Bankole Johnson is a corporate shill
The short biography of a University of Virginia egghead who wrote a diatribe against rehab in general and Alcoholics Anonymous in particular — in an op-ed that appeared in The Roanoke Times and other newspapers recently — tells us all we need to know about his background, his prejudices and his agenda: Bankole A. Johnson [...]
Views of the Blue Ridge
Fog greeted me early Sunday as I headed out on the Blue Ridge Parkway for an extended ride down into North Carolina for breakfast. By lunch, I was off the Parkway and into West Virginia for an afrernoon meal at Pipestem State Park. By day’s end, I was back on the Parkway and the sunset, [...]
Plowing the south 40
Saturday dawned foggy and cool. If I had any illusions about using the day for a long, comforting, therapeutic motorcycle ride, those fantasies disappeared under the reality of the need to mow out long-neglected lawn — aka “the south 40.” If our lawn were a kid, I’d be in jail for child abuse. It’s overgrown, [...]
Lance Terpenny is a good fit for Floyd
Floyd Mayor Will Griffin calls new town manager Lance Terpenny a “perfect fit” for Floyd. After spending more than three hours with Terpenny Thursday, talking about motorcycles, small town politics and several other things, I’m inclined to think Griffin is right. It’s clear that the 55-year-old Terpenny, who brings more than 20 years of municipal [...]
The Blue Ridge Parkway at 75
At some point next month, I will head my Harley north on U.S. 11 to Front Royal and then take Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park to the beginning of The Blue Ridge Parkway for a multi-day trip down the 469-mile length to the Great Smokey Mountains. It’s a trip I’ve been meaning to take [...]
Home volleyball season begins
Floyd County High School kicked off its home volleyball season Tuesday night with the JV team beating Christiansburg while the varsity girls lost the first game. More photos in next week’s Floyd Press.
A tale of two communities along the New River Trail
[slide] Fries bills itself as the town at the start of the New River Trail but the Commonwealth of Virginia’s web site for Virginia State Parks considers 5.5 mile stretch that runs from Fries a “branch” of the main trail that it says runs 51.5 miles from Galax to Pulaski. Maybe that’s one of the [...]
The uncivil war in an angry society
We live in an increasingly hate-filled society. Violence lurks just below the surface. This shocker from the Associated Press over the weekend in Louisa, Virginia: A man involved in a dispute over property and belongings opened fire in a rural neighborhood in central Virginia, killing two people and wounding four others before police fatally shot [...]
The street is the scene on a Floyd Friday night
Any way you slice it, Friday nights in Floyd remain a magical time with street music and the sounds of music ranging from bluegrass at the Friday Night Jamorbree to classical guitar at Oddfellas and African folk songs at Dogtown Roadhouse. For many, it’s the street music that makes a trip to Floyd on Friday [...]