• Friday, Sept. 10 at 7 p.m. – Varsity Football home opener vs. St. John’s Front Royal
• Tuesday, Sept. 14 at 5 p.m. – Girls Junior Varsity Volleyball at East Hardy
• Tuesday, Sept. 14 at 7:15 p.m. – Girls Varsity Volleyball at East Hardy
• Wednesday, Sept. 15 at 4:30 p.m. – Girls Varsity Volleyball at Randolph-Macon Academy
• Wednesday, Sept. 15 at 4:30 p.m. – Girls Junior Varsity Volleyball at home vs. Wakefield Country Day School
• Wednesday, Sept. 15 at 5 pm. – Varsity Cross Country at home vs Middleburg Academy

Wakefield Country Day School

• Friday, Sept. 10 at 4:30 p.m. – Varsity Volleyball at home vs. Tandem Friends

Participants in last year's Sept. 11 service at Reynolds Baptist Church prepare to release doves.

Honoring Rappahannock’s first-responders Sept. 11

All Rappahannock County first-responders and their families are invited to a dinner and prayer service from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday at Reynolds Memorial Baptist Church, 3748 Sperryville Pike, Sperryville.

The event is a commemoration of Patriots Day — the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.
“We join all Americans on this day to remember the innocent citizens and first responders who lost their lives and all the brave first responders who risked their lives to save others,” said Reynolds’ Rev. Jon C. Heddleston.

A smoked pork barbecue and chicken dinner with other special dishes and dessert will be served at 6 p.m. in the church’s new fellowship hall. White doves will be released at 7:15 and an honor and prayer service will follow from 7:30 to 8 p.m.
For more information, contact Rev. Heddleston at 540-987-8137.

Will Haynes jumps a fence at last year's Thornton Hill races. Photo by Camden Littleton.

Thornton Hill kicks off fall season

Race officials for Saturday’s Thornton Hill Hounds Point-to-Point have been anxiously eyeing the weather forecast, hoping for rain to soften the late summer drought-parched ground and worrying that their Sept. 11 entries could be adversely affected.
They need not have been concerned.

Horsemen have been lining up in support of the 2010 fall steeplechase season kickoff event, with strong entries in eight carded races. Interest in the maiden turf and maiden hurdle races might even call for splits. Even the junior field masters’ chase attracted seven entries by press time.

Post time is 12:30 p.m. The Thornton Hill races are held at the club’s kennels on U.S. 522 just south of Sperryville. To secure premium reserved parking call 540-987-8338.

Included on the card are races on the flat, over hurdles and over timber. New this year is a SafTFence hurdle that will be tried in the hurdle races. One jump on the circuit (of four) will be the new jump design, with a slightly lower frame and a box made of plastic not steel.

The lineup of fall steeplechases includes the Sept. 18 Blue Ridge Races in Berryville as well as a short ‘chase card at Colonial Downs in New Kent County, the Sept. 26 Foxfield Fall Races in Charlottesville, the Oct. 2-3 Virginia Fall Races in Middleburg, the Oct. 9 Morven Park Races in Leesburg, the Oct. 16 International Gold Cup Races in The Plains, and the Nov. 6 Montpelier Races near Orange. Details are online at www.CentralEntryOffice.com. – Betsy Burke Parker

‘Tempest’ opens Theatre season

William Shakespeare’s play “The Tempest” opens the new fall season at the Theatre at Washington with performances at 8 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday. This is a Cambridge American Stage Tour (CAST) production involving 16 directors, producers, actors and designers from Britain’s Cambridge University.

“The Tempest” tells the story of Prospero, the deposed Duke of Milan, and his daughter Miranda, of the spirit Ariel and of the slave Caliban. The audience is drawn into a world of young love ignited at a glance, of bruised egos and damaged pride. The play is romantic and tragic, eerie and magical. It deals with loss and betrayal, with murderous hatred followed by abundant comedy. “The Tempest” is thought to be Shakespeare’s last play and it is widely believed to be his farewell to the stage before he left London to return for good to his home in Stratford upon Avon.

The production is directed by Mark Maughan, a fourth-year Cambridge undergraduate.

Tickets for the performances at the Theatre are $20 for adults and $10 for students 18 and under. For reservations, call 540-675-1253 or e-mail TheatreVA@aol.com.

“Real estate is local and Rappahannock County is a very special place,” says Denise Chandler, owner of Country Places Realty in Washington. “Most people come here for its rural character and don’t want subdivisions. They want the scenery, the arts, cuisine and theater. You can feel a million miles away and still be only an hour and a half from D.C. . . . We’re different from Culpeper and different from Fauquier County.”

Nationally, sales of new single-family houses in July fell 12.4 percent since June and were down 32.4 percent. The median price of new homes sold in July was $204,000. Analysts noted a first-time home buyer tax credit no longer exists to spur sales.

The real estate market in Rappahannock “hasn’t suffered as much. We don’t have the subdivisions or the volume of homes. In a subdivision with each home identical, the sales price can be dependent on the prices of another,” Chandler said.

Even so, she says, “we’ve seen short sales [houses sold for less than what is owed on them by the sellers].”

Of nine sales currently under contract in Rappahannock County, three are foreclosures and two are short sales. Each was listed at less than $264,900, Chandler said, citing figures from the Metropolitan Regional Information System (MRIS). The four other homes under contract that are neither short sales or foreclosures have pending sales prices of between $449,000 and $4.9 million.

During 2009, 46 homes were sold in Rappahannock County ranging from a listing that sold for $79,900 to a sale that went through for $1.895 million.

So far this year through Sept. 3, 42 homes have been sold ranging from a $39,200 cottage in Sperryville to a $2.9 million home in Montpelier.

This seems to indicate that Rappahannock County is on track to record more homes sold this year than the 46 sold last year, with the 42 already sold and nine under contract as of the first week of September. That leaves Realtors with the rest of September and three full months of the year to go.

And more properties are fetching higher prices.

Chandler pointed to the seven properties that were sold this year between May and early September that were sold for prices above $500,000. During the 120-day period between May and September of 2009, only two of the 17 homes that were sold were for prices above $250,000.

“We’ve gotten a lot of people looking for foreclosures or entry- level property. Now we’re starting to see the upper market doing better than in the past,” Chandler said. “That doesn’t mean sellers have it easier. Property still needs to be priced right.”
She offered a cautionary word to sellers:

“While local Rappahannock Realtors are busy and the sales volume is up from 2009, sellers must be realistic as to current market sentiment. Purchasers have nothing pushing them to purchase, especially in the secondary home market, and are taking their time in making decisions. Now more than ever, a home sale is a function of being very well priced and in a condition equivalent to the pricing.”

Chandler has been a Realtor since 1986 and has been a broker in Rappahannock County since 2002. Country Places Realty is located at 309 Jett St., Washington.

Sam Snead of Sam Snead Realty of Front Royal said that “though we’re still in recovery I think I’m a little bit more optimistic, but we still have a ways to go. Sales have been low but there was a pickup in July with three sales” in Rappahannock County, he said.

“The MRIS is showing an increase in activity and a bit of an uptick. But the market has been dragged down by bad news about jobs and foreclosures. We’re seeing a lot of foreclosures. You see one occasionally in the paper,” he said.

Rappahannock isn’t immune from the what’s impacting the housing market elsewhere and to think otherwise is “phooey” as Snead put it.

“We’re in it as much as anybody and we’ve got a ways to go,” he said.

Snead did note that “if you’re a cash buyer and well-heeled you don’t need the help of banks” to buy a high-end property in Rappahannock.

But getting a loan isn’t so easy for others. Banks “aren’t lending as free and easy,” he said.

Appraisals are reflective of what has been sold and if they involve foreclosed and distressed properties “they are not indicative of the market as a whole.”

Snead hopes that by this time next year the inventory of homes for sale will have dried up.

“In Rappahannock there is a lot of inventory trying to be sold. You see the same ads over and over — and that’s not a good sign,” he said.

Rappahannock’s Danika Kritter gets up high to block a shot by the Blue Devils Tuesday in Culpeper. Photo by Melissa Delcour.

“Like a car in 10-degree weather, we had a slow warming process tonight,” explained coach Jackie Tederick after the Lady Panthers’ 3-1 win on Tuesday night at Culpeper High School.

In set one of the match, Rappahannock had difficulty returning the Blue Devils’ serve. With a sudden awareness they were facing a much-improved team, the Panthers had trouble delivering error-free serves and a bit of trouble with organized play on their side of the court. With a mini-rally at the end of the set, they succumbed, 25-22.

The Panthers’ vigorous huddle cheer — “Step it up!” — ushered in set two, but passing errors soon began to haunt them as the point-for-point struggle continued. The momentum shift came when Danika Kritter unleashed more of her jump serves. On one serve return, a crowd-pleasing bump-set-kill combo from Megan Early, Maddie Kopjanski and Kritter added momentum. Passing and communication improved just in time for a drive to win, 25-16.

Equal effort characterized the first two points of set three. Rappahannock gained control with Kritter serving, and the energy on the court escalated. In an expert serve-receive moment, Addie Swindler executed a precise pass that allowed Kritter to set for Maddie Kopjanski’s dramatic kill that pushed the score to 5-3. Joslyn Smith followed up when she featured her net game. In a powerful “stuff” block that echoed inside the gym, Smith forced a Blue Devil time out.

Lady Panthers continued the dominance, even as Culpeper rallied to boost the score to 18-11. Thrilling volleys entertained the crowd and propelled Rappahannock to a 25-15 victory.

Set three opened with the highest energy of the match. Shelby Thornhill gave a perfect pass that allowed Kritter to perfectly set Kopjanski for a smack- down spike. When Swindler stepped up to serve, she ushered in a 11-point run. Later, teammate Smith highlighted her highly energetic net game. More than once, Smith recovered Rapp’s momentum with her electrifying blocks. The match represented her career high of 12 kills. “I was so pumped,” she said. “It was my best game ever. I love it when I get to tip it and they look like, ‘What just happened?’”

Even as the scoreboard read 22-2, Rapp junior Bryn Sonnett kept her eye sharp. She shot a spike into an open lane down the right line to earn a thrill point.

In a vain attempt to recover, the Blue Devils hit into their net to end the set for Rapp’s 25-5 victory.

One Lady Panther suggested the slow start showed that they “came in too cocky, thinking we’d win.” Coach Tederick agreed but added, “It was pretty cool that they came back from a deficit. That’s how the character of a team gets built. We are 4-0 now, and we’re in line to go to region.”

The RCHS JV team celebrated their own success on the same night. After sophomore Lyndie Paul opened the match with a nine-point lead, Shelby Burnett followed up with a four-point run. The Blue Devils were defeated 25-7.

Lady Panthers varsity volleyball team huddles with coach Jackie Tederick during a point in Tuesday’s match where Culpeper’s Blue Devils were leading. Photo by Melissa Delcour.

“We were a little loose in the second game,” coach Jimmie Swindler said. “Then, Josie Kritter scored six straight to open a big lead . . . which we rode to a 25-13 victory.

“We’d won before,” said Lyndie Paul, “but in the second game we were tired and a little nervous that Culpeper had improved. That made us communicate — talk more — and come back.”

“Everybody played, and everybody contributed,” coach Swindler said. “I’m real pleased with the effort from all players.”

The varsity and JV Panthers next play at East Hardy, W.Va., at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 14.

On Sept. 25 in Sperryville, the steps of Rappahannock Central become a stage and the parking area a dance floor. Staff Photo/Roger Piantadosi.

From contributed reports
Traditional Appalachian music, an apple theme and plenty of dancing and fun are on tap at the second annual barn dance benefiting the Rappahannock League for Environmental Protection (RLEP).

This year’s event on Sept. 25 kicks off at 7 p.m. and concludes at 10. It ‘ll be held at Rappahannock Central, 3 River Lane, Sperryville. Tickets are $25 per person.

“Apples are the natural choice for the time of year and this place we call home, so we felt it was only fitting to make them a major part of the year’s event,” says Monica Worth, RLEP president.

An apple dessert bake-off is part of the night’s festivities. Everyone who enters this event will receive two free tickets to the dance and be eligible for the grand prize of $100. The contest will be judged by a chef, a local celebrity and an apple producer. Registration in advance is required. Contact the RLEP office at 540-317-1449 and leave a message with the name of the dish you plan to enter, your name, address and telephone number. Be sure to say you are entering the bake-off. Dessert entries should be brought to the dance at 7 p.m. for judging at 8:30.

“Of course there will also be bobbing for apples and other fun and games, as well as a special tasting of a wide range of heirloom varieties from a local orchard,” Worth adds. “The barn dance is the featured Saturday evening event of the two-day Rappahannock Farm Tour, so we hope visitors will attend as well as locals.”

The Trouts, a group of regional musicians, will provide the music for the dancers. The band includes Rannie Winn on whistles, Lyt Wood on hammer dulcimer and banjo, EJ Burke on banjo, mandolin and guitar, Ellen Snyder on fiddle, guitar and vocals and Doug Marshall on guitar. Well-known caller Rob Craighurst will also be on hand.

The site of the dance, Rappahannock Central, is a former antiques market in Sperryville being redesigned and rebuilt as a synergistic gathering spot, with a farmers cooperative market, art studios and gallery and dining facilities. The barn-like structure has had a long and storied history as the county’s old farm co-op and once served as a packing shed through which tons of local farm produce passed on the way to market. Visit Rappahannock Central’s Web site at www.rappcentral.com for more.

Dancing for the event will be under the stars, in front of the building’s broad steps, weather permitting. “But there is plenty of room inside on the first floor if it rains,” says Worth.

RLEP is also offering, on a limited basis, opportunities for event sponsors who want to host their own indoor “tailgate” parties at the dance. For a donation of $500, sponsors will also receive 10 tickets to the dance, prominent acknowledgment in a variety of high-profile venues, and a special RLEP gift.

“Sponsors may bring their own food and drink or we can arrange catering services,” Worth says. The regular ticket price of $25 includes soft drinks and light snacks. A cash bar will also be available.

RLEP is celebrating 40 years dedicated to preserving the rural character and natural resources of Rappahannock County. For tickets, sponsorship information or details on the barn dance, or for more information on RLEP, visit rlep.org or call 540-317-1449. Tickets can be purchased online through the Web site, via phone or at retailers throughout the county.

The Rappahannock Shenandoah Warren (RSW) Regional Jail Authority has purchased 13.7597 acres at 6573 Winchester Road in Front Royal for the site of a regional adult detention center.

The Authority purchased the property, which lies off U.S. 340-522, for $915,000 from The Bank of Clarke County Trust Department, executor of the estate of Homer Gilliam, Jr., according to a news release from Adams-Nelson & Associates, Inc., of Winchester, which facilitated the sale.

Another roughly 14-acre parcel was purchased from Frank Brugh, trading as Brugh-Thru, for just over $1.24 million, according to a report in the Northern Virginia Daily.

“These were two parcels that were studied for the better part of two years. They were under option by Warren County which exercised that option,” explained Rappahannock County Administrator John W. McCarthy, who is a member of the regional jail authority.

“The next step in the process is the hiring of architects and engineers with construction over the next years,” he added.

The 375-bed regional jail will be built three miles north of I-66, near Fairground Road in Warren County. The decision to move ahead with the project followed several years of discussion and planning by officials in Rappahannock, Shenandoah, and Warren Counties who needed a solution to overcrowding in their individual county jails.

In April, state legislators approved the sale of $32.8 million worth of bonds to pay for up to half of the construction costs for the regional jail, which is scheduled for completion in 2014. The design phase is expected to begin next month and be completed by September 2011. Construction is expected to begin in 2012.

The process is “on track and on course,” McCarthy said.

Rappahannock County will hold approximately a 6 percent share of the $60 million debt for the jail project that is not covered by state funds.

Separately, Rappahannock County is adding office space and an evidence storage area to the existing county jail in the town of Washington.

A new wing, in the same red-brick, metal-roof design as the county clerk’s building, will extend at a right angle from the end of the jail building closest to Gay Street.

The $90,000 project will be paid for by proceeds of the Sheriff’s Office’ work release program. Jail inmates are providing some of the labor.

McCarthy said the site has been cleared and excavation was due to begin this week. Footers for the foundation will go in next.

“We want to have it framed up and roofed over by winter,” McCarthy said.

Completion of the project is expected in late spring or early summer.

McCarthy said the holding cell area will likely be used for storage and file space since it would be too costly to convert the space for staff to work in.

The cell area is made of poured concrete block and lighting is poor, he said. The cells measure 6 by 6 feet.

Photo by Nol Putnam.

Summer winds down and the skies, as always, get more interesting — and, last week, Huntly resident Nol Putnam was there with his camera to witness a particularly memorable end-of-the-day light show over the Blue Ridge.

Washington-based Laughing Duck Gardens & Cookery continues to offer canning workshops through October. The July and August workshops were well attended and students learned to put up tomatoes and peaches and to pickle vegetables. In September and October, the classes will focus on canning apples, tomatoes and quince;  the classes are $40 and last about two and a half hours. On the first Sunday of the month, owner Sylvie Rowand offers a cooking class entitled “Un Dimanche a la Campagne” (a Sunday in the Country). Students will learn to make a three- or four-course menu using seasonal ingredients sourced locally (sometimes as close as the garden), as well as variations on dishes, shopping and storage tips, herb lore, ingredient or dish history, growing information and more. The cost for the four-hour session is $75. For more information: call 540-675-3725 or visit LaughingDuckGardens.com.

Courtesy photo

Congratulations

Congratulations go out to Leon and Barbara Slawecki, Ridgeview Lane, Washington, on their 51st anniversary on Sept. 12. May you both have many more years together.

Sympathy

Sympathy goes out to the family of Ray Cannon, who died on Tuesday, Aug. 31.

Mr. Cannon took great pride in his black Angus herd. He often had the top-selling bulls at the Virginia Beef Cattle Improvement Association sales.

In 1981, Mr. Cannon was recognized as the only Angus breeder in the state of Virginia to receive the coveted “Get of Sire” award four times. That same year he and his wife, Ruby, received the Outstanding Soil and Water Conservation award for Rappahannock County.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the family.

Birthday wishes

Belated birthday wishes go out to Loring Anderson Jr., who celebrated his birthday on Saturday, Aug. 28. For those who do not know Loring, he is the brother of John Anderson, who owns Jessamine Hill Farm down Tiger Valley.

Also belated birthday wishes go out to John Bourgeois, who celebrated his birthday on Tuesday, Aug. 31.

Birthday wishes go out to Shirley Hitt and Hazel Haines, twin sisters who will celebrate their special day on Thursday, Sept. 16. Ladies, make sure you both get Lois Alther to take you out for a night on the town.

www.rappnews.com

One of the most gratifying experiences in the eight months since assuming responsibility of publishing the Rappahannock News has been the creation of the newspaper’s Web site: www.rappnews.com.

The creator is the paper’s editor, Roger Piantadosi, together with Jan Clatterbuck, editorial assistant and office manager.

The community’s reaction has been almost unanimously positive. Especially meaningful was the endorsement by the seasoned journalist Jim Gannon, who had earlier created his own site, called RappVoice. Jim’s business plan had been eventually to start charging readers for access to his site. And that is what we are contemplating now.

But before we actually do make any changes in the RappNews Web site, we would like very much to hear from you, our loyal readers. What changes, if any, do you think we should make?

For those of you who read only the newspaper’s print version that you now hold in your hands, it probably doesn’t matter. But many of our print readers also like the convenience and ease of calling up our stories on your computer, then possibly forwarding a particular story to friends or instantly posting an electronic “letter to the editor” in response to that story.

You print subscribers would continue to have unlimited access to the Web site as part of your already paid subscription.
But for those of you do not already subscribe to print version of the paper, there might be a charge of some kind to read the paper online. That would be only fair – already-paying readers would no doubt agree.

In this new digital age to which traditional publishers are learning to adapt, however, things are not so simple as outlined above – no longer black and white, so to speak. For example, does limiting who can access our Web site mean important stories that should be disseminated will not be read by those very people most affected?

Publishers a lot smarter than I have been puzzling about these kinds of questions for the last few years. So any help and ideas you can suggest would be appreciated.

Walter Nicklin
Publisher

The Rappahannock Food Pantry can keep its home on Mt. Salem Ave. in Washington. Staff Photo/Roger Piantadosi.

The Pantry isn’t moving! We’ll remain in our cozy room at 603 Mt. Salem Avenue in Washington.

Early this summer our landlord told Pantry director Mimi Forbes that he’d need the Pantry space for an office. We were disappointed, but went into high gear looking for a suitable new location. Members of the Food Pantry Advisory Board and Mimi must have toured about 20 potential sites. The Pine Knot Inn, vacant for nearly 10 years but in the process of being refurbished, seemed the best candidate.

The Pine Knot Inn is 62 percent larger than the current Pantry space, has a kitchen for healthy cooking demonstrations and land for a community garden. However, the rent and utilities at the Pine Knot Inn would have been twice that of the Mt. Salem Avenue location. There would have been additional costs to prepare the property for Food Pantry use. And the prospect of a move wasn’t anyone’s idea of a picnic.

While in the late stages of planning for the move, our landlord surprised us again. He informed the Food Pantry Advisory Group that his home office was now equipped with a high-speed Internet connection and that he wouldn’t need our room for his office. He apologized at great length for the inconvenience and offered us a two-year lease at no increase in rent.

On Aug. 26, Bette Mahoney, Noel Laing, Hal Hunter (via Skype videochat), Roland Serrano of the Piedmont Community Partnership, Pantry director Mimi Forbes and I met to hash out the pros and cons of staying or moving to the Pine Knot Inn. The group decided to solicit the opinions of missing supporters, advisers, volunteers and donors. Within a few days a consensus was clear — most everyone thought we should stay where we are because incurring the added costs of the more spacious location just wasn’t prudent.

We can now focus our attention on making the Rappahannock Food Pantry the best Food Pantry possible. A few weeks ago we surveyed Pantry users to learn how we could better serve them. Hal Hunter networked with Food Pantry experts while vacationing in Maine. Hal suggests that we strive for as many of the attributes of the “Maine Model Food Pantry” as feasible for our small operation.

We can now work to see that every Rappahannock resident who needs our help is aware of the Pantry and encouraged to use it. We can strive for a large donor base and better fundraising so that we can increase food purchases by $5,000 per year. We can look for inexpensive sources of foods recommended by our nutrition advisers, like oatmeal and brown rice. We can try to make eggs, milk, and butter available more regularly.

The Pantry is now — and will continue to be — at 603 Mt. Salem Avenue in Washington. Take the middle exit to Washington from U.S. 211 — we’re the second driveway on the right. The Pantry phone is 540-675-1177. The Pantry is open 9 to 4 Tuesdays and Thursdays and 9 to 2 Saturdays.