Schmucker says he’s done with the dog business

The dogs are gone from Ivan Schmucker Jr.’s property, but the Amish farmer still has many difficult decisions ahead.
Schmucker gave his side of the “insider” transaction in a phone interview late Tuesday afternoon after his dogs were purchased by Best Friends Animal Society on Friday evening using two local residents who told Schmucker they planned to buy the dogs to open up a kennel of their own.

Despite an emergency services dispatcher’s urgent “we have a plane crash,” a minor incident at Mountain Empire Airport Monday afternoon left no serious injuries and little damage as a gust of wind tipped over a gyroplane on the runway. Curtis Pennington, who runs an aircraft maintenance service at the airport, called it “a little bad luck” and said Groseclose pilot Fred Purdue has “a lot of years flying.” Airport staff member Charlie Hoofnagle said that during the afternoon, the windsock “would stand straight out,” filled with wind, and 15 seconds later, just hang there.” Several Virginia State Police troopers responded to the incident.

The discovery of blasting caps in a bin at the trash collection center on Fort Chiswell Road closed the center for three hours Saturday afternoon. An attendant noticed the possibly explosive devices and contacted the Wythe County Sheriff’s Office.

The discovery of blasting caps in a bin at the trash collection center on Fort Chiswell Road closed the center for three hours Saturday afternoon. An attendant noticed the possibly explosive devices and contacted the Wythe County Sheriff’s Office.

It took trickery and an “insider” operation, but the saga involving Ivan Schmucker Jr.’s dog kennel appears to have reached a conclusion after an animal welfare group from Utah purchased 167 dogs from the Amish farmer in Bland County this weekend.

An early Saturday morning head-on collision on Main Street briefly trapped one of the drivers inside his burning vehicle. First responders were eventually able to free the man.
According to Capt. Rick Arnold of the Wytheville Police Department, the wreck occurred at 6:47 a.m. near the intersection of Main and 11th streets. A 1998 GEO Metro, operated by 21-year-old John Levi Foutz of Wytheville, was headed west on Main Street.

Saturday morning was a great time for a walk in the park. Approximately 60 people representing 20 local teams did just that.
The 2007 Wythe County WalkAmerica fundraiser for the March of Dimes raised a projected $29,000 to combat the problem of premature births. Last year’s event netted more than $27,000.
Some of the Children’s Walks have not been completed. Those are expected to bring the total to $29,000.

Computerized mapping data in Rural Retreat is moving out of the dusty catacombs of the digital netherworld and into an organized system that will be easily accessible to both the general public and local government officials.

A 57-year-old Mississippi man is dead after losing control of his motorcycle on Interstate 81 Sunday.
William David of Ocean Springs, Miss., was traveling northbound in the interstate’s passing lane on a 2006 Suzuki, a Virginia State Police spokeswoman said Monday, reading from Trooper L.J. Testerman’s incident report.