Tiger clinches victory A5
Opportunity Alliance Re-entry board president
Richmond Free Press
VOL. 27 NO. 39
© 2018 Paradigm Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
www.richmondfreepress.com
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SEPTEMBER 27-29, 2018
Final stanza
Larry Bland, director of The Volunteer Choir, is calling it quits as group reaches 50th anniversary By Jeremy M. Lazarus
Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press
Larry Bland is in practice mode as he prepares for the first of his final concerts as director of The Volunteer Choir, which is marking its 50th year. Location: The choir’s rehearsal room at Second Baptist Church on Idlewood Avenue, where the choir was started in 1968.
A local gospel music group that has been generating sounds of joy and inspiration for 50 years could soon be no more. Larry Bland & The Volunteer Choir is scheduled to make three appearances this year to mark its golden anniversary milestone, and then Mr. Bland said he will retire as the group’s director and chief organizer. “It’s bittersweet,” said the 65-year-old Mr. Bland, who both sings and plays keyboard with the group he helped nurture into one of the best known gospel performance groups in the Richmond area. The choir currently has about 25 active singers, including eight women who were among the founding members in 1968. Whether the choir will soldier on without their energetic and enthusiastic director remains a major question. Two of the three remaining Volunteer Choir appearances will be during fifth Sunday worship services at St. Peter Baptist Church, 2040 Mountain Road in Henrico County. That includes the 11 a.m. worship service this Sunday,
‘America’s Dad’ Bill Cosby now inmate No. NN7687
Please turn to A4
Please turn to A4
Mayor Stoney proposes free bus service on Election Day By Jeremy M. Lazarus
Free Press wire reports
NORRISTOWN, Pa. “America’s Dad” Bill Cosby was marched out of court in shackles Tuesday after a judge branded him a “sexually violent predator” and sentenced him to between three and 10 years in prison for sexual assault. Mr. Cosby, 81, was found guilty in April of three counts of aggravated indecent assault for drugging and sexually assaulting his onetime friend Andrea Constand, a former Temple University administrator, at his Philadelphia home in 2004. The comedian and television star once revered for his role playing the wise, caring and affable Dr. Cliff Huxtable on “The Cosby Show” is now known as inmate No. NN7687 in the Pennsylvania penal system. Mr. Cosby is one of the first celebrities to be
Sept. 30, and Sunday, Dec. 30, that Mr. Bland said will be his last as director. St. Peter has hosted the choir on fifth Sundays for eight years, Mr. Bland said. The choir’s grand finale also includes a performance Sunday, Oct. 14, at the Richmond Folk Festival on the Downtown riverfront. All former members of the choir may return to perform one last time during this show. Known for its choreographed performances and upbeat tempo, the Volunteer Choir began at Second Baptist Church in the Randolph neighborhood of the city’s Near West End. At the time, there was controversy over the type of music that was right for worship services. In 1968, gospel music had not yet become dominant in the black church, and music leaders at Second Baptist Church resisted rollicking gospel in favor of traditional hymns and spirituals. Several of the church’s choir members quit to protest the push for inclusion of gospel. The late Dr. Odie D. Brown, who was the church’s
Mark Makela/Associated Press
Actor and comedian Bill Cosby leaves a Montgomery County courtroom in Pennsylvania in handcuffs after being sentenced Tuesday for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004.
Mayor Levar M. Stoney wants to spend $24,310 to provide Richmond residents with free GRTC bus rides on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 6. The mayor submitted legislation Monday to Richmond City Council seeking approval to boost the GRTC subsidy to cover the cost of eliminating fares for city transit service that day so that people can get to the polls. “We know for many it can be difficult to get to polling locations on Election Day,” Mayor Stoney Mayor stated. “With this proposal, we are hoping to increase voter participation by removing transportation as an obstacle. Many voting precincts are within a few blocks of GRTC service.” This Election Day, city voters will help elect a U.S. senator and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, with 7th District residents also electing a member of the
Richmond School Board to replace Nadine Marsh-Carter, who resigned last year. Retired principal Cheryl Burke has filled the seat on an interim basis. Mayor Stoney urged residents to support his proposal for “public transit to the polls” and to register by the Monday, Oct. 15, deadline so they can vote. “Our democracy is not a spectator sport,” he stated. “Every vote matters. So I’m asking residents to please get registered, get involved and voice your support for free public transit to the polls.” Separately, the mayor also introduced legislation Monday providing Stoney for a one-year test of the new electric scooter rental service that a California-based company called Bird wants to operate in Richmond. City Hall has blocked the operation of the scooter service until the council approves legislation that lays out the ground rules for the operation and taxation of the service.
Veteran journalist Bob Woodward talks about truth, Trump By Nia Tariq
Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press
Revolutionary Racing, which owns Colonial Downs horse racing track in New Kent County, plans to turn this former Kmart store at 6807 Midlothian Turnpike in South Side into an off-track betting parlor.
City Council endorses off-track betting parlor in South Side By Jeremy M. Lazarus
Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press
Walking the dog Pets come in all types and sizes, including follow-behind toys. Zoe White, 4, looks to make sure her toy dog is following her at the STAY RVA Fest last Saturday on Bainbridge Street in South Side. The youngster is a pre-kindergarten student at Maymont Elementary School. Please see more photos, A6.
Off-track betting on horse races soon could return to Richmond, creating another visitor attraction, dozens of new jobs and a stream of new revenue for the city. Richmond City Council on Monday gave a unanimous thumbs up to a Chicago company’s plan to spend $41 million to replace a closed Kmart store in South Side with a modern gambling center called Rosie’s that would employ about 200 people at an average of $16 an hour. The Virginia Racing Commission still must approve Revolutionary Racing’s proposal that is part of its plan to reopen the Colonial Downs racetrack in New Kent County next year and open up to 10 off-site locations across the state.
The company already owns the racetrack. Along with betting on current races, the major attraction for the off-site betting parlor would be up to 700 machines that would look and feel like slot machines and allow wagering on historic races using the pari-mutuel betting approach of live racing. Officials estimated that thousands of people would flow into the center weekly to wager. Company Chairman Larry Lucas told City Council that Revolutionary Racing is spending $6 million to purchase the 13.8-acre site at 6807 Midlothian Turnpike where Kmart operated before closing in 2011. The site is next to Chippenham Parkway on the city’s border with Chesterfield County. Please turn to A4
“There is a war on truth,” veteran investigative journalist Bob Woodward said about the current climate in the White House and across the nation. “You have to deal with truth. Truth is the foundation of how we have our debates and people make their decisions. We’ve got to reign ourselves in and be more careful — and that’s hard in this environment.” The associate editor of The Washington Post, whose Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporting with colleague Carl BernMr. Woodward stein about the break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at Washington’s Watergate office building led to the 1974 resignation of President Richard Nixon, offered insights about the current Trump administration and the Watergate scandal during a talk Tuesday at Virginia Commonwealth University. His speech, “Truth, Freedom of Expression, Democracy and the Age of the American Presidency,” was presented to a full house at VCU’s W.E. Singleton Center for the Performing Arts. He answered questions following the speech and Please turn to A4