INSIDE NO, EXPLAINED page 2 THE SQUARE FIRST page 3 SCIENTIFIC IS BEST page 4 TING TIME? page 6 NEW OLD THINGS page 7
MARCH 2017 VOL. 11, NO. 10
WARS Honors Our Heroes
COMEBACK CABIN page 11
By Michael Marshall editor@crozetgazette.com
POWELL’S CREEK page 15
Stalwart volunteer Purcell McCue took special honors at a typically emotional awards dinner for the Western Albemarle Rescue Squad Feb. 4 at King Family Vineyards. WARS president Bill Wood opened the evening remarking, “I’d like to thank 99.9 percent of you not just for being here, but for being at all— because of the job you do. The community appreciates what you do.” Bob and Leann Knox, both pillars of the squad, took the mike to say thank you to their fellow volunteers for emotional support with their family tragedy. Leann was on duty recently when a call to an accident at the I-64 exit ramp came in. She arrived to find it was her son Brendan, age 19, involved in a horrible motorcycle accident. The Knoxes had come to the dinner from U.Va. hospital, where Brendan was in the ICU. Bob told their story and summed it up saying, “The U.Va. slogan of ‘a miracle every day’ is true.” County Fire Rescue Chief Dan Eggleston congratulated WARS for being “known as an organization that
JAMAICAN BBQ page 18 MIKE MARSHALL
THE LONG TRAIL page 24 THE NEXT ABELL? page 27 MAT CHAMPS page 28 BEST IN VA page 29 BEST INDOORS page 31 COUGH CHECK page 32 NO SNOW page 33 SILVER SPARROW page 34 OLD BEATS YOUNG page 35 ROBOT MASTERS page 36 HOT LEGS page 37 PINES V.2 page 38 BE THERE page 41 BEREAVEMENTS page 43
A 111-year-old home on Blue Ridge Avenue was demolished Feb. 8 by the developer of The Vue.
Preserving the Past in Crozet: No Refuge for Historic Homes By Lisa Martin lisamartin@crozetgazette.com The Smith house stood on Blue Ridge Avenue, two blocks west of downtown Crozet, for more than 100 years. Nicknamed for the Smith family who lived there for 23 years beginning in 1984, it was built a century ago on one acre for a man named Bickers, a telegraph operator for the railroad who moved here from Bath County. The Smith house was red
brick with a metal, side-gabled jerkinhead roof and a stone fire pit in the back yard. Walnut floors and high ceilings graced the main floor, along with both a front and back set of stairs and a wide, wraparound porch. The house was listed, along with several outbuildings on the grounds, as a contributing property for the Crozet Historic District entry in the National Register of Historic Places. On February 7, the developer who
Manners Matter: Etiquette Lunch for Local Elementary Students By Clover Carroll clover@crozetgazette.com Forty young men and women, dressed in their Sunday best with red sequins and white lace dresses, long pants, and tucked-in, collared shirts, file quietly into the formal dining room. Silently beholding the beautifully decorated tables, set with the full
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complement of silver, glass, linen napkins, and place name cards, the guests politely stand behind their chairs until all have arrived, waiting for the gentlemen to pull out chairs to seat the ladies. Once seated, soft, polite conversation ensues. Are we at Downton Abbey? No! We are at the Afton Christian School’s annual Etiquette
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MIKE MARSHALL
FLAGS OUT! page 23
Bob and Leann Knox