NATHALIE Four years ago, Richmond engineer Robert Moss was standing in a thicket of pine trees, tangled vines and poison oak deep in rural Halifax County - face to face with a decision that would change his life.

More than 2,000 DVDs explaining the causes, conflicts and consequences of the Civil War have been mailed to all public schools in Virginia. The three-hour history lesson was produced by a member of the Virginia Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Commission who led the nation’s centennial commemoration. “In the centennial, if we made a big mistake it was that we overlooked the young. We can’t do that again,“ said James I. Robertson, a history professor at Virginia Tech who in 1961 was appointed executive director of the U.S. Civil War Centennial Commission. “A nation that forgets the past has no future.“

For details, go to
  http://www.virginiacivilwar.org.

The world’s eyes are going to be turned to Richmond,“ said S. Waite Rawls III. Rawls, president and CEO of the Museum of the Confederacy, made that declaration Tuesday night at The Future of Richmond’s Past, a community conversation leading up to the 150th anniversary of the Civil War and the end of slavery in the United States, which we will commemorate from 2011 to 2015.

Statewide tourism annually produces more than $18.7 billion in revenue for Virginia, spreading benefits primarily among thousands of small-business owners. The whole tourism sector, with 210,000 jobs and $4.3 billion annually in payroll and salaries, provides $1.2 billion in state and local taxes that stay in the commonwealth—a big business by any measure.

Just as cold, damp weather couldn’t quench John Brown’s incendiary fervor, it didn’t discourage those determined to follow the radical abolitionist’s footsteps Friday, 150 years after he launched the raid that kindled the Civil War.

The sesquicentennial of the Civil War will put Richmond center stage nationally with both the opportunity and the obligation to tell the story of what happened here honestly. That was the message of “The Future of Richmond’s Past,“ a forum that drew about 160 people to the University of Richmond yesterday for the start of a series of discussions on how to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the war.

Loading and firing a musket is a nine-step process. “Disciplined troops would be able to load and fire one every 15 or 20 seconds,“ said John Reid, a National Park Service employee who was acting as master of ceremonies for a Saturday-morning Civil War infantry demonstration at Manassas National Battlefield. “It takes nine steps to load, prime and ready it for firing.“

The Orange County Board of Supervisors voted in favor of a Wal-Mart, but the fight over the store isn’t over yet. Later yesterday, after the board’s 4-1 vote at 1 a.m. to grant a special-use permit to allow the retailer to build a 133,481-squarefoot store near a Civil War battlefield, a loose-knit coalition of opposition forces was busy regrouping.

The Orange County Board of Supervisors voted in favor of a Wal-Mart, but the fight over the store isn’t over yet. Later yesterday, after the board’s 4-1 vote at 1 a.m. to grant a special-use permit to allow the retailer to build a 133,481-squarefoot store near a Civil War battlefield, a loose-knit coalition of opposition forces wasbusy regrouping.

The Orange County Board of Supervisors voted early this morning in favor of a long-debated Wal-Mart store near the Wilderness battlefield. A special-use permit was approved 4-1 just before 1 a.m.

As about 400 people crowded the Orange County High School Auditorium last night, more than 80 speakers took turns at the microphone to talk about a proposed Wal-Mart store near a Civil War battlefield. Most identified themselves as local residents, and most favored building the store. The five members of the county Board of Supervisors sat mostly silent on stage at the public hearing, after which they were to vote on whether to allow the store to be built near the battlefield.

The Orange County Board of Supervisors will hold its final public hearing on a proposed Walmart tomorrow at 6 p.m. in the auditorium of the county high school. The board probably will decide on an application for a special-use permit to allow construction of the 138,000-squarefoot store, though a vote could be pushed back to Tuesday if the hearing goes late.

With two members absent, the Orange County Planning Commission voted 4-4 last night on whether to recommend that a special use permit be granted to build a Walmart store near a Civil War battlefield. The tie goes down as a no vote.

Supporters and opponents of a Wal-Mart planned for a site near a Civil War battlefield learned yesterday that they have at least three more weeks to prepare their arguments. About three hours before the scheduled beginning of a public hearing to discuss the proposal, the Orange County Board of Supervisors called off the meeting after discovering that an earlier hearing conducted by the Planning Commission may have occurred illegally.