Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 28, 1995 TAG: 9509280028
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: OLIVIA SHORTER SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
In keeping with General Assembly guidelines passed this year, council allowed trailers on one-acre lots in the primarily agricultural areas of town, known as the "A-10" districts.
"I don't necessarily like it, but if the state says we have to do it, we have to do it," said Councilman Waldon Kerns.
Residential neighborhoods outside the town's center where citizens have to have special permits for agriculture, the "R-11" districts, were not included in the decision..
Montgomery County also passed a similar ordinance in June because of the state mandate to treat single- and double-wide homes the same as site-built houses.
The council also voted to allow a few businesses on South Main Street, which will be displaced by construction of the "smart" road, to relocate to South Hill Park about a quarter of a mile away. South Main Auto, Security Self Storage, and Companion Animal Clinic are among those to be moved.
Jay D. Nicewonder was granted a permit to move a repair shop and tire store to South Hill also, but council suggested that the bay garage doors on his shop not face the road for aesthetic reasons.
The council meeting concluded with a documentary on the coal miners of Montgomery County, in which local citizens tell their stories about living and working in a mining community.
"We feel like this is a story that lived in the hearts and minds of the people of Montgomery County," said Robert Freis, president of the Coal Miners Heritage Association and scriptwriter for the film. Freis also writes part time for The Roanoke Times.
Coal mining was once the county's biggest industry, and it has been all but forgotten over these past few decades.
Jimmie Lee Price, the narrator of the film, said "a renaissance, a revival of our heritage is sweeping our neighborhoods out here in coal country. I'm proud to be a coal miner's son."
The association is starting to work with the schools, giving miners an opportunity to tell their stories.
The video, "Hard Times, Rich Memories," will air next week on WTOB, Channel 2, Blacksburg Cable's Public Access Channel. Showtime is Oct. 4 at 7 p.m.
by CNB