The Buchanan County Board of Supervisors recognized six young anglers during its Sept. 14 meeting for representing the county in national and world bass fishing competitions.
Bobby Looney, a member of the Big Sandy Soil and Water Conservation District board of directors, introduced anglers Landon Ray and Joshua Smith, who attended the recognition with their families.
Ray and Smith competed at Lake Cumberland in Kentucky, where they placed 34th among 413 teams in national and world competition.
“It’s very impressive that kids around this area can compete in the national and the world,” Looney told the board.
The supervisors also recognized Jaxon Deel, Brody Deel, Easton Stevens and Breese Bostic, who were unable to attend the meeting.
The Deel team placed 217th among 411 teams in national and world competition. Stevens and Bostic placed 18th among 79 teams at a junior national and world tournament in Russellville, Arkansas.
Looney said youth fishing programs do more than introduce young people to competitive angling. They also encourage participants to understand and protect the region’s waterways.
“Once we get these kids educated here, they will respect our water streams,” Looney said. “In the future, maybe some of them will help get this cleaned up, or they can have more efficient tournaments around here.”
The board also heard from Bobby Ratliff, who provided an update on the county’s youth archery team and asked supervisors to help the program find a permanent place to practice, store its equipment and host tournaments.
Ratliff said the team has obtained targets and a protective curtain that will allow members to practice inside the gymnasium at Big Rock. However, the addition of another youth archery team in Southwest Virginia means each participating team is expected to host a tournament.
“They’re wanting each team to host a tournament,” Ratliff said.
Ratliff asked whether the former Grundy Senior High School gymnasium could eventually be used by the archery program. In addition to providing enough room for a tournament, the facility could give the team a place to store its targets rather than transporting the bulky equipment to and from each practice.
“I’ve got to have a place to store them,” Ratliff said. “There’s no way I can haul them back and forth.”
Ratliff told supervisors the team needed approximately $969.15 for materials, another protective curtain and 10 tournament targets.
Rocklick District Supervisor Craig Stiltner made a motion to divide the cost equally among the county’s seven magisterial districts. Knox District Supervisor Trey Adkins seconded the motion, which passed unanimously among the supervisors in attendance.
Hurricane District Supervisor and board Chairman Tim Hess was absent from the meeting.
