INSIDE ENOUGH page 7 OLD CROZET page 9 RED HILL SLEUTHS page 11 HOT MARKET page 12
MAY 2015 VOL. 9, NO. 12
NEW HOUSES page 13
Growing the Heart of Crozet Town Hall Meeting About Lumberyard’s Future Set for May 27
GREEN RIBBON page 14 MEAL MAKERS page 15 DI TEAM page 16 TROUT TROPHIES pages 17 PET EPILEPSY page 20 PEA SPREAD page 22 HEADLESS EAGLE page 23 SHACKED UP page 24 SYRUP SALE page 25 CARBON CLIMBS page 26 WARM UP FIRST page 27 CHIPOTLE SAYS NO page 28 BLINDSIGHT page 32 HEON ON TOP page 34 REMEDY RULES page 35 CARPE DIEM page 36 CROSSWORD page 37 DEER DOWN page 42
Zion, Aiinday and Adanya Giles of Fredericksburg, visiting relatives near Crozet with their dad Lorenzo Giles, were among the most successful fishers at Kids Fishing Day at Mints Springs Valley Park April 25. See story page 17.
Western’s Honor Council Ambushed Albemarle County Public Schools snuffed out Western Albemarle High School’s Honor Council via an email to the school staff in a surprise move April 3. In a classic play from the news management handbook, designed to make a necessary announcement go unnoticed, it was released after school hours on the Friday before spring break. But of course Western senior Tim Dodson noticed. He’s co-chair of the
Honor Council with fellow senior Chance Masloff, who happened to be in Spain when the delete-honor move was executed. Both have served on the council four years. “We were supposed to have a meeting in Mrs. Gardner’s room [She and math teacher Lani Hosa are the Council’s faculty sponsors.],” said Dodson. “The sponsors and [de facto acting principal] Dr. Domecq wanted continued on page 18
The public is invited to a town hall meeting sponsored by the Crozet Community Association and Milestone Partners, the new owners of the 20-acre former Barnes Lumber Company property in downtown Crozet, that will be held Wednesday, May 27 at The Field School at 1408 Crozet Avenue to solicit community views on how the property should be designed and economically developed. The effort is tagged as the Downtown Crozet Initiative: A Vision for Barnes Lumber. Refreshments and design examples will be offered beginning at 5:30 p.m., with the meeting starting formally at 6 p.m. and lasting until 9. Child care and food (probably pizza) will be provided. A follow-up meeting that will show a response to input from the May 27 meeting is set for Thursday, June 11. If you plan to attend, the organizers ask that you RSVP by May 24 to: www.goo.gl/forms/4c2bypKd03. Walk-ins are welcome, however. Other key background information on the subject is available at the continued on page 38
Chasing Water: Global Water Sustainability Rests on Local Control Crozet’s Brian Richter has been the Nature Conservancy’s chief scientist for global water programs for 28 years and has summed up his knowledge of how water shortages should be managed in a new book, Chasing Water, A Guide for Moving From Scarcity to Sustainability. It’s published by Island Press, a nonprofit publisher that specializes in environmental topics.
After graduating from graduate school at Colorado State University, Richter did a brief stint with the U.S. Geological Survey and from there, in the late 1980s, took on a job with the Nature Conservancy, managing a newly-acquired property in Arizona that faced a water shortage threat from population growth in a town continued on page 8
Local author Brian Richter
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CROZETgazette
MAY 2015
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CROZET gazette the
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MICHAEL J. MARSHALL, Publisher and Editor news@crozetgazette.com | 434-466-8939 ALLIE M. PESCH, Art Director and Ad Manager ads@crozetgazette.com | 434-249-4211 LOUISE DUDLEY, Editorial Assistant louise@crozetgazette.com
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: John Andersen, Clover Carroll, Marlene Condon, Elena Day, Phil James, Charles Kidder, Dirk Nies, Robert Reiser, Rebecca Schmitz, Roscoe Shaw, Heidi Sonen, David Wagner, Denise Zito.
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MAY 2015
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MAY 2015
Celebrating 35 Years! MOTHER’S DAY WEEKEND
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To the Editor Send your letters to the editor to news@crozetgazette.com. Letters will not be printed anonymously.
School Board Term Ending I have served on the Albemarle County School Board for three terms—almost twelve years. It has been a wonderful journey. It has been a great privilege to represent the people of the White Hall District in this office. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with the students, parents, teachers, principals and administrative staff of the county, including the citizens associated with the great schools located in the district. Here are a few examples of treasured memories: I fondly remember my visits to the English classes of Judy Gardner at Western Albemarle, witnessing ninth graders discussing the character traits of the hero in “The Odyssey.” I will not forget the challenge to be “smarter than a fifth grader” at Crozet Elementary. I have been thrilled by the music programs of the band, choruses and orchestra at Henley. I have
MAY 2015 marveled at the art work of the students at Brownsville. I have appreciated the close-knit community at Broadus Wood. And, in spending countless hours poring over budget documents and policies, listening to parents’ concerns, and deliberating with my fellow board members, I have come to understand American democracy in a deeper way. My mother, a former teacher in Albemarle County, has been an encourager to me and has passed down a lot of wisdom to me about education. I now believe that it is time to devote myself more fully to scholarship and teaching in my field of legal studies. So I will not seek the office of School Board member in the fall election. It has been a tough decision to make, as my heart is in the work, but I believe it is the right decision. “Education is in my blood,” as I remarked over twelve years ago, and I hope to continue to be a “voice for education.” Barbara Massie Mouly Albemarle County School Board
Thanks for Pitching In Under overcast skies delivering sleet and then rain much of the day, more than 50 volunteers participated in Crozet Park’s second annual Pitch-in at the Park on Saturday, April 25th. This all-day volunteer event reflects the true meaning of what is so wonderful about Crozet—neighbors and businesses working together sideby-side to help maintain our community-owned park. This day has become especially important to the park since it enables many of the park’s maintenance activities to be started and completed in a single day. On the list this year were extensive renovation of one of the pool’s main sheds, installation of an informational kiosk, numerous landscaping activities, extensive tree work throughout the park, painting, and completion of the fence line along the park’s main entry. Some of you may know we are required, due to ABC laws, to block off the park’s festival grounds for any of the large events where alcohol is served. Completing this fence line
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means we can avoid the extra effort of hanging and removing countless panels of lattice before and after these events. I’m happy to report that this cumbersome task it now a part of the park’s history. This year, we are especially grateful to Arboristry Associates and Waynesboro Nurseries, who chose to celebrate Arbor Day and Earth Week at the park by donating an entire day of service as part of our Pitch-in event. At dawn a large fleet of bright blue Arboristry trucks and employees showed up, set up, and suited-up, ready to tackle a huge overdue list of tree work. Likely the most spectacular feat of the day was watching Arboristry staff climb several stories high into the old oak tree sitting behind the backstop of the upper ballfield. Their task was to trim the dead wood to keep the tree healthy and to prevent continued limb drop onto homeplate. Arboristry’s work came to a peak when Waynesboro Nurseries arrived a few hours later with a trailer hauling several dozen beautiful new shrubs continued on page 38
Annual Spring Barbeque Join us
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MAY 2015
Chasing Water —continued from page 1
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upstream. “That set the trajectory for me,” said Richter. “How can we interact with land and water development and find the most sustainable outcomes?” He was the first “water person” the Nature Conservancy had on staff and now he directs more than 400 others from his two-room office above The Mudhouse. He is also teaching a course on water sustainability at U.Va.’s School of Architecture to an eclectic group of students that include environmental science majors and law students. He said he intends to do more college-level teaching. Meanwhile he’s giving lessons on water use to kids at Crozet Elementary too. He’s occasionally heard on NPR when they are looking for water expertise. “I’ve absolutely loved working for the Nature Conservancy and it’s given me a chance to see the world. “We have to be strategic. One-third of all rivers in the world are affected by problems. We look for demonstration value in a location, something that can be emulated in other places. “The drought in California is in the news every day. The media gets water stories wrong a lot. Now the coverage is much more mature. It’s really heartening. What crops are sustainable for California? They are scrutinizing how water is getting used. We have to have foresight, rather than just let anybody do what they will and then get to the point where the bucket is died up. What is the highest
and best use? “That’s not a decision to be made by a centralized government, but by the local community. That’s the people who share the resources. There has to be democratic process around the use of water. It’s emerging in the world. We are moving from a central approach to a local, organic decision model. “There are thousands of books about water,” he said. “I was shooting for local community leaders who are concerned about water and need to influence the process, like the Rivanna Water Conservation Society. Unfortunately there’s a conundrum about community involvement: their ability to contribute is based on their education on the issues. They come into the discussion without an adequate understanding about water. “I wanted to write a book that is relevant around the world. I wanted it to be translated and well distributed.” So far it’s available in five other languages, Chinese, Spanish, French, Portuguese (think of Brazil) and Arabic. “What can cities do? Across the U.S., half of water use is outside the house. We could substantially cut water use. We could capture rain water in cisterns and make those as part of new construction. For some communities it could make a huge difference.” Richter has a 600-gallon cistern at his house that collects water off his roof and stores it for use for outdoor purposes. “Sao Paolo [Brazil], which has 20 million people, now turns on the water only two
continued on page 39
CROZETgazette
MAY 2015
By Phil James
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phil@crozetgazette.com
“Old Crozet, As I Recall It...” Ruth Wayland Nelson thoughtfully sat down in 1950 to pen some reminiscences of growing up in “old Crozet.” Her great-grandfather Jeremiah Wayland had purchased a large farm in western Albemarle County in 1832, forty-four years prior to the establishment of the village where Ruth lived her entire life. In 1839, Claude Crozet, Principal Engineer for Virginia, surveyed for a railroad line through the Wayland farm. Crozet returned to board with the family during a part of the construction phase of that historic project. Born in 1892, only 17 years after the village’s first train depot and post office, Ruth Lee Wayland’s path never wavered far from the village of her birth. Carefully folded into her memories were several of those individuals who helped lay good civic foundations, and who lent noteworthy character to the progressive little town. In the mid-1870s, her grandfather Abram Wayland had garnered the support of other landowners in the region to ask that a rail stop be established to enable the shipping of their farm commodities. Ruth’s father, Charles Lee Wayland, then a young teenager attending “a little red schoolhouse” on the
An early view across The Square in downtown Crozet. In this perspective, Curtis A. Haden’s store is in the center, flanked on the left by the Goodall building containing Crozet’s drug store and hardware businesses, and on the right by William F. Carter’s landmark apple cold storage building. [Photo courtesy of David Wayland]
hillside south of present Tabor Street, had carried that historic petition by horseback from farm to farm to gather the signatures. Although the petitioners asked that the proposed stop be named “Farmer’s Station,” the will of the railroad leaders to honor Col. Crozet prevailed. “The school that I first remember,” wrote Ruth Nelson, “was a one room affair that stood between the Baptist and Episcopal churches [on St. George Avenue]. Miss Mollie Wayland taught there and later Miss Sudie Wayland Day. In
Crozet’s earlier wood-framed C&O passenger depot. G. Bourne Wayland (back row, left) and his brother Charles (back row beneath depot window) gathered with their peers in this Spring 1918 photo. Sadly, later that year, Charles Wayland was a victim of the influenza pandemic while a student at V.P.I. [Photo courtesy of David Wayland]
about three years time, two rooms were added to this building. Those were wonderful days. We had more fun and learned a great many things that were not in our text books. “On the present site of Browny Brown’s filling station [present Dairy Queen] stood the village blacksmith shop operated by Mr. Jim Woodson. I remember as a child running errands, and I used to walk under the shed of the shop on my way to the village. “At first there was only the [railroad] freight station. The original still stands; then a funny little one room affair was built. It was painted yellow and heated with a large, old pot-bellied stove. There was a wooden platform running the length of the depot, which was not too secure, but it served to keep one from stepping in the mud. “Just beyond the station [across Rt. 240] was Mr. O’Neill’s store where everything was sold from stick candy and chewing tobacco to garden seed and plow points. A railroad crossing was just west of the station; there was no underpass then. “Where the variety store now stands [on The Square] was Mr.
Jim Ellison’s store and storehouse. Joining this was a peculiar little room, which for a short time housed the post office. Down on the corner where the drug store now stands was a tiny shoe repair shop. Across the street was Haden Brothers store, a one story building owned and operated by Mr. Curtis and Mr. Clifton Haden. “Mr. Ellison and his family lived in the apartment above his store for some years before building his home in the [lumber company] grove. Some of us can recall the days when Crozet had summer boarders. It was quite a summer resort. The Ellison house and the Wayland house had the largest number of boarders. Mr. Ellison built a dance pavilion in his grove, and on weekends the guests had a wonderful time dancing to the music furnished by local talent. During the week, the chief amusement was meeting the trains, going for the mail and playing croquet. “Mr. Ellison was quite a conspicuous character in our village. He was small of stature, neat and dapper in dress, and always laughing and joking with
continued on page 10
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Waylands
—continued from page 9
everyone he met. During the boarding house days he was never known to miss meeting the trains: he met every train that stopped during the day. He might be remembered as the village host, for he greeted everyone who came to the community, and he knew all the news and gossip for miles around. “We must not overlook Mr. Walter Whately, an Englishman who used to live on St. Georges Avenue and who had as much, or I may say more, civic pride than anyone who ever lived here. He was always getting the village cleaned up, and in his day, the street past the drug store and under the underpass was often cleaned and even hosed. “My grandfather Abram Wayland was a tall, slim man and he wore chin whiskers; in appearance he resembled the cartoons of “Uncle Sam.” He was very stern and short-spoken, and was said to have a great
deal of curiosity. Strangers never came to Crozet without being questioned by him as to who they were and where they came from and what they came to Crozet for. This old man always walked with his hands clasped behind him, and his favorite path home was up the railroad track. He could be easily distinguished from any other pedestrian, for he walked on the cross ties which are a little close together for good walking. He would take two short steps and one long one, stepping over every other cross tie. “Stephen Early, who was secretary to [U.S. President] Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was born in the house now owned by Miss Minnie Gentry [and now replaced by the new Crozet Library]. “Mr. Sherrard, a Presbyterian minister, was tall and carried himself quite erect. He wore chin whiskers, which added to the length of his already long face. He was a prohibitionist of the first waters and never failed to express his views whenever the opportunity presented itself. “Then there was Dr. Jones, a
The Charles L. Wayland family at their Crozet home “Maple Lawn,” c.1900. L-R: Ruth, G. Bourne, Elizabeth, Elizabeth Bourne [Mrs. C.L.] Wayland (1864–1943), Martha, Nancy, Charles Lee Wayland (1861–1953), Charles. The farm at Maple Lawn later was developed as Wayland Park with its roundabout street Wayland Drive. [Photo courtesy of David Wayland]. Above: Paint applied through brass stencils to a barrel’s top heading identified apple barrels for shipping. G. Bourne Wayland’s son David preserved this vintage heading stencil used to identify Albemarle Pippins grown for that family’s Consolidated Orchards business. [Photo by Phil James]
Jeremiah Wayland (1796–1887) purchased the western Albemarle County farm of Benjamin Ficklin in 1832. That original log structure had been handsomely enlarged and was surrounded by fruit blossoms in this idyllic early 20th century scene. Named Pleasant Green, the Wayland’s manor house also entertained summer vacationers, having been advertised at various times as Wayland House or the Hotel Wayland. [Photo courtesy of David Wayland]
dear old man who never believed in hurrying. He always had time to sit and visit when he came to see the sick member of the family. He used to mix his own drugs and make his own pills. I marvel now at his ability. “Those were the horse and buggy days… “Please forgive my ramblings. I dare not recall more for I have already placed myself among
the ANCIENTS, in many of your eyes, but for those of you who have come along this way with me, may I ask for your corrections, if any of my recordings are exaggerated. Ruth W. Nelson, 1950.” ~ Excerpted from the writings of Ruth Lee Wayland Nelson (1892–1983) titled “Old Crozet, as I recall it…” ~
Abram Wayland (1834–1906) relaxed on the steps of his Pleasant Green home with his wife Martha [Woodson] Wayland (1837–1904). Martha is holding their grandson Russell Bargamin Jr., seated beside their daughter Helen Wayland [Bargamin]. [Photo courtesy of David Wayland]
Follow Secrets of the Blue Ridge on Facebook! Phil James invites contact from those who would share recollections and old photographs of life along the Blue Ridge Mountains of Albemarle County. You may respond to him through his website: www.SecretsoftheBlueRidge.com or at P.O. Box 88, White Hall, VA 22987. Secrets of the Blue Ridge © 2003–2015 Phil James
CROZETgazette
MAY 2015
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Red Hill Students Dig Into Their School’s History Kathleen Garcia, a gifted resource and special education teacher at Red Hill Elementary School, was looking for a subject that her students could make into a timeline project. She hit on the idea of the story of the school itself and her students dove in. Little did they imagine the fascination that would come in uncovering their past. “It’s about teaching culture through place,” said Garcia. “Red Hill, what a gem we have here! It’s a rural school with a rural population. I think we are unique in the county.” Garcia has also taught at Brownsville Elementary. “We have kids with names that go back to the start of the last century. What’s amazing is the whole way the school started. The community here started the school and paid for it and built it in 1905. The county built another larger building in 1907. It later burned down. We went out and found bricks from the 1922 replacement school in the cur-
rent location of the school.” Red Hill Principal Art Stow said he’s now a “history fanatic for this school,” as he watched the students investigate and discover its previous life and continuities that abide. “I believe this would be an excellent study for any one on the development of culture. Place influences who we are. The place here has not changed,” said Garcia. The timeline the class is working on will be displayed on beams spanning the school’s main hallway, so walkers in the hall will pass through history. The plan is to display a pair of shoes from each era. They’re working on that. There’s also a slide show in production. “The kids have really embraced it,” said Stow. “We have old, old files of students who are long gone. Some contain school records and other documents. There are photos of students. There are some families in the records that have kids in the school now. A lot of our parents went to Western
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Albemarle, before Monticello was built, and there are lots of Batesville connections.” There are 174 students at Red Hill now. The students spent four months reading through the old files. “We looked on the Internet, too,” said Alyssa Brookman, “but there’s not much on it compared with what’s in the school office.” “This is the first time they’ve
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used primary sources for information,” explained Garcia. The students also searched through newspaper archives at JeffersonMadison Regional Library. “The office files were the most valuable,” agreed Collin Barnett. “This was the white school,” said Garcia. “We don’t know where the black one was, but we know there was one because we
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Emmanuel Episcopal Church Camp Emmanuel 7599 ROCKFISH GAP | GREENWOOD, VA 22943 | 540.456.6334 | emmanuelgreenwood.org
June 22-26
3.4 miles west of Western Albemarle High School on Route 250
WELCOME TO OUR PARISH! Mission: May we live in Christ and seek to do His Work from this place. SUNDAY WORSHIP
September - May
9:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist with Children’s Worship 11:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist with Adult Choir ONE SERVICE AT 10 A.M. BEGINNING JUNE 7TH
Christian Education 10:00 a.m. For All Ages Nursery Care Available 9:00 a.m. – Noon Join us in the Parish Hall for Coffee Hour after services!
Earth Our Island Home 8:30-12pm (free) optional afternoon excursions for $25 per day—discounts for multiple children.
emmanuelgreenwood.org/parish-life/camp-emmanuel
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CROZETgazette
MAY 2015
Western Albemarle First Quarter Real Estate Report
First Quarter Housing Sales in Crozet Jump 60 Percent by david ferrall | ferrall@crozetgazette.com
At this time last year the Charlottesville real estate market was seemingly taking a breather. Coming off strong sales in 2013 and bitter cold weather in the first quarter, there seemed to be a damper on real estate enthusiasm. This sluggishness was shrugged off as the year progressed, and total sales during 2014 in the Charlottesville market exceeded those of 2013, though Crozet experienced an ever-so-slight one sale decline. A similar set-up seemed to be in place this year, with frigid February temperatures and snow holding first quarter sales to the same level as last year (see above chart provided courtesy of Nest Realty). But that didn’t hold true in Crozet, where first quarter sales jumped 60 percent over the same time last year! Most signs now point toward a post-recession-high number of sales in Crozet for 2015. There were a total of 40 sales in the quarter, up from 25 at the same time last year. Thirty-four were for detached homes and six were townhouses. There was only one sale over a $1m in the quarter, which will be excluded for statistical purposes in this report. The property at 7284 Blackwells Hollow finally sold for $900K, after being on the market for 2116 days. This property was large and expensive, but still highlights the continuing trend of in-town vs. county properties. Only one
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sale in five is for properties of an acre or more; the bulk of all transactions in Crozet continue to focus on neighborhoods and new construction in developments near downtown. Of the 34 detached sales, 10 were for new construction. Six were in Old Trail, three in Wickham Pond, and one an affordably designated property in Westhall. This was the last available “affordable” detached option currently in Crozet, although there are at least five such townhome opportunities currently available in Wickham Pond. New home construction averaged $171 per finished sqft, while overall the detached price per finished sqft dropped 5 percent to $161 for the quarter. The average price dropped as well for the quarter to $421,000 down 3 percent from $435,000 in 2014. There were only six townhome sales in the quarter. Three were for new construction in Old Trail, the others were resales
in Parkside, Highlands, and Wickham Pond. The average price rose 17.5 percent to $301,000, and the price per sqft rose 8 percent to $160. The lack of new inventory outside of Old Trail and Haden Place may be hindering sales in the segment, as single-digit sales is not the norm. But buyer preference may also be shifting slightly towards detached properties. There were three sales of distressed (bank-owned, foreclosure or short sale) properties in the quarter, which is up over the same time last year but in line with the 12 total such sales in all of 2014. This number has been decreasing since 2010 and hopefully will continue to do so. First quarter numbers can’t help but paint a rosy picture for Crozet real estate. Strong quarterly sales and pending contracts are positive indicators. Freddie Mac agrees: their latest housing report calls for the strongest spring selling season since 2007. And they are “as optimistic Home Helpers is Taking Care of the Greatest Generation… Yours.
By Mom. For Moms. My mother, Peg, created a seasoned salt in the 1970s and gave it away throughout her life. I continued sharing her salt for years after she passed away and it is now sold throughout Virginia. Imagine a single ingredient that seasons every dish just right, perfectly balancing salty and savory. That’s what Peg’s Salt does. It is an honor to share Mom’s legacy of tasty food, served with love.
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continued on page 14
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about trends in housing markets moving forward as we have ever been since the depths of the Great Recession.” With interest rates continuing to remain near historic lows, housing is affordable to many, if they can find what they want. And therein lies the only issue facing the Crozet market: lack of inventory. Buyers and realtors alike are hoping for new and fresher property choices. Multiple-offer situations are happening now with some new listings, often resulting in a higher-than-listing price for the seller. There is a dearth of inventory of homes in the $250-350K range, which is sadly almost considered a “starter home” in Crozet these days. But with continuing escalation of land prices, builders are hard pressed to offer much below $350K, and this trend will continue. If you are in the market for a new home, remain diligent. Get pre-approved so you know what
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MAY 2015
13
New Subdivision Planned for Crozet Avenue A by-right development of 24 single-family houses will go on pastures opposite The Meadows along Crozet Avenue, the Crozet Community Advisory Committee learned at its April 15 meeting. The CCAC heard from Jess Achenbach, whose company Red Dirt Development will undertake the project. The 21.5-acre parcel about a quarter mile north of Rt. 250 will have half-acre lots. Two acres along Lickinghole Creek will be dedicated to the county’s Parks and Recreation Department for inclusion in Crozet’s trail system and will include a trail access point. A new road will enter the property just north of Meadows Drive and come to a T with two cul-de-sacs. “The lots will be less expensive than halfacre lots in other developments,” said Achenbach, who has given the project the working title “Wayland’s Ridge.” He estimated that house prices will start at $400,000. He said it is likely one builder will acquire all the lots. “I’ll be completely transparent as we move forward,” he told the CCAC. In other business, the CCAC finalized its liaison assignments. These are topics that members volunteer to follow especially and are similar to a reporter having a beat: • Neighborhood matters: Beth Bassett,
Phil Best • Economic development: John Savage, Dave Stoner, Kim Connolly • Infrastructure (transportation, roads, utilities): John Savage, Susan Munson • Schools: Beth Bassett, Mary Gallo • Downtown district development: Dave Stoner, Lisa Marshall, Susan Munson, Leslie Burns • Parks and trails: Kim Guenther,
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SUMMER TRAIL RUNNING SERIES This fun, 4-race series starts May 9. Cross-country style scoring will be kept on each runner throughout the series. All finishers will receive a special finishers shirt. There will be special prizes for the overall male and female winners, as well as overall male and female masters finishers. There will be a potluck party and awards ceremony after the final race. Registration for the series is $40. (Includes entry for all races.
$35 for those already registered for the CR Trail 5K)
CROZET RUNNING TRAIL 5K Saturday, May 9 • 8 a.m. • Mint Springs Valley Park • $5 OH!LLY TRAIL 5K Tuesday, June 9 • 7 p.m. • O-Hill/UVA • $5 CAMP HOLIDAY TRAILS 5-MILER Saturday, July 18 • 7 a.m. • Reservior Road, C’Ville • $20 LATE SUMMER MELTDOWN 4-MILER Tuesday, Aug 11 • 7 p.m. • Pen Park, C’Ville • $10
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Crozet Elementary Named Green Ribbon School Crozet Elementary School has been named a Green Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education, one of four K-12 schools in Virginia to earn that designation this year. The purpose of the program is to inspire schools to strive for environmental excellence by demonstrating they have reduced their impact on the environment and on energy costs; improved the health and wellness of schools, students and staff; and furthered environmental education, especially through the incorporation of science, technology, engineering and math skills. Nationwide, Crozet is one of 58 schools and universities to be selected as a Green Ribbon School this year. Among the highlights of Crozet’s environmental program is an outdoor living science classroom that includes a biofilter converted into a Rain Garden Habitat. The area consists of a weather station, nature trail, butterfly and student gardens, a natural amphitheater and courtyard, and bird feeders. Teachers use these resources to teach students about weather patterns, ecosystems, plants and animals native to Virginia, and
they use vegetables from the garden in an after-school program. The combination of a commercial composting program, mixed waste recovery, and cardboard separation helped the school achieve a recycling rate approximating 36 percent. Crozet has avoided $25,000 in annual utility costs through its energy conservation program, and it is saving $6,000 per year by avoiding landfill disposal expenses. Crozet Principal Gwedette Crummie will be in Washington, D.C., June 3 to join the representatives of other Green Ribbon Schools across the country in a nationwide celebration. “It’s quite an honor to accept this award on behalf of so many wonderfully talented and dedicated teachers, staff, parents and students,” Crummie said. “It is their energy and creativity that has produced so much excitement around learning.” Crozet is the second Albemarle County public school to earn Green Ribbon status. Stony Point Elementary School was recognized in 2012.
Real Estate
competition in Crozet remains strong in certain segments, so a buyer needs to be ready. If you are a seller, look at comparable sales and price your property accordingly. Appropriate pricing, strong marketing and excellent showing condition should yield a sale!
—continued from page 12
you can spend, and engage a realtor so you can get instant updates when new listings come on the market. With low interest rates and tight inventory,
CROZETgazette
MAY 2015
15
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Ava Terrill, Rachel Anderson, Jenny Little and Heather Jordan seal meal bags
Crozet UMC Packages 25,000 Meals for the Hungry More than 100 volunteers gathered at Crozet United Methodist Church April 19 to participate for the sixth year in Operation Sharehouse. Crozet UMC raised over $7,000 during Lent to fund the three-hour event, which produced 25,272 nutrient-rich meals to support school feeding programs, orphanages and crisis relief around the world. The event at Crozet UMC was sponsored by Stop Hunger Now, based in Raleigh, North Carolina. The assembly process combines rice, soy, dehydrated vegetables and a flavoring mix with 23 vitamins and minerals into small meal pouches. The volunteers, ranging in age from 4 to 82, worked in teams that filled plastic bins with the raw ingredients, scooped ingredients into individual meal bags, weighed and sealed the bags, boxed and stacked them on pallets, and loaded the pallets and equipment onto a truck. The trucks
take the boxed meals to a central distribution warehouse in North Carolina for storage and distribution. Each meal pouch has a shelf life of two years, and when mixed with boiling water, produces a nutritious meal for up to six people. Everyone at Crozet UMC had a job in the packaging event, and some of the hardest working people were the children who served as “runners,” delivering the meal pouches between stations in the various stages of production. To keep morale at a high level, John Hilker struck a “gong” throughout the afternoon for every 1,000 meals completed. Stop Hunger Now was founded in 1998, and since then it has provided over 180 million meals in 65 countries. In 2015, the organization will package 45 million meals, and ship over $9 million in donated aid, mainly vitamins and medical supplies.
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MAY 2015
Brownsville’s Destination Imagination Team Headed to Globals By Rebecca Schmitz becca@crozetgazette.com Brownsville Elementary School’s fifth grade Destination Imagination (DI) team won first place in the “Making Waves” challenge at the Virginia state competition, qualifying them to compete in the Global Finals in Tennessee May 20- 23. They are now busy raising funds to pay for their trip to the global event, which usually attracts around 16,000 students from more than 20 countries. (Global events are held in May throughout the world, so that students can compete in their own countries). The seven members of Team “Cymatic Fanatics”—Jackson Douvas, Grace Boitnott, Ellie Boitnott, Lucas Farmer, Rachel Walker, Sophie Lanahan, and Elke Beaumont—were challenged to design a sound machine that could make sound waves (cymatics) visible. They achieved this by creating a high-frequency sound that moves sand into a visible pattern, and building an electronic
circuit that creates a low-frequency sound that makes gak (a mixture of corn starch and water) fly through the air. Although each DI team has two or three adult leaders, the children must come up with their own ideas and implement these ideas themselves. Adults may give guidance and advice, but they cannot tell the students how to solve a particular problem or help them build anything. The students must learn to work together effectively as a group by listening to each other’s ideas, resolving conflicts, and using the unique skills and talents of each team member. In order to raise funds to go the global event, the team hosted a pasta dinner in Brownsville’s cafeteria on April 17. Parent volunteers donned hairnets and worked the cafeteria line, serving heaping dishes of pasta, garlic bread, and salad to hungry attendees. They also offered “curbside service,” which allowed families to submit orders ahead of time, pull up to the curb, and have their meals delivered to them by members
Brownsville’s Cymatic Fanatics Destination Imagination team poses at their pasta dinner fundraiser. Front, Jackson Douvas. Middle row, L-R: Lucas Farmer, Elke Beaumont. Back row, L-R: Grace Boitnott, Ellie Boitnott, Sophie Lanahan, and Rachel Walker
of the team—all without having to get out of the car! The team raised over $800 and went through 20 lbs. of pasta. It costs about $700 per attendee to go to the global competition. The team is trying to raise funds to pay for the seven team members and three adult volunteers who have worked tirelessly with the children—Holly Walker, Rich Boitnott, and Sue Brown—to
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attend the event. They will be holding a pancake breakfast fundraiser on Saturday, May 2, from 8 to 11 a.m. at Crozet Park in the Dauset Pavillion; and a car wash at the Crozet BP on Saturday, May 9, from 12 to 3 p.m. Destination Imagination is a non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging creativity in learning and inspiring future continued on page 47
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CROZETgazette
MAY 2015
17
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Kids Fishing Day at Mint Springs Zion, Aiinday and Adanya Giles of Fredericksburg, visiting relatives near Crozet with their dad Lorenzo Giles, were among the most successful fishers at Kids Fishing Day at Mint Springs Valley Park April 25. Casting in a chilly rain, the boys caught three trout, while their sister effortlessly snagged five. It seemed that they made a dash for her hook. The event was sponsored by Trout Unlimited, which arranged for the park’s lakes to be stocked with somewhere between 500 and 1,000 Brook and Rainbow Trout a few days before. Kids Fishing Day was begun 20 years ago by David Johnson, said James “Chubby” Damron, president of the Thomas Jefferson Chapter of Trout Unlimited, one of 15 chapters in Virginia that total more than 4,000 members. The event was named for Johnson in 2000. Kids are allowed one pole and can fish without a license on that day. “He really loved fishing and he wanted it passed to kids,”
said Damron. “We raise money from an access permit we control to a stretch of the Moormans River and the proceeds pay for Kids Day.” The chapter also sponsors a November event at the park for disabled anglers with Charlottesville-based Therapeutic Adventures. “Today was light because of the Dogwood Parade and the rain,” Damron said. He described the stocking as “pretty heavy” with several nets of fish introduced to the lakes. Fish range from seven to 22 inches in length. Twenty inches is considered a trophy fish. “[The trout] learn pretty fast when they are put in. These are looking for food. They’re cruising around,” said Damron. “Trout licenses are falling. People don’t realize what Virginia has for trout fishing. Around here there’s the Moormans River and Sugar Hollow and the Conway river in Greene County and the South River in Waynesboro. The fishing here is attracting tourists. They’ve heard about us.”
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MAY 2015
WAHS Honor —continued from page 1
to tell us something. At the last minute the meeting was cancelled.” Dodson’s explanation for the wave-off was that the meeting didn’t happen because the council didn’t exist anymore and therefore it couldn’t meet. “They had shut down the Honor Council before we actually knew about it.” “We hadn’t had trials for awhile, just one this year. But we had 20 cases last year and five the year before that,” Dodson said. The council hears cases where students are accused by teachers of cheating, plagiarism or “academic lies,” those being things like fake hall passes. It has the power to rule that a student should be given probation and have the accusation struck from his or her record after one year. “The Honor Council has been a structure at Western for 30 years. We play an important role. So we started asking questions.” Dodson is also co-editor of The Western Hemisphere,
the student newspaper. “The sponsors didn’t really know about it,” he said. Dodson and Masloff next went to Domecq. “He said there were privacy issues raised by a parent who had complained.” The next day came the email from Assistant Superintendent Matt Hass declaring that “a third-party contact prompted a legal review” by the County attorney’s office and the result was that the Council’s “peer jury procedure” had to stop. Haas explained: “The Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) generally prohibits the improper disclosure of personally identifiable information (student discipline records) derived from education records,” Haas’s message stated. “Honor Council proceedings risk that protected information will be improperly disclosed either inadvertently or deliberately. “Many of the allegations that come before the Honor Council fall under the jurisdiction of administrators, especially in maintaining a safe and orderly environment for learning,” he continued. “Classroom man-
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agement and disciplinary proceedings should not be delegated to a third party, regardless of the well intentions of that party.” Further, “The Albemarle County School Board is the final arbiter of all disciplinary cases, and all four high schools in the county fall under the Board’s jurisdiction. It is improper in terms of procedural due process for one high school to have a substantially different disciplinary process that the other three, as all cases could end up with the Board.” And finally: “Students accused of cheating are placed in a jeopardy of having to either submit to peer review or ‘plead guilty’ to avoid it and go before the administration for discipline with the premise that they are guilty already decided.” Haas credited Western with a tradition of honor and integrity. “There is no need for the Honor Council to be disbanded. It is the particular practice of having students appear before the council acting as a jury to decide disciplinary measures, a role that should be managed by the administration, which should desist.” So, Western can have a council, it just can’t do what it’s intended to do, or what it has been doing for 30 years. Call it a Potemkin council. County legal staff also reviewed the Honor Council’s operations five years ago, Dodson noted, and then it was found to be sound and legitimate. “Students and parents all sign non-disclosure documents [about the Honor Council] at the start of the school year,”
explained Dodson. “There haven’t been any leaks. It’s that the other schools don’t have honor councils. The county said it’s a due process issue.” Monticello High School did have an honor council for five years, but it was also shut down, and Albemarle High School students have suggested the establishment of one at their school, Dodson said. “Thomas Jefferson High School and Langley High School in Fairfax County have honor councils, too. Ours is based on U.Va.’s system. We’re in compliance with FERPA as far as we’re concerned. “We saw an issue that is something we really value. It shouldn’t be something that makes WAHS unique. It builds a community of trust. “The county said administrators should be responsible for discipline and students should not be involved in behavioral issues. The seniors on the council were upset and infuriated. County administrators changed this policy because one complaint came in. “Their entire decision had been made in secret—no student or parent or community input. Every student at Western signs on to the Honor Council at the beginning of the year. Students and their parents both sign the form. They are saying they agree.” In the case of a trial, an accused student meets with an administrator first to determine what happened, Dodson explained. “Most complaints are dismissed because there is not enough evidence to prove cheating. But if there is, the student has several options. One, the
CROZETgazette
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MAY 2015
PHOTO COURTESY TIM DODSON
student can take the administration’s punishment and that stays on their record. Two, if you go before the honor council, you can get a probation for a year and then it’s taken off your record. Freshmen and transfer students, who may not understand the honor system yet, can get probation from administrators. Third, if a student says he or she is innocent they can make their case to the council.” The 12 council members are elected by the student body. One freshmen, two sophomores, three juniors and four seniors are elected, plus an alternate for each grade. Election is considered prestigious and those elected have a sense of solemn duty. Trials are held during lunch. “They’re very low key,” explained Dodson. “No one knows when the Honor Council meets but the people involved. The chair is a senior and leads the procedure, which is standardized. The council gets a copy of the assignment and what the student turned in. The student makes a statement. Most say they are sorry they
Elizabeth Andrews, who was a member of the first WAHS Honor Council, stands with her son, Patrick, who is a senior and member of the current Honor Council. Through an event organized on Facebook, students wore blue on Monday, April 13 to show their support for “for open decision-making in Albemarle County Public Schools, the restoration of the Honor Council and the 30-year-old honor system that protects our community through mutual trust, respect, and integrity.”
cheated. An administrator explains the case and the accusation. Then the teacher explains. Then the student explains. We can take notes, but we can’t take the notes with us. The faculty advisors can ask questions. “We try to put ourselves in the student’s position and evaluate the evidence. It’s to the student’s benefit to let us hear their case. The student and the teacher are dismissed from the room. We deliberate. If they pled guilty, we are debating probation. The faculty advisors help with precedents and the faculty perspective on the case. “We vote on innocence or guilt and we vote on the punishment. Mostly we award probation, unless they don’t seem sorry and don’t take it seriously. We can also recommend lunch or after school detention or an essay related to cheating. We try to tailor it to the evidence. The administration enforces what we recommend. For the most part they are enforced. The administration has some latitude. “If we find the student innocent, the case is dismissed. If they’re convicted when they plead innocent, we can’t give them probation and it goes on their record. “We never discuss the case again and we don’t disclose anything. Sometimes students who are accused leak information because they are unhappy about the outcome.” Dodson said his role at The Western Hemisphere keeps him current on student views. “I have my finger on the pulse. I know what’s going on. “The student body for the most part is disappointed about how [the shut down] been handled,” Dodson said. “Some just don’t care. Students think the school is better with the Honor Council. But we aren’t a public presence. I think it’s a deterrent to cheating because you don’t want to let down your school or your community down.” The day after Haas’s email, Dodson posted a blog announcement about it and called for the issue to be talked about in the open. “The county changed the school culture without consulting the school. People agreed with that in their reactions. “There was almost a gag order
about it with the faculty. They couldn’t meet or talk about it. Most faculty didn’t know about it until the blog post. WAHS doesn’t have a principal now so there is no one to advocate for us. “We’re creating more excuses for cheating. I’ve heard cheating is going up since this happened. Cheating is a big issue because of the access to technology.” The Friday after his blog post, Dodson was called to the principal’s office, where he found Haas. “He wanted to discuss the county’s perspective. The county attorney’s opinion was that it’s illegal.” After spring break, the seniors decided they wanted to make a response. A Facebook group called Restore Honor at WAHS was formed and a protest day on which students would wear blue, a school color, was set for April 13, Thomas Jefferson’s birthday, to extend the point about honor. Students saw an historical connection. The goal was to challenge how the decision was made. “About onesixth of students wore blue,” Dodson estimated. It got on the local TV news. Dodson was bothered by Haas’s contention that the school board and other top administrators had not known about the Honor Council at Western. So he filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the school division on April 7 to see what their documents since 2005 show. When the central office got it, they informed Dodson that they wanted $357.74 to cover staff time to perform the FOIA search. Dodson raised money among students at Western. “We came up with small amounts. We raised it in a week.” He took an envelope with the exact amount in cash to the central office. School officials then asked for an extension of the deadline from May 1 to May 12. Meanwhile Dodson met with two members of the U.Va. Honor Council to get their help. (Dodson is headed to U.Va. next fall.) U.Va. council vice chair Carolyn Herre told him she thought they could be in compliance with FERPA. “They say the FERPA argument is not persuasive. Other [high schools] have honor councils and they don’t see why Western continued on page 45
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CROZETgazette underlying cause (such as a brain tumor or head trauma). I describe it as a temporary “short circuit” of the brain, because that’s kind of what it is—seizures are transient bouts of uncontrolled electrical activity in the brain. It’s pretty hard for us to understand it past that, anymore than we can understand how our brain cells produce consciousness, memory, and emotions. We are all pretty miraculous beings! Primary epilepsy is surprisingly common in dogs. I diagnose it and help people manage it very regularly. Epilepsy typically starts in young dogs from two to five years of age. Though there are some breeds that are clearly over-represented (Labrador and Golden Retrievers, Pit Bulls), epilepsy can affect just about any breed, and we do sometimes see it start in older dogs as well. The diagnosis is pretty straightforward: young adult dog who was totally normal yesterday, had a seizure last night, and was totally normal afterwards. We always do blood work to make sure they don’t have low blood sugar, liver disease, or electrolyte abnormalities, but if the blood work is normal and the dog is otherwise perfectly normal on exam, we are happy diagnosing primary epilepsy. Boone’s blood work was perfectly normal when I brought him into work with me the next day. So your dog just had a seizure, and is now happily looking at you waiting to get a treat. What now? I typically educate our clients about epilepsy, and perhaps the hardest part of the talk is that we’re not going to do anything
MAY 2015 on that day. Almost all dogs are going to continue to have seizures throughout their life, but how frequently and how progressive is quite variable. Some dogs will only have two or three seizures a year, while some will have their second seizure one week after their first. Some dogs may present to us after having five seizures in just one day. The only thing we can do for epilepsy is treat with anti-seizure medications, aka anticonvulsants. When we start dogs on these meds, we are typically committing for life, because if we start and then stop these meds, we can actually make the seizure condition worse. So do we start your dog on lifelong seizure medication after it had its first seizure? Absolutely not! A seizure in itself is not harmful, and some anticonvulsants can have some side effects, so we really don’t want to start lifelong medication until we are convinced we need to. So when do we need to start anticonvulsants? Though the scenario is different for each dog, my general guidelines are: 1) The dog is having seizures more frequently than every two months, 2) The dog is having “cluster seizures,” i.e., three in one night, and/or 3) The dog has very concerning seizure activity, such as aggression right after the seizure or severe lethargy the day after the seizure. Boone didn’t have another seizure for about three months. Then about three months after that we came home to find urine on our kitchen floor and a chair knocked over, so we presumed that was another one (note, not every dog urinates when they seizure.) Then he
21
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When you find a new use for a familiar vegetable it’s a real treat. There is surely nothing mundane about the fresh peas of May and yet this recipe turns a common vegetable into a little GEARHARTS bit of heaven. ItCHOCOLATES was discovered by my traveling musician BURGERS daughterNO in aBULL small restaurant in Rochester, two New local York. HONEYS She can’t remember the name of the restaurant, so if you are reading this and happen to be the proprietor, we salute you! She also wasn’t given this recipe, but deduced it after the delightful meal at said restaurant. We messed with it till we got it
right. And it’s almost an embarrassment to publish—it is so darn simple. What she had was a sandwich, with lettuce, cucumber, slivered onion, cheese and this wonderful pea paste, or pea paté or pea spread. We’re all still arguing about what to call it. There is but one caveat—it appears that it is best eaten fresh. By the following day it loses its taste, perhaps the sugars have turned to starch? So make it and enjoy it. There will most likely be none left the next day, anyway.
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Browne and Stutzman Get Their Bridge Robyn Browne, shown, the first female finisher in the 2014 Crozet Trails Crew 5K, and Tyler Stutzman, the race’s winner, who could not make the dedication, got a bridge on the trail near Foothill Crossing
named for them April 11. This is now the fourth bridge installed through the annual race, which is the CTC’s main fundraiser. A crew of bridge builders was on hand for the occasion.
CROZETgazette
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Crozet Elementary School Vandalized Over Spring Break By Rebecca Schmitz becca@crozetgazette.com A vandal (or vandals) struck Crozet Elementary the night of Wednesday, April 8, causing nearly $3,000 worth of damage. The head of the school’s mascot, an eagle made of recycled tractor parts, was ripped off and stolen. In addition, a port-apotty was tipped over, and parking signs anchored firmly in concrete were tilted as if hit by a car. Perhaps most disturbingly, the school’s gardening shed was completely burned. “All that was left was cinder block. There were no pieces left. Thank goodness it rained that night,” principal Gwedette Crummie said, speculating that the rain may have prevented the fire from spreading to the nearby rain garden and the rest of the school grounds. A member of the custodial staff discovered the destruction the next morning, April 9, and called the Albemarle County Police Department, the Albemarle County Fire Marshal,
and the school system’s Building Services office. When Ms. Crummie arrived a short time later, all three departments were investigating. In response to the vandalism, police have increased patrols around the school, especially on weekends. Despite the fact that there were no witnesses, and neighbors around the school did not see or hear anything suspicious, investigators were able to determine approximately when the fire started that night. A weather station attached to the top of the shed recorded a rise in temperature around 10:30 p.m., and the temperature continued to rise steadily until 10:50 p.m., when the weather station shut down. The newly-installed weather station has been part of the school’s environmental awareness efforts, and reliably kept track of humidity and temperature online. It was worth about $650, and had been paid for in conjunction with the school’s grant for developing and building its rain garden. Jeff Rohm from Building
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Services said that insurance will cover the cost of the shed and weather station. He estimated the shed will be replaced sometime this summer, and a new weather station will be ordered within the next few weeks. The school is not sure whether or not someone will rebuild the eagle, which was built out of iron and steel six years ago as a gift from the fifth grade class in honor of former principal Karen Marcus’s retirement. While Crummie was understandably shocked when she first witnessed the damage, she
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is confident the school can move on. “My hope is to replace and restore all that was damaged and keep soaring as the 2015 U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon School,” she said, referring to the designation awarded to the school on April 22. The students, while disappointed that someone would harm their school, are exercising their detective skills by brainstorming who might be responsible and why: “The children are doing a great job of trying to figure out who did this,” Crummie chuckled.
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CROZETgazette
MAY 2015
June 22-26, 2015 9 a.m. - 3 p.m.
For children entering 1st - 6th grades COST $100 • Register by June 8 Contact us if you need a scholarship or childcare after 3 p.m.
Located at Tabor Presbyterian Church (USA), Crozet Camp Hanover Day Camp is a small group experience where campers spend time with other children their age doing arts & crafts activities, Bible studies, playing games, exploring nature, singing songs and even cooking out their own lunch one day!
For more information visit www.camphanover.org/summer-camp/day-camp or contact Julie MacMillin
crozetcares@gmail.com or 434-823-4255
Tabor Presbyterian Church (USA) Worship Service Sundays • 10:30 a.m.
FOLLOWED BY FELLOWSHIP Rev. Dr. Jewell-Ann Parton, Pastor Traditional in worship, Prgressive in outreach, Inclusive of All
Crozet Cares Schedule An Outreach of Tabor Presbyterian Church All Events are in the Pickford-Chiles Fellowship Hall Unless Otherwise Noted
Crozet Community Chorus “Auditions” Tuesday-Wednesday, May 5-6 • 7 p.m.
Rehearsals Wednesdays, 7 - 9 p.m. • Concert June 7, 4 p.m.
Charlottesville Orchid Society Sale Saturday, May 9 • 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. & Sunday, May 10 • 12 p.m. - 6 p.m.
A variety of orchid plants available for sale! Discuss orchids and troubleshoot issues with passionate orchid experts.
Minda’s Tent Sale
Saturday, May 9 • 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. & Sunday, May 10 • 12 p.m. - 6 p.m.
Some Girlfriends Antique & Home Decor Sale Saturday, June 6 • 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. Sunday, June 7 •12:30 - 4:30 p.m. Furniture, Finds, and Frills!
Crozet Community Orchestra Concert Sunday, June 7 • 4 p.m.
Featuring the Crozet Community Chorus. Located at the Crozet Baptist Church
Second Saturday Art Gallery Opening Saturday, June 13 • 5 - 7 p.m.
This month’s featured artist is John Borden Evans. His textured acrylic paintings have been shown in numerous galleries across the South. John lives in North Garden.
Crozet Community Junk Orchestra
Thursdays, 6:45-8:15pm June 18 - Aug 6 (no meeting June 25 or July 16)
$10 per session, All ages 10+, Seniors welcome. Want to turn your rhythm and junk into music? Let’s do it this summer in Crozet. A tin ear? Perfect, you can still make music with us! Questions: Philip Clark pclarkmusic@gmail.com 434 979 3343 Sign up: Denise Murray murrden@gmail.com 434 987 5517
Camp Hanover Daycamp June 22 - 26, 2015 See our ad above.
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Neighbor Law © Alice Neff Lucan
Be a Smart “Fiancé” There is no recognition for a common law marriage in Virginia, so unmarried couples who are living together never acquire any special legal rights, as may happen in other states. Under the law in the Commonwealth, you remain two separate people, so one is not responsible for the other’s contracts, nor does one owe the other support. Homes, cars and valuables do not become joint property without a written agreement to that effect. One person does not have the obligation to care for the other, as in a marriage. And on the death of one, nothing goes to the other unless there is a proper will designating specific property for inheritance for the “fiancé” by name. Eleven states recognize a common law marriage, but with limitations or special conditions. If a couple achieves a recognized common law marriage in another state, Virginia will honor that as a legal marriage. If a couple in a genuine common law marriage moved from Capitol Hill in D.C. to Free Union (puns intended), Virginia would accept their marriage as legal. In fact, if such a couple wanted to end their marriage, they would have to go through divorce proceedings. Unlike Virginia, the District of Columbia recognizes common law marriages if the couple meets three conditions: they live together, they tell other people they are married and act as if they are married. “In order to have a valid common law marriage, a couple must intend to be married, must live together for a significant period of time, and must hold themselves out as a married couple.” No period of years is required. “[T]he evidence must show ‘that the parties cohabited as husband and wife in good faith, that is, that the cohabitation followed an express mutual agreement to be
husband and wife.”’ These definitions come from judges’ opinions, not from the D.C. Code, thus it is a “common law” matter. Judges’ opinions and customary practice are all there is by way of definition. Nonetheless, it should be clear that living together is not enough. Housemates and roommates do not form common law marriages in Washington, D.C. and living under the same roof is probably not enough in the other common-law jurisdictions. It should also be clear that recognized common law marriages are legitimate, legal marriages, fully honored by the Commonwealth of Virginia when they are proved. And that’s one of the troubles with a common law marriage. Since there is no certificate or registration with any state, when there is a legal question (such as a will probate), such marriages have to be proved, literally, with evidence as in most court proceedings. What did the couple intend? Are there children? How long have/had they been together? Was there another marriage and was it dissolved? And so forth. If you’re thinking of making it formal in Virginia, a circuit court judge authorizes people who may perform civil ceremonies. Pastors who are ordained and regularly associated with a church must also apply for licenses to perform marriages. If you’re just curious about the law affecting legal marriages in Virginia, this address will take you to a pamphlet written by the Virginia State Bar Association: www.vsb.org/site/ publications/marriage-in-virginia. However, if you have a personal legal problem that concerns marriage, consult with a Virginia lawyer who specializes in this law. Do not rely on this column for legal advice.
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MAY 2015
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How Sweet It Is The Crozet Farmers Market opened for another season May 2 and will run from 8 a.m. until noon on Saturday mornings in the parking lot of Crozet United Methodist Church in downtown Crozet until October. Maple sugar farmer Bruce Guss of Browns Cove is back with maple syrup from his trees as well as honey he harvests. Guss has 250 trees now in production. “I decided to exper-
iment and one thing led to another. There’s a lot of these trees around here,” he said. Each tree produces about a pint of syrup after its sap is reduced through evaporation. He sells 12 ounce bottles of it for $10 under the name Still Water Farm Maple Syrup. “It’s very reasonable,” Guss said. Grilled chicken is also being offered at the market this year.
First Grade Tennis Racquets Seventy-two first grade students at Crozet Elementary School all received tennis racquets and balls—to keep— donated by BB&T bank’s Crozet branch April 16 as part of QuickStart Tennis’s deepening connection with the school. New kid-sized tennis courts were built there last year with a QuickStart grant. The racquets were passed out by local pro tennis players Alina Ackenbom and Tamar Kvaratskhelia, who told the kids how they started with tennis as first graders, too.
“We really want them out there on those courts playing spontaneously,” said Lynda Harrill of Ivy, vice president for QuickStart Virginia. Last year the program gave racquets to all first, second and third graders. “This is all about skill development. We have lots of anecdotal evidence that kids are getting out there and playing tennis.” Tennis is taught as part of the school’s PE classes. The kids gave a deafening roar of “Thank you!” to BB&T’s Joanna More, who was on hand for the presentation.
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Dr. Jessica Todd, a west Tennessee native, completed her bachelor of arts in Biochemistry at Maryville College in Maryville, TN. She then graduated with honors from the University of Tennessee College of Dentistry in Memphis, TN. She is an active member of the Academy of General Dentistry, the American Association of Women Dentists, the Virginia Dental Association, and the American Dental Association. Outside the office, Dr. Todd enjoys reading, hiking, archery, cycling, baking, and playing with her terrier, Marcel. Her husband is a resident physician at UVA, and they enjoy traveling together on medical and dental mission trips during breaks from work.
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Carbon Dioxide: The Essential Pollutant (Part Six) “I’m blowin’ the day to take a walk in the sun And fall on my face on somebody’s newmowed lawn.” Lyrics from “Daydream” by John Sebastian of the Lovin’ Spoonful Spring is busting out all over. Pastures around Crozet are verdant and the familiar muffled roar of lawnmowers once again is in the air. When John Sebastian’s song “Daydream” hit No. 2 on the pop charts in 1966, the level of carbon dioxide nourishing newmowed lawns was 320 parts per million (ppm). Since then, levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide have risen 25 percent. This spring, pastures and lawns now are bathed in 400 ppm CO2. Has this increase in carbon dioxide improved the vigor of grasses growing during the spring season? Yes, according to a recently published study in the journal Climate Research. But before we take a look at this study, there is someone I want to introduce to you, an American who has quietly changed our understanding of the natural world and our impact on it. His name is Charles David Keeling. Dr. Keeling (1928-2005) was a highly honored chemist, accomplished classical pianist and avid outdoorsman. His research led to the eponymous ‘Keeling
Curve,’ a graph so important that it has been given a special place of honor on a wall at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. As a young, inventive, postdoctoral fellow at the California Institute of Technology in the mid-1950s, Dr. Keeling developed the world’s first electronic instrument capable of directly and very precisely measuring trace quantities of carbon dioxide in the air. Upon completing his fellowship at Caltech, Dr. Keeling joined the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California. There he received funding to install his cutting-edge CO2 analyzer at a governmental geophysical observatory situated at a pristine site 11,135 feet above sea level near the top of Mauna Loa, Hawaii. Dr. Keeling began taking measurements of CO2 at this remote location in 1958. Carbon dioxide has been monitored regularly there ever since, creating the world’s longest, continuous record of atmospheric CO2 at one location. By 1961, Dr. Keeling had amassed enough measurements in Hawaii and other sites to report two important discoveries: CO2 levels waxed and waned with the seasons; and they increased from year to year. His first discovery disclosed a natural, annual pattern. His second discovery revealed our on-going human impact on the atmo-
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“Mauna Loa Carbon Dioxide Apr2013” by Narayanese, Sémhur, and the NOAA. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
sphere. Concentrations of carbon dioxide build up in Earth’s atmosphere during late fall, winter and early spring and then drop steadily during the late spring, summer and early fall. This regular, annual swing of CO2 results from the fact that there is more landmass in the Northern Hemisphere than in the Southern Hemisphere. On a global scale, terrestrial photosynthetic activity is more robust during May through October than November through April. When photosynthetic activity and new plant growth are high, CO2 is sequestered from the air, converted into biomass, and atmospheric concentrations drop. When photosynthetic activity and plant growth are low, natural sources of CO2 to the atmosphere (which are always on-going) predominate and CO2 levels rise. Dr. Keeling was the first to measure this yearly phenomenon. Superimposed on this natural, annual, rhythmic pattern, Dr. Keeling also observed overall levels of CO2 increasing with each passing year. He attributed this increase to our combustion of fossil fuels, which is emitting CO2 into the atmosphere faster than plants, soil and the oceans can absorb it. The plot of these natural and artificial changes in atmospheric CO2 levels over time has been dubbed the ‘Keeling Curve.’ As years have gone by and scientists have monitored CO2 levels at numerous places around the globe, we now know that not only is CO2 relentlessly accumulating in the atmosphere–on May 9, 2013, the daily mean concentration of carbon dioxide measured at Mauna Loa surpassed 400 ppm
for the first time–but the rate of accumulation also is increasing. Had global emissions of CO2 from combustion of fossil fuels held steady from 1958 onward, atmosphere levels would be lower than they are today. From the initial slope of the ‘Keeling Curve,’ I estimate CO2 levels would be around 30 ppm lower (370 ppm instead of 400 ppm). Now let us return to the Climate Research study published in 2014. Dr. Paul Newton and colleagues at AgResearch looked at the impact increasing atmospheric CO2 has had on the growth of pasture. Using data collected in New Zealand over a 44-year period–the longest grazed, irrigated pasture study in the world–they we are able to detect and to quantify a spring-time CO2 fertilization effect. From 1960 to 2004, average CO2 levels rose by 55 ppm and net herbage accumulation rose by 11.4 percent. In other words, when everything else was accounted for (water, soil, fertilizer, temperature, sunlight, number and type of grazing animals, variety of grass, etc.), they found these fields had become significantly more productive over time. Specifically, they calculated the CO2 fertilization effect promoted a 1 percent increase in forage yield for every 5 ppm increase of CO2 in the air. CO2 levels have risen an additional 25 ppm since 2004, the last year of the pasture study. Applying their findings to today, this translates into an additional 5 percent increase in growth of grasses during the spring. This is good news for farmers growing hay for livestock, but perhaps not so welcome news for homeowners with a large yard to mow.
CROZETgazette
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M2 Personal Training presents a new class this summer:
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Is Stretching for Bozos? Did you know that stretching is “for Bozos”? Well, at least according to Dr. Steve Gangemi (aka “The Sock Doc”), an outspoken chiropractor who specializes in sports medicine with a holistic approach, who believes that stretching for the most part is worthless and a waste of time. As you’ll read in this column, I don’t completely agree with him. However the Sock Doc does bring up some very good questions about an activity that most people would agree is “a good idea,” perhaps without really getting into why. We were taught to stretch in gym class, in sports, by our running friends. But really what are we doing when we stretch? Is it important? Am I messing up if I don’t do it? Stretching: What is it? When we stretch, we are stretching and ever so slightly tearing our muscle fibers and connective tissues of the stretched muscle-tendon unit, hoping that it will heal slightly longer, adding more length and range of motion to the particular joint/muscle-tendon unit. When you see someone doing the classic calf stretch, they are trying to lengthen the calf muscle/Achilles tendon unit to give more range of motion to the ankle joint. Does it work? Yes and no. According to Jay Dicharry, PT, author of Anatomy for Runners who used to direct the UVA SPEED clinic, stretching does work, but you need to stretch for several minutes, several times a day, for 12 weeks (!) in order to make any lasting change in the length of a typical muscle-tendon unit. Whoa. I don’t know about you, but I’m kind of a slacker and not sure I would be able to commit to that schedule. Also, some tissues like your knee’s iliotibial band or the
Achilles tendon itself are so thick and strong, there is just no way you are going to lengthen them with stretching alone. Further, some stretches just don’t work well because you can’t really apply good leverage to the entire muscle-tendon unit, like the quad stretch you always see people doing. It’s pretty difficult to really stretch out the entire muscle group. And do I even need more length in my quads? However in some stretches, like the calf and hip flexor stretches, you can really get a lot of leverage into the stretch and with time and consistency, you can really make some important lasting changes. Why do we do it?? Okay, this is the meat of the argument: Why do we stretch? Were people stretching 10,000 years ago? Besides an occasional yawn and two-second stretch, why don’t we see animals stretching regularly? We probably have developed a culture of random stretching because we often feel tight. These days we humans sit a lot. A LOT. This is a column for another day, but sitting really does mess with our postural muscles, weakens our core strength, and really tightens up our hip flexors. These are all bad things for exercising and stressing the mechanics of our body. Also, we have a big separation of our sedentary life and our active life. We sit and work, sleep, and then get up early and squeeze in an hour of high intensity exercise. We feel tight. But is our stretching really targeting where we are tight? And do we know if we need more range of motion for the particular activity we are doing? Have I broken down your previous conceptions of stretching yet? What if I told you that massaging and rolling out your
continued on page 39
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FRIDAY, MAY 15, 2015 CROZET ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHECK-IN OPENS AT 6:30 • FUN RUN BEGINS AT 7:30
Join us for a fun family run with a glow-in-the-dark theme! A FUNDRAISER FOR THE CROZET ELEMENTARY PTO! Participants will be encouraged to complete as many laps around the scenic Crozet Running Club course as they can in 30 minutes. Collect a bracelet after each lap and see how many you and your family can get before the time is up! After the run, stick around for a dance party on the CRES field!
Registration is $12/person, or $7 for children 4 and under. CRES Running Club participants can register for FREE! All registration fees support the Crozet PTO!
VI SI T CROZETPTO.ORG FO R MO RE INFO OR TO REGI STER YO UR FAMILY TO DAY!
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CROZETgazette
MAY 2015
Chipotle Shuns GMO Ingredients By Elena Day elena@crozetgazette.com Chipotle restaurants announced April 27 that it planned to exclude all genetically modified foods (GMO’s/ GM foods) from its menu. In the following days editorials appeared in newspapers across the country criticizing Chipotle’s decision. The Washington Post accused the chain of capitulating to the “scare tactics” of the anti-GMO lobby to increase burrito sales. The L.A. Times wrote that Chipotle has joined “the ranks of companies that endeavor to deceive the public” and that “excessive caution, such as that exhibited by Chipotle, is not sound policy.” According to a survey by the Pew Research Center and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 88 percent of scientists believe that GM foods are safe to eat. However, only 37 percent of the public believes that GM foods are safe. In poll after poll, 90 percent of the U.S. public wants GMO’s labeled. Citizens John and Jane want to make their own decisions regarding what they care to eat and they might prefer “excessive caution” regarding foods available in the grocery aisles. To safeguard the profits of Monsanto, Dow, DuPont, Syngenta, BASF and Bayer, it is apparent that the role of the U.S. press is to “manufacture consent” (think Noam Chomsky) for GMO’s. It routinely ridicules public concerns regarding labeling insisting that public hysteria would ensue regarding GM foods. European scientists may not be so convinced about GMO safety. In the European Union, numerous states and regions including Switzerland, Germany, Austria, France, Luxembourg, Greece, Poland and Italy have banned GMO crops. Note that Syngenta is a Swissbased crop chemical giant. BASF and Bayer are German chemical multinationals. In the EU, where mandatory labeling laws are in effect, there are few
GMO’s on the market other than imported GMO animal feed. Russia, India, and Australia have also banned GMO crops. Currently 64 nations require mandatory GMO labeling. In addition, El Salvador and Sri Lanka have begun to ban the use of Monsanto’s Roundup. Yet here in the nation reputed to be the world’s first democracy (Athens was a city state.). … In the United States, Monsanto’s Roundup/glyphosate is routinely sprayed on 84 percent of our corn, soy, cotton, sugar beets, and canola/rapeseed. The other crop chemical giants have some market share and in fact are marketing “glyphosate plus” products (read “Agent Orange cocktail”) as more and more weeds become resistant to Roundup/glyphosate. Note that glyphosate is increasingly sprayed on wheat, beans, potatoes, barley, oats, flax, peas, lentils and sugar cane as a pre-harvest dessicant. In 2014, Vermont passed a law to require labeling of GMO’s. The Grocery Manufacturers Association, The Snack Food Association and others filed suit. On April 27 a Vermont judge ruled that Vermont has a constitutional right to require labels on GM foods. The Vermont law will be implemented as passed in July 2016. The suit may still go to trial, however. Food labeling bills are currently moving through the Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Maine legislatures. Congressional members meanwhile are seeking to pass a law to disallow states and localities to require labeling of GM food. Mandatory labeling could occur only if the Food and Drug Administration found a GMO to be unsafe. (See H.R. 4432, sponsored by Pompeo (R-KA) and Butterfield (R-NC), also known as the “Denying Americans the Right to Know Act.”) Mandatory labeling would end up an unlikely scenario since government agencies are generally on board with industry and a revolving door between corporate boards and government agencies has been the norm for many decades. The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency recently ruled that it would begin testing for Roundup/glyphosate residues in food. In 2013 EPA had raised the allowable glyphosate limits for foodstuffs. Allowable limits in canola and soy oils went up from 20 parts per million (ppm) to 40 ppm. As for tubers and roots, allowable amounts were raised from 0.2 ppm to 6.0 ppm, even though the Institute for Science in Society had documented that 2.03 ppm has caused malformations in frog and chicken embryos. There are no Precautionary Principle applications found herein. In the final days of April Monsanto proposed a takeover of Syngenta. Monsanto is the largest seed company in the world with 26 percent of the seed market. It dominates industrial GM corn and soy agriculture. Syngenta is the largest crop chemical company worldwide and it and DuPont are not far behind Monsanto as seed marketers. This is alarming, especially in light of an article about seed libraries brought to my attention by an Ivy resident and backyard gardener. There is apparently a growing seed library movement. In 2010 there were a dozen or so seed libraries. Today, with the growing interest in local food production and concerns regarding corporate control of our food system, there are over 400 community seed libraries. These seed-sharing libraries have recently come onto the radar screen of state and federal agriculture departments in a number of states, including Pennsylvania and Minnesota. The Pennsylvania Dept. of Agriculture shut down a town seed-lending library invoking the possibility of “agri-terrorism” and failure to comply with the 2004 Seed Act, which requires that each packet be tested for germination rate and whether the seed is true to type. Legislative battles may be pending across the U.S. as state and federal agriculture departments seek to enforce expensive regulatory protocols designed for commercial seed companies. Although not a seed library, Common Wealth Seed Growers,
located in Louisa, understands that seed preservation has been and is fundamental to survival in human history. Prior to the so-called post-WWII “Green Revolution” of the 1940s, seeds were generally regionally adapted and open pollinated. Farmers and gardeners saved and shared seeds. Thomas Jefferson’s garden diary is filled with references and documentation of seed exchanges. Today few of us save seeds, having abdicated that most important responsibility to industrial agriculture companies. These companies sell us open pollinated varieties and hybrids (F1 generation) for which there is proprietary control. Hybrid seed, if saved, is not uniform, having the traits of one or the other parent or just about anything in between. (F1 offspring are referred to as the F2 generation.) Their biggest market, of course, is the “frankenseeds” or GMO’s developed in labs splicing DNA from unrelated organisms into plants. Farmers whose seed stock has been contaminated by genetic drift have been sued for possessing the proprietary genetics developed in a Monsanto laboratory. The chemical/crop companies have no commercial interest in sustainable or organic local production. Instead the goal is to maximize profits by breeding and patenting crops that rely on the toxic pesticides/ chemicals that they also sell. (Beware the Trans Pacific Partnership negotiated in secret, especially in regard to the Intellectual Property section apparently written for and by Monsanto, et al. Write Obama to tell him to reveal the full text of this agreement to the U.S. public.) The Common Wealth Seed Growers are committed to growing open pollinated seeds. Much of our open pollinated seeds are grown where climate suits seed production, like the Pacific Northwest or Israel. The Louisa growers seek to grow seeds that are regionally adapted and resistant to pests and diseases common to our area. In particular they seek to grow varieties of cucumber, melon, squash, gourd and watermelon that are resistant to the fungus Cucurbit Downy
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CROZETgazette
MAY 2015
29
Crozet
Weather Almanac
APRIL 2015
By Heidi Sonen & Roscoe Shaw | weather@crozetgazette.com
Can Animals Forecast Weather & Earthquakes?
CART volunteers, mainly from U.Va.’s Madison House, which organizes students for community service projects, took off running after a posse of donkeys at the start of donkey obstacle course event. Volunteers were supposed to get a donkey to walk around a barrel just once. The donkeys nimbly scampered away and defied being caught until the volunteers decided that only open-handed diplomacy was likely to get the donkeys’ trust. Even then, the donkeys stayed in charge and CART director Sarah Daly herself could hardly manage to persuade a donkey to go in the direction she wanted it to.
Riding Therapy Program Marks 15th Anniversary Charlottesville Area Riding Therapy marked its 15th anniversary at an event May 2 at its ring and stables at Fried Family Farm near Innisfree Village in Brown’s Cove. “We are so lucky to be able to stay here and flourish,” said CART director Sarah Daly. “It’s like one big happy family. There’s never a sad face here.” The program assists riders with a variety of special needs, some of who continue with it for many years. CART offers spring, summer and fall sessions. Riders come six days a week and are typically on one of the program’s nine horses for an hour at a time. Each rider usually requires the assistance of three volunteers. About 40 U.Va. students are now helping out. “People who have diseases that affect their sense of balance, such as cerebral palsy, can regain their balance by picking it up from the gait of the horse,” said CART founder Maureen Oswald. “For riders with emotional disabilities, the horse
gives honest feedback. If you’re kind, it gives kindness back. “The generosity of the Frieds in letting CART be here is like getting a piece of heaven. It’s a respite for parents where they can see their child exude joy. Life with a child with disabilities can be stressful.” CART board member Carla Gress of Ivy said, “There are life lessons for the kids in learning to control the horse.” Her son Evan was a rider and is now a volunteer along with his sister. “Evan tossed away his walker in third grade after he started with CART,” she said. He walks nearly normally now. “[U.Va.’s] Madison House has been incredible,” said Oswald. “The students are here and its Finals week. It awes me.” The volunteers got a riding reward themselves by trying their hand at polo as part of the event. The white team eventually beat the blue team 2-1 in a match where no horse ever broke a walk and mallets fanned the air trying to strike the ball.
We have a psycho dog named Dirtbag who is terrified of thunderstorms. Once, he jumped right through our living room window in the middle of the night. Another time, he pried open an upstairs window and jumped off the roof. Once during a storm, we took him with us in the car but he shattered the car window and jumped into Highway 250 by Blue Ridge Builders Supply. Dirtbag might be extreme, but lots of dogs are afraid of storms. Many people claim that they can forecast that a storm is coming. Same is true of earthquakes. Many folks have long claimed that the animals know they are coming. So, can animals forecast quakes and storms? The answer is “sometimes, sorta” with the weather and “No” on earthquakes, although we will get some disagreement with the earthquake assessment. Let’s start with weather. Dirtbag is an excellent thunderstorm forecaster but his technique is not that sophisticated. The first thing to understand is that he has nothing to do all day except sit there and watch the sky and occasionally bark at the UPS truck. When the wind picks up and the sky darkens, he gets nervous. He knows afternoon/evening is the worst. He can detect a sudden cooling
from a distant thunderstorm-induced outflow boundary. He listens intently for distant thunder. In a nutshell, he simply pays attention to the signals. Heidi and I can easily defeat Dirtbag at a forecasting contest if we are paying attention. But we tend to have more to do than sit in the yard all day with our eyes and nose to the sky. Certainly, we are better at forecasting tomorrow’s weather or next week. Dirtbag is only good for the next two hours or so. Also, with mathematical models and radar, we have a serious edge on the beast. But we have to be paying attention! I have seen Dirtbag get it all wrong. One day, he was seriously agitated and I was perplexed. But then I realized that dark clouds were gathering in the afternoon and a brisk wind was stiffening. His storm predictors were all flashing red, but Heidi and I knew it was just harmless stratocumulus and that the atmosphere was too dry and stable to thunder. However, on many other days, we will be busy and cluelessly inattentive but Dirtbag will pick up the signs and head for hills terrified before gathering storms even cross I-81 in Staunton. Dirtbag is a very good short term forecaster but only because he cares and is
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CROZETgazette
MAY 2015
inthegarden@crozetgazette.com
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Best Plants? Maybe I’m a chicken, but I really wouldn’t have the temerity to come up with a list of Ten Best Plants. How do you really define “best” in this context, where so much is subjective? Instead, let me put forth a list of Ten Plants I Would Not Garden Without. (Pardon the poor grammar.) Even then, my list is not written in stone. Ask me for the list a couple of months from now, and it might be considerably different. So, in alphabetical order, here it is. Baptisia (scientifically, also Baptisia) These long-lived perennials add oomph to any garden. They shoot up quickly in the spring, flower in early May, then assume a shrub-like appearance for the remainder of the year. With massive root systems, they are drought-tolerant, and as legumes, they can fix their own nitrogen. There are many selections available, with white, yellow, blue, pink and multi-colored flowers. Sun is best, but partial shade is also okay. Coneflower (Echinacea) Native to the American prairies, as well as some savannas in the eastern U.S., coneflowers are survivors. Wild specimens are usually pinky-purple, with white and yellow varieties and species also traditionally available. But recent breeding work has led to many new colors and flower shapes: hot-pink pompoms, golden-orange puffballs, purple petals edged with lime-green, etc. All
coneflowers appreciate full sun and good drainage. The closerto-wild varieties will produce lots of seed; goldfinches will take most of them, but you’ll still have new plants popping up in the garden. Crape Myrtle (Lagerstroemia) Ubiquitous in Southern gardens, most folks never tire of crape myrtles. How can you not like a plant that blooms in white, red, lavender or pink for weeks in mid-summer, even while most other shrubs and trees have pooped out? Decorative bark in tones of copper, gray or green is a bonus, lending interest through the entire year. Crapes are tough plants, but do want full sun and good air circulation. Hellebore (Helleborus) is one of the few evergreen perennials with bold, attractive foliage; plus, they have pink, purple, white or yellow
CROZETgazette flowers in late winter, when not much else is going on in the garden. Hellebores do best in the shade of deciduous trees; you’ll likely find many seedlings growing underneath the parents, which are easy to transplant to other areas of your yard. Owing to their poisonous properties, hellebores are allegedly not preferred by deer. Holly (Ilex) Among some oddballs on this list, at least this is a plant most people are familiar with. I most appreciate the hollies for their amazing diversity—big or small, evergreen or deciduous, American or Old World, spiny leaves or merely gently toothed— it’s hard to imagine a garden where at least one holly wouldn’t fit in. In southern woods you’ll find the American Holly (Ilex opaca), a medium-sized tree, while around your home’s foundation, you may well have one of the dwarf Chinese or Japanese varieties. Most hollies will do okay in either sun or shade, but will be more loose and open when grown in lower light levels. Magnolia (Magnolia) It’s hard to imagine Southern gardens without the Southern Magnolia (M. grandiflora): large glossy leaves, huge fragrant flowers and “cones” with red seeds. The one possible drawback to this species: it gets big, although there are smaller varieties. Another option is the smaller deciduous Asian magnolias, generally with pink or white flowers that bloom precariously early in the spring. Or if you prefer to stick with natives, the Sweetbay (M. virginiana) is smaller and more delicate than its big cousin. Oak (Quercus) No American tree conveys strength and durability quite like the oak. I like all of them, but I’d confess that the White Oak (Q. alba) is at the top of the list. If I lived in the Deep South, the Live Oak (Q. virginiana) would be a serious rival. Oaks of one species or another can live in almost any condition, from dry sand to soggy bottomlands. Even if I weren’t growing an oak in my garden, I’d want at least one to be in sight. Poet’s Laurel, Alexandrian
MAY 2015 Laurel (Danae racemosa) You won’t find this Caucasus native on the shelves at the big box stores; slow growth would make it too expensive. It can seed around gardens a bit, so if a friend has one, try to beg a seedling. Poet’s Laurel has four-foot arching stems with evergreen leaves, small white flowers and showy orangey fruits in the fall. Its greatest attribute is providing a year-round green presence in the dry shade under trees, an environment not kind to many plants. Don’t plant it in the sun. Sage (Salvia) There are many sages out there, including the culinary sage (S.officinalis), an attractive plant, but not fond of our clay soils. I prefer Saliva guaranitica ‘Black and Blue’, sometimes known as Brazilian sage. Growing 3’-4’ tall, it sends up spikes of black and blue flowers that bees and hummingbirds love. The one downside: depending on where you garden or what you read, Brazilian sage may not always be hardy here. Give it full sun, excellent drainage, and pile a thick load of mulch on it when cold weather sets in. Yucca (Yucca) You may well think I’ve lost my mind with this choice, but I do like these spikey creatures. They love the heat, and Eastern species tolerate our clay. Perhaps the showiest for our area is Y. filamentosa ‘Color Guard’, with a bright yellow band down the middle of the leaf. Warning: put yuccas where you want them and not near other plants. They will spread and are virtually impossible to get rid of. Well, an eclectic list for sure. Try coming up with a list of your personal favorites. Then do it again a few months later and see how many plants still make the cut.
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paying attention. My other dogs could care less and just watch for signs that it’s dinner time. Heidi and I don’t know much about earthquakes and there are some scientific studies that claim animals can forecast them. But count us skeptical. I think a California study sums it up. Researchers told thousands of people to email if their ani-
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CROZETgazette
MAY 2015
BY DR. ROBERT C. REISER
crozetannals@crozetgazette.com
Blindsight If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro’ narrow chinks of his cavern. –Wm Blake
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“Wow.” The word escaped my lips unplanned. “That was really cool.” “You saw it, didn’t you?” said my ophthalmologist with a chuckle. She was examining my eye with a prism that bends light around a corner so she could see the hidden recesses of my inner eye. “Just for a split second, but very cool.” What I saw oh so briefly was sublimely beautiful; it was the lacy web of the arteries and veins of my retina. Vision is a complicated miracle that we mostly take for granted. Light waves reflecting off objects enter our eyes in straight lines that are then bent (refracted) by our corneas, the outermost layer of our pupils. The bent rays then pass through the anterior chamber of our eye, the part in front of our pupil, then through the adjustable diameter pupil, then though the adjustable focus lens that bends
them some more, then through the posterior chamber of our eye, finally ending up on our retina where the light sensors are. Through some evolutionary quirk the blood supply to the retina actually passes in front of the retina, not behind it as you might expect. This means that the arteries and veins constantly shadow the light falling onto our retinas. In a literal sense, the blood supply to the eye is always visible yet we never see it. The brain filters the image, extrapolating information to fill in the shadows so that we see a complete and uninterrupted image of the world and cannot perceive what is actually there, the world seen through a spidery web. When my ophthalmologist bent the light rays into my eyes, the shadows of my blood vessels were cast on unfamiliar portions of my retina that weren’t desensitized to them and thus briefly I could see them. Almost instantly my brain kicked in and stopped perceiving them. I wonder how much else my brain filters for me. Vision gets even more complicated once the light gets to the back of the eye. The light receptors of the retina create tiny electrical pulses that travel through the optic nerve, then
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CROZETgazette traverse the entire brain to finally get sorted out in the very back of our brains, the occipital lobe. Without a working occipital lobe you cannot “see,” even if your eye and optic nerve are working just fine. Strokes to this part of the brain can cause what we call cortical blindness. And this is where it starts to get weird. When the occipital lobe is damaged by stroke or trauma or infection, patients can no longer see anything in the corresponding visual field. Each occipital lobe controls the visual field of the opposite side of the eye. For example the right occipital lobe perceives sight from the left side of each eye. Damage to both occipital lobes causes complete blindness. Unfortunate. And yet a small group of these completely blind patients exhibit something called blindsight. If a ball is tossed to them, many times they can catch it. When asked how they did it, they cannot say. They still cannot see it even though it is now in their hand. When asked to guess about the presence of objects or movement, they guess
MAY 2015 correctly far more often than chance alone would account for. Researchers have to phrase it as a guess in order for the patients to participate because they simply cannot see anything consciously. The most prevalent theory explaining this phenomenon of blindsight is that small branches of the optic tract wander off into other diffuse parts of the brain involved with initiating and maintaining eye movements when new moving visual clues present suddenly. These small parts of the brain can “see” without perceiving. They are unable to interpret images the way the visual cortex in the occipital lobe can, but they do receive the input and act on it. Whatever the origin of the phenomenon, it does provide intriguing clues that we can respond to visual input from our environment without ever being consciously aware of seeing the input. We all may have some degree of blindsight. Our brains filter out some images and can act on some images that we may not ever see. The doors of perception indeed.
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CROZETgazette
MAY 2015
Heon Named Athletic Administrator of the Year Western Albemarle High School athletic director Steve Heon has been named an Athletic Administrator of the Year by the Virginia Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (VIAAA). Heon was selected from a field of more than 100 athletic directors in the Virginia High School Athletic League’s divisions 3A and 4A, classifica-
tions based upon student enrollment. Western’s athletic teams have had an exceptional year. Western students have won two state championships, in Scholastic Bowl and girls swim and dive; three regional championships in the same two activities and in football; six conference championships that also include boys swim and dive,
Steve Heon
both boys and girls cross country, and girls indoor track; and three district titles. “What really stands out about Steve is his selfless dedication to always putting first the interests of students,” said Dr.
Matt Haas, assistant superintendent for Albemarle County Public Schools. That starts with hiring outstanding mentors to coach Western’s student athletes. It includes keeping the right program perspective that allows students to grow not just as competitors, but as confident, collaborative and selfless leaders themselves.” “I am grateful to be a part of such an extraordinary school community,” said Heon, who came to WAHS in 2004. “Achievement in athletics is never the product of one person’s single efforts, but happens because of great people working together.” The award is selected by a panel of past presidents of VIAAA at their annual meeting. The association said Heon’s selection was “richly deserved.”
Western Boys Lacrosse Are Spotless Against E.C. Glass by David Wagner david@crozetgazette.com The Warriors lacrosse team came charging out of the gates and never looked back when it hosted Lynchburg’s E. C. Glass High School May 1. After struggling early in several games this season, four different Warriors scored five goals in the first four and a half minutes of the game and the Western attack overwhelmed Glass on their way to a 15-5 victory. The boys from Lynchburg were never really in the game. Defenseman Oliver Herndon started off the scoring just 13 seconds into the game when he picked up a ground ball on the face-off and raced down the middle of the field to score. One minute and twenty-one seconds later, freshman John Carr Hayden scored on a Sumner Corbett assist, giving the Warriors a 2-0 advantage. Attackman Carter Elliot then scored back-to-back unassisted goals and Taylor Godine scored one unassisted to give Western a 5-0 lead. Glass seemed to settle into the game at this point but it didn’t last for long. The Warrior defense and goalie Jackson Sours kept Glass off the score-
board, providing the offense ample opportunity to control the game. The strong defensive play of Matthew Mullin, Garland Carter, Josh Meeks and Kyle Landis shut down the Glass attack. After not scoring for nearly five minutes, the Western attack came back to life scoring three goals in just seventy seconds. Luke Reilly found the back of the net off of a Clark Sipe assist to make it 6-0. Forty seconds later Ryan Ingram made it 7-0 on a great feed from Holland Corbett and thirty seconds after that Herndon scored his second goal off of another Warrior faceoff win to make it 8-0. The Warriors then scored two more goals (both unassisted by Reilly) in the last 13.5 seconds of the quarter to make it 10-0 at the end of the first. E. C. Glass got on the scoreboard in the second quarter to but it would be all they could muster for the first half. After another short scoring drought the Warriors found the net three times. Holland Corbett scored on a Carter Elliot assist, then Taylor Godine got his second goal on a Luke Reilly assist and A. J. Donavan scored unassisted. The Warrior defense continued to dominate
in the second quarter, creating turnovers and winning ground balls to thwart any hopes of a comeback by Glass. In the second half the Warriors put it on cruise control, burned clock and gave their bench players an opportunity to play. Sipe scored a third quarter goal for the Warriors on a Godine assist and Holland Corbett scored his second of the night off of a Herndon assist for the 15-5 final score. The Warriors hosted the Covenant Eagles May 2 in a game that featured quick back and forth scoring runs by both teams. Western scored first when Elliot assisted Sipe for the goal and a 1-0 Warrior lead. Covenant then scored five consecutive goals to go up 5-1. The Warriors answered with four in a row to tie the game. Holland Corbett and Sipe found a real groove during this stretch. Corbett had three assists, orchestrating a potent attack from behind the net and Sipe scored three goals in just over three minutes (two on assists from Corbett) to even the score. But it would be the last heard of the Warrior offense for more than two quarters of play. The Eagles senior Drew Gaffney
scored twice more, giving him 5 for the half and putting Covenant on top 7-5 at the break. The Eagles scored three more goals in the third, shutting Western out to take a 10-5 lead into the final stanza. The Warriors finally got on the board after 26 scoreless minutes when Herndon found the net. The Eagles scored just 55 seconds later to push the lead back to six before Western finished in a flurry, scoring four goals in the last two minutes of the game, cutting the Covenant lead to 12-10. Hayden, Herndon, Godine and Ingram had goals. Then Reilly scored with 9.3 to play, making it a one goal game. But the Eagles clawed their way to victory, winning the face-off and sealing the win. It was an unexpected, exciting finish. Covenant seemed to have the game in hand but the Warriors continued to battle. It was a 12-11 Covenant win, but not one that came easily. The loss gives Western a 6-3 record overall and 3-1 in the Jefferson District. The Warriors will be at home May 12 versus Fluvanna and May 15 versus Monticello. Start time for both games is 7 p.m.
CROZETgazette
MAY 2015
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WAHS Swimmers Lead Waynesboro Y to 10th Place at Y Nationals Western Albemarle High School swimmers guided the Waynesboro Y swim team (SMAC) to a 10th place finish at the YMCA nationals swimming championship in Greensboro, North Carolina, March 30 – April 3. Aaron James (Jr.) and sisters Brazil Rule (Jr.) and Remedy Rule (Sr.) are members of the Waynesboro Y Swim Team. The national meet, which brought 193 YMCA teams from across the country, was the final short course (25-yard pools) meet of the season. The meet was open to all Y Teams in the United States. Only the swimmers that met the fast national time standards were qualified to swim in the meet. The three Western swimmers were part of an eight-member squad from SMAC that competed individually and in relays at the meet. The small SMAC team impressed all in attendance as they brought only four girls, but
still placed in the top ten. Led by the Rule sisters, SMAC finished in sixth place in the 800 free relay (after being seeded 11th) because all girls swam a personal best relay split; placed 14th in the 400 free relay; and 17th in the 200 free relay with help from Remedy Rule anchoring the last 50 free in a blistering 22.57 seconds. Individually, Remedy Rule placed third in the 200 backstroke, third in the 400 individual medley, second in the 200 fly and won the national championship in the 100 butterfly. All of Remedy’s swims were new team records, and her 200 backstroke time of 1:54.53 lowered the Virginia state record by more than 2 seconds. Her time of 1:55.92 in the 200 butterfly was also a new state record. She heads to the University of Texas to swim next season. Remedy was also recently recognized as the female swimmers of the year for Virginia
Remedy Rule in the 100m butterfly
swimming, making it three years in a row for the WAHS senior. Brazil Rule swam the 50, 100, and 200 freestyle and the 100 butterfly, and Aaron James swam the 50 and 100 free. Both were right at their personal best times. The team is training now for the long course season (events swum in 50-meter pools) and is excited to welcome new coach Scott Thacker to the team.
Thacker is a former ACC Champion and a 2012 Olympic Trials swimmer in the 100 breaststroke. The SMAC swim team holds practices at the Waynesboro Y, Augusta Health and Ridgeview Park Pool. For more information contact the Waynesboro Y at 540-942-5107 or please visit the SMAC website: www. smacswimming.org.
Warrior Baseball Sits on Top of the District Weather by David Wagner david@crozetgazette.com Western Albemarle’s varsity baseball team continued their hot start, winning seven straight to begin the season. Their first loss of the 2015 campaign came at the hands of the Spotswood Trailblazers, whom they had previously beaten. In the first match-up between the two teams the Warriors cruised to a 13-5 win behind five Trailblazer errors. The tables turned in their second meeting as Western had an atypical showing, struggling in all facets of the game and committing five errors of their own, leading to a 13-4 defeat. The Warriors bounced back from the Spotswood loss winning three of their next four games to run their season record to 10-2 overall and 7-1 in the Jefferson District, placing them at the top of the pack. Western followed up the Spotswood loss with a resounding 14-3 win over Charlottesville High School April 21. Chris Hughes went three-for-three at the plate with three RBI. Steve Mangrum added a three-run homer and Sam Hearn gave up
just two hits, while striking out four to give him a 3-0 record on the mound. Two days later, the Warriors put together their best total team effort of the season in a contest against archrival Monticello High School. Derek Domecq pitched a complete game with six strikeouts. Mangrum was three-for-three with four runs scored and an RBI. Henry Kreienbaum went four-for-four with three RBI and Dylan Weiss made several rally-killing plays at shortstop to go along with an inside-thepark homerun in the sixth inning to help seal the 8-4 win. The Warriors stayed sharp in their next outing, beating the Powhatan High School Indians for the second time this season behind a magnificent pitching performance from Josh Casteen. Casteen struck out four of the six Indian batters en route to a one-run, eight-strikeout showing and a 2-1 Warrior win. Kreienbaum continued his clutch hitting with an RBI single in the fourth inning to tie the game at 1-1. Later in the seventh with the game still tied, Kreienbaum led off with a triple
and scored the game winner. After Powhatan intentionally walked the next two batters to load the bases and set up the force play, Harrison Lund laced a single into right field for the walk-off game-winning hit. The Warriors suffered their second loss of the season against Louisa County High School April 30. Western took the lead 2-1 in the fourth when Lund doubled to drive in Kreienbaum once again and then scored on Domecq’s fielder’s choice for the lead. Louisa answered in the fifth with two runs of their own to recapture the lead, 3-2, and held on for the win. Western played two more games earlier this week at Orange and at Albemarle that were too late for this edition. But they have a busy week ahead of them. The Warriors will have a four-game home stand starting with Waynesboro Friday May 8, Fluvanna on May 12, CHS on May 14, and Albemarle on May 15. All games start at 6 p.m. This fourgame stretch is likely to have a huge impact on the final district standings, so come out and support the home team.
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mals were acting strange and possibly predicting an earthquake. Every time an earthquake hit, their office was flooded with emails with timestamps right after the quake. Amazingly, no one ever seems to email BEFORE the quake. Clever study with unfortunate and disappointing results. April Summary April was almost completely “average.” Temperatures were warmer than normal most of the month but a cool last week brought us back to normal. Rain was plentiful. Over three inches fell the week of April 14-20. Combined with perfect temperatures, the rate of grass growth reached the maximum possible. Like Goldilocks porridge, temperatures were not too hot and not too cold and the moisture was ample. I swear you could sit and watch the grass grow. April Rainfall Totals Mint Springs 5.00” White Hall 5.09” Ivy 5.91” Waynesboro 4.66” Wintergreen 7.45”
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CROZETgazette
MAY 2015
Seize the Day by Clover Carroll | clover@crozetgazette.com
I have always been tickled by the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip that a now-retired English teacher friend used to place each year at the bottom of her poetry unit handout. Sitting beside the bathtub containing a “hot, dirty, sweaty, and tired” Calvin, who has just removed his muddy clothes, sand-filled shoes, and sticks from his hair, Hobbes comments, “I say the day has been seized.” This allusion to the concept of “carpe diem” was created by Bill Watterson in 1993, not long after the classic 1989 film “Dead Poets’ Society” became a smash hit. In this emotional film, English teacher John Keating (a fictional name echoing that of British Romantic poet, John Keats) inspires his students to live by the joyful, no-holds-barred carpe diem philosophy, embracing experience fully and inviting both its glory and its costs into their young lives. Celebrating poetry as the most sincere and passionate form of expression, Keating (masterfully played by Robin Williams) quotes Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, and Robert Herrick in support of his indelible—and in the context of the stodgy New England boarding school from which he is ultimately fired, subversive—message. “To Virgins, To Make Much of Time,” published in 1648 by Robert Herrick (1591-1674), is one of the earliest and most memorable expressions in English of this philosophy, whose roots can be traced back over 2000 years to the classical Roman poets. Horace (65-8 BC) ends #11 of his first book of Odes with the immortal line “carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero”—which roughly translates as, pluck
[the bloom of ] today; put little faith in tomorrow.” An earlier line adds “Be thou wise, fill up the wine-cup….since the time is brief ” (trans. C.S. Calverley). Life is fleeting, Horace admonishes, so we should enjoy it to the fullest each day. In other words, throw caution to the winds! Stop planning and start doing. Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die (Isaiah 22:13). Herrick’s message is narrower than Horace’s, however, referring primarily to youth and the pleasures of mating—in the context of holy matrimony, that is. In straightforward and lilting iambic pentameter, Herrick encourages us to enjoy life’s pleasures while we can. Since life is short, and youth shorter still, we should not delay (“tarry”) in doing so. “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may” ushers in an extended metaphor comparing an earthly day—from the rising of the sun to its setting--to a human life, from youth to old age. The poet further compares the virgins (young, unmarried women to whom, he announces in the title, the poem is addressed) themselves to rosebuds, whose bloom is short-lived. This comparison is suggested through the use of the word “smiles,” which personifies the rosebuds and links their short-lived blooms to the short lives, and even shorter youths, of the young women. Roses have long been associated with sensuality and passion. Time and the Sun are also personified, providing further strength to this implied comparison. This clothing of the poet’s message in nature imagery is far more appealing than the third stanza, which more clumsily states that the unpleasantness of old age will arrive before we know it (ain’t it the truth). In the final stanza, in case we missed it, the poet openly interprets the metaphor for us. Don’t be shy, he admonishes; let go of that virginity and find a mate before your beauty deserts you and you end up an old maid for life. This rendition of the carpe diem theme is a) less relevant today with our longer life spans and b) more chaste than its other most famous poetic expression, “To His Coy Mistress” by Herrick’s contemporary, Andrew Marvell (1621-1678). Marvell makes no mention of marriage in his brilliant and fervent seduction poem. Herrick’s vocation as an Anglican vicar probably accounts for this Christian cast to his poem. Politically, Herrick’s life embodied the instability and transience his poem warns against. Born in London to a goldsmith who died when he was only a year old, Herrick graduated from Cambridge in 1620 and was ordained soon thereafter. Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May, John William Waterhouse,1909 He moved to London, where he
To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying: And this same flower that smiles to-day To-morrow will be dying. The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun, 5 The higher he ‘s a-getting, The sooner will his race be run, And nearer he ‘s to setting. That age is best which is the first, When youth and blood are warmer; 10 But being spent, the worse, and worst Times still succeed the former. Then be not coy, but use your time, And while ye may, go marry: For having lost but once your prime, 15 You may for ever tarry. Robert Herrick joined the Sons of Ben, a literary circle influenced by poet and playwright Ben Jonson (1572-1637), author of the lyric “Song: To Celia” (better known as “Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes”). King Charles I’s appointment of Herrick as vicar of Dean Prior in Devonshire provided him a good living, but also led to boredom as it was far removed from London’s vibrant literary scene. In 1647 during the British Civil Wars, Herrick, an outspoken royalist, was expelled from his post, which allowed him to return to London to oversee the publication of his poetry collection, Hesperides. He dropped out of sight during the years of the Puritan Commonwealth, but upon the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660, Charles II sent him back to Devonshire, where he lived out his long life beloved by his parishioners. The idea of carpe diem is so universal and appealing that we still see it everywhere— from the recent “Car-pe diem” article in the Washington Post’s Travel section about a cross-country car trip, to the “Seize the Daisies” promotional sign at Whole Foods. “Seize the day” can be variously interpreted as taking a hike on a gorgeous spring day, writing the book you keep talking about but not starting, or not waiting to tell someone you love them. I don’t think it means to always indulge in instant gratification, but simply not to wait to begin pursuing one’s dreams for some far off, imagined better time. While similar in spirit to the currently ubiquitous admonition to live in the moment—illustrated in the film “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” and its sequel— carpe diem emphasizes action. Not only should we enjoy every moment as it happens, we should take action to make that moment serve our own wishes and pleasures.
CROZETgazette
MAY 2015
May We Begin
by claudia crozet
ACROSS 1 NBC forecaster 6 Corny site 9 Breaks in the verbal action 12 Huge margin to win by 13 Used a lasso 15 Negative adverb 16 Jumper from Warsaw? 18 Glass on radio 19 American Idol genre 20 Don’t flip yours 21 Fan 23 Right away back in the day 25 Deuce or ad out, e.g. 26 Embalmed leader permanently displayed in Red Square 28 Able-bodied 29 He knows which way the wind blows, like Norm Sprouse? 32 Three retires the side 36 Standard 37 Big galut 38 Chinese name meaning plum blossom, theme homonym 39 Green Gables girl 41 1966 Beatles hit about one who dislikes being away overnight? 45 Verrazano Narrows and Golden Gate have world’s 13th and 14th longest 47 Gather together 48 High times? 49 Airport security measure 50 Clock with hands, e.g. 52 Understand 53 Pirate of the Caribbean 57 www. _____.gov: website of US national library 58 Non-violent slogan 61 Short-lived Egyptian/Syrian union (1959-61): Abbr.
62 Petal protector 63 “Goodnight, _____” 64 West who said, “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” 65 Man cave 66 Tory or Labour DOWN 1 Kanye West or Snoop Dogg numbers 2 Melville tale 3 Firing location 4 Chic and luxurious 5 Step on the gas 6 Rhinovirus, commonly 7 Make a choice 8 Budweiser shaped it like a bow-tie in 2013 9 Come together 10 “Less is _____.” 11 Take the lead 13 Destruction 14 Slobber 17 Without help 22 Perennial crossword cookie 24 US medical research agency in Bethesda 25 Isaac Hayes Oscar winning song 26 What Sprat ate 27 Bring in 29 FDR’s most ambitious federal project 30 Horse or cattle coat colors 31 Merry month, can precede first words of 16A, 29A, 41A, and 58A 33 Strike callers, briefly 34 Commences to drive 35 Knightly title 40 Acronym for immigrants’ lessons
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41 Hung loosely 42 Runner or driver, possibly 43 _____ Hogg, “first lady of Texas” 44 She couldn’t resist opening the box 46 Sounds of vanishing? 48 Mother of pearl 49 Sew shut eyes of training hawks, as in Macbeth’s “Come _____
night” 50 Grad of UVa or WAHS 51 Hurricane watching agcy. 52 _____ Lake 54 Big jug 55 Contained (with up) 56 Hunted 59 Unclose, to Keats 60 Protagonist with great expectations
Kids’ Crossword Mother, May I? Across 2 Outdoor meal 5 What Crozet 5k runners go up 6 Get it with a swatter! 7 It’s her special day soon 10 Where Madeline lives with her French schoolmates
by Louise Dudley
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CROZETgazette
MAY 2015
To the Editor —continued from page 7
and a large Black Gum (Nyssa sylvatica) tree. And, the manpower to plant everything! Arboristry’s tree work and Waynesboro Nurseries donation of plants is one of the largest in-kind service donations the park has ever received. Thank you to Eric Fowler with Arboristry Associates and Reid Nasholds with Waynesboro Nurseries for generously donating their time, expertise and coordination of their respective teams. Thanks to Jim Packer who came down from Northern Virginia to build a beautiful new kiosk in the front of the main entrance. Jim not only built this new structure, he donated all the materials. This kiosk will be used to display information about the Park’s many projects. The preparation to make an event of this size successful takes weeks. A huge thank you goes to Karl Pomeroy who helped organize the projects, materials, and supplies for the Pitch-in. Thank you to Drew Holzwarth
and his team and, to Albemarle County Parks and Recreation (ACP&R) for their continued work on our beautiful ball fields and helping stage much of the mulch and top soil throughout the Park. ACP&R also lent us their Gator and their tools trailer, two must-haves for this event. Thank you ACP&R’s Jim Barbour and Dan Mahon for all their support. Thank you to Yancey Mills Lumber for donating a mountain of mulch and to our devoted and hard working Crozet Trails Crew (CTC) for distributing this mulch wheelbarrow by wheelbarrow until this mountain was little more than a memory by day’s end. The CTC spearheaded much of the landscaping activities throughout the day. Thank you to Blue Ridge Builders Supply for discounting all of the supplies and materials used for the Pitch-in and to Dominos Pizza for helping provide lunch to a very hungry group of volunteers. Thank you to the Lions Club for their work on cleaning out both the Park’s large ice chest and the hotdog shack that had
been vandalized a few months prior. Thank you to all the park board members and the YMCA staff who were able to help. I am especially inspired by so many of the volunteers who made the Pitch-in event a family affair. This included adult children who invited their own parents and parents bringing their kids. I can’t think of a more meaningful gift to give your kids than to teach them the fun and importance of volunteering. When I see this I know our community
will be in good hands long after we’re gone. And finally, thank you to those in the Crozet community who were willing to give their time at the Pitch-in even in less than optimal conditions. The day was cold and most of you were wet throughout the day, yet you hunkered down and completed the job at hand. Thank you!
Heart of Crozet
spaces. Ideas on economic development will also be welcome. The subgroups will be re-assembled for a wrap-up of the ideas that have been suggested. The CCA and Milestone Partners have assembled a planning committee for the Downtown Crozet Initiative that includes: • Tim Dodson, WAHS student • Meg Holden, past CCAC chair • Mike Marshall, Crozet Gazette publisher • Brenda Plantz, Parkway Pharmacy owner, • Michelle Simpson, Parkside Village Resident • Scott Stinson, owner of The Mudhouse building • Dave Stoner, Crozet Community Advisory Council, • Frank Stoner, Crozet New Town Associates, • Tim Tolson, Crozet Community Association president.
Kim Guenther, President Claudius Crozet Park
— THANK YOU —
Crozet Lions Club 2015 Pancake Dinner Supporters Thank you for making our pancake dinner fundraiser such a success! ACAC Fitness & Wellness Centers Albemarle Ballet Theatre, Inc. Anderson Funeral Home Animal Wellness Center Arborlife B&B Cleaners Blue Ridge Beads & Glass Blue Ridge Builders Supply Bobby Graves Guitar Bold Rock Hard Cider Brownsville Market Brownsville Market Cakes by Rachel Central Virginia Builders Chiles Peach Orchard Chimney Cricket Chirio’s Pizza & Subs Clover Lawn Salon Coca Cola Staunton Couture Design Cox Chiropractic Clinic Creative Framing & The Art Box Crozet Eye Care Optometrists Crozet Great Valu Crozet Hardware Crozet Insurance Crozet Pizza at the Budhist Biker Bar Crozet Running Shop Crozet Volunteer Fire Department Doris Davis
See you next year!
Douglas Seal & Sons Dr. Elizabeth Mandell Fardowners Fisher Auto Parts Fleischmann Agency Georgetown West Salon Giuseppe’s Italian Restaurant Grand Home Furnishings Green House Coffee Green Olive Tree Greenwood Antiques Hanckel-Citizens Insurance Corp Harris Teeter Henley Middle School Hill & Wood Funeral Home Ivy Corner Garden Center Kennedy Electric La Cocina del Sol Margaritas Mexican Restaurant Maupin’s Music & Video Meineke Car Care Mike Capps Modern Barber Shop Mudhouse Needle Lady Oceanview Seafood Old Trail Golf Otto’s Over The Moon Bookstore
Parkway Pharmacy Pinnell Custom Leather, Inc. Pollack Vineyards PT Plus RA Royal Alliance– Richard LaRue Real Estate III–DB Sandridge Restoration Restaurant Rockfish Gap Country Store Sal’s Pizza Savvy Rest Settle Tire Sherrill Stramara State Farm Insurance– Greg Leffler Tiger Fuel Co. Timberlake Drugstore TM Turf, Co., Inc. University of Virginia Community Credit Union US Joiner Velata & Swag Bag Opportunities of Virginia Warren James Automotive Wes Kent of Real Estate III Wild Wolf Brewing Company Woodbrook Sports Yancy Lumber Co. YMCA at Crozet Park
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CCA’s website, www.crozetcommunity.org. The meeting will be run by Christine Gyovai and Reed Muehlman, facilitators/designers with White Hall-based Dialogue+Design Associates. The agenda includes a review of the zoning rules of the Downtown Crozet District, which Milestone Partners will apply for the lumberyard to be included in, and an illustration of what those rules actually look like when built out. Frank Stoner of Milestone Partners will describe the property from a developer’s perspective and previous plans proposed for it, as well as its possibilities and difficulties. Stoner will take questions. Meeting goers will be broken into three smaller groups to work with maps and propose design concepts dealing with roads and civic and green
CROZETgazette
Chasing Water —continued from page 39
days a week. There is less than a year’s supply in their reservoir. They have 60 inches of annual rainfall. [Crozet gets 45 inches.] Half of their water leaks away in the city’s system. Tanker trucks are hauling in and people are drilling wells, sometimes inside their houses so they won’t be detected. “People are almost unconscious about water,” he said in a tone of lament. “California is becoming painfully aware of their vulnerability. They’re thinking about where the water ‘slop’ is in daily life. It will come down to how irrigation water is used. Are there aspects of agriculture that have to change? It will translate into higher food prices. Half of our food is coming from there. It’s pushing production into other parts of the country. “A lot more people will look for local [food] sources. I’ve been inspired by the 20- and 30-year-olds getting into farming. There’s a second ‘back to the land’ movement going on. They can’t produce enough now. “Our use of water has consequences for the rivers and lakes that we depend on. People don’t connect their use of water with where the water comes from. A Nature Conservancy poll shows that 77 percent of Americans have no idea where their water comes from. Three out of four students in my class have no idea and have never in their lives known where it came from. You don’t know what damage you’re doing to the natural system and how much it can supply. People in Austin, Texas don’t realize that their river is down to 10 percent of what it would be without their use.” Richter’s book makes use of an analogy to a household checkbook to convey the principle of sustainable management. “People act like they don’t have to check their balance,” he said. “We need to manage in a way to leave enough to keep nature healthy. We can adapt and we can do it with a lot less water. “The Isrealis are the world’s best water saving society. They are hyper-efficient. The Australians are also very good.” The book traces the history of drought effects on the MurrayDarling watershed in New
MAY 2015 South Wales to make a case study of how to successfully respond with policy to a water crisis. “Tucson, San Antonio and San Diego are doing a pretty good job. They can do more. Australian cities use half the water that our western cities do and they have the same climate and style of life. People have a sense technology will save us— desalinization. Yes, to some degree, but every option has a consequence. Desalinization is 10 times more expensive than other options because it takes so much electricity. “There’s a very strong will to make to make the world better in the current student generation. Giving people even a little info will help them make sense of things in a hurry. We’ve missed some things in education.” The Nature Conservancy is working on a global report on water scarcity and potential solutions, Richter said. “We’re engaging a lot of professors and students at U.Va. “One twist in the budget analogy: with a bank account if you are more than zero then you’re okay. With water you have to leave more than zero in an account to save fisheries and recreation. With personal accounts we make decisions unilaterally, with water accounts we have to be communal. It’s doing a budget with a really large family. And you have to be mindful that water deposits vary over time. Long-term averages aren’t really useful. What are you going to do when not a lot is being deposited? That was our problem in Albemarle in 2002, a record drought year. In Crozet we’re drinking National Park water. It’s a huge luxury.” Richter calls for greater local control over water supplies and awareness of the water budget as the foundation for government’s enlightened management of water. He ends Chasing Water with an optimistic chapter titled “Chasing Hope” that chronicles recent examples of developments in America, China, Europe and Africa that suggest stubborn mankind is learning the lesson of reckless water use. “It’s time to start living within the limits of water’s natural availability so we can reap the benefits of a water-secure future,” he said.
Back to Fitness —continued from page 27
muscles is actually much more effective at giving you back some length and suppleness to your muscles (i.e. using a foam roller, stick roller, or getting a targeted massage). Honest discussions about stretching will bring up more questions than answers. But allow me to give an athlete’s simple guide to stretching. Through research, current information, and personal experience, I really believe the following are points that most people in the know would agree with regarding stretching: Go see a physical therapist for an evaluation and a tune up! Let’s say your 40, you’ve had two kids and you’re ready to get back into shape. Your body is probably not the way it was when you were 20! So why not find out some very specific ways that things have changed and where you could use help. I went to a PT years ago because I just knew my running was way off, but I couldn’t figure it out by myself. Turns out my hip flexors were atrociously tight. Now I work on that every day. I can’t tell you what a difference it has made, and how much trouble addressing that has saved me! Many PT offices have very reasonable rates for “screenings” to help you see where you are weak, and where you are tight. Stretch only what you need to stretch. Don’t waste your time. Stretching should be very focused; it should be you working specifically on getting additional range of motion in joints that you know limit you from performing the exercise you want to perform. My hamstrings are also tight, but my PT
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told me I have plenty of range of motion for running, so I don’t worry about them. 90 percent of us need to stretch our hip flexors. These are the muscles that run across the front of your hip and serve to raise your thigh upwards when you move/walk/run. When we sit, these are in a very shortened position. When our hip flexors are tight, they act as a tether and pull our pelvis forward and down, out of alignment. This is compensated for in our lower back, it weakens our core stability, and it changes our lower leg mechanics. So stretch your hip flexors, every day. Search online for good stretches for this. Don’t stretch before exercise! Don’t stretch and tear your poor cold, tight muscles before you even use them. This makes no sense. Warm up first! Not enough people warm up. It takes your body about 10 minutes to truly warm up, so no matter who you are, make sure the first 10 minutes of your exercise is really, really easy. Stretch after exercising, when your muscles and tendons are warmed and more likely to stretch without damage. Get a foam roller +/- massage stick and learn how to use them! If you’ve got tight calves, you’re missing out big time if all you are doing is stretching them. Massage those babies. Roll them out! It’s amazing the difference it makes. Massaging out “trigger points” is a very effective way of lengthening muscles, and many tendon issues are due to tight muscles upstream. I also strongly recommend an occasional visit to a massage therapist. As we get back to fitness, continued on page 45
Serving Western Albemarle Families Since 1967 Robert S. Anderson & John W. Anderson, Jr., D I R E C T O R S
823-5002 5888 St. George Avenue Crozet, VA 22932
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MAY 2015
community events MAY 15
Crozet Elementary PTO Glow Run
The second annual Glow Run will be Friday, May 15, at Crozet Elementary School. Check in opens at 6:30 p.m. and the run begins at 7:30 p.m. The family-friendly fun run with a “glow in the dark” theme is a fundraiser for the PTO. For more information or to register, visit crozetpto.org.
MAY 18
Nelson County Community Orchestra
The Nelson County Community Orchestra will present its Finale Concert for the season Monday, May 18 at 7:30 p.m. at the Rockfish Valley Community Center, 190 Rockfish School Lane in Afton. The performance will include a Telemann Violin Concerto with a guest soloist, Glenn Miller Swing Dances and guest performances by violin students in the Nelson County String Education Program. The concert is free and open to the public. The NCCO also seeks new members to join the orchestra. Cellists and bassist are especially needed! If you play or used to play an orchestra instrument and would like to get back into playing music in a friendly, engaging, multigenerational learning environment, come join us. All levels and all ages 13 and up are welcome! NCCO rehearsals are on Monday evenings from 7 to 9 p.m. at the RVCC. For more information, call 434-9467834, or email NCCOrchestra@ aol.com. NCCO is partially supported by the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.
MAY 24
Piedmont Church Memorial Day Service
Piedmont Baptist Church in Yancey Mills will hold their annual Memorial Day Service
Sunday, May 24, at 3 p.m. with Chris Lewis & Company of Arvonia in concert. For more information, call Mrs. Anita Washington at 2953266
MAY 25
Junior Golf Festival at Old Trail Golf
Seventeen-time LPGA Tour winner and current ESPN golf analyst Dottie Pepper will join golf trick shot legend Dennis Walters at the Third Annual Memorial Day Junior Golf Festival May 25. The free event, hosted by Kandi Comer, will take place on from 1 to 4 p.m. at Old Trail Golf Club in Crozet. The annual festival introduces kids and their families to the game of golf in a fun and stress-free environment. Activities include hitting golf balls into an inflatable dinosaur’s mouth, parent-child Kwik Golf® tournaments, and long drive contests. This year adds Walters and his dog Bucky, a clinic, a meet-and-greet for families with Dottie Pepper, an appearance by children’s book character Bogey Balton, and an additional inflatable rhino. Dottie Pepper was LPGA Player of the Year in 1992 and a six-time Solheim Cup team member. She shares the record for the all-time low score at an LPGA major championship—19 under at the 1999 Nabisco Dinah Shore. In 2004, Pepper joined NBC Sports as a golf commentator and now works as an analyst for ESPN. Walters’s dream was to play on the PGA Tour until he had an accident in 1974 that left him paralyzed from the waist down. But he was he wasn’t going to give up golf and a new career was born. Walters’s trick shots are done with a fishing rod, a crutch, a radiator hose and a cell phone and he also hits shots blindfolded and through fire. For more information, call Kandi Comer at 434-531-8650, or email her at kandi@kandicomergolf.com.
JUNE 7
concert or music selection. The CCO an IRS-designated 501(c)3 non profit organization.
The Crozet Community Orchestra will perform Sunday, June 7 at 4 p.m. at Crozet Baptist Church on St. George Avenue in the church sanctuary. The program, directed by Philip Clark, will include a much loved audience favorite, Bolero, by Maurice Ravel, as well as the opening movement from Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, a suite by Respighi and the debut performance of the Crozet Community Chorus led by Katherine Mitchell of the Virginia Women’s Chorus at U.Va. For additional information about the concert, joining the Crozet Community Orchestra or Chorus, please visit its Facebook page. The CCO will host a Summer Chamber Music Workshop, led by Philip Clark and other staff, for string and wind musicians age 14 and up Friday, July 31 from 7 to 9 p.m., Saturday, August 1 from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (lunch on your own) and Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. at Crozet Baptist Church. Cost is $55 per person. For more information, contact Philip Clark at pclarkmusic@gmail.com, or 434-979-3343; or Denise Murray murrden@gmail.com, or 434-987-5517 The CCO is seeking community minded individuals and business leaders to sponsor a
JUNE 16
Crozet Orchestra Summer Concert
Gazette Vet —continued from page 21
went five months until the next, however he had one more just three weeks after that. As I knew it was coming, we recently started Boone on phenobarbital, one of the most commonly prescribed anticonvulsants. Most epileptic dogs will eventually need to go on an anticonvulsant. The problem with waiting too long is the dogs will develop a “seizure memory,” where it becomes easier and easier for seizures to occur, and ultimately you’ll need more medication to control them. There are many different anticonvulsant medications available now, all with different
Rediscover Musician Robert Shifflett
The legacy of Appalachian folk musician and storyteller Robert Shifflett (1905-1978) will be examined at a free program at the White Hall Community Center in White Hall Sunday, June 16 from 2 to 4 p.m. Banjo artist Seth Swingle will perform from Shifflett’s work. Kevin Donleavy, WTJU radio host and the author of The Irish in Early Virginia 1600-1860, and Strings of Life— Conversations with Old-Time Musicians from Virginia and North Carolina--will join local historian Phil James, author of Secrets of the Blue Ridge, to “rediscover” Shifflett. Clann Mhór representatives Michael Brittingham and Rhonda Roebuck will alos share discoveries from the group’s research into the lives of the Irish who dug the Blue Ridge Tunnel from 1850 to 1858. Donations will be accepted to support the White Hall Ruritans’ efforts to preserve and maintain the historic White Hall Community Building. Donations are tax deductible.
sets of potential side effects and differing costs. However I can confidently say that I have never had a dog die or be put to sleep because of epilepsy. That is to say, these dogs truly do live completely normal lives, and even dogs with severe cases that require a lot of medications to control their seizures. These dogs, too, seem to adjust and live long, spoiled lives. I’m completely bummed to have had to put my dog on a lifelong medication, but such is life. I know it is the right move, and I have the experience to know that Boone will still be with our family when he is an old man. Life is never perfect and is certainly not always fair, but we are certainly fortunate to be able to share it with our pets.
CROZETgazette
MAY 2015
Pitch–in at The Park Community volunteers backed by Arboristry Associates and Waynesboro Nursery tackled maintenance and landscaping needs at Claudius Crozet Park April 25. A dozen Arboristry workers helped out, removing six lanky cherry trees near the T-ball field. They wore a special T-shirt for the day and sported Crozet crest stickers on them. Arboristry owner Eric Fowler is a Crozet resident. The Crozet Trails Crew cleared brush from the perimeter of the planned new dog park and made short work of distributing a heaping pile of mulch donated by Yancey Lumber Company. The panel fence along the entry drive was extended, ending the need to erect lattice panels as a barrier to meet ABC rules when park events include alcohol. Crozet’s Dominos Pizza shop donated pizzas for the volunteers. The County Parks and Recreation Department lent tools and a Gator. “This is how it’s done here in Crozet,” said park board presi-
dent Kim Guenther in a thankyou speech at the lunch break. “It’s amazing to get all these people out on a rainy day.” May 9 and 10 are the spring Crozet Arts and Crafts Festival days. The twice-yearly festival is the park’s main fundraiser.
41
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Climbers from Arboristry Associates pruned the venerable oak behind the upper diamond, removing dead limbs that were hanging over the backstop. Waynesboro Nursery contributed 30 new trees and shrubs to the park’s landscaping plan, including a large Black Gum tree.
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CROZETgazette
MAY 2015
Suburban Deer Culls May Be Unnecessary This Year This spring I’ve been seeing lots of articles about how deer culling has become common in urban and suburban areas of Virginia. Many of the residents in these neighborhoods had grown tired of the overpopulated herds eating their way through yards for many years, and they wanted relief. However, culling remains a controversial issue. Some citizens don’t always agree that it’s necessary in their neighborhoods, and some of them object to the manner in which the deer are killed. Bow hunting is usually the method employed because it can be done quietly and unobtrusively, as well as perhaps more safely. Unfortunately, sometimes a deer that’s been hit by an arrow can make it to a neighbor’s yard before it dies, and many people are not happy with seeing a hurt or dead animal on their property. But this year culling may not be necessary, and I’m hoping folks will consider taking a “wait-and-see” attitude instead of just moving forward with plans to bring hunters into their areas. Following the harsh winter of 2013-2014, deer numbers plummeted. The 2014-2015 kill for the entire state of Virginia was down 22 percent from the previous year and down 18 percent from the last 10-year average. The kill east of the Blue Ridge was down a whopping 24 percent, while on the west side it fell 16 percent. These results didn’t surprise me, because I’d seen that the deer were starving by the end of winter in 2014. In my yard, the poor things were trying to survive by eating plants that they’d never before touched—and
some of the plants were not in their most nutritious state. For example, in the fall of 2013 we’d trimmed some large branches from one of my Chinese Photinias that are about 25 feet tall. I always put such woody trimmings into brush piles around my yard. These branches had been placed on top of a pile south of the house. Photinia is an evergreen shrub that holds most of its leathery leaves all winter. In almost 30 years of living in my house, I’d never seen a deer try to eat fresh Photinia leaves, never mind dried ones that’d been sitting on a brush pile for months. Yet the deer visited that south brush pile for several days to feed upon those wretched-looking leaves. It was obvious these animals were desperate. One late-winter day I watched out the window as a doe and her fawn from the previous year fed upon bamboo leaves! And when spring arrived, I found that the deer had completely denuded my blue hollies. It was apparent that they were eating any leaf they could find that was green. But perhaps the most obvious sign that deer were having a very difficult time surviving was that they were also eating Yucca filamentosa leaves. Known as Common Yucca, Spanish Bayonet, or by a host of other common names, this native plant consists of sword-shaped, evergreen leaves that are so fibrous that they were used by American Indians to make cordage (ropes). The leaves are not easy to tear so I imagine they are therefore rather difficult to chew and digest, which would explain why I’d never before seen them eaten by deer. Female deer mate in fall, carry their developing young
A Yucca plant in the author’s yard shows the bite marks of starving deer. (Photo credit: Marlene A. Condon)
throughout the winter, and give birth in spring to early summer. Older does usually give birth to twins, but they can also carry triplets to term. Pregnancy in any organism requires a large expenditure of energy by the mother, and that energy comes from the food she eats. With pregnant does starving by the end of winter in 2014—especially those carrying more than one fawn—I had no doubt that many would lose their babies well before the little animals could develop fully enough to survive. Indeed, although a doe usually gives birth in my yard every year, none did so in 2014. In addition to the dearth of fawns last summer, there was also a dearth of adult deer. It was apparent that many must have succumbed to one of the harshest winters I can recall living through in Virginia. Game department biologists have suggested three reasons for the decrease in the number of deer killed by hunters: First, they say it was in part due to the DGIF’s management effort over the past five to ten years to stabilize or reduce deer numbers by increasing the female deer kill. However, management efforts would produce a gradual reduction, not a sudden one as occurred in 2014. Second, the agency points to hemorrhagic disease which was
found in 28 counties in eastern Virginia in 2014. Yet this explanation fails to provide a reason for the decrease in the western part of the state. And third, they suggest the scarcity of deer last fall was the result of a bountiful mast crop (fruits of trees). There were so many acorns that deer could find food throughout forests instead of using food plots planted for wildlife, naturally overgrown fields, or harvested farm plots. But this explanation suggests that hunters and their hounds would be too lazy to search out the animals! No, the actual reason hunters harvested fewer deer in the fall of 2014 was because there really were fewer deer to hunt. A number of adults had died due to the harsh conditions, and perhaps most females that survived were unable to carry their young to term. If a malnourished female did manage to give birth, her fawn would have been born underweight and in a weakened state, and thus prone to an early death. Thus I suggest you save your money by skipping the culls this year, especially if they are a contentious issue in your community. Here’s a fine opportunity for neighbors to get along instead of arguing about whether to kill, or not to kill, the deer.
CROZETgazette
MAY 2015
43
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Green Olive Tree Copes with Trash Donations The Green Olive Tree in Crozet, a Christian thrift shop run entirely on volunteer effort that donates its income generously to local community needs, is coping reluctantly with unsalable items that are being dropped off while the shop was closed, often next the sign that
says “No TV or Furniture”. Filthy mattresses and old TVs are not normally accepted by the store, which then must pay to have them hauled away. Please respect the efforts of the volunteers and don’t use their drop-off as a short cut to the dump.
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Regionally adapted open pollinated seeds are integral to local agriculture. “Heirlooms” are seeds adapted to the local climate and thereby more resistant to the particular pests and diseases of the geographic locality. Without local growth and storage of heirlooms it is likely that corporations and/or government will come to control most or all seed distribution. Both these entities are made up of humans, but both often seem to forget their humanity and connectivity to the natural world. Hats off to the Common Wealth Seed Growers!
—continued from page 28
Mildew. Pseudoperonospora cubensis must overwinter on cucurbits in areas without hard frosts like South Florida. It blows north on the wind and has become a late season problem for cucumber and squash growers, especially in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic since 2004. North Carolina State University has a Curcubit Downy Mildew Forecast website (beginning March 23) that tracks outbreaks as the disease moves north.
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CROZETgazette
MAY 2015
BEREAVEMENTS Robert William Smith Lisa Ann Elledge, 49 Larry F. Marsh, 75 Elizabeth Corty Adler, 69 David Clinton Houchens, 72 Joanne Alberta Jackson, 60 Henry Thomas Ashley, 75 James Thomas Bartlow, 60 Percy Cleveland Fitzgerald, 83 Evelyn Louise Johnson Dudley, 90 Gary Wayne Morris, 62 Lettie W. Garrison, 94 John Edward McNish, 81 Chester Alva Rose, Jr., 84 Marilyn Babel Williamson, 70 Josephine Lawson Barbour, 91 William D. Steers, 59 Catherine B. Warburton, 79 Sidney Albert Woodson Jr., 80 Louise Chambers Levinson, 100 Thomas Henry Blagmon, 91 Larry Nelson Deane, 64 Fellisco Antonio Harris, 73 Floyd Jackson McDaniel, 75 Mildred Louise Shifflett, 87 Virgil Edward Straughan, 93 Nellie E. Durrett Michael, 94 Kathryne Elizabeth Ford Carr, 60 James M. Williams, 92 Norman J. Shifflett, 77 Tammy Jean Smith Dale William Wilberger, 58 Marian Farrar Fleishel, 91 Millie Margaret Morris, 94 Edward L. Garrison, 72 Luella Marie Gibb, 97 Catherine Virginia Jackson, 63 Charles B. Minor, 91 Margaret C. Berndt, 78 Anne Q. Fields, 74 Alvin Lee Toms, 82 Adam Clark Wyant, 90 Henry Thomas Garrison, 80 William Grayson Wood, 78
September 1, 2014 December 27, 2014 January 14, 2015 March 5, 2015 March 27, 2015 March 28, 2015 March 30, 2015 March 31, 2015 March 31, 2015 April 1, 2015 April 2, 2015 April 3, 2015 April 3, 2015 April 7, 2015 April 8, 2015 April 9, 2015 April 10, 2015 April 10, 2015 April 10, 2015 April 11, 2015 April 12, 2015 April 12, 2015 April 12, 2015 April 12, 2015 April 12, 2015 April 12, 2015 April 16, 2015 April 17, 2015 April 17, 2015 April 18, 2015 April 19, 2015 April 19, 2015 April 20, 2015 April 20, 2015 April 22, 2015 April 22, 2015 April 22, 2015 April 22, 2015 April 23, 2015 April 25, 2015 April 25, 2015 April 25, 2015 April 26, 2015 April 29, 2015
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Alvin Lee Toms, 1932 - 2015 Alvin Lee Toms, age 82, of Crozet died April 25 at home with his wife, Ann, at his side. He was born October 9, 1932, son of the late Jerry M. and Hattie G. Toms at Martha Jefferson Hospital in Charlottesville, Virginia. He was predeceased by his parents and sister, Violet Toms. Alvin, a life-long resident of Crozet and very much a part of the fabric of the community, was vice president and manager of the Crozet Branch of Bank of America, and retired after 43 years. He started with the bank in 1950 when it was Peoples National Bank, which became Virginia National Bank and later Sovran. The bank made two more changes from Sovran to Nations Bank and finally Bank of America during his time there. He was a graduate of Crozet High School and the University of Virginia’s School of Consumer Banking. Alvin was devoted to the Crozet community. He was a lifetime member and past president of the Crozet Volunteer Fire Department. He was a longtime member of the Crozet Lions Club and a past president. He performed with their variety show for 32 years as an end man. He was cited by the national president of Lions for his long service to their sight conservation program. He served on the Albemarle County Social Services Board for 11 years with 8 years as chairman. He was the first fund drive chairman for Claudius Crozet Park and a director for many years. He was a member of the Waynesboro Elks Lodge No. 2270, and active with the Virginia Chamber of Commerce during the 1970s. He was a member of the Crozet United Methodist Church and served on the church board and as a finance chairman for 11 years. Alvin was named in the 1974-75 edition of “Who’s
Alvin Lee Toms
Who in Virginia.” He was a “Life Changer” partner for the Salvation Army since 1992. Throughout his life he tried to help others and enjoyed working and living in the Crozet community. He was an animal lover and cared deeply for the four dogs he had over the years and for the last five years he even came to love a cat he adopted and called “Big Boy.” In his later years, he became interested in the people in need in Appalachia and made a trip there to check things out and learn firsthand about the area and its people in need and became a supporter of the Christian Appalachian Project. Alvin is survived by his wife of 46 years, Ann Ratcliff Toms; several cousins; and a helpful family member, Rhonda, along with many friends. Funeral services were held April 28 at the Crozet United Methodist Church with interment in Rockgate Cemetery in Crozet. Memorial contributions may be made in honor of Alvin to: Crozet United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 70, Crozet, VA 22932; CharlottesvilleAlbemarle SPCA, P.O. Box 7047, Charlottesville, VA 22906; Crozet Volunteer Fire Department, P.O. Box 696, Crozet, VA 22932; or Hospice of the Piedmont, 65 Peter Jefferson Parkway, Suite 300, Charlottesville, VA 22911
Gazette obituaries are only $25 for up to 500 words, including a photograph. Call 434-466-8939 or emails ads@crozetgazette.com for details.
CROZETgazette
MAY 2015
45
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WAHS Honor —continued from page 19
can’t have one. They said maybe we need to do more FERPA training. They are willing to be a resource for us. They’re very willing to help. If there’s a problem with the FOIA request, I’ll be reaching out. “County documents do mention the Honor Council in the Behavior Management Handbook,” he said. It’s been removed now from the county’s website, but Dodson contends that it show the school leaders knew about the Honor Council. “I don’t buy that the county didn’t know it was going on,” said Dodson. School Board member Eric Strucko has a child at Western. “He or his wife signed the form, so he should know,” observed Dodson.
such as companionship, meal preparation, transportation, and personal care. Must be 21 years of age and consent to pre-employment state and national background checks and drug screenings. Please call 434.979.4663 with any questions or fill out an application online atwww.homeinstead.com/532. CWS Community YARD SALE – Saturday, May 16 – 8 am to 1 pm. 120 Waldorf School Road, Charlottesville. Home goods, adult & children’s clothing, toys, sports equipment, baby gear, etc. – collected from 100+ school families. Food and baked goods for sale. Free parking. NOW HIRING: Parish Administrator, Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Greenwood. We seek a friendly, energetic, and helpful office professional to run the day-today operations of our church office and to serve as a confidential executive assistant to the Rector (pastor) and other parish staff in a growing church of over 500 members. Excellent written, oral, and phone communication skills. Excellent administrative and organizational skills, including the ability to monitor and
“Schools make a big deal about ‘student ownership of learning,’ but they don’t want to give us that opportunity. “The Tuesday after spring break we finally could meet in Mrs. Gardner’s room. Dr. Haas showed up. We weren’t prepared for that. The underclassmen didn’t really understand what was going on. [The county] assumes we will leak info. They see us as inherently guilty of this. There’s risk in any system. Why can’t students be trusted? “Haas said he would have dealt with it as a handbook issue and taken it out over the summer.” Thus ending the council’s existence while students and parents weren’t paying attention. “We want to get it in the Behavioral Management Handbook and make other schools consider having honor
manage multiple projects simultaneously. Excellent computer skills with Microsoft Word, Excel, Publisher, and PowerPoint. Ability to learn PowerChurch Plus database software quickly. Proficient in social media applications and Internet research. Hours generally 8:30 to 4, M - F, but we may be able to structure your schedule to work with school hours. Salary competitive; 403(b) retirement plan included, medical coverage negotiable. To apply, e-mail cover letter and résumé (including three references) as both Microsoft Word and PDF files to applications@ emmanuelgreenwood.org. We will fill this position as soon as possible. See www. emmanuelgreenwood.org for more information. HUGE YARD SALEGrayrock subdivision, Saturday 5/9 from 8 a.m. to noon. Multi-family with children’s items, household goods, clothing and furniture. 250 W to right on 240E, left onto Jarmans Gap, subdivision 1 mile on right. COMMUNITY WIDE YARD SALE in OLD TRAIL, Crozet. Visit all of Old Trail’s neighborhoods for individual
councils,” said Dodson. “Students should play a role in maintaining a safe, orderly environment. Why should we hold ourselves to lower ethical standards?” He said the Western council has a few ideas above possible improvements to the system. One would be to have cheating cases first heard by a panel of three administrators, not just one. Another would be to give the administration the ability to award probation. Another would be to have the Honor Council consider cases without the student present and without knowledge of their name. “But then they don’t get the benefit of our empathizing with them,” he said. “There are students who went before the council and they changed their ways and went on to prestigious universities. It can be a positive
home owners’ sales on: indoor furniture and decor, lawn and garden, books, clothes, and toys. No early birds please. Saturday, May 16 from 8 a.m. to noon. Old Trail Community, Crozet. Just off Route 250 across from Western Albemarle High School. CROZET YMCA NOW HIRING lifeguards, concessions, swim instructors, group exercise instructors, & trainers. Contact 434-205-4380. PROPERTY FOR SALE by owner on Jones Mill Rd. 5+ acres, 2 development rights, one bedroom house with garage, $269,000. Write to: P.O. Box 231, Ivy, VA 22945. SAVE THE DATES! Some GIRLFRIENDS Antique & Home Décor Sale. SAT., June 6, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. SUN., June 7, 12:30 - 4:30 p.m. FURNITURE, FINDS & FRILLS! From Caroline, Margaret & Debra. ~NEW VENUE~ Free Event! Tabor Presbyterian Church, Pickford-Chiles Fellowship Hall, 5804 Tabor St, Crozet 22932. Monetary Donations gratefully accepted for the Tabor Church BACKPACK Mission! See You At the Sale!
experience. Some students tell us it was cathartic. It can restore a student to the school community.” The seniors on the council are pulling together documents to make their case that they will give to other students and the WAHS administration to take to the county. Meanwhile Dodson is waiting to see what documents the county produces in response to the FOIA request.
Back to Fitness —continued from page 39
avoiding injury and increasing our abilities and performance can be elusive goals. Being informed as to why we do what we do is just as important as the exercise itself. With some help and practice, you can be an expert mechanic of your body!
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CROZETgazette
MAY 2015
Crozet’s Favorite Flicks What’s hot now at Maupin’s Music and Video
Top Rentals in April
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CROZETgazette
MAY 2015
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Red Hill Elementary —continued from page 11
have stories about them. We know they had a bus. Everybody in the community knew everyone.” “We are so proud here,” said Ryan Farley. He pointed out that the front beam from the brick school’s porch was saved to be the school’s entry sign. It rests on its Doric columns still. The campus also includes a round 1970s building called the “pod,” still in use, that was once an experiment in “the open classroom.” The paved courtyard on the east side of the school is the basement grade of the old school, demolished in 1981—it turns out one reason was that parents were worried that there were no fire escapes from the second floor—and the ediface of its front door now serves as a graduation arch that Red Hall students march through to culminate their days at Red Hill. “The bricks are from the original school,” said Eva Riddervold, hefting one up to prove its tangibleness. They also found an old brass hand bell, about five inches in diameter, with a turned wood handle and a clear, imperative sound. They found a 1908 photograph of the school population standing on a long front porch. They found a framed diploma awarded to Rhoda Thalia Mawyer in 1916. “We found a file about a guy who was heading to military school,” said Kayden Hall. “The wars really had an effect,” said Garcia. “During World War Two, one
Brownsville D.I. —continued from page 16
generations of innovators and leaders. It holds project-based competitions each year, with a range of challenges teams can choose from. This year, teams could choose challenges from the following categories: scientific, technical, structural, fine arts, improvisational and community service. (Brownsville’s team chose to tackle the scientific challenge.) Teams meet after school at least once a week throughout the fall, winter, and beyond (if they continue to advance through the tournaments). Besides being judged on their main project, they must also solve an “instant challenge” at competitions. They are given a problem and materials to solve it, and must think quickly and work together to come up with a solution. For example, they might be given only a few minutes to build a structure that can support a full peanut butter jar using only Popsicle sticks, icing, and graham crackers.
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[soldier] dad’s address was recorded as “unknown.” The kids wondered what that was like. To have no information. . . .” “We had the first wrestling match in the state,” said Farley. There was a clipping about it. It was against Alberene High School. They found a case where a student had been held back in fourth grade three times. “And finally his parents took him out and made him work,” said Farley. “The school used to grade students on posture, clean teeth and clean clothes,” added Garcia. “And schools went to your home and graded it. They knew what church you went to. One student had to do self-improvement on her appearance and it was put in her file. They put comments in the file that we’d consider much too personal.” “Their teachers were not as nice as our teachers,” observed Barnett. “They were young and if they got married they had to leave teaching. Poor people were treated unfairly. “They had to walk and they got in trouble if they were late.” He estimated that three miles was a likely distance to reach the school. Each student is learning in depth about one decade and will write the timeline copy for it. “They have to choose meaningful events for the kids in the community,” said Garcia. “They couldn’t choose the obvious necessarily.” “Here’s something that stuck with me,” said Stow. “When the second school burned down, the community took off from their work and came and fixed a place where the school could go on.” The Cymatics Fanatics were required to present their challenge at competitions in an entertaining way by using their sound machine to tell a story creatively. In order to give back to the Brownsville community and promote the DI program, they will be performing their challenge in front of the 4th and 5th graders at Brownsville to supplement the students’ science curriculum. Fifth-grader Elke Beaumont cites teamwork as the secret to her group’s success. “What I’ve liked the most about being on the DI team this year is that I get to work with my friends in a bunch of different situations…. We have to do these instant challenges and some of them are building something, or they can be a performance and we have to work together as a team to solve the problem or create something. It’s fun and also challenging, so you need to get to know your team pretty well, which we have done this year…. Without teamwork, everything would collapse. Strong team work is the building block that has helped us do so well in our competitions.”