Odds and ends

Thanks to a community wide outpouring of support—and  big time harassment of our Congressional delegation in Washington—the Marine  Corps Junior ROTC program at GHS will now be fully funded by the United States Marine Corps.

This is good news for the program’s participants and the community as a whole. The MCJROTC instills many positive values in its participants even if they choose not to pursue military service.

At it March 6 meeting, the Goochland Board of Supervisors renewed the conditional use permit for Dover Hall to continue to operate as an event venue for ten years. Owner Kevin Brandt explained that he believes that the 30,000 square foot “castle” provides a unique setting for weddings and other special experiences.

Brandt and his catering team all live in Goochland and pledged to be respectful of the neighbors and its location in the Deep Run Hunt Country. Violations of the CUP could result in its revocation.

A public hearing on improvements to the  Rt. 288/Broad Street Road interchange will be held at the Centerville Company 3 Fire-Rescue Station on Wednesday, April 11 from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Maybe we will learn why it will take three or more years to fix this dysfunction junction.

A rabies clinic will be held on Sunday, April 8 from 2 to 4 p.m. at the corner of Fairground and Sandy Hook Roads in Courthouse Village near the Food Lion. The fee s $10 per animal and proceeds go to the Goochland animal shelter.

Administrative Services Manager Paul Drumwright presented an update on the 2016 session of the Virginia General Assembly. The local impact of Medicaid expansion is still unknown. It could add as many as 300 additional cases to the workload of the county Social Services Department.

Drumwright also reported that there is a great need for foster home sin Goochland County. Keeping children in troubled situations close to home so they do not need to change schools  reduces the trauma of their situation and is less expensive for the county.

Sally Graham, Director of Goochland Cares thanked the Board for its continued support of the organization, which recently consolidated all of its operations into one facility on River Road West.

This will make space used by the Free Clinic, a component of Goochland Cares, on the ground level of the administration building, available for county use.