Officers are assisting Winchester Public Schools with the evacuation of students at Daniel Morgan Middle School. This is being done as a precaution for a bomb threat that was made this morning. The students will return to the school once it has been cleared by law enforcement personnel. Winchester Public Schools will keep parents up to date with additional information.
At approximately 1:59 a.m. on January 15, 2019, the Winchester Fire & Rescue Department (WFRD) responded to a vehicle fire at 2198 South Pleasant Valley Road. Upon arrival, City firefighters observed smoke and flames coming from a commercial street sweeper close to the rear of the building.
The City of Winchester will operate on a two-hour delay on Monday, January 14 and open at 10 am. The Jim Barnett Park Rec Center will open at 10 am and Winchester Parks and Recreation’s HIVE No School Day child care program will NOT be offered. WinTran routes will begin at 10:40 am.
Monday's (1/14) recycling collection is MOVED to Wednesday, January 16. Yard waste collection is canceled. For live undecorated Christmas tree curbside collection, please contact Michael Neese (540-667-1815, ext. 1452 or email) to schedule a pickup time.
The City of Winchester published its first bi-weekly podcast titled The Rouss Review on Thursday, January 10, 2019 at 5:00 p.m. The podcast is the newest addition to the long list of communication channels currently offered by the City (see video: publiCITY episode #7 - Communications).
New episodes of The Rouss Review will be published each Thursday following the Council meetings held on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month. Possible podcast segments include:
In observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on Monday, January 21, the City will follow the below schedule.
Due to rapidly evolving changes in the national recycling markets, the City of Winchester’s local recycling vendor is no longer accepting glass and some plastics. The City is currently researching and considering all other options to continue providing this important service and will be conducting a refuse and recycling study in the coming months (included in the FY19 budget). Unfortunately, until a different solution is found, the city’s glass and plastics #3-7 will not be recycled (see chart below for an explanation of the different kinds of plastics).
On December 23, 2018, at 10:53 pm, the Winchester Police Department (WPD) responded to a report of a shooting in the 300 block of Smithfield Avenue. Once on scene, officers located 40-year-old Jerry Wayne Reid, Jr. inside of his residence suffering from gunshot wounds to the upper body. Winchester Fire and Rescue units transported the male to the Winchester Medical Center where he was later pronounced deceased.
Below is the City’s schedule in observance of the Christmas and New Year’s holidays:
1. City of Winchester government offices will be CLOSED: December 24-25 and January 1
2. Refuse and recycling schedule:
The City will hold a public input open house on Monday, December 17 from 6:30-8:00 pm to solicit feedback from residents and community partners concerning the next Winchester Fire and Rescue Chief. City residents, organizations and business owners are invited and encouraged to attend.
On December 7, 2018 at approximately 9:21 a.m., the Winchester Fire and Rescue Department (WFRD) responded to a possible structure fire at 200 Bellview Avenue, where heavy smoke was seen exiting the eaves of the residence. Once on scene, firefighters discovered an active smoldering fire in the attic. The call was then upgraded to a structure fire.