Distributed FREE On Fridays For 12 Years July 2, 2021 www.pcpatriot.com Locally Owned And Operated Insuring You & Yours Town of Pulaski Fourth of July Parade Saturday 11 a.m. Town of Dublin Karen Tuggle Brad Alley Lynn White Flag Ceremony Home • Auto • Life • Business Saturday 9 a.m. at Town Hall Happy 4th! 611 East Main Street Dublin, VA 24084 • 540-674-4678 Supervisors, county officials www.insurancecenterofdublin.com rebuke Siers over emails WEEKEND WEATHER By MIKE WILLIAMS variety of social media pages – in- officers. Those false statements The Patriot cluding an anonymous Facebook appear to have been designed to Saturday Sunday page called “Pulaski County, VA sensationalize a narrative to a As is customary, the Pulaski School Board Watch.” state official that School Board Sunny, with a high near 82. Sunny, with a high near 76. County Board of Supervisors held The emails were from Siers to meetings were not safe because Northwest wind 5 to 7 mph. a closed session Monday prior to officials in the Virginia Depart- of our own local law enforcement Sunday Night - Mostly clear, their regular monthly meeting. ment of Education and centered officers. This was not true and is with a low around 58. Saturday Night - Mostly clear, Topics of discussion for the closed around the local school division’s not fair to the fine men and wom- with a low around 54. session included personnel, legal Equity Plan work. en in law enforcement who risk consultation and legal matters. “It has recently come to the their lives to keep us safe,” Guth- Nothing out of the ordinary for Board of Supervisors’ atten- rie continued. the board, except for the subject tion that Pulaski County Public “Siers flippantly said that Pu- of the legal matter discussion – Schools Superintendent Dr. Kevin laski County is worse than a Syr- School Superintendent Dr. Kevin Siers has prepared and sent com- ian warzone because our citizens Siers. munications to state officials at chose to exercise the rights which At the beginning of the meet- the Virginia Department of Edu- soldiers have fought for and even ing, Supervisor Laura Walters cation that were false, inappropri- sacrificed their lives to protect. (Ingles) motioned that a discus- ately disparaging, appear to us to He references “rules of engage- sion on Siers be placed on the be selfishly misleading, purpose- ment” and calls those who dis- Celebrating 141 public meeting agenda. Supervi- fully inaccurate, grossly exagger- agree or questions him his “oppo- years of service, sor Dirk Compton (Draper) sec- ated, and potentially harmful to sition,” and said that our Pulaski and family owned. onded the motion. The motion the county in general. In these County neighbors, friends clergy Traditional services was approved on a 4-0 vote, with communications, he appears to are “fueled by ignorance, hate with traditional Supervisor John Travis (Massie) make an effort to paint the Board and fear.” values. absent for the meeting. of Supervisors in an unfair and “What Siers did with his hyper- Accepting The reasoning behind the dis- negative light,” Guthrie stated. bole and inaccurate statements, is pre-arrangements cussion on Siers were first put “It is, however, the words that to depict to Richmond that this from other forth by County Administrator he used to describe the citizens of county and its citizens are some- funeral homes. Jonathan Sweet and Board Chair- Pulaski County that we consider thing we are not. It appears he Financing for man Joe Guthrie. to be the most appalling. He used wanted the Virginia Department funerals available The comments made by Siers an analogy of war to describe our of Education to think this of all that both Guthrie and Sweet saw citizens’ use of their First Amend- of us because he was asking them 414 N. Jefferson Avenue • Pulaski, Va., 24301 as being disparaging of the coun- ment rights. He correlated our for reinforcements to help fight ty were included in emails ob- community’s public discourse to a his war. He asks for state resourc- S. Todd Bruce, Manager/Owner tained by citizens in a Freedom of “Klan rally.” He has written bla- es to support him tackling the 540-980-1700 Information Act request that have tantly false statements to the state now been made public through a about our local law enforcement See COUNTY, page A3 GREAT PAY. GREAT JOBS! NOW IS THE TIME TO GET THAT PAY AND JOB YOU DESIRE. 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In fact, our overall county on a 3-1 vote with Robinson Dis- operational expenses are budgeted trict Supervisor Charles Bopp cast- to only increase by .5%. ing the lone “no” vote. Supervisors He said Monday’s budget dis- Chairman Joe Guthrie (Cloyd), cussion represented the eighth Laura Walters (Ingles) and Dirk public meeting regarding the bud- Compton (Draper) all voted “yes.” get proposal. Massie Supervisor John Travis was absent. The budget includes general County Administrator Jonathan fund revenues and expenditures of Sweet said the theme of the budget $54,558,755, and total revenues for that took effect Thursday was “To all funds (local, state and federal) Safeguard a Prosperous Future.” of $141,653,802 and expenditures Sweet said the budget mission totaling the same amount for a was to: “To employ leadership and balanced budget. foresight in developing a balanced budget with an effort to protect “I want to thank each member of and maintain a healthy Fund Bal- the Board of Supervisors for their ance, to effectively plan for prior- significant amount of time and itized capital projects, to complete commitment to the budget process and improve upon existing county and for your leadership and direc- assets, to continue to comprehen- tion to ensure that stewardship sively support public education and was a top priority. It is because of to strategically invest in economic your guidance that we were able and community development as to achieve all of our 24 targeted a way to enhance the quality of budget goals and objectives that life, achieve the target of 40-by-30 were established on March 1, 2021 (40,000 population by 2030) and at our initial budget work session, safeguard a prosperous future, all and successfully incorporate them with the least impact to the tax pay- throughout the budget. ers of Pulaski County.” Sweet mentioned several accom- “I also want to thank our coun- plishments of the new budget, in- ty team for the roles so many of cluding: them played to get us to this point • Allowances for all of the state’s tonight, and particularly to our Fi- unfunded mandates nance Department and the Coun- • The necessary funding for ty Administration Team for the teacher raises and increases to countless hours and tremendous teachers’ their health insurance effort that they put forth to solve a benefits whole year’s worth of challenges • Funding for four new school and capitalize on a year’s worth of buses opportunities,” Sweet said. • Funding support for many of our community non-profit organi- zation serving the citizens of Pulas- Freedom ki County • Additional improvements and Fellowship upgrades to our many outdoor com- munity and public recreation assets to hold VBS • Improvements to County Freedom Fellowship, 1730 owned public buildings, such as West Street Radford (near Bisset needed roof repairs for the historic Park) will be holding Vacation stone courthouse and the HVAC re- Bible School starting Wednes- placement for the brick courthouse day, July 14 through Friday, July • Funding to support our first re- 17 at 6:30 nightly and Saturday, sponders, needed fire department July 18 beginning at 11:30 a.m. equipment, a new ambulance and The theme is ROAR – “Life is communications upgrades Wild, but God is Good.” Chil- • A COLA and Compression ad- dren of all ages will enjoy skits, justment for County employees songs, Bible lessons, crafts, • Maintained Community Impact snacks, and games. Saturday Grant Capacity to reinvest in the will include a hot dog lunch and community water games (weather permit- • The paying off of all remaining ting). county debt (this does not include For information and directions school board debt service) call 540-577-9190. The Patriot - July 2, 2021 - Page A3 County Continued from Page A1 School Superintendent changes and squelching his op- rhetoric tear us apart. We hope position that “almost certainly and pray that the damage Siers will be springing up throughout has caused this community is responds to criticism the state in the coming months, not irreparable, and that with especially in Southwest Virgin- appropriate actions taken by the As the result of a FOIA request, my correspon- vice from the Virginia Department of Education ia.” school board, we can begin to dence concerning Pulaski County Public Schools’ to help community members understand their im- “Ironically, in his purported re-establish trust and mutual re- implementation of the district’s equity goals and portance.