Culpeper’s ‘glass’ is half full

Jeff Walker
Published: July 29, 2008

If you live in Culpeper — town or county — did you know that at least one of our own thinks that our community is filled with squalor?

On July 28, one of the readers reactions to the Star-Exponent story about the (faux) Chippendales dancers show took me by surprise.

Using the online moniker “LifeLongResident,” this indi-vidual assessed Culpeper by saying “this use [sic] to be a ‘family-orientated community,’ now it’s just another Manassas-like slum.”

Does this person live in the same community I do? When did the family feel erode into an overpopulated, run-down urban blight, as they suggest?

I look around and see a lot that is positive in Culpeper.

I see families working together and playing together. Is this a slum, with the glass half-empty or broken? Or is it a thriving community, where the glass is nearly full?

In January, Darien and Melissa Anderson opened Mountain Run Bowling Center at Town Square. This hard-working, Christian family made it possible for groups and families to enjoy a few hours of All-American fun and games right here in town, without having to drive 40 miles away.

Young Life, Cub Scouts and countless birthday parties later, the bowling center brought back a great family sport to Culpeper.

The second-largest event of its kind in the nation, the Soap Box Derby of Culpeper, saw 125 drivers race down the hills of Culpeper last month.

That many drivers equates to family, friends and spectators supporting them with cheers and goodwill.

Culpeper was also well represented at the national derby in Akron, Ohio, where seven Culpeper youth raced, with two drivers finishing in the top three in their classes.
The Gilmore family and the other key organizers of the six-year-old Culpeper Derby are to be commended for their dedication to this growing, thriving event.

In addition, this past weekend more than 400 parishioners and well-wishers from Precious Blood Catholic Church gathered at the Daniel Technology Center to celebrate Father Leo Zonneveld’s 50 years as a priest.

Several nights before, Windmore Foundation for the Arts presented its annual summer children’s theater production to packed houses at Culpeper Middle School. Nearly 80 children, from 8 to 17, were onstage in “On the Radio” and “The Pirates of Penzance, Jr.” (Full disclosure: I know because I was there, having co-directed the shows with my wife.)

Another traditional summer activity also ended recently: summer swim teams.

The Culpeper Country Club Barracudas and the Culpeper Recreation Club’s Barnstormers hosted their annual swim teams in local and regional competitions for the first part of the summer vacation season.

Hundreds of family members volunteered to time events, keep track of scores, run concessions and travel between pools.

Meanwhile, nearly every church in the town and county either has had or will have its vacation Bible school for church members and children from the community.
I say your community is what you make of it.

I choose to celebrate what is good and decent about Culpeper: the Andersons, the Gilmore family, the church families, the talented youth.

Perhaps you see the glass half-empty, like “LifeLongResident.”

I choose to see the glass half full, actually more than half full. I think I am not alone.

Do you live in “LifeLong Resident’s” slum? Or do you live in my Culpeper?

Jeff Walker is an independent columnist who lives in Culpeper. He appears Wednesdays in
the Star-Exponent. E-mail