General Assembly wrap up

Three legislators oppose
Falwell parkway

Three Northern Virginia legislators
expressed their opposition to a bill
designed to name a stretch of U.S. 460
after the Rev. Jerry Falwell, an influential
evangelical and political activist who
died in May.

Sen. Steve Newman, R-Forest, is
sponsoring the legislation to name a
section of highway in Lynchburg and
Campbell County the “Jerry Falwell
Parkway.” Senate Bill 654 was approved
by the House by a vote of 90-3.

Falwell founded Lynchburg’s megachurch
Thomas Road Baptist Church,
Liberty University and the political-activist
group Moral Majority. During his
career, Falwell became a controversial
figure for his outspoken views on a
wide range of social issues.

The bill, which passed the Senate
unanimously in January, was unopposed
until Delegate Adam P. Ebbin,
D-Arlington, voted against the bill in the
House Committee on Transportation.

“In addition to whatever (Falwell’s)
good works were, he tried to use our
greatest national tragedy to score points
against his political opponents,” Ebbin
said. “And based on that, I couldn’t vote
for the bill.”

Ebbin referred to remarks Falwell made
about the Sept. 11 attacks only three days
after the World Trade Center towers fell
during “The 700 Club,” a talk show on
the Christian Broadcasting Network.

“I really believe that the pagans,
and the abortionists, and the feminists,
and the gays and the lesbians who are
actively trying to make that an alternative
lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the
American Way, all of them who have
tried to secularize America — I point the
finger in their face and say, ‘You helped
this happen,’ ” Falwell said.

Brief by Travis Lyle

DMV fees increase, wait
times decrease

With a possible 200-percent increase
in wait times – as predicted by officials
at the Virginia Department of Motor
Vehicles – one bill is attempting to
reduce wait times by adding servicecenter
fees.

Senate Bill 116, which was referred
to the House Appropriations Committee,
would tack on a $5 fee to the
standard $39.50 charge for renewing
vehicle registration, if the transaction is
carried out at one of the DMV’s service
centers.

The fee will create revenue for the
commonwealth and will encourage
DMV customers to perform standard
tasks online, over the phone or through
the mail, said Sen. Ryan T. McDougle,
R-Mechanicsville, the bill’s sponsor.

“The bill was intended to make the
DMV more efficient and reduce waiting
times,” McDougle said.

The fees will encourage customers
to use service centers only for complex
transactions, such as applying for a
REAL ID, McDougle said. The federal
REAL ID act, paired with a planned
system overhaul, will result in increased
wait times at the DMV, a spokesperson
said.

“We are predicting our wait time (to
increase) by 200 percent,” said Melanie
Stokes, a DMV spokesperson.

Without a REAL ID, a person may
be barred from entering airplanes or
federal buildings, and, as the 2009
deadline approaches, the DMV expects
to be flooded with customers requiring
time-consuming transactions.

Brief by Christen Duxbury

Ceremony celebrates civilrights
memorial

In 1951, seeking better school
facilities, 450 students at Prince Edward
County’s Robert R. Moton High School
walked out in protest and marched into
history as pioneers of the civil-rights
movement.

Fifty-seven years later, one of those
students, the Rev. Samuel Williams,
stood on Capitol Square during a
groundbreaking ceremony to celebrate
the Capitol Square Civil Rights Memorial,
which honors the Moton High
students and the attorneys who paved
the way for a national civil-rights
movement.

Williams said the Capitol Square
memorial is important because it will
honor the events that took place in
1951.

“It’s the groundbreaking as you just
saw,” Williams said. “And also we broke
ground on April 21, 1951. We never
did know that we were doing anything
to set up Brown v. Board.” Brown was
referring to the milestone 1954 case
of Brown v. Board of Education of
Topeka, Kan.

The ceremony began with a prayer
by the Rev. Curtis W. Harris, a member
of the U.S. Commission of Civil Rights.
He asked for a moment of silence to
remember the lives of the people who
played an important role in the civilrights
movement.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, former first
lady of Virginia Lisa Collis, Lt. Gov.
Bill Bolling and Delegate William J.
Howell, R-Fredericksburg, spoke at the
ceremony Tuesday, which more than
100 people attended.

Kaine, who received a standing ovation
from the crowd when he began to
speak, welcomed the families of Oliver
W. Hill, Barbara Johns, Spottswood
W. Robinson III and the Rev. Leslie
Francis Griffin Sr. Kaine also welcomed
members of the Virginia Senate and
recognized young children involved in
pivotal points in history.

Brief by Suzanne Hoyle