Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 7, 1995 TAG: 9505080014
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-14 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
WYTHEVILLE - Wytheville Mayor Trent Crewe says 11-year-old David Taylor, who has cerebral palsy, will be allowed to play slow-pitch baseball in the town's recreation program from a wheelchair.
Crewe said he understood the concerns of parents, who appeared at a recent Town Council meeting expressing worry about the safety of both David and other players, but knew of no way to change the game to alleviate their concerns. He said David has every right to play under federal law.
Several parents said they would withdraw their children from the program if David was allowed to play. David has played previously on a pitching-machine team.
Last year, he also played basketball from a wheelchair under a Max Meadows Athletic Commission and county Recreation Department program, but with safeguards including an adult assisting him on the sidelines.
His mother, Judy Taylor, filed a complaint under the Americans with Disabilities Act saying that David should be allowed to play in the same manner as the other participants, without the adult supervision. Last December, the U.S. Department of Interior responded with an opinion that the program did not have to make fundamental alterations to accommodate David in a manner that would be safe for him and other players, because to do so would change the nature of the game itself.
The town is continuing to look at the possibility of a similar interpretation in its baseball program. Meanwhile, Crewe said, the town either had to let David play or not make the program available to anyone.
Prison foes lobby
WYTHEVILLE - Opponents of a private prison in Wythe County are still trying to get Wytheville Town Council to take a position on the proposed Corrections Corporation of America facility.
Former mayor Carl Stark said town officials owed its citizens a formal stand on the issue. C.N. Otey, president of Citizens Against the Prison, brought the request to Wytheville Town Council at its last April meeting.
But Mayor Trent Crewe responded that council would take no action on the prison because neither CCA nor Wythe County has asked for any.
It is expected that the town will be asked to extend water and sewer service to the proposed prison site east of town. Opponents are hoping that a decision not to do that would discourage CCA from putting a prison there.
WCC commencement
Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, will be the commencement speaker when Wytheville Community College graduates an anticipated 276 students at 6:30 p.m. Friday under a tent on the Galax Hall parking lot. Boucher will receive an honorary associate degree in humane letters in recognition of his support of the college.
The college's Honors Convocation will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday in the Grayson Hall Commons. A variety of awards, including Student of the Year, will be presented.
WCC band to play
WYTHEVILLE - The 90-member Wytheville Community College Concert Band of will perform at the Wytheville Community College commencement Friday,starting at 6 p.m.
It will be under the direction of Jack O. White, who was director of bands at Elon College. When he retired, he returned to Wytheville where he is now an adjunct professor of music at Wytheville Community College.
The band is nearing the end of its sixth year. Its members from throughout Southwest Virginia and southern West Virginia include 26 band directors, former band directors or music teachers.
For information about the band's schedule or membership, call Dan Jones at 228-5541 (or toll-free 1-800-468-1195), extension 235.
No zoning ordinance
WYTHEVILLE - No zoning ordinance for Wythe County will be drawn up for at least a year.
The county Board of Supervisors voted 4-3 last month to delay consideration of such an ordinance for a year. Voting in favor of the delay were Olin Armentrout, Carlton Rose, Jack Crosswell and Charles Dix. Chairman Mark Munsey, Tom DuPuis and John Davis opposed it.
The board also voted 5-2 to change the makeup of the county Planning Commission, which would be the body to draw up a proposed zoning ordinance. County residents living outside its towns had complained to the board that Wytheville and Rural Retreat were over-represented on the commission.
As now constituted, the commission will have 14 members with each supervisor appointing two of them. Their terms will run concurrently with the term of the appointing supervisor. New commission members will be appointed at the board's May 9 meeting.
Mayor receives honor
RURAL RETREAT - Rural Retreat Mayor R.D. Humphrey has been named Citizen of the Year by the Wytheville-Wythe-Bland Chamber of Commerce for his decades of civic activity on behalf of his town.
Al and Diane Stephens got the chamber's annual Farmer of the Year award at its membership banquet last month.
New chamber directors named at the meeting are Craig Allison, Terry Smith, Linda DiYorio, Fay Lambert, Janet Blair-Emmons and Peggy Hash.
WCC phone system
WYTHEVILLE - Wytheville Community College has installed a new telephone system and now has a new set of telephone numbers.
The main number is now 223-4700, which will reach the college switchboard. The new system also allows direct dialing to office such as admissions and records, 223-4701; business office, 223-4704; continuing education, 223-4712; and library, 223-4743.
The number for use by hearing-impaired callers is now 223-4849, and the fax number, 223-4778. The toll-free number for use by callers from outside Wythe County remains the same, 1-800-468-1195.
Va. Properties
WYTHEVILLE - The Joint Wythe County Industrial Development Authority has accepted an offer of $25,000 from the Virginia Properties partnership for about 5.2 acres in the Fairview Industrial Park.
The site is adjacent to the J.J. Haines property, on the corner of George James Drive and Stafford Umberger Drive in the park.
Virginia Properties plans to improve the property and place a metal building on it to be leased as an industrial warehouse or manufacturing facility.
Western gets honor
WYTHEVILLE - The Wytheville-based Western Staff Services franchise has been ranked No. 1 for the sixth year in Entrepreneur magazine's annual Franchise 500 in the temporary personnel agency category.
The Western office at 475 E. Main St. in Wytheville is owned by Faye F. Sutherland and has locations in Pulaski, Marion and Independence as well.
Western Staff Services has more than 300 offices internationally.
Rockbridge candidate
LEXINGTON - A former State Police investigator from the Wytheville division is running for the sheriff's office in Rockbridge County and the city of Lexington.
W.B. "Doc" Wilmore is running as an independent challenger against first-term Sheriff Bob Day, elected in 1991 as an independent.
Wilmore moved back to his native Rockbridge County last year. He retired Jan.1 as a senior special agent with the State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation, covering the division from Pulaski County to the western tip of Virginia. He has been in law enforcement for more than 30 years, including 16 years as an investigator and 15 years as a trooper.
Day had spent 14 years in the Sheriff's Department, moving from dispatcher up to chief deputy, when he ran successfully four years ago.
Rockers at festival
WYTHEVILLE - Jack Garland and Tim Eastwood, both natives of Wytheville, and Bland native Chuck Turner will perform May 18 in Cleveland, Ohio, as part of the Surfing the Coaldust rock band.
The band was chosen by the Undercurrents '95 selection committee to perform during the seventh annual Undercurrents music conference and festival. It was created in 1989 by Scene magazine and the Cleveland Music Group and has representatives of prominent recording studios on its panels.
"This is a career-changing opportunity," Garland said. "We have a chance to perform for rock music's most important industry professionals"
The band was formed in 1993, and has been playing throughout the Southeast. Its other member is Drew Cook.
by CNB