By Tonia Moxley
The Roanoke Times
Oct. 10, 2008
Note: View a .pdf version of this story.
WAKE FOREST — Esther Jones’s family history was all but hewn from the rugged coal faces deep inside Brush Mountain.
Born into a mining family in Wake Forest in 1920 and married for 43 years to a coal mine operator, Jones is sought [...]

By Tonia Moxley
The Roanoke Times
Oct. 10, 2008
Note: View a .pdf version of this story.
MCCOY — Before 33 people were killed at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007, another April day stood out as the deadliest in Montgomery County history.
On April 18, 1946, 11 men from Montgomery and Pulaski counties died in a catastrophic explosion at [...]

By Tonia Moxley
The Roanoke Times
Sept. 10, 2008
MOUNTAIN LAKE — Across what once was a 50-acre marine playground now stretches a startling vista more reminiscent of Arizona’s Painted Desert than of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
One small pool of water remains on the northwestern end of Mountain Lake’s bed, far out of sight of the hotel that [...]

By Tonia Moxley
The Roanoke (Va.) Times
August 16, 2008
“What lake?”
That is how longtime Mountain Lake Hotel General Manager Buzz Scanland responds to questions about the condition of Giles County’s popular resort attraction.
“Nobody living’s seen it this low,” Scanland said Friday.
The level of the 50-acre natural lake showcased in the 1987 hit movie “Dirty Dancing” has [...]

By Tonia Moxley
The Roanoke (Va.) Times
July 24, 2008
Summary: Contaminated soil and groundwater continue to plague construction efforts at a town-owned property in downtown Blacksburg.
A $5.1 million project to turn a Blacksburg brownfield into a town hall expansion and a showplace of environmental building has run into pollution problems.
Next door to the town council chambers — [...]