To the Editor: This is in response to the letter printed December 30, 2020 about a new boat landing planned at Falling Creek and James River in Chesterfield County. Members of Falling Creek Ironworks Foundation, Bensley Area Civic Association, and Jefferson Davis Association have been working on plans for this much needed boat landing to be located at Falling Creek. Chesterfield County officials, Chesterfield Police Department and Chesterfield Parks and Recreation Department have been working in support with the associations for their revitalization plans. The new Falling Creek Park is located there. Plans are for more development from Falling Creek…
Browsing: Commentary
Blue
This past year our dog Charlie Blue turned 3. As I think back to when he was a puppy, I remember feeling a combination of hopefulness and excitement. My ultimate goal was to train him to be a therapy dog. I wanted to share him with patients at local hospitals and nursing homes so they could experience the joy and peace I felt when petting him. It took a year and a half, a few biting incidents and a handful of trainers to accept the fact that he wasn’t therapy dog material. Sadly, he has a strong temperament coupled with…
I have not said anything about COVID in quite some time. Fortunately, our decision to meet outside during the summer and fall allowed our church to meet without issue. When the temperatures dropped, we moved back inside. Everything went well, with an occasional hiccup. We, as a family and congregation, made it through Thanksgiving with no issues. We have had an outbreak of COVID within our church family, resulting in the decision to shut down our in-person gatherings for the first three Sundays of January. We really did not know what we were dealing with at the point that we…
Hello and welcome back to the wonderful world of the Dogpound. As I covered in my last article, my trip to North Carolina resulted in an unplanned overnight stay without food or baggage. After that rough start, you would think things would settle down, but as you know from reading the Dogpound all of these years, that seldom happens. I finally got my tired body home and found the house a bit on the chilly side. I bumped up the thermostat a few degrees and went on about my business of unpacking and getting my life back to normal. I…
To the Editor: I like genealogy stories, and I was particularly engrossed in the one on Italy until Mr. Roy Mastro injected his politics into the article. He lost me at that point. I quit reading. Comparing Mussolini with President Trump was a disgraceful comment. I do not think our country is anything like Mussolini’s Italy in the 1940s. Politics do not belong in family history articles. The author needs to reflect on what it means every time an illegal person crosses our borders. Mr. Trump has ensured that Americans have jobs whether they take them or not. Most Americans…
To the Editor: There are over 7,100 registered Chesterfield boaters who pay over $1 million a year in personal property taxes to the county on boats valued at over $27 million. Per state law, Dominion must move the coal ash at Dutch Gap. The boat ramp must be closed. Dominion has agreed to fund $10 million for a replacement ramp. Chesterfield County officials did not consult with the Virginia Wildlife regional river access supervisor or the Chesterfield boaters before deciding to move the only James River access for boaters from Dutch Gap to Falling Creek. It appears their main objective…
I heard some folks talking about a fire that had recently occurred in a fire station, and I thought that I would share a perspective that many do not think about. The bottom line is that it can happen, and does happen more than people know. I am not going to talk about the fire that occurs when a piece of fire apparatus or a piece of power equipment catches fire, while in the building. I also will not be talking about the fire that occurs when a motor seizes up. The fire that I am going to talk about…
Hello and welcome back to the wonderful New Year world of the Dogpound. Despite IT being a new year, some things kind of keep going on past the finish line, like my computer. My last 2020 article mentioned that I was experiencing some problems with my computer at home. I was seeing continued deterioration of my connection to my AOL account. So, not being particularly “Nerdy,” I chose a recovery application that claimed that it would not change any of my settings or applications. Wrong on both accounts. The recovery was successful, but most of my settings and virus protection…
Among the many people who lost their lives in the last year was an 86-year old man in Atlanta known as the “Baby Whisperer.” He earned the name after volunteering for many years at his local hospital. Following retirement from the sales field, he decided to undergo training in order to help premature and sick newborns thrive. The work, among other things, consisted of gently cradling the precious newborns while their parents were not there. Notably he would say the effect on him was greater than what he thought it had on them. This man’s story made me, once again,…
My task with this column is to educate our readers about ways to live safe and fruitful lives. Every once in a while, I witness something that prompts me to talk about it, though there may be more important things to write about. In an attempt to maintain my focus, I will tell this story, and then make a sharp turn. It is a snowy Monday morning, and I am headed to the church. I get to the rail crossing on Curtis Street, with the gates down. I am the closest vehicle to the tracks and crossing on the Richmond…