The Washington Fire Department has three new EMTS. They are Connie Smoot and her daughter, Amanda, and Charles Crawford. All three live in Sperryville.

They spent 120 classroom hours and time on ambulance service to obtain this certification. They passed the State Certification Course and test.

Members of the fire department and the community are proud of their success. Their willingness to serve the community has been proven in recent calls.

Farewell to nursery

After 28 years in the business, Richard and Sandra Antony have finally came to the end of the road with their nursery. They have sold the last of their plants.

They have begun deconstructing the nursery. In case anyone is interested in polyhouses, pots, ground cover, carts, galvanized spikes, and other items they have for sale, check their Web site. On the homepage (www.longmountainnursery.com) is a link to a PDF file that lists most of the items they are selling.

I will miss the nursery and its beautiful azaleas.

On Saturday evening at the home of Mae Racer, I was eating a pickle and I choked on it. I was blue in the face and could not breathe. A friend of the family, D J Frye, who is a Washington EMT was there visiting along with Danny Huff and Doug Exline and needless to say, I was in good hands. Thanks guys! They have come to my rescue on several occasions and I can't thank them enough.

Lisa Welsted, Deputy Clerk of Rappahannock County Circuit Court and her mom and sister went to Virginia Tech in Blacksburg for Frank Beamer’s Ladies Football Clinic on July 19.

All of the coaches as well as many of the football players were in attendance. When they first started having these clinics in 2001, the coaches thought they would attract women who did not understand football and wanted to learn more about the game so they could enjoy the game with their husbands or boyfriends.

They were surprised when they found that most of the women who attend the clinic seem to understand the game as well as their male counterparts and that most of them are there just to have the opportunity to meet the players and the coaches.

The clinic lasts about seven hours. They actually had many of the women in the crowd line up across from the players and simulate plays.

Everyone enjoyed walking through the tunnel into the stadium and touching the "Hokie Stone" as they entered the football field where they were able to obtain autographs and have their pictures taken with many of the players. They were the first to see the new uniforms that the Hokies will be sporting on the field this fall.

They ran into Cheryl Taylor and her daughter Emily Roop from Rappahannock. They had a terrific weekend.

Looking for something to do to escape the heat? Stop by the Cinema Paradiso movie rentals on the corner of Gay and Porter streets.

They offer a wonderful selection of current, classic and foreign films for the summer. Their hours through Sept. 14 are Thursdays through Sundays from 2:30-7 p.m. Stop in and check them out.

The community would like to send belated wedding anniversary wishes to Mr. and Mrs. Willie McFarland who celebrated their special day on July 15.

Our sympathy goes out to the family of Robert H. Jenkins, Jr., 59, of Washington, who died on July 25.

Ellen Mustoe, Frieda Herman, of Washington, and Lisa Ramey, of Sperryville, have returned home after spending two weeks in South Dakota doing missionary work with the Indians. They are with the Washington Baptist Church.