COMMENTARY:
Why I Went to Court over the Park Bathrooms
Site of future Central Park bathrooms. Due to flooding conditions, bathroom floor will be elevated to height of wooden crossmember behind yellow tape. Access will be via a 60-foot winding ramp. (Wave photo)
By DONALD RILEY
April 10, 2013
Do the people of Cape Charles want a bathroom in the park that mirrors a 1980s sewer pump station?
Do we want a bathroom that is closed in the winter? Does no one live in Cape Charles in the winter?
Do we want bathrooms with two stalls on each side? Are there safety concerns about that?
Those are some questions Citizens for Central Park might have considered when they decided to construct a bathroom in Central Park. They might have polled the residents of Cape Charles to learn their thoughts.
The location also could have been the subject of community input. Do we want the bathroom at the east end of the park, far from the children’s playground in what becomes a lake when it rains? The floor of the bathroom house will be three feet above the ground in order to avoid flooding. Do we want that kind of towering bathroom? [Read more…]
LINDEMAN: Help Our Accomack Neighbors Fight Arson
By BRUCE LINDEMAN
Cape Charles Wave
March 28, 2013
Since mid-November, 74 arsons in Accomack County have been recorded. Investigators are trying desperately to find the person or persons responsible and have recently announced an award of up to $5,000 for information leading to the capture of the arsonist(s) from the Virginia Chapter of the International Association of Arson Investigators (http://www.vaiaai.com).
Since these fires have been widespread, fighting the blazes has involved many local volunteer fire departments throughout the county –- departments with limited funds to respond to the extraordinary number of calls.
These blazes have stressed many of Accomack’s volunteer fire and rescue personnel to the point where they are running out of supplies and the budget to replace them. To date, these brave men and women have logged 3,700 hours fighting these fires.
How can we help? I asked Billie Jean Miles at the Accomack County Department of Public Safety. Below is the information she sent me.
Volunteer! There are fifteen volunteer fire & rescue stations located in Accomack County. A complete list with contact information can be found at http://www.acdps.net/page/volunteer-fire-and-rescue.
There are various ways one could volunteer and not necessarily be a firefighter and/or EMS provider. Maybe you have some extra time to help clean equipment or fire hoses, assist with one of their upcoming fundraisers, staff the rehab unit, or provide administrative support. Contact your local station to see how you could make a difference.
Give! An account has been established for monetary donations. All donations are tax-deductible. Donations can be dropped off at any Shore Bank location or mailed to Shore Bank (c/o Accomack Firefighter’s Assistance Fund), P.O. Box 920, Onley VA 23418. [Read more…]
COMMENTARY:
Anonymous School Survey Biased and Cowardly
By TED WARNER
February 13, 2013
Recently a survey was circulated though email by an unnamed “local community group” in an attempt to explore “perceptions of the local school options” and “local Eastern Shore schools.” It was reported by the Cape Charles Wave. The survey was not appreciated and accomplished nothing. Its organizers should be ashamed.
And who are the organizers? They are anonymous; anonymity has no place in the public discourse.
At a basic level, we must exchange ideas in order to make any progress. That’s why testimony has value in a democracy. That’s how minds are changed. And, because we sign our names to our ideas, democracy is done in the light of day and personal accountability.
It matters that I sign my name to this letter; it means that tomorrow, someone can approach me on Mason Avenue and speak to me about it. My boss will see it. I can’t hide from what I’m saying here, but I’m going to say it anyway. Because it matters.
But this anonymous group has deliberately chosen to excuse themselves from that system of accountability. They are hiding. They are cowards.
There is also something psychologically violent about this anonymous survey. It is not, as it claims, an exploration. Its suspicious and shoddy methodology reveals its own bias. [Read more…]
LINDEMAN: Like a Good Neighbor, Cape Charles Is There
Fred’s grandfather?
By BRUCE LINDEMAN
Cape Charles Wave
January 30, 2013
By now most of you who have read my past columns know that I tend to write about what I perceive to be what’s good in this town of ours.
2012 was a year of controversy and angst for many, and I simply don’t want us to lose sight of all the good things that happen throughout the course of the year and the people behind those things.
The old “forest for the trees” adage is alive and well here: we have to consider the whole if we’re going to pick the nit.
Case in point:
I have an old truck. It’s not a beauty nor is it anywhere near new. Fred is a 23-year old Ford F-150 pickup.
I’ve owned Fred for seven or eight years now, I suppose. I don’t measure my time with Fred in terms of years or miles, but in the quality it adds to our lives.
Why the name Fred? Before I bought it, I borrowed a friend’s F-150 to help move some furniture. That truck was affectionately named Lamont by my friend. It was the same vintage as Fred.
If you remember the TV show Sanford and Son, you’ll get Lamont and Fred.
My son was maybe four at the time, and I plopped him in the seat next to me figuring he’d get a kick out of riding high in a truck. Little did I know how much so.
Jack rode back and forth with me over the course of two days as we moved loads of furniture to our new house. The evening I brought Lamont back to my friend, we put the kids to bed and I made a final trip back to my friends’ to retrieve my car.
The next morning, Jack looked outside in the driveway and asked, “Where’s Lamont, Daddy?” I told him we had only borrowed it and that it wasn’t ours to keep. His little eyes began to tear up. He clearly didn’t understand. My heart broke for him. So I vowed that I’d find a truck just like Lamont for us to tool around in. [Read more…]
LINDEMAN: Give Leaders Credit for Getting Involved
By BRUCE LINDEMAN
Cape Charles Wave
January 7, 2013
Be the change you want to see in the world.
We’ve all heard it. Sounds cliché-ish, but there is no truer a sentiment in this day and time.
In 1910, Theodore Roosevelt spoke about “the man in the arena”:
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
That speech is of a past time yet also of this time.
We residents of Cape Charles continually face an uphill battle trying to preserve, yet grow. We want to sustain our rural Shore lifestyle, but in a progressive way that is sensitive not only to our amazing historical architecture, but to our family and independent, hard-working values that we so cherish on the Shore.
We welcome new home ownership and tourism, but we do so carefully and by casting a cautious eye. We’ll gladly welcome a new mom-and-pop business, but shun the big-box guys that rely on scale to eek out their profits.
It is a constant struggle.
When Bay Creek came to town, that struggle came to the forefront. Cape Charles saw the opportunity but also recognized that the impending change had to be planned and monitored closely lest we became another Nags Head or Hilton Head. [Read more…]
COMMENTARY:
Notes from a Come-Here: Tales Out of School
By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
December 31, 2012
I arrived in Cape Charles almost three years ago after giving up trying to save the program that had been my job at the U.S. Department of State. It was a sad time for me because I learned that corruption at high levels was untouchable at the State Department.
The Office of Special Counsel, which is supposed to protect whistleblowers, was toothless in my case, and the Merit Systems Protection Board was worse.
I was just doing my job — to provide supplies to residences of ambassadors and other high-level government officials for their official entertaining overseas.
But when it came time to solicit bids for custom glassware, I discovered that my supervisor planned to award a no-bid contract to a small “disadvantaged” company that had no experience with glassware.
I tried to persuade my superiors that a no-bid contract with that company, which had just emerged from bankruptcy, was not a good idea. They were unresponsive.
I went up the chain of command, without success, and finally “blew the whistle” to the Inspector General. Then I made the mistake of letting a State Department official know what I had done.
I was relieved of all my job responsibilities.
It is little consolation to me that the contractor later went to prison for defrauding the government, because that was for a contract at a different government agency, where she lacked friends in high places. At the State Department, where I worked, she had been untouchable.
The New York Post published a few stories about the scandal, and then lost interest.
I reported the matter to the House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform, but there was no oversight, let alone any reform.
I took early retirement, and we moved far, far away from Washington corruption — all the way to Cape Charles.
We met the mayor, who was very personable, and Town Council members, also personable, who appeared happily engaged for the welfare of the town.
We were regulars at the beach and the pier, but did not attend any Town Council meetings. After our experience in Washington, we were happy to stay away from politics. [Read more…]
COMMENTARY:
Town Lessons from A Charlie Brown Christmas
By WAYNE CREED
December 25, 2012
Each morning after being harassed by his father and mother (“Joey, there’s no way you combed that hair! Did you brush your teeth?”), my son straps on his backpack and heads off to school. The combination of the weather and his mood will determine his mode of transportation for the day: skateboard, scooter, bike, feet.
Joey doesn’t have to catch a bus or be driven several miles up the road to Northampton High School or Broadwater. Instead, he commutes a block over to the Cape Charles Christian School where he is now in his fourth year. He began in the lower school and now is considered one of the upperclassmen.
It all began with a brief conversation, a whim, an idea: Could we? Is it possible?
Four years later, Cape Charles Christian School has entered its fourth Christmas holiday break. There have been many success stories in this town over the last four years, but this one is different. The spark was not ignited around some new, novel commercial endeavor, but around the idea of serving our children — students in Pre-K through 8th grade — creating an environment where our most dedicated, talented teachers could thrive, renovate and bring life to abandoned facilities, and create a connection to the Town through an active, stewardship-based participation in the community. [Read more…]
LINDEMAN: Extreme Sadness, Yet Hope
By BRUCE LINDEMAN
Cape Charles Wave
December 18, 2012
This past weekend was my birthday weekend down on the Shore. Not a milestone birthday by any stretch, yet a birthday just the same.
But it wasn’t a happy one. As much as I tried to stay clear of the updates coming out of Newtown, CT, it was hard not to check in on my iPhone now and again to learn more and try to get to an understanding.
It’s the understanding part that we all seem to struggle with.
We all process these things differently, and depending on where we are coming from emotionally and politically, we each have different things to say about the “why” question.
I’m not going to use this space to politicize this event. There are countless others who will do just that online, in the halls of Congress, and behind podiums at town hall meetings across the country. There is a lot of anger that will build up over this and recent similar events, and people will demand change in the weeks ahead.
I’m not ready to go there yet. My mind and heart are still full of sadness and thoughts of those 20 little children.
We can argue endlessly about the “why.” But not here. Please. Instead, I want to talk about what we’ve become as a nation.
Most of us will look back nostalgically to recall a simpler and kinder time. But our parents and their parents likewise have done the same. The past always seems like a happier time.
Perhaps it was, and perhaps it wasn’t. We have to think about such things as a whole and not just through our own individual eyes and experiences. And “simpler” and “kinder” are failingly difficult things to quantify.
But for the sake of argument, let’s assume we have taken a slide toward a meaner and more unforgiving world. If that’s the case, it begs the question: how do we, as a society, reverse that trend? For surely if we do not, we’re headed towards far more of these news stories. [Read more…]
