Trump hits Radford University on final sweep of Virginia

Protesters at Trump rally in Radford, Virginia. (Photos by Alex Davis)

By Lynn R. Mitchell and Alex Davis

It was vintage Donald Trump Monday at Radford University in southwestern Virginia as the Republican presidential frontrunner stood before a packed Dedmon Center that holds 3,800 and gave his now-familiar stump speech. Ticket holders began lining up outside the venue three hours before the doors opened at 10am. Traffic on I-81 was backed up at the Radford exit as the city of 17,000 braced for thousands of visitors . Law enforcement was out in force working traffic control and security.

It was past noon when, dressed in white shirt, pink tie, and an American lapel pin on his suit jacket, The Donald entered to applause and cheers, and gave them what they had come to hear.

Blacksburg ushers in the holiday season with Winter Lights Festival featuring Christmas parade

By Lynn R. Mitchell

 

The night was perfect for a Christmas parade … clear, a seasonably cold 35 degrees, and a small town in the mountains of western Virginia. It was the Winter Lights Festival and Christmas parade in Blacksburg as crowds lined the streets to watch the show … and entrants didn’t disappoint.

I walked out of the house and left my camera behind so had to use my iPhone for photos. Sorry for the blurry images and sometimes-poor lighting … but the merriment of it all comes through in the looks of happiness on children’s faces and the festive atmosphere. It was perfect.

Kalima Dalton Tate, 92, of Pulaski passes away

Kalima Dalton Tate

By Lynn R. Mitchell

I never met Mrs. Tate but knew of her through a young local Republican activist and former chairman of the Staunton Republican Committee, Alex Davis, who has been friends with her grandson Graham since the two were in kindergarten (they are now 27 years old). The boys grew up in Staunton — Mrs. Tate’s son, William Lee Tate II, settled down and raised his family of three children in Staunton — but Mrs. Tate lived in southwestern Virginia’s Pulaski community where she grew up, married, and lived her entire life. She will be buried there on Sunday. Alex and Graham are pallbearers.

When I passed the word of Mrs. Tate’s passing to my daughter Katy, who was a weekend guest of Mrs. Tate’s several times but who now lives in Nashville, she said, “Oh, Da. What a sweetheart. Her house was full of treasures and an old, always-groaning Boston terrier. She will be very missed in the Tate households.”

Judge James Turk … ‘His one wish was to become a judge’

By Lynn R. Mitchell

I opened an email earlier this week from Polly Campbell and the first thing she said was, “I just learned of Jim’s passing — he was one of the greatest people I have ever known.”

It had not occurred to me that Polly knew Judge James Turk who passed away Sunday at the age of 91. Then I wondered why it would surprise me since Polly, who was a volunteer with the Republican Party of Virginia for more than 50 years and served 44 of those years as secretary of RPV’s State Central Committee, knew many political giants. Judge Turk was just one of them.

And then Polly added, “His one wish was to become a judge; John Dalton’s wish was to become a Governor — they both met their goals.”