Lottery money
The Virginia Lottery has long made its financial information available in an annual audited report, and it is also published on its website at valottery.com/playingmatters/givingback. In 2018, the lottery grossed $2.293B. Of that, $649.7 (28.3% of sales) went to public education.
New school
The headline in the Nov. 16 Gazette stated that the county needs a new elementary school by 2021. Rather than spend a million dollars on designing a new school, why not dust off an existing set of plans, spend some money on adapting them to the new site and funnel the rest of the savings into the construction of the building? When Henrico County built its initial group of then “modern” high schools in the late 1950’s, they were all alike. In the 1960’s when they built a group of middle schools, they were campus style schools each situated to the site, but with identical buildings on each campus. The same set of plans was used throughout the school district over the decades for multiple schools. There is no reason other than vanity for our school district to have each school to be a uniquely designed building.
Looking for …
Will the person looking for someone to do caning please send your contact info again? My husband does caning and may be able to help you out.
In reply to the writer who wanted a recommendation for treatment of severe toenail fungus: I tried Kerasal and am very satisfied. First, I brought my husband to Mary at Allure Nails in Harris Teeter Shopping Center and she cut the nails very short to get rid of as much fungus as possible. Then I applied Kerasal and noticed no new fungus after using it for one week. Their packaging says “#1 Doctor Recommended,” starts improving nail appearance in just one week.” It was not expensive.
Becca, who was previously at Hair Uptown, is now at Sola Salon in New Town. Phone 757-880-8337.
We are in need of a grant writer. If anyone knows of someone who writes grants, please call 757-564-5944. If no answer, please leave a message.
I am responding to the commenter looking for an organ. I have one that I am thinking of donating, and I would like to hear from the person to see if they would like to have it. My number is 757-784-5763. My name is Kay. Thank you.
Regarding the comment in Saturday’s Last Word from someone trying to locate a home organ: I have one. Give me a call, and I’ll give you a description. My number is 565-1989 and leave word. Okay.
Does anyone know of a local place that does soldering of an item? Please leave message in Last Word.
Does anyone know a company that can strip interior steps in a home and re-stain them? Please call 757-345-1469 and leave a message. Thank you.
To the person asking about the watch batteries: J&M Jewelers is probably the best place in town to get your watch batteries done. I believe they’re probably the lowest in price to do it. Fernando and Louise also do jewelry repair and do all kinds of watch repair as well. Very, very reliable, very honest people to deal with. Thank you. J&M is at 2229 Richmond Road, 565-4407.
Is there anyone who can teach lip reading to a hard-of-hearing senior citizen?
Proud Americans
My spouse and I just returned from touring eastern Europe, which included stays in the former Soviet-occupied countries of Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. While we were there, each of these countries had national holidays to commemorate their unsuccessful uprisings (Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968) against Soviet occupation. Each of them also had public events to celebrate 30 years of freedom from communist oppression since the Iron Curtain’s demise in 1989. Our tour guides, all of whom grew up during Soviet-occupation, told first-person accounts of confiscation of private property by the state; living in gray, cookie-cutter, high-rise apartment buildings with paper-thin walls; inadequate heat and electricity; the constant fear of arrest for being overheard saying the “wrong thing;” and standing in lines for hours in hopes of receiving basic necessities like bread and toilet paper. Without exception, each of them referred to Ronald Reagan with savior-like reverence. The whole experience made us feel proud to be Americans, thankful for the many freedoms we enjoy, and to always be on guard to defend and protect them.
Moldy dorms
Right now, Longwood in Farmville has two dorms which are about 40 years old stripped down to the steel frame and being rebuilt to modern standards with all new cladding and interior. Once they are back in operation, they will be new structures and will give the college another half century of use.
Scam calls
I have also gotten a couple calls—”Hello, Grandma. Hi, Grandma.” So, I said to them, “Yeah, sure. You sound like an old man,” and they hang up on me.
Oil powered
In 1942, the Germans were sinking three oil tankers a day. What was America’s response to it? They built a pipeline from Texas to Illinois, 1254 miles in less than four months to get oil going in the United States, to keep us from the Germans. Oil scientists then came up with propane and ethanol. Parachutes are made of nylon, which is a byproduct of oil. Nylon has a high tensile strength and low weight. You could never use a natural product for parachutes, it’s way too heavy. There were also petrochemicals that were used for bonding, and polyethylene was used for the war effort. After the war, petrochemicals increased 10% a year for 20 years. In 1950, the United States could no longer supply the oil needs of the United States. In 1938, Standard Oil was getting oil from Saudi Arabia, also from Kuwait. We are now energy efficient and selling our oil. Oil is for national security for the United States. You want to tell me how you’re going to run our Navy and our Army and our Air Force on solar panels and windmills?
Recommended
Over the weekend my husband and I and another couple stopped in at Tipsy Beans, a new spot at High Street — what a pleasant experience. Three of us had coffee — a latte, a decaf and a specialty drink — and enjoyed it a great deal. There was a nice-sized crowd, and people of all ages, sizes and colors were there, clearly enjoying themselves eating, drinking and socializing. The restaurant/bar is clearly off to a great start — keep it up!
I highly recommend Fish Window Cleaning. They’re affordable, they do a wonderful job and they’re such a nice couple. Fish Window Cleaning, 739 Thimble Shoals Blvd., Suite 1011-A in Newport News or call 757-223-0589.
Kudos to Giuseppe’s Restaurant on Olde Towne Road. They have the best wine-tasting dinners in the region, and now, thank goodness, they’re going to have their famous New Year’s party again. Congratulations to a local restaurateur. Giuseppe’s Italian Restaurant is at 5525 Olde Towne Road, 566-1977.
Recently, I had Rick from R & J Services work on my shed. Rick was professional and did an excellent job at a reasonable price. I highly recommend him for somebody looking for a handyman. Rick’s phone number is 757-879-7564.
Second chances
A reader commented that Colin Kaepernick essentially should not be given a second chance. I disagree. In fact, he never got a first chance. He did not disrespect America or its flag. He simply was expressing a view on racial discrimination, and in return he received a demonstration of that discrimination. He was not disruptive, but the owners and intemperate fans created the problem.
Guns
Make no doubt about it, the governor is going for gun grabbing. He is willing to step on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens but not willing to dish out harsher penalties on criminals who use guns in crimes. How many criminals has the governor prosecuted because they tried to purchase a gun illegally and it shows up on the background check? The governor is willing to make law-abiding citizens criminals but not willing to prosecute criminals who do crimes with weapons.
Up in Washington
I completely agree with Ronald Shafer’s letter to the editor that said trashing Lt. Col Vindman was reprehensible. I just wanted to add that he left out one major trashing, and that would be the way Trump trashed Senator McCain. Thank you.
I do agree with Mr. Shafer on the mistreatment of any military, whether it’s Lt. Col. Vindman or whatever. However, I’m sure, the good soldier he is, that he did swear to the United States Code of Military Justice, which he says he will follow the chain of command. To my knowledge, he did not follow his chain of command in his reporting of this particular instance. He went outside of his chain of command. Can anyone disagree with that?
Adam Schiff’s dog-and-pony show will never hold up. The next place he will go is the House Judiciary Committee, and they might throw out all the evidence. Nancy Pelosi will bring a vote in the House, and the Democrats will vote 100% for impeachment, but what she does not realize is that the Republicans in the House will not show up, which means that the Democrats’ 100% vote will be absolutely meaningless because there won’t be a quorum. And there will never be 2/3 of a vote in the Senate, which is dominated by Republicans who will never vote on it.
Sen. Kaine needs to tell Pelosi to table the USMCA deal this year and quit playing partisan politics. This is a very important trade deal for the United States. Thank you.
Hats off to the brilliant Republican who said he finally woke up and realized that Trump had to be removed from office. I just wonder how long it’s going to take more Republicans to join the rest of the country and realize that Trump is a disaster and must be replaced.
Democrats conveniently forget that Harry Reid refused to bring to the floor of the Senate over 3,000 pieces of legislation passed with bipartisan support in the House during the eight years of the Obama administration. Those pieces of legislation covered health care reform, tax reform, tort reform, gun control bills, immigration reform, border security, defense spending and a host of other needed legislation. Reid’s rationale—he simply refused to allow passage of any bill or legislation that Republicans could take credit for. His tactic was also used to prevent embarrassment to Obama since many of the bills had enough support to override a veto.
With the entry of Michael Bloomberg into the 2020 race — if he becomes one of the nominees, there will finally be a genuine billionaire on the ballot.
One good thing about all these impeachment doings on TV — it gives me an opportunity to look at all the other TV channels that are available and the shows that are available. That’s the good thing about these impeachment hearings. We sent you people to Washington to take care of the citizens of the United States of America, whether they are Democrat, Republican, Independent, men or women. Do your job and quit politicking with my money!
Thank you
I cannot thank the Cancer Society’s two volunteers enough. They came to the hospital while we were being treated for cancer and served us lunch. Thanks again! You’re wonderful people.
On this Thanksgiving Day, let us give thanks for those public safety workers, police, firefighters, EMTs, doctors, pharmacists, nurses and others that must work this day that we may enjoy a safe and secure Thanksgiving.
