Kim Fore said she was a pile of nerves waiting the in wings of a Hollywood studio last spring.
“I was the most nervous I have ever been,” she said. “I thought I was going to die before I was going to go on.”
Fore, 27, was waiting for her appearance on the reality TV show “Dance Machine.”

After being released on bond from the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail, a Virginia Beach resident decided to make his way back home.
On a golf cart.
According to a Washington County Sheriff’s Office press release, A 2:30 a.m. (that’s morning) call came in in reference to a golf cart rolling down the northbound lane of I-81 (yes, that’s Interstate 81) with Ryan Daniel Montgomery behind the wheel.

Monday night marked the beginning for new Damascus council members Tommy Hayes and Kenneth Upchurch and the end for Police Chief John Rouse.
After a two-hour closed session, council members Hayes, Upchurch and Mitchel Greer voted to terminate Rouse. Lannis Greene, Johnny Blevins and Jim Cartwright opposed. Mayor Creed Jones cast the deciding vote to terminate the police chief.

Monday night marked the beginning for new Damascus council members Tommy Hayes and Kenneth Upchurch and the end for Police Chief John Rouse.
After a two-hour closed session, council members Hayes, Upchurch and Mitchel Greer voted to terminate Rouse. Lannis Greene, Johnny Blevins and Jim Cartwright opposed. Mayor Creed Jones cast the deciding vote to terminate the police chief.

Okay, full disclosure here.  I’m from South Carolina.  People correct my grammar even when I’m not wrong.  Some people like to correct my pronunciation, too, either subtly or not so subtly.  However I pronounce the word, I know what basil is.  I even grow it.  Please.

Ivanhoe’s 4th of July Parade

A coordinated law enforcement sting operation has led to federal drug charges against a local United States postmaster, and charges are pending against other people, authorities said Wednesday.
Janet Davenport, a Glade Spring resident and the postmaster of St. Paul, Va., was charged last week with conspiracy to distribute oxycodone, according to federal court documents. She is free on an unsecured $10,000 bond. 

To be just five days out from the Fourth of July, Monday morning broke chilly and would progress only through cool by noon. The unseasonability of it, more befitting of fall than the 10th day after the summer solstice, was especially notable on the shaded northern slopes of Molly’s Knob foothills in the heart of Hungry Mother State Park.

With 50 years on his body and a 2- year hiatus from martial arts competition, conventional wisdom says that Dane Harden was playing against a stacked deck by coming back to compete.
But the Abingdon resident took conventional wisdom, locked its wrist in a painful position and effortlessly shoved it to the ground, along with several other people in two recent state competitions in Maryland and Pennsylvania. The physician’s assistant took first place in his division in each of the competitions. Often, Harden was competing against people 30 years younger than himself.

The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles wants to keep people out of its customer service centers. And the department’s willing to pay for it.
Washington County Treasurer Fred Parker said a new Virginia law that took effect July 1 has the department’s customer service centers charging $5 for renewed vehicle registrations. To avoid the fees, the DMV Web site urges residents to go online or at least to the mailbox for registration renewal.