Local News
‘No one deserves to be bullied,’ says mom of bullied son
Jamie Brown speaks with Royal Examiner publisher Mike McCool at the 7 am protest. Photo and video by Mark Williams, Royal Examiner.
FRONT ROYAL—Bullying recently reared its ugly head at Skyline Middle School where a family’s son reportedly experienced it firsthand, possibly even multiple times, both verbally and physically.
The family said this morning during an anti-bullying protest outside the school that charges have been filed against the alleged bullies, but they would rather see them undergo counseling or be required to conduct some sort of community service.
“I don’t want them to do time. I would like them to get counseling… or have them volunteer somewhere with someone who’s disabled so they understand the struggle. Maybe they’re just not aware,” said Jamie Brown, who headed up the protest. “I want no child bullied, not even the ones who are bullying my child. No one being bullied is acceptable. No one deserves to be bullied.”
Protesters lined the sidewalk at Skyline Middle School at 7 am.
Virginia anti-bullying laws and regulations define bullying as “any aggressive and unwanted behavior that is intended to harm, intimidate, or humiliate the victim; involves a real or perceived power imbalance between the aggressor or aggressors and victim; and is repeated over time or causes severe emotional trauma.” This definition also includes cyber bullying, but does not include ordinary teasing, horseplay, argument, or peer conflict.
Justin Brown read a statement for the Royal Examiner explaining why the couple spearheaded the protest and exactly what their son has experienced. Jamie Brown first broached the issue this past weekend over the What’s Up Front Royal page on Facebook.
“Everyone deserves to go about their day without fear or worry,” said Justin Brown. “Their biggest worry should be how they will do on the next test.”
It is time for zero-tolerance bullying policies to be enforced and for those who are found accountable for bullying to be held accountable and subject to consequences, said the couple in their statement, adding that “if the system in place is falling short, then maybe it’s time for a new system.”
“Better yet,” said Justin Brown, “actually enforce the one that you have.”
A Warren County Public Schools (WCPS) representative said the district is trying to enforce its existing anti-bullying programs.
Alan Fox, spokesman for the Warren County Public Schools was also at the protest and spoke with our publisher Mike McCool.
“We are 100 percent with the families, the parents and the students,” Alan Fox, director of secondary instruction for WCPS, told Royal Examiner during the protest today. “We want our students to be safe. We want them to feel safe and we want them to be educated. So, we have the same exact goals they do, and we support what they are doing.
“We don’t want anyone to be bullied,” he added. “It’s a bad, bad thing.”
Fox said WCPS wants to reinforce its existing programs, which include prevention programs and multi-tiered behavioral supports for children who are experiencing difficulties.
“Sometimes students struggle in meeting behavior expectations,” wrote Bobby Johnston, principal at Skyline Middle School, in an Oct. 8 open letter to the community that addressed the reported bullying instances at the school.
Among several programs, Johnston said that the school provides all students with training using a social-emotional program known as Second Step, which has been utilized at Skyline Middle School for the last five years. Students regularly participate in the program throughout the school year, focusing on empathy, communication, bullying prevention, and management of their emotions, he said.
“The goal of Skyline Middle School, as this year’s motto states, is One Vision, One Team, One Community,” Johnston wrote. “We are here to help support and grow engaged, healthy children into engaged, healthy young adults who are ready for the academic challenges of high school.”
The principal added that school staff welcome a partnership with the parents “in order to form a strong community connection,” and he provided his number and email: (540) 636-0909 and bjohnston@wcps.k12.va.us.
The Brown family also appears to favor that cooperative goal.
“We have to protect our kids,” Jamie Brown told protestors standing on the sidewalk with placards this morning. “We can only do it if we come together.”
Read the letter from the Robert Johnson, Pruincipal of Skyline Middle School here. Open Letter the Skyline Community Regarding Bullying and SMS Responses
The Royal Examiner was at the 7 am protest and spoke with the parents of the student and with Alan Fox from the Warren County Public School:
Local News
Meet Blake Pierpoint, Owner of Blake & Company in Front Royal
On November 6, the Warren County High School DECA Chapter conducted a “Job Shadowing Day” with local businesses in Front Royal. Twenty-six students shadowed owners, managers, and employees in twelve locally owned businesses. During this week, “Global Entrepreneurship Week”, we will spotlighting some of our successful local business entrepreneurs.
Businesses participating in this job shadowing activity included:
- Blake & Co.
- C & C Frozen Treats
- Down Home Comfort Bakery
- Jack Evans Chevrolet
- Main Street Daily Grind
- National Media Services
- Ramsey Hardware
- Royal Auto Works
- Royal Comfort Shoe Center
- Truss’D
- United Bank
- White Pickett Fence
Blake Pierpoint, owner of Blake & Co., welcomed two WCHS DECA students recently during Job Shadowing Day on November 6.
Blake Pierpoint, the owner of Blake and Company, provides a multitude of hair services, spa services, and makeup sessions out of her shop at 1201 N Shenandoah Avenue, Front Royal, VA 22630. She decided to open her own business, primarily in hair, because it’s her passion, and she wanted to create a business that she could make her own. Blake chartered her own business as soon as she possibly could in 2008 when she found her dream venue; Blake admired the open space and elegant windows, which both add to the upscale ambiance. She says her mission at the outset for her business was to make sure her business was unique. What makes her business so unique is the ambiance, friendliness of her staff, and the high standards she holds for her business.
Blake attributes her success to her husband, because he’s been a big supporter throughout the whole process of creating her business. When asked what she would recommend to someone who’s starting out their own business, she says that they should make sure they have professional help from an attorney and an accountant from the start. Blake also suggests to make sure you have a business plan established from the start. If you’re interested in Blake and Company’s services, call 540-635-4033, or visit their shop Tuesday through Friday from 9am-7pm, or Saturday from 9am-5pm.
Community Events
How could one woman steal $53 million without anyone noticing?
How could one woman steal $53 million without anyone noticing? As city comptroller of Dixon, IL, Rita Crundwell stole $53 million of public funds across 20 years–making her the perpetrator of the largest case of municipal fraud in American history. She used the funds to build one of the nation’s leading quarter horse breeding empires, all while forcing staff cuts, police budget slashing, and neglect of public infrastructure. ALL THE QUEEN’S HORSES investigates her crime, her lavish lifestyle and the small town she left in her wake.
On November 24th at 2pm, at the Warren County Community Center, the Warren County Coalition will be showing the documentary ALL THE QUEEN’S HORSES, where you’ll also meet the author of this movie, Kelly Richmond Pope. This is a free event and open to the public. See the Warren County Coalition Facebook page for more information.
Kelly Richmond Pope is an Associate Professor in the School of Accountancy and MIS at DePaul University in Chicago, IL, and founder of Helios Digital Learning, Inc. She received her doctorate in accounting from Virginia Tech and she is a licensed certified public accountant. She worked in the forensic practice at KPMG, LLP on anti-money laundering engagements, insurance fraud investigations, and fraud risk management projects. Kelly is a recognized expert in the forensic accounting field and has conducted forensic accounting seminars around the world for universities, corporations and governmental entities.
Kelly is the creator and executive producer of the award winning educational white-collar crime documentary, Crossing the Line: Ordinary People Committing Extraordinary Crime. Her current documentary, All the Queen’s Horses, which chronicles the largest municipal fraud in U.S. history, will be released August 2017. She was selected by the TED Ed team to develop a teaching lesson on “How People Rationalize Fraud” which can be found on the TED Ed website. Her TEDx talk “Why We Hate Whistle-blowers” discusses the whistle-blower dilemma and the need for whistle-blowers in fraud discovery.
Watch the trailer:
Local News
Shenandoah Valley physicians provide medical aid for people of rural Honduras
Dr. Tommy Ball cutting a ribbon to formally open a new school. Photos by Dr. Joe Schwartz.
Since 2008, Dr. Thomas Ball, M.D., (“call me Tommy”), who lives in Browntown, has worked a two-week stint in Honduras, a poverty-stricken country where health care is marginal at best for most people and non-existent for others, including children.
Sponsors of the medical visitations by American doctors include many U.S. colleges and universities beneath the umbrella of a non-profit called “Shoulder to Shoulder”, which is committed to providing quality health care in the world’s poorest countries.
Ball recently returned from this year’s visit in which he led a five-man brigade of medics, plus a Winchester school teacher, tending to scores of patients in a village called Pinares. Many locals walked several miles for medical treatment, among them children suffering from malnutrition and seeing a doctor for the first time in their lives.
Pinares is in the province of Intibuca where the volunteer medical teams numbering between six and 15 American physicians and support personnel visit three times a year. It is among the poorer areas of the Central American country sandwiched between Guatemala and Nicaragua. Wages, mostly for agricultural work, average about one dollar a day, Ball said.
The medical brigade this month included doctors Joe Schwartz of Front Royal; Tyler Felton of Strasburg; Nelson McKay of Stephens City; David Clark of Winchester, and Clark’s wife Meaghan, a Winchester school teacher. Each volunteer pays his or her own travel and other expenses, and expects to “live in the rough” during their stay.
Schwartz, on his second tour in Honduras, said he returns home with a “high degree of satisfaction” and eyes wide open to the problems of people in a “Third World” country.
“It was definitely a learning experience,” he told me in a telephone interview. Schwartz, a U.S. Navy reservist, mentioned that his early years as a Boy Scout helped him overcome living in less than modern circumstances.
Dr. Nelson McKay interviews a patient at a remote Honduran school during screening exams.
Ball told of sleeping in a one-room school house, while Schwartz was complimentary of a local lady’s skills who cooked meals for the group on a wood stove.
Virginia Commonwealth University oversees the Front Royal group’s annual visits to Honduras. Dental, community health, education and nutrition programs are included in what “Shoulder to Shoulder” accomplishes through its continuing efforts to bring medical assistance to peoples of the “Third World” over the past quarter century.
Dr. David Clark and his wife Meaghan with the grandchildren of an elderly blind woman they visited at her home.
Local News
$20,000 donation for county animals announced at ‘Yappy Hour’
A donation of $20,000 to the Humane Society of Warren County (HSWC) was greeted by loud applause at Friday’s “Yappy Hour” at ViNoVa restaurant on Main Street, Front Royal, on November 15.
The announcement, by HSWC president Ellen Aders over a swiftly provided bullhorn, overwhelmed the collection of $220 raised at the recently re-introduced fundraiser for the Julia Wagner Animal Shelter which, in its first two months, has donated almost $1,200 to the Humane Society. The event, held every Friday evening, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., receives a share of sales toward the shelter operation as it did for two years previously at the old Vino e Formaggio restaurant, netting $12,000 for HSWC over the period.
Ophelia, a miniature pug, was rescued by the writer and his wife, Carol, from the Julia Wagner Shelter 10 years ago. Photos/April Jansen
Aders said the anonymous donation was received earlier in the day “in memory of (an animal shelter supporter) who passed recently.” She took the opportunity to encourage people to “remember the animals” as they prepare their own wills.
ViNoVa, owned and operated by Rachel Failmezger and Chef Chris Kenworthy, opened last August in the same but improved premises as the old Vino e Formaggio at 124 Main Street. It brought “tapas” to the area and deals exclusively in wines and beers from Europe and basic foodstuffs fresh from the fields of Warren County.
Diva, a Siberian Husky rescue, also owned by the writer and his wife, is a fervent watcher of television.
To the uninitiated, tapas are servings of expertly prepared foods on small plates accompanied by beverages of choice.
Malcolm Barr Sr. and Christian Failmezger organized and launched “Yappy Hour” in Front Royal. The current version of “Yappy Hour” is increasingly well supported, so a packed house of mainly animal lovers was on hand to hear last Friday’s good news.
Diva takes a nap on a forbidden couch.
EDA in Focus
EDA authorizes litigation to recover Workforce Housing parcel or its value
Following an hour-and-a-half Closed Session Friday morning, November 15, the Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority Board of Directors unanimously approved a motion to authorize litigation to sue Cornerstone, LP, LLC, its principals and affiliates to recover “EDA land improperly conveyed to Cornerstone without EDA authority or collect the full value of the conveyance and such other damages to the EDA”.
The land in question is the 3.5-acre Workforce Housing parcel sold to the Cornerstone group on November 28, 2018, at a price of $10 dollars.
After initially receiving the parcel as a $10 gift from the aunt and uncle of former EDA Executive Director Jennifer McDonald, local realtors Mr. and Mrs. Walter Campbell, the EDA Board agreed to purchase the property for $445,000 in April 2017 after missing a previously undisclosed developmental deadline that would have enabled the Campbells to pursue tax credit compensation for the gift of the land to a public purpose.
It is believed that Cornerstone, LP, LLC, is a branch of regional developer the Aikens Group. Aikens was cited by former EDA Executive Director McDonald as a behind-the-scenes, private sector player in the Workforce Housing financial riddle from its inception in late 2014.
The property in question lies at the end of Royal Lane, stretching to the right toward Remount Road. Royal Examiner File Photos by Roger Bianchini. Video by Mark Williams.
When contacted in April about the transaction Gray Blanton, who signed the Deed of Sale to Cornerstone for the EDA as board chairman in November 2018, told Royal Examiner he had only seen the final signature page of the four page document. Blanton seconded the motion made by Greg Harold to authorize the litigation.
Local real estate attorney Joe Silek Jr., who represented the EDA due to the recusal of then EDA Attorney Dan Whitten for a potential conflict of interest as EDA and County Attorneys, told us in April there was no price on the deed of sale when it was forwarded from the EDA to the Winchester law firm of McCarthy-Akers for completion.
Asked why the EDA would agree to take a $444,990 loss or even a $651,690 if disputed EDA developmental and peripheral purchase costs are included, Silek said, “I don’t think they did,” and referred us to attorney Doug McCarthy of the McCarthy-Akers law firm for further information.
As we first wrote in April, as of publication there has been no response to a phone-message inquiry about the transaction from the attorneys who represented the buyer in the now legally-disputed sale.
Of the transaction, the initial March 26 filing of the EDA civil suit says, “When interviewed on December 6, 2018, Defendant McDonald continued to maintain that the Aikens Group would refund the Warren EDA the full cost of the Royal Lane Property and any improvements, when she knew said property had been conveyed by the Warren EDA on November 28, 2018 to Cornerstone for consideration of $10.”
That transaction came as scrutiny of McDonald’s executive leadership of the EDA was intensifying as the Cherry Bekaert financial fraud investigation progressed. Following several hours of closed session discussion of the Cherry Bekaert findings and her job performance on December 14, 2018, McDonald had her contract, check-writing and administrative authority over EDA bank accounts stripped by the EDA board.
Facing a second closed session on the same topics a week later, McDonald submitted her resignation by email, and according to the EDA lawsuit attempted to cap her financial liability to the EDA at $2.7 million dollars.
Then EDA Board Chairman Greg Drescher and Executive Director Jennifer McDonald found themselves facing hard questions from two supervisors, Fox and Sayre, about how the Workforce Housing Project had evolved during a June 2017 joint EDA-County Board work session.
As previously reported, in initial defense motion filings McDonald’s now former civil case attorney Lee Berlik claimed his client was being vilified and scapegoated for past bad decisions of the EDA Board of Directors.
However, the EDA civil action alleges a lengthy pattern of gaps, conflicting or misinformation from McDonald to the EDA board regarding what is termed the “Royal Lane Property Embezzlements” among other allegations of financial fraud that have led, not only to civil liability claims against the former EDA chief executive, but also 32 felony financial fraud indictments from a Special Grand Jury empanelled to investigate potential illegalities tied to the EDA civil suit.
And now it seems the Aikens Group finds itself on the perimeter of that EDA civil litigation regarding what has been a twisting and often inexplicable, five-year saga surrounding the attempted transfer of the Campbells’ 3.5-acre Royal Lane parcel to a public use.
See if you can make any sense of this – on May 19, 2017, the EDA released this 383-page explanation of the Workforce Housing Project after Councilwoman Bébhinn Egger sought answers on the project’s shifting financial dynamics.
Also unanimously approved after the Closed Session, on a motion by Jorie Martin, seconded by Blanton, was authorization for Executive Director Doug Parsons to forward Adjusted Journal Entries developed by retired County Finance Director Carolyn Stimmel and Hottel & Willis’s Heather Tweedy to the Yount-Hyde-Barbour accounting firm for use in development of the EDA’s 2018 Audit Report; and on a motion by Harold, seconded by Tom Patteson, acceptance of the Commission Agreement for the sale of the EDA-owned McKay Springs property, subject to receiving the Agency Agreement within 14 days.
Open Session Business
The pending McKay Springs property transfer and a County Planning Commission Public Hearing two days earlier on Wednesday, November 13, were topics discussed During County Administrator Doug Stanley’s Report during the open portion of Friday’s meeting.
That open portion of the meeting was eventful as the full EDA Board received monthly reports and six-month Strategic Priorities Lists from the EDA’s Asset Management, Finance, Communications and Executive Committees; as well as the monthly report on County business; and Executive Director Parsons’ Strategic Priorities List.
Major topics included the status of the Afton Inn as far as the developer resuming work on site; the status of removal of the Earth Right Energy-installed solar panels on the EDA’s Kendrick Lane Office Complex to allow roof repairs to facilitate empty space rental marketing; and the status of resolving payment issues with the Town of Front Royal on the new Police Station across Kendrick Lane.
As part of the Asset Committee Report Jorie Martin told the board that there had been three replies on the solar panel RFP, with one of particular interest. That one was from a non-profit with the expertise to remove the panels, and then market them for resale at no cost to the EDA. Martin added that it was possible the EDA could even see some revenue from the arrangement.
The EDA is abandoning the idea pushed by McDonald to provide sustainable solar power to the EDA Office Complex, ostensibly as an incentive to help attract a high-end commercial client to the county, supposedly Amazon according to one former board member. Issues include a lack of individual unit metering equipment and the fact the Town has sole authority to charge for the provision of power inside the town limits.
Removal of the EDA Kendrick Ln. solar panels will not be as difficult or costly has first thought. It was discovered the panels are not bolted to the roof, and removal might even turn out to be profitable.
During discussion of the Kendrick Lane roof-solar panel situation it was noted that one positive was that the solar panels were not bolted to the roof in any way, and rather are just sitting on the roof on the panel row bases. Executive Director Parsons pointed out that it had been established that the roof damage did not come from the solar panel installation, but was a consequence of “faulty roof work ages back”.
Also during the Asset Committee Report Harold said the committee “was sad to report that the majority of current bad debt and aging receivables is owed by the Town of Front Royal for their municipal projects”. Primary among those projects is the $8 million to $11 million Town Police Station project financed through the EDA.
Interim Town Manager Matt Tederick was present and in response to a question told the EDA that “the Town is in receipt of the invoice that was most recently sent” regarding the police station and that it would be discussed at a coming council work session.
Tederick also said the Town had received an EDA FOIA request and that the Town Finance Director had scanned relevant material which should be forthcoming shortly. The Interim Town Manager said he had discussed with the Town Attorney setting up a conference call for 3 p.m. Monday to discuss Town-EDA issues.
The Town has filed civil litigation against the EDA to collect “as much as $15 million” in assets it believes were misdirected or lost by the Town during McDonald’s executive leadership of the EDA.
Talking to the press after the EDA went into Closed Session Tederick said he believed the referenced FRPD project invoice was for $8.7 million dollars, with assessed interest calculated at 3.5%, which he added, “differs from the agreed-upon terms the Town was originally offered by the EDA.”
How are we paying for this thing? – Someone may have been thinking at the Nov. 1, 2017 groundbreaking for FRPD headquarters, or not …
Tederick confirmed the Town’s perceived agreed-upon interest rate on the FRPD project involved New Market Tax Credit Program (NMTC) financing, which is believed to calculate at about 1% over the life of the bond payback.
“So it’s all coming to a head and we’re trying to figure out how to best move forward,” Tederick said. Asked if the Town and EDA were trying to make the financing dispute less adversarial, the Interim Mayor replied, “Make it less adversarial, of course. But we have to agree upon what we can agree upon. And what we can’t agree upon we have a judge to determine what the right numbers are.”
As Royal Examiner has previously reported, a council majority decided to gamble on a best case New Market Tax Credit scenario brought forward by McDonald during consideration of a bond issue on a number of Town or County Capital Improvement Projects. That NMTC Program would have offered a seven to nine-year interest free payback term over an estimated 20 or 30 year payback.
However, that gamble was made over the advice of then-Town Manager Joe Waltz, Town Finance Director B. J. Wilson and NMTC Regional Administrator People Inc. representative Brian Phipps.
Due to uncertainties with the NMTC Program’s future, as well as municipal competition for limited regional funds controlled by People Inc, Waltz, Wilson and Phipps all recommended to Council that a bank-offered, locked-in 2.65% interest rate over a 30-year payback term was the best bet because its favorable interest rate was locked in and the money was not subject to being lost in a municipal competition for funding.
People Inc. NMTC Program Administrator Brian Phipps tells Town Council that private-sector 2.65% interest locked in for 30 years sounds pretty good, without the gambling aspect of vying for the government funds involved. But a council majority decided to go the ‘casino’ option on a project that didn’t even qualify for the tax credit program.
It was also later established that the FRPD headquarters project didn’t qualify for the NMTC program because it was a capital improvement project that did not create jobs, a primary goal of that federal and state overseen program.
“Here comes the judge,” as comedian Flip Wilson used to say.
Watch the entire open session EDA Special Meeting, with the above-referenced discussions and reports, among others of high interest in the exclusive Royal Examiner video:
Local News
VDOT: Warren County Traffic alert for November 18-22, 2019
The following is a list of highway work that may affect traffic in Warren County during the coming weeks. Scheduled work is subject to change due to inclement weather and material supplies. Motorists are advised to watch for slow-moving tractors during mowing operations. When traveling through a work zone, be alert to periodic changes in traffic patterns and lane closures.
(NEW) or (UPDATE) indicates a new entry or a revised entry since last week’s report.
INTERSTATE 66
INTERSTATE 81
No lane closures reported.
PRIMARY ROADS
*NEW* Route 340 (Winchester Road) – Northbound and southbound right lane closures for inspection of Crook Run bridge just north of Front Royal, Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
SECONDARY ROADS
Route 624 (Morgan Ford Road) – Closed between Route 643 (Howellsville Road) and Route 661 (Fairground Road) for roadway repairs just south of Shenandoah River bridge. Follow posted detour. Estimated completion June 2020.
Various roads – Flagger traffic control for utility tree trimming, Monday to Friday during daylight hours.
Vegetation management may take place district wide on various routes. Motorists are reminded to use extreme caution when traveling through work zones.
Traffic alerts and traveler information can be obtained by dialing 511. Traffic alerts and traveler information also are available at http://www.511Virginia.org.
The VDOT Customer Service Center can assist with reporting road hazards, asking transportation questions, or getting information related to Virginia’s roads. Call 800-FOR- ROAD (800-367-7623) or use its mobile friendly website at https://my.vdot.virginia.gov/. Agents are available 24 hours-a-day, seven days a week.
