Though the going has been slow, police hope that a tattoo found on the unidentified body found on Wyndale Road on Oct. 12 will help find an identity.
According to Washington County Sheriff Fred Newman, the one and a half inch tattoo reads “Angel” with a yellow halo around the “A” and is located on the outside of the body’s right ankle.
“We feel confident that we will find out who she is,” said Newman. “It’s a matter of getting the info out to the public.”

David Goldman sells software in Dallas, Texas. About two weeks ago he logged onto the John McCain Web site to see what he could do to help.
“I was frustrated and there was no point in doing anything in Dallas because it’s all Republican,” he said.
So, he said, he was sent to a battleground state. Last night he landed in Abingdon.

All participants in the 40th annual Kiwanis Christmas Parade in Abingdon will have to pre-register by Nov. 1, according to new rules issued by the Kiwanis Club of Abingdon.  The much-anticipated annual event is scheduled for Friday evening, Nov. 21 at 7 p.m.

A Marion artists group was among local nominations for a 2008 Governor’s Award for the Arts. A news release naming Jack Taylor of Sugar Grove and Rebecca McGhee of Chilhowie among 345 nominees from whom 10 winners were selected did not include Appalachian Spirit Artists Association of Marion.
Suzy Sukle of the Appalachian Spirit said the Marion Downtown Revitalization Association nominated the group.

What’s in a name? Politics, if you ask proud new father Mark Ciptak of Elizabethton, Tenn.

On Friday the Washington County Sheriff’s Office received a tip about a small patch of marijuana plants in the Hidden Valley area. The four mature plants were recovered just before noon on the same day. Sheriff Fred Newman (pictured) said the plants were extremely healthy and of a high quality, putting their street value at around $7,500.

A domestic incident Saturday in Konnarock has resulted in murder and firearms charges against a Laurel Valley Road man.
Smyth County Sheriff David Bradley said Maurice Kent Johnson of 871 Laurel Valley Road is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Curtis Dewayne Hill, also of Konnarock.

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office has been fractured and scattered across town since 1953. Central Dispatch is on Abingdon’s Valley Street. The rest of the department is split among several buildings on Park Street at the other end of town. That’s all about to change.

Camels aren’t exactly indigenous to Southwest Virginia, so it’s a safe bet that many people in the area have never ridden one.
If you’re curious as to what the experience is like, however, you’ll have your chance this weekend.

More than two dozen people turned out to discuss international, national and local health care last Thursday at the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center.
The event, hosted by Johnston Memorial Hospital, was one in a series of discussions about prominent issues in the upcoming presidential election.