Today's News

HILLSVILLE — No one liked a proposal meant to deal with nuisance dogs, and the Carroll supervisors unanimously buried the idea at their Jan. 11 meeting.

The proposal would have let people who are harassed by aggressive or nuisance dogs on their own property make a complaint to authorities, and the animal control officer would take action based on the complaint.

Citizens reacted. In December, several citizens turned out to share their support or displeasure for the idea, even though the public hearing wasn't scheduled until December.

Smoking a privilege, not a right

I’ve read the Hotline calls of irate smokers (and one non-smoker) who claim their rights were trampled by the recent law going into effect that bans smoking in restaurants.

I certainly understand their anger, given how unreasonable it is to ask them to walk 20 feet to the door, open it, and stand in the open air to smoke. How unreasonable!

For the first time since mid-September, Virginia has dropped from the list of states that have widespread levels of flu, ending a 15-week run.

Diane Woolard, division director of the department for surveillance and investigation at the Virginia Department of Health, said the state has reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that Virginia is no longer experiencing widespread levels of flu as of the week ending Jan. 2.

The levels in Virginia are still higher than normal for this time of year, because of the H1N1 virus, or swine flu.

Foresight is a thing that's refreshing to find in government on any level.

It's even more rare when desperation seems to run rampant, as it did while officials worked on their finances in the midst of the Great Recession last year.

But the Carroll County Public Schools leadership managed to both avoid budgetary pitfalls and help prepare to meet future fiscal challenges for 2010.

The federal government stepped in to help localities avoid crippling layoffs through the recovery act. Many places used this one-time infusion of cash as a short-term fix.