2017 Pride

Turning the Page Bluefield Daily Telegraph Pride 2017

Chapter 1: Once Upon A Time

Mercer, Tazewell counties played key roll in Civil War

By GREG JORDAN Bluefield Daily Telegraph TAZEWELL, Va. — Approximately 156 years ago, the long line where western Virginia and Southwest Virginia met became an important front in a long, bloody war which determined the future of a young nation called the United States of America.

Many of the southern states had left the union to form the Confederate States of America, but the new president, Abraham Lincoln, was determined to keep the nation together.

This split greatly impacted Virginia, a key state of the new Confederacy. One of its most important cities, Richmond, would become the Confederate capitol and one of the most important strategic points of what would become the Civil War. However, the differences which were tearing apart the United States also tore Virginia apart. Many of the western counties, which for years had hoped to break from Virginia and form a new state, declared loyalty to the Union. In 1863, President Lincoln recognized the new state of West Virginia.

Confederate leaders were not ready to surrender such a large part of one of their most important states without a fight. Losing so much territory at once was a blow to Southern morale, and the region had important resources. The western counties also offered Union armies a route right into the Southern homeland; and, since roads lead both ways, a route north for Confederate armies. General Robert E. Lee was tasked with recovering Virginia’s lost counties, but bad weather, a lack of local support, and bickering subordinates doomed the campaign to failure. Some military historians have argued that West Virginia was where the soon to be legendary Lee learned how to lead an army.

The battles fought for West Virginia and along the border counties might not have the fame of Gettysburg, Vicksburg or the Wilderness Campaign, but they created lasting memories throughout the region which are remembered and celebrated today. People known as reenactors put on Union blue or Confederate gray uniforms, gather their equipment and put on battles for today’s public. The crack of black powder muskets and the boom of cannons bring back the days when brother fought against brother. Visitors can also explore reenactors’ camps which give students of history a sense of what life was like when thousands of men were on the march.

A recent reenactment in Union, the seat of Monroe County, is one example of such a festival Reenactmets have also been hosted in Tazewell County, Va. and neighboring Mercer County in West Virginia. For instance, in

2014, a Civil War reenactment was hosted at the Historic Crab Orchard Museum in Tazewell to commemorate the war’s 150th anniversary.

In 1864, the Skirmish at Jeffersonville took place in the area of Wittens Mill Road, Charlotte Whitted, executive director of the Historic Crab Orchard Museum said. Jeffersonville was the former name of Tazewell, Va. It was the closest Civil War engagement in the county, though there was fighting in Saltsville and Wytheville during the war, she added.

Like most reenactments,

the Confederacy. “It’s a way to honor your ancestors and family.” The Skirmish continues today.

Sometimes actors called historic presenters let today’s students of history “meet” General Robert E. Lee and President Abraham Lincoln. These actors are well-versed in their characters and can often share insights that are often missed in the history books used in schools. For example, today’s representative of General Lee could reveal rumors that he suffered a mild heart attack that clouded his judgment the night before the decisive third day

than 5,000 southern soldiers were killed in an hour before reaching the fabled stone wall during Pickett’s Charge.

On July 4, 1863 Lee and the battered Army of Northern Virginia began a dismal retreat in a driving rain, stretching out some 17 miles.

Meade did not attack, and so the North lost a chance to end the war that eventually dragged on for another two years. On that same day, the last Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River, Vicksburg, fell to Union forces commanded

by Lee’s future nemesis, General Ulysses S. Grant.

could often afford a good uniform and equipment, but Confederate privates often had to make do with whatever they could bring with them after enlisting or find later during a campaign.

They rarely had enough to eat and their clothing was poor. Sometimes they scavenged shoes and clothes off Union dead after a battle out of necessity.

Mercer County is part of West Virginia, but its Civil War residents had Southern sympathies. During the Civil War, Mercer County’s residents were mostly for the Confederacy. Approximately 1,100 of the county’s res-

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Civil War reenactors pay close attention to detail and utilize the same types of uniforms, weapons, equipment and food used during the conflict. camps were set up and the public was invited to visit them. Civil War reenactors pay close attention to detail and utilize the same types of uniforms, weapons, equipment and food used during the conflict. In many cases, a reenactor enters the hobby after learning that he or she had relatives who fought for either the Confederacy or the Union.

Reenactors compare themselves to the Minutemen of the Revolutionary War; they are ready to participate in their hobby at any time.

“We’re pretty much stay ready to go,” one Confederate reenactor said. Many of the men and women who participate in the hobby do it both for fun and to honor their ancestors.

“A lot of us had ancestors in the Civil War. Usually that’s how people get started, through genealogy,” another reenactor stated.

Women on both sides sometimes put on uniforms and fought alongside men, and reenactors do the same today. It’s not unusual to see a woman walking off the field of battle carrying a musket and wearing Confederate gray or Union blue.

“A family friend took me to a reenactment, and I fell in love,” she said. She also learned that her great, great-grandfather fought for

of the Battle of Gettysburg, a major turning point in the war. The South’s casualties were high, and her armies never again went on the offensive.

A Lincoln presenter could reveal that the president was not heard clearly by many listeners when he delivered the Gettysburg Address, now considered one of the great speeches in American history; it’s said that the president’s voice was weakened by a touch of smallpox. He had come to Gettysburg to help establish a national cemetery for the men on both sides who had fallen there.

In July 1863, Lee led the Army of Northern Virginia northward in hopes of winning a major victory on Northern soil which would lead to the Union abandoning the war. The Army of the Potomac moved to intercept him. Chance made the great armies converge on a then little-known community in Pennsylvania called Gettysburg.

With 163,000 men — 93,000 Union soldiers commanded by George G. Meade opposing some 70,000 Confederates led by Lee — it remains the bloodiest single struggle in American history. There were more than 51,000 casualties including wounded and missing. More

The Confederacy, now cut in two, fought on with little hope of victory.

Sometimes travelers coming through Mercer County can suddenly encounter reminders of the hardships both Confederate and Union troops faced in both defeat and victory. For instance, in 2010, Labor Day travelers stopping at the West Virginia Tourist Information Center in Princeton found themselves next to a Civil War camp. Reenactors wearing Confederate uniforms and working in a camp like those seen during the Civil War is open for viewing today at the West Virginia Tourist Information Center.

Organized by the Sons of Confederate Veterans, West Virginia Division, Southern Brigade Camp No. 1694–Flat Top Copperheads, the camp gave visitors an opportunity to learn more about the daily lives of Civil War soldiers.

As the name states, members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans have ancestors who fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War/ Members participate in reenactments and living histories to help educate people about life during the war. At the camp, visitors can learn how soldiers in the field lived their lives; lives that were often difficult. Higher ranking officers such as captains

idents enlisted in the Confederate Army. Sons of Confederate Veterans members estimate that 40 percent of them were killed in battle.

Visitors to reenactments can see the weapons which inflicted those terrible casualties. Cannons such as a Model 1841 Field Howitzer, often seen at Civil War events, could fire not only cannon balls, but also canister shot. Cannisters contained dozens of lead balls which were similar in principle to a shotgun shell. Civil War bullets, called Minie balls, could cause terrible wounds when they struck a human being.

Travelers stopping in Princeton can find even more reminders of the Civil War. For example, there is an historic marker outside the the Dr. Robert B. McNutt House, the current home of the PrincetonMercer County Chamber of Commerce. Located at 1522 N. Walker Street, the structure was built in 1840 and purchased seven years later

by Dr. Robert E. McNutt for $200.

But in 1862 the home’s rather ordinary history took dramatic turns when the American Civil War arrived in Princeton. A Union campaign to cut an important Confederate supply line

brought opposing forces together in Mercer County.

The mission was to get to Dublin, Va. and destroy the railroad bridge there.

The Tennessee-Virginian Railroad was the lifeblood to the Confederate forces that were in Tennessee and Georgia.

Following the campaign’s plan, Union General Jacob Dolson Cox’s units came down from Raleigh Courthouse, now Beckley, crossed Flat Top Mountain and entered the Camp Creek area. On May 1, 1862, Union and Confederate troops had a skirmish, the Clark House Battle.

Following that skirmish the Confederates retreated back into Princeton because they were outnumbered by the Union forces considerably. When the Union troops arrived in Princeton, they found that the city was on fire. Exactly who started the fire and why has been debated. Some historians believe the Confederate commander, a Colonel Jenifer, set the fire to keep supplies out of Union hands. Others counter that Union trips started the blaze.

The invading Union troops and Princeton residents battled the fire. The McNutt House was among the three to five homes that survived the blaze. Two of the Union officers who came to Princeton that day were destined for especially high office years later. One was Rutherford B. Hayes, commander of the Ohio regiments, and the other was Sgt. William McKinley. Both men would become president of the United States.

The Union assault on the Dublin, Va. railroad was destined never to reach its objective. Union forces reached Pearisburg, Va. in Giles County and fought another battle on May 10, 1862. There they were overcome by the Confederate opposition and compelled to retreat back to Princeton.

Between May 16 and 17, they fought the Battle of Pigeon Roost.

By that time other Confederate forces from Jeffersonville, now Tazewell, Va. and other locations had arrived in Mercer County.

After the battle the Union forces retreated back to Raleigh County.

Today the historic McNutt House has become a prominent part of Civil War tours.

In December 2007, the Princeton-Mercer Chamber applied for a Civil War Trails marker to be installed at the McNutt House as part of the West Virginia Civil War Trails program. The marker is designed for tourists who know little about the Civil War and what really happened at the home. More reminders of the region’s Civil War past can be found at the nearby Those Who Served War Museum in the Memorial Building close to the Mercer County Courthouse.

— Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com

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Contributed photo

Residents of the Sharp’s Camp, a former logging camp converted into a poor farm for Mercer County’s homeless, converted a former timber company office into a “hotel” for transient men. People who called the poor farm located off what is now Interstate 77 at the Gardner exit did everything themselves.

Contributed photo

Homeless people including unwed mothers and their children lived in the loggers’ abandoned shacks. Members of the Civilian Conservation Corps later built other housing at the site. Residents sustained themselves by farming and raising beef cattle.

‘Truly hallowed ground’ located just off Exit 14 outside Princeton

By GREG JORDAN Bluefield Daily Telegraph PRINCETON — It’s been estimated that about 33,000 vehicles go past Exit 14 along Interstate 77 every day as they drive through Mercer County.

This area is known to most locals as the home of PikeView High School and the local U.S. Forest Service Laboratory, but few know that this same area was once the site of a poor farm, a place for society’s homeless people.

Bill Archer, formerly senior editor of Daily the Bluefield Telegraph and now a member of the Mercer County Commission, said with County Commission President Gene Buckner and Commissioner Greg Puckett in a Jan. 20, 2017 letter to West Virginia’s representatives in Washington, D.C. that the area where the forestry laboratory is now located “is truly hallowed ground in American History.”

Several pioneer farmers who took up arms during the Revolutionary War accepted land grants in the region in return for their service. Robert Morris, the “financier of the American Revolution,” acquired huge land tracts from the governors of Virginia after the war concluded, but lost everything thanks to excessive land speculation. Due to his financial ruin, the Morris land holdings laid fallow in legal probate for more than 30 years.

In the mid 1830s, a French cabinetmaker named Michael Bouvier

led a Philadelphia investment group that acquired a large tract of the former Morris lands in Central Appalachia with the goal of developing a large-scale commercial forest resource industry.

The Civil War started, and this delayed progress in the timber-rich MorrisBouvier lands. Bouvier was Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis’s grandfather; however, the Civil War would stimulate the regional development of another industry – coal.

Southern West Virginia’s rich coal seams fueled the Industrial Revolution in the United States and the region’s timber industry supplied the nation’s railroads and housing industry. In 1908, the Bluestone Lumber Company purchased 160 acres in Gardner to locate a huge ban-saw operation that employed hundreds of timber workers and even more loggers. During a 10-year period, the Bluestone clear-cut the area’s timber. After finishing this task, the company sold the land – complete with its employee housing – to the Mercer County Commission for $17,000.

Unfortunately, America’s industrial and urban movement had an adverse effect on a large number of rural families. Many of these large families operated their own farms. By 1920, county poverty rate was climbing and at the beginning of the Great Depression in 1929, the county’s homeless people were literally being left out in the cold. To help these

people, the Mercer County Commission transformed the Bluestone Lumber Company’s employee area, called Sharp’s Camp, into the Mercer County Poor Farm. It was a place where downtrodden families as well as unwed mothers and their children could raise crops and beef cattle for food, and shelter in the lumbermen’s shacks.

Archer, who researches the region’s history, spoke to people who had relatives that lived on the Poor Farm. Some recalled that the farm shacks were built up on blocks. Some of shacks in the farm’s main section were made of boards, but several of the structures were log cabins. The poor farm was segregated. Single white men were housed in one building and single white women had their own quarters. Families were housed in cabins. The nearest integrated poor farm was about 40 miles away in Wytheville, Va. The poor farm’s residents did everything for themselves. They converted the former Bluestone Lumber’s main office and transient workers’ facility into a building dubbed “The Hotel.” It was used for short-term male poor farm residents. Women did not stay there.

New federal and state programs that were started after World War II helped to make the old poor farm system obsolete, Archer said. After Mercer County’s poor farm was closed in 1951, the county commission demolished all of the cabins and

most of the other structures. In recent years, the Princeton Library League transformed the land were the old log cabins once stood into the Anderson Sports Complex, one of the region’s Little League baseball venues.

The dead were buried in a makeshift cemetery dubbed a Potter’s Field.

Hundreds of unmarked graves are at the top of the 32-acre tract where the forestry laboratory was formerly located. The county commission operated this mostly self-sustaining poor farm until July 1,1951. Only indentations in the ground mark most of the graves in the one-acre location, but there is one traditional headstone marking the

grave of Joe Poff, who died on Oct. 1, 1944, at the age of 55. Mercer County records reveal that Poff was born in Hungary on Oct. 18, 1888, and was buried in the poor farm cemetery on Oct. 30, 1944.

Pastor Delmar W. Stillwell and the congregation of the Peaceful Valley Church have restored the poor farm’s church; it is now handicap accessible and has weather-tight doors and windows, Archer said.

The county commission would like to gain access to the Poor Farm Cemetery to restore the site, honor the people buried there so future generations can learn more about “this tragic chapter in American his-

tory,” the commissioners said in their letter. “The Mercer County Historical Society, the West Virginia Parkways Authority as well as other county entities are on board with this plan. Further, the commission would like to explore other possibilities for the site and its existing structures including hiking trails for use by county schools and visitors alike.”

There are no historical markers or monuments to recall the place where Mercer County families and individuals with nowhere else to live came to find a home of sorts.

However, the memories endure to this day.

— Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline. com

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Bramwell: A center of West Virginia’s heritage area BRAMWELL — All across the United States, history enthusiasts can visit specially-designated heritages areas that highlight aspects of American history ranging from the steel mills of the North to the nation’s automotive industry. One of those areas focuses on southern West Virginia and the coal industry which fueled much of the nation’s industrial revolution.

One center of the state’s heritage area is located in a small Mercer County town known as Bramwell, a community where the leaders known as coal barons built mansions boasting of their wealth and presided over mining companies that employed thousands of men. Today, some of that rich heritage is on display at the town Train Depot.

“We’re one of only 48 heritage areas in the country so we are designated as the 13 southern counties of West Virginia. That would be pretty much from Cabell County over to Summers County,” said Richard Bullins of the National Coal Heritage Area. “I could give you all 13 (counties).

Cabell, Lincoln, Mingo and Boone, Wyoming, Mercer, McDowell, Summers, Raleigh, Fayette and just a small section, Paint Creek, Cabin Creek of Kanawha County.”

The present depot was built in tribute to the former structure that once stood on the same site.

“It’s a reproduction of the former train depot that sat here in Bramwell, same location and the same design,” Bullins said. “The original was torn down in the Fifties and this was rebuilt with a federal grant from Congressman Rahall.

This is a interpretative center and small museum that has coal artifacts of both Bramwell and the area coal fields.”

Several years ago, more visitors started visiting the town and its depot when the Pocahontas Trail, the Mercer County branch of the Hatfield-McCoy ATV Trail, opened. ATV tourists have added to the mix.

“With the ATV trails opening now we get a mix,” Bullins said of the depot’s guests. “One, the ATV traveler interested in the local history and two, people that are interested in their family history. Maybe a parent or grandparent lived and worked in the coal fields or in the coal camps, so they like to come back and explore the area, where they had relatives or family that lived in the coal fields.

Where they worked, where they lived, so we get a lot of history buffs. We have the historic Oak Hill Cemetery is right outside of town, and people like Colonel Welch in McDowell County is buried there, Jenkin Jones is buried there, so a lot of

Contributed photo

The Bramwell Train Depot contains many artifacts relating to Bramwell’s coal mining and railroad past. Visitors can also tour the town and see mansions erected by millionaire coal barons. the coal barons who lived and worked here are buried there at that cemetery.”

The ornate residences the coal barons created feature fine masonry and woodwork that is still admired today. Visitors can walk through the town to see them, and many of them are open for tours.

One tour lets visitors see a Bramwell Christmas, and another focuses on ghostly tales going back to the heyday of the coal barons.

“All their homes are still here,” Bullins stated. “We have home tours twice a year, one in the spring and one is the second Saturday in December. The spring tour is usually when all the flowers are in bloom and then the Christmas or winter tour is in December when houses are decorated for Christmas. We have a Ghost Walk in October, also, so some of the homes are open during the ghost walk, too.”

The artifacts displayed at the depot and the stories they tell change from time to time as traveling exhibits make stops in the region.

Last year, the exhibit “Life Outside the Mine,” offered visitors a look into the daily lives of miners’ families living in the company houses of the coal camp communities; it was on loan from the Watts Museum at West Virginia University.

“We try to have a rotating group of exhibits. We’ve had the Hatfields and McCoys traveling exhibit, the West Virginia Humanities and of course we’ve got the architects and architecture of the coal fields here. We occasionally get different traveling exhibits,” Bullins said. “We try to keep it from being stagnant; it’s hard to get your repeat customers if you don’t have a few new items come in every so often.”

“Being a national heritage area, there’s a lot of people who travel around to all the different heritage areas, like one is in Pittsburgh area called the Rivers of Steel Heritage Area. Another is in Detroit is Motor City Heritage Area, and they’re administered through the National

Parks Service so people who are interested in history and the history of the United States, they travel around a lot to see them,” he stated.

The Bramwell Trail Depot is usually open from mid-March to mid-December, and it’s open seven days a week.

“In wintertime from about mid December through mid March, we’re usually open the latter part of the week Thursday through Sunday,” Bullins said. “Fall time’s very active with leaves changing people do go out and travel. Fall time is very scenic, and summer you have people who are vacationing. ATV people are here pretty much all year round; it does slack off in the wintertime. We have a good mix of both history buffs and ATV tourists. They come into town because Bramwell is an ATV-friendly town, so they come in for lunch or to shop, and they check out the local history.”

Visitors also stop in Bramwell Town Hall across the street from the train depot. There tourists often ask about ancestors who lived in Mercer or neighboring McDowell County and worked in the mines. Sometimes they might find an ancestor’s picture hanging on the wall. People doing genealogical research often find a starting point there.

Sometimes they learn other facts.

During a May 2016 scrip show in Bramwell, guests learned about the region’s ties to the nation’s leaders of industry. Henry Ford once owned coal mining operations near Davy in McDowell County and visited the county at one time in his private rail car.

Andrew Carnegie also owned mining interests (U.S. Steel) in that county.

Scrip was a type of token coal companies paid their workers instead of cash; they could be spent only at company stores, tying them more firmly to the coal communities.

“Another aspect about history, history tourism

and historic preservation is the fact that people are doing research,” Mayor Louise Stoker said.

“We have people who are researching their own heritage, and this happens very often. At least once a week there will be a visitor or visitors who are researching a family from the past. This is another reason why keeping on top of the historic resources we have here is good. They’ll maybe have a great-grandfather who was killed in a coal mining accident and maybe they’ll have only a few little bits of information about them, maybe a date. Maybe.”

People seeking more information about their family’s coal fields past are often referred to records at the Mercer County Courthouse and the Mercer County Historical Society in Princeton or the McDowell County Courthouse in Welch.

“We can give them a very good idea where to start,” she said. “Also, what this does for us and for me, particularly, is I’ll take notes on that and that will add to the things I have researched and add to the stories I have about people and stories and events from the past.”

Goals visitors have often include finding the homes of grandparents or great-grandparents, and finding their local graves.

“Absolutely. They want to know where’s the cemetery where they were buried.

Last week we had visitors from Florida who wanted to know where their father grew up and which house he was in, and Richard (Bullins) sent them over and sure, that’s where he lived,” Stoker said. “And if you knock on the door, they might invite you in to see the house because homeowners often do that. We know it was a little house up a hill, up a road next to

whatever, but whatever is no longer standing. It was next door to the company store. Well, we had four company stores, which one was it? Okay, that’s gone.

It’s that kind of story, so we try to help.”

Stoker said she will often photograph the visitors and post them on the town Facebook page, and viewers often recognize the names former residents and offer even more information.

“We had, last year, a man who was looking for his grandfather. He said, ‘I had always heard that my grandfather was mayor here. Would you know anything about him?’ And I asked, ‘What was his name?’

Stoker and the visitor went into the town council chambers and found a picture of Mayor R.T. Little, who served about 1894, on the wall along with other former mayors.

“There is his picture on the wall, he was the mayor,” Stoker recalled.

“His house was down the street. And then we knew

he’s buried in Woodlawn Cemetery. I knew that; so he went on to look. So I said,’Let me make a picture of you beside his picture. His great-grandson came to visit and here’s the two of them.’ And he was also interested in railroads and trains. That’s what we try to do. It’s a service we offer. It’s a service Richard (Bullins) offers and it’s a service we offer out of this office.”

Visitors often want to know about historical events that are well known across the country.

“The riders often want to know stories about the Hatfield-McCoy Feud and where was the HatfieldMcCoy Feud and how far away was it located, and we tell them how to go there. There are others who are interested in coal mining and they want to know, especially now. Coal has been on the front page and they want to know more about coal mining.

What was it like, and I send them to the Pocahontas (Exhibition) Mine,” Stoker said.

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Turning the Page Bluefield Daily Telegraph Pride 2017

Chapter 2: The Looking Glass

File photo by Eric DiNovo

Dressed in period clothing, Jeanette White spins wool during the first Bland County Heritage Day at the Bland County Fairgrounds.

Hidden treasures scattered throughout beautiful Bland County

By TOM BONE Bluefield Daily Telegraph BLAND, Va. — Motorists emerging from East River Mountain Tunnel into the small Virginia county of Bland often have no idea of the “hidden treasures” among the forested mountains they see from Interstate 77.

Dr. Eric Workman, the county administrator for about seven years, is only too happy to describe what makes his territory special, and what the county leaders are doing to keep it that way.

“If you enjoy outdoors, Bland County is the place to be,” Workman said in an interview at the tidy county courthouse. “I can’t say enough about Wolf Creek Golf Course. Wayne and the folks up there at the course are just great people, a great community asset.”

“We have multiple trout streams, some of the best hunting around. There’s people who travel in here from all over for deer season, bear season, whatever it may be. Trails, mountain biking, hiking, horseback riding — really it’s an outdoor paradise.

“A third of the county is national forest, about 78,000 acres of national forest lands here in the county.

That varies from year to year as they acquire or modify the overall forest.”

The residents and the park service have “a unique relationship,” Workman said. “People really want to be able to access and use the forest. Usually, as long as people have access and use of the forest ... it runs pretty smoothly.”

“We do still have a lot of farmland here. Cattle grazing and so forth is still a huge aspect of the daily life here. While we don’t have as many large farms as I guess they did have once

upon a time … . There are lot of ‘after-hours’ type farmers; they still work their regular jobs, but they farm ‘on the side.’ “ Institutions that “pass on the values” of rural life, such as the farm bureau, Future Farmers of America and the Cooperative Extension Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture “are still big here,” Workman said. The 4-H program run through the extension service “is a huge aspect of the school and their involvement with the students,” he said.

“You can see them at the Festival of Leaves, or the fair, selling their baked potatoes. I think they’re renowned for these baked potatoes. I know, every time I show up, that’s one of the first things I go after.”

“It goes back to the community. It goes back to the citizens and the families that are here. I can’t say enough positives about the (involvement) of the individuals in their communities.”

“If there’s anything I can say, about not only the residents but the businesses that are here, it’s all community minded. We can pick up the phone and if the community needs something, they’re right there to jump in.”

“You see people that want to give back to the community.”

“Bland County’s population has been pretty stable throughout the years, roughly 6,800 people,” he said. That number includes “about 600 inmates” incarcerated at the Bland Correctional Center, a figure that varies somewhat.

Workman said the census “has been a very stable overall number, but we are seeing that our demographics are getting a bit older — not as many children as we used to have.

School population is declining somewhat. … At one time they had well over 900 students, and now they’re in the high 700s … and that varies from year to year.”

The interstate highway carries “58,000-plus visitors a day” through the county, he said. “When you see these beautiful mountains and so forth, you don’t really see all the hidden treasures that are here in the county.

“We’re very proud of the businesses that are here,” he said. The county’s largest employer is ABB, which has around 300 to 350 on its payroll, he said. He began to describe their “unique operation.”

ABB manufactures “drytype transformers that are used all over the world,” Workman said. “A lot of different military vessels and ships and so forth use those … but when the new World Trade Center was built, those transformers for that building came from here in Bland.”

The second largest employer is the correctional facility, which has a payroll of “a little over 300 people,” Workman said.

The center, operated by the state of Virginia, opened in 1946, according to its website.

Workman said the center has been around “for quite some time. It’s ingrained in our fabric. We have a great working relationship with them, as we do with all of our businesses. They help us out a lot on projects.

“Recently, we were doing some improvements out at the schools. They had a work crew that came out and helped us build a new addition to hold some storage (materials). A couple of years ago, they helped us with new bathrooms at the fairgrounds.”

In addition to helping the county, that kind of improve-

ment project “gives them (incarcerated people) some work skills and so forth,” he said. “Ultimately, those that, for whatever the reason might become incarcerated, they’re going to come back into our communities eventually and they need to have the worksite skill sets to become employable.”

“I think that’s kind of the focus that we have here at the county (government), to make sure that people are employable and have opportunities to become employable. Generally, if people are going to work every day, things are going to run pretty smoothly.”

The correctional center website reports that its “large business agricultural program ... furnishes meat and dairy products to nine other Western Region correctional facilities.”

The Bland County Public Library is one of the functions of county government of which Workman is especially proud. Head librarian Cameron Burton and her staff generate events and meetings that keep local residents coming in the door.

“I brag about our library all the time,” he said. “It’s so busy at the library, when they have events, that you run out of space for parking, you run out of space in the room.”

“You see a lot of libraries, across the nation, struggling with numbers.

Our numbers are shooting through the roof. It’s because it’s community driven. The community supports it, and that’s the key to it all.”

Burton also uses her interest in theatre to help out at Bland County High School. Workman said, “I know she does a lot in the schools with the theatre group, with Tiffany Carter, who’s the theatre coach. I think they won the state

championship a couple of years ago in theatre. A very involved group of ladies.”

The county has “a variety of projects going on, and what they’re all focused on is how to we continue to grow our local economy,” Workman said. “We don’t want to become a great metropolitan area, by (any) means. We just want to make opportunities available for the young people, so when they graduate high school, they have opportunities to stay in Bland County. There’s no need for them to leave their families, or to leave their hometown or their home county to go anywhere else.”

“So, in order for that to take place, you’ve got to make sure that there are businesses here for them to have opportunities, and that there’s quality of life for them ... .”

“All of that goes hand in hand, whether it’s a water project, sewer project, broadband — we’re doing various broadband initiatives throughout the county. (We have) trail projects, and beautification and revitalization projects ... .

“What we’re basically focused on is how do we have the opportunities here for the people of Bland County to be able to stay here?”

One project that is “moving right along,” he said, is the Greenway near Rocky Gap. The first phase, now all but complete, consisted of “sidewalks along Route 52 in Rocky Gap, and streetscape lighting,” he said.

“We’re getting ready to move forward with the second phase, which is the old Route 61 iron-trestle bridge is going to be rehabilitated for pedestrian traffic, and then ... connecting that sidewalk with a trail that will link across the old Route 61 access, across the bridge, over to the veter-

ans’ memorial parking lot.”

“Hopefully that will take place in the summer of 2018,” he said. “We just kind of chip away at these (projects), a little at a time.”

Workman has observed community development his entire life, in several different locations. His father was a county administrator, city manager, and planner. Though the Workman family is originally from Bluefield, Eric Workman was born in Lynchburg, Va. His family moved to Bluefield in the 1970s, then lived in Mississippi while his father was the city administrator in Jackson and later worked in the governor’s office.

The Workmans returned to Bluefield, Va., in the late 1980s and Eric graduated from Graham High School in 1991. He got an education degree and wound up in Bland County, where he rose to be principal at what was then Rocky Gap High School. (The county’s two high schools have since combined.)

“I’ve been here for 10 years and just fell in love. It’s a great place,” Workman said. “I’ve been the county administrator for about seven years. It’s amazing. I have a former student now that’s sitting on the board of supervisors.

That’s unique.”

He added, “I can’t say enough about the board of supervisors, a great group of folks to work with. The county staff, the school system, everybody. It’s hard to put a thumb on it. It’s unlike any other local government operation you’ve ever seen (because) we are small enough, still. It’s so communal to a certain point ... everybody just chips in and takes off.”

“It’s good stuff,” he said of his adopted county. “We’re very proud of what we have here.”

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Sunday, September 24, 2017 Pride II 3

Monroe County: ‘Untouched land that people still cherish’

By TOM BONE Bluefield Daily Telegraph PETERSTOWN — The people of Monroe County have inherited a land of farms, woods and clean mountain streams in their largely rural corner of West Virginia, and many want it preserved.

That’s the message that county commission president Bill Miller has heard for years.

“Everybody gets to enjoy the beauty of the land,” he said, “and along with the beauty of the land, we get to reap some of the benefits from that, (such as) hunting and fishing. I think it’s been real good for the public — something our forefathers left for us and we can enjoy.”

The commitment has been formally written into the current Monroe County Comprehensive Plan. “It states in there that we try to keep it as close to our forefathers’ as we can,” he said.

Mark Canterbury, a county resident, said, “It’s untouched land that people still cherish.”

Some compromises are made. Miller said, “There’s lots of creeks out toward the Sweet Springs area, the Second Creek (and) Kitchen Creek area, that’s getting fenced, to keep the cattle out of it.”

“I’m not totally against that,” he said, “but when you look at our comprehensive plan, it states in there ‘as close to our forefathers,’ and there wasn’t none of them fences along those creeks at that time.

“I know we farm heavier than we did then, and the runoff is a lot worse. I’m totally aware of that. But if we can, we need to stay as close to our comprehensive plan as possible.”

Farming has continued to be a primary way of life in the mountain-rimmed county since it was formed in 1799, more than six decades prior to the creation of West Virginia itself. The chamber of commerce in the county seat of Union has hosted an annual Farmers Day in June for around 60 years.

It’s in many ways Monroe is still a throwback to a simpler time: There isn’t a stoplight in the entire county.

Things are not quite so

Staff photo by Tom Bone

A spectacular sunset colors the sky near historic Salt Sulphur Springs in central Monroe County. simple for farmers these days. Miller cited a couple of examples.

“Your beef cattle prices here, two years ago, soared to up in the $2 range, two dollars and a little over. And now they’ve (fallen) off to about where they probably should be,” he said.”It put a lot of farmers in a bind, buying stuff when (beef prices) were at a high rate. (You) get used to those prices and (you’re) not looking at the future.”

“Dairy prices right now are very little better than they (were) back in the late ‘70s. A dairy farmer, to make it today, has got to be a good manager.

“My son farms on a big scale. He keeps between 350 and 400 head of cattle, and he’s 30 years old. And he’s done well, and I’m proud of him.”

Still, in the midst of the farming culture, change happens, and some of that is to the county’s economic benefit.

Pure water coming off Peters Mountain near Sweet Springs has been sold regionally for decades and once won an award at an international competition.

A group of businessmen in Union provided seed money in the 1960s for a manufacturing plant near Pickaway in the center of the county. It’s now operated by UTC Aerospace

Systems, producing components for “almost everything that flies,” according to the company website.

Miller said, “We’re glad to have them here. It’s very nice to have them here, because they employ about 400 people. Without them it’d be tough.”

The commissioners support business operators in the scattered towns around the county, though there are challenges for those entrepreneurs to make a go of it.

“We always welcome the small businesses coming into town,” Miller said.

“We’ve lost some over the years. When I grew up, there were five filling stations within a half a mile (of each other) in Peterstown. And there’s none today.” The lure of cheaper gasoline across the border in nearby Virginia, due to lower taxes, has “really (taken) a toll on West Virginia, being right on the border.

It’s tough,” he said.

At the same time, as he sat in the aptly-named Hometown Restaurant in downtown Peterstown, Miller observed that the mini-mall in which it is located is “doing well, as far as I know.”

The western end of the county, near Peterstown, has seen “a little bit more of development than the other end,” Miller said,

“but at the same time, I want to see our farmlands stay as much a whole as possible.”

He has personal experience with that. Miller lives along the Rich Creek Valley Road east of Peterstown. His father started in the dairy business on that same land around 1957 — in addition to driving a school bus — and disbanded their dairy operation in 1990. His parents’ property was split up among Miller and his eight siblings. Parcels of the homeplace were sold off. Eventually Miller’s family reunited most of the land under their ownership, but “at a tremendous price,” the commissioner said.

“I was born on that place where I live, and I went back up there and built a new house,” he said. “(I) said I’ll just go back up there and live my life, the rest of it.”

He fully supports the federal government’s Farmland Protection Policy, passed by Congress in 1981, that allows a farmer to declare that in the future, his property cannot be developed for nonagricultural use.

“We just had a big farm (about 700 acres) right at my back door that signed up,” he said last month. The current owners “didn’t take a penny” in compensation, he said.

“They just wanted it tied up to where it couldn’t be sold off in lots.”

“I know there are arguments both ways on that. … Some people don’t want it tied up that way because it’ll never be developed. But that’s the art of doing it.”

He said that from his farm, he can look across U.S. 219, the main road through the county, and see the county’s only golf course, Fountain Springs.

Another successful compromise in land use is Moncove Lake State Park, a fishing and recreational destination tucked into the mountains in eastern Monroe County near the town of Gap Mills. The 250-acre state park is paired up with a 500-acre wildlife management area.

Miller said the park has recently added more campsites, has improved its electrical capacity for its visitors, and is considering adding some rental cabins. Friends of the park have established a foundation, “trying to get things to happen up there again,” he said.

He said about the park superintendent Todd Longanacre, “I think he’s on the right page. I think he’s a good superintendent.”

A family from the Northeast stayed a week at Moncove Lake “back in the winter,” Miller

said. Longanacre said the group went on to Florida, but did not forget the experience. “They liked it so well, they came back and stayed another week before they went home,” Miller said.

“That’s the kind of things we need to have here.”

Historical sites are scattered about Monroe.

Rehoboth Church, a log structure just east of Union, was built in 1786 and is a historical landmark of the United Methodist denomination, which claims it to be America’s oldest standing Protestant church west of the Allegheny Mountains.

Red-brick homes in Union date to pre-Civil War days. A colorful figure from the SpanishAmerican War, Andrew S. Rowan, was born in Gap Mills. The remains of a Greenbrier-like resort of the 19th century stand at Sweet Springs in the far eastern corner of the county.

The county draws hunters each fall and spring, both from county residents and those tipped off about the abundant wildlife populating the mountainsides. “There’s a lot of deer hunting that goes on in these counties,” Miller said. “There’s a lot of attractions for people out there.”

Miller ’s friend Canterbury summed up Monroe County as a place “where people still wave, and say prayers and everything else.”

Miller observed, “The crime rate is smaller than it is a lot of places.”

He added one more personal story that helps put the county’s resilient residents into perspective.

“I remember hearing Mom and Dad talk about (hard times),” he said.

“They said they didn’t throw nothing away back in those days. It was hard to get ANYTHING — canning jars, lids, anything like that. They had to use them over. You were particular about how you took (the lids) off so you could use them over.”

“We’re a county that can pretty well survive, I think, under tough conditions. We’re used to that — and I think we can still do that.”

— Contact Tom Bone at tbone@bdtonline.com

Richlands, Va., focusing on infrastructure for future growth

By CHARLES BOOTHE Bluefield Daily Telegraph RICHLANDS, Va. — Like most municipalities in the region, Richlands in Tazewell County has been struggling to build some economic momentum after the decline of the coal industry.

“All of the challenges we have are the same issues with coal-related problems,” said Town Manager Tim Taylor.

Although some diversification has occurred, Richlands has been concentrating on the fundamentals of infrastructure.

“Over the years we have shored up our infrastructure and utilities,” he said.

“We have made a major investment and we wanted

assets as well as coal-fired power plants and hydro dam projects.

The town’s water and sewer systems are self-sufficient with revenue from customers, he added.

Local government is operated through the tax base, the traditional means of

Richlands Demographics (based on 2016 U.S. Census Bureau statistics) Population: 5,428 Housing units: 2,860 Median house value: $95,500 Median Household income: $32,322 Households: 2,439 High school graduation rate: 76.2 percent Bachelor’s degree or higher: 13.9 percent Poverty rate: 21.9 percent to make sure we have the capacity for growth. We are in good shape to handle that growth when it comes our way.”

One issue the town has addressed is providing electricity to residents, which used to be a revenue source as the town purchased electricity from out-of-state sources then distributed it.

“We are independent of

the utilities now,” he said.

“That is a separate entity and revenue is not used by the town. We keep it separate.”

Taylor said the users are the owners, but the town does have investments in the providers, the sources of the electricity.

“We own pieces of these companies,” he said, adding that includes natural gas

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“Financially, we are doing okay,” he said. “We are taking a longer term approach.

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Town of Bluefield, Va., continues to see positive growth

By CHARLES BOOTHE

Bluefield Daily Telegraph

BLUEFIELD, Va. — During a time when many communities have lost population, the Town of Bluefield, Va., has seen growth.

“In the last census, we increased by 300 people, up to 5,400 residents now,” said Mayor Don Harris.

Reasons for the increase in growth are many, he said, but include long-term planning and the help of the burgeoning ATV business and tourism.

“We don’t necessarily look for today,” he said.

“We look 10 to 15 years down the road (as to what will be needed).”

Harris said by working together and planning the town has a new fire station and new municipal building.

“We’ve annexed 800 acres and have built a one-million gallon water tank,” he said, as well as purchased a $1.1 million ladder truck.”

The town also recently unveiled Tazewell County’s new June H. Brown Visitors Center.

The visitor’s center was located in a building at the Sanders House but in a small space.

Richlands...

Continued from 3

The community involvement is crucial, Taylor said, and helps give residents a sense of investment in the future.

“It (the process) is new to us and I’m looking forward to it,” he said.

Those areas council members and residents will be working on include: land use and development; housing and neighborhoods; economic development; community services, facilities and utillities; and transportation.

A downtown revitalization program is ongoing, he said, with another effort being made in rehabilitation of buildings.

“We have developed a downtown coordinator program,” he said, with the goal of heading toward the traditional Virginia Main Street Program, which provides services

Bluefield, Va. Demographics (2016 U.S. Census Bureau estimates) Population: 5,400 Median household income: $42,717 Median house value: $100,600 Housing units: 2,379 High school or higher: 84.1 percent Poverty rate: 10.2 percent Bluefield, Va. was interested on moving it downtown and the process began, with the work being done by the town.

Northern District Supervisor Maggie Asbury used a line from a classic public television show to express her feelings of the opening of the new center.

“It’s a wonderful day in the neighborhood,” she said, referring to Mr. Rogers.

Asbury said if she had heard 10 years ago the county would have such a “beautiful” tourism center, she would not have believed it.

Harris said the booming ATV tourist business has helped spur the need for the center.

‘We heard talk of an ATV trail in Pocahontas 12 years ago,” he said. “We look at it now as a win-win for everyone. We are on the direct route for them (ATV riders) to get there.

I never dreamed we would have a facility to like this to welcome them.”

The ATV business continues to grow, he said, pointing out the popularity of the Spearhead Trail ATV system, which has spawned growth in the Boissevain-Pocahontas area.

Val Guffy with the Virginia Tourism Corp. also spoke at the ribbon-cutting of the center, telling guests that her office is always ready to help.

“This center is beautiful,” she said. “I see what the economic impact of tourism is doing to this area. We are proud to be a part of it.”

Besides the visitors center, the facility also is home to the tourism offices.

The town is also working on a project that has the potential to bring substantial growth, and revenue.

and assistance to communities interested in revitalizing their historic commercial districts.

A coordinator will survey all property/business owners and ask about their intentions.

Attracting businesses to the downtown area will also involve incentives, he said.

“We are going to develop these incentives on real estate tax abatement,” he said. Those include reducing taxes on improvements to the property.

“We will then develop a package for downtown folks to market or improve their property if they want,’ he said, adding that a storefront improvement program is also being considered.

Besides the downtown commercial district improvements, Taylor said the town is also enhancing recreation opportunities.

That includes a new

pool, new gym area for basketball and volleyball court at the rec center, along with a larger weight room and bathrooms.

“The recreational facility has been pretty much overhauled over the last two or three years,” he said.

The town also is working on the Cinch River Valley Initiative, which basically showcases the Clinch River, which runs through Richlands, from Tazewell to St. Paul, eventually making it all part of a state park system.

“We are putting in an access point to the river near Critterville (a large park/playground on the Clinch) for kayaks and canoes,” he said. The dedication for that access point is Sept. 16.

Taylor said the Clinch River, at normal levels, is deep enough for kayaks, jon boats and canoes to maneuver without being carried over shallow areas.

It’s call the Leatherwood Development off U.S. 460.

Billie Roberts, community development coordinator for the town, said a $1.2 access road to the property has been approved by the state.

“The next step is that owners of the Leatherwood property will have to purchase the permits and move forward with that (development) process,” she said.

“We’re very excited about the possibility of this being on the Virginia side,” Harris said.

“There’s different developments, a proposed strip mall, at this time that’s my understanding.”

A motel, financial institution, retail stores, movie theater, gas and convenience station, restaurants and an additional big box store have all been discussed in the past as possibilities for the development.

The Town of Bluefield, Va. and the Leatherwood Corporation have worked together on the project.

“We are all anticipating the Leatherwood Project,” said Councilman Lee Riffe, adding that Ashley’s Furniture Store is opening soon in the former Staple’s building and

the former Ryan’s building may be getting another restaurant.

Both of those buildings are located in the College Plaza Shopping Center.

Tourism is a growing business, he said, pointing to the popularity of the historic Sanders House.

“The number of people who come and take tours of the house is phenomenal” he said.

Riffe is also optimistic that the recent growth in coal mining production will help the town and the surrounding areas.

“Seeing people going back to work is good to see,” he said. “Hopefully, we are moving in the right direction on that.”

Riffe said recreational opportunities keep expanding as well, including many sport leagues, plus downtown festivals and events.

“All of the activities downtown draw a lot of people,” he said. “The turnouts have been the best.”

Riffe said members of town council are progressive and that will help the future of downtown.

While everything changes with the progress and upgrades, Harris said one thing has not changed.

“The people here are absolutely wonderful,” he said. “We have very good relations with the residents here as well as in the surrounding area and in Bluefield, W.Va.” Having a great town staff who keeps the town presentable is also a big plus, he added.

“We don’t believe in degrading our community,” he said. “We have pride and our employees have pride. We have a wonderful group of town employees.”

Harris also praised volunteers.

“We are extremely proud of those folks,” he said.

“They do such a wonderful job. We are very blessed in that respect.”

Harris, who is vice chair of the Virginia Municipal League, takes his concerns to Richmond and works with legislators.

“My goal is to keep the name of Bluefield in the forefront in Virginia,” he said. “There is that stigma in West Virginia that the state ends at Beckley.

In Virginia, it ends at Roanoke. A lot of people now know there is a town called Bluefield.”

— Contact Charles Boothe at cboothe@ bdtonline.com

“There is a big interest in kayaking,” he said.

Taking advantage of the natural beauty of the river would be an advantage, he said, and that is why the town is also eyeing a riverwalk.

“Virginia Tech is helping us with doing a concept plan to get it moving,” he said. The riverwalk would start at Critterville and “we will go as far as it makes senses to go. We will light it up and you will be able to access it from the business district.”

Taylor said the town is

working with the Town of Tazewell, the county and other regional entities in many of these areas.

“I applaud Tazewell for some of the things they have done,” he said. “We will learn from them and work together with them.

We are a regional player, a team player and we want to promote Tazewell County as a whole.”

The town is also preserving and promoting historic property and sites, including the restoration of a railroad section house, a facility used

by foremen.

“Most of these have been torn down,” he said.

“We have one here. It’s very unique. There are not many left.”

That project should be finished soon, he added.

“We have a lot of positive things going on,” he said.

“It’s hard to grow your tax base, but we have been able to hang on to what we’ve got over the years.”

— Contact Charles Boothe at cboothe@ bdtonline.com

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ATV tourism breathing new life into ‘The Millionaire City’

By CHARLES BOOTHE Bluefield Daily Telegraph BRAMWELL — Bramwell, known as “The Millionaire City” for its history of being called home by coal barons at one time, has been experiencing a renaissance in recent years, due in no small part to the booming ATV tourist business.

Thousands of visitors each year rumble down Main Street in Bramwell on their four-wheelers, looking for food or just to look around.

Lou Stoker is mayor of the town, which has a population of 352 (July 1, 2016 U.S. census), and has been for 10 years.

“The ATV business is our present and our future,” she said. “We also continue to promote our historic district. Our historic preservation is a big item on our agenda and this is what we have been doing since 1983.”

Stoker said the town’s past is in the structures and the stories of the heyday of coal, as well as the heyday of the millionaires in the business who lived in Bramwell.

That history is attractive to ATV riders, especially after the opening of the Pocahontas trail system as part of the Hatfield-McCoy system, which offers about 700 miles of trails.

Bramwell is home to the Pocahontas system’s trailhead.

“This is a place that people can come to recreate on their ATVs,” she said.

“They can also park, walk around and enjoy not only the wonderful food, but the history, the museum, our

Bramwell Demographics (2016 U.S. Census estimates) Population: 352 Housing units: 198 Median household income: $40,417 Median house value: $61,400 Residents who graduated from high school: 82.4 percent Poverty rate: 20.5 percent

File photo

This beautiful home is one of many that can be found in the historic town of Bramwell. houses and the friendly people.”

Stoker said the ATV riders “keep coming back” and would it be “hard to know” how many because they come and go year round.

“This is a family oriented trail,” she said. “Each trail has a different personality.”

When ATV riders come, they usually do so in groups or as families.

“There was one large family from Puerto Rico who visited,” she said.

“They were traveling to see the things to do in each state for outdoor sports.

They stayed for a week.”

Those visitors have had

an economic impact.

“All the businesses here are doing well,” she said.

“We have a couple of buildings for sale and we would like to see entrepreneurs come in and purchase those and put businesses in them.”

The town’s tax base has been enhanced, she said, with the town receiving 35 percent of the 6 percent hotel/motel tax. Stoker said 50 percent goes to the county and 15 percent to the state for southern West Virginia tourism promotion.

All of that money must be spent on promoting tourism, she added. “That really does help people under-

stand that we don’t keep that 100 percent.”

Another recreation Bramwell is working on is developing the use of the Bluestone River, which runs through the town, for kayakers and canoeists.

Stoker said the county’s litter control officer, Josh Parks, recently led an effort with town officials and the fire department to clean up the river, which runs three miles through the immediate area. The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) helped as well.

About half of the section, which starts at town limits, was cleaned in one day, she said.

“It was a big job and we are planning the other half,” she added.

All of this is a preparation to encourage and promote the use of the river, which is large enough to accommodate kayaks and canoes without riders having to get out and carry them over shallow parts.

“Fishing is good too,” she said.

Stoker said the Bluestone comes in from Virginia and runs through Spanishburg and to Camp Creek, where docks are planned by the Mercer County Commission to accommodate the watercraft.

A shuttle service will

also be provided, she added.

“Everybody involved who has heard about this is very excited about the project happening,” she said. “It’s a new outdoor adventure to offer.”

With the history and recreation as well as the spring and Christmas home tours, the popular Ghost Walk, and the annual production, “Smoke on the Mountain,” Stoker is optimistic that progress will continue to be made in drawing more and more people to Bramwell.

“We try to have something every other week in town,” she said, including a monthly Saturday night concert at the historic depot.

It also helps to have some ATV resorts nearby that provides accommodations.

“Everything was full last weekend,” she said.

“And many are full during the weekends throughout the year. Many around Bramwell are fully booked.”

Stoker said about 10 places in and around Bramwell provide lodging to ATV riders.

The latest to open is the Busted ATV Resort, and the owners reflect what other resort owners say about their interests in Bramwell.

Busted ATV Resort opened in April by owners Robert Hedges and Pat Brabbs, both of Daytona Beach, Fla. “We used to race four-wheelers and we’ve been coming to the trails for 14 years,” Hedges said after the opening, adding that their trips here gave them the idea to open the resort.

“We started (on the project) three years ago,” he added.

“Once we get up and running we’ll move here,” he said. “That’s our goal.”

Hedges said the resort will keep growing, and expanding ser vices.

“There’s plenty more to come,” he added.

The resort is located on Rt. 52 in Bramwell and is a half-mile from the Hatfield and McCoy Trails and five miles from the Spearhead Trails in Virginia.

Stoker said the more the better because not only are they needed, they help draw even more people in.

What’s good for Bramwell is also good for the surrounding areas, she added.

“Bramwell is not a little island to itself,” she said. “We are a part of the big picture that is Mercer County and parts of other counties.”

Stoker said riders who come to Bramwell also stop in Bluefield and other places for food, accommodations and other things.

“We have been the catalyst for the tourism traffic as far as us trying to have our focus not just inward.

What helps Bramwell will help the whole area.”

— Contact Charles Boothe at cboothe@ bdtonline.com

Economic growth clearly visible inside town of Tazewell, Va.

By CHARLES BOOTHE Bluefield Daily Telegraph TAZEWELL, Va. — The Town of Tazewell has been taking a more aggressive approach to economic development in recent years, and new businesses have been springing up.

That’s good news for Town Manager Todd Day, who took over the job five years ago.

Day said when he came in there were no drives under way to improve the economy, but all of that has changed.

One of the first steps was to ask Virginia Tech to bring in an economic development team to do an analysis and give a presentation.

“Then we had an organization formed by some individuals, mainly from businesses on Main Street, and community leaders from a group called Tazewell Today,” he said.

With the VT analysis and input from the community, the town got to work.

“Town council has stepped

up to the plate and we have figured out that freeing the economy by allowing things to take place and allowing businesses the opportunity to thrive has paid off,” he said.

Day said the town has offered “tremendous incentives for every business on Main Street.”

“New businesses have taken advantage of it to allow them to actually be in existence,” he said.

Day explained that the incentives involve giving entrepreneurs tax breaks.

“They can fill out a page and a half application and be interviewed and they have the potential to locate in downtown, real estate tax free, with no BPOL (Business, Professional, and Occupational License), no personal property tax,” he said.

Those tax incentives are up to four years.

“We are doing everything we can,” he said. “It gives them a bit of a break at the local government level. The

council has stepped outside the normal, the usual comfort zone of local government operations, and it’s paying off. The hard work is paying off.”

Day said two restaurants have recently opened downtown, a family style steak house and Seven, which is already seeing the need to expand.

“They both have been thriving and have been very successful,” he said. “We have also got a new coffee shop in town, The Whale, and it’s been open there for several months. The coffee blends are similar to Starbuck’s, but they are better and a little more financially attractive.”

Another restaurant will open soon.

“It’s under construction with the target date in late September,” he said. “It’s called The Front Porch and it will be owned and operated by Irma Mitchell, a lifelong resident of the Town of Tazewell.”

A microbrewery is also opening soon, in October.

Michelle Rotellini

“It will have a full service restaurant inside and also they will be a distributor,” he said.

Not only that, Day said a hotel for Main Street is being planned for 2018.

“It’s a Holiday Inn Express,” he said. “It’s like the one in Lebanon (Russell County), a twin of that one.”

Day said it will be a 55-room hotel with a two-story parking deck, which will also double as public parking for Main Street.

A flower shop is also opening.

Growth in area tourism has helped spark interest in downtown businesses.

“The Back of the Dragon has obviously been a big influence on some of this entrepreneurship,” he said, referring the Rt. 16 that runs from Tazewell County to Marion and has been a big draw for motorcycle and sports car enthusiasts.

The growing popularity of the ATV trails in the region, including the Spearhead Trail system in Tazewell

County, has also given the area a boost, he added.

“We do get business from ATV riders. The Spearhead Trail is showing a huge return on investment for all businesses.”

Day understands how growth in one area impacts growth in another area.

“What’s good for us here is good for Bluefield and Richlands,” he said.

“Business brings business.”

Day, who was previously the Bluefield, Va., town manager before going into private business for awhile, said he remembered when Interstate 77 started to boom, with growth at exit 9 in Princeton, and how it kept spreading into the city.

The more things that are offered, the more people will come, he added.

That’s why venues such as the reopening of a theater in North Tazewell is on the agenda.

“We’ve got a theater that was donated,” he said. “We are negotiating the terms of the contract now. Three cin-

emas will open.”

A new recycling center the town owns is now open for three days a week.

“The town owns it but it can be used by anybody,” he said.

Day said work continues behind the scenes.

“We’ve got a lot of things going on and other projects in the works that will be announced in the future,” he said. “We have been absolutely blessed. We have some things working in the background.”

The town is also pushing to have more events for people to attend.

“We’ve got something going on just about every weekend throughout the summer,” he said, including the Main Street cruiseins. “We have the October Fest and a wine festival too.”

Day helped show off the town recently to Sen. Mark Warner, who held a town hall meeting at the American Legion Building after touring downtown.

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Chapter 3: Be Our Guest

File photo

Local anglers line the banks of Lake Jack Witten located in Tazewell County.

Lake Jack Witten and Cavitt’s Creek Park:

Hidden jewel of Tazewell

By BRIAN WOODSON Bluefield Daily Telegraph

BLUEFIELD, Va. — Literally tucked away from the outside world, Lake Jack Witten and Cavitt’s Creek Park are a hidden jewel for tourism in Tazewell County.

The secret is starting to get out, however, with efforts continuing to turn this 300-acre park into the first leg of the Clinch River State Park.

“It is already called that. The state code has Clinch River State Park in it,” Tazewell County Tourism Director David Woodard said. “The state park itself is moving along. We are currently in talks with the state about a Memorandum of Understanding to put the state park flag up. They could back out, the county could back out, but it looks like it is a reality that could come true.”

Woodard said the 54-acre lake now known as Lake Jack Witten was created as a flood control project in the mid-1980s, with it also serving as a public drinking reservoir. Cavitt’s Creek Park, which is close to 300 acres followed soon afterwards.

“They built a park and in doing so built one of the nicest parks in Southwest Virginia,” Woodard said.

“The views out there are amazing, you are two miles

off of 460 and you can’t tell, you have no idea you are anywhere near a development. That is attractive to the state especially and the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation because it is so pristine and scenic and the abundance of wildlife that is there. There are bald eagles that nest there.

There are bear, deer and a lot of other animals. A lot of birds, a lot of birders enjoy Cavitt’s Creek Park.”

Ditto for anglers, who can be regularly seen along the banks of Lake Witten, which is named for a former beloved doctor in Tazewell.

“It is regularly stocked.

The fish that are in there, you have regular bass, trout and catfish, but there is a good healthy population of walleye in that lake, which is kind of odd around here,” Woodard said. “The water in that lake is so clean that a lot of different types of fish can thrive in it.”

Tazewell is just one of five towns in Tazewell County that would certainly benefit from a local state park.

“It is a county project. It is outside of our political jurisdiction so we are not whole lot involved with the discussions of that project, but I can tell you we are

obviously supporters of it,” Tazewell Town Manager Todd Day said. “You have got Tazewell County and then inside the county you have got five incorporated towns. I can’t speak for the rest of the towns, but I can pretty much tell you that it is a no brainer that we embrace that idea and that concept. It won’t do anything, but bring economy to the area. That is a much-needed area that we are a little deficient in.”

Some may not realize just how unique Lake Jack Witten is. Sourced

by Buckhorn Mountain in Tazewell, the Clinch River starts in Tazewell and flows for more than 300 miles to the Tennessee River in Kingston, Tenn.

There is a severe elevation decline along the way, dropping from 2,760 feet to 741 feet at the end.

“It is the most biologically diverse river in the Northern Hemisphere.

It has the most rare species of plants and animals from the headwaters in Tazewell to the confluence with the Tennessee River,” Woodard said. “There is more wildlife that you can’t find anywhere else in the world expect for the Amazon. The Amazon is more biologically diverse, but we have got everybody in the Northern

Hemisphere beat.

“They have developed a logo for the Clinch and their slogan is Virginia’s Hidden River. I am not sure I was a fan of that slogan, but it is really true that we have so much in the Clinch.”

Perhaps no community has begun taking advantage of the Clinch more locally than Richlands, with a ribbon-cutting scheduled soon for one of two access points under construction. There will be similar access points all along the Clinch River, from Tazewell to Tennessee.

“All these access points are going to be the smaller pearls in a stream of pearls that we have talked about so much with the Clinch River State Park,” Woodard said.

Imagine a McDonald’s “paddle-thru” in the middle of the Clinch? Woodard said it could become reality.

“Richlands has started on access points on the Clinch River for kayakers and rafters and fishing. Richlands has really taken the lead in getting access to the Clinch River for public use,” Woodard said. “There is one (access point) we are getting ready to cut the ribbon on. There is another one

that is in development for McDonald’s. It will be as far as we know the first float-through McDonald’s in the United States where you can pull up in your kayak and order food and sit there and eat it. That will be down the Clinch River in Richlands, but it all ties into the state park.”

That isn’t all that is unique about the Clinch River. There are rare species of mussels, including the Tan Rifleshell, which lives only in the corporate limits of Cedar Bluff. They serve a vital purpose too.

“People fuss whenever they want to do construction and they have to worry about the mussels. We have species of mussels that live no where else in the world that are here in Tazewell County,” Woodard said. “Those mussels are vital to clean water. They remove pollutants from the water so they are kind of like natural filters. They are important, but that is just one example. There are plants on the banks of the Clinch that are nowhere else so it is really cool stuff when you get into it and realize what a treasure the Clinch River really is.”

Tazewell County is doing its part make Lake Witten and Cavitt’s Creek Park even more enticing to tour-

ists and outdoor enthusiasts, including upgrades to existing structures, placement of new cabins overlooking the lake, improved signage and more, according to information provided by Woodard.

“We are also looking at developments out there,” he said. “What we can further do to enhance the park and make it more visitor and user friendly.”

Included in those development is a new sewage system being installed that has been certified by the Virginia Department of Health and is ready to be promoted online.

“We just completed a large self-contained sewage system that is designed for small communities. It is from Israel, and the company is here now in Tazewell County operating,” Woodard said. “This system can accommodate up to 70 homes and businesses for way less than half a million dollars.

“We have got all these little communities in the Appalachian Mountains that don’t have public sewage and can’t get septic tank systems so their sewage goes untreated and it costs millions of dollars to put sewage systems to them. These things you

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Narrows looks become ‘a busy little outdoor town’

By GEORGE THWAITES Bluefield Daily Telegraph NARROWS, Va. — Just like it’s famous namesake, the MacArthur Inn in Narrows has returned.

Local businessman Alan Neely, who rescued the historic building from demolition almost a decade ago, is convinced that his hometown’s past glory will also return — albeit probably in an incarnation somewhat different from the thriving small town of his own boyhood.

“In the last year we’ve had three or four families come and stay here and then go home and get their stuff, from Baltimore, Maryland to Raleigh, North Carolina and come back here to buy a house,” said Neely, a second-generation contractor who was a major player in saving another Narrows landmark — the Mill Pond on Wolf Creek — when the dam desperately needed repairs in the mid-1980s.

“People come here and find out they like small town America,” he said.

In the mid- 20th century, ‘The Narrows’ cohered around industries like logging, sawmills, the Union Tanning Company, the Virginia Railroad Power plant and Celanese— only the latter of which remains in operation. In the 21st century, Narrows’ best hope lies in the beauty of the river that runs through it and the mountain wildness of the Jefferson National Forest land that surrounds it.

“I feel sure that in the next couple of years, the town is going to grow. We have some big draws here.

This is a great town for bicycling, canoeing, kayaking and hiking. As a matter of fact, the Town of Narrows has been offi-

Staff photo by Jessica Nuzzo

The MacArthur Inn in Narrows, Va. cially declared a National Trail Town, “ Neely said.

“It’s the only town in the United States where two major hiking trails intersect— the Appalachian Trail and the Great Eastern Trail.”

Construction on Neely’s property began on the in 1938 and it had its grand opening in 1940. A year later came the trauma of Pearl Harbor and the subsequent defeat of U.S. troops in the Phillipines.

Only 37 days after MacArthur uttered his famous promise, the hotel was named after the exiled military commander as a morale booster on the home front.

“It was the first hotel in the country named after MacArthur ... I think a lot of

people in the town hardly know that,” said Neely. “So really, that’s the General Douglas MacArthur Hotel doing business as the MacArthur Inn.” Since its construction, the building changed several hands and went through several incarnations, including a stint as a nursing home in the 1960s and 1970s. Eventually it suffered from the economic pressures that led to the decline of small town economies throughout the U.S. in the late 20th century.

By early 2009, the old hotel had so declined that the Narrows Town Council put a demolition notice on the door and voted to buy it and tear it down in order to replace it with a metal shell building in hopes of

luring industry to the town.

“I found that out and I decided to get my finances together and I bought it at an auction and restored it because of its history,” Neely said.

“When I bought it, the roofs were caved in and 15 percent of the floors were in the basement. It was electrically inadequate ... essentially we had to rebuild it,” he said.

It was a gamble. The 1,200-foot-long bridge across the New River that connected Narrows’ declining historic district with the thriving secondary business district

along U.S. 460 was also far past its prime when Neely bought the Inn. The bridge’s rickety, rusty appearance would hardly have inspired confidence in downtown investment.

Construction on a replacement bridge began in 2012. The award-winning span was completed in 2013 by Wagman Construction. For decades the old bridge had stood as an iconic symbol of Narrows’ past. The new bridge is a chunk of much-needed infrastructure that symbolizes the town’s future.

These days, The

MacArthur Inn is available for rentals by wedding parties, conferences and business meetings. Rooms are also available by the night, including kings and queens and two-room suites. The Inn is also the site of a weekly gathering in the town: the Country Cooking, which combines country-style buffet with an Old Time Mountain Music jam session on the front porch. Jam session regulars include musicians who’ve won prizes at the renowned Galax Fiddler’s Convention and other big regional events.

“Sometimes we’ll have pot roast, sometimes barbecued pork or pork chops, or meatloaf. But you’ve got to have creasy greens and cornbread,” Neely said.

Across the street from the MacArthur Inn is the Blue Moon Coffee Shop and Jukebox Cafe. The business, which occupies a building also owned by Neely, is under the management of Buzz Johnson and Denise Ward.

“We’ve got a 1946 Seeburg which plays the old 78 rpm records like Ella Fitzgerald, Glenn Miller, Perry Como, Nat ‘King’ Cole. And we’ve got a 1961 Wurlitzer that plays 45s. It has the original Janis Joplin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Fleetwood Mac, Bob Seeger and James Taylor,” said Neely.

The Blue Moon isn’t the only place to hang out in town. The Right Turn Clyde Brewery, a brew pub located in the old bank building on Main Street, is just around the corner and up the street within

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Burke’s Garden: Alive and well in tourism world

By BRIAN WOODSON Bluefield Daily Telegraph

BLUEFIELD, Va. — Imagine if George Vanderbilt had built the Biltmore House at Burke’s Garden instead of Asheville, N.C. Unfortunately for him, Burke’s Garden landowners wouldn’t sell him the land. Don’t expect residents of Burke’s Garden to complain. They like the way it is. Even non-residents feel much the same.

“I love to just go over there and breathe the air,” Tazewell County Tourism Director David Woodard said. “It is a different world.”

Burke’s Garden is a 12-mile bowl or crater-shaped valley carved out of a mountain, the tallest such valley in Virginia at 3,074 feet, which is a combination of flat lands and rolling hills.

“We refer to it around here as in a bowl. It is literally a bowl,” Tazewell Town Manager Todd Day said. “If you ever have the opportunity to fly over it it is a pretty unique place and it does get a lot of publicity and a lot of tourism.”

Don’t believe it? Pilots feel much the same.

“We have had commercial airline pilots come in here and say I have been flying over this thing for however many years and they retired,” Woodard said. “On my bucket list was to come and actually see it in person.”

Burke’s Garden will see an influx of an estimated 20-30,000 visitors for the 30th Burke’s Garden Fall Festival slated for Sept.

30. Activities, according to one description, includes “handmade, homemade and homegrown delights for the whole family.” There will also be handcrafts and demonstrations like mak-

Contributed photo

A horse and wagon travels down the road recently in Burke’s Garden located in Tazewell County. ing apple butter, quilting, sheep shearing, hay rides and more.

The other big draw in Burke’s Garden is the Varmint Run, the area’s largest running event that is held on the second Saturday of June.

Those are far from the only reasons to visit Burke’s Garden.

“Burke’s Garden is world famous,” Woodard said. “I was amazed when I came into this job how many people called for Burke’s Garden information, how many people just came to Burke’s Garden to be there.”

Also called “God’s Thumbprint” and “Garden Spot of the World,” Burke’s Garden has the smallest telephone company in Virginia, and even has its own micro-climate, with snow recorded in every month except July.

“It is Virginia’s largest rural historic district. It is Virginia’s tallest valley.

The floor of the valley sits over 3,000 feet,” Woodard said. “They have their own

micro-weather system over there, it is very strange.”

Strange, but true, and certainly worth visiting for.

“You experience things in Burke’s Garden that you experience no where else,” Woodard said. “If you are flying over it in a small craft kind of low there is a whole turbulence over it. I am not getting in a plane that is not bigger than I am, but we have a pilot on our tourism committee and he says that is nothing like it, no where do you fly that you experience it. I have flown a drone over there and it is quite windy above the Garden.”

Tourism opportunities abound in Burke’s Garden, beginning with access points to the Appalachian Trail that offers some of the highest points in Virginia.

There is also abundant wildlife and plenty of fertile farmland, along with hiking, biking and even bird watching.

“The tourism industry is up there. Hiking on the Appalachian Trail, we’re getting ready to develop a couple of access points

for people who want to day hike,” Woodard said.

“Chestnut Ridge and Chestnut Knob on the rim is the third highest point in Virginia. White Top claims six different high points, but if you are one mountain you get one in my world.

Chestnut Shelter is one of only two fully enclosed shelters on the Appalachian Trail so we are getting ready to start exploiting the Appalachian Trail more.”

That is not all.

“It is the start of the Heart of Appalachia Bicycle Trail.

It is on the Mountain

Heritage Loop Birding and Wildlife Trail,” he said.

“We have got bald eagles at Lake Witten, this is also a pair at Falls Mills Dam, but in Burke’s Garden there are a lot of golden eagles that nest there every winter and raise babies. That is really popular among birders. There are actually birding tours that come to Burke’s Garden every January and February to see that.”

There are also places to stop along the way, from the Burke’s Garden General Store to Mill Dam and Central Lutheran Church, which has gravestones that date back to the 1700s.

There is even a camel and llama farm.

“Burke’s Garden is still huge. Matty’s place is the new Amish General Store,” Woodard said. “She is a hoot, they are really fun people. We stop in and see them when they are out over there...We have a company doing bicycle rentals now in Burke’s Garden because that 12 mile loop around is really popular. There is a new Amish General Store getting ready to open so that will be too.”

The old Burke’s Garden school is now a community center, but the small Amish population located there uses it as well.

“The Amish School in the old Burke’s Garden School is still going well. I really enjoy going by there and seeing all their little scooters lined up,” Woodard said.

It is a quiet community, but not always. Motorcyclists from the Tazewell-based Back of the Dragon like to make their way there as well.

“It is very popular among the motorcyclists too and that is one of the things where they ride Back of the Dragon and they go over and spend the day in Burke’s Garden,” Woodard said. “I don’t think this summer I have been over there once, even when it was raining, where there was not motorcycles in the Garden, which is pretty cool.”

Want to just make a day of it, and just spend the night in Burke’s Garden. That is a definite possibility.

“A couple of years ago we had a lodging place open, a parsonage guest house, and they are doing pretty well,” Woodard said. “They actually have expanded their business into another house next door to them.”

Need more be said? Check it out, Burke’s Garden is a gem that should be experienced by all.

“Burke’s Garden is alive and well in the tourism world,” Woodard said.

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‘Things are really speeding up’ on Mercer Street in Princeton

By GEORGE THWAITES Bluefield Daily Telegraph PRINCETON — Consider an eclectic group of creative kids with a shared interest in peace, love, music and the arts, whose sheer optimism, vision and youthful exuberance transform a decaying urban neighborhood into a shining example of hope for their city and possibly even the entire economically-distressed state of West Virginia.

Not many producers would bite on that story pitch. Who are the the evil establishment antagonists? When does Billy Jack have to step in and straighten everything out?

Without elements of conflict and Kung fu it sounds kind of, you know— unsellable.

On Mercer Street in Princeton, that story has been selling for almost a decade. People have bought into it, tie-dyed T-shirts and all.

Tammy Dotson, the owner of The Hatter’s Book Shop, had always dreamed of operating her own book store. When she had a chance to buy out Dayfly Books and Collectibles about a year ago she jumped at the chance.

She, like other hopeful local entrepreneurs placing their bets on Mercer Street’s transformation, had the feeling that something good will happen.

Something big and lovely.

It’s becoming a place you might want to hang out for hours. All day, even. And one day, maybe into the night.

“It is a totally different vibe. The business owners here who are interested in moving Mercer Street forward are creating gathering places for people to just relax and enjoy time downtown,” said Dotson, whose well-curated used

Staff photo by Jessica Nuzzo

The community gathers on Mercer Street for Celebrate Princeton Street Fair recently. book shelves contain outof-print gems that make a careful browse worth the effort.

“We have a room dedicated to that sort of thing, with couches and chairs.

We have couples come in and read to each other.

We’ve had book club meetings here before, so it is a good place for people to gather,” said Dotson.

“I’ve had my room open to meetings where I don’t always agree with their point of view. But they have their right to gather and talk about what they want to talk about. My space is always open for that,” she said.

It looks like Dotson got in on the Mercer Street discussion at a good time.

The LeVon Theater renovation is proceeding conspicuously. A new gallery, “The Holler,” which also hosts a weekly Zen group, is opening. The Appalachian Coffee Co., which will also include social space, is a new business on its way in.

Jimmie’s Diner is in the process of being restored to its mid-century magnificence, There is a candy company coming in. And a restaurant and micro brewery.

Dotson has no difficulty indicating where this urban uplift party got started. She literally points down the street to the RiffRaff Arts Collective.

RiffRaff is directed

by Princeton native and Concord University alumna Lori McKinney, who works with her husband, fellow artist and musician Robert Blankenship.

The couple has also long been affiliated with the Appalachian South Folklife Center’s Culturefest — which held its 14th annual world music and arts festival at Pipestem on Sept.

7-10.

At the risk of over-simplifying, RiffRaff is a cooperative association of multiple local artists who, in some fashion, pay RiffRaff sweat equity in exchange for its support and patronage.

McKinney, who serves as the director of RiffRaff, is also deeply engaged in the Princeton Rennaisance Project. Earnest, positive and evidently irony-free, she’s proven herself as a capable civic leader with real progress to show for her efforts. So far, her work is genuinely brightening the corner where she is.

On Monday she was working the gallery, enthu-

siastically promoting RiffRaff ’s artists and projects to folks who dropped in. Thursday, however, was artist John Coffey’s turn to man the gallery. He’s a retired sign manufacturer whose exquisite watercolors are on exhibit and available for purchase at the Mercer Street gallery.

Coffey has been around long enough to remember when Mercer Street was a bustling center of downtown retail commerce.

He’s also been around long enough to have seen the venerable merchant’s district develop an unsavory reputation as it fell into disuse and disrepair.

“There was a time that Mercer Street kind of lived up to its bad reputation.

But all of that is changing,” Coffey said.

“It’s getting more interesting all of the time. I don’t know if we’ll be getting many more art galleries, but there will be places to eat, coffee shops and cafes. I think one thing kind of leads to another.

The more things we have, the more people are going to come in to see what’s here,” Coffey said.

A few doors down from Riff Raff is the Stages Music School, which has around 200 students and is directed by Melissa McKinney, sister of RiffRaff ’s Lori. In addition to providing individual instruction, the school’s specialty is combining youngsters into functioning country, rock or pop ensembles who go on to perform in public venues.

“We try to get our kids out of their comfort zones.

If they’re there to learn country, they also get to hear classical music at our shows. If they’re here

to learn bluegrass, we also want them to listen to rock. We want them to have a broader knowledge of music,” McKinney said.

The Room Upstairs is a comfortable, laid-back performance venue located literally upstairs at the RiffRaff gallery. Every Monday night there is an open mike session in an alcohol-free, family-friendly environment for a nominal cover charge. A lot of the open mike regulars are kids from Stages.

Anybody you meet on the street who has attended will brag about them.

Jeff Mills, a Princeton native and RiffRaff collaborative artist, was helping to move sound equipment onto the street to transport to Pipestem for this year’s Culturefest. He’s no stranger to the open mike sessions. He agrees. The kids are all right.

“It’s amazing some of the talent you’ll hear ... even some of the younger kids,” said Mills, who attended Bluefield State and Concord, where he studied, business and recreational and tourism managment.

Mills said he’d heard about the role of the arts in urban renewal in Asheville, N.C., but the regional example he believes Mercer Street most closely emulates is what happened in Lewisburg, which “has the coolest little thriving artists community,” he said.

Other West Virginia communities have been seeking out RiffRaff members’ guidance for their own revitalization efforts, he said, even though the biggest surge on Mercer Street remains just on the verge. Cuisine is culture,

too.

“Once the food starts coming in, that’s when people decide they want to start putting in more shops. That’s when it starts happening,” Mills predicted.

Blankenship, who was helping Mills move sound equipment, noted that there would be no open mike sessions for two consecutive Mondays due to Culturefest.

Blankenship said the youth projects associated with Stages and RiffRaff, including its anti-bullying and empowerment messages, were from the beginning more central to the collective’s vision than merely raising overall real estate values on Mercer Street.

“The main motivating factor for me was growing up in Summers County not having anything to do. We actually started doing our open mike stuff in Summers County but then came back to Lori’s hometown to do what we do now,” said Blankenship.

Even so, he admitted Mercer Street indeed appears to be on the verge of a new wave of economic growth. Pretty soon, a lot more people should be motivated to spend more spare time — and more money — in RiffRaff ’s neighborhood.

“It’s drastically different here especially over the last two years. Things are really speeding up,” Blankenship said.

“Hopefully by the end of this year a lot of the new businesses going in on this block will be open. There are a few things that people are keeping under wraps. They might start happening, too,” he said.

Celco Credit Union is here for our members. From a low rate mortgage to car and life loans. Celco stands with, and more importantly grows with our members.

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Wednesday, September 27, 2017 Pride III 7

Continued from 2 walking distance of the Inn. Operated by Narrows native Jon Kidd and his partner, Corey Thompson, the brewery is open Thursday and Friday from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. and Saturday from 3 p.m. until 10 p.m. Right Turn Clyde regularly partners with a popular food truck operator and sponsors live music at least twice a month.

One of the Narrowsonians most bullish on the town’s prospects for growth is Ralph Robertson, a wellknown outdoor polymath who provided both the vision and the sweat equity to what became Narrows’ Mill Creek Trail system — a beacon to hikers and mountain bikers through-

Jewel...

Continued from 1 will be able to drop in, six, seven of them sometimes, for what it costs for one sewage line to one community.”

There is plenty more, although plans to put a beach in at Lake Witten will have to wait until a solution can be found to drop the lake about 10 feet.

“We have put some cabins in at Cavitt’s Creek to help populate that sewage system so we can use it for demonstration. That is a big development we have done,” he said. “We are looking at more cabins, possibly some of other stuff, battleboards, we have talked about a beach and we have talked about a zip line at the lake too.

We have got a lot of irons in the fire. Cavitt’s Creek is a jewel and we realize that. We would like to do a whole lot of stuff, but we don’t have an endless sup-

Staff photo by Jessica Nuzzo

The falls below the iconic Narrows Mill Dam. out the New River Valley.

In conjunction with the Giles County Industrial Development Authority, Robertson participated in feasibility studies regarding the creation of manmade whitewater features for a potential whitewater

park in the town. A survey

by Colorado whitewater expert Scott Shipley of S2O Design and Engineering determined that a New River Whitewater Park near the Narrows Falls was plausible — but much too expensive, for the time

ply of revenue. Improving the park and developing it further is one of our top priorities in the county...

“The Clinch River State Park at Cavitt’s Creek.

That is important, it is very important to us, it is important to everybody involved, but this is about the Clinch River, which is much bigger than Cavitt’s Creek Park.”

Day is certainly excited to have the opportunity to take advantage of such a venture so close to his town.

“Absolutely. It is outside of the town of Tazewell’s jurisdiction, but however it is a big impact on our economy,” Day said. “Anything that can help out Tazewell County, especially when it comes to that Creek, anything that can help absolutely helps us out here in the town of Tazewell. I am absolutely a big fan of what he is trying to do and hopefully he can be successful at it.”

They have plenty of sup-

port from the state itself.

“State parks have a lot of attraction. State parks do a lot of marketing in Virginia,” Woodard said.

“You see a lot of states that cut their state parks budgets and Virginia is continuing to invest more in the state parks. It is more than tourism. Tourism is huge and the most tourism we have the less taxes people are burdened with here because we are getting people from out of the area to come in and pay taxes.”

There is also the draw of new businesses and residents to the region. A state park close by certainly can’t hurt those hopes of expansion.

“Tourism and assets like state parks are vital to economic development so the doors a state park can open in the economic development world are vital,” Woodard said.

“People now, when they are looking where to locate their company, are looking at more than infrastruc-

being. The creation of a kayak ‘play area’ in Wolf Creek, however, may prove more plausible in the near term.

The increase of touring cyclists wanting to ride Route 61 between Wolf Creek and Rocky Gap has inspired the Town of Narrows to join forces with Bland and Tazewell counties to create an even bigger recreational draw.

“We’d like to create a designated trail on Route 61 from the Town of Tazewell to the Town of Narrows.

Because people ride it anyway and call it a scenic trail,” said Susan Kidd, the Director of Strategic Development for Narrows.

“So we’re playing with the idea of calling it ‘Twin Depots’ because the depot here in Narrows and the one in Tazewell are identical ... they were built on the same architectural

plan. If we can get a trail officially designated, then maybe we can get VDOT to do something about widening the road for it.”

The town also has a new disc golf course adjacent to Camp Success, the town’s public temporary campground along the New River. There is also larger, camper-friendly commercial campground along Route 460 which is extremely popular with weekend anglers, who pursue smallmouth bass and muskie in the nationally-designated scenic water that flows past it.

On October 28, the town will hold its annual fall festival, which will include live music and a street dance. There will be a wide assortment of street vendors, as well as many festival activities, including Robertson ‘baptising’ newbies to kayaking and

canoeing on the Mill Pond.

Robertson and other locals agree that the downtown needs even more visitor-oriented businesses in the downtown area. An outfitter and canoe and kayak livery, for instance, is among one of many businesses that would attract even more visitors — and more positive economic impact — to the town.

Some townsfolk have suggested that a municipal outfitter be established, said Kidd, but the whole point of having such opportunities is to encourage free enterprise.

“The town can’t do everything. Private business should come in and do that. We’ll support it. But these are business opportunities,” Kidd said. “We’re going to keep working on it, because there’s potential for Narrows to become a busy little outdoor town.”

ture. Obviously we have got the highways, 460 and 19 and we are right here with great access to 81 or 77. We have got one of the largest trunk lines for broadband Internet running right up 19 and really the Eastern United States, and we have water, sewage and all that stuff, but they are looking at more than that.”

Clinch River State Park could provide it too.

“They used to look at

quality of life, now they are looking at life experiences,” he said. “What their future employees are going to be able to do is they want to get outside. The generation we are dealing with and bringing into the work force, they are not sit behind desks and stay on the couch types, they want to out hiking and kayaking and biking and doing all the outdoor stuff that we call take for granted here.”

Bring them on. Day and

Tazewell won’t complain at all.

“Sometimes when I go some place to camp every now and then it is good to go out and get a hot meal and maybe go shopping and put some more vacation amenities into the scene,” Day said. “The town of Tazewell would obviously the closest incorporated town in the area so we are absolutely supportive of the task of turning it into a state park.”

23rd Annual Senior Expo Thursday, October 5, 2017 9 a.m.-3 p.m. at the Brushfork Armory For details contact Susan Belcher 304-425-8128 ext. 222

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Inn...

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8 Pride III Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Bluefield Daily Telegraph 2017 Business Honor Roll Thank You for Your Continued Support of Our Locally Owned Businesses!

173 Years

85 Years

60 Years DUDLEY MEMORIAL MORTUARY Locally owned and operated

Grundy Funeral Home of Southwest Virgina, Inc.

729 Virginia Ave. Bluefield, VA 24605

Since 1844

Crematory on Premises - Family owned and Operated

Joshua Stewart Funeral Director

Ryan C. Mullins Licensee in Charge/Vice-President

1507 N. Walker, Princeton, WV 1090388526

22208 Riverside Drive (276) 935-4571

Grundy, VA 24614 (276) 935-2764

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119 Years

80 Years

49 Years

Peery & St. Clair Funeral Home, Inc.

“Dedicated To Caring…

Committed To Service”

Southern Highlands CMHC Children’s Department, located at 153 Springhaven Drive, Princeton, welcomes

DaviD KirK, Licensee-In-Charge Shirley Baily KirK, Director GarfielD KirK, Vice-President

111 Ben Bolt Avenue Tazewell, VA 24651 276-988-4190

SHCMHC has been serving the community for 49 years.

1612 Honaker Avenue • Princeton, WV 24740

(304) 425-8176 1090388525

86 Years

www.Bailey-Kirk.com

64 Years

1090388171

“Home of Thoughtful Service”

Frankie Rodriguez, Owner & Director

PO Box 126, Pocahontas, Virginia “Two Locations To Serve You” “Serving The Area Since 1953

68 Water Street • Pocahontas,Virginia

Phone: 276-945-2154

200 12th Street Extension Princeton, WV 24740 (304) 425-9541

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47 Years

RODRIGUEZ FUNERAL HOMES, INC.

Fanning Funeral Homes, Inc. John P. Fanning, Licensee in Charge Iaeger, WV • 800-882-0733 James H. Sly, Licensee in Charge Welch, WV War, WV 304-436-4169 304-875-4800

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Leatherwood Apartments A TINCO Property 1922 Leatherwood Lane, Bluefield, Virginia

currently has 1 BR and 2 BR apartments for lease “1 Year contract w/security deposit. Tenant pays electric utility, which includes heat. Also cable TV, internet. Clean, well-maintained, application with references required!

Karen R Carter Director

(NO HUD/NO PETS!)

210 S. College Ave. • Bluefield,VA

Phone:276-326-1105

Fax: 276-945-5888

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David T. Larimer, Manager

Dr. Leslie Chandel, Psychiatrist

for child and adolescent psychiatric services.

We now offer Parent Child Interactive Therapy and Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

Please call 304-425-9541 to schedule an appointment.

Call: (304) 323-3379 Shown by appointment only.

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425-2282 or 425-4776

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Funerals Monuments Pre-Planning

45 Years

.....ABB Dry Type Transformers, a division of ABB Inc., located in Bland, Virginia, manufactures Dry and Vacuum Cast Transformers. Our goal is simple; to provide excellent products and services that meet or exceed customers’ expectations.

ABB employees are actively involved in many community activities, and are recognized for their leadership in various community programs. ABB Bland is a Voluntary Protection Program® (VPP) certified company. Safety stands as one of our main priorities.

ABB (www.abb.com) is a leading global technology company in power and automation that enables utility, industry, transport and infrastructure customers to improve their performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in roughly 100 countries and employs about 135,000 people.

ABB employees work year-round for the betterment of the community. ABB’s involvement in the Bland Ministry Center, with our annual food drive and the angel tree to help area families with holiday needs.

Our employees have been involved in Relay for Life raising money throughout the years. Between the years of 2010-2016, ABB Bland and the ABB Foundation have raised $123,439.00. In 2017 we raised $12,763.14.

Our employees are actively involved with the Chamber of Commerce, Young Professionals group and annual Christmas Parade where employees build floats each year to provide enjoyment to area children. Further, employees participate in the Bland Beautification Committee which is part of the Chamber of Commerce. ABB adopted the bridge in the downtown area of Bland providing seasonal decorations. This demonstrates ABB’s commitment to accomplish more than just financial success.

The Tour de Bland is an annual road cycling ride and 5k run to support the fundraising efforts for the Relay for Life in Bland County, VA. The entire event is hosted by employees and friends of ABB’s Dry-type Transformer factory located just a few blocks from the starting line. Our focus is on the enjoyment of everyone who participates in the event. We aim to make it fun and rewarding to support those who are supporting us. We are in our 6th year and we want to go BIG! We hope to double our rider participation and expand our support funds to more charities in the area.

ABB employees have volunteered throughout the year in the Bland School System through is STEM program. Employees volunteer their time for this after school program, further demonstrating our commitment to the community that we live and work.

We can’t do it without riders like you. So sign up now!

276-688-1645

1090388539

Wednesday, September 27, 2017 Pride III 9

Bluefield Daily Telegraph 2017 Business Honor Roll

47 Years

31 Years

T. TYANN EVANS

Auto • Farm • Truck • ATV Tires

• Oil Change • Brakes • Front End Alignment • Tune Ups • State Inspections • Farm Tire Service Calls • We fluid fill farm tires

211 S. Walker St. Princeton, West Virginia

304-589-3756

M

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kingtireservice.com

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39 Years

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502 Thorn Street, Princeton, WV 24740-3727 • Toll Free 888-544-2258 mercer1@frontiernet.net • www.mercerinsuranceonline.com

20 Years

703 College Ave. Bluefield West Virginia 24701 304.325.5707

Many thanks to our loyal customers and General Contractors of our area for helping us reach this important milestone.

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Childcare Monday-Friday 4pm-7pm

Monday-Friday 5am-10pm Saturday 7am-5pm Sunday 1pm-5pm Gymnasium closes at 9:45pm Monday through Friday and at 4:45pm on the weekends

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New Memberships are taken Monday through Friday 11am-4pm 1090388497

37 Years

28 Years

PAYNE INDUSTRIAL & FARM EQUIPMENT, INC

Thank You For Voting Us One of the Areas Top Insurance Agencies!

In Business Since 1994 Specializing in Sales, Service & Rental of Industrial and Farm Equipment

Celebrating 20 Years of Healthy Living 321 Twelfth Street Extension • Princeton, WV 24740 p: 304.487.7876 • f: 304.487.7879 PrincetonHealthandFitness.com Scan to visit our website!

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13 Years

Country View

Assisted Living

There’s a Loving Place at Country View

Country View Assisted Living is accepting new residents.

We are located 2 miles North of Peterstown on Rt. 219.

We are locally owned and operated. Here at Country View, resident care is our primary focus. Our services are geared toward caring and providing for residents in a way that ensures that they live a comfortable and

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enjoyable lifestyle.

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Thank You for Your Continued Support of Our Locally Owned Businesses!

Your hometown agent since 1995.

Greater Bluefield Community Center

Celebrating Our 39th Anniversary

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30 Years

MANGUS ELECTRIC CO., INC.

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• Auto • Home • Business • Life

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Hours: Mon-Fri 8:00AM-5:00PM • Sat 8:00am-2:00pm

22 Years

For more information please call us at: 304-753-4300

Car • House Mobile Home Commerical Workers Comp.

Proudly Serving You in Two Locations!

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10 Years Financing Your Dreams

www.bankatcity.com MEMBER

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10 Pride III Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Get More

Than a Great Deal!

Proud To Be Second To None In Quality Performance And Customer Service In Tazewell And Surrounding Area For Over 50 Years.

RAMEY TAZEWELL MARK BREWSTER DANNY SHEPARD TIM SHINAULT CHARLES McREYNOLDS KENDALL O’QUINN REECE RINGSTAFF MICHAEL HUNT STEVE SAUNDERS GENERAL MANAGER

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1090388422

Turning the Page Bluefield Daily Telegraph Pride 2017

Chapter 4: It’s A Small World

Romans 12:11 Outreach Ministries Program serves people and communities throughout the region

By BLAKE STOWERS Bluefield Daily Telegraph BLUEFIELD, Va. — Anita Ellis started Romans 12:11 Outreach Ministries to serve people in the community across the region. Last year, the ministry gave out 2,100 coats and 800 blankets.

Ellis is the vice president for the organization. “It’s a ministry to go outside the walls of the church,” Ellis said. “To bring them into the church you have to go outside the walls to get the people to know the Lord. Whether it’s our church or any other church in the community, we want people to know that there is help in the community and we are a part of that.”

Roman 12:11 Ministries is a part of the Bluefield, Va. Church of God. “It was the name that came up because there was a verse in the bible, 12:11, that reads to serve,” Ellis said. “Jesus served and that’s what we’re doing.

We’re serving the community.

Tommy Sadler came up with that verse. He’s a part of the group. He’s a youth pastor here at the church.”

According to Ellis, there are seven people involved in the ministry at the church. “We’re growing,” Ellis said. “It’s anybody, the two Bluefields, Tazewell, Richlands, anybody that needs help. We have a Facebook page, so they can go to our Facebook page. Romans 12:11. We serve anybody in the community.”

To apply for the assistance, residents can apply by calling the church at 276-326-1356.

“Anybody qualifies, it’s not based on your income,” Ellis said. “It started 2 years ago.

My neighbor came to me and said a church in West Graham is doing this and they gave it up. I brought it to the pastors attention. At first he said no, and so I just prayed about it again. It took about a year, and I took it to him again. He said let’s try it. I contacted Blanket of America in Charlotte, North Carolina. Lou Staples. And so we got on board with him. He’s the one who gives the coats and the blankets to distribute.

It’s worked out really well.”

Ellis said the ministry works with the local schools.

“We give it out to the local schools,” Ellis said. “Mercer County, Tazewell County Schools, Pocahontas, Va. We did a community drive in Pocahontas, Va. We’re doing that again this year. We’re giving out coats, and blankets and bibles again. It will probably be in November. This coats are brand new. They are sizes 2-t to adults.”

Ellis said the coat and blanket drives are received well in the communities. “There’s a

Staff photos by Jessica Nuzzo

Anita Ellis and Renee Jupina-Mcavoy recently filled backpacks at Romans 12:11 Outreach Ministries inside the Bluefield, Va. Church of God fellowship hall. Ellis said the goal of the ministry is to ‘go outside the walls of the church.’

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lot of people who needs things in the community,” Ellis said.

“They appreciate it. It brings tears to your eyes sometimes.

It touches a lot of people’s hearts. You never know until you do something like this. It’s received really well.”

Ellis said giving to others drives her to serve. “Just working for the Lord,” Ellis said. “I love working for the Lord. It’s my passion. Just helping others. I love working with the children. The way I got started, I would go to work at 6 a.m. every morning and see these little kids out on the road with no coats and no gloves and their just cold.

You just want to stop and give them a coat or a pair of gloves.

That’s my passion, everybody needs something. If I can give that to them, that’s what I want to do.”

According to Ellis, her dream is to have a food pantry for the afterschool program.

Ellis said if residents want to give to the program, donations can be sent to Bluefield, Va. Church of God 104 Highland Avenue Bluefield, Va. 24605.

Ellis said blankets and coats are the main things that the ministry is focusing on providing right now. “We’re hoping to grow in other things, mostly the coats and blankets and bibles right now,” Ellis said.

Ellis said Tony Ellis has been a mentor to her at the church. “He’s also my brotherin-law,” Ellis said. “So he’s the greatest pastor, all the pastors have been great. He’s the one that put the building together.

It’s been in the making for 40 years. He stepped in and made this happen. He holds this church together. He’s always helping the community.”

Romans 12:11 Ministries Secretary Renee JupinaMcavoy said the organization is always looking for new opportunities to serve the community. “A lot of praying,” Jupina-Mcavoy said. “A lot of praying. A lot attention to what people tell us. A lot of networking in the community. We are a growing organization. Tony Ellis is our president of the organization.”

Ellis said God provides all of the resources for the program. “Because without him we wouldn’t have this program,” Ellis said.

“We wouldn’t have everything he’s given to us. He provides the coats through Blanket America. People don’t think these are new coats.

These are new brand name coats. They are brand new and he provides them to give out to the people.”

Romans 12:11 Ministries is a 501(c) 3 organization.

— Contact Blake Stowers at bstowers@bdtonline.com

Family Medicine

Bluefield Family Medicine 106 Huffard Dr. Bluefield, VA 24605 (276) 322-3427

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1090388460

2 Pride IV Thursday, September 28, 2017

Tazewell Today: Group works together to help community

By BLAKE STOWERS Bluefield Daily Telegraph TAZEWELL, Va. — Tazewell Today is a group focused on the revitalization of the Town of Tazewell, Va. Tazewell Today President Irma Mitchell said Tazewell Today recently took over Mainstreet Moments but the event has been going on since the early 1990’s.

“It’s the fourth Saturday and Friday of July every year. We have a concert on Friday. Main street moments is always the fourth Saturday. There’s a concert at the high school.”

Mitchell said Tazewell Today is a group of people who work to help the community. “We were up on Mainstreet one Sunday afternoon,” Mitchell said.

“There was not a single car on Mainstreet. My son was in and we decided we need to do something.

So we started this little group, and put the word out to kind good people like Claudine, and I think that first meeting had 50 people. It’s not anybody special, it’s just a group

Mitchell

Blankenship

interested in revitalizing Main Street.”

Mitchell said Tazewell Today is a 503 1(c) organization. “We hope one day to be a member of the Main Street Association,” Mitchell said. “We have not accomplished that yet. Claudine was talking about the farmers market, all of that is kind of under the umbrella of Tazewell Today. We’re looking for a place for the Farmer’s Market, which is great, but if it grows anymore this is not going to be suitable.

We’re looking for a place on Main Street, or close as we can get, cause that’s

the whole idea. We’re trying to get things on Main Street.”

Tazewell Today Member Claudine Blankenship said she helps with the group.

“I chair some events sponsored by Tazewell Today,” Blankenship said.

“The movies on main and farmers market, and the Music on Main and Cruise in. I chair those three events. The group got together and started the organization, and the town actually became a sponsor after a few years,” Blankenship said. “Then the chamber of commerce became an official spon-

sor mid-way through the process. And I stepped out of the picture then and the chamber of commerce did the organization of it then.”

Mitchell said Tazewell Today took over Main Street Moments last year.

“And then last year they decided they didn’t want to do it anymore, so the town asked our little group (Tazewell Today) to take it on, so Tazewell Today hosted the Mainstreet Moments,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell said they are looking to fill up the empty buildings on Main Street.

“We’re looking to develop retail to go along with the other folks who are here,” Blankenship said. “We’ll have four restaurants open by fall. Tazewell is going to be a culinary destination with all the different types of foods that are going to be available on Main Street. It’s going to be a great destination.”

Mitchell said she didn’t think Main Street would ever be like it was when she was a child. “We had a grocery store, a hardware store, those days are gone,” Mitchell said.

“We’re hoping to move it toward the food and the arts.”

Mitchell said Tazewell Today started in 2015.

“We could not do without the Town of Tazewell,” Mitchell said. “We could not do what we do if the town council and town manager, was not on our side. Because they want things to move and so do we. They have been so supportive of everything we even think about doing.

They just get right on board and are so supportive. Without their help, we would have just been sitting there. They are just so supportive.”

Mitchell said the town is what drives her to be a part of Tazewell Today. “It’s our town,” Mitchell said. “Now, we have Seven’s open and the coffee shop, and seldom ever is there not five to ten cars on Main Street.

And there use to be completely nothing. And now it’s just wonderful.”

Blankenship the group will continue on with their vision. “We’re going to keep on until we develop a great economy here on Main Street, “

Blankenship said. “The main goals that I have, we’ve been in Tazewell 42 years. We’ve operated a business in those 42 years.

And Tazewell is home to us, it’s a wonderful, wonderful community. We feel very blessed in how the community has blessed us. We want to give back to the community in anyway we can. We feel like any way we can develop a vital economy and make Tazewell a destination.

And so we feel it’s a great community and everybody supports us and what we’re doing.”

Mitchell said she hopes to see apartments over the Main Street businesses in Tazewell, Va. Blankenship said people are excited about the new growth in Tazewell, Va. “He said everyone in Buchanan County are excited about what’s going on in Tazewell,” Blankenship said. “He said give Tazewell one more year and you guys are going to be a thriving Main Street. I think he’s right.”

— Contact Blake Stowers at bstowers@ bdtonline.com

Radford takes helm at Bland County Elementary School

By BLAKE STOWERS Bluefield Daily Telegraph BLAND, Va. — Laura Radford recently took the reigns as principal at Bland County Elementary School, a place she said is “like family.”

Radford said she is very excited to be the new principal at the elementary school.

“I’m looking forward to the opportunity of working with everyone here,” Radford said. “I have great expectations. It’s a wonderful staff and we’re just excited and ready to go.”

Radford said the school year recently started at Bland County Elementary.

“We’ve got our first week under our belts,” Radford said. “We’re getting settled in and learning the routine.”

Radford said most of her day is spent working with students. “Dealing with students and dealing with parents and faculty,” Radford said. “I’m busy with meetings. We’ve had a lot of meetings here lately. Working with instruction and improv-

ing instruction. You name it, from answering the phones to being on bus duty, to meeting with parents and working with teachers. Lot’s of different jobs. I’ve been working on schedules and getting things good to go.”

Radford said the community of Bland County Elementary School is “wonderful.” “It’s a wonderful place to work,” Radford said.

“Everyone, the students, the parents, the faculty, they’ve all just been very welcoming, very helpful, very supportive. That’s one thing I think about about small community is that we all know each other. It’s a family. It’s great.

Very positive environment to work in.”

Radford said she started working in July as principal. “The previous principal retired in June and I took over in July,” Radford said.

Radford said before se became a principal she was teacher. “I was at the high school,” Radford said. “I moved to the high school when they consolidated. I was here at Bland

Elementary before that, I’ve taught 25 years in Bland County. Primarily in the middle school age group doing math and science. That’s kind of my area. I’ve been here a long time.”

Radford said she always wanted to be a principal. “It was something that I always wanted to do,” Radford said.

“I graduated college early and got married and started a family. I kind of put it on the back burner. Then, about three years ago I decided to go back and finish my master’s degree and get my administrative license. It’s one of those things I always knew I wanted to do. It was just finding the right time to do it.”

According to Radford, her master’s degree is in educational leadership and administration. “It was kind of like a hybrid, some of it was online and some of it I had to go down on the weekend and during the summer,” Radford said. “But I enjoyed it.”

Radford said she’s had a few mentors over the years.

“Diana Tibbs, who use to be the principal when I was a teacher here,” Radford said. “She was a mentor.

We taught together and she became principal. We worked many years together. She was a mentor. She was also a science teacher.

She was definitely, an influence for me. I think that she was a very strong disciplinarian. She had wonderful classroom management skills. She taught me to be fair and be consistent, that would be some of the things she instilled in me.”

Radford said she’s had teaching moments that have made her feel like

she’s in the right place. “I’ve had moments like those,” Radford said. “I’ve had students who’ve come back as adults, who have thanked me. And said I have not been the best student and that I (the student) gave you grief at times. But, I appreciate what you did and what you tried to do and how you helped me. I’ve had several students that have come back and told me that. So that’s nice. It’s really nice.”

Radford said she had this advice to teachers who were just starting out in the field.

“I would tell them that it’s a very rewarding occupation, not necessarily financially,

but it’s a very rewarding profession,” Radford said. “To take one day at a time and focus on the needs of their students and things will be fine for them. Just remember to put the students first and they will be successful.”

Radford said she tries to instill certain mindsets within the minds of her students. “I think one thing I try to instill in my students is that they can do anything, if they just apply themselves and are just willing to do the work,” Radford said. “I think that’s the main thing.

Anything is possible, you just have to be able to do the work.”

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Energy Express Summer Reading and Nutrition Program Spokeswoman Jamie Mathis, left, says that through a combination of healthy breakfasts, lunches and learning activities, the Energy Express program continues to improve the lives of children in McDowell County.

Pictured, Mathis reads to students at Anawalt Elementary School recently.

Staff photo by Eric DiNovo

Energy Express improves lives of children in McDowell

By BLAKE STOWERS Bluefield Daily Telegraph ANAWALT — The Energy Express program provides learning opportunities and nutrition for more than 122 students in McDowell County.

Energy Express Summer Reading and Nutrition Program Spokeswoman Jamie Mathis said through a combination of healthy breakfasts, lunches and learning activities, the Energy Express program continues to improve the lives of children in McDowell County.

“This year’s program begins on Monday, June 19,” Mathis said. “More than 30 children from the Anawalt site in McDowell County will participate in the summer program which is brought to counties by West Virginia Extension University Service and AmeriCorps.

The program is designed to provide learning opportunities and nutrition during the summer months, when children from low-income areas are most at risk for

Mathis falling into the summer slide.”

Mathis said the summer slide occurs when children fall behind academically because they do not build or maintain their reading skills throughout the summer months.

“Available at 80 sites statewide, the Energy Express program helps approximately 3,400 children who are entering first through sixth grades,” Mathis said. “In addition to these state partners, county programs rely on a tremendous amount of local

support. Local partners include McDowell Board of Education.”

Mathis said volunteers are needed from McDowell County to help read to children, serve meals and donate supplies.

“Organizers say children benefit from having familiar community faces at the program sites,” Mathis said. “Children spend their days in a print-rich environment where they read, write and create artwork.

The benefits of Energy Express extend beyond the six weeks of summer.

Each week every child receives a book to take home and keep.”

Mathis said major funding for Energy Express comes from the WVU Extension Service, Volunteer WV, which is the state’s commission for National and Community Service, the Summer Food Service Program through the West Virginia Department of Education, and the West Virginia Department of Education and Arts.

“Entering its 21st year,

Energy Express is one of the WVU Extension Service premier programs, uniting children and community members to make summer time for food, fun and learning in areas and for people in need,” Mathis said.

For more information, to volunteer, or to donate supplies for the program, call Jamie Mathis at 304383-4849, or email at jamiemathis971@yahoo.com.

“Energy Express is a special part of the Anawalt Community for a few different reasons,” Mathis said. “It provides a safe and stable environment for our children of the community during the summer time. Most of which, their parents work. The parents don’t have to leave their kids home alone or find a sitter, which most can’t afford, so it also takes that burden off them.”

Mathis said everyone of the kids receives a nutri-

tional breakfast. “And lunch, something some of our kids would not get if it weren’t for Energy Express,” Mathis said.

“We are also a National Feeding Site for everyone under the age of 18, they can come in and have a breakfast or lunch with us at no cost. Energy Express also places books in the hands of our kids, where as some kids might not ever get the opportunity to have their own books.”

Mathis said there were four Energy Express sites in McDowell County this year. “And we had 122 students participating, a daily average of 73.8 students,” Mathis said. “We also have junior high and high school students who come in to do volunteer work with the program. For Beta students we can log their hours for further use. The Anawalt site bad six regular youth volunteers this year.”

Mathis said a number of organizations help with the project. “Church organizations, nurses, doctors, community leaders, police, state troopers, county commissioners, government officials, elders of the community,” Mathis said.

“Living in an economically deprived area it’s important to let the children see that they can accomplish their dreams and become anything they set their minds to. I am very honored and grateful to be a part of this program. It has opened the doors to my mind and helped me to see the needs of the youth in my community, as well as that of the youth volunteers. Being a community coordinator gives me the opportunity to unite people from all walks of life to come and read to our kids.”

— Contact Blake Stowers at bstowers@ bdtonline.com

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Buchanan: Knowing our local heritage anchors us as individuals

By BLAKE STOWERS Bluefield Daily Telegraph TAZEWELL, Va. — Historic Crab Orchard Museum Chairman Bob Buchanan said knowing our local heritage anchors us as individuals.

Buchanan said he grew up in Tazewell, Va. “We didn’t have a museum,” Buchanan said. “I don’t think it came into existence until around 1978.

What we offer, there’s two things that come to mind that we offer our citizens.

Frontier Christmas is the first Friday in December.

The admission is one can of food. We open the cabins up and have music and a fireplace in the cabin. We have one cabin with cookies, and one with Santa Clause and Mrs. Clause.

And then we have, in the red barn, we have crafts for the smaller kids. People sit around and socialize.”

Buchanan said the other event that comes to mind is the Fourth of July. “We celebrate the 4th here,” Buchanan said. “We have reenactment. We open up the old Frog Level Station and look at everything June Bowling had.

It hasn’t changed since we moved it down here.

That’s one of the thing. We offer educational opportunities for the students.

We get students coming in for the corn maze. This year the theme is musical instruments. We’ll have a banjo cut out and a fiddle, and I think we have some musical notes cut out of the corn. That’s the theme this year.”

Buchanan said the corn maze has also had local history themes. “The Varmit,” Buchanan said.

“We had it. Trying to promote local history. This is the fourth year and we also had farm implements cut into it. We try to have educational basis for our corn maze and kids have a lot of fun. We’ve got the Comptons, they planted the corn for us. We have the pumpkin patch leased out to Stewart Etter. So the kids, when they come for the school tours they can get a pumpkin. It ties the students in with the SOL’s. The teachers and the school systems like it. We get quite a few not only from Tazewell, but Russell, and Mercer and Washington. We sure do.”

Buchanan said it is important for people to learn about their heritage.

According to Buchanan, there’s a lot of different opportunities at the museum.

“It’s a lot of different things, but we try to tie it in so there’s an educational basis behind it,” Buchanan said. “I think it was 2003, that we moved back here to Tazewell for the second time. I’m a native. I got involved with it because of the fiddler’s convention.

Staff photo by Jessica Nuzzoo

Historic Crab Orchard Museum Chairman Bob Buchanan, above, says it is important for people to learn about their heritage. According to Buchanan, there’s a lot of different opportunities at the museum.

I like Bluegrass Music. I didn’t volunteer the first year. But after that I have been serving on the committee. The fiddler’s convention is usually the second weekend in July.”

Historic Crab Orchard Museum also has apprentice camps.

Crab Orchard Museum Education Director Joan Yates said the camps are a week long day camp. “The last full week of July,” Yates said.

“We have 40 girls and 40 boys that come and participate in age and gender related classes. Some of the things they do are, the boys do archery, black-

smithing, tomahawk, carpentry, things that boys would like and the girls like wise do sewing, there is hearth cooking. This year they did basketweaving and sign language. On Friday they perform songs and activities they learned during the week.”

Buchanan said the community responds very well to the museum. “If you will look at the volunteers that we have and will come in and work with our volunteers on our apprentice camps, or during the Frontier Christmas all the volunteers we have as guides,” Buchanan said. “We have a huge vol-

unteer base. The museum couldn’t function without the volunteers in the community. We have four or five full time employees,

but the volunteers are what keeps it going.”

Buchanan said the volunteers are very important.

“The community realizes

that, that’s why they try to support us,” Buchanan said. “Come out to Frontier Christmas, you’ll see, we might have 800 to 900 people out here.”

Buchanan said he has been on the board for approximately five years.

“This is my first year as chair,” Buchanan said. “So I’m thinking five years. We usually rotate off after two or three year terms. I’ve got one more year after this year. I conduct the meetings, and I attend all the committee meetings which we would have.”

Buchanan said he loved history even as a small child. “My father would, on a Sunday afternoon, a lot of times get out the picture album and he would tell us, this is your grandparents,” Buchanan said. “This is your great grandfather and tell me a little bit about them. I’ve always liked history. I think it anchors us to know our history and to know what our ancestors did, how they lived and how they survived. It just gives you a deeper appreciation the area we live in. And the beauty of the land that we have. It anchors me.

I think heritage is really important. “ — Contact Blake Stowers at bstowers@ bdtonline.com

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Turning the Page Bluefield Daily Telegraph Pride 2017

Chapter 6: Happily Ever After

Staff photo by Jessica Nuzzo

Rural King, the newest department store at the Mercer Mall, opened in early May.

Staff photo by Jessica Nuzzo

Harbor Freight, a national chain specializing in tools and other products, is now open near Bluefield.

Big year for business growth in the region

By CHARLES OWENS Bluefield Daily Telegraph BLUEFIELD — It’s been a productive year for the region in terms of new business and industry growth.

Following the election of President Donald Trump last fall, a steady uptick in coal production has been reported across the coalfields of southern West Virginia and Southwest Virginia. Hiring also has resumed in some related support industries.

For example, in mid July Komatsu Mining Corp. (formerly Joy Global), located in Bluefield, Va., called 65 workers back on the job and announced plans to hire 15 new ones.

“Most of the new positions are going to be for certified welders and a couple of general laborers,” Caley Clinton, global public relations manager with Komatsu Mining based in Milwaukee, Wis., said in an earlier interview with the Daily Telegraph, adding that an “uptick in work in the mining industry” created the need for the workers. “We are seeing customers ordering new equipment again or parts. During the downturn in the mining industry they used what they had.”

A few months earlier, Marshall Miller and Associates in Bluefield, Va., was reestablished due to growing confidence in the coal industry. And in early July, Marshall Miller and Associates was awarded a $1 million federal grant by the U.S. Department of Energy to study rare earth elements in coal and coal ash.

Earlier in the year, Mercer County Development Authority Executive Director Janet Bailey

confirmed that two new manufacturing companies, and three other projects, would create approximately 280 new jobs for Mercer County. Bailey said the new projects represent an estimated $15.5 million in new capital investments for 2017 and 2018.

Bailey said in an earlier interview that one of those projects involved Elgin Industries/Tabor Machines relocating from Tazewell County to Mercer County. According to Bailey, the new job creation for the Elgin Industries project will be 79 jobs within three years.

Bailey said a second project involved Air Dynamics.

She said the Air Dynamics building will be located at the Cumberland Road Industrial Park and will manufacture industrial duct work used for ventilation and dust control.

Bailey said another three companies will create the remainder of the estimated 280 jobs.

Several coal companies also hosted job fairs in the region earlier this year for coal miners and other industry positions.

But retail and commercial growth also gained steam in early and mid 2017, along with tourism growth in Mercer and McDowell counties. For example, a number of ATV resorts, and related industries that cater to the Hatfield-McCoy Trail and Spearhead Trail opened for business this year.

“We have 15 lodging properties that cater to ATV riders with their machines,” Mercer County Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Jamie Null said in an earlier interview with the Daily Telegraph. “That number doesn’t include

hotels in the area. Hotels in Bluefield and along I-77 have also had riders stay to ride the trails. New lodging properties are popping up monthly.”

Null said the county is also seeing an increased number of dining establishments and stores along the trails.

“Visit Mercer County is in the middle of a robust marketing campaign to bring more visitors to the area, especially on the ATV trails,” she said. “We are also working on multiple partnerships with HatfieldMcCoy Trails over the next three years.”

Other new developments this year include: • Harbor Freight, a national chain specializing in tools and other products, is now open near Bluefield.

Harbor Freight is located just off of U.S. Route 460 at 132 Justine Lane, the former site of Mamone Carpet Wholesale Outlet.

Harbor Freight has created between 35 to 40 jobs for the area.

• The old Staples building in Bluefield, Va., will be converted into a new Ashley Homestore. The new Ashley Homestore is expected to open this fall. The company will create between 10 to 15 new jobs. Ashley Homestores is one of the nation’s largest manufacturers of home furnishings. The store was established in 1945 and currently operates in more than 700 locations.

• Two new businesses are now open inside of the Courthouse Square in Princeton, and a third will be opening soon. Salon Sublime and Lendmark are now open inside of the 40,0000-square foot facility, and Labcorp will be opening a phlebotomy draw station soon inside

of the structure, according to an earlier report

by Courthouse Square property manager Melody Ponce.

• Rural King, the newest department store at the Mercer Mall, opened in early May. Rural King has created 85 part-time and full-time jobs for the region. Rural King carries firearms, automotive, plumbing, electrical, furniture, clothing, food, farm equipment, lawn and garden, live chickens and more.

• Survival Supply, which is located inside of a former thrift bakery along Stafford Drive, opened in June. The store carries everything from swords and survival knives to camouflage and outdoor clothing.

• Emmett’s Down South, a new restaurant in Princeton, is located at the former Subway site on Courthouse Road. The new establishment will serve food such as barbecue, hot dogs and ice cream. It is owned by Travis Harry, who also operates Big Whiskey BBQ in Bluefield.

• Kairos Resort, a morethan-1,500-acre outdoor destination located in Glen Lyn, Va., celebrated its soft opening in July. The resort includes a 50-unit RV campground, and approximately 30 to 35 miles of trails for hiking, horseback riding, and on special occasions motorcycles and UTVs. • Work is expected to begin soon on electrical upgrades, new lighting, doors and other repairs to the 60,000-squarefoot Bluefield Commercialization Station, which is located along Bluefield Avenue in Bluefield. The project is a mixed-use incubator focusing on manufac-

turing, according to city Business and Community Development Coordinator Jim Spencer. The city was awarded more than $2 million in federal Economic Development Grant administration funding last year for the incubator site.

• Town officials in Bluefield, Va., confirmed in late July that the old Ryan’s building had been sold. The restaurant closed without notice in February 2016, leaving about 45 employees without a job. The building was purchased by Dobluefield LLC of Roanoke.

• The long-planned Leatherwood project in Bluefield, Va., a proposed 1,000 acre mixed-use commercial development, is still progressing, Billie Roberts, community development coordinator for the town of Bluefield, Va., told the Daily Telegraph in late July. The Leatherwood Corporation is still working with the Virginia Department of Transportation on a limited access break of U.S. Route 460 to the site of the proposed development. The access has been approved by the Commonwealth Transportation Board.

Roberts said the work will also include infrastructure needed to serve the proposed development.

• It was announced in early August that the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority had approved a loan of up to $150,000 for Virginia Mountain Brewing, a company that is expected to create up to 25 new jobs for Tazewell County. In a press release announcing the loan closure, VCEDA Executive Director Jonathan Belcher said Painted

Peak Brewing Company is a start-up craft brewing company which will produce craft beer products in the town of Tazewell.

The Painted Peak project includes the acquisition of a 13,000-square-foot building located on West Main Street in the town of Tazewell. The project will be completed in two phases over a two-year period.

• The West Virginia Economic Development Authority board of directors gave preliminary approval in early August for a $1.15 million loan to B&O Development of Princeton. The proposed project involves the creation of new ATV lodging near the site of the Hatfield-McCoy Trail Welcome Center planned on Coaldale Mountain, near the town of Bramwell.

• It was announced in late August that the former Mercer County Choppers building near the intersection of U.S. Route 52 and state Route 20 in Bluewell will soon be the home of Crazy Mountain Cycles.

The new business will be selling related merchandise and offering both lodging and trail tours, as well as providing lodging upstairs and HatfieldMcCoy Trail passes.

• It was announced in late August that the Monroe County Council on Aging had been awarded more than $1.3 million in state and federal funding for the construction of two new senior housing apartment buildings in the Greenville community. The new housing units are part of a larger project called the Greenville Senior Living and Community Center.

— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com

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Renewed push underway for King Coal Highway construction

By CHARLES OWENS Bluefield Daily Telegraph BLUEFIELD — The long wait for a resumption of construction on the King Coal Highway in Mercer County continues.

Work on the local Interstate 73/74/75 corridor in Bluefield, more commonly known as the King Coal Highway, has been stalled for more than a decade now. The last section of the future four lane corridor, the twin interstate bridges spanning high above Stoney Ridge, was completed in 2007.

No dirt has moved on the King Coal Highway project in Bluefield since that time. As a result, some have taken to calling the Christine West Bridge the “Bridge to Nowhere.”

But barring any unforeseen surprises out of Charleston, the bridge will eventually go somewhere come 2019, or possibly earlier.

The next section of the King Coal Highway slated for construction in Mercer County is included in the state’s six-year highway improvement plan. And that six-year plan goes through 2019. As a result, the $50 million Bluefield project is currently budgeted, and construction should begin come 2019 or earlier.

“I think we are pretty confident right now, especially on that section in Mercer County, that it will hopefully get done sooner than later,” former King Coal Highway Authority Executive Director Mike Mitchem said.

Mitchem, the long-time executive director of the authority, retired from the post on Sept. 1.

The next phase of the project will extend the four-lane corridor from the Christine West Bridge to the area of Route 123 and the Mercer County Airport, creating a usable segment of the local Interstate 73/74/75 corridor.

With West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice including the Mercer County project in his list of highway priorities, with President Donald Trump calling for a federal highway infrastructure plan, and with new federal highway dollars flowing into West Virginia — the time has never been better to build the King Coal Highway, Mitchem said.

“I think right now is the time,” Mitchem said. “The stars are aligning. You’ve got the governor, you’ve got Trump, you’ve got people pulling for it. Probably right now is the best time of any time I’ve known that we’ve been doing this.”

But the question now is when will construction begin? And will supporters of the King Coal Highway

Staff photo by Eric DiNovo

The Christine West Bridge stands between unfinished sections of the King Coal Highway in Bluefield. have to wait until 2019 to see dirt moving again, or could construction begin sooner?

“I think if this bond (referendum in October) comes through I hope to see it started by next spring, which would be a year (early),” Mitchem said. “That’s just me, but I would like to see it get started earlier.”

In addition to the Bluefield segment, two other sections of the King Coal Highway also are ready for construction once funding is allocated.

They include an interchange in Mingo County that would connect with a 4.5 mile section of the King Coal Highway near Gilbert.

A second section of the four-lane corridor is ready to be constructed in Wayne County near the Heartland Intermodal Gateway project in Prichard.

King Coal Highway officials also are still hoping to see funding approved for an interchange of the King Coal Highway and the Coalfields Expressway in Welch, near the site of the federal prison.

The new federal highway bill approved by Congress last year will provide nearly $2.5 billion in federal highway funding to West Virginia over the next five years, according to U.S. Rep. Evan Jenkins, R-W. Va. During an earlier meeting with the Daily Telegraph, Jenkins said

a portion of that funding should be used for the King Coal Highway project.

However, he also conceded that the final decision on how those funds will be used will be made by state officials, including state Highway Commissioner Tom Smith and Gov. Jim Justice.

“We have so many infrastructure needs across West Virginia, and this will provide important funding to help us rebuild our roads, repair our bridges, and construct new highways,” Jenkins said in an earlier statement this summer. “It will be up to the governor and legislators in Charleston to decide how to prioritize this funding, and I will continue to urge them to invest in West Virginia’s long-promised projects like the King Coal Highway and Coalfields Expressway.”

The federal highway funding bill, along with two other initiatives adopted by lawmakers earlier this summer, should improve the chances of getting the roadway back under construction.

Gov. Jim Justice signed House Bill 1006 in June.

The measure will raise about $140 million a year for the State Road Fund through new fees and tax hikes.

On July 1, the cost of gasoline rose by 3.5 cents a gallon, bringing in about $60 million a year; the tax on purchasing a motor

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In addition, vehicle registration fees increased from $28.50 to $50, generating an additional $28 million annually.

Voters in West Virginia also will decide a bond referendum in October. If passed, that referendum could generate about $2.8

billion in bonds to finance major road projects in the state.

Mitchem has been working since 2000 as the authority’s executive director. The authority itself was incorporated in 1999. Construction on the first segment of the future four-lane corridor, the K.A. Ammar Interchange in Bluefield, was completed four years later followed

by the twin Christine West interstate bridges in 2007.

The King Coal Highway is proposed to extend some 95 miles through Mingo, Wayne, Wyoming, McDowell and Mercer counties with the Tolsia segment from Williamson to Huntington extending another 55 miles.

— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com

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Construction on the new $2.7 million shell building for the Bluestone Regional Business and Technology Park in Tazewell County should be completed by the year’s end.

New shell building to be finished by year’s end

By CHARLES OWENS Bluefield Daily Telegraph BLUEFIELD — Construction on the new $2.7 million shell building for the Bluestone Regional Business and Technology Park in Tazewell County should be completed by the year’s end.

Ground was broken on the new 40,000-squarefoot structure in late July.

The county is using a zero-percent interest loan from the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority to finance the shell-building project.

The expected completion date for the shell building is this December. The county does have prospects that are interested in the structure, according to Charlie Stacy, the Eastern District member of the Tazewell County Board of Supervisors.

“Well I know that we had two prospects we had been looking at that were very interested in the location,” Stacy said. “The workforce met their needs. But they didn’t want to have to build.

We undertook that process (development of the shell building) as soon as that became obvious. They tell us they are still interested.”

According to Stacy, hav-

ing a shell building in place will reduce the amount of time a new tenant needs in order to be up and running. For example, he said a new business could be established in three to six months with the shell building in place instead of the 12 to 18 months needed if there was no building.

Stacy said the shell building should be finished, or ready for occupancy, by the year’s end.

“That’s the time frame,” Stacy said. “The contractor felt pretty good that it is just a shell. Absent to running into any site problem, other than that we are hopeful that it will be completed by the end of the year or the first of next year.”

The ultimate goal is to get a business that will create jobs and new tax revenue up and running in the shell building.

“As with me on all of these things, I’ll be happy when we cut the ribbon with a business in it,” Stacy said.

“I’m cautiously optimistic.

This is a buyer’s market when it comes to economic development. It is very competitive. I think we have done everything we can do in putting our building in there, and our inventory should have

something for every business interested.”

When the technology park was originally designed, the hope was to have a high-tech or technology-based company operational within the site.

“I don’t know if there is an actual definition of what constitutes technology,” Stacy said. “I would say the intent of the Bluestone was to move the actual manufacturing jobs, or to keep the manufacturing jobs in the industrial parks we already have and to make room for information and technology jobs in the Bluestone. One of things we’ve been trying to court — there have been several data centers that have located in Southwest Virginia, one most recently in Wise County. Don’t get me wrong, we will take any manufacturer that wants to come here, but we have many other sites they can also look at.”

Mike Hymes, chairman of the Tazewell County Board of Supervisors, also indicated during the groundbreaking ceremony that was held in July for the shell building that the county does have prospects for the facility.

“We already have prospects for this building and

we hope we can finalize an occupancy agreement before the expected completion date in December 2017,” Hymes said in the earlier interview.

As part of the agreement with Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority, the terms of the loan funding could be modified to a grant at a later date if the VCEDA authority board likes the project’s results, according to Stacy.

The county also doesn’t have to make any payments on the loan until a tenant is leasing the shell building, according to earlier reports.

The 680 acre technology park, a $13 million investment, was completed by Tazewell County in 2011, but remains vacant. And that’s a concern for county officials, and concerned citizens, who would like to

see a business operational inside of the park.

While a dental school was originally proposed for the technology park in cooperation with Bluefield College, the county and college were ultimately unable to secure funding for that project, which was later discontinued.

The technology park already has several shovel ready building sites, including three-acre and 12-acre building sites that can be expanded as needed.

The Bluestone is being marketed by both local and state officials. Those agencies that are working to market the park include the Virginia Economic Development Partnership and the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority.

The Bluestone already has fiber optic broadband

connections, along with water, sewer and electricity in place.

It also has 3-acre to 12-acre building pads that can be expanded.

Despite having a price tag of $13 million, more than $10 million of the cost associated with developing the Bluestone came from the Virginia Tobacco Commission. Grant funding was also used for much of the remaining $3 million, costing taxpayers relatively little, according to county officials.

Stacy said prospective businesses and industries have in recent years trended toward wanting vacant existing structures, which is one of the reasons why the county is constructing the shell building.

— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com

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Dominion Energy eyes Tazewell County for $2 billion project

By CHARLES OWENS Bluefield Daily Telegraph BLUEFIELD, Va. — A $2 billion hydro-electric pump storage facility could be coming to Tazewell County.

Dominion Energy confirmed on September 7 that it is considering a 4,100 acre site located along East River Mountain, near Bluefield, Va., for the large-scale pump station project.

According to the company, Dominion already owns 2,600 acres on the Tazewell County site.

“The preliminary estimate for a single facility could be in the range of $2 billion and provide millions in tax revenue to counties in the coalfield region,” the company said in a press release. “The project would also create hundreds of jobs during construction and up to 50 permanent jobs when complete.”

Dominion has already filed a preliminary permit with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for the Tazewell County location. The filing allows the company to seek landowner permission to conduct in-depth studies to determine if the project can be built.

A second site also is under evaluation in Wise County for the project.

That site is located along an abandoned mine. The company has contracted with Virginia Tech to conduct the study of the former Bullitt Mine site near Appalachia in Wise County.

The company chose to delay filing a permit with FERC on the Wise County site pending the results of the Virginia Tech study.

“We are on parallel paths with performing studies on these two sites,” Mark D. Mitchell, Dominion Energy’s vice president-general construction, said. “The FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) application for the Tazewell site will allow us to proceed with the rigorous environmental, geological, archeological and technical studies, while further assessing the economics of the project.

In addition, the detailed study on the mine site allows us to explore the feasibility of abandoned mine cavities for pumped hydroelectric storage. We expect to make a decision on which site to advance by mid-2018.”

A press release issued by the Tazewell County Board of Supervisors, also on Sept. 7, expressed support for the project.

“This is exciting news for Tazewell County and we hope that this site will be suitable for the pumped hydroelectric facility,” County Administrator Patricia Green said. “If selected, the project would mean hundreds of local jobs during construction for Tazewell County residents and many others living in the coalfield region. More importantly, when completed, the tax revenue from the facility would significantly improve our government finances and ease the tax burden on our residents. Earlier this year our board endorsed a regional revenue sharing agreement for the eight coalfield jurisdictions, so Buchanan, Dickenson, Lee, Russell, Scott and Wise counties and the city of Norton will join us in supporting the project and share in the revenue windfall.”

John Absher, chairman of the Tazewell County Board of Supervisors, added, “Our board is excited about this prospect. Construction spending in our county would be a tremendous boost to our economy in the short term, meaning not just construction jobs but jobs

File photo by Jessica Nuzzo

Dominion Energy announced that East River Mountain in Bluefield Va., is being considered for a $2 billion hydroelectric pump station.

supporting construction, hotels, restaurants, and retail shopping. In the long term, jobs operating the facility would be high paying reliable employment for Tazewell County residents.”

Dominion Energy owns about 2,600 acres of the Tazewell site near East River Mountain, which it purchased in 2009 when the company was pursuing another electric generation project — a proposed wind farm. The FERC application allows the company to perform detailed “on-the-ground” studies of the property and additional parcels needed for the project, with landowner permission, the Dominion Energy press release said. These studies will determine if the site is viable to proceed with a FERC license application later in 2018.

Dominion said the Tazewell site could support multiple configurations, including different-sized pumped-storage facilities. The site’s flexibility enables the company to determine the best environmental, technical and economic solution, the company said.

Lawmakers in Richmond passed legislation earlier this year that encourages the development of one or more pumped storage stations in the coalfield counties of Southwest Virginia, and includes a requirement that all or a portion of it be powered by renewable energy produced in the coalfield region.

The company has experience in building and operating pumped storage power stations. Its Bath County Pumped Storage Station generates more than 3,000 megawatts and is the largest facility of its kind in the United States.

Dominion Energy owns the station jointly with First Energy Corp.

Pumped hydroelectric storage facilities act as large batteries that store energy. When excess energy is available, power is used to pump water from a lower elevation reservoir up to a higher elevation reservoir providing grid stability. The water is stored in the upper reservoir until a later period when energy is in demand.

At that point the water is

allowed to flow downhill to a power generation facility where it spins turbines.

The turbines turn generators that produce electric power that is then delivered to the electric grid.

Although the company has narrowed the project down to two sites — Tazewell and Wise — all seven of the coalfield counties, along with the city of Norton, would benefit from the development.

In August, all seven coalfield counties, along with the city of Norton, passed resolutions of support for the project and the proposed regional revenue sharing agreement.

This includes the counties of Tazewell, Buchanan, Dickenson, Lee, Russell, Scott, Wise and the city of Norton.

Each resolution passed with strong support from the boards of supervisors in each county and the Norton City Council, according to a joint press release issued

by Senator Ben Chafin, R-Russell, Delegate Terry Kilgore, R-Gate City and Delegate Todd Pillion, R-Washington.

“While each and every community has been impacted by the decline in coal, local and state officials see this new opportunity as a win for the region,” Chafin, Kilgore and Pillion said in the earlier joint statement.

“This regional partnership represents a unique opportunity for the localities to work together in a project that could bring significant investment to the area. With the concept of revenue sharing agreed to, the individual localities will now begin the process of working together to determine the specifics of a revenue sharing agreement.”

The revenue sharing agreement backed by the seven coalfield counties, and the city of Norton, means rather than one locality reaping all of the benefits associated with the pump station, that tax revenue would be shared across jurisdictional lines, the three lawmakers said.

During an earlier meeting with the Daily Telegraph, Greg Edwards, an external affairs representative for Dominion

Energy, said a pumped hydroelectric storage facility can best be described as a battery.

“It is a way to store electricity until you need it,” Edwards said. “It is a pleasing facility. The facility would just run in times of peak demand when it is the coldest days or hot-

test days. You would have the electricity there to sell when it is needed.”

Dominion has looked at various potential sites for the project using maps and satellite imagery.

Legislation passed during the recently concluded session of the Virginia General Assembly authorized electric utilities such as Dominion to apply to the Virginia State Corporation Commission for permission to construct pump hydroelectric storage facilities in the coalfield region of Southwest Virginia. The legislation was sponsored

by Chafin, Terry Kilgore, and Pillion.

The pump station proposed for Southwest Virginia will be compara-

ble in scope and cost to the Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center in Wise County, Edwards said that project cost $1.8 billion to construct, and generates about $6 million a year in annual property tax payments to Wise County and St. Paul, and $25 million annually for the local economy.

“We paid $1.8 billion for Virginia City,” Edwards said in the earlier interview. “We expect this project to cost more than that. So, it is a significant investment.”

Counting planning, permitting and construction, the project could take upwards of seven years to complete.

U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., introduced legislation on the federal level earlier this year to help promote the development of closed-loop pumped storage hydropower in Virginia’s coalfield counties.

“Our state legislators have worked hard to facilitate the deployment of this technology in the coalfields, and my bill provides the support necessary to complement their work from the federal level,” Griffith said in an earlier statement.

“It could be a real benefit to our coalfield region, in the form of jobs, economic development, and energy security.”

Dominion Energy is one of the nation’s largest producers and transporters of energy, with a portfolio of approximately 26,200 megawatts of generation, 15,000 miles of natural gas transmission, gathering and storage pipeline, and 6,600 miles of electric transmission lines.

— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com

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6 Pride VI Friday, September 29, 2017

Staff photo by Jessica Nuzzo

Many local residents and their furry friends joined in the official opening of the dog park on July 6.

Staff photo by Jessica Nuzzo

The dog park opened to the public on July 6, and has been well utilized since that time.

New Bluefield dog park has economic development component

By CHARLES OWENS Bluefield Daily Telegraph BLUEFIELD — When it comes to economic development projects, a dog park is probably not the first idea that comes to mind.

But city officials in Bluefield are hoping the new dog park will help in bringing additional foot traffic to the downtown area.

The dog park is located in the grassy space along Princeton Avenue, beside of First Community Bank.

It opened to the public on July 6, and has been well utilized since that time.

Bluefield’s dog park is a good example of the role of “placemaking” in economic development, according to Jim Spencer, the city’s community and economic development coordinator.

Spencer said placemaking is defined as the practice of creating or enhancing a community’s asset to improve its overall attractiveness and livability.

This includes large-scale projects, smaller scale projects and beautification efforts.

“So when you think about that definition it gets into improving your attractiveness and livability,” Spencer said.

“Placemaking has a role in economic development.

As it said in the definition, you make it attractive to people who may want to live there, work there and play there. It’s not to just create jobs, but also creating opportunities where the folks would want to live here and work.”

The dog park provides a leash-free area for pet owners to let their dogs run and play.

Four restaurants in the downtown are located within walking distance of the dog park. So it is likely that those who utilize the dog park also will frequent those restaurants, and other downtown businesses.

As an example, Spencer said a husband and wife could be at the dog park, and one will stay and watch the dog while the other walks to a downtown restaurant for food and beverages.

“They could walk down and get their food to go and sit there and watch as their animal plays,” Spencer said.

Contributions from local businesses, private citizens and in-kind donations

Staff photo by Jessica Nuzzo

This sign marks the site of the dog park located in the grassy space along Princeton Avenue, beside First Community Bank. were used by the city to complete the dog park.

Rideout said the city hopes to expand the dog park in the near future if a grant funding is secured through Pet Smart. The city is seeking funding to develop an enclosed area of the dog park that would provide cover for the animals and their owners in the event of rain.

The dog park provides a place for the animals to exercise and socialize, according to Bluefield Code Enforcement and Animal Control Supervisor Lori Mills said.

“Research shows dogs who are exercised and socialized make better pets,” Mills said during the ribbon cutting ceremony for the dog park in July. “Dogs who are able to burn off energy, they are better behaved. They bark less. People will be able to socialize their dogs with other dogs. We also hope to be able to offer special events such as dog training. I work with several dog trainers in the area who are interested in holding training classes at the dog park.”

Rideout said the final cost of the dog park was less than $10,000.

“There was a lot of folks who either haven’t been around dog parks or don’t understand what a dog park does,” Rideout said during ribbon-cutting ceremony in July. “I’m proud of the board. They stuck to their guns. We did this for very little cost. Eighty-five percent of the cost was

paid for by private donations. The city will maintain it and the city is going to enforce it.”

At one point, an ill-fated economic development project — dubbed the Colonial Intermodal Center — was proposed for the site where the dog park is currently located. Although former Congressman Nick Rahall secured $600,000 in federal funding for the preliminary planning of the intermodal center, officials were not able to secure the remaining federal dollars needed to construct the actual intermodal facility. As a result, the project was scrapped.

If a prospective company or business desires in the future to locate at the Princeton Avenue site, Rideout said the dog park be easily relocated to another part of the city.

The dog park was originally planned for the old Fairview Junior High School property in the city, but that site was later abandoned following opposition to the project from citizens living in that area.

Several residents who lived in the community expressed various concerns about having a dog park in their community, including the smell and possible harmful bacteria.

No problems, or citizen complaints, have been reported to date at the Princeton Avenue site.

— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@ bdtonline.com 1090388017

Friday, September 29, 2017 Pride VI 7

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8 Pride VI Friday, September 29, 2017

Hatfield-McCoy Trail Visitor Center opening this October

By CHARLES OWENS Bluefield Daily Telegraph BRAMWELL — The long-planned official welcome center for the Hatfield-McCoy Trail in Mercer County is scheduled to open this October.

The welcome center is located near Bramwell on Coaldale Mountain at the site of the former Blizzard property just off of U.S. Route 52, near the Mercer and McDowell line.

Construction on the welcome center, also known as the trailhead, is nearing a completion.

“We are hoping to have the building open Oct. 1,” Hatfield-McCoy Trail Authority Executive Director Jeff Lusk said.

“We are very excited about it. It will be nice for our daytime folks coming up from the Carolinas to have a place to stop at and unload before going onto the trails. It will also give us another location to sell permits.”

The 1,700-square-foot building will feature a shop for Hatfield-McCoy Trail related merchandise, tourist information as well as restrooms. Permits to ride the Hatfield-McCoy Trail also can be purchased at the site.

The welcome center will be open 362 days a year and have three part-time employees.

“It will be our southern welcome center,” Lusk said. “It will be the first official welcome facility the folks coming up from

Staff photo by Eric DiNovo

The long-planned official welcome center for the Hatfield-McCoy Trail in Mercer County is scheduled to open this October. the south will come to.”

The site also includes approximately an acre and a half of parking for visitors where they can unloaded their ATVs and ride the trail.

The welcome center project is being funded by a $500,000 West Virginia Recreational Trails grant awarded in 2015 to the authority.

A new ATV lodging facility also is planned near the official welcome center.

In early August, the West Virginia Economic Development Authority board of directors gave preliminary approval of a $1.15 million loan to B&O Development of Princeton.

The facility is proposed to be located on property next to the welcome center.

Having an ATV lodging site next to the welcome center is another boost to the trail system, Lusk said.

“Absolutely, it would be great to have that right in front of us,” Lusk said. “It is the absolute best location to put something like that.”

But additional accommodations are still needed to serve the riders of the trail system, Lusk said.

“Right now our biggest challenge with growing our trail system is we need more investments in lodging and we need them especially in the

Bramwell and Bluewell area,” Lusk said. “There is no way the HatfieldMcCoy Trail system can continue to grow without private sector investment and growth. Our growth is tied to those.”

Still the six-county trail system is experiencing a banner year for permit sales. Lusk said the authority is now on track to sell a record 45,000 permits in 2017.

“This has been a good

year for us,” Lusk said.

“We finished our fiscal year up almost 12 1/2 percent in permit sales. We are looking to track 45,000 permit sales this year, and 45,000 is kind of a milestone. We were at 39,952 permits last year. We are looking this year at coming in right at 45,000.”

In terms of the HatfieldMcCoy Trail, roughly 70 percent of the six-county trail system’s growth is now coming from the Pocahontas and Indian Ridge systems in Mercer and McDowell counties, according to Lusk.

The history of the Hatfield-McCoy Trail dates back to 1993. It was designated as a project by the state Legislature in 1996. At the time, then Senate Finance Chairman Earl Ray Tomblin successfully secured $1.5 million in funding to help jumpstart the project.

To date, ATV riders from all 50 states, and 13 foreign countries have traveled to southern West Virginia to ride the trail system.

The new Hatfield-McCoy Welcome Center is not to be confused with the existing Buffalo Trail Visitors Center located at the intersection of Route 52 and Lorton Lick Road. It is a project of local entrepreneur Seth Peters, owner of the nearby Buffalo Trail ATV Resort off Lorton Lick Road near Bluewell.

— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com

Construction to begin soon on new adult daycare center in Tazewell County

By CHARLES OWENS Bluefield Daily Telegraph FALLS MILLS, Va. — Construction is expected to begin next year on a new adult daycare center for Tazewell County.

The new facility will be constructed at the current site of the old Falls Mills Elementary School. If all goes as planned, demolition work on the old elementary school may begin later this year.

“We just have a large aging population in Tazewell County as a whole, but especially in that community,” Appalachian Agency for Senior Citizens Executive Director Regina Sayers said. “We just want to be able to serve our seniors in Falls Mills, but not just Falls Mills, but also Boissevain and Pocahontas. But at the same time we will be able to provide jobs.”

The Appalachian Agency for Senior Citizens, a non-profit Virginia corporation serving the four-county area of Tazewell, Buchanan, Dickenson and Russell counties, is overseeing the development of the project.

When completed, the facility is expected to employ four full-time and 14 part-time employees within one year.

Officials are hoping to have the 8,277 square foot structure constructed and ready for occupancy by mid 2018.

“We would hope it would be (ready) by summer, but we all know how construction projects can be,” Sayers said. “I am cautiously optimistic.”

The adult daycare multi-purpose senior services facility will provide activities, meals and other options for senior citizens.

The facility will provide adult day services, nutrition programs for the community, care coordination and the services available through Appalachian Agency for Senior Citizen’s Program for All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly program. A commercial kitchen also is planned for the facility and a community garden also is proposed.

The original plan was to convert the old elementary school into an adult daycare center. But the cost of converting the old school into an adult daycare center was excessive, according to Linda Hayes, a grant writer for the Appalachian Agency for Senior Citizens.

“We wanted to remodel the building,” Hayes said.

“We all tried to find a way to remodel. But it had deteriorated. It was empty for several years, and it had a leak in the roof, and that is where the water came in.”

Hayes said the cost of renovating the old school was estimated at about $3.2 million. By comparison, the cost of tearing down the old school and building a new structure was only $2.1 million.

The bulk of the cost of building the new facility is being covered by grant and loan funding.

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced in June the award of $500,000 in Appalachian Regional Commission grant funding for the project.

A month later, the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority closed on a loan of up to $250,000 to help finance the construction and costs associated with the project.

Another $250,000 in funding for the facility is being provided by the Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission.

In addition, the Hugh I. Shott Foundation awarded $100,000 for the project. The Tazewell County Industrial Development Authority also is providing another $100,000 toward the development.

A $700,000 Community Development Block Grant also has been awarded for the facility. And a second anonymous foundation is providing $50,000 toward the cost.

“It’s almost completely funded,” Hayes said.

The new adult daycare center will also create jobs for the region.

Sayers said a number of positions will be needed for the facility, including a registered nurse, a center manager, personal care aids, cooks, land and environmental staff and other

positions.

Sayers said the project has the potential to reach and serve hundreds of senior citizens in the Northern and Eastern districts of Tazewell County.

“Our agency as a whole,

and the board of directors, have been very supportive, and of course we serve four counties, but all of our board of directors and staff have been very supportive of the project,” Sayers said. “We have been work-

ing on this for a good five years. So it is a very time consuming process, but I think it will be very well worth it in the end, and we will have a beautiful facility that will put people to work.”

Contributed illustration

Pictured is an artist rendering of the proposed Falls Mills Adult Daycare Center.

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Friday, September 29, 2017 Pride VI 9

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