The Town of Cape Charles has been awarded a Virginia Department of Housing and Development (DHCD) Community Block Grant in order to provide relief from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The town will receive the full amount requested of $845,115.00.

The Town of Cape Charles partnered with Cape Charles Main Street to apply for the CDBG grant and use any funding received to provide assistance for the Cape Charles business community for expenses such as rent/mortgage relief, reopening expense relief to help cover required equipment and supplies, possible technology upgrades to allow for hands-free point-of-sales systems.

“This is getting ridiculous! Give the restaurants reduced capacity, so ” social distancing” can be employed, have servers wear masks, and whatever other strictures the media will endorse…but we have to get open SOON! As an industry we do not make money selling food, we need to sell alcohol. Losing May will be crushing, losing June will put the bulk of us here on The Shore out of business! We have 4 months to make an optimum profit, the September 1 the door is closing quickly! We have been here working diligently for almost 14 years and would like to be here for a few more! If you feel uncomfortable going out in public….stay home! If you are comfortable interacting with some new separation and medical restrictions we would welcome you! We need to get back to work….as soon as prudently possible!” Gene Kelly, Owner of Kelly’s Gingernut Pub

The Town has done its due diligence, now it is time to disregard the Governor’s arbitrary and capricious orders and open businesses on a limited basis.

We know that the virus is only dangerous to those over age 60, and mainly over 80. Why is the beach closed when there is virtually no risk? Is it constitutional for the Town to dictate what property owners can do with their property without an emergency justification?

The big lie being told to ordinary people is that these measures are meant to save lives. No, these measures are really about trading lives.

We voted these leaders into office, and when this is over, we will have to judge them on what they did. Did they take good counsel? Did they balance the needs of all citizens? Were they arbitrary or equitable in deciding which activities to prevent and which to allow? Did they take advantage of our vulnerability to take just a little more power for themselves? 

The science doesn’t seem to line up with the tyranny that’s going on. Continued indiscriminate shutdowns are an abuse and don’t protect the public health.

“Most of the country is going to come through this with the realization we’re being treated like children … by people who want us to look at them as parents,” Rowe said during an interview with Glenn Beck on the Blaze.

“In an economy like this, when you take 26 million ‘nonessential’ workers out of the equation … the whole thing collapses under its own weight. I would suggest to you right now that there is no such thing as a nonessential worker when it comes to the economy” — Mike Rowe

Never in the history of America have we given up so much of our freedom. For the most part, we have done so willingly because we believed it was for our own good and for the good of the more vulnerable among us.  Basically, we did this out of fear.

“If somebody wants to stay in their house, that’s great. They can stay in their house and they should not be compelled to leave. But to say that they cannot leave their house and they will be arrested if they do — this is fascist. This is not democratic. This is not freedom. Give people back their g—d— freedom.” — Elon Musk

Time to recalibrate. These people are our representatives, not our rulers.

If the Town does not stand up to the Governor and is willing to sacrifice the well-being of the citizens, we should expect resignations. What exactly are they here for?

With an election on May 19, I would point blank each candidate whether or not they would defy Governor and open up. Their response is the only one you will need to hear.

As Thomas Jefferson wrote to Edward Carrington on January 16, 1787, “The people are the only censors of their governors.” It is we the people who ultimately bear responsibility for how our leadership handles this crisis—that is what government by the people, for the people, and of the people means. 

We must now defy the Governor’s Order and go back to work. We must fully understand the limited powers of our government officials. We must know our history well enough to understand why the Framers of the Constitution designed the government that they did.

Friend and sometime contributor David Boyd sent this notice via email:

DCR recently acquired a 55 acre field off Latimer Siding as an addition to the Magothy Bay Preserve, as you are likely aware. Today I was part of a group of about 20 people who did a large scale planting in that field to provide increased habitat for migrating songbirds, among other things. This morning a truck loaded with 1100 wax myrtle shrubs in 3 gallon containers arrived at the site. We unloaded them onto DCR trailers and the group spent the entire day planting them. While there are still some that remain to be planted, we managed to plant approximately 700 wax myrtles, just today!!! That’s 10 rows of plants spaced on 40 foot centers for a distance of 0.6 miles. Essentially, rows of wax myrtles for nearly as far as the eye can see. As these shrubs grow and mature, and other plants are added by the bird droppings of neotropicals and other birds using these wax myrtles, this is going to be a fantastic addition to the habitat down near the southern tip of the peninsula. There are also going to be some willow, white, pin and scarlet oaks planted there as well. 

The planting area is in a 55 acre field that is bounded to the west by Route 13, to the south by Latimer Siding Road and to the east by Seaside Road. The full-length rows are about 6 tenths of a mile long and there is a wax myrtle planted every 40 feet, with an occasional oak thrown in for good measure.

About 700 of the wax myrtles were planted this past Tuesday and there are another 400 still to plant for a total of 1100 wax myrtles. Not nearly as many oaks, maybe a hundred or two will be planted, but they will be substantially bigger.

Along with members of DCR, the Eastern Shore Master Naturalists provided much of the labor for the planting.