The New Shanghai Circus, one of the most exciting acts of the season, will perform at Riverview Elementary/Middle School on Tuesday, January 30 at 7 p.m.
  The event, which is expected to captivate audiences with gravity-defying and breathtaking feats of skill, is sponsored by the Community Arts Council and TruPoint Bank and underwritten by the Town of Grundy and Buchanan County.
  Circus fans of all sorts will appreciate the amazing abilities of the New Shanghai Circus' star performers, as they carry on one of China's finest folk art traditions.
  Displaying a variety of acrobatic skills, performers will entertain and awe with numerous acts of contortion, balancing, plate-spinning and juggling.
  In many acts, performers display several of these abilities to stun audiences with their unparalleled diversity and range.
  From the comic knife throwing act to the bicyclist who finishes by balancing ten of his colleagues aboard his bike, the show is bound to be extraordinary.
  In one act, a woman balances a glass of water on her nose. As she gently places a plate on the rim of the glass, she goes on to stack many more glasses and plates to build an impressive glass structure. But, she takes the act a step further, showing off her gracefully difficult acrobatic moves – all the while, maintaining absolute control over the glass structure atop her nose.
  Others display their plate-spinning talents, balancing six plates at once on the ends of sticks while contorting their bodies in the most amazing ways.
  After building an fragile foundation of a table topped with four vases, one woman stacks chair after chair upon the structure and acrobatically makes her way to its peaks.
  Juggling a huge jar, usually using only his back or shoulders, one man presents his amazing timing and balance by catching it on its edge on the top of his head.
  Another young man, who builds an a clumsy structure of more than 20 wooden benches, balances the arrangement atop his head.
  And audiences will question the secret of the woman who manages to lie horizontally with no apparent support but the point of a sword placed against the back of her neck.
  Ragamala Music and Dance Theater will follow the New Shanghai Circus as the next Community Arts Council event scheduled this season, which will perform February 13.
  With its use of old forms of dance twisted into something completely new and original, Ragamala provides a bridge between cultures, both ancient and modern.
  Event admission prices are $10 for adults, $5 for students age 18 and under, and $7 for students over age 18.
  For more information, interested persons may contact the Community Arts Council

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by Cathy St. Clair
News Editor 
  Members of the Buchanan County School Board agreed Tuesday on a 6-0-1 vote to support a decision by Superintendent Tommy P. Justus to suspend a Council Pre-K teacher indicted in federal court.
  Board members voted to continue the suspension without pay of Tracy Mitchell Puckett, age unavailable, of Rt. 2, Honaker, following a personnel hearing attended by Puckett and her attorney which was held during the meeting behind closed doors.
  Puckett was indicted in September on one count of conspiracy to obtain money or property by means of false pretenses and one count of mail fraud. She pled guilty under a written plea agreement December 28 to one count of mail fraud. A pre-sentence report was ordered and sentencing was set for March 21 in U.S. District Court.
  Puckett was charged along with her husband, Adam Carroll Puckett, who pled guilty to both counts in November. He will be sentenced February 14.
  The Pucketts were indicted in connection with a scheme which alleged that in an effort to defraud GEICO Insurance and to recover the proceeds of an insurance policy, Adam Puckett intentionally set fire to and destroyed an automobile and the couple then provided false information to GEICO regarding the circumstances surrounding the burning of their automobile, in order to collect reimbursement from the insurance company for the value of the vehicle.
  Justus said he learned of the charges over the Christmas break when Tracy Puckett called to let him know she had been charged.
  The motion to support the superintendent's action to suspend Tracy Puckett without pay was made by Prater School Board Member Bill Crigger and was seconded by Garden School Board Member Steve Hamro III.
  The vote saw the six board members voting to support the superintendent's recommendation doing so with what some described as "a heavy heart."
  South Grundy School Board Member David Thornbury abstained from the vote.

by Cathy St. Clair
News Editor  
  Several personnel items were approved Tuesday morning during a meeting of the Buchanan County School Board.
  On a motion by Garden School Board Member Steve Hamro III and a second by Rocklick School Board Member Rhonda McClanahan, the vote to approve the personnel items was unanimous.
  New substitute teachers approved included Sherry Blankenship, Matthew Chapman, Jessica Clevinger, Andrea Cole, Jessica Davidson, Carolyn Deel, Tammy Elswick, Cindy Fields, Keith Friend, Kathy Fuller, Tana Funk, Sabrina Griffey, Bonnesha Hackney, Nick Harman, Beth Hess, Preston Hibbitts, Connie Hunt, Tommy Jackson, Tonya Jackson, Arlene Johnson, Melissa Keen, Melissa Kinder, Robbie May, Latasha McCowan, Jessica Neice, Rita O'Quinn, Janie Owens, Mona Owens, Judy Ramey, Pennie Ratliff, Timothy Salyers, Sharon Spake, William Stacy, Jill Stepp, Kenneth Stiltner, Michael Stiltner and Mary Sykes.
  New substitute cooks approved included Juanita Blankenship, Lillymae Cantrell, Tana Funk and Deirdre Tiller.
  New substitute custodians approved included Dedra Duty and Patricia Hurley.
  Greg Rife was approved as a substitute school bus driver.
  New volunteers approved included Shannon Adkins, Amanda Blankenship, Ted Hagen, Delena Hamilton and Kerri Rowlett.