Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 11, 1995 TAG: 9506300101
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV10 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
WYTHEVILLE - The 1996 Wytheville Chautauqua Festival gets under way with a hot-air balloon glow Friday evening at Factory Merchants Mall and a parade at 10:30 a.m. Saturday.
The balloons will be launched at 6:30 a.m. Saturday, weather permitting, from the Wytheville Community College grounds and again at 6:30 a.m. Sunday.
The Wythe Arts Council Ltd., which sponsors the annual festival, has acquired the historic Oewel-Haller House at 175 W. Washington St. for a permanent all-year festival residence.
Thomas Barclay Haller of Pulaski, one of the executors of the estate of Mr. and Mrs. John O. Haller, worked with the council board for the sale and transfer of property in time for the 1995 festival. No price was disclosed. The purchase was made possible by donations to a gift fund established in 1985.
The property is near the Elizabeth Brown Memorial Park where most of the festival activities are held. The festival runs through June 23.
The house was built by Jan Andres George Oewel and his wife, Constance Margareta Hardess Oewel, about 1875. It became the residence of their daughter, Clara Margareta Oewel Haller, and her husband, Jacob Victor Haller, about 1897.
The house is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Junior scientists
DUBLIN - Eleven students at the Southwest Virginia Governor's School won cash prizes for scientific papers they presented at the annual Virginia Junior Academy of Science at Virginia Military Institute last month.
First-place awards went to Jill Williams, Pulaski County High School, and Sarah Wilson, Rural Retreat High School.
Winning third-place awards were Nathan Brown, Courtney Peek and Charles Robinson, Pulaski County; and Amy Lyons, Fort Chiswell High School. Honorable mentions went to Ellen DeHaven and Jessica Perdue, Pulaski County; Melinda Martin, George Wythe; Pam Morse, Giles County; and Jenny Porter, Fort Chiswell.
First place carried $50 cash awards; third, $20; and honorable mention, $10.
Supervisor rejected
WYTHEVILLE - Olin Armentrout, one of the Wythe County supervisors at the heart of a private prison controversy, has been denied his party's nomination for re-election.
Democrats instead chose Clay Lawrence of Draper to run for the Fort Chiswell District seat.
Armentrout and Supervisor Charles Dix visited a Texas prison run by Corrections Corporation of America and came back with a favorable report. The board subsequently voted 4-3 to welcome a 1,500-bed medium-security CCA prison to Wythe County.
Dix's term is not up this year.
Jack Crosswell, the Speedwell District supervisor who first made contact with CCA, had stiff competition for the Democratic Party candidacy but switched to the Republican Party. Wythe Republicans choose their candidates at a party convention Monday night.
Harvey Atkinson, a Rural Retreat High School science teacher, will be the Democratic candidate for Speedwell. Other contenders had been Gary Lavalle, Tim Litz and James "Blackeye" Wright.
Bucky Sharitz was chosen to seek the at-large seat being vacated after one term by Democrat John Davis. Commissioner of the Revenue Mary "Sis" Cassell was chosen to seek a fourth term, and Commonwealth's Attorney Thomas Baird will seek a seventh term. The party had no nominees for the West Wytheville supervisor's seat, held by Republican Mark Munsey, or for treasurer, held by Republican Sam Crockett.
Former deputy Sam Burcham was chosen to oppose Republican incumbent Wayne Pike for sheriff. "I will be your next sheriff," Burcham told Democrats at last week's mass meeting, "because God is on my side."
Wythe Republicans have been holding mass meetings throughout the county to choose delegates for the convention.
Bob Shook is seeking the GOP candidacy for Fort Chiswell District and Mike Farris, the candidacy for the at-large seat.
Come swap old paint
CHRISTIANSBURG - In response to residents' demand, the Montgomery County Improvement Council will sponsor its second Latex Paint Exchange.
The event is to let residents dispose of unwanted, reusable paint that would otherwise end up in the Mid County Landfill.
The exchange will be June 24 from 9 a.m. to noon in the parking lot of Christiansburg High School.
Montgomery County, Blacksburg and Christiansburg residents can bring their reusable latex paint. All paint brought must be latex-based, in the original labeled container and in usable quality. Residents can also stop by to get free paint.
For more information about this event, call 382-5793.
3 athletes to join wall
WYTHEVILLE - Tom Bralley, a former Wytheville vice mayor and the man who came up with the idea for the Wall of Honor now located in the town's Withers Park, is one of three people who will be inducted into the Wythe County Sports Hall of Fame later this year.
His name, along with those of Roy Shinault and Bobby Bralley, will be added to the sports monument in the park, bringing its number to 51.
Tom Bralley, now vice president of Premier Bank in Wytheville, was an outstanding athlete in baseball, track, football and basketball at George Wythe High School.
Shinault starred in football and baseball in the early 1960s at Fort Chiswell High School, rushing for more than 1,000 yards in 1961 and leading the baseball team in home runs.
Bobby Bralley, now of Richmond, excelled in athletics at the former Jackson Memorial High School in Wytheville and played four years of baseball at Emory & Henry College. He played in the Carolina Baseball League, was named Manager of the Year during a job at Statesville, N.C., and retired as athletic director at Highland Springs High School in Richmond. He operates a professional hitting instruction school.
Appalachian roots
INDEPENDENCE - Grace Edwards, from Radford University's department of Appalachian studies, will speak on "What Makes Appalachian People Special" in the first of a series of Summer Heritage Events at the 1908 Grayson County Courthouse at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
She will talk about the history and heritage of those who came to this area from Europe, why they settled here or moved West, and the ideas, customs and traditions they brought with them.
Her appearance is sponsored by a grant from the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities & Public Policy. Admission is free.
by CNB