thenewjournalandguide.com

By Leonard E. Colvin
Chief Reporter
New Journal and Guide

    Bernard Griffin, 75, who served 12 years on Portsmouth City Council and was well known as one of the strongest ambassadors and promoters  of his hometown, died in a Norfolk hospital  May 9th from complications associated with a long-term illness.

The Hampton Neighborhood Commission is accepting applications for teens to serve as Youth Commissioners. Appointed by City Council, members of the  Youth Commission provide leadership, policy guidance and support for Hampton’s young people.

By Leonard E. Colvin
Chief Reporter
New Journal and Guide

    The group claiming that residents living in the southside of Franklin are paying unusually high electric bills are escalating efforts to pressure city council to investigate their claims.

By Leonard E. Colvin
Chief Reporter
New Journal and Guide

    Come January 8, Dr. Amelia Ross-Hammond will be sworn in as the newest member of the Virginia Beach City Council. She also will be the first African American elected to the city’ governing panel in 14 years.
    Ross-Hammond is the Director of the Service Learning and Civic Engagement Program at Norfolk State University. Her journey to becoming a political leader at this historic moment in her life has been a long one. She says her election has allowed her to realize the flowering of a seed implanted in her soul when she was a child.
    Personally and historically, Hammond-Ross believes her life’s journey led her to Hampton Roads.
    One hundred and ninety-two years ago, a group of free Blacks emigrated from slavery-era America to colonize  a portion of Africa which is now called Liberia. That is where the new Virginia Beach councilwoman was born and raised.

By Leonard E. Colvin
Chief Reporter
New Journal and Guide

    Two years after she left the Norfolk City Council after losing her bid to become the city’s first African American and female mayor, Daun Hester is re-entering the political arena.
She is currently working to build  support  to wage a campaign to  replace State Delegate Kenneth Alexander, who is leaving his seat in the 89th House District to run for the Fifth Senate seat which became open when Sen. Yvonne Miller died.
    Out of respect for Senator’s Miller family, Hester, late last week, was calling local and state Democratic Party leaders seeking to lobby their support for her run, and she said that she has received mostly positive responses.
    “I have  missed the people. I have missed public service,” said Hester, who is 56.  ”There are so many issues out there which I want to address to make the lives of the people in the district better.”
    Meanwhile,  Alexander has been collecting endorsements for his run to replace Miller, who died July 3 at her home in Norfolk. Last week he was touching base with the city and state Democratic Party leadership and constituents, shoring up his base of support for his run.
    An important base of support came last Friday from the late Senator Miller’s immediate family. A letter was dispatched via email to the media outlining the family’s support of Alexander’s ascendancy to the late Senator’s seat
    “We offer our wholehearted support and encouragement to Del. Alexander and endorse him to fill the remaining term of Sen. Yvonne B. Miller,” announced James E. Bond, Sen. Miller’s brother. “The strong relationship between the Delegate and our family began when he volunteered on her first campaign for House of Delegates in 1984. We have watched as he has grown and succeeded in life, always encouraging and willing to mentor others as Sen. Miller mentored him.

By Leonard E. Colvin

Chief Reporter

New Journal and Guide

Responding to concern from the Black community, the Newport News City Council decided during its meeting Tuesday night (May 8) it will allow the Newsome House Museum and Cultural Arts Center (pictured) to continue its current hours, as opposed to giving the public access by appointment only.

Leading up to the announcement during its regular public decision, the council was poised to approve the city budget eliminating the museum’s only full-time position, the Curator of  Historic Services, and eliminate the current operating hours. Thus the facility would have been open by appointment only.

When the council approved the budget, the position was eliminated. But  the city will continue to fund two, part-time staff positions and recruit and train volunteers to assist in operating the facility which will continue to be open to the public Thursday  through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

By Leonard E. Colvin

Chief Reporter

New Journal and Guide

While voter turnout in cities holding elections on May 1 was low and without major surprises, history was made in Franklin where voters elected their first female and African American mayor. Vice Mayor Raystine Johnson, who captured 856 votes, or 44 percent of the ballots cast,  defeated 16-year incumbent Jim Councill, who had 723 votes, or 37 percent. Ward 3 Councilman Greg McLemore came in third with 358 votes, or 19 percent.

Johnson has sat on city council for 12 years. She is the manager of Johnson and Sons Funeral Home. While Johnson is the first African-American to be elected Franklin’s top political post,  Dr. A.B. Harrison was the city’s first Black mayor but he was appointed to the seat. Johnson thanked her supporters and acknowledged her council colleagues. Johnson said that one issue which may have doomed Mayor Coincill’s  bid for reelection is his continued support of the  U.S. Navy’s using the city’s airport as a nighttime practice landing site.

By Leonard  E. Colvin

Chief Reporter

New Journal and Guide

A coalition of civic and political groups supporting a change to the system of  electing Virginia Beach City Council has vowed to keep working. Last week the change proposal was rejected by the council. Now the groups have joined forces and launched a petition drive to place the proposal on the November ballot to allow voters to decide its future.

Right now, the seven members of the Virginia Beach City Council are elected from districts. They are elected by voters in the districts, but residents city-wide can cast a vote for them, too. The council rejected a plan which would allow voters only in these individual districts to vote for candidates seeking to represent them, and not from other parts of the city.

Supporters of the idea say that representatives of these districts often ignore the wishes of their immediate constituents and do not vote in their best interests, because of pressures from other sectors of the city. Various African American groups which are part of the coalition, like the NAACP, support the measure, declaring that Black candidates not only have to contend with voters not supporting their candidacy in the individual district where they are running, but also voters, mostly white, who live outside the district.