LETTER:
Hotel Owner Gammino: My Investment Was Based on Personal Passion for Cape Charles
December 5, 2012
DEAR EDITOR:
I would like to offer a more detailed explanation to your readers as it regards the Hotel Cape Charles recent request to appeal the decision of the Town of Cape Charles Historic Review Board (HRB).
We will seek the approval of Town Council of the modified design submission, denied on November 20, 2012, by the HRB. I respect the varied opinions offered in response to this process, and hope that additional information will clarify our reasoning and address some of the concerns we are aware of.
It is regretful, and I accept sole responsibility for the fact that the Hotel has become the focus of the community in this unfortunate manner.
While I do not agree with the conclusion of the HRB that the current design is not appropriate within the District, I respect their authority in reaching this decision. I also appreciate their efforts in considering the modified design submission.
However, given our very strong belief that the Hotel represents a beautiful example of modern architecture complementary of its surroundings, we are proceeding to the next level of review and hope for a different interpretation.
There are a number of comments which criticize the decision to seek Town Council approval, and reference the application process and a lack of related approval. I understand and accept this valid criticism.
We did not complete the project as originally submitted. The reason for this relates to a very compressed construction schedule with challenging travel-related logistics. [Read more…]
LETTER: Grand Illumination Marks Year of Enlightenment
December 1, 2012
DEAR EDITOR:
Tonight the Town of Cape Charles will have its Grand Illumination in Old School Park. The lights will come on, speeches will be given, and we can all hug and have a hot chocolate.
The use of the word “illuminate” dates to 15th century Middle English — in the archaic, meaning to brighten with light, or to be intellectually or spiritually enlightened. The basic meaning still stands today.
It is fitting then, that the Grand Illumination should be taking place in School Park, as the Grand Old Dame herself, the Old School, broodingly looks on as the self-congratulatory event takes place.
But let’s leave that for now, because this is a season to give thanks. Thanks to the Echelon deal, it has been a year of enlightenment.
Despite the deal being concocted in the dank, musty recesses of Executive Sessions, meant to keep citizens in the dark until it was too late to do anything, in the end, through diligence and the power of the Freedom of Information Act, the inner workings of our town have been dutifully adorned with light.
We learned, thanks to independent engineering reports, that everything we have been told about the Old School has not been entirely true. According to the reports, the Grand Old Dame is in wonderful shape, solid as a rock, with little asbestos even to be found.
The cost to turn it into 17 apartments might take a chunk of change, but basic renovations and repairs (lest we forget the power of Eastern Shore volunteerism, tax credits, grants, etc.) to open it back up as a multi-purpose event venue, could be done for pennies on the dollar.
When the cost ($349,000) of the harbor bath house came to light, one had to wonder why the school was left to languish, without even a few tubes of caulk being budgeted to correct water leakage at either end. That question is still shrouded in darkness—we may need more lights. [Read more…]
LETTER
Eastern Shore Library System Strengthens Cape Charles
November 30, 2012
DEAR EDITOR:
What a wonderful article Sarah Barban has written about the new libraries!
It is always such a pleasure to see people who enthusiastically support us and realize how essential a good library is for the community surrounding it.
I especially appreciated the way you emphasized that the Cape Charles Memorial Library is part of the Eastern Shore Public Library System. The new library in Onley should help the new location of the Cape Charles library become an even stronger magnet for its community. [Read more…]
LETTER: Put Aside Bitterness at the Grand Illumination
November 28, 2012
DEAR EDITOR:
It has been a troubling year for Cape Charles filled with strong emotions, hurt feelings, bitterness, and angry words.
It is heartbreaking to hear of broken friendships, community members no longer supporting the town or town businesses because of political differences, and citizens looking to find fault and place blame.
The old school building is a valuable part of our community, but it is just a building. It has no heart, no soul, and no feelings. However, people do and these people are our friends and neighbors.
These people are the ones who used to celebrate our joys, show concern when we became ill, and comfort us in times of loss. People, relationships, and community are so much more important than a building or a political position.
It is now the beginning of the season when we give thanks for our gracious plenty and cherish our family and friends. It is time to put our community before opinion, before politics, and before material objects.
I fear, if we keep on the path we are currently traveling, we will destroy all that we hold most dear.
I encourage you all to come to Central Park on Saturday evening at 6:15 p.m. for the Grand Illumination. [Read more…]
LINDEMAN: What I Learn from My Kids
By BRUCE LINDEMAN
Cape Charles Wave
Thanksgiving Day, 2012
As parents, we typically focus on what we can teach our kids. We only have them for a few, brief years before, poof! They’re gone.
But one thing has pleasantly surprised me during our twins’ nine years on this planet: they teach me things every day.
It may not be something new, but something I somehow forgot or misplaced.
I believe you don’t actually forget most things altogether. You subconsciously place them in memory somewhere back where you keep things like memories of your wedding from 20-plus years ago. It’s there.
You just have to rummage through a bunch of other stuff before you find it. “Ah! There you are forgotten memory! So glad to think of you again. How’ve you been?!”
You psychologists out there please don’t take me to task on the above. This is my take on how it happens. As they say, it’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.
My kids teach me new songs that they’ve learned in school — new takes on the smart-aleck ditties of my youth and some completely new. I learn new pop songs from them –- music I would never even think of to listen to.
“What is that? You call that music?! Back in my day . . . .” [Read more…]
LETTER: Take Piece of Eden on the Road!
November 20, 2012
Dear Carolyn Copeland, Paul Kist, Virginia Savage, and Cape Charles Wave
I met each of you at the play, Piece of Eden, Sunday afternoon. My friend and I were thrilled with the performance.
We have become interested in the history of this area that merits more regional and national attention. We are now aware of two plays that are an avenue for sharing this important history.
Piece of Eden remarkably shows our move toward and achievement of independence. It begins with the Eastern Shore’s Native Americans’ amazing culture, spirituality, and peaceful acceptance of the European settlers.
This beginning and subsequent events throughout the play show us the path to development of the values that are basic to our nation’s founding of a democratic and representative form of government.
The play concludes that these values are an ongoing requirement for our present and future, if we are to survive as a democratic nation.
I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to see this remarkable play. It was educational, entertaining, and with the added attraction of original music!
The Play in August is a play about the Bare and the Cubbe, enhancing awareness of the significance of one of the segments in Piece of Eden. [Read more…]
SHORE THING: Tom Savage Was a ‘Come-Here’
Somewhere on the Eastern Shore. (Wave photo)
By GEORGE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
November 19, 2012
Yesterday I became a Native of the Eastern Shore. And I feel incredibly good about it.
All my life I’ve been a “come-here,” feeling somewhat less than a full citizen.
That was certainly the case during the 10 years I lived in various foreign countries in the diplomatic service. But it also applied to my seven years’ residence in Charleston, South Carolina, where I learned the ground rule early on: To be fully accepted in Charleston society you have to either be born there, or have lived there for 75 years.
After Charleston, relocating to Cape Charles was deja-vu. It’s where I first heard the term “come-here.” And I realized that, once again, I was an outsider.
After we started the Cape Charles Wave, a prominent denizen whose family goes back over 300 years in these parts suggested to my wife and me that we certainly had some chutzpah to move into town and start up a newspaper.
To which I had two reactions: first – we wouldn’t have done it if someone else had done it first. But nobody had, and the town was in crying need of a news outlet.
And second — we never would have attempted this by ourselves. It was our co-founder’s idea – as a longtime local reporter she saw the need, she chose the Wave name, and she, by the way, is married to a man whose Eastern Shore family also goes back 300 years. [Read more…]
LETTER
Like Early Settlers, School Supporters Are ‘Moved to Protest’
CLICK TO ENLARGE — Reprinted by permission from the November 5, 2012, official Cape Charles Gazette
November 14, 2012
DEAR EDITOR:
Tomorrow, Piece of Eden opens at the Palace Theatre. We have a rich, talented cast, Clelia Shepherd’s direction has been first rate, and the musical score will be performed wonderfully by William Neil.
This show is also a wonderful way to learn about the history of the Eastern Shore, and the early settlers who made this land between the Atlantic Ocean and Chesapeake Bay their home.
The play is written by Cape Charles’ own Jean Collins, and it highlights just how the Eastern Shore changed the world, from having the earliest court records, staging the first play in the new world (Ye Bear and Ye Cub), being the first settlers to challenge corrupt practices of government, to being the first county to declare an act of British Parliament, the Stamp Act, unconstitutional.
Jean Collins had a unique perspective on the entire history of the Eastern Shore, yet she also still has ties to us today.
In 1921, the students of Cape Charles, especially the basketball team, petitioned the Town to build a gymnasium. At that time, the team had nowhere to play.
That call went unanswered for almost 35 years, until the principal at the time, Jean Collins (the only female principle of the school) finally stepped up and secured funding to convert the auditorium into a “gymtorium” (because it was still used as an auditorium as well).
It seems fitting that some of Jean Collins’ former students are now part of and are working with Old School Cape Charles to keep the school and the gymtorium public, and part of the Town. [Read more…]
