Thursday, March 11, 2010
Around the NRV: Party will honor former BHS principal; hookah lounge opens; more
Blacksburg High School alumni will throw a belated birthday party Saturday for former teacher, principal and district administrator Raynard Hale.
Hale, who was principal at the school from 1953 to 1961 and Montgomery County's schools superintendent from 1968 to 1974, turned 86 on March 4.
The classes of 1954 to 1960 will gather at 2 p.m. at Blacksburg Middle School's cafeteria for refreshments and to share memories of Hale's time at the helm.
"It was a very pleasant surprise that they were going to the trouble to do all this," he said. "I owe a lot to the students and the faculty that helped me during that period. They were a wonderful group."
Hale said his time as principal was "the most enjoyable times" of his life.
He began teaching at the school in 1948 after graduating college. At age 29, he became one of the youngest principals in the state. He said he was able to build relationships with the students because of their proximity in ages.
Hale said he has tried to stay in contact with his former students. He attended reunions and other functions regularly.
Radford council approves revitalization loans
Radford City Council voted Monday night to accept loans for up to $633,000 that would be used toward revitalizing a long-empty building at 1061 E. Main St. in Radford, known as the former Radford Fitness Building.
The owner, THC Revitalization Partners, must lease the building's retail and housing units within 24 months, according to documents presented at the meeting.
THC owner Joe Fortier has said the building is expected to house a mix of retail and residential space.
According to documents presented at the meeting, the city will provide THC Revitalization Partners with $425,000 in future Community Development Block Grants. The city also agreed to provide THC $280,000 in federal grant funds scheduled to be available in 2012, or to provide the company with an additional $208,000 in CDBG funds if those grants do not come through.
Hookah lounge opens in Radford
Royal She-sha, a hookah lounge, opened March 4 at 1144 E. Main St. in Radford.
"The demand [for hookah] is high down here," said manager Amare Alemu.
While visiting family in the area, Alemu said, he noticed there was only one hookah cafe in the area -- She-sha Cafe and Hookah Lounge in Blacksburg -- and thought it would be something residents, especially college students, wanted.
"We're already seeing the same faces coming in," he said Wednesday.
Alemu said he has been a shareholder in other hookah lounges in Northern Virginia, but this is his first hookah cafe in the area.
When Virginia's smoking ban took effect in December, many established hookah lounges stopped serving food to comply with the law, which says smoking is not allowed in restaurants and bars. Royal She-sha sells prepackaged food and drinks to comply, Alemu said.
The space has most recently housed Claret Cafe, a restaurant that closed in September.
Radford voter registrar to hire substitute
Voter Registrar Tracy Howard has gotten the OK to hire a part-time substitute registrar, ending both budgetary and legal questions posed to city government.
Because of state budget cuts, questions had been posed whether Howard's office could hire an assistant registrar. But according to state code, he's required to have one to take over the registrar's duties if he's not available.
Howard was scheduled to speak to council at its Feb. 22 meeting, but the situation was cleared up, he said Wednesday.
Howard said he spoke with City Manager David Ridpath instead of the council members.
"The budgets in the finance department showed I had more money than my budgets showed, so they gave me the OK to hire someone," Howard said.
Howard plans to interview potential substitutes this week, he said, and is first looking to the city's part-time employees whose hours were scaled back because of budget cuts.
"I think we'll be able to get things back to normal," Howard said.
