depression-era wall continues to show...

● OBITUARIES Page 4 ● OPINION Page 6 ● SPORTS Page 8 ● ON THE TRAIL Page 10 ● POST SCRIPTS Page 10 ● CLASSIFIEDS Page 14

Storytelling tofeature Devil

John, Red Fox.

On The Trail

10

Thursday, August 25, 2016

VOLUME 126, NUMBER 34 16 PAGES USPS 4395401 $1.00 Big Stone Gap, Virginia

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Erika Coleman to guest starat drama, lead workshop

Young people interest-ed in acting will have anopportunity to work withthe pros during ErikaColeman’s return visit toBig Stone Gap this week-end.

Coleman, who was intown for the 2013 filmingof Adriana Trigiani’sromantic comedy, willconduct a master perform-ing class alongside fellowactor Mike WhaleySaturday. Coleman willthen join the cast of TheTrail of the LonesomePine for Saturday night’s

performance of the out-door drama.

Coleman is the secondactor from the Big StoneGap movie to guest starfor one night at the out-door drama. Paul Wilsonstepped onto the stage ofthe June TolliverPlayhouse a month ago toplay Edwin Mockaby.

Coleman is penciled into play SadrinaThompson, the feistysaloon keeper who isknown to denizens of theGap and Lonesome Covesimply as Sadie.

Coleman and Whaley’sworkshop, sponsored byLonesome Pine Arts andCrafts and to be held atSouthwest VirginiaMuseum Historical StatePark, will highlight theaudition process for the-atre, television and film,as well as character devel-opment, basic movement,and simple breathing exer-cises and relaxation tech-niques useful for audi-tions.

Registration is $10 perperson, and participantswill receive a ticket to

Saturday’s outdoor dramaperformance. Registrationforms are available bycalling the museum at276/523-1322, and mustbe received by noon,Friday, Aug. 26.

Coleman, who wasborn in Los Angeles butgrew up in Huntsville,Ala., played Pearl Grimes,the teenaged daughter ofJasmine Guy’s impover-ished Leah Grimes, inTrigiani’s movie.

Coleman made her first

Erika Coleman

returns to Big

Stone Gap as

a guest actor

in Saturday’s

performance

of ‘The Trail of

the Lonesome

Pine’ outdoor

drama.

Coleman will

also conduct a

master per-

forming class

with Mike

Whaley

Saturday .

Residentrequests, gets closed-door meeting

BY GLENN GANNAWAYNEWS EDITOR

Appalachia Town Council found itself in theunusual position of going into closed session at therequest of a resident last Thursday.

Jim Scalf, a long-time town volunteer and co-chair of the Appalachia Special Projects Committee,told council that he would discuss his concern inopen session if council didn’t go into closed session.

After some discussion, Town Attorney MichaelAbbott and Scalf left council chambers to giveAbbott an opportunity to determine whether Scalf’stopic was an appropriate topic for closed session.Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act allows pub-lic bodies to hold closed meetings only for a limitednumber of specific reasons. Mayor Teddie CollinsJr. noted that “we can’t just go into closed sessionwithout knowing what we’re going in there for.”

After Abbott advised council that Scalf’s subjectwas appropriate for a closed session, CouncilmanJohn Tull made a motion to amend the meetingagenda so that council could immediately go intoclosed session to discuss personnel, with Scalf,Abbott and Town Manager Fred Luntsford to attend.

Council was in closed session for about 15 min-utes. After council returned to open session, it certi-fied by roll-call vote that the closed session includ-ed only discussion of the matter for which the ses-sion had been called.

Scalf then asked several questions about theAppalachia Cultural Arts Council, includingwhether the arts council pays taxes and whether itpays the town to cut the grass and trim trees on thecultural arts lot on which the outdoor stage is locat-ed. Luntsford told Scalf that the arts council doesnot pay taxes or a fee for mowing and tree trimming.

Scalf also requested to see any agreementbetween the town and the cultural arts council underwhich the building that houses the cultural arts cen-ter belongs to the arts council and not to the town.Councilman Chase Christian said that if the buildingbelongs to the arts council, there needs to be a newagreement covering “who takes care of what. . . .I’m not saying it’s wrong, but it needs to be in writ-ing,” Christian said, referring to work done at thearts center property.

The Appalachia Cultural Arts Council is a501(c)3 non-profit organization. The arts counciloperates the Appalachia Cultural Arts Center, whichis housed in the former M.D. Collier Furniturebuilding on Main Street.

The town bought the building with a CommunityDevelopment Block Grant in 1996, Gary Bush,president of the cultural arts council, said Tuesday.The town transferred ownership to ACAC in August2001 after the arts council met the requirement ofraising and spending $50,000 for building restora-tion. Full ownership, Bush said, belongs to the cul-tural arts council if the building remains a culturalarts center for 20 years from August 2001.

Depression-era wall continues to show ageBY GLENN

GANNAWAYNEWS EDITOR

The stone retainingwall borderingAppalachia’s Brown Streetcontinues to show its age.

A section of the wall,which was built during themid-1930s by WorksProgress Administrationlaborers, blew out severalmonths ago. A 2004 col-lapse affected a 50-foot-long section of the wall.

Brown Street, TownManager Fred Luntsfordnoted, is a main neighbor-hood thoroughfare, and thewall is important becauseit protects the road.

According to informa-tion shared by Luntsford,the latest section to col-

Gap council to interviewfinalists

BY GLENN GANNAWAYNEWS EDITOR

Big Stone Gap Town Council is scheduled tohold a special meeting Friday to interview finalistsfor the town manager’s job, with the possibility thata choice could be made in the near future to fill theposition.

Mayor James “Cotton” Stone said council hasnarrowed the field of candidates to four finalists.Council hopes to interview all four Friday.

The town received about 26 applications afterannouncing the vacancy. Now the field is down tofour — although what happens Friday could changethat. “I hope we get a good pick out of that,” Stonesaid of the four finalists. But, as he said, there’salways the possibility a decision will take longer: Ifnone of the four are satisfactory, for example, “wewill interview more. . . . We’re not rushing it; we’redoing it the right way,” he said.

However, the process of picking a new townmanager so far has been on track. Stone said in mid-July that the goal was to have someone on the jobwithin about two months.

The town manager position has been vacantsince June 30, when Pat Murphy retired. Murphyhad been town manager for eight years.

Work has continued to move forward in thealmost two months since the job became vacant, buttown government’s size makes having a town man-ager crucial, Stone noted.

PHOTO BY GLENN GANNAWAY

A section of the Great Depression-era retaining wall alongAppalachia’s Brown Street collapsed onto the sidewalk severalmonths ago.

See REQUESTS, Page 3

See COLEMAN, Page 3

Exeter shooting drawsattempted murder charge

BY GLENN GANNAWAYNEWS EDITOR

An Appalachia man faces a first-degree attempted murder charge after anAug. 6 shooting in Lower Exeter.

A Wise County grand jury indictedJames Lester “T.J.” Smith Jr., 53, on themurder charge and three other counts onWednesday, Aug. 17.

Smith himself was hospitalized afterthe Aug. 6 shooting at a mobile home inthe Lower Exeter community. Smithallegedly shot 24-year-old Casey RaeReed, then shot himself, ending anattempt by the Wise County Sheriff’s

Response Team to talk Smith out of themobile home.

Responding to the emergency dis-patch, Appalachia police officers LesterBowman and Andi Ison discovered Reedhiding behind an old washing machinein front of the mobile home. The twopolice officers then ensured that Reedwas safe behind Bowman’s cruiser andcovered the doors of the mobile homeuntil the response team arrived.

The grand jury also indicted Smithfor malicious wounding, use of afirearm in the commission of a felony,and possessing a firearm as a non-vio-lent felon.

See WALL, Page 3