The Chesterfield County Chamber of Commerce yesterday sent a letter to U.S. Rep. J. Randy Forbes, R-4th, requesting that the Army’s proposal to build a hotel on Fort Lee be put on hold until questions about the project are addressed.

The chamber, which has more than 600 members, highlighted three areas of concern: the loss of tax revenue for localities, competition with the private sector, and the lack of communication between the local business community and the Department of Defense.

Until there is “meaningful dialogue” regarding the financial impact the proposed hotel may have on businesses in the Tri-Cities region, the chamber requests that “authorization to build this facility be withheld.”

In August, the Army announced plans for a 1,000-room hotel for students training at Fort Lee. The hotel is scheduled to open by February 2012; the Army projects 2,450 students will train at Fort Lee by 2011 as a result of the federal 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Act. Currently, about 1,000 students train daily at Fort Lee.

A study commissioned by the Crater Planning District found that there would be no negative impact on local hotels and businesses, if the Army’s projections hold. But a study done for the Greater Tri-Cities Hospitality Coalition — a group of businesses opposing the hotel — found that state and local governments face losses in annual revenue of $3.3 million and the loss of 601 jobs if the facility is built.

Last month, the Army released its own report in which Col. Michael G. Morrow, Fort Lee garrison commander, issued a “finding of no significant impact” for the hotel project.

“We are troubled that the [finding of no significant impact] may be based on flawed economic data,” the chamber’s letter says. “The Chesterfield chamber requests that the hotel project be placed on hold until the economic data is confirmed and the possible deficiencies in the economic impact study are addressed.”

Fort Lee spokesman Matthew Montgomery said plans for the hotel are moving forward and that the community’s concerns are being taken seriously.

“There are things we can do while we’re waiting on other decisions to be made, to ensure that when the decision is made, we’re ready to begin and we don’t lose any ground,” Montgomery said.

The chamber’s letter also was sent to Rep. Susan A. Davis, D-Calif., the chairwoman of the House Military Personnel Subcommittee, and Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., the ranking member. The subcommittee deferred approval of the hotel in December.

Contact Jeremy Slayton at (804) 649-6861 or
.

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A man found lying in the middle of street at the intersection of 27th Street and Nine Mile Road was transported to VCU Medical Center around midnight.

Richmond Police Capt. Paul Kiniry said witnesses reported hearing multiple gunshots in the area around 11:30 last night.

The man was found almost directly in front of Richmond Community Hospital but was transported to VCU for trauma care, police said.

Police did not identify the victim.

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Steven Williams survived two deployments to Iraq. He saw the worst that war has to offer — bullets flying at him and bombs exploding around him.

But it was a near-fatal car wreck last April that resulted in the amputation of his left leg. The ensuing recovery was hard for the Marine who served with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit.

Last fall, he experienced something that began to lift his spirits — a trip to the Lonesome Dove Equestrian Center.

There, he rode a horse for the first time. He returned yesterday, wearing a big smile full of pride as he rode Paul, a 9-year old Clydesdale/saddlebred cross. Even an emergency dismount at the end of his ride wasn’t able to erase the pure joy he experienced.

Williams said the program offered at Lonesome Dove is vital to his, and other veterans’, recovery.

“It brings us back and let’s us know we can still do these things,” said Williams, who now wears a prosthetic leg. “It keeps my spirits high, even though I’m walking with a quad cane and I’ve got one leg.”

The driving force behind Lonesome Dove is Clint Arrington, a stonemason who is constantly in motion. The equestrian center, at 6137 Old Buckingham Road in Powhatan County, opened in 2008 to serve the special needs of veterans through therapeutic riding and equine-related activities.

It’s a place where there is no such thing as can’t and disabilities aren’t limitations.

The message Arrington hopes to impart on the veterans is sim ple — courage, confidence and hope.

. . .

Yesterday, about 10 veterans from McGuire Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Sitter and Barfoot Veterans Care Center took turns riding Paul and Mary Grace, a 10-year-old quarter horse.

The veterans suffer from a variety of physical and mental disabilities, but still, they can experience the therapeutic release that comes from riding a horse. Therapists who work with the veterans on a regular basis say the benefits of this program are many.

“It has physical, emotional, cognitive and social benefits,” said April Yount, a recreational therapist at McGuire. “The patients really build their self-esteem.”

The safety of the riders and horses is of the utmost concern. Each of the volunteers is trained, and Arrington goes over safety tips with each rider, said Barbara Minnicks, a recreational therapist at McGuire.

Each rider has a volunteer leading the horse and two more walking beside the horse as a safety net should the horse need settling or the veteran needs assistance. The therapists maintain a watchful eye as their patients ride.

It takes a docile horse to handle the different riders that sit in the saddle. That defines Paul and Mary Grace, said volunteer Sherry Newark.

“They’re excellent with the riders, [and] they’re very forgiving,” she said. “If a rider is not balanced, most horses, that would irritate them. But these, they just take it in stride.”

For the veterans, it’s a few moments of escape from their problems. As they sit astride the horses, the veterans no longer need the wheelchair or cane that accompanies them in everyday life. Even problems with eyesight don’t hold them back.

“There are a lot of people that are hurting for one reason or another,” said Navy veteran James Williams.

But once a veteran gets on a horse, “everything just leaves your head,” he said.

Contact Jeremy Slayton at (804) 649-6861 or
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A ranking of Virginia’s most transparent local governments finds most of the Richmond area doing comparatively well at providing information on the Web.

In a recent report, the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy — a nonpartisan research and education organization in Springfield — scored localities on budget and expenditure information available online.

On the list of 134 localities, Goochland County was ranked fourth with a score of 65.5 out of 100. Goochland edged out Henrico County, in fifth place, with a score of 61.5.

The recognition is noteworthy for Goochland, which was beset by problems last year related to financial mismanagement, leading to questions of transparency. After a government shakeup led to the county administrator’s resignation, Rebecca T. Dickson took the helm in July.

Since then, the county has increased the amount of financial information provided online, going so far as to post a check register detailing county spending.

“We knew we had a problem with transparency, and now we’re addressing it,” said Goochland Supervisor Ned S. Creasey, who attributed much of the progress to Dickson. “It’s a whole lot easier to deal with your problems if you get them out there where people know you’re not trying to hide them.”

Only the counties of Arlington, Fairfax and Prince William did better than Goochland, taking the gold, silver and bronze respectively. Arlington’s score was an 80, leaving plenty of room for all the state’s localities to improve.

Especially the 23 localities with scores of zero, meaning no information was available.

“I think some of the counties with smaller staffs and lower budgets probably haven’t realized how easy it is to put some of this stuff up,” said Mike Thompson, president of the Thomas Jefferson Institute. “I don’t think in any of these cases it’s an effort to hide things as much as it is a self-deluded idea that it takes a whole lot of time to get this done.”

Added Thompson: “Frankly, they could go get themselves a high school junior and he could probably do it pretty quickly.”

Most other area localities fared reasonably well, with Richmond at 16, Hanover County at 27 and Powhatan County at 38. But not all made the top 50.

With a score of 15, Chesterfield was 105th on the list. Colonial Heights scored a zero.

Don Kappel, Chesterfield’s director of public affairs, said the report’s name — “Government Transparency in Virginia” — is slightly misleading.

He pointed out that the county makes a variety of information available in various ways, streaming its government meetings online and broadcasting them, and holding regular community meetings on the budget process.

“These are all transparency initiatives,” he said.

Chesterfield County Administrator James J.L. Stegmaier said the institute’s work on the transparency report is appreciated.

“It will be helpful to us in working to make our Web site more navigable so that this kind of information can be found more easily,” he said. “We also recently completely redesigned our Web site, which we believe works toward that end.”

The list looked not only at the amount of information available but also the ease with which it was accessed and how often it was updated.

“In some cases, it was just really hard to find the stuff. You had to click 17 different places,” said Thompson. “To us, transparency is not just if it’s there, but if you can get to it.”

Contact Wesley P. Hester at (804) 649-6976 or
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