Blue Ridge Leader
It’s been a year of mighty big challenges for all of our high school students, but things are looking up, especially for Woodgrove High School’s theater students, who are performing the musical Oklahoma! this month. First, they have theater teacher Addie Schafer Benko to thank for her grant-writing talents in landing Wolf Trap funding for…
In late April, the Blue Ridge Leader interviewed Purcellville Mayor Kwasi Fraser and here’s what he had to say about Purcellville’s future and its extraordinary promise. BRL: What’s next on moving the Town’s budget towards greater sustainability? Fraser: Well, we have accomplished a lot over the past six years to achieve fiscal sustainability. We have…
By Andrea Gaines Everyone knows they are down there. And, as temperatures climb, they will be climbing out. Are you ready for them? We are. With cicada fashion advice. Arming ourselves with everything from old wedding veils, to 99-cent hairnets, to the piled up old sheets and tablecloths we were about to throw away, we are ready. All…
Then it may be time invest in the knowledge and skills of an expert landscape designer. Ah, were those dollar signs flashing before your eyes? Take a deep breath. While many nurseries and landscape firms focus on big contracts—corporate campuses, government facilities, large private estates—there are companies that can refer you to designers who are…
By Charles Houston My Op-Eds have almost always been about protecting western Loudoun County, often taking a circuitous route to make my points. What if all the columns were distilled to their land-use essence? Have I been right? 2017 May: A survey says 69 percent of Loudoun citizens think that too much growth, and too…
Have you ever wondered why your car has so much bird droppings by the side mirrors? According to Joe Coleman of the Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy, “cardinals are notorious for pecking at their image in windows and car side mirrors – as they think the reflection is a rival. “Their hormones are raging, and they will…
By Valerie Cury At the end of an almost four-hour meeting, the Purcellville Planning Commissioners heard comments and reflections from Town Council Member Joel Grewe, who was invited to speak by Vice Chair Ed Neham at the commission’s April 15 meeting. Grewe was there to reiterate his comments at the Town Council meeting two days…
By Valerie Cury The Purcellville Town Council, on April 27, voted 3-3, with Council member Ted Greenly absent, on lowering the height in the downtown C-4 District. Vice Mayor Mary Jane Williams, and Council members Joel Grewe and Tip Stinnette voted against lowering the height limit from 45 feet and three stories, to 35 feet…
Out of the haze of proposed land swaps, buyouts of by-right developments, and sale of County-owned parcels for a commercial “gateway” to Western Loudoun, the futures of the historic villages of Aldie and St. Louis are beginning to take shape. With the overwhelming support of the region’s preservation and civic groups, the Board of Supervisors…
The pain of losing her young son is clearly still raw for this mother, Sandra Sierra, even seven years later. Sierra’s 17-year-old son, Christian Sierra, was shot dead by Purcellville Police Officer Timothy Hood in May 2014. We reconnected with Sandra Sierra a few weeks ago. We wanted to know how she and her family…