Ralph Bunche Alumni Association members look over the ceiling damage and piles of stuff stored in the school's gym during an April tour.

More than 120 people—most of them members of the Ralph Bunche Alumni Association—packed the King George Board of Supervisors meeting room Tuesday night to show support for their aging school.

“We wanted to show you some new faces, and there are a lot of them here tonight,” said Ernestine Jefferson, president of the alumni group that has about 300 members.

After residents took all the seats in the board room, county officials pulled out more chairs and formed new rows, but there were still more than a dozen people standing. The crowd spilled out into the foyer for the meeting, which included discussions on several road projects and lasted more than four hours.

The Ralph Bunche Alumni Association gave a slide show that detailed the history of the school, which was named after a diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize winner. It educated the county’s African–American students from 1949 to 1968.

Claudette Jordon, a 1967 graduate, asked the county to form a new committee and move forward with plans to restore the school. A consultant has suggested it could be turned into a museum or community center.

The school has been used by other county offices since then, and as alumni members discovered during a tour in April, time and neglect have taken their toll. Water has leaked into the building and damaged ceilings and floors, and county departments are using the building as a storage place for old files, broken equipment and seemingly everything else no one wants to throw away.

But as Jordon pointed out, King George isn’t the only locality to be in this situation. African–American schools in Westmoreland County and Bel Alton, Md., were renovated recently.

“It can be done,” she declared, and members of the audience echoed, “IT CAN BE DONE.”

There were also several choruses of “Amen” during Jordon’s presentation, but the meeting really took on the feel of a church service when Chairman Cedell Brooks Jr. spoke.

He said how much it meant to see all the people in the audience, and that they all need to work together.
He said he knows how other African–American residents feel when they watch their alma mater fall into ruin while new facilities are built around the county.

“I think we get discouraged as a people when we see the brand new library, the new Sheriff’s Office, the YMCA,” he said. “Why have we been overlooked when there seems to be so much money for everything else?”

Brooks said he believes “God kept me here for a reason” after a November 2010 stroke. He hopes the school will be restored in his lifetime.

The alumni group asked the county for an immediate cleanup of the school and to establish a new advisory committee by July 31. The new group would be composed of supervisors, alumni, county staff and community members. The committee would review the consultant’s report and determine a use for the building, then seek funding and develop a timeline for restoration.

Supervisor Ruby Brabo said she would be honored to serve on that committee, and the audience applauded. Supervisor John LoBuglio said “you’ve always got my support,” and the audience applauded again.

Supervisor Joe Grzeika said the county was ready, years go, to move forward with restoration, but can’t immediately because of the economy. But he believes the building’s “bones are good,” and “it will be part of the planning process.”

The supervisors plan to meet, perhaps next month, to discuss capital improvement plans, including the Ralph Bunche school.

“VineSong,” an internationally acclaimed Christian music group based in London, will perform at Shiloh Baptist Church in King George on Sunday, May 20.

The concert begins at 6 p.m. The group will lead a 90-minute program of praise and worship.
The group’s music is available on YouTube, and VineSong regularly participates in the National Day of Prayer in Washington.

The concert is free. More information is available at the website of the church or of VineSong.

The King George County Democratic Committee is sponsoring a voter registration and food drive for the King George Food Bank on Sunday, May 27 from 9 a.m. until 5:00 p.m., at the Dahlgren Wal-Mart at the King George Gateway center.
Tables will set up for voter registration and the donation of nonperishable food items. More information is available by calling Hazel Harris at 301/655-0984.

King George residents opposed to the county giving land for a nonprofit group to build a social services center are working to get that decision overturned.

Shawn Palivoda, a real-estate agent in Dahlgren, filed a protest with the county May 2, the day after the Board of Supervisors voted to give 5.5 acres in its Government Center for the HELP Center project.
Palivoda said the action violated the Virginia Public Procurement Act of the Code of Virginia and should be cancelled.

But Kelly Dixon, King George’s procurement manager, ruled there was no bid to protest because bids hadn’t been requested for the project. Likewise, she said there was no award to cancel because the county hasn’t awarded any contract for office space.

“Your protest has been determined invalid,” Dixon wrote in her May 7 response, “and will not receive further consideration.”

Dixon said she consulted with County Attorney Matt Britton and County Administrator Travis Quesenberry in making the decision.

Palivoda isn’t finished. He said he’s talking with “tons of people,” many in the business community, who are upset because the county’s action would take renters away from landlords who provide office space for county agencies.

Palivoda said he’s meeting Monday with representatives from a McLean law firm that specializes in government contracts. He’ll sue the county, if lawyers determine he has a case.

“Absolutely,” he said on Thursday, echoing that he believes it is “fundamentally wrong” to give land to a private, nonprofit group that competes with other businesses.

Project FAITH, the nonprofit group offering to build the center, has brought more than $20 million worth of housing for low-income, disabled and senior residents to King George. The homes have been built at no cost to the county, through state and federal grants and low-interest loans.

Wardlaw would use the same funding methods to build the HELP Center, a 42,000-square-foot building that would cost about $9 million.

Supervisors have been discussing Wardlaw’s offer for more than three years. But no residents came forward to complain about it—or ask for a chance to build such a center themselves—until the county got ready to take a vote on giving the land for the center.

“I don’t pay that much attention to local politics, but I’m gonna start,” Palivoda said, adding that no one he talked to knew anything about the project. “Even the people who normally support this kind of stuff don’t support it.”

A CHANGE OF MIND
Another vocal opponent has been Ruth Herrink, co-owner of the King George Journal. At one point, Project FAITH considered buying more than 7 acres owned by Herrink and others.

Project FAITH rescinded its offer on the Journal property when it started discussing getting land from the county, said Project FAITH Director Froncé Wardlaw.

Currently, the agencies that would be housed in the HELP Center, such as the Department of Social Services, the Health Department and Extension Service rent space from private landlords.

County officials have said for several years that most of these agencies need bigger and better space.

King George even listed the need for a “Health and Human Resources Building” in its current capital improvement plan. It budgeted $10 million for the building.

But if Project FAITH builds the HELP Center, the county won’t have to build its own, Supervisor John LoBuglio has said to various groups. That’s why he said he supported the donation of land, so the county wouldn’t have to incur the cost of construction.

Palivoda and others, including his father, Stan, resident Fred Davies and publisher Herrink, pressed LoBuglio to vote against giving land for the center. Some of the same group also convinced him to change his mind from supporting a 4-cent raise in the tax rate to no increase at all.

The group invited LoBuglio and other residents to an April 30 meeting on Stan Palivoda’s boat in Dahlgren. LoBuglio had to leave early—to get to a budget work session—but assured the group he would delay the HELP Center vote. The next night, he changed his mind and voted for it.

“As much as LoBuglio flip–flops around, I am going to lobby him” to change his position again, Shawn Palivoda said. He believes any of the three who voted for the center—LoBuglio, Cedell Brooks Jr. or Ruby Brabo—could bring up the matter again.

STANDING FIRM
County Administrator Quesenberry said he didn’t know if that could happen. He said it would be up to the board, based on advice from the county attorney.

Supervisor LoBuglio said Thursday he doesn’t plan to change his vote.

“I feel confident that I made the right decision for the county,” he said. He added he hasn’t heard from those opposed to the center, but “from others who have complimented me on standing up for what was right.”
“I truly believe that it’s a win–win for both the county and Project FAITH—and the community as a whole because it’s saving the county money,” LoBuglio said.

Palivoda also said he isn’t circulating a petition to have Brabo removed from office, despite countywide rumors of it this week.

“My dad told people that, and that is not true,” Shawn Palivoda said.

He added that if it’s determined that Brabo or other supervisors acted illegally in giving the land to the HELP Center, he will support a petition to get them out of office.

Supervisor Chairman Brooks didn’t want to comment on Palivoda’s actions, except to say, “We’ve had legal counsel through the whole process, and we haven’t done anything wrong.”

Restoration Worship Center in King George County will sponsor a clothing giveaway on May 19 at American Legion Post 329, 9526 James Madison Parkway.

The giveaway will last from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

For additional information or to donate new or slightly used clothing, email jonespinny1@aol.com.

On May 31, King George High School will hold its annual art show in conjunction with the spring choral concert, “Toons for All Ages.”

Doors open at 6 p.m. for a viewing of the art. With approximately 1,500 works of art on display each year, the walls are covered with products from art foundations and craft design classes. In addition, tables are set up with works in clay, wire, papier-mache, plaster and other three-dimensional materials.

At 7 p.m., the award-winning choral department – which consists of five choirs, including a show choir, will perform a selection of songs from cartoons, ranging from older works such as “Zippity Doo Dah” to newer ones, such as the theme from “Family Guy.”

From the King George Alert: Indiantown Road in the area of McDaniel Road is shut down for extended period of time because of a motor vehicle accident. Radio reports said a vehicle had hit a brick pillar and that entrapment might be involved.

The Aegis Training and Readiness Center’s (ATRC) Coalition of Sailors Against Destructive Decisions (CSADD) observed Sexual Assault Awareness Month by having an art competition for sailors to promote sexual awareness through the expression of art. The winners were announced April 27 at the Navy base in Dahlgren.

Individuals or teams of up to three sailors were encouraged to partake in the art contest. Submissions consisted of drawings, posters and poetry.

Fire Controlmen 3rd Class Erica Placeres and Samantha Wolfe won first with a poster about the inability of victims to speak out because of the stigma associated with sexual assault.

Fire Controlman 3rd Class Meagan Hicks won second with a drawing, “Raise Your Voice,” that emphasized the importance of being an active bystander.

Fire Controlman 3rd Class Jonathan Walters won third with “Silently Waiting,” a poem that expressed the silence of a victim.

Fire Controlman 1st Class Earl Ashley coordinated the contest.

The coalition formed in March 2011 with a goal to prevent destructive behavior by raising awareness of issues. More information is available here.

Sailors from the Aegis Training and Readiness Center at the Navy base pick up trash along U.S. 301.

Sailors from the Aegis Training and Readiness Center (ATRC) at the Navy base in Dahlgren did their part to help King George County clean by picking up trash along a two-mile stretch of U.S. 301.
ATRC were working through Virginia’s Adopt-A-Highway Program, which was established in 1988 and is one of the largest in the country.

Fire Controlman 1st Class James Navarro took part in ATRC’s first cleanup effort.

“My wife and I wanted to give back to the community,” he said. “This did not take much time at all and we were able to give back to the environment as well.”

In two hours, nine sailors and their family members collected 10 bags of trash. They plan to clean the stretch of Route 301 every two months.

Gloves and vests are provided. Transportation is made available to and from the start location. “All you have to bring is yourself,” Navarro said.

ATRC has been involved in a number of service-related projects including Mary’s Shelter in Fredericksburg, Caledon Natural Area, King George Fire Department and the Special Olympics. The sailors also have helped veterans and Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. Their goal is to volunteer 10,000 hours in 2012.

More information about the Aegis Training and Readiness Center is available here.

The 2012 Domestic Violence Awareness 5K Run/Walk will be held on Saturday, May 12, at the King George YMCA. The race starts at 8 a.m. and is sponsored by the Rappahannock Council on Domestic Violence.

The race begins and ends at the YMCA, and the 5K run will be certified and professionally timed.

The registration fee is $20. Forms are available online  or at any area Rappahannock YMCA.
The top three overall male and female finishers will receive cash awards, and the winners in each age division will get certificates to VA Runner. Short-sleeved T-shirts are available for purchase.

Participants can pick up their packets and register from 6 to 7:45 a.m. The event will be held rain or shine.
More information is available at the King George YMCA, 775-9622.