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The growth in Grayson County will stabilize and begin to drop again in my opinion. The growth is exclusively due to River North Correctional Facility opening in 2014. The regional partnership between Galax, Grayson and Carroll that helped the area recover from the loss of all furniture and textile plants in the late 90's appears to be dissolving. In my opinion, if it does indeed dissolve, it will be to the detriment of everything this area has accomplished as strategic partners over the past two decades.

Profession habits are hard to break. I am forced to provide entirely too much information on a professional basis and sometimes carry it over to my personal life. Others would argue I talk to hear myself talk. Either way, I have issues!

Teachable moments come infrequently in life. It isn't every day we are presented with an opportunity to show a grown man differing opinions are not something to try and control. Healthy, adult debate is a great thing and our country would be better for not trying to insist every opinion that isn't like minded is somehow a personal attack. With that said, showing grace, humility and forgiveness could help foster a change in one man's vision. Give him a commuted sentence and see how he handles it.

If I understand correctly, it is going to be part of a city wide project already underway. They have contracted with an artist from Grayson County to design new signage on stone pedestals that will replace existing signage all over town.

Keep watching. The group coming up is something to see.

I haven't seen a Galax schedule but they have opened the season each of the past 5 or 6 years with Glenvar. If that is the case again this year, we will find out quickly what each have.

Dougie Peoples, half brother of Steven and rising junior. Gained almost 1,000 yards last season with minimal carries due to Charles Harris. Kid is a beast!

I know a few members of the Galax staff think highly of Akers from his time at Rural Retreat. It is often difficult to tell just how a coaching change is going based on a message board. We often hear from the vocal minority while the silent majority are out in support of the program. I believe, if given a chance to succeed, he will do good things.

No offense intended and I did say potentially. Just seems like a lot of consenting opinions, loud ones at that, concerning the coaching choice. Point being, a divided community can tear a program apart.

Good to hear from you coach. I would suggest being careful with posting on this or any site. You have little to gain and much more to lose. Lots of people commute for lots of reasons. I live in Galax near where my wife grew up and worked in Roanoke for a long time. Best of luck to you as you bring Fort back to where it deserves to be. A rising tide lifts all boats. When Galax, Grayson and Fort are at their best, everyone benefits.

Is this fact or a "not one of our guys" situation like that of past Fort Chiswell coaching staffs prior to James? Seems like a lot of programs are their own worst enemies! I mean, this is the same program that ran Willis White out of town.

Why would a young coach rebuilding a once respected program leave after one season to assist a program that has potentially set itself up for failure? No offense intended to Gate City fans but a divided fan base will rip the program appart if they can't come together around Akers. I am with GMAN, I call BS!

This needs a little more attention brought it's way! The absolute single biggest stumbling block for civil relations between my family and that of my parents, in-laws, aunts, uncles, etc. We are all a product of the environment in which we were raised regardless of generational classification. Somehow, we have morphed into a society that refuses to punish the proverbial 5th grader named little Johnny when deserved. When little Johnny gets into trouble at school, the teacher must be at fault and should be terminated at once! Little Johnny is then rewarded for his bad behavior and learns a valuable, at least to him, lesson; how to manipulate any situation into a desired outcome. This concept benefits little Johnny well, at least until he reaches adulthood, where he is abruptly punished for his bad behavior leading to further overcrowding of our prison system. Where-as, if little Johnny had gotten his ass busted in 5th grade, he may have developed into a functioning adult who adds some benefit to society!

This thread makes me favor forced sterilization!

I was stationed in various parts of Texas for 4 years while in the military. I attended several games in Austin, Killeen, Temple, Odessa, and Midland. We never ventured up to the Dallas area but with the abundance of excellent high school football in Texas, we didn't feel the need. On a side note, Permian has a nicer practice "stadium" than any high school stadium in SWVA with the possible exception of Graham and Salem. Look it up on Google Maps, its impressive.

Not three different localities building three different stadiums but one school district building a multi use facility for all three schools to share. McKinney ISD has more than 24,500 students, 20 elementary schools, 5 middle schools and 3 high schools. The facility will also be a concert venue. There are other $60+ million facilities in Texas. With the population base of McKinney, the community could feasibly profit from such a venue over time. After all, McKinney ISD has a higher enrollment than most SWVA counties have population. I am not trying to justify such an expenditure but it isn't as ridiculous as it sounds given the population and growth of that area.

Zamir Echeagaray signed with Ferrum. How is this for a headline quote, "Echeagaray anchored an offensive line that paved the way for more than 16,000 rushing yards during his varsity career". Four year starter and two time all state. Great young man! Charles Harris signed with Bluefield. In my opinion, Emory and Henry, UVA Wise and ETSU missed the boat!

I had been hearing App St. was very high on Spurlin for a long time. I think it's a good fit for him. On a side note, he went 2-4 with a run scored and an RBI Friday in baseball and his batting average dropped 21 points. He is 34-47 on the season for a .723 average. Edit to add; he has played every position in the field, including pitcher and catcher and has committed 3 errors. That's almost more impressive than the batting average. Not a lot this kid can't do!

Just stop it! Oak Hill has 5 guards on the current roster who are getting incredible interest from major D1 schools and none graduate this year. Grad year player 2016 avg offers 2017 Devonte Shular 13 ppg UNC, USC, South Carolina, Clemson, Wake, Georgia, FSU, Tennessee, Texas, UVA 2017 Lindell Wiggington 17 ppg Oregon, UConn, VT, Arizona, BC 2017 Matt Coleman 11 ppg Texas, UVA, UConn, Indiana, VT 2018 Ty-Shon Alexander 14 ppg Creighton, Charlotte, Clemson, VT 2018 Montez Mathis 5 ppg Maryland, Memphis, St. Johns, WVU, George Mason, Xavier, Wake Forest, Washington Unless one or more chose to leave Oak Hill, the coaching staff isn't going to bring in more guards.

Ask any Graham fan on the board, when a coach allows fundamentals to be neglected, it takes years to recover from. This is the case with Fort Chiswell. When James left for Pulaski and Tom Hale was hired, the seeds were sewn for the next three or four years. Redtiger is absolutely correct, Fort's current state shouldn't be a reflection of Tiller's coaching ability. He is essentially starting from scratch!

The original article, the one retracted, stated coaches and administrators felt the upgrade in competition would be in the long term benefit to the school. Playing the likes of Narrows and Bland doesn't really prepare you for playoff games against the likes of Giles (42-12) and Richlands (63-7), the last two playoff football losses for Grayson. The girls programs are consistently winning 20 games in volleyball and basketball and getting crushed come playoff time. I know some disagree but I still see the driving force behind the move to the SWD was baseball. Grayson isn't close to being the dominant program it was a decade ago. Competition breeds competition!

^^^What he said^^^

The Galax Gazette ran a retraction on an article it ran a few weeks ago about Grayson moving to the SWD. According to the retraction, public outcry has led Grayson to reverse course and remain in the MED. It was also reported that many parents aren't pleased with the direction of the girl's athletic programs at Galax and major changes are looming.

SWVA has always excelled at taking advantage of it's natural resources. We have an abundance of big, tough, strong kids who work hard to achieve team goals. It doesn't make sense to try to match NOVA or Tidewater athlete for athlete. That is not to imply SWVA doesn't have athletes and we don't need to throw the football on occasion to keep defenses honest. And, yes, a stout defense can keep any offensive scheme in a game.

I will agree that a ground and pound team can be limited in coming back from a deficit late in a game but that wasn't the premise of the original conversation. The blanket statement was "ground/pound stuff doesn't work too well against a spread team". That is a much different conversation than "circumstances occur that result in you getting a couple of scores down".