4 The Hampton Roads Messenger Editorial


Father’s Day offers an opportunity for fathers to reassess relationships with children


lifestyle for his children. If a father has to work two jobs, or even three, to provide a safe environment for his children, so be it. If he never has the time to watch another professional or college football or basketball game, so be it. Te welfare of his children should be his first priority and if they are not healthy and happy, a father does not deserve a break to watch sports or participate in any other ex- tracurricular activity.


Te worst possible circumstance


for a child is to see his or her father living in a nice middle class suburb while his child grows up in a dangerous neighborhood.


BY ANGELA JONES Every year during the month


of June, we celebrate Father’s Day although not all children have a great relationship with their father. Tey may not have a relationship with him at all. Tis year, fathers should step back and truly look at how they can improve their relationships with their children.


Grant it, all children do not make


it easy to want to be around them but fathers have a special God-given duty to be there for their children no matter what the circumstances are. In homes where children live without their father, each parent should make every effort to ensure that children have the best relationship possible with both parents. Just because parents are divorced, may not get along and are living separately, there is no reason why they cannot peacefully coexist for the benefit of the children that they brought into the world.


Financially, fathers have to step


up to see to it that their children live in a safe and comfortable home. Whether a father is living in the home with his children or living in another state or another country, he has to work tirelessly to provide a comfortable


sure any father who was in that type of situation would be inconsolable if something were to happen to his child because he only wanted to pay the minimum required child support, leaving the mother of his children in the uncomfortable predicament of not being able to afford a decent place for their child to live.


Money is not the most important


thing a father can give his child. His time and attention will mean more to a child although this may not always seem to be the case. Not all parents have the luxury of being able to spend all day every day with their young children, as I believe God intended, but spending a good amount of quality time each day, whether on the phone or in person, will help a child develop a healthy amount of self-esteem. If a study was ever conducted comparing the amount of time a child spends with his parents and his level of success in life, I am sure that there would be a positive correlation.


Fathers should live each day with


their children as if it were their last because tomorrow is not promised. Making an investment of time and money into a child will pay better dividends than anything Wall Street of banks have to offer. If fathers take the best care possible of children today, the futures of both parent and child will be brighter.


Volume 11 Number 9


June 2017


Governor McAuliffe signs Legislation Preserving Historic Black Cemeteries


Virginia will remedy long-standing injustice of disinvestment in Black graveyards RICHMOND – Governor


McAuliffe has signed HB 1547 to provide for the maintenance of 6,975 historic African American graves, monuments, and markers at the East End Cemetery and Evergreen Cemetery. At the ceremony, the Governor also signed a second bill (HB 2296) directing Foundation


for the


the Virginia Humanities


to preserve and share significant sites and stories relating


history of enslaved peoples in the Commonwealth.


I am patroned by Delegate to the


Both bills were Delores


McQuinn on behalf of the Governor and passed unanimously in the General Assembly.


“Unlike Confederate cemeteries, Black gravesites have gone centuries without state funds allocated for their maintenance and preservation,” said Governor Terry McAuliffe. “Today, we are taking steps to reverse injustices the African American community has faced for generations. These two bills represent a new beginning and present an opportunity to make this


Versatility FROM PAGE 1


flat tire changes, fuel assistance, legal assistance for traffic court, up to $25,000 bail bondsman, discounts for medical, prescription medication, vision, hearing, car rentals, hotels, $150 a day for hos- pitalization for up to a year during a car accident and much more.”


Mrs. Jones also has an online


store at www.storespectrum.com with products including makeup brushes, t-shirts, jewelry, wooden sunglasses, cameras and more.


From the military to the businesses she operates, Cheryl P.


Jones has fulfilled the requirements of versatility as exhibited through the many industries in which she has worked throughout her career.


To set up an appointment


for insurance, call or text her today at 757-235-9580 or email her at mrscpjones@gmail.com.


To sign up for the motor club membership there is an introductory fee of $40 and subsequent fees of $19.95 a month. For more information, go to www.towmeplease. com or call 800-973-8007.


You are cordially invited to attend...


City Council meetings... Norfolk - regular meetings are held on the first and fourth Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. and the second and third Tuesday at 2:30 p.m.


Chesapeake - regular meetings are held on the second, third and fourth Tuesday of each month at 6:30 p.m.


Established 2006 A. J. Jones, Publisher Chris Parks, Editor


Sarah Parks, Graphic Designer Ida Davis, Contributing Writer


Sales and Information 757-575-1863 info@hamptonroadsmessenger.com


Copyright pertaining to contents of this edition. All rights reserved.


Newport News - regular business meetings are held on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month at 7:00 p.m.


Suffolk - regular meetings are held on the first and third Wednesday of each month at 7:00 p.m. Hampton - typically take place on the second and fourth Wednesday of every month at 7:30 p.m.


Virginia Beach - meets on the first four Tuesdays of each month. In July the meetings are scheduled on the first two Tuesdays only. Formal session begins at 6 p.m. Portsmouth - meeting dates are the second and fourth Tuesday of each month at 7:00 p.m.


Commonwealth a more inclusive, more just place for all its citizens.”


has provided considerable resources to


In addition to


preserve support


to annual recurrent


onetime state


needs, the Commonwealth has made considerable


The also provided


Since the Civil War, Virginia Confederate


gravesites. payments


maintenance investments


including an $8,000 appropriation to Hollywood Cemetery in 1914, the equivalent of $190,000 in today’s dollars.


$30,000 in 1997 to restore Confederate graves at Oakwood Cemetery, a close neighbor to multiple long-neglected African American burial grounds.


"Today was an amazing day as Governor McAuliffe signed House Bills 1547 and 2296,” said Delegate Delores


McQuinn. “These historic


bills received unanimous support from the General Assembly and will help to bring balance to Virginia’s rich history, as well as serve to advance, illuminate, and preserve the history and stories of enslaved


African-Americans here in the Commonwealth of Virginia."


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