Collegiate Times

By Nick Cafferky, news editor

Virginia Tech Relay for Life reached $100,000 this weekend, making it the second school in the country to hit six figures.  Tech currently sits at $103,255 with 1,971 people already signed up in 292 groups.

Relay’s official kickoff event was last Wednesday and different fundraising opportunities will continue throughout the next few months until the actual event takes place on April 20 on the Drillfield.

But with two months left to raise money, Relay has goals much higher than $100,ooo; according to it’s Facebook page, the goal is to hit the $750,000 mark.

Next up for Relay is a profit-sharing night at Benny Marzano’s this Wednesday; 15 percent of all procedes will go directly to Relay.

Follow Nick on Twitter at @NickCaffCT

by Nick Cafferky, news editor

UPDATE 9:08 P.M.

Blacksburg Transit has stopped running for the rest of the night due to the inclement weather. No decision has been made for service tomorrow.

PUBLISHED 8:09 P.M.

Blacksburg is finally seeing its first real snow fall of the winter and it is hitting the region hard.

Starting in the early morning, the storm has already dumped an estimated 5.8 inches of snow on the ground with anywhere from three to five more inches to come into the night.

Theses conditions have made driving almost impossible, as the Virginia Department of Transportation is scrambling to improve conditions on the roads.

“Everything on the Virginia Traffic 511 is showing that road conditions are what we consider moderate,” said Jason Bond of the VDOT.  “This means that there is some type of accumulation on the roads throughout the region.

“The last update I had on the interstates says that the roads are covered in flush and I would anticipate that for all of the roads throughout the area as long as the snow is coming down,” he said.

With many reports leading up to today suggesting that the precipitation would mostly be rain and sleet, the VDOT did not treat the roads before hand. Treatment was done in the early morning, but the late start and heavy snowfall has the snowplows trying to play catch up.

“We’re concentrating our efforts the primary roads,” Bond said, “the ones that carry the most traffic. That’s where efforts are right now because snow is continuing to fall. That means there’s probably more accumulation on the secondary roads and probably more snow in the higher elevation.”

As of right now, there appears to only be one incident on roads in the area, as a tractor-trailer accident on the 114 mile-marker on I-81 has closed the south-bound left lane.

Follow Nick on Twitter at @NickCaffCT

A memorial service for sophomore philosophy major Dieter Seltzer, who died Tuesday, will be held Saturday 4 p.m. at Pierce Funeral Home in Manassas, Va.

Seltzer, who died of unknown causes, was at home in Manassas at the time of his death.

Michael Seltzer, Dieter’s father, asked that donations to a scholarship fund be made in lieu of flowers. The fund benefits the philosophy department because Dieter was a philosophy major. Checks should be made to the Virginia Tech Foundation with the memo “Philosophy Scholarship Fund,” and sent to:

Scholarship Fund

Department of Philosophy-0126

Virginia Tech

Blacksburg, VA 24061

Dieter was a columnist for the Collegiate Times who wrote a regular feature with his sister, senior philosophy major Gabi Seltzer. Click here to read his writings for the CT.

The Virginia Senate passed a bill that closes a loophole which allows online retailers, such as Amazon, to avoid sales taxes.

According to the Virginian-Pilot, this bill comes as local stores seek tax parity with online competitors.

The bill would require online businesses with a presence in the state to collect a 5 percent sales tax and forward it to the state.

Amazon currently has one distribution center in Sterling, Va. However, talks among the retailer and the state could bring two distribution centers to the state as well as 1,350 jobs.

The deal would also include $4.3 million in state financial aid as part of the deal.

By Nick Cafferky, news editor

At about 8 p.m. on Monday, Eric Johnson’s evening came to a grinding halt when he found himself trapped in a Lee Hall elevator.

“I hit ‘seven,’ and the ‘one’ sign flashes, and all of a sudden, it just stops,” the freshman general engineering major said. “The first thing I did was hit ‘seven’ again. And then I hit ‘two,’ and it didn’t work either, so I knew something was wrong.”

For more than three hours, Johnson, a Lee Hall resident, stood — sans a watch or phone to tell the time — waiting for the maintenance team to help him escape.

“I didn’t to want to hit that button have police come and have this be a whole fiasco, so I figured I’d let maintenance work,” Johnson said.

Without anything in his pockets to keep himself occupied, Johnson had to get creative when it came to entertainment.

“There are 1,458 squares on the bottom (of the elevator),” he said. “I untied my shoelaces and tied every knot I know of, sung a couple of songs and slept a little.”

Unfortunately, Johnson lives on the seventh floor of Lee, so avoiding the elevator isn’t a practical long-term solution.

“I might take the stairs for a week or two,” he said, “just in case.”