Printed using recycled fiber
Deadheading
Page 12
Middleburg’s Only Locally Owned and Operated Newspaper
Volume 9 Issue 2
www.mbecc.com
Middleburg Garden Party
Page 16
May 24, 2012 ~ June 28, 2012
Playing with Fire
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Daniel Morrow
n Monday, Monday, May 7, the Board of Directors of the Middleburg Volunteer Fire Department accused its former Treasurer, Paul Draisey, of embezzlement. In a prepared statement Counsel for the Board, Middleburg Attorney Ed MacMahon, charged that Draisey, over the last three years, had “embezzled a substantial amount of funds from the Department.” The amount in question, MacMahon said, “ . . . approaches $500,000. According to MacMahon, once the evidence that funds were missing “came to light, Mr. Draisey was ‘”immediately confronted and the facts related to the embezzlement were immediately reported to the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigation Unit. “The Board,” he said, “deeply regrets that this incident has taken place and is taking every step available to see that it never happens again. This violation of the public trust is completely unacceptable to the Board.” Due to “the ongoing criminal investiga-
tion” of the charges, MacMahon concluded, he was “not able to go into more detail,” saying only that the “Middleburg Fire Department has been, and will continue to, cooperate fully with this criminal investigation. A forensic audit of the department’s financial records is being conducted, he reported, noting “It is the Board’s intention to make the audit results public on the first appropriate date that those results can be released . . .. “ On behalf of the Board he assured area residents that Middleburg’s fire fighters and emergency medical service personnel remain on duty, and expressed his hope that “ . . our appreciation for what they do for all of us will not be diminished by these unfortunate events, for which none of them is responsible.” Reaction The small audience gathered at Town Hall for the press conference, including the Mayor, Volunteer Fire Department Officers, and representatives of three local media organizations sat for some time in what can only be described as stunned silence.
One unidentified attendee stood and took the Board to task for apparently “forgetting” all the
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Virginia Provides $432,000 to Help Save Mt. Defiance
(left to right): NVRPA Executive Director Paul Gilbert, NVRPA Board Member & ViceChair Stella Koch (Fairfax), NVRPA Board Member Dan Kaseman (Loudoun), Governor Robert McDonnell, NVRPA Board Member Michael Nardolilli (Arlington) Civil War Historic Trust President O. James Lighthizer, Director of Virginia Department of Historic Resources Kathleen Kilpatrick, NVRPA Board Member Joan Rokus (Loudoun) and NVRPA Board Chairman Brian Knapp (Fairfax City).
B u s i n e s s Di r e c t o r y : Pa g e 1 5 • F r i e n d s f o r L i f e : Pa g e 2 6
Request in homes by Thursday 5/24/12
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PRST STD ECRWSS US POSTAGE PAID BURKE, VA PERMIT NO 029
Money, Parking, Page 4 Business
partnership to set aside this hallowed ground, we are honoring the Commonwealth’s past and simultaneously making an investment in its future.” The commonwealth will provide a $432,000 Transportation Enhancement grant to assist in the permanent protection of the property, according to the governor’s office. The site, located in both Loudoun and Fauquier counties was the scene of a Civil War cavalry battle on June 19th, 1863. “This public private partnership gives us an opportunity to save five key acres associated with the beginning of the 1863 Gettysburg Campaign,” explained Civil War Trust President Jim Lighthizer. “This Mount Defiance tract, part of the Middleburg Battlefield, will preserve the key position where troopers from Maine, New York, and Pennsylvania fought Stuart’s forces from North Carolina and Virginia.” Join us as we work to save Mount Defiance at the Middleburg Battlefield, to donate, please visit http://www.civilwar.org
POSTAL CUSTOMER
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ven well read Civil War buffs may have only a vague notion of the 1863 battles of Aldie, Middleburg and Upperville, but there were 1,500 combined casualties at these three interconnected battles, more than were suffered at the Battle of Brandy Station, the largest cavalry battle of the Civil War. Recently, Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell and other state officials joined the Civil War Trust and the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority at the National Sporting Library & Museum to announce an exciting public-private partnership to preserve Mt. Defiance, a key portion of the Middleburg Battlefield. The news conference took place at the National Sporting Library and Museum. Joining Governor McDonnell was Director of Historic Resources Kathleen Kilpatrick, Virginia Secretary of Natural Resources Doug Domenech, Civil War Trust President James Lighthizer and Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority executive director Paul Gilbert. “Protecting irreplaceable historic sites like Mount Defiance at Middleburg is always a cause for celebration,” McDonnell said. “By working together in