NEWS BRIEFS
School board names three new schools

Earlier this month, the Chesterfield County School Board selected names for three new schools scheduled to open over the next two years. They include:

+ Elizabeth N. Scott Elementary School, named for a well-respected educator who worked as both a principal and assistant principal at Enon Elementary School, and later volunteered at the school after her retirement. She also taught at Bellwood Elementary and volunteered at Chalkley Elementary. The Elizabeth N. Scott Elementary School is scheduled to open in the fall of 2007 in the Bermuda District with a capacity of 900 students.

+ Winterpock Elementary School, named after one of Chesterfield's oldest communities. The school is scheduled to open in the fall of 2007 in the Matoaca District with a capacity of 900 students.

+ Tomahawk Creek Middle School, named after Tomahawk Creek, which flows through the community where the school is located. The school is scheduled to open in the fall of 2008 in the Matoaca District with a capacity of 1,200 students.

Performing arts center seeks money

More than 100 Chesterfield residents attended a fundraising effort by the Virginia Performing Arts Foundation (VPAF) at Celebrations on Nov. 10 as the foundation tries to raise $20 million by year's end. Jim Ukrop, VPAF chair and chairman of Ukrop's Super Markets, asked for pledges after several speakers updated guests on the status of building a new performing arts center in downtown Richmond.

Delegate Frank Hall, Clover Hill Supervisor Art Warren and School Board member Dianne Pettitt attended the event.

Lockdown at Salem Church schools

Salem Church elementary and middle schools were locked down on Nov. 15 after school officials were told a suspended student was on school grounds with a weapon. Police officers were called to the scene, but the student was not there. However, he had been at the school the previous day and is now facing trespassing charges.

Killer of bank guard executed

John Yancey Schmitt, 33, was executed via lethal injection at Greensville Correctional Center on Nov. 9 for the 1999 murder of a bank security guard in Chesterfield County.

Schmitt was convicted of capital murder and received the death penalty for killing 39-year-old Earl Dunning. During a bank robbery, Dunning stood between Schmitt and the bank tellers, and was shot and killed while attempting to protect them.

Schmitt and an accomplice had robbed the same bank a month earlier.

"Come on with it" were Schmitt's final words.

Police investigate three-vehicle crash

The Chesterfield County Police Department is investigating a three-vehicle crash that occurred at the intersection of Charter Colony Parkway and Tippecanoe Trail around 10:56 a.m. on Nov. 14.

Police said the driver of a 1998 Honda Prelude pulled out of the John Tyler Community College Midlothian campus into the path of a 1995 GMC pickup truck that was traveling south on Charter Colony Parkway. As a result of that collision, the Prelude then struck a 1989 Ford Mustang.

The driver of the Prelude was taken by helicopter to VCU Medical Center with severe injuries. The driver of the GMC truck was taken by ambulance to VCU Medical Center with injuries that were not life-threatening. The driver of the Mustang was not injured.

The crash remains under investigation.