Culpeper’s top 10 stories of 2009

1 - Recession took its toll on household budgets
Some economists claimed the recession ended this spring, and yet financial struggle intensified for everyday folks across the Culpeper region in 2009.
Yes, we got a break at the gas pump — for now — but what good is a car if you don’t have a job or a house?
The Culpeper area saw more than its share of layoffs at various industries including Continental Teves, Rochester, Klockner and Merillat, along with countless other cutbacks never officially announced.
The Virginia Employment Commission canceled its annual job fair due to a lack of interest from employers, and the Culpeper Chamber of Commerce’s job Web site often had no jobs to post. As of October, unemployment in Culpeper reached 7.4 percent compared to 3.4 percent two years earlier.
The building business continued to slug along as homebuilding plummeted to an all-time low.
Local homebuilders assumed survival mode with volume down 80 to 100 percent over previous years, making cuts to their staff unavoidable. The related industry of building suppliers also cut jobs.
VDOT closed its residency office in Culpeper this year, cutting 45 jobs, while local government workers made due with no raises and resources stretched as thin as ever.
Furlough was the new f-word in 2009 as more and more people were forced to take time off without pay, including Star-Exponent employees. Culpeper’s daily paper also saw layoffs. As wages shrank, the cost of health care did anything but, putting even more pressure on the middle class.
Small businesses in Culpeper were hard hit as well, as evidenced by dozens of empty storefronts downtown and in the various shopping centers.
On the town’s south side, two longtime restaurants closed their doors: Golden Corral and China Jade.
Meanwhile, Culpeper Social Services experienced a sizable jump in applications for food stamps and reported seeing some newly jobless folks in their office for the very first time.
Over at the Culpeper Food Closet at St. Stephen’s, a record number were served.
And then there was the housing market, which continued to be plagued by a destabilizing number of foreclosures.
By mid-year, there was at least one house per day lost to loan default, and the year-end figures were on track to be as bad as or worse than 2008.
The town of Culpeper even got involved with trying to stabilize its newer neighborhoods, applying for and accepting $1.2 million from the feds to purchase, rehab and resell foreclosed homes at a discount.
Not surprisingly, Culpeper led the state in 2009 for its share of subprime mortgages.
Economists predict things are still going to get worse before they get better, so hang on.

2 - Quadruple fatal wreck on Route 3
The head-on collision on March 22 that killed four young people on Route 3 shocked Culpeper residents and forced area residents in Stevensburg to demand safety measures for a dangerous, curvy stretch of highway near Clay Hill Road.
The March tragedy was the latest in a string of deadly wrecks in that vicinity on a two-lane road that links Stevensburg to Lignum.
Joanne Russell, a Stevensburg resident, took her concerns to the Virginia Department of Transportation, Culpeper County Board of Supervisors and state legislators. After a lengthy study, VDOT recently implemented safety precautions such as additional signs, lower speed advisories and rumble strips on the center double yellow lines.
That early-morning wreck involving Eugene Greene’s 2002 Chevy Tahoe and a 2004 Toyota Corolla — filled with five people — occurred around 2:50 a.m. about 1/10 of a mile east of Clay Hill Road. Greene, 30, faces four counts of involuntary manslaughter for the deaths of Tyler Scott Harlowe, 20, and Joseph Lee Sahnow, 20, both of Ruckersville, Tianna V. Jones, 19, of Stanardsville; and James Cook, 21, of Marshfield, Vt. He was also charged with felony destruction of property, wounding in commission of a felony, reckless driving and operating an uninsured vehicle.
A fifth passenger in the Toyota, Howard John Steiniger, now 28, was transported to Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg before being taken to Virginia Commonwealth University’s Medical Center in Richmond.

3 - Tragedy strikes community again
The tragic untimely death of a Culpeper County High School senior left the Culpeper community grieving over yet another young life cut too short.
The news of Alana Michelle Hester’s death on Aug. 27 spread quickly throughout Culpeper’s close-knit community, inspiring her peers to honor her memory in their own unique way at CCHS.
Her peers transformed the senior courtyard into a colorful, fragrant new flower garden, painted the senior rock with Hester’s name and decorated a wall outside the auditorium with her soccer jersey and numerous farewell notes.
CCHS students also created a memorial at Hester’s parking spot and the school’s lobby and hallways were made into makeshift memorials to the young student.
CCHS student Chris Frazier donated the $100 he won during the Eastern View-CCHS football game for kicking a 20-yard field goal to a fund created on Hester’s behalf.
The CCHS PowderPuff game between the seniors and juniors was dedicated to Hester and helped raise money for the RizeUp Ministries in her memory.
The two-vehicle wreck that killed the 17-year-old soccer captain occurred on U.S. 15 in front of Pearl Sample Elementary School around 5:30 p.m.
Police say Hester pulled out in front of a southbound dump truck driven by 41-year-old William N. Hoyt.

4 - Funding request sparks uproar
The proverbial switchboards lit up in recent months at news of the town being asked to pitch in a cool $1.5 million to help fix the long-rundown, circa 1938 art deco theater located across from town hall on Main Street.
For and against, reactions to the State Theatre Foundation’s request poured in to the Star-Exponent with naysayers seemingly outweighing supporters. No one could have imagined — though maybe it should have been expected — how strongly the community would react to the foundation’s last-ditch appeal to revive the recession-stalled project.
A few key community members, including the chamber of commerce and a dozen downtown business owners, threw their support behind a monetary contribution from the town while many others wrote in to say: “No way!”
The general argument against a town donation toward the estimated $8 million rehab was that the economy was too dire for such nonessential projects. The general argument for it was that because the economy is so dire the town should invest in a project estimated to create 200 construction jobs over two years and, once finished, breathe new life — and money — into all of downtown. Town Council recently created a subcommittee to study the request, and that work is ongoing, so stay tuned.

5 - Clerk shot in broad daylight
Face covered and carrying a sawed-off shotgun, a Culpeper teen reportedly walked into a mom-and-pop shop not far from his home near Yowell Meadow Park on the morning of Nov. 5, demanding money from the clerk before pulling the trigger.
At some point during the incident, the clerk sprayed his attacker with mace and was shot in the arm. The alleged shooter then took off on foot. Rare for small-town Culpeper, the weekday shooting in broad daylight sent chills up and down Sperryville Pike.
Police arrived at West Side Grocery within minutes, as neighbors trickled from homes and businesses, many expressing concern for a victim they knew and liked, 49-year-old Imad Abdo of Culpeper. A husband and father who had worked in the small grocery for more than four years, Abdo was rushed via helicopter to U.Va., shot in his right shoulder.
Back at West Side, the setting was tense as police launched an all-out manhunt for the shooter and a nearby school was locked down.
Less than two hours later, authorities arrested 18-year-old Stephen R. Leavell in connection with the crime. He remains in jail, charged with armed robbery, aggravated malicious wounding, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, wearing a mask, use of a sawed-off shotgun and cutting, stabbing or wounding in the commission of a felony.
Abdo spent about three weeks in the hospital, undergoing several surgeries before returning home.

6 - Culpeper gets buried in snow
At about 6 p.m. Dec. 18, a little bit of snow started to fall. Soon, it quickly became a lot of snow. It didn’t let up until about 30 hours later. And by that time, Culpeper had received in the neighborhood of 20 inches, making the Blizzard of ’09 one of the area’s biggest snowstorms — at least for the month of December.
The blizzard was remarkable in that it dumped so much snow in such a short amount of time. Early efforts to remove the white stuff proved futile, as whatever paths the plows (or shovels) created was quickly buried in another layer.
The storm hit right after kids got out of school for winter break, so school wasn’t impacted. For the youngsters, it was a winter wonderland, with the snow hanging around for days and making a relatively rare white Christmas. For those who had to navigate the frozen roads, it was a nightmare.
Unless you were a brave soul in a four-wheel drive, Culpeper’s streets were nearly impassable for a day or two. But public works crews (in town) and VDOT trucks (in the county) worked hard to get the roads in good shape. And let’s don’t forget about the private guys and gals who shoveled driveways and parking lots, earning a few extra bucks for Christmas during a tough economy. In that regard, maybe we need a few more blizzards!

7 - Clinics set up to distribute vaccine
This year’s health-related buzzword became swine flu after several deaths in Mexico in April were blamed on the killer H1N1 virus, sparking fear of a potential pandemic.
Culpeper doctor’s offices began to fill with disposable-mask wearing patients and hand sanitizer dispensers and signs reminding folks to wash their hands with warm soap and water began popping up in the hospital’s lobbies.
Health officials promised the highly anticipated vaccine would be available in mid-October.
But surprisingly, there were only enough doses for priority groups — such as pregnant women and people who take care of the sickly and young children.
By early October, the Rappahannock-Rapidan Health District received 300 initial doses of the H1N1 “swine flu” vaccine for the entire five-county region and the Culpeper Regional Hospital received 100 at first, leaving the general public scrambling for immunization.
Swine flu clinics were set up and vaccines were administered at all participating public and private schools in Culpeper by the second week of November. Health care workers from the Rappahannock-Rapidan Health District even organized flu clinics at Germanna Community College’s Daniel Technology Center as well as all five health departments in the Piedmont.
Health officials promise to administer the H1N1 “swine flu” vaccine to the general public soon.

8 - Martin’s leads retail growth
Even in the midst of the worst economic times since the Great Depression, Culpeper experienced some positive retail growth. The arrival of Martin’s Food Markets led the way in that regard, opening in late August to the delight of grocery shoppers in search of variety.
The Pennsylvania-based grocer hired more than 200 full- and part-time employees to staff the local store, the only supermarket in Culpeper that also has gas pumps.
Along with the latest addition to Culpeper’s big-box corridor came VDOT’s long-awaited four-lane widening of Bus. 29 on the north side, making traffic flow quite a bit smoother.
Downtown Culpeper, though weathering losses, also saw some gains in 2009 with the addition of a toy store and barber shop on East Street and two new boutiques on Davis Street.
Skinne’s Barber also opened back up, above The 4C’s Restaurant on Main Street, and in its old space next to Bella Mia’s Deli, a hair salon arrived on the scene in just the past few weeks.
El Nopal’s Supermercado on East Street added a restaurant this year, and the guys at Popeye’s on Bus. 29 added a gyro shop.
Local developer Greg Yates unveiled his high-end condo complex on Sunset Lane in October and from the looks of it, somebody’s doing well.
Culpeper got its very first kabob restaurant in the Meadowbrook Shopping Center recently and Pizza Hut, following last year’s fire, reopened this summer, completely renovated and sporting a Wings Street add-on.
Here’s to more growth in this direction in 2010.

9 - Town celebrates big anniversary
Ah, “little Fairfax” celebrated its 250th birthday this year — an undeniable milestone for a Piedmont town that started with just 40 building lots and two streets.
Throughout 2009, a core group of citizens lovingly planned and orchestrated various events to celebrate the town of Culpeper’s anniversary, including a parade and costume ball. Town native T.I. Martin Jr. led the 250th anniversary committee and helped throw the bicentennial bash in 1959 too.
Then there were all the years of history upon which to reflect.
Founded 1759 as Fairfax, named after an English nobleman, the town became Culpeper Court House — so named for another British nobleman — in 1795 before becoming, simply, Culpeper in 1870.
Though its past is too storied to recount fully in this small space, Culpeper saw its share of history in the Revolution and Civil War. Famous people like George Washington, the Marquis de Lafayette, Clara Barton, Walt Whitman, Lyndon Johnson and Ulysses S. Grant all visited Culpeper through the years and, more recently, Bill Clinton and U2’s Bono.
The town has weathered segregation, recession, Jim Crow, a lynching, the Great Depression and, just this decade, unprecedented growth that added thousands of new homes and people.
Farming, civic clubs, volunteer firefighters, churches, youth sports, a community hospital,  vibrant downtown and well-used park are just some of the things that still make this town tick as it heads toward 300.

10 - Pit bulls turn violent, kill 1
Four unexpected pit bull attacks escalated into two mauling cases, a local officer killing a reported aggressive dog and the death of a toddler — all in the Piedmont region this year.
It all started in February when Culpeper Town Police responded to an aggressive pit bull call in the 400 block of Hill Street in Culpeper.
When police arrived, the dog reportedly charged an officer, forcing him to shoot and kill it. No residents were hurt in that incident.
Two months later in April, an 11-year-old Rappahannock County girl was airlifted to the University of Virginia Medial Center with severe bite wounds to the face, neck, arms and legs after being attacked by a 1-year-old pit bull. That dog was euthanized.
In May, a Culpeper woman was credited with saving her 3-year-old grandson’s life when they were attacked by two raging pit bulls.
Tammy Powers, 47, and her grandson Hunter Ryder were walking in the 21000 block of Mount Pony Road when the animals attacked.
A few days later, dog owner Jamie Whitmer claimed the two male dogs and signed over custody to the county. After a 10-day quarantine, those dogs were euthanized.
The most tragic dog attack in this region occurred in September when a 23-month-old girl was mauled to death by a pit bull in Orange.
According to reports, Jasmine Deane wandered outside her home during the evening and was found with multiple wounds all over her body.
The dog owners voluntarily surrendered the dog to animal control officers and it was also euthanized.