Holiday mail, gun death, Alcoa closing

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Holiday Mail for Heroes project launches

The American Red Cross and Pitney Bowes are partnering for the third year to present the Holiday Mail for Heroes program. The groups will collect, sort and distribute holiday cards for military service members, veterans and their families. Want to help? Sign a card and get it to your local Red Cross chapter; that’s the Mountain Empire Chapter at 14298 Lee Highway in Bristol, Va.

In 2009, the Red Cross reviewed and distributed more than 1.4 million cards to service members around the country and overseas.

The annual event kicked off Monday. Cards must be received at the Mountain Empire Chapter no later than Friday, Dec. 4. Cards should be signed, but do not include letters, e-mail or home addresses. This program is not to start pen pal relationships, but to deliver goodwill messages. The maximum number of cards that can be received is 25 from an individual and 50 from a group. Each card does not need its own envelope.

The holiday mail program is not a program for gift cards or care packages. People who want to participate in those outreach programs should go to http://www.aafes.com and search under “AAFES Community Center,” then “Help Our Troops Call Home” or “Gift Cards/Certificates for Our Troops.”

For more information on the holiday mail program, contact Patty at the local Red Cross office: (276) 645-6650 or (866) 645-6650 or . There are many service members, veterans and their family members who would benefit from a card or package during the holidays. Consider being part of this outreach to give to others.

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Gun as prop causes death at Halloween death

A Halloween costume prop turned into a deadly weapon at a party when a man shot and killed himself in what police are calling an accident. One man brought a loaded .40-caliber handgun to the party as an accessory to his costume. According to police, the party’s host learned the gun was loaded and had the man remove the bullets from the gun and put the gun away. It is unclear when the gun was reloaded or who did it.

But later, about 1:55 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 1, another man picked up the gun and shot himself with it. Anthony L. Waits, 21, of Webb Court, Bristol, Tenn., was pronounced dead at the hospital later that morning.

Police have been vague about the incident’s details and it’s unclear how many people witnessed the shooting. What is clear is that bringing a loaded gun to a Halloween party is terribly reckless. And this “prop” led to the death of a 21-year-old man.

Senseless, reckless, unfunny and traumatic – those are the appropriate words for anyone affected by this Halloween tragedy now and for every Halloween to come.

The man who brought the gun to the party has not been publicly identified, but police have said they might charge him with possession of a gun while intoxicated. And police urge everyone to treat any gun as if it is loaded. If only that had been the case at this party.

Planned layoffs, shutdown at Alcoa plant

The Alcoa plant in Lebanon, Va., that makes forged aluminum car wheels, was poised to take off in 2010, with contracts that were expected to provide work for years. Instead, the plant will close and the remaining 76 workers will lose their jobs. The Pittsburgh-based company announced it will close the plant in January and move all of the production work to the company’s Cleveland, Ohio, facility.
There had been as many as 300 workers at the local Alcoa plant, which opened in 1997. The company blamed market conditions on the closure.

Russell County Administrator Jim Gillespie said he still hopes a deal could be reached with Alcoa to save jobs. He mentioned a similar incident in 2003 when Alcoa announced it was closing the plant. The plant remained open after the Russell County Industrial Development Authority and the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority pledged $1.4 million to the plant.

We want to see these jobs stay in the region, but VCEDA and the county IDA cannot pour money into Alcoa every time it threatens to leave Lebanon. The aim for VCEDA is to develop new, lasting jobs in the region.

If another cash infusion would help Alcoa stay over the long run, the money would be well spent. But the last threat of a plant closing came only six years ago. We fear economic factors for wheel-makers, especially in this prolonged recession, are more serious than what can be overcome by local economic development agencies.