Delegate Mark Cole's decision not to run for reelection in Virginia's 88th District has created a crowded field of candidates looking to replace the veteran lawmaker who served for more than 20 years.
Tim Lewis, a Libertarian who is mounting a third-party run in the district that includes Stafford, Spotsylvania, and Fauquier counties, and Fredericksburg, wants to bring a different philosophy to the state capitol.
Originally from Montgomery, Ala., Lewis has lived in Virginia on and off since 1984 with his wife Jackie and his three children. In addition to having served 20 years in the Marine Corps, Lewis serves on the board of the child-focused non-profit Beacon Hill as well helping to fundraise for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
Lewis is a Libertarian, the country's third-largest political party. He'll run against Democratic candidate Kecia Evans and Republican Phillip Scott.
Lewis takes both Democrats and Republicans to task for continuously growing the state government and wants to offer a different choice to residents of the 88th district.
"Under both Republican and Democrat rule, we've seen the power of the government grow and take more control over our lives. There are jobs here in Virginia you can only have if you ask permission and pay Richmond for the right," says Lewis.
Lewis acknowledges that he doesn't want to run the lives of Virginians, and wants to empower Virginians to follow their own path without government intrusion. He believes that as long as someone is not hurting others or taking something that doesn't belong to them, they should be able to live their own best life and make their own decisions on what is best for them and their family which is a typical libertarian ideal.
Lewis is also focused on particular issues such as repealing a 2.5% grocery store food tax, which has also been proposed by Glenn Youngkin, the Republican candidate for governor. He also wants to open Virginia to school choice which he says is already available in Washington D.C. and in the states surrounding the commonwealth, where school funding is allocated by student, not school building. Lewis and his wife Jackie homeschool their three children.
Lewis is also focused on the repeal of Certificate of Public Need laws which govern how hospitals and medical centers operate. According to Lewis, these laws have been blamed for creating medical monopolies which denies such services to communities and increases the costs of healthcare.
"COPN requires hospitals to jump through a number of hoops and petition Richmond for permission to do something as simple as add an MRI or to build a NICU. If Richmond believes it will create "unfair" competition, they can deny the request," says Lewis.
Lewis also holds up private health offerings such as plastic surgery, Lasik, chiropractic, and hospice care as examples of providers' ability to lower costs and provide more healthcare in an open marketplace.
Historically, third party candidates such as those from the Libertarian Party have had a hard time getting on ballots. But Lewis has taken the time to go door-to-door and talk with potential voters to explain his positions, this approach got him enough signatures to get on the ballot and run in the 88th District.
"Regardless of political beliefs, I will fight tirelessly to give every voter the right of self-determination, the power to decide how to live their own lives. I'm not out here running for some powerful lobby or old political party, I'm running understanding that in the eyes of the government, each and every person in our Commonwealth should be protected on equal ground. I offer no special treatment to one group over another, I offer full liberty to all. I will push at every turn to get the government out of your way and out of your life."
Election Day is November 2. No-excuse early voting begins Friday, September 17.
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Stafford County is now considered an area of high transmission for the coronavirus due to a rise in the number of reported cases.
With the Stafford County's Fire and Rescue Department, Kim Murphy-Orr updated the Board of Supervisors on the latest coronavirus numbers in the county.
Between August 3 to Sept. 28, Stafford recorded 515 new cases of viral infections, raising the total of cases in the county to 13,502 since the pandemic. Of these new cases, nine have been reported to be hospitalized, and two people have died.
Stafford now bears the distinction as a high transmission area, which means that cases in the area have reached 10 percent per 100,000 residents, according to information from the Rappahannock Area Health District.
These Stafford numbers combine with the five jurisdictions in the health district, which includes Spotsylvania County and Fredericksburg, a total of 985 new cases were reported the week for a total of 33,206 cases since the beginning of the pandemic.
A total of 16 people from the district have been hospitalized, and three have died, bringing the county's totals up to 1,033 and 306, respectively.
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The Stafford County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday will discuss the issues of Critical Race Theory and the 1619 Project. Elected leaders on the top governing body want to know if either is being taught in the county's public schools.
The issue was originally placed on the agenda by Hartwood District Supervisor Gary Snellings on August 17, who asked outgoing schools Dr. Scott Kizner to attend the meeting to answer questions from Board members. Kizner had a previous engagement and couldn't attend, County Administrator Fred Pressley emailed Board members.
"This is totally unacceptable!" replied Snellings in an email on August 10, when he learned Kizner declined the request to appear. "The school division has known for almost two months that CRT was going to be on our agenda."
Rock Hill District Supervisor Crystal Vanuch, the Board Chairman, also replied to Pressley's email, noting Kizner's decision to pass up the Board's invitation "doesn't look good for our schools."
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Crossroads Tabletop Tavern, a Manassas-based game pub, has put out a call to local historians for information about the building that it's inhabited since 2018.
According to Crossroad's post to its Facebook page, the building that houses the tavern located at 9412 Main Street will celebrate its 111th birthday. The tavern wants to mark the occasion by finding out more about the building's history, but they've only been able to go back as far as 1984.
The building had been a bar up to that point, but Crossroads owner and founder John Hornberger says that there's proof that people used to live in the building.
"The building may have been apartments since it has the wiring and remnants of bathroom facilities that would have gone along with those kinds of things," says Hornberger.
Hornberger also talked about an artifact from back when the bar was known as Jake's. In a drop ceiling above the kitchen not visible to the public's view, signatures of the people who took part in a drinking contest are seen. If participants drank all six of the bar's original beers in one night, their names would be added to the ceiling.
Another piece of the puzzle in the history of the building comes from the world of pop music, along with other landmarks in old town Manassas the building was featured in the Steve Winwood music video for the song "Back in the High Life Again."
Hornberger also plans to officially name the building if he can't find out its official name. His choice would be the Baggins Building, a nod to the character of Frodo Baggins in the Lord of the Rings books by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Crossroads plans to have a month-long celebration for the building, including a weeklong birthday celebration, an overnight gaming session for select invitees, and a month-long sale on games.
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Kecia Evans is no stranger to politics, a wife and mother of four children with more than 22 years of experience in criminal justice.
She's got experience on the local level serving as Secretary of the Stafford County Board of Zoning Appeals and the former chair of the Special Education Advisory Committee for the Stafford County School Board.
"I decided to run again in order to give the Fighting 88th a new voice," Evans, a Democrat, told Potomac Local News.
Originally from New Jersey, Evans came to Virginia in 1992 with her family while her father served in the U.S. Air Force. Evans would graduate from Gar-Field High School in Woodbridge in 1996 and later earn degrees in criminal justice and cybersecurity from the University of Maryland-University College and Regent School of Law. Evans has spent the last 16 years working for an agency that provides advocacy and legal representation to indigent adults and teenagers.
This isn't Evans' first time around in the 88th District, which includes portions of Stafford, Fauquier, Spotsylvania counties, and Fredericksburg. She also ran in a Democratic Primary for the seat in 2019 but lost to Jessica Foster. With the winner of that race, Delegate Mark Cole retiring after more than 20 years in the seat, the field has become open for Evans to take another shot.
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The Virginia Department of Veteran Affairs will open a new care center for veterans in Fauquier County next year.
The new clinic, which is currently near the end of its construction phase, is being built on the former Vint Hill Farm Property. In 2017, state officials told us construction was set to begin.
The clinic, which will be known as the Puller Veterans Care Center, is one of two new locations being built by the Virginia Department of Veterans Services. The second will be located in Virginia Beach and will be known as the Jones and Cabocoy Veterans Care Center.
Both locations were chosen because of large veterans populations living nearby. The Fauquier clinic sits 13 miles from Manassas, which also has a large concentration of veterans.
The new centers are being built on property that was donated to the commonwealth for the purpose of creating these clinics. They will operate as long-term care facilities which will offer in-patient nursing care, Alzheimer's and memory care, as well as short-term rehabilitation care for veterans.
The centers will include amenities such as private rooms with bathrooms, a beauty and barbershop, a pharmacy, activity rooms and lounges, a library, and a game room.
"With the addition of the two new veterans care centers, VDVS will have centers nearby most veterans throughout the state," says Jeb Hockman, VDVH spokesman. "Nothing is more important than paying back our veterans for their unselfish service to protecting our freedoms."
The Puller Center is named for the Puller Family whose members have served with distinction in the U.S. Armed Services. Gen. Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller saw action as a Marine in Central America, World War II, and in the Korean War before retiring in 1955. Gen. Puller is only one of two men to receive the Navy Cross a record five times which among other accolades makes him one of the most decorated soldiers in Marine history.
His son, Lt. Lewis B. Pulley Jr., also served with distinction in Vietnam in 1968 where he was awarded the Purple Heart for saving his platoon after he set off a trap which caused him to lose both legs, his left hand, and several fingers on his right hand.
Toddy Puller, who served in the Virginia General Assembly from 1992 to 2016 and was married to Lewis Puller, pushed for the new veterans care facility in Northern Virginia. When she retired, she represented portions of Fairfax, Prince William, and Stafford counties in the Virginia Senate.
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Mark Broklawski says he takes pride in the fact that he is the product of the public school system.
The IT professional has lived in Stafford for 17 years. His wife, Amanda, is a public school teacher, and his children attend Stafford public schools. Broklawski also has other family members that work in public schools reaching back at least three generations.
Broklawski wants to put his experiences and knowledge to use by running for the Hartwood District seat of the Stafford County School Board. He wants to continue improving taxpayer value for their dollar and making the biggest impact possible while, as he puts it, "we reimagine education to ensure our schools, kids, and community meet the challenges of our technological era."
Broklawski already has some experience with the school board in helping to build broad coalitions of stakeholders to improve efficiency and ensure that resources can be deployed where they're needed most, as he has done with the Capital Improvement Planning and Multicultural committees created by the Stafford County School Board.
Potomac Local News talked to Mr. Broklawski about his campaign for the School Board as well as his perspective on events and how they've affected the way Stafford schools will run moving forward.
What inspired you to run for the school board?
After years of underfunding and mismanagement, the Stafford County public school system is in disarray. We are 35.3% below the state average in funding while being the 17th wealthiest county in the country. This is unacceptable. I'm running for Stafford County Schoolboard because our community deserves better.
Strong schools make strong economic sense for our community. Even if you don't have children in school now, strong schools protect your home value and increase our ability to attract businesses that pay well and grow our commercial base.
As we return to in-person instruction, we need to reimagine the way we do things. In this age of advanced technology our education system has been left in the dark. That needs to change. We need to invest in our teachers and our students. We need more classrooms not trailers. We need to empower all students to prepare for life after high school. We need more teachers per student and they need to be competitively compensated.
If I'm elected I will work tirelessly with our community members, parents and teachers. I will do everything I can because I believe that education is at the core of our community's health. It's time for our schools to be brought into a future we can be proud of, and if I'm elected I won't stop until we get there.
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The Fredericksburg City Council has approved an agreement between Virginia Attorney Mark Herring regarding allocating funds obtained through court settlements concerning the opioid crisis.
According to City Attorney Dooley, the city's piece of the litigation pie is expected to be between $300,000 and $400,000. While Fredericksburg has not set a plan for the disbursement of funds from the settlement, a percentage of what the city could get has been set by the Virginia Attorney General.
The agreement allows 30 percent of the settlement funds to be distributed to participating localities such as Fredericksburg. Of that take, 15 percent would be used for approved opioid reduction costs, while the other 15 percent would be totally unrestricted and used by the city on other items.
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A middle school in Fredericksburg will send its students home for virtual-only learning just two weeks after the start of the new school year.
The city schools system announced that students at Walker-Grant Middle School would return to virtual learning after seeing a growing number of new coronavirus cases.
After consulting with the Virginia Department of Health, Fredericksburg City Public Schools announced it, which had determined the situation as a high-level concern due to Walker-Grant's reporting of several new cases over the last two weeks, which has resulted in the quarantining of staff and students.
According to FCPS, there have been multiple presumptive and positive new coronavirus cases just in the last week. FCPS also disclosed that just in the last two days, those cases had been linked together, resulting in multiple outbreaks and other ongoing cases resulting in high levels of student absenteeism and school staff being at critical levels.
VDH considers a coronavirus outbreak to be at least two cases reported at the same address.
Updated stats on the FCPS school website reveals that between August 8 and August 23, a total of 95 students within the entire school division have been quarantined due to exposure to the virus. Out of that total, 25 students had been tested positive for the virus.
