Business

FRIES – Fries recently received good news regarding its water operations.
Mayor Gary Sumner said at last Tuesday’s Town Council meeting that the Office of Drinking Water, Abingdon Field Office, Department of Health, recently presented the town with a 2011 Excellence in Waterworks Operations Gold Award.
According to a letter from Eric Herold, district engineer, “This award indicates your water treatment plant met the Virginia Optimization Program goals for clarification, filtration and filter backwash during 2011.”

While the economy makes it difficult for community banks to make money, financial conditions overall are improving, according to recent reports from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
For the Twin Counties, this national trend is mirrored in the area’s only locally-owned financial institution, Grayson National Bank, and leaders plan to present those findings during an annual meeting May 8.

Twin County Regional Hospital was among 10 Virginia hospitals recognized for exceptional performances with the Virginia Paternity Establishment Program by the Virginia Department of Social Services.
The Division of Child Support Enforcement sponsors the paternity establishment program that offers unmarried parents the opportunity to establish paternity of their newborns by voluntarily acknowledging paternity prior to leaving the hospital.
Virginia has 59 medical facilities serving parents statewide.

One Grayson County landowner wants the farm land preserved where her great-great-grandmother lived and opposes the location of a cell phone tower there.
Another resident with heart problems believes it’s a safety hazard not to have cell phone coverage.
The Grayson County Planning Commission approved on Feb. 21 a conditional use permit for a cell tower to be erected near the Blue Ridge Parkway, after an hour-long debate between landowners — some fighting to preserve the land and some wanting U.S. Cellular to move forward in providing wider coverage.