Justice Hill of Richlands sets the ball.
Justice Hill of Richlands sets the ball.
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1986 State champs relive the magic
Players, coaches and cheerleaders from the 1986 state champs.
The 1986 football season has a special place in the memory of many Tazewell residents and Bulldog fans.
The team came into the season favored to win the Southwest District and determined to play past Thanksgiving. They made it happen and made history with back-to-back wins over Virginia High in the last game of the regular season and the opening round of the playoffs.
They followed that with wins over Radford, Martinsville and Nottoway. Radford had Dana Palmer, known as Mighty Mouse, standing at 5-foot, 3-inches and weighing 195 pound at running back. Over a three-year high school career, Palmer ran for 3,245 yards and 44 touchdowns.
Martinsville arrived with Nikki Fisher, who accounted for over 2,000 yards in a four-year career at UVA and was a 10th round draft choice of the Chicago Bears. Nottoway featured Robert Jones a consensus All American at East Carolina and the 24th overall pick in the 1992 NFL draft.
A gritty bunch of Bulldogs, many of whom never played again after high school, backed by a community of believers bested each of those teams and brought home a state title.
Several players, coaches and others from that team reunited at the Tazewell-Virginia High game Oct. 2. Head Coach Dave Litz and several members of the coaching staff were on hand along with former players and cheerleaders.
While watching the current Bulldogs defeat Virginia High on the 100th anniversary of the first ever Tazewell High football game, they shared memories of a special time in the history of a small town.
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Tobacco Commission funds welding program
A new welding program at Southwest Virginia Community College and funding for the GED programs were among the items dealt with at the third quarter meeting of the Tobacco Region Revitalization Committee Sept. 29-30.
SWCC was awarded a $135,000.00 grant to support the establishment of a new Workforce Accelerator for Robotic and Orbital Welding program. This will address a critical regional demand for highly skilled industrial welders. The requested Commission funds will be utilized directly to purchase advanced training equipment, including a Lincoln Electric Cobot Welding System, alongside specialized instructor training, and essential program consumables.
Designed to train twenty students annually at the main campus and the Bluefield Center, the program will provide participants with industry-recognized credentials in automation and precision welding technologies. This initiative will prepare workers for high-performance sectors like modern manufacturing and energy production, helping to fill a projected regional need for six hundred new welders over the next five years.
The commission also funded the Washington County Public School System Dba Mount Rogers Regional Adult Education Program Southwest Virginia RACE to GED Program with a $140,000.00 Grant. This award will support a regional partnership of three adult education programs serving 16 Southwest Virginia localities as they seek to help residents attain their high school equivalency diplomas. Specifically, Commission funds will be used to cover GED and National External Diploma Program (NEPD) testing and proctor fees, practice test vouchers, National Career Readiness Certificate fees, and targeted program marketing. Building on a highly successful 20-year history of TRRC support, this three-year initiative aims to help an estimated 313 residents successfully complete their degrees.
By eliminating financial barriers to essential testing and credentials, the program provides a vital educational and career pathway in a region where approximately 16% of adults currently lack a high school diploma. Wytheville Community College Expanding Career Pathways and Work-Based Learning for Southwest Virginia $200,000.00 Grant This award will support the establishment of a comprehensive Career Services Center and formal Work-Based Learning infrastructure. Specifically, Commission funds will be utilized directly for the renovation and construction of dedicated space within Smyth Hall to house the new facility. Once open, the center will equip students with essential career readiness resources, including resume assistance, interview preparation, and direct connections to regional employers for internships and apprenticeships. By targeting high-demand fields such as healthcare, IT, and skilled trades, this initiative aims to significantly improve graduate employment rates and seamlessly bridge the gap between credential completion and meaningful careers. associate degree programs.
Tazewell County Career and Technical Center's Masonry group had fun and brought home some surprises.
Tazewell County Career and Technical Center's Masonry group had fun and brought home some surprises.
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Funding deadline extended for Project Jonah
Project Jonah is still alive.
During its Sept. 29-30 meeting the Tobacco Region Revitalization Committee granted a final performance period extension to Pure Salmon LLC.
The extension until March 31 of 2027 will bring the performance period into alignment with state partners. The project was awarded a Tobacco Region Opportunity Fund grant of $1.5 million to the to the Tazewell County IDA (The “Authority”) and Dominion Aquaculture, LLC., now “Pure Salmon,’’ with a performance period of July 2020 through June 2023 and was subsequently extended through June 2025.
The performance agreement required the Company to employ 218 individuals with an average annual wage of $59,133 and to provide new private taxable investment of $228,084,000. This was a preperformance agreement and accordingly the full $1.5 million has been disbursed according to the minutes of the Tobacco Commission.
The minutes also said “the project has seen significant delays due to a variety of setbacks, including pandemic related issues, significant increases in construction costs, inflation, etc. Currently, an Abu Dhabi-based company, Pure Salmon, still intends to build a fish farm on the site. Staff acknowledge that while a great deal of work has been put into grading and site preparation, the timeline for the project as initially conceived remains indefinite. Due to significant project delays, the Virginia Economic Development Partnership Board of Directors authorized a final performance period extension through March 31, 2027, for the Commonwealth’s Development Opportunity Fund Award (COF). It is understood that this is a final extension, and the company has agreed to those terms. Staff recommend a final extension for carrying the performance out through March 31, 2027, to bring the performance period into alignment with the Commonwealth Opportunity Fund performance period.’
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Grants closing Richlands store
Tazewell Va. – It was a rocky weekend for Tazewell County businesses.
After a quarter of a century of operations, Grants Supermarket announced it is closing its Richlands location. The company issued a press release on Facebook after rumors were circulating in the community.
“After almost 25 years of serving the Richlands and Doran communities, we are saddened to announce that our Grants Supermarket in Richlands will close at the end of business on Saturday, October 10,’ the press relase said.
The announcement of the Richlands closing comes less than two years after the company closed its Tazewell location. The closing leaves the company with stores in Bluefield Virginia and Smithers, Princeton and Oak Hill in West Virginia.
“This is an incredibly difficult decision and one we did not make lightly. Our lease on the Richlands location will be expiring soon, and at the same time, we have faced dramatically rising operating costs. Like many families and businesses throughout our community, we have struggled with increasing utility expenses. Over the past two years, the utility bill for this location alone has averaged more than $25,000 per month. With the lease nearing its end, these continuing costs made the difficult decision not to renew unavoidable. the press release said.
Grants originally operated at a location in Doran before moving to its current spot in the Richlands mall several years ago.
