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

DATE: THURSDAY, June 23, 1994                   TAG: 9407210018
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

MOUNTAIN MUSIC CENTER SPARED AN EARLY DEATH

A proposed mountain music visitors center on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Galax cleared a hurdle in the House of Representatives on Wednesday as an effort to remove it from a spending bill was defeated.

Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, said he led the fight against a Colorado Republican's amendment that would have killed the Fisher Peak Mountain Music Interpretive Center in Carroll and Grayson counties. The amendment failed, 282-146.

The $5 million for the first phase of construction is included in the Interior Department's spending bill and has been backed by the Clinton administration, he said. House debate on the appropriations bill is expected to continue today.

The Senate should consider the measure, part of the federal budget that would take effect Oct.1, in the next six weeks. Over the past five years, the federal government has spent $3 million to plan the center, which would be the largest on the 470-mile scenic highway.

The center would celebrate the Blue Ridge Mountain musical heritage of Carroll and Grayson counties and promote tourism in Southwest Virginia, Boucher said. More than 2 million visitors a year drive through that stretch of the parkway, located just north of the North Carolina line.

"Our goal is to inform them of the many cultural events, music and fairs that take place in our communities on an annual basis," he said. The information should "encourage them to leave the parkway, visit our communities and enhance our tourism economy."

by CNB