Smyth County’s historical museum can stay where it is for now, following the county supervisors’ decision Tuesday to extend an eviction notice issued earlier this fall.
The supervisors voted to give the Smyth County Historical and Museum Society 90 days notice of the time to be out for renovation of the 1908 schoolhouse where it leases space for $1 a year.
In late September, the county mailed the society a notice of eviction effective Jan. 1, 2008, with ideas of razing the building.

Smyth County’s supervisors agreed Tuesday with its planning commission that a site in east Marion be rezoned to allow construction of a new community hospital. All of the supervisors voted in favor of rezoning the proposed site from Agricultural/Rural to Commercial.

A 33-year-old former teacher will spend the next decade behind bars after pleading guilty in October to 17 counts of taking indecent liberties with a child in Smyth County and 12 counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor in Washington County.

The following felony indictments issued Dec. 11 by the grand jury were on file at the Smyth County Courthouse Thursday. Each defendant’s name is followed by the approximate offense date and the charge. Indictments do not mean the accused is guilty, but only that a grand jury finds there is sufficient reason to send the case to court.

Blue Ridge Job Corps Center Director Gary Tickles had a vision, and a gymnasium full of people saw it come to pass Wednesday.
Tickles wanted the center to offer curricula in practical nursing leading to the Practical Nurse diploma. About a year and a half ago, the program started with 15 students.

The high volume of traffic associated with Progress Park on Peppers Ferry Road has prompted Wytheville Town Council to seek improvements and realignment of a section of that road. Following a public hearing on the issue last week, council unanimously adopted a resolution requesting the Virginia Department of Transportation to establish an urban system highway project for approximately one-third mile of the road from Nye Road east to the corporate limits near Fellowship Baptist Church.

A Rural Retreat man was charged Wednesday evening following a head-on collision on West Lee Highway. Jerry Rose, 45, faces charges of reckless driving and having no insurance on his vehicle.
According to Capt. Keith Dunagan of the Wythe County Sheriff’s Office, Rose was headed west in a 1990 Chevrolet when he approached a line of traffic slowed behind a vehicle making a right turn. He pulled into the left lane in an attempt to pass the other vehicles when he collided with an eastbound 2000 Chevrolet operated by James A. Etter Jr., 53, of Wytheville.

The Wythe County School Board meeting covered the emotional gamut Thursday evening as the topics the board considered brought up feelings of both pride and concern.
Saving the money talk for the end of the meeting held at Speedwell Elementary School, Superintendent Albert Armentrout was last on the agenda with his preliminary address to the School Board about the upcoming 2008-2009 school year budget.

Hollywood producers may think they have a monopoly on the talking animals genre, but Rural Retreat resident Daisy Cromwell’s tale can trump the big screen flicks.
Because her story is true.
Cromwell is the newly published author of “Arthur the Talking Goat” – a children’s book telling the tale of her pet Angora goat, Arthur, and his love for apples.
Make that “Ar-ar-ar-arples.”
Let Cromwell explain.

By WAYNE QUESENBERRY/Staff

Unique Boutique is appropriately named. The new Rural Retreat shop features everything from white chocolate spoons to handmade designer purses.
All the merchandise has local connections. Most of the items are the work of 11 area crafters.
“I saw a need for a unique store,” noted owner/operator Sandy Leonard, a Rural Retreat resident. “I wanted a place where people could buy quality gifts at affordable prices.”
That place turned out to be inside El Ranchero, the Mexican restaurant at the Rural Retreat crossroads on West Lee Highway. Restaurant manager Linda Dillon is a friend of Leonard’s and offered to lease a front section of the building to her.
“It’s worked out well,” stated Leonard, who is a former finance manager and floral designer. “Many of the restaurant customers stop in and I have a lot of local customers. Someone was in the other day and wanted gifts to take with him to France. He was looking for things that weren’t made in China.”
Unique Boutique has plenty of items not produced in foreign lands. There are bath and beauty products made by Dana Suthers of Crockett. The designer handbags are by Chris and Tracy Robinson of Rural Retreat, who also sell their wares in trendy shops in Maryland and the Washington, D.C., area.
“The purses are selling really well,” Leonard commented, “and the country crafts are doing well, too.”
One section features hand-painted mailboxes and plaques from a Smyth County artist. Another table holds a variety of crocheted and knitted items by a Rural Retreat crafter.
There are canned cakes, jars of apples for frying, cookbooks from Blue Springs United Methodist Church and cat-shaped jewelry holders.
“I have 11 different crafters that rent booth spaces,” Leonard said. “They’re all people I know. I didn’t want a bunch of flea market stuff.”
Various vinyl life-like baby dolls from Duckhorn Heirloom Dolls are part of Leonard’s own stock. An independent Avon representative, Leonard has various jewelry sets for sale and takes sales orders.
Concerning the dolls, she stated, “I was going on a mission trip with my church to Honduras last year. I wanted to take a doll as a gift but I couldn’t find one that looked real or was pretty. I used to make dolls.”
Leonard is an active member of Grace Baptist Church in Atkins. She is taking another mission trip in March through the Good Samaritan Missions Board.
Her husband, Greg Leonard, is trade account manager for GIV in Bastian. She has two daughters, Mia Umberger and Brianna Umberger; and two stepsons, Jason Leonard and Thomas Leonard.
Leonard is the only Unique Boutique employee for now. She may add a person as the business grows.
Unique Boutique is open from noon until 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday. It is closed Sundays.
“I gear the hours toward the restaurant,” Leonard pointed out. “After people eat, most of them stop in here.”
Wayne Quesenberry can be reached at 228-6611 or .