Wintergreen Resort
Nelson County, Virginia
The final days of winter are here. Once the annual pond skimming contest is held at Wintergreen Resort, that officially marks the end of the winter sports season. On Saturday they held Rail Jam.
Some of the best came out on Saturday for Rail Jam. It's one of the last competitive events held at Wintergreen before the warm weather kicks in. It's not just about boarding, skiers have fun in the final hours of the season too!Before long these slopes will be covered in green and thoughts will be on golf and warmer days ahead.They save the best for last each year at Wintergreen. The annual Pond Skimming competition marks the official end to the winter season. The goal is to make it all the way across, or as far as you can!And it's all about the costumes! Paul tells us there were some pretty creative ones this year. We see that!Though it was pretty mild on Sunday, this still makes for a cold landing.
Here’s the official results from Paul:
Best Costume: Evan Connell
Best Fall: C J Priscillo
Winners – Women:
1. Madison Gallegher
2. Katie Isham
3. Cindy Johnson
Winners – Men:
1. Shawn Russell
2. Duane Brown
3. Jack Sharron
See everyone on the slopes next season! Till think see you on the greens 🙂
Nelson County, Virginia
Monday started off a bit chilly but easily warmed into the mid 70’s in the lower elevations of Nelson County. That warmth will continued over the next several days with some afternoons easily reaching into the 80’s. That will push some of the green color into high gear!
File photo: Nelson County High School was being evacuated Monday morning as a safety precaution. A bomb threat has been received at the school.
Lovingston
Nelson County, Virginia 12:45 PM EDT
Via Sheriff David Brooks and his deputies on scene, situation has been cleared, nothing found. Students are being allowed back in school. Returning to normal.
12:20 PM EDT
As of now students are still evacuated. School still being searched.
Original post from 9:01 AM EDT
Nelson County Sheriff Brooks confirms to NCL this morning that Nelson County High School is being evacuated. “It’s a matter of routine safety anytime we received a bomb threat. Though we have never had a real threat in the past, we have to take the student’s safety into consideration,” Sheriff Brooks said Monday morning.
Officers from his department as well as area fire and rescue units were staged at the school while routine searches are ongoing.
A K-9 sniffing dog has been requested to aid in the search.
Photos Courtesy of Stuart Smith : Kaleigh Smith of Roseland, a freshman at NCHS, takes to the stage this past weekend at Nelson County High in the musical production of Anything Goes.
NCHS Band & Chorus Director Scott Blecher (left) and Diana Driver the school's drama director chat with the audience at a performance this past weekend in Lovingston.
Via Wiki:
“Anything Goes is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The original book was a collaborative effort by Guy Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse, heavily revised by the team of Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. The story concerns madcap antics aboard an ocean liner bound from New York to London. Billy Crocker is a stowaway in love with heiress Hope Harcourt, who is engaged to Lord Evelyn Oakleigh. Nightclub singer Reno Sweeney and Public Enemy #13 Moonface Martin aid Billy in his quest to win Hope. The musical introduced such songs as “Anything Goes”, “You’re the Top”, and “I Get a Kick Out of You.”
Since its 1934 debut at the Neil Simon Theatre (at the time known as the Alvin) on Broadway, the musical has been revived several times in the United States and Britain and has been filmed twice. The musical has long been a popular choice for school and community productions.”
Most of the cast on stage at Anything Goes this past weekend at Nelson County High School in Lovingston.
Photos Courtesy of Doug Nelson : People danced Saturday night this past weekend (in spite of the time change!) at The Blues Away Benefit Concert for SPCA.
Photos By DBBC: The Eight Point IPA in bottles began coming off the line at the Devils Backbone Outpost in Lexington this past week. The bottled beer is now in stores.
The bottled version of Devils Backbone beer is now in stores like this Kroger on Barracks Rd in Charlottesville. DBBC Outpost is holding its grand opening all weekend long at the Lexington facility. Brian Coe, (left) sales manager for the new line of retail beers from DBBC chats with folks at the bar Friday afternoon during the kick off grand opening in Lexington.
The exterior of the BMB production brewery located in Colleen near Central Virginia Electric.
Blue Mountain Barrel House and Organic Brewery is a 10,000 square foot production-only facility for the 10 lines of Blue Mountain beer that will be kegged or bottled in 750ml corked bottles and undergo 100% natural refermentation. These beers will be USDA certified organic and will tend toward the more “specialty” end of Blue Mountain’s beer production spectrum. Beers brewed will include the popular Dark Hollow Bourbon-Barrel Aged Stout and Mandolin, but will also introduce new styles such as an imperial pilsner and a barrel-aged Belgian-inspired ale.
BMB head brewmaster and owner, Taylor Smack, points out some of the final work taking place on the exterior of the building.
A future additional second phase of the project will eventually include will be a large production brewery of 40-60,000 square feet will focus on the production of the current bottled beer lines, including Full Nelson and Classic Lager. This brewery will help service the large amount of unfulfilled orders from the current beer wholesaler, as well as begin expansion to out-of-state markets. The eventual capacity for this brewery will be 50,000 barrels annually.
Taylor Smack inspects one of the many tanks that arrived last week at the Colleen brewery site here in South Nelson County, VA
Barring any problems Taylor says the BMB Colleen location will be in production this spring.
Daylight Saving Time Begins This Sunday Morning. Move Your Clock Forward One Hour Before Bed Saturday Night.
Nelson County, VA
It’s that time of the year again! Spring is in the air and that means Daylight Saving Time begins on Sunday March 11th at 2AM. For simplicity’s sake it’s easier to move your clock ahead by one hour before heading off to bed on Saturday night. Then you’ll be all ready to go Sunday morning when you get up!
Photo via CBS-19 Charlottesville: Ray Uttaro, Nelson County's Emergency Service Coordinator pleas guilty to misdemeanor embezzlement in a courtroom on Wednesday morning. Nelson's Commonwealth Attorney Anthony Martin released the case and plea details Wednesday afternoon.
“Mr. Uttaro has been suspended without pay,” said Steve Carter, Nelson County Administrator, around 3:30PM Wednesday afternoon in reply to our email inquiry earlier Wednesday asking about the employment status.
Nelson County Commonwealth Attorney Anthony Martin just released the details concerning the case around noon Wednesday. We have posted his release verbatim. Nothing has been changed or edited whatsoever.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: March 7, 2012
RE: Uttaro pleads guilty to embezzlement of donated television
FROM: ANTHONY MARTIN, COMMONWEALTH’S ATTORNEY
CONTACT: 434-263-7010
County Employee Ray Uttaro, pleaded guilty today to misdemeanor embezzlement in the Nelson County General District Court.
On January 31, 2011, Uttaro, a county employee, by email solicited the donation of a flat screen television from Crutchfield citing the small size of the television that was in the old dispatch center. Crutchfield responded to Uttaro’s email on February 16, 2011, saying they were donating a 46-inch Sony television to the Communications Center. Uttaro then sent a reply back to Crutchfield on the same day thanking them for the donation.
Suspicion of the television’s whereabouts began to surface in the spring of 2011. On February 20, 2011, Uttaro posted as his Facebook status: “I am happy to say, I got a flat panel 27-inch TV for my dispatchers. It will go in the new center once its finished.” On April 2, 2011, Uttaro posted as his Facebook status: “Slept in late this morning, YEAH, mounted the TV to the wall.” He also posted photos of what appeared to be a large flat-screen television on his living room wall. The date of the photo was April 17, 2011.
In mid-November, 2011, the sheriff’s office received information that the television from Crutchfield that was donated to the center may have been the television depicted in Uttaro’s Facebook photos. Uttaro had given conflicting statements to other employees as to the whereabouts of the Crutchfield television. He told one employee that he turned Crutchfield’s offer to donate the television down.
Meanwhile, Uttaro put a smaller Olevia television in the dispatch center. Because of the inconsistent statements and the Facebook postings, this matter was brought to the attention of Nelson County investigators.
To give Uttaro the benefit of the doubt, the investigators first went to Crutchfield to find out if the television was either returned or not picked up. Crutchfield provided the investigators with the email correspondence detailed above and said that the television was picked up and never returned to the store.
After interviewing employees from Crutchfield, investigators went to Uttaro’s residence in Shipman on November 28, 2011.
Investigator Billy Mays and Becky Adcock went to Uttaro’s home and asked if they could speak to him concerning the whereabouts of the donated television. This interview was tape-recorded. Uttaro told Mays and Adcock that he did not pick up the television from Crutchfield.
Mays asked Uttaro about the 27-inch Olevia television that was in the dispatch center at that time. Uttaro told them that he bought that television from Craigslist for $200.00.
Uttaro was then asked about the large television that was mounted on his living room wall. This television had a striking resemblance to the donated television. Mays and Adcock also had the serial number of the television that was donated to the dispatch center by Crutchfield with them.
Uttaro said the television on his wall was not the donated television and that he bought it from a friend. Uttaro could not provide a name for the friend. Mays then told Uttaro that he had spoken to the people at Crutchfield and that their records showed that the donated television never came back and asked Uttaro if they could look at the serial number to the television on his wall.
Once confronted with this information, Uttaro admitted that the television on his wall was the one donated by Crutchfield. He admitted to picking up the television from Crutchfield around February or March and did not know why he kept it. Uttaro then helped the officers dismount the television from the wall and it was taken into evidence.
Uttaro was sentenced to 90 days in jail with 86 days suspended leaving an active jail sentence of 4 days. Uttaro also received a $1,200.00 fine which was the value of the television. He must also perform 100 hours of community service, pay court costs, and he cannot take care of anyone else’s money or property for two years.
The following exhibits were filed in the court papers: copies of email correspondence from Uttaro and Crutchfield, copies of Uttaro’s Facebook postings and photos of the television; and finally a copy of Uttaro’s recorded statement with law enforcement.
View Browns Hollow Logging Fatality in a larger map General area along Browns Hollow Lane in the Massies Mill area where a person lost their life in a late Tuesday evening logging accident.
Massies Mill
Nelson County, VA
Nelson County Sheriff David Brooks confirms to NCL that another life has been lost in the county within 24 hours of an elderly woman dying earlier in the day at a house fire in Gladstone. “This time it was along Browns Hollow Lane near Dickie Road in the Massies Mill area. The person killed was 28 year old Steven Wendell Evans. He was run into by a small trac loader while dealing with a mechanical problem. This has been a truly sad day in Nelson for families involved in both of these tragedies,” Sheriff Brooks said. Brooks told NCL the family was notified Tuesday evening.
Area, fire, rescue and law units arrived on the scene around dark and continued to investigate what happened into the early nighttime hours Tuesday.
