Coast Guard Station Cape Charles Aids in Perilous Rescue
Helicopter rescue video has no sound, but can induce motion sickness! (Click bottom right for full-screen)
October 19, 2013
EDITOR’S NOTE: Here in Cape Charles we are most likely to see resident Coast Guard personnel playing soccer in Central Park or jogging along town streets. The Wave is reprinting the following Coast Guard rescue report as a reminder that our neighbors’ “day job” can be a perilous one. On Thursday, October 10, in 40-knot winds, 12-foot seas, and inky darkness, the Coast Guard rescued two people from a disabled vessel by lowering a rescue swimmer from a helicopter who rigged a tow line to a Coast Guard vessel. Coast Guard Station Cape Charles participated in the mission.
U.S. COAST GUARD PUBLIC AFFAIRS
Fast-moving storms blew through parts of the Eastern Seaboard last week, whipping maritime communities with heavy rain and high winds. True to form for Coast Guard men and women, the foul weather was no match for the perseverance of Coast Guard crews.
The Coast Guard responded to a sailboat sinking near the mouth of the Great Wicomico River and another sailboat northeast of Cape Charles that was also sinking.
Crew members aboard the 34-foot sailboat Basta contacted Coast Guard Sector Hampton Roads’ command center reporting the boat was experiencing engine trouble, and they were unable to raise their sails or lower an anchor.
Hampton Roads watchstanders issued an urgent marine information broadcast and dispatched a rescue crew from Coast Guard Station Cape Charles and an aircrew aboard an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C.
After being underway for approximately an hour, the boat crew was directed to return to base due to the high seas. The helicopter crew met a similar fate as they arrived on scene. [Read more…]
FRIDAY 10/18: Josh Luckenbach & Philip Simpson Play Folk & Rock Favorites at ESO LIVE
Now there is another reason to “thank God it’s Friday,” as the popular entertainment series ESO LIVE! moves to Friday nights at 8 p.m. at ESO Arts Center in Belle Haven. [Read more…]
SATURDAY 10/19: Book Sale at Accomac Main Library
The Friends of the Eastern Shore Public Library October Book Sale will be at Accomac Main Library 1-3 p.m. Saturday, October 19. [Read more…]
SATURDAY 10/26: 800 Bikers Expected for ‘Between the Waters’ CBES Tour
Nassawadox is the featured town for this year’s 21st annual Between the Waters Bicycle Tour. The Tour is a fundraiser for Citizens for A Better Eastern Shore (CBES), a local non-profit advocacy group. [Read more…]
State Supreme Court Hears Old School Arguments
By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
October 17, 2013
A three-judge panel at the Virginia Supreme Court in Richmond heard arguments October 15 by the civic group Old School Cape Charles. The group’s attorney, Kevin Martingayle, told the court that the Town of Cape Charles failed to follow its own code by letting the school in Central Park fall into disrepair. Citizens should have standing to raise concerns about the sale of a public building and parkland, he argued.
“The Town manufactured its own crisis and then used it as an excuse to sell the property,” Martingayle said. He termed it “remarkable” that the Town used its own failures to enforce its code as the excuse for disposing of historic property. Martingayle told the court that he could find no precedent in law for the Town’s actions.
The Old School group is contesting the Town’s “gifting” to a developer of park property valued on the tax rolls at $900,000. Northampton Circuit Court Judge Revell Lewis ruled last February that Town citizens had “no standing” to question the divestment of Town property.
The Supreme Court now must decide whether the case has sufficient import to merit an appeal. The court considers if errors were made in a ruling, and also whether an an area of law is unsettled and in need of clarification. “Many aspects of Old School’s cases have no legal precedent, which makes them more appealing to the judges,” Martingayle told the Wave. [Read more…]
Graveside Service Saturday for Irene Carpenter, 85
October 16, 2013
Irene Carpenter, 85, a resident of Machipongo, passed away Tuesday, October 15, at her home where she had been cared for since suffering a stroke in 2008.
A visitation will be held 7-8:30 p.m. Friday, October 18, at Wilkins-Doughty Funeral Home in Cape Charles. Interment will be 1 p.m. Saturday, October 19, at Cape Charles Cemetery with Pastor Russell Goodrich officiating.
Mrs. Carpenter was born December 22, 1927, in Chemnitz, Germany, to Oskar and Walli Post Roschar. She became a beautician and was working in Landshut, Germany, where she met soldier Alvin Thomas Carpenter, Sr., when he came in on Thanksgiving Day 1950 to get a haircut. They celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary August 14, 2013. [Read more…]
Official Wrangling Over Old School Continues (in Fine Print)
By GEORGE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
October 16, 2013
When Cape Charles Town Council meets Thursday (October 17), the Old School in Central Park will be on the agenda yet again – more than two years after Town Council began secret negotiations with a developer to give away the property.
This time, Council will consider whether to override a decision by the Town Manager not to allow an appeal by the civic group Old School Cape Charles regarding issuance of a Certificate of Appropriateness to the school developer.
Town Manager Heather Arcos and Town Planner Rob Testerman write that they “will reject the appeal unless otherwise directed by Council.” They present several reasons why, perhaps the most controversial being that “An appeal must be filed with the Zoning Administrator, but OSCC filed the appeal to the Town Clerk.”
The appeal, filed by OSCC President Wayne Creed, quoted Town Zoning Ordinance Section 8.15: “the decisions of the Historic District Review Board may be appealed to the Town Council.”
But Arcos and Testerman contend that Section 8.34 of the Zoning Ordinance “further explains the steps to give notice of an appeal. An appeal must be filed with the Zoning Administrator, but OSCC filed the appeal to the Town Clerk. The appeal is addressed to the Town Council,” they write. Their memo does not mention whether they obtained advice from the Town’s attorney on the issue. [Read more…]
TOWN COUNCIL: Extra-Cost Recycling Not Recommended
CAPE CHARLES WAVE
October 16, 2013
Cape Charles Town Council meets 6 p.m. Thursday, October 17, at St. Charles Parish Hall.
On the agenda is a vote on a garbage collection contract with Davis Disposal, the sole bidder. Cape Charles currently has no provision for curbside recycling pickup. In its bid, Davis Disposal offered optional recycling pickup every other week at a cost of $5 per household per month. However, the recycling would include only paper products and #1 and #2 plastics (no glass).
Davis did not offer any rate reduction for garbage pickup even though with recycling the amount of regular refuse collected would necessarily be less. Town staff has recommended that Council accept the Davis bid on garbage collection but not exercise the curbside recycling option.
Other items on Thursday’s agenda include updates on repairs to the fishing pier, new Washington Avenue sidewalks, Harbor density zoning, and the Old School in Central Park (read separate story here).
The Town information packet may be read by clicking here.
