ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, February 1, 1997 TAG: 9702030026
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER, KATHY LOAN AND LISA APPLEGATE
* The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors voted Thursday to spend $55,000 for concept drawings and other preliminary work for three new schools.
The vote comes as the county considers holding a November bond referendum to seek voter approval to finance a new Christiansburg Middle School, a new high school to serve the Shawsville-Elliston area, and enlargement and renovation of the Blacksburg Middle School.
Supervisor Joe Stewart, who represents the Shawsville area, slyly brought home a point as the supervisors and school administrators discussed the new school that will replace Shawsville High.
Stewart, who turned 82 Wednesday, pretended not to understand the money would be used for preliminary work for the new school, then hammered his point home when fellow board members and Schools Transportation Director Larry Schoff explained they were speaking of the new school site, which is in Elliston.
"Then why in the hell don't they call it Elliston. We're going to build a school in Elliston, keep calling it Shawsville. No wonder I didn't know what you're talking about," Stewart said. "You're four miles from Shawsville and I'm getting damn tired of that myself."
The proposed new school site is alternately referred to as the Shawsville strand site and the Alleghany District school site. Stewart asked that the school site be more accurately named, and other supervisors backed him up. "Sir, I'll call it anything you want," Schoff told Stewart, and said he'd convey that wish back to the School Board.
The Board of Supervisors also gave the OK for the county to apply for a grant that would provide 80 percent of the money to convert the northbound Elliston-Lafayette Elementary School bridge on U.S. 11-460 into a pedestrian walkway.
* Creation of a commerce park and foreign trade zone were among the matters considered Thursday night at the quarterly joint meeting of Pulaski and Dublin town councils and the Pulaski County Board of Supervisors. The park would be a cooperative venture among several localities, resulting in a larger site for potential industry than customary individual county or city industrial parks. Designation of a foreign trade zone in Pulaski County, which has also been proposed by the New River Valley Economic Development Alliance, would make the designated area the equivalent of a foreign port so far as customs regulations go.
The three governing bodies also discussed trying to find a facility to house a skating rink for young people in the county, replacing the one which closed when the old Hub Furniture building on Virginia 99 was sold. Dublin Mayor Benny Keister reported on work planned on road changes at the entrance to the Dublin Town Center, where trucks will be rerouted to keep from impeding incoming traffic. "I think you'll see a little bit of widening. I know you'll see a radius that a truck can turn around in," he said.
UPCOMING:
* The Montgomery County Public Service Authority will meet at 7 p.m. Monday on the third floor of the county courthouse, at Main and Franklin streets in Christiansburg. After that meeting, the seven-member board will change roles and reconvene as the Board of Supervisors for an executive session on applications for the county administrator post being vacated by Betty Thomas. The supervisors also will discuss in open session applying to the Commonwealth Transportation Board for access-road funding for the Falling Branch Industrial Park.
* The Christiansburg Town Council will meet at the Municipal Building, 100 East Main St., at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. The agenda will be released Monday afternoon.
* The Montgomery County School Board will have its monthly public address at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the school offices at 200 Junkin St., Christiansburg. Each speaker has three minutes to speak to the board on any subject related to schools. The board is also scheduled to discuss several grant proposals, a progress report on initiatives developed with the local chapter of the National Organization for the Advancement of Colored People, school programs for at-risk pupils and a proposed policy that would allow students to bring small amounts of over-the-counter drugs, such as aspirin, to school.
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