March 17, 2012 – 12:29 pm
The public is invited to a joint meeting of the Board of Supervisors and the School Board on Tuesday, March 20th, 7 p.m. at the Rappahannock County High School auditorium (12575 Lee Highway, Washington, Va). School superintendent Dr. Aldridge Boone will present the budget, and the public will have an opportunity to comment. This meeting presents a great opportunity to express your opinions, concerns, and support for education to county and board of education representatives.
Then, on Friday, March 23rd at 8 a.m., the school board will hold a final public working session on the budget. This meeting will be held at the school board office (6 School House Road, Washington, VA).
Please come out and participate in both important meetings. Thank you!
From Melissa Harris, editor of Flavor Magazine:
We know you love local food, and we know you love watching cooking shows on TV. Here’s a way you can combine both those passions.
Our dear friends John and Diane MacPherson, owners of a bed & breakfast in the rolling hills of Rappahannock County (also home to Flavor) are pioneers in the local food movement. And they’ve received a green light from PBS to launch “In Season” — a national cooking show featuring the champions of local, seasonal, and honest foods from across the country. But the MacPhersons need the funding to produce it.
They have just over two weeks left to raise the money on Kickstarter. A lot of local food heroes are pitching in, but we need your help too. The MacPhersons have set up a rewards program for different contribution levels (details here), including dinners and stays at their B&B (they’ll take any amount you can spare to spread the word). If they don’t get meet their fundraising goal, no credit cards will be charged. (And we hear from your pals at Red Truck Bakery that if you donate $20 or more and forward Brian Noyes your confirmation note, he’ll give you a Red Truck Bakery baseball cap and a discount code for future orders.)
Help us put two of Virginia’s local food heroes on the national map (and national TV!)
Melissa Harris
Click here for more information.
February 26, 2012 – 11:45 am
UPDATE 4/28/12: Peyton R. Williams, Jr. has suspended his campaign. See 4/28/12 www.rappdems.org post for more information.
Click here for an article from the Daily Progress.
One of my strengths is getting people together to talk about problems and finding solutions that are acceptable, workable and likely to achieve the result. I look forward to bringing civility, compromise and progress back into the legislative process.
Click here for an article from SoVaNow.com.
Williams has had a long career in the military as a researcher, analyst and program administrator. He served 32 years in the Army reserve and is a Vietnam veteran. In the Special Forces he undertook training and liaison roles.
A graduate of Penn State, he obtained a master’s degree from the University of Virginia and did doctoral research at the Savannah River nuclear energy site as a University of Georgia graduate student. He has worked at the Pentagon and at Walter Reed Medical Center in various research and management positions.
This is his first run for area office, although he has been active in political campaigns going back to John F. Kennedy’s run for the White House.
For more information go to http://www.peytonwilliamsforcongress.com/va/
February 26, 2012 – 10:07 am
The Madison County Democrats are reaching out to fellow Democrats in Culpeper, Greene, Louisa, Madison, Orange, and Rappahannock counties to get together, socialize, build coalitions, and coordinate planning. They believe that local sharing will be critically important as district lines change and familiar structures go away.
The first meeting of this informal group will be Saturday, March 10 at 9 a.m. at the George James Community Center in Madison. [Address: 1215 George James Loop, Radiant, Virginia 22732. White cinder block building on Rt. 230 (Orange Road), between Rts. 29 and 15]. There will be a breakfast buffet starting at 7 a.m. for $10.00. The meeting will start at 9 a.m.
The general plan is to rotate meeting locations throughout the counties included, and tentatively meet every other month.
They are asking for a RSVP for the first meeting, to get a rough head count. Rappahannock Democrats, please contact RCDC chair, Steve Beatty, if you plan to attend (chair@rappdems.org, 540-522-2588). Democrats from other counties, please contact your local chair and Madison County Democratic Committee chair Suzanne Long (longfarm@erols.com or 540-547-2537).
February 17, 2012 – 1:34 pm
A note from Mark Sickles, Democratic Caucus Chair:
Tuesday was ‘Crossover’ at the General Assembly. It was the last day for both the House and Senate to consider legislation introduced on their respective sides before ‘crossing the bill over’ to the other legislative body. That means it was the last chance for House Republicans to drive their dangerous, divisive and distracting agenda, and they did not miss the opportunity.
On Tuesday House Republicans passed a bill by Del. Kathy Byron (R-Bedford) that would force an intrusive and medically unnecessary ultrasound on a woman – a procedure which includes the insertion of a transvaginal device – before a women can undergo an abortion or medically-induced miscarriage.
In addition to the “small government” ultrasound bill, House Republicans also passed a bill (HB 1) that would legally define ‘personhood’ as beginning at the moment of conception. If a fertilized egg obtains constitutional rights, the next obvious steps are the criminalization of abortion, the banning of FDA-approved contraception, and the eventual outlawing of abortion in Virginia. House Democrats tried to amend the bill to specifically protect birth control, but Republicans rejected the amendment. As a measure of how out-of-touch the majority remains, similar measures were voted down by referendum recently in both Mississippi and Colorado!
You and I both know that the people of Virginia are not nearly as extreme as the legislation coming from the General Assembly. Unfortunately, having taken full control over state government, Republicans are pushing a backward looking agenda without concern for the damage it will do to Virginia families and to our reputation across the country. These extreme bills have created a national media frenzy, drawing embarrassing attention to the Commonwealth. Two days in a row, MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” has run stories about these bills, as did MSNBC’s Morning Joe. Watch the video here and here. Look for CNN’s report Sunday.
Read More »
February 9, 2012 – 11:01 am
Democratic Party of Virginia
Jefferson-Jackson Weekend
Greater Richmond Convention Center
Richmond Marriott Hotel
February 10 – 12, 2012
Jefferson-Jackson Dinner Ticket & JJ After Dark Ticket ($200.00)
DPVA Awards Luncheon ($25.00)
Women’s Caucus Breakfast ($60.00)
Unity Pass ($260.00) (One ticket each for the Women’s Caucus Breakfast,
DPVA Awards Lunch, JJ dinner/After Dark)
JJ After Dark Event ($25.00)
Event Patron: ($1,000.00)
Table Sponsor: ($2,500.00)
Commonwealth Sponsor: ($5,000.00)
For Higher Levels: Chairman’s Circle Sponsor, Old Dominion Sponsor, contact Allison Lawrence Jones at Allison@vademocrats.org
February 2, 2012 – 8:17 pm
The 2012-2013 version of the Rappahannock County Democratic Committee (RCDC) has formed! We have some new officers that were elected at the January 7 caucus, but not all offices are filled yet. If you’d like to chair of one of the standing committees, please contact Steve Beatty at chair@rappdems.org.
If you haven’t filled out a membership form for the 2012-2013 biennium, please do so at our next meeting on Tuesday, February 7th at the Rappahannock County Library, 7 p.m, or contact Marie Garcia at secretary@rappdems.org. Annual dues are $10 but can be waived.
The new RCDC is already going strong. Plans are underway to have the 2nd annual Blue State Blue Grass Brunch on Saturday, March 24th from 10 am to 1 pm at the Washington Fire Hall. Linda Dietel has agreed to chair the event. The brunch committee met recently to get things in motion. The committee consists of Gwen Bates, Kay Beatty, Hank Gorfein, Hi Soo Hepinstall, Thom Pellikaan, Andy Platt and Margy White. Come to the Feb 7th meeting to hear more about the event and sign up to be involved.
January 16, 2012 – 11:36 am
Below is an exceprt from a January 14th Times Union article entitled, “Super Pacs sway GOP.” To read the entire article click here.
It goes back to politics before we had campaign finance reform and Watergate,” said David Woodard, a professor of political science at Clemson University and a South Carolina Republican strategist. “It’s just a complete reversal that has brought us full circle to where it’s rich guys playing politics.
