Sandy Run Regional Park, located on the Occoquan reservoir, is a second home to all the high school rowers in the local area. It houses expensive equipment and takes a high amount of maintenance to keep the reservoir pristine during its non-stop use. However, Treasurer Lela West was embezzling an estimated cost of $500,000 dollars from the Virginia Scholastic Rowing Association (VASRA), a non-profit organization that gives money to support high school rowing teams, for years. As VASRA looked through the receipts of old purchases, they realized that West was spending money on redskin tickets, family vacations and even cable TV bills. Although, she agreed she was guilty, the consequences to the park will take a long time to repair. Missing money means that the improvement to the rowing facility, like new docks and a better coach’s stand, will be on hold.
“I know all the rowers here work hard for our teams, both on and off the water during training and fundraising,” junior Anna Gaskill said, “We want to have docs and supplies we can be proud of, and being cheated out of that despite our dedication to crew is very discouraging.”