A resolution that would have named Mike Sterling official town council for the purpose of obtaining an opinion from the State Attorney General on whether the WWI plaque in the library could be moved failed unanimously. The plaque, which lists citizens of Northampton that died in the Great War, has been hung in the library for 92 years. Members of the library board took offense to the plaque because the soldier’s names are broken out by “white” and “colored”. The resolution would have meant that taxpayers would have had to fund the legal fees.

A disturbing part of Sterling’s request was whether the plaque could be covered by a “shroud”:

If the WWI Memorial Plaque is subject to the protections of Virginia Code § 15.2- 1812, whether the Town may place a cover or shroud over it and only display the WWI Memorial Plaque upon request.

Councilman Steve Bennett said that he found the whole thing, especially the language about the shroud, offensive. “These men made the ultimate sacrifice, and the idea that we would remove or cover their names is repulsive…Why are we the ones having to do this? The burden of proof should be on the Library Board, not us. Let them pay for it.”

Town Manager DiRe noted that the offended members of the Library Board have threatened legal action if the plaque was not removed.  “Good. Let them,” was Bennett’s response.

Bennett offered an alternative solution, to pay to have the plaque recast, listing the names of the fallen in alphabetical order.

The Cape Charles Police Department made six misdemeanor arrests in May, including marijuana possession, assault and battery, DUI and reckless driving that could have endangered life. The CCPD answered 81 calls in town and 9 outside of town. They lent support to the State Police 3 times and assisted County Sheriffs 3 times. They also assisted fire and rescue units 5 times.

Officers logged 33 foot patrol hours, and 31 hours in Bay Creek.

Training was completed in the following: behavior based safety, below 100, active shooter response.

Town Council approved a blanket peddler’s license for Buskey Cider which will allow food trucks or other vendors to provide on-site food options on some days for their customers. A peddler’s license for a food vendor who prepares fresh food and has a generator and a towed trailer or van is $500 per year.

The blanket license allows Buskey’s to have several different vendors set up in the area next to their establishment (the lot where Birdies and JUM JUM were located).

The vendors will be required to collect meals tax.

The town does not expect the vendors to affect other businesses. The lot is 150 feet from both Kelly’s and the Northampton Hotel.

Join AmeriCorps outreach & education coordinator, Danielle Simmons for a casual stroll around this beautiful conserved property, beginning with the blossoming Pollinator Meadow at the Virginia Coast Reserve office.

As you meander, Danielle will talk about a variety of topics, ranging from outreach, education, and stewardship work she’s performing with The Nature Conservancy here on the Shore to her research and experiences with sustainable living at her alma mater, Paul Smith’s College in New York.

This walk is free and open to the public, but registration is requested, so we know how many to expect. For more information or to register, please contact Margaret Van Clief at (757) 414-9227 or mvanclief@tnc.org

The Academy for Lifetime Learning proudly announced the winners of the 2019 Betty Ross STEMM Scholarships at its annual reception on June 14. The winners are Wendy Lin from Northampton High School who will attend the University of Virginia, William Hollandsworth, from Nandua High School who will attend the College of William and Mary, and Brian Drummond from Broadwater, who will attend Christopher Newport University.

This scholarship has been named the Betty Ross Academy for Lifetime Learning STEMM Scholarship in honor of Betty Ross, the founder of our local organization. She passed away in 2014. The $1000 scholarships are for students who intend to study in the fields of science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine. This includes nursing and related health sciences.

We think that graduates of STEMM programs have a special potential to address some of the most important issues facing our society. We think these three outstanding young people are well-equipped to confront issues facing our nation and today’s complex world.

The Academy for Lifetime Learning of the Eastern Shore of Virginia is an all-volunteer not-for-profit organization which fulfils the adult learning objective of the Eastern Shore Community College. Members offer classes in subjects relating to their careers, current interests and abilities and artistic or outdoor passions. Classes are open to anyone in the community at minimal cost.

These awards bring to 17 the number of scholarships award by this organization since 2013.

Wachapreague Carnival Fireman’s Carnival 7 -10 p.m.

If you have never been to the wonderful Wachapreague Fireman’s Carnival, or have never seen the Corn Funk Revue, now is the time t0 make amends. The Revue is made up of some of the finest musicians on the Shore–Scott Wade, Melinda McPeek, Lynne Rogers, Chris Chandler, Ellen Grimes & Peg Snowden Volk.

The band told the Mirror, “We are ready to rock the casbah!”

The Mirror staff cannot imagine a better night than being at the Carnival and rocking out to the Corn Funk Revue. Music is from 7-10 p.m.

CAPE CHARLES, Va. — Five people were rescued after their boat capsized near Cape Charles on Thursday, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

Watchstanders at Coast Guard Station Cape Charles were alerted around 10:15 a.m. by good Samaritans that a boat had capsized near the Old Plantation Flats Light and four men and one woman were in the water.

A 45-foot Response Boat-Medium rescue crew from Station Cape Charles launched to assist.

A Coast Guard rescue crew was launched, while two fishing boats and two recreational boats also assisted the people in the water by throwing them life jackets and positioning their vessels to prevent waves from disturbing the capsized boat.

The Coast Guard crew arrived to find the crew members sitting on top of their capsized boat. They boarded the Coast Guard boat and were taken to shore, where they were evaluated by EMS.

The Coast Guard rescue crew transported the boaters to Station Cape Charles where they met awaiting EMS.

With help from the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, NOAA Fisheries’ Greater Atlantic Region developed a guide to help captains and recreational anglers identify some of the mackerel and small tuna species caught within the region. The guide is available online and on the FishRules app.

The Mid-Atlantic and Northeast seaboard has been seeing the signs of climate change for decades. Sea levels and sea-surface temperatures have risen throughout the world. In the Mid-Atlantic:

• The average sea-surface temperature on the Northeast Shelf has increased by about 2.3°F since 1854, with about half of this change occurring in the last few decades.
• In particular, the waters of the Gulf of Maine are warming dramatically in recent years– faster than 99 percent of the global ocean between 2004 and 2013.
• Sea levels are also rising more quickly than the global average along many areas of the coastline in our region. Between 1950 and 2009, sea levels rose 3 to 4 times faster than the global average along a “hotspot” of about 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) from Cape Hatteras to Cape Cod. This rise in sea level is due to a combination of water volume expanding as the oceans warm (thermal expansion), melting of glaciers and ice sheets, changes to Atlantic Ocean circulation, and land subsidence.

NOAA Scientists Predictions for the Future:

• New high-resolution climate models indicate Northeast Shelf waters may warm another 5.4°F by the end of the century compared to today’s conditions–nearly three times the global average.
• A NOAA sea level rise study in 2017 found east coast cities like Boston, Massachusetts and Annapolis, Maryland could see ocean levels rise by as much as 11.5 feet higher than today by the end of the century.

As waters warm, fish and invertebrates (like crabs and lobsters), are moving north and into deeper waters to find the cooler waters they prefer. The habitats that these species depend on for food, shelter, and spawning are changing, too.

According to data from the NOAA Fisheries bottom trawl survey on the Northeast Shelf, the average shift in the distribution for all species from 1967-2016 has been almost 8 miles north per decade and almost 8 feet per decade in depth. That changes what fishermen are catching, and changes the ways they fish.

Coastal wetlands provide nursery areas for juvenile fish and provide foraging habitat and shelter from larger predators. At least 50 percent of all commercially important fish and shellfish in the United States depend on estuaries and nearshore coastal waters.

As sea levels rise, coastal salt marshes retreat landward, but when their retreat path is blocked by coastal areas hardened by shoreline structures, such as seawalls or rock revetments, we lose wetlands in what is known as “the coastal squeeze.”

The loss of coastal wetlands from rising sea levels and storms will reduce wetland-dependent fish and invertebrates, and reduce the natural protections to coastal communities. The estimated loss of coastal wetlands due to the combined effects of sea level rise and coastal development, like the construction of seawalls, could be more than 50 percent by the end of the century. One study found nearly 90 percent of brackish, high-marsh wetlands in the Chesapeake Bay would be lost under a 3 foot sea level rise scenario by 2100.

Coastal wetlands buffer coastal communities from the effects of flooding, erosion, and storm surges. Fortunately, there are alternatives to traditional, hardened shoreline development that not only give coastal wetlands a chance to adapt to sea level rise, but also provide functioning habitat for marine and estuarine species. “Living shorelines” can protect and restore shoreline ecosystems through the use of natural materials like plants, oyster shells, sand, and rocks, and sometimes include materials like fiber rolls or anchored wood. These elements don’t interrupt the natural water/land continuum.

NOAA Fisheries has completed a comprehensive status review under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) for alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) and blueback herring (Alosa aestivalis).

The status review identified four alewife distinct population segments (DPSs): Canada, Northern New England, Southern New England, and Mid-Atlantic.

Based on the best scientific and commercial data available including the Status Review Report, NOAA determined that listing the alewife rangewide or as any of the identified DPSs as threatened or endangered under the ESA is not warranted at this time.

The status review also identified three blueback herring DPSs: Canada/Northern New England, Mid-Atlantic, and Southern Atlantic. Based on the best scientific and commercial data available, they determined that listing blueback herring rangewide or as any of the identified DPSs as threatened or endangered under the ESA is not warranted at this time.