Unclaimed cash in Surry

The state treasurer is sitting on a pile of cash waiting on North Carolinians, including a bunch from Surry County, to claim it.
By law certain unclaimed accounts and properties are transferred to the state treasurer after a certain period of time, but it’s still available for the rightful owners. Across the state that money and [...]

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Prison recruitment gaining momentum and mystery

Anyone arriving at Thursday’s public hearing on a state prison in Surry County looking for some conflict on the issue, and my strong hunch is that WXII fell into that category, would have left fairly underwhelmed. While the TV news report does make note of some opposition to the concept of a prison, that was [...]

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To bail or not to bail?

The roll call vote on Monday that killed the most recent version of the $700 billion bailout package is interesting if only for its lack of ridged partisanship. Democrats and Republicans are scattered among the no votes that ultimately undid the bill. Count Surry’s representative Virginia Foxx among those opposed. In a statement you can [...]

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A ‘ground’breaking almost undone

Speaking of Mayberry, the Andy Griffith Museum had its big groundbreaking during the weekend, with or without the ground (it was moved inside because of the rain). There were cheers, tears and plenty of uplifting sentiments, some coming from Andy Griffith himself via a letter.
Yet one week earlier, there was a moment of awkward silence [...]

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Andy museum finds its financial backer

So the prospect of a Surry Arts Council building just for the Andy Griffith Memorabilia Collection is back from the ashes after falling apart last year. The big difference is that the largest chunk of the funding is not from local taxes, but from the N.C. Rural Economic Development Center. The center is no doubt [...]

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What’s needed for a SCC bonus

Those of you that take an interest in Friday’s story about how SCC doesn’t qualify for state bonus money this year (and I’d think the many employees who would have gotten a cut of those dollars are at least curious) can find all the full results of the evaluations online here.
For comparisons sake, I’ve scanned [...]

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What to build at SCC

 
Our Tuesday editorial delves into Surry Community College’s plans to request $12 million in state funds for a 1,000 seat auditorium. The project, which you can read more about here, would be the second phase of the school’s Viticulture and Enology Center.
In this case the question is what project(s) to list as the top priorities [...]

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Where the sales tax increse is going

Last fall, Surry voters very narrowly approved a quarter-cent sales tax increase under the premise of generating money for school construction. Many other counties said no.
Now we’re seeing the first big dividends with plans to construct a $12 million elementary school that would get rid of the 20 mobile units at Dobson and Copeland elementary [...]

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Your visual ID for commenting

Some folks have asked me about the avatars — colorful squares that accompany each post — that popped up on the blog a couple of months back. They’re meant to serve as a visual signature for posters, a way to identify yourself to the blogging community. Right now our webhost randomly assigns avatars to each [...]

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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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