Categories
Campaigns Meetings

Candidate for Sheriff is club’s guest

Capt. Jason C. Smith, a non-partisan candidate for sheriff of Orange County will be the guest speaker at the Oct. 11 meeting of the Lake of the Woods Democratic Club.

Capt. Jason Smith

The meeting will take place on the lower level of the LOW Clubhouse.The program will begin at 1:30 p.m. after a meet-and-greet session starting at 1 p.m.

Smith is a life-long resident of Orange County, who grew up on his family’s farm in the Lahore area. He attended Orange County Public Schools and graduated with honors from Orange County High School in 2000. He graduated from Old Dominion University summa cum laude with a degree in criminal justice and a minor in sociology in 2003.

Upon graduation from college he was hired by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. After receiving the top overall award in his basic training class, Smith spent the next 20 years being promoted from patrol deputy to patrol sergeant to investigations to captain of operations. As captain he is also in charge of patrol, school resource officers and Animal Control.

During his tenure at the Sheriff’s Office, Smith has coordinated Orange County’s Citizens’ Police Academies and Youth Academies as well as raised money and wrote grant proposals for program funning. He created the office’s first agency-approved Department of Criminal Justice Service training courses. He instructed deputies county employees an school staff in active shooter response and lockdown procedures. In addition, he assisted in the implementation of a new records management system and new radio system for the Sheriff’s Office.

Smith and his wife, Kristen have two children and live in a home built in the 1850s by his great-great-grandfather.

Smith faces off against two opponents, Aaron Adams and Stephen LaLuna, both of whom describe themselves as “constitutional conservatives” with emphasis on prioritizing gun rights.

Adams originally hails from Waynesboro, moved to Orange County in 2018 and currently works in the courts division of the Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office. According to his campaign website, LaLuna was born and raised in Barboursville and has worked in several local law enforcement divisions, including the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, the Orange Police Department and the Gordonsville Police Department.

The meeting is open to the public without regard to political affiliation.

Jason Smith for Orange County Sheriff

Categories
Uncategorized

Help elect Jason

Sen. Creigh Deeds and Orange County educator Ernestine Reid will be featured speakers at a fund-raising event at the Lake of the Woods Community Center at 3 p.m. on September 16 to benefit the campaign of Jason Ford, Democratic candidate for the Virginia Senate from District 28, which includes Lake of the Woods.

Sen. Creigh Deeds of Charlottesville, who has served in the state Senate since 2001, is the Democratic nominee for the new 11th District, which includes most of Charlottesville and Albemarle County. He formerly served in the House of Delegates and was his party’s nominee for governor in 2009.

Deeds grew up in Bath County on his grandparents’ farm and attended Bath County High School before graduating from Concord College. He earned a law degree from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., before being elected Commonwealth’s attorney in Bath County.

If elected, Deeds will be the second highest ranking Democrat in the state Senate.

Ernestine Reid is a award-winning veteran of 38 years as a classroom teacher. In 2016 she received the Orange County Education Foundation’s Lifetime Contribution Award and was honored in 2010 as teacher of the year at Orange Elementary School. The Virginia General Assembly commended her in 2017 for her service as an educator and community leader.

Reid graduated from Wyatt High School in Emporia and attended St. Paul’s College in Lawrenceville, Va., where she received a B.S. degree in education.

The campaign fundraising event will include refreshments and live musical entertainment by Shree.

Admission, which will benefit the Senate campaign of Jason Ford, will be by levels of donation:

$250 = Champsion

$100 = Patron

$50 = Supporter

$25 = Guest

Reservations must be made in advance. Payments can be made online by clicking the “Pay Now” button below and entering your credit card information or by mailing a check made out to the LOW Democratic Club to P.O. Box 1351, Locust Grove, VA 22508. If you send a check, it must arrive well in advance of the event so that an accurate count of attendees can be made.

If you choose to pay electronically, please select the option at the end of the transaction which adds the cost of the electronic transfer to your donation. This way, the Ford campaign will receive the maximum benefit of your gift.

Pay with Cheddar Up

Categories
Campaigns

Support our candidates!

Let’s turn out for Sara Ratcliffe, our candidate for the Virginia House of Delegates from District 62, and Jason Ford, our candidate for State Senate from District 28, with a festive regional rally and fundraiser on Aug. 26 in Orange.*

Rep. Abigail Spanberger will be the featured speaker for this event.

Other invited speakers include Sen. Tim Kaine, former Rep. Elaine Luria and DPVA first vice president Gaylene Kanoyton

This event is sponsored by the Democratic Committees of Culpeper, Greene, Madison and Orange counties and the Lake of the Woods Democratic Club.

 CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

* You will be sent the address upon registration

Categories
Campaigns Club events

Candidate is speaker

Sandy J. Harrington of Locust Grove, a candidate for the Orange County School Board from District 5, will address members of the LOW Democratic Club on Wednesday, July 12.

Sandy J. Harrington

Harrington’s campaign web site describes her professional qualifications as “20 years of K-12 public school administration including budget, fiscal services, child nutrition services, transportation, maintenance and operations.”

The club meeting, which convenes at 1 p.m. with a social session followed by the program at 1:30 p.m,. takes place in the lower level of the LOW Clubhouse. Nicole Pappas, who has a bakery business, has volunteered to provide some special desserts for the meeting.

Since the School Board election is non-partisan, the club will not be making a formal endorsement, but individuals who wishes to support her campaign can being a check made out to “Vote Sandy School Board,” or mail a check to P.O. Box 1214, Locust Grove, VA 22508.

The School Board election will take place November 7. In District 5, which includes Lake of the Woods, incumbent Jim Hopkins, who was first elected in 2007,  is being opposed by Gary MacFadden and Harrington.

Fundraising events to benefit the campaign of Jason Ford for State Senate will be held August 26 in the town of Orange and September 16 at the LOW Community Center. Watch for details concerning these two important events.

Sandy Harrington Campaign Web Site

Gary McFadden Campaign Web Site

Jim Hopkins Campaign Web Site

Categories
Club events Photos and videos

History, politics add zest to summer picnic

Bruce Monroe, president of the Orange County African American Historical Society, and Jason Ford, candidate to represent District 28 in the Virginia State Senate, were guests of honor at the LOW Democratic Club’s annual summer picnic on June 10. About 60 people enjoyed good food, good company and good politics at the the event held in the LOW Community Center. Sandy J. Harrington, candidate for the Orange County School Board, also attended to meet voters and answer their questions.

Orange County African American Historical Society

Jason Ford for Virginia Senate

Sandy Harrington for School Board