Nunzsense: Goodbye, and thanks for the ride

I do hope I end up back in newspapers someday, but it looks like the masses have spoken. There are other media I can compete well in, including radio and news or sports websites, but the latter seem to have trouble making enough money to employ good reporters and editors. Maybe I can make a living shooting photos at minor league baseball games.


http://www.nvdaily.com/news/2012/02/charles-pannunzio-goodbye-and-thanks-for-the-ride.php

Nunzsense: Time to leap into the past

My tribute to the Shenandoah Valley, Winchester in particular, this column was written when it began to appear I would be leaving the Daily at the end of February.

http://www.nvdaily.com/news/2012/02/time-to-leap-into-the-past.php

Nunzsense: Taxing to figure this tax

This was something that I needed to confirm and was able to in this column. The state of Virginia wants $3 for that $60 pair of shoes you bought in Hershey. Note, I didn't say I bought them. I don't know what you are talking about.

http://www.nvdaily.com/news/2012/02/charles-pannunzio-taxing-to-figure-this-tax/

Nunzsense: Not all capitols are busy

I wrote this column while I was in California visiting Christina at what turned out to be an interesting time in Strasburg, with the announcement that the paper was being sold. Glad I could enjoy some R&R with her, and not have to deal with angst in the newsroom, as well as pick up two more capitols. But were we surprised to hear there was no legislative session in Carson City this year.

http://www.nvdaily.com/news/2012/02/charles-pannunzio-not-all-capitols-are-busy/

Nunzsense: Baseball could be a good fit

It's not often that I get to write about minor league baseball, and I know more than a few folks are probably happy that's the case. But here is my favorite recent column on the subject of baseball potentially coming to Winchester.

http://www.nvdaily.com/news/2012/01/baseball-could-be-a-nice-fit.php

Nunzsense: Not just a trivial pursuit

Well, got just 29 on the "Jeopardy!" test so I'll be sitting on the couch for another year wondering why none of their esteemed contestants had heard of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. But it provided fodder for my tribute to game shows.

http://www.nvdaily.com/news/2012/01/charles-pannunzio-not-just-a-trivial-pursuit.php

Nunzsense: Holiday shuffle calendar

State employees just got a four-day weekend in Virginia. Why, you ask? Here's the answer.
http://www.nvdaily.com/news/2012/01/charles-pannunzio-holiday-shuffles-calendar.php

Uh oh, the Daily messed that link up. So here's my cached version (gotta be prepared, you know).

Posted at 11:24 AM Jan. 15, 2012 | Updated: 5:28 PM Jan. 16, 2012 0 0

Charles Pannunzio: Holiday shuffles calendar

How did you celebrate the four-day holiday weekend?

If you were anything like me, you worked on Friday and, unless something unexpected happens before this afternoon, I'll be back at the office.

But today is a holiday for most government workers and bankers, and some state employees have actually been out since leaving work on Thursday.

Today is the day that Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday is recognized, although his actual birth date was Sunday. As the most recent addition to the federal calendar, observance of the King holiday remains hit-or-miss. For instance, I could pay a water bill in Winchester today since city offices are open, but I'd have to wait until Tuesday if I need to check on anything at the courthouse, since it has been closed since 5 p.m. Thursday.

That's right, Thursday. That's because Friday was Lee-Jackson Day, which honors Robert E. Lee and Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, and is observed on various dates in a number of states in the South. In Virginia, Lee-Jackson Day was celebrated on Jan. 19 for a number of years before it was moved to the nearest Monday, giving many state employees a three-day weekend.

I still remember the first time I heard of Lee-Jackson Day. My mother dropped me off at the Medical College of Virginia Hospital in Richmond one morning -- I am guessing now that it was Jan. 24, 1983 -- for a doctor's appointment. She told me to kill some time afterward and she would pick me up at noon.

Having visited the state Capitol a few times, I knew the lay of the land down there and figured the perfect place on a cool, drizzly morning would be the state library. As I went to open the door, I was surprised to find it locked. A little sticker on the door indicated that the library was closed for "Lee-Jackson Day." I guess if I was of age, I would have realized the ABC stores were closed too.

When discussion of a national holiday to honor King began, his Jan. 15 birth date seemed like a logical time, but it got wrapped up in the 1971 federal act that moved many observances to Mondays so federal workers could get a three-day weekend. That's the same act that gave us Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day and Columbus Day on Mondays, rather than Feb. 22, May 30 and Oct. 12.

In Virginia, there was resistance to adding a third holiday to the month of January, so the General Assembly eventually decided to combine the King observance and Lee-Jackson Day into "Lee-Jackson-King Day," which was first observed in 1985.

Obviously some of the resistance was not because of the when, but the who. I'll leave it to the more scholarly, and more opinionated, folks to discuss this juxtaposition, but pretty much nobody was happy with the compromise.

After a decade and a half of the shared observance, Gov. Jim Gilmore proposed the current split in 2000, with Lee-Jackson Day marked on the Friday prior to the King holiday. The General Assembly agreed to the change, which created even more of a patch-work observance, as anyone who tried to visit a government office on Friday could attest.

Lost in this entire discussion is the reason for the holiday. Hopefully those folks who have the day off will pay King tribute, either by attending one of the local celebrations of his life or by participating in a service project.

That's a nice way to honor a legacy.

• Charles Pannunzio is assistant managing editor of the Northern Virginia Daily.