Local News

FRIES — A man described by police as a “person of interest” in a suspected arson at 142 Sunrise Lane in Fries was found dead at his house Friday afternoon.

According to Grayson Sheriff Richard Vaughan, Thurman Davis was named a person of interest in a suspicious fire at his son-in-law's house on Sept. 11. He was found dead of an apparent gunshot wound at his own home on Providence Road the next day.

The fire occurred last Thursday afternoon, and after a preliminary investigation by the Fries Volunteer Fire Department, it was determined to be suspicious.

HILLSVILLE — When the Town of Hillsville last annexed property from Carroll County in 1995, the deal approved by the state included a 15-year moratorium on further annexation.

Now, two years before that ban is lifted, a group of Carroll property owners on the town's western border want Hillsville to take them in.

Town Attorney Greg Goad explained that this procedure, because it was initiated by citizens instead of the town, is allowed before the moratorium expires.

HILLSVILLE — Carroll County schools missed four of their testing targets under No Child Left Behind, but educators pointed to some significant gains in math scores in this year’s results.

The federal educational accountability effort sets up 29 standards for each school and the entire school division to meet as part of “adequate yearly progress.” Director of School Improvement Beverly Parker noted that each of the schools and the division met 313 out of 319 of those standards.

HILLSVILLE — A partner in the Mayberry Opry project told The Gazette on Monday that Weststar Investments has "no use" any longer for 91 acres of Carroll County land.

Even though partners Mended Wings Productions and Weststar Investments met with Carroll officials earlier this month to hammer out a timeline on the potential sale of county land near the Interstate 77-U.S. 58 interchange, Marshall Lineberry, speaking for his company and RGM Erectors, pointed out there was no guarantee that, at the end that process, the developers would be the ones who ended up with the land.