Down Memory Lane...

From Back Issues of the Rappahannock News • Compiled by

Aug. 21, 1986

Bill Johnson, 17, and Mark Jamieson, 13, were rock-climbing near their home in Rappahannock Lakes on Saturday, Aug. 9, when a basketball sized rock broke loose from the hillside and tumbled down, striking Mark in the back of the leg just below the knee.

“I had my back to the rock. I didn’t see it fall but I heard it,” Mark said.

The sharp rock struck his calf, slicing a six-inch gash two ngers deep which required more than 30 stitches inside and out to close.

When he realized that he had been badly cut, Mark began running. Bill, recognizing the seriousness of the wound, caught and stopped the younger boy. He wrapped Mark’s leg with his shirt and applied direct pressure until he had the bleeding under control. Then he carried Mark about a quarter-mile out of the woods to a place where a car could get into him. He le Mark long enough to run to a neighbor’s house to get help.

Mark was taken to Fauquier Hospital where they were met by Stan and Patricia Dye. Mr. Dye said that doctors told him that Mark’s leg will not su er any permanent damage, thanks to Bill’s quick action.

“He kept his cool and used his head,” Mr. Dye said. “He did just what he was supposed to do.”

The Rappahannock Farmers’ Coop in Sperryville was the place where the North engaged the South, but in this case a di erent battle was fought — not man against man but farmers helping farmers.

Working together, northern Pennsylvania farmers, with coordination from the Virginia Department of Agriculture and the Virginia Cooperative Extension Service, lent a hand to help ght a battle facing most southeastern farmers this summer.

Due to the lack of rain, substantial yield reductions have a ected Rappahannock hay production and pastures. Nature seems determined to deal another blow to the already hard-pressed farmers. But there are ways to soften the punch.

The 850 bales were divided equally among the 18 participating farmers, averaging out to 70 bales each.

“We’ve got 150 girls to feed this winter,” commented Helen Dixon of Dixie Meadow Farm a er her pickup truck was loaded with the donated hay.

Randall Updike, assistant supervisor of the Bureau of Livestock Marketing Service for the Virginia Department of Agriculture, was on hand to coordinate the operation at the co-op.

According to Mr. Updike, “The hay aid program is strictly a volunteer program among the hay producers of other states and the Virginia Department of Agriculture is coordinating the movement with donors and producers to ship the hay to a di erent area.”

Aug. 8, 1974

Tom Lee and his brother John Lee are still raising sheep in Rappahannock, and have one of the largest ocks in the county. Tom agreed that sheep farmers are getting scarcer and he wasn’t sure why, but he was ready to talk about raising sheep, to take a little time o from picking peaches.

Shearing is done only once a year, in May. “We have a fellow that works here with us that can do it. But even then, it costs right smart to get the wool o . What you get for it will hardly pay for getting it o and drenching.”

Sheep require considerable pasture, Tom said. “You can’t do anything in a small place. They take up a lot of grass, graze it down short. And if you can’t change them around, right o en, they’ll just get to lying around and stinking.”