Despite still being short of fundraising goal, grass-roots group oversees restoration work on the Reedville Stack.
REEDVILLE, Virginia – 9/28/2010 – Last year, not long after Omega Protein picked local Fleeton native and retired Air Force Lt. Col. Monty Deihl to run its menhaden fleet and processing plant here, the new manager and former boat crewman found himself in a skiff out on Cockrell's Creek.
Cruising about on a nice day, Deihl and his wife found themselves passing by the 130-foot, round smokestack on Omega Protein property, the only remnant of the first menhaden plant in a Northern Neck county that once had many.
"We saw the damage lightning had done at the top and bricks that had tumbled down from it," Deihl said. "My wife looked at me and said, 'Monty, if this falls down, it's going to be your fault.'"
This week, thanks to an ongoing Save the Stack grass-roots community effort that Deihl and Omega Protein are playing a big part in, critical repairs and restoration work is finishing up what will keep that from happening.
A crew from Industrial Access in Alpharetta, Ga., has spent the better part of the month on scaffolding, restoring the structure, which was built around 1902.
Deihl, one of more than a dozen locals in a steering committee for the Save the Stack effort, said the work has included replacing damaged brick and mortar, as well as the steel straps that help support the structure.
"They've also installed a stainless-steel cap on top to keep water out," he said, noting that a system is included to handle lightning strikes.
Work on the restoration effort, expected to be finished by the end of this week, doesn't mean the Save the Stack fundraising will stop.
The group set $350,000 as its goal, but decided to start the work even though recent counts showed the total had yet to reach $200,000.
"We knew lightning had struck it twice this summer alone, doing more damage at the top," said Deihl, who was proud to announce Omega's pledge to put $86,000 into the project.
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