"It won’t happen to me."
        That’s the attitude of many teens -- and even their parents -- when it comes to teenage pregnancy and the likelihood of contracting a sexually transmitted disease.
      But facts are facts, according to Buchanan General Hospital gynecologist, Dr. Joseph Webster, who said statistics show those same teens and their parents that it can and does happen to them and to others they may know.
     Webster noted the fact remains Buchanan County has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the Cumberland Plateau health district, as well as the highest incidence of sexually transmitted diseases in the district.
     Webster sounded the alarm Monday night at a meeting of the Buchanan County School Board, where he urged school board members to consider some type of program to help better inform teens about the consequences and the risks of engaging in early sexual behavior.
       Board members in the end thanked him for his presentation, but didn’t discuss the matter further or take any type of action.
       Buchanan County has had a family life education program in place through the school system for some 15 years, but the program adopted after much controversy at the time it was being considered has been so watered down as to render it virtually ineffective, one school professional said privately. Additionally, an opt out provision allowed in the program sees many parents choosing to opt their children out of the program, meaning information that is available is not passed on to teens through the school system.
      Webster noted teens get their information about sex, its risks and its consequences from sometimes less than reliable sources, including friends, some internet sources and TV.
       "The school system is the only forum teenagers uniformly have," Webster said in suggesting that the school system was an appropriate forum for getting information to teens on the topic.
       Webster said the statistics for the county speak volumes about the problems which exist and the need to address them.
         Many of them, he said, he had seen firsthand as patients in his office.
        "Most of the problems in this area are higher than the averages in the state of Virginia," Webster said referring to teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.
         He noted his presentation Monday was for informational purposes in hopes that the school board might consider whether there is anything it might do to address it.
         Webster noted that sex today is different than it was years ago when he and others his age might have been teenagers.
         "The things you can get now can kill you," he said, adding that the diseases out there now are also diseases which could be passed on to unborn children.
 

by Scotty Wampler
Staff Reporter
          A noise ordinance that would’ve placed restrictions on volume levels in the Town of Grundy failed to gain approval last week.
          Grundy Town Council rejected the proposed ordinance after Mayor Roger Powers broke a 3-3 tie, casting the deciding vote that tabled the ordinance.
          “I think it’s too restrictive,” Powers said of the proposed document.
           The ordinance, proposed over a month ago, called for noise restrictions on a number of items, devices and activities, including vehicles, radios, musical instruments, fireworks and social gatherings.
          “I don’t think we have a significant problem,” said Mickey McGlothlin during the meeting’s public comment period. “You’ve already got state law for disorderly conduct. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.”
            “I think it’s a good thing, Ed Bunn countered. “It’s for sure that there are situations that are noisy. We need to give police officers the authority to quiet noise down.”
           Bunn was referring to noisy activities such as parties that some consider nuisances. Town Attorney Tom Mullins confirmed the wording of the proposed ordinance was taken from Blacksburg’s noise ordinance.
            In the now-tabled ordinance, a “mass outdoor social gathering” is defined as a social event conducted outside or in a partially enclosed structure, on public or private land in the town, to which 100 or more people are invited or expected to attend.
            More specifically, the ordinance aimed to prohibit the use of radios, TV’s, musical instruments, loudspeakers, horns, and explosives or fireworks, among other devices, in a manner deemed excessively loud.
            Typically, any noise carried beyond a distance of 50 feet, or heard across a residential property boundary, would’ve been considered a disturbance.
            The ordinance would also have prohibited noise disturbances originating from loudspeakers, explosives, yelling, etc. between the hours of 10 p.m. and 8 a.m.
            “I’d submit that this particular ordinance ... probably goes too far,” McGlothlin said. “It might be good to go back to the drawing board with this thing.”

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          Sandy Valley Bowling Lane patrons recently learned after more than 40 years of operation, the Deel area bowling center will close.
          Don Hammond, co-owner/operator of the bowling center, said plans call for the bowling alley to shut its doors April 16, due to the sale of the building and the property on which it is situated.
          Hammond said it is his understanding the buyer, Noah Horn Well Drilling, plans to use the space as office space.
         "They’ve been doing the land survey this week and plans are to sell the bowling center property to them," Hammond said.
          He said bowling center patrons were recently notified of the pending sale and planned closure.
          "Overall, the news was received well by our customers," Hammond said. "It saddens us and them, but most of them understand."
         He noted the sale involves the land and building. The equipment which makes it a bowling alley is still up for sale and Hammond remained hopeful someone might buy it and put in another bowling center.
          "It’s sad and it’s not something we ever planned, but he made an offer we couldn’t refuse," Hammond said, declining to be more specific. "We are all getting up in age and it’s time to slow down."
           He said the family will continue to operate Mountaineer Lanes in Bluefield.
          Sandy Valley Lanes was originally purchased by Mountaineer Lanes in 1980. The company bought the bowling center from Mountain Mission School, which received it sometime after the bowling center was first opened in the early 1960s by Fred Mescher and J.D. Nicewonder.
           Hammond’s father-in-law Carl Mariotti purchased the center and since that time, Mariotti’s son, Carl Mariotti Jr. and daughter, Loretta, along with her husband, Hammond, have operated the company’s two bowling alleys.
        "Our customers have understood and have been very cooperative," Hammond said of Sandy Valley Lanes patrons. "The season wasn’t going to be over until the end of April, but they’ve rescheduled and moved things up to try to finish up the season before we close.
          "They’ve been wonderful," he added. "I’m so thankful and grateful to my customers."

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