©2012 www.nelsoncountylife.com : Photos by Tommy Stafford : (L to R) George Moore of Ireland & Chairman of The Board with VA Distillery Company, Henry Cockburn of Scotland-Distilling Expert & Engineer, Patricia Jones with VA Distillery Co, John McCray with VA Distillery Co, Jim Taggart-Project Engineer & Jeff Fletcher-Interior Designer stand below one of two enormous copper pot stills recently installed that will be used in the production of single malt whisky at the distillery in Eades Hollow just north of Lovingston.

Near Lovingston
Nelson County, Virginia
We’ve been telling you about Virginia Distillery Company and Eades Whisky for several years as progress is being made to open their distillery here in Nelson County.

Nelson County Life Magazine’s Tommy Stafford reports on VDC’s latest progress. Click on the player above to view the story.

Our June 2010 issue above when Virginia Distillery Company broke ground on their building in Eades Hollow. Click on the issue above to read that story.

Henry Cockburn of Scotland who has designed most of the Eades facility peeks inside one of the copper pot stills from the main floor.

Photo courtesy of VDC: The pot still is lifted just high enough to allow the platform to slide underneath.

Photo courtesy VDC: Jeff Fletcher and Jim Taggart are leveling the platform precisely so that the still can be lowered for its final placement.

“We’re getting the stills in place, the windows are in and the building is complete. Our next stop is stainless steel piping and electrical work, which is not insignificant. It takes awhile,” says Patricia Jones with Virginia Distillery Company.

The exterior of VDC near Lovingston, Virginia.

The VDC crew and contractors on the main floor of the distillery. The huge copper pot stills behind will eventually produce the whisky at the Nelson County facility. In the past few days crews installed the swan necks and the lye pipe to the pots that will connect the swan necks to the spirit safe.

These gray colored specially manufactured braces support the mammoth copper pot stills. An engineering company that specializes in roller coasters made the frames.

Henry Cockburn (right) points from the basement floor below the copper pots to the main floor above.

Be looking for more updates along the way!

Photo By Cassidy Franklin : Cassidy sent this beautiful picture of the Friday morning sunrise along Freshwater Cove near Arrington just south of Lovingston, Virginia

Arrington/Lovingston
Nelson County, Virginia
Never a lack of beautiful scenes here in Nelson County and Friday morning was no exception. Cassidy Franklin sent this gorgeous shot of the sunrise along Freshwater Cove just south of Lovingston, Virginia.

The start to a beautiful Friday!

Thanks Cassidy!

Mug Shot Courtesy of CBS-19 Charlottesville : Joshua Lee Hatter, a former deputy with the Nelson County Sheriff's Dept was sentenced in courtroom Thursday morning January 5th 2012.

Lovingston
Nelson County, Virginia
Updated 1.5.12 @ 5:40 PM

Nelson County Sheriff David Brooks confirms to NCL that Joshua Lee Hatter, once a deputy with the sheriff’s department, was sentenced in a Nelson Domestic Court Thursday morning on misdemeanor charges. He was also bound over to the grand jury on two other felony charges. The court action stems from an October 2011 incident where authorities say he was involved in a domestic dispute. “It’s important that the people of Nelson County know we take an officer breaking the law very seriously. It’s a matter of trust to the public when a person in a position of authority is involved,” Sheriff Brooks said. Brooks immediately fired Hatter in October after formal charges were filed.

Read the original story and complete details of Thursday’s court action by clicking here.

©2011 www.nelsoncountylife.com : Photo By Tommy Stafford : Incumbent Sheriff David Brooks at Thursday's recount of his November 8th election. Brooks will retain his seat after a recount was completed and showed him picking up additional votes.

Lovingston
Nelson County, Virginia
As we first told you here earlier in the day Thursday, a recount was being held in the Noveber 8th Sheriff’s race in Nelson County. NCL can confirm the recount is completed and Nelson Sheriff Brooks has won the recount. Nelson County Election Registrar, Jackie Britt, notified NCL just moments ago to confirm the final totals:

W. David Brooks – 2613
Mac E. Bridgwater, Jr. – 2599

Bridgwater also picked up some votes and we are working to get those final numbers to post.

As of this post, the three circuit judges charged with overseeing the recount are now filling out paperwork and certifying the recount.

More shortly.

©2011 www.nelsoncountylife.com : Photos By Tommy Stafford : Jim White of Nellysford and Nelson GOP Chairman (left in foreground) discusses recount numbers with Jon Goff of Faber, a recount observer, during Thursday's official recount in the Nelson Sheriff's race.

Lovingston
Nelson County, Virginia
The counting continues Thursday afternoon in the Board of Supervisors room at the Nelson County Courthouse. Sheriff’s candidate Mac Bridgwater filed a petition for the recount after narrowly losing the election to incumbent Sheriff David Brooks on November 8th. Thursday’s recount is taking place under the supervision of three circuit judges appointed to oversee the proceeding.

Incumbent Sheriff David Brooks discusses the Thursday recount with his lawyer, Tom Shrader, in the Nelson BOS room as votes are re-tallied.

As of roughly 5PM Thursday afternoon only two boxes remain to be counted. All of the boxes will be recounted and the outcome will be known sometime later this evening.

Officials recount ballots Thursday afternoon in the Nelson BOS room in Lovingston.

We will post the results here immediately as they become available later tonight.

Photo By Steve & Olivia Ellis : Santa Made an early stop this past weekend at The Nelson County Pantry to help with Christmas distributions. He was joined in this photo by Four of Santa's helpers, Quinn, Sophia, Savannah and Maddy. They distributed over 217 children's bags of nutritional snacks which they filled last Sunday at their Children's Food Pantry in Rockfish Presbyterian Church in Nellysford.

Lovingtson
Nelson County, Virginia
Christmas could have been pretty sad this year for the people at The Nelson County Pantry, and families being served by the pantry. Back in November we told you about a Thanksgiving disaster that nearly ruined the holiday for people needing help. All of the turkeys thawed and spoiled due to a freezer failure. The Pantry used their already purchased Christmas turkeys to make up the difference at Thanksgiving, but then had none for Christmas 2011. Thanks to your help the response was overwhelming and more than enough money came in to bridge the gap!

Due to the support and help from the Nelson community and way beyond from places like Australia and Tampa, families in need will have a tremendous Christmas dinner this year!

What better gift could there be this Christmas!

©2011 www.nelsoncountylfe.com : Photos By East Nelson Photographer Victoria Mininger : Kim & Jimbo Cary, one of the acts this past Saturday night at the Nelson center, take the stage to commemorate the influence of Irish music here in Nelson County.

Lovingston
Nelson County, Virginia

By Woody Greenberg

Where does our music come from?

In the case of Nelson County, the traditional music – played on fiddles, banjos, guitars, dulcimers, harmonicas– and variously called “old-time,” “bluegrass” and, later, “country,” was a melange derived from various European and African influences – English ballads, Irish and Scottish fiddle music, religious hymns and African-American blues. But it is music that was brought here by people, and one of the groups with the greatest influence on its evolution were the Irish who came here in the 1840s and 50s to escape the great potato famine and English rule and, in the process, built our railroads, tunnels, turnpikes and canals.

Clann Mhór, Gaelic for “The Great Family,” is a local organization devoted to researching and preserving the contributions of Irish immigrants to this region, and its focus of late has been on the workers who built the Afton Railroad Tunnel, engineered by Claudius Crozet.

Kevin Donleavy, one of the group’s members, is particularly interested in the musical legacy of the Irish who came to Nelson County, and helped organize a concert of Irish music for The Nelson Music Project that happened this past Saturday, Dec. 3, at the Nelson Center in Lovingston.

The King Golden Banshee Band plays a variety of traditional Irish music on guitars, fiddles, tinwhistles, flutes, banjos and bodhráns (a framed drum descended from old Irish war drums). Songs such as “Danny Boy,” “Old Apples in Winter,” and “The Lakes of Pontchartrain” tell stories that come down from the old country. Irish dancers also performed, as well as local folk musicians Kim and Jimbo Cary.

Donleavy says Cecil Sharp, an English music teacher who became interested in doing field work on folk songs that had crossed the Atlantic with the Irish, Scottish and English who came to America, came to Nelson County in 1918 and interviewed Fannie and Alex Coffey in White Rock, Philander Fitzgerald in Afton, Dol Small in Nellysford and Maria Tomes, an 85-year-old former slave of the Coleman family in the Rockfish Valley area. Sharp annotated the notes of the songs he heard while his secretary, Maud Karpeles, took down the words.

Irish dancers perform this past weekend at the Nelson Center in Lovingston as part of a concert put on to show the influence of Irish music in Nelson.

Later, in 1950, Karpeles returned to Nelson and recorded songs sung by Florence and Napoleon Fitzgerald, descendants of Philander Fitzgerald. Donleavy believes that their songs may have come from the Irish railroad workers who worked on the Afton Railroad Tunnel in the 1850s.

Donleavy and the King Golden Banshee Band helped keep those Irish influences alive at the Nelson Center Concert.

Proceeds went to Clann Mhór and the Nelson Music Project of Oakland Museum.

©2011 www.nelsoncountylife.com : Photos By Victoria Mininger : The man of the hour arrives in style in a stretch open top limo while waving to the crowd at the annual Lovingston Christmas Parade this past Saturday (December 3, 2011)

Lovingston
Nelson County, Virginia
Perfect weather. Not too cold. Not too hot. Just right for the annual Lovingston Christmas Parade held this past weekend. Tons of people attended and lots of nice entires made for a wonderful afternoon with adults and kids alike! The theme for 2011 was More Than 200 Years of Christmas in Nelson County.

Click on any of the pictures below to enlarge. Just click your browser’s back button to return to this page.

Click on the Facebook album image above to see tons more photos from the parade vis NCL East Nelson Photographer Victoria Mininger.

Tiny Miss Relay for Life - Karsyn Belle Botkin

The Albemarle Pipes & Drums from Charlottesville.

Be looking for more pictures soon!

Screengrab via CBS-19 Charlottesville : The Newsplex in Charlottesville is reporting that Ray Uttaro, Nelson County’s Emergency Services Coordinator was served with a search warrant served this week.

Lovingston
Nelson County, Virginia

Updated 12.21.11 1:45 EST
NCL has confirmed that Ray Uttaro has resumed at least some of his duties in his county capacity while felony embezzlement charges are pending. “Ray Uttaro returned to work from administrative leave on Monday, December 19th. His responsibilities encompass emergency services and animal control,” said Steve Carter the Nelson County Administrator. Carter responded both by both email in a phone conversation on Wednesday afternoon.

Nelson County’s incoming Commonwealth Attorney Anthony Martin confirmed earlier this week that charges are still in place with a February 22nd preliminary hearing date scheduled for Uttaro.

When County Administrator Carter was asked if it was unusual to have an employee return to work with pending felony charges, “That’s a personnel issue and I am not at liberty to discuss that at this time,” he said.

NCL in conjunction with our Charlottesville TV News partner CBS-19 originally reported this story on December 2nd.

Previous posts
The Nelson General District Court Clerk’s office confirms Wednesday afternoon that formal charges have been filed in this case. According to information included in the warrant on file, Ray Uttaro has been formally charged with felony embezzlement. An advisement court date of December 14th 2011 at 1:30PM has been set in the case.

Via CBS-19 : Ray Uttaro has been formally charged with felony embezzlement.

Scroll below for original information in this case.

Previous Posts
The Newsplex CBS-19, our news partner in Charlottesville, reported the following story on an apparent investigation into possible embezzlement and larceny by Ray Uttaro, Nelson County’s Emergency Services Coordinator. Reporter Chris Stover worked the story here in Nelson. Their story verbatim here.

December 1, 2011

Nelson County’s Emergency Services Coordinator is at the center of an investigation into embezzlement. Ray Uttaro’s office in the Nelson County Office Building was searched earlier this week for electronic records pertaining to the donation of a 46” Sony Bravia HDTV.

In an affidavit filed Monday, investigators say Uttaro sent an email in February to the Crutchfield Headquarters in Charlottesville asking that they donate the TV to the county’s new Emergency Communications Center. According to the report, he picked up the TV that month, however, to date, the ECC does not have a 46” TV.

Uttaro claims the TV was too big for the ECC and was returned to Crutchfield, although the electronics store says it was never returned. Furthermore, investigators say Uttaro posted a picture to Facebook in April of a new flat screen TV mounted to a wall in his home.

After searching Uttaro’s office in the Nelson County Office Building, investigators seized two flash drives, a Dell laptop and two Dell modems in hopes of obtaining those emails and any other electronic communications regarding the TV.

If the Commonwealth’s Attorney feels there is enough evidence to move forward with the case Uttaro, who also serves as Nelson County Animal Control Supervisor, could be charged with embezzlement and grand larceny.

CBS19′s calls to Uttaro have not been returned. Both the Nelson County Sheriff’s Office and the Commonwealth’s Attorney refused to comment on the case.

Uttaro has also come under fire for his handling of the investigation into animal abuse at the Nelson County home of Tracy and Joyce Davis. The Rooster Ridge property was raided two weeks ago and the couple was arrested on neglect and abuse charges after dozens of malnourished animals were found.

Under Uttaro’s leadership, Animal Control officers say they were tipped off and made several visits to the home over the past year, but never found evidence of abuse. However, special agents who raided the property found a much different scene.

And earlier this fall, Nelson County was chastised by state officials who claimed Uttaro is not certified to lead the county’s animal control office. County officials conceded and said they would give him the necessary 10-day training.

NCL Editor’s Note:
A request is being sent to My. Uttaro to privately identify to us the families whom he says received donations from a Christmas drive in which we were involved in December 2010. Upon receiving the names of those families, we will not publish them to maintain their privacy.

Update: On 12.13.11 NCL received the requested list from Mr. Uttaro. We are satisfied from the detailed information provided that all donations are properly accounted for.

©2011 www.nelsoncountylife.com : Photos By Tommy Stafford : People packed the parking lot Saturday morning (11.19.11) at the Nelson County Pantry to receive a Thanksgiving meal. One that almost didn't happen.

Lovingston
Nelson County, Virginia
Friday we told you about a real tragedy with terrible timing at The Nelson County Pantry. All of their Thanksgivings turkeys spoiled due to a freezer failure, just before the very weekend where they would be handing them out. The crew and volunteers avoided that potential holiday crisis by taking early delivery on their Christmas turkeys and handing those out right from the back of a truck Saturday morning.

Volunteers hand out turkeys Saturday morning for needy and underprivileged people from the Nelson area. These turkeys were slated for Christmas delivery rather than Thanksgiving.

“We are floored at the response, unbelievable,” said Marion Dixon with NCP. She was fielding phone call Saturday morning when were there. After posting our original story on Friday Marion said it went crazy with people wanting to do anything they could to help out. “I have a donor from Australia, one from Tampa, and on and on,” Marion told us as she sifted through donor forms. The donations coming in now will help cover the deficit for Christmas deliveries since those turkeys were handed out Saturday morning. Over $2000.00 in Thanksgiving turkeys was lost Friday when the freezer at NCP failed and all of them spoiled.

A volunteer at The Nelson County Pantry hands out potatoes a part of the Thanksgiving deliveries for this holiday season.

Though the immediate crisis has been temporarily dodged, NCP still needs your help to make sure they have enough money on hand to buy all of the Christmas turkeys for the December deliveries. Head on over to NCP’s website by clicking here and donate what you can.

Way to go Nelson for stepping up to the table, and way to go folks from outside of Nelson, this is a truly special holiday season

Volunteers stock holiday food package at the Nelson County Pantry. Due to a freezer failure they lost all of their Thanksgiving turkeys.

Lovingston
Nelson County, Virginia
The timing couldn’t have been worse. The Nelson County Pantry has lost all of their frozen Thanksgiving turkeys slated for delivery to needy families this coming week. “We had some people coming in early to pick up their food baskets. When we got here to prepare for that we discovered our freezer had failed. We found blood from the thawed turkeys running everywhere. They’re all gone. $2000.00 worth of turkeys,” says Marion Dixon with the Nelson County Pantry.

Earlier this week we told you about a fundraiser held by employees and friends of Devils Backbone Brewing. They were jumping to raise money to purchase turkeys. “Fortunately we can take early delivery on our Christmas turkeys and use them to replace the lost Thanksgiving turkeys, but we have nothing for Christmas at the moment. The money raised last week by DBBC will help toward the Christmas turkey purchase, but we will need more help ASAP,” Marion continued.

County and volunteer crews spend much of the day cleaning out the spoiled turkeys and hauling them away. Marion says an assessment of what’s wrong with the freezer is being made now. “We still don’t even know what the cost of repairing the freezer will be.”

Marion is asking anyone that can donate to please go to their How You Can Help section of the NCP website and donate. The highlighted hyperlink in this sentence takes you there.

We’ll be updating you along the way!

©2011 www.nelsloncountylife.com Photos By Tommy Stafford : Tori Ashley, a waitress at Devils Backbone Brewing, takes her shift Bouncing For Turkeys this past Monday morning at the brewery. The 2nd annual event is to raise money for the Nelson County Pantry this holiday season.

Roseland
Nelson County, Virginia
We first told you about Bouncing For Hams at Devils Backbone Brewing back in November of 2010. For the 1st event it was brutal. Temps were down in the 20′s with wind chills of 0°. Brrrrrrrrrrrr! Not this year, and not hams this time around! Temps on Monday hit a very comfortable mid 70′s. The crew and some customers of DBBC stopped by to jump for awhile to raising money for The Nelson County Pantry. The bouncing started at 6AM Monday and goes for a solid 24 hours until 6AM Tuesday. Roughly each 11 dollars raised will buy a turkey for someone this holiday season.

Duncan Lee (left) a busser with DBBC and frequent customer, Richard Boyd, bounce for turkeys this past Monday morning at Devils Backbone.

“We’ve already raised almost as much money as we did for the entire event last year. We’ve been taking donations for the past month here in the restaurant before the bouncing actually started,” said Brian Coe with DBBC. Last year the group raised $2100.00 for the Nelson County Pantry.

Juniorette Publisher Peyton Stafford hangs out with Tori Ashley (left) and Kelli Loughry of DBBC while they wait to Bounce For Turkeys!

If you’d like to donate to Bouncing For Turkeys, head on over to DBBC Monday evening and make a donation!

Photos By Patricia Jones : John McCray of Eades Distillery in Lovingston checks out one of the bourbon barrels on a recent fact finding mission to Kentucky Bourbon Country.

Near Loretto, Kentucky
We’ve been telling you about Eades Whisky and their Virginia Distillery Company for over two years now.

Our January 2011 print story about Eades construction progress just north of Lovingston, Virginia. Click on magazine image above to read.

Above our June 2010 story in the print edition about Eades breaking ground just north of Lovingston. Click on the issue image above to read.

Within the past few days the folks from Eades completed a trip to the heart of Bourbon Country. Kentucky! “Our trip to was designed to meet with industry professionals who could help us identify sources for the used bourbon barrels we will need to age our whisky. We also wanted to identify master distillers we can bring into our project to complement the ones we are already working with in Scotland,” said Pat Jones of Virginia Distillery company in Lovingston.

John McCray of Virginia (Eades) Distillery Company gets the privilege of dipping a Makers Mark bottle on their recent field trip to Kentucky's Bourbon Country.

“We were overwhelmed by how generous and collaborative the Kentucky whiskey industry is. They all know each other, share information and work together to make certain Kentucky bourbon is the best it can be,” Pat added.

A technician mans the distillery computer operations in Kentucky's Bourbon Country.

We also examined different options for warehousing barrels of whisky. There are several different methods that we wanted to see first hand and learn the pros and cons.
We were trying to learn from mistakes others have made,” Pat continued.

VDC will soon be adding windows and doors along with a staircase from the mezzanine to the ground floor.

Look for morte updates along the way to opening!

Mug Shot Courtesy of CBS-19 Charlottesville : Joshua Lee Hatter, a former deputy with the Nelson County Sheriff's Dept remains in jail under a 25,000 dollar bond as of Friday afternoon.

Lovingston
Nelson County, Virginia
Updated 1.5.12 @ 5:40 PM

Nelson County Sheriff David Brooks confirms to NCL that Joshua Lee Hatter, once a deputy with the Nelson County Sheriff’s Department, was sentenced in a Nelson Domestic Court Thursday morning on misdemeanor charges and was bound over to the grand jury on two other felony charges. The court action stems from an October 2011 incident where authorities say he was involved in a domestic dispute. “It’s important that the people of Nelson County know we take an officer breaking the law very seriously. It’s a matter of trust to the public when a person in a position of authority is involved,” Sheriff Brooks said. Brooks immediately fired Hatter in October after formal charges were filed.

In court Thursday Hatter was found guilty on two misdemeanor charges:

-Misdemeanor assault & battery on a family member
-Misdemeanor destroying a telephone line

He was sentenced to 120 days on each count, suspended to 60 days each, for a total sentence of 120 days in jail.

Two additional felony charges remain in place:

-Felony discharge of a firearm in an occupied dwelling
-Felony abduction

Hatter was bound over to the grand jury on those charges for review and probable indictment later this month.

A remaining felony charge of Felony property damage over $1000.00 was dismissed when the court determined the amount of damage did not meet the 1000.00 benchmark.

Former deputy Hatter has been, and continues to be, in jail custody since his October arrest.

Original Story from 10.21.2011
A former Nelson deputy charged with enforcing the law is now on the other side facing charges. 30 year old Joshua Lee Hatter of Lovingston has been charged with a variety of crimes involving what authorities describe as a domestic dispute.

Hatter has been charged with:

-Felony property damage over $1000.00
-Felony discharge of a firearm in an occupied dwelling
-Felony abduction
-Misdemeanor assault & battery on a family member
-Misdemeanor destroying a telephone line

“He was fired after the incident this week and remains in jail as of early Friday afternoon. We have a duty to protect our community even if it’s one of our own, we took the necessary steps in conjunction with the Commonwealth Attorney’s office to make sure the case was properly investigated. Especially since we know the even greater attention would be given since this was an officer of the law,” Nelson Sheriff David Brooks said by telephone Friday afternoon.

Once Hatter makes bond, he will have several other restrictions placed on him in addition to the secured bond. He must wear a GPS tracking ankle bracelet, have no contact with the victim, no alcohol, and not enter Nelson County pending outcome of the case or changes by a judicial order.

This makes the third arrest involving a Virginia police officer recently including one in Danville and another in Bedford County.

More coverage here from CBS-19 in Charlottesville.

Lovingston
Nelson County, Virgnia
It was another sad Friday night for the Nelson County Governors football team. They lost to Altavista 24-12. That makes the 7th straight loss this season with not a single win. In spite of the losing streak, Photographer Paul Purpura says it was a well played game and the NCHS cheerleaders went the extra mile by wearing pink to raise awareness for breast cancer.

Next week The Govs play at Gretna.

After next week’s game only two more remain in the season.