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…]
SHORE THING: On AQUA, and Business in Cape Charles
By GEORGE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
December 19, 2012
According to the Bay Creek website, AQUA Restaurant will close Friday night, December 21, (moved up a day from the original announcement).
According to the Trustees’ Sale notice, the following property will be offered at public auction at 11:30 a.m. Friday, December 28, at the County Courthouse: the restaurant building, the Marina Shops building, the Pierhouse building, the marina boat slips, all Villa condominiums, and various common areas and parking lots. (For the complete list, click here.)
According to the notice, the properties will all be sold together, with the exception of two residential lots. So if you want the restaurant, you have to buy the marina and the shops too.
According to County records, Bay Creek obtained a bank line of credit in July 2004 on the above properties in the amount of $11.5 million.
According to Bay Creek developer Dickie Foster, as quoted in the Eastern Shore News, “There are going to be a lot of bidders.”
Which begs the question: spun-off from their developer, are the restaurant, marina, and shops sustainable? Can they earn enough to cover operating expenses, including mortgage, taxes, and principal payments?
That’s a tough go for most businesses, and it’s especially tricky on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, where the tourism season is short and tourist numbers are relatively small.
As the town’s newest business, the Wave attended last month’s annual meeting of the Cape Charles Business Association. The good news: merchant after merchant reported last summer as the best in memory. Cape Charles is in renaissance, and tourists increasingly are discovering it. [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…]
LETTER: Thanks to All Arts Enter Volunteers
Victor Abrahamian
December 18, 2012
DEAR EDITOR,
On December 8, I was one among four honorary recipients of the 2012 Arts Enter Annual Spotlight Award.
Since my arrival in the Town of Cape Charles, I have come to appreciate and admire the Arts Enter mission in serving our little community. But I, as a volunteer, never expected to receive such a wonderful recognition.
The engraving on the Spotlight Award says: In appreciation for his faithful generosity with his time, energy, talents, and resources. Both on and off the stage, he shines and keeps our lights bright. [Read more…]
LETTER: School Board Will Be Elected — But How?
December 14, 2012
DEAR EDITOR,
We would like once more to thank everyone who contributed in any way in our quest to have the school board elected as opposed to appointed.
We were more than pleased at the results of the vote — in fact almost astonished at the great majority who voted in favor. Almost 80 percent of the citizens of Northampton County voted for this change.
The question has now arisen, “what happens now?”
The answer is not clear-cut, as the Code of Virginia has some contradictions in the change-over from an appointed board to an elected one.
The terms of three members of the school board end in June, 2013. Yet they will continue to serve until December 31, as the first election in which the members can be elected will happen in November 2013, when the supervisors from Districts 1, 2, and 3 face election. [Read more…]
LINDEMAN: When Goodness Happens
New Roots Youth Garden pecan pie with Brown Dog coffee ice cream is just the beginning of goodness. Read on!
EDITOR’S NOTE: Last week was hard on Cape Charles, and hard on the WAVE. So thank goodness for more goodness from Lindeman!
By BRUCE LINDEMAN
Cape Charles Wave
December 11, 2012
I had arranged with Tammy Holloway earlier in the week to pick up my pie from her side porch, attached to the magnificently revived Bay Haven Inn on Tazewell. My wife and I had been watching the renovation of Leon’s old house for months. Just the simple act of removing most of the overgrown plantings around the place opened it up and provided a sight not seen in years. To me, one of the prettiest homes in the historic district and well deserving of the love that the Holloways have showered on that place.
When I opened the screen door to their porch, where the pies were awaiting, I could sense even more so the level of detail they had put into this renovation. Everything looked so bright and shiny I just wanted to stay awhile and take it all in. But I had my dad in the car and, well, some visiting to get to as he and my mom had just driven into town for the holiday.
The back story of how I had come to even hold that lovely mocha pecan pie in my hands is a story that “only happens in Cape Charles” as we so often say. I had written about my wife’s and my gathering of pecans a week or so prior in the Wave. Tammy emailed me later that week and politely asked if I could tell her where said pecans could be found. As there are numerous and very giving pecan trees in town, I told her where she could find one of the most giving — Big Mamma. Now, please don’t email me asking where Big Mamma can be found. That’s between me, my wife, Tammy, and a group of enterprising young kids who assisted her in the gathering. [Read more…]
SHORE THING:
An Open Letter from George to Mike about AQUA
By GEORGE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
December 7, 2012
Dear Mike Killebrew,
This morning soon after awaking I checked the latest comments in the Cape Charles Wave. Amid the usual sniping was the eloquent comment you submitted shortly after midnight –- a paean of praise to a magnificent restaurant and to the wonderful people who work there.
You, sir, are both a gentleman and a scholar. Now let me tell you some more about yourself:
In the spring of 2010, when my wife and I first came to Cape Charles, our new neighbors (destined to become our dearest friends) invited us to AQUA Restaurant. Two and a half years later I clearly remember what I ate and who served it.
I ordered the delicious fried flounder, and you, of course, served it.
After years of living inside the Washington Beltway, I had a lot to learn. On the Eastern Shore, dining out does not mean dealing with faceless employees one never sees again. Not here –- the shopkeepers, waiters, town municipal workers, and on and on might be my neighbors, or my acquaintances, or even my friends. Rarely do they remain strangers.
My neighbor is a Realtor, and so I learned that your profession is also real estate. Waiting tables at AQUA is a sideline. But I also quickly realized that while it may be a sideline, you are doing it because you love it. That is evident in the comment you wrote, and it’s also evident to any of your customers. Our meals at AQUA have always been enhanced when you have been our server.
Was it fate that when my wife and I last visited AQUA on November 27, you were our server? At the time, nobody knew what lay ahead, and we enjoyed a wonderful evening.
That was, sadly, our last supper at AQUA. Although the restaurant will not close until December 22, we would not dare show our faces there now. It has been made clear by some staff members that my reporting was resented. The harshest criticism from an AQUA employee came in a private message on our Facebook page: “You are a mean, disgusting soul that should not be part of the town.” [Read more…]
