Marion Middle School lists its

semester, year-end honor rolls. A5

Smyth
County

News & Messenger

WEDNESDAY, June 24, 2015

www.swvatoday.com

Chilhowie
works on
veterans
memorial

Vol. 132, No. 54

Marion, Va.

PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

Citizens, businesses
help with project

$1.00

Railroad
bridge
in states
hands
Funding is sought
for replacement

BY LINDA BURCHETTE
Staff

BY STEPHANIE PORTER-NICHOLS
Staff

Local veterans will soon have

another memorial established
in their honor in the county as
Chilhowie Town Council moves
forward on a project to build one
next to the town hall.
The council has been discussing the project for several
months and at the May meeting
Mayor Gary Heninger provided
an update on progress and Interim Town Manager John Clark
said $8,000 had been included in
the budget for the next fiscal year
to help pay for the project.
At a meeting on Monday continued from the June 11 regular
meeting, Heninger suggested
the council go ahead and order
the monument for the memorial
and council approved a motion.
The design chosen by council
would be about four feet high and
three feet wide with an eight-foot
base. It would have either bricks
or slate plates that could be removed for engraving and be reinstalled on the memorial. Flag
poles flying the American and
Virginia flags would be installed
on either side of the monument.
The memorials cost has not
been established as details continue to be discussed.
Citizens have offered to donate the flag poles and other
donations have been offered by
businesses and individuals. Donations will be accepted for the
memorial and citizens can call
town hall at 646-3232 for more
information.
Also at Mondays meeting the
$4.4 million FY 2016 budget was
adopted with a 5 percent increase
in water/sewer rates. There was a
2.7 percent cost of living increase
approved in January for town
employees resulting from a salary survey last fall and each employee is eligible for a 2.5 percent
merit increase on his/her hiring
anniversary.

A railroad bridge closed for

nearly 18 months is now in the
hands of the commonwealth,
but a transportation official
cautioned earlier this month
that funding is currently unavailable for work to replace the
JASMINE DENT/ FOR THE SMYTH COUNTY NEWS & MESSENGER
unsafe structure.
Joyce Cornette, left, and Catherine Poole talk about the then and now of the historic building.
McMullin Bridge, which crosses the Norfolk Southern Railway
and provides one avenue of access to the Hall Addition, was
closed by the Virginia Department of Transportation in January 2014. A VDOT inspection
found increased deterioration in the superstructure. InBY JASMINE DENT
spectors found that the Rt. 660
Correspondent
bridge is fracture critical, which
means if one part of the bridge
More than 200 people signed
fractures, the structure will fail.
their names to the guestbook at
VDOT inspectors determined
the Wayne C. Henderson School
that repairing the bridge isnt
of Appalachian Arts open house
possible; it will need to be relast Friday. Elbow to elbow, peoplaced.
ple explored the once derelict
At the time it was closed, Norbuilding, in awe of its transforfolk Southern owned the bridge,
mation and in admiration of
but a VDOT representative told
what the former schoolhouse is
the Smyth County Board of
expected to offer the community
Supervisors on June 9 that the
when classes begin this fall.
railway company has turned
Executive Director Catherine
the structure over to the state.
Poole said she was very pleased
He also reported that an initial
with the turnout.
survey has been done and fundIt was amazing, she said.
ing is available for preliminary
We had people from all over
engineering. As well, the VDOT
the place. We had people from
representative said that height
North Carolina, South Carolina,
of the bridge over the tracks may
Kentucky, Ohio, and Virginia and
require reworking U.S. 11.
Tennessee, of course. It was like
Ultimately, he told the superwhen three people left seven
visors that no funding is curmore showed up.
rently available for the work, but
Although the number of visiVDOT is looking for the necestors to sign the guest list was
sary money.
only between 200 and 300, Poole
Last year, many area residents
said, she and others estimated
expressed frustration with only
the turnout to be upward of
having one way in and out of
700 throughout the three-hour
their community to U.S. 11, prievent.
marily citing safety.
Poole said some of those from
Last March, Jeff Russell , this
JASMINE DENT/ FOR THE SMYTH COUNTY NEWS & MESSENGER
out-of-state had traveled to at- In lieu of a ribbon cutting ceremony, Dana Chamberlin, left, and Army vet- areas VDOT resident engineer,
tend the Wayne C. Henderson eran Jessie Finely raise the flag for the first time at the Wayne C. Henderson estimated a new bridge would
School of Appalachian Arts. Economic Director Ken Heath proclaimed that
See BRIDGE, Page A3
See OPENS, Page A3 a school isnt officially a school until the flag is raised.
See VETERANS, Page A3

The Henderson opens

700+ attend celebration of new school of Appalachian arts

Efforts under way to decrease litter in Marion

Staff

Cigarette butts are littering

the town of Marion and two
environmental agencies want
to help the town do something
about it.
Upper
Tennessee
River
Roundtable and Keep Southwest Virginia Beautiful have implemented a program to reduce
cigarette butt litter by encouraging smokers to toss their butts
in an approved receptacle.
Cigarette butts are one of
the most commonly littered

items in the world, said Lilli

Pickens with Upper Tennessee
River Roundtable/Keep Southwest Virginia Beautiful VISTA.
Many think that cigarette butts
are easily biodegradable but
because the filters are made
mostly of plastic they last much
longer than most people think.
Their presence has major consequences for the environment,
especially when rain events
wash them into waterways.
To help raise awareness and
protect the environment from
this type of litter, Keep South-

west Virginia Beautiful is working with the Smyth County

Chamber of Commerce and
Marion Downtown to launch
a grant-funded Cigarette Litter Prevention Program, said
Pickens. This program includes
installation of cigarette butt receptacles at the farmers market
in Marion, free resources for
smokers such as pocket ashtrays and butt buckets, and a
public outreach campaign.
As part of the program, we
collect butts in a scan to see
what the existing conditions are

sidered good transition points,

the receptacles are portable so
they can be moved for special
events or if a different location
in the market would better serve
the community, Pickens said.
The next scan is scheduled to
take place in mid-July with another scan six weeks after that
in late August.
The town of Marion is maintaining the receptacles.
Keep Southwest Virginia
Beautiful decided to focus on

See LITTER, Page A2

INSIDE

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before installing the receptacles

and then re-scan after to see the
results, said Pickens.
On June 3, Pickens and Manuel Street picked up 1,680 butts
from the Marion Regional Farmers Market pavilion area and
surrounding parking lot and
walkways. They later installed
four receptacles, one at the end
of the walkway by the benches,
one on either side of the market
pavilion, and one on the stairs
up to the parking lot from the
lower sidewalk.
While these areas were con-

Sports
Riley Blevins and
Leah Richards had
memorable senior
sports years. Each
had individual successes and contributed to team
accomplishments.

Floyd

News
Author, attorney
and historian Mary
Kegley will present a program this
weekend in Saltville
about lawsuits in the
salt works.
See page A2.

Deaths
William Roy Billy Hayden
Kevin Wayne Martin