FLS News

Caroline center gets festive look

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Caroline County is marking the one-year anniversary of its visitors center this weekend with a holiday display and extended hours. The 7,000-square-foot facility on State Route 207 will be open until 7:30 p.m. and will display holiday decorations and handmade crafts donated by the Caroline County Garden Club....

City hires economic development manager

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Tremblay named to city economic post Fredericksburg has hired Richard Tremblay to be its economic development manager....

Benefit concert brings family back together

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Guitarist Dave Cleveland will headline a benefit show, "An Evening of Thanksgiving and Hope," featuring his two sisters at Fairview at Riverclub in Spotsylvania on Nov. 27. Cleveland will be performing songs from his new recording, "Hope in Motion," a collection of 12 instrumentals....

Coffee links communities

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500

In Indonesia, a widow struggles to care for 25 orphans. In Locust Grove, a group of Christians struggle to share their faith in an area filled with gated communities and busy commuters....

IN ORANGE, A SEA OF RED

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500

IN THE NEXT few weeks many of us, in fact millions of Americans, are going to be buying poinsettias to decorate our homes and offices for the holidays. Did you ever wonder where they come from?...

CHECKING ON SPRING

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500

WE COULD NOT have asked for better planting weather than the last few weeks. Rain has been sufficient, and between rains, the ground workable, the sun shining. Rains near the middle of the month have come at just the right time to give everything newly set out the boost it needed. Nature, for all its cruelty, sometimes provides just what our gardens need, and on a schedule that works for the gardener....

For many people school is like jail, a prison where students are just "doing time." The essays that appear in this space are dedicated to those who wish their schooling had been more interesting. They are one English teacher's attempt to make practical sense of books, poetry, music, art, movies and other things worth thinking about.

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500

First of an occasional series AFTER MY WIFE and I purchased our first house, a fixer-upper just off Main Street, I spent a good bit of time working on the yard. I mulched the steep front bank and planted dozens of daylilies, mainly so I wouldn't have to worry about mowing. I planted candytuft and lavender around the back patio. Each spring, I filled the terrace with impatiens and geraniums that I'd grown in my basement. I spent a lot of time in that yard, making it look presentable, and I was quite proud of the results....

A. P. Hill seeks to improve communication

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500

By RUSTY DENNEN Fort A.P. Hill needs to better inform the community about what it does and why, says Lt. Col. John W. Haefner, the base commander....

CORRECTION

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Charlie in the "Twilight" saga is Bella Swan's father. That information was incorrect in a story yesterday. It is the policy of The Free Lance-Star to correct factual errors in a timely fashion. We welcome your calls at 540/374-5400....

Germanna plans parking deck at new building

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Germanna Community College plans to build a three-level parking garage to accompany the third academic building at its Fredericksburg-area campus, which could mean higher fees, Vice President for Administrative Affairs Rick Brehm said. The garage would have 575 spaces to help with the parking shortage at the campus, Brehm told the Germanna Community College Board at a meeting Thursday....

UMW passes midyear increase

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500

BY JEFF BRANSCOME University of Mary Washington undergraduates will pay $100 more in tuition for the spring semester....

Youth fares on VRE studied

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Children and young adults under 21 have another month to ride Virginia Railway Express trains at a discount, after the commuter service's governing board deferred a vote on limiting the half-price ticket program. The VRE Operations Board was slated to vote yesterday on whether to change the current youth fare policy, which allows children 6 and younger to ride free with a fare-paying adult, and youths ages 7 to 21 to ride for 50 percent of the full fare....

Arrest made in thefts at VRE lots

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500

The Fredericksburg Police Department has made an arrest in connection with a rash of thefts from vehicles parked in lots near the downtown train station. Timothy Tolson, 19, of Fredericksburg was arrested and charged with 11 counts of larceny with the intent to distribute, petit larceny, obtaining money through false pretenses, and vandalism, according to Natatia Bledsoe, Police Department spokeswoman....

Beer bottle blow leads to arrest

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500

One of two Hispanic men who police say may have been arguing over national pride wound up in jail after the other was hit over the head with a beer bottle Thursday night. According to Culpeper town police Detective Andrew Terrill, 30-year-old Alberto Antonio Hernandez and a 17-year-old were involved in the heated discussion when the younger man was struck in the face with the bottle....