FRIDAY 12/13: Love Actually Is Holiday Movie at Palace Theatre

Friday, December 13, is Arts Enter’s Christmas Edition of Food, Friends and Film, and folks are encouraged to bring their favorite holiday treats to share with others at the Palace Theatre. Hot Toddy and Irish Coffee recipes are also encouraged! [Read more…]

Vacant Buildings Get Water Bills (With One Exception)

By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave

December 9, 2013

The minimum utility charge for any building in Cape Charles is $108 a month – whether or not a drop of water is consumed. In some cases, owners of vacant buildings have not paid a water bill for years, but the monthly charges continue to accrue. A long-vacant house on Harbor Avenue reportedly has an outstanding water bill of over $8,000.

But it’s not just vacant buildings that have to pay: if a property ever had a building on it, the monthly charges continue even if the building is demolished. The justification, according to Assistant Town Manager Bob Panek, is that 70 percent of water and sewer expenses are for fixed costs such as debt service and personnel that accrue whether or not a customer uses water.

That’s the case facing South Port Investors, who leased property from the Town in 2007 in preparation for construction of Cape Charles Yacht Center, now underway. The property included a building connected to Town water and sewer, but the structure subsequently was demolished.

Not until February of this year did South Port ask the Town to turn the water back on. But in accordance with Town code, officials demanded over $5,000 in back charges, including over $400 interest and penalties.

Town Code Section 72-9.c states: “If a connection existed as of June 30, 2007, and the house or building has since been demolished, the owner shall continue to be liable for the minimum charges.”

Eyre Baldwin of South Port Investors asked Town Council to waive the utility charges given that the land had been vacant all those years. But Mayor Dora Sullivan expressed concern that doing so would set an expensive precedent: Many other Town properties also have the water turned off but continue to be billed.

And in addition to vacant buildings, Public Works Director Dave Fauber estimates there are about six properties in Town with no buildings that nevertheless receive monthly utility bills. [Read more…]

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LETTER: Holiday Cheer Trumps Grand Illumination Chill

GRAND ILLUMINATIONChris Glennon shot this photo of the Gazebo with just the right touch of ice on the 'sicles.

GRAND ILLUMINATION — Chris Glennon shot this photo of the Gazebo with just the right touch of ice on the ‘cicles.

December 9, 2013

DEAR EDITOR,

Citizens for Central Park would like to thank all the people who braved the cold wind on Saturday evening to attend the Grand Illumination of Central Park! It was the culminating event in a day filled with holiday cheer!

There are so many different people and groups who had a hand in making the day a success. Many thanks to the numerous volunteers who worked all day to get the luminaries prepared and ready for the event. Special thanks go to the Northampton County Chamber of Commerce and Jim Weiner for their invaluable assistance, Jeb Brady for the use of his trailer, and Wako Chemicals for allowing us to use their space to prepare and store the luminaries.

Thanks also go to the Town staff who kindly worked with us to decorate the park for the holiday season and to many citizens such as Ned Brinkley, Heather Gladden, Zach Hunter, and others who helped us keep the luminaries lit in the windy weather. We are also very grateful to the Cape Charles Business Association for providing hot cocoa for guests, the children from Cape Charles Christian School for their joyful song, and Angie Pheiffer for transporting Santa and Mrs. Claus from their sleigh to the Park to greet the children.

We hope you had the opportunity to visit the Cape Charles Museum’ s antique toy display, Santa’s House at the Cape Charles Christian School, the boat tours and the lighted boat parade sponsored by the Cape Charles Yacht Club, and the lighted golf cart parade organized by Sandy Mayer. We appreciate the willingness of all of these groups to work together to create a magical day in our beloved town.

I do hope the Cape Charles Community Band will accept my apologies for the shortening of their concert in Central Park. As you may be able to imagine, coordinating the flow of events from one venue to another can be difficult. It was out of concern for our littlest guests that we moved the Grand Illumination ceremony along more quickly than planned. The wind was cold and we wanted to be sure that the children had the opportunity to visit with Santa. [Read more…]

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DECEMBER 14-15: Decoys on Display at National Wildlife Refuge

Come on out of the cold for a special weekend at the Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge for a rare exhibit of decoys in the Visitor Center December 14-15. [Read more…]

Lloyd Kellam Remembers Cape Charles (and Ol’ Sud Bell)

“Sud” Bell c. 1940 (Hog Island Life, Yvonne Widgeon)

(EDITOR’S NOTE: The Cape Charles Historical Society has for more than a decade been recording oral histories of the area’s earlier days. In 2002, as one in a series of lectures sponsored by the Cape Charles Library entitled “The Way We Were,” Cape Charles native Lloyd Kellam shared the following account. In 2012, funded by a grant by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, the recording, along with 14 others, was transcribed. The Historical Society has now made it available for readers of the Wave. All the transcriptions are also available for reading at the Museum.

This is Part 3 of Mr. Kellam’s reminiscences. Click here to read Part 1 and click here for Part 2.)

December 8, 2013

I’m trying to bring back memories to people who lived here and describe what the town was like [if you] didn’t live here. But we had a dairy and I remember, I don’t think you got it all the time, but I remember him delivering milk in the horse and buggy. And there were cars, we had cars. I can remember when the cars parked catty corner in the streets. One other story that I forgot to tell you. Later on as I was walking down the street, Ray Lassiter came here with a music store. He had a store on Pine Street and moved it right next to your drugstore, right?

[Audience member:] Lloyd, at one time, you know, Dad moved down next to the Wilsons.

Yes, he did. He had two stores at one time. The store next to the bank was Lloyd’s until he bought the store from Louis Getzel. For a period of about a year he ran both stores. But he renamed the one down the by the bank, “The Capital.” He sold that to Toad Ewell and a guy named Harry Johnson ran that for a time. Then Lloyd’s was up close to town.

Another story of when Daddy bought the store from Getzel — I smiled when I think of Miss Getzel because her little bulldog she had, she would never let me in the store to get any of that ice cream. I think the first ice cream I got was when Daddy bought it! I didn’t know this and I don’t know if anyone else does, but Mr. Getzel used to sell ice cream up and down the Shore and he put it on the train. He’d loaded ice cream on the train. He had these freezers in the back and all this ice cream ice, I guess, block ice and rock salt, and metal cans. He had freezers back there. But when Daddy bought the business from him, he filled every metal can full of ice cream before he left. I’ve never talked to you about this, but the worst thing he ever did to you, was Daddy had a halfway decent ice grinder down at the one down next to the bank, but the ice grinder he left Daddy at Getzel’s was just horrible. And that was my job, ground ice. If you had one of those hand grinders, it would kill you. [Read more…]

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SUNDAY 12/8: Christmas Stories & Traditions at Palace Theatre

Mellisa Stein brings the holidays to life through storytelling at “Christmas Stories & Traditions” on Sunday, December 8, 2 p.m. at the Historic Palace Theatre, 305 Mason Avenue. [Read more…]