RURAL NELSON ANNUAL MEETING
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5TH, 2003
ROCKFISH VALLEY COMMUNITY CENTER
NEXT MEETING: WEDNESDAY APRIL 2ND, 2003

An interested and interesting group of Rural Nelson members gathered at
6 p.m. at the old Rockfish School to share a delicious and varied meal
and to hear about the initiatives undertaken by the organization in the
past year.  

After leaving ample time for neighbors to catch up with each other and
for newcomers to be welcomed, Al Weed reviewed the many ways in which
Rural Nelson has increased in influence in the county, especially
through the accurate and unbiased minutes of county meetings in this
year of working through, first, a Comprehensive Plan and, now, Zoning
Laws to flesh out that plan. He thanked all those who had worked on
various parts of this effort, especially Kim and Mike who have churned
out the minutes after countless Planning Commission and Board of
Supervisors meetings.  Al also thanked Uri and Conny for their work to
get GIS mapping done for the county which would then be an open resource
for anyone trying to analyze future trends in many areas such as water
useage, transportation, housing development, etc. 

Al reminded members that the village concept reflected in the Comp Plan
can work anywhere in the county, but that it needs an individuals to
rally neighbors and business people in order to envision what they would
like their area to be years down the road. He thanked Mike for the work
he is doing to pull together Lovingston residents to do just that.

Lastly, Al let it be known that he will be giving up the Presidency of
Rural Nelson one year before his term ends in order to explore the
possibility of a run for Congress against Virgil Goode in 2004. He
announced that the Board had elected Conny Roussos to fill out his term
as President, and Mike Tapager to step in as Vice-president. 

Joyce Burton announced that two vacancies on the Board were opening up:
Foxy Morgan is retiring and Chapin Wilson has agreed to take her place.
Uri Levi's term is up but he has agreed to serve another term. These two
were unanimously elected.
At the end of the meeting there was an open discussion of matters of
concern to all, and the following announcement was made:

Susan McSwain asked everyone to consider donating an hour or two of
their time to the "March on 56" project. Keep Nelson Beautiful is
sponsoring a major cleanup of roadside litter during March for the
entire length of Rt. 56. On Saturday, March 8, participants can go to
one of several staging sites: 1) Wingina fire house on 56; 2) Shipman
garbage collection site at 639 and 56; 3) Cornerstone Church on 56 west
of Massie's Mill; or 4) Fleetwood Community Center on 56 west. Each site
manager will conduct a safety talk and registration for prizes (names
chosen at the end of the month) at 8:45 AM, and the clean-up will be
from 9:00 to 11:00 AM. Additional dates will be March 15 and March 22,
with March 29 a rain date. For information on staging sites for these
later dates, call 434-263-6714 or 540-377-5754, or email
losthorseshoe@earthlink.net or britemtn@cfw.com 

(NOTE: Our 2002 Annual Report will be posted on our website.)

Respectfully Submitted,

Mary Buford Hitz 
Rural Nelson, Inc.
P. O. Box 401
(622 Front Street)
Lovingston, VA  22949
434.263.5000
Email: info@ruralnelson.org
www.ruralnelson.org