Local News

More than 3,700 small post offices across the United States will get a reprieve under a new cost-cutting initiative approved by the U.S. Postal Service.
The previous plan was to close the low-revenue post offices to save money.
Whitetop was the only post office on the closing list in Grayson County.
The new plan is not to close the post offices but to operate less hours.
Several area post offices will operate fewer hours under the new proposed postal service plan.

A home on Saddle Mountain Road in the Glade Valley community of Alleghany County, N.C., was heavily damaged by a fire last Thursday morning.
The home was owned by David and Crystal Bright.
David Higgins, chief of the Glade Creek Volunteer Fire Department, termed the fire “suspicious.” He called in the State Bureau of Investigation to investigate the cause of the fire that heavily damaged the home.
The Cherry Lane Volunteer Fire Department and the Galax Volunteer Fire Department also assisted at the fire scene.

Associates of Willing Partners in Galax recently spoke in Washington, D.C. about the impact of a possible 50 percent reduction in USDA foods that are donated to food banks, including those who service Southwest Virginia.
Kathy Cooley of Willing Partners spoke to U.S. Department of Agriculture staffers and congressional aides in Washington.
She was accompanied by Willing Partners founder Ted Bartlett and board chairman Frank Ceary, and Susanne Cresswell of Feeding America in Salem.

Independence Town Manager Kenneth Vaught resigned his position last week in a letter to Independence Town Council.
After its regular meeting last Tuesday, town council went into closed session to discuss a personnel matter.
After a half hour session, council returned to regular session and Councilman Buddy Halsey made the motion to accept Vaught’s resignation, which council approved on a unanimous vote.
Halsey said the personnel committee would meet in the near future and advertise for a new town manager.