Richmond Free Press December 23-25, 2021

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Cherished Holiday Memories

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Richmond Free Press © 2021 Paradigm Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

VOL. 30 NO. 52

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA

www.richmondfreepress.com

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Meet this week’s Personality B3

DECEMBER 23-25, 2021

New day, new year Journey of past year filled with health challenges and separations brings Mechanicsville family closer together By Ronald E. Carrington

Ronald E. Carrington/Richmond Free Press

Three generations of the Lewis family will be celebrating Christmas at home in Mechanicsville. They are, standing from left, Jezmon Lewis, Brandon Lewis, Amber Lewis with the family dog, Ella, and Nickkol Lewis. Seated are Mr. Lewis’ mother, Deborah Miller, left, and Mrs. Lewis’ mother, Deborah Joseph.

During the past 19 months, three generations of the Lewis family have experienced what many families fear – infection with the COVID-19 virus and cancer. At the center of the family is Nickkol Lewis, 49, a graphic designer who has her own company, Visual Appeal. Her mother, Deborah Joseph, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer in February 2020 and had to undergo months of chemotherapy just as the pandemic was starting. Mrs. Lewis’ daughter, Amber, a nursing student, contracted COVID19 in December 2020, just as the first vaccine against the potentially fatal virus was being rolled out. “The situation was hard, very hard,” Mrs. Lewis recalled in a recent interview with the Free Press from their home in Mechanicsville that is shared by three generations. What got them through? The love and support of family. Mrs. Joseph, 68, had been living with her daughter and granddaughter ever since Mrs. Lewis’ husband, Jezmon Lewis, 50, a major in

the Army Reserve, had been deployed to the Middle East about 10 years ago. After her cancer diagnosis, she began a regimen of chemotherapy that continued through early 2021. Adding to the stress and uncertainty of the situation, Mrs. Joseph also underwent emergency gallbladder in fall 2020. But with COVID-19 raging, Mrs. Joseph couldn’t stay – nor did she want to stay – in the hospital. She was released back home, where Mrs. Lewis and her daughter took over caregiving duties. “Everything that could have been done for me as I recovered was done,” Mrs. Joseph said, adding her gratitude for her daughter being there for her every step of the way. Mrs. Lewis connected with resources to get extensive medical information about her mother’s breast cancer. With that information, she and her mother decided Mrs. Joseph would have a procedure to remove the cancerous tissue, followed by chemotherapy. “We dealt with the residual effects of the procedure after my mom came home,” Mrs. Please turn to A4

Almanac, coin found in Lee monument time capsule Free Press wire, staff report

A rust-colored 1875 almanac, a cloth envelope and a silver coin were found Wednesday in a time capsule that had been buried beneath a towering statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee on Monument Avenue for more than 130 years. Another book, tattered with a pink cover, appeared to be an 1889 edition of “The Huguenot Lovers: A Tale of the Old Dominion” by Collinson Pierrepont Edwards Burgwyn. There also appeared to a pamphlet of some kind. There were three books total, all of which appeared to be water damaged. Gov. Ralph S. Northam said the books, once dry, will shed light on what people were thinking here in the late 19th century. “This is an important day for the history of Richmond and Virginia,” Gov.

Northam said. “We have 402 years of history. And just to see what was going on at that stage of our history, I think, is really important.” A newspaper article from 1887 suggested that the time capsule would contain Civil War memorabilia and a “picture of Lincoln lying in his coffin.” An envelope found in the time capsule did contain a photograph with the text “James Netherwood, The Master Stone Mason” on the back. Records from the Library of Virginia also suggested that 37 Richmond residents, organizations and businesses contributed about 60 objects to the capsule, many of which are believed to be related to the Confederacy. Besides there being far fewer objects, the capsules’dimensions were smaller than

Kate Ridgway, left, state archaeological conservator with the state Department of Historic Resources, helps Sara Donovan, a conservator with the University of Virginia’s Special Collections, lift items on Wednesday from the time capsule that was buried in the Lee monument pedestal for more than 130 years. Gov. Ralph S. Northam, center, was asked to help remove the lid of the sealed lead box, where an old coin, three books and an envelope containing a photo with the text “James Netherwood, The Master Stone Mason” were found.

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More free COVID-19 home test kits to be made available The Richmond and Henrico health districts are making more free COVID-19 test kits available for people to use at home. Test kits are available at any of the four health district vaccination hubs: Richmond Health Department Cary Street Clinic, 400 E. Cary St.; Henrico West Health Department Clinic, 8600 Dixon Powers Drive; Eastern Henrico Recreation Center, 1440 N. Laburnum Ave.; and Second Baptist Church of South Richmond, 3300 Broad Rock Blvd. At-home test kits also are available at the health district’s resource centers at seven public housing complexes: Hillside Court Resource Center, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursdays; Southwood Resource Center, 10 a.m. to noon Tuesdays and Wednesdays; Creighton Court Resource Center, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays; Whitcomb Court Resource Center, 3 to 5 p.m. Tuesdays; Gilpin Court Resource Center, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesdays; Mosby Court Resource Center, 1 to 3 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays; and Fairfield Court Resource Center, 2 to 4 p.m. Fridays. Richmond Public Library branches and the Chesterfield County Public Library have been part of a distribution pilot project by the state Health Department, and will continue distributing home test kit when available. Plans are underway for kits to be distributed through the Henrico County Public Library. Officials said last week that test kits also will be offered to community organizations to distribute to their members and those they serve. Separately, the Richmond and Henrico health districts want to provide test results more rapidly to those who get tested for

Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press

State NAACP, others lodge criticism of proposed redistricting lines By Jeremy M. Lazarus

Flawed data and too little assurance of fair representation for Black voters in Richmond, Hampton Roads and other sectors of the state. That’s the view of the Virginia State Conference NAACP and its lawyers after poring over the proposed boundaries for congressional and General

Assembly districts are subject to review issued earlier this of the U.S. Supreme month by the VirginCourt. ia Supreme Court. Both the U.S. and The critical findVirginia constituings from the state’s tions require politioldest and largest cal boundaries to civil rights group repbe redrawn every resent a proverbial 10 years following Mr. Barnette shot across the bow the latest population of the state’s highest court to census, and the state Supreme remind that its final decisions Court was handed the job after

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Free COVID-19 testing, vaccines Free community testing for COVID-19 continues. During the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, most testing will be available at area pharmacies, drug stores, clinics and urgent care centers. Call the Richmond and Henrico COVID-19 Hotline at (804) 205-3501 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday for more information on testing sites, or go online at vax.rchd.com. The Virginia Department of Health also has a list of COVID19 testing locations around the state at www.vdh.virginia.gov/ coronavirus/covid-19-testing/covid-19-testing-sites/.

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Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

Christmas wishes With the Downtown skyline twinkling in the background, Santa hears the wishes of 5-year-old Lailoni Green, whose father, Lamar Green, was excited to get their picture taken recently with the jolly old holiday visitor from the North Pole. The magical scene was taken at Kanawha Plaza.

a new bipartisan redistricting commission failed to agree on new maps. The redistricting maps proposed by the state’s highest court were prepared by two special experts — one each nominated by Democrats and Republicans — in accordance with an order from the court. The court accepted public comment through Monday but has not yet released final maps; the court also has not set a date for doing so. “The new maps must be drawn to respect communities of interest, including Black communities of interest,” said state NAACP President Robert N. Barnette Jr., noting that the two redistricting experts, Bernard Grofman and Sean Trende, are aware of that requirement. According to an 85-page memo the state NAACP issued Dec. 17, Mr. Grofman and Mr. Trende have botched the job by drawing proposed lines that break up Black communities and by overstating the Black voting age population in multiple districts. The overstatements are due to the experts’ use of estimated data the U.S. Census produced in its American Community Survey instead of more reliable data from the 2020 U.S. Census, the memo noted. Please turn to A4


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