| FOLAR concludes club season with awards and one fond farewell By Elliott Robinson Oct 8, 2010, 16:50 |
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The Friends of the Lower Appomattox River ended a year of growth and development with its annual meeting Wednesday night at the Hopewell Library.
Projects in the past year include extensive restoration work at Ferndale Park in Dinwiddie County, trail bridges at the Appomattox River Regional Park in Prince George and projects in Hopewell.
“FOLAR has no doubt done a lot of good things for the river,” aid John Rooney Jr., who was the guest speaker at the meeting.
He presented a collection of his ground, boat and aerial photographs along the river from Comstock Pond at the northeastern tip of Colonial Heights to the extent of the depletion of Lake Chesdin in the days before the rains began.
During the meeting, several people and organizations were honored for their work with FOLAR in the past year. Ace Hardware received the Business and Industry Award for their donation of materials. Fort Lee’s C Company received the government award for the extensive work the second lieutenants did throughout the river locations. The Adopt-A-Park award went to Dinwiddie’s Walmart Distribution Center, which sent nearly 80 volunteers to Ferndale Park who have aided in the nearly complete renovation of the park.
Bob Kirby of the National Park Service received the Friend of the River Award in part to his efforts to aid in the expansion of the Appomattox River Regional Park near Riverside Regional Jail. Kirby, who was at the Petersburg National Battlefield, now oversees Gettysburg and the Eisenhower House. Robert Walker also received the Friend of the River Award for his actions.
Dr. Alenka Hlousek-Radojcic, formerly of Richard Bland College, received the Past President’s Award and James “Jimmy” Daley received the Volunteer Award for his devotion to volunteering along the river despite living in North Carolina.
Victor Liu, of the Crater Planning District Commission, received the President’s Award for his work with FOLAR since its inception. He will be retiring this year.
“Without Victor, we wouldn’t be here,” said K. Wayne Walton, chairman of FOLAR.
Liu’s honors include the naming of one of the bridges spanning a breach in the river’s canal wall for him.