Here is the Space Weather News for this Labor Day weekend:

SOLAR ACTIVITY: On September 4, 2010 – around 1600 UT – a magnetic filament erupted, hurling a bright coronal mass ejection (CME) off the sun’s northwestern limb.

Today’s edition of http://spaceweather.com features a close-up view of the blast from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. The CME is not expected to hit Earth. Nevertheless, auroras are possible in the nights ahead.  A solar wind stream flowing from a coronal hole is heading our way, due to arrive on September 5 or 6, 2010.

NOAA forecasters estimate a 50 percent chance of high-latitude geomagnetic activity when the solar wind hits. With the approach of northern autumn, Arctic nights are getting dark again – dark enough to see the Northern Lights.  (People in Alaska, Canada and Scandinavia should keep an eye on the night sky this weekend.)

Charles Town, WV – Take charge of your life, and your health.  Next Tuesday, September 7, 2010,  the Jefferson County Schools Adult and Community Education Program in Charles Town, WV, will be begin offering a brand new practical class that will help many people as they prepare gluten-free meals for their own well-being and enjoyment, as well as their family’s.

A course called “Wheat -Free (gluten-free) Cooking At Home and Dining Out,” taught by Melessa Wagner, will focus on learning how to prepare your favorite foods without gluten and how to order gluten-free from a restaurant menu.

Melessa remarks, “There is no need to sacrafice flavor. Gluten-free foods need not taste bad. Come on out and educate yourself on what you can substitute that works health-wise, but also tastes delicious.”

Participants will also learn what to look for on labels of foods that may contain gluten, and where to buy the best gluten-free products around the Eastern Panhandle. Whether you are a Celia c, have wheat allergies, or just want to limit the amount of wheat you consume to curb cravings and control weight, this class is a great opportunity to learn from a pro.

The course – which costs $30 – will be held on Tuesdays, from 10 a.m. until noon in Shepherdstown, WV, for four Tuesdays in a row, beginning Sept. 7. ( A materials list and directions to class location will be provided upon registration.)

To apply, contact the  Jefferson County Schools Adult and Community Education Program at (304) 728-9237 or (304) 728-9224, or swing by their office at 110 Mordington Avenue, in  Charles Town, West Virginia, 25414.

Atlantic Ocean, Earth – Be on the watch for Earl - the Hurricane, that is – along the Eastern seaboard.

A hurricane watch and tropical storm warning is in effect for most of Puerto Rico. A tropical storm warning is in effect for Antigua, Barbuda, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis. A tropical storm watch is in effect for Turks and Caicos Islands.

Outlook for here in the MidAtlantic, including D.C. and Virginia

Meterologists are saying that Hurricane Earl could affect areas in the United States – anywhere from the Carolinas to Cape Cod, Massachusetts - over Labor Day weekend.  CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras says that “it’s too soon to tell whether the storm could make landfall, however, outer bands of the storm are likely to hit North Carolina beginning Thursday, September 2, 2010, kicking up large swells and possibly generating rip currents through Labor Day weekend.”

Charles Town, WV – Hear ye, hear ye. (Remember how events were announced back in the Revolutionary War days?)

On September 24, 2010, HMS Technologies, Inc. will be presenting the 2nd Annual Patriot’s Path Foundation Golf Tournament at the Locust Hill Golf Course in Charles Town, W. Va.

In discussing the decision to be the presentation sponsor for the tournament again this year, HMS President/CEO, Harry M. Siegel made the following statement:

 “As a Service Disabled Veteran who served our nation with pride and honor, it is a privilege to support this wonderful effort.

There has long been a need to have a safe, reasonably priced, residential housing program for veterans to come out of therapy as a staging point to re-enter the community. Patriot’s Path performs this service. I applaud them for serving those who served.”

The Tournament Format: Foursome Scramble

The tournament will be a Foursome scramble format – with prizes awarded to the top three teams in the A, B and C flights. There will be numerous on-course contests, including: a $10,000 hole-in-one contest, longest drive, straightest drive, and three “closest to the pin” contests.

Registration and breakfast will begin at 9 a.m. with a shotgun start at 11 a.m. There will be a $250 putting competition and an Awards Buffet at the conclusion of play. All teams and players will receive prizes and gifts. The cost is $75 per individual golfer and $280 per foursome. Early Bird Registration before September 17, 2010 is $65 per golfer and $260 per foursome.

There are sponsorship opportunities available for individuals, organizations, businesses and corporations. By sponsoring or participating in the tournament, irganizers remind people that they will be helping our nation’s military Veterans.

To register to be a player or a sponsor, visit the Patriot’s Path web site, or call David Hill at (304) 283-7199.

*****

Started in late 2008, the Patriot’s Path Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to assisting Veterans in re-entry into the community after they have completed treatment in the VA Medical System.

HMS Technolgies, Inc. is a leading Service-Disabled, Veteran-Owned Small Business contractor involved in integrating technology, partners and clients for the common goal of teamed successes – in the Federal Sector and Commercial environments. For the Year 2010, HMS was a Nunn-Perry Award Winner. HMS was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Martinsburg, WV.

Washington, D.C. – If you’re in Virginia – or wherever – now’s the time to stand up and be heard. “Politicians” are supposed to be working for us, not the other way around.

Congressman Bob Goodlatte has announced that he will be holding an “America Speaking Out” town hall meeting in the Shenandoah Valley tomorrow - where he will be seeking opinions and suggestions from constituents on the important issues facing the 111th Congress.

The “America Speaking Out” initiative represents a new national dialogue that aims to bring the halls of Congress into American homes. House Republicans have been gathering comments, suggestions and priorities submitted on the AmericaSpeakingOut.com site and at town hall meetings across the country.  These comments and suggestions will be used to build an agenda that reflects the priorities of the American people.

In a press release, here is what Congressman Goodlatte says: “I feel it is important to keep an open line of communication so I can best serve the interests of the 6th Congressional District,” said Congressman Goodlatte.  “I look forward to hearing from the folks of the Shenandoah Valley at my upcoming town hall meeting.  If we in Congress work hand in hand with the American people we can change the way business is done in Washington.”

Let’s take him at his word, attend, and see how he – and our other elected officials – listen to what we wish to have happen, and actually incorporate it into the “agenda.”

*****

Congressman Goodlatte’s “America Speaking Out” town hall meeting will be held at the following time and location:

Shenandoah Valley
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Blue Ridge Community Center
Plecker Workforce Center
One College Lane
Weyers Cave, Va.

*****

It’s Your Voice and Your Vote – if you exercise them

There are so many issues that affect you and your family that you can have a say about. Rise to the occasion. Get involved. Who else will if you won’t? Don’t wait for others to do your bidding. They may not.

If U.S. citizens allow others to “govern” them without holding those people accountable, they are as much to blame for the direction of America – as any politician who say he/she is representing the “people,” but then operates otherwise.

What makes it to a vote in statehouses across the US of A and on our Congressional floor, is often regrettably much more a product of corporation lobbies or poltical tit-for-tat – rather than what the people have voiced that they wish from their elected representatives.

Hydrofracking, for example, is a great issue to let Congressman Goodlatte hear your views. Do we want large energy companies to come in and “rape” the Shenandoah Valley – all for some natural gas?

Here’s a politician who is at least taking the initiative to get people involved. Test him out. See who is really listening.

The existing bridge is currently flanked by a temporary working bridge and the four new spans of its replacement. There is also a high suspension walking bridge that gives residents a way to cross the North Fork of the Shenandoah River when the bridge is underwater.

The new bridge is two-lane, rather than the one wide lane of the current crossing; when finished, it will be 260 feet long and 21 feet. 8 inches wide. It is less than ten feet taller than the low water bridge. The construction is being done “in the dry” behind coffer dams and turbidity curtains, with nothing at all being done during sensitive periods of the local mussel life cycle.

Rigid erosion controls are outlined for the project, as well as complete removal of the old bridge, no more than fifty percent flow blockage at any one time, and stream bed and bank restoration when the project is complete. There is no wetlands impact.

Area folks who remember the suspension bridge washing away twice, think that the new bridge will be underwater whenever the rains are heavy upstream. After all, the suspension bridge is twenty some feet above low water levels. They agree that more water and debris can pass under the new bridge without damming up behind it, as it does with the old crossing.

Romantics may mourn the passing of one more of the several unique low water bridges over the Shenandoah. It remains to be seen whether this new project will solve high water issues that face the Deer Rapids residents.

Here are the details of the construction project as explained on the Virginia DOT web site.

Fort Valley, VA – Come learn about an issue that’s sure to affect families across the Valley. On Saturday, August 28, 2010, The Fort Valley Lyceum will present a special citizen information session entitled; “Marcellus Shale Natural Gas Exploration in the Valley.” The event will be held from 10 to 11 a.m.. (The organizers encourage you to come at 9:30 a.m. for coffee and relax with your neighbors.)

WHERE: Fort Valley Community Center and Library, 6190 Woodstock Tower Road, Fort Valley, VA 22652

(Directions: From Rt. 675, take Rt. 678 (Fort Valley Road) north to Detrick.  At the Post Office in Detrick, turn left onto Woodstock Tower Rd.  The Community Center is .5 miles on the left.  From Rt. 55, take Rt. 678 south and turn right onto Woodstock Tower Rd.  The Community Center is .5 miles on the left.)

WHO: The speaker will be Seth Coffman, the Project Coordinator for Trout Unlimited’s Shenandoah Headwaters Home Rivers Initiative.

Trout Unlimited is the nation’s largest coldwater conservation organization working to conserve, protect, and restore North America’s coldwater fisheries and their watersheds.  Seth’s work is focused on restoring native brook trout to spring creeks of the Shenandoah Valley and protecting existing populations of wild brook trout.

THE ISSUE: Recent advancements in drilling technology and demands for domestic energy sources have created a major energy boom for Marcellus Shale natural gas in the Mid Atlantic Appalachians. If not managed properly, this form of natural gas exploration and development has the potential to significantly alter the regions landscape and natural resources.

Seth will provide general information on the Marcellus Shale formation, where it is found in Virginia and will cover aspects of the drilling process and hydrofracing, and how it can impact the environment, groundwater, the rural landscape, our streams and communities.

COST: The Program is free and no reservations are required.

The Fort Valley Lyceum Lecture Series presents a monthly speaker program on the first, second, or fourth Saturday of each month, except for December.  Our goal is to provide programs of interest to all people of the local area.

If you have any questions, or know a good speaker to recommend, please call John Proudman at (540) 933-6514, or via e-mail at: miles2go ~at~ shentel.net.

Contact Information for this Event: (540) 933-6714

Get Ready to Volunteer

The farm is harvesting beans, cucumbers, peppers, potatoes, and watermelon to be distributed to feed more than 100,000 people per month through some 800 food pantries, soup kitchens and similar outlets in 28 counties and 14 cities in Virginia.  Besides the food banks, the individual non-profit outlets may come directly to the farm to haul vegetables.

Bob Blair, Chair and CEO of the World Foundation for Children, the parent organization of the Volunteer Farms, said that the lack of volunteers is threatening the crops. “We will be harvesting up to about the middle of October, but it is the next few weeks that of major concern.”

“We need church mission team, schools, scouts, businesses, civic organizations and families to help now with the harvest.  We only work from 8 am until noon, six days a week, so we avoid the heat,” he said.

Habits of Service to Others Last Forever

The farm has welcomed more than 10,000 volunteers since starting seven years ago.”They came from 42 states and 26 foreign countries, and the vast majority were under 18 years of age,” Blair said. “They are learning habits of serving others that will last a lifetime.”

Tax deductible donations may be made online or by mailing a check to: World Foundation for Children, 277 Crider Lane, Woodstock, VA 22664.  The farm also accepts donated animals-cows, sheep, goats and swine-as well as autos, trucks, tractors and farm equipment.

Volunteers may register on the Volunteer Farm web site – which has a calendar showing plans for each day.  The Volunteer Coordinator may be reached at (540-459) 3478, or email: coordinator ~at~ volunteerfarm.org.

Arctic Sunrise sets our for Gulf

“White House energy adviser Carol Browner has recently been making the talk show rounds and telling the public about a new government assessment that shows that 75 percent of the oil from BP’s drilling disaster has either been captured, burned off, evaporated or broken down in the Gulf. As she puts it, “Mother Nature did her part….”

You’re not alone if you think that sounds too good to be true.

That’s why we’ve sailed the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise to the Gulf and are embarking tomorrow on a three-month expedition to provide independent scientific analysis of the impacts of both the oil and chemical dispersants on the Gulf ecosystem. We have to know the truth about the damage that was done.

Relying on BP and Federal officials to do that job for us would be foolish at this point. From day one, BP was doing everything in its power to hide the true extent of the disaster and they often had the help of a Federal Government who seemed more concerned with maintaining its public image than addressing the problem. The Gulf deserves better. We deserve better.

But, we don’t have to run a single test to prove that oil drilling is dangerous and deadly. BP has done that work for us. And we don’t need any elaborate solutions to solve the problem either. What we need is to put an end to all new drilling and to transition to clean, renewable sources of energy.

Help us kick-off our tour of the Gulf by taking action and telling Congress “No New Drilling” today.

Look for Arctic Sunrise Updates

Over the course of the next three months, we’ll be telling you all about what we find in the Gulf on our website – in our blogs, through videos and photos and more.

We’ll also be giving you opportunities to help make the clean energy future we all know is possible a reality by stopping upcoming drilling projects, confronting the fossil fuel industry in your community and joining with people globally for a day of action.”

*****

The Threat of Sea Level Rise

On another important note: On August 5, 2010, the world witnessed a ice chunk – four times the size of Manhattan Island – that broke off of Greenland and is heading for the Nares Strait.

Greenpeace has a well-documented piece entitled, “The Threat of Sea Level Rise,” that explains recent changes, and discusses the possible impacts worldwide.

“Wayside Theatre has some of the best musical talent around and now we bring you a musical like no other. The musical is a play with-in a concert. Your ears have never heard the likes of this magical musical retelling of The Little Match Girl.” said Warner Crocker, Artistic Director.

The Story line – It is New Year’s Eve and no one wants to be alone. Right? Wrong! Mr. Grump Guy wants to sit at home in his apartment and read instead of being around his old friends to celebrate the old year out and the New Year in.  To him, it does not sound like a fun time, because he feels it places him on a trial of his life. What has he done compared to everyone else up to now? He decides to avoid the crazy and fast-paced world on this eve.

But, his evening is interrupted by a Little Light Bulb girl selling incandescents door to door in his apartment complex. The story is a musical retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Match Girl in modern day terms.

*****

The cast is a mixture of Wayside Theatre audience veteran favorite actor/musicians Steve Przybylski (Shenandoah, Southern Crossroads, Buddy! The Buddy Holly Story, and Smoke on the Mountain trilogy) on keyboard, Vaughn Irving (Buddy! The Buddy Holly Story, Southern Crossroads) on drums, and Sara K. Story (Always…Patsy Cline) on electric violin.

The production is directed by Warner Crocker and Musical directed by Steve Przybylski. The Set Designed by Til Turner, Costume Design by Tamara Carruthers and Lighting Design by Wes Calken.

Performance Times - Striking 12 will begin performances on Saturday, August 28, 2010 and Opening Night is Sunday, August 29 at 6:30 pm. The remaining schedule of performances includes: Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:00 pm and Wednesday, Saturday and Sundays at 2:30 pm. Ticket prices are $30 to $25 dollars for adults. Prices for children 5 to 17 are $10 for any performance.

Ask about discounts available for students and seniors. Group discounts are also available. Wayside Theatre also sells discounted subscriptions for the entire season with options that fit any budget and any schedule.

Wayside Theatre is the second oldest professional theatre in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and is celebrating its 49th season of presenting high quality, professional entertainment. Single tickets, subscription packages and group packages can be obtained by calling the box office at (540) 869-1776.

Wayside Theatre is located in Middletown, Virginia on Route 11, Main Street, just north of the intersection of Interstate 66 and Interstate 81.

Learn more on the Wayside Theatre website.

Camp Horizons will host 100 campers for a free week of camp from August 15 – August 21, 2010. The Camp is located at 3586 Horizons Way, in Harrisonburg, VA 22802.

“Our mission is to provide families of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Commissioned Corps of the USPHS and NOAA, with information, work to get them the benefits they deserve, and offer programs that improve their lives. Our 40 years of service and accomplishments have made us a trusted resource for military families and the Nation’s leaders.”

Camp Horizons is “an all-around, try stuff, get dirty, have fun, make friends co-ed residential summer camp” for ages 6-17 (ages 6-12 for Operation Purple).  The Camp, located on 300 acres in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley in Harrisonburg, VA was founded in 1983, and  is ACA accredited.

It is a place where children, and now especially military children, get to enjoy new experiences and build leadership and communication skills and self-confidence. Performing arts, horseback, nature, ropes course, swimming, scuba, and golf are also offered.

The camp is open to children of service members of any branch of Service, active duty, National Guard or Reserve, as well as children of members of the Commissioned Corps of the Public Health Service and National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration.

Camps are free to all participants thanks to support from the Sierra Club and The Sierra Club Foundation.

About the National Military Family Association
Military families serve our country with pride, honor, and quiet dedication. The National Military Family Association is the leading nonprofit organization committed to strengthening and protecting the families of the men and women currently serving, retired, wounded or fallen.

The National Military Association provides families of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Commissioned Corps of the USPHS and NOAA with information, work to get them the benefits they deserve, and offer programs that improve their lives. The Association’s 40 years of service and accomplishments have made them a trusted resource for military families and the Nation’s leaders.

To learn more, visit www.MilitaryFamily.org, or the Camp Horizons web site.

Here is the complete text of the Declaration of Independence, adopted by Congress on July 4, 1776. (The original spelling and capitalization have been retained.)

Just as applicable in 2010, as it was in 1776

The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America

“When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government.

The Graff House where Jefferson wrote the Declaration.

The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states.

To prove this,

Let facts be submitted to a candid world:

- He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

- He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

- He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

The Spirit of the People to Stand Up for Themselves

- He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

- He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

- He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the state remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

- He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.

- He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.

- He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

Some abuses now a reality again

- He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

- He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of our legislature.

- He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to civil power.

- He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation:

The Declaration Committee: Thomas Jefferson, Roger Sherman, Benjamin Franklin, Robert R. Livingston and John Adams.

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states:

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing taxes on us without our consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury:

For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses:

For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule in these colonies:

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments:

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow citizens taken captive on the high seas to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare, is undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms: our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends.

We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do.

And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.

(As Signed by):

New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts: John Hancock, Samual Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island: Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut: Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York: William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey: Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania: Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware: Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland: Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia: George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina: William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina: Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia: Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

(Source: The Pennsylvania Packet, July 8, 1776.)

*****

You can download a free e-book of the Declaration from Project Gutenberg.

Read more about Monticello, and the history of the events leading up to the Declaration of Independence.

What do you see?

Like sometime right out of TV, the movies, or a novel, Van Cleave writes about his “gun fight” experience:

“Back in May, I took several force-on-force classes at Practical Firearms Training in West Virginia. The instruction included ‘live fire’ with Airsoft and paintball guns and simunitions. In Part Three, I attempted to clear a room with a bad guy in it. Unsuccessfully.

The Good Guy: Defending My Territory

In this exercise (Part Four), the situation was reversed: I was the good guy, defending my territory.

Same layout: one door with a series of three closets that stick out about a foot or so beyond the wall running along the wall on my immediate left. I was given a minute or so to choose a hiding place.  There wasn’t a whole lot to work with, but you play the hand you’re dealt …

I hid behind the wall that sticks out about a foot or so just past the last closet on the left side of the room. I positioned myself with my back and left arm flat against the wall for maximum concealment. I had my gun extended out in my right hand, but just behind the closet wall. I figured I could fire quickly once the bad guy became visible, while remaining as concealed as possible.

Longest Minutes of Your Life

Time moved slowly as I waited, motionless, with my gun extended, for the bad guy to become visible.

Occasionally, I could hear him moving as he was working his way into the room. But the low level noise didn’t give me enough information to identify his location. I wasn’t about to break cover to see if I could spot him.

The processes seemed to go on forever. My heart rate increased. My gun started shaking from muscle fatigue. Remaining motionless provides no physical release from the stress of anticipation. It’s equally constraining psychologically; you have very little control over the situation. It’s too late to move to a better location.

In fact, unlike the invader, I was cornered. I couldn’t just call the whole thing off and leave. No, I was stuck. The invader was setting the pace of events and it was SLOW.

The longer I stood there, with my gun straight out, the more my muscle control degraded. I also felt increasingly nervous, watching and waiting for any sign of the bad guy.

Suddenly I spotted part of him, just around the corner I was hiding behind, maybe ten feet away.

Now! I leaned out from the cover and opened fire holding the gun in my right hand. At the same moment, the bad guy opened fire with his Airsoft gun. (Unbeknownst to me, he had spotted one of my feet and knew where I was, too).

In the fast and vicious exchange of shots at fairly close range, I felt strong stinging pain in my right hand.

The instructor yelled for a cease fire.

I’d Taken A Hit

I was bleeding. I’d taken a hit immediately behind my nail on my right thumb. At close range, the BB from an Airsoft gun can break bare skin.

I’d put on shooting gloves to avoid getting such shots. But they didn’t cover the last one-third of my fingers, Naturally, the BB hit me on the uncovered area.

I’d also been hit on the knuckle of my right ring finger, which was protected by the glove. The next morning I noticed my right little finger had swollen up. I’d been hit THREE times on my right hand.

As best we could tell, I’d missed the bad guy completely. (I was using a paintball gun with jamming problems). At least one of my shots sailed over his right shoulder and hit the wall behind him.

My status: severely wounded. My right hand would have been totally incapacitated. My torso could also have been hit by rounds passing through my hand.

Lessons Learned:

* Any body part protruding from cover/concealment is vulnerable, especially your gun hand.

* When confronted with a weapon, many shooters get tunnel vision: their eyes lock onto that weapon. Generally speaking, where you look is where the bullets will go. Get in the habit of looking at people’s hands, then raise your eyes to their body mass.

* It’s not a bad idea to practice shooting with your weak hand.

* Gun fights tend to be very, very fast. They’re best avoided altogether. Even if you do everything right, you still might lose.”

The VCDL is an all-volunteer, non-partisan grassroots organization dedicated to defending the human rights of all Virginians. You can learn more about the organization, as well as their electronic updates on the VDCL web site.

Read here about Senate bill S. 843, the so-called gun show loophole, and Congress’  latest move to try and restrict gun sales.

Here is the text of S. 843 on the web.

Here are some of the fairs and festivals that you and your family won’t want to miss during the rest of August, Labor Day weekend, and into the month of September. As school starts, and summer winds down, get out and enjoy yourself.

Here’s are some of our favorite picks:

IN VIRGINIA

- Rockingham County Fair – August 16 – 21, 2010
Phone Number: 540-434-0005
Location: 4808 South Valley, Harrisonburg, VA. Free parking.

- Page County Agricultural and Industrial Fair – August 23 – 28
Phone Number: 540-843-FAIR
Location: 15 Fairland Drive, Luray, VA
Admission: Adults $ 4.00 Children (6-12) $ 2.00 Under 6 Free

- Shenandoah County Fair – August 27 – September 4
Phone Number: 540-459-3867

Location: 300 Fairgrounds Road, Woodstock, VA – Exit 283 on I-81

Josh Turner

Grandstand Entertainment: Josh Turner, Randy Houser, Gloriana, Uncle Kracker, Edens Edge, The Instigators.

Demolition Derby: Monday and Tuesday nights starting at 8 p.m. on August 30 and 31, 2010.

IN WEST VIRGINIA

- Taste of the Mountains Food, Wine and Jazz Festival - on August 20 – 22, 2010.

Snowshoe Mountain hosts its annual Taste of the Mountains Food, Wine and Jazz Festival. This mountaintop resort is the perfect setting for a weekend of wine seminars, delicious tastings and plenty of live jazz music.

Those with a sweet tooth won’t want to miss Friday night’s Chocolate and Champagne Reception. On Saturday, Red and White 101 Seminars will teach you the basics of tasting and pairing, followed by that evening’s Grand Tasting Event.

Featuring hundreds of wines from around the world – all perfectly paired with delectable treats – the Grand Tasting is set to a background of live jazz entertainment. The weekend is capped off by a brunch on Sunday, providing a final opportunity to soak up the majestic setting.

Call 877-441-4386 for information. event lodging packages or visit www..

- Appalachian Festival – in Beckley, WV - on August 27 – 29, 2010.

Start each day with a down-home, hearty Appalachian-style breakfast. Sample delicious cuisine at the Taste of Appalachia while enjoying live music. History buffs can take a thrilling ghost tour of Beckley’s haunted sites. Check out beautiful quilts and stunning arts and crafts, lovingly made by more than 100 artisans. Theatre WV offers a Friday night performance by Phil Dirt and The Dozers that will have you laughing and singing along.

Take a coal mine tour or enjoy folk music harkening back to the roots of Appalachia. Stop by the Classic Car Show, featuring more than 100 classic automobiles, then enjoy craft demonstrations, strolling musicians and bluegrass jams. West Virginia’s native talent will surely delight your senses and put a smile on your face.

Events take place throughout Raleigh County at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center, the Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine, Crossroads Mall, Grandview Park, Tamarack, Uptown Beckley, and the Youth Museum of Southern West Virginia.

- State Fair of West Virginia – August 13 – 21, 2010
The theme this year is: “Genuine Homegrown Fun.” The Fairgrounds is located 3 miles south of exit 169 off Interstate 64 at Lewisburg, WV.

Fireworks will be presented on  Saturday, August 14 and August 21 at 10:30 p.m. – by Zambelli Fireworks. Get ready for one of the best fireworks shows in the U.S. and abroad, since 1893.

Musical headliners include:

- Friday, Aug 13th @ 8 pm – Boys Like Girls
- Saturday, Aug 14th @ 8 pm – Rodney Atkins and George Jones
- Sunday, Aug 15th @ 1 pm and 6 pm – Freestyle Motocross Championship. Sponsored by Dodge.
- Wednesday, Aug 18th @ 8 pm – Jason Aldean – Special Guest Easton Corbin

Free Music with Gate Admission:
- Monday, Aug 16 @ 8 pm – Shaffer Family, Squire Parsons Trio with Special Guest Ernie Phillips, and Gold City
- Tuesday, Aug 17 @ 8 pm – The Embers (Heart & Soul of Beach Music) and The Tams (Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy)

Daily Free Entertainment with Gate Admission:

Kay Rosaire’s Big Cat Encounter
Watch and marvel as Clayton Rosaire, the youngest professional big cat handler performing today, joins numerous Siberian & Royal Bengal Tigers in an enclosed arena! The tigers will excite crowds of all ages as they demonstrate their athletic ability and great beauty through a complex series of routines, allowing each cat to show it’s own unique, and sometimes, mischievous personality.

Love and respect are obvious, and key, for these animals as they perform under expert guidance. Shows will be presented at three different times during each day of the Fair (noon, 3:30 and 6:30 pm)  on the North end of the grounds. Proudly sponsored by the West Virginia Lottery.

Cirque Equinox – Nouveau Theatrical Circus
The Dream, the reality of  Cirque Equinox – combines one of the oldest and most respected circus dynasties in history with a ‘Broadway Theatrical’ flair. The Nerveless Nocks create the most innovative show of our times. An entertainment trailblazing dynasty established in 1840 in Switzerland, taking Cirque through 2010 and beyond.

Fairgoers will delight in mesmerizing aerial feats, stunning acrobatic performances, and other dynamic displays of coordination and strength. Transforming the ordinary, into the extraordinary, enthralling the imagination from beginning to end with brilliant costumes, and moving musical scores.

Showtimes for Cirque Equinox – Fridays and Saturdays – at 11:30, 2:30, 5:30 and 8:00 pm.  All other days – at 11:30, 2:30 and 5:30 pm

ZOOperstars

The ZOOperstars – Lovable. Outrageous. Zany. Unpredictable. Hysterical. Incredible. Unbelievable.

The ZOOperstars will rock the house with routines that fairgoers of all ages will love. Whether they are wildly dancing on stage, creating havoc through the midway, or mingling with the audience in the grandstand, the ZOOperstars, will grab you all by the funny-bone.

Six crazy characters will be on hand every day of the Fair to promote their crazy antics with Fairgoers of all ages. Location: All over the grounds – anytime between 11:00 am and 8:30 pm (Proud to parnter with WVNS – Channel 59.)

Also appearing on the NTelos Center Stage:

The Dennis Lee Show will be performing August 13 – 19,  and Aug 21. Dennis blends musical favorites from every genre with improvisation & audience antics. Something for everyone, from baby to teenager; parent to grandparent and singles to couples, makes The Dennis Lee show a supreme showcase. Don’t miss these shows – 11:00, 2:00 and 5:00 pm.

ZIV, an Alternative Rock Band f rom Los Angeles, CA, is comprised of lead singer, Ziv; bass player and background singer, Kenny; and drummer, Mark. With two albums already out, ZIV is hard at work on a third. ZIV influences include, Seal, DMB, Linkin Park, FooFighters, U2, Coldplay, Incubus, Maroon 5 and many more.They will be performing on Fri, August 13 and Fri, August 20 – at 12:30, 3:30 and 7:00 pm.

*****

- Thunder Over the Blue Ridge Air Show – Sept. 4 – 6, 2010.

Labor Day celebration at 222 Sabre Jet Blvd. in Martinsburg, WV (in Berkeley County)
Contact phone: 304-616-5100
GPS: Latitude: 39.406109 and Longitude: -77.991108.

The 167th Airlift Wing is proud to be hosting an Open House and Air Show this year, September 4-5, 2010. Building on the success of the 2008 Spirit of America Over Martinsburg Air Show, the 167th Airlift Wing, along with the Eastern West Virginia Regional Airport and the United Way of the Eastern Panhandle, will be bringing together some of the nation’s most exciting aerial demonstration teams including the U. S. Air Force Thunderbirds and the U. S. Army Golden Knights. Free parking. Live entertainment. Restrooms.

- Pickin’ in the Panhandle – September 10-12, 2010
Near Martinsburg, WV at the Lazy A Campground, 317 Kathy’s Lane, in Hedgesville, WV.

Pickin’ in the Panhandle, the WV State BBQ & Bluegrass Festival celebrates the best of barbecue, bluegrass and family fun so close to home but so far away from the ordinary.

The music just can’t be beat:

MAIN STAGE – Friday
6:30 – 7:15pm –  The Back Creek Valley Boys
7:45 – 9:00pm –  Shenandoah

Lonesome Highway

MAIN STAGE – SATURDAY
10:00 – 10:45am –  Clowes and Dunlap Band
11:00 -  11:45am –  Lonesome Highway
12:00 – 12:45pm –  Claire Lynch Band
1:00 – 1:45pm –  Josh Williams Band
2:00 – 2:45pm –  G2
3:00 – 3:45pm –  Newfound Road
4:00 -  4:45pm -  Claire Lynch Band
5:00 – 5:45pm -  Josh Williams Band
6:30 – 7:45pm –  Mountain Heart
8:15 – 9:30pm – Joe Diffie Bluegrass Band

PICKIN’ PORCH – SATURDAY
10:00 – 10:45am –  Rolling Coyotes
11:00 – 11:45am – Appalachian Flyer
12:00 – 12:45pm – Clowes and Dunlap Band
1:00 – 1:45pm -  G2
2:00 – 4:00pm – Bluegrass Contests
4:00 – 4:45pm – Lonesome Highway
5:00 – 5:30pm – BBQ/Bluegrass Awards
5:30 – 6:00pm - The Back Creek Valley Boys
6:15 –  :7:00pm – Appalachian Flyer
7:00 – 10:00pm – Open acoustic jam

MAIN STAGE – SUNDAY
10:00 – 11:45am – The Gibson Brothers
11:00 – 11:45am – Missy Raines
12:00 – 12:45pm – Jetts Creek
1:00 – 1:45pm – The Gibson Brothers
2:00 – 2:45pm – Junior Sisk & Ramblers Choice
3:00 – 3:45pm – The Grascals
4:00 – 5:00pm – Ricky Skaggs

Ricky Skaggs

PICKIN’ PORCH – SUNDAY
11:00 – 11:45am – Sleepy Creek
12:00 – 12:45pm  – Junior Sisk & Ramblers Choice
1:00 – 1:45pm – Missy Raines
2:00 – 2:45pm –  Jetts Creek
2:45 – 3:00 – Backyard BBQ Awards
3:00 – 4:00pm –  Sleepy Creek

Lazy A Campground is approximately one hour from the DC and Baltimore Beltway, making it easy to come and enjoy the best countryside views that Berkeley County, West Virginia has to offer…the way it’s meant to be seen.

Beautiful Back Creek Valley, located 8 miles off of Interstate I-81, and the Martinsburg-Berkeley County Convention and Visitors Bureau would like to welcome you to the open meadows, meandering creek, and the big red barn of the Lazy A Campground. The scenery alone allows for the perfect setting to do a little pickin’ of your own, as you sink your teeth into some of the best BBQ in the region and enjoy some real roots music by some of the finest bands in Appalachia.

In addition, Heritage artists demonstrate and sell fine, handmade crafts and other activities offers fun activities for kids of all ages and the Beer Garden will be the perfect compliment to a thick, juicy bite of brisket for the grownups. (Must be 21 and have ID to receive a bracelet).

Professional and Backyard BBQ chefs are invited to participate in their various contests. No refunds. Held rain or shine. Tent and trailer camping is available during the event by calling the Convention Bureau at 304/264-8801.

IN MARYLAND

- The Augustoberfest Event – on August 21 and 22, 2010 in Hagerstown, MD – pays tribute to the area’s rich German heritage and supports scholarships for exchange students to Hagerstown’s Sister City – Wesel, Germany. This exciting event is run by the nonprofit organization, the Augustoberfest Charitable Foundation.

This 15th annual event will feature two days of festivities found at traditional Oktoberfest celebrations in Bavaria. All activities are held rain or shine under a large Festival Tent in Downtown Hagerstown’s Central Parking Lot.

The schedule runs on Saturday; August 21, 2010 from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and on Sunday, August 22, 2010 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. with gates opening at 10:30 each day. Tickets will be $5/day, children 12 and under/free. Tickets will be available at the front gate Hospitality Tent.

The Augustoberfest will again be working with the Piedmont Pacers to sponsor a Volksmarch on August 21, 2010 beginning at 8 a.m. A volksmarch is a non-competitive walk. This events combines fun, fitness, and fellowship. This is a 10K walk with a shorter 6K trail for those who desire a shorter distance.

For both Saturday and Sunday, participants will have a chance to enjoy Bavarian food, entertainment and fun. Headlining the show is die Schlauberger, the Heidi and Heimat Echo Band and Alt Washingtonia Schuhplattler Verein. All of the entertainment offers a glimpse into German culture and folklore through authentic music, dance and songs. The popular Alphorn will be back as well. All of these entertainers are crowd pleasers.

Also being offered again, Fruhschoppen, or German brunch, features all the best of Bavarian food and drink. Sponsorship packages at the $1,500 level and above can include tickets for delicious food and drink at the Sunday event, between 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.

In addition, an expanded children’s entertainment area will feature a variety of activities and entertainment for the youngest German enthusiasts. A craft vendor area promises an abundance of holiday and decorative items.

For more information, call 301.739.8577, ext. 116.

IN PENNSYLVANIA

- Franklin County Fair - August 15 – 21, 2010
In Chambersburg, PA. (Franklin County)
Phone: (717) 597-8178

See web site for the full schedule of events.

The GermanFest, an Oktoberfest-like event, is set for Saturday, September 25, 2010 from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. The Festival will be held at the Hottel-Keller Homestead, located at 11523 Back Road, in Toms Brook, VA 22660 -
home of the Shenandoah Germanic Heritage Museum.

“It is our first event and our coming-out party,” the founders say, “as we introduce our new name to the public.”

Built on a 392-acre homestead, The Shenandoah Germanic Heritage Museum showcases historic buildings, and a variety of artifacts, such as household implements, furniture, tools, documents, and other items related to the history of the property and the people who lived there -
from the early 1740s until 1984.

The Museum is dedicated to collecting, preserving, and displaying artifacts related to the Valley’s Germanic people.

In their own words:

“We are dedicated to public understanding of the Germanic Heritage of the Great Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.

We -
• maintain and exhibit our original Germanic homestead;
• collect, demonstrate, and document artifacts of everyday life;
• collect and share stories of the Germanic lifestyle; and
• continue to expand our genealogical data of Germanic settlers in the Shenandoah Valley.”

Highlights of the Museum include:

• The front 200 acres of our property are a part of the core battlefield area (Gen. George Armstrong Custer among others were there) of the Battle of Toms Brook, on September 19, 1864. See this web site for information on the battle in Toms Brook.

• The Hottel and Keller families are maternal ancestors of world famous local singer Patsy Cline.

• More than half of all the Germanic surnames in the Shenandoah Valley (Pitman, Funkhouser, Snarr, Zirkle, Borden, Crabill, Sheetz, etc.) can trace some of their ancestral roots to the Hottel and Keller families.

The GermanFest will feature:

• Non-stop live entertainment and educational speakers, including an authentic German band
• Children’s activities
• Re-enactors from Revolutionary, Civil and/or French and Indian Wars
• Arts and Crafts Vendors with period craft demonstrations
• Authentic German Food
• A Beer and Wine Garden

The Shenandoah Germanic Heritage Museum is owned and operated by Hottel-Keller Memorial, Inc, (HKMI) a non-profit organization.

For more information on the Shenandoah Germanic Heritage Museum’s GermanFest,  log on to their web site.

GermanFest: Admission Information, Parking, and other Details:

You’ll pay $5 to park, but there are no admission fees. So, fill up a car and come on out to Mt. Olive.

All ages are welcome and encouraged. There will be plenty of childrens activities. Teenagers will even find things to do (although, maybe no one can guarantee the satisfaction of a 15 year old!)

Handicapped individuals will find that they have an appropriate portable toilet. Please  recognize that this is an outdoor working farm with uneven ground. If you need extra help, just let the staff know.

You are encouraged to take photos and videos. Also bring lawn chairs if you have them. Carry-in food is not allowed, but they’ll have plenty of German food and drinks available. No pets are not allowed (except for service animals).

GermanFest is conveniently located off Interstate 81 near Woodstock, Strasburg and Toms Brook in Virginia. Watch for the signs at Exit 291.

Address: 11523 Back Road, Toms Brook, VA 22660

Directions:

From Interstate 81 – Exit 291 (Toms Brook/Rt 651 exit)
1. Turn right at the stop sign onto Mt Olive Road/Rt. 651 and go just over a mile (1.4 mi).
2. Turn left at the stop sign onto Back Rd/Rt. 623 & go half a mile.
3. Turn right at the entrance to GermanFest.

From Winchester, VA
1. From Apple Blossom Mall, merge onto I81 South towards Roanoke.
2. Go 22 miles to Exit #291 and follow directions above.
They are located 24 miles from Apple Blossom Mall.

From Washington D.C. and Northern Virginia
1. Take I66 to Exit #1A and merge left onto I81 South towards Strasburg.
2. Go 9.2 miles on I81 to Exit 291 and follow the directions above.
They are  74 miles from the intersection of I-55 and the Washington Beltway (I-66 – Exit 64). There are no traffic lights between this intersection and GermanFest.

GPS Location:
11523 Back Road, Toms Brook, VA 22830
Lat/Long: 38° 58′ 15″ / 78° 27′ 56″

Downtown Harrisonburg, VA – Harrisonburg Farmers Market, working in cooperation with Virginia Cooperative Extension, Shenandoah Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) Council, and Shenandoah Valley Buy Fresh Buy Local, recently received grant funds from USDA’s Risk Management Agency and a private foundation to expand the availability and access of local, healthy farm fresh food to underserved communities.

As part of this initiative and funding, Harrisonburg Farmers Market gladly welcomes Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards.

Through a private donation to expand “buy fresh, buy local” outreach to underserved communities, the Harrisonburg Farmers Market has initiated a double value incentive program for vulnerable community members who participate in the SNAP (food stamp) program including families, their children, and seniors. The program doubles these hunger relief benefits when recipients use them to purchase healthful, locally-grown farm fresh fruits, vegetables, and food at the Harrisonburg Farmers Market.

Farmers markets help money take root in the community, but they also revitalize downtowns and create additional trade for local retail businesses.

The double value incentive program further strengthens and nourishes the community by:

- Increasing access to affordable, healthy food for low-income vulnerable food insecure populations and neighborhoods;

- Enhancing our economy by bringing new dollars to local farmers and producers selling through the farmers markets and keeping Federal and foundation dollars in the local community; and

- Benefiting the environment by encouraging less packaging, less processing, fewer food miles by valuing local farming and the conservation of natural resources.

Days and hours of operation of Harrisonburg Farmers Market:

Tuesdays and Saturdays
7:00 a.m.— 1:00 p.m.

Thursdays
4:00 p.m.— 7:00 p.m.

Location:
Turner Pavilion
Downtown Harrisonburg
228 South Liberty Street

SNAP Program cards accepted

SNAP program recipients may come to the Harrisonburg Farmers Market’s Information and ATM stand to swipe your SNAP EBT card for the amount you would like to spend at the market. Your amount will be matched up to $10 each Market visit. Purchases must follow SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) guidelines.

However, central New York is, well, in the middle of everything, and, more importantly, provides water for one of the largest cities in the world: New York City.

The dramatic action being taken to prevent fracking in the state of the Big Apple may prove to be an excellent guideline for our small-town struggles.

On the Side of the Law

The major area of concern is central New York.  Currently, the 17 state lawmakers representing the area are divided on the issue, with five as proponents of hydrofracking, three against it, four undecided, and five others unwilling to respond any way.

Naturally, the proponents are interested in the economic benefits while others are looking closely at the potential, if not probable, environmental impacts.

Some, such as State Sen. Dave Valesky, D-Oneida, are not against the technique itself, but the idea of using it in watershed areas.

Just below the state level, the Westchester County Board of Legislators voted to encourage the state to ban fracking in the Catskill and Delaware watersheds, two watersheds that provide most of New York’s water.  Also hesitating are New York City and the counties of Onondaga, Sullivan, Cortland, and Tompkins, which have all passed similar resolutions regarding further research before the approval of hydrofracking.

Rally, Anyone?

The day was January 25, 2010; the place was the New York state Capitol building; the what was a rally against hydrofracking in New York.  Sponsored by many groups, including the Environmental Advcates of New York and citizens Campaign for the Environment, the rally drew over 600 protesters.

How big of a deal was it?  Google it.  There are countless videos splashed all over the internet documenting the event.

One rally down. But there was one more, and if a young girl has any input in the matter, it won’t be her last….

Young Involvement

Leyana Dassauer also protested in January.  However, instead of listening to various speakers in the Capitol building, she and various others gathered in Thornden Park to sing songs, share stories, and light candles.  Although considered stereotypical by some, the peaceful presentation for the opposing people worked wonders.

In fact, Dassauer intends to organize school presentations, starting with her local high school, Nottingham High School, where she will be a sophomore this fall.  Dassauer gives a younger feel to the matter, and connects the issue not only to lawmakers and property owners, but also to the new generation that would have to deal with any negative effects of the hydrofracking. The forums sprouting up in Syracuse should provide this girl with the necessary means to protect and project her point of view.

Plentiful Petitioning

Care2 is website that wants to let the state of New York know that they do not want hydraulic fracturing to take place there.  So what do they do about it?  They wrote a petition, of course.  So far, it has been signed by 5,624 people from many different states, not just New York, with a goal of 7,500 signatures.

Comparison to Our Local Issue in Virginia

Legally, so far, only small steps are being taken because it seems large steps wouldn’t be approved at this point.  The issue, though, is making news incredibly often, with more and more people of all ages becoming involved.

What our area has so far lacked is the organization and bold support that would provide for a rally, or, less overwhelming, perhaps, a well written and publicized petition.  Hopefully, enough support will be gathered that fracking will not be in the near future of our area.

Lauren Tabor is a local student.

Why should we be thankful for teasel? This herb – I hate to call it a weed but that is its classification – has remarkable healing powers, which have not been evaluated by the FDA. (Using this information and this plant is not intended to cure, diagnose, treat, or claim any effect on disease.)

So what is it good for? Well, if you suffer from Lyme’s Disease, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue, Rheumatoid Arthritis,  or otherwise generally feel lousy, and if you have ever been outdoors long enough to have been bitten by a tick or a mosquito, or have a pet which has ever been known to harbor a flea, you may just want to go out and pull up a few teasel ‘weeds’.

Take them home, wash the roots, cut them up, pack them into a Mason jar or the equivalent, cover them with 80 proof, grain-distilled vodka, and allow them to steep for a few weeks. Then take a dose. Some herbalists recommend starting slowly,  with a drop a day of the dark liquid or tincture and working up to 15 drops in three divided doses. After a week or so see how you feel.

Testimony time: I was in North Carolina, in the sand and pine woods country where Lyme’s is said not to exist, when my knees began to hurt. After a couple of weeks of thinking I had jogged too far or was getting too old, I thought to myself: “I wonder…” Three days after taking the herbal approach to self healing, my knees were fine. I continued the treatment for ninety days to assure getting all the dormant organisms out of my system.

So, when I heard that my 26 year old daughter, who tested negative for Lyme’s, was being sent to a specialist in rheumatoid arthritis, I didn’t even ask her, I just bought her a bottle of home brewed teasel extract. She took it, not bothering with a drop a day,  and in four days felt better than she could remember feeling. This girl, who worked like a dog but then came home and fell into bed, is now on the same work schedule, jogging a mile each morning, walking her dogs a mile right afterward, cooling off by swimming a half mile, and then working a full day, followed by housecleaning and cooking for a family, and can still stay awake to watch a movie with her fiance.

Dr. Rowan’s Second Opinion newsletter reported several years ago on research that showed that every sufferer from MS, Parkinson’s, Muscular Dystrophy, Alzheimer’s, and other chronic conditions that agreed to be part of the study tested positive for severe Lyme’s Disease. Dr. Rowan, a New York  MD, believes the herbal approach to be superior to antibiotics.

Look teasel up for yourself, by searching for Second Opinion or under the name of this blessed weed. Then decide for yourself if you believe that you are meant to be healthy. It tells us in the Bible that God has put plants on the earth for our healing.

Once you know what teasel looks like, try to find it in fields far from traffic that pollutes the air and may cause the plants to pick up heavy metal toxins. The plants pull up easily with roots intact.  A Valley herbalist says the best time to harvest teasel is November, when all the strength of the plant has gone into the roots. Others think that when the plant begins to wither and the heads are mature, the roots will be usable. This year’s plants are the ones you will want to pick.

PS: Impatient folks have been known to get the roots and chew on them, and the traditional way to make an herbal tea is to boil chopped roots for ten minutes in water, allow to cool, and drink the infusion. If you are scared you might poison yourself, try it on the dog first. Dogs often are affected with Lyme’s and benefit greatly from teasel supplementation.

The Gnostic Gospel of Thomas reveals Jesus’ words on the Kingdom of God. You could say that it’s God’s “Back to the Future,” or perhaps God’s Return of the Beginning.

Jesus says: “You see, the end will be where the beginning is. Congratulations to the one who stands at the beginning: that one will know the end and will not taste death.”

The Nag Hammadi Library, a collection of thirteen ancient codices containing over fifty texts, was discovered in upper Egypt in 1945. This  important discovery includes a large number of primary Gnostic scriptures – texts once thought to have been entirely destroyed during the early Christian struggle to define “orthodoxy” – scriptures such as the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Philip, and the Gospel of Truth. The leather-bound codices found at Nag Hammadi in 1945.

The discovery and translation of the Nag Hammadi library, completed in the 1970s, has provided impetus to a major re-evaluation of early Christian history, and “newly-found” insights into what Jesus thought and taught – particularly about the Kingdom of God. The text provides truth for those of all faiths. Many who meditate on Jesus’ words here begin to get a clearer understanding of what he was and is saying.

Many scholars have pointed to Thomas as the twin of Jesus. In the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus comments on the roles of James the Just and Mary Magdalene.

Three (3) other insights from the Gospel of Thomas include:

- Jesus said, “Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find. When they find, they will be disturbed. When they are disturbed, they will marvel, and will reign over all. [And after they have reigned they will rest.]”

- The disciples said to Jesus, “We know that you are going to leave us. Who will be our leader?” Jesus said to them, “No matter where you are you are to go to James the Just, for whose sake heaven and earth came into being.”

- Jesus said, “Look, I will guide her (Mary) to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every female who makes herself male will enter the kingdom of Heaven.”

*****

To gain insights, read the full text of the Gospel of Thomas on our blog at:

http://7bends.com/blog/2010/07/the-kingdom-of-god-is-a-return-of-the-beginning/

Enjoy!

The Shenandoah County Chamber Advisory Group, along with the chambers along the Old Valley Pike (Route 11), host the event.  It’s the time of year when the Northern Shenandoah Valley cleans house.

Attics, basements, garages are all cleaned out and individuals, as well as churches and civic organizations, join in the fun to sell their stuff and raise some money. As the event has grows to the North and South the last few years, the Route 11 Yard Crawl has indeed become the longest yard sale in Virginia.

Vendors from outside the area have joined with the local folks, and the variety of  stuff for sale is endless. Some vendors also offer “free” tables. Many local hotels offer competitive rates for those who are interested in coming early and staying late.  Some churches prepare food and drink to keep “the crawlers” refreshed as they make their way north or south.

Every year a new t-shirt is featured.  They are for sale in every town, and only cost $6.00.  The iconic logo is a must have for Yard Crawl aficionados.
This year’s t-shirt is sky blue with navy blue ink. The collectors look forward to buying them every year, and the vendors love to wear them as well.

Although the official day of the “Crawl” is Saturday, many vendors  will set up on Friday, and stay up through Sunday if there is anything left to sell.

The Burma Shave style signs between the small towns in the Valley encourage all crawl participants to keep on looking. The signs – sponsored by Shenandoah Caverns – were initiated several years ago.

Some of the signs read:

- “DON’T GIVE UP… DON’T GET PALE… STRAIGHT AHEAD… FOR MORE YARD SALE.”

- ”HERE IN THE MOUNTAINS… WE’RE A FRIENDLY FOLK… JUST SPEND YOUR MONEY… AND THAT’S NO JOKE!”

Make plans to come to the Valley on August 14 and find treasures galore.

For more information check out the Shenandoah tourism web site, or call (888) 367-3965.

Woodstock, VA – An innovative program in the Valley has involved students in helping to save energy in the Shenandoah County School District.

The results:

Through the efforts of school and division energy management teams, the Shenandoah County Public Schools were able to save $47,551 in electrical service costs during the months of January, February, March, and April 2010.

Due to the school division’s efforts, the Shenandoah County Public School have saved $121,355 in electricity expenses when compared to the same time period during the 2008-2009 school year.

During these same four months in 2010, the school division reduced its water consumption by a total of 198,300 gallons. The reduction equates to 7.49% less than last year.

The winning schools:

As a part of the school division’s Go Green! Competitions, three schools are being recognized for their efforts to reduce electricity and water consumption within their buildings.

Electric expenses

- At the elementary level, W.W. Robinson Elementary in Woodstock, VA, saved the school division $16,388 and reduced their consumption as a rate that was greater than the other elementary schools in the division.

- Signal Knob Middle School in Strasburg, VA won the middle school competition by reducing consumption at a rate that was slightly over 1 percent better than the division’s other two middle schools.

- The high school winner and the overall division winner was Strasburg High School. Through their reduction strategies, their electrical consumption decreased by 6.99%.

Water usage

- Sandy Hook Elementary School in Strasburg, VA reduced their consumption by 13.93%. They are the elementary school water conservation winner.

- The middle school winner was North Fork Middle School in Mount Jackson (Quicksburg), VA. Their water usage decreased by 5.71%.

- The overall winner and the high school winner is Stonewall Jackson High School in Mount Jackson (Quicksburg), VA. Their water consumption decreased by 30.86%, saving the division $3,246.

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During the first ten months of the 2008-2009 school year, the Shenandoah County Public Schools expended over $1.5 million on water, electricity, and heating costs. However, during the first ten months of this year, the school division has expended slightly over $1.3 million on these same utilities. This has resulted in a total utility savings of $227,161 when compared to the same time period last year.

For two years, the Shenandoah County School have participated in the Go Green Competition as a way to encourage environmentally-friendly practices in the schools, while at the same time reducing overall expenditures during a difficult economic climate.

During the two years that this program has been in existence, the Shenandoah County Public Schools has reduced the amount of money expended for utility costs by $320,538.

How the Go Green Competition works

Each school’s Energy Management Team has worked with personnel in their buildings to implement specific strategies that have assisted the division in reducing energy costs, while at the same time making an effort to preserve precious environmental resources.

Without their leadership, these accomplishments would not have been possible. Again this year, the Shenandoah County Public Schools Energy Management Committee has decided to participate in the VSBA Green Schools Challenge.

Shenandoah County Public Schools is committed to leading by example and helping everyone in the school system take steps to reduce their carbon footprint. The Virginia School Boards Association (VSBA) Green Schools Challenge is a friendly competition designed to encourage implementation of specific environmental policies and practical actions that reduce the carbon emissions generated by the local school division and the broader community.

The goal of the challenge is to become a certified “Green School Division.” Recognition will be given at the VSBA Annual Conference in November 2010 to the top three school divisions in each of three student population brackets (less than 5,000; 5,001-10,000; 10,001-plus).

The VSBA Green Schools Challenge is sponsored by Moseley Architects. At the VSBA annual convention in November 2009, the Shenandoah County Schools earned third place in this competition.

What tips do you have for energy savings. Write your Comment below.

Distraction is defined by wikipedia as: “the diversion of attention of an individual or group from the chosen object of attention onto the source of distraction.” While finding missing children is certainly a laudable goal (who can argue that?), we have police and detective forces responsible for handling those cases. But, Point to Point highway surveillance systems? What is the real connection with lost children?

See related definition of media distraction.

Primarily for Amber Alerts?

The use of taxpayers dollars to install elaborate, expensive, intrusive tracking and surveillance systems on our interstate highways for the stated purpose of issuing Amber Alerts – designed to find lost children – is a long shot, and perhaps a distraction from what’s really being put into place.

Does our government really care about us enough to pay all of that money for our benefit? Look at their recent track record of protecting the people – corporate bailouts, cuts in unemployment benefits, closed rest areas, the handling of the Gulf oil spill, increased fees for everything, the list goes on…

Once these systems are put into place, it will be very difficult for citizens to demand that they are dismantled.

Here’s a recent Associated Press article concerning Charleston, West Virginia:

“West Virginia highways have been equipped with a network of cameras and computerized message boards to make it easier to track down missing children. State officials say 17 automated message boards have been installed, and eight cameras have been put up along the Interstate 64 corridor to monitor traffic.

Bruce Kenney, who oversees traffic monitoring for the Division of Highways, says a $1.5 million computerized war room was built to compile traffic and weather information and control the cameras and message boards. The boards can be programmed to warn motorists about traffic conditions or spread word of an Amber Alert, which goes out when a child is missing or abducted.”

What do you think? Is a kidnapper going to put a child in a car in clear view of cameras, and, for that matter, choose to drive on a freeway that he/she knows has cameras? (Watch and see West Virginians how the system will be employed.)

Have you seen these types of message boards and cameras in your area – on roads and interstates near you? How often have they been used so far, and for what purposes?  Add your Comments below.

Here is VDOT  information about cameras and message boards on Interstate 81 in Virginia.

Point-to-Point Tracking Systems for people, cars

There are other reports on the Internet of these systems being built in the U.S., particularly in Maryland where Governor O’Malley signed a bill into law in October 2009 authorizing surveillance cameras in highway work zones and within a half-mile radius of schools.

So too, The US Federal Highway Administration has provided approximately 90 percent of the $43 million cost required to implement a pilot program – the Kansas City Scout Intelligent Transportation System.

The Kansas and Missouri Departments of Transportation provided the remaining portion with the amount split into two roughly equal parts according to how much of the network was located in each state. Maintenance cost is split similarly between the Kansas and Missouri Departments.

Here is the project’s official description of the Scout system:

“To effectively monitor traffic, the Kansas City Scout project employs a network designed to host a combination of various traffic detection devices. Stretching over 75 miles, the Scout system includes portions of Interstate 435, I-35, US 69 and K-10 in Kansas and portions of interstates 435, 35, 470, 670, 70; highways 71 and 169; and Route 9 on the Missouri side.

Scout uses technology such as closed-circuit cameras, electronic message boards and roadway sensors to monitor and manage traffic on these routes. Information is gathered using a crucial fibre-optic network that stretches for 90 miles beneath the roadside.

Following the launch of the Scout system in September 2004 several cameras were added to help remove blind-spots that were only recognised once it was fully operational. Three cameras were added in February 2005 to cover the I-470 mainline bridges west of Route 71, south Route71 and west Interstate 435 and also North Interstate 435 at Bannister Road. The new cameras were state-of-the-art 360 degree pan tilt and zoom and gave the system more than 80 cameras on the network.

Prominent features of the Scout system include 25 foot-wide electronic message boards and 45 foot-tall camera poles. In August 2007, an additional seveen cameras were deployed on Interstate 470 and Highway 71 to enhance coverage in South Kansas City.”

These sensors, cameras, and the resulting “command centers” – like CSI intelligence rooms with Abby standing by ready to help – are being built to catch motorists who drive faster between two points on the freeway than deemed permissible. The state then mails the motorist a hefty speeding ticket – without recourse, without any human being involved in citing the infraction whatsoever. What will we have next, arrest by computer?

In some cases, too, these services are being outsourced so it’s not even the government that is anonymously tracking people, but outside paid contractors. If police officers are given speeding ticket quotas, who is to say that contractors will not be awarded for the amount of revenue they help bring into state, or Federal, coffers?

These computerized highway tracking systems have been operational in some places in Europe for a while, and in the state of Florida, which supposedly installed an elaborate system of Interstate cameras under then-Governor Jeb Bush, and then dismantled them after legal action (i.e. privacy concerns.) The citizens would not stand for the cameras as an outright measure. But, what if they are instituted as a part of another “initiative”?

Since when do computers have more say, more rights, than humans?

When did we start allowing computer information to matter more than people? Where did “innocent until proven guilty” go in America? Have we given the right to accuse one of a crime  to computers?

A computer can be made to say or do anything. We all know that from the obnoxious computer “lady” that gives herself a name when we call to resolve an issue with our phone company, energy company, etc.

The simulated voice (not a real woman’s voice) will say, “Sorry, I did not hear that.” and I say, “That’s because you’re a computer, not a real person.”

Catch 22 Psychology at work

The psychology of the above situation where an elaborate tracking system is being put into place “to track down missing children,” establishes a situation where it looks bad for citizens to object to the intrusive surveillance because then, of course, they are objecting to finding missing children. Only a heel would not believe or say that finding missing children is not a good thing.

The argument against these surveillance systems puts U.S. citizens in a Catch 22 situation if they question or object to what the main purpose of the surveillance is.

Maybe I’m wrong. Judge it for yourself.

So many things these days are set up this way.

That’s not to say that some kids might be found by all of the highway cameras. But, getting taken by the notion that we are allowing one action to help ensure a given outcome is naive, and gives our rights, and our power away.

Young people …and everyone else, we all need to wake up.

What’s your opinion? Write a Comment below.

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Learn more about Catch 22 – What is it?

(Wikipedia) Catch-22 is a satirical, historical novel by the American author Joseph Heller, first published in 1961. The novel, set during the later stages of World War II from 1943 onwards, is frequently cited as one of the great literary works of the twentieth century

Among other things, Catch-22 is a general critique of bureaucratic operation and reasoning. Resulting from its specific use in the book, the phrase “Catch-22″ is common idiomatic usage meaning “a no-win situation” or “a double bind” of any type. Within the book, “Catch-22″ is a military rule, the self-contradictory circular logic that, for example, prevents anyone from avoiding combat missions. In Heller’s own words:

There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one’s safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn’t, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn’t have to; but if he didn’t want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle.

Other forms of Catch-22 are invoked throughout the novel to justify various bureaucratic actions. At one point, victims of harassment by military police quote the MPs’ explanation of one of Catch-22’s provisions: “Catch-22 states that agents enforcing Catch-22 need not prove that Catch-22 actually contains whatever provision the accused violator is accused of violating.” Another character explains: “Catch-22 says they have a right to do anything we can’t stop them from doing.” The theme of a bureaucracy marginalizing the individual in an absurd way is similar to the world of Kafka’s The Trial, and George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. The concept of ‘doublethink’ has definite echoes in Heller’s work.

Yossarian comes to realize that Catch-22 does not actually exist, but because the powers that be claim it does, and the world believes it does, it nevertheless has potent effects. Indeed, because it does not exist there is no way it can be repealed, undone, overthrown, or denounced.

U.S.A. – AT & T has verified the existence of a phone scam that can result in charges of more than $2,000 per minute by calling area codes 809, 294 or 876.

Do not ever dial numbers with the following area codes: 809, 294, 876.

Residents in Virginia this week are reporting a scam. “I actually received
a call last week from the 809 area code. The woman said, ‘”Hey, this is Karen. Sorry I missed you — get back to us quickly. I have something important to tell you.”  Then, she repeated a phone number beginning with area code 809. We did not respond.

Then this week, we received the following e-mail: Do Not DIAL AREA CODES 809, 284, or 876.”

Fraudulent charges

On further investigation, if you call any of these three area codes from the United States. , you will apparently be charged $2,425 per-minute.

Don’t dial the area code 809. Apparently, this same scam is happening all over the U.S. The callers will try and get you to return their call by telling you that it is information about a family member who has been ill, or to tell you someone has been arrested, died, or to let you know you have won a prize.

In each case, you are told to call a 809 number right away. Since there are so many new area codes these days, people unknowingly return these calls.

Here’s how they try and trick you

Once someone calls the 809 number, they will often get a long recorded message to get you to stay on the phone as long as possible to increase the charges. The reason why this works is that the 809 area code is located
in the Dominican Republic. The charges that accrue from you staying on the line are hard to fight afterward because you did indeed initiate the call.

Some citizens when they complain to their local and/or long distance carrier have been told that there is nothing they can do about the charges simply providing the billing for the foreign company. Most often, you’ll end up dealing with a foreign company that argues they have done nothing wrong.

Please alert your friends, family and colleagues to help them become aware of this scam and/or pass on this article.

Here is the AT&T web page that verfied that this scam is indeed true.

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On Friday, August 13 at 8:00 p.m., the Shenandoah Valley Music Festival presents Mary Chapin Carpenter, with special guest, Boston-based Catie Curtis.

Catie Curtis

Ms. Carpenter developed a following on Washington D.C.’s folk scene in the early 1980s and she’s been in the national spotlight ever since.

She has 12 albums to her credit, has sold more than 13 million records, has won five Grammy Awards, and has reached the top-10 on the charts a dozen times. On her current tour, Carpenter is promoting her latest album, “The Age of Miracles,” which was released in April.

The New Yorker called Catie Curtis “a folk rock goddess.”  Other music critics also praise her work. “With a clear, deceptively gentle voice, she can turn on a dime and thrill the listener with unforeseen power and emotion,” RollingStone.com says.

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The Saw Doctors, the well-known band from Galway, Ireland, will perform in Orkney Springs, Va., on Saturday, August 14 at 8:00 p.m.

It is the band’s first appearance at the Festival in Orkney Springs. The band holds the record for having the most successful single of all time on the Irish charts, with its 1990 hit, “I Uesta Lover,” that spent nine-weeks in the top slot.

They charted number one for as recently as October, 2008. Some compare The Saw Doctors to Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band. Their songs are blue collar, about real life, hard work, and everyman all rendered in great poetic detail. They are a group full of personality that always leaves audiences satisfied.

The Festival venue is a rustic pavilion on the grounds of the Shrine Mont Camp and Conference Center in Orkney Springs, Va., about 13 miles west of Mount Jackson. The hotel is a National Historic Landmark. Reserved pavilion tickets for the Mary Chapin Carpenter show are $45 and general admission lawn tickets are $40. For The Saw Dotors show, reserved pavilion tickets are $32 and general admission lawn tickets are $27. The concerts go on rain or shine.

Visit www.musicfest.org or call (540) 459-3396 for tickets or more information.

A Four-Hour Tour

“Sit right back” and ride with me through rural WV. See for yourself just how “clean” the natural gas drilling process called “fracking” really is. We got a up-close, four-hour tour of this Wetzel County hydrofracturing operation (a large Chesapeake Energy project) two weeks ago by some local West Virginia residents, and want to share what we saw and heard.

To be informed about what’s going on with fracking, and everything that’s at stake, is the first step to slowing down the process until citizen interests are considered first - before corporate profits, and before the land in the United States (including WV and VA) is polluted possibly beyond repair – just like the Gulf.

With hydrofracking we’re really talking about hundreds of “ground zeros,” instead of one.

This article is an example of the power of electronic journalism. Whether you’re a child, a teen, or an adult, whatever your station in life, citizens can use technology and the Internet – blogs, videos, photos, writing, social networking, cell phones, electronic devices, etc. – to tell the stories that must be told, the stories of the people, of democracy and freedom.

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What You See Is What You Get

I had heard about the hydrofracking process, had researched it, and had written a number of articles on fracking, but what I saw when I visited the Wetzel County, WV site surprised me.  I left somber.

In the Northeast U.S., natural gas is generally found in the Marcelleus shale rock formation, which extends from New York – and as many people don’t realize, down into Virginia.

In Rockingham County, VA, Carrizo Oil & Gas (a Houston firm) has applied for the first application to hydrofrack in the state of Virginia – in tiny Bergton, to be exact.

Bergton is a rural area, outside of Harrisonburg, not far from James Madison University and Eastern Mennonite University.

There are no Federal regulations against hydrofracking. Nor does Virginia have any – yet. So, the special use permit to drill a natural gas test well in Bergton is the first time hydrofracking has become a possibility in Virginia, and in the Shenandoah Valley. This is significant because once the “floodgates are open,” there will be no turning back. The water supply for the Valley, and by extension, Washington D.C., is at risk.

The situation is being studied and weighed by the local Rockingham County, VA,  Board of Supervisors (BOS) as you read this.

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Showing the Reality of Hydrofracking – Case Study: Wetzel County, West Virginia

Here’s what I learned about the process before I went on the tour… Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, involves the injection of between 3 to 8 million gallons of water, sand, and undisclosed chemicals at very high pressure down vertical pipes and then across into horizontal drilled wells as far down as 10,000 below the Earth’s surface.

The pressurized mixture causes the rock layer – in this case Marcellus shale – to crack. These fissures are held open by the sand particles so that natural gas from the shale can collect and then be pumped into holding tanks, or piped out directly to market.

The used-up fracking liquid is stored in open pits (below) and then either taken to a waste water treatment plant, or covered up by sand/dirt on site.

This is especially dangerous when a project is built on or by a floodplain.

During the process, about 200 large tanker trucks are needed to deliver the millions of gallons of water for the fracturing process for each single derrick/well.

Alternatively, although rarely disclosed in the permit and application, gas companies – can actually suck the water out of nearby streams to use for their own purposes.

What I was not prepared for was that with each step of the natural gas drilling process, there is machinery, construction, dust, invasion of the Earth’s crust – and yet another chopped-off hill – literally in every direction one looks.

There are water pipes along the side of almost every road, and up and down the hills.

There are compressor stations and storage tanks, dozens of heavy trucks, moving back and forth on small roads, and there are staging areas, where barrels of chemicals (with toxic signs on them) are just sitting outside on the ground (below).

The scale is big. It’s hard to show here. The “pads” that the derricks sit on, for example, can be as large as four or five acres. In Wetzel County, during the construction process, silt fences are not being used on any type of a regular basis. Thus, whatever is disturbed can spread to another area.

Here are some more pictures I snapped in Wetzel County, WV:

Not too far from Wheeling, the striking terrain of this remote West Virginia land (near Maud, WV on Route 7) used to be open, rolling, green-covered hills, with trees everywhere.

These are not your Old Grand Dad’s small oil derricks, ala Beverly Hillbillies style, dotting the landscape here and there, like fairy castles. No, hydrofracking is indeed an industrial undertaking.

Below are the small rural roads in Wetzel County that were never meant for dozens of 80,000 pound trucks rolling by, reducing some of the paved roads to dirt.

There is so much activity and wear & tear that the roads must be watered throughout the day just to control the dust it’s so thick (right).

The nearby streams in Wetzel County used to be freely flowing with clean water, and fish in them – and a habitat for other wildlife and plants (below).

Chesapeake Energy is taking hundreds of thousands of water a day from the local watershed to use in the fracking process. They siphon as much water from the streams as they need. Why is this permissible, when taking the water affects the whole region, not just the property that has been leased?

Quality of Life Must Trump Profiteering

Here’s the deal: The energy companies lay out their industrial operation like a grid, deciding where best to situate the wells to make the most money. If someone’s land is in that path, regardless of whether he/she has signed a lease, the oil company can still run pipes under his/her land.

That’s eminent domain in action; it takes power away from citizens, and places it into corporate hands – hands that most often have profit as a motivation, rather than quality of life.

You can see here how the water looks. It’s a red/rust color, about the consistency of chocolate milk.

One day, our “tour guide” said that he actually saw workers pulling out water from a stream as the minnows lay there dying. Many of the plants in the area are also gone. Barren land is what’s left behind.

Taking all of this water from the environment is happening even as some areas in the region have declared an emergency situation because of drought conditions.

There are other ramifications that affect the quality of life, too.

The Wetzel County residents used to be able to leave their homes at anytime without being delayed for hours because of the double-wide compressor machines that the large trucks trek up the country roads to the fracking sites three times a week. Now, citizen schedules must be built around Chesapeake’s corporate schedule.

These large trucks on the small roads also cause safety issues.

Our tour guide said that this past year EMT personnel had to use a Kybota to get an elderly woman from her home in order to take her to the hospital when the Chesapeake trucks were blocking the roads. Accidents, too, are common and have increased. A lifeline helicopter now circles above the area.

Know too…  Since 2005, the energy companies that run hydraulic fracturing operations have been exempt from compliance with The Clean Air Act and the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act.

Right now, in essence, we’re living in an unregulated fracking free-for-all. That kind of “environment” has been demonstrated all too well in the Gulf of Mexico.

As one of the residents in Wetzel County, WV, remarked to me when we first arrived: “They do what they want.”

Here is what the residents told us. In Wetzel County, WV, before Chesapeake Energy came in, there were weight limit signs on the small roads and bridges near the soon-to-be fracking site , but a few days before their arrival, the locals said that these weight limit signs “miraculously disappeared.” There was a obstacle; it was eliminated.

Omission of pertinent information is also an issue. For example, a complete listing of the specific chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing operations are not made available to landowners, neighbors, local officials, or health care providers, nor is it required by any government entity.

There have been reports just this month in PA where energy companies have finally been pressured to release their list of 80-plus fracking chemicals. Why is it not required of these companies upfront – to state what they plan to inject into the ground? That’s only sensible and reasonable. (Cattle in PA have also been quarantined because of runoff fracking liquid.)

Fracking Divides People and Towns

Another observation: Perhaps, the most significant harm fracking brings to a community is a social one. Suffice it to say that division occurs when a fracking operation comes to town. The issue seems to intrinsically split the community into those who are financially benefiting from the drilling (and look the other way to the environmental harms), and those who have not leased land (or, who have decided to stand up for peoples’ health and the environment – on principle.)

If you’re interested, the technical aspects of how hydrofracking works are illustrated in this ABC News video.

Or, view this earlier article on the health effects of hydrofracking, as researched by Dr. Theo Colburn.

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The Regional Backdrop: Virginia is Next on the Radar Screen

Commentary: The Wetzel County, WV, Chesapeake Energy hydrofracking operation that you’ve just seen has been going on for four years now. It’s a great case study for us in Virginia, as we decide how we’ll handle our natural gas challenge.

We have a window of opportunity here in Virginia; for how long is unclear. We have a unique chance to make a difference for the Commonwealth, and also to set an example for the rest of the country as to what we’ll put up with, and what we won’t.

Will we act swiftly and decisively to hold energy companies accountable, or will allow big business interests and the clout of those who are making big bucks from the drilling to set the stage?

Here is a picture (right) of the Cowfer #1 natural gas (fracking) operation in Osceola Mills, Pennsylvania that Carrizo Oil & Gas built.

Here are other pictures of rural Bergton, VA, where a fracking operation is now being  proposed by Carrizo Oil & Gas:

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This is the first time any area of Virginia has had to deal with these fracking  issues. As part of their due diligence, members of the Rockingham County VA Board of Supervisors recently drove up to Wetzel County, WV, and took a similar tour of the Chesapeake Energy fracking operation. They also took video and still photos.

The people must know what is going on.

Let’s see which Virginia politician – local or otherwise - stands up first and sponsors legislation in the Virginia Assembly next session to regulate this first precedent-setting fracking operation in Virginia.

Whoever does take the lead will surely be lauded.

Proposed Bergton Drill Site is Next to the Watershed that Supplies D.C. with Drinking Water

It’s important to note that the Bergton drilling site is on a flood plain. And, it’s between two tributaries of the North Fork of the Shenandoah River (Rader Run and Bennett Run.) . Just this week, Governor McDonnell declared Rockingham County, Virginia, a disaster area due to current drought conditions.   After reading the Carrizo Oil & Gas application, the source of the millions of gallons of water needed for fracking in Bergton is a mystery. They only have budgeted $11,500 for “drilling and potable water” in the application.

We are all connected

If Carrizo does the same as Chesapeake Energy and siphons water from the local streams here in VA, the water situation will worsen. And, what will fracking so close to the watershed do to the water supply for the Valley – and by extension for the Washington DC area? Will we end up with water that looks and smells like Wetzel County’s  streams?

Without strong leadership soon, it’s likely that the Bergton, VA area will become much like the industrial scene that you’ve witnessed in the pictures from West Virginia.

The People Taking A Stand, Joining Together

Let’s hope that enough people get involved to have us learn from the experience of our neighbors in NY, PA, and WV. Virginia needs to enact a moratorium until regulations can be put into place to protect Virginia citizens, Virginia land, and our regional water supply. A natural gas severance tax of some sort would be advantageous for Virginia coffers, as well.

What can you do?

1) Watch for news on 7Bends.com about an upcoming citizen dialogue meeting to be held here in Virginia in the Fall. It will use the innovative Open Space Technology (OST) format which encourages open conversation among all of the people and parties involved, most prominently involving the citizens themselves.

2) Contact your elected officials today to ask what they plan to do about the situation. Be aware that there are 24 counties in Virginia that do have Marcellus shale, so your area could be next. The Bergton decision affects all Virginians.

What about the “Energy Independence” Argument?

Before I close this article, I want to lay the energy independence issue out on the table. The powerful energy industry – with its mega bucks, mega lobbyists, hefty community contributions and media buys – are touting natural gas drilling as “a clean source of energy” that will be one of nation’s answers to energy independence for the U.S.

Many Americans, when they first hear about “natural gas drilling,” react “Way to go! We want energy independence. We won’t have to rely on just coal, or on foreign suppliers.” That is a great aim. But, the reality is … to not object to the hydrofracking process – as it now exists in its unregulated state – is just not possible once you’ve witnessed it.

Without these regulations, it’s not a decision of the heart – or any type of logic – to want hydrofracking “in your own backyard.” That is, unless you’re one of the folks getting monthly checks, and you’ve abandoned your now-polluted piece of property, and bought a nice big house somewhere else. What about the land? What about your neighbors?

The race is on

As legislators try and play “catch up,” the natural gas drilling companies are racing “to get it while the getting is good” – that is, before the process is slowed down and handled responsibly.

A scene near Bergton now (pre-frack).

Imagine a sign reading: “Welcome visitors to the once beautiful Shenandoah Valley – that is, before hydrofracking.”

The streams, vegetation, water supply, and air for many thousands of people – just one degree of separation from the “ground zeros” that are being erected all across the countryside – are being threatened.

Responsible business is one thing; we welcome that. But, this unregulated, free-for-all is unacceptable. If Virginians do not take notice and enact regulations before the energy companies come into “frack” Virginia land, it will be difficult to stop the tide, as our neighboring states can definitely agree.

I always learned: leave whatever land or property you use better than the way you found it. We must make it so.

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“In general I esteem it a good maxim, that the best way to preserve the confidence of the people durably is to promote their true interest.”                 ~ George Washington