Lee Walker for chair of Bedford Republicans

By Lynn R. Mitchell

Bedford County’s mass meeting has long-time Republican Lee Walker challenging incumbent chairman Nate Boyer at Brookhill Wesleyan Church in Forest today at the 12:30 meeting.

Boyer, who has been at the center of controversy for years, set the mass meeting date to take place during school spring vacation making it impossible for teachers and residents who traveled out of town to attend. During mass meetings there are no proxies. Many want new leadership because of those tactics that exclude all except the die-hard party activists.

Even as Boyer tries to shrink the tent, Republicans like Walker are running for leadership in order to once again make the party inclusive under a big tent. Politics, they say, is all about addition, not subtraction.

The Lynchburg News & Advance wrote on Saturday (see GOP split surfaces in Bedford GOP mass meeting Saturday):

Nelson 151 and other back roads

By Lynn R. Mitchell

Sunday afternoon road trip! With mostly-sunny skies and temps in the 80s, we headed out to meet friends for lunch and do a little roaming along the mountains. Driving from Staunton to Afton where Ron King’s Gourmet Popcorn food truck was open for business, we continued down Rt. 250 to Rt. 6, following the curvy mountain road into the Rockfish Valley where we turned onto Route 151, the scenic byway that offers three breweries (Blue Mountain, Devil’s Backbone, Wild Wolf), six wineries (Afton Mountain Vineyards, Cardinal Point Vineyard and Winery, Flying Fox Vineyard and Winery, Hill Top Berry Farm and Winery, Pollak Vineyards and Winery, and Veritas Vineyard), a cidery (Bold Rock Hard Cider), and a distillery (Silverback) as well as farm fresh produce, restaurants, shops, inns, and the entry to Wintergreen Resort.