Around The Panhandle January - February 2013

Jan + Feb 2013

M A G A Z I N E

Now Only A Heartbeat Away

Things to Do...

The Aviation Museum Dan’s Pub & Taphouse

Extreme Sports Fitness The Wok Zone

Sara Bivens The Meat Men

Places to Go... $2.99

People to Know...

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FEATURES January & February 2013

Things To Do -9-

The Hagerstown Aviation Museum

- 91 -

Dan’s Restaurant and Taphouse in Boonsboro, MD

Places To Go - 79 -

The Unknown Eater visits the Wok Zone

-24 -

On The Cover Jan + Feb 2013

- 86 -

E M A G A Z I N

Extreme Sports Family Fitness Taking the Basic Gym Philosophy & Turning It Upside Down

People To Know

Now oNly A y HeArtbeAt AwA

Things to Do..tion. Museum

- 24 -

Sara Bivens From Martinsburg to Stages the World Over

- 56 -

Meet the Meat Men

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The Avia Maryland Theatre

.

Places to Go..Spor ts Fitness Extreme Valentine’s Date Night

People to Knonsw...

$2.99

Sara Bive Dan’s Pub & Taphouse

- 21Dr. Neal Gaither, board certified cardiologist and medical director of cardiovascular services at WVUH-East.

Around The Panhandle | JAN • FEB 2013

contents 6 9

Dear Readers

48 Our Top Ten

Hagerstown

Aviation Museum

52 Should we be more

13 Panhandle Profile

Shenandoah Chocolates

15 Panhandle Profile

DeFluri’s Fine Chocolates

17 Caption Contest 19 City’s Cath Lab

Movie Franchises

Comfortable with Paper?

56 Meat Men

East Coast Steaks & Seafood

62 Rely on Rick 64 Inside the Floral Industry

Time Saves Lives

68 Panhandle

From Martinsburg to Stages the World Over

30

Killahevlin Escape the hustle and bustle of life 76

24 Sara Bivens

34 Shenandoah

Conservatory

40 Dr Merzouk

Family First

45 Beasley’s Books

The Cat’s Meow



105

- 91 -

Healthy Living Be Tobacco Free

71 Med Express

Filling the Gap in Healthcare

Now It’s Your Turn - Recipes

86 Extreme Sports

Family Fitness

91 The Featured Eats

Dan’s Restaurant & Tap House

96 Apples N Oranges

Drink Recipes for 2013

99

Heartland has Heart

102 Rosemont Manor

79 The Unknown Eater

The Wok Zone

84 Lending a Hand

Henry and William

Evans Home for Children

-9-

You Can’t Afford to Miss CLIP & SAVE

www.AroundThePanhandle.com

Great Savings at Local Businesses

[5]

THE

{ x Around o b l i {Ma PANHANDLE January/February 2013 | VOL 4 | NO 5

Dear Readers:

As we prepared this issue in December, the unspeakable horror of the December 14, 2012 mass murder of schoolchildren in Connecticut and those who cared for them was very much with us. No doubt, that memory will be forever embedded in the minds of many, particularly those determined to put measures in place to prevent future tragedies. But what should those measures be? We would like to hear your thoughts about that; post them on our Facebook page.

One thought making the rounds during the December catastrophe was uttered by none other than Mr. Rogers, who said his mother always reminded him to “look for the helpers” as a reminder of the many, many good people in the world. Here in the Eastern Panhandle, we don’t have to look far to find such helpers. As you can see in this issue, Heartland of Martinsburg is providing long-time care for elderly residents. Dr. Maria Merzouk, a board-certified obstetrician/gynecologist, has returned to her hometown of Martinsburg to provide care for local residents here. Of course, City Hospital continues to provide excellent health care for the community, especially through its cardiac catheterization lab, which is highlighted in this issue.

Also highlighted in this issue is the Henry and William Evans Home for Children, located in Winchester, Virginia; as is noted in the article, the facility has, since 1949, served as a place to call home for young people between the ages of five and seventeen who are not well suited for other placement services.

Of course, we could not publish a Jan/Feb issue without highlighting what some might call “the season of love.” We’re referring, of course, to Valentine’s Day. Those who are searching for that perfect gift of chocolate or roses or a bed-and-breakfast getaway can find some help here, as well as suggestions for many other ways to celebrate Valentine’s Day. For chocolates, you can’t beat Shenandoah Fine Chocolates in Winchester, Virginia, or DeFluri’s Fine Chocolates in Martinsburg. For advice on choosing roses or other flowers, you can’t beat the expertise of Pam Wagoner, owner of Depot Florist in Martinsburg. Killahevlin in Front Royal, Virginia, and Rosemont Manor in Berryville, Virginia, provide some nice options for those seeking a romantic getaway at a bed-and-breakfast.

You will find more information about these establishments, and more, in the stories in this issue.

As a fairly new resident of the Shenandoah Valley, having lived here only a few years now, I am continually struck by the vibrant and wide variety of businesses and other organizations in this region, all of them dedicated to helping others in their own particular way. As 2013 progresses, I look forward to learning even more about the upcoming events and ongoing success stories and I particularly look forward to seeing many of them featured in this magazine.

As I noted above, we are always interested in hearing from our readers, particularly in regard to what we might do to prevent the kinds of mass-shooting tragedies that have occurred far too often in recent years. As a part-time college instructor, I have seen many instances where students offer comments on a particular situation. Some just want to vent or offer personal opinions, which is fine, but then comes that stellar moment when a suggestion appears, often from an unexpected source, that causes everyone to pause and ask, “Why didn’t we think of that? That is the solution!” Maybe your comment will be the one to cause that stellar moment!

Caffilene Allen Around The Panhandle Magazine 304-851-7460 editor@aroundthepanhandle.com Follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AroundthePanhandleMagazine

Hornby Publishing, LLC | PO Box 1254 | Martinsburg, WV 25402 | 304.851.7461

[6]

PUBLISHER

Mike Hornby

ASSISTANT PUBLISHER

Victoria Kidd

EDITOR

Caffilene Allen

EDITORIAL DESIGN

Mike Hornby James Schaffner

WEBSITE

Hornby Publishing LLC ProDesign , Brian Jolliff www.professionaldesign.com

WRITERS

The Unknown Eater Caffilene Allen Debra Cornwell Dana DeJarnett Victoria Kidd Rick Hemphill Bonnie Williamson Natalie Greene Bethany Davidson Tera Sakisat

PHOTOGRAPHY

Eric Fargo - Fargofotos.com All Photos unless otherwise specified are by Eric Fargo

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[304] 851-7460 Around the Panhandle is a bimonthly publication of Hornby Publishing LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher. The magazine is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or photos.

Distributed through subscriptions, advertisers, online and at ROC’S convenience stores throughout the Panhandle.

Subscription price is $18.99 per year. Single issues $2.99. To subscribe, send check or money order for $18.99 payable to Around the Panhandle; PO Box 1254, Martinsburg, WV 25402 or subscribe online and pay by credit card at www.AroundThePanhandle.com.

Around The Panhandle | JAN • FEB 2013

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For more info, call 304.264.1314

830 Bowman Ave Hagerstown, MD 21740 • 301-739-5510

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10307 Auto Place Hagerstown, MD

301-739-7283 800-800-4727 www.hagerstownhonda.com

Hagerstown Aviation Museum There was a time when the native roar of gasoline- powered piston engines entwined with the sweeping arcs of turning propellers.

When several thousand dedicated workers put in long hours to turn out the silver aluminum-covered wings and fuselages for our Army Air Corp and then the U.S. Air Force. The freshly assembled motors lifted small trainers and then huge, for the time, transport planes into the Washington County skies as they were tested by local young test pilots prior to delivery.

As early as 1916, Giuseppi Bellanca would start building airplanes in a factory on Pope Avenue in Hagerstown. He would shortly thereafter move away from Hagerstown and go on to have a storied history in aviation.

By 1927 two local boys, Lew and Henry Reisner, had partnered with a local shoe manufacturer, Ammon Kreider, to produce biplanes from a small green workshed on Pennsylvania Avenue. The airport was a grass runway that existed where South Hagerstown High School stands today. As the manufacturing grew, a man named Sherman Fairchild bought this company and moved it to what is now the Hagerstown Regional Airport. By 1940 Fairchild was making the PT 19, a two-seat trainer that most of the American World War II bomber and fighter pilots would fly for the first time.

For another 40 years, Fairchild would continue building aircraft until 1984.

After 35 years in service, the last planes built in Hagerstown still roar

www.AroundThePanhandle.com

over Afghanistan and elsewhere in the world as the tactical ground support aircraft for the USAF. All 733 warthogs or A-10 Thunderbolts were built and test flown over the skies of the tristate and most of the people who built them still live here.

“The Hagerstown Aviation Museum’s mission is to preserve over 90 years of Hagerstown’s aviation heritage,” says John Seburn, president of the non-profit museum, with a dedicated tone. “Airplanes were built in Hagerstown from 1928 to 1984 and over 10,000 airplanes came out of Hagerstown. We want to remember all of the folks who were involved knowing that, back in the 40’s and 50’s, one-third of the population of Washington County worked for Fairchild.”

John’s grandfather worked for Fairchild and, as a young boy, he was bitten by the aviation bug. He had even studied aircraft repair in hopes of working with the planes but the big Fairchild layoff came when he graduated from school. Although he moved on to other local endeavors, the aircraft brought him back.

“I got involved in 1995 in the beginnings of the aviation show in Hagerstown,” John recalls with his broad friendly grin lighting up his face. “They had an air show and a lot of the Fairchild people were in attendance. I got involved along with Curtis Meyers, Kent Mitchell, and a few others who had a display

by Rick Hemphill of Fairchild memorabilia and photos, et cetera. That weekend everyone came through thinking that was a museum.

We knew it wasn’t, so we thought wouldn’t it be great if we had one.”

“The mission of the museum came about because at the 95 air show people kept coming up and saying ‘I didn’t know airplanes were ever built in Hagerstown,’” John relates with an incredulous smile. “We even had a display at the mall and people would come up to us and ask, ‘Wwhere is your museum?’ and we would tell them that we maintain our aircraft out at the Hagerstown Airport and they would say, ‘Wwhere is the airport? We have an airport?’”

“It took until 2005 to be incorporated as the Hagerstown Aviation Museum.” John continues almost sounding surprised that it was that long ago. “But we still didn’t have a place except for a display we had down at the Discovery Station in Hagerstown.”

However, the big picture focus of the aviation museum was on airplanes, not artifacts. “In the meantime,” John says, remembering the excitement of getting that first big aircraft, “we had been keeping track of a lot of old Fairchild aircraft around the country and there was one particular aircraft, a large twin engine C-82 Packet, also known as the flying box car, that became available in Wyoming.”

[9]

“We had an emergency fund raiser,” John exclaimed, as if it was a foregone conclusion at the time.

“And we raised about $140,000. We went to the auction and it took all of the money we raised to purchase the last flying C-82. That was our first big activity and from that point on the local community came together to fly home the C-82.”

John continues with a big smile as he is proud of the local community for their efforts in bringing aircraft back home, “Out of that effort a Fairchild C-119, (another large twin engine transport for the air force) was donated by one of the men who was running the auction in Wyoming.

Two years later we raised enough money to fix that plane up and fly it back home.”

That was just the beginning of retrieving aircraft for the museum.

“Out of the publicity of retrieving the C-82 and the C-119 we started receiving inquiries from people who had old PT-19 trainers and other planes who had either tried to sell their plane or had seen our C-82 effort and wanted to donate them,” John says proudly counting the aircraft. “We ended up with three PT 19’s and one PT 26, all WWII training planes built here in Hagerstown and half of them still fly.”

“We have 19 aircraft in the museum,” John explains proudly. “Thirteen were built in Hagerstown and, as far as we know, we are the largest museumowned collection of aircraft in the state of Maryland. Other museums have more planes, but they are on loan from somewhere else.”

“Our oldest plane is a 1928 KreiderReisner KR 31 that was built in their small little green shack of a factory in downtown Hagerstown,” John says with that eve- present smile. “We have the green building preserved out in the back as well.”

Of course, the last plane built at Fairchild has not yet been acquired.

“We have been trying to get an A-10 Thunderbolt for years but they are still Air Force property,” John says a bit disheartened. “They won’t give us one while they are still using them. So we have to be content with pictures of them.”

[ 10 ]

Their photographic collection is extensive. “The former Fairchild workers have donated photographs, models, artifacts, pieces of airplanes, and even drafting tables from the factory,” John says, with great appreciation of the local communities support.

The office of the Museum is in the old Fairchild Plant, now the Top Flight building on Showalter Road, just outside the Hagerstown Regional Airport. The old plant currently houses the museum’s aircraft which were taken inside the building to be spared the wrath of Hurricane Sandy. “As far as a home we are still looking at that,” says John optimistically. “Until then we will be having open events so the public can see our collection. Once a month we will have an open airplane Sunday afternoon with the big planes available to the public. We will have exhibits inside the larger planes and the smaller planes will be open so

kids and adults can sit in the cockpits and get the feel of being a pilot or pretend to be flying.”

“That is the difference between our museum and others,” John says emphatically. “Most museums you can look at the planes but you cannot touch. Here you can feel the metal, kick the tires and climb around inside to see what it was really like. We will also be giving flight rides in our World War II trainers so that people can get the feel of open cockpit flying.”

The museum does not yet have all the types of planes built in Hagerstown and each new acquisition generates excitement. “Our next big project is the return of a Fairchild

Around The Panhandle | JAN • FEB 2013

history we would encourage you to donate,” John says, making not just an appeal but reaffirming a link to local residents. “Unlike most other museums that have a wonderful collection we have a connection with the local population. Over 10,000 people worked here in this plant at one time and many people in the tristate area have relatives and family members who worked at Fairchild at one time or another. So that connection is something we have here that many other museums can’t have because of their location or history.”

shooting for $70,000.

The 123 flew in June and that makes this much easier,” he notes, remembering some of the difficulties of bringing the other ones home.

C-123,” John exclaims with the same enthusiasm that has brought the museum from a collection of photographs and artifact to displays that fly. “The plane was in Florida and it came up as seized property by the government. I had been following all the other 123’s that could or would be available and most were either too much money or they don’t fly. It was up for public sale and we made an offer on it.”

“The guy called me and said, John, you better start that fundraising today,” John relates, showing his delight with getting the plane mingled with the stress of now having to actually get the aircraft home. “We are getting the fundraising going and we are

www.AroundThePanhandle.com

“The plane’s purchase will run $30,000 and then it will cost over $10,000 just for the fuel to fly it here, not to mention inspections and maintenance,” John estimates, noting that aviation fuel costs more than regular gas. “It always costs more than you ever think it is going to be.

We would like to bring it home by April 2013.”

Each new acquisition helps the museum get closer to its goals.

“Bringing in each big plane has generated a great deal of excitement and helped us with fundraising,” John says hopefully. “We hope this will help us get a special permanent home.”

Getting that home depends on the local community. “If anyone has any interest in local aviation

“We want to remember,” John says with conviction. “We are a twentiethcentury museum which contrasts with the history of the area where we can have first-person living history, while these people are still alive. You can actually touch the airplanes. You can walk in the big planes, climb in the cockpits, and put your hands on the controls and pretend to fly. In the flying trainers, you can feel what it was like to fly over Hagerstown 60 years ago.”

As a museum they also look toward the future. “We have a lot of school groups and they get up in the cockpits and pretend they are flying and you never know where that experience will take a young person as they grow and how it may affect their future,” John says reflecting on the future. “That is wholly separate from the museum experience. On September 22, 2013, we will host the next Wings and Wheels Expo over behind the terminal. All the planes will be out for people to see and the EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) will be there and will give free rides for the kids., etc.”

“Those who were here during the Civil War cannot still tell us new things about themselves and what went on,” John summarizes with an honest conviction. “However this is local history that still has a voice.”

You may donate by sending your contribution to the Hagerstown Aviation Museum, 14235 Oak Springs Road, Hagerstown, MD 21742.

For more information, visit www. hagerstownaviationmuseum.org or call 301-733-8717.

[ 11 ]

A Lifetime

of

SmiLeS

February is National Children’s Dental Health Month!

Here are some tips for your child’s oral care: • Brush your child’s teeth twice a day • Floss daily to remove food debris between teeth that brushing cannot reach • Eat healthy and nutritious foods and limit the intake of sugary carbonated beverages • Bring your child to the dentist by age 1 or when the first tooth erupts • Ask your doctor about fluoride treatments and dental sealants for the prevention of tooth decay and cavities.

Dr. Robert Mansman Dr. Yemisi Akinrefon Dr. Hassan Davalloo Ghajar Dr. Stephanie Lee Dr. Saba Sarraf Dr. Michelle Stovall *Patients can remain with the same doctor throughout their care.

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panhandle

PROFILE

Seduction by chocolate engages the senses--seeing the beautiful artistry, smelling the sensuous aroma, feeling the silky texture melt in your mouth, tasting the sweet, sometimes complex, flavor, and hearing the soft, “Mmmm” escaping one’s lips as the last bite is savored. Chocolate is an intoxicating temptation which is often referred to as “sinfully good.”

Shenandoah Fine Chocolates, located in Winchester’s Creekside shopping area, are purveyors of such palatable pleasantries.

Love of chocolate runs deep, and Dan and Anne Brown are continuing a family tradition with their shop. ”Dan’s family had a fudge and chocolate shop for years. We have worked with several ‘Chocolate Families’ from across the U.S. and have been very blessed to work with some incredible chocolatiers and chocolate artists from around the world,” she says. They founded Shenandoah Fine Chocolates in Strasburg twelve years ago, armed with a mild cream recipe that dates back to the early twentieth century.

Artisan pieces are eye-catching, which entices one’s senses into yearning for more. With exotic flavors and a longer creation process, artisan chocolates are made in molds that are sometimes airbrushed with cocoa butter colors prior to pouring the chocolate into the mold. Sometimes the pieces are “painted or stenciled” after they come out of the mold. The interior of the piece may include alcohol in addition to up to three different layers of ganache.

Although the artisan pieces are gorgeous, the chocolate is too good not to eat!

www.AroundThePanhandle.com

Sweet Valentine Treats Shenandoah Fine Chocolates – Winchester, VA.

by Debra Cornwell

Located next to Shenandoah Fine Chocolates is The Chocolate Bar Restaurant, which is also owned by the Browns. Anne says, “We offers a variety of quality gourmet foods coupled with a world class selection of beverages and, of course, incredible desserts!”

Chocolate has long been a welcome Valentine’s Day gift. If you are in the market for a Valentine’s Day gift of chocolate, consider these suggestions: Shenandoah Fine Chocolates Top 5 Valentine Gift Suggestions 1.”We have really pretty everyday gift boxes so our customers sometimes struggle when they choose between our standard gift boxes and our Valentine Heart boxes,” Anne reveals.

Once customers determine the box, it’s on to filling the box--caramels, creams, truffles, nuts, or a combination. For dark chocolate fans, they have at least 50 different chocolate pieces and have at least that many, or more, in milk and white chocolate options. The most popular dark chocolate options are the old-fashioned dark vanilla butter cream, dark chocolate raspberry creams, dark chocolate raspberry truffles, and the dark chocolate champagne truffles. In the milk and white chocolates, the favorites are the sensational “sinnamon” cream, the Winchester apple pie, milk chocolate caramel truffles, milk chocolate raspberry truffles, and milk chocolatechocolate truffles.

2. Artisan chocolates, of course! “One of our most popular artisan chocolates

is the Lavender Butterfly™ which is a small dark chocolate butterfly “painted” with lavender and filled with a dark chocolate lavender ganache,” says Anne. If you’ve never cooked with or eaten lavender-infused food, this chocolate will be a surprising delight.

The heady perfume of lavender and chocolate is divine.

3. Heart-shaped chocolate boxes are literally boxes made from chocolate.

The boxes are small, but they fit anywhere from four to eight truffles or artisan pieces, and yes, they do fit engagement rings and beautiful pieces of jewelry!

4. The 3-Rings of Love™ starts with rich, gooey caramel filling all three rings of a large chocolate-dipped pretzel, which is dipped in either milk or dark chocolate to capture all those amazing layers of incredible flavor!

According to Anne, “The 3-Rings is always a popular gift topper or add-on for the men and women who come in to get chocolates for their caramelloving partners.”

5. The 5-Layer Jewelry Box stands a little over 9” tall and folds out with five compartments that all hold chocolate, but Anne says, “Quite often engagement rings or earrings or other pieces of jewelry are put in with the chocolates by those who choose this box. When the chocolate is gone, the box generally gets used as a jewelry box by the recipient.”

Visit www.ShenandoahFineChocolates. com

[ 13 ]

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panhandle

PROFILE

Born from a passion for chocolate, DeFluri’s Fine Chocolates has the perfect gift for a holiday filled with passion. “Brenda always loved chocolate, and she found the chemistry of it very interesting,” says her husband and business partner Charlie Casabona.

Did Brenda discover how the chemistry of chocolate relates to the chemistry of passion? It’s a subject worth happily researching.

Although the Aztecs claimed cocoa had aphrodisiac powers, I suspect it was a different byproduct from cocoa, not chocolate, that the ancients were regaling. Modern research indicates there is not enough tryptophan or phenylethylamine in chocolate to enhance passion, but perhaps that misses the point? Chocolate is the perfect Valentine’s gift because it is sweet like love.

The Casabona’s have created what is essentially Charlie’s Chocolate Factory behind their storefront in downtown Martinsburg. Although DeFluri’s mail order business is booming, it is an extra treat to visit the shop and see all the chocolate creations--one truly becomes a kid in a candy shop.

Brenda was working for the Federal government as an international economist. In her spare time after work, she experimented with chocolate. She gave her chocolates to friends and associates who said, “Oh, you should go into business!” She did some research and decided to give it a try. In 1985, Brenda quit her job and started DeFluri’s in Vienna, Virginia.

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Sweet Valentine Treats DeFluri’s Fine Chocolates – Martinsburg, WV.

Charlie recalls that a realtor in Winchester referred them to Martinsburg when he and Brenda were looking to relocate the business. In 1998, they moved shop to a 12,000-square-foot vintage building on Queen Street that once housed McCroy’s Five & Dime.

For those looking for a Valentine’s Day gift for that special someone, Brenda and Charlie offer these suggestions: DeFluri’s Top 5 Valentine Gift Suggestions 1. A red velvet heart filled with chocolates, either a half or one pound, is far and away the most popular Valentine’s Day gift. Charlie says, “We’ll have a variety of box styles from which to choose. We always offer pre-packed boxes of fresh whipping cream truffles and pre-packed boxes of the classic American Heritage assortment which would include truffles, caramels, nut clusters, creams, buttercrunch, etc. We’ll have boxes available for customers to choose the exact pieces that they want. At Valentine’s Day, many people prefer to choose exactly what goes in their box.”

2. DeFluri’s offers a Chocoholic’s Hearts Delight. This is a hand-molded chocolate heart-shaped box, which is filled with an assortment of fresh whipping cream truffles. Flavors include mango, passion fruit, double chocolate, chocolate raspberry, lemon meringue pie, Grand Marnier, and more are in this box. When the

by Debra Cornwell

truffles are gone, one still has the box to eat.

3. Cherries Jubilee is very popular.

These are boxes of wonderful, liquidcenter, chocolate-covered cherries. To make these, DeFluri’s uses a special revolving pan to apply a cherryinfused fondant coating to special maraschino cherries. The coated cherries are then given a double coat of either milk or dark chocolate. After coating, the cherries sit for two weeks until the fondant coating liquifies.

These cherries are fabulous and are extremely popular.

4. DeFluri’s Yin-Yang box is a good gift as well. This is a Valentine motif box filled with sea salt caramels and chocolate truffles. The sea salt caramels, in either dark or milk chocolate, are my personal favorite. The tiny bit of salt is just enough to enhance the sweet and give the treat a little crunch at the first bite.

5. DeFluri’s has a good selection of little chocolate treats that are perfect for children or as small gifts for coworkers and friends. These are fun gifts like heart-shaped chocolate lollipops, “Prince Charming” the chocolate frog, and a chocolate Teddy Bear box filled with tiny chocolate hearts.

There are also Valentine’s novelty candies--some are packed into little gift bags.

For more information, visit www.

DeFluris.com.

[ 15 ]

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BREAK! What’s your New Year’s

This is one resolution you can’t afford to

Protect you and your loved ones by pre-planning your final arrangements.

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ROSEDALE Funerals ∞ Cremations ∞ Cemetery

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[ 17 ]

KEEPING THE HEAT ON FOR FAMILIES IN OUR COMMUNITY

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One of the physicians working alongside Dr. Gaither is Dr. Cathy Funk.

City Hospital’s Cath Lab Time Saves Lives

By Victoria Kidd

Most of us do not even give it a thought. Our days begin and our days end without any pause to recognize how advanced modern life really is. One could say that there is no aspect of our modern existence that has advanced more rapidly than medicine—with perhaps the arguable exception of military technology.

Advances in medical technology and treatment have allowed doctors to treat patients in ways previously unimagined, and many patients with life-threatening conditions are living longer as a result of these treatments.

One such treatment is cardiac catheterization, a procedure that is used to diagnose and treat some heart conditions, including heart attacks. City Hospital’s cardiac www.AroundThePanhandle.com

catheterization lab, commonly referred to as the cath lab, makes this life-saving treatment available to the surrounding community.

Previous to the lab opening, patients needing such treatment were shuffled to other hospitals, including Winchester Medical Center. Not only did the absence of an onsite lab mean that patients were separated from their local family and friends, but it also meant that treatment was delayed while the patient was being transported to an alternative facility. Through concerted efforts to bring these services to the region on the part of hospital administration, coupled with the dedicated endeavors of doctors and team members who work directly with the patients, City’s cath lab is having a

big impact on patient outcomes in the community.

One of the team members making this treatment possible is Dr. Neal Gaither, board certified cardiologist and medical director of cardiovascular services at WVUHEast. His long tenure of service to the local community has allowed him to gain a unique perspective of what the cath lab means to people living in our area.

When Dr. Gaither was a medical student, there were few treatment options available for individuals having an acute heart attack. “We could do little more than relieve the pain, hold someone’s hand, and hope they live through it,” He says.

We had no treatment to address the [ 19 ]

cause of the problem: a blood clot in the heart (coronary) artery which had interrupted the supply of lifesustaining blood to carrying oxygen and nutrients to vital areas of the heart muscle.” Advances in medical technology, including primarily the catheterization process, has allowed doctors the ability to remove the clot within minutes of the patient’s diagnosis, thereby restoring blood flow and stopping the heart attack in its tracks.

“Before this procedure became available locally, all patients with major heart attacks required transfer to another hospital for treatment,” Dr. Gaither explains. As a cardiologist who sees patients at both City Hospital and Winchester Medical Center, he recalls many times during which he felt helpless while waiting anxiously for a patient to arrive from City at the emergency room in Winchester. “I clearly remember being there when the squad arrived with someone who had died on the way; someone who would never get the chance to receive this state-of-the-art care.”

“Those days are behind us,” Dr. Gaither says. “Now, when a patient with a major heart attack comes to the emergency room at City Hospital in Martinsburg, a single phone call from the emergency room physician activates a team of cardiovascular professionals who work seamlessly and efficiently to speed that patient down the hall for life-saving heart attack care.” It is easy to see how having treatment available down the hall, versus down the interstate, can impact a patient’s outcome.

One of the physicians working alongside Dr. Gaither is Dr. Cathy Funk, a well-respected local physician who has previously served as the chair of the Department of Medicine at WVUH-East’s City Hospital. Dr. Funk believes that patients should understand that their decisions in a time of emergency could mean the difference between life and death. Those decisions should be made easier with the increased awareness of the services offered by the cath lab.

“When it comes to a heart attack, seconds count,” she says. “If you

[ 20 ]

feel that you are having symptoms which are unusual for you—even if they do not mimic the classic depiction of a heart attack—go to your local emergency room immediately.” Some heart attacks can even manifest as nausea, vomiting, or indigestion that does not improve with time. If someone is having these symptoms, they need to act quickly.

Timely diagnosis is critical, and programs have been instituted with Berkeley County EMS crews to allow transmission of EKGs from patients in the ambulance before they even get to the emergency room. This means doctors can already begin their assessment of the patient before he or she even arrives. Calling 911 ensures that the patient receives this life-saving care within the window of opportunity for effective treatment.

Dr. Funk explains, “You know your body, and if it’s not feeling right, then there is something wrong and you should call 911 to be taken to your nearest emergency room. You are going to receive the best care, regardless of which hospital you go to. The team works together throughout all local hospital systems.”

The local community needs to be aware that, with most cardiologists working across state lines in multiple hospitals, the cardiologist caring for their friends and family here in the Eastern Panhandle is the same cardiologist that would care for them at Winchester Medical Center.

The facilities are not adversaries in the patient care process; they are partners. “We have an excellent relationship with other area hospitals,” She explains. “We work as a team to improve patient outcomes. Ultimately, it’s all about patient health. Should another hospital be better suited for the patient’s situation, the line of care is open. It’s critical to come to your local emergency room. Don’t wait.

Your situation will be assessed and the best possible course of action will be charted.”

For many local residents, including more than 160 patients who presented with signs of a heart

attack, City’s cath lab was the best course of treatment. That is 160 patients whose care did not have to be ‘put on hold’ while they were transported to alternative hospitals. Dr. Gaither says that the staff at City’s emergency room has been trained thoroughly to assess incoming patients for heart attacks.

Their training allows them to act quickly. He says, “The emergency room staff is able to activate the cardiac team within ten minutes.”

A simple phone call from the staff will notify the team that a heart attack is suspected in a patient.

From there, the laboratory, x-ray department, and other members of the evaluation and treatment teams are called to action. “By the time I or one of the other intervention team members receive the call, the patient has been prepped and is often being wheeled into the cath lab.”

The entire system has been designed with a watchful eye on time. Quickly restoring blood flow to the impacted area of the heart is critical to reducing the risk of longterm cardiovascular disability or, even worse, patient mortality. When seconds count, it’s comforting to know that quality care is available right here at City Hospital.

The hospital works incessantly to secure the capital funding necessary to continually increase and improve that quality care. Their Time Saves Lives major gifts fundraising campaign is working to raise $3 million for equipment and other hospital needs. Once the campaign meets its goal, the funds will be used to purchase equipment for a second cath lab. Teresa McCabe, Vice President of Marketing and Development for WVUH-East, explains, “The second lab will allow us to do more elective procedures and have a backup lab available when other equipment is in need of repairs or routine service.” According to McCabe, before the close of 2012, the campaign had already raised more than $2 million towards its goal.

Initially, $1.9 million of these funds were raised through the generosity of the “hospital family,” including

Around The Panhandle | JAN • FEB 2013

Teresa McCabe, Vice President of Marketing and Development for WVUH-East, employees, board directors, auxiliaries, and physicians. Following the hospital’s public appeal for help announced in November of 2012, the campaign received several community donations, including a $50,000 pledge from United Bank, which put them over the $2 million mark.

These funds are critical to continuing the hospital’s efforts to offer worldclass, life-saving services right here in the Eastern Panhandle. If

www.AroundThePanhandle.com

you live or work in this community, you should take a moment to learn more about your healthcare options, including the quality care offered at City Hospital. One way to do that is to visit www.hospitalcompare. hhs.gov, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services website that provides detailed, comparative information regarding healthcare facilities. You can also visit the hospital’s website directly at www. cityhospital.org.

With the help of the surrounding community the hospital’s Time Saves Lives campaign will certainly increase service availability here in the region, and we should all take notice of these efforts that directly impact the quality of life locally.

Anyone interested in learning more about how they or their business can support the campaign is encouraged to call McCabe or her colleague Robin Zanotti at 304-264-1223.

[ 21 ]

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Sara Bivens : From Martinsburg to Stages the World Over

By Victoria Kidd One of the most popular entertainers in music right now is Nicki Minaj.

Love her or hate her, you have to respect the fact that Nicki sells out show after show the world over.

When someone buys a ticket for one of her shows, they are not simply attending to hear Nicki sing, they are attending to see a show, to be entertained.

A critical component to that show is the supporting talented professionals who perform alongside the headlining entertainer. Commonly referred to as “back up dancers,” a title that belies their importance to the show itself, these dancers work equally as hard as the artist does to make sure the crowd is entertained.

If you buy a ticket to a Nicki concert, you will likely notice Sara Bivens, a

[ 24 ]

trim, blonde-haired young woman whose talent landed her the job of a lifetime.

The beautiful and talented Sara has been working with Nicki for three years, allowing her to travel the world and perform before some of the largest audiences imaginable. Despite a rigorous and exciting slate of international travel, television performances, commercial appearances, and concerts, Sara says she is always glad to be home.

On her most recent return trip home, she took time to teach a class for aspiring dancers at the Berkeley 2000 Recreation Center. For Sara, these classes serve as a way to connect with the next generation of talent.

“When you are out in Hollywood, you hear a lot about this area of the country,” she says. “Producers and agents think we have something in the water over here that creates talent. I love to come back and see what these young people are doing, and I really just want to help them in any way I can. I can answer questions for them and sometimes I can even connect them with people in my network who can help them with their dreams.”

Sara is perfectly suited to provide these dreamers with advice. She has done what many of us would think impossible. The story of her journey from Martinsburg to stages worldwide is a story of hard work and complete determination. At just three years old, Sara started

Around The Panhandle | JAN • FEB 2013

dancing at Tari Jo’s Dance Studio in Inwood, West Virginia. The quality instruction she received there was complemented by the encouragement of her parents, whose unwavering support was instrumental to her success. Sara humorously calls her mother, Lisa Bivens, her “mom-ager,” since she has helped her manage her career from the very beginning.

“Her father and I decided early on that we were going to support her.

Now, it was a bit of a leap of faith for her father,” Lisa laughs. “But we knew she was truly talented, and we did what we could to help her get here.” The support of Sara’s parents was by no means passive. Lisa, in fact, was a major contributor to Sara’s success.

Sara, a graduate from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, explains, “While I was still in school, my mom called me and said, ‘hey, there is this audition in Los Angeles, and I want you to fly out there for it.’ I was a little scared.

I mean, I was young and had never

www.AroundThePanhandle.com

really traveled like that before, but Mom just had a feeling.” Her mother’s feeling turned out to be the catalyst leading to the big break for which she was looking.

Following her participation in that audition, Sara received a phone call from the office of an agent. The call indicated that she had been signed, a preliminary step to gaining work in Hollywood. Sara would participate in countless competitions and auditions, many before she even graduated from her program at the University of the Arts. All of these activities continually expanded Sara’s network, allowing her to make the connections necessary for success in the industry.

“You hear a lot of people say, ‘It’s all about who you know,’” Sara says.

“Truthfully, it’s not about who you know. It’s about who knows you.

You have to always be working. You have to always be persistent and be hunting for competitions, auditions, and anything you can do to get your name out there.” Sara does not believe her success is the result

of blind luck. Her success is the result of hard work and unwavering commitment to actively managing her career. “At the end of the day it comes down to one thing. How hungry for it are you? How much do you want it? How hard are you willing to work?”

Sara has proven that she is “hungry” for it. In addition to her work with Nicki, she has performed with wellknown artists, such as Britney Spears, Sean Kingston, Drake, Trina, Kanye West, 2chainz, Usher, and Justin Bieber. She has appeared on Nickelodeon’s Big Time Rush and Disney’s Shake it Up. She can also be seen in the acclaimed international “Now in the Moment” Pepsi commercial and in the catalogues for Dance Wear Solutions and Weissman’s Costumes. She even appears in the Proform “Booty Firm” workout DVD with Mark Ballas from Dancing with the Stars.

These successes have not come without hard work and the support of a lot of people “behind the scenes.” “I am very lucky to have

[ 25 ]

so many people believing in me,” she says. “My life, my career, was set into motion before I really could even think about it because there were people who believed in me, because my family believed in me.”

Lisa remarks, “We knew that it would be hard, but if you know Sara, then you know that she is determined. We simply impressed upon her that we needed to see her work hard, and if she worked hard, we would be behind her all the way.”

For Lisa, there is no greater indication of Sara’s hard work than when she is watching her prepare for a performance. “It’s almost like watching an athlete get ready to compete. She puts her headphones in and listens to the music. She tries to get into the right mind so that she can really give the crowd what they want. Her professionalism is really amazing. I’m so proud of her, not just because she has had all this success, but because she has remained humble throughout. She’s never lost herself.”

[ 26 ]

For those wanting to replicate her success, Sara has some advice.

“Understand that you are going to be told ‘no’ more often than you are told ‘yes,’” she says. “I’ve been rejected many times. It’s tough to accept that after all of the hard work you put into an audition, they may still pick the girl next to you.

You have to believe in yourself, and you have to push through everyday. When you don’t have a gig, you have to be calling your agent searching for work. You have to constantly be promoting yourself to choreographers. You have to be willing to work, work, work, and then work some more.”

While most of us would attribute her success to all of that hard work, Sara attributes it to faith. She says, “I believe that if you want things for the right reasons and if you have faith, your prayers can be answered.” Sara is humble in all things, and she recognizes that her success can be taken away at any time. She is simply grateful for all of

the opportunities she has enjoyed along the journey.

That journey has led her to working alongside Nicki and many other talented superstars. One can hardly find a photo of Nicki on the internet that does not have Sara standing behind her. So, what’s it like to work for one of the hottest names in Hollywood? “Nicki is very highenergy. She is one of the craziest artists you’ll meet. She’ll tell you that herself. She is very theatrical in front of the cameras, but she is meticulous with the management of her career. Nicki manages every dollar and controls every detail of the show.” Sara loves the fastpaced life, and she enjoys working with Nicki, even with the high expectations set by the artist.

Undoubtedly, Sara’s career is without limitation, and Eastern Panhandle residents will assuredly have a long time to enjoy watching the progress of her career.

Around The Panhandle | JAN • FEB 2013

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Escape the hustle and bustle of life by visiting Killahevlin

By Bonnie Williamson

It sits on the top of a hill with a breathtaking view of the Blue Ridge Mountains and George Washington National Forest in the distance. It’s peaceful and quiet with plenty of ways to get away from it all, from a veranda and large porches to a gazebo in the backyard.

Killahevlin Bed and Breakfast at 1401 North Royal Avenue in Front Royal, Virginia, started out as an escape from the corporate world for owners Tom and Kathy Conkey.

They were high school sweethearts, meeting in Rockville, Maryland.

They’ve been married for 42 years.

Tom worked for more than 30 years for such companies as Xerox and Raytheon. Kathy also worked for Xerox and a chiropractic office.

Eventually, the daily commute in the Washington, D.C. area took its toll. “We did the corporate thing

[ 30 ]

and were tired. I couldn’t stand the brutal commute. That’s why we ended up out here,” says Tom. Kathy found Killahevlin on the Internet. “We fell in love with the house. We thought about opening a bed and breakfast. It seemed like a good idea at the time,” says Tom. “It was absolutely nuts,” adds Kathy, laughing. “It’s not quite what we expected. It’s a small business so you’re always working. We don’t have any employees. It’s just Tom and me.” However, the couple has made it work for more than seven years.

Killahevlin is listed on the National Historic Register. It was built in 1905

by William E. Carson, who was born in Enniskillen, Ireland, now Northern Ireland. Carson was responsible for acquiring the land for Shenandoah

National Park. He became chairman of the Commission on Conservation and Development, whose primary task was to promote Virginia as a favorable location for new businesses and a destination for tourists.

During his tenure from 1926 to 1934, Carson had roadside markers placed to designate historical sites and encouraged the creation of the Colonial National Historical Park, which connected Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown. He was also influential in developing Skyline Drive.

Carson’s Irish background is still alive at Killahevlin. Killahevlin in Gaelic means the church of the O’Shevlins, says Tom. Kathy and Tom both have Irish ancestors.

Killahevlin has its own pub for guests. Guinness and Harp beer are on tap. “Guests can make their own

Around The Panhandle | JAN • FEB 2013

Tom and Kathy Conkey are your hosts at Killahevlin. drinks and can stay up as long as they like,” says Tom. An outstanding feature in the pub is an autographed picture of FBI head J. Edgar Hoover.

“My mother, Louis Hurst, worked for the FBI,” explains Kathy.

The history of Killahevlin also involves the Civil War. “Confederates, part of Mosby’s cavalry, were hung here,” says Kathy, who volunteers at the Front Royal-Warren County Visitor Center.

“There is so much history here.”

Killahevlin is an Edwardian mansion, sitting on three acres of land. Six guest rooms are available. A bottle of sherry is in each room. Antiques abound. The beds are high off the ground with little step ladders nearby, in case they are needed.

Each room has a spacious bathtub and a fireplace. The fireplaces have electric stoves in them, but they are all original and functional. The rooms are different colors, with original wallpaper designed by the masters of their craft.

The couple’s hobbies are on display, too. Tom’s stained-glass work is throughout the house, along with Kathy’s quilts. “We can accommodate about 16 people. We have roll-away beds,” Tom says. In the back is a guest house with two suites for visitors. There is also what Tom refers to as a water feature. “It used to be a pool but now we have goldfish and koi in it,” he says.

Tom and Kathy both cook breakfast for guests. They are always trying new recipes. Belgian waffles and eggs benedict have been on the menu, along with southern fried apples and apple dumplings. “We have a real partnership. We build off of each other,” says Tom. Killahevlin becomes a family affair when grandchildren, Alex, 3, and Zack, 7 visit. “Alex insists on greeting the guests. One time she took a nap and was very upset when guests came while she was sleeping.

She knows all the places guests should visit in town. When I started to tell some guests about local restaurants, one of them stopped me and said she had already heard that information from Alex,” says Kathy.

Zack loves to clean. “He is very

www.AroundThePanhandle.com

[ 31 ]

quick at vacuuming and can clean a bathroom so it’s spic-and-span.

When he cleaned the blue bathroom, there was just one little footprint left behind,” says Kathy.

Tom and Kathy are both pleased with their decision to settle at Killahevlin.

“We have been welcomed by the community. People are very friendly here. Killahevlin is considered to be the best-kept secret in Front Royal.

We’re on a hill, one street off the main road. However, Royal Avenue used to be the main road years ago.

People find us,” says Tom. Kathy finds the lack of privacy of a bed and breakfast to be wearing, but for the most part, she says she enjoys the people she meets.

Of course, there have been some challenging guests over the years.

“Most people know what to expect when they come here. It’s all spelled out on our website. Still, a few haven’t experienced bed and breakfasts before,” says Tom. “We occasionally get ‘hotel people’. They expect a refrigerator in their rooms.

They complain because the house

[ 32 ]

is old. However, most people find Killahevlin charming,” Kathy says.

Once, some born-again Christians took exception to sherry in the rooms. “You just never know,” says Kathy. Again, Tom says, “Most of our guest come expecting to enjoy themselves. They like the quiet.

They enjoy seeing deer on the property. They love the house. We have regulars who come every year, sometimes twice a year. I enjoy seeing them relaxing. It’s great doing that for somebody.”

Killahevlin has hosted weddings, engagements, and reunions in the past. Still, the couple admits that a bed and breakfast can be a financial risk. “We used to offer gift certificates but saw the demand for them drop off as the economy was having problems. We also saw the occupancy rate go down. However, we’re still full most of the year. Our biggest time is October when people come to see the leaves changing,” says Kathy.

Tom says he has never had any paranormal experiences, Kathy admits to some strange happenings.

Carson’s son, Willie, died of pneumonia in one of the rooms. “We have a book on bed and breakfasts in the room where Willie died. We always have it in the same position in the room. I’ve gone in the room and seen the book turned around.

No one had touched it,” she says.

Kathy said a friend stayed in the room and said it had a funny feeling to it. “You can feel a heaviness in the room. I’ve felt it myself,” she says. No Civil War ghosts have been reported although Kathy said some bullets have been found on the property.

Killahevlin is open all year except Thanksgiving and Christmas. For the most part, the bed-and-breakfast is a quiet, cozy home that seems to revel in its isolation from the hustle and bustle of life. For more information, go to the website at www.vairish.com or call 1-800-847-6132.

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Around The Panhandle | JAN • FEB 2013

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Music Echoes in the Shenandoah Valley

by Caffilene Allen

One of the great treasures of the Shenandoah Valley is Shenandoah Conservatory, and the new managing director, Sloan MacRae, wants to get the word out about the exciting 2013 season, already in progress.

One of the main attractions of the new season will be a performance by jazz legend Carl Hilding, “Doc” Severinsen, better known to many of us as the orchestra leader for Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show. Featuring the Alan Baylock Jazz Orchestra, Severinsen will perform on Saturday, March 22, at 8 p.m. as part of the Conservatory’s Performing Live Arts Series. The event will be held in the Armstrong Concert Hall on the campus of Shenandoah [ 34 ]

University. “We are so excited to have Doc Severinsen performing at the Conservatory,” MacRae said. “We are especially proud that audiences can enjoy this and other performances held here for a very reasonable admission price.

We are very committed to keeping ticket prices affordable for Valley residents.”

Also as part of the Performing Live Arts Series, the New Century Chamber Orchestra, featuring Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, will perform at 7:30 p.m. on January 27 and the Imani Winds will perform on February 9 at 8 p.m.

Both performances will be held

in the Armstrong Concert Hall. A unique feature of the New Century Chamber Orchestra is the absence of a conductor. “Nadia SalernoSonnenberg acts as the leader,” MacRae notes, “but there is no official conductor.” He points out another unique feature of both groups. “Both groups breathe a lot of life into chamber music and both perform works that you wouldn’t normally associate with chamber music.”

MacRae notes that another topnotch performance, to be held on Saturday, February 23, at 8 p.m., will feature the works of William Bolcom, a Pulitzer Prize and Grammy Around The Panhandle | JAN • FEB 2013

Award-winning composer, who will be in residence at the Conservatory.

Performing Bolcom’s works will be the Conservatory’s wind ensemble, symphony orchestra, and opera program, all of which are made up of Conservatory students. Joining the talented students will be faculty soloists. A special treat for ticketholders will be a pre-concert talk by Bolcom himself, beginning at 7:15 p.m. Bolcom will present some of the background about the music the audience will be hearing and what inspired him to create the music.

Preceding the February 23 event will be a free concert on February 22. “Twice each year,” MacRae explains, “the Conservatory hosts free concerts that are deemed ‘Ear Candy.’ These two free concerts are designed to showcase new and contemporary music.”

For those not familiar with Shenandoah Conservatory, theatre and dance performances are held either on the main stage at the Ohrstrom-Bryant Theatre, located at 1460 University Drive in Winchester, Virginia, or in the

Glaize Studio Theatre, located at the same address. Most musical performances are held at the Armstrong Concert Hall, located at 702 University Drive in Winchester.

Occasionally, performances are held at other venues, such as Barns of Rose Hill in Berryville, Virginia. In addition to the instrumental musical performances, the Conservatory produces and presents dance, opera, and theatre productions. For instance, each year, Conservatory dance students get to showcase their talents in three dance concerts – one in spring, one in summer, and one in the fall. For this season, the Class of 2013 will showcase their talent during the Senior Dance, held February 1-3, and then later, closer to graduation day, will perform at the Spring Dance Concert on April 5-7, demonstrating a dazzling culmination of rigor, talent, and drive.

Conservatory students will also let their talent shine in several theatre productions, including Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods (February 28-March 3)

and Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1 (February 14-17). “I imagine many people are familiar with Sondheim’s play,” MacRae notes, since the Broadway performance garnered a Tony award. “It is an adult take on the familiar fairy tales of our childhood. At the end of Act I, everyone lives happily ever after. Then the following acts depict the reality of what comes after ‘happily ever after.’ It’s a dark, but fascinating, tale.” Not so dark, MacRae emphasizes, is the Shakespeare play. “Sometimes, when people hear that a play is one of Shakespeare’s history plays, they groan because they think it is going to be boring. But there is nothing boring about Henry IV, Part 1. It’s actually really, really funny. In fact, the play contains one of the greatest characters of all times: Falstaff.”

Theatre-goers will get a special treat at the Conservatory performance of the Shakespeare play. “The Conservatory’s director of acting, J.J. Ruscella, is going to play Falstaff,” MacRae says with a smile. “He is absolutely the perfect person to play Falstaff!”

Photo by Tony Miller. www.AroundThePanhandle.com

[ 35 ]

Within the mix of dance, theatre, and instrumental performances, opera lovers are not forgotten by the Conservatory. They will be treated to a performance of one of Mozart’s greatest operas, Don Giovanni (April 26-28). The Conservatory describes the opera thus: “Featuring the Shenandoah Conservatory Symphony Orchestra, Don Giovanni fuses comedy, melodrama, and the supernatural in a morality tale about an arrogant and promiscuous nobleman rushing headlong into a terrifying fate.” Those interested in

both opera and popular culture may remember that Don Giovanni figured significantly in Amadeus, the 1984 movie about Mozart.

The Conservatory has been bringing outstanding performances to the Shenandoah Valley since 1875, as well as providing a nurturing environment for the cultivation of performing artists.

The Conservatory has made its mark outside the Valley as well.

The Conservatory Choir won a Grammy Award, the Wind Ensemble

performed in Carnegie Hall, members of Symphony Orchestra performed in Helsinki Music Festival, and several conservatory groups regularly perform at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and the Music Center at Strathmore in Rockville, Maryland, as well as through other venues.

A complete listing of the Conservatory’s extensive offerings for the 2013 season can be found on its Web page at www. conservatoryperforms.org.

Photo by Janet Kimber

Photo by Alan Lehman

Sloan MacRae, Managing Director of Shenandoah Conservatory If you ask Sloan MacRae what attracted him to his new job as managing director of the Shenandoah Conservatory, he will quickly give you two main reasons. “I’m thrilled to become a part of the Shenandoah Conservatory; it has an outstanding reputation,” MacRae says. The second reason has to do with where the Conservatory is located. “My wife and I have an 18-month-old,” he explains, “and Winchester is a

[ 36 ]

great place to raise children.”

Following a nation-wide search, MacRae was appointed as managing director for Shenandoah Conservatory, as well as director of Performing Arts Live concert series, in February 2012. Prior to that, he served, since 2009, as director of marketing and communications for City Theatre in Pittsburgh. Previously, he held that same position in the Department of Theatre Arts at the University of Pittsburgh. He also has served as an assistant with World-Wide Group and as a publicist for BOLDE Communications in New York. MacRae works actively as a freelance writer, having written and

published 36 nonfiction books for children. Academic institutions and professional theatre companies, including Juilliard, Columbia University, Phoenix Theatre (Washington, D.C.), Immediate Theatre Company, HERE and Epiphany Theatre Company, have produced several of his plays.

MacRae holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Communications from Grove City College in Pennsylvania and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Playwriting from Carnegie Mellon University, where he received the Carnegie Mellon Drama Alumni Award for Dramatic Writing.

Around The Panhandle | JAN • FEB 2013

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Family First

Doctor Returns to Hometown for the Love of Family — by Bethany Davidson

A hairdresser or a doctor. That was a young Maria Merzouk’s response when people would ask her what she wanted to be when she grew up. “At the time everyone just laughed,” she remembers. “I didn’t know what was so funny about that. [But] one or the other I was going to do.”

“I cut my hair so many times when I was growing up. Oh, I got in trouble,” Merzouk says with a smile.

“I cut my sister’s hair, my hair. I had to write a thousand times ‘I will not cut my sister’s hair. I will not cut my sister’s hair.’ Yes I did. A thousand times.” But despite the many haircuts featuring crooked bangs, when the Martinsburg native graduated from high school in 1993 she headed off to what’s now West Liberty University, and she left a premed major.

Now after nearly two decades away, Dr. Maria Merzouk has moved back to her hometown for the most important reason, her family. “If you had asked me five years ago [if I would be back], I would have said, ‘Heck no.’ But as you grow older I think we mature and realize that our family unit, our parents become more important.”

“I knew my parents weren’t going to move,” says the board-certified obstetrician/gynecologist, who was formerly an assistant professor of OB/GYN at the WVU School of Medicine in Morgantown, West Virginia. So in order to be closer to her entire extended family and to give her children an opportunity to see their grandparents more frequently, the Merzouks decided to head back to the Eastern Panhandle.

The doctor, her husband, and their two children made the move in late 2011 and couldn’t be happier. “I’ve seen my parents more in the last

[ 40 ]

Around The Panhandle | JAN • FEB 2013

year than by far I did in the last five years,” she says. “My mom and I had the opportunity to cook Thanksgiving dinner together this year, which is a first for us. Because my father’s family, the Domenico family, are all here, my children have played sports with their second cousin. They go to school with their third cousin. And that’s kind of neat to have that much extension in your family.”

When Maria’s parents found out about her decision to make Martinsburg her home once again, they were overwhelmingly excited, but also hesitant and concerned about how it would affect their daughter’s thriving medical career.

“My father asked the question are you sure? Is there opportunity for you here?”

Dr. Merzouk’s career in medicine began at the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine where she fell in love with female health. In her second year of medical school,

www.AroundThePanhandle.com

she was required to do exams at both the women’s and men’s health fair. “I did my first women’s health exam and I was like ‘Wow, this is awesome’ and just fell in love with taking care of females.” As she progressed through medical school, she discovered another love, surgery. So when the time came, Maria gave up on her original goal of being a pediatrician and chose obstetrics and gynecology, the specialty that would allow her to both treat women and operate.

The doctor spent her residency in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, with her husband, Rick and young son before accepting a faculty position at West Virginia University. As an assistant professor, Merzouk excelled as a teacher and eventually became the Director of Medical Student Clerkship for OB/GYN. Ensuring that a move back to Berkeley County wouldn’t destroy the path she had created in academic medicine was important.

So when Maria placed a call to Rosie Cannarella, Associate Dean - Student Services and Academic Achievement, Eastern Division, to see what opportunities might be available, she was pleasantly surprised to learn that there was a position available.

Though it was sooner than anticipated, the Merzouks made the move to the Panhandle and, in December 2011, Maria joined Dr. James Brown’s practice at WVUHEast Obstetrics/Gynecology and became a member of the medical staff at City Hospital as well as an assistant professor for the WVU School of Medicine’s Eastern Division.

Since returning, Dr. Merzouk has also brought a new surgical skill set to the area. In the Spring of 2011 she performed City Hospital’s first total laparoscopic hysterectomy.

The minimally invasive procedure offers major surgery without a large abdominal incision. “I think that if

[ 41 ]

you want to keep up with medicine and the times, you have to be able to offer things are current and that’s very current. It’s important for us to keep up with medical advances and to be able to offer those procedures that other areas are offering,” says Merzouk. According to the doctor, the procedure is really taking off and other physicians are now beginning to offer it as well.

Merzouk says that right now there’s no reason for her to move away from the Martinsburg area. However, she and her family understand that academic medicine is a changing environment and her goals to advance in that area may eventually require another move.

While Maria does aspire to grow her practice and eventually become an associate dean, the thing that she is most proud of in her life is her family. “I think we have a great family,” she says. “It’s a great unit and I think we have something to do with that. I don’t think that just happens.”

It hasn’t always been easy, but Merzouk has found a balance between her professional and personal life. As a young physician she struggled to juggle the time she knew she had to put in to medicine and the time with her family while still feeling like she was doing a good job. “I think when you are type A and you want to be excellent at both, it’s tough to do that without beating yourself up or letting something slide and I think now that I’ve definitely found a balance and it’s fun.”

Dr. Merzouk is currently accepting new patients. For more information about the practice or to schedule an appointment, call 304-264-8603.

Merzouk understands that women’s health exams can be invasive and uncomfortable so she works hard to create an atmosphere that is both comfortable and fun. It doesn’t matter if she’s known you since high school or if she’s just met you for the first time, in her office everyone gets treated like a person and receives the same great medical care.

[ 42 ]

Around The Panhandle | JAN • FEB 2013

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Beasley’s Books and Eccentricities: The Cat’s Meow

By Bonnie Williamson

“There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats,” according to the worldfamous missionary and philosopher, Dr. Albert Schweitzer. Books could be added to that quote. Beasley’s Books and Eccentricities, located at 307 W. Washington Street in Charles Town, West Virginia, is a refuge for readers, people who like to eat, and music lovers, too. “I wanted to open a place I would want to come to,” says Beasley owner, Kelly Davenport.

“It’s not a typical sports bar. We have a more intellectual crowd. I want to encourage people to have conversations. You may come in here by yourself, but you can leave knowing three other people.”

And, there’s the cat angle. Beasley isn’t a person. She is one of Davenport’s three cats. The other two cats are Cuddle Kitty and Annie.

“Beasley likes to read and likes beer” Davenport says. “As soon as a book is in sight, she’s right there so

www.AroundThePanhandle.com

I named the store after her. I even found a Buddha cat statue that I keep right at the front of the store.

It reminds me of Beasley.”

The store itself is lined with bookshelves containing used and new books. Patrons can sit at the bar, at several small tables, or on sofas and comfy chairs at the back of the store. Some people just come in to read. There are no televisions.

“We have a large group of regular customers,” notes Davenport. “We are very much like the bar featured on the TV show, ‘Cheers.’”

A variety of other items in the store include notecards made from recycled materials, assorted teas, and Woodwick candles. Even the candles are designed to help people relax. They feature organic wood wicks that sound like a crackling fire. “We have unique things for sale here,” Davenport explains. “They are all part of the Eccentricities.”

In addition to the books and “eccentricities,” Beasley’s offers its customers a wide variety of sandwiches, appetizers, soup, salad, beer, and wine. “I decided it would be good for sales to have a tavern atmosphere,” says Davenport.

Tuesday and Saturday nights are music nights, with different musicians stopping by to entertain.

Davenport says the music is eclectic.

“Folk, rock, blues, country. All of it.

This has been very well received.”

However, Davenport admits books are the primary aspect of the store.

“I have always loved books and been collecting them for years. I like historical nonfiction,” she says.

Davenport strives to keep prices reasonable for her customers. “I research all the books online. The price depends on the condition of the books and whether or not they are out of print. I have some of the newest bestsellers here, too.”

[ 45 ]

Still, a bookstore can be particularly challenging to run in this day and age. Borders, a major chain, stopped doing business in 2011.

The publishers themselves are finding a tough market. In 2009, U.S. book sales were $23.9 billion.

That represents a 1.8 percent decline from the $24.3 billion book sales in 2008, according to the Association of American Publishers.

Nick Morgan, a writer with Forbes Magazine, is one of many to address this issue. “Traditional publishers become increasingly irrelevant and gradually fade away, unless they can form real bonds with readers,” he writes. “What most people don’t understand about the book business is that traditional publishers don’t interest themselves in readers and don’t form connections with them.”

[To read the entire article, go to this link: http://www.forbes.com/sites/ nickmorgan/2012/07/12/what-isthe-future-of-publishing/.]

Davenport wants, and has formed, connections with her patrons.

She multi-tasks, expertly making sandwiches while conversing with her customers. She lets them look around as long as they wish and does what she can to find books for them. At a time when the economy has been slowing down, and books are being replaced by electronic devices, Davenport has beaten the odds. She just celebrated her first year in the business.

She moved to West Virginia from

[ 46 ]

North Carolina in 1998. She attended Shepherd University in Shepherdstown. She started out as a history major then switched to business. She held a variety of jobs.

Beasley’s is her first store. “You learn as you go,” she says. “I wanted to liven things up in downtown Charles Town. It’s such a nice downtown area. That’s why I started the business here. Beasley’s is not something you see every day. It’s been a lot of fun.”

Still, getting the business started started was far from fun.

The store that is now Beasley’s was originally a furniture store. “I redid everything,” Davenport says. “The floors, walls, bookcases. Put in a nice bar. It was a lot of work. I’ve never worked that hard in my life. And it was definitely a learning process.”

Beasley’s has six employees. One of those employees is Davenport’s 17-year-old son, Adrian Baker. It’s his first job. “I really enjoy watching the customers. It’s so relaxing here.

Not loud at all. Lots of conversations.

Tuesdays and Saturdays are really busy because they’re music nights,” Adrian says.

He helps his mom serve the customers and helps make sandwiches. But what he fixes for others is not always what he would fix for himself. “I’m a picky eater though. Don’t like tomatoes. Don’t like lettuce on sandwiches,” he says, smiling. Regardless, he would like to be a chef someday, so the

experience at Beasley’s has been a good one.

But getting back to books and cats, it’s so appropriate that the store is named after a feline.

The writer Ernest Hemingway was known for his love of cats.

One reason he states is, “A cat has absolute emotional honesty: human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not.” A cat has been a muse for many of the other writers featured at Beasley’s, as well. So as you’re relaxing on a couch in that locale, you might want to ponder why cats and writers get along so well. Blog writer Liz Krieger has a few theories. She speculates that writers tend to remain stationary for longs periods of time, providing a non-moving lap. Writers tend to be awake at odd hours of the night.

Since cats are nocturnal, that works out well. And finally, because writers’ schedules are more catlike than humanlike, their eating schedules vary so there are more opportunities for snacks.

For a unique and enjoyable experience, try Beasley’s Books and Eccentricities. The hours are from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays and from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday. It is closed on Sunday.

For more information, you can visit the Facebook page, call 304-7259630, or e-mail beasleysbooks@ yahoo.com.

Around The Panhandle | JAN • FEB 2013

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10 Content Provided by TopTenz.net

Our TOP

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Every decade has movie franchises that define the decade in the minds of young as well as old viewers. We are focusing on films whose first part makes its debut after January 1st, 2010. Now that we are in 2013, why wait around to figure out what franchises are going to captivate you for the next decade? Plans may change, movies may seriously bomb, but here is the prospective list of film

franchises that will dominate your consciousness till about say, 2019.

Lone Ranger Movies The groans have already started but here us out on this one. The film is backed by Disney. The movie is directed by Gore Verbinski. The stars are Armie Hammer and Johnny Depp. The last time that Disney, Depp, Verbinski as well as an up and coming easy on the eyes star joined forces‌ the result was Pirates of the Caribbean. While Captain Jack Sparrow might have not had a domestic hit domestically, Pirates 4 was still a billion dollar hit with overseas grosses combined. In addition, Pirates movies were not exactly all the rage before Curse of the Black Pearl either. Debuting next

year, the Lone Ranger

may ride and ride again.

Jupiter Ascending Trilogy The Wachowski Siblings (no longer brothers) are the same team who brought us the Matrix Trilogy. They are back in their element with a post apocalyptic sci fi movie set to debut in 2014. Starring the hot Channing Tatum and the hotter Mila Kunis, the Wachowskis may be primed to regain the cache they had coming off of Matrix Reloaded. With a world ready to see more Avatar movies (which are also coming),

Jupiter may Ascend into Saturn, Neptune and beyond.

New Spider-Man Movies Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone so far have not been the cash machine that Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst were. However, a quarter of a billion dollar domestically is nothing to sneeze at. As such, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (somewhat working title) is already slated for a May 2nd, 2014 release. There are 40 years worth of brightly costumed villains to explore. Of course, if the follow the Batman Begins mode, the trigger on the Green Goblin is not far behind for our new web slinger.

[ 48 ]

Around The Panhandle | JAN • FEB 2013

Planet of the Apes Movies World wide, Rise of the Planet of the Apes made roughly five times in gross profits what it cost to make. That makes next years Dawn of the Planet of The Apes a virtual no-brainer. Tim Burton never really wanted to make a franchise out of it. However, this time around the Apes will rise and rise until they no longer become commercially viable. The first real run, by the way, was five films.

There is a strong possibility we have not

evolved that

much since

then.

World War Z Movies Three things are hot right now. They are Zombie Movies, The Apocalypse, and Brad Pitt. Next years summer blockbuster is nice enough to give you all three at the same time. With the amount of money this will generate, there will probably be a World War Z 2 whether Pitt signs up for the role again or not. That is the reason why there is Matt Damon and to a lesser extent Jeremy Renner.

All you need is an army, a ton of zombies, and a couple hundred million to throw at the whole situation.

Man of Steel Trilogy Lets just assume that the Robin trilogy is just an internet rumor, the next great Batman franchise is still a couple visionaries off, and the Justice League of America movies will go through a development hell worthy of their potential attachment with Ben Affleck. Warner Brothers is not exactly rushing to make Green Lantern 2, so the fall back position is the hero that started this whole shebang. Zach Snyder’s Man of Steel needs to be a home run to compete with Marvel’s cash machine. The preliminaries look great and there is one ace in the hole that a second Man of Steel cannot begin to resist… in the name of Doomsday.

Pacific Rim Movies There is a reason why Peter Jackson was willing to hand over the reigns of Middle Earth to Guillermo Del Toro. Del Toro knows monsters. Del Toro knows action. Del Toro was also willing to give Hellboy another go. The description of Pacific Rim involves humans piloting giant robots to meet an alien invasion. Basically, this is Voltron meets Independence Day. We may be dealing with these particular aliens for a while. Besides, someone may decide not to make Cloverfield 2 out of fear. There is always hope.

www.AroundThePanhandle.com

[ 49 ]

Hunger Games Movies We live in an age when the Twilight movies are still ongoing and already have a successor making nearly 400 million at the box office. The Hunger Games already have the formula down. Catching Fire is in production. There is talk that Mockingjay will be divided into two parts ala the Harry Potter finale and Breaking Dawn.

With J. K. Rowling, Stephanie Meyer and Suzanne Collins down, the world must already be searching for the next female author to come up with a world capable of entrancing tween to teen girls. When all is said and done, a world wide gross of nearly 3 Billion or above for all four movies is not out of the question at all.

The Hobbit Trilogy A little trivia: they originally expanded the Lord of the Rings from a planned two movies to the three movies that you saw. Now that the Hobbit has taken one book and expanded from two movies to a trilogy before the first one was even released, the die is cast for another trilogy to define yet another generation. Peter Jackson is the George Lucas of Middle Earth, but the difference is that Rings fans have learned to trust Peter Jackson’s vision implicitly.

Avengers, Avengers, Avengers. . .

There is not only a planned Avengers sequel. There is a healthy appetite for each individual member to have spawned their own personal trilogies. When done, Avengers related movies may add up to be the most successful film franchise of all time. We are already bracing for Iron Man 3, Captain America: Winter Soldier, Thor: The Dark World, a possible new third re-boot of The Incredible Hulk, as well as Avengers 2. You will see Avengers straight through this whole decade.

Only a Mayan Prophesy can begin to stop any part of it.

[ 50 ]

Around The Panhandle | JAN • FEB 2013

Get the Girls together for a Fabulous Spaaaah..... Day

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Increased Focus on Electronic Data Breaches: Should we be more Comfortable with Paper?

By Jim Scott, President of Records Management Solutions (RMS)

The news seems to be awash these days with several high profile data breaches, the most prominent of which involved South Carolina’s Department of Revenue compromising the Social Security numbers of over 3.6 million taxpayers in late 2012. That particular incident involved hacking, which has become commonplace as more sensitive information is stored and accessed digitally. In fact, hackers are now responsible for more data breaches than any other source. This situation certainly merits taking a more vigilant approach in protecting private electronic data from creation to disposal.

With all the focus on cyber and network security, it remains to be seen if more organizations will become less reluctant in their desire to convert paper records to a digital format. On the surface, it would seem that hardcopy data would be less vulnerable to such massive consequences. However, paper documents and files are still vulnerable to theft and thus represent a very real risk, which should be treated seriously.

Paper documents are still a target Careless attitudes and lackadaisical practices concerning the security and disposal of paper records continues, which explains why 43 percent of all identity theft is a result of stolen paperwork. Even if individuals take precautionary measures to protect their personal information, there’s no guarantee that the same private information located in another

[ 52 ]

location is secure. For example, paper records containing personal data are often found in: • healthcare provider facilities; • accountant and financial advisor offices; • law firm file rooms; and • educational and government institutions.

Of course, any of the above entities has a legal responsibility to protect private consumer information and is likely to be bound by the following regulations: • Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA); • Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA); • Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX); and • Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB).

• However, since healthcare providers and financial, legal, and government institutions also maintain such a voluminous amount of data, they are a highly desirable target for thieves.

So, no matter the format in which data resides - digital or paper - it should be adequately protected.

measures for the disposal of paper records and files.

Ensuring due diligence A professional document shredding company will ensure that your business practices due diligence during the disposal of paper documents and files. Prior to implementing either a mobile shredding or off-site solution, the right provider will conduct a Data Security Audit to determine which service best meets the needs of your organization.

Records Management Solutions provides document shredding services for businesses throughout West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C. To find out more about how we can help your organization, please contact us by phone or fill in the form on the page.

Risks of improper disposal In the case of paper records, often the disposal process represents the greatest risk of private information being compromised. Files that are carelessly tossed in dumpsters can easily be discovered and misused.

Additionally, documents that are improperly shredded may also be collected and mined for valuable data. In short, organizations need to exercise the utmost security

Around The Panhandle | JAN • FEB 2013

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Meat Men The sizzle of cooking meat is unmistakable. Meat is so desirable and comforting to most Americans that, during a World War II USO radio show broadcast the GI’s, overseas, requested that Bob Hope and Lana Turner place a microphone up to a frying steak, so that our servicemen and women could take comfort from the sound over the radio.

Kevin Duvall and Ron Asche, of East Coast Steaks and Seafood in Inwood, West Virginia, are making certain that people in the Panhandle and surrounding states can enjoy that sizzle any time. East Coast Steaks and Seafood trucks travel

[ 56 ]

door to door, neighborhood, and town to supply a variety of excellent flash frozen quality meats and seafood direct to you.

Here are two men working together almost as one. These two sides of the same coin operate with a friendly rivalry even to finishing each other’s sentences. Kevin is slightly younger and can be referred to as Mr. Inside. He handles the ordering and day-to-day operations at their storefront in Inwood, while Ron, whose light hair belies his age, is more tempted toward hyperbole and, as Mr. Outside, is more often on the road helping customers. Both of them share an unshakable belief in

By Rick Hemphill

the quality of their product and the benefits of their business.

Their inventory is comprehensive.

“We carry lamb, pork, beef, and our chicken is all natural,” Kevin, Mr. Inside, says with complete confidence in his products. “Our seafood is fresh and flash frozen; a lot of it is wild caught.”

“We believe in the quality of our product and we stand behind it 100 percent. I have 85 percent repeat business,” Ron, Mr. Outside, interjects, his enthusiasm spilling over.

“It is all packaged and flash frozen,”

Around The Panhandle | JAN • FEB 2013

Kevin continues. “All of our meat is packaged within 3 hours of it being cut or caught and we guarantee it.

This is as fresh as you can get!”

From the enthusiasm and confidence each of these men generate, it is hard to imagine them spending years doing anything else; however, this company is not quite a year old.

“We officially started on January 20, 2012,” Ron says as he proudly explains the company’s short history.

“We formed the relationship in Kevin’s driveway and started our business with four people and a couple of trucks. By May, we built this storefront and now we are up to 10 trucks and 18 contractors; three new ones started just today. We are growing fast.”

“We began with the economy line of beef, chicken, pork, and seafood,” Kevin exclaims, jumping in to add his comments. “Our customers can buy at the store or from our trucks as they go door to door, and on the Internet at eastcoaststeaks.com.

We are advertising on the radio too.

We also have an extremely high end product and we go from mobile homes to…”

www.AroundThePanhandle.com

“Multimillion dollar estates,” Ron interjects.

Kevin rapidly continues, “The economy line allows us to provide much smaller packages fairly priced for our customers, down to 3 or 4 dollars per steak. The higher line is more like $9.00 per steak.”

“The high-end steaks are a butcher cut and it’s all natural,” Ron adds with a quick flourish. “We can get any cut of meat that anyone can demand. We have customers all over since we go door to door and even some top-level government officials who demand very high-end stuff. We have a very wide range of products that we can offer to our customers.”

Those products provide a brisk door-to-door business. “We turn our inventory over every 10 days,” Kevin says, proud of his business model and the people who take the trucks on their cross-country journeys in search of customers.

“I never envisioned we would be this far ahead,” Ron adds. “I grew up in New York State and went to college down here. I was in the high tech

field for over 20 years. Everywhere I went, the companies kept getting bought out and, as middle management, I kept getting laid off,” Ron says with a positive attitude.

Kevin’s history is similar. “I was born and raised here,” Kevin emphasizes with a distinct pleasure. “I went to college and got an engineering degree and every couple of years I was downsized. I always knew I wanted to come back here and do something.”

Middle management and downsizing ups and downs brought these two entrepreneurs together at the right time. “So, I looked in the newspaper and saw an ad for food delivery guys and that was Horizon Foods,” Ron continues without missing a beat.

“That is where I cut my teeth on this business.”

As often happens, these two are reading from the same page of slightly different histories. “We both started working in this business for a national company called Horizon Foods,” Kevin states as they both begin to laugh. “We do have a lot of fun, and we have a friendly rivalry.”

[ 57 ]

“I met Kevin and we kept talking over the years,” Ron says confidently, reaffirming his attitude toward the future. “So, when Horizon went out of business last year, Kevin approached me and said hey there is no reason for us to disappear just because Horizon is gone.”

“I said, let’s get together and start a whole new entity,” Kevin interjected.

“We had all the clientele we just needed to get together and merge our forces and keep on rolling.”

Ron summed up their business relationship. “I love this work because there are many opportunities, a lot of freedom, and there is room to grow,” Ron exclaims. “We are a natural fit.”

That fit is working very well. “We want to grow the company so we hope to expand to an additional location next year in Alexandria, Virginia,” Kevin explains with a hopeful tone. [ 58 ]

“And maybe Montgomery or PG County in Maryland,” Ron tags on.

“This business is really competitive,” he adds. “Every day you go out you are essentially out of business until you make your next sale unless you have an awful lot of repeat clientele.”

“The biggest problem we have in direct sales is gaining that trust from the customer,” Kevin says, explaining the obstacles to their direct-sale business model. “People need to understand we are not a fly-by-night company.”

“When you are brand-new like we are, establishing credibility is a challenge,” Ron says pointedly. “We provide a good product and stand behind it. If there are any problems we take care of the customers and make sure they are satisfied because what we want to do is build repeat business. “ “We want to be your humble

servant,” Kevin says with a proud smile. “This is where I grew up and where I have lived all my life. We are here in the Berkeley County area and we are going to grow and give back to the people of the community.”

“My biggest fear is that I don’t want to be a victim of my own success,” Ron says earnestly. “We are trying to keep it under control but we are growing really fast. We have 18 people out there on the road every day going door to door selling our product. But even so, if an experienced person comes in, we are going to put him on the job.

We are not going to deny him an opportunity to come here and make a living.”

“I love to help our people,” Kevin says with a genuine interest in his workforce. “Some were not fortunate enough to go to college or perhaps didn’t have access to all of the opportunities available. We Around The Panhandle | JAN • FEB 2013

give them the opportunity to own their own business and make a lot of money. I watch this team of individuals start out and grow into successful business men. It’s nice to sit back and watch them make money. It is rewarding to think that I am giving them an awful lot of opportunities.”

“And that is what we are doing here,” Ron adds with pride and satisfaction “We have created opportunities for 18 other people to make a life for themselves. They don’t work for us as much as what we are growing is 18 other businesses.”

Today is a morning of opportunities as the trucks load up and each driver readies to start the sales day.

“Mondays and Thursdays we have sales and training meetings here to keep our guys pumped up and on goal,” Ron explains as they quickly move about their business. “We keep them informed of any changes or anything new that is happening with the company. As independent business men we are just trying to keep them on track.”

www.AroundThePanhandle.com

“Most of the guys have specific routes that they want to work and go to different towns on different days,” Kevin relates from experience.

“We operate in Northern Virginia, Woodbridge, Harrisonburg, north up to Breezewood, Pennsylvania, and the Baltimore/Washington corridor.

We recommend to our drivers that they stay within a circle of two hours driving time from our office.”

“In between, Mr. Inside is ordering food like crazy,” Ron says. “We want to cover the entire market from the low end to the top top end. We have something for everybody.

We have an economy line product that appeals to people more price conscious and then we have the butcher cut that appeals to people at the top of the economy.”

“We just took the best of all the meat companies we have ever known and made that work for us,” Kevin says. “We sell about 3,600 pounds of meat each week. Our beef comes from one supplier, our chicken from another, our seafood

from several others. I truly believe our handmade blue crab cake from the eastern shore of Maryland is the best crab cake you will ever eat. We bring only the best food and quality meats to you at the fairest possible price.”

“We carry a burger called a pub burger,” Ron interjects with his favorite. “It was tested in Baltimore and 8 out of 10 high-end restaurants are carrying our burger. We have the best fully cooked baby back ribs and buffalo burgers. If we can get anything special for a good customer, we will. We will go above and beyond.”

“We are here in the Berkeley County area and we are going to grow and give back to the people of the community,” Kevin says with commitment. “That is what we are bringing to your door. When we knock on your door from East Coast Steaks and Seafood, be nice to us.”

For more information, go to www. eastcoaststeaks.com or visit the company’s Facebook page.

[ 59 ]

The Hogging Up BBQ Festival will be held at the fairgrounds off Route 11 in Clear Brook, VA. This is a sanctioned KCBS event, full of bands, vendors, wineries, beer garden, food, and a KCBS BBQ Competition! Fun for the whole family! See serious barbecue competitors from many states descend upon the fairgrounds smokin’ it up to win fame and fortune! Listen to the tunes of Stoney Creek Bluegrass, Circa Blue and other rising country and bluegrass artists like Kirsten Sowers! Find a complete band lineup on our website. The Hogging Up Festival is seeking vendors, sponsors, bands, participants and of course you the public . Visit www.hoggingup.com for details.

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Pricing to Sell in Today’s Market Why is it that some homes sit on the market for a year while others sell within weeks? Frustrated sellers will blame a bad market, while a good real estate professional will tell you that many times, a slow sale is often attributed to the listing price. If a home is overpriced, buyers will stay away. But, if the price is competitive with similar homes in the area and “shows” better than the competition, it will have a better chance of being sold quickly. The secret is perfecting a technique that’s as American as apple pie, known as comparative shopping.

Although comparing houses with different styles, square footages, and locations is challenging, real estate professionals still feel it’s one of the best methods to use when determining a home’s market value.

A responsible real estate agent will effectively evaluate a home’s worth through a process known as comparative marketing analysis (CMA). Taking a look at assets, such as a fireplace, bigger than normal living spaces, a fantastic view, adjacent city parks, and other attractions, the agent will begin to compare your home with similar properties, called “comparables,” which have sold in the area within the last six months.

Typically, the agent is able to recommend a realistic price range that will ensure you top dollar and a reasonably prompt sale. However, factors such as the amount of time needed to sell your home can alter the agent’s price recommendation

[ 62 ]

dramatically. You should check with your real estate office in the community to determine the usual length of time that listings are on the market. Sales associates will explain that the marketing “norms” vary with prices and properties.

Based on these criteria, the agent should feel confident that he or she will be able to sell your property for a price that both you and the buyer will be happy with. However, if you’re under time constraints because of unexpected job changes or moving agreements you’ve made on another property, this will narrow your chances of selling the home for top dollar in the market.

Assuming you have sufficient time to market the home, here are a few small steps you and your agent can take to finding the right price for your property. The best comparisons can be made with similar homes that have been sold within the last 45 days, as opposed to the standard six months. A longer length of time and other factors, such as the economy, as well as the current inventory of similar homes, could factor into how much your home is really worth. Another good benchmark is to review the selling prices of homes that have just been sold, but the sale has not yet been finalized (pending closes). Most MLS services provide information on deals pending that most real estate agents should be able to share with you. A good rule of thumb before setting a price is to make comparisons of comparable properties within a seven-mile radius of your home.

Once this is completed, you can feel comfortable that the price you’ve picked is a good gauge of the home’s worth and won’t discourage qualified buyers.

Being open and honest about what you see as the home’s greatest strengths and biggest weaknesses will also help an agent get a better feel for how to best evaluate (or assess) and market your home.

Think of your home as if you were the buyer. If your home is listed at the right price, you’re well on your way to a speedy and profitable sale.

Many real estate Internet sites give potential buyers a feel for what your home should sell for. Keep in mind that statistics show that over 92 percent of consumers start looking online first when they are considering a home purchase and are generally educated by this medium.

In closing, having a real estate company that gets information about your home out to potential buyers is key to your successful sale. If the public knows about your home that is priced to sell, it will certainly sell.

Any agency can list your home; your task is to find the agency that will market your home to get you the most it can sell for in the shortest amount of time.

Need a Smarter, Bolder, Faster company? Give us call to discuss a marketing plan that works for you: 304-263-2121.

Around The Panhandle | JAN • FEB 2013

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3 1 0 2 , 3 Y R A BRU E F • I I V L X A L L W , O S B N A R E E L P R U S O W E N • T S E CBS 6:30

February 14 sneaks up upon most men. It may be remembered, or thought of, but it is quickly overlooked in the busy hubbub of life until several days before when the advertising and the hinting finally take hold of your consciousness.

Yes, you know the drill. Each year you fully intend to get those roses earlier and each year you wonder why in the heck they are so expensive.

But then the look on her face when she receives them is worth it. And it makes her happy. That in turn makes your day happier so why the delay? What are you waiting for?

There are actually quite a few people and businesses whose future literally depends on what you are about to do.

“Valentine’s Day can be a very good holiday,” says Pam Wagoner, the owner of Depot Florist at 532 W. King Street in Martinsburg. “But it can be a very tricky holiday. It is the biggest time of year for sales within a 3-day period. Usually Christmas is more of a volume holiday because it goes from November through December 24. However, for quick massive sales in a short time, you can’t beat Valentine’s Day because nobody wants it on the 13th and nobody wants it on the 15th.”

Pam has been involved in the florist business for 34 years. It started with her father who had Jones’ Landscaping and she studied horticulture at James Rumsey, in Hedgesville. She went to work while still in high school as a girl Friday and eventually started her own shop.

Valentine’s Day can be a Tricky Holiday

by Rick Hemphill

[ 64 ]

“I was the first tenant of the old train station in Martinsburg,” Pam remarks. “I was in there in time for my very first Valentine’s Day and it was a very good one. The weather co-operated.”

“Most florists know in advance what they sold the year before,” Pam explains, understanding the sound business accounting required. “You

Around The Panhandle | JAN • FEB 2013

can figure in what the economy is doing and then you think about the weather.”

But the flowers don’t magically appear quickly popping out of the ground on February 13th. “You have to place your order with your wholesaler about a month to 6 weeks in advance to get the best price,” Pam says with a warning.

“So you are going by blind faith that everything is going to hold out for you until Valentine’s Day. You are placing an order for 2,000 roses and umpteen flowers when you don’t have one sold.”

The high price of flowers at Valentine’s Day begins with the wholesalers. “Valentine’s Day is one of those holidays where sales are quick and a lot of cash goes through the door,” Pam admits. “But you have a lot of expense because the wholesale price of the product also goes up two or three times the normal price. People think that we raise our Valentine prices just so we can make a lot more money during Valentine’s Day sales. Actually the percentage of profit we make is lower than normal. The roses actually cost us so much more for February than the rest of the year.”

It is not just the cost of the flowers that increases thanks to the holiday. “Our delivery fees from the wholesalers go up,” Pam says, emphasizing the business changes that occur. “While the cost of all of the other wholesale products more than double in price as well. You have extra delivery people on the payroll and then you need to rent extra vehicles for them to drive because the volume is so intense.

We might have three or four hundred deliveries that go out that day, whereas normally we might have maybe twenty.”

Thus creativity must go beyond the flower arrangements and into the marketing. “That is why every florist tries to have a lot of price breaks to offer products at different prices,” Pam insists, as she begins to check off some of the ways. “There is cash and carry where you can pick the flowers up and take them with you. You can have roses completely arranged or you can have roses in

www.AroundThePanhandle.com

a box and that way we try to have something for everybody.”

“The economy is not always the largest factor in sales. The thing that throws the ringer in it is the weather,” Pam explains, her eyes flashing just a bit. “The last two years have been generally good, but the three years before that were a nightmare. We had an ice storm about four years ago that shut the entire town down. We had to put our employees up at a motel so that hopefully they could ice skate down to the store to work.”

Preparation and experience can help a florist through, but the workload can be daunting. “During that ice storm we were open and we did not miss a delivery but to give you an idea of logistics,” Pam recalls, almost feeling the exhaustion that bad weather can cause. “All of the orders that we had going for delivery to organizations, offices, government offices and schools, are already completed and waiting for the offices to open. You wake up that morning and they are all shut down! Before you had ten orders for delivery to one school, now you have ten separate deliveries to ten different locations and at that point you don’t even know where those locations are. You have to contact the customers to find out where to finish the deliveries, today.”

And it is not just getting the flowers delivered. “You also have to be careful that you are not putting your drivers at risk,” Pam adds with almost parental concern. “People have paid for their flowers and they are expecting delivery but you have a certain obligation to your employees to be safe.”

Bad weather on just this one day can materially affect the business.

“It can just make or break you,” Pam says from experience. “The year of the ice storm, we got all our deliveries out but people couldn’t get in for their extras and their pickups so we actually gave away and had to throw away a little over 800 roses that year. It was a financial disaster.

To try to reel from that to pick up the pieces and not have a total loss is tricky.”

“You can work hard the whole week beforehand,” Pam adds with experience, “stay up half the night and morning getting prepared so that all the orders are ready for the 14th but if we have bad weather it can throw a tailspin into all you have done. I don’t think people realize what a tricky holiday this is.”

Of course styles and tastes change over the years. “Way back when I started all the roses were very, very tall and everyone wanted all the arrangements big, big, big, as big as you could get them,” Pam remembers, with a smile that comments on the good weather memories. “The trend here of the last two or three years has been a design called Pavè and basically it means like a pavement type where everything is very low and tight.

That is very popular right now and when the women come in they like the short Pavè arrangements especially for offices as they take up less desk space.”

But traditions are hard to change. “It is very difficult to convince the men that 12 roses cut off to 6 inches in length is the same price as 12 roses with 24-inch stems,” Pam says with a knowing grin. “But we pay the same price for the rose; we just cut the stem short.”

Of course there are differences in the sexes and age groups. “We definitely have more men purchasing at Valentine’s Day,” Pam says with a broad grin.. “Some men come in and all that they want is a dozen red roses and they know their lady friend will like it. However, for other things, most men are more visual; they have to see the arrangement.

They want to see it in the cooler and they like to point to it and say this is what I want. Women might know more about what they are getting and they can tell you what they want without having to see it to visualize what they are buying.”

Some things are the same everywhere. “The men want it big and the bigger the better,” Pam exclaims, knowing her customers very well. “Women are communicating with their men friends because some of them are starting to ask for something a

[ 65 ]

little shorter. Men and boyfriends are ordering more of the women’s favorite flowers in addition to the roses and a lot of the younger guys are getting more of the colors that the girl prefers. We are getting a lot of calls for hydrangeas, orchids, or lilies.” “I think the guys don’t mind spending the money but they want it to last a little while longer and the other flowers have a longer life than the roses.”

Sometimes it isn’t flowers at all. “We are always looking at the magazines to find what the trends and styles are,” Pam says, indicating the advance preparation required for a simple holiday. “A lot of the guys want to see a lot of different colored roses. So we might have 15 or 16 different type of roses for those who come in and want something different from the red rose. You have to show them everything else.

We also offer candy during the holiday, balloons during the holiday, and teddy bears and stuffed animals and other add-ons as we like to call them.”

Pam also understands the very real effects of the current economy.

“When people are struggling to put food on the table, clothes on their children’s backs, and pay the fuel bill, sometimes flowers take a back burner and I totally understand that. So if you want to do a little something to give someone that bit of excitement,” Pam says, knowing how much flowers can make a person’s day, “we will do a little wrap bouquet for two or five dollars. It does not have to be the biggest arrangement in the store for someone to get excited about their flowers.”

There are differences between flower shops. “The inventory that a flower shop carries reflects the tastes and styles of each owner,” Pam explains, noting that what may seem to be subtle differences will change what a store may carry. “All the owners in town have a little different style, in what they like and what they like to work with, and they each have different personalities. So I think they buy what they like and according to what the trends are each season. For instance I may not be crazy about this robin’s egg blue

[ 66 ]

that is now real popular but I know my customers might so I will carry it for them. I just might not order as much as someone else. So what we order depends on our personal taste, and the trends we see for the year.”

Valentine’s Day is very important to a florist’s business,” Pam says honestly, “because it is the very first holiday of the new year.You have gotten through Christmas and January and as a business you need that boost. Back when we didn’t have many big box stores the flower shops were one of the mainstays of the community. It truly was the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker, and the florist,” Pam says with a sigh. “People would come to the florist to get everything they needed for decorating and now unfortunately, the big box stores do cut into our business. I think what makes a florist different from the big box store is the designer. These people know the floral business and bring their creativity to the floral business. Designing arrangements is definitely an art and a talent.”

“Our personal touch is everything,” Pam says proudly. “Many of our male customers will come in and say you know my wife you know what she likes. Send her what she would like. That is everything to me,” Pam says with a big grin. “Good customer service. People are so busy in this hectic world today and things are so last minute that they just expect us to do our job and we better be ready.”

“This Valentine’s Day go to a flower shop,” Pam reiterates. “We will take care of you, we will have the product, and we will be glad to have you back as a repeat customer.”

Pam Wagoner is the owner of Depot Florist in Martinsburg and, in February 2013, will be celebrating her 15th year in business.

For more information, go to http:// www.depotflorist.com or call (304) 263-1488.

Around The Panhandle | JAN • FEB 2013

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Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. At 26.5 percent, West Virginia has the highest rate of adult smoking in the United States. There is also a higher rate of cancer in West Virginia versus nationally and a 25 percent more likelihood of lung and bronchial cancer. Youth tobacco use in the Eastern Panhandle is about 30 percent. Eighty percent of teen smokers will smoke into adulthood, and onehalf of

them will die 13 years earlier than their peers.

Every smoker who dies loses an average of 14 years of life due to premature death. One in five deaths can be attributed to tobacco. However, the cost of tobacco is not only in lives lost.

Annual healthcare costs in West Virginia directly attributed to smoking is $690 million. The average retail price of a pack of cigarettes in West Virginia is $4.60 – the real price of a pack of cigarettes to society and the state’s economy is $13.40 per pack.

Tobacco costs in West

[ 68 ]

Be Tobacco Free | By Dana M. DeJarnett, MS

Virginia are estimated to be $2 billion annually – half from direct healthcare costs and the other half associated with occupational and work productivity costs.

In 2006, the U.S. Surgeon General’s office issued a report, The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke, which concluded that (1) secondhand smoke exposure causes disease and premature death in children and adults who do not smoke; (2) exposure of adults to secondhand smoke has immediate adverse effects on the cardiovascular system and causes coronary heart disease and lung cancer; (3) there is no riskfree level of exposure to secondhand smoke; and (4) establishing smokefree workplaces is the only effective way to ensure that secondhand smoke exposure does not occur in the workplace. Since 2006, more and more studies have been published that reinforce these statements.

A recent report from the Congressional Budget Office published in the New England Journal of Medicine determined that a 50-cent increase in U.S. tax on cigarettes could have a major impact on public health.

The tax increase would create 3 million more nonsmokers by 2085. People would either quit or not smoke due to the higher cost of cigarettes. This includes 200,000 who would have died from smoking.

People will live longer and health

care costs will go down.

Another study conducted by the Mayo Clinic confirmed the unhealthy effects of secondhand smoke. The study showed that, within months of a ban on smoking in bars and workplaces, the number of people who suffer heart attacks and die decreased. Medical costs for heart attacks, strokes, and other smokingrelated illnesses go down. It is recommended that those with known heart disease avoid secondhand smoke. The study found that the stricter the law, the fewer people hospitalized.

Secondhand smoke is harmful because a person who breathes the smoke from the tip of someone else’s cigarette or exhaled by a smoker inhales the same harmful, cancer-causing parts of the smoke than the smokers inhale.

Nonsmokers are put at the same risk of smokers when exposed to this secondhand smoke. Breathing secondhand smoke is a cause of disease in healthy nonsmokers, including heart disease, stroke, respiratory disease and lung cancer.

In West Virginia, secondhand smoke is responsible for 290 to 510 deaths a year and $38.3 million in healthcare expenditures. All of this is due to the involuntary exposure to secondhand smoke.

Other studies have found that adults exposed to secondhand smoke have a higher rate of obesity and Type 2 Diabetes and nonsmokers who are exposed to secondhand smoke are also at an increased risk for heart disease by 25-30 percent. For children, exposure to secondhand

Around The Panhandle | JAN • FEB 2013

smoke increases risk of asthma, respiratory infection, ear infections, reduced lung function, and sudden infant death syndrome. There is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke.

Health improvements occur within minutes of quitting. Within 20 minutes of quitting, your heart rate and blood pressure drops. Twelve hours after quitting the carbon monoxide levels in your blood drops In November 2012, a Federal judge to normal and circulation and lung actually “ordered tobacco companies function improves. One to nine to admit they have deliberately months after quitting, coughing deceived the American public and and shortness of breath decreases, finally tell the truth about their lung function improves and risk of deadly and addictive products and infection decreases. One year after fraudulent marketing.” Statements quitting, the risk of heart disease include: is half that of a smoker. And the list goes on for improvements in • Smoking kills, on average, 1,200 health of an ex-smoker to resemble Americans every day. the health of a nonsmoker. You can reverse the unhealthful effects of • Defendant tobacco companies smoking. intentionally designed cigarettes to When you decide to quit, develop make them more addictive. a plan and know what to expect.

The quitting process for everyone • When you smoke, the nicotine is different and it may take several actually changes the brain—that’s attempts. As Mark Twain said, why quitting is so hard.

“Quitting smoking is easy, I have done it several times.” The 4 key • All cigarettes cause cancer,

factors to quitting include: lung disease, heart attacks and premature death – lights, low tar, 1. making the decision to quit; ultra lights and naturals. There is no safe cigarette.

2. picking a Quit Day and making a plan; There is overwhelming evidence that tobacco is harmful. Tobacco 3. dealing with the withdrawal; and causes these problems: coughing; shortness of breath; changes in 4. staying tobacco-free. teeth, hair and skin; increases risk of heart disease and cancer; increase You may choose to quit cold turkey complications from diabetes; or gradually decrease the amount decrease memory and brain you smoke. There is no one right functioning; and overall poor health. way. You need to find what works for With all the research and statistics to you. On your Quit Day: back this up, why smoke?

• Do not smoke at all!

First and foremost, don’t start.

Smoking is one of strongest • Keep active and busy. addictions. Addiction is the persistent and compulsive need and • Drink lots of water and juice. use of a substance known to be harmful. Addiction to tobacco can • Begin using Nicotine Replacement occur within weeks or only days after if that is what you have chosen to occasional smoking begins. do.

If you do use tobacco, make the choice to quit today. Quitting can • Follow your self-help plan. help you live longer, no matter what age you decide to quit. For someone • Avoid situations that trigger the younger than 50 who quits, the risk urge to smoke. of dying in the next 15 years goes down by half. Ex-smokers have • Avoid people who are smoking. fewer illnesses such as colds and • Drink less alcohol or avoid all flu, lower rates of bronchitis and together. pneumonia and feel healthier than those who smoke.

• Change your routine so you don’t

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find yourself in situations where you would usually smoke.

• Seek support from friends and family.

Resources to help you quit: WV Tobacco Quitline at 1-877-9668784 or www.ynotquit.com, which provides educational materials, phone coaching, and Nicotine Replacement Therapy (level of service dependent on eligibility).

American Lung Association at www.ffsonline.org American Cancer Society at www.cancer.org National Cancer Institute at www.smokefree.gov Other helpful sites include www. whyquit.com, www.quitnet. com, www.bobquits.com, www.becomeanex.org, www. tobaccofreekids.org Those who would like to see our community become tobacco-free can support A Tobacco Awareness Coalition (ATAC). ATAC is a coalition of WVUH-East, Berkeley County Health Department, Shenandoah Community Health, VA Center, American Cancer Society, and various other organizations and concerned citizens working together to make our community tobaccofree. ATAC’s mission is to advocate for the creation and adoption of policies for tobacco-free indoor and outdoor environments, to raise awareness and provide education about the health hazards associated with tobacco, to promote tobacco cessation and prevention programs, and to support all efforts to create and support a tobacco-free community. For more information about ATAC, call 304-267-5032.

Not only will your health improve if you quit, but you will also improve the health of those around you.

Your tobacco use exposes others to secondhand smoke, as well as the stress of dealing with any health issues as a result of your tobacco use.

Choose to quit to improve your health and those around you.

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Martinsburg, WV

Med Express Fills a Gap

by Debra Cornwell

There is a gap between primary care and emergency care, and urgent care fills that void. Where do you go when your 3 p.m. scratchy throat turns into a headache, body ache, fever, sore throat of-the-strep-kind at 6 p.m.? Or when the dinnertime chef-in-you slices your finger instead of the onion? Or when, at noontime school recess, your child falls off the monkey bars and breaks a hand?

Your doctor’s office is closed or can’t fit you in, and the emergency room is a bit of overkill that is expensive with a long wait. MedExpress is there to help with great care, fast.

Founded in Morgantown, West

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Virginia, in 2001 by four doctors with emergency room experience, MedExpress has grown to 85 centers in six states with 100 centers anticipated by the end of 2012. Seventeen centers operate in West Virginia, with the one in Martinsburg approaching its oneyear anniversary. The offices are open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Martinsburg manager Paul Legue extolls the MedExpress philosophy of great care, fast. “It is actually ‘great care’, period,” he says. “Then, fast. We realize that some patients need a little more time, but we try

to accommodate everyone in about 45 minutes. We absolutely give everyone great care no matter why they visit or how long treatment takes.”

Each center employs physicians, nurse practitioners, paramedics, medical assistants, X-ray technicians, and registration assistants. For the sick or injured patient, Med Express begins with an initial triage assessment, then conducts an examination, and, if necessary, moves on to X-rays, blood draws, and minor procedures.

Legue describes the process this way: “We have a one-stop, full-

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service urgent care facility. If needed, we can stabilize a patient and then make a referral to a specialist or send them onto a local hospital. We always encourage patients follow up with their primary care physician, and we are happy to provide the records from the patient’s visit at MedExpress to that physician.”

“Not only do we greatly value our patients, we appreciate communication and relationships with the professional medical community--both primary and emergency care,” Legue shares.

MedExpress makes referrals to primary care physicians, specialists, and hospitals every day. Likewise, when a doctor’s office is booked for the day, that office may refer their patient to MedExpress instead of clogging the emergency room and creating extra expense for the patient, as well. No appointment is ever needed at MedExpress for any visit.

Dan Gray, area manager for West [ 72 ]

Virginia, explains, “We understand that people often need medical care when they least expect it. A twisted ankle on the morning run. A cut finger preparing dinner or a nagging chest cold. Our physicians and medical teams treat a wide variety of everyday injuries or illnesses . Because we don’t offer primary care services, medical communities typically welcome MedExpress. As you can imagine, MedExpress eases the burden of over-use of emergency departments.” It is a win-win for both the patient and the medical community.

An interesting sidebar to this story is the creative way Legue has leveraged his previous work experience to benefit MedExpress’s desire to give back to the community. Legue, from Point Pleasant, left home at 17 to go to Nashville to work in the music industry. He eventually became a tour manager for the Judds and Carrie Underwood, to name a few. He left Nashville and went to

Charleston for a career in healthcare administration. Nashville called again and he responded. When one of his contacts in the medical field learned of MedExpress’s expansion, she knew Legue would be perfect.

After living the Nashville dream to his full satisfaction, Legue happily returned to his beloved Mountain State to work for MedExpress. While here in Martinsburg, he has joined the board of CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates). As a fundraiser for CASA, MedExpress has donated tickets and backstage passes to the LeAnn Rimes concert in Winchester, held on November 16, 2012. The drawing was held on November 8, 2012.

Another way MedExpress gives back to the community is through the $20 sports physical. No appointment is needed. Valid for students in the first grad through high school, as well as traditional college undergraduate students, the $20 sports, school, and camp physical include two main parts:

Around The Panhandle | JAN • FEB 2013

STEP 1 Height, weight, blood pressure and pulse Vision Heart, lungs, abdomen, ears, nose and throat Posture, joints, strength and flexibility STEP 2 Description of serious illnesses among other family members Description of past illnesses, injuries, hospitalizations, and surgeries Description of any fainting spells, dizziness, chest pain, or strained breathing during exercise Description of any current medications.

For flu season, MedExpress offers flu shots. Again, no appointment is necessary. MedExpress can bill your insurance. If you are paying out of pocket, the cost is $30. Several types of commonly prescribed prepackaged prescriptions are available, too. Insurance is not accepted for prescriptions, and the price is $15.00.

How does MedExpress actually work?

Here is a primer for an efficient visit. It’s also important to note that MedExpress has developed convenient online bill paying for most its centers.

How it works: Find the center near you.

Walk in.

Tell MedExpress your insurance carrier.

No insurance? No worries.

Start feeling better. Fast.

Please bring the following items with you:

Payment for insurance co-pay or if you intend to self-pay. Payment is due at the time of treatment.

To help MedExpress better serve you, bring: List of current medications List of past surgeries and medical conditions List of any allergies MedExpress CorporateCare offers employers and injured employees assistance with Worker’s Compensation and Occupational Medicine services. Legue says workers are seen quickly in the warm and welcoming environment of MedExpress. The service is more cost-effective for an employer than an emergency room. The MedExpress goal is to return employees to their health and to work while following OSHA and the company’s worker compensation procedures. Occupational Medicine Services include pre-employment screenings, Department of Transportation physicals and drug tests, alcohol screenings, and many other occupational medicine needs.

Legue emphatically states that the MedExpress truly puts patients first. “We strive to exceed their expectations on every visit,” he says.

“When people walk through the door, they know this is something different. The decor is soothing, almost spa-like. The welcome and care are genuine. Although I’m fairly young, I came from an oldschool environment, where nurses still wore white starched uniforms; it was an environment of respect and care. I left the health care field for a while because it had become so impersonal. MedExpress is a real game changer when it comes to great care, fast care, accessibility, and affordability. The four company founders and the employees are dedicated to that.”

You can find out more information at www.medexpress.com

Driver’s license or picture ID Insurance card (if you have insurance) www.AroundThePanhandle.com

[ 73 ]

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Now It’s Your Turn Recipes to Spice Up Your Life | Holiday Sides

s ll o R r e n in D e d a m e m Ho Directions Ingredients arm milk 2 1/2 cups w er softened 1/2 cup butt dry yeast 4 tsp active 2 tsp salt r 1/2 cup suga rpose flour 7 cups all pu ed) ( or as need 2 eggs

wl, a mixing bo grees) into de st for 10 re (1 to ilk w m surface. Allo Pour warm e th er salt; ov d t yeas , butter, an and sprinkle e sugar, eggs make a th to in at ur flo Be . e 5 minutes ally stir in th until ghly. Gradu warm place blend thorou and set in a l, w bo r ve Co h. . soft doug out 1 hour les in size, ab and allow to dough doub r the bowl, dough, cove e es. th tim n w e or do two m Punch peat this step greased pan rise again. Re a and place in lls ba ch led in in t3 e until doub Roll into abou r and let ris ve Co . ng hi edges touc size. ees. to 400 degr es.

Preheat oven to 15 minut en brown, 10 ld if go st Be rn . tu er ps d butt Bake until to h with melte lls and brus Removes ro served warm

Holiday Green Beans

Ingredients

1/2 pound of cooked chopped bacon 2 to 3 cloves of garlic minced 3 tablespoons butte r

1/4 cup chicken bro th 1 chopped red onion

1 1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar 32 ounces of green beans 1 small can mushroo ms optional 8 small red potatoe s cut into quarters

Directions

Melt the butter in a skillet add onion and cook until transl ucent, about 5 minutes.

Stir in the cooked ba con, green beans, potatoes, garlic, an d chicken broth.

Bring to a boil cover and simmer over low heat until the po tatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.

Sprinkle with vineg ar, salt, and pepper, and serve.

salt and pepper to tas te

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Around The Panhandle | JAN • FEB 2013

Baked Corn

Ingredients

1 32 oun ce bag c ut corn thawed 1 red pe ppers dic ed 1 green pepper d iced 2 x jalap eno pepp ers diced 1 cup he avy crea m 1 stick s alted butt er cut in slices to Salt and pepper

Chutney ry r e b n a r C y ic Sp

Ingredients

d choppe , finely ts o c ri p dried a 1/2 cup ater 1 cup w ugar brown s 1/2 cup raisins 1/2 cup nberries fresh cra 3 cups ped le chop tart app 1 large on zest ted lem ra g n o o 1 teasp on juice esh lem fr p u c 1/4 r d ginge choppe 1/4 cup ped es chop eno slic p a p ja 5-6

Directions In a bakin g dish add corn, pep pepper, a pers salt/ nd cream mix well Then add butter slic es to the corn place top of the in a 350 d egree ove 20 minute n for s cover le t st and until re 15 to serve. ady to

Directions

n ts, brow e aprico ng to a in b m o c , bri In a pan ins and water stir is mer and sugar, ra ce heat to sim u d boil. Re inutes. and for 5 m , apple nberries an additional ra c d d Then a mer for ice, est sim lemon z s add lemon ju mixed te ce 10 minu and ginger on o, n e p a p t. ja a from he remove before n hour a t u o b a r Chill fo serving

Cranb erry Coleslaw

Ingredients

1/4 cup a pple cider vinegar 2 tablespo ons Dijon mustard 2 tablespo ons honey 3/4 teasp oon salt 1/4 teasp oon freshly ground pep 1/4 cup ca per nola oil 2 (10-oz.) p broccoli co ackages shredded leslaw mix 1 cup cho pped, smo ked almon ds 3/4 cup sw eetened d ried cranberries

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Directions

Whisk togeth er honey,salt an vinegar, mustard, d pepper. G radually add oil in a slow , steady stre am, whiskin constantly un g til blended.

Stir coleslaw mix, almonds , and cranberries in a large bo wl add vinegar mix ture, tossing to coat cover and pl ace in refrig erator until ready to serv e.

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The Wok Zone What’s the real difference between the offerings of a “Chinese restaurant” and an “Asian gourmet”?

This is the question implied by the menu of the Wok Zone, an up-andcoming purveyor of Asian cuisine in Winchester, Virginia. By definition, the word gourmet denotes the use of high-quality or exotic ingredients, and the innovators behind the Wok Zone, Sam and Gina Kim, work tirelessly to ensure the designation fits.

The original Wok Zone, known as Work Zone I, is located at 819 South Braddock Street, near Handley High School. It opened its doors to customers in April of 2011. Its menu is deceivingly simple, a stark contradiction to the complexity of flavors inherent in each dish.

According to Sam, the almost heavenly nature of each dish is the result of a complete commitment to exceptional dishes and a dedication to the use of fresh ingredients. “We make almost everything fresh,” Sam explains. “Many restaurants rely on frozen products—either vegetables, sauces, or meats—to complete their dishes. We forego the use frozen products because doing so improves the flavor of the food. We even make our own sauces overnight.” The results of these efforts are that each element of its menu, from appetizers to desserts, is noteworthy.

For appetizers, one can still find spring rolls, pot stickers, crab rangoons, and edamame. These are the standard-bearers of Asian and Asian-inspired appetizers, but even these meal-time precursors are

[ 79 ]

Around The Panhandle | JAN • FEB 2013

“jazzed up.” For example, the crab rangoons are served in a sweet chili sauce that, in itself, is enough to make you pledge eternal loyalty to the chefs who prepared it.

For those who desire a lighter fare, the Wok Zone offers its Mandarin chopped chicken salad and a Wokseared chicken salad. Each of these dishes includes fresh, chopped mixed greens and vegetables with a visual appeal that is completely consistent with the dish’s flavors.

The salads are topped with freshly cooked chicken before being covered in just enough sauce to make the entire plate perfect.

If a salad is not your preference, you will need to decide if you want a rice plate or a noodle plate. Rice plate options include items like General Tso chicken, Kung Pao chicken, Korean BBQ, and fried rice. Noodle bowl options, as they are called at the Wok Zone, include lo mein, Pad Thai, and Thai drunken noodles, among others.

The most popular dishes among patrons are the General Tso chicken and Kung Pao chicken. The General Tso chicken is made with snow peas, carrots, broccoli, and scallions. Its sauce is a marriage of garlic, chile vinegar, and sweet soy glaze. The Kung Pao chicken is made using snow peas, carrots, scallions, dried Thai chile, garlic, peanuts, and chile-infused soy sauce. Once you try either of these dishes, you will be convinced that you will not find food made with this level of care anywhere else.

While the locals have picked these two plates as their favorites, this unknown eater enjoys the chicken with broccoli. It’s second to none in the Winchester area (and even beyond.) The meat is obviously fresh, providing a flavor that is closer to what you would make at home versus what you would find dining out. The rice is perfectly cooked and the sauce that covers it all is delicious. It’s thick, but not too thick, and flavorful throughout, with no areas of inconsistency.

When I do stray from my preferred dish, I usually select lo mein, a beautifully constructed plate that

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[ 80 ]

includes scallions, garlic, carrots, bean sprouts, onions, shitake mushrooms, egg noodles, and oyster sauce. By comparison to the lo mein I’ve had elsewhere, this dish contains a perfect balance between substance and sauce.

The words “flavor” and “quality” are ideal descriptors for every dish on The Wok Zone’s menu, and this is perhaps the key to the business’s success. Sam believes that eating out is not just a means to an end (meaning it should not simply be a way to fuel one’s body). Instead, he believes that eating out should be an experience, and this led him to design his establishment with an open kitchen. “I want the customer to see what we do. I want them to understand the care we take in making their food, and I want them to enjoy the show of it all,” Sam says. Guests can watch as their food is prepared.

The close connection to our food is an uncommon experience, and it’s interesting to smell the ingredients and feel the heat of the burners as the chef moves the wok around with seemingly effortless precision.

The feeling of watching your meal being prepared is gratifying by its own right, but the knowledge that you paid $7.95 or $8.95 for a dish made with such customer-focused determination is even better.

The Wok Zone, complete with its open kitchen and fresh ingredients, is the result of Sam’s seventeen years of restaurant experience. His creativity and passion are innate, but his choices, both in restaurant design and culinary offerings, are the result of a strong collaboration with his wife, Gina. Together, they took all their knowledge concerning great food, flawless service, and comfortable atmospheres and rolled it into one amazing restaurant.

“Asian food can be polished and refined.”

In other words, the productionline-quality food that most of us associate with the very words “Chinese food” is challenged by the Wok Zone’s philosophy of food preparation and taste. One should not be deceived by the notion that a “quick bite” can only be obtained from a buffet either. From start to finish, most dishes take about three minutes to prepare. (This is because the wok is an efficient and fast method for producing great food.) You can get in and out of the restaurant just as fast as you can any local buffet, and your meal will be of much higher quality by comparison.

These are just a few of the reasons why the Wok Zone’s following is growing. As a result, the Kims opened up a second location, affectionately known as Wok Zone II, at 179 Kernstown Commons Boulevard. This venue is right beside the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema.

Sam’s restaurant was actually “recruited” for that location by the Nerangis family (the locals who brought the much-loved Drafthouse to Winchester.) They loved Sam’s food and wanted to ensure that his second location would open in the growing shopping center.

Their love of Sam and Gina’s food is not exclusive. People all over Winchester are finding the Wok Zone to be a place to get great food at a great price. This unknown eater is certainly a tremendous fan, and I challenge you, dear readers, to give it a try. If you want to learn more, or to see their menu online, visitwww. wokzone.com. You are certain to love it, but be sure to tell them that ATP sent you!

At a

Glance The Wok Zone 819 S Braddock St. Winchester, VA 540•313•4717

First Impression

 Service

 Food Quality/Taste

 Value for Money

 Overall Atmosphere



The endeavor was not without risk, as the Kims moved to Winchester from Leesburg, Virginia, without really knowing anyone. They found a community that was not only supportive of driven, young entrepreneurs, but also desperate for more restaurant choices. Their venue is not the average Chinese or Asian restaurant. It is, instead, a place to realize, as Sam says, that

[ 81 ]

Around The Panhandle | JAN • FEB 2013

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The Henry and William Evans Home for Children When asked to think about the word “home,” many people immediately think of the place where they grew up, instead of the residence within which they currently reside. Home is a special place where love should be plentiful and all occupants should feel the subtle security of belonging somewhere. Now imagine for a moment that you have no place to call “home.” Imagine the great sense of solitude you would have without the memories of that special place that fostered your development into adulthood. This is the situation faced by more than a million and a half children and adolescents in the United States, according to most readily available estimates.

When a child cannot live with his or her family of origin, yet will not thrive in foster or adoptive care, The Henry and William Evans Home for Children is there to help. Since it opened in 1949, the home has served as a place to call home for young people between the ages of five and seventeen who are not well suited for other placement services.

Since the beginning of an improved system of recordkeeping in 1977, the home has helped more than 400 young people who would otherwise have no place to go. Critical to its mission are the tireless efforts of the administrative staff and house parents working under the direction of Executive Director Marc Jaccard.

Jaccard began his service with the facility in 1995 as the home’s program director. Following the departure of long time director

[ 84 ]

M. Kirby Lloyd, he moved into his current role as executive director in 1999. Jaccard explains, “We are here to take care of abused and neglected children. We have generally been a catchment system for kids who are not better suited for life in a traditional family environment. Our purpose has expanded in recent years to include homeless children as well.”

The home’s inclusion of homeless children into its mission is not the only thing that has changed over the past few years. Jaccard indicates that fifteen years ago the home was predominantly accepting elementary and middle-school aged kids who would stay for two to three years.

“Today,” he says, “we are seeing kids who are sixteen and seventeen.

They have been bounced to and from several different placements before coming here. They have been through a lot, and this is their last placement before adulthood.”

Recognizing that their stay at the Evans Home is the last opportunity for the children to learn critical skills needed for a successful transition to adulthood, the home’s programming has been designed to prepare them for life after high school graduation.

“Our programs are designed to help our children get ready for independent living,” Program Director Laura Regan explains.

“We put a lot of thought into our programs, and we aim to help them learn to build relationships and develop skills necessary for adult life.”

— by Victoria Kidd

From complex proficiencies like career planning and household management to seemingly simply tasks like balancing a checkbook and obtaining a driver’s license, these children need to learn a lot within a short period of time. Every staff member is completely dedicated to building the capabilities of residents while simultaneously creating a family-like environment within which they can thrive.

According to Regan, the reason the program is so effective is because the children help each other. “All of our kids are from dysfunctional, challenging backgrounds,” she says. “They each know what it is like to live in a world with constant stress and constant fight or flight inclinations. This is a connection for them.” These connections strengthen the home’s programming by allowing the residents to learn how to meaningfully interact with others at the same time they are learning the life skills that are the focus of planned activities.

The desired result of the home’s efforts is that residents will grow up and leave the facility better prepared for adult life. In the event that a resident runs into unexpected difficulties, the Evans Home operates an alumni house that gives them a place to access available resources needed to get back on their feet. The program opened nine years ago, and it supports about twenty-five former residents each year.

Jaccard says, “Anytime an alumnus Around The Panhandle | JAN • FEB 2013

When asked to think about the word “home,” many people immediately think of the place where they grew up, instead of the residence within which they currently reside. Home is a special place where love should be plentiful and all occupants should feel the subtle security of belonging somewhere. Now imagine for a moment that you have no place to call “home.” Imagine the great sense of solitude you would have without the memories of that special place that fostered your development into adulthood. This is the situation faced by more than a million and a half children and adolescents in the United States, according to most readily available estimates.

When a child cannot live with his or her family of origin, yet will not thrive in foster or adoptive care, The Henry and William Evans Home for Children is there to help. Since it opened in 1949, the home has served as a place to call home for young people between the ages of five and seventeen who are not well suited for other placement services.

Since the beginning of an improved system of recordkeeping in 1977, the home has helped more than 400

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young people who would otherwise have no place to go. Critical to its mission are the tireless efforts of the administrative staff and house parents working under the direction of Executive Director Marc Jaccard.

Jaccard began his service with the facility in 1995 as the home’s program director. Following the departure of long time director M. Kirby Lloyd, he moved into his current role as executive director in 1999. Jaccard explains, “We are here to take care of abused and neglected children. We have generally been a catchment system for kids who are not better suited for life in a traditional family environment. Our purpose has expanded in recent years to include homeless children as well.”

The home’s inclusion of homeless children into its mission is not the only thing that has changed over the past few years. Jaccard indicates that fifteen years ago the home was predominantly accepting elementary and middle-school aged kids who would stay for two to three years.

“Today,” he says, “we are seeing kids who are sixteen and seventeen.

They have been bounced to and from several different placements before coming here. They have been through a lot, and this is their last placement before adulthood.”

Recognizing that their stay at the Evans Home is the last opportunity for the children to learn critical skills needed for a successful transition to adulthood, the home’s programming has been designed to prepare them for life after high school graduation.

“Our programs are designed to help our children get ready for independent living,” Program Director Laura Regan explains.

“We put a lot of thought into our programs, and we aim to help them learn to build relationships and develop skills necessary for adult life.”

From complex proficiencies like career planning and household management to seemingly simply tasks like balancing a checkbook and obtaining a driver’s license, these children need to learn a lot within a short period of time. Every staff member is completely dedicated to building the capabilities of residents while simultaneously creating a family-like environment within which

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Taking the Basic Gym Philosophy and Turning It Upside Down

by Rick Hemphill

From the moment you enter the Team Extreme Sportsplex in the Berkeley Plaza Shopping Center in Martinsburg, you are walking into one of the largest and most complete facilities dedicated to the health and fitness of its members in the tri-state area. They have all the standard fare you would expect in a fitness club but they also offer cross fit training, yoga, dance, adult dance, boxing, jujitsu, karate, mixed martial arts, and much more.

They have a nutrition corner with wholesale prices and the staff is friendly and willing to help you and inform you of what they do and what you can expect.

Brent Jackson is the owner of the center and has trained his whole life with sports and fitness. “Health and wellness is the reason we started this complex,” Brent explains. “And for a person that wants the most bang for their buck we are giving them a full health and fitness club for the price of a big lunch. We offer cross fit, yoga, jujitsu, karate, dance, and adult dance. We have state-of-the-art equipment and we just purchased another $100,000 of equipment. We are constantly growing, adding an 8,000-squarefoot addition and the kids’ club doubling in size in March.”

“I was born and raised in Hedgesville www.AroundThePanhandle.com

and the area needed a place like this,” Brent continues. “We needed some place clean to work out and we are bringing something back to the Berkeley Plaza, which was a great place for years.”

I was into power lifting and was in competition in that sport. Although I could lift weights in competition, I could only run a 16-minute mile.

People could walk faster than I could run.”

Yet this family oriented facility offers so much more. There is just about anything you need, with enough specialties and options taught by top-of-the-line instructors to get anyone in shape. They have specialized trainers for cross fit workouts. “Cross fit is a general physical preparedness program,” says Dave May, one of the cross fit trainers at Team Extreme. “It depends on the person but they can see improvement within a month once they start to use compound movement and they begin to feel their pants are little bit looser.”

“We spend a lot of time trying to get everybody better because that makes them more efficient,” Dave explains, noting a major goal of cross fit. “As you become more efficient in your life things become easier for you. Your attitude changes and you become more positive. We learn from a person’s range of motion what each person can and cannot do and scale the cross fit activity accordingly. Is cross fit gentle, no; is cross fit going to work to make you better, yes. “

Cross fit classes are a major part of the complex. “Cross fit is taking the basic gym philosophy and turning it upside down,” Dave says emphasizing the differences to standard techniques. “Most people don’t have two hours to spend in the gym; they have about 45 minutes.

We feel the body is one unit and we work it as one unit.”

“The workouts can be scaled to anyone,” Dave advises. “I have been in cross fit for five years now.

“Try it out; it is good for you,” Dave says, sincere and genuine in his belief in the cross fit program. “It is a good thing to invest in because the gym membership and cross fit is cheaper than medication down the road. We have customers who have dropped their blood pressure by 70 points. We have had people drop their cholesterol with cross fit. It can work for everybody. Take it slow and let our trainers train you. You will begin to feel better, but you may get sore first.”

Tucked in the back of the fitness

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gym is Sam Bridgewater, the manager of the nutrition corner.”

“We are essentially the wholesale store,” Sam says, noting the price breaks he can give along with valuable experience in the nutrition items he sells. “We carry a much wider range of products than your local vitamin shop. Our prices are wholesale so they are equivalent to online prices.”

Yoga is great for the mind and body,” Elizabeth explains enthusiastically.

“It is not just a physical work out; it is for the whole human being. Yoga helps you with your mental focus and a whole lot of other things.” “I have been practicing yoga for 12 years and teaching it for two years.”

“Everyone thinks yoga is not for them,” Elizabeth says, but replies with confidence in her instruction.

“Give me one hour and I can show you how it will help you no matter your age, your weight, or your religion. If you want to lose weight and you want a good cardio workout, you can get that from yoga. It fits everyone’s needs regardless of the rest of the workouts that you do.

Everyone from babies to 100- yearolds can benefit from yoga.”

“We are a little different,” Sam says with enthusiasm and experience.

“We live what we preach. We are all competitive body builders. I have tried 99 percent of all the products we have here. I have firsthand experience. I personally dropped 110 pounds by incorporating supplements and switching to a healthier life style.”

“A lot of people who go to the gym have no idea of what supplements to use or how they can help them,” Sam explains. “We will explain for each item what it does with your body, how it works and what results you should expect to see. We have joint products, general well being, vitamins, burning fat, and raising testosterone if you are an older male, just about anything you may need.”

“It is a really good program with lots of friendly people and no intimidation,” Elizabeth says.

“Whether you are brand new or not, we can still help you.”

A few more doors down, another part of the complex contains a contact sport. “I have been teaching karate and mixed martial arts here since the beginning of December,” says a modest and unassuming Jesse Kirby. “I have been in karate since I was four, which is over 26 years. This is the best facility in the tri-state area and has some of the best coaches.”

“We definitely work with the trainers and their clients that have reached a plateau,” Sam admits with a positive flair. “And we will work with them together to reach those goals.”

“If you are looking to get your kids into something then I recommend the karate class,” Jesse explains, with a clear expertise in his discipline. “If you are looking to lose weight, then the mixed martial arts might work for you. Karate for the kids has many benefits as it enhances their self discipline and their attention while it helps adults with their flexibility.”

“We don’t carry any store brands so you are not going to be pressured to buy a specific brand,” Sam adds.

“We find out what each customer needs for their work out and get them on the right track.”

Just a few doors down from the gym is a studio, which teaches health and fitness by an older method. The yoga classes are taught by Elizabeth Mauck, who is a Kripalu-certified instructor in Binyasa Yoga. “We currently have six Binyasa classes and two hot Yoga classes,” Elizabeth says, excited by all the interest in her expertise. “Basically the hot yoga class is a Binyasa flow class in a room where the temperature is about 89 to 90 degrees. It is just a little hotter and faster.”

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“The Karate is Okinawan and we also have the Korean style,” Jesse explains, “and a variety of mixed martial arts that include Thailand kick boxing.” “We do have more men than women enrolled in the classes,” Jesse confesses. “In the mixed martial arts, we have a beginner’s class, an intermediate class, and we have a fight team right now with a champion.”

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“You are not going to find a better, less expensive place than here,” Jesse says with encouragement and the confidence of having taught at other places. “This facility can’t be beat; we have an octagon, mats, punching bags, room for the kids, and we are surrounded with the gym, dancing, and cross fit. Give the place a call and come in for a free week and sign up.”

The head instructor for Brazilian Jujitsu is a purple-belted Derek English, with over seven years of experience. “Brazilian Jujitsu is a grappling-based art that helps with self defense, confidence, and physical fitness,” Derek explains.

“Jujitsu is designed for a smaller man to defeat a larger man using leverage to overcome a stronger and more powerful person. You use every muscle in the body in jujitsu and it is great for physical fitness.”

“The whole culture of jujitsu is family-oriented,” Derek says in an unassuming tone. “There is no macho attitude. We will have a children’s program and a women’s program. We are set up for selfdefense or competition, but you don’t have to be in competition to take our classes. It is a great cardio and full body workout.”

“Jujitsu is for everybody,” Derek says to remind any skeptics. “Each class takes two hours; we offer them three nights a week and an afternoon class on Saturday. You would be encouraged to come as much as you can but there is no requirement. You will get out of it what you put into it. You don’t have to be a young kid or overly athletic and right now we are the only facility in the area.”

Next door to the martial arts is the dance studio, housing Director Becky Rose. Becky has 30 years of experience and ran her own studio for 25 years. Her daughter Cassi is also an instructor. “Cassi has grown up in the studio and she is my main instructor,” Becky says with the confidence of experience and expertise. “We have a lot to offer.

This is a great program for dancers.

We believe in the art of dance and this is not just a day-care program.”

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“This is a 10-month structured program from September to June, with our final product being a showcase for all students,” Becky explains with the matter-of-fact tone befitting a woman with her talents. “The first wave of the year is technique and the second is preparing for the show. Our shows are very creative and professional.”

“There are many aspects to running a superior dance program,” Becky continues, “We have a family atmosphere and are very structured and strict but we are also teaching life lessons.”

“I have been dancing since I was three,” Cassi interjects with enthusiasm. “These kids are our everything. We talk about their lives, how they act in public, respect their elders, parents, and teachers, and emphasize that good grades are important. You have to work hard to earn compliments but you deserve what you get.”

“I am very lucky and this is a great environment for dance,” Cassi continues without taking a breath.

“We take students from three years old thru high school. We offer ballet, jazz, tap, lyrical, modern, point, hip hop, and cheer dance. You have to take ballet in order to take any of the other classes, except cheer dance, since we believe that ballet is the basis of all dance. Our choreography is different as it is more what you would see in a big city, rather than in a small town. We have classes every week and it is a set class with levels and ages.”

for a 60,000-square-foot facility that is open 365 days per year, including Christmas, New Year’s, and Thanksgiving.

“We are adding adult dance, a series of Les Mills group fitness classes, and this year our expansion is more geared toward women,” says Brent. “We will have group fitness classes starting at 5:00 in the morning until lunchtime and intermission from noon to 3:00 and fitness classes from 3:00 to 9:00 at night.”

“We have state-of-the-art fitness equipment,” Brent continues, “with free motions, Lite fitness, Sybex , 100 pieces of cardio equipment, a sauna, VIP locker rooms and we are getting Jacob’s ladders, a Versaclimber, and even a Woodway treadmill which approximates running outside. We have the cheapest cross fit rate in the nation, over 37 acres in this facility, and soon our own form of an obstacle course in the back as part of our cross fit program. We try to pick the best of the best for our instructors.”

“Also we have a most improved contest for 2013,” Brent says with a flourish. “They have to sign up

by February and we will split $2013 between the most improved male and most improved female member by the end of the year. Come on in and see us we will continue to grow and give you a clean nice gym.”

For more information, visit www. teamextremesportsplex.com.

Owner Brent Jackson

There is something for the adults. “I do offer an adult class 18 and up,” Cassi says. “It is a way to exercise for people who want to dance and have fun but do not want to go to a gym. There is no monthly fee. It costs $7.00 per class every Monday from 8:30 to 9:15. It is for people my age to have fun without a commitment because we all have jobs. And there is always something to do in this facility. This place has you covered.”

And a big tent design is certainly a great value for a gym membership that starts at $10.00 per month

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Dan’s Restaurant & Tap House

Dan’s Tap House |

Boonsboro, MD.

By Debra Cornwell Since mid-June 2012, Dan & Charlotte Aufdem-Brinke have realized their dream of opening a popular dining and craft beer establishment. Simply called Dan’s Restaurant & Tap House, the newly remodeled building on Boonsboro’s Square is casual with stylish touches and is a great anchor for the square and the community. Their goal is to offer the best of local breweries, vineyards, and farms plus a taste of the world.

Decorated with polished woods and a muted modern palate of green and mustard, Dan’s exudes a warm, friendly atmosphere, and the spacious interior seats about 100.

Beer lovers will find 24 craft beers on tap plus over 100 other selections in bottles or cans. On tap selections during my visit included Lancaster Country Cream Ale and Firestone Walker Double Jack.

Chef Steven Weaver says local partners include Palmyra Farm, Woodlawn, and EarthNEats. “We try to use as much local produce as possible. It’s hard for local growers to keep up with our quantity demand.”

He describes the philosophy at Dan’s as “keeping it local” with a desire to be the hub and cornerstone of the town. “We want to contribute to revitalization efforts in this charming town. We’re a great meeting place.

You see the mayor eating here as well as your neighbor. We’re not too fancy, and we have a wide price range.”

www.AroundThePanhandle.com

[ 91 ]

Weaver started his food career at 14 years old washing dishes at the South Mountain Inn. He remembers, “One day someone didn’t show up, and I filled in for that person in the kitchen. I moved onto desserts and stayed there through college.”

Weaver furthered his career at several regional establishments before accepting the call to head up the kitchen at Dan’s.

Dan’s has a large, ambitious menu that has attracted a devoted following by locals and visitors from Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Virginia, as well as the cities of Frederick and Germantown in Maryland and beyond. Weaver says, “We’ve been insanely busy here since day one--more than we thought. We haven’t really had a slow night yet.”

He noted there is a core of about 20 locals who can be found at Dan’s on any given day. “It’s great to see familiar faces return,” he says.

I tucked into an appetizer of pankocrusted prawns, commonly referred to as jumbo shrimp. Panko is another name for Japanese-style bread crumbs. Jumbo shrimp can be tough, but these were juicy and tender in a light crisp breading. The Japanese barbecue sauce added a depth of flavor to the prawns. Nori salad, the accompaniment, is a classic seaweed salad--a sustainable sea vegetable that is rich in nutrients.

My dining partner loved the pan-seared scallops with grilled asparagus. The wild mushroom risotto side dish could be a hearty meal of its own--lots of rich risotto perfection. The mai poi sauce on the plate was really for a boost of color as white scallops and white risotto on a white plate is rather monotone.

One of the most unique dishes offered at Dan’s is cherry chicken.

Served with a kriek lambic gastrique, the dish is a twist on sweet and sour chicken. A gastrique is an element used for flavoring a sauce by caramelizing sugar, deglazing with vinegar and sometimes adding stock.

Increasingly the term is used to refer to the sauce itself such as a citrus gastrique. Kriek lambic is a Belgian beer that blends sour Morello cherries with a dry, cidery-tasting beer-base that has undergone the unusual process of spontaneous fermentation.

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Around The Panhandle | JAN • FEB 2013

Served with cherry bacon yam hash-cubed yams, chopped bacon and dried cherries, the dish is a surprising delight.

For those in the mood for burgers and beer, Dan’s BoonsBurgers are a half pound of house ground, locally raised beef and are served with hand cut fries. Burgers include a burger of the week, the Tap House Burger with gorgonzola, smokey aioli, pickled red onion, smoked bacon, the Rise and Shine with aged cheddar, fried egg and smoked bacon, the Black-nBlue which is rubbed in Cajun spices and covered in balsamic-braised onions and bleu cheese, a BBQ Burger topped with smoked bacon, smoked cheddar, crispy onions and bbq sauce. For those in a DIY mood there are lots of choices: pepper jack, smoked cheddar, sharp aged cheddar, Chesapeake cheddar, Swiss, bleu, American, feta, mozzarella and goat cheeses, crip onions, sautéed onions, mushrooms, bacon, jalapenos, ham, prosciutto, fried egg, and pineapple.

Gorgeous soups including creamy asparagus and crab bisque, blistered corn and chicken, and spicy tomato gazpacho with poached shrimp are rich and pleasing.

Do make room for a dessert--at least to share! A proper four-layer red velvet with a classic cream cheese icing is enhanced by layers of chocolate ganache. The decadent slice is seated on a plate drizzled with lime syrup, raspberry coulis, and a caramel vanilla syrup. Love creme brulee? Love cheesecake? Then the creme brulee cheesecake is for you. The toasted slivered almonds complement the dessert with a light nutty crunch.

Stick around for entertainment “In the Window” at Dan’s. Dan’s employee Joshua Hager explains that live entertainment at Dan’s has been well-received. “The musicians set up in the front bay window. We’ve hosted various singer/songwriters, soloists, acoustic duos, etc. When Rick Fehle played here last time, it was near capacity.”

The restaurant serves lunch and dinner. Visit www.drnth.com for more information.

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[ 93 ]

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Cheers to Your New Years Resolutions Ever since man first realized alcohol could be made better-tasting (and looking) when mixed with other alcohol, he has constantly tried to top himself. Today, there are thousands of different recipes. Here’s a list of cocktail ideas to last all Year! Oh yeah Please Drink Responsibly.

Jan. Chocolate Cake 1/2 ounce Hazelnut Liqueur, 1/2 ounce Vodka, Lemon & Sugar Garnish.

Coat lemon wedge with sugar. Set aside. Add liquid ingredients to cocktail shaker with ice. Shake to chill. Strain into a shot glass. Shoot the shot and then immediately bite and suck the sugar coated lemon.

Don’t ask me why, but it works and people swear by it. The grain of the

Feb.

sugar gives just the right amount of texture to this overly sweetened shot.

White Russian/Black Russian 1 part vodka, 1 part Kahula (or coffee liqueur alternative), 1 part cream or milk, Stirred and served over ice. Leave the cream or mlk out for a Black Russian.

One of the older cocktails on this list. A White Russian is only considered Russian due to its high vodka content; however, if any drink ever represented the bitter sting of Russian winter, mixed with the beauty of its landscape, it’s this one.

Mar.

Baby Guinness 2 parts Kahula (or similar coffee liqueur), Top with baileys (or similar Irish cream liqueur) This shot, when prepared correctly, should look almost exactly the same as the famous Irish drink from which it takes its name. Almost universally reserved for St. Patrick’s Day, this drink has all of the qualities of its namesake: mainly that it’s only drunk one day a year, and no one really enjoys it...Especially the day after.

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Around The Panhandle | JAN • FEB 2013

Jackass 1 part Jack Daniels, 1 part high proof rum (the higher the better).

Apr.

Pour into a shot glass, drink.

Jackass is a word almost universally synonymous with doing something incredibly stupid, say for example leaping from a roof while holding a giant green ball. If the entire Jackass crew were put into shot form, it’s almost guaranteed that it would be just like this concoction: highly alcoholic, flammable and hard to stomach. It also lives up to the other meaning of its name by kicking the drinker like a mule and leaving them braying like an ass immediately after consumption.

May.

AK-47

1 part vodka, 1 part brandy, 1 part whiskey, 1 part gin, 1 part rum, 1 part bourbon, 1 part cointreau, Splash of lime, Top with soda water. With a list of ingredients looking more like a shopping list that anything else, the AK47 more than lives up to the name of the legendary assault rifle. Known for being able to be cobbled together at the last minute by total amateurs and outlasting entire freaking wars, the AK47 is capable of stopping any man in his tracks. The cocktail is no different; the instructions for making it are actually shorter than the list of things contained in it, and it contains enough alcohol to punch anyone in the throat if it’s not sufficiently watered down. It may not be the fanciest item on the list, but it’s one that gets the job done.

Hadouken!

Jun.

1 part blue Curacao, 1 part blueberry vodka, Splash of high proof spirit, Mix and set alight; shouting “HADOOOOOUUUUUKEN” is a necessity, not a choice.

When prepared properly, this should be essentially the drinking representation of the move used by Ryu himself in the Street Fighter games: a burst of blue flame that causes a small amount of damage to your body. The only difference here is that throwing one of these things at an opponent will probably end the fight immediately while they desperately claw at the shot-sized hole you just left in their face. We do not recommend ever throwing your cocktail!

Jul. Purple Hooter 1 part Vodka, 1 part Raspberry Liqueur, 1 part Sour Mix, Splash of Sprite.

Combine first three ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake to chill. Strain into a pony glass. Add splash of Sprite. Serve.

It’s beautiful and in my opinion would be much better with a little lemon, less sour and no sprite, but then again, what do I know?!

Aug.

Scooby Snack

1/4 ounce Coconut Rum, 1/4 ounce Crème de Bananes, 1/4 ounce Melon Liqueur, 1/4 ounce Pineapple Juice, 1/4 ounce Half & Half.

Pour all ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake to blend and chill. Strain into a shot glass.

The name Scooby Snack reminds me of Shaggy and Scooby hunting ghosts with a bag full of Scooby Snacks as reward. However, Scooby Snack is one of those shots that easily converts into a cocktail on the rocks. Double the amounts to make the drink 2-1/2 ounces in entirety and strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice.

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Sept.

Manhattan Sweet 2-1/2 ounces Bourbon, 1 ounce Sweet Vermouth, Bar Spoon of syrup from Maraschino Cherry Jar, 3 Dashes Peychaud’s Bitters, Maraschino Cherry for garnish.

Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker. Shake well. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with maraschino cherry.

Oct.

The Zombie

1 part white rum, 1 part dark rum, 1 part golden rum, 1 part pineapple/papaya juice, 1 part brandy(fruit flavored if possible), Splash of lime, Mix above, then top with high proof rum.

Optional Bonus: can be lit on fire.

The Zombie, bluntly put, will have most drinkers moving like the shambling remnants of death it’s named after before they even finish it. Its incredibly high alcoholic content is hidden by the smooth, easy-tooverlook flavor of various tropical fruits. Its true recipe remains a mystery, as its inventor was renowned for altering the way it was made to avoid copycat mixologists stealing his business.

Nov. Red Headed Slut 1 ounce Cranberry Juice, 1/2 ounce Peach Schnapps, 3/4 ounce Jägermeister.

Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake to blend and chill. Strain into a large shot glass. Take this one fast for the sheer pleasure.

Is it the name, the taste or a little of both that get a rise out of the shot crowd? The Red Headed Slut goes for the mix of a cocktail, yet shoots straight for excitement!

Mind Eraser 1-1/4 ounce Coffee Liqueur, 3/4 ounce Vodka, Splash of Club Soda Build over ice. Serve with a straw.

Dec.

The Mind Eraser gets placed within the shot realm, because it is supposed to be consumed with one fail swoop of a gulp through the straw. That’s one mighty head rush. Maybe this one should have been called Brain Freeze instead. Either way, You may be ready to erase a few memories from your mind by this point in the year. Enjoy!

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Around The Panhandle | JAN • FEB 2013

Heartland Has Heart Nursing homes are considered by many people to be the last stop. The idea of going into a nursing home strikes fear in the hearts of average citizens. More than 1.4 million people are in nursing homes today.

Reaching what is referred to as the golden years is far from peachy for people with failing health. The famous actress Bette Davis once said, “Getting old is not for sissies.”

How can these perceptions be changed?

Heartland of Martinsburg, located at 209 Clover Street, is the oldest provider of long-term care in the area, celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. Heartland’s parent company is HCR ManorCare.

The organization operates about 500 facilities nationwide.

Fighting the bad reputation of nursing homes is a constant battle but the notion is beginning to change, says Cindy Maher, Heartland’s admissions and marketing director. “Yes, we provide [ 99 ]

long-term care, but many of our patients are here for rehabilitation after they have had an accident, joint replacement, or need care after being released from the hospital.

Hospitals release people very quickly today. Many people need continued care when they leave. We offer that transitional care,” says Maher.

The idea of going some place for rehabilitation scares people, Maher admits. “That’s why we have a virtual tour of our facility. Patients can watch it when they’re still in the hospital. Families can watch it and know what we can offer them.”

The virtual tour can be seen on Heartland’s website at www.hcrmanorcare.com. “The virtual tour eases their anxiety. The prospective patient can even know who they are getting for a roommate. The majority of our short-term patients return to the community in about ten days,” says Nancy Mason, Heartland’s administrator. “We are constantly working to educate the community to let them know we’re

By Bonnie Williamson

here. Doctors and the hospitals know us. We’re getting the word out.”

Maher says that Heartland is striving to change the thought process about nursing homes. Heartland’s staff works closely with other organizations in the community like Meals on Wheels and Hospice.

For example, Heartland is a food drop-off center for the Berkeley County Back Pack program, a food program for needy children. “We welcome the public to come and see our accommodations. We’re doing whatever we can to let them get to know us. We have bake sales and participate in health fairs. We want to integrate our services with the community as much as we can.

We want them to have a reason to come visit. We welcome the public’s feedback,” Mason says.

Patients even participate in community programs like reading to schoolchildren. Two hundred and fifty-six patients at Heartland returned home this year. “We have a Around The Panhandle | JAN • FEB 2013

continuum of care. We follow up with the patients after they leave. We go full circle. They come, leave and we still check in with them,” says Mason.

Heartland can provide care for 120 patients. About 400 patients are admitted a year, with 70 to 80 beds used for long-term care.

Not all of those admitted are elderly. Maher says an eighteenyear-old patient with rheumatoid arthritis was recently at the facility.

Heartland has a wide range of comprehensive medical services, including 24-hour nursing care, as well as physical, occupational, and speech therapy services. Some of the services include I.V. therapy, stroke and neurological care, cardiac and respiratory care, diabetes management, post-surgery recovery, hospice care, respite care, and wound care.

In addition, two social workers are part of the staff to work with families. “We have care conferences so families can hear how their loved ones are doing. Our business office can help them deal with financial issues. We want to assist families every way we can,” Mason said.

The facility has 150 employees.

“Our staff is our own. We have consistency of care. People get to know us. We have 83 percent retention. Twelve of our staff members have been here 20 years, and twenty have worked here at least 10 years. The children of our staff have come to work here when

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they grow up. It’s a good place to work. And we treat our customers well,” says Mason.

Mason says Heartland seeks testimonials from patients on its Facebook page. Words of Appreciation from patients in the ManorCare system are included on Heartland’s website. One former patient wrote: “I had to write this letter to tell you how wonderful my experience was being a resident at your ManorCare.

I have never seen such a caring and warm group of staff, including nurses, aides, therapists and office staff. At the end of the letter, I name some who went the extra yard for me.

When I arrived at ManorCare, I was in a lot of pain and depression. Your staff was so compassionate and trained that it wasn’t long before I had a smile on my face all the time. If it wasn’t for all your staff, I don’t know how I would have gotten through it. I can’t thank you enough for getting me through my tough rehab. I will never forget any of you and wish all of you everything you deserve in the future.”

“We want our patients to tell their stories, to talk about what the experience here was like. That’s every effective,” Mason adds.

Even though Heartland is getting older, “we don’t show our age.

We are continually updating our facility,” says Maher. In 2007,

Heartland added a therapy gym.

Other additions include flat screen TVs and an Internet café. “With the aging of the baby boom generation, we’re getting a more discriminating population. They have higher expectations. They expect things like laptop computers, the Internet, and other conveniences. They’re tougher customers to satisfy, but we’re keeping up,” says Mason.

Mason says Heartland strives for a homelike environment for patients and their families. “We have a large, comfortable lobby for patients and visitors. We have a patient activity room. We brought in a sewing machine for one patient who wanted to continue that hobby. Patients can use kitchen facilities, too,” says Mason.

Depending on the ability levels of the patients, Heartland offers entertainment like Elvis impersonators and craft workshops.

“Our patients have made birdhouses.

We have a garden in the back every year. Patients help plant vegetables.

We have a men’s luncheon, bingo and monthly birthday parties for patients. We even had a Gong Show for the first time,” Mason says. “We don’t want patients to feel like this is an institution. We want patients to tell us their needs. We don’t force them into a routine,” says Maher.

The horror stories too often heard about nursing homes lose their sting because of a facility like Heartland.

Maybe there are golden years after all.

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Rosemont Manor Teas

By Caffilene Allen

For more than two centuries, Rosemont Manor, in Berryville, Virginia, has figured prominently in Virginia history. Built in 1811, it was once the home of Virginia governor and U.S. Senator Harry Byrd, Sr. During his residence at Rosemont, Byrd entertained several U.S. presidents, including Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Lyndon B. Johnson, and John F. Kennedy.

Today, in 2013, the Genda family, who purchased the property in 2009, operates a bed-and-breakfast on the premises. However, an increasingly popular feature that the Gendas added in 2010 are the weekend tea events; they are especially popular among local residents and those within driving distance, which includes Washington, D.C. and northern Virginia. Staying overnight while living so near Rosemont may not seem practical to this group; nevertheless, they can spend an

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afternoon enjoying the ambiance of Rosemont for the price of a 90-minute tea event.

The tea events have become so popular, in fact, that reservations have to be made far in advance of the desired date. For instance, in mid-September of 2012, all of the weekend teas had been completely booked through December. Because of the popularity of the teas, Rosemont Manor now provides the opportunity for groups of 10 or more to have a private mid-week tea. A bonus for the person arranging the private tea is that he or she does not have to pay. For those arranging a private tea for 20 or more, the rewards are even greater – a free overnight stay at Rosemont.

Twice a year, Rosemont Manor hosts a tea that is completely free for a select group – brides-to-be. Since the Gendas purchased Rosemont,

it has been a favored venue for weddings. “More than 50 weddings have taken place here since 2010,” Suzanne Plemmons, Rosemont’s director of communication, notes.

The free tea is for the bride-to-be and her mother. However, in some instances, the bride-to-be may invite another lady. “Sometimes the mother lives quite a distance away or is unavailable for other reasons,” Suzanne explains. “In that case, the bride-to-be may choose to invite her future mother-in-law or another lady who is important to her.” The only hard-and-fast rule is that the brideto-be must be officially engaged.

While walking into Rosemont Manor is like entering an earlier era defined by elegance, the organizers of all the tea events want to reassure potential guests that “stuffiness” is not on the menu. “We have all kind of guests for the tea events,” notes Suzanne.

“Some of them are dressed in really

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elegant outfits, complete with hat and gloves. We haven’t had anyone attend in blue jeans, but some of our guests dress very casually and that’s fine with us. We just want our guests to be comfortable.” On that same note, guests don’t have to know a lot about proper tea etiquette, such as which utensil to use with which dish. “We are delighted with guests who know a lot about tea etiquette,” Suzanne says, “but that knowledge is certainly not necessary to attend one of our tea events. Our main concern is that our guests enjoy themselves.”

The Rosemont Manor teas are served

in the traditional manner. They consist of three courses: savories, scones, and sweets. Each course is served with a tea prepared especially for that course. As noted on the Rosemont Web site, a savory course might consist of Southern cucumber sandwiches edged in herbs, Chesapeake egg salad in phyllo cups, and curried chicken salad finger sandwiches, all accompanied

by Rosemont’s signature “Byrd blend” black tea. The scone course might consist of cream scones with strawberry preserves and Devonshire cream, as well as iced lemon blossom muffins; both might be served with Rosemont’s signature

“Rosemont blend” green tea. The sweets course might consist of pink velvet petite cakes, cookies dipped in milk chocolate, and Rosemont’s raspberry roses, all accompanied by a Sweet Heart Herbal Rooibos tea.

The chef behind these exquisite culinary creations is Tona Bays, whose personal history is as fascinating as that of Rosemont. A native of Parkersburg, West Virginia, Tona’s 25 years of experience as a chef and a caterer includes sojourns in France, Italy, and the Netherlands, as well as Baltimore and Atlanta; for 15 years, she also served as a chef on private yachts. Self-taught, Tona

found a unique way to enhance her culinary skills while the yachts were docked in various ports. “Although I didn’t always speak the language,” she says, “I would seek out the chef in a local restaurant, point to the kitchen, and then point to the yacht.” The message, clearly received by the chefs, was that, if she could watch them cook, then she would take them on a tour of the yacht. “That usually worked well,” Tona says with a smile.

While the Rosemont tea guests are enjoying Tona’s culinary creations and the accompanying teas, they are often treated to information presented by 10-year-old Jonathan, one of the owners’ sons, who carries a tray of Civil War relics found on the property from table to table and describes the significance of the relics. The relics are from the Battle of Berryville, fought on September 3 and 4, 1864. The leaders involved in that battle were Major General Philip Sheridan (Union) and Lieutenant General Jubal Early (Confederate).

In addition, William “Biff” Genda, the owner, presents a brief history and tour of Rosemont for those tea guests arriving 30 minutes prior to their seating time. For those who can’t make that timeframe, he offers the same history and tour after the tea is over.

While the tea events are now an outstanding success, the Rosemont staff encountered a rather unusual problem during the early days. “At first,” Suzanne says, “we called them high teas, but Tona and others quickly pointed out that a traditional high tea has much more substantial fare. “In Britain,” Tona added, “high tea is supper.” None of the other traditional tea titles applied either, so eventually the staff settled on the title of manor teas. “We couldn’t really find an existing title that applied,” Suzanne said, “so we just made up our own!” So far, the title has worked well; a manor tea seems the perfect title for a tea at Rosemont Manor.

A great deal of additional information, including prices, various discounts, and special deals, can be found on Rosemont Manor’s Web site: www.rosemont1811.com.

Valentine Teas

Courtesy of Marsha Richards, owner of Tea for All Reasons in Winchester Va

1.

The Royal Wedding Blend: White Champagne Raspberry Rose - An exceptional blend of White Champagne Raspberry Tea with rose petals and pearl dragees that is striking in flavor, though light and delicate.

This blend was created for the celebration of Prince William’s marriage to Kate Middleton, but is the perfect infusion to serve guests at a dream wedding and is packaged in little tins for wedding favors.

2.

Romance: This rich, chocolate black tea with tiny chocolate kisses and juicy strawberry and cherry bits has decorative accents of gold dragees and glittering sugar that add an elegant touch. The blend looks so extravagant, but the price will definitely please.

3.

Chocolate Dream: Extraordinary flavor for the devoted chocolate lover. From the very first sniff of the heavenly aroma, you will be intoxicated by its full, rich character and enchanted by the appearance of tiny chocolate kisses amongst the dark tea leaves.

4.

Chocolate and Roses: One of our most popular Specialty Blends, this combines the wonderful richness of chocolate Rooibos Tea with the fragrance of rose petals to delight your senses. This is perfect for romantic settings, such as anniversaries and Valentine’s Day. A best seller.

5.

Hearts and Flowers: A Black Tea version of the above tea, we have combined our richest chocolate black tea with rose petals to give a spectacular taste sensation.

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