ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 30, 1996 TAG: 9604300078
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
Southwest Virginia government and business leaders have been captured by the Net - more precisely, the Internet.
That was obvious Monday when 350 people turned out at the Wytheville Community Center for Rep. Rick Boucher's seminar on how to create electronic villages in communities across Southwest Virginia similar to the well-known one at Blacksburg.
Andrew Cohill of Virginia Tech, executive director of the Blacksburg Electronic Village, and people associated with the new electronic village in Abingdon were among those speaking on topics ranging from how to build a home page on the Internet's World Wide Web to the costs and the steps in setting up an electronic community network.
Wiley Turner, principal of Castlewood Elementary School in Russell County, said he came to the meeting because he was interested in finding out how to get his 575-student school hooked up to the Internet. The school already has about 80 computers, and a new computer lab is planned for next year, he said.
Boucher, an Abingdon Democrat who has been active in proposing telecommunication legislation in Congress, said the number of personal computers owned by Southwest Virginians who want more efficient access to the Internet, and local governments' awareness of his efforts to expand the electronic-village concept were among the reasons for the high interest.
Boucher once said he was concerned that America would be divided into information haves and have-nots and that places such as rural Southwest Virginia would be among the latter.
Within a year the region has gone from having practically no access to the Internet by local phone service to access in all but two areas - Bland County, and the far western tip of Lee County.
Boucher said modern communications are a good way to enhance a community's assets for economic development.
Cohill, of the Blacksburg Electronic Village, warned, however, "If you're going to get into this because you think you're going to get rich on the Internet, you're in trouble."
Having strong community support is one of the essential elements for any community wanting to build an electronic village, Cohill said. Another is having free access to computers available in public places, such as libraries.
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