His heart is forever embedded in Drifter lore.
It’s official! Legendary Colonial Beach High School sports icon Steve Swope has ended his one-year sabbatical and returned as head coach of the varsity baseball program. Fans, coaches and players alike were unsure whether they had seen the last of Swope after he led the Drifter boys’ basketball team to the school’s first state Group-A, Division 1, State Basektball Championship at the Siegel center, over a year ago.
“I had a complete year to think about it,” coach Swope said. “My wife and I decided as long as I continued to teach, I might as well come back in the capacity of head coach again.”
Coach Swope has decided that he will not return as the Drifters basketball coach, making his final curtain call as a state champion, an image that will forever remain in the hearts of the Colonial Beach community.
“Basketball was the greatest ending I could have ever dreamed of, and it was the opportunity for the team and I in my 30th year to win it all, and to go out on top.”
To some it seems as if the recession will never end, but in King George, the future is bright. Take a look at all the building going up in King George, and you can share the feelings of hope and prosperity those brave enough to build in these times are feeling. Pictures taken by The Journal photographer on Monday are testimony to the fact that many developers think King George is the place to put their money and their talents.
New construction includes a house on Route 205 between 301 and 3; the Q Stop which is becoming a 7-11 at routes 301 and 205; the King George Sheriff’s office in the new government center next to the YMCA; the new CVS pharmacy planned at the corner of Route 3 and 301; the new dialysis center on Route 610, just north of Route 3; the new dental office on Route 3 across from the Journal offices, the new Two Rivers Baptist Church on Route 3 near Lambs Creek Church Road; the new Peoples Community Bank on Route 301 east of Route 206; Jacks Sub just across from Peoples Community Bank; and construction which has just gotten underway for the new Walmart and the new University of Mary Washington campus.
Quietly, with little discussion or fanfare, the Colonial Beach School Board unanimously voted to take down the hoops at the basketball blacktop at the elementary school during the May 19 meeting.
Until the end of the current school year, the hoops will remain up each school day until the last school activity of the day has ended and then will be removed until the next school day begins.
With summer quickly approaching, it appears there will be one less option for children in the town looking for something to do.
Basketball Hoop Removal
Superintendent Donna Power recommended the board vote to take the hoops down in response to continuing citizen complaints about adults using the blacktop at night creating a nuisance for neighbors.
In a telephone interview, Police Chief Chris Hawkins verified that “the crowd they’re drawing is too big for that place” and that the “risk to the students outweigh keeping it open.” This is a reversal for Hawkins who appeared before the board in 2008 requesting the hoops to remain up.
According to Board Chairman Tim Trivett, the “onus is not on the school system to provide entertainment — it is the town’s responsibility.”
School Board will ban community use of the stadium
The King George School Board this week agreed to let Superintendent Candace Brown assign maintenance duties for Hunter Field to King George High School teacher Stan Mitchell and his landscaping class.
They also directed Brown to notify the King George Youth Athletic Association, a youth football organization, and any other community groups, that the stadium field will be off limits to uses other than the football teams from the high school and middle school this fall.
Brown proposed the plan for Mitchell to take over maintenance of Hunter Field at the May 24 meeting, saying he volunteered to take it on.
“Let me emphasize we by no means are going to be able to get it into prime condition, and it would not be a permanent solution,” Brown said.
Be careful where you park at the beach, how loud your backyard barbecue or graduation party gets, and oh, don’t forget to check your mail – you may have a refund if you’ve already paid for a parking ticket issued on Kentucky Derby weekend!
The May 13 Town Council meeting was held before a room packed with approximately 60 citizens who were quick to loudly applaud the impassioned pleas of the 15 citizen speakers. After Mayor Fred Rummage requested citizens to “hold your applause,” Diane Pearson reminded council that “it’s our time as well as your time.”
The reasons the supervisors went behind closed doors with legal counsel following completion of the public deliberations of May 10 were another mystery until the public learned a creditor of the failed Montross-Westmoreland Sewer Authority has gone to court in an effort to collect the fees that consultant purports he is owed.
It will be two years this Thursday since the Westmoreland supervisors, the Sewer Authority and Montross Town Council convened the joint session that authorized the county government to acquire the failed authority’s assets and public debt obligations.
On April 23, 2010, Waste Water Management Inc. of Fairfax filed papers in Westmoreland Circuit Court asking the court to compel the failed authority, Westmoreland County, Montross Mayor David O’Dell, Montross Town Manager Brenda Reamy, Montross Council Councilman Joseph King, Authority member Bonnie Chandler and Westmoreland Supervisors Darryl Fisher and Russell Culver to pay Waste Water Management the $50,000 it is owed for that firm’s design services and another $350,000 in damages associated with failure to meet the outstanding debt obligation.
A teenager is dead following a motor vehicle crash in King George County that took place early Sunday morning (May 9, 2010). At 1:09 a.m.,Virginia State Police Trooper T. D. Green was called to the scene on Route 218, Caledon Road near Basil Road.
A 1999 Isuzu Amigo was traveling eastbound on Route 218 when the driver ran off the right side of the roadway and struck a utility pole before overturning several times. The driver and three of the four passengers were then ejected from the vehicle. Those who were ejected were not wearing their safety belts.
Two were flown by med-flight and three others were transported by ambulance to Mary Washington Hospital with serious injuries. One of the passengers flown to the hospital, Anthony L. Feather, 16, later died from his injuries.
The teenagers, ages 16 –18, were heading to the King George County High School after Prom Party at the time of the crash. Speed is considered a factor in the crash, which remains under investigation at this time.
Deceased: Anthony L. Feather, 16, King George, Va.
Ruth Herrink, publisher of The Journal, presents Mr. Carlton Middlebrook his copy of the Dahlgren book, which The Journal has just republished. Middlebrook helped sponsor the publication in memory of his father, Charles Candy Middlebrook, who was brought to Dahlgren to work with Carl Lucas Norden, inventor of the Norden bombsight. The Dahlgren book is the oral history of Dahlgren published in 1977. To order a copy, call (540) 775-2024.
The Town of Colonial Beach voted in Shane M. Buzby, Gary
E. Seeber and reelected Stephen R. Kennedy to the three town council seats. Vicki Roberson and C. Wayne Kennedy were elected to the School Board.
None of the write-in candidates gathered enough votes to win, though Mike Ham
earned more than 200 votes for the town council seat.
All Montross town council candidates ran unopposed.
ELECTION RESULTS
Town council:
Shane Buzby: 405
Gary Seeber: 309
Stephen Kennedy: 250
David Coombes: 245
Write ins: 344
School Board:
Vicki Roberson: 402
C. Wayne Kennedy: 267
Michelle Jenkins Payne: 244
Bill Antosz: 130
Write ins: 15
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