Roger Chesley

Drying up an explosive pool

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 20:58:26 -0500

Chesapeake police officials hope to get a sizable haul when they offer their first-ever gun buyback program at two precincts on Saturday, Dec. 6. People can turn in their firearms, no questions asked.

Straight talk about sex beats regret

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 22:14:11 -0500

We want our teenagers to do what's right and be safe: Take your vitamins. Wear your seat belts. Don't post too much information about yourselves on the Internet. Wait to have sex until after marriage.

Searching for hints in South Hill

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 21:42:55 -0500

RESIDENTS in Chesapeake's ill-fated South Hill neighborhood, where workers are cleaning up a massive fertilizer spill from a collapsed aboveground tank, must be wondering whether the discharge was a freak accident - or an omen of things to come. City officials are trying to figure out the same thing.

Colors of a nation, and a president

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 20:56:20 -0500

What do these two things have in common: America's military men and women, and U.S. Olympic athletes? You see it, sadly, when newspapers such as The Washington Post run collages of our dead troops from the Iraq war. You see it, happily, when our Olympians march into whatever stadium is holding the quadrennial games. The colors.

Cast your ballot for early and weekend voting

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 19:43:00 -0400

In a presidential election season that's been endless, Virginians could face lines at the polls Tuesday that seem just as long.

Norfolk arrest proves value of background checks

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 19:51:38 -0400

Among the hundreds of handguns, knives and military arms inside Bob's Gun Shop - "in a Navy town, you have to have military guns" - owner Robert Marcus rarely refuses to sell to potential buyers. In maybe 98 times out of 100, background checks go off without a hitch at his huge store on Granby Street in downtown Norfolk.

Keeping young black men alive

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 22:54:32 -0400

Norfolk Police Chief Bruce Marquis advises that, "First and foremost, it goes back to the family, or lack thereof." James Church, 43, Chesapeake auto dealer and former pro football player, says teens need to "think of the consequences of things happening, that might be beyond your control, at 11 o'clock or 12 o'clock" at night.

The race factor in Virginia's presidential polling

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 19:41:20 -0400

Supporters of Barack Obama have more reason for hope, barely a month from the presidential election, that their candidate could be the first Democrat to turn Virginia blue in 44 years. Four polls of state voters released in the past several days show the race a virtual dead heat in the commonwealth; Obama led in two polls, and Republican nominee John McCain led in the other two.

N.C. schools have unseemly link to D.C. team

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 19:37:21 -0400

Fan fondness for insensitive racial terms has reared its ugly head once again. Virginian-Pilot writer Catherine Kozak reports that a former member of the North Carolina Board is urging school districts in the state to rid itself of Indian mascots. Eddie Davis has taken aim, in particular, at those schools that still use terms such as "Redskins," as offensive a moniker there is.

'Laying hands' on a city

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 19:34:26 -0400

My chruch has a ritual that's among the most moving experiences I've witnessed there.