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And Good luck in the New Year… Page 32 Middleburg’s Only Locally Owned and Operated Newspaper
Volume 10 Issue 9
www.mbecc.com
Middleburg Christmas Parade
Page 12
Dec 12, 2013 ~ Jan 23, 2014
Celebration Receives High Praise
T
Daniel Morrow
his year’s “Christmas in Middleburg” Celebration received high praise at the Town Council’s December 12 regular session, the first since the day of events. Though official estimates of crowd size are still forthcoming, Council Member Kevin Hazard, the town’s official liaison to the Middleburg Business and Professional Association reported that an informal survey of restaurants and retailers indicated crowds as large or larger than last year, and business up. Traffic flow, to and from the parade, during the parade itself and along the sidewalks of Middleburg, was greatly improved. The Police Department’s new “candy cane” stanchions, Hazard noted, not only improved they parade flow, but effectively widened the town’s sidewalks, allowing people with “multiple bags” to move easily from shop to shop. Police Chief A. J. Panebianco agreed, and promised to do his best to outline the entire route of the parade for next year’s celebrations. The effective and systematic clean up during and after the parade, particularly the work of more than 35 volunteer trash can monitors, was also noted. The weather for the event was perfect, Hazard noted, with one exception. The rains preceding the celebration had left one of the fields used for parking very soggy. A number of cars had to be pushed to escape the mud. The crowds were not only large, but very well behaved. “Typical” of the folks who come to Middleburg, Police Chief Panebianco noted. Town Donations to Non-Profits
Seven Loaves
Cherry Blossom Breast Cancer Fund $500 Middleburg Public Library Advisory Board
$2,000
Middleburg FISH
$2,500
Loudoun Abused Women’s Shelter
$ 2,500
Middleburg Community Center
$4,000
American Legion
$ 500
A Place to Be
$500
The Town also appears to have finally fixed the heating system in the Health Center building. Minutes after the year’s Health Center grants were approved, a tenant in the building appeared to announce that his patience was at last at an end after 601 days of tenancy with an essentially non-functional heating system. He loved the building and the location, he said, and would happily buy the property from the town and fix it himself. Mayor Davis and Town Administrator Semmes reported that they believed that the heating and heating control problems had, at last, been fixed. The tenant noted that he had been an excellent steward of the space he rented, had paid his company’s entire annual rent in advance, and has made, he said, more than $80,000 worth of permanent improvements to the property himself. His patience had come to an end, he said, after 601 days of misery, and he took Council to task for its slow and, in his view, completely inadequate response to the problem. Mayor Davis apologized for the town, and Council appeared to agree that some compensation was due. Details were to be worked out with the Town Administrator. Middleburg Retains “The CLUE Group” Continued page 7
$10,000
Middleburg Volunteer Fire and Rescue $4,000
Request in homes by Thursday 12/12/13
B u s i n e s s Di r e c t o r y : Pa g e 3 8 • F r i e n d s f o r L i f e : Pa g e 3 4
PRST STD ECRWSS US POSTAGE PAID BURKE, VA PERMIT NO 029
Page 4
$ 2,000
POSTAL CUSTOMER
Page 4 Bright Future for a Friend to All Animals
Each year the Town of Middleburg donates to local charities a significant portion of what the private sector would term the town’s “operating profits” from “The Health Center,” a building the town owns and rents out at a non-profit “profit” to tenants including the Middleburg Police Department. This year’s contributions totaled $29,000. The recipients included:
Windy Hill Tutoring Program