Madison County’s boys basketball team prevailed in grand fashion over Altavista, 41-38, in front of tons of raucous Mountaineer faithful in the Group A, Division 1 final at VCU’s Siegel Center on Friday to claim its first state title in 33 years. The senior-laden bunch put on a memorable last performance — which was threatened late in the game — in front of the mostly blue-and-white-clad crowd to capture the trophy.

Madison County home breeders of dogs and cats can once again sell their young animals without needing a special use permit. The Madison County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to return to the original ordinance after a public hearing last week that was part of the supervisors regular joint meeting with the Madison County Planning Commission. Supervisors decided against amending the county’s kennel zoning ordinance after listening to accounts from county residents. They had previously voted to delete the last line at the recommendation of the planning commission at their regular meeting Dec. 8, 2009 meeting.

UPDATE—Madison County’s boys basketball team defeated the Castlewood Blue Devils 51-38 March 11 to advance to the Group A, Division 1 state final game March 12 in Richmond’s Sigel Center, according to the http://www.berrysports.com Web site. Madison’s Logan Terrell led all scorers with 14 points, followed by fellow Mountaineers Jerel Carter and David Falk with 9 each, Casey Campbell with 8, Matt Garr with 6, Trey Hensley with 3, and Patrick Lucas with 2.

Madison County will play in the Group A boys basketball state tournament vs. Surry County 5 p.m. Saturday, March 6 at James Madison University in Harrisonburg. Tickets for the JMU Convocation Center game are $8 at JMU the day of the game only.

State Sen. R. Edward Houck, D-Spotsylvania, said the bill (inspired by a Madison County Sheriff’s Office conflict of interest case) simply modernizes the salary threshold at which Virginia’s conflict of interest law kicks in. “The last time this thing was updated was 1994,” he said. “The subcommittee felt this update was certainly acceptable.”

A juvenile and domestic relations court judge denied bond Feb. 22 to a Madison County woman charged of shooting and murdering her estranged husband, an Orange County Sheriff’s Office investigator, in an apparent crime of passion Dec. 11, 2009 at his residence in rural Unionville.

Building in Madison County may present some unexpected challenges to potential residents or businesses. No more places to connect to sewer lines or “taps” remain in the areas of the county that offer water and sewer lines Rapidan Service Authority Chairman Steve Hoffman said. He explained the current state of water and sewer lines in Madison at the Madison County Board of Supervisors regular Feb. 9 meeting.

Possible funding cuts to county services threw a wrench into the county’s upcoming fiscal year budget works and may mean a tax increase for Madison residents. The Madison County Board of Supervisors final 2010 budget workshop Feb. 22 started with the supervisors acknowledging that reworking might be necessary. The rethinking of the planned budget, a balanced draft of which was presented at the supervisors regular meeting Feb. 9, came after Governor Bob McDonnell’s budget proposals were released last week.

Jan. 30-Feb. 12, 2010

Madison County school officials are in the process of creating emergency transportation plans to get students to school when current bus routes remain blocked. Madison’s school calendar has 15 days marked as potential make-up days depending on the number of days missed during the school year. However, officials are still seeking to prevent further canceled classes, according to Madison County Superintendent of Schools Brenda Tanner said at the board’s regular Feb. 8 meeting. The extra days are ones that can be added without significant change to the current calendar according to Tanner

A special prosecutor has cleared Madison County Sheriff Erik Weaver of criminal wrongdoing in a conflict of interest case involving his wife’s longtime job as the sheriff’s office administrator. Prince William County Commonwealth’s Attorney Paul Ebert had been appointed to look into whether Weaver knowingly violated Virginia’s conflict of interest statute by employing his wife, Terri, in his office at an annual salary of $34,910.

UPDATE—Hundreds of gallons of escaped fuel flowed about an eighth of a mile along Fairground (Route 687) and into a small creek near Pratts Feb. 12. Officials said the fuel had been “contained” sometime the next day, but it was unclear how much of it had flowed downstream before environmental clean-up crews installed various barriers in the creek, which is apparently unnamed (it flows east through a farm field from the 500 block of Fairground). The fuel is being described as biodiesel or blended biodiesel. (Biodiesel is a fuel made from oily plants or waste cooking fat, but it is usually mixed with petroleum diesel fuel.)

BREAKING NEWS—Madison County Public Schools will close 2:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 15, according to a MC E911 annoucement early Monday afternoon.

Fairground Road (Route 687) near Madison Primary School was re-opened to traffic over the weekend after being closed for several hours following a Feb. 12 fuel spill in the area. The spill, which officials say involved 200 gallons of biodiesel fuel, apparently originated at the Madison County Public Schools bus shop.

Signs like the ones that stand outside downtown Madison’s This Little Quilt Shop and The Last Nickel can no longer be constructed within the town.
The Madison Town Council updated the rules controlling sign sizes, numbers and styles within the town limits at its regular Feb. 4 meeting. The updated ordinance no longer allows some sign styles in an effort to make sure that future signs are attractive and add to the town’s appearance, according to Councilman Dan Painter.

A bill sponsored by Del. Ed Scott, R-Madison County, that arose out of concerns over a conflict of interest in the Madison County Sheriff’s Office cleared a major hurdle Feb. 9 on its way to final approval.

Madison County residents are digging out from the weekend’s snowstorm, which—in Madison—apparently surpassed the Dec. 18-19 nor’easter, itself a huge storm. Unofficial measurements in downtown Madison show that it snowed a total of 25 inches this past Friday and Saturday (Feb. 6 and 7).

All roads across Piedmont Virginia, including in Madison County, are snow-covered as snow continues to fall throughout the region. Interstate 64 and all primary highways in the Charlottesville area are in moderate condition, snow-covered but passable with caution, while I-66 and all primary highways north of Culpeper are reported in severe condition with significant amounts of snow that may block portions of the road and driving is hazardous.

Jan. 23-29, 2010

The Madison County Board of Supervisors backed away some from earlier moves to cancel $250,000 in furniture for the refurbished courthouse. The panel agreed at its workshop last week that it will have to OK buying some furniture, just not $250,000 worth. “The intent of the (earlier) motion was not to not buy any furniture, the intent of the motion was to make sure that we used everything that we had so we don’t have a bunch of furniture left over that was going to go off somewhere else and possibly end up in a landfill,” Supervisor Pete Elliot said at the Jan. 28 workshop.

Madison County Sheriff Erik Weaver’s wife, Terri Weaver, will apparently continue to work full-time at the sheriff’s office, but with a big cut in salary and change in title. Her pay has been cut by more than a third – reduced to $22,400 a year from $34,910 – and she is now a “secretary one” instead of an “office manager.” County officials OK’d the changes after receiving advice from the state auditor of public accounts and a special prosecutor.

As the third snowstorm in a week approaches Madison County, people are talking about the weather and trying to prepare as best they can. The National Weather Service on Wednesday issued an official winter storm watch on an approaching weekend storm that has had people talking since they dug out of Tuesday’s three-inch snowfall.

BREAKING NEWS UPDATE

Jan. 16-22, 2010

Madison County school officials say it will be harder to attract qualified teachers to Madison, since Madison salaries are lower. They look to county officials to help make up funding shortfalls to solve this and other problems.The school system needs another $269,375 to balance its budget, Madison County Public Schools Superintendent Brenda Tanner told supervisors at a special Jan. 18 joint supervisors-school board meeting.

Madison County’s Board of Supervisors did some belt tightening at its first 2010 regular meeting on Jan. 12. Supervisors froze “discretionary” spending, halted hiring some new employees and canceled $250,000 in new furniture for the courthouse. Three incoming board members—Dave Allen, Jerry Butler and Pete Elliott – had all campaigned on the idea of bringing greater fiscal responsibility to Madison. Accordingly, Butler and Elliott both proposed some of the new rules that covered department spending, staff raises and hiring and furniture purchases for the courthouse.

Jan. 2-15, 2009

Madison County officials have cut funding for the job held by Sheriff Erik Weaver’s wife, Terri Weaver, over concerns that her job in his office is a conflict of interest. The funding, which pays about a fourth of Weaver’s wife’s salary, will be suspended effective Jan. 31, Board of Supervisors Chairman Eddie Dean said

The 7.0 earthquake that hit in Haiti Jan. 12 temporarily stranded one Madison County man on the Caribbean island off Cuba’s southeast tip. The Rev. Cary Lane, pastor of Shiloh Free Will Baptist Church in Criglersville, was in Port-au-Prince to attend a conference at a Bible institute, when the quake hit.

Proposed cuts in the state education budget mean a potential loss for Madison County Public Schools next year of 12 staff positions and more than $1 million. Schools Superintendent Brenda Tanner related the preliminary budget numbers to the school board members at their regular Jan. 11 meeting. She is currently involved in working on the school budget for the next year.