VCEDA Executive Director/General Counsel Jonathan Belcher, right, provides an update on VCEDA activities during a meeting of the board Thursday in Lebanon.
VCEDA Executive Director/General Counsel Jonathan Belcher, right, provides an update on VCEDA activities during a meeting of the board Thursday in Lebanon.
Prior to the start of the Sept. 10 game with Lee High, a giant American Flag was unveiled to honor veterans and commemorate 9/11.
Prior to the start of the Sept. 10 game with Lee High, a giant American Flag was unveiled to honor veterans and commemorate 9/11.
Tazewell Va. – Early voting for the Nov. 3 election starts Sept. 18.
The Tazewell County voter registrar’s office will be open for early voting Monday through Friday from eight am until four pm until Oct. 31. The office will be closed Oct. 12 in observance of Columbus Day.
Voters may cast an early in person ballot on Saturday Oct. 24 and Sunday Oct. 18 and 25. Saturday office hours will be from nine am to five pm and Sunday voting will be from 11 am until four pm.
A drop box will be available at the registrar’s starting Sept. 18. In person voting will be held at all polling places in the county Nov. 3 from six am until seven pm.
It will be a full ballot with three constitutional amendments, Senate and Congressional races and town elections. Republican Bert Mizusawa is challenging Incumbent Democrat Mark Warner in the senate race.
Morgan Griffith faces a challenge from Joy Powers in the ninth district congressional race. Bluefield does not have a mayor’s race but there are council seats up for grabs. Karen Rich, Kathi Payne, and Anglis Trigg are unopposed.
In Cedar Bluff Kenny Shepard, Travis Bender, and Joe Blair McGlothlin are on the ballot for three council seats. Richlands has Rod Cury facing a write in challenge from Nicole Helbert for mayor and Rick Wood, Laura Mollo, Lynna Mitchell, Frances Meadows, and Daniel Lankford on the ballot for the three council seats with Morgan Earp as a write in candidate.
In Pocahontas Ben Gibson is unopposed for Mayor and Karen Lafon, Ted Sluss Nadja Brodesser, and A Brad Belcher are on the ballot for council. Tazewell has three open council seats in the regular election and a special election for a two-year term to fill Joe Beasley’s spot.
 Renee Adair, Carrie Moore, Billy Jeffers, and Glen Keen are seeking the full terms of council. Beth Takach is the only candidate in a special election to fill the remaining two years of the seat vacated by Joe Beasley.
Beasley became mayor following the resignation of Michael Hoops and is unopposed in the mayor’s race. The amendments are yes or no questions and the first one deals with abortion.
The proposed amendment would add to the Virginia Constitution's Bill of Rights the fundamental right to make and conduct decisions about a person’s own reproductive care with only certain, specific exceptions. The proposed amendment specifically allows the state government to pass laws to regulate abortion care in the third trimester of pregnancy but requires any such law to allow for abortion care when it is medically needed to protect the life and health of the pregnant person or because the fetus is not viable.
The second questions ask should the Constitution of Virginia be amended to (i) remove the ban on same-sex marriage; (ii) affirm that two adults may marry regardless of sex, gender, or race; and (iii) require all legally valid marriages to be treated equally under the law?
The third amendment reads: Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended (i) to provide for the fundamental right to vote in the Commonwealth, (ii) to revise the qualifications of voters so that a person convicted of a felony is not entitled to vote during his period of incarceration but is automatically invested with the right to vote upon release from incarceration, and (iii) to update the existing prohibition on voting by persons found to be mentally incompetent to instead apply to persons who have been found to lack the capacity to understand the act of voting?
Weekly brush and bulk pickup for town residents could change under a proposal made at the Sept. 8 town council meeting.
Interim Town Manager Don Marr and Public Works Director Jason Shepherd asked the council to change the pickup from weekly to two times per year. Marr told the council it would take $43 to cover the cost of a pickup from every householdÂ
Shepherd that the town made 108 trips to the landfill amounting to 362.24 tons of bulk and brush pickups over 180 days. Marr said the cost would be $21 per household if all of the town’s 2,500 households got two bulk and brush pickups pre year. He said the towns fee of $12 per year does not cover the cost to the town.
He recommended to change to one or two bulk pickups per resident per year for $12 per year with additional pickups at a fee.  Councilman Laura Mollo asked for a specific number of pickups and how would pickups be tracked. Bales moved to allow two bulk pickups per year per household starting Oct. 1. Seth White seconded it.
Marr said the pickups would be tracked and when a household asks for a third pickup it would be $43.30 per pickup. He said the town is set up to handle household trash and not construction materials or other large items.
After a lengthy discussion council asked Town Attorney Michael Thomas to draft a resolution for consideration at the October meeting.
[In other action council:]
*Appointed Phil Mohon to the planning commission.
*Appointed Rauby Elswick to the I/EDA.
*Discussed the need for two people to serve on the zoning board of appeals.
*Received an update on plans to address the flooding problems in various areas from Town Manager Don Marr and Public Works Supervisor Jason Shepherd.Â
 *Set trick or treat hours for 5:30 to 8 p.m. Oct. 31.
 *Approved a resolution to increase the budgeted amount for the generator from $14,310,363 to $17,400,000.
Treyton Kiser runs the ball against Lee High.
Treyton Kiser runs the ball against Lee High.
 A father and son were found dead in their Jewell Ridge home Sept. 8.
A press release from the Tazewell County Sheriff’s office said deputies responding to a  report of two male subjects suffering from apparent gunshot wounds found two men dead. They were identified as 44-year-old Leonard Mullins and 19-year-old Joseph Mullins, both residents of the home.
The press release did not identify them as father and son, but Facebook posts and obituaries did. Both men were pronounced dead the scene.
 The investigation was ongoing at the time of the press release but investigators believe it was an isolated incident.
