Former Page News and Courier editor John D. Waybright Jr. is being remembered this week by many as a great friend, a great contributor to the community and a mentor who “encouraged everybody” to achieve their best potential.Waybright, 74, passed away on Friday, May 10, 2013, at 12:10 p.m., according to his family. He had endured a number of health issues for several years. A memorial service in his honor will be held on Friday, May 17, from 7 to 9 p.m. at The Warehouse Art Gallery, 15 Campbell Street in Luray. The body was donated to scientific research and will be cremated.

Main Street will be bustling with activity this weekend, as vendors and visitors pack the downtown area during the ninth annual Festival of Spring. The event will bring arts and crafts, entertainment, games and food, and will celebrate the official designation of Luray and Page County as an Appalachian Trail Community.

Eight years after the smallmouth bass population in the Shenandoah River began dying off in large proportions, Shenandoah Riverkeeper Jeff Kelble says they have “recovered completely” from the mysterious malady that nearly wiped them out.

After struggling financially for more than 19 months, the Shenandoah Area Agency on Aging (SAAA) is giving its employees a raise and is ready to hire a permanent leader. The SAAA’s board of directors on Monday voted 8-0 to begin a search for an executive director. The title, Chairman John Hudson said after the meeting, reflects a change from the former president and CEO label to bring the SAAA in line with other similar agencies in Virginia. The SAAA has been without a permanent leader since Helen Cockrell was fired as president and CEO in September 2011. Cockrell, 57, was indicted by a Warren County grand jury on April 1 on four felony counts of embezzling amounts of $200 or more from the nonprofit group.

The Shenandoah Valley Workforce Investment Board has declined to release internal and third-party reports that allegedly support allegations the Board has made against the Luray-based Workforce Job Center Inc. The allegations were reported in last week’s Page News and Courier. The Page News and Courier requested a copy of the reports under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.