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T H E V O I C E O F T H E C O M M U N I T Y F O R 1 3 0 Y E A R S

Friday, May 8, 2020 • MARTINSVILLEBULLETIN.COM • Martinsville, Virginia $1.50

By Steven Doylesteven.doyle@martinsville-bulletin.com

Father Mark White,banned Monday from hisduties as priest in Mar-tinsville and Rocky Mount,now no longer can go ontothe property of each of

those churches – which in-cludes his personal livingquarters.

A day after being bannedby the Catholic Diocese ofRichmond Bishop BarryKnestout from perform-ing the sacraments andother duties while remain-ing priest of St. Joseph’s

in Martinsville and St.Francis of Assisi in RockyMount, White said he re-ceived a “no trespass”warning from a law firmin Richmond on Thurs-day, essentially telling himif he were to go on eitherchurch property that hecould be prosecuted fromtrespassing.

Areleasefromthediocese

White told to stay awayFather Mark White was banned from holdingsacraments at St. Joseph’s or St. Francis of Assisi. PHOTO SUBMITTED/

Richmond BishopBarry Knestoutappeared unex-pectedly at RockyMount parish andcelebrated Masswith Father MarkWhite live onlineand spoke aboutan “old wound.”

By Holly Kozelskyholly.kozelsky@martinsville-bulletin.com

Area rest homes are cre-ating nontraditional waysto celebrate the most tradi-tional of holidays: Mother’sDay.

Because visitors can’t en-ter rest homes because ofthe pandemic-control mea-sures, rest home staffs arehelping them connect withtheir family members insidein a variety of other ways,including video-chats, see-ing each other through glassand a drive-by parade.

At Stanelytown Health &Rehabilitation, staff mem-bers are making appoint-ments for family and friendsto speak with residents overeither FaceTime, which isvideo-chat on iPhones/iPads, and Google Duo, avideo-chat app that can beused for either Android oriPhones.

You can make an appoint-ment for a resident to have aturn with an iPad or tablet .

On Sunday, staff will deliv-er balloons, roses and cardsto all female residents, Stan-leytown Administrator Ken-nedy Flynn said.

Meanwhile, Stanleytownresidents are making deco-rations and preparing for adrive-by parade that will beon Tuesday, at 1:30 p.m.

The residents will be out-side, 6 feet apart from oneanother up and down thesidewalk, with signs anddecorations. Their friendsand families can drive byand greet them.

The parade will be led bythe Bassett Fire Departmentand Martinsville Police, Fly-nn said.

Just three days later, at2 p.m. next Friday, May 15,The Landmark Center inStuart will have a drive-by

A new wayfor Mother’s Day

Because of restrictions in access created by the coronavirus pandemic, Mother’s Daywill be quite different at nursing homes and assisted living facilities.

PHOTO SUBMITTED

David and Karen Wiggington talk with his mother, Jewel Wigginton, who remains in the enclosed foyer of King’s Grant aspart of coronavirus-prevention measures.

SEE VIRUS | A6

SEE MOM | A6

By Spencer S. Hsu,Devlin Barrett andMatt ZapotoskyThe Washington POst

The Justice Departmentmoved Thursday to dropcharges against PresidentTrump’s former nationalsecurity adviser MichaelT. Flynn, a stunning rever-sal which prompted freshaccusations from law en-forcement officials andDemocrats that the crimi-nal justice system was cav-ing to political pressurefrom the administration.

The unraveling of Flynn’sguilty plea for lying to theFBI came after senior po-litical appointees in theJustice Department deter-mined lower-level pros-ecutors and agents erredegregiously in the courseof special counsel RobertS. Mueller III’s investiga-tion of Russian interfer-ence in the 2016 election.

In court documents filedThursday, the Justice De-partment said that “after aconsidered review of all thefacts and circumstances ofthis case, including newlydiscovered and disclosedinformation … the govern-ment has concluded that[Flynn’s interview by theFBI in January 2017] wasuntethered to, and unjusti-fied by, the FBI’s counter-intelligence investigationinto Mr. Flynn,” and thatit was “conducted withoutany legitimate investiga-tive basis.”

Trump administrationasks Supreme Court tostop release of Mueller ma-terial

President Trump said hewas “strongly considering”a full pardon for former

DOJmovesto dropchargesTrump callsMichael Flynna ‘great warrior.’

SEE FLYNN | A6