CAPE CHARLES MIRROR

Reflections on Cape Charles and the Eastern Shore

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Homeschool Pre-Enrollment Info Meeting from Cape Charles Classical Conversations

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Cape Charles Classical Conversations is open for 2021-2022 pre-enrollment. Our preschool through high-school program will meet at a more centralized Northampton county location beginning this fall to better serve families on Virginia’s Eastern Shore.

If you homeschool or are considering the idea of homeschooling, please join us at our information meeting in Marionville 10 a.m. Saturday, April 24.    

For more information you may contact organizer Jordan Dail at 215grayson@gmail.com or by calling her at 757-754-5362 or register for the event at https://members.classicalconversations.com/events/get-event/node/243250

Northampton Schools ask for Additional $159,000

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At Tuesday’s Regular Meeting of the Northampton Board of Supervisors, School Superintendent Eddie Lawrence noted that the School Board has asked for an additional $159,000 in funding for the next fiscal year.

The entire proposed spending plan totals $24.7 million. In it, the school board hopes to provide a 5 percent raise for staffers. An extra $40 per month contribution will be added to health insurance coverage.

The state has increased its contribution to the county schools, a one-time increase of $362,000. The increase is designed to allow the county to increase salaries for teachers, hoping this will make the school system more competitive and able to attract and retain teachers.

The request comes as Northampton’s school enrollment is going down. They are projecting 1,350 students for the next school year, which is down more than 600 students from 2005. Enrollment 50 years ago was nearly twice this number.

The the increase in monies will increase the county’s contribution to schools is just over $9 million.

Summer Classes at Arts Enter Cape Charles

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Summer is here, and Arts Enter will be bringing a host of new classes focused on the performing arts. If you are interested in theater, art, dance, or film, call Arts Enter at 757 331-4327 or visit the Lemon Tree Gallery for more information.

Below is a rundown of events and times:

Dance Fundamentals – A new session of 7 weeks beginning the week of April 19. A multi-disciplinary approach to dance training. One hour classes will incorporate a combination of ballet, contemporary and musical theatre/jazz divided between warm up, across the floor, center work and choreography/repertory, offering students an opportunity to cross train and gain exposure to different dance styles in a condensed amount of time. Tuesdays – 4:30 – 5:30 for ages 5-9 Wednesdays – 4:30-5:30 for ages 10-16 Call about Ballet Pre-Pointe and Adult Jazz$140 June 28- July 2

Dance Film Workshop. 10 am until 3 pm. Monday through FridayThe film workshop is designed for young artists to develop their camera presence and acting skills and be featured in a short dance film. Workshop will be limited to 8 students. The workshop will focus on movement, design, performance and include filming, costuming and an edited final product. Each student will be able to keep this film in their portfolio and will be given a digital copy of the film. Each student is guaranteed dedicated screen time. Screening on Friday, July 9 at the Historic Palace Theatre. $300July12-16

Art Splash – 10am-4pmA small group art camp where students complete daily projects with instruction from a selection of Lemon Tree artists. Watercolor and acrylics, jewelry making, shadow boxes and more.The afternoon includes performance art. A reception on Friday afternoon showcases the student’s work. Ages 6-14. $250 Call Lemon Tree Gallery – Full with Waiting List July 19-31

Arts Enter Musical Theatre Summer Camp (Brandon Morris and Ashlee Byers) Monday- Friday 10-5 James and the Giant Peach, Jr.A delightfully offbeat adaptation of the classic Roald Dahl adventure, a boy and his insect friends take an amazing journey across the ocean.vBased on one of Roald Dahl’s most poignantly quirky stories, Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach JR. is a brand new take on this “masterpeach” of a tale. Featuring a wickedly tuneful score and a witty and charming book, this adventurous musical about courage and self-discovery is destined to be a classic. Performances Friday evening, July 31 and Saturday matinee, July 31.Ages 7-16

Conditional Use Permits for Apartments in the Historic District

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At Tuesday’s Regular Meeting, the Town Council reviewed and approved two conditional use permits for apartments in the historic district.

This February the Town received an application from Joshua Lattimore for a Conditional Use Permit for the property located at 1 Fig Street, the old Kellogg Building across from Rayfield’s Pharmacy. That application was later amended to substitute Penelope and Derrick Kinsey as the applicant with intent to purchase the property from the current owner.
The property is zoned Commercial District C-2 which allows for a dual-use of Commercial/Residential.
The applicant has submitted a floor plan for one residential unit on the second floor of this building.


Also in February, another application was received to build apartments above the Lemon Tree Gallery, called Lemon Tree Apartments. The applicant, Chris Elam has received consent for the project from the property owners John and Clelia Sheppard.

The property is located at 301 Mason Avenue, and the applicant has submitted a floor plan for two residential units on the second floor of this building.

Chris Elam has stated that he is seeking to remodel/renovate the second floor of the existing structure to create two apartment suites, and would add a column-supported porch above the existing front entry, creating a second story outdoor balcony and adding “Juliette” style balconies at the existing second-floor windows along Strawberry Street.

Pet of the Week: Meet Princess

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Hi, I’m Princess and I’m a chihuahua. I just got here, so not too much is known about me yet. I appear to be sweet and friendly and enjoy being with people. I am pretty tiny, weighing only 5 lbs. I tested negative for heartworms at this time. I will be getting vaccinated and spayed on April 15 and can start having visits after recovering from surgery and be able to go home.

If interested in adopting me, email shorespca@gmail.com to request an application as we are not open for viewing due to COVID-19. We schedule visits after going over applications.

Plant Clinic and Sale at Peach St Books, April 24

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On Saturday, April 24 from 9 a.m. to 12:0, Peach Street Books and the Eastern Shore of Virginia Master Gardeners will cosponsor a Plant Clinic and Sale. This free event will be held in the Peach Street Books parking lot at 401 Mason Avenue in Cape Charles. Just in time for planting, colorful summer annuals such as petunias, zinnas, geraniums and shade loving plants will be on sale at reasonable prices. Proceeds will go to the purchase of gardening books for the Cape Charles Memorial Library.


Additionally, Master Gardeners will be available to answer all of your gardening questions and provide written information on a variety of plant topics as well as information on the Master Gardener program which, in partnership with the Virginia Cooperative Extension, works to encourage and promote environmentally-sound horticultural practices and sustainable landscape management.

Frog Walk at Brownsville Preserve

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This April, The Nature Conservancy is offering a variety of small outings on Brownsville Preserve’s public Birding and Wildlife Trail in Nassawadox. On Friday, April 23 6 p.m. there will be as Frog Walk outing with Virginia Herpetological Society.
Events are free and open to the public, but registration is required due to limited capacity.

For more information or to register, please contact Outreach & Education Coordinator, Margaret Van Clief at mvanclief@tnc.org or 414-9227.


COVID safety protocol such as masking, physical distancing, and small group sizes will be observed throughout during all activities.

Op-Ed: Congress Must Pass the ‘For the People Act’

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The following Op-Ed excerpt from the Brennan Center for Justice submitted by Hazel Thomas                                                      

SUMMARY: Bold legislation introduced in the House (H.R. 1) and Senate (S. 1) would ensure that our democracy works for everyone.

Introduction

American democracy urgently needs repair. We now have a historic opportunity to bring about transformative change. In both houses of Congress, the For the People Act — H.R. 1 in the House and S. 1 in the Senate — was designated as the first bill, a top priority this session.

This historic legislation responds to twin crises facing our country: the ongoing attack on democracy — reflected in the assault on the Capitol on January 6 and the subsequent flood of vote suppression bills across the country — and the urgent demand for racial justice. It is based on the key insight that the best way to defend democracy is to strengthen democracy. If enacted, it would be the most significant voting rights and democracy reform in more than half a century.

The 2020 election, like the 2018 midterms, featured historic levels of voter turnout — the highest in over a century, even in the face of a deadly pandemic. But there were also unprecedented efforts to thwart the electoral process and disenfranchise voters, primarily in Black and brown communities, based on lies about “voter fraud.” Those efforts continue through restrictive voting bills in states across the country. Extreme partisan gerrymandering continued to distort far too many races for the House — a plot that is poised to be repeated in the upcoming redistricting cycle unless Congress steps in to prevent it. And despite increased engagement by small campaign donors last year, the most expensive campaigns in American history were still largely bankrolled by a small coterie of individual megadonors and entrenched interests, many of whom were able to keep their identities secret from voters.

These problems were more extreme this cycle, but they are certainly not new. For decades, citizens’ voices have been silenced through voter suppression, gerrymandering, and deceptive tactics. Wealthy campaign donors maintain outsized sway over policy. And the guardrails against discrimination, corruption, and manipulation of the system for personal gain have all been cast aside or eroded. The virulent coronavirus, whose worst effects in terms of both health and the economy have fallen disproportionately on communities of color, underscores the urgent need for a functioning democracy that serves all the people.

The current assault on voting rights across the country underscores the urgency of reform. Even though our democratic institutions survived an attempt to overturn the result of the 2020 election, unscrupulous state legislators have seized on the disinformation that fueled this attempt to introduce an alarming number of regressive bills aimed at restricting access to the ballot, including by sharply restricting access to mail ballots, cutting back on early voting, and slashing voter registration opportunities. To date, more than 250 bills to restrict voting access have been proposed in 43 states, more than seven times the number introduced by this same time last year. These measures target and will disproportionately harm voters of color, young voters, and voters with disabilities. In Georgia, for instance, a recent Brennan Center analysis found that proposed bills to cut Sunday early voting and mail-voting access would burden Black voters most. footnote1_5hw0z9j1

But here is the good news: we know what we need to do to address these problems and strengthen American democracy. It starts with passing the For the People Act. The Act incorporates key measures that are urgently needed, including automatic voter registration and other steps to modernize our elections; a national guarantee of free and fair elections without voter suppression, coupled with a commitment to restore the full protections of the Voting Rights Act; small donor public financing to empower ordinary Americans instead of big donors (at no cost to taxpayers) and other critical campaign finance reforms; an end to partisan gerrymandering; and a much-needed overhaul of federal ethics rules. Critically, the Act would thwart virtually every vote suppression bill currently pending in the states.

These reforms respond directly to Americans’ desire for real solutions that ensure that each of us can have a voice in the decisions that govern our lives, as evidenced by their passage in many states, often by lopsided bipartisan margins. They are especially critical for communities of color. Racial justice cannot be fully achieved without a system in which all Americans have the means to advocate for themselves and exercise political power.

As President Biden remarked in his inaugural address: democracy is precious, but democracy is also fragile. The 2020 election revealed a passionate commitment to democracy on the part of tens of millions of Americans who braved a deadly pandemic, voter suppression, and a concerted campaign of presidential lies to make their voices heard. On March 3, the House of Representatives honored that commitment by passing the Act in its entirety. Now, the Senate and the president must also fulfill their promise to secure representative democracy in America now and for future generations.

Voting Rights

The right to vote is at the heart of effective self-government. In the Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison laid down a standard for our democracy: “Who are to be the electors of the federal representatives? Not the rich, more than the poor; not the learned, more than the ignorant; not the haughty heirs of distinguished names, more than the humble sons of obscurity and unpropitious fortune. The electors are to be the great body of the people of the United States.” footnote1_xrpdsgu2 For over two centuries, we have worked to live up to that ideal, but have consistently fallen short. Many have struggled, and continue to struggle, for the franchise. The For the People Act would expand and protect this most fundamental right and bring voting into the 21st century.

The Russian Bounty Story turns out to be fake

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The story that sent Democrats and their #resistance amplifiers into a frenzy about the treasonous Russian puppet in the White House (Trump) whose admiration for Vladimir Putin had endangered American troops has just fallen apart. On Thursday, the Biden administration announced that U.S. intelligence only had “low to moderate” confidence in the story, where Russia put bounties on US soldiers was bogus after all.

“The United States intelligence community assesses with low to moderate confidence that Russian intelligence officers sought to encourage Taliban attacks U.S. and coalition personnel in Afghanistan in 2019 and perhaps earlier,” a senior administration official said.

“We have noted our conclusion of the review that we conducted on the bounties issue and we have conveyed through diplomatic, intelligence, and military channels strong, direct messages on this issue, but we are not specifically tying the actions we are taking today to that matter,” a senior administration official told reporters in reference to the bounty claims.

Congresswoman Luria Continues Push to Protect Naval Fleet

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WASHINGTON, D.C.— Yesterday, House Committee on Armed Services Vice Chair Elaine Luria questioned the U.S. Navy’s plan to decommission the only 10-year old USS Freedom (LCS-1) despite its successful recent deployment to counter drug operations and illicit trafficking in South and Central America. Rep. Luria pressed Admiral Craig S. Faller, Commander, U.S. Southern Command, about the Navy’s decision to decommission the first four ships in this class despite the pressing need to grow the fleet against the backdrop of Chinese and Russian aggression, including in the Western Hemisphere.

Watch the full line of questioning here.

As a 20-year Navy veteran serving on the House Committee on Armed Services, Congresswoman Elaine Luria has consistently advocated for maintaining a strong force posture in the SOUTHCOM and NORTHCOM areas of responsibility. In a hearing in 2019, she highlighted gaps between the previous administration’s goal of keeping drugs away from the Southern border and how many Navy ships are being assigned to do the job.