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Christiansburg was eliminated today from the Dixie O-Zone World Series in Pascagoula, Miss., by hot hitting Alabama by the score of 17-7.

This was a fun and rewarding experience for all involved. The players, coaches, and parents represented Chistiansburg excellently. Chuck Muncy, Brian Lambert, and I are just thankful we were a part of this wonderful experience. We all sincerely appreciate the support of the Town of Christiansburg, Christiansburg Parks and Recreation, and all the others that made this possible. Thank you, Christiansburg.

Art Price, CPRP

Director, Christiansburg Parks and Recreation

The town of Pulaski's much-anticipated special meeting Tuesday night held to interview applicants will have two fewer applicants than applied. That's because Chasity Stevens and E.G. Black, who both submitted letters of interest last month, have each withdrawn their names from consideration.

Stevens is involved with several Pulaski-area groups and also works as a marketer who specializes in corporate branding, and she told the council in a letter that she'd rather pursue other efforts she's already engaged in rather than serve on the council.

E.G. Black, on the other hand, just decided he didn't like the process the council had chosen to use in making their decision.

"The originial announcement artical (sic) you only wanted a resume, but now you have changed to have interviews as well as questions being submitted by the public," Black wrote in a hand-written letter to the council. "I understand that some of the council thinks that Mr. Kidd be appointed since he's ran and was third. I thought that the charter was to appoint someone in 45 days without all this hassel (sic)."

Black's decision to withdraw his name is probably just as well, as far as Pulaski
activists go. It's hard to imagine folks around Pulaski putting up with a council member who doesn't particularly like to answer questions from the public.

Stevens, on the other hand, probably would have stirred some interest. She's about the same age as Morgan Welker, a recent Tech graduate who, at age 24, may very well be the youngest council member in decades.

--Kevin Litten

From a Christiansburg Recreation Center press release: On July 28, the Christiansburg Dixie "O"Zone Virginia State Champions defeated North Carolina 5-4 in seven innings in the Dixie "O" Zone World Series in Pascagoula, Mississippi.

Christiansburg and North Carolina traded the score back and forth throughout the game. In the bottom of the seventh inning (first extra inning), Seth Wills scored when a ball hit by Gabe Quesenberry was misplayed.

Zach Chase pitched an excellent and gutsy six plus innings for Christiansburg. Seth Wills picked up the win in relief.

Christiansburg will play the loser of the Texas and Alabama game on 3:30 pm July 28 in the double elimination Dixie "O" Zone World Series in Pascagoula, Mississippi.

-- Posted by Ray Cox

As I waited to receive my parking pass at the Virginia Tech visitors center today, I overheard a conversation between the mother of a prospective student and the woman giving out passes. Mom mentioned that they planned to leave campus right after lunch to look at another school.

"Stay for lunch and you won't want to go anywhere else," she told the mother.

"Well, this is actually our daughter's second choice," the mother replied. "She wants to go to Annapolis."

"Well that is a good school," she said. "Bet the food's not as good, though."

Seemingly unmoved by the culinary recommendation, the smiling mother was quick with a retort.

"If she's going to be in the Navy I guess she should get used to it."

Maybe she would've been convinced if they were handing out Princeton Reviews in the visitors center. The publication released its best colleges rankings this week and Virginia Tech once again made the top five in best campus food and also ranked high in "students pack the stadiums" and "class discussions rare."

There's been a backlash in recent years against college rankings. Still, after they're done complaining about how unfair they are, most colleges don't hesitate to use the rankings to help market themselves.

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Before you read this post, read this Doonesbury cartoon about a reporter covering the Obama campaign.

I can sympathize with Richard, but my experience has so far been very different.

Blogging is all the rage in newspapers these days. It's part of the newspaper industry's desperate attempt to move into the online world and offset the continued losses in revenue from tradtional print advertising.

It's also a way, they say, for stodgy newspapers to reach out the Miliennial generation. But that's a story for another post.

No, I'm talking about how blogging is affecting your local reporters -- i.e., me -- and what they do day in, day out. How, in the past two weeks since I started blogging as part of my job, has it affected my reporting?

Has it helped me reach out to new readers? Has it deepened my relationship to my current fan base? Has it netted me juicy tips that have led to kick-a-- investigative stories?

No. It's given me a legitamate way to procrastinate.

Like right now, for instance. I SHOULD be writing my next Sunday centerpiece. But instead, I've spent the past two hours blogging about what it's like to be a reporter doing reporting, rather than actually doing the reporting, or even more importantly, doing the WRITING. Hmm.

Of course, this is unlike posting to my personal blogs. I'm getting paid to waste this time.

-- Tonia Moxley

Amish boys in Giles County by Matt Gentry

Besides asking nosey questions for a living, the best part of being a reporter -- for me, anyway --is immersing myself in other people's lives. Usually it's just getting to know an interesting or influential person. But sometimes, you get to infiltrate a whole culture, like the Amish communities of Giles County.

This has happened to me a few times in the past, like the time I had dinner with a woman from Egypt. The first time I met her was in the doctor's office. She shook my hand, even hugged me. But afterwards, I couldn't have picked her face out of a crowd because when we met, she was wearing a head-to-toe berka. I couldn't even see the color of her eyes through the little mesh rectangle cut into the heavy black fabric.

My editor at the time was as excited as I when I got an invitation to the Blacksburg apartment where the woman lived with her husband, who was at the time the Imam of a mosque in town.

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A quiet revolution has been spreading across the newsroom. It's time someone broke the silence.

I. Love. My. Cell phone reimbursement.

A couple of years ago, the Roanoke Times finally jumped into the 21st century and instituted a cell phone stipend for reporters. Before that, we either had to donate our own minutes to the company, or use a handful of geeky cell phones that could be "checked out" for use on assignment.

When the announcement came that the 'pool' phones were being abandoned for the modern approach, we rejoiced ... and flew to our various dealers to upgrade our phones. Motorazor, baby.

So, this morning I'm reaping the rewards of this wonderful new system. I'm standing outside under a cloudless blue sky, leaning against the cool stones of a rock wall in the shade, interviewing an Amish business owner for a story, while inside the Duncan garage mechanics are servicing my car.

And there doesn't seem to be much of a downside to this system. You can still go out to dinner or go for a hike (within tower range, of course), even when you're on call for the weekend. We used to have to sit by the phone at home, waiting for something to happen.

And the very best part? When you clock out for the day, you can turn the thing off.

-- Tonia Moxley

Radford's newest set of bike trails is so new doesn't even have a name yet.

And it's already been vandalized.

"That sucker hadn't been open two days when they super glued the lock and tore down the kiosk that was out there with information," City Councilman Bruce Brown said at Monday night's council meeting.

The trails -- about six miles of them so far -- opened July 19.

According to Mike Leersnyder, chairman of Pathways of Radford's trails committee, volunteers spent about 300 hours and $1,500 to build the trails to International Mountain Bicycling Association standards, put up signs and build the kiosk that vandals tore down.

A lot of people, including the Montgomery County Sheriff's Department, would like to know who those vandals are.

-- Tim Thornton

It's happened dozens of times now, most recently on Friday: I was driving home to Roanoke from my office in Christiansburg when I got near the 126 mile marker on Interstate 81 and there, sitting on the side of the road, was a turkey.

I used to see a pair of turkeys, actually. But on Friday there was only one. (It was sitting on the interstate side of the guardrail; I hope that isn't a clue about what happened to its buddy.)

Does anyone know anything about these turkeys? Are they someone's pets? Just a pair of wild turkeys that like to hang out with vehicles that are speeding past at 65 mph?

Anyone else seen them?

-- Shawna Morrison

You've got to believe Gov. Tim Kaine didn't learn a whole lot, basic facts-wise, on his recent trip to Radford University. After getting a Highlanders hat and polo shirt from Coach Brad Greenberg, Kaine saw a condensed version of the university's plans for new buildings. The board of visitors got the extended version last month.

The university likes to call it a $211 million building campaign, and it is -- sort of. To get to that number, you have to count buildings approved and funded before the current president arrived, buildings that haven't gotten approval from the state and buildings that the state has said RU can build if it can find the money on its own.

But the meat of the visit was a golf cart tour of the campus.

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