Crozet Gazette March 2018 by The Crozet Gazette

INSIDE INCLUSIVE page 3 COHOUSING page 4 TRAIL MAP page 6 SCHOOL NOTES page 8

MARCH 2018 VOL. 12, NO. 10

Community Grieves After Amtrak Crash

DANNY & BRENDA page 12

By Heidi Brown

REVENUE SHARING page 16

heidi@crozetgazette.com

SQUAD HEROES page 17 COLD STORAGE page 21 QUICHE page 23 MEMORY UNIT page 30 ANNE FRANK page 32 GESTALT page 34 BUTTER MAKING page 36 FOREST BATHING page 38 REIGN IN RAIN TAX page 40 CLOUDY EYE page 42 OVER WINTER page 44 WILD GEESE page 45 RARE SAPSUCKER page 46 RELIGION NEWS page 48 THE PLEIADES page 50

Emerson Commons, a cohousing community, is under construction on Route 240 in Crozet. See story page 4.

CCAC Sets Planning Principles From Survey Results Hears Update on Cell Tower Proposed at WAHS by Michael Marshall

editor@crozetgazette.com

While Crozet waits its turn for its Master Plan revision to occur, possibly in 2019, the Crozet Community Advisory Committee is drafting a set of planning principles to hold up as guiding benchmarks should new rezoning requests come forward

meanwhile. At the CCAC’s meeting Feb. 21, Crozet Community Association President Tim Tolson, who also served on the committee that developed and executed the survey, linked five survey question responses that show overwhelming community agreement with specific passages from the 2010

continued on page 26

Weeks after an Amtrak train split a garbage truck in two at a beleaguered railway crossing, the community is still trying to come to grips with the fatal accident that thrust Crozet into the international spotlight. The accident occurred at the Lanetown Road crossing right before lunchtime on Jan. 31, when a chartered Amtrak train carrying dozens of Republican lawmakers to a luxury resort in West Virginia struck the garbage truck at 60 miles an hour. The wreck killed Christopher Foley, 28, of Louisa, who was riding in the truck. Another passenger, Dennis Eddy, and driver, Dana Naylor Jr., were injured and taken to the University of Virginia Medical Center. Six people on the train suffered minor injuries. Secret Service agents, congressmen, nearby residents, first responders and the media converged on the scene within minutes. Agents with the FBI and the National continued on page 18

School of Thought: Albemarle County’s New Paradigm for High School Education By Lisa Martin

lisamartin@crozetgazette.com

“High School 2022,” Albemarle County’s long-planned secondary education initiative, may have a futuristic-sounding name, but that future is almost here. This fall’s entering freshmen will form the Class of 2022, and two big parts of the School Board’s master plan will launch along with them. A new first-year class aims

to set students on individualized paths guided by their own strengths and interests, while innovative satellite “centers” will accommodate the shift in how and where they spend their time later in high school.

LISA MARTIN

BIZ BRIEFS page 10

First Impressions An entirely new course called the Freshman Seminar will be a required addition to the first-year curriculum continued on page 13

Western Albemarle High School

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CROZETgazette

MARCH 2018 A survey of official government websites on the subject of tower radiation health risk says that so far study results are “inconclusive.” At one time the government also thought that tobacco, asbestos and thalidomide posed no harms. Meanwhile, a German study says that cancer rates are three times higher within 400 feet of a cell tower, an Israeli study says four times higher within 350 feet of the tower, and reports from India and Brazil also point to clear cancer risks. The radiation is slicing up DNA in cells as it passes through the body and cells are supposed to repair the breaks correctly—only every time. Recent news stories, such as in the Wall Street Journal and the Daily Mail, have advised us not to carry a cell phone on our body, to use one in hands-free mode and to strictly limit children’s exposure.

From the Editor No Cell Tower at WAHS The cell phone tower proposed to loom over the home bleachers at Western Albemarle High School should not be permitted, or if allowed, should be moved to the most remote corner of the property possible. Federal Communications Commission rules prevent local governments from opposing cell towers over concerns about possible health risks, and Albemarle’s ordinances therefore are based on aesthetic criteria. For obvious economic reasons, the government wants the cell phone infrastructure to be built up and, presumably, dealing with possible health risks will come later. The government once wanted intercontinental railroads built, too, and it needed roaming herds of buffalos wiped out to keep them from interfering with trains. Are we buffalos?

continued on page 24

To the Editor Send your letters to the editor to news@crozetgazette.com. Letters will not be printed anonymously. Letters do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Crozet Gazette.

Inclusive Community As a citizen of Crozet, I presented a request to the Crozet Community Association (CCA) at their January meeting, signed by about twenty folks from a concurrent meeting I had just come from. If you agree with it, I encourage you to contact them to express yourself. I asked the CCA to make a statement that Crozet is an inclusive community, as many municipalities have done in these alarming times when anti-immigrant sentiment is surging and when asserting that black lives also have value has provoked controversy. The draft I proposed read: A Vision Crozet is an inclusive com-

munity that welcomes, accepts and celebrates all people. A Statement of Commitment Crozet commits to: • Champion equality of worth among people, recognizing that equity and diversity exemplify our ideals and values as a community. • Learn, acknowledge and honor the unique histories and lived experiences of all peoples in our community. • Stand against any ideology of racial exclusion, superiority, segregation, or domination that perpetuates patterns of discrimination or exploitation. I explained to those present what led me to request to be on the agenda for this purpose. Chanda McGuffin, an African American from Waynesboro, told me that African Americans do not heavily attend her bridge-building workshops, and they have said the reason is that continued on page 24

Fairview Farm ~ Greenwood ~ $4,725,000

A stunning 287-acre farm of mostly open gently rolling pasture land, offering 360 degrees of mountain views and far-reaching vistas of the Western Albemarle countryside. The land is flanked by two perennial streams, springs, two ponds and a four-acre vineyard and is accessed by a stately stone serpentine gated entrance. Property Improvements include a large Butler building with climate control, 2-story shop, tenant cottage and 2 restored antique Airstreams placed under 2 large pavilions with outdoor terrace living space. This property has an ideal location privately situated between Crozet and Greenwood with great access to Charlottesville and the University of Virginia.

Amy N. Stevens

Ross L. Stevens

rstevens@stevensandcompany.net

434-981-5268

CROZET gazette the

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CROZETgazette

MARCH 2018

By Michael Marshall

editor@crozetgazette.com

The Emerson Commons Cohousing community will begin construction of 26 houses on its 6-acre site on Parkview Road next month, according to project leader Peter Lazar. The location, once known as Seven Persimmons Farm, adjoins Crozet Veterinary Clinic and recently attracted public notice when a line of cedar trees on Parkview Road were removed to allow road widening to the project. The project is named for American Trancendentalist author Ralph Waldo Emerson, Lazar said, because “his writings about community and a simple life fit the project’s philosophy,” and the community finds them inspirational. The cohousing project attempted to start in 2009 but was stymied by the financial crash, said Lazar, who for the last 13 years has lived in Shadow Lake Village, a cohousing community in Blacksburg. “It’s been so terrific I thought I’d like to try to introduce it near the city of my alma mater.” He is currently president of the Cohousing Association of the United States, which counts 165 completed cohousing communities across the country.

There are two in Southwest Virginia, one started by nuns, and others are coming in Northern Virginia. Cohousing is a Danish concept from the 1970s. It came to the U.S. in the 1990s to California. Lazar graduated from U.Va. in 1989 (chemistry) and earned his M.S. in computer science there in 1993. Lazar said he does not expect to move to Crozet until his daughters, now ages 13 and 16, go to U.Va. in a few years. He is the co-founder of eBroselow, LLC, with partners Dr. Jim Broselow (the inventor of the Broselow Tape) and Dr. Bob Luten, and now serves as the company’s chief technology officer. The firm makes medical reference software designed to reduce pharmaceutical dosing errors. It’s used in 275 hospitals nationwide. Lazar and his wife Molly bought the Crozet property in 2013 and in 2015 he began the county’s approval process, which he termed “excruciating.” The project’s 26 houses include three single-family homes, 14 duplexes and 9 triplexes. Eleven are under contract and 19 are reserved. Lazar said he is not taking new contracts until he updates pricing. “The people just kind of came, basically. There’s enough

MIKE MARSHALL

Emerson Commons Cohousing to Begin House Building

Peter Lazar

demand that we haven’t needed realtors. “The houses range from 1,000 to 2,800 square feet and are all two stories with attic spaces. They are custom homes, though the exterior architecture is Craftsman trim, sort of Cape Cod. It’s simple, but the materials are top grade and super energy-efficient with 6-inch stud walls. There’s standard solar on all houses. It’s the first all-solar development in Virginia. It’s the first ‘eco-village,’ with all the fronts facing south. Houses will get from eight to 14 solar panels, depending on their size, and some will add panels to get to ‘net-zero’ energy use.” House

prices range from $310,000 to $450,000. They will be hybrid modular construction. The wall panels are being built now in Rocky Mount by Southern Heritage Homes. The first house will be assembled in April. “Legally there’s nothing unusual,” said Lazar. “They are condos. We wanted it to be an HOA, but we couldn’t make that work within county rules.” Residents will pay a monthly condo fee. “It’s all open market. You just buy a house, but it’s in a place where people care about the community. There’s an expectation that you will participate in

continued on page 23

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Gorgeous Arts & Crafts home in FULLY FINISHED BASEMENT desirable Wickham Pond! Offering so many special elements including 4 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, an open floor plan, hardwood floors, high ceilings, charming front porch and an attached garage that you will definitely want to make this Crozet house your home! The lovely kitchen supplies Corian counters, an abundance of cabinet space & a breakfast area/morning room. Upstairs has a soothing master suite with a walk in closet and tray ceiling and laundry room. The finished basement is an added bonus with a large rec room, full bath & room that would be great for an office. Wickham Pond includes an exercise room & tot lot! $409,000

CROZETgazette

MARCH 2018

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CROZETgazette

MARCH 2018

Crozet Trails Crew Keeps Building the Greenways

By Terri Miyamoto

terrim@crozettrailscrew.org.

The Crozet Trails Crew (CTC) is made up of community members who are interested in helping plan, build, and promote pedestrian and bicycle trails in and around Crozet. CTC was created in the fall of 2009 as an outgrowth of the Crozet Master Planning process. The idea was to establish a grass-roots organization that would assist the Crozet community in realizing and implementing their goals for pedestrian connections and recreation.

Since its inception, the CTC has welcomed scores of volunteers, from kids to the elderly, and has worked on a variety of projects in the area. It thrives on the energy and commitment of all the volunteers, and everyone is invited to join, regardless of age, fitness level, trail experience, or time constraints. Through their work with Albemarle County Parks & Recreation, they have helped build a still-developing trail system to provide recreation and connectivity to Crozet residents. The map shows over seven miles of trails currently open, with

more miles in the future. 2017 was a good year for the CTC. Goals included expanding and maintaining the trail system, increasing community participation in the CTC, and partnering with community groups to promote Crozet as an outdoor recreation area. They hoped to build a trail from Crozet Park to the Connector Trail, install a bridge across Lickinghole Creek to provide a route from Westhall towards Route 250, extend the Creekside Trail to Jarmans Gap Road, and extend the Connector Trail toward downtown Crozet.

Property rights issues are complex, though, and they are still waiting for permission to build as the county works out easements and rights-of-way. Progress has been made, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s in paperwork, not trail work. Due to a new agreement with the county, Parks & Recreation staff began regular mowing of the Crozet Connector Trail in 2017. This means that approximately three miles of trail can be mowed quickly and efficiently with their large equipment, rather than depending on volunteers pushing lawnmowcontinued on page 43

CROZETgazette

MARCH 2018

All Are Welcome at Crozet Baptist Church! Easter Service

Crozet Baptist Church

47th Annual Community

Sunday, April 1 • 10:30 am

Easter Sunrise Service

Bring Fresh Cut Flowers for

FLOWERING THE CROSS

Mint Springs Valley Park

Easter Egg Hunt

Sunday, April 1 • 6:30 am

Crozet Baptist Church

Saturday, March 31 10 am

Easter Breakfast Complimentary

Crozet Baptist Church

Sunday, April 1 • 7:30 - 9:30 am

Crozet Avenue

St. George Avenue

Minister of Children, Youth and Community Ministries

Dairy Queen

Crozet Pizza

Senior Pastor Serving 35 Years

Tracey Pugh

Railroad Avenue

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CROZETgazette

MARCH 2018

Stories & Photos By Lisa Martin

lisamartin@crozetgazette.com

MLES student Nakiyah decorates a pillowcase for a Red Cross project.

h ency preparedness wit Cross talks about emerg Linda Hutson of the Red ntary classes. Meriwether Lewis Eleme

Be Prepared As part of their study of natural disasters and extreme weather, Meriwether Lewis 2nd/3rd grade multiage classes got a lesson in preparedness from Linda Hutson, former Albemarle County school teacher and current American Red Cross volunteer. Hutson spoke to the students about the Red Cross Pillowcase Project, a program that started in New Orleans when college students used pillowcases to carry their belongings during Hurricane Katrina. The MLES students each received a pillowcase to decorate while learning about what to do in an emergency. The most prevalent type of emergency varies by region, so the program focuses on, for example, earthquakes in California and tornadoes in the Midwest. In Virginia, 9 out of 10 calls to the Red Cross are for

help with house fires. “The children have all participated in school fire drills,” said Hutson, “and they know what a household smoke detector is, but very few have ever done a home fire drill.” After demonstrating fundamentals such as “get low and go” and how to test a doorknob with the back of one’s hand, Hutson and the students brainstormed about what could go in their emergency pillowcases. A flashlight, change of clothes, blanket, portable radio, and first aid kit were good candidates, as was a comforting toy. “Shouldn’t you take a computer,” asked one third grader, “in case you need to look something up?” Probably too heavy, advised Hutson—best to use an adult’s cell phone for that. Second grader Kylie, who decorated her bag with a drawing of a favorite blanket, thought the pillowcase preparation would be useful in the rush

of an emergency. “It’s good because then you don’t have to think about it,” she said. Teacher Dena La Fleur said the lesson tied into the curriculum in other ways as well. “For our public speaking unit we do 4-H speeches, so each student is writing a speech about a natural disaster of their choice,” she said. Learning to be prepared will help them wherever they may roam.

A Hop, a Skip, and a Jump At Murray Elementary, February highlights include a unit on the study of nutrition, Valentine’s Day, and the annual Jump Rope for Heart fundraiser organized by the American Heart Association. Though the Mustangs’ goal this year was to raise $5,000 for the AHA, a newly emphasized online incen-

ss project.

Cro orate pillowcases for a Red MLES multi-age classes dec

CROZETgazette

MARCH 2018

Creating more confidence in your future… Creating more confidence Because you have aspirations that are important, we can inayour future... help devise personal plan toward a brilliant life. Because you have aspirations that are important, we can help devise a personal plan toward a brilliant life. Murray Elementary kin dergartener C.J. collec ted the most funds for for Heart. Jump Rope

tive program pushed contributions to over $8,000. “In the fifteen years I’ve been here, this is the most we’ve ever made,” said PE teacher Katherine Tillar-Hughes. Special recognition went to a Kindergartener, 6-year-old C. J., who brought in the most money—over $750—with the help of her family and friends. “I think it’s important to raise money for the people who can’t get over heart diseases,” she said. C. J. received a cool ninja prize for her legwork, and all students received small instant prizes for registering online and for contributing any amount to the cause. “Depending on how much we raise, the AHA also gives gift cards to the school which we can use for PE equipment like softballs and foam dodgeballs,” said Tillar-Hughes. She holds the event on a day when she sees all the classes in the school, and the students can choose either to jump rope or shoot baskets, as long as they remain active for the whole period. These days,

she often has to begin a couple of weeks in advance to teach the lost art. “Most of the younger kids do not know how to jump rope,” said Tillar-Hughes, “so we have to learn. We start with a low jump on the floor, then we work on timing, watching and listening for the rope as it swings.” More advanced is dashing in under an already-swinging rope, and she cues the students on when to make their move, “Now . . . now . . . now . . .” Double-jumping is master’s-level work. Tillar-Hughes came to Murray in 2003 as a one-year substitute after a hiatus spent raising her own children, and she never left. She worries about the amount of screen time and junk food kids are consuming, and wants to be part of a positive change. “I also do lunch duty and I see what habits are out there. I feel like this is so important, maintaining a certain level of fitness and an awareness of good nutrition.”

continued on page 20

Murray Elementary PE teacher Katherine Tillar-Hughes teaches second graders to jump rope.

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CROZETgazette

MARCH 2018

Business Briefs By Theresa Curry theresa@crozetgazette.com

Local business news

Architects rendering, Mechum’s Trestle

No Lease Yet for Mechum’s Trestle “We’ve got a lot of people scheming and hoping, but the fact is there’s no lease yet,” said Stuart Rifkin, the Charlottesville realtor handling the lease of the restaurant under construction at Route 240 and 250 between Crozet and Ivy. Rifkin said the property, bought by Melton McGuire and Bill McKechnie in 2004, has drawn a great deal of interest because of its location, but nothing has reached the final stage. “We think as more construction detail is

added, there’ll be even more interest,” Rifkin said. The site in question is more than an acre with a building of approximately 3,922 square feet, accommodating a 100-seat restaurant with on-site parking. It’s bordered by Lickinghole Creek to the north and Route 680 to the east.

Hitch a ride with Hoofitz Whether your children gallop, trot, canter or jump through life, why not have them leave an appropriate footprint?

Thanks to Eileen Kenny of Crozet, whimsical rain boots with the face, tail and hoof prints of horses are now in production and available through her new business, Hoofitz. Kenny, a horse trainer, actress and entrepreneur, grew up wanting not only to ride horses but to gallop along with them. As an adult, she designed sturdy children’s rain boots with the big, soft eyes and toothy smile of horses as well as the sturdy support of reinforced soles that leave a horseshoe imprint in the mud. A detachable horse tail and pull-on straps that look like ears complete the effect. Kenny’s unique idea attracted backing, and she arranged for production of the first herd of the unique rain wear, which also includes a more traditional women’s line. Other animals are in the works, including the noble lion, which will leave the signature print of a large cat, with a full mane around the top of the boot and tuft of hair at the end of its tail like a real lion. “Other ideas have been doggies (floppy ears), kitties, unicorns, elephants,” Kenny said. “An easy addition to the horse

SUBMITTED

Hootfitz boots

line is a zebra.” She’s headed for “Shark Tank” for further promotion. Plans are to arrange for production in the area, Kenny said, and to create as many local jobs as possible. Order the boots, available in mid-March, through the website Hoofitz. com.

Rocket Coffee Coming More than 10,000 people travel each day by the intersection of Route 250 and Crozet Avenue, and Scott Link is hop-

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CROZETgazette MIKEMARSHALL

MARCH 2018

Juxtapositions:

Pen and Ink Drawings by Laura Grice

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The former Gateway Gas location, at the intersection of Route 250 and Miller School Road, now under renovation.

and the gas tanks will be removed. As a musician, Link said he’s had to learn to do a little of everything, including working as a chef and in construction, and he’s doing the bulk of the remodeling of the former Gateway himself. He wants to provide a warm, welcoming atmosphere, while keeping the interior clean and modern. The coffee shop will be open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Link moved here from Maine several years ago. “I had musician friends in Charlottesville,” he said, “and I couldn’t help but notice how much better the weather is here.” He’s worked at area restaurants and wineries, including a recent stint helping with the reopening of the Batesville Market.

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THERESA CURRY

ing that at least some of them will want to stop for coffee and a pastry. Link, who expects Rocket Coffee to open late this month or early in April, will serve Marie Bette products–– muffins, cookies, quiche and other baked goods from the Charlottesville patisserie–– espresso and brewed coffee and tea drinks, and morning staples like smoothies and yogurt. Although he’ll have some seating, Link expects his main business will be from commuters wanting to make a quick stop and not having the time to detour into downtown Crozet. “Everything will be easy to grab,” he said. He’ll try to have healthy options for those with specialized diets, he said. Drivers will be able to fill up on lattes but not on gas, he said,

Second Saturday Reception March 10, 3-5 p.m.

Crozet’s first yoga studio. All levels welcome, come move with us!

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introductory offer: 30 days unlimited classes for $50

CROZETgazette

MARCH 2018

By Theresa Curry

theresa@crozetgazette.com

A couple of months on his shady front porch have been enough recuperation for Danny Yousef, the former proprietor of the Gateway, the gas, deli and convenience store at the intersection of Route 250 and Crozet Avenue. Yousef had been sidelined because of his health and in fact, had feared for his life when he decided to sell the business to Scott Link, a musician and chef who formerly worked at the Batesville Market (see page 11). Yousef, 70, had been hoisting 120-pound slabs of pork onto the grill for his famous barbecue. “My mind was saying ‘go, go, go,’ but my body was saying ‘no, no, no.’” Now that he’s on the mend, he said, he’s going to turn his attention to developing the land he owns next to the store, using the existing outbuilding there as his office. One of his inspirations is Abdullah Yousef, his grandfather, who lived to be 109, and worked

until he was 95 in Jordan, where Danny Yousef was born, Yousef said: “I can hear him saying, ‘Don’t stop now! You have 40 years to go.’” The younger Yousef came to Mississippi for graduate school when he was 20. He had a scholarship to MSU, where he planned to get a Ph.D. in economics. In the meantime, though, he spent time in Alexandria, went with a friend to buy a rug and met Brenda at the rug store. She became his wife a short time later. “That was it for the scholarship,” Brenda said. “I told him I wasn’t leaving Virginia.” All in all, it wasn’t a bad exchange, Yousef said. “I tell people she’s my scholarship.” The young man who studied economics found he had a flair for its practical applications. He operated a frozen custard shop in Northern Virginia for a while and looked for other small businesses. As it happened, he mentioned his desire to start a small business to the very man who could connect him with the for-

The PURE gas station in 1958

LOVE CYCLING? Celebrate with a new bike from your local shop!

THERESA CURRY

Former Gateway Owner Contemplates Next 40 Years

Brenda and Danny Yousef

mer Pure gas station that later became the Gateway. “The previous owner wanted to use it for a laundromat, but then found out he couldn’t,” Yousef said. Yousef analyzed community needs, revived the gas pumps, and added fried chicken, becoming the first of Albemarle County’s signature chicken and gasoline dispensaries. In fact, he said, he once supplied the other local gas stations with chicken. He was no chef, he admitted, but he taught himself. He added subs, baklava and then barbecue, using a recipe he developed. “At one time, we had peppers growing everywhere,” Brenda remembers. “He used 17 different varieties for the sauce.” Brenda worked in food service in the schools, sometimes as a manager.

The Yousefs raised three sons in Crozet before renting out the business in 1989 and moving to the Valley for Danny to take a job with RJ Reynolds. When they “retired” in 2002 they returned and resumed the hectic pace of running a convenience store. “We just couldn’t help making friends out of customers,” Brenda said. Like Danny, she has goals in retirement: Learn Japanese and travel to Hawaii and Minnesota to visit her sons. During late February, Danny worked on converting the small building just east of his former store into an office. For those interested in finding out more about his plans, or who just want to stop by, he’ll be there from 10 to 3 every weekday, he said.

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CROZETgazette LISA MARTIN

MARCH 2018

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Albemarle school division administrators Patrick McLaughlin (left) and Jay Thomas.

High School —continued from page 1

at all county high schools and is intended to lay the foundation for a productive four years grounded in student self-awareness. “The concept is premised on the notion that students are becoming increasingly disinterested in school by the time they are juniors and seniors,” said David Oberg, Albemarle County School Board representative for the White Hall District. “Kids are taking classes because they feel they are supposed to, but they don’t necessarily like the content, and so they’re uninspired. The point of the Freshman Seminar is to give a moment of reflection to kids, to allow them to take a pause and ask of themselves: what do you like about school, what makes you passionate?” The seminar will be taught in small sections capped at 15, and each student will, ideally, be matched with an instructor in one of the student’s areas of interest (e.g., history, computer

science) who can serve as an advisor and advocate for all four years. The class will count as a pass/fail elective credit, with in-class assignments that will not add homework to the student’s workload. The aim for the year-long course is to help freshmen understand who they are as a learner and community member, and to guide them in using tools such as the strength-finders and focused surveys in the county’s Naviance program, electronic portfolios of their work, and various forms of self-reflection to discover and document their interests and talents. “The freshman year should be about self-discovery,” said Jay Thomas, director of secondary education. “In the elementary schools we use ‘responsive classroom,’ and in the middle schools we have ‘developmental design,’ but there’s not as much that touches that social/emotional learning at the high school level.” Thomas’s team visited other schools and landed on the idea of a structured pro-

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continued on page 14

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High School —continued from page 13

gram to help freshmen understand key concepts such as identity, motivation, work balance, healthy relationships, and more. The day-to-day logistics of the seminar are currently being mapped out at each high school as well as at the division level. “I’ve been actively involved in this over the past year, and there are four teachers from every high school working on course development,” said WAHS Principal Darah Bonham. “From Western, we have staff from the English, math, fine arts, and social studies departments on the committee.” WAHS will need to run about 20 sections of Freshman Seminar this fall to keep the class sizes small, and those sections will be filled by teachers who express interest. “There is already a skeleton of concepts and ideas in place for what the course will look like, and the teachers will receive more professional development over the spring and summer. That cohort of 60 or so teachers [county-wide] will have the flexibility to work together to choose the content in keeping with the course goals. They can support each other with research, individual class session development, whatever is their strength.” One immediate concern for both students and parents is the loss of a first-year class slot that could be used for an elective such as art, music, or PE. School administrators say that after scheduling the required math, social studies, language arts, and

science classes, plus the Freshman Seminar and possibly a world language, there will still be plenty of room for electives or a study hall in the typical 8-class block system. “We live in a world of opportunity costs,” said Bonham. “We have to think of this as not just a one-year experience for kids, we have to think about it holistically as the 9th through 12th grade experience. You are developing an idea of who you are and what are your interests on the front end, so you can choose better and more authentic experiences at the back end of your high school career.” “The idea is to slow down to go fast,” said Patrick McLaughlin, ACPS strategic planning officer. “One of the big goals is to allow kids more choice in high school. It may seem contradictory to require them to take a Freshman Seminar, but we think in the long term this will be a basis for better choices.” Center of Attention Steadily increasing enrollments have been on the county’s radar for years, but the funding for (and location of ) a large new high school are perennial sticking points. “I was against building a brand new high school up Rt. 29,” said Oberg. “It would take five years to build it, and we know we are not going to need a brick and mortar school for a lot of these kids. Why build an expensive school that is obsolete almost before we start?” A pair of outside educational design consultants was hired by the county last year to assess the school system’s future facility needs, and they proposed an

LISA MARTIN

Western Albmearle High School Principal Darah Bonham.

innovative approach: Rather than build another full-sized high school to alleviate current and imminent overcrowding, the county should modernize its existing buildings while also developing a series of small, satellite high school “centers” that can accommodate a much more flexible learning community. The consultants submitted plans for an initial 90,000 square-foot prototype center that could accommodate 600 students at an estimated cost of $31 million, but the county will test the idea in smaller steps. To pilot the concept, the county plans to host students this fall in a leased commercial space dubbed the Center for Creativity and Invention—or more colloquially, Albemarle Tech. Beginning with seniors who express interest and expanding to about 150 10th through 12th grade students the following year, the intent is for opportunity to meet creativity. “I’m very excited about it,” said Ira Socol, executive director of technologies and innovation for the division. “The center will be co-located with teams of county network and software engineering experts called Learning Technology Integrators, in a space that will have many internship options within the same building and nearby.” (The site lease is under negotiation

SUBMITTED

CROZETgazette

MARCH 2018

GAZETTE FILE PHOTO

Albemarle County School member David Oberg.

Board

and details on its whereabouts will be released soon.) The participating seniors will do their work at the center for most of the day, but get back to their home schools for clubs or extracurricular activities as needed. Larger centers planned for the future aim to mesh functionally with how administrators expect students will be spending their time—engaged with their community in meaningful work-based experiences. Strategically located for ease of access, each could host several hundred students at a time, and would feature both academic wings and community-oriented spaces where students could work individually or in groups with teachers, specialists, and

CROZETgazette

MARCH 2018

SUBMITTED

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Ira Socol, Executive Director of Technologies and Innovation for Albemarle County Public Schools.

businesspeople. Labs for tech projects such as audio and video production as well as science, computer, and robotics studios would be available and reconfigurable. Instead of a cafeteria, a college-style café could provide a meal whenever a student was ready to eat. “We want this to be rooted in natural learning,” said Socol, “where we take the natural curiosity of kids and use that to drive content. We have to learn not to count ‘seat time’ as the only metric for completion— the criterion for evaluation should be whether the student can say, ‘I can do this now.’” Undergirding the center initiative is a set of revised ideas about how to better prepare

high schoolers for the real world. College and career readiness will be fostered not only by acquiring content knowledge but also by learning workplace skills, citizenship, and community engagement. “We’re not changing everything, we are changing the emphasis,” said McLaughlin. “We want students to graduate and say, ‘That was a good use of my time,’ not just go through the motions. In a system where every kid has access to project-based and experiential learning, a center model may give them a lot more opportunities to pursue what they love.” Toward this end, HS 2022 envisions that students will be able to gain credit toward their high school diplomas for a wide variety of experiences, and to pitch their own ideas for doing so. For example, creating a scripted video “virtual tour” of an historic site might allow the student to gain language arts, history, and career tech credits. In the same vein, less emphasis will be placed on rote “cramming,” and more on work-based experience. “If you can look it up on your phone in less than 30 seconds, then maybe we don’t need to be memorizing it,” said Socol. “We’ve heard for years from both parents and kids about rising mental health issues among students,” said Thomas, “and about kids leading the charge with local legislators on the need to reduce stress in high school. Too many kids leave school with no idea what they like to do or what their interests are,” because of the gauntlet of required academic work. “We want to see kids graduating more happy and healthy.”

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ments. The bill as passed requires an annual report from the locality that received payments that states (a) how much money was transferred and (b) how the money was spent. The parties to any RSA in effect for longer than 10 years with greater than $5 million in annual payments must also meet to discuss “anticipated future plans for economic growth in the localities.” Bill Schrader, Crozet resident and long-time critic of the RSA, was disappointed by the outcome. “Delegate Landes should get a pat on the back for submitting the original bill, as should Ann Mallek for supporting it,” said Schrader. “However, the bill that was ultimately passed has no real teeth. It requests a meeting between the parties that treats revenue sharing as an economic plan for the city, rather than as a burden on county citizens.” The new reporting requirement will, at the very least, illuminate for residents the dollar amount of the payment each year, which in the past has been buried in the city’s general fund and difficult to tease out based on publicly available data. As well, an annual discussion of how the funds will be spent may prod the city to dedicate the payments to true city/county projects. The BOS recently agreed to send another email to General Assembly members

Delegate Steve Landes

supporting the bill’s final passage. “This is the second year I have worked to address the revenue-sharing agreement between Albemarle County and the City of Charlottesville,” said Delegate Landes in a statement. “Last year, the language as drawn in the budget amendment proved to be too broad, so I withdrew the amendment. I hope House Bill 1148 will be able to begin the dialogue on the inequity of the revenue-sharing agreement between the City of Charlottesville and Albemarle County.” Schrader will be taking a wait-and-see approach. “We as county citizens will have to ask County Executive Jeffrey Richardson for some leadership in these meetings,” he said. “He’s new to the job and is not tied to those old relationships; let’s see what he does. I hope the Supervisors ensure that the meetings are open to the public so we can be a part of these discussions.”

SUBMITTED

LISA MARTIN

After a scuttled attempt last year to pass a budget amendment that would have altered the terms of long-standing revenue-sharing agreements between cities and counties in the state, Virginia House Delegate Steven Landes stepped once again into the fray this year to offer a new bill designed to undo the permanence of the agreements. Though his bill was passed by the House and is now headed for Senate approval, most of its original punch was removed before passage. The revenue-sharing agreement (RSA) between Charlottesville and Albemarle was inked in 1982, halting the city’s continued annexation of county land in exchange for annual payments of a portion of county property tax revenue. More than $310 million has been paid to the city since then, and in light of a state moratorium on annexations in effect since 1987, many county residents would like to see the agreement torn up, or at least renegotiated. Delegate Landes, who represents western Albemarle and sections of Augusta and Rockingham counties, sponsored legislation in January that allowed RSAs that have been in effect for more than 10 years to be renegotiated if requested by

either party, and provided that a majority vote by the governing body of either locality could end the agreement. More than 50 city/county localities across Virginia currently have some type of RSA in place, and this change could have effectively allowed parties to dissolve existing contracts. Ann Mallek, county Board of Supervisors Chair and representative for the White Hall District, wrote an email to the Appropriations subcommittee in strong support of the bill. In it, she summarized the original intent of the agreement and the county’s ballooning payments over the years, juxtaposed against the city’s growth “from a languishing, small impoverished burg to a bustling economic center with this year a $9m surplus.” Citizens, she said, are growing frustrated with the agreement signed more than a generation ago. “[The RSA] was crafted in different times . . . and should be able to be discussed and changed if the character of those times has changed significantly,” wrote Mallek. “This would mean a lot to the taxpayers of the County.” In the end, however, the strongest requirements in the bill were jettisoned in the subcommittee, erasing any path to renegotiation of the agreement and leaving only a mild alteration of “reporting” require-

GAZETTE FILE PHOTO

Piercing the Veil: Landes’ Bill Shines a Light on the Revenue Sharing Agreement

Albemarle County Board of Supervisors Chair Ann Mallek strongly supported the Landes bill.

Crozet resident Bill Schrader has long questioned the validity of the RSA.

CROZETgazette MIKE MARSHALL

MARCH 2018

Lebanon Evangelical Presbyterian Church a place where: Skeptics are Welcome Broken Lives are Mended Jesus Christ

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Rescue Squad Awards Dinner Recognizes Special Volunteers By Michael Marshall

editor@crozetgazette.com

continued on page 39

MIKE MARSHALL

Stalwart volunteer Greg Paquin was recognized as the Western Albemarle Rescue Squad’s Member of the Year and received the President’s Award as well at WARS’s annual awards dinner held at King Family Vineyards Feb. 3. WARS president Bill Wood opened the evening by thanking the Squad’s 100 active volunteers. “For all you do and all you contribute, God bless you.” They answered 1,617 calls in 2017 and donated more than 50,000 hours. White Hall District Supervisor Ann Mallek added, “Thank you. It’s been a hell of a week for Crozet. Now the world knows how very good you are.

I’m proud of you.” She was referring to the collision of an Amtrak train with a garbage truck that drew national attention to the town and spotlighted the performance of the Squad, an event followed a few days later by a catastrophic house fire on Old Three Notch’d Road. The evening included the event’s traditional slide show review of the life of Squad volunteers (put together with sophisticated production values by Taylor Tereskerz) and scenes from their times, days and nights, at accidents, training sessions and at the squad house. It emphasized the WARS slogan, “All volunteer, all the time,” which was greeted with cheers by the 125 on hand for the dinner ceremony. The show

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NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD DRONE

Crash

—continued from page 1

Transportation Safety Board arrived a few hours later and began their investigations. Conspiracy theories immediately blew up the Internet. The private train had left Washington two hours earlier bound for a GOP strategy retreat at The Greenbrier Resort. There was talk about sabotage and an attempt to undermine President Donald Trump’s political agenda. The NTSB, however, said there were no immediate signs that this was anything but a terrible accident. According to a preliminary report issued Feb. 21 by the NTSB, witnesses said the Time Disposal “truck entered the crossing after the gates were down.” A forward-facing camera on the train’s lead locomotive showed the gates were down and the garbage truck was on the track when the train hit. Despite the preliminary report, many questions about the accident remain unanswered. Was the driver trying to beat the train? Did the truck stall on the tracks? Was the crossing equipment working properly? The NTSB said a final report on the crash probably won’t be ready for 12 to 14 months. Three people who live near the railroad crossing where the crash took place told The

Aerial view of the highway-railroad grade crossing, truck chassis, body, and debris at final rest.

Associated Press that the safety arms that come down to warn motorists that a train is approaching appeared to frequently malfunction. The neighbors said they witnessed the arms come down even when no trains were approaching, and sometimes, the arms would stay down for hours at a time. Jane Rogers, who lives in the Wayland’s Grant neighborhood about two miles from the crash site, crosses the intersection to teach a Jazzercise class at the Crozet Baptist Church. She said that when she arrived at the crossing the day before the crash, the safety arms were down, even though there were no trains approaching. She said after waiting, one car in front of her and two cars behind her turned around. Then, as she started to turn around, the arms went up. One car then crossed

the tracks, but Rogers said she waited another 30 seconds and the arms went down again. No trains passed, she said. “It was a weird up-and-down thing,” she said. “Then the next day, the accident happened at that intersection.” The truck landed on Benny Layne’s property alongside the tracks. Layne said the crossing arms had been known to fail, sometimes staying down for hours. He said drivers would get out of their vehicles to help guide other motorists around the arms so they could cross the tracks. “A guy was up here just yesterday or the day before taking a look at them,” Layne said the day of the accident. Carrie Brown, human resources manager at Buckingham Branch Railroad, which leases the stretch of track

and is responsible for maintenance, said she was unaware of any problems with equipment at the crossing. She referred all other questions to the NTSB, which said signal experts will look at the safety of the crossing as part of its investigation. The crossing was equipped with advance warning signs, pavement markings, crossbuck signs, warning lights, bells and gates. While the NTSB continues its investigation, Time Disposal owner Boyd McCauley has been left to try to comfort his employees and their families. McCauley said he has been to visit Eddy in the hospital every day. Eddy, who was released from the hospital the weekend of February 24, had been on the job only two weeks. “Dennis was a brand new guy,” McCauley said in an inter-

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view prior to the NTSB report. “That’s why there were three of them on the truck.” Naylor, the 30-year-old driver, was released from the U.Va. Medical Center a few days after the accident. But he is devastated by the loss of Foley and the trauma of the accident, McCauley said. “Survivor’s remorse. He just was really close to Chris.” McCauley started Time Disposal in 1984 with one pickup truck and $10 he borrowed from his grandmother to buy enough gas to go door-todoor and sign up customers. Today, the company has 15 trucks and 17 drivers. Its homespun trash pickup slogan appears prominently on its website: “When in doubt, put it out.” McCauley, who refers to his employees as “our family,” said Naylor is a longtime driver for Time Disposal and was very familiar with the railroad crossing where the collision took place. “Dana had been running that same route for seven years. He crossed that track once a week,” McCauley said. “I know he’s not Dana any more right now. I hope he’ll return at some point. I think it’s more of the remorse—that he lived and someone else died.” The NTSB had not interviewed Naylor before issuing its preliminary report. And Naylor has declined interview requests from the media. When the report came out, McCauley did not return phone calls seeking comment. The accident affected many others not directly involved in the crash. “My heart is so heavy,” said Roger Lehr, an 82-year-old retired professor. He recalled seeing the trash truck in his Western Ridge neighborhood only an hour before the fatal accident. He was on his way to the small gym at the neighborhood’s clubhouse. “They were pulling into the parking lot at the clubhouse to pick up our trash. The big guy was always riding on the back,” he said referring to Foley. “I always called them my crew.” Other Crozet residents along the ill-fated route also tried to cope with the loss. An idea to tie white ribbons around trash cans quickly spread on social

MARCH 2018

Customers left signs of support for the Time Disposal crew the following Wednesday in Western Ridge.

media. When a new Time Disposal crew came to pick up the trash the very next week, they found not only ribbons, but cards, balloons and handmade signs throughout the neighborhoods of Western Ridge, Foothills Crossing, Westhall, Grayrock and Old Trail. McCauley summed it up on his company’s Facebook page: “We cannot express how much all the overwhelming support means to us. We feel like our customers and community gave us a big hug when we needed it the most. Again, thank you to all that gave support, donations, and prayers. Rest in Peace, Chris, you are loved and missed by many.” A new pastor at Tabor Presbyterian Church, the Rev. Liz Hulme Adam, felt the community’s pain and contacted Time Disposal offering to host a candlelight vigil to remember Foley. Tabor wasn’t his church. He didn’t live in Crozet. But Adam said at the vigil that she “heard over and over again people in this town say they are our guys; Chris Foley, a part of our community every week with enthusiasm and joy.” Dozens attended the event on Feb. 9, most notably about a dozen Time Disposal employees and their families, including owner McCauley, Foley’s fiancé, Adriana Puentes, their 17-month-old son, and Foley’s parents. “It’s tough for everybody and we’ll all get through this,” his father, Kerry Foley, told the church. “It’s part of life. We never know when the time is for us to end the story of our lives...” continued on page 41

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All in a Day’s Work The 100th Day of School is celebrated by classes all over the county with activities focusing on counting and using one hundred somethings. Due to school cancellations for wintery weather this year, the 100th Day slipped a little later in the calendar than originally scheduled, but the day is always a cause for excitement. At Brownsville Elementary, Lauri Campbell’s Kindergarten class marked the occasion in four ways—counting out 100 dots or 100 pieces of snack, making necklaces with 100 beads, and drawing 100 tally marks. Barbara Huneycutt’s second graders at Crozet Elementary used their counting skills and imaginations in a Lego Challenge, where they could use Legos or small wooden KEVA planks to build anything they wanted as long as it contained exactly 100 pieces. Students

VA planks to construct

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spread out on the floor in singles or pairs to construct their projects—a bridge, a tower, a huge jet airplane, even a model of the White House. “We call it ‘100 Days Smarter,’” said Huneycutt. “It’s a fun chance for them to tie in different learning curricula by first counting out their one hundred things, then building something, and then reflecting on what they’ve built in a writing exercise.” The 100-day mark means only 80 days remain in the school year. Better make them count.

Crozet second grader Ally uses 100 KEVA planks to construct a model of the White House.

Crozet second graders Meghan and Allison use 100 planks to construct a bridge.

Something “NOTEWORTHY” going on at your school? Let lisamartin@crozetgazette.com know!

CROZETgazette

MARCH 2018

By Phil James

phil@crozetgazette.com

First Things First: Building-Up Whether one has been cast headlong into the raw elements by a disaster, gotten lost in the woods, or just wheeled into a strange town after sunset, the cautious ones with a preparedness mindset know that safe shelter is a first priority. Finding out if the water suits one’s taste buds will follow shortly thereafter. First things first. There will be plenty of time after the sun rises again to tackle the details. Benjamin and Ellen Ficklin wheeled into Crozet, so to speak, for the first time back around 1814. Whether they started from scratch or repurposed an earlier settler’s abode is not known. However, inside the walls of the Pleasant Green estate they sold to Jeremiah Wayland when they moved to Charlottesville about 1832 was a solid core of logs, hand-fitted together. First things first. The fancy gingerbread trim, cheery hues of paint on clapboard, and brick-lined flowerbeds came later. Abram Wayland (1834– 1906) grew up on his father Jeremiah’s farm bordered by Three Notch’d Road in western Albemarle and he learned well the hard labor and business acu-

the

Village

An aerial view of the Carter/Herbert cold storage compound, extending from Main Street to Carter Street, alongside the railroad in downtown Crozet, late 1950s. [Detail from original photo by Mac Sandridge]

men modeled by his elder. Young Abram sat at the dinner table with Claudius Crozet when the eminent Chief Engineer of the Blue Ridge Railroad Company boarded there while surveying through that family’s farm, and he keenly observed the railroad’s progression as it bisected the cropland where he had roamed as a boy. Abram purchased 323 acres from his father in 1867. Following the establishment of Miller Manual Labor School in

The Carter Corporation constructed two near-duplicate six-story reinforcedconcrete cold storage facilities in Crozet between 1915 and 1919. The monumental task was accomplished with local workers. The crew pictured here includes the following: Julian Belew, Ashby Wood, S.W. Belew, Jeter Humphreys, Bill Powell, Robert Rea, Massie Critzer, C.H. Clark, Charlie Belew, Nat Wade, Willis Maupin, Davis Bruffy, and Bruce Phillips. (Names supplied from “Crozet: A Pictorial History”, by Meeks & McCauley.) [Photo courtesy of Mac Sandridge]

1874, he found himself in an enviable real estate position as freight and business traffic generated by that school’s construction made for commercial opportunities nearby Crozet Station. It surprised few when, along with the April 1877 establishment of the flag stop named Crozet, Abram Wayland was announced as the official agent for the new rail stop, and, soon thereafter in January 1878, the village’s first postmaster. Eugene R. Mays could see those opportunities, too, all the way from his vantage point in Nelson County. In 1878, he purchased a one-acre lot from Mr. Wayland, fronting on the railroad within a quick jiffy of the station’s platform, and there, in a simple log affair, he established Crozet’s first store busi-

ness. Within a few years, the entrepreneur Mays cashed-out of business, selling his property and store building to Sarah Early, a widow with an eye for worthy Crozet real estate. Mrs. Early was grandmother to Stephen T. Early, who was born in Crozet in 1889 and, in the 1930s, became the indispensable confidant and White House Press Secretary to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The former Mays property changed hands several more times, and was particularly remembered by Abram Wayland’s granddaughter Ruth Wayland Nelson. She wrote in 1950, “The house owned by Mrs. Ruth Garrison Haden used to be where the Herbert Cold Storage now stands. It continued on page 22

Thomas Herbert took ownership of the Carter Corporation’s Ice Manufacturing and Cold Storage facilities in 1922. This letterhead illustrates the varied services provided by that vital business. [Original letterhead(s) printed by Crozet Print Shop; courtesy Jim and Delores Baber, and the Phil James Collection]

CROZETgazette

MARCH 2018

Cold Storage —continued from page 21

faced the tracks and had a nice front yard all fenced in. Mr. George Burton lived there. Mrs. M.P. Sadler, a former resident, was the youngest daughter of Mr. Burton.” Jacqueline Burton Sadler was the wife of Morton P. Sadler who, in 1909, in partnership with William T. McLeod, opened Crozet Hardware, the village’s first full-service establishment of its sort, located next door to the new Crozet Drug Store in the red brick Goodall Building on the hot corner of The Square. Crozet’s commercial district made great strides in 1909, due in part to the late Abram Wayland’s savvy willingness to sell lots from his farm to incoming residents and prospective business owners. Among the most optimistic was the group of orchardists and businessmen who organized and chartered, in 1909, the Fruit Growers Cold Storage and Ice Manufacturing Company. On the former Eugene Mays lot, construction began on a three-story concrete block warehouse with a capacity of 8-10,000 barrels “to store a good part of the apple crop at home instead of sending to the cities to store. They will ship out then in refrigerating cars properly iced.” That project languished mid-

stream and, in May 1910, the effort reorganized under the auspices of the Crozet Ice and Cold Storage Corporation. Principals in this group included Dr. William Fitzhugh Carter, Charles L. Wayland and W.F. Carter Jr. The project was completed by fall 1912. In 1915 the Fruit Growers Ice and Cold Storage Corporation was chartered, and “one of the most modern reinforced concrete [six-story] warehouses was erected adjoining the original building.” Local fruit production continued to climb and demand soon outstripped even what the new behemoth could provide. By 1918, the Carter Corporation began yet another addition: a near-duplicate joined to the 1915 expansion. It is hard to fathom today what this operation meant to Crozet: years of construction jobs, and year-round employment including multiple managers, clerical positions, warehousemen, and a 24/7 maintenance staff. Increased regional fruit production created more jobs for orchard workers, coopers and barrel factories, truck drivers, and maintenance personnel of all sorts. Of equally great value were the additional services and benefits to the village of Crozet: the cold storage’s steam boilers burned coal, and a private rail siding kept a constant supply of fuel available for the plant and

A detail from a c.1908 view preserved by Crozet Print Shop looks past a column of the 1907 Bank of Crozet toward the general store building of brothers Clifton and Curtis Haden. The Fruit Growers Ice and Cold Storage Company purchased the one-acre lot between Haden’s Store and the C&O railroad in 1909 with designs for a three-story plant. Across the street on the corner of The Square, Jim Ellison and his son-in-law McChesney Goodall were forming plans for a new brick two-story drug store.

An “exploded view” of the cold storage illustrating the sequence of building expansions. The original 1910/’12 structure was removed during major renovations initiated in 1978. [Detail from original photo by Mac Sandridge; illustration by Phil James]

residential users; the plant’s dual electrical generators supplied electricity enough that a grid was set up to serve homes and businesses within the village limits. Streetlights were installed “which gave the town a decided metropolitan caste,” as described by the Daily Progress. The plant’s ice production, needed for the refrigerated boxcars that transported the fruit, made the former dependence on uncertain frigid winters and underground storage of unsanitary ice from surface water a thing of the past. Clean water approved by the State Board of Health for the plant’s sanitary ice production was drawn from a 400’ deep well on the compa-

ny’s property into a 50,000-gallon steel tank towering 150’ above the ground. Water mains were installed around the village, and the plant’s own water department kept the clean water flowing. Jobs. Coal. Ice. Power. Water. Lights... until 1930, when the Virginia Public Service Company purchased the light and power rights for Crozet from then-owner of the cold storage Thomas Herbert. Aside from fighting for better roads, the good folks of Crozet, with a first-things-first, can-do attitude, showed that a community-minded progressive people could well supply its own needs—and then some!

The Carter Corporation’s (and later, Thomas Herbert’s) ice manufacturing facility provided wholesale ice to distributors like Crozet businessman Ernest L. Sandridge, who established regular route sales to his customers. The ice was manufactured in 300 lb. blocks. [Original card printed by Crozet Print Shop; courtesy Jim and Delores Baber, and the Phil James Collection]

Follow Secrets of the Blue Ridge on Facebook! Phil James invites contact from those who would share recollections and old photographs of life along the Blue Ridge Mountains of Albemarle County. You may respond to him through his website: www.SecretsoftheBlueRidge.com or at P.O. Box 88, White Hall, VA 22987. Secrets of the Blue Ridge © 2003–2018 Phil James

CROZETgazette

MARCH 2018

LE FOOT SOCCER CAMP

Deep in the woods of Maine, almost at the Canadian border, there is a most amazing, secluded paradise. The Gorman Chairback Lodge is seated in the Hundred Mile Wilderness owned and operated by the Appalachian Mountain Club. In winter, one must park seven miles away and ski, snowshoe or snowmobile in—the latter brings your gear. Accommodations include cabins without plumbing (outhouses available) and several cabins with full baths. Bunkhouses are available for larger groups. Meals and merriment are found in the beautiful lodge. The entire enterprise is off the grid—solar and/or generated power provides the lighting and cooking needs. Cabins are heated by a wood stove and light is provided by propane lanterns. All this on the edge of Long Pond, as the New Englanders like to call what others of us would term, a lake. About six or so 20-30- yearolds staff the place, grooming the cross country ski trails, maintaining the cabins, and cooking. This is not camp food. Instead, after a long and wonderful day enjoying the out-

doors, one is treated to a sophisticated meal by a distinctly inventive cook. Abby Akeley was on duty while we were there in February and provided some of the lunches and dinners that we so enjoyed. I’m not a person who loves a quiche, so on the morning that quiche was served, I was indulging in the sausages, the potatoes, the fruits, and the muffins. But the mushroom quiche looked too good to pass up, and I had a slice. It was delicious, without the soggy bottom crust that so often turns me off of quiche. But I could not discern either the herb or the cheese that Abby used. I poked my head into the kitchen afterwards and learned that she had used gorgonzola— and dill. Dill?! Who would think to combine that with gorgonzola? Not I, but I was immediately sold. If you ever have the chance to visit Gorman Chairback Lodge, you’re in for a treat, both with the natural beauty and the fabulous hospitality provided by the staff there. Till then, enjoy Abby’s unusual quiche, which I reproduce here.

Mushroom Gorgonzola Quiche One, 9- or 10-inch pie crust (recipe provided in the June 2013 Crozet Gazette) 8 oz mushrooms 1 T butter 1 T olive oil

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce 4 oz gorgonzola cheese 6 eggs ½ cup cream 2 tsp dried dill

Sauté the mushrooms in the butter and oil. Add the Worcestershire sauce to the mushrooms to intensify the flavor. Line a 9- or 10-inch pie plate with the pastry dough. Prick the bottom of the crust with a fork, to prevent sogginess. Put the cooked mushrooms in the bottom of the pie crust. Cut the gorgonzola into chunks and cover the mushrooms with the cheese. Beat the eggs with the cream and pour atop the mushrooms and cheese. Sprinkle the dill on top of the eggs. Note that I’ve not suggested additional salt. The cheese and Worchester sauce provide plenty of saltiness. Bake at 3500F for 45-50 minutes until the eggs are set. Serve warm or at room temperature. At the Maine ski lodge, this was served at breakfast. I made it for dinner and served with green beans.

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CROZETgazette

MARCH 2018

From the Editor —continued from page 3

In the future, when the dangers are finally acknowledged, our posterity will be astounded and appalled that we actually built slow-roasting radiation sources near our schools and exposed our still-developing children to the effects. And this for the $40,000-a-year check to the schools? In a $188.5 million annual budget, that barely amounts to one part-time position. And the advantage of broad-

To the Editor —continued from page 3

they don’t think dialogue will make a difference to the lack of awareness of and perpetuation of the discrimination they face. When the KKK posted flyers downtown and the Waynesboro City Council refused to issue a condemnation, these neighbors told her: “See?” When I heard the story, I wanted to speak up and stand with the many people of color who are feeling targeted in this national climate. I wondered if Crozet would be willing to speak collectively. To be a silent bystander when families are being torn apart by deportations, people of color continue to face deadly violence, and hate crimes are on the rise nationwide, is to be complicit. After the events of August 12 so nearby, we should join other communities in making clear our values and commitments. Most of the faces in the room nodded in agreement when I made my request, though a few people felt that the statement was redundant and unnecessary, given all Crozet has already done to show that it is inclusive—for example promoting fair and affordable housing practices. To address another reaction, of course the proposal is not more important than actually being inclusive. Declarations mean nothing if contradicted by actions. But remaining silent can be construed as an action. “A time comes when silence is betrayal,” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said in 1967. The times call us to stand with our fellow

band connectivity? How did we educate ourselves without it? If we’re just supposed to look everything up on our phones in the future, why do we need school buildings at all? Learning something used to mean that you didn’t need to look it up any more. The county should say no. Nothing can make the tower pretty enough to be at a school. Cell towers are “necessary” to us now, but they should be in remote locations where the radiation field is unlikely to reach people. One tall tower is better than several shorter ones. Americans against unjust and deadly supremacist ideologies, which are attempting to reenter the mainstream. If we do not challenge them, our silence speaks. If you live in Crozet and would like to see the statement above published on the Crozet Community Association’s home page, please contact the CCA. At their meeting on March 8 at 7:30 p.m. at the Field School they will be revising language to reflect that this is a reaffirmation of values, not a change in values, deciding whether to adopt it, and, if so, deciding in what forum to publish it. You can reach the CCA’s governing body through Crozet Community@gmail.com Atieno Bird Crozet Immigration Trends I read Dr. Reiser’s article on immigrations trends with interest (“Crozet Annals of Medicine: Mother of Exiles,” Crozet Gazette, February 2018). He states the second problem is that far fewer babies are being born. I could not help thinking of the 60 million Americans that have been aborted since 1973. They would have contributed not just financially, but in every aspect and area of the life of our country. Marie Marklein Crozet What if it was Crozet? I need to ask the most terrifying question that haunted every parent this past week. What if it was Crozet? What if it happened here? In our schools? To

CROZETgazette REBECCA KENDALL

our children and our teachers? It is almost unbearable to ask this, but we must. Our country must never accept that our children may not return home from a day at school, because of a mass shooting. Gun violence is preventable, and it is time for the United States to join every other smart, prosperous, developed nation, and pass common sense gun safety protections. Most Americans support stronger gun control. In the November 2017 election, Virginia voters identified gun violence as their second most important concern, and twelve NRA- backed Delegates lost their seats to pro-gun reform challengers. Unfortunately, of over two dozen gun safety bills introduced by Democrats, NRAfunded House members did not allow any of these bill get to the floor, including legislation that would ban bumpstocks like the one used in the Las Vegas shooting. Since the Parkland shooting, there has been an outpouring of student activism calling “BS” on the politicians, beholden to the National Rifle Association, who do nothing to protect our citizens from gun violence. If you, like many others, are horrified by the escalation of school shootings in our country, there are a few very important this you can do: CALL on Congress to support some of the policies that work in other countries, such as a ban on assault weapons like the one used in the Parkland shooting, or implementing universal background checks. VOTE in the 2018 mid-term election for candidates that support common sense gun protections like universal background checks. Representative Tom Garrett boasts on his website that he has the highest rating from the National Rifle Association. He co-sponsored the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act, which allows individuals to carry a concealed weapon into another state, and threatens women fleeing domestic violence, as well as a bill to eliminate fees on silencers. Can you imagine the Las Vegas shooting had the shooter used a silencer? There are several qualified candidates running against Tom Garrett. Ask candidates

MARCH 2018

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Rebecca Kendall and other Crozetians gathered at the four-way stop on February 16 to hold a vigil for victims of the Parkland shooting.

about their stand on gun safety and vote Garrett out of office this November. TALK with your friends and neighbors about gun safety. The majority of gun deaths in America aren’t from mass shootings in which a shooter uses a rapid-firing weapon to slaughter children. Of the over 33,000 people killed in the U.S. every year by guns, most are suicides. An additional many thousands of people die each year from accidental shootings. These gun deaths are also preventable. Conversations and expectations with friends and family members about responsible gun ownership are an important way to assure safety. For support on how to have these conversations, go to www.besmartforkids.org and stay tuned for a training and discussion coming to Western Albemarle soon. The argument that the 2nd Amendment gives the absolute right to anyone to own assault weapons, without consideration of public safety, is outdated and morally bankrupt. I was raised in a family full of hunters, with my father’s locked gun cabinet in our living room, and learned to shoot a rifle when I was a young girl. This letter is NOT about gun prohibition. It is an urgent plea to join the rest of the world in prioritizing lives over guns and passing common sense protections. Our children deserve better. Rebecca Kendall Crozet

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MARCH 2018 MIKE MARSHALL

Tim Tolson presenting at the February 21 CCAC meeting

CCAC

—continued from page 1

Crozet Master Plan to show CCAC members how survey results reinforced language in the plan. “We took the survey and connected to the Master Plan,” Tolson said. The survey showed powerful community agreement on five issues, he said: 1) preserve Crozet’s small town feel, even while experiencing further development; 2) don’t alter the current Growth Area Boundary; 3) ensure downtown Crozet is the center of development; 4) limit commercial development along Route 250; 5) expand transportation options, especially biking and pedestrian options. The one question where the community seemed ambivalent was over development of Interstate 64’s Interchange 107 at Yancey Mills. Tolson said it was an issue that should be discussed in a town hall forum during the plan revision process. Crozet must wait for county planners to finish the Pantops Master Plan, a process expected to take another year, before turning to a review of Crozet’s plan. CCAC member John McKeon said that what the survey shows is that “the longer you’ve lived here, the more you are opposed to development at Exit 107. The more history you know about it, the more you’re against it.”

“Should we use this information to say something to the Board of Supervisors now and not wait?” asked CCAC chair David Stoner. “These results really support the outcome of the Adelaide decision,” which downsized a subdivision plan proposed for Rt. 250, noted Tolson. “We have to take it to the board to leave them with no ambiguity about the principles,” said CCAC member Tom Loach. “We should say to the Supervisors: we just redid the community survey. Until the revision is done we want these principles respected.” “We should make a general statement that is not in the context of any particular application,” said White Hall Planning Commissioner Jennie More. “We do not want to get in to a position like we were with the brewery that the county is making a plan behind closed doors without consulting the community,” said Loach. “I would even expand the principles to include that we want to be notified about projects that are being considered in areas adjoining the Crozet Growth Area.” “Can we issue something that pulls these issues out?” asked Kim Guenther. “I think yes,” answered Stoner. “Your job is to help implement the Crozet Master Plan,” said White Hall Supervisor Ann Mallek. “The good news for us is that the language in 2010 is already supported,” said Loach.

Stoner suggested that the CCAC’s March 21 meeting be a “workshop to create a document to send to the Supervisors.” Members were asked to review the Master Plan meanwhile. “I found it valuable to look for the five principles throughout the Plan,” said Tolson. “What you find is that one will appear on like eight different pages.” “I’d like it to be something unequivocal,” said McKeon. “It’s our job to be the steering committee for the plan. Let’s leave no wiggle room.” Leslie Burns suggested raising the issue of density calculations manipulated by parcel boundary adjustments, but the Committee felt that that issue, present across the county, should be addressed separately. “I hear a consensus that we want to transmit this,” concluded Stoner. The CCAC’s March 21 meeting will be held at The Field School at 1408 Crozet Avenue. In other business, the CCAC heard an update on the application of Milestone Communications to build a 145-foot cell phone tower immediately above the home stands at the football field at Western Albemarle High School. Lori Schweller of the law firm LeClaireRyan in Charlottesville said that 22 eastern cedar trees will be planted along Rt. 250 to screen the tower from the road. Plus, a 200-foot radius of trees around the tower will remain undisturbed. A “major change’ is the loca-

tion of the utility building from under the stands to away from the stands, a change requested by fire and rescue officials to make the building easier to get to. Schweller said that Verizon and T-Mobile have sent letters of interest about using the tower and that AT&T is also considered a possibility. Meanwhile the County’s Architectural Review Board, which judges on aesthetics, has approved the proposal. Because it’s a Tier III application, it still requires approval for a Special Use Permit by the Supervisors. Ira Socol, executive director of technology for county schools, told the CCAC that the tower “creates equal opportunity for all our children wherever they are in the county. Students who lack access to broadband are significantly limited in what they can do. We hear, ‘We don’t have access. How is my child supposed to keep up?’ “We are building up our fiber networks so that we don’t have to pay commercial rates. The other thing is the LTE distribution capacity. Topography is our biggest challenge. A 145-foot tower will let us reach 400 children who do not now have access. Every 10 feet we come down, we lose significant numbers of students. It’s not our goal to always come back to the taxpayers for more money.” “Will students be provided connectivity equipment to pick up signals?” asked CCAC member Shawn Bird. “Yes,” said Socol. “We do continuous studies about health impacts,” added Socol. “There is just no evidence at distance that this creates any problems. I know this is emerging science. I would not be here if I thought there was any danger.” WAHS student Thomas Jackson raised the matter of studies done in Europe that show that cell tower radiation affects the navigational ability of honey bees, causing them to not be able to find their hive. “The bees on Carters Mountain, which has many arrays, are doing incredibly well and producing large amounts of honey,” responded Socol. “We see no evidence at all at Monticello High School. We’re always evaluating.”

CROZETgazette “Really?” said Jackson, asking next for a citation. “The more access, the more opportunities. That’s why we devote so much energy to this,” said Socol. “Are you creating corporate drones or citizens?” said Jackson. “How would you feel if a private citizen was asking for this tower?” asked More. “A lot of ordinances need updating,” answered Socol. “Our students would no longer benefit from it. I would have no safety concern about it. There’s no evidence of a problem. This is me speaking from my level of expertise. I’m not a medical doctor.” “We should look at it the same way whether it’s a private or public applicant,” said More. “Laws are living documents,” responded Socol. According to county planning staffer Chris Perez, who was present, the tower can be raised by 20 feet one time by right once it’s an approved facility. “Our ordinance is focused on visibility and that’s what the staff review is focused on,” he said, “not police or fire/rescue access. We can’t take that into consideration.” The application asks for four exceptions, he said. “I don’t see why the staff would recommend approval because it does not meet the ordinance.” Federal Communications Commission rules also forbid localities from considering possible health affects when voting on tower applications. Best asked for a show of hands to gauge CCAC sentiment on the application, but that was postponed until the March meeting. The request goes before the Planning Commission on March 10. The tower installed at Albemarle High School also did not meet the ordinance requirements, but was approved by the Supervisors.

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Bird asked if the $40,000 a year income expected from the tower would go to the schools around the tower. “We’re a community system and the money will be distributed as needed across the county. We trust the School Board to put the money where they need it.” CCAC member Allie Pesch asked for clarification on how the 400 students presumed to be without Internet access were identified. “We collected address data and we surveyed students. We looked at addresses where reasonable broadband access was available. “Did you survey those addresses to see what their access is?” asked Mallek. “This is one of the number one things we hear all the time,” answered Socol. “Is the 400 number absolute? No. If it were two students, I would have a responsibility to do something.” Police and fire/rescue services would also be able to use the tower’s signal, he added. “We need a certain angle of attack to get to people’s home. I would like every child in Greenwood and White Hall to get the signal. We originally targeted a 185-foot height that would do the most. We can figure out how to get to 90 percent of kids. It’s the last 10 percent that’s hard. I’ve been in educational technology since the last century. I do not have safety concerns about this. The dispersal of energy is reasonable.” “How many students would still have a problem?” asked CCAC member Phil Best. “Under 100 in the western feeder pattern,” said Socol. “What’s the correlation of access to academic performance?” asked Sean Jackson, a neighbor of the tower location. “Hundreds of studies,” said Socol.

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When A Runner Must Walk By Megan Hollomon October 28, 2017 was a great day to race. I had just completed my first half-marathon since becoming a mom to two children. I felt proud and accomplished, like I finally got my groove back. Arguably the toughest workout since childbirth, I “left it all out there” on the Chessie Trail in Lexington, Virginia. My younger brother Mackie was the first person I called following the awards ceremony. I gave him a quick race recap and proudly shared my time. Mackie has always been “my person” in all matters running related. Over the years, we have come to know an authentic experience of catharsis through running and the mental benefit it provides. We both agree therein lies the proverbial “runner’s high” sought after by beginner and seasoned runners alike. We share the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to running. From my nagging hip pain to his GI issues on a long training run we completed together in early September. I suppose if you run long enough, it can quite literally bring out the best and worst in you! I last ran Sunday, November 26, 2017. Our family had just spent Thanksgiving together at my Mom’s river house in the northern neck of Virginia. That nagging hip soreness had unfortunately morphed into a debilitating pain that I could not ignore. No amount of stretching, ice or ibuprofen could provide me with the relief I needed to run. I was discouraged but remained optimistic, knowing the busyness of the upcoming holiday season would provide a good distraction. Then, Mackie died in a car accident a week later on December 1. He had just set a PR in the Richmond Half Marathon two weeks earlier. He was 27 years old. Distracted doesn’t even begin to describe the month of December. I felt broken. Truly damaged to the core without the first clue of how to cope. Like many of us, my go-to for some of life’s biggest challenges has always been running. The day after my dad died, 13 years

ago, I set out for a quick 5k around the neighborhood and vividly remember a car slowing down to ask who was chasing me. I made an appointment with Dr. Wilder at the University of Virginia Runner’s Clinic just before Christmas. He sent me home on conservative treatment to include rest and anti-inflammatories as needed. I begged for permission to walk and he reluctantly agreed on the terms that I would stop at the first onset of any discomfort. Okay, he had a deal. Previous early morning runs turned into moderately paced walks on the treadmill where I would barely even work up a sweat. If you’re a runner, then you might understand the level of frustration and degree of impatience this brought me. There was no cathartic release, no mental escape or “runner’s high” to pull me out of the depths of my grief. Even worse, there was no Mackie to share the disappointing news of my injury with; no Mackie to crack a bad joke and lighten the mood. An MRI of my left hip would later confirm a stress fracture that did not show up on my initial X-ray. I hung up the phone with Dr. Wilder’s nurse that Monday morning feeling both overwhelmed and relieved all at once. Dr. Wilder ordered nearly a month on crutches. To finally have a diagnosis to explain the pain that had side-lined me since November was a relief. But the reality of life on crutches with two small children while managing responsibilities both at work and home overwhelmed me. I knew I had to establish a “new normal” but I had no idea how that would look or feel. Life without Mackie and now, life without running. You don’t go through life expecting ever to know that kind of struggle until it suddenly becomes your reality. It felt like someone handed me a test I was in no way prepared to take. After several days of self-pity (and enough ice cream to sustain a small dairy farm), I began to realize the healing had to begin in a place where my running shoes could not take me. On so many days since he died,

Mackie Wellford

I have found myself asking, “what would Mackie tell me to do right now?” I’m certain he wouldn’t want me digging for the answer in a carton of Breyer’s. It has become clear to me that “running away” from the reality of Mackie’s death is not a viable coping mechanism. No matter how badly I want to lace up my Asics and slip out the front door, my injury prevents that from happening. Likewise, no matter how hard I try to distract myself with work, friends or family, the reality of life without my dear brother prevents me from experiencing a familiar joy I once knew. Although I am still in the early stages of both grieving and rehabbing this injury, I have come to find a hope that was unknown to me in the days following Mackie’s death. The initial shock is wearing off and I’m now facing the crippling reality that life must go on—without him. Similarly, I find restored strength in the promise of healing that each new day has to offer as I inch closer to a time when I can begin running again. It’s slow, but it’s progress. I will run again and I will find joy again but both will take time. Time gives us hope. No one can be certain when time will run out. With hope, our time is better spent. In terms of running, isn’t it always a race against the clock? In grieving and healing, time takes on a different feel. It moves forward and leaves you clinging to the past, the memory, the “remember when.” I reflect back on that long training run Mackie and I did together last September. He was so strong, so full of life, how can he really be gone? What will it feel like to run without him? I don’t know. I suppose the only way to really find out is by putting one foot in front of the other.

CROZETgazette

MARCH 2018

TimeBank volunteers.

TimeBank Seeks Crozet-area Members By Theresa Curry

theresa@crozetgazette.com

Can you read music, teach sign language, repair a lamp or plan a party? If so, it’s like money in the bank. That’s the theory behind the Charlottesville TimeBank, an organization that allows people with skills to provide an hour of service in exchange for an hour of the service they need. That doesn’t mean you have to find a plumber who needs a gardener, or a CPA who needs electrical work: the TimeBank keeps track of services requested and offered, and makes a match, valuing each hour equally. “Everyone has something to offer,” said TimeBank coordinator Octavia Allis at a February informational meeting at the Crozet Library. Crozet residents make up a significant number of TimeBank members, and it appears that even more are

interested. Allis said they were expecting eight or so people to attend the meeting, and twice that number showed up. Demonstrating the wealth of talent available locally, attendees had skills in business, equestrian arts, homesteading, computer programming, quilting, pastry making, spiritual counseling and gardening. One of the projects of the TimeBank is the “Repair Cafe,” It’s a simple concept right in step with the sharing economy: just bring your broken items to be repaired by volunteers for free. The next event is Saturday, March 17, from 12 to 4 p.m. at The Habitat Store on Harris Street in Charlottesville. Joining the TimeBank requires only a commitment to the philosophy and attendance at an orientation. For more information, go to www.cvilletimebank.com.

The TimeBank operates occasional “repair cafes” to keep useful items in use.

CROZETgazette

MARCH 2018

Mountainside Senior Living Dementia Unit Set to Open by Michael Marshall

editor@crozetgazette.com

More than 30 local officials and others were on hand February 15 for a ribbon-cutting at Mountainside Senior Living that opened the facility’s new secure 20-bed dementia unit with 12 rooms. A renovation of the facility’s third floor converted it from assisted–living rooms and the new layout includes a “snoezelen room,” a room that accommodates two that’s set aside for alternative therapy—meaning not drugs— for patients that become over-stimulated. Plus, there’s a dining area with a long family-style dining table for communal meals and a large community room that looks out through panoramic windows on The Square, where there is usually an entertaining bustle to observe. The renovation also incorporated what were balconies into the reconfigured rooms. All rooms are secured and cameras monitor the halls and common areas. “I realize how hard everyone has worked,” said Jefferson Area Board for Aging executive director Marta Keene. “I’m amazed at what this has turned out to be. So many of our residents have been moving out because we didn’t have a memory unit, and when we did a market

From left: Pat Hall, MSL; MSL administrator Sharon Britt; Leslie Reed of Twice As Nice thrift store; Fluvanna County supervisor Mozell Booker; Albemarle Supervisors chair Ann Mallek; Andrew Dracopoli of the Genans Foundation; Heather Hill, Charlottesville Vice Mayor (concealing Martin Silverman); Philip Sparks of the Perry Foundation; and Regina Kerns of JABA.

study, we realized there is a bigger need. ” “It’s a proud moment for the community, said Martin Silverman, the chair of the Jefferson Elder Care board, which oversees MSL on behalf of JABA. “The board had the vision to transform the third floor. We’ll be applying best practices. We’re committed to providing the assistance our residents need.” He thanked donors to the project as well as those who helped the facility replace its elevators. Community dining table at the Mountainside memory-care unit.

From left: Regina Kerns of JABA with Mountainside staff members Trina Murphy, Kati Decker, and Sharon Britt.

The unit has a small kitchen area and two refrigerators, though all meals are brought up from the main kitchen. Each work shift will include a nurse and two aides. There will be activities suited to the patients. “We’ll use what we call positive approaches rather than medications to control behaviors,” said Sharon Britt, Mountainside’s administrator. “If they like to clean, they can clean. If they like to file things, they can file. We’ll follow their lead.” Patients can also be escorted to the facility’s “back yard” for time outdoors. The private rooms (three) are $5,500 per month and semi-private rooms go for $4,800. Half the beds are spoken for.

CROZETgazette

MARCH 2018

The Batesville Strings at the group’s Christmas recital, from left: Betty Tabony, Maria Fox, Philip Clark, Cynthia McCaskill, Pamela Burke, Angela Saunders.

Batesville Strings Invites Members The Batesville Strings is a group of musicians from Charlottesville, Crozet, Ivy, and surrounding areas who meet on Thursday evenings in Batesville and are led by Philip Clark, the music director of the Crozet Community Orchestra. The members meet weekly but dropins are welcome, and the group is looking to expand its regular membership. Clark is an accomplished musician and performer, professor and instructor of violin and viola, and composer/ arranger. The musical tastes of the group cover a wide range including compositions by Vivaldi, Handel, and Telemann,

as well as folk tunes and an original “Batesville Ballad” written and composed by Clark specifically for the group. Clark carefully arranges the music to fit the skill level of each musician, from the experienced violinist CrozGaz_March 2017_Layout 1 2/27/17 to the beginning cellist, and incorporates firsts’ and seconds’ parts in arrangements that best suit the ensemble. The Batesville Strings performed for the first time together in a Christmas recital. To learn more about Batesville Strings, visit the group’s web site, https://pclarkmusic.com/rockfish-valley-community-orchestra.

Fine Arts Hall of Fame Established Western Albemarle High School’s Fine Arts Department is launching its Fine Arts Hall of Fame this year. Nominations for the first round of inductees are now being accepted, and should be submitted to Assistant Principal Tim Driver by March 6. Those eligible include alumni, former staff, administrators, and members of the community. Alumni must have graduated at least seven years ago, teachers or staff must have had a minimum of 15 years of service in ACPS, and administrators must have had a minimum of 10 years of service in ACPS. Characteristics to consider are leadership, impact on fine arts programs, community involvement, length of service, and/or earned honors and awards. “We are eager to have this opportunity to recognize outstanding contributors to the

fine arts learning experiences here at Western,” said Driver. The state’s new graduation requirements emphasize skills in such areas as creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, communications, and community service. “Each of these skills is advanced by our performing and creative fine arts programming.” Each year, inductees will be recognized with a plaque mounted on the wall near the WAHS auditorium. An induction ceremony will also be held near the end of the school year. The Hall of Fame nomination and induction process will recur annually. A maximum of three candidates will be selected for induction each year, to be chosen by a Fine Arts committee. The inaugural inductees will be announced at the March 16 performance of this year’s spring musical, Legally Blonde.

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MARCH 2018

A Consciousness-Raising Read A Review of What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank by Nathan Englander by Clover Carroll | clover@crozetgazette.com

What do you think about when you think about Anne Frank? Nazis … Holocaust … hiding … incredible courage in the face of overwhelming odds—which are all themes of Nathan Englander’s short story collection What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank, JMRL’s Same Page Community Reads selection (which replaces the traditional Big Read this year). In the title story, two Jewish couples—an ultra-Orthodox pair visiting from Jerusalem and a secular, suburban couple living in south Florida—play the “Anne Frank game,” in which they try to imagine which of their friends would hide them in the event of a modern-day Holocaust. Would you? The characters slowly drop their inhibitions as they sit around the kitchen table drinking and smoking pot, reminiscing about the wives’ shared childhood in yeshiva (an Orthodox Jewish school that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts), and dancing in the rain (a rare experience for the Israelis). This “thought experiment,” also jokingly referred to as the “Righteous Gentile game,” leads to results that surprise everyone. But the results don’t really matter; it’s the existence of the game itself, the need to even ask that question, that is so troubling and that sets the tone of this story collection. In the same way that whites have difficulty understanding the challenges of the black experience in America, Gentiles may be largely unaware of the fear of present and past persecution experienced by our Jewish compatriots. These brilliantly written and thought-provoking stories introduce us to some of the issues playing out today in the Middle East as well as in Europe and America in a subtle, indirect form that is more accessible than an academic explanation.

In a way, all of the characters in these stories are exposed to the threat of anti-Semitism, which, though seemingly hidden, still lurks in the shadows of modern global society. As one online reader of The Washington Times commented, “In my life, not a day goes by without discussion of survival tactics of one sort or another and political and religious issues based on the experience of the Holocaust… Englander exposes the realities of day-to-day Jewish life.” The story’s (and book’s) memory-taxing title alludes to the classic story by Raymond Carver (1938-1988)—credited with reviving the American short story—called “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love,” in which two couples drink gin and talk about love “in an atmosphere that grows increasingly tense, leaving at least one of them irreparably exposed” as perhaps unable to love at all. Englander also successfully mimics Carver’s realism and minimalist prose style, which implies far more than it states. Exposure plays a role in several of the stories in Englander’s highly acclaimed, cutting-edge collection, as he explores the meaning of faith and Jewish cultural identity in the contemporary world. The book’s cover, depicting a brick wall with occasional peepholes, magnifies the themes of threat and entrapment. In “How We Avenged the Blums,” a group of timid Jewish middle school boys sets out to thwart an anti-Semitic bully by taking self-defense classes. “A shaving-cream swastika … painted on their walkway, [which] washed away in the rain before anyone could document its existence” is taken straight from Englander’s own experiences growing up in an orthodox Jewish community on Long Island. The devastating “Sister Hills” chronicles the history of Israel’s settlements from the eve of the Yom Kippur War through the present in a political fable constructed around the tale of

two mothers who strike a terrible bargain to save a child, and dramatizes how hardship, loss, and suffering can turn a heroine into a villain. In the fable “Free Fruit for Young Widows,” a Holocaust survivor, upon his return home after liberation, must confront the family of his childhood nurse who have taken possession of his (deceased) family’s house and farm. Even my least favorite story, a heavy-handed allegory of the relationship between Author and Reader, contains the memorable quotation, “I write to touch people in the way that I, as a reader, have been touched.” And in my favorite story, “Camp Sundown,” elderly Holocaust survivors at a summer camp in the Berkshires become convinced that Doley, a hulking Ukrainian who plays bridge, was formerly a guard at their Nazi concentration camp. “To murder is to murder,” Arnie argues, insisting that the young camp director take action. “To stand by for a murder is to murder. The turning away of the head is the same as turning the knife.” Ironically, as vigilante justice takes over, Josh himself may end by being the one to turn away his head. The juxtaposition of the two “camps” underscores the irony. Englander handles these intensely serious issues with a subtle, honest touch and an undercurrent of deliciously dark humor that keeps us turning the page. One couple at the summer camp, who live in an adobe house because of their extreme fear of wooden house fires, wear around their necks “a smoke alarm on a lanyards woven specifically for this purpose in crafts.” In the allegorical “Peep Show,” Allen confronts his guilty conscience at an adult theater in the form of naked rabbis and his own pregnant wife. The two couples in the first story, after “borrowing” the pot from the suburbanites’ teenaged son, roll the joint in the only paper at hand—a tampon wrapper! Each story is different,

the plots unpredictable but always memorable, and they all share the same underlying theme of “how notions of right and wrong, guilt and innocence, victim and oppressor shift over time as memories fade or new perspectives open up.” As USA Today notes, “these eight masterful stories also continue the work of Philip Roth, Saul Bellow, and Bernard Malamud—authors who mined the Jewish-American experience with tremendous humor, humanity, and healthy amounts of guilt.” Nathan Englander grew up on Long Island and lived in Israel for five years during the ‘90s. His debut short story collection, For the Relief of Unbearable Urges (1999), won the PEN/Malamud award, and this collection won the 2012 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Now Distinguished Writer-in Residence at New York University, his short fiction and essays have appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times, the Atlantic Monthly, and the Washington Post. Other works include the 2007 novel The Ministry of Special Cases and the play The Twenty-Seventh Man (2014). Englander will be talking about his new novel about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Dinner at the Center of the Earth, at the Virginia Festival of the Book Literary Luncheon on Thursday, March 22 from 11:45-1:30 (a ticketed event), and that same evening at 6 p.m. at the Northside Library (free). He will also join Rabbis Dan Alexander and Vanessa Ochs to discuss interpretations of the Haggadah, including Englander’s translation of the continued on page 53

CROZETgazette

Cohousing —continued from page 4

Charlottesville. “That’s not easy to find.” “Getting something innovative is really hard when you have a lot of rules in place. That was really challenging. For instance, dealing with setbacks. [The county’s] model is 1990s. We need to open up to new concepts such as pocket neighborhoods. We’re getting behind the times. We really should have been an HOA, but the rules forced us to be a condominium.” Lazar grew up in Fairfax County. “I used to run around with packs of kids in the neighborhood. That’s much more rare now. Half of our buyers are young families who want their kids to be able to run around the neighborhood and people have your back. I think it’s made my daughters much more creative. They’ll play more and interact with adults more. The concept is also attractive to older couples who are tired of a big house and want to be around others and kids. Our tag line is “yesterday’s neighborhood today.” “We’re excited to be part of Crozet. There’s so many people where this is their new home. We have an orchestra! People coming here to cohousing are attracted to Crozet—just the friendliness you encounter at the grocery store. “This neighborhood is going to be pretty involved in Crozet. We think we will be one of the focal points and Crozet will be proud of it. We’ll be sponsoring events that Crozet citizens will be attending. That’s the way it’s happened organically in other cohousing communities.” Find out more about the cohousing concept on the Web at cohousing.org.

MIKE MARSHALL

the management of the community. “They have private back yards with fences,” he said. “The architecture makes it happen. There’s a road, but it’s closed off except for big deliveries. There are no steps to get into the house. The kitchens are in front so they look out on the public areas. The living rooms face the woods, and there’ll be a trail along the creek that’s accessible.” Lazar said the community would also be interested in helping build a trail that would connect to Crozet Elementary School. There’s a central green and mountain views to the north. There’s a nice heated pool, fenced, too. The project has three parking lots and each house is reserved one spot near their door. The community also includes the “common house,” the old farmhouse that dates to 1890— one section is an 1840 log cabin moved from West Virginia-which will be the location for “clubhouse events,” such as potluck meals or community dinners. The common house can be reserved for private events, too. “There’s a culture of sharing. In Blacksburg we share bikes and canoes, lawnmowers and chain saws. It saves space.” The existing shed will be used for communal storage but will probably be renovated later for more communal space. Parkview Road will have a bicycle lane added on its east side to reach the project. Lazar said he found Crozet when he was looking for a flat, six-acre site around

MARCH 2018

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CROZETgazette

MARCH 2018

BY DR. ROBERT C. REISER

crozetannals@crozetgazette.com

Gestalt—In which I go head to head with Dr. Google

EVERY SUNDAY • 10 A.M. The Field School • 1408 Crozet Avenue

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Spring is here! I don’t need to go outside to know it, I recognize all the signs in my interns (first year out of medical school trainees). There is a new spring in their step after a long dark, depressed winter. They now know they are going to survive this formative year and come June will become upper-level residents. This has been a hard year for them. They came to the hospital in June, rested, optimistic, eager to meet each other and us, the attending physicians. Their first month was filled with orientation lectures, retreats, team-building exercises and introductory shifts in the Emergency Department. For that first month they were welcomed, supported and they forged new friendships with each other and the nurses. After that, they were thrown to the wolves. Scattered to all corners of the hospital on various solitary off-service rotations, each with its own rules, culture and expectations. Just when they began to get the hang of each rotation they were switched to another new service, over and over again. Rotations like Cardiology, Pediatric Surgery, Trauma ICU, Medical ICU, Anesthesia, General Medicine and others. Lots of night call, lots of new material and decision-making, lots of mistakes, some serious. No one was going to the gym anymore, social outings became rare and were cut short by the prospect of pre-dawn rounds. And so the interns were looking pretty ragged through December and January. Chronically tired with blunted emotions and borderline depression. But as the days lengthen in February and March, the interns are blossoming like the daffodils. They have learned enough to survive. They know

which residents to seek out for help with hard cases. They know which nurses will give them enough space to catch their breath before requesting more decisions and orders. They know which attendings to question and which attendings are better left unquestioned. Above all this they have learned a vast amount of medicine and from that primarily flows their newfound equipoise. They are competent, they are confident, they can take care of sick people. The second- and third-year upper-level residents have made similar progress and my supervisory role has become largely ceremonial in the simpler cases. This was brought home to me on a recent shift when my second-year resident approached me. He proposed that he would manage all of his patients that day without any input from me. If he had questions he would seek me out, but otherwise he wanted to see if he could do it. I was charmed with this arrangement. One less person to talk to. I could see his orders on the computer and follow the results. And of course I saw all his patients surreptitiously while he was busy doing other things. This went well for a while. I monitored one case from behind the curtain as the 50-year patient told his story in Spanish. I caught several words, mareado (dizzy), una semana, (one week). Pretty simple case. Benign vertigo. Dolor en pecho. What’s that, chest pain? Not so simple. I would need to take a closer look, which I did after the resident finished up. I satisfied myself that the chest pain was also benign. So I was surprised when the resident approached me for guidance on this case. “I am not sure what to do with this patient.”

CROZETgazette I sat silently. “He looks pretty benign. The chest pain was an afterthought. I could let him go home.” I sat expressionless. “I could admit him to Cardiology.” I inclined my head noncommittally. “His HEART Score is 5,” He added. “I Googled it.” The HEART Score is a clinical decision rule that helps doctors gauge the risk of death of any given patient with chest pain. Each letter stands for a risk factor: History, ECG, Age, Risk factors like smoking, Troponin (a blood test for heart attack). Each of the five components is awarded zero, one, or two points depending on the degree of abnormality. Five is a high score, corresponding to a risk of 12-16 percent for a bad outcome. “That is a high score,” I allowed. “I could admit him to Cardiology.” “You could.” “Or I could send him home. His troponin is normal.” “True,” I replied giving him little guidance. Hey, he was the one who wanted to make all the decisions. “His heart score is 5. I guess I answered my own question. I’ll admit him to cards.” “Good luck.” I knew Cardiology would shoot down the admission. This man was not having cardiac chest pain, his chest wall muscles were sore from repetitive lifting. Which brings me to an observation about a generational shift in medical decision-making. My generation read lots of papers, saw lots of patients and made the best decisions we could based on what we now call gestalt. We also probably made a lot of mistakes. Gestalt is a tricky concept. Merriam-Webster defines it as something that is made of many parts and yet is somehow more than or different from the combination of its parts. It is sort of the opposite of the clinical decision rule described above where a thing is just the sum of its parts. My gestalt of the patient was that putting those numbers together did not truly account for his diagnosis or prognosis. The latest generation of physicians, the generation I am currently training, relies not as

MARCH 2018 much on gestalt but much more heavily on decision rules, algorithms and guidelines to diagnose patients. They have generated hundreds if not thousands of decision aids using research and statistics. They take comfort in numbers and data and guidelines (and working in groups). Hundreds of decision aids can be found with a google search, which is where this resident found the HEART score My generation of physicians, used to making decisions on their own data, deride this new paradigm as “cookbook medicine” and claim medicine is too complicated to be reduced to a recipe to be applied to each patient. So who is right? Well, it is too soon to say. Of the last 171 decision aids published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine, our major specialty journal, only 21 were compared directly to physician judgment or gestalt. In the remaining 150, no comparison was made or could be identified in the external literature. In the 21 comparisons, the decision aid was clearly superior to clinician judgment in only two. Of the two comparisons favoring the decision aid, one was too unwieldy for widespread use and the other performed well in widespread clinical use. Conversely, six decision aids clearly underperformed when compared to clinician judgment, and the remainder were a wash. Examples of popular decision instruments either inferior to or no different than clinician judgment included scores for appendicitis, scores for pediatric head injury, rules for pulmonary embolism (blood clots in the lung), and rules to evaluate patients who have fainted to determine benign or serious causes. Back to the case at hand. In the end, the resident, intrigued by my equanimity about the patient’s outcome in the face of this alarming HEART score, went back and spent a lot of time with him at the bedside puzzling out his story. Ignoring the HEART score, he eventually reached the same conclusion I had, which was actually also his initial gut reaction to the patient before he applied the HEART score. And thus, is gestalt developed. We sent the patient home and he did fine. Take that Google!

Third Thursday at The Lodge at Old Trail march 15 5:30 PM

The Hidden Thomas Jefferson This month we’re excited to present one of the most interesting events of the year, ”The Hidden Thomas Jefferson—Understanding His Complexity in Contemporary Terms”. Charles Bindig, Ed.D., will be on hand to introduce us to the many sides and talents of Thomas Jefferson. We all know he was the third president and author of the Declaration of Independence, but his contributions to American Exceptionalism, Architecture, Music and Art are much less known. Charles will also share some of his experiences being a guide at Monticello and how he fashions a balanced view of not only the home but Jefferson’s many accomplishments. This is sure to be a fascinating glimpse into the life of a fascinating man— Thomas Jefferson.Please make your reservations today. Seating is limited.

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC!

Make your reservation early. RSVP to 434.823.9100 or rsvp@lodgeatoldtrail.com 330 Claremont Lane Crozet, Virginia 22932

www.lodgeatoldtrail.com INDEPENDENT LIVING • ASSISTED LIVING • MEMORY CARE

CROZETgazette

MARCH 2018

By Lynn Coffey It wasn’t that many years ago that every rural household kept at least one cow for the family’s milk supply; more if they were blessed with a large number of children. Along with the milk came other nourishing byproducts such as buttermilk, yogurt, cheese and fresh-churned butter. Although I’ve heard the older people talk about making butter the old-fashioned way, I had never actually seen the process or tasted the final product until Viola Humphreys asked if I’d like to watch her make it. Viola and her husband, Lowell, were raised on mountain farms and growing up were well acquainted with milking the family cows as part of their everyday chores. The Brown Swiss, Guernsey, and Jersey breeds give milk with the most butterfat content, they explained, making for a creamier and better-tasting product. The Humphreys have a gentle Guernsey cow named Shannon Gold that Lowell milks every day. Many people think a cow has to be milked twice; once in the morning and again in the afternoon, but sometimes Lowell milks in the morning and lets Shannon’s calf

have the afternoon shift. People who haven’t been raised around cows are not aware that they only give milk, or come “fresh,” after they have been bred and have a calf. Milk production is only for a season, after the calf is born. Lowell hand-milked Shannon and brought the bucket of raw milk back to the house where Viola strained it to trap debris and any stray hairs that might have gotten into the bucket. A fine metal strainer or some type of porous cloth, such as cheesecloth, can be used, she said. The strained milk was put into the refrigerator in covered widemouth gallon jars. By evening approximately three to four inches of cream will have risen to the top of the jar. The cream is then refrigerated until a gallon can be saved. When the required amount was ready, she took the container out and let it sit at room temperature for a few days. The cream was then poured into some type of churn to be made into butter. In the past, Viola has used a ceramic churn with a wooden “dasher,” a long wooden handle with a flat, square bottom that was moved in an up-and-down motion in order to make the butter come.

Viola Humphreys hand-churning butter

PHOTOS BY LYNN COFFEY

You Can Make Hand Churned Cow Butter at Home

Lowell Humphreys milking his Guernsey cow

Earlier models were made entirely of wood and used for the same purpose. Today electric models are available, but Viola now uses a glass, two-gallon hand-cranked table model with a wooden paddle. It takes about twenty minutes of cranking for the butter to be ready to come off. As she lifted out the butter, the remaining liquid was

buttermilk, a tasty by-product that my husband Billy has a fondness for, so the Humphreys kindly keep him well-supplied with his favorite drink. Salt was added to the finished butter and then it was rinsed in very cold water, which brings out the rest of the remaining milk. This was done until the water ran clear. The water was

Rinsing butter in water to remove excess milk

CROZETgazette

MARCH 2018

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Summer Camp Ages 3 - 6

Flower pattern in finished butter.

then poured off and Viola made a ball out of the butter and worked it until as much of the liquid as possible was squeezed out. One pound “pats” of butter were then put into a round wooden mold with an intricate flower design carved in the bottom. When the soft butter is pressed into the mold, the design shows up after it is pushed out by the mold’s handle, adding a lovely touch to the final product. The flattened pats of butter are placed on squares of waxed paper and wrapped and put in the freezer. Once frozen, they are transferred to Ziploc bags or Saran Wrap. When fresh butter is needed, all that has to be done is to thaw the appropriate amount. Making homemade

butter is still a time-consuming task but it is much easier than in years past. Viola told the story of her mother, Ivetta Allen Mays, making butter and wrapping it up in cheesecloth. It was then put into a gallon crock and salted before storing the container in the cold water of her springhouse. These were the days before freezers, but Viola said that butter kept this way could be preserved all winter. Today there is a resurgence of self-sufficient living and people are finding ways to incorporate healthy, homemade foods into their diets the same way their grandmothers did. One taste of the Humphreys’ hand-churned cow butter will convince anyone that some of the old ways are still the best ways!

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CROZETgazette

MARCH 2018

by John Andersen

john@crozetgazette.com

Take A Walk in the Woods Did you hear the NPR story back in July on “Forest Bathing?” The reporter, Allison Aubrey, was given the assignment to do a report on this growing phenomenon. The phrase “forest bathing” was originally coined in the early 1990s by Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries. “Shinrin-yoku,” the Japanese translation, simply refers to slowing down and spending time immersed in the woods, and the health and mental benefits that follow. In the story, the reporter follows a certified Forest Therapy guide through woods outside of Washington, D.C. It was a decent story and quoted a few medical studies that seemed to show health benefits of the practice of forest bathing. And yes, that’s right, there are even “certified” forest therapy guides, certified by the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy, where for only $3,500 (not including travel and expenses) you, too, can become a certified guide. I both loved and hated the story. On one hand, in this ever-crazier world we live in, it was great to hear a story about the benefits of slowing down and immersing ourselves in nature. Yes! It is therapeutic and healthy! On the other hand, here we go overcomplicating things again! So, do I need “studies” to tell me that getting out into the woods is good for my mind and body? Do I need to hire a certified guide to make sure I’m doing it right? Do I even know how to go for a walk in the woods anymore? Forgive my sarcasm, but I do think that this story pointed out the fact that many of us have become so disconnected from our natural environment that hiring a forest therapy guide

doesn’t seem like an unreasonable thing to do. As someone who spends a lot of time both alone and with friends hiking and exercising in the woods, I can attest to the physical and mental benefits of getting into the forest. And what incredible, endless forests we have here in Crozet! The physical benefits are obvious, whether hiking, running, mountain biking, horse riding, or whatever. Regular exercise is important and there isn’t a more pleasant environment in which to exercise than on a trail in the woods. In Crozet we are blessed with mountains and miles of trails! The proponents of “forest bathing” also promote the benefits of fresh air, less pollution, and even beneficial substances the trees give off that will increase your health. Although all this may be hard to prove, I agree with it. There is something about the air in the woods that just makes you feel healthy. Perhaps it is less about what being in the forest offers us than it is getting away from what modern human life offers us— asphalt, exhaust, conditioned air, artificial light. The mental benefits are known well to those of us who spend time in the woods. One of the best explanations I have heard for why being in the forest is so good for our mental health is that it gives us time for involuntary attention and mind wandering. My understanding is that “voluntary attention” is when we are consciously focusing on things—like driving, working, avoiding traffic, shopping, etc. “Involuntary attention” is when we are only focusing on things as they happen to come into our view/way. When walking in the woods, we are not worrying about cars, street

The author’s son “forest bathing” on the AT in Shenandoah National Park.

crossings, industrial noises, or other activities going on around us. The forest is quiet and we are captured by scenery, birds, and the breeze. This allows for some much needed “mind wandering,” where we can think about whatever it is our wandering mind wants or needs to think about. Sometimes when I’m in the woods I think constantly about problems at work that I need to address. Other times I wander through a variety of inconsequential thoughts. Either way, it is a change from the “voluntary attention” that is needed when I am at home/at work/in the car/etc. The forest is a place for us to give our minds the break that we may not have realized it needs. So, ready to do some forest bathing? Are you willing to listen to a non-certified forest guide like me? Here are a few of my favorite locations, right here in Crozet, to get out into the woods. Spend 20 minutes, or spend four hours. Get into the woods regularly, and you, too, will see the benefits of Shinrinyoku. Mint Springs Valley Park: Probably my favorite because of its easy access, just two miles from downtown Crozet, combined with just how wild and natural the upper trails feel. You can find maps on the county’s website, or check out the kiosk in the park near the large, upper parking lot. The trails traverse around the ponds and up the mountains, but never take you too far from your car. You will feel quite separated from the man-made world as you hike up on the Big Survey trail. Sugar Hollow/Charlottesville Reservoir: Also another

favorite because of the beautiful north and south Moormons rivers and the fact that you’re in Shenandoah National Park. As you drive along Sugar Hollow Road and go up and past the dam, stay on the gravel road all the way until it ends at an unorganized gravel parking area. Park, and then start walking up the continuation of the gravel road (which is now blocked off to cars). This is the start of the North Moormons River Trail and will take you all the way up to Skyline Drive and the Appalachian Trail if you want to follow it for 5.5 miles. But all along this trail is the beautiful Moormons river and some of the best forest bathing around. Top of Jarmans / The Appalachian Trail: Right next to Chiles Peach Orchard, there is a sharp curve in the paved road where Jarmans Gap Road turns into Greenwood Road. The spur that goes off from here is the gravel portion of Jarmans and travels three miles and rises 1600 feet to the border of Shenandoah National Park. At the top, there are just a few parking spots. Get out of your car and start walking downhill down the jeep road into Shenandoah National Park. Approximately one-half mile from your car, you will intersect with the Appalachian Trail. Go left/south and you will start to climb Calf Mountain where the beautiful bald summit of Little Calf Mountain awaits you in three miles. Or go right/north and wind over ridges on some of the nicest section of AT we have in the area. Now get out there and take a bath!

CROZETgazette

MARCH 2018

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WARS Awards —continued from page 17

was interrupted by a “commercial” featuring vice president Paquin, reminding the volunteers to clean up the squad house after themselves. The show included chief Kostis Alibertis hanging out with U. Va.’s Cav Man mascot, volunteers hanging out in the bay doors of the station, playing volleyball, riding in the Crozet Fourth of July parade, at water rescue training, posing with their equipment, and cooking and watching TV. At the end came a quote from Joseph Campbell: “A hero is someone giving his or her life for something bigger than himself.” John Norin was recognized as the Rookie of the Year. The Frances Henry Award, given to the volunteer that made the most runs, went to Taylor Tereskerz. The Chief ’s Award, chosen

by Alibertis, went to David Booth. “David does all our ‘special projects’,” he said. “Whatever needs to be done.” Paquin’s two awards were to mark his “highest-quality service,” said Wood, and “for outstanding service and dedication.” Wood’s zany style as emcee of the event was dropped for the moment while his genuine respect and appreciation for Paquin were expressed. Lifetime Memberships, which include a WARS blanket, were awarded to Jack Berner, Kenny Bruce, Marian Lawson, and Michael Brookshire. Nothing brings home the special debt Crozet owes to its volunteer rescue and fire services, which perform to professional standards around the clock, as the annual WARS and Crozet Volunteer Fire Department’s award dinners. Find out if there’s not a way you can join in their cammaraderie and tangible impact for good.

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CROZETgazette

MARCH 2018

dirknies@crozetgazette.com

Reigning in the Rain Tax What a joyous, raucous sound! What a happy harbinger of spring! The chorus of forest-dwelling Wood frogs fills the air—after a soaking rain—with their ancient mating song. And I am delighted. Hope of new life abounds in their exuberant melodies. Having overwintered in the high terrain of Blackwells Hollow in northwestern Albemarle County, these diminutive denizens of the forest make an annual pilgrimage to the vernal pond below our kitchen window. These amphibians come to breed each year in the ephemeral, crystal-clear waters of the natural pool next to our driveway. One day not a peep, the next day, dozens of full-throated Wood frogs. How did they know to convene on this particular day in early February? Two weeks later, having heard the water’s fine, Spring Peepers join in. Masses of jelly-like eggs—each with its tiny black spot of wriggling life in the center—now float in the water, tethered to reeds. I, too, spent much of my

childhood in the woods and on the water. With the guidance of my best friend’s father (a naval architect no less!), I built a kayak with a wooden frame covered by waterproof canvass. I painted it white with a bold, blue stripe down the side. What a thrill it was when, launched for the first time, I paddled out into the open water. My love of all things aqueous spilled over into my swashbuckling graduate school days when I would venture forth onto the Chesapeake Bay aboard the research vessel, the Ridgely Warfield. All this is by way of saying that I, like so many others who have made Albemarle County home, wish to live in a clean and healthy environment. Government has an important role to play in helping make this happen. But the County’s proposed impervious surface Rain Tax is neither a logical nor equitable way to fund its storm water management programs. I will explain. Roofs, being impervious to water, maintain physical integrity when rained and snowed upon. They are, in and of themselves, not significant sources of pollution. And, unlike chimneys, for example, they are not point

Local pond next to a gravel road

Wood frogs on a vernal pond

sources of environmental pollution. Flue gases from a wood-burning stove are loaded with carbon dioxide and airborne particulates. In contrast, waters washing off metal roofs are not loaded with nutrients such as nitrogen or phosphorus that can eutrophy water (promote algae blooms and lower dissolved oxygen levels). Tile roofs do not generate water-choking sediment when rained upon. Asphalt shingles are not a source of microbiological pathogens above ambient levels. Glass skylights do not emit pesticides or other toxic chemicals. This is why, after a thunderstorm, I do not mutter to myself, ‘Gee whiz, the Ruritan’s roof in White Hall has polluted the Moormans River once more.’ That’s why, when I see a muddy Doyles River after a rain, I do not think, ‘Oh gosh, the Browns Cove Methodist Church roof has done it again.’ No. Instead, I suspect somewhere upstream, land has been recently disturbed. Perhaps a field has been plowed, a hillside timbered, or excavation has begun on a new home. Here’s a ludicrous thought. On my mountainous property, impervious surfaces from natural rock outcroppings are greater than the combined surface area of my home, barn, and sheds. Using the County’s logic, these natural impervious surface cause more water pollution than the physical structures on my land. Shouldn’t rock outcroppings be taxed per square foot as well? In rural settings, most privately owned roofs impose no

financial burden on the capital expenditures of the County. With adequate gutters, French drains, and landscaping in place, rainwater runoff from homes, barns, and sheds simply flows into yards, fields, and woodlands without adverse impact on surrounding surface water quality. No publicly funded culverts are needed, no storm water sewers must be constructed using government funds. Once begun, governmental programs have a propensity to take on a life of their own. In that sense, I agree that “Rain Tax” fees may become “a dependable and steady revenue stream that increases with community growth” as claimed in a Letter to the Editor published in the February 2018 issue of the Crozet Gazette. Nevertheless, for many rural residents, businesses, non-profits, and places of worship, the County’s approach for assessing the Rain Tax bears little relationship to either the water problems to be addressed or the water services rendered. Government policies that are inherently unfair to a large portion of the populace create division, strife, and unnecessary discord. We already have too much of that. I urge the members of the Board of Supervisors to find another way, if needed, to augment funding of its storm water management programs. Rain Tax, go away, Never see the light of day, Surely there’s a better way, Rain Tax, go away. (Sung to the tune Rain, Rain, Go Away)

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Liz Hulme Adam, Silas Adam, and Sharon Helt distributed candles at the Vigil for Chris Foley held at Tabor Presbyterian Church on February 9.

Crash

—continued from page 19

He said he is grateful to those who helped his son in the aftermath of the accident. Despite orders to remain on the train, several doctor congressmen jumped off the train to see what they could do to help the dying and injured on the truck. He mentioned Rep. Phil Roe of Tennessee, Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Rep. Brad Wenstrup of Ohio. “They ignored commands by the security to stay on the train. And so they left and helped as much as possible.” But it was too late for Foley, whose injuries were catastrophic. His memorial service was held at Hill & Wood Funeral Home in Charlottesville on Feb. 10, the day after the candlelight vigil. “The people in Crozet and others were just amazing,” McCauley said. “Everything they did just brought tears to our eyes and joy to hearts. After the funeral was over, my wife and I talked about it. We set up this small account for his son, Rylan. Chris was a family member.” Time Disposal also launched a GoFundMe page in the days following the accident to help with Foley’s funeral expenses and to support his family. By the end of February, donations nearly topped $100,000. GoFundMe pages also were set up for Eddy and Naylor. “We are completely shocked by the whole thing,” said Joann Scott, who is managing the GoFundMe page for her sister, Foley’s fiancé. “It’s incredible. We know Chris was well-liked, but it’s the most amazing thing.

Charlottesville has had this bad rap because of the event that happened in August, but the community has really come together to help a family in need—a young single mom right now.” Scott said the family would like to find those people from the train and surrounding homes who came to the aid of the injured after the accident. “We’re thankful for the people that were there and were able to help Chris and try to help him survive,” she said. “We saw a nurse on TV—Lynn Olmsted —who tried to administer CPR to Chris and we wanted to do something special for the people who helped him. They are the last people who saw Chris.” Olmsted, a labor and delivery nurse who works at U.Va., said she was just trying to help a fellow human being who turned out to be her trash collector. She doesn’t expect any special recognition. She heard the train crash when she was picking up her baby from a neighbor’s house in Grayrock. She ran to the scene and was a little apprehensive when she saw a uniformed man who was armed. “I cautiously approached him because he had a gun and yelled out that I was a nurse. We were working on Chris and kept going until finally someone from the rescue squad said, “We’re done here. There’s nothing else we can do,’” Olmsted said quietly. “At the end of the day, that’s what we do,” she said. “It doesn’t matter what’s going on in the world. We’re all human. We just help each other. That’s what we’re supposed to do.”

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CROZETgazette

MARCH 2018

By John Andersen, DVM gazettevet@crozetgazette.com

Through the Looking Glass One of the more common misinterpretations I hear owners make about their older dog’s health is that a cloudy-looking eye means that they are getting cataracts and going blind. I hear it almost daily during many of the check-ups I do on dogs over 10 years of age. “Her eyes are looking a little cloudy these days, I guess that means she’s getting cataracts?” I don’t expect most dog owners to know the difference, but I am happy to tell them that they are wrong in the majority of these instances, and more likely their dog has “nuclear sclerosis” of the lens, which is a common aging change in dogs over ten years of age, vs. cataracts, which lead to significant vision loss or blindness. Most people have never heard of nuclear sclerosis in pets, yet it outnumbers cataracts about 50:1 in my estimation in dogs with “cloudy eyes.”

where our brain and nervous system then translate that into a beautiful picture of the mountains, etc. The lens is located immediately behind our pupil. As you look at yourself in the mirror and you see the black hole in the center of the eye, you are actually looking through the lens into the back of the amazing eye. Of course, it’s black, because the back of our eye doesn’t come with built-in lighting—it’s dark back there! The lens is perfectly translucent, letting light in as if it were passing through smooth glass. The lens is also perfectly shaped at just the correct curvature to focus light on the perfect place on the retina. As if that weren’t amazing enough, there are tiny little attachments all around the circumference of the lens that can bend its shape to better focus the images we see, depending on if we are looking far away or reading up close. It also has no blood supply—the lens gets all of its nutrients through the passive diffusion of nutrients, versus from the bloodstream like most every other structure in our bodies. The lens (and the eye) is a miraculous structure indeed! As we age (and dogs and cats age), the lens of the eye starts to become harder and denser, specifically in the center of the lens, the “nucleus.” This is because instead of growing outward

What is nuclear sclerosis? Nuclear sclerosis is the age-related hardening of the lens of the eye. The lens is an incredible structure in our body. About the size and shape of an M&M, the lens is a perfectly clear focusing device that takes all that we see and focuses the image clearly on our retina,

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with time, the lens slowly grows concentrically inward, causing the center to become denser, or “sclerosed.” Hence, “nuclear sclerosis.” Fortunately, nuclear sclerosis does not affect the shape or translucency of the lens, so for the most part, our far vision is unaffected by this change. However, this does make it more difficult for the lens to change shape when we are focusing our vision close, like when reading. This is why we humans need reading glasses after we hit our 40s! If we get nuclear sclerosis too, why don’t our eyes start to look cloudy when we turn 50? There are a few important differences in our eyes versus dog’s eyes. First, dogs have a reflective retina. The entire back part of their retina is highly reflective so when ambient light enters their eyes, some of it reflects and illuminates the lens. The back of our eye is not reflective, so, typically, when ambient light enters our eyes, it disappears into blackness. Now of course when it’s picture time, we know we can see “red eye” in our human photos. This is when intense light is actually lighting up the back of the eye. When you shine a bright light or flash at a dog’s eyes (or a cat’s, or deer) you will see the bright reflective “eye shine,” which is your light coming back at you. Second, dogs and cats typically have more dilated pupils then humans. Dogs and cats are more adapted to seeing in lower light conditions, so their retinas are adapted to take in more light and peripheral vision. So, we are not only seeing more of their lens, it is also somewhat illuminated by the ambient

light. When it is very dense from age-related nuclear sclerosis, we see that as “cloudiness.” What are cataracts then? Cataracts are actual opacities in the lens that block light. We most commonly see age-related cataracts where, eventually, water or minerals start infiltrating into the once perfectly clear lens. Ultimately, cataracts can turn a clear lens into a completely white, opaque structure, though most cataracts cause the lens to have more of a “shower glass” appearance. The biggest difference is that cataracts not only block light from entering the eye, but they also scatter the light that does manage to get through. So, like when looking through shower glass, cataracts cause a significant distortion of the image behind the glass. Dogs with cataracts generally show signs of vision loss, especially at night. Becoming clingy and losing confident on nighttime walks, bumping into walls and furniture, or becoming confused about their location are all signs of vision loss. Most dogs adapt quite well to vision loss because their sense of smell and hearing are so good. Dogs with nuclear sclerosis have no vision deficits that we can tell. However, I suspect they do have significant near-vision loss—but they don’t read or use cell phones, so this is not important. Perhaps they are less confident going down stairs in the dark? If your older dog’s eyes are getting a bit cloudy, don’t assume they are going blind. In fact, the odds are that they just need some reading glasses. A quick trip to your vet can easily tell the difference between cataracts and nuclear sclerosis.

CROZETgazette

Crozet Trails —continued from page 6

ers, and resulted in better trail conditions all summer. This gave the CTC time to make trail improvements, such as directional signs and benches, and replacing the temporary bridge in the Dog Park with an impressive permanent structure. Quarterly community trail walks, plus a collaboration with the Crozet Cub Scouts for trail monitoring and clean-up, showed many more people the beauty of the trails. Installation of Greenway signs at trail entrances also improved visibility. The trails are clearly getting more traffic. Participation in Saturday workdays, plus an active midweek crew, has continued, but it would help to have more people show up for trail work. Finally, the CTC participated in several community events, such as the Crozet Park Arts Festival and Clean-up at the Park, Crozet Running’s race at Mint Springs, and Starr Hill’s “Cheers for Charity” events. CTC’s annual 5K race in October involved 145 racers, and is their primary fund-raising activity. In 2018, CTC will work towards providing those trail expansions they are hoping for,

MARCH 2018 and to improve our existing trails. They hope to experiment with making a better trail surface in a small area by using crushed stone and stone dust, and building boardwalks where muddy conditions are common. The crew is still building benches—so if you have a place you think deserves a comfortable seat, let them know. They don’t work so hard that they don’t have fun—and Starr Hill Brewery is helping with that. They have named the Trails Crew as the beneficiary of April’s “Cheers for Charity” again. Join in for a kick-off party, a bike-maintenance workshop (presented by Crozet Bicycle Shop), and a 4K run on April weekends. The Trails Crew wants to thank the Crozet community for its support and its appreciation of our Greenway. They encourage you to get out and enjoy the trails and help out with one of the workdays. You can sign up to receive regular emails with work date announcements at CrozetTrails Crew.org. You can also find detailed trail maps, complete with directions to access points, there. If you have any questions about the trails, please email Terri Miyamoto, CTC President, at terrim@ crozettrailscrew.org.

Terri Miyamoto at the Mauzy bridge dedication in November 2017.

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CROZETgazette

MARCH 2018

inthegarden@crozetgazette.com

Surviving the Cold The winter of 2017-2018 is finally over. How well did your garden survive the “New Year’s Freeze,” as well as the rest of the winter? And what can we expect in the upcoming spring? I can hear some of you right now: “Wait a minute! According to my calendar, winter’s not over until March 20. In fact, spring 2018 won’t begin until 12:15 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on that date. We still have almost three weeks of winter to get through!” You’re right. Sort of. In fact, they’re actually several definitions of winter. Most of us are familiar with the astronomical, or calendar-based reckoning, based on the date of the vernal equinox, with winter ending either March 20 or 21. Meteorologists and climatologists prefer a more accurate system that divides the year into seasons based on average temperatures. In much of the Northern Hemisphere, the three coldest months of the year are December, January and February, so those entire three months constitute winter. June, July and August are summer, and so on. Just to confuse things a bit more, in some European countries they have a “cultural” winter based on traditional religious feast days. Looking back, we had a very cold ten-day period ending on January 7. According to the records of Gazette columnists Heidi Sonen and Roscoe Shaw, the average temperature during that stretch was 21.1 degrees. Certainly quite cold, but only ranking fifteenth coldest for ten-day periods since 1900.

During this period the temperature topped out at only 34 degrees, and was generally much lower, with an absolute minimum of zero. The ground would have been frozen for most of that time, and therein lies the stressful part for plants. Evergreen plants retain their foliage throughout the year and are subject to moisture loss through stomata, microscopic openings on the bottom of their leaves. Water is drawn up from the soil, conducted through the plant’s vascular system and exits via the stomata. But if the soil is frozen, water is locked up and unavailable to the plant. On warmer days, especially sunny ones, the plant may actually be in a physiological drought. And we definitely had warmer days soon after the big freeze; on January 12 the temperature rose to 67 degrees. Plants cope with these conditions with varying degrees of success. Deciduous trees and shrubs drop their leaves and handily avoid the problem of water loss. Coniferous evergreens such as pines and spruces also take the cold in stride for the most part, although the ubiquitous Virginia pine (Pinus virginiana) will turn somewhat yellow in winter. Broadleaf evergreens from cold climates are also able to deal with the freezing temperatures that they typically encounter in their native range. The rosebay rhododendron (Rhododendron maximum) reacts to cold in a distinctive way: the leaves droop and curl up. The plant may look miserable, but the strategy works. The drooping reportedly reduces exposure to bright sun light, while the curling creates a more humid microclimate around the

Snowdrops

underside of the leaves. Plants from warmer climates—camellias and the southern magnolia, for example—may not handle extreme cold as well. Leaves will turn bronze in color, especially in direct sun. Such damage can be highly localized: leaves on the shady north side of the plant may show little damage, and the same goes for leaves that are in the plant’s interior. The fix for damaged foliage is simple: time. New growth soon appears and covers up the blemishes. Beyond damage to foliage, exceptional cold can also injure buds and stems. Loss of flower buds is particularly common with spring-blooming hydrangeas, one reason that re-blooming varieties have been developed. On more tender shrubs, cold can also kill a portion of the stem and its buds. This becomes evident when new foliage flushes; the upper portion of the injured stem will show no growth. At this point, prune back to just above the uninjured portion of the plant. If it appears that the entire aboveground portion of the plant has been killed, cut it to the ground and wait. Usually new growth will appear, although it may take quite a while. While damage from this past winter might have been significant, injury during the upcoming spring is also a threat. In a typical March, average low temperatures range from 30-39 degrees; last March the minimum temperature at Charlottesville airport was 21 degrees. Yet during the same month, temperatures ranged well into the seventies—and even the eighties—bringing some plants out of dormancy. There’s not a whole lot you can

do about that except cross your fingers and pray. If a plant is very small, you may be able to cover it in some fashion, but this usually isn’t practical except for veggies in a hoop house. When a late freeze damages leaves or flowers, just grit your teeth and practice patience. Blackened or mushy tissue will soon drop off. There are some measures you can take to lessen the chance of winter and spring damage when buying and installing new plants. Unless you’re a risktaker, seek out hardier selections. You might really crave a plant that’s listed as hardy only to zone 7B, but accepting the fact that we live in colder zone 7A is more prudent. Also, plant breeding has given us some better options: some varieties of camellias and magnolias have been bred to bloom a bit later, giving them a better chance to escape frosts. Finally, correct siting is important. Plants located under high shade or on the north side of your house are less susceptible to damage from winter sun and premature warming. Here’s hoping that most of your plants came through the winter in good shape. And ditto for the next few weeks. ____ If you’re currently suffering from allergy symptoms, the not-so-obvious culprit might be all around us. The cones of male Red Cedars (Juniperus virginiana) are out and dumping clouds of pollen. The cones are tiny but extremely numerous, giving the entire tree a yellow-brown cast. The female trees are innocent; following pollination they’ll develop attractive bluish berries.

CROZETgazette

MARCH 2018

CLINIC Each month a prize-winning photograph from the archives of the Crozet Calendar will be published together with a story from the photographer of how the image was made and commentary by Sam Abell about the merits of the photograph. By Sam Abell “This is a very good photograph,” was my first thought upon seeing Malcolm Andrews image of geese in flight. ‘Maybe too good.’ We live in the golden age of perfect pictures, made that way by digital “post production.” In this process, photo software is used to eliminate imperfections, enhance “drama” and alter content. In short, photographers try to synthetically achieve on their computers what they couldn›t achieve when they were actually making the exposure. To me, it isn’t photography. Photography is activating your senses in anticipation of how the situation before you will unfold. Using experience, intuition and camera skills, photographers then render an image of the scene at the height of its pictorial power--which is exactly what Andrews did to produce this excellent, and completely authentic, image. “I’m not a professional photographer. I’m a pilot,” said Andrews. “But I try to take pictures every day when I’m out walking. I like to photograph things that fly, the mountain scenery of western Albemarle and animals. “On this day I was driving past the King Family Vineyard and noticed geese on a small pond. I stopped and got out. The geese seemed agitated and about to fly. I noted the strong west wind they would encounter. When they lifted up for a short hop over the reeds, the stiff wind gave them pretty good hang time--long enough for me to make three exposures. The last one worked.” The pilot in Andrews is present in this photograph. He understands flight and what would happen when the geese lifted off into that particular wind. The photographer in him knew to pre-compose the scene that the suddenly flying geese would enter. Thus the formula for a fine photograph: experience and intuition combine with camera skills to turn a promising situation into a prize-winning photograph. No post-production needed. The flight of the geese is clearly the subject of the picture. But it’s only one aspect of why the photograph works. Remove the geese and the image is still interesting. The background is composed of strongly stacked, almost equal horizontal bands. Each band has its own texture, color and substance. The morning light is strong. So, yes, the

Malcolm Andrews’ photo, taken at King Family Vineyards, was featured for March 2017.

moment of flight is all important. But the setting lives up to the moment. In the end, though, it is Andrew’s refinement of the moment of flight that attracts and holds our attention. In workshops I stress the significance of separation of elements in a composition. “No touching!” becomes the difficult-to-achieve ideal. Why no touching? Because each element in a composition has its own eloquence. When elements conflict or collide that quality is destroyed. Consider the geese. Each one expresses the character of flight in a subtly different way. Because their wings are cleanly separated that character is made visible. Importantly, there is a second clarification. The geese as a group are cleanly pictured against the uniform texture of the grass. Their individual bodies are like notes of music singing the song of flight. How long does this delicate melody last? Less than a moment. That’s why this photograph is timeless. For Andrews the experience of photographic seeing is continuous. “Seeing the world with a frame in mind is something I do wherever I am--in the air or on the ground. Critical thinking is involved. That’s the challenge of photography. The reward comes when things come together and align in the frame. I get a kick out of that.” It’s a kick he has been getting since he was given a Kodak Baby Brownie camera as a boy in Springfield, Virginia. “I still have it. Eventually I grew into using more serious

cameras and in 2009 I got a digital camera. That changed everything. Now I could see what I was getting and make instant adjustments. The feedback of seeing the image allows me to think more critically about the composition.” I asked Andrews if he photographed from the cockpit on transcontinental flights. “No. I used to photograph at altitude (top cruising elevation) but the rules governing photography from the cockpit have changed and are now a little ambiguous. So I’ve stopped. Of course I never took pictures when I was below altitude and piloting. But I still study the landscape coming together into framed compositions. Nothing changes that.” These days Andrews actively photographs the landscape and animals in western Albemarle. Some of his favorite places are Mint Springs, Lickinghole Creek, Bucks Elbow and the south fork of the Moormans River. “Companions on my outings are my dog, a Labrador Retriever, and a camera. In a typical week I produce 500-700 images, always studying the results to sharpen my skills.” The Aerial Horizon, Andrews’ blog of previously made aerial photographs is available free online. Visitors to the site encounter a gallery of well-composed landscapes, photographs made compelling by the perspective of flight—pictures similar in spirit to his elegant photograph of geese flying over a pond near where we live.

CROZETgazette

MARCH 2018

MARLENE A. CONDON

Have You Thanked A Sapsucker Today? A regularly occurring winter visitor to Virginia is the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, a funny-sounding name to non-birders. But its eponymous name informs us that this northern bird sucks sap. By making shallow wells on trunks and branches that fill with sap, the sapsucker obtains sugar—a source of carbohydrates that provides energy for the sapsucker and many other animals, such as squirrels, other species of birds, and insects (on warmish winter days) that come to also feed upon it. Sadly, this species gets a bad rap. People accuse it of seriously injuring or killing trees and shrubs when it makes its sap wells. But this enduring suggestion is utter nonsense. Because my interest in history is practically equal to my interest in nature, I have been on many estate tours on which I have noticed huge (i.e., old) trees covered in recent and decades-old sap wells. It should go without saying that those trees would not still be alive if sapsucker wells were detrimental to them. The reality is that sapsuckers do no more harm to your plants than do people who install taps into Sugar Maple trees so they can make maple syrup. The indigenous peoples of the Lake States, southeastern Canada, New England, and the Appalachian Mountains knew and used maple syrup long before the arrival of European settlers. No authenticated information has been handed down explaining how they learned that maple sap could be a food source, but I have absolutely no doubt that nature led the way.

It is not at all unlikely that someone observed a Yellowbellied Sapsucker making sap wells, just as I have done numerous times while eating my second breakfast (my first is when it’s still dark out) that consists of oatmeal sweetened with pure maple syrup. The person noticed how popular the sap was with a variety of animals, decided to taste it, and voila! A discovery for the ages. The migration behavior of the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker fits perfectly with my suggestion that this bird played a major role in the origination of maple syrup. These birds start to head north from Virginia by March, and few remain by April. They know when to get “home” for the spring thaw and the rising maple sap! The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker is an eastern bird with closely related western relatives, one of which is the Red-naped Sapsucker. At one time, scientists considered these two birds to be the same species, even though they have differing field marks and their ranges do not overlap much at all. On the morning of November 9, 2017, I heard a bird making a “crying” sound (as I described it in my notes) that was very similar to that of a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, except that it was not quite right. The sound had a sad quality to it, as if something were amiss. Finding the bird in my Autumn Olive just southeast of my house, I was very surprised to see that it was a sapsucker with an obvious red spot on the back of its head (called the “nape”). It was a Red-naped Sapsucker! This was quite an exciting find because this species breeds in the Rocky Mountain region north to

A Red-naped Sapsucker is an extraordinarily rare bird to see in the eastern half of the United States, but a male found its way to the author’s nature-friendly garden last fall.

British Columbia and Alberta, Canada, and would not normally be here. However, at the time of my initial sighting, I had no idea just how rare a visitor this bird was in the East. After announcing its presence in my yard on the Virginia bird-listing Internet site, a birder wrote to tell me that this species had only ever been recorded in this half of the country a few times, and that was around Canton, Ohio. Thus, a Red-naped Sapsucker would be a first for the state of Virginia! The bird’s most telling feature was the red on the back of the head, but it also had much less black on the breast than a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, which seems to be very typical of Rednaped Sapsuckers. I discovered this difference by looking at many, many photos online and in books, but surprisingly, I never found mention of it in the literature. “My” bird was a male because its throat was fully red (the female’s throat is white and red), but it was obviously not an adult because it still showed areas of brownish mottled coloration where an adult male would have more of a whiteand-black contrast to its appearance. It showed some adult coloration because the immature Red-naped Sapsucker starts attaining its adult plumage by

November of its first year, unlike the immature Yellowbellied that attains its adult plumage by the following spring. The bird visited my yard at least 10 times between its first appearance in November and its last in early December, exhibiting interesting behavior that, along with its brownish plumage, corroborated that it was a young bird. The first few times it was here, it made plaintive sounds— as you would expect from a young bird—as it followed adult Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers around the yard. A couple of times it even landed right next to an adult, a male one time and a female the next, which is not typical adult behavior. Additionally, adult birds would not tolerate this closeness from another adult bird, but would put up with it briefly—as they did—from a young one. I’ll probably never see a Rednaped Sapsucker in my yard again, and it is highly unlikely anyone in Virginia will ever find one of these birds here. However, it is not hard to spot Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers from fall through early spring, and if you love pure maple syrup as I do, you just might want to quietly thank these birds for the role their species very likely played in bringing you this marvelous natural product!

CROZETgazette

KELLY BURNETTE

MARCH 2018

Noelle Brockett, Kayleigh Jumper, Maggie Nemergut, Arina Bratkovska, and Evelyn Garey check costumes for the show.

WAHS Presents Legally Blonde: The Musical by Clover Carrolll

clover@crozetgazette.com

You won’t want to miss the WAHS Theatre Company’s performance of Legally Blonde: the Musical starring Chloe Horner, Tyler Gale, Tristan Rose, and Camille Kielbasa—with special appearances by Principal Bonham and Assistant Principal Driver—Thursday, March 15, through Saturday, March 17, at 7:30 p.m., with a 2 p.m. matinee on Saturday, in the WAHS auditorium at 5941 Rockfish Gap Turnpike. This award-winning musical comedy follows the transformation of Elle Woods as she tackles stereotypes and scandal in pursuit of her dreams at Harvard Law School. With music and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin and book by Heather Hatch, the WAHS production is directed by Caitlin Pitts, with music direction by Joel Hartshorn. Student tickets are $6 in advance and $8 at the door;

adult tickets are $12 in advance and $14 at the door. Tickets are available at WAHS during lunch, at the Mudhouse on the Square in downtown Crozet, and online at https://events. t i c k e t p r i n t i n g . c o m / e ve n t / Legally-Blonde-26731. For a sneak preview, the cast will be performing “Positive” and “So Much Better” at ArtFest in the West on Friday, March 2, from 6 to 9 p.m. in the WAHS cafeteria. We can count on another sparkling, professional spring musical performance! Cast: Elle: Chloe Horner; Warner: Tyler Gale; Emmet: Tristan Rose; Vivienne: Camille Kielbasa; Kyle: Ben Nordbrock; Paulette: Erin Nelson; Brooke: Jane Zahorik; Callahan: Ben Burrough; Margot: Evelyn Garey; Serena: Arina Bratkovska; Pilar: Abby Cole; Kate (and Greek Chorus): Sammie Cohen; Gaelen (and Greek Chorus): Maggie Nemergut; Leilani (and Greek Chorus): Noel Brockett.

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Ben Nordbrock, Tyler Gale, and Henry Davies pose during costume check.

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CROZETgazette

MARCH 2018

THERESA CURRY

Religion News By Theresa Curry theresa@crozetgazette.com

Batesville UMC: Building Community

SUBMITTED

At Batesville United Methodist Church, there’s a strong sense of mission to serve the whole community, and to have fun while doing it. The fun part is partly because of the “two Lizes,”––Liz Buxton, aka “Pastor Liz,” and Liz Layman––a church member of 46 years––who calls herself “the other Liz.” There’s the Christmas tree, for instance. It’s too heavy to move, so it stays up year-round with appropriate decorations for every season. There are the many activities, celebrations, parties and children’s activities attended by the whole community, not just church members. “Everyone is always welcome,” said Buxton, from the “bounce house” during Batesville Day in the spring, to the Christmas bonfire at Page’s Field. The Lizes were laughing about a women’s retreat where a chocolate project involving balloons created some unexpected candy explosions. “We were supposed to freeze the water balloons first, we found out,” Layman said. Often, the church will join forces with the Ruritans for projects such as cleaning up the old cemetery, an effort that also included schoolchildren, passers by, and members of the Waynesboro Mormon Church. The string section of the Crozet symphony practices there, taking advantage of the acoustics in the sturdy sanctuary first built more than 150 years ago. The

church was the place chosen recently for Batesville citizens to discuss traffic problems: “We were a neutral place, not identified with a point of view,” Buxton said. Currently, the church coordinates a massive recycling effort to channel the unwanted items of the area to places that need them. Backpacks, pencils, crayons, notebooks and learning-related items will go to the Afton Christian School. Clothes, sheets, dishes, paper products, gloves, scarves and socks are stacking up for the Shelter for Help in an Emergency. “These women sometime run away with only the clothes on their backs,” said Liz Buxton. “They need just about everything. The soft, old towels, blankets and comforters that may seem too worn for human use go to the SPCA to line kennels and cat cages. Food dishes and scratching posts are also welcome, as are place mats, the perfect size and shape for cat cage liners. The church also collects miscellaneous items for the ongoing SPCA rummage sale and shoes for the massive Salvation Army shoe give away. Normally, the collection of items is restricted to January, said Layman, when people are beginning to organize and clean out their homes. Recent donations of clothing racks, and some concentrated sorting and organizing has enabled the effort to continue year-round. To donate items, email Liz Layman at eml3c@hotmail. com; or leave a message at 540456-6214.

Celtic Eucarist at St. Paul’s Ivy

Liz Layman and Liz Buxton

St. Paul’s offers Monthly Celtic Eucharist Each month, there’s a Sunday evening Celtic Eucharist service at St. Paul’s in Ivy. The lyrical melodies of hammer dulcimer and Celtic harp accompany what parishioners characterize as a contemplative experience, lit by candles and interspersed with periods of silence. There’s been a renewed interest worldwide in centering prayer, but the St. Paul’s service has been going strong for more than a decade, said Debbie Scott, the director of spirituality and missions for St. Paul’s. She remembers when then-rector Rev. H. Miller Hunter returned from a Richmond Conference and formed a core group of people interested in welcoming people of all faiths to the traditional service of a restful and reflective nature, featuring hymns from the Celtic tradition. The evening service is similar to the earlier Sunday Eucharist, said Karen Smith, who attends regularly, “but the pace is slower, somehow softer.” Another long-time attendee, Nancy Briggs, said the candlelight, music and stillness creates an ambiance that encourages contemplation. The music is usually provided by harpist and dulcimer players Raven and Peter Hunter, who also love the service, and sometimes there are readings of poems, both contemporary and ancient. From a handful of people, the monthly service has grown to 65 or so, including many from other local faith traditions.

A smaller group meets each Sunday before the service to study Celtic spirituality, and there’s a reception afterwards. Childcare is available during the Eucharist, and older children are welcome to attend the service.

Tabor Funds Bricks for Hope House During Advent 2017, Tabor Presbyterian Church sponsored a “Hope Tree” on behalf of Hope House in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Hope House was established to provide a home for tribal children vulnerable to human trafficking. Contributions by Tabor and several of the community groups that use Tabor’s facility will help fund bricks for the boys’ dormitory at Hope House as they move into a new facility.

Liz Layman

CROZETgazette SUBMITTED

MARCH 2018

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Well-supported by area churches, volunteers, law enforcement and non-profit agencies in the Waynesboro area, WARM (Waynesboro Area Refuge Ministry) heads into the final month of its winter program with a sense of accomplishment. Executive Director Debra Burns said the program has two parts: the emergency overnight shelter, which rotates through area churches to provide a safe place every night of the season; and Ruth’s Warm House, offering longer-term residency to homeless women and children. There’s a role for every church and volunteer, Burns said. A couple of churches that don’t provide sleeping shelter provide rides or serve as overflow when the primary site is crowded. Volunteers cook meals and provide other administrative tasks. “Of course, our goal is to find a more permanent solution for homelessness,” Burns said, and each client has access to whatever programs might be appropriate. A recent program at the

Waynesboro Library, the daytime cold-weather headquarters for some of the WARM clients, offered lunch as well as hands-on help with some of the logistical challenges faced by the homeless. In late February, the residents of Ruth’s Warm House asked to help out by cooking a meal for residents of the temporary shelter, Burns said, resulting in a wonderful meal on a chilly February night. Also important, said Burns, was allowing the recipients of community generosity to give back as they were able to. A continuing focus for Burns is the population of homeless veterans. “In my opinion, no veteran should be without housing,” Burns said. Her knowledge of the local veteran population allowed her to return a confused veteran to his assisted living situation, and she continues to seek out alternatives for veterans on the streets. Although WARM gives priority to Waynesboro homeless, “We don’t refuse anyone who fits our guidelines,” Burns said. For more information, visit warmwaynesboro.org.

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CROZETgazette

MARCH 2018

A Constellation of Cultural Connections by Clover Carroll | clover@crozetgazette.com

These clear, crisp winter nights are ideal for star-gazing. Find a dark spot away from city lights, and look up to find your favorite constellation—the Big Dipper (aka the Drinking Gourd), Orion the Hunter with his star-studded belt, his prey Taurus the Bull, or the closely woven, sparkling star cluster known as the Pleiades or Seven Sisters. Alfred, Lord Tennyson described it best in his 1838 poem “Locksley Hall”: Many a night I saw the Pleiads, rising thro’ the mellow shade, Glitter like a swarm of fireflies tangled in a silver braid.

This constellation—one of the most beautiful in the sky— has been an object of fascination since ancient times, leading to its wide-ranging association with a variety of cultural spheres beyond astronomy, from mythology, to poetry, to colleges—even to cars! The Pleiades, also known as Messier 45, comprise an open star cluster located in the constellation Taurus. The cluster is dominated by extremely luminous hot blue stars that formed within the last 100 million years. Because it is among the nearest star clusters to Earth, it is the one most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky. Although it actually contains hundreds of stars, only a handful—typically six or seven, but up to 14 depending on local observing conditions—are com-

monly visible. In the northern hemisphere, the constellation appears above and to the right of Orion as one faces south, and it reaches its highest point in the sky at around 4 a.m. in September, midnight in November (when it shines from dusk until dawn), and 8 p.m. in January. These days, I see the Pleiades almost straight overhead, closely grouped in a somewhat triangular shape. The name Pleiades (pron. plee-uh-deez) comes from ancient Greek probably deriving from plein («to sail») because the cluster first becomes visible on the eastern horizon at the start of navigation season in the Mediterranean Sea (late May). In Greek mythology, the name was given to the seven daughters of the Titan Atlas and the sea-nymph Pleione. One story of how these sisters became stars relates that after Atlas was forced to carry the heavens on his shoulders, all seven sisters committed suicide because they were so saddened by his fate as well as by the loss of their five half-sisters, the Hyades—weeping nymphs believed to bring rain, who comprise the nearest star cluster and form the V of Taurus’ face. Zeus, the ruler of the Greek gods, immortalized the sisters by transforming them into stars and placing them together in the sky. Aldebaran, the brightest star in Taurus’ V-shaped face, is Arabic for follower in reference to this star forever chasing the Pleiades across the heavens. The Pleiades are mentioned in Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey as

The Pleiades (1885) by the Symbolist painter Elihu Vedder

well as in the Bible. The nine brightest stars of the Pleiades constellation are named for these seven sisters: Sterope, Merope, Electra, Maia, Taygeta, Celaeno, and Alcyone, along with their parents Atlas and Pleione. I first became fascinated with this constellation in AP French class, when we studied the group of young French Renaissance poets who called themselves La Pléiade (pron. play-ee-ahd in French) after the the original Pleiad of seven Alexandrian poets and tragedians who adopted this name during the 3rd century BC. They, in turn, named themselves after the seven-star constellation that glittered in the heavens on a clear winter’s night both then and now! The 16th century French Pléiade included Pierre de Ronsard, Joachim du Bellay, JeanAntoine de Baïf, and others whose aim was to produce a new and revitalized French poetry that could stand up to comparison with the verse of classical antiquity by such greats as Horace, Virgil, and Ovid. Ronsard wrote exquisite nature poems, including, appropriately, the “Hymne du Ciel,” or “Hymn of the Sky.” Have you ever wondered how Subaru chose the starry logo that adorns its cars? I only recently discovered that the word “subaru”— which literally means “unite” or “gather together” in Japanese—is also the Japanese name for the Pleiades star cluster, which is represented in the brand’s

logo! This word was chosen as the brand name of Subaru automobiles to reflect the origins of the firm as the joining of five companies. Since one of the seven stars in the cluster is usually invisible, there are only six stars in the Subaru logo. The name “Seven Sisters” is also used to refer to seven outstanding women’s liberal arts colleges in the Northeast— namely Smith, Radcliffe, Wellesley, Bryn Mawr, Vassar, Barnard, and Mount Holyoke. This name was officially adopted during the 1926 Seven College Conference, which was aimed at organizing common fundraising for the colleges (Vassar has since become coed, while Radcliffe effectively merged with its male counterpart, Harvard). The name has even transferred in common usage to a group of mountains in western Massachusetts not far from these colleges. Of course, astronomers appreciate this unique constellation as much as the rest of us; NASA chose this name for its most powerful supercomputer, perhaps because, like the star cluster, it consists of a computer cluster. “Pleiades … represents NASA’s state-of-the-art technology… enabling NASA scientists and engineers to conduct modeling and simulation for NASA missions. This distributed-memory SGI ICE cluster is connected with InfiniBand in a dual-lane hypercube technology.” So we’ve come full circle, because that description is Greek to me! The Subaru logo is a stylized version of the Pleiades star cluster containing the six stars that are commonly visible.

A map of the Pleiades star cluster from the Digitized Sky Survey. Photo: NASA/ ESA/AURA/Caltech

CROZETgazette

MARCH 2018

Ann Kennickell Hester A loving mother and grandmother, Ann Kennickell Hester died suddenly of heart failure on Saturday, February 17, 2018. She had just celebrated her 74th birthday. Ann was born February 13, 1944, in Seattle, Washington to Frances Wycoff Kennickell and Herman “Mac” McGolrick Kennickell, Jr. Ann graduated from Mobile, Alabama School of Nursing and received an advanced degree in anesthesia. She married John C. Hester on Valentine’s Day 1969. They lived in many locations around the U.S. and Europe while John served in the US Airforce and later left active duty to work for GE. Wherever they lived, Ann worked as a nurse anesthetist. She was the one watching over all types and ages of people undergoing sedation for surgery. She would hold hands with anyone who needed that reassurance and was a capable and compassionate caregiver. In her well-chosen career and in her life, she never met a stranger and brightened the world with her friendly presence. She had four children she loved completely for who they are and worked hard to support. Ann was a very generous person in many ways. She had many friends and loved adventures and said yes to life. She was an avid reader. She delighted most of all in her role as Granny to her four grandchildren. She loved taking on the role of her beloved paternal grandmother, Virginia Williams Kennickell who was called Grannie K. Ann shone her love on her grandkids. She was busy making treats in the kitchen and supervising messy art work and reading endless

Serving Western Albemarle Families Since 1967 Robert S. Anderson & John W. Anderson, Jr., D I R E C T O R S

823-5002 5888 St. George Avenue Crozet, VA 22932

BEREAVEMENTS Catherine Gordon Barnes Williams, 93

picture books until her last day. She is and will be greatly missed by many. She was preceded in death by her parents and by her husband, John. She is survived by her children: Leah Crisp of Sylva, NC, Karen “Blossom” Hester Dawes of Crozet, Patrick Hester of Stanardsville, and Sarah Catherine Thorston of Ivy. Her four grandchildren are Elizabeth Haynes of Waynesville, NC, Aurora and Hudson Dawes of Crozet, and Margaret Ann “Maggie” Thorston of Ivy. They family wishes for the lives of Ann and John Hester to be remembered and celebrated with love. We welcome cards (addressed to 239 Turkey Ridge Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903) and emails (annhester@ comcast.net) to lift our hearts with great memories. Any donations in their honor should go to the Western Albemarle Rescue Squad. A service to remember Ann’s life will be held on Saturday, March 10, at 12 p.m. at the Church of Our Savior, 1165 Rio Rd E, Charlottesville. Light refreshments will follow the service.

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Frances Thompson, 86 Carol S. Revala Chambers, 75 Rodney A. Mills, 91 John Philip Murray, 63 Walter Edgar Savory Jr., 95 Hattie Fox Morris, 93 Christina Marie Rakusja, 51 John Brooke Spotswood, 70 Christopher Sachem Foley, 28 Nancy Clark Miller, 76 Alma V. Wood, 79 Dorothy Houchens Davis, 80 Lewis Vernon Frazier, 70 Joseph P.J. Oliver, 73 James Herbert Truslow, 89 Charles Peter Stratos, 69 Donna Kay Kauffman Watson, 55 Edward Junis Breeden, 82 Leonard Ezra Cason Jr., 99 Christine Fitzgerald Chapman, 92 Ronald Wayne Lamm, 80 Elizabeth Vitez Walter, 96 David Herdman Cameron Sr., 90 H. Wayne Collier, 84 Jerry D. Coleman, 96 Hattie Walford Carder Crebbs, 101 Michael Barry Schwartz, 69 Elizabeth Lucille Frazier Thomas, 77 Harold Barbour Jr., age 57 Ann Kennickell Hester Cornelia Jones Wood, 89 Martha Tharrington Jeffreys Carr, 95 Catherine Daly Hegarty, 75 Patricia Schuler, 82 Dawn D. Woltz, 96 Bobby Franklin Napier Jr., 60 Albert Austin Tyree, 82

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CROZETgazette

MARCH 2018

Attention Shoulder Pain Sufferers! Back By Request…

Rotator Cuff Workshop Reveals How to Naturally Heal Shoulder Pain for Good Do you suffer with shoulder pain when you reach overhead? Do you have shoulder pain when getting dressed? Do you have pain in your shoulder when trying to sleep on your side? Do you experience pain, numbness or tingling into your shoulder, or down your arm? Are you afraid your pain will get worse if you don’t do anything about it? If you have answered YES to any of the above questions (or have a stubborn spouse who is in denial) – the Rotator Cuff Workshop may be a life changing event for you... “My shoulder had almost immediate positive results. All the folks at PT Plus were professional and helpful. I hope not to be injured again, but if it happens I will gladly return to PT Plus.”

Shoulder pain can completely ruin your life:  It can make you avoid using that arm with all of your activities (how embarrassing)...  It can make you limit your clothing choices because of avoiding pain with pulling shirts on overhead…  It can affect your ability to cook meals, carry groceries, and do anything activities involving your arms…  It can take your focus away on enjoying your life...like spending time with your children or grandchildren...  It can mess up your work or force you to do a job you don’t want to do...  It can ruin your travel plans...  And it can take away your ability to live life...having to rely on others... And less movement and enjoying of life can lead to depression, increased stress and a sedentary lifestyle (mostly sitting... not moving much) which leads to bigger health problems... and life problems. Here at PT Plus, the Rotator Cuff Specialists have helped 100’s of people from right here in Crozet...and the rest of Albemarle County...who have suffered needlessly with shoulder pain...it’s our specialty.

So by request, I’m hosting a Rotator Cuff and Shoulder Pain Workshop here at PT Plus March 10, 2018 at 1 p.m. We are located at 5690 Three Notch’d Rd Suite 107 Crozet, VA 22932. If you’re confused about what to do and looking for answers, here’s some of what you’ll learn:  TThe Single Biggest #1 Mistake shoulder pain sufferers make which actually stops them from healing...  The 3 Most Common Causes of Shoulder Pain...  A Sure-Fire Way to Pick the Right Treatment for the Cause of Your Pain (and save you a ton of time and money)  How a problem in your neck can cause pain or numbness in your arm...  What successful treatment and permanent relief looks like without the side effects of medications, injections or surgery.

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Looking forward to seeing you there,

community events MARCH 2

Art Fest in the West

Arts students, parents, and teachers in Albemarle County schools will be holding the 6th annual ArtFest in the West celebration of the Arts in Western Education (AWE) Friday, March 2, from 6 to 9 p.m. in the Western Albemarle High School cafeteria. This free event is both a fundraiser for arts programs in the schools and a showcase of student talent.

MARCH 18

Crozet Orchestra Concert

The Crozet Community Orchestra will present a concert Sunday, March 18, at 4 p.m. at Crozet Baptist Church at 5804 Saint George Ave in Crozet Directed by Philip Clark, and introducing Heather Pryse, a student composer and conductor, the program will include The Clarinet Concerto in A Major by W. A. Mozart with soloist James Tobin, as well as works by Aram Khatchaturian and Joaquin Turina.

MARCH 8, 15, 24

Ann Mallek Town Halls

White Hall District Supervisor Ann Mallek will host town hall meetings (her 22nd series) in March at three locations in the district. Citizens are invited to present and discuss issues of concern and may attend any of the three meetings. Information will be shared on the status of budget discussions, as the board will be working on the County executive’s proposed budget over four to six work sessions during February and March. Updates on VDOT projects, broadband, water protection and storm water issues will be

Laura Coleman, PT, Owner PT Plus Health and Wellness Centers PS – The first 10 People to call and register at (434) 823-7613 will receive a special gift. PPS – This event is limited to the first 20 people to register. When you register, you can bring a guest (we do this because many people request to bring their spouse or other family member).

Check out the full community event calendar and submit your own events! crozetgazette.com/events

available. All of these topics are under ongoing development and none will be concluded before summer 2018, or later. Thursday, March 8, at the Field School on Crozet Avenue, beginning at 7:30 p.m. at the conclusion of the Crozet Community Association meeting. Thursday, March 15, at Broadus Wood Elementary Cafeteria, in Earlysville, from 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday, March 24, at the White Hall Community Building at the corner of Garth Road and White Hall Road, from 10 a.m. until noon.

MARCH 9

Crozet Jam Band On Friday, March 9 from 7 to 9 p.m., the Crozet Jam Band will play its Greatest Hits from the past year and a half it has been playing at Starr Hill Brewery Tap Room. The CJB will play songs by Arlo Guthrie, Linda Ronstadt, R.E.M., Simon and Garfunkel, The Eagles, John Denver, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, The Band, Neil Diamond, Van Morrison, Emmylou Harris, and Bob Dylan, among others. Everyone is encouraged to sing along or come up on stage and lead a song. The CJB will also take requests from the CJB songbook. Feel free also to bring an instrument and play along. The goal is community participation. There is no cover, and food will be served from a food truck. Soft drinks and water are available from vending machines. Love is making music with our friends.

MARCH 10

Second Saturdays Art Openings Art on the Trax will feature “Tracy’s Folly” Painting + Printmaking Series by Tracy Knight during the month of March, with a Second Saturday Artist Reception on Saturday, March 10 from 4 - 6 p.m. Born and raised in Charlottesville, with a Canadian heritage, Tracy Knight grew up surrounded by art and creativity.

CROZETgazette Painting has been in her family for many generations. Working with colors, whether it is canvas or fabric, has always been a passion for Knight. The essence of color is the foundation of her work. Inspired by her love of the ocean, clouds and her mother’s gardens, Knight works primarily with pastel colors. Experimenting with different techniques and mediums to bring colors to life, she expresses nature in abstract form. Visit during the Second Saturdays reception for The Art Box’s famous complimentary ice cream sundaes topped with fruit from local orchards. Across the street, during the month of March, Crozet Artisan Depot proudly presents new work by local artist Laura Grice. Laura will be at the Second Saturday Opening Reception on March 10 from 3 - 5 p.m. in the historic Crozet train depot. In this month-long show and sale, Laura presents illustrations created with Sakura Pigma Micron pen and India ink. The drawings are selected from the artist’s series of 31 works completed in October 2017 as part of Inktober, a challenge to create an ink drawing every day of October. “Juxtaposition” is defined as “the act or an instance of placing two or more things side by side, often to compare or contrast or to create an interesting effect.” In each of these drawings, the artist explores juxtaposing two items in a clever or unexpected way. For more information please sign-up to receive the monthly newsletter—www.crozetartisandepot.com—or like the Facebook page—www.facebook.com/crozetartisandepot.

Same Page —continued from page 32

New American Haggadah (edited by Jonathan Safran Foer), at Congregation Beth Israel on Friday, March 23 at 10 a.m. Jefferson-Madison Regional Library’s Same Page Community Read is a community reading program to promote and discuss one book throughout the month of March by an author featured at the Virginia Festival of the Book, coming up March 21-25.

MARCH 2018

MARCH 14

Kids’ Film Fest: From the Heart

Throughout history, young people have channeled their passions to make a positive change in their neighborhood and beyond. Enjoy several short films based on books about kids who have made a difference and then create a piece of art that reflects the passions in your own heart. March 14, 3:30 p.m. at Crozet Library. Ages 6-11. Registration reqeuested.

by Louise Dudley

Celebrating Books! 2

1 4

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9 10

14 17

MARCH 14-16

Legally Blonde The Musical Presented by WAHS drama. See story page 47.

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MARCH 21

Virginia Festival of the Book: Women of the World Three novelists will explore the connections between women as they discuss identity, relationships, motherhood, and courage. Authors will include Marisa de los Santos (I’ll Be Your Blue Sky), Leah Weiss (If the Creek Don’t Rise), and Adrienne Benson (The Brightest Sun). March 21 at 6:30 p.m. at Crozet Library.

MARCH 21

CCAC Meeting The March meeting of the Crozet Community Advisory Committee will be Wednesday, March 21 at 7 p.m. at Field School. JMRL invites all book lovers in Central Virginia to join this reading initiative, and to join our discussion at the Crozet Library Book Club on Monday, March 5 at 7 p.m. This book was selected in part to connect with the events that took place in Charlottesville last August as torch-bearing marchers chanted “Jews will not replace us” (one can’t help wondering who “us” is?). Englander wrote a moving response to these events in the New York Times titled, “What Jewish Children Learned from Charlottesville.”

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3 Crozet Library is a _____ of the Jefferson Madison system 4 Four-leafed plant 5 A singing syllable considered lucky 6 Mr. ______, who sang 7 Nickname for a about his neighborhood grandmother 9 Color to wear March 17 on TV (born 3/20/1928) 10 Sigh of satisfaction 8 Dr. _________, author 12 Young dog of Hop on Pop, (born 15 Michelle Obama’s 3/2/1904) “Let’s _____” exercise 10 Sam-I- ____ in Green campaign Eggs and Ham 16 Person who writes 11 Opposite of cold a book 13 Patron Saint of Ireland, 17 Got out of a chair remembered March 17 19 Goodnight, ______, 14 Song sung by one favorite bedtime performer book for tots 18 “________ 20 Go without food on Underpants,” popular purpose (or, opposite book series for kids of slow) 19 Type of music bands 22 Place to borrow books step to in a parade 24 ID needed to check out 20 Payment for an overdue a library book library book 25 A fictional book, longer 21 Number of dwarfs in than a short story “Snow White” 26 __________ Savings 23 ________ Einstein, Time begins March 11 brilliant physicist 29 Kind of store under (born 3/4/1879) the Crozet Library 24 Country with the 30 Twitchy largest population 27 Exam DOWN 28 Common connecting word 1 Do this to your plate before washing it 2 2,000 pounds ACROSS

Solution on page 54

CROZETgazette

MARCH 2018

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MARCH 2018

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