Today's News

edford County officials have now gone on record that the county has no intent to regulate the subject matter of what its citizens seek to do when they exercise their constitutional right to assemble.

That’s admirable, but it really wasn’t ever the issue that brought national attention to the county after county officials told the Cowboy Church in Moneta more than a year ago that it had to stop worshiping in a barn.

At the heart of that issue was the use of facilities and the zoning regulations surrounding it.

Representatives of local churches and county planning officials are meeting to make sure that the county zoning ordinance does not interfere with churches' right to worship.

This became an issue in 2006 when the Cowboy Church began meeting on a farm in Moneta. The Cowboy Church holds worship on Thursday nights in facilities that are not normally used for religious worship. The idea is to reach people who would not normally go to a church. The Cowboy Church was meeting in a barn normally used as part of a horse auction facility.

The husband of a Forest woman who died as the result of a gunshot wound in December now has a lawyer — and a court date.

And even as he was being arrested last week for the murder of his wife, investigators were continuing their investigation by searching a trailer he had rented in Chesapeake.

After more than a two-month investigation, Wesley Brian Earnest, 37, of Moneta was arrested for shooting his wife, Jocelyn Earnest, 38, of 1482 Pine Bluff Drive, Forest, at her home. He is currently being held without bond at the Blue Ridge Regional Jail.

Bedford Christian Academy plans to roll a history lesson and a fundraiser into one this month.

The Rev. Travis Witt, the pastor of Bedford's Lion of Judah church, is also the director of development for the non-denominational Christian school. The school has a board of directors consisting of pastors from several local churches.