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<p>Commissioner Jon Cawley</p>
Cawley wants to fund restroom project
A member of the Mount Airy Board of Commissioners wants to resurrect a four-year-old project to provide restrooms to serve Veterans Memorial Park and the Emily B. Taylor Greenway. However, that does not include a related effort to build a city playground at the same location on West Lebanon Street. A $60,000 price tag has been suggested for the restrooms, to be located at the northeast corner of the sprawling Veterans Memorial Park where i...
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<p>David Broyles | The News</p><p>Flat Rock Elementary fourth-grader Kassidy Dollyhite is congratulated by Vice Chairman Brian Gates for participating in the Sum Dog national math tournament. A group of 19 students from the school won the spring event topping a field of more than 632 schools.</p>
County school board recognizes math, short story achievements
DOBSON — The Surry County Board of Education opened its regular meeting Monday recognizing students’ accomplishments in math and literature. Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Charles Graham served as the presenter for the recognitions. Students from Flat Rock Elementary School were honored by the board for their victory in Sum Dog, a national spring math competition. Graham said during the online contest, 41,400 students from acro...
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Saturday’s Polar Plunge event to raise money for Special Olympics of Surry County
DOBSON — This Saturday, Special Olympics of Surry County is hosting a Polar Plunge fundraiser that begins at 1 p.m. at Fisher River Park in Dobson. The Polar Plunge is a popular winter event during which people submerge themselves in frigid waters; versions of the plunge are held all over the world. According to Shannon Lewis, Special Olympics cheerleader coach and one of the organizers of the event, this type of event has never been held...
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City action Thursday could lead to 20 jobs
Mount Airy officials are expected to get the ball rolling Thursday afternoon for an expansion of a local metal-working company that will bring 20 new jobs. A vote to set a public hearing regarding a city government incentive package for the project is among the items for a meeting of the board of commissioners to begin at 2 p.m. in the Municipal Building. Also on tap is a discussion on changing the municipal election process, the consider...
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<p>Barry Anderson</p>
Area residents named in federal drug indictments
STUART, Va. — Seven people, including a Mount Airy man and two Claudville residents, have been arrested on federal narcotics-trafficking and weapons indictments, according to Patrick County Sheriff Dan Smith. One person indicted, Barry James Anderson, 41, of Claudville, is still at large. The indictments were issued by a grand jury in late February, with the arrests part of two-year covert investigation by the Patrick Sheriff’s Office whi...
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<p>Jessica Johnson | The News</p><p>Burke Robertson, chairman of the Tourism Partnership of Surry County, shows group members the cover for the new &#8220;Very Surry&#8221; visitor&#8217;s guide, which will launch in May.</p>
Tourism Partnership sets Very Surry guide
DOBSON — The Tourism Partnership of Surry County on Monday set the launch of a new “Very Surry” visitor’s guide for May. The partnership continues to work directly with a graphic designer Jennifer Scott, who designed a cover for the visitor’s guide which featured an autumn photograph of the knob of Pilot Mountain in the foreground with Hanging Rock and Sauratown Mountain in the background. Several members remarked that the guide is improv...
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<p>David Broyles | The News</p><p>Providence College Student Marilyn Rideout lines up some trim on a Habitat for Humanity home under construction in Pilot Mountain. Students from Providence and Wittenberg University in Ohio are in the area to help with the build as part of Habitat International&#8217;s Collegiate Challenge.</p>
Students spend spring break on Habitat build
PILOT MOUNTAIN — Traditionally, images of spring break for college students bring to mind tropical locales such as Cancun. Not so for a group of 20 students from Connecticut and Ohio, who will be wrapping up their break in Pilot Mountain this week on a Habitat for Humanity home there. According to Habitat Executive Director Lynn Wilkes the 20, consisting of ten each from Providence College in Providence, Rhode Island, and Wittenberg Unive...
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<p>Keith Strange | The News</p><p>Long-time animal advocate Jim Hazel, left, joins county animal control officials Gary Brown, center, and Samantha Ange at the podium. The Board of Commissioners said they are going to continue working on the county&#8217;s animal control ordinance.</p>
Board tables animal ordinance
DOBSON — The Surry County Board of Commissioners voted to table proposed changes to the county’s animal ordinance last night, but not before making one thing perfectly clear: They are willing to listen to any and all ideas about how they can reduce the number of animals killed in the local shelter. The action came as the board met for its regularly-scheduled meeting in the county’s Government Center in Dobson. Prior to opening a public he...
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Codes enforcer Steve May, foreground, discusses problems Mount Airy officials can face in dealing with dilapidated structures. An image of a house on Dyson Place the city government paid to demolish last year can be seen to the rear.
City getting more aggressive with housing code violations
Mount Airy wants to get tougher on violators of the municipality’s minimum housing codes, but that could come at a high price. Launching a formal enforcement process against an errant property owner is the easy part. But recovering the costs of such actions can be much harder, officials were told during at an annual city government planning retreat several days ago when enforcement of minimum housing codes was a key discussion topic. Plan...
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A pink fire truck that promotes breast cancer awareness will be at Riverside Park Saturday during the Griggs Fun Run there.
Griggs Fun Run to include pink fire truck
Griggs Hampton, Mount Airy’s charity fundraiser extraordinaire, is no longer around to support worthy causes, but would be proud that his work is continuing — including an event scheduled Saturday. Multiple charities will be the beneficiaries of the second-annual Griggs Fun Run at Riverside Park in Mount Airy, which will feature a pink fire truck as a special attraction. “I just know that’s what he would want,” said Donna Hiatt, a longtim...
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