ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, August 17, 1996 TAG: 9608190034
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors approved a special-use permit on Wednesday that allows Ken Harvey to construct two buildings at Bill's Used Parts and continue operating the automobile graveyard on Radford Road just outside of Christiansburg. The buildings will be used for inside storage of auto parts as vehicles are dismantled.
The new Montgomery County pool attracted an average of 421 people a day during its first month of operation, raising more than $21,800. Half of the revenue will pay expenses; the other half is profit.
The supervisors also went into executive session for more than two hours to discuss eight matters - including school sites for Blacksburg and Christiansburg middle schools and a high school in the Shawsville-Alleghany area.
Dublin Town Council will try to change as few street address numbers as possible as it pinpoints homes for the town's 911 emergency communications system. Sections of U.S. 11 and Virginia 100 within the town will get street names for the first time, as part of the program. Councilman David Stanley told council Thursday night he was less than inspired with names like Broad Street. Council may seek more original suggestions from townspeople.
Council also hired Gay Engineering of Christiansburg to provide a master plan for pedestrian walkways linking the new Town Hall and other important sites in the Town Center area, for an estimated $4,370.
Pulaski Town Council talked about the quality of local cable service and will seek reaction from customers of Adelphia Cable TV at its Sept. 17 meeting. The town's Utilities Committee recommended holding a hearing before deciding on whether to renew Adelphia's franchise at the end of the year.
Town Attorney Frank Terwilliger said Friday the franchise would allow more than one cable company to serve Pulaski, but no other providers have expressed interest. Local governments can no longer regulate cable TV rates and services, he said. Now, localities can only charge providers up to 5 percent of their gross income for the use of town streets. Pulaski is considering increasing from 2 percent to 3 percent, as Pulaski County has done with Adelphia.
The Giles County Board of Supervisors moved the county a big step closer to implementing its new Emergency 911 telephone system Thursday by approving placement of road and street signs throughout the county. The system should be in place by next spring, said County Administrator Roger "Butch" Mullins.
About 30 posts and signs have been placed in Whitegate, Ripplemead and other parts of the county, Mullins said. Following Thursday's approval, the county will begin placing up to a thousand more on both public and private roads. The electronic and communication part of the telephone system is already in place, Mullins said.
Upcoming:
Christiansburg Town Council will meet at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in Town Hall. Among the issues to be decided is a petition to close an unopened portion of Nursery Lane, off of Roanoke Street.
The Montgomery County School Board Tuesday will discuss:
More challenging graduation requirements originally proposed by Superintendent Herman Bartlett in June. The new diplomas would require more math, science and social studies classes. Students would have the option of staying with the old diploma standards, with parental permission. Some School Board members worried that the new requirements would cut out fine arts or foreign language classes for high school students.
Developing a stricter attendance policy for students. The new requirements would include fewer allowed excuses for elementary school pupils. Middle and high school students could not miss more than nine days per semester; students in block scheduling could not miss nine days per term.
The board also dropped a proposed resolution this week asking the Board of Supervisors to approve a site for a new middle school in Blacksburg, deeming it unnecessary. Several supervisors already have said they would not support a new site, and instead want to expand and renovate the present middle school building. The supervisors have not publicly announced a decision.
The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the School Board offices at 200 Junkin St. in Christiansburg.
LENGTH: Medium: 81 linesby CNB