Heritage Weekend
Seventy-five years ago (1947) the Examiner had a story on the front page about an aged turtle whose tummy was carved with the initials of four generations of the Grover Evans family. The oldest date was 1853 when John Evans carved his initials. This was followed by Peter Evans, his son, in 1877. Grover added his initials in 1900. Two of his sons, Paul and Eugene, added their initials in 1924 when the Examiner carried the first story about the old terrapin. The turtle was at least 94 years old in 1947 when it was again brought into the Examiner. But we’ve been told he was probably more years than that. We wonder if he’s still around and if any more relatives of the Evans family are now carved on him. Keep in mind that turtles seldom stray very far from their “home” sites so if any members of the Evans family are still on the family farm they might look for the turtle.
Is Scheduled
There was a full harvest moon September 10 and we forgot to remind you to watch. However, we are in time to tell you that the Autumnal Equinox is next week on Sept. 22. That means that Fall will truly be here so we can enjoy continued cool nights and some days. Plus we can watch the full impact of fall colors in the mountains.
For September 23-25
Virginia Beach has opened a can of worms. There’s a proposal to charge grocery shoppers 5 cents per plastic bag and it’s splitting the community. What caught our attention was the fact that the city paid a consulting company $11,515 for an opinion on the proposal. Think of all the bags that amount would cover. A state law allows Virginia Beach to charge a 5-cent fee for disposable plastic bags. It’s already in effect in Fairfax County, Alexandria and Charlottesville. Being for environmental changes can get sticky: Do you charge for plastic or destroy trees for paper?