Matt Wingfield

Where do the talented Castleton Festival performers stay when they're not on stage? Either at one of Castleton Farm’s own properties or the permanent home of generous locals, who routinely open their guest rooms and cottages for up to six weeks to welcome in relative strangers.
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Virginia State Board of Education president David Foster visited Rappahannock County High School last Thursday (May 16) and was treated to a tour and presentations on the school division’s programs.
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After the supervisors trimmed about $146,000 from the proposed 2013-2014 school budget earlier last week, the Rappahannock County School Board decided in a work session Thursday night (May 9) to at least leave intact a 3-percent salary increase for teachers and staff, while eyeing a way to replace 10 of the school's aging buses.
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At its monthly meeting Monday (May 13) the Washington Town Council agreed to support RappFLOW’s cleanup project at Avon Hall, filled a vacancy on the Architectural Review Board and considered allowing bed and breakfasts to serve dinner to non-boarders.
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Castleton resident Ethan Cody Newcamp was issued a bond by Judge J. Gregory Ashwell in Rappahannock County District Court Tuesday morning (May 14). The 19-year-old Newcamp, who is charged with one count each of grand larceny and entering a house to commit assault and battery, has a trial date June 4.
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To the apparent dissatisfaction of many in the crowd, the Rappahannock County Board of Supervisors voted Monday afternoon (May 6) to take the school board’s proposed budget increase down a notch (or a cent), approving only $300,000 of the requested $445,000 increase to last year's budget.
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In its final public hearing on the 2013-2014 school budget, the supervisors heard a flood of public opinion, both for and against the school board’s proposed $12.61 million budget, as a record 38 speakers lined up at the microphone Monday at Rappahannock County Elementary School.
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Rappahannock County is the 37th healthiest of Virginia’s 133 counties, according to a yearly health ranking provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The rankings track a number of different health-related statistics, including mortality, morbidity, clinical care and social and environmental factors for every county in Virginia.
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Posing last week in front of Scrabble School’s history exhibit are (from left) Rappahannock County Elementary School library media specialist Barbara Wheatley, kindergarten teachers Stephanie Beard and Pearl Barron, school psychologist Kathy Zehr Rhodes and instructional coordinator Shannon Grimsley with Scrabble School Preservation Foundation president Bob Lander. The school is scheduled to begin a...
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For what the prosecution called a vengeful theft of tools, a former Early's Carpet employee was found guilty of grand larceny in Rappahannock County Circuit Court Tuesday afternoon (April 23). Also, a Castleton man pleaded guilty to grand larceny and a man accused of assaulting a deputy is denied bond.
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County planners unanimously recommended approval of a special-use permit for the RappCats cat rescue organization that would allow them to use the northeast corner of the old Flint Hill packing shed as the county’s first cat shelter.
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We were thrilled to see your front-page coverage of RappCats’ efforts to rent the packing shed space in Flint Hill for a cat shelter the county so badly needs. We have contacted RappCats to pledge ourselves as one of their 12 monthly rent sponsors, but it occurred to us that it would be really...
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James Warren Cox, the 67-year-old Tappahannock man whose out-of-control 1967 Austin Healey convertible crashed head-on into a group of motorcyclists on a sunny Sunday last fall in Sperryville, killing one and injuring several more, was found guilty of reckless driving Tuesday. He is appealing the decision.
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The Rappahannock County School Board took a break from budgetary matters to discuss the impending (government mandated) rise in school meal prices at its monthly meeting last Tuesday night (April 9).
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The Washington Town Council heard two presentations on new possibilities last week: a petition for the council’s support of a RappCats cat shelter, and plans to clean up and further transform the pond at Avon Hall.
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Joseph Anthony Lenchick, half of the Castleton couple facing child abuse and cruelty charges, pleaded guilty to a single charge of child endangerment in Rappahannock County Circuit Court.
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Bus safety and gratitude for the county’s teachers were the two major themes at the joint public hearing last Wednesday night (April 3) of the Rappahannock County School Board and the Board of Supervisors.
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On March 28, in its first meeting of 2013, the Rappahannock County Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) approved a special-use permit for a tourist home and a variance request allowing a house to be constructed farther back from U.S. 211 in Sperryville.
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The pollen count isn’t the only thing rising in Rappahannock County this spring, as controversy over a new animated electronic sign in front of Rappahannock County High School is also filling the air.
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Rappahannock's supervisors were presented with a draft of the county’s 2013-2014 budget Monday. Though no discussion on the matter ensued – that will come at an April 29 public hearing – the $22.54 million budget is about $742,000 more than last year’s $21.8 million budget.
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Those who need further evidence that the “man’s best friend” theory is true need only watch all the smiling first- and second-graders as they greet their favorite reading companion and open this week’s story.
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If Family Dollar – or any other potential buyer of commercially zoned property on Bank Road – wants a median crossover where the road meets U.S. 211, Rappahannock County would have to approve such a request, Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) officials said this week.
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Representatives from Madison County gave a report and petitioned the Rappahannock County Board of Supervisors at the board’s last meeting (March 4) for its support in establishing an entrance to Shenandoah National Park in Madison County.
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The Rappahannock County Planning Commission voted at its monthly meeting last Wednesday (March 20) to approve an adaptive-use permit for Cliff Miller that allows him to rent his family’s old dairy barn as an event venue for 15 events a year.
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At its public work session Tuesday night (March 19), the Rappahannock County School Board voted to adopt a formal budget proposal totalling $12,618,208 – a $445,932 increase over the 2012-13 budget.
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In circuit court, an attempted murder charge is dropped against Brenda Holly Lyons-Lenchick in exchange for the Castleton woman's guilty plea to child abuse and cruelty charges; a jury sends a Sperryville "sovereign citizen" to jail; two are indicted on drug-related charges.
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The budget season continues as the Washington Town council entertained the idea of raising the town’s water user charge as part of its 2013-14 budget at its monthly meeting Monday night (March 12).
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The real estate tax in Rappahannock County is headed for an increase of 2 cents, and possibly 4 cents, when the new county budget is unveiled later this month, several board of supervisors members warned at their monthly meeting Monday afternoon (March 4).
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Efficiency was the theme of the night at the Rappahannock County School Board’s public hearing on its proposed 2013-2014 budget Tuesday (March 5) as several audience members spoke about doing away with the school's current block-scheduling model and eliminating any staff redundancies.
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After an emotional hour of pre-sentencing testimony, a Front Royal man who pleaded guilty in November to aggravated sexual battery was given nine months in jail in Rappahannock County Circuit Court Thursday morning (Feb. 21).
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The Rappahannock County Planning Commission voted unanimously last Wednesday night (Feb. 20) to table until March a decision on Cliff Miller’s application for a permit to use his family’s old dairy barn to host events.
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The outdoor chemical-reaction science demonstration was part of Headwaters’ After-School “Extravaganza” last week, a chance for parents and others to see some of the after-school activities at Rappahannock County Elementary School – an afternoon that also included a dance performance and demonstrations and races of some of the intricate models built by the program’s...
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Cuts were made and a revised budget developed Tuesday night (Feb. 19) at a Rappahannock County School Board budget work session. In about 90 minutes, the board trimmed about $200,000 from the working budget, which is still $417,000 over last year's $12.01 million budget.
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Curriculum changes are afoot at Rappahannock County Public Schools, as the elementary school is eyeing a substantial modification to its black history curriculum: a partnership with Scrabble School.
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The Rappahannock County School Board begins its annual months-long budget process with an presentation by interim superintendent Kathleen Grove based on a preliminary $12.7 million budget that she says “outlines” the goals Grove and the board intend to focus on this fiscal year.
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Restitution amount in the case of Austin Duane Settle, the 26-year-old Castleton resident convicted of committing six felonies at the former Aileen factory in Flint Hill, was set in Rappahannock County Circuit Court Thursday morning (Feb. 7).
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The Washington Town Council votes to officially accept community-action organization People Inc.’s offer to withdraw a special-use permit application at its monthly meeting, and hears a report on independent projects to keep the properties around Avon Hall green.
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Lost amid news of former superintendent Aldridge Boone’s resignation are some impending curriculum changes and updates that could see county schools require students to complete a certain amount of community service before graduating.
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A Chester Gap man charged with possessing schedule II drugs, distributing oxycodone and child abuse was sentenced to a year in jail in Rappahannock County Circuit Court Wednesday morning.
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The board of supervisors initiated two requests for road quality tests by VDOT and heard a presentation on the county’s Civil War Trails program from John Tole at its monthly meeting Monday afternoon (Feb. 4).
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