Cooperative Living August 2019 - 4

Viewpoint | by Richard G. Johnstone Jr., Executive Editor
Vol. 73, No. 8
ISSN 1529-4579
RICHARD G. JOHNSTONE JR.
Executive Editor
BILL SHERROD
Editor
STEVEN JOHNSON
Acting Editor
LAURA EMERY
Field Editor
JANET BAILEY
Production Manager
TOMMY CAMPBELL
Design & E-Media Coordinator
AMANDA S. CUNNINGHAM
Advertising Sales
NINA JACOBS
Administrative Coordinator
To contact magazine:
9 a.m.-5 p.m. M-F
Phone: (804) 346-3344
Or at any time:
Fax: (804) 346-3448
Email: sjohnson@vmdaec.com
Web: co-opliving.com
Published by the VA, MD & DE Association
of Electric Cooperatives
FLETCHER B. JONES
Chairman
PATRICIA S. DOREY
Vice Chair
RUSSELL G. BROWN
Secretary/Treasurer
RICHARD G. JOHNSTONE JR.
President & CEO
Board of Directors: R. Wayne Browning, Belvin Williamson, Jr.,
A&N; C. Michael Sandridge, Michael J. Keyser, BARC; George N.
Goin, Gary E. Wood, Central Virginia; Robert E. Arnold, Micheal
E. Malandro, Choptank; Jeannette S. Everett, Steven A. Harmon,
Community; James E. Huffman, Shawn C. Hildebrand, CraigBotetourt;
Patricia S. Dorey, J. William Andrew, Delaware;
Fletcher B. Jones, John C. Lee, Jr., Mecklenburg; Russell G.
Brown, Greg W. White, Northern Neck; Wade C. House, Stan C.
Feuerberg, Northern Virginia; Dale McNiel, Randell Myers,
Powell Valley; Herbert R. Patrick, Casey J. Logan, Prince George;
Linda R. Gray, Kent D. Farmer, Rappahannock; Larry C.
Howdyshell, Michael W. Hastings, Shenandoah Valley; Frank W.
Bacon, Jeffrey S. Edwards, Southside.
To advertise in Cooperative Living, contact:
Amanda Cunningham (804) 297-3429
National Advertising Representative: AMP,
611 South Congress Ave., Suite 504,
Austin, Texas 78704 * 800-626-1181
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non-compliance with these standards, they are
asked to inform the Editor.
The Flood, the Festival,
the Foot on the Moon
Three larger-than-life events happened in a narrow band of days in
August 1969. Each is iconic, summoning memories and moods with
mere mentions: Camille. Woodstock. Apollo 11.
A
ugust is usually a drowsy month. But not
in 1969.
On Aug. 13, after astronauts Neil
Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins were
released from three weeks in quarantine following
their return from the first manned mission to the
Moon, they rode in ticker-tape parades attended
by millions in New York City and Chicago. That
night, they were the guests of honor at a gala state
dinner with President Nixon in Los Angeles.
They would soon embark on a 38-day world
tour, welcomed as heroes by the leaders and
citizens of 25 countries. In taking that " one small
step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind " on
July 20, Neil Armstrong and his two crewmates
became more than American heroes. They became
heroes of Planet Earth, admired across the globe
for embodying the very best of who we are as
humans, and what we can achieve with courage
and collaboration and ingenuity and grit.
Two days later, on Friday, Aug. 15, a " music
and arts fair " was getting underway on a 600-acre
dairy farm near Bethel, New York. Its organizers
originally expected about 50,000 attendees. But
posters, radio and word of mouth - the social
media of the time - led hundreds of thousands
more young people to make the trek. Even with
roads choked with traffic, and roadsides and
fields a muddy mess, about 500,000 eventually
made it to Woodstock to hear a magical lineup of
32 acts including Creedence Clearwater Revival,
Janis Joplin, Santana, The Band, and of course,
Jimi Hendrix.
Despite thunderstorms, muddy fields, food
shortages, poor sanitation and limited elbow
room, the music and the mood were generally
ones of peace and unity, in a tense time of protest
and unrest. Woodstock came to define an entire
generation: restless, unruly, idealistic.
Middle-aged dairy farmer Max Yasgur, who rented
his land for the festival, said afterward, " If we join
them, we can turn those adversities that are the
problems of America today into a hope for a brighter
and more peaceful future. " That hope may be no
closer to fruition, but it's nonetheless still aglow
half a century on, along with the music that both
sparked and sustains it.
In the early morning hours of Monday, Aug. 18,
while Blood, Sweat & Tears was performing one
of Woodstock's final sets, real blood, sweat, tears -
and terror - were being unleashed on the
Mississippi Gulf Coast by one of the most powerful
hurricanes on record. Camille's ferocious arrival
destroyed weather instruments in the landfall area,
leaving its exact wind speed part of extreme
weather lore. Various sources suggest speeds of
175 miles per hour, perhaps even 190 mph, with
a devastating storm tide of nearly 25 feet. And as
it moved northward, Camille seemed to trade
wind speed for water saturation, becoming a
tropical depression for the ages.
The evening of Tuesday, Aug. 19, Camille
turned sharply eastward, its rains intensifying as
it crossed Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains. The
torrents of water pouring onto the eastern slopes
swelled creeks and streams, causing flash floods
and landslides. By 10 p.m., Camille's soaking
sphere stretched from West Virginia all the way
to Fredericksburg.
Squarely now in Camille's bull's-eye lay Nelson
County, onto whose fields and forests as much as
36 inches of rain poured, much of it in a three-hour
period. Because Camille arrived at night, many
residents were asleep, unaware of the devastation
occurring around them. Rising waters trapped
many in their homes. Area communications
networks were damaged or destroyed.
Nelson County became a virtual island, roads
and bridges washed away, phones and electric
service cut off. Some observers even reported
that the James River flowed backwards, its waters
forced upstream for a time by the overwhelming
inflow from the Tye River.
Its destruction complete, its status now historic,
Camille headed out to sea on Wednesday, Aug. 20,
leaving Virginia with $140 million in damages and
more than 125 dead or missing in Nelson County
alone, some whose bodies have never been found.
Yet Camille also left in its wake countless stories
of individual and collective courage and sacrifice.
Apollo 11 and Woodstock showcased in very
different ways the power of our imagination.
Camille, though, showcased something more
impressive still: the resilience of our spirit. 
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Cooperative Living August 2019

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