Although banks and government offices are closed for the Martin Luther King holiday, schools are open.

The Virginia Department of Transportation reports major highways are open but warn of slippery conditions and black ice on secondary roads.

The Floyd County Board of Supervisors elected first-term Courthouse Supervisor to the chairmanship Tuesday and second-term Little River representative Virgel Allen as vice chairman.

The Board also voted to expand its meeting schedule to two meetings a month: A day meeting beginning at 8:30 a.m. on the first Tuesday and an evening session starting at 7 p.m. on the fourth Tuesday.

Newly-elected Courthouse supervisor Lauren Yoder introduced the proposal to change the meeting schedule, saying he hoped evening meetings would increase citizen participation.  The public comment period at recent meetings have drawn a wide variety of opinions from county citizens as hot-button issues like wind turbines, the revised comprehensive plan and property rights emerge.

A full story on the meeting appears in this week’s Floyd Press along with my compilation video (above) on the paper’s web site.

Lots of changes on the Floyd scene as the old year rings out:

Lawrence Wood is closing the funeral home that bears his name.  Wood has buried a lot of people in Floyd County over the past 66 years, including my maternal grandparents. He’s been a fixture around here for a long, long time. (Update: Wood now reports that he has someone to take over the funeral home and he will remain during the transition.)

Protocol Automotive is becoming “Joe’s Garage,” reflecting the name of owner Joey Kaylor.

The Tea Party became a county-wide laughing stock when it tried to pack a public hearing on the proposed comprehensive plan with claims that the plan was a tool of the United Nations.  A lot of talk but little change in the plan, which will be discussed at the board of supervisors meeting in two weeks.

A lot of controversy over proposed wind turbine farms on Wills Ridge and possibly other places in the county.  The county board narrowly passed a proposed ordinance banning ridgeline development — including wind farms — but the ordinance faces what is expected to be a turbulent public hearing on Jan. 31.  If the county could harness all the hot air generated in the debate it could produce enough geo-thermal energy to power all the homes and businesses here.

The Floyd Country Store is curtailing its hours, starting next week, going from a six-day a week schedule to Thursday-Sunday.  The store expects to expand back to a fuller schedule when the tourist season kicks in.

The National Music Festival held its first season with critical acclaim, finished the year in the black and then packed up and left town for the Eastern Shore of Maryland, leaving some contributors feeling conned.

The Wine Tasting Shop at the Station on South Locust packed up and left.  Owners are still looking for someone to occupy the space vacated by the County Health Department and other vacancies in the complex.

Our old space at The Village Green — home for a brief while to a bicycle shop — remains empty.  It’s a nice corner location but the vacancy is a sign of the times not only in Floyd but elsewhere.  Floyd has fewer empty business spaces downtown than most communities. For that we can be thankful.

On The Run at the Exxon Station is now a Circle K.  Same owners, just a different name. Circle K bought the national On the Run chain from Exxon.

The video store is gone.  The Harris & Baker building remains empty.  Internal dissension continues to affect Angels in the Attic.  Prices are up and customers report often surly service from the new crop of volunteers brought in after the old timers left in a dispute with Kathy Blackwell.

Longtime school superintendent Terry Arbogast left under a cloud amid questions about his salary and a lack of accountability in public disclosure.  New school boss Kevin Harris is still getting his bearings.

The local elections put two new faces on the board of supervisors (Lauren Yoder and Joe Turman) as longtime supervisor and board chairman David Ingram lost out to Yoder in the primary and fell short in a write-in effort.  Challenges to two school board incumbents fell short.  Sheriff Shannon Zeman survived two opponents — a disgruntled former deputy and an Indian Valley resident with no law enforcement experience who said God told him to run and assured him he would win if he did.  No word yet from God on why his candidate lost.

Crime is up, court dockets are crowded and the crystal meth epidemic is spiraling out of control.  The sheriff’s department is busting a record numbers of meth labs.  Meth, it seems, is the new moonshine in Floyd County.

It’s been that kind of year.

(Edited on Jan. 8, 2012 to remove some material that a person named felt was unfair. My ap0ologies that my intent was apparently misunderstood.)

New River Valley Harley-Davidson in Christiansburg

New River Valley Harley-Davidson, Christiansburg, opened with much fanfare and high hopes in October 2008, shuts it doors at the end-of-business Saturday, Dec. 31.

The shop’s inventory will go to Roanoke Valley Harley-Davidson — which has the same owner — along with some employees.

Employees got the news Tuesday.  A sign announced “Clearance Consolidation” went up on the door and anything with the NRV logo or name on — T-shirts, etc. — is 50 percent off.  Employees began clearing parts and Harley items off the racks and calls to order parts were directed to the Roanoke Valley store.

Construction on the shop began in better economic times but the opening came just as the economic downturn sent Harley sales plummeting.  Several Harley dealers around the country have gone out of business.

Lloyd Shiffer, who owns  the Roanoke Valley and New River Valley operations, has put NRV building, just off I-81 in Christiansburg, up for sale.

The closing also means the end of the line for the 18-month-old New River Valley Harley Owners Group, which had planned a banquet next week to install its 2012 officers.  The banquet will still be held but will be for awards and a meeting with national H.O.G. representatives to discuss the group’s next steps.

If the proposed ordinance scheduled for a public hearing at Floyd County High School on Jan. 31, 2012, stands, proposed wind generator farms for Floyd County will never be built.

The Floyd County board of supervisors, in a 3-0 vote — with two of the five supervisors abstaining — gave preliminary approval Tuesday to an ordnance that would effectively ban development of the wind generator farms along the county’s ridge lines — along with any other development that extends more than 40 feet above virtually any ridge line.

The county has asked for use of the high school auditorium for what is expected to be a large crowd to discuss an issue that has dominated debate in the county for the past several months.

Supervisors had three choices: do nothing, create an ordinance regulating development or just ban it outright.

Several counties in Virginia regulate development on or near ridgelines.  Only two others prohibit it. If Floyd County’s proposed ordinance becomes law early next year, we will become the third.

Fasten your seat belts. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Ross Truett Ashley (Photo from Virginia State Police)

If you can believe those giving interviews to reporters about Ross Truett Ashley, the 22-year-old parttime Radford University student who gunned down a Virginia Tech police officer Thursday before blowing his own brains out, the murdering young man was just a “quiet, typical college student.”

Yet this typical, quiet college student — who made the Deans List at UVA-Wise — recently shaved his head and ran up and down the halls of his apartment building in Radford, where he stole a Mercedes-Benz SUV from his landlord the day before he decided to kill a cop for no apparent reason.

Virginia State Police identified Ashley Friday, saying the agency was sure he was the one who walked up to Tech police officer Deriek W. Crouse early Thursday afternoon and shot him in the head while the officer was sitting in his car following a routine traffic stop on the Blacksburg campus.

Ashley then fled to a campus parking area called The Cage and killed himself as a deputy closed in.

The part time student at Radford University lived in an apartment above a yogurt shop, consignment store and tattoo parlor in Radford. Neighbors said he was mostly quiet, although he had a habit of running up and down the hallway of the three-story apartment building.

Mandy Adams, a Radford grad student, told the Associated Press that Ashley recently shaved his head.

“He would just run down the hallway — never walk, always run,” Adams said. “It’s going to be really creepy when they come to stake his stuff out of here.”

Really creepy?  Some might think that a guy who runs up and down an apartment building hall and who shaved his head might be creepy as well. What do you call it when that same “quiet, typical college student” walks up to a police car and kills a war veteran, husband and father of five?

Related articles

• Radford student Ross Truett Ashley identified as alleged Virginia Tech gunman (100gf.wordpress.com)
• Va. Tech Gunman Called Quiet; Went to Small School (abcnews.go.com)
• Va. Tech shooter had no ties to the university – CBS News (cbsnews.com)
• Virginia Tech Gunman ‘From Nearby College’ (news.sky.com)

Locust Grove Supervisor Lauren Yoder and wife Chelsa check returns

In the end, an election that some felt would restructure Floyd County’s school board and redefine county government turned into an endorsement of the status quo.

Every incumbent on the general election ballot Tuesday won, including three sitting members of the school board and county sheriff Shannon Zeman, who trounced challenger Laura Sparks — a former deputy — 2-1.

After years of having at least one Democrat on the county board, the supervisors who take office January 1 will be 100 percent Republican.  The party of the elephant — running unopposed in board and constitutional offices — walked in without trouble.  Only independent Stephanie Shortt — returning unchallenged for a second term as commonwealth’s attorney — spoiled the GOP sweep.

A last minute write-in challenge by incumbent board of supervisors chairman David Ingram — who lost to challenger Lauren Yoder in the GOP caucus earlier this year — fell way short as Yoder cruised to victory along with unopposed incumbent Virgel Allen and newcomer Joe Turman, who also ran unopposed after Demoratic incumbent Bill Gardiner decided at the last minute to not seek re-election.

In the race for Floyd Town Council, challenger Dennis Wagner came close to unseating incumbent Mike Patton but — as in other races throughout the county — status quo ruled.

The three-way battle for sheriff became the county’s most-watched race with challenger Sparks waging a spirited campaign against popular incumbent Zeman and “God told me to run” challenger Paul Hill.  But the final result wasn’t even close: Zeman pulled in 2,760 votes to 1,292 for Sparks while Hills came in a distant third with 422.

While Republicans celebrated their sweep at an election watch at the library and Zeman hosted his deputies and supporters at his house, a hoped-for celebration by Sparks at Ray’s restaurant turned into a wake.

“It doesn’t look good,” Sparks texted to supporters as the early returns came in and she trailed from the start.

Yoder, openly surprised and disappointed with the last-minute write-in challenge from Ingram sweated out the evening until the Locust Grove returns came in last, giving him 599 votes to some 200 write-ins.

“I had to beat him twice,” Yoder said.

Melissa Keith won her unopposed race for treasurer along with Lisa Baker for Commissioner of Revenue.

After controversy over now-retired school superintendent Terry W. Arbogast’s budgetary sleight-of-hand with his escalating salary and perks, some expected at least some of the incumbents to lose but challenges against sitting board members Clay Link and David Sulzen fell short and Margaret Hubbard ran for re-election unopposed.  Link survived a three-way race in Locust Grove District while Sulzen beat former county administrator Henry McDaniel.

The big losers Tuesday?  Floyd County’s invisible Democratic party, which didn’t field a single candidate on the ballot and the always vocal but impotent tea party which failed to land a single victory and had no impact on any race.

Not much choice when it comes to the Floyd County Board of Supervisors. The only contested race — between longtime Locust Grove supervisor David Ingram and challenger Lauren Yoder — was decided in the GOP caucus with Yoder unseating the incumbent.  The board will be all Republican next year with two new faces: Yoder and retired deputy sheriff Joe Turman.

Unopposed contests for most of the Courthouse poistions: Commonwealth’s Attorney Stephanie Shortt faces no opposition in her bid for a second term.  Lisa Baker stands alone for Commissioner of Revenue as does Melissa (Missy) Keith for Treasurer.  Baker and Keith replace incumbents who decided not to run for another term.

Different story in the race for sheriff.  Shannon Zeman faces opposition from a former deputy — Laura Sparks — and Paul Hill, a heavy equipment mechanic with no law enforcement experience who says God told him to run.

School Board member Margaret Hubbard is unopposed in her bid for re-election while incumbents Clay Link faces challenges from Tea Party member Jesse Lawrence and David Lynn Cartwright and Dave Sulzen is opposed by former county administrator Henry McDaniel.

In the town of Floyd, three candidates — incumbent Michael Patton plus Ross Miller and Dennis Wagner.

The school board races — expected by some to be the hot contests this year after the controversy over now-retired school superintendent Terry Arbogast’s salary and perks package — fizzed in the stretch.  McDaniel’s against Sulzen is non-existent and the three-way race in Locust Grove is fairly quiet.

Which leaves the sheriff’s race.  While few — if any — expect the popular Zeman to lose, signs for his two opponents sit in a surprising number of yards throughout the county.  But a highly-touted campaign rally and fundraiser for Sparks — complete with bands and food — bombed.  She did receive an endorsement from retired state trooper Roger Abshire but members of the former trooper’s family have had their run-ins with current law enforcement officials and Abshire wasn’t all that popular when he handed out tickets on Floyd County roads.

Hill says that if he is elected sheriff, the first thing he will do is fire popular chief investigator Jeff Dalton — an interesting statement from a so-called man of God since Dalton is also pastor at Slate Mountain Presbyterian Church.

Some members of the tea party bragged early on that they would field a full slate of candidates to “take control” of county government but that claim — like so many of their actions — contained more hyperbole than substance. Yoder has some ties to the Tea Party but also is critical of the group’s extremism.

What surprised some this year was the complete evaporation of the Democratic party in Floyd County.  Democrat Bill Gardiner stepped down after just one term as Burks Fork Supervisor and the party of the donkey didn’t field a single candidate in any of the county races.

For state offices, control of the Virginia Senate is up in the air for Tuesday and Republicans could emerge with control of all levels of state government.

Tuesday is an off-year election with no statewide or federal races on the ballot, so turnout will be a question.  A low turnout could trigger some surprises when the ballots are counted.

If there is an election this year, you couldn’t prove it at our house. No candidate for office showed up at our door. No campaign propaganda came in the mail and we did not receive a single phone call from any candidate or political organization.

Writes Ben Pershing in Sunday’s Washington Post:

What if Virginia held an election and nobody came?

The outlook for Tuesday isn’t quite that stark. But owing to the quirks of the state’s calendar — which produces a ballot every four years featuring no federal or statewide races to drive turnout — there is a good chance that fewer than one-third of Virginia’s voters will show up at the polls.

Kevin Harris

Kevin Harris, director of Human Resources for the Carroll County school system, is Floyd County’s new superintendent of schools.

The county’s school board named Harris Wednesday night after interviewing seven of 17 applicants for the job.

Harris replaces Terry Arbogast, who held the job for 18 years but retires early under a cloud over questions about his salary and widespread public debate over his lack of transparency with the board of supervisors.

Arbogast leaves his post September 30, three months earlier than his originally announced retirement date.  A recent survey by the school board found more than half of the respondents wanted a new superintendent who displayed “more honesty” in leadership of the county’s educational system.

School board member Linda King told The Roanoke Times that Harris has more than 30 years of experience in education and was the unanimous choice by the school board.

Arbogast was widely praised for many of his accomplishments as the county’s school system but his relationship with some members of the county board of supervisors turned acrimonious in his final months when questions arose over how much he was actually paid as the school chief.

In recent years, the school board budget submitted to the supervisors showed the superintendent’s salary at $98,000 a year when it was much more. Arbogast later said his salary was $118,000 a year but information obtained under a freedom of information request revealed the superintendent’s total compensation package was actually $168,000 annually and was drawn from several accounts within the school system.

Floyd County’s four-year contract with Harris shows an annual salary of $112,000. In addition, the school board will provide a car and pay up to $3,000 for moving expenses.

Harris is a graduate of Roanoke College and has masters degrees in exercise physiology and education leadership & policy studies plus a doctorate in curriculum & instruction from Virginia Tech.

In an interview earlier this year, Arbogast admitted to me that he intentionally kept his salary line item artificially low to avoid taking heat from teachers who had not received raises.

“It was a no-win situation,” he said.

In the end, it a “no-win” situation was exactly that for the long-time superintendent.

Arbogast prepaid the $90 fine and $61 in court costs before his scheduled court appearance for speeding on Thursday.

Sheriff’s Deputy Tim Dulaney nailed Arbogast on June 19.  The long-time school superintendent, is scheduled to retire next month after a turbulent year marked by controversies and questions over discrepancies in his salary.

The cost of the ticket won’t bankrupt the departing school superintendent. His salary and benefits package totals 168 grand a year.