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

DATE: TUESDAY, December 27, 1994                   TAG: 9412280005
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

CHARLOTTE'S THE TICKET IN CARROLL COUNTY

Not only is Carroll a border county, it sits astride I-77, Virginia's bee-line to Charlotte. If you want to know what that's done for Carroll County's regional orientation, just check out Carroll County High School.

"If you took a poll of who kids root for in college basketball, it would be [North] Carolina," says assistant principal Shelby Puckett. "And when people come to see us, they fly in to Charlotte. Charlotte is not that far," only about two hours away. "And our kids go to Carowinds [the Charlotte amusement park]. Those are a lot of things that touch people's lives."

High in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Carroll County may seem remote by Virginia standards. But when it comes to pro sports, Carroll is very much in the ballpark.

"We have a surprising number of students who go to Charlotte Hornets games," Puckett says. "I think there'll be a carryover to the Panthers."

Indeed, when Charlotte was awarded the NFL franchise last year, it was the talk of the school's hallways, says junior Justin Boyles. This wasn't just idle sports chat, either, "Everybody was asking how they could get tickets," he says.