Part 1 of the meeting

It was ignition time when members of the public and Westmoreland County’s Industrial Development Authority (IDA) gathered this Monday evening in their English Building meeting room to approve a new purchase agreement with The O’Gara Group. The room was filled to near capacity when IDA Chairman Jimmy Latane’s hushed voice advised Authority members that the special meeting had begun.

On July 4 George Washington Birthplace National Monument will be going back to its roots and up the remarkable Washington family tree as it celebrates the 350th anniversary of the birth of the first Washington in America.  The gala event will be held in conjunction with Sulgrave Manor, a Washington ancestral home in Britain and the official sister park of the Birthplace.   Both sites will be celebrating the Semiseptcentennial of Lawrence Washington, George Washington’s grandfather, who was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia in 1659.

Sulgrave Manor Director Wendy Barnes and then George Washington Birthplace Superintendent Vidal Martinez sign sister park agreement in2007

On this side of the pond the celebration is themed Remarkable Trees-Remarkable Family Trees and will start on July 1 at 5 p.m. with a reception for and a book signing by Robert Llewellyn, one of the photo-
graphers responsible for the new book Remarkable Trees of Virginia.  

The reception also marks the beginning of the month-long exhibition at the Birthplace of a selection of Llewellyn tree photographs featured in his book.  Also honored will be the young winners of a tree-themed art contest recently sponsored by the Westmoreland County Museum and Westmoreland County schools. 

The 15th annual Drifter Baseball Camp was a huge success at Monroe Park last week, with 75 campers enjoying the grand ole game. It was a smash hit as the youngsters’ enthusiasm rang out each day with a full week of fun on the fields.
Up and coming Drifter ball players were treated to a week of fun, games, trophies, camp T-shirts, evaluation cards, daily contests and solid fundamentals of America’s pastime. Five different fields were used at spacious Monroe Park to keep four Tee Ball/Minor League teams and six Little League/Senior League teams rolling each day. Campers rotated through 12 stations daily during the week. Drifter varsity and junior varsity baseball and softball players helped coach – relaying valuable tips to campers on hitting, pitching, base running and defensive and offensive skills.

“What an absolutely wonderful day!” enthused Mrs. Pauline “Pete” Sharpley, of Dahlgren, her bright eyes shining blue as the perfect, cloudless sky on Saturday morning. “It feels just like an old time country fair here today!” Her sentiments were echoed to vendors and presenters by hundreds of visitors to the King George Farmers Market Community Appreciation Day. It was a party hosted by the farmers for the whole county and, it seemed, pretty much everybody in town turned out to celebrate!
We kicked off our festivities at 10 a.m. by singing “Happy Birthday” to the Market, which is two months old now! The beautiful sheet cake baked by Carol Wheeler of Wheeler’s Fresh Goods boasted the “Virginia Grown” cornucopia logo and the words “King George Farmers Market 2009.” (By the way, 20 beautiful “Virginia Grown” reusable shopping bags were given away in our Grand Prize Drawing.) Half yellow cake, half chocolate, the cake was big enough to feed 100 people and it did just that. Many thanks to Carol for such a lovely and delicious piece of art!

At Colonial Beach School Board's most recent meeting, resident Margaret Antosz addressed the board with concerns that it has accomplished little in the last year other than for members to bicker amongst themselves.
Her original desire to address only certain members was quickly squelched by Chairman Timothy Trivett who said she would have to address the board as a whole. Antosz wished to address Chairman Trivett, Mike Looney and Ann Congdon who campaigned in May of 2008 as a group known as TLC.
Antosz complained of broken campaign promises, lack of accomplishments and an inability of the members to get along.

Fort A.P. Hill, Va. -- A survey of randomly selected households in communities neighboring Fort A.P. Hill is scheduled for the last two weeks of July.
The telephone-based survey will be conducted by researchers from Responsive Management of Harrisonburg, Va.  Fort A.P. Hill has conducted the survey every two years since 2003.
Individuals living within the following zip codes may receive a call asking them to participate: 22427, 22546, 22580, 22538, 22552, 22514, 22501, 22446, 22535, 22436, 22485, 22476, 22408 and 22509.
 “We’re trying to get the word out that this is a bona fide survey sponsored by the installation and we hope individuals will choose to participate,” said Ken Perrotte, Fort A.P. Hill’s chief of plans, analysis and integration. “We value our neighbors’ opinions, perspectives and support.”

As the old adage goes, “If you build they will come.” Stafford native and Colonial Beach resident Dennis Cornell’s latest football venture, the Northern Neck Rivermen, has attracted men from arena football to college football. Each athlete seeks a path or return to the days of old where fans complimented by teammates cheered their names at the end of a play.
Why would a perfectly healthy athlete sacrifice his body for the sake of football glory in a hostile environment, filled with violent collisions, while chasing the dream of one day playing for a professional football team? After coaching three semi-professional football teams in the last 10 years, Stafford graduate and Rivermen head football coach Dennis Corwell may be closer to the truth in his latest football franchise.
“Eighty percent of these men are playing because they love the game,” Cornwell said. “They want an opportunity to put the uniform back on again, and fulfill the team concept.”

The King George School Board got an update last week on results of a survey on the topic of possible changes that could be made to the division’s grading scale.
The grading scale committee was established in March by Superintendent Candace Brown.
Its purpose is to review the current grading scale and to research grading scales from other divisions with an eye to making recommendations concerning possible adoption of some changes.