Jason Farmer has always had a desire to help others.
  But, throughout his volunteerism efforts as a firefighter and EMT, he says he very rarely hears the words "thank you."
   He isn't complaining, though, because he understands how hard it is to be thankful in times of hardship.
  Not to mention, it's probably the last thing on a person's mind as they watch a loved one being transported to the hospital or their home going up in flames.
  "Most people aren't going to appreciate you," the Rowe native says. "You're seeing them at their worst and they don't want to see you."
  But, that doesn't stop Farmer, who says he wouldn't want to see the fire department at his house either.
  Recently, he finally received a little well-deserved recognition.
  Through its Claude P. Varney Volunteer Recognition Program, Food City named Farmer the winner of the Vansant store's volunteerism award.
  Farmer, who just found out he was recognized through the program on Saturday, says he never thought he would get it.
  After being nominated a few times in the past, he says it never entered his mind that he might finally be named.
  Regardless, the recognition isn't the reason he volunteers.
  "It's just something I enjoy doing," he says.
  It was his best friend, Christy Smith, who got him interested in becoming a volunteer firefighter.
  Her father, Stan, is the chief of Oakwood Fire and Rescue, not to mention the pastor of Farmer's church.
  When she asked if he'd help, it was hard to say "no" and he ended up signing on in 2005.
  Soon, he wasn't just fighting fires.
  He began driving the ambulance for Oakwood Fire and Rescue. And in October last year, he passed his EMT-B final exams and became certified to volunteer, only this time as an EMT.
  On his first run, Farmer says he responded to an 18-wheeler roll-over.
  "There were no serious injuries, but it got me a little shook up," he says.
  With time, those shaky beginnings soon faded away and he's now able to deal with the stress of the job.
  But, that doesn't mean Farmer can answer fatal calls and it doesn't have an effect on him.
  "I just try to stay busy," he says. "I don't let it stay on my mind."
  For instance, he says, he volunteers as a pianist for the Big Branch Church of Christ, where he's been a member since around April 2003.
  Farmer says it was his parents, Donnie and Charlene Farmer, who raised him in Indian Grave Gap in Rowe to be very civic minded.
  "They always encouraged us to think of others," he says.
  Farmer is a 2004 graduate of Twin Valley High School and has a twin brother, Clayton, and older brother, Jonathan.
  His strong family and church ties and love of Buchanan County and its people make it easy to understand why he doubts he'll ever leave the area.
  Farmer, who is now in his second year of nursing at Southwest Virginia Community College, says he expects to graduate in May 2008.
  It was through the college, that Farmer says he began volunteering for the Remote Area Medical Clinic.

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by Cathy St. Clair
News Editor 
  The issue of whether contractors named in the county's Operation Big Coon Dog scandal can be used as subcontractors on various county projects came up at a meeting of the board of supervisors last week, however the issue was not fully addressed.
  Knox District Supervisor Pat Justus asked whether those named in the Operation Big Coon Dog scandal were allowed to do subcontract work for the county. He suggested he was catching "a lot of flack" over it, but did not elaborate further.
  County Administrator W.J. Caudill said he did not recall that subcontractors were named in the resolution adopted by the board which related to the county not doing business with the companies named in the federal case.
  North Grundy Chairman Carroll Branham suggested Assistant County Attorney Lee Moise could review the resolution agreed to by the board and that the board could review the issue at a later time.
  The matter was not discussed again in open session last Monday, nor was it identified as a topic of discussion during the board's closed-door session.
  In other business, Virginia Department of Transportation Resident Engineer Conrad Hill told board members that the contract for improvements on Rt. 680, Bill Young Mountain, has been awarded to Bizzack Inc.
  He noted a pre-construction meeting was set on the project for later in the week.
  Hill also told board members they should know later this month whether the county will receive any of the revenue sharing funds to be awarded in the state. He noted there were a number of applicants statewide for the funds and as a result, he said it is likely to be close whether the county receives any at all.

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by Cathy St. Clair
News Editor  
  Legislation which is billed "to protect the Levisa Fork, a tributary of the Big Sandy River" is expected to be introduced before the General Assembly as early as later this week.
  The bill, if enacted into law, will effectively stop Consolidation Coal Company's plans to discharge water pumped from Buchanan No. 1 into VP-3 and then on into to the Levisa River.
  Del. Dan Bowling confirmed this week he is working on a draft of the bill and in fact, County Attorney Mickey McGlothlin confirmed a bill has been drafted which will amend the Big Sandy River Act.
  The act, already in force, protects the Big Sandy River and its tributaries, including the Levisa River, from obstructions and channel narrowing. The new language broadens the act as it applies to the Levisa River.
  Specifically, the language proposed for General Assembly consideration sets limits on any discharge into the Levisa Fork. As proposed, it states that any discharge with a total salinity concentration of greater than 1 percent and any mixing zone approved in the Levisa or any tributary thereof associated with a discharge will have a length not greater than three times the width of the Levisa Fork or its tributary at the point of discharge.
  It further states the statute will not be construed to restrict the use of anti-icing salt by the Virginia State Highway Department or any locality maintaining state or local highways and roads to de-ice such highways and roads located in the watershed of the Levisa Fork.
  "Any existing permit, certificate or other authorization authorizing or allowing a mixing zone in conflict with this subsection shall be promptly amended to comply with this subsection," the draft reads.
  It is further proposed violations by any discharger will be a class one misdemeanor.
  "No permit, certificate or other authorization shall be issued or maintained which allows polychlorinated biphenyls, also known as 'PCB's' to be discharged, dumped, placed or put, or cause to be discharged, dumped, placed or put upon the banks of or into the channels or waters of the Levisa Fork, a tributary of the Big Sandy River," the draft legislation reads.

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