
BY ROGER SMITH MOUNTAIN CITIZEN INEZ — Martin County Fiscal Court voted Thursday to award eight federally funded demolition jobs to a local contractor whose bids totaled $560,500 — $403,000 more than a competing contractor — after a magistrate said he favored the local company because “it’s federal money” and “not like it’s coming through…

Martin County Fiscal Court made a decision Thursday that should trouble every taxpayer, regardless of which contractor ultimately would have been best suited for the job. The court chose Howell’s Recycling & Sanitation of Debord for demolition and restoration work on eight flood-buyout properties. Howell’s bids totaled $560,500. West Brothers Contracting of Varney, West Virginia,…

BY ROGER SMITH MOUNTAIN CITIZEN INEZ — Martin County officials honored longtime Road & Bridge employee Blaine Stepp Thursday for his decades of craftsmanship, including his latest creation — a replica coal cart now on display in Warfield. Judge/Executive Lon Lafferty and the Martin County Fiscal Court presented Stepp with a framed photograph of the…


BY BRITTNI MCCOY MOUNTAIN CITIZEN Five games. Five wins. Forty-six goals scored and only one surrendered. The Martin County Lady Cardinals have stormed out of the gate to a 5-0 start, including four mercy-rule victories and four shutouts. Martin County opened the regular season with an 11-0 win over Pike Central on Aug. 15 before…






