Local News

HILLSVILLE -- A motorcyclist from Hillsville died in a Saturday morning accident on Virginia 100 near Sylvatus.

Dickie Lee Edmonds, 40, was traveling north bound on 100 at about 10 a.m. when, according to a Virginia State Police accident report, he tried to pass another vehicle by swinging his 2006 Harley-Davidson motorcycle onto the right shoulder, said Trooper K.D. Blackburn. This was a spot shoulder there was wider than normal, but the motorcycle went off the side of the road.

As part of a new strategy to reduce the population of strays, Galax is offering the city's pet owners the opportunity to receive a reimbursement check that will cover a portion of the cost to sterilize their cat or dog.

The city will reimburse the pet owner $50 — or 50 percent, whichever is less — to spay or neuter a cat or dog they own or are adopting.

"The hope is to see fewer stray animals," said Assistant City Manager Keith Barker. "Sometimes we don't do something because of cost savings, but just because it's the better thing to do."

A pedestrian was injured in an accident May 25 on Virginia 945 in Carroll County, about a third of a mile north of its intersection with Virginia 608.

A Virginia State Police report by Trooper S.M. Cochran identified the injured man as Warren Clyde Meredith from Fancy Gap.

The accident happened shortly after 10 p.m., when Meredith was struck by a 1992 Ford Explorer, driven by Amy D. Cooper.

No charges have been placed.

No other information was available from the report.

HILLSVILLE — Carroll Public Service Authority members wondered why — at a gathering to explore alternative wastewater treatment — they received an endorsement for conventional methods from their utilities director.

It was a double-take moment last Wednesday when, after about four hours investigating alternatives to get sewer service to Interstate 77 interchanges, authority members heard Director Ray Hill say that a conventional wastewater treatment plant that discharges into a stream is still the best option.