At least 30 people are dead and more wounded, some critically, at Virginia Tech this morning when shots rang out for the second time this term on the Blacksburg campus.
The story is developing. Information is available on the Virginia Tech web site.
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Yes, snow. Snow on April 15, a week after Easter. Snow as part of a nor-easter that roared into the Middle Atlantic and Northeastern states Monday — the same storm that left parts of Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi devastated by tornadoes. Yes, snow. Now, will somebody again try to tell me our weather isn’t affected by global warming?
An enjoyable evening at Oddfellas Cantina with Fred and Ann First listening to the folk music of Rebecca Hall and Ken Anderson. As usual, we enjoyed first-rate food at Rob Neukirch’s establishment along with excellent music and delightful company.
The word arrived in today’s mail. Chrysler applied the extended warranty on my 2000 Jeep Wrangler and covered the failure of the hydraulic slave cylinder that failed and left me stranded in Richmond last month.
I have to pay for the new clutch, pressure plate and throwout bearing because I opted to replace them even though there was no visible damage to any of the three parts. With 55,000 miles on the Wrangler replacing the parts while they had the transmission apart is a wise move.
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Invited guests sampled the new menu at The Floyd Country Store Thursday night as owner Woody Crenshaw opened the lunch counter for business this weekend. The lunch counter will be open for lunch on Fridays and Saturdays through June when Crenshaw plans to open during the week.
The menu includes sandwiches (barbeque, buffao sloppy joes, blt, cheese and bacon), hot dogs, soups, pinto beans and more.
Crenshaw (below) says he wanted to recreate an old-fashioned soda fountain and lunch counter and has succeeded. The milk shakes are sinful, the sundaes tempting and the atmosphere enticing.
David St. Lawrence has more photos and information on his blog. Give it a try. You won’t be disappointed.
The setting had all the trappings for a packed house and a long night of angry voices. On the stage of the Floyd County High School auditorium sat the board of supervisors, looking like the lineup out of the move, "The Usual Suspects."
The supervisors booked the large auditorium in case a howling mob of angry county residents came to protest a proposed budget that included the second increase in real estate taxes in three years.
But the mob had beter things to do.
The sparse group of 23, mostly teachers angry about a proposed cut in their cost of living salary increase, occupied only a small corner of the cavernous hall.
Of the nine who spoke, seven were teachers, and no one said a word about the proposed tax increase.
The hearing ended 43 minutes after it started. In a night devoted primarily devoted primarily to education, one might call the hearing a test of participatory democracy. If so, the residents of Floyd County failed the test and democracy drowned in a sea of apathy. 
A short video I shot at the Friday Nite Jamboree two weeks ago is now available for viewing on The Floyd Press web site. It’s part of a series of videos that I have been shooting for the Press over the past few weeks.
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