ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, January 26, 1997 TAG: 9701270016
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-15 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
Gregory buys interest in Wytheville paper
WYTHEVILLE - A former Wytheville businessman has purchased a minority interest in Family Community Newspapers, publishers of the Southwest Virginia Enterprise in Wytheville, Smyth County News & Messenger in Marion, and Bland County Messenger.
The purchase by John Gregory, president of King Pharmaceuticals, was announced by FCN Publisher Greg Rooker. The amount of the purchase was not disclosed. Rooker said Gregory's advice would be valuable, but that Gregory did not plan to be deeply involved in the firm's day-to-day operations.
Gregory formerly headed General Injectables & Vaccines Inc. when he lived in Wytheville. He now lives in Bristol, Tenn.
AHA heart ball set in Blacksburg
CHRISTIANSBURG - The American Heart Association's annual heart ball is scheduled for Feb. 22 at the German Club on the Virginia Tech campus. "An Affair of the Heart" is a fund-raiser used to aid the association's fight against heart disease and stroke. This year's goal is to raise $10,000.
The evening program will include a cocktail reception, silent auction, seated dining and dancing until midnight to the music of Reflections. Tickets can be purchased from Columbia Montgomery Regional Hospital or the American Heart Association. For more information, call Suzanne Nagle at 953-5350.
Galax seeks to extend New River Trail
GALAX - Galax is seeking a $174,000 grant through the federal Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 to extend the New River Trail into the city.
The town of Pulaski, at the opposite end of the 57-mile linear state park along a former Norfolk Southern Railway bed, is already in the process of doing the same thing. Eventually the trail will be extended from the town's border with Pulaski County two miles to the town's historic depot building.
Galax will have to put up 20 percent, or about $43,700, of the cost of its proposed project if it gets the grant. The project would create a pedestrian and bicycle greenway to the city's Farmer's Market and Felts Park.
Cowboy film festival set in Wytheville
WYTHEVILLE - A one-day film festival featuring Buck Jones, "Rocky" Lane, Rex Allen and "Dick Tracy" will be presented from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Wytheville Community College by the college's Cultural Affairs Committee.
The program in the Grayson Hall Commons is free. Students of the B-Western, serial and comedy genres will be on hand to provide behind-the-scenes commentary on the background of the movies and answer questions.
The showings will start at 10 a.m. with the first feature, a 1931 Western starring Buck Jones titled "Texas Ranger."
At 11 a.m., Allan "Rocky" Lane will head the cast of "Frontier Investigator" (1949), with a mystery element in which the hero is seeking his brother's killer. Comic sidekick Eddy Waller and master villain Roy Barcroft co-star.
At 1 p.m. a 90-minute serial feature, "Dick Tracy Vs. Crime Inc." (1941), starring Ralph Byrd will begin. Byrd played the comic-strip sleuth in three previous serials and would do so again in two features and a television series. A comedy short starring Leon Errol, "Birthday Blues," is set for 2:30 p.m. The final movie at 3 p.m. is "Border Saddlemates" (1952) with singing cowboy Rex Allen, comic Slim Pickens and Barcroft again providing the villainy in a tale of smuggling along the Canadian border. In case of inclement weather, the "Saturday matinee" will be moved to Feb. 8.
LENGTH: Medium: 67 linesby CNB