A Christmas Memory

This is not the Wassailers but it how I remember we sounded
(without me singing of course.)

The Carol of the Bells always moves me. It is not my favorite Christmas carol that would be "Good King Wenceslas", I guess there is something about the benevolent King that I identify with but we won't go there. The Carol of the Bells brings back a specific moment that happened every holiday season and that is still the star on the tree of my Christmas memories. Lets set the scene a bit:
My parents sang all their adult lives. They sang in church choirs, amateur shows and opera but the great love of their singing lives were the Wassailers. My parents formed a monthly singing group with several other couples in the Philadelphia area in the late 40's or early 50's. The group met once a month to share fellowship and to sing. They would do some sight reading but they also worked on specific pieces of music until they got the harmonies and timing just right.
My memories of the Wassailers are limited. These were grown up nights. Kids weren't invited and if the group met at your house you were trundled off to bed early.
There was one time of the year when kids got to participate. Remember the group consisted largely of of young adults, husbands and wives (with a few singles) in the prime of their baby bearing years. There were lots of kids. Everybody had 3 or 4 and many of the families got together for other events - the Fourth of July was big. But the one time the kids got to join the adults was at the annual Christmas sing.
Each year the group assembled at a local old folks home. Today we would call it a nursing home or an assisted senior center or something else less accurate. For this was were old people came to spend their last years. The building was a 3 story stone facced dormitory with row after row of small rooms. Each Christmas the Wassailers wandered the halls and sang carols for the men and women who lived in this bland institutional setting. We all put on our good clothes, my holiday adornment was a clip on bow tie, green felt cut like a holly leaf with 2 red fluffy berries, securing a freshly pressed white collar, grey slacks and maybe a coat depending on how hard I fought to not wear it. My sisters wore dresses or in later years stylish long skirts and blouses.
The group started in the large entry way with many from the home gathered in a semicircle around us. Wheelchairs and walkers outnumbered the ambulatory but the smiles ang grins were universal. After about a half hour of Christmas songs we started to walk the halls, strolling carolers we. We walked each floor in turn stopping only to pick a new tune and for one of the grown ups to give a pitch and count off the rythym. All the traditional carols were sung - The Holly and The Ivy, O Little Town of Bethlehem and Hark the Herald Angels Sing. This was in the early days of popular holiday songs and the Wassailers took Christmas carols as seriously as any other task they undertook. The sang the standards and they sang them very well.
To say we were a hit would be to understate our impact by a few orders of magnitude. The residents sat in their doorways or stood in the hall smiling and sometimes singing along for a song or two. The event brought not just holiday spirit but bright faces to a place that had little enough of either. The children in the group seemed to light up those faces even more. We walked and sang and smiled and nodded. We wished each individual a Merry Christmas and received the same greeting in return. To this day I remember the sense of satisfaction I felt as we walked. A satisfaction that came from knowing the I been part of something that brought joy to people who really welcomed it. If this sounds a bit Dickensian, it was. The place was depressing to look at, to visit and most certainly to live in (or so it certainly seemed at the time).
The strongest memory from these trips is the singing of the Carol of the Bells. The song is an intricate round that requires strong voices locked in rythym belting out holiday greetings, the greeting of the bells. Now the truth - I don't sing well, I love music, I grew up with it and it remains an important part of my life but I can't carry a tune. In the fourth grade I was asked not to sing in music class because I was messing up the rest of my classmates. On the Christmas trips I sang all the traditional carols with one exception. I nevery tried to sing the Carol of the Bells. I had no idea which part I was supposed to sing so I just walked and smiled and listened to the gorgeous sound of 30 or 40 voices raised in song. Singing for all the right reasons people sing -because it feels good and because it makes others feel good. I remember smiling at the guests and mouthing the "ding dong ding dong" at the right moment but singing nothing the would spoil the perfection of the moment.
I miss those trips, they combined music and spirit of Christmas in a way I seldom recapture these days. All our efforts to spread joy seem disconnected, we don't get the see the tots open the toys we dutifully donate. For the Wassailers connected face to face and we got so much Christmas joy from it you just wanted to burst. I cherish the memory and the Carol of the Bells that brings it back.
Carole and I hope that your Christmas is filled with family, friends and joy. We will be sharing our Christmas with friends including an overly excited four year old. We will have a great holiday and maybe listen to the Carole of the Bells (but not sing along).
Have a happy holiday whatever traditions you follow and take some time to think back on your Merry Christmas memories. I hope you enjoyed mine.
Ciao
Note:It turns out there is a lot I didn't know about the Carole of the Bells. Check out the Wikipedia entry or this Carole of the Bells history.

Carol of the Bells

Hark how the bells,
sweet silver bells,
all seem to say,
throw cares away

Christmas is here,
bringing good cheer,
to young and old,
meek and the bold,

Ding dong ding dong
That is their song
With joyful ring
All caroling

One seems to hear
Words of good cheer
From ev'ry where
Filling the air

Oh how they pound,
raising the sound,
o'er hill and dale,
telling their tale,

Gaily they ring
while people sing
songs of good cheer,
Christmas is here,

Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas,
Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas,
On on they send,
on without end,
their joyful tone to every home.

Dong Ding dong ding, dong Bong

Merry Christmas from Santa Claus Lane

One of my great joys during the holiday season is a visit to the Poulos family Christmas extravaganza in the Ocean Acres subdivision in KDH. For those of you who can't make the trip here are some images.


If you are interested in seeing it live here are the directions.
Heading South on Rt. 158 into Kill Devil Hills
1. Proceed to light at Ocean Acres Dr.
2. Turn right at Ocean Acres Dr. (opposite MacDonalds)
3. Follow Ocean Acres Dr. The road will shift from paved to gravel as you go up a hill. Just over the top of the hill you will find the Poulos home.
You want to park when you start seeing cars parked as you come up the hill. There is no parking at the Poulos house.
Ciao

Coastal Hazards: The inlets are coming

Found a new site on coastal hazards led or at least featuring an old friend. The NC Coast Hazards Portal is a web site produce by members of the Geololgy Dept. at ECU including the venerable Dr. Stan Riggs. The site has some interesting features and reports. It leads with this video of Izzy Inlet formed during Hurricane Isabel in 2003. The video is the lead in to a new report the on the future of coastal inlet formation.
As you might expect of the product of a Geology Dept. the report deals in geologic time predicting the future of the Outer Banks 100 years from now. Lets just say my house isn't on the map 100 years from now. There is no sense in raging about the report. I'm not qualified to judge the science but then neither are the 100's of people who will use it to try to make me move.
It is no secret that sea level is rising. How much is a matter of some debate. The effect of global warming will make living in coastal regions more challenging. This report will be used to by those who assume the only response is retreat, to emphasize the futility of efforts to manage the change. This even as the lead video shows an inlet that was managed in a way that has made Hatteras Island a viable home again.

Take some time to read through the report, know the info but don't move just yet.

When I get a chance to explore the rest of the site I'll report further. It looks interesting.
----Saw this piece in the N&O. Todd Miller only wants fairness in the enforcement of environmental regulations - yeah and Rev. Wright is just trying to save souls!. Here is an example of Todd's wish list for Gov. Purdue.

2. Appoint good commissioners who don't undercut environmental agencies. The litmus test for any appointments to regulatory commissions should be a pledge that they work on behalf of the public's interest and the state's environment and never to return political favors or promote private agendas.

I wonder if that includes Todd's private agenda to drive every living soul from the coast.
My wish is that Todd and the Coastal Federation learn to work constructively with local governments to improve coastal development rather than being confrontational and build CF's donation base.
As the Cowardly Lion said: "I do believe in Spooks, I do, I do"
Ciao

N&O Tillett on history and change

The Under the Dome blog in the N&O had a nice piece on the Electoral College convening today in Raleigh. One of Dare County's own featured prominently in the story and it wasn't Marc B. for once.

Virginia Tillett, an elector from Manteo and an African-American, urged the crowd to "remember the voices from your past."Tillett, a 67-year old Dare County commissioner, said she remembered the voices saying "to hang in there...change is coming.""I remember my grandmother who lived to be 89 years old," Tillett said later in an interview. "I heard people like my deceased father-in-law who lived to be 100. I heard voices like my mother who is now 87. I heard all these voices say: 'Didn't I tell you?'

"
Nice job Virginia.
Ciao

Va. Pilot on Nags Head Nourishment meeting

Good account of the Nags Head beach nourishment meeting in the Va. Pilot. I posted my review on Thurs. Catherine Kozak focuses on consultant Peter Ravella's litany of other areas that face natural forces but don't get blamed for it. The article reports that Ravella was paid $2,000 by Dare County's nourishment fund for the appearance. He estimates the cost of his services at $60,000 - $80,000 were he hired to work on a project with the Town.
The article includes emailed comment from a well known beach nourishment opponent.

...a founder of BeachHuggers of the Outer Banks, an anti-nourishment group, said in an e-mail that opponents need to be convinced of two points: that beach nourishment on the Outer Banks' high-energy beaches will stay in place for an acceptable amount of time, and that it is cost-effective. "Until they are able to do that magic trick," ... "it will be business as usual on the Outer Banks."

Some other notes:

• Ravella's slides are online at the Town web site. 2 pdf files - Part 1 and Part 2.

• The County's Nourishment Fund should be looking pretty strong. Adding last years tax collections ($3,441,445) and interest (estimaited $733,706) to the balance in 2007 ($16,416,214) then deduct expenses (about $150,000) you get a very healthy balance ($20,441,365 estimated by me)

Ciao

Why Dare County/CHAPA might win Part: V.06 (beta)

The Island Free Press has a good piece on the lawsuit to block US Fish and Wildlife Service from adopting additional regulations to protect piping plover winter habitat. This issue first surfaced back in June. Now a coalition of Dare and Hyde counties and the Cape Hatteras Access Preservation Alliance have filed a notice of intent to sue the federal government over proposed piping plover regulations. The groups won an earlier suit:

In 2003, CHAPA and Dare and Hyde counties sued the Fish and Wildlife Service over the designation of wintering habitat, and in 2004, a federal judge ordered the agency to redo the plan.

The court found and directed the following:

1. The court directed that FWS show that primary constituent elements -- the physical and biological features essential to piping plover conservation -- exist on areas that are designated. It ordered FWS to clarify whether that these physical and biological features are essential for the recover of the piping plover and may require special management or protection.

2. The court found that the FWS designation of critical habitat must include compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act. The court found that the Environmental Impact Analysis did not comply with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act, was incomplete, and possibly contained erroneous information.

3. The court found that the FWS's economic analysis was arbitrary and capricious, in that it considered the impact of off-road vehicles and other human use of beaches, but did not address information in the record about the possibility of closures of the beaches to such use or how off-road vehicle use might be affected by the designation.

4. The court also found that the FWS omitted from the economic analysis the full costs associated with the designation and ordered the FWS to reconsider them.

The notice of intent basically says that the FWS didn't do what the judge said. It maintains that the FWS didn't properly consider the impacts of the rule making. A main piece of the argument is that the economic analysis the FWS relied on (Vogelsong) was not done in scientifically valid way. A second key point is that existing management plans are adequate to protect the birds.
I am not a lawyer and I am not well versed in environmental law. Neither of those things have ever stopped me from expressing an opinion about legal issues so here goes.
Legal arguments generally fall in 3 groups based on the source of the argument. The strongest legal arguments generally cite directly from the statute ie. the ESA say the government shall take no action that impacts endangered species, allowing beach driving near nests impacts endangered species. The next level of argument is to find other cases that support your interpretation of the law. These arguments are harder to judge because lawyers don't list the cases that don't support their position. The last category is suits that try to create a new interpretation of the rule. These are the hardest to win. They generally cite cases in different areas of law and attempt to apply them to the new case, for example using a land use case to interpret a law about water quality.
The notice is written in the middle mode. Not much in the way of statute but a lot of case law. It looks promising but there are a lot of variables. First and foremost is who hears the case. I expect the suit will be filed in the same jurisdiction that heard the original case (DC I think). This would mean the previous rulings would carry great weight.
It is good to see the county moving first. These rules impact not just beach access but the replacement of the Bonner Bridge as well.
It is not clear how this will affect the NPS rule making process. The FWS rules would supersede the ORV management plan since the plan would have to comply with the rules. If anything it probably means more delays and more time in court. As Cher once said "and the beat goes on"
Ciao

Electoral College with a LocalTwst

Dare County Commissioner Virginia Tillett will a part of history when she casts the Electoral Vote for NC's Third Congressional District on Monday. This is the constitution come to life. Virginia was chosen at the district Democratic Convention back in the summer when no one really thought it would matter. A lot of hard work and surprise NC goes blue and Virginia gets to chose the President. We will try to get some comments after the event.

The NC Democratic Party issued this release.

NC Democrats Cast Electoral College Ballots on Monday, Dec 15

NC Secretary of State Elaine F. Marshall will convene the state's Electoral College at noon on Monday, Dec. 15 at the Old Hall of the House of Representatives in the State Capitol.

The 2008 meeting of the Electoral College will feature comments from Secretary Marshall. The North Carolina National Guard Honor Guard will provide the color guard; Miss North Carolina Amanda Watson will sing the national anthem; and State 4-H Council President Caleb Black will lead the pledge of allegiance.

Space is limited in the Capitol's Old Hall, where the Electoral College will meet as state law requires.

Overflow seating, however, is available in the auditorium of the NC Museum of History, where the proceedings will be broadcast for those wishing to watch the event in downtown Raleigh.

The public can also watch the event on the Secretary of State's website www.sosnc.com via live streaming from the State Capitol via satellite.

The Nov. 4 popular vote determined that electors nominated by the North Carolina Democratic Party will cast the official ballots for the state. North Carolina's 15 electors will cast their ballots and prepare Certificates of Vote for the President and Vice President of the United States.

Commenting on the degree of attention being focused on this Electoral College, Secretary Marshall noted: "This will be a particularly historic Electoral College, as electors gather here in Raleigh and in state capitols around our nation to vote for the first African-American President of the United States."

"We've just witnessed a historic election cycle that produced North Carolina's highest voter turnout since 1984, and that sparked an incredible surge in political participation from our youth," Marshall said. "No matter who you supported in this arduous campaign, this is history being made and a wonderful civics lesson for us all."

Ciao

A Nags Head Revival (of a sort)

Last night at the Nags Head Church, the next saga of Nags Head's battle with its beaches began. The topic was a presentation by consultant Peter Ravella about how he approaches developing a funding formula for beach restoration projects but the real story was the clear assumption that Nags Head has a viable beach nourishment project that it expects to implement in the next couple of years. Ravella wants the job of figuring out how to pay for, I wish him well. (see disclaimer below)
The town has continued to pursue permits for the $30 million project the Town's voters rejected in 2006 . The plans are locked in permitting purgatory and it is not clear what catechism the Town will have to invoke to move towards Heaven (or Hell depending on your view). The religous metaphor is an apt on for the evening with Ravella playing the revival preacher singing psalms of salvation to an congregation of eager believers.
From my perspective Ravella's sermon didn't cover much new ground. He did provide some interesting paralells to the size and impact of the Outer Banks Economy. Ever think that we're bigger than the NFL, he thinks we are.
Ravella's process revolves around intense community involvement in developing the financing plan that fits the communities balanace of values. What he did not address was how to deal the the figurative agnostics and atheisists who don't accept that divine nature of the beach nourishment crusade. In Ravella's model the only relevant discussion is how to share the cost. The coming salvation is accepted as a matter of faith.
It is not clear what, if anything has changed in Nags Head's plans or politics that would change the outcome of another ballot. Ravella certainly didn't offer any insights beyond the message that the town board remains on the road to redemption.
Amen

Ciao
Disclaimer - The author chaired the group that developed the funding plan for the failed referendum in 2006. He also chaired the referendum committee that worked to pass the referendum. He is heavily invested in the last effort. His observations are colored by this experience. Caveat Emptor

Va Pilot Access story

Interesting story in the Va. Pilot on Sat. about an access issue in Va. Beach. A group of property owners are in a dispute with the city about whether to grant easements to allow a dredge pipeline across their property as part of a dredge spoil disposal project that will put sand from Lynhaven inlet on beaches between First Landing State Park and the Lesner Bridge. Since the dispute is not being resolved the City of Va. Beach is going to court to condemn the property using the right of emimnent domain, the city's power to force property owners to give up right to their land. Here is the pull quote from one of the owners:

"I don't want to stop the project," Paulson said.

But he and the owners of seven properties have argued that, according to their deeds, which date back to Reconstruction, they own the beach.

Virginia sold the land along the Chesapeake Bay in 1868 to settle the mounting debts of the Civil War.

"We've paid a lot of money for the land," said Paulson, who has offered the city a construction easement for the pipe but doesn't want strangers frolicking there. "I'd like a right to use everybody else's backyard."

f you ask me these guys should take Va. Beach's money and buy a place in Southern Shoresl It would save everyone some hassle.

New news. Big beach nourishment meeting in Nags Head on Thurs. night. No idea what it is about but I plan to go and find out. Maybe a good beach nourishment effort would revive the local blogosphere. Things are pretty dismal this one included.

Ciao