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Better bridge keeps a pledge
Hawkins Bridge is dedicated
Date published: 7/18/2009
BY DONNIE JOHNSTON The dedication of the Earl S. Hawkins Memorial Bridge was the fulfilling of a campaign promise that Culpeper County Supervisor Bill Chase made 29 years ago. "Earl was one of my original backers and he had only one political request--build a new bridge over Brooks Run," Chase told a gathering of about 50 neighbors, politicians, Hawkins family members and Virginia Department of Transportation officials yesterday. For more than 50 years, Hawkins was faced with moving machinery down State Route 647 (between Stevensburg and Lignum) and across a bridge that was too narrow to accommodate farm equipment. "We had to put gates on both sides of the run and take our equipment through the stream," recalled Stanley Hawkins, Earl's son and the present owner of Belle Meade Farm. "This [bridge] was a blessing to me." Hawkins said his combine is 25 feet wide and the old bridge was only 14 feet, 6 inches wide. There was no way to cross except to ford the stream. When the water in the creek (which is usually so small that a man could easily spit across it) was up, the farm equipment stayed home. Chase, true to his campaign promise, pushed VDOT for years to build a new bridge, and it was finally constructed in 2003. Unfortunately, Earl Hawkins died in 2001 and never saw it. "But I'm sure he's looking down and smiling today," Chase told the crowd. "Having Bill [Chase] push the building of this bridge shows that Earl Hawkins was really important to the community," said state Sen. Edd Houck, D-Spotsylvania. "This is something in permanent memory of the man." Del. Ed Scott, R-30th, added, "He knew it sometimes took awhile to fulfill these things. This is appropriate recognition." Although the bridge was completed six years ago, Chase wanted more. He wanted the structure named in honor of the man who fought for decades to get it built. VDOT complied, and now there are not only signs at either end of the bridge that honor Hawkins but also a plaque on the cement structure. "I pushed this out of my friendship and respect for Earl Hawkins," Chase said. And looking around at the small crowd assembled in this very rural part of Culpeper County, he added, "This is a big event in Batna--the biggest thing I've seen here." Earl Hawkins would have been pleased that so many people could get on the bridge across Brooks Run. Donnie Johnston:
Date published: 7/18/2009
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