WAYNE CREED: Give Sharks a Break!
In encounters with sharks, humans usually come out on top. (Sunshine Coast Daily photo)
By WAYNE CREED
August 25, 2014
Discovery Channel’s Shark Week 2014 ended the same as always, with the statement: “Sharks have more reason to fear us than we have to fear them.” Only 10 people died from shark attacks last year, yet on average, 73 million sharks are killed by people each year (that works out to more than 8000 sharks per hour).
Estimates from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) indicate that 90 percent of large sharks have been severely diminished (93-99 percent of all large sharks off the east coast of North America have been destroyed (tiger sharks, bull sharks, hammerhead sharks.) On the IUCN’s Red List of endangered species, 50 shark species are listed as being at high risk of extinction (either critically Endangered, Endangered, or Vulnerable) and 63 additional endangered shark species are approaching threatened status. Another 199 species of sharks are considered “data deficient”; they may be endangered, but there is insufficient data to determine their status.
When Europeans first came to the New World, they had no word for shark. Spaniards used the Carib Indians’ term “tiburon,” while English transformed the Mayan word “xoc” to shark. No matter which name was chosen, these animals were much larger and more numerous than what we currently see. According to NOAA shark biologist Jose Castro, who just released a paper on shark history, “Historical Knowledge of Sharks: Ancient Lore, Earliest Attacks.” He writes, “Imagine what it was like back in the 1500s. The number of sharks in those waters can only be imagined, but it must have been tremendous.”
These great predators have ruled the seas for 450 million years, and it is not until the viral spread of humans that they have become threatened. Industrial exploitation of sharks in North America began in 1917, with the incorporation of the Ocean Leather Co. Due to its ability to produce unusually high quality leather the company set out processing a thousand sharks a day. It only took a few decades before many shark populations reached overfished status.
Sharks are particularly sensitive to overfishing due to their tendency to take many years to mature and have relatively few young. Modern day industrial overfishing is mainly due to Hong Kong’s unsustainable appetite for shark fin soup, which sells for over $100 a bowl. Shark finning goes entirely against the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s International Plan for the Conservation and Management of Sharks; however, these are not legal requirements but recommendations which cannot be enforced. There are no national or international laws or treaties that exist to prohibit the sale of shark fins. Shark finning is the practice of catching a live shark, slicing off its fins with a hot knife blade and then dumping the still-living shark back in the ocean, where it drowns or bleeds to death. [Read more…]
A Trip to the New Chiropractor (Needles Included)
A little neck manipulation — and then come the needles.
By SARAH GOLIBART
Cape Charles Wave
August 18, 2014
It’s not every day that you find yourself shirtless in a room with a man who recently moved from the Dominican Republic. Now, don’t jump to conclusions! I was receiving acupuncture treatment from Dr. Greg Stern, Cape Charles’ newest acupuncturist and chiropractor.
I tensed as he pushed the third needle into the muscle of my right shoulder. About seven more needles were waiting to puncture my back, hands, shoulders, and ears. Surprisingly, it didn’t really hurt. According to Dr. Stern, acupuncture isn’t supposed to cause pain, but instead promote healing and well-being.
“Dr. Greg,” as he’s called, was treating my shoulder for an injury I received almost two years ago in a bicycling accident. I fell while riding downhill and dislocated my shoulder. I partially tore my rotator cuff and immobilized my arm. Eight months of physical therapy has almost fully restored my arm’s motion, but left my deltoid useless and without sensation. The deltoid is a very crucial muscle involved in arm movement. Dr. Greg chose to focus on my shoulder injury for my acupuncture and chiropractic treatment. [Read more…]
ORAL HISTORY: Parsons House Fire Was ‘Worth It’
Parsons House burned c. late 1970s. The five dormers were lost along with the Chippendale railing around the upper porch and the slate roof. The house is now the Chesapeake Bay View Bed & Breakfast.
August 18, 2014
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Cape Charles Historical Society has for more than a decade been recording oral histories of the area’s earlier days. A grant from the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities enabled 15 interviews to be transcribed, and the Historical Society has made this one available for readers of the Wave. All the transcriptions may be read at the Cape Charles Museum.CLICK to read previous oral histories in the Wave.)
1990 Interview of Virginia Fitzhugh conducted by Virginia Savage
PART FIVE
VIRGINIA SAVAGE: Where was the Fitzhugh house?
VIRGINIA FITZHUGH: Right there on the corner where Shrieves lives [southwest corner of Randolph and Peach].
The yellow house on the corner of Peach and Randolph. And that’s where you started housekeeping. Did Mr. Fitzhugh build that house?
No. That house was built by Dr. Kellam, the doctor that was in Cape Charles. And Mr. Fitzhugh bought it from him.
Now the house next to that where the Johnsons lived now. And the next house was Harold Smith’s.
That’s right. That was a boarding house.
That was an old Federal type building there [torn down in the ’80s]. Do you remember when the Mack buildings were built?
Yep. They were built late. I would say ’30s or ’40s.
Do you remember when Mr. Parsons built his house on the beach? Mr. Russell Parsons . . . Miss Alice Parsons. The one the second floor burned probably during the late ’70s.
I don’t know how old I was when that was built.
That was such a gorgeous house. What a calamity that it burned. [The five dormers were lost, the Chippendale railing around the upper porch and a wonderful slate roof.]
Listen, it was worth it. They got so much money back, because it had gone perfectly terrible and they didn’t have the money to fix it. But how in the world they got so much insurance money — it’s like an almost entirely new house inside. I tell you, Virginia, Miss Alice Parsons had property but I don’t think she had much cash. Because she was a working woman. She had all those apartments up over where Harold Smith had his hardware store. And up there where the Eastern Star was. [Parson building on Mason.] See they had apartments up there. They owned all these big houses at the end of Tazewell. [Read more…]
LETTER
Arts Festival Is Essence of Economic Development
August 18, 2014
DEAR EDITOR,
It is with much praise and gratitude that I express my sincere appreciation for the event “Harbor for the Arts” in Cape Charles August 1-17. As the second annual event, this arts festival deserves great acclaim. Not only has our cultural arts organization Arts Enter Cape Charles demonstrated expertise in grant and sponsorship funding, it has also proved to the world that our community has one of the premier cultural arts centers in the nation if not the world.
Performances and exhibitions took place over a two week period using venues that represented the best private and public assets of the Town of Cape Charles and her surrounding environs. Street performances, bands under pavilions on the park and at the beach, concerts and films in our beautifully restored historic theater, entertainers gathering audiences on the sidewalks, a multi-media dance production in a classic 150-year-old equestrian barn overlooking the seaside sounds and islands, and more — wherever one turned during these two weeks the cultural arts permeated our living space here in Cape Charles. How blessed this writer felt to be living and working in such an incredibly talented community!
Arts Enter Cape Charles deserves all of the support our community can possibly give — through attendance, financial gifts, sponsorships and volunteer participation. This dedicated group colors our community with excellence in the arts, offering instruction in the performing and visual arts as well as amazing performances that educate, entertain and thrill her audiences. This is the essence of economic development: establishing our community as a center of the arts and education, improving our reputation and attracting new growth and business to our region.
Thank you to Arts Enter Cape Charles for enriching our lives and lifting our souls!
DAVID L. KABLER
Machipongo
Letters to the Editor are welcome, and a diversity of opinions is encouraged. Send submissions to [email protected].
WAYNE CREED
Response to ‘Arts Festival Is Essence of Development’
By WAYNE CREED
August 19, 2014
In response to David Kabler’s letter (CLICK), I certainly agree with everything Capt K is saying, especially “establishing our community as a center of the arts and education, improving our reputation and attracting new growth and business to our region.”
However, the deconstructionist in me would be remiss not to point out that textually the narrative always bleeds over and tends to occupy the most important part of the narrative, out in the margins, echoing Guy Debord’s claims that different commodities conflict with each other, preventing the consumer from consuming the whole. Each commodity claims itself as the only existent one:
“Irreconcilable claims jockey for position on the stage of the affluent economy’s unified spectacle, and different star commodities simultaneously promote conflicting social policies.”
What I mean is that as beautiful a celebration of the Arts as Harbor for the Arts was, simultaneously, right across town, in the old school, crews were working to demolish the oldest, most historical stage on the Eastern Shore.
As much as I love and support everyone and everything involved in HFA, it’s still hard to reconcile these “oppositional” events. I guess my ultimate criticism is that the ultimate goal here, as described by Kabler, is economic development; however, this belief is couched in the belief that existence is structured in terms of oppositions (historical significance and social justice or grants for digital cameras) and that these oppositions are hierarchical, with one side of the opposition being more valuable than the other (this is certainly the reality (of the street) that the historically underserved are being expected to accept). The courts certainly seem to agree with this, and insist that we urgently re-inscribe this new hierarchy (devalue social and historical significance and replace it with the “New”: see Hotel Cape Charles) so that we can move ahead with “economic development” as the main driver. [Read more…]
LETTER
Sewer Smell at Beach and Harbor Discourages Tourism
August 18, 2014
DEAR EDITOR,
Could someone please look into why the waste treatment plant at Cape Charles continuously smells? My husband and I have a home in Cheriton and frequently have grandchildren over to visit. Of course they want to go to the beach, and the beach at Cape Charles is very convenient. Last year we noticed a sewage smell while swimming and sunning. This year it is there as well. We also put our boat in at the harbor and, of course, experience the same thing. It is very off-putting when you expect sea breezes and get only what you can only say “phew” to.
We continue to put our boat in at the harbor because of the convenience of not towing it a long distance, and because we don’t have to smell those odors because we are not there very long. We have, however, decided not to take advantage of the beach anymore, because who wants to spend the day whiffing those gases? We’ll go to Kiptopeke and pay for the privilege to breathe the clean, salty air down there. Or trip on up to Assateague and, again, pay for a glorious breezy experience and for fun playing in the waves.
I wonder how the folks in the big yachts in the harbor feel about taking in foul odors while trying to sit on the boat deck, having a cool one and grilling out? How would this go over as a recommendation to their friends to dock their boats there? How do they feel when they have friends over and they ask, “How can you stand that smell?” [Read more…]
SHORT REVIEW: Parr Barn Party Was Big Surprise
August 15, 2014
Last Saturday was another big surprise presentation by Cape Charles Harbor Festival. Venue: Parr Barn — An old white barn at the end of a cornfield, overlooking the marshes and barrier islands of the Atlantic seaside. At the back of the barn, guests were in the periphery of a circular driveway and in the center a maleTaiwanese dancer clad in a billowing black skirt was miming in silence. Boooring.
After 10 minutes I was about to leave when suddenly appearing from the seaside was a female Taiwanese dancer in similar attire but in red, jumping ,writhing, pirouetting gracefully towards the black dancer in unison with a hypnotizing Chinese melody. Hmm — interesting. The two dancers went inside the barn and out came several dancers clad in all white costumes and gestured the audience to go with them inside the barn, up the stairs into the rafters.
Up there, we were enveloped in white smoke as the dancers danced and the audience stared, mesmerized. It felt like I was participating in someone else’s dream. After the sequence, someone started playing the violin by the big barn window with the big moon just hanging outside like a cliched landscape. We went back downstairs to another stage where a very talented husband and wife team (Bridgman and Packard) performed their magical, whimsical dancing as images were projected into a black screen. At times, it was hard to determine whether it was the real person dancing or an image. Totally engrossing.
Many thanks to the organizers and supporters of the Harbor Festival for bringing this avant garde productions to our little town.
– MARIA FRANCIA VARGAS DALKINSKY
Zoning Showdown: Baldwin vs Schwarzchild & Ordeman
CAPE CHARLES WAVE
August 12, 2014
Tonight (Tuesday) three speakers are scheduled to address the Northampton County Board of Supervisors on proposed zoning changes — specifically the proposed removal of the Waterfront Village zones of Oyster and Willis Wharf.
Eyre Baldwin, who owns property in Oyster, addressed the Planning Commission last week, and is expected to make the same points tonight. Baldwin has restored an old Oyster structure, moved it to the waterfront, and now wants to use it as a “waterfront Mom and Pop general store where locals, boaters, and traveling tourists can stop in to purchase gasoline, ice, drinks, and snacks for their boat ride out on the seaside.” He also wants to rent out kayaks, open a raw bar, and use the upstairs as a vacation rental. His complaint is that under the current zoning ordinance none of those things can be done “by right.”
“We are urging the Planning Commission to help ease the current restrictions that are preventing us from moving forward with a potentially great waterfront village business,” Baldwin said August 5.
Baldwin also again raised the concept of a regional water and wastewater system at the Webster property he owns in Cheriton. He called attention to the study by the Accomack-Northampton Planning District Commission and quoted it as stating that water quality in Cape Charles is “getting worse.” (CLICK for the Wave’s report.) “The wells in Cheriton at the Webster site are not affected by the water issues that plague Cape Charles. Studies have shown that the Webster site is sitting on top of the deepest part of the aquifer that runs under this county,” he said. [Read more…]
