Inside Business Report Focuses on Bayshore Concrete
Cape Charles Police Chief Charles “Sambo” Brown
Mayor Sullivan (photos by Harry Gerwien, Inside Business)
EDITOR’S NOTE: From time to time, newspapers and magazines record their impressions of our fair village.
The reports invariably are of interest to local residents, even if they already know everything they read.
Last May, the Hampton Roads business journal Inside Business sent reporter Bill Cresenzo and photographer Harry Gerwien across the Bay to take a measure of Cape Charles. They took a look, and saw Bayshore Concrete Products. Inside Business has graciously permitted the Wave to reprint the entire interesting story below.
CAPE CHARLES HAS A WAY OF STAYING ALIVE
By BILL CRESENZO
Inside Business
May 11, 2012
Dora Sullivan and Charles Brown are sitting in chairs on the sidewalk in the heart of Cape Charles on a recent sunny spring day.
The strip of commercial space that lines the town’s main street is quaint and historic, with a hardware store, a pub, a boutique hotel that just reopened and a couple of souvenir shops.
All are within walking distance of Cape Charles Beach, a well-kept stretch of sand that features a fishing pier that extends into the Chesapeake Bay — no fishing license required, compliments of the town.
Sullivan and Brown are quick to say hello to a couple of passers-by and introduce themselves.
Sullivan informs them that she is originally from Egypt.
Fifteen years ago, she and her husband, Michael, happened by the small town at the southern end of the Eastern Shore, while living in Virginia Beach. They decided they just had to live in Cape Charles.
Now “I’m the mayor,” Sullivan said.
She waved her hand at Brown.
“And this is our police chief.”
Across the harbor in view of where Sullivan and Brown sit is Bayshore Concrete Products with its cranes, its 86 rocky acres and concrete segments pointing to the sky, waiting to be shipped up the East Coast.
It’s a scene that one wouldn’t necessarily call pretty.
But in the eyes of Sullivan and Brown, who worked at Bayshore Concrete before becoming police chief, and of the residents of Cape Charles who depend on the company to keep the town’s economy alive, Bayshore Concrete — one of Northampton County’s largest employers — is a classic case of beauty being in the eye of the beholder.
“It is a most beautiful thing to look at,” Sullivan said, “because it creates jobs.” [Read more…]
Ira Garland Merritt, 62, Cape Charles Native
Ira Garland Merritt, Jr., 62, husband of Elaine Doris Merritt and a resident of Eastville, passed away Tuesday, November 13, at his residence.
A celebration of life service will be held at a later date.
Memorial contributions may be made to American Legion Post #56, P.O. Box 357, Cheriton, VA 23316.
He is survived by three children, Demetrious Ann Bruno of Accomac, Ira G. Merritt III of Eastville, Shavon Alexis Wilson and her husband, Andrew, of Greensboro, NC; two sisters, Sarita Thurman of Exmore and Cindy Melson of Accomac; one brother, Louis Midget of Nebraska; and one nephew, William Thomas Merritt, Jr., of Eastville. He was predeceased by a brother, William Thomas Merritt. [Read more…]
LETTER
Like Early Settlers, School Supporters Are ‘Moved to Protest’
CLICK TO ENLARGE — Reprinted by permission from the November 5, 2012, official Cape Charles Gazette
November 14, 2012
DEAR EDITOR:
Tomorrow, Piece of Eden opens at the Palace Theatre. We have a rich, talented cast, Clelia Shepherd’s direction has been first rate, and the musical score will be performed wonderfully by William Neil.
This show is also a wonderful way to learn about the history of the Eastern Shore, and the early settlers who made this land between the Atlantic Ocean and Chesapeake Bay their home.
The play is written by Cape Charles’ own Jean Collins, and it highlights just how the Eastern Shore changed the world, from having the earliest court records, staging the first play in the new world (Ye Bear and Ye Cub), being the first settlers to challenge corrupt practices of government, to being the first county to declare an act of British Parliament, the Stamp Act, unconstitutional.
Jean Collins had a unique perspective on the entire history of the Eastern Shore, yet she also still has ties to us today.
In 1921, the students of Cape Charles, especially the basketball team, petitioned the Town to build a gymnasium. At that time, the team had nowhere to play.
That call went unanswered for almost 35 years, until the principal at the time, Jean Collins (the only female principle of the school) finally stepped up and secured funding to convert the auditorium into a “gymtorium” (because it was still used as an auditorium as well).
It seems fitting that some of Jean Collins’ former students are now part of and are working with Old School Cape Charles to keep the school and the gymtorium public, and part of the Town. [Read more…]
EDITORIAL: Laws Meant to Be Broken
HOW THE WAVE SEES IT
November 13, 2012
There are laws meant to be obeyed, and there are laws meant to be broken.
A wise town authority knows when to bear down, and when to look the other way. But a foolish authority ends up looking, well — foolish.
The Cape Charles Wave takes more than simple pleasure in pointing out official foolishness — we see it as our civic duty. Question authority!
So, for example, we pointed out the, yes, stupidity of trying to enforce a ban on political yard signs until just 45 days before a Presidential election. We noted that the U.S. Supreme Court long ago struck down any such ban. And we cheered on our own vice mayor for ignoring the town ban by prominently displaying political advertising in his yard before the permitted date.
Just yesterday we drew attention to more foolishness, as our Town Council members put their heads together this Thursday to discuss enacting rules to constrain behavior at public meetings. Town staff recommends that we, the residents, be prohibited from handing out or receiving flyers within 50 feet of the door of the meeting hall.
What are they afraid of?
There’s also a suggestion to prohibit speakers from personally criticizing elected Town officials or Town staff. To do so would be an “attack” on their person.
Virginia Beach banned “personal attacks” during the public comment of school board meetings, and the courts ruled the ban unconstitutional.
We’re not suggesting that “anything goes.” The presiding town official has the right to require a certain decorum, but a wise official will differentiate between scathing criticism (allowed) and speech that violates the “habits and manners of civility” (not allowed).
And now we’ve learned of even more foolishness by a town staff that seems to have too much time on its hands. As shown above, the Town has issued an official warning to Old School Cape Charles for advertising its Oyster Roast on telephone poles. Each sign is cause for a $100 fine. [Read more…]
SATURDAY 11/24: Chatham Vineyards Family Fun for Franktown Montessori
Ahhh, yes! Something to do on Saturday after Thanksgiving, when everyone is stir crazy, over their turkey-coma, tired of cooking, and scared of the crowds in the stores — Come Raise the Roof! [Read more…]
THURSDAY 11/15: Seminar on Coral Reefs at UVA-Oyster
A seminar on “Coral Reefs of the World: Health and Sustainability” will be held 7 p.m. Thursday, November 15, at the Anheuser Busch Coastal Research Center in Oyster. [Read more…]
Town Council Worried about Public Speakers at Meetings
Bruce Evans delivers public comments at the November 8 Town Council meeting. (Wave photo)
By GEORGE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
November 12, 2012
The natives are restless, and Cape Charles Town Council is working on doing something about it.
The Council is holding a work session at 6 p.m. Thursday, November 15, to review “citizen participation guidelines” at public meetings.
The work session is open to the public but not to public comment.
As recently as last spring, Council’s biggest worry about public participation was that there was none.
At the March 2012 Council meeting, Vice Mayor Chris Bannon remarked that up until then, almost nobody had attended meetings other than Council and staff.
That was before word got out that Council planned to sell the old school and accompanying property in Central Park to a developer for $10. Town Council meetings have not been the same since.
The most contentious meeting was August 23, when Mayor Dora Sullivan directed police to eject four residents from the room.
Two persons were removed while speaking at the podium, and the other two were taken out for holding up signs. [Read more…]
MONDAY 11/12: Veterans Day Commemoration Service at Mason Avenue Memorial
American Legion Post 56 will hold a Veteran’s Day Commemoration Service at the Veteran’s Memorial on Mason Avenue in Cape Charles at 11 a.m. Monday, November 12.
