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| Knob tower effort gets $280,000
A fundraising initiative to build a new High Knob observation tower is now more than halfway to its goal.
Tuesday morning in Coeburn, Ninth District U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher announced that the project has been awarded a $280,000 federal Transportation Enhancement Act grant, according to a press release.
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JEFF LESTER / News Editor |
School board to vote on consolidation Monday night
WISE — The Wise County school board will take a final vote on its plan to consolidate county high schools Monday. Before the board votes, members of the public will be given an opportunity to comment on the full consolidation proposal. The public hearing begins at 7 p.m. Monday.
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JODI DEAL / Staff Writer |
Hospital gets medical students
NORTON — The smallest city in Virginia can now boast a remarkable distinction — two hospitals that offer hands-on training for new doctors.
Wellmont Health System Tuesday announced that the first round of students from Lincoln Memorial University’s DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine would begin their clinical rotations the next day at Mountain View Regional Medical Center and other local Wellmont facilities.
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JEFF LESTER / Staff Writer |
Civil War re-enactments coming to Wise soon
A brave soldier and his pretty little miss, decked out in historically accurate Civil War digs, will soon marry on the steps of The Inn at Wise.
The scenario gets stranger — Gen. Ulysses S. Grant will give the bride away, and the couple will be married by Gen. Robert E. Lee . . . or reasonable facsimiles thereof.
The Civil War wedding with its surprise bride and groom — their identities won’t be revealed until the ceremony — is one of many events set for the third annual Battles at Wise re-enactment on the weekend of July 10-12.
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JODI DEAL / Staff Writer |
‘Kasey’s Academy’ focuses on 4-year-olds
ESSERVILLE — Pre-schoolers enrolled in Kids Central Inc. Head Start centers across Wise and Dickenson counties know who Kasey is.
When the huge, plush kangaroo, who stands nearly seven feet tall, arrives in a classroom or makes an appearance at a special activity like the organization’s year-end bash, the kids go nuts.
“They just love him — he’s like Mickey Mouse to them,” says Education Services Director Kim Austin.
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JODI DEAL / Staff Writer |
County considers trash-to-ethanol idea
There’s still plenty left to do before Wise County commits money or land to a proposal to locate a plant here that would turn trash into ethanol.
County Financial Administrator David Cox, who’s been put in charge of working with the company making the pitch, says the county is still working with representatives from the Bristol-based Reclaimed Resources Inc. to “clarify issues.”
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JODI DEAL / Staff Writer |
Westmoreland ending some retiree benefits
BIG STONE GAP — Westmoreland Coal Co., in a certified letter dated June 26, advised area non-union retirees who had been receiving retiree insurance coverages that their medical insurance would be terminated effective Sept. 1. Retirees who had opted to also continue life insurance coverage at the time of their retirement said their letters advised that coverage would also end on the same date.
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IDA HOLYFIELD / Editor |
Dillon on stage
Big Stone Gap native and singer-songwriter Melvin Dillon performs one of the many songs he has written as he presents a concert on the stage of Miner’s Park Tuesday night. All the stage events during Big Stone Gap’s week-long Independence Day celebration are featuring local talent.
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PHOTO BY ELISSA POWERS |
First five Wall of Fame inductees named
BIG STONE GAP — Folks packed the second floor front parlor and lined the adjacent hall at the June Tolliver House Saturday as the first five inductees into the Big Stone Gap Wall of Fame were revealed in a brief ceremony.
Lonesome Pine Arts and Crafts President Barbara Polly announced the five honorees as Wall of Fame committee member Garnett Gilliam unveiled portraits of John Fox Jr., C. Bascom Slemp, Virginia McChesney, Clara Lou Kelly and George Dalton.
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IDA HOLYFIELD / Editor |
Host of free events at Fourth of July festival
BIG STONE GAP — Be at Miner’s Park tonight at 7 p.m. to catch a free concert by Tyler Hughes and The Generation Gap, and if rain clouds darken the sky, head on over to Carnes Gym, where the group will take the stage there.
Flexibility is the name of the game for Parks and Recreation Director Tammy McPherson, as she keeps an eye on the weather while hustling to set up a flurry of events on tap for the remainder of this week.
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IDA HOLYFIELD / Editor |
New York City native David Eggar, left of Dr. Ralph Stanley began playing the piano and cello at age three and by age seven, was performing on Broadway and at the Metropolitan Opera. |
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World-class cellist seeks out Dr. Stanley
“I tell you, you never know what a day will bring,” Alan Maggard said as he tried to wrap his mind around last week’s recording session featuring a world-class cellist, a rockabilly artist, Dr. Ralph Stanley and several of the Clinch Mountain Boys.
“It was kind of neat to see so many different kinds of culture come together,” Maggard said of world-class cellist David Eggar; California based singer, songwriter and musician Todd Novak and Dr. Ralph Stanley and his band members.
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IDA HOLYFIELD / Editor |
Gibson sentenced to life in prison
CLINTWOOD — “You’re sentencing an innocent man. That’s all I’ve got to say, your honor.” Those were the only words spoken in court by Anthony Ayres Gibson before being sentenced to life in prison for the first degree murder of Deron Ray Stanley yesterday.
Dickenson County Circuit Court Judge Henry Vanover passed down the life sentence, plus three years that were suspended, after a lengthy plea from defense attorney Greg Kallen to set aside a guilty verdict issued by a Tazewell County jury in September 2008.
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TERESA MULLINS / Staff Writer |
Miller returns to Flannagan
For Harold “Chip” Miller, returning to Dickenson County as park manager for John Flannagan Dam and Reservoir is like coming home.
Miller served as the project’s manager from 1998-2003, but left the county to take another position with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ at its Huntington, W.Va.’s district office.
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TERESA MULLINS / Staff Writer |
Independence Day celebration begins Friday in Clintwood
Independence Day is Saturday and the town of Clintwood has planned a three-day celebration that includes activities for all ages.
All the celebration’s major activities are free.
Events will kick off Friday, July 3 with music, crafts and vendor displays and kids games taking place at the walking track beside Clintwood Post Office.
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Education center awarded $50,000
The Dickenson County Industrial Development Authority has received $50,000 in federal funds to complete two industrial classrooms in the Dickenson Center for Education and Research. The grant is through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Agency. The award was announced by Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Ninth District, in a press release.
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TERESA MULLINS / Staff Writer |
Clintwood man arrested for pot possession
Police arrested a Dickenson County man Monday after finding him in possession of a large amount of marijuana and driving on a suspended license.
Oliver Gene Beverly, 50, of the Pine Creek section of Clintwood, was stopped by police while driving a 1999 Harley Davidson Sportster motorcycle, according to Dickenson County Sheriff’s Investigator Kenneth Hill.
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TERESA MULLINS / Staff Writer |
Sheriff’s office plans July 4 crackdown on drunk drivers
Sheriff Bobby G. Hammons has announced that Dickenson County deputies will be out in full force during the Fourth of July holiday period, cracking down on drunk drivers with an aggressive enforcement blitz.
“Driving while drunk isn’t worth the tremendous risk. No matter your age, if you’ve had too much holiday spirit, you’d better find a safe and sober ride home or your chances of arrest are high,” said Hammons in a news release.
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Boucher calls for climate bill support
Ninth District U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher was among the House members urging passage Friday of a sweeping climate change and energy bill.
Boucher, D-Abingdon, one of the architects of the legislation, argued in remarks during the floor debate that the bill would meet his two major goals — keeping electricity rates affordable and allowing utilities to keep using coal, which produces 51 percent of electricity nationwide.
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Stormwater rules hearing is next week
Public hearings on proposed changes to the state’s stormwater runoff regulations will begin Tuesday, June 30, in Marion.
That meeting begins at 7 p.m. at Hungry Mother State Park’s Hemlock Haven Conference Center.
Comments on the proposals will be accepted through Friday, Aug. 21 by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Virginia Soil and Water Conservation Board.
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Texting while driving illegal come Wednesday
RICHMOND (AP) — Message to drivers who text or e-mail on the road: Put the phone down or pay up. Virginia will join 13 other states and the District of Columbia that have banned texting while driving when the new law and hundreds of others legislators passed this winter take effect Wednesday.
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Lawmakers aim to rescue D-Day memorial
ROANOKE (AP) — Virginia’s congressional delegation is asking for a presidential proclamation to designate the financially troubled National D-Day Memorial a national monument. A spokesman for U.S. Sen. Mark Warner said a letter seeking the designation signed by the state’s senators and representatives was sent Thursday to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.
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