Sylven Learning Center It’s all speculation, but the speculation is that second-team All-ACC forward Sylven Landesberg may have played his last game for Virginia.

The idea that Landesberg is at all ready for the NBA is almost laughable. The 6-6 swingman is a solid college player, but I don’t know that he’s NBA-caliber now or a year or two years from now.

I say that because I don’t want to be one of those fans/alums that gets self-righteous about how my team’s star player ought to stay another year so he can improve his pro stock. I’m being honest; I don’t see a lot of pro stock there with Landesberg, as much as I think he could have another solid year or two in him at the college level.

I don’t see Landesberg as being nearly athletic enough to play in the NBA, and you can’t teach athleticism, or work hard to make yourself athletic. Either you have athleticism, or you don’t.

Now, could Landesberg work on his jumper to make it more consistent and add to his range? Certainly. He could just as easily do that in the D-League or in Europe or Asia, which is where he’s likely headed if he is indeed done at UVa. after the ‘09-’10 season.

The UVa. fan in me isn’t all that concerned. As talented a player as Landesberg is, his skills don’t fit well in the system that first-year ‘Hoos coach Tony Bennett favors. Landesberg is a liability defensively, and on offense he needs to have the ball in his hands to have any level of effectiveness, which stifles the Bennett read-and-react motion offense.

Are the Hokies really on the bubble? The short answer: You have to be kidding!

I get it. Virginia Tech’s nonconference schedule was just a tad better than what C. Jay Dewitt put together for Waynesboro High School this winter. But WHS didn’t win 10 ACC games.

I’d recommend to Charles Steger that he file for a court injunction if Tech is left out of the Big Dance with a 10-6 ACC record.

That said, the bracketologists, experts that they all are, have it so that Tech had better win on Friday in Greensboro just to be sure.

Makes no sense to me, but …

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EMU sports: Get on the bus with the Runnin Royals The Runnin Royals will continue their quest for a national championship on a familiar court. After winning two games this past weekend in Yoder Arena, the Eastern Mennonite men’s basketball team will head to Guilford College in Greensboro, N.C., this weekend for the sectional round of the NCAA D-III Men’s Basketball Championship. EMU will play Whitworth on Friday, March 12, at 6 p.m. Tickets remain on sale until Thursday at noon.

There will be a bus running to Guilford on Friday for the game. Cost is $30 (which doesn’t include a ticket for the game). The bus will leave from the front of University Commons on the campus of EMU at 12 noon and return approximately at 12 midnight. The bus will leave Guilford after the Eastern Mennonite game. Please sign up for the bus when you purchase your ticket or call Lucinda Schlabach at 540-432-4440 to make your reservations. Payment is due when you sign up or before you board the bus. The exact amount or a check made payable to EMU is preferred.

Guilford, which also plays in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference, will host the Sweet 16 pod of games and will play Wooster (Oh.). The winners will meet on Saturday for a chance to advance to the Final Four, which is held in Salem, Va., on March 19 and 20.

JMU sports: Stetson knocks off Dukes on diamond Stetson grabbed an early 3-1 lead through two innings and held on for the 3-2 baseball victory over James Madison on Tuesday evening at Melching Field.

Stetson improved to 4-8 overall while JMU dropped to 3-5 on the season. The Dukes took three of four in DeLand last season.

“We played well and hit the ball hard all over the field, but they made a few great catches,” commented JMU head coach Spanky McFarland “At the same time, they found some holes and dropped some balls in those holes. That’s just baseball. They made two catches on the fly right at the wall while smacking into it. Both of them would have been runs. We pitched well and played great defense. We played well enough to win. The breaks just didn’t go our way.”

Will Dorsey earned the victory for the Hatters with two runs allowed on nine hits in eight innings with seven strikeouts. Justin Dechert had one strikeout in the ninth to pick up the save.

Junior Turner Phelps (Roanoke, Va./Lord Botetourt) fell to 0-2 on the season after allowing three runs on 11 hits with five strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings. Junior Kevin Munson (Roanoke, Va./Cave Spring) went the final 1 2/3 with one strikeout and no hits allowed.

Freshman Johnny Bladel (Ashburn, Va./Stone Bridge) batted in the leadoff spot for the first time and responded by going 3-for-4 with a run scored. Redshirt senior Matt Townsend (Lorton, Va./Hayfield) had two hits.

Right fielder Sean Emory drove in two runs with a pair of hits for the Hatters. Left fielder Jeff Simpson and designated hitter Aaron Crittendon also had two hits each. First baseman Kurt Schulter had a solo home run.

UVa. sports: Men’s lax dispatches Keydets In its first game since receiving the nation’s top ranking from both the USILA coaches and Nike/Inside Lacrosse media polls, the No. 1 Virginia Cavaliers (5-0) received goals from 14 different players as they cruised to victory, 20-6, over the visiting VMI Keydets (2-4), Tuesday evening at Klöckner Stadium.

The 20 goals scored was the first time that UVa hit that mark since winning on the road at Stony Brook, 20-10, on Feb. 21, 2009. The Cavaliers reached the 20-goal plateau for the first time at Klöckner Stadium since defeating a VMI squad, 24-5, on March 4, 2008.

Virginia opened up play on an 8-1 scoring run, including the first four goals. Each of UVa’s first eight goals were scored by eight different Cavaliers. Brian Carroll (Towson, Md.) tallied the first score at 12:59 on a Chris LaPierre (Medford, N.J.) assist. UVa also received goals during the stretch from Chris Bocklet (South Salem, N.Y.), John Haldy (Bryn Mawr, Pa.), Matt White (Ridgefield, Conn.), Matt Kugler (Fairfax Station, Va.), Steele Stanwick (Baltimore, Md.), George Huguely (Chevy Chase, Md.) and LaPierre.

VMI dented the scoreboard at 8:12 in the first quarter on a Jacob Weimer goal, via a Keith Long assist, cutting UVa’s lead at the time to 4-1. Tim Moran scored on a Weimer helper with 29 seconds left in the first quarter, but Bocklet put UVa on the scoreboard one more time before the first quarter came to a close. The sophomore’s score with 10 seconds left gave UVa a 9-2 lead.

The Cavaliers scored four more goals in the second quarter to VMI’s two, sending UVa into the intermission ahead by nine scores, 13-4. Bocklet had a man-up goal at 14:41 in the second period after Kyle Hofstetter was whistled for slashing on Bocklet’s final score of the first quarter. Connor English (Manhasset, N.Y.) scored in the period as did White again and current ACC Co-Player of the Week Rhamel Bratton (Huntington Station, N.Y.).

Bobby Davis and Tim Moran each tallied unassisted goals in the second quarter for VMI.

Bocklet scored his fourth goal at 11:47 in the third quarter on a Stanwick helper. White tallied an unassisted goal before Moran finished the third quarter scoring, cutting VMI’s deficit to 10 goals, 15-5.

UVa scored five straight goals in the fourth quarter to take a 20-5 advantage, including the first collegiate goal from Matt Cockerton (Oshawa, Ontario). Tim Fuchs (Merrick, N.Y.) also scored his first goal of the season. VMI managed one more goal, this time from Davis with 1:04 left in the game, finishing the scoring for both teams. UVa won the ensuing faceoff and ran out the clock on their way to the 20-6 victory.

White led all players with a career-high four goals and three assists for seven points. He scored four goals on six total shots. Stanwick had five assists and one score for six points, while Bocklet matched his career high with four scores, adding an assist for five points.

Moran led VMI with three goals, while Davis chipped in two goals. Weimer added two points, with a goal and assist.

The Cavaliers dominated several team categories including shots (59-25), ground balls (44-29) and faceoffs (18-10).

No. 1 Virginia returns to action on Saturday, when the Cavaliers travel to Ithaca, N.Y., to clash with No. 8 Cornell. Faceoff is scheduled for noon.

Bridgewater sports: Baseball loses to Adrian College The Adrian Bulldogs sent the Bridgewater College Eagles to their fifth loss in six games with a 12-2 victory Tuesday.

The Bulldogs, ranked 11th in the Division III preseason poll, took an early lead with one run int the first and two in third.

The Eagles trimmed the Adrian lead to one, scoring both of their runs in the top of the fifth. With one out, Brett Howell doubled and then scored on Blake Stokely’s triple to put the Eagles on the scoreboard. Drew Elkins then singled to plate Stokely, making the score 3-2.

The Bulldogs got those two run back in the bottom of the inning and then scored three more in the sxith to open up an 8-2 lead.

Adrian’s David Partyka limited the Eagles to five hits in six innings on the mound to pick up the victory. He struck out two and did not walk a batter. Sean Hartman and Dan Welch finished up with three scoreless innings in relief.

Elkins had two of Bridgewater’s five hits.

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Local Events: Harmony for Hayley ShenanArts is hosting “Harmony For Hayley” a benefit concert for Hayley Kudro from Waynesboro on Sunday, March 14.

Hayley is 5 years old and suffers from neuroblastoma cancer. Proceeds from the concert go to the Hayley Kudro Cancer Fund. Avoid waiting in long lines or running the risk of not getting a seat in case of a sellout by ordering your advance sale tickets now. The show is set to start at 3:30 p.m. and will be held at the Stage4 Theatre in Verona. Tickets are $15 reserved and $10 general admission and can be ordered by calling 540.248.1868.

Appearing on the show will be the Stars of Virginia Dreams CenterStage: Lisa Meadows, Tim Spears, Soul Patrol and the Virginia Dreams Band featuring Robby Meadows on bass, William Hayes (Always…Patsy Cline) on piano, Pat Burr on guitar, and Kevin Hinkle on drums.

Also on the bill are The Church Sisters, 13-year old twins from Danville, who are wonderful bluegrass gospel artists, The Heartland Bluegrass band featuring Jill Mason, local favorites Hound Dog Hill bluegrass band, Andrea Saunders (Always…Patsy Cline), Emily Henline, Samantha Allen, Gwynne Wood, Jeff Bailes and Angela Bailey.

Guest musicians will include ShenanArts favorite John Hoy and 13-year-old piano wiz, Ellen Atwood.

The evening’s Mistress of Ceremonies will be ShenenArts veteran Cori McDaniel, who has appeared in numerous ShenanArts productions, including Annie, Tommy and Hank Williams: Lost Highway.

Waynesboro: Free shipping for Soap Box car orders by March 15 The Blue Ridge Soap Box Derby Classic is stepping up a level with the Soap Box Derby less than three months away. Boys and girls who want to order new cars for this year’s race need to be sure to have their orders in by March 15th for free shipping.

All orders for new axles, wheels, floorboards or other parts must also be in by March 15 to qualify for free shipping. The derby will not accept orders after March 15. Derby parts needed after March 15th will have to be ordered from the All-American Soap Box Derby in Akron, Ohio, and you must pay shipping to your home.

New cars and other orders may be picked up on Saturday, March 27th, from 9-11 a.m. at the derby warehouse, which is located in Waynesboro behind the Salvation Army building on Arch Avenue, with an entrance from Short Street.

Drivers or sponsors who have cars stored in the warehouse from last year and new cars should be picked up at this time. Storage fees that have not been paid are also due at this time.

You can also call Derby Director, Alan White at 540.294.2374.

More information is available online at www.brsoapbox.com.

Augusta County: Local program assistant honored Lorraine Cormier of the Shenandoah RC&D Office is living proof that nice “gals” can finish first. Named Outstanding Program Assistant by the National Association of RC&D Councils, Cormier received the prestigious award at the Leadership Forum this month in Washington, D.C.

Cormier started with the Council shortly after it received its official designation in 2004 and has been a leader in developing solutions and processes to benefit both the organization and the community at large. Though she had no prior knowledge of RC&D programs, Cormier quickly got to work designing a website and offering suggestions to streamline operations.

She has been instrumental in suggesting financial policies and procedures to track grants and expenditures. Cormier has also taken charge of information and application collection as well as reporting Earth Team hours to NRCS for Shenandoah RC&D volunteers. In fact, she was instrumental in the Council being named “Outstanding RC&D” in 2008.

Cormier loves to learn and is not afraid to try new things. From mastering new software to participating in Council workshops, she readily demonstrates her commitment to developing leadership skills and increasing her conservation knowledge. She serves as the Council’s official photographer, posting project and event photos for a variety of audiences. Cormier is actively involved in outreach as well, offering support to the Waynesboro Farmers Market project last year and suggestions to enhance the Buy Fresh, Buy Local food guide.

“Lorraine is an exemplary program assistant because she is so involved in the local community,” says Kathy Holm, Shenandoah RC&D Coordinator. “She is always willing to lend a hand on Council projects or administrative activities and never really claims credit for herself.”

Staunton: Wilson Library to open WWI exhibit Thursday The Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum will open its new World War I Exhibit, “World War I: The ‘Doughboy’ War” at a ceremony on Thursday, March 11, at 4 p.m. in the Education Parlor of the Dolores Lescure Center.

At the ceremony, President and CEO Don Wilson will discuss the exhibit, World War I author Dr. Edward Lengel will highlight the significance of World War I, and Judd Bankert–portraying President Wilson–will deliver excerpts of the President’s remarks about the war. Trustees, Associate Trustees, elected officials, and those who donated artifacts to the exhibit are among those invited to the event. After the ceremony, guests will tour the exhibit, followed by a reception.

The exhibit is a fully immersive state-of-the-art experience that takes visitors to the battlefront during the First World War. It includes a trench, a bunker, a command center, a triage area, lighting, sound effects, and photographs. The exhibit was designed by Riggs Ward of Richmond with panels written by local author William Walker, who also donated a World War I pistol to the exhibit. Dr. Wilson and Curator Jarod Kearney also gathered artifacts from the National World War I Museum in Kansas City, the Marshall Foundation in Lexington, and local collectors Jim Huggins and Eleanor Albers.

Beginning Friday, March 12, the World War I exhibit will be included in the Presidential Library’s visitor experience at the regular admission price. Later this spring, the Presidential Library will host a Grand Opening event to which the public will be invited.

A noted military historian and editor of the papers of President George Washington at the University of Virginia, Dr. Edward Lengel is the author of To Conquer Hell: The Meuse-Argonne 1918, an award-winning book on the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, the last battle of World War I. This battle involved 1.2 million American soldiers and still stands as the nation’s largest battle. The book won a major award from the Western Front Association, a group that sponsors interest in the war that shaped 20th-century America.

Judd Bankert portrays President Wilson for the Presidential Library. Most recently, he delivered parts of the President’s Armistice Day address at a Veterans Day ceremony in November and took questions from seventh-graders portraying reporters at a mock Presidential press conference before hundreds of students at Beverley Manor Middle School in February. At the exhibit opening ceremony, he will deliver excerpts of President Wilson’s speech to Congress on April 2, 1917, asking for a declaration of war.

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News updates from AFPBusiness.com:
  

Editors’ Business Blog: A foreclosure perfect storm The worst housing crisis and economic crash since the Great Depression have created a dangerous financial storm that threatens to destroy thousands of Shared Ownership Communities (condos, co-ops and HOAs) throughout the United States. The danger is quiet, but staggering—over 60 million Americans live in SOCs, or almost 20 percent of the population.
Read the blog on AFPBusiness.com.
  

Local Business News: Waynesboro EDA meeting The Waynesboro Economic Development Authority will meet Friday, March 12, at 8:30 a.m. at the Charles T. Yancey Municipal Building, Room 106.
Read the story on AFPBusiness.com.
 

Local Business News: H-R Chamber releases health-care statement On Feb. 25, the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors adopted a legislative platform on health care. The Chamber widely supports access to quality health care that is affordable for all Virginians. From charity care, to 24/7 emergency services, to support for other safety-net providers, the Chamber believes that hospitals are central to community health and well-being.
Read the story on AFPBusiness.com.

Gov. Bob McDonnell today issued an executive directive clarifying his administration’s position on employment discrimination that makes it clear that discrimination “based on factors such as one’s sexual orientation or parental status” will not be tolerated.

“Discrimination based on factors such as one’s sexual orientation or parental status violates the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution. Therefore, discrimination against enumerated classes of persons set forth in the Virginia Human Rights Act or discrimination against any class of persons without a rational basis is prohibited,” McDonnell wrote in the directive, titled Executive Directive 1.

The directive was issued at the height of a controversy initiated by Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who last week wrote a letter to public college and university presidents in Virginia giving them the legal advice that “the law and public policy of the Commonwealth of Virginia prohibit a college or university from including ’sexual orientation,’ ‘gender identity,’ ‘gender expression,’ or like classification, as a protected class within its nondiscrimination policy, absent specific authorization from the General Assembly.”

Cuccinelli, as attorney general of Virginia, is the legal counsel for state agencies and organs of the state including public colleges and universities.

The letter from Cuccinelli appeared to clip the wings of state institutions like the College of William and Mary, which has in place what many consider to be a progressive employment antidiscrimination policy.

McDonnell had been mum on the issue, and had been roundly criticized by civil-rights and civil-liberties groups for leaving sexual orientation out of an executive order on employment nondiscrimination in state government issued by his office on Feb. 5.

Critics suggested that the discrimination issue could hurt the state severely both in hiring in state government and higher education and in the economic-development arena.

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It makes sense that there might be low morale in VDOT offices around the state. If you’re among the people in danger of being downsized, the reason for your low morale is pretty obvious. Not as obvious, but just as demoralizing, is seeing the person who has been sitting in the cubicle next to you pack up and leave, or picking up the phone to talk with somebody in another VDOT office on an issue and finding out that they’ve been let go.

The Virginia Department of Transportation has been in the political crosshairs for most of the last 10 years as Democrats and Republicans fight over what the state needs to do to address its myriad transportation challenges.

VDOT needs to get leaner and meaner, has been the hue and cry from the Republicans in Richmond. We’re past cutting fat, we’re into the muscle and bone, respond the Democrats.

Meanwhile, engineers and maintenance supervisors and front-line employees across the Commonwealth are bearing the brunt of things.

“Certainly it’s a challenge for all of us at VDOT right now. It’s been a tough couple of years for us with our financial challenges. I don’t know a better word for it, though that doesn’t necessarily cover the extent of it. The reorganization and layoffs really has taken a toll on folks. It has,” VDOT spokesman Jeff Caldwell told me recently.

The transportation department has gone from more than 10,000 employees toward a goal of having a staff of 7,500 by July 1, 2010. I asked Caldwell what VDOT might be doing to help employees through the transition in a formal way, for example, by offering counseling services. The inspiration on that question comes from a friend, Cynthia Long, who works in grief counseling, and has expanded her counseling options into areas that you might not traditionally associate with needing help with grief. Job loss is one of her specialties. I can imagine for her a sidebar session on dealing with organizational change.

Caldwell’s first response to my question on counseling was probably expected. “Do you mean career counseling?” he asked me. When I went into more detail on what I was looking for, he did indicate to me that there was a strategy in place for dealing with at least the uncertainty that mass job cuts can bring to an organization.

“It’s a challenge we’ve tried to overcome by providing every piece of information that we can to employees,” Caldwell said, laying out the approach from VDOT that focused on getting information directly to employees in the form of video conferencing and regular e-mail updates to keep employees abreast of the latest on the cuts.

The idea, it seems, was to try to prevent the rumor mill from getting cranked up to the point where there was as much bad information circulating around as there was good, if not there being a lot more of the bad than the good.

“Unfortunately, there are a lot of challenges facing these folks that are impacting morale. Certainly the reorganization and layoffs are at the top of the list. But there’s struggles that we’ve had that we’ve tried to communicate with folks from a global perspective where employee raises have been delayed or removed ftom the state budget on several occasions,” Caldwell said. “We tried more than anything else to keep the lines of communication open. We’re trying to make sure that everybody knows exactly what’s going on.”

You ask me, and I think they could all stand for some of that grief counseling that I mentioned above.

“VDOT employees are very dedicated to what they do. The amount of energy that people put in, and the amount of years that people put in, is just amazing. This is a place where people still put in 30, 40, 50 years,’ Caldwell said. “So when they have to face these times where we’re really changing the shape of the organization, and where it impacts people that they’ve known for years or have sat right next to them, it’s a challenge, there’s no doubt about that.”

We could also stand for the Republicans and Democrats getting past their partisan differences and trying to actually get something done, too. That’d be a huge morale boost.

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Morale is an issue at VDOT and elsewhere in local, state and federal government. It wouldn’t hurt the partisans who make their political case by casting government as the enemy would show some appreciation for the people who work in the public sector.
  
The Rant: Appreciation (1:47)

Waynesboro was once the envy of Western Virginia for its manufacturing economy. As recently as 1990, almost half of the city’s workforce was employed in manufacturing, whose rate of pay has traditionally been at least 40 percent and some years approaching 50 percent higher than the median income in the city.

The manufacturing interests in Waynesboro not only formed the basis of our economy. It was also the foundation of our way of life. Physicists at DuPont and engineers at General Electric demanded the kind of school system that could educate their sons and daughters to be just as productive in their adult years if not more so, and so our schools were also the envy of Western Virginia, if not the entire state.
    

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Mel Curry tries to “hit the fur off that ball.” Robbie Thomas is more an angles and drop shot guy.

“My shoulders are wearing out, but I’m not going to give up any of this,” said Thomas, after a recent exhibition match against Curry, a former United States Tennis Association champion, on the tennis courts at Augusta Health in Fishersville.

A PE teacher and tennis coach in Stafford County, Thomas has been “pushing this chair for 29 years,” referring to the wheelchair that has been his way of getting around since the drunk-driving accident in high school that put his life on a different course.

Curry, for her part, walks using a prosthetic limb, but her chair has helped keep tennis in her life after having to undergo surgery to amputate her left leg from just above the knee in 2003.

“I really do believe that this is the path my life was supposed to take,” said Curry, who took up wheelchair tennis in 2005 after reading a newspaper article about the sport back home in Fredericksburg. A year later, she was winning tournaments with her ferocious serves and groundstrokes.

“The competitive aspect is one part of the blessing. The bigger thing to me is to be able to work with the USTA and to teach clinics and lessons to other persons with disabilities, to teach them the game I love so much, to get them enthused and excited about playing the game. That’s the biggest blessing to me,” said Curry, who plans to make regular treks to the Valley to help get the new wheelchair tennis program at Augusta Health moving forward.

“This program fits the Augusta Health model of community, wellness, everything we do here,” said Chad Reed, the tennis coordinator at Augusta Health and a tennis pro. “It’s a tougher sell if it’s just a tennis center, and it’s just for-profit. If it’s just about making dollars, it can be a hard fit. But here, it fits our model well. It’s right in our wheelhouse of what we do.”

Reed has been coaching wheelchair tennis for several years, picking up the sport as a coach when a local resident who wanted to train to play competitive wheelchair tennis asked him if he could come up with a training program.

“I sort of figured it out from there,” said Reed, who has since earned a training certification in wheelchair tennis, and is now coaching a group of beginner and competitive players who are training at Augusta Health.

Wheelchair tennis looks and plays a lot like tennis for able-bodies, the key difference being that players can play shots out of the air, off one bounce or off two bounces. From a training perspective, Reed said the stress is on mobility.

“Wheelchair players don’t have lateral movement. If I was teaching you, I’d tell you to move laterally. We have to teach them to move in what is called a hub pattern, which is where their strength and conditioning comes into play, because they need to be really strong to move in that hub pattern,” Reed said.

It turns out that training to play tennis has a health benefit for people in wheelchairs. The strength and endurance needed to play the game also translate well into daily living situations.

There’s also the emotional benefit to play that crosses the boundaries of able-bodied and disabled. “This is the only sport where we get to compete on an even playing field with able-bodies,” said Thomas, who played in a mixed-doubles match against Curry with two able-bodies after the singles match to demonstrate how tennis can bridge the sports divide between able-bodies and the disabled.

Curry ups the ante in a weekly doubles match in Fredericksburg in which she is the only participant in a chair. “It helps them to integrate me into the game. So that they know about the two-bounce rule, and so they can know that they don’t have to cover the court, because I’m there,” Curry said.

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K. Rashid Nuri: Making the case for urban agriculture
In his State of the Union address, President Obama enumerated ongoing problems requiring his attention: health care, the economy, job creation, environmental issues and lack of renewable fuels. In doing so, he suggested that increasing agricultural exports would help solve some of these problems.

While export agriculture might indeed help some corporations, it is unlikely to resolve issues directly affecting the public. One thing that would, however, is urban agriculture. While not a panacea, urban agriculture can allay many of the concerns mentioned by the president, and it can do so in several critical ways. 

Our country is now undeniably urban. According to recent demographics, 81 percent of us now live in cities or suburbs. And with so few of us living on farms or in rural areas, our familiarity with the production and source of our food is limited. As an urban organic farmer, I find it amazing that so many chefs, produce managers, restaurateurs and Americans in general remain blithely unaware of the sources of their food. Many have no idea what food looks like coming out of the soil, let alone have an awareness of seasonal fluctuations in fruit and vegetable production.

Implications of this lack of knowledge and involvement in our own food production are immense, affecting all aspects of our life.

Since the dust bowl era of the 1930s and the end of World War II, there has been an effort by government and corporate America to industrialize American agriculture. There has been an emphasis on efficiency and quantity rather than on growing quality food and protecting natural resources. Agriculture is estimated to represent approximately 20 percent to 25 percent of the U.S. annual energy budget, and as much as 40 percent of that energy goes towards production of artificial fertilizers and pesticides. Chemical-based growth stimulants produce large quantities of food at the expense of the minerals, vitamins and trace elements that create flavor and nutrition. Evidence of the poor quality of our food can be seen in rising rates of obesity, vitamin deficiencies and food-borne illnesses.

Sadly, the major victim of industrial agriculture is the American public. We are subjected to more chemicals in food, more additives in food products and massive advertising campaigns for these products, and until recently were offered few healthy alternatives.

We Americans are in the early stages of reclaiming our food sovereignty. This is evidenced by the fast-growing organic sector in agriculture, the advent of urban agriculture initiatives and the increased numbers of farmers markets found in urban areas everywhere.

All across the nation, urban farmers are growing crops on vacant lots, in abandoned fields, in greenhouses, on balconies, by schools, in prison yards, in nursing homes and in countless other creative and engaging places. These urban growing fields can be privately owned, formed as cooperatives, as neighborhood organizations, in collaboration with universities or as partners with city and county governments. Options are endless. Urban America is beginning to wake up and feed itself.

Urban agriculture can play a critical role in reversing many negative aspects of industrial agriculture. Urban farming enhances the health of metropolitan residents, creates “green” jobs, produces affordable locally grown organic fruits and vegetables; teaches people to grow their own foods; reconnects people to their food and the land; and strengthens the environment through reduced fossil fuel dependence and carbon sequestration.

The source of our food is an abstract concept for most of us. But this is changing. More and more people are exploring the supply chain that connects the production of their food to its final consumption. People are returning to the earth as they learn that urban gardens provide benefits beyond good food. This includes economic savings, environmental improvement, lifestyle enhancement, increased exercise and family and community bonding.

President Obama mentioned increasing agricultural exports, but also said that First Lady Michelle Obama would continue her work on problems associated with child obesity. Ironically, the industrial agriculture the president supports is directly connected to child obesity. Industrial agriculture and the lack of personal involvement in food production are leading factors causing our people to become obese and less healthy.

The time has come for we Americans to reclaim our agricultural heritage. Participating in urban agriculture would be a major step in that direction.

- K. Rashid Nuri is director of the Truly Living Well Center for Natural Urban Agriculture.

Hunter Mabry: Tell McDonnell to commute Paul Powell’s death sentence
Virginia is scheduled to carry out its 106th execution on March 18th. It would be a miscarriage of justice for Virginians to permit this to happen.

There is no doubt that Paul Powell committed a horrible crime — a crime for which he could have been given a sentence of up to life imprisonment or, if aggravating factors were found, the death penalty.

But in its zeal to prove the presence of aggravating factors, the prosecution introduced false evidence that showed Powell guilty of two prior crimes of murder when in fact Powell had been cleared of those charges. Additionally, the prosecution also told the court that this evidence had been “certified” when in fact it was uncertified.

It shakes the confidence of Virginians in our criminal justice system when a jury’s death sentence rests on serious false evidence and a false claim introduced by the Government. Such action by the prosecution should not be tolerated.

Unfortunately, the Virginia Supreme Court has never reviewed all of the false evidences in this case. When four out of seven Justices for this case upheld the lower court when reviewing only partial evidence, the other three Justices wrote a vigorous dissent: “such a serious mistake in a capital case may well cause the public to question whether our courts adequately ensure the fair application of the death penalty statue.”

In view of the above, Powell’s sentence should be commuted to life in prison without parole.

As the case now stands, the only person having authority to commute Powell’s sentence is the governor, who opposed Powell’s attempts to correct the serious errors made by the prosecution.

Please contact Gov. Robert McDonnell and request him to commute Powell’s sentence to life in prison without parole. You can contact Gov. McDonnell at P.O. Box 1475, Richmond, VA 23218 or 804.786.2211 or Fax: 804.371.6351 or by email at www.governor.virginia.gov/TheAdministration/contactGovernor.cfm.

- Hunter Mabry, Waynesboro

Haresh Daswani: Of walks and meditation
One of the most important aspects of decision making has been to keep a calm mind. The advent of many distractions have kept us from being able to sit in peace and review our decisions, the issues, and formulate solutions. But it also goes beyond with us a needing constant general reflective state. We need to be able to reflect to be able to better govern ourselves and the situation.

The most important and readily available method would be meditation. It is important to keep ourselves in a quiet and comfortable room or environment, with dim and cozy lights, either silent or with some simple meditation music, and either keep silence or chant a mantra that would have its effects designed for what we are looking for. Meditation has been very effective in spirituality, mental peace, and helping compassion. It has been noted through several tests that those who meditate are generally happier and healthier. A happy mind keeps a healthier body.

Meditation too, is very difficult, clouded minds prohibit one from being able to let go and focus. It is very difficult for a novice to immediately meditate if there is a lot of mental burden being carried. Assistance is greatly encouraged from proper masters who can guide the student towards intended peace.

Another effective system of meditation has actually been walks on the park. Not everyone has been able to appreciate the effect of walking on parks, but the calm state, with right breathing, and its light activity, brings forth meditation. One gets to better appreciate details not seen due to a hectic lifestyle. It is important to pause and smell the flowers. Walks have been known to spark ones creativity and inspiration, with paintings, writings, and even business ideas emanating from a simple walk in the park. The mental calm that is found in walks is found in mediation, with the ultimate focus being on detachment.

Detachment is the key ingredient from mediation and walks. One has to get out of the emotional cloud of the situation and be able to step back and appreciate in a more objective point. Another key aspect is to refresh one’s mind and let in inspiration. A light mind presents ideas on a constant basis.

As one taps into the mental significance of a healthy mind, one then realizes that what the mind thinks, the body will feel. A stress free mind produces less stress for the body. The same applies as one has to ensure that the right diet is taken and a proper lifestyle is followed.

The best part is, none of these activities are taxing. The initial state may be found to be difficult, but the change in lifestyle is not severe. One has to embed such in their habit, making it part of their daily ritual. In time, changes will be felt.

As one leads to the other, and better decisions are made, better consequences can be expected, which thus leads to better achievement of results.

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