Tag: Nelson County

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Mountaintop removal: Groups argue its definition

Drainage from a mountain named Big Ridge will affect two of the state’s remaining native brook trout streams, Townsend Draft and Erwin Draft. Photo courtesy of Rick Webb

In an April 27 telepresser, a number of environmental groups discussed Dominion’s alleged plans to decapitate 38 miles of ridgelines in Virginia and West Virginia to make way for the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline. About 5.6 of those miles are atop Roberts Mountain in Nelson County.

Moderated by the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, spokespeople from anti-pipeline groups Friends of Nelson, Appalachian Mountain Advocates and the Allegheny-Blue Ridge Alliance discussed some key points of mountaintop removal, including that the majority of the mountains in question would be flattened by 10 to 20 feet, with some places along the route requiring the removal of about 60 feet of ridgetop.

Mountaintop removal also results in an excess of material, known as overburden. In this case, Dominion would likely need to dispose of about 2.47 million cubic yards of it, according to the environmental groups.

“The information that was put out by these groups last week is just totally inaccurate,” says Dominion spokesperson Aaron Ruby. “We’re not conducting mountaintop removal. That is a total mischaracterization of how we’re building this pipeline.”

According to Ruby, Dominion will “clear and grade a relatively limited area on certain ridgelines,” so workers will have enough space to dig a 10-foot-wide trench, install the pipe and fill the trench back in.

“It is astounding that [the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission] has not required Dominion to produce a plan for dealing with the millions of cubic yards of excess [overburden],” says Ben Luckett, a staff attorney at Appalachian Mountain Advocates. FERC will eventually approve or deny the project.

But Ruby says that claim from Luckett isn’t true, either. “We are required by federal regulations to fully restore those ridgelines to their original contours using the native material that is either graded or excavated. …For these groups to say we’re going to level the tops of mountains and remove 250,000 dump truck loads of material is completely inaccurate.”

Approximately two miles of ridgeline are proposed to be removed (and replaced) in western Highland County in the George Washington National Forest. According to Rick Webb, the program coordinator for the Dominion Pipeline Monitoring Coalition, drainage from a mountain there named Big Ridge will affect two of the state’s remaining native brook trout streams, Townsend Draft and Erwin Draft.

“The Atlantic Coast Pipeline could easily prove itself deadly,” says Joyce Burton, a board member of Friends of Nelson. “Many of the slopes along the right of way are significantly steeper than a black diamond ski slope. Both FERC and Dominion concede that constructing pipelines on these steep slopes can increase the potential for landslides, yet they still have not demonstrated how they propose to protect us from this risk. With all of this, it is clear that the pipeline is a recipe for disaster.”

Ruby says his company has extensively studied all of the steep slopes they will encounter while installing the ACP and have developed a best-in-class program for construction on those areas that goes beyond federal regulations and has been thoroughly evaluated by FERC, which confirmed its effectiveness.

“My company has built over 2,000 miles of underground pipeline through West Virginia and Western Pennsylvania,” he says. “How many pipelines has the Chesapeake Climate Action Network built?”

Updated May 3 at 4pm to correct a misquote.

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Real Estate

Enjoy Wintergreen’s Classy Amenities and Spectacular Mountain Views

It can chill, it can challenge, it can soothe and inspire. It’s a spot to relax, and explore, and a place to have fun and just let loose. Twice named Best Ski Resort by readers of the Washington Post, Nelson County’s four-season, 11,000-acre Wintergreen Resort is an all-in-one sports playground, conference center and nature retreat, with magnificent mountain views, classy amenities, fine dining and a world-class snowmaking system.

Twenty-seven hundred lucky people make their homes there year round, relishing Wintergreen’s unspoiled beauty, affordable mortgages, and close proximity to major metropolitan areas. Vacationers and day-trippers come for golf and tennis, hiking and fly fishing, and so much more—including a month-long classical music festival—in the warmer months, but some 150,000 visitors enjoy it over the course of the winter season alone. Let’s take a look at winter “on the mountain.”

Snow
Winter sports enthusiasts love winter in the air, but they need winter on the ground, and Wintergreen is where to find it. The resort’s snowmaking system is “a big deal,” General Manager Hank Thiess says. “People come from all over the world to look at what we do here.” With 40,000 linear feet of pipeline, more than 400 snow guns, and 45 weather stations, Snowpower—as the system has been newly named—can pump out 8,000 gallons of the cold white stuff a minute. “If you could direct all that snowmaking onto a football field,” Thiess says, “that would result in thirty-seven feet of snow in 24 hours,” (and a canceled game). Wintergreen is the only ski area in the U.S with 100 percent of its terrain covered by automated snowmaking. And this is snow of a uniform depth and consistency and quality from the top of the slopes to the bottom.

Snowpower allows Wintergreen to recover quickly from rain or unseasonably warm periods, making possible its extended snow-sports season. Depending on Mother Nature’s whims, Wintergreen may make snow from November into March, or even as late as early April. Its ski events typically run through early March, sometimes later.

All that snow covers 130 slantwise acres, on which are 24 ski and snowboard slopes and trails, two terrain parks, the state’s largest tubing park, and a snow park for young kids. Twenty-three percent of Wintergreen’s snow terrain is considered suitable for beginners, while 35 percent is for intermediate and 42 percent for advanced and expert sliders.

Skiing
Skiing is Wintergreen’s most popular sport, with tubing next. Skis (and snowboards), boots and poles may all be rented, either for individual sessions, or for a whole season at a time. Slopes are open all day long, as well as Tuesday through Sunday nights. Wintergreen’s snowscapes are suitable for every level of experience and expertise. The Upper & Lower Dobie slopes attract beginners; Eagles Swoop and Tyro are for intermediate skiers; a 2,000-foot single-black-diamond named The Outer Limits and a double-black-diamond dubbed the Cliffhanger lure daredevils and free spirits. The park boasts seven lifts able to handle as many as 11,200 skiers an hour, including two high speed lifts with a six-passenger capacity.

Wintergreen skiers can also participate in NASTAR (National Standard Race), the largest public grassroots ski race program in the world. Across the country, more than 95,000 NASTAR participants compete for platinum, gold, silver and bronze medals in appropriate age and gender groups. Participants are also ranked by ability. Top ranked racers qualify to compete in the Nature Valley NASTAR National Championships.

The NASTAR race course is open on Saturday and Sunday afternoons from noon to 2:00 p.m., weather permitting. The cost is $7 for two timed runs or $15 for unlimited runs. The race takes place in modified Giant Slalom format. Racers are timed electronically, and results are posted online in real time. Medals are awarded to all participants who qualify as compared to the pacesetters of the day.

Freestyle Skiing
Voted 1st Place by Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine, Wintergreen’s Terrain Park lets thrill seekers hone their freestyle skills, with a progression of features suited for every skill level. Adding to the challenge, the layout of the more than 40 features is changed frequently. On any given day skiers will find an arrangement of tabletops and fun boxes, spines and hips, straight rails, s-rails, rainbow rails, battleships, and down-kinks. To handle the high traffic on weekends, one lift is dedicated entirely to the terrain park. Thiess stresses that park staff strive for a safe environment, urging users “to abide by the rules and be respectful of other people. There’s a phrase that is used there,” Theiss says. “It’s ‘respect gets respect.’ Everybody watches out for the other person.”

The park also hosts a series of five events throughout the season, including three Rail Jams (January 15, February 19, and March 6) and two Slopestyles (January 9 and February 26). These events are open to skiers and snowboarders of all ages with a valid lift ticket. The registration fee is $25. Prizes will be awarded for individual events; skiers who compete in at least three out of five events are eligible to win the Grand Prize.

Skiing Lessons
Wintergreen’s ski and snowboard instruction is available for all ages and ability levels, and is based on the American Teaching System. The five-week Mountain Mornings ski program for kids ages three to six includes approximately two hours of on-snow time per lesson, a four-hour lift ticket, and rental equipment. The Treehouse serves kids four to fourteen, while offering childcare for kids two-and-a-half to twelve. The Childcare plus Snowplay program for ages three and up is a full-day program offering an hour of introductory ski instruction, plus arts, crafts and group games.

The Ridgely’s Rippers program for ages four to fourteen teaches skiing, and Mountain Explorers for ages seven to fourteen teaches both skiing and snowboarding. Mountain Explorers Pro is a multiple-day program for intermediate-advanced skiers ages seven to fourteen. Lunch, snacks, and hot chocolate are served between lessons. Parents are encouraged to ski for free, or relax in The Gristmill coffee shop while their kids play and learn.

Ridgely the Bear makes surprise appearances at Ridgely’s Fun Park, where kids three to eleven love the mini-tubing carousel, bear paw snow shoes, tunnels, and the gentle tubing hill each weekend from December through February. Over at the Treehouse, kids of all ages learn to ski in full and half-day programs that include lunch, snacks, and hot chocolate. Treehouse programs run Monday through Friday. 

Tubing
Wintergreen’s popular tubing park is the largest in Virginia. Officially called the Plunge but nicknamed the “scream machine,” it’s more than three football fields long, long enough to get going nearly 30 miles per hour. A conveyor lift takes tubes and tubers back up the hill, again and again.

Skating
Folks who prefer sliding on a flat surface can head to the Shamokin Ice Skating Rink outside on the Blue Ridge Terrace, where a 150-ton “chiller” keeps the ice icy when the weather is not. The 45 x 90 foot rink can hold up to sixty skaters at a time, and is available for skating parties, birthday parties, broomball events, etc. 

The Wintergreen website’s Mountain Message Blog provides updates on slope conditions and park openings and closings. The three Mountain Cams let skiers stuck at work or at home get a good look for themselves, whether it’s for deciding when to go play or for daydreaming and watching friends already there.

And a Whole Lot More
The 13-room spa at Wintergreen provides everything from nail and facial treatments and pedicures to specialty massages and body wraps. Seasonal treatments and standard sports massages are available as well, all in a serene setting. Conference planners will find 24,000 square feet of indoor conference space and 20,000 square feet of outdoor conference space, along with audiovisual services and an award-winning banquet spread. Four restaurants—The Copper Mine Bistro, The Edge, Devils Grill, and Stoney Creek Bar and Grill—offer food for all tastes and occasions.

Living
“Wintergreen and Stoney Creek have always been a big draw to Nelson County,” says Mountain Area Realty’s Chastity Morgan. “Their numerous amenities coupled with natural beauty make them appealing as a destination or a place to call home.”  Nest Realty Group’s David Ferrall agrees: “What draws people is the beauty of the county and the breweries and wineries, hiking, skiing and golf.”

Mountain Living, Valley Living
Wintergreen’s bucolic setting and close proximity to the George Washington National Forest make it a four-season paradise for nature lovers. Skiers and snowboarders who turn into golfers, hikers and tennis players in the warmer months also love to stay and play year round, either on the nearly 4,000-foot mountain itself or in the Rockfish Valley community of Stoney Creek below. Roughly 85 percent of homes on the mountain are second homes, while in Stoney Creek, an estimated 70 percent or more are owned by full or part-time residents. Some work during the week and spend weekends in Nelson; others might spend the winter months in Florida and live here the rest of the year. Mountain homes at Wintergreen Resort range in price from under $250,000 to $1.25 million, while 1,100 condos and townhomes are priced from under $50,000 to more than $500,000. Homes at Stoney Creek are currently priced from $300,000 to $800,000, where a typical lot size is one or two acres.

“On top of the mountain, a lot of times you’ll get people who want to be more active, right there with the action,” says Mountain Area Realty’s Marlo Allen, who has lived in Nelson County all her life and owns property in both communities. “In Stoney Creek, they don’t have to be right there in the midst of it. Some people like not having to drive as high. A lot of people in Stoney Creek live there full-time, and they get together. It’s a very social community, whether you want to golf or ski or not.”

Stoney Creek residents enjoy a range of resort activities right there in the valley, including 27 holes of golf, an outdoor pool, tennis courts, and twenty-acre Lake Monocan Park. The Stoney Creek Golf Course is ranked 34th best in the U.S. by Golf Digest. Park amenities include a snack bar and a picnic area with charcoal grills, horseshoe pits, a sand beach with volleyball court, plus recreational equipment.

Wintergreen’s world class facilities and gorgeous setting make it a destination spot for sport and recreation lovers from around the country—and from around the world. One hundred and thirty university students from Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Chile spend their summer vacations  at Wintergreen each year, helping with the shops, the restaurants, and the lifts. “I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,” said the Irish poet. But he meant to say “to Wintergreen.”

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Real Estate

Nelson County: Country Cool

Between the James River to the southeast and the Blue Ridge Mountains to the north and west lies beautiful Nelson County. Do you love the great outdoors? Nelson’s Wintergreen Resort is a year-round sportsman’s paradise, with ski trails and snowboard parks, mountain bike and horseback trails, golf links and tennis courts. Nelson’s scenic length of the Appalachian Trail includes Crabtree Falls, the highest waterfall on the East Coast, while Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway provide stunning views as they traverse gorgeous mountain passes.

Are you a wine and beer loving foodie? Drive along Nelson’s Route 151 and you’ll find five wineries, three breweries, and a cidery, plus fruit orchards, farm stands and bed & breakfasts. Are you a fan of the heartwarming family drama, The Waltons, a hit TV show still beloved in reruns? Its Walton’s Mountain setting is based on the Nelson town of Schuyler, home to the show’s creator, the late Earl Hammer, Jr., and proud site of the Walton Museum (open March through November).   

Do you enjoy tastes and treks, views and brews? As creative hipster enterprises and agri-businesses have joined golf courses and ski slopes in the gorgeous Central Virginia countryside, Nelson has become downright fashionable for young and old alike, drawing the sportsmen and the culinarily-inclined, the farm-to-table crowd and the second home gang. Some are tourists,  others homebuyers, and, still others, tourists who become homebuyers enchanted with Nelson’s rural character and lively lifestyles, all in close proximity to major metropolitan centers.

Home to only 15,000 people in the 2010 census, Nelson was originally inhabited by the Siouan-speaking Nahyssan tribe. Englishmen began settling there in the 1600s. Created in 1808, it was named for Thomas Nelson, Jr., a planter and soldier who represented Virginia in the Continental Congress, signed the Declaration of Independence, and served as Governor of Virginia for five months in 1781.

Scenic Loop
Perhaps the best way to see Nelson for the first time is to drive or bike the 50-mile scenic loop comprising Route 151, Route 664, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and Route 56. You’ll pass through Piedmont foothills, cross the Rockfish and Tye rivers, and wander through the Blue Ridge Mountains. You’ll see Crabtree Falls, at 1,214 feet, the highest waterfall east of the Mississippi River. In the spring you’ll admire azaleas, rhododendrons, and mountain laurel, and in the fall, glorious foliage.

Nature
Forty-five miles of the Appalachian Trail wind through Nelson County. Some of those miles make for easy hiking, while others are rugged and challenging. One popular hike is along Humpback Rocks Trail, which affords spectacular views of the Rockfish and Shenandoah Valleys. Humpback Mountain was a landmark for wagon trains passing along over the Howardsville Turnpike in the 1840s, and parts of the trail still exist today. The Visitor Center and mountain farm exhibit include a single-room log cabin and a series of outbuildings representative of area architecture in the late 19th century. Costumed guides demonstrate weaving, basket making and gardening.

Helping to conserve and deepen appreciation for all this natural beauty is The Nature Foundation at Wintergreen, a non-profit which “encourages understanding, appreciation, and conservation of the natural and cultural resources of the Blue Ridge Mountains.” The Foundation’s Plant Propagation Program studies and promotes plant species native to the area

and propagates plants from seeds, plant division, and cuttings. Propagated plants are sold by Foundation volunteers in the spring, summer and fall.

Drink
“Alcohol alley” is the irreverent term some locals have adopted for Nelson 151, the scenic byway east of the Blue Ridge in the Rockfish Valley that makes a lovely day trip and shopping excursion. Oenophiles can sip and sample at Afton Mountain Vineyards, Cardinal Point Vineyard and Winery, Flying Fox Vineyard and Winery, Hill Top Berry Farm & Winery and Veritas Vineyard. Beer lovers can try the brews at Blue Mountain Brewery, Devils Backbone Brewing Company and Wild Wolf Brewery; and hard cider connoisseurs can enjoy a glass of cider and the “apple-tisers” (cheese board, soft pretzel, ham sliders) on decks and terraces overlooking the Rockfish River at Bold Rock Hard Cider. Many 151 establishments host lively social scenes on the weekends, with good food and live music.

Fruit
Nelson’s eleven apple orchards are popular fall destinations, especially on festival days. Drumheller’s Orchard dates back to 1937, when Everette and Eva Drumheller planted peach and apple trees on an unattended Lovingston farm. Seamans’ Orchard in Tyro grew out of a family agricultural business begun by the Lea brothers in 1933. Alton R. and Joyce Lea Seaman took over the farm in 1945, and third and fourth generation Seamans operate the orchard and live on the land today. 

Festivities
The four-day musical celebration at Oak Ridge Farm in Arrington called LOCKN’ Festival will celebrate its fifth year from August 24-27, and has already announced a raft of big name acts including Phil Lesh, Keller Williams, The Avett Brothers and Widespread Panic. Devoted to “world-class music, local vendors, and community engagement,” LOCKN’ offers local and regional cuisine, craft beers and wines, and opportunities to explore its picturesque setting.

Also in rural Nelson, The Infamous Stringdusters will headline the fifth annual version of The Festy on Columbus Day weekend, October 6-8. Heavy on the bluegrass, but featuring a wide variety of roots and Americana-loving acts, The Festy is a proudly family-oriented event. 

At Home
Homebuyers attracted to all this natural beauty and easy livin’ often look first at the housing options on Wintergreen Mountain, or into the valley below, where the homes in Stoney Point have impressive mountain views. 

Maureen Kelly, of Nelson County’s Economic Development and Tourism office, has been a Nelson resident for over 30 years, and she’s not going anywhere. “I love living here because of the people,” Kelly says, “as well as their attitude about stewardship of the environment. I love the actual setting, I love the fact that Wintergreen is on the mountain and yet we have the beautiful Rockfish Valley and the Shenandoah Valley on the other side. I love the roads; I love the opportunities for outdoor recreation; I adore all the wonderful culinary businesses as well as the attractions. I don’t think I’d want to live anywhere else.”

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Synchronicity Foundation recalls compassionate response to terrorism

Master Charles Cannon, leader of Synchronicity Foundation in Nelson County, says his followers’ devotion to meditation equipped them to handle the deaths of two of its members in the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks. Photo courtesy of Synchronicity Foundation

A journey to India for meditation and enlightenment in late November 2008 turned into a terrorist bloodbath that left 164 people dead throughout multiple locations in Mumbai. Among them were a father and daughter from Synchronicity Foundation in Nelson County.

Days later, the modern spirituality community made international news again when the mother’s response was compassion and forgiveness to those who killed her family.

Alan Scherr and his 13-year-old daughter, Naomi, were staying at the luxurious Oberoi Hotel when they were slain and four other members of Synchronicity were wounded.

Charles Cannon, known as Master Charles to his followers, was there November 26, 2008, and remained barricaded in his 12th-floor suite for nearly two days. Eight years later, he recalls, “Of course it was a horrendous experience of being in a terrorist context when you have no history of that. It hit us hard when two of our members were killed and four seriously injured.”

Upon his return to the United States, he and Kia Scherr, who lost her husband and daughter in the attack, held a press conference. She attributed her calm demeanor to years of meditation training at Synchronicity that allowed her to remain balanced during a time of personal tragedy.

“In the aftermath, we were compassionate and forgiving of the terrorists,” says Cannon. “We got literally thousands of responses from people wanting to know how we can do that.”

He wrote a book, Forgiving the Unforgivable, and says sharing his philosophy of a balanced and spiritual life has “radically increased” his audience and the number of people coming to Synchronicity for retreats.

Scherr spends most of her time in India, staying in the same hotel where the attack occurred, and is president of One Life Alliance, which focuses on children in third-world countries who are often uneducated and marginalized, says Cannon.

Children are sold by their parents and groomed to be terrorists, which he says was the case in the Mumbai attacks.

The State Department had a psychiatrist who was an expert in post-traumatic stress disorder meet with all the Americans after they were rescued from the Oberoi. “He took me through the process, and educated us on how that’s going to play out the next few years,” says Cannon.

The psychiatrist was impressed with the Synchronicity group and how well they handled the experience, “a testament to our lifestyle of meditation,” says Cannon.

The members didn’t require specialized therapy and had “very minimal post-traumatic stress,” he says.

With the upcoming anniversary of the attacks, Synchronicity held an open house and commemorative program November 13 at its facility on Adail Road in Nellysford, where sightings of the Blessed Mother still take place, according to Cannon.

“The Blessed Mother and I have a long history that started when I was 3 years old,” he says. “My life has been a journey trying to understand it.”

In the facility’s meditation hall, a statue of the Blessed Mother, whom Cannon calls a “divine feminine archetype,” stands to the left of the raised platform. Attired in a white tunic and scarf, he speaks to his followers. After donning headphones for high-tech meditation with ambient sounds, the three dozen or so attendees line up to approach Cannon with a bow and to be blessed.

The occasion also provided an opportunity to unveil his latest book, Living an Awakened Life: The Lessons of Love, which offers 52 weekly explorations of a life based on modern spirituality.

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Night lights: Munitions company shines in Rockfish Valley

More lights are going up at Zenith Quest’s facility on Route 151 in Nelson County. Anna Kariel/SkycladAP

David Connolly used to gaze out the windows of his Afton Mountain home and see twinkling lights and the occasional headlight in the valley below. That was before Zenith Quest International “fired up the lights,” he says, of its already controversial, 84,000-square-foot firearms and ammunition distribution warehouse smack in the middle of Nelson County’s scenic wine and beer byway.

“Although we’re 800′ above them, they shine right in our windows,” says Connolly, who has lived on Stagecoach Road—a couple of miles away from the warehouse—for 13 years. “To me, it’s lit up like a landing strip. You can’t escape.”

The warehouse already stands out in the viewshed as the largest structure visible on Route 151, says Connolly. On September 24, only two of the lights were on, which was “much better,” he says. “Come Monday, they were on full blast.”

And there are more lights to come, according to Zenith Quest project manager Ray Miles. The six lights currently on are to light up the turnaround area for big trucks, he says. Ten more lights are going to be installed in the employee parking lot, and there will be security lights around the perimeter.

“We’re using what was approved in the site plan by the county,” says Miles, a plan that includes “two pages of metrics” on the lighting to be used. “If someone told us they were no longer approved, we’d study it.”

He’s already heard from a local supervisor. “The folks complaining, it’s brand new lighting,” says Miles. “They’re not used to it.”

Tim Padalino is Nelson’s director of planning and zoning, and he says the county’s zoning ordinance and comprehensive plan have requirements that are analogous to dark-sky certifications. Exterior lighting can’t shine onto adjoining properties or the public right of way and it must have full cut-off fixtures.

“Both are designed to prevent light pollution (i.e. light traveling up into the night sky instead of down onto parking areas, sidewalks, patios, etc.), and to preserve dark skies at night,” he writes in an e-mail.

Padalino says he was contacted by Supervisor Tommy Harvey, “who relayed significant concern from Afton residents who are very upset about the lighting at Zenith Quest.” Padalino planned a nighttime visit October 3 to make sure the lights were in compliance with the site plan.

Harvey and Supervisor Allen Hale had not returned calls from C-VILLE at press time, but in an e-mail to Connolly, Hale wrote, “I share your unhappiness over light pollution of the night sky.”

He also says there’s little that can be done about the warehouse, which was a by-right use of the industrial-zoned parcel and did not require Board of Supervisors’ approval.

Connolly, a building professional, acknowledges the building is a done deal. “They have the right to do it, but that doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do,” he says. “They’re not being a good neighbor to Rockfish Valley and Nelson County.”

The warehouse is two-thirds complete—they’re still working on the firing range—and Zenith Quest is waiting for its temporary occupancy permit, says Miles. “We’re getting ready to add landscaping. Trees will cover 80 percent of the front of the building.” That exceeds the 50 percent required on a scenic byway, he says. “When people drive by, they probably won’t see our facility.”

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‘Death by 1,000 cuts:’ A win for Nelson pipeline opponents

Nelson County mountains. Photo: Jack Looney

Companies surveying for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline must provide property owners sufficient written notice before setting foot on their properties, a Nelson County judge ruled May 9. Though this doesn’t stop the project, pipeline opponents say any ruling in favor of landowners is a success.

“It gives us much more control over our property and the ability to protect ourselves,” says Randy Whiting, who lives in Horizons Village at the foot of Wintergreen, a strip of Nelson County that may soon be sliced by the proposed $5 billion natural gas pipeline, which is currently slated to run just under 600 miles through Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina, including several historically sensitive areas, national forests and private properties.

Eight months ago, Whiting says he and his neighbors in Horizons Village received a notice from Dominion, which said the company had plans to survey their land at some point in the future.

Atlantic Coast Pipeline LLC—a company formed by Dominion Resources, Duke Energy, Piedmont Natural Gas and AGL Resources—had previously entered properties for inspections without giving landowners a specific date of entry, causing at least 37 Virginia landowners to petition the Nelson County Circuit Court to force Dominion and its partners to give them more notice.

“That means they could come at any time. They could come tomorrow or they could come a year from now,” Whiting says. “How are we supposed to plan to be here?”

According to Whiting, many landowners want to be home when Dominion enters their property to make sure the power company’s crews are following all the rules. The recent ruling in Nelson is another way to hold the company accountable by law, he says.

“It means they have to follow through on their word, which is not something Dominion does very well,” he says.

Judge Michael Garrett ruled that Atlantic Coast Pipeline LLC will have to issue new notices of intent to enter with specific dates of entry before inspectors or surveyors may step foot on someone’s property.

Though pipeline opposers say the fight isn’t over yet, they are certain this ruling will set the project back several months—so far, they’ve been able to slow the project down by at least nine months, according to Whiting.

“When you try to stop a pipeline, it’s death by 1,000 cuts,” Whiting says. “It’s very rarely one thing that stops a pipeline. Any little thing added to another little thing makes a difference. It is anything but over.”

In a similar case in Buckingham County, a circuit court judge ruled in favor of the ACP. Whiting says the different rulings make it more likely that the Supreme Court of Virginia will hear the case, and if the higher court sides with landowners, Dominion would have to abide by its ruling in every county in the state.

“In accordance with the court’s opinion, we will revise our landowner notices to include more specific dates so we can survey these remaining properties,” Aaron Ruby, a Dominion spokesperson, says. “Courts in other jurisdictions have reviewed the same landowner notices and found that they met the requirements of the statute, but of course, we will comply with the Nelson court’s ruling in these cases.”

Ruby adds that the Nelson court did affirm, along with every other state and federal court involved, that it is the ACP’s right to perform surveys, and that “surveying performed with proper notification is not a trespass.”

Ernie Reed, a media contact for the 1,000-member group of pipeline opposers called Friends of Nelson, says any time a judge rules against Dominion or the ACP, it is significant, and it “demonstrates that Dominion is not above the law.”

According to Reed, Dominion contacted the Nelson County Board of Supervisors this month about creating a citizen group to work with Dominion on some of the issues surrounding the ACP, and the BOS denied its request.

“We know that a great deal of what [Dominion has] told the public at different times has been far from the truth,” Reed says. “We don’t want Dominion in Nelson County and we’re going to fight until this pipeline is stopped.”

The Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a proposed $5 billion natural gas pipeline that will run just under 600 miles through Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina, will be visible from 7,178 parcels of land in Nelson County. A judge has ruled in favor of some Nelson landowners.

Pipe Down:

In Nelson, the pipeline’s 1.4-mile wide impact, explosion and evacuation zone endangers:

– 904 properties

– 2,409 homes (including
vacation homes)

– 2,094 people

– 208 acres of impacted forest

Pipeline’s presence:

-Visible from 37 percent, or
7,178 parcels in Nelson

– 26.1 miles of pipeline
in county

*Numbers provided by Key-Log Economics

Related Links: January 21, 2016: Cow knob salamander reroutes Atlantic Coast pipeline

October 6, 2015: Judge sides with pipeline surveyors over landowners

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Brewery buyout: Big beer company acquires Devils Backbone

Devils Backbone owner Steve Crandall says selling to Anheuser-Busch InBev was a growth strategy, to move from 60,000 barrels produced in 2015 to 150,000 barrels annually. Staff photo

Local craft brewery Devils Backbone announced on social media it was being sold to Anheuser-Busch InBev at 10:35am on April 12. By noon, the court of public opinion had tried and convicted the Nelson County company of selling out.

Brewery ownership was a bunch of “cowards.” They were “greedy,” looking to “cash in,” sold to the highest bidder. Beer folks from Facebook to Twitter to Reddit vowed never to buy another Devils Backbone product. They’d sooner quit drinking beer than support an evil empire bent on crushing craft.

The supporters were slower to come, but they were there. Some said this’ll be a fine thing for Virginia beer. One of our own, they said, has made “the big leagues.” Folks across the country would now get to taste those delicious VA suds.

Local brewers also took their time weighing in. Three Notch’d Brewing Company’s founding brewer Dave Warwick immediately responded to a request for comment—“Here goes…”—but then stepped back. “I need a few,” he said.

In the end, Warwick was measured. “Devils Backbone has gotten to where they are today through successful marketing and smart business decisions but, most importantly, world-class quality beer,” he said. “I wish them the best of luck.”

Devils Backbone owners Steve and Heidi Crandall offered their own side of the story. This was a growth strategy, Steve Crandall says, a way to get from the 60,000 barrels they produced in 2015 to their goal of 150,000 barrels. After failing to get a traditional bank loan and eschewing private banking and private equity, he says the best option was clear.

“We’re one of the fastest growing craft breweries in the country, and you cannot finance new equipment through profitability alone,” he says. “A bunch of groups were interested in buying—we had an offer that was higher, but they didn’t share our vision. Anheuser-Busch are good people. They are not interested in crushing craft. They want to win, but they want to do it in a fair way.”

Devils Backbone brewmaster Jason Oliver, whose beer wins awards at the Great American Beer Festival and beyond year after year, agrees.

“There’s this real us-against-them mentality,” he says. “But I consider myself a brewer first and foremost and a craft brewer second. And so I’ve been a champion of large breweries. People aren’t objective about it. They get emotional.”

Lots of others decided not to comment. Starr Hill, the most widely distributed local brewer and one that many have called an obvious target of big beer, didn’t return several phone calls. A representative of Budweiser declined to go beyond official press statements.

But here’s what we know about some of the behemoth’s business strategies. Through its craft arm, The High End, the company has purchased nine breweries since 2011, according to some estimates paying from $25 million to $70 million each, and has guided them forward in various ways.

Goose Island, the first acquisition, has become a de facto Budweiser craft label. The company’s Honker’s Ale, Goose IPA, 312 Urban Wheat, Summertime, Four Star Pils and Green Line Pale Ale have been scaled up for production at big Bud plants. They’re now available nationwide.

Oregon-based 10 Barrel Brewing, on the other hand, has said it’s been largely left alone to make the beer it’s always made.

In December of last year, when ABI announced it was making another major acquisition, this time of South African Breweries, Brewers Association CEO Bob Pease went before Congress to air what seems to be a consensus among small-brewery owners. Because of ABI’s ownership of beer wholesalers, it can unfairly influence the types of beer chain stores stock. Before letting this monster grow any bigger, Pease said, ABI should be required to divest its stake in wholesalers.

“If ABI is permitted to maintain ownership of wholesalers…ABI will continue to purchase additional independent wholesalers and discontinue sales of competing brands that the independent wholesalers currently sell,” Pease told the Senate Committee on the Judiciary.

The South African Breweries purchase is still under review, so what’s next for ABI is unclear. As for Devils Backbone, the company looks a lot more like 10 Barrel in size and scope than Goose Island (10 Barrel is in the process of expanding from about 40,000 barrels a year to 120,000), and Crandall says no new distribution has been planned for the immediate future. But some have suggested the brewery’s popular Vienna Lager would make a great candidate for national sales. With the right quantities and distributorship, it could compete with Yuengling or Boston Beer Company’s Boston Lager.

Crandall says he’s convinced his new parent has its heart in the right place, and that’s evidenced by the fact ABI hasn’t made any changes to management and is committed to allowing Devils Backbone to operate as is for at least the next five years.

“We want to continue to support craft beer in Virginia,” Crandall says. “We are all in this together. It whittles down to what’s in the glass.”

High End President Felipe Szpigel said much the same. Yes, ABI ran an ad during last year’s Super Bowl that mocked craft beer and said Bud was “brewed the hard way.” But that was a brand statement, not the company’s official stance.

“Budweiser has a voice and pride in the quality of the beer,” he says. “It was never the intention to create discomfort or to be aggressive.”

Try convincing the craft beer geeks on the Internet of that.

Categories
Arts News

Good night, John-Boy: ‘Waltons’ creator Earl Hamner dies at 92

Earl Hamner on the stage of the Hamner Theater in Nelson County. Photo Nancy Mulrine

Schuyler native Earl Hamner Jr., who put Nelson County on the national map with his 1970s Emmy-winning series, “The Waltons,” died from cancer March 24 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles listening to “Rocky Mountain High,” according to his son’s post on Facebook. He was 92.

Best known for “The Waltons,” he also wrote episodes for “The Twilight Zone” and created the 1980s series set in Napa Valley, “Falcon Crest.” He wrote four novels, including Spencer’s Mountain, published in 1961, upon which “The Waltons” series was based.

Hamner’s life growing up during the Depression in Nelson County was the source material for “The Waltons,” and he said in 2003 that one of the things of which he was most proud was how the show changed the perception of the people who lived in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

“The village of Schuyler where I grew up was once thought of as being peopled by gun-toting, illiterate, xenophobic, moonshine-swilling hillbillies,” he said. “Through my books and my television shows, I was able to give the area and the people a more positive image, an image that has been seen in every country in the world except China and Russia.”

Hamner himself exemplified the decency of the television family he created, and while he was pegged as a “soft” writer in Hollywood, he had much more depth and versatility. “‘The Waltons’ were the light side of my personality, and ‘Falcon Crest’ the dark side,” he said.

For years, Schuyler was home of the Walton’s Mountain Museum until a dispute with the museum management and the ouster of Hamner’s younger brother, Jim, caused Hamner to pull out memorabilia he’d donated.

Boomie Pedersen, founder of the Hamner Theater, remembers him coming to Nelson, sitting on the stage and reading from his novella, The Homecoming, which the theater adapted for its first production and subsequent shows.

“Most of all it was his voice—it was an amazing, soothing, comforting sound, which was the narrator’s voice on ‘The Waltons’,” she says.

Hamner was a consummate storyteller, and said, “Writing is rewriting,” recalls Pedersen. “That was such a gift for writers.”

He was also the consummate Southern gentleman,. “Earl is one of the kindest people I ever met,” she says. “He epitomized kindness and generosity.”

Each episode of “The Waltons” ended with the family saying good night to each other, something Hamner said his own family did. “Good night, John-Boy” became a tagline for a generation.

Good night, Earl Hamner.

 

Categories
News

Randy Taylor prosecutor Anthony Martin resigns

Anthony Martin ends his term as Nelson commonwealth's attorney in February. Publicity photos

Anthony Martin, the Nelson County commonwealth’s attorney who got a murder conviction without a body in the case of missing teen Alexis Murphy, resigned from his position January 26 after being reelected in an unopposed race in November.

In an e-mail, Martin says, “[R]eally it boiled down to wanting a change after 10 years of prosecution. An opportunity to go back into private practice came up and I decided to take it.”

Martin did not say which firm he will join March 1. Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Jerry Gress will be sworn in as acting commonwealth’s attorney until a special election is held.

In May 2014, Martin prosecuted Randy Allen Taylor for the murder of 17-year-old Murphy, whose disappearance in 2013 right before the start of her senior year at Nelson County High rocked the region. She was last seen with Taylor, who was sentenced to two life terms. Martin accomplished the extremely rare legal feat of obtaining a conviction without a body.

“There’s precedent, but such cases are few and far between,” legal analyst David Heilberg told C-VILLE after the trial. The last such local case was the 1983 conviction of Glenn Haslam Barker for the year-earlier murder of 12-year-old Charlottesville schoolgirl Katie Worsky. “Murder cases are difficult enough, especially if you have no body,” he said.

Heilberg says he’s sorry to hear about Martin’s departure. “I really like working with Anthony,” he says. “He’s a good guy and a straight shooter.” Martin is “tough but fair,” adds Heilberg. “That’s not easy to do as a prosecutor.”

 

Categories
News

Gun shy: In Nelson, citizens have no say in ammo warehouse

Jessica Goines, whose extended family lives next door to the Zenith Quest ammunition distribution center, thinks the facility is “too close.” Photo by Mina Pirasteh

Nelson County’s Route 151 in the Rockfish Valley has been called the “Napa Valley of the East Coast.” But some residents fear that appellation will change with the newest development on its scenic byway: a massive 84,000- square-foot ammunition and firearms distribution warehouse that has an indoor firing range.

Neighbor Harold McCauley says he received no notice about the project that’s springing up literally in his backyard. And Nelson residents concerned about a firearms facility on the popular brewery byway have been told they have no standing and no possibility of public input because the project is by-right on industrial-zoned land.

Zenith Quest International, based in Afton, bought the 10-acre parcel from Blue Ridge Builders Supply in March 2014 for $500,000, according to Nelson property records. The company began importing natural stone tile from Turkey, says project manager Ray Miles, but with the demand for ammunition and firearms up, that’s what the new facility will be geared for, along with light manufacturing of firearms.

“Some weapons will be altered when they come here,” says Miles. He stresses they’re pistols or semi-automatic, not automatic weapons. Those firearms will require testing. Hence the 4,000-square-foot firing range in the basement, which will not be open to the public, he says.

The county’s industrial zoning allows noise levels of 70 decibels at the property line. “We aim to be below that,” says Miles.

He shows a reporter at the site the concrete walls that are a foot thick in the basement firing range. “Not much sound gets out of 12-inch concrete,” he says. “I don’t think our neighbors are going to be bothered at all.”

No ammunition will be manufactured at the site, assures Miles. And with a sprinkler system and 100,000 gallons of water on hand, he says, “No one is in danger from ammunition stored there if there’s a fire.”

Justin Shimp, an engineer who lives about a mile from the site, has appealed the county’s zoning determinations three times, and has been told three times he has no standing in the process. Shimp, who questioned the landscaping and emergency access to the property, as well as whether a firing range is an appropriate use under M-2 zoning, says he doesn’t have a problem with Zenith Quest so much as with how business is done in Nelson County.

For example, unlike Charlottesville and Albemarle, where even with by-right development, notice is sent out to all adjacent property owners, state law doesn’t require that, nor does Nelson County, says Shimp.

Nearby North Branch School, whose mission is to “foster respect, non-violence, environmental responsibility” and community involvement, has had no direct interaction with the company, according to a statement from the school.

Members of the Planning Commission told the school the project is by-right, and that “Zenith Quest has been responsive to requests from Nelson County and has made appropriate changes to their site plan,” says the North Branch statement.

Although the Zenith Quest site plan was approved at a public Planning Commission meeting, “They don’t permit public comment,” says Shimp. And despite County Administrator Steve Carter opining in an e-mail that a firing range is not a permitted use under the industrial zoning, Zenith Quest’s site plan was approved.

Shimp contends the project has been pushed through by longtime Supervisor Tommy Harvey, who rents Zenith Quest its current headquarters and whose son has done work on the new facility.

“Now you just stop right there,” Harvey says when asked about his ties to the project. “[Zenith Quest owners Kutlay and Hanri Kaya] bought that property long before they ever became my tenants,” he says. “My son bid on that project like everyone else. I had nothing to do with that whatsoever.” Nor has the project come before the Board of Supervisors for a vote, he says.

Harvey, who was elected to the board in 1984, says the property has been zoned industrial for 20 years, and the new operations will bring tax revenue and 30 jobs.

And he disagrees with residents who say a weaponry distribution center isn’t the type of business they want to see in Rockfish Valley. “We’re overrun with wineries,” says Harvey.

The McCauley family, whose properties are adjacent to Zenith Quest, has lived on Avon Road for several generations, and Harold McCauley can see the warehouse rising at the edge of his property. His daughter, Jessica Goines, lives next door, and says, “I can throw a rock and hit it.”

McCauley, who with his brother granted Zenith Quest an easement for emergency vehicles on their private road called Family Lane, says, “We’ve gotten very little information.”

“Having ammunition in a neighborhood backyard is just crazy,” says Goines.

Shimp prefers the Rockfish Valley as a corridor of winemaking, not weapons manufacturing. “I’m not an anti-gun guy,” he says. “This is a beautiful place. I don’t want to be the second road on the left after gunfire.”

“That’s not going to happen,” promises Miles. The landscaping will provide 80 percent coverage, not the 50 percent required by the county, he says. And the roof will be green to mitigate the views from the nearby Blue Ridge Parkway.

“We went to every length we could,” he says. “We understand it’s a scenic byway.” And if anyone has a concern, says Miles, they should give him a call.