In the 13 years Frank Kilgore served as assistant county attorney, he saw the county literally transform itself as it began to pursue higher education as an economic development tool.
       Kilgore stepped aside as assistant county attorney at the beginning of this year to devote more time to his private law practice and various projects with which he is involved. He sat down recently with the Mountaineer to look back on his time with the county -- at some of the accomplishments and at the dark days following the flood of 2002.
        “I’m not leaving the position because of any particular reason, except I don’t have the time to continue to do properly what I need to do to help the University of Appalachia College of Pharmacy grow, to help get the forensics lab in and to keep a private practice going,” Kilgore said. “That’s the reason Buchanan County needs a full-time nuts and bolts, day-in and day-out attorney to achieve good government.”
      Hiring someone full-time, he said, would also free up County Attorney Mickey McGlothlin to work on specific projects.
        Kilgore came to work for the county as the assistant in 1993, working with McGlothlin on a variety of day-to-day issues as well as special projects.
       In the years he served the county, Kilgore said probably the single biggest project he helped to accomplish was the location of the Appalachian School of Law here.
         He credits Buchanan officials for their willingness to “think outside the box” on the project. That move, he said, not only proved to the county it had made the
right decision, but in the process turned around the thinking of career economic developers, who ended up realizing that development of higher education could mean economic development, he said.
     “The establishment of the Appalachian School of Law turned around economic development thinking not only in Buchanan County, but throughout the region,” Kilgore said. “There was a lot of concern at the time.
        A lot didn’t see the economic impact.”
        However, that turned around, Kilgore said.
      Additionally, he said, the location of higher education institutions in a community gives high school graduates another focus in deciding what career paths to pursue through their college educations. Some may come back to the community with a goal of working at that institution.
       “The law school paved the way to show that higher education is economic development,” Kilgore said. “It made getting financial and political support for the University of Appalachia College of Pharmacy that much better.”
        On the heels of the successful location of ASL here, Kilgore said the college of pharmacy followed.
 

by Cathy St. Clair
News Editor

       An ordinance making a permanent change in the annual date county taxes will be due will be considered next Monday during a public hearing.
      At the January board of supervisors meeting, board members agreed to hold a public hearing on February 6 at 10:30 a.m. to consider changing the due date for county taxes from December 5 of each year to January 5.
     In the past, the board has almost routinely extended the December tax deadline to January.
      This past year, however, the deadline was split and saw personal property taxes due in early December and real estate taxes due in late December. The split deadline caused some confusion for taxpayers and ultimately resulted in a decision by the board to consider a permanent change to the date in January.
      The motion to hold the public hearing was made by Knox Supervisor Pat Justus and was seconded by North Grundy Supervisor Joe Keene The vote was unanimous.
 

       Whitney J. A. Caudill has been hired as associate general counsel and assistant professor at the University of Appalachia.
       Mickey McGlothlin, UA president, noted during the announcement that Caudill was one of several candidates considered after a statewide search was conducted.
         "Whitney’s familiarity with the region, particularly Buchanan County, and her desire to return home to help our program grow made a big difference in our decision to offer her this position," McGlothlin said. "One of our primary goals in creating education-based jobs in the Virginia coalfields is to retain our young professionals to get involved in community development and leadership. To have a native of Whitney’s caliber return home to help us is a sign of our mission starting to bear fruit."
        Raised in Buchanan County, Caudill is a 1995 graduate of Grundy Senior High School and a 1999 graduate of the University of Virginia. She attended law school at the University of Tennessee College of Law where she was a member of the ATLA Trial Team and Moot Court Board. She served as a student attorney in the UT Legal Clinic and was honored with the UT Legal Clinic Faculty Distinguished Student Attorney Service Award. She now serves on the Alumni Advisory Board for the UT Legal Clinic and Center for Advocacy. She received her Juris Doctorate in 2003.

For more of the story, see the print edition of the Mountaineer, on sale at newsstands now. For more information on how to subscribe to the Mountaineer, call 276-935-2123 today!