Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 16, 1995 TAG: 9504170011
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-12 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
WYTHEVILLE - No more work will be done on a zoning ordinance for Wythe County until a decision is made on the makeup of the county Planning Commission.
The county Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing at its 7 p.m. meeting April 25 on restructuring the commission. Some county residents have argued that the towns of Wytheville and Rural Retreat should not be represented on a county agency.
The commission's current bylaws call for nine members: one from each of the county's six magisterial districts, one at-large, and one from each of the two town planning commissions.
The supervisors decided last week to halt further preparation by the commission of a zoning ordinance until after the public hearing. Some years ago the idea of zoning was shouted down at public hearings throughout the county, but there has been new interest since an attempt to locate a halfway house for state prisoners in the eastern part of the county, and a private prison company announced plans to build a 1,500-bed prison there.
The halfway house, which was to have been located at a former motel, never opened. But the prison company, Corrections Corporation of America, has indicated it will complete its project despite opposition by a group of Wythe citizens.
Food bank seeks donations
WYTHEVILLE - Contributions are being sought for the Wytheville warehouse of Sunrise Food Bank, which provides thousands of meals each month to those in need in Wythe County.
R. Leon Goad, regional director, and Steve Garay, Wytheville branch manager, said 1990 census figures showed 17.5 percent of people in Wytheville and Wythe County, and 27 percent of children, live at or below the poverty level.
From its warehouse on West Lee Highway, Sunrise Food Bank has been working with some 40 agencies and food pantries to distribute food to hungry people. It operates under the auspices of the Rev. Leon Goad's New Life Ministries as a sub-distributing organization of the Southwestern Virginia Food Bank in Roanoke.
Further information is available by calling Garay at 228-7788. Tax-deductible contributions can be sent to Sunrise Food Bank, P.O. Box 698, Galax, Va. 24333, marked for the Wytheville Fund Drive.
CCC celebration in Jackson Park
PULASKI - The Clean Community Council will hold a celebration in Jackson Park from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Friday offering free food, drinks, face-painting and other activities and live entertainment.
The program includes country gospel singer Mitchell Ferrer, Lila Stephens and her Puppets, and Smokey Bear. Recycled art work will be displayed.
Children are being asked to save pennies to contribute at the celebration. The council is trying to collect 25 pounds of pennies to start restoration work at the Draper Mountain Overlook leading into Pulaski. Any child who would like a piggy bank to save pennies can get one at the Pulaski County Office on Youth in the former Jefferson School building.
Art student's work being shown
EMORY - Tammy McMillan of Pulaski is one of three Emory & Henry College senior art students whose work is on display in the 1912 Gallery of the Emory Train Depot through May 14.
McMillan's work, titled "Exploration into the Representation of Women," is a tribute to her mother and grandmother. The exhibit can be viewed from noon to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays.
The public is invited to a reception honoring the artists from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. next Sunday.
Doctor honored for contributions
WYTHEVILLE - Wytheville Town Council honored the late Dr. Charles Brock Hughes, who died April 4, in a resolution last week citing his contributions to sports activities in Wythe County over the years.
Hughes coached the school system's first sandlot basketball program, served as team physician for the George Wythe High School football and basketball teams for 30 years and received the Dr. Frank McCue Sports Medicine Award in 1992 from the Virginia High School Coaches Association for outstanding service to high school athletes. He also was inducted into the Wythe County Sports Hall of Fame.
He was Wythe County's first medical specialist, opening his pediatric practice here in 1949. He found himself working day and night about a year later when Wytheville had become the focal point of a polio epidemic.
Recreation director hired
WYTHEVILLE - Wythe County has hired its third recreation director in four years.
Curt Kincannon, who worked in recreation for 15 years in Fairfax County, has been hired by the county Recreation Commission for an annual salary of $32,000. He will start May 1.
Kincannon succeeds Steven Bobbitt, who left for another recreation post in North Carolina. The first director was Greg Morrall.
by CNB