The journey from New York to Wytheville has been fraught with pain, depression and homelessness for Dr. Kyndal Beavers. Yet, the trip gave her new insight, compassion and understanding.
“This is the happiest, most content I’ve been in years,” she said Thursday from the Brock Hughes Free Clinic where she is the first paid physician to serve the health care agency. “I was homeless, hopeless and jobless when I came to Wytheville. Now I’m none of those things.”

A West Virginia man was arrested Wednesday afternoon and charged with stealing two laptop computers from the Wytheville Wal-Mart. Rodney W. Green, 34, of Princeton was caught on a store surveillance camera using a key to unlock the display case where the laptops were located, police said.

Adam P. Webb, reference librarian for the Tazewell County Public Library, has been hired as the new director of the Wythe-Grayson Regional Library. He will assume duties Sept. 4.
“We thought he was the perfect fit,” noted Danny C. McDaniel, a member of the library’s board of trustees and a Wythe County Board of Supervisor member. “He is familiar with Southwest Virginia and we wanted someone who would stay with us. Some of the other candidates had changed jobs every two years.”

Two young Wythe County men have been charged in connection with a rash of mailbox vandalism. Eric S. Cregger, 19, of Rural Retreat, and Joshua T. Haywood, 20, of Max Meadows, each face six counts of destruction of property.

An early morning kitchen fire at Shoney’s in Wytheville closed the Malin Road restaurant Wednesday. It began around 5:45 a.m. before opening for business.

The Wythe County Rescue Squad and the Bland County Sheriff’s Office are the recipients of recent grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Agency. They will use the funding to replace two vehicles.

Construction of the first two tenants of a Fourth Street development site will begin next month. Sheetz is expected to break ground in mid-September with First Bank and Trust Co. following near the end of September.

The 2007 Virginia Teacher of the Year, Wythe County’s own Susan Evans, won’t be in the secondary school system for the rest of her year of honor.
Evans accepted a job as a math professor at Wytheville Community College, leaving Rural Retreat High School less than a year after being named the state’s top educator.
In a bit of awkward pageantry, Evans kept her role as the keynote speaker at the Wythe County Public Schools general session school kickoff Friday morning, attempting to inspire a room of people she is no longer directly associated with.

A former commander of American Legion Post 9 in Wytheville has been charged with embezzling $18,000 from the local organization’s Bingo and gaming fund. John Milton Goss, 63, of Wytheville was arrested Aug. 1, following an investigation by the Virginia Department of Charitable Gaming, which regulates such fundraisers.

He came.
He saw.
He listened.