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Jim Talbert
Beth Maxfield, owner and chief of dairy operations for Redbud
Creamery, LLC, front, is surrounded by Redbud Creamery employees
(back) Stevey Howell, dairy operations lead; Breanna Maxfield,
livestock and milk operations lead; Jensen Meade, operations
manager; and Luna Dunne and Alex Dunne, facility and operations
interns. Not Pictured is Steve Maxfield, chief engineering and
financial officer. Redbud Creamery, LLC is a recent recipient of a
$10,000 VCEDA Seed Capital Matching Grant.
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Jim Talbert
Beth Maxfield, owner and chief of dairy operations for Redbud
Creamery, LLC, front, is surrounded by Redbud Creamery employees
(back) Stevey Howell, dairy operations lead; Breanna Maxfield,
livestock and milk operations lead; Jensen Meade, operations
manager; and Luna Dunne and Alex Dunne, facility and operations
interns. Not Pictured is Steve Maxfield, chief engineering and
financial officer. Redbud Creamery, LLC is a recent recipient of a
$10,000 VCEDA Seed Capital Matching Grant.
Richland_clinch_valley
Wagner park on track to open in fall
Jim Talbert
Construction is underway and the date is set for the dedication of Billy Wagner Tribute Park.
Organizers say the work is on schedule, and the ceremony will be held Oct. 17 at two pm. Wagner will be in town for the ceremony which will coincide with the Tazewell High School homecoming weekend and the induction ceremonies for the school's Hall of Fame.
While work is underway and moving forward, the committee is still accepting donations.
“As construction moves forward, we are still accepting donations to help us complete this special project. Every donation — large or small — gets us closer to the finish line and helps ensure that Billy’s story and accomplishments are honored in a way that makes our entire community proud," a post on the park’s Facebook page said.
He was inducted into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in July 2025.
A Tazewell High and Ferrum College graduate, Wagner was the 12th overall pick in the 1993 Major League draft by the Houston Astros. He was a seven-time major league all-star with four different teams.
Griffith visits sheriff's office to celebrate new equipment
Jim Talbert
Sheriff Brian Hieatt and Captain Randy Ann Davis joined
Congressman Morgan Griffith to talk about the new equipment. Jim
Talbert
jtalbert / Jim Talbert
The News & Press
Public safety in Tazewell County got a big boost from the federal government and U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith came to celebrate the occasion on Aug. 19.
Griffith joined Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine in earmarking over $3.7 million for upgrades to its communications system. The grant helped the county's EMS get new radios with better capabilities for all the county's fire departments, rescue squads, the sheriff's office, and police departments.
During his stop in Tazewell, Griffith toured the 911 facility and looked at the equipment purchased with the money.  He acknowledged the support of Warner and Kaine in obtaining the funds.
“I led the charge on this one but without the help of the two senators we disagree on politics, but when it comes to things like this, we’ve always worked well,’ he said. The money came from community development projects that are allotted to federal representatives each year.
The county was required to invest in the project, and the board of supervisors allocated the balance of the more than $four million costs of the project and the sheriff’s office and others did the paperwork.
Griffith credited the local government for having everything in place as a big part of its success. 911 Director Randy Ann Davis said the project was near and drear to her. She said the final phase of the project will enable all the agencies in the county to operate on the same channel.
She said paging will also become one and done once the project is complete. Davis said the multi-channel portable radios will also enable them to communicate with school resource officers directly.
Hieatt said 1.7 million calls per year go through the 911 center.Â
Barry Brooks said replacing the aging radios would make a world of difference on the fire and rescue side. He said being able to communicate on the same channel will allow all agencies to know what they face enroute to an emergency.
Richlands' Bryan Hay tackles Virginia High's Prince
Williams.
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Emily Ball
Richlands' Bryan Hay tackles Virginia High's Prince
Williams.
Richland_clinch_valley
Date set for Mathias hearing
Jim Talbert
A Sept. 9 hearing is set for an evidentiary hearing in connection with a motion for a writ of habeas corpus filed by Marticia Mathias.
Mathias was convicted of first-degree murder and two counts of conspiracy in an October 2023 jury trail.Â
 Mathias filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus on July 29, 2025. The Department of Corrections and Chad Dotson, who was director of the department of corrections at the time, are defendants in the suit.
The state Supreme Court issued an order July 1 directing the Tazewell circuit court to schedule and conduct an evidentiary hearing to determine if Mathias unequivocally and timely instructed her attorney to note an appeal and whether she was denied an appeal she otherwise would have taken due to ineffective assistance of counsel.
The circuit court was also ordered to appoint counsel for Mathias and to hold the hearing within 90 days of the order. Â Bryan Jones, a criminal defense attorney from Christiansburg, is representing Mathias.
Robert D. Bauer from the attorney general’s office will represent the commonwealth. Within 60 days of the conclusion of the hearing the circuit court must report its findings to the Supreme Court. Those findings will include a record of the proceedings including any transcripts.
The Supreme Court is holding Mathias’ petition until it has the results of the evidentiary hearing. Mathias was charged along with Gabriel “Goob" Peery and John Austin Fields in the death of 63-year-old Douglas French of Tannersville and the malicious wounding of Ronald Allison of Thompson Valley.
Peery pleaded guilty in March 2024 to first-degree murder and malicious wounding. He was sentenced to a total of 40 years with 15 suspended.Â
Fields pleaded guilty to malicious wounding and accessory after the fact to murder.  He was sentenced to a total of 10 years and one month with six years suspended. Fields, who had been held in jail since his arrest, was given credit for time served when he was sentenced in June 2024.
In Virginia, a habeas corpus petition is a civil action challenging the lawfulness of a person’s detention. It is not an appeal of the conviction itself, but a direct challenge to the legality of confinement.
The most recent successful habeas corpus case in Virginia was Prease v. Clarke, decided by the Supreme Court of Virginia on July 6, 2023. In that case, the court granted the petitioner’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus and ordered the release of Steven Patrick Prease from custody. Prease had been convicted of attempted aggravated murder and argued that the Virginia Department of Corrections had misinterpreted the law, leading to his wrongful denial of earned sentence credits. The court agreed, finding that the misinterpretation miscalculated his release date, and ordered immediate release upon correction of the error.
A former special education teacher at Richlands Elementary School pleaded guilty to one count of cruelty to a child in Tazewell County Circuit Court on Aug. 17.
Jessica McCoy, 42, had been charged with two counts of cruelty to a child and two counts of abduction of a minor in February 2025. The second cruelty charge and the two abduction charges were dismissed.
McCoy was sentenced to two years suspended with one year of probation. Officers with the Richlands Police Department charged McCoy after investigating claims that a 5-year-old special needs student had been taped to a desk.
Ginger Shortt of Raven was also charged with two counts of cruelty to a child and one count of failure to report child abuse by a mandatory reporter. Shortt worked in the same classroom as McCoy and was also dismissed from her job with the school system.
Shortt is still awaiting a preliminary hearing in Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court, which is scheduled for Sept. 22.
Russell County Commonwealth’s Attorney Zach Stoots served as special prosecutor in the McCoy case.
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