A-1 Star
■ WEATHER PAGE 3
■ OBITUARIES Page 4
■ OPINION Page 6
The
■ SPORTS Page 8
■ IN TOUCH Page 11
■ CLASSIFIEDS Page 14
$1.00
WEDNESDAY ■ OCTOBER 19, 2016
CLINTWOOD, VA.
VOL. 34, NO. 42
USPS 684-350
Summit focuses on school funding inequities Dickenson County Schools Superintendent Haydee Robinson led the crowd down a troubling but familiar population overview, showing the coalfield region’s dramatic losses — 40,000 people since 1980 and 16,000 fewer people under age 18 since 1990.
BY JENAY TATE
WISE — School and government leaders from across the coalfields got promises of support and words of caution during an Oct. 13 summit on inequities in state funding for education. Speaking on behalf of a Southwest Virginia legislative delegation as the summit drew to a close, Republican Del. Terry Kilgore commended the ideas and priorities shared that night during the gathering at UVa-Wise. Kilgore promised to return before the end of the year to discuss specif-
ic measures to put forth in the next session of the General Assembly. While some believe it is time to alter the local composite index, Kilgore warned against it. “I’m not certain we want to change it,” he said, but working to get more recent information into the formula would be worthwhile. The data is used to determine a locality’s ability to pay for education and is likely two or three years old, he said. Getting updated information is in line with one of the ideas being proposed at the summit. Holding school divisions harmless from enrollment loss through some kind of funding protection was another idea advanced
that night. Sen. Bill Carrico of Galax, new chair of the kindergarten through 12th grade subcommittee of the finance committee, was thinking along the same lines. Carrico was at a K-12 retreat and couldn’t make the night’s summit but texted Kilgore that a hold-harmless approach has potential. There is state precedent for such a step, summit speakers pointed out. Dickenson County Schools Superintendent Haydee Robinson led the crowd down a troubling but familiar popuPLEASE SEE SUMMIT, PAGE 5
Progress continues on Ridgeview Trail system BY PAULA CULBERTSON EDITOR
RITA SURRATT PHOTOS
Color show starts Autumn’s showcase of colors is expected to peak in the next two weeks. Breaks Interstate Park, above, is among the most popular local spots to view fall’s splendor. At right, kayakers on the Russell Fork River, captured here from the Bartlick bridge, had great weather and spectatular scenery over the weekend.
HAYSI — Construction of a multi-use trail system here continues on schedule, with completion still targeted by the end of fall. The Ridgeview Trail, part of the larger Spearhead Trails system, includes two separate parts going in opposite directions — one for all-terrain and off-highway vehicles and another for horses. Haysi resident Charlotte Mullins, chair of the Southwest Regional Recreation Authority, said in a recent interview she is pleased with the trails’ progress. A groundbreaking ceremony to celebrate start of trail construction was held in May. Finishing touches are being put on the 8-10 mile long equestrian trail, she said. The aim is to eventually connect the trail to Breaks Interstate Park. Mullins said just as the ATV trails offer routes for beginner to more advanced riders, the horse trail offers three different levels of difficulty. The Haysi equestrian trail is the first one the authority has tackled. Up until this point, it has constructed only ATV/OHV trails. Most of the Ridgeview ATV/OHV trail on the Haysi Kiwanis side of Route 80 is finished. That trail is expected to be about 50 miles long. As of two weeks ago, access points to the town of Haysi
PLEASE SEE TRAIL, PAGE 5
State cuts: local program affected BY JEFF LESTER ★ STAFF WRITER
Gov. Terry McAuliffe last week announced a variety of cost-cutting measures to cope with a
S U B S C R I B E R I N F O R M AT I O N H E R E
potential $1.5 billion budget shortfall. Among the local effects is the fact that pay raises for state employees and public school teachers will be canceled. Other specific local effects include: • Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy: McAuliffe’s plan includes eliminating
PAGE 5: Statewide overview of cost-cutting measures. nonessential vacant positions, filling positions vacated by senior staff with more junior staff and using non-general fund dollars, cutting costs by $196,441.
Also, some general fund personnel costs in the administrative division would be covered by nongeneral funds, saving $19,669. DMME spokesperson Tarah Kesterson explained Monday that the agency will leave two vacant positions in the Division of Mined Land Reclamation unfilled and will fill two
geology positions at a lower pay rate. Also, a grant-funded energy position was eliminated and the money will go toward funding “a previously general funded position.” • Tourism. State funding for the Spearhead Trails off-highway recreational trail system in the coalfields will be cut by 5 percent, or $15,000.
• Arts. The Virginia Commission for the Arts will reduce the second payment on certain grants, saving $151,088. According to commission Executive Director Margaret Vanderhye, these cuts are unfortunate but could have been much worse. SEE CUTS, PAGE 5
Caney Ridge native rediscovers value of ‘mountain medicine’ BY RODERICK MULLINS ★ STAFF WRITER
Growing up on Caney Ridge in Dickenson County, Cathy Robinson Zeigler had no interest in the “weeds” that grew around her home. Years later as an adult, though, she would come to appreciate the medicinal value offered by some of the plants and herbs found in the mountains where she grew up. After spending more than 20
years in the Washington, D.C. and Maryland area, Zeigler has returned home in a sense, with a move to Abingdon in Southwest Virginia. Now she wants to share what she’s learned. But it’s not related to her knowledge of urban living. Zeigler is actually interested in sharing what she has learned of about “the old ways” of mountain medicine, how pioneers used what nature provided in the mountains to heal, from making tea from
roots to concocting salve from plant extract. Zeigler was raised on “the FourWay end of Caney Ridge,” as many locals refer to it. She is the daughter of Joe and Sharon Robinson, who owned a story on the ridge for many years before closing it and moving to the Abingdon area. Before her parents’ move, Zeigler graduated Clintwood High School, where she was a marching band member, in the late 1980s.
“When I was growing up in Clintwood and you tried to take me out to the barn and show me where chicory was growing and Queen Anne’s lace and more, as a young girl, I couldn’t have cared less about that,” noted Zeigler with laugh during a recent interview. Zeigler went to college, but grew restless and uncertain as to what the region’s future may hold for her. The coal business and local SEE ZEIGLER, PAGE 4
■ OBITUARIES Page 4
■ OPINION Page 6
The
■ SPORTS Page 8
■ IN TOUCH Page 11
■ CLASSIFIEDS Page 14
$1.00
WEDNESDAY ■ OCTOBER 19, 2016
CLINTWOOD, VA.
VOL. 34, NO. 42
USPS 684-350
Summit focuses on school funding inequities Dickenson County Schools Superintendent Haydee Robinson led the crowd down a troubling but familiar population overview, showing the coalfield region’s dramatic losses — 40,000 people since 1980 and 16,000 fewer people under age 18 since 1990.
BY JENAY TATE
WISE — School and government leaders from across the coalfields got promises of support and words of caution during an Oct. 13 summit on inequities in state funding for education. Speaking on behalf of a Southwest Virginia legislative delegation as the summit drew to a close, Republican Del. Terry Kilgore commended the ideas and priorities shared that night during the gathering at UVa-Wise. Kilgore promised to return before the end of the year to discuss specif-
ic measures to put forth in the next session of the General Assembly. While some believe it is time to alter the local composite index, Kilgore warned against it. “I’m not certain we want to change it,” he said, but working to get more recent information into the formula would be worthwhile. The data is used to determine a locality’s ability to pay for education and is likely two or three years old, he said. Getting updated information is in line with one of the ideas being proposed at the summit. Holding school divisions harmless from enrollment loss through some kind of funding protection was another idea advanced
that night. Sen. Bill Carrico of Galax, new chair of the kindergarten through 12th grade subcommittee of the finance committee, was thinking along the same lines. Carrico was at a K-12 retreat and couldn’t make the night’s summit but texted Kilgore that a hold-harmless approach has potential. There is state precedent for such a step, summit speakers pointed out. Dickenson County Schools Superintendent Haydee Robinson led the crowd down a troubling but familiar popuPLEASE SEE SUMMIT, PAGE 5
Progress continues on Ridgeview Trail system BY PAULA CULBERTSON EDITOR
RITA SURRATT PHOTOS
Color show starts Autumn’s showcase of colors is expected to peak in the next two weeks. Breaks Interstate Park, above, is among the most popular local spots to view fall’s splendor. At right, kayakers on the Russell Fork River, captured here from the Bartlick bridge, had great weather and spectatular scenery over the weekend.
HAYSI — Construction of a multi-use trail system here continues on schedule, with completion still targeted by the end of fall. The Ridgeview Trail, part of the larger Spearhead Trails system, includes two separate parts going in opposite directions — one for all-terrain and off-highway vehicles and another for horses. Haysi resident Charlotte Mullins, chair of the Southwest Regional Recreation Authority, said in a recent interview she is pleased with the trails’ progress. A groundbreaking ceremony to celebrate start of trail construction was held in May. Finishing touches are being put on the 8-10 mile long equestrian trail, she said. The aim is to eventually connect the trail to Breaks Interstate Park. Mullins said just as the ATV trails offer routes for beginner to more advanced riders, the horse trail offers three different levels of difficulty. The Haysi equestrian trail is the first one the authority has tackled. Up until this point, it has constructed only ATV/OHV trails. Most of the Ridgeview ATV/OHV trail on the Haysi Kiwanis side of Route 80 is finished. That trail is expected to be about 50 miles long. As of two weeks ago, access points to the town of Haysi
PLEASE SEE TRAIL, PAGE 5
State cuts: local program affected BY JEFF LESTER ★ STAFF WRITER
Gov. Terry McAuliffe last week announced a variety of cost-cutting measures to cope with a
S U B S C R I B E R I N F O R M AT I O N H E R E
potential $1.5 billion budget shortfall. Among the local effects is the fact that pay raises for state employees and public school teachers will be canceled. Other specific local effects include: • Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy: McAuliffe’s plan includes eliminating
PAGE 5: Statewide overview of cost-cutting measures. nonessential vacant positions, filling positions vacated by senior staff with more junior staff and using non-general fund dollars, cutting costs by $196,441.
Also, some general fund personnel costs in the administrative division would be covered by nongeneral funds, saving $19,669. DMME spokesperson Tarah Kesterson explained Monday that the agency will leave two vacant positions in the Division of Mined Land Reclamation unfilled and will fill two
geology positions at a lower pay rate. Also, a grant-funded energy position was eliminated and the money will go toward funding “a previously general funded position.” • Tourism. State funding for the Spearhead Trails off-highway recreational trail system in the coalfields will be cut by 5 percent, or $15,000.
• Arts. The Virginia Commission for the Arts will reduce the second payment on certain grants, saving $151,088. According to commission Executive Director Margaret Vanderhye, these cuts are unfortunate but could have been much worse. SEE CUTS, PAGE 5
Caney Ridge native rediscovers value of ‘mountain medicine’ BY RODERICK MULLINS ★ STAFF WRITER
Growing up on Caney Ridge in Dickenson County, Cathy Robinson Zeigler had no interest in the “weeds” that grew around her home. Years later as an adult, though, she would come to appreciate the medicinal value offered by some of the plants and herbs found in the mountains where she grew up. After spending more than 20
years in the Washington, D.C. and Maryland area, Zeigler has returned home in a sense, with a move to Abingdon in Southwest Virginia. Now she wants to share what she’s learned. But it’s not related to her knowledge of urban living. Zeigler is actually interested in sharing what she has learned of about “the old ways” of mountain medicine, how pioneers used what nature provided in the mountains to heal, from making tea from
roots to concocting salve from plant extract. Zeigler was raised on “the FourWay end of Caney Ridge,” as many locals refer to it. She is the daughter of Joe and Sharon Robinson, who owned a story on the ridge for many years before closing it and moving to the Abingdon area. Before her parents’ move, Zeigler graduated Clintwood High School, where she was a marching band member, in the late 1980s.
“When I was growing up in Clintwood and you tried to take me out to the barn and show me where chicory was growing and Queen Anne’s lace and more, as a young girl, I couldn’t have cared less about that,” noted Zeigler with laugh during a recent interview. Zeigler went to college, but grew restless and uncertain as to what the region’s future may hold for her. The coal business and local SEE ZEIGLER, PAGE 4
