Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 31, 1994 TAG: 9408040007
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-8 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
WYTHEVILLE - A Wythe County cemetery in legal limbo has prompted some of its customers to appeal to the county Board of Supervisors for help.
Tom Addison told the supervisors last week about private cleanup efforts at Sunset Memory Gardens near Rural Retreat, which has been abandoned by owner Don Magallenes after a series of legal problems.
Magallenes is now being sought by authorities on charges that include the failure to complete a mausoleum for which he had signed a contract.
The supervisors have agreed to help with trash disposal from cleanup efforts, and may even put a green box at the site for solid waste. They also have agreed to have county employees improve the road into the cemetery.
The board authorized County Administrator Bill Branson to hire a special prosecutor to handle charges against Magallenes.
Wythe wants new firefighting pact
WYTHEVILLE - Wythe County and its two towns of Wytheville and Rural Retreat disagree over an earlier agreement involving the towns' answering fire calls in the county.
The verbal agreement was that the towns would get $630 per county call for reimbursement of expenses. But the county ran out of reimbursement money in May and suspended the payment policy at that time.
Wytheville has outstanding bills to the county totaling about $9,550 and Rural Retreat is owed about $10,000. But at a joint meeting last week, county Supervisor Jack Crosswell told the town managers and fire officials that the county does not have enough money for all of the calls.
The county wants a new agreement, limiting reimbursements to $30,000 per town and for structural fires only, not for calls such as trash dumpster fires. The Board of Supervisors confirmed that position at its regular meeting last week.
The joint governing bodies will take up the matter again later.
Max Meadows gets new rescue station
MAX MEADOWS - The Lead Mines Rescue Squad has opened a fourth satellite station at the Max Meadows fire house in eastern Wythe County.
Six Max Meadows fire fighters have been trained as emergency medical technicians and nine as emergency vehicle operators. The rescue squad has members on call around the clock, with crews responding from the closest station.
The cooperative program between the rescue squad and fire department started two years ago when members of both units found themselves working together at wrecks and other medical emergencies.
Rural Retreat Mills gets rail-siding funds
RURAL RETREAT - The Commonwealth Transportation Board has approved $60,000 in industrial access rail track funds to build a track serving a Rural Retreat manufacturing company, at the request of Rural Retreat Town Council.
A rail siding will be built connecting the new Rural Retreat Mills plant to Norfolk Southern Railway.
Rural Retreat Mills is a division of Light Milling Co. Inc., and produces animal and poultry feed ingredients.
by CNB