Maple Street Traffic Pattern Will Change

   A change in the traffic pattern affecting Maple Street will go into effect sometime between October 3 and 5, according to John Bock, Grundy project manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
  The change is necessary due to work to begin excavation and construction of a pump station in the area where the old Grundy fire station used to be located.
  When the new pattern takes effect, the road which runs alongside the post office will be closed at the edge of the CJ Properties building and traffic will not be allowed to go around the corner. Motorists in that area may exit by either taking Court Street to Rt. 460 or by turning left on to Walnut Street and following it to the intersection with Newhouse Branch.
  Motorists traveling down Rt. 460 who need to access to the TruPoint Bank drive-through will be able to turn right on Maple Street, which will now be a two-way street, to go through the drive-through. Others wishing to access parking for Italian Village may also turn right on Maple and exit via Maple as well. Maple will be closed just past the Rife's loading dock.

$6 Million Fiber Optic Project To Benefit Buchanan

   A $6 million project to extend high-speed internet access further into Southwest Virginia broke ground Monday as 9th District Congressman Rick Boucher applauded the effort at SwVCC's Community Center.
  The Coalfield Coalition, a non-profit organization comprised of the LENOWISCO  and Cumberland Plateau Planning District Commissions, began construction on the 160-mile project that will include the installation of a fiber optic backbone that will provide high-speed internet access to communities in Buchanan, Dickenson, Lee, Russell, Tazewell and Wise counties.
  In Buchanan County, the fiber line will stretch from where it ends now in Richlands to Vansant, then into Grundy and finally into Slate Creek.
  The six-county project is expected to be complete by the summer of 2007.
  "Today's events mark a major step forward in our efforts to deploy high speed data, voice and video services throughout our region as a means to spur economic development," Boucher said.
  Boucher touted his urging of localities 10 years ago to begin preparing for broadband connectivity, saying it will be a deciding factor in whether businesses decide to locate in this region or elsewhere.
  "I encouraged local governments throughout the Ninth District to find a means of deploying broadband networks so that affordable high-speed internet access would be available to businesses and residents throughout our region," he said. "My goal in making this recommendation was to set our region apart in comparison to other rural areas of the nation, to make us more attractive than the typical rural region to industries looking to expand their operations into new locations, and to create technology-based jobs for Southwest Virginians."
  Boucher used incoming Lebanon-based company CGI-AMS as a prime example of the benefit of having a fiber optics backbone in the region.
  "Without that backbone, they could not have come here," he 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.  

Residents Advised: Be Wary of Scams

by Cathy St. Clair
News Editor
  Area residents are being warned about two scams which appear to be ongoing in the region, one of which a Whitewood area man was savvy enough to avoid and reported to police.
  One involves a company allegedly offering airline credits or gas credits and the other involves a company allegedly making Medicare overpayment refunds.
  Buchanan County Sheriff Ray Foster said his office had received a call from the Whitewood area resident informing them of an apparent telephone scam which informs the resident contacted they have won a $400 airline credit or $100 for gas and then asks for verification of a bank account number so that the firm, identifying itself as “Distinct Advantage,” may issue an electronic deposit or credit to the call recipient’s account.
  Foster said the man receiving the call at Whitewood used his caller I.D. number to call back the alleged would-be scammer to query a little further and when he was unable to speak with the man who fist called, the woman answering the phone asked for a credit card number and said she would issue a $500 credit to his account. He declined to give her the number and alerted the sheriff’s department instead.
  “We are investigating,” Foster said, advising residents to be wary of offers that sound too good to be true and especially advising them to steer clear of any callers that ask for personally identifying information, including bank account or credit card numbers.
  “Be cautious,” Foster said. “Don’t give your credit card and bank account number to anybody.”
  The bottom line he said is to know who you’re dealing with.
  The second scam being perpetrated is a Medicare scam targeting the elderly in Virginia.
  The caller placing a call to an elderly resident advises the resident he or she has overpaid Medicare amounts in the previous year and that the call recipient is entitled to a refund. The caller then asks for bank account or credit card numbers in order to make an electronic deposit or to issue a credit.
  Foster said that too is a scam and advised residents to be wary and to report any suspicious calls to the sheriff’s department.