The tax man cometh today or rather the tax check goeth — out the door. Real estate taxes for the first half of 2010 are due today. Technically, they were due two days ago (June 5) but because that was a Saturday, Floyd County taxpayers have a grace period over the weekend. As long as [...]
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Later today, I will enter a meeting room at a church in Roanoke for a gathering of fellow travelers and utter the same nine words that I have said on this date for the past 15 years: “Hi, my name is Doug and I’m an alcoholic.” June 6 is D-Day for the rest of the [...]
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In a pattern that seems an endless repeat of last Spring’s drenching drama, we’ve fallen into a familiar routine: Hot days spawn daily cycles of thunderstorms with drenching downpours. And my driveway washes out and disappears somewhere into Franklin County. Another Spring ritual: Enduring some right-wing fruitcake with their head jammed up Sarah Palin’s ass [...]
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When a street sign points to a community’s “Historic Downtown,” you can almost always be sure that business and development is — in itself — history. “Historic” has become a metaphor for “dead” or “past its prime.” Historic downtown districts too often feature empty streets lined with empty buildings, fading facades and boarded up windows. [...]
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Floyd County High School’s varsity softball team came up short in the regional playoffs Tuesday, falling 2-0 to Patrick Henry when pitcher Kelsey Weddle, pitcher for the PH Rebels, hit the first home run of her life with a runner on and then held the Buffaloes scoreless to knock FCHS out of the playoffs. A [...]
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