Classic 967 Blog

Budget Hearing Thursday

Buena Vista city council meets Thursday at 6 p.m.
Council will hold a public hearing on the proposed Fiscal 2011 budget and the proposed tax rates.

Council is looking at a Real Estate tax rate of 90 cents and a Personal Property rate of $5.85. Council is also looking at a water rate of $4.88 and a sewer rate of $5.39.

Severe Storms/Downed trees

Thunderstorms on Wednesday resulted in plenty of rain for some parts of the region, including the North Buffalo Creek area of Rockbridge County, which received an inch of rain in about a half an hour.

Part of a tree also collapsed on White Street in Lexington, damaging a house and knocking down power lines.

Downed trees also resulted in power outages Wednesday in the Lynchburg area.

Arrested in 2008

The University of Virginia men’s lacrosse player charged with killing a women’s lacrosse player, 22 year old George Huguely, had a previous brush with the law in Lexington, in 2008, which ended with guilty pleas to charges of being drunk in public and resisting arrest.
Huguely faces a first-degree murder charge in the death of Yeardley Love, a fourth-year student at UVA.
Court records in Lexington show Huguely was arrested on charges of being drunk in public and resisting arrest while visiting friends there in November of 2008.
Lexington police patrolwoman R.L. Moss said she encountered Huguely stumbling into traffic on November 14, 2008. She says Huguely became combative and finally had to be tasered and handcuffed.
Huguely eventually pleaded guilty and was fined $100 on a drunk in public charge, and was sentenced to 60 days in jail, all suspended, on a resisting arrest charge.

Election Results!

Voters in Buena Vista Tuesday re-elected Mike Clements as mayor.
The results are unofficial, and don’t include absentee ballots, but Clements received approximately 130 more votes than his challenger, Mike Gibson.

The 3 winners for seats on city council were Melvin Henson, Larry Tolley and Frankie Hogan, while Steven Baldridge, Michael Cash, Darryl Knick, and Steve Webb were elected to the school board.

In Lynchburg, the 3 winners for at-large City Council seats were Joan Foster, Randy Nelson, and Hunsdon “H” Cary.

Effinger to Close!

The Rockbridge County School Board on Monday voted 4-1 to close Effinger Elementary, as part of budget-cutting moves to reduce a 477-thousand dollar deficit.

Superintendent John Reynolds says in order to deal with the school board’s overall budget shortfall, the board had to close Effinger, cut 15 teaching positions, 3 positions in the Central Office, and $189,000 in programs.

New Economic Chief in Buena Vista

Brian Brown, a Buena Vista native, will be the city’s new economic development director, replacing Tim Reamer who led the program for the past four years.

Brown comes to the position after working for a decade in business development positions, including Administrator of the Office of Economic Development for the City of Roanoke. He will officially begin his new role on May 17th.

Budget Approved!

The Rockbridge County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 Wednesday to approve a Fiscal 2011 budget of more than 35 million dollars. The budget will leave the School Board about 473-thousand dollars shy of the money it had requested from the Supervisors.
The real estate tax rate will be at 59 cents and the personal property tax will remain at $4.25 per $100 assessed value.
The Rockbridge County School Board will meet next Monday and will have to decide how to cover its deficit, which could result in the closing of Effinger Elementary School.

Clinton to be Rescheduled!

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s appearance at VMI has been postponed until the fall, since Hillary Clinton will be taking part in a memorial service for civil rights pioneer Dorothy Height in Washington, D.C.
Clinton was scheduled to receive VMI’s Distinguished Diplomat Award on Wednesday. VMI says its event honoring Clinton will probably be held in October.