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A youth minister at a Stafford County church was indicted yesterday on charges that she had sexual relations with a 15-year-old boy. Jennifer Michelle Brennan, 36, of Spotsylvania was charged by a Stafford grand jury with 10 counts of taking indecent liberties with a child and 10 counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. According to court records and sources, Brennan met the boy through her position as youth minister at Saint Matthias United Methodist Church in Stafford. The boy's mother said that among other things, Brennan counseled her son and his girlfriend against premarital sex. An affidavit...

Published: August 6, 2009 FREDERICKSBURG — Spotsylvania County authorities say a 60-year-old woman and her Labrador were attacked by a pit bull owned by her son. The Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office says the woman suffered numerous bites and broke her shin bone and finger during the Sunday attack. Her dog was euthanized because of life-threatening injuries. The victim originally stated that she was walking her dog when a dog ran toward her and started attacking her dog. Authorities canvassed the area in an attempt to locate the dog, but were unable to find the animal. An anonymous tip led authorities...

Spotsylvania (Virginia) supervisors vote to make English the official language of the county BY DAN TELVOCK Date published: 9/12/2007 BY DAN TELVOCK Spotsylvania (VA) supervisors passed resolutions last night to recognize English as the county's official language and to join a coalition of governments that will study legislative solutions to illegal immigration. Spotsylvania Supervisor Chris Yakabouski, who is running for the state senate against Sen. Edd Houck (D-Spotsylvania), brought forward both resolutions, which passed on 7-0 votes. Supervisors met later in closed session to get advice from legal counsel "on issues affecting local regulations on illegal immigration." The coalition resolution...

SPOTSYLVANIA, Va. (AP) — A teenager was charged yesterday with killing and raping his sister and beating his niece with a sledgehammer in a crime the sheriff called one of the most brutal he has seen. Walter Smith Jr., 16, was charged with the first-degree murder and rape of his sister, Betsy Mary Smith, 22, and aggravated assault against his 2-year-old niece, Andrea Costello. The teenager was charged after he recounted Monday morning's events to Spotsylvania detectives, said Sheriff Howard Smith. Based on what he told them, police said, Miss Smith was beaten with a sledgehammer and stabbed before being...

PROJECT: COUNTERINTELLIGENCE SUBJECT: ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION / RESPONSE ON THE U.S. LOCAL LEVEL FILE: OPPOSITION RESEARCH TRANSLATION: SPANISH to ENGLISH (w/BABELFISH) Original Spanish Title: ("Otro Condado de Virginia Que Arremete Contra Indocumentados" TEXT OF SPANISH-TO-ENGLISH TRANSLATION:"Another county in Virginia Attacks Undocumented (sic) People" 10 August of 2007Spotsylvania, Virginia, The United States - The County of Spotsylvania, VA has now joined the increasing number of localities of the state of Virginia that try to impose strict regulations against the undocumented inmmigrantes. Chris Yakabouski, director of the governing body of the county, has order the bureaucracy to report to him next week on...

Battlefield District Supervisor Chris Yakabouski worries that Northern Virginia's illegal immigration problems will migrate south. "Will they come down to our area and should we be ready for it or are we just going to react to it?" said Yakabouski, who also is challenging Sen. Edd Houck , D-Spotsylvania, for the 17th District state Senate seat. "I see this coming our way and I want to be ready for it and not have to react after the fact." He plans to ask county staff, at next week's supervisors' meeting, if Spotsylvania can enact measures similar to those passed recently in...

I had to shake my head at Debbie Revely's letter concerning illegal aliens ["Illegal immigrants do the jobs too many won't do," July 25]. Sadly, Ms. Revely has fallen victim to two common misconceptions. First, they are "illegal aliens." That is the accepted term, the one used in congressional bills and legal writings. They are not migrant workers, temporary workers, displaced immigrants, or the like. They are illegal aliens, period. Second, this country was not magically produced. We managed to dig ditches, build highways, construct houses and skyscrapers and bridges--all without illegal aliens being paid pennies an hour. They do...

SPOTSYLVANIA, Va. (AP) -- Bonnie Winstead's poodle, Jackson, is off the grid: unlicensed and untagged. "It's my dog. It's my business," says Miss Winstead, who vaccinates her dog but objects to paying Spotsylvania County to license him.

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. (AP) - A Spotsylvania County man is running as an independent against 1st District Congresswoman Jo Ann Davis. Retired Marine Colonel Marvin Pixton says he doesn't like the current state of politics, and says there's too much bickering between the two parties. He says he's not running against the incumbent but rather he's running for a change in Washington. Pixton says transportation will be his main issue. He says Americans are too dependent on cars. Fredericksburg businessman Shawn O'Donnell is running against Davis as a Democrat. Pixton announced his candidacy in Fredericksburg Monday morning. He says he's qualified...

A Spotsylvania County teacher accused of having sex with two of her students appeared in court Friday. Bonnie Sue Davis, 35, is charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor and having sex with a child. It's a fight for her freedom, and one her attorney says she intends to win. On Friday, a Spotsylvania county judge heard arguments over procedural issues about school records at Courtland high where she taught -- before being suspended after her arrest for allegedly taking advantage of two teenagers. Davis has worked in the Spotsylvania school system for the past six years. Her...

Parents, P.I. suggest county brushed them off A private investigator claims that Courtland High School's administration was slow to respond to accusations of sexual misconduct on the part of special education teacher Bonnie Sue Davis. School officials assert that they followed proper protocol. Davis, 35, is accused of sexual misconduct with two Courtland High boys, ages 14 and 15. Ralph Bennett, private investigator and proprietor of R&R Bennett Inc. in Fredericksburg, said he found out about the allegations through a friend of his family. He began a pro bono investigation shortly thereafter, he said. The parents of the two boys...

Spotsylvania teacher charged with sexual misconduct A Courtland High School special education teacher has been charged with nine offenses involving sexual relations with two teenage students, police said. Bonnie Sue Davis, 35, of Spotsylvania County is charged with two counts of sodomy, six counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and having sex with a child. She was arrested late Thursday and placed in the Rappahannock Regional Jail, sheriff's Lt. Eddie Peck said. Davis, who has worked for the Spotsylvania school system for six years, is accused of sexual misconduct with two Courtland High boys, ages 14 and...

Nobles: Peter Benchley, a writer whose imagination still captivates — and terrifies — all who venture into the deep. Benchley must have deterred from the water, one might be inclined to place the author of "Jaws" into the Knave category. Rarely has a work of fiction touched so powerfully on one of humanity's greatest fears, as unreasonable as that fear might be. Benchley's talent deserves recognition for lifetime achievement. He set out to scare the pants off readers and succeeded to the tune of 20 million copies sold since 1974. Then, of course, there was the film with its signature...

SPOTSYLVANIA, Va. -- Undercover sex is getting the OK from a Virginia sheriff. Spotsylvania County Sheriff Howard Smith said he stands by the practice of allowing detectives to receive sexual services in the course of their investigations so they can catch suspects in the act. Court documents show that four times last month, county detectives allowed women at a massage parlor to perform sex acts on them. In one case, a lawman left a $350 tip. Smith acknowledged the practice is not new. Smith told The Washington Post that only unmarried detectives are allowed to do the under-the-covers work. He...

SPOTSYLVANIA, Va. - The sheriff said Friday he will no longer allow detectives to receive sexual services while investigating suspected prostitution after they spent $1,200 at massage parlors last month and sparked a public outcry. Spotsylvania County Sheriff Howard Smith defended the practice as necessary to obtain a conviction but told his department he was suspending it. “As sheriff, I understand the feelings and concerns the citizens of this county have expressed,” Smith said in a statement sent to the Associated Press. “And I empathize with those feelings. Because of the public’s express response, I have suspended this practice.” Court...

"Spotsylvania County's practice of allowing detectives to receive sexual services in prostitution cases has exploded across the nation, fueled by snickering bloggers and talk radio shows, and the county's top official has asked the sheriff to stop using the investigative technique." "Smith, an elected official, did not return several calls yesterday. In a joint news release Monday, the day the practice was reported in The Washington Post, Smith and the county's chief prosecutor, Commonwealth's Attorney William F. Neely, defended the tactic. They said detectives needed to go beyond striking verbal deals of sex for money because the "masseuses," whom they...

SPOTSYLVANIA, Va. (AP) -- The sheriff said Friday he will no longer allow detectives to receive sexual services while investigating suspected prostitution after they spent $1,200 at massage parlors last month and sparked a public outcry. Spotsylvania County Sheriff Howard Smith defended the practice as necessary to obtain a conviction but told his department he was suspending it. "As sheriff, I understand the feelings and concerns the citizens of this county have expressed," Smith said in a statement sent to The Associated Press on Friday. "And I empathize with those feelings. Because of the public's express response, I have suspended...

Spotsylvania County's top prosecutor says Virginia's prostitution law could be expanded to avoid having detectives pay for oral sex as part of an investigation. Commonwealth's Attorney William Neely said yesterday that Virginia's prostitution law doesn't forbid paying for certain sexual acts--including fondling. The law requires the act to be either intercourse or oral sex. Neely said that aspect of the law put the county Sheriff's Office into a "dicey" position during a recent investigation into the Moon Spa--a now-closed massage business on State Route 3 in Spotsylvania that is suspected of prostitution. Authorities say a detective, who is single and...

They enter the massage parlors as undercover detectives. They leave as satisfied customers. In Spotsylvania County, as part of a campaign by the sheriff's office to root out prostitution in the massage parlor business, detectives have been receiving sexual services from "masseuses." During several visits to Moon Spa on Plank Road last month, detectives allowed women to perform sexual acts on them on four occasions and once left a $350 tip, according to court papers. Spotsylvania Sheriff Howard D. Smith said that the practice is not new and that only unmarried detectives are assigned to such cases. Most prostitutes are...

Spotsylvania (Va,) County's sheriff is defending the recent decision to allow a detective to pay for sexual services during a prostitution investigation, but some disagree with the tactics used. Sheriff Howard Smith said yesterday that a detective paid for and received oral sex during an investigation into suspected prostitution at the Moon Spa, a now shut-down massage business next to Old Country Buffet on State Route 3 in Spotsylvania. Smith said that detectives went into the business, which was raided in late January, four different times. But he said only once did sexual activity, as defined under Virginia law, occur....

WASHINGTON - They enter the massage parlors as undercover detectives. They leave as satisfied customers. In Spotsylvania County, as part of a campaign by the sheriff's office to root out prostitution in the massage parlor business, detectives have been receiving sexual services from "masseuses." During several visits to Moon Spa on Plank Road last month, detectives allowed women to perform sexual acts on them on four occasions and once left a $350 tip, according to court papers. Spotsylvania Sheriff Howard D. Smith said that the practice is not new and that only unmarried detectives are assigned to such cases. Most...

Nine illegal aliens detained last year after a traffic stop in Spotsylvania County, Va., were deported over a span of nine months in what federal officials said is an example of the immigration system working properly. "We are committed to working to enforce the immigration laws of the United States," said Ernestine Fobbs, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). "The arrest and removal of these individuals is a testament that the process works." Virginia State Police found the aliens April 12, riding in a van on Interstate 95, south of Fredericksburg, where a trooper stopped the vehicle...

An illegal alien, Jose Ramirez, 28, has been arrested and charged with the brutal beating of a 15-year-old girl who allegedly ignored his whistles at a construction site in Spotsylvania County. Police say the 15 year old girl suffered a broken nose, bone fracture to the right side of her face and received approximately 30 stitches to her face and back of her head. Police say the 15 year old girl was walking by on a road, when Ramirez, who was working on a construction project at a nearby townhouse, whistled at her. Witnesses told police the next thing they...

An illegal alien, Jose Ramirez, 28, has been arrested and charged with the brutal beating of a 15-year-old girl who allegedly ignored his whistles at a construction site in Spotsylvania County. Police say the 15 year old girl suffered a broken nose, bone fracture to the right side of her face and received approximately 30 stitches to her face and back of her head. Police say the 15 year old girl was walking by on a road, when Ramirez, who was working on a construction project at a nearby townhouse, whistled at her. Witnesses told police the next thing they...

Dawn and Marvin Hamrick's dreams came true three years ago when they finished building a two-story Colonial-style home in Spotsylvania County. But they got a shock this spring when a rotten-egg odor settled over their Catharpin Road property. Their son, J.R., first noticed it one morning while walking to the school bus stop. "He thought something had died on the side of the road," Dawn Hamrick recalled. "He thought he was going to get sick." The stench seemed to dissipate during the day, but returned one evening as the family tried to enjoy their new deck. "It was that night...

<p>The acrid aroma of burned black powder hung in the evening air as four men in blue and gray fired their muskets over the grave of a long-ago fallen soldier.</p> <p>When a bugler sounded the somber notes of taps, a pelting rain ended and a beam of sunlight broke the gloom at Spotsylvania Confederate Cemetery.</p>

100 fastest growing counties Population Estimates for the 100 Fastest Growing U.S. Counties with 10,000 or more Population in 2004: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2004 Geographic Area Population estimates Change, 2000 to 2004 July 1, 2004 April 1, 2000estimates base Number Percent Loudoun County, VA 239,156 169,599 69,557 41.0 Flagler County, FL 69,005 49,832 19,173 38.5 Douglas County, CO 237,963 175,766 62,197 35.4 Rockwall County, TX 58,260 43,083 15,177 35.2 Forsyth County, GA 131,865 98,407 33,458 34.0 Henry County, GA 159,506 119,404 40,102 33.6 Kendall County, IL 72,548 54,544 18,004 33.0 Newton County, GA 81,524 62,001 19,523...

WASHINGTON -- America has no more than 20 years before the last of the unprotected but critical Civil War battlefields are "preserved or paved over," the president of the Civil War Preservation Trust said Thursday. Revealing a list of the 10 most-endangered battlefields at a news conference with country musician Darryl Worley, trust president O. James Lighthizer called the hallowed acreage "outdoor classrooms" under serious threat of development. Although the trust has had success in preserving more than 18,000 acres of critical battlefields, including parts of Shiloh in Tennessee, Iuka and Corinth in Mississippi and Antietam in Maryland, important tracts...

Spotsylvania School Board moves toward revoking policy that forces students to stand during Pledge of Allegiance Spotsylvania County's policy on the Pledge of Allegiance in schools is likely to change--largely because of the objections of a seventh-grade student. The county requires all students to stand facing the flag with their right hands over their hearts during the pledge at the start of each school day. Students can choose not to recite the pledge if they or their parents object on religious, philosophical or other grounds. That policy is consistent with state law. But Virginia code also allows students to quietly...

national anti-abortion group is upset that a Spotsylvania County school principal ordered students to remove their anti-abortion T-shirts. Erik Whittington, co-founder of Rock for Life, says a 14-year-old Spotsylvania County middle school student was initially permitted to wear the shirt on Tuesday, a day the group had chosen for its "National Pro-Life T-Shirt Day" campaign. The girl also distributed about 40 of the shirts at Battlefield Middle School. The shirt features a picture of a four-month-old fetus in the womb, along with the words, "Do you 'really' believe this isn't a baby?" The shirt also reads, "Abortion is homicide." Rock...

<p>October 16, 2003 -- WASHINGTON - The three Americans recently handed over to the U.S. by Saudi Arabia are members of an Islamic "paintball gang" wanted on terrorism charges in Virginia, officials revealed yesterday.</p> <p>Justice Department and Saudi embassy officials said three American citizens who were part of a group of 12 men indicted for "jihad training" at a remote paintball park in Spotsylvania County, Va., were arrested in Saudi Arabia this summer and extradited to the United States, where they will go on trial next month.</p>

On 3 July, 2003, ABC News announced that the government has presented information leading to the federal indictment of eleven men who had trained in the woods of Fairfax County, Virginia with “AK-47” style assault weapons. According to the government, the men had also participated in warlike paintball games to practice military tactics in Spotsylvania County and had practiced shooting at various shooting ranges. Of the eleven indicted, one name stands out: Mr. Randall Todd Royer, who has served as a communications specialist and as a civil rights coordinator for the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). The government alleges...

<p>Spotsylvania County supervisors early yesterday morning overwhelmingly rejected plans to build a massive development on the site of the Chancellorsville Civil War battlefield.</p> <p>After nearly nine hours of discussion and public comment, the board voted 6-0, with one abstention, against zoning changes that would allow for the development of the Town of Chancellorsville, a complex with about 2,000 homes and 2.2 million square feet of retail, office and hotel space.</p>