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Antiques column returns with tips on antique value Page 7
W&L’s hard times continue, but letter from former team member stationed in Iraq helps Page 8
Police and fire department news from around the region
T he
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Colonial Beach • Westmoreland
Volume 40, Number 39
helping you relate to your community
Wednesday, September 28, 2016 50 Cents
Developers pull Eleanor Park offers Council members unhappy with opposition tactics Richard Leggitt
Photo by Erica Terrini
Running to victory
Running back Tyshaun Davis turns the corner for a gain in the Colonial Beach High School Drifters’ 28-0 victory over Chincoteague Friday. See story and more photos on Page 6.
The long-simmering tensions involving the sale of the Eleanor Park property in Colonial Beach has caused the two bidders seeking to purchase the block, located on Irving Avenue on the Potomac River, to withdraw their bids. “Candidly, we have been surprised and taken aback by the number of communications that we have received from town citizens that expressed anger, disappointment and/ or subtle threats concerning any
plans we might have for the property,” developer Randy Hirsch, who had submitted a $900,000 bid for the property, said in a Sept. 15 email. On the same day that Hirsch withdrew his bid, Colonial Beach’s attorney, Andrea Erard, also received a communication from the other developer bidding for the property, Roger Matherly. “Because of the changing nature of the value of the property and the various restrictions which may prevent from being subdivided into 12 lots, please withdraw Mr. Matherly’s bid to purchase the property,” the email communication said. The withdrawal of the two bids was announced at Thursday’s meetSee Offers, page 2
Guadalupe clinic helps ‘bind our neighbors’ wounds’ St. Elizabeth Church heads volunteer effort to provide free health care to needy residents Richard Leggitt When the Guadalupe Free Clinic opened on the grounds of St. Elizabeth Catholic Church in Colonial Beach almost a dozen years ago, organizers of the new facility did not know whether to expect a few patients or many. “We had five patients,” said Greg Dilick, who was a volunteer at the new clinic in 2005, but today serves as its executive director. “But one of those first patients was suffering from breast cancer. We immediately got her into Mary Washington Hospital where she had successful surgery and treatment and today she is recovered and volunteers at the clinic.” Volunteers are the backbone of the clinic, where as many as 16 people, including doctors and nurses who
unselfishly donate their time, serve those in need. The clinic helps patients with nonemergency medical problems that are not covered by health insurance and have incomes that are 200 percent below federal poverty guidelines. The free clinic was the dream of the Rev. Jerome Magat, who is a former vicar at St. Elizabeth and continues today to serve on the clinic’s board of directors. Magat was concerned about the number of people, including Latinos, who were unable to afford needed medical care. The clinic was established with bilingual volunteers and today about 40 percent of its patients are Latino. Magat recruited financial support from St. Elizabeth, the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, the Knights of Columbus, Mary Washington Hospital and dozens of other corporate and dindividual donors to help turn an 80-year-old house into a clinic. Magat also obtained donated medical equipment from free health clinics in Lynchburg and Fredericksburg to help with the clinic’s start up.
Volunteers Lance and Rosie Carrington, left, and Jackie Dilick, the administrative coordinator of the Guadalupe Free Clinic in Colonial Beach work on Wednesdays and Saturdays to help provide health care for patients who are poor or do not have health insurance.
Photo by Richard Leggitt
See Clinic, page 2
Volunteers hot on trail of segregation history A.T. Johnson Museum hosts African-American trail group; next meeting Oct. 14 in Warsaw Phyllis Cook A third meeting for anyone interested in helping to pinpoint locations and give information about sites of African-American one- and two-room schools and training schools in the Northern Neck prior to desegregation will take place 11a.m. Oct. 14 in Warsaw. The meeting will be at the Northern Neck Enterprise Center, 483 Main St. in Warsaw. It’s located in the regional center complex of buildings, across the parking lot from the Hunan ChiPhoto by Richard Leggitt
See Trail, page 8
Bikefest coming up
Carey Geddes, the president of the Colonial Beach Chamber of Commerce, talked with the town council last week about preparations being made for the Third Annual Colonial Beach Bikefest. The Bikefest, scheduled for Oct. 6-9, is sponsored by the chamber and On The Beach Productions, LLC.
Photo by Phyllis Cook
At the African-American Education Trail meeting on Sept. 13 at A.T. Johnson Museum in Montross were Rosa Redman, left, Marian Veney Ashton. The group is mapping African-American schools that operated during segregation.
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