The event was held at the Williamsburg Community Building with roughly 30 community members in attendance.

Joining Wittman in the conversation were Patrick Hartig, assistant special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Norfolk District Office; Adam Brown, senior director for student services for Williamsburg-James City County Schools; and Dr. Mia McCoy, substance use disorder quality manager for the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services.

The focus of the seminar was on the misuse of opioids, namely fentanyl, that are being distributed illegally. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is roughly 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. Wittman stated that currently 85% of drug-related deaths are caused by opioids; 112,000 deaths in the United States more than a year ago were due to the misuse of fentanyl.

“This is a national crisis and we have to figure out how to address it,” said Wittman, adding that opioid use and addiction has become “pervasive throughout society,” affecting young and old alike. “It is an unbelievable situation we find ourselves in.”

Hartig pointed out that the misuse of the fentanyl the DEA is trying to battle is being tampered with and smuggled into the country illegally by drug cartels in Mexico. It’s becoming more widely available and cheap, which “makes it a difficult crisis for us to deal with,” he said. “I’ve never seen a greater, more dangerous threat than fentanyl.”

Fentanyl poisoning is now the leading cause of death among Americans ages 18 to 25. It is ingested as a pill or a powder. Hartig cautioned against taking any pill that is not prescribed by a doctor and dispensed at a pharmacy because “I can guarantee you that a pill that comes from any other source probably contains fentanyl,” he said.

McCoy noted that the COVID-19 pandemic “exacerbated” substance use and misuse, including opioids, though since January 2023, there has been “a downward trend in the use and overdose of opioids,” she said. “There is hope.”

WJCC Schools works with families when students are caught using opioids, though often students aren’t aware of what it is they are actually taking.

“A lot of times students don’t know and I hear them say, ‘I had no idea that is what I was taking,’’ Brown said.

Education and prevention are key to controlling the opioid problem, Wittman said. Wittman, who represents Virginia’s 1st District, worked for the Virginia Department of Public Health for more than 25 years and currently serves as co-chair of the Congressional Public Health Caucus.

Wittman has supported many laws to combat the opioid epidemic, including the Protecting Americans from Fentanyl Trafficking Act, which permanently places fentanyl-related substances as a Schedule I controlled substance; and Sammy’s Law, which requires third-party software on social media platforms that alerts parents when their children are exposed to harmful material, including drugs.

Wittman pointed out that it will take everyone to help with the issue, which includes knowing the warning signs of addiction.

“This is a community-based effort,” he said.

Brown added that parents and students should also be attentive when it comes to the opioid crisis.

“Even if you are not sure, say something,” he said.

Brandy Centolanza, bcentolanza@cox.net

The paintings appeared on social media in 2020 in support of leftist and rightist causes, and now two years later, they’ve become ubiquitous on social platforms.

The four paintings by Rockwell were inspired by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1941 State of Union address. In his speech, the president argued that what was at stake was the defense of four universal freedoms that Americans take for granted: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear.

Although Roosevelt’s words and thoughts were inspirational, they were too abstract to a large segment of the population. Rockwell, a well-known illustrator for magazines, proposed to transform them into images that a large populace could understand.

First, he offered to undertake the task in collaboration with two government agencies but was rejected. Finally, the editor of The Saturday Evening Post was the one who saw the potential of the paintings and commissioned Rockwell to create them.

Rockwell’s interpretation of Roosevelt’s’ speech appeared on the magazine covers, and the images soon were everywhere.

According to contemporary press reports, “The government put them on postage stamps, displayed them in an exhibition as part of its nationwide war-bond drive and printed them on posters that helped raise $133 million for the war effort.”

Stephanie Haboush Plunkett, the deputy director and chief curator of the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, home of the “Four Freedoms” paintings, is quoted saying: “Rockwell’s oeuvre was intended to distill and quickly spread a mass message. Many Americans did not register what the meaning of those freedoms truly were and found Roosevelt’s speech abstract. What Rockwell wanted to do was to envision them in a way that a large populace could understand.”

In fact, Rockwell’s “Four Freedoms” had an extraordinary appeal on a mass of people living behind the Iron Curtain. Even during the darkest days of the Cold War and Stalinist terror, the images of the painting surfaced.

Significantly, many of the history books used in schools in Eastern Europe featured Rockwell’s images, although they were interpreted according to the Communist doctrine.

Thus, I was familiar with the “Four Freedoms” paintings long before my arrival to America in 1958 as a refugee from Communist Czechoslovakia.

Once my wife and I settled in Lake Placid, New York, visiting the Norman Rockwell Museum was high on our list.

Always on the look-out for a good story, we checked into the iconic Red Lion Inn. I was told Rockwell often dined there and used the features of local residents in his illustrations.

A local man informed me, confidentially, that some of the people portrayed in the “Four Freedoms” paintings were actually Stockbridge residents, although Rockwell moved and settled in Stockbridge decades after the paintings were created.

During my several visits to Stockbridge and the Rockwell Museum, I failed to stumble into an “exclusive” story that would have added to the Rockwell legend.

However, the “Four Freedoms” paintings remain the images to me that best describe America as the “Shining City on the Hill.”

Frank Shatz is a Williamsburg resident. He is the author of “Reports from a Distant Place,” the compilation of his selected columns. The book is available at the Bruton Parish Shop and Amazon.com.

Like most Democrat front groups, they are sorely misinformed. Virginia Republicans, on the other hand, should pursue a much better path. I believe there are four pillars to support Republican energy policies in Virginia:

1. Realism. Stop doing what isn’t working. The world needs to follow the U.S. example of how the U.S. became the world leader in reducing emissions. Net zero can only be achieved when technology advances over time, it is accepted by the public, the new technology is affordable, and market forces — not government mandates — lead the way.

Democrats always measure success by how much they spend, never by results. There is no comprehensive report published by a credible governmental organization that concludes net zero will be achieved by 2050. Today’s Democrat policy prescriptions are not only ineffective, but can succeed only in Communist China, not in free democratic societies.

2. Any energy transition will take a long time. You can’t change a worldwide energy system that took 150 years to build and change overnight. We can only move as quickly as engineering, physics, economics and science allow.

The public needs to hear from industry and business leaders that any transition will take a long time; most importantly, it needs to hear it from the federal government. Weening the world off fossil fuels in the near term is pure folly. This idea was developed by radical environmentalists to justify keeping it in the ground.

3. American leadership on the world stage. The world needs Republican leadership, not the European Union, China or the Democrats, for they have failed. The United States is the world’s largest energy producer and has decreased emissions more than the next five countries combined.

The U.S. is the natural leader to show the world how it can be done. Natural gas is responsible for 58% of all emission reductions in the United States; natural gas reduced more emissions than renewables. The same can be accomplished worldwide by U.S. liquified natural gas exports. Dictating and limiting developing nations’ energy options is the modern era’s colonialism. It’s a moral imperative to end climate colonialism advocated by the global elite and forced upon the developing world. Leading a worldwide effort of an “all of the above” strategy will benefit developing nations and the U.S.

4. Innovation and technology. America has always solved complex societal problems. We have a proven playbook that works; it’s called technology and innovation. Republicans are for the possible. Democrats are against everything!

Solutions need to be affordable in both Indiana and India. If we want true change, governmental programs are not the answer; the solution is unleashing entrepreneurs and allowing the market to adapt and innovate. Worldwide use of coal reached a record in 2024, and the U.S Department of Energy has been developing near zero emissions coal plants of the future. We should export this technology. If we are to reduce both domestic and global emissions, it will require innovative technologies that not only reduce emissions but are also affordable, reliable and clean.

Lou Hrkman is the former deputy assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Energy. He lives in James City County.

Everyone experiences pain in this life. It may be a pinch or a crunch, but sometimes it can be crushing. Pain is a part of life, and we cannot escape it. So how do we make sense of it? As a counselor, I sit with people every day who face pain and hardship. It may be the pain of divorce, job loss, chronic illness, the death of a loved one or the existential pain of living in a broken world where we see hatred, cruelty and war. Does pain serve a purpose? How do we move forward in the midst of pain?

My thoughts about pain come from my own life experience, but also from the stories of others who have encountered pain and shared their journeys with me. My own reading from scripture as well as from various books on the subject have helped me keep a few principles in mind that have proved useful to me along the way.

I have learned that pain is a great motivator. At times, we may feel stuck in habits, difficult relationships or jobs, but it is often pain that drives us to do something different. We seek help. Pain is a wake-up call. It gets our attention. The ache or pain in our body leads us to seek medical attention. We feel emotional or relational pain and we seek counseling. Pain can lead us to lean into our faith in God to give us strength and courage to go on.

I have come to realize that there is no painless way to do painful things. We cannot go around pain or over it, we have to go through it. The good news is that while there is a pain that leads to more pain, there is also pain that leads to healing. We may go through surgery and experience more pain and discomfort temporarily, but we know that in the end we will feel better, stronger, whole.

If we ignore the pain and let it fester and grow, we may experience more pain with no end in sight. There is a pain that leads to healing, but you have to go through it. We tolerate some pain today to avoid more pain down the road. The Psalmist reminds us, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.”

While we may not choose pain, we do have some choices about how to move forward. Is this pain a real threat or an imaginary threat? What can we do about it? Often times we look for a quick fix. We want to escape the pain without thinking about the future impact. What will this look like a year from now? In the long run, short cuts may only bring more pain. Thinking through our options may help us see a better path forward. Even though some choices may bring more pain today, future pain can be prevented.

Perhaps one of the blessings of pain is that it leads us to seek out others who can walk with us and provide guidance. A support group, a friend, a family member may help us see things in a new way. It can be comforting to have someone who can journey with us. In our communities of faith, we find strength in knowing that God is with us even as we “walk through the valley of the shadow of death.” Our connection with God and others can strengthen us.

In times of pain and suffering, I find myself looking for hope. Where is the crack in the sidewalk, or the break in the darkness where light comes through? Where is hope in the midst of pain and suffering? If I look at pain from a different angle or ask a curious question, my perspective can change. I may be able to move forward in a different way.

In her book “Almost Everything: Notes on Hope,” Anne Lamott writes, “Some days there seems to be little reason for hope, in our families, cities, and world. Well, except for almost everything. The seasons change, a bone mends, Santa Rosa builds after the fire. In the days after a cataclysmic school shooting, thousands of students took to the streets and the public squares. They got us back up onto our feet and changed our world.”

Lamott reminds us that whatever pain we face, we will come through somehow. “Against all odds, no matter what we’ve lost, no matter what messes we’ve made over time, no matter how dark the night, we offer and are offered kindness, soul, light, and food, which create breath and spaciousness, which create hope, sufficient unto the day.”

The Rev. Becky Glass is executive director at the Peninsula Pastoral Counseling Center in Newport News. She can be reached by email at beglass@peninsulapastoral.org.

Davis Y. Paschall, the college’s president from 1960-1971, was instrumental in the development of the substantial academic programs of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science at Gloucester Point.

The Virginia Fisheries Laboratory was established in 1940 as a joint effort between W&M and the Virginia Commission on Fisheries (now the Virginia Marine Resources Commission). It was initially organized by Donald W. Davis, head of William & Mary’s biology department.

On Wednesday, the university announced that philanthropist Jane Batten had donated $100 million for enhancement of its marine science program — the largest gift in W&M’s 331-year history. The existing school will be renamed the Batten School of Coastal & Marine Sciences.

Originally established “to pursue research and educational activities relative to the seafood industry of the state and to develop into a prominent center for the study of Marine Biology,” Paschall said in a 1970 report, the laboratory operated as a quasi-state agency.

When Paschall became president, master’s degrees in marine science were offered by the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech and William & Mary. Paschall took a recommendation from an outside study to urge the board of visitors in 1961 to create a school of marine science with the faculty also becoming staff members of the lab.

The next year, the General Assembly renamed the laboratory the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, making it an independent state agency with its own administrative board. The three schools continued to provide all the graduate academic work.

In 1964, the State Council of Higher Education approved doctoral programs in marine science for W&M and UVA.

In the late 1960s, Paschall, along with UVA President Edgar F. Shannon Jr. and Virginia Tech President T. Marshall Hahn Jr., discussed the future of academic programs at VIMS. It was decided that  William & Mary would take over the programs. Primarily “because of the location (of W&M and VIMS) and the fact that the VIMS staff was part of the W&M faculty,” Paschall told reporters.

By 1970, the 35-member VIMS staff “served as faculty of the School of Marine Science that offered more than 30 courses at the Gloucester Point campus,” Paschall wrote in a 1960-1970 report. Additional professors from other departments at W&M were associated with VIMS “to strengthen its offerings to students.”

Virginia Tech decided to move to an academic program focused on fish and wildlife conservation, while UVA decided its new direction would be on what now has become environmental science.

Davis Y. Paschall was president of William & Mary when Wilford Kale was a student at the school. Kale and Harry L. Smith were co-authors of “Davis Y. Paschall: A Study in Leadership,” about Paschall’s time at W&M and when he was state superintendent of public instruction. This story uses information from that publication.

Perfect Touch brows specializes in a variety of beauty services including eyebrow threading, eyelash extensions, brow tinting and skin care. Kalad also operates a location at Patrick Henry Mall in Newport News.

“What sets us apart is our commitment to personalized service, attention to detail and creating a comfortable experience for our clients,” Kalad said. “We believe that enhancing natural beauty is an art, and our skilled master skin care specialists and technicians bring precision and creativity to every service.”

The goal with the opening of the new location is to “become a trusted beauty destination in Williamsburg,” he added. “We want to create a welcoming space where clients can relax, enjoy our services and leave feeling fabulous. Additionally, we’re committed to giving back to the community. A portion of our skin care product sales will be donated to support local initiatives and organizations. We’re excited to connect with the Williamsburg community and make a positive impact.”

Other new stores at the outlets include Casa Furniture, which had a soft opening last weekend, and Perfume Hut, which opened this month near Ben & Jerry’s.

Casa Furniture is planning a grand opening Aug. 1 to officially introduce the furniture store, which specializes in living room sets and mattresses. The store, located near Movado and Tommy Hilfiger, is owned and operated by Spiro Laousis, a U.S. Army veteran who started as a retailer in the furniture industry after leaving the military.

Laousis said the goal with the location is to cater to those in the military as well as to the growing Hispanic population in the community.

“Our first three customers were Spanish (speaking), which was amazing,” he said. “This is a perfect match for us.”

Laousis also has plans to open locations at other outlets in Maryland as well as in Norfolk and Winchester.

“I love working with the customers and talking to them and helping them out,” he said. “It gives me a jolt of energy and really makes me happy.”

For more information on Williamsburg Premium Outlets, visit premiumoutlets.com/outlet/williamsburg.

Kitchen Tune-Up franchise wins national award

Craig and Shelley Smith, owners of Kitchen Tune-Up Hampton Roads New Kent County, were honored with the Franny of the Year award at the company’s national reunion, which was held in June in Minneapolis. The award is presented to the top overall franchisee of Kitchen Tune-Up. The Smiths were recognized for their performance in 2023 in sales and customer service, as well as for their delivery of exceptional service offerings.

“We love to recognize and honor the achievements of our Tunies,” said Heidi Morrissey, president of Kitchen Tune-Up, in a news release. “Each location puts so much into their business and strives to make every project their best yet. … Craig, Shelley, and their dedicated family members and team have always exemplified the Kitchen Tune-Up spirit and shown themselves to be amongst our strongest franchises.”

Craig Smith said receiving the award was an honor. “Our family loves the work we do and it’s fulfilling to be recognized for our efforts.”

Kitchen Tune-Up Hampton Roads New Kent County is located at 1629 Merrimac Trail. For more information, visit kitchentuneup.com/williamsburg-va.

Dots & Dashes

• Heather Hughes Photography will host a photography summer camp at Catalillies Play Café, located at 551 Merrimac Trail in James-York Plaza, from July 31 to Aug. 2.  The camp, designed for children ages 7-12, will be held 10 a.m. to noon each day and include instruction on how to capture everyday objects on camera, crafts and more. For more information, visit heatherhughesphotography.com/kids-photo-camp.
• Williamsburg SCORE will host the free workshop, “How to start and manage your own business,” on July 30 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Williamsburg Regional Library. The workshop will cover business planning, legalities of starting a business, creating a budget, financing, how to define your product or service and your target customer base and more. For more information, call 757.229.6511 or email info.williamsburg@scorevolunteer.org.
• Charles City County will host its inaugural Chillin’ in Charles City event Aug. 2-4. The event will include musical performances, an artisan market and more at various establishments throughout the county. For more information, visit visitcharlescity.org.

Brandy Centolanza, bcentolanza@cox.net

The lifetime lacrosse player from York County was recently selected as one of 50 U18 players nationwide to attend the National Team Development Program Combine training camp at Garrison Forrest School in Owings Mills, Maryland. He’ll join one other U18 boy from Virginia, Caleb Dymmel from Middlesex County.

The camp, which will last three days from July 29-31, acts as a pipeline to the U.S. National Team Program and consists of two boys and two girls teams divided into age groups (under 18 and under 16).

According to USA Lacrosse Magazine, around 1,600 high school athletes across 28 states and the District of Columbia competed to attend this year’s training camp, with about 150 boys and 180 girls selected to attend. Birkle, a defender, will compete under the NTDP combine U18 boys. The camp will test players on various lacrosse skills and drills.

Birkle has been training for this moment his entire life. A lacrosse player since preschool, he plays for Tabb High School and has spent five years with the Tidewater Patriots travel lacrosse team in Hampton Roads. Coached by Chris Swanenburg, the travel team has produced multiple players selected for the national training camp, including defensive player Andrew Knight and current Bridgewater College lacrosse player Killian Krapfl.

“We’re traveling all over. It’s been like that for a couple of years where we spend the summer just racking up miles and getting him in front of who you need to get him in front of. But he loves it; he has a passion for the game,” said Birkle’s mother, Jamie Doyle.

Doyle emphasized that Swanenburg, a former Division I coach at Radford University and All-Ivy League goaltender at Yale University, has been “instrumental” in Birkle’s success as a lacrosse player. The travel team, founded by Swanenburg in 2010, has allowed Birkle to play with individuals from around the Peninsula.

Swanenburg, who has watched many of his lacrosse players grow up, calls his program unique.

“We’ve been fortunate that we’ve got doors open for a lot of kids in our program in a variety of different ways,” he said. “Coming to play for the Patriots has given kids an opportunity to play alongside kids that are similarly motivated and talented, so that they get a little bit of a more competitive environment, pushed a little harder than they will be pushed in their home programs.”

Swanenburg offers words of wisdom to new and current lacrosse players who may be interested in playing at a higher level.

“The most important thing is to set a goal of getting better each day,” Swanenburg said. “You’re not getting an opportunity to play at the next level because of additional exposure, you’re getting the opportunity to play at the next level because of your ability.”

For Birkle, the sport “just clicked” when he was young, his mother said. Lacrosse isn’t just a sport, but a passion. When he’s not playing, he can be found stringing sticks, repairing helmets, coaching younger kids and drawing lines on the field.

Part of the appeal is the system of it all, he said.

“It’s very organized,” Birkle said. “It’s not all over the place, everything has its place, everyone has a certain job to do. And when everyone follows the system, it just makes it easy.”

This summer, while preparing to attend the national training camp, Birkle has been working as an EMT and a lifeguard and touring colleges. He’s hopeful that he will be able to continue his lacrosse journey within higher education and beyond. But if he doesn’t get selected for the national team, both he and his mother are just proud of the journey.

“Loving this last high school summer,” Birkle wrote on a lacrosse recruiting site, “and I’m playing like I have nothing to lose!”

Emma Henry, emma.henry@virginiamedia.com

The board approved a $2.7 million contract with JSG Corp. to do needed work to improve roads in the Settlers Market area. Improvements include milling and repaving the existing pavement, striping of lane markings, fixing and updating handicap accessible ramps, and working on the stormwater/drainage infrastructure, said Assistant County Administrator Jason Purse.

Purse said the improvements should be done within the next six months.

The board also authorized a $1.9 million fiber optic cable purchase to complete the county’s internet and communication infrastructure. The installation of the cable will complete connections to local public sites in the county, eliminating the need for leasing fiber optic cable use.

Currently, fiber optic cable serves 15 county sites, two James City Service Authority sites, 14 Williamsburg-James City County School sites and the two Williamsburg Regional Library sites.

Because one county site and three school system sites currently rent use of the cables for $76,000 per year, buying and installing 19 miles of new cable will eliminate the need to lease them.

“The installation of this fiber will also provide an improved infrastructure assuring continued communications in the event of a fiber cut or the failure of communications equipment at any given site,” according to the county.

Also at Tuesday’s meeting, board Chair Ruth Larson reminded residents to take part in the annual National Night Out, which is being recognized in James City County on Aug. 6. The event is a chance for the police department and community to come together.

“It’s always a special night on National Night Out when we go into our communities to really continue to build on those relationships and friendships,” James City County Police Chief Mark Jamison said. “It takes all of us to really provide a safe and vibrant community.”

That evening, from 5-8 p.m., groups of officers and staff will attend neighborhood block parties at 14 different locations throughout the county.

Also Tuesday, the board also heard a presentation on how to stay safe during hurricane season, which began June 1 and goes through Nov. 30.

Fire Chief Ryan Ashe presented advice on storm preparation for severe weather such as flooding, thunderstorms, hurricanes and tornadoes. Recommendations include making a family plan, building a storm kit, staying informed and taking protective measures during emergencies.

“The time to prepare for severe weather is not when the announcement comes out when the storm starts, it really should be an all-around process,” Ashe said.

Residents should maintain an emergency support network and identify meeting places and transportation options in the case of severe storms, he recommended. Residents should also have evacuation kits on hand that include supplies such as food and water, prescription medications, first aid kits, emergency cash and important documents, extra clothing and hygiene items.

Households can find their hurricane evacuation zone through the Virginia Department of Emergency Management’s Know Your Zone map, available at vaemergency.gov/know-your-zone. Ashe also recommended that families be aware of drowning prevention measures such as supervision, knowledge of CPR and water competency.

More information about severe weather preparedness and emergency alerts can be found through the JCC website and social media accounts. County residents can also sign up for emergency notifications through JCCAlert.org.

Sam Schaffer, samuel.schaffer@virginiamedia.com, and Emma Henry, emma.henry@virginiamedia.com 

That day, a slow-moving thunderstorm contributed to the flooding of a Colonial Parkway tunnel near Colonial Williamsburg, leaving about 5 feet of water on the parkway at the southern end on the Williamsburg Lodge side.

Two cars were flooded out, as was an ambulance that tried to enter the tunnel to assist the vehicles. Three motorists were stranded when high water engulfed their vehicles. All parties were rescued, according to newspaper accounts.

The total rainfall for that event was 11.3 inches in six hours in Williamsburg, while the National Park Service reported 12.5 inches on the battlefield during the same time frame.

Williamsburg holds the state’s single-day, 24-hour rainfall record of 14.28 inches, which occurred on Sept. 16, 1999, according to the National Weather Service. The rain was part of Hurricane Floyd, which struck the city of Franklin especially hard and flooded its downtown when the nearby Blackwater River overflowed its banks.

The state’s unofficial single day total was 27.35 inches in Nelson County on Aug. 20, 1969, associated with the remnants of Hurricane Camille.

Within the past week, the Williamsburg area, like much of Hampton Roads, has been hit almost daily by thunderstorms and rain squalls.

The Williamsburg water treatment plant, which has kept daily rainfall records for decades, reported nearly 5 inches of rain from July 20 through July 25.

In the summer “there is usually instability present in the atmosphere as a whole and the cumulous clouds as a result of convection bring showers spread over a wide area,” said Roman Miller, a weather service meteorologist in Wakefield.

The result, Miller said, is that the rain fall “can vary quite a bit” with a single storm. Therefore, one area of Williamsburg could get a toad-strangler — very heavy — rain, while several blocks away could have no rainfall at all.

Miller said the weather service’s co-op weather reporting site, just north of the city, has reported 10.37 inches of rain for the month of July. According to Weather Spark, an online site that collects weather data from all over the word, the average monthly rainfall for July in the Williamsburg area is 5.57 inches.

The August 1989 storm resulted from “a stalled cold front from southwest-southeast along the North Carolina line. It interacted with a low pressure systems along the coast from Norfolk to Georgia, pumping moisture into the state,” according to the weather service in Richmond as reported in the Aug.19, 1989, edition of the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Moisture that was expected to move westward into the Virginia mountains was instead drawn into the low pressure system, the weather service added. The result on that mid-August day was heavy rain in eastern Virginia.

Specifically, 11.3 inches of rain fell in Williamsburg during a total of six hours on Aug. 18.

“Virtually every street near the heart of the city had standing water at some time during the storm, which was the heaviest between 9 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.,” the newspaper reported. “Historic Duke of Gloucester Street was under nearly two feet of water with many intersections blocked.”

Then-Fire Chief Robert Bailey said that by the time he arrived at the parkway tunnel, “water was cascading down on the parkway from Francis Street and three people had taken shelter on the tops of their automobiles. There was shoulder-deep water all around.”

For the rest of the month, southeastern Virginia could see some drier days, but more rain isn’t out of the question, the National Weather Service said. Saturday, Sunday and Monday “were looking to be pretty dry” with storm chances returning in the mid-next week, Miller said.

The National Climate Projection Center, which provides forecasts 6-10 and 8-14 days out, has indicated there is an “above average” chance for rain in the next two weeks.

Wilford Kale was bureau chief for the Richmond Times-Dispatch and covered the Aug. 18, 1989, storm for the paper.

While most people are aware that the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex and national origin, this historic legislation actually covers much more. The act has 11 sections called titles. Each title was aimed to provide access to help level economic playing fields. The five most far-reaching titles outlaw discrimination in voter registration requirements, public accommodations (i.e. restaurants, theaters and hotels), access to public property and facilities, public schools and colleges, and employment.

Civil rights leaders hoped that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 would lead to racial equality and equity for Black, Indigenous and people of color, also known as BIPOC, and women. While there has been progress during the past 60 years, challenges still exist that have caused new generations to continue King’s fight for racial and economic justice.

BIPOC and women have made great strides in government, business, education and religious sectors. In 2020, Kamala Harris broke a glass ceiling when she became the first woman and woman of color elected as vice president of the United States. Today she is on the path to become the Democratic nominee for president of the United States.

Recently, Harvard University researchers found a rise in income mobility among Black people after examining census and tax records covering more than 50 million children over two generations.

However, a large wealth gap still exists. Black people have average incomes substantially less than their white counterparts. In the new book, “Fifteen Cents on the Dollar: How Americans Made the Black-White Wealth Gap,” co-authors Ebony Reed and Louise Story indicate that income mobility did not close the wealth gap. “The Black-white wealth gap still stands at 15 cents on the dollar, where it stood in the 1950s.” The book attributes this to economic discrimination embedded in America’s financial systems, which dates back to slavery and Jim Crow-era practices of redlining, unfair housing covenants, and racial and employment discrimination.

When we look at slavery from an economic perspective, it was designed to generate income and wealth for enslavers that could be passed down to their descendants, while keeping the enslaved and their descendants perpetually impoverished. Old money and houses passed down from slavery still benefit some white people today.

But there is potential to help level economic playing fields and heal racial wounds by truth-telling, reparative acts and increasing diversity and equity in the workplace.

In 2021, Lucy McCauley inherited the Wilmington, North Carolina, home of her great-grandfather. When she learned that his actions helped lead to the Wilmington Massacre of 1898, she sold the house and used the proceeds from the sale in a reparative way. She started a scholarship fund for African American students.

In 2022, Donna Melcher began a journey of racial healing that brought her to Williamsburg. Determined to look her family ties to slavery squarely in the face without whitewashing the uncomfortable parts, she stood before a crowd of more than 50 people, apologized for the harm her ancestors had caused and took tangible, reparative steps to make amends. “One day I will be somebody’s ancestor and I want to be the ancestor that got it right,” Melcher said.

In 2020, 56 years after the Civil Rights Act was passed, Citigroup Bank conducted a study to put a price tag on racial discrimination over a 20-year period. The cost was a staggering $16 trillion! The good news from the study was that the U.S. economy could swell by $5 trillion over a five-year period by addressing the wage gap and promoting diversity within management ranks at banks and businesses.

When we come together to build a more diverse and just community, we all win!

Laura D. Hill is the executive director of the Virginia Racial Healing Institute, which manages Coming to the Table-Historic Triangle. Learn more about her work at varacialhealinginstitute.org.