Looks like racism isn’t Sen. George Allen’s only failing. An investigation into his business and financial activities shows the carpetbagging Senator who claims to be a Virginian but is really a Californian sells his votes for stock options and then fails to report those options as required by law..
Continue reading …I broke a longstanding rule and did a broadcast interview Saturday, offering my perspective to the escalating Congressional page scandal. A friend in Washington asked me to do the interview because I worked on Capitol Hill in 1983 during another sex scandal involving pages. I owed him a favor. We’re now square.
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Heavy rains overnight bagged the sandlot soccer game I was supposed to photograph at Check Elementary School Saturday so the trip back gave me a chance to make an overdue visit to the Houston family’s Sweet Providence Farm Market.
The smell of burning wood greeted me as I opened the Jeep door after a drive up the steep hill to the market on the hill overlooking U.S. 221.
Apple butter production was underway in the cool, damp morning air: Apple butter made the old fashioned way — slowly stirred in a huge pot over an open wood fire. Inside the market, the Houston family sells local produce, jams, jellies and some kick-ass barbeque sauce: All fresh, all good. Many people in Floyd County remember John Paul Houston from his days at the Farm Bureau.
Amy and I feel a special connection to the family because they owned the house we now call home for more than 10 years, purchasing the rambling Cape Cod from original owner Eric Quesenberry.
They sold the home in 2001 to purchase what is now Sweet Providence Farm. We bought their former home from the new owners three years later. While selling me a jar of apple butter, one of John Paul’s daughters told me they remember their old homestead fondly and still drive by the place from time to time to see what we’ve done with it.
If you’re looking for some good apple butter, fresh local produce, free-range chickens and more, check out Sweet Providence at 3263 Floyd Hwy North about seven miles out of Floyd. On weekends, you might also find the family playing traditional mountain music on the market porch. It’s worth the visit.
Continue reading …A friend from Northern Virginia dropped by Floyd Tuesday to announce he and his wife will put their house there on the market Friday. They bought a house in Wythe County in 2005 and plan to move here full time by year’s end.
But he will take a bath on sale of the property in Centerville. Real estate prices in the National Capital Region have plummeted over the last 12 months and are projected to get worse.
Reports The Associated Press:
Continue reading …A year ago, I met a couple looking for property in Floyd County. They sat hunched over their breakfast table with maps and real estate brochures and planned our a day of visiting potential homes. Their dream, they said, was the to move to the country and live a quieter, more idyllic life.
They bought a home and moved here in July of 2005.
On Monday, they dropped by the studio to say they have put their house on the market and are moving back to the city.
Country life just didn’t turn out to be what they expected.
Continue reading …Unlike faux-Virginia Sen. George Allen, I’m a Southerner by birth (Allen was born in Los Angeles. He claims a Southern heritage for political convenience) and as a Southerner I resent the racist image he embraces to try and advance his election hopes.
Sadly, Allen’s cultivated “good old boy” personna is not helping Virginia either. But neither str the anti-women views of his opponent or the gridlock of our state legislature.
Michael D. Shear writes in The Washington Post:
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Back when I graduated from Floyd County High School (41 years ago), we had a homecoming queen. Just that. Now, in these politically-correct times, we have a homecoming king and queen and this couple of the times won the honor at the FCHS homecoming this year.