More Columns From This Author

Homeless in the District of Columbia
January 4, 2012

Homelessness is a blight on a civilized nation, and the problem is acute in our nation’s capital. As the economy has floundered and the unemployment rate has soared, a growing number of homeless families from outside the District have migrated into the City in search of shelter.

I love small towns
December 7, 2011

I’ve always been fascinated with small towns and have lived and worked in a good many: Tarboro, Rocky Mount, Chapel Hill, Boone, and Raleigh as it was then, in North Carolina; Highland Springs, Short Pump, Charlottesville, Hopewell, and Chester, Virginia before it became suburbia.

What became of recess?
November 9, 2011

Some 50 years ago I was an elementary school principal in western Henrico County. In those days, Short Pump was so rural that people made fun of it and considered it a suburb of Charlottesville. A Richmond reporter, who was one of my PTA vice-presidents called me on a Saturday afternoon and asked, “What ever happened to recess?

What about chess?
October 12, 2011

While playing bridge recently with an elementary school teacher, she said, “Some of my gifted children play chess.”

Delegate Riley E. Ingram
September 21, 2011

This summer the Virginia General Assembly did what it is required to do every 10 years: It redistricted the state’s House and Senate. Since Virginia has a population of about 8 million, each of the 100 Delegates should represent about 80,000 persons.

A legendary Chester resident
September 7, 2011

Judge Kermit V. Rooke, a longtime resident of Chester, was often seen at the old Post Office wearing a black suit, a yellowing straw hat, and carrying a cane. In retirement, Judge Rooke kept an office on the second story of the Insurance Building where he chewed a cigar, talked on the telephone, and wrote wills for the elderly, gratis.

An education for lawmakers
August 10, 2011

Bessines, France is a village of 1,600 persons located 60 miles west of Paris. Beginning in 1948 until operations ended in 1995, it was a great mining center for uranium, and it enabled France to lead the world in the production of electricity from nuclear energy.

Books for summer
July 6, 2011

Like old friends, old books are best. We don’t want to read anything too deep in hot weather. I reread favorites.

Whats the pupil-teacher ratio?
June 1, 2011

Many years ago and a hundred miles from Chester, I served in the central office of a school division in a university community. We were swamped with applications, and I spent each day interviewing (mostly) young ladies for teaching positions. I asked lots of questions to applicants; questions which would now put me in deep trouble if not in jail.

2012  presidential candidates: A plethora of choices
May 4, 2011

The 2012 Presidential race is well under way and the field of possible candidates is growing. President Obama has announced his candidacy and has a war chest in hand.