This artistic rendition of the county office building has been printed twice in The Alleghany News. The rendition shows an architect’s artistic view of the final version of the old Cash and Carry building. Planning for the new county offices was among the top news of 2004.

Alleghany County suffered many lost lives in 2004

The year 2004 was a year marked by many tragic deaths. An unusually high number of Alleghany residents lost their lives in tragic accidents, some of which occurred inside and other outside the county.

Those killed in tragic automobile accidents included Susan Billings of Glade Valley, Adam Trent Roberts of Ennice, Joyce Glasco Higgins of Ennice, Staci Wertman of Hillsville, Va., Robert Allen Bramblett of Elk Creek, Va., LouElla Simons of Sparta.

Others lost lives in non-automobile tragedies, such as Augustine Cruz of Glade Valley, who lost his life in a kayaking accident.

Bethany Brintle Goins was the lone murder victim of the year. Gregorio Cruz was charged with her murder.

The county also worked most of the year planning new facilities, including a new county administration building and renovations to the courthouse

Some good news was also heralded, as the county began work on an industry expansion project for NAPCO, slated to create about 30 new jobs. An earlier NAPCO deal fell through.

The following is a month-by-month rundown of the news of ‘04:

January

Alleghany County Commissioners continued to discuss facilities at their meeting in early January 2004, agreeing to look at a plan to renovate the former Sara Lee Knit Products building to convert the space to county use. The building was being studied for possible use as a combined county facility to include a library, courthouse and county offices. However, the cost of that plan was later determined to be too high.

Local author Lon Leatherland completed his second book, Woodbridge Revisited.

The first baby of the year was born at Alleghany Memorial Hospital. Memphis Gage Baker was born Jan. 2. AMH stopped delivering babies here on Dec. 31, 2004 at midnight.

Bryan Edwards was named Sparta Town Manager, taking over for retiring Town Manager Tom Douglas. He officially started the job on Jan. 29 at an annual salary of $48,500.

The Alleghany County Board of Education re-elected Charles Joines as chairman and elected Clarence Crouse vice chairman.

A 31-year-old Ennice man, Benito Rincon, was charged with DWI after hitting Trooper S.L. Roten nearly head-on in his patrol car. Neither Roten nor Rincon were seriously injured.

A Sparta woman, LouElla Simons of Mount Carmel Road, was killed when a tree fell across the truck she and her husband were riding in on the way to Jefferson. The husband, William Curtis Simons, 36, was also seriously injured and the community came to his aid.

The Alleghany News staff earned two awards, including third place in the state for general excellence and a third place sports writing award.

Finally, an idea for a greenway park was floated by the Sparta Revitalization Committee by Stephen Whitlow, a local community member. Whitlow’s idea was incorporated in a grant request for pedestrian planning, but no word on that grant was finalized during 2004.

February

The county commission approved Comprehensive Economic Development plans after a brief delay, including a strategy devised during a 14-month period which ended in late 2003. The plan was developed by AngelouEconomics.

Local volunteer David Smith died at age 57 from heart problems and other health complications.

The pool at the Alleghany Wellness Center had its cover in place, but the opening of the center was delayed due to inclement weather. The state delayed primary elections, which had been scheduled to take place on May 4, until July 20.

Barbara Lyon retired as principal at AHS after serving almost two years in the position.

Bob Edwards accepted a district extension director position after serving many years in the Alleghany Cooperative Extension Office.

Sparta Elementary School heralded a new weather station in cooperation with the Mountaineer Millennium Program.

Get the rest of this article in this week's issue of the Alleghany News! Back