Columns

Editor’s note: This editorial was originally published in The Roanoke Times in advance of a September trial in the Oracle Institute’s religious discrimination lawsuit against Grayson County. The trial has now been postponed until November.

Laura George’s neighbors may not like her outspoken personality or her views on religion, but those matters have no place in a zoning decision.

One eatery recently taken into Hillsville by annexation brought town officials cakes and pies to celebrate the change and handed out meal cards as a token of appreciation.
The visit to Hillsville Town Council’s July 11 meeting must have been a refreshing attitude for town officials.
While annexation efforts often face stiff opposition from those who basically don’t want to pay extra taxes, that doesn’t seem to have become an issue in Hillsville expanding its town boundaries west of Interstate 77’s Exit 14.

What difference does a year make?
For Grayson County, it makes about a $5.2 million difference.
After supervisors raised taxes in back-to-back years, Grayson citizens quickly found themselves moving from a county with one of the lowest tax rates in the state to around the middle of the pack.
While the tax increases weren’t popular, at that time they were necessary to pull the county out of its financial crisis.

Mandy Price-Moin of Durham, N.C., is a Galax native who volunteers with animal rescue operations.

Would you be upset if your family pet was put to death before you found it or someone else had a chance to adopt it?
I know I would be. In fact, I’m furious because this is happening in my hometown at the Galax-Carroll-Grayson Regional Animal Shelter.