Brotherly love A8
Richmond Free Press © 2023 Paradigm Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
VOL. 32 NO. 18
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
www.richmondfreepress.com
Moving on up
MAY 4-6, 2023
Fort Gregg-Adams
New name for Army base honors 2 Black officers
Creighton Court developer’s $300M plan may cost $410,400 per unit
Free Press staff report
Fort Gregg-Adams replaces Fort Lee as the official name for the U.S. Army Base during a Redesignation Ceremony on April 27. Located in Prince George County, Fort GreggAdams recognizes two Black officers, Lt. Gen. Arthur Gregg and Lt. Col. Charity Adams. Lt. Gen. Gregg, 94, was born in Florence, S.C., but, as a teen, moved to Newport News to live with an older brother following the death of their mother. In Newport News, he admired the area’s Black military soldiers and officers in crisp, well-maintained uniforms, and their professional and personal conduct. His plans to work as a medical technician became sidetracked by discrimination experienced
By Jeremy M. Lazarus
The most expensive housing development in Richmond is headed to a neighborhood in the East End that has ranked high in poverty. That neighborhood is Creighton Court, which fronts Nine Mile Road near the border with Henrico County. The Community Builders (TCB) plans to spend $300 million to create 731 new apartments and homes over the next five years to replace the mostly razed 504-unit public housing complex that dates to 1953, according to a detailed financial report TCB provided to City Council. That means the Boston-based nonprofit projects spending, on average, a record $410,400 per unit as it moves to create what is described as a vibrant mixed-income community where Creighton residents and others, including community newcomers, can live in subsidized and market-rate apartments and singlefamily townhomes That average cost of each unit does not include the nearly $37 million TCB projects will be spent to install new underground piping, streets and other infrastructure. That separate infrastructure cost will add nearly $50,615 to
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Meet this week’s Personality B1
Please turn to A4 Lt. Gen. Arthur J. Gregg speaks to the audience at the Redesignation Ceremony. Lt. Gen. Arthur Gregg joins Lt. Col. Charity Adams’ children, Judith Earley and Stanley Earley III and actor Blair Underwood for a photograph.
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Photos by Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press
Teen shootings raise questions about school attendance By Jeremy M. Lazarus
Another shooting involving Richmond students has once again focused attention on the high level of truancy the city schools experience. The latest gunfire incident around noontime April 27 involved two truant George Wythe High school students, both left injured. An 18-year-old has been arrested in the case. Acting Police Chief Richard “Rick” Edwards suggested at a vigil for the students organized by the Police Department that the shooting followed an argument among the three individuals who
apparently were hanging out in a wooded area on the edge of the Wythe campus, about a football field west of the building. Had the two students been in class rather than skipping school as thousands of students do every day, a shooting likely would have been avoided, city and school leaders noted. This incident follows an incident in March involving three students being wounded in off-campus shootings, while another student was accidentally shot to death outside school while filming a video for social media about having a weapon. The truancy issue might have helped expose more students to situations that would allow them to be victims or cause trouble
outside schools, in the view of some. In a January report, Richmond Public Schools notified the School Board that one in four students or about 5,000, are chronically absent, meaning they miss 10 or more days of school, or just about the same rate as a year earlier. The report highlighted the situation for each school. Among high schools, George Wythe was listed as having 29 percent of its students chronically absent. Three other high schools, Armstrong, Huguenot and John Marshall, also listed 25 percent or Please turn to A4
Boushall teacher on leave after confrontation with student By George Copeland Jr.
A photo shows damage from the storm in Mississippi.
Courtesy Renada Harris
Virginians lend helping hand after Mississippi storms
A Richmond Public Schools teacher identified as a female is currently on administrative leave after a video of a confrontation with a student over speaking Spanish sparked criticism from the community and calls to deal with long-standing issues for Latino students in the city. RPS officials made the decision Monday, after a video recording was publicly shared last week of a
teacher at Boushall Middle School allegedly berating a sixth-grade Latino student, who wished to not be identified at this time, for speaking Spanish. In the video, the teacher allegedly ordered the student to stop speaking Spanish in the class because they didn’t understand it, called on them to appreciate “the benefit of English-speaking language” as an American resident and told the student to “go wherever that is - that Spanish-speaking
images from Rolling Fork on the news compelled him to help — When storms tore through especially one 86-year-old man Mississippi and the surrounding who wept as he was interviewed states of Texas and Alabama in the aftermath. last month, the devastation He spoke to his three daughmade national news. At least 25 ters — Bonnica Cotman, Renada people were killed, and hundreds Harris and Kimberlyn Washingof homes and businesses were ton — about the newscast. Mr. Harris destroyed. “When I told them about it Thirteen of those who lost their lives and how it made me feel, they said they were from Sharkey County, Miss. Gov. hadn’t heard about it,” Mr. Harris said. Tate Reeves described Rolling Fork, a “When they looked up what happened, small town in the county, as “ground zero” they immediately agreed with me that we for the storm which began around 8 p.m. gotta do something.” on March 24. The powerful tornado and The sisters got the local nonprofit they winds that reached speeds up to 170 miles founded involved. Through the Brown per hour tore the roof off the city hall and Grove Preservation Group’s social media toppled the town’s water tower. accounts, they sought donations for RollBack in Virginia, Ashland retiree McKinPlease turn to A4 ley Harris said in a recent interview that the By Debora Timms
McKinley Harris’ friends and family who contributed to the needed supplies for tornado victims of Rolling Fork in Sharkey County, included Lowell Sanders, Gloria Glover, Myrtle Wright, Elizabeth Harris, who is the wife of McKinley Harris, Brenda Johnson, Perleta Sanders and Earnest Johnson.
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Kamala Harris Richmond visit scheduled Free Press staff report
On Thursday, May 4, Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Richmond in honor of Small Business Week and to highlight the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to uplifting small businesses. In Richmond, the vice president will deliver remarks, and she will tour a local small business to hear directly from the owner and employees on how they have benefitted from the administration’s investments.
Bonnie Newman Davis/Richmond Free Press
Little helpers
April Coleman/Richmond Free Press
country is - and speak it” instead of in the class. The teacher also claimed that the Richmond School Board would support her efforts and actions for the student to speak English in class. “You’re not going to run my class like that, period,” the teacher said, “and the School Board will back me up.” However, school officials appar-
Flower girl Sidney Drew, 5, and ring bearer Shomari Kearney, 4, brought smiles before and after they walked down the aisle at Richmond’s Second Baptist Church, 1400 Idlewood Ave. on April 23. The two youngsters, whose fathers are Alvin Drew and Nathaniel Kearney, participated in the wedding of Joseph W. and Apryl (Pecht) Wimbush.
Ms. Harris
Free community testing for COVID-19 continues The Richmond and Henrico County health districts are offering testing at the following locations: Thursday, May 4, 1 to 5 p.m. - Henrico Arms Apartments, 1664 Henrico Arms Place. Friday, May 5, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. - Southside Women, Infant and Children Office, 509 E. Southside Plaza. 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 COVID-19
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