Virginia’s Will Bettridge kicks a field goal in the University of Virginia vs. Wake Forest football game at Scott Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025.
Virginia’s Will Bettridge kicks a field goal in the University of Virginia vs. Wake Forest football game at Scott Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025.
Rocky Mount Town Manager Robert Wood (center) and Mayor Holland Perdue (right) address residents of the Diamond Avenue community at a Franklin County NAACP meeting led by chapter President Eric Anspaugh on Tuesday.
ROCKY MOUNT — The residents of Diamond Avenue have spent decades asking for help.
There have been numerous discussions with local leaders and representatives, and countless promises have been made. So far, no one has stepped up to solve a problem that has plagued the community for more than a generation.
"It's past long overdue," said Phyllis Dunnings, a resident of the Diamond Avenue community.
Dunnings, 74, has lived in the community all her life. Like other residents, she has concerns every time a train passes over the tracks that provides the only entrance or exit to the community. She wonders if the train will stop and, if it does stop, if will someone in the community have an emergency that prevents them from getting help.
"It feels like we are just locked in and no one cares," Dunnings said.
Dunnings also questioned if the race of many of the Diamond Avenue residents could also be a reason for the lack of assistance over the years. The community has been majority Black in the past, but several more white residents have moved in over the years, she said.
Regardless of race, Dunnings said many of the residents are older and more likely to need medical assistance that could be prevented if a train was blocking the only entrance and exit.
Dunnings was one of more than a dozen Diamond Avenue residents who were in attendance Tuesday night for the Franklin County NAACP's June meeting where a discussion on the community was on the agenda. Rocky Mount officials including Town Manager Robert Wood and Mayor Holland Perdue were also on hand to provide information.
The community of Diamond Avenue became part of the Town of Rocky Mount last year following a land swap between the town and Franklin County. Now being part of the town, officials are looking into ways to fix the ongoing issues that have plagued the community.
Wood told the crowd Tuesday that the town is currently looking for state and federal assistance to provide funding for projects to alleviate the issue. The town requested $13.5 million in funding from the state last year to assist the community.
The funding would address a variety of concerns, such as the lack of an exit if a train stops on the tracks and blocks the community. Dunnings said there is no set schedule for when or how often a train passes through the community or if it will stop. When it does, she said it has trapped the community for as much as an hour.
Wood said the town is requesting $7.5 million to construct an access road from Diamond Avenue to nearby Sycamore Street. In addition, the town is also requesting $1 million for improvements to an aging bridge that provides the only access to the community due to concerns it cannot handle the load of firetrucks if they need to enter the community.
The remaining $5 million would be to extend water and wastewater services to the area.
Wood said their recent requests for assistance from the state have been unsuccessful. Even so, they plan to continue pushing for help. He said the community could help in making sure their concerns are heard in Richmond and beyond.
Perdue also spoke on Tuesday. The mayor added that Southwest Virginia is currently not getting funding from Richmond. He claimed those funds are currently going to Democrat localities and not Republican localities now that Democrats are in control.
"We've got to get together and figure out a way to let everybody in Richmond and in Washington know that this area matters," Perdue said. "This is not whether you are Black or white or whether you are Republican or Democrat. It's a human rights issue. There are people that have worked their entire lives to pay for a home and they can't get out if something happens."
Many Diamond Hill residents seemed skeptical of the discussion on Tuesday. Several, like Dunnings, have lived in the community their entire life and have heard the promises from officials countless times.
Perdue agreed that the issue has gone on for too long. He said the town is working for a solution after the county had not done anything to help for decades.
"The county basically said they were not going to do anything about it," Perdue said during the meeting.
Perdue and Wood asked residents to contact their representatives in Richmond and Washington to push for more to be done. They also asked for assistance from the Franklin County NAACP in getting the message out.
After Tuesday's meeting, Perdue said the discussions with Diamond Avenue residents was a good first step. He said now the town and the community need to work together to get their message out.
"We need to make sure the people in Washington and Richmond know this issue isn't going away," Perdue said.
Jason Dunovant (540) 981-3324
Big Spring Mill resumed operations last week after sitting dormant for four years.
From left: Alec Elkins, Teresa Elkins and James Elkins are pictured in the office of Big Spring Mill on Wednesday.
2-pound bags of seasoned flour are now available for sale in the mill's office.
Originally built in 1850, Big Spring Mill has seen many decades of adjustments, improvements and new equipment.
ELLISTON — Four years after its grinders fell silent, Big Spring Mill is producing flour again, returning the 172-year-old New River Valley institution to regular operations.
After closing in 2022 when longtime owner Bob Long retired without a successor, the mill sat dormant until last year, when Shelor Motor Mile owners Larry Shelor and David Hagan purchased the property. On Monday, bags of flour returned to the shelves for the first time since the closure.
Leading the revived operation are general manager James Elkins and veteran head miller Benny Hollins. Hollins is among four of the mill's eight employees who worked there before it closed. Two of the new employees are Elkins' wife, Teresa, and son, Alec.
Drawing on more than 60 years of combined experience, James Elkins and Hollins spent nearly a year rehabilitating the pre-Civil War mill, replacing, cleaning or repairing virtually every piece of equipment.
Now, the goal is to produce the same products Big Spring made for the previous 170 years — seasoned flour, self-rising flour, patent flour, cornmeal, cornmeal mix and biscuit mix.
"I have the same formulations. All the ingredients we're buying are from the exact same ingredient companies," Elkins said. He added that grain is sourced from the same regions as before, meaning customers can expect the same taste.
For the next month or so, 2-pound bags of seasoned flour will be the only product available because of limitations from the mill's bag supplier. Elkins said each bag is hand-tied at a rate of about 300 bags an hour.
The two employees who tie the bags, both former Big Spring workers, are "super efficient," he said.
"They're like machines," Elkins said. "It's unbelievable."
Customers are already returning. On Wednesday, a couple drove from Bedford to buy seasoned flour from the mill's office. Elkins said they are far from the only customers willing to travel long distances.
The local ties to Big Spring run deep. After nearly two centuries of operation, Elkins said he regularly hears from residents with memories connected to the mill.
"Everybody has a story. They either know somebody who worked here or they can remember coming here," he said.
As production ramps up, Big Spring plans to launch an online store and reconnect with many of its former vendors, including Slaughter's Supermarket in Floyd, Riner Food Center and nearly 100 other retailers.
One part of the operation will take longer to restart. Elkins said the feed mill, which produced agricultural products, is likely two to three years away from returning to service.
In the meantime, Big Spring's employees are simply happy to be milling again.
"It's something that kind of gets into your blood, and you can't get it out," Elkins said. "So this is like heaven."
Ethan Hunt (540) 381-1678
MARTINSVILLE — Lawyers representing Martinsville's mayor and its former city manager have filed separate lawsuits in federal court against Councilman Aaron Rawls and the law firm of Sands Anderson in the wake of a tumultuous time that saw the city manager fired and the mayor temporarily removed from office.
Mayor L.C. Jones's lawsuit alleges Rawls and the law firm carried out a campaign of false accusations that damaged his reputation, led to his suspension from office, and fueled an ultimately unsuccessful effort to remove him as mayor.
The Jones lawsuit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Roanoke, seeks compensatory and punitive damages and alleges violations of Jones’ constitutional rights. It also includes state-law claims for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Former City Manager Aretha Ferrell-Benavides, meanwhile, alleges discrimination, retaliation and a coordinated effort to destroy her professional reputation. Ferrell-Benavides' lawsuit, which also includes the city government as a defendant, makes claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Virginia Human Rights Act, Virginia whistleblower protections, breach of contract, defamation and constitutional due-process provisions.
The filings are the latest chapter in a political and legal battle that has consumed Martinsville's government for nearly two years.
Lawyers Verbena Askew of Newport News and Mark Krudys of Richmond filed the lawsuits. Krudys recently represented Jones in a successful effort to reverse the mayor's removal from office due to a legally flawed citizens' petition.
Jones alleges that Rawls and Sands Anderson promoted accusations that he engaged in bribery, conflicts of interest and other misconduct. According to the complaint, those allegations were later used to support the citizen petition seeking his removal from office and contributed to a court-ordered suspension that kept him out of office for more than two months.The lawsuit contends that multiple reviews ultimately failed to substantiate the allegations.
According to the complaint, a forensic audit found no evidence that Jones engaged in bribery or criminal conduct. The lawsuit further notes that prosecutors declined to pursue criminal charges and that the removal petition was eventually dismissed.
Jones alleges that the underlying investigation itself was flawed because it was conducted by Sands Anderson, a firm whose billing practices and authority to serve as city attorney had become subjects of scrutiny by Jones and other city officials.
Rather than submit its own conduct to independent review, the lawsuit alleges, the firm investigated the officials who had questioned it.
The complaint claims the firm’s investigative work was later circulated to the media, prosecutors and petition organizers, and that it became the foundation for allegations that Jones says were false.
Jones also alleges racial discrimination.
The lawsuit points to statements allegedly made by Rawls concerning white voters and Black political candidates and argues that Rawls engaged in a broader pattern of hostility toward Black elected officials, Black-led organizations and Black-owned businesses in Martinsville.
Jones, who is Martinsville’s third Black mayor, contends he was treated differently from similarly situated white officials.
In the legal filing, the former city manager argues that her dismissal was not based on legitimate concerns about city operations, but instead resulted from racial discrimination, retaliation for protected activity and her efforts to question the conduct of the city’s outside law firm.
The lawsuit describes Ferrell-Benavides as a veteran public administrator who was recruited from Texas to lead Martinsville and became the city’s first female city manager and first Black female city manager.
According to the complaint, tensions developed almost immediately after her arrival.
The lawsuit alleges that Rawls and another council member had referred to her as “a liar and a fake” before she was hired and that she later encountered resistance from some elected officials as she attempted to restructure city finances and administration.
Central to the lawsuit is an investigation conducted by Sands Anderson.
Ferrell-Benavides alleges the investigation expanded beyond any legitimate review of financial matters and became a personal inquiry into her conduct, relationships and leadership style.
Ferrell-Benavides alleges she filed a discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on July 2.
Twenty-one days later, she was placed on administrative leave. Forty-two days after filing the complaint, she was terminated.
The lawsuit argues that timing is evidence of retaliation.
The complaint alleges that accusations publicly leveled against her — involving bribery, unethical conduct and financial improprieties — were false and caused substantial damage to her career.
According to the lawsuit, a forensic audit later failed to substantiate allegations of bribery or criminal conduct.
Ferrell-Benavides seeks back pay, severance benefits, compensatory damages, punitive damages where permitted by law, and attorney fees.
Neither Rawls nor Sands Anderson had filed responses to the lawsuit as of Monday.
RICHMOND — A hearing on a request to block Virginia's new assault weapons ban before it takes effect in three weeks has been canceled while a court panel considers whether multiple legal challenges should be combined into a single case.
The Virginia Supreme Court on June 3 appointed a three-judge panel to decide whether four lawsuits challenging the state's new firearms restrictions should be consolidated and transferred to one circuit court, a move that plaintiffs argue could delay efforts to obtain emergency relief before the July 1 effective date.
Attorney General Jay Jones, Virginia State Police Superintendent Jeffrey Katz and several commonwealth’s attorneys asked the court to combine the lawsuits, which were filed in Washington, Lancaster, Spotsylvania and Fauquier counties shortly after Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed the legislation into law in May.
The law prohibits the sale, manufacture and transfer of certain semiautomatic firearms like AR-15s and ammunition magazines capable of holding more than 15 rounds.
Attorneys representing the state argue the four cases raise many of the same constitutional concerns and should proceed together to avoid conflicting rulings from courts around Virginia.
"Absent transfer, decisions on those motions will proceed contemporaneously and lead to confusion and chaos with respect to the significant common questions of law," the state's application says.
But attorneys representing plaintiffs in some of the lawsuits say the cases involve different legal theories, different plaintiffs and different factual circumstances.
In a filing opposing consolidation, plaintiffs in the Lancaster County case argued that one lawsuit includes federal Second Amendment claims, another centers on Virginia's constitutional militia clause and others raise different constitutional and statutory arguments.
The Lancaster plaintiffs also noted that a hearing on their request for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction had already been scheduled for June 12. According to court filings, that hearing has since been canceled following the Supreme Court's appointment of the three-judge panel.
The Supreme Court appointed judges Richard Wallerstein, J. William Watson and Helivi Holland to determine whether the cases should be transferred.
The panel will not decide whether the firearms restrictions are constitutional. Instead, it will determine whether the challenges move forward separately in their current courts or as coordinated litigation before a single judge.
Fourteen commonwealth's attorneys have publicly said they will not enforce the ban because they believe it is unconstitutional.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch and the Virginia Museum of History & Culture present "America, Made in Virginia," a series uncovering 25 thing…
Anna Bryson (804) 649-6922
A1 Minute! June 11, 2026: India’s Great Mughals at VMFA; RVA100 on Carytown; New episode of Richmond 804 | A1 Minute
