Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, October 31, 1994 TAG: 9410310040
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Mugsey's plight has been chronicled in newspaper stories and his owner, Sue Collins, continues to run classified ads about her dog - and has spent thousands of dollars - even though he disappeared five months ago.
He last was seen in the yard of the Collins' Franklin County home on May 28.
Callers have tipped Collins to several possible sightings of Mugsey, an 11-year-old mixed breed. The latest involves a couple who lived in a mobile home near the Booker T. Washington Monument in Franklin County. Collins said someone called to report seeing a dog that fits Mugsey's description with the couple.
Collins since has learned that the couple moved to Durham, N.C.
She's trying to track them down.
"I'm keeping my hopes up," she said. "Anything's possible."
Close encounters
UFOs visited Southwest Virginia this month, courtesy of a two-part episode on Fox-TV's ``The X-Files.'' Part one, broadcast Oct. 14, depicted a federal agent in Pulaski being temporarily abducted by unknown beings and winding up afterward in a ``mental hospital'' in Marion.
FBI agents Fox Muldar (David Duchouny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) become involved when the man escapes and takes hostages, babbling about the aliens returning for him.
In the conclusion, broadcast Oct. 21, the escapee kidnapped Scully and took her via the Blue Ridge Parkway to the top of Skyland Mountain where he supposedly exchanged her for himself when he met his abductors again.
The series will continue for several weeks with Scully missing (Anderson, who plays her, is about to have a baby and will return afterward).
No mud? No voters
It was the kind of campaign appearance that candidates dream about but seldom encounter.
It was an opportunity for the Roanoke County School Board candidates to get out their messages without worrying about being attacked or criticized by their opponents.
But one thing was scarce: voters.
No more than 30 people attended the "Evening of Recognition" hosted by the League of Women Voters in the Roanoke Valley.
Candidates were given four minutes each to talk about themselves and their campaign proposals. There was only one restriction: They had to be positive.
The league organized the event to help counter the negative campaigning and personal attacks in many campaigns.
For the most part, the School Board election has been free of negative campaigning. The women's group said the candidates deserved recognition for that.
The forum allowed the candidates to present themselves in the best possible light. There were no rebuttals and no questions from the audience. Voters were permitted to ask questions at a reception after all candidates had finished speaking.
The voters' group said the event was designed to recognize the value of public service.
The candidates stuck to their prepared remarks and avoided controversy. But would more voters have attended if the ban on negative campaigning had been lifted?
Doing the spadework
Widening U.S. 221 to four lanes through Back Creek is going to be tricky, geographically speaking. But the Virginia Department of Transportation wants to make it as smooth as possible on the citizen-opposition front.
In a tactic that has not been used in this part of the state, VDOT is opening the early stages of the project to the public rather than waiting until routes have been narrowed down.
A newsletter to residents goes out this week, and a community meeting will be held Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Brambleton Center to get names for a citizen advisory committee. A meeting was held in June to show residents the possibilities for a widened road.
The idea is to get residents involved in the process from the beginning, so they understand the problems VDOT engineers face in choosing a path for the road. The creek on one side, hills on the other and development scattered everywhere make an alignment for the road tough. The road could be moved to the other side of Back Creek.
VDOT is looking at putting a four-lane, divided highway through the semirural area to accommodate heavy traffic from commuters and new subdivisions.
Bridging the gap
Tooling up Interstate 81 past Harrisonburg sometime? You soon can look for a new landmark.
Ground was broken last week for a new bridge spanning I-81 that will link James Madison University's main campus with its new College of Integrated Science and Technology. The $1.7 million bridge will be 323 feet long and 54 feet wide. It will accommodate two 12-foot highway lanes and a pedestrian sidewalk.
Scheduled for completion in September 1995, the bridge is considered a psychological link to the new campus, which has been open for a little more than a year.
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