the_news_leader_20160407_a03_0
TRANSCRIPT
Staunton News Leader - 04/07/2016 Page : A03
Copyright © 2016 Staunton News Leader 04/07/2016April 7, 2016 9:33 am (GMT +4:00) Powered by TECNAVIA
Copy Reduced to 76% from original to fit letter page
T H U R S D AY , A P R I L 7 , 2 0 1 6 • T H E N E W S L E A D E R • W W W . N E W S L E A D E R . C O M PA G E 3 , S E C T I O N A
LOCAL&STATE
NEWS DIRECTOR: WILLIAM RAMSEY, [email protected], @WMRAMSEY ON TWITTER
STAUNTON - Multiple businesses and cit-izens were honored at the annual businessand awards dinner held by the Greater Au-gusta Regional Chamber of Commerce.
The event took place at the StonewallJackson Hotel on Tuesday night and recog-nized outstanding member businesses in2015.
The night also honored Abby Arey as Citi-zen of the Year.
Arey, who was born in Waynesboro andgraduated from Fort Defiance High School,has become a staple in the community.
She has been instrumental in raisingfunds to help families affected by childhood
cancer. Since 2010, Arey has been passionateabout remembering and honoring her sisterMaDee Nicole Boxler, who died of Hodgkin’sLymphoma in 2010 at the age of 22.
Right before Boxler passed, the communi-ty organized an event to raise money to helpher family cover costs. In 2010, the MaDeeProject was started by Lynne and DuaneBreeden to help pediatric cancer patients inStaunton, Waynesboro and Augusta County, arelease said.
In 2013, Arey became the president of theMaDee Project and currently she is the trea-surer, a release said.
She is primary planner for the golf tourna-ment, Music for MaDee, Breakfast with San-ta and also instrumental in organizing itsnewest event The Virginia Food Truck Battleand Beer competition, which has raised thou-sands of dollars to help more families and domore for them, a release said.
Since October 2010, the MaDee Project
has helped 48 children and their families.The project also helps fund research to helpfind a cause and prevent pediatric cancer.
Arey lives in Staunton with her husbandand two children. She taught third grade inWaynesboro City Schools and is the assistantprincipal at Stuarts Draft ElementarySchool. She is an active member of BridgeChristian Church and the Staunton JuniorWomen’s Club.
“I think the most rewarding thing for meis knowing that not only am I doing some-thing that would make my sister proud,”Arey said in a release. “It’s something thathelps me think about her every single dayand I also know that having been where thesefamilies are, I know that they appreciatewhat we’re doing.”
Arey recently gave birth to a baby girl andwas unable to attend the ceremony. Hermother, Tamera Talley-Campbell, acceptedthe award on her behalf.
Chamber honors businesses, peopleAbby Arez named Citizenof the Year at dinner eventLAURA [email protected]
Other winners
Industry of the Year — ReoHatfield & Reo Logistics
Agriculture Business ofthe Year — Bloomaker USA
Sponsor of the Year —SVOE
Volunteer of the Year —John Huggins, ShenandoahConcerts
Ambassador of the Year —Delia Zimmerman, City Na-tional Bank
Tourism Business of theYear — Woodrow WilsonPresidential Library
Strong fencesMIKE TRIPP/THE NEWS LEADER
Hunter Cridlin, a historical interpreter,weaves bamboo into a fence around theWest African Farm at the Frontier CultureMuseum on Monday. “We’re replacingthe perimeter wall which use to be madeout of clay because the Virginia wintersreally played a number on it,” saysCridlin. “We’ve replaced it with anothertype of wall that’s made out of bamboothat’s kinda woven in and out betweenposts. And that’s also something youcould see the Igbo use.”
See a video
online
showing bamboo being
turned into a fence.
newsleader.comSWOOPE - Sheriff’s authorities ar-
rested two women Tuesday who are sus-pects in the break-in of an elderly wom-an’s home in Swoope, an arrest reportsaid.
In January, the 89-year-old victim re-ported a burglary in the 300 block of He-bron Road, where jewelry, a televisionand other personal belongings were sto-len.
On March 22, the same home was bur-glarized a second time and jewelry wastaken from the home, according to Au-gusta County Sheriff Donald Smith. Thesheriff said a neighbor spotted a suspi-cious vehicle exiting the driveway with-out its headlights activated.
“That’s what triggered the arrests,”he said.
On Tuesday, police arrested 26-year-old Stephanie Brown of Staunton, alongwith Ashley Higgins, 28, of Fairfield.Both face charges of breaking and enter-ing, conspiracy to commit breaking andentering, and grand larceny. The sus-pects are only charged in the secondbreak-in, Smith said, but are being eyedin the January burglary as well.
Brown and Higgins are being held atMiddle River Regional Jail.
A mugshot of Higgins was not avail-able.
26-year-old Stephanie Brownof Staunton was arrestedalong with Ashley Higgins,28, of Fairfield.
Two womenface charges in break-inBRAD [email protected]
VERONA - On Sunday afternoon aman posing as a sergeant with an uniden-tified sheriff’s office and a womanclaiming to be a Child Protective Ser-vices employee searched a Stuarts Drafthome, according to a press release.
The Augusta County Sheriff’s Officesaid the incident took place on Toma-hawk Court. The man wore a firearm anddisplayed a gold badge, and the sheriff’soffice said the woman, about 5 feet and 8inches tall, was in a gray business suit.The couple asked for, by name, the ac-quaintance of the homeowner beforesearching the residence with permis-sion.
Following the search, the residentcalled the local CPS and was told nobodyfrom the organization was in the area.The woman also contacted the AugustaCounty Sheriff’s Office. “None of ourpeople were out there either,” said Sher-iff Donald Smith.
Smith said the incident was likely “do-mestic related,” but he declined to gointo detail.
Smith cautioned that his departmentdoes have plainclothes officers, and saidif a resident has questions to “go aheadand call 911 and ask if we have an officermarked out at that address.”
Anyone with information concerningthe Sunday incident can call the AugustaCounty Sheriff’s Office at 245-5333 orCrime Stoppers at (800) 322-2017.
Coupleposed ascop, CPSworkerSheriff’s office seeksinformation on incidentBRAD [email protected]
STAUNTON - The Visulite in Staun-ton now offers beer, wine and hard ciderfor customers.
“The Visulite Cinema is now proud toserve cold beer on tap and in bottles,plus we offer a great selection of boldwines,” the theater’s Facebook pagesaid. “Enjoy a beer or glass of wine withyour next movie.”
Adam Greenbaum, the theater’sowner, said he’s been wanting to addbeer and wine for his customers forquite some time.
“I’ve attempted a few times,” he said.“We had to get some things in place likefood. The ABC office was great workingwith us.”
The theater started serving lastweek, Greenbaum said.
“I think it’s something that enhancesthe experience,” he said. “We have a lotof events like the opera and specialscreenings. A lot of customers havebeen interested in wine and beer. Itmakes sense. A lot of theaters aroundthe country offer this. It’s a nice ameni-ty to have.”
Greenbaum said the theater is focus-ing on serving local craft beers.
“We do have bottles on a few majorbeers,” he said. “Wine at the moment ...we don’t have any local, but that’s some-thing we are looking to change.”
Theaters that offer spirits have beenpopping up across the state and country.Big name theaters like Regal Cinema,AMC and The Alamo have alreadyjumped on board the trend.
Apart from the Visulite, Charlottes-ville has the closest movie theaters withthis model.
Visulite now offers beerand wine with moviesLAURA [email protected]
MIKE TRIPP/THE NEWS LEADER
The marque for the Visulite Cinema is lit on arainy Friday afternoon in 2015.