July + Aug 2012
M A G A Z I N E
From California To West Virginia Things to Do...
Adored Conference Go To The Fair
Fat Tuesdays The Family Drive-In
Meet Joe Taxi Stephen Christian
Places to Go... $2.99
People to Know...
Count on it. Life has no guarantees, but in business, I knew exactly what I wanted. A company that gave me the start-up help I needed, freedom to make my own decisions … plus the chance to earn a great living. With so many unknowns in life, my career isn’t one of them. I can count on that.
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An Equal Opportunity Employer
Dealership Name Dealership Website Address
FEATURES July & August 2012
Things To Do - 36 -
Adored Conference Transparent, Honest & True.
- 62 -
Visit your County Fair Berkeley & Jefferson County Fairs
Places To Go - 76 -
Fat Tuesdays Superior Cajun Cuisine for the Frugal Diner
- 62 -
On The Cover July + Aug 2012
E M A G A Z I N
- 80 -
The Family Drive-In Theatre Nostalgia Under the Stars
From CaliFornia To WesT Virginia
People To Know
Things to Do..Conf. erence
- 10 -
Meet Joe Taxi Work can only make you better.
- 16 -
Stephen Christian Mr. Economic Development [4]
Adored Adventure Park
. Places to Go..days
Fat Tues The Family Drive-In
w... People to Kno Joe Taxi
$2.99
Meet Stephen Christian
- 21Paul Lambert of Stasis High Performance Audis Find a New Home
Around The Panhandle | JULY • AUG 2012
contents 6 Dear Readers 10 Meet Joe Taxi 16 Stephen Christian
Berkeley County’s Greatest Advocate
19 Caption Contest 21 Paul Lambert
Stasis High Performance Audis Find a New Home
Step Away for the Day
60 Rely on Rick 62 County Fair
Berkeley & Jefferson Counties
66 Panhandle
Weight of the Nation
70 Clear Vision Turf
3 Specialities, 1 Team
76 The Unknown Eater
Fat Tuesdays 26 Kimberly’s A Real Gift to the Area 80 Family Drive-In Nostalgia Under 32 Personal Reflection
36 Adored
Transparent, Honest & True
42 Sloan Siegal
A Local Chasing
the Dream
47 The Barn 50 Our Top Ten
Date Night Rentals
Road Racing, Driver Training, and Much, Much More
the Stars
Winchester Medical
87 The Featured Eats
Union Jack Pub
90 Now It’s Your
Turn - Recipes
92 Tax Advice
from Tony Prce
96
Apples & Oranges
103
99 Summit Point
84 Lending a Hand
54 Johns Pool Supplies
- 76 -
Healthy Living
Summer Treats
- 70 -
You Can’t Afford to Miss CLIP & SAVE
www.AroundThePanhandle.com
Great Savings at Local Businesses
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THE
{ x Around o b l i {Ma PANHANDLE July/August 2012 | VOL 4 | NO 2
Dear Readers: I have some exciting news to share with you! We have just rolled out a new way for you to get the local stories you want to read. As part of our continued efforts to serve our readers, we are excited to announce the launch of our new iPad app. The app provides you with a whole new way to enjoy your favorite local publication. Every page of the magazine is recreated digitally, allowing you to enjoy the same articles available in our printed edition. It’s everything you already enjoy about Around The Panhandle Magazine, but with the convenience of being able to purchase individual issues without leaving home to visit the newsstand. Available in the App Store now, the app itself is free to download. Issues are offered at a significant savings off the newsstand price, with current issues available for just $1.99. But stay tuned! We are working to add back issues as quickly as possible. We know that our readers have very busy lives. We want to ensure that whether you are traveling for business to London or spending a week relaxing in the Florida Keys, you have access to great stories about the things to do, places to go, and people to know in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia and the Northern Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. We are tremendously proud to be a part of this community, and we are appreciative of the support we have received from our readers and fans. To download the app, visit the App Store and search for “Around The Panhandle Magazine.” This publication—in both its print and digital formats—is all about the events, businesses, and people that make this area such a great place to live and work. The Hornby Publishing team looks forward to many more years of sharing your stories.
PUBLISHER
Mike Hornby
ASSISTANT PUBLISHER
Victoria Kidd
EDITOR
Mike Hornby
EDITORIAL DESIGN
Mike Hornby James Schaffner
WEBSITE
Hornby Publishing LLC ProDesign , Brian Jolliff www.professionaldesign.com
WRITERS
The Unknown Eater Stephen Reed Debra Cornwell Dana DeJarnett Victoria Kidd Rick Hemphill Bonnie Williamson Natalie Greene Bethany Davidson Tera Sakisat
PHOTOGRAPHY
Eric Fargo - Fargofotos.com All Photos unless otherwise specified are by Eric Fargo
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Hornby Publishing Orchistrated Design
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BUSINESS & CIRCULATION Kresha Hornby SEND MAIL TO
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CONTACT US AroundThePanhandle.com [304] 851-7460
Enjoy Around the Panhandle is a bimonthly publication of Hornby Publishing LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher. The magazine is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or photos.
Mike Hornby Around The Panhandle Magazine 304-851-7461 mike@aroundthepanhandle.com Follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AroundthePanhandleMagazine
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Subscription price is $16.99 per year. Single issues $2.99. To subscribe, send check or money order for $16.99 payable to Around the Panhandle; PO Box 1254, Martinsburg, WV 25402 or subscribe online and pay by credit card at www.AroundThePanhandle.com.
[6]
Around The Panhandle | JULY • AUG 2012
As the Eastern Panhandle has grown, so have we. We set a course to become the region’s leader in medical care. And now, just look inside City Hospital and Jefferson Memorial and you’ll see the difference.
It’s about our growing staff of gifted doctors. It’s about our people. Healthcare professionals holding themselves to a high standard of excellence. It’s care from the heart. It’s WVU Healthcare’s statewide commitment to medical excellence...working for you.
Member
Please visit us at wvuh-east.org for more information or call 888-WVU-1DOC for specific medical services
Member
Named One of the 101 Unique Places to Dine in West Virginia
(304) 262-6925
148 Lutz Avenue Martinsburg, WV 25404
The AIDS Response Effort invites you to join us at the
2012 HIV/AIDS Awareness Walk Sunday, August 5, 2012 www.latrattoriawv.com
Registration begins at 10AM at the Piccadilly Public House & Restaurant The walk begins at 11AM on the Old Town Walking Mall. Your $20 registration fee supports ARE and includes a t-shirt. Register at www.aidsresponseeffort.org/aidswalk or call 540-536-5293 for details.
“Price, Product, Warranty & Service...We Can’t Be Beat! With Over 15,000 Satisfied Eastern Panhandle Customers Since 1989” We offer dependable water treatment equipment, from the very best manufactures. Our goal is to offer highest quality water treatment equipment. No Franchise fees or Commissioned salesmen means lower prices. All Equipment is built to our specifications. We’re sort of like an independent insurance agent, we can pick and choose what products we represent and which systems are right for your water conditions and your family’s needs. All with the Best Warranties in the business... Guaranteed!
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Our Roots Run Deep. . . Take it from a 6th Generation Caroline Grace - Granddaughter of Bruce Jr. & Susan Butler
T
he Butler’s have a rich, family heritage of growing
high quality, wholesome fruits and vegetables. In fact they've being doing it for generations!
Studies show
buying locally, grown produced is one of the healthiest things you can do for your family. So “go where it grows” at Butler’s Farm Market and let our family share with you the bountiful harvest and other seasonal specialities that come fresh from our fields!
Seasonal Favorites
Variety of Peaches • Butler’s Sweet Corn • Plums Butler’s Best Jams, Jellies & Fresh Baked Pies
Spruce Up Your Yard
Mounds of Mulch. . . Delivery Available! Top Quality Topsoil • Hand-Crafted Amish Furniture And Propane Tank Refills for Grilling
DIRECTIONS: Rt. 9 to Ridge Road; travel 2.5 miles. OR Take I-81 Exit 14 & travel 1.5 miles West to 1793 Dry Run Road. MARKET HOURS: Monday thru Saturday 9am to 5pm
304.262.9414
MEET JOE [ 10 ]
Around The Panhandle | JULY • AUG 2012
Who is Joe Taxi? Someone in the band by the name Joe? Maybe a cabbie? Actually, the name Joe Taxi refers to three young energetic men who make up the folk rock acoustic band that has a little funky reggae feel to their music. It all started during their first performance at a hole-in-wall venue in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Along with their gear, Christian Lopez, Alex Shanholtzer, and Jesse Kemmerer, piled into a taxi, ready and eager for their first show. The trio began to really watch the surroundings as the taxi moved through the streets surrounding the venue. They noticed that it probably wasn’t the best neighborhood. The taxi driver, Joe, said that the neighborhood was not so bad, but he gave them a word of warning. Apparently, within a couple hours of being dropped off, they probably were not going find a driver to pick them up. They naturally they took his number for an assured pick up. One of the band members saved the driver’s contact information as “Joe Taxi.” Without a band name up until that point, they decided that was it: JOE TAXI. They have performed at numerous open microphone events all over the East Coast. In addition, they have opened for local bands and have been the headliners at countless bars. This in itself is ironic, considering none of them can enjoy an iced cold beer after the show. All of the band’s members are all under age.
TAXI www.AroundThePanhandle.com
By Natalie Greene
The young men admit that they are simply in love with the music scene and they are working diligently to make it in the complex music business. They already have a strong following locally, but their eyes are on bigger and better things. They are hopeful that sometime soon they will be on tour expanding their music’s impact beyond the quadstate area. The band is out of Martinsburg, West Virginia, and they love to travel to performances, no matter the distance or size of the show. They consider the Piccadilly Public House and Restaurant in Winchester, Virginia to be one of their primary
[ 11 ]
stomping grounds. However, they mentioned playing at numerous open mic events at The Daily Grind in Martinsburg and The Blue Moon in Shepherdstown. They have even booked upcoming shows at festivals and bars, recently adding The Warped Tour, a bragging right won on account of winning the recent Battle of the Bands at Moonstruck.
and handles the band’s website. He and bass guitarist, Alex Shanholtzer, have been jamming out together for nine years. Alex is a sophomore history major at West Virginia University. He remains committed to making the drive back and forth for gigs. “I can’t think of anything else I would be doing. It’s worth it,” he says.
“Everything is going so well. We have ambition and confidence to succeed,” says vocalist Christian Lopez. Lopez writes most of the music and you may recognize him as a competitor on American Idol, something he accomplished while still in high school. “I write the songs, and then we all put it together with music,” he says. Lopez is so connected with his music that his harmonica is an almost constant companion. “You never know when you’ll need it,” he says with a smile.
The young men are so thankful for the support of their family and friends. They have a growing fan base, even referring to their fans as “cabbies.” The group perceives their success to be surreal sometimes. They are booked every weekend this summer and are constantly getting calls for more shows. “Doesn’t matter where we are playing, as long as we are playing,” says. Lopez.
Jesse Kemmerer is behind the drums
While most of us are gearing up for summer vacations, the band is looking forward to a busy schedule
of playing music. “Work, Work, Work” says Shanholtzer, “We can only get better.” Their commitment to getting better is exemplified by their constant desire to practice. Even so, they find themselves creating new things at shows, whether it’s at an open mic jam session or at a festival. Each performance is seen as an opportunity to shine, and the band makes no distinction in the size or type of show. A show is a show to them. The audience will be treated with a high energy performance, no matter where they are performing. They love to see people move to their music. These are talented young men who truly love what they do.
Check ‘Em Out July 12 - War Memorial Park in Martinsburg July 14 - Shepherdstown Farmers Market July 27 - Queen Street Square in Martinsburg August 3 - Hollow Creek Country Club Sports Bar in Middletown August 8 - Berkeley County Fairgrounds August 11 - Shenandoah Health Care Fest in Martinsburg August 11 - Berkeley County Fairgrounds August 25 - Piccadillys Brew Pub in Winchester
[ 12 ]
Around The Panhandle | JULY • AUG 2012
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It’s hard to believe that 20 years ago on August 17th, we opened our first office in Martinsburg on Raleigh Street in the former Berkeley County Jail.
MEMBER FDIC • Equal Housing Lender
It’s been an amazing 20 years serving our friends, family and neighbors with the very best in banking products and services. We’re proud of the rich heritage and tradition of community banking we established over 20 years ago which is still the focus of all 7 offices we operate in the Eastern Panhandle. We hope you’ll join us for a special day, Friday, August 17th at all of our locations, as we celebrate our success over the years and continued progress in the future!
20 Year Anniversary Celebration • Friday, August 17 th At All 7 Eastern Panhandle City National Bank locations Berkeley Springs
149 N. Washington Street
Martinsburg
1700 W. King Street
Martinsburg
420 South Raleigh Street
Martinsburg
255 Administrative Drive
Inwood
14 Sader Drive
Charles Town
1034 S. George Street
Ranson
75 WV Way
Mr. Economic Development One of Berkeley County’s Greatest Advocates
By Victoria Kidd
We know that Berkeley County is a great place to live and work. We know that it is located about ninety miles from the D.C. Metropolitan area, allowing its residents to live in a place with a small-town feel while remaining close to the action of the big city. We also know that the county is one of the fastest growing areas in the entire country, and we know that the county is accessible to two-thirds of the entire United States population through a day’s drive or less. For these reasons and more, the county is rapidly becoming a desirable location for businesses considering relocation or expansion, and the attraction of those businesses to the county is important to all of us. New business equates to new economic growth, enabling the creation of jobs and improving the quality of life for local residents. Thankfully, the county has a champion who is working [ 16 ]
hard to promote Berkeley County to businesses not only in West Virginia, but across the country and beyond. His name is Stephen Christian, and he is one of the area’s people to know. As Executive Director of the Berkeley County Development Authority, an agency commonly referred to as the BCDA, Christian heads what is arguably one of the community’s most important agencies. In this capacity, Christian spends his days advocating for the county in a very unique manner. The BCDA is an independent public agency governed by a twentyone member volunteer board of directors from across a variety of different industries. Under its guidance, Christian and his team serve as an ally to companies that are considering the value of doing business in the county. Their actions are wide-ranging, and each day brings a new opportunity to help
businesses that are seeking a place to grow. The BCDA helps such businesses identify local properties that best serve their individual needs. They help obtain necessary permits and licenses, and they act as a liaison between the local, state, and federal entities governing businesses and their operations. In addition to helping businesses that are already considering the county, Christian and his team conduct far-reaching outreach and marketing efforts to ensure the visibility of the county, particularly with influential brokerage and consulting firms that assist and represent businesses with the evaluation and selection of potential sites. They even work to assist and retain businesses that are already here by helping with expansion efforts. Christian’s professional background and personal history is perfectly Around The Panhandle | JULY • AUG 2012
suited for these activities. As a proud West Virginia native, Christian grew up loving the state of West Virginia. After attending college at Syracuse University, he worked in West Virginia and Virginia for a food brokerage firm. “I was heavily involved in marketing and sales, and I learned a lot about how B2B relationships work,” he explains. (B2B, an acronym standing for business to business, denotes the sale of goods or services between business entities.) Christian utilized the skills gained during his time with the firm to obtain a position with a wellrespected electronics company in California. As a marketing director, he worked to promote the contract manufacturing capabilities of the facility. He excelled in the role for many years before moving back to West Virginia in 1996. The move marked a turning point in Christian’s career, as it enabled him to accept a position with the West Virginia Economic Development Office. It would be his first time working in a development capacity for a public entity, and he was excited to accept the challenges ahead. “The idea of selling the state of West Virginia was very appealing to me. I received a very unique opportunity from Governor Underwood to recruit major projects and industry to the state.” Big businesses such as United Airlines, Amazon.com, Orgill, and Ralph Lauren learned about what locating operations to West Virginia could do for them, and Christian gained a familiarity with Berkeley County and the corridor of Interstate 81 during this time. At the end of Governor Underwood’s administration, Christian accepted a position with the Maryland Economic Development Association. In this role, he would continue his economic development career by trying to persuade large business interest to locate their corporate headquarters to the Baltimore, Maryland area. After several years in the position, as well as a few years spent as a successful realtor, Christian grew weary of the congestion and density of the D.C. Metropolitan area.
www.AroundThePanhandle.com
He was intrigued by the position with the BCDA, and expressed his interest. “I knew that this would give me a chance to get back into development, and I could work in my home state again,” he says. “I knew that I would still have all of the amenities of the metro area, but my quality of life would be better. At the beginning of 2008, I was brought on board here.” He has seen great successes and weathered many challenges during his time with the BCDA. He gives each day his best effort while recognizing that his activities have a long-lasting and dramatic impact on the surrounding community. “We work hard to find tenants for the buildings we have, and we work hard to attract businesses to our business parks. We have had a lot of success in doing so,” Christian remarks. “Clearly the one that has received the most press has been the Macy’s 1.3 million square foot direct-toconsumer fulfillment center.” That center has already brought jobs into the Eastern Panhandle through the $170 million construction project, but its true impact will only been seen over time. After a ramping-up period, the center will employ 1,200 employees. During Christmas and the spring wedding season, that number will swell to 2,000. These seasonal employees will be helping the center fill holiday orders in the later part of the year and helping it continue to be recognized as the number-one wedding registry retailer in the world by fulfilling the influx of orders in the spring. While the gain in jobs is important, Christian identifies a more important statistic related to the decision by Macy’s to locate to Berkeley County. “The statistic that is most meaningful is the one related to the estimated payroll of $30 million annually for the center,” Christian explains. “If you think about the economic impact that $30 million spread over a community of about 100,000 people will have, you really start to see that the decision to move here has a profound ripple effect throughout the community. That directly equates to more spending at small businesses. That
is more checking accounts opened at our local banks. That is more apartments rented and homes sold.” Put simply, it is more of everything. It is an infusion of cash into the community, and therein one sees the importance of Christian’s efforts on behalf of Berkeley County. Christian and the BCDA team have a great deal of excitement about the Macy’s project, but he knows that his work is far from over. With Macy’s opening this summer, Christian sets his sights on new goals and opportunities. He will be focusing much of his efforts on the promotion and sale of sites within the county’s Tabler Station Business Park and Cumbo Yard Industrial Park. Together, these locations offer approximately 460 non-continuous acres of available land. Businesses such as FedEx, Quad Graphics, and General Motors are already enjoying the benefits of these locations, but Christian pushes forward to bring new industry and new jobs to the local community. “Bringing business to the parks is essential, and I believe we have positioned these assets in such a way that we can certainly recruit businesses there,” he says. Unquestionably, Christian’s professional background and keen business sense have contributed to the recent successes experienced by the BCDA. The community reaps the greatest benefit from his actions. For his dedication to Berkeley County, Stephen Christian is certainly a person to watch locally, and he will certainly find new and innovative ways to contribute to the growth of this area for years to come. To learn more about the BCDA, visit www.developmentauthority.com. If you are a private individual, keep an eye out for news about Christian and the new projects of the BCDA. If you are a growing business, consider contacting the BCDA to learn how they can help you investigate property options, assist with site selection, identify financing options, and facilitate permitting needs. You will find Christian and his team ready to help you learn why Macy’s and so many others have selected Berkeley County as home to their operations.
[ 17 ]
36 Holes of Great Golf!
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[ 19 ]
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From Bavaria to the Blue Ridge:
Stasis High Performance Audis Find a New Home
By Stephen N. Reed
Paul Lambert is a man whose executive decision making has been vindicated. When Lambert realized that his high-performance car business would have difficulty expanding in Sonoma, California, he started looking for options.
there is $150,000. Our people were working so hard, but some of them were living with their parents because everything is so expensive. So if we wanted to expand this business and add more people, we had to cut costs.”
“In Sonoma, you’re talking about an average home running $400,000,” said Lambert. “The average income
Lambert searched for a place where he could do that, while continuing to offer the highest quality of
www.AroundThePanhandle.com
high-performance Audis and other vehicles to his worldwide clientele. He started looking in the vicinity of the Audi American corporate headquarters in Herndon, Virginia. “Then I found Barbara and Bill Scott at Summit Motorsports Park,” said Lambert. “I was looking to move somewhere near a racetrack, and I had an instant appreciation for what [ 21 ]
Bill was doing with his track. I really resonated with Bill’s philosophy on high-performance vehicles. Here was a former racecar driver who wanted to teach more people about driving.” Undoubtedly, one of the reasons Lambert made such an instant connection with the Scotts is that he, too, started as a racecar driver in Europe growing up. He then went to engineering school. Along the way, he found that he wanted to share his love of the high-performance experience with others. “The modern vehicle has so much capability,” Lambert said. With the move to Summit Point, good benefits can now be offered to Stasis employees. Plus, the employees have a beautiful area to live in and can find a really fine home for an affordable price. But the move didn’t come without a cost. “When you’re in California and say that you’re moving to West Virginia, sadly, a lot of our employees just didn’t want to do it,” said Lambert. “They had a wrong impression that West Virginia is backwards. I think as more businesses move here, as
[ 22 ]
ours did, that stigma can end.” “I love it here!” said Lambert. “It’s been a good adaptation for those who came with us. We’ll be here three years in August, and it’s one of the smartest things we did.” Stasis is still a relatively young company, only ten years old. But the move to Jefferson County forced Stasis to undergo a complete restructuring worthy of an organization many times its size. “When we first came here, we had to write down everything we knew this time, not have it locked in someone else’s head,” said Lambert. “Before, someone just knew what to do. But what happens if they leave? The move here has forced us to write down everything we do, to have a structured procedure that we didn’t have before.”
“Next to your home, your car is the largest purchase you’ll make. Why not have your car be exactly what you want?”
The results of Stasis’s retooling here are impressive. By building the company up a second time, Lambert knew how big it needed to be from his prior experience starting up Stasis. As a result, Stasis now has fifty-two employees in thirty countries. “If we hadn’t had structure forced upon on us, we couldn’t have grown,” said Lambert. “It was traumatic but good.” What began as a company with three engineers doing contract engineering and design work for companies like Indian motorcycle, developed into a racecar company, designing, building and running racecars in North America. Now they’re capturing a significant share of the U.S. touring car market. So what are touring cars? The term touring car racing refers to several distinct auto racing competitions using seriously modified street cars. This kind of car racing is popular in Europe, South America, Japan, and Australia. Touring car racing is not as fast as Formula One contests like the
Around The Panhandle | JULY • AUG 2012
Indianapolis 500. However, because the cars appear familiar to those who come out to cheer them on, it has maintained its fan support over the years. Lambert explains how companies like his found their market in these same fans. “Imagine 100,000 Audi fans, going from race to race, all wanting something that looks like one of their favorite touring cars,” he explains. “The car they like may be a typical S-4 model, but they like the way the touring car version in the race looks and they say, ‘I want those tires and brakes.’” “But for every person who wants an authentic race car, there are ten or twenty who want something that gives them a high-performance experience, but without the risk factors associated with the race car itself,” Lambert said. “Real race cars have a lot of repairs and can get very expensive to maintain. While the fans think they want race car parts, they really want the look and feel of a touring car for themselves.” That brings us to one of the most obvious selling points for Lambert’s kind of high-performance product. Stasis’s cars can meet all safety standards, have a warranty up to $50,000, and be serviced in a regular shop. But each car’s new package is made according to the buyer’s desires. Lambert calls this transformation from race car to serviceable, value-added touring car “tailored performance.” “It’s like buying a nice suit instead of a T-shirt. You want it perfect. We pull the technology out of the race car, but adapt it for popular use,” said Lambert. “And we’re the only company who produces Audi products like this and retails them under Audi’s brand name.” Indeed, Stasis’s product is nearly unique. Mercedes has a similar program, but Lambert says it’s very limited. What makes Stasis successful is that they run their own program but have a similar philosophy as Audi—and a great relationship with the popular German automaker. “We charge 10% over the list
www.AroundThePanhandle.com
price, and we can get a new model completed within ninety days that a new Audi hits the market,” said Lambert. “We can even do car leases at any of our eighty-five dealers.” Lambert is careful to note that this is delicate work, stating that they don’t change a great car lightly. Finding the people who are talented in this line of work is always an important part of Lambert’s job. “I’ve got engine tuners, suspension engineers—all the parts need to fit together, just like a manufacturer,” said Lambert. The final piece is a true work of automotive art. “Typically, our cars are lower, wider, bigger,” said Lambert. “It still looks like an S-5, but the wheels and the trim are noticeably bigger. The exhaust stands out. You’ll have a guy with one of our cars being asked if that’s a Maserati or Aston Martin he’s driving. That’s a $150,000 car, so
“We will not put anything on a car that doesn’t increase its performance.” he’s feeling really good about his purchase!” Of course, the real pleasure is in the driving experience itself. Each Stasis client gets a half-day driving lesson at the Summit Point Motorsport Park to learn how to manage his new car. “Driving to work is no longer a mind-numbing experience,” said Lambert. “The car responds quicker, and you feel the driving experience. You round the turn harder, the car adjusts to potholes so they feel better. The car has a kind of Jekyll and Hyde personality—exotic, yet refined.” Now that Paul Lambert has moved his headquarters from California to West Virginia and has spent the last three years retooling his company and expanding its sales, what’s next for this most unique automotive enterprise in Southern Jefferson County? “We just want to spread our
addiction to high-performance cars to whole new audiences,” said Lambert. “We’ve done many of our sales through personal referrals, but now we’re planning on doing more large car shows, bring more of our cars to new dealers, and advertise in magazines like RoadTrack and Autoweek. But Lambert has an even larger market in mind as Stasis moves forward. “Long-term, we want to become a household name,” said Lambert. “We want a Stasis car to not be considered particularly out of range. You may see our ads in publications like GQ and Men’s Health. Next to your home, your car is the largest purchase you’ll make. Why not have your car be exactly what you want?” Already, the marriage between Stasis and West Virginia has borne good fruit. Some of Lambert’s engineers come from the WVU Engineering program, and over half of his employees are locals. Later this summer, Stasis will celebrate with an official opening, with customers coming in from around the country to enjoy a day of track time at Summit Point Motorsports Park. They’ll stay in local hotels and eat at local restaurants— all good for the local economy. A summer’s day filled with highperformance Audis zooming around Summit Point’s racetrack will be a fitting culmination for Stage One of Paul Lambert’s ambitious vision. Stasis’ move to the Eastern Panhandle has had its share of challenges but has been ultimately rewarding for Lambert and his team. Throughout his odyssey in coming here, Lambert says that he and his Stasis employees have lived by a credo of automotive integrity that has never changed. “We will not put anything on a car that doesn’t increase its performance,” he says emphatically. Indeed, each custom-made Audi that Stasis remakes in Jefferson County underscores Lambert’s sterling commitment to quality. To learn more about this unique enterprise, visit www.stasisengineering.com.
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Kimberly’s: A Real Gift to the Area Celebrating 23 Years in Downtown Winchester
By Victoria Kidd
There is something about a package that has been trussed up in paper and topped with ribbon and a bow. A special gift makes you feel loved, respected, and valued. What lies within that package can celebrate a birthday, make a holiday memorable, or simply say ‘I love you.’ Kimberly’s of Winchester, Virginia has been the perfect place to purchase just such a gift for the last twenty-three years. Kimberly’s can be found where North Braddock Street intersects with Piccadilly Street in the historic downtown area of Winchester. The striking building that occupies that space was erected in 1850. Originally built as an expansive twostory private residence, its halls have been home to a girls’ school and an Elks’ club. Then, Kimberly Sowers opened what would become one of the most recognizable icons in
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the Northern Shenandoah Valley. At just eighteen years old, the ambitious Sowers conceptualized and opened the store. Her driven nature and entrepreneurial spirit helped her build the store from very humble beginnings. “It was a very different store back then,” she says. “In the beginning, I only sold antiques and linens, really.” Today, the roots of these beginnings are hard to see under the store’s fresh appeal, wide-ranging product line, and enticing floor displays. While the fine-quality linens have remained, the antiques have been replaced with a variety of candles, paper products, rugs, clothing, accessories, and other goods you simply cannot find anywhere else. The assortment is so diverse, that, as Sowers says, Kimberly’s
is more like a department store than anything else. “We cover so many categories of product,” she explains. “You really can find a little bit of everything and anything in here.” This gives the store wideranging appeal, an element that has certainly contributed to its success. The business grew quickly, and Sowers would eventually marry Berry Morefield whose renovation and architectural vision complements the business’s long term objectives. Together they have gradually revitalized the historic property and expanded the store’s selection throughout the years. Products of all price points can be found within the store, allowing anyone on any budget to enjoy shopping there. The store is literally filled with products for every room of the house and nearly any occasion.
Around The Panhandle | JULY • AUG 2012
Visitors can purchase the highest quality candles available locally, including those from such recognized names as Thymes, Seda France, and Michael Aram. Kimberly’s also carries the very best in customizable invitations and stationary. Brides can still find the best china and crystal behind their doors, and their Lilly Pulitzer clothing line has been a huge hit in the community. Looking to enjoy a good nights sleep? Check out Kimberly’s selection of Sferra and Matouk sheets. It is all there under one roof. From the dining room and kitchen to the bed and bath, Kimberly’s carries a little bit of everything. True, one can find a wide variety of quality home goods and gifts, but it is Kimberly’s customer-focused service model—as well as its commitment to the community— that has undoubtedly solidified its place in the Valley forever. Sowers recognizes that customers are at the heart of her business, and she believes that listening to her customers has enabled the success of Kimberly’s. “Our store has grown through the feedback of those who support us,” Sowers explains. “We listen when people say, ‘You know, I really wish you had…’” Sowers believes firmly that customers who suggest additional product lines are, in a sense, helping her to better direct her business. “We try to fill a need in the market, and we believe that our customers are best qualified to help us direct our business.”
Kimberly Sowers, founder of Kimberly’s, says the Lilly Pulitzer clothing and accessory line has been extremely popular.
Perhaps there is no better example of how market needs and customer feedback has played a part in the business’s direction than the opening of Kids @ Kimberly’s in the building located next door. Sowers relays, “There were no other specialty children’s stores in the area, so we wanted to use the same service model to provide quality products for children.” The new store is just across the parking lot in a beautiful historic that was built in 1930. Today, its rooms are filled with clothing, toys, stuffed animals, books, and gifts for infants and children up to twelve years old. With products cleverly displayed throughout the two-story building, the kid-friendly version of Kimberly’s
www.AroundThePanhandle.com
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has become not only a local favorite store, but a destination unto itself in downtown Winchester. Aiding in the widespread celebrity of Kimberly’s has been the business’s philanthropic support of the surrounding community. In addition to supporting local events like the Holiday House Tour and the Garden Tour, Kimberly’s has been very involved with Blue Ridge Hospice, a local nonprofit hospice care organization. Additionally, Kimberly’s is the primary sponsor behind the Pumps and Pearls Ladies Party, a highly-attended Apple Blossom Festival event. “We support Apple Blossom because we believe in it and we love it,” said Sowers. “We support other charitable organizations because that is who we are. This is our community, and we are privileged to be a part of it.” A part of the community they certainly have become. With such longevity, the future seems bright for Kimberly’s, but Sowers is already focused on new dreams and further development. “I would like to connect the two stores at some point. I’m always looking to
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grow this unique business. I can see children some day coming here sit on Santa’s lap during our huge Christmas open house, and I certainly want to continue encouraging people to shop locally.” Sowers wants to make sure people know that the experience of Kimberly’s is greater than just its product line. “With the internet, people don’t have to shop in stores anymore. People go shopping because they are social beings, and they come here specifically because they are served by nice people who care.” Kimberly’s practices a model of customer service that is all but lost in the modern age. She and her staff treat every customer with the same respect and service they would want to receive themselves. From simply helping a customer with customprinted invitations to shipping purchased gifts to their recipients, the staff of Kimberly’s strives to make each customer feel special. “We know many of our customers by name. We’ve even shipped items that were not purchased in our store, just to make sure that particular customer was taken care
of.” Such service—while generally unheard of in other businesses— is standard at Kimberly’s, and it exemplifies her underlying gratefulness for those who have helped the business build twentythree years of success. Sowers says, “We are very thankful for those who have supported us. I have produced wedding announcements for people I made birth announcements for when they were babies! I’ve followed many of these customers throughout their lives, and I feel honored to have done so.” When you visit Kimberly’s you will surely understand why this amazing local landmark continues to thrive after twenty-three years. To learn more about the products available at Kimberly’s and Kids @ Kimberly’s, visit www.kimberlys.biz or call (800) 967-8676. Better yet, stop by their downtown Winchester store, located just behind the big red apple. No matter what your price range, you’ll find great gifts, home goods, clothing, and collectibles waiting for you.
Around The Panhandle | JULY • AUG 2012
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The idea of going to a spa may seem like a luxury to some, but it can not only make you feel and look better, but can actually improve your health, as well, according to Kristi Johnson, a technician and owner of Personal Reflection Day Spa and Advance Cellulite Center. The spa is located at 102 Hovatter Drive, Inwood, West Virginia. A tough economy and the nature of the business—again that word luxury comes in—haven’t hampered Personal Reflection’s growth. “We’ve been around for six years. We expanded and moved from our original location across the street last year. This is not just a job to me. I love every aspect of it,” Johnson says. Johnson credits her clientele for the spa’s success. “The people in this area are so supportive of small businesses. It’s amazing and the reason we’ve grown. We take our customers to a whole other world. They come in here stressed and leave happy and relaxed,” she says.
Step Away for a Day Personal Reflection Day Spa and Advanced Cellulite Center By Bonnie Williamson
Personal Reflection has a staff of eleven, including massage therapists, skin care specialists, nail technicians, and a cosmetologist. The business is also very much a family affair with Johnson’s mom Nancy Bowers, helping out along with her sister Summer Bowers, cousin Cheryl Hutzler, and even Johnson’s dad Greg Bowers, who helps with construction on the site. Before any service takes place, customers sit on a couch in a room with subdued lighting, soothing music, and sounds of the ocean or birds singing. No cell phones or other electronic devices are allowed. This is an essential part of the client experience. “Atmosphere is the key. We want people to escape the outside world,” Johnson explains. Personal Reflection offers a wide variety of services, such as facial therapy, body sculpting, relaxation treatments, and hand and foot care. Each service has unique features. “And men are just as concerned about grooming, hygiene, and taking care of themselves as women are. The relaxation a massage brings is
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Around The Panhandle | JULY • AUG 2012
also a big service with men. Facials and pedicures are popular, too,” says Johnson. Men can take advantage of a gentleman’s facial. Johnson says this facial helps skin recuperate from climatic changes, daily shaving, and stress. Other facial therapies offered at Personal Reflection include a vitamin C facial; anti-aging facial; a deep cleansing facial; and a mini facial, which lasts 25 minutes, and includes cleansing, exfoliation to remove dead skin cells, and a massage to take away stress. Johnson says the deep cleansing facial can even help people with sinus problems and allergies. There is also a teen facial, a back facial, waxing for the face and body, and eyelash and eyebrow tinting. One unusual facial called the hot stone facial involves the use of warm stones for deep cleansing. Warm stones are also used in the area of relaxation treatments. The stones help deep heat travel throughout the body. Concerning other relaxation treatments, customers can opt for a Swedish massage, a medium pressure massage; a signature massage, using medium pressure and warm towels; a deep tissue massage, a technique that works deeply into each muscle to relieve regions of chronic discomfort; and foot reflexology in which thumb pressure is used on the feet. One unique massage uses warm candle oils. Candle wax is drizzled over the body then a medium pressure massage is applied. There is even a massage specifically for pregnant women. “The deep tissue massage can make you feel sore initially but after that, you feel amazing,” says Johnson. Johnson says clients who have had breast cancer, arthritis, and other medical conditions find massages particularly helpful. “Massages help blood flow and circulation. That all cuts down on the pain. We have some medical knowledge behind us. Two of my employees also work in a
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chiropractor’s office,” says Johnson. Johnson started in the spa business thirteen years ago, studying in New York. She originally wanted to become a physical therapist. “I’m fascinated with anatomy and how the body works. I became involved with the spa industry and things took off from there,” she says. Johnson refers to herself as an endermologist. Endermologie is a method for reducing or eliminating the appearance of cellulite. The advanced cellulite program is a nonsurgical procedure. Johnson is in charge of the body sculpting service at Personal Reflection. The cellulite treatment is not just a one-shot deal. It consists of two treatments a week for ten weeks. “I’m also not a magician. The customer has to be sure he or she drinks plenty of water and follows instructions. I give customers a list of things to avoid like sodas and sodium. There are so many toxins we are exposed to every day,” Johnson says. Of course some of the techniques in the body sculpting service may appear to come out of ancient Egypt. Body wrapping is a good example. The body is literally wrapped in ace bandages. The Swedish body wrap consists of the compression wrap made of amino nutrients and sea clay. “The body wrap eliminates toxins, breaks up fat cells, and improves circulation. People literally lose inches. It’s instant gratification,” says Johnson. Customers can also try a body sculpting technique called Tango Parafango. A sea mud and paraffin mixture is painted on the body to stimulate the lymphatic flow to draw out toxins and firm and tighten skin. This is then followed by a steam treatment that replenishes lost moisture. Personal Reflection also offers a wide variety of manicures and pedicures, including sport pedicures and manicures specifically for men. Customers can have acrylic nails applied or removed.
If a customer wants a variety of services, Personal Reflection has numerous spa packages. Some of these include the Escape, which involves the reflection facial, stone therapy massage, Tango Parafango wrap, spa manicure and pedicure, with a spa lunch; the Stress Melter, a facial, massage, Tango Parafango wrap with scalp massage, spa pedicure and a spa lunch; the Spa Experience, including a facial, Swedish body wrap, spa manicure and pedicure with foot reflexology; and the Gentleman’s Escape, which is a twenty-five minute facial, fifty minute sport massage, and a sport manicure and pedicure with hydrating paraffin. Johnson keeps the products she uses on site so customers can buy what they like. She offers special occasion make-overs and make-up sessions right at the spa. The spa is also available for spa parties. “The spa parties involve eight or more people wanting three or more services. We will actually shut down the spa to cater the party. We will supply your choice of fruit or vegetable or fresh punch and a table for refreshments,” says Johnson. In addition, Personal Reflection offers a bridal make-up service. “We come to your location for this service,” Johnson relays. The bridal make-up service is free with six or more in the bridal party. Johnson is proud of her business and pleased it has won many awards for its work. “In 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010, we received a Best Spa in the Tristate Area Award and in 2011 and this year, we got a Best Massage Therapist Award. We get awards every year. I have a great staff and great customers,” she says. We all know that life can be stressful, but the staff at Personal Reflection offers a chance to step away from daily stress and rejuvenate, all without leaving the area. Call (304) 821-1333 to book your appointment or visit www. personalreflectiondayspa.com for more information.
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T ransparent. Honest. T rue. ADORED Conference Returns to the Living Room for Fourth Year
by Stephen N. Reed
Ask Pastor Beth Green of The Living Room in Martinsburg’s Berkeley Plaza what got her started with women’s ministry, and you get a surprising reply. “Actually, I was never really that into women’s ministry, was much more comfortable with men’s ministry,” says Green, a blonde-haired, youthful looking minister, who shares senior pastoring duties with her husband, Kevin. “But then I went to this women’s conference in Australia, and my whole perspective changed.” “Women are strategic beings,” said Green. “We have radar, discernment. Amazing things can happen when women come together. But we can also be catty and jealous of one another. So that’s what our “Adored” conference is all about: tearing down those walls that can divide us.” The Greens know a lot about tearing down walls, both literally and figuratively. Having taken over “The Living Room” furniture store at the Berkeley Plaza in Martinsburg, the Greens had to transform a huge company space and reshape it into a church—with the same name. “We have been amazed at the enormous amounts of free work and expertise our members have donated to make this place work,” said Green. “Because of the space we’ve developed, we’ve been able to grow to over 1,000 members now.” The church has become one of the most flourishing worship centers in the Eastern Panhandle, with specific ministries for every member of the family. Pastor Green is quick to note that the focus of “The Living Room” is not to encourage people to leave other churches but to reach out to those who never went to church or,
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Around The Panhandle | JULY • AUG 2012
perhaps, have fallen away from church attendance for several years. “We are informal here, relaxed,” said Green. “We tell our folks that they are God’s Living Room that others will encounter when they leave one of our services.” Another recurring theme at The Living Room is that they celebrate creativity. In fact, creativity is listed on their website as one of their core values: We serve a God of excellence who happens to be the creator of creativity! The Living Room celebrates an atmosphere that’s committed to both—and in doing so, demonstrates the very nature of God himself. It is very common to experience the use of media, dance, drama, props and various stage designs to illustrate and enhance the messages spoken at The Living Room. This creates an atmosphere that captures the attention of all ages, making the message relevant and unforgettable to anyone who attends from the bible scholar to the curious guest who is attending church for the first time. At TLR, we haven’t changed the message –just the method. Over the past twenty years or more, the discussion, some would say, argument over traditional versus modern worship has sent many churches reeling, particularly those which had traditional services for years, then tried to offer or switch to more modern expressions of worship, particularly music. However, for churches with nontraditional potential members, Pastor Green maintains that different thinking is required. The more modern approach to worship is another example of the Greens’ commitment to tearing down walls. For the formerly nonchurched visitors to their church, traditional liturgy and music might be a wall that separates, rather than unites, new parishioners with church veterans. The Greens take Jesus’s admonition
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This year’s guest speaker, Holly Wagner, is a well-known author, a renowned speaker, and the respected co-pastor of Oasis Church in L.A.
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to seek for the one lost sheep seriously. Their success in just a few years here suggests that they have found not only a niche but a veritable throng of folks locally who have found The Living Room experience spiritually and socially edifying. Many of these regular Sunday-going church members might have never attended one of the area’s more traditional churches. Certainly, edifying one another is the focus of Pastor Beth Green’s fourth annual “Adored” conference, which will be held again at The Living Room on Friday, September 7th through Sunday, September 9th, and Green is excited. The theme this year is “Come Away,” denoting the retreat nature of the conference. Pastor Green has seen what has happened at the first three conferences and can’t wait for this one to kick off. “For this conference, our guest speaker will be Holly Wagner, a pastor at Oasis Church in L.A. and a cancer survivor,” said Green. “This year, we really want to reach out to any women cancer patients in the area, as we’re certain that Holly’s message will be directly relevant to
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them.” Wagner has written several books, using a humorous yet challenging style to encourage her readers. One book, for both men and women, is entitled Dumb Things We Do. It is designed for overcoming relationship obstacles. Wagner’s bio states that she has “a passion about seeing women become who God has designed them to become” and to see each generation of women reach out to help the next generation of women. Pastor Green echoes that sentiment, stating that the overall mission of the “Adored” conference is to help women understand just how loved and adored they are by God and each other. “Many of us can find ourselves lacking purpose and meaning in our lives from time to time,” explains Green. “What we want to see is how the women who attend our conference find that meaning once they realize how empowering God’s love is. Discovering your purpose is the next step after realizing the full extent of how adored you really are.” Seeing the growth in some of the women who have attended past
conferences has been one of the biggest rewards for Green. “When you see a young woman, a college graduate, using her talents to help be a role model for other young women, that kind of growth is so wonderful to see,” said Green. “You’re seeing one young woman who was helped, helping five more. That’s when you see that one person’s influence can really grow.” Last year’s conference had 300 attendees, from high school age and up. Pastor Green is hoping for an even bigger crowd this year. The event is open to non-church members, just like The Living Room’s monthly women’s devotions called “Second Saturdays.” Pastor Green opening invites women of faith living in the Eastern Panhandle to consider the uplifting and enlightening experience of the conference. It is her firm desire that, no matter when you last attended a religious service, you will surely leave the conference feeling better about yourself and armed with a new understanding of God’s love for you. To learn more about this year’s “Adored” conference, September 7-9, contact The Living Room at: (304) 263-4787.
Around The Panhandle | JULY • AUG 2012
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People To Sloane Morgan Siegel A Local Chasing the Dream Watch — By Victoria Kidd
Most of us have memories of parents, relatives, and childhood teachers telling us that we can be whatever we wish. At a young age, the world of possibilities is endless, and our capabilities are perceived to be infinite. We start our lives dreaming about what we will accomplish, but, for most of us, we fail to pursue our dreams with passion and conviction. Those of us who do pursue their ambitions are a marvel to the rest of us. They have a seemingly endless supply of courage, and their stories inspire us. One such inspiring story is that of Sloane Morgan Siegel, a young man with local roots who is well on his way to having a successful acting career. Siegel lives in California, but he is quick to tell you that he calls the Eastern Panhandle home. Born in the fall of 2000, He grew up on a family horse farm in Falling Waters, West Virginia. In this picturesque setting, Siegel’s story started to take shape. “I’m really just a kid from West Virginia who grew up on a farm and decided to act,” explains Siegel. The chain of events that led to this decision surprisingly set into motion on the soccer field. I love soccer. I played defense mostly, but my coach suggested that I look into gymnastics too.” Siegel’s father, Harry Siegel, was happy to help his son pursue his passion. He says, “Sloane is an exceptional soccer player, but the coach thought that gymnastics would help him move his feet faster. I thought it was a great idea, so we signed him up. It turned out that gymnastics wasn’t for him. Some of the kids that were in his class started talking about this hip hop dancing program they were involved in, and they said it was a lot of fun. Sloane expressed an interest, and we signed him up.”
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Around The Panhandle | JULY • AUG 2012
The young Siegel proved to be a natural hip hop dancer, and he was selected to represent the school at the 2010 Monsters of Hip Hop Competition in Reston, Virginia. Thousands of performers from around the world competed, but Siegel was a distinctive standout. His dancing was exceptional enough to clinch a top spot among the performers in his age group, but it was his intelligence, professional demeanor, and ability to take direction that really caught the attention of one of the choreographers involved with the competition. Sensing Siegel’s underlying talents, she recommended that he get involved with acting classes. Siegel’s interest was piqued and, again, his parents signed him up for the classes he desired to take in Hagerstown, Maryland.
Productions in Virginia. It would be the first of many exciting roles, and Siegel now has more than eighty-five roles to his credit. His résumé includes work in a number of commercials, music videos, feature films, and short films. Since moving to California, he has booked roles in forty-three films, nine television pilots, eight music videos, numerous voiceovers, and fourteen commercials.
“This is where my roots are. It is where I was raised... West Virginia will always be my home.”
He continues to gain recognition, and people from across the country and in international locations are able to see his work. In the states, you may recognize him as the youngest member of the Steadman family, a fictitious family appearing in CyberLink’s commercial and media spots. Alternatively, you may have seen him in one of his humorous Doritos commercials or in a music video by Ximena Sariñana or Ry Cook. He has even worked with big Hollywood actors such as Heather Graham, Rob Corddry, and Kevin Hart on a Fox TV Pilot called Little in Common.
Soon after, Siegel’s mother heard one of those all-too-common radio commercials about the potential to meet casting directors and industry insiders at a local event in Washington, D.C. Most of us dismiss these announcements, but the Siegel family brought their young star to participate. Hundreds of kids showed up at the designated time and place, but only three were selected for the school of actors. Siegel was one of the three selected. His selection would prove to truly be the turning point in his story. On his very first day, the school’s director asked his parents if it was acceptable to introduce Siegel to a Disney Casting Director. Siegel’s parents immediately agreed, and the two met soon thereafter. Impressed with the young man, he selected Siegel to compete at an international competition in Las Vegas, Nevada. Out of thousands of competitors from all over the world, Siegel ranked fourth place, solidifying his ability to get noticed by agents, managers, and casting directors. He went on to win several acting awards, as well as a few scholarships to schools in New York. He continued to work at his new passion of acting, and he would go on to land his first small movie role in the film Life Fine Tuned from Renaissance Women’s
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He has also appeared in popular television shows such as Big Time Rush, where he makes a guest appearance in show number five of season three. He has been a lead in a hit web series called Kids React, a popular series with more than two million views per week. (That show was recognized with an award for the best variety web series by the International Academy of Web Television Awards.)
“I’m still a kid. I just happen to also be an actor.”
His success has not come without sacrifice. These roles are the result of tireless dedication on behalf of both Siegel and his parents. An average day consists of three to four auditions, and these auditions are held all over Hollywood and the surrounding area. This equates to a lot of driving between locations, and it should be remembered that California traffic would be very foreign to some of us living in the Eastern Panhandle. For Siegel, the effort is part of the experience. He says, “Everyday is a new experience out here. It’s a lot of work, but it is so exciting.” Each day brings the chance to
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meet new people in the business, and Siegel has had the opportunity to meet and work with a number of incredible professionals while pursuing his dream. While he has undoubtedly enjoyed the experience, those he works with are equally impressed with him. James Cullen Bressack, a noteworthy director and producer, says of Siegel, “This kid is dynamite.” Director Byron Washington says, “Sloane has a natural talent for acting and a great professional attitude.” Numerous others have described him as attentive, detailed, and professional. The general consensus of everyone who works with him is that he has a long and productive career ahead of him.
like any other young man his age. “I still ride a scooter and play video games,” Siegel relays. “I love sports, and I am even a competitive indoor skydiver. I’m still a kid. I just happen to also be an actor.”
One may wonder how his initial success and these accolades have impacted the young man, but Siegel’s presence is one tempered with a humble nature and a quiet recognition that he still has much to learn. In many respects he is just
That drive has taken Siegel far in just a few short years. In addition to his continuing pursuit of acting roles, he is putting the finishing touches on his first film. “It is already in front of a few producers, and I know I have revised it more than ten times! I
Siegel’s father says, “Every film that Sloane has been in has won an award of some kind. Nevertheless, Sloane is still an incredible young man with great humility. I can tell you with pride that he is a good son, and I am so proud of him.” Siegel’s father recognizes that his son has the perfect combination of talent, integrity, and drive to be successful, but he also has a compassionate and open heart of which any parent would be proud.
have a lot of things I want to do. I want to be an actor who also writes and directs.” Truly, Siegel has a seemingly unending supply of ambition, and, while that ambition has taken him far from the Eastern Panhandle, he says that West Virginia will always be home. “This is where my roots are,” Siegel says. “It is where I was raised, and although I am here in California for part of the time and there for part of the time, West Virginia will always be my home.” To follow the career of this incredible young West Virginian, visit his website at www.sloanesiegel.com or view his profile on IMDB at http:// pro.imdb.com/name/nm4470846/. You can also keep up with Siegel’s exciting career news through his page on Facebook at www.facebook. com/sloane.siegel. As Siegel says, you will certainly be seeing him on big or small screen very soon!
Sloan has had the opportunity to work with many high-profile, Hollywood actors. He is shown here with Robert Davi, the actor known for his roles in Die Hard, License to Kill, and The Goonies.
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Around The Panhandle | JULY • AUG 2012
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The Eastern Panhandle’s Choice for Your Special Day Driving down a country road in the northern Shenandoah Valley in West Virginia, you see horse farms and rolling hills. What you don’t expect to see is a thriving bridal gown, prom dress, and formal wear business out in the middle of the country. You don’t expect it, but if you drive past 1406 Sam Mason Road in Bunker Hill, that is exactly what you will find. This thriving business is aptly named The Barn. The impressive original structure and the property upon which it stands is itself rich with a history of its own. It dates from the Civil War period, and it was once used as a hospital during that conflict. The property was even home to a segment of the Underground Railroad at one time. The building’s past seems so far removed from its present, but there www.AroundThePanhandle.com
are certainly undertones of a simpler life lived long ago. Arlene Pasco, its owner, refers to The Barn as formal elegance in an informal setting. The Barn is surrounded by eleven acres of land with a breathtaking gazebo onsite. The location offers an ideal setting for wedding photos. The surroundings are indeed picturesque, but why would a business such as this settle in such a location, so far from the big city lights? Pasco’s daughter, Nikki Parrish works with her mom at the shop. She recalls that there was nothing like this kind of business in the area when The Barn opened in 1972. “People had nowhere to go for formal wear except possibly Winchester, Virginia, or Washington, DC. And, there was not a lot of variety,” Parrish says. Pasco and Parrish credit Peter
By Bonnie Williamson
Baker, Pasco’s father, with planting the seeds for The Barn. Baker, an aeronautical engineer from the New York area, suffered a horrible accident. Afterwards, he decided that he wanted to leave the region. “He wanted a farm so he bought a large tract of land where The Barn is now,” Parrish explains. Unfortunately, the Bakers knew very little about farming. “My parents were a lot like that old television show ‘Green Acres’,” Pasco recalls. “One night my father told my mom, Elizabeth, that he bought a pig. He left it with her, and she had no idea what to do with it. Ultimately, she made a big bowl of Martinis. When my father came home, she and the pig were having a lovely conversation!” Pasco’s father was equally ill-suited for farm life. He named all the cows and would periodically get farm equipment [ 47 ]
stuck in the mud. Despite such, his love of the county life was, in the end, more important than running a fruitful farm. “He loved it here,” Pasco says. Meanwhile, Pasco had a successful retail career working with many big chains like the notable ladies apparel retailer Bonwit Teller, as well as others in the Washington metropolitan area. She was a buyer with a good eye for fashion and a love of bridal and formal wear. However, all things changed when Parrish became very ill. “My mom decided she did not want to commute because she wanted to take care of me. She wanted to live next to her own business. That is how The Barn was created. I eventually got well and grew up in the business,” Parrish says. These good intentions motivated Pasco to open the enterprise, but starting the business was certainly not easy. “Back in 1972, it was very difficult for women to get small business loans. There were almost no femaleowned businesses in this area. But mom persevered and focused on The Barn. She made it. It’s much better these days for business women than it used to be,” says Parrish.
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As a result of Pasco’s persistence, determination, and drive, The Barn continues to thrive to this day, and four generations of women still run the business. Pasco and Parrish are joined by Pasco’s daughter-in-law, Susan, as well as Susan’s daughter, Liz. The Barn has a staff that fluctuates between eight and as many as twenty during prom and bridal season. Everything a bridal party or prom attendee needs is available at The Barn. Complementing their bridal and formal wear product lines, The Barn also offers an entire selection of wedding stationary and accessories. They also offer gown, headpiece, and accessories cleaning. “It’s a one-stop shop,” explains Parrish. Pung Cha Stearns, a masterful seamstress, offers expert tailoring on the premises. Business is booming. Parrish says sixty weddings were held in May alone. The Barn does an average of 600 to 800 weddings per year, and it provides prom gowns and formal wear for more than twenty high schools in surrounding area. Because of this volume and changes in the market, Parrish warns shoppers that they should plan ahead. “It used to be that we would get our
products in the United States. That is no longer the case. We have to send away for them. Some stores are starting again in the States, but not enough yet,” Parrish says. Customers are asked to allow three to six months for delivery of bridal gowns and two to four months for bridesmaid, prom, mother’s dresses, and flower girl dresses. Their wideranging product selection includes all of these items, as well as cocktail dresses, contemporary pantsuits, and formal floor-length gowns. Consistent across all product lines is the need for advanced planning, as delivery times will vary depending on the season and manufacturer. Despite the nightmarish logistics, most events go smoothly, and The Barn has a long list of satisfied customers to its credit. Parrish says many of their customers consider The Barn staff family. The store maintains albums of photographs from customer weddings, proms, dances, and pageants where they have supplied gowns. “Customers we had as brides when we started out are now bringing in their daughters and even granddaughters. It really makes you wonder, where did the time go?” Parrish says. It is an exciting thing to do for a living, but Parrish does admit that
Around The Panhandle | JULY • AUG 2012
weddings can be challenging. “The brides want everything perfect. Sometimes they are so emotional, they really miss the enjoyable parts of a wedding,” she says. Her involvement has left her with a multitude of stories related to ‘weddings gone by.’ Parrish remembers one wedding where the bride and groom’s families hated each other. “Special arrangements had to be made for fittings. It was like Romeo and Juliet. If the groom’s family knew any member of the bride’s family was at The Barn, they would refuse to come in,” says Parrish. Parrish also remembers another wedding where the groom’s mother refused to attend. She finally showed up at the wedding in a black gown with a black hat and veil. “In this business, you see the best of people and the worst. Still, most of our customers have a good time at
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their weddings,” says Parrish. Another challenging area is proms. Parrish says proms have become a very big deal for young women. “A lot of these young girls are paying for their own gowns so they start saving money in December. It gets crazy every year. Every school has its own dress code so we have to make sure we abide by that. Also, we make sure no dress is alike to another. There’s nothing worse than going to a prom and seeing someone in the same dress you’re wearing,” says Parrish. The Barn offers the area’s largest selection of prom gowns. These include all the current styles featured in Teen, Your Prom, and Seventeen magazines. The Barn’s success is legendary among those served by its staff, but the business’s management maintains a gratitude to the community surrounding it. Charitable donations are very
important to The Barn. Parrish says prom gowns are featured in giveaways in Jefferson and Berkeley Counties. Dresses are donated to the Apollo Theater in Martinsburg, West Virginia for costumes and also donated to Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia. The Barn also donated the Queen’s gown for the Martinsburg Apple Harvest. “We try to do as much as we can for kids. We’ve also donated tiaras for youth fairs,” says Parrish. Through a solid reputation and numerous word-of-mouth referrals, The Barn has solidified its place in the Eastern Panhandle. For more information, check out the local Buyer’s Guide or call (304) 2293388. You can also connect with them on Facebook or visit www. thebarn-bridal.com. No matter what your event’s style or budget, The Barn has exactly what you need to make your big day one to remember.
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Our TOP
10
Top Ten
It’s date night, just a nice relaxing evening with dinner and a movie for two. The house is quiet and the lights are turned down low. The takeout has been ordered and the delivery guy will be knocking in fifteen minutes. All that’s left to do is pick out a movie. It seems like a simple enough task, until you both realize you’ve been staring at a stack of DVDs for twenty minutes and a choice you can both agree on still hasn’t been made. So, to help you get to that dinner before it’s cold, we’ve compiled a list of date night movies that any couple can snuggle up and enjoy. Sidney Prescott thought her biggest problem was going to be taking her relationship with boyfriend Billy Loomis from Rated G to NC-17. Well, until a masked murderer with a fondness for scary movies began terrorizing her and the town of Woodsboro. And although bone-chilling screams and pools of blood don’t really set the tone for romance, just as Sidney discovered, nothing can bring you closer to the person you love than fear. Traditionally, horror films are great for date night. They provide an excuse to turn down the lights and sit nice and close. No one will question why you grab his hand or why you put your arm around her and pull her tight. While any horror movie from Psycho to Prometheus can provide the same atmosphere, it’s Scream’s well-written storyline, flirtatious subplots, and underlying humor that make it a favorite date night horror film. Plus, if the date goes well you can always snuggle up and watch Sidney and crew team up against Ghost Face in three sequels.
Phil and Claire Foster are just an average, ordinary couple from the suburbs. Every morning they get up and begin the same old routine. Every night, they fall asleep exhausted, prepared to do it all over again. The Fosters from New Jersey could easily be a couple from right here in the Eastern Panhandle. That is until Phil decides to take Claire out for a special date night and the Fosters go from completely relatable to completely ridiculous. When a stolen reservation leads to a case of mistaken identity, Steve Carell and Tina Fey take viewers on a hilarious journey through the streets of Manhattan as they try to elude two dirty cops and get back to their boring life in Jersey. For busy couples like the Fosters, the outrageous premise of “Date Night” provides a total escape from the day-to-day stresses of their lives. The great comic delivery and improvisation of Carell and Fey create dozens of laugh-out-loud moments to share, and with a run time of just eighty-eight minutes, this film is a date night couples can easily fit into their schedules. Let’s face it for most men date night movie night means chick flick and that’s a phrase that generally sends their eyes rolling. It’s for this reason that Sandra Bullock makes this list of date night flicks, not for any of her dozen romantic roles, but for her Academy Award-winning portrayal of Leigh Anne Tuohy in 2009’s “The Blind Side.” With its perfect blend of family and football, this story based that is on the life of Baltimore Raven’s Offensive Tackle Michael Oher is a film that both men and women can agree on. While great football scenes like Bullock’s opening recount of Lawrence Taylor’s game-changing tackle and Oher’s first game as a Crusader pull you in, it’s ultimately the heartwarming story of how these people from completely different world’s come together to form a family that keeps viewers engaged. “The Blind Side” is entertaining from beginning to end and is filled with moments that will make you laugh and cry. As the credits roll, you walk away from the experience feeling good and that’s a great way to end any date. Were you a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, and a criminal? It’s a simple question and just one of the many conversation starters that can come from “The Breakfast Club.” Funny, heart breaking, and brutally honest, this John Hughes masterpiece explores the lives of five high school students. At 7:00 am on March 24, 1984, they were just a bunch of kids with nothing in common except for the fact that they were all spending their Saturday in detention. Awkward silence transitions to bickering and finally conversation as this group of misfits try to elude eight hours of boredom. By 4 pm, the Shermer High School library was trashed and each had revealed their true selves to one another. They emerged not as a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, and a criminal, but as friends. Conversation is what allowed the Breakfast Club to see past their brainwashed perceptions and it’s also what makes “The Breakfast Club” a go-to date night movie.
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Around The Panhandle | JULY • AUG 2012
Fighter pilots, exploding MiGs, and dogfights characterize this next film. Even the name, “Top Gun,” screams action, but when Tom Cruise’s Maverick is back on the ground he becomes just as charming as he is cocky in his attempts to win over leading lady Charlie. An action film with a love story, “Top Gun” is a date night movie that can fulfill every guy’s need for speed while also giving every girl that lovin’ feelin’. Despite the fact that Maverick’s romance takes a backseat to his attempts to become the best of the best in the air, women have plenty to keep them engaged in this 80’s blockbuster. That infamous game of beach volleyball comes to mind. “I’d like to do just whatever I like all day long,” declares Princess Ann. “You mean things like having your haircut and eating gelato?” replies Joe. “Yes and I’d visit a sidewalk café and look in shop windows. Walk in the rain. Have fun and maybe some excitement” “Tell you what,” says Joe, “Why don’t we do all those things? Together.” “Don’t you have to work?” questions Ann. “Work? No. Today’s going to be a holiday.” Viewers might not be able to go on holiday themselves, but for two hours they can escape to Rome and the innocence and magic of the 1950’s with “Roman Holiday.” This date night classic follows Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck on whirlwind adventure and romance through the streets of the Italian city before they too must go back to their everyday lives. Charming and with a subtle sense of humor that will bring a smile to your face, this romantic comedy is one that will lift your spirits and leave you feeling refreshed.
I’m gonna kill you. For most couples, it’s an empty threat. For John and Jane Smith, however, it’s an order. On the outside and to themselves they seem like any ordinary suburban couple, until they discover that they’re each paid assassins working for rival organizations and kill each other is exactly what they must do. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie dodge gunfire and explosions as they fight their way to a happy ending. Seamlessly blending action adventure and romantic comedy, “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” is the ultimate couples film. Entertaining from the first gunshot to the last kiss, this is one film that men and women will both want to watch again and again. Noah knew from the very first moment he laid eyes on Miss Allie Hamilton that he wanted her to be his and as the summer came to a close the two were inseparable. They were in love. Most fairytales end here, but “The Notebook” is no fairytale and they lived happily ever after is not the end, but merely the beginning of any love story. This adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’ best-selling novel provides a rare glimpse into what happens after those magical words flash up on the screen. Life and love are filled with a host of challenges and heartbreaks along with all of the joy and laughter. And while Noah and Allie’s story shows us that love isn’t easy, it also shows us that true love is worth the fight.
When they first met, Harry Burns and Sally Albright hated each other. The second time, he didn’t remember her. The third time, they became friends, well, until the sex part got in the way and then they weren’t. The last time they met, they fell in love. This tale of a twelve-year courtship is more than just the orgasmic scene it’s known for. The depiction of the relationship between men and women is uproariously funny for one reason, because it’s true. Whether you’ve been married for twenty years, dating for three months, or you’re stuck in the “friend zone,” this film is relatable from beginning to end. Nora Ephron’s unvarnished take on relationships provides an opportunity to laugh at the realities of our lives and reminisce about our own personal love stories.
“What’s your dream? What’s your dream?” For Vivian, it was that a knight on a white horse would come charging up, climb the tower and rescue her from the wicked queen. It’s not an uncommon dream. I can’t think of any woman who hasn’t fantasized about being that trapped princess at least once. And while they might not admit it, there are a lot of men out there who dream of being that knight in shining armor. It’s for this reason, that “Pretty Woman,” with its modern twist on a classic fairytale, ranks number one. Vivian’s journey from the dark streets of Hollywood Boulevard to Edward’s Beverly Hills penthouse is smart, funny, and incredibly sexy. Though the Cinderella plot line is predictable from beginning to end, it’s also what makes the film a timeless classic. Viewers know the happily ever after is coming and, as they snuggle together watching Edward climb that tower, they hope that they’ve found their happy ending as well.
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Get the Girls together for a Fabulous Spaaaah..... Day
304.821.1333 • 35 Hovatter Drive, Inwood, WV 25428
The blinding hot glint of the summer sun ricochets off the crisp waves of bright blue water continuously racing around the pool. Add the loud crashing and laughing of children and the sound of water splashing onto unsuspecting adults and you have the perfect activity for summer. These sounds quickly slingshot into memories that bring the summers of youth quickly to mind and then bounce back to the scene before you. You can’t have a pool without specialized chemicals and equipment, and for the last thirtythree years, John’s Pool Supplies has been there in Martinsburg to provide them to you. JT is the current Updike to run the business started by his father way back in 1979. “My father John Updike put in a twenty by forty-foot pool back in ‘79,” JT says in his slow drawl. “He needed some chemicals for the pool and then his friends started asking where he got his chemicals.” “My grandfather, Gail Updike, purchased this property in 1969,” JT continues laying out the trek that this family business had embarked upon. “This was Burkhart Oil Company, and we were the Gulf Oil distributor,” says JT. “We sold gas and oil at the current location and Dad decided to go into the swimming pool business,” JT adds as if it was the simplest, most logical decision his father could have made. “I was born in 1981 so I wasn’t around when the business started, and I was young when they sold the oil company in 1989.”
This is what I am meant to do.
By Rick Hemphill
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JT is very proud of his family and his place in it. “I’m thirty years old,” says JT. “And I am named John Updike II, but I go by JT. This is a family owned and operated business. My sisters, Rhonda Updike Boyer and Mary Gail Updike, worked here for my dad before I stepped in to run the business fifteen years ago. First I started stocking shelves, mowing grass, and in 2005, after college, I moved up to running the place when my father came down with Parkinson’s disease.” JT’s calm reassuring manner demonstrates his solid belief in what he is doing and his confidence when
Around The Panhandle | JULY • AUG 2012
it comes to helping customers. “My dad built the business up so much that it has been sustained these last fifteen years,” he says. “We had five locations: Inwood, Charles Town, Hagerstown, Winchester, and the original remaining current location at 237 Eagle School Road in Martinsburg. I had to restructure the business.” Looking down at the desk, he remembers his father with a smile. “He kept a lot of stuff, and because we ran multiple businesses I filled up a few dumpsters with paperwork from the ‘70’s.” “We have been here thirty-three years now,” JT explains always harking back to the family dedication to customer service. “We thoroughly explain to the customers how the chemicals work and how they should be used. It is always good to be educated about the product so you know what you are putting in the pool.” JT uses analogies and personal slogans in describing his business. “A swimming pool is like a kid, when a pool is green it needs to go to the doctor,” JT advises. “And just like antibiotics you have to stick with the treatment program. We can sell customers what they need but if they don’t stay on it then they are going to have a problem and in a week it will be green again.” “We are for the customer, not against the customer,” JT says proudly and you can tell he heard his father echo the same words. “Things nowadays are pretty tight, and everyone is looking to save money, so we try to save a customer as much as we can by using tricks of the trade to cut their costs. We are here to help the customer and not sell them something they don’t need.” “Now I have a base that I am ready to build on, and I would like to expand to the south end of Martinsburg,” JT says “There is a new influx of people who have moved in to the area who don’t know we are here. I want to let the customers know that we are still here, and we are there for them.” Being a small family owned business is not easy today. “It is hard to
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compete with the magazines and the internet being a small family business,” JT acknowledges with a hint of frustration. “That is where a lot of people go nowadays. We can’t compete with the online prices as that may be my cost. But when you get something online and something goes wrong are you going to call the internet to fix it when it needs fixed? That is what we offer.” “Here we offer all kinds of services and carry everything you need to put in a pool and maintain a pool, and if we don’t have it, we can have it here in a day,” JT explains. “We have both chlorine and non-chlorine products. There are people who are allergic to chlorine, and the non-chlorine products were created by doctors who had to scrub up before surgery and they work very well. If a customer tries the non-chlorine product and don’t like it we will switch them back to regular chlorine for free.” John’s Pool Supplies offers much more than just chemicals. “We install pools above ground and in-ground,” JT says with a layer of pride that is unmistakable. “With this economy, instead of going on vacation, an alternative is to invest in a swimming pool,” JT says. “You can have a vacation in your backyard, and you splash around and can have a lot of family fun and save money at the same time. We do openings and closing of pools, liner replacements, maintenance, vacuuming, change filters, replace pumps, and any other pool-related process. We try to see if we can fix it rather than replace it.” JT can extol the virtues of his pool business, but he always returns to the Updike family. “I learned a lot sitting here when I was young,” JT remembers. “People would stop by and would just sit and talk with my father and grandfather and I would just sit listening to the
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stories. My father was born in 1944, and he is going to be turning sixty-eight. If I had been older, he and I would have been able to get together and I could have learned even more from him. Then things would have been different. It hasn’t been easy since he was stricken with Parkinson’s. But JT has a clear handle on the present. “This was our central location and everybody has known us to be here,” JT says in an effort to explain why he stays in the old building. “The Eastern Panhandle is the fastest growing part of West Virginia, and with that comes development and that means pools. We serve Berkeley, Morgan, and Jefferson counties.” “I have had a lot of training in chemistry from high school and college, as well as a lot of training from the chemical companies,” JT explains. “I can tell the customer what it is and how it works. I want to know how it works and how to use it, and that makes me better informed to help the customer. They can bring in a water sample. So we test the water and tell them what they need. If they have supplies, we can tell them how to apply them, or we can sell them our products and tell them how much to use.”
recommend that in February you should start adding some chemicals so that when you do open your pool it won’t be green. I recommend that they open their pools in late April or early May so that they have plenty of time to get it ready until the water temperature warms up and they can use it. If you wait, it will take more time and money to clear it up, but there is no pool too green that can’t be fixed.” This is the 21st century and technology has invaded the pool business as well. “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it, is my motto,” JT says. “The technology may have changed somewhat and now you have led lights and automatic covers and automatic valves. We like the old methods because the circuit boards last a few years and three years later the automatic valve broke and they cost the customer over $100.00 while an old style manual valve costs only $20.”
JT’s admonition for new pool buyers is always good advice. He says, “Do some research before you buy a pool and see how different companies do things, as people do things different ways. When you are purchasing something that costs a lot of money you want to make sure you get what you want and that the installer is competent to install it.”
“The fancy stuff costs more and breaks down far more often,” JT says with the certainty borne of repairing other company’s high tech devices. “The technology is going digital, but in a year or two down the road it’s going to cost a bunch of money to fix it, while the traditional way will last much longer and be far more reliable. The chemicals are still the same regardless of the bells and whistles.” “What I enjoy the most is when customers come back and they tell me they have been to the other retail stores and they couldn’t fix the problem, and I can fix the problem for them” J.T. says with a smile. This is what I am meant to do having taken over from my dad,” he concludes.
The biggest problem for pool owners is the dreaded green water. “Mild winters because the water to warm and algae begins to grow,” JT says. “So I always
To learn more about what John’s Pool Supplies can do for you, visit www. johnspoolsupplies.com or call (304) 2672000.
Around The Panhandle | JULY • AUG 2012
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The Time Is Now! Despite the ups and downs of the housing market and regardless of what the national media throw out to us. Home owners and those who want to own a home consider ownership an important aspect of success. Even with the uncertainty of what we are seeing and hearing, my client’s state that owning their own home is better than renting a home. Owning a home is being able to paint your walls any color you want them to be. You can have pets without permission and plant a tree or flowers anywhere you like. As a matter of fact, you can do whatever you legally want to do. This is “freedom.” Your home shows who you are and, in many cases, depicts your personality. Think about this, has anyone ever stated that they dream of being a tenant? Yes, television and print media can dwell on drama. They know we listen, read, and discuss topics of the news. Despite trying not to be pulled into the web of pessimistic media, our subconscious mind pulls us in. It can be a struggle to remain optimistic in an environment where misery loves company. This is why you can “Rely On Rick”. I want to give you some great optimistic facts concerning what is happening “Around The Panhandle.” Real estate markets, as I mentioned before, are local. What happens in Morgan County rarely affects what happens in Jefferson County. What happens across the Potomac rarely has much impact on us. Hopefully, you can certainly understand that if Las Vegas is experiencing a bad market,
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it doesn’t mean Charles Town is also suffering. In fact, the opposite is taking place as I write. Las Vegas and Atlantic City are experiencing down markets, while Charles Town, Ranson, and the surrounding communities are low on supply of affordable housing. Now this must mean we are selling houses! We are, and we are running low on inventory. This effect makes buyers reach further to outlying areas to finally find a home. When supply is low, demand increases, and people spread outward to find suitable housing. Just because the nation is having problems as a whole, doesn’t mean we are. My point is not to state we are back to 2005 pricing and market trends. I am only stating that we are doing better, we are finding homes for those who want to own a home. We are helping sellers get market value for their homes if they have to sell. We are making progress, despite the fact that it has been a rough road for all of us. As a buyer today, you have the best opportunity to take advantage of incredible of trends in housing. Not only are the prices lower, but the interest rates are also at historical lows. These rates will not—and economically can’t—stay low forever. If now isn’t the time to buy, then it will never be a time to buy. I know for sure that nothing lasts forever. You regularly hear people say that they wish they would have sold their property seven years ago. Seven years from now, you will hear people say, “I could have bought that house over
there for almost nothing compared to what they want for it now”! You will then realize it is too late. You will know the market is increasing when inventories are depleted and rates begin to rise. We need to break away from following the pack and, instead, lead the pack. We can and we are making our own market locally. Keep in mind, that new jobs are being created over the next few years in our counties. These opportunities increase revenue for already established businesses. I see great things coming our way for our communities. Opportunities are presenting themselves to us in many different scenarios. Look around at dirt being moved for new construction. Three years ago, construction equipment was sitting still, and passing a dump truck meant the roads were being patched! We still have concerns with the big picture related to international and national concerns, but we aren’t doing that bad locally. We need to continually be optimistic and support and buy locally to keep our economy in check. Contact me via email, phone, or text if I can ever answer questions for you or design a plan to help you with buying or selling real estate.
304.263.2121 (office) 301.991.3454 (direct) Rick Boswell (Broker/Owner)
Around The Panhandle | JULY • AUG 2012
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Don’t Miss Your County Fair by Bonnie Williamsonn For the past sixty-five years, residents of Berkeley County have been going on vacation without traveling too far from home. And in Jefferson County, it’s been sixty years. The Berkeley County Youth Fair, located at 2419 Golf Course Road, Martinsburg, WV, takes place from August 4 to August 11. “This is one of the only fairs in the country that is open only to participation by young people ages nine to twenty-one,” says Becky Daniel, advertising and publicity chairperson for the Berkeley County Youth Fair Association. “This gives the young people of Berkeley County a place to shine. They work hard all year for this event.” According to Daniels, participants are: 4-H members, Future Farmers of America, Boy and Girl Scouts, and members of Boys and Girls Clubs. They exhibit their animals and sell them at the end of the week. There are many other activities occurring throughout the week too. “There’s
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something going on every night from tractor pulls, to bull riding, to the carnival,” says Daniel. These activities contribute the event’s popularity. The event opens with the crowning of 2012 Miss Youth Fair. Daniel estimates the fair attracts about 5,000 people each night. The Jefferson County Fair at Old Leetown Pike in Kearneysville is held from August 19 to August 25. It provides entertainment for all tastes and all interests, notes Todd Wilt, fair manager for the last ten years. The fair is presented by the Jefferson County Fair Association. This event has grown dramatically since its inception. The fair started out at the old Charles Town race track at Shenandoah Downs. It originally ran for only three days. Over time, the fair increased in popularity, necessitating its move. “The race track was a good venue,” Wilt explains. “A prominent focal point, but with the fair’s growth, we needed more room, so we moved
to the eighty-acre site of today in 1975.” “The fair’s founding fathers originally wanted to showcase the county’s agricultural heritage” says Wilt. “Today’s fair has expanded and reflects the composition of our community, the interface of the newness of the urban and the rural heritage, too. We have a wide variety of patrons and a real community feel to our fair.” “And we keep growing,” says Jefferson County Fair President Bob Gruber. Gruber is in his eighth year as President of the fair, and he is an enthusiastic supporter of the event. “We have about 1,000 to 1,500 volunteers, vendors and others working at the fair, and numerous exhibits that showcase everything from sewing to artwork to flowers to animals. We’re always excited about the fair.” There is a plethora of contests taking place during the week of the fair. These include lawn mower racing, tractor driving, and water balloon
Around The Panhandle | JULY • AUG 2012
tossing. There are also contests for bubble gum blowing, apple eating, egg tossing, watermelon eating, ice cream eating, and milk drinking. Gruber says one popular attraction is the mud bog. “Four-wheel vehicles try to get through a muddy bog. Some do make it, but some have to be towed out,” he says. Despite the variety of existing activities, the organizers are always interested in adding new events. “Two years ago, we started a pudding eating contest and a marshmallow eating contest. And, to keep up with new things happening in technology, we have added a texting contest,” says Wilt. Wilt says all facets of the community are represented at exhibits from homemakers ‘crafts and baked goods to a carnival and a senior citizens’ barbeque. Of course, the agricultural sector is ever present with horse shows and livestock judging, including entries from 4-H groups and the Future Farmers of America. Sheep, goats, and rabbits will all be on display. “There is so much to see at the fair for a nominal admission of only $5. You pay more than that to go to a movie. Plus, people come to the fair to socialize. They look forward to it,” Gruber adds. Another advantage of the fair is the fact that different types of entertainment are going on simultaneously. “If you don’t care about tractor pulls, you can go and hear a bluegrass jam session. There’s something going on all the time,” says Gruber. Of course, the Fair also gives girls and young women a chance to shine through its Little Miss Jefferson County Fair, Junior Miss Jefferson County Fair and a Miss Jefferson County Fair events. Although the fair started out with an emphasis on agriculture, both men admit that agriculture has taken a hit in the county because of the bumper crop of housing developments that have sprung up over the years. However, devotion to the county’s agricultural heritage is strong. The result is that fair www.AroundThePanhandle.com
attendance has been growing steadily every year. “Even though we’re facing tough economic times, the last five years have been really great for the fair. We average about 40,000 people in attendance, and last year we made more than $100,000,” Wilt says. “The fair is a great showcase for the agricultural community of Jefferson County, says Jefferson County Commissioner Dale Manuel. “It’s a great opportunity to spotlight the county’s animals and produce. Children in 4-H can display the hard work they’ve accomplished over the year. And they get to sell their animals on the last day of the fair.” “It’s also a great gathering for the whole community,” Manuel adds. “People who rarely attend other community events go to the fair. Sometimes every night. They have a good time.” A longtime resident of the county, Manuel says he has seen some changes in the Fair. “I remember there was an event called the calf scramble,” says Manuel. “If you caught the calf, you got to keep it. It also involved dragging the calf over a fence. I think liability issues ended the event. I do remember wrestling with a calf, and it took me down. I lost my shoe and my dignity. A friend who was with me did succeed in catching the calf. He got to keep it.” Manuel agrees with Wilt and Gruber that the county is going away from agriculture but says the county is taking action to preserve its green space. He says the popularity of the fair with people in the surrounding quad-state area shows that agriculture does still have a lot of support. “I think one of the unique things about the fair is the variety of different individuals who attend it. It’s not just people involved with agriculture, but doctors, laborers, the whole cross section of society,” Manuel says. He notes that the vast variety of exhibits is a real draw. “You see exhibits from political parties, Homeland Security,” notes Manuel. “You can show your support for the
fire company by buying food they’ve prepared, like Italian sausage with the works.” “There’s nothing like walking down the midway with a pretzel or snow cone, stopping off to see a tractor pull,” says Manuel. “They’ve got just about everything out there from A to Z. It gives the average citizen a chance to show off their pickles or cherry pie. You can get as involved as you want. Talk to people you haven’t seen for a while. It’s a fun week.” The money generated goes back into improving the fairgrounds. We have buildings out here that are more than thirty-five years old. They need maintenance,” says Wilt. The Jefferson County Fairgrounds and its facilities are also rented out from April to October for all kinds of community activities. This includes: • The pavilion, with its electricity and tables, which has been used for family reunions and company picnics; • The grassy areas are available for volleyball and other games; the larger buildings on site have held summer weddings; • Auctions and horse shows have taken place at the arena and horse barns. There are two horse barns and forty stalls. Gruber says the fairgrounds have been part of a rental program for about fifteen years. “This program pays for the fairgrounds’ utilities. It’s also a great way to help out the community at the same time,” he adds. For more information, on the Berkeley County Youth Fair, visit www.berkeleycountyyouthfair. org or call (304) 263-5869. For details on the Jefferson County Fair, go to the website at www. jeffersoncountyfairwv.org or call 724-1411. The email address is jeffersoncountyfair@frontiernet. net. Above all, be sure to mark your calendars to share in the fun at these two worthwhile local events.
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The Weight of the Nation | By Dana M. DeJarnett, MS
Stop me if you have heard this before… In 2010, two-thirds of American adults and one-third of children were overweight or obese. If the trend continues, by 2030, one-half of the population will be obese. One of every five healthcare dollars goes to treat health problems related to obesity. Obesity increases the risk of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, and musculoskeletal problems. Almost every organ is affected by excess fat. Even a five percent weight gain can have a significant negative affect on health. HBO recently aired “The Weight of the Nation,” a documentary series that brings awareness to the obesity epidemic. Some statistics revealed include: • Twenty-six million Americans have Type 2 Diabetes and 79 million are Prediabetic. • One in three children will become diabetic in their lifetime. • Obese children are eight times more likely to have high blood pressure in adulthood. • Thirty-nine percent of obese children have two or more risk factors for heart disease. • Sixty-six percent of people with arthritis are overweight or obese. • Those who are obese are eighty-three percent more likely to develop kidney disease and eighty percent more likely to develop dementia. • Twenty-seven percent of young people who want to enter the military can’t because they weigh too much. How did we get here? First, we need to look at the evolution of man. Ten thousand years ago, we were hunter-gatherers and then agriculturists. The excesses we live with today are relatively new to us. Our bodies were designed for high-energy expenditure to do tasks of daily living and low calorie intake due to scarcity of food. We would eat as much as possible when it was available because you didn’t know when you would get your next meal and there was no way to store food. Now we have an abundance of food and still have the signals to eat when food is available. Combine that with a lower physical activity level and you get weight gain. Second, we need look at modern lifestyles and how that contributes to the obesity epidemic. As technology advanced agriculture and government policies encouraged farming and an abundance of food, technology also changed our lifestyles. In the last fifty years,
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Around The Panhandle | JULY • AUG 2012
jobs that require moderate physical activity have dropped from fifty to twenty percent. Seventy-five percent of Americans drive to work, a three hundred percent increase since 1960. In 1969, forty-two percent of children walked or biked to school. Now more than eighty percent are driven. We have engineered physical activity out of our lives. Less than five percent of adults meet the minimum physical activity guidelines. We eat six hundred more calories a day than in 1970. A quarter of this is from sugar, a quarter from fat and half from refined grain (white flour products, white rice, and others). Fifty-five percent of the food consumed is outside the home. Portion sizes have increased, which maximizes profit for the food company. Restaurant profits have increased from $43 million in 1970 to $558 million today. All on the rise: cheese consumption, added fats, corn production, TV viewing (all screen time), added sugar, meat consumption, living in suburbs and, is it any coincidence, obesity rates. Efforts are being taken nationally, statewide and locally. There are many government agencies that offer programs and resources across sectors to help states, communities and individuals lead healthier lives. There is a National Activity Plan, Let’s Move, Center of Disease Control, My Plate, and many others. At the Weight of the Nation conference in early May, the Institute of Medicine presented a comprehensive plan that included the following goals: • Make physical activity an integral and routine part of everyday. • Create food and beverage environments that ensure that healthy food and beverages options are the routine, easy choice. • Transform messages about physical activity and nutrition. • Expand the role of health care providers, insurers and employers in obesity prevention. • Make schools a national focal point for obesity prevention. Each goal comes with recommendations and strategies for achieving the goals. (Visit www.iom.edu for more details.) Nationally, some policy ideas that have been proposed include: • Tax on soda • Shift farm subsidies to fruit and vegetable growers • Revise the food stamp program to promote healthy choices • Design communities to promote walking and cycling (locally look at efforts being done by the Eastern Panhandle Trailblazers to connect Rt. 9 bike path
www.AroundThePanhandle.com
to other routes and trails. For more information, visit www.eptrailblazers. org. ) • Limit marketing of fast food and junk food to kids • Limit portion sizes. NY City has just passed a law limiting sodas sold in restaurants to sixteen ounces. West Virginia has adopted a statewide physical activity plan similar to the national plan. The aim of the WV Physical Activity Plan is to provide strategic direction in physical activity promotion within the state. The plans implementation will increase the physical activity level of children and adults to meet or exceed the national physical activity recommendations and to improve the health and quality of life of West Virginians. The five priority areas include: schoolbased programs and initiatives, public awareness and social marketing, community engagement and environment, and institutional and organizational support and policy. To learn more about the plan, go to www. wvphysicalactivity.org. You should be seeing the impact of the plan unfold over the next several years. The message in all these plans is that we can’t do it alone. Change needs to come from all sectors, as well as from individuals. Some would say we don’t need government policies to tell us what to do but government policies, along with other factors, have gotten us to this point. So government policy, along with personal responsibility, will help communities and individuals reverse the obesity epidemic. Working together, we can make the healthy choice the easy choice. The Weight of the Nation also highlighted the struggle to lose weight. Ideally, you want to prevent the weight gain in the first place. Taking the weight off and keeping it off takes a lifetime of vigilance. Ninety-five percent of those who lose weight will regain it within a year. Dieting affects muscles, hormones, metabolism and appetite. After losing weight, areas of the brain that perceives foods as rewarding are more active and areas that generate feelings of restraint are less active. A study done at New York’s Columbia University, found that former dieters have to eat more to feel satisfied but they think they have eaten less. The brain wants you to gain the weight back. Someone who has lost weight needs to eat twenty-two percent less calories than someone at the same weight that has not gained and lost weight. This equates to about three hundred calories.
On the Biggest Loser TV show, the contestants get results by exercising four hours a day and reducing calorie intake to eighty percent of their resting daily expenditure. This regimen is not realistic for most people and is supervised by a team of health professionals. Small changes in lifestyle can affect weight. Start with small steps. Changes that you can easily manage and add to as you move forward. Some small steps to try: • Avoid highly processed and salted meats. • Listen to your body on how much to eat. Do not go hungry; this tends to make you overeat. • Eat breakfast every day and include some healthy fat and protein. This helps to stave off mid-morning hunger. • Avoid simple carbs such as sugar and white flour products. • Make most grains whole. Look for at least three grams of fiber per serving. • Eat two times as much fruits and vegetables as fat and protein. • Avoid trans-fat in fried and processed foods. • Choose low fat dairy and lean meats • Eat healthy fats found in nuts, seeds, olive oil, avocados, cold water fish, etc. • Check the calories in your drink. Drinking sodas and sweetened beverages adds calories but does not satisfy hunger. • Seek support from those who understand your struggle. • Keep portions under control. Most importantly, make sure physical activity is part of your life daily. Exercise not only helps to burn calories for weight loss, but also improves health, mood and overall well-being. Exercise is the key to maintaining weight and keeping weight off that you have lost. Even if you can’t do formal exercise, move as much as possible. Make it a goal to stand for two minutes every twenty minutes. Stand when you answer the phone at work, read standing up, or find ways to move each day. WVUH-East and the Shenandoah Community Health Center are working together to bring Weight of the Nation to our community. DVDs of all four fulllength documentaries and ten shorts are available for any group to view and are available in Spanish or English. If your group is interested in viewing, please contact Dana DeJarnett at 304264-1287, ext .1814 or ddejarnett@ cityhosital.org. Do something today—you can’t afford not to.
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Clear Vision Turf Three Specialties, One Team
By Stephen N. Reed
With a last name like “Greenfield,” could a guy do anything but excellent work as the Director of Grounds for the prestigious Lansdowne Resort near Leesburg, Virginia? But Jeff Greenfield, one of three partners at the growing business at Clear Vision Turf, chuckles and says he hadn’t made that connection before. Like his business partner, Travis Barbee, Greenfield is a confident, yet humble businessman, very down-to-earth (no pun intended).
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In talking with Greenfield and Barbee, you get a glimpse of what the American dream of having your own business is all about. Greenfield lives in Charles Town, Barbee in Hedgesville, and their vision for the best regional turf business is taking off. With their third partner, Jeff Cunningham of Harpers Ferry, these three amigos have worked hard to arrive at a level of expertise and a regional dominance in an industry that seems destined to grow in the Quad State area.
While Greenfield was earning his stripes as a Superintendent for golf courses like Lansdowne, Barbee was busy constructing other courses for Wadsworth Golf Construction for seven years. Some of the golf courses Barbee constructed some of the most elegant and challenging new golf courses on the East Coast: • Bull Run Festival, Haymarket, VA • The Cassque, Charleston, SC • Bear Trap Dunes, Bethany, MD
Around The Panhandle | JULY • AUG 2012
• Greenbrier Oceanaire Club, Wasetown, NJ • Makefield Highlands, Yardley, PA Combine those two specialties— golf course maintenance and construction—with the athletic field maintenance expertise the third partner, Jeff Cunningham, brings to Clear Vision, and you’ve got a potent set of grassy offerings. As a horticulturalist for eight years, combined with twenty-five years in coaching at area schools, Cunningham saw early on the need for better turf care for the region’s athletic fields. “We’re a three-legged table,” says Barbee. “We each know enough to cover each other’s bases, while allowing each partner to focus on what he likes to do best. We work long hours, but we love what we do. The best thing about having your own business is the flexibility—and making all the decisions yourselves.” That ability to allow clients, large and small, to get a quick decision from one of the owners of the company is a significant reason for Clear Turf’s growing business in the Mid-Atlantic states and beyond. “One of the three company owners will be on every job we do, from start to finish,” said Barbee. “So we can make a call on a client question almost instantly, or at least within the day, as opposed to them having to wait for days, even weeks on a long chain of command. “ Treating each customer with respect is not just something to say with these men. They know referrals can bring in the next great client. “Besides, we want to do a quality job for its own sake,” says Greenfield. “We treat every client, large or small, with the same serious effort. Whether we’re working on the Trump National course over in Sterling or upgrading a local Little League field, we want to remain a company that can take on the big projects while always having time for helping local schools and youth organizations.” Clear Vision’s owners have contributed time and supplies to the upkeep of football fields www.AroundThePanhandle.com
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at Musselman High School and Jefferson High School. Clear Vision also serves as a corporate sponsor at Musselman’s Golf Scramble and for the Susan B. Komen Foundation. Barbee, Cunningham, and Greenfield are able to contribute substantially to the local community because of the expertise they’ve developed in the treatment of turf for a steadily increasing list of clients. These clients value the savings Clear Vision offers, allowing them to maintain the golf courses or athletic fields they have, rather than having to regularly replace them with all new turf—a costly process. Here’s how Clear Vision does it. They’ve taken a formerly laborintensive process known as “aerification” and simplified and improved it for their clients. If you’ve ever been on a golf course and found hundreds of little “plugs” of soil on a green, pulled out of the soil to let the green breathe, you know what aerification is. Using older equipment, aerating a green, let alone a fairway or athletic field, could take many hours, first using equipment to pull up the plugs, then spreading sand in a thick layer across the surface to fill the holes left behind. Barbee and Greenfield are both Class A members of the national Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA). According to the GCSAA, aerification achieves three chief goals: 1. Relieves soil compaction; 2. Provides a way to improve the soil mixture around the highest part of a green’s roots; 3. Reduces, prevents the growth of excess thatch, the surface layer of living and dead organic matter that can mar a green’s smooth surface. The wear and tear that comes from the traffic of golfer’s feet (or those of young athletes on a football or baseball field) compact the soil. That crushes the air pockets in the soil, such that the grass’s roots can’t get enough. In time, without more oxygen, the grass can become weaker and die. [ 72 ]
Aerification creates more space in the soil, promoting deeper roots, and an infusion of oxygen. The hearty grass can then revive, and then a sand “topdressing” finishes the process, helping the soil keep its new air space. The sand also battles the dreaded thatch that can grow on top of the green. When the Clear Vision owners found out about a new way to aerate a green, fairway, or golf field, one that uses a high-pressure water to inject far more sand into the soil, they were naturally interested, if skeptical at first. It seemed too good to be true: one guy with an advanced machine could aerate a green in just an hour’s time. Incredibly, because no plugs littered the green, play on the green could resume immediately. The holes created by the machine are smaller and heal more quickly. No crew, no laying on a layer of sand, letting it stand for hours or days: more sand than ever before was already injected through the high-pressure water machine. The machine pushes tons of sand—all underground, not most of it on the surface in the traditional approach. As a result, the greens are not soft and spongy but firm, due to all the added sand. Though these turf professionals had to be assured about this new technology, once they tried it thoroughly, they came away convinced of its merits. Now they’re ambassadors for it, convincing new clients regularly that the highpressure water/sand treatment is the way to do aerification in the 21st Century. They’ve become Virginia’s only licensed DryJect franchise— giving them a great leg up to gain new business across many Virginia’s golf courses. While the men at Clear Vision admit to enjoying their road trips, working for a client and finding new business along the way, they are most happy when they are back home in Jefferson and Berkeley Counties. Their business allows them more time with their families. “The business helps us to schedule better around family activities than our old jobs did,” says Barbee matter-offactly.
Greenfield agrees. “The truth is, I feel that I have much more energy now to bring home to my family since I’m not as drained,” he notes. “Because I love what I do during the day, I can be better at home in the evenings.” Repeatedly, Greenfield and Barbee sound determined to continue serving local clients, even as their business becomes increasingly wellknown among the golf community on the Eastern seaboard. “Take for example the Hagerstown Suns baseball team,” said Barbee. “Their field maintenance director called me up one day, worried about a big game to be played that night on their field. 5,000 fans expected! Their left field had a drainage problem that was flooding the field, and they only had a few hours to game time. Could we help?” “So I went up by myself, was able to dry out the field for the game, did it for free,” Barbee said. “But because I helped him out, he kept me in mind when they needed a new drainage system that came later. We want that that kind of neighborly business dealing to always be a part of our business.” “The fact that we may be working in Richmond one day and Jefferson County the next gives our work an exciting variety,” Greenfield added. “We’re helping people get maximum value out of their existing turf with just a little maintenance.” “Schools here need that kind of savings for their athletic fields, just as golf courses do,” said Greenfield. “Imagine how much traffic a high school football field gets! We’re proud to have been in a position to offer paid and volunteer services for so many schools in the area. Our kids go to these schools after all, so it’s especially meaningful to us as parents and professionals.” To learn more about Clear Vision visit www.clearvisionturf.com. With professionals like Greenfield, Barbee, and Cunningham at its helm, Clear Vision is certainly a business to watch in the Eastern Panhandle.
Around The Panhandle | JULY • AUG 2012
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Fat Tuesdays Grille & Bar
Superior Cajun Cuisine for the Frugal Diner In the past month, I’ve heard rave reviews from friends about a new Martinsburg restaurant called Fat Tuesdays, a New Orleans-style restaurant specializing in Cajun and Creole cuisine. Located in a large former bar at 1112 North Queen Street with ample parking, Fat Tuesdays (English for “Mardi Gras”) has been open since January, boasting “All Homemade Recipes, using All Fresh Products.” Co-owners Jason Bloom and Jim Wright have been in the restaurant business before in neighboring Virginia, but this is their first Mountain State enterprise. I recently dined there with a guest. After learning about the restaurant and taking our questions about the wide range of Cajun-style menu selections, Fat Tuesday’s personable manager, Kyla, left us to our deliberations. The menu has a wide array of dishes from which to choose. One can order the quintessential Cajun and Creole dishes, but there are also options for individuals who prefer to avoid the spicier side of this type of cuisine. My guest is accustomed to spicy food, being a native of Indonesia. As a result, she also loves seafood. So her choice of Shrimp Creole [ 76 ]
Around The Panhandle | JULY • AUG 2012
seemed a perfect entrée for her. As for me, I had a tough choice between a Mesquite-grilled New York strip or the “Black and Blue” strip steak, “dredged” in blackened seasoning, char-grilled, and broiled in a blue cheese dressing. The latter just sounded too exotic to miss, so I opted for it. Incredibly, both these usually expensive dishes were offered for only $14.95. We also ordered a New Orleans side-dish favorite, red rice and beans, for us to share. We had skipped a very tempting array of Cajun-style appetizers to allow us to have some dessert later. We also shared throughout an exceptional margarita, truly tasty and refreshing on a sultry evening. When our food arrived, we were ready for a new culinary adventure, but Fat Tuesdays’ co-owner/chef Jason Bloom blew us away. The Shrimp Creole was rich and spicy, the bright red tomato base broth surrounding the plump shrimp, filling our space with an aroma of Cajun spices.
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My guest—who often thinks Americans’ idea of spicy is decidedly tame—was immensely satisfied with her order. But her Shrimp Creole wasn’t too spicy for my tastes, either. It was just plain flavorful, a true New Orleans delight. But my dish competed well for Best of Show, too, featuring a sizable, sizzling New York Strip, served with the steak knife placed underneath the strip itself. What made the “Black and Blue” totally unique was the heavy coating of blue cheese dressing on top—heavy as in occasional chunks of blue cheese in this warm, whitish coating all across the top of the steak. Frankly, it was so different from what I’m used to seeing that it took me aback at first. But as I lifted the steak knife from underneath the entrée, and gently cut through the layers of blue cheese and steak, I found that the blackened spices mixed in beautifully to bring everything together. The red rice and beans served as a perfect side dish, milder but still spicy enough to go along with the blackened steak and Shrimp Creole.
We had wisely saved a little room for dessert, so we ordered a slice of cake each: Red Velvet for me and Pina Colada for my dining partner. Again, we were overwhelmed, as the portions were huge. The Red Velvet seemed like a kind of cheesecake, a new twist on old favorite. But the Pina Colada white cake with sweet/ tart pineapple filling was to die for—a perfect, light touch to end the evening. As we were about to leave, Fat Tuesday’s manager, Kyra, told us that one of the most common remarks the owners and staff hear from customers about this colorful place is that their restaurant has filled a needed gap in the local culinary scene. After our little trip to New Orleans via North Queen Street, we couldn’t agree more! The Cajun cuisine, exceptional service, and reasonable prices were all a real find. Clearly, owners Jason Bloom and Jim Wright are going for a long-term relationship with their patrons, as evidenced by their reasonable prices.
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Fat Tuesdays should also be a point of pride for our growing area. Martinsburg and the Eastern Panhandle have evolved to a point where a specialty restaurant, one that formerly would be available only in a larger city somewhere else, is now flourishing right here. For more information about Fat Tuesday’s, including the lively regional bands they host on the weekends, check out their website at: www.fattuesdayswv.com. Or follow them on Facebook.
At a
Glance Fat Tuesdays Grille & Bar
1211 N. Queen Street Martinsburg, WV
304•263•9688
First Impression
Service
Food Quality/Taste
Value for Money
Overall Atmosphere
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Around The Panhandle | JULY • AUG 2012
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By Bethany Davidson
As the sun sets over Stephens City, a piece of history is about to come alive. Just a mile south of town, cars filled with families, friends, and hand-holding couples line up along a stretch of Route 11. Turn signals blink in unison as each driver awaits his or her chance to ride through the gate and into the Family Drive-In Theatre. With only 366 such theaters left in operation today, these eager moviegoers are about to experience a part of American culture that is slowly dying, a part that Jim Kopp is devoted to preserving. A self-proclaimed drive-in fanatic, Jim Kopp has been a theater patron since early childhood and a regular at the Stephens City establishment since 1987. Through the years, he had often expressed an interest in operating the local theater so when Tim Dalke, whose father started
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the drive-in in 1956, decided to retire in 2010 he turned to Jim. If an operator could not be found, the Family Drive-In would be forced to close its gates forever. Kopp’s response to the offer was, “Heck yeah!” Now in the third year of a fiveyear lease with the Dalke family, Jim and his wife, Megan, have sold the North Carolina drive-in theater that they bought in 2006 and are concentrating their efforts on the 56 year-old Virginia theater full time. While they have maintained the original look of the theatre, which is known as one of the prettiest and well kept, they have made a number of positive operational changes. Modifications such as expanding the concession menu, showing first run films, and accepting both credit
and debit cards have increased both the patronage and the profit of the theatre, but all of these changes have been made keeping the one thing they’ll never change in mind— the theatre’s family tradition. With box offices prices listed at $8 for adults and $4 for children for a double feature, the drive-in offers a fun and affordable way to spend quality time together for families. “My kids are growing up really fast,” says patron Christina Hamme, “so we don’t have a lot of time to stick together as a family and do things as a family and this one thing that we’ve done for years.” “It definitely is for families,” says another patron, Cheryl Benoit. “It gives kids something to do before the movie starts.” Benoit explains that modern theaters can be
Around The Panhandle | JULY • AUG 2012
problematic for patrons with young children. “If I were to bring him here, it’s ok if he doesn’t sit still for five minutes because there’s a playground. There’s a swing. There’s grass to run around in.” Individuals from all over the tristate area and Washington, D.C., make their way to Stephens City to experience the atmosphere of the drive-in and a little nostalgia. “What better way to watch a movie than under the stars?” comments Ralph Shoemaker, a drive-in employee. And while many of the theatre’s patrons have been coming for years, some even since childhood, Jim offers this advice to those who’ve not taken in this dying part of American history. “There are a lot of parts of the country that don’t have drive-ins. And if they’ve never been, it’s an experience that they need to have,” says Kopp. “And it doesn’t have to be this drive-in, any drivein.” Although the theatre has survived a generations worth of hazards and even thrived, becoming one of the Baltimore Sun’s ten best drive-in
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theaters, a new threat is on the horizon. Film studios have begun to phase out 35-millimeter film and as a result, all movie theaters must convert to digital by the end of 2013, a proposition that comes with a $140,000 price tag. Kopp is not opposed to the conversion because it does offer several advantages such as shorter load times and the ability to screen alternate content. He is, however, concerned about the impact it may have on the industry that is his passion. He is worried that the high cost and ten-year commitment to pay off the debt will be too much for many drive-in owners, most of whom are in their 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. “A lot of them are just going to say, I’m not going to put that kind of money into this,” says Jim. The leaseholder’s outlook is much brighter, however, when it comes to his own theater. “Do I think I’m going to raise $140,000? No, but I’m confident that by the time this season is over with we’ll have a sizeable down payment and then we can work out the rest.” The couple already has $5,000 in
a bank account dedicated to the conversion initiative and numerous fundraisers are in the works. The Kopps are in the process of developing a fundraiser with WINCFM for some time in August and a car show is already scheduled for September 22nd. In addition to these large-scale events, drive-in enthusiasts can help by simply attending the theatre and making purchases at the concession stand. Most of the box office earnings go to the studios, but the concession stand, “that’s what pays the bills,” says Jim. That’s what “keeps us alive.” And while Jim has a wish list that includes items like a third screen and a drive-in museum, his main goal is to keep the theatre alive so that more people have a chance to make magical movie memories under the stars. The drive-in’s season begins in early April and ends at the end of October. For more information about the theatre and for current show times, visit the Family Drive-In Theatre’s website, www. thefamilydriveintheatre.com.
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The Winchester Medical Center Foundation Working for the Greatest Good— By Victoria Kidd
Take a moment to consider what is really important to you. You may immediately recognize the value of friends and family. Perhaps you are grateful for the success you have had in your career, the money you have saved for retirement, or the education you have received. Many things may come to mind, but arguably, good health and well-being is paramount among most of them. Good health is often taken for granted, but for many local individuals facing personal difficulties associated with the ever-present threat of illness or injury, The Winchester Medical Center Foundation (WMCF) is here to support programs and services aimed at impacting health-related outcomes.
by WMCF include a variety of endeavors that serve the community in different ways. From fully funding Camp Superkids, a three-day summer camp for children living with asthma, to the distribution of more than 900 “comfort bags” to newly diagnosed breast cancer patients, the foundation’s efforts have had an impact on both individual lives, and the community as a whole. Perhaps one of their most recognizable contributions resulted from the provision of $123,000 in funds to be used towards the purchase of the new Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) ambulance and transport incubator—a specially designed vehicle that is fully equipped to help transfer premature newborns fighting for life.
The WMCF board came together in 2004, and quickly began working towards its mission “to serve our community by assisting the Winchester Medical Center in its efforts to improve health.” The foundation is a 501(c)3 that supports community health and wellness needs through a variety of grants and purchases that directly fund new equipment, educational programs, outreach endeavors, and other programming that impacts the surrounding community.
Valley Health Director of Foundations Kevin Callanan says, “The NICU Ambulance project is one we are particularly proud of. The availability of this ambulance has directly impacted the survival of many newborns since it went into service.” In some ways, the ambulance has become the unofficial “flagship” of the foundation, serving as a tangible result of their dedication to improving the ability of the wellrespected Winchester Medical Center to impact lives. “The community’s reaction to the ambulance has been great to see,” Callanan says. “When you see the vehicle, you start to visualize how a tiny newborn benefits from the specially outfitted ambulance. You really start to realize how the foundation’s efforts have a direct impact on
More than 3,000 private and corporate donors have generously supported these efforts since the foundation’s inception. Their gifts have contributed to the center’s ability to fund more than $5.3 million in projects. The projects impacted
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the Winchester Medical Center’s ability to save lives. We are very blessed in this community to have an amazing healthcare system, and the foundation is continually working to support the improvement and expansion of programs and services even more.” Other programs supported by WMCF include the Hurst Hospitality House, a center providing a home away from home for traveling patients and families with limited resources, and the CPR Anytime Program, an effort that has provided CPR kits for local communities since 2007. Additionally, WMCF funds training programs, scholarships, and conferences for students who, in the future, will become an integral part of the Winchester Medical Center’s staff. Board Vice Chairman Jim Stutzman—recognized throughout the Shenandoah Valley as a successful business owner and respected philanthropist—says, “We are growing our own employees and support staff because we know that patients are the end beneficiaries of that training, and we know that the future of healthcare in the Valley is impacted by the knowledge these care providers gain through that training.” This investment into the future of healthcare in the surrounding community cannot be understated. This future depends on the charitable giving of those able to support the foundation’s efforts. Callanan explains, “Winchester Medical Center is a nonprofit
Around The Panhandle | JULY • AUG 2012
organization, and, although it may be hard to immediately see, the center, just like all of us, has been impacted in this economy. The foundation really steps in to ensure that we are always moving forward, improving programs, and serving those in need.” The foundation recognizes that donors like to see where their contributions are going, and it uniquely allows contributors to designate target programs for their monies. “We engage people on a one-to-one basis,” he continues. “We really do want to understand their stories. We want to know how the foundation’s programs have impacted their families or friends. We think this makes us unique. We want people to understand that we do care about what drives them to support us, and we want them to be able to support the things that are important to them.” One great way that donors can support areas of importance to them is through the WNCF’s Honor and Memorial Giving Program. This program is a great way to honor, appreciate, or remember someone special. When a birthday, anniversary, or other special event calls for a unique and lasting
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recognition, contributors can give funds of any amount in the name of a special individual. Stutzman notes, “Our community benefits from the efforts of the foundation, often without even knowing it. We want to ensure the future of these programs, and likeminded contributors who also want to contribute to that future can do so through planned gifts. Maybe you are unable to provide support today, but perhaps you can consider a legacy gift as part of your estate planning. We feel that, particularly since WMCF is such a young organization, these planned giving programs are critical to sustaining the foundation in the future.” Stutzman is himself a recognized community leader in service, and a strong advocate for giving, but he is also quick to recognize the incredible generosity of those who have supported the WMCF. “We need to say thank you to the individuals and organizations that have made our efforts possible. It’s really as simple as those two words. Winchester and the surrounding communities are truly generous, and we promise to continue our work to support these
needs within those communities.” Both Stutzman and Callanan recognize that the foundation’s biggest challenge to these pursuits is that most people are not aware of all the programs supported by WMCF. The reality is that anyone living in the northern Shenandoah Valley, and many more individuals living in the Eastern Panhandle, have been impacted by the WMCF’s support of our communities. Perhaps that impact occurred through something as simple as living next-door to someone trained through a WMCF CPR program, or as significant as receiving assistance through the WMCF-supported compassionate pharmacy program. Anyone interested in supporting these far-reaching endeavors can call 540-536-8620. To learn more about the WMCF’s programs and efforts, visit www.ValleyHealthLink. com/wmcf. Most importantly, take a moment to understand how our community is impacted by the Winchester Medical Center Foundation’s tireless dedication to supporting the medical center’s efforts.
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A “Local” With English Flair
Union Jack Pub |
Winchester, VA
By Debra Cornwell There is a joke—too long to tell in this piece—but it includes the phrases: Heaven is English pomp and circumstance. Hell is English cooking. Now don’t get your knickers in a twist, mate! English comfort food has always been a welcome delight. London is now one of the foodie capitals of the world with many cultures and tastes represented in fine cuisine. A taste of England’s best is available at the Union Jack Pub, which is centrally located on Winchester’s Historic Walking Mall across from the Old Courthouse Civil War Museum. Founded by Winchesterarea resident Debra Johnson and her English partner, Richard Oram, the Union Jack Pub has become a favorite with locals and visitors alike. Johnson worked in the local school system and was the proprietor of the Stone Soup Gallery. Oram is a cabinetmaker by trade, and did all the re-fitting to transform the old Union Bank building to the Union Jack Pub. The memorable interior of the 1878 building includes 20-foot tall ceilings and a 50-foot long bar. Oram always had the idea to open a traditional English pub to share English culture and provide Winchester with “a local,” as the village pubs are known in England. He thought Winchester locals would “get it,” and they have. Since opening on day one with a resounding success in 2008, each year has been better and better
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according to General Manager Susan Touchette. Even in economically austere times, few would begrudge a pint amongst friends. “We strive to go above and beyond with our standards so our guests can have a really enjoyable experience,” says Touchette. In four short years, the Union Jack Pub is close to earning iconic status as it seems to be all things to all people—families, hipsters, oldsters, visitors, locals, bagpipers, and more. The Union Jack Pub also offers catering for weddings, holiday parties, and events, and has its own upstairs party/function room. The catering offerings are eclectic—anything from a simple boxed lunch and snack trays to sit-down dinners. Touchette speculates that one reason for the Union Jack Pub’s success is its uniqueness. “It is so different. Nothing else looks like it. We also focus on quality products— food, beer, and service.” The Union Jack Pub has an extensive selection of hard-to-find beers and no food
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is pre-made or out of a bag. “You can tell if someone put care into the food, and we care,’ she says. BJ Howett, kitchen manager/chef, interjects, “We buy as much local, whole food as possible. Our beef comes from fifteen miles down the road; our vegetables come from the local farmers market. We can cut fries non-stop every day. We get fresh fish delivered four times a week, and it is cooked fresh not frozen.” The care that goes into the food and service at the Union Jack Pub also goes into the environment and into the community. Certified as a Virginia Green organization, the Union Jack Pub pledges that they eliminate the use of polystyrene and minimize disposables, recycle great, and recycle and reduce waste. Touchette says the savings from the program is donated back to the community--approximately $200.00 per month toward donated foods such as summer bag lunches for a children’s charity.
“We have a great staff. A lot of our regulars are like family,” continues Touchette. “We want everyone to feel welcome and that the experience and meal is enjoyable. We want it to be perfect—down to the specialty glassware so you get the right taste.” One of my dining companions proclaims, “That every Englishman loves a good curry.” The restaurant’s Tikka Masala, then, is a good curry. The house-made Indian curry contains fourteen spices in a fragrant, creamy yogurt base. With diced, sautéed chicken breast, Basmati rice and grilled Naan bread, this made-to-order dish is Bombay via London, and it is delicious. Sure to be a classic, the new menu offering, Bourbon BBQ Scallops is a sweet and spicy Red Stag sauce with a hint of cherry bourbon in the back. The delicate scallops are not overpowered by the sauce or the pineapple jalapeno relish—a hit all around the table.
Around The Panhandle | JULY • AUG 2012
What’s an English pub without authentic British fish and chips? The UJP selection does not disappoint. With fresh and flaky Atlantic Cod dipped in the UJP’s signature beer batter, the fish rivals any local in England without exception. Served with hand cut British chips, malt vinegar, and a choice of mushy peas or coleslaw, the dish is authentic and fabulous. Sweets are a must with bread pudding and flourless chocolate torte topping the list. The bread pudding is home made with dried cherries and cranberries with chocolate chips, warmed and topped with house-made custard and chocolate sauce. The torte is rich, dense, and decadent. What’s a local if you don’t run into friends? Dining al fresco, the Pritchard family of Smithfield Farms had a pleasant lunch. Maggie Major of Winchester and her family enjoyed their meal on the day I dined there, too, “It is a very easy place to bring a family, enjoy great drinks, and dependable food without feeling like you are in a “bar” if you don’t want to be. I personally love the asparagus spears appetizer and their salad offerings are nicer than many other comparable restaurants. My go-to lunch and sometimes dinner is the Plowman’s Lunch— always a nice variety of cheese and fruit, satisfying, but not heavy. I love it with a big IPA or a Castle.” Check out www.TheUnionJackPub. com for special events such as Oktoberfest which starts in August, for Pint Nights, and for which nights they tap a gravity-fed keg called a firkin. The pub is licensed to sell growlers and specialty kegs, and happy hour is offered daily. Proper tea is served on weekends and by reservation for groups. Gluten-free options are plentiful and delicious, and are identified on the menu. Don’t miss the Full English Breakfast on Sundays: two fried eggs, housecured English back bacon, sautéed mushrooms, grilled tomatoes, baked beans, and toast—that’s truly the best of English comfort food.
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Now It’s Your Turn Recipes to Spice Up Your Life | Summer’s So Easy
Summer Pasta Salad Ingredients
pasta color spiral package trie) nc ou 6 1 (1 rrots inly sliced ca 4 ounces th ped celery 2 stalks chop ll pepper ped green be 1 med chop er ped red pepp 1 med chop mber diced halves 1 large cucu oes cut into cherry tomat of e ag ck 1 pa onion diced 1 small red chopped ring onions 1 bunch of sp ional) k olives (opt 1 can of blac essing alian salad dr 32 ounces It eddar cheese e of cubed ch ag ck pa e nc 8 ou cheese ed Parmesan 1/2 cup grat
Directions
of in large pot Cook pasta . er boiling wat ry, carrots, cele Mix chopped er, pp pe een/red cucumber, gr cheese r da ed ch e, iv tomatoes,ol large together in and onions bowl. d oled pasta an Combine co in large er th ge to over vegetables alian dressing se bowl. Pour It ee ch an es d Parm mixture, ad l. and mix wel hour before Chill for one serving.
Chicken Fajitas
Ingredients
1 ripe avocado, cut into chunks and tossed in 1 tsp of lime juice Salsa Sour cream Fresh ciliantro, cho pped 4 teaspoons ground cumin 4 teaspoons chili po wder
1 teaspoon dried ore gano 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in half 1 small red or yellow pepper 1 onion, sliced 2 teaspoons olive oil
Directions
To make the rub. Co mbine the cumin, chili powder, oregano , and salt in a bowl. Lightly rub the spices into the chicken until meat is coated on all sides. Heat your gri ll to medium. Grill the chicken on both sides, just until cooked through, ab out 8 minutes. Remove from the he at, slice thinly, and set it on a platte r. While the chicken is cooking, toss the pepper and onion in the olive oil then saute until tender. Place the tortillas on the grill for 5 to 7 seconds on each side, turning with tongs, until hot. As semble fajitas and add your favorite top pings.
4 8-inch flour tortill as
[ 90 ]
Around The Panhandle | JULY • AUG 2012
Cheesecake
Ingredients
1 1/2 cu ps oreo c ookies crushed
Directions
In a bow l, s 1/3 cup crumbs a tir together the butter, m ore nd elted Press into melted butter m o 2 (8 oun ix well. the botto ce) pack inch spri m of an ages cre cheese ngform p 8 or 10 am an. Chill until firm In a med 2 teaspo . ium bow ons lemo l, beat to the crea n juice g m chees 1 pint he e and lem ether avy whip until soft on ping crea . Add wh ipping cre juice m beat w 1/3 cup ith mixer white su am and gar until batt thick. Ad er becom 1 (21 ou d the su nce) can es g a r and co beat unti strawberr pie filling ntinue to l stiff. Po y o ur into c and top strawberr r sliced fresh hilled cru with pie ies st, filling. C hours or hill severa overnigh l t. Just be serving, fore remove the sides springform of the pan..
Summer Salsa ections r i D Ingredients d o dice 1 mang d do dice ed 1 avoca toes, dic a m d m to choppe 4 mediu ly per fine p e p o n antro 1 jalape fresh cil hopped c p u c 1/2 arlic inced g poon m 1 Tables oon salt juice 1 teasp sh lime oons fre p s le b ion 2 ta d red on choppe 1/4 cup live oil poons o 3 tables
mango, bine the eno, m o c l, p In a bow es, jala , tomato in the avocado nd garlic. Stir a , , o d onion cilantr juice, re d the e m li , n lt sa ble out 30 e oil. To and oliv frigerate for ab re flavors, efore serving. b minutes
Avocado Smoothie
Ingredients
1 avocado , peeled a nd pitted 1 cup milk
1 cup ice cubes 2 tablespo ons sugar 1/2 teasp oon vanilla lime and le mon slices Jar of che rries
www.AroundThePanhandle.com
Directions
In a blender, combine all ingredients, then blend until smooth .
Pour into a tall glass ad da cherry,lime, and lemon sl ice or decoration .
[ 91 ]
Form B y To n y P r i c e
ES
Unless you are one of those who have prolonged your agony by filing an income extension, the 2012 income t a x s e a s o n i s b e h i n d y o u , a n d i t ’s now time to enjoy your summer before y o u s t a r t w o r r y i n g a b o u t n e x t y e a r ’s t a xe s . T h a t i s , u n l e s s o f c o u r s e y o u a r e a b e l i e v e r i n t h e M a ya n C a l e n d a r. I n t h a t c a s e , for you the world is coming to an end this December and 2012 was the last tax season y o u w i l l e v e r a f t e r t o f a c e ! A t l e a s t t h e r e ’s some comfort in that. No? As for the rest of us sane individuals, we are going to enjoy our summer and try not to think about the a r r i va l o f n e x t y e a r ’s t a x s e a s o n ! B u t n o w t h a t “ Ta x D a y ” i s c l e a r l y i n o u r r e a r v i e w m i r r o r f o r 2 0 1 2 , i t ’s t i m e t o o n c e again reflect upon the creative individuals we have here in the United States. Every year our fellow Americans get very creative, or very stupid, when they file their income t a xe s , a n d t h i s y e a r w a s n o exception. While these may pale in comparison to some of those in my previous articles, they are still very much worth mentioning. Your Summer Home – Deductions for two homes are hardly ra r e o n i n c o m e tax returns. Many people flock to their winter home in Florida and return to their
[ 92 ]
CURRENT STATUS
Deducting the Secret Condo or a Pimped Amish Buggy?
n o r t h e r n h o m e i n t h e s u m m e r. A s s u c h , a V i r g i n i a t a x p a y e r ’s a c c o u n t a n t d i d n ’ t t h i n k twice when his client dropped off his tax information that included mortgage interest on a new condo in Miami. When the couple stopped by to pick up their tax returns, the accountant asked the misses, “are you e n j o y i n g t h e n e w M i a m i c o n d o ? ” To w h i c h s h e responded with a slur of curse words, a kick t o h e r h u s b a n d ’s s h i n s , a n d a p u n c h i n h i s stomach! I guess I don’t need to tell you she didn’t know about the condo! Pimp My Ride – Now I’m sure most of you have seen t h i s s h o w, o r o n e s i m i l a r, w h e r e a c a r is totally customized t o i n c l u d e c ra z y interiors, sound systems, lighting packages, gaming consoles, etc. But have you ever seen a horse buggy get a style makeover? We l l a y o u n g Pe n n s y l va n i a Amish taxpayer decided to give his “work buggy” a major u p g ra d e . We ’ r e talking tinted windows, v e l v e t i n t e r i o r, kick plates, and yes…even h y d ra u l i c s ! T h e r e ’s n o
Around The Panhandle | JULY • AUG 2012
SCHEDULE C
T h i n k T w i ce . doubt he had a fly ride, and likely the hottest buggy in town, but his buggy u p g ra d e s t h a t h e d e d u c t e d a s v e h i c l e e x p e n s e s w e r e d e n i e d b y t h e I R S. Let Your Accountant do the Talking – D u r i n g a n I R S a u d i t o f a c o m p a n y, t h e auditor determined that the taxpayer was reporting about half the amount in sales that Company A was reporting as h a v i n g s o l d t o t h e t a x p a y e r. T h e a u d i t o r, realizing that it was extremely unlikely that the taxpayer was selling these items at a loss, questioned the owner about the
d i s c r e p a n c y. “ I t ’s b e c a u s e I h a v e t w o s e t s o f b o o k s ,” s h e p r o c l a i m e d , “ w h i c h one do you want to see?” “Which one is c o r r e c t ? ” r e p l i e d t h e a u d i t o r. “ I d o n ’ t know! My accountant said this one is for the bank and this one is for the I R S .” A s y o u c a n i m a g i n e , t h e a u d i t o r i s thinking he has discovered a major case o f f ra u d . S o m e b o d y i s g o i n g d o w n f o r his! As it turns out, everything was legit. As is very common, the accountant had financial statements that were prepared i n a c c o r d a n c e w i t h G A A P ( g e n e ra l l y accepted accounting principles) for the t a x p a y e r ’s i n v e s t o r s a n d l e n d e r s , b u t a l s o had financial statements that included t a x a d j u s t m e n t s i n l i n e w i t h t h e U S Ta x C o d e a n d I R S Re g u l a t i o n s f o r p u r p o s e s of preparing the income tax returns. The only issue that existed here was the taxpayer speaking to the auditor without knowledge of the subject, and not k n o w i n g t h e p o t e n t i a l ra m i f i c a t i o n s o f h e r response! So what have we learned? Deducting a condo for your mistress is bad, you can’t d e d u c t y o u r p i m p - m y- b u g g y u p g ra d e s , a n d y o u n e v e r, a n d I m e a n n e v e r, t e l l a n I R S a u d i t o r y o u h a v e “ t w o s e t s o f b o o k s !”
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[ 93 ]
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{
Apples & product reviews ORANGES
By Tera Sakisat
The Best Summer Treats
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I scream, you scream, we all scream, for ice cream! When the sun starts to set and the day at the pool is coming to an end, it’s time to grab an ice cream cone to top off that perfect summer day. But where do you go? Here are a few local places with all the finest frozen treats around!
Rita’s
Rita’s, located at 321 Aikens Center in Martinsburg, recommends a treat called a Gelati. This tasty treat is any combination of frozen custard with their wellrenowned Italian Ice. The frozen custard is delicious with an appealing creamy texture. This delicate mixture really makes this treat stand out. Some flavors available include island fusion, mango, strawberry, watermelon, Swedish Fish, and many more. These signature treats can be found at many other Rita’s locations across the country. You can find the one closest to you by visiting their website www.ritasice.com.
Sweet Frog
Another chilling treat stop with locations throughout the area, including one in Martinsburg and another in Winchester, is Sweet Frog. Sweet Frog puts a new twist on the increasingly popular dessert of frozen yogurt by providing the customer with a wide variety of toppings. With the do-it-yourself style of Sweet Frog, you can create your own perfect dessert! The toppings bar is always well kept and fully stocked with almost any topping imaginable, ranging from hot fudge and fresh fruit to Oreo pieces and sour gummy worms. At Sweet Frog’s, your taste buds will be entertained with every bite. To find your local Sweet Frog, go to www.sweetfrogyogurt.com.
[ 96 ]
Around The Panhandle | JULY • AUG 2012
Cone Zone
Cone Zone is a spectacular little stand located at the Somerset Village Shopping Court in Charles Town, West Virginia. The phrase, “great things come in small packages” comes to mind when thinking of the Cone Zone. It offers one of the best ice cream cones in the area. Any delicious cone can be enhanced with a simple Flavor Blast, a deceivingly simple addition of flavor to the delectable soft serve ice cream. The addition of these flavors transforms the treat into something entirely new. (The green apple Flavor Blast tastes just like granny smith apple!) Other flavors include strawberry, watermelon, blue raspberry, and others. This summer, the Cone Zone is a must.
Skipper’s Downtown
Another local sweet spot in Charlestown, West Virginia is Skipper’s Downtown Dips and Deli, located at 114 West Washington Street. The ice cream is rich and refreshing with a full-bodied flavor. The coffee ice cream tasted just like sweet espresso. Also, with a wide selection of lunch and dinner items, you can eat a meal and get dessert all in one place! What really sets Skipper’s apart is the Pottery Patch. The Pottery Patch is located inside a separate room within the establishment. It offers shelves of neat trinkets and gifts that you can paint. It is a great place to let the kids’ imaginations run wild. It’s a fun, lazy day activity that the whole family can enjoy out of sun, while grabbing a cool tasty treat.
Red Fox Creamery
The Red Fox Creamery and Country Store is located in downtown Winchester’s iconic walking mall. It is one of the few places around where you can get homemade ice cream in a wide variety of flavors. The creamery has an almost cult-like following in the Northern Shenandoah Valley and with good reason. Their ice cream is incredibly fresh and delicious, but it is perhaps more noteworthy that you can take home a pint to enjoy at your leisure! Check out this unique stop at www.redfoxcreamery.com
The Bomb Pop
A discussion of summer treats is incomplete without mentioning the Bomb Pop. This tasty frozen treat is available in most local grocery stores, and its red, white, and blue exterior makes it the quintessential American treat. The Bomb Pop has been delighting children and adults alike since the 1955. Unique to this frozen goodie, the Bomb Pop includes cherry, lime, and blue raspberry flavors within a single treat. It’s a great way to celebrate the fourth of July, but you’ll find it to be a satisfying treat on any summer day. All of these treats can help transform any unbearably hot summer day into a chilling, delicious afternoon. So don’t miss out on sweetness of summer traditions. Take time to indulge your sweet tooth with a scoop or two of your favorite frozen dessert! www.AroundThePanhandle.com
[ 97 ]
Summit Point
Road Racing Driver Training & Much Much More
By Stephen N. Reed The late Bill Scott had an injury that sidetracked his exceptional European Road Racing career, one that saw this Ph.D. in geophysics from Yale win three American, one European, and one World racing championships. So he decided to use his experience as a racecar driver to help others better understand the sometimes tenuous marriage between cars and the road. Bill and his wife, Barbara, brought their family to Summit Point in Jefferson County in the late 1960s and built their first of three tracks, with a vision of drawing people from Washington, D.C. for European Road Racing. That’s different than what most Americans saw on TV growing up with the Indy 500 Formula One racing or later with NASCAR. Those [ 98 ]
forms of racing use a loop with predictable curves at each end. Not so with the European model, with its frequent blind curves and a track that is anything but flat. European Road Racing is much more like racing, James Bond-like, over a road going through a mountain pass. The skill required from the driver is derived from learning how to help the car hug the road going around a blind curve, then speeding up again until the next one. Driving instincts are developed and refined. Summit Point became a hit with European-style racers, including actor Paul Newman, who with his wife, Joanne Woodward, enjoyed racing with little fanfare, refusing to sign autographs out of a desire to
be treated like any other racers. Few of their fellow racecar drivers even knew who was in the car with the “PLN” license plate! Barbara Scott is now President of BSR, the driver training company affiliated with Summit Point Motorsports Park. She says her husband, Bill, began to realize that more people than just racecar drivers needed to develop advanced driving skills. What began as a former racecar driver’s perceptive hunch has now become one of the Eastern Panhandle’s most longstanding and unique enterprises, drawing national and international clients. Summit Point has added serious value to the lives of high school students here in Around The Panhandle | JULY • AUG 2012
the Panhandle, State Troopers across West Virginia, and State Department staff and families abroad. For Bill Scott was right: there are more people than racecar drivers who can benefit greatly from learning their techniques behind the wheel. Many more. As a result, in addition to hosting exceptional European Road Racing events at their tracks, the Scotts developed a most unique program for adult drivers and first-time high school drivers. That program was dubbed “Accident Avoidance Training.” Bill Scott and his Summit Point colleague, William A. Reichart, put together a study by the same name in 2008, one that was used to determine whether such advanced driving techniques could benefit nonracecar drivers. A study like this one had never been done before: employing realistic training, a valid control group, official driving histories, and statistical confirmation. Scott and Reichart conducted their study from 2000-2006—and the results were stunning. The study traced over six years the driving records of young high school drivers: one group received Accident Avoidance Training through BSR; the other did not. In four critical areas, the trained drivers came out ahead in ways that may have saved their lives or at least prevented serious injuries. The data collected showed that the non-trained drivers were much more likely to be in a severe and injury-producing accident than the trained driver. A similar high-speed safety study was done for the West Virginia State Police. The twoday realistic driver education involved training sixty State Troopers in the BSR Accident Avoidance Training, later comparing their five-year
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driving records to an untrained group of sixty other State Troopers. The results again showed that BSR-trained drivers were less likely to have accidents, and especially less likely to have severe ones. The study stated that the driving course saved the West Virginia State Police over $200,000. The Accident Avoidance Training Course is available from BSR for $395 and provides each student with an experienced professional driver, oftentimes a former racecar driver as a coach. Each student learns the following: • “Swerve to avoid” maneuvers at highway speeds • How to focus your attention on a positive goal such as an escape route, rather than a problem such as a tree or another vehicle • Understanding vehicle dynamics and feedback • Skid control and recovery practice on a dedicated skid pad and on a slalom course • Threshold braking on straights and progressive braking on curves • Off-road recovery Barbara Scott notes that one of the most frequently-used techniques, especially for teen drivers, is the last one, “Off-road recovery.” When a car, for whatever reason, starts to drift off the edge of a road, the inexperienced driver oftentimes overcompensates by jerking too much the other way, in order to get the car back into its lane. As a result, the car can cross the center lane, sometimes with fatal results. But the practical, handson BSR training prevents that. How? “Remember, our professional drivers are with
them at all times, so when the drivers are least suspecting it, just like in real life, our pro will get ahold of the wheel and turn it hard to the right, just enough to make the car start to go off the road,” said Scott. “They have the driver repeat this again and again, until they have a built-in instinct as to how to handle such a situation—an instinct they didn’t have before,” she said. “Training like that, along with our Skid Pad, which teaches them how to handle skids, can save their lives.” Bill Scott put it well at the end of his study results. “If you are a swimmer, not having been in the water for ten years, and fall out of the back of the boat, you are likely to make it back to the boat. In the similar circumstance, never having learned to swim, and then falling out of the back of the boat, you are likely to sink. “What we have learned makes the same kind of sense as the swimming example. Learned responses in the category of physical skills may deteriorate over time but are never lost. The trained student will have the capacity to act more positively and instinctively to a highway emergency than the untrained driver.” In addition to their paying customers, for several years BSR has given free Accident Avoidance Training to fortyeight lucky high school drivers from Jefferson County high schools. As we’ll see, the Scotts may have first started giving back to the local community with their professional drivers’ expertise, but they have also gone on to served their country in similar ways, as well. Having built up a strong reputation for driver training over the years, BSR entered into contractual relationships with various corporations and federal governmental agencies
[ 99 ]
as they have grown to need antiterrorist programs for their drivers, here and overseas. According to Barbara Scott, the kind of adult students receiving this kind of training can come from a variety of roles: chauffeurs, security forces, even the spouses of high-level executives. Anyone who needs to know how to drive around or through a potential carjacking or other terrorist attack learns how to avoid being taken. The Scotts offered some of this driving coursework as far back as 1981, but for obvious reasons, their demand has increased in recent years. Coursework for such business and government employees starts with the same Accident Avoidance Training that the high schoolers received—advanced skills for car handling in less than optimal circumstances. That’s where everyone begins, high or low. However, after that, the upper level
[ 100 ]
courses read like chapters out of “Goldeneye.” They range from an “Evasive Driving” course to avoid terrorist attacks, to an “Unimproved/ Off Road” course to understand how to handle off-road trails. An excerpt from “Evasive Driving” gives the flavor: “Students will learn the use of emergency backing, “Y” and “J” turns, precision intervention technique (PIT), barricade breaching (RAM), driver down (passenger side driving) and how to recognize an attack. Students will learn what a car is capable of and most importantly, their own limits. We will emphasize the importance of being mentally prepared in order to be able to react.” Barbara Scott says providing the skills her husband wanted more people to possess makes everyone at BSR and Summit Point Motorsports Park feel that they are part of something more than a job. This kind of high-level, important
work is a mission, whether teaching a young person how to avoid an oncoming drunk driver or helping a security driver get a government official through a terrorist attack. “It gives you such a wonderful feeling!” she says. “We get letters from people we have helped all the time. It gives you shivers when we hear that someone was able to avoid an accident thanks to what we offered them. It makes you know that what we’ve done really is worthwhile.” For more information about Summit Point’s regular offerings, such as “Twilight at the Track” on the racetracks for the novice or for information about other track events like Vintage Car Races, go to www. summitpoint-raceway.com. And for more information about Accident Avoidance Training and the more advanced counter-terrorism driving courses, go to: www.bsr-inc.com.
Around The Panhandle | JULY • AUG 2012
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(Up to $400 value-call for details)
Craig Loy, Broker
Introduces the 3o inch wide french door
• Free Delivery • Free Normal Installation • Parts & Service on all Brands of Appliances
Martinsburg, WV
304.267.7251
Ranson, WV
304.724.7251
Family Owned and Operated Since 1948 • Visit Us Online at www.Orsinis.com
of r e e Pow h t l Fee
g n i k c e h C Free
ive Interest s s a M with
2.00
%
plus link with
apy*
On CASH balances up to $15,000
& nationwide * atm fee refunds
0.50
% apy
to earn & automatically save
On CASH balances over $15,000
0.05
kasasa saver
% apy
When qualifications are not met
OK, it may not help you leap tall buildings, but it is free checking that pays you massive monthly interest.
To earn interest and nationwide ATM fee refunds each month: Each qualification cycle have at least 10 debit card purchases post and clear, have at least 1 direct deposit or automatic payment post and clear, and receive e-statements.
DO YOU KASASA?
Open now at www.kasasa.com/mvbbanking
p lu s Free debit card usage • No minimum balance requirements to earn rewards • Free online banking *Annual Percentage Yield (APY) accurate as of 3/19/12. Minimum to open Kasasa Cash account is $50 and $50 for Kasasa Saver. Kasasa Cash rate tiers are as follows: 2.00% APY applies to balances of $0.01$15,000 and 0.50% APY applies to balances over $15,000 if qualifications are met during monthly qualification cycle. 0.05% APY applies to all balances if qualifications are not met. All balances will earn 2.00% APY- 0.50% APY if qualifications are met. The advertised Kasasa Cash APY is based on compounding interest. The interest earned in Kasasa Cash is automatically transferred to Kasasa Saver each statement cycle and does not compound. The actual interest paid may be less than the advertised APY. Kasasa Saver APYs may be less than Kasasa Cash APYs. Kasasa Saver rate tiers are as follows: 1.00% APY on entire balance if qualifications are met during monthly qualification cycle on Kasasa Cash. 0.05% APY applies to all balances if qualifications are not met on Kasasa Cash. Qualifying transactions must post and clear Kasasa Cash during monthly qualification cycle. Transactions may take one or more banking days from transaction date to post to an account. Intra-bank transfers do not count as qualifying transactions. Rates may change after account is opened. Fees may reduce earnings. **ATM Fee refunds (Kasasa Cash account only) up to $50 provided only if qualifications are met within monthly qualification cycle. Qualification cycle is a period beginning one business day prior to the first day of the current statement cycle through one business day prior to the close of the current statement cycle.