Photo By East Nelson Photographer Tori Mininger : As a severe thunderstorm moved across Nelson County early Friday afternoon Tori grabbed this shot from Shipman in East Nelson.
Nelson County, Virginia
By 3PM Friday afternoon a round of severe storms had moved across Nelson County. A Tornado Warning was issued during the early afternoon as radar indicated a tornado was being tracked moving out of Amherst toward Nelson. Numerous Severe Thunderstorm Warnings were also issued throughout the afternoon.
As the severe storms rolled through, officials at Nelson County Public Schools held students from boarding buses until the weather cleared. There were also some reports of debris scattered on some roads across Nelson, but no major damage was reported.
Jeremy Graybill shared this photo with us of large hailstones from Friday's storm on Heards Mountain Rd. near Bethel Church
By far the strongest of storms was to the north and east of Nelson. In the DC MD ara several reports of tornados and storm damage were received by early evening Friday.
Just before dark, all of the severe weather activity in the Nelson area was done with only rain showers left behind.
Saturday and Sunday look stunning with mostly sunny skies, low humidity, and mild temperatures.
Via SPC In Norman, OK : A Tornado Watch continues for most of Central Virginia including Nelson & Wintergreen until 9PM EDT Friday night. TORNADO WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE FOR WT 332 Scroll for county outline area:
URGENT – IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NU MBER 332
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
130 PM EDT FRI JUN 1 2012
THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF
MARYLAND
NORTHWEST NORTH CAROLINA
SOUTH-CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA
WESTERN AND NORTHERN VIRGINIA
EASTERN WEST VIRGINIA PANHANDLE
EFFECTIVE THIS FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 130 PM UNTIL 900
PM EDT.
TORNADOES…HAIL TO 1.5 INCHES IN DIAMETER…THUNDERSTORM WIND
GUSTS TO 70 MPH…AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE
AREAS.
THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 60 STATUTE
MILES EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 40 MILES NORTHEAST OF ALTOONA
PENNSYLVANIA TO 40 MILES WEST OF GREENSBORO NORTH CAROLINA. FOR
A COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH
OUTLINE UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU2).
REMEMBER…A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH
AREA. PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR
THREATENING WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS
AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS.
DISCUSSION…STRONG FORCED ASCENT WITH A LARGE SCALE TROUGH WAS
LIKELY CONTRIBUTING TO AN INCREASE IN LOW-TOPPED CONVECTION ALONG A
COLD FRONT NOW SITUATED FROM ERN OH SWD ACROSS WV…EXTREME SWRN VA
AND ERN TN. EXPECT THAT THIS CONVECTION WILL CROSS THE SPINE OF THE
APPALACHIANS OVER THE NEXT 2 HOURS. AS THE FRONT BEGINS TO INTERACT
WITH GREATER INSTABILITY EAST OF THE MOUNTAINS…MORE VIGOROUS
STORM DEVELOPMENT IN THE FORM OF BOWING/LEWPING LINE SEGMENTS CAN BE
EXPECTED. A WEAK FRONTAL WAVE MAY ALSO TAKE FORM WITH TIME
COINCIDENT WITH AN INCREASE IN STORMS ALONG A WARM FRONT EXTENDING
ACROSS SRN PA AND INTO THE DELMARVA REGION. IN ADDITION TO WIND
DAMAGE AND SOME HAIL THREAT WITH THE STORMS ALONG THE ADVANCING
FRONT…AN ENHANCED BUT FOCUSED TORNADO THREAT MAY EVOLVE NEAR THE
FRONTAL WAVE AND WARM FRONT.
AVIATION…TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 1.5 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE
WIND GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO
450. MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 22035.
WOUS64 KWNS 011725
WOU2
BULLETIN – IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE FOR WT 332
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
130 PM EDT FRI JUN 1 2012
TORNADO WATCH 332 IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 900 PM EDT FOR THE
FOLLOWING LOCATIONS
ALBEMARLE ALLEGHANY AMHERST
APPOMATTOX AUGUSTA BATH
BEDFORD BLAND BOTETOURT
BUCKINGHAM CAMPBELL CARROLL
CHARLOTTE CLARKE CRAIG
CULPEPER FAUQUIER FLOYD
FRANKLIN FREDERICK GILES
GRAYSON GREENE HALIFAX
HENRY HIGHLAND LOUDOUN
MADISON MONTGOMERY NELSON
PAGE PATRICK PITTSYLVANIA
PULASKI RAPPAHANNOCK ROANOKE
ROCKBRIDGE ROCKINGHAM SHENANDOAH
SMYTH TAZEWELL WARREN
WYTHE
VIRGINIA INDEPENDENT CITIES INCLUDED ARE
BEDFORD BUENA VISTA CHARLOTTESVILLE
COVINGTON DANVILLE GALAX
HARRISONBURG LEXINGTON LYNCHBURG
MARTINSVILLE RADFORD ROANOKE
SALEM STAUNTON WAYNESBORO
WINCHESTER
As of late Friday morning the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, OK had much of the East Coast and the Mid Atlantic under a slight risk for severe weather. Though the risk area is defined as slight risk, there is a better than average chance for severe weather this time around.
Nelson County, VA June 1st marks the start of hurricane season in the Atlantic, but this time around it may mean severe thunderstorms including possible tornados late in the day. A weather system is developing across the area that will likely produce significant severe weather during the afternoon hours on Friday.”
Though it’s not an absolute prediction of severe weather, the likelihood of strong storms, some producing tornados, if better than average this Friday afternoon and evening. There is some sense that the Storm Prediction Center will upgrade the slight risk area to a moderate risk area by early Friday afternoon.
Photo NCSD : 64 Year old Ned Douglass May of Nellysford was indicted by a Nelson Grand Jury in late May on 4 counts of reproducing child pornography.
Nellysford / Lovingston
Nelson County, VA
DATE: February 4, 2013
RE: Wintergreen man pleads guilty to 23 counts of possessing child pornography
FROM: ANTHONY MARTIN, COMMONWEALTH’S ATTORNEY
CONTACT: 434-263-7010
Before he had to face a Nelson County jury tomorrow morning, Ned Douglass May, 65, of Stoney Creek in Nelson County, Virginia, pleaded guilty in the Nelson County Circuit Court this morning to 23 felony charges of possession of child pornography, 22 of which were second or subsequent offenses that each carry up to 10 years in prison.
Detective Patrick Siewert of the Virginia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force based in Louisa, Virginia, began noticing that a computer was sharing files, child pornography videos, on a peer-to-peer file sharing program called E-Donkey. Generally, E-Donkey is used to download movies, music and other copyrighted material from other users.
Siewert received 4 video files from the same computer on E-Donkey, all of which depicted children between the ages of 5 and 15 years old engaged in sexual acts with other children and adults. Detective Siewert obtained the subscriber information from Nelson Cable for the computer that was making child pornography available on E-Donkey. The subscriber was listed by Nelson Cable as Ned Douglass May of Stoney Creek.
On March 16, 2012, Detective Siewert and Office Nic Rudman of the Charlottesville Police Department, who is also on the Task Force, obtained a search warrant to search May’s home and seize computers, laptops and other electronic equipment that is used to download and store child pornography. Wintergreen Police Department and the Nelson County Sheriff’s Office assisted in the search.
May admitted to Siewert and Rudman that he used the E-Donkey file sharing program to download child pornography and that he had been doing that for several years. He told the officers that he used search terms such as 2 yo and 3 yo, meaning 3 year old or 2 year old. He admitted to being interested in 3 year old to 15 year old children. Officers seized several hard drives, cell phones and an Apple IPAD that May stated he used for downloading child pornography.
A forensic examination of May’s hard drives and IPAD revealed thousands of files that appeared to contain child pornography. Detective Siewart was able to match the video files he received to the files found on May’s hard drive.
May was initially charged with 4 counts of distributing child pornography based on the undercover downloads that Siewert received from December 2011 through March 6, 2012, all of which occurred before the March 16, 2012 search warrant.
Nelson County Commonwealth’s Attorney, Anthony Martin, subsequently authorized 19 additional child pornography charges based on videos that were found on May’s IPAD. The initial distribution charges were amended to possession of child pornography based on May pleading guilty to the other 19 additional charges.
Detective Siewert said that this was one of the biggest child pornography collections he had seen in his 5 years on the Task Force.
May is being held at the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail and will be sentenced on April 8, 2013 at 1:30 p.m
.
Original story from June 1, 2012 An investigation by the Virginia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force has resulted in a grand jury indictment against a 64 year old Nellysford man. According to charges on file in circuit court. Ned Douglass May of Cedar Glen Close in Nellysford was charged with four counts of reproducing child pornography.
“Our officers processed Mr. May without incident on 5.23.12 after the grand jury indictment was received,” said Nelson County Sheriff David Brooks.
“While I am not at liberty to discuss the details of this investigation, I can say this is a growing problem and we take it seriously. Our office will be pursing this case in the coming weeks and look for justice to be served,” said Nelson’s Commonwealth Attorney Anthony Martin.
According to information provided by the Nelson County Sheriff’s Department on Thursday evening May 31, 2012 – Ned Douglass May is current out on a $20,000 secured bond with an advisement hearing scheduled in court on June 19th.
File Photo From Previous School Evacuations : Another bomb threat at Nelson County High School prompted evacuations of both the high and middle schools Wednesday - May 30th 2012.
Lovingston
Nelson County, Virginia
For the second time this year lawmen and school officials are dealing with a bomb threat at a Nelson School. This time it was at Nelson County High School on Wednesday May 30th. For 2-3 hours students in both NCHS and the middle school were evacuated while bomb sniffing dogs checked out the school. The last bomb threat received at that location was on March 12th 2012.
Photo Via NCSD: The Nelson Sheriff's Department charged 19 year old Cody Hughes of Faber in connection with the March 12th 2012 bomb threat at Nelson County High.
“The (Hughes) case is still pending. The next court date is the preliminary hearing because it’s a felony,” Said Nelson’s Commonwealth Attorney Anthony Martin. According to Nelson Sheriff David Brooks, Hughes next court appearance will be on July 7th 2012.
After Wednesday’s most recent evacuation, CA Martin issued a stern warning for those considering making bomb threats.
“Today there was another bomb threat at the high school. I want to remind folks that it is a FELONY to make or communicate any threat to bomb, burn, destroy or damage a building. For adults, it is a Class 5 felony that carries up to 10 years in prison. Juvenile felonies in Virginia can go on a person’s record and could cause negative consequences for the rest of a person’s life. People need to think twice before doing things like this. This is not a misdemeanor or “fine-only” offense. I hope everyone is safe and that it gets resolved quickly.”
Nelson lawmen are now investigating this most recent bomb threat with hopes of making an arrest in that case as well.
Cover Image Courtesy Michael T. Vitez : Author Michael T. Vitez recently wrote The Road Back which chronicles the November 2008 accident of UVA pre-med student Matthew Miller on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Nelson County. Wintergreen Rescue is part of a chapter in the book.
Blue Ridge Parkway
Nelson County, Virginia
November 2, 2008 started off as a fantastic day for Matthew Miller. He was a 20 year old third year student at UVA. But all of that changed in an instant later that morning as he biked along the Blue Ridge Parkway.
An excerpt from Chapter one of The Road Back by author Michael T. Vitez detailing the events and comeback of Matt Miller
“Matthew Miller had just pedaled up a mountain pass. He was 20, a member of the University of Virginia triathlon club, so fit his resting pulse was 42! He was on top of the world in so many ways, in love, with dreams of attending medical school. And then, cycling along the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia, tragedy struck. The real story is not what happened, but what happened after. Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Michael Vitez shares with you the incredible, humbling, miraculous story of Matt’s survival and recovery. It is a story, truly, of grace and grit, of an America that shines – families, community, individuals and institutions. The story is as gripping as it is inspiring. Ride along!”
VIew the interview above with author Michael T. Vitez about his newly released book.
Via NWS: The areas highlighted in pink are under a Severe Thunderstorm Watch until 10PM EDT Tuesday night.
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH NUMBER 316 Scroll for county / city outline area
URGENT – IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH NUMBER 316
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
430 PM EDT TUE MAY 29 2012
THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF
NORTHERN MARYLAND
NORTHERN AND CENTRAL VIRGINIA
EXTREME EASTERN WEST VIRGINIA
EFFECTIVE THIS TUESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 430 PM UNTIL
1000 PM EDT.
HAIL TO 1.5 INCHES IN DIAMETER…THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS TO 70
MPH…AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.
THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 45
STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 15 MILES EAST OF
HAGERSTOWN MARYLAND TO 15 MILES SOUTH SOUTHEAST OF STAUNTON
VIRGINIA. FOR A COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE
ASSOCIATED WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU6).
REMEMBER…A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE
FAVORABLE FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH
AREA. PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR
THREATENING WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS
AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY
DO PRODUCE TORNADOES.
OTHER WATCH INFORMATION…CONTINUE…WW 313…WW 314…WW 315…
DISCUSSION…THUNDERSTORMS HAVE SHOWN SIGNS OF INCREASING OVER ERN
WV ALONG THE SRN EDGE OF A STRONGER SHORT WAVE TROUGH MOVING TOWARD
THE LOWER GREAT LAKES. AIR MASS HAS BECOME QUITE UNSTABLE WITH
MLCAPE NEAR 2500 J/KG. THE AREA IS ALSO ALONG THE SRN EDGE OF
STRONGER FLOW ALOFT WITH SUFFICIENT SHEAR TO SUPPORT ORGANIZED
MULTICELL STORMS. STRONGER ACTIVITY WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING
DAMAGING WIND GUSTS AND OCCASIONAL LARGE HAIL.
AVIATION…A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL SURFACE AND ALOFT
TO 1.5 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND GUSTS TO 60
KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 550. MEAN STORM
MOTION VECTOR 24025.
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE FOR WS 316
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
430 PM EDT TUE MAY 29 2012
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 316 IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1000 PM EDT
FOR THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS
Photo By NCL Mountain Photographer Paul Purpura : Youngsters take a cool dip this past Memorial Day Weekend in Lake Monocan at Wintergreen Resort. Temps were 90° or hotter for the entire weekend.
Nelson County, VA
This past Memorial Day weekend was about as traditional as could be in Nelson County. Hot weather! BBQ! Pools, lakes and streams! Only very isolated storms popped up here and there.
Photo By NCL Central Nelson Photographer Marcie Gates : You know summer is about here when the folks at Afton Mountain Vineyards kick off their Afton After Hours. Eli Cook entertained the crowd this past Saturday night over Memorial Day weekend. Photo By Paul Purpura : Down the road a bit toward Roseland Jennifer Stuart and The Design helped people at Wintergreen Winery - Wine Into Summer with their annual summer kick off. Photo By Paul Purpura : Head up 3500 feet or so and Wintergreen Performing Arts held their annual International Wine Festival at Wintergreen Resort. Photo By Paul Purpura : A huge Arts & Crafts show was underway this past weekend at Wintergreen Resort as well.
The summer fun is just beginning across Nelson County! See you more as summer unfolds!
Via NCSD: Joshua Wayne Painter has been charged with a multitude of felonies including attempted murder on a Nelson deputy sheriff.
Lovingston
Nelson County, VA
The following press release was received on May 29th from the Nelson County Sheriff’s Department. It has been reprinted here verbatim:
On a May 19, 2012 traffic stop on High Peak Lane in Shipman, the K9 alerted on the vehicle.
Lt. Becky Adcock & Deputy Cory Thacker asked the driver to step out of vehicle. The driver then
started the vehicle and attempted to drive off. Deputy Thacker reached into the vehicle in an attempt
to turn off the ignition and the driver started to drive away with the deputy hanging out of window.
The driver struck a tree, and again attempted to drive off with the deputy hanging from the
window. The deputy grabbed the steering wheel and the car struck a tree again with
deputy still hanging from window. At this time, the deputy was able to take control of the vehicle.
The following Items were seized from the vehicle: smoking devices, scales and 15 grams of meth.
The driver, Joshua Wayne Painter, 26 y.o. of Shipman, was charged with:
-Attempted capital murder of police officer
-2 felony counts of assault and battery of police officer
-Possession of meth with intent to distribute
-Resisting arrest
-Defective equipment
Mr. Painter is being held in Albemarle/Charlottesville Joint Security Complex without bond. He is scheduled for a bond hearing today (5/29/12) in Circuit Court.
Thanks To Marion Kanour Of Afton For The Photo: Nelly May was returned to the Nelson Farmers Market Coop in Nellysford this weekend.
Nellysford
Nelson County, VA
We’re not sure of the circumstances, but Nelly May is back home. Don’t know if it was a case of the Bear Brigade felling sorry or it was simply the vandals had had enough fun, but Nelly May was back at the market this Saturday morning over Memorial Day weekend.
