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VDOT Begins Sweeping Mason Ave March 27

March 26, 2023 by Leave a Comment

Beginning Monday morning, March 27th, VDOT will be sweeping MASON Avenue, and the 100, 200, and 300 blocks of the side streets (Pine, Harbor, Plum, etc.).

Please remove all vehicles and trailers no later than 6:30 a.m. Monday morning,    Be watchful, as the work may extend into Tuesday in the case of mechanical breakdowns, etc.

Filed Under: Bottom, News

The Town Cannot Amend the Annexation Agreement

March 26, 2023 by 1 Comment

Reader-submitted content. While the Town of Cape Charles has enlisted the aid of its attorney to make amendments to Law No.27 the ‘Annexation Agreement, this reader points out that this may not be possible.

**********************************************

You should know that this whole issue of who is to be responsible for the utility availability and capacity facing Cape Charles is on full display as the Town wants to sell its water/wastewater utility plants and obligations to American Water. The public dispute continues in full bloom now over whether the Town can in fact disregard its own obligations as well as the Bay Creek Developer’s (Preserve Communities) financial obligations and commitments as outlined in the Town’s Annexation Orders of 1991, reconfirmed by the Virginia legislature in March 2002 and filed in the Land Records of Northampton County as Public Laws which was a condition set by the Supreme Court’s Special Annexation Order and the District Court of Northampton County, Virginia.

I can find no Virginia law or Court opinion that allows any Town to amend, modify, or revise an Annexation Agreement once the Supreme Court’s Special Annexation Court has entered its Order (e.g., Public Law # 27). I can find no provision in Virginia law allowing any document relating to the understanding as to the annexation petition being granted that would allow the Town to transfer any of its obligations or Preserve Communities (Bay Creek developer) any relief from its significant financial obligations.

This whole matter would require a Virginia Legislative Act resulting in the Supreme Court’s oversight of all annexation matters to modify any agreement in which Preserve Communities or the Town can selectively amend any Annexation Agreement. All subsequent purchases of the lots are not to pay for any infrastructure obligations of Preserve Communities – means all of Bay Creek lot/homeowners, now or in the future. The wheels of justice turn slowly in Northhampton County, Virginia. The Town again displays it ignorance of the Virginia laws, and its lack of competency to hold Preserve Communities to its significant legal obligations. Bankruptcy will not erase the Preserve Communities obligations, which then the Town would have to fully pay for – not the lot/homeowners in Bay Creek, but perhaps everyone else in the Town.

Below is the 2018 Comprehensive Analysis (slide deck by Michael L Sterling, Esq., VandeventerBlack, LLP – Virginia Beach, Va.) who was engaged by the Town of Cape Charles to attempt to explain what the Annexation Order and what the underlying Annexation Agreements entailed:

AnnexationAgreementPresentationagenda115961468090718-121924PMaDownload

Filed Under: News, Top Story

Kiptopeke Studio Apartments Now Open

March 26, 2023 by Leave a Comment

With “affordable” housing options almost non-existent, there is finally some good news. Kiptopeke Studio Apartments are now open and taking applications.

The facility offers a fully furnished studio for $999 per month. Each of the furnished studios comes with a refrigerator, oven, microwave, and TV, as well as an in-unit washer and dryer.

As for amenities, Kiptopeke offers access to a community pool. An exercise room and game room coming soon.

The $999 rental fee includes electricity and wi-fi.

For more information and to apply, contact KEV Property Management, 757-932-1081, 29106@kevprop.com.

Filed Under: News, Right

Re-visiting Cape Charles Assets

March 26, 2023 by Leave a Comment

When you stroll through Cape Charles, what do you see? Public works trucks, streetlights, a stretch of streets and sidewalks. Beyond the physical, what else is there to envision: a network of sensor platforms; a vertical mall for comm and digital solutions; easements for solar panels and electric vehicle charging stations; and a multi-use space for walking, commercial deliveries, shared bike lanes, and our outdoor cafés.

This is looking at asset management in a new way.

An example may be streetlights. They have an intimate connection to electrical power and their locations on the right of way–they now can become locations for air-quality sensors, places to attach communications technology such as 5G transmitters, as well as curbside electrical re-charging stations. Data provided by communications technology can monitor street, curb, and sidewalk use during the height of our tourist season, which is only going to grow.

The assets that define our streets provide an opportunity to leverage shared-mobility options and our local and out-of-town visitors’ ever-increasing expectations of just-in-time (almost instantaneous) delivery services. To fully leverage all of our assets will require a comprehensive spatial visualization of those assets. 

While the concept of a town’s ‘Digital Twin’ may be overkill, it still needs a list of assets exploited by GIS visualization and overlaid with other information, such as peak density times and situations. Moving into the future, we need to move past the current, and dominant notion of “value engineering,” where a capital project is scrutinized to find ways to increase its value to the city and its residents and decrease its cost.

Our vision needs to look at not just better ways to save money through design modifications but also to assess the assets’ characteristics and look to add value by leveraging them for other purposes.

Filed Under: Latest, News

Bay Creek offers New Home Plan Book

March 26, 2023 by 1 Comment

Bay Creek currently has a great selection of homes under construction that are ready to move into this summer. For families who desire to design and build a new home, they offer a selection of unique homesites.

From cottage-style sites on the Chesapeake Bay, to 80’ wide designs with views of two fairways and a large lake, to estate properties directly overlooking the Bay, Bay Creek has a unique spot just for you.

Bay Creek now offers a New Home Plan Book for inspiration. These are homes that have been pre-approved by the Architecture Review Committee, and many of them have been built in Bay Creek. These homes give you an “express lane” to the Bay Creek lifestyle by saving months of time in the design process.

Filed Under: Bottom, News

Money Coming to the Shore for Drone Project

March 26, 2023 by Leave a Comment

ACCOMACK COUNTY, Va. – U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine announced $1,877,000 in federal funding for planning and prototyping the first phase of a drone technology project to deliver and transport medical supplies around the Eastern Shore and Tangier Island.

The announcement came on Mar. 22. Officials say the funding was awarded to Accomack-Northampton Planning District Commission through the Department of Transportation’s Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) Grants Program, which was established by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that the senators championed.

DJI Mini 2. Credit: Mike Prospero/Tom’s Guide (Image credit: Future)

The Accomack-Northampton Planning District Commission is reportedly partnering with DroneUp, Riverside Health System, and Old Dominion University on the project.

Senators Warner and Kaine said in a statement: “We’re glad to see these federal dollars go to support a drone technology project that will deliver and transport critical medical supplies around the Eastern Shore and Tangier Island. This is another powerful example of how the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is helping improve our transportation systems to help communities across Virginia.”

According to officials, Senator Warner recently introduced bipartisan legislation to expand the use of drones for deliveries nationwide by streamlining and reforming the federal regulatory process for approving these flights.

Filed Under: Bottom, News

Seminar: Magnificent Migrating Monarchs-Gone in our Lifetime?

March 26, 2023 by Leave a Comment

Science and Philosophy Seminar of the Eastern Shore of Virginia has scheduled a seminar, “Magnificent Migrating Monarchs: Gone in our Lifetime?”  The free 90-minute seminar will be held 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on Friday, March 31st in Room 113 of the Eastern Shore Community College, 29316 Lankford Hwy, Melfa, VA 23410.

Sharon Osborn will describe the lifecycle of these beautiful butterflies and supportive techniques, and how with a will and common sense we can help to change the narrative.

Osborn is a retired librarian now living on the Shore.

These seminars are occasionally rescheduled on short notice. Prospective attendees are urged to check the Seminar’s website (www.SciPhi.org) shortly before a scheduled date.

(Please use the website to inspire you into giving a talk yourself.)

Science and Philosophy Seminar is an informally organized group that meets more-or-less regularly to explore and discuss a wide array of topics, ranging from philosophical speculation to scientific research.  All Seminars are open to all. Admission is free.

Filed Under: Bottom, News

Pet of the Week: Carter Still Needs a Forever Home

March 26, 2023 by Leave a Comment

Hi I am Carter. I am a very happy-go-lucky kind of guy. I weigh in at just around 60 lbs and am a Lab mix. I am very young and am in the 1-2 year age range. I am an absolute lovebug!

I could possibly get along with other dogs as I don’t seem to mind visiting next to the smaller dogs here, and puppies.

I have been neutered and am up to date on my vaccines.

I really enjoy being with people. I try to be gentle, but can use a little help with my walking on a leash. It is unknown how I may do in a home with cats.

I am fairly clean in my kennel, so may need some patient relearning house training. I am an all around friendly guy.

If you think you may be interested in meting me, you can stop by the shelter Tuesday-Saturday 10a.m.-2:30p.m. to walk through our kennel and pick up an application. You can also print one out on our website at

www.shorespca.com.

You can send an email to us at shorespca@gmail.com and request an application be sent to you or call with any questions at 757-787-7385

Filed Under: Animal Activism, Bottom, News, Pets

History Notes this week of March 19

March 26, 2023 by Leave a Comment

43 BC: Birth of the Roman poet Ovid 

1314: Death of Jacques de Molay (b.1243), the 23rd and last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, burned at the stake.  The Templars were a monastic military order that grew out of the First Crusade’s conquest of Jerusalem in 1096. Within a few years, Christian pilgrims again began arriving in the city, and two knights of the Crusade, Hughes de Payens and Godfrey de Saint-Omer proposed establishing a monastic order that could protect them. They established their headquarters in what is now the Al Asqa mosque, which they called the Temple of Solomon, built on the ruins of the original temple, and from which they derived their name.  The order quickly grew and was formally recognized by the Pope in 1129. For nearly 200 years the Templars epitomized knightly Crusading virtues, in addition to growing very wealthy*. Templar orders throughout Europe began functioning as banks, and because of the financial hold they had over many of the royal houses in Europe, and the secrecy of their proceedings, their power began to be seen as a serious political threat.  By 1306, King Philip IV of France, deeply in debt to the Templars as a result of his wars with England, began a systematic campaign to destroy the order. In concert with Philip, Pope Clement ordered all Christian monarchs to arrest the Orders and seize their assets. Philip devised a secret plan to arrest every Templar in France, including de Molay, and carried it out in a massive nighttime raid on Friday, the 13th of October 1307. The Templars were charged with numerous acts, including apostasy, idolatry, heresy, obscene rituals, homosexuality, financial corruption, fraud and secrecy. Under torture, many confessed their alleged crimes, and after they recovered, most recanted. Those who recanted were thence burned at the stake for relapsing into apostasy. The elderly de Molay, who had confessed only under torture, eventually retracted his statement. His associate, the Preceptor of Normandy, followed de Molay’s example and insisted on his innocence. Both men were declared guilty of being relapsed heretics, and they were sentenced to be burned alive at the stake in Paris on March 18, 1314.  De Molay reportedly remained defiant to the end, asking to be tied in such a way that he could face the Notre Dame Cathedral and hold his hands together in prayer. According to legend, he called out from the flames that both Pope Clement and King Philip would soon meet him before God. Pope Clement died only a month later, and King Philip died in a hunting accident before the end of the year. 

1413: Accession of Henry V as King of England.

1556: Death of British Archbishop Thomas Cranmer (b.1489), burned at the stake for heresy and treason.

1607: Establishment of the Dutch East India Company.

1617: Death of Virginia native Pocahontas (b.1595), introduced to polite society in the Old Country as Mrs. John Rolfe.

1622: The first of the Powhattan Massacres at Jamestown. 347 settlers are slain, a full third of the colony’s population.

1685: Birth of Johann Sebastian Bach (d.1750).

1765:  In an attempt to raise money to protect the vast territories recently gained during the Seven Years’ War (French and Indian War), Parliament authorizes the Stamp Act. 

1766: British parliament repeals the hated Stamp Act. They’ll get their taxes by other means later.

1815:  After effecting his escape from the island of Elba and making a dramatic march northward from the coast of Alpes Maritimes and onward through the Alps themselves, Napoleon Bonaparte enters Paris, thus beginning the final period of his reign as Emperor, known as “The Hundred Days.”  From Elba, Napoleon correctly deduced that, given the ongoing diplomatic conflict at the Congress of Vienna, his presence on the mainland would provoke an uprising for his restoration as Emperor of France. He arrived from Elba with only 600 loyal troops, but as word spread of his presence, thousands of volunteers flocked into his train, eventually swelling his army to 140,000 regular forces (turned from Bourbon armies) and over 200,000 volunteer militia irregulars.  The drama of “La Route Napoleon” cannot be overstated: when Royalist troops attempted to stop him at Lyons, Napoleon stepped out in front of them and ripped open his jacket: “If any of you will shoot your Emperor, shoot him now!” Of course, no-one dared to shoot. On his arrival in the capital, he immediately re-established his imperial government. Louis XVIII already fled with his few remaining loyalists to the Vendee region, where he remained a thorn in side of the renewed Empire. Immediately after his escape from Elba, the Congress of Vienna declared war (The Seventh Coalition) on the French Empire, which eventually led to the final battle at Waterloo on the 18th of June.

1848: Birth of Nathaniel Herreshoff (d.1938). Known throughout the sailing world as “The Wizard of Bristol,” he was the brilliant naval architect who designed and built the defenders of Americas Cup through the 1930s. His yacht designs remain the gold standard for their blending of technical excellence, operational power, grace and beauty.

1850: Henry Wells and William Fargo start a new stagecoach line, called American Express.

1852: Publication of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s abolitionist novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

1858: Birth of Rudolf Diesel (d.1913). Born in Paris to a German family living in France, his family emigrated to London at the breakout of the Franco-Prussian war. After again emigrating back to Germany, the young Diesel at age 12 decided to become an engineer. Besides inventing the internal combustion cycle that bears his name, his disappearance off of an English steamer at sea in September of 1913 remains an unsolved mystery.

1863: The new Confederate raider and blockade runner SS Georgiana is destroyed on the night of her first run out of Charleston harbor. Built in Scotland, she is designed for speed with heavily raked masts, auxiliary steam propulsion, and a deep hold for cargo. She is also pierced for 14 guns to act as a privateer once clear of the Union blockade. After her loss, rumors abound about 300 gold bars lost in the wreckage, which is quickly buried by the shifting sands of the barrier islands.

1865: The Confederate Congress adjourns for the last time. After 10 months of unrelenting pressure on Petersburg by Lt Gen Ulysses S. Grant, the Confederate government recognized it would be in mortal danger if it remained seated in Richmond. They began an orderly evacuation of the government to Mississippi, but the civilian retreat became a rout over the course of the next two weeks.

1865: Battle of Bentonville, NC, the last major engagement between the Union army of William Tecumseh Sherman and the Confederates of Joe Johnson. The fight lasted through the night of the 21st, when Johnson pulled back his battered remnants across Mill Creek, burning the bridge behind him. Both armies subsequently worked their way northward toward Virginia in an attempt to join up with their respective commanders, U.S. Grant and Robert E. Lee.

1869: Birth of Neville Chamberlain (d.1940). 

1871: Fresh from Prussia’s stunning victory over France, and on the heels of the long-awaited unification of the fractious Germanic states and principalities, Otto von Bismarck is designated Chancellor of the newly created German Empire. 

1918:  Congress authorize “Daylight Saving Time.” 

1920: The actual geniuses in the U.S. Senate decisively reject- for the second time- the Treaty of Versailles.

1922: Commissioning of USS Langley (CV-1) at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. The world’s first aircraft carrier was converted from the collier USS Jupiter (AC-3), which was itself the Navy’s first electric-drive ship. To accommodate her new mission, Langley was fitted with a wooden platform for the flight deck, folding funnels (a.k.a., smokestacks) to keep the boiler gasses and the stacks themselves out of the airplanes’ way, a retractable navigation tower, and a trolley system suspended underneath the flight deck to move aircraft from the centerline elevators to the “hangar” areas in the former cargo holds. Langley served as a test bed for any number of seaborne aviation operations, including catapult launches and arrested landings, among others. She participated in all of the major fleet exercises of the inter-war years, first by simply providing spotters for the fall of battleship shot, but soon providing long range striking capability in her own right. Of particular note, Langley and the other carrier conversions Lexington (CV-2) and Saratoga (CV-3), conducted surprise aerial attacks on both the Panama Canal and Pearl Harbor during the mid-30’s, but the “White Cell” referees of the exercises negated the tactics as invalid. 

1929: Death of General Ferdinand Foch (b.1851). One of the innovators of French military thinking in the post Franco-Prussian War (1876) era, he aggressively pursued doctrinal changes that inadvertently led to a French army pre-WW1 fetish of “L’attaque! Toujours l’attaque!” (“Always attack!”). Foch ended the Great War as the Allied Supreme Commander, and took the surrender of the German commander in November 1918. After the negotiations of the Versailles Treaty, Foch made the prescient comment, “This is not a peace, it is an armistice for twenty years.”

1931: Gambling is legalized in Nevada.

1933: Completion of the Nazi government’s first concentration camp, at Dachau, a suburb of Munich. If you’re ever in the vicinity, it is worth your time to visit the place, if only to absorb the starkness and sterility of its current condition, remembering full well its condition in 1945. You will not go away unaffected. [The infamous phrase, used at all the camps (Work makes you free); the Administration Building]. You may also find interesting the following contemporary press release that announced the opening:
“On Wednesday the first concentration camp is to be opened in Dachau with an accommodation for 5000 persons. ‘All Communists and—where necessary—Reichsbanner and Social Democratic functionaries who endanger state security are to be concentrated here, as in the long run it is not possible to keep individual functionaries in the state prisons without overburdening these prisons, and on the other hand these people cannot be released because attempts have shown that they persist in their efforts to agitate and organize as soon as they are released.’”

1940: German Furher Adolf Hitler and Italian Duce Benito Mussolini meet at the Brenner Pass to form the Pact of Steel against France and Great Britain.

1944: Just outside the teeming city of bella Napoli, Mount Vesuvius erupts, killing 26 and sending thousands into panic.

1947: President Harry Truman, orders sweeping loyalty investigations on all federal employees (rooting out communism?).

1965: The wreck of SS Georgina is found and positively identified by salvage diver E. Lee Spence. He recovers many interesting artifacts from the wreckage, but no gold. The remains of the hull are in water shallow enough to be visited with only a snorkel.

1965: Christian minister and activist Martin Luther King, Jr., on his third attempt, successfully leads 3500 civil rights protesters on a march between Selma and Montgomery, Alabama. 

1968:The U.S. Congress repeals the requirement for a gold reserve to back U.S. currency.

1980: In response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, President Jimmy Carter announces a boycott of the Olympic Games to be held in Moscow.

1982: Argentine armed forces invade the Falkland Islands, triggering a war with the United Kingdom. 

Filed Under: Bottom, News

Kiggans Votes to Empower Parents, Children in the Classroom

March 26, 2023 by 3 Comments

WASHINGTON, DC: Today, Congresswoman Jen Kiggans (VA-02) released the following statement after voting in favor of H.R. 5, the Parents Bill of Rights Act. This legislation reaffirms a parent’s right to have a say in their children’s education by ensuring they know what their children are being taught, are heard in the classroom, can see the school budget and spending, are able to protect their child’s privacy, and can keep their children safe.

“Every parent has a right to be involved in their children’s education,” said Congresswoman Kiggans. “Being a mother is the most important job I’ve ever had, and many of the trends that we’ve witnessed over the past few years surrounding education are deeply troubling to me. Thankfully, Virginia parents have stood up and sent a clear message: we will not be excluded from the classroom.”

“Over the past two years, Governor Youngkin’s transformational education agenda has led to commonsense curriculums that prioritize students’ success over political ideologies,” continued Congresswoman Kiggans. “Every parent deserves the comfort of knowing that their children are receiving a fulfilling and constructive education that empowers them to succeed rather than being told what to think. I’m proud that I am building upon the progress we’ve seen in Virginia here in Congress. I will continue fighting to deliver more wins for parents and children in our Commonwealth.”

You can read the text of the Parents Bill of Rights Act here.

Filed Under: Bottom, News

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