Senior Kate Collins signed a letter of intent to attend Virginia Military Institute at Nelson County High School last week. Collins became the first Governor female athlete to receive a full scholarship from VMI.

Nelson County didn’t have to search far to find the successor for outgoing football coach Tim Crawford, promoting defensive coordinator Mark Wells, a standout tight end and linebacker for the Governors in the mid-1980s who has served on their coaching staff for the past 18 years.

“He’s an outstanding young man and a good role model for the kids,” outgoing athletic director Charles Bennett said of Wells, 43. “It should be a real smooth transition.”

Former football coach Billy League, 59, who took over in 1980 before stepping down after the 2003 season, was appointed to succeed Bennett as the Governors’ AD in December, effective July 1.

RICHMOND — A Nelson County distillery that is expected to begin operating later this year could benefit from a piece of legislation proposed in the General Assembly.

FABER — Gathered on a breezy day and nestled into pastoral confines on the cusp of the Blue Ridge Mountains, a spiritual community bade love and farewell to a Nelson County father and daughter who died in the Mumbai terrorist attacks last month in India.

A memorial service will be at 1 p.m. Dec. 14 for a Nelson County father and daughter who died in a terrorist attack that began Nov. 26 in Mumbai, India.

FABER — Meditation centers don’t usually stage news conferences.

FABER –– A Nelson County woman whose husband and 13-year-old daughter were killed last week in terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, said she sends the terrorists her “love, forgiveness and compassion.”

The bodies of two Nelson County residents killed in last week’s Mumbai terrorist attack will be returned home and plans for a memorial service are being made, according to a message on the Synchronicity Foundation’s Web site.

Members of the close-knit Synchronicity Foundation spiritual community are delving into their own way of life to grasp that two of their own from Nelson County are dead and four others wounded in terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

Farmers in Amherst, Bedford, Campbell and Nelson counties hit hard by this year’s drought and high temperatures are eligible for federal assistance, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine announced Monday.

Tommy Fitzgerald feared the drought might cripple his apple yield this year.

Emergency assistance may be made available for at least four Central Virginia localities due to recent drought.

The ins and outs of No Child Left Behind can be dizzying for parents and educators alike.
Each year 29 benchmarks must be met, each year pass rates get higher and each year schools that do not meet even one benchmark by a slim margin can be labeled as not making Adequate Yearly Progress.

A majority of Lynchburg-area schools met the increasing standards set by the federal No Child Left Behind Act, according to figures released by the Virginia Department of Education on Wednesday.
About 63 percent of public schools in Lynchburg and the counties of Amherst, Appomattox, Bedford, Campbell and Nelson made what is known as Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP.
Statewide, 74 percent of Virginia’s public schools met the standards, up from last year’s 72 percent.

Clearer pictures, faster Internet access and a video-on-demand service are on their way to Nelson County Cablevision customers later this year as the company upgrades its electronic “head end” system.