Though funnels were sighted, no tornadoes have been confirmed.

Jim Shauberger spent part of his weekend cleaning dead animals off the lawn. Two squirrels and about a dozen birds were among the casualties of a storm that moved from Carroll County to Lynchburg on Saturday, pelting everything in its path with hail.

Board of supervisors will consider the application next month.

Smith Mountain Lake could get another winery. At Tuesday’s meeting of the Bedford County Planning Commission, commissioners voted 7-0 to recommend the county’s board of supervisors approve a rezoning application that would allow just that.

Franklin County residents still will need to purchase 2012 and 2013 stickers.

The Franklin County Board of Supervisors eliminated county motor vehicle decals during its monthly meeting Tuesday by a vote of 5 to 2.

In place of the decals, county residents will pay a license fee on their personal property bills starting in December 2013. That will eliminate the stickers themselves, but keep the county from losing the estimated $1.2 million in revenue the decals now bring in, according to a presentation made by county Treasurer Lynda Messenger at the meeting.

Westlake Towne Center eyed as a potential site for new lake station.

Franklin County is working toward building two new lake-area fire stations. New facilities for the Westlake and Glade Hill departments are on the county’s list of potential projects for the upcoming budget year.

Several units, including one rented by the SML Charity Home Tour, were compromised.

Break-ins were reported Tuesday at Moneta Mini Storage, a storage facility on Virginia 122 in Bedford County, according to the Bedford County Sheriff’s Department.

Bill Piatt, president of this year’s SML Charity Home Tour’s board of directors, said the Home Tour’s storage unit was among those whose locks had been cut.

A new pump-out boat is estimated to cost about $85,000.

Chairman Russ Johnson recommended at the Tri-County Lake Administrative Commission’s Tuesday meeting that a lake advocacy group look locally for donations to help keep the lake free of pollutants.

The Smith Mountain Lake Association for the past 10 years has partnered with the Virginia Department of Health to operate The Royal Flush. The boat trolled the lake on summer weekends, pumping out other boat’s septic systems to keep captains from dumping their waste tanks into the lake.

Smith Mountain Lake homeowners reaping the benefits of their new solar energy system
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Smith Mountain Lake pros dish on the latest kitchen and bath trends
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