‘Toruk’ soon to fly in Richmond
Richmond Free Press © 2015 Paradigm Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
VOL. 24 NO. 45
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
www.richmondfreepress.com
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NOVEMBER 5-7, 2015
Cooper wins in squeaker 48 votes propel minister to Henrico School Board seat By Jeremy M. Lazarus
The Rev. Roscoe D. Cooper III won a narrow 48-vote victory in the four-way race for the Fairfield District School Board seat in Henrico County — the area’s hottest contest for a local office. Rev. Cooper, 41, pastor of Rising Mount Zion Baptist Church and board president of a nonprofit health network, barely got by Tara Adams, 43, a financial services employee at Capital One and a longtime PTA volunteer and schools advocate. The minister, who was two votes behind, pulled ahead of Ms. Adams after absentee ballots were counted in Tuesday’s election. He received 166 absentee votes to 116 for Ms. Adams, more than enough to secure the win. Overall, Rev. Cooper received 5,092 votes to 5,044 for Ms. Adams, who knocked on thousands of doors and had the backing of her pastor, the Rev. Lance Watson, who leads Saint Paul’s Baptist Church, one of the area’s largest congregations. The Rev. Marcus D. Martin, pastor of New Bridge Baptist Church, was a distant third with 1,015 votes. The Rev. Pierre Green, pastor of Poplar Mount Baptist Church in Lawrenceville, who was appointed to fill the seat after Lamont Bagby was elected to the House of Delegates last summer, waged a write-in campaign. More than 280 write-in votes were cast. “I’m humbled by the result and grateful for the support of the voters and for everyone who made calls, knocked on doors and donated,” Rev. Cooper said Wednesday. He said his top priorities would be to make sure all of the district’s schools are accredited and “to continue to find ways to reduce disparities in student discipline and academic performance.” Meanwhile, a disappointed Ms. Adams refuses to concede. She hinted Tuesday night she likely would seek a recount if the state Department of Elections preliminary results are confirmed. Because she lost by less than 0.5 percent, the county must cover the cost if she files for a recount. Meanwhile, John W. Montgomery Jr. won a third term repPlease turn to A4
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The Rev. Roscoe D. Cooper III, left, receives congratulations from Henrico Delegate Lamont Bagby after Tuesday’s election results showed both men were victorious. Rev. Cooper won a close race to represent the Fairfield District on the Henrico School Board. Delegate Bagby, who won re-election Tuesday to the General Assembly, previously held the Fairfield seat.
Republicans retain control of Va. Senate By Jeremy M. Lazarus
By Jack White
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Beginning in March, Richmond Public Schools will provide free dinners to students at eights of its schools in underserved communities. Those students also will be given backpacks containing free meals to take home for the weekend and extended school breaks such as holidays and inclement weather closings. During the summer, those students’ families will get $60 food cards each month to help buy meals for the children. It’s all part of a two-year pilot program designed to end childhood hunger in which Richmond and seven other Virginia school districts were chosen to participate. The 3-6-5 Project to End Childhood Hunger — an initiative championed by Virginia First Lady Dorothy McAuliffe — is funded through an $8.8 million Please turn to A5
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For more than two hours after the polls closed Tuesday, Democrat Daniel H. Gecker held a commanding 3,000-vote lead and appeared to be headed for victory in the 10th Senate District that includes a chunk of Richmond’s West End and South Side. Then votes from Powhatan County, a Republican stronghold, finally were reported, crushing any hopes the 59-year-old
Graying NAACP rallying to recover from obstacles A session dedicated to the hot-button topic of police community relations at the 80th Annual Convention of the Virginia State Conference NAACP starkly illustrates the dilemma that confronts Linda Thomas, the newly elected president of the venerable civil rights organization. On stage at last weekend’s conference in Richmond sat four high-ranking officials of law enforcement agencies in Richmond, Petersburg and Henrico County. In the audience were roughly 100 NAACP veterans from across the state, almost all in their 50s or older. Only a small handful were teenagers and people in their 20s, the age groups most likely to be caught up in a violent confrontation with police. While the hourlong session was spirited and informative, there was little if any mention of Black Lives Matter, the movement that has electrified a new wave of activism among African-American and other youths across the nation. The sense of disconnection between the graying veterans attending the conference and the passionate protests of young people in the streets was almost palpable. In fact, the only significant mention of the youthful movement during the three-day convention came during a fiery address by TV commentator Roland Martin to the 300 people who attended the convention’s Freedom Fund Banquet on Saturday night. The organization’s leaders are painfully aware of the generational divide and its troubling implications for the future of the NAACP. “We don’t have the kind of soldiers, supporters and workers within the NAACP that we had 30 years ago,” said Jack Gravely, interim executive director of the state conference. “We have missed a generation of young folk by not bringing them in, training them and putting them in leadership positions.” “There’s a void,” adds Mr. Gravely. “You need young legs, young ideas. You need young minds; you need the technology they bring. They would be a tremendous complement to those of us who’ve been out there for a few years. There’s no doubt
businessman and other Democrats had of winning the seat and regaining control of the state Senate. By a more than 3-1 margin, Powhatan voters carried Republican Glen H. Sturtevant Jr. to victory in the battle to replace retiring Sen. John C. Watkins, a GOP stalwart. The final tally from preliminary results: Mr. Sturtevant, 27,659 votes, including 7,317 from Powhatan. That was 1,471 more votes than the 26,188 votes Mr. Gecker received, including 2,205 from Powhatan. Two other candidates in the race, Marleen K. Durfee and Carl R. Loser, received a combined total of 1,663 votes. “From the bottom of my heart, I could not have done this without each and every one of you here and the countless volunteers and supporters from across the area,” Mr. Sturtevant said at his victory party at a West End restaurant. The outcome in this and other races means the state Senate will remain narrowly in Republican hands by a 21-19 margin — a setback for Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who had put his prestige on the line in trying to win back the Senate for his party. Notable results included wins by three Mr. Sturtevant women in the Richmond area who are replacing men in the Senate, Democrat Rosalyn R. Dance, 16th District, and Republican newcomers Amanda F. Chase, 11th District, and Siobhan S. Dunnavant, 12th District. In the contests for the House of Delegates, Republicans maintained their dominance in the lower chamber, but lost their veto-proof majority of 67. Instead, the GOP will have 66 members when the new General Assembly session begins in January. Democrats lost one House seat in Northern Virginia, but picked up two others in that region to increase their total to 34. For Mr. Sturtevant, the Senate win represents a big launch to a promising political career. The 33-year-old lawyer is now in his first term on the Richmond School Board, and his quick move to the state Senate assures him rising star status and opens prospects of future runs for statewide office. At his victory party, he said, “I won’t let you down,” promising to be “a voice and a vote for lower taxes, a more account-
Free dinner for students in pilot program By Joey Matthews
Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press
Cornell W. Brooks makes a point as the national NAACP president addresses a luncheon audience last Saturday during the 80th Annual Convention of the Virginia State Conference of the NAACP in Downtown.
Initiative to combat disproportionate school discipline By Jack White
Elijah Coles-Brown, a diminutive but prodigiously precocious fifth-grader, was one of the stars at the Virginia NAACP convention last weekend in Richmond. At the tender age of 11, he already has embarked on a high-profile career as a motivational speaker. Last year, he was also the focus of unwelcome attention as an especially outrageous example of the harsh disciplinary policies that have made Virginia a
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James Haskins/Richmond Free Press
Gov. Terry McAuliffe, seated center, restores the voting rights of two felons who are rebuilding their lives, Chanté Hamlin, seated left, and Bobby Jack Blevins, seated right, during the state NAACP convention last weekend. Looking on, from left, are interim state NAACP Executive Director Jack Gravely, state Attorney General Mark Herring, outgoing state NAACP President Carmen Taylor and Henrico Delegate Lamont Bagby.
prime example of the school-to-prison pipeline. According to his mother, Elijah was threatened with arrest by a school resource officer after a minor incident of roughhousing with a white student at Three Chopt Elementary School in Henrico County. He has since transferred to another school. His case was prominently featured in a TIME magazine article based on an analysis by the nonprofit Center for Public Integrity, which found that more students in Please turn to A5