Pittsylvania County working to create ordinance regulating rallies, protests

Work is response to deadly August Confederate rally in Charlottesville

PITTSYLVANIA COUNTY, Va. – Leaders in Pittsylvania County are trying to prepare for Confederate rallies like the one scheduled to happen Saturday in Richmond.

Currently, the county has no ordinance for parades or protests.

That means demonstrators could show up and start holding a rally without notifying county officials that they are coming.

Pittsylvania County Sheriff Mike Taylor and the county's attorney are now working to come up with an ordinance, which they'll present to the county board of supervisors' legislative commission.

"We try to do anything we can to help the sheriff out. To me, it's a public safety issue as well as law enforcement safety (issue). He needs to be able to properly respond to these kinds of things," Legislative Commission Chairman Ron Scearce said.

The commission will review the ordinance and then present it to the full board of supervisors for a vote.

There is no word on when an ordinance will be presented to the commission.