An Ohio Weekly Newspaper That's Still Thriving

During spring break back in 1964 I spent a week at this site poring over issues of the first 30 years of this unusual weekly newspaper. It was for my senior history research thesis at EMC (now EMU), and my work was later published in the Mennonite Quarterly Review.

This Ohio newspaper avoids the internet. Its readers like it that way.

Every week, Milo Miller is in charge of publishing a paper. Instead of relying on a newsroom full of beat reporters and columnists, his paper The Budget looks to handwritten letters from across the country.
    “These would be letters that came today,” he said as he leafed through a basket of letters. “[There’s] Williamsburg, Kentucky; Millersburg, Ohio; Rexford Montana…”
     The contents of each piece of snail mail will be printed in the next edition of the weekly paper and distributed across the country to tens of thousands of readers.
    Ohio has lost more than half of its daily and weekly news publications between 2005 and 2025, according to data from Medill’s Local News Initiative.
    But the Budget is finding success by staying exactly the same.
    “We're kind of part of that culture. Part of the Amish story is The Budget,” he said.

The Budget’s start
The Budget was founded in 1890 by John C. Miller, an Amish Mennonite who wrote a column on what was happening in Sugarcreek’s community. He printed it and mailed it to family around the U.S. – who wrote back.
    He decided to publish those letters too.
    “Then all these letters started coming in. And by the end of that first year, there were over a hundred scribes from 12 different states.”
    It quickly became a national publication.
    More than 100 years later, it’s sticking to that 19th-century model. Every Wednesday, they publish around 70 pages of letters from Amish communities who still rely on print and old school word-of-mouth to share their news.
    Today, the Budget has around 1,200 writers who document their daily lives through letters sent to Ohio.
    “It’s funny to look back at some of the first letters you know in 1890. Outside of maybe a few words that would be trendy at the time, if you read that letter it doesn't look much different than today's letter,” he said.

The process
For the past four years, Budget staff member Brenda Keller has taken these reports on crops, births and deaths and transcribed them from sweeping cursive into bold typeface that’s distributed as far as Washington state.
    As she typed up one letter, Keller described it as pretty typical of what she’s seen over her tenure.
    “They're just going to visit people and having church,” she said. “That's the norm.”
    Unlike a traditional publication, there’s little editorial oversight at The Budget. Miller and his staff do some light copy editing and remove anything political or controversial: No debates over church rules. No endorsements of one sect over another.
    But mostly, Miller prints the news just as it comes in – funny hunting stories, weather gripes and all.
    “We're their form of entertainment. We're their nightly news. … They're not turning on the television or going to YouTube or going on TikTok or whatever to figure out what's trending, what's going on, what's happening in the world. In a lot of cases, they're reading it in The Budget,” Miller said.

Trust and tradition
The Amish and Anabaptist aversion to modern technology has kept The Budget’s circulation steady for years.
    It has 20,000 paid subscribers. Miller expects that to grow with the Amish population, which approximately doubles every two decades.
    “Our struggles are not on the financial end, it's the distribution model with the United States Postal Service. Presses are becoming fewer and fewer, where we're driving seven hours away to print,” he said.
    Even with the long drive, Miller will keep The Budget an internet-free publication.
    He may use a computer, but most of The Budget’s audience does not. Flipping through its pages has become a ritual for the community, steeped in tradition.
    “It’s their newspaper. We're just privileged enough to publish it for them.”

Kendall Crawford wrote this for the Ohio Newsroom, which gave me permission to post the piece.

Honoring A Long Line Of Unremembered Moms

This ancestral chart was developed by one of my first cousins. It includes some two dozen surnames, some of people well over a dozen generations ago. 

For much of my life I thought of myself as being half Yoder and half Nisly (my mother's maiden name). I assumed that by tracing my paternal history back to Christian and Barbara Yoder (who emigrated to Philadelphia in 1742), and my maternal ancestry back to immigrant Christian Nisly (who arrived here in 1804 as an unaccompanied sixteen-year-old) that I would have the key elements of my ancestral story.

Which was naive, of course, as each of us has a multitude of generational lines to be pursued and celebrated. 

In a patriarchal culture sons get to pass on their father's surnames and are seen as the main characters in the story, while daughters take on the surnames of their spouses and tend to be regarded as lesser players. Some couples attempt to partly rectify this by adopting hyphenated last names, and it would indeed be more accurate to identify myself as Harvey Yoder-Nisly-Troyer-Miller-Slabaugh-Hochstetler-Gerber-Bontrager-Esch-Kauffman-Swartzentruber-Gingerich-Stutzman-Lauver-Wert, etc., though that would be overly cumbersome. But we do need to find ways of incorporating the stories of both men and women in our ancestry.

The fan chart above of my Yoder and Nisly forbears does include the names of the mothers in my heritage, but we tend to know far less about them than we do about some of their husbands and fathers. 

I'd love to learn more about the long line of mothers in my ancestral chart, knowing they have contributed just as much to my DNA as my father and my grandfathers (and actually slightly more, in that males inherit a large X chromosome from their mother and a smaller Y chromosome from their father). But my really important questions are "How have the mothers in my lineage contributed to the faith and values I've inherited from my ancestors? What were the formative experiences that shaped their lives, and mine? In what special ways did they influence the children they carried, gave birth to, nursed, nurtured to adulthood and continued to profoundly influence throughout their lives?"

With Mother's Day approaching, I'm reminded of the debt of gratitude I owe to all of these unnamed mothers whose stories I may never know.

I do feel blessed by what I know of my own mother Mary Nisly's story, born in rural Hutchinson, Kansas, in 1904, the ninth child of devoted parents Eli and Fannie (Troyer) Nisly. Her father, Eli Nisly, was a beloved bishop of their church. Her mother, Fannie, had lost her mother at a very young age, and as a 19-year-old moved from Indiana to Kansas to be a housekeeper for Abraham, a widower whose wife had left him with numerous children to care for, one of them being her future husband, Eli. So this is how two motherless young people, Eli and Fannie, met and eventually married and had 13 children of their own, one of them being my mother.

My parents married when mom was 21 and my dad, Ben, was 20. After working on my grandfather Dan Yoder's farm near Thomas, Oklahoma, they travelled some 200 miles by team and wagon from Oklahoma to Hutchinson, Kansas in the dead of winter, where they settled down and started their own family.

My mom had only a sixth-grade education, but she was an avid reader and a lifelong learner.  She always encouraged us to work hard and to do our best in school, and managed to have put out two gardens every year, canned and frozen tons of food for her family, raised canaries, grown lots of flowers, constantly entertained guests from the church and visitors from out of town, and become a mother to numerous foster children, besides caring for her own family. My next younger sister, child number nine, was a motherless foster child who came to us at four weeks of age and was adopted by my parents.

I never knew my father's mother, Elizabeth, who died giving birth to her fourth child when my dad was only four years old, leaving him motherless until his father remarried when he was eight. And I have only faint memories of my grandmother Fannie, who passed away when I was six years old.

I often wonder what I am missing by knowing so little about the life stories of the multitudes of other good mothers in past generations. I'm sure each one represents a priceless biography of life experiences I could learn from and pass on to my descendants.

Happy Mother's Day!

4/22 DN-R Op-Ed: "'Domicide' Is a War Crime"

Let woe and waste of warfare cease, 

that useful labor yet may build
its homes with love and laughter filled.
God give your wayward children peace!
- William M. Vories "Let there Be Light"

Today’s bloody wars result in countless numbers of innocent men, women and children being incinerated, dismembered, buried alive under rubble and horribly maimed for life. 

Accompanying this trauma is the wholesale destruction of buildings and infrastructure belonging to the victims of war--homes, schools, hospitals, places of worship and other structures vital to their life and their future.

I call this destruction “domicide," a word coined from domicile, a word for a residence, a dwelling, a home. We humans are highly dependent on such physical spaces for shelter and warmth, as secure places vital for our care and survival.

So for God’s sake and for humanity’s sake all who claim to be pro-life need to do everything possible to avoid inflicting harm not only to our human neighbors around the world but also to the physical structures they depend on for their wellbeing.

I find it interesting that Jesus spent most of his adult life as an apprentice of Joseph, identified as a carpenter, though the Greek word used is more accurately translated "craftsman" or “builder." In other words, he was likely a skilled mason and construction worker, working with the most common building material in his community, stone. So it is understandable that Jesus frequently uses foundation stones and cornerstones as metaphors, as at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, where he notes that those who hear and practice his teachings are like wise builders who build their house on a solid rock foundation. He also laments the tragedy of the Jewish temple one day being demolished to the point that "not one stone remains on another," a sign of unimaginable tragedy.

Every domicile represents the work of artisans who have spent untold numbers of hours in their creation, among them architects, excavators, masons, plumbers, electricians, painters and landscapers, to mention a few. Out of respect to those who have designed, prized and made their home in these blessed spaces, we should declare it a mortal sin to even think of destroying them. These are not just houses, but homes where, as one unknown author has written, "love resides, friends always belong, and laughter never ends." 

Or at least until war rears its ugly head, and war makers and munitions manufacturers satisfy their appetite for the profit that can be gained from it.

In our seemingly safe local community we’ve been spared the direct effects of war, at least  since General Sheridan terrorized the population by setting fire to hundreds of mills and barns up and down the Shenandoah Valley over a century and a half ago. But even then, in spite of repeated battles in the area that resulted in the brutal deaths of hundreds of Union and Confederate soldiers, most homes, schools, churches, villages and their civilian inhabitants survived, and many pre-Civil War buildings and other infrastructure remain intact today.

Today's wars are unimaginably more destructive, wreaking untold havoc in densely populated areas like Gaza, Lebanon and Iran which have been pounded with incessant barrages of huge 1000-to 2000-pound bombs. According to US intelligence estimates more than 29,000 of these have been dropped on Gaza alone, with 40-45% of these not being precise military targets. This is by definition a war crime and a violation of any definition of a “just war,” and is equivalent to the destructive power of the nuclear bombs we dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki eighty years ago. And as a result, millions of Gazan, Lebanese and Iranian men, women and children have been rendered homeless and are forced to live in tents or in whatever temporary shelter they can find.

Isn’t it time to make all forms of “domicide” a war crime? Destroying homes and other human habitat in seconds that have taken years to build is an exceptionally cruel and wasteful form of barbarism and insanity. 

And it is way past time to denounce war itself as the world's worst ever crime against humanity. 

April Justice Matters DN-R Column

Making Ends Meet In Prison

We recently heard from an incarcerated individual in Virginia who works at least 30 hours a week with his paint crew, yet can’t afford to pay for his medical needs and to supplement his meager diet with food from the commissary. His prison job pays him only $0.45 per hour of work. 

While some expenses like lodging are obviously cheaper while incarcerated, many individuals struggle to afford basic necessities like their medical visits, personal hygiene items, and snacks to supplement often meager prison rations. According to the Prison Policy Initiative, an incarcerated person receives between $0.86 to $3.45 per hour on average nationwide for their labor. 

Incarcerated people in Virginia with jobs like cleaning the prison and preparing food make a minimum of $0.27 per hour and a maximum of $0.45. Those who are employed through Virginia Correctional Enterprises (to make items like furniture for offices and public VA universities, textiles, and office supplies) make a minimum of $0.55 per hour and a maximum of $0.80. 

In January 2026, Virginians saw an increase in their minimum wage from $12.41 per hour to $12.77. No such increases apply to incarcerated individuals. In fact, VADOC policy only states the maximum amount that an incarcerated person can earn, which is 90 cents per hour. Most individuals earn far less, and those in local Virginia jails are paid nothing at all for work done in these facilities. My brother Tanner, for example, served food trays and cleaned his unit for multiple years while held at Middle River Regional Jail. While he earned good time credits, he was not only denied pay for his labor but was charged a $3 per day “keep fee” while held there.

According to Tanner, “The food they serve us isn't even worth that. We get no fruit on our trays. In fact, we get almost nothing but starches, and have no access to healthy snacks. For lunch, we generally get cookies with some kind of cornbread. Dinner usually includes some type of cake with corn bread. There is no nutrition in this, and we are on lock down for all but six hours a day. We ae charged $6 for a bar of soap. Where is the money going?”

Indeed, prison labor is a widespread economic crisis – and a targeted one at that. Poor and minority communities experience increased levels of policing, even after controlling for crime rates. As a result, poor people and people of color, particularly Black people, are incarcerated at disproportionately higher rates, often resulting in already disadvantaged people in prison being forced to work for low to nonexistent wages with few worker protections. (For more information on mass incarceration and its racial and economic disparities, consider reading Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow or Danielle Sered’s Until We Reckon.)

In some cases if a person refuses to work in prison they can face disciplinary action including solitary confinement, which has been internationally condemned and recognized by medical professionals as torture. 

“I know a lot of people out there are thinking that the system is doing the best that they can. But it’s not,” Tanner stated. “It seems to me, and a lot of other people inside, that prisons and jails are more concerned about the money they can make on inmates rather than their rehabilitation.”

Regardless of your beliefs about prisons, imagine being forced to work for tens of hours each week for as little as $0.27 an hour. Imagine using multiple hours of wages to afford a call to your mom for just fifteen minutes. Consider having to use over half a week’s wages to visit a nurse for Ibuprofen or to buy a bar of soap. Ask yourself, if prisons truly care for a person’s betterment, then why do they make basic living so difficult? 

This article was written on behalf of the Valley Justice Coalition by Destinee Harper. a local resident who is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of West Virginia and an assistant program director for the WVU Higher Education in Prison Initiative. 

HB1030 Becomes Law Effective In July 2027

  

The newly appointed parole board will be required to make their decisions on the basis of a set of objective criteria as outlined in the above press release. This is in contrast to previous boards, which based a wholesale number of denials on the following top ten reasons, most having to do with an individual's past rather than their work at rehabilitation since being incarcerated:

Serious nature and circumstances of your offense(s).

Release at this time would diminish seriousness of crime

The Board concludes that you should serve more of your sentence prior to release on parole.

Extensive criminal record

Your prior failure(s) and/or convictions while under community supervision indicate that you are unlikely to comply with conditions of release.

History of substance abuse.

History of violence.

Considering your offense and your institutional records, the Board concludes that you should serve more of your sentence before being paroled.

You need further participation in institutional work and/or educational programs to indicate your positive progression towards re-entry into society

No Interest in Parole

VMRC Celebrates Earth Day, April 22, 2026

Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community's Willow Run Farm provides fresh produce for members of the community. 

The Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community is observing Earth Day this Wednesday with a variety of special events, and with free oak saplings from the city of Harrisonburg for area residents. 

10 am to 3 pm: Table displays in Park Gables Main Street area

Willow Run Farm 

Shenandoah Faith and Climate

Composting and Recycling Information

Friendly City Co-op

City of Harrisonburg (free oak saplings) 

Maps of World Food and Clothing Sources

10-12 noon: PowerPoint presentations in Hartman Dining area

10 am: Steve Pardini, Ph.D., author of Climate Change and the Healing of Creation

11 am: Megan Dalton, Shenandoah Valley Soil and Water Conservation District 

Noon and other resident meals featuring a variety of Willow Run Farm Produce

1-2:50 pm: Park Place Multipurpose Room 

PBS film “American Experience: Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring”

3 pm: Park Place Multipurpose Room

Brief talk, “Landscaping and Mental Health” by Abe Rittenhouse, followed by a campus tree walk

What's Your EQ (Earthcare Quotient)?

Earth Day is on April 22, and Arbor Day on the 24th

Good planets are hard to find, and we have no Planet B. Our amazing Spaceship Earth has priceless but finite resources for its current and future passengers, but only if we manage them wisely.

     Rate each of the following on a scale of 0-5, 0 if you strongly oppose this environmental advice, 5 if you strongly support it, and 1, 2, 3, or 4 for somewhere in between.

___1. Taking fewer and shorter showers. Experts suggest short “Navy showers” several times a week, thus conserving water and reducing chemical exposure to phthalates, sulfates and didethanolamides in shampoos, for example. (Harvard Health).

___2. Setting water heater temperature at a recommended 120 degrees.

___3. Using cold water as recommended for most laundry. 

___4. Sun drying or air drying clothes if possible. Dryer lint indicates harm done to clothing.

___5. Turning thermostats down in winter and up in summer. Our Harrisonburg Electric Commission recommends a setting of 78 or higher in the summer and 68 or lower in winter. 

___6. Refusing, recycling, reusing, and composting. Grandma’s rule: “Use it up, make it do, wear it out or do without.”

___7. Avoiding use of electric door openers unless disabled. Prolonged opening time lets in more cold air in winter and hot air in the summer.

___8. Walking instead of driving to nearby locations as able.

___9. Utilizing public transportation wherever and whenever possible.

___11. Saving water from faucets and showers while waiting for warm water and using what’s saved for watering plants or for humidifiers. Not having water running while brushing teeth or scrubbing hands.

___12. Flushing commodes only when necessary (you’ll know when).

___13. Keeping lights off where and when not needed.

___14. Unplugging seldom used electrical appliances.

___15. Using stairs if able and reducing use of elevators. Great exercise!

___16. Encouraging your town, work place, congregation, etc., to incorporate climate care into the values, administration and practice of their institution, and to invest in solar and other alternative forms of energy.

___17. Delaying spring lawn mowing and converting lawns to meadow and pollinator-friendly spaces.

___18. Growing vegetables in an available garden plot, buying local foods.

___19. Consuming more whole foods and local produce and using fewer highly-processed food products.

___20. Adopting a Slow Fashion lifestyle with clothing and accessories made of earth-friendly material that show regard for conservation, sustainability and humane working conditions.

Here are some big ticket items for which you can gain extra points, with 0 for strongly oppose and 10 for strongly support. Or you can choose any number in between.

___21.  Reducing reliance on gas-powered vehicles by car pooling or, better yet, car sharing.

___22.  Reducing roadtrip and airline vacations and avoiding cruises (especially bad for the environment).

___23. Creating greater equity in housing space occupied per individual (larger spaces for larger households, smaller spaces for smaller households).

___24. Sharing possessions and skills with others in your congregation and/or neighborhood.

___25. Radically reducing money spent on possessions that deteriorate and depreciate in value, and investing heavily in better health, food, education and housing for needy neighbors around the globe.

___26. Championing legislation that supports clean energy, mitigates climate change and resists expenditures on ever more lethal means of destruction, and that instead invests in programs that heal the earth and care for its people.

___ TOTAL

If your total is over 100 in this unscientific poll, you’re well above average. If 140 or higher, you’re an EQ genius!

Feel free to copy and share.

Brad Composes A New Song For Easter Sunday

This is a photo from another service at Pittsburgh Mennonite. Brad had two others accompanying him in today's Easter service.

resurrection day,

the clock radio played Hallelujah (song by Leonard Cohen)

while the dawn birds sang
all their songs at once…
    before you realize where you are,
    uncertain of your name or age,
    between the urge to laugh or pray,
    resurrection day,
 
resurrection day,
a child cartwheels on the sidewalk,
as if to say “right-side-up’s one choice!”
    as the dream begins to fade,
    half-asleep, half-awake,
    the moment when you know you’re safe,
    resurrection day,
            thought all was lost, but it turned out alright,
            dying to live or you’re living to die,
            runs in a circle, feels like a climb,
            some kind of carnival ride..
 
resurrection day,
the clock radio played Mr. Blue Sky (song by ELO)
all the stoplight horns
proclaim: “the light has changed”
waiting for a bus to come,
taking in the traffic’s hum,
off to work or school or play,
            all that was lost has now been revived,
            trying to live or you’re living to try,
            orbits are birthdays, birthdays are lives
            on to the end of the line..
 
resurrection day,
the clock radio played Chelsea Morning, (song by Joni Mitchell)
yellow curtains clapped to greet the sun’s parade,
plain for every eye to see, here in anno domini
between the urge to leave or stay, resurrection day
 
somewhere in the afterglow: jubilate domino
between the urge to laugh or pray, resurrection day…

Here's a link to a recording of an early draft of the song (Click ¨Unrecorded #56) https://bradyoder.com/songs/resurrection-day/

Jesus Offers Some Great Financial Advice

Jan Luyken etching of the Parable of the Penitent Steward
in Luke 16 (Wikipedia)

Money is the most successful story ever invented and told by human beings because it
is the only story everyone believes…. Not everyone believes in God, not everybody believes in human rights, not everybody believes in nationalism, but everybody believes in money.”

- Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari

Jesus mentions money in nearly half of his parables, and many of his so-called “hard sayings” are about wealth, as in “Don’t store up possessions here on earth,” “Don’t worry about tomorrow,” and “Sell what you have and give it to the poor.”

Are Jesus’s words about money naive and impractical, or can we trust his advice on how to use money as wisely as possible?

In the gospel of Luke’s puzzling parable of the “unjust steward” Jesus commends a shady estate manager, not for how he mishandled his master’s money, but for the shrewd way he used “unrighteousness mammon” to secure his future when he was fired from his job.

Before the manager turns over the records of his dealings, he immediately approaches those indebted to his boss and gains their favor by writing off substantial amounts of their debt. In this way he gains their friendship and the assurance that when he’s without an income that they will come to his aid. The manager could have gone about embezzling some extra funds for himself, but chooses to offer others some much appreciated debt forgiveness instead.

It is significant that the amounts forgiven likely correspond to the hidden interest in many contracts in Jesus’s day, hidden to avoid the appearance of charging usury as forbidden by the Torah. So the steward is choosing to act more justly as well as managing wealth in a way that benefits others.

Jesus describes that as a smart move, and notes that “people of this world” are often shrewder than “people of the light” when it comes to financial management. In an earlier passage Luke records Jesus giving similar advice, “Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide wealth for yourself that will never be depleted, an account in heaven that never be exhausted, where no thief can steal and no moths destroy.”

In other words, like the shrewd manager in the parable, we are urged to manage God’s wealth in ways that benefit our fellow human beings and thus gain the kind of wealth that truly matters and is forever secure. People, after all, are priceless and enduring, while the material things we gain with money deteriorate and lose value over time.

A couple in a former community we lived were obvious hoarders. Their house, their overgrown back yard and even their vehicles were packed full of stored possessions, all of which were once brand new and had been marketed with the promise of great pleasure and pride for their owners. Over the years their possessions became a pathetic collection of landfill, a useless eyesore.

By contrast, a decades-old Readers Digest article, “Wealth Beyond Diamonds,” tells the story of a newly engaged couple who are about to purchase a diamond when they learn a close friend was having to drop out of college because they could no longer afford their tuition. The couple decides to forego the diamond and invest in their friend’s education instead.

The gratitude the couple experienced and the benefit they felt as a result of their friend’s success led them to help countless other worthy students throughout their adult lives. In their retirement they celebrated the achievements of all of the people with whom they had become good friends, resulting in their experiencing a wealth far beyond diamonds.

An elementary age child at our church’s Vacation Bible School years ago made a similar choice. The   VBS offering that summer was to purchase a young cow through Heifer International for some needy family abroad. The young student became so excited about raising the money that he contributed all of the savings he’d accumulated in his piggy bank. All of it.

This child was neither motivated by guilt nor manipulated into this level of generosity, but saw this as a great investment opportunity, visualizing a needy family being blessed and enriched in a way that resulted in sheer joy and pleasure for giver and receiver alike. Besides, he knew that as a part of a caring family and church family, he would never be in want for having generously shared with others in need. He trusted that good people, God’s people, would always look out for each other.

But what about saving for our future retirement?

Here I am deeply conflicted, but several decades ago, with the help of our Everence financial advisor, we were able to transfer most of our modest retirement savings into Calvert Community Investment Notes. These are dedicated to causes like agricultural development, alternative- energy projects and micro-lending opportunities for worthy entrepreneurs, rather than invested in a profit-based Wall Street economy. While such investments only earn enough interest to keep up with inflation, the satisfaction of having God’s money work in ways that are truly life giving has given us great joy.

In the final judgement, when nations of people everywhere are called to account for their stewardship, none of us wants to hear words like, “You’re fired.” What we hope for are the words, “Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me.”

We may never feel deserving of this kind of commendation or this level of unimaginable joy. But all of us stewards need to repent of any mismanagement of God’s wealth for personal gain and begin to live in a radically different way from that of our mammon-driven North American culture.

"Here’s the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home” Luke 16:9 (NLT).

VJC March 2026 DN-R Justice Matters Column

Romeo Perez is a formerly incarcerated individual who is a 
professional Certified Peer Support Specialist with United
Health. He serves as co-chair of the Valley Justice Coalition. 

Progress Worth Recognizing—and the Work Still Ahead

Conversations about criminal justice rarely make front-page headlines, but they matter deeply to the families, staff, and community members whose lives intersect with our local correctional system.

Over the past decade, we have seen meaningful progress in how we approach criminal justice. That progress deserves recognition.

Yet improvement in a justice system is never a finished project. As our community evolves, so too must the policies and practices that guide our institutions.

The Valley Justice Coalition, a Harrisonburg-based citizens group, supports the development of a system of justice that can serve as a model not only for the Commonwealth but for communities across the nation. Our goal is not to criticize for the sake of criticism, but to collaborate—to listen, to learn, and to advocate for policies that reflect both public safety and human dignity.

Over many years, coalition members have heard from individuals and families with loved ones incarcerated in the two facilities serving our region: the Rockingham-Harrisonburg Regional Jail(RHRJ) and the Middle River Regional Jail (MRRJ). Because these two facilities share a unique contractual relationship, it is especially important that their policies remain fair, transparent, and as consistent with each other as possible.

Several areas have emerged where thoughtful review could lead to meaningful improvements.

First, policies related to lockdown procedures, searches, and segregation deserve careful examination. Differences between the two facilities create confusion and in some cases unequal treatment. For example, RHRJ allows more out-of-cell time during the day, which supports mental health and basic human functioning. However, individuals placed in solitary confinement there are denied access to reading materials, while MRRJ provides this opportunity. Reviewing these practices could help ensure both facilities adopt the most humane and effective policies possible.

Second, concerns have been raised over the years regarding the quality and safety of food served at MRRJ. Nutrition is not a luxury but a basic human need and a critical component of health. A review of vendor standards and oversight procedures could address these concerns while strengthening confidence in the facility’s operations.

Third, we recognize positive development regarding jail visitation. At MRRJ, visits with loved ones have increased fourfold through the use of tablet-based communication technology, and RHRJ is exploring similar options. Expanding communication between incarcerated individuals and their families is an important step forward. Research consistently shows that maintaining family connections during incarceration improves outcomes after releaseand reduces recidivism. While technology offers helpful tools, we also strongly support maintaining opportunities for in-person visits, which remain essential for preserving meaningful  human relationships. Meanwhile, we question the need for residents at RHRJ to be handcuffed for visits with loved ones while separated by glass and concrete.

Fourth, the daily “keep fees” charged to incarcerated individuals place a significant burden on families who are often already struggling financially. When someone is transferred from RHRJ to MRRJ, that fee increases from $1 to $3 a day. For low-income families this can create real hardships and unintentionally deepen cycles of poverty.

Fifth, there is a need to examine costs associated with medical care, phone access, and commissary items. These services are necessary for health, communication, and daily living.Aligning these costs between facilities and keeping them as affordable as possible would promote fairness and consistency.

Sixth, we appreciate MRRJ’s policy allowing in-person visits by approved clergy in a setting similar to attorney visits. Faith-based support can provide guidance, hope, and stability for individuals navigating incarceration. As space and resources allow, expanding opportunities for faith-based programming could further strengthen the rehabilitative mission of these facilities.

Finally, families have expressed concerns about the transfer of personal property, medications, and other essential items when individuals move between facilities. Reviewing these policies could help reduce confusion and ensure smoother transitions.

None of these suggestions are meant as criticism of the many dedicated staff members working within our correctional facilities. Corrections officers, administrators, and staff perform demanding work under challenging circumstances. Rather, these recommendations reflect a belief that strong institutions are built through dialogue, transparency, and a shared willingness to improve.

The Valley Justice Coalition remains committed to working collaboratively with local leaders, jail administrators and members of the broader community to address the above concerns constructively.

We commend the progress that has been made. And we look forward to the continued work ahead.

Are We Losing Our Capacity For Compassion?

We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person? I John 3:16-17 NLB

Parable of the Good Samaritan by Samuel Nixon, St. Paul's Church, Halifax, Nova Scotia (Wikipedia) 

Like many of you, I get appeal letters almost every day about the plight of hungry, homeless and desperately ill neighbors around the world. Of the first fifteen social media posts I noted recently, five of them were similarly urgent requests for help.

But like the priest and Levite in Jesus's Good Samaritan parable, I typically find myself scrolling past one stark image and heartfelt appeal after another, like these three recent Facebook examples: 

"Every two minutes a child dies from water-related diseases." (CARE)

"There are staggering needs around the world." (Doctors Without Borders)

"Join a community of people who believe in sustainable solutions to hunger." (Heifer International)

In short, I'm afraid I'm becoming numb to the sheer numbers of appeals and the unimaginable numbers of desperate men, women and children who inhabit my shrinking world neighborhood.

Examples:

• Over 72,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed by Israeli forces since October 7, 2023, countless numbers of others are maimed for life and around 1.9 million (90% of Gaza's population) are displaced, often after losing family members and most of their belongings. 

• Over the last two weeks, Iran has been struck by massive bombs at least 168 times, resulting in 1,200 to 1,500 civilian deaths and multiple injuries. More than 3 million people are internally displaced, mostly from heavily targeted areas of Tehran.

• Over 700 million people worldwide are facing chronic hunger, about 1 in 11 people. Over 40 million are on the brink of starvation, and 43 million children under 5 have suffered life-threatening weight loss.

Am I losing my capacity for compassion? These are, after all, my fellow human beings, beloved neighbors whom I am to love and care for just as I love and care for myself and for my own.

Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.

On the one hand we are called to play the good Samaritan on life's roadside; but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life's highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.

— Martin Luther King Jr., "A Time to Break the Silence", quoted in Hicks & Valeri 2008

Now That We've Replaced Virginia's State Song, Could Adopt A More Appropriate State Seal?

Note the image of the goddess Virtue and the motto ("So be it ever to Tyrants") on the Virginia state seal. This photo was taken at a recent meeting two fellow members of the Valley Justice Coalition and I had with Director Joseph Walters and some of his Department of Corrections staff in Richmond. As I reflected on  the seal I was struck by the unintended impression it might give of the DOC oppressing and punishing the incarcerated rather than effectively correcting and rehabilitating them.

Nathaniel Fairfield, an expert in all things technological, used AI to create an alternative state seal for me that might be a more appropriate for the Commonwealth. Unfortunately, "Sic Semper Humilatio," translated literally as "Thus Ever Humbled,"  is not quite what I was looking for, so I thought I would ask AI (a tool I normally avoid like the plague) to create yet another possible seal. 

I instructed AI to have the two figures in this version be "persons of color" (non-white), but this is what I got, with  the words "Mercy and Justice" on the top and "Ita Semper Progentibus" at the bottom, or "Thus Ever For Those Who Need." 

In any case, I'm showing these only for the sake of getting your suggestions. I would definitely not want Virtue to be portrayed as a white person showing benevolence toward a descendant of slaves.

I welcome your comments and suggestions below.

The Amazing, Miraculous Passage Of HB1030

None of us dreamed this would pass both the House and Senate without a single opposing vote.

Early last year my friend Jonathan White at the Lawrenceville Correctional Center contacted some of us with the Valley Justice Coalition about a project he and two of his friends, Muwakkil S.B. Shabazz and David Carmichael, had been working on for well over a year. 

These men, still  eligible for parole (having been incarcerated before 1995 when parole was abolished in Virginia) created a draft of a bill that would provide objective criteria the parole board would be required to use in evaluating eligibility for release. Like multitudes of others in Virginia’s prisons, they had themselves been denied parole year after year based on such things as “the seriousness of the crime” and other factors they were powerless to do anything about.

So they came up with a list of factors with point values resulting in a numerical score that would help determine an individual’s eligibility for release. These included such things as length of time served, numbers of classes and groups participated in, years of being infraction-free while incarcerated, and having a satisfactory home plan for release. Anyone with a high (good) score but being denied parole would have to be provided with a written statement of explanation.

With copies of the proposed bill in hand, several of us met with Delegate Tony Wilt last fall to ask whether he would be willing to sponsor such legislation in the 2026 General Assembly, just as he had successfully done the previous year with a bill to provide for a Public Defender’s Office for our community. After some discussion he agreed to at least give it some careful consideration. His capable assistant, Chad Funkhouser, then did some further research on the possibility and came back with an affirmative response, resulting in what became House Bill 1030.

Meanwhile we were able to get the support of formerly incarcerated community leaders, notably Kenneth Hunter of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, David Smith of S.A.L.T., Rob Poggenklass of Justice Forward Virginia, and Taj Mahon-Haft and Shawn Waneta of the Humanization Project. Waneta made some helpful suggestions for changes in some of the wording and got positive responses from some members of the parole board. Even then we remained unsure of what reception the bill would get from other lawmakers in Richmond.

To our amazement, the bill passed through two House committees and the full House of Delegates without a single dissenting vote,. It then passed the Senate Rehabilitation and Social Services  Committee in a 19-0 vote, with the help of some good testimony by some of the above supporters. From there the bill went to the Senate with some minor wording changes that were incorporated in the final version. It then passed unanimously in a block vote in the Senate on Tuesday. From there it goes to Governor Spanberger for her signature.

Some 20 incarcerated persons have already written Delegate Wilt expressing their appreciation for his effort. And scores of deserving incarcerated men and women across Virginia are set to benefit from an increased opportunity to be reunited with their loved ones and have a second chance at making a positive contribution to their families and communities. Likewise, citizens across Virginia will benefit from having rehabilitated men and women added to the work force and paying taxes rather than requiring ever more tax dollars to house them in prison. Then there are the aging and ailing persons who can potentially receive care from members of their family and others on the outside, men and women who are clearly no longer a danger to their communities.

We see HB1030 as truly a miracle for which we praise God and offer thanks to the many who prayed and worked hard for its passage.

Here is the substance of the bill:

• § 53.1-151.1. Suitability for release on parole; discretionary parole criteria guidelines.

A. The Parole Board or staff designated by the Board shall use the information collected through the investigation required by § 53.1-155 to determine discretionary parole criteria guidelines when evaluating a prisoner's suitability for release on parole. The Department of Corrections shall assist to the fullest extent possible with requests for records.

B. A completed discretionary parole criteria worksheet shall be provided to the prisoner in advance of the parole hearing. If an eligible prisoner believes that his worksheet score is inaccurate, the prisoner shall be permitted to contest the worksheet score and to provide records necessary to correct such score prior to the Board's vote on the decision to grant parole. If the Parole Board finds the prisoner's contest is well-founded, the worksheet score shall be updated accordingly. Suitability for release on parole shall be computed using the schedule of discretionary parole criteria set out below:

SCHEDULE OF DISCRETIONARY PAROLE CRITERIA

1. Compliant with case plan: No: 0; Yes: 10

2. Major infraction within past five years: None: 0; Per major infraction: -10

3. Minor infraction within past five years: None: 0; Per minor infraction: -2

4. Applied for or enrolled in educational, vocational, or therapeutic program: No: 0: Yes: 5

5. Completed educational and vocational programs: Associate’s degree or above: 5; High school degree or GED: 5; Journeyman trade skill: 5; Vocational trade: 3

6. Verified residential plan: No: 0; Yes: 15

7. Previous state responsible incarceration: None: 0; per previous state responsible incarceration: -5

8. Length of time served; Per 10 years: 5

9. Age of offender at time of offense: 26 years of age or older: 0; 21-25 years of age: 5; 18-20 years of age: 10; 18 years of age or younger: 15

10. Verified employment plan: No: 0; Yes: 15

TOTAL OF SCORES: Tier 1: 50 or more points; Tier 2: 25-49 points; Tier 3: 0-25 points

C. A maximum of 10 points may be earned by a prisoner for satisfying the criteria listed in subdivision B 5, related to verified educational and vocational programs.

D. A maximum of 15 points may be earned by a prisoner for satisfying the criteria listed in subdivision B 6, related to a verified residential plan. Satisfaction of such criteria listed in subdivision B 6 requires the prisoner to provide a letter of verification.

E. A prisoner shall earn five points for every 10 years served, and there shall be no limit to the amount of points a prisoner may earn for satisfying the criteria listed in subdivision B 8, related to length of time served.

F. A prisoner shall earn 15 points for satisfying the criteria listed in subdivision B 10, related to a verified employment plan. Satisfaction of such criteria listed in subdivision B 10 requires the prisoner to provide a letter of verification. Any prisoner who is (i) permanently disabled or (ii) 65 years of age or older and retired shall receive the full amount of points under subdivision B 10.

G. If a prisoner's score is within the Tier 1 range, such prisoner shall receive favorable consideration for parole. If a prisoner's score is within the Tier 2 range, such prisoner may be considered a suitable candidate for parole. If a prisoner's score is within the Tier 3 range, such prisoner is presumed to be unsuitable for parole at the time of the hearing.

    If the Parole Board deviates from the recommendation based on the discretionary parole criteria worksheet score for a prisoner scored at Tier 1 or Tier 3, the Board shall provide a written explanation for such deviation.

    Nothing in this section shall prohibit the Board from making its final determination on whether or not to grant discretionary parole based on the individual facts and circumstances of the prisoner.

DN-R Monthly Justice Matters Column

The Valley Justice Coalition publishes a monthly Justice Matters 
column, this latest one being by two JMU students. 

Students Learn By Doing

How much do you know about what happens in our local courts from day to day?

As part of our Communities and Courts class at James Madison University, a number of us are spending time each week observing the courtroom, speaking with judges, watching cases unfold, and collecting data for the Community-Court Connection (C3) project, which is promoted locally by James Madison University and the Valley Justice Coalition. The purpose is to help us and our community better understand how the local justice system functions.

What we take away from this experience is more than what we could learn in a classroom. Each week, we observe the General District Court or Circuit Court for an hour, witnessing everything from traffic violations to felony cases. We take notes on interactions among individuals in the courtroom to better understand how each person’s role contributes to the system’s overall functioning. We also collect data on the number of charges, the types of offenses, courtroom procedures, and the presence or absence of legal representation, among other details, before recording the information on our online dataset.

Court-watching programs have become increasingly common throughout the country. According to a training conducted by the American Bar Association Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice, the goal is to reveal injustices within the court to the public and increase transparency. Observing court proceedings shows how case outcomes can vary depending on the court actors involved, as judges differ in their approaches and demeanors: some are more lenient and forgiving, while others are more formal and strict. Data on case outcomes show that different court actors involved can make a significant difference.

The connection between course materials and our real-life observations has challenged our assumptions about the fairness of the legal system. We have noted that the presence of attorneys from the new Harrisonburg and Rockingham County’s Public Defenders Office has had a positive effect on outcomes. Abigail Thibeault, Chief Public Defender, informed us that Harrisonburg has had such an office for just over a year now, and that until then, low-income individuals had to rely on court-appointed attorneys, often with limited time and resources.

While we have been told that overall crime rates have been declining, our local courts remain incredibly busy, especially with traffic and misdemeanor offenses. The data we collected for our class support this. Between September 23 and 28, for example, 17 students collectively observed 133 cases, despite each attending court for only an hour a week.

Our observations further confirmed that social constructs, such as economic inequality, shape legal outcomes. Individuals who lack the funds for an attorney often face longer delays, more uncertainty, and fewer options. According to our class data, around 374 individuals from our observation hours appeared in court without legal counsel. This means they either couldn’t afford representation or, as in many traffic or misdemeanor cases, representation didn’t seem necessary. But when representation is needed, the lack of representation can significantly affect case outcomes negatively for those charged.

Through observing the courts and gaining a deeper understanding of the justice system, we develop professional skills that will support our future careers. We strengthen our time management by fitting weekly court visits into our busy schedules and identifying which sessions are most productive. We have improved our communication skills by watching how judges, attorneys, police, and defendants interact professionally. We have also gained insight into ethical decision-making by seeing legal professionals balance courtroom rules with their own judgment. Such skills will directly shape our career paths in the justice field and our roles as engaged community members.

Our observations have highlighted many strengths within our local courts, such as organized, timely proceedings and the reliability of court interpreters. Court staff were knowledgeable and prepared, creating an efficient courtroom environment. However, securing legal representation for low-income individuals remains a barrier for many, so additional resources to reduce these inequalities will help ensure equity in the system.

Community volunteers are also being invited to take part in this ongoing project, which offers insight into how our local legal system works, broader perspectives about issues of legal injustice, and the importance of being an educated and engaged citizen.

Justice Matters columns are provided by the VJC, a local citizen voice for criminal justice reform in our community and in the Commonwealth since 2014. This one was written by JMU students Sydney Herrmann and Caroline Wright.