'Urban fund' soon gone
Smithfield has tapped state money for variety of projects
By Diana McFarland
Managing editor
Smithfield town officials are citing its “urban fund” as a source of money for a few transportation projects, including a turn lane at the Joseph W. Luter Jr. sports complex and the Nike Park bike trail.
And while the town has turned to that pot of money in the past, the fund will eventually be exhausted as the state in no longer making new annual allocations, said Town Manager Peter Stephenson.
Fiscal year 2010 was the last year the state distributed money into the construction allocation known as “urban funds,” and the funding formula has since changed, to include Smart Scale, said VDOT spokesman Dave Forster.
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Format of Board prayers on agenda
Do they violate court guidelines?
By Diana McFarland
Managing editor
The Isle of Wight County Board of Supervisors is scheduled Thursday to discuss its meeting invocation practice — one that has often included a prayer invoking Jesus Christ.
The Board meetings begin with an invocation, rotated among the five supervisors, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.
One member of the Board, William McCarty, is a pastor at Healing Waters Worship Center — a Christian place of worship — but he is not the only supervisor to have included Jesus in the invocation.
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County helping to determine new use for former academy
By Ryan Kushner
Staff writer
Isle of Wight County is looking for input on what to do with 24 acres of private land previously used as a campus for the now-defunct James River Christian Academy.
The county was recently awarded a federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) for $3,000, which it will use to fund a market analysis and feasibility study to help determine the best future use for the property, according to Economic Development Director Tom Elder.
The land, which is located along Benn’s Church Boulevard, was purchased this past spring by JVC Holdings LLC, a corporate investment and development company owned by Vincent Carollo, who is also the owner of Anna’s Ristorante in Smithfield. Carollo said that the property, formerly owned by the First Church Ministries in Newport News, had been on his company’s radar for a while since the Christian school closed down in the summer of 2008.
The county applied for the grant in January, according to Elder.
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Former IW employee wins federal suit over her dismissal
By Diana McFarland
Managing editor
Isle of Wight County’ former economic development director was awarded $747,320 in a federal civil suit over her termination three years ago.
Lisa Perry sued Isle of Wight County because officials told her she had “voluntarily resigned” after being out on leave due to a shoulder injury.
The trial was held in the Eastern District Court in Norfolk, and Judge Raymond A. Jackson ruled that Isle of Wight County had violated Perry’s right to return to work under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act.
Under dispute was the day that Perry was to return to work under the auspices of FMLA, and if it was lawful for Isle of Wight County to terminate her employment for failing to notify the county of a change within a reasonable number of days.
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Oldies with a jazz twist
The Summer Jones Band will make its first appearance in the Summer Concert Series Friday at 8 p.m.
Summer Jones is a trio of guitar, voice and percussion that plays songs ranging from the 1960s to today with that the band describes as a “jazz/funk twist.”
The band originated in Suffolk in 2012 and travels the East Coast performing. During the past five years, the trio has performed in Richmond, Danville, Asheville and Panama City Beach.
The Summer Concert Series is sponsored by The Smithfield Times and the Isle of Wight Arts League. Concert are underwritten by private donors and local businesses and are free to the public.
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Wat Pasantidhamma - Carrollton's Buddhist Temple
In 1998, Wat Pasantidhamma, a Thai Buddhist temple, was founded in a wooded area in Carrollton. It continues to be a place where buddhists and monks from all over the nation come to pray and meditate.
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