Middleburg Eccentric October 2021 by Middleburg Eccentric, LLC.

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Think Local Middleburg’s Communit Community Newspaper Middleburg’s y Newspaper Volume 18 Issue 7

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October 28 ~ November 25, 2021

Middleburg Fall R aces

Page 12

Town of Middleburg Elections Now Held in November

Mayor and Four Council Seats are on the Ballot

T t was a record topper! Town folk and guests alike from near and far were in full swing at the Virginia Fall Races at Glenwood this past month. Expansive tailgates, plentiful libations, fabulous fall, floral and fox decorations, it’s the way Middleburgians express the joy and gratitude of being in this precious countryside with friends and family under the sunshine in a cool breeze, mask-less, and able to schmooze away the day. Yes,

it’s a lousy Hemingway line, but the smiles were everywhere. Trainer Neil Morris had a banner day with William Russell’s Animal Kingdom winning the 1st race, a $20,000 Ratings Handicap Hurdle, Pathfinder Racing’s Knockholt winning the $25,000 Allowance Hurdle, and MRQ Racing’s Argentic (FR) taking the $10,000 Maiden Claiming Hurdle. Jack Fisher trainees New Member (Ire) took the $15,000 Steeplethon for owners Armata Stables, and Storm Team won the $30,000 NSLM Cup Timber Stakes for Sheila J. Williams.

Leslie Young’s Drewscourt (Ire) took the 2nd race, a $20,000 Maiden Hurdle, for Leipers Fork Steeplechase with Tom Garner aboard. Four Virginia Gents won the 6th with First Friday, with Barry Foley aboard, and trained by Doug Fout. Kudos go to the race committee, Will O’Keefe, Punkin Lee, Julie Gomena, Cricket Bedford, Karyn Wilson and Katy Carter, and all the volunteers and staff who work tirelessly for months on one of the town’s favorite events. Thank you!

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POSTAL CUSTOMER

Nancy Kleck

May. After seeking input from the community, the Town Council voted to move its local elections to the November of “odd” years to coincide with state and local elections (instead of coinciding with presidential and federal elections that occur in “even” years). The Town of Middleburg encourages all registered voters to come to the Town Office on November 2, 2021, from 6:00am – 7:00pm to vote in all of these important elections. For questions about voting, including early or absentee voting, please contact the Loudoun County Office of Elections at 703777-0380. For questions about the Town Council, please contact the Town Office at 540687-5152.

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Virginia Fall Races Captures The Middleburg Spirit

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George Bethel and Mr. Fox Photo By Nancy Kleck

he Town of Middleburg is reminding its citizens that elections for the Town Council have been moved to November in response to recent state legislation. On November 2, 2021, there will be elections for Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, House of Delegates, Mayor and four Council Members, in addition to County bond referenda. Citizens who reside in Middleburg will be offered a ballot that includes the Mayor and Town Council candidates. A sample can be found at this link or on the Loudoun County General Registrar’s website at http://www. loudoun.gov/vote . In 2021, the General Assembly passed legislation requiring local elections to be held in November instead of the traditional date in

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October 28 ~ November 25, 2021

News of Note

Middleburgs’ State of the Town Address

ayor Bridge Littleton presented his “State of the Town” address to the Middleburg community on Wednesday, October 27th, at the Middleburg Community Center. He addressed the Town’s fiscal health as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, the new Town Hall project, essen-

tial infrastructure and planning efforts, and Town operations. Middleburg’s Fiscal Health According to the Town’s auditors, the Town saw a “net operating surplus” of more than $960,000 in Fiscal Year 2021. This surplus resulted from higher than expected revenues even during the pandemic and lower expenditures due to the cancellation of many events and programs. The Town continues to have a significant amount of cash on hand, which will serve as our fiscal reserve for potential future economic downturns such as we experienced at the outset of the pandemic. Town Hall Project The Mayor next discussed the Town Hall project. The Town Council held two inperson and live feed public input sessions in 2021 while also receiving approval from the Historic District Review Committee, Streetscape Committee, and Planning Commission. This project will co-locate the Police and Town Administration in one new building for the first

time in over 35 years, provide multiple public meeting spaces, create two public green areas for outdoor gatherings, and offer additional parking and public restrooms to support visitors to Town.

As for funding the project, the Town received a very favorable interest rate recommended by the Strategic Finance Committee – 20 years at a 2.72% fixed rate. The Town is also slated to receive $500,000 from

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Loudoun County for the project and has been recommended for an additional $2 million in funding from the federal government for this project. The Town hopes to break ground in January 2022 and complete the new building by December 2022. Infrastructure Mayor Littleton also discussed other vital projects, such as using federal funds to pay for needed water and sewer infrastructure, addressing concerns about infill development in the Ridgeview neighborhood through Zoning amendments, and implementing a new wayfinding and street signage program. Town Operations As for Town operations, the Mayor highlighted new staff that has the Town fully employed at this time. The Police continue to do great community work, focusing on building relationships and being present throughout the Town. The Town’s business development function has a new face in Ali MacIntyre, who meets business owners and works to help promote the Town as a desirable place to visit and shop. The Town’s Finance Director, Tina Staples, returned to Middleburg and ensured the Town’s finances remained in a strong position. The Community Finally, the Mayor reviewed how the Town Council engages in the community through events, Committees, and partnerships. The Mayor and Council work with their colleagues in other Towns, at the County, and in the community to keep Middleburg beautiful. Most of all, the people make Middleburg great, something Mayor Littleton reiterated at the end. The Mayors’ full presentation can be found on the Town’s website at www.Middleburgva. gov.

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October 28 ~ November 25, 2021 Page 3

Middleburg Police: breast cancer awareness month

ctober is breast cancer awareness month. Thanks to Lt. Shaun D. Jones, the depart-

ment will wear pink badges during October to remind everyone to get checked. Early detection is crucial. In addition to the new

badges. The Town also presented a shadow box to Chief AJ Panebianco in memory of his wife who

passed away from breast cancer seven years ago. “Thanks to all my staff, the town council, and town management for their part

in this. Be safe, get checked.” Panebianco said.

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P.O. Box 1768 Middleburg, VA 20118 540-687-3200 news@mbecc.com

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October 28 ~ November 25, 2021

News of Note

COVID’s Impact on College Admission

Barbara T. Conner Director of College Counseling Foxcroft School

n international pandemic affects everything. For high school students and their families who went through the college application process last year, they saw the college application process play out differently than they anticipated. Some of the changes they saw will continue into this year — and they may resonate for years to come. Let’s discuss four specific impacts COVID has had on selective college admission. You Can’t Get Here From There: Improved Online/Virtual Campus Tours

and other Resources With thousands of colleges and universities shut down to visitors due to the pandemic, college admission offices quickly pivoted to improving the offerings on their websites. Almost overnight, 360-degree campus tours, student panels, faculty lectures, and more began appearing and students and families were encouraged to research colleges using these enhanced resources since they could not visit in person. Over the past year, Drexel University, in Philadelphia, hosted more than 1400 virtual programs for prospective students and families. Online college fairs (known as 6x6s) popped up like bumper crops. Some online college fairs were

themed — with a specific focus on engineering or the arts. Others were general career fairs which provided students the chance to move in and out of rooms, as they would have moved between tables at traditional, in-person career fairs, to learn about the opportunities and ask questions of the admission representatives. For many years, colleges have been focused on increasing access, diversity, equity, and inclusion in college admission. Colleges often share the number of first-generation students (these students are among the first in their families to graduate from college), the number of Pelleligible students (families qualify for Pell Grants with total family income less than $50,000, but the majority of

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Pell Grants are awarded to students where family income is less than $20,000 as demonstrated through the FAFSA process) and broadening the diversity on their campuses — including geographic/demographic (students from rural and urban areas) as well as racial/ethnic/religious/cultural diversity. The admission focus on access, diversity, equity, and inclusion across the spectrum continued during COVID. Many colleges have increased their outreach to rural and urban areas in order to increase the number of first-generation students applying to and attending their colleges and during COVID, this outreach was done through virtual admission visits. Because in-person travel time (and expense) was sharply reduced, colleges were able to use virtual platforms to reach out to and connect with many more target-high schools during COVID. Recently, several campuses have re-opened to visitors. Students and families are encouraged to read the visitor policies carefully. In most cases, you must reserve space ahead of time for information sessions and campus tours. Most campuses require visitors to wear masks and, in some cases, to demonstrate that they have been vaccinated in order to participate in information sessions, etc. Check admission websites for specific details since they change frequently. The enhanced online offerings from college admission offices will be a silver lining that will be with us for a long time. By participating in sessions offered online, students will be able to get a general idea of whether this place is a good match for what they are looking for in their college experience. Even when all/ most colleges reopen to visitors, it will be helpful to be able to do substantial research online before committing to plane tickets, hotel rooms, etc. for traditional campus visits. Test-Optional Admission Review With COVID, came the closure of hundreds and hundreds of test centers due to health and safety mandates and protocols. Some test centers reduced their capacity and still offered testing. Others closed entirely for specific national test dates. While hundreds of colleges and universities have offered admission under test-optional review for many years (see a full list at www.fairtest. org), a majority of schools still required submission of either ACT or SAT scores until COVID hit. To put this into perspective, in 2019, there were 1050 test optional colleges and universities. For Fall 2021, 1600 colleges and universities are offering test-optional admission review. When a location is approved as a test center under the guidelines of ACT and College Board/SAT, students from any geographic location can register to test at that center. Before COVID, most students registered to test at their own high school or high schools close to home. Early in COVID, as test centers were beginning to announce closures, students quickly maneuvered to find space in any available test center. Some students made arrangements to travel by plane and stay in hotels far from home to try to test. In many cases, students arrived at test centers only to be faced with signs on the

doors saying testing was canceled due to recent COVID conditions, state mandates, etc. The number of students who wanted to test was high - there were over one million registrations for ACT testing and SAT/SAT Subject testing across all national test dates (see below for the update on SAT/SAT Subject Tests). ACT tests were historically offered in September, October, December, February, April, and June. For many years, the College Board had offered national SAT dates in August, October, November, December, March, May, and June. With the high number of test centers canceled and strong demand from students who still wanted to take college tests, both test agencies reached out to high schools pleading with them to offer themselves as test centers for additional test dates that were being created in the fall, winter, and spring. Most high schools were addressing their own academic needs with the emphasis on strengthening teaching strategies for teachers on distance-learning or hybrid learning platforms for their teachers and most high schools did not have the capacity to consider becoming test centers. Demand remained consistent among high school students and supply was dwindling. A small percentage of high schools shifted to testing only their own students but not all high schools were able to meet the requirements for closed-center testing. This move was seen as increasing the divide between those with access to resources and those without. Seeing the writing on the wall, college admission officers quickly realized that the vast majority of seniors were not going to be able to take ACT or SAT tests and this motivated many to announce testoptional admission reviews for the 2020-2021 admission cycle.. Some schools announced one- or threeyear test-optional pilot programs. Some institutions which had been studying whether to go test-optional announced plans to go, and remain, test-optional in their admission reviews. The strongest factor in determining admission has long been evident on the high school transcript — the strength of the classes taken during high school and the academic success the student demonstrated while taking those rigorous classes over four years. Test scores have been a factor in admission — and perhaps a stronger factor in the case of specific programs in engineering, nursing, etc., — but there was consensus that test scores weren’t the most important element in a student’s application file. This notion was about to get tested in real-time. There was some concern about whether colleges would be able to yield strong classes without having test scores as data points in applicant files. Bates College was an early adopter of a test-optional approach - they have been test-optional for 35 years. They didn’t flinch. There are other institutions, such as the University of Chicago which recently adopted a test-optional admission approach four years ago as part of their Empower Initiative, which was intended to increase access to higher education to students from underrepresented backgrounds. The Uni-

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versity of Chicago has experienced several very successful admission cycles under test-optional reviews and has announced it is permanently test-optional. Other universities, including Lehigh and ClaremontMcKenna, adopted one- or threeyear test-optional pilot programs as a direct result of COVID. They will be comparing data of incoming students’ academic performance on their campuses with and without test scores to determine whether to reinstate the requirement for college test scores in future years. In this test-optional admission environment, it is important to remember that not all schools in all places are test-optional. The legislatures in Florida and Georgia are requiring applicants to submit test scores to attend their public universities. Georgetown University would still like to see test scores — read their admission website for more on their admission policies regarding submitting scores. Some admission officers have shared that without test scores, students’ college essays and recommendation letters came to the forefront for many admission committees and took on more weight than they had in previous years. While the phenomenon of testoptional is in very early phases at many colleges — and last year’s experience may not be a predictor of this year or future year’s admission outcomes, it may be interesting to take a snapshot of a few recent examples. Remembering that test scores are just one factor in holistic admission, here are a few examples of overall outcomes based on whether applicants submitted test scores or not. Lehigh recently shared that 52% of applicants last year submitted ACT/SAT testing, 60% of their admitted students had submitted tests, and 40% of admitted students had not submitted college testing. Emory reported that about half of their applicants chose to submit scores and about 69% of their offers went to students who had submitted test scores. At Vanderbilt about 56% of applicants submitted test scores and just over 60% of those admitted had submitted scores. Case Western reported that 45% of their applicants chose to apply test-optional and 42% of their admitted class had not submitted test scores. At Brandeis 54% of students submitted scores and 64% of their admit offers went to students who had submitted scores. While some colleges/universities offer test-optional admission — there may be specific programs (e.g. nursing, engineering, etc.) that still require the submission of test scores. While some institutions may offer test-optional admission, they may require the submission of test scores to qualify for specific scholarships. For example, Rollins College, in Winter Park, Florida, has been test-optional since 2008. Students who choose to apply under a test-optional review are eligible to be considered for partial merit scholarships ranging from $15,000-32,000. It is important to understand the details surrounding test-optional admission and each institution gets to decide how they will apply this to admission, ma-

jors, scholarships, etc. Please review admission websites carefully for specific details. The Elimination of SAT Subject Tests and the SAT Essay While the writing had been on the wall with fewer and fewer colleges requiring/recommending SAT Subject Tests and the optional writing section of the SAT from students, CB pulled the plug on both SAT Subject Test (spring 2021) and the SAT Essay (summer 2021) during COVID. Students have been able to include AP scores on college essays for years, which wasn’t the case early on when AP scores would be provided to the registrar at the college a student attended to see what amount of college credit would be applied to the student’s academic record and SAT Subject Tests were the scores included on college admission applications. The optional writing section on the SAT was under scrutiny about what it could reasonably demonstrate to an admission reader and with the prevalence of test prep firms coaching so many students, the essays often had similar approaches and cadences. The SAT has returned to an entirely multiple-choice format at this point. The Push to Early For the past decade, we have seen a focus on applying earlier. During COVID, the increase in the number of binding Early Decision applications received was significant. Under an Early Decision (ED) application plan, the student commits to attending that institution if offered admission. This is the strongest demonstration of interest a student can make during this process. ED applicant pools are among the most highly qualified applicants. Colleges set enrollment targets each year, sometimes planning to fill 1060% of their incoming freshman class from the ED pool. Most college admission professionals attributed the sharp increase in the number of ED applications

last year to a desire for a sense of certainty during a time when many things were unsure in students’ lives. Because colleges were unsure about how COVID would impact their yields and whether they would be able to hit their enrollment targets, as well as the added pressure of higher numbers of students expressing a desire to remain closer to home in case the college needed to shut down due to COVID, etc. Some colleges admitted a bit more in their binding Early Decision and

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October 28 ~ November 25, 2021 Page 5

Early Decision II rounds than they have in recent years. We are still in the throes of COVID-19 and the impact it has on college admission may not be truly known for some time. What difference did the shift to entirely virtual college tours and programs have vs. in-person campus visits have on enrollment and will it have on retention? Did the number of deferral requests received by colleges from students who wanted to wait out

COVID and enter college the following year impact the number of admission offers colleges will be able to make this fall? Will COVID extend the number of years current students will spend in their college years? Many aspects will become clearer in the coming years. In the meantime, as always, we encourage students to remain at the heart of their process and to control what they can in this process.

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October 28 ~ November 25, 2021

News of Note

Land Trust of Virginia Places Jolee Farminto Conservation Easement 5 building lots reduced to 1, scenic viewshed preserved

he Land Trust of Virginia (LTV) is pleased to announce that Jolee Farm, an 87.8 acre property along Snickersville Turnpike in Middleburg, has been placed into permanent conservation easement due to the generosity of property owners Joe Keating and Tiffany Lee. Both had visited this part of

Virginia many times since childhood and, on finally moving here, they were eager to not only make Middleburg their home but also to ensure the preservation of the qualities that drew them to the area in the first place. “We found it important to play our part in conserving property in Loudoun County,” said Keating. “We learned about the value

of conservation easements while looking for properties to purchase, and we hope to inspire other landowners to take these steps to preserve our finite natural and historical resources.” Monikered using a combination of their names, Jolee Farm is 2.8 miles northwest of Aldie with over half a mile (3,400 feet) of frontage on Snickersville

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Turnpike, a designated Virginia Byway. This visibility, along with its high elevation, made the property an important conservation piece to maintain the scenic agricultural vista of the surrounding area for all to enjoy. There are three other conservation and open-space easements adjacent to Jolee Farm, including one held by LTV at Dresden Farm.

“This is just our first step in protecting and improving the conservation values of our property,” said Lee. We have plans to plant a significant number of trees to increase our forest cover and we hope our friends and family will join us by planting a tree with us when they visit. These trees, planted in their honor, will create special memories over the years.” Partially the site of the Civil War Battle of Aldie, the historical integrity of Jolee Farm has now been preserved with a No Build Area where the property coincides with a mapped battlefield. This distinction also allowed for reduction of easement donation costs with the use of LTV’s Deborah Whittier Fitts Battlefield Stewardship Fund, established in 2009. “Jolee Farm protects a significant portion of the viewshed as you drive along Snickersville Turnpike,” said Sally Price, executive director of LTV. “The public benefit from this easement is undeniable and furthers our goal of keeping western Loudoun County rural and agricultural.”

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October 28 ~ November 25, 2021 Page 7

Junior Woman’s Club of Loudoun Donates Mobile Playroom to Inova Loudoun Hospital

Woman’s Club of Loudoun is making to enhance a child’s time in the hospital,” stated Emily Phipps, Child Life Specialist, Inova Loudoun Hospital. The mobile playroom is being purchased from The Oscar Litwak Foundation. The Foundation’s goal is to improve the quality of life of sick children while hospitalized by providing entertainment and resources for them to enjoy in their room.

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Lacy Hurst, President, JWCL; Francesca Jacobini, former President JWCL; Cindy DeFrancesco, MS, CCLS and Melissa Diaz, Philanthropy Officer, Inova Loudoun Hospital

ocal woman’s volunteer group, Junior Woman’s Club of Loudoun (JWCL), is donating a second mobile playroom to Inova Loudoun Hospital. JWCL donated the first playroom, a mobile unit on wheels which is fully stocked with toys and activities, in 2018 and has been saving funds over the past couple years to purchase this second playroom. “Playing allows a child to escape from their reality, to be anyone they want and to go anywhere they want to go, even if it

is for a moment. We are so happy and grateful that JWCL has the opportunity to provide these moments of play for the pediatric patients at Inova Loudoun,” says Francesca Jacobini, former JWCL President. It means so much to JWCL members to be able to support the hospital team members, pediatric patients and their families. Members are happy to help bring some comfort and smiles to children while receiving medical care. “We are grateful for the continued support and wonderful contribution that the Junior

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October 28 ~ November 25, 2021

News of Note

News From South Carolina The Fence Post

Robert Banner

e could have easily flown on a commercial flight. But, to fly to Camden, SC in the morning and return that afternoon, small, fast, and private was the way to take care of business. Besides, Skyway Air Taxi of Manassas, VA offsets their carbon footprint with credits we sell them. This flight was entirely carbon neutral, a great way to start. Our pilot powered up, and we launched down the runway. In a few minutes, our sleek, new Cirrus SR22 carried us to 8,000 feet cruising through clear, blue skies at around 200 mph. We would land in Camden in about 2 hours. With a tailwind, the trip home would be shorter. Once landed, we drove past the famed steeplechase course in Camden. We were headed to nearby Rembert, SC, home of Modern Turf, a sod growing farm where we would launch the mission to plant more trees in South Carolina. We were all the guests of Hank and Mary Kerfoot, the landowners. Tripp Chavis, CEO and President of Milliken Forestry, had recommended the Kerfoots convert some of their unproductive acres into forest in a GreenTrees program creating carbon credits. Our expansion into South Carolina would start here. Today, our partners were gathering to announce our union and celebrate the

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plans to continue across the state. After Hank Kerfoot’s generous welcome, he introduced our Founder, Chandler Van Voorhis to the group of 65 landowners and conservationists that gathered to listen. To date, Van Voorhis and his partners have sequestered more than 6.3M tonnes of carbon. Sales of resulting credits provide regular financial distributions to participating landowners. While GreenTrees has become the leading reforestation project in the world by credit issuance, the company is always looking for more land to reforest. South Carolina is primed for the opportunity. Van Voorhis described how natural capital offers new (and growing) revenue streams that help landowners profit from their property. The corporate appetite for sustainability is driving the value of carbon offsets higher, and higher, so the timing is perfect to connect landowners to the process of growing trees for carbon sequestration and the valuable carbon credits that result. Van Voorhis added, “With the special relationship we have with Milliken, Norfolk Southern Railway, and the energy of Ethel Bunch and Sustain SC, we are at the dawn of conservation capitalism. It gives capitalism a heart and conservation a purpose.” Van Voorhis introduced his friend, Milliken’s CEO, Trip Chavis. Chavis is a seasoned leader in the state and

leads this work. He is our headlights capably forging the right relationships at the right time. With Lamar Comalander and Angus Lafaye at the gathering, Chavis had three generations of Milliken leadership behind him, all trusted advisors to South Carolina landowners since 1949. “In ACRE, we have a global leader in reforestation right here in our state providing meaningful options to landowners. This means more agricultural acres will be protected from land use changes.” He added, “South Carolina also has some of the most innovative companies in the world looking to make investments right here.” He pointed to Ethel Bunch and Sustain SC, as an integral member of his team helping connect the goals to area businesses. Under Ethel Bunch’s popular leadership, Sustain SC has solidly connected commerce and conservation. She echoes Van Voorhis’s message. “We are at the intersection of change. Ecological credits are the new currency of conservation and our business community is willing to help fund the restoration of our land. It helps them achieve their sustainability goals and supports the local landowners at the same time.” Jennifer Mapes represents Sage Automotive Interiors. Sage has global sales but manufactures in South Carolina. “At Sage, we and our customers have defined that sustainability is increasingly more important to

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Josh Raglin, Chandler Van Voorhis, Tripp Chavis, Harry Ott, Ethel Bunch, and Hank Kerfoot

us all. We are constantly reminded that we must all do things differently. We have plans to be much more aggressive pursuing our sustainability goals. GreenTrees offers us a chance to do that with programs rooted in our home state.” Harry Ott is the President of the South Carolina Farm Bureau, representing more than 90,000 members. We rely on the good faith of farmers wherever we are, so we were proud when Ott spoke next. “We want to generate the best revenue we can from the land and GreenTrees will deliver another tool to generate the profit we’re looking for, especially from land we may have thought unproductive. It’s a model we can recommend.” We can thank Josh Raglin, Chief Sustainability Officer at Norfolk Southern Corporation, for the matchmaking involved. He saw the synergy between our longtime friends at Milliken, Sustain SC, and GreenTrees.

The relationship was a natural and has taken traction quickly. Norfolk Southern has been in South Carolina since 1827 and was one of GreenTrees’s first customers. Buoyed by success, we were all smiling as we buckled into the plane for the ride home. It was hard not to feel super excited by the enthusiastic response we heard from major land trusts, businesses and landowners. On our way home, we flew over farmland that was all connected by the Pee Dee River (in SC,) the Rappahannock River, the James River, and the Potomac River basins. It was that constant reminder Jennifer Mapes from Sage spoke about. I know she is right, and we must all do more to protect our environment. But today, I felt we had made significant progress. Robert Banner is Senior Project Officer at ACRE Investment Management in The Plains, VA. Thoughts? Reach him at (540) 729-1335, or rob@acre-investment.com.

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October 28 ~ November 25, 2021 Page 9

Community Unites to Help MPD Officers to continue to raise money for Jones and raise awareness, Overall, the community of Middleburg has united to show support for Lieutenant Jones and Timmy Thorpe. These officers have dedicated their lives to maintaining Middleburg’s charm and assisting the community. It is vital to give back to them in times of need. There is “strength in numbers. Whether you believe in God or good vibes [anything is appreciated]” (Chief AJ). It is essential to continue to lift our neighbors and

give support. Expressing the love Middleburg has for them “keeps their spirits high. They have something else to fight for. Yes, they have their own families, but also they have the extended family of Middleburg” (Chief AJ). And that family, the community of Middleburg, continues to work to help them. You can find the go fund me for Lieutenant Shawn Jones at https://bit.ly/3jEIPna You can apply to be a Living Donor for Timmy Thorpe at https://bit.ly/3pHdrs1

Lieutenant Shawn Jones

Timmy Thorpe

PAYTON VOGAN

here is strength in a community that bands together in times of struggle. Recently, Middleburg exhibited this strength through its efforts to help out two Middleburg Police Officers. Currently, Lieutenant Shawn Jones and Timmy Thorpe are fighting illnesses. In response, those in the community are working to assist them through these difficult times. Lieutenant Shawn Jones and Timmy Thorpe are well-respected officers in the Middleburg Police Department. They are valued parts of the community and dedicate their lives to keeping Middleburg a colorful and charming place to live. Lieutenant Shawn Jones is one of the newest members of the police department. However, that did not hinder his ability to make connections in town. A coworker, Chief AJ, remarks that “there is a connection to the community that you almost make instantaneously, and he has that connection. Lieutenant Jones wants to show that he is there for the citizens of Middleburg” (Chief AJ). Thus, due to this connection, Jones is a smiling face and active volunteer. However, Jones is currently battling lymphoma. Unfortunately, the doctors first misdiagnosed Jones, leading him to be treated incorrectly. After getting a second and third opinion, he got an accurate diagnosis. Chief AJ notes that going through the wrong treatment “has probably compounded the effects [of the lymphoma], so he is having a tough time” (Chief AJ). Nevertheless, Jones continues to go to work when he can. Timmy Thorpe is the longest termed employee at the Middleburg Police Department. He started working there over a decade ago. His dedication to Middleburg and everyone in the community is unmistakable. Town Council member

Mr. Bernard states, “Police do a good job about not just enforcing the laws but being a part of the community.” Through his decade of serving, Thorpe continues to embody this. Unfortunately, Thorpe is also battling illness. The doctors diagnosed Thorpe with liver cancer, and he needs a liver transplant. Even with his diagnosis, Thorpe continues to work and spend time giving back to the community. Both Lieutenant Shawn Jones and Timmy Thorpe embody what it means to be resilient. When faced with unimaginable adversity, they not only persevere but continue to help others. Throughout the process of diagnosis and treatment, the community has united together to support them. The police department works to raise awareness and be understanding of their current abilities and needs. Specifically, Chief AJ raises awareness through social media. Social media offers a quick and efficient way to spread information. Thus, their stories have spread throughout Middleburg. This incites others in the greater community to give back. Additionally, Chief AJ emphasizes that “they are family” (Chief AJ). Thus, the Middleburg Police Department will continue to check on them and make sure they know their coworkers love them. The greater community in town also works to support these officers. There is a toll illness takes on not only the individual but their family. Because of this, there is currently a Gofundme page for Lieutenant Shawn to help his family. Additionally, through raising awareness within the community, Timmy Thorpe has gotten offers from three potential liver donors. While the doctors could decline them all, this exhibits excellent support. Further, the individual can do a lot to help Lietteneut Shawn and Timmy Thorpe. Going online, sharing their stories, donating, and raising awareness all make a difference. Even “kind words of support go a long way. We want to show them that they make Middleburg a great place to be. We care about them and want to help them in any trial and tribulations they go through” (Bernard). Moving forward, the community wants

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Page 10 Middleburg Eccentric

• October 28 ~ November 25, 2021

News of Note

Turnaround Mastermind Offers Guidance for Businesses Seeking to Reinvent or Recover from the Life-Altering Impacts of COVID-19

fter nearly two years of havoc brought on by COVID-19 and blood, sweat, and tears of executives working to survive the ongoing pandemic, business owners are seeking guidance for reinvention and recovery. Customers have shifted purchasing behaviors, staff has turned over, markets have changed, and hybrid working models continue to challenge. Lisa Gable’s experience in leading organizations in times of dramatic change is brought to life in her new book Turnaround – How to Change Course When Things Are Going South (IdeaPress Publishing, October 2021). Lisa provides audiences with concrete tips for ensuring business continuity, citing personal examples, as well as answering questions related to business shifts to help ensure future viability and growth. As CEO of several organiza-

tions, and as a former Presidential appointee, US Ambassador, UN Delegate, and advisor to Fortune 500 companies, Lisa has orchestrated and executed the successful turnarounds of well-known private and public organizations in all industries and sectors. She is highly regarded in business, political, and philanthropic circles for her ability to tackle difficult issues directly and with discipline and diplomacy. Earlier in her career, Lisa worked in high tech as corporate identity manager at Intel, in the White House as deputy associate director of presidential personnel, and in the US Department of Defense as a special assistant in the Technology Transfer Policy department. She was named one of the 10 Most Innovative Businesswomen in 2020 by The Business Berg and an Inspirational Businesswoman to Watch in 2021 by Tycoon Magazine.

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Deputy Chief Randall Shank, Training Officer Tracy Senate, Training Officer Michael McDonald, Top Student Diana Mann, Assistant Chief James Williams, Top Student Alex Bennett, Assistant Chief Travis Preau, Top Student Jessica Starkie, Dr. John Morgan, Top Student Catherine Ryan, Rescue Chief Kathleen Harasek, Broad Run Supervisor Sylvia Glass, Leesburg Supervisor Kristen Umstattd, and Ashburn Supervisor Mike Turner

he Loudoun County Combined Fire and Rescue System (LC-CFRS) is honored to announce the graduation of 118 first responders who successfully completed various levels of fire and rescue training. A graduation ceremony was held on Thursday, September 23, 2021, at Heritage High School in Leesburg, and recognized the accomplishments of numerous men and women who have committed to honorably serve their communities. 79 students completed the Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), 17 completed the

Advanced Emergency Medical Technician (AEMT) course, and 22 students completed the Firefighter I-II course. In addition to their full-time jobs, schooling, and family obligations, each of these graduates dedicated countless hours over the last six months to their training and have achieved Loudoun County, Virginia State and National Certification in their respective program. Loudoun County Fire and Rescue course instructors each designate one individual from their course as the top student. This student exemplifies leadership,

Middleburg Eccentric

The Middleburg Sustainability Committee Presents

FALL INTO CLEAN

Transform Your Yard Plant mature, landscape-size trees and gain the immediate impact of shade, flowering accents, privacy screening, and definition of space.

Town Street Clean Up and Recycling Event Starring Volunteers and Citizens Like You

Saturday October 30th, 2021 Middleburg Town Office, 10 W. Marshall Street KEEP MIDDLEBURG AND YOUR HOME BEAUTIFUL Town Street Clean Up. 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. 2021 semi-annual street cleanup. Come and help keep our town litter free! Meet at 8 to get your gloves, vests, trash bags etc. NEW! On-site Recycling Drop-Offs. 9 a.m. to noon at the Town Office ü Food Scraps Composting - Free drop-off for food scraps including peels and pits, pumpkins, pizza boxes, meat bones, clam and oyster shells and more. Come meet the Apex Organix folks to learn more about composting and to sign up for the weekly or bi-weekly food scrap compost collection service. More information at Apex-Organix.com ‘What Can I Compost?’ ü Old Paint - Are paint cans cluttering your garage or basement? Bring your old paint cans (water, latex and oil-based) for recycling. $5 per can – cash, check, charge accepted. ü Shaving Materials – Free drop-off of old, non-electric razors, blades and their plastic packaging. The Middleburg Sustainability Committee will send them to Terracycle for recycling. ü Batteries – Free drop-off of used flashlight, toy, smoke alarm (AAA through D and 9V alkaline) plus hearing aid and key fob (i.e. round, flat lithium) batteries. The Middleburg Sustainability Committee will send them to Retriev for recycling.

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• October 28 ~ November 25, 2021 Page 11

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dedication, academic success, punctuality, and their ability to motivate others. The top students recognized include: EMT Spring 2021, Jon Yost from Loudoun Volunteer Rescue Squad; EMT Spring 2021, Alex Bennett from Leesburg Volunteer Fire Company; Emergency Medical Technician Summer 2021, Diana Mann from Sterling Volunteer Rescue Squad; EMT Summer 2021, Catherine Ryan from Loudoun County Volunteer Rescue Squad; Firefighter I-II, Jessica Starkie from Lovettsville Volunteer Fire and Rescue; Advanced Emergency Medical Technician Spring 2021, Adil Ather from Ashburn Volunteer Fire and Rescue Company; Advanced Emergency Medical Technician Summer 2021, Ryan Welch from Loudoun County Fire and Rescue.

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Page 12 Middleburg Eccentric

• October 28 ~ November 25, 2021

Places & Faces

Virginia Fall Races Captures the Middleburg Spirit Photos by Nancy Kleck

Robert Mihlbaugh and Jennifer McCoy Mack

Gail Guirreri Maslyk

Sydney, John and Sara Pemberton

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Rob Banner, Gwen and Stuart Holliday, Holidae Hayes, and Mark Thompson

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• October 28 ~ November 25, 2021 Page 13

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Page 14 Middleburg Eccentric

Progeny

• October 28 ~ November 25, 2021

Butterflies Help Highland Lower Schoolers Learn Life Skills More Project Approach Learning on the Horizon for Students

ighland’s third and fourth graders recently took a trip to Laughing Dog Farm in Delaplane, VA, where they searched for milkweed and monarch butterfly caterpillars. They drew pictures of the animals and plants they observed, planted coneflowers, and played the migration game to learn about realworld threats to monarch butterflies flying South for the winter. That real-world application is an integral part of project approach

learning in Highland’s Lower School. The Laughing Dog Farm field trip is the start of a significant comeback for the innovative method of education in Highland’s post-CoVID world. In 2015, Lower School students became fascinated by butterflies and concerned for the well-being of the majestic creatures. After hearing from a visiting expert about the dangers monarchs face due to climate change and human interference, the students decided to help. That

passion for real-world intervention culminated in creating the Lower School’s butterfly garden, a milkweed sanctuary for migrating monarchs that is now recognized as an official Monarch Waystation by Monarch Watch. First graders also wrote letters to local leaders asking them to let milkweed grow in public spaces so that monarchs could eat on their way down South. After seeing how the project got lower schoolers excited about their learning experience, Lower

School Director Lise Hicklin and Lower School librarian Janie Banse decided to travel to Durham, North Carolina, to learn more about the project approach, an education model developed by Lilian Katz and Sylvia Chard. Under the project approach model, children are tasked with performing a deep study of a topic and immersing themselves in a related real-world project. Upon learning more about the project approach, Hicklin and Banse decided to implement this

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method on a larger scale, and the enthusiasm caught like wildfire amongst Lower School teachers. Of course, the prominent topic to cover was butterflies. Thanks to Lower School teachers’ diligent application of the project approach, the students’ passion for butterflies has increased exponentially. Now, students don’t just have a butterfly garden—they participate in butterfly projects each year that help them learn the skills needed to think critically in any situation. Each grade learns about a different aspect of butterflies’ lives, from their life cycles to their behaviors and even dangerous “caterpillar killers.” Despite the differences in individual curriculum grade by grade, at its heart, every butterfly project centers around the project approach. There are three parts to the project approach. First, students come together and share their knowledge of a topic—in this case, butterflies. They’re encouraged to share personal experiences with butterflies, building a community database of information. Next, they’ve got to ask good questions and research what they don’t know. They learn to follow their curiosity, interview experts, and record observations based on what they see in hands-on scenarios. Then, they dive even deeper into specific topics of their choosing and present their findings to parents and expert guests. Lower School librarian Janie Banse helps coordinate the research and activities for each class’s various butterfly projects, and she is consistently amazed by the outcomes. Every year, she sees students go from asking self-referential questions like “Do the butterflies get married?” and “Do they like pie?” to wondering about the science behind their metamorphoses, how the animals understand their transforming shapes, and more. “Their questions, as they know more, just become so much better,” she said. Banse believes it’s never too early to start learning vital critical thinking skills that lead to such great questions. Of course, as a teacher, it can be challenging to give your students free rein to ask about things you may not know the answer to, but engaging that curiosity gets the children excited about their learning and plants seeds of problem-solving skills and realworld application that will be useful for the rest of their lives. Last year, coronavirus put much of the Lower School’s project approach learning on hold, but teachers are passionate about getting the program back on track this year, starting with the recent trip to Laughing Dog Farm. In Banse’s words, “It’s about learning how to ask the next great question. Really, it’s the best way to learn.”

Middleburg Eccentric

24 Foxcroft School Students Earn AP Scholar

Foxcroft School Students Recognized as National Merit Commended Scholars

Five achieve premier AP Scholar with Distinction Designation Awards

Foxcroft School seniors Claire (Upperville), Emma Carmichael Johnson (Richmond), Caroline Run), and Ella Siebentritt-Clark

Ai (Beijing), Xinyi Shen (Guangdong), Virginia Bonnie (Lovettsville), Amelia Fortsch (Alexandria), Erica McLaughlan (South Riding), Cecilia Mould (Broad (Lovettsville).

ive Foxcroft students achieved the premier status of AP Scholar with Distinction to lead a group of 24 girls who earned 2021 AP Scholar Awards from the College Board for outstanding achievement on Advanced Placement Exams taken last spring. Class of 2021 graduates Betsy Altenburger who is attending the University of Virginia, Julia Clark (Williams College), Moni Corona Perera (Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico), Scarlett Dong (University of California, Los Angeles), and Eunice Yang (Carnegie Mellon University) all received AP Scholar with Distinction awards, given for achieving an average of at least 3.5 on all exams taken and scores of 3 or higher on at least five

• October 28 ~ November 25, 2021 Page 15

of them. A total of 9 current seniors and 15 members of the Class of 2021 earned AP Scholar designations. This is the 18th consecutive year that the number of AP Scholars at Foxcroft has reached double-digits, a testament to the academic excellence fostered at the School. AP Scholars with Honor awards, given when a student scores of 3 or better on at least four tests with an average of 3.25 on all exams taken, were received by two current seniors — Claire Ai and Xinyi Shen — and four members of the Class of 2021: Jennifer Cramer (Mount Holyoke College), Tina Li (University of Virginia), Dami Ogunmola (St. Andrews William & Mary Joint Degree Programme), and Hays

oxcroft School seniors Erica Johnson of Glen Allen, VA, and Caroline McLaughlan of South Riding, VA, were recently recognized as National Merit Commended Scholars in the 67th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Of the 1.74 million students throughout the nation who took the 2020 PSAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, roughly 34,000 were recognized as Commended Students for their exceptional academic promise. Foxcroft’s Director of College Counseling Barbara Conner shared, “We are so proud of Erica and Caroline for consistently demonstrating dedication to their rigorous academics and this success on the PSAT. Their genuine love of learning is evident in and out of the classroom. Way to go!” “Those being named Commended Students have demonstrated outstanding po-

tential for academic success,” commented a spokesperson for National Merit Scholarship Corporation. “Recognizing their accomplishments, as well as the key role their schools play in their academic development, is vital to the advancement of educational excellence in our nation.”

Turner (High Point University). Seven current seniors — Virginia Bonnie, Emma Carmichael, Amelia Fortsch, Erica Johnson, Caroline McLaughlan, Cecilia Mould, and Ella Siebentritt-Clark — and six graduates from the Class of 2021: Claire Healy (Northeastern University), Susannah Manucy (University of South Carolina), McKenzie McHugh (Bucknell University), Bianca McNeely (Pomona College), Emma Northrup (Virginia Commonwealth University), and

Gracie Schriner (Furman University) received AP Scholar recognition by scoring 3 or higher on three or more AP exams. The College Board’s Advanced Placement program provides academically prepared students with an opportunity to take college-level courses while still in high school, and to earn college credit or advanced standing in classes for successful performances on AP exams. The exams are graded on a 5-point scale, with 5 being the highest.

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Page 16 Middleburg Eccentric

Pastimes

• October 28 ~ November 25, 2021

Digital History In Unison

Steve Chase

he early days of the World Wide Web were remarkable. From my desk in Virginia in 1994, I could “log in” to a computer across the planet and get data on a topic of interest. It was a time of modems, tiny data pipes, and graphics made of typed characters. Receiving music through the web was a notion completely inconceivable at the time, as the bootleg cassette ruled--being traded through the mail. Things evolved rapidly in the late 90s, with USENET groups, Prodigy, AOL, Geocities, …all of these allowed people with specific interests to gather virtually to discuss their interests, wheth-

er they be computers, southern rock, bluegrass, television show episode guides, or Barry Manilow. Newsweek magazine, perhaps secretly worried about the long-term sustainability of print media, published around 2013 the now laughable headline piece “The Internet? Bah! Hype Alert: Why Cyberspace isn’t and will never be Nirvana”. Maybe Nirvana was a bad term to use, but how many print magazines do you get in the mail nowadays? The growth of digital media in the 2000s was explosive. While weblogs or “Blogs” were proliferating by 1997, and every middle school girl was chatting with friends over AOL Instant Messenger, we had seen nothing yet. With powerful demographics

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of tech-savvy youth, commercial interests rapidly jumped into the web, and websites proliferated by the thousands every day. By the time the “dot com” bubble burst, more than 70 million computers were hooked to the Internet. An excellent place to look at this history is the Wayback Machine (archive.org). You can type in a website at this site and see snapshots of the site, from its first days on the web to today. When I looked for examples of band sites on Wayback, most that I found began their web presences started to appear in the late nineties. The term social media began to be used in the early 2000s, sites like Friendster started the efforts to be joined by MySpace, LinkedIn, Bebo, Classmates, and iTunes, to name a few. Then, in 2004 Facebook was launched at Harvard and was soon proliferating at college campuses across the country. It was only a matter of time before Facebook was being used by high school kids, and eventually, to the chagrin of the Millennials, their parents. New social media sites continued to pop up, some using Facebook to proliferate their goods and music. By 2015, social media, in the forms of Facebook, Linked In, Reddit, Tumblr, Patreon, and Twitter had billions of users, with sophisticated mobile devices fanning the flames of use even further. Digital music sites using High Definition technology have come and gone, with Amazon Music, Apple Music, and Spotify dominating the streaming scene. Today, blogs are passé--the technology has transferred almost entirely to handheld devices. There are big questions about the good and bad of social media and its role in misinformation and negative impacts, especially on youth. That criticism, in my eyes, is valid--changes must take place, or our society will continue to wallow in the darkness and hate that inhabits this wide virtual world. Music is a bright light in this muck--I try to stick to music or pictures of our home or friends when I use social me-

dia. There are excellent musical resources online, both sources for music and detailed analyses of every conceivable band and album. It seems that social networking, some forms at least, have peaked. Ask anyone under 25 if they use Facebook. While websites continue to be viable and remain so in the near term, especially for commercial usage, new social networking platforms are where the action is, such as Tik Tok and many niche social media sites. For older folks, platforms like Facebook continue to bring people together based on their personal preferences and relationships, good and bad. Let’s stick with music-- If you want to get together with other people who like concert posters, you can join a concert poster group on Facebook. If that group doesn’t talk about the type of posters you collect, all you have to do is start your own group, and in a month or so, it could have a few hundred members. This goes for music groups of all kinds— band fans, concert pins, concert setlists, bootleg recordings, and festival alumni. If you can think of it, it can be a group. I’m in a bunch, including Steam Powered Preservation Society, Zappologists, All Things Pinja, NRBQ Appreciation Society, and True Broadband for Western Loudoun, to name a few. In the old website model, you would have to create the website, code it out, add a forum component… that’s a lot of work when in this new model, you can make the group on Facebook in a few seconds. These musical communities are what hold my interest. Who knows where things will go next or what the next killer app will be. We’ve come a long way in 25 years, and from here, it’s only onward and upward in directions we can’t yet imagine. Check out my latest Giant playlist to hear what I am listening to at https://tinyurl.com/vw3c46rc. Steve Chase is listening to the new Donald Fagen Live album in Unison.

Middleburg Eccentric

• October 28 ~ November 25, 2021 Page 17

Shhh, It Happens Sincerely me

Brandy Greenwell

ecently at a dinner party I attended, the host thoughtfully broke the ice by asking each guest to relay one of their most embarrassing moments. Within seconds we were roaring with laughter, and those of us that didn’t previously know each other became fast friends after sharing tales of rogue boogers and being caught picking wedgies in public. I’ve since used the same tactic in different situations and am confident that the concept is being shared and enjoyed like I first did. Laughter is the best medicine, and having the ability to laugh at yourself will undoubtedly add years to your life. * * Not medically proven, just a fun hunch. I suspect that every human has unintentionally walked around with spinach, a Cheeto, or popcorn stuck in their teeth until either someone kindly alerts them or they do a double-take in the bathroom mirror. I would also suspect that most have at least once trailed toilet paper down the hall in school, airplane, or another public place where onlookers

snicker until a good Samaritan breaks the chain or the tp wears thin and lets go of your sticky souls. These are relatively ordinary funnies, but what has been your doozies? I will never forget a time when I pulled into an Exxon station to fill my tank. The pay-at-thepump option was inoperable that particular day. I was in a hurry, so after being fully fueled, I rushed into the shop, where I announced to the employees and other patrons that “I have gas” with great enthusiasm. I could feel my face turn beet red as the room si-

lenced. When I exited, the peanut gallery burst with laughter, and I shook my head and smiled at what an absolute bonehead thing that was to do. Underwear bloopers are always fun. One time in my 1990’s nightlife, I wore a stylish, ofthe-era, white thong under flowy pants with a crop top to expose the newly pierced belly button. Upon entering the club full of black lights, I snagged a Zima and started boogying down on the dance floor to probably some song by Ace of Bass, drawing massive attention for what I

thought was my awesome dance moves and keen fashion sense. In reality, I was being laughed at for shaking my Tootie wearing a bright, glowing mom-thong, which was visible through my semi-sheer pants. Good times. I have unintentionally worn plenty of clothes backward, mismatching shoes and stockings with runs in them. Still, the cake gets taken by inside-out yoga pants with the visible, white crotch patch on the unintended side. Collin Ferrell once made a verbal blooper when announc-

ing the nomination of “The Pianist” for the 2003 Oscars. Say out loud “The Pianist” quickly and in your best Irish brogue. Yes, you said it and just giggled. I have had an equally giggleable and humiliating moment, albeit not on television when introducing a friend whose maiden name did not phonetically combine well with her married last name of Cox. Her maiden name will be withheld to protect her identity, but it was along the lines of Loving or Craven. Please take the time to laugh at yourselves! No one is ever perfect, and no matter how hard you try and prevent it, that embarrassing moment will always, always happen.

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and accumulated water. Surface and Underground aking up to chilly Drains: mornings and It is essential to check, and pumpkin spice EVERYTHING re- clear surface and underground minds us that it’s time to tackle drains at least four times per year our fall home maintenance list. A to ensure proper water flow. Unregular schedule of maintenance derground drains may be located throughout the year is critical to at downspouts, under a driveway, keeping your home healthy and or in other areas where you need family safe. These baseline pre- to redirect water. Surface drains may be at exterior basement ventative steps are a good start. stairs, patios, pool decks, etc. Gutters, Downspouts, and Clogged drains can cause waLow-Slope Roof Maintenance: ter to back up in other areas and Inspect these items and care- cause significant damage. It’s fully remove any accumulated also essential to monitor these debris. This check should be during heavy rains, clearing decompleted four times per year bris as needed. to ensure effective draining and Hose Bibs & Irrigation Sysavoid damage caused by trapped tems: Tim Burch

To avoid bursting pipes, turn off exterior hose faucets and irrigation systems before freezing weather sets in, typically late October-early November in the Greater DC area. All hose bibs, including “Frost Free,” should be fully drained, and irrigation systems should be blown out to avoid freezing during the winter months. Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC): You should have your HVAC systems serviced twice per year, spring and fall, to ensure they are operating at their most efficient levels. The system inspection should include: Changing the filter.

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Adjusting dampers to favor northern (not southern) rooms. Clearing leaves and debris from outside units. Checking AC refrigerant. Cleaning the AC condenser. Note that some systems require filter changes more or less frequently, so be sure to consult your manual. Humidifiers: Many homes have a humidifier to help raise the humidity during the dry winter months and improve the home’s health and indoor air quality. This system requires an annual system check, and the fall is the best time. During their visit, your HVAC service company should perform a thorough inspection and replace the pad/cartridge, which can collect deposits from the water source, clog and cause leaks. Other Important Items to Address this Fall: • Change the batteries in your smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors. • Latch windows shut to square them up, seal the weatherstrip and stop drafts. • Inspect all bathroom caulking and touch up as necessary. Repeat in the spring. • Drain 10-15 gallons from the bottom of your water heater once per year to remove sediment. • Fireplaces and chimneys should be inspected inside and out at least once per year for soundness, deposits, and clearance. Have the chimney cleaned

or repaired as needed. • Clean screens in showerheads and faucets annually to ensure optimal water flow. • For your appliances, consult your manufacturer’s maintenance recommendations, which should include steps such as cleaning screens on range hood vents, vacuuming refrigerator coils, replacing water filers, and more. • Your septic system should be inspected and the tank cleaned out once per two-three years. With this list in hand, you’re ready to get to work or schedule service professionals for assistance. If I can help to answer any questions, you may have, please let me know. Tim Burch is a Vice President and Owner of BOWA, an awardwinning design and construction firm specializing in renovations ranging from owners’ suites and kitchens to whole-house remodels and equestrian facilities. For more information, visit bowa. com or call 540-687-6771.

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Page 18 Middleburg Eccentric

Pastimes

• October 28 ~ November 25, 2021

The Witch’s Broom The Plant Lady

at the National Arboretum in Washington DC and the other in my own garden, only recently discovered. I see it as a gift, a prized freak of nature! All who visit are soldiered out to my tree, informed that they are about to see my witch’s broom. A nongardening friend was quick to comment that she had been waiting for this day, true to form and always the clever one, I think she was disappointed. It’s true, it won’t take me places, but I’m good with that.

Here come Holidays Around the Town

Visually a witch’s broom is a tree or shrub branch that has dehe lingo of gardening veloped a tight cluster of smaller is full of odd terms. A branches. At first look you might few that come to mind think bee or squirrel’s nest. To are deadheading, prick- some it’s a prized rarity, to others ing out, pinching, and witches’ a threat to crops, specifically the broom. The latter is not in ev- brooms caused by a fungus that ery horticultural glossary, nor attack chocolate trees in tropical is it common knowledge, but areas. it’s a very real thing. In definThere are eight different reaing the term, or even describing sons for the tight forking of the abnormality, common words branches. fungi, virus, include disease, deformity, and even solar Insects, radiation at high eleven a place where a witch evations can be responsible. A landed. To look up the term on dwarf mistletoe which occurs in “Google” you will have to scroll the northern states and Canada past the literal brooms of witches causes widespread brooming as to get to any horticultural refer- it disrupts the growth hormones ence. at the growing tips of trees. KAren Rexrode

Of interest to those in horticulture are the cuttings and seeds from these anomalies when propagated. Cuttings will remain tight and dwarf, seeds will develop into variable offspring, even the cones on witch’s brooms are significantly smaller. Many of the dwarf plants sold at nurseries began life as a broom, often with a name that reflects that i.e., Tsuga canadensis ‘Fantana Witch’s Broom’, Picea abies ‘Millstream Broom’, and Picea orientalis ‘Shadow’s Broom’. In this scenario the brooming can be financially beneficial, drawing witch broom hunters to popular areas, haunts like the Rocky Mountains, the Cascades, and

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central Europe. Some climb trees to harvest cuttings but many literally shoot them down, armed with rifles. In my lifetime I have only found three. The largest of my three sightings was in a cedar or Juniperus virginiana in the cemetery in Upperville, VA, located on route 50. I watched it for years, a sizable broom. Eventually the juniper was cut down and disposed of and it’s unlikely that the broom was propagated. The other two were on white pine, the result of a broom mite that injects saliva and creates adventitious buds (buds that emerge in areas they do not usually develop). One white pine broom was

Hazel Sweitzer

t’s hard to believe the holiday season is here amongst us. Time for my stocking full of treats and the customary new collar. Tom and I have been talking and we have decided this year, more than ever needs to not be about gifts, but about who we love and allowing the traditions that give us comfort to be primary. He forces me to watch “A Charlie Brown Christmas” every year. I know he loves Snoopy, but to be honest I think Snoopy is a little much. Anyways, we also decided not to let the news we hear to cause fear in us. I am sure you have heard or experienced prices rising or the news that this season our stores may be vacant with gifts, supplies and items we may need. I told Tom we got through the last two years, and we will be fine. Even better than before Covid because we are more grateful for everything we have. We are focusing on the “small things,” meaning what small things could make this holiday season wonderful. Fires in the yard with marsh-mellows, inviting friends over to carol, a turkey dinner. I love Tom’s Turkey

Middleburg Eccentric

• October 28 ~ November 25, 2021 Page 19

Roasted Apples and Honeynut Squash The Kitchen Philosophy

www.thekitchenphilosophy.com

Emily Tyler

all is the season to seek out Honeynut squash at your local farmers market. They are like a Butternut squash but they are smaller, sweeter and have a tender skin which is edible, much like Delicata squash and fabulous combined with these sweet savory apples. Serve this combination with grilled pork or, with lightly dressed greens and crumbled fresh goat cheese.

the

4 Honeynut squash cut in half lengthwise and seeds removed 4 apples, cut in quarters and seeds removed 2-3 tablespoons avocado oil 2-3 sprigs of fresh thyme, remove leaves from the stems salt and pepper to taste 1 tablespoon each melted butter and honey Preheat the oven to 425 degrees In a large bowl toss the squash and apples with avocado oil to coat Spread the mixture out on a lined baking sheet Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste Scatter the thyme leaves on top Roast for 30 minutes or until tender and lightly browned in spots

dinners! Tom even made it clear to me that he must sing this year where he can. Last year he was only 4 months healed from Covid. He could not sing at all, so he wants to make up for it this year. We also have begun to think of the smallest and simplest gifts for our friends and family, but gifts that are directly inspired by them. I have shared with Tom he doesn’t have to think on such a small scale for me because I’m in need of some major love around the holidays. We sat down last night and came up with a list of things we both felt the world could use this holiday. Here it is The world could use more • Patience • Listening • Equality • Empathy • Love • Dogs Happy Holiday season! And thanks for so many of your reaching out to Tom about my health. I am just an old lady, with a good plastic surgeon, and I may be getting old, and my legs and bladder may not work like they used to, but I am still around the town. Love you all.

Remove from the oven and drizzle with the honey butter - serve warm or at room temperature

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Page 20 Middleburg Eccentric

• October 28 ~ November 25, 2021

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Middleburg Eccentric

• October 28 ~ November 25, 2021 Page 21

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A Floral Goodbye Hello, to the Middleburg community. It has been a tough decision to make, but I wanted to take the opportunity to say. Thank you all for making me a part of the community with your kindness and thoughtfulness. Thank you for your business and your friendship. It will always be a part of my heart. I love you all and wish every one of you a heartfelt goodbye. Your friend and designer. - Dennis Dodson

Do raccoons go to heaven? Being high in the fall feels like falling in love The air is crisp, you want it to be with you, touch your skin, fill your lungs My outfits change: thick corduroys soft sweaters that won’t catch or scratch on mornings I forget lotion and have dry, ashy hands and elbows Bust out my real raccoon tail hat that I found at a gas station in Texas, that lays dormant on my speaker until fall and thru winter,

with which I will lie another year and tell people it’s faux fur for yes — middle school me had no opinion on buying a hat with a real raccoon tail, no — and assuming the raccoon died close to the time its tail was removed well, 16 years is a long time.

Maybe the raccoon would’ve forgiven me by now? Maybe the raccoon is happy to see their legacy paraded around every fall on my head. Do raccoons go to heaven?

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Page 22 Middleburg Eccentric

• October 28 ~ November 25, 2021

Opinion - Letters@middleburgeccentric.com

Letters

J.C. Rosenberg

Capt. USN (Ret)

Dear Editor, Over the years I’ve mostly enjoyed reading your paper. I always found your opinion page, especially the Red vs Blue columns stimulating. However, that has changed over the last few years, especially since you eliminated the Red column. Mr. Flannery has turned nasty and personal, not to mention misleading, and I use that term kindly. But his column in your last edition, titled “Republicans War on the Right to Vote” was the proverbial “straw that broke the camel’s back”. Either he is totally ignorant, ignorant of history, or is just an out and out liar; take your pick. On the off chance he is ignorant of history, allow me to school him. The Dred Scott decision was a 7-2

decision. Of the seven in the majority six had southern sympathies, read Democrats. In my opinion the Dred Scott decision hasten the Civil War, A Republican war. There is little doubt that if the Democrats had won in 1860 there would not have been a Civil War and slavery would have continued. He is disingenuous as he tries to paint the Republicans with the crimes of his party. For his information, it was the Democrats that favored slavery, it was the Democrats that enacted Jim Crow laws, it was the Democrats that founded the Klu Klux Clan, and it was the Democrats that opposed the Civil Rights bills of the 1960’s. Maybe he isn’t familiar with the term the “solid south” that was used to describe the Democrat controlled southern states. If it hadn’t been for Everitt Dirksen and the Republicans the Civil rights bills of the 1960’s would not have passed because President Johnson could not count

He insinuates that this is a form of voter suppression. That is a complete misrepresentation and he should know that. It prohibits third parties from distributing anything within 150’ of a voting place and within 25 feet of a voter. However, what he doesn’t say is that voters are allowed to bring their own food and/or water, that polling workers are allowed to set up non-attended water dispenses, and that anyone can provide food and/or water outside the 150 ‘and 25’ rule. I guess he hides behind his wording ...to voters waiting in line”. Another thing, it’s interesting that there are numerous peer reviewed studies that affirm that unregulated mail in voting and no voter ID are ripe conditions for voting fraud. Georgia will provide a Georgian with a voter ID card, free of charge which will satisfy the requirement for voter ID. I have a hard time understanding the left’s rant about voter ID. My God,

we need a photo ID to do just about anything today but we shouldn’t have one to protect one of the basic corner stones of democracy, voting? I thought Mr. Flannery was all for protecting democracy. I also read the column from Kathryn Kadilak about encouraging Virginians to vote Democratic because of their stand on abortion. I assume Ms. Kadilak is pro-choice and subscribes to the mantra “my body my choice”. I wonder if she is pro vaccine mandate or anti-vaccine mandate. Shouldn’t “my body, my choice” apply across the spectrum or should it only apply when you are killing babies? I would hope that in the future you would do a better job of providing more well-rounded and factual discussions and less wild and unsubstantiated rants, especially from Mr. Flannery.

will prevent it from boosting supply. First, most facilities that can produce vaccines are already doing so. The Serum Institute in India, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, says it’s on track to produce a billion doses this year. Aspen Pharmacare, South Africa’s largest generics manufacturer, is on track to produce hundreds of millions of doses. Second, the supply bottleneck right now stems from a shortage of raw inputs, not IP protections. When a Guardian journalist asked the Serum Institute’s CEO whether he agrees with the accusation that “the developers who hold the patents on the vaccines have licensed too few manufacturers to make them?” the chief executive flatly replied “No. There are enough manufacturers. It just takes time to scale up [production].”

Third, there are few scientists and engineers who fully understand the know-how behind mRNA vaccines. If the waiver were implemented, governments would have to work with the brand-name makers to transfer that know-how and possibly compel the transfer of their senior staff. All of those issues could take months, if not years, to resolve. In other words, the waiver won’t increase vaccine production, and certainly not in time to quell developing countries’ Covid-19 outbreaks or new variants. But it could hand over leading-edge American technology to our competitors and cripple our ability to respond to future challenges. There has been remarkable bipartisan concern about IP theft from China and other countries. It now appears that we would

eliminate the risk of thievery by giving away the technology. It’s staggering that the Biden administration would make it more likely that future medical breakthroughs come with a “Made in China” label. After all, mRNA has many potential uses beyond Covid-19. Scientists are already testing whether the technology could prevent cancer and HIV. Today, giving away IP rights risks more than economic competitiveness. It also risks the ability of the United States to respond safely and effectively to the pandemics of the future for all. Mark Cohen is Director of the Asia IP Project at the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology at the University of California, Berkeley. This piece originally ran in the International Business Times

of the Jordan River”, taken from Jordan, and the Golan Heights, taken from Syria, remain in Israeli hands, with the extensive occupation of the West Bank by Israel as the primary flash point, with numerous United Nations’ Resolutions condemning the 1967 seizures and occupation, and what has been a total take over of what was historically Palestinian territory. Israel has sought to protect its homeland with both territories while increasing its population in the Settlements on the West Bank. This situation fuels the terrorist activities of Hamas and Hezbollah, their raison d’être for decades of countervailing attacks, and the reasons for Israeli self defense counter attacks, Mossad assassinations, and an intensive build up of a military industrial complex in Israel that includes a nuclear capability. The United States has stood steadfastly with Israel and provided “Foreign Military Aid” for decades. The Russians and the Chinese are heavily involved as arms suppliers, intelligence providers, and supporting Iranian intervention as well as fuelling Assad’s regime in Syria. The situation in Iraq adds fuel to this ever potential inferno, with Iran and its surrogates, aided and abetted by China and Russia, constantly supporting the undermining of the Iraqi government and, therefore, a perpetual challenge

to Israeli security. What can we do? The Palestinians, leaving aside issues relating to support from Lebanon and the likes of Hamas and Hezbollah, have a legitimate cause. Their lands were stolen from them, dispossessed people with no sovereign territory. After 1967 the populations of Jordan has more than doubled with Palestinian refugees joining the fine Islamic culture of the Jordanian Bedouin, with Amman and Petra centerpieces. In recent months the United States’ key ally, King Abdullah of Jordan, has seen various destabilizing threats emerge in a country that historically has been a place of peace and stability, and where US special forces have trained the Jordanian Army, and where ties with the United Kingdom go way back. The United States cannot afford to see Jordan and its stable regime become a victim of the above Middle East turmoil. In essence, the Palestinian situation is the keystone issue. It has been, and will continue to be, the overarching strategic issue, threatening constantly peace and stability. On a positive note about twenty percent of the Israeli population is Palestinian and, in spite of some serious voting rights issues, there is an Arab party in the currently elected Israeli Coalition government. However, this does

not resolve the critical issue of a sovereign Palestinian nation. The days of Yasser Arafat, who died in November, 2004, are long gone. Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the State of Palestine, has to be supported. He is the Palestinian head of state. Given this complexity, with the Iranian nuclear issue looming in the background, Israeli intransigence under its former leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, the 71 years old prime minister who served for 15 years and consolidated Israeli settlements in the West Bank, we have a dual scenario. One is potential stability, and the other continues to foment both international opposition and fuels support from China and Russia against Israeli peace and security. This is a many headed hydra, potentially Israel’s nemesis. The Biden Administration cannot be solely a provider of arms to Israel. Israel has an incredibly capable indigenous arms industry with a substantial export base. Israel also has been accused of industrial espionage in the United States, stealing US sensitive technology along with the Russians and Chinese, and their surrogates. Israel has indeed bitten the hand that feeds it. Where do we go from here? We want to fully support the integrity of the state of Israel, while recognizing that the Palestinians have with out a shadow

on the southern Democratic Senators to end the ongoing filibuster, which they had started. The Democratic Party was the party of slavery and remained as such into the 1960’s, just another form of slavery. In my opinion it was the passage of the Civil Rights acts of the 1960’s that finally “broke” the solid Democratic south. In fact if you are going to be factual, all the voter suppression laws Mr. Flannery mentions, poll tax, literacy test, not allowed to sit on a jury, etc. were all laws originated by Democrats after reconstruction and during the days of the “solid South”. He then commences to mislead everyone, about the Georgia recently passed voting bills. He mischaracterized so much of it that it would take a thesis to undue his sophomoric attempt to mis-lead, but let’s just tackle one of them. He says the law will prohibit distributing food and drinks to those waiting in line.

Sacrificing efficiency, science, and multilateralism for virtue-signaling The perils of the Biden WTO Waiver Mark Cohen

The Biden administration wants to improve America’s international reputation. That’s why it endorsed a proposal before the World Trade Organization to waive all intellectual property rights related to Covid-19. The president intends for this offer to be seen as a generous gesture that his “America First” predecessor would never have made. Yet this endorsement is toothless virtue-signaling at best -- and dangerous economic capitulation at worst. It caught our European allies by surprise. The EU nations, especially Germany, do not support the proposed waiver. Even the WTO did not fully agree with the original proposal which would have applied

to a wide range of medical equipment and diagnostics. The easiest way for America to boost its international standing is to serve as the world’s “arsenal” of vaccines, to quote President Biden. His administration has already pledged to donate over one billion of our surplus doses to developing countries. Waiving IP rights, by contrast, won’t boost vaccine supply -- for a number of legal and logistical reasons. All 164 WTO members have to agree for proposals to go into effect. A similar effort to deal with patents and the HIV epidemic was launched in 2001 and was not finally agreed to until 2017. Even if the waiver does ultimately gain unanimous consent from major supply countries and the developing world, there are major obstacles that

Letter from The Plains Anthony Wells

On September 30, 1938 Neville Chamberlain, Britain’s Prime Minister, concluded the infamous “Munich Agreement” with Adolph Hitler, countersigned by the Third French Republic and Italy’s fascist government of Benito Mussolini. The Agreement permitted the annexation by Nazi Germany of the Sudetenland in western Czechoslovakia, leaving the Czech leader, Edvard Benes, to face the Wehrmacht. Within less than a year Germany invaded Poland and World War Two began, echoing Winston Churchill’s words, “You don’t negotiate with a tiger when your head is in its mouth”. Chamberlain had tragically and totally naively described the Sudetenland question on September 27, 1938 as, “A quarrel in a far away country, between people of whom we know nothing”. Chamberlain appeased Hitler until the Nazis’ odious intentions became so patently clear that even he recognized the wisdom of another famous Churchill saying, “An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last”. So, what is the relevance of all this? It is called the current situation in the Middle East, centered on Israel, the Palestinian situation, and the interlocking roles and influences of Iran, Jordan, Syria,

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Egypt, and the nefarious activities of Putin’s Russia and China, with us, the United States, in the middle of turmoil. For many Eccentric readers this is a “Quarrel in a Far Away Country”, but, and this is a huge “But”, none of us can ignore what is transpiring in the Middle East. Before we get into the substance of what I wish to discuss with Eccentric readers let me provide a quote about Israel from the late John Le Carre, whose real name was David Cornwell, after he visited Israel to research what became his novel, “The Little Drummer Girl”: “The most extraordinary carnival of human variety that I have ever set eyes on, a nation in the process of reassembling itself from the shards of the past, now Oriental, now Western, now secular, now religious, but always anxiously moralizing about itself, criticizing itself with Maoist ferocity, a nation crackling with debate, rediscovering its past while it fought for its future”. He added, “No nation on earth was more deserving of peace, or more condemned to fight for it.” The Six Day War in June, 1967 has defined Middle East politics for the past fifty four years, and will continue to do so unless peaceful solutions are found for the ever present dangers to Middle East peace, with huge ramifications for us here in the United States. The “West Bank

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of a doubt claims to their historic lands, just as the Israelis claimed, and then acquired, their historic homeland after World War Two and the horrors of the Holocaust in Europe. The Palestinians have their rights to their place in the sun, alongside the Israelis. Young Israelis are wonderful people. They reflect John le Carre’s fine description of the Israeli spirit and culture. I recall well being in Amman in Jordan while President Obama was across the Jordan River in Israel giving a major speech to a large audience of young Israelis. They responded to his call for peace and

Middleburg Eccentric

security and shared territory and harmony with their Palestinian neighbors. I stood on the banks of the Jordan River shortly afterward and looked across to the fortifications along the West Bank, and saw within a few square miles around me temples, synagogues, and churches, reflecting all three great cultures of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. There is always hope, and the youth of Israel, and their Palestinian neighbors, joined culturally in the “Holy Land” may provide us all with the answer. We can hope, and meanwhile we, the United States, with our friends and allies, have to counter the evil meddling of China, Russia,

Iran, and their surrogates. None of us want to be confronted with a Munich like scenario where we find that if earlier actions had been anticipated the worst possible outcomes could be avoided. Past is often prologue in the Middle East. Let us all remember the past and encourage the Biden Administration to move forward with positive energy and perhaps reverting to the Eisenhower-Kennedy days when the US was truly the “Honest Broker” in the Middle East. By the Editor: Dr Anthony Wells is the third Chairman of the USS Liberty Alliance, succeeding the late Admiral Thomas Moorer,

• October 28 ~ November 25, 2021 Page 23 former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Chief of Naval Operations, and the late Rear Admiral Clarence “Mark” Hill, distinguished naval aviator and battle group commander. On May 28, 2013 Dr. Wells was made an Honorary USS Liberty Crew Member at a special ceremony in Savannah, Georgia, by the USS Liberty survivors. USS Liberty, a US Spy Ship, is the most highly decorated warship in the history of the US Navy in a single action, attacked by Israeli air and surface forces on June 8, 1967 in the eastern Mediterranean.USS Liberty’s crew were awarded the following Decorations for Gallantry: Medal

of Honor, Commander William L. McGonagle; two Navy Crosses; 13 Silver Stars; 20 Bronze Stars; 9 Navy Commendation Medals; 208 Purple Hearts; Presidential Unit Citation; A National Security Agency employee, Mr. Alan Blue, received the National Security Agency Exceptional Service Civilian Award. Mr. Blue was killed in action. The two recipients of the Navy Cross were killed in action. Dr. Wells is regarded as a Middle East expert, is well traveled throughout the region, and has written extensively on the 1967 June War and Middle East affairs.

Trump tries to overthrow our Democracy what are we going to do about it?

John P. Flannery

We have wasted 9 months – failing to investigate the coup planned by Trump and his traitorous associates. The trail grows cold and there has been no reckoning for this historic misconduct. We have failed to investigate or prosecute anyone except the rioters. We have thus failed to ask the most basic questions. There were two alternative courses of action that Trump endorsed. Fortunately, both failed. First was the corrupt and unconstitutional scheme to have Vice President Pence overturn the election by ignoring the 12th amendment to the US Constitution and declaring legitimate electors invalid, and asking the several states to reconsider if there was fraud in the election – so Trump could stall the Hill count for 10 days. No matter that no fraud had been proven or found – not in any court, recount, or audit. Second, the fall back initiative, Plan B, was rioters streaming from the ellipse, charging the Capitol, storming the ramparts, breaching the building, trying to take over our government by force. Trump and his cronies didn’t know for sure until January 6 at 1pm which course they would have to follow. It was 1 pm when VP Pence was prepared to gavel the congress into a joint session to count the electors. He also posted a letter at that time on twitter stating he would count the

electoral college votes as they had been cast, that is, simple math. Pence refused to make Trump President by violating the pro forma ritual of simply counting the electors. Trump and his minions therefore went forward with Plan B, force, no matter the danger to VP Pence, targeted for a hanging, or Speaker Pelosi, the focus of a kidnapping plot. On January 6, Roger Stone was standing with the Oath Keepers on the street in the front of the Willard Hotel, taking selfies, and giving interviews, but a fair question is, was he really directing “the play” for the Capitol that fateful day. The Willard was Trump’s “command center” to deny Biden the presidency. Stephen Bannon participated in the planning. So did Rudy Giuliani, and another conservative counsel, John Eastman. The participants billed the Trump campaign $55,000 for rooms, and $66.000 for travel expenses. On January 2nd, the Trump insiders called 300 state legislators to a conference call trying to organize the several states to challenge the count. Several states pressured Pence afterwards – but to no avail. Journalists at the Post got the story about the command center in recent days. For nine months, no elected official did as well, no one on the Hill got that info, no one in the Department of Justice, and no one asked Messrs. Stone, Giuliani, Eastman, Bannon or any of the Oath Keepers what they did. No one spoke with Steve Bannon who confessed his intent was “kill[ing] the Biden Presidency in its

crib.” Pence may be the most humiliated vice president in American history, forced to serve like a lap dog, scarfing up political crumbs in the Oval Office, to give the impression that he enjoyed some political relevance. Former DOJ counsel John Yoo, an infamous conservative legal scholar, best known for giving support to torture, drew the line, in his legal opinion, at having Pence violate his constitutional duty to confirm Biden as the president elect. Mr. Yoo reportedly said, “Pence had a choice between his constitutional duty and his political future, and he did the right thing.” Some thought Pence had courage for doing the only thing constitutionally permissible. When little is the most that may be expected of a person, courage is hardly an apt diagnosis of that person’s character. What’s really shocking is that no one in the department of justice investigated who did what in the insurrection, no one beyond the rioters, not in the West Wing, not in our intelligence establishment, not the members on the Hill, not any time in the nine months they had to investigate this historic crisis. The “Just Us” Department’s curiosity has been anorexic. There is the hope that a subpoena from the Select Committee will turn the trick. It’s a tool, however, that can be slow in the extreme, and, at its most effective, we may only get a report that is heavily redacted. The law suggests a congressional subpoena does not have the legal

force of a subpoena issued in a federal grand jury investigation. This raises the question, why are we using such cumbersome and ineffective tools when a prosecutor with a sitting grand jury could more effectively get at the truth. The House has subpoenaed key players, and more are being called. White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Steve Bannon, Dan Scavino, a former Trump White House Chief of Staff, Kashyap Patel, chief of staff to the acting defense secretary Christopher Miller. Of course, if the subpoenas are stone-walled, the Hill investigation may resume the snail’s pace of past efforts when Trump occupied the West Wing and straight armed the Hill. Trump and the usual suspects endorsed a plan with alternative scenarios, to steal the win, after Trump was beaten like a drum in the election. Giuliani advised Trump the night of the election, “Just say we won.” John Eastman, a federalist devotee, authored the highly questionable plan to win what Trump lost – egged on by the most suspect lawyer in America, the erstwhile 9-11 “hero,” Rudy Giuliani. Eastman stretched the 12th amendment to the breaking point, wrongly saying that the vice president could decide which electors from the electoral college were properly certified. The 12th amendment says nothing of the sort; it says: “The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted.”

years, he returned to Middleburg and his old job at Kinloch until Mr. Perry started to recruit him to work for him at Waterford Farm. Mr. Perry, who died in 1993, was a prominent owner and breeder of Thoroughbred racehorses. According to Mr. Weeks wife, Darlene, “Mr. Perry called him four different times for interviews” until Mr. Weeks, with bis wife’s urging, finally decided to accept his offer. Fortythree years later, he retired this past March. Mr. Weeks met his future wife when one of her friends introduced them one night at the old Middleburg Carnival in the late 1960s. They were engaged shortly after Mr. Weeks joined

the military in 1965 and were married at the Long Branch Baptist Church on The Plains Road Nov. 18, 1967 after he returned from Vietnam. They were married for 54 years. Mr. Weeks is survived by his loving wife, Darlene Sutphin Weeks, five siblings William Arthur (Joyce) Weeks; Francis Jack (Greta) Weeks, Anderson Delbert (Elizabeth) Weeks, Margaret Dianna (Larry) Gregg, and his cousin, Lloyd Thomas Kane who was like a brother to him, and numerous nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his sister, Elizabeth Rawlings Leckey, and brother, Robert James Weeks, Sr. A graveside service was held

I have read the Eastman memo, originally headed, “privileged and confidential.” The first scenario Eastman considers is that , if VP Pence receives no objections to the electoral count, Eastman projects the outcome – BIDEN WINS 306-232. Eastman should have stopped there. It was the only constitutional outcome. But Eastman didn’t. There were 4 more scenarios by which Trump could finagle and distort the process to win. At the rally to riot on January 6, Eastman was introduced by Giuliani. Eastman wore a tan coat and wide brimmed hat and a clashing shirt, and told the rioters, “All we are demanding of Vice President Pence is this afternoon at 1 o’clock, he let the legislatures of the states look into this so we get to the bottom of it and the American people know whether we have control of the direction of our government or not.” Despite the fact that it’s compromised in its effectiveness, we must support the Select Committee’s investigation on the Hill and in the Courts. Otherwise, we really have to use the strongest tools to get at these traitors. We must demand that someone wake up Attorney General Garland and demand that he appoint a prosecutor to investigate and charge those who have so far enjoyed immunity, in effect, for trying to take over our government by force and deceit.

Obituaries

Wallace Allen Weeks

allace Allen Weeks, a Middleburg native described by anyone who knew him as a kind and gentle man, passed away on October 8, 2021 at Inova Fairfax Hospital. The cause of death was complications from lung cancer. He was 76. Mr. Weeks, known as Allen to friends and family, was a Vietnam War veteran and an outstanding landscape and gardening specialist. He worked more than four decades for the late William Haggin Perry and his wife, Nicole, as the manager at their 144-acre Waterford Farm on the Zulla Road near Middleburg and later at Oakwood on the Rokeby Road near Upperville.

“I have never known anyone who was as kind as he was. He was devoted to our farm and everyone associated with it,” Nicole Perry said. “He was especially fond of our dogs and they adored him.” Mr. Weeks was born on September 17, 1945 at the Winchester Hospital to the late Anderson and Page Weeks, both Middleburg residents. He graduated from the old Marshall High School, then worked at Kinloch Farm for several years as a gardener and landscaper. He was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1965 and spent 12 months in Vietnam during the war, working in a supply unit. Honorably discharged after two

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on Sunday, October 24, 2021 at the Middleburg Emmanuel Church cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family requests making a donation to your favorite charity in Mr. Weeks’ memory.

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Page 24 Middleburg Eccentric

• October 28 ~ November 25, 2021

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Stately brick manor house c.1844 | 4 bedrooms, lovely kitchen, multiple porches, beautiful pine floors, 7 fireplaces, original mantels, large windows and detailed millwork throughout | great natural light in every room | Additional outbuildings include the c. 1810 log cabin used as the pool house & a converted barn now serves as a guest house with movie theatre | 2 ponds, miles of trails, 178 acres | Separate workshop and 5 car garage

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c. 1890 charming stucco home in a private setting | 4/5 bedrooms, copper roof, beautiful original floors, 4 fireplaces, large swimming pool, spring house, two small ponds, large pastures, completely fenced | Multiple outbuildings for storage and a studio space for guest, office, pool house, etc. | Located at the end of a quiet gravel road surrounded by large farms

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Stone and stucco home built in 2000 | 7 potential bedrooms, 7 full baths, 2 half baths, 3 fireplaces, gourmet kitchen, attached 3-car garage | High ceilings, detailed workmanship | Improvements include 6 stall barn with heated tack room | Board fence, sand riding ring, heated pool | 25.2 very private acres east of Middleburg with frontage on Little river | Private yet close to everything

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Originally a stable built in 1940 was converted to a Hunt Box by the current family decades ago | Recent upgrades to exterior, plumbing, and electrical | Top Warrenton location on Springs road, surrounded by large tracts | 7.4 acres, potential hill top building site, frontage on Great Run

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109 THE PLAINS ROAD MIDDLEBUrg, VIrgINIA

Very private office building in Middleburg | Located on The Plains road directly across from the Sporting Library | Charming office - 3 levels with lower level used for over flow and break room/kitchen | Surprisingly large parking lot behind the building offers what many other buildings are lacking in town | Building has many potential uses with C-3 Zoning

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