Saving one life by helping to keep one person from becoming addicted to drugs is what the One Life of Virginia event next week is all about.
       According to Shea Shrader, one of the planners of the second annual event, One Life is all about showing kids -- and adults -- that there’s another side to drugs.
     Nightly programs will be held at Riverview Elementary-Middle School beginning April 26 and continuing through Saturday, April 29. In those programs, Shrader said, it is hoped the message will be clear.
       All of the events and activities are open to the public -- all ages -- and no admission is charged.
       "If we can save one life and keep one person from being addicted to drugs, then that’s what it’s all about," Shrader said.
      One Life of Virginia Inc. was organized by concerned individuals of Buchanan County, who wanted to address the substance abuse problem in this area, particularly with area youths.
       "One Life" representatives are all volunteers and their hope is to inspire youths to make healthy choices through youth-adult partnerships and community involvement that produce lasting positive impacts.
     The nightly performances are spiritual in nature, although the school performances to be held that week are not. They are designed to encourage students to attend the nightly events.
        One Life organizers, together with the Power Team, split into two groups, will visit area schools, where the Power Team will perform feats of strength and invite students to come to one of the nightly shows.
       The Power Team is described as a group of world class athletes and weightlifters who promote good health, which begins with staying drug free.
 

by Cathy St. Clair
News Editor
       Illegal dump sites in Buchanan, Dickenson and Russell counties have been identified and mapped, giving litter control officials in all three counties a better idea of the magnitude of the problem they are facing.
        Comparatively, Buchanan County has the least number of illegal dump sites in the three-county area, according to Cumberland Plateau Regional Waste Management Recycling Coordinator Toby Edwards.
       Surveying and mapping for Buchanan County was completed by the Big Sandy Soil and Water Conservation District staff, Edwards said.
        Dump clean-ups have been held in all three counties in the past year, but at the same time, a survey was underway to map sites out there which still need attention.
      "As of March 2006, all three counties have completed their surveys," Edwards said.
        In Buchanan County, 142 illegal dumps were identified, compared to 234 in Dickenson County; and 274 in Russell County.
      "From this survey, each county’s litter control department can assist community groups, civic organizations and the county at large with clean-up efforts," Edwards said.
        "If a Boy Scout group calls us asking where can they go and clean a small dump, I can use the survey to find a small dump close to where they are located," said Buchanan County Litter Control Officer Pat Boardwine. "The survey is a great tool for coordinating."
        And while the surveying and mapping identified dumps and their locations in the three counties, Edward indicated it is possible some which exist might not have been located.
        In instances where citizens know a dump is located, Edwards and Anthony Justus of the Big Sandy SWCD, urged residents to call and report those dumps.
        "The 142 dumps we have identified (in Buchanan County) may not be all of our dumps," Justus said. "We need citizens to contact us if they know of where dumps are located."
        The purpose for identifying the dumps is to get them on the list to be cleaned up, Edwards and Justus noted.

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by Cathy St. Clair
News Editor
         A resolution in support of a permit being sought by Wellmore # 7 to allow periodic closures on Rt. 645 for the load-out of coal from the plant was adopted Monday during a continued meeting of the Buchanan County Board of Supervisors.
       Only one resident appeared to ask questions about the proposal, mainly related to concerns about travel time increases, especially for emergency vehicles, school buses and his wife who works and travels the route daily.
        Wellmore’s Dave Fortner appeared before the board noting that by allowing the periodic closures, it would allow Wellmore to seek business from utility companies which require a four-hour load out using their own rail cars.
         Currently, he said, the stockpile at Wellmore is enough to load six and one-half to seven unit trains of coal and even with the proposal being made for periodic closures, he said it would take the company several months to reduce that stockpile.
        He added that a capital investment will occur by the company which will include building a new hopper and stacking belt unit.
         Robert Hankins asked what would happen in the event an ambulance was coming through when the road was blocked. He said traveling the alternate route would slow it down, since the alternate route is more crooked.
         Fortner said based on the flashing light system the company intends to install alerting motorists at the Weller Yard Bridge, Home Creek and both sides of the crossing at Big Rock, ambulances and other travelers would know in advance the road was blocked by a train and therefore would be able to keep traveling in the alternate direction instead of traveling to the area and then having to turn around and backtrack.
        South Grundy Chairman Roger Rife noted that the trains could be broken down in the event of emergency. Fortner agreed, but added it would likely be faster to go around the other way, since the emergency vehicle could probably go to Big Rock faster than the train could be broken.
         Fortner added that the maximum road closure time would be four hours and he said sometimes it might take less time.

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