T he
POSTAL CUSTOMER
King George
Volume 37, Number 48
helping you relate to your community
Wednesday, November 27, 2013 50 Cents
Learn more about fracking
Sheriff’s Office seeking gunman who robbed store
Informational meetings scheduled - Dec. 11 in Bowling Green and Dec. 12 in Montross Phyllis Cook There are two upcoming public informational meetings scheduled in this region on the topic of hydraulic fracturing – fracking – in Acres leased December. As of July, 2013 Fr a c k i n g 84,000 acres is a process has been w h ereby leased in five c h e micals counties in the and water Taylorsville are forced Basin shale deep into deposit the ground • King George to fracture (10,443 acres) the shale • Westmoreland rock strata (13,864 acres) to release • Caroline natural gas (40,733 acres) so it can be • Essex (13,338 collected by acres) drillers. • King & Queen Both are (6,010 acres) sponsored by the Friends of the Rappahannock (FOR) and the Caroline County Countryside Alliance (CCCA). The meetings will take place as follows: - Wednesday, Dec. 11, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m., Bowling Green Town Hall, 117 Butler St., Bowling Green. - Thursday, Dec. 12, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m., General District Courtroom, George D. English Building, 111 Polk Street, Montross. The workshops are open to the public and could be helpful to landowners who have leased their land, those considering a lease and anyone concerned about landowner rights and the impacts of gas and oil hydrofracking. An email about the workshops states: “As of July, 2013, 84,000 acres has been leased in five counties in the Taylorsville Basin shale deposit just south of Fredericksburg: Caroline (40,733 acres), Essex (13,338 acres), King & Queen (6,010 acres), King George (10,443 acres) and Westmoreland (13,864 acres).” It adds, “Many landowners and rural residents wonder what that means for their communities. The workshops will offer experts in mineral leasing, corporate accountability and gas regulations. It is an opportunity to learn about the leasing process, industry tactics and what gas or oil development means for you, your neighbors and community.” CONTACT FOR INFORMATION/ MAPS OF LEASED AREAS Those who wish additional information about the upcoming workshops may contact either of those listed below: Richard Moncure, 804-443-3448, or email: <richard.moncure@ riverfriends.org>; Nancy Long at CCCA: 804-7425612, or email: <Long5Nancy@aol. com> Maps of gas/oil leases in the region along with additional information about energy development in the area can be found at the FOR website: <www.riverfriends.org/fracking> KING GEORGE BOARD TO GET REPORT IN JANUARY In October, the King George Board of Supervisors had directed Eric Gregory, county attorney, to prepare a report for the board on the status of state laws, regulations and county See fracking, page 3
Jack Deem
A view of the YMCA gym and the volunteers for the 2013 Stop Hunger Now event. Each row had its specific duty: at the first row of tables, volunteers filled the plastic baggies; in the second row,meal packets were weighed and sealed; in the final row, meal packets went in to cartons which were sealed. In the foreground are cardboard cartons that will be filled by the end of the event.
Volunteers work to Stop Hunger Now The annual community event got off to a slow start this year, but momentum picked up as the packaging event on Sunday, Nov. 24 progressed. Having only raised $3300 this year to purchase food stuffs for the meal packages, the event was over half the size of the 2012 event, and took half as long to finish. Over 75 people of all ages filled half of the gym at the King George Family YMCA as the small plastic bags were filled, weighed,
sealed and boxed. Almost 13,000 meals were packaged and sealed up in cartons for shipment to the warehouse in Richmond. The meals will head out where needed overseas and in the U.S. Plans are underway for the 2014 event, which will be held on Sunday, Nov. 23. Held the Sunday before Thanksgiving Thursday, Stop Hunger Now gives a sense of purpose to getting more meals packaged. The goal for the 2014 event is
$10,000, over three times the amount collected this year. With corporate sponsorships, diligent saving of loose change and the raid of the sofa cushions, King George county volunteers will be able to meet the goal. IF you are interested in donating your time and/or money, please contact Lori at (540)-7097495. All dollar amounts are welcome. Just 25¢ pays for one meal; $1.50 will feed six.
KG residents seek access to broadband internet Phyllis Cook King George residents have banded together to pursue options to see if they can get affordable high speed internet to under-served areas of the county. The King George Connect group met together on Nov. 18 and will hold a second meeting on Dec. 2 at 6 p.m. at the University of Mary Washington Campus - Dahlgren. A release sent out last week by organizer Barbara Wagner informs residents who would like to follow the group’s actions or become involved, that a Facebook group has been established (called: King Geor ge Connected - Internet Infrastru cture Group), as well as an email group, (email: kinggeorgeconnect@
gmail.com). She also said a survey has been posted to the group page that can be filled out to help King George Connect assess local demand and pursue the best solutions for King George. The group currently has about 20 members and is exploring grant funding opportunities to see if they are available to fund costs for expansion of existing provider lines and also looking into other potential internet service providers. Wagner, and Karen and Rusty Huyck provided public comments at last week’s King George Wireless Authority meeting on Nov. 19, asking if that board could assist in the group’s efforts to obtain high speed broadband internet service at a reasonable cost.
HIGH SPEED INTERNET IS A BASIC UTILITY Wagner said she’d moved to the county about a year ago, adding, “I was very surprised to learn that when closing on my dream home, the only available internet was dialup and a very expensive satellite.” Wagner stressed that high speed internet as a modern technology is a necessity, saying, “It’s a basic utility in this day and age.” Saying high speed internet is like other basic utilities such as water and sewer is a very apt comparison. The Huycks had also made the same discovery upon moving to this rural county in the last year or so. They had first spoken at a meeting back on June 25, relating
Wireless Authority members comment King George elected officials found out the hard way that service to less-dense rural areas cannot be legislated and that it is marketdriven. Unfortunately, there is nothing the county can do to compel internet service providers to provide service throughout the county, as noted by Joe Grzeika last week. Grzeika said, “It’s going to be a technology on the private side. I don’t have any government solution. We cannot order them to come and put service in the county. It doesn’t work that way. That’s not an authority we have. We can’t tell them you’re going to put wireless in this county, or you’re to put service in here.” The county’s Wireless Authority is made up of members of the Board of Supervisors. Ruby Brabo, who has been on the county boards for two years, did not live through the experience of initial efforts to get a private partner to provide internet to the sparser-populated areas of the county in the last decade. She commented, saying she had attended the first meeting of the residents seeking solutions to
that they were encountering “last mile” issues. They had related that their house is 2,148 feet from a tie-in with Metrocast and that it would cost them $12,000 out-of-pocket to connect, saying it was more than they can afford. Many who have built houses in a sparse area of the county have had to pay that much and more for other basic utilities to have a well dug and/or septic system constructed, along with maintenance costs. Welcome to country living. KING GEORGE WAS EARLYADOPTER FOR WIRELESS Resident Warren Veazey
The King George Sheriff ’s Office is investigating the Friday armed robbery of the Dutch’s Mart convenience store on State Route 206. The lone gunman got away with an undisclosed amount of money. Sheriff ’s officers said the robbery occurred about 11 p.m. Friday. Two employees of the store were approached by the gunman as they closed the store. The gunman was armed with a handgun and demanded money. The robber took money belonging to the store and then ran from the scene. A sheriff ’s office canine unit was brought in to assist with the search, but could not locate the gunman. The store employees described the robber to officers as a white male in his 20s or 30s wearing dark clothing and a dark stocking cap. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the Sheriff ’s Office at (540) 775-2049. — Richard Leggitt
Terra Products gets approval for bond issuance Phyllis Cook Plans for a new business in King George are expected to move forward with last week’s approval by the Board of Supervisors of a resolution that allows the county’s Economic Development Authority (EDA) to issue bonds not to exceed $5,500,000 for Terra Products LLC. Claude Shaffer, the president of Terra Products, is planning to
See Internet, page 3
See Bonds, page 3
Many talents
“It was a well-attended event and I commend their dedication to research solutions. I always think it’s great when residents play an active role in searching out solutions for the community.”
—Ruby Brabo
affordable high speed internet. “It was a well-attended event and I commend their dedication to research solutions. I always think it’s great when residents play an active role in searching out solutions for the community.” Brabo also said of Wagner, “I know Barbara showed up and she had 33 grants that she felt we would qualify for. They’ve divided it up amongst themselves to continue researching it more thoroughly to see if there really are any possibilities that grants could be utilized through Metrocast to help build out that infrastructure to bring it to them, rather than citizens trying to figure out how to cough up $20,000 out of their personal bank accounts in order
to have the service run to their homes.” Cedell Brooks suggested that residents be placed on the Wireless Authority, saying, “I think we have a lot of knowledge in the community about the wireless needs and suggest the wireless board should be made up of citizens in the community. And maybe that would bring a different outlook to it. Because maybe people really don’t know what we went through to try to bring things here. All the knowledge in the community, maybe this board should be citizens sitting up here on the wireless board and then See comments, page 3
See Market, page 3
Richard Compton is a familiar face at local craft shows with his beautiful wooden objects. At the King George Parks & Recreation Holiday Bazaar held Saturday at the Citizens Center he was displaying another talent - guitar picking!
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Jessica Herrink