Here’s a roundup of news briefs from around Southwest and Southside. Send yours for possible inclusion to news@cardinalnews.org.
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State, energy companies to study siting of new power plants in Southwest Virginia
Three energy companies and a state agency hope to identify places between Roanoke and Bristol where new natural gas pipeline infrastructure could support new power plants.
Red Post Energy, Williams and Enbridge will conduct a study with Virginia Energy. Red Post is a Houston, Texas-based power plant developer. Williams operates the Transco pipeline system, which runs through Virginia. Enbridge operates the East Tennessee gas pipeline in Virginia.
Virginia Energy said in a news release Thursday that the study was prompted by the commonwealth’s rising energy demand.
“Without new capacity, the Commonwealth risks energy constraints that could compromise national security priorities, drive up costs for residents, and lead to missed economic opportunities,” Virginia Energy Director Glenn Davis said in the release.
The study will look at sites’ suitability for new power generation, environmental considerations, requirements to connect to the electric grid and economic benefits such as job creation and tax revenue, according to the release.
No further details were provided regarding a timeline for the study or more specific locations that will be studied.
“Southwest Virginia is ready to drive both Virginia’s energy future and its economic growth,” Del. Terry Kilgore, R-Scott County, said in the release. “By developing new natural gas infrastructure, our region can deliver the reliable power that advanced industries require while creating good jobs, expanding tax revenue, and strengthening communities that have long powered this Commonwealth.”
— Matt Busse
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State approves historic markers in Southwest, Southside
The state has approved eight new historical markers, including several in Southwest and Southside Virginia.
The Virginia Board of Historic Resources approved the official text of the markers in September, according to a Thursday news release. The stories behind two of the markers — for the Danville canal and Gilbert’s Restaurant in Chatham — were featured earlier this year in Cardinal News.
Here are the other markers that have been approved, with descriptions from the Virginia Department of Historic Resources:
- A marker will be placed in Botetourt County for the TransAmerica Bicycle Trail, which stretched 4,250 miles from Yorktown to Oregon. Four cycling enthusiasts started to plan Bikecentennial76 in 1973 to commemorate the nation’s bicentennial. Inaugurated at Jamestown in May 1976, Bikecentennial76 included tours along a specially designed route known as the TransAmerica Bicycle Trail. Approximately 4,100 cyclists from across the country and beyond rode the trail. The eastern third of the trail encompassed more than 500 miles in Virginia and was designated U.S. Bicycle Route 76 in 1982.
- As federal courts were mandating equality for segregated schools in the late 1940s, the Black community in Patrick County campaigned for a consolidated school to replace inadequate facilities. Patrick Central School opened in 1952 to serve the county’s Black students in grades one through 12, providing them with a full high school education for the first time. Patrick Central closed in 1966, the year the county fully desegregated its schools.
- Dr. Elbyrne G. Gill, who was born in Bedford County in 1891, opened the Gill Memorial Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital in 1926 in Roanoke. Gill hosted annual conferences that provided postgraduate courses for eye, ear, nose and throat specialists at the hospital, which was one of the first of its specialty in Virginia. A charter member of the Roanoke Lions Club, Gill served as president of Lions International from 1943 through 1944. Gill established the first eye bank in western Virginia in 1957. He also chaired the local board of health for 25 years. Gill died in 1966.
- Just west of the Rockfish Gap scenic overlook in Nelson County lies the northern terminus of the Blue Ridge Parkway. The parkway was built to stimulate the region’s economy during the Great Depression. Constructed between 1935 and 1987, it remains an internationally recognized feat of landscape architecture and engineering.
- Tradition maintains that Christian worship near the site of Cypress Chapel Christian Church in Suffolk began circa 1750. A Church of England chapel was completed in 1760 but was abandoned after the Revolutionary War. A congregation affiliated with the Christian Church moved into the chapel and became known as Cypress Chapel Christian Church. In 1858, the first regular session of the Southern Christian Convention, which formed in 1856 after a schism with northern churches, met at the chapel. The present sanctuary was built in 1925.
- The story of Antioch (Rosenwald) School in Mathews County began circa 1869, the year Black men in the Susan community built a log school at the urging of Black women. Antioch Baptist Church met in the school during the church’s early years. A new school building was completed from 1926 to 1927 for children in grades one through seven. Funding for the new school mainly came from the Black community, which contributed $3,700 for the building’s construction. Mathews County contributed $500, while the Julius Rosenwald Fund — the school-building program established in 1917 by the president of Sears, Roebuck and Co. and inspired by the work of Booker T. Washington — contributed $700. Antioch School closed in 1948 and remains the county’s only Rosenwald-style building.
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Youngkin announces board appointments
Gov. Glenn Youngkin has announced a new round of state board and committee appointments, including several people from Southwest Virginia:
A.L. Philpott Manufacturing Extension Partnership board of trustees: Michael Tyson of Bath County, vice president of programs, UTS Systems.
Advisory Committee on Juvenile Justice and Prevention: Jake Petzold of Roanoke, special program manager for restorative housing, Virginia Department of Corrections.
Statewide Independent Living Council: Garrett Brumfield of Roanoke, founder, Overcome Yours.