ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, August 17, 1996 TAG: 9608190031
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
A third Southwest Virginia community is about to be wired as an electronic village under the title Wytheville Information Network.
The initiative for Wythe County was announced this week by Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, and will be based on enhanced computer-based communication programs in Blacksburg and, more recently, Abingdon.
A committee with representatives from Wythe County and the towns of Wytheville and Rural Retreat has secured two public-access sites, at the Wytheville Town Hall and Wythe County Public Library, where computers will be available to the public.
"In Abingdon, there were almost always lines of people waiting to use the public-access computers, and more than 70 individuals established electronic mail accounts through the public-access sites," Boucher said.
Wytheville has agreed to maintain data on a Wythe County home page. Schools, churches and businesses will be able to put information on it, making the data available to those on the Internet. A group of volunteers will be assembled, as was done in Abingdon, to educate others in the community in computer communications.
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