ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, June 23, 1996 TAG: 9606250006
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-22 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
Festival's last day
WYTHEVILLE - The last day of the 1996 Wytheville Chautauqua Festival gets under way at noon today with the opening of the crafts and antiques shows and sales, which continue until 6 p.m.
Photography exhibits also open at noon, and an outdoor art show at 12:30 p.m. runs until 6 p.m.
A woodworking exhibit will run from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. The indoor art show and sale starts at 1 p.m. A historical tour of the Wythe County "poor farm" is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.
The first performance of the day will be by the Stars of Hope at 2 p.m.
The Evansham Players will perform "Sparks in the Park" at 3 p.m. Other performances will be by Carl Hamm at 4 p.m., Vicki's Cloggers at 5 p.m., the Classic Klickers Clogging Team directed by Vicki Sprouse at 5:30 p.m., and the Junaluska Singers at 7 p.m., all in the Elizabeth Brown Memorial Park.
A drawing is set for 8 p.m., with performance by the Wytheville Community College Concert Band following at 9 p.m. The final event of the nine-day festival will be a fireworks display following the band performance.
Gun ban penalties
WYTHEVILLE - Female students in Wythe County and Bland County have run afoul of regulations banning guns from schools.
A student at George Wythe High School was expelled for a year after a monthlong investigation showed that she had a gun in her locker on April 15. It was the first gun incident in county schools in several years.
A Rocky Gap Elementary School seventh-grade student in Bland County faces a similar penalty over bringing an unloaded gun to school in her book bag. She has been suspended, pending a hearing.
Winners announced
WYTHEVILLE - Essay, poetry and short story winners received awards Friday for their entries in the 1996 Chautauqua Festival Creative Writing Contest.
Essay winners included a tie between B.R. Culbertson of Blacksburg and Dahna Lineberry, Hillsville, for the top adult prize; Misty Lewis of Wytheville in high school essay, followed by Artie Hall and Stephen Collins, Wytheville, and Andrea Crigger, first in grades 6-9, followed by Kristie Leigh Osborne and Brooke Jones, all three from Rural Retreat.
Poetry competition saw Patricia Davidson, Crockett, first in the adult category; Patrick Umberger, Wytheville, high school, and Andrea Crigger, Rural Retreat, grade 6-9, followed by Elizabeth Dunn, Greenwood, and Jessica Whittaker, Radford.
In short story awards, Anitta J. Roberts of Independence was first in adult competition; Molly Atwell, Radford, in high school entries, followed by Doddie Greer, Rural Retreat, and Laura Kidd, Wytheville, and, in grades 6-9, Joshua Blount of Wytheville, followed by April Tolley, Fairlawn, and Amy Jessee, Wytheville.
This year's judges included Parks Lanier and Warren Selfe of Radford University; Bonnie Wynn and Elaine Scott, New River Community College; Martha Vaught, Michael Nester and Bobby Wymer, Wytheville Community College; Leigh Palmer, Fredericksburg; and John Willis, Richlands.
Playground planned
MARION - A community playground to be built in Marion will be dedicated to the memory of Melva S. Potts, who died Feb. 2 at age 51 after a yearlong battle with lung cancer.
The Roanoke native lived in Wytheville and taught for 15 years in Wythe County at Scott Memorial Elementary School before coming to Marion Primary School, where she spent the past five years as assistant principal.
Some of her former colleagues approached Marion Creative Play Area Inc., a volunteer organization raising money for a playground, to offer a site at Marion Primary School. It will have two major play areas surrounded by independent play activities for a variety of ages, and be open to the public. Primary school children have raised more than $16,000 toward the project in a walk-a-thon, and tax-deductible contributions can be mailed to Marion Primary School, 1042 Stage St., Marion, Va. 24354.
Marion Primary pupils planted a tree in memory of Potts at the future playground entrance last month.
Potts also was honored during the Chautauqua Festival in Wytheville. Awards in the festival's Creative Writing Contest to winners in grades 6-9 were made in her name, in recognition of the years she spent on the contest committee when she was at Scott Memorial.
Site to cost more
WYTHEVILLE - It will cost the Joint Public Service Authority of Wythe and Bland counties more than anticipated for the site of a trash transfer station which has been in operation since early 1994.
The authority had to condemn 20.6 acres of land to secure the site, after offering $248,000 to B.C., Margaret, Eric and Jane Umberger and being turned down. A five-member commission appointed by a circuit judge has now awarded the Umberger family $400,000 for the land plus $52,000 for damage to their other property.
Transfer Station Operations Manager Roger Repass said the authority may appeal the decision.
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