Browsing: Commentary

Hello and welcome back to the wonderful world of the Dogpound. Well, Thanksgiving is over, the election is over “kind of,” and Christmas is the next box we need to check off to close out the year 2020. I have been busy; I got my new carpet in, and finally got my new kitchen/dining room floor installed (dish washer had a bad leak), looks very nice. Did discover that when they moved the washer and dryer the vent hose fell apart, literally. I could see the rest of the hose through the hole in the floor, but it was too…

To the Editor: I am grateful to the Village News  for the services it supplies to our community.   Each newspaper for some years now, has included the “Police Blotter”  You should pay attention to this and the numbers of crimes reported.  One “rape” incident or one vandal activity  is one too many.  We could reduce these numbers if we apply good common sense.  Why do you leave items in your car, and why do you not take that one minute to make sure your car is secured when exiting?  You only invite thieves and vandals.  Granted, some things are not…

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.”  MLK Valentine’s Day  is just around the corner. But how exactly did this custom or celebration start?  There are several explanations, all of which date back to thousands of years ago. One tells the story of a priest named Valentine who was incarcerated for aiding persecuted Christians. He was executed on February 14 circa 270 AD  because he defied the Roman emperors’ ruling at the time which banned all marriages and engagements in efforts to garner more soilders in the army. Others believe…

A recent fire in a single family dwelling, started in the basement. The fire did extensive damage to the entire house. At this point, the only thing that I have read is that the fire was determined to be accidental, which says a lot. This takes the intentional component out of this equation, including a child or children playing with fire. I do not know if I can touch on every accidental cause in a basement, but my desire is to get you thinking, especially if your home has a basement. On arrival at this fire, units found heavy fire…

Hello and welcome back to the wonderful world of the Dogpound. As I am writing this article it is the first week of February. February already?! Wow! January just flew by and winter is just now really starting to set in. This weekend starts a very cold week, with Sunday (Super Bowl Sunday) starting with a high of only 11 degrees. Only 11 degrees! And the rest of the week does not get over 20 degrees. Brrrr! Anyway, I had the opportunity to fly back to North Carolina thise past weekend to participate in my oldest daughter’s, first child, “gender…

Letter to the Editor: This is in response to Margaret Davis’ Jan. 13, 2021 letter to the Village News editor.  We are concerned Ms. Davis’ comments will confuse Village News readers. Her letter referred to our letter to the editor printed in the Dec. 30, 2020 Village News. In that letter, we did not “suggest” spending the Dominion $10 million at Osborne, a 30-year-old fully developed boat ramp and park on the Henrico side of the James River.  Our letter stated our goal was a “ramp downriver for the safety and convenience for the majority of Chesterfield boaters” – a “lagoon type,…

By Del. Carrie Coyner Greetings from the General Assembly as we are in the midst of the 2021 session. This is a short session so bills are moving quickly through the legislative process and I am happy to report that my bills have received full bipartisan support and are out of House committees and awaiting action on the House floor or to be heard by the Senate except for HB 2027 awaiting appropriations action. EDUCATION HB2027: Requires no later than the 2024-2025 school year, each reading and mathematics SOL test in grades 3-8 no longer be a high-stakes end of…

“Real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present. “ – Albert Camus When I hear the phrase “killing time,” I oftentimes find myself curling my lips in disapproval …Really? …Why would you want to kill time? Difficult life experiences have taught me that time is too precious to “kill.” For this reason, the idiom doesn’t sit well with me. According to Webster’s dictionary “killing time” means “to spend time doing something while one is waiting.” It is thought the expression appeared during the Civil War to describe what soldiers would do in order to detach themselves…

You may read this like the menu for a potluck dinner, but I want to talk about four very different causes that all resulted in damaging fires. Some of these will sound familiar if you have read any of my past articles. The significant piece about these fires was that they all occurred within a few days of each other. By discussing the various causes, it is my hope that my readers will learn from the mistakes of others. The first fire has the most familiar and leading cause of residential fires in America, unattended cooking. Food left on the…

I was doing some house cleaning and came across some old books that were just gathering dust, but one caught my eye. “Live and Learn and Pass it on,” by Jackson Brown Jr. He essentially solicitated people’s comments on this phrase, “I’ve learned…” So, I thought I would share some of them, specifically, those from those that were 60-plus in age, since I figured they had a lot more time to learn something. “I’ve learned that life is a lot like a scooter car; not much happens unless you do some peddling.” Age 79; Unless you are of the “older” generation,…

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