http://hamptonroads.com/taxonomy/term/111 Category: Roger Chesley en-us Copyright 2008 PilotOnline.com / HamptonRoads.com. Sun, 07 Sep 2008 22:07:52 -0400 My chruch  has a ritual that's among the most moving experiences I've witnessed there. http://hamptonroads.com/2008/09/laying-hands-city Fri, 05 Sep 2008 19:34:26 -0400 Police chiefs don't make the law. They're not supposed to ignore some at the expense of others. They have to enforce them all. http://hamptonroads.com/2008/08/struggling-price-pot-fight Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:16:02 -0400 Iti, in a word, bizarre: Recent news articles say "Mary McFate," a longtime gun-control activist who had aggressively sought a board position with the nation's pre-eminent group opposing gun violence, was possibly a paid spy for the largest gun-rights organization in the country. http://hamptonroads.com/2008/08/spying-allegation-targets-nra-spying-allegation-targets-nra Fri, 08 Aug 2008 20:28:51 -0400 The news out of Washington on homelessness was encouraging. So it seemed. The number of "chronically homeless" people nationwide had dropped a whopping 30 percent in just two years, from 175,914 to 123,833. From 2005 to 2007, according to federal housing officials, tens of thousands more people had stable homes and were out of shelters or off the streets. http://hamptonroads.com/2008/08/statistical-dispute-leaves-hazy-homeless-picture Fri, 01 Aug 2008 20:22:17 -0400 IT'S BEEN hovering in the 90s lately, but John Skirven already fears the 30-degree temperatures we'll see this winter. http://hamptonroads.com/2008/07/sos-out-agencies-serve-poor-hungry-elderly Fri, 25 Jul 2008 22:08:44 -0400 Did he  really just take a swing at me? It was 30 years ago, spring 1978, and I was leaving the indoor basketball courts at the University of Maryland in suburban D.C. A guy from the other team - which had lost when I'd sunk the winning hoop - approached me as I was leaving the gym. "You undercut me!" he shouted. "Let's go!" he added, challenging me to a fight. http://hamptonroads.com/2008/07/guns-no-second-chances Fri, 11 Jul 2008 20:23:04 -0400 Two sides of the gun issue played themselves out in stark contrast in our region within days. We saw gunfire devastate the family of an 18-year-old Oscar Smith High School graduate, who was found on a Chesapeake lawn. We witnessed the heroic actions of a pizza owner in Virginia Beach who killed a suspected robber, saving himself and his employees. http://hamptonroads.com/2008/07/seek-common-ground-halting-gun-carnage Sat, 05 Jul 2008 15:24:47 -0400 Virginia Beach's strict regulation of street advertising has always seemed kind of odd, over the top - and not always applied fairly. For more than two decades, the city has prohibited companies from constructing new billboards. The policy was designed to remove unsightly come-ons from thoroughfares, as council members and city officials embarked on a beautification campaign. http://hamptonroads.com/2008/06/roll-admobile-roll Sat, 28 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400 Chesapeake's grand revitalization plans for South Norfolk have gotten stuck at the crossing - of the railroad tracks. It could be a very long wait. And I'm siding with the trains. http://hamptonroads.com/2008/06/dont-railroad-railroad Fri, 20 Jun 2008 21:47:11 -0400 STATE AND federal officials are taking a well-deserved new look at fly ash, the powdery substance that's a byproduct of burning coal for electricity. For decades, regulators have been studying its risks to both human health and the environment. Even so, they've been allowing, and even encouraging, electric companies to dispose of fly ash in ways that increase the public's exposure to it. http://hamptonroads.com/2008/06/more-work-needed-use-fly-ash Sat, 14 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400