ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, March 28, 1996 TAG: 9603280016
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: PULASKI
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
Pulaski County is having second thoughts about trying to clean up and reopen the Draper Mountain Wayside and Overlook.
"I'm fully opposed to the project," declared Supervisor Bruce Fariss at the Board of Supervisors meeting Monday. "Who's going to take care of it down the road?"
Barry Matherly, economic development director for the town of Pulaski, said Tuesday that one reason for reopening it was both to return its use to county people who once picnicked and had outings in its park-like atmosphere.
"The other big benefit is obviously tourism, being so close to Interstate 81," Matherly said. It could be a way to bring more visitors and shoppers into town.
"It's their project and their decision," he said, but those were the reasons the town supported county plans to improve the wayside.
It has been closed for several years because it became a dumping ground for litter and debris. Vandals threw trash over the wayside on U.S. 11 faster than volunteers could pick it up.
Fariss asked what would keep that from happening again after the county and town invest in rehabilitating it. He said it might end up being closed again for the same reason.
"To me, that's worse than having it closed and doing away with it," he said. "It's not just the up-front costs that we have to consider."
Supervisor Frank Conner shared Fariss' concern. "We wake it up, it's going to be hard to put back to sleep," Conner said. "Security's going to be a problem."
But Supervisor Charles Cook said local initiatives could not be held hostage to the possibility of vandalism, either on Draper Mountain or other places with tourism or beautification potential.
"I thought we'd pretty much decided along with the town of Pulaski to revitalize it," he said, reminding the board that consultants at Virginia Tech had already drawn up a plan for developing the wayside.
"There are some securities that can be put in place to protect it. ... We can't afford to say 'We're going to close these places because somebody's going to mark 'em up or litter them,'" Cook said. "They belong to the people of this county."
"I'm hit daily by people saying 'When are you going to open up the overlook?'" Supervisor Jerry White said.
The overlook area had belonged to the Virginia Department of Transportation before it was given to the county. "If it was worth anything, they wouldn't give it to us," White said. "At the same time, if we close all the areas that we can't keep litter-free, we'd close down a lot of roads, too."
White said the overlook and wayside are county assets, and he would hate to see litterers keep local people and visitors from enjoying them.
Several citizens added their voices to litter concerns. "I think it's time we started looking at that and clean up the county," said Marion Lutz, even if it takes stiffer penalties and beefed-up police patrols.
LENGTH: Medium: 59 linesby CNB