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When will it be open? The Herald has fielded questions like that for months now, as construction moved forward on Prince Edward County’s first Wawa store. Now we have a date when it will open. Doors will open at 8 a.m. on Thursday, March 6, with store officials giving away a free any size hot coffee and free t-shirts for the first 100 customers. There will also be a ribbon cutting ceremony, starting at 8:30 a.m. 

The store, located at 2582 Farmville Road in Farmville, will also hold a “Hoagies for Heroes” hoagie building competition, with first responder teams competing against each other. For those that might need a reminder, once construction is complete, Wawa will be a convenience store, open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The operation is expected to employ around 50 employees to run the store and fuel station.

The Wawa gas station will have eight gas pumps with the potential of adding charging stations for electric cars in the future, which was a requirement placed by the county planning commission before it got approved by county supervisors.                                                                         

Changes coming for Buckingham schools 

As we deal with another round of frosty weather, courtesy of Old Man Winter, school districts are finalizing decisions about when they’ll make up the time lost. Buckingham County Schools officials announced over the weekend that to adjust for some of that lost instructional time, the end of the third nine weeks has been moved to Friday, March 14. Wednesday, March 12 will now be a full day of school and there will be no half day at the end of the nine weeks. 

“This change helps balance the academic calendar and maximize learning time for our students,” district officials said in a statement. 

Prince Edward plans for the future

What does the future look like for Prince Edward County? And more specifically, what would you like the future to be? Thursday, March 6 will be the second of two open house meetings where residents can speak up and talk about what they would like. Do you want shops and restaurants outside of Farmville? Or more areas preserved as farmland and open space? Or maybe something totally different? Now’s the time to speak up. Thursday night’s session will be from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Crawley Forum on the campus of Hampden-Sydney College. That’s at 681 College Road.

What about the drones in Cumberland? 

As part of the budget discussion last week, Cumberland County Sheriff Darrell Hodges was asked if he still gets calls and complaints about drones. He told the board of supervisors that yes, those calls still come up very often. The problem, he said, is that in many cases, there’s nothing he can do. 

“We still have lots of concern over drone laws. We have lots of people getting upset,” Hodges told the board. “We have cases very often about drones right now.” 

The law currently says that if it’s 50 feet or above in the air, it’s open space and so legally, drone operators have a right to fly, as long as they meet that requirement. But at the same time, people don’t like having their privacy invaded. 

 “They moved to the country because they don’t like somebody invading their privacy, so when somebody is at treetop level filming you, it’s very invasive,” Hodges said. “It’s very concerning, but it’s legal.”