The true value of H2O

The recent series of wintery mixes (I won’t call it snowfall) has taken our minds off the drought somewhat. And it’s true that the precipitation has helped our area’s water levels. A quick glance at the Drought Management Advisory Council’s monitoring map confirms this. It also shows that the situation remains pretty dire in the central part [...]

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A Blogger’s Message

The following is from John Evers, one of our bloggers: On March 6th, I will be giving a presentation at the Mount Airy City Council meeting at 7:00pm. The presentation is regarding the idea of Mount Airy starting a Youth Commission.  I’ll explain more that night, but I strongly feel that this would be fantastic for both – [...]

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Blazing a trail

I got an update today about the prospects of having The Mountains to Sea Trail come through Surry County. As reported earlier this month, the state is trying to connect the scenic hiking route in the western and eastern parts of the state to make for a continuous 900-mile footpath.
The chances of it coming this way — [...]

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Everybody chill

I spent my childhood in cold weather states, so I know I’m a little biased. But there’s a sense of bizarre humor to take with every snow spell, when the rush for bread and milk is exceeded only by the stampede of school and event closings. A number of Surry’s weekend events were canceled or [...]

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Something for Nothing

I needed some hot sauce and grabbed a small bottle of Texas Pete at Lowes. Then I noticed that another bottle had a coupon around its neck. If I bought one bottle, the coupon would get me another one free. Great, so I grabbed another. And the deal got even better at checkout. First the [...]

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Can you spare some change from the cupholder?

We reported in a page 2 article earlier this month that Mount Airy city government is looking to ban all solicitations along streets and highways. The vote on that new ordinance will take place during Thursday’s city council meeting. State law gives municipalities lots of leeway in regulating this type of thing, and the ban proposed by [...]

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Summarizing the economic summit

Great turnout and speeches for Tuesday’s economic summit at Olympia Family Restaurant. Boiling down two hours worth of talk from 18 speakers is tricky, but here’s a CliffsNotes version.
 
 
Strategies: market the area’s quality of life, create our own brand of products, lobby for more corporate incentives, focus on luring distributors, lure retirees, bring more youth [...]

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‘Say what’ special edition

The magnitude of interest among the general public in the whole debate over the house on Cherry Street is hard to gauge. But there’s no denying that those who do care are as passionate about this issue of recreation vs preservation as anything the city has recently faced.
The 45-minute long, unofficial public forum before the city council’s [...]

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Leap Year Babies!

So, every four years there happens to occur this weird day – Feb. 29. What do people who happen to be born on this day do to celebrate? Do they only age every 4 years? Is a leap year special for you since you get to celebrate on your birthday? Do you do something different [...]

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Can we afford to cut water rates?

The Mount Airy City Council is going to take a look at the rates it charges for water usage, rates that it raised about 45 percent last year in the wake of losses from major industrial users.Studying the issue is fine because it will give the council and its constituents a clear look at the [...]

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