ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 10, 1996 TAG: 9603110016
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-14 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
Branson, who has been the county's administrator for 19 years, accepted an agreement last month to retire in September with $18,000 severance pay, an extra year's Virginia Supplemental Retirement System coverage for a total of 20 years, and continued medical insurance for two years until age 65.
The decision to seek Branson's ouster was apparently made at an unadvertised board meeting held Jan. 15 in the work office of Mark Munsey, the previous board chairman. Branson has formally requested the minutes of that meeting from Munsey, under a state code section requiring minutes to be taken at all public meetings.
Munsey has maintained that the meeting was legal because a local radio station stated on its news program that the meeting was to be held. No formal notifications were sent to the news media.
At the board meeting last week, Munsey and Supervisor Tom DuPuis attempted to go into closed session to discuss the minutes request as a personnel matter.
County Attorney Frank Slavin said that did not meet the standard for a closed session. He said a better argument could be made for going behind closed doors to discuss a legal matter involving probable litigation, although "I would have to say at this point I know of no threatened litigation."
Reporters from WYVE radio and WDBJ-TV objected to a closed meeting on that basis, and Munsey and DuPuis ended up withdrawing the motion for an executive session. The meeting was then adjourned, with no decision on providing the minutes of the Jan. 15 meeting as requested.
Munsey said after the meeting that he would not provide the minutes until he had consulted a lawyer.
Branson said he has never been given a reason why the board sought his dismissal.
EPA workshop
RADFORD - The Environmental Protection Agency is co-sponsoring a free environmental education workshop with Radford University on March 28 and March 29.
The workshop will focus on teaching children about wildlife and ecology. All participants will receive certification in the Project Wild and Project Learning Tree programs.
Registration is limited. For more information, contact Roy Rathmun at 831-6408.
Writing contest
WYTHEVILLE - Deadline for entering short stories, essays or poetry in the 1996 Wytheville Chautauqua Festival Creative Writing Contest will be April 26.
Nearly $700 in prize money will go to winners in adult, high school and middle school categories. The awards will be presented June 21 during the festival's Creative Writing Day.
Contest guidelines and entry fee information are available by writing to Creative Writing Contest, P.O. Box 762, Wytheville, Va. 24382. Additional information is available from contest Chairman Dan Jones at Wytheville Community College (telephone 223-4736).
The Chautauqua Festival, which will run from June 15 to June 23 this year, will also include a new woodworking crafts exhibit.
Nonprofessional woodworkers can display original creations and compete for ribbons for best of show, three prizes and three honorable mentions. Further information is available by calling Dave or Mimi Heldreth at 228-2034 daily before 8:30 p.m.
Site improvements
WYTHEVILLE - Wythe County is looking for ways to finance site improvements in its Fairview Industrial Park, and seeking options on land which could become a new industrial park.
Benny Burkett, executive director of the county's Joint Industrial Development Authority, told the Board of Supervisors last week that 17 industrial prospects had surveyed the few remaining sites in the existing industrial park and found the acreage too rugged for their use.
If Wythe County wants to be competitive in attracting industry, he said, it must be able to provide sites for potential plants. He said the remaining land in the industrial park could handle two large or three moderate-sized industries if they were graded and made easier to build on.
The board authorized Burkett to explore funding possibilities for industrial site improvements. It also agreed to seek 12-month options on two sites totaling 1,210 acres, from Peppers Ferry Road almost to Interstate 81-77, to see if those tracts could be developed as a new industrial park.
Anderson & Associates of Blacksburg studied six potential sites and rated them on the basis of their price, accessibility to roads and utilities, and development costs. The recommendation was to look further at the 677-acre Ratliff property and 533 Suthers property. The Suthers site was once under option to a private prison firm which hoped to build a prison in Wythe County but failed to get a state contract.
Council candidates
WYTHEVILLE - Wytheville will have four candidates for two seats in the May 7 Town Council elections, and Rural Retreat will have five candidates vying for three seats.
In Wytheville, Vice Mayor Jackie King is the only one seeking re-election. Other candidates are R.E. "Dick" Phillippi, L.R. "Pete" Lawson and Charles G. Crockett.
James N. Lloyd, Richard Martin and Betty I. Wingo are seeking new terms in Rural Retreat. Newcomers are David A. Chaplin and L.E. "Larry" Dunnigan.
New clinic director
WYTHEVILLE - Tammy Thomas will begin work Monday as executive director of the C. Brock Hughes Free Clinic which provides medical services to working people who lack health insurance.
Thomas, a graduate of Marshall University, has been a constituent service representative in the West Virginia governor's office, executive assistant for the West Virginia Division of Motor Vehicles, and customer service representative for the Warner Lambert pharmaceutical company.
Mike Hall, chairman of the Helping Overcome Poverty's Existence Inc. board, announced the selection. He said it was made possible by a $20,000 grant from the Virginia Health Care Foundation.
Further information on the Free Clinic is available from the Social Services Departments in Wythe and Bland Counties. The clinic provides care from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. each Wednesday at the Wythe County Health Department.
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