It's WINDSday | October 18, 2023

Celebrating the Power of Wind, Clean Energy and a Green Environment

Miracle Matt. That’s what Al Midgett calls his now 30-year-old son, who was born at 22 weeks with severe brain bleeds, spent three months in an incubator and was given a 2% chance of survival. “It was so scary, plus we had no health insurance at the time,” recalls Al, who now owns Better View Windows and More (www.yourbetterview.com) in Virginia Beach. “Thank goodness my friends came together and helped us through the months of treatment and anxiety.”  

Al has paid it forward ever since through the organization he founded, the Noblemen, and its singular mission to help kids and their families, starting with Portsmouth’s Edmarc Hospice but including many more causes including All District Reads (ADR).

“We are helping with the effort to put a book into the hands of every elementary school child in Virginia Beach,” says Midgett who came to a school administration warehouse with other volunteers to affix labels inside each of 30,000 copies. Distribution and weekly reading begin October 23rd. “ADR was tailor-made for what we do for young people.” Indeed, the non-profit once distributed dictionaries (remember those?) to third graders.

This fall The Noblemen will run and fund raise in the Wicked 10K (October 28) and the Surf N Santa 5 Miler (December 15-16), then later host their Red Hot Ball (2/10/24). All details are at www.thenoblemen.org.

As for Matt, today he’s an irrigation technician (Frank Lee Irrigation), sings, and like his dad, is active on Facebook. Follow both and see what one family, motivated by crisis, can do for an entire community.  

This vessel is now in the Atlantic Ocean, making its way from Rostock, Germany to the Portsmouth Marine Terminal here in Hampton Roads. On board are eight monopoles, each 272 feet long. Manufacturer EEW will eventually deliver 176 of these 35-foot diameter towers to support 528 football field length blades that will collectively generate 2.6 GW of electricity to power 660,000 households in the state. 

Installation of the 176 monopolies into the seabed, 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach, will begin next spring. Crews will top them with nacelles (the electronics boxes) and then the blades, produced by Siemens Gamesa. 

The entire Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, largest on the east coast, is slated for completion in late 2026. 

Before Bill Whitehurst (and then Owen Pickett, Ed Schrock, Thelma Drake, Glenn Nye, Scott Rigell, Scott Taylor, Elaine Luria and Jen Kiggans), Porter Hardy was our 2nd District Congressman (1947-1969). His grandson, also named Porter Hardy, had no apparent interest in politics, maybe because of a college experience.  

“During law school, Kim and I lived in Hamburg for about five months where we sampled a wider variety of beer than we had experienced in the US,” Porter told WHRO in 2022. “That got me thinking about beer being something more than the mass market beer I had consumed prior.”

Porter did become a lawyer, quitting though in 2012 to pursue his passion. He started Smartmouth with the backing of 13 investors, one of whom was Chris Neikirk, who still works for Norfolk Southern.

Chris’ wife, also named Chris, came aboard too, and today Porter and “She-Chris,” as she’s known, run the company, which has a production facility and tasting room in Norfolk and a second on 32nd Street in VA Beach, where the Chelsea Bake House makes the pizza.

Cans (and kegs) of their core and seasonal varieties (100 total so far) are in grocery stores and restaurants across Virginia and the Outer Banks, quite a feat considering the competition. “There were four breweries in our area when we started,” says Chris. “Today there are nearly 40 and 300 in the state.”

We like this beermaker because of their product and the fact that Smartmouth is an LRN Pearl Business. So when you sip their Savage Mondo or Safety Dance, thank Porter Hardy. There are plenty of lawyers and politicians in our area, but only one Smartmouth Brewing. 

Next Monday morning, Virginia Beach will dedicate a renewable energy (RE) lab at the Advanced Technology Center, a city/school system/TCC run beehive of educational programs including engineering, IT, cybersecurity, manufacturing, and architecture.

There is also a sophisticated graphic design class there taught by Lee Troxell, which doubles somewhat as an ad “agency” for the building. Lee tasked the teens, who also attend their home schools, with suggesting mural designs for the new RE lab.

Badhi Fish developed a cartoon driven concept (“Simpson inspired” says the Kempsville High student.) “I have been into art since middle school,” says Heather Faison, who spends most days at Tallwood High, “so I love this class.” Ditto from Kellam’s Jayna Saltisiak who studied other murals before offering her drawing, which like the others, includes offshore wind turbines.

No wonder we’re fans at WINDSday. We’ll let you know the winner. 

Today Marckel Bonds is in development for the Museum of Contemporary Art in Virginia Beach, which will host the event on his shirt, the 67th Boardwalk Art Show, October 20-22. Admission is free but bring your credit card. It’s fun to admire the works of a couple hundred quality artists but better to take something home to hang.

The Bedford native now lives in Newport News, close to CNU for whom he played linebacker. He has also toiled for Peninsula political candidates, WAVY TV, the Urban League and even has a side gig, a media consulting service called Black Coffee. Find him on Facebook.

And Marckel plans to tell his friends and relatives about opportunities in offshore wind. That makes him a WINDSday Warrior. 

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