Staff Photo by Charles Boothe:
Supervisors Chairman Charles Wagner thanks former Congressman Virgil Goode for a grant that will provide $427,000 for Booker T. Washington National Monument. The money will help the park build a visitors center. Also in the photo are supervisor Russ Johnson (Gills Creek District) and county Administrator Rick Huff. |
Friday, February 27, 2009
By CHARLES BOOTHE - Staff Writer
Former Rep. Virgil Goode announced Thursday that three grants totaling almost $1.5 million will be coming to Franklin County.
The Blue Ridge Institute at Ferrum College will receive $500,000; the county will get $500,000 for water infrastructure, and Booker T. Washington National Monument will receive $427,000 for a visitors center, Goode said during the grant presentation at The Franklin Center.
Goode said the work on the grants was completed last year, and the bill containing them was passed by the House Wednesday and should quickly pass the Senate and be signed by President Obama.
It's not unusual for approved grants to be carried over and passed in the next Congress, he said.
"It (the grant money) was just sitting there in a conference report," Goode said, and was part of a bill passed by the House.
"The Danville paper (Register and Bee) said everything (all earmarks for Southside) was dead," he said, referring to an article that ran recently.
The article in the Danville Register and Bee quoted then Rep.-elect Tom Perriello's communication director, Jessica Barba, as saying the earmarks for projects in Southside Virginia announced by Goode had expired and would not be coming through. She said the bill was dead.
"I wanted to set the record straight," Goode said.
Both Dr. Jennifer Braaten, Ferrum College's president, and Roddy Moore, director of the Blue Ridge Institute, thanked Goode for the grant.
"The money will empower us to expand exhibits and build an educational wing," Moore said, adding that the wing will provide hands-on activities for children.
More and more visitors are coming to the institute, Moore said, many of them taking advantage of events along The Crooked Road: Virginia's Heritage Music Trail.
"We need more exhibits," he said. "Virgil has been a supporter from the beginning."
Russ Johnson, Gills Creek District supervisor, said the water grant money will be used to bring water to the Scruggs Road peninsula, located in his district.
"All the county recognizes what you've done and the hard work you've done," Johnson told Goode. "On behalf of the people on Scruggs Road, we know what you have done ... bringing home the bacon for us."
Goode thanked county administrator Rick Huff and the board of supervisors for their ongoing work on infrastructure and other economic development projects.
"I really appreciate what you are doing for the county,"ﾠhe said, adding that Franklin County is the fastest-growing county west of the U.S. 29 corridor.
Report Cutler, chairman of the Western Virginia Water Authority, and Gary Robertson, the authority's executive director, were also on hand for the presentation. The authority will do the work on the Scruggs Road water project, Huff said.
Charles Wagner, board chairman who accepted the grant on behalf of Booker T. Washington National Monument, said everyone "appreciates all you've done for the park."
"The park is a valuable asset to the county,"ﾠWagner said.
The money will help build a visitors' center, which should enhance visitation at the park, Goode said.
Goode previously announced grants to other Southside localities, including Martinsville and Danville, that he worked on in 2008. Those grants, as well as the ones for Franklin County, were all part of a conference report package.
Some of the items he worked on in 2007 were not passed until the next Congress in February or March of 2008, he said.
"That's how the system works," Goode added. |
