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After nearly seven years of writing about the New River Valley and my beloved eastern Montgomery County, I've decided to take a break.

It's not that I'm tired after 150 columns or out of story ideas. Indeed, I was already contemplating topics for the rest of this year when I got an offer last week that I couldn't refuse.

I am now the interim director of university relations for Radford University, and The Roanoke Times understandably tries to avoid such conflicts of interest by forbidding its writers from also working public relations jobs with major institutions. ("This week, I'll be writing about Radford University's amazing performing arts center! And stay tuned for my fascinating column on the Highlanders Festival!")

Still, I'm disappointed to lose this venue for opining about this place I call home.

So with that in mind, I devote this column to all the things I would have written about in the coming months:

n I would have written about a new public transportation system the Mountain Valley Charitable Foundation and members of the community are establishing for eastern Montgomery County's low-income, elderly and disabled population.

The foundation has a van that's been donated by Shelor Motor Mile, a little seed money for gas and maintenance from Montgomery County, and it's recruiting volunteer drivers.

The goal is to provide free door-to-door shuttle service for folks to get to medical appointments, government buildings, grocery stores and pharmacies. Anyone interested in volunteering can give me a call.

n I would have written about a local group that's working to establish an EastMont adult day services facility in an abandoned building in Elliston. It's a project that would rechristen a threatened historic structure, provide a much-needed service to local families caring for elderly relatives and create jobs for our local economy.

n I would have tried to write about our fifth annual Meadowbrook Open golf tournament, scheduled for Oct. 12 at the Shawsville cattle farm of our former state Sen. Madison Marye, where we dig the holes 3 feet wide to give folks a real shot at a hole in one.

But given my involvement with the tournament and its beneficiary, the Meadowbrook Center, the newspaper understandably would have frowned on this self-promotion. (See above, "conflict of interest.")

n I would have written about The Roanoke Times' efforts to get more photos onto its Web site of our area high school football, volleyball, cross country and golf games.

The newspaper needs people to attend these events, snap some digital photos of everything from the players, fans, cheerleaders, bands and mascots and then upload them to newrivervalley.com.

n Of course, I would have written about Montgomery County's bold efforts to block Norfolk Southern from building an intermodal freight facility in Elliston.

A lot of folks have been complaining that our board of supervisors has pledged to commit up to $250,000 of taxpayer funds to fight this project -- even though it violates Montgomery County's comprehensive plan and offers the county nothing but truck traffic, environmental problems and a dozen low-paying jobs.

But few seem concerned that the state is willing to commit $30 million to $40 million in taxpayer funds to build a facility in the wrong location that will be owned by a private company.

n For Election Day, I would have written to encourage you to take time to vote but also to take time to volunteer, to donate, to serve, to do something to engage with your community the 364 other days of the year.

n And since I had a column scheduled to run Dec. 22, I would have written something with heart and joy and sleigh bells and songs, something along the lines of merry Christmas.

So let me close for now with these two final nonpartisan thoughts:

1) Eastern Montgomery County is the greatest place on Earth.

2) Go Highlanders!

Michael Hemphill is a former Roanoke Times reporter who lives in Elliston. He serves as executive director of the Mountain Valley Charitable Foundation, which coordinates programming within the Meadowbrook Center. He can be reached at 268-2879 or michael@eastmontva.com.