Buchanan County Fair Activities Open Next Week
Plenty of Entertainment, Fun On Tap for All to Enjoy

by JoBeth Wampler
Staff Reporter
   Buchanan County residents still have time to get out and enjoy the Buchanan County Fair as the fair continues the rest of this week.
   The fair opened at Poplar Gap Park on Wednesday and will open daily Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 1 p.m. and conclude nightly at 11 p.m.
   A wide array of local and nationally acclaimed talent was lined up to entertain fair-goers throughout the event.
   Among the featured entertainers still to perform are Brian Free & Assurance, Hot Apple Pie, Joey Dee & the Starliters and the USA Network's "Nashville Star" winner Erika Joe.
   "We've got a really good lineup this year," Buchanan County Fair Association Committee Chairman Sandy Shortridge said.
   Last year, an estimated 4,000 attended fair festivities, she said.

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

County, Big Sandy Headed to Court-Ordered Mediation
Judge Suggests It May Be Best Way to Resolve Dispute

by Cathy St. Clair
News Editor
    The dispute between Buchanan County and the Big Sandy Soil and Water Conservation District regarding the property on which the former DA. Justus Elementary School was located will go to a mediation specialist to decide.
    In a brief hearing last Wednesday in Circuit Judge Bob Williams' chambers, the judge ordered the case into mediation.
    "I don't want to offend your clients at first blush, but this is a mediation file if ever I saw one," Judge Williams said. "There's a lot at stake here and the more direct route to go is mediation."
    The county has asked the court to enforce a notice of eviction from the property against Big Sandy and Big Sandy has asked the court to require the county to honor prior resolutions adopted by the Buchanan County Board of Supervisors giving Big Sandy a portion of the former D.A. Justus property on which to house its soil and conservation district office. The office is presently located there.
    The county has contended the building is now in the way of future development plans.
    Williams agreed to ask retired Judge Smith to mediate the case.
    The county and Big Sandy will then divide the costs of that remediation.
    Frank Kilgore, who represents the county in the claim, noted he and Big Sandy Attorney Tom Mullins had agreed to reach a stipulation of the facts in the case and Mullins said they would still do so in order to provide that stipulation to the mediator.
    "This issue needs to be resolved and this is the quickest and most direct way," Williams said.

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

New Posts Approved for C'wealth Attorney's Office
Variety of Road Concerns Discussed

    The Virginia Compensation Board has agreed to fund an additional assistant commonwealth attorney's position for Buchanan County, Commonwealth Attorney Sheila Tolliver said Friday.
    "The new position is based on our case load," Tolliver said.
    Currently, Gerald Douglas Arrington  serves as an assistant commonwealth attorney in the Buchanan office and Tolliver said he will continue to do so.
     In addition to funding the new assistant's position, Tolliver said the comp board has also agreed to fund a new paralegal position in the office.
     Both new positions, she added, should help to lighten the caseload she and Arrington now share.
    The new assistant will  prosecute felonies, misdemeanors and traffic cases, appearing before judges in General District Court,  Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court and Circuit Court.
    Additionally, the new assistant will also help to prepare cases, interview witnesses, prepare briefs and assist law enforcement officers.

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