By Meaghan Latella Domnica Radulescu knows what it feels like to be displaced. In 1983, Radulescu fled communist Romania to find freedom and a new life in the United States. Today, she is determined to keep the conversation about immigrants’ struggles alive. Last weekend, Radulescu hosted the 12th National Symposium of Theater in Academe at Washington and Lee University, where she is a professor. The title of this year’s symposium was “Displacements, Frontiers and Nomadism.” Radulescu said the themes were particularly personal for her. “I’m an immigrant, and an exile, and an artist,” Radulescu said. “So I have navigated…
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By Cecelia Smith-Schoenwalder Rockbridge County residents need to be on high alert for scam attempts, Rockbridge County Sheriff’s deputies say. Investigator Tony McFaddin says the reported scams have grown in numbers and complexity over the years. The sheriff’s office recommends that residents be wary of giving out personal and financial information over the phone or Internet.
By Kinsey Grant Lexington’s recent decision to rebuild Waddell Elementary School is causing city property taxes to rise. Local real estate agents don’t expect the increase to have much effect on a strong market. But they worry that as Washington and Lee University moves third-year students back to campus, fewer potential renters could lower property values.
By Caleigh Wells The number of students in Buena Vista’s schools who can get free or reduced-price lunches has doubled in the past decade, and now makes up more than half the district’s pupil population. Rockbridge County’s numbers are also sharply higher and rising. The figures reflect a nationwide trend. Students from low-income families now make up the majority of schoolchildren in the United States, according to a report released by the Southern Education Foundation in January. Kristen Hinrichs is a therapeutic day treatment counselor at Enderly Heights Elementary School in Buena Vista. She says the lunch program is important…
By Jordan Missal Breaking up noisy college parties was once a frequent part of Rockbridge County Sheriff’s Sgt. Hugh Ferguson’s job. But things seem to be getting better. Ferguson says he hasn’t responded to a complaint about Washington and Lee University students’ party noise since September. “We tell the students, ‘If you police yourselves and make your neighbors happy, we don’t get complaints,’” Ferguson said. A community effort Ferguson gives some of the credit for the improvement to the Campus Community Coalition. Students, administrators, law enforcement and neighbors have joined to cut down on the number of parties that receive…
By Katie Paxton George Taylor recalls his first visit to Washington and Lee University in 1959. He remembers entering Lee Chapel and being quickly drawn to the antique organ in the gallery, which was looking forlorn with neglect. In the next four years, as a student, he would play an important part in the restoration of that organ. He gave his senior recital on the restored instrument. Ever since then, building classical pipe organs is all he’s ever done. “My wife says I’m addicted,” Taylor says. After graduating in 1964, Taylor was awarded a Ford Foundation grant to spend three…
By Bentley Boldt A part of Ezra Pound has just been added to Special Collections at Washington and Lee University – 100 original letters written by the famous poet to an alumnus from the class of 1954. Pound is considered the father of modernism in American poetry and a literary genius from the early 20th century. After World War II, he was charged with treason and seized by the U.S. government because of his fascist writings and radio broadcasts in Italy during the war. He was found mentally unfit to stand trial and confined to St. Elizabeths Hospital for the…
By Charlie Klingenberger The sound of power tools slicing through huge wooden beams fills the Pavilion. Sawdust coats the floor and a piney smell from the protective finish fills the air. All this week, some 40 volunteers from the national Timber Framers Guild are working in the hangar-like building on the edge of Washington and Lee University’s campus, constructing the frame for the expansion of Project Horizon’s headquarters, including Lisa’s House, the local shelter for victims of domestic abuse. Leading the work is Grigg Mullen, a professor of engineering at Virginia Military Institute, and his fellow timber framers, who have…
By Meaghan Latella Beer drinkers in the Rockbridge area have discovered more options than the adult beverage aisle at the grocery store. The tap rooms at local craft breweries are offering their premium small-batch brands for on-site consumption. But increasingly, those watering holes are adding extra attractions – live music, trivia nights – even pizza delivered from local takeout eateries.
By Leslie Yevak Rockbridge County School officials say money from the state and federal governments will be lower next year. But the county Board of Supervisors has rejected the school board’s request that they take up the slack. School board officials say that will lead to cuts in both jobs and programs in the schools.