INSIDE SAMARITANS page 3 NO SUP CHANGE page 4 SCHOOL NOTES page 6
ROW ROW ROW page 14
DECEMBER 2017 VOL. 12, NO. 7
Three Notched Trail Greenway in Early Stages
APPLE HARVEST page 15
by Clover Carroll
HOMEMADE page 17
clover@crozetgazette.com
WOMEN’S HISTORIES page 19
MIKEMARSHALL
BEEF STEW page 24 BIZ NEWS page 25 BELL RINGERS page 27 OUR BEAUTIFUL HOME page 28-29 HEBRON MANGER page 30 MAUZY BRIDGE page 31 HOME RANGE page 32 CONCERTO DEBUT page 35 OLD SANTA TIMES page 36 NO, NO DOG page 39 RELIGION NEWS page 40 APPLE SAVERS page 42 SEEING THINGS page 43 PARADE PICS page 48-49 WARRIORS CHAMPS! page 50
The Crozet Christmas Tree, a long-standing tradition, came to life in the Square again Nov. 29. Our thanks to Roger Baber, Rick Ruscher, Billy James, Chuck Kennedy and Andy Pawley for making it happen.
Facts on the Ground: How Do We Value Rural Land? by Lisa Martin
lisamartin@crozetgazette.com
Of the roughly 450,000 acres of total land mass in Albemarle County, almost half is currently taxed under the state’s Land Use Tax Deferral program. Adopted by the county in 1975, land use valuation allows acre-
age to be assessed at its “use value” instead of its fair market value for real estate tax levies, the county’s largest revenue source. For qualifying farmland and forested or open land, the reduced assessment means that owners pay less tax on that property. While the program’s planning and
continued on page 8
The idea for a Three Notched Trail (TNT) connecting Charlottesville with Crozet, and eventually to the Blue Ridge Tunnel and beyond, has been explored for a number of years, but has recently taken on new life. Rip Verkerke, president of the nonprofit Rivanna Trails Foundation (RTF), is spearheading the effort, and RTF board member Allie Hill has volunteered to manage the project. The RTF has successfully created a lovely and well-used greenway encircling Charlottesville, and now hopes to extend that benefit into western Albemarle County. The TNT is still in its early planning stages. “Our goal is to create a scenic and safe walking and biking route from the Rivanna River near Monticello to the Blue Ridge Mountains, following the path of the historic Three Notched Road,” states the RTF website (www.rivannatrails. org/page-929881/541728). The original Three Notch’d Road (sometimes called Three Chopt Road) “ran from continued on page 22
Here to Help: Meet New County Executive Jeffrey Richardson by Lisa Martin
lisamartin@crozetgazette.com
Jeffrey Richardson began work in late October as the new Albemarle County Executive, replacing interim Executive Doug Walker. We talked with him to hear his history, perspective on the job and thoughts on what lies ahead. Welcome, Jeff! Tell us about your professional experiences prior to
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moving here. Two places really sum up my professional career. Most recently I served for four years as the executive of Cleveland County, North Carolina, a predominately rural area about 45 minutes outside of Charlotte, which is one of the fastest growing cities in the U.S. I also worked in city management for over 16 years in Asheville, NC, during a period of significant continued on page 16
ALBEMARLE COUNTY
SEASON OF LIGHT page 13
New County Executive Jeffrey Richardson.
Search. See. Love.
The finest homes in Western Albemarle
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SOLD 2017 YTD in Western Albemarle 824 Dry Bridge Road – Skyline Crest
1728 Albemarle Pippin Court – Bargamin Park
8116 West End Drive – Old Trail
1866 Bargamin Loop – Bargamin Park
1059 Killdeer lane – Old Trail
1815 Clay Drive – Waylands Grant
2245 Craigs Store Road – Batesville
5693 Upland Drive – Old Trail
600 Jonna Street – Westlake at Foothill Crossing
6933 Wishing Meadow Lane - Batesville
7059 Hampstead Drive – Old Trail
638 Jonna Street – Westlake at Foothill Crossing
1425 Plains Drive – Church Hill West
7123 Hampstead Drive – Old Trail
2615 Lavaca Court – Westlake at Foothill Crossing
814 Filly Run – Cory Farms
3280 Rowcross Street – Old Trail
5237 Park Ridge Court – Western Ridge
1312 St George Street – Crozet
3285 Rowcross Street – Old Trail
352 Marquette Court – Westhall
590 Shepherd Run – Crozet
3286 Rowcross Street – Old Trail
5341 Brookwood Road – Westhall
535 Burchs Creek Road - Crozet
705 Highgate Row – Old Trail
2485 Thrush Road – Whippoorwill Hollow
950 Park Ridge Drive – Foothill Crossing
735 Highgate Row – Old Trail
2292 Whippoorwill Road – Whippoorwill Hollow
4809 Grassy Knolls – Highlands
810 Belgrove Street – Old Trail
2025 Whippoorwill Road – Whippoorwill Hollow
1212 Herold Circle – Lewis Hills
890 Emerson Drive – West Leigh
1711 Wickham Way – Wickham Pond
8026 West End Drive – Old Trail
3025 Morewood Lane – Rockbridge
Thank you friends and clients for a wonderful 2017! – The Denise Ramey Team
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CROZETgazette
To the Editor Send your letters to the editor to news@crozetgazette.com. Letters will not be printed anonymously. Letters do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Crozet Gazette.
Deer Collision Recently my car collided with a deer on Crozet Avenue. It was sudden and shocking. Luckily I wasn’t going very fast and stopped to see the deer going back down the hill it had come from. But I am a senior and not quite as resilient as I was years ago and the sudden shock to my body caused an immediate head throbbing, neck pain and difficulty walking. I was able to move the car to the side of the road, assuming that someone behind me would stop and help. Instead, the two cars behind me just sped up and passed my car.
DECEMBER 2017 I was in shock and tried to reach back to find my cell phone that I had left in the back, but my neck hurt too much. So, I got out of the car and tried to wave two more cars down to call the police, but neither would stop or even slow up. Finally, a lovely woman stopped her car to help me. I told her that my head hurt and she could see that I wasn’t able to walk well and helped me to sit in my car and then went to find her cell phone to call the police, as we could not find mine. She told me that she was hearing impaired and wanted me to speak to them. But I couldn’t talk right away, so she told them what had happened. Within a few minutes, both the police and ambulance arrived. The two ambulance drivers, Ariana and Jack, helped
py Holidays
me into the ambulance and gave me a very competent check. When I decided not to go to the hospital and was concerned about getting home, they were so reassuring and kind, telling me that if I changed my mind, I could call back at any time and they would take me to the hospital. The officer who came was equally professional, attentive and kind in asking his questions, checking my car for drivability, suggesting next steps and reassuring me when I asked, that he would follow me back to my home. He gave me his card and said to call him for any reason. I drove my car home very slowly, and he was behind me all the way. I cannot say how much safer I felt that he did that and am so grateful for his kindness. The professionalism and the
personal kindness and caring of the ambulance team, who are volunteers, and the officer in charge were exemplary. They are a credit to their professions and the Crozet community is very lucky to have them support us. And to my initial rescuer, who left before I could get your name: You renewed my confidence in the innate kindness of people, especially after the people in the four cars before you ignored me. I don’t know your name but have seen and/or met you before, perhaps in the library, and will never forget both your kindness and efficiency. You knew exactly what to do! I hope that I will someday be able to thank you in person. Octavia Allis Crozet
continued on page 14
Your Local Real Estate Broker Ross L. Stevens
Amy N. Stevens
rstevens@stevensandcompany.net
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Principal Broker 434-981-5268
Realtor
434-996-0394
5785 THE SQUARE, SUITE 200, CROZET, VIRGINIA 22932 434-823-6104 OFFICE
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
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ALLIE M. PESCH, Art Director and Ad Manager ads@crozetgazette.com | 434-249-4211
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: John Andersen, Clover Carroll, Theresa Curry, Marlene Condon, Elena Day, Phil James, Charles Kidder, Lisa Martin, Dirk Nies, Robert Reiser, Roscoe Shaw, Heidi Sonen, Denise Zito.
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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,
P.O. Box 863, Crozet, VA 22932.
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CROZETgazette
DECEMBER 2017
CCAC Opposes Changes to Restore’N Station Special Use Permit The Crozet Community Advisory Committee passed a resolution at its Nov. 15 meeting opposing changes to Restore’N Station’s 2010 Special Use Permit that would have allowed it to operate longer hours and add two fuel pumps. The gas and convenience store on Rt. 250 now operates under the name of Legacy Markets. Development consultant Jo Higgins represented station owners Jeff and Michelle Sprouse. They aimed to extend their open hours from 16 to 20 and to add two diesel pumps under the canopy. Higgins said the SUP was over water usage and that usage records show that the station uses less than half of its water allowance of 1,625 gallons per day. In fact the highest one-day use so far is 383 gallons, or 38 percent of the limit. A valve automatically cuts off the well pump if 1,625 gallons are used in 24 hours. The station’s Freetown neighbors, facing the third petition to change the terms of the permit,
none yet successful, showed well-earned skepticism. “Next month is it more conditions you want changed?” asked CCAC member Sandra Mears, a Freetown resident. “How often are you going to try to amend?” In 2016 a plan to add commercial space was rejected by the County supervisors. “We’ve proven what our usage is,” said Higgins. “We’re trying to comply with the rules. We’ve spent a great deal of money to comply. Conditions were imposed because of neighbors unhappy with the station. We have property owners who have never been satisfied.” Freetowner Jason Crutchfield asked, “How many of the nine conditions have been violated?” Both Mears and Crutchfield contended that the required screening trees have not been planted. “Have the pumps been on when they weren’t supposed to be?” Crutchfield went on. “I just want to be clear: the store has not been in compliance over
Jo Higgins presenting at the November CCAC meeting
lighting, tree buffer, hours, and overnight parking. You can’t be trusted. You use tricky language. I know there’s been overnight parking.” “The primary variable is the number of customers,” observed CCAC member Tom Loach. “Why not say you are not attracting customers? What benefit does this [proposal] bring to the community?” “When Old Trail builds out
there will be more customers,” Higgins answered. “You admitted that you provided misleading information so you could get the doors open,” said CCAC member Kostis Alibertis. “It’s very difficult to trust that.” “We’ve always made clear that we were coming back,” Higgins said. “There’s never been any miticontinued on page 16
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6782 WELBOURNE LANE, OLD TRAIL • • • •
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CROZETgazette
DECEMBER 2017
lisamartin@crozetgazette.com
LISLA MARTIN
By Lisa Martin
COURTESY DAVE MAYBEE
6
PTO helpers display 375 pounds of candy after Halloween.
Sweet Retreat
Crozet Elementary School Principal Gwedette Crummie displays her reading assignments from the students during the Principal’s Challenge.
Crozet Elementary Principal Gwedette Crummie’s desk is piled with stacks of books—all suggestions from students for what she might read during this year’s Principal’s Reading Challenge. “This is the fourth year of the challenge,” said Crummie, grinning over the piles, “and every year the third grade comes up with a new idea for me.” One year she camped out in a tent with her books, and another year she hid herself all around the school while doing her reading. This year’s challenge combined math and
Fourth grade students
science with literacy. “This year they are sending me to the moon!” she laughed. “Based on our old spacecraft, it takes three days to get to the moon, which is 4,320 minutes. We divided that up by how many students and teachers we have, and they each have to read at least 12 minutes so they can send me to the moon.” Adding to the fun and learning was a presentation by members of the PVCC Rocketry Club, including a demonstration launch of a model rocket out on the playground. “Everybody knows my motto is RED,” said Crummie. “Read Every Day!”
compare selections at
An Open Book Remember the paper flyer for Scholastic Books that got stuffed in your backpack each week? Blow that up to life-size, and it was on display in the Murray Elementary library for a week in November. The Scholastic Book Fair is a
LISLA MARTIN
Space to Read
the Murray Book Fair.
major fundraising event for Murray, raising over $6,000 for the library each year. “We can take a percentage of the proceeds in cash, to pay for things like author visits, and the rest in Scholastic credit to purchase more books,” said school librarian Elizabeth Waterbury. During the weeklong event,
After donating toothbrushes to Murray Elementary’s post-Halloween candy drive four years ago, Crozet dentist Dr. David Maybee was inspired to continue and expand the collections to give kids a healthy alternative to keeping (and eating!) all of that candy each year. Now dubbed the Western Albemarle Candy Collection Initiative (WACCI for short), Maybee coordinates the program with the PTO’s in three local elementary schools, this year netting 750 pounds of candy. “I don’t want to take away from the fun of Halloween at all,” said Maybee, “I’d just like to supplement it and extend the energy toward a healthful purpose.” He finds outlets for the candy haul, including donating it to military bases overseas and to nonprofit organizations in Charlottesville. Maybee explained that baby teeth, which are lost by about age 12, have an enamel layer that is much thinner and less dense than that of adult teeth. “It doesn’t take much for baby teeth to decay, and eating lots of sugar exposes those teeth to students visit the Book Fair and scribble down the details of anything that looks appealing on their wish lists. They can bring in money for their selections, or pass the list to a parent with fingers crossed. As long as the case and shelf numbers of the choices are noted, parents can locate them on Family Night or during the adults-only coffee hour on Friday morning. Do students get everything
high levels of acidity that can really damage them, especially with repeated exposure,” said Maybee. Early patterns make habits, he said, but if you change those habits you can have strong teeth for life. Scott Williams, P. E. teacher at Meriwether Lewis School, was excited for his students to take part in the candy drive this year. “We try to highlight the excessive nature of Halloween with a game called ‘Sugar Zombies,’ where we act out what happens in our bodies when we have a sugar rush and a sugar crash,” he said. MLS’s program gives any student who brings in a candy donation a ticket for a raffle to win passes to Jump Trampoline Park in Charlottesville. In addition to giving out the 25 Jump passes, Williams also does a drawing for a student-taught P. E. class. “Rewarding students with exercise makes us a healthier community,” he said. Dr. Maybee donated the passes to the schools for the prizes, and also coordinated with Crozet Elementary for a candy drive as part of their Fall Festival. He hopes the enthusiasm for the program keeps growing. “I’d love to see this spread across the county.” on their lists? “Not all,” said fourth grader Anders, pointing out the many Lego-themed books he’d requested. “Usually my mom buys me one or two.” From fantasy series to craft books, there is something for every taste. Fourth grader Cicely prefers nonfiction. “I like true stories that might otherwise seem like they might not be true,” she said with a smile. continued on page 52
Something “NOTEWORTHY” going on at your school? Let lisamartin@crozetgazette.com know!
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DECEMBER 2017
B e Pa rt o f t he S tory We need more books! Our library is busier than ever, and there’s more work to be done. - Patron visits have more than doubled - Circulation averages more than 80% over last year Every item in the building has been paid for in full, thanks to the support of you and your neighbors. Any donation made goes directly toward purchasing books.
It’s what’s inside that counts.
G I V I N G T R E E L E AV E S M a k e U n i q u e C h r i s t m a s P r e s e n t s ! You still have an opportunity to donate $1000 in recognition of a special friend, organization, teacher, or family with your gift to our fabulous, new Crozet/Western Albemarle Library. Stop by the library and read up on the company you will keep as a leaf on the giving tree.
To order a leaf, stop by the circulation desk or call 823-8420.
1990s
Library use more than doubled
2012 Construction begun for new Crozet Library at corner of Crozet Avenue and Library Avenue
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2013
Funds successfully raised for all furnishings
2013
New Crozet/Western Albemarle Library opened in September
2014
2015, 2016, 2017, 2018...
Library use more than doubled
Fundraising continues to fill library’s shelves with books
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CROZETgazette
DECEMBER 2017
LISLA MARTIN
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Trust Charlie with your home buying and selling needs in the western Albemarle area.
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I appreciate all your referrals for the purchase and resale of homes in the Crozet area.
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Jeff Werner of the Piedmont Environmental Council.
Land Use
—continued from page 1
conservation benefits are lauded by county officials, its specific rules and costs are often opaque to citizens, resulting in a persistent debate over the plan’s efficacy and fairness. What is the point of the policy? “The program was created to help keep agriculture alive in Virginia so we didn’t end up like New Jersey, painted over with development,” said Ann Mallek, White Hall District representative to the county Board of Supervisors. Virginia allows counties to adopt use value taxation to help preserve real estate for agriculture and scenic open space, to conserve natural resources, and to promote proper land-use planning. Three-quarters of Virginia counties and half of its cities have adopted the program. “There is a lot of preservation through ownership,” said Jeff Werner of the Piedmont Environmental Council, “and use valuation helps people keep their land. A lot of folks in this county are land rich and cash poor, but they don’t necessarily want to put their land in conservation easement with all of the restrictions that entails, and they don’t want to sell to a developer.” Land use valuation is a kind of middle ground, based on a snapshot of assessed value every two years, that lets landowners pay taxes based on how their land is actually being used. How much does the program cost Albemarle County? Because it is not listed as a line item in the budget or stated explicitly
on the county website, the cost of the Land Use program is mostly invisible to county residents. On average, land-use parcels are assessed at 10-15 percent of their market value assessment, and the landowner pays taxes only on that reduced value. In 2016, these reductions added up to $1.4 billion in “deferred value”—land value not taxed—which translates to almost $12.5 million in foregone revenue for the county. $12.5 million represents about 3 percent of the county’s annual budget for revenue, and detractors of the plan point out two perceived consequences of the policy. The amount paid to Charlottesville under the Revenue Sharing Agreement is based on the full market value of county property, not its use value, so some residents argue that use valuation causes the county to owe the city more money. The issues, however, are independent—the RSA is an obligation, and how the county chooses to raise revenue to pay its obligations is a policy choice. If the county discontinued land use taxation, it would have more tax revenue, but the RSA payment would not change. In similar fashion, Virginia calculates state education funding for each county using a “composite index” which is based on full market property values as a measure of a county’s “ability to pay” for education. Thus Albemarle County appears to be wealthier than it is, and as a result receives a smaller allocation of state funding than it would if the state allowed actual tax revenue to be used in the index. But, as in the RSA example, dropping land use taxation would not change our educacontinued on page 10
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DECEMBER 2017
Land Use
—continued from page 8
tion funding from the state, because that formula is fixed. Are landowners whose property is assessed at use value receiving an unfair advantage? Although it encompasses half of the total county acreage, use value is assessed on just ten percent of county parcels, about 4,600. Critics of the policy describe it as forcing growth area residents to “subsidize” the rural area, arguing that if all land were assessed the same way, a lower overall rate would fulfill the county’s current revenue requirements. Conservationists, however, tend to stress the program’s limited reach. “What people really misunderstand about use value taxation is that the value of the house, outbuildings, and surrounding grounds are taxed at market value, just like everybody else,” said Werner of the PEC. “It’s only the qualifying land that receives the tax break.” A popular phrase in community development circles is: “Cows don’t go to school,” referring to the fact that agricultural and forestal land requires far fewer services—police, fire, rescue, schools—than does residential or commercial property, and implying that the rural land deserves the reduced taxation. The Virginia Department of Forestry points to PEC studies showing that, for every dollar of tax revenue received, counties spend ten times as much for ser-
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Does Land Use valuation really stave off development, given that a farmer can sell at any time and a developer could develop the property by right? Yes and no, said Werner. There is a tension between the Comprehensive Plan, first established in 1971 and meant to be a planning guide for development areas, and the zoning regulations set in 1980, which are law. The vast majority of county land (out-
LISA MARTIN
beginnings. Let’s talk.
vices to residential land as they do for farm and open space land. Growth area residents often wonder why housing developers are allowed to buy and hold land in the designated growth area, yet still take advantage of land use taxation before they build. This is the case, for example, with the 18 acres just south of Chesterfield Landing on Crozet Avenue, which are owned by a developer in the growth area and zoned as residential property, but taxed under use valuation (qualified as agricultural/forestal land). The answer to why lies in the land’s current use, not its intended use. “During the period that the land is in use value, it’s achieving the stated purpose, regardless of who owns it,” said Werner, who added that the assessment may encourage a developer to pause rather than rush to develop. “If you want to eliminate use value based on a person’s intent, then the community has to decide that [and request a legislative change to accomplish it].”
SUBMITTED
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330 CLAREMONT LANE, CROZET, VIRGINIA 22932 • 434-823-9100 WWW.LODGEATOLDTRAIL.COM
An expanse of property near Chesterfield Landing on Crozet Avenue, currently under land use valuation.
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What kinds of “uses” qualify for the Land Use program?
Ann Mallek, Albemarle County Board of Supervisors representative for the White Hall District.
side of designated growth areas such as Crozet) was zoned by the Board of Supervisors as “Rural Area,” which sets minimum lot size at 21 acres with a maximum of five (2-acre) development rights on each parcel. The greater housing densities assigned to the growth areas are meant to dissuade developers from sprawling construction all over the county’s 750-squaremile area. So while use value taxation may slow growth by providing incentives for landowners to hang on to undeveloped land, it cannot permanently protect that land. “If the intent is to have less development in the county, then use valuation is a tool in the toolbox,” said Werner, “but if the county cannot accept more houses in a specific area, then that’s a function of zoning. Zoning trumps planning every time.” What happens if a landowner stops using land in qualified ways? The land reverts to market valuation, and the owner must pay “rollback” taxes—the difference between market value and use value taxation—for the last five years, plus interest. “The rollback can be a large amount of money, and it’s a shock to most people,” said County Assessor Peter Lynch. “Suddenly there’s a tax bill due and you have a month to pay it, so we try to warn people, to remind them how the program works.” In practice, the original landowners don’t always bear the penalty. Developers may purchase land and keep it in the continued on page 12
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A property owner can qualify for Land Use taxation in one (or a combination) of four ways: • Agriculture—a minimum of five acres of land used in growing crops or raising livestock, as well as an average of $1,000 annual sales revenue over a three-year period. For a livestock qualification, there must be one cow, one horse, five sheep, five pigs, 100 chickens, and/or 66 turkeys for every five acres. • Horticulture—a minimum of five acres of land used in the production of fruits, vegetables, and ornamental plants or products, as well as the above revenue requirement. For both agriculture and horticulture use, the land must have a five-year history of continuous farming before qualifying; if left vacant or neglected for a year or more, the clock restarts. • Forestry—a minimum of 20 contiguous acres of land devoted to tree growth or standing timber with no livestock access. The least restrictive of the four categories, forestal use requires either a forest management plan or simply a letter of intent stating the land will be forested, but no active timbering operation. • Open space—open land of at least 20 acres, which must be in (a) a designated agricultural-forestal district, (b) a perpetual conservation easement, or (c) subject to an Open Space Agreement with the county (lasting from four to ten years, prohibiting division or construction). Of the four categories, Forestry is the most popular, making up 40 percent of parcels in the program and almost two-thirds of the total acreage under Use Value assessment. Agriculture and combined Agriculture/Forestry parcels comprise the bulk of the remainder, with only a small number of Horticulture and Open Space uses in the total.
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CROZETgazette
DECEMBER 2017
Land Use
—continued from page 11
land use program for a period of years, only paying the rollback taxes when the land is reclassified for development. The developer may then capitalize the penalty into the cost of the new homes, which increases their price as well as assessments on surrounding property.
LISA MARTIN
How does the county verify proper Land Use? A revalidation
process was established in 2009 whereby landowners must certify every two years that their land still qualifies under the Land Use parameters, and the revalidation is followed up with an on-site visit by an appraiser. “I have a staff of ten full-time appraisers, eight of whom are assigned properties in the rural area that include land use parcels,” said Lynch. “That equals approximately 575 properties per appraiser.” Despite the workload, Lynch estimated that only 10 to 20 percent of the
LISA MARTIN
12
Peter Lynch, Albemarle County Assessor
Henley Orchard land, under land use valuation for agriculture.
appraisers’ time is spent reviewing the validity of land use parcels in the year following submitted applications. In the first year of the revalidation process, almost $1 million in rollback taxes was collected from ineligible properties and those parcels were reclassified. “We are working to clean up those incidents where the landowner is not using land use valuation properly,” said Lynch. “Another tool, besides just going out and looking, is aerial pictometry, where we can have a
current picture of, say, farmland, to see if it’s actually being farmed.” Supervisor Mallek said the county works to keep the program squeaky clean, and is particularly on the alert for developers holding land qualified for Land Use as agriculture but not farming it. “It’s not fair to run the program in a sloppy fashion, or we may risk losing it altogether,” she said. What would happen if the continued on page 55
Crozet
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CROZETgazette
13 MIKE MARSHALL
DECEMBER 2017
Crozet Chorus Voices Soar for Season of Light by Clover Carroll
clover@crozetgazette.com
The Crozet Chorus performed its superb “Season of Light” concert to a full house at Crozet Baptist Church December 2. “The lyrics and music represent a wide range of styles, with a focus on the warmth and glow of the holiday season,” explained Director John McCarty.
From Howard Helvey’s uplifting arrangement of “This Little Light of Mine,” to Mark Brymer’s foot-stomping “Waitin’ for the Light to Shine” from the musical Big River, to Eric Whitacre’s ethereal “Glow,” there was something for everyone in this eclectic and challenging program of songs about starlight, firelight, and the divine light within each of us. Soaring piano accompani-
ment by Tracy Reed, bluegrass fiddle fireworks by Anna Matijasic Hennessy, thrumming bass fiddle by Amy Wissekerke, and sparkling solos by Wyna Taggert and Miranda Fitzgerald—who also conducted a selection—added variety and elegance to this illuminating musical harbinger of the holiday season. “The Crozet Chorus gets better every year,” one audience
member remarked. McCarty jokingly called the audience singalongs an audition for the chorus, which is actively recruiting—especially men! The secular, non-auditioned community chorus—now 70 members strong—welcomes singers for its spring season, which begins January 16 to prepare for its next concert on April 29. Register at crozetchorus.org.
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CROZETgazette LISA MARTIN
DECEMBER 2017
Dam Turn Regatta The 5th annual Dam Turn Regatta, held on Beaver Creek Reservoir in mid-November, featured head races over a challenging 2,500-meter course that included a 180-degree turn halfway through. Though sub-freezing temperatures caused a delayed start and reshuffled race order, the day was a sunny success as teams from Beaver Creek Sculling dominated the more than twenty rowing categories. LISA MARTIN
14
A Masters Quad from Rivanna Rowing Club heads to the starting line at the north end of Beaver Creek Reservoir during the Dam Turn Regatta.
To the Editor —continued from page 3
Proposed “Rain” Fee The County of Albemarle is poised to impose one of the largest fees ever enacted on real estate property owners. Staff has been instructed to establish a storm water management utility fee, also known as a rain fee. Computer software will “read” an aerial photograph to determine the amount of impervious square footage you own and a fee will apply to every 500 square feet. This method is very inaccurate. The fee, if enacted, is scheduled to appear on your May 2019 real estate tax bill. By referring to it as a “fee” rather than a “tax,” the proposed fee will apply to churches, schools, volunteer fire departments and rescue squad buildings, county parks, buildings and parking lots, and any other tax-exempt properties.
When the City of Charlottesville enacted this fee it was estimated that the economic impact on the average citizen would be minimal. However, the result for property owners with extensive buildings and accompanying parking areas was much higher. Example: First Baptist Church on Park Street is paying $8,000 annually. Your input and support is critical in helping to suppress this proposed fee. Please contact your Supervisor to express your concerns. If you would like to receive an action alert notice about public meetings or hearings to be held by the county, send your email address to Angela Windett at angela. windett@vafb.com or call the Albemarle County Farm Bureau at (434) 293-5775 with your address. Joe Jones Albemarle County Farm Bureau
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CROZETgazette
DECEMBER 2017
15
Vintage Virginia Festival Celebrates Rural Life theresa@crozetgazette.com
THERESA CURRY
Early November is really the best time to admire the changing trees in rural Albemarle County, despite all the fall festivals scheduled in October. That’s when the Cove Garden Ruritans and Vintage Virginia Apples schedule their annual Apple Harvest Festival, now in its 17th year. It’s at the Albemarle Ciderworks (part of Vintage Virginia Apples) the first farm-based cider-making operation in the area. Over the 17 years, it’s evolved a bit and gotten bigger. The Ruritans make and sell Brunswick stew and apple butter; and farm-based and food-re-
Basket weaving with Clyde Jenkins.
HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS
lated home businesses demonstrate and sell their products. There are workshops, too: this year, crowds learned how to pair Virginia apples with Virginia cheeses, make vinegar or additive-free jam at home, attract bees, or start an orchard out back. They also took a few bites out of apples that long-gone generations of Virginians enjoyed––now raised in the Vintage Virginia orchards––and chose their favorites to take home. Winter harvest Margaret Shelton is part of the extended family that owns and runs the Virginia apple and cider operation, but her business, Shelton Herb Farm, specializes in plants, not fruit. Every November she makes the trip from coastal North Carolina to central Virginia to convince people here to keep their gardens going through the winter. She makes a good case. In her talk to the crowds who braved a chilly drizzle to duck under the tent at Vintage Virginia, Shelton had some advice for making the ingredients for winter sides and salads soldier on through the frigid nights. First, pick the right plants, she said There are plenty of cold-hardy varieties that flourish until the temperatures
THERESA CURRY
by Theresa Curry
Margaret Shelton with her hardy winter greens
plunge below 20 degrees, She recommends vegetables from the kale family, like broccoli, pak choi, tatzu, collards and cabbage. Southern herbs and greens that seem to do especially well are cilantro, chard, chervil fennel, parsley, celery, cress and spinach. Beets, carrots, radishes, turnips and rutabaga—the root vegetables we associate with spring and late fall—can hold on in the winter with a little care, Shelton said. First, choose the right location, up against your home if in
containers, or where there’s ample sunshine if in your yard. Hanging baskets aren’t recommended, as frigid air surrounds the suspended container on all sides. When the temperature really drops, Shelton recommends a cover, and hoops of wire or other materials can support protective fabric in your garden rows or small raised beds, protecting plants whether in a cold snap or left in place throughout the winter months. Planting in lightweight containers allows gardeners to bring continued on page 37
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DECEMBER 2017
County Exec —continued from page 1
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growth. I was able to focus quite a bit on economic development in both of those areas. The county’s Economic Development Director position has been vacant for over a year. How do you approach hiring a new EDD? I would think that the right person for that job is someone who has seen and experienced economic growth and success in urban areas, and who understands communities which have a tremendous heritage and beauty and rural character as this one does. It takes a special kind of person who can be creative about what type of economic vibrancy will work here. One unique aspect of this community is a thriving top-tier public university that drives research and entrepreneurship, and another is the beautiful rural character of the place, with its development zones and protected rural areas. The traditional economic development model of setting up pad-ready parcels for large industrial companies to come here may not resonate as well with the community as other models might. We’ve got to have a director who can be adaptable and flexible, and success here will look very different than it might other places. Virginia’s independent city model sometimes causes friction between Charlottesville and Albemarle. How will you approach your first major issue—the potential County Courthouse move? I believe the taxpayer expects levels of government to get along, and I believe they like to see local government do its best
ReStore’N —continued from page 4
gating, any compromise,” said Marilyn White of Freetown, summing up the neighbors’ experience. County planner Bill Fritz said the staff had not yet taken a position on the proposal—it later recommended approval when the question was placed on the Planning Commission’s
to not duplicate efforts and to not be territorial. I’m excited about collaboration with the city. With respect to the courthouse move, it’s challenging to get up to speed on a very complex issue at this point in its life. Outside consultants have moved the process along to where the Board may decide to give some more specific feedback as to what to explore further or they may decide not to, but I don’t think there will be a final decision by the end of December. Public-private partnerships are both an art and a science, and in a strengthening local economy there are opportunities. These consultants are looking at what some potential opportunities might be in that Rio Road area, and we’re looking for something that has a high-performing tax value— something that gives us the most bang for the buck. How do you see the role of the Executive vis-à-vis that of the Board of Supervisors? Our role as staff is to generate good data and good answers to their questions and concerns under what-if scenarios, and to provide guidance within legal boundaries and ordinances, both answers and options to consider. In the end, they will decide, and my role is to make sure that we share ideas and experiences on best practices. As an advisor, I make sure there’s a good public reason for it and it makes sense to me. A lot happens in public, as it should, so we need to be streamlined and clear. Government by its nature is risk-averse, and the public expects us to be frugal and conservative. The most recent fiscal year ended in a budget surplus. What does that mean for you?
Last year revenues outpaced revenue projections, which is a great thing. It means the economy is doing better than projections, there were more housing starts, more natural growth, and expenses were a little better as well. The surplus is put into capital projects for one-time expenditures, to be able to do some of those projects that often get put off. We are a destination location with an excellent quality of life, and we have 1 to 2 percent growth per year in the county, so again we have a strengthening local economy with great prospects. What is your view on our county’s land use planning and regulation structure? These land preservation decisions were made in 1980, so there’s a rich history here. I’m way too new in this job to be able to say much other than it really serves to protect the natural beauty that we have once we get out of the development zones. This community has a wow factor in how it looks that makes it very different from a lot of other places. We have a rich urban area, and you can drive out and pretty quickly get into the natural beauty of some beautiful corridors. Without protections, we would not be able to keep the aesthetics of what we appreciate about this place. That puts some significant expectations on the development areas and makes it more important to study what our development zones will look like and what is that best use for those areas. We need to find options that generate a good return on investment and help the community to remain affordable. I don’t come in with ambitions to be some sort of change agent; I want to listen and I want to help.
agenda for Dec. 5. “This is an expansion of what we don’t want on 250,” said Loach. “This applicant has acted in bad faith consistently,” said CCAC member John McKeon. He made motion to affirm that the CCAC was “against any changes in the conditions of the station’s SUP because the changes are against the Crozet Master Plan.” It was seconded by Phil Best and carried unani-
mously. In other business the CCAC passed a resolution supporting the Downtown Crozet Initiatives’ application for Virginia Main Street status, which would make it eligible for grants. The Planning Commission voted 3 - 2 against a change of the SUP’s conditions at its December 5 meeting. The proposal next goes to the Board of Supervisors.
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CROZETgazette
DECEMBER 2017
A Home-Baked Holiday
17
Crozet Foot & Ankle Clinic Medicine and Surgery of the Foot and Ankle
Elaine Allen, DPM • heel pain • orthotics • achilles tendinitis • sports injuries • ingrown & fungal toenails
Bite Baking Company: Ken, Lauren, Jordan, Meredith and Marcie Malinowski
by Theresa Curry
theresa@crozetgazette.com
Now’s the time when many of us disappear into a whirlwind of flour and sugar, to emerge just before Christmas with cookies, cakes, pies and bread for holiday giving. Others may decide to bake a seasonal treat for the first time, approaching their ovens with courage and determination. Whichever you are, the area has a crew of seasoned bakers with great advice for cooking in quantity, as well as a number of back-up plans if things don’t go well. In Nelson County, Anne Buteau makes fruitcakes studded with currants and nuts, beautiful dense rounds from a tradition that came with her from her native England. The cakes are rich, and Buteau recalls cutting off very narrow slivers for desserts and snacks. “My mother rationed our Christmas cake and we would sometimes still have a bit left at Easter,” Buteau said. If you want to try your hand at a fruitcake yourself, Buteau
Anne Buteau
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said she uses organic flour, free range eggs, good butter from grass-fed cows, and raw or organic sugar. She makes sure the nuts are not old or bitter, and searches for dried fruit that’s organic if possible. If there’s no organic option, she grabs the plumpest and juiciest dry fruit she can find, making it a point to shop where she can taste the fruit before buying. She eschews the red candied cherries, which contribute mostly artificial color and chemicals to the batter. For frosting, she recommends pure British icing sugar if you can find it, rather than the ubiquitous commercial powdered sugar laced with cornstarch. You just need a dusting, she said. The final flourish—a few weeks before Christmas––would be to administer good soaking of brandy. And don’t forget while baking that you need to watch these heavy cakes closely near the end. “It is easy to go from being just right to burnt fruit on top,” she said. If all this seems exhausting, you can buy Buteau’s Christmas cakes, along with other homebaked and farm-raised food at the Rockfish Gap Community Center Christmas Market Saturday, December 16, in the morning; or at the little market stall at the concession stand in back of the Center on Wednesdays and Fridays. Or call Buteau, 434-263-4946. When you’re baking, “the devil’s in the details,” said Rachel Willis, owner and chief baker of Cakes by Rachel on Jarmans Gap Road. “Follow the recipe exactly,” she said. Other elements of your Christmas continued on page 18
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CROZETgazette
DECEMBER 2017
Home-baked —continued from page 17
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meal may benefit from your creative flourishes, but pastries require attention and precision, she said. Willis, who recently judged the pie contest at the Apple Harvest Festival in North Garden (see page 15), said it’s important with apple pies to make sure the filling is not raw or chewy, a failing she often sees in pies made by novice bakers. As for the pie pastry, she makes sure the ingredients as well as the instruments are icy cold, and returns everything to the refrigerator for a quick chill if they need it during the process. Willis has a good idea for those wanting fresh cookies throughout the season. “Here’s what I do,” she said. “I make a lot of batter and freeze it. It’s easy to thaw and make a dozen or so fresh cookies whenever needed.” Should you want to take advantage of her years of experience rather than try this on your own, Willis has an assortment of festive bars, cookies and shortbread, as well as her signature cupcakes, pies and cakes. It’s a small shop, doing mostly custom baking, so go to mycakebyrachel.com, or call for orders, 434-960-5872. Go west on Jarmans Gap any Saturday and you’ll find a sign identifying Cutie Pies, a home pie-making operation specializing in small gluten-free sweet and savory pies. Baker Marissa Minnerly recommended that fledgling pie makers be finicky about what goes into their pies, using fresh and organic ingredients whenever possible. “Don’t overwork the dough,” Minnerly added. “That makes it flat and
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tough.” She uses a special gluten-free flour mix that rolls and flakes like traditional pastry. If this seems overwhelming, you can still order sweet desserts for the holidays, with festive flavors like apple caramel, cherry walnut or bourbon pecan; or savory little pies like black bean and salsa, spinach feta or broccoli cheddar. Each week’s specials and current offerings are posted on the Cutie Pies Facebook page. Or go to taste and see in person at the Rockfish Valley Community Center Dec. 16; or on other Saturdays at the home bakery, 6095 Jarmans Gap Road; or text an order to 434-305-2078. Minnerly is an artist with paints as well as pastry, and you can pick up holiday cards and even a children’s book while she’s boxing your order. Everyone has a role in Bite Baking Company, a family business that sells at the Crozet Farmers’ Market in season and by order at other times. Ken Malinowski, who has a day job with DuPont Mortgages in the Valley, is the baker, and his wife Marcie is a professional designer who also uses her talents to manage the web site and decorate cakes, as well as cleaning up the spotless Wayland’s Grant kitchen. There’s a willing trio of daughters: Lauren, Jordan and Meredith, who manage the details of packaging, selling and labeling the cheesecakes, muffins, scones and custom cake orders. Extras––whether from the market or from Ken’s everyday baking––go to lucky neighbors. Because Ken Malinowski has always operated from his home kitchen, he’s very familiar with the dilemmas of the home cook. When choosing a recipe, “the continued on page 27
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CROZETgazette
DECEMBER 2017
By Phil James
phil@crozetgazette.com
Preserving Along the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, in the days before once-coveted fertile croplands began to sprout their final yield of housing developments, late summer and autumn were associated with harvest time. Relative to the generosity of the sower, the timing of early and later rains, and the diligence of those appointed to tend the crops, harvests of fruits, grains and vegetables were laid by carefully. Figuring strongly in the harvesting rituals and almost exclusively in the preserving of its bounty were the female workers. Furthermore, even a casual reading of Blue Ridge history reveals the steady presence of women in the noting down of events that define day-to-day life. Whether recording family births, marriages and deaths in the family Bible, or penning profiles of their neighbors and villages, it was the grand-
the
Bounty
and
19
Passing It On Down
mothers, mothers, aunts and daughters among us who often were making notes for posterity’s sake. Virginia Wood Sandridge (1917–2013) grew up at the foot of Pasture Fence Mountain near Mountfair in western Albemarle County. For nearly 40 years, her father, Wilson P. Wood (1874–1949), was the foreman at Walnut Level Farm for absentee business owner C.W. Antrim & Sons, wholesale grocer and commission merchant in Richmond. “There were ten of us, 13 counting Mother and Dad and Grandma,” said Mrs. Sandridge. “We had a great big garden and we canned. Didn’t freeze anything ’cause we didn’t have a freezer. We had an icebox refrigerator. “Phil and Totsy Wood from Boonesville had their own threshing machine. They would continued on page 20
During WWI, eye-catching posters reminded citizens to be diligent to do the right things at the right time for their own well-being as well as to aid the war effort. [WWI poster courtesy of Library of Congress]
Nellie Walton Ford, second from left, and her sister Ruby Walton Knight, on far right, visited Wyatt’s Mountain in Greene County prior to Mrs. Ford establishing a new mission church and school in that remote community on behalf of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia. The Walton sisters of Blackwell’s Hollow in Albemarle County preserved and identified many early photographs pertaining to the Mountain Mission work of Archdeacon of the Blue Ridge Rev. Frederick W. Neve of Ivy. [Courtesy of the Larry Lamb Collection]
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Lynn Coffey with her husband Billy at their home beside the Blue Ridge Parkway. Lynn preserved and passed down much of the mountain traditions of their neighbors through her newspaper columns and published books. [Photo by Phil James]
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DECEMBER 2017
Preserving —continued from page 19
go around and thrash for everybody that had a farm. You never saw such fields of corn and oats and wheat. Would take two or three days sometimes, and some of them would spend the night in the barn, up in the loft on the hay. And then, of course, Mom would have to give them breakfast, and dinner too. They would say if they could have two meals a day, they could make out. “Daddy had hired quite a few people, and Aunt Martha Jackson would help Mother to cook for the threshing machine men. They would have 17 and 18 men to feed several days when they were thrashing. Isn’t that something. “But they raised everything. Have six to eight hogs to butcher every fall. It was 13 of us. Took a lot of meat. Oh my day, we dreaded when they had to butcher hogs. All that sausage to work up, cold pack and fry. We’d help out when we got bigger.” Twenty-five miles or so, as the crow flies, southwest down the ridgeline from Walnut Level Farm, can be found the mountain community of Love. It was there, beginning in 1981 and for the next quarter-century, that Lynn Coffey nearly single-handedly published the Backroads newspaper, high-
Ballad collectors in the 1950s and ‘60s beat a path to Mary Bird Bruce McAllister’s home near the foot of Cedar Mountain in Brown’s Cove, western Albemarle County. Those whom she entrusted to keep the old songs alive collected from her a bonanza of more than 150 English ballads. Mrs. McAllister (1877– 1962) was photographed with eyes closed as she sang for Paul Clayton Worthington and George Foss. [Courtesy of the George Foss Collection]
lighting the lives of her neighbors nearby the Blue Ridge Parkway in Augusta and Nelson Counties. She invested her time by listening intently to their life stories and detailing their soon-to-be-lost folkways. After she retired her newspaper, Coffey heeded the pleas of her elder neighbors and proceeded to pass down “their” stories to an even larger audience via a popular series of books. The establishment of Shenandoah National Park in the 1930s uprooted hundreds of families whose traditions extended back many generations in the heights and hollows of the Blue Ridge Mountains. J.R. Lassiter, then Engineer-in-Charge of the proposed park and its soon-to-be first Superintendent, wrote in 1935 that “there was nothing culturally significant in the mountains.” Dorothy Noble Smith (1915-1999) and several other volunteers begged to differ. In the 1970s and early ’80s, efforts were organized to reach out to the park’s former residents and record their side of that distressing saga. In 1983, Smith shared selections from the bounty preserved in those interviews in her book Recollections: The People of the Blue Ridge
Crozet’s Modern Barber Shop, established in 1933, is Crozet’s oldest family-owned business still at its original location. Second-generation owner Pete McCauley (1930–2008) decorated the walls of his shop with photos depicting the history of Crozet. His daughter, third-generation barber Lisa M. Miller, has preserved and expanded the village’s historical bounty established by her father and grandfather. [Photo by Phil James]
Frances Walker Hill (1919–2011) graciously shared an irreplaceable bounty of memories gathered during her years growing up in the village of Crozet. Her African American perspective from the era of Jim Crow laws added greatly to earlier profiles of the community. [Photo by Phil James]
Remember. That oral history collection of 135 interviews, the bulk of which was gathered by Mrs. Smith, was locked away, inaccessible to the public, in the park’s vault until 2001, when it was donated to James Madison University. Countless other women, well-known and unknown, collected photographs and wrote names, dates and places on the backs, assembled scrapbooks, or simply welcomed someone into their private world and shared the memories and reminiscences that the Good Lord had allowed them. An unlikely heroine of Albemarle County history was born in Free Union in 1914. Vera Viola Via was stricken with polio at age five. In spite of her family doctor’s initial prognosis that she would not survive the attack, she persevered with determination, faith, and unyielding support from her family. Though physically limited by the disease, she graduated from Bridgewater College in 1942 and embarked on a career as writer, genealogist, and local historian. By 1948, Miss Vera’s historical perspectives and photography were featured regularly in Charlottesville’s Daily Progress and continued to appear until shortly before her passing in 1964. Along the way, she created an index to 18th and 19th-century Charlottesville newspapers, and profiled families, individuals and villages, all while reaping, face-to-face, many priceless memories from those who lived during the second-half of the 1800s. Enduring physical challenges that most could never fully understand, Vera Via personified the urgency to gather when “the fields are white and ready for harvest.” Like a frugal gardener, she preserved that bounty entrusted to her and passed it down
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 © 2003–2017 Phil James
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rozet
CROZETgazette
DECEMBER 2017
DECEMBER 17 • 5 P.M.
Family Christmas Celebration & Chili Cook Off
DECEMBER 24 • 10:30 A.M. Worship Service featuring
Sing Joy to All the World Choral Presentation
DECEMBER 24 • 11 P.M.
Christmas Eve Candlelight Communion Service For more information, visit our website, crozetchurch.org
hearing health ASSOCIATES
St. George Avenue
Minister of Children, Youth and Community Ministries
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Senior Pastor Serving 34 Years
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Railroad Avenue
Rev. David Collyer
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Helpful Tips to Help Friends and Family Members Hear the Joy of the Holidays 1. Reduce or eliminate background noises in Shannon theHorridge main gathering space, such as music or the TV. 2. Remove or minimize obstacles that interfere with a person’s ability to lip read, such as dim lighting and large centerpieces. 3. Ask your friend/family member where they’d like to sit. Seat them beside someone who will help them navigate conversations.
If you or someone you know has difficulty hearing in social gatherings, contact us. We’re here to help. 434.422.3196
HearingHealthAssoc.com Tammy Garber, Au.D.
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Crozet Office:
580 Radford Lane Charlottesville, VA
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DECEMBER 2017
Trail
—continued from page 1
Richmond to the Valley as a main east-west route from the 1730s to the 1930s, when it was superseded by U.S. Route 250” (Virginia Highway Transportation Research Council report, 2003). “Probably originally an Indian and game trail, it derived its name… from a system of marks” consisting of three notches cut into trees to blaze the trail—which crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains at
Jarmans Gap. On November 13, Hill and Verkerke met at the County Office Building with Joel Danunzio and John Bolecek of the Virginia Dept. of Transportation (VDOT), as well as Chris Gensic of Charlottesville Parks and Recreation, Dan Mahon of Albemarle County Parks and Recreation, and Kevin McDermott of Albemarle County Transportation, to identify next steps. Others in attendance included Jessica Mauzy of Land Planning and Design Associates (LPDA), Peter Krebs
of the Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC), Terri Miyamoto of the Crozet Trails Crew, and citizen trails advocate Jim Mandell. This meeting focused on identifying the trail’s possible location and the need for a feasibility study to determine easements and identify challenges in the terrain. “We are seeking $45,500 to hire a local, professional firm to develop a feasibility study and master plan for the trail,” explained Hill. LPDA has proposed such a study, and Jessica Mauzy attended the meeting as their representative. The feasibility
A wide corridor stretching from I-64 to Garth Road is being explored for the path of the Three Notched Trail from Charlottesville to Crozet, and beyond.
study, once begun, will require 6 to 9 months to complete, including stakeholder meetings with affected landowners. “The study area we presented to the Board of Supervisors was very wide; the trail may move well off 250,” Mahon explained. “We are looking at a corridor from I-64 to Garth Road.” A western greenway is already included in the Virginia Outdoors Plan as well as the Albemarle County Master Plan. The trail’s purpose would be for both commuting and recreation, and will be either paved or surfaced with crushed stone. The consensus was to develop the TNT in segments, focusing on areas where easements already exist—for example behind the Christian Aid Mission off Broomley Road— and then work on connecting them. There was lengthy discussion of the bottleneck that will occur as pedestrians need to cross the 29/250 bypass at Ivy Rd. VDOT is already planning a sidewalk and bike lane project from the bypass to St. Anne’s Belfield, but connecting it with the existing Rivanna Trail will be a challenge. Another issue is who will own and maintain the trail? Since it will be open to the public, it will need to be a collaboration between the county, the city, the university, and RTF. The VDOT representatives were asked how they might be able to assist in this effort, and what opportunities might exist for state funding. One possible model for the project is the Virginia Capital Trail, a paved bicycle and pedestrian trail between Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Richmond that resulted from a partnership between VDOT and the Virginia Capital Trail Foundation. Similar trail networks have also been developed in Roanoke, Raleigh, and Massachusetts. Bolecek recommended that we create a “100 percent shared use path the whole way, without changing the facility type,” as opposed to shifting from road shoulder to sidewalk to off-road trail. Since their patrons and employees would benefit, the University of Virginia’s involvement will be pursued. For example, a multiuse pathway from Birdwood to campus might reduce vehicular traffic for University events. The Rivanna Trails
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CROZETgazette CLOVER CARROLL
DECEMBER 2017
23
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and Max Hepp-Buchannan of Bike Walk RVA and a second event on November 16 with the Charlottesville-Albemarle Community Foundation www. pecva.org/our-region/albemarle-charlottesville/walkbike/1336-packed-room-forgreenways-project-kickoff-event. The next Three Notched Trail meeting will focus on planning a fundraising campaign and applying for grants. For more information, contact Allie Hill at info@ThreeNotchedTrail.org. You can also sign the petition calling for a more connected community, donate to the RTF (while mentioning TNT), or join the Crozet Trails Crew, which is involved with the planning.
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Foundation (RTF) is also partnering with the Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) and the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission (TJPDC) to develop a network of greenways connecting Charlottesville with Albemarle County. The partnership received a grant earlier this year from the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation for a three-year project to plan and begin implementation of this trail network. The project launched in July 2017 with a screening of “Getting to Yes on Greenway Trails in Your Community,” followed by a well-attended public kickoff event at the Jefferson School on November 8 featuring speakers Chuck Flink of Greenways Inc.
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VDOT planners (from left to right) Joel DeNunzio and John Bolecek met on November 13 with citizen trails advocate Jim Mandell, Kevin McDermott of Albemarle County Transportation, and other members of the Three Notched Trail planning committee.
Allie Hill and Rip Verkerke of the Rivanna Trails Foundation are leading the effort to create a network of greenways connecting Crozet to the urban core.
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D
iane was the first-born granddaughter on my mother’s side, and I the second (with a bunch of boys in between). Consequently, my grandmother would always call me ‘Diane’—and I just learned to answer to it. It is puzzling to note that many people who meet me now will often call me Diane—in fact it happened again last week. I just laugh and answer them. Diane is special. She is a quiet presence, never flashy, always elegant. Even the photos of her as the flower girl in my parents’ wedding show a composed six-year-old with a serious expression. Diane has a sharp intellect and a curious mind. I spent a day with her recently and she told me “I just signed up for a short course on Shanghai—want to come along to today’s class?” She is fluent in Spanish and taught in the local high school. She studied abroad when that
was not yet so common and has traveled to Spain every three years since then, with friends that she met during her studies. Many years ago, Diane hosted the wedding reception for one of her brothers and served the stew that I describe below. Picture her Victorian home in rural Pennsylvania. See the Oriental rug running up the stairway. It is Christmas season and there is a very, very tall tree in the foyer, narrow, graceful and exquisitely decorated. There in the corner is her family’s heirloom baby grand. Candles illuminate the scene. She has nine siblings and so, though the wedding is immediate family only (and my parents and my family), there are a lot of people to feed. Idyllic? Maybe. But, since then, Diane has suffered more than her share of pain, bearing it with the same quiet dignity. I will not recount here the tragedies that have befallen her, but
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they are the worst that a person can suffer. She endures with a strong faith, and a cutting wit. She doesn’t gloss over the hardships. She prays always and delights in her grandchildren. Diane is one of my personal heroes. I’m grateful for her and love her dearly. This recipe is a delicious, Spanish-influenced stew for a special occasion on a frosty day.
It serves six. When Diane made it for Kevin and Aida’s wedding reception, she prepared enough for 75 people. She is truly amazing. Post Script: when I wrote to her brother (the groom) to jog my memory about the details of his wedding day, he told me that Diane’s house burned down a few weeks ago. She is staying with her daughter.
Catalan Beef Stew ¼ lb bacon 1-2 T olive oil 3 lbs stewing beef, cut into chunks 1 ½ cup sliced, yellow onions 1 cup white rice 1 cup vermouth
2 cups beef broth 2 cloves garlic, pressed ½ tsp thyme 1 bay leaf 1½ cups crushed tomatoes 1 cup grated parmesan Salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 3250F Cut the bacon into one-inch strips and fry. Put in the bottom of a 3-quart Dutch oven, with lid. Dry the meat with paper towels, add enough olive oil for frying and brown the meat, a few pieces at a time. Put the meat in the Dutch oven as you finish the browning. Lower the heat and brown the onions. Put the browned onions on top of the meat. Brown the rice for 2-3 minutes. Scrape it into a separate bowl, for later. Add the wine to the frying pan and cook for a few minute on medium heat, stirring to dissolve the meat bits. Pour the wine and drippings into the Dutch oven. Add the stock. Stir in salt, pepper, thyme, bay leaf and garlic. Cover and set on the lower level of the oven, and cook for 1 hour. Remove the Dutch oven and stir in the tomatoes. Bring to a simmer on top of the stove, cover and return to the oven for two hours. Remove the Dutch oven and raise the oven temperature to 3750F Stir in the rice. There should be enough liquid to at least cover the rice. Add more stock if needed. Bring to a simmer on the stove, then cover and return to the oven for 20 minutes. The rice should be thoroughly cooked and most of the cooking juices absorbed. Just before serving, fold in the grated cheese. Red wine. Nice green salad. You’re done. Merry Christmas.
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CROZETgazette
DECEMBER 2017
SUBMITTED
By Theresa Curry theresa@crozetgazette.com
Local business news
THERESA CURRY
Business Briefs
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Fardowners’ Scotty Lynch and Mark Cosgrove
Inn at Blue Mountain Brewery Now Open The popular Blue Mountain Brewery has expanded to include the Inn at Blue Mountain Brewery, a 4,000-square-foot home on two acres of wooded countryside next to the brewery. The growing number of visitors to Nelson County brings plenty of traffic past the five-bedroom, three-bathroom Cape Cod. It boasts a fully-stocked kitchen, a game room with pool table, a wrap-around porch, large outdoor deck and patio areas, fire pit, hot tub, and tiki bar. Best of all is the stunning rural location, with gorgeous views of the Blue Ridge Mountains. For winter visitors in search of the slopes, a whole house generator keeps things running in the rare event of a power outage. The owners welcome inquiries, and plan to manage the Inn as a wholehouse rental.
Discover the joy of making music together with your family!
To learn more, or engage the home, go to the website, innatbluemountain.com.
Fardowners Expands Catering Operation Just when Fardowners Executive Chef Mark Cosgrove had everything running smoothly at the popular restaurant, he realized that the people he’d trained were so good that he wasn’t required to manage them from day to day. He credits Scotty Lynch, his general manager, with keeping things on an even keel. “That was great,” he said, “because I wanted time with my boys.” Cosgrove has three sons 7, 11, and 13 years old. “I’d come in and they’d say, ‘It’s okay, Mark, we got this,’” Cosgrove said. “We’ve catered a bit all along but it seemed like a good time to expand that part of the business.” This allows Cosgrove to return to some of the creative menus and fine din-
Crozet Foot and Ankle Clinic Opens Elaine Allen, DPM, is offering office hours on Four Leaf Lane in Crozet. Dr. Allen, who is board certified by the American Board of Foot and Ankle Surgery, graduated from the California College of Podiatric Medicine in San Francisco, and completed her residency at the Veterans Hospital of San Francisco, followed by two years of an ambulatory foot and ankle surgical residency in Atlanta.
continued on page 26 SUBMITTED
The Inn at Blue Mountain Brewery
ing that characterized his training. “We still offer some of that at the restaurant, especially with our specials,” he said. “But people were asking for help with home entertaining, and we found out that we really enjoyed it.” Cosgrove said he’s open for both large catering jobs, such as weddings and conferences, and small holiday lunch and dinner parties. He has great ideas for special holiday appetizers, office luncheons and formal dinners, incorporating local and seasonal ingredients. He said he’s determined to remain flexible and retain the same neighborly character that distinguishes the 10-year-old restaurant. He can provide full, formal service, or “I’m glad to drop off some sides, appetizers or entrees in Crozet for no extra charge,” he said. But he’s found that people enjoy his staff in their homes as much as they do in the restaurant. “It seems they always want us to stay and join the party,” he said. “It’s been so much fun.” Find suggestions at the catering menu or reach Cosgrove through the website at www.fardowners.com.
Dr. Elaine Allen
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5791 Three Notch'd Road, Crozet Mon-Sat: 10 am - 5 pm Sun: 12 pm - 5 pm www.crozetartisandepot.com 434 205-4795
CROZETgazette
DECEMBER 2017 SUBMITTED
Business Bits —continued from page 25
She treats patients of all ages for sports injuries, heel pain, bunions, ankle pain, Achilles tendonitis, hammertoes, and nail fungus. She offers the latest technology in diabetic wound care and preventive diabetic foot care. Her therapies include regenerative medicine like stem cell therapy and amniotic membrane treatments. Dr. Allen works with animal rescue and is a runner and biker. Find detailed office hours on the website, crozetfootandankle. com
Bear Creek Enterprises Creates Tiny Offices
Barre.[d] Fitness Studio Coming to Piedmont Place Bear Creek studio office.
growth of the “tiny house” movement. “I thought, ‘why not a tiny office?’” he said. He conceived of a tidy little studio with just enough room for a desk, computer, book shelves and chair; an attractive building that could be located in a yard or put on wheels for mobility. He had his Waynesboro construction company in place and thought it would make a good additional line.
KATHY JOHNSON
Bear Creek co-founder Brian Mininger was a young father when it first hit him how hard it was to work from home amidst the noise and bustle of a growing family. His daughters are teenagers now, but his experience resonated when he saw the
“This is an improvement over adding an extra room, or converting a bedroom into an office,” he said. “It comes ready to use the same day, and can be moved easily. And it provides just enough separation from the main house to allow you to focus. Home-based entrepreneurs can pick out a model and reach Mininger through the website at bearcreekenterprises.com.
As Santosha Yoga moves a few blocks away to the former Handcrafters spot next to Sam’s Hot Dog in the Crozet Shopping Center, barre.[d] studio is moving into their current terrace-level space in Piedmont Place. Both studios are scheduled to open in January. This will be a second location for barre.[d], which is currently open on Water Street in downtown Charlottesville.
Batesville Market Becomes Movie Set The historic Batesville Market has provided a ready-made backdrop for two films, said manager Kim Eastep. The first live-action drama to take advantage of the vintage setting was “Showdown at Sweet Tooth Junction,” by the Albemarle High School Filmmaking team, which was runner-up for the audience award at the Virginia Film Festival’s Adrenaline Project. You can find the award winning film on Youtube. A few weeks later, scenes from ‘Billy & Blaze,” the popu-
Actors on set at Batesville store.
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Dr. Rajeev Pillai
lar ’30s-era children’s book series, were shot at the market. The books, written by C.W. Anderson, were about the adventures of a boy named Billy and his bay horse. The shooting continues in Virginia, with shots at the Warrenton horse show grounds, but the search is still underway for one of the main characters. Blaze, the horse of the title, is very distinctive, with four white feet and a white nose. To find out more about the movie, go to billyandblazemovie.com.
Cardiologist Comes to Crozet TruCare Cardiology and Vascular Medicine has opened at 375 Four Leaf Lane in Crozet. Dr. Rajeev Pillai will at first offer weekend hours and telemedicine as the business grows. Dr. Pillai is board-certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular disease, and interventional cardiology. There’s a Facebook page, TruCare Cardiology, or call(434) 205-4909 for an appointment.
Inside the Bear Creek studio office.
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John W. Clayton & Son Doublegrind Hardwood Mulch Pine Bark Mulch Composted Horse Manure Screened Topsoil Brick Sand Blue & Brown Driveway Gravel Custom Application of Lime & Fertilizer
P.O. Box 167, Ivy, VA 22945 johnwclaytonandson@earthlink.net
Ring Christmas Bells for Salvation Army at Crozet Market
Home-baked —continued from page 18
Sign up for a time at www. SignUpGenius.com/go/30E094 AACAA22A3FD0-ring2, or write to bestcrozet@gmail.com, or call 434-409-6148. “We hope others will join us in this happy, meaningful activity,” said Crozet Lion Phil Best. “Past bell-ringers often remark that it is very positive for both the volunteer and the donors. Volunteers report with amazement that when they said “Thank you” to the donor, the donor frequently replied, ‘Thank YOU for doing this.’ It is a wonderful way to get in the holiday spirit.”
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oven in minutes,” he said. If you’re not quite that speedy, you can always get in touch with the Malinowskis via the Bite Baking Company Facebook page and place your holiday order.
simplest is always the best,” he said. “A new baker can make a great cheesecake from just cream cheese, eggs and sugar.” He’s moved on from that and loves to embellish, surrounding a chocolate cheesecake with a butter cookie crust, or adding an Italian flair with a jigger of Frangelico. Malinowki’s hobby evolved Rockfish Gap Tpk (US 250 W), Greenwood, VA from cooking for7581 his family: (434) 973-2500 • www.33-ad.org “I’m up at six every morning info@stnicholasorthodoxchurch.org making something,” he said, whether scones or muffins. Likely or not, his youngest daughter Meredith is working alongside him. He’s a big believer in the right equipment, and recommends that the serious home baker invest in a food processor for cutting pastry. “I can get a pan of scones in the Tarts from Cakes by Rachel
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Nancy Fleischman
THERESA CURRY
Again this Christmas season, the Lions Club of Crozet is leading the local bell-ringing effort for the Salvation Army and invites volunteers to join them in front of Crozet Market [Great Valu]. Bell ringing is scheduled for Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, through December 16, and every day December 18 - 23. On weekdays, ringers will be on-site from 4 until 7 p.m., and on Saturdays from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Volunteers ring the bells for one hour, with another person or with family members.
Temple
An informative series serving as a spiritual meditation in preparation for Christmas. Everyone is welcome, light refreshments to be served, and no reservation required. Sessions run from 7–8 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 7 The Temples: from David to Christ Thursday, Dec. 14 Christ and the Temple: Youth, Public Ministry, Holy Week Thursday, Dec. 21 The Meaning and Importance of the Temple in Christianity Today
St. Nicholas Orthodox Church 7581 Rockfish Gap Tpk • Greenwood, VA 434-973-2500 • www.33-ad.org info@stnicholasorthodoxchurch.org
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CROZETgazette
DECEMBER 2017
2018 CALENDAR PHOTO CONTEST T
hank you to all who submitted photographs! For the fifth year in a row, the overall winners and honorable mentions were selected from an anonymous pool by local National Geographic photographer Sam Abell. The photographs selected for calendar month pages were by: Malcolm Andrews, Don Detmer, Robyn Eaton, Robert Gutkowski, Beverly Diane Harner, Sandra Hodge, Camilyn Leone, Nate Ostheimer, Bryan Parsons, and Janet Pearlman, Honorable mentions went to Malcolm Andrews, Tracy
Carmichael, Robyn Eaton; Charles Greiner, Katherine Greiner, Robert Gutkowski, Beverly Diane Harner, Sandra Hodge, Kim Kelley-Wagner, Camilyn Leone, Carol Donsky Newell, Lynn Rutherford-Snow, and Jennis Warren. Visit crozetgazette.com to see all the winning and honorable mention photographs. Join the Gazette on Saturday, January 6, at 3 p.m. at Crozet Library to hear judge Sam Abell discuss his selections. The 2018 calendars make great gifts. They are available for $12.95 at the Art Box, Crozet
Artisan Depot, Parkway Pharmacy, Over the Moon Bookstore, and online at crozetgazette.com.
Cover Photo: Tracy Carmichael
Camilyn Leone, January (January)
Nate Ostheimer, Frosty Blossoms (March)
Malcolm Andrews, Overflight (Old Trail) (February)
Don Detmer, Foxfield (April)
To order calendars by mail, please visit crozetgazette.com, or send a check to the Crozet Gazette at P.O. Box 863, Crozet, VA 22932. Calendars are $12.95 each. Please include $4 shipping & handling (per address), plus $2 for every additional copy. Call 434-249-4211 for more information.
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Beverly Diane Harner, Untitled (May)
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Robert Gutkowski, Fly the Flag (June)
Sandra Hodge, White Hall Horses (August) Rob Gutkowski, Summer Watch (July)
Robyn Eaton, October Morning at Beaver Creek (October)
Bryan Parsons, Crozet Volunteer Fire Department (September)
Janet Pearlman, Fog View (On Rte. 250 from Crozet to Charlottesville) (November)
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Malcom Andrews, A Confused Season—Ice on Mint Springs (December)
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DECEMBER 2017
Afton Church Gives Life to the Christmas Story by Theresa Curry
theresa@crozetgazette.com
For most of the year, the little village in the churchyard is quiet and empty, but in a few days it will be full of life. Camels will jostle and groan in the feed lot, bakers will pull flat rounds of bread out of their ovens and blacksmiths will fire up their forge to hammer out the useful products of their fiery art. Census takers will set up shop, checking off all those who return to their ancestral home for the mandated count. A brilliant star will guide travelers from the hills to the east and valley to the west. This is Bethlehem, the biblical village that comes alive each year thanks to the people of Hebron Baptist Church and their friends and neighbors in Afton and beyond. Since the turn of the century, when the congregation first conceived of a live nativity, the operation has grown in size and scope. It takes more than 100 people to make it happen, said Connie Miller, the church’s historian. It’s a labor of love, a serious endeavor for the people of the church, taking year-round attention. This year, for example, they’ve resurrected an old forge and several men took blacksmithing lessons to bend iron in the Bethlehem foundry. Others have researched period
Shepherds share the good news at Afton village.
dress and created the simple clothes of the working-class shepherds, carpenters and bakers, and the more elaborate robes of foreign royalty. On the evenings of the tours, bakers pound real flour into real loaves of bread and bake them in real ovens for hungry visitors. Some of the skills have been learned on the job, Miller said, including the rugged job of
camel-tending that’s become the yearly assignment of a few brave souls. “It’s not so easy,” Miller admitted. “Camels are sometimes temperamental, and also they drool, which is unpleasant when it’s cold to begin with and the men get soaked.” Other volunteers clean up the town after the sheep and goats, not to mention the thousands of visitors who throng through the
narrow streets. Over the years, the organizers have refined some elements in response to the growing number of people who visit, perhaps 8,000 in the short season. There’s a hospitality tent where folks can warm up while waiting and munch on fig cookies; and the manger itself is now elevated so everyone has a view.
continued on page 53
Camels add to realism at Hebron’s Bethlehem Village.
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DECEMBER 2017
DECEMBER 10 • 10 A.M.
Advent gathering party following Mass
DECEMBER 20 • 7 - 9 P.M.
Adoration, Recollection, and Reconciliation
DECEMBER 23 • 5 P.M.
4th Sunday of Advent Vigil Mass (no Sunday morning Mass)
DECEMBER 24 • 5 P.M. Christmas Eve Mass
DECEMBER 25 • 10 A.M. Christmas Day Mass
27/17 10:26 AM Page 1
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CROZETgazette
DECEMBER 2017
by John Andersen
john@crozetgazette.com
We Live In a Mountain Town
CharlottesvilleFamily Favorite Award Winner 2015
Look in the dictionary, Wikipedia, etc., and you will find no official definition for “mountain town.” When I think of mountain towns, a few obvious ones come to mind: Park City, Utah; Missoula, Montana; Asheville, North Carolina; Telluride, Colorado. These towns not only scream outdoor adventure with their picturesque surroundings and recreation areas, but they also have developed their own sense of community and identity. Mountain towns have unique history, story book scenery, abundant wildlife, and easy access to trails and roads that take residents into the heart of the surrounding nature. Mountain towns have residents who value where they live, engaging in both regular outdoor recreation as well as conservation and responsible growth. Mountain towns aren’t so much planned, they just happen. Through decades and generations, these towns grow and change, but all the while surrounded and influenced by the unchanging, steadfast mountains that have stood watch through it all. I can remember the first time Crozet stole my heart. My wife Michelle and I were exploring the area as we were both interviewing for jobs in Charlottesville. Traveling west from Charlottesville on Rt. 250, we veered right on 240 towards Crozet and as we crested the hill by The Highlands development, I was completely awestruck by the panoramic view of Bucks Elbow Mountain and Calf Mountain that surround this wonderful town. This view only became more impressive as we reached downtown Crozet.
“Can we live out here?” were the first words out of my mouth. Crozet is a wonderful mix of old and new. This of course can lead to tensions, though when we view our town as a mountain town, I believe we can honor both the old and the new. On one hand, we have families and residents who have lived in Crozet for generations. They and their ancestors literally built this town. The churches, the businesses, the library—these were some of the cornerstones of community, laid down back when Crozet was…a little mountain town. On the other hand, we have our newcomers. Transplants from larger, busier places, coming to escape the crazy life and settle into an easier one. They fell in love with this little mountain town and are investing in its future. What does all of this have to do with fitness? When you consider that the town you live in is a mountain town, it can change your outlook on how you interact with this town and these mountains. Are you someone who has a nice job in Charlottesville and just lives in Crozet because it’s pretty? Or do you really live in Crozet? At the risk of sounding obnoxious, I’d like to share how my family has changed since living in Crozet and soaking up its mountain life. Of course, Michelle and I run. A lot. We run through Old Trail, and we can’t take our eyes of the incredible mountain views offered the entire run. We run at Mint Springs, where we regularly see bear and very quickly leave the civilized world for the natural world. We run on the Appalachian Trail and in Shenandoah National Park,
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Tabor Presbyterian Church December 10th December 16th December 17th Christmas Eve
4:00 Community Handbell Concert 2:00 Kwanzaa: Bridging the Gap by Celebrating 5:00 Community Christmas Carol Sing-Along and Brunswick Stew 10:30 Morning Worship 5:00 Christmas Eve Service
www.taborpc.org
Season’s Greetings from The Depot
Crozet, Mountain Town. Photo courtesy Piedmont Place.
where we escape in the peace and the wonder of the wild. As a family, we take a million trips to Sugar Hollow. Sometimes we hike. But mostly we just go right down to the river to turn over rocks and look for crayfish and salamanders. We ride bikes around our neighborhood and around town, safely exploring via bike lanes or trails. We go camping in Shenandoah or off the AT. We ski at Wintergreen as much as we can. We connect with our neighbors, raise our families together, and every day are thankful we live in a mountain town. Living in a mountain town has completely changed my idea of what “exercise” really is. I used to think of exercise as 30 minutes of something painful. Now I think of it as a time to explore the mountains, either solo or with my friends. It is a more pure form of fitness that comes not from exercising as a means to stay fit, but rather living an active, exploring lifestyle where fitness is the byproduct. The more time you spend outdoors and in the mountains, the more time you want to spend outdoors and in the mountains. And oh, these mountains. Perhaps you just live in Crozet and haven’t really explored them. Did you know that the tops of Bucks Elbow Mountain and Calf Mountain are about 2,500 feet above your head? It’s different up there. You need to come see. And getting there is the reward. There is something to be said about getting your
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body from town to the top of these surrounding mountains by nothing but human power (walking, running, biking). It truly is an experience that everyone living in a mountain town should have at least once. And the sky is the limit around here. Crozet is a perfect training ground for endurance athletes. Many of the top endurance trail runners in the state live and train right here in Crozet because of the ease of access to mountain running right from their doorsteps. Peter Hufnagel from the Miller School of Albemarle’s prestigious endurance cycling program tells of the similar draw for cyclists: “Living in Crozet as a cyclist is like living on the North Shore of Oahu as a surfer. We have literally some of the world’s best roads and trails at our doorstep. As result, there has been a steady stream of professional and amateur cyclists who have relocated to Crozet in order to have immediate access to the roads and trails for training and enjoyment. While we are still a bit of a hidden gem, word is getting out that Crozet is the place to live as a cyclist.” So Crozetians, do you just live in Crozet, or do you really live in this amazing mountain town? I encourage you to connect with our surrounding mountains regularly—Mint Springs, Shenandoah, the Appalachian Trail, Byrom Park, the million miles of country roads. The mountains are calling, and we must go.
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DECEMBER 2017
CROZETgazette
2018 CALENDAR PHOTO CONTEST
PHOTOGRAPHY DISCUSSION
with contest judge, National Geographic Photographer Sam Abell
January 6
3 p.m. at Crozet Library All are welcome! Mr. Abell will give a slideshow discussion of his selections for the 2018 Gazette calendar. Calendars will be available for purchase.
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CROZETgazette
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KEITH WILLIAMS
DECEMBER 2017
Monika Chamasyan performed the U.S. premier of Armenian composer Arno Babajanian’s “Concerto for Violin and Orchestra” with the Crozet Community Orchestra on November 11 and 12.
U.S. Premier of Soviet-Era Concerto Wows Audiences by Clover Carroll
clover@crozetgazette.com
KEITH WILLIAMS
The Crozet Community Orchestra, under the direction of Philip Clark, performed an outstanding concert to a full house at the Crozet Baptist Church on November 12, with an earlier performance at Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Charlottesville on November 11. The varied and impressive program featured the other-worldly Mars movement from “The Planets” by Gustav Holst, Maurice Ravel’s tribute to French Baroque composer Francois Couperin, and the U.S. premier of Arno Babajanian’s “Concerto for Violin and Orchestra” with virtuoso violinist Monika Chamasyan. The orchestra, which has grown dramatically in numbers and quality since its founding in 2013— now 70 members strong—performed this challenging and lush concerto with great confidence and artistry. Performed only once before in Armenia in the 1950s, the
work was suppressed by the Soviet Union and lost to the public. Performing it has been a lifelong dream of Armenianborn Chamasyan, whose first teacher was a friend to Babajanian (1921-1983). It took Clark and Chamasyan three years to find, prepare, and fully orchestrate the concerto after meeting at a party in Northern Virginia. Chamasyan has performed internationally, including at Carnegie Hall. Her exquisite, passionate performance was perfectly suited to Babajanian’s exotic, soaring, sometimes mysterious music, written in the harmonic minor reminiscent of Rimsky-Korsakov. To set the mood, paintings of desert scenes with tents, camels, and wild dancing were projected on the wall above the musicians, who received a well-deserved standing ovation before the delightful encore, “Song of My First Love.” Mark your calendars now for the CCO’s next concert, on Sunday, March 18, at 4 p.m.
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CROZETgazette
DECEMBER 2017
Holiday Nostalgia by Clover Carroll | clover@crozetgazette.com
entirely new medium, it appeared to me as the height of dramatic dexterity. Wah Ming Chang created the stop-motion animation, using a technique which “physically manipulates an object so that it appears to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a fast sequence. Dolls with movable joints or clay figures are often used … for their ease of repositioning” (Wikipedia). So what we are actually seeing is a simple ballerina puppet, wearing a bouffant white skirt and crystal crown, being dangled and spun behind a scrolling black skrim festooned with blurry lace snowflakes over a landscape of hills and trees cut from cardboard! Yet to my childhood eyes, this enchanting personification of a snowflake was as graceful and glamorous as an angel. The imagination that went into both the song and the animation are as delightful now as it was then. The song, made famous in 1951 by Rosemary Clooney (of “Holiday Inn” and “White Christmas” fame), was soon made into the cartoon short, with ethereal vocals by a group of lilting sopranos. It was broadcast on Chicago’s WBBM (later WGN) for the first time in 1953, and became a holiday classic. The Here comes Suzy Snowflake music and lyrics, Dressed in a snow-white gown, written by Sid Tap, tap, tappin’ at your windowpane Tepper and arranged To tell you she’s in town by Roy C. Bennett, capture the exciteHere comes Suzy Snowflake ment and beauty of that first snowSoon you will hear her say, flake—every bit as Come out everyone and play with me welcome to children I haven’t long to stay. as Santa Claus’s arrival. The lyrics If you want to make a snowman, combine the joy of I’ll help you make one, one, two, three! playing in the If you want to take a sleigh ride, snow—sledding and Whee! The ride’s on me. building snowmen—with a recogHere comes Suzy Snowflake, nition of its ephemeral nature, with “I Look at her tumblin’ down, haven’t long to stay.” Bringing joy to every girl and boy The jaunty tune, Suzy’s come to town! easy to remember and fun to whistle, is
Readers of a certain age may remember the magical cartoon “Suzy Snowflake,” which was frequently shown on TV during the holiday season in the 1950s—alternating with “Frosty the Snowman” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”—as fillers between programs that didn’t quite fit the assigned time spot. Every time this artistic short came on TV, my sister and I would come running to watch it, enthralled by the delicate, mystical snow fairy dancing and drifting across the screen as she conjured winter wonders with a wave of her wand. This simple but mesmerizing three-minute production may be one reason I have loved snow all my life—or perhaps it was my love of snow that has always made this cartoon so dear to my heart. If you haven’t seen it, do yourself a favor and take three minutes to watch it now—just search YouTube for Suzy (with a Z) Snowflake, and look for the one from the Broadcast Museum. Of course, the first time I saw the video on YouTube as an adult, I was amazed at how primitive and crude it seemed, representing the earliest forays into television technology. But as a child, when TV was an
tailor-made for a whimsical, dancing snow fairy. I don’t know why this song is no longer included in the shopping mall holiday repertoire along with other oft-repeated mid-century classics, but it still airs each December in Chicago. Growing up in a theatrical household—my mother sang roles from Bloody Mary to Katisha to Hansel and Gretel’s witch in the Humperdinck opera—my older sister and I caught the drama bug early, and singing was a family affair. It soon became a tradition to present a Christmas Pageant to my (barely awake) parents first thing (i.e. 6 a.m.) every Christmas morning—one that lasted for several years in the ’50s and ’60s. We would carry in a chair for Granny, who lived with us. We spent many engrossing hours planning the pageant, making the costumes, hand writing the programs, and staging the various numbers. Mostly these consisted of acting out hymns and Christmas songs, which we carefully rehearsed—two young girls bonding for life over creative collaboration. Each act—as many as 15— would have two names, one the name of the song or hymn and one silly—for example, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” or “Clover’s out-of-joint neck” and “We Three Kings of Orient Are,” or “Smoky eats the frankincense.” We rehearsed ad infinitum in our third story bedroom, where my closet, which had a curtain for a door, served as “back stage.” One of us would emerge from it on cue, waving stars, shepherd’s crooks, or Pharaoh’s sword—as, for example, the angels heard on high, the blooming rose, or one of us yelling “This, this is Christ the Lord!” in response to the innocent question “What child is this?” Miscues and other shenanigans often cracked us up so that we would become speechless with laughter, and our mother would climb the stairs to make sure we were alright. Although the religious aspects of the holiday were not central to these pageants (and some were even irreverent spoofs), my baby doll did make
frequent appearances. As did my various cats, Rumpus and Smoky among them, whom we enlisted to play any needed additional parts—although their cooperation was not guaranteed. When Smoky was cast as one of the Three Kings, he objected so strongly to wearing his crown that he clawed his way out of my arms and tore out of the room. One banner year, I was lucky enough to be cast as Suzy Snowflake herself. As an aspiring ballerina already, I wore a beautiful white ballet skirt over white leotard and tights. And that hair! Suzy’s wig was our masterpiece. We must have used four or five boxes of those long, silky, silver tinsel icicles, which we painstakingly bound together to create a beautiful, long wig that cascaded over my shoulders. As Candy sang the song, I came pirouetting out of the wings (my parents’ closet) and swooped and twirled around the room, waving my wand and tapping on the imaginary windowpane while my icicle hair swung and shimmered across my face. How beautiful I felt! If only we had had home video in those days. And how kind the applause. This may have been the apex of my stage career! When I hear “Suzy Snowflake,” it still reminds me of home—of winters in Washington, D.C., with sparkling crystals swirling around the streetlamps, snow crystals kissing my cheek, the warmth of family, and a musical household that could sing Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus” from memory, in four-part harmony. I hope you, too, enjoy celebrating memory, tradition, and childhood this holiday season. Special thanks to my sister for helping me to reconstitute these long-ago memories. Let’s hope Suzy Snowflake—one of my fondest of these—makes many visits to Crozet this winter!
CROZETgazette
37
THERESA CURRY
DECEMBER 2017
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Apple varieties available at the Albemarle Ciderworks Festival in November.
Apple Festival —continued from page 15
planters inside when an especially cold night is forecast. For those still skeptical, Shelton mentions the flower that seems to freeze and re-emerge as many times as needed through the winter: “If you can grow pansies, you can grow greens,” she said. Can she bake an apple pie? One of the highlights of the day-long event is the apple pie contest, and Jean Enzbrenner of Waynesboro was this year’s winner. Enzbrenner said her grandmother got her started with pie-making. “Every time I make a pie, I think of her.” Enzbrenner likes to use a variety of apples for more flavorful pies, and crammed four different types into her winning pie. She uses a recipe she found in Cooks Illustrated, and advises first-time pie bakers to keep the ingredients for the crust as cold as possible. Pie contest judge Rachel Willis of Crozet’s Cakes by Rachel said one of the secrets of a good apple pie is to let it be about the apples. “Don’t use a heavy hand with the spices,” she said. Enzbrenner has another tip: “I put a lot of love in each pie I make,” she said. A group effort Charlotte Shelton is a member of the Cove Garden Ruritans Club as well as one of the owners of the apple and cider operations. “The Ruritans are key to this, and they start the night before,” she said. They come in
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on the Friday before the festival and chop the vegetables for the stew. They also start the apple butter—made from apples grown there––and cook it down until midnight or so, Shelton said. They bank the fires, then start the stew and restart the hot cauldrons of apple butter early Saturday. The stew recipe comes from a Ruritan member who shared it back in the ’80s: The apple butter is usually composed of Ida Reds and Staymans. “They hope to be through with the stew in time for lunch, and with the apple butter by 2 or so,” Shelton said. Other Ruritans handle parking and operate trail rides. “It’s a real community day,” Shelton said. The Ruritans use the money they raise––usually several thousand dollars––to address needs in the southern Albemarle area. A perfect pair Shelton helped with a presentation on pairing Virginia cheese with Virginia apples, using cheese from Esmont, the site of Caromont, the goat farm and artisan dairy of Gail Hobbs Page. The cheeses featured were Caromont’s fresh chèvre, the Esmontonian, and a cow’s milk cheese washed with cider. Albemarle Ciderworks will offer heritage apples until the end of the year, every day from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Shelton said the pippins are still very sound, along with the gold rush apples, known for their keeping ability, and the Cripp’s pink. After the close of the apple season, the cidery is open Wednesdays through Sundays, January through June.
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CROZETgazette
DECEMBER 2017
By John Andersen, DVM gazettevet@crozetgazette.com
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Happy Holidays everyone! During this most wonderful time of year, there is definitely a lot of chocolate floating around people’s houses. I know this because we start fielding several calls every day about someone’s dog eating chocolate. Fortunately, most people are aware that chocolate is toxic to dogs. But how much? And does the type of chocolate matter? Here’s help figuring out what a “no problem” dose of chocolate is for your dog versus what a “very toxic” dose of chocolate is. First, let’s review why chocolate is toxic to dogs. Chocolate contains a compound called theobromine. Too much theobromine in any mammal species can cause gastro-intestinal upset (vomiting and diarrhea), neurologic problems like tremors, convulsions, and seizures, and heart problems such as a rapid heart rate, low blood pressure, and arrhythmias. We humans can metabolize (our bodies can break it down) theobromine quickly, so fortunately we can consume a lot of chocolate without any risk of toxicity. Yay! Dogs, however, do not metabolize theobromine well, so it just hangs around in the bloodstream. This is why they are quite susceptible to chocolate toxicity. Cats are also susceptible, by the way, but they are generally too smart and don’t have enough of a sweet tooth to consume chocolate in the first place. Now let’s go back to how much and what kind. Chocolate comes from the cacao tree seeds. Cacao seeds are harvested, dried, roasted, ground and pressed to produce cacao liquor–100 percent cacao chocolate! Typically, this is mixed with other ingredients to give us the different chocolate products that we love. Here is a rough breakdown of how much theo-
bromine is in each of the main chocolate types: • Dry cocoa powder – 800mg theobromine/ounce • Unsweetened/Baker’s chocolate – 450 mg/oz. • Semisweet chocolate – 150160 mg/oz. • Milk chocolate – 50mg/oz. As you can see, cocoa powder and baker’s chocolate are by far the most toxic forms of chocolate. Milk chocolate is fortunately not as toxic. Still, how do these numbers actually relate to you when your dog just ate half a tray of Christmas cookies? Here’s a secret: we cheat! We use a chocolate toxicity calculator to determine what type of treatment your dog needs. Fortunately, these calculators are readily available online, giving you an opportunity to make some quick calculations before calling your vet. For these examples, I am using the chocolate calculator I found online by searching “chocolate calculator” into google (www.petmd.com/dog/ chocolate-toxicity). Let’s start with some examples. For each of these we’re going to have a 50-pound dog and a 15-pound dog. Let’s start easy and say that your dog got into some chocolate chip cookies. You estimate that there were three traditional-recipe cookies there. Because you are smart, you do some cooking math. You used semisweet chocolate chips and used the recipe on the back of the bag. The batch made 12 cookies, and it was a 10-oz. bag of semisweet chocolate chips. So, 10 ounces divided by 12 cookies equals 0.83 oz. of semisweet chocolate per cookie. Three cookies equal 2.5 oz. Now let’s go to the chocolate calculator. It first asks you to plug in your dog’s weight. Easy! Let’s start with the 50-pound dog. Next, it asks you the chocolate type—you choose semi-
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CROZETgazette sweet chocolate. Last, its asks you approximately how many ounces. You enter 2.5 and voila! It calculates how concerned we need to be and fortunately the answer is that this will only cause mild toxicity—possibly some vomiting and diarrhea and maybe some restlessness (don’t forget, chocolate also has caffeine!). You find yourself relieved that you don’t need to go to the Emergency Room, but hope not to have any accidents. Let’s repeat this amount for the 15-pound dog. Same thing: three cookies, same recipe. This time, the calculator screams at you to seek immediate medical attention because your dog is going to have a severe problem due to all that chocolate! Off to the ER! Now let’s repeat this scenario, but assume we used milk chocolate chips. Phew! Milk chocolate has so much less theobromine that even for the 15-pound dog, we should only expect mild toxicity. Let’s do one more chocolate example, baker’s chocolate. You were making some chocolate brownies from scratch and are using those baker’s chocolate squares. Each square is one ounce of unsweetened baker’s chocolate. You accidentally knocked two squares of the counter and before you could yell at your dog, she immediately gobbled them up! When we plug the 50-pound dog into the chocolate calculator, we now find that there is moderate toxicity expected, definitely some vomiting and
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DECEMBER 2017 diarrhea, and maybe some elevated heart rate, and restlessness. This makes you nervous and you call your vet, who is still open, thankfully. Not a lot of chocolate for a 50-pound dog, but enough to cause some problems. Of course, in this example, the 15-pound dog is not so lucky. So, what do we, the veterinarians, do when we see dogs with chocolate toxicity? After calculating that yes, enough chocolate has been ingested to be concerning, the first thing we will do is make them vomit. We give an IV injection of apomorphine, a drug that will quite impressively and immediately cause about three minutes of intense vomiting. Depending on how much chocolate the dog ate, we will either treat conservatively with some subcutaneous fluids or perhaps treat more aggressively with IV fluids and other measures to help with the toxicity. I have seen dogs come in late in chocolate toxicity. They don’t look good. They look like they got into poison: drooling and vomiting, irregular heart rate and breathing, and tremoring/ seizuring. These cases are scary because you never quite know how their body is going to react. Fortunately, we can save most, but there are some who just aren’t so lucky. Most of these unlucky ones were simply brought in too late. Enjoy this wonderful time of year, and enjoy tons of chocolate! Just keep it away from the dogs!
39
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CROZETgazette
DECEMBER 2017
SUBMITTED
Religion News
ge 50
Ancient Ritual Has Religious Meaning SUBMITTED
Most of us love and observe the secular tradition of bringing
First responders and veterans at Mt. Moriah. Those honored (not in order) were Rodney Rich, Phil Davis, Todd Richardson, Bruce Patterson, Wayne Knight, Purcell McCue, Calvin Shiflett, Derek Breeden, Lewis Barnette, Elbert Dale, Mike Rabin and Neil Clark.
Mary Page and Elizabeth McCaskill display gratitude turkeys at Emmanuel homecoming.
greenery into our homes at the start of the Christmas season, and using evergreens to festoon railings, lampposts, windowsills and walkways outside. It’s more than just a decoration, says Donna Cain, worship director at Hillsboro Baptist Church: “The symbolism of the greenery is eternal life. The greens never change color, they are always alive in every season. The red berries of the holly have been said to remind of the drops of blood that were shed for us. The circular shape of wreaths also speaks of eternity and eternal life.” At Hillsboro, decorating the church is used as a fun family time, and this year’s event, the last Sunday of November, included Christmas songs, scripture reading, and refreshments. There’s even a Bible verse recommending the practice, Cain said: “The Glory of Lebanon shall come unto you, the fir tree, the pine tree and the box together, to beautify the place of your sanctuary.” (Isaiah 60:13)
Mt. Moriah Honors First Responders
Emmanuels’s massive tracker-action organ was designed for the centuries.
The area’s behind-the-scenes heroes got some well-earned recognition last month, when Mt. Moriah welcomed first responders from Rockfish Valley Rescue Squad, Western Albemarle Rescue Squad, Crozet Volunteer Fire Department, Earlysville Fire Department and the E911 Dispatch Office. Also in attendance were vet-
Love, Inc.
erans from the Air Force, Army and Navy; and a retired U.Va. policeman. After the service Mt. Moriah hosted a “thank you” reception for the veterans and first responders and their families in the social hall.
The non-profit Love Inc. (Love in the name of Christ) partners with some area churches and has close ties with others. With local offices in Charlottesville and Fishersville, the unique charity has as its goal to provide meaningful help to those who need it, help that not only addresses immediate needs but systemic poverty, said longtime director Ray Klein. Coordination among churches is one way to avoid duplication: For instance, one church in the system collects and distributes personal grooming supplies and another, children’s clothes, instead of each church having its own program. There’s a spreadsheet online that lists specific and ongoing needs, then notes how the need has been resolved. Several years ago, when low-income people were walking away from under-water mortgages, it became apparent from what was left behind that many families found it cheaper to get used clothing at clothes closets each week than spend the considerable amount of money needed to wash them at
Hope Tree, Handbells, Kwanzaa at Tabor To support missions abroad, Tabor Presbyterian Church is displaying a “Hope Tree.” The Hope Tree, located in the fellowship hall, is decorated with ornaments picturing the children who reside at Hope House in Thailand, a home for children of families living in tribal areas in the mountains in northern Chiang Mai. The children, at risk of being sold for sex trafficking, now live at Hope House and attend public schools. Donations for ornaments at the church will buy bricks to finish building a permanent dormitory for the children. Tabor invites the community to a couple of special holiday events at the church: a handbell concert Sunday, December 10; and a Kwanzaa workshop at 2 p.m. December 16. SUBMITTED
Consecrated in 1867 and rebuilt and re-consecrated in 1915, Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Greenwood was a key part of the network of churches establishing a faithful community for Virginia’s rural areas. Parish members and the community at large were welcomed last month for tours of the beautiful grounds, music, children’s activities, nature walks, and cider and doughnuts from the famous truck. Visitors admired the immense organ, dedicated in 2005, a tracker-action organ designed to last for centuries. The Emmanuel organ has casework of French walnut, carved pipe shades and Celtic panels, and extensive mortar and tenon joinery. It’s a mechanical, rather than an electric instrument, with 1,088 pipes, two keyboards and a pedal. Organist Larry Mark Smith, who’s played the organ for nearly 12 years–– since about two years after the Howell’s organ was installed–– said the organ was among the finest of the many he’s had the pleasure to play. Comfort, spacing and the light touch of the mechanical organ “make playing a dream,” he said. An activity for the children was making colorful “gratitude turkeys,” colorful reminders of the good things in their lives.
THERESA CURRY
Festive Homecoming at Historic Church
SUBMITTED
By Theresa Curry theresa@crozetgazette.com
Hope tree at Tabor pictures Thai children at risk.
At Love, Inc, donations for families who fall through the cracks.
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CROZETgazette
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SUBMITTED
DECEMBER 2017
Hanging of the green kicks off Christmas season at Hillsboro Baptist.
a commercial laundromat, so organizers set up a location where people could wash their family’s clothes. “We’re always trying to think in the long term,” said Klein. An example is coordinating cars from donors (including one in Crozet) with deserving workers, donations that have a significant impact on a family’s economic health. “Although I sometimes feel like Solomon with a sword and a baby,” Klein admitted. A recent effort is aimed at addressing the factors that may be keeping a family in poverty. Love Inc.’s “Transformational
Ministry” trains mentors to look beyond immediate needs and focus on long-term recovery. Volunteers are trained over many weeks in “Redemptive Compassion,” where they learn, through a series of case studies, to teach clients to make better decisions. In turn, the neighbors they’re counseling commit to many weeks of structured sessions on “Affirming your Potential.” Volunteers are always needed, Klein said, to help at the office, work in the field, or join the transformational ministry. Call 434-977-7777.
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A long line of women apple slicers
Apple Schnitzing by Lynn Coffey
Paul Hershberger showing the peeling process
Leogane, Haiti. They’ve done this through the Blue Ridge Mission in Plain City, Ohio, which is a collection site, and the mission, in turn, ships the apples as well as many other products to Haiti. Every Tuesday, Paul and Barbara Hershberger drive their truck to Fitzgerald Orchard in Tyro to pick up forty bushels of apples for that night’s cutting. Thirty-five bushels will be cut up and the remaining five bushels sold to anyone wanting to purchase fresh apples. As a rule of thumb, Paul said they usually try for seven to eight cuttings a year and deliver around 12 drums to the mission in Ohio to be shipped to Haiti. The Leogane Children’s Home is a home for girls whose families live in the mountainous regions of Haiti, one of the poorest economic areas of the country. In addition to their regular schoolwork, the girls are taught trades such as crocheting, basketry and making Caribbean vanilla. Bringing it closer to home, Elizabeth
continued on page 43 LYNN COFFEY
LYNN COFFEY
The term schnitz originated from the Pennsylvania Dutch word “snitz” which refers to a dried chunk of apple, and the German word “schnitzen,” meaning to carve or slice. Cutting up bushels of apples for drying or the making of apple butter is time consuming, repetitive work so gathering as many people together to do the job makes for an enjoyable evening of fun or as the old adage goes, “Many hands make light work.” Apples take on a much different flavor and texture when they are dried. Through dehydration moisture is removed, which concentrates the flavor. Packing in airtight containers will keep
the apples edible for up to a year and longer if frozen. Dried apples are a healthful snack and can be soaked in water or cider to rehydrate and then used in cooking and baking, much like fresh apples. This annual tradition has been going on for more than 50 years by members of the Amish/ Mennonite community of Stuarts Draft and is sponsored by Pilgrim Fellowship Mennonite Church. In earlier years the cutting and drying of apples was held at the old cannery located in Draft. It is now held at the former Mt. Zion Amish School during the fall harvest season. This year’s schnitzing was held every Tuesday evening from Sept. 19
through Nov. 7 except one night in October when the church held its yearly revival. The schnitzing was open to the public as well as the Amish community. My husband Billy and I were invited to the schnitzing by Mrs. Sadie Kinsinger. The evening we attended, around 55 people were in the process of peeling, coring and slicing 35 bushels of apples. Children, teens and adults participated. Smaller children carried peeled apples to the adults for cutting and picked up the core leavings. Older children strong enough to lift a five-gallon bucket of cut apples carried them to the dryer and poured them in. Happy chatter and laughter permeated the school as people worked side by side throughout the evening. It was thought that Jonas Kanagy was responsible for manufacturing the large dryer used for the weekly schnitzing activities. The dryer, a propane furnace with forced air circulating under a large metal grid, can dry up to 35 bushels of apples at one time. It takes approximately 30 hours to completely dry that amount. When dry, the apples are packed in liners fitted inside 55 gallon drums and sealed. The idea of sending dried apples to impoverished countries came when Clyde Bender, Jonas Kanagy and Hershel Bridge went on a mission trip to Haiti and saw the poor conditions and hunger that existed there. They came back and shared their concerns with their churches and began making plans to send dried apples to a children’s home based in
LYNN COFFEY
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LYNN COFFEY
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Sadie Kinsinger and William Hershberger team up at the schnitzing
Apples in the dryer
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Author Flora Wyatt collaborated with WAHS senior and illustrator Laura Bendick to create Let’s Explore Lighthouses.
An Enlightening Collaboration by Clover Carroll
clover@crozetgazette.com
At age three, Keaton Wyatt loved trains. But the diminutive lighthouse included with his first train set soon became an additional fascination. When his devoted Gramie—Old Trail resident Flora Wyatt—searched for an age-appropriate book on this topic, she came up empty-handed. Her compromise, the coffee-table book The World’s Greatest Lighthouses by Anna Maria Lilla Mariotti, became his favorite, even travelling to school for “bring your favorite book” day. So Wyatt, a retired University of Kansas education professor who had specialized in remedial reading,
Apples
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Showalter, daughter of Trent and Marie Showalter, volunteers at the facility and on return trips home she brings back the girls’ handiwork and takes it to The Cheese Shop of Stuarts Draft where it is sold without commission. Profits go back to support the less fortunate in Haiti. Another project accompanying the dried apples has been spearheaded by the Trent Showalter family, who collect bars of used soap from hotels and motels in the Waynesboro, Staunton and Lexington areas.
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decided to write her own. Using limited vocabulary and an easyto-read font, she wrote and self-published Let’s Explore Lighthouses to present basic information to a primary audience. The book covers the purpose, history, and operation of lighthouses, and explores famous lighthouses such as the Tower of Hercules in Spain and the oldest U.S. lighthouse, Boston Light. Keaton, now five years old, can already read the book himself! Needing an illustrator, Wyatt approached WAHS art teacher Nancy Mehlich for a recommendation. After Mehlich invited everyone in her AP art class to illustrate a sample page, Wyatt chose WAHS senior After collection, the soap is cleaned, packaged and sent to The Leogane Children’s Home where it is melted down, formed into balls and distributed to Haiti’s mountain people for personal use and for washing clothes. As with many other acts of kindness and love, the members of the Amish/Mennonite community pay for their charitable gifts to the less fortunate out of their own pockets, with no cost to the recipient. They are called the “Plain People,” but their message is profound. At this holy time of year, may we follow their example and find ways to give back to mankind in the name of love.
Laura Bendick for the job. Working throughout the summer of 2017 in her home studio—while also working with the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Museum’s Young Art Historians Program—Bendick produced 18 stunning, full-page illustrations to accompany Wyatt’s informative text. Bendick worked in watercolor, basing the paintings on print and online photographs. “I tried to mix up the composition by placing the lighthouses at different locations on the page, and showing them in a variety of seasons and times of day,” Bendick explains. Wyatt has given copies of the engaging, colorful paperback— which includes resources and further questions in the back, along with a photo of the lighthouse Keaton and Cooper built out of flowerpots and a solar light—to the Crozet Library, Keaton’s school, and many of his friends. It is available at Over the Moon
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Bookstore in Piedmont Place, where a book launch was held Tuesday, December 5. This project has established a continuing collaboration between Wyatt and Bendick. They are currently working on illustrating the old song “Twenty Froggies Went to School” that Wyatt learned from her own grandmother, which they will frame to hang above the children’s piano. “I am also thinking of doing a book about what young animals need to know, like how to spin for spiders, and how to swim and catch fish for polar bears,” she confides. Bendick, who also designs all the WAHS theatre production flyers, is currently finishing her AP studio art portfolio for college applications, where she plans to double major in Studio Art and Art History. “Who knows? I may end up illustrating more children’s books some day!” she adds.
A detail of Bendick’s watercolor illustrations.
ELIZABETH SHOWALTER
GABE ANDERSEN
DECEMBER 2017
Girls at the Leogane Children’s Home receiving dried apple
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inthegarden@crozetgazette.com
Holiday Cactus Many small cacti generally referred to as Christmas cactus show up on retail shelves at this time of year. Depending on the particular variety and flowering time, they may also bear the name of Thanksgiving cactus. I haven’t seen any with the names of Hanukkah cactus or Kwanzaa cactus just yet, so Holiday cactus could serve as a good umbrella term. Just to keep things simple, I’ll refer to all of the plants in the genus Schlumbergera as Christmas cactus. (The Easter cactus is in the separate but closely related genus Hatiora.) Christmas cactus at one time were placed in the genus Zygocactus, but this term is now taxonomically invalid. Still, you’ll often see it on plant labels, presumably since it rolls off the tongue more easily than Schlumbergera. Despite what I read in one source, the Christmas cactus and the Easter cactus are indeed true cacti; they just don’t closely resemble some typical members of the cactus family (Cactaceae), such as the prickly pear (Opuntia) or the iconic giant saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea). As is true of most succulents, cacti can store considerable quantities of water. Cacti lack true leaves; instead, they store water and carry on photosynthesis in their greenish stems. In some species, the leaves have evolved to become spines; luckily for those who grow them, the Christmas cacti are not armed. The somewhat atypical appearance of Christmas cacti
among their more spiny relatives presumably derives from their native home in the moist mountains of southern Brazil. In a narrow coastal band some 200-300 miles on either side of Rio de Janeiro, Christmas cacti grow clinging to trees and rocks. Even in the drier tropical winter, clouds and fog keep them supplied with water. But given that they are growing in almost no soil, moisture quickly drains away. Growing at elevations of 2,300’ to 9,000’, they prefer cooler temperatures than plants from the tropical lowlands. Christmas cactus now come in many colors—pink, yellow, tangerine, and white, as well as the traditional red. Aside from flower color, there are two somewhat different types of plant morphology: most modern cultivars have pointed teeth—not really sharp, however—on their leaves, flowers held nearly horizontal, and yellow pollen. These belong to the Truncata group, for those fond of horticultural nomenclature. The Buckleyi group have rounded symmetrical “teeth,” flowers are pendant, and pollen is pink. This group is also tolerant of higher light levels. How should Christmas cactus be grown? Some sources describe it as an “easy” plant. Maybe that’s true if you don’t care about it flowering, but I doubt this applies to very many people. So, here’s what I’ve gleaned from my reading, not only about growing your Christmas cactus but getting it to flower year after year as well. And let me emphasize this is what I have read. I bought my Christmas cactus a few days
Schlumbergera
ago, so I don’t speak from personal experience as yet. First, let’s review the natural conditions that Christmas cactus grows in: the southern edge of the Brazilian tropics, with both wet and drier seasons; mid- to high-elevations with cooler temperatures; partial shade; excellent drainage; and day length varying from 10 ½ to 13 ½ hours. Starting with soil, you could mix your own, adding some sand or perlite to ordinary potting soil. Since I grow a fair amount of succulents, I just buy a bag of soil that is labeled “Cactus and Succulent Mix.” (Of course you’re usually going to buy your Christmas cactus already potted, but at some point you’ll have to repot it.) Next, provide bright indirect light. If you move your plant outdoors in the summer, be sure it gets shade from late morning to sunset. And given that these plants are not fond of really hot temperatures, I’d consider keeping them in an air-conditioned place for the summer. For most of the year Christmas cactus should be watered when the top inch of the soil dries out. They do like humidity in the air, and heated houses tend to be dry in the winter. You can add moisture by placing the pot on top of a tray filled with pebbles and water, but be sure to keep the water level below the top of the gravel. Ideally, temperatures would be around 55-65 degrees at night and 70 during the day. Realistically, unless you have a special space for your plants, you’re probably going to have nighttime temperatures at the
upper end of that range. Regardless, keep your Christmas cactus away from radiators, fireplaces or drafts. Now for the trickier part: getting your Christmas cactus to flower, much of which depends on longer nights. Our nights are twelve hours long by September 21 and continue to get longer afterwards, so that shouldn’t present a problem. Except that your plant will be indoors, presumably with artificial lights going on and off. Plants that require long nights, rather than just short days, don’t want any interruption during the night. Even if your plant’s room goes dark at 5 p.m. and doesn’t light up again until 7 the next morning, it’s “rhythm” will be thrown off if somebody goes into the room at 11 p.m. and flicks on the light. The Christmas cactus will see that as one six-hour night, followed by an eighthour night. So, “lights out,” should mean lights out until the next morning. As fall approaches, a Christmas cactus will also need less water. One source recommends cutting back on water radically in October, then increasing water when the buds appear. This same source also showed “14 Easy Steps to Successfully Growing Christmas Cactus.” Frankly, once you go beyond five steps, I don’t think it’s easy anymore. Let me emphasize my novice status with this plant once again. I’m hoping to hear from someone who will say, “I just leave my Christmas cactus in the same place all year, water it once a week, and it blooms like crazy.”
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Hannah Mangum and John-Michael Rouhana Hannah Mangum, a daughter of Jeffrey and Connie Mangum of Charlottesville, is engaged to be married to JohnMichael Rouhana. He is the son of Samira Chater and Michel Rouhana of Orlando, Florida. The bride-to-be graduated from Western Albemarle High School (Class of 2008), the University of Virginia, and recently received her MBA from the Rollins Crummer Graduate
School of Business in Winter Park, Florida. She is employed by Stericycle. John-Michael graduated from the University of Central Florida and is employed by Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems. The wedding is planned for January 20, 2018, at Knowles Memorial Chapel in Winter Park, Florida.
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DECEMBER 2017
MARLENE A. CONDON
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On the Cutting Edge In October of 2017, a new study asserting the shocking loss of 75% of the total biomass of flying insects in some German nature preserves caught the attention of many news outlets. Various scientists were quoted as they pointed out the seriousness of this newfound result for our own food supply and that of wildlife. Faithful followers of my writing know that the loss of insects is not news to me. In fact, because I regularly bring new information about our environment directly to my readers (thank you for your interest) long before the scientific community is aware of it, you can rest assured that you are on the cutting edge of what is happening “out there.” For many years I have been writing about the perilous loss of insects in the United States based upon my personal observations—and people have insisted I did not know what I was talking about. In 2014, for example, I wrote in a column that I was very concerned about insect collecting “because there exist far fewer insects in the world today than 50 years ago.” I also wrote that, “There’s been such a huge loss of insect populations that I am not at all surprised that so many species of insect-feeding animals are dying out. And I am extremely concerned about the future of mankind in this insect-depleted world.” Within one day of that column appearing a scientist replied that my “subjective assessment” of insect populations was “flawed” because I had based it upon years of paying attention to the numbers of insects splattered upon car windshields and flying around lights at night. Scientists often conflate personal observations of the natural world with a lack of objectivity, as if personal
observations made in a lab setting somehow automatically guarantees impartiality on the part of the researcher. He went on to bluntly state that “trillions of insects thrive here”, inferring that the insects of North America were flourishing and I was way off the mark. But as I’ve always known and written, the best way to learn about nature is by unobtrusively observing it. When a plethora of insects around lights at night goes to almost none over the decades, only one conclusion is possible. My way of doing science means that I obtain factual information without needing to injure, kill, or disturb wildlife in any way, whereas the 27-yearlong German study killed millions of insects (adding insult to injury) in order to “document” that insects were disappearing. Unfortunately, scientists simply do not grasp the irony of harming the very wildlife they are trying to understand, and they refuse to believe that simple, unbiased observations can be trusted to yield accurate information. Back in the 1990s, I noticed that a sentinel crow waited for me to put out birdseed on cold winter mornings. The moment I appeared, the crow would fly off silently, and then I would hear cawing in the distance. Within a few minutes, several crows would arrive to take my seeds. I sent a report to an ornithological publication about the obvious intelligence of crows placing a sentinel to watch for me so that it could then alert other crows to the location of a food source, but the scientists at the helm did not seem to believe what I had written. Shortly thereafter I attended a meeting at which I met an ornithologist. I told him about my crow experience, which he seemed to believe, but he told me that birds don’t recognize individual humans. He thought
The ragged edges of fibrous yucca leaves (Yucca filamentosa) in the author’s yard bear testament to the desperation of deer during the winter of 2013-14.
I should not try to suggest that the crow actually recognized me as an individual. I did not believe I was wrong about the crow being able to identify me. As I later wrote in one of my newspaper columns, “Although I came out every morning, I did not always show up at the same time. Thus the only way for the crows to take advantage of my generosity was to post a sentry that could alert the others at whatever hour I made an appearance.” It should be noted that the crow did not wait for me to distribute seeds. It left the moment it saw me, something it did not do if my husband went outside to leave for work before I had gone out to spread seeds. So-o-o-o, I was not the least bit surprised when, almost two decades later, scientists “discovered” (rather like Columbus discovering America even though native peoples had lived here for many thousands of years) that crows could recognize individual human faces. Although I try to share my discoveries, scientists can be a skeptical lot. Non-scientists can be just as cynical. When a neighbor suggested a few months ago that deer were overpopulated, I told him that was not currently the case. He and another neighbor treated my statement as utter nonsense. After all, people still see deer around, and if their plants get eaten, they are especially prone to believing there are too many of these animals. What they don’t realize is that they cannot determine relative population levels without having paid very close attention over time. In my case, I had documented deer starving a few years back during two successive
years of bitterly cold February months, and I had noticed that they were seen less the rest of that year. The next two years of hunter-generated numbers of deer taken during hunting season were way down, fully in agreement with what I had already ascertained. There was more evidence, too. For many years, ticks were so numerous that it was almost impossible to go outside without getting them on you. And when you looked at deer with binoculars, they were covered with these deer-dependent arthropods. But my husband and I, despite spending just as much time as ever in the yard where we’d always gotten ticks, found very few on us the past two summers, and the deer we saw carried few, if any, ticks—both situations independently confirming my assertion. Perhaps the most convincing proof is that Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum) and American Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis)—plants especially favored by deer—have been untouched, or touched very little, by deer in recent years. In the past, if these species were unprotected (uncaged), they would have been killed by the overabundance of deer feeding upon them. People wouldn’t doubt me if they realized that the natural world is an open book just waiting to be read by anyone seriously interested in it. You do not need an advanced degree. When you observe nature without interfering with it, document carefully what you see, and then employ logic to understand it, you can rest assured that the knowledge you’ve gained is absolutely reliable.
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DECEMBER 2017
BY DR. ROBERT C. REISER
crozetannals@crozetgazette.com
Fake News: Illusions, Delusions, and Hallucinations The chief complaint in the ER chart was listed as Hallucinations. “We are not here for the hallucinations,” my patient stated at the outset of our interaction. It was true that she was seeing frequent visual hallucinations. She could describe them vividly as tiny Mary Poppins figures seen hovering over her bed with raised umbrellas. When she looked outside she saw tiny soldiers crouched in the bushes or marching in formation down the street. She was not bothered by these hallucinations and knew that they were not real, although she could see them clearly. “That is just her Charles Bonnet syndrome,” her husband assured me. She confidently agreed with him. “Been going on for years, ever since my glaucoma got bad,” she added. “I am used to them now.” Charles Bonnet syndrome (CBS) is a somewhat common phenomenon in people who have severe vision loss. Charles Bonnet first described it in 1760 after observing it in his 87-year-old grandfather. Bonnet was a lawyer, not a physician, but he was also a self-taught biologist. My patient had advanced macular degeneration, which affects central vision, combined with glaucoma, which affects peripheral vision. With her visual input so diminished her brain began forming its own images not based on any objective reality. The visions in CBS—classified as visual release hallucinations--are usually lilliputian figures, very small, and often described as cartoons by the patients. Many patients see striking geometric formations. Visual release hallucinations
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occur when the visual pathways in the brain circuits are starved for input. Lacking any incoming neural impulses from the retina and optic nerves, the brain begins to misinterpret the background electrical “noise” that the neurons themselves make as part of their normal metabolism as visual input. Visual release hallucinations can be seen in people kept in complete darkness for long periods of time. They manifest as weird lights and figures when there is no light. They have been dubbed the “prisoner’s cinema.” The more scientific term for these are phosphenes—the experience of seeing light without light actually entering the eye. You can create your own phosphene very easily. Just close your eyes and firmly push on the right side of your right eye. You will see a small semi-circle of bright white light in the left side of that eye. Sir Isaac Newton was the first to describe this effect, which results from the pressure stimulation on the retinal light detection cells causing tiny electrical electric pulses to transmit to the brain and be interpreted as light. And that is how Charles Bonnet syndrome occurs. Misinterpreted neuronal inputs. We are all susceptible. So if she was not here for the hallucinations though, what was she here for? Her husband explained that she had been in a serious car crash (yes, she was driving up until recently) in South Carolina. She was hospitalized for several days for a head injury. While in the hospital she developed a fixed delusion that the hospital was in fact inside her home in Charlottesville. When the hospital could offer the couple no explanation for continued on page 52
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Young Warriors Defend Jefferson District Football Title by Alan Franklin The Western Albemarle Youth Football Warriors captured their second straight Jefferson District Youth Football League (JDYFL) Championship for the Presidents Division (1213 year olds) Nov. 19 under the lights at Albemarle High School. The championship game was a rematch of the regular season finale just two weeks prior, when the Western Warriors erased a 10-point deficit in the final two minutes and defeated its fierce rival the Albemarle Patriots in the final seconds of the game, 42 – 38, to cap of an undefeated regular season. For a core group of players, it is the fifth title in six years. “Being undefeated is extraordinarily difficult,” said Coach Jeff Buetow. “Every week we were the team to beat. Teams consistently brought their best games against us and we absorbed a lot of body blows along the way. These boys exhibited a level of mental toughness that was truly exceptional. That might be the most important take-away for them as they move on. It will serve them well throughout their lives.” Going into the championship Albemarle clearly had a score to settle. No team wants to lose to their rival in the closing seconds of a game. The Warriors also wanted to complete a perfect season and repeat as champions. The game did not disappoint. On a windy afternoon both teams knew that the long ball was going to be difficult and that the running game was going to be critical.
“Against a team as well coached as Albemarle we knew that our kids had to be prepared for a physical and fundamentally sound football game,” Buetow said. Albemarle scored first to take an 8-0 lead. The Warriors answered with a 10-yard screen pass to John Buetow from Henry Meulenberg with outstanding blocking by the entire offensive line (Jeremy Ewers, Kainan Miller, Spencer Franklin, Duke Hampton, and Jherkeem Banks) as well as the wide receivers (Desmond Roberts, Ross Bassett, Nate Hamm and Dylan Cosgrove). Buetow ran up the middle for the 2-point conversion to tie it up at 8. The defenses took over for the balance of the half and the game remained tied at 8 going into the break. To open the second half, Western took over on downs after a great stop by the Warrior defense. The offense next marched 80 yards behind the running of Buetow, who finished off the drive with a 25-yard touchdown run. Albemarle tied the score on a broken play with just three minutes remaining in the game. Following the kickoff, Buetow took the first play for a 48-yard touchdown run, shedding tacklers along the way. The Warrior defense took over from there to seal the championship victory. Buetow was awarded the game’s Most Valuable Player and finished with three touchdowns and more than 200 yards rushing. The Warrior defense was exceptional. Albemarle is big, fast, and physical. “Our defense started the game a bit over-
whelmed by the physicality of the game. But true to their character, they found their equilibrium and effectively shut Albemarle down in the second half. That last defensive stand was pure dominance. The Albemarle offense was completely out of sorts due to the pressure and great coverage!” exclaimed coach Buetow. “We rotate over 20 players through that side of the ball and every one of them showed up today!” The defensive ends (Ian Murphy and Nate Hamm) and the interior line (a rotation that includes Kyle Keyton, Xander Smith, Patrick Barnett, Spencer Burnett, Jackson Hughes, Jonathan Moon, and Ben Stevens) did a great job throughout the game. The linebackers (a rotation including Keagan Cress, Nathan Fitzgerald, Matthew Perry, Calder Bean, and Dylan Cosgrove) were critical as well—particularly Bubba Shifflett and John Buetow, who both seemed to be in on every tackle. Defensive backs Kyler Cress and Ross Bassett played shut-down corner and safety Cyrus Hammer was equally impressive. “Our defense just did what they always do,” said Coach Buetow. “They make the life of our opponent absolutely miserable. Each player knows his responsibility, trusts his teammates, and executes with ferocity. Great stuff!” Special teams also played a critical role. In order to avoid Buetow and Roberts deep, Albemarle decided to kick primarily on-side squib kicks. Kyle Keyton was clutch fielding a couple of kicks with the entire
Albemarle team bearing down on him. “Pure clutch and guts,” said special teams coach Alan Franklin. An emotional coach Buetow said, “I can’t express how proud I am of these kids and our entire community. Clearly the players make it happen, but we have a great coaching staff. Coaches Meulenberg, Hampton, Franklin and von Lewinski sacrificed an awful lot to get these kids ready to play. Additionally, we get tremendous support from WAHS Varsity Head Coach Ed Redmond and his staff as well as athletic director Steve Heon. And we have just terrific volunteers like Rachel Simon and Beth Bassett. Thanks to all of them as well. Finally, hats off to Albemarle. Their kids were a class act in a really tough game.” The JDYFL was formed following the 2015 season as the Thomas Jefferson Youth Football League (TJYFL), Pop Warner, and the youth AAU programs combined into a single league. It is the only youth football program serving the Jefferson District. Participating districts include Western Albemarle, Albemarle, Charlottesville, Monticello, Fluvanna, Orange, Greene, Lynchburg, Rockingham, and Augusta. It is the most competitive youth football league in the history of Central Virginia youth football. Western Albemarle fielded competitive teams in three divisions of the JDYFL in 2017, the Founders (8-9 year olds), the Governors (10-11 year olds), and the Presidents (12-13 year olds) with approximately 80 players.
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DECEMBER 2017
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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
Terri Miyamoto and Jessica Mauzy
Crozet Trail Crew Honors Founder With Bridge Dedication Crozet Trails Crew founder Jessica Mauzy was honored by her friends in the CTC Dec. 2 with the dedication a new bridge on the east end of Crozet Park named for her. “This is the aircraft carrier of bridges,” noted CTC president Terri Miyamoto, as she pulled away the piece of fabric concealing the name plaque. “It’s right at the center of our trail network.” She said it was sturdily built to be able to carry the load of landscaping equipment. “Trails make Crozet the kind of place where we want to live,” Miyamoto said. “Right at the back door is a way to reach other neighborhoods. The CTC is part of a community that gets together to do what needs to be done. Thank you, Jessica.” “I didn’t have to run a long way to get my name on the bridge, so I feel like I cheated,” said Mauzy, referring to the fact
that bridges are usually named for the winners of the CTC’s annual 5K race, which raises money for bridge materials. “People are going ask, ‘What race did you win?’” “All of them!” came the answer from the crowd of her fans. She threw the credit back on the work done by CTC members. “I’m so excited to see that so much has come true,” said Mauzy, whose earrings bore the CTC logo. “The energy of our group is influencing other decisions, like sidewalks along Crozet Avenue.” The Mauzy bridge was designed by the CTC’s main load engineer, Phil Best, who was joined for the construction by fellow volunteers Steve Kostiw, David Miamoto and Bob Dombrowe. The cost was $1,000 in materials.
Jessica Mauzy
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BEREAVEMENTS Rhodes William Ward, 77
October 25, 2017
Mary Lee Morris, 92
October 27, 2017
Ronald Edwin Matheny Sr., 79
October 29, 2017
James Francis Scott, 81
October 29, 2017
Joann Snyder Walker, 56
October 29, 2017
Ellen Rixey Barber, 87
October 31, 2017
Doris Jones Behrendt, 90
November 1, 2017
Ronald A. Dodson, 71
November 1, 2017
Lesley Minor Gibson, 85
November 2, 2017
Teresa Garrison Frazier, 56
November 5, 2017
Bertha Ola Bush, 85
November 6, 2017
Gary Wayne Shifflett, 64
November 6, 2017
Edward Franklin Keim, 78
November 7, 2017
Warren Charles Smith, 81
November 9, 2017
Samuel Baughman Craig Jr., 78
November 12, 2017
Joan Margaret Palmer, 90
November 12, 2017
Jennifer Mariner Beckett, 52
November 13, 2017
Joan Marie Cowgill Wood, 78
November 15, 2017
Grover Samuel Mawyer Jr., 81
November 16, 2017
Donna Lynn Packard, —
November 17, 2017
Carlton Latane Coffey, 94
November 19, 2017
Edward L. Marks, 77
November 19, 2017
Joseph Linwood Bingler, 86
November 20, 2017
Herbert Kidd, 86
November 20, 2017
Richard Wayne Mawyer, 71
November 21, 2017
Edward Frank Melton, 79
November 22, 2017
Pauline Parkhurst, 79
November 26, 2017
Margaret Lucille Townsend Breeden, 74
November 28, 2017
William Bonavita Smith, 79
November 29, 2017
Homer Vaughn Wagnon Jr., 93
November 29, 2017
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CROZETgazette
DECEMBER 2017
community events DECEMBER 8
Crozet Jam Band Long Session
The Crozet Jam Band will perform again at The Starr Hill Brewery Tap Room December 8 for an extended three-hour session from 7 to 10 p.m. The CJB will play and sing at least one song from each of the jam sessions from the past year, including songs by the Beatles, Johnny Cash, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, John Denver, Bob Dylan, The Eagles, Peter Paul and Mary, Simon and Garfunkel, Leonard Cohen, The Dixie Chicks, Martina McBride, Norah Jones, Willie Nelson, Fleetwood Mac, Neil Diamond, Van Morrison, Tom Petty, Jim Croce, Emmylou Harris and Grace Potter. Folks are encouraged to sing along, make requests from the band’s 180+ song songbook, and to come up on stage and lead a song. There is no cover charge, and craft beer, tea and dinner from a food truck will be served until 10 p.m.
DECEMBER 9
Second Saturdays Art Openings
Art on the Trax will present “Wearing Nature” by Sarah Tremaine during the month of December, with a Second Saturday Artist Reception on December 9 from 4 - 6 p.m. “Wearing Nature” is a show of hand made clothing and accessories made of wool, silk and gathered plant materials. During the month of December, Crozet Artisan Depot proudly presents the work of author & illustrator team Joseph Anthony & Cris Arbo. There will be an opening Reception on December 9 from 3 - 5 p.m. in the historic Crozet train depot. The event will include book signings and readings from their popular children’s books, The Dandelion Seed and The Dandelion Seed’s Big Dream. All events are free and open to the public. Art on the Trax is located at Creative Framing and The Art Box, across from the Crozet Artisan Depot, 5784 Three Notch’d Road in Crozet.
DECEMBER 10
ABT Nutcracker Crozet’s Albemarle Ballet Theatre will preform the Nutcracker at the Wayne Theater, in downtown Waynesboro Sunday, December 10, at 2 and 5 p.m. Tickets are available at bit.ly/ABT Nutcracker17
DECEMBER 11 - 18
Exam Cram
Need a place to study or meet for a group project? The Crozet Library will have reserved space and extended hours for high school students studying for midterm exams. Free snacks and beverages will be available to help fuel your concentration. Contact the library for more information and to reserve a group study room (these fill up quickly!). The schedule is as follows: Monday, December 11: 4 - 9 p.m.; Tuesday, December 12: 4 - 9 p.m.; Wednesday, December 13: 4 - 9 p.m.; Thursday, December 14: 4 - 9 p.m. (extended hours); Saturday, December 16: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.; Monday, December 18: 4 - 9 p.m.
DECEMBER 16
White Hall Kids Christmas Party The annual White Hall Children’s Christmas Party will be celebrated on Saturday, December 16, 10 a.m. - noon. Kids and their parents are invited to come for crafts, music, treats, and a special visit by Santa Claus. The party, sponsored by The White Hall Ruritan Club, will be held at the White Hall Community Building at 2904 Brown’s Gap Turnpike (intersection of Routes 614 and 810).
DECEMBER 24
Festival of Lessons & Carols
At 4 p.m. on Sunday, December 24, Holy Cross Church in Batesville will present a Festival of Lessons and Carols. All are invited to this traditional Anglican worship service, which was first introduced in the late 19th century to celebrate the birth of Jesus. It includes nine short readings from the Bible interspersed with the singing of carols and hymns. Following the service, guests are invited to enjoy cookies and hot
Medicine —continued from page 47
this weird delusion her husband decided to check her out and have her seen at our hospital. When I talked with her about this it became apparent that she thought our hospital had somehow been built inside her house as well. In addition, during the trip to Charlottesville they had stayed in a hotel that she also thought was part of her home, and a restaurant as well. She knew on some level that it sounded absurd, but it felt so real to her that she could not help but believe it despite its illogic. Like the prisoners in Plato’s Cave analogy, she was receiving distorted information through her sensory pathways and interpreting it to draw skewed conclusions. But she had to make sense of it some-
cider in the parish hall. In addition to this special celebration, Holy Cross will offer its regular 9 a.m. worship service on Christmas Eve, to which the community also is invited. Holy Cross is located at 2523 Craigs Store Road (Rt. 635); directions are provided at the Holy Cross website: www.holycrosschurchbatesville.org.
Check out the full community event calendar at crozetgazette.com/events
how; this is the human condition. Her delusion is called reduplicative paramnesia, a type of delusional misidentification disorder like Capgras syndrome, previously discussed in this column. By a historical coincidence, this paramnesia was also first described by Charles Bonnet, in 1789, although he did not recognize it as a syndrome as he only saw one case. Reviewing the head CT done in South Carolina, it was clear that she had suffered damage to the right side of her brain and this likely accounted for her delusion, as this has been well described in this type of injury. Only time will tell if her condition is permanent. I suspect it will be. But as delusions go, this one was pretty comforting. She was always at home, no matter where she went.
DECEMBER 18
It’s a Wonderful Cookie Exchange Bring treats to share and swap with your neighbors before settling in to watch the classic film “It’s a Wonderful Life” starting at 6:30 at Crozet Library. Bring a copy of your recipe to share with others.
The PVCC Rocketry Club launched a model rocket out on the Crozet playground.
School Notes —continued from page 6
The Family Night event attracts a crowd, and features door prizes every fifteen min-
utes and a fifth-grade bake sale. It’s a huge effort, but worth it, says Waterbury. “I get a lot of help from parents and students, and it’s often pretty hilarious. All of Book Fair is happy chaos!”
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CROZETgazette
DECEMBER 2017
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by Louise Dudley
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Adrian Neumeister and Jan Harrison
Crozet Park’s Perimeter Trail Dedicated Daniel Neumeister of Crozet, a local winemaker and an avid skateboarder, was killed by a drunk driver while riding his motorcycle on Earlysville Road in 2010. His widow Adrian and his mother Jan Harrison wanted his death to accomplish something and for his memory to endure in his community, so they chose to support Claudius Crozet Park’s effort to build a perimeter trail. Almost a mile
long, the asphalt ribbon along the park’s boundary is open, with a couple of exercise stations installed as well. Neumeister and Harrison commemorated the achievement by dedicating a trailside statue of a gecko on a skateboard Nov. 18. Neumeister said her next goal is the further expansion of Crozet’s trails, which have the park as their main hub.
Bethlehem
after year, from all over the country, Miller said. The church welcomes everyone: “Last year, I personally gave a tour to an unbeliever,” Miller said. “You don’t have to be a Baptist from Afton to recognize that there’s something deep and meaningful here.” Tours of the village, at 66 Tanbark Road in Afton, are December 15 to 19 from 6 to 9 pm. Tours in Spanish are offered on Sunday, December 17, at 7 p.m.
—continued from page 30
When she’s volunteering in the hospitality tent, Miller always cautions people to take their time exploring Bethlehem. “Something happens here,” she said. “That’s the whole point. If you wait a while, you’ll see it.” Something does happen, about every half-hour or so. A young couple arrives to comply with the census, approaches the inn, and are turned away. They climb the hill, past the forge and the bakery and the sheep to a small stable. There’s a lull, and then shepherds run through the streets, a robed choir appears on a lighted platform that’s been unnoticed before, exotic strangers offer gifts to a baby, and song fills the night. People are so moved by seeing the nativity in its historical context that they return year
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ACROSS 2 Scrooge says “____, humbug!” 4 Santa’s point of entry 6 Dec. festival celebrating African-American culture 9 Opposite of “out” 13 Red-nosed reindeer 14 Traditional tree-topper 15 Footwear with laces 17 Decorations for the tree 18 Bubbles on the ocean (rhymes with “home”) 20 Long limb below your hip 22 Snowman of song 23 Frosty’s eyes are a lump of this 25 Eight-day Jewish celebration in December 28 Treats for Santa 29 Deck these with holly 32 A traditional Christmas color 34 Relatives 35 The other traditional Christmas color 36 Waltz, polka or jig 37 Shiny strands on the Christmas tree DOWN 1 Sleigh-pullers 3 Santa’s jolly words
Hebron Manger
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4 Metal soup container on the shelf 5 Short laugh 7 “I’m dreaming of a ____ Christmas” 8 “____-a-dee-doo dah” 10 Decoration for the front door 11 Opposite of “sharp” in music 12 December 25th holiday 14 ____ like it hot, ____ like it cold 15 Sounds like “sew” 16 Ring over an angel’s head 19 Christmas songs 21 Santa’s helper in his workshop 23 Santa’s last name 24 President Clinton’s home town 25 Sound of sleigh bells 27 ____ Kan (brand of dog food) 30 Joint between your foot and your leg 31 Planes do this when arriving at an airport 33 Place to drive off of a highway Solution on page 54
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CROZETgazette
DECEMBER 2017
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CROZETgazette
Land Use
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—continued from page 12
land use valuation program were discontinued? Some residents argue that the county should abolish the program, tax all parcels at market value, and use the gained revenue to buy conservation easements on the land it wishes to preserve. Because easements are generally permanent, extending through heirs into perpetuity, landowners are often reluctant to make that leap. Mallek, a farmer herself whose land is in conservation easement, believes the results would be disastrous. “It’s a virtual impossibility that most farmers would be able to pay [market value] taxes on their land, so most would have to sell,” she said. “So a huge proportion of those farms would hit the market in a short period of time, resulting in catastrophic loss of value in the county for all property owners. It’s just basic supply and demand.” What changes could be considered to lessen the financial impact and/or increase the effectiveness of the Land Use program? Short of discontinuing the program, a variety of changes have been suggested by economists and residents to increase the policy’s inherent value: (1) Increase the penalty for pulling a parcel out of land use to ten years of rollback taxes instead of five; (2) Limit the program to only working farms with verifiable output; (3) Insist on a professional forestry plan for land that uses the forestal qualification; (4) Encourage the Virginia legislature to change the measures used for the education funding payments to acknowledge land use deferral; (5) Disallow land use parcels in designated growth areas. “To me, land use policies help us to provide services to residents in the most financially reasonable way, in these centralized [growth] areas,” said Mallek. “It’s just better stewardship of taxpayer dollars.” For many, the debate will continue over whether land use valuation really helps keep the rural area rural.
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