Once the crews arrived on the scene they were able to enter the structure and locate the victim.
Nine year old Ava Landis of Cape May, New Jersey will be competing in CBS new reality competition series, Live to Dance, this Wednesday night. Landis is the great-granddaughter of Gladys Marsh, the granddaughter of the late Van Marsh and the niece of Tracy Marsh and Crystal Hart, all of Onancock.
RICHMOND -- Because they perform such a vital public service, Virginia law exempts police officers from jury duty. But what about firefighters?They'd be exempt too under a bill proposed by state Delegate James E. Edmunds II, R-South Boston, and endorsed last week by a House subcommittee.
House Bill 1527 also would apply to emergency medical technicians, rescue squad members and arson investigators. Along with firefighters, they would be exempt from jury duty if they so request.
Firefighters and other emergency personnel often are stretched thin; in a fire department, only a handful may be licensed to drive a fire truck. Requiring them to serve on juries puts more stress on first responders and can undermine public safety, Edmunds said.
"A lot of departments only have one or two who have the license to drive a truck," Edmunds said.
"You can imagine if they were on vacation and there's no substitute, and you have to call somebody from a different department. It could potentially be a life-saving issue."
The issue was brought to Edmunds' attention by the Virginia State Firefighters Association.
On Wednesday, a subcommittee of the House Courts of Justice Committee voted 11-0 in favor of HB 1527. The measure now goes to the full committee for consideration this week.
Edmunds assured the panel that such claims could easily be disproved by simply calling the department.
He said the bill is a fitting recognition for public servants: "It's a small token of appreciation for those who serve.
According to Major Todd Godwin, on Thursday, January 13 at approximately 1:07 a.m., the Accomack County Sheriff's Office received a call regarding an alarm at the Bargain Barrel in New Church which was found to be the result of an actual breaking & entering. 
Hampton Roads' newest member of Congress, U.S. Rep. Scott Rigell, was sworn in today (Wednesday) as part of the 112th Congress. He's part of the new Republican majority that has taken over leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives and vowed to move quickly to consider legislation that would repeal the health care overhaul law passed last year.
Rigell, 50, defeated Democratic incumbent Glenn Nye in the 2nd Congressional District election in November. The district covers Virginia Beach and parts of Norfolk and Hampton.
Rigell, who has never held elected office before this year, campaigned promising to cut spending and government regulations and to focus on job creation.
He acknowledged that one of the things he has to figure out is how to exert influence. “I do not intend to hunker down in my office and hope I don’t say something stupid," he said. "I want to swing the bat.”Three veteran Hampton Roads congressmen also began new two-year terms, with two returning Republicans slated to lead subcommittees of the House Armed Services Committee.
U.S. Rep. Randy Forbes of Chesapeake is to be chairman of the readiness subcommittee, and U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman of Westmoreland County will head the oversight and investigations subcommittee.
U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Newport News, returns for his 10th term in Congress.
Scott Rigell will become the new second district congressman tomorrow. Rigell will be officially sworn in during ceremonies at Capitol Hill.
The new Walmart in Onley had better than expected sales this holiday season.
CHINCOTEAGUE ISLAND, Va.- The Chincoteague Causeway has re-opened after it was closed due to high winds and snow drifts from Sunday's winter storm.
NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) - Virginia National Guard soldiers are assisting Virginia State Police and local emergency response organizations respond to stranded motorists on Virginia's Eastern Shore.A total of eight soldiers in four Humvees are conducting the support mission on Monday.
According to a Virginia National Guard statement, one adult and two children were transported from a stranded vehicle off Route 13 near Cape Charles to a local hotel around 4:45 a.m. Another three citizens stranded in their car for more than four hours were rescued around 6:30 a.m. in the Onancock area and taken to a local shelter.
The soldiers are also transporting emergency services personnel to work at the local hospital.
In Hampton Roads, Virginia Guard soldiers conducted mounted route patrols Sunday night into Monday morning in Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake and Virginia Beach and assisted several motorists free their cars from being stuck in the snow.
Since early Sunday morning, approximately 100 Virginia National Guard soldiers have been staged and ready to provide support to emergency response organizations in Hampton Roads.
Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 111th Field Artillery Regiment; 2d Squadron, 183d Cavalry Regiment and 429th Brigade Support Battalion are providing personnel for the operation. Soldiers are staged at the Hampton and Norfolk readiness centers.
Governor Bob McDonnell declared a state of emergency in the Commonwealth of Virginia Saturday afternoon, a step authorizing state agencies to take precautionary action to prepare for any potential impacts of significant snow accumulation in the region. The declaration authorized the Adjutant General of Virginia to call up those resources he thinks necessary to ensure the Guard can fulfill its mission to provide snow recovery operations.
On Sunday soldiers conducted route reconnaissance patrols in Humvees to assess road conditions in the Hampton Roads area, said Col. Gerald T. Catrett, joint operations officer for the Virginia Guard.
"The key to rapid response for this event is having personnel in place and ready to respond before the snow begins falling in the region," Catrett said. "By calling in soldiers Saturday night while the roads were still clear, we were able to have a force in place and ready to respond Sunday morning.
The Virginia National Guard receives their missions through the Virginia Department of Emergency Management to assist state and local emergency response organizations and is not able to respond to direct support requests from the public, Catrett said. "If the snow storm causes any conditions where people need assistance, they should request assistance through their local dispatcher or 911 service, not directly to the Virginia Guard. When appropriate, the request for assistance will be forwarded to us for action," he said.
As much as 14 inches are expected.
The winter storm warning for Northampton and Accomack counties expires at 5 a.m. Monday.
Blizzard conditions have just been announced. Please use good judgement and good sense and stay where you are. The police and emergency people are having a rough time out in this weather. Don't jeopardise your life or theirs!
Dear Editor: I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, "If you see it in The Sun, it's so." Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus? -- Virginia O'Hanlon
115 W. Ninety-fifth Street
New York, N.Y.
Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except (what) they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
-- Originally printed on Sept. 21, 1897
The (New York) Sun
THERE MAY BE A TELEPHONE SCAM BEING PERITRATED ON VIRGINIANS. 
According to Major Todd Godwin of the Accomack County Sheriffs Office, on October 28, 2010 at approximately 10:19 PM, the Accomack County Sheriffs Office received a report of an armed robbery that occurred at the Corner Mart convenience store in Wattsville, Virginia. Based on witness accounts, 3 suspects entered the store and robbed the clerk of an undisclosed amount of money and property.
The Greater Parksley Association and the Parksley Volunteer Fire Company invite you to An Olde Fashion Christmas in Parksley 2010.
By Linda Spence
Defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp is cutting 380 salaried jobs at its Newport News shipbuilding facility, citing a need to control costs. The company that builds submarines and aircraft carriers for the Navy said the reduction of about 2 percent of its 20,000 workers at the shipyard was necessary to improve efficiency and costs.
The announcement marks the first reduction its Newport News facility has experienced in more than a decade.
"While this is a very difficult decision, it is a critical and necessary step in order to control costs, effectively manage overhead, improve efficiency and lower the acquisition costs of our products to better secure the future of our shipyard," Matt Mulherin, vice president and general manager of Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding-Newport News, said in a statement.
Northrop Grumman, which plans next summer to move its headquarters to Falls Church from Los Angeles, said the cuts are driven, in part, by the completion of major milestones on existing contracts. For example, the company said it is nearing the completion of the design of the Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier.
More than 100 of the affected employees have been identified as having prior trades experience and have been offered hourly positions, such as welders and electricians, the company said.
Northrop Grumman said in July that it was exploring "various alternatives for the potential separation of its shipbuilding business, including a spinoff or sale of the unit."
Last week, the company told private-equity bidders for its shipbuilding business, which includes its Newport News shipbuilding operations, that the company has chosen to spin off the unit to shareholders, three people with knowledge said then.
The company had announced plans in July to shutter the Avondale shipyard near New Orleans in early 2013 and consolidate its Gulf Coast military shipbuilding at Pascagoula, Miss. About 4,600 people now work at Avondale.
Pentagon entrances were locked down early Tuesday after a report of possible shots fired near the building.Maj. Chris Perrine, a Pentagon spokesman, says a civilian reported he may have heard shots at about 5 a.m. EDT on the south side of the massive Defense Department headquarters.
Perrine says police authorities did a sweep of the area and didn't find anything.
The roads and pedestrian entrances leading to the Pentagon were reopened a little after 5:30.
Virginians looking to vote in the November election have until 5 p.m. Tuesday.The state Board of Elections says Tuesday is the deadline to register to vote or to update voter information. Virginians can register to cast a ballot as long as they will be 18 or older by Nov. 2.
They can register to vote at any of the 74 Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles customer service centers or 57 DMV Select locations throughout the state or at their local registrar's office.
Residents also can check their voter status and polling places on the board's website, http://www.sbe.virginia.gov/.
Assistance also is available by calling the board at 1-800-552-9745 or the local registrar's office.
CHESAPEAKEIt's a fair question when thieves are robbing from the dead, and that's what Michael Ruiz Cardona and Holly Minnie Chandler were charged with when they were arrested Wednesday by Chesapeake police.
According to police reports, Cardona and Chandler were stocking their van with the bronze vases that mark the plots of veterans' graves at Greenlawn Memorial Gardens.
Police patrolling the area around 8:45 p.m. took the suspects into custody, charging each with one count of grand larceny with intent to sell and one count of vandalism.
They could face additional counts, as each stolen vase represents a separate offense.
Cardona, 23, of Decatur Street in Portsmouth has three previous convictions, including one in 2008 for petty larceny and one in 2009 for grand larceny. Both were in Portsmouth.
Chandler, 21, is of the 2500 block of Woodshire Circle in Chesapeake.
The cemetery, at 3920 Airline Blvd., reported 101 vases stolen on six occasions since Aug. 30.
A police investigation concluded Cardona and Chandler are responsible for at least 53 of those vases, Chesapeake police spokeswoman Officer Dorienne Boykin said.
The arrests are a relief to Hinton Hurff, president of Greenlawn Memorial Gardens. Hurff said he has been distressed by the thefts of the costly vases, which are not covered by insurance.
"It's really emotional for the family. I hope this puts an end to it," he said.
A typical vase assembly kit costs $548, including $300 for the vase itself. The vases are not the property of the cemetery; they are the property of the plot owners. However, Hurff plans to offer the family members a discount if they choose to replace a missing vase.
Diane Pettway, who visited the cemetery last week to put birthday flowers in the vase on her father's grave, was stunned when she found no vase. The chain holding it in place had been cut.Thieves usually pilfer the bronze vases from grave sites to melt them down for scrap metal, typically getting $1.50 a pound - $30 to $65 or more for a vase between 20 and 45 pounds.
Cemeteries in Raleigh, N.C.; Charlotte, N.C.; Albany, N.Y.; and Las Vegas have had vases stolen by the hundreds in the past year. Boykin said no additional Chesapeake cemeteries have reported problems.
In Norfolk, three reports were filed regarding stolen vases from Woodlawn Memorial Gardens at 6309 E. Virginia Beach Blvd., Norfolk police spokeswoman Karen Parker-Chesson said.
Three reports were also filed since May by Forest Lawn Cemetery at 8100 Granby St., Parker-Chesson said.
Hurff said securing the 47 acres at Greenlawn is not realistic. Cameras and floodlights are also not practical, he said.
Pettway said she is unsure what her father's replacement vase will be made from.
"Maybe ceramic or plastic, I don't know," she said. "It's just horrible what they did."
