County Rezoning Postponed 90 Days

CAPE CHARLES WAVE

June 16, 2014

At its June 10 regular meeting the Northampton County Board of Supervisors agreed to wait 90 days before taking any further steps toward rezoning the county to make it more “business friendly.” The 90 days are for residents to provide ideas on how to revitalize the county’s economy and increase revenues without destroying its fragile habitat.

The June 10 Board of Supervisors meeting came after the Planning Commission informed the Supervisors that it was only halfway through its review of the massive proposed zoning changes.  The Supervisors have not yet acted to allow the Planning Commission additional time to complete its review.

“Citizens for Open Government” spokesperson Ken Dufty said, “The 90 days will give us a chance to further our outreach through letters to the editor, flyers, and talking to our neighbors. It will also give us a chance to prepare for a legal challenge to the BOS if they move forward with revising the zoning ordinance in stark contrast to our current Comp Plan.”

Many speakers at the meeting raised their concerns about the draft zoning ordinance for failing to follow the County Comprehensive Plan. Although the plan is currently under review for its five-year update, it remains the legal basis for county decisions about development.

Several speakers questioned why some of the Supervisors want to change the direction of the county so radically.

ORAL HISTORY
Randolph, Tazewell, and Bay Avenue Houses

June 16, 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.)

1990 Interview of Virginia Fitzhugh conducted by Virginia Savage

PART THREE

VIRGINIA SAVAGE: Let’s talk about Randolph Avenue.  You lived in the Wilkins house.  Now that was the Wilkins that built what is now the Methodist Parsonage.  And the other Wilkins was Elliott’s grandfather. And then he built both of those houses.  The Eleanor Lowe house I believe is next and Mr. Jack Scott built that for her. Do you remember when that was being built?

VIRGINIA FITZHUGH: No. Eleanor was older than me, and I don’t remember.  You know, Virginia, back in those days you didn’t roam around town like the kids do today.  You just went so far and that was it.  You just had your group of friends.  He built that and the one next to that is that bungalow and that was built by Sterling, a man named Sterling.

I think a Miss Sterling lived in that when I came here.

No, a Mrs. George Guy. She was a caretaker.

What did the Sterlings do?

Well, you know where Lee Sterling lives.  Well, that house was on the corner where the Post Office is now.  That house has been moved and turned around and that was the Sterling house.

This is the house across Tazewell Avenue and one from the corner from the Presbyterian Church that you’re talking about.  The great big house and they moved it back.  There was an explosion in the late ‘60s and it burned.  A new house has been built, very close in type to the old houses. Lee Sterling worked at Colonial Store.

That’s right.  That’s where the Sterlings lived.  I think some of that property still belongs to the Sterling girls, Josephine and I think her sister. [Read more…]

LETTER: Stolen Valor

June 16, 2014

DEAR EDITOR,

Since the United States went to war in Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003, over 2.4 million Americans served in the military. Large numbers of these men and women served multiple tours; however, some of them never saw combat. According to the Veterans Administration there are over 22 million veterans today, and unfortunately, a small number of them have led people to believe that what they have accomplished in military service is not necessarily true.

A member of one veterans organization in the southwest masqueraded for several years as a general officer and was a frequent VIP at parades, luncheons, and special events. He was finally unmasked by an active duty service member who keenly observed that the service awards that adorned his uniform didn’t match his stated military assignments. When confronted with these facts he sheepishly admitted that he served less than two years in the military. He had the jargon and mannerisms down but lacked the details that any bona fide service member would know without hesitation.

In 2007, a man named Xavier Alvarez stood at a public meeting and announced that he was a “retired Marine with 25 years of service” and “was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1987 . . . for rescuing the American Ambassador during the Iranian hostage crisis” and was “wounded several times by the same guy.”  He made these bold and untrue allegations before he actually became an elected official in his home State of California.

After he was exposed as a liar, he faced scorn and public humiliation as one would expect but the courts viewed his “lie” as protected speech and the controversy continues today. The Stolen Valor Act of 2005 makes it a crime to lie about being awarded any U.S. military medal that was authorized by Congress. However, in 2010 the 9th Circuit Court found the Act to be unconstitutional under the First Amendment in the United States vs. Alvarez. [Read more…]

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Planning Commission Sends Half-Finished
Zoning Recommendations to Board of Supervisors

By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave

June 9, 2014

Tuesday, June 10, is the big meeting of Northampton County Board of Supervisors on next steps to rezone the county. The Supervisors will consider zoning recommendations submitted by the Planning Commission, which state in a cover letter that there was not “adequate time” to properly review the draft zoning proposal. Planning Commissioner Mike Ward said the best the Planning Commission can do is submit its recommendations and offer to finish the job if the Supervisors give them more time.

County Administrator Katie Nunez has advised the Supervisors that Virginia law stipulates a 100-day time limit for Planning Commission consideration of a zoning application. But opponents of the rezoning, led by Exmore activist Ken Dufty, maintain that the 100-day limit was never meant to apply to zoning changes proposed by the county itself. Instead, it is meant to be a protection to resident applicants to assure timely consideration of their requests.

“This section of code, as well as the time limitation, was obviously written by the Virginia Legislature to give a private developer or resident seeking a zoning amendment the certainty that their request would not be hanging out in regulatory nowhere land for an extended length of time,” Dufty said. “It was seemingly never intended to give a governing body the right to impose a strict time limit on their own Planning Commission.” Dufty has requested a ruling from County Attorney Bruce Jones on the use of the code by the Supervisors.

All members of the Planning Commission agree that they only made it halfway through the review of the massive proposed changes. Commissioner Ward noted that just deliberating the proposed elimination of the Chesapeake Bay Protection Act on the seaside could take two years. [Read more…]

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ESSO Buys Neuter-Scooter, Needs Donations

By SANDY MAYER

June 8, 2014

ESSO — Eastern Shore Spay Organization — was formed last November with the mission to prevent cruelty to animals and reduce the overpopulation of animals on the lower Eastern Shore through inexpensive spay/neuter services. ESSO currently provides spay/neuter services in Cape Charles for 26-30 animals every other month, but there is a very long waiting list.

In order to help more residents and animals, the organization recently purchased a Neuter Scooter van from the Virginia Beach SPCA at a price of $40,000, which now must be paid through grants and fundraisers.  Nonprofit status has been applied for, which will enable ESSO to apply for grants and accept tax deductible donations. [Read more…]

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Library Rededication Is Memorial Day Highlight

By NANCY DANIEL VEST

June 9, 2014

The spirit of cooperation filled the streets of Cape Charles on Memorial Day. The American Legion, the Town of Cape Charles, the Library Board, the Friends of the Cape Charles Memorial Library, and the Cape Charles Band worked together to create a beautiful service to honor those who serve their country and to remember those who have given all.

The American Legion began the day at the War Memorial with a solemn and reflective remembrance. The crowd stood in respectful silence to show appreciation for all who lost their lives fighting for freedom and those who still unselfishly serve their country. Attention then turned across the street and went from solemnity to celebration with the rededication of the Cape Charles Memorial Library.

The music of the Cape Charles Band filled the air and heightened the spirit of gratitude and patriotism. Senator Lynwood Lewis offered his respect for American soldiers and veterans and spoke of the opportunities the new library facility offers to the citizens of Lower Northampton County.

The Cape Charles Memorial Library has an interesting history. In June of 1919, 32 women gathered to take the first steps in their quest to create a library for the Town. Each woman brought a book to donate to the cause. The small collection grew slowly and was housed in private homes, a department store, and a bank before it found its first true home in the vacated Presbyterian Church building on Tazewell Avenue. On May 27, 1927, that building became the first Memorial Library in Virginia. Governor Harry F. Byrd formally dedicated the Cape Charles Memorial Library to the 21 men from Northampton County who perished in World War I. [Read more…]

Best of Virginia Names Five Cape Charles Businesses

CAPE CHARLES WAVE

June 4, 2014

What’s the best golf course in Eastern Virginia? The best outdoor dining? The best pub? The best ice cream? The best day spa?  According to Virginia Living magazine, Cape Charles businesses rank among the best in all those categories. The third annual Best of Virginia Readers Survey tallied 32,000 readers’ votes in 91 categories, and local businesses placed among the best in five categories:

Best Golf Course — Bay Creek (2nd place)

Best Outdoor Dining — The Shanty (3rd place)

Best Overall Bar — Kelly’s Gingernut Pub (3rd place)

Best Local Ice Cream — Brown Dog (3rd place)

Best Day Spa — Breezes (3rd place)

Breezes Day Spa owner Marian van Geijn said she had not even been aware of the contest before learning that Breezes had taken third place. “We did not try to influence the voting at all,” she said. “It’s quite a big deal that so many Cape Charles businesses placed in the contest. Cape Charles is really making a name for itself.” [Read more…]

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Chuckletown Productions Opens in ‘Hotel Cape Chuck’

By SARAH GOLIBART
Cape Charles Wave

May 29, 2014

What is Chuckletown Productions? Everyone seemed to be asking this question before the store’s grand opening the Friday of Memorial Day Weekend.

What is Chuckletown’s mission? Create cool stuff. Walking into Charlene Dix and Laurie Klingle’s shop on Mason Avenue you can see they created plenty of cool stuff. And I don’t mean created as a loose term — Charlene and Laurie came up with nearly all of the designs sold on their items.

“Every other design here comes out of our heads. All of the ideas and layouts and little phrases and such are Chuckletown Designs,” explained Laurie. When asked about the essence of Chuckeltown, employee Staige Goffigon answered, “It’s really cool how they came up with the sayings on all the t-shirts and everything themselves. Everything is really original and casual.” [Read more…]

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ORAL HISTORY
1933 Hurricane, Rowing to the Post Office

May 27, 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.)

1990 Interview of Virginia Fitzhugh conducted by Virginia Savage

PART TWO

VIRGINIA SAVAGE:  I am talking to Virginia Fitzhugh, who was born and raised in Cape Charles.  Virginia, Who was May Beth’s mother and father?

Mr. and Mrs. Taylor.  They had the drugstore down on Front Street where Jack MacMath later had a drugstore.  Mallory Taylor, that was her mother and father.  She was much older than me. She would have been in her hundreds.

The house next to the Miller house, coming east, was built by Mr. Wilkins and that’s Elliott Wilkins’ grandfather?

Yes.  He was Tucker Wilkins’ father.  Old Man Wilkins lived there and Mandy Tate, because we rented from them.  I lived where Joe Restein lived for five or six years [1 Randolph Ave].  After we were married.  We wanted to buy it, but Old Man Wilkins wouldn’t sell it to us.

Now let’s come down this side of the street and that side, too.  There was another Wilkins built that house and the next house, the Leatherburys were living in it when I came over here.  And then Ray Hickman bought it, and Bonny owns that now.  Did Leatherburys build that house, do you know?

Yes.

Cross over the street, and the house that you are talking about, Joe Restein’s, the Aubrey Nottinghams lived there before that.  Now take me back in that house.

We lived there.  Now, who lived there in the beginning, I can’t say.

Now, somewhere along the line Edna Bounds’ mother lived there because Edna told me her mother built that house.  Elliott said no way.

No, ma’am.  Elliott’s grandfather built that house. He built that house, the house next door to it. Ruth Kerr lived in it.  And when we wanted to buy that from Mr. Wilkins, he said that he had made a house for each one of his children.  And he was leaving the houses to his children.  And what they did after he passed away, that was up to them.  But that was the only legacy that he had to leave to them.  So this house was to go to one of his children and the one next door and, of course, the one they lived in.

We lived there for five or six years, and I guess we would have kept on living there if it hadn’t been that Daddy died.  And Mother, she didn’t know how to do one thing, so we had to move back in with Mother.  But we did want to buy that house real bad, because we had done a lot of things to it.  We loved the beach and where it was.  We lived there when the first hurricane came.  We went to bed that night and we thought it was a Nor’easter.  We slept like babies!  And slept through it.  Edie Jean was small and they were in a room facing the beach and they had twin beds in there.  And I always went in to look at them before I went downstairs to get breakfast.  And I looked out the window and I said, “Everybody get up quick!  We’re in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay!”  See that’s when the water went all the way up to the Post Office.  And there was a man named Sterling and he rowed a rowboat from his house right up to the Post Office. [Read more…]

Summer Recreation Programs at Town Civic Center

May 27, 2014

Cape Charles Recreation Department Summer Programs will take place at the Town Civic Center (the old library), 500 Tazewell Avenue, unless otherwise noted. For more information call Recreation Director Jen Lewis at 757-331-3259 x18.

Tall Ships Arriving in Three Weeks for Festival

By JOAN PRESCOTT

May 20, 2014

Haul a yard arm!  Hear the cannon roar!  Dress up like a pirate, and meet some real ones, too!  Tall Ships At Cape Charles Festival is welcoming three historic tall ships, the Kalmar Nyckel, Privateer Lynx, and Schooner Serenity, to Cape Charles Town Harbor June 14-15.

The third annual waterfront tall ships extravaganza features all kinds of family fun, deck tours, day, sunset and pirate sails, live music, great food, helicopter rides and arts and crafts vendors.

This is small town, family-friendly America the way it used to be. Cape Charles, our deep water harbor to hospitality, presents a rare opportunity to get up close and personal as you explore the decks and meet the crews of magnificent tall ships and encounter roving pirates, a troupe of costumed re-enactors, and all kinds of family fun throughout the historic town and harbor.

Kids and parents will love the Captain Mayhem Pirate Adventure Sails offered three times daily on Saturday and Sunday aboard the Schooner Serenity, and all three tall ships have afternoon or evening sunset cruises both days. Reservations are recommended — visit www.tallshipscapecharles.com. [Read more…]