Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 17, 1993                   TAG: 9306170504
SECTION: NEIGHBORS                    PAGE: W-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CHARLES STEBBINS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NEW CASTLE                                LENGTH: Medium

SUPERVISORS SAY FORESTRY OFFICE SHOULD STAY IN CRAIG

Closing of the office could rob the county of a valuable resource, the supervisors said in a resolution adopted Tuesday. Forestry officials propose that the Craig office be combined with a forestry office in Blacksburg.

The supervisors said they not only oppose closing the office, but also reducing timbering and the proposed opening of a Job Corps unit in the forestry office.

The forestry office would be across Virginia 615 from the county's elementary and high schools. All three supervisors said they thought a Job Corps facility would be inappropriate in that location.

County Administrator Richard Flora said he thinks the Craig forestry office should be retained and the Job Corps office should be placed in Blacksburg, where there are jobs and training facilities.

In another action, the supervisors reappointed Helen Abbott Looney to the County School Board. Looney was appointed to the board a year ago as an at-large member to complete the term of Robert Shaver.

Also seeking the appointment was Stanley Osborne, 35, an accounting instructor at the ECPI Computer Institute in Roanoke.

The supervisors praised Osborne's qualifications and urged him to seek other appointments.

Supervisors also received an unexpected accolade from a county resident, who thanked them for their efforts toward construction of a bridge over Broad Run on Virginia 618.

"It's a beautiful bridge," said Woody Lipps. "It has an unlimited weight limit and no problems for fire trucks."

Lipps said Supervisor John M. Lee had been especially helpful in the campaign to get the bridge, which was built with county's funds through the Virginia Department of Transportation.

Lipps said that before the bridge was built, the seven families in his neighborhood had to ford a creek that sometimes flooded and blocked the road.

The supervisors voted to seek a $40,000 Virginia Center on Rural Development grant to create a day-care center in what was the gym of the now-defunct New Castle High School.

The county applied for the grant last year. Flora said Craig was ranked 13th, and only the first 11 localities received funds.