In-depth reporting 2007
The
owners of nearly 20,000 acres of apple orchards along the Shenandoah
Valley must change the way they operate in order to stay in business in
today's global economy. Although the commonwealth ranks sixth when it
comes to U.S. apple production, Virginia orchards struggle to find
migrant workers to pick their fruit and to gain profits when land costs
rise so rapidly. Virginia cannot compete with lower-cost apples grown on
huge orchards in Washington state and China. Instead, orchard owners
diversify their farms, shifting to agri-tourism with "u-pick" fields and
farm markets, or they sell off their land to housing developers.
The
first week of May, Joe Grasso planned a kidnapping and a fire on
Washington & Lee University’s campus.
He didn’t carry out either. As vice president for administration, Grasso
has to predict and prevent the unthinkable. That’s why he sat down with
25 W&L faculty members and administrators to brainstorm different
catastrophes that could strike the small, rural campus.
“What we found was that within our own offices, we're good at handling
crisis. But when you cross different offices, there are communication
problems,” said Grasso.
In the wake of the April 16 massacre at Virginia Tech, which left 33
students and faculty dead, Washington & Lee and two other Rockbridge
County colleges are taking a new look at campus safety. They are
focusing on two strategies: identifying students and others who may be a
risk to their campuses and themselves (see accompanying story), and
responding to a catastrophe like Virginia Tech’s if the shooting begins.
