Crozet Gazette July 2016

INSIDE LET’S DO IT page 2 STOP THE CHECK page 3 STREAM BE DAMNED page 5 SEMPER FI, EAGLE page 6

JULY 2016 VOL. 11, NO. 2

JAMBEEREE page 7

Lessons in How to Cope with Multiple Sclerosis

LOVE THOSE MAUPINS page 9

advocate Jo Higgins, had argued that because the gas station and store is not using all its allowable daily water allotment of 1,625 gallons it should be allowed to build a 6,000-squarefoot expansion that would create a space for a tire and car repair business, a drive-through doughnut shop, and various offices. According to the original terms of the permit, a special valve

Dr. Barry Farr remembers his first inkling of Multiple Sclerosis as a day when he was 20, doing push-ups in his bedroom in Mississippi and his arm spontaneously collapsed under him. There seemed no explanation for it. Many years later came another episode, a foot drop stumble as he was walking to his office at U.Va., where he was a professor of medicine, an expert on infectious disease. That time his medical advisors said it wasn’t enough info to go on for a diagnosis.

Later MS made itself felt in debilitating force, and for the last 20 years Farr has been mainly confined to his home in Glenaire.

There is fruit from his suffering, a new book he’s written, Multiple Sclerosis: Coping with Complications, a detailed guide on how to deal with the daily challenges of living with the disease. It’s now available on Amazon and at Over the Moon in Crozet.

MS is an immune system disease of unknown cause in which the myelin sheath, a fatty insulation that covers nerves, is gradually eroded and the central nervous system—the brain, spine and optic nerves—loses func-

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CHIMNEY PHOENIX page 12 SERVANT OF MAN page 13 NO-TIL WONDER page 15 THE IRISH DEAD pages 16 GATE NAMES page 18 TUNNEL TRAIL page 20 THEY PICKED US page 21 THE VARIETY OF STRENGTH page 22 THE PARADE ALBUM page 24-28 DAD BOD page 30 WEATHER ALMANAC page 32 BLUEBIRD DRIVE BY page 34 ICELAND GARDENS page 35 CAN THEY DO IT? page 36 LESS IS NOT MORE page 38 KIDS CROSSWORD page 45

Elbert Dale driving the Kennedy Electric barrel train in the Crozet parade, Saturday, July 2. More Crozet Independence Day Celebration pictures begin on page 24.

Planning Commission Rejects Expansion of Restore’N Station The Albemarle County Planning Commission said no in a unanimous vote June 7 to a proposal by Restore’N Station owner Jeff Sprouse to remove the conditions imposed in the contentious 2010 decision to award the convenience store on Rt. 250 near the Interstate 64 interchange a special use permit for water use, and thus to allow it to exist.

Sprouse, through his development

Camp Wahoo: A Tradition Reborn

By Rebecca Schmitz becca@crozetgazette.com Some things never change—and that can be a very good thing. Just ask the 50 campers wearing blue “Camp Wahoo” T-shirts and hunched over their lunches in Miller School’s dining hall on a steamy Friday in late June. It’s their last day at Camp Wahoo, and after a week of sports, home-cooked meals, games, laughter,

and just plain fun, they’re about to go home.

Nearly 60 years ago, in 1957, a different generation of Camp Wahoo campers roamed the grounds of the Miller School, engaging in many of the same activities today’s campers enjoy. Though nearly 60 years have passed since a group of friends—all college sports coaches—founded Camp Wahoo, the guiding principles

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Camp Wahoo kickball tournament

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CROZET gazette

JULY 2016

From the Editor Let’s Do It Ourselves The spirit of Crozet has always been self-reliant because no one else will care to solve our problems for us. The citizens of Crozet have the expertise at hand to do an update review of the Crozet Master Plan for themselves. We should undertake it now through our civic organizations while crucial development outcomes are in flux and may yet be positively affected by clearer wording and maps.

The terms of the Master Plan call for it to be reviewed every five years and in the normal schedule a revision would have occurred in 2015. County planners are working on master plans for other areas, however, and the Crozet update has been put off until 2019. That’s partially a statement about how sound the plan is, but also a risk that features of it that are not explicitly clear will be continue to be wrongly interpreted.

County planners recommended

This chart was created in June by county planner Elaine Echols at the request of the CCAC, in an attempt to calculate how close Crozet is to its maximum build out (as defined in the Master Plan) including already approved and/or proposed but not-yetbuilt homes. The chart does not include by-right projects or other vacant parcels within the growth area.

in favor of the Adelaide, Restore’N Station and West Glen developments, all of which were formally opposed in resolutions by the Crozet Community Advisory Committee, which cited the plan’s specific language in taking their positions. Lack of specificity and vague maps were cited by Planning Commissioners for dismissing the people’s considered opposi-

tion and approving Adelaide and West Glen anyway.

County planners are working for the developers, their clients, and not as the protectors of the public’s documented and ratified will. If the plan is not sufficiently clear, then let’s make it that way. The update should start with a new survey of Crozet opinion on town growth issues.

CROZET gazette

MICHAEL J. MARSHALL, Publisher and Editor news@crozetgazette.com | 434-466-8939

© The Crozet Gazette

LOUISE DUDLEY, Editorial Assistant louise@crozetgazette.com

the

Published on the first Thursday of the month by The Crozet Gazette LLC, P.O. Box 863, Crozet, VA 22932

Member, Virginia Press Association

ALLIE M. PESCH, Art Director and Ad Manager ads@crozetgazette.com | 434-249-4211

In response to a February request from the CCAC about how many housing units were approved and in “the pipeline” to be built, planners sent a report in June that tracks units created in rezonings. The figure is about 1,700 approved and near-approved units.

This accounting does not include by-right developments,

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: John Andersen, Clover Carroll, Marlene Condon, Elena Day, Phil James, Charles Kidder, Dirk Nies, Jerry Reid, Robert Reiser, Rebecca Schmitz, Roscoe Shaw, Heidi Sonen, David Wagner, Denise Zito.

continued on page 8

Don’t miss any of the hometown news everybody else is up on. Pick up a free copy of the Gazette at one of many area locations or have it delivered to your home.

Mail subscriptions are available for $29 for 12 issues. Send a check to Crozet Gazette,

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CROZET gazette

JULY 2016

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referendum the Annexation and Revenue Sharing Agreement Send your letters to the editor to THANK YOU, NEIGHBORS was approved by county voters. news@crozetgazette.com. Letters will In 1987, the Commonwealth AND FRIENDS! not be printed anonymously. Letters of Virginia placed a moratorium do not necessarily reflect the opinions on annexation of the type being of the Crozet Gazette.

January considered by Charlottesville but unfortunately, the revenue 6588 Plank Road $355,000 The Vue: PHA Is Wearing the sharing agreement was in place Black Hat with no easy method to overFebruary turn it.

We in Crozet know that the Some points to consider: 365 Claremont Lane $300,000 Piedmont Housing Alliance 1. The City of Charlottesville 8020 West End Drive $383,500 does many wonderful things, has never shared a penny but are mystified that the PHA with Albemarle.

1537 Ballard Drive $289,900 has collaborated with William 2. Several times the City of Park, Vue Realty Partners, and Charlottesville has cost the March Pinnacle Construction and county unplanned expendi754 Golf View Drive $595,000 Development Corporation to tures, yet the county has conmake it possible to cram nine tinued to pay the annual revApril apartment buildings and 126 enue sharing fee instead of (rental at market price) apartattempting to deduct these 6742 Welbourne Lane $605,000 ment units on 4.29 acres in the unscheduled costs from the 7668 Birchwood Hill Road $678,020 middle of our single-home annual payment.

For neighborhood. instance, several years ago, Harvest Farms Lane $532,000 They are violating the intent the City of Charlottesville of the Crozet Master Plan (six stopped supporting the May units per acre), demolishing one Rivanna Solid Waste of our historical houses, and Authority, yet citizens of 5255 Park Ridge Court $487,500 dismissing the concerns of the Charlottesville still bring 367 Normandy Drive $690,000 local residents. trash to the Ivy Transfer We know the PHA has the Station.

Currently the 715 Lenox Hill Drive $810,000 legal right to buy and sell and county would like to move 7331 Millburn Court $599,000 profit from property as they the courts out of the city but 255 Grayrock Drive $387,500 wish, but we find what has been Charlottesville wants to comdone in Crozet and the way it plete a study. Delayed costs 1203 Afton Mountain $216,500 has been done contrary to what are increased costs to county 1769 Old Trail Drive $615,000 most would expect of them, a citizens. publicly supported agency who 3. Thanks to the Charlottesville claims as one of its missions “to Regional Chamber of June help build community.”

Commerce, we recently 406 Burchs Creek $440,000 The PHA may wish to wash learned that since the midtheir hands of responsibility 80s, the gas bill to citizens 7153 Hampstead Drive $525,000 (“We have not been involved in included a built-in fee of as 5231 Park Ridge Court $640,000 the planning.”), but they knew much as $3,700,000 (a pro354 Claremont Lane $559,000 when they sold the property to gram called PILOT), which William Park and his compawent to the City of 1613 Old Trail Drive $280,000 nies what it meant for the Charlottesville’s general 291 Grayrock Drive $395,000 Crozet neighbors. fund. Since at least 1/3, if not more of those natural gas 5321 Ashlar Drive $610,000 Jon D. Mikalson customers are county citi4053 Free Union Road $485,000 Crozet zens, that money should 5349 Windy Ridge Road $419,000 come back to the county, not $280,092,577 Lost be retained by the city, or it 1235 Red Pine Court $377,000 for Albemarle County Use should be deducted from the annual revenue fee.

If you are a newcomer to 4. Ask yourself what the county IF YOU ARE IN THE Albemarle County, you may not could do with the MARKET TO BUY Salespersonyou of the Year REALTOR® of the Year be aware that since 1982/19832013 CAAR $15,767,084 and your 2015 CAAR the citizens of Albemarle neighbors will give OR SELL A HOME, County have lost the use of Charlottesville in January of CALL ME! $280,092,577 to build schools, 2017 2013 or with the estimated (434) 960-4333 CAAR Salesperson of the Year 2015 CAAR REALTOR® of the Year roads, bridges, and courts due annual $1,233,000 PILOT deniserameyrealtor@gmail.com to an agreement between the www.deniseramey.com money that toSalesperson the 2013goes CAAR of the Year 2015 CAAR REALTOR® of the Year Old Ivy Way, Suite 200 • Charlottesville, Virginia 22903 City of Charlottesville and the Charlottesville350 general fund County of Albemarle. from county citizens.

In the early 80s there was 5. It is time for our county (434) 960-4333 concern that the City of supervisors to take a tough deniserameyrealtor@gmail.com deniserameyrealtor@gmail.com Charlottesville was going to stance and direct the county www.deniseramey.com www.deniseramey.com annex portions of the county attorney to review the agreeIvy Suite Way,200 Suite 200 • Charlottesville, 350350 OldOld Ivy Way, • Charlottesville, Virginia 22903Virginia 22903 and after much discussion and a continued on page 8

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CROZET gazette

JULY 2016

ReStore’N —continued from page 1

on the store’s well limits the amount of water that can be drawn. Self-reporting of water use by Sprouse asserted that the gas station uses about 25 percent of what is available.

Sprouse also asked for the limits on hours of operation and the prohibition against overnight parking to be removed, and for permission to add two diesel pumps. The original permit also imposed a limit of 3,000 square feet to the site’s building. Sprouse offered an engineer’s report that said that the rate of well recharge was above the rate of withdrawal and therefore not a threat to neighboring wells of residents in Freetown, a historically black community that was born at the end of the Civil War. White Hall District Commissioner Jennie More said it was hard to look at the issue as a water use adjustment, as Sprouse and Higgins said, and not a move to introduce new uses.

Crozet Community Advisory Committee member John Savage presented the CCAC’s resolution against the changes as contrary to the Crozet Master Plan, which tries to limit commercial growth along the highway. Neighbors from Freetown also explained their opposition, fearing for their wells and asserting that the station had not lived by the terms imposed in its permit to shut down the pumps overnight and to prevent trucks from parking there.

More noted that Brownsville Market nearby uses 1,000 gallons of water every day and that

better “comparables”—data from like stores in other locations—for the station’s water use be found. Sprouse reported using about one-quarter of that.

More suggested that a low customer base could account for the lower use.

Sprouse had a grandfathered right to connect to public water because of a 200-year-old cabin on the property, but forfeited it when he demolished the cabin without getting a demolition permit.

Commissioners worried that allowing the expansion would raise water demand above the well’s allowed use and thus leave the new businesses short of water and asking for the right to connect to public water supplies.

Removing the conditions could maneuver the county into a position where it would be reluctant to harm the new businesses who later found themselves without enough water. If, in distress, the property were later allowed access to public water, the whole process behind the 2010 special use permit, an expression of rural water use policy, would be subverted.

“I think you will find more intense use than there is today,” offered commissioner Bruce Dotson. “I think there are good reasons to think water use would exceed 1625 [gallons].”

Commissioner Mac Lafferty said, “The conditions were put in place by the supervisors to limit water use. They should still be valid and we should keep them.”

Commissioner Pam Riley said, “It’s not easy to predict water use until we know what the [business] uses are.”

The vote to deny went 6-0.

The Restore’N Station property on Route 250

CROZET gazette

JULY 2016

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Commission Approves Request for Road Over Powells’ Creek A request by Southern Development to build a road though critical slopes and across floodplain along Powells Creek to reach the Crozet Crossing neighborhood, an extension of Orchard Acres, and build 74 more houses there under the name West Glen was approved by a 3-1 bare-quorum vote of the Albemarle County Planning Commission June 21. White Hall District Commissioner Jennie More recused herself from the decision when discussion was about to start, explaining that her house is near the neighborhood and that its value could be potentially affected by the outcome of the vote.

Commissioners Tim Keller and Karen Firehock were absent.

Southern Development representative Charlie Armstrong said the object is to connect Orchard Drive to Cling Lane via a new road over the creek.

Three, 8-foot-by-10-foot box culverts placed in the creek would allow it a flood rise of six feet and so remain nearly within management guidelines.

The 1990 special use permit granted to allow a stream crossing for Cling Lane to enable the development of the otherwise difficult-to-access land limited the number of allowable houses in Crozet Crossings to 30, rather than the 60 then asked for, until a second connection to Orchard Drive was found to answer fire/rescue services’ need for an alternative way in. The proposed plan opens the cul de sac of Cling Lane into a through street leading to Jarmans Gap Road.

Southern also asked for two conditions in the County’s “recommended action” to be lifted, which would have raised the density of new units above the R6 designation specified in the Crozet Master Plan and allowed lots to be within the 100-foot stream buffer zone. Southern’s unofficial site plan showed a density of about R10 with a mix of smaller single-family homes and townhouses. Armstrong said that the the company has a “private agreement with the land owner,” Piedmont Housing

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Alliance, to make 15 percent of the new units “affordable.”

Crozet resident Kim Connelly, a former Crozet Community Advisory Council member, spoke against the proposal. “We have these [steam protection] rules to protect the environment. Why should we take a chance and break the rules? I don’t see an advantage. I only see a detriment to the community.”

No representative of the

CCAC was on hand to present its resolution opposed to the stream crossing.

Crozet Crossings resident Robin Lueke asked for permission to read it to the commission and then was given time to make a personal plea to spare the established neighborhood, where children now play in the road without fear of traffic.

“This plan doesn’t increase connectivity,” observed com-

continued on page 38

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CROZET gazette

JULY 2016

Semper Fi, Eagle Scout Crozet Boy Scout Troop 79 has produced seven Eagle Scouts so far this year and two more are coming. Jonathan Bowman

had his Court of Honor July 1 at Crozet United Methodist Church and received scouting’s top rank. Only five percent of

scouts reach it. Three days later he left for Marine Corps basic training at Parris Island in South Carolina.

Bowman joined the troop in 2009 and advanced steadily up the ranks, but only had six

New Eagle Scout Jonathan Bowman, center, with his family. From left sisters Rachael, Catheryn and Ruth, his grandmother Hulga Bowman, with aunt and uncle Rebecca and David Bowman behind her, and on the right parents Jeff and Elizabeth Bowman and grandparents Malcolm and Jackie Underwood.

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weeks of eligibility left when he set out to accomplish his Eagle Scout project, which was the replacement of four decaying picnic tables at Lebanon Presbyterian Church in Greenwood.

Scoutmaster Gary Conley noted that in reviewing photos of Bowman’s years in the troop, which are typically scenes from camping trips, he found that “They always show Jonathan doing something. He’s been a good example and we’re proud to have him in our troop.”

Assistant scoutmaster Mark Adams praised Bowman, nicknamed “Stack,” as “long-suffering and amazingly strong, fast and agile. He’s a force to be reckoned with with the wrestling moves he’s learned.”

Adams also noted Bowman’s penchant for peeling off his shirt and willingness to be cold or wet in order to keep his shirt dry and available in reserve.

Adams reminded the other scouts on hand of the occasion when Bowman’s canoe capsized in the Rock Garden rapids section of the James River. It’s a dangerous passage, but all turned out well.

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CROZET gazette Seven other Eagle Scouts stood and repeated the Eagle Scout Oath when Bowman recited it and next received his pin from his mother Elizabeth and his blue Eagle handkerchief from his father Jeff. He in turn gave them Eagle pins in recognition of their help in motivating and supporting him to meet the challenging requirements of the rank.

“A lot of boys don’t have what it takes to move forward,” said Conley, “the drive, and you have to face the Eagle project.

The Eagle Award is earned, not granted. But it’s not earned just by you, but by your parents and other scouts who help you as well.”

Dad Jeff Bowman called his mother Hulga forward from the audience when he received his Eagle pin from his son. She had a felt ribbon holding the rank pins her two boys had earned in their days in scouting. Each had achieved Life rank, the one below Eagle. Jeff added his pin from Jonathan to her ribbon.

Her green sash was crowned. It was a tribute from her men, and she felt honor in it.

Assistant scoutmaster Hu Shaffer noted all the letters of commendation Bowman had received from state and national political leaders, from NASA, including a letter from the

JULY 2016 White House.

His Marine Corps recruiter Staff Sargent Brian Brenemann praised the character traits Bowman demonstrated in achieving the rank. “We recognize the brotherhood and fellowship and networking of the Boy Scouts,” he said. “This is a great step and the Marine Corps recognizes you, too.”

When he was given the floor Bowman said, “I want to thank everyone who helped me. These have been the best years of my life.” Turning to the row where his fellow scouts sat, he said, “You guys are my brotherhood.

It means a lot to me.”

Bowman earned 24 merit badges. The rank requires 21 and 11 of those are mandated.

He said his favorite was Orienteering, which he also enjoyed teaching to younger scouts, and his least favorite was Winter Survival because the conditions in which you have to camp are so severe.

Bowman, the youngest of five and the only boy, said he’d been thinking about joining the Marines out of high school for a couple of years. “I need a ‘gap year’. I don’t know what I would do in college and I can’t afford to pay for it. A friend of mine had gone through basic training and… I ship out Monday.”

Starr Hill’s Jambeeree On Saturday, June 25, Starr Hill Brewery hosted its first event at their newly dubbed “Hangar Park,” event space— the former ConAgra truck docking lot across the street from the tasting room, with impressive Blue Ridge views.

Over 15 Virginia breweries came to IPA Jambeeree. Guests could enjoy tastings of over 50 different India pale ales, as well as brewer talks and live music, including local favorites Sons of Bill. Proceeds from the event benefited Claudius Crozet Park.

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CROZET gazette

JULY 2016

From the Editor —continued from page 2

such as Westlake Hills, which has 125 houses, Chesterfield Landing with 25, Foothill Crossings, downtown residential units in Barnes or other parcels, etc. We need an updated report that includes active developments that did not go through rezonings and properties whose potential, by-right, remains for the moment on the sidelines. That number is still unknown.

We are obviously very close to reaching the master plan build-out ceiling already, even with the 2.4 residents per unit multiplier the county applied to get to a guesstimate Crozet population of 6,800. My personal estimate of the town’s population is more like 7,500+. We were officially at 5,500 in the 2010 Census. To me, it’s much more noticeably crowded here since six years ago and we may easily have added 2,000 residents rather than 1,300. What if a more accurate multiplier is 2.7 or even 3 residents per dwelling?

As School Board member

David Oberg’s comments to the CCAC in June confirm, we likely need a new elementary school in Crozet. Essential “eastern avenue” is not in prospect, as it will take county money for the bridge. As usual, the crowding comes before the infrastructure to handle it.

This is that much more reason to proceed with our own review of the Master Plan, rather than have county planners evaluate potential developments against obsolete information. Meanwhile we should cast a cold eye on new higher-density proposals.

The plan is about achieving a liveable, desirable town, not simply packing as many people in as possible and ending up with a town we don’t like. We agreed to grow roughly 5 times bigger, to 12,500. That’s plenty to digest.

The Master Plan is county government’s bargain with the Crozet-area residents who made the plan knowing we must live under it. We deserve to have the plan respected. First, we move to defend it.

To the Editor —continued from page 3

ment with the idea that the city has breached the agreement by not including the PILOT funds in the annual calculations for the past 31 years.

This is taxation without representation.

Bill Schrader Crozet Back the Tebow Bill I am writing this letter in support of the Tebow Bill. The Tebow Bill has been introduced

by Delegate Robert Bell of Charlottesville. The bill states that home-schooled students should be eligible to play sports on their local high school teams.

The students would be required to show two consecutive years of proof of academic progress and would be required to follow all the rules and codes of conduct applicable to public high school athletes. The bill does not say schools are required to permit home-schooled students to play in interscholastic sports,

but it gives the individual schools the choice to “opt in.”

Currently, thirty-one states allow home-schooled students to play interscholastic sports.

I am a rising 8th grader who has been home-schooled since first grade. I like being homeschooled because I can work at my own pace. I can learn more about stuff that I might want to do when I grow up. And instead of coming home after a school day and having to do homework, I can spend that time doing other things. I do well on my end of the year standardized test, which is used to show proof of progress each year. I started playing baseball at Peachtree when I was 6 and currently play for a local travel team. I have played with a handful of the same boys throughout those years and they will most likely end up playing for Western’s baseball team. It would nice to be able to try out with those boys and play with them in high school.

Fortunately, this area offers options to play sports in high school outside of the public school system. However, for other areas in our state or for

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CROZET gazette

JULY 2016

individual kids, those options may not be available or financially doable. If this bill is passed, those kids could continue to be home-schooled and have the opportunity to play sports in high school. It seems unfair that those families who have chosen to home-school their kids for academic growth should not be allowed the opportunity to have their kids be eligible to at least try out to play sports at the high school level.

Andrew Russamano Crozet Appreciation for Music & Video

Maupin’s

Though it did not come as a great surprise, my heart sunk when I first read that Maupin’s Music & Video is closing. Now there’s the looming “Going Out of Business” sign on the door.

With great compassion, gratitude, and a heavy heart, I say goodbye.

I wish the Maupin brothers and their families magical adventures traveling to grandchildren and other beloveds in upcoming semi-retirement. This is of course what any business owner works toward as a final goal, right? I can’t let you go, however, without telling you what you’ve meant to me over the last twenty years.

For the closing of Maupin’s Music & Video deserves at least a moment of reflection upon the loss and legacy of the last video store in our world; a chewing on what is over and over again being ditched in 21st century life: humanity. And I say these things fully understanding that to everything there is a season. I say these things because we are losing much more than a video store.

Maupin’s Music and Video had a phenomenal library of movies! Moreover, Maupin’s Music & Video had humanity in spades. In their article to us (June 2016 Gazette), the Maupin Brothers talk about daily interaction with customers and being part of a conversation. This face-to-face/peoplebeing-together is what is disappearing at all levels of human interaction in these times of a mass consumer-driven, corporate-run, automated world. And it’s more than just sad—the loss

that this stands for is a tragic loss of human connection that began when screen time was born and has spiraled out of control in the last decade.

I remember when I was a child, I’d gaze upon my father having a conversation with the grocery store clerk during the check-out process. Today children gaze upon their parents gazing upon their screens, and clerks too are gazing upon a screen, all standing inches within audible heartbeats of one another. Alternately, we’ve got the ever efficient keep-the-bottom-line-down self-check-out which actually requires another human being at a computer five feet away, multi-tasking so crazily that any interaction that becomes necessary is stressful, rushed, and mostly unpleasant.

But, still, there was the refuge of Maupin’s—a sweet elixir, a safe harbor with eye contact, conversation, even a pen and piece of paper that both customer and clerk used in communion! I could drop in at Maupin’s and bear-hug humanity, starved for such hugs. One day when I was browsing through movie titles, the Allman Brothers’ Melissa played on the stereo. I confessed how much I loved that old record Eat a Peach. When I went in to return the movie, there was a burned CD of Eat a Peach waiting for me.

Every time I went into Maupin’s there was of course the question of the movie I was about to watch and whether or not it came with a thumbs up.

Sometimes brief, sometimes with shared smiles or frowns, it was conversation that fed my hyper-screen-time buzzing head and heart, depleted from too much time spent in the machination of an automaton 21st century.

Then there were the late fees… NOT. It’s unthinkable in this day that you’d ever be spared a late fee, be given a little extra time. But here’s how the conversation went more times than not: Me: “When is this video due back?”

Maupin Brother: “Aw, Saturday, but it’s okay if you keep it an extra day or two. We know where to find you.”

I pray at this writing that the lack of late fee revenue is not

continued on page 32

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CROZET gazette

JULY 2016

Camp Wahoo —continued from page 1

Crozet YMCA Community

Pool

of the camp remain the same.

“It’s about being active, and having a healthy lifestyle,” said Fred Wawner, whose grandfather, Gene Corrigan, founded the camp, and who now runs the camp along with Corrigan’s daughter Kathy and her husband, Tony Zentgraf.

“Fair play and good humor.

Those are the two tenets, I would say. It’s really important that you learn not just to play, but to play well,” added Tony Zentgraf, a former U.Va. baseball player who teaches PE at Burley Middle School during the school year.

For the past 10 years, Camp Wahoo has remained focused on not just skills and drills, but sportsmanship and teamwork.

“This is what sports in America should be about,” said camp counselor Rebecca Tweel Jolin. “It’s about knowing how to win and how to lose.

Knowing how to be a good competitor, a good teammate, and a good person. You can apply anything you learn here to anything you do. How you are in the field is how you’re going to be in the classroom, and how you’re going to be in life. It’s about bringing integrity to everything you’re doing.”

The camp is unique not just because of its emphasis on sportsmanship and fair play, but because of its history. Camp Wahoo was born in 1957, when a group of friends were seeking a way to pass the time during the summer months and earn extra money. Gene Corrigan coached soccer and lacrosse at Washington and Lee (and, a few years later, at U.Va.) and Weenie

Miller coached basketball at W&L. Billy McCann was the head basketball coach at U.Va., and Jack Null coached basketball at VMI. “They were all friends, and they loved to play,” said Kathy with a laugh. “Even though this place was filthy, and hot, they had a great time together. They didn’t mind it because they were having a good time.” The six-week-long camp involved a multitude of sports, including basketball, lacrosse, baseball, archery, and horseback riding.

“When they first started, the first 3 or 4 years, it was a struggle,” Tony said. “They had to do everything themselves. Then it took off as a boys’ basketball camp,” after Bones McKinney, who played for the Boston Celtics and later coached at Wake Forest, approached the men and suggested they reinvent the camp with a focus on basketball. “There was only one other basketball camp in the country at the time,” Tony said.

“They got ‘Pistol’ Pete Maravich to come to the camp, and then [NBA player] Jerry West came out to coach.” With such a high-profile roster of coaches there each summer, the camp eventually grew to 200 to 300 boys. Corrigan’s niece, Debbie Ryan, long-time women’s basketball coach at U.Va., got her start there, and she wasn’t the only notable camper to wander the Miller School’s sprawling grounds each summer. Author Pat Conroy was a camper, and his experience made such an impression on him that he wrote about it in his book My Losing Season.

Despite its success, the camp left Charlottesville in 1967, when Corrigan moved on to

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Camp Wahoo on the steps of Miller School’s Old Main

CROZET gazette

JULY 2016

become assistant director of the ACC. (He later became athletic director at U.Va. and then at Notre Dame, and was eventually commissioner of the ACC.) After a stint in Lexington, the camp faded away, only to be revived again years later at a Corrigan family gathering.

“At a family reunion in 2001, everyone was singing the Camp Wahoo song,” Tony remembered. “We started talking about our memories here and said, ‘why don’t we bring the camp back?” Wawner added. “At the time, I was working here [the Miller School, where he was athletic director and basketball coach], so it was a natural connection.”

Although Wawner is now athletic director at a boarding school in Hawaii, he comes back every summer with his wife and four children, who all attend the camp.

Thus, Camp Wahoo was reborn a few years later, and in 2016 celebrated its 10th anniversary. “What we try to do is bring it back to 1957, and how it was when the camp was founded,” Tony said. Camp counselor Tweel Jolin noted that “They feel very strongly about the sense of legacy here, and they’ve kept the legacy going. Tony talks about it a lot. He’s very passionate about what Camp Wahoo has meant over the years and who’s been a part of it. There’s a reunion every year, and everyone who’s been affiliated with the camp is invited. It’s like a close-knit family.”

Junior counselor Ben Montes-Bradley, who first came to Camp Wahoo as a camper, echoes these sentiments. The rising sophomore at Western noted that, “There are some kids here who I consider to be like younger brothers or sisters. It’s like another family. It’s a home outside of home. I feel welcome, and I think everyone should be.

And I think everyone is.”

Camp Wahoo is for rising 4th graders through rising 9th graders, and runs for one week in the summer, from Sunday through Friday. Nearly all campers stay overnight in the Miller School residence hall, but they have the option to sign up as “day campers” if they choose. Once campers turn 15, they can serve as junior counselors. “You have a little more authority when you’re a junior counselor,” Montes-Bradley said. “You help out the senior counselors. You make sure

11

Badminton tournament beside Old Main.

everything is running smoothly. The senior counselors can’t see everything, so you are their eyes and ears.” Junior counselors also help out in the dining hall, and have opportunities to learn outdoor skills such as building a fire and tying different types of knots.

In keeping with the camp’s emphasis on teamwork, the counselors reward the younger campers when they demonstrate the camp’s values. Junior counselor Taylor Sheffield, who started out at Camp Wahoo as a camper seven years ago, said, “Whenever we see something that stands out to us, like a camper helping someone out, or making sure another camper’s okay, or being very positive, we reward them with Fireballs. Or when I’m watching a game like lacrosse, and I see a kid that could clearly take a shot for herself instead toss it to someone else who hasn’t had the opportunity to score yet, I’ll give her a Fireball. It’s one of the happiest moments when you get one. I still have one of my wrappers saved!”

Days at Camp Wahoo are packed with games of every variety. “Field sports, net sports, everything you can think of!” Tweel

Jolin said. In the morning, campers learn “skills and drills” for two sports—say, soccer and badminton—then break during the hottest part of the afternoon for “shade tree games,” which include everything from Scrabble to board games to paper football.

In addition to tennis, lacrosse, and other sports commonly played in Virginia, the camp recruits experts to teach the campers nontraditional sports from Europe, such as cricket. In the late afternoon, they play a tournament in one of the sports they learned earlier, then break for dinner, then have a final tournament before bedtime. No technology—phones or computers—is allowed at camp.

“The whole camp is divided into four teams, named after our founders,” says Camp Director Fred Wawner’s daughter Ali, a rising 6th grader. “The teams are together the whole week and compete together in all the tournaments.” The co-ed teams are made up of a mix of age groups.

Ninth grade camper Joe Hawkes loves the atmosphere of tournaments. “Everyone is so continued on page 39

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JULY 2016

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The June 4th work crew stands in front of the Shiflett chimney high up the side of a mountain. L-R: Phil James, Frank Gibson, Lawrence Kephart, Larry Lamb, Paul Cantrell, Keith Ford, Mary Ellen Ford, Darryl Whidby, Jackie Whidby, Sally James, Joe Jones. (Not pictured: Debbie Lamb, who took this photo)

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On a fine Saturday in early June, a group of strong-backed folks made another significant move—literally!!—to make the memorial of the Albemarle Blue Ridge Heritage Project a reality.

The ABRHP is one of eight chapters of the BRHP creating a memorial in each of the eight counties surrounding Shenandoah National Park, and each of these memorials will honor the families of its respective county who were displaced to create SNP. Under the watchful eye of stone mason Darryl Whidby, and under the direction of Keith Ford with his men Lawrence Kephart and Frank Gibson of Cavalier Septic, and with Larry Lamb who has moved several chimneys and log buildings, the sturdy chimney donated by J. Temple Bayliss was—temporarily—brought down. The chimney had stood at the homeplace of Zermie and Addie Shiflett up a rather wild road into what is now wooded

mountainside. Until a lateafternoon thunderstorm made passage too difficult, these men and Joe Jones labored with equipment and strong hands to bring the chimney down and move the rock to the memorial site at Patricia Ann Byrom Forest Preserve Park. Keith and his crew trailered several loads by tractor the few miles down Route 810.

At lunchtime, Mary Ellen Ford and Debbie Lamb spread out a picnic feast under the trees, and everyone, including the support crew of Paul Cantrell, Jackie Whidby, and Phil and Sally James, enjoyed their efforts.

It was a bittersweet moment to witness the cascading rocks worked by an unknown mason as they tumbled into a heap.

But it is with hope that many folks will learn of families like the Shifletts as these stones are laid up again with Darryl’s expert skill.

To learn more about the project and to see photos of the continued on page 43

CROZET gazette

JULY 2016

By Phil James

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phil@crozetgazette.com

W. Roy Mason: Faithful Under Fire During the early decades of the 20th century, one man with the firmest of convictions stood in direct opposition to the makers of illicit alcohol and the evils imposed on individuals and families by its manufacture.

His was no simple feat.

Wiley Roy Mason was born in King George County, Virginia, not far from the Potomac River in the region referred to as the Northern Neck. As a young man, his heart turned toward a life of service to others. He graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1904, and subsequently enrolled in Virginia Theological Seminary at Alexandria.

Around the time of his graduation from VTS in 1907, he was approached by Archdeacon of the Blue Ridge Rev. Frederick Neve and Rev. George Mayo. Mayo’s missionary work in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Albemarle and Greene Counties had yielded much fruit and more laborers were needed in that field. Roy Mason, 28 years of age by this time, agreed to join in their work and arrived at Mission Home on the border of Albemarle and Greene in August.

George Mayo was anxious to pursue his vision of an industrial school built in the mountains to board local youths and teach them practical farming and mechanical skills. By 1909, Rev. W. Roy Mason had become “Priest in charge” of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mission District #2 with its headquarters at Mission Home. His field encompassed churches and

parochial schools at Mission Home, Frazier’s [Lost] Mountain, Simmon’s Gap, Bacon Hollow and Blackwell’s Hollow.

That year he built a two-story rectory at Mission Home, even as Rev. Mayo was opening Blue Ridge Industrial School at St. George in Bacon Hollow (today’s private Blue Ridge School at Dyke).

The church’s work in the mountains was meeting many needs and growing as a result, but its labors were anything but easy. Among the difficulties encountered in their outreach to many of their families were the multilayered problems associated with the local alcohol trade. Drunkenness and the resultant brawling endangered and further impoverished the families of those involved, as well as put the mission workers who served them at some personal risk.

Mason wrote: “The love of brandy is so deep and the moral standard is so low, that even the women keep and sell it, defying the law to convict them; for witnesses can scarcely be found, to tell the truth in court.”

Archdeacon Neve wrote, “Mr. Mason soon

W. Roy Mason (1878–1967) “Missionary—Priest—Bishop” [Photo courtesy of the Larry Lamb Collection]

realized that if these conditions were to be changed and the law abiding and respectable were to be protected... he would have to do some fighting.”

And so Roy Mason did, announcing in May 1911 that he planned to “declare war on the whiskey trade in the mountains.”

Within months, multiple threats were made upon his life.

During one surprise close encounter, an armed assailant raised his gun and pulled the trigger, but the weapon did not fire, no doubt imbuing Mason with a personal example of divine intervention.

Neither were others associated with the mission work immune from threats of violence. In October of the following year the Daily Progress, beneath a bold headline stating “MISSIONARY’S LIFE IS THREATENED,” reported the following: “Conflicts with illicit whiskey makers, attempts to repress the rowdy and a determination to remain with the mission had brought upon Rev. Mr. Mason and his assistants the bitterest enmity of the lawlessness in the mountains. Threats and attempts upon the life of the workers were of common occurrence... [and] the best people of that community live in daily expectation of continued on page 14

Constructed of native stone by the skilled hands of local mountain craftsmen, “St. Anne’s Preventorium for rebuilding children,” at Mission Home, Greene Co., was built with the oversight of Rev. Roy Mason in 1931. The magnificent 300’ long hospital replaced a much smaller clinic attached to the mission’s rectory that had been destroyed by fire. [Photo courtesy of the Larry Lamb Collection]

Roy Mason was born and raised near King George Courthouse, VA. His life’s work of Christian ministry was lived out in Charlottesville and Albemarle County. He was buried alongside generations of his ancestors at St. John’s Episcopal Church, back in the town of his youth. [Photo by Phil James]

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Mason

—continued from page 13

outbreak and possible tragedy at the hands of the moonshiners.

At one of the magistrate court trials one of the mountaineers pointed his gun at Rev. Mr. Mason’s head and snapped it twice. The cartridge failed to explode.”

In 1913, Mason started up a vinegar operation. He noted, “We are paying the same price for apples that the distilleries offer. In this way the people can feel that they are getting honest money and can no longer complain that we are taking bread out of their children’s mouths when we close a distillery.”

Our Mountain Work, a newsletter of the Diocese of Virginia, carried the following headline “A GREAT VICTORY” on its front page in May 1914: “One of the most important events connected with our work in the

mountains for a long time has been the great victory won by the Rev. Roy Mason of Mission Home, Virginia...

He started out almost alone, as those who sympathized with him were afraid to express their sentiments...

So he himself has had to bear the brunt of the fight alone, well knowing that at any time his life might have to be sacrificed for the This sewing class at Frazier’s Mountain (aka Lost Mountain) School near Mission Home, led by cause...

Episcopal Church missionary Miss Margaret Proffe, taught homemaking skills to young girls from “As time went the nearby mountains. [Photo courtesy of the Larry Lamb Collection] on, however, his friends gained courage and and that he was simply trying to Mountains. Other deserving gradually the sentiment in favor remove something which had honors were his as well, includof the distilleries changed. Men been a curse to them and to the ing his election as the first who had been his opponents community... The war has come Suffragen Bishop of Virginia in came to see that he was right to an end, through the complete 1942. triumph of this valiant chamWith the establishment of pion of law and order and on Shenandoah National Park in May 1st, 1914, every licensed 1936 came the elimination of distillery in Albemarle and some missionary outposts as Greene Counties was closed...” well as the closing of others due Though he passed on to his to the removal/relocation of eternal reward on Christmas many of their parishioners. As Day 1967, Roy Mason remains roads and modes of transportabeloved by those who knew tion improved, local governhim. As was the case with ments began to assume their Archdeacon Neve, his memory long-neglected responsibility to was also perpetuated through educate all of the children in the bestowing of his name on their jurisdictions, including several newborn babies. He those in remote areas. Thus served a total of 27 years in the ended one of the primary Blue Ridge, 16 as Archdeacon endeavors of those compassionwith oversight of the entire the- ate laborers in the Blue Ridge ater of work in the Blue Ridge Mountain Mission Work.

Two of the mountain children who received care at St. Anne’s Preventorium at Mission Home, VA, c.1930s. The healing work of the Preventorium was originated

by Episcopal missionary Miss Annie Park at Yancey, Lynnwood Parish, Rockingham Co. It was moved to the rectory at Mission Home in 1928. [Photo courtesy of the Larry Lamb Collection]

During the spring of 1911, Rev. Roy Mason publicly declared war on the whiskey trade—legal and illegal—in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Albemarle and Greene Counties. This headline appeared in Charlottesville’s Daily Progress newspaper in October 1912. In 1914, it was published that every licensed distillery in the counties of Albemarle and Greene had been closed.

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 © 2003–2016 Phil James

CROZET gazette

JULY 2016

Alison Jewett

Sunny Times at the Crozet Farmers Market Alison Jewett, doing business as Avant Gardens, is in her second year at the Crozet Farmer’s Market, held in the parking lot of Crozet United Methodist Church every Saturday morning beginning at 8 a.m.

“I did really well my first year and it’s great this year,” she said.

“I’m no-till and I use only hand tools. No tractor. It’s better for the soil.” She has photos of herself levering a hefty broadfork.

She has a half-acre production garden going at the edge of Yancey Mills.

“I do it all myself.” She uses a scythe made to her sinewy body specs.

Her vegetables plumped with clean, smooth vitality and were handsome. Typically she offers basil, chard, lettuce, heirloom tomatoes, dill and lots of herbs, squash, zucchini, eggplant, potatoes, peppers and okra and a dozen things in all. Plus some jalapeno jelly and

Meyer lemon marmalade, and a T-shirt. She also has 26 freerange hens.

“I’m very passionate about organic and providing a local source for veggies,” said Jewett.

She has been using spent brewing grains from Pro Re Nata in her garden, she said happily.

That gets something right on a new scale.

She was a classically trained musician who played flute and piccolo for the Houston Symphony until she developed a neurological condition known as facial dystonia, which affects the facial muscles, that ended her ability to play.

“I had to retire from my dream job,” she said bravely. “I learned more about what is happening on factory farms and I wanted to get into a smaller scale.”

Jewett apprenticed for a year at an organic farm in Harrisonburg, Radical Roots Farm, where she learned how to do it.

“No pesticides, no herbicides,” she said, “nothing that ends in ‘cide’. A healthy soil creates healthy plants.”

Radical Roots sells at the Charlottesville Farmer’s Market and thus Jewett got acquainted with the area and decided to settle in Crozet.

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CROZET gazette

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Cemetery by the Tracks, An Unsolved Mystery

By Mary Lyons Long ago, the CSX railroad tracks that travel through Crozet had a different name.

Labeled Section 16 while under construction between 1851 and 1854, these 2.75 miles were part of the Blue Ridge Railroad.

They began immediately west of Mechums River Bridge at the intersection of Highways 240 and 250. Continuing west through Crozet, they ended at the area known as Blair Park.

A remote cemetery on Section 16 has been a lingering research puzzle. The plain fieldstone burial markers, placed in a scattered fashion, are only fifty yards or so from train cars that clatter by every day. Six years ago, I pondered the possibility that both Irish and enslaved railroad laborers might be interred in the hilly little graveyard. And so began a lengthy process of scouring Library of Virginia archives. I was looking for payrolls, contracts, letters… any document that would reveal the names of Section 16 contractors and the race of their labor force.

Hoping for expert advice, I also toured the cemetery with two archaeologists on separate occasions in 2011. My impetus was a scrap of oral history from an elderly local resident. He had always heard that the stones mark the burials of Irish men working on the Blue Ridge Railroad. One archaeologist thought the story was plausible.

He said such close proximity of graves to tracks strongly suggests the cemetery was for Irish

railroad casualties. He also said it was improbable that both races occupy it because the Irish never would have buried their dead near slaves. That theory led me to different thoughts.

First, numerous Irish railroad workers were interred at Staunton’s Thornrose Cemetery, which allowed the burial of slaves. Moreover, when a local railroad foreman shot and killed an Irish foreman at Rockfish Gap in June 1850, Irish coworkers took the body a long eighteen miles to Staunton.

Transport was possible only by cart or wagon at that point. But a Catholic burial in ground blessed by a priest would have been supremely important to the Irish, and the only Catholic Church in the region was in Staunton. If no Irish were buried in the Section 16 cemetery, religion—not race—would have been a likelier reason.

The second archaeologist thought the graveyard was for people enslaved on what would have been a nearby plantation.

However, the haphazard stones might mean that successive groups started over, so to speak, in various spots. In other words, slaves were buried there, but the railroad may have used it for Irish fatalities, too. The archaeologists left me with much to consider but no firm clues.

Section 16 was also a conundrum for chief engineer Claudius Crozet. When he finalized plans for the stateowned Blue Ridge Railroad in November 1849, he had no idea if the company would build what he called the “connecting”

The largest grave marker in the Section 16 cemetery. ©2016 Paul Collinge.

This culvert is one of three on Section 16. It’s about 2½ feet wide and 4 feet high.

Enslaved men repaired it in 1853. ©2016 Bob Dombrowe

link between Mechums River and Blair Park. Finally the Virginia Central Railroad, which was building west from Charlottesville to Mechums, agreed in mid-1851 to construct the bridge. Meanwhile,

the Blue Ridge Railroad would build from the bridge to Blair Park. Now Crozet could assign a number to this stretch and choose a contractor. Clement L. Lukins & Company signed up for both Section 16 and the

William Sclater’s letter regarding the death of Sam, May 26, 1854. Courtesy of the Library of Virginia.

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Lukins had hired Irish immigrants for work on the Illinois and Michigan Canal in the 1840s. Payments listed in a Greenwood general store ledger book indicate that he may have used Irish labor again on Section 16 and at the bridge. From September through December 1851, he paid the store for more than 61,000 pounds of beef and mutton. In the same fourmonth period the previous year, two Irish contractors on other sections of the railroad bought about 15,000 pounds of beef and mutton for 140 Irish workers and their family members.

None of these three contractors purchased pork—the usual fare for slaves.

Proportional to the Irish contractors, Lukins and Company fed about 600 workers and family members in 1851. Still, more men were needed. Lukins made multiple trips to Richmond in the first half of 1852. He was probably seeking more hands, and for good reason. Two and one half miles of Section 16 cover relatively flat land. For instance, Claudius Crozet described the terrain at “Mr. Wayland’s farm” just east of Blair Park as “favorable as could be desired.” However, the final portion toward Mechums River was a daunting opponent. In this “lower extremity,” wrote Crozet, “the land swells and rises suddenly; there the line will have to leave its upper surface and will be graded along its western exposure, down [meaning east] to the Valley of Lickinghole Creek.”

Nine contractors in all were involved with Section 16 and its difficult “lower extremity.” Only three fulfilled their commitments. Clement Lukins and his

JULY 2016

Crozet

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SUPPORTING LOCAL Farms, Orchards IN-STORE NOW: and Vendors A nine-inch-wide grave marker buried vertically in the Section 16 cemetery.

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Section 16 partner were five months behind schedule when they transferred their contract to Hugh L. Gallagher and Samuel McElroy in December 1852. Three documents stated that Gallaher and McElroy used “white laborers” and “hired negroes” on other sections they were building for the Blue Ridge Railroad. It’s highly probable, then, that they had a mixed race force on Section 16.

But not for long. Gallagher and McElroy turned over their contract to William M. Sclater and his partner, Robert Richardson, four months later in April 1853.

Sclater used only slaves, or “gangs” as Claudius Crozet called them in his letters.

Sclater was an indefatigable slave scout for Crozet. The following year, he convinced local slaveholders to lease the labor of at least fifty enslaved men for Blue Ridge Railroad work. One of them, Sam, perished in a handcar accident in May 1854.

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Residents of Fluvanna County, William Sclater and his partner found temporary housing near Mechums River and hired Maria Evans, a free woman of color, as cook. Pictured is a receipt for her wages, witnessed by William Graves. He operated a hotel immediately east of Mechums River Depot. Courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society.

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CROZET gazette

JULY 2016

Four Citizens Honored as Crozet Park Names its Gates Crozet Park Board President Kim Guenther held an unveiling ceremony and reception at the park June 16 to announce that the park’s three gates have been named in honor of citizens who have made signal contributions to the park and the community.

The main gate on Park Road was named the Conley Gate in honor of Carroll Conley, who as owner of J.B. Barnes Lumber Company was a repeated bene-

factor of the park, especially in creating the upper little league field. Conley family members, led by his widow Donna, uncovered the sign on the gate.

Conley smiled as she first saw it, sparkling green and white, but soon grief swept over and the honor was bittersweet.

“He always opened gates for people in this community, especially for children,” said Tom Sheets of Staunton, a friend of Conley who came over for the

From left Donna Conley, comforted by Mike Maupin, her daughter Candy Conley with her daughters Samantha (obscured) and Nikki Taylor, with Drew Taylor.

Karl Pomeroy and Becca White

Christian East Christian West

&

a n encounter

occasion. “He probably would have liked a wooden gate.”

The flag pole outside Conley’s lumber yard office is being moved to the park to be placed near the T-ball field, where it will be visible to players on both the upper and lower ball fields.

Jo Ann Perkins agreed that her husband Walter, too, a forester, would have appreciated that wooden gate idea, too. The lower exit gate on Park Road, which is normally closed, is named for now-deceased White Hall District Supervisor Walter Perkins, who served two terms and also was on the School Board, and his wife Jo Ann, a volunteer who has been the park’s treasurer for 30-years.

“Walter got me to be treasurer,” she explained. “He said, ‘this community has helped raise three children and let’s pay it back.’”

Perkins was supervisor when the second gate on Park Road

was approved by VDOT and since it was created it has colloquially been known as the Perkins gate.

Guenther surprised volunteer extraordinaire Karl Pomeroy, who has given countless hours of work and expertise to park needs, by revealing that the Hill Top Street exit gate is now named for him. He was handed the sign and told, in good humor, to go put it up. Pomeroy beamed. He had no inkling.

Then there was a nice sheet cake to eat up, with frosting roses, and three flavors of ice cream.

Guenther herself received the Crozet Community Association’s top award, The Good Neighbor Award, at the July 2 fireworks show. Peachtree Baseball League President Cheryl Madison was also honored with one for outstanding volunteer service to Crozet.

Fr. Stephen Alcott of St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic Church, and Fr. Robert Holet of St. Nicholas Orthodox Church invite you to explore the implications for Church unity arising from the Great Council of the Orthodox Church held in June.

Dr. Gayle Woloschak, Ph.D., who is serving as a liaison in the Press office for the Council, will speak about the highlights of this historic event—followed by a response from Fr. Gerald Fogarty, S.J., Ph.D. There will be plenty of opportunity for open discussion.

Friday, July 15, 6:30–9:00 pm St. Nicholas Orthodox Church

7581 Rockfish Gap Turnpike (US 250 W) Greenwood, VA • (434) 973-2500 www.stnicholasorthodoxchurch.org

Jo Ann Perkins

CROZET gazette

M.S. Lessons —continued from page 1

tion. The damaged myelin is scarred hence the name for the disease. Damaged myelin results in distorted or interrupted nerve signals and a wide variety of symptoms rated from mild to severe. It is believed to be caused by an unknown environmental factor(s), perhaps a viral infection, affecting those who have a genetic susceptibility. There is no cure. Vitamin D and exposure to sunlight might be a factor.

“I originally wanted to be a writer,” said Farr, pointing out that he has become one after all.

When he was 15 he broke his back in P.E. doing a tumbling run and somersault over crouching classmates. He didn’t realize it and went dove hunting with his father, a doctor, the next day, flinching from the gun recoil.

The day after he played tackle football in intense pain.

“I had three fractured vertebrae, a broken back.” He went to six weeks of bed rest and wore a body cast from October through February. “I was alone the whole time. My friends

JULY 2016 went on with their lives. I watched TV for three weeks after it happened. It was implosion therapy. You’re exposed to something so much you get sick of it and quit.

“I took up reading for something to do. I started to use a dictionary. I was all alone, no one to ask. It became enjoyable to read. I started writing short fiction.

“I was very different when I went back to school, like a soldier back from combat. I was serious. I spent more time talking with teachers and I took extra courses each semester. At graduation I was called to the stage 16 times. I had the highest average in everything.

“My Dad wanted me to be a doctor and to go to Johns Hopkins. I read the biographies of William Carlos Williams and B.F. Skinner. They both wanted to be writers. Williams wrote in between patients. Dad wanted me to see what it’s like. I worked in a hospital lab drawing blood.

A doctor helps people during the day and writes at other times. So that was what I decided to do. But I fell in love with med school. I wanted to

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Dr. Barry Farr

prevent infections.

Louis Pasteur said, ‘When mediating a disease, find a means of prevention, not a cure.’

“Epidemiology is very precise numbers,” said Farr. “I fell in love with epidemiology and became president of the epidemiology society and hospital epidemiology at U.Va. I did 18 years until I retired at age 52 as I was becoming paralyzed. I had a chair and 18 post-docs under me.” That’s the major leagues of academics.

“The point of it is, do a good study and share it. The silver lining of my black cloud was

that I never had time to write and then I started. I was two decades into MS at the time. By watching it I had figured out some things. I had more information than most people get to see. It was in front of my face all the time. So I would change things I was doing.

“I began to think I should share what I’d found out before I died. The average age of death of MS patients was 60. That was where I was. I was working on a novel and I thought I could do both. But the books interfered with each other and the doctor

continued on page 40

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CROZET gazette

JULY 2016

State Grants Fund Reopening of Crozet Tunnel

By Jim Crosby The Commonwealth Transportation Board has approved $1.3 million in funding to reopen the original Blue Ridge as a trail, allowing the project to be completed. Two massive interior bulkheads will be removed, the tunnel will be rehabilitated, and a parking area and a walking-and-biking trail to its western portal will be built on the Waynesboro side.

The expectation is that reopening the tunnel as a trail will stimulate tourism and invite greater recreational use of the area. The Blue Ridge Tunnel is located at the convergence of Interstate 64, Route 250, and Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and the Appalachian Trail. The tunnel is just under 700 ft. from the crest of the Blue Ridge at Rockfish Gap, in Afton.

Funding was approved at the CTB’s meeting on June 14, and includes $649,960 for Nelson County and another $649,960 for the city of

Claudius Crozet

Waynesboro. A previous grant allowed Nelson County to build a parking area near the old Afton depot and a trail to the eastern entrance.

The Crozet Tunnel opened in 1858 to allow the railroad to pass through Afton Mountain.

Rather than the customary way of sending freight, downstream in the Valley’s rivers, the tunnel enabled affordable and quick transport of Valley farm products over the Blue Ridge into eastern Virginia, which was relatively affluent, and that tie kept the Valley believing it was Virginia, and not a headwaters of the port of Baltimore.

The 4,273-foot passage took a little over eight years to complete and was the longest tunnel in the United States at the time.

The tunnel was taken out of service 86 years later in 1944, when a replacement tunnel that could handle larger trains was cut through.

The Blue Ridge Tunnel was recognized as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1976, and efforts are currently underway for the tunnel to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Between 1850 and 1858, Claudius Crozet accomplished a major engineering feat. It was also an incredible accomplishment by the contractors and laborers who hand drilled and blasted their way through the mountain, starting from each side and aiming to meet in the dark middle. Using only hand tools and black powder, more than one thousand Irish immigrants and a hundred local slaves worked on its construc-

Old and new East entrances photographed about 1950.

tion. Crews dug a half-mile into the sooty mountain on faith that the two shafts were actually going to meet. The geology of the Blue Ridge at Rockfish Gap—especially on the Piedmont side—consists of greenstone that is, “as hard as can well be conceived,” Crozet said. Several of his letters to the Board of Public Works refer to the rock’s “excessive hardness.”

Laborers “holed through” on December 29, 1856, meeting within inches of the carefully engineered centerline.

The tunnel is 20’ tall and 16’ wide and in the shape of a partial ellipse, which is unique in North America for railroad tunnels. Most of the tunnel length is raw exposed rock, but some portions of the tunnel towards the western portal were brickarched where natural rock was loose.

Crozet devised a horse-powered air pump to bring fresh air into the depths of the tunnel and push the smoke from the

black powder blasts out. He also employed a similar siphon pump to pull water through a 2,000-foot iron pipe and out of the tunnel.

A 1950s project tried to use the Blue Ridge Tunnel for largescale storage of propane. Two concrete bulkheads—one is approximately 1,956 feet from the western entrance and the other approximately 750 feet from the eastern end—were constructed blocking off the middle of the tunnel, but the vault was never successfully used for propane storage due to unstoppable leakage.

The tunnel in 2013

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CROZET gazette

JULY 2016

21

Brendan Ventura

Kevin Blanchard and Myra Khan

They Picked Crozet to Be Home Kevin Blanchard and his fiancée Myra Khan have settled on a lot in the new Westlake Hills section of Crozet for their new house, which will be built

by Homes For Our Troops, a private non-profit foundation based in Taunton, Massachusetts.

The foundation builds mortgage-free, handicapped-accessible homes for severely wounded veterans across the country, about 220 every year.

Works starts on the Blanchard house this month.

Blanchard described it as an L-shaped ranch, all one floor, with a two-car garage and a back porch.

Blanchard applied to the Veterans Administration for a grant to get a house three years ago. Once it happened, he turned the money over to the foundation to get the house built. They will hold a community kick-off event July 30 at Old Trail Golf Club beginning at 9:30 a.m., and they’re hoping 200 people will come. They will ask for volunteers to help with landscaping near the end of the project.

Blanchard, originally from Botetourt County, lost his lower left leg in a roadside bomb explosion in northwestern Iraq in 2005. He was driving a Humvee and was the most seriously injured. His right leg was badly damaged too, but healed after some 30 surgeries and 13 months in Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where his prosthetic leg was fitted. “I’m still

recovering, working on pain and flexibility,” he said. He said he enlisted out of high school “because I wanted a heck of a challenge. And I got it! But no regrets.”

Blanchard is writing a book about post-traumatic growth.

“My experience was a blessing,” he said. “I wouldn’t change anything. I want to help people who have PTSD see things differently. I put on a backpack and trekked South America for six months and learned Spanish.

I spent eight days with an Amazonian tribe in Bolivia.”

He went to George Washington University and studied international business, graduating in 2011. He went to work for a lobbying company in D.C. and left it recently to write the book and start a company, Journey Beyond Recovery.com, that uses social media to help people with traumatic experiences to tell stories and do crowd-funding. He said the book treats 12 categories of traumatic experiences, including rapes and earthquakes.

The wedding will be September 25 at King Family Vineyards in Crozet.

“We want a nice small town,” he said. “It’s beautiful here and it’s close to the University. We love to be out in nature, and we wanted a well-educated community too. We’re excited to get involved locally and help out.

Find out more about Blanchard’s book at the book’s website, onelesstraveled.com.

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Mix It Up!

Many times, the best insights come from personal stories.

Even though all aspects of someone’s specific story about a life event, etc., may not apply to someone else’s situation, there is often that one thing that resonates and stands out as significant.

Over time, as I pursue fitness and athletic goals, listening is probably one of the most important skills I have gained.

You can learn something from just about anyone—experts, mentors, friends, and newbies—if you are willing to listen, and this is especially true when it comes to pursuing fitness goals. I hope that one thing pops out for you as I share my stories on this column.

Last month, I completed my first 100-mile trail run, out in the Bighorn Mountains of northern Wyoming. I hesitate to share this accomplishment, as I realize most people are quickly going to denounce it as extreme and crazy. And stupid! My mom thinks I have completely lost my mind.

But everything is relative, right? It’s taken me years to get to the point of attempting such a distance, and believe it or not, I felt pretty much fine the day after! It is truly amazing what our human bodies are capable of, given enough time, training, and adaptation. But you also have to reset your limits every once in a while. Running 10 miles used to sound crazy to me!

What I want to share in this column, however, is about the training that led up to this race.

You might think that training for a 100-mile foot race in the mountains would require, well…a lot of running! Yes, I did run quite a lot compared to your average runner. However, I didn’t do much more running

than many marathoners do. I did a lot of “cross training.”

I’m guessing that if you’re reading this, you’re interested in improving your fitness. To some degree, you have also probably explored some of the many ways to do so—walking, running, swimming, cycling, group classes. Humans have pretty amazing bodies and, generally speaking, improving the function of one part your body improves the whole.

So, back to my personal example of a long-distance runner. Trail running is my true love, the thing I want to dedicate most of my time to.

For years, running was all I did. I figured the only way I was going to get better at it was to do it more. To some degree, that is true, especially in the first several years of “building a base,” where runners are generally getting bones, tendons, and ligaments up to par with their minds and quickly-adapting cardiovascular systems.

When I signed up for this 100-mile race, I wanted to try something different. There was no way I was ever going to be able to “just run” enough miles to make me as strong as I needed to be to carry me through 24 hours of continuous movement in the Rocky Mountains.

For years, I have heard and read about the importance of cross training and strength training as an athlete. No matter the sport, strength training seems to be a core part of any training program. Well, except for the recreational runner, that is! For this training cycle, I decided I was going to run less and add in cross training and strength training.

I traded two days per week of running for two days of cross training. I would go to the gym,

swim, and mountain bike. I committed to this new “plan” for the entire 6-month training cycle and the results were fantastic. I got noticeably stronger and more stable. Because I was running less, I ended up enjoying running more. I was less fatigued and my recovery noticeably improved. I had a great race and met my goals.

I realize that I am making some pretty vague statements and conclusions here. What I realized is that as we decide upon our fitness goals, whether broad goals such as “20 pounds of weight loss” or specific goals like “break 90 minutes at the 10-miler,” there are a number of ways to get there. Each of us only has so much time and energy to allocate to fitness, and we must decide carefully “what will be the best usage of this time?”

Traditionally, runners would just run, and cyclists would just cycle, etc. However, over time, adding different forms of exercise into your training program can produce real benefit, whether you are a beginner or a pro.

Here are some specific takeaways from my cross training and strength training for a running-specific training goal: • Doing different forms of exercise definitely made me enjoy running more.

• At the time, some things like swimming and upper body exercises seemed to have zero application to my running.

Looking back, these were so important! I realized I had neglected my upper body in my focus on running and being more balanced felt great.

• I never liked swimming. I swam every single week, but never started liking it one bit. But it became a crucial changeup in my training and paid huge dividends.

• I recovered better throughout all parts of the training cycle.

• I started engaging with more people. I made some biking friends. I made some swimming friends. All encouraged me in my primary goal of running.

The takeaway is, simply, as you start finding your way back to fitness consider mixing it up!

Use your body in a bunch of continued on page 46

CROZET gazette

JULY 2016

23

Neonic Insecticides Implicated in Bee Deaths

By Elena Day elena@crozetgazette.com An article in the June 30 “Local Living” section of the Washington Post implicates neonicotinoid insecticides (“neonics”) in the decline of honeybees. Varroa parasitic mites and loss of forage also contribute to the current yearly loss of 44 percent of our honeybee colonies or Colony Collapse Disorder. Previously, beekeepers could expect to lose 10 percent of their hives.

Although there has been no comprehensive tracking of how our 4000 species of native bees respond to this new pesticide assault, there is agreement that about one half of our bumblebees are in decline. Populations of Bombus affinis, the rustypatched bumblebee, endemic to North America and widespread in the East and upper Midwest, have decreased by close to 90 percent.

Neonics and the widespread Roundup-ing of highway banks and huge acreages to prepare for GM (genetically modified) soybean and corn plantings have taken their toll by decreasing bee (and Monarch butterfly) forage plants. There is also evidence that Nosema bombi, a parasite that arrived with European commercially produced bumblebees for greenhouse tomato pollination, has infected the rusty-patched bumblebees.

Canada awarded B. affinis Endangered Species status in 2015. The U.S. has to date not acted on the Xerces Society’s petition to list the B. affinis as endangered. B. affinis pollinates wildflowers, cranberries, plums, apples, alfalfa and onion seed.

The EPA recently confirmed that the neonicotinoid imidacloprid is a threat to “some” pollinators. Its testing of three other heavily used neonics— clothianidin, thiamethoxam, and dinotefuran—is not projected to be released until December. In 2013 when evidence implicated neonicotinoids in honeybee colony collapse, the European Union immediately suspended their use until studies were conclusive. On July 12, 2013, Rep. John Conyers introduced the Save the American Pollinators

Act to suspend the use of the above-mentioned neonics. The bill was assigned to committee on July 16, 2013, where it remains. In December 2015, Montreal banned all neonics without exception.

Bayer, the German multinational chemical company, manufactures imidacloprid and clothianidin. The Swiss agrochemical company Syngenta makes thiamethoxam. (Neonics are banned in Switzerland.)

Many companies sell dinotefuran.

Neonics are water-soluble chemical compounds that break down slowly. They are absorbed by plants and provide protection from insects as the plant grows. Neonics photodegrade.

The half-life of neonics is 34 days. Without sunlight or microbial activity the neonics are estimated to break down much more slowly (3.8 years) and some researchers suspect their accumulation in aquifers.

Older organophosphate and carbamate pesticides break down very quickly. Because the neonics were biologically active at lower concentrations, applications lower in volume were effective and seed treatments rather than foliar sprays were deemed environmentally friendlier. Neonics were deemed less toxic to mammals and birds.

Imidacloprid is the most widely used of the neonics and the most widely applied pesticide worldwide. It’s been around a long time. It was first registered with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1994. It has been used on 95 percent of corn and canola, a majority of cotton, sorghum, sugar beets, and 50 percent of soybeans. It is used on a majority of our fruits and vegetables. It works well, but it kills bees which are necessary to pollinate 35 percent of fruits and vegetables in the U.S. Corn, wheat and rice are windpollinated. Soy and other beans are self-pollinated. If one wants to exclude fruits, vegetables and nuts from the diet one can advocate for the continued use of neonics.

Today, U.S agriculture uses Roundup (glyphosate) to rid acres and acres of farmland of weeds that are forage for both

honeybees and native bees.

Roundup and the GM seed business came about as a way to halt runoff from plowed fields by instituting “no till” agriculture. In the 21st century it appears that what was a great idea to increase moisture and organic matter in soils and decrease erosion has morphed into more chemically dependent agriculture. If one gazes over those Roundup-ed fields, one notices that there is no green organic matter that plant microbes can process. (In fact, one reads about the availability of microorganisms in Ag magazine that a farmer can buy to reinvigorate the soils he or she has chemically doused with herbicides, fertilizers and pesticides. These fields are planted with GM corn and soy resistant to Roundup. The seeds may be treated with imidacloprid or other neonics or emergent plants are dusted up with the pesticide. Forage is reduced and bees suffer death by paralysis from the neonics.

The U.S. exports GM corn and soy to China for their expanding factory farms. In return, the Chinese ship us the greater proportion of honey we consume, often tainted with antibiotics. Our honeybees die because of the farming practices associated with corn/soy agribusiness. Meanwhile consumers are demanding organic corn and that corn is currently imported from Romania (33 percent), Turkey (19 percent) and the Netherlands (18 percent). Welcome to globalization and the increased use of fossil fuels for shipping!

It is ironic that Monsanto, which manufactures Roundup, the most widespread herbicide used worldwide, and Bayer, which manufactures neonics, may be merging. Although Monsanto rejected Bayer’s $62 billion takeover offer in late May, both companies are open to continued negotiations. The merger of Bayer and Monsanto would create the largest global supplier of agricultural products, of both GM and traditional seeds and of a broad range of pesticides and herbicides.

Earlier this year ChemChina offered Swiss-based continued on page 40

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CROZET gazette

JULY 2016

By John Andersen, DVM gazettevet@crozetgazette.com

Summer Heat Is Tough on Dogs

JULY 10 10 A.M. Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time The Field School 1408 Crozet Avenue Fr. Joseph Mary Lukyamuzi

with Father Joe Toretto

I don’t have too many pet peeves, but one thing that really gets under my skin is when I see someone running with their dog on a hot summer day!

The scene is typical: It’s the afternoon on a hot day—like 90 degrees. Getting a chunk of free time after work, the human prepares to head out for a run, excited for the prospect of some exercise and fresh air, despite the heat. The runner puts on the least amount of clothes possible—tank top, shorts, low-cut socks—and is ready to head out for a run through her neighborhood.

Staring at the runner as she ties up her shoes is the faithful dog, whom the human loves dearly. The human feels guilty— life is busy and walks are not as frequent as they used to be.

Here in the air-conditioning, the energetic dog grabs the leash and runs to the door, bouncing off the walls like a hyped-up child.

“It’s a bit warm outside” the runner thinks, but the energy of the dog and the guilt of the runner helps make the decision.

“Let’s go, girl!” says the runner, and the dog barks with joy.

The dog, meanwhile, wears a thick, double-layer fur coat. The undercoat is dense with a remarkable “R-value,” providing fantastic insulation—keeping cold out and keeping heat IN. On top of this lies the longer outer layer of the fur coat, adding even more insulation.

In the 71-degree air-conditioned home, the dog has adapted to being comfortable, despite being way overdressed.

Unfortunately for the dog, there is a large perception gap once the runner and dog head outside. It is 90 degrees and humid, though there is a steady, 5-mph breeze.

The runner quickly starts sweating and as the breeze hits

the exposed, wet skin, evaporative cooling takes place. “It’s not so hot outside,” contemplates the runner as she turns up the volume on her iPod and continues on.

The dog, on the other hand, instantly feels overwhelmed by the heat. Dogs do not sweat, so the nice breeze has absolutely zero effect on the dog’s core temperature. Further, as the muscle activity quickly starts to raise the dog’s body temperature, the thick fur coat does not allow for much of that heat to escape. The dog’s only method of self-cooling is panting, which by nature is fairly inefficient.

Hot air is breathed out, cooler air is inhaled. But when the air is 90 degrees with 90 percent humidity, this system doesn’t work very well. This is why wolves out in Yellowstone are not very active in the middle of the day in July—because it’s hot outside!

And contrary to what some people may think, there is no “keeping the heat out” property that the fur coat has. Maybe that would work in the 120-degree heat of Death Valley, California? But here, no, it’s just like you or I going for a run wearing an expensive thick fur coat– or a heavy puffy jacket and hat!

But the dog IS a bored dog, and IS excited to be with the owner, the runner. The heat that steadily is building up is nothing compared to the excitement of being out with the owner, exploring their vast territory. After a few minutes, the dog’s temperature raises to 102 degrees.

But after a mile, the heat is becoming intense. Despite a slow pace, the dog is

CROZET gazette becoming very hot. She starts lagging behind. Drivers from the road see a runner with a dog about 3 feet behind her, having to give an occasional pull on the leash.

The dog is now panting as heavy as possible, but is only getting hotter. Her vision is getting narrow, and she is getting a little dizzy. But dogs are tough—they don’t panic, she trusts her owner so she stays the course.

Finally, the owner takes a turn that brings them close to familiar territory.

The dog would be more excited if she wasn’t so near collapsing. The only thing she can think is “just stay with master.” Her instincts are doing their best to keep her from collapsing and leaving her only pack, her human. Her body temperature is now 105 degrees.

After 30 minutes of intense suffering, suffering that the human will likely only encounter a few times in her life, they make it inside the house. The dog nearly collapses by the water bowl, drinking water feverishly as she tries to cool down.

She then lies on the cool tile of the kitchen, panting heavily, but still way overheated. She is dizzy, feeling nauseated, and not seeing well. The owner refills the water bowl and goes to take a cool shower.

After about 45 minutes, the dog’s body temperature finally gets below 101 degrees. She is still nauseated. She goes to sleep exhausted.

The owner wakes her an hour

JULY 2016 later to offer dinner. Though she is not very interested, she does eat it, knowing this is mealtime, and another meal is not guaranteed. She eats and drinks, and lies back down.

“I really tired you out!” says the owner, “we need to go running more often!”

The next morning, the dog wakes up nauseas and vomits.

On the morning walk, she has multiple episodes of diarrhea and doesn’t want to eat. The heat stress has really affected her body and it will take a couple of days before she is back to normal again.

Unfortunately, this is a pretty true story, happening every hot day of the summer. Some dogs are not as lucky as the dog above. Some dogs go into full heat stroke and die, their body temperature having reached, and stayed at, a critical level for too long. But for every case of heat stroke I see, there are likely 1,000 cases like this—heat stress, heat exhaustion—the name is not important, except to realize that the heat has injured them.

My summer tip is to respect the heat. If it is over 72 degrees outside, stop and consider what you are going to do with your dog. In my opinion, even 75 degrees is too hot to go running or go to the park for some fetch.

Get up early in the morning, or go to places with water that the dog can soak/swim in to cool down. But mostly, just realize that summer is definitely the “off season” for dog activity. It’s okay to let them be lazy and enjoy the “dog days of summer”!

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CROZET gazette

JULY 2016

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In 2015, we experienced the rise and fall of what was affectionately termed the “dad bod.”

This term emerged to classify a male body type that was described by the University of Clemson blogger who started the craze as “the balance between a beer gut and working out.” This marked just the latest trend for the male physique and was intended to characterize a “softly round” appearance.

Representative models were individuals like Seth Rogen, Leonardo DiCaprio and others.

This trend became viral behind the propagation that women found this body-type more attractive, with New York Magazine, Time, GQ and others picking up the story.

Underlying the “dad bod,” however, is a dangerous health trend that can happen to many men as they encounter the challenges of middle age, fatherhood, and demanding jobs. The “dad bod” is actually a warning sign of the progression towards many health conditions and marks an opportunity for men to buck the trend.

What we are really referring to is body mass index, or BMI, a measure of body fat based on your weight in relation to your height. BMI is not a perfect measure of health, but it is commonly used to stratify an individual’s health risks. A BMI of 25-29.9, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers overweight, would account for most men classified as having a “dad bod.” A 2008 study found that increased belly fat alone doubles your risk of an early death. As BMI (and waist circumference) rises, so do the risks of diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, low testosterone, erectile dysfunction, arthritis, cancer, sleep apnea and reproductive problems, to name a few. Extra fat in the waist area is actually a greater risk for heart disease than fat in other parts of the body such as the hips.

A Northwestern study vouched for the phenomenon.

The authors studied how the

bodies of over ten thousand men changed as they transitioned to fatherhood and confirmed the “dad bod” does exist.

They found that fatherhood changed the health behaviors of men, which were generally not for the better, and in turn BMI rose.

Men, we didn’t need a study to show this; just look around the room and the prevalence of this transition is clear. We’re in good company. The Washington Post reported that in the United States, 27.8 million men would meet these criteria, that is, a staggering 37 percent of men between the ages of 20 and 54.

This craze falls in stark contrast to the life-changing benefits exercise holds for men’s health. These gains don’t come as easy as taking a pill, but can have far-reaching effects, including possibly helping you cast off some of your medications.

Exercise can help prevent the onset of depression, heart disease and diabetes. It can also fend off weight gain, improve circulation, testosterone, erectile function and lung capacity.

Physical activity can relieve stress by releasing endorphins that wash away tension and result in an improved sense of well-being. We don’t all need to have six-pack abs, but initiating an exercise program could be lifesaving for some. It’s easy to come up with excuses, but exercise is the greatest anti-aging intervention on the planet.

How much physical activity do we need? It varies from person to person. The CDC and others recommend working your way up to 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity (brisk walking, light yard work, playing with children) or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity (jogging, swimming, competitive sports, jumping rope) or an equivalent combinaton of the two each week. If you’ve gotten too comfortable on your couch, then sometimes finding a trainer who can safely help you work your way back into fitness is a

continued on page 31

CROZET gazette

JULY 2016

31

Crozet

Weather Almanac

JUNE 2016

By Heidi Sonen & Roscoe Shaw | weather@crozetgazette.com

It Never Rains in Crozet!

When it starts to get dry, as it does almost every summer, Heidi and I hear the same complaints. “Everybody keeps getting rain except us. All the storms miss us! They always get the rain over there but not here.”

Actually, rainfall is very evenly distributed in central Virginia and the complaints are not true. But there’s a reason it seems this way. The typical afternoon thunderstorms are often nearly randomly distributed. But you can see them for many miles away and hear the thunder many miles away.

So it seems like everyone else is getting rain but not you. The reality is, the people a few miles away are getting missed as well and complaining just like you.

When you look at monthly rainfall totals, they are often wildly different from one place to another. But over time it evens out. The mountains average slightly higher rainfall but

everywhere else is about the same.

You also have to be careful what you wish for. Summer heat creates a lot of demand for water so usually you want more rain. But the recent floods in West Virginia show you can get way too much way too fast sometimes.

Forecasting has challenges in the summer thunderstorm season as well. Individual thunderstorms usually last less than an hour and grow and shrink and move, making them difficult to forecast. About the only thing you can do is forecast probabilities of storms at different times of day.

One thing you can be sure of is that in summer, thunderstorms are very likely at 6 p.m. and very rare at 6 a.m. That is because thunderstorms thrive on heat and the sun provides increasing fuel as the day goes on.

WE WER E M A D E TO R U N

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Men’s Health —continued from page 30

good idea.

There are a lot of resources in our community with ACAC and the YMCA in your back yard. Crozet Running also has occasional workshops for everyone from experienced runners to exercise newbies. The key is

to make your goals realistic and have someone to keep you accountable. There really is no debate; the “dad bod” is just a step in the wrong direction for men. So, if you look in the mirror and see one, count it as an opportunity to make a change.

You can calculate your BMI by using the CDC website, www.cdc.gov and using their BMI calculator.

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· insect bites, skin rashes, and sunburn · nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea · urinary tract infections · blood draw for lab · minor suturing · sports and camp physicals · tB skin tests · immunizations: Flu, tDaP, and tetanus

32

CROZET gazette

JULY 2016

To the Editor —continued from page 9

what did Maupin’s Music & Video in. I would tuck dollar bills into the DVD jackets as a small way of saying thanks, an attempt to offer a tithe of sorts to keep this generosity, this sustaining spring of humanity, up and running.

I remember in 2012 returning home to Crozet from a trip to my mom’s in Tucson. It had been my moment of disheartened discovery that we could no longer suddenly entertain whimsical movie watching if the movie wasn’t a new A-movie release and wasn’t classic (I think the movie my mom and I had a sudden hankering for was Marley and Me). I drove around Tucson finding Red Boxes with shamefully limited libraries. I realized that it was likely not just in Tucson that there were no longer local video stores.

When I came home from that trip, I went promptly to Maupin’s, where I could breathe again, adoring the space around me, thrilled to hear the pleasant thump of practicing herds of ballerinas above. I told Pete,

“Promise me! Promise me you will never close this business!”

I couldn’t bear the thought of this perennial garden of conversation and connection, of two beautiful brothers who are the roots and trunks of a Crozet that may be headed for clear cutting, not to mention a fabulous library of movies, could ever go away in a world that no longer holds customers in this way.

I still can’t. Fare thee well, you beautiful Maupins. Thank you for being our last video store stronghold.

Robin Luecke Crozet Vote for Dittmar Virginia’s 5th Congressional District is a large, diverse region that represents bustling, affluent communities to the north which sharply contrast with areas to the south that have suffered considerable losses and high unemployment with the decline in tobacco farming and the closing of furniture and textile industries.

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current Congressman was not addressing such problems, decided to run for this office so she could apply her energy, experience, and knowledge to serving, not just some of the economic, political, and social groups in the 5th District, but everyone of every age who lives here.

Jane Dittmar resides in Albemarle County with her husband, Frank Squillace, and their six children. She graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in economics and also attended U.Va.’s Darden School’s Executive Program and the Virginia Center for Public Administration.

Furthermore, she is a Virginia Supreme Court certified mediator for both General District and Circuit Courts. Just imagine how valuable her mediation skills would be in the battleground known as the U.S. Congress!

She has previously owned several small businesses and was the President and CEO of the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce from 1992 to 2000. She also served as Chair of the Albemarle County

Board of Supervisors.

An estimated 283,860 people in Virginia’s 5th District are without broadband Internet service. Many of us take this technology for granted.

However, those without broadband do not have valuable access to basic information, telemedicine, emergency services, and online job searches.

Education is designed to prepare our children for the future, but students who do not have Internet access at home will surely struggle to succeed in school and beyond.

Jane Dittmar has a vision for the 5th District to connect all of its people to each other and to federal resources, modern infrastructure, and access to affordable broadband service that will greatly improve the ability to get a proper education and search for employment.

Jane Dittmar is the type of person Virginia and the U.S. Congress need! Please go to her website at http://janeforcongress.com to learn more about this caring, qualified candidate.

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CROZET gazette

JULY 2016

33

Brown received the award from CGV owner Jean Wagner. On the left are Brown’s parents, Caroline and Douglas Brown.

CGV Scholarship Winner This year’s winner of the $1,000 Crozet Great Valu Scholarship is Dominique Brown of Ivy, a student at Tandem School. She’s headed to Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond to study, probably, environmental

sciences. She was recently named Sportswoman of the Year at Tandem for her contributions on the varsity basketball, volleyball and soccer teams.

She’s first team all-conference in basketball.

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The Hunt of the Unicorn Crozet Arts hosted their fifth Twinkle Project the week of June 27 - July 1. The cast of 19 students ages 6 - 11 presented two studio performances of The Unicorn Tapestries on Friday.

This second Twinkle Project of the summer was directed by Sharon D. Tolczyk, Boomie Pedersen, and Dr. Beth Cantrell.

The Twinkle Project is an interdisciplinary collaborative production of dance, theater, music, and art, using selections from Mozart’s 12 variations on, “Ah vous dirai-je, Maman” (Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star) and verse from well-known poets and writers. Participants

make costumes and set pieces.

The Twinkle Project 2016 was supported by a grant from the Bama Works fund of Dave Matthews Band at the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation (CACF).

The cast: Isabella Sonen, Caroline Hill, Ingrid Mellusi, Phillip Mellusi, Avery Drumheller-Meili, Dorothy Shoup, Molly Carfagno, Audrey Miracle, Hazel Alexander, Isla Alexander, Kinley Callihan, Lucy Coward, Louisa Pesch, Sydney Sever, Ariel Snyder, Peter Mellusi, Julia Montgomery, Emerson Pokrana, and Vivian Shoup.

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34

CROZET gazette

JULY 2016

Pesticides Are a Danger to All Life Local bluebirder Ron Kingston alerted me in April to a distressingly sad situation that occurred in a cemetery in central Ohio. He’d heard from Paula Ziebarth, who monitors nest boxes in the area, that a mated pair of Eastern Bluebirds had died after workers had put out earthwormshaped poison bait (a product made by Bell Laboratories under the brand name of Talpirid) to kill moles.

It’s not clear if the birds had found “worms”—that perhaps someone had accidentally dropped onto the ground—and eaten them, unaware that within mankind’s world, something that looks every bit like an earthworm is not necessarily an earthworm. But even if the bluebirds didn’t eat this poison bait, there’s plenty to be concerned about.

(It should be noted that if the bait had been deliberately placed on top of the ground instead of within the mole tunnels, that application would be in violation of the manufacturer’s instructions for use.)

First of all, the idea of shaping poison bait into something that many different kinds of animals would think they could eat is horribly shortsighted. It’s akin to creating candy-shaped poison to be used in the home where a child might mistake it for a treat.

Additionally, this bait has been given “an attractive smell for hungry moles,” which means any animal able to smell it within a mole tunnel will be enticed to dig it up. Raccoons, skunks, and bears have a keen sense of smell and habitually dig up soil to feed upon underground critters.

Pets have sometimes been the unintended victims of pesticides, which people find abhorrent. Yet society has accepted the use of poisons to kill wild-

life of every sort. What has happened to our humanity that most people accept the willful poisoning of these creatures when it’s terribly mean-spirited to cause any living being to die an excruciatingly painful death?

It’s as if people have lost their sense of compassion when it comes to wild animals, as though these critters pose such an enormous threat to their own well-being that they are somehow not worthy of mercy.

Yet what crime is a mole guilty of that it should be given a death sentence?

Is making raised tunnels in grass or garden—tunnels that could easily be tamped down by foot and avoided by anyone not wishing to sink into the dirt— truly a crime worthy of poisoning when the critter is simply doing its job for the benefit of people? Yes, that is exactly what a mole is doing. It controls the numbers of organisms living within the soil so your environment can function properly.

When a mole feeds upon grubs—beetle larvae that normally feed upon dead plant roots to recycle them—it keeps the grubs from overpopulating the area. By having their numbers limited, these immature beetles won’t run out of dead roots and be forced into feeding upon the roots of living plants to avoid starving.

The mole’s action thus helps to perpetuate the life of both plants and grubs. Plants can’t remain healthy and strong without roots, so they would be unable to perpetuate themselves. Eventually the area could become devoid of plants, which means there would be no food for future generations of grubs that are necessary to recycle nutrients back into the soil for the benefit of future generations of plants.

When a mole feeds upon earthworms, it perpetuates their existence as well. If the earthworms become overpopulated, they too will run out of food

A dead bluebird pair, possibly killed by pesticides, lies beside its eggs that will never hatch. Photo: Paula Ziebarth.

and die off. The disappearance of earthworms would impact plants not only because earthworms are recyclers of nutrients that plants require for good health, but also because earthworms aerate the soil for the benefit of plants. Their roots require air, which is why plants do poorly in compacted soil.

The mole in your yard, garden, or cemetery (there is typically only one mole except during mating season) keeps these closed biological loops functioning properly. If you want your plants to remain healthy, you want your mole to do its job.

But even though there is no need to be killing a mole in a yard or garden, is there a need in cemeteries? Perhaps if folks would make the effort to understand our wildlife and to recognize the importance of these animals to their own existence, they wouldn’t mind being more vigilant about watching where they stepped within the cemetery.

Signs could be placed at entrances to alert visitors to the presence of mole tunnels, which the groundskeepers could do their best to tamp down.

Folks might realize the silliness of the things they get upset over if they weren’t so concerned with “perfection.”

Today’s world is one in which appearances are everything, whether it be one’s own personal appearance or the appearance of one’s possessions, including his yard.

Many people see mole tunnels as imperfections in their lawn’s appearance or, worse yet, as destructive of the health of the lawn.

In fact, the view that many forms of wildlife are exceedingly destructive and/or dangerous is ridiculously prevalent among

folks these days. You can’t watch TV, listen to the radio, or read a newspaper without being exposed to ads for “pest” control. These ads don’t stick to facts; they exaggerate the supposed negative impacts of many kinds of animals upon people.

Even scientists talk about “pests’, even though the whole idea of organisms existing to destroy the very world that supports them is nonsensical.

(Perhaps researchers take their cue from man, who’s the only creature to knowingly sabotage his surroundings.)

Life is all about perpetuating life, which can’t happen if insects, for example, are out there destroying the very plants they require for future generations of their own kind. The only reason people run into difficulties with plants being overwhelmed by insects is because people create improperly functioning environments in which plant-feeding insects are not kept limited by predators.

People completely misunderstand how the natural world works, and they are constantly bombarded with the idea that any wildlife causing the least bit of inconvenience or risk of harm to them should be killed.

As a result, we have children and adults alike who expect to live their lives without ever seeing certain kinds of wildlife within their sphere of existence.

A few years ago I was told about an experience someone had while talking with an Albemarle County elementary school custodian. A young girl of eight or nine approached the custodian with a teacher by her side. She wanted to tell him, with much concern, mind you, that there was a dead spider outside the building.

Yes, she was concerned about a spider that was where it belonged, not one that had found its way into the building.

However, even if the spider had been inside, it should not have caused such consternation as to require informing the custodian.

Viewing the natural world only from their own perspective, humans have totally misread it and are destroying it. We need to get back to seeing “Mother Nature” as the nurturing entity that this name so accurately depicts.

CROZET gazette

JULY 2016

35

inthegarden@crozetgazette.com

Iceland, “Garden Spot” of the North Atlantic The mention of Iceland hardly conjures up gardens. Volcanoes, lava, geysers, hot springs, glaciers—sure, Iceland has plenty of those. But can you really find gardens in a country that sits just below the Arctic Circle? You might be pleasantly surprised. But first, some basic information on Iceland.

The Republic of Iceland sits on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a range that runs the length of the Atlantic Ocean and connects with similar ridges in all the world’s major oceans. The MidAtlantic Ridge generally lies at the bottom of the ocean, but comes to the surface in a few places, such as The Azores, St. Helena, and Iceland. Along the Ridge, the earth is spreading apart; in Iceland, the North American Plate and the Eurasian Plate are pulling apart from each other at the rate of about one inch per year. In actuality, this motion isn’t occurring continuously. Tension builds up in the rocks for a time and then is suddenly released. As in: earthquakes. One of the best places to observe the Ridge in Iceland is Thingvellir National Park, about thirty miles northeast of Reykjavik. Here you can stand on a cliff in North America, then descend into the fissure where Europe is pulling away to the east.

(Incidentally, Thingvellir is the Anglicized version of the Icelandic spelling, which includes several letters not found in our alphabet.)

Sitting between latitudes 63 and 66 degrees North, the southern coast of Iceland is almost a thousand miles north of the U.S.- Canadian border.

Central Iceland is at the latitude of Fairbanks, and well north of St. Petersburg, Russia. So, it’s really cold, right? Not as much as you might expect. Iceland’s climate is maritime, moderated by the North Atlantic Drift, an offshoot of the Gulfstream. In Reykjavik, January’s average high is about 35 degrees F, the low 26. The lowest temperature ever recorded in the capital was twelve degrees below zero F, about the same as Charlottesville’s minimum. In summer, the high temperature averages 56, the low about 47.

So, given a climate that is not that extreme, you might expect to find a rich Icelandic flora.

Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Iceland was pretty much covered by glaciers in its own mini-Ice Age very recently. As an island remote from most large land areas, plants could not migrate south to escape the glaciers as they could do on continents. So, today Iceland has only about 465 species of flowering plants and ferns (Hordur Kristinsson, Flowering Plants and Ferns of Iceland), including several alien species that have become established.

(Virginia, only slightly larger than Iceland, is home to more than 3,000 plant species.) Some Icelandic plants would be familiar to us: the Sea Campion (Silene uniflora) is similar to the Bladder Campion (S. vulgaris), a European plant considered weedy in our area.

Glossy professional photos of Iceland typically show a stark, barren landscape, with nary a tree or shrub in sight, primarily focusing on glaciers, waterfalls and volcanoes. Indeed, much of Iceland is that way. Recent lava flows are virtually devoid of plants, fully revealing the frozen

Meconopsis in Petra’s Stone Collection

waves of craggy rocks. After not too long, moss and lichen colonize the lava, and as some soil builds up in the crevices, flowering plants move in. And later, shrubs and trees can take hold.

Despite expanses of bare lava and severely eroded hillsides, there are more trees than you might expect in Iceland. And there were probably even more trees in the past. Early settlers reported that the island was covered with trees right down to the coast. They were ignoring the higher interior, so in actuality, forest cover was probably between 25%-40%, far more than today. People set about cutting the trees for firewood, and sheep insured that young sprouts were promptly removed.

Today, there are remnant forests, primarily birch trees that can attain a height of thirty feet.

Currently much more significant than the native birches and willows are the spruces, pines and larches that have been introduced for forestry, as well as for ornamental and shelter belt purposes. All of these are reportedly “naturalizing” in adjacent areas, but it doesn’t appear that they have been labeled as invaders just yet.

One plant that definitely has invaded Iceland is the Nootka Lupine (Lupinus nootkatensis), originally brought in from Alaska to stabilize severely eroded soils. It certainly has helped in that regard, and as a legume it also fixes nitrogen in the soil. Nonetheless, in addition to covering previously bar-

ren areas, the lupine has invaded natural shrublands. That said, in late June lupines provides huge swaths of blue in the Icelandic landscape.

As for gardens, you could consider Iceland to be one big 40,000 square-mile “rock garden,” but what about official botanical gardens? As near as I could determine, there are two of those: the Reykjavik Botanical Garden in the capital city and the Akureyri Botanical Garden (also known as Lystigardur Akureyrar) in the largest city of the north. Both are relatively small, seven to nine acres, but are home to thousands of species and varieties. But now, TRUE CONFESSION: On my recent trip to Iceland, I visited neither of these gardens.

Regrettably, I was on guided group tour, and there was not always either time or the means to visit everything. If you go, don’t repeat my mistake.

I did come to one Icelandic garden quite by serendipity.

Petra’s Stone Collection (www. steinapetra.is) is just that: a collection of stones (primarily), bottle caps, stuffed animals, yard “art” and anything else she amassed in her ninety years.

Beguiling for its sheer quirkiness, it was surrounded by a lush garden housing a wide variety of plants, including tulips and Meconopsis (Blue Poppy).

A wondrous place, but out of the way in the little East coast town of Stodvarfjord. If you find yourself in Iceland, get to Petra’s if at all possible.

36

CROZET gazette

JULY 2016

BY DR. ROBERT C. REISER

crozetannals@crozetgazette.com

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In the ER if you’re early you’re on time, if you’re on time you’re late, and late is unacceptable. So on a glorious summer morning recently I arrived to relieve the night shift at 06:45, 15 minutes early, feeling virtuous. Of course I did not beat in any of my residents. They were all there already, laughing, joking, looking ready for anything the day could throw at them, even the ones who had been up all night. Uh oh. I knew that all this energy could mean only one thing: Senioritis. Today was the last day of residency for them. After three years of sleepless nights, countless deaths, constant suffering, and endless shortages of medicines, beds, nurses and ER treatment spaces they had mastered Emergency Medicine. God help their patients. God help me getting through this last day with my chiefs in such unbridled fettle.

It was sure to infect the interns who were already rambunctious at having survived their first and toughest year.

The day shift doctors relieve the night shift doctors in a ritual called board rounds. We huddle as a group around the electronic patient tracking board and each night resident presents a brief story about each of his or her patients to a corresponding day resident who will continue the care. Stories of car wrecks and assaults, cancer and colds, nursing homes and homelessness. I and the night shift attending listen and interject when further clarity is needed. Due to the fatigue of the night shift it is usually a low emotion, basic and businesslike affair. We have heard the stories many times before.

This summer morning was

different. The stories were energetic and detailed, full of funny things drugged patients said, funny nursing responses, odd and baffling behaviors of patients and even more so consulting physicians. There was a lot of laughter, some of it jaded, but there was mostly an overwhelming joy. This group of residents had been through something big together and had supported each other and had come to love each other. After residency graduation they were going on a grand European tour together.

The interns listened raptly to these tales, envying the cool bravado of these seasoned veterans. I was loath to break up this unusual and therapeutic gathering and so I slipped off to see the waiting patients myself and get their care started. The residents could catch up later.

Eventually the night shift left, repairing to a local tavern for a last breakfast together, while my day continued in the fine fashion it had begun. I still had two senior residents left in grand moods, finishing their last-ever residency shifts. Many of our scribes were also finishing up with us after having graduated from UVA, and the last day of school atmosphere infected them too. One scribe declared he was going to write all of his patient charts today as Japanese haikus. I scanned his work so far.

Unsteady, not dizzy Chronic history of same Workup negative Lung cancer with mets Multiple falls overnight Face lacs, spine tender Increased blood pressure Noncompliant with ACE-I Please take prescribed meds continued on page 43

CROZET gazette

W

e bought a house in suburban Washington, D.C., in the early seventies. It was the house of my twenty-year-old self ’s dreams: a stately colonial, four bedrooms, shady cul-desac. The kitchen was way too small, as kitchens in those 1940era houses tended to be, but you can’t have everything.

This was the house where I answered the door one day and a salesman asked, ‘Is your mother home?’ and I replied, “I am the mother.” Yes, I was quite young when we bought that house.

The back yard was full of azaleas but far too shady for vegetables, so I grew my eggplants in the front yard. That probably gave our elderly, sophisticated neighbors pause (and I don’t think they ever learned of the chickens that we secretly kept in the garage), but the eggplant is a comely plant both in flower and in fruit so they didn’t complain.

And there in Maryland, the eggplants grew splendidly because there were no flea beetles. Here in Virginia, without diligence (or pesticides which I refuse to use) eggplant leaves become lacey with the gnawing of the flea beetles. Southern Exposure Seed Company advises potting the plants and putting them three feet above ground. That’s what I’ve done

JULY 2016

this year and last and it works moderately well. Some friends grow eggplant under row covers. I’ll try that sometime.

Our next-door neighbor in that suburban paradise was an elderly widow named Mrs. Moore, whose friends called her “Wee Moore” due to her slight stature. She liked me and I her.

Instead of complaining about my eggplants, she gave me a recipe for a soufflé. My memory is foggy on this, but I think she said she got it from her cook: Duncan Hines. I swear she told me that Duncan Hines was her cook. Up until then I thought he was merely the maker of commercial cake mixes. There was no Internet at the time, so I simply believed her.

I’ve done a little digging and learned that according to Wikipedia, my recollection is impossible and that most probably, Mrs. Moore got the recipe from her cook who used Duncan Hines’ popular 1935 cookbook, Adventures in Good Eating.

This is not a classic soufflé. I just bake it in a casserole dish, but it is tasty and if, like me, you love eggplant, you will love this. I am transcribing it exactly as I have it from a forty-year-old piece of notebook paper, written in Wee Moore’s hand, with a few annotations by me.

Eggplant Soufflé 1 large eggplant 2 T butter 2 T flour ¾ cup milk 1 cup grated, American cheese [ I use cheddar.]

1 cup toasted bread crumbs 1 T grated onion 1 T catsup 2 eggs, separated Salt and pepper to taste

Wash, peel and cube the eggplant. Cook until tender in a small amount of boiling, salted water. Drain and mash.

Make a cream sauce with butter, flour and milk [Translation—melt butter in a saucepan, add flour and cook over low heat for two minutes. Gradually add the milk stirring constantly. Cook gently until the sauce thickens.]

When thickened and smooth, add the cheese and stir until melted. Add the eggplant, crumbs, onion, catsup and beaten egg yolks. Season with salt and pepper. [I use ¾ tsp of salt and ½ tsp pepper.] Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites.

Pour into casserole dish and bake for an hour at 350°F.

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37

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CROZET BOARD OF TRADE PROSPERITY UNITY

PROGRESS

General Meeting

Monday, July 18, 7:30 p.m.

Pro Re Nata Brewery

6135 Rockfish Gap Turnpike in Crozet •••

Scope of Powers Review Christmas Raffle Barnes Plan and The Square Election of Officers Special Topics •••

The CROZET BOARD OF TRADE is an IRS-recognized non-profit organization of western Albemarle business owners and other concerned citizens, founded in 2003, whose purpose is the economic and civic development of Crozet.

38

CROZET gazette

JULY 2016

Less is Not More

by Clover Carroll | clover@crozetgazette.com Are there fewer stripes than stars on Old Glory, or less stripes? Have we seen less wildlife in our yards this season, or fewer wildlife? The confusion about when to use less and when to use fewer seems to be on the increase, and less is definitely winning the contest—resulting in grating comparisons and sloppy writing.

“Express Lane: 10 items or less,” the grocery store sign proclaims, or “There are less movies about the Revolutionary period than any other in American history” the newspaper attests. Do they care that they sound ignorant?

Do you know which to use when?

You’ll be pleased to know that this is one of the simpler grammatical guidelines, and one of the easiest to remember.

Use fewer for things you can count, and use less for things you can’t. I have seen fewer deer since moving to a subdivision, but less grass. You can’t count salt, so I would put less of it in my potato salad; but you can count teaspoons of salt, so I would add fewer of them. We might drink less lemonade, but fewer glasses of lemonade; we would never wish for fewer fireworks, but we might like less noise. Another way to look at it is to ask whether the noun is singular v. plural: use less with singular concepts, like sand or pie, and fewer with plural ones, like waves or cherries. An easy way to remember the rule, courtesy of Oxford Dictionaries (www.oxforddictionaries.com), is “not as much is less; not as many is fewer.” I have less coffee on hand, so I can make fewer cups of it. There was less traffic in the past than now, which meant fewer cars on the road.

But just to muddy the waters,

concepts involving measurement—such as time, distance, money, and weight—provide exceptions to this rule. Although the individual units of these concepts can be counted, we think of them as singular amounts, so that “the baby weighed less than 20 pounds” and “Staunton is less than 50 miles from Crozet” are considered correct. Using “under” might be a good way to avoid the issue altogether! The New York Times stylebook explains it this way: “Also use less with a number that describes a quantity considered as a single bulk amount: ‘The police recovered less than $1,500; It happened less than five years ago; The recipe calls for less than two cups of sugar’” (afterdeadline.blogs.ny times.com). As far as I’m concerned, most of these examples could go either way; it is fine to say “we have less than $1000 in the bank,” but I prefer “we have fewer than $1000 in the bank.”

In either case, we have less money!

According to MerriamWebster’s Concise Dictionary of English Usage, it appears that this rule originated in 1770 as the personal preference of one influential language lover. “This Word [less] is most commonly used in speaking of a Number; where I should think Fewer would do better. ‘No Fewer than a Hundred’ appears to me, not only more elegant than ‘No less than a Hundred, but more strictly proper,” wrote one Mr. Baker—who would probably be surprised at his influence over two centuries later! For better or worse, the use of fewer for countable items has since become the standard in formal writing. “The bill will not pass with 60 votes or fewer” is much preferred over “60 votes or less.”

And while we’re on the subject of comparisons, be sure to complete them. Whether you observe that there were fewer people at last year’s Independence Day Celebration or less people, the question becomes, fewer than what? To complete this comparison, the writer should add “there were fewer people at last year’s

continued on page 46

West Glen —continued from page 5

missioner Mac Lafferty. “It’s just the one road out from the new units back to Orchard Drive.”

Cling Drive would connect to Orchard Drive at both its ends.

“This is a deer travel way and bears move along the creek too.

It doesn’t comply with the Crozet Master Plan [which does not envision a stream crossing], our Comprehensive Plan and our critical slopes [rules].”

County attorney Greg Kampner suggested another way to approach the development of the land would be to reopen the 1990 SUP and remove the Orchard Drive condition. “There are other ways to develop the property,” he said.

Removing the condition would presumably permit the addition of 30 houses on Cling Lane with an alternative fire/rescue access from McComb Street, which connects to Blue Ridge Avenue and downtown.

The advantage of a new road to Southern is that it gives direct access to the new houses without having to pass through the existing neighborhoods, a sales advantage, and uses unbuildable land for the road rather than land that could otherwise contain houses.

Southern and The Vue, a 126-unit apartment complex planned for Blue Ridge Avenue, in an arrangement with the PHA redrew property boundary lines last fall, transferring the acres of floodplain formerly belonging to the Crozet Crossing parcel to join The Vue’s lot facing Blue Ridge Avenue. Exploiting county rules that allow unbuildable land to be factored into density calcula-

tion of a parcel’s actually buildable land, the line tinkering maximized the possible density of West Glen at 71 units, more than twice the unbuilt unit target of 1990, and raised The Vue from a roughly 70-unit project to 125, making its use of a R6 site effectively R18.

Southern Development affirmed to the county that it had exhausted possible access routes from the east, but adjoining property owner Mike Marshall disputed that Southern had raised any possibility.

Marshall said he had suggested to Southern that a better road would connect at Jarmans Gap Road and proceed along the east side of the creek. Armstrong said The Vue rejected that possibility as unworkable for them.

Commissioners opposed the removal of the density and lot conditions but were undisturbed by the slicing of critical slopes or the fill of the floodplain for the road or the possible change in flood water behavior.

Lafferty called the plan “premature” and “against the Comp Plan and Master Plan.”

Commissioner Bruce Dotson said, “I think it’s a close call.

The pros are just a little stronger. At the master plan level these roads [shown on maps] are broad brush. They just mean you need interconnections.

They don’t get into a connection to Orchard Drive in that level of detail in developing the Master Plan.”

“This is a less-dense area,” countered Lafferty. “A great deal of thought was put into those densities.”

Dotson moved for approval with the conditions drafted by county planning staffers, and the vote carried 3-1, Lafferty opposed.

Mary Jane Ritchie opposed the stream crossing for environmental reasons.

CROZET gazette

Camp Wahoo —continued from page 11

jacked up to win. There is so much clapping and chanting and team spirit. It’s really exciting.” Montes-Bradley added: “It doesn’t matter if you’re competitive or not. If you just go out there and compete, you’re going to have a good time.”

Tweel Jolin agreed, “Some people are clearly more competitive in general. They want to win every game. And then there are the people who just want to play a wide variety of sports, and aren’t so competitive. And it magically works! You would think it wouldn’t work, but it does. Everybody’s getting something from it, whether they’re really competitive and trying to relax and have a little more fun with it, or trying to get a competitive edge.” After the last game of the evening, campers gather on the porch of the “Canteen,” where they can buy late-night snacks and relax for a while before lights out.

The week is punctuated with other activities, such as a Talent Show, where everyone, even the

JULY 2016 counselors, participate in silly skits, magic shows, singing, cup stacking, and other acts sure to elicit laughs from the audience.

Wednesday—the halfway point of the week—is deemed “Big Huge Day.” “Fred [Wawner] describes it as like the fourth quarter of a game,” said camper Joe Hawkes. “You give everything you’ve got.” Ben MontesBradley said, “Everything you do that day, you give 150 percent.”

A “Paper Plate Awards” ceremony is held on the last day of camp. The awards are similar to “superlatives” given in a high school yearbook, and everyone in the camp—even the counselors—receives one.

MontesBradley said the awards are humorous, and “usually something funny, like an inside joke.

They are very creative.”

Camp Wahoo also focuses on healthy eating, with an emphasis on local ingredients and home-cooked meals. Campers in the dining hall clearly can’t get enough of the food prepared for them by Kathy Zentgraf— they polish off their meals quickly and usually head back for seconds. Tweel Jolin said

Camp Wahoo Paper Plate Awards ceremony

that “Everything is literally made from scratch—bread pudding, salsa, homemade biscuits, grits, everything. Kathy can cook like nobody’s business.

The food is amazing.” Zentgraf, who co-owns a restaurant called The Spot near the downtown mall, is passionate about the importance of healthy food and the fuel it provides campers throughout their active days.

On the last day of camp, she gives a short talk called “Food and Philosophy” to the campers, reiterating to them the importance of healthy eating.

The camp’s founders would be proud.

Their original emphasis on integrity, competition, and sportsmanship, and most of all, play, is still very much alive in 2016. Counselor Keith Groomes said that for him, “This is like a vacation. I just have a really great time. As a child, I never went to a summer camp; I just went outside and played. So it’s good to be here and see everyone playing outside. It’s a great atmosphere.

You feel welcome. Like family. I can’t wait for next year!”

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CROZET gazette

JULY 2016

M.S. Lessons —continued from page 19

side won out over the novelist side. In science you don’t just do the thing to know it, but to share it. You don’t want things to die and not pass on.”

Farr has published 167 articles in medical journals. “Each is one thing we are sharing.

Science goes in little increments. It adds up to mosaic where you see how things work.

I felt so committed to sharing.”

One example is dealing with pressure sores, wounds to the skin that infections can get started through. “Bacteria are just trying to eat you,” said Farr.

“I was being driven crazy by the pain of pressure sores. I could not stand the pain. I tried standing for hours. That was better for my butt, but my left leg got worse. My right leg was doing all the work. I began having restless leg syndrome. Your leg does not want to stay where it is.

It wants to jerk away every 15 seconds. You can’t sleep with it.

“I tried standing on one leg and stretching. I had to stretch at least twice a day. But I never took a drug and I could sleep all night. But I had to keep adding stretches. So I had to start sitting.

“I found companies that make alternating air cushions.

All they had was testimonials, no study. Other studies were air cushions against no air cushion.

I called the two companies.

Aquila Corp of Holman, Wisconsin, and Ease Cushion in Paradise, California. It was just my butt and the two treatments alternating. What works best?

“What I found was astounding. The Aquila never caused me an infection. You can feel the blood flow more. I kept the other company informed. I suggested he reprogram his cushion. I had no infection for six months, then when I switched cushions I got an infection. I ended up with seven infections on the Ease Cushion and none with the Aquila. I got no infections in 12 months. This cushion gave me joy.

“MS patients fall a lot and break bones. I had 200 falls and broke bones 30 times. Rib fractures are common. Like alcoholics, MS patients have to use their chests (they can’t use their

legs) and it puts a lot of stress on your chest. I would pass out and fall and break more bones.

There were two studies of using lidocaine patches for rib fractures, but they disagreed. I wanted to try it. But insurance would not pay for it. So I paid for one and the pain of rib fracture completely disappeared. It ended pain even after the patch was removed for a few hours. I reused a patch on a back rib and the pain disappeared in 20 minutes.

“I wrote to the Journal of Epidemiology about the flaw in the University of Michigan study and its expectation about pain. The untreated rib in the study was still in pain and therefore there was no reduction in pain medicine.”

“So after this I decided to write the book. One thing led to another. New observations came up. I kept adding chapters and doing more research in medical literature. It ended up being 400 pages. I was pleased with what I did and I enjoyed the blood, sweat and tears. Your entire life affects what you are doing. I’ve got Shakespeare quotes in there. I wasn’t forcing it. It just happens.”

The book, which took three years to write, was published by Archway Press, part of Simon and Schuster, but it is self-published. “Publishers don’t want anything said about traditional medical treatments,” Farr explained. “But I had to say something negative about treatments that don’t work. As with urinary tract infections—cranberry juice does not work. I can’t live with concealing things that I know. Healthcare workers need to see this. This is different from what they’ve heard.”

The book has 67 chapters dealing with different topics, including things like attitude, plus three appendices and 45 pictures, some showing patients how to stretch and use their bodies.

“My book tries to deal with the realities of chronic complications,” said Farr. There are a bewildering diversity of manifestations. Each person’s MS disease is different. It can cause anything the brain or spine does to go haywire.

The cover image, Edvard Munch’s The Scream, is meant to express how a patient feels with MS, Farr said.

Neonics

—continued from page 23

seed and pesticide manufacturer Syngenta $43 billion. Syngenta sells a lot of pesticide and GM seeds in the U.S. Despite the lukewarm protests of lawmakers like Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa about Chinese inroads into U.S. markets, the deal is likely to go through.

Back to the bees. In 2013 the EU suspended sales of neonics or limited use to crops bees avoided.

In the U.S. in 2013 Monsanto hosted an industry conference on bee health, Bayer CropScience, based in Durham, N.C., built a 5,500-square-foot “bee health center” and Syngenta floated a “comprehensive action plan” for bee health.

Currently Bayer out of N.C. has a pollinator initiative program called “Feed a Bee.” It has given away 200,000 packets of wildflower seed mixes to individuals and groups. It has 40,000 left for this season. (It may be too late to plant these.) Wildflower mixes aren’t as easy as opening the packet and watching them grow.

There is preparation involved for which most recipients haven’t planned. It’s a great idea and many homeowners are willing.

The agrochemical companies downplay pesticides or don’t mention them. It remains largely unknown that products containing neonics approved for home garden and lawn use are applied a rate 32 times higher

than those approved for agricultural use. Bayer CropScience prefers to talk about the invasive insects, fungal and viral diseases plaguing bees and loss of natural habitat.

One does notice this year that many more highway banks and medians abound with daisies, black-eyed Susans and even penstemon. In Crozet there are multiple plantings of coreopsis and rudbeckias on Jarmans Gap Road and in Old Trail. Let’s hope there are pollinators as well.

On July 1, Vermont’s GMO labeling law went into effect.

On July 6 (after The Crozet Gazette has gone to press) the Senate will vote on another version of the “Deny Americans the Right to Know” RobertStabenow bill that, if passed, will overturn Vermont’s law. It is a bill designed by and for Monsanto. The right of states to pass their own food safety and labeling laws will be curtailed.

Even Vermont’s seed labeling law, which has been in existence for 12 years, will be overturned.

Food companies will “disclose” GMO ingredients using barcodes, websites or refer consumers on the packaging to an 800 number. Companies will not be penalized for noncompliance. Even the Food and Drug Administration has said the bill excludes many products from ever having to be labeled, including some of the most common GMO ingredients, like soybean oil and GMO sugar beets.

Crozet Community Orchestra Announces 2016-17 Season The Crozet Community Orchestra’s 2016-2017 concert season opens September 7.

There are openings for string players, bassists, a bassoonist, as well as others. Rehearsals are held on Wednesday evenings from 7 to 9 pm at Tabor Presbyterian Church in Crozet.

Visit the website for details and to register for the upcoming fall session: www.crozetcommunityorchestra.org. Email inquiries: crozetorchestra@gmail.com.

This month, the CCO will undertake its first annual fund campaign, an this opportunity

to invest in the community orchestra or to send a contribution of any amount. The goal is to raise $5,000 to help finance the increased costs of purchasing music, insurances, improved programming for our free public concerts, and other costs that are not covered by musicians’ orchestra fees alone.

The Crozet Community Orchestra is a registered 501c(3) non-profit organization.

Donations are tax-deductible and gratefully accepted at P. O. Box 762, Crozet, VA 22932 and on our website.

CROZET gazette

JULY 2016

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Peachtree U11, U12 Finish Third in State Championships

by Jerry Reid jerry@crozetgazette.com Peachtree All Stars Coaches Matt Winkler (12U) and John Thomas (11U) left town late last week with their respective teams, playing for a State Cal Ripken title.

The 11Us finished their work on Sunday and took welldeserved third-place State honors and were recipients of the Don Rose Memorial State Commissioner’s Sportsmanship team award. An 18-1 opening game pasting by Peachtree stumbling block Glen Allen at Churchville Ruritan Field was something that happens all too often, and to quite a few teams.

When the Richmond-area

dynasty-type program takes the field they are usually the favorite.

Going into the tournament with a 12-I record and District V Championship, the team picked itself up off the floor after the loss and hung a 12-2 shiner on West Augusta, powered to a 16-1 rout of New Kent, survived a nail-biter pitchers’ duel by 3-2 over Williamsburg and clamped down on South Augusta 11-1.

And their reward for this run of top-notch wins was a chance to play Glen Allen again, resulting in a 14-1 loss—closing what was by all accounts a very good season for the Crozet team.

Regarding the opener, Coach Thomas said “I think the nervousness of being in states and

Peachtree 12U All Stars. Front row: Brendan Quigley, Matthew Heilman, Isaac Sumpter, Aiden Halloran, Dakota Howell, Phillip Zimmerman. Second row: James Meenan, Andrew Shifflett, Colin Winkler, Nathan Fink, Andrew Barrese, Michael Holzwarth. Back row: Coach Austin Zimmerman, Manager Matt Winkler, Coach Drew Holzwarth. (Photo courtesy the team)

Peachtree All Stars 11U with their team sportsmanship award. Top row: Luca Tesoriere, Will Ferguson, Anthony Garono, Jameson Spence, Noah Murray, Sam Waldbillig, Jonathan Kumer. Second row: Brandon Thomas, Zack Thacker, Ross Hardy, Brayden Ross, Eric Breeden. (Photo courtesy Jamie Waldbillig)

playing the two-time defending state champions got the best of us,” he recalled. Playing them twice in one tourney should be classified as unfair.

Game two saw Jamerson Spence and Will Ferguson combining to toss a four-hit effort against West Augusta. This game featured parts of what this team is, and can be. Spence, Ferguson, Noah Murray and Sam Waldbilig ran off a string of singles and a couple of doubles. “The players went back to playing confident, business-like baseball,” Thomas said after the opening letdown.

During the game three New Kent win, Eric Breeden and Brayden Ross cranked up the defense including a Breeden running snatch of a foul fly ball.

Ferguson tossed a complete game, Murray’s double and home run were big and Anthony Garrano drove in two with a double.

Spence went the distance in

the tight fourth game against Williamsburg, and helped himself with a first-inning homer.

Waldbilig made his only hit count, rapping a game-winning double. And the defense spoke up loudly with key plays by Zack Thacker, Brandon Thomas, Garrano and Jonathan Kumer.

The fifth game against South Augusta continued the superlative scoring, pitching and defensive with a 11-1 victory including a complete game three-hitter from Ross Hardy, and a home run by Waldbilig. The sixth game was a tad closer, but all Glen Allen.

The 12U team was still in the mix on July 4, having defeated Varina 15-5, Glen Allen 7-2, and Shenandoah by a count of 11-1. The Fourth of July games were rained out, and Peachtree lost to Williamsburg on Tuesday night, too late to make this paper’s deadline for a full report.

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CROZET gazette

JULY 2016

Cemetery —continued from page 17

It occurred on steep tracks, probably at the top of Rockfish Gap. The slaveholder lived in White Hall. Sclater informed him of Sam’s death by letter. “I had him buried,” Sclater wrote, “in the graveyard at Waynesborough.” Sclater—and, no doubt, other contractors— clearly could choose the burial location for a hired-out slave.

Enslaved men laboring for Sclater and Richardson finalized a challenging, forty-five-feethigh embankment at Lickinghole Creek in June 1853. Meantime Section 16 defeated another contractor.

William S. Carter of Louisa County was in charge of statehired slave crews that were ballasting the grade on Section 16, but he quit abruptly sometime

in 1853, leaving all tools and implements behind. His successor was Robert P. Smith, a Greenwood planter and contractor who “employed,” to use the parlance of the time, slave labor elsewhere on the line.

Smith’s Section 16 contract stated that he would engage “as large a force as can be employed to advantage” for “all the work that may be judged necessary.”

Two of his crew were white foremen. The remaining men were slaves. These laborers smoothed the top and sides of the grade, shored up embankments, removed earth slides, cleared flooded ditches, and distributed crossties that the railroad purchased from Smith. Their toil included completing the ballasting with two-inch pieces of rock. As Claudius Crozet described the task, “1,800 cubic yards of ballasting per mile, to be procured, broken, spread,

Matching stones suggest that two related individuals died at the same time. ©2016 Bob Dombrowe.

and rammed in.”

Then tracklayer N. S. Carpenter arrived from Richmond with Irish hands in August 1853. Working through the winter, they pounded all Section 16 rails to the crossties

The Section 16 route. Original map courtesy of the Library of Congress.

by April 1854. According to Crozet, the men attached the iron “rapidly and in a creditable manner.”

Matching names on payrolls and death records would have told me exactly which Irish men, if any, died while building Section 16. Despite years of searching, I’ve been unable to locate Section 16 payrolls, and Albemarle County death records are inexplicably silent on Irish deaths in the 1850s. So, the presence of Irish graves in the cemetery remains unknowable.

As to slave burials, I’ve settled for clues teased from letters and contracts.

Gallagher and McElroy, Sclater and Richardson, William S. Carter, and Robert P. Smith used a mostly or all enslaved labor force. Should an untimely death occur, they could select the burial spot. Any slave who died during their tenures on Section 16 might lie under the silent fieldstones in the cemetery.

Maybe some mysteries will always be cold cases. No matter.

While searching for answers, I’ve found solid proof that enslaved men labored on every foot of Section 16, and Irish immigrants drove the spikes that affixed the rails. The next time you cross the tracks in Crozet or hear a lonesome train whistle in the area, give a thought to the men who constructed your part of the Blue Ridge Railroad. They’re waiting for someone to remember them.

Mary E. Lyons is an Affiliate Fellow at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. She is the author of The Blue Ridge Tunnel and The Virginia Blue Ridge Railroad.

CROZET gazette

Medicine —continued from page 36

Hmm, Interesting concept.

An EM intern wandered down from a slow inpatient rotation, confident enough in her mastery of her service that she could relax and spare some time away from it to socialize in her favorite place in the hospital—the ER. We were happy to see her.

She was a scribe for us for several years before medical school and rotated with us as a medical student, so many of us have known her for years.

The EMS radio interrupted our chatting to warn of a sick incoming patient, unresponsive, with a faint pulse, and not breathing. I glanced at Lizzy, my senior resident and she nodded—got it. Lizzy looked to the visiting intern.

“You want this?”

The intern looked at me.

Technically she wasn’t really working in the ER and this was clearly an upper-level case. But this was transition day, the torch was being passed. Besides it was a chance for Lizzy to pay it forward by passing on the hard -won experience her senior residents had instilled in her. I admired the motivation of the intern, wanting to challenge herself and take on extra work solely to become a better doctor. “ OK, ’tern, you are running this. Lizzy will back you up if you need it. “ Only in Emergency Medicine would this prompt happy grins

JULY 2016 from both doctors. I may have allowed a small smile myself, but I carefully hid it from those two.

The smiling stopped when the patient arrived desperately sick and decidedly familiar to us. I had cared for him many times, as had Lizzy, and even the intern knew him from his recent ICU stay. He lived with heart failure, kidney failure, and respiratory failure. He underwent dialysis three times a week.

He had been hospitalized in the ICU eight times so far this year, nearly dying each time. He was my age.

Pretty much everything that could be wrong with him today was wrong. For example, he did not have a pulse. Also he did not have an IV. Well, thanks, EMS! To be fair, though, we were unable to start an IV either. Too many IVs over the years had ravaged his veins.

Under the “direction” of the intern we drilled a needle into the bone of his lower leg and gave him a shot of adrenalin right into his bone marrow. The bone marrow is very vascular and connects immediately into the central circulation.

Now he had a pulse at least.

We continued to work on him for hours. I had never seen him this sick. He lost his pulse several times. I began to feel a tinge of worry. This was not going in the right direction.

Lizzy and I coached the intern through the resuscitation and the multiple invasive procedures he needed. A central line IV was placed through the jug-

ular vein in his neck and threaded forward until it was positioned just above the entry into his heart. Now we could give him powerful medicines to sustain his blood pressure.

Another line was placed in the artery in his wrist to closely monitor the results of our blood pressure tinkering. His breathing was supported by a special ventilator. Antibiotics were given. And still we did not know why he was so sick.

Every few minutes I would slip out to run the rest of the department and give Lizzy and the intern the space they needed to own the resuscitation decision-making.

One of the interns presented a patient to me, a young healthy person with a cold who was hoping for a doctor’s note to get off work. The intern was frustrated with this obvious abuse of the ER. “Andrew, do you know what I call patients like this?”

“What?”

“People who aren’t going to die. I like people who aren’t going to die. They are easy to take care of.”

“Well should I give him a work note?”

“That’s what you need to decide.”

Now he was frustrated with me as well as the patient.

I returned to the resuscitation to find there was a new complication. Our patient was now intermittently but mostly constantly having seizures. Oh boy.

With careful titration of sedatives and blood pressure support

43

we were able to tame the seizures for a while. By now the MICU team was down and ready to take over. He was finally stabilized and not likely to die, at least in the ED. I slipped out to catch up on my other patients.

The visiting intern came to find me at the desk, where I was reviewing Andrew’s chart. He had given the work note. Good man.

“Dr Reiser, Lizzy and I are trying to decide if we should put him on fosphenytoin or Keppra for long-term seizure suppression. What do you think?”

There was no real scientific guidance to answer this question and no real way of knowing whether he needed either medicine. But neither would hurt him.

“I think you and Lizzy need to decide that.”

“But what do you think?” she demanded. “ I think you and Lizzy need to decide that.”

Her years as scribe observing my oblique teaching method paid off as a sly smile formed on her face. She had solved the riddle.

“So you’re saying it doesn’t matter which one we choose?”

I smiled back at her but did not say anything.

She turned on her heel and marched back into the resuscitation bay, ready to make a decision. She was no longer an intern. The torch had been passed.

BRHP

—continued from page 12

progress, come to the public meeting on Thursday, July 14 at 7 p.m. at the White Hall Community Building. There will be a brief presentation and a chance to find out how you can help build the memorial: by funding, and/or hands-on projects. Check out the Facebook and web sites (search Blue Ridge Heritage Project) for related stories and ways to donate. Your help can bring these people and their stories back to life.

The heart and soul of the old Shiflett home lie waiting to rise again as testimony to the many lives lived in these beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains.

Email us! We love to hear from our readers! news@crozetgazette.com

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CROZET gazette

JULY 2016

Linwood Mason Barnett 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

BEREAVEMENTS Stuard R. Wood Jr., 77

May 11, 2016

Phyllis A. Shaver, 62

May 25, 2016

Flora Grace Helmes Clark, 79

May 26, 2016

Gilbert W. Durrer, 91

May 28, 2016

Larry Gene Sipe Sr., 56

May 30, 2016

Beulah Gibson Braza, 79

June 2, 2016

Terri Maupin Meeks, 55

June 4, 2016

Leo Tichotsky, 94

June 5, 2016

Felix Jacob Nuesch, 84

June 6, 2016

Rebecca Elizabeth Cooley Wright, 80

June 7, 2016

Martha Mae Black Amato, 86

June 8, 2016

Oakley C. Straley, 74

June 8, 2016

Carolyn Robertson Ross, 71

June 10, 2016

Anne Wygent Dunn Louque, 64

June 12, 2016

Daisy Gwendolyn Fisher, 61

June 14, 2016

James Stimson Hawkins, 82

June 16, 2016

Roy Lee Shifflett, 63

June 16, 2016

Linwood Mason Barnett, 89

June 18, 2016

Kenas Lee Shifflett, 86

June 20, 2016

E. Jacqueline Fiske, 86

June 21, 2016

Dorothy Duane Sandridge Gloor, 96

June 21, 2016

Lillian Mavis Collier, 89

June 22, 2016

Eva Linden Chesteen, 82

June 23, 2016

Michael Ralph Nelson Jr., 52

June 23, 2016

Brandy Nicole Wood, 35

June 24, 2016

Doris Mae McCauley, 60

June 29, 2016

Linwood Mason Barnett, 89, of Crozet, passed away working in the fields on Saturday, June 18, 2016.

Mason was born June 4, 1927 in Covington, Virginia.

He was the son of Jesse and Myrtle Barnett. Mason was preceded in death by his parents and brothers Clyde and Fulton Barnett, Maude Gibson and Daniel Rorrer. Mason is survived by his wife of 67 years, Alice Pearl Barnett; and his son Charles Lewis Barnett and wife, Susan, of Crozet. His grandchildren Jason (wife – Elizabeth), Shaina Stringer (husband – David), Michael (wife - Angela) and Rachel.

Greatgrandchildren Andrew, Claire, Patrick, Allyson, Logan, Izabella and Asher. Mason is also survived by his four sisters. Lucille Switzer, Phyllis Michau, Frances Coffey and Doris Swenson; and numerous nieces and nephews.

Mason retired after 39 years working for ACME Visible Records. Mason, however, spent the majority of his life working in the fields as a farmer. He was also a member of Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Greenwood.

Mason’s giving nature was only outweighed by desire to help those in need. He gave with an open heart and made sure that his family and friends always knew how much they were loved. There was not a task he would hesitate to take on if someone asked.

Never one to miss an opportunity to “cut a rug,” whether with Alice or for a crowd.

Mason was always the life of a party with his “two-stepping.” If there was not a party to be found, he made sure that everywhere he was the party was coming with him. Mason was a printer and farmer by trade, but a true “Jack” of all trades.

Family night was June 20 at Anderson funeral home. The funeral service was conducted

by The Reverend Christopher Garcia, Rector of Emmanuel Episcopal Church, on June 21 at Emmanuel Episcopal Church 7599 Rockfish Gap Turnpike, Greenwood. Interment followed at Rockgate Cemetery in Crozet.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Bread Fund, PO Box 38, Greenwood, Virginia 22943.

Crozet Gazette obituaries are only $25 for up to 500 words and include a photograph.

Email ads@crozetgazette.com or call 434-249-4211, or have your funeral home submit on your behalf.

CROZET gazette

JULY 2016

Gators Take the Beach

By David Wagner david@crozetgazette.com The Crozet Gators Swim Team lost by the narrowest of margins (22 points) to ACAC in an early season Jefferson Swim League dual meet June 22. They looked to bounce back from that loss June 29 as they traveled to Fry Spring’s Beach Club. Crozet missed a number of their top swimmers in the ACAC meet but were back at full-strength at Fry Spring’s and it made all the difference as Crozet won the meet by a final score of 569-495.

After the meet opening 200 Medley Relays, the teams were tied at 60 points apiece and then the Gators took control. In the 8 and under boys, Nate Dixon was first in the 50 Free and took second place in the 25 Breast and Butterfly while Braden Fuller took first in the 25 Backstroke and third place in the 25 Free and 25 Fly. In the 8 and under girls division Elizabeth Haslam earned first place honors in the 25 Breast and Fly and took second place in the 50 Free. Miller Grimes had a good meet as well, taking first place in the 25 Free and second place in both the 25 Back and 25 Fly. In the 9-10 boys division Jack Burr was a force as usual.

Burr finished first in the 50 Breast, 50 Back, second in the 50 Fly and was a member of the first place 200 Medley Relay team. Thomas Heilman dominated as well, garnering first place finishes in the 100 Free and 50 Fly while earning second place in the 50 Backstroke. In the 9-10 girls group Noa Steven and Hannah Shannon took care of business for the Gators.

Steven won the 50 Free and 50 Back and was second in the 100 Free. Shannon was first in the 50 Breast, 50 Fly and was third in the 100 Freestyle.

Noah Johnson and Matthew Heilman weren’t to be outdone in the 11-12 boys. Johnson was first in 50 Back, 100 Free, the 200 Medley Relay and was second in the 50 Free. Heilman took second place ribbons in the 50 Breast, 50 Fly, 100 Free and was also a member of the 200 Medley winning relay team.

In the 11-12 girls Julie and Libby Addison were a tag team wrecking crew. Julie ended the night with four first place finishes. She won the 50 Breast, 50 Back and the 100 Free. She was also a member of the winning 200 Medley relay team. Libby Addison won the 50 Free and took second place in the 50 Fly, along with her first place on the 200 Medley Relay team.

The 13-14 boys kept the momentum rolling for Crozet as Stephane Karp, Andrew Holzwarth and Max Tracey continued the Gators’ dominance. Karp had four first place finishes on the night, too. Three individuals (50 Free, 50 Back, 100 Free), and was a 200 Medley Relay winner.

Holzwarth took first place in the 50 Breast, 50 Fly and a second in the 100 Free and was on the winning 200 Medley relay team. Max Tracey joined Karp and Holzwarth on the 200 Medley relay while finishing second in the 50 Back and third place in the 50 Free and 50 Fly. Sophie O’Donnell led the way for the 13-14 girls with two first place finishes (50 Fly, 100 Free), and a second in the 50 Breast. Ashna Nitzsche gained valuable points for Crozet as well, finishing third in the 50 Back and 100 Free and fourth in the 50 Free.

The 15-18 Boy’s made a good showing also. Jason Heilman, Zach Bowen and Evan Sposato put forth strong efforts to combine for 52 points on the night.

Heilman was first in the 50 Free and third in the 50 Fly. Bowen took second place in the 50 Free and 100 Free, along with a fourth place in the 50 Fly. Sposato was second in the 50 backstroke and third in both the 50 Breast and 100 Free. The 15-18 girls were led by Colleen Farabaugh and Jesse Dugan.

Farabaugh took first in the 50 Free and earned second place honors in the 50 Breast and 100 Free. Dugan added two secondplace finishes (50 Back, 50 Fly) and was seventh in the 50 Free.

Dugan and Farabaugh combined for 40 more points.

Crozet controlled the meet other than the opening relays.

Out of 50 different individual

continued on page 46

45

Kids’ Crossword

by Louise Dudley

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

11

10 12

13

15

14

16

17 18

19

20 21

22

24

23

25 22

26

Solution on page 47

Summertime, Summertime!

ACROSS 1 Thurgood _____, first African-American Supreme Court justice (born 7/2/1908) 7 Pond croaker 9 Many say she sewed

the first American flag 10 Dig it on the beach at

Mint Springs 11 Beach ball filler 15 Feed for cattle 16 A line of marchers,

bands, decorated cars

and more 19 Author of “Charlotte’s

Web” (born 7/11/1899) 20 Pull these intruders in

the garden 21 Automobile 22 Musical group with

many instruments 23 Another name for

July 4: _____ Day 25 Command to a dog 26 Equipment for

volleyball or

badminton

DOWN 2 Two U.S. Presidents

died on the same July

4: Thomas Jefferson

and John _____ 3 July is the _____ month

4 “Dear _____,”

advice columnist in

the newspaper (born

7/4/18) 5 This UVA building

with lots of books

has a good video

about the Declaration

of Independence 6 Crozet swim team 7 Bright and loud

entertainment in the

sky 8 Fuel for a car or

lawnmower 12 Pick-your-own

strawberries or

peaches at this

orchard 13 To make this, squeeze

yellow fruit, add sugar

and water 14 Author of “Harry

Potter” (born

7/31/1965) 16 Beatrix _____, author

of “The Tale of Peter

Rabbit” (born

7/28/1866) 17 Number of stars on the

American flag in 1776 18 Peach orchard near

White Hall 21 Kids try to catch this

at the parade 24 Folding bed, perhaps

at camp

46

CROZET gazette

JULY 2016

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CROZET ARTISAN DEPOT During the month of July, we are thrilled to present a show and sale of new work by celebrated potter Nancy Ross, of Free Union. Please join us and meet Nancy at a Second Saturday Opening Reception on July 9, from 4 to 6 p.m.

Refreshments served.

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Less/Fewer

Fitness

Independence Day Celebration than this year’s.” We are constantly being told on TV that “more people choose Crest” or “more doctors recommend aspirin.” More than what? Than any other drug? Than physical therapy? More doctors than chiropractors? The point is that without completing the thought, the comparison becomes meaningless.

An excellent example of the correct usage of less and fewer came in a recent article by Mary Stickley-Godinez in the Gardening section of The Daily Progress.

“And, just so you know, ‘full sun’ means a total of six hours of sunlight [per day]….

Any less than that (referring to sunlight) is ‘partial sun.’ Fewer than three hours of sunlight is considered ‘shade.’” I hope this demonstrates that the correct choice between less and fewer leads to more graceful expression and a more elegant style. So, for my July 4th picnic I would prefer less cole slaw, but fewer ribs; fewer hot dogs, but less barbecue. And definitely more watermelon! Are there less good writers in journalism today, or fewer? You decide. I would like to see fewer errors in what I read—less vagueness, and more clarity. And thanks to reader Jerry Plisko for this topic idea!

different ways. Break up the stress and strengthen many different systems. Any exercise is good exercise, and any exercise becomes beneficial to your preferred form of exercise.

We all want to be healthy into our Golden Years and finding sustainable ways to keep our bodies active is an important part of that. Start exploring different forms of exercise, and even if you don’t necessarily like them, give them a try from time to time. You may be surprised and refreshed.

—continued from page 38 Share your family’s weddings, engagements, births, anniversaries, retirements, graudations or special birthdays in the Crozet Gazette for just $25

NO MORE EXCUSES M2 Personal Training offers 8 classes per week taught by certified personal trainers in Crozet. Or set up a group training session or one-on-one session in your home to help meet your fitness/health goals. Check out www. m2personaltraining.com for more information. Contact Melissa Miller at 434-962-2311.

—continued from page 22

Gators

—continued from page 45

events the Gators nabbed the top two spots in 19 of those events. In the end it was too much to overcome for Fry Spring’s and Crozet got the win.

The Gators will be in action again on Wednesday July 13. Crozet will be at home against Fairview on July 20 in what will most likely be the most intense and exciting meet of the season. Start time for all meets is 6 p.m. Come on out and support your local swimmers.

CROZET gazette

JULY 2016

community events

Crozet Gazette Business Card Ads

JULY18

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McAllister Painting

Crozet Board of Trade Meeting

The Crozet Board of Trade, a civic organization formed by area businesses to support charitable causes in Crozet, will meet Monday, July 18, at 7:30 p.m. at Pro Re Nata Brewery in Crozet.

The agenda includes a review of permissible functions under the CBT’s IRS non-profit status, a discussion of plans for the development of Barnes lumber property and the future improvements to The Square, preparations for a Christmas raffle in Crozet, and election of officers.

47

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JULY 9

Second Saturday Art Receptions Crozet’s Second Saturday event art receptions run from 4 to 6 p.m., Saturday July 9.

Art on the Trax (at Creative Framing and the Art Box in downtown Crozet) will present “Floating in the Summertime”

by Alexandria Searls during the month of July.

For “Floating in the Summertime,” Searls used an underwater camera to photograph leaves and other travelers on the Rivanna River and on other local waterways. She shot up through the water, often revealing clouds. Sometimes the surface of the river is a mirror, and other times it is a lens to the outer world of sun and sky.

Across the street, Crozet Artisan Depot will present a show of new work by potter Nancy Ross of Free Union.

All events are free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

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F RO G MAR S HA L L I A I B E D B E T S Y ROS B A V E R O Y M E W A I R SAND O S R C T P ARAD HAY H O K I S T T L E BWH I T E H E I E D S BAN R CAR N T A L E P E ND E NC E O E D Y NE T S T AY J K R O WE L I I ND G

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P . O. Box 36 • 5370 T h r e e N o t c h ’d Rd • Crozet, V A 2 2 9 3 2

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