Daily News-Record

Keeping The American Dream Alive
STRASBURG, June 24 — The United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 2999 held a protest at International Automotive Components in Strasburg on Wednesday. The emotional and often vocal event aired the workers concerns over manufacturers outsourcing jobs to Mexico. International Automotive Components is a global supplier of automotive parts, in...

Democratic Disgrace
It was a disgrace, an affront to the democratic process and to the American people who swamped the congressional phone lines with pleas to reject a sweeping and costly cap-and-tax initiative. Nonetheless, on Friday, 219 members of the House of Representatives ...

Obiter Dicta
Further evidence of President Obama’s tin diplomatic ear was provided by the State Department’s reaction to the attempted military coup in Honduras. The folks in Foggy Bottom — echoing, we must admit, othe...

Obama Doesn't Set Things In Stone
WASHINGTON Every general studies the mistakes of the last war, and President Obama’s style has been much influenced by the difficulties of Bill Clinton’s presidency. ...

Letter Wrong About Revitalization
Jennifer Ellington’s recent letter contained misinformation and a mean-spiritedness out of place in Harrisonburg (“Downtown 56 Restaurant Won’t Be Missed,” June 17). ...

Valley 4th: All-Day Affair Combines Food, Fun And Fireworks
Of all the people attending Harrisonburg's Valley 4th celebration - musicians, parents, children and more than one Uncle Sam - Mr. Slomo may be the most unique. Of course, it's not really a fair fight since he's from another dimension. That's according to Dan Kamin, the alter ego and creator of Mr. Slomo, who will be roaming among the In...

Say What?
Make us laugh, keep it clean (this is a family paper), and keep it brief (brevity is the soul of wit). Mail the caption, along with the cartoon and your full name and city where you live to: Say What?Daily News-RecordP.O. Box 193...

VPN Lets You Access Your Files From Anywhere
Last month I wrote a column about backing up files to the "Cloud" or online on someone else's server. Maria wrote and asked me if there was a way that she could get actual files from her desktop computer using her own notebook computer. You know that if I am writing about it here, I have an answer. However, I still strongly suggest using...

Development Wrecking Nutmeg Court
Each day as I drive up and down Nutmeg Court in Belmont I can hardly believe the lack of foresight on the part of our county supervisors, especially Mr. Bill Kyger. He is supposed to represent the Belmont area. About two yea...

Soccer: The Next Frontier
Editor’s Note: This is part of an occasional series of columns by DN-R staff writer Heather Bowser about life in the Friendly City. Bowser, 28, was born and raised in Harrisonburg. After spending four months surviving my first dance class, its recital and the miserable spandex costume I had to wear during that ...

Back To The Basics With Baby Chicks
The baby chicks arrived this week. On Monday afternoon, the Staunton Post Office called to say our chicks were there. We dropped what we were doing to go pick them up. Pulling up to the back loading dock, a man looked at us and said, "Here for the chicks?" So maybe the arrival of 130 peeps is not a big deal here in the Shenandoah...

Say What?
The winner is: Annabel Lambert Mrs. Lambert lives in Linville with her  husband, Steven, and their 10-year-old daughter. Runners Up"Are you the guy who's taking me for a ride?" Brenda SealBridtgewater"I want to see the car fax."George ShefferHa...

Massanutten Kicks Off Holiday Weekend With Summer Jam
Massanutten Resort is offering Valley residents a chance to kick off their weekend of liberty early - and support several area causes - Thursday with the 11th annual Summer Jam. Gates open at 5 p.m. for this holiday celebration that's "jam"-packed with good food and drink, family activities, toe-tapping music and a fireworks extravaganza, organi...

Lebovitz Shares Recipes, Stories In 'The Sweet Life'
David Lebovitz went to Paris and never came back. The famous former pastry chef for California’s La Panisse visits from time to time, but his life is now that of an expatriate, a twist he hadn’t anticipated until some major tragedies changed the course of his life. Instead, he spends his time commenting on French culture, hanging aro...

Cooks Find Experimentation Yields The Best Baked Beans
When Kathy Branner’s five children were growing up, planning meals that each would like was a challenge. “You just keep looking to see what you can fix that they’ll like,” said Branner, 62. Luckily, there was one dish that always pleased even the pickiest of palates — Branner’s baked beans. Her...

Nix The Oven - Try Chocolate Cake In A Mug
When the weather is hot, we often look for recipes where we don’t need to heat up the oven. Many cooks use the microwave much more in the summer months than in the winter. Even though the microwave is not considered the best for baking, it is interesting to try new recipes. This is a unique recipe that is fun to make and helps to s...

Elizabeth Finishes School, Throws Picnic To Celebrate
Today we are enjoying cooler weather, giving us relief from the recent 90-degree heat.  My husband Joe and the three boys just left to go fishing on a nearby lake. The lake also has a beach area for swimming, so they might swim also.  Brother-in-law Jacob and his boys are going too. Joe, meanwhile, is enjoying a weeklong vacation from ...

Family Sues MMA For $25.3 Million
WOODSTOCK — Two years after a Massanutten Military Academy student fell to his death from his dorm room window, the student's parents are suing the school for $25.3 million. Noel Patrick Bailey, better known to his family and friends as “Sandy,” died April 20, 2007, suffering multiple injuries to his lungs, neck and sku...

VDOT Approves 2010 Budget I-81 Rest Area Near New Market To Close
NEW MARKET – Virginia's Transportation Board approved the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) 2010 fiscal budget last week, including a wide array of cuts across the Commonwealth. The budget is reducing its 42 rest areas to 23 and closing several residency offices and equipment shops. Reducing the number rest areas...

Va. Caves Closed In Light Of Deadly Bat Disease
While they may not be cute or cuddly, human beings rely on bats much more than some may think. Bats are known to eat millions of insects, like mosquitos and moths, and pollinate plants making them a beneficial to the local environment. But now a relatively new disease is threatening the cave-dwelling bat population. Last month, t...

Declaration Of Independence
WHEN IN THE Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God...

Shenandoah Valley Children's Choir To Sing In Hawaii
Forty-eight members of the Shenandoah Valley Children's Choir, Director Julia White and 36 adult chaperones and companion travelers will participate in the Pacific Rim Children's Chorus Festival held July 13-23 in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Pacific Rim Festival is designed to provide treble children's choirs, grades 6 through 12, an opportuni...

Juda Souder's Work Featured At Edith J. Carrier Arboretum
Kimberly Juda Souder is the featured artist for July at the Frances Plecker Education Center at the Edith J. Carrier Arboretum at JMU. The exhibit is open from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday. Souder is an artist based in the Timberville area who has been painting and drawing for most of her life. She is best known for her creative interpret...

Art Group Celebrates Holiday With Hot Dogs, Art, Music
The Art Group Gallery will host First Friday from 6-10 p.m. on July 3, featuring its annual community hot dog roast and art and music fest. Robin Aigner will provide the evening's musical entertainment. Aigner (Crooked Jades, Royal Pine, Pinataland, Steeplechase, Strung Out String Band) draws from Eastern European, old-time and Americana...

Permits and Transfers
Property Transfers The following property transfers, for at least $150,000 each, were recorded June 22-26. Rockingham County June 22Walker S. and Dorothy A. Thompson to Susan Flannery, 506 Spring Oaks Drive, Central District, $243,000. June 23...

The Declaration Of Independence
IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776 The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of ...

Harrisonburg Baptist Welcomes New Associate Pastor
HARRISONBURG — Harrisonburg Baptist Church’s pastoral staff will see a change Sunday when the associate pastor duties are passed to Kansas native the Rev. Stacy Nowell and the Rev. T.W. Johnson retires. Shortly after Johnson announced his plans to retire after 34 years of service, the church leadership be...

Religion Calendar
SATURDAY »FULL GOSPEL LIGHTHOUSE TABERNACLE, U.S. 33 east of Elkton, will hold services at 7 p.m. with guest speaker Paul LaFontaine. 249-8618. SUNDAY »CEDAR GROVE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH, 1712 Smithland Road, will celebrate Holy Communion during the 11 a.m. worsh...

Reflections On The Fourth Of July - Then And Now
For many, the Fourth of July, the declaration of the United States' independence from Mother England, means a day off work, a time for picnics, music festivals and fireworks displays.  This time each year always triggers fond memories of childhood gatherings at Doc Brenneman's farmstead near Doyles-town, Pa., with other families fro...

Luray Woman A Trailblazer
  LURAY - As America prepares to celebrate Independence Day, one Valley woman recalls how, with the nation at war more than 65 years ago, she wanted to do her part. But Jean Elizabeth Frye Reed, now 86 and living in Luray, didn't become another World War II "Rosie the Riveter," going to work in a factor...

City Drivers Find Mercy At The Pump
HARRISONBURG - Well, it isn't much of a drop, but it's a drop nevertheless. And just in time for the Fourth of July weekend. The average price for a regular gallon of gas in Harrisonburg dipped below the $2.50 mark on Wednesday, according to an informal survey of city stations. The drop likely came as a welcome relief to...

Traffic Deaths: Trend Good, But Holiday's A Test
HARRISONBURG - State police attribute a decline in traffic deaths in Virginia to an economy that is slowing travel as well as efforts by authorities that are slowing motorists. Still, they urge drivers to be careful when hitting the highways this Fourth of July weekend. According to a report by the Virginia State...

New York To New Market
HARRISONBURG - The Wight family looks forward to it every year, the moment when their favorite New Yorker steps off the bus and runs into their arms. And on Thursday evening, the moment finally came. Two seconds after Sequoyahs Morejon stepped off the charter bus at Kmart in Harrisonburg, the 15-year-old from the Bronx w...

Lohr Taps Foster To Run Campaign
HARRISONBURG - Del. Matt Lohr, R-Broadway, has hired experienced Republican political operative Peter Foster to engineer his campaign for a third two-year term in the 26th House District. A native of Chester and a Roanoke College graduate, Foster, 33, began working on Lohr's re-election effort on Wednesday. He is living ...

Crash Sends Elkton Man To U.Va.
HARRISONBURG - An Elkton man was in fair condition at the University of Virginia Medical Center Thursday after a motorcycle wreck sent him flying off the road. Cecil James Watts Jr., 49, was driving his 2007 Honda Shadow west toward Harrisonburg on U.S. 33 at about 7:30 a.m., when he hit a block of wood in the road, poli...

Parade To Hand Streets Over To Kids
GROTTOES - For the second straight year, the town's Independence Day parade will feature a line of little feet. The second Children's Fourth of July Pedal, Push or Pull Parade on Saturday in downtown Grottoes will give the community's youngsters a chance to celebrate America's birthday, said Beth Raynes, co-lead...

SHS Grad Named To Coast Guard Post
HARRISONBURG - Nicholas Pavlik has come a long way from being a "small guy" from Elkton. Last week, the 29-year-old was promoted to officer in chief at the U.S. Coast Guard station in Guam. Pavlik, a chief boatswain's mate, took over command from Sr. Chief Eric Benafel on June 26. The 36-person crew is based in t...

Patriots Still Hot
HARRISONBURG - Three years after George Mason's mind-bending run to the NCAA basketball tournament, coach Jim Larranaga still gets Final Four questions all the time. Among them: Has it helped him recruit better players? The answer is more complex than you might suspect. Although Mason has produced one of the top ...

Turks Lack Punch
HARRISONBURG - Bobby Brown was surprised to hear the statistic. The Harrisonburg Turks had the second-worst team batting average in the 12-squad Valley Baseball League at .246, heading into Thursday's games. Only the Fauquier Gators, batting .239, had a lower average. To the Turks' Brown, though, the stat just di...

BHS, HHS, TA Stick With 7:30
HARRISONBURG - A year after Spotswood High School decided to move its football starting times up a half hour to 7 p.m., the Southern Valley District is following suit. Spotswood's fellow Massanutten District schools won't be joining in, however. Barring a last-minute change of heart, Broadway, Harrisonburg and Tu...

41-0? Local Teens Romp
STEPHENS CITY - Bobby Swink said he had a good feeling about his Grottoes baseball team. Apparently, he was right. Grottoes crushed Mount Jackson 41-0 Thursday in the first round of the District 3 Senior League tournament on the strength of a 23-run first inning, led by shortstop Chris Huffman, third baseman Aar...