GBES, OCHS, UES, LGMS, Head Start, PHMS, LGES, TEAC

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office is joining with state and local law enforcement agencies and highway safety officials May 19 to June 1 to launch an aggressive national “Click It or Ticket” seat belt enforcement mobilization to increase seat belt use and reduce highway fatalities

The Town of Orange Police Department will begin conducting a child identification program.  The identification kit will consist of fingerprints, a digital photograph with the child’s information and a DNA sample.

Monday, the Gordonsville Town Council will conduct a public hearing on the proposed 2008-09 budget.
The biggest changes are in the fact that revenues and spending are down but some water and sewer rates could rise.

With the housing economy in a downturn, there may be far fewer new homes being built, but there are still plenty of construction projects at local businesses that have plans to expand in 2008.

The Orange County School Board approved its 2008-09 budget at last Tuesday’s meeting.

As the deadline for closing down the county landfill approaches, county officials are considering all the aspects of a transition to a transfer station.

Last month, the Orange Town Council voted unanimously, to award the contract for upgrades to the wastewater treatment plant to English Construction, whose low bid came in at $21,950,000.

The familiar Colonial Florist and Antiques building next to the railroad underpass in Gordonsville is reduced to a heap of bricks and charred wood after a devastating fire Friday morning.

Nearly 30 years ago, a couple of young boys went into a cemetery in the woods in the eastern end of the county and dug up several graves.

Friends of Wilderness Battlefield is thrilled to announce the roster of guest historians for the 144th anniversary Friday, May 9 – Sunday, May 11.

American Biodiesel Corp. and Greenberry’s both have their company names on the big sign at the entrance to Lee Industrial Park, but there’s no sign of the companies.

An eighth grader’s account of nearly been kidnapped by a stranger last week resulted in an exhaustive search and a frightened community. But according to Orange County Sheriff Mark Amos, the assault never took place, and the girl’s story was made up.

James H. Long, Jr. was in court May 2 to be given a formal sentencing for his part in the March 2005 shooting deaths of Burr Hill residents William Browning and Vicki Truax.

Promoting a “contract with fellow citizens of the town of Orange” to oppose water and sewer rate and real estate tax increases, Ryan Gibson and Kent Higginbotham were elected to the Orange Town Council Tuesday.

Orange Volunteer Firefighters responded to a call at the James Madison Museum early Monday morning.
According to Orange Volunteer Fire Company Chief Buckshot Clements, local dispatchers were alerted to an incident in the museum by the museum’s alarm system.

There are many ways to describe Tess Topf: goldsmith, artist, businesswoman, horse enthusiast, and the list goes on. But to the Boys & Girls Club of Orange she is simply a gem.

After studying the planning commission’s draft ordinance for a tourism corridor overlay two years ago, county officials delayed taking definitive action; and no tourism corridor design standards, or county roads, ever made it onto the ordinance books. But there is a new board of supervisors now, and a renewed discussion of the tourism corridor overlay.

Orange County’s April showers bring May flowers (and ample mud). And this year, the extra-wet April weather brought a ranking in the record books as one of the rainiest on record

Tuesday, May 6, voters will head to the polls to elect two members, for four-year terms, to Orange Town Council.

Last November, citizens elected Mark Amos as sheriff of Orange County. Leading up to the election, Mark Amos promised that as sheriff, he would put a proactive emphasis on road safety, internet crime and gang prevention. Now that he’s in office, Amos has set his sights on educating the community to follow through on his campaign promises.

County officials had planned to use grant money to extend a sewer line from the Orange County Airport to residences on Route 20. But now county officials are waiting for word about whether a major employers’ decision to shut down could make that grant money unavailable.

Virginia Tractor will have a permanent home in Orange County.

Dotson pitches Route 3 project to supervisors

The Town of Gordonsville put trucks on High Street in December 2001, as a temporary measure to relieve traffic congestion on Main Street, until a bypass could be built around the town.
Dreams of a bypass soon faded into the dust and diesel fumes.

The economy may not be growing, but two local hotels are.
Owners of the Holiday Inn Express on the north end, and the Red Carpet Inn on the south end of Orange, have plans to accommodate more visitors to Orange and surrounding areas.

Youth sports leagues participants will play ball at Booster Park this year, and the county government has agreed to spend $10,000 to help make it possible.
For the first time, Orange County officials have agreed to provide supplemental funding towards the maintenance and upkeep of the Booster Park facility.

A slump in the economy has everyone from governments to families cutting expenditures and tightening the purse strings.
Two local food pantries are also feeling the pinch. As more folks fall on hard times, more donations are needed.

Barboursville postal customers have been waiting for nearly two years to get a post office in their neighborhood. And although there have been a series of false starts and stops, a deal has finally been signed—in ink.

It will cost more to own land in Orange County when the next real estate tax bill comes due, because the Orange County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to adopt the $133,160,815 budget, to adopt a $.05 tax rate increase, (bringing the rate to $0.47 per $100 of assessed valuation), and to adopt a FY 2008-09 $51,049,288 capital improvements plan.

After a two-hour deliberation, an Orange County Circuit Court jury found Charles Stagg Washington guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Marilyn Baker.