Local news from the New River Valley

| Anna L. Mallory

anna.mallory@roanoke.com, 381-8627

More than 100 Christiansburg Middle School students were treated to floating beach balls, glowing rocks and a peek at the night sky, all while indoors.

Blacksburg

| Shawna Morrison

Stanley Wayne Farley, 56, was taken into custody Friday afternoon in Portland, Maine, said Lt. Ron Hamlin of the Giles County Sheriff's Office.

Christiansburg High School's football team opened the playoffs with a 48-6 smacking of Bassett on Friday night. The Blue Demons (8-3) led 34-0 at the half.

Wendell Jones of Blacksburg sent in these photos.

The Auburn and Pulaski County high school cheerleading squads competed over the weekend in the 2009 Virginia High School League Cheer Championships.

This page: The Auburn team finished ninth in the preliminary round, so the Eagles did not advance to the finals of Group A, which was won by King William.

Several local teams and their runners performed well at the state cross country meet held over the weekend.

In Group A girls action, Radford finished third, led by Kaitlyn Smith (who finished eighth) and Amber Thompson (who finished ninth).

Recent rainfall may have filled most of Southwest Virginia's lakes, rivers and streams beyond their brims, but Mountain Lake wasn't one of them.

The Giles County mountaintop lake with a tendency to fill and drain itself was an estimated 40 feet below full pond before the rain began this week. It gained a few feet as the remnants of Tropical Storm Ida collided with a nor'easter, but the water is expected to go away almost as quickly as it came.

Statistics are typically very important to the serious sports fan, but even the most die-hard Hokie is unlikely to have any idea what kind of stats are behind the food service end of a Virginia Tech football game.

BLACKSBURG -- You see them on Saturday and Sunday mornings -- and sometimes on Fridays after a Thursday night Hokie home game.

They stand or sit on the curb outside the courthouse in Christiansburg, shabby and forlorn after a night in the Montgomery County jail's drunk tank.

The Hokie Hockey Express will ferry fans to Friday's game at the Roanoke Civic Center. The bus will leave from the Smart Way stop behind Squires Student Center, off Alumni Mall on the Tech campus at 6:30 p.m. and return about 11 p.m. Free parking is available after 5 p.m. in the Squires lot at the corner of College Avenue and Otey Street or in the Shultz Hall lot, off Alumni Drive.

The deed for the land being swapped between the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors and the Virginia Tech Foundation was filed Nov. 5, according to county records.

The event is from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 4248 Prices Fork Road, across from Price's Fork Elementary School.

During a community meeting that drew about 50 people Tuesday, residents said they'd like the county to build a new high school and renovate the existing high school as a middle school once new elementary schools in Prices Fork and Elliston are complete.

The board of supervisors approved budget adjustments at their meeting Thursday night to offer money from the county's rainy day fund, which is used for emergency purposes, and the general fund to help offset more than $424,000 in state cuts to the sheriff, treasurer, commissioner of revenue, clerk of the circuit court and commonwealth's attorney.

Montgomery County

What: Board of supervisors special meeting

When: 5:30 p.m. Monday

Where: Montgomery County Government Center, 755 Roanoke St., Christiansburg

On the agenda: Supervisors will discuss the county's budget.

Blacksburg Transit is looking for volunteers to help riders on the expanded Christiansburg routes scheduled to start Nov. 23.

Volunteers will staff tables at new bus stops and assist riders along the route, according to a news release from the transit service.

The closures will be in place from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Nov. 30 to allow nTelos to install underground fiber lines, according to a news release from the town of Blacksburg.

Homeowners, get ready.

The second payment of Montgomery County real estate taxes is due Dec. 7. The 2009 personal property taxes and 2010 motor vehicle license fees are also due that day.