After hearing slightly over two hours of prosecution and defense arguments in support of their conflicting sentencing recommendations – 22 years by the prosecution, 6 years by the defense – Western District of Virginia federal Judge Elizabeth K. Dillon went down the middle, sentencing former Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority Executive Director Jennifer McDonald to 14 years in prison for her role in the circa-2014 to 2018 EDA “financial scandal”. However, following a defense request that McDonald be allowed not to report to prison prior to June 18, and a request by lead prosecutor Sean Welsh that the court be reasonable in not extending imposition of the defendant’s imprisonment for too long a period, Judge Dillon granted the request that McDonald remain free on her existing bond conditions and self-report to prison authorities “not earlier than June 24th”. It was not clear whether a recent unanticipated hospital visit by McDonald this past weekend impacted that request. It was also confirmed by attorneys post hearing recess that per federal guidelines defendants are generally required to serve 85% of non-mandatory sentences, though how that standard is applied can vary from facility to facility. If our calculation is correct, full implementation could cut 2.1 years off the 47-year-old McDonald’s 14-year sentence.

An estimated $26 million was moved to unapproved or believed falsely presented uses during McDonald’s leadership of the Town-County EDA. Trial testimony indicated that as much as $6.5 million of that went directly to McDonald’s personal use. On November 1, 2023 a federal court jury of six men and six women found McDonald guilty on all 34 criminal counts she was charged with, including bank fraud (10 counts), wire fraud (7 counts), money laundering (16), and aggravated identity theft (1 count). Judge Dillon later overturned four of those convictions citing inadequate evidence by statute.

Jennifer McDonald has about a month before she must again dress in incarceration garb. Below is the Harrisonburg federal courthouse where she was sentenced to 14 years on Wednesday, May 29. Royal Examiner File Photos

The first phase of what was initially said to be a three-part sentencing hearing was held on April 9, with part 2 initially forecast to be held within a week, leading to a sentencing date then being set after the court had time to review submitted arguments. But with a month-and-a-half delay to Phase 2, it appeared the court had sufficient time to review applicable case law in anticipation of those Phase 2 arguments leading to her sentencing decision coming at the conclusion of those Wednesday, May 29th arguments.

As previously reported, after inheriting the case from two state prosecutors offices, Warren County (recusal due to staff work familiarity with some defendants) and Rockingham County (complexity, time involvement), on August 25, 2021, a 10th Western District of Virginia Federal Grand Jury handed down 34 federal criminal indictments against McDonald on the charges cited above. McDonald was initially arrested and charged criminally at the state level in mid-2019.

Also during Wednesday’s hearing, McDonald was hit with a series of financial penalties. Those included $5.2 million forfeiture of assets which the prosecution sought, what appeared to be $3,000 in court costs, as well as a “Restitution” amount cited at $2.7 million.

While a statement of financial impacts on the EDA was cited as submitted, and quite an amount of time was spent on arguments about the financial and governmental impacts of McDonald’s crimes related to the illicit movement of EDA assets, only one person rose to the court’s call for impact statements from “victims” of her crimes. That person, perhaps ironically, was ITFederal principal Truc “Curt” Tran. Tran and his company have been cited as the largest single beneficiary of illicitly moved “financial scandal” EDA assets at $12 million alleged to have been moved to it under “false pretenses” for development of 30 acres of the former Avtex property. Those false pretenses appeared to be claimed access to about $40 million in federal government contracts, evidence later indicated Tran’s company only had a right to bid on, and none of which he apparently won.

“Jennifer, Jennifer, Jennifer, what have you done,” Tran began from the courtroom podium, looking directly at McDonald to his left at the defense table with her federal court-appointed attorneys Andrea Harris and Abigail Thibeault. One of McDonald’s convictions was of “Aggravated Identity Theft” for allegedly using Tran’s name as an interested party in one of the later-discovered-to-be fraudulent real estate transactions. Tran did cite that transaction of the time – “I still don’t know where the Buck Mountain property is,” he told the court, pointedly looking at McDonald.

However, twice Judge Dillon had to caution Tran to return to impacts of that real estate transaction in which his name was used without his knowledge when he strayed to blaming his lost government contracts to enable the Avtex site development on McDonald. After the second caution, Tran ended his impact statement. Tran was found liable for over $12 million to the EDA in one civil liability case heard in Warren County Circuit Court. His finding of liability is on appeal, along with several other high-dollar EDA civil case defendants.

Garage-turned-apartments, carriage houses, in-law suites — all are accessory dwelling units (ADUs). Whatever they’re called, ADUs are seen by some as a fix to affordable housing options or a way to meet the needs of specific families.

But the versatile form of housing isn’t always encouraged by locals or officials and little regulatory guidance exists for their approval around the state.

An ADU with alley access in Richmond’s Fan neighborhood. (Wyatt Gordon)

Following the continuation of proposals to frame such guidance during Virginia’s most recent legislative session, a workgroup in the state’s Housing Commission is fine-tuning ideas for how to get a law on the books in the future.

“It was never supposed to get out of committee, is what I was told. And somehow [it] got out of committee to get bipartisan support,” said Sen. Saddam Salim, D-Fairfax, a freshman delegate carrying a bill that would have required local zoning ordinances for ADUs, which had been unsuccessful in a previous session.

Salim’s bill cleared the Senate with bipartisan votes before failing in a House committee. That same committee also stopped a similar measure from Del. Kannan Srinivasan, D-Loudoun. But rather than be defeated totally, they were “continued to 2025.”

Now, Salim is optimistic that after workshopping from the Housing Commission, a future version of the bill can go on to become law. The trick will be balancing local government authority with state-level guidelines for ADUs.

In her own district — which encompasses rural and urban areas with different residential needs — workgroup chair Del. Carrie Coyner, R-Chesterfield, sees the challenge if state law were to more rigidly regulate ADUs.

It’s why she believes there’s some consensus building on taking a guideline approach that localities could implement. Salim is eager to see what comes of the workgroup.

“I think there’s going to be some consensus on ‘what does local authority look like?’ when the bill comes back,” Salim said. “I’m super excited about that.”

Why do ADUs matter?

ADUs may serve different purposes for Virginia communities’ differing needs.

“Sometimes folks build them to have a rental income, to age in place, to help someone recovering from an injury or illness or to house multiple generations on the same property,” said former Charlottesville delegate  Sally Hudson, who’d carried a previous version of the bill.

Hudson had seen inspiration for the legislation in her district, as demand for housing had increased in the Charlottesville area.

Likewise, Salim noted how job growth in his Northern Virginia district has contributed to a higher need for housing that isn’t always being met through construction of new homes and apartments. Allowing for ADUs could at least help, he said.

“This is not going to solve the housing crisis that we have,” Salim said. “This is going to sort of ease some of the issues that we already have right now.”

ADUs aren’t a one-size-fits-all approach to increasing housing stock or affordability. But they offer flexibility for families or communities who may want them.

In some places, they’re allowed to be constructed by-right, or without seeking local permits in residentially-zoned areas.

Rockingham County, for example, allows this. About 90 ADUs were built in the county over the past seven years, allowing housing for a range of people, from farm workers to students and tourists, who can rent them when needed.

Local infrastructure has made their construction a little easier in Rockingham where many properties are on private wells and use septic tanks, but constructing ADUs in other places may require expanding sewage lines and utility setups. It’s considerations like these that are a part of why some people may oppose ADUs, or wish for local authority over how to regulate them.

So, what’s next?

In the short term, the workgroup is planning to explore how localities could allow for ADUs within their comprehensive plans without fully requiring them to develop local zoning ordinances for them.

Comprehensive plans are guiding documents for localities’ urban planning that the state requires they update every few years.

Coyner, the ADU workgroup’s chair, said she hopes to “ensure that localities couldn’t stick their head in the sand and not address the need for accessory dwelling units” and also “allow them to have the flexibility based on the differences and nuances in localities.”

The full Housing Commission is set to meet on July 15, where the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development is expected to present data. Coyner anticipates the ADU work group will meet again later in July to utilize that data in its next steps.

by Charlotte Rene Woods, Virginia Mercury

Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Samantha Willis for questions: info@virginiamercury.com. Follow Virginia Mercury on Facebook and Twitter.

“You’ve got to draw the line somewhere,” said Councilman Bruce Rappaport at a regular Front Royal Town Council meeting on May 28, beginning at 7 p.m. in the Warren County Government Center at 220 North Commerce Avenue. The evening featured a handful of applications for special use permits and culminated in a revisitation of urban agriculture, a topic that has been contentious for the council.

Town Council comes together for a regular meeting on the evening of Tuesday, May 28, in the Warren County Government Center. Royal Examiner Photo Credits: Brenden McHugh.

Rappaport remarked during a discussion of a proposed amendment to the Town code to rectify contradictory language. Amid that effort by Planning and Zoning to streamline the code, certain regulations were presented for codification that would limit urban agriculture in ways that Councilwoman Amber Morris, in particular, resisted. “I would love to,” she said in reply to Rappaport’s concern that a lack of regulation could lead to the introduction of cows and horses within the Town limits. The amendment being considered would allow for livestock in the Town limits on property where agriculture is permitted, but Rappaport’s point still raises an interesting question. When is regulation too much or too little?

Fifth from left, Mayor Lori Cockrell, accompanied by the council, stands with scholarship recipients Blake Ramsey (3rd from left) and Dillon Braddock (4th from left). Ramsey and Braddock also led the gathering in the pledge of allegiance.

Mayor Lori Cockrell (R), having acknowledged the Front Royal Federal Credit Union for seventy-five years of business, stands with two bank representatives.

Mayor Lori Cockrell (L), having acknowledged Stokes General Store for seventy-eight years in business, stands with Andy Stokes.

To Morris, who supports the idea of free-ranging chickens within Town limits, requiring keepers of chickens to provide four square feet of coop space and eight square feet of run space per chicken is too much. If this requirement, reflected in Tuesday night’s failed amendment, were codified, there would be people who find themselves suddenly in violation and need to make significant changes to their operations, according to Morris. Furthermore, she believes that owners of beehives should be able to sell their honey, and owners of chickens should be able to sell their eggs. In this respect, she and Councilwoman Melissa Dedomenico-Payne agree. In a brief exchange at the meeting between Dedomenico-Payne and Planning Director and Zoning Administrator Lauren Kopishke, wherein Dedomenico-Payne expressed that she wants the citizens of Front Royal to be able to make money off their agricultural products, Kopishke explained that her department wants to keep commercial activity from being practiced in residential zones in ways that do not honor the current code by introducing commercial activity into residential areas. Dedomenco-Payne said that it is not as though anyone is opening a farmer’s market in his or her backyard, to which Morris interjected that one should be able to if desired.

Thus, the amendment was a mix of things already in the code that needed to be made consistent, as well as new elements, all the above being things that drew a mixed reaction from the council. This amendment is part of an ongoing effort by the Planning and Zoning Department to entrench their practices in code and “give teeth,” using Kopishke’s words, to policies that protect the health and safety of animals in the Town limits. Too much or too little? When it came to a vote, the verdict seemed to be too much. While Councilman Wayne Sealock abstained, Councilmen Glenn Wood and Rappaport voted in favor of the amendment but were overruled by Councilwomen Dedomenico-Payne and Morris and Councilman Josh Ingram. After wrapping up other business, which included the renewal of Town Manager Joe Waltz’s contract, the council went into closed session.

Click here to watch the Front Royal Town Council Meeting of May 28, 2024.

Philip Arthur Charles Jr., of Front Royal, Virginia, Passed away peacefully on Monday, May 27, 2024, with his family at his side at his home while under the care of Hospice.

Philip Arthur Charles Jr.

Philip was born on October 18, 1937, in Washington, DC, to parents Philip and Emma Charles.

He lived in Arlington, Virginia, until 1988, when he retired to Front Royal, Virginia. He was currently a Chester Gap Fire Department member and served as their Treasurer for several years. Phil was active in the fire and rescue service for over 70 years, beginning as a volunteer firefighter in Arlington, VA, and later as a Volunteer Fire Chief.  Phil retired from the DC Fire Department after 20 years of service.

Upon Phil’s graduation from Washington-Lee High School in Arlington, he attended The U.S. Naval Photo School in Pensacola, FL, and served three years as a Navy Photographer. When his enlistment from the Navy ended, he joined the DC Fire Department.

During this time, he operated a commercial photography studio in Arlington, VA, until 1981. The Studio was one of the first to utilize a color processing lab in the area. Upon retirement from his service on the DC Fire Department, Phil went on to work as a Staff Photographer for the National Gallery of Art (1981-1999), where he was responsible for photographing three-dimensional art objects for publications, slide presentations for curators and art exhibits as well as photography for six published art books.

Phil was a Front Royal, VA resident, having retired there 25 years ago. He and his wife, Sandra, purchased historic Lackawanna in Riverton and, after extensive restoration to the 1869 house, opened as a bed & breakfast operation until 2020.

Phil is survived by his wife of 62 years, Sandra Charles; daughter, Katherine Blevins; son, Zachary Charles; four grandchildren, Charlie Blevins, Jack Blevins, Kelsey Charles, and Bryce Charles; and his beloved Standard Poodle, Chloe.

A memorial service is being planned for the middle of October.

Contributions can be made to Chester Gap Volunteer Fire Department.

Kelly Sue Foster, 57, of Front Royal, Virginia, passed away on Wednesday, May 22, 2024, at Page Memorial Hospital in Luray.

Kelly Sue Foster

A graveside service will be held on Tuesday, June 4, at 2:00 p.m. in Prospect Hill Cemetery, with Sammy Campbell officiating.

Kelly was born October 4, 1966, in Front Royal, Virginia, the daughter of the late Dale Reil Foster.

She worked for many years as a Certified Nursing Assistant. Kelly enjoyed making blankets for people and doing her crafts. She was a Warren County graduate, Class of 1985.

Surviving is a sister, Pamela Kenney (Horn); brother-in-law, Earl Menefee, Jr.; niece, Casey Sheetz (Chase); paternal grandmother, Jean Foster; two great-nephews; one great-niece; one great-niece on the way; and several aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends.

Kelly was preceded in death by her mother, Dale Foster; sister, Jeanne Menefee; brother-in-law. Denny Horn; maternal grandparents; and paternal grandfather.

The family will receive friends on Monday, June 3, from 6-8 p.m. at Maddox Funeral Home.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the family c/o Maddox Funeral Home, 105 West Main Street, Front Royal, Virginia 22630.

Physiotherapy is an often-overlooked discipline crucial in promoting health and helping people recover from injuries or improve mobility. Physiotherapists are highly qualified professionals who offer a wide range of services to help patients regain full physical functionality and enhance their overall well-being.

What They Do

Physiotherapists are trained to treat various physical conditions using specialized techniques tailored to each patient’s needs. They help individuals recover after surgery, manage chronic pain, treat musculoskeletal disorders, and address cardiorespiratory issues. Some of the methods they employ include:

• Manual Therapy: Hands-on techniques to manipulate muscles and joints.
• Electrotherapy: The use of electrical energy to treat pain and muscle spasms.
• Therapeutic Exercises: Customized exercise programs to improve strength, flexibility, and range of motion.

These techniques promote healing, reduce pain, and restore function, enabling patients to lead more active and comfortable lives.

Who They Help

Physiotherapy is accessible to people of all ages, from children to seniors. Physiotherapists work with individuals recovering from surgeries and those suffering from chronic medical conditions, as well as athletes looking to optimize their physical performance. Their broad skill set allows them to cater to diverse needs, making physiotherapy a versatile and valuable healthcare service.

Reasons to Consult a Physiotherapist

There are many reasons to contact a physiotherapist. If you’re experiencing persistent pain, have limited mobility, or are recovering from an injury, physiotherapy may be the ideal solution. Additionally, physiotherapy can help prevent injuries, improve posture, and enhance overall physical performance. Here are some specific benefits:

• Pain Relief: Addressing chronic pain through targeted treatment plans.
• Improved Mobility: Helping patients regain movement and flexibility.
• Injury Recovery: Accelerating the healing process and preventing future injuries.
• Posture Improvement: Correct posture to alleviate strain and discomfort.
• Enhanced Athletic Performance: Tailoring exercises to boost strength and endurance.

Physiotherapy addresses existing issues and focuses on preventing future problems by promoting a healthier lifestyle.

Why You Should See a Physiotherapist

Do you want to move freely, relieve pain, or improve your sporting prowess? Consulting a physiotherapist could significantly enhance your well-being. These professionals are dedicated to helping you achieve optimal physical health through personalized care and effective treatment methods.

Make an appointment with a physiotherapist near you today to experience the benefits of this essential healthcare discipline. Whether you need help with recovery, pain management, or performance enhancement, physiotherapy offers solutions to improve your quality of life.