive from George Mason University, in Charlottesville.

“I was never one to say we need to change the name of the university because of this,” Farrow said. “I think it’s just something we need to learn from. It’s about embracing the past as opposed to distancing ourselves from it.”

Students started questioning Mason’s past in 2016 after reading the will he wrote for his children in 1773.

“It would list human beings in the same pages as farming

A rendering of the planned memorial dedicated to the enslaved people whose labor helped George Mason build his fortune. The Penny Panel represents 10-year-old Penny, who in 1795 was taken from her community to Gunston Hall. (Perkins+Will) instruments,” said Ben Carton, a history professor who participated in the enslaved peoples project. “He bequeathed enslaved people, often by age, grade to his children. He never emancipated a single enslaved individual.”

There are no markers on campus that tell their stories.

Full of contradictions George Mason University was originally established as a Northern Virginia arm of the University of Virginia. It became an independent institution in 1972.

The University of Virginia has

had to come to terms with its past.

A commission in 2018 concluded slavery played an integral role in the institution’s founding, according to a report by the school’s President’s Commission on Slavery and the University.

While George Mason University’s founding is not intertwined with slavery in the same way U.Va.’s is, it’s still part of the school’s legacy.

“Our university is named after George Mason because he’s a prominent figure in Virginia history and in American history,” said Ayman Fatima, 21, a student researcher. “None of the work that

he did would have been possible if not for the people that he enslaved, without all the work that they did and the suffering that they went through.”

Mason was full of contradictions. In the Virginia Declaration of Rights, he asserted “all men are born equally free and independant [sic], and have certain inherent natural rights.”

Mason opposed the slave trade that violently trafficked human beings between Africa, the Caribbean and the Americas. He questioned the institution’s morality.

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(from page 1) other budgetary needs in the prosecutor’s office. It contributes no money to the public defender’s office.

Low compensation for public defenders and court-appointed lawyers has been an ongoing issue in Virginia. A major reform in 2007 lifted the state’s lowest-inthe-nation compensation rates for court-appointed lawyers, who represent poor defendants in localities without public defender offices. However, the pool of extra money used to augment those low fees has been exhausted before the end of the fiscal year four times – most recently in April 2018, meaning court-appointed lawyers worked for a reduced rate until the new fiscal year began more than two months later on July 1.

In 2008, the General Assembly began allowing local governments to supplement the pay of staff in their public defender offices.

(It’s up to the General Assembly to decide where and when to establish public defender offices – an approach many criminal justice advocates see as more cost effective and better for defendants than the court appointed system.

At a forum Friday, prosecutors in both Chesterfield and Henrico said they supported establishing public defender offices in their respective localities, noting that the counties are among the largest in the state to operate without a public defender office.)

Local funds have been slow to flow to the offices. Currently five of 25 local public defender offices in the state receive local funding in addition to state funding: Alexandria, Arlington, Charlottesville, Fairfax, and Loudoun.

The deputy public defender in Fairfax, Andy Elders, said the local salary supplement the county provides there isn’t enough to guarantee public defenders make as much as prosecutors with

Oct. 2, 2019 • 3 similar levels of experience, but that it was enough to stem highturnover with which his office had been contending.

“I don’t think we’ve had anyone leave for money since,” he said, and that’s meant less time spent on training and on-the-job learning and more time meeting with clients and family members.

“It’s supposed to be an equal system and the scales are supposed to be balanced, but one side is literally getting millions and millions of dollars to fund or better fund their operations, and the other side doesn’t have that.”

In Richmond, the public defender’s office has calculated they need about $1 million in funding to achieve pay parity with the city prosecutors office.

To make their case to the city, Whitley and Senior Assistant Public Defender Ashley Shapiro are highlighting their work to reduce recidivism and on specialty-dockets focused on drugs and mental health.

“I think sometimes those things are missed in the overall discussion about the role the public defenders play in the communities they work for,” Whitley said. “It’s like, sometimes, we hear, we pay prosecutors more because they help keep our community safer. I think we do, too.”

So far, it doesn’t sound like they’re facing much resistance. Interim Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney Colette McEachin said she supports their request. “I know the city has limited resources, but the public defender’s job is just as important to maintain a balance in the criminal justice system as a prosecutor’s job,” she said.

Mayor Levar Stoney’s office sounded open to the proposal. “The budget team will give this request serious consideration,” his press secretary, Jim Nolan, said in an email. “As a supporter of criminal justice reform, the mayor believes public defenders should be compensated more competitively.”

(from page 2) span about 300 feet in a courtyard “He owned over 100 enslaved individuals at a time when our Founding Fathers struggled with this system that our economy is based off of, but is morally wrong,” Farrow said.

But Mason was also concerned that in some Virginia cities and counties, enslaved black people outnumbered whites, Farrow added.

Still, he benefited from the men, women and children who were part of that trade.

His Gunston Hall home was opened to the public in 1952. Staff don’t shy away from Mason’s slaveholding legacy, said Scott Stroh, the executive director.

“It’s really about exploring the contradictions between Mason’s words and his decisions and actions,” Stroh said of the performances, exhibits and signage that explain slavery at the mansion. “It’s something that evokes reactions that run the gamut. Overwhelmingly, it’s something that our visitors are interested in and want to see and explore at Gunston Hall.”

Confronting history When the memorial opens, it will contain several markers, including a bronze statue of George Mason and silhouettes of Penny and an adult “manservant” named James.

Historians don’t know what Penny or James looked like.

“We only have hints of the people,” said Oberle, the university’s history librarian. “Part of the idea of the silhouettes is to force people to look through this lens and try to imagine yourselves in Penny’s shoes or James’s shoes.”

Penny’s and James’s figures will be carved from large panels inscribed with the names of the men, women and children whom Mason enslaved.

Of Mason’s more than 100 slaves, half were under the age of 16.

The memorial was designed by Perkins and Will, an architecture firm based in the District, and it will

on the Fairfax campus. It is part of a larger revitalization effort at the school that includes infrastructure upgrades and new academic buildings.

University officials are trying to raise $500,000 to fund the memorial and an accompanying academic center for students and faculty to share research, said Julian Williams, the school’s vice president of compliance, diversity and ethics.

The structure is designed to be an interactive experience for visitors, Oberle said. There will be openings in the “Penny Panel” and “James Panel” for people to look through and observe the rest of the memorial.

Bricks on the ground will instruct people where to stand and what to think about: “Consider how slavery and freedom coexisted in America,” one reads.

A video on the school’s YouTube page provides a virtual tour.

The research about Mason and the people he enslaved is ongoing, Oberle said. But information about Mason is scarce.

“George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, they cultivated their papers, they built their papers. They saved them and they entrusted them to a trusted person in their family,” Oberle said. “But George Mason doesn’t have any of that.”

Manuel-Scott credits the student researchers — Alexis Bracey, Elizabeth Perez-Garcia, Farhaj Murshed, Farrow and Fatima — with forcing their school to honor the enslaved. Over the summer of 2017, they unearthed details about Penny, James and dozens of other enslaved people held in captivity by Mason.

“We are in a time where students are compelling us to courageously consider the relationship between the present and the past,” ManuelScott said. “I think, for many students, they’ve been introduced to George Washington and Thomas Jefferson as slaveholders, but certainly Mason has received a sort of pass.” - WaPo

The LEGACY

4 • Oct. 2, 2019

Speaker leads discussion on using the N-word MALCOLM KEY Author and professor Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor (pictured) recently spoke about the history of the N-word at VCU’s Virginia’s Past, Present, and Future speaker series that coincides with the 400th anniversary of the arrival of enslaved Africans in Virginia.

Pryor, a Smith College professor and daughter of the late comedian Richard Pryor, outlined how the word is used in modern-day classrooms and why the word needs to be discussed.

Pryor’s presentation dug into how the n-word has been used by black activists as well as professors in college classrooms, and why it’s so difficult to talk about.

“I think it’s difficult because people don’t wanna reveal their racism, or their racial naivete, or their awkwardness around this subject,” said Pryor. “People don’t want to reveal who they really are. And that’s kind of what the n-word forces us to do.”

During her talk, Pryor, who’s biracial, didn’t say the actual slur, nor did she allow anybody in the audience to use it. Her choice comes after a previous incident in her classroom where one of her white students used the n-word out of context, quoting a scene from the 1970’s comedy “Blazing Saddles,” which was co-written by her father.

According to Pryor, the incident left some of her students upset. The professor has since eliminated all uses of the actual word from future discussions, saying it takes away from its importance.

“I think I do that because I’m in recognition of the fact that the word actually does real and present harm when it enters the space,” said Pryor. “...I kinda want to be able to pull up my shirt sleeves and dig in and really have a deep conversation about it without actually dealing with the harm that it’s causing in

real time.”

Pryor’s discussion of the n-word prompted her to examine its use in literary works, such as Huckleberry Finn, that have become staples within high school and college classrooms. She used two controversial incidents as examples where white teachers (at Princeton and Smith College, respectively) have said the word while teaching students. The Princeton professor had to cancel his class after some students walked out following its use.

Pryor says compared to the amount of times teachers have said the n-word in their classrooms, student pushback is slim. She also says the situation is a result of educators being ignorant of the word’s existence in modern day America.

“The professors are not taking seriously that in addition to the word being in the pages of old books, that the word is also in the present,”

said Pryor.

After episodes such as this, Pryor said this is less of a situation on the freedom of speech, but more of “an issue of pedagogy.” She thinks there should be less time taken on whether teachers should or shouldn’t say the n-word, and more time focused on the word itself.

“I don’t want to tell anybody whether or not they can or can’t say the n-word. What I want is for people to talk about it,” said Pryor. “To be able to talk about the fact that actually something is happening when the word is used… and if we want the conversation to move forward, we have to acknowledge that something is really happening at those points of encounter when the n-word enters the space. And until we do, we’re really not going to be able to move forward.”

Pryor says she’s had moments in

her past where she was confronted by the use of the n-word, and had no one to talk to about it. She uses her workshops to give students, teachers and others the opportunity to discuss the use of the n-word and how it affects people as a whole.

Pryor says others who have been in her situation shouldn’t feel alone.

“I want people to know their stories matter, that the stories told together tell a larger story about race and racism in our country… and that when we keep telling them and keep putting them at the forefront, we can not only change our vocabulary around a single word, but around greater issues of inequity and injustice in the U.S.,” said Pryor.

Pryor also shares her personal story and experiences teaching about the slur in her new book, tentatively titled, “Talking About the N Word.”

It’s scheduled for release next year.

www.LEGACYnewspaper.com

Oct. 2, 2019• 5

Why abortion rates dropped as access shrank in Va. Abortion rates are declining nationwide, but the legislative stampede to get a precedentoverturning case to the U.S. Supreme Court that would strike down Roe v. Wade isn’t a contributing factor, according to a new study released by the Guttmacher Institute. The number of abortions nationwide declined 19 percent from 2011-2017.

In Virginia, pregnancy terminations dropped 41.5 percent, according to the study, and fewer clinics offered abortion during the same time frame. By comparison, the number of abortions increased by 5.9 percent in the District of Columbia during the same timespan.

Though 32 state legislatures passed 394 new restrictions on abortion from 2011-2017, abortion rates also fell in states with less restrictive laws, the reproductive health and rights research group said in its report. Instead, the biggest reason for the decline is that women aren't becoming pregnant as often, researchers said.

If abortion restrictions had been the force behind the abortion decline, birth rates would have increased, the Guttmacher Institute said. Instead, birth rates were down in every nearly every state.

Notably, the report showed the U.S. abortion rate in 2017 was at its lowest level since 1973, when Roe v.

Wade was decided. The rate dropped to 13.5 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15-44, a decline of 8 percent from 2014.

Even if the flurry of anti-choice legislation isn’t driving down abortions, restrictions on a medical choice that has been legal for U.S. women for 46 years can “still inflict serious harm,” Elizabeth Nash, a senior policy manager at the Guttmacher Institute, said in an emailed statement.

“Underneath the national trend are the individual struggles and burdens that anti-abortion policymakers are creating for people within their states,” Nash said. “We need policies that ensure patients can obtain and afford reproductive

health care from contraception, to pregnancy to abortion.”

While the number of clinics that perform abortions increased nationwide from 2011-2017, Guttmacher said women in some areas of the country don't have a nearby option — especially if they live in the South, where the number of clinics decreased 9 percent.

In Virginia, the number of clinics providing abortions declined to 25 from 21 between 2011 and 2017. In the District of Columbia, the number of providers dropped from five to

four during the same timeframe.

Guttmacher said TRAP — targeted regulation of abortion providers — played a big role in shutting down abortion clinics in some states, including Texas and Ohio, making it more difficult to get an abortion.

Virginia lawmakers enacted seven pieces of legislation restricting abortion from 2011-2017. The Guttmacher Institute says that the Commonwealth has these restrictions on abortion: Most patients must receive state-

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6 • Oct. 2, 2019

Op/Ed & Letters

The LEGACY

Impeachment is on rails.

That’s not the hard part.

THOMAS L. KNAPP On Sept. 24, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) elbowed her way to the front of a parade she’d been trying to disperse since early 2017.

“Today”, she said, “I’m announcing the House of Representatives is moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry and directing our six committees to proceed with their investigation under that umbrella of impeachment inquiry.”

Pelosi’s announcement doesn't reflect a personal change of mind.

It reflects recognition of political reality. She’s for impeachment after being against it because she believes it’s going to happen with or without her.

If there’s one thing Pelosi’s good at, it’s counting votes. As the Democratic Party’s leader in the House since 2003, that’s her job: Building and herding majorities to achieve her party’s legislative goals, blocking minorities whose plans don’t serve those goals or aren’t ready for prime time.

She’s gone from “block” mode to “herd” mode. QED, a House majority

The LEGACY NEWSPAPER Vol. 5 No. 40 Mailing Address P.O. Box 12474 Richmond, VA 23241 Office Address 105 1/2 E. Clay St. Richmond, VA 23219 Call: 804-644-1550 Online www.legacynewspaper.com

for impeachment is inevitable, if not already in the bag. She can either lead the parade or get left behind by it. She’s choosing to lead it.

It’s not a job she really wants. Her prior political instinct seems to have been that impeachment will hurt rather than help the Democratic Party going into the 2020 elections.

That instinct was probably correct, and turning the situation around will be difficult.

The LEGACY welcomes all signed letters and all respectful opinions.

Letter writers and columnists opinions are their own and endorsements of their views by The LEGACY should be inferred. The LEGACY assumes no responsibility for unsolicited material.

Annual Subscription Rates Virginia - $50 U.S. states - $75 Outside U.S.- $100 The Virginia Legacy © 2016

In order for the Democrats to make political hay with impeachment in the absence of a likely conviction, instead of losing congressional seats and the next presidential election (as Republicans did after their illfated impeachment of Bill Clinton), at least two things need to happen.

One is that Joe Biden has to get thrown under the bus. Immediately.

His own perceived (and, yes, GOPpromoted) abuse of power / “quid pro quo” problem with Ukraine has already cost him the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

The longer other Democrats pretend otherwise and continue to defend him, the more it will cost them as well.

The other is that the impeachment allegations need to be exceedingly narrow so that when Republicans vote against conviction, there can be no wiggle room, no reasonable doubt to be raised: They voted in favor of corruption and against presidential accountability.

Donald Trump abused his presidential power to pressure a foreign government to investigate a political opponent, then tried to hide

what he’d done. That’s indisputable.

More importantly, it’s enough.

“Quid pro quo” in the form of foreign aid or not, and any other extant allegations aside, these are acts most Americans understand as corrupt.

“I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters,” Donald Trump bragged a year before his inauguration. Among the general electorate, that remains to be seen, but where the U.S. Senate is concerned, he could probably do exactly that and not lose the 20 Republican votes required to convict him following impeachment.

The voters will likely remove Trump from office next November in the usual way. The impeachment prize is convincing voters that politicians who take Trump’s side aren’t taking their side.

Knapp (Twitter: @thomaslknapp) is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism (thegarrisoncenter.org). He lives and works in north central Florida.

www.LEGACYnewspaper.com

Oct. 2, 2019• 7

P.T. Hoffsteader, Esq.

While America slept

While America slept our country was undermined from within. Now socialism has reared its ugly head in America, the land of the free.

Obviously, Barack and Hillary, were only the tip of the mountain of admirers, of Socialist Saul Alinsky, and of his ideas on “How To Create A Socialist State”, in which he listed “eight levels of control” needed before one could create a socialist state. He was talking about “America,” not one state.

Now some are saying that Alinsky’s “eight levels of control” are well in-place in America today.

And most definitely, are. Others are still hanging on the outcome of the next, or future, presidential elections.

Number one on Alinsky’s list was health care. He said, “Control health care and you control the people.”

Although he presented himself as a champion of the poor, on number 2, he wanted to “increase the

poverty level” because “poor people are easier to control.”

On number 3, He wrote, “increase the debt to an unsustainable level” in “that way” enabling you, “to increase taxes” thereby, producing “more poverty.”

Take guns away to “remove people’s ability to defend themselves from the government” is number 4 on his list. He said, in “that way you are able to create a police state.”

Like most ungodly socialists, Alinsky said, “remove the belief in God from the government and schools.” And “take control of what children learn in school.” He also wrote, think, “common core.”

Obviously, while our fathers and us slept, our children, grandchildren, and great grand children, are well indoctrinated to be enslaved. As Alinsky wrote in his 5th control, “Take control of every aspect of their lives, (food, housing, and income).”

Wake up America, and remain free!

Manuel Ybarra, Jr.

Turn the page

Life’s failures are hard to forget. A business failure, marriage failure, personal failure or career failure haunts us sometimes. We know if certain decisions had been made the chances of a different outcome would have been great. So, we spend time second guessing and regretting.

A lot of us who spend 30 years in a career find comfort and enjoyment

in staying with some aspect of what we know as long as possible. Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Tony Bennett keep on singing. Billy Graham preached as long as he could. School teachers often sub or even continue on for years into retirement. Carpenters, plumbers and ministers stay in some form of their work often into their eighties. A business friend is still building hotels into his eighties. It’s common for us to continue what we enjoy or what we know how to do. Thus, making a life or career transition is normally not easy unless a person is sick and tired of something and ready to move forward. When a person reaches this state of mind then there is eagerness to learn and go forward with a change.

A lot happens to us that we never emotionally ever really heal from or move on from. Often times we go through the motions of going forward but that’s important. We can’t bring people back from the grave. Old life partners move on. Our Children become adults and have their own lives. The mirror reminds us that life is changing.

Remember this truth. You either turn the chapter or it is turned for you. Make turning the chapter your decision. This applies to your career, retirement, relationships, hobbies, your health, preventive care and everything.

As you turn the chapter, be excited

about the new experience and the new opportunity for personal growth, happiness and possibilities.

Glenn Mollette

For DACA

Virginia is home to more than 12,000 DREAMers who have become valued members of our institutions of higher education, our communities, and our economies.

No good can come out of ending DACA. It will tear families apart, hurt Virginia’s economy, and most importantly turn our back on these promising, talented young people who have made this country their home and only want to make it a better place. I want to be very clear that I will continue to defend DREAMers in court and do all I can to make sure that they do not have to continue to live in fear of deportation.

[That is why I] joined a coalition of 16 attorneys general today in filing a brief with the United States Supreme Court in the coalition’s ongoing lawsuit to protect Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). The lawsuit, that was originally filed in September 2017 and will be heard by the Supreme Court this fall, argues that the Trump Administration’s attempt to revoke DACA was based on a faulty legal analysis and harmed State residents, institutions, and economies.

VA. AG Mark Herring Herring

8 • Oct. 2, 2019

The LEGACY

Faith & Religion Woman sues, says prayer break request cost her job FALLS CHURCH — A northern Virginia woman is suing a company that she says refused to hire her after she requested two five-minute breaks to pray during her work shift.

Shahin Indorewala, 26, of Woodbridge says her job interview with Falls Church-based Fast Trak Management was going well until she asked if she could take the prayer breaks in exchange for a shorter lunch break to accommodate her practices as an observant Muslim.

She says in a lawsuit filed in federal court in Alexandria that the company CEO then mocked her religious headscarf and refused to hire her.

The CEO, Ramses Gavilondo, said in an interview that he didn’t hire her because she “wanted to preach her religion.” He said the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigated and found no wrongdoing.

“We ask people to keep religion to themselves,” Gavilondo said. “I don’t see the need for religious preaching in the 21st century.”

Indorewala, for her part, says she did no preaching of any kind.

She said she had a good first job interview, and a second job interview was also going well. A

Lawyer Gadeir Abbas, right, listens as his client Shahin Indorewala describes the incident that prompted her to file a religious discrimination suit against Fast Trak. Indorewala spoke as she stood outside Fast Trak Management in Falls Church, Virginia, on Sept. 25, 2019. PHOTO: Matthew Barakat manager said workers receive a 90-minute lunch break; it was at that point she mentioned her need to pray five times a day as a Muslim, and asked whether she could take two five-minute breaks during the day in exchange for taking a shorter lunch break.

Indorewala said at a news conference Sept. 25 outside Fast Trak headquarters that

her interview was immediately terminated. She tried speaking to Gavilondo and was taken aback by the hostile response she received, which she said included making fun of her hijab in front of the office.

“Am I really being made fun of for my religion in public? … I was pretty hurt, and pretty embarrassed,” she said.

Zanah Ghalawanji, one of Indorewala’s lawyers with the

Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the case represents a clear-cut example of religious discrimination and employers are required to make reasonable accommodations for sincerely held religious beliefs unless doing so would pose an unreasonable burden on the employer. She said that fiveminute breaks twice a day in an office setting impose no such burden.

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Oct. 2, 2019• 9

Attorneys helping Richmond tenants stop evictions Much of America’s understanding of Virginia’s eviction problem starts at the John Marshall Courthouse.

In the spring of 2018, The New York Times painted a grim picture of tenants rotating in and out of the doors of the general district courthouse, only to lose their home after a short eviction proceeding.

Using data from the Princeton Eviction Lab, the Times reported that Richmond and four other Virginia cities were among the top 10 places for evictions.

And while the number of cases on the docket is still significant, one big change here is giving tenants a fighting chance at avoiding an eviction.

When a tenant in Virginia is faced with an eviction, they almost always lose their case. But with an attorney on hand to offer legal advice or represent them, they’re more likely to successfully fight their eviction. Now there is a new program in Richmond to help tenants do just that.

“From May 14 through June 13 there were 22 court dates,” said Marty Wegbreit, director of litigation with Central Virginia Legal Aid Society. “There were 1,665 cases on the docket. That’s an average of 75 per day.”

Wegbreit is in a small office on the third floor of the courthouse. His nonprofit moved in this past May and is now just footsteps away from the two courtrooms where evictions are heard daily.

Wegbreit said tenants who show up to these hearings don’t usually have an attorney.

“But because we’re here, they can contact us,” he said. “Whether it’s a few minutes before court or more likely after court, and if they’ve contacted us after court and the case has been postponed or continued for a week or two, we can get in and do a lot of good stuff and help and explore defenses.

Inside the office is a desk, a couple of chairs and a single housing

attorney named Janae Craddock.

Craddock just came in from a chaotic hearing in which her client avoided an eviction. She was able to present a case to the judge that conditions at the property were deplorable and the landlord unlawfully shut off the utilities.

“That allowed the tenant to get out of that lease,” she said. “He will get out of that home. But he will not have that eviction, so to speak, on his record.”

She counts this as a win.

Craddock is a former prosecutor who says working in the office has opened her eyes about evictions.

“I’ve come to realize how nuanced landlord tenant law is and it’s not just as simple as you didn’t pay, you can’t stay,” Craddock said.

Wegbreit added the language used at these hearings and in the eviction papers are nearly incomprehensible to the average person.

“The legal system was designed by lawyers for lawyers,” Wegbreit said.

“It was not designed for unrepresented litigants and it certainly was not designed for tenants.”

Outside the office, on a wall between the two courtrooms, paper dockets are posted that show who’s in court that day, what for and how much they owe.

Most of the tenants on the docket are being sued for less than $1000 -- about one month’s rent. That has Wegbreit asking if it’s just too easy for a landlord to evict in Virginia.

“All the landlord has to do is to send a notice,” he said. “If nonpayment of rent they can come back seven days later and file the lawsuit.”

The online court forms are free, the filing fee is $58 and the landlord gets a hearing in three weeks. Wegbreit said, on average, 75 percent of tenants won’t show up to those hearings, giving landlords the advantage.

“If you were a landlord, why wouldn’t you do that?” Wegbreit said.

Craddock didn’t necessarily agree that the system favors landlords.

Marty Wegbreit is director of litigation with Central Virginia Legal Aid Society, the organization that runs the legal office in the courthouse helping Richmond tenants. Janae Craddock is the attorney working in the office. PHOTO: Craig Carper/VPM She blames larger economic factors.

“It’s not that it’s easy to evict people but it’s easy to find yourself in that position when you are a person that’s living paycheck to paycheck,” Craddock said.

Landlord attorneys at the courthouse said they support tenants getting help, but several didn’t like the idea of the new office.

Linda Price, an attorney with Godwin, Jones and Price, said she’s concerned about the perception that the office is an arm of the court or that the legal aid attorneys are employees of the state.

“Those are individuals who are housed in courthouses,” Price said.

“Not private attorneys. Not legal aid attorneys. So that, I think is a problem.”

Price also questions the ethics of having the office outside the courtroom.

“I hope that the courts and the clerks aren’t in some way swayed or influenced by the fact that the legal aid attorney is in the next room,” Price said.

Some landlord attorneys said they thought the office was being

paid for using taxpayer dollars.

It’s not. Central Virginia Legal Aid Society pays rent to be there, and the program is funded by grants.

Craddock doesn’t even have a designated parking spot at the courthouse.

Price and other landlord attorneys stressed that they wished tenants would get this kind of help long before their scheduled court date.

Wegbreit and Craddock said this is the first time they’d heard these concerns from landlord attorneys and dismissed the idea that their tiny office would improperly influence the court.

“There’s a lot more that would have to be done besides our presence to tip the scales,” Craddock said.

As for getting tenants help earlier in the process, Legal aid groups just launched an eviction helpline.

It’s expanding this month to reach more tenants. The city is also launching a voluntary eviction diversion program this fall. Lawyers will volunteer to try to reach a settlement between landlords and tenants outside of court. -NPR

10 • Oct. 2, 2019

The LEGACY

2nd Street Festival scheduled for the weekend The 2nd Street Festival, presented

by Altria and Dominion Energy, will take place Saturday-Sunday, Oct. 5-6, celebrating the rich culture of the historic Jackson Ward neighborhood. This free annual event is produced by Venture Richmond Events, LLC. New this year, free, and open to the public, DJ Lonnie B kicks-off the festival week at the 2nd Street Festival’s poster unveiling event on Saturday, Sept. 28 from 6 – 9 p.m. at the Hippodrome Theater, 528 N. 2nd Street. Food and beverages are available for purchase.

The festival will celebrate artist and native Richmonder, Sone-Seeré Burrell, the first female artist commissioned for the 2nd Street Festival’s original poster art. Her work was unveiled on Sept. 28, and will be sold during the 2019 festival.

The 2nd Street Festival always takes place the first full weekend in October. Over the years, it has grown to be one of the Mid-Atlantic’s largest street festivals. Nearly 30,000 people visit historic Jackson Ward to reminisce about the days when 2nd Street was the heart and soul of Richmond’s African American community and the neighborhood was known as “the Harlem of the South.”

The festival features four stages of live musical entertainment, along with food vendors, a marketplace, a Kidz Zone programmed by the Children’s Museum of Richmond, balloon twisting by Balloons By Extreme and Artists Row featuring Sone-Seeré Burrell; David Marion, Liberated Flow; Kelvin Henderson, Fruit of the Spirit; Abdul Badi, The Art of Badi; and Resheda Pullen Jireh.

This year, the festival features coheadliners E. U. and Legacy Band, and is spotlighting smooth jazz artist, Phillip “Doc” Martin and jazz keyboardist, Nathan Mitchell. DJ Drake, Christian “Big New York” de MeSones, Tunji Band, Virginia Union University Gospel Choir, award winning Ephesus Drumline and many other performers will be showcased over the two day festival.

Festival Artist, Sone-Sereé Burrell Burrell often has each of her creative fingers in a different artistic venture, and from an early age she

felt a strong connection with creative expression. Majoring in Graphic Design & Technology, she graduated summa cum laude from North Carolina A&T State University.

Burrell currently works as an art therapist at Henrico Doctors’ Hospital and at a youth residential treatment facility. Her passion for the arts and mental health fuels her drive to share the healing power of the expressive arts with others.

Whether she’s exploring through her own art process, recording her painting through videos set

to music, hosting paint parties, leading therapeutic painting classes, or providing creative outlets for expression with teenagers, the art process is central to her life.

Saturday’s Headliner, EU EU (Experience Unlimited) is one of the original Washington, DC Go-Go bands. Fronted by founding member Gregory “Sugar Bear” Elliott, the original members all attended Ballou High School in Washington, D.C. Their early

(continued on page 11)

www.LEGACYnewspaper.com

Oct. 2, 2019 • 11

2nd Street Festival (from page 10) regional hits included “EU Freeze”, “Lock Your Butt”, and “Knock ‘Em Out Sugar Ray”. Although they are best known for their Grammy nominated, massive worldwide hit “DaButt” from Spike Lee’s “School Daze” soundtrack, EU scored hits with Salt & Papa (“Shake Your Thang”), with rap innovator Kurtis Blow (“Party Time”), and on their own with “Buck Wild” and “Taste of Your Love”. “Da Butt” won Soul Train’s best R&B/Soul Single, Group in 1989. EU has performed with Teena Marie, Morris Day and The Time, Mint Condition, Cameo and countless others. They performed on a show with Bob Dylan in 1989, one of Sugar Bear’s career highlights. In 2003, EU performed to a national audience on the televised NAACP Awards’ Tribute to Spike Lee. EU has been featured in 2009 in VH1 one hit wonders of the 1980’s. EU is currently in the studio working on a new CD, and they continue to rock the stage night after night.

Sunday’s closing performance, Legacy Band Legacy Band is an adored Richmond favorite, playing all top hits with a mix of soul, R&B, funk and jazz. The band was originally formed by guitarist Jose Pomier and vocalist Kaila Valdez.

Spotlight Featured Performer, Phillip “Doc” Martin Most artists who put a “Doc” in their name do it out of cleverness, for marketing reasons, or as a crafty way to express the mastery of their instrument or vibe. Since the release of his 2003 debut “Saxappeal,” Phillip “Doc” Martin has all that down pat, wowing audiences everywhere from Blues Alley in D.C., to the St. Lucia Jazz Festival and Catalina Island JazzTrax Festival and earning inspiring amounts of airplay for tracks like “Deep Pockets,” the title track from his 2009 set “Realization”.

While many independent artists with cool, successful “day jobs” prefer to avoid references to them when they talk about their music, Martin is the complete opposite, fully embracing the inspirational factor of being a top notch practitioner in two very different professions. Beyond his ever-expanding musical fan base, hundreds of patients in the Washington, DC area know him as “Dr.

(continued on page 15)

Examining Black/White racial constructs through art and inquiry.

OCTOBER 5 – JANUARY 5 Broad + Belvidere / icavcu.org

12 • Oct. 2, 2019

The LEGACY

Robotics teams lend an arm to police

Newport News is a hub of technology, innovation and research. Learning abounds throughout the city and groups regularly collaborate to share research and make cuttingedge discoveries. A group of students from two city schools recently had the chance to see the power of partnership up close, as they worked together to create a lightweight robotic prototype designed to aid the Newport News Police Department (NNPD).

NNPD Sergeant Bradley Churchill was looking for ways to create life-like training scenarios, and knew a remote-controlled moving target would be a unique addition to the NNPD’s training range. Sgt. Churchill reached out to David Lawrence, a scientist at the Department of Energy’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab), who is also the volunteer robotics coach for the Hines Middle School robotics team. The two men thought building this type of robot would be an ideal collaborative project with another local robotics team, and they contacted Olimpia Stein, robotics coach at Heritage High School.

The robotics teams build robots and compete with other teams throughout the school year, but this project provided a unique, real-world application for the engineering and technology skills they’ve developed. The Hines team worked on the target system, while the Heritage team tackled the drivetrain and control system.

These budding scientists and inventors got to experience the excitement that comes from bringing an idea to life and knowing it will make a difference in the world.

www.LEGACYnewspaper.com

Oct. 2, 2019• 13

VCU will lead $50m study of traumatic brain injuries in military personnel Virginia Commonwealth University has been awarded a $50 million federal grant to oversee a national research consortium of universities, hospitals and clinics that will study the long-term impacts of mild traumatic brain injuries or concussions on service members and veterans.

The principal investigator on the grant is David X. Cifu, M.D., professor and chair of the VCU School of Medicine's Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and senior traumatic brain injury specialist for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

The Long-term Impact of Military-relevant Brain Injury Consortium (LIMBIC) will study the ongoing health impacts of combat concussions, such as those from blasts, bullets and hand-tohand fighting as well as vehicle accidents, sports injuries and falls.

Researchers from the LIMBIC team have already discovered links between combat concussions and dementia, Parkinson’s disease, chronic pain, opioid usage and suicide risk.

“We are getting a 360-degree overview of all aspects of these veterans and service members, from their brains and nervous systems to emotional well-being to their day-today functioning. We’re getting a full look because they’re enrolled in this ongoing comprehensive study,” Cifu said. “This is the largest study of its kind that is entailing a deeper dive and more thorough investigation than any person, patient or even research participant could get.

The individual being studied is getting the most comprehensive evaluation of its kind because that is exactly what is required to finally understand these combat concussions and their linkages to

Joe Montanari symptoms and secondary conditions, like dementia.”

The Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs are funding the grant, which will bring together universities, Veterans Health Administration hospitals — including Richmond's Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center — and the military to study the impact of combat concussions.

“Nationally prominent universities like VCU, and like those we partner with, conduct research because it has the power to make the human experience better, and that's especially meaningful when it helps veterans who have given so much to our nation, sometimes at great personal expense,” said VCU President Michael Rao, Ph.D. “I am proud of VCU's commitment to research, innovation and scholarship that saves and improves lives, and this is the latest example. I am also grateful to our LIMBIC partners and excited about the groundbreaking work we will do together."

This new LIMBIC research, which launched Oct. 1, will continue for

five years.

“VCU Health is on a relentless pursuit to better health for everyone we serve but we can’t do it alone,” said Marsha Rappley, M.D., senior vice president for Health Sciences and CEO of the VCU Health System.

“Through grants and partnerships, like the LIMBIC, we can become a model that improves the health of those who need us, especially the men and women of the armed services. This is a story of science that will drastically improve the quality of life of those who selflessly sacrificed so much for the freedoms we enjoy.”

Interest in this type of research intensified in 2009, when service members and veterans were returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan with long-term, ongoing effects from concussions they had experienced in combat.

President Barack Obama signed an executive order in 2012 that created the National Research Action Plan on Traumatic Brain Injury and Psychological Health.

The plan called for research on

post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. Under the plan, the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs awarded a $62 million grant to VCU, the largest in university history, to lead the Chronic Effects of Neurotrauma Consortium (CENC), which included 30 universities, 15 VA hospitals and 12 military treatment facilities to study combat concussions.

CENC developed an electronic medical records database of more than 2 million veterans and service members and completed 11 research studies to determine best practices in assessing and monitoring health conditions in people with combat concussions to determine effects over time. CENC also developed specialized diagnostic tests using questionnaires, physical testing, brain imaging, fluid biomarkers and electrophysiology to study all aspects of the brain’s recovery from injury, from the basic biological to the day-to-day functional status.

This new $50 million LIMBIC award will allow researchers to expand the work of CENC. The award will extend the analyses of the “big data” of the more than 2 million veterans and service personnel with a range of linked electronic medical and administrative records and increase the enrollment to more than 3,000 veterans and service members with multiple combat concussions whose recovery is being systematically monitored for life. Innovative treatments for the difficulties that accompany combat concussions also will be studied in this large group.

“Dr. Cifu and his team are a terrific example of the exciting and highly collaborative research that takes place at the VCU School of

(continued on page 14)

14 • Oct. 2, 2019

The LEGACY

CDC awards funds to learn more about people with sickle cell disease The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced nearly $1.2 million in new funding to help states develop systems to collect data on the issues faced by people living with sickle cell disease.

Currently, only two states – California and Georgia – work with CDC on the Sickle Cell Data Collection program to collect population-based, comprehensive health information about people with sickle cell disease. This funding brings to nine the total number of states in the Sickle Cell Data Collection program.

By building capacity for additional states to collect data on sickle cell disease, this new one-year cooperative agreement builds the framework and a road map for recipients to gather unique data and conduct in-depth analyses to better understand the needs and improve the health of this vulnerable population.

“HHS is committed to normalizing the lives of people living with

sickle cell within 10 years,” said Adm. Brett Giroir, M.D., assistant secretary for Health, Department of Health and Human Services.

“Expanding the Sickle Cell Data Collection program is a critical first step toward reaching this goal.”

New funding will improve and expand sickle cell data collection efforts The new funding awardees and the states they will cover are: * Duke University (North Carolina) * Georgia State University, * University Foundation Inc. (Georgia) * Indiana Hemophilia and Thrombosis Center (Indiana) * Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (Michigan) Minnesota Department of Health (Minnesota) * Public Health Institute (California) * University of Alabama at Birmingham (Alabama) * University of Tennessee Health Science Center (Tennessee) * Virginia Department of Health (Virginia)

(from page 13 Medicine,” said Peter Buckley, M.D., dean of the School of Medicine.

“This new grant increases Cifu’s team’s ability to improve the care of veterans and service members through cutting-edge research, which then gets applied to the civilian population. Ultimately, we all benefit from their work on concussion research.”

Virginia’s U.S. senators said the new research will advance a nationwide effort on the part of the Veterans Administration and the Department of Defense to understand the health of troops and veterans related to their combat exposures.

“I am thrilled to know that Virginia Commonwealth University will be able to continue furthering

Dr. David Cifu at McGuire VA our understanding of servicerelated traumatic brain injuries and their effects,” said Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va. “This grant will

These sites will spend the next year developing and implementing strategies to collect vital information about sickle cell disease.

“Data is vital to informing new treatments and clinical care that

will improve the lives of people affected by sickle cell disease,” said CDC Director Robert R. Redfield, M.D. “This new funding expands

help VCU remain on the cutting edge of research and continue its long tradition of medical innovation and care. I applaud VCU for the great strides it has already made, and I look forward to seeing how their ongoing research will help our veterans in the future.”

“VCU has played a critical role in improving the nation’s understanding of the long-term ramifications of brain injuries on our men and women in uniform. I wrote to support funding for this essential research because we need to do everything we can to support active-duty service members and veterans who have sacrificed so much to serve our nation,” said Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va. “I’m thrilled that VCU will have the opportunity to continue this important work to better understand the impacts of

brain injuries and concussions on our military.”

Rep. Donald McEachin, D-4th, supported the grant application with a letter signed by most members of Virginia’s House of Representatives.

“As a representative of the commonwealth of Virginia, a state with one of the highest percentages of veterans nationally, we are committed to ensuring our veteran population has access to the highest quality of care and services available,” McEachin said.

“Our servicemen and women make significant sacrifices to protect our liberty and freedom. This research will help us to better treat the injuries and long-term ailments resulting from combat. It is the least we can do and I commend VCU for their groundbreaking role in this important work.”

(continued on page 17)

www.LEGACYnewspaper.com

Oct. 2, 2019• 15

(from page 11) Martin,” a board certified dentist in a group practice there.

Spotlight featured performer, Nathan Mitchell Producer, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and singer, Nathan Mitchell, aka “Nate,” is becoming one of the most sought after talents on the national smooth jazz market.

Since his 2011 entrance into the smooth jazz industry as a premier keyboardist, organist and vocalist, he has performed with a widely diverse list of some of the biggest artists in the music industry, including Grammy nominees/ winners and billboard chart toppers such as: Paul Brown, Gerald Veasley, Mindi Abair and Marcus Anderson, as well as many other acclaimed artists. Nate released his debut single, “For All Eternity” in 2013 featuring national acclaimed saxophonist, Marcus Anderson and guitarist, Nate Najar. The passion of Nathan Mitchell’s smooth jazz is soul stirring and powerful.

Walking tours Venture Richmond Events will provide free guided walking tours led by Gary Flowers who has a fourgeneration family connection to Historic Jackson Ward.

“Educating the public to the place Historic Jackson Ward holds in commerce, education, and dismantling racial segregation in the United States of America is critically important to me,” Flowers said.

These 60-minute tours leave at 1:00pm and at 4 p.m. on Saturday and at 4 p.m. on Sunday. Tour groups meet on the sidewalk at the Maggie Walker National Historic Site, 2nd & E. Leigh Streets.

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16 • Oct. 2, 2019

The LEGACY

Calendar 10.3, 6 p.m.

Bring your family to Brookland Middle School for HCPS Family Game Night and compete in classic outdoor games such as relays, sack races and tug of war. Attendees can also learn more about opportunities for family engagement in Henrico County Public Schools. The event will be held in the gym at Brookland Middle School, 9200 Lydell Drive, Henrico. It will be held outside if weather allows.

Parents and guardians will also have a chance to learn more about HCPS’ ManUp fatherhood initiative and Women on the Move motherhood initiative.

Questions? Call Van-Neisha Johnson at 804-328-8110.

10.4, all day

Hungary Spring Road between West Broad Street and Skipwith Road will be closed to through traffic for sewer system improvements.

The Department of Public Utilities expects the work to be complete and the road to reopen Friday, Oct. 4. Crews will be working on Hungary Spring between Prestwick and East Yardley roads as part of a sewer rehabilitation project for the Enterprise Parkway area.

During the closure, through traffic will be detoured from Hungary Spring via West Broad, Parham Road and Skipwith. School buses and emergency vehicles will be able to access homes and other properties off Hungary Spring via Prestwick and Chowning Road.

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COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES & EVENTS

10.5, 5 p.m.

Enjoy live jazz programmed by Richmond Jazz Society at the Black History Museum in downtown Richmond. October's featured artist is Matthew Steele Duo. Matthew is a jazz composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist, best known as a bass guitarist. He has learned from and worked with some of our area’s jazz greats such as Herbert “Debo” Dabney, Marsha Meekins, The Gospel Travelers, and Henrietta Doswell and The New Jewels. His music is influenced by Marcus Miller, Stanley Clarke, Charles Mingus, Larry Graham, Louis Johnson, Ron Carter, Wayman Tisdale, Kirk Whalum, Dexter Gordon, John Coltrane, Chick Corea.

Kickoff the weekend with some cool jazz, wine, and wings. Admission is free, cash bar and food.

10.10, 7:30 a.m.

Industry leaders will once again address trends affecting the real estate and business economies at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Business 29th annual Real Estate Trends Conference next month.

The conference, organized by the Kornblau Real Estate Program in the VCU School of Business, will be held at the Greater Richmond Convention Center, 403 N. Third St. Doors open, with registration and a continental breakfast, at 7:30 a.m. The program starts at 9 a.m.

The conference attracts more than 1,200 industry leaders from academic and professional ranks and from all sectors of real estate.

This year’s speakers come from Heitman, a global real estate investment management firm, and NewCities, a global nonprofit committed to shaping a better urban future.

10.10, 6:30 p.m.

Popular author Rita Mae Brown will present an author talk and book signing on the campus on Christopher Newport University in Newport News. The event is free and open to the public, but tickets are recommended Rita Mae Brown is a New York Times best-selling author of more than 50 books including the “Sneaky Pie Brown” mysteries, the Sister Jane series, and the Runnymede novels. Her most recent book, “Whiskers in the Dark”, was released on June 4 and is the 28th book in the “Mrs. Murphy” series.

Brown, who is also a poet and Emmy-nominated screenwriter, lives in Afton, Virginia, where she is inspired by the surrounding wildlife to include turkey, deer, and of course, her beloved foxes.

Free tickets for the author talk, question-and-answer session and book signing are available at the sponsoring libraries of the Virginia Peninsula Literary Consortium, which consists of the public libraries of Newport News, Hampton, Poquoson, and York County and the academic libraries of Christopher Newport University, Hampton University, and Thomas Nelson Community College.

Tickets are available on a firstcome, first-served basis and limited to two per person while supplies last. Open seating for the event, to be held in the ballroom of the David Student Union at Christopher Newport University, is limited, and attendees are advised to arrive early.

The first 70 ticketed guests to arrive will each receive a goody bag. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Ticket holders will be seated first; any remaining seats will then be open to guests without tickets. A selection of Rita Mae Brown books will be available for purchase.

10.11, 8:30 a.m.

The School of Education at Virginia Commonwealth University will host a summit of education leaders from across the state to envision future science, technology, engineering and math opportunities for all Virginians.

The summit was organized by a consortium of Virginia universities — George Mason University, James Madison University, the University of Virginia, VCU and Virginia Tech — that has a mission to promote collaborations that leverage the strengths of each partner university and improve efficiencies in higher education across Virginia.

The event will be held at James Branch Cabell Library, 901 Park Ave. The event is invitation-only.

Keynote speakers at the event will be Leland Melvin, former NFL football player, engineer, astronaut and entrepreneur; and Jeff Weld, executive director for the Iowa Governor’s STEM Advisory Council and former senior adviser to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, where he led the production of America’s strategic plan for STEM education, published in late 2018.

The summit will provide participants with the opportunity to share information about current STEM programming in their regions, identify STEM education and workforce needs, and envision the type of infrastructure needed to ensure the network’s success.

The event comes after Gov. Ralph Northam in July issued an executive order establishing a Virginia STEM Education Commission, which is tasked with developing a state plan to create “a unified vision and adopting a set of dynamic shared goals to strategically inform how we prepare students for STEM jobs of the future.”

Oct. 2, 2019• 17

www.LEGACYnewspaper.com

(from page 5) directed counseling that includes information designed to discourage them from having an abortion, and then wait 24 hours before the procedure is provided. Counseling must be provided in person for women within 100 miles of the provider and must take place before the waiting period begins, thereby necessitating two trips to the facility.

Health plans offered in the state's health exchange under the Affordable Care Act can only cover abortion in cases of life endangerment, or in cases of rape or incest.

Abortion is covered in insurance policies for public employees only in cases of life endangerment, rape, incest or fetal impairment.

The parent of a minor must consent and be notified before an abortion is provided.

Public funding is available for abortion only in cases of life endangerment, rape, incest or fetal impairment.

A patient must undergo an ultrasound at least 24 hours before obtaining an abortion; the provider must offer the patient the option to view the image.

An abortion during the third trimester may be performed only if the patient's life or health is endangered.

District of Columbia officials did not pass legislative restrictions during this period. The District's policy on abortion is: Public funding is available for abortion only in cases of life endangerment, rape or incest.

National polls show unwavering support for abortion rights. The Pew Research Center said last month that support for legal abortion is as high now as it has been in two decades of polling, with 61 percent of U.S. adults saying abortion should be legal in most if not all cases. While the poll showed little appetite among respondents

to see a complete reversal of Roe — only three in 10 wanted that — the results showed a major area of concern among the majority to be the same outlined in the Guttmacher report: In the Pew poll, 59 percent said some states are making it too difficult for women to get an abortion.

Some other findings from the report: * Abortion rates decreased in almost every state, but there was no evidence linking the decline to abortion restrictions; * Eighteen states did not enact any new abortion restrictions, yet they accounted for 57 percent of the decline in abortions nationwide; * Only five states and the District of Columbia saw increases in abortion, and four of those states tightened abortion laws.

(from page 14) CDC’s partner network across the country which will accelerate efforts to ensure sickle cell patients live longer and healthier lives.”

In 2018, Trump signed the Sickle Cell Disease and Other Heritable Blood Disorders Research, Surveillance, Prevention, and Treatment Act, which provides for a national surveillance and prevention program. It authorizes the award of grants for three broad purposes: Collecting and maintaining data on sickle cell disease health outcomes and carrying out various public health activities that include education and training of health professionals at the community, local, and state levels; supporting local and state laboratories that conduct tests to detect sickle cell disease;

and evaluating best practices for the prevention and treatment of complications from sickle cell disease.

Sickle cell disease is an inherited red blood cell disorder. Healthy red blood cells are round, which helps them move easily through the body’s blood vessels. With sickle cell disease, these cells are crescent moon-shaped, like a farmer’s sickle, and can get stuck, especially in small blood vessels. This keeps blood from flowing properly, which can damage the body’s organs and cause severe pain.

While the expanded Sickle Cell Data Collection program will provide better estimates of the prevalence of sickle cell disease, it has been previously estimated that about 100,000 Americans have this disease. It is most common among people of African descent.

The LEGACY

18 • Oct. 2, 2019

LEGAL, EMPLOYMENT, ANNOUNCEMENTS, FOR SALE, SERVICES

PRINT & DIGITAL AD SALES EXECUTIVE

Classifieds

The LEGACY is looking for a reliable, highly-motivated, goal-driven sales professional to join our team selling print and digital advertising in the Richmond and Hampton Roads areas.

Duties include: Building and maintaining relationships with new/existing clients Meeting and exceeding monthly sales goals Cold calling new prospects over the phone to promote print and online advertising space

Qualifications: Proven experience with print (newspaper) and/ or digital (website) advertising sales; Phone and one-on-one sales experience; Effective verbal and written communication skills, professional image and; Familiarity with Richmond and/or Hampton Roads areas.

Compensation depends on experience and includes a base pay as well as commission.

The LEGACY is an African-American-oriented weekly newspaper, circulation 25,000, with a website featuring local and national news and advertising.

E-mail resume and letter of interest to ads@ legacynewspaper.com detailing your past sales experience. No phone calls please.

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Oct. 2, 2019• 19

www.LEGACYnewspaper.com

CUO 0010145- Procurement 0927 HAMPTON SOLICITATION

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RVA TAX SALE. Online and onsite auction for City of Richmond tax delinquent properties. Bidding begins Wed., Oct. 16 at 4 p.m.

Preview properties online. Motleys, 3600 Deepwater Terminal Rd., Richmond, VA | www.motleys.com | 877-MOTLEYS. VAL16 ATTN. AUCTIONEERS: Advertise your upcoming auctions statewide or in other states. Affordable Print and Digital Solutions reaching your target audiences. Call this paper or Landon Clark at Virginia Press Services 804-521-7576, landonc@vpa.net

CITY OF HAMPTON Tuesday, October 15, 2019 2:30 p.m. EST-ITB 20-11/AP

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For all forms or additional information, see our web page at http://www.hampton.gov/bids-contracts or call (757)727-2200.

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EDUCATION/CAREER TRAINING AIRLINES ARE HIRING – Get FAA approved hands on Aviation training. Financial aid for qualified students - Career placement assistance. CALL Aviation Institute of Maintenance SCHEV certified 877-204- 4130 EVENTS/SHOWS BIG ANTIQUES & Vintage Show/Sale, October 11-12. 65th Fishersville Antiques Expo, Expoland, Fishersville, VA (I-64, Exit 91), 300 dealers, five buildings & outside, Friday and Saturday 9-5, www.heritagepromotions.net, 434-846-7452.

HELP WANTED / DRIVERS Need CDL Drivers? Advertise your JOB OPENINGS statewide or in other states. Affordable Print and Digital Solutions to reach truck drivers. Call Landon Clark at Virginia Press Services 804521-7576, landonc@vpa.net REAL ESTATE FOR SALE ATTN. REALTORS: Advertise your listings regionally or statewide. Affordable Print and Digital Solutions that get results!

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DENTAL INSURANCE Call Physicians Mutual Insurance Company for details. NOT just a discount plan, REAL coverage for 350 procedures.

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Thank you for your interest in applying for opportunities with The City of Richmond.

To see what opportunities are available, please refer to our website at www.richmondgov.com.

EOE M/F/D/V

Please review the proof, make any needed changes and return by fax or If your response is not received by deadline, your ad may not be in Ok X_________________________________________ Ok with changes X _____________________________

Out-of-market games only.

Select int’l games excluded.

2019 NFL SUNDAY TICKET

INCLUDED AT NO EXTRA COST WHEN YOU SWITCH TO DIRECTV. With CHOICE Package or above. Subscription renews automatically each season at then prevailing rate (currently $293.94/season) unless you call to cancel within two weeks after the start of the season.

CHOICE

™

All Included Package

MO.

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Stream NFL SUNDAY TICKET live from anywhere with the NFL SUNDAY TICKET APP included Watch live games wherever you go. Stream every out-of-market game live, every Sunday (select int’l games excluded), from virtually anywhere. Only available in HD.

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Never miss a touchdown from inside the 20 with RED ZONE CHANNEL® The RED ZONE CHANNEL brings you the final yards of every scoring drive around the league on one LIVE channel. Included with NFL SUNDAY TICKET MAX.

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8-Game Mix Channel Only DIRECTV lets you watch up to 8 live NFL games on one screen, complete with scores and game clock—in amazing HD. And when you want to expand one game onto the full screen, simply highlight and click. Only available in HD.

For 12 mos. plus taxes w/24-mo. agmt & qualifying AT&T wireless svc (min. $50/mo. after discounts for new customers). Autopay & Paperless bill req’d.

Prices higher in 2nd year. Regional Sports Fee up to $8.49/mo. is extra & applies.*

Includes: ■ Over

185 Channels ■ FREE Genie® HD DVR Upgrade

*$19.95 ACTIVATION, EARLY TERMINATION FEE OF $20/MO. FOR EACH MONTH REMAINING ON AGMT., EQUIPMENT NON-RETURN & ADD’L FEES APPLY. Price incl. CHOICE All Included Pkg., monthly service and equip. fees for 1 HD DVR & is after $5/mo. autopay & paperless bill and $10/mo. bundle discounts for up to 12 mos each. Pay $74.99/mo. + taxes until discounts start w/in 3 bills. New approved residential customers only (equipment lease req’d). Credit card req’d (except MA & PA). Restr’s apply.

Don’t settle for cable. Call now!

Iv Support Holdings LLC

844-929-0435 www.satellitedealnow.com/legacy

CHOICE 1-YR ALL INCLUDED PACKAGE W/ ELIG. WIRELESS: Ends 10/19/19. Available only in the U.S. (excludes Puerto Rico and U.S.V.I.). 1st & 2nd year Pricing: $59.99 for first 12 mos. only. After 12 mos. or loss of eligibility, then prevailing rate applies (currently $110/mo for CHOICE All Included), unless cancelled or changed prior to end of the promo period.

Pricing subject to change. $5/mo. autopay/paperless bill discount: Must enroll in autopay & paperless bill within 30 days of TV activation to receive bill credit starting in 1-3 bill cycles. First time credit will include all credits earned since meeting offer requirements. Must maintain autopay/paperless bill and valid email address to continue credits. No credits in 2nd year for autopay/paperless bill. Eligible Wireless for $10/mo. bundle discount: Consumers only. Sold separately. Reqs new or existing AT&T postpaid svc on elig. plan (excl. Lifeline) on a smartphone, phone or AT&T Wireless Internet device (excl. voice-only AT&T Wireless Internet). Eligible svc must be activated w/in 30 days of TV activation and svc addresses must match to receive bill credit starting in 1-3 bill cycles. First time credit will include all credits earned since meeting offer requirements. Must maintain both qualifying svcs to continue credits. No credits in 2nd year for bundled services. Includes: CHOICE All Included TV Pkg, monthly service & equipment fees for one Genie HD DVR, and standard pro installation. Exclusions: Price excludes Regional Sports Fee of up to $8.49/mo. (which is extra & applies to CHOICE and/or MÁS ULTRA and higher Pkgs.), applicable use tax expense surcharge on retail value of installation, custom installation, equipment upgrades/add-ons (min. $99 one-time & $7/mo. monthly fees for each extra receiver/DIRECTV Ready TV/Device), and certain other add’l fees & charges. Different offers may apply for eligible multi-dwelling unit and telco customers.

DIRECTV SVC TERMS: Subject to Equipment Lease & Customer Agreements. Must maintain a min. base TV pkg of $29.99/mo. Some offers may not be available through all channels and in select areas. Call for details.

GENERAL WIRELESS: Subj. to Wireless Customer Agmt (att.com/wca). Credit approval req’d. Deposit/Down Payment: may apply. Charges/restrictions: Taxes, Reg.Cost. Recovery Charge (Up to $1.50), other fees and charges, usage, speed, coverage & other restr’s apply per line. See att.com/mobilityfees for details on fees & charges. International and domestic off-net data may be at 2G speeds. AT&T service is subject to AT&T network management policies, see att.com/broadbandinfo for details.