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

DATE: THURSDAY, July 7, 1994                   TAG: 9407070227
SECTION: NEIGHBORS                    PAGE: W-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CHARLES STEBBINS
DATELINE: NEW CASTLE                                LENGTH: Short

BUS TRIPS CREATE PARKING PROBLEM

It is an almost unthinkable event in a town with virtually no parking restrictions and no shortage of spaces.

But a problem has developed at the parking area next to the Craig County Courthouse and county sheriff's office.

However, it seems to outside observers that the problem is more a case of "my space" versus "your space" rather than a lack of spaces.

The trouble arises, authorities said, when the county's senior citizens go on bus tours lasting several days and park their cars on the lot.

People who work in the courthouse must park somewhere else, according to a complaint from Circuit Court Judge Duncan M. Byrd Jr.

In a letter to the Board of Supervisors, Byrd asked the supervisors to work out some plan to ensure parking spaces for courthouse employees at all times.

The judge said he thought it was "impractical and unfair" to use the courthouse lot - which has hardly two dozen spaces - for long-term parking. This takes away spaces for courthouse employees and members of the public with business in the courthouse, he said.

The supervisors asked County Administrator Richard Flora to look into the problem.

Flora said he thought that perhaps the best way to solve it would be to designate specific spaces for courthouse employees and leave the remainder of the lot on a first-come, first-served basis.