DOWN MEMORY LANE
Jan. 20, 1972
After serving as cashier of Rappahannock National Bank for a year, H. Lee Payne has tendered his resignation and plans to return to a former position in Christiansburg. He and his wife will move to that city early in February from their present home near Amissville. Mr. Payne will be senior vice president of First Virginia Bank of the Southwest.
Deborah Lynn Barron has been named the DAR Good Citizen from Rappahannock County High School for 1972. The winner of this award based on leadership, dependability, service and patriotism, is chosen by the faculty from three nominees of the senior class.
Lt. (J.G.) Page Moffett has returned to the U.S. Naval Base, Charleston, S.C. after spending a two weeks leave with his parents. Lt. Moffett has recently been assigned as Staff Command Communications Officer for Commander Cruiser Destroyer Flotilla Six in Charleston and will be stationed there during the coming year.
Jan. 15, 1981
At a special meeting of the Washington Town Council called Friday by Mayor Newbill Miller, a state of emergency was declared as the town’s water supply dwindled. Charlie Jenkins, the councilman in charge of the water system, reported only five feet of water in the reservoir, probably enough to last through the weekend. Jenkins said the gallon per minute flow had dropped alarmingly. Last year, the town tried two drillings for water on an acre it owns but with no success. Water was struck in one hold at about 600 feet, but the flow was not adequate to justify installing a pump.
“It’s a hobby that’s a business.” That’s the way William G. Eastham, Sr., describes the horse operation on the Eastham’s 860-acre Red Hill Farm down Route 729 from Ben Venue. But horses are more than a business and hobby combined – horses are a way of life for the Eastham family. They ride them, race them, hunt them, show them, breed them, buy, sell them and love them.
His son William G. Jr. and daughter Marion Eastham have been bitten by the same horse bug that infected their dad over a half century ago. Both are in partnership with their father, splitting the labor in the hay fields, corn fields, barns and paddocks.
Jan. 16, 1992
The Washington Town Council took the long route in electing someone to fill a vacancy on the town Architectural Review Board at its monthly meeting last Wednesday, but they left a vacancy open as well.
The council initially had only one opening on the five-person board to fill – that of architect Wayne Haffler. But a member of the ARB, Eve Willis, informed the council Wednesday that Rob Parrish also plans to resign (although he had not submitted a formal letter of resignation). The matter became more complicated by the fact that a majority of the council favors having an architect (or a planner or similarly qualified individual) on the board, and wanted to hold Mr. Haffler’s seat in case such a person can be found.
In response to the public meeting on the proposed middle school, the school board accepted Superintendent David Gangel’s recommendation that concerns expressed at that meeting be addressed. At Tuesday night’s regular meeting Dr. Gangel said he would provide cost projections for the operation of a middle school. He recommended that the next budget include funds to hire an independent consultant to project costs for adding mobile units, building one or more additions to the two current school buildings, building a middle school using high, medium and low estimates of future enrollment, and building a local vocational cent. He also recommended that someone from the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) be brought in to study how well the space in the current buildings is being used.