During the May 4 election, Hall, 32, will be up against current Council Members Ernest Wade and Bradford Stipes and former Council Members Steve Huppert and Dan Canada. 

Christiansburg attorney R. Cord Hall turns in his petition to run for a spot on the Christiansburg Town Council to County Deputy Registrar Freda Alderman. Several candidates will be vying for a spot on council in the May 4 election.

Hall, who practices law in Pulaski, grew in Christiansburg and attended Radford University and the University of Virginia’s School of Law. In recent statement, Hall said he loves the Christiansburg area so much he has never left, even while attending UVa, when he commuted to Charlottesville five days a week so he and his family would not have to relocate.  

“I just love my town,” Hall said. “I could not imagine living anywhere else.”  

Hall said he began seriously considering putting in a bid for one of Council’s three at-large seats about six months ago. However, the event that inspired him to run occurred about two years ago, when he became involved in a citizen effort to discourage Council from expanding a subdivision near his home on Sage Lane, which would have increased traffic in the area and compromised the safety of neighborhood children, Hall said. Although some Council members showed genuine concern about the issue, some did not, Hall said.  

“That was a tough fight, at times some members of council made us feel not entirely welcome,” Hall said. “But, when a very large number of residents repeatedly turned out in opposition, Council’s position softened. Seeing the faces of many members of our voting public simply caused those members of Council to take us seriously.”

If elected, Hall said he would make sure citizen’s opinion get the respect and attention they deserve. He said he plans to listen to citizen input before making decisions that could affect their lives.

“Their decisions shouldn’t be made beforehand,” Hall said. “Sometimes when I’ve been to Council, certain things were almost a done deal.” 

Although he is still working to solidify the key points of his campaign platform, Hall said responsible growth and attention to citizen input on Council decisions are his main focuses.

In addition to his involvement with area service and charitable organizations, Hall coaches his daughter’s softball team. He also serves on the Board of Directors for safe Haven Visitation Centers of Christiansburg, which gives children affected by domestic violence a place to have supervised visitation with their parents and monitors exchanges between parents with joint custody arrangements. Hall said he was concerned at first that a position on Council might affect his other responsibilities. 

“Family by far is my first priority,” Hall said. “I’m a father and a husband before anything else.” 

Hall is the father of two daughters, Kelsey and Klaire. His wife, Kourtney, a Montgomery County school teacher, encouraged him to run for office, Hall said. 

“She is most definitely the better half,” Hall said.  

Hall was able to collect nearly 200 signatures to turn into the County Voter Registrar’s Office on March 1, qualifying him for candidacy. Hall said in a recent statement that he will keep his past experiences with the Council in mind as he campaigns and into his term if elected. 

“I learned that I do have a voice, and citizens do have a right to be heard. The council needs to treat citizens with issues, whether one person speaks or twenty people, with respect and attention,” Hall said. “Council should be held accountable for their actions, for their decisions, or for their failure to take a stance on an issue. The status quo gets us nowhere: a lot of empty talk with no action. Residents do have a voice, and if I am elected to Council, my efforts will ensure they also have an ear.”

Grant started his position on October 1. He was formerly a professor and head of the Department of Animal Sciences at Purdue University. Grant received his Ph.D. and master’s of science from Michigan State University in animal science and his bachelor’s of science in animal science from Cornell University.

“I am committed to Virginia Tech’s land-grant mission and believe the college is a natural leader in this area due to its strong assets – quality agricultural and life sciences programs and their integration with Virginia Cooperative Extension and the Agricultural Experiment Station,” said Grant. “I am excited about the prospect of working with university colleagues on building the university’s future and expanding existing partnerships with internal and external stakeholders. Through these efforts, the college will continue to develop solutions to relevant problems in the agriculture, food, health, and natural resources sectors across its teaching, research, and Extension missions.”

Heavy hors d’oeuvres, Virginia wine, beer, soda, water, and iced tea will be provided. Dress attire is casual and Hokie attire is welcomed.

For more information and to make reservations, contact Jamie Lucero at (540) 231-9666 or jlucero@vt.edu.

Wednesday afternoon, the school system released a statement saying Blacksburg High School students will now be going to class at Blacksburg Middle School.

“The new site for students at Blacksburg High School will be Blacksburg Middle School,” the statement reads. “The high school students will use the middle school after the middle school students have finished their school day; therefore, the high school students will have an afternoon/evening schedule.”

The focus of the staff right now, is not on what to do, at this time with Blacksburg High School and the collapsed roof,” Shannon said. “That will happen in time. Our focus right now is how can we schedule and how can we get the students of Blacksburg High School back connected with their faculty, and connected with class.”

 Although the gym area was secured over the weekend and utilities have been restored to the rest of the building, Blacksburg building officials have ordered BHS closed until further notice because of unsafe conditions, Shannon said. Before students can return to BHS, debris must be removed, the gym must be stabilized, and the rest of the building must be thoroughly evaluated to make sure it is safe, Shannon said.  

At Tuesday’s school board meeting, Shannon explained BHS staff and faculty have set up temporary offices at BMS and the fact that the middle is in the same community as BHS is an advantage. However, as a middle school, BMS does not have amenities such as career and technical education classrooms, he said.  

MCPS administrators have collaborated with BHS faculty and staff to figure out a solution, Shannon said. They will continue to keep parents and students abreast of the decisions, but there won’t be a perfect solution when trying to come up with a plan to get 1,200 students and 150 faculty and staff members back to school, he said.  

“It won’t be perfect,” Shannon said. “The first few times, there’ll be a lot of things that will happen, but at least it’ll be done with a plan and making sure that they’re accommodating people, not leaving them wandering on their own or guessing as to where they go and what to expect when they get there.”

 BHS Parent-Teacher-Student Association President Susanna Rinehart reminded the Board during the public address period of the meeting to keep the students’, parents’ and teachers’ issues in mind and keep them informed of developments as they occur. Some of those affected by the collapse fear the Board could overlook some of their concerns as they try to come up with a solution for getting students back to school as quickly as possible, Rinehart said.

 ”I think, perhaps that what’s happened in the last 24 hours or so is that we have all, as parents and students, I think, in particular, begun to emerge from the immediate shock of Saturday’s events to an increasingly daunting awareness of the enormous ramifications of the gym roof collapse,” Rinehart said. “And those have begun to hit us very hard.”

Rinehart said she realizes there will not be a perfect solution, but asked the Board to consider the long-term and short-term consequences of any decisions they make on the matter.

Incoming Superintendent Brenda Blackburn, whose first day on the job is March 1, wrote a letter to the Board that stated she is confident in their ability to resolve the many issues surrounding the roof collapse.

“From watching your actions to this point, I know the pressing issues will be resolved in a way that addresses safety and academics in the best possible way,” Blackburn wrote.

Seniors of the Month were also announced during the Board meeting. Senior of the Month is awarded to students who show outstanding achievement in leadership, ability and motivation. The Seniors of the Month for February are: Pamela Elizabeth Pack of Auburn High School; Hannah O’Connell of Blacksburg High School; Samantha Page Chase of Christiansburg High School; and Kati Emili Nicholle Hurt of Eastern Montgomery High School.

The affected area of the building is the gymnasium. The collapse occurred this afternoon. The high school is located on Patrick Henry Drive.

Montgomery County Public Schools are closed on Monday for observance of President’s Day. No additional information is available.

Seeman, the current co-owner of DP Dough, Blacksburg’s new calzone shop, used his store as the venue for a Help for Haiti fund raiser, donating 15 percent of all net sales to the Red Cross Haiti Disaster and Relief Fund on Wednesday, January 27. 

Moore, a Virginia Tech graduate student and DJ at WUVT, held an event at the Lyric Theater on Saturday, January 23 that included musical performances from local artists and a silent auction of items donated by businesses in the area. Each person was asked to donate at least $10 and the money that was collected was sent to Partners in Health and CARE International the following day.

Using their businesses to raise money for charity organizations is nothing new to Moore and Seeman.

Seeman, a Delaware native, has used DP Dough profits to support other causes, pairing with on-campus organizations to raise money for charities such as the Alzheimer’s Association with Sigma Kappa Sorority in September. When the earthquake struck in Haiti, Seeman and manager Michael Hauck thought what better way to raise money than to use the store’s sales again.

 “We felt the need to involve our company and the Blacksburg community in an attempt to help those less fortunate than us,” said Seeman. 

DP Dough reached out to the church community as well as to Greek organizations that they worked with in the past to spread the word about the event.  They also used Facebook to announce the benefit and told employees to email any organizations that they were involved with in order to get the highest number of people into the store.

Since Moore had organized several benefits after natural disasters in the past, including the 2004 Asian Tsunami, September 2005 Hurricane Katrina and the May 2008 Sichuan China Earthquake, he was asked by friends if he was going to respond to Haiti before he had even mentioned his idea.  He also used some of the same communication devices such as Facebook, group emails and word of mouth. 

“[Getting the community involved] was the easy part,” said Moore.  “I am involved with several communities in the area—Shadowlake Village, The Blacksburg New School, WUVT, Home Educators of the NRV, The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the NRV—so it was simple to send out calls for help through various list servers.” 

Moore also believes that being a DJ made it easier for him to find local musicians to volunteer, and being a former local businessman he served as Vice-President / Treasurer at Oasis World Market, Inc. – provided helpful connections when seeking contributions from other local businesses.

The silent auction included items such as a coffee making gift set from Easy Chair, a handmade vase from Homebody, autographed books from local authors, food
basket from Eats, and much more.  The day’s event closed with a special screening of “Pairaiso” (”Paradise”) by Director Felipe Guerrero of Colombia, sponsored by LAIGSA – the Latin American and Iberian Graduate Student Association.  In addition to the live music, movie, and auction, breakfast was served in Moore’s neighborhood before the event to raise even more money and kick start the day, and a bake sale was held outside of the Lyric for passersby.

Both Seeman and Moore found their benefits to be a success. 

“We feel the fundraiser was a tremendous success for both us as a business in getting more people aware of who we are, and our efforts in helping Red Cross Haiti Disaster and Relief Fund,” said Seeman.  “Between contributions from sales, our employees, and the franchise giving up their royalty fees for the day, we were able to raise over $750.”

With the help of his local connections; service organization Chi Delta Alpha; musical artists The Porch Loungers, Community Cello Works, The Woogiemen, and Mountain Legend Express; and all of his other supporters and contributors, Moore was able to collect over $2,100.  Although initially disappointed that the event’s profit did not match his previous fund raisers, which included $4000 after the December 2004 tsunami and over $20,000 each for Hurricane Katrina and the 2008 China earthquake, he realized soon after the money was sent that there were additional benefits to this kind of thing.  Because of this event and Moore’s ongoing push for members of the community to continue to donate to the Haitians at http://act.pih.org/page/outreach/view/haitiearthquake/HokiesUnited, the profits are ever-increasing, as is the number of people who have become aware of the severity of the situation. 

“On many levels the event was a success,” said Moore.  “I think it would be wonderful to establish more permanent relationships between our community and a Haitian one and strive for long-term positive impacts on both sides.”

Morgan, 20, disappeared the night of Oct. 17 during a Metallica concert at the University of Virginia’s John Paul Jones Arena, about 10 miles from Anchorage Farm in Albemarle County, where the remains were discovered by owner David Bass. Bass discovered the remains while operating a tractor in a remote section of a hayfield on his 700-acre farm, police said. Part of the reason it took months to discover the remains could be that site was rarely visited and the grass in the area had not cut since August, according to police.

Bass notified police of the remains at around 10 a.m. Investigators from State, Albemarle County, Charlottesville, and UVa Police were immediately called to the scene and spent Tuesday and Wednesday investigating the scene, police said.

Investigators are trying to determine how the remains came to be in the field, Flaherty said.

During the same press conference, Chief Investigator Lt. Joe Rader of the State Police said investigators will turn their full attention to finding Morgan’s killer. However, they must proceed with caution, he said.

“Whatever we discover from this time forward, we must be careful, because we have a perpetrator or perpetrators at large that we certainly intend to catch and to prosecute,” Rader said.

The discovery of the remains has put an end to the three-month search for Morgan, which included search parties, Internet networking, and spots on national television shows such as Dr. Phil and Nancy Grace.

The discovery generated an outpouring of support from the more than 33,000 members of the “Help Find Morgan Dana Harrington” Facebook group and the Tech community.

“Amidst this overwhelming sadness, perhaps the most important work we can do is to turn our efforts toward the support of Morgan’s family, her friends, and those in our community who may well struggle to cope with this terrible tragedy,” said Tech President Charles Steger in a statement released Tuesday.

Steger recommended counseling to those affected by the loss.

Although the search for Morgan has ended, the search for her killer continues. State Police are asking anyone with information in the case to come forward. Morgan was last seen on the Copeley Road Bridge near the arena reportedly trying to hitch-hike home. She was a black mini-skirt, black knee-high boots and a Pantera T-shirt. Anyone who saw Morgan the night she disappeared is asked to call the Virginia State Police at 434-352-3467 or UVA Police at 434-924-7166 or by email at bci-appomattox@vsp.virginia.gov.

CHRISTIANSBURG — A woman sustained only minor injuries Tuesday after being held hostage by a man in a Christiansburg dentist’s office.

Christiansburg Police responded to the call from the dentist’s office on North Franklin Street at about 2:30 p.m. The caller reported a domestic situation between a female employee and an intoxicated man, later identified as Clarence McCann, Jr., 53, of Christiansburg, said Maj. Dalton Reid of Christiansburg Police.

After entering the office, McCann, who was armed when he entered the building, reportedly took the employee (whom Dalton said he could not name) into a room against her will and locked the door. Police tried to negotiate with McCann, and entered the room after a shot was fired, Reid said.

The employee was not seriously injured, and McCann was not harmed during the incident, Reid said.

“The injuries appear to be minimal,” Reid said.

Reid said he could not specify the nature of the connection between McCann and the employee, but that McCann had a previous protective order filed against him. He did not specify whether the protective order had been issued by the employee.

McCann was arrested at the scene and taken to Montgomery County Jail on an illegal weapons charge, Reid said. He is being held without bond

RICHMOND – Virginia State Police and Albemarle County Police are currently on the scene of the discovery of skeletal remains in Albemarle County. State police were notified at 9:59 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2010, by an Albemarle County resident of the discovery. At this time, the remains and scene are being evaluated by forensic technicians. We have no further information to release at this time.

The Virginia State Police, University of Virginia Police, Albemarle County Police, and Charlottesville Police will hold a joint press conference at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, January 26, 2010, at the Virginia State Police Area 18 Office in Charlottesville, Va. in regards to the skeletal remains discovered this morning on a southern Albemarle County farm. They are not confirming any additional information until then.

The university’s Center for Student Engagement and Community Partnerships is sending out teams of volunteers to help the region’s daycare centers. The 2010 Martin Luther King Daycare Facelift Project will be Saturday, Jan. 23, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Photo courtesy of Virginia Tech

“Devoting his life’s work to causes of equality and social justice, King strongly believed that children hold the country’s fate in their hands,” reads a statement from Virginia Tech.

The VT Center completed a similar project last year as well.

“Last year’s effort involved more than 250 participants, drawing together Virginia Tech students, faculty, and staff along with community members,” reads the VT release. “The teams painted walls, fences, and wall murals and also carried out construction projects and landscaping.”

This year the project is focusing on the neediest daycare centers in the region, says Karen Gilbert, an assistant director with the Center for Student Engagement and Community Partnerships. Each team will have $100 to spend on materials and supplies based on a grant from Campus Compact and funding provided by Charles W. Steger, president of Virginia Tech.

Last year’s project helped 17 daycare centers; this year’s target is 20 including seven Head Start centers. Daycares being served are situated throughout the New River Valley.

“Childcare has been identified by our community leaders as a key step in helping to break the cycle of poverty,” Gilbert said.

Area churches will be providing lunch for every volunteer.

The Center for Student Engagement and Community Partnerships is part of Virginia Tech’s Outreach and International Affairs.

Community members show their support for the soon-to-be deployed Army National Guard Charlie Company 1-116th Thursday. The Company left Friday for pre-deployment training in Camp Shelby, Miss., after which they will spend a year in Iraq.

The Army National Guard Charlie Company 1-116th, based out the Armory, comprises 60 soldiers and is headed by Capt. Brandon Lindsey. Its soldiers are mainly from the New River Valley, Lindsey said. Thursday was the last day the soldiers spent in the NRV and the last time they would see their families until 2011, Lindsey said.

From there, the Company headed to Liberty University in Lynchburg, where units from around the state (including units in Lexington, Pulaski and Bedford), will participate in a farewell ceremony. Then the Company departed for Camp Shelby, Miss. for pre-deployment training and on to Southern Iraq, Lindsey said.

The toughest part of deployment is leaving your friends and family behind, said Lindsey, who spent 2005 in Iraq. However, there are many opportunities to communicate with the people you leave behind through the Internet, phone, letters, and video messaging, he said.

“The separation from your family is the hard part,” Lindsey said. “What’s good though is there’s a lot of communication.”

While it can be hard to leave loved ones behind, the soldiers will stay focused on their duties once they leave for training, said Michael Rindorf, Iraq veteran and Western Virginia regional director for the Virginia Wounded Warrior Program.

“As you look out, you can see little children running around playing and they’re happy, but in the back of your mind, you feel time is running out, and you try to do so many things in the last 24 hours before you leave,” Rindorf said. “It’s like you’ve got a checklist that’s so long that you can’t get everything done. And that weighs on you, but once they get down to Camp Shelby, their focus will quickly change towards their mission and their train-up and everything and they’ll be extremely focused on the mission at hand.”

Rindorf spent 2004 in Iraq and spent a total of 16 years in the Army before being honorably discharged and accepting the job with VWWP. Like the soldiers in Charlie Company 1-116th, Rindorf went as an infantryman, whose duties range from foot patrols to working with Iraqi police, he said.

“They’re always out in the presence to kind of deter any hostile acts,” Rindorf said.

Because of normal Army deployment rotations and President Obama’s recent surge to Afghanistan, about 30 percent of those deployed to Iraq are in the National or Army Reserves, Rindorf said.

Rindorf said his time in Baghdad was tough. His unit lost three men. However, he and Lindsey said they think conditions are improving.

“In ‘05, it was definitely a little more dangerous,” Lindsey said. “But now, from what I gather from the news, it looks like the violence is down a lot. You still have instances where things happen, but even though it’s still dangerous, I think we can expect less danger than it was.”

Another benefit is that this will be the second or third tour in Iraq for most of the soldiers in his company, Lindsey said.

“Experience-wise, it’s great for the unit, because a lot of guys been there, done that,” Lindsey said.

Although their time in Iraq will not be easy, the soldiers could face other challenges when they come home, Rindorf said. The most common problems soldiers could face when they come home are Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and traumatic brain injuries, Rindorf said. His organization, VWWP, was established in 2008 to support veterans with these and other conditions that result from their deployments. It is important for returning soldiers to get treatment for these conditions as soon as possible, and VWWP can help, Rindorf said.

“It’s a long hard road that many people have gone through, and the best thing we can do is try to encourage them to seek help if they need help,” Rindorf said. “If they wait, it compounds on them.”

While the journey will be long and rough, Lindsey said he and his Company are grateful to have so much support from the community. “There are some parts of the United States where it’s tougher to be a soldier than others,” Lindsey said. “I think the New River Valley is one of the best places to be a soldier. If you go out, if you’re in uniform, somebody’s thanking you, somebody’s shaking your hand.”