by Martin Davis
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
The week just past saw our Civil Rights Trail gain prominence, a UMW student come full circle, budget challenges in Fredericksburg, more waves at Riverbend, and Nugget.
Number 5: Fredericksburg's Civil Rights Trail Has Been Added to the National Civil Rights Trail
When Chuck Frye was a boy, he didn’t like history at school, because it didn’t reflect the history he knew. But, as he told an audience gathered in the sanctuary of Shiloh Baptist Church, Old Site, on Thursday afternoon, he loved listening to his grandmother, Pearl French, tell stories about her life. Stories like those his grandmother told in her living room became an official part of Fredericksburg’s history through their incorporation into the city’s Civil Rights Trail, which debuted a year ago.
Number 4: Author's Journey to UMW's Crawley Great Lives Lecture Series is "a Full Circle"
Thirty-three years after Crawley convinced her to attend what is now the University of Mary Washington, Green is returning to her alma mater to speak about her latest book as part of the Great Lives Lecture Series—which in 2016 was renamed in honor of Crawley, its founder. “It just feels like coming full circle to have met Dr. Crawley all those years ago and be able to come back as a scholar speaking at his lecture series,” Green said.
Number 3: City School Board Work Session Reveals Budget Challenges
An increase in one of the factors the state considers when calculating its share of funding for public schools will stress the Fredericksburg school division’s budget for the new fiscal year that begins on July 1.
Number 2: Nugget, a Yellow Lab, Fights Sex Exploitation for the Spotsylvania Sheriff's Office
The northern Virginia region has a new weapon in the never-ending battle against sex exploitation. He is a two-year-old, newly trained yellow Labrador retriever named “Nugget” who is now working for the Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office.
Number 1: Emails Show Riverbend Parent Involving School Board
The parent at the center of unrest plaguing the Riverbend High School swim team continued to involve the School Board, school division leadership, and a coach from an outside year-round swim program in complaints about “inappropriate behavior” on the part of the Riverbend coaches, after acknowledging that the behavior had stopped.
The books were banned from school libraries last year and then taken to the Friends of the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library's book sale in the fall.
New Dominion Podcast - Will Mackintosh
Dr. Will Mackintosh is an associate professor of history for the University of Mary Washington and Councilman-at-Large for the City of Fredericksburg. Mackintosh shares with us his ideas about walkable cities, the prohibitive cost of new development, and why increased density in Fredericksburg is the restoration of the city's historic character -- not its undoing.
Humor - Drew Gallagher
Seems this week the “Crazy School Board” gavel was handed from Spotsylvania to King George. The people of Spotsylvania thank you for taking it away from us … and really feel for the chaos you’re about to go through. But fear not. Drew Gallagher is here to let the KG folks known how to do chaos right.
Opinion - Density and Sensitivity
Two opinion pieces caught our readers’ eyes this week. One by Adam Lynch shone a different light on what happened with Fredericksburg City Council’s recent changes to the ODU. And one by Martin Davis on what it means to watch your son depart for war, and the lessons we can all take from it.
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