Columns & Opinion

Here’s some good news: Whatever your thoughts are about letting willing land owners place industrial solar panels on their acreage, the Nottoway Board of Supervisors held a very civil public hearing last Thursday night. While some speakers said the proposed Rocky Ford project was causing hard feelings between neighbors and even between family members, the dialogue was courteous. Chairman Bill […]

How can anyone oppose voter ID? Dear Sir: I want to try and make the case for why we all should have voter IDs. Honestly, I think this is how citizens should acquire them. It should be made free or offered at low-cost to everyone — say, $10-20 — but no more than that. However, in order to acquire one, […]

Glen “The Glide” Pettis goes up for two more points during this Feb. 1986 Nottoway High basketball victory over Park View, 78-64. Pettis, then a freshman, came off the bench 40 years ago and scored 8 points in the Cougars’ varsity win.

It was 1975 — just over 50 years ago — when Marine Pvt. Allen A. Rhone, son of Mr. and Mrs. Wilson Ghee of Rt. 2, Kenbridge, completed Infantry Training School at the Marie Corps Base in Camp Pendleton, CA. He received specialized instruction in infantry weapons and tactics and was featured in our July 10, 1975 edition.

Retired long-time Nottoway Courthouse Complex Maintenance Supervisor, Harry Bowler, was featured in our March 27, 1986 edition. Bowler, then 43, used glue, cottonballs, pipecleaners, felt, and plastic to turn ordinary milk jugs into smiling bunny rabbits and other animal figures. Bowler said he can create a bunny in less than 30 minutes. He gave his creations to neighbors, friends, and […]

OPEN YOUR WALLETS Georg Orwell once said that political language “is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” That observation is enough to make one wonder if he foresaw what House Democrats are attempting in the 2026 General Assembly session. For a crowd that’s so concerned about human […]

I saw my first dandelion of 2026 this past weekend in my yard, and I could swear that various clumps in my backyard appear to be turning green. I’m getting the golf bug again, so I know Spring’s right around the corner. We Spring Forward on Sunday, March 8th, which is just over two weeks away. *** Today’s the first […]

Save Pickett Park! Dear Sir: Pickett Park (PP) is a piece of land that the County wants to sell. It’s been portrayed as a bedbug-infested money pit. But it’s SO much more, hidden away. WE are the people of PP — not Chinese spies. Real people who are working, living, and paying taxes in Nottoway. Let me introduce some of […]

County police departments in Feb. 1986 recorded a high number of “arrests” during the American Heart Association’s “Cardiac Arrest” fundraiser. Among those “taken into custody” was the notorious “Country Squire,” Sonny Armes. He’s shown here with then Chief of Police, the late Wayne Shields and thenofficer Mike Hall. Armes and other volunteers were freed after residents posted $100 “bond,” which […]