On January 12 17, 8pm, Minerva Books will celebrate Edgar Allen Poe’s 200th. Event participation is open to adults over 21 who RSVP by January 12. The event will start with an Edgar Allan Poe lookalike contest at 8pm (props, dramatic renderings and creativity are encouraged) and then move on to a literary scavenger hunt, in which teams will be asked to pool their wits to solve a mystery. Prizes will be awarded for both competitions.

In the January 2009 edition of Richmond Magazine, Petersburg resident and author Jeff Abugel shares the story behind the once and future restorative Hiram Haines Coffee House, where Edgar Allen Poe and his wife spent their honeymoon.

Click here to read the agenda.

From the agenda: “Bi-Annual Organizational Meeting for the purpose of electing a Mayor and Vice Mayor and also the adoption of the Rules of Council”. The meeting will be at 5:30pm, January 5, at Council Chambers, City Hall.

Petersburg Police’s latest addition to the force is Tyson, a canine drug dog. It has been over six years since Petersburg has implemented a canine unit and there are plans for expansion as funds become available. Tyson is a two year old female with prior experience with the U.S. Customs department. Watch NBC12 at noon today and the evening broadcast and/or channel 8 WRIC this evening for a story about Tyson.

Two weeks ago this evening, City Council voted unanimously for the city to invite Berkshire Advisors, the consultants hired to produce the Efficiency Study of city government, to directly address the community and answer questions: “[Mayor Mickens] also asked Council for a motion to invite Berkshire Advisors to the city for a meeting with the public about the review. Councilwoman Dama Rice made the motion and Vice Mayor Horace Webb provided a second before the motion was unanimously approved, to applause from the audience. … [Mickens] added that the firm will be contacted today [December 16]….” [via]. Such an invite would not entail additional expenditure, as the contract with Berkshire calls for such. [via] According to Ms. Costello-Shea of Berkshire, however, as of today no invitation has yet been received.

The cafetorium at A.P. Hill Elementary School was packed and the stage beautifully decorated on December 16, 2008 as the PTA/Title I Parent Advisory Council (PAC) hosted a celebration of Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
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The oral history project, www.voicesofpetersburg.org, provides “a documented, organized and archival informational system through which citizens, education institutions and youth will have access to Petersburg’s civil rights history and its impact on the City of Petersburg, State of Virginia, the United States, and its citizens.” Audio files and transcripts are available here.

Based on the current economic conditions and predictions for 2009, local nonprofit financial consultant Randy Howard, president of 501 Advisors, believes that nonprofit organizations are facing, yet are unprepared for, some of the most challenging financial conditions of recent years.
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Personal Care Preferred Group’s (PCPG’s) first companywide food drive netted over 1,000 food items to be equally divided and donated to the social services departments that serve the company’s seven locations, including the counties of Isle of Wight, Prince George, Sussex, Southampton, Surry, Brunswick, Greensville, Chesterfield and Dinwiddie, as well as the cities of Emporia, Petersburg, Colonial Heights, Hopewell and Franklin. Community members and employees were asked to donate non-perishable, non-breakable food items between December 1 and December 17, 2008.
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Cliff Davis of Petersburg City Public Schools has forwarded information on two scholarship opportunities:
1) Crater Chapter of the US Warrant Officer Association Scholarship Program - for military connected youth
2) Southside Virginia Chapter of Military Officer’s Association of America, Roper Memorial Scholarships - for students from schools in the Ft. Lee and Southside Virginia areas
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In order to provide a more efficient structure for tackling its two major programs, Main Street and the Petersburg R/UDAT, Downtown Petersburg, Inc. (DPI) will transfer implementation of the Petersburg R/UDAT plan to a new organization, the Cockade City Initiative (CCI), effective January 1, 2009. CCI will focus its efforts exclusively on implementation of the DPI R/UDAT plan. This will in turn permit DPI to concentrate on the strategies of a traditional Main Street organization, at the same time that it is seeking renewed status for Petersburg as a Virginia Main Street community. The two organizations will partner on many projects.
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A bus is available for persons who wish to attend the Saturday, December 20 Petersburg High School Boy’s Varsity Basketball away game against Booker T. Washington High School. The bus will leave from Petersburg High School at 4 p.m. Saturday. Cost is $20 for a seat and $6 for a game ticket. Contact Diane Parham at 804-720-3511 or P.J. at 804-919-0957 for more information.

VANNO today announced its Just in Time audio conference series to provide affordable, accessible, and immediate insight, skill-building and fresh ideas to nonprofit organizations during the current economic downturn. The workshops are one hour in length and will be lead by leading nonprofit consultants across the state. Go to www.VANNO.org to register today. Members $25, non-members $35. Current schedule of workshops (more may be added in the coming weeks):
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Check it out at www.historicpetersburg.org.

For the full-page flyer with additional details, click here!

From the office of Gov. Kaine: Governor Timothy M. Kaine today released the state’s official revenue forecast and announced measures to address the shortfall in a speech to the Joint Money Committees. The Governor’s proposed budget amendments are available at http://dpb.virginia.gov/budget/buddoc09/index.cfm. Below are his prepared remarks:
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The Historic Petersburg Foundation (HPF) has announced the theme and chairman of its 2009 Ball in the Burg. For its sixth annual much-anticipated fund-raiser the theme will be “The Crystal Ball: Sparkle, Shimmer, Twinkle, Shine. . .Gaze Into Another Time.” The ball will be chaired again this year by longtime Petersburg resident and current HPF president, Larry C. Tucker.
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An area resident has pleaded the case about turning comments on in relation to the Petition re: elected Mayor form of govt., as they would like to understand the rationale behind the proposed change. Similarly, how we as a community ultimately respond to the efficiency study is far too important a question to not be discussing as openly/widely as possible. Thus, with school being out for the next few weeks (i.e., with me having a bit more time available for the next few weeks), comments are on (moderated) on the threads linked above and on this thread.

The night was foggy and, as usual, Santa’s sleigh needed a glowing guide. But this time, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was no help at all – he had a cold. Add an errant asteroid to the mix, headed straight for the North Pole, and Christmas seemed doomed. This week students of Walnut Hill Elementary School in Petersburg pondered this problem as they performed Teresa Jennings’ play, “The Incredible Reindeer.”

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Click here for a copy of the agenda.

Following on last night’s meeting (and here) held by City Council re: the efficiency study, Greg Werkheiser (Executive Director, The Phoenix Project) writes Mayor Annie Mickens “to clarify some of the process questions that arose at last night’s meeting and suggest a path for Council’s response to the Study.”
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Learn the difference between a parados and a banquette, or a bastion and a re-entrant. On Saturday, January 17, 2009 Petersburg National Battlefield will sponsor a caravan tour, led by Ranger Randy Watkins, which will explore military engineering and fortifications as they were employed during the siege of Petersburg. The eight hour tour will commence at 9:00 a.m. at the Eastern Front Visitor Center. Sites visited will include Forts Darling and Stevens, Dantzler Battery and the Howlett Line on Bermuda Hundred. Petersburg area fortifications will include the Dimmock Line and later siege and defense lines around Petersburg out to Hatcher’s Run and Confederate Fort Gregg on the far Confederate right flank. Fortification schemes and construction techniques will be featured and compared with the little known World War I trenches located on portions of the battlefield that were part of Camp Lee, now Fort Lee.
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The P-I well captures the gist of last night’s meeting held by City Council re: the efficiency study. A few outcomes of the meeting: Berkshire Advisors (who conducted the study) will be invited to speak before the community and presumably engage in some Q&A; expanding on info in the P-I article, it was noted that the recommendations of city staff in response to the study (due in to Council in Jan) will be made available to the community on the city’s website (to facilitate discussions about same in light of the budget process that is underway).

In the inbox: “Dear Concerned Citizens of Petersburg, There will be a ‘Petition to Change the Current System of Government to a Mayor-Elect form of Government’ circulating tomorrow evening. Our goal is 10,000 signatures. Thank you in advance for your support!” The meeting referenced is tonight’s community input meeting re: efficiency study at Vernon Johns.