and more Front Royal rings in the season - Warren County Report

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Page 6 • Warren County Report • Early December, 01 Read all issues in their entirety FREE on www.WarrenCountyReport.com Morgan’s Ford Bridge Opinion: By Malcolm Barr Sr. Warren County Report (Managing editor’s note: We had hoped to have Malcolm Barr, our contributing writer and a resident of Rockland, provide a counterpoint to this writer’s piece on the pros and cons of a new Morgan Ford Bridge in our last edition. But alas, family holiday timing was bad. While Barr attended both VDOT informational meetings on the future of the river crossing north of town at Morgan’s Ford, he says brought no preconceived opinion with him. But subsequently his opinion solidified (we think he has been brainwashed by devious mind-controlling neighbors) to that of opponents of the VDOT plan and says in the wake of my story in the Late November edition, he purposely “wrote from the heart because anyone can skew statistics any way they want to prove an argument” (well, that was also my point last issue, Mal). So here is Mr. Barr’s counterpoint to my point, explaining his position, a position he points out disagrees entirely from his wife Carol’s – “Our family is riven,” he laughs.) I read the other day of Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell’s tourism promotion awards to various Northern Shenandoah jurisdic- To advertise in Warren County Report: Contact Alison at alisond@warrencountyreport.com • 540-551- 07 or Angie Buterakos at angie@warrencountyreport.com - 540-683-9197 Why VDOT’s Morgan’s Ford Bridge plan stinks Worth preserving, more or less? tions. Nothing there for Front Royal or Warren County, however. And why would there be when both are bent on allowing the state’s Department of Transportation (VDOT) to destroy two of the area’s “beauty spots” (as we Brits refer to them) i.e. the proposal to place a “park and ride” lot at the very entrance to the Town that citizens saved from Walmart, and one of the county’s most beauteous areas now occupied by the old, admittedly decrepit, “low water bridge” that has served the local population gracefully and adequately for 85 years. VDOT would have you believe that federal and state funds are EXCELLENT SCENIC RIDES Front Royal Warren County Airport Airplane Rides Year Around For 20 Minute Scenic Flights $55Per Person GIFT CERTIFICATE AVAILABLE, Intro Flight Training$99, See Gliders every weekend! • Group Discount • Aircraft Rentals Cass Aviation (540) 635-3570 • WARREN COUNTY AIRPORT/FRONT ROYAL • Flight Training • Photo Flights • Glider Club • Tie Down Avail. CFI WANTED • Charter Flights • New Hangers • Gift Certificates • New Taxiway jeopardized unless you take “our way or the highway,” wherein at least one local councilman, Bret Hrbek, has decided to call VDOT’s bluff in connection with the parkand-ride. He and others (and me, for that matter) prefer a small park setting at the end of the new bridge, a span according to VDOT we may not get unless the Town removes its objections to a square of Tarmac. It’s pretty much the same deck of cards they are dealing from in connection with their proposed new bridge that will spoil the tranquility of one of two of the prettiest areas of the Shenandoah River, increasing traffic flow through inadequate roads between Happy Creek and Route 5 . VDOT is consistent in its plea that the low- water (Morgan Ford) bridge is beyond further repair and most of us who live in the area would agree. I also suggest that REPLACING the old span with a similar new one, maybe a few feet wider and slightly higher, so that tourists can still enjoy their destination, fishermen may still fish, children may still swim and play during the summer months, and all of us can just put our 1st Century lives on idle for a minute or so while waiting our turn in order that oncoming cars (yes, cars, not trucks) may cross to the opposite side. VDOT will give you a dozen reasons for spreading the bridge over two lanes and lengthening it by several hundred feet, one of them, to accommodate increased traffic flow, building it 10 to 15 feet Trout Unlimited offering fly-tying classes Northern Shenandoah Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited – www.nsvtu. org – is offering a Beginning Fly Tying Course at The Kiln Doctor, 100 East 8th Street, Front Royal, starting Wednesday, Jan. 16, 013, at 7 p.m. and continuing for six additional weekly classes from 7 to 9 p.m. Course instruction is free to members; or participants may become members upon registration; or make an equivalent donation to the conservation and education programs of the Chapter. Membership for one year in Trout Unlimited and the Northern Shenandoah Valley Chapter is $55 for a family, $35 for an adult, $ 0 for a Senior adult (age 6 +), and $1 for a youth. More information is available at www. tu.org. Class members will need to furnish their own fly tying tools. Tool selections will be discussed and demonstrated at the first class on January 16th. Tool kits could run approximately $30 depending on selection. Additionally, there will be a $35 charge per student for materials, hooks and a fly tying instruction booklet, all of which students will keep. Class size is limited to 1 people. Please register before January 9th by calling The Kiln Doctor, (540) 636-6016. (From a release) Do You Need Assistance in Your Home? Helping Seniors Live Safely at Home “To Everything There Is A Season, A Time For Every Purpose Under Heaven” Ecclesiastes 3:1 • Home Companion Service • Home Helper Services Shelly Cook , RN Owner/Administrator 103 Lee Burke Road, Front Royal • Personal Services • Medication Reminder • Dementia Assistance We can accomodate your loved ones needs in the comfort of their home! Loving Arms In -Home Care Call today ~ (540) 635-7923
Read all issues in their entirety FREE on www.WarrenCountyReport.com To advertise in Warren County Report: Contact Alison at alisond@warrencountyreport.com • 540-551- 07 or Angie Buterakos at angie@warrencountyreport.com - 540-683-9197 higher, citing the flooding that interrupts our travels maybe 0 days out of 365. VDOT tells us they will build us a bridge that will last another 75 years or whatever. And they will ban trucks. Hah! Listen to that, Sheriff McEathron. Increase your budget to pay for round-theclock traffic duties at the bridge to enforce VDOT’s new law. By the way, getting back to the Town’s entrance bridges, one of which will shortly be renovated or replaced – can anyone see, from their autos, the beautiful river vistas both east and west given the “safety walls” that VDOT engineers erected? There is a better way to do it. I drove across the 14th Street bridge in Washington a week or so ago where they built adequate safety barricades without spoiling the view up or down the Potomac. Back to the “low water” bridge, VDOT will tell you (and so will certain members of the Board of Supervisors) that a larger version of the present span is needed to accommodate increased traffic flow. First, many of us who live around here don’t want to encourage increased traffic flow through our inadequate country lanes and byways. Sticking with a (semi)low water bridge, single lane, a bit higher, will DISCOURAGE traffic and be about $5 million, give or take a million or so, cheaper. – All taxpayer dollars, remember! As for present-day traffic volume, has anybody waited more than a min- Guaranteed Lowest Prices! ute or so to get across? Has anyone really cared about the slight delay? Have we seen traffic backups at the bridge entrances beyond two or three cars? Fire trucks? True, the local volunteer department cannot quickly get to the other side of the bridge (though its ambulances can) but there are responders on the other side. Faster and increased volume of traffic and trucks on the Happy Creek side will most certainly endanger young children. Their parents, ignored, have been telling us so for months. Much has been made of the dangers of the low water bridge during high water and we grieved recently over the drowning death of a young woman who, by happenstance, shared my last name. In its wisdom (oh! that Early December, 01 • Warren County Report • Page 7 Morgan’s Ford Bridge someone in authority would have thought of it before) the board of supervisors erected two stout gates and a warning system before the bridge approaches. And that solved the problem of the deadly mix of flood waters and a 1st Century GPS system of navigation. So, throw that one over the side, VDOT. Back to my first observation of the governor leaving Warren County out in the cold insofar as additional funds for tourism were concerned and the inconsistencies of our county government. On Nov. 30, I heard our county executive extolling the virtues of the Shenandoah River and the plans that were in hand for riverfront property development on the former Fishnet property which is to become Rock- Newtown Antiques & Pawn 375 Fairfax Pike, Stephens City VA (across from Food Lion) (540) 869-2669 Open Mon. - Sat. from 10am-5pm Buy, Sell, Loan EVERYDAY! • FREE LAYAWAY! Now through the end of the Year! 10% to 40% off! Huge selection! Shop early for the best selection! We Will Save You Money! Come see what we have to offer! Jewelry, Silver, Furniture, Antiques & Unique Gifts land Park. As that beautiful area is developed, less than two or three miles away on the same waterway, a VDOT-designed bridge will destroy the ambience and tranquility of another part of the river. The irony of the thing! Tree replacements continue In 013 the Beautification of Front Royal committee will continue Phase of the Pear Replacement Program by removing more Bartlett Pear trees. “They are in the wrong place,” said town horticulturalist Anne Rose, “and there is damage on the existing trees.” The size of the tree pits will be increased and the pears replaced with sweet gums, elms, red oak, sycamores and an upright ginko. A fall planting is preferred, according to officials. By Samantha Weaver • It was the third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, who made the following observation: “The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.” • Those who study such things say that a rainbow can’t be seen at midday; the optical phenomena are visible only in the morning or in the late afternoon. • In 1982, a radio station in Allentown, Pa., thought its rating could use a bit of a boost, so it came up with a contest: Three contestants, selected at random, would live on top of one of the station’s billboards (portable toilets and sleeping bags were provided). The last one to give up would be awarded a mobile home. The problem was, nobody wanted to give up. The three men who climbed to the top of the sign at the end of September were still there come March 1983. In that month, one of the contestants was arrested for dealing drugs, but the remaining two stayed aloft until May. Once the freezing winter was finally over, the radio station decided to declare both of the men winners. • As the end of the year approaches, you might consider an old British tradition of fortune-telling. Light a candle, place it on the floor and jump over it. If the flame does not go out, you’re likely to enjoy good luck during the coming year. • If you’re like the average American, you use between 75 and 100 gallons of water every day. • The Sahara Desert is nearly as large as the continental United States. *** Thought for the Day: “If at first you don’t succeed, try again. Then
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