Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 5, 1995 TAG: 9507050072
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Kathleen and Jay Zimmer spent Tuesday shoveling mud from a calf barn and tending to sick cattle on their 600-acre farm in Madison County. They skipped their customary Independence Day picnic, but considered themselves lucky because their house escaped unscathed. About 100 acres of their land that last week was covered with corn, however, is now a swamp.
``We worked up until noontime, then we're going to try to take naps until chore time,'' Kathleen Zimmer said early in the afternoon. ``We started getting some things ready to take to some people that are much worse than us, but I'm not sure we'll have time to do that.''
Madison County, which is in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains north of Charlottesville, was one of the areas hardest hit by last week's floods. Some county residents applied for disaster relief loans at the Jefferson National Bank's Madison branch Tuesday. The branch opened on the holiday to speed loans for flood victims.
``We're seeing the needs of the community,'' said James R. Berry, region president of the bank. ``We feel this is a proper gesture for us.''
The floods, which have been blamed for eight deaths in the state since June 22, prompted officials to postpone the county fair and cancel a Fourth of July parade in Madison. The Rev. Tommy Palmer decided to hold a celebration of his own by warbling patriotic and country songs outside the bank. His repertoire included ``Yankee Doodle'' and ``Your Cheatin' Heart.'' He asked passers-by to make donations for flood victims.
``We're hoping people will take part of the day to rest. They've been under so much tension,'' said Palmer, 51, pastor of Fairview Christian Church in Hood, about seven miles west of Madison. ``I'm performing songs of long ago that they grew up with, got courted by, raised crops by. It makes them feel good.''
About 15 miles away in Culpeper, as many as 10,000 people were expected for Fourth of July games, arts and crafts and fireworks in an area around Yowell Meadow Park. Children's games, flooded out of a low-lying area, were replaced by a plastic-duck race.
``We looked at the puddles, and we thought we needed to make the best of this,'' laughed Nancy Price, executive director of the Culpeper Renaissance, a coalition of businesses that helped organize the festival.
Price said donations collected from some festival games would go to the Red Cross for flood relief.
In Bedford County, Fourth of July celebrants watched blacksmithing, basket weaving and other Colonial-era demonstrations at Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest near Lynchburg. The Declaration of Independence also was read at Poplar Forest, an octagonal brick home Jefferson built in 1806.
But the floods weighed on the minds of many in the area. Just a mile and a half from the third president's retreat, flooding triggered a dam break two weeks ago. A motorist and a rescue worker drowned.
``The community was very tragically affected,'' said Annie Eagan, a spokeswoman for Poplar Forest. ``This [celebration] is very much a tribute to Mr. Jefferson. ... Hopefully, it's going to provide a nice sense of community.''
by CNB