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Today's News

  • Grayson men killed in accidents

    Two Grayson County men were killed in separate accidents last week, and both died after being pinned under vehicles.
    On the afternoon of June 26, Earl Bronson Cornett, 70, was mowing his yard on Gem Stream Road in Elk Creek.
    According to a report by Sgt. Arnold Peters of the Grayson County Sheriff's Department, Cornett was mowing a steep bank when his tractor went over a wall, trapping him under it.
    According to the report, an EMT was on the scene in four minutes and found no pulse.

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  • Fourth of July Events Planner

    Fourth of July celebrations are abundant this Thursday, with parades, fireworks, music and more in multiple locations. Here’s a guide to the Fourth festivities in Independence, Galax, Hillsville, Fries, Lambsburg and Ivanhoe

    Independence
    The Town of Independence will offer a full day of events.
    The festivities will kick off at 10 a.m. with the annual parade, which will start at the intersection of U.S. 58 and U.S. 21 at the 1908 Courthouse and end at the Food City parking lot at the Guynn Shopping Center.

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  • New Virginia laws in effect July 1

    Judging by the coming impact of new laws the General Assembly approved this winter, 2013 could be characterized as the year of the car in Virginia.
    Policymakers further toughened penalties for prohibited behaviors behind the wheel — such as texting and drunken driving — and voted to make consumers pay more to buy vehicles as part of a financing plan to raise new revenue for state roads. They also voted to place new conditions on the use of mopeds.

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  • Grayson supervisors' chairman Mike Maynard dies at 64

    INDEPENDENCE — Memorial services have been scheduled, and the Grayson County flag will fly at half staff this week following the passing of Board of Supervisors Chairman Mike Maynard on June 28.

    Maynard, who represented the Wilson District on the board for nearly eight years, suffered a stroke in late June and was placed in intensive care at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C. He then suffered another massive stroke last Thursday and passed away at the hospital on Friday evening.

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  • Readers' Hotline 7/1/13

    Caring and generous

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  • HVAC work causes calendar change

    HILLSVILLE — Carroll County has delayed its fall school opening until Aug. 13 to give contractors at the high school extra time to complete demolition of the existing heating and air system, school board members decided last Thursday morning.
    The changes to the 2014 calendar came at the school board’s end-of-year close out meeting on June 27, where the members also approved the board’s part in facilitating the replacement of the high school’s close-to-obsolete mechanical system.

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  • Grayson will back new police positions

    INDEPENDENCE — Grayson County Supervisors approved a plan on June 27 that would accept grant money to add two school resource officers and a crime prevention officer to the sheriff department.
    Earlier this month, Gov. Bob McDonnell announced that Grayson was among 24 localities that received a grant from the state Criminal Justice Services Board, which would pay a portion of the salaries and benefits for two additional school resource officers (SROs).

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  • Police say Howard confessed to killing wife

    RALEIGH, N.C. — A search warrant has revealed that a North Carolina man charged with his wife’s murder confessed to the killing when arrested by police in Galax last year.
    According to a report by Raleigh TV station WRAL, Sonny Howard admitted to the crime just moments before Galax officers found his wife’s body in the back of his pickup truck.
    Howard, 42, of Wake County, N.C., is charged with first-degree murder in the May 23, 2012, death of his wife, 50-year-old Sherry Howard.

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  • BUCK & BYLLESBY: 100 Years of Hydroelectric Power

    ROANOKE — The Buck and Byllesby dams, named after two major players in the United States’ widespread adoption of alternating current at the dawn of the Electric Age, continue to churn out electricity for Appalachian Power more than 100 years after their completion.
    The two hydroelectric dams on the New River in Carroll County helped establish the utility now known as APCo in the region, according to a news release from the company, celebrating more than a century of operations.

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  • Grayson approves budget

    INDEPENDENCE – Following months of workshops and public hearings, Grayson County supervisors approved the 2013-14 budget with no tax increase.
    County Administrator Jonathan Sweet presented the final budget to the board last week during a year-end closeout meeting. It includes revenues and expenditures totaling $17.3 million.
    Sweet pointed out that all tax levies would stay the same — including real estate, which will remain at 49¢ per $100 valuation.
    Supervisors also used the meeting to close out the 2012-13 budget.

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