The primary sponsor of SawMill Creek is closing its doors the end of October. Hampton Roads Online has been in business as an Internet Provider since 1995, our core business has been shrinking over the years and we are no longer able to continue.

A local company in Yorktown Virginia will be assuming all of our dialup and web hosting business towards the end of October. The transition is currently in the planning stages, we hope it will be as seamless as possible with very little down time.

The fate of SawMill Creek is still undecided at this point in time. Initially we had hoped to be able to host SMC in our shop in Hayes Virginia. This is not possible now as we have not been able to ascertain the services of a server administrator. Additionally the monthly fees associated with a commercial Internet connection combined with server administration costs make it impossible for me to provide the necessary funds out of pocket. Another consideration is that Jackie and I have decided that after ten years of managing a 24 hour per day business it is time to just let go and move on.

I am in the process of negotiating an option that would provide for the continuation of SMC. This option would transfer the ownership to another company, one that has the financial resources to assure that SMC will be able to continue through the years and even decades to come.

I also have assumed worst case and in the event we cannot complete the ownership transfer of SMC by the end of the month I have located a temporary colocation space for our SMC server. This option will have a very short lifespan, the costs associated with colocating a service this large isn't inexpensive but it would buy us some time to complete the final arrangements.

Needless to say there are some very sad days ahead for Jackie and I, the loss of a business that we have worked so hard build from the ground up through the years hits very close to home. Of course we are also concerned about the fate of "The Creek" and are working frantically to assure its survival. There are also financial obligations associated with closing Hampton Roads Online that we must resolve, as well as the loss of Jackie's job and the impact to our friends who have invested in the business.

I will continue to make announcements through the end of the month in an effort to keep everyone appraised of our current status.

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