From a release:

On Thursday, July 24, 2008 the Warren County Sheriff’s Office investigated an alleged rape that occurred on the western end of the county. The investigation resulted in the subsequent arrest of Stephan Kyle Tanner, 21, of Warren County. Tanner was arrested on a single charge of rape and is currently being held in the Warren County Jail, without bond. The case remains under investigation. Anyone with information regarding this case should contact Investigator Ray Fogle at 540-635-7100.

Councilman Bret Hrbek (left, pictured with Mayor Eugene Tewalt) was voted Vice Mayor of Front Royal by his colleagues in a July 14 meeting of Town Council.

Full details will be in the July 24 issue of Warren County Report.

Other meeting photos:

 
Houlihan’s bartender Kat Thomas serves up an ice-cold Bud Light draft

Houlihan’s brings enthusiasm and made-from-scratch food and drink to North Warren

By Dan McDermott
Warren County Report

Fresh food was the emphasis during a visit to the 97th Houlihan’s Restaurant at the Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites in north Warren County, VA adjacent to the Blue Ridge Shadows Golf course.

The franchise opened for business June 30.

"Did you know that 98% of the food is made from scratch," asked a server?

"I had heard that," I replied. Three times so far to be exact.

And they aren’t kidding.

During a visit into the back of Houlihan’s signature open kitchen (no cameras, please), I encountered a small army in crisp white culinary coats whipping up all sorts of menu items from scratch.

Fish and chicken are brought in fresh, not frozen. The soups and sauces are made from scratch. The breads are baked on the premises. Even the French Onion soup is made slowly in what Gruber notes is the "classic way."

One luxury long since abandoned by most chains are Houlihan’s style of fresh hand-breaded chicken tenders served with homemade honey mustard. There is no comparison to the frozen variety to which we have sadly become accustomed.

One item that caught my eye was a pan of pecans that had just been roasted. "Are these for the Bourbon Pecan pies," I hinted?

No they are actually kind of spicy. They’re salad toppers.

"Oh," I said. And they were delicious. "Savory and spicy with just a hint of sweetness," I complimented using my most impressive Food Network gleaned lingo.

My eyes glanced ever so briefly at the pan of fresh pies nearby.

"Would you like to try the pecan pie," my host suggested?

"Oh, uh sure. I guess..."

Victory!

My guide for this tour through a rare glimpse of fresh-made chain food was 18 year culinary veteran John Gruber who entered the business at a Ground Round before a 13 year stint at Applebees.

Gruber said he was drawn to Houlihan’s because it is pretty upscale, he was thrilled at the emphasis on made-from-scratch food and he was ready for a new challenge. He also loved the resort atmosphere of the chain which got its start in Kansas City in 1972.

The sparkling yet cozy Houlihan’s interior is decorated by similarly themed artwork, some of which features Front Royal. The woodwork above the bar draws you in like a fine British pub. The chandelier shades in the main dining room are a beautiful mosaic of spring colors, each hand created by an artist.

The gentle and refined atmosphere clearly effects the attitude of the largely young staff. They rise to the occasion and ambiance.

Friendly is not a strong enough word to describe them. A half-dozen smiled and welcomed me on my way to my table. One recognized me and gently swept the manager away long enough to give me a hug. But this eager crew is also very professional and inviting.

I asked a few to pose for a picture in a big corner booth. Once the giggling settled down long enough for a nice shot they raced back to their stations, poised and ready with enthusiastic smiles to greet the guests to this new northern oasis.

The Houlihan’s restaurant and bar menus are encased in stylish and surprisingly heavy aluminum covers.

Appetizers range in price from $7.75 for Buffalo-style chicken fingers to the popular herb garlic cream cheese stuffed ‘Shrooms for $8.95.

Entrees are priced from $11.95 for the chicken finger platter with honey mustard, slaw and fries to the USDA prime hand-cut filet steak for $23.95.

Houlihan’s offers a surprisingly affordable lunch menu with sandwich and soup or salad combos starting at $7.95. John’s favorite is the Southwest Chicken Wrap with Baked Potato Soup.

Several sandwiches and 1/2 lb. burgers are offered, ranging in price from $7.95 to $8.95.

 
From left, Melissa Fisher and Paula Fries serve up Houlihan’s Fab Five dessert platter which costs $10.49 and features any five desserts. This one had the Chocolate Cappuccino Cake, the Mini Snickers Crunch, White Chocolate Banana Cream Pie, a Mini Cream Broule and Bourbon Pecan Pie.

Since no American meal is complete without dessert, Houlihan’s offers several mini desserts (which aren’t so mini) for $2.49. The Three’s Company offers a choice of any three desserts for $5.49. For a true carb-fest, try the Fab Five for $10.49.

Many items are featured on a paper carryout menu, available at the front door.

 
“Heck no we don’t have last names!” Mike “Smith” and Donnie “Jones” enjoy a cold one at Houlihan’s north of Front Royal.

As Mr. Gruber and I concluded our interview (and I concluded my pecan pie) we were joined by a congenial Tom Jackson, president of Harrisonburg-based Hotel Hospitality Group which owns Houlihan’s and manages the Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites and the Blue Ridge Shadows Gold Course.

Mr. Jackson confirmed that the group is looking toward eventually hosting an LPGA or PGA tournament as the course matures to professional quality play. Blue Ridge Shadows has already made a name for itself on the circuit. Tiger Woods once visited and was reportedly very impressed. Golf Digest named Blue Ridge Shadows the #6 top new course in the nation last year.

This is Mr. Jackson’s first time managing a golf course but he said he likes to golf and that it wasn’t much different than running a large hotel. "There are four people teeing off every ten minutes so there is a lot going on and you have to stay on your toes. But we manage 8 other hotels and we are excited about the challenge."

 
Workers put the finishing touches on the new Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites north of Front Royal

The Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites will feature 124 rooms, 24 one bedroom suites, a 24-hour business center, a fitness room, full service spa, indoor swimming pool, a conference facility that can accommodate up to 525 people for meetings and can handle banquets for up to 400.

A large part of the conference business is local weddings, reunions and meetings. "Several events are already booked from this summer up to about 2 more years so far," Mr. Jackson said.

Houlihan’s is currently open for lunch and dinner. Effective Tuesday when the hotel opens, the hours will be Sunday - Thursday from 6:30 am to 11 pm and Friday and Saturday from 6:30 am to midnight.

"So," I asked Manager John Gruber, "Do you like it here so far?"

"This will be my last job," he replied with a big grin.

And how was the pecan pie?

Incredible. I’ll have more details after I finish this short nap in my comfy leather desk chair....

McDermott's WFTR interview with Betty Kilby Fisher, the first African American student to attend Warren County High School won 1st place for best documentary for public affairs programming in a small market in Virginia. McDermott's WZRV interview with Del. Clay Athey on development in the commonwealth won 2nd place for best documentary for public affairs programming in a medium market in Virginia.

McDermott is the former full-time and current substitute host of the News at Noon and The Valley Today which airs live from noon to 1 pm on WFTR AM-1460, WZRV 95.3 FM and Comcast TV-23.

By Dan McDermott
Warren County Report

July 4th, 2008 will be a very special day for Margot J. Glavis. It’s her birthday. That would not normally warrant a story here but for the fact that Mrs. Glavis will turn 102 years old.

We learned about Mrs. Glavis in a phone call with Vicki Davison, who owns the beautiful and cozy Hidden Springs Senior Living home in Bentonville, VA with her husband Daryl.

Immediately I rushed over.

Mrs. Glavis was finishing her 5 p.m. dinner at Hidden Springs and was brought over to a living room area where I sat with the Davisons for what would be an incredible two and one-half hour journey through time.

From an early age, her father insisted that young Margot walk to school and walk another half an hour each day. He hired a gym teacher for Margot and her two sisters. They had a play area for gymnastics.

"I think that was key in my surviving all this time. Exercise," she says.

Having recently suffered an injury, Mrs. Glavis is using a wheelchair to get around right now. "I can’t wait to get out of this thing," she exclaimed. "I love to walk."

Margot was just shy of her 8th birthday when on June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the crown prince of Austria-Hungary was assassinated by a Bosnian Serb. Thus began a chain of events that brought her native Germany into World War I, called "The War to End All Wars" for the new levels of technological savagery (machine guns, tanks and poison gas) brought to the European war fronts.

Three years later, Tzar Nicholas II of Russia would abdicate his throne and would be replaced months later by Vladimir Lenin’s Bolshevik Party.

On Nov. 9, 1918, with its industrial output and economy in tatters and with anti-war marchers taking to the streets, Germany was declared a republic and the war would end.

Germany had suffered 6 million casualties and would be forced to pay reparations for its role in the war.

Twelve-year-old Margot fled with her family from Düsseldorf to the Bavarian capitol of Munich to avoid the French who, as the victors, were threatening to come over the Rhine bridge.

"People were hanging on windows on trains to escape the Rhineland," she remembered.

In 1922, Soviet troops occupied government buildings in Munich and shots rang out in the Putsch.

"What didn’t get reported in the U.S. papers was that we were all let out of school and were wandering around with the soldiers until protected."

During the next few years, Adolph Hitler and his relatively unknown Nazi Party would use Munich as a base of operations, giving frequent speeches in Munich’s famed large beer halls.

"They would march around. Young soldiers dressed in brown – only brown. They would chant through the streets," she recalled.

Once, young Margot went to the Hofbräuhaus hall to hear the fiery Hitler speak.

"I was curious what the fuss was about. He was a painter by trade and wasn’t German. He was born in Austria. He wasn’t dumb obviously but many of his actions were incredibly stupid. He would start out very quietly and build up to a screaming pitch. He would be yelling, ‘Action! Action! Action! We all thought he was absolutely crazy. We had no idea how things would turn out. I was very surprised when he became chancellor. But it was the economic devastation caused by the forced reparations that created the climate for the rise of Hitler."

While some Germans were interested in politics during the years between the great world wars, most were simply trying to survive.

Margot’s father died in 1929 and she would have to earn her way forward. Her dream was to be a teacher. Margot had earned the equivalent of a masters degree at Munich University but had to work later to earn a stipend to continue her education for a PhD. One of her professors in Munich had an American wife who submitted an application for Margot to teach German at the highly selective Wellesley College near Boston, Massachusetts in the U.S. She was offered a job and left Germany in 1930 on the Hamburg America Line.

"The children were very, very rich at Wellesley," she recalled. "They would even bring their horses to school."

During her year at the college, she witnessed a speech by New York First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. At one point she got to shake hands with President Herbert Hoover.

After a year at Wellesley, Margot left for New York to pursue her masters. "I would clean in the morning for my room and board and baby sit in the afternoons for spending money," she said.

At the Rockefeller Institute in New York she would meet two men who would influence her.

One was John D. Rockefeller, Jr. "He was a very human man," she recalled. "He would walk with us and spend time with the students. He didn’t like litter and would make a point of stopping to pick it up."

The other important man she would meet was Edward Sumner Glavis, whom she would later marry.

"He probably saw that I was a relatively cultured young lady," she joked.

For a time Mrs. Glavis taught German on the radio at WRNY. "That was an experience in itself," she deadpanned.

After teaching three years at a private school, Margot announced to a furious headmistress that she was leaving to marry Edward who then worked at the Interior Department.

Beginning in 1936 Mrs. Glavis would teach at the Madeira School, a private girls school that had just moved to McLean, VA and counts among its alumni former Washington Post publisher Katherine Graham, who graduated from Madeira shortly before the arrival of Mrs. Glavis.

When not teaching, Mrs. Glavis would tend to her cow, chickens and three horses.

"We sold the eggs and the milk to earn some extra money. We had to stop selling the milk when new laws took effect that required pasteurization," she said.

Mrs. Glavis would lose her job at Madeira in 1939, the start of World War II – German, it seemed, had fallen out of fashion.

Or so it appeared.

One group of people very interested in employing Mrs. Glavis was the U.S. Justice Department. They were impressed with her knowledge of languages, government and history.

Mrs. Glavis would go on to be an analyst for the Office of Strategic Services and the State Department.

In 1976, when Mrs. Glavis was 70 years old she left the State Department.

There was one last burning question I had to ask.

"Do you think John McCain is too old to be president?"

"Oh no," she quickly replied about the Senator, 30 years her junior. "Older men are often wise," she said.

Mrs. Glavis’ son George works for the State Department and lives in Bentonville with his wife Linda who is a member of the Warren County Board of Supervisors.

Mrs. Glavis enjoys her time at Hidden Springs. "They have been good to me; so if they want to make a big ballyhoo over my age that’s fine," she said.

We suspect they will.

Happy 4th of July Mrs. Glavis and a very, very Happy Birthday to you. You are truly an inspiration.