Daily News Record (Newspaper) - July 15, 2008, Harrisonburg, Virginia Clinic Opens In Harrisonburg A Pair Of Brothers Battle For HHS Quarterback Job July 2008 I 35 cents Nikki Fox DNR Harrisonburg Police Officer Philip Wonderley talks on the radio in his patrol car while serving warrants on A million radio system designed to improve emergency communications could be operational by the end of the New Radio System Nears Final OK County May Be Operational By Fall By JEFF MELLOTT Daily HARRISONBURG awaited million radio system designed to improve emergency communications could be operational by the end of the according to Jim director of the ham County Emergency Communications Junkins said an inspection by the National Radio Astron omy Observatory at Sugar and final ap proval of the Federal Commu Commission remain to be City and county govern ment officials have said they expect the new system to im prove response times and to fill some of the dead zones in the existing radio coverage HighTech System The 800 MHz digital sys tem will allow city and coun ty emergency officials to co ordinate their responses on a single as well as in Junkins The digital simulcast sys tem has an encryption fea ture that allows code trans mission of said Dave spokesman for which de signed and installed the sys Along with emergency the system puts government workers on the same wavelength so they can be involved in Junkins Informal discussions by See Page A3 System Switch Could Affect Use Of Scanners By PETE DeLEA Daily HARRISONBURG For volunteer rescue squad members and firefight along and concerned have been stopping by the Radio Shack in the Valley Mall in quiring about the status of their current Within the next two Rockingham County plans to switch to an 800 MHz digital radio sys tem for its emergency commu ja transition that has a lot of scanner asts scratching their Theres a lot up in the said Jack assistant manager of the Radio we have a lot of an swers but there are a lot of un Boyle gets at least one cus tomer a day asking whether their scanner will work follow ing the Ive been telling people just to wait and he Jim director of the County Emergency Communi cations said doesnt know of any manufacturers producing scanners for retail See Page A3 Nikki Fox DNR The new radio which is mounted on the and the current radios in the patrol car of Officer Philip City police have not yet started using the new City Expands Drug Testing Safety Sensitive Jobs Subject To New Policy By HEATHER BOWSER Daily HARRISONBURG Earlier this Harrisonburg enact ed a policy of performing random drug and alcohol testing on all city employees working in what officials call safety sensitive officials violating the new drug policy will be grounds for immediate According to the which went into effect July the 290 safety sensitive positions in clude all employees in the Har risonburg police and fire depart the Emergency Communi cations the water treat ment plant and at the Resource Recovery Employees whose jobs require them to deal directly with chil dren such as preschool teachers and recre ation workers also are consid ered working in safety sensitive The new policy also allows the city to test any employee if it has reasonable suspicion of drug and alcohol The which has been in the works for about three is not in response to any specific but rather is part of a growing trend of safety tions in use by other said City Manager Kurt The new policy does not save the city money on insurance and will not affect the faculty and staff in Harrisonburg City The city is a lar Hodgen We have lots of people handling lots of We would rather err on the side of caution because all it takes is one bad How It Works Federal law has long required localities to perform random drug and alcohol tests for anyone who must have a commercial drivers such as snowplow or dump truck drivers employed by the Public Works Among these half must be annually tested for drugs and 10 percent for said Jen director of human resources for the The new also will be given annu ally to 10 percent of the safety sensitive The alcohol tests will be given to 5 percent of that Although the city chose which jobs to include in the random officials based their deci sion on the recommendation of the Federal Transit Administra Rhodes City workers in clerical and administrative po sitions who do not work closely with children will not be affected by the See Page A3 City And County School Food Costs Up 9 Percent By JENNY JONES Daily HARRISONBURG Like school divisions Har risonburg and Rockingham County schools will pay more for food this coming school Nutrition directors for both di visions say that based on a mar they will pay an average of 9 percent more in food costs for the 200809 school Thats up about 5 percentage points from fiscal when food costs increased by 3 or 4 percent from the previ ous they The city and county school di visions are part of a food cooper ative that also includes Augusta and Shenandoah The cooperative allows the divisions to get better prices by purchasing food in nutrition directors In the the average cost of producing a meal in fiscal 2008 was about including the cost of labor and said Gerald director of food service for Rock ingham County In the the average cost of producing a meal in fiscal 2008 was said Andrea di rector of school nutrition for Har risonburg City Neither Lehman nor Early knows for certain what the average See Page A3 Questions Swirl Over Buyout Company Properties Key Tourism Attractions In Associated Press RICHMOND The announcement of takeover by a giant Belgian brewer is raising questions over the fate of its Virginia includ ing the Busch Gardens theme The maker of the King of Beers announced Monday that it has agreed to go to work for the Belgian brewer accepting a billion takeover The which is sub ject to shareholders and regulators would create the worlds largest owns several prop erties in Virginia in the Williamsburg In addition to a brewery in the companys sub own the theme the Kingsmill Resort and and the Wa ter Country USA water said it will keep all 12 of An North American brew eries including the Williamsburg facility that employs about 870 workers and churns out million barrels of beer per The companies said they will sell off noncore assets that they would not See Page A6 Gun Vote Set The District of Columbia Council planned to vote today on legislation to allow handguns if used only for selfdefense in the j Page A2 Thousands Gather Pilgrims bore a giant wooden the streets of on as thousands gathered ahead of todays Catholic youth festival and a visit from the Page AS INSIDE 4 Sections 24 Pages I 243 Index Classified Comics Forum Nation Ci D1 B6 B6 M D6 Skyline Sports State Weather World 85 55 B Cl A2 Bl A6 A5 Obituaries B2 Jennie Hampton William Mount Jackson William Bridgewater Contact the Daily 540 5746200 Miss Your Paper 540 69 For the latest weather visit
