Staff/Contributed Reports

I am responding to Amy J. Burnett’s letter . I attended the Rappahannock County Board of Supervisors’ meeting April 2 and presented a suggested sample form to the board for their consideration. My thought was that such a form could be used as an insert to the county’s annual tax...
Read More »

In the April 5 article on the Rappahannock County Board of Supervisors meeting, the part of the article concerning the topic of windows at the high school made it appear that I was holding up the project. This was far from my intention, and I feel that because of space constraints alone this was...
Read More »

I have to applaud Richard Brady’s great article . His key point being that raising taxes is always the solution because the alternative, skillfully managing the available resources, appears too difficult. When times are tough, like we have now, it takes real leaders and visionaries to do great...
Read More »

Despite a long recession, Virginia ranks among the top five states with the best economic climates, according to a report from a national lobbying organization.
Read More »

Virginia Agriculture Commissioner Matthew J. Lohr says he's spent his life working in agriculture in the state, but in those 40 years has never seen anything quite like what is happening now with the state's exports to other countries.
Read More »

Spring arts popping up, including this weekend at Middle Street/River District Arts (along with oysters and wine), another take on pre-Shenandoah National Park local history; Molasses Creek is coming back to the Theatre; grants to help Scrabble School tell its story; the RCHS band's annual Coffee House.
Read More »

In an effort to celebrate and promote the artistic gifts from its own visual artists and to raise funds for its programs, Trinity Episcopal Church is holding its Second Annual Arts & Crafts Festival over the April 20-22 Fodderstack 10K weekend.
Read More »

By Eric KambachFauquier Times-Democrat A mental examination of 57-year-old Judy Kay Deal of Amissville has found her incompetent to stand trial for the alleged murder of her husband in November. In a rescheduled hearing Tuesday afternoon, Deal appeared before Judge Jeffery W. Parker in Fauquier County Circuit Court for the results of a competency...
Read More »

I just wanted to write to thank Cathy Jones, principal of Rappahannock County Elementary School, as well as her amazing staff and students, for making their guests feel so very welcome and appreciated at Tuesday’s dedication of the school playground. In speaking afterwards to donors from the Emily Jane Hilscher Passion Fund, the Hampton...
Read More »

Last week’s headline seemed innocent enough, “Proposed tax rate rise is 5 cents.” After all, who can’t afford a nickel increase? A headline reading “Proposed tax increase of 8.6 percent” would have been just as accurate and a lot more revealing to the taxpayers of Rappahannock County. What exactly has changed since the last...
Read More »

It was quite a compliment for me to read my name in concert with Bill Dietel’s and Ken Thompson’s in last week’s article, “Proposed tax rate rise is 5 cents.” Our collective willingness to pay higher taxes to support next year’s county budget, though, is not noble, Mr. Cioffi. It’s our civic responsibility – yours,...
Read More »

I am a sweet and pretty beagle/Plott hound cross named Kayla. I am 1 to 2 years old, mostly housebroken and more than happy to have other dogs be the boss. Around 1750, my ancestors were brought to America from Germany by Mr. Plott – fancy that! They’re the reason for my brindle-colored head....
Read More »

Courtesy of Amy Hitt Twenty-seven Rappahannock County High School students were inducted into the National Honor Society at the 2011-2012 NHS ceremony on March 24. The inductees – the highest number in recent years – were recognized and awarded an NHS pin. Qualifications for membership into NHS are “Scholarship, Service, Leadership and Character,” and...
Read More »

Gov. Bob McDonnell on Tuesday recommended changing some of the requirements in legislation requiring voters to show identification on Election Day. McDonnell announced that he was recommending changes to 130 laws approved by the General Assembly and that he was vetoing seven bills.
Read More »

Steeplechase photographer Douglas Lees took this sequence during Saturday’s Old Dominion Point-to-Point races at Ben Venue in Rappahannock County of jockey Annie Yeager’s alarming fall at the last fence in the Novice/Amateur Hurdle Race.
Read More »

With Piedmont Community Action Partnership (PCAP) out of operation, the Rappahannock Food Pantry (which had received some of its funding through the PCAP over the last three years) was facing uncertainty. The uncertainty lasted until February, when its advocates created the Rappahannock Pantry Inc., a locally funded and operated organization. What was initially an...
Read More »

Stinkbugs vs. ladybugs, Cooter and friends at the Theatre, author Stephanie Deutsch at the Library, a spring festival at Middle Street and Rappahannock in Hollywood.
Read More »

  The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) announced today that acres planted in soybeans, corn and peanuts are up this year. Virginia’s soybean producers intend to increase acreage in 2012 to 590,000. If realized, planted acreage would be 30,000 acres above last year. Farmers announced their planting intentions in response to...
Read More »

Mountain Laurel’s ‘Shakespeare Mashup’ Mountain Laurel Montessori Farm School was one of just eight schools to participate in this year’s Secondary School Festival at the Folger Shakespeare Library. Their play entitled, “Shakespeare Mashup,” included scenes woven together from “Hamlet,” “As you Like It,” “Romeo and Juliet” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Mountain Laurel’s creative...
Read More »

Master woodcarver Chris Lubkemann plays rhythm sticks with kindergarten and pre-K students during a visit last month to Wakefield Country Day School (where Lubkemann has a grandchild in first grade). Lubkemann taught the students about wood and demonstrated his whittling skills, displayed a table-full of his carvings and showed the group how different sizes...
Read More »

Every once in a while the stars align, and all the cumulative efforts of several organizations and multitudes of individuals and businesses come together and produce something that is exceptional. Such is the case with the recent “Cool School” after-school pilot program, a collaborative effort co-sponsored by Headwaters, Rappahannock County Public Schools and 4-H....
Read More »

I’m often called a devil-may-care sort of fellow. My breed is a “canine classic,” changing little since we appeared in the late 1700s. I’m a young, smooth-coated fox terrier, 12 pounds, easy to train, good on a leash and house-trained. Not surprisingly, I have a Napoleon complex and will challenge big dogs who are...
Read More »

The Rappahannock Convalescent Loan Closet LLC would like to remind county residents that we are still at our Sperryville location and that we still have much equipment to lend to any county resident who might be in need of it. We have hospital beds, raised toilet seats, bedside commodes, canes, crutches, shower chairs and...
Read More »

Twenty people have been arrested in Virginia and 20 others elsewhere in an undercover investigation targeting online child predators and child pornographers, officials announced today.
Read More »

I’ve heard that perhaps a million or more people in America are “preppers” – taking deliberate steps to prepare for a widespread breakdown of our society. Regardless of your personal view of that personal decision, surely it speaks to a belief in a potentially dark future within our lifetimes, and a perceived need to...
Read More »

I would like to ask everyone a question. How can we, as parents, teach our children about the negative effects of bullying when we don’t practice what we preach? As many of you know, the local gossip has been on Amy Dodson, local resident of Rappahannock County. You all have read of the mistake...
Read More »

Virginia teachers and firefighters are urging Gov. Bob McDonnell to veto legislation overhauling the retirement plan for the state’s public employees.
Read More »

Democratic candidates for Virginia’s 5th congressional district were warmly received by the nearly 100 attendees at the second annual Blue State Bluegrass Brunch, an event put on last Saturday (March 24) at the Washington fire hall by the Rappahannock County Democrats. Both Peyton R. Williams Jr., a retired Special Forces lieutenant colonel from Charlottesville,...
Read More »

Benjamin Thomas Hale of Castleton and Julious Caeser Lucas of Boston appeared in Rappahannock Circuit Court on Tuesday.
Read More »

Ben Venue races this weekend, Heroes, Marilyn, and springtime in Rapp Cty brings tourists!
Read More »

The 4-H Livestock Club would like to thank everyone who donated baked goods and for those who came out to purchase items from us on Saturday at the Rappahannock CFC. We would also like to thank those who donated items for our raffle. We are very blessed to live in such a supportive community....
Read More »

By Ralph Bates Over the last few months, there have been groups in the county discussing the Constitution and articles written in the Rappahannock News. Recently, Friends of Liberty sponsored a lecture series that was well-attended at the Library. They articulated a conservative or “originalist” point of view very well. Hopefully, all attendees understood...
Read More »

Rapp girls fight to a tie and two wins JV and varsity girls’ soccer traveled to Skyline High School on March 23 for the second consecutive Friday night match against the Hawks. They returned with a victory and a tie to precede their Tuesday night win on the road against Manassas Park, 3-1. “The...
Read More »

I’m a good ol’ boy, your classic country hound dawg. I’m a porch-hangin’, sunnin’-myself kind of guy. My name’s Micah; don’t really like anything where I have to work hard – you know, hiking or jogging, for instance. They call me “lazy” down here because I’m most comfortable with the other lazy canines. Love...
Read More »

A legislative conference committee soon will begin deliberations to reconcile the House and Senate versions of the state budget, which would take effect on July 1.
Read More »

A state legislator is asking Gov. Bob McDonnell to add the designer drug 25i to the list of chemical compounds that would be outlawed under a bill recently passed by the General Assembly.
Read More »

If it’s March, we must be Irish – if recent events in Rappahannock are any indication, at least. Irish Step Dancers of Warrenton prepare to enter, stage right, at the Lions Club’s St. Patrick’s Day celebration at the Sperryville fire hall March 10. On St. Patrick’s Day afternoon, members of the Gold Top County...
Read More »

Community editorial meeting Friday, meet the Beatles, learn improv, get political, and/or see a movie! All happening this week in Rappahannock!
Read More »

I am writing to defend Jeff and Regina Knight (yes, husband and wife), Jim Gannon and the other citizens participating in the Rappahannock County school budget process who were singled out for sarcastic vitriol by the unfailingly snarky Ben Jones. Mr. Jones apparently lacks the class to engage in a civil and respectful discussion...
Read More »

Last week Ben Jones submitted a letter entitled “Same issues, same old baloney,” for which I suggest a new title: “Real issues, and no baloney.” Our schools are in trouble, and taxpayers should never accept substandard performance. The heightened attendance at the school board budget meeting reflected engagement, not apathy. I attended this meeting and...
Read More »