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

DATE: SATURDAY, October 1, 1994                   TAG: 9410220021
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV9   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: PULASKI                                 LENGTH: Medium

BOOSTER RECALLS DAYS BEFORE SERVICE AUTHORITY

The Pulaski County Public Service Authority was 25 years old this week and J. Mack Baker, its only board member to have served all that time, can still get excited about the organization.

``It's the most wonderful thing that's happened to Pulaski County to get water and fire protection,'' said Baker, a retired forest warden.

Baker was part of the Draper Ruritan Club delegation that approached the county Board of Supervisors in the 1960s seeking water for homes and fire protection in Draper which lies in western Pulaski County. At about the same time, the need for water by the New River community on the eastern side of the county became critical.

The Draper request led to a study of water needs, and applications for federal grant funds which were easier to obtain in those days, Baker recalled. One result was the Public Service Authority, created by the Board of Supervisors in 1969 as a water and sewer authority.

In 1977, its responsibilities were expanded to establishing and providing a garbage and refuse collection and disposal system for the county.

Baker approached C.E. ``Chick'' Richardson about land that Richardson owned on Claytor Lake near Draper. Richardson ended up donating the land as the site for a water treatment plant.

Before the plant was completed, Baker said, the county faced a variety of water problems. Dublin was buying water from Pulaski at the time, but the water line froze and burst during a long cold spell one winter and the authority had to haul water to keep Pulaski County High School operating.

``I've hauled many loads out of Pulaski to keep it going,'' Baker said. He said fighting fires in Draper and other parts of the county also required hauling water from Pulaski or a stream.

He said development of a water system was a big factor in securing the plant which is now Volvo-GM Heavy Truck Corp. and other industries.

Communities that now have county water, thanks to federal grants, include the New River-Fairlawn area, parts of Draper and Draper West, Belsprings and Parrott, Lily Dell, Thornsprings, Brookmont, Mount Olivet and the town of Dublin. Plans to provide water and sewer to Claytor Lake State Park are in the final stages.

But even after a quarter of a century of expansion, however, it has still not reached the only man to have served on the authority board since it started.

``I don't have county water. I'm on the wrong side of the interstate,'' Baker said. ``I hope to live to see it come to that side.''

by CNB