Last night, a dog escaped from owner’s house on Laurel Street. She is an older Jack Russell Terrior, answers to the name of Gypsy. She can be nervous/shy around new people, especially men. She is wearing tags with her name and owner’s phone number.

In addition to the Holly Street one on the flyer above, there’s also one listed on Craigslist that starts at 10 am and takes place next to Fine Foods.

From SynerGeo’s blog:

The next Community Dinner at SynerGeo will be this coming Monday, July 19th, at 6pm. Just show up at 349 S. Laurel St. with a dish to share, and have a great time meeting neighbors and eating too much.

One of our neighborhood nonprofits is in need of a plumber who is reasonable in price. Does anyone
have a local recommendation?

Still dreaming those dreams.
Keep in mind that the high speed rail now being bandied about would skip downtown Richmond altogether. Former City Council member Bill Pantele noticed.

Here’s a recent announcement:

Dear Supporters,

The Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor Tier 2 DEIS for the portion from Richmond to Raleigh has been released and 8 public hearings have been scheduled along the corridor. To find our joint talking points, go to www.VHSR.com/SEHSRT2EIS

The full study can be found at, http://www.sehsr.org/deis/deis.html, along with a link to submit electronic public comments. All public comments are due by August 30th. The dates and locations of the public hearings are copied below, and all hearings begin at 7:00 pm with a public viewing beginning at 5:00 pm.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Greater Richmond, VA
Virginia DMV Cafeteria
2300 W. Broad Street, 1st floor
Richmond, VA 23269

The Richmond Times Dispatch has a report about a drowning that took place earlier this evening.

Rescuers were unable to resuscitate a woman whose body was pulled out of the James River this evening near the American Civil War Center at Historic Tredegar.

Richmond Police Capt. David L. Martin confirmed that the woman, who he said appeared to be in her mid-40s, did not survive after being pulled from the river.

He said an emergency call came in at 6:57 p.m., rescuers recovered her body at 7:27 p.m. and then tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate her.

Witness Logan Bryan, 16, said she saw the woman in distress next to an island offshore. Bryan said she saw the woman’s hands waving then drop below the surface of the water and not reappear.

It must have been hot work, but Belvidere Street was repaved earlier today.

Hopefully this means safer and smoother driving.

Community Movie Night
Friday, July 9 at Dark

Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Pleasants Park – Refreshments Served

BackStory is a smart history radio show/podcast whose May 2010 show Grave Matters: A History of Death and Mourning includes an Ed Ayers tour of Hollywood Cemetery:

On each show, renowned U.S. historians Ed Ayers, Peter Onuf, and Brian Balogh tear a topic from the headlines and plumb its historical depths. Over the course of the hour, they are joined by fellow historians, people in the news, and callers interested in exploring the roots of what’s going on today. Together, they drill down to colonial times and earlier, revealing the connections (and disconnections) between past and present.

The Richmond Times Dispatch has an article in today’s edition that suggests the new portion of the Virginia War Memorial will open in September.

Dedicated in 1956, the war memorial was strategically placed along U.S. 1 so that anyone passing through Richmond would see it. When the education center opens in September, thousands more will be stopping year-round to not only honor Virginia’s veterans, but also to learn from and interactively experience the stories of World War II through the Persian Gulf War.
—
Included in the additional 17,300 square feet of space will be an 800-seat amphitheater, 200and 75-seat auditoriums, a 200-seat classroom, a research library, a conference room, a gift shop and numerous exhibits throughout the halls.

School groups and other visitors will be able to enjoy tours that include the memorial’s documentary series, “Virginians at War.” Jon Hatfield, the executive director of the war memorial, said he is especially excited about the 16-minute film to be shown in the larger auditorium. One segment will include artificial snow in the auditorium to simulate harsh winters of the Korean War.

“Somebody said to me, ‘Isn’t that a little bit too much Hollywood?’ I said, ‘No’” Hatfield said. “If it causes one child or one person to want to come to the memorial and we can get them here and teach them about the sacrifice of Virginians and all Americans so that we have the freedoms that we have, I’d say it’s just exactly the right amount of Hollywood.”