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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 15, 1994                   TAG: 9406150022
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: By PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI                                LENGTH: Medium

PULASKI TRAIN DEPOT SAFETY CONCERNS AIRED

Now that the town of Pulaski has turned an eyesore of an abandoned train station into a bright new community and visitors center, it may have a job keeping it in its restored condition.

Town Councilman E.G. ``Junior'' Black said vandals and trespassers already are intruding on the depot property at night. One man was seen hitting its newly installed railroad scales with a stick, he said. Several people were found sleeping inside the caboose, which Norfolk Southern Corp. gave the town along with the depot building.

Black, during a discussion with other Town Council members following a budget session Tuesday, said the new depot fence needs to be continued all around the building and kept locked. Other council members called for increased police patrols around the depot, which will eventually house the Pulaski County Chamber of Commerce offices.

The depot was dedicated Saturday during a day full of activities centered around it and the rest of downtown Pulaski. John Stone, an incoming councilman, said four downtown merchants told him Saturday was their best day since they opened their stores here.

The rush to complete signs and other parts of the depot project in time for Saturday's ceremony ran the $37,000 station budget over by $3,000, Town Manager Tom Combiths told council at the budget session.

Money from a parks bond issue passed by Virginia voters several years ago will pay to extend New River Trail State Park another two miles from its terminus outside Pulaski right up to the depot.

Combiths said there is a disagreement between the town and Parks Service as to who will maintain that part of the trail, once it is complete. The state wants the town to do it, and the town's position is that it should be maintained like the rest of the trail which winds through several counties on a former rail bed donated by NS to the state.

by CNB