Local news from the New River Valley

BLACKSBURG -- Health care may be scientifically based but it is delivered in a social setting. Patients speak different languages, practice different customs and have different ethnic backgrounds.

That's why Dr. Louis Sullivan, the founding dean and president of Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, is concerned when he hears that doctors aren't as diverse as their patients. Blacks make up about 13 percent of the nation's population but only about 4.6 percent of its physicians, he said.

Virginia Tech will likely enroll its largest freshman class ever this fall, mainly due to a large applicant pool. The percentage of students accepting offers was also higher than expected.

Applicants 2007 19,579 2008 20,756
Students offered admission 2007 12,848 (66 percent) 2008 13,293 (64 percent)
Students enrolled* 2007 5,215 (41 percent of students offered admission) 2008 12008 5,601 (42 percent of students offered admission) *As of May 1 deadline to send in deposit. The actual number of students who enroll in August is slightly lower.

Average SAT score 2007 1205 2008 1208

Virginia Tech will likely enroll its largest freshman class ever in August, based on figures released by the school Monday.

New River Valley business leaders and businesses brought home four of the six awards handed out last week by the NewVa Corridor Technology Council.

Among the winners were TORC Technologies, Intrexon, Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center President Joe Meredith and Mailtrust President Pat Matthews, all of Blacksburg.

CHRISTIANSBURG -- Diane Yopp says she's at that age where her brain says, "Go, go, go!"

But her body says, "Whoa, whoa, whoa!"

"My brain doesn't think I'm 62, but my body tells me I am," she said.

Blacksburg Town Council is accepting applications for appointments to the following boards and committees:

n Blacksburg Museum Advisory Committee;

n Blacksburg Planning Commission;

n Greenway/Bikeway/Sidewalk Corridor Committee;

The owner of the now-defunct El Guadalupe's Mexican restaurant in Blacksburg was recently ordered by a judge to pay the town $38,000 in back taxes.

According to Blacksburg General District Court files, Maria Aguirre Gomez -- also shown in the records as Maria Aguirre and Maria Sandoval Aguirre -- "collected town meals taxes but did not pay them to the town" between September 2006 and September 2007.

A Montgomery County judge on Monday sentenced a Blacksburg man to serve six years in prison for possessing child pornography.

Phillip James Wyatt, 58, pleaded guilty in October to 50 counts of possessing child pornography. Christiansburg police, acting on a tip, found both photos and video of young children on Wyatt's computer, and he was indicted in April 2007.

CHRISTIANSBURG -- The little tykes at Head Start haven't yet caught on to the days of the workweek.

They don't know that Wednesday is hump day or that TGIF represents Friday's call letters.

CHRISTIANSBURG -- Each time tax technician Tammie Lawson took money from the Montgomery County treasurer's office to pay a house or vehicle bill, she would try to pay it back.

But it got to a point at which Lawson, who had filed for bankruptcy, couldn't pay back what she had taken.

The Mental Health Association of the New River Valley will get $15,000 of a $750,000 grant awarded recently to the Virginia Association of Free Clinics.

The grant, given by Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield and its charitable foundation, was established to help meet the needs of uninsured Virginians. Current estimates are that more than 1 million people in the state, or 13 percent of the population, do not have health insurance. The 2005 U.S. Census found 952,000 uninsured adults and 156,000 uninsured children in Virginia.

Don Langrehr

• Age: 50
• Occupation: Radford University education professor
• Community roots: Blacksburg Town Councilman since 2004
• Affiliations: Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, Mount Tabor Ruritan Club, New River Valley Living Wage Campaign, Virginia Organizing Project, and Virginia State Reading Association
• Education: Bachelor’s and master’s degrees from New Jersey City University; doctorate in literacy education from Florida State University.

• Other candidates in the NRV answer your questions

Why should residents of Blacksburg vote for you?

Derek Myers

• Age: 71
• Occupation: Retired Virginia Tech art and art history professor.
• Community roots: 35 years living and working in Blacksburg
• Affiliations: Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, Luther Memorial Lutheran Church, Valley Interfaith Childcare Center, NAACP, AARP
• Education: Master of fine arts from State University of Iowa, 1969; bachelor’s degree from Knox College, Illinois in 1959

• Other candidates in the NRV answer your questions

Leslie Hager-Smith

• Age: 51
• Occupation: Director of the Downtown Merchants of Blacksburg
• Community roots: Has lived and worked in town for 26 years
• Affiliations: Sustainable Blacksburg, Blacksburg Downtown Revitalization Committee, Epilepsy Foundation of Virginia, church and various civic organizations
• Education: 1977 graduate of the University of Georgia

• Other candidates in the NRV answer your questions

Paul Lancaster

• Age: 54
• Occupation: Broadcast media coordinator for Virginia Tech’s university relations department
• Community roots: Has lived and worked in Blacksburg for more than 20 years
• Affiliations: Blacksburg Town Councilman since 2004, Blacksburg Planning Commission, YMCA at Virginia Tech, United Way of Montgomery, Radford and Floyd, Free Clinic of the New River Valley, Virginia Wildlife Foundation
• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Washington and Lee University

• Other candidates in the NRV answer your questions

Mary Holliman

• Age: 78
• Occupation: Owner of Pocahontas Press, a small Blacksburg publishing company
• Community roots: Has lived in Blacksburg for 46 years
• Affiliations: Blacksburg Town Councilwoman since 2006, Mount Tabor Ruritan Club, Valley Interfaith Childcare Center, Montgomery County League of Women Voters, Blacksburg Planning Commission
• Education: Bechelor’s degree from Howard College, master’s degree from the University of Miami

• Other candidates in the NRV answer your questions

Fess Green is dead.

Morgan Paul Welker

• Running for: Town council
• Age: 24
• Occupation: Electrical engineer with Motion Control Systems
• Community Roots: Born in eastern North Carolina. Lived in Danville, Blacksburg and Christiansburg before settling in Pulaski in 2004
• Affiliations: Member of Citizens for the Betterment of Pulaski and the Virginia Tech Amateur Radio Association
• Education: Earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Virginia Tech in 2004

• Other candidates in the NRV answer your questions

Why should voters vote for you to serve as on Pulaski Town Council?

Montgomery County will operate on a $156.5 million budget during fiscal year 2008-09, a $2.9 million dollar reduction from the budget first presented to the board of supervisors. The budget, approved in a 4-3 vote Monday night, is based on a 71 cent real estate tax rate and includes an additional 2 cents of capital improvement plan money previously set aside for school construction.

Montgomery County's schools budget should be finalized Thursday night. The seven-member school board called a special session for 6 p.m. to discuss and vote on the spending plan. Right now, the board's budget calls for $100 million -- an 11 percent increase from last year's plan.

BLACKSBURG -- Come July, the town's emergency services dispatch center will get funds for a new 911 computer system and new staff thanks to a meals tax increase and a state technology grant program.