NEWS BRIEFS
Tomahawk redistricting vote expected on Apr. 8

St. Francis Medical Center is seeking state approval to add two additional floors.

The county's school board is expected to vote on the controversial Tomahawk Creek Middle School redistricting plan at its regular monthly meeting on Apr. 8 at 7 p.m. in the Public Meeting Room, 10001 Iron Bridge Rd. Tomahawk Creek will open to students this fall. The school will relieve overcrowding at Bailey Bridge, Midlothian and Swift Creek middle schools.

The redistricting plan has drawn criticism for several reasons. First, some parents have questioned the makeup of the committee that put together the original boundary proposal, saying the area south of Hull Street Road was underrepresented and some less affluent neighborhoods were left out of the process. Matoaca School Board member Omarh Rajah has accused some committee members of discriminating against children from singlefamily homes who live in apartments.

Others have complained the committee left too many empty seats in its original proposal. Some have privately alleged the committee deliberately kept enrollments low at Tomahawk, so the Center-Based Gifted (CBG) Program could be moved there from Manchester Middle School.

The school board has since added 19 neighborhoods to the Tomahawk district, causing some residents of those neighborhoods to complain they were also left out of the redistricting process. As proposed, the school will open at 87 percent capacity. The board has said publicly that it has no plans to move the CBG Program.

Parents from Evergreen Elementary School have complained, since their school will feed into three different middle schools. Many Hampton Park residents also fought for their children to attend Tomahawk, even though some buses would have to drive past Swift Creek to get to the new school.

Supervisor meetings now online

Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors meetings will be available on the Web beginning this week. The meetings will be streamed live on the county's Web site, www.chester field.gov, and can be accessed by clicking on the "CCTV" link. Past meetings also will be available in the archive section. Initially, the last six months of meetings of the previous board of supervisors will be available.

"Not all of our residents subscribe to the cable service that carries our meetings," said Board Chairman Art Warren, "and not all of our residents have the means to attend our board meetings. Having this technology available on the Web opens up our meetings to anyone who has access to the Internet."

Before the Web-streaming technology was installed, board meetings could only be seen by county residents who had subscribed to Comcast Cable. The meetings are aired live and replayed one week later. After that, VHS tapes of the meetings are taken to the Central Library where they are converted to DVD and are available to be checked out like other library materials.

"With the streaming video, anyone with access to the Internet and a system with a sound card, a Broadband Internet connection and Windows Media Player Version 9 or higher can watch our board of supervisors meetings," said County Administrator Jay Stegmaier.

"Chesterfield County is the first locality in the Richmond metro area to install and implement the Web-streaming system, which demonstrates the board of supervisors' commitment to transparency in government," Stegmaier added.

Other television programming produced by Chesterfield County also will be available in the archive section.

For more information about the county's streaming and archived video, contact Ted Maxwell at 748-1503.

St. Francis expansion

St. Francis Medical Center is looking to expand due to increased demand for medical services in the county. According to reports, the hospital is asking the State Health Commission for permission to add two more floors for obstetric and surgical services, increasing the number of beds by 54.

St. Francis officials say the expansion plan comes as a result of more residents moving into the county, citing mega-residential developments Roseland and Magnolia Green as just two examples.

Adding a sixth and seventh floor is proposed to cost $45 million. If approved by the commission, the expansion could begin next year.

Guns stolen from shooting range

Police are investigating a burglary in which an undisclosed number of handguns, pistols, revolvers, shotguns and rifles were stolen from the Dominion Shooting Range at 106 Turner Rd.

Police said the suspect(s) pried open a side door and stole the guns. An employee discovered the break-in and theft just before 8:30 a.m. on Mar. 22 while attempting to open the business for the day.

Anyone with information should contact the Chesterfield County Police Department at 748-1251 or Crime Solvers at 748-0660.