To understand the frustrations some Virginians are experiencing with unemployment benefits, itâs worth spending a few minutes chatting with Eddie Seay. Though the progressive activist is based in Franklin County, heâs been working on behalf of aggrieved workers throughout the commonwealth.
Months after their layoffs, many are still waiting for their unemployment benefits to begin, Seay told me. For others, benefits started but were mysteriously cut off. And getting an explanation for either is often impossible, he added.
On one day last week, Seay said he made 126 phone calls to the agencyâs toll-free line on behalf of claimants who for one reason or another havenât received benefits they believe were due. Not once among all those calls was Seay able to talk to a human at the VEC, he said.
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Man dies after launching boat at Smith Mountain Lake Smith Mountain Lake (Source: WDBJ7) By Eddie Callahan | February 15, 2021 at 9:16 AM EST - Updated February 15 at 9:16 AM
(WDBJ) - A man died Friday after falling into Smith Mountain Lake while handling a boat being launched for a day of fishing.
Two men launched their boat from the Penhook boat ramp before Richard Donald Haynes 3rd, of Axton, fell into the water about 25 feet from the launch site. The boat kept drifting out into the cove, with Haynes trying to climb back into it unsuccessfully.
A bystander noticed Haynes struggling as he was swimming back to shore and proceeded to enter the water to try and help him. A lifejacket was thrown in the water by two other bystanders, using a rope to try and help the two get back to shore faster. Haynes was not wearing a lifejacket when he fell into the water.