chris hurst – C-VILLE Weekly

Dead or alive

The General Assembly has been in session two weeks, and it is whittling down the more than 2,000 bills legislators filed. Here are some bills that have survived so far—and others that were DOA.

Alive

An in-state tuition bill for undocumented students made it out of the Senate Education Committee January 8 on an 8-7 vote, with one Republican senator joining the ayes.
The General Assembly doesn’t often consider freedom of the press, and this year it will look at two bills. Delegate Chris Hurst, a former reporter and anchor for WDBJ in Roanoke, carries a bill that protects student journalists from censorship and their faculty advisers from punishment. Former print journalist Delegate Danica Roem’s bill shields reporters from revealing sources in most cases.
A bipartisan group in both houses of the General Assembly want to raise the minimum age to buy cigarettes and vapes from 18 to 21.

Dead

The Save Niko bill, which allows dogs found dangerous to be transferred to another owner or shipped to a state that doesn’t border Virginia, made it out of an agriculture subcommittee last week, only to have members change their minds this week. The bill could have freed cat-killer Niko, who has been on doggie death row at the SPCA for about four years.
The ’70s-era Equal Rights Amendment passed the Senate 26-14 January 15 and headed to the House of Delegates, where it traditionally dies in committee. This year was no exception—the amendment was tabled by a Republican-led Privileges and Elections subcommittee January 22.
More than a dozen gun safety bills, including universal background checks, temporary removal of firearms from the home of someone deemed a risk to himself or others, and Delegate David Toscano’s bill restricting open carry at permitted events like the Unite the Right rally, were swiftly dispatched January 17 in the rural Republican-controlled subcommittee of the House Committee on Militia, Police, and Public Safety, chaired by southern Albemarle’s Delegate Matt Fariss.
Several bills that would decriminalize or even legalize pot died January 16 in a Courts of Justice subcommittee, with Delegate Rob Bell voting to prevent Virginia from going soft on personal marijuana use.
A bill that would raise the state’s minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $15 made a rare appearance on the Senate floor January 21, where it died on party lines 19 to 21.

Quote of the week

“I believe there are certain people in history we should honor that way in the Senate . . . and I don’t believe that [Robert E. Lee] is one of them.”—Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax, a descendant of slaves, tells the Washington Post after ceding the dais and gavel during a tribute to Lee January 18

In brief

Shutdown scams

Attorney General Mark Herring warned about scams that target furloughed employees. Don’t accept an employment offer for a job you didn’t apply for, he says, and be cautious of predatory lending, including payday, auto title, open-end, and online loans. And those seeking to help should be cautious too—Herring says to avoid cash donations and only give if you can confirm the charity or fundraiser is legit.

Biggest donations in local races

Local philanthropist Sonjia Smith wrote a $100,000 check to UVA prof Sally Hudson, who wants the seat now held by Delegate David Toscano, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. Smith also gave $10,000 to Sena Magill for City Council, $5,000 to Albemarle sheriff candidate Chan Bryant, and $20,000 to an Andrew Sneathern for Albemarle commonwealth’s attorney committee, which donated $9,635 to Jim Hingeley, who will announce his run January 23.

Government heavy

The Charlottesville Albemarle Convention & Visitors Bureau came closer to being stacked with elected and government officials when county supes voted 5-1 for a 15-member tourism board in which industry experts would be outnumbered 9 to 6 by government people. City Council had its first reading of the changes January 22.

$2.3 million roof

Carr’s Hill’s $7.9 million renovation went up another couple of mil when workers discovered the 14,000-square-foot manse’s roof needed to be replaced, not repaired. It’s the first major overhaul of the 1909 Stanford White-designed home of UVA presidents, and Jim Ryan is temporarily housed in Pavilion VIII on the Lawn while the work goes on.

After a friend was one of the estimated 13,393 people shot and killed in America last year, Batesville resident Jay Varner wrote to eight political representatives about the increasing threat of gun violence. Last month, he received a handwritten response from the president of the United States.

The August 26 on-air slayings of WDBJ7 reporter Alison Parker and photojournalist Adam Ward made Varner feel helpless, enraged and upset, he says. Last spring, he met Parker and her then-boyfriend and later fiancé, Chris Hurst, at Roanoke’s Hollins University where Varner was a visiting professor. One of Varner’s previous students, a current WDBJ7 employee, had attended a reading that Varner was giving, and brought the couple with her.

“We kind of immediately hit if off,” Varner says. “Alison was such a vibrant person.”

So they kept in touch on Facebook, and months later, when he learned that two WDBJ7 employees were murdered while filming a live segment at Smith Mountain Lake, he immediately thought of the reporter, her fiancé and his former student—all three of who he knew worked the morning shift at the station.

“I started to shake and nearly fell to my knees when I saw the location,” he wrote in the letter addressed “Dear Mister President.”

Varner, who teaches classes at UVA, PVCC and JMU, says he wrote to ask what he should tell his students when they ask what today’s leaders are doing to end gun violence.

“What are you going to do about this? Have you now seen enough of your constituents gunned down?” Varner wrote. “Have you sent enough condolences and issued enough statements expressing sadness over such tragedies? Have you seen enough grieving friends and family walk shell shocked through the aftermath of bloodshed?”

Some representatives responded, including Senator Creigh Deeds, who was stabbed several times in the face by his mentally ill son who shot and killed himself minutes later, but the only person to answer Varner’s question directly was President Barack Obama.

After opening the letter—written on a cream-colored, high-quality card with an azure letterhead at the top—Varner says, “First, of course, I was shocked,” and also “surprised that the president of the United States had responded to something I had written.”

The president reads 10 hand-picked letters in the Oval Office each night, according to a statement on the White House’s website by Mike Kelleher, the director of presidential correspondence. Obama sometimes chooses to write back.

In his response to Varner, Obama wrote:

“Thank you for your letter, and your passion. Tell your students that their President won’t stop doing everything he can to stop gun violence. And don’t fill them with cynicism—change isn’t easy, but it requires persistence and hope.”

Varner says he especially appreciates the note about not being cynical.

“The more we speak up, the harder this message is to ignore,” he says. “And that’s something in the president’s response that more than just my students need to hear: Change takes hope, it takes persistence, and it means we can’t give up doing what’s right.”

On March 13, Hurst and Parker’s parents appeared on “CBS Sunday Morning” for a 90-minute show dedicated to gun violence in America.

“When my daughter, Alison, was murdered on live television, I pledged that I was going to do whatever it takes to reduce gun violence in this country,” Andy Parker said in a speech just days after her death. On “CBS Sunday Morning,” he said he believes universal background checks should be mandated for those who wish to purchase guns, and gun show loopholes that allow private buyers to purchase firearms without a background check or a record of the sale should be closed.

Vester Lee Flanagan II, the disgruntled former station employee who killed Parker and Ward and later himself, did pass a background check and purchased his gun legally.

“There are people that say, ‘Well, nothing would’ve prevented her death,’” Varner says about Parker. “Okay, maybe so. But is that a reason to not try and save the next life? Even if it’s one life?”

Click to enlarge President Barack Obama’s response.