Articles

Interesting and sometimes amusing anecdotes about Rockbridge are available in a new, free online magazine called, aptly, “Rockbridge Anecdotes,” a companion to the more formal series “Rockbridge Epilogues.”

The Buchanan-based Bank of Botetourt recently announced that Michelle R. Austin was named the seventh president in its 124-year history and appointed to its board of directors, effective Feb. 20.

Snow lines the Marl Creek Trail at the Cyrus McCormick Farm during Sunday’s snowfall. One of the newly replaced informational signs can be seen in the distance. The trail is one of three local trails that will be dedicated as Kids in Parks Track Trails in April by the Rockbridge Outdoors organization, an event that will be covered by The News-Gazette. (Mary Woodson photo)

Jayson Margalus, faculty director of maker innovation at DePaul University’s Idea Realization Labs, has been named the next Johnson Professor of Entrepreneurship and Leadership and director of the Connolly Center for Entrepreneurship at Washington and Lee University.

Rockbridge

Local Cyclist Claims Wins In South America Races

Supervisors Sticking With Equalized Rate

Buena Vista was recently selected for participation in a national program promoting outdoor recreation as an economic development pursuit. Implementation begins next month when a planning assistance team comes to town to hold community workshops for local residents and stakeholders.

Speakers Remind LDMS Students Of School’s History At Assembly

The Community Table for the Rockbridge Area, in collaboration with Rockbridge Area Transportation and Carilion Clinic, is partnering to serve meals in more locations throughout the greater Rockbridge area.

The three Rockbridge area jurisdictions recently passed resolutions to participate in the second wave of settlements from litigation against numerous opioid supply chain defendants. The settlements are part of a nationwide lawsuit against distributors and manufacturers of opioids.

Hosting Ukrainian Families is planning a major fundraising event for April 15 – that’s also a thank-you to the community from the families themselves.

How well do you adjust to the change from standard time to daylight saving time? We talked around the office Monday mor ning, and, no su r p r i se, there was no consensus on whether to keep daylight time part of the year, go to daylight time year-round, or have standard time yearround. Even the Congress disagreed – the Senate passed a bill last year to have yearround daylight time, but the House never considered the bill.

For more than 50 years, the Rockbridge Area Relief Association has provided a comprehensive safety net for local residents in need. For those who have found themselves in a financial pinch, be it from an accident, illness or any other unfortunate circumstance that could cause a family to need help in securing basic necessities like shelter, nourishment or utilities, RARO has been there to offer assistance.

Karyn Gardner, (540) 228-2176, (540) 655-3646 [email protected]

Editor’s note: After we received Phillip Welsh’s letter on Jordans Point Park, we reached out to Lexington City Manager Jim Halasz and received the following response.

March 12, 2023 Editor, The News-Gazette: I hope all citizens of Lexington, or citizens from anywhere for that matter, who appreciated the beauty and simplicity of Jordans Point Park, will go take a walk around it now to view the destruction and environmental degradation wrought by the public works department. What the department’s intention was is indecipherable, and I don’t know who is ultimately responsible, but I have spoken with several people familiar with the situation and this is what I have learned: Apparently, a few weeks ago, public works was hot to make “improvements” at the park. The city arborist, Celia Raney, provided them with a work plan which included a surgical removal of only invasive species and “widow maker” limbs, and a prohibition on the cutting of any trees more than 4 inches in diameter. Public works chose to do the work while Ms. Raney was indisposed and out of town, and they completely ignored her work plan. They cut down numerous large, native trees. They clear-cut and dozed off the steep bank beside the boat ramp, and completely destroyed and leveled a thousand square feet of perfectly healthy, well-vegetated riparian buffer down in the flood plain, ostensibly to put in a picnic table.

March 13, 2023 Editor, The News-Gazette: First, a little history. Early last year, both houses of Congress controlled by the Democratic Party marching in lockstep behind a Democratic president, earmarked $40 billion to help Ukraine push back Russian soldiers still living under a collectivist dictatorship crafted by the Bolshevik-Soviets about a hundred years ago.

Dr. Michael Lee “Marty” DeReus, longtime resident of Buena Vista, passed from this life on March 1, 2023.

Pat Edward Ramsey Jr., 80, of Amherst passed peacefully on March 11, 2023.