Please see below (after the transcript and show notes) for links to news and upcoming events.
TRANSCRIPT
From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of January 23, 2012.
This week, we feature another series of mystery sounds. Have a listen for about 30 seconds, and see if you can guess what’s going on with this music, screams, and water splashing. And here’s a hint: When a good cause needs help, lots of people plunge right in.
SOUND.
If you guessed: excited people running into near-freezing water—you’re right! But the real mystery is: why did over 200 people jump into the cold New River one day in January 2011? They were participants in the 2011 Highlander Polar Plunge, held in Radford to raise money for Special Olympics. At winter water plunges each year around Virginia and across the country, the charity gets contributions from entry fees and from donations raised by plunging participants. The 2012 plunges in Virginia will be held on February 4 into the Atlantic Ocean at Virginia Beach, and on February 25 into the Potomac River at Dumfries, into Camp Hydaway Lake in Lynchburg, and again into the New River at Radford. Information about these events is available online at polarplunge.com.
For other water sounds and music, and for more Virginia water information, visit our Web site at virginiawaterradio.org, or call us at (540) 231-5463. From the Virginia Water Resources Research Center in Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo, thanking you for listening, and wishing you health, wisdom, and good water.
SHOW NOTES
Acknowledgments and Sources: For more information on the 2011 Highlander Polar Plunge, see this Radford University news release or this Roanoke Times article. Information on the 2012 Polar Plunges in Virginia is available at http://www.polarplunge.com (the Web site for the Virginia Beach plunge and accompanying activities, with links to events at other sites) and at http://www.firstgiving.com/polarplungeva (registration and fundraising for all the events). The Web site for Special Olympics nationally is http://www.specialolympics.org/ and for Special Olympics in Virginia is http://www.specialolympicsva.org/.
Recent Virginia Water News
For news relevant to Virginia's water resources, please visit the Virginia Water Central News Grouper, available online at http://vawatercentralnewsgrouper.wordpress.com/.
Water Meetings and Other Events
For events related to Virginia's water resources, please visit the Quick Guide to Virginia Water–related Conferences, Workshops, and Other Events, online at http://virginiawaterevents.wordpress.com/. The site includes a list of Virginia government policy and regulatory meetings occurring in the coming week.
