■ WEATHER PAGE 3 ■ OBITUARIES Page 4 ■ OPINION Page 6 ■ SPORTS Page 7 ■ IN TOUCH Page 11 ■ CLASSIFIEDS Page 14 $1.00 The WEDNESDAY ■ MARCH 30, 2016 CLINTWOOD, VA. VOL. 34, NO. 13 USPS 684-350 County tax rates stay the same County accepts BY RODERICK MULLINS Supervisors had discussed the rates during a budg- ★ STAFF WRITER et workshop earlier this month. deeds to school During board members’ comments later in last CLINTWOOD — County real estate and personal week’s meeting, Sandlick District representative Ron property tax rates won’t change next fiscal year. Peters reminded the crowd that while tax rates will The Dickenson County Board of Supervisors voted remain the same, “hard decisions are coming” this properties 5-0 March 22 to maintain current rates for 2016-17: year with regard to the budget. • real estate and mobile homes, 56 cents per $100 Chairwoman Shelbie Willis, Kenady District, BY RODERICK MULLINS of assessed value; added that no one anticipated the severity of last year’s ★ STAFF WRITER • personal property and machinery and tools, $1.82 job losses in the county and loss of revenue. “We sim- per $100 of assessed value; ply had the rug pulled out from under our feet,” noted CLINTWOOD — The Dickenson County Board of • merchant’s capital, $10.50 per $100 of assessed Willis. Supervisors last week accepted ownership of three vacat- value. Willis District supervisor Jason Compton also ed school properties. No one spoke during a public hearing before the noted that budget changes will be required for the The board voted 5-0 in three separate motions to meeting on the proposed rates. county to survive financially. accept deeds for Clintwood and Haysi high and Longs Fork middle schools on March 22. The county school board passed a resolution last November giving ownership to the properties to the coun- ty. The three schools were closed as part of a restructur- Easter fun ing plan that included construction of new consolidated high and middle schools with the help of federal funding for a Corps of Engineers plan to remove schools out of flood zones. At the beginning of this school year, the division reduced its number of schools from seven to five: one comprehensive high school with career and technical pro- grams, a middle school for grades six through eight on the same campus, and three elementary schools in each com- munity containing grades pre-K through five. The board of supervisors will now decide the build- ings’ fates, but has not yet discussed options. The properties include: Clintwood High School’s main building and “annex” (the original Dickenson Memorial High School). Longs Fork Middle School; and Haysi High School’s main building that sits above Route 80. Excluded in the transfer are the remaining properties at Clintwood High School, including the athletic fields, agriculture building, field house and the building that cur- rently houses the Dickenson County Historical Society. Excluded in the transfer at Haysi are the buildings between the main building and the Russell Fork River, which include the agriculture/shop and band buildings. Those buildings, according to a contract with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, must be torn down as part of a flood control plan. The school board voted unanimously in February to advertise a request for proposals for demolition of those structures, along with the old Ervinton high and Clinchco Volunteers warmly greet visitors as they register children at Saturday’s fifth annual elementary schools. Community Egg Hunt at Haysi Kiwanis Park. The event is sponsored by Haysi-Clinchco Once the structures are demolished, the school board Lions Club, Haysi Kiwanis Club, towns of Haysi and Clinchco, and Haysi Partners. will deed the property back to the board of supervisors. Governor vetoes Eight-year- remaining coal old Peyton Lyall, a tax credit bill Sandlick BY JEFF LESTER Elementary ★ STAFF WRITER School stu- Gov. Terry McAuliffe has now vetoed the House ver- dent, grate- sion of a bill aimed at extending coal tax credits for ener- fully accepts gy and coal producers beyond their Jan. 1, 2017, expira- tion date. a candy treat Local legislators’ attention now turns to seeking at Saturday’s enough votes to override McAuliffe’s veto when the General Assembly returns to Richmond April 20. event from The governor’s office announced late last Wednesday afternoon, March 23, that McAuliffe vetoed House Bill the Easter 298 (Terry Kilgore, R-Gate City). Bunny him- On March 11, the governor vetoed the Senate version of the bill, SB 44 (Bill Carrico, R-Grayson County). self, played In both cases, McAuliffe cited a 2012 Joint Legislative by Ridgeview Audit and Review Commission study on Virginia’s vari- ous tax credits. JLARC concluded that while the coal tax High student credits were created to slow the decline of coal produc- Dakota Mills. tion and employment, “both declined at the same or even PLEASE SEE COAL, PAGE 5 SUBSCRIBER INFORMATION HERE SUBSCRIBER INFORMATION Health assessment ranks county, region low BY KATIE DUNN with Emporia being the least Of the four health factor cate- overall health. The Lenowisco ★ STAFF WRITER healthy, followed by Petersburg, gories assessed for the rankings, district includes Wise, Scott and Danville, Bristol, and social and economic factors (edu- Lee counties and the city of A national health assessment Martinsville. cation, employment, income, Norton. released last week has again Out of Virginia’s 134 locali- family and social support, and The assessment also assists ranked Dickenson County resi- ties, Dickenson County ranked community safety) carried the communities in identifying “their dents’ health among the lowest 122nd for length and quality of most weight at 40 percent. Health most pressing health problems so statewide. life and 125th when considering behaviors (tobacco, drug and they can work together on solu- The seventh annual “County four other categories (health alcohol use, diet and exercise, tions.” Citing the above criteria Health Rankings & Roadmaps” behaviors, clinical care, social and sexual activity) accounted for that determines the rankings, was released March 16 by the and economic factors, and physi- 30 percent. Access to and quality Cantrell said, “health is every- University of Wisconsin cal environment factors). of clinical care comprised 20 per- one’s business — individuals and Population Health Institute and Other far Southwest Virginia cent, and a person’s physical the health care system certainly, the Robert Wood Johnson county rankings include: Wise, environment (air and water quali- but importantly also employers, Foundation. 124th for length and quality of ty and housing and transit condi- educators and local leaders, so all The rankings assess the over- life and 123rd for other weighted tions) accounted for 10 percent. stakeholders in a community all health for almost every county health factors; Tazewell, 126th must work together to improve nationwide. In Virginia, the five and 110th; Buchanan, 129th and INTERPRETING the health of residents.” healthiest counties were all locat- 133rd; Lee, 108th and 129th; THE NUMBERS Asked why many far ed in northern, central and east- Russell, 97th and 118th; Scott, Lenowisco Health District Southwest Virginia localities ern Virginia: Loudoun, Fairfax, 96th and 99th; and Washington, director Sue Cantrell, said last often rank among the least Arlington, Albemarle, and York, 59th and 55th. The city of Norton week that the annual rankings healthiest statewide, Margie respectively. The state’s five least ranked 91st and 79th, respective- help show that where people live, healthy localities were all cities, ly. work and play can influence their PLEASE SEE HEALTH, PAGE 5 PAGE 2 ■ WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30, 2016 ■ THE DICKENSON STAR Reunion photographs tell family stories SUBMITTED BY EDITH FAYE REDDEN DICKENSON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY VICE-PRESIDENT Spring has arrived; and with the upcoming summer season, families will begin planning and attending fami- ly reunions. Readers will soon be reminded of their par- ticular family reunions in notices published in The Dickenson Star newspaper. For many years here in Dickenson County, residents from far and near have proudly attended those gatherings. Family reunions are a great time to capture the photo- graphs of family members of all ages. Sometimes photo- graphs are made of the entire group attending the gather- ing. Other times photographs are made of smaller family groups which belong to the larger family. Then there are the individual photos of family members. Such photos tell the story of a family. As the old saying goes, a photo- graph is worth a thousand words! This week, the photos that appear with the article help tell the story of family reunions. For my sister (Susan Mullins), and me, (Edith Faye Redden), our family reunion photos are priceless. We The William B. Sutherland family reunion was held at ‘Fairview’ on Sept. 12, 1928. The fam- searched through our albums for photos to use in this ily home place was named Fairview by their son, E. J. Sutherland, pictured in the lower left week’s article. corner of the photo. This photo was found in the photo album of E. J. Sutherland. We also searched through photo albums that were compiled by E. J. Sutherland. His son, William “Bill” reunion in Dickenson Sutherland, has allowed us to scan the photos, which are County, and the Deel being archived with the Dickenson County Historical reunion in Buchanan and Society. Then, we searched through the written files of E. Dickenson Counties. Other J. Sutherland, which have also been donated to the his- families are getting inter- torical society by his son. We found the following essay ested in this kind of family that was written by E. J. Sutherland. Although it was not get-together, and ere long dated, we believe it was written in the late 1930s.