Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 5, 1994 TAG: 9411070028
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DUBLIN LENGTH: Medium
But Terri Gregory, who heads that office in Pulaski, noted that the state Department of Youth and Family Services is giving such funding a low priority in its plans for 1995. Funding for the offices is 14th on the department's list of 16 priorities for the coming year.
State Sen. Malfourd ``Bo'' Trumbo, R-Fincastle, and Del. Tommy Baker, R-Radford, heard this request and others from supervisors who attended a Pulaski County Extension Leadership Council meeting at New River Community College.
Gregory said the state department wanted to cut out funding entirely to Offices on Youth last year, but the General Assembly restored 90 percent of it.
She said the state is interested in youth offices working more with children already in the criminal justice system, rather than on delinquency prevention as they have for the past 15 years. That would mean the program would work mostly in court service units.
But prevention continues to be important, Gregory said. In the town and county of Pulaski, the youth program has received strong support. ``It is a community program and it's run by community citizens, and they say what the needs of that program are,'' she said.
Without prevention programs, she said, greater economic costs from juvenile crime are likely.
Joe Sheffey, vice chairman of the Board of Supervisors, and Supervisor Mason Vaughan also urged the legislators to push for improvements in urban enterprise zone designations. Enterprise zones were created to draw business to economically deprived areas, revitalize urban areas and bring in jobs.
``There's no question that it works, that it's beneficial. Just look at Volvo,'' Baker said. Because it was in an area designated as an enterprise zone, the Volvo-GM plant was eligible for a state incentive package that encouraged expansion and kept the plant in Pulaski County.
Trumbo said he expects legislation to be introduced in the 1995 session to expand the limits of enterprise zones, at least in rural areas where so much more space lies between them. A zone now does not cover an entire county, for example, but only a designated section.
The enterprise zones program initially was meant for more compact urban areas, he said, but its provisions may be loosened somewhat for rural areas.
The supervisors also emphasized the county's need for more school funding and for keeping state funding in a regional jail project that would include Pulaski County.
The Leadership Council, which seeks coordination among various agencies and resources serving the county, urged the legislators to support continued funding for Extension programs.
Baker said speakers from Virginia Tech have been effective in convincing legislators of the value of Extension. ``I want you to know that has affected directly what we've been able to keep,'' he said.
``In the last several years, what Extension has been able to do is mold itself to the needs of its constituents,'' Trumbo said. ``I think the flexibility of the program is one of its biggest assets.''
by CNB