Strawberry fields Strawberry shortcake anyone? The Ashland Strawberry Faire will be held Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the streets adjacent to Randolph-Macon College. Besides strawberries, the free community event will feature music, arts and crafts, and antiques, as well as the crowning of Little Miss and Little Mr. Strawberry.

Virginia National Guard Maj. Cotton Puryear put it best: “Homecomings are wonderful things.“ So it was that on a windswept tarmac at Richmond International Airport, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and the commonwealth’s ranking guardsmen welcomed the return of some 180 soldiers after a 10-month tour of duty in Iraq. Soldiers from the Richmond-based 1710th Transportation Company, 529th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion and 329th Regional Support Group were deployed along with servicemen from the 1173rd Transportation Company from Onancock.

Some jobs are coming back to a Richmond-area food-processing plant less than a year after layoffs, while a Southside Virginia city announced a business investment yesterday that is expected to create 28 jobs. Tyson Foods Inc. confirmed yesterday that it is adding about 180 jobs for a new production line at its plant on U.S. 33 in Hanover County.

Willis Lee Stone cleaned showcases and windows for his father’s jewelry store in Blackstone and worked as a soda jerk before he came to be known as the “Voice of Emporia” on radio station WEVA. His father sold three jewelry stores in 1951 to build WEVA-AM, which went on the air Nov. 4, 1952. The younger Stone started there as a disc jockey in 1953, a year before graduating from Greensville County High School.

Willis Lee Stone cleaned showcases and windows for his father’s jewelry store in Blackstone and worked as a soda jerk before he came to be known as the “Voice of Emporia” on radio station WEVA. His father sold three jewelry stores in 1951 to build WEVA-AM, which went on the air Nov. 4, 1952. The younger Stone started there as a disc jockey in 1953, a year before graduating from Greensville County High School.

Three people were killed in highway crashes yesterday, Virginia State Police said.

The DNA profile of a man accused in the slaying of an elderly widow more than three decades ago allegedly was found on the victim’s undergarments this year. After the evidence was outlined at a hearing yesterday, rape and murder charges against Thomas Pope Jr., 53, were certified to the Greensville County grand jury. The victim, Eva King Jones, 88, a retired teacher, lived alone in a brick home across the street from the Emporia police station. She was assaulted and slain in the home the night of Jan. 2, 1975.

The DNA profile of a man accused in the slaying of an elderly widow more than three decades ago allegedly was found on the victim’s undergarments this year. After the evidence was outlined at a hearing yesterday, rape and murder charges against Thomas Pope Jr., 53, were certified to the Greensville County grand jury. The victim, Eva King Jones, 88, a retired teacher, lived alone in a brick home across the street from the Emporia police station. She was assaulted and slain in the home the night of Jan. 2, 1975.

A Mission of Mercy dental outreach project was held in the Greensville County High School gymnasium in Emporia, Va., from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 1, 2008. The MOM project is a collaborative effort of the Southside Dental Society, the Virginia Dental Association and the MCV/VCU School of Dentistry. Held in response to the shortage of dental-care access in Southside Virginia, the event provided more than $241,655 in donated dental care.

William Curtis Futrell, charged with murdering two Emporia sisters in North Carolina two years ago, faces a probable-cause hearing next month.

William Curtis Futrell, charged with murdering two Emporia sisters in North Carolina two years ago, faces a probable-cause hearing next month. Hertford County, N.C.