Crozet Gazette December 2013 by The Crozet Gazette

INSIDE LIBRARY CARD BOOM page 2 TOWN HALL MINUTES page 3 WHERE ARE WE? page 5 PHOTO CREDITS page 9 BOW WOW PARK page 10 MISSION CHILDREN page 11

ORCHESTRA CONCERT page 13 100 & COUNTING page 14 SUGAR = FAT page 15 MAGI BOTANY page 16 PSYCH ALERT page 18 HIT BY A CAR page 22 BUT WHAT’S IN IT? page 23 SICILIAN CHICKEN page 24 CROSSWORD page 25 DOG WISDOM page 26 WELSH CHRISTMAS page 28 LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEM page 30 BEREAVEMENTS page 31 MILLER’S TOP CYCLISTS page 33 SCIENCE OF SIGHT page 35 WE’RE NUMBER 2! page 36 DAM TURN REGATTA page 38

DECEMBER 2013 VOL. 8, NO. 7

Acme Site to Be Readied for Sale

Crozet Ave. Renovation to Start Jan. 6

A more aggressive approach to cleaning up solvents left in some soil at the former Acme Visible Records site aims to have the property ready for the real estate market as a light industrial parcel by 2016, officials with Atlanta Environmental Management told a crowd of interested citizens in Crozet Library Nov. 18. Acme manufactured filing and storage systems on the 52-acre site from 1950 to 2001 and a kidney-shaped area of soil, partly under the railroad tracks, contains chemical degreasers that leached below a lacquering operation. The property is now owned by Wilson Jones Company, which is responsible for the cleanup. A bioremediation strategy to clean the soil was begun in 2007 using wells that pumped bacteria through the ground, with cleanup expected by 2013, but the res-

Officials with Linco, Inc., the Lyndhurst-based construction company that will do the streetscape project along Crozet Avenue in downtown Crozet, joined Albemarle County officials at a meeting in the Western Albemarle High School cafeteria Dec. 3 to lay out the construction timetable to affected business owners and residents. Construction is expected to start Jan. 6 said Brian McPeters of Kimley-Horn Associates, the civil engineering firm that designed the project. The project, which was launched in 2007, involved easements with 28 property owners and aims to install a storm water system for the street and result in better pedestrian connections in the downtown. Paver crosswalks, storm drains, streetlights and wide sidewalks will be added as well as left-turn lanes at intersections. No bike

Santa Visits Crozet Santa came to town early for the Crozet Volunteer Fire Department’s annual Christmas Parade, held Sunday, December 1. [Photo courtesy Justin Ide/CVFD]

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Crab Puff Is Ticket To Pillsbury Bake-off Mindy Beaumont likes her chances in contests. She’ll make a try. This year it’s really paid off. Her recipe for honeyroasted corn and crab puffs, an appetizer, won her a place as semifinalist in the renowned Pillsbury Bake-off. She got an all-expense paid trip to the competition, this year at a casino in Las Vegas November 11-15, and a nice microwave.

The bake-off got started in 1951 and showcases talented home cooks thinking up simple recipes (that include two General Mills-owned products) that other family cooks could use. The bake-off winner gets $1 million. “This year was different,” said Beaumont. “It was their 46th bake-off. Usually they pick 100 finalists. This year

they picked 180 from the 30,000 recipes submitted. You got to be a ‘semifinalist’ if you got enough people to vote for you on social networks. Nobody there liked that. Is that really the best recipes? Clearly it was about marketing because in order to vote you had to register at the Pillsbury website.”

continued on page 6

Beaumont’s crab puffs

CROZET gazette

DECEMBER 2013

From the Editor To the Editor Letters reflect the opinions of their authors and not necessarily those of the Crozet Gazette. Send letters to editor@ crozetgazette.com or P.O. Box 863, Crozet, VA 22932.

Mea Maxima Culpa The Gazette apologizes to CVFD Firefighter of the Year Mike Boyle for misspelling his name on the front page of the November issue. The Gazette also wrongly identified the man in the article about the 80th anniversary of The Modern Barbershop being kissed by Lisa Miller. He is Bill Miller. A typo at a line break was also missed in Clover Carroll’s story about Langston Hughes’ poem Let America Be America Again: In the fourth paragraph, ‘many of who’ should have read ‘many of whom.’ This oversight was the editor’s fault and not that of the Gazette’s resident grammarian.

Cranberry Delight Many thanks to Denise Zito for the delicious Cranberry Delight recipe. It’s just the right combination of tart, sweet, and crunchy—not to mention, (relatively) healthy. Although the traditionalists in my family won’t allow me to mess with cranberry sauce on the Big Day, I made this for a pre-Thanksgiving dinner party and it was a big hit. I’m sure I’ll make it again and again! Clover Carroll Crozet

Library Use Has Nearly Doubled Since New Library Opened By Bill Schrader The citizens of Crozet and Western Albemarle continue to demonstrate what the new library means to their families. Libraries measure use by two methods, counting patrons coming through the door and circulation, the number of books, DVD’s, etc., that are checked out. In September of 2012, the old library had 5,001 visitors and they checked out 12,069 items. In September of 2013 the new library had 12,784 visitors and they checked out 20,976 items.

The growth continued in October. In October of 2012 the old library had 5,610 visits and 12,439 items were checked out. In 2013 the new library had 13,262 visits and 22,633 items checked out. Other activities also demonstrate the popularity of the new library. The community room and the formal conference room had 54 reservations for use in October of 2013 compared to 32 reservations in 2012. Computer use has more than doubled since the library has continued on page 17

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CROZET gazette

DECEMBER 2013

Citizens Raise Landfill, Hunting Issues at Town Hall Meetings Residents at a town hall meeting White Hall District Supervisor Ann Mallek held Nov. 16 at the White Hall Community Building raised concerns over illegal hunting, intoxicated drivers leaving local wineries and the future of county solid waste services. Albemarle County Police Chief Steve Sellers said that tips from residents in the area had resulted in the arrest of two men who were spotlighting deer from roadsides along Rt. 810. The county now has three game wardens working in it, he noted, and more attention is being paid to hunting violations. He asked citizens to help the police with information and said they are particularly desirous of car identifiers. Mallek urged residents to take pictures of car license plates with their cell phones. One resident raised a worry over

drivers leaving local wineries after a day of touring and tippling. Others in the crowd agreed with the concern but said they do not blame the wineries for the problem. Well Hung Vineyard owner Kathy Rash was present and though her winery does not have a tasting room, she said wineries are concerned, too, because they have seen some patrons leave in less than good shape. Vineyards should be allowed to have kitchens and serve more substantial food than nuts and crackers, she said. One citizen expressed alarm over the closing of the Ivy transfer station, which will require western Albemarle residents to haul some forms of trash—tires, paint, appliances, mattresses, yard debris—to Fluvanna County to dispose of them. Mallek said that the Ivy transfer

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Town Hall —continued from page 3

Peachtree Baseball 2014 Registration Do you attend (or are eligible to attend) Meriwether Lewis, Murray, Brownsville, Crozet, Henley, Western or Nelson County schools?

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station was meant to be a self-sustaining operation but that after the City of Charlottesville “moved away from sending their trash there,” (others might see it as abandoning their obligation to the Rivanna Solid Waste Authority, a joint creation of the City and Albemarle County) that volume went down and the transfer station began to need an annual subsidy. Mallek said that one of three “convenience centers” planned to replace the transfer station will be near Crozet in a location that has not been found yet. She suggested the Acme location as a possibility. The center would be fenced, manned, and have roll-off containers for household trash and recyclables. It will not be available for commercial waste. Each of the convenience centers planned will cost about $400,000 to build, roughly the amount of the county’s annual subsidy. “I hate to see Ivy close,” said Herbert McAllister. “I’d hate to have to go to Zion Crossroads.” Mallek said she is becoming interested in the idea that the county would secure the state permit the RWSA now holds and devise a plan to keep Ivy, which is set up to handle anything, open. “We need to restructure what we’re doing,” she said. Elbert Dale praised Mallek for her efforts to stop roadside chemical spraying to control vegetation. “There’s too much use of chemicals,” he said. “Many are now known to be dangerous that we were assured were safe.” At a town hall meeting Mallek hosted three days later in the Crozet Library community room, residents raised the landfill issue as well. “Why can’t Ivy stay open?” asked Paul Grady. “Why spend money to make something somewhere else? We need the hazardous waste days.” He said the public also needs access to the mulch Ivy generates and that the station’s “encore store” was a

CROZET gazette helpful place to find items that are still useable. Russell Gough told Mallek, “The county should spend the money to keep Ivy open.” Mallek said she would “push for the county to get the RSWA’s permit” and added, “We’ve dropped the ball on this.” Citizens again raised illegal hunting as a concern and police Lt. Greg Jenkins, commander of the western district, said that the police now have plain clothes and decoy operations going to catch hunting law violators. He said the county has recently filed about 20 charges against “five or six individuals.” Rifle season goes through mid-January in Albemarle. He said there has been a problem with deer carcasses being thrown off bridges into creeks. Year–to-date crime statistics for Sector 8, which includes Crozet, are: 21 DUI arrests, 183 larcenies or vandalisms with 149 arrests, and 10 burglaries with four still unsolved, Jenkins said. There have been 54 car accidents in the sector in the last month. Since the department went to 10-hour shifts in November, officer morale is up, Jenkins said, and there have been 34 extra patrols in his district. Mallek said the idea of using the Crozet depot as a police station is now percolating in the county’s capital budgeting process and “floating a year out.” Citizens raised the problem of professional firefighters not being able to volunteer with the volunteer stations such as the CVFD. Mallek said the policy was based on “risk aversion to federal labor standards,” though neighboring counties do allow it so long as the firefighter does not volunteer at the station he is normally employed at. No firefighter is paid at the CVFD so it is hard to see how coercion by an employer, even subtle, could be in play there. “I’ve known the volunteers all my life,” said Mallek, “and the benefits [from their service] are far greater than the risks.”

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CROZET gazette

DECEMBER 2013

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Trail Kiosk Dedicated at Crozet Park A new map and info kiosk in Claudius Crozet Park, virtually at the central spot in the Crozet trail network, was dedicated Dec. 1. It was an Eagle Scout project built by Aaron Cole of Boy Scout Troop 114, which meets at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Ivy. The project took a month of Saturdays to finish in July and Cole had help from assistant scoutmaster Bruce Sullivan. Cole also raised the $1,000 it took to provide materials. The kiosk will hold a map of the trails system, and a display box for organizations that use Crozet Park to

post information in. Plaques inside credit Cole and also donors to the tree-planting fund that put 14 trees into Crozet Park along the trail route last year. The kiosk’s outside walls are now part of a mural contest for Western Albemarle High School art students. From left are Dan Mahon, county trails planner, Linda McNeil, Bob Dombrowe, Ron Gaykema and Jessica Mauzy from the Crozet Trails Crew, and Cole family members Charles, Aaron, Ethan, Abby and Marianne.

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CROZET gazette

DECEMBER 2013

Winning Puffs —continued from page 1

Beaumont said she didn’t like having to promote herself with people who had not tasted her cooking. But she got enough votes. “It’s about home cooks. No chefs or anyone who gets paid for it. You can compete three times. More than half the semifinalists there had been [to the bake-off] before. “After my experience, it’s not just creating a recipe but thinking about what Pillsbury is looking for. After you’ve been there you realize what will work.” It has to be a recipe anyone could make, that would not take too long or be complicated, and be tasty, she said. “My recipe with crab in it would never have the mass appeal. They look for quick, easy and economical. The recipe that won was very inexpensive.” She described the winner as a “a loaded potato pinwheel.” Beaumont’s recipe used Green Giant frozen corn and Pillsbury crescent dough for the product

requirement. “You had to use off an approved list,” she said. “It’s not a broad range. You have to think outside of how you normally cook. I like to cook from scratch. If I made it from scratch I’d have had to roast the corn. I used Green Giant corn as a time-savings. You’re not showing yourself as the home cook, but I was game for it. “I’m not a recipe cook. I wanted to do an appetizer. I’m not a big dessert fan. I started with the corn and made it over and over again until I got what I liked.” When she makes it at home or for friends she uses 6 ounces of fresh lump crabmeat. “I’ve made the puffs for neighborhood events and people love them. My neighbors are making them now.” “I think if I’d made it with ham [at the bake-off] I would have gotten farther. “The whole event was impressive. It was really nice. The media coverage was overwhelming. Food editors and bloggers were everywhere. While we were cooking, they were all around.” Top Chef host Padma

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Lakshmi was there to announce the winner. Last year Martha Stewart did that job. “I had no idea of the culture of food contests. Other contestants were also in other similar contests. Creating a recipe and writing it down is challenging.” The contest went four hours. First they were trained on the appliances they would be using. “It’s managed very closely to prevent cheating and tainting of the judging,” said Beaumont. They got briefed on rules by company lawyers. “We couldn’t take cell phones

or personal items on the contest floor. “We felt like big shots for a couple of days. We got four runners as assistants. I would do it again now that I know what they’re looking for. “The best thing for me was—I know how to cook—being narrowed down to the 100 made me proud. It was really fun. My best story is that one of the judges said, ‘You know you’re getting buzz around the room.’ She tried it and said it was one of the best bites she had that day.”

CROZET gazette Next year the bake-off is in Nashville and Beaumont thinks she’s going for it again. Because she works from her home in Crozet (she does student skill assessment for an online university and teaches an intro class), Beaumont said she can fit cooking into her schedule. “I’m fortunate that I can cook for my family,”— her husband and two daughters— “They appreciate it. We’re all together for dinner. We can focus on each other and catch up.” They chose Crozet to be home three years ago when her husband (government job) got assigned to Charlottesville. They had moved four times in the previous six years. “This was about being a resting place and schools. We looked for a couple of years because we knew the move was coming. We chose Crozet for the small town feel and the schools. We have mountain views. We love it here.” Beaumont is a newcomer contact for her girl’s elementary school, Brownsville. “We garden and I cook season-

DECEMBER 2013 ally. I’m a whole food type of cook. We do a lot of fish and grilling. My girls aren’t picky.” Beaumont said her cooking style, which she called Mediterranean, combines things she learned from her Philippine mother and Greek father. “My forte is leftovers,” she said. “I would win a competition over leftovers. My mother never wasted anything.” Beaumont also won a gas grill this year from a food photography contest she entered, and a year’s supply of Starkist tuna, and she won $1,000 of groceries from Martin’s Food Market.

Honey Roasted Corn and Crab Puffs Courtesy Mindy Beaumont

1 bag (11.8 oz) Green Giant® Seasoned Steamers™ frozen honey roasted sweet corn ¾ cup water 6 tablespoons butter ¾ cup Pillsbury BEST® Self-Rising Flour 3 eggs 1 ¼ cups shredded Cheddar cheese (5 oz) 1 teaspoon Old Bay 6 oz fresh lump crabmeat 1. Heat oven to 425°F. Line large cookie sheets with parchment paper (or spray with non-stick cooking spray). Microwave frozen corn as directed on bag for just 2 minutes to thaw. Set aside. 2. In 2-quart saucepan, heat water and the butter to boiling over medium-high heat. Once it comes to a boil, add flour all at once and stir in with wooden spoon. Reduce heat to low; beat vigorously about 1 minute or until mixture forms a ball. Remove from heat. Transfer dough to a large bowl. 3. Beat in 1 egg at a time, beating vigorously after each addition until mixture is smooth and glossy. (When you first add the eggs, the dough may look clumpy, but after you keep stirring it with the spoon, it comes together.) Add the corn, cheese and Old Bay and stir to combine. Gently fold in the crab. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonsful 1 inch apart on cookie sheets. (I use a small ice cream scoop to keep uniform size.) 4. Bake 15 to 18 minutes or until puffed and golden brown. Serve warm.

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DECEMBER 2013

Acme Site —continued from page 1

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toration of the soil has not kept up with that timetable. AEM’s J.R. Hipple said the object is to return the property to productive use and that in the course of assessing the situation no new concerns about the site were discovered. Also on hand was Ryan Kelley of the Virginia Department of Environmental Services, which is overseeing the cleanup. AEM project manager Leona Miles said demolition of the main building down to the slab, as well as the former credit union house, began Nov. 19 and is expected to take through January. She said all the demolition material would be recycled or reused. An existing wood shop will not be touched. A report to DEQ on the site was done in 2012, Miles said, and Crozet Library has a copy of the cleanup plan now in progress. A final cleanup plan is now being prepared for DEQ to approve, she said. The available remedies are to excavate the soil, treat it in place with a cap, or more water pumping. “The most likely solution is excavation and off-site disposal,” she said. “Off-site” means sent to a special EPA-approved landfill for contaminated soils, said AEM president Janet Hart. The nearest one is in Alabama. Because the plan needs an amendment to its hazardous waste permit, it will get a 45-day public comment period and a public hearing date before DEQ announces a decision, Miles said. Tony Potter, a near neighbor of the site, asked how zoning affected the clean up and Kelly answered that the standard being applied was for the property’s existing zoning, light industrial. For residential use it would have to be cleaned to a higher standard, he said.

CROZET gazette “The affected area is kidney beanshaped, south from the main building, under a former paint shop, and under the tracks,” said AEM project manager Eric Stern. Forty-eight ground water monitoring wells are on the property. “The plume is not expanding,” he reported. “The contaminants are ‘chlorinated organics,’ degreasing agents,” he explained, “and some oil and diesel spills.” Kelley said the sampling “shows variation. Some locations are stable and some show shifts. Some show that contaminants are degrading.” Kelley said he thinks fluctuations in the water table during periods of heavier rain or drought account for the data. Stern said there is “no evidence of spreading and no contamination of water outside the property line.” “Even in 2008, bioremediation was not considered a final solution,” said Miles. “But we wanted to get something going. The owner wants the cleanup completed.” Asked to compare to the job to other done by AEM, which has a 30-year track record in environmental cleanup, Hart said, “This is better than a lot we see. But it is typical of what we see.” The cost of the job is in the millions, she said. Once DEQ approves the plan, the slab will be removed. The soil will be excavated, analyzed, and probably retreated before being shipped to a hazardous waste landfill. Residents from Foothill Crossing expressed worry over reports of former lagoons and were told that those had been previously excavated, refilled with clean fill dirt, and then sealed under a liner. More soil was put on top and planted on. Because the cap can’t be disturbed, the lagoon area cannot be built on in the future. Miles said that their cleanup is over and that they pose “no danger to vegetable gardens.” A stream below them is being regularly sampled, added Stern.

CROZET gazette

DECEMBER 2013

Saturday & Sunday,

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Sam Abell Critiques Calendar Photographs National Geographic photographer Sam Abell walked Crozet Gazette calendar photo contestants and local photography fans through his selection criteria at a contest reception Dec. 1 at The Art Box in Crozet. Abell said he looked for layering (distinct zones in depth), structure and pattern in choosing the top finishers for the 2014 calendar. He described emotional qualities that abide in landscape and vistas and advised on how to compose them. He urged photographers to exploit bad weather and to get the advantage of an overlook in certain shots and use low angles in others. He called for more humor and more people in next year’s submissions. He regards documentary realism as the highest form of photography, he said. Contest winners were Deborah Ferreira, first, Beth Seliga, second, and Liz Palmer, third. Abell praised

Ferreira’s photo of the lake at Tiverton in Greenwood as “quiet” but arresting and achieving a contemplative dynamism. Seliga’s high view of a silvery Amtrak streaking through Crozet was a very close second, he said. Crozet Gazette calendars are on sale at Parkway Pharmacy, Crozet Great Valu, The Art Box, Over the Moon Bookstore and online at crozetgazette.com/shop.

Deborah Ferreira’s Little Tree, which Abell awarded first place overall.

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CROZET gazette

DECEMBER 2013

Crozet Dog Park Update By Ellen Braun & Kim Guenther Recent discussions with the Albemarle County Department of Parks and Recreation have finalized the location of the proposed Crozet dog park and produced an agreement with the county to provide the land. The goal is a central location where dogs can run and play safely off-leash. A team of Crozet residents worked with Parks and Rec leadership and planners to review two site alternatives, one in Mint Springs Valley Park and the other adjacent to Crozet Park. Though the Mint Springs site has advantages of tree cover, good drainage, and an existing county park setting, its distance from the center of Crozet made it the runner-up. The Crozet Park-adjacent site is centrally located, linked to the Crozet trails system, and would become part of the main activity hub in Crozet. The location enables

easy access by bicycle, foot and car. Though it will require brush clearing and drainage improvements, the site provides an expansive fenceenclosed area shaded by large trees. These advantages make it the preferred site. A detailed estimate of the cost to build the dog park at the Crozet Park-adjacent site comes to $29,000. The county will manage construction of the project, but has no funds for building it. Donations already received for the project total $1,200, leaving $27,800 to be raised. The dog park committee hopes to start in September, 2014, and is looking for ways to reduce expenses on fence building and tree work to help whittle down the overall cost. Crozet-area residents are asked to volunteer their talents and effort to help fundraise at community events between now and September and to do some of the “hard labor” when it comes time for construction.

Volunteers should visit www. crozetdogpark.org for more information. Finances for the dog park are being managed by Claudius Crozet Park, an independent, non-profit, community-owned park, and money donations are tax deductible. For every $200 donated, a special sign with your dog’s name on it

will be installed on the dog park fence. To donate, send a check made out to Claudius Crozet Park, Inc. to Claudius Crozet Park, Inc., P.O. Box 171. Crozet, VA 22932. Remember to note “DOG PARK” on the memo line of the check. For more information, email Kim Guenther, who is coordinating this effort, at guentherkim@gmail.com.

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CROZET gazette

DECEMBER 2013

by Phil James phil@crozetgazette.com

Children’s Day “Momma,” I asked as a small fry many moons ago, “There’s a Mothers Day and a Fathers Day. Why isn’t there a Children’s Day?” Never batting an eye, she replied, “Because every day is children’s day.” One who spent a lifetime on that very premise was Frederick W. Neve. Introduced to a new generation by author Frances Shirley Scruby in her published biography Neve: Virginia’s Thousandfold Man, the much-revered Anglican Priest from the county of Kent, England, embraced his calling to young and old alike with an enduring faith and a passion exhibited by few. Beginning his ministry to the Episcopal gentry at Ivy and Greenwood in 1888, the 33-year-old clergyman soon was called aside to address the need in Albemarle County’s isolated Ragged Mountains. Within two years of his arrival in the States, he saw the completion of a chapel in those hardscrabble foothills between Ivy and Miller School, and increased his parishes to three. A dozen years later his immediate parish responsibilities encompassed four churches at Ivy, Greenwood, Miller School and Crozet, plus a missionary outpost chapel erected south of Batesville. Still, he regularly was made aware of other areas in need of help and guidance, and more and more his gaze was directed toward the Blue Ridge Mountains.

at the

Mountain Mission

Greene County children from Bacon Hollow’s Victory Hill School and Dyke School combined for an all-day fun event. Roasting hot dogs over an open fire was a special highlight. [Photo courtesy of Larry Lamb]

By 1900, he already was sharing from the pulpit his vision for reaching out to the scattered inhabitants of the Blue Ridge by establishing church missions and schools every ten miles. An early foray with a fellow pastor into Greene County’s Shifflett Hollow and up to Simmons Gap convinced him that the needs were great. His earlier efforts of evangelism became redi-

Circus Day on the Mission Home grounds attracted many visitors who were entertained by the gaily costumed children and their menagerie of exotic animals. [Photo courtesy of Larry Lamb]

rected toward the dearth of educational opportunities among the children of the highlands and isolated hollows. In The Southern Churchman, Neve advertised for a male teacher who would fill that remote outpost high atop Simmons Gap. The only applicant was Miss Angelina Fitzhugh, a minister’s continued on page 12

This young girl and boy from the High Top Mountain/Bacon Hollow area of western Greene County, were beneficiaries of the Mountain Mission work of the Episcopal Church. [Photo courtesy of Larry Lamb]

CROZET gazette

DECEMBER 2013

Children —continued from page 11

daughter from Maryland. With great misgivings about the physical hardships and dangers she might face, he accompanied her to the mountaintop in November 1900. There was no schoolhouse and only a log cabin in much need of repair to provide her shelter from the elements as well as meeting space for her classes. Arriving back home, Neve wrote that he “felt like he had just been to a funeral when he left her there by herself.” Unknown to the good Reverend at the time, soon after he left the mountain Miss Angelina’s closest neighbors Aunt America Jane (Sullivan) and Uncle Billy Garrison declared that the dilapidated little cabin “ain’t fit for a hog,” and they promptly moved the new teacher and her meager belongings into their own snug abode. Thereafter, they were among the Simmons Gap mission’s staunchest protectors and supporters. Thus was born of faith and determination the mountain mission work of Rev. F.W. Neve, a work to which he would be appointed Archdeacon of the Blue

Homemade dollhouses were among the entertainments provided to the children by church mission workers who answered the call of Rev. Frederick W. Neve, Episcopal Archdeacon of the Blue Ridge. [Photo courtesy of Larry Lamb]

Ridge. In addition to the three-R’s, the mountain students (ages ranged from three to 30) were schooled in geography, grammar and other subjects that would prepare them for “modern” life in the lowlands. Daily prayers and Bible study were also standard at these outposts, as the church’s mission was to develop the whole student: heart, soul and mind.

An orphanage at Mission Home was directed by Rev. W. Roy Mason. For nearly a half century, children in the Blue Ridge Mountains received schooling, clothing and medical care funded by faithful contributors from throughout the eastern United States. [Photo courtesy of Larry Lamb]

And the work grew. And grew. Through the years, young supporters gave pennies, clothing bureaus collected donations, and those of means donated funds for entire school and church buildings. Neve traveled the East Coast, pleading the needs of the mountain people, and asking teachers and church workers prayerfully to consider partnering in the cause. A 1913 issue of Our Mountain Work, Neve’s newsletter to his supporters, enumerated 38 locations where the work was ongoing. The Archdeaconry of the Blue Ridge, during a half-century of labors, came to encompass the counties of Albemarle, Augusta, Fauquier, Greene, Loudoun, Page, Rockingham and Shenandoah. Workers of the Archdeaconry, with the help of the mountain residents, cleared plots of land and erected schoolhouses, chapels, clothing bureaus, orphanages, hospitals, a Preventorium for the treatment of tuberculosis, and a fullfledged industrial school. While so doing, they also involved themselves in the lives of those whom they served as friends, confidants, encouragers, teachers, ministers and nurses. In a diary he kept throughout his ministry, Rev. Neve noted in 1917, at age 61: “Motto—Pray without ceasing. Desire to be 1000 times more useful than ever before... Happy Day.” Others also claimed his motto for their own, and the

ministry continued to expand until the 1930s when several circumstances changed. Improved roads allowed motorized vehicles better access through the mountains. The Commonwealth assumed greater responsibility for the teaching of all of its children, not only those easily accessible. And an eastern national park was proposed, Shenandoah, bringing about the condemnation of private mountain lands by the State, and the subsequent removal of all residents on those lands. Those who knew Neve noted that children were drawn to him. As the workers at his mission outposts gained the trust of the nearby families, many were drawn to the sacrificial spirits of those who willingly chose to live and minister among them. The often difficult lives of the children in those regions were eased by the hands-on caring practiced in their midst, and a generation of youth was offered the chance of a brighter future. Beneath each masthead of Our Mountain Work newsletters was this Bible verse: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings.—Isaiah 52:7” Might each of us desire to embrace that sacred text and, in so doing, become 1000 times more useful than ever before.

“Sunny Jim” was among the children who attended school at the Lower Pocosan Mission in Greene County. [Photo courtesy of Larry Lamb]

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 © 2003–2013 Phil James

CROZET gazette

DECEMBER 2013

upcoming events DECEMBER 7

For more information, contact Denise Murray at murrden@gmail. com or call 434-987-5517, or Philip Clark: pclarkmusic@gmail.com.

The Crozet United Methodist Women will have their annual Christmas Bazaar Saturday, Dec. 7, in the Crozet United Methodist Church social hall from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. There will be homemade baked goods, white elephant treasures, a breakfast café, and 15 vendors with a wide variety of items.

DEC. 14

Crozet Methodist Women’s Bazaar

DECEMBER 7

Breakfast With Santa

Mt. Moriah United Methodist Church in White Hall will host a pancake breakfast with Santa Claus Dec. 7 from 9 to 11 a.m. Santa will join in a hayride and caroling.

DECEMBER 10

Crozet Community Orchestra Concert

The Crozet Community Orchestra will perform a short, free concert of selected works by Handel, Vivaldi and Dvorak under the musical direction of Philip Clark December 10 at 8 p.m. at Tabor Presbyterian Church’s Fellowship Hall. Rehearsals for the upcoming orchestra season will begin Tuesday, Jan. 21, from 7 to 9 p.m, at Tabor Presbyterian Church with a concert planned for March 11. The orchestra has openings now for string and wind players. The cost is $96. Brass players are sought for future concerts.

Santa to Visit White Hall Ruritans

The White Hall Ruritans will host their annual children’s Christmas party Dec. 14 from 10 a.m. until noon at the White Hall Community Building. Santa has said he will be there to hear children’s wish lists. The public is invited. The Ruritans are selling blue glass Christmas ornaments this year, one bearing the image of the White Hall Community Building and another the old Crozet library in Crozet depot. They are $10 each and both are available at Piedmont Store in White Hall. The old library ornament is also available at Crozet Hardware. Sales support the Ruritans’ scholarship fund.

DEC. 14

Happy Holidays from

We wish you ALL a very blessed Christmas and look forward to seeing everyone at registration: January 7 and 9 from 6:30 to 8:30 at the Field School. Registration is now OPEN online at www.peachtreebaseball.com For information about Peachtree Baseball, visit peachtreebaseball.com

Pictures with Santa at Trailside Coffee

Angie Brement Photography and Trailside Coffee are hosting their 5th annual Pictures With Santa event on Saturday, Dec. 14 from 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. at Trailside Coffee in Old Trail Village in Crozet. This year, the event will raise money for the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank. A suggested donation of $20 is requested, but not required.

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Peachtree Baseball League!

e continue to greatly appreciate the support of everyone in Crozet & the Western Albemarle community. The never-ending generosity of our friends, neighbors & local businesses is truly a blessing we are grateful for everyday! This past year proved to be another year of growth, learning and many successes for our League. We had another strong year in our youngest division, Blast Ball, and it was very successful with introducing the basic elements of baseball to our 4yr old players. We had over 400 players this spring in all divisions and we fielded 6 All Star Teams again. Our Rookies, 10s & 12s are District Runner Ups. Our 13s are Champions of the 2013 Lane Invitational and came in 3rd in districts. Our 14s are District V Champions, placed 4th in states and won the Don Rose Sportsmanship Award. Our 9s are District V Champions, they were the State Runner Ups which advanced them to the South-East Regionals in Tennessee where they qualified for the Final Four! They were also awarded the Don Rose Sportsmanship Award. With our continued growth we have been working hard to restructure and rebuild and we continue our focus on improving all Divisions and providing our coaches with the training they need to be successful. We continue to rebuild & improve our fields and batting facilities. We have put double batting cages with concrete floors at Crozet School and will be covering our cage on the lower field at Crozet Park before this coming spring. Our next projects are rebuilding double cages on the upper field at Crozet Park and building a complete field over at Brownsville Elementary School. We will be continuing our major fundraiser to reconstruct these fields and continue with improvements with other field space and vital equipment so that we can keep up with the growth of our community and provide a safe, healthy, nurturing environment for the youth of our community. We are also continuing with our many positive changes behind the scenes as well as on the fields so that the League is able to operate more efficiently. Coaches will continue to participate in specialized training and leadership exercises prior to the start of the season. Our goal is for all children of Crozet & Western Albemarle to have a fantastic baseball experience each and every year.

The Gazette’s Upcoming Community Events listing is intended for free, not-for-profit or fundraiser events that are open to and serve the broader community. Events are included at the editor’s discretion. Priority is given to special and unique events. Space is very limited. Submit event press releases for consideration to news@crozetgazette.com.

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DECEMBER 2013

CROZET gazette

Lodge at Old Trail Celebrates First Centenarian Resident Welcome Back, Cindy! After a motorcycle accident on Mother’s Day, 2012 left her in a coma for 6 weeks, with a 2% chance of survival, Cindy Trombley has returned to our office part-time. We are so happy to welcome her back, and congratulate her for all she has overcome during 18 months of dedicated rehab and therapy. Call today to make an appointment at either of our two convenient locations! 5974 JARMANS GAP ROAD, CROZET

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Florence Greville marked her 100th birthday with a party at The Lodge at Old Trail Nov. 19. A lifelong piano player, Greville decided to take up jazz piano at age 98 and enjoyed a jazz piano concert at the party. She played an impromptu ragtime piece. Greville was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, raised mainly in Pennsylvania and earned a B.A. in mathematics at Cornell University and later an M.A. at Columbia. She served in the Navy during the 1950s and was married to Thomas Greville for 47 years. Their careers took them to Brazil, where she learned Portuguese. She said her secret for a long life is to have wonderful people and great music around you and to keep learning.

QuickStart Tennis Gives Racquets to Crozet Elementary Kids

Sunday Worship 8:45 and 11:15 a.m.

Christmas Cantata Sunday, December 15 • 3 p.m.

Christmas Eve Schedule: Christmas Carol Cafe • 7 p.m. in the fellowship hall Candlelight Service • 11 p.m. in the sanctuary

make a connection — make a difference www.crozetchurch.org 5804 St. George Ave. | 434-823-5171

All first, second and third graders at Crozet Elementary School were given tennis racquets and balls from QuickStart Tennis of Central Virginia, Inc. on Nov. 8, thanks to a generous grant from the Smyth Foundation Fund in the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation. Crozet Elementary is one of six “next level” schools QCV has “adopted.” Next-level schools are encouraged to supplement tennis in PE classes with after-school instructional programs, kids’ tennis clubs and school-based junior tennis teams. “When QCV started, we focused on getting tennis into schools in every county in our service area,” said QuickStart coordinator Lynda Harrill. “Once that was accom-

plished in August 2012, we turned our attention to building a tennis programming pathway at select schools. Crozet Elementary was chosen for several reasons. Principal Gwedette Crummie and PE Teachers Dawn Laine and Drew Maynard are QuickStart Tennis fans, and Matilda Blue Tennis, a local tennis instruction provider, has an established after-school program there.” Also considered were the school’s location in a growth area and the school’s high percentage of free- or reducedlunch students as compared to the three other elementary schools in the western Albemarle feeder pattern, she said. Crozet Elementary joins Yancey and Greer Elementaries as tennis pathway schools in Albemarle County.

CROZET gazette

DECEMBER 2013

by John Andersen

How Sugar Is Making Us Fat One of the main reasons we adults exercise is to keep trim or lose weight. It seems the natural progression of life is for it to be easier and easier to gain fat as we get older! With the ever-increasing busyness of life, how can we find time for exercise? The truth is, exercise has nothing to do with your weight. It’s all about your diet. Okay, exercise is of course helpful. However, go to any marathon or even ultramarathon and you will clearly see that exercise alone is not a recipe for weight loss. If you want to lose weight, whether a little or a lot, you’ve got to cut sugar and simple carbohydrates out of your diet. One more time: If you want to lose weight, you’ve got to cut sugar and simple carbohydrates out of your diet. A long time ago, we all thought fat is bad. The fats we eat would naturally turn into fat in our belly, right? Meanwhile, sugar snuck under the radar as nothing more than a harmless sweetener. Fortunately, smart doctors and researchers out there are always questioning formerly held truths. And good research over the past decade shows us one very important fact: sugar makes us fat. That’s right: fat doesn’t make us fat, sugar makes us fat. What happens when we eat sugar? Note that when we talk about sugar, we’re talking about all forms of sugar as well as simple carbohydrates such as breads, pasta, and potatoes. Once these foods are broken down in our gut they are presented to our body the same as simple sugar. When we eat a meal with sugar, our blood sugar starts to rise, which causes our pancreas to release a large amount of insulin. Insulin’s main job is to control blood sugar levels, to bring them back down to normal. So where does all that blood sugar go? When you’re active, it goes to the muscles and tissues that need some energy, but with a sugary meal or a high-carbohydrate meal, much of that blood sugar goes right into fat storage! That’s right, insulin causes the sugar we eat to go right into fat storage, increasing our

waistline. But that’s not all insulin does. Insulin also blocks our body’s tendency to burn fat for energy—a double whammy. And new research has demonstrated one of the most important findings in obesity research: insulin blocks a hormone called leptin. Leptin is a hormone produced from our fat cells that tells our brains “I’m full.” So with that sugary/carbrich meal, not only has a lot of that sugar turned into belly fat, but now it’s causing us to feel more hungry, all the while having less energy as our blood sugar levels drop back down. Thus begins the vicious cycle that is not genetically driven, but rather hormonally driven. We eat sugar, so we gain fat, so we feel hungrier, so we eat more sugar, so we gain more fat, and on and on. Sugar consumption is also associated with higher levels of inflammation in our bodies, which increases our risk for a slew of diseases including heart disease. Unfortunately, sugar and simple carbs are everywhere. Most of the processed foods (anything in a box or package) you purchase have sugar added to them. And to make things more complex, most of the “health” foods and “weight loss” foods are loaded with sugar! These “fake healthy” foods advertise things like “high protein,” “high fiber,” “fat free,” and “whole grain,” when in reality they are sweetened with sugar, leaving your waistline bigger. If you’re looking for a “diet” to follow, don’t make it complicated by following one that you have to read a book to understand. Just avoid sugar and simple carbohydrates. Here are some practical tips: • Never drink soda, juice, sweet tea, or even diet sodas. Ever. Just stop today. Purchase a nice Nalgene water bottle, decorate it with some stickers and start drinking water. Of course it’s not as delicious as a soda, but after a week, you’ll wonder how you ever drank those before. • Eat whole foods! Eat vegetables, salad, sweet potatoes, nuts, beans, and fruits! Yes, there’s sugar in fruit, continued on page 21

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CROZET gazette

DECEMBER 2013

inthegarden@crozetgazette.com

Gold, Frankincense & Myrrh Most of us are familiar with the biblical account of the three wise men—or kings— who brought gifts to Jesus. Even as a child, I knew that gold was extremely valuable. But frankincense and myrrh? Having been raised in a smells-and-bells Catholic church, I had some idea

what frankincense was, but no real grasp on myrrh, despite being told that it was a precious oil. It always seemed to me that one of the kings was really breaking the bank with his purchase, while the other two were picking up some things that were lying around the house. Even re-gifting, perhaps. Turns out that frankincense and myrrh were indeed quite valuable, however. In ancient times, myrrh

Events for the Crozet Community An Outreach of Tabor Presbyterian Church

NEW! Crozet Crafternoons! December 6, 13, 20 • 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Gather with other crafters to finish your Christmas crafts or keep plugging away at that project you’ve been working on for months— it’s time to sit down and spend time with friends and accomplish something! Knitting, scrapbooking, wreath-making, jewelry-making, quilting, crocheting, or anything else your heart desires—bring it on! Don’t have a project? No problem. We will have supplies to make gift tags.

Crozet Community Orchestra Concert December 10 • 8 p.m.

At Tabor P.C. For information, contact Denise Murray: 434-987-5517.

Crozet Community Choir Cantata December 15 • 3 p.m. At Crozet Baptist Church.

RAD Self-Defense Class for Women December 14 • 9 a.m. - 7 p.m., $50

Michele Zehr, Nationally Certified Instructor. Lunch will be served. Register by contacting Michele at info@we2empower.com.

Crozet Community Handbell Choir Concert December 18 • 7 p.m.

At the Pickford-Chiles Fellowship Hall. For more information call 823-4255 or visit CrozetCares.com Sunday Worship 10:30 a.m. Adult Sunday School 9:30 a.m.

Tabor Presbyterian Church

5804 Tabor Street • Crozet www.taborpc.org • 434-823-4255

was even more valuable than gold on a unit-weight basis. But what exactly are these two substances? Whether we have ever used it or not, pretty much everybody has some idea what incense is: a botanical product that is burned to produce a pleasant smell, and in some instances, for religious or medicinal purposes. It can be made from a wide variety of substances, but the true frankincense comes from four species in the genus Boswellia, especially from B. sacra. The name comes from

and stimulation, now would we? The outlook for B. sacra plants (and frankincense) is not rosy. Never a particularly abundant plant, it has declined precipitously over the last few decades. It has been over-harvested for its resin, leading to a much lower rate of reproduction. Also, it has been cut to provide more land for agriculture, even while goats are grazing the young trees. Which would lead one to wonder: what are the prospects for

the Old French franc encens, roughly meaning “pure incense.” Boswellia sacra is native to the southern portion of the Arabian Peninsula, as well as Eritrea and Somalia, harsh environments that receive only four to 10 inches of rain annually. The mountains of Yemen are frequently foggy during the summer monsoon, however, and this wetter climate is favored by the Boswellia. Small trees or large shrubs, they may top out at about 25 feet, but are often much shorter. The flowers are not particularly ornamental, and the trees are often described as “scraggly.” Boswellia trees are tapped for their resin by making cuts in the bark, generally two to three times a year. When exposed to air, the resin hardens and can be easily collected; it has been traded in the Middle East since at least 2000 BC. In addition to being burned as incense, the resin can be distilled to produce an essential oil. The resin is reportedly “edible,” meaning it can be chewed like a gum, but should not be swallowed. In fact, the World Health Organization warns that “swallowing the gum (olibanum) can lead to stomach problems.” The WHO goes on to say that “on account of its mildly euphoric and stimulating effects, smoke from burning frankincense is classed as ‘slightly hazardous’.” Good grief. We wouldn’t want mild euphoria

raising Boswellia as a crop? Not favorable, apparently. First, there is not a huge demand for frankincense; the largest exporter, Ethiopia only ships 5,000 tons per year, the Catholic Church taking 50 of these. Also, like many plants that survive harsh conditions in their native habitat, Boswellia can be hard to grow elsewhere. Jason Eslamieh, a native of Iran, raises it in Arizona, but even there it has to be protected when it gets really cold. He sells the seeds, but at $25 for a hundred, they’re pretty dear. And he makes no guarantees regarding germination, saying the rate can range from 0% to 8%. If you want a more sure thing, he will sell you a small plant for $55. Of course in our area, it would survive only as a houseplant. And what about myrrh, the other botanical gift? This is yet another aromatic resin, produced by various trees in the genus Commiphora. (Commiphora and Boswellia are from the same family of plants, the Burseraceae, or Torchwoods.) Like its cousin Boswellia, the myrrh tree (C. myrrha) is native to the southern Arabian Peninsula, Somalia and Eritrea. Small, shrubby trees to about 15 feet, they sport impressive thorns. The method of production is the same as with Boswellia: wound the bark, and the tree bleeds a resin that hardens and becomes glossy. This can then be used as an continued on page 29

CROZET gazette

Crozet Avenue —continued from page 1

lines will be added because there is no room for them, McPeters said. The noble white oak tree near B&B Cleaners will come down. According to Virginia Department of Transportation rules, the contract cannot be awarded to Linco until the utilities in the right-of-way are removed. That was expected to be happening now, but has not started. County facilities director Trevor Henry said that he still expects the contract to be awarded this month. Linco will have nine months to finish the job and faces penalties for failing to complete it on time. Henry introduced county project manager Frank Pohl, who will likely work out of the lower level of Crozet Library temporarily to monitor the work. AMT (A. Morton Thomas Associates, Inc.) of Staunton will also provide construction management, according to VDOT rules. Construction will start south of Tabor street and proceed along the east side toward The Square in four stages McPeters called “blocks,” each taken to a stage of essential completion—“95 percent done,” all except for the final asphalt layer— before the next stage is begun. The east side of Crozet Avenue will be complete in June and the same procedure should result in the west side being done in August. One lane will always be passable. McPeters said that, so far, the intersection of Crozet Avenue and Jarmans Gap Road does not meet VDOT warrants for installing a traffic light. When the job is done the stop line will be moved forward to improve sightlines and the turn radius at the Crozet United Methodist Church corner will be modified. He said the last traffic count done in downtown that he is aware of is from 2010. “There will be pain,” admitted McPeters, but officials are determined to mitigate the inconvenience the project may cause. Linco is doing a similar project in Harrisonburg now, and has done others similar to it, and is aware of the type of problems that arise. Linco cannot work in the right-ofway except between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. County spokewoman Lee Catlin

DECEMBER 2013

said a webpage devoted to the project is being set on the county’s website to keep information current and accessible, and emails with the latest updates will also be sent to those who sign up for them. Linco has asked to temporarily close Tabor Street for two weeks to install drains and excavate in order to flatten the junction of Tabor and Crozet Avenue. Traffic from the neighborhoods around Crozet Park would be detoured down High Street, through the lumberyard and into The Square. VDOT has not approved the detour and it would also have to be approved by the Board of Supervisors. If the detour is not approved, the work on Tabor will take six weeks and traffic will be managed by flagmen. The street would be open at night and on weekends in either case. McPeters said the alley along Crozet Hardware does not meet VDOT requirements for a detour and will not be used, not officially at least. Crozet Hardware owner Rick Ruscher expressed concern over the detour plan as complicating the already tricky problem of backing out of parking places in The Square. Catlin urged Crozet residents to show solidarity with local businesses and not avoid them because of inconveniences caused by the work. She said the county will hold a groundbreaking event for the project sometime in January.

Library Use —continued from page 2

opened. With many areas of the western portion of the county still without high speed service, this activity will continue to grow. Another indicator of likely growth in library use is the number of new library cards issued. Since September 4, the new library has issued 462 new library cards. If you are looking for a unique Christmas gift, the fundraising committee can place a leaf on the library’s giving tree in time for Christmas for a $1,000 donation (along with the leaf inscription information) by December 13. Contact any member of the fundraising committee or stop by the library for more information.

CROZET gazette

DECEMBER 2013

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HEART & VASCULAR CENTER

BY DR. ROBERT C. REISER crozetannals@crozetgazette.com

Systems Engineering: The Alerts Heart attack! Brain attack! Gunshot! Sepsis! Cardiac arrest! Respiratory failure! ER doctors are used to quickly treating extremely time-sensitive diseases. We are good at it. And by using systems engineering we are getting better at it, saving more lives every year with one glaring exception: mental health emergencies like the one that took the life of Virginia State Senator Creigh Deed’s son Gus Deeds’ this past month. When a patient having a heart attack rolls into the ER, no matter what time of day, a preprogrammed alert page simultaneously goes out to dozens of people. The cardiac catheterization lab personnel are alerted to prepare the cath lab, the CCU staff is alerted to prepare a bed, the attending cardiologist and the fellow and resident cardiology physicians are summoned to the ER to rapidly evaluate and treat the patient. In the ER, our staff are page alerted and they all know their roles, from the IV tech to the pharmacist,

the nurses and ER residents, social work and chaplaincy, patient transporters, radiology techs and myriad others. We can reliably get the patient definitive treatment in minutes. Every step of every case is subsequently reviewed to see if opportunities for improvement exist. In the ER we have stroke alert teams, sepsis alert teams, trauma alert teams, precipitous delivery alert teams and for inpatients, cardiac arrest alert teams, medical emergency alert teams, and behavioral emergency alert teams, and they all operate similarly to the myocardial infarct alert system. Paradoxically, the most time-sensitive disease, cardiac arrest, has no ER alert team. This is because the required personnel and equipment are always in the ER ready and waiting. Is this intensive marshalling of resources 24 hours a day expensive? Of course it is. Would anyone having a heart attack want access to this system constrained by cost or law? Not likely. Most mental health emergencies are the opposite of time-sensitive diseases. They take time and patience to evaluate and to treat. Many times

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CROZET gazette family or authorities will need to be contacted to provide independent information on the patient’s mental state and previous treatments and events. But the Commonwealth of Virginia has by statute and frugality turned the evaluation and disposition of behavioral emergencies into a frantic struggle against the clock, sometimes with tragic outcomes. Here how the system works, and doesn’t. Emergency Custody Orders (ECO’s) and Temporary Detention Orders (TDO’s) By statute, any citizen of the Commonwealth can petition a local magistrate to order another person to be taken into emergency custody for evaluation of suspected incapacitating mental illness. Magistrates replaced Justices of the Peace in Virginia in 1974 and they function in a very similar way and with similar levels of training. Here is how the statute defines incapacitating mental illness: “There exists a substantial likelihood that, as a result of mental illness, the person will, in the near future, (a) cause serious physical harm to himself or others as evidenced by recent behavior causing, attempting, or threatening harm, or (b) suffer serious harm due to his lack of capacity to protect himself from harm or to provide for his basic human needs, (ii) is in need of hospitalization or treatment, and (iii) is unwilling to volunteer or incapable of volunteering for hospitalization or treatment.” If the magistrate issues an ECO, the statute then stipulates: “Any person for whom an emergency custody order is issued shall be taken into custody and transported to a convenient location to be evaluated to determine whether the person meets the criteria for temporary detention.” There are many variations on how and where this can happen, but most commonly the police are called to arrest the patient and transport him or her to the nearest ER. Interestingly, although these evaluations are almost all done in hospital ERs, there is little to no role for M.D.s in this process. The statute calls for evaluations by community services board (CSB) staff only, and only a community services board member can release a patient from an

DECEMBER 2013

ECO before it expires. In the words of the statute: “The evaluation shall be made by a person designated by the community services board who is skilled in the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness and who has completed a certification program approved by the Department.” Once the ECO is issued by the magistrate the clock starts ticking even if the patient isn’t yet in custody or even found. The ECO expires after four hours, although a one-time, two-hour extension can be sought. The police can always initiate an ECO on their own without consultation with a magistrate, but the same four- to six-hour expiration applies. Within that four-hour window one of three things can happen. The patient can be evaluated by the CSB and released if found to be mentally stable and safe. Alternatively, the CSB worker can recommend to the magistrate that the patient be held for up to 48 hours against their will for treatment and stabilization. In that case the magistrate can issue a temporary detention order (TDO). The third alternative is that the ECO can expire while the evaluation is still ongoing and then the patient cannot be legally held, no matter their mental state. In order to issue a TDO the magistrate has to designate the hospital facility that the patient is going to be confined to. And therein lies the rub. If no available and suitable psychiatric hospital bed within the state of Virginia can be found by the CSB worker within the four-hour window, then a TDO cannot be issued and the patient must be released, regardless of their mental condition. This appears to be what happened to Gus Deeds. Over the past five years Virginia has reduced funding for mental health by 9 percent or 39 million dollars, resulting in a loss of over 380 psychiatric hospital beds. Demand for the remaining five thousand beds is high and the CSB workers working under the ticking clock must call all over the state to try and find an accepting facility for the TDO, before the ECO expires. About once a day on average in Virginia someone is released from an ECO/TDO for lack of finding a bed before the ECO expires. The results are predictable. CSB workers do this difficult, thankless work 24 hours a day, in the face of ever-diminishing funding and continued on page 21

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CROZET gazette

DECEMBER 2013

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CROZET gazette

DECEMBER 2013

Fitness

ence it makes and how much better you’ll eat if you simply avoid foods with sugar in the ingredient list! For some people, cutting out sugar seems impossible or even sacreligious, especially around the holidays. But folks, you’ve only got one life to live, and it’s this one. Why not get the most of it? Don’t settle for moderation, go for excellence! To understand sugar’s effects better, I strongly encourage you to watch “The skinny on obesity” video series on YouTube with Dr. Robert Lustig from the University of California-San Francisco. It is eye opening and incredibly informative on the above topic. Some helpful books are Pure, White, and Deadly: Why Sugar Is Killing Us and What We Can Do to Stop It by John Yudkin, Wheat Belly by Dr. William Davis, and Fat Chance by Dr. Robert Lustig.

—continued from page 15

but not a lot and it’s loaded with fiber and other nutrients to help slow insulin release. • Avoid/limit breads and cereals. Even whole wheat breads are a big culprit of insulin spikes. For weight loss, you are better off eating eggs and bacon for breakfast than a bowl of whole grain cereal. When you do eat simple carbs, be sure to also eat a lot of fruits and vegetables at the same meal so their fiber can help slow insulin release. • Avoid “fat-free” and “low-fat” foods. They are usually loaded with sugar. Dietary fat intake is not associated with body fat content. • Try a two-week “sugar detox.” Zero sugars for two weeks. Check all labels. You’ll be amazed what a differ-

Medicine

second was to allow Emergency Medicine Physicians to do the ECO/ TDO screening when CSB workers were not easily available. The third was to expand the number of mental health beds available for TDO patients. To date none of these simple fixes has been done. We have enough time-sensitive diseases and alert systems in the ER already. We need to slow down the process of evaluating mentally ill patients and give them the thoughtful consideration that they deserve and the resources they need to heal. The Governor’s review panel got it right. Now the legislature has to follow through.

—continued from page 19

the regulatory noose of the arbitrary four-hour resolution requirement. Meanwhile the Seung Hui Chos and the Gus Deeds fall through the holes in the statute and system. After the Virginia Tech mass shooting in 2007 a special review panel convened by the Governor made explicit recommendations about ways to amend the Virginia ECO/TDO statutes in order to better serve the patients and the population. The first was to extend the ECO period, effectively doubling it. The

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CROZET gazette

DECEMBER 2013

By John Andersen, DVM gazettevet@crozetgazette.com

Vehicle Awareness Can you guess what the most dangerous animal in North America is? Grizzly bear? Mountain Lion? Rattlesnake? Nope… it’s the White-tailed deer, and Virginia has plenty of them ready to jump in front of your car or motorcycle when you least expect it! White-tailed deer are responsible for tens of thousands of injuries, about 150 deaths, and approximately $4.6 billion in insurance claims annually. Virginia is usually in the top 10 states in which a collision with a deer is most likely. As I drive to and from work and around Crozet, I am amazed at the sheer numbers of wildlife killed by vehicles on a consistent basis. Unfortunately, our pets share the same lack of vehicle awareness as our wildlife and “hit by car” is an all-toocommon case presentation for us small animal veterinarians. Nothing throws our day off like getting buzzed in the back of our hospital on the intercom: “Hey guys, we have a hit-by-car coming in 5 minutes!” First of all, we know something pretty tragic is usually coming in and it’s rarely an easy fix when a dog or cat is run over by a car. Second, we can pretty much throw out our schedule for the day as the emer-

gency care for the injured animal will likely take time and resources away from our regular scheduled appointments. As small animal veterinarians (dogs and cats) we are not only a primary/general care facility, but also an emergency hospital during the day. This is not a complaint, we are glad to be there for our clients and emergency work is always a good challenge, however it does make for a difficult day sometimes! The moment of truth comes when the clients walk through the door with their injured pet. Often times they are carrying their bleeding pet in their arms, barely conscious and badly wounded. But just as many times, dogs are walking in on their own accord. We have had dogs just “tapped” by a neighbor driving slowly, and we have had dogs run completely over by a UPS truck (and sadly a few run over by trains). Many times the owners never saw the accident, but found their pet injured on the side of the road. Other times, the owners backed over the dog or cat themselves in the driveway (this is surprisingly common and these poor owners feel terrible). Our first job is assessing the severity of the patient’s injuries. This is one area where we really wish our pets could speak. “What hurts?” “Do you know what day it is?” “What’s your name?” “What happened??” continued on page 29

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DECEMBER 2013

What Will We Eat? [ by elena day • elena@crozetgazette.com \ Wa s h i n g t o n state’s ballot initiative to force mandatory labeling of ingredients in packaged foods failed in last month’s election. Packaged foods are the bulk of what Americans consume. The law’s aim was to give consumers the choice of whether or not to ingest products that contain genetically modified/engineered ingredients (GMOs). According to the Organic Consumers’ Association, the average American eats 150 pounds of genetically engineered foods yearly. GMO’s started appearing in our foods in the late 1990’s. Today over 95 percent of the corn, soybeans, canola, and sugarbeets raised in the U.S. is genetically modified (i.e., resistant to the herbicide Roundup or more simply, “Roundup Ready”). This translates into the oils and a large amount of sugar we consume, our cereals, and the grains/meal fed to our livestock. It might be almost impossible to avoid GMO’s in the U.S. today given these stats. In spite of what the GMO industry wants us to believe, there is no consensus among scientists as to whether genetically modified foods are safe for human or animal consumption. In early October the World Food Prize was awarded to Syngenta and Monsanto. Hundreds of thousands worldwide protested the award, calling it a sham. Previous winners have been critical. Hans Herren, who won the prize in 1995 and heads the Washington, D.C.-based Millenium Institute, believes that GMO’s cannot alleviate world hunger. Rather, the focus should be on improving soil fertility. And that is not with conventionally manufactured fertilizer that contributes to increased CO2. Syngenta is the same biotech company that, with Bayer, has filed suit against the European Union for banning beekilling neonicotinoids. I find it interesting that Russia maintains a ban on all GMO’s. Nine European Union member states— Poland, Austria, Germany, France, Hungary, Luxembourg, Greece, Bulgaria and most recently, in August

2013, Italy—have banned GMO’s approved by the European Food Safety Authority. Currently only two GMO’s have been approved and only Monsanto GM corn is commercially cultivated.* Monsanto, DuPont, Grocery Manufacturers of America (GMA), and other industry giants like Bayer Crop Science have spent $22 million plus to assure Washington state residents that GMO’s are safe and that labeling would greatly increase food costs and confuse the public regarding food choices. After all, the public is infantile and easily swayed, sometimes even panicked. Note that GMA members include producers of household staples such as Coca-Cola, Nestles USA, and Kellogg’s. The initiative’s backers raised slightly over $7 million, largely from small individual donors. Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, a fifth generation family-owned business committed to labeling, contributed $2.3 million. Beyond health and truth in labeling issues is that of corporate control of agriculture. GMO’s are driving small and middle-sized farmers from their farms all over the world. Farmers can no longer save seeds year to year if they buy patented seed that companies like Monsanto are happy to provide. We are all familiar with the suits brought against farmers by Monsanto who have suffered pollen drift from neighboring Roundup Ready cultivated fields. Agriculture in general is currently locked into a model of intensive use of water, fertilizer and pesticides/herbicides. The biotech companies appear to want to keep it that way. In many areas aquifers are being depleted, fertilizer is expensive, and insect pests and weeds are becoming resistant to the chemicals applied. Fostering GMOs destroys biodiversity, local knowledge and promotes unsustainable farming practices. Roundup may well reduce loss of topsoil because it is a no-till option. Indeed, lots of of topsoil has escaped and silted our waterways. However, when Roundup (glyphosate) kills all the green plants on a field, this negatively impacts insects, amphibians, continued on page 24

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CROZET gazette

DECEMBER 2013

Seasonal Flavors

MEMORIES & RECIPES FROM AN ITALIAN KITCHEN [ by denise zito • denise@crozetgazette.com \

Sicilian Chicken When I was growing up, my father did most of the cooking and food shopping. Times were tight and he was always in search of a bargain. So late on the occasional Saturday evening, he’d go to Conzatti’s Italian market in suburban Johnstown, Pennsylvania and make Chuck Conzatti an offer on all the meat still left in the display case. One pricefor everything. Then home he’d come to cut up and bag the meat into family-size packages for the freezer. For me the worst part was watching him cut up those chickens! We were eating wings way before it was fashionable—because no one wanted them and thus they were cheap. Dad would prepare bags of wings, bags of thighs, bags of breasts and then of course bags of backs and necks for soup and stock. When I had my own family (and a high pressure job and all the rest), I wanted none of the chicken butchering on Saturday night. In those early days before we had our own chickens, I would buy chicken parts. Dad had no qualms about rooting through my freezer when he came for a Free Union visit and I would get a lecture on my wasteful and extravagant ways in purchasing boneless chicken breasts. “Denise, Kroger has chickens on sale for sixty-seven cents a pound. Just go get five and cut them up yourself!” Really? Are you kidding Dad? I took to hiding my chicken parts in the back of the freezer so he wouldn’t find them on his visits. But of course, as one matures, one realizes that one’s parents are all-knowing and that Dad was right. (He is reading this from heaven and I’m certain he is pleased that I’ve finally wised up.) The point is that you, too, can learn to cut up a chicken and with all the delicious local chicken to be had, it is a worthwhile skill. Full disclosure: as I have written before in this column, my son Joel and his fiancé Erica run the Free Union Grass Farm and their chicken is like that of my youth: juicy, yellow fat, and completely delicious. So go get

Joe Zito, the author’s father

a Free Union Grass Farm chicken at the Crozet Great Valu, or get in touch via www.freeuniongrassfarm. com, cut it up as Erica illustrates in this video on a terrific local food blog, Beyond the Flavor: www. beyondtheflavor.com/2013/03/28/ kitchen-skills-breaking-down-achicken/ and then perhaps prepare our family special occasion chicken recipe. We always have this during the Christmas holidays.

Sicilian Breaded Chicken One chicken, cut into pieces 2 beaten eggs 2 cups bread crumbs 2 T dried basil or ½ cup chopped fresh basil 1 tsp. salt 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper 2 cloves crushed garlic 2 T dried parsley or ½ cup chopped fresh parsley ½ cup grated Romano cheese Olive oil for greasing the sheet Combine the crumbs, herbs, cheese, salt and garlic. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs. Dip the chicken in the egg, then in the crumb mixture. Coat a baking sheet with a generous amount of olive oil and place the chicken on the sheet. Bake at 350°F for an hour. Midway through the baking, remove the baking sheet and turn the pieces so that they brown on both sides. This dish can be served warm or at room temperature.

Easy DIY Holiday Decorations There something about the holiday season that can make even uncrafty people (like myself ) want to pull out their glue gun and scissors. Here are a few easy projects to add a little sparkle to your holiday decor. • Holiday Chandelier: Hanging a wreath in a different direction! Place a wreath flat on a table, tie three pieces of ribbon of equal length to the wreath so that when the ends of the ribbons are brought together, the wreath will hang horizontally. Decorate with colorful balls or ornaments and hang from the ceiling or over your table. • Pom-Pom Garland: Using a yarn needle and thin yarn, string small craft pom-poms onto the yarn. Using different sizes and colors of pom-poms

What to Eat? —continued from page 23

and reptiles and of course, soil microorganisms. (The web of life concept is out the window here.) Butterfly lovers, note that Roundup has all but eradicated milkweed on 80 million acres of Monarch habitat in recent years. (Monarchs will lay eggs only on milkweed.) This has been largely in the Midwest where GM corn and soybeans abound. Of course our own VDOT does a good job eradicating milkweek along our roadways here in Virginia every summer. Agribusiness has spent $750 million in the last five years lobbying Congress. It has sunk $450.5 million in electoral campaigns these last 20 years. Since 1995, taxpayers have provided $292.5 billion in direct agricultural subsidies, $96 billion in crop insurance subsidies, and $100 billion in subsidies to promote the growth of GM corn and soybeans. Did any of us know or sanction this? Or the agribusiness

adds a nice effect. • Homemade Advent Calendar: Glue small envelopes with colored linings to a piece of poster board. Number the envelopes and fill with small holiday treats. • Salt Dough Ornaments: This one the kiddos will love! Mix 1 cup flour, ½ cup salt and ½ cup water. Knead into a dough and roll out on a floured work surface with a floured rolling pin. Using cookie cutters, cut into shapes, and use a toothpick to put a small hole in the top of the ornament. Bake at 250° for 2 hours. Let cool completely. Decorate with paint and glitter and hang with a small piece of ribbon. Happy crafting and Happy Holidays!

that has been created? The struggle to provide ourselves and future generations with a healthy and chemically untainted or genetically modified food supply will continue. We do have a right to know what we ingest. Somehow or other I found this bitterly amusing. Dr. Harry Klee, employed by Monsanto for 11 years and currently at the University of Florida Institute for Plant Innovation funded by Monsanto, is working to develop a better tasting supermarket tomato. He seeks a “chemical recipe for the ideal tomato bringing back flavor so people won’t eat so much junk food.” Dr. Klee is also seeking to reinvigorate blueberries with “applelike” crispness and of course these blueberries will have a longer shelf life and make growers happy. *In 2012 EU-approved Monsanto GM corn was grown on 213,000 hectares in Spain, Portugal, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Romania. A hectare is equal to 2.471 acres.

CROZET gazette

DECEMBER 2013

‘Tis The Season

Solution on page 32

by claudia crozet

1 2 3 4 4 5 6 7 7 Across 1 Leaf or Beetle 11 15 12 16 13 4 _____ Diego 7 Outdoes 15 16 17 18 11 Cans for canines 12 Great serve or pilot 19 21 20 21 13 Unpleasantly colorful 15 Wrestling the tree into the stand? 23 24 25 26 18 Home of King Minos, largest Greek isle 28 28 28 29 30 31 32 31 19 Before, to Longfellow 33 34 35 34 36 37 38 39 20 Go too far 22 Unused 41 40 42 23 Teachers’ org. 24 Bruce or Laura 44 45 46 47 25 Prohibited, var. 28 Round Table title 49 50 50 51 52 31 Orts 33 ______ Almighty, 52 53 54 55 Crozet-made movie 36 Proofreader’s “let it stand” 59 60 56 61 62 39 Go in 64 65 66 67 41 Gram opening 42 Actress Thurman 69 70 43 Decorations bought at Tiffany? 44 ______ grigio 68 72 73 46 Duel winner and Jefferson VP 48 Before and after for say can you 49 ______ triple doppler radar: Down 17 States definitely what Santa checks before 1 Irish county 21 Drugs without an Rx take-off? 2 Sleep problem 26 Exist 51 Cooling units measured in BTUs 3 Windsor Christmastime? 27 Deliverance duelers 53 Exxon in the Eurozone 4 Sword, sometimes with 28 Noses around 54 Rice shaped pasta a light blade 31 Magi guide 56 Helium or hydrogen 5 Oak seed in short supply 32 Dried up 59 Year of Septimius Serverus’ reign this year 33 Clairvoyant claim 61 Christmas tale of epic hero? 6 Dork 34 Vacuum, with the 63 Dr. group 7 TV network or help in 35 Holiday office party 64 Don Giovanni or Aida recuperation 37 London underground 67 True meaning of the season, or 8 Belonging to us 38 Big bird holiday movie with Hugh Grant 9 Promises to give her a 40 Catcher’s place? and Emma Thompson? diamond for Christmas? 45 Fro’s partners 69 Ready ______? 10 Location 47 Wooden warship minus 70 Acronym of 70’s British rock trio 11 So be it upper deck 71 Edgar Allan and family 14 Frost’s summer sister 50 Faithful friends gather 72 Word on red octagon 16 CCR stuck again in near to us? 73 Prescription drug to RN this CA town 52 ______ nostra 74 Gallery goods

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CROZET gazette

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Kay Pfaltz’s third book, Flash’s Story: How One Small Dog Turned Into One Big Miracle, has been published by Skyhorse Publishing of New York. “It’s a different kind of love story,” said Pfaltz. “It’s about love and life and the miracles that happen when you let love guide your life. I want to ask people, have you ever needed something to happen very badly, some sort of miracle? Do you ask yourself why? In the book I tell the reader how to make it happen,” said Pfaltz, who has also written Lauren’s Story: An American Dog In Paris and The Beagle, a breed book. “It’s an autobiographical story, but I write about the personal to reach the universal,” she said. “Flash is a dachshund, a rescue dog, that’s diagnosed with a tumor in the spine and has three weeks to live. It’s a lot about the power of the mind. People don’t like to read about a pet who dies. Death isn’t really the issue. Suffering is the issue. “Dogs often see things in us, the best in us, that we are unable to see. I have a bumper sticker that says, ‘Lord help me to be the person my dog thinks I am.’ We all want to be respected by others. I greatly desire the respect of my dogs,” said Pfaltz. “Animals spend more time being and not doing. I’ve learned that’s when the magic happens. When you stop and are still. They teach how to love and receive love. For me, they teach me how to be my best self.” “I didn’t want to lose Flash immediately. I talk about animal communication in the book. We’re so dis-

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tracted now. There’s a chapter on his death and then the next on the silver lining. The ending, for me, is very uplifting. Wealth is interior.” Pfaltz owns Basic Necessities café in Nellysford and recently resume management of it upon the retirement of its former operators, Bev Lacey and Keith Dix, who will continue to provide organic produce for it. Pfaltz also teaches wine tasting and leads tours of French wine producing areas. The book is available at Over the Moon in Crozet, at Stone Soup in Waynesboro and at Barnes and Noble in Charlottesville. Pfaltz donates part of the income from her books to animal rescue organizations.

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CROZET gazette

DECEMBER 2013

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Y’all Come Back, Now The University of Maryland’s volleyball team was on its way Nov. 30 from a match at Virginia Tech to play against U.Va. and stopped for lunch at Sal’s Pizza in Crozet because Crozet’s Sarah Harper, standing,

wanted her teammates to see her favorite hometown restaurant. Harper, who graduated from Western in 2010, finished her senior year season this fall as Maryland’s all-time digs leader.

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"Come in from the cold and join the fun at the library!”

This holiday season... Be Pa rt of t h e S to ry Give the gift of reading, literacy, and incredible community support when you make a donation to the Crozet / Western Albemarle Library as a gift to a friend or loved one. Help fill the new shelves with the collection our community needs. Your donation of $1000 or more--made by December 13 – can be commemorated on the library's Giving Tree by December 20. It’s what’s inside that counts.

Donate today at: buildcrozetlibrary.org/give

Our wonderfully creative, intelligent, and helpful librarians Back row: Wendy, Allie, Anna, Pam Front Row: Peg, Rhonda, Margaret

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CROZET gazette

DECEMBER 2013

Memory Magic

speaker’s comfortable, middleclass childhood during the early part of the 20th century in the small “sea-town corner” by Clover Carroll | clover@crozetgazette.com of Swansea, Wales. “I plunge Christmas is a whitewash my hands in the snow and celebration of b u c k e t s bring out whatever I can find. childhood and down the In goes my hand into that of family tradi- sky, it came wool-white bell-tongued ball tion. Every s h a w l i n g of the holidays resting at the Christmas Eve, I out of the rim of the carol-singing sea, can see and hear ground and and out come Mrs. Prothero our family sing- swam and and the firemen”—an hilariing the Hallelujah Chorus, in har- drifted out ous anecdote in which the Dylan Thomas mony, as we arrived home after of the arms speaker and his friend attempt church at midnight, and knew it and hands and bodies of the trees… to put out a kitchen fire with snowwas now really Christmas. like a dumb, numb thunderstorm balls, while Mr. Prothero waves his The magic and wonder of the of white, torn Christmas cards.” slipper “as though he were conductchildhood Christmas memories so The s- and sh- sounds abounding ing.” Snow here becomes a metamany of us share is nowhere cap- here create the soft swishing sound phor for memory, as we hear about tured more vividly than in “A of snow falling in the reader’s ear. the church bells, aunts and uncles, Child’s Christmas in Wales,” the Thomas’ startling and original use useful v. useless presents, food prose poem by Welsh poet Dylan of language—with his whirling bay, (chestnuts, dates, humbugs, “blazThomas (1914-1953) that has flying streets, holy darkness, and ing pudding,” and parsnip wine), enchanted children of all ages since long, steadily falling night— caroling, and the many snowy it was first performed on the radio reminds me of same-generation adventures of the children. Thomas’s in 1950 and published in Harper’s American poet e.e. cummings memories are exaggerated to the Bazaar in 1952. This dream-like (1894-1962); both revel in the sheer point of becoming almost surreal, reminiscence of simpler Christmases joy of words. giving the whole a dream-like qualpast reminds us of what Christmas It is no accident that this work ity that approaches magical realism. is about–love, family, home, hope, was first heard on the radio, and is For example, as the boys walk and merriment. Simultaneously often credited as launching the around the village before dinner, nostalgic, magical, and downright audiobook industry. It is meant to they suddenly slip through the hilarious—just like Christmas be read aloud, and has been read by boundaries of reality into imaginaitself—Thomas’s small masterpiece various actors including Dylan tion: “now we were snow-blind has become a beloved Christmas Thomas himself (as you can find on travelers lost on the north hills, and classic. iTunes or YouTube). Later pub- vast dewlapped dogs, with flasks What is a prose poem, anyway? lished in book form illustrated by round their necks, ambled and Though presented as prose—that is, various well-known artists includ- shambled up to us, baying in sentences and paragraphs rather ing Edward Ardizzone, Chris ‘Excelsior’”—an allusion to the than metered lines—Thomas’s writ- Raschka, and Trina Schart Hyman, familiar Longfellow poem about a ing is condensed and telegraphic its oral reading on Christmas Eve faithful St. Bernard. In these days like poetry, implying much more has become a family tradition for before TV or even the phonograph, than it states, and using words rich many. the evening is blessed with homein imagery and metaphor, adorned The short (approx. 15 pages) but grown music-making: singing, fidwith the kind of musical effects typ- intensely lyrical narrative of “A dle, and piano playing, followed by ical of poetry: alliteration, asso- Child’s Christmas in Wales” the telling of “tall tales” and ghost nance, and onomatopoeia. “Our describes in loving detail an amal- stories. The Christmas Thomas snow was not only shaken from gam of all the Christmases of the describes is refreshingly free of the commercial trappings that dominate our celebrations today, with no iPads or Wiis, no TV Christmas specials or gift cards, not even the mention of Santa Claus (or any religious observances). Music, storytelling, and poetry have always been central to Welsh A weekday ministry of Hillsboro Baptist Church culture, with the poet—purported Visit www.hcpcrozet.com today! to have mystical powers and links to the ancient druids—raised to the • Half-day for 2 ½ years to Pre-K level of national hero. A revival of • Friendly, Loving, & Experienced Staff traditional Celtic culture in the • Nurturing, Christian Environment 19th century led to the establish• Affordable Rates ment of the eisteddfod national • Arts and Crafts Daily poetry and music festival, still celebrated every year in Carmarthen, 434-823-5342 which culminates with a poetry

Sharing the Love of Jesus Since 2002

contest. Dylan Thomas, writing mainly in the 1920s and 30s, became one of the most successful Welsh poets, renowned for poems such as “Fern Hill, “Do Not go Gentle into that Good Night,” and the radio play “Under Milkwood.” With his deep, sonorous voice and delightful enunciation, he became famous for his dramatic readings, both on tour and on the radio. Sadly, Thomas died just after his 39th birthday of pneumonia, with heavy drinking as a contributing factor. The laughter of Christmas is evoked using the dual perspective that runs throughout the work, with the child’s view—full of wonder and imagination—frequently undercut by the more realistic, ironic perspective of the adult narrator. For example, as the speaker and his friend Jim stalk stray cats with snowballs, “the lynx-eyed hunters, Jim and I, fur-capped and moccasined trappers from Hudson Bay, off Mumbles Road” suddenly jerks us back to humdrum reality. When they become “Eskimo-footed arctic marksmen in the muffling silence of the eternal snows,” the adult voice corrects the child’s with “eternal, ever since Wednesday.” And finally, one of the “useful presents” was “a little crocheted nose bag from an aunt now, alas, no longer whinnying with us.” In one section, the memories are even presented as a conversation between an unnamed adult and child questioner (father and son, perhaps). “Were there Uncles like in our house?” “and then the presents?” the child prompts the speaker. Underlying this humor, however, is a sadness, an unspoken regret for the loss of innocence and childhood’s trust in possibility: “the ice cake loomed in the centre of the table like a marble grave.” As Faulkner reminds us, “the past is never dead; it’s not even past.” Memories can often seem more real than present truth. Our past experiences express themselves in our present vision of the world, in who we are and how we feel. The traditions of Christmas confirm this, helping to transport us to earlier times. Above all, the Christmas Thomas celebrates in memory is simple and warm, cozy with a sense of community and family togetherness. May your holidays be as full of love, magic, and peace as those here immortalized in exquisite language.

CROZET gazette

Gazette Vet —continued from page 22

Usually all we get is a painful, terrified animal who may even be trying to bite us if he is in enough pain. But we can get a sense of their mentation – i.e. are they alert or depressed. It helps if we know the dog – we actually remember if your dog is usually happy and jumping up, or timid/nervous – so seeing the normally hyperactive dog totally laid out is always a big concern. Also in our initial evaluation is making sure they can breathe OK and their circulation is adequate. Severe trauma to the chest can often be fatal. Next is the wound check. Many times we can see obvious lacerations and bruises. Often dogs and cats come have oil/grease somewhere on their coats. Or perhaps “road rash,” where their skin has been rubbed off after getting dragged on the pavement. Next is checking for broken bones. This is tricky because these animals are usually in pain and the last thing they want is for someone to be messing with their legs and joints! Unfortunately many pets will try to bite us as we examine them because they are in so much pain. I can remember several cases where we couldn’t even get the dogs out of the car because they were growling and biting at everyone that came close, including the owners. We are pretty skilled at sneaking in a backseat sedative injection.

In the Garden —continued from page 16

incense, perfume or medicine. (Reportedly, it can be ingested by mixing with wine, but please note: I am making NO representations as to its effectiveness or safety. As in: Don’t try this at home.) Googling around in the world of counterculture products and alternative medicines can be a murky experience. I came across “Peruvian Myrrh” for sale that was also being called Commiphora myrrah. But it was allegedly from a Styrax tree, an unrelated genus growing in the Peruvian rainforest. Perhaps it produces a similar aroma, as well as other effects, to the actual

DECEMBER 2013 No one is prepared to find their pet has just been hit by a car. Not only is it heartbreaking to see your animal in pain, but many times it is a financial hit as well as the care for these animals is usually intense. Between stabilizing the animal with IV fluids and hospitalization, cleansing and closing wounds, and fixing broken bones (usually with surgery), care for these animals can easily run over a thousand dollars if not several thousand. A few tips to avoid having your pet ever meet the underside of a car: Neuter your adult male dogs. “Roaming” is a testosterone-fueled behavior and often leads these dogs to roam long distances looking for love and adventure. A large percentage of dogs who are hit by cars are intact male dogs. Don’t trust that your pets understand the dangers of the roads. So many of the pets who are run over have lived on the same property for years before getting run over. This easily lulls owners into a false sense of security, but there’s nothing like deer or other animals to get your dog or cat to run across the road in a hurry. Keep your cats in at night. If you do have indoor/outdoor cats, be sure to call them in at night. Only bad things happen at night like cat fights and getting run over by cars. Set up a routine to get them in around dinner time and stay in. Always look behind your car before backing out of the driveway! It is often the older pets who don’t hear well who don’t get up when the

Commiphora, but caveat emptor. In the spirit of investigative reporting, I can now state that for the first time in decades, I am now burning frankincense, or at least a product labeled as such. (Admittedly, I was heavily involved in incense burning as an altar boy many years ago.) I get the feeling that the sticks I am using are really “an incense-flavored product,” rather than the real McCoy. For one thing, I am not yet experiencing any euphoria. But with the attendant aroma, at least I can’t tell if the cats’ litter box needs to be cleaned. Hmm. Maybe that does qualify as mild euphoria. With or without frankincense and myrrh, I do hope your holidays are truly euphoric!

car starts. Don’t trust that the path is clear; be sure to take a peek behind the car before zooming off to work. Keep dogs on a leash or in a fenced in yard. Dogs get into trouble. Period. If it’s not running out into a road, it’s eating garbage or getting cut open by barbed wire. You will save yourself a lot of time and money by keeping your dog under better supervision. It is nice if

you live in the country to let your dog run around, but an electric fence is probably a much better idea. Most pets who die don’t make it to the veterinary office. Most dogs who make it to the office are going to live as long as they receive care ASAP. I hope you never have a dog or cat who gets hit by a car, but if you do, get them to a veterinarian immediately and we’ll do our best to get them patched up!

CLASSIFIED ADS $225,000 CROZET DEAL - 4 bedroom, 2 full bath house in need of some repairs, but currently being rented situated on .323 acre lot on established street. Adjoining lot with .327 acres is included. R-2 zoning and buildable! Current County assessment for both is $282,400! Sellers willing to pay 3% commission to buyer’s agent at time of closing. NOT interested in listing the property however. Call David at 434-987-4546. ALTERATIONS AND TAILORING: Experienced seamstress with 30 years of tailoring and garment alterations experience, working from home in Crozet (Highlands). Call for a free consultation. Ruth Gerges: 434-823-5086. BUY THE GIFT OF FITNESS AT CROZET JAZZERCISE. 10 classes for only $30. Classes at 5:50am, 7:50am, and 9:00am. Check at Jazzercise.com for location and schedule. FOR RENT: Nice Basement Studio. $600/mo. Utilities paid. Separate entrance. New carpet. Modern appliances. Washer and dryer on premises. Call 434-8231263. GET A JUMP ON YOUR NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTOIN: Boot Camp for REAL People is an outdoor exercise class for all ages and abilities held at Crozet Park. Classes are held M/W/F at 5:50 a.m. For more information and to learn about other classes visit www.m2personaltraining.

com or call Melissa Miller at 434962-2311. Come try your first class for free! THE PREMIER CROZET ARTS & CRAFTS FESTIVAL IS LOOKING FOR A DIRECTOR for the biannual fundraiser for the Claudius Crozet Park. This is a year long, part-time job, directing two festivals. Job description at http:// www.crozetfestival.com Submit resume, cover letter and three references by 12/6/13 to Jessica@ crozettrailscrew.org or postmarked by 12/6/13 and mailed to Attention: Festival Director Hiring Committee, PO Box 171, Crozet, VA., 22932. Check out previous festival at http://www. crozetfestival.com and on Facebook, Crozet Arts and Crafts Festival FREE UNION ARTISANS OPEN HOUSE Saturday and Sunday, December 7 & 8, 10 to 5 daily. Free Union Country School, 4220 Free Union Road. Free Admission. Nine Artisans. Contact Nancy Ross 434-9736846. INNISFREE HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE. Featuring crafts from Innisfree Village Weavery, Woodshop, Pottery, Gardens and Bakery. Plus children’s activities, tours, and refreshments. Free, Saturday, December 7th, 10am to 5pm. Advance registration for wreath making workshop at 1:30pm, $40. Call 434-8235646. 5505 Walnut Level Road, Crozet.

Classified ads start at $16 (repeating) and include free online placement.To place an ad, email ads@crozetgazette.com

CROZET gazette

DECEMBER 2013

The Blue Ridge Naturalist © Marlene A. Condon | marlene@crozetgazette.com

The Importance of Conserving Natural “Infrastructure” Generally speaking, people have become so removed from the natural world that they no longer realize that the environment constitutes our life-support system. Many folks think that it’s not at all important to conserve natural “infrastructure”—the forests, fields, waterways, soils, and wildlife— without which mankind cannot easily survive. The evidence that people feel this way is all around us. In the recent past, Charlottesville City Councilors continued their historical disregard of the intentions of Paul Goodloe McIntire when he donated a large swath of land to the city in 1926 to use as a park. The councilors voted that the eastern edge of Mr. McIntire’s eponymous park should be destroyed so that a parkway could replace parkland. On the western side of the park, they voted to eliminate yet more parkland by allowing a huge building to be placed there. In Albemarle (as elsewhere throughout the country), the desire to bring in more and more money— supposedly to limit the tax burden on the residents even though this has been experientially proven to be a fallacy—blinds many citizens and their government representatives to the more precious value of natural infrastructure. Thus the Shops at Stonefield replaced woods full of wildlife with immense hardscaping that neighboring businesses across route 29 fear will create runoff problems for them. (A lawsuit has been filed against the county, the city, and the developers regarding storm water management.) Most people have trouble discerning the true value of the natural world around them because they look out the window and not much seems to be happening out there. Trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants

do not change their appearance much from one day to the next. Birds are often the only form of life that is on the move and obvious to the casual observer. Therefore it’s difficult for someone to grasp the significance of the natural world to his own existence. However, uncountable interactions are taking place in the environment that are essential to every human being’s existence. All of those green plants are making available to us the oxygen that we cannot survive without. The roots of those plants are holding the soil in place so that it does not run off and smother organisms, their eggs, or their larvae that provide food and/or services to humans within our streams, rivers, and the Chesapeake Bay. The soil itself functions to cleanse whatever harmful materials may get picked up by rainwater, such as agricultural and man-made pollutants that would degrade our waterways. The plants we need for food and oxygen depend heavily upon innumerable organisms in order to grow and thrive. Recyclers (such as slugs and snails) and decomposers (such as bacteria and fungi) work on wastes and dead organisms to supply nutrients to the soil for the benefit of growing plants that will not be healthy without such assistance. Pollinators (bees usually come to mind first for most people but there are actually many, many kinds of pollinators) help most flowering plants to reproduce so each species is perpetuated instead of going extinct. Predators work to limit the numbers of other kinds of critters so that plant-eating animals don’t destroy the very plants they (as well as humans) depend upon for their survival. By limiting populations, predators are also making sure that the environment is not overwhelmed by wastes created as a result of life processes. In other words, there is an incred-

The Green Infrastructure Center in Charlottesville has released a book to guide community efforts to maintain the natural environment that humans are dependent upon for their survival. Photo: Marlene A. Condon.

ible amount of activity taking place out there, even though most people are oblivious to it. The natural world is, in actuality, quite dynamic. Should it cease to work properly, humans will be in deep trouble. We are steadily marching towards such a dysfunctional state as we eliminate organisms whose functions can be viewed like the cogs in a machine. Organisms may seem myriad in number and unimportant at the species level, but each species is essential to the most efficient and proper functioning of the environment as a whole. Luckily for humans, the natural world does have a limited number of backup organisms that can take over the jobs of those organisms we continue to wipe out. However, the key word here is “limited.” Eventually, if we choose to continue down this ruinous path, the natural world will no longer be able to support us. But we don’t need to follow the pathway born of ignorance. In Charlottesville, we have the Green Infrastructure Center whose mission is to assist communities to “restore, manage, and protect…the natural resources and working landscapes” that provide clean water and air, thus ensuring quality of life while recognizing that the local economy must be sustained as well. These folks work to identify critical ecological systems within urban, suburban, and rural areas that should be conserved in order to maintain healthy human and wildlife communities. They employ an integrative approach to land-use planning that maximizes returns for

both the ecology as well as the economy of an area. The idea is for local governments to take into account the natural world when considering population-growth, tax projections, traditional infrastructure, and capital improvement costs. This way of doing things should have been obvious long ago, but better late than never! If you are a land-use planner, a developer, a member of a community group interested in helping to preserve the proper functioning of our environment, or even just an individual who wants the knowledge to speak out accurately at government meetings, you can purchase a resource guide called Evaluating and Conserving Green Infrastructure across the Landscape: A Practitioner’s Guide by Karen Firehock (available at the Green Infrastructure Center by calling 434-244-0322 or by visiting www. gicnc.org/) This book starts with the basics, providing an overview of the reasons for green infrastructure planning, including the history of the field and definitions to make things clear. It goes on to explain how to evaluate and prioritize natural assets, how to map them, and how to organize an initiative that takes into account the views of various stakeholders as well as experts. The Green Infrastructure Center is a non-profit agency whose existence could not have come at a better time. I hope citizens and government officials alike will take advantage of this group’s expertise and assistance.

CROZET gazette

DECEMBER 2013

Anderson Funeral Services Inc.

Richard Garnett Jr., 1915 -2013 Richard Wingfield Garnett Jr. departed this life in the early hours of November 12, 2013, following a severe stroke. He died peacefully, knowing the love and concern of many friends, the staff of the Colonnades, and family members who shared his last days and hours. Dr. Garnett was born near Charlottesville on March 27, 1915, to Richard Wingfield Garnett and Edwina Leavell Garnett. When he was five, the family moved to Danville, where he and his brother Hugh and sisters Cornelia and Margaret grew up and attended school. He often spent summers visiting his grandparents on their Albemarle County farm, and had a summer job as a teenager packing peaches at a Crozet-area orchard. Following his physician father into the medical field, Dr. Garnett attended the University of Virginia and was a 1940 graduate of the medical school. He then joined the Navy, and was married to Margaret Titus of Thomasville, Georgia, in 1941. During World War II, he served as ship’s doctor on an oil tanker supplying Allied forces in the Pacific. After the war, accompanied by Margaret and their young sons Rick and Nelson, he was the commanding officer of the base hospital on the island of Majuro in the Marshall Islands, a time he described as a “high point” of his early career. Following his Navy service, he returned to Charlottesville for a residency in psychiatry at the University of Virginia. He remained at the medical school as a professor and clinician throughout a long and productive career, and was a pioneer in the area of community mental health. From the post-War years on, he and Margaret owned properties in the White Hall area, on Pigeon Top Mountain and in Sugar Hollow, where the growing family spent much time. Several years after Margaret’s death in 1992, Dr. Garnett married her cousin, Hettie Love Wine, remarking playfully that among the advantages of this alliance was “no new relatives.” During his 20-year marriage to Hettie Love, Dr. Garnett resided in Thomasville, Georgia. In recent years, as his health declined, Dr. Garnett returned to

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Charlottesville, residing at the Colonnades, where he received excellent geriatric care. He enjoyed many happy hours visiting with his family and others at his daughter’s home in Sugar Hollow. Dr. Garnett is remembered by his children as a kind and loving father, who made time from his busy professional life for camping, fishing, sailing, horseback riding and generally partaking with them of the beautiful ambience of western Albemarle County, which he loved and where he always felt at home. A long-time member of Thomas Jefferson Memorial Unitarian Church, Dr. Garnett had an enduring love for things of the mind, literature, science, history, philosophy, and stewardship of nature, which he imparted to his children. He was generous almost to a fault, and virtually every member of his large extended family can attest to his timely assistance in times of special need. Dr. Garnett was predeceased by his beloved wives, Margaret Titus Garnett and Hettie Love Garnett, and by his son, Theodore Garnett. He is survived by four children, Richard Garnett III, Nelson Garnett, Margaret Sewell, and Joseph Garnett, by his step-daughters Margaret Chesnut, Libby Menger and Susan Kuhlman, by his eleven grandchildren and thirteen great-grandchildren, and by a large number of friends, relatives and caregivers who will miss his gentle spirit, inquiring mind, subtle humor and unfailing support.

John Lewis Quick Sr., 87 Francoise Marguerite Cram, 92 James Linwood Dudley Sr., 89 Lula Beth Shifflett Rogers, 90 Welford Leon Shifflett, 78 Emmett Maynard Clark, 74 Jonathan Matthews, — Gladys Viola McAllister, 98 Elizabeth Walker Bailey, 91 Kathleen Hughes Burnett, 74 Richard Wingfield Garnett Jr., 98 David Woodrow Shifflett, 74 Wanda Farris Laverty, 62 Magnolia Marie Breeden, 92 Wilmon Carlton Calk, 78 Tiawanda Lysette Holt, 40 Gladys Ruth Wesner, 87 Watha James Eddins Jr., 80 Diane Story Mawyer, 60 Aubrey Francis Fox, 83 Mildred Christine Thompson, 88 Phillip H. Dollins Jr., 91

October 30, 2013 November 2, 2013 November 2, 2013 November 3, 2013 November 5, 2013 November 7, 2013 November 7, 2013 November 9, 2013 November 10, 2013 November 10, 2013 November 12, 2013 November 12, 2013 November 17, 2013 November 18, 2013 November 20, 2013 November 20, 2013 November 20, 2013 November 21, 2013 November 21, 2013 November 23, 2013 November 23, 2013 November 26, 2013

Mountain Plain Baptist Church Our friendly church invites you to worship with us. Sunday School • 10 a.m. Traditional Worship Service • 11 a.m. Dr. Sam Kellum, Pastor 4281 Old Three Notch’d Road Charlottesville (Crozet), 22901 Travel 2 miles east of the Crozet Library on Three Notch’d Rd. (Rt. 240), turn left onto Old Three Notch’d Rd., go 0.5 mile to Mountain Plain Baptist Church

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CROZET gazette

DECEMBER 2013

Miller Cyclists Aim for the World Championships The world road cycling championship races will happen in Richmond in September 2015. Some 400 million people around the world are expected to watch the races, including big crowds on along the course. Race organizers Lee Callahan and Tim Miller of Richmond 2015 visited the Miller School’s ship-shape cycle shop next to the school’s gym Nov. 14 to meet the school’s endurance cycling team, arguably the top high school cycling program in the country. The world championship will be nine-day event drawing the world’s top 1,000 cyclists from 75 nations. It will feature 12 separate races for three age groups of men and women. Teams consist of the top three to five riders from each country. The championship was last held in the U.S. in Colorado Springs in 1986. Last year it was held in Florence. Races are over 60 to 85 mile courses and average speeds of 23 to 26 miles per hour. The elite men’s race will go for 160 miles and take over six hours on the bike. Organizers are considering starting a race from outside Richmond, Callahan said, perhaps from Charlottesville, Fredericksburg or Williamsburg. The road course will be announced in early 2014, he said. “It will be in the city and on short steep hills and some cobblestone. The race will pass the same location every 20 minutes.” They expect crowds to line the route. “We expect to fill hotel rooms in Charlottesville,” he said. “Visitors tend to make a vacation of it.” Richmond has previously hosted the Tour de Trump and the Tour Dupont. Miller expects its team will have several cyclists competing in Richmond. “Several of the boys have a very, very good chance of making their national teams,” said Miller endurance cycling director Andy Guptill. “For this race you wear your country’s colors. The U.S. will choose three or four riders for the junior category and the 18-and-under race. The elite men’s group, ages 19 to 22, will have nine riders. Miller has 17 cyclists on the team, nine on the varsity road team, including the Canadian national

champion. Two cyclists are from Brazil and another from Hong Kong. The Americans on the team include Jake King, the younger brother of Ben King of North Garden, the U.S. national champion, the youngest national champion in history, who beat Lance Armstrong’s record. He was also a two-time 17-18 champion. Joining Ben King as a mentor is Andrea Dvorak, two-time member of U.S. world champion team and a winner of a stage of the Tour de France. She now races for the Radio Shack Team. She earned her law degree at U.Va in 2006 and won a triathalon national championship as an undergraduate at U.Va. “I’m blown away by this program,” said Miller. “There aren’t a lot of development programs out there. Everything about this program is just incredible.” “With cycling you need such a high amount of intrinsic motivation,” Guptill said. “The riders are really dedicated. Here they get the peer support that keeps them training. None of these athletes has ever let us down. The guiding light of making their national teams is really inspiring them.” “To make the national team is one step below the Olympics,” said Peter Hufnagle, Miller’s Dean of the Faculty, an English teacher, who pioneered Miller’s cycling program and was its coach until Guptill took over in 2010. “Our team is distinctive in the world. The national organizations consider us the standard for a high school program.” “These guys, their goal is to get to the world championship and they all have a shot,” said Hufnagle. “In the cycling world, this event is the biggest thing ever to happen on the East Coast.” “We’ve gone stellar in just three years,” said Guptill, who raced as a pro for 10 years. “I live here because the cycling here is as good as it is. It’s the best in the world. I’ve lived plenty of places and this is the best.” The team trains every day, starting in the gym. On four days, after classes end, they are out on their bikes until dark. The team’s favorite route, Hufnagle said, is down Plank Road and up Old Mountain Road to the Afton P.O. There are also 12 miles of student-built trails around

From left are Miller School varsity road cycling team coaches Peter Hufnagel and Andy Guptill, students Chris Derby, Marcio Oliveria, Thomas Mariutti, Hayden Blom, Leo Yip, Jake King, Spencer Virtue and Jake Thompson, local professional cyclists Ben King and Andrea Dvorak, and coach Phillip Robb.

Miller School’s 1,600 rolling acres. “You have to ride like it’s a parttime job if you want to be competitive,” Hufnagle said. All the athletes build their bikes

from scratch and keep them in repair. Races are on weekends. Miller hosts the state championship and is a venue other teams come to continued on page 36

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DECEMBER 2013

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CROZET gazette

DECEMBER 2013

Our Senses (Part Two): Sight British musket balls were screaming toward his illsupplied troops on the morning of June 17, 1775 when Colonel Prescott commanded his American patriots, in legendary words remembered to this day: “Don’t fire until I tell you! Don’t fire till you see the whites of their eyes!” The human eye is a most remarkable organ. Our eyes are very particular about what “light” they see, responding only to a very narrow band of the electromagnetic spectrum. Radiation with wavelengths shorter than blue light—ultraviolet and x-rays—or longer than red light —infrared, microwave and radio waves – is invisible to our eyes. It is worthy of note that the limited range of radiation we can see is centered smack dab in that very region of the spectrum the sun shines energy most intensely upon the earth! Possessing the simple shape of a sphere and built like a balloon filled with clear liquid, the human eye is astonishingly complex with dozens of different parts working together in harmony to afford us the gift of vision. Five parts of the eye are visible when looking in the mirror: the cornea, iris, pupil, sclera and conjunctiva. The cornea is the convex, transparent covering over the front of the eye. Located behind the cornea is the iris, a flat, colored, adjustable, ring-shaped membrane. The pupil is the black circular opening at the center of the iris. The sclera is the white of the eye; the tough, fibrous tissue enveloping the eyeball (except the cornea). And the conjunctiva is the thin, clear, mucous membrane covering the sclera. The most colorful of these five structures is named after the Greek goddess Iris, the wing-footed messenger who personified the rainbow. The variety of human eye color is completely unexpected given that the pigment present in the iris is melanin, the same brown material

that colors skin and hair. Eyes ranging from light brown to black derive their color from the level of melanin present in the iris; the more melanin, the darker the color. But unlike our skin or hair, the iris takes on hues ranging from blue, to green, to hazel when little or no melanin is present. These colors arise not from pigmentation, but via a light scattering phenomenon similar to the process that imparts blueness to the sky. Do you recognize whose azure eyes these are? Yes, it’s Ol’ Blue Eyes, Frank Sinatra.

The pupil, which widens and constricts to control the amount of light entering the eye, is named from the Latin pupilla, which means “little doll.” When the Romans looked into another’s eyes, they saw a puppetlike reflection of themselves. The old Hebrew expression for pupil is similar: eshon ayin, which means “little man of the eye.” Another vital part of the eye is the lens. Found just behind the iris and pupil, the lens focuses light on the back of the eye. Cataracts that cloud the lens are the most common cause of blindness. Two clear liquids are found within the interior of the eye. The aqueous humor, a transparent gelatinous fluid, fills the small space between the cornea and the lens. Behind the lens, the eye is filled with vitreous humor, a clear gelatinous substance. Chronically elevated fluid pressure within the eye can lead to glaucoma, the secondleading cause of blindness after cataracts. The retina, the inside lining of the eye, is covered with two varieties of vision-empowering cells; rods and cones. Rod cells provide us with black-and-white vision in low light. Cone cells are responsible for color

vision. Rod and cone cells contain photo-reactive pigments such as rhodopsin that change structure when exposed to light. These structural changes generate electrical impulses that travel down retinal nerve fibers. These fibers gather together at the back of the eye to form the optic nerve, which conducts these electrical impulses to the brain. The place where the optic nerve exits the retina is called the optic disk. There are no rods or cones at this location, creating a blind spot. We are unaware of this visual deficiency because each eye compensates for the blind spot of the other eye. Color blindness, the decreased ability or inability to see color or perceive color differences, most commonly arises from improper development of retinal cones. Diabetic retinopathy, the most common diabetic eye disease and a leading cause of blindness in American adults, is caused by adverse changes in the blood vessels of the retina. The macula is a special area of the retina. Located at the back of the eye, the macula provides us with central vision. Within the macula is a tiny depression densely covered with cone cells called the fovea. It is the fovea that gives us the ability to see objects in sharp detail. Agerelated macular degeneration (AMD) is a progressive eye condition that leads to significant impairment of one’s central vision, eventually leaving only peripheral vision intact and making it difficult or impossible to read, drive or recognizes faces. As many as 15 million Americans are living with AMD. Here a few suggestions that can help keep your eyes healthy. Protect your eyes. Prevent eye

injury when playing sports or working with power tools by wearing safety glasses or appropriate face shields. On bright sunny days, wear UV protective sunglasses, not just darker lenses. Lenses that only darken will just make your pupils dilate allowing damaging UV rays to enter the eye. Also, don’t smoke. Smoking can double the risk of AMD. Nourish your eyes. Eat dark colored and leafy vegetables. Carrots, sweet potatoes and spinach are loaded with beta-carotene, a nutrient correlated with reducing the risk of macular degeneration. Consume flaxseed oil or fish, such as salmon and sardines, to supply omega-3 fatty acids that promote the health of blood vessels in the eyes. Rest your eyes. Glare from computer screens and other electronic devices can cause muscle fatigue in the eyes. We blink less when we are attentively focused on a screen, causing our eyes to become dry. To combat dry eyes, make a conscious effort to blink a few times every minute. Our eyes are our most treasured sense organ. Nearly three-fourths of our body’s sense receptors are dedicated to the eyes, facilitating vision and allowing us to process the enormous amount of information contained in the light waves emanating from the world around us. With our eyes, we perceive depth of field, we distinguish intensity of light, we discriminate between millions of colors, and we pick out the face of a dear friend in a crowd. Like the goddess Iris, our eyes convey messages from the heavens and the earth to our souls, allowing us, in the words of William Blake, To see a World in a Grain of Sand And a Heaven in a Wild Flower.

CROZET gazette

DECEMBER 2013

Warrior Sports News Western’s Cross Country Teams Finish Second in State Both the Western Albemarle boys and girls cross country teams finished second in the state championship meet at Great Meadows in The Plains Nov. 16. The girls lost to Blacksburg High School, the state’s current reigning power, but had their best finish since Western claimed three straight state titles in 2002-04. Annie Taylor finished second in the race at 18:48 and Averi Witt placed fourth at 18:53. Chance Masloff finished 15th, Alice Ducharme 31st and Sarah Grupp 41st to give the Warriors a score of 78. Blacksburg, lead by race winner Bonnie Angermeier at 18:37, scored 35. Taylor dueled Blacksburg’s Emily Beatty down the final straightaway

to secure Western’s spot on the podium. Runners who place in the top 15 at Great Meadows earn allstate honors. The Western boys expected to challenge Blacksburg—the winner of the last four state titles--for the championship and had beaten them in the regional race the week earlier. The Warriors succeeded at that goal but were surprised by Williamsburg’s Lafayette High School, which won the meet. Gannon Willcutts finished second at 16:05 and Chris Ferguson was 12th at 16:19. Andrew DeJong, Nathaniel Hashisaki and Trevor Stutzman rounded out Western’s top five. Six Warriors placed in the top 31.

Anne Taylor (Bib 1519) [Photo courtesy Cherie Witt]

Girls from left: Sophie Loman, Alice Ducharme, Annie Lorenzoni, Sarah Grupp, Annie Taylor, Averi Witt, Chance Masloff and Erica Grupp. [Photo courtesy Cherie Witt]

Cycling

—continued from page 33

Gannon Willcutts [Photo courtesy Cherie Witt]

to race. The course is an 18-mile loop on Dick Woods and Edge Valley Roads. “We’re trying to get people [going to watch the race] to see Crozet as part of their vacation, said Hufnagle. “Western Albemarle, the roads around here are perfect for cycling. It’s the best location for cycling in the country. I think a lot of people are going to be inspired to get into the sport.”

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CROZET gazette

DECEMBER 2013

Crozet

Weather Almanac

NOVEMBER 2013

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

Freezing Rain... Curse of the Mountain Valleys Some people love snow. Some even like cold. A rare soul loves wind. But I don’t know anybody who likes freezing rain or its cousin, sleet. Unfortunately, we get a lot of the slippery slime around here and the mountains are partially to blame. So, here are some FAQs (frequently asked questions) about freezing rain.

isn’t it snow below 32 degrees? Snowflakes only form in certain environments where supercooled droplets in a supersaturated environment grow into crystals. Often, a snowflake will fall through a warm layer of air and melt. When it hits colder air again, it won’t turn back into a snowflake. Now it is just rain or might freeze into sleet but the miracle of a snowflake is gone.

What is freezing rain? Freezing rain is just plain rain that freezes when it hits the ground.

What is a typical freezing rain storm here in Crozet? Cold air comes down from Canada and gets stuck here against the mountains. Warm, moist air invades from the Gulf of Mexico and is forced upward over the cold Canadian air. Often, snow falls at first but then warmer air aloft wins and the snow turns into sleet and then freezing rain.

How is that different than sleet? Sleet is frozen when it reaches the ground. It could be rain that froze or snow that partially melted and refroze or some combination, but it is frozen. Which is worse? Almost always freezing rain. It can be unbelievably slippery. Sometimes sleet is coarse almost like sand and not at all slick. But in Virginia, we often get both mixed in the same storm with snow or just plain rain and the resulting mixture is always different. How is this even possible? Why

Why do the mountains make it worse? “Cold Air Damming” happens when the cold dense air gets stuck in the low valleys and hollows. If the ground was flat, the approaching warm, wet air would force the cold air out. But here, the cold air can hide and last for a long time, turning a rain storm into a very

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unpleasant freezing rain storm. When a cold air damming pattern emerges, Heidi always says “Damn that cold air!” What is the worst you’ve ever seen? Once, in Ohio, Heidi and I awoke to thunder and lightning. Temperatures were in the teens and rain poured all night. The next day, a pack of kids, off from school, ice skated right through our yard and all over the neighborhood. Everything was covered in two inches of solid, clear ice.

first day was warmest with 77 degrees but 17 days dropped below freezing. The month was mostly dry except for 2.18” of rain the two days before Thanksgiving. Snow fell briefly on the 12th and most of the afternoon on the 27th, enough to bring a white Thanksgiving to the hills above town. Rainfall totals

November Recap The month started warm but ended on a cold wave and finished 3.6 degrees colder than normal. The

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CROZET gazette

DECEMBER 2013

First Rowing Regatta Held at Beaver Creek Reservoir The inaugural Dam Turn Regatta, a race for rowers, was held Nov. 17 on the Beaver Creek Reservoir in Crozet. Sponsored by the Beaver Creek Sculling Club, the race, on a relatively short course, 2,500 meters, wrapped up the rowing season and drew clubs from across the

state. The club is a private nonprofit group that supports the Western Albemarle High School crew but also includes rowers from all over the county. It has 27 members, seven coaches and several parent volunteers. It was founded by rowing fanatic Miriam Pitts, who spear-

Dam Turn Regatta WAHS vs. AHS

Ashley Gale

headed crew at WAHS, and is the only rowing club in Central Virginia. The River City Rowing Club came from Richmond. Juniper Rowing Club came from Chesapeake. Old Dominion Boat Club came from Alexandria, Western Reserve Boat Club came from Cleveland, Ohio, and Rivanna Rowing from Charlottesville was there. Beaver Creek Sculling Club had 25 rowers in the regatta, all wearing lime-green jerseys. Their logo shows a beaver skull with crossed oars behind it. The race was held on flat water in misty, 60-degree air. Rowers took off from the dock below the boathouse and rowed to the west end of the lake. There they crossed the start line, ducked into a cove to the right, then sprinted down the lake 2,500 meters to the finish line near the dam valve. The race was called a “head race” in which rowers go against the clock and do not face direct competition along side. In sprint races rowers are pitted against other rowers. Races on Occoquan Creek in northern Virginia, a popular venue for rowing races, are typically 5,000 meters, said Lee Gale, parent of a club racer. That is the normal distance for the teams that came to Beaver Creek. High school rowers race 1,500 meters and collegians row 2,000 meters in matches. Scullers, in one-or two-person boats, hold an oar in each hand. In

sweep races, in boats holding four or eight rowers, each crew member holds a single oar. Reactions to the regatta from visiting clubs were favorable and race director Eric Antmann said he expects the race to be held again next year. Lynne Corrigan, a coach for Juniper, whose club trains on the Intra-coastal Waterway, said the race was “a nice day trip at the ends of the season.” The races are fun to watch, said BCSC parent Wiley Martin. “You see the effort they are making and the beautiful glide it makes.” Forty-seven races were held and culminated in a spontaneous challenge between the Western Albemarle quad crew and the Albemarle high school quad crew. It looked like Western had beaten their club mates from AHS, crossing the line with a one-and-a-halfboat length lead, but timing showed that the AHS had crossed the start line seven seconds later and may have been faster. Pitts refused to declare a winner at the award ceremony at the end of the races. Nine awards were given out, five to juniors (under age 18) and four to masters. WAHS senior Ashley Gale won the junior womens race. She signed to row for the University of Virginia next fall at a ceremony at WAHS a few days later. The club would like to increase membership but has a limited number of seats for rowers and is trying to add boats.

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