The long-planned King William County reservoir just sprung a leak. A federal judge struck down the Army Corps of Engineers’ permit for the lake, saying in effect it would wreak too much destruction on the environment. The decision is a victory for reservoir opponents, who said the $250 million project would destroy more than 430 acres of wetlands, threaten rare American shad and flood Indian archaeological sites.

It’s important for assessors and commissioners to do a reassessment right. Their job is to determine the fair-market value of real estate—and that matters to property owners, because it is one of the two factors that determine their real estate tax bill. Assessments are supposed to be an impartial estimate. It’s the other piece—the rate at which property is taxed—that’s a political decision.

A look at localities that reassessed residential and commercial properties this year: Chesterfield County: In all, the county’s tax base grew 1 percent. The Board of Supervisors will advertise a tax rate of 95 cents per $100 of assessed value, the same as it now charges, even though the so-called rollback-rate calculation shows it could set a 97-cent rate for all real estate. The rollback rate, which localities are required to disclose when reassessments average a more than 1 percent increase, is what the real estate tax rate would have to be to keep tax bills unchanged.

A medical helicopter can go from central King William County to VCU Medical Center in 6 minutes. But if it takes that helicopter more than 30 minutes to find a place to land to get to a victim, speed might not matter. King William resident and developer David S. Robinson Jr. is proposing to build a private heliport for use by police, medical and disaster-relief personnel off Dunluce Road, a few miles east of Central Garage.

“You don’t realize it when you’re driving 75 miles a day how it counts up in a year’s time.“ -Florence Cooke, who traveled more than 1 million miles on her mail route without a wreck Florence Cooke knows many people in King William and King and Queen counties, though they may not know her. When you deliver mail to the same homes for 31 years, you get to know the people through their letters, bills and packages.

A fire that gutted a family’s home and killed their dog in King William County has prompted an outpouring of community support, providing some relief to a family that lost almost everything they owned.

Chesterfield The deadline to register for a chance to compete in Bandfest, United for Change, is Jan. 19. Bandfest, United for Change is an alcohol-and drug-free event where youths can showcase their music and video-production talents. It will be held March 14 at Southside Church of the Nazarene, 6851 Courthouse Road. Band auditions will be held on Feb. 8 at 1 p.m. To download official rules and a registration packet for either competition, visit chesterfieldsafe.org. Contact Beth Clements at (804) 796-7100.

A fund has been created to provide for a King William County family whose home was gutted by fire on New Year’s Eve.

Leon Brooks is a Santa Claus who lost his helpers just as he was about to complete his appointed rounds. As described Friday by Times-Dispatch reporter Holly Prestidge, Brooks and his wife, Barbara, moved to King William County with plans to build a home.

Several Richmond-area high schools made U.S. News & World Report’s annual ranking of best American high schools, which was topped by a school in Fairfax County. Richmond’s Community High School, Henrico County’s Deep Run and Godwin high schools and Chesterfield County’s Midlothian High School were among 504 nationally to win silver medals.

The group seeking to build a motocross park in King William County hasn’t given up. Andrew M. Condlin, the lawyer for KW Morrison LLC, said yesterday that an appeal was filed in King William Circuit Court. Speaking on behalf of the partners, Condlin said the appeal asks the court to overturn last month’s decision by the county’s Board of Zoning Appeals that KW Morrison needs a neighboring landowner to agree to be on its application for a conditional use permit.

When Fran Freimarck became director of the Pamunkey Regional Library in 1977, there was one main library and two storefront locations in Hanover County, and one location each in Goochland and King William counties. Today, there are 10 branches in all—including six in Hanover. The library’s service area also now extends into King and Queen County.

This daily column features short news items from the 20 localities that make up the greater Richmond area. On Mondays, we run at least one item from each of the localities. If you have a news item, call 649-6990 or e-mail us at Amelia Work has begun on the visitors center at Amelia County’s Sailor’s Creek Battlefield State Park. The $1.1 million center is expected to be completed next summer.

Connie Plum’s students can call her on her cell phone after school hours if they’re worried about something. The King William High School teacher has been known to call a few bosses to ask them to work around after-school sessions for a struggling student. She calls homes when her kids do well, not just when things are bad. Those are just some of the ways Plum said she shows her students that she cares about their future.

This daily column features short news items from the 20 localities that make up the greater Richmond area. On Mondays, we run at least one item from each of the localities.