LETTER: ‘The Old Man and the Fountain’
TONY SACCO
August 22, 2013
DEAR EDITOR,
The street has its lights, garbage cans, and sewers, but is rare to find a water fountain in Cape Charles.
Imagine an old man nearing 90 in front of the Palace Theatre on a blistering summer day, filling the air with music of many years ago, accompanied by the sounds of water spurting at the top of the fountain and returning from the bottom in a perpetual ecstasy of affection with itself.
The mosquitos and flies biting those with short sleeves, the gang of motorcyclists wheeling by with blaring muffler pipes, muzzling the lyrical melodies specified in an instrument of pride from the gray baldish instrumentalist perhaps making his last performance before he joins the angels of strings.
Inside the climate-controlled theatre, a proud gentleman on stage in uniform of a Confederate soldier reads letters from loved ones. They were fighting a war between the American states that destroyed millions of lives.
The old man standing outside in front of his vehicle with license plate CV-12 (the identification of the USS Hornet aircraft carrier of World War II that engaged the enemy in the Pacific Ocean) received three war medals to save the human race from domination.
Now less than a million remain out of 18 million that served gallantly in the war. [Read more…]
OPEN LETTER:
Old School Cape Charles to Historic District Review Board
August 20, 2013
(EDITOR’S NOTE: The Cape Charles Historic District Review Board meets at 4:30 p.m. today (Tuesday) at Town Hall to further consider an application by developer J. David McCormack to convert the Old School, basketball court, and playground parking lot at Central Park into an apartment building and private parking lot. Town Planner Robert Testerman has recommended that the Historic Board approve the developer’s application, even though it has not been approved by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, and yet-to-be-met conditions have been stipulated by the National Park Service. On the eve of the meeting of the Historic Review Board, the community group Old School Cape Charles has submitted an open letter documenting why the Board should wait until the developer meets conditions required by the relevant state and federal bodies.)
TO THE HISTORIC DISTRICT REVIEW BOARD:
Old School Cape Charles is committed to the common good of our town. One of our town’s most valuable assets is Central Park, which until recently included the Old School, the basketball court, and the playground parking lot.
In order for an historic property to receive tax credits it must adhere to the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation, (Click to read) including the following:
A property will be used as it was historically or be given a new use that requires minimal change to its distinctive materials, features, spaces, and spatial relationships.
Converting our historic Old School, playground parking, and basketball court into an apartment house and private parking lot is a far cry from creating minimal change to the building and its use.
The historic character of a property will be retained and preserved. The removal of distinctive materials or alteration of features, spaces, and spatial relationships that characterize a property will be avoided.
The developer wants to call the side of the building the front, even though there will be no front door. Not only will the historic character of the building be lost, but the developer hopes to attract vacationers to rent the apartments. Town Council’s giveaway of a park resource thereby becomes competition to vacation and other rental property owners. [Read more…]
LETTER: Thanks for Supporting Crabby Blues Festival
May 7, 2013
DEAR EDITOR:
First of all, thanks to the over 1,000 persons who attended the Crabby Blues Festival on a sunny but blustery day at Cape Charles’ Central Park to benefit the Cape Charles Christian School.
Our school is thriving in no small part thanks to the generosity of a host of people year round and to sponsors who make fundraisers like this one possible.
Using the park is just another way the school maintains its connection to the fabric of the Town; our kids also helped move the library materials to their new location just the day before the festival.
Thanks for the draw provided by the diverse talents of John Baldwin, Johnny Mud, the Cape Charles Band, the Shy Teds, Frank Russell and The Fish Band, Scott & Melinda, and Heather and the Oyster Boys, all of whom generously donated their time, and to Heather Travis who arranged for them to do so.
Thanks to the donors of items to the silent auction and to Leslie Savage for her hard work in pulling in an excellent variety of items. [Read more…]
LETTER: Park Restroom Needs Better Design and Location
April 15, 2013
DEAR EDITOR,
I am writing to express concern regarding a proposed public restroom for Cape Charles Central Park from a risk management perspective, a functional perspective, and an aesthetic perspective.
While I do not disagree that public restroom facilities would be an enhancement to Central Park, I hope that decision-makers will select a more appropriate site and more architecturally appealing style for the project.
Aspects of concern include the following associated risks and functional challenges:
1. Flooding of facility: A number of areas within Central Park and the surrounding streets are flood-prone due to lack of drainage. The proposed location is adjacent to one of the areas most prone to large pools of standing water, and the foundation trenches already dug are largely filled with standing water and a substantial, virtually constant, area of standing water threatens encroachment into the footprint.
Dangers associated include:
— Public health risk from unclean facilities contaminated with bacteria-laden, stagnant water;
— Public health risk arising from proximity to a breeding ground for mosquitoes;
— Danger of slips, trips, and falls from known hazards, i.e. moisture on walking surfaces and higher potential of algal growth on walking surfaces constantly exposed to standing water as well as slips on icy patches in cold weather.
2. Potential for assaults and other illegal transactions in an unattended facility;
3. Public nuisance and public health risk if facilities are not maintained on a daily basis and locked overnight. The question of adequate funding to support cleaning, maintenance, and supplies should be addressed before the construction is approved.
4. Location relative to need: As a neighbor to Central Park, I have had the opportunity to observe traffic in and around the park. It appears that the area in most need of restroom facilities on a year-round basis is the children’s play area near the old Cape Charles school building. Parents and children are frequent visitors to this area. Tennis courts are also located in this area, although tennis court usage seems much lower than the former basketball courts. As proposed, the restroom facilities would be quite a distance removed from the area of need. [Read more…]
LETTER: County Should Not Cut School Board Positions
March 23, 2013
DEAR EDITOR,
We would like to register our disagreement as well as displeasure concerning the consideration by the Northampton County Board of Supervisors with the elimination of the two at-large members of the school board, thereby reducing the number of members from seven to five.
Removing the two at-large positions for this first election will possibly eliminate candidates who happen to live in the same district. Currently, if as many as three citizens worthy of being elected live in the same district, they nevertheless are able to run for election (two at-large and one in the district) with the possibility of being elected.
With the elimination of the two at-large positions only one of those three candidates can be elected. The chance for diversity of all kinds so necessary in our community will be lessened. We need more voices rather than less at this very important time. [Read more…]
LETTER: Make Old Library Available to Community Groups
March 12, 2013
DEAR EDITOR,
Cape Charles is about to have a beautiful new library. The old library building and excess computers should be provided to organizations that are focused on community activities, both educational and recreational.
Concerned Citizens of Cape Charles, a non-profit organization, was formed by local residents in 1989. The working class community organized to be better informed, educated, and empowered to become a part of the civic decision-making process, and to accept responsibility for self improvement and in turn community improvements at a time when the Town did not have the human or financial resources to sustain itself.
The organization’s mission is to improve the lives and living conditions of the working class residents through human development and the creation and development of a sustainable community.
Concerned Citizens became the advocate and the voice for the disenfranchised. The organization brought many resources to Cape Charles, including hundreds of student volunteers who worked on community projects including installing shelves in the Library, painting a senior’s house, moving scenery at Arts Enter, and gardening at the Museum.
The group also fought for changes to promote community stability such as zoning laws that allowed in-fill housing development and other laws favorable to improving the quality of life.
Channel 10 was on our side when the Town wanted to use $1.2 million in Community Development Block Grants for infrastructure improvements instead of the most critical need of housing rehabilitation.
Concerned Citizens also brought national media attention to its fight to save the predominantly African-American Northeast neighborhood when a developer’s plan for a resort retirement community would have destroyed the neighborhood and displaced its residents. [Read more…]
LETTER:
Group Seeks to Preserve Cape Charles Colored School
Rosenwald School at November 19, 2011, dedication of historical marker (ESVA.net photo)
March 6, 2013
DEAR EDITOR,
There are no front yard signs in support of “the other Old School Cape Charles.” However, there is definitely an effort gaining momentum to preserve the history of another Cape Charles former public school building.
This movement has been characterized not by spirited debate and public hearings, but by the same quiet dignity and determination that led to the creation in 1928 of the Cape Charles Colored School.
The school is situated just over the hump from the Historic District to the Bay Creek golf community. It is an unassuming red brick building. Spray paint evidences its brief history as an eel processing plant. The modest structure belies the storied and important history of the school. [Read more…]
LETTER: Innkeeper Warns of ‘Certified Check’ Scams
January 31, 2013
DEAR EDITOR:
There is a rental scam going on that we should all be aware of.
It begins with a rather normal reservation request on line. Prices and dates are confirmed. These are often unusual names — I have received a reservation request from Lychagina Kudryashov claiming to be in Ukraine (but I have also received requests from England). Often the requests come from “priests” coming on retreat or extended stays.
People do not stay at B&B’s for a month!
The requests also usually have some sort of grammatical error, leaving out words or capitalization.
Sometimes it helps to respond by asking questions. The scammers usually cannot say what airport they are coming into, or even their form of transportation.
The scam is that they claim that they cannot give a credit card number for deposit over the Internet or phone because of security reasons. Instead, they promise to send a check.
They then send a check for a huge amount of money, asking that you deposit it and send on the rest to a travel agent or whatever.
The scam is that it is a fake cashiers check, and they are playing with the time it takes for the bank to realize that the check is fake.
If you do send on the extra money as a “courtesy” to your international guest, you have been scammed.
Recently I received a cashiers check for $5,450 from the Credit Union of Atlanta, Georgia. It looks very legitimate.
I called the bank’s security and they told me it was fraudulent, not from their bank, and that they have been trying to catch up to the forgers for some time. [Read more…]
