Observer Clarke County July 2016

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JULY 2016 vaOBSERVER.com A MONTHLY MAGAZINE SERVING CLARKE COUNTY

Why is she smiling? $6.2 million 30 million eggs 105 jobs for Berryville

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The Art of Robert Cross

By Claire Stuart

722-9560

Officals Cheer Handsome Brook Announcement

The Price of Clean Water

By David Lillard

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ON THE COVER Handsome Brook Farms plans an egg processing facility in Berryville, creating a market for Virginia eggs and 105 new jobs. Photo by Jennifer Lee.

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Aging in Place

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Around Clarke County

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As the Crow Flies

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River & Roots

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Real Estate

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JU LY 20 1 6 :

FROM THE EDITOR STAFF

David Lillard, Editor/Publisher Jennifer Welliver, Associate Publisher Aundrea Humphreys, Art Director Hali Taylor, Proofreader

CONTRIBUTORS Karen Cifala Jess Clawson Wendy Gooditis Victoria Kidd Doug Pifer JiJi Russell Claire Stuart

COVER PHOTO Jennifer Lee

ADVERTISING SALES Jennifer Welliver

Advertising Information 540-398-1450 (Mon-Fri, 9-5) Sales@vaOBSERVER.com

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The Observer prints signed letters-to-the-editor of uniquely local interest. Letters containing personal attacks or polarizing language will not be published.

Letters may be edited. Send letters to the editor of 300 or fewer words to: editor@vaobserver.com.

THE OBSERVER 540-440-1373

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Turning Wastewater Into Clean Water I spend a lot of time thinking about water.

One of my hats is working in West Virginia advocating clean water policies. I’ve learned that the number of stresses on our rivers and streams is vast.

There is runoff from our streets and yards, excess nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus that come from agriculture, even pollution that comes from the air. Yes, air. A large percentage of the nitrogen that lands in waterways actually comes from our automobile exhaust and through burning fuels in power plants and factories.

With the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972, we have come a long way in preventing all forms of nastiness coming from factories and other “point source” discharges. The system isn’t perfect, but it is a lot better than the days of urban rivers catching on fire.

But for generations, the number one stress on our freshwater, at least in terms of nitrogen and phosphorus, had come from human waste. It is just part of living. We are animals, we produce waste. We turn on the tap and we get water.

We flush our toilets and water takes away what our bodies and our dishwashing and bathing produce.

For generations, treating wastewater was more akin to collecting it and holding it; cleaning it up as best we could, then draining what remained back into freshwater streams.

Improving wastewater treatment technologies and then deploying them as upgrades and new treatment facilities have helped transform our rivers back into fresh water, not drains of effluent. That’s great news.

Each decade, each year, rivers like the Shenandoah get a little cleaner — at least in terms of the effects of wastewater.

Berryville’s modern wastewater treatment facility is part of a great American success story.

It’s something to be celebrated. Water we put back into the river now is cleaner than the water we take from the river for drinking and bathing.

These advances in public health come with costs. Those costs are borne, by and large, by customers — just like the electricity we use and the trash service we rely on. Whether it’s fair for public utility customers to carry such a burden is a matter open to public debate.

The reality, though, is that we now can go about our daily lives, flushing away what our bodies produce, and know that we’re minimizing our own impacts on aquatic life, as well as on our own bodies when we find time away from the bustle of life to take a swim, paddle a boat, or just wade out in the water.

In this edition, as part of our Shenandoah series, we take a look at what it takes to transform wastewater into clean water and soil.

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Seniors and the Technology Revolution

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“Google that” is a common phrase that most of us, including seniors, hear nowadays. Jerry Hickman of Shared Knowledge in Winchester quoted recently to me that, “Anyone 36 years of age or younger has an innate sense about technology.”

Meaning that since 1981, when the general public was first introduced to home computers, technology has always been a part of everyday life.

Many seniors who are now over the age of 65 were in the midst of their careers during that time, and had already started to incorporate technology into their business, like computers and mobile phones. Quite a few of them have continued to learn how to use some of the newest technology, whether through their own curiosity or with the help of their family and friends.

Studies have shown that the use of internet for seniors has a positive effect on their mental wellbeing and has reduced the possibility of depression by one third.

With the dawning of the tech era, our internet connectivity carried us from bulky desktop computers to laptops and cell phones and into the tiny chip era of smart phones and tablets and iPad. Those who embraced the new technology have found many ways to enhance and simplify their lives.

Learning to use their smart phones and tablets allows many to stay in touch with family through social media such as Facebook. After diving into the use of technology, many seniors regularly use email and text messaging as a way to send and receive messages from their banks, order prescriptions, make utility and phone payments, plan trips and shop for bargains, play games, and possibly find a new soulmate late in life. GPS is also a wonderful advancement and the age of the online bookstore has really boomed with the help of the Kindle.

For those seniors who didn’t grow up with computers, the learning curve can be quite different. As with other aging safety issues, online fraud and identity theft and spam need to be addressed. Trusting people comes naturally to most seniors; however, offers of free gifts, free getaways, and discount anything can lead to sharing credit card information, phone numbers, addresses and even social security numbers, which

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can be dangerous. The elderly are at a higher risk of fraud, not only offline but online as well.

A few basic precautionary measures can greatly help seniors feel safer and have a much more enjoyable relationship with their computer and the internet. Criminals use e-mail, text or social media to steal personal information.

• Security software is a must with automatic update feature.

• Set up unique and strong passwords and never share them.

• Post with caution on all social network sites such as Facebook.

• Don’t download “free” software that can crash your computer.

• Don’t open attachments or websites from anyone you don’t know.

• Always think carefully about information you share online.

• When asked to “be friends” on Facebook — don’t friend anyone you don’t know.

Online purchasing is very convenient and can be beneficial for many things such as ordering prescriptions or shopping for just about anything you might need. A huge word of caution: Don’t enter any bank details or credit card information into websites that start only with http://. There are http and https websites. The HTTP website allows hackers to intercept and read data.

If you are using public internet only use the HTTPS websites; that solves the issue with strong encryption. For example, you will notice that social sites like Facebook start with https://www.facebook and your bank will use https://

www.bbt.com. Also, there is a little gold padlock up at the top of the window which tells you that the site is secure.

The necessity of the internet is everincreasing in all of our lives. More and more critical parts of our lives are being pushed online. Many doctor’s and insurance offices have forms online that might need to be downloaded and printed. Medicare even has an online program to order 90-day prescriptions from an online secure source and they will send you a text message to re-order and manage your orders. Scheduling a trip is becoming so easy as well as planning a get together through Evite.

So, remember, my elderly friends, don’t fall for the “story” from a scammer. You haven’t won the lottery, you are not being offered a fantastic trip abroad, your credit card is not in danger of being closed, and the IRS is not foreclosing on your home.

If it doesn’t or couldn’t seem real or seems too good to be true, it’s a scam.

No legitimate business will ask for personal information. And if you receive a beautiful new tablet for your birthday and don’t know what to do with it, feel free to call my friend and colleague Jerry Hickman with Shared Knowledge in Winchester at 540-303-2410. He works with seniors (or anyone for that matter), and can work with you one on one or in a classroom setting to get you up and running.

Karen Cifala is a realtor for Remax Roots in Berryville, Va. She is happy to resend previous Observer articles you might have missed or even help you downsize and sell your home. She can be contacted on her cell 303-817-9374 or office 540-955-0911 or by email kcifala@gmail.com.

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Around Clarke County Promote your event in TO

Send notices by the 1st of the preceding month to jennifer@vaobserver.com. Keep event descriptions to 125 words, following the format of these pages. One or two CMYK photos, saved as tiff or jpg at 200 dpi, are always welcome.

July

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Music in the Park

Celtic Circle/Jigs, Reels, Waltzes. Rose Hill Park. Downtown Berryville. 6:30–8pm.

Bring a picnic and join us for great music. Berryville Main Street Ghost Tours meet immediately following music. Meet at the Firehouse Gallery at 23 East Main Street to hear some of Berryville’s unique history and ghost stories, and tour of haunted businesses & the Grace Episcopal Church graveyard.

Tickets are $15 for everyone 7 and over. Call to reserve a space on the tour. For information call 540-955-4001.

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Bluemont Concert

Mary Ann Redmond Band. Old Frederick County Court House. 20 North Loudoun Street on the downtown mall.

Winchester. Mary Ann Redmond is known for her soulful and wide-ranging vocal style in popular and jazz music. Both her live performances and her five CDs to date have earned her acclaim from audiences and recognition from the music industry, including 24 Washington Area Music Awards (Wammies). Bluemont concerts are held outside if possible. In bad weather concert will be held at the First Presbyterian Church. $5 per person, $4 Bluemont Friends & Seniors, $2 kids under 12. Tickets available at concert.

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Enders Yard Party

John H. Enders 66th Annual Firefighters’ Yard Sale and Chicken BBQ. 9 S. Buckmarsh Street. Berryville. Yard sale starts at 8am with fill a bag for a buck at 6pm. Meal starts at 4:30. Annual cake sale at 6pm. Meal includes BBQ Chicken, Country Ham, Chicken Salad, Green Beans, Cole Slaw, Drinks, and Homemade Desserts. Adults $10. Children 6 and up $5. Children under 6 eat free.

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Sunday Buffet

Blue Ridge Volunteer Fire & Rescue Co. 131 Retreat Road. Bluemont. 11am–2pm.

Blue Ridge Volunteer Fire & Rescue Company annual summer Sunday Buffet. Adults pay only $10. Children age 5–12 are $5. Age 4 and younger are free.

Carryout dinners are available.

All proceeds benefit BRVFR. Blue Ridge is celebrating 40 years of operation and invites neighbors to come support its efforts to pay for a new fire truck. The social hall is air conditioned and wheelchair accessible. Parking is plentiful.

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Full Moon Walk

Blandy Farm. 400 Blandy Farm Lane.8:30–9:30pm.

Explore the Arboretum under the full moon. Wear comfortable shoes, bring a flashlight, and explore the natural world at dusk and after dark. FOSA

Hard Swimming Fish featured at Bluemont Concert August 12. Photo by Andrew Murdock. members $10. Nonmembers $12. Member family $20 Nonmember family $25. Reservations Required. Register online at www.blandy.virginia.edu or call 540-837-1758 Ext. 287.

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Music in the Park

Nita and Friends/ Gospel and Folk. Rose Hill Park.

Downtown Berryville. 6:30– 8pm. Bring a picnic and join us for great music. Berryville Main Street Ghost Tours meet immediately following music. Meet at the Firehouse Gallery at 23 East Main Street to hear some of Berryville’s unique history and ghost stories, and tour of haunted businesses & the Grace Episcopal Church graveyard.

Tickets are $15 for everyone 7 and over. Call to reserve a space on the tour. For information call 540-955-4001.

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Bluegrass and BBQ

Featuring Locust Honey. Barns of Rose Hill. 95 Chalmers Ct. Berryville. Join us for a night of Bluegrass & BBQ with Locust Honey! “Spellbinding cascades of finger picking wizardry and wickedly emotive fiddle playing.”As Locust Honey, Chloe Edmonstone and Meredith Watson bring their experience in Old-Time, Bluegrass, and Pre-War Blues to both their original material and the traditional songs and tunes of the American Southeast. With a rotating instrumentation of fiddles, open-back and resonator banjos, acoustic and resonator guitars, they set an emphasis on lively arrangements that showcase their signature vintage vocal harmonies. Joined by John Miller, (The Fox Hunt, The Hackensaw Boys,) on upright

bass, they have been touring the US, UK and Ireland since 2012. Doors open at 7. Show starts at 8. $15 in advance. $20 at the door. 12 and under free.

For more information visit www.barnsofrosehill.org.

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VHSA Horse and Pony Hunter Show

Sandstone Farm, 3805 Millwood Road, Millwood, Virginia www.sandstonefarm.com. Free.

For information call 540-8371261

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Col. John “Pappy” Gallagher

Operation Eagle Claw. Barns of Rose Hill. 95 Chalmers Ct. Berryville. Join us on July 24 for a military history talk by Col. John “Pappy” Gallagher. He will talk about his participation

Your Window and Door Specialist (540) 837-9351

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JU LY 20 1 6 flight status due to physical problems, it was their last flight as the pilot of a jet fighter aircraft. Doors open at 1:30.

Talk starts at 2. Free event.

For more information www.barnsofrosehill.org.

29 Mary Ann Redmond Band performs at Bluemont Concert July 15. in Operation Eagle Claw during the Iran Hostage Crisis. One of the proudest assignments of his career was participating in the “Freedom Flights” for repatriated POW pilots from the Viet-

nam War. As an Instructor Pilot, John provided returning POW pilots a welcome back to the cockpit and opportunity for them to requalify as pilots. For those who would not return to

Music in the Park

TBA. Rose Hill Park.

Downtown Berryville. 6:30–8pm.

Bring a picnic and join us for great music. Berryville Main Street Ghost Tours meet immediately following music. Meet at the Firehouse Gallery at 23 East Main Street to hear some of Berryville’s unique history and ghost stories, and tour of haunted businesses & the Grace Episcopal Church graveyard. Tickets are $15 for everyone 7 and over. Call to reserve a space on the tour. For information call 540-955-4001.

August

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VHSA Horse and Pony Hunter Show

Sandstone Farm, 3805 Millwood Road, Millwood, Virginia www.sandstonefarm.com. Free.

For information, 540-837-1261.

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Bluemont Concert

Hard Swimmin’ Fish.

Old Frederick County Court House. 20 North Loudoun Street on the downtown mall. Winchester. A blues quartet that has been making music together for over fifteen years. The band plays a range of styles covering the country blues of Mississippi and The Piedmont, the urban blues of Chicago, and funk infused varieties with roots in New Orleans’ second line.

This versatility allows Hard Swimmin’ Fish to offer either

acoustic or electric performances and play any venue.

Bluemont concerts are held outside if possible. In bad weather concert will be held at the First Presbyterian Church. $5 per person, $4 Bluemont Friends & Seniors, $2 kids under 12. Tickets available at concert.

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Greg Ruby and Friends

Barns of Rose Hill. 95 Chalmers Ct. Berryville. An evening of hot jazz from some of the finest musicians playing this music today! Seattle’s Greg Ruby (guitar) will be joined by Dennis Lichtman (clarinet & mandolin), Russell Welch (guitar), and Jason Jurzak (bass). Doors open at 7. Show starts at 8. $15 in advance. $20 at the door. 12 and under free. For more information visit www.barnsofrosehill.org.

Two great reasons not to cook this weekend!

John H. Enders Fire Co. 66th Annual

Blue Ridge Vol. Fire & Rescue

Firefighters’

SUNDAY BUFFET

Saturday, July 16

131 RetReat Road Bluemont

Yard Sale & Chicken BBQ 9 South Buckmarsh Street, Berryville Yard sale starts at 8am with “Fill a Bag for A Buck” at 6pm.

Meal starts at 4:30. • Annual Cake Sale starts at 6.

Menu Includes: BBQ Chicken, Country Ham, Chicken Salad, Green Beans, Cole Slaw, Drinks, and Homemade Desserts

July 17 11–2pm

Menu Includes: Grilled chicken, Italian sausage (sweet and hot), hot dogs, fresh sweet corn (courtesy of Nalls Farm Market), and a wide variety of sides and salads, ice cream and desserts.

Adults $10 • Children 5–12 $6 Children 4 and under eat free.

Carry Out Available.

Adults - $10 • Children 6 and up - $5 Children under 6 eat free.

Air Conditioned and Wheelchair Accessible

Free Fire Truck Rides!

To donate items for the yard sale or for information, call 955-1110

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The Art of Robert Cross

by Claire Stuart

t Your Home Town Agen

VAOBSERVER.COM

Where does the urge to create art come from? People have pondered that for centuries, looking back at the images our remote ancestors scratched into the walls of caves.

Born during the Great Depression, folk artist Robert Cross grew up one of ten children on his family’s farm near Wickliffe Church outside of Berryville.

He worked in the garden, wore his brothers’ hand-me-downs, and got one pair of shoes a year. “Dad would buy shoe soles and attach them when shoes wore out,” he recollected.

As hard as he worked, the farm boy somehow found time and material to express his creative urge. “I started building things,” he says. “I made wagons and birdhouses from scraps and wheels and old farm machines. I wanted to become a bricklayer, and I practiced by cutting blocks into brick shapes and laying them like bricks.”

His artistic work blossomed from the 1950s through the 1970s, when he built a series of ornate, detailed and highly original miniature buildings from scraps and found material. He lived behind the Harris Hinkle Furniture Company in Winchester, where he would pick up the scraps of mahogany, cherry and other fine woods at the end of each day. He did not have equipment for cutting glass, so he would take his design ideas for fancy windows to someone he knew in the glass business with the necessary machinery.

No nails were used in the construction except where the buildings are attached to their bases. Everything is put together with glue.

“Just take time to do it,” said Cross.

“Quit when you’re tired, or you can make mistakes with glue, and Elmer don’t let go!”

In his most productive years, Cross bought so much glue from Solenberger’s Hardware that Mr. Solenberger

Mary & Robert Cross at home in Winchester.

wondered who was buying all the glue.

When he learned about Cross’ work, he started giving him the glue for free.

Cross’ workshop was always his kitchen table, and his creations all came from his imagination, with the exception of a replica of the old Mt. Carmel church on Braddock Street in Winchester.

He found this more difficult because he had to keep referring back to the actual church.

Cross never made preliminary drawings and did not make changes.

“Keep in mind what it is going to look like and take the project all the way through from beginning to end. I have a mental picture before I start and before I finish,” he explained. “I couldn’t read a blueprint if I had one. I do it all right out of my head. I’d do it at night. I’d sit down and look at it and think about the next step.”

Cross went to work for Shenandoah National Bank in 1953, and his artistry came to the attention of coworkers. He used miscellaneous discarded material from the bank, including paper scraps from check writing machines that he made into paper mache for the roof of his Rock House. One of his projects was displayed in the lobby, and he took his first project to an art and craft show in Mount Jackson.

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JU LY 20 1 6 Cross’ sister worked for the owners of Harris Hinkle Furniture Company, and she called their attention to his work.

They were impressed enough to offer to take his projects to sell at trade shows in North Carolina, but he declined.

“If you sell it, you can’t see it anymore,” he declared.

His work is not for sale, he explains. It was made to keep, and if he gives it away, it goes somewhere where he can see it.

A United States map wrapped around a tree stump was gifted to the Barns at Rose Hill. A miniature library building was donated to Josephine School in Berryville, where Cross is the last surviving member of the six graduates in the class of 1945. And departing from his usual construction of buildings, he also crafted a replica of the first school bus (which was made from a remodeled cattle truck) that transported AfricanAmerican children to school before Clarke County provided transportation for them.

In 2006, Cross gifted one of his works to the Museum of the Shenandoah.

Curator Nick Powers was so taken with it that he wanted to learn more about the artist.

“I cold-called him,” said Powers, “and he said that he had more in his nephew’s house. I was blown away! And I loved the stories he had about each one.”

Cross’ Cathedral includes a clock tower holding a pocket watch that belonged to his grandfather, William Cross, who was born enslaved. The watch was one of the first things he bought when he was freed.

The Convention Center was Cross’s idea of what one would look like, when he heard that Winchester was considering a convention center. Its walls and roof are made of layers of shellacked leaves from a pear tree. His Tree House was made from a stump hollowed by termites.

Cross loaned five more of his works to the Museum of the Shenandoah, and then gifted them to the museum.

After retiring from Shenandoah Valley National Bank in 1973, Cross went to work as an aide in the driver education department at Dowell J. Howard Vocational School. He retired a second time in 1990 after 16 years.

Cross, now 89, has outlived all of his siblings except a brother, and all but one of the local men who served with him in the Army. He reports that he has been healthy most of his life. “I kept running from Arthur (arthritis),” he laughed, “til Arthur finally caught up to me!” But he still refuses to use a cane.

Cross and his wife, Mary, 93, live in a cozy blue bungalow in Winchester.

Rock House.

Tree house.

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When we moved to Jefferson County last summer, we were thrilled to discover zebra swallowtail butterflies flying around.

I had seen zebra swallowtails before, and had long admired them. Smaller than the big yellow tiger swallowtail, the zebra has sharply triangular forewings, dramatic tail streamers and a bold, racy pattern of black and white. The white seen up close is actually very pale green. Two crimson and two blue spots adorn the hind wings just ahead of the streamers, and two crimson stripes run along the underside of the hind wings. All these longitudinal stripes enhance their streamlined look. Their beauty is unsurpassed. When half a dozen zebra swallowtails land close together in the wet mud near our mailbox, it looks like a butterfly bouquet.

Despite their racy appearance, zebra swallowtails lack the darting, dodging flight of the larger swallowtails. The zebras tend to travel about two feet off the ground in a steady but labored flight, as if their long tail streamers slow them down!

Zebra swallowtails depend upon pawpaw trees. They fasten their eggs onto young terminal pawpaw leaves in spring. These eggs hatch into caterpillars with a smooth, tapered shape.

And in the zebra tradition, they are striped with

narrow bands in an alternating pattern of black, white and yellow. The markings on these caterpillars make me smile because they remind me of old fashioned “prison stripes.” As the caterpillars grow, their black stripes become pale gray, except for one near the front of the body.

This stripe, just behind the head, marks the spot where the caterpillar launches his only defense. When the young insect is disturbed, two fleshy, yellow horns pop up like tank artillery and release a chemical that repels would-be predators. When the caterpillar is mature, it fastens itself to the underside of a big pawpaw leaf.

It sheds its skin to become a green chrysalis. In a few weeks it emerges to unfurl its striped wings in the shade of the protecting pawpaw.

The connection between butterfly and tree is one-sided — the tree doesn’t seem to need the butterfly. The pawpaw blooms just as the earliest zebra swallowtails begin to lay their eggs.

But the odd, purple flowers have a scent of rotting meat, which attracts carrion beetles and flies, but not many butterflies. By the time the pawpaw’s mango-like fruits ripen and drop to the ground in late summer, very few adult zebra swallowtails remain to enjoy the juice of the rotting fruit.

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JU LY 20 1 6

Officials Cheer Handsome Brook Announcement

The Bed & Bone Experience

Egg Operation Could Bring 105 Jobs to area within three years New York-based Handsome Brook Farms, which provides pasture raised eggs to grocery stores in 48 states, has announced plans to open an egg processing facility in Berryville. Handsome Brook will renovate the former Winchester Cold Storage building and purchase pasture raised eggs from a hundred Virginia farmers to help meet the growing demand for the company’s eggs in stores like Harris Teeter and Wegmans’s.

Clarke County Board of Supervisors chair David Weiss says the plant will start out producing about 12 million eggs a year, with the goal of 30 million annually within three years. Handsome Brook intends to invest upwards of $6.4 million into the building and operation in Berryville.

The Commonwealth of Virginia helped the county and Town of Berryville lure Handsome Brook to Clarke County.

The state provided a $200,000 incentive grant to the company; the county and town will match it with tax rebates up to $200,000 — with an important stipulation, says Weiss. “The town and county will rebate back to Handsome after their taxes have been paid.” Weiss said the county anticipates paying out the rebate over three years — which translates into nearly $70,000 a year to the county and town each year after the rebate is paid.

Pasture raised eggs are produced under different conditions than so-called “cage free” hens or those labeled organic —

which describes what the hens don’t eat, not their living conditions. According to the Humane Society, many cage free hens are raised almost entirely indoors. Pastured hens are raised in conditions mimicking a barnyard; hens eat bugs and seeds while roaming. They retreat indoors at night for safety and for morning laying.

Handsome Farm eggs are certified organic, meaning their supplemental food is certified, and American Humane Certified. Betsy Babcock, founder and co-owner of Handsome Brook Farm, says she started raising pastured hens because it aligns with her values. Some studies also have found pastured eggs to be more healthful than conventionally raised eggs.

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“Berryville is thrilled to welcome its newest corporate citizen, Handsome Brook Farm,” said Berryville Mayor Wilson Kirby. “Governor McAuliffe and Secretary Haymore went to bat for our community and helped ensure Handsome Brook Farm’s local investment of nearly six and a half million dollars and the creation of over one hundred new jobs in Berryville. The level of cooperation between state and local government and private enterprise was extraordinary.”

An official opening date for the new plant has been announced. Supervisor Weiss said the company has said they are ready to “jump right in” and get the project underway by autumn.

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River & Roots Photos by Jennifer Lee

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♪

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Featuring

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40+ Beers • Live Bands Local Food Vendors

14

JULY 20 1 6 2016 Pageant of Steam

STEAM SHOW

50th sar y! iver n n A

JULY 29, 30, 31

Ruritan Fair Grounds 890 West Main Street, Berryville Steam Engines  Gas Engines  Threshers Saw Mill  Oil Pulls  Balers  Shingle Mill Sunday Saturday Night Horse Pull 6:00 9am Church Service Clear Springs Events All Day

Friday Night

Tractor Pull 6:30 Antiques Only • Entry Fee

Bluegrass Band after the Horse Pull

Farm & Equipment Consignment Sale Saturday 8:30am contact Charlie Gray (540)550-0804

Shenandoah Valley Steam and Gas Engine Association, Inc. www.svsgea.com

VAOBSERVER.COM

YOUR LIFE POWERED

BY RAPPAHANNOCK

ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE

For approximately $5.50* a day, we keep your life going — cooking, TV, HVAC, laundry, everything. That’s the amazing value of Rappahannock Electric Cooperative.

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Real Estate

Finding the Right Real Estate Agent

By Wendy Gooditis

When I was 21 years old and fresh out of college, I worked as a tech consultant, thrilled to be making enough money to buy and feed a few horses and pay rent. But upon purchase of the 3rd hungry horsie appetite, I realized my board bill for the horses was bigger than my rent, and was not likely to shrink ever again.

So I started driving up and down the most obscure back roads in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, looking for For Sale signs on anything that looked like it had a couple of acres and a shelter, however rough. I found an adorable tiny house with a matching barn, notched into the side of the Sourland Mountain. Optimistic, I called the phone number on the sign, and my dream agent picked up the phone. I realize now what a good turn of fortune that was.

Suzanne showed me the dollhouse-sized farm, and then took me to her own house a couple of miles away, where she proceeded to educate me.

As we sat at her antique farm table, fortifying ourselves with mugs of cider and a plate of sugar cookies, she initiated me into the mysteries of mortgages, escrow, contracts, mortgage insurance, property taxes, homeowner’s insurance, and on and on. I remember her scribbling columns of numbers on sheet after sheet of a yellow legal pad, as her black and white cat snuck around her busy pen hand cleaning up cookie crumbs.

I have not forgotten what I learned from her that day. The most amazing and useful fact I learned was that there was an actual percentage which represented my debt ratio that banks took very seriously when considering whether or not I was a

good candidate for a mortgage.

I was so surprised that the bank would look into such details! I mean, I had a job and a paycheck. Really, it seemed excessive to need to know any more about my finances. (Yes: I was very young.)

Suzanne also explained the mysteries of interest and principle. Sheesh! 30 years of payments pretty much tripled the price of the house! It didn’t seem right. But Suzanne was so nice, and so smart. I totally trusted and believed her. As a result of that cramming session, it became clear that I could not afford even the dollhouse-sized farm. So Suzanne gave me a super piece of advice.

“Buy a condo,” she said. I merely laughed, and reached for another cookie, charmed that this wise teacher I had found also had a great sense of humor. But she looked at me pityingly and said, “I mean it.

Over in Hillsborough, there are new condos, reasonably priced.

I think they’re a great investment,

and if you live there for a few years, you’ll make some money on it and be able to buy a small farm out here.”

Crazy as that sounded to someone who owned three equines and one 100-pound canine, I looked into her intelligent face and chose to believe her. I did exactly as she said, and a mere two years later, found myself and my horses ensconced in a – well, shall we say an “adequate” 3-acre farm, where my horses could live with me. Suzanne had tutored me, found me my condo (which was a superb investment), and then found me a farm I could actually afford (a miracle in itself).

The point of this trip down memory lane is that I lucked into meeting the best real estate agent I could have had at that point in my life. She was kind, smart, not condescending (though I was such an innocent), patient, a terrific teacher and mathematician. She was much on top of the local market, even to the point of

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advising about investment properties. I know now she was not your run-of-the-mill agent, but I also know there are many wonderful agents out there.

It’s important to work with the right agent for you. In so many transactions, there are bound to be at least a couple of tense moments, or confusions, and sometimes there are big and nerve-wracking issues to figure out. If you don’t like or trust your agent, or if your agent is unreachable or intimidating, the tensions will soar, and the whole transaction will become even more difficult. As in any profession, there are different sorts of agents – mostly good, some wonderful, and some, sadly, incompetent or unethical. (I feel as though we’re pretty fortunate around here: there are so many terrific real estate professionals in our area.)

I asked a few people having lunch in our Boyd’s Nest restaurant if they had worked with any realtors, and if they had anything to say about them. JC Moore firmly told me about choosing an agent. “It has to be a good fit, because with all the stuff you’re going to be going through, it’s like having a therapist.”

Okay, JC – the agent should be someone you feel you can trust and talk to.

Cady McCarty said she had worked with someone very recently, and, “I hated having to leave the same message for the same issue several times in the same week.”

Cady, you hit on the number one complaint people have about their realtors: feeling that their realtor is unresponsive.

Cady also said “Ask me what I’m looking for and find it; don’t show me what you think I should have.”

Yes, Cady. An agent should be able to really hear what the client has to say.

Helen Hummer had a great experience just last year. She told me “He treated the whole situation as if it was his own. I love his customer service!”

Well done, Helen’s agent.

How do you find the right agent for you? There are several things you can do. You can, of course, ask your friends and neighbors whom they have worked with and had a good experience with. And don’t be afraid to meet and talk to as many agents as it takes until you find the one who suits you best. Ask hard questions: “How do you earn your commission?”

“How do I know you’ll be responsive to my calls, texts, emails?”

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“What are your statistics in this area over the last couple of years?”

Also, consider the brokerage the agent works for. Is it important to you that it be a national or even international company? Or that it’s a single-office, local firm? Maybe stop by the office itself and find out what sort of reception you are given.

Support staff often have a hand in managing your transaction.

Way back when, having moved into my little fixer-upper farm, part of its charm was that Suzanne lived right down the gravel road from me. The day we closed, I unlocked the door to my new abode and smiled to see a huge rustic basket on the kitchen counter, filled with carrots for the horses, a toy for the dog, and sugar cookies and cider for me.

The treats are long gone, but I treasure the basket still.

Technical note: In a perfect world, mortgage lenders would like your housing expenses to be no more than 28 percent of your income; they like your total debt (including mortgage, car payment, student loan payment, child support, credit

card, and any other debt) to be no more than 36 percent. (http://www.bankrate.com/ finance/mortgages/why-debtto-income-matters-inmortgages-1.aspx).

Wendy Gooditis is a real estate agent on the Chip Schutte Real Estate Team with ReMax Roots at

101 East Main St., Berryville, VA 22611, phone (540)955-0911. Wendy would be happy to answer any questions you may have about real estate, and can be reached at gooditis@visuallink.com or at (540)533-0840.

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Berryville’s director of utilities Dave Tyrrell explains the workings of the town’s wastewater treatment facility.

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Over the years the technologies to treat wastewater have gotten better, and just in time.

The legions of out-of-date sewage plants — some being used beyond capacity, others merely limping along past their expected lifetimes — remain a critical problem in the nation’s aging infrastructure.

Our sensibilities have changed, too. We like our rivers for swimming and paddling and

wading, not as sewage drains.

We also expect clean water for drinking and bathing.

Then there is the old saying that everyone that lives down the stream from someone.

When we open our taps in Berryville, it’s already been someone else’s sewage. That cycle is repeated down the Shenandoah and along the Potomac to the Chesapeake Bay and the ocean.

Because technology has im-

proved so much, water that leaves a modern wastewater treatment facility is cleaner than water at the intake. Nitrogen, phosphorus, and other nutrients still plague our waterways, but not as a result of up-to-date sewage treatment.

Today, you don’t see algae pools at the outflow; you see watercress.

The Clean Water Act of 1972 has succeeded in moving the

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Computer monitors enable plant workers to monitor systems anywhere in the plant.

needle in favor of public health and America’s rivers; few experts would say our streams are truly clean, but fewer still would blame modern wastewater treatment plants.

Those improvements cost a lot of money; especially for a town the size of Berryville.

Running a modern system

Because water and sewer are public utilities, it’s the customers who foot the bill for operations and upgrades. The federal government does provide low-cost loans for new plants.

These come from the Clean

Water State Revolving Fund, a loan program funded by U.S. taxpayers and administered by the states — and sometimes supplemented by the states with grants to municipalities.

Adding to the costs are federal regulations that have evolved over the years, and which, in the case of the Berryville upgrade, contributed to true costs that were much higher than original estimates for construction.

The wastewater treatment facilities run on technology — computer banks that monitor every stage of treatment.

Even for a system with modest

“We need the same control processes, the same equipment, to treat the same for 700,000 as a plant treating 20 million gallons.”

capacity, like Berryville’s, a wastewater treatment plant seems more sophisticated than the NASA operations of the 1960s. Berryville’s new system relies on bacteria to treat waste; it requires chemicals to turn what’s left into clean soil.

It takes more people and electricity to run the new plant, and costs money to haul away that rich, black soil.

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“We are eliminating phosphorous through a chemical process,” said Dave Tyrrell, Berryville’s director of utilities who oversees operations at the plant. “We are eliminating nitrogen through a biological process. Organic loading is also being eliminated through an organic process.”

“Your body takes in food, digests and uses what it can, and eliminates the rest,” he explains. “There is still food in there. These bacteria take that, and use that process for food.” What is left when they are done? Dirt.

“We had no chemical costs in the prior system. Now I have a $65,000 a year chemical cost,” said Tyrrell.

The technology to run the plant also comes with a price tag, too. What's the cost difference for that technology for a town the size of Berryville, which manages about 700,000 gallons per day, and a town 100 to 200 times larger? Answer: zero.

“We need the same control processes, the same equipment, to treat the same for 700,000 as a plant treating 20 million gallons,” said Tyrrell. “It costs exactly the same to buy that control equipment. Being a smaller facility, it’s a lot more expensive to install modern equipment; the computer systems and the control systems cost the same, no matter what.”

That makes it more expensive per-customer because a facility treating a larger flow has a larger customer base to share costs for construction, equipment, and operations.

“Smaller facilities are at a disadvantage,” said Tyrrell.

Electrical costs have tripled.

And the plant added two staff members to run the new plant.

Process and two of everything

For utilities like electricity, we build in our own redundancies to get through the occasional blackout. For some peo-

The electricity bill to power the technology behind Berryille’s wastewater facility costs about $30,000 each month.

ple, the redundancy is as simple as coolers with ice to keep food from spoiling; candles and battery-powered lanterns for light; a gas grill or a Coleman stove for cooking.

In sewage treatment, there are no practical ways for a utility to externalize the redundancies to customers. When something breaks down — not if, but when — we all still need to flush. And when there is excess flow, more raw sewage storage capacity is needed.

What’s it take for you to be able to flush when something goes down? In essence, two of everything — of the systems that matter most, anyway.

In a nutshell, here’s the process. Raw sewage enters a wet well. From there inorganic

materials, like plastics and other detritus that ends up in the system is removed, cleaned, and hauled to the landfill. Then the bacteria do their work.

The the remaining solids are separated from liquids. The liquid is then filtered through membranes. “After the biological process, we have membrane filtration,” said Tyrrell. “The pores in filters are .04 microns.

All water leaving this facility has to go through a filter that small.”

As a result, said Tyrrell, “the water leaving this facility is much cleaner than the river.”

The life of these membranes is around 10 years, maybe 12.

It costs upwards of a million dollars to replace them. That

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“The water leaving this facility is much cleaner than the river.”

means that in about seven years, the current membranes will have to be replaced. The Town Council, said town manager Keith Dalton, is putting money away to do that, but the reality is that customers pay to treat their sewage.

How it is paid for

Basically, there are three sources of funding, one of which is the Town’s general

fund and some grants. The others are user fees and availability fees, the costs new homes and commercial buildings pay to connect to the system. The availability fees are meant for capital improvements.

When the town council set current rates, the country was in a downturn in the economy. “So we were collecting no availability fees,” said Dalton.

So customers have to pick up the rest.

In essence, water and sewer have to function as small businesses. Operating money comes from customers.

How do Berryville rates compare to other Virginia municipalities? It depends how much water you use. The minimum rates, charged to customers who use the least, are lower than surrounding municipalities. On the upper end of use, the rates are indeed higher than average.

When you consider all the costs, and that they are borne primarily by customers, you can’t help but ask a lot of questions. One is regulatory. Does it make sense to require small utilities to operate at the same standards as much larger ones?

In the grand scheme of things, big city systems process a lot more waste. On the other hand, there are dozens of small systems along the Shenandoah and Potomac. The effect is cumulative.

Another question is a third rail in Clarke County: growth.

More customers would mean lower per-customer costs. But growth has costs above and beyond retaining the small-town character of Berryville. Growth means investment in schools, expanded emergency services, and infrastructure. These are the same issues facing every small town and rural county.

The larger question is: What type of town do Berryville residents want? How do we pay for it?

And who among us wants to go back to the old days of sewage lagoons and rivers where we can’t swim or paddle?

For now, there is only one way to reduce the water and sewer bills for your home or business. Use less water.

What’s left after the solids are processed? Dirt.

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