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Cleaning Up The Bay | Chesapeake Bay Magazine

Fifty years of the most complex restoration project ever attempted

While I was thinking about everything our beloved Chesapeake Bay has experienced since Chesapeake Bay Magazine began printing in May 1971, my former Chesapeake Bay Foundation colleague Dr. Robin Tyler posted this reminiscence that embodies the changes of the last half-century, kicked off by Hurricane Agnes in 1972:

When I was a kid growing up in Princess Anne in the 1960s and ’70s, I didn’t know what pollution was. We called our home, the Eastern Shore, God’s Country. I feel fortunate to have grown up where I did, when I did, with whom I did, to do the things I did. 

I remember my grandparents in Crisfield having a privy out back and white porcelain buckets indoors for nighttime. I remember the stinking canning house on Mt. Vernon Road you could smell a mile away, and being told to stay away from Steamboat Wharf because that’s where the town sewage came in. But I didn’t get it, because the areas affected around my little part of the world were small. There was so much good fishing and hunting that I ignored it. 

As the full effect of Agnes developed in the Chesapeake Bay and the Susquehanna Valley in June 1972, ‘The Scientists’ said it was going to be bad. Like many others, I carried on about how stupid they were, without recognizing what I didn’t know. They got it right. My home waters of Tangier and Pocomoke Sounds have never been the same. That’s why I refer to 1971 as ‘The Last Good Summer’—a story about teenagers with a 16′ outboard skiff for whom life couldn’t have been better.

Hurricane Agnes: The I-95 bridge leading into downtown Richmond. (Wikimedia Commons)

The Reckoning

Agnes was a long-lasting storm that caused catastrophic damage just as America was waking up to environmental issues. The storm occurred while the Chesapeake research community was meeting. The scientists realized Agnes’ systemic nature and organized investigations to study it even as it wound down. The damage was epic, bringing massive rainfall and runoff to the headwaters of the Chesapeake’s big rivers, from the James in Virginia to the Susquehanna in south-central New York. Pennsylvania was hardest hit by flooding, especially around Wilkes-Barre and Scranton. Mammoth inflows of sediment buried critical underwater grass beds on the Susquehanna Flats and other parts of the Bay. Nitrogen and phosphorus pollution caused algae blooms and oxygen-depleted dead zones.

The Susquehanna crests over Wilkes-Barre, Penn. (NOAA)

Agnes accelerated the Bay’s eutrophication—an excess of rich nutrients in the water, often exacerbated by mistreatment. It is well-documented in everything from farm ponds to massive reservoirs. Agnes made us realize how much eutrophication could damage an estuary, which acts as a catch basin for its upland rivers. Our Bay was a sitting duck.

The Chesapeake watershed is about 500 miles from the Susquehanna’s headwaters in Otsego Lake by Cooperstown, New York to Virginia Beach, as the goose flies. But with an average depth of just 21 feet, our Bay is a very shallow, settling basin for big rivers draining a vast land. Nearly a quarter of the Bay’s area is less than six feet deep.

In 1971, the watershed was busy carrying on the Industrial Revolution. The human population had mushroomed from the 50,000 native peoples who were here when colonists arrived to 11 million, with proportional increase in livestock and fossil-fueled machines. Indian trails evolved into interstate highways; pavement was everywhere. The percentage of remaining virgin forest was near zero. Reforestation improved tree cover in the early 20th century, but after the 1950s, population growth gobbled up some of those gains. 

With minimal filtering, rain ran quickly down the watershed’s expanses of disturbed soils, concrete, and asphalt to sea level in the shallow Bay. It eroded soil and filled channels, putting the Chesapeake system on a junk-food diet of fertilizer and soil equivalent to a person eating 15,000 calories a day.

Yes, the water eventually flowed out to the Atlantic, but only after settling into the estuary for months on the way, with accumulated phosphorus and nitrogen growing aquatic algae instead of trees. Agnes brought this predicament into stark relief one year after Chesapeake Bay Magazine began publishing. 

Power plants discharge smog and toxic heavy metals.(Photo by Steve Droter/Chesapeake Bay Program)

The 1970s
“I told you I was sick”

What has happened since is actually a hopeful story. Four months after Agnes roared up the Eastern Seaboard, President Nixon signed the Clean Water Act, which began the long task of cleaning up wastewater pollution. It would take 10 years for treatment upgrades to show results, but industries and municipalities around the Chesapeake deserve credit for their accomplishments. 

As scientists were quantifying the damage from Agnes, watermen were struggling with declining harvests. Rivers around the Chesapeake’s urban areas remained dirty, smelly threats to public health. Boaters noted fish kills with disturbing frequency. There’s a gravestone on Smith Island inscribed, “I Told You I Was Sick,” which also applies to the Bay’s ecosystem at the start of the 1970s. The signs of the Bay’s decline were there, even though many people dismissed them as “just part of a cycle.” 

In 1974, Maryland Senator Charles McCurdy Mathias took a long tour around the Chesapeake, listening to watermen, recreational crabbers and anglers, yachtsmen, scientists, and anyone else with a stake in a healthy Bay. What he found alarmed him enough to push through Congress a seven-year, multi-disciplinary EPA study of the Bay ecosystem, which began in 1976. 

The study confirmed that the Chesapeake suffered from significant eutrophication. There was no silver bullet to fix it. Our busy watershed was facing death by a thousand cuts. This made the work particularly challenging, but also offered opportunities. With the nation’s capital in the center of a prosperous six-state region, the cleanup of this historic national treasure presented an experiment in environmental remediation. 

The 1987 Chesapeake Bay Agreement is signed by the members of the Chesapeake Executive Council at the Baltimore Convention Center on Dec. 15, 1987. (Chesapeake Bay Program)

The 1980s
The Decade of the Bay

The EPA study was the beginning of the federal/state/local Chesapeake Bay Program partnership (CBP). In December 1983, the leaders of Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia, Pennsylvania, the tristate Chesapeake Bay Commission, and the EPA signed the first Chesapeake Bay Agreement to restore the estuary’s health. This marked broad recognition of Pennsylvania’s role; after all, it encompasses more square miles of the Chesapeake watershed than any other jurisdiction.

CBP and its partners began focusing on all the million cuts, diagnosing each injury and crafting cost-effective remedies that added up to larger solutions. General Assembly sessions made 1984 “The Year of the Bay,” with broad legislation to begin the cleanup. The most far-reaching was Maryland’s Critical Area Act, which for the first time officially recognized the role of land use in Bay pollution and began to address this huge, controversial issue. Virginia followed several years later with its Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act. Public interest and participation in restoring the Bay increased exponentially. 

CBP integrated research by university labs with state agencies, local government, nonprofits, and business partners. One early task was to develop a computerized model of the Bay and its watershed, for use in identifying research needs, targeting restoration projects, and most importantly, evaluating results. Thirty-seven years later, this “Bay Model” is arguably the most sophisticated ecosystem simulation in the world. 

The scientific community turned out critical findings. Ecosystem modeling showed that reduced light from cloudy water drove the die-off of underwater grasses. That was a product of sediment deposits. Researchers found reversing the process would require wastewater treatment plants to remove nitrogen as well as the phosphorus they had begun to remove under the Clean Water Act. (Nitrogen is more soluble than phosphorus and thus more difficult—and expensive—to remove.) 

The finding was unwelcome, but the science showed the cost of not removing the pollution was higher. Nitrogen
from air pollution also contributed significantly to the Bay’s decline. Fossil fuel combustion from power plants and vehicles produce gases that settle to the ground, where rain washes them overboard. In the late ’80s, the gases were causing as much as a third of the Bay’s nitrogen pollution.

Despite the increased awareness, the Bay’s health continued to decline. Baywide acreage of underwater grasses bottomed out in 1983 and made only slight progress in following years. Oxygen-depleted dead zones caused alarming shifts in fish and crab behavior. A new oyster disease known as Dermo devastated harvests in both Virginia and Maryland. A drought late in the decade produced stagnant water full of ugly brown algae blooms that contributed to oxygen problems and dirtied boats’ topsides. Rockfish stocks crashed, leading to a six-year harvest moratorium in Maryland and deep harvest cuts plus closures in Virginia. 

There were silver linings. The rockfish crisis led to new management and increased research. In 1987, the Bay Program, Bay Commission, Bay states, and District signed a new Bay Agreement, setting a specific 40 percent goal for nitrogen reduction by 2000. Wastewater phosphorus control and a ban on it in laundry detergents reduced freshwater algae growth, and the upper tidal rivers rebounded, especially the Potomac around Washington and the James below Richmond. Seeing progress was a tonic, a sign that “yes, we might get this done.”

Menhaden fish kill. (Chesapeake Bay Program)

The 1990s
Good Intentions, Their Limits, and a Mysterious Microbe

With the nitrogen goal, the Bay states developed cost-effective advanced wastewater treatment. Federal Clean Air Act Amendments reduced airborne nitrogen oxides and other pollutants from cars, trucks, and power plants. Ecosystem modeling advanced, thanks to the Internet.

Rockfish recruitment (young-of-year survival) improved. In October 1990, Maryland reopened harvest for anglers and watermen on a short, strictly controlled basis. The years 1993 and 1996 produced strong recruitment, a wonderful morale booster. In 1995, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) declared the fishery recovered, though all harvests continued under tight control.

With oyster stocks brutally low in the ’90s, Bay scientists experimented with restoration. Elevated shell reefs in the Piankatank showed promise. So did hatching larvae in hatcheries and growing them in floating cages. The technique evolved into off-bottom aquaculture systems for commercial aquaculture, recreational “oyster gardening,” and reef restoration.

In the summer of 1997, fish kills and an associated, mysterious human disease caused a crisis on several rivers of Maryland’s lower Eastern Shore. Scientists traced it to a rare alga called Pfiesteria. One waterman remarked, “I’ve been studying it on the Internet. Best I can figure, we find out what makes it mad and stop doing it.”

What made it mad turned out to be the agricultural runoff that was unregulated by the Clean Water
Act—concentrated animal feeding operations, including poultry. This issue was hard. The farm community, original stewards of the soil, felt stabbed in the back. It took a lot of grievance-airing, careful research that blended cutting-edge agricultural science with ecosystem modeling, and respectful conversation to implement viable cost-share programs that reduce pollution while keeping farms profitable.

Farmers, universities, state and federal agencies, conservationists, and agricultural consultants all deserve credit for cooperating on the issue. The Chesapeake, however, needed many more farmers to work with them, especially
in Pennsylvania.

The 1990s were hopeful. In 1998, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation issued its first biennial State of the Bay Report. Setting a baseline of 100 using Captain John Smith’s observations of the Chesapeake in his 1607-09 explorations, CBF scientists pegged the Bay’s low point at a score of 23 in 1983. In 1998, the score was a modest but encouraging 27. Rockfish were the big success story, but there were other improvements, including a rebound in underwater grass beds. 

But Baywide nitrogen reductions were nowhere near the year 2000 goal of 40 percent. Good intentions had produced real progress, but not enough. It was time for an ambitious Chesapeake Bay Agreement to mark the new millennium. The Chesapeake Bay Commission and the Bay Program took the lead on developing Chesapeake 2000, with many partners. 

The Clean Water Act supplied a crucial provision. It required any water body federally declared impaired by pollution to have a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), essentially a “pollution diet” strict enough to remove the impairment within a specific time frame or face sanctions. No one had ever tried to build a TMDL for such a large ecosystem as the Bay watershed.

Nevertheless, the environmental community and the EPA pushed to obey the law. Chesapeake 2000 struck a compromise: The Bay states and the District would do enough to remove the Chesapeake from the impaired waters list by 2010 voluntarily; if they missed the goal, they would build a pollution diet with the teeth of enforcement provisions. 

The 2000s
The Chesapeake Responds 

The year 2003 saw wastewater treatment upgrades in Virginia and Maryland. Maryland added an annual fee for every household, bringing huge improvements to both metropolitan areas and smaller jurisdictions such as Salisbury and Easton. Virginia opted to allocate its budget annually over a series of decades, adding budgetary surpluses under an innovative Water Quality Improvement Act. Those measures have produced improvements from Hampton Roads to Lynchburg and Alexandria.

Progress remained slow in Pennsylvania, despite many impaired streams in a commonwealth that prizes its free-flowing waters for their own sake as well as proximity to the Bay. There were bright spots in the farm community, including Amish and Mennonite operations.

In the Bay and its rivers, algae blooms and dead zones continued, but so did improvements. Because this huge system operates every day in dynamic balance between tides, moon, sun, wind, and freshwater stream inflow, one-day snapshots aren’t reliable. Understanding it takes scientific gear and analysis over time. The watershed model at the Bay Program documented the improvements in public reports like Bay Barometer. Rockfish remained strong, and the bi-state crab management program continued adjusting harvests consistent with the winter dredge survey. 

Oyster reef restoration and aquaculture grew, while research documented disease tolerance evolving in wild stocks, especially in the Rappahannock. Citizens of the Bay Country fell in love with Chesapeake oysters for their
value as reef-building ecosystem engineers and water filters, not just as meals. 

By 2008, though, it was apparent we would not meet the Chesapeake 2000 goals by
2010. Several environmental and watermen’s organizations sued the EPA to enforce the TMDL. The lawsuit attracted furious opposition from the National Farm Bureau Federation and several national partners, who feared the TMDL would set a difficult precedent. In 2009, President Obama issued an Executive Order directing the EPA to implement the pollution diet. The lawsuit succeeded. The scientists at the Chesapeake Bay Program set a pollution diet to reduce nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment, reaching into every nook and cranny of the watershed. For the first time, the other three states with land in the Chesapeake watershed—West Virginia, New York, and Delaware—signed on to the Bay Agreement’s water quality elements.

A parking lot at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., features a rain garden on Aug. 25, 2015. (Photo by Matt Rath/Chesapeake Bay Program)

2010-2021
Progress Accelerates, & Our Bay Shows It

Now the Bay cleanup has a new pollution diet deadline: 2025. There are two-year benchmarks to measure progress. EPA has enforcement powers over the states, who rely on local government because of the pollution diet’s specific nature. Federal, state, and local must all work in partnership. There are many moving parts, and there are periodic needs to play hardball to keep things moving. Pennsylvania in particular has had a difficult time finding funding to fulfill its commitments. 

There is a new focus on urban/suburban stormwater pollution running off impervious surfaces, such as roadways, parking lots, and rooftops. Fixing this cumulative abuse is arguably the greatest challenge we face, reaching literally into each of our homes, no matter where we live. Dealing with our own stormwater is the inescapable embodiment of Pogo Possum’s dictum, “We have Met the Enemy, and He is Us.”

While other indicators show improvement, striped bass still suffer from overfishing. (Photo by Will Parson/Chesapeake Bay Program)

It’s difficult, expensive, and disruptive to help this watershed catch rain resourcefully again. The silver linings, though, are new business opportunities and jobs
for civil engineers, landscape architects, contractors, and laborers to build cost-effective solutions from Cooperstown to Virginia Beach, and the improvements neighborhood streams and creeks show as we turn them from trash dumps to live elements of the Chesapeake system. 

Under that tightly accountable pollution diet, our Chesapeake is responding. Progress is hard-won, but summer dead zones are shrinking in spite of climate change that warms the Bay. That heat threatens the critical eelgrass beds of the lower Bay, but underwater grasses are rebounding in fresher waters. As this issue goes to press, though, our beloved rockfish suffer from overfishing. Now the striped bass management plans of the ’80s and ’90s must build stronger conservation, while the pollution diet and habitat restoration give them a healthier Bay to live in. 

Fifty years on, we have every reason to believe 1971 wasn’t Robin Tyler’s Last Good Summer (in retirement, he’s already finding speckled trout again in Tangier Sound), and that good news will fill Chesapeake Bay Magazine for the next 50 years. If restoring the Chesapeake’s health were simple, we’d have finished the job 20 years ago. This is the most complex ecosystem restoration project ever attempted, turning around a century and a half of (largely unintentional, but ignorant) environmental abuse. Is the Chesapeake’s cleanup complete? No. Is it better? Hell yes! Will it be worth the work and the cost? Hell yes, again! Let’s finish this job. h

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Chesapeake

Michael Humphrey Obituary (2021) – Chesapeake, VA

HUMPHREY, Michael Robert, 67, of Chesapeake, Virginia (retired Mechanicsville, Virginia) was peacefully given to our Heavenly Father on Monday, April 26, 2021. He was died by his only son, Kristoffer Michael Humphrey; his father, Gaylon Humphrey; Grandparents, Lawrence and Hilda Long; Aunt and uncle, Barbara and Don Hull; and Uncle Joe Uranga. Mike is survived by his 45-year-old wife, Emily “Buttons”; his mother, Deloris Humphrey; Daughter Jennifer Lopez; Daughter-in-law Crystal Humphrey (Kris); Son-in-law Nick Lopez; Grandchildren, Christina Malbone, Jesse Malbone, Carissa Lopez, Ryne Humphrey, Tyler Humphrey, and Adyson Humphrey; six great-grandchildren; Aunt Anita Uranga; Sisters, Gayle Williams, Billie Jo Roach; and brother Sam Humphrey. Mike loved his company, woodworking, baseball, and golf. He spent hours in his home workshop making furniture and other wood projects. He and his wife co-owned Chesapeake Bay Mechanical Contractors, Inc. for 24 years. Mike coached baseball with Green Run Little League until his son Kris was 18 years old. Mike loved hanging out with his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He will be greatly missed by his family, friends and friends in the construction industry. The tour will be held on Sunday, May 2 at 1:00 p.m. at the Altmeyer Funeral Home, 5033 Rouse Road, Virginia Beach, Virginia, followed by the memorial service at 2:30 p.m. in the same location. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to your favorite charity in memory of Mike. Please feel free to wear color for Mike’s ministry to celebrate his life.

www.vacremationsociety.com

Published by Richmond Times-Dispatch on April 30, 2021.

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Chesapeake

Plans up to expand Ormiston Victory Academy in Costessey

Road improvements will be made around a high school when the expansion plans are approved.

Members of the Norfolk County Council Planning Committee will consider the council’s application to build a new teaching block at the Ormiston Victory Academy in Middleton Crescent, Costessey, today.

It has been recommended for approval as long as motorway improvements are in progress. When built, it would include 14 classrooms to allow the school to teach an additional 300 11-16 year olds, increasing its capacity to 1,500.

Ormiston Victory Academy in Costessey. Image: Denise Bradley
– Photo credit: Copyright: Archant 2014

The plans met resistance from 13 people amid concerns about additional traffic on surrounding streets such as Richmond Road, Middleton Crescent, East Hill Road and Longdell Hills.

Another concern was the new three-story block that overshadowed nearby houses.

Costessey City Councilor Tim East said the plans should be approved but with traffic reduction measures.

Tim East, Norfolk City Councilor.  PICTURED: BILL SMITH

Tim East, Norfolk City Councilor. PICTURED: BILL SMITH
– Photo Credit: Bill Smith-Archant

He said: “I have concerns about the loss of lawns used for exercise as child wellbeing is important, although I understand the need to expand to accommodate more students. The biggest concern is that i have is the extra traffic that would be generated in a congested area.

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“The possibilities for picking up and dropping off students on the school premises are welcomed.”

His concerns were shared by the Costessey City Council.

Sports England had no objection when soccer fields were protected on the school’s green space.

The council’s motorway agency said the school benefited from good walking and cycling links.

The additional 42 parking spaces were added and 60 proposed bicycle spaces would accommodate the additional 42 full-time equivalents needed for the school.

According to the highways, double yellow lines should be painted, mostly around intersections on Richmond Road, and an improved intersection should be built on Richmond Road.

Planning documents said the block would be screened by trees with houses.

Naomi Palmer, director of the Ormiston Victory Academy in Costessey, trying to get her adm

Naomi Palmer, director of the Ormiston Victory Academy in Costessey.
– Photo credit: Nick Butcher

Naomi Palmer, director of Ormiston Victory Academy, said, “These exciting new plans will change life at the Academy for the better. With more space and great creative facilities, we can expand our support for the young people in Costessey and beyond. “

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Chesapeake

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Editorial: 160 years ago today, Virginia made a grievous error | Editorial



This heavily anti-Confederation satire is a fantastic vision of the Union’s defeat by the secessionist movement. On the left, a hideous monster emerges from the water, representing the secession. He is killed by a mammoth cannon “Death to the traitors!” operated by Uncle Sam (right). A two-sided figure depicting Baltimore, whose loyalty to the Union was at least in doubt during the war, pulls on Uncle Sam’s coattails. The explosion sends several small demons representing the secessionist states through the air. South Carolina is prominent among them, in a coffin in the upper right corner. Tennessee and Kentucky, two southern states internally divided over secession, are represented by two-headed creatures. Although Virginia is part of the Confederation, it is also shown divided – likely a recognition of the Appalachian and Eastern Regions’ alignment with the Union. Among the demons is a small figure of the Tennessee Senator and 1860 presidential candidate John Bell with a bell-shaped body. In the foreground is a large American flag on which Winfield Scott, commander of the Union Forces, and a bald eagle rest. Despite the copyright date printed on it, the print appears to have been registered for copyright on June 14, according to the inscription on the library’s impression, but was not deposited until July 10, 1861.


CONGRESS LIBRARY

On April 17, 1861 – 160 years ago today – Virginia made an important decision for which it still pays the price.

That day Virginia decided to leave the Union.

Technically, a specially elected assembly called the Virginia Convention voted to send a secession referendum to voters, but that referendum a month later was just a formality. Two days after the Convention voted for secession, the Confederate flag fluttered over the Virginia Capitol and a Confederate army was invited to settle in Richmond. It would have taken a brave man – and then only men voted – to stand up to the public passion for secession. Yet some in this convention stood up and voted against secession. Contrary to popular belief, not all of them came from the western counties of what would become West Virginia.

It is remarkable – one mild word, mind-boggling could be another – that all these years later the causes of the civil war continued to be debated. It was about slavery, some say. No, it was about the rights of the state, say others – as if that were a binary and exclusive choice. It was both, although the main right the southern states wanted to protect was the right to enslave fellow human beings.

We want our story the way we want our politics today – reduced to something the size of a 30-second commercial or maybe a tweet. The story is not like that. The chairman of the convention shows how complicated and chaotic our history can be. He was John Janney, a Loudoun County attorney. In 1831 he had drafted a bill to abolish slavery in Virginia, which apparently failed. Three years later he bought his first slave.

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Chesapeake

Editorial: A decision we still are paying the price for | Editorial

On April 17, 1861 – 160 years ago today – Virginia made an important decision for which it still pays the price.

That day Virginia decided to leave the Union.

Technically, a specially elected assembly called the Virginia Convention voted to send a secession referendum to voters, but that referendum a month later was just a formality. Two days after the Convention voted for secession, the Confederate flag fluttered over the state capital of Virginia and a Confederate army was invited to settle in Richmond.

It would have taken a brave man – and then only men voted – to stand up to the public passion for secession. Yet some in this convention stood up and voted against secession. Contrary to popular belief, not all of them came from the western counties of what would become West Virginia.

It is remarkable – one mild word, mind-boggling could be another – that all these years later the causes of the civil war continued to be debated. It was about slavery, some say. No, it was about the rights of the state, say others – as if that were a binary and exclusive choice. It was both, although the main right the southern states wanted to protect was the right to enslave fellow human beings.

We want our story the way we want our politics today – reduced to something the size of a 30-second commercial or maybe a tweet. The story is not like that. The chairman of the convention helps illustrate how complicated and chaotic history can be. He was John Janney, a Loudoun County attorney. In 1831 he had drafted a bill to abolish slavery in Virginia, which apparently failed. Three years later he bought his first slave.

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Chesapeake

Norfolk County Council Elections 2021: Breckland candidates

The Norfolk Breckland has traditionally been a happy hunting ground for the Conservatives.

Only one of the 12 Norfolk County Council seats in the district is a color other than blue, although the seat in Thetford East remains vacant following Tory Roy Brame’s resignation earlier this year.

Norfolk will vote on May 6th.
– Photo credit: PA Archive / PA Images

While the Conservatives had comfortable wins in most divisions in the 2017 elections, Labor’s Terry Jermy retained the Thetford West seat he won in a 2013 by-election from UKIP.

Terry Jermy, Norfolk City Councilor.  Image: Conor Matchett

Labor’s Terry Jermy wants to keep Thetford West.
– Credit: Archant

In 2017 he prevailed against the conservative Jane James, who represents Thetford Castle in Breckland Council with 470 votes.

Jane James, Councilor on Thetford City Council.  Image: Norfolk Conservatives.

Conservative Jane James wants to win in Thetford East.
– Credit: Norfolk Conservatives

But this time Ms. James has moved to take the seat in Thetford East, leaving Barbara Tullett, Treasurer and Secretary of the Friends of Thetford Museum, a Conservative candidate for Thetford West.

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The Liberal Democrat Martin Callam and the independent Philip Wagstaff also stand.

Thetford East could be one of the most interesting battles in Breckland.

Mr Brame took over the Conservative seat from UKIP in 2017 but left the party and resigned earlier this year.

Last time around 257 Mike Brindle votes separated him from Labor, but Mr. Brindle, once chairman of the Lib Dem group in the County Hall, is in Guiltcross this time.

This means that Ms. James will face Susan Dowling from Labor, Lib Dem Jamie Cash and Denis Crawford from UKIP.

Mr Crawford, a former Thetford City Mayor, was a former Thetford East Councilor after winning by almost half the vote in 2013.

Scenes from the Norfolk County Council election count at Memorial Hall in Dereham for Breckland

UKIP’s Denis Crawford is aiming for a return to the county hall.
– Photo credit: Matthew Usher

But in 2017 he got a little more than 16 percent of the vote and came third.

Conservative Bill Borrett, the Cabinet Member for the Adult Care Council, wishes to keep the Elmham and Mattishall seat he has held since 2009.

Former Labor Norwich councilor James ‘Bert’ Bremner, along with Liberal Democrat Ian Speller, are challenging the conservative Rhodri Oliver for his seat in Attleborough.

Ian Speller

Ian Speller, Attleborough Liberal Democratic candidate.
– Credit: Liberal Democrats

However, Mr Oliver was a comfortable winner in 2017 with more than 63 votes.

It could be a closer battle at Dereham South. When Conservative Philip Duigan won the UKIP seat in 2017, he prevailed against Labor’s Harry Clarke with 326 votes.

The couple will compete against each other again, along with Lib Dem Jenny Pitchford.

Conservative William Richmond wants to keep Dereham North. With 1,512 votes in 2017, he was clear ahead of Labor’s Elizabeth Hunton, who received 478 votes.

This time around, Labor’s candidate Georgina Bunting is on, while the Lib Dems have selected Brendon Bernard to represent Ditchingham and Earsham on South Norfolk Council.

Conservative Ed Colman won Swaffham four years ago from UKIP with just under 60 percent of the vote.

His opponents in this election are Labor’s John Zielinski, Lib Dem Paul Auber and Green Peter Bate.

Claire Bowes won UKIP’s Watton for Conservatives in 2017 with more than 71 votes.

On this occasion, she competes against Lib Dem James Minto, Green Timothy Birt and Keith Prince of Labor.

Tim Birt

Timothy Birt is the green candidate for Watton.
– Credit: Breckland Council

All 84 seats in Norfolk County Council will be challenged on May 6th.

The political composition of the council is Conservatives 52, Labor 16, Liberal Democrats nine, Independents three, Independent (unaligned) one, unaligned one and two vacancies.

County Hall in Norwich

All 84 Norfolk County Council seats are available for election.
– Photo credit: Archant Norfolk

Who can I vote for in Breckland?

Attleborough: James Bremner (L), Rhodri Oliver * (C), Ian Speller (LD)

Dereham North: Brendon Bernard (LD), Georgina Bunting (L), William Richmond * (C)

Dereham South: Harry Clarke (L), Phillip Duigan * (C), Jenny Pitchford (LD)

Elmham and Mattishall: Bill Borrett * (C), Mark Foley (LD), Tara Harris (L), Philip Morton (G)

Cross of debt: Stephen Askew * (C), Michael Brindle (L), Beverly Bulmer (LD)

Necton and Launditch: Jane Keidan-Cooper (G), Mark Kiddle-Morris * (C), Joseph Sisto (L), Matthew Weatherill (LD)

Swaffham: Paul Auber (LD), Peter Bate (G), Ed Colman * (C), John Zielinski (L)

The Brecks: Fabian Eagle * (C), Evie-May Ellis (LD), Anne Rix (G), Stuart Terry (L)

Thetford East: Jamie Cash (LD), Denis Crawford (UKIP), Susan Dowling (L), Jane James (C) (seat currently vacant)

Thetford West: Martin Callam (LD), Terry Jermy * (L), Barbara Tullett (C), Philip Wagstaff (I)

Watton: Timothy Birt (G), Claire Bowes (C), James Minto (LD), Keith Prince (L)

Yare and All Saints’ Day: Ulrike Behrendt (LD), Ann Bowyer (G), Edward Connolly * (C), Paul Siegert (L)

* seated city council

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Chesapeake

Norfolk County Council 2021 election candidates unveiled

Voters will vote in the local elections in May 2021. The lists of candidates for the Norfolk County Council polls have now been confirmed.

All 75 seats in the agency will be challenged on Thursday May 6th. The results will be announced on Friday and Saturday.

The Conservatives currently have a large majority and will vote in this year’s election to defend 55 of the 84 seats. Labor defends 17, the Liberal Democrats 11 and the Independents.

The vote will take place on 6 May between 7 a. M. And 10 p. M. Postal voting is also possible.

Elections are likely to be fierce in Dereham.
– Photo credit: Ian Burt

The candidates for 2021 are as follows: Keys: C – Conservative, G – Green, I – Independent, L – Labor, LD – Liberal Democrats.

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Breckland

Attlesborough: James Bremner (L), Rhodri Oliver (C), Ian Speller (LD)

Dereham North: Brendon Bernard (LD), Georgina Bunting (L), William Richmond (C)

Dereham South: Harry Clarke (L), Phillip Duigan (C), Jenny Pitchford (LD)

Elmham and Mattishall: Bill Borrett (C), Mark Foley (LD), Tara Harris (L), Philip Morton (G)

Cross of debt: Stephen Askew (C), Michael Brindle (L), Beverly Bulmer (LD)

Necton and Launditch: Jane Keidan-Cooper (G), Mark Kiddle-Morris (C), Joseph Sisto (L), Matthew Weatherill (LD)

Swaffham: Paul Auber (LD), Peter Bate (G), Ed Colman (C), John Zielinski (L)

The sheep in the Brecks project.  Pictured: Norfolk Horn sheep grazing on the Breckland Heath in Letc

Norfolk Horn sheep grazing on breckland heath
– Credit: Archant

The Brecks: Fabian Eagle (C), Evie-May Ellis (LD), Anne Rix (G), Stuart Terry (L)

Thetford East: Jamie Cash (LD), Denis Crawford (UKIP), Susan Dowling (L), Jane James (C)

Thetford West: Martin Callam (LD), Terry Jermy (L), Barbara Tullett (C), Philip Wagstaff (I)

Watton: Timothy Birt (G), Claire Bowes (C), James Minto (LD), Keith Prince (L)

Yare and All Saints’ Day: Ulrike Behrendt (LD), Ann Bowyer (G), Edward Connolly (C), Paul Siegert (L)

Broad land

uncle: Cathy Cordiner-Achenbach (L), Caroline Fernandez (G), Emelye Harvey (LD), Lana Hempsall (C)

Aylsham: Andrew Boswell (G), Stephen Maseko (L), Jonathan Rackham (I), Steve Riley (LD), Hal Turkmen (C)

Blofield and Brundall: Jan Davis (G), Andrew Proctor (C), Glenn Springett (L), Ian Wilson (LD)

Drayton and Horford: Tony Adams (C), Dave Thomas (LD), Trevor Turk (L)

Hellesdon: Bibin Baby (L), David Britcher (LD), Shelagh Gurney (C), Ken Parsons (G)

Hevingham and Spixworth: Chris Corson (C), Tony Hemmingway (L), Dan Roper (LD)

Old Catton: Ian Chapman (G), Jack Manzi (L), Karen Vincent (C), Alan Whiteside (LD)

The way of the Marriott.  Photo: Bill Smith

The way of the Marriott. Photo: Bill Smith
– Photo credit: Archant © 2012

Reepham: Sue Catchpole (LD), Sarah Morgan (G), Greg Peck (C), Tom Rednall (L)

Sprowston: Natasha Harpley (L), Kahn Johnson (G), Simon Lockett (LD), John Ward (C)

Taverham: Stuart Clancy (C), Caroline Karimi-Ghovanlou (LD), Claire Marcham (G), Daryl Wickham (L)

Thorpe St Andrew: Eleanor Laming (G), Ian Mackie (C), Gurpreet Padda (L) and Phyllida Scrivens (LD)

Woodside: Martin Booth (L), John Fisher (C), Jim Green (G), Victor Morgan (LD)

Wroxham: Nicholas Ball (G), Richard Moore (LD), Julia Wheeler (L), Fran Whymark (C)

North Norfolk

Cromer: Tim Adams (LD), Mike Bossingham (G), Richard Parker (C), David Russell (L)

Fakenham: Tom Fitzpatrick (C), Ruth Goodall (L), Kris Marshall-Smith (G), John Rest (I)

Get: Sarah Butikofer (LD), Kay Montandon (L), Simon Russell (G), Eric Vardy (C)

Hoveton and Stalham: Pierre Butikofer (LD), Nigel Dixon (C), Paul Rice (I), Richard Stowe (L)

Cromer beach, pier and fishing boat.  PHOTO: ANTONY KELLY

Fishing boats on Cromer Beach.
– Credit: Archant

Melton: Steffan Aquarone (LD), Rebecca Shaw (L), Jonathan Wilton (C), Rosie Woolgar (G)

Mundesley: Wendy Fredericks (LD), Jasper Haywood (L), Edward Maxfield (I), Crispian Riley-Smith (C), Mark Taylor (G)

North Walsham: Elizabeth Dixon (G), Graham Jones (L), Pauline Porter (C), Lucy Shires (LD)

North Walsham West and Erpingham: Chris Melhuish (G), Claudia Owen (L), Jon Payne (C), Saul Penfold (LD)

Sheringham: Ruth Bartlett (L), Simon Grewcock (G), Judy Oliver (C), Tony Shannocks Poet Bolster (The Official Monster Raving Loony Party), Liz Withington (LD)

Wells: Andrew Brown (LD), Michael Dalby (C), Stephen Green (G), Xenia Horne (L), Marie Strong (I)

South Smallburgh: Nick Coppack (I), Anne Filgate (G), Finola Gaynor-Powell (L), Richard Price (C), Adam Varley (LD)

Norwich

Bowthorpe: Roy Ashman (C), Sean Bennett (LD), Mike Sands (L), Jonathan (I)

Catton Grove: Nigel Lubbock (LD), Steve Morphew (L), Tony Park (G), Richard Potter (C)

Crome: Alison Birmingham (L), Jonathan Emsell (C), Judith Ford (G), Victor Scrivens (LD)

Eaton: Peter Prinsley (L), Jane Saunders (G), John Ward (C), Brian Watkins (LD)

Norwich Market and Norwich Castle Museum.  The city was named one of the best places to live.

According to providers, fewer people are booking accommodation in Norwich than elsewhere in the county this summer.
– Photo credit: Antony Kelly

Lakenham: Helen Betts (C), Penelope Hubble (LD), Brenda Jones (L)

Mancroft: Danny Douglas (L), Craig Harvey (C), Jamie Osborn (G)

Miles Cross: Stephen Bailey (C), Fiona Dowson (G), Susan Holland (LD), Chrissie Rumsby (L)

Nelson: Iain Gwynn (C), Paul Neale (G), Caroline Sykes (L)

Sewell: Helen Arundell (LD), Julie Brociek-Coulton (L), Evelyn Collishaw (C), Adrian Holmes (G)

Thorpe Hamlett: Jonathan Gillespie (C), Ben Price (G), Cavan Stewart (L)

City nearby: Willem Buttinger (G), Mary Chacksfield (C), Emma Corlett (L), Neil Hardman (LD)

university: John Greenaway (G), Henry Lynn (C), Matthew Reilly (L), Huw Sayer (LD)

Wensum: Teresa Belton (G), Gordon Dean (LD), David King (C), Maxine Webb (L)

Great Yarmouth

Breydon: Gareth Howe (LD), Hannah Morris (G), Carl Smith (C), Trevor Wainwright (L)

Lothingland: Carl Annison (C), Adrian Myers (I), Trevor Rawson (G), Tony Wright (L)

Munchies Cafe Beach

The area of ​​the beach in front of the Munchies Cafe, Great Yarmouth
– Photo credit: Mark Allen

East Flegg: James Bensley (C), Edd Bush (L), Hannah Gray (G), Nicholas Read (LD)

Caister on Sea: Penny Carpenter (C), Stuart Hellingsworth (L), Kenneth Petersen (G)

Yarmouth North and Central: Graham Carpenter (C), Ron Ellis (I), Tony Harris (LD), Anne Killett (G), Sandy Lysaght (L), Carrie Talbot (UKIP)

Magdalena: Ivan Smith-Murray (C), Georgie Oatley (G), Colleen Walker (L)

West Flegg: Andy Grant (C), Emma Punchard (G), Claire Wardley (L), Rebecca Woods (LD)

St Andrews: Tracey Darnell (G), Graham Plant (C), Gordon Smith (LD), Jo Thurtle (L)

Yarmouth Nelson and South Town: Daniel Candon (C), Rebecca Durant (G), Mark Godfrey (LD), Mick Riley (Reform), Mike Smith-Clare (L)

South Norfolk

Clavering: Alison Green (L), Barry Stone (C), Ian Stone (LD), Eric Wareham (G)

Costessey: Sharon Blundell (LD), John Irving (C), Jamal Sealey (L), Owen Watkins (G)

Diss and Roydon: Keith Kiddie (C), Pam Reekie (L), David Reynolds (G), Trevor Wenman (LD)

East Depwade: Bernard Chauly (LD), James Eddy (L), Andrew Newby (G), Martin Wilby (C)

Forehoe: Ian Boreham (G), Vivienne Clifford-Jackson (LD), Daniel Elmer (C), Tom Matthews (Reform), John Morland (L)

Henstead: David Fairbairn (LD), Chris Smith (L), Vic Thomson (C), Julie Young (G)

Hingham: Gary Blundell (LD), Kendra Cogman (L), Margaret Dewsbury (C), Victoria Walters (G)

Humbleyard: Janet Bearman (G), David Bills (C), Simon Chapman (L), Julian Halls (LD)

Loddon: Kay Mason Billig (C), Jeremy Rowe (L), Gill Stone (LD)

Long Stratton: Shaun Button (G), Jon Norton (LD), Alison Thomas (C), David Vail (L)

West Depwade: Barry Duffin (C), Bob McClenning (LD), Alyson Read (L), Carol Sharp (G), Beverley Spratt (I)

Wymondham: Christopher Buntin (L), Suzanne Nuri-Nixon (LD), Robert Savage (C), Paul Sutcliff (G)

Kings Lynn and West Norfolk

Clenchwarton & King`s Lynn South: Adam Giles (L), Liam Allan Hind (C), Alexandra Kemp (I)

Dersingham: Erika Ingrid Feigling (LD), Stuart Dark (C), George Lankester (L), Jordan Stokes (G)

docking: Michelle Carter (L), Michael Chenery from Horsbrugh (C), Chris Morley (I)

Downham Market: Eamonn McCusker (L), Josie Ratcliffe (LD), Jackie Westrop (I), Tony White (C)

Feltwell: Neil Aldridge (I), Christopher Harvey (L). Tom Ryves (I), Martin Storey (C)

Fincham: Alan Holmes (I), Brian Long (C), Jo Smith (L)

View of King's Lynn from the market square towards the city center.  Photo: Angela Sharpe.

View of King’s Lynn from the market square towards the city center. Photo: Angela Sharpe.
– Photo credit: Angela Sharpe

Freebridge Lynn: Francis Bone (L), Nick Daubney (C), Andrew De Whalley (G)

Gayton and Nar Valley: David Collis (L), Jim Moriarty (I), Olivia Morris (C)

Gaywood North and Central: Helen Dalgliesh (L), Graham Middleton (C), David Mills (LD), Jim Perkins (UKIP)

Gaywood South: Michael Bartrum (L), Rob Colwell (LD), Thomas Smith (C), Michael Stone (UKIP)

Kings Lynn North and Central: Robe Archer (G), Lesley Bambridge (C), Gary Bramham (Reform), Richard Coward (LD), Wilfred Lamber (L)

North Marshland: Matthew Hannay (L), Julian Kirk (C), Sandra Squire (I)

Marshland south: Chris Dawson (C), David Hodkinson (L), Alastair Kent (G), Colin Rose (I)

North coast: John Crofts (LD), Andrew, Jamieson (C), John Simmons (L)

Categories
Chesapeake

Future of Virginia’s 113-year-old electric chair and lethal injection gurney in limbo | State and Regional News

According to newspaper history, “The scene was one of the most astonishing ones imaginable, and revealed a level of morbidity that is difficult to understand.”



This 1991 photo shows the Virginia electric chair moved from the old, now demolished Richmond State Prison to the Greensville, Virginia prison facility.


The Richmond Times Dispatch File

Electric chairs have played a prominent role in American popular culture.

Angels With Dirty Faces, a 1938 Oscar-winning film starring Jimmy Cagney as gangster Rocky Sullivan and Pat O’Brien as Father Jerry Connolly, showed Sullivan faking a cowardly death in the electric chair at the priest’s request . The Green Mile, a 1999 fantasy film, featured an electric chair in Louisiana.

As bizarre as anything in fiction, a real execution in Virginia was delayed by a lightning strike. Albert M. Jackson Jr., 24, who was sentenced to death for rape, was due to be executed on June 30, 1952. However, an electrical storm three days earlier destroyed the power line to the prison.

The warden reported that they could not get the materials needed for the repairs in time for Jackson’s scheduled execution. After repairs, Jackson was electrocuted on August 25, 1952.

The chair and its electrical system and controls have been repaired and / or upgraded several times over the course of its life.

By July 31, 1962, 54 years after Virginia bought the chair, 235 men and one woman – Virginia Christian, a 17-year-old black woman – had died in it.

Categories
Chesapeake

NorthMarq Arranges $67.3M Sale of Streets of Greenbrier Apartments in Chesapeake, Virginia

The Streets of Greenbrier was built in 2013 and consists of 280 residential units on 929 Wintercress Way.

CHESAPEAKE, VA. – NorthMarq’s Wink Ewing and Mike Marshall, with the firm’s Ryan Rilee, arranged the sale of the Streets of Greenbrier residential community in Chesapeake for $ 67.3 million. The NorthMarq team represented Richmond-based seller GrayCo Inc., who sold the property to Capital Square, a DST (Delaware Statutory Trust) platform based in Richmond.

The Streets of Greenbrier was built in 2013 and consists of 280 residential units on 929 Wintercress Way. A joint venture with Wood Partners & GrayCo Inc. originally developed the property. Market conditions were extremely favorable as Chesapeake had the highest annual rental growth in the region at more than 6 percent.

The property is close to the Greenbrier and Summit Pointe business districts. Greenbrier is the largest business district in Hampton Roads and includes 19 million square feet of commercial space.

The property includes one, two, and three bedroom floor plans. The apartment has 9 to 10 foot ceilings, attached / freestanding garages, ceramic tile floors and tub coverings in the bathrooms, an individual lighting package, espresso furniture with nickel fittings, LVP floors in the entrances and in the kitchen as well as open kitchens with granite surfaces / islands, Stainless steel hot tub units, oversized bedrooms, patio / sunroom options, soaking tubs in master bathrooms, tiled floors in kitchen, washer / dryer included, and open concept floor plans.

The communal facilities include 24-hour emergency maintenance, a 24-hour fitness center, a billiards area, a charcoal grill and a picnic area around the pond, a digital parcel acceptance and notification system, a dog park, a sundeck with WiFi access, a fireplace lounge , Free Car Wash and Vacuum Cleaner, Swimming Pool, On-Site Recycling, Outdoor Fireplace, Poolside Outdoor Pool, and Valet Parking.