Features

    Though tough economic times have hit other projects hard, the Downtown Moneta and Mayberry Hills development is adjusting and thriving.

    New leases are being signed, new residential units are being built and people are being drawn to the area.

    According to developer George Aznavorian, people are looking for ways to have affordable evenings out. Hence Downtown Celebrations, an effort to provide free entertainment while attracting people to the stores there.

From the time Collage, Liberty High School’s literary magazine, fired back up four years ago it has garnered national attention.

    And it continues to do so.

The Bedford County’s Sheriff’s Office has a long and storied history.  The county’s first sheriff, Joseph Ray, took office when Bedford County was first formed in 1754.

    Now it is in the process of compiling as much of that as possible.

For more than 100 years a hardware store has been located at 126 South Bridge Street in Centertown Bedford. For the past nine years Bill Mosley, and his wife Elizabeth Berry-Mosley, have been the owners there.

    That’s about to change, but they’re confident the store will remain viable and the history of that building’s use will continue.

When Hope Cupit’s daughter, Bendera, had her 13th birthday, she had something in mind other than presents.

    The Forest teen turned her birthday party into a fundraising event for a little girl named Hannah Johnson. Johnson, a student at Thomas Jefferson Elementary School, is fighting leukemia. The type of leukemia she has responds well to treatment, but it’s expensive. Her  family  has insurance, but their out-of-pocket expenses are cheap.

Virginia Robertson has always worked hard and though she turned 102 years old this past Sunday she’s not yet ready to slow down.

    “I do everything I want to do,” Virginia said this week about remaining active. “I worked hard all my life — from the time I was knee-high to a duck.”

Johnathan Dillon, lead singer for the bluegrass band Johnathan Dillon and Phantom Grass, paid a visit to the Good Neighbors day camp being held at Trinity Ecumenical Parish recently.

    Good Neighbors is an ecumenical program that brings seven Lake area churches and Lake Christian Ministries together to help elementary school children of the portions of Bedford and Franklin counties that border the lake. One of its efforts are two four-week day camps for children from first grade through fourth. Each accommodates 50 children.

One of the area organizations that gives scholarships to students pursuing post-high school education is Mended Hearts.

    Mended Hearts consists of individuals, and members of their families, who have undergone some sort of heart procedure. They have a vested interest in the continued availability of quality medical professionals and their scholarships go to nursing students. This year, Mended Hearts gave $250 scholarships to Crystal  Jadallah and Tiffany Phillips. Both are students in the local licensed practical nurse (LPN) program.

When Linda and Charlie Exley first arrived in the Bedford area 19 years ago, Elisha “John” Cheek and his wife, Patricia, befriended the Yankee refugees.

    The Exleys met the local couple because Patricia Cheek collected dolls and Linda Exley had a doll shop at the time.

    “They invited us for Christmas,” she said. “They became our Virginia parents.” For the Exleys and many others, John Cheek’s death earlier this year was a heartfelt loss.