Business Association to Mayor: Questions Unanswered

February 24, 2014

EDITOR’S NOTE: Cape Charles Business Association President George Proto read the following letter to Mayor Sullivan at the February 20 Town Council meeting and has given permission for its publication in the Wave.

Cape Charles Business Association
P. O. Box 461
Cape Charles, Virginia  23310

February 13, 2014

Mayor Dora Sullivan
Town of Cape Charles
2 Plum Street
Cape Charles, Virginia 23310

Dear Mayor Sullivan,

On August 19, 2013 I sent a letter on behalf of the Business Association relative to the proposed PSA line from Route 13 to the Cape Charles wastewater treatment plant.  This letter requested that the project be put on hold until certain significant questions had been answered.  Subsequently the Town Board met in a work session on September 25, 2013 to discuss these questions.  Specifically, the main topics of discussion were the August 19 letter itself and a financial analysis of the proposal to address specifically one of the issues the letter raised.  At that time it became clear that there was still work to be done and the Board wisely decided to require further analysis.  My original letter is attached for your convenience. [Read more…]

Historic Review Board Agrees: No Chimney Needed

By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave

February 24, 2014

Reversing its earlier decision, the Historic District Review Board voted unanimously February 18 to allow removal of a chimney at 621 Jefferson Avenue without requiring replacement with a fake chimney. In reviewing the earlier decision, Board member Joe Ferher said, “In retrospect we could have had more complete information. Other houses on the street have had the chimney removed. A non-functioning chimney is a liability sticking out of a roof.” [Read more…]

LETTER: Town Paying $10,000 for Free Information

February 24, 2014

DEAR EDITOR,

I recently attended a Cape Charles Town Council Meeting and heard that our Town Manager, Heather Arcos, had proposed a wage hour survey be conducted for $10,000 and has already selected her preferred vendor, Springsted Inc., to do the work.  Surprisingly, without any discussion, the Mayor and Town Council approved the request. [Read more…]

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LETTER: Chief Pruitt Praised for Quick Work

February 24, 2014

DEAR EDITOR,

On January 30, we had an incident at Kings Creek Marina that required medical attention and our staff called 911. [Read more…]

ORAL HISTORY: Concrete Ships at Kiptopeke

February 24,  2014

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Cape Charles Historical Society has for more than a decade been recording oral histories of the area’s earlier days.  In 2006, Bill and Jan Neville interviewed the late Capt. Bill Evans. 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.)

Excerpts from a March 31, 2006, interview by Bill and Jan Neville of Ferryboat Capt. Bill Evans and his wife, Grace. 

PART 3

THE CONCRETE SHIPS AT KIPTOPEKE

[Grace]:  Don’t forget to tell them what you did at Kiptopeke. The ships!  The concrete ships!

I put them there.  We had them towed up from Beaumount, Texas, both of them.  And I had several that were already up there in ‘Squito Creek off Newport News.  And anyway, they brought them all to Newport News anchorage and I had to go over there and bring them to Kiptopeke.  I towed them with my tanker, my oil tanker.

That was called the “Kiptopeke” wasn’t it?  The oil tanker’s name?

Yeah.  Well me and another tug, we towed them on over there and put them in their place.  Where they were supposed to be.  In fact, what we done, we put them over there and I remember the last one we brought over, it was kind of getting dark, so we made it fast to the last upper end and we tied up alongside the ships, caught a nap.  Said next morning we’ll sink it when it’s daylight.  Got up the next morning and I start easing down and I saw the ship was gone!  She drifted away and the wire cable I used to make her fast to the other ship, was laying down there in the water.  Oh my goodness, that ship is out there and in the shipping lane and it’s a dead ship and concrete, oh boy!  So we sailed along.  We checked along the shore first and we found her up on the beach.  Up toward Cape Charles.  So we hooked on her and brought her back.

[Grace]:  He said furniture and everything was still on those ships.

Yeah, a lot of things, tools —

[Grace]:  Did you say they had a party on one of them?

Oh yeah.  That was the first one up.  They had that fixed up so you could have parties on that.  That was Chandler and all that gang.  . . . They had plenty of booze.  That was a boozin’ gang.

[Grace]:  Tell them about the hurricane and what happened during the hurricane at Kiptopeke.

Oh that was Hurricane Hazel.  I was on the Pocahontas and we were coming across and they called me from Little Creek and told me tie up when you get to Kiptopeke.  The storm just hit Cape Henry.  So I went in there and tied up the number 2 bridge and unloaded.  Just about the time I got unloaded, that wind struck.  I put out nine 9″ dual lines to hold the bow and that broke everyone of them just like a shoe string.

Good grief!

I blew right around and I blew up on the beach.  I tried to get out, I was going to try to get out through that hole, but it’s a good thing I didn’t because that would have blew me against the concrete for sure.  So what I done, I wound up on the beach.  And I said, oh me, here I am stuck.  I won’t be able to get me off here.  But they got railroad tugs over that night about midnight and got her back out.  But anytime you touch bottom you have to take her to the shipyard.  So that night I took her on up to the shipyard.  Hauled her out, not a bit of damage at all, just a paint that was scraped off where she was riding on the bottom.  So they cleaned her up and we were back out the next day.  That was the Pocahontas. [Read more…]

Town Climbs Down from Fake Chimney Demand

By GEORGE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave

February 17, 2014

A year ago, members of the Historic District Review Board resigned en masse after Town Council overruled their requirement that Hotel Cape Charles modify its new glass balconies.

Following the resignations, a new Historic District Review Board was appointed, and at their first meeting last May, they denied a request by the owners of 621 Jefferson Avenue to elimante a non-functioning chimney, stipulating that it be replaced with a new fake chimney as part of their renovations.

Now, Town Planner Rob Testerman has recommended that the Review Board overrule its own decision and forget about the chimney.

A May 30, 2013, report in the Wave on the fake chimney requirement drew a number of comments – none of them in agreement with the Board’s decision.

Most vocal was Planning Commissioner Dan Burke, who wrote: “Dear HRB — Get off your duffs and go take a look at what you’ve done. There are several houses right across the street that a stiff wind could knock down, half of the older houses don’t have chimneys, one has a stainless steel pipe through the roof, and two other houses have been recently remodeled with no chimneys. These people are investing in our town. We desperately need people like this and you are concerned about a broken-down chimney.”

The four owners of 621 Jefferson originally agreed to comply with the requirement for a fake chimney, but have had second thoughts. A recent letter from the owners to the Board echoes Commissioner Burke’s comments. Reviewing the 600 block of Jefferson Avenue, they found “enormous variation in the condition of these structures ranging from uninhabitable to completely and handsomely renovated. . . . The pattern is very clear: the overwhelming majority of renovated, well maintained homes (and those recently built) do not have chimneys. Most of the homes with chimneys are dilapidated and poorly maintained,” they wrote the Board. [Read more…]

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Cape Charles Chickens Leave Home to Roost

By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave

February 17, 2014

Chickens that resided at two Cape Charles residences in the Historic District have left town. One little flock of three left last summer when their owners sold their property. The other flock of six has moved to Eastville while their owner awaits a decision on whether backyard chickens will be allowed in town.

The presence of chickens in town and the need for an ordinance regarding them has sparked controversy between friends and neighbors. Town Council has tasked the Planning Commission with providing a draft ordinance about backyard chicken keeping. This month Commission members discussed the pros and cons of chicken keeping in town but did not finalize a draft ordinance. The discussion will continue next month.

As has been reported in the Wave, numerous municipalities allow small flocks of chickens in residential neighborhoods. Roosters are rarely allowed due to their natural tendency to crow in the morning. [Read more…]

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Groundwater Use Could Go to 1 Million Gallons Per Day

By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave

February 17, 2014

The Eastern Shore of Virginia gets all of the water used for residential development, agriculture, and industry from underground aquifers. Those aquifers were the subject of the Groundwater Summit held at Kiptopeke School last Wednesday, February 12.

About 20 attendees braved a snowstorm to attend a presentation by Britt McMillan, consulting hydro-geologist to the Eastern Shore Ground Water Committee, and Curt Smith, Director of Planning for the Accomack-Northampton Planning District Commission (ANPDC) about “Groundwater on the Eastern Shore of Virginia from Kiptokepe to Eastville.”

Two additional summits will be held with Eastville/Nassawadox/Exmore in June and communities from Belle Haven to Accomac in October.

Like most areas of the country, access to groundwater is fundamental to human activity. Agencies called upon to protect access to resources must weigh competing needs of humans for clean, fresh water with the requirements of agriculture and industry that create jobs. “Northampton County has a sustainable amount of groundwater for the foreseeable future,” Smith told the Wave.

Demand for water on the lower Eastern Shore could reach 1 million gallons per day and be sustainable even though very little rain water reaches the water table. The report noted that even with 44 inches of rain a year, only 5-6 inches makes it down to the Yorktown-Eastover Aquifer that supplies our drinking water. [Read more…]

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Wayne Hodgson Is Town’s Newest Police Officer

February 17, 2014

The Town of Cape Charles has announced that Wayne Hodgson joined the Police Department January 27.

Officer Hodgson previously worked for the Northampton County Sheriff’s Office as a Deputy and for the Town of Exmore Police Department. He is a graduate of Nandua High School in Onley.

Hodgson is the first officer to be hired by newly appointed Police Chief Jim Pruitt. One more vacancy remains to be filled.

ORAL HISTORY:
Bridegroom Goes Overboard From Ferryboat

February 17,  2014

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Cape Charles Historical Society has for more than a decade been recording oral histories of the area’s earlier days.  In 2006, Bill and Jan Neville interviewed the late Capt. Bill Evans. 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.)

Excerpts from a March 31, 2006, interview by Bill and Jan Neville of Ferryboat Capt. Bill Evans and his wife, Grace. 

PART 2

SUBMARINES IN WORLD WAR II

I do remember being outside . . . and my boat had broke down and couldn’t get out and I had to wait for her to get straightened out.  But I was concerned then about those submarines coming in when we were laying out there right off the Capes.  We were dead in the water, just laying there.

Were you anchored or were you just drifting?

We were drifting.  Those anchors, you might get them overboard, but you’d never get them back!  We never did drop anchor.

I bought a foghorn that it said it came off one of the ferries.  It was in a wooden box and it had a handle along the side there.  And I asked you if they really used them on the ferries.

That was in emergency.  In case you lost your steam out there in the fog and had to have a foghorn, then you used that.

They said you kept it right up there under the pilot house.

That was one of the requirements.  You had to carry a foghorn and kerosene sidelights and all of that.  That was mandatory.  In fact, the Coast Guard when you had your inspections, we had a yearly inspection and then we had a quarterly inspection.  That was one of the first things they would call for is your emergency equipment.

I don’t know how this guy in Lewes ended up with it.  But then again, the ferries left Kiptopeke and went to Lewes, right?  And you moved, did you go to Lewes or –

I went to Cape May.  Me and Mr. Chandler and Parker Drummond.  Nolan Chandler, he went up there as superintendent, but he was superintendent down here.  So they hired him and me and Parker Drummond.  I went up there, of course, as captain and he went up there as forward engineer.

Yeah, I went up there as captain, good salary, too.

(Grace) They offered him a job on the bridge.

Yeah.  But I told the head of the Bridge-Tunnel, I just couldn’t see myself waving traffic through that tunnel!  So we wound up in Cape May.

Getting back to World War II.  I remember you telling me about some skirmishes on the boat, maybe it wasn’t during the war.  Some sailors and some woman was involved and they got to fighting and they had to call the cops.  Does that ring a bell?

Yeah, that does ring a bell.  It was Dance Night.  See, you had dances on there Wednesday nights and Saturday nights.  And these two got fighting over this woman.  This one woman danced with this man and the other man was her boyfriend and they wound up fighting.  So before I got back to Little Creek, I called the police and they met us at the docks and picked them up. [Read more…]

COMMENTARY:
Shore’s Closest Pro Football Team Has Skin in the Game

By WAYNE CREED

February 17, 2014

As Olympians from around the world are meeting in Sochi to compete for gold, two members of Congress, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) have also forayed into sport by sending a letter to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, appealing to him to support the effort to change the name of the Washington Redskins. “The National Football League can no longer ignore this and perpetuate the use of this name as anything but what it is: a racial slur,” they write.

Meanwhile, the team and several players have released statements claiming they have received “more than 7,000 letters and emails” in favor of keeping the name, with “almost 200 from people who identified themselves as Native Americans or as family members of Native Americans.” Whether or not the Redskins and the NFL are on the “wrong side of history,” as the senator and representative state, is something to consider. Given that I am married to a Redskins fan, and the Eastern Shore is historically Redskin territory, it might be helpful to review the actual history we may or may not be on the right side of.

The original team dates back to 1932, in Boston, owned by George Preston

Marshall, Vincent Bendix, Jay O’Brien, and Dorland Doyle. The team played their games at Braves Field, and as a matter of expedience adopted the same name, Boston Braves.

In the first year the team lost $46,000, and Bendix, O’Brien, and Doyle dropped out of the investment, leaving Marshall the sole owner. Marshall, who was having a dispute with his current landlord for the Boston Braves, immediately moved to Fenway Park and changed the name to the “Redskins.” Marshall claimed he did so to honor the team’s coach, Lone Star Dietz, who claimed to be of Native American descent (part Sioux). There is also an account that Marshall chose the

name as an allusion to the Boston Tea Party Patriots that dressed as Native Americans, as a way to send a not so subtle message to his former landlord.

Several years of mediocrity followed until 1936, when the Redskins won their first Eastern Division Title. However, even after winning the title, only 4,000 fans showed up for the final regular season game, at which point a thoroughly disgusted Marshall refused to play the championship game in Boston and instead moved it to the Polo grounds in New York, giving up home field advantage. They lost. [Read more…]

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