Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 17, 1994 TAG: 9407180132
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV10 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
WYTHEVILLE - For the first time in its history, Wytheville has a woman for its vice mayor.
Town Council has chosen Jackie King, a furniture businesswoman, for the post.
The previous vice mayor, Tom Bralley, declined the nomination for re-election last week. He has been vice mayor for 12 of his 14 years on council.
Court ruling
WYTHEVILLE - A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision means Wythe and Bland counties can no longer require trash collection companies within their borders to take solid waste to a designated trash transfer station.
The ruling states that such flow control requirements interfere with interstate commerce.
The public service authority that operates the two counties' station must get 80 tons a day to support the operation financially.
C&M Carting of Elk Creek and Lusk Disposal of Bluefield are collecting trash from businesses in the two counties and delivering it to the transfer station. But now, following the court decision, they can no longer be required to do so.
UFOs, military linked
WYTHEVILLE - A UFO researcher from East Providence, R.I., says he is convinced that the unidentified flying objects reported in Wythe County and the surrounding area during 1987 and 1988 are secret military aircraft.
``I've done a lot of research on this, beginning back in 1988 and in fact came down here in 1990 and spoke to a lot of folks,'' said Tony Gonsalves, a former Navy jet mechanic. ``My conclusion is that these are definitely aircraft that are owned, operated and deployed by the United States of America.''
Gonsalves was interviewed by WYVE radio news director Danny Gordon, whose reports of the original sightings brought Wytheville to the attention of UFO enthusiasts from across the country in the late 1980s.
Gonsalves spoke at Wytheville Community College several years ago and displayed a model of a triangular aircraft to show how it could turn on different patterns of wing and body lights to make it appear to be in various shapes at night.
Based on his interviews, he estimated that as many as 35,000 or 40,000 area residents had seen unusual aircraft during the high point of the sightings. He said the wing-shaped craft could hardly be spaceships, since there is no air between planets and ``wings in outer space make no sense at all.''
That, he said, is ``a clear indication that they are of domestic origin.''
Alternative routing
MARION - The Mount Rogers Planning District Commission has gone on record as supporting an alternative routing for the proposed Interstate 73 which would follow Virginia 100 in the New River Valley.
The commission's Executive Committee directed its staff to draft a resolution supporting that alternative for consideration at the committee's next meeting. The staff will also gather data on projected traffic patterns if the Virginia 100 alternative is chosen.
The commission does not want Interstate 73 to be routed over Interstates 77 and 81 because they are already overloaded.
Athletic field fund drive
WYTHEVILLE - Wytheville Community College has started raising funds to improve its athletic fields.
The new fields will be named for Al Jennings, the college's retired health/physical education faculty member and former intramural director.
Existing fields at the front of the campus off Main Street (U.S. 11) are virtually unchanged from when the site served as county fairgrounds before the college moved there in 1967. A 1990 architectural study developed plans for four playing fields but tight budgets kept work from starting on them.
The field improvements will now be funded by money raised through the WCC Educational Foundation. More than $7,500 has already been raised. The estimated total cost is $100,000
Pay raise approved
WYTHEVILLE - Wythe County's supervisors have voted the governing body a pay raise starting in 1996 by a 5-2 margin.
It will be the first increase since 1984. Jack Crosswell and John Davis opposed the raise.
Both their terms expire next year, and Davis said he would not seek re-election.
The raises amount to an extra $1,600 a year. The new annual salaries will be $8,800 for the board chairman, $8,200 for the vice chairman and $7,000 for each of the other members.
by CNB