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Today's News

  • Volvo slashes 650 jobs

    DUBLIN — Volvo North America Trucks has announced it is laying off 650 workers at its truck manufacturing plant near Dublin.

    The company will eliminate 40 percent of the plant’s remaining work force, beginning in March and effective by the end of April, according to an announcement issued Tuesday morning.

    “We are reducing our production capacity in alignment with declining demand,” spokesman Jim McNamara said. “These layoffs are considered permanent.”

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  • School employee pay cut possible in Grayson

    INDEPENDENCE — Grayson County Public Schools' employees could face a pay cut if the $1.2 million gap from Governor Tim Kaine’s proposed budget cuts can’t be closed.

    Schools' Superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Thomas gave the county school board a budget forecast for the 2009-10 school year during its regular meeting Jan. 26.

    Thomas said drastic measures were being taken to close the gap without cutting personnel or pay. “The budget forecast is not good. The cuts will clearly have a negative impact on our school division.”

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  • Galax schools to address bullying

    Galax school officials plan to combat bullying by implementing a prevention program that would discuss the different issues associated with it, said interim superintendent Rebecca Cardwell at the Jan. 13 Galax School Board meeting.

    Cardwell said faculty, staff and parents should not ignore students' opinions on the issue. As a result, students are being surveyed at Galax schools on the types of bullying — gang, racial, physical, verbal, cyberspace — they see.

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  • Devils trip up Tide 74-67

    Over the years, Grayson County-Galax basketball games have been decided by buzzer-beaters, they have been lopsided laughers and they have been swayed by tremendous individual efforts. The most recent meeting was the first one in which the outcome was greatly influenced by a scramble for the ball near midcourt.

    Galax rallied from a 12-point deficit to tie Grayson County by early in the fourth quarter when a debated call resulted in a huge momentum swing leading to a 74-67 Blue Devil win in a Mountain Empire District game Saturday night.

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  • Quick start lifts Galax

    Galax jumped out to an 11-point lead in the first seven minutes and battled through a game-long shooting slump to roll past Grayson County 47-38 in a Mountain Empire District girls’ game Saturday night.

    The Maroon Tide (7-10 overall, 2-3 district) managed just a 29-percent effort from the floor (14 of 49), but was aided greatly by an even colder 32 minutes by the Blue Devils, who hit just 8 of 52 from the field (15.4 percent) in falling to 1-19, 0-6.

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  • Carroll boys break skid with triple-double, buzzer-beater

    HILLSVILLE –– Hello, ‘W.’ Good to see you again.

    Carroll County snapped a six-game losing skid when James Lanning scored at the final buzzer, lifting the Cavaliers to a 60-58 Southwest District win Saturday over Grundy.

    Lanning had given Carroll County (3-15 overall, 2-6 district) a 58-56 lead with a stickback before Grundy re-tied the game at 58. A missed Carroll shot went out of bounds to the Cavaliers, who called timeout with 2.5 seconds left to set up the final play.

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  • Sheriffs: Cuts could impact public safety

    RICHMOND — In a sign of the severity of the Virginia budget shortfall, state officials have turned to cuts in core services — in classrooms and on the roads.

    The recent announcement that Twin County schools would be losing millions of dollars in state funding has been followed by the proposition that sheriff's departments won't be fully funded, either — possibly to the detriment of public safety, say local sheriffs.

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  • Public record for 1/21/09 edition

    Editor’s Note: This information is taken from open court records and is a matter of public record. The listings are complete. The newspaper, as a matter of fairness, will not honor requests to omit any listing. 

    District Court

    These sentences were recorded in August in the Carroll County General District Court Office, Hillsville. Sentences may be appealed:

    Jamie Charles Hawks of Lowgap, N.C., guilty of public swearing/intoxication; $25 fine and $91 costs.

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  • Cavs done in by slow start

    HILLSVILLE –– Carroll County was held to two first-quarter points for the second game in a row, and a late-game rally couldn’t overcome a 20-point deficit as the Cavaliers fell to Marion 60-50 in a Southwest District game Wednesday night.

    Though Marion (8-6 overall, 4-3 district) didn’t exactly leap out of the blocks – the Scarlet Hurricane didn’t score until nearly three minutes into the game – Brock Hannah hit a pair of 3-pointers as Marion opened the game on a 12-0 run.

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  • Court dedication planned to honor Grayson coach

    INDEPENDENCE –– Longtime Independence/Grayson County High School coach Thomas Owens will be honored during a special ceremony on Tuesday prior to the Blue Devils’ girls’ basketball game with Fort Chiswell.

    Owens, who has coached boys’ basketball, girls’ basketball and baseball at the school for nearly 40 years, will be honored by having the basketball court at Independence Middle School dedicated in his honor, and by being inducted into the GCHS Wall of Fame.

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