Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 24, 1994 TAG: 9407280046
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
WYTHEVILLE - The Wythe County Sheriff's Office has reorganized following the departure of Chief Deputy Herb Cooley.
Sheriff Wayne Pike divided the department into two divisions, each headed by an undersheriff.
Lt. Col. Kermit Osborne will head the Court, Civil and Administrative Services Division; Lt. Col. Doug Cooley, the Field Services Division.
Pike presented Cooley, who became Pulaski's new police chief, with a plaque recognizing his 15 years of service as chief deputy.
Extension scholarship
BLACKSBURG - A scholarship honoring W.E. ``Bill'' Skelton, former Virginia Cooperative Extension Service director at Virginia Tech, will be offered to Extension employees seeking higher education degrees.
About $100,000 has been raised so far for the endowment.
Skelton attended Virginia Tech in the 1930s and was director of its Extension program for a decade, retiring in 1979. He was named dean emeritus and has continued working as a volunteer fund-raiser for Tech and the six 4-H education centers operated by the Extension Service.
``The Extension Service at Virginia Tech is a nationally recognized leader in the field, in part thanks to its efforts to develop future leaders,'' said Virginia Farm Bureau Federation President C. Wayne Ashworth. ``And they couldn't have picked a better man to honor with this scholarship fund than Bill Skelton.''
AmeriCorps project
WYTHEVILLE - The New River-Highlands Resource, Conservation and Development Council will host an AmeriCorps national service project in September.
AmeriCorps is President Clinton's national service initiative allowing young people to earn college or vocational school scholarships through volunteer programs. Program participants work for a year and earn a stipend of at least $7,500 and an education award worth $4,725.
The two participants in this region will focus on an outreach program involving water quality and forestry activities, and a greenway through the town of Marion along the Middle Fork of the Holston River.
Further information is available from Gary Boring at 228-2879 or AmeriCorps at 1-800-880-4183.
HOPE seeks help
WYTHEVILLE - A health and wellness group is being recruited to meet with free clinic representatives from the New River Valley and elsewhere with the aim of establishing a similar clinic for Wythe and Bland counties next year.
The group is being recruited by an organization called Helping Overcome Poverty's Existence. HOPE Chairman Mike Hall, who is Wythe's social services director, said the New River Valley and Galax are among the neighboring areas that already have free clinics.
``We're looking to invite those folks here to sit down with us, to talk about the positives and some of the barriers to the development of a free clinic,'' he said. HOPE's next meeting is Aug.25 at the Wytheville Municipal Building.
Grading changes?
WYTHEVILLE - The Wythe County School Board will consider new exam guidelines in August under which exams would count for 10 percent of a student's semester grade.
Exams now range from zero to 20 percent in computing grades.
Assistant Superintendent of Instruction Larry Bond recommended the change. He said a University of Virginia study indicates that 64 percent of exams have no impact on grades.
When exams do influence final grades, he said, the study showed that 24 percent have positive and 12 percent negative impacts.
Roy Brewer was re-elected board chairman this month and Walter White, the board's representative to the Southwest Virginia Governor's School, as vice chairman. The July meeting was the first for Dave McPherson, who succeeded Richard Phillippi on the board.
by CNB