Collegiate Times

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AUGUST —

The VT Bus Tracker app is released for mobile phones, allowing students to find out where a bus is on a route.

The Perry Street parking deck opens, adding about 1,300 parking spots to the Perry Street lot.

SEPTEMBER —

Portions of Torgerson Hall, including the Torgerson Bridge, become the first official 24-hour study zone on Tech’s campus.

The Hokies lose their first football game to Boise State 33-30 in an away game played on FexEx Field in Landover, Md.

The Hokies suffer an embarrassing loss at home to James Madison University, 21-16. It was the first time Tech started with a 0-2 record since 1995. 

Fighting Gravity, a blacklight dance group comprised of members of Tech’s Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, performs for a final time on “America’s Got Talent.” The group had been featured on the television show all summer and finished third in the final round of the talent competition.

David Gayle, a sophomore political science major from Norfolk, dies after falling from a third floor balcony during a party. His death would later be ruled related to alcohol.

OCTOBER —

Tech alumnus Roger Craig becomes third-most successful contestant in the long-running game show “Jeopardy’”s history.

The long-awaited Chipotle restaurant on North Main Street finally opens.

Six cadets are injured after their SUV flips into a ditch. They were driving together on the way to a Corps event on Craigs Creek Road.

Gamma Phi Beta is selected to become the newest sorority on Tech’s campus.

NOVEMBER —

Multiple Republican candidates overturned Demcratic incumbents, including local House representative Morgan Griffith who beat Rick Boucher, a 28-year incumbent.

A forest fire blazes on Price Mountain, in Montgomery County near Tech.

The Town of Blacksburg decides to demolish the Old Blacksburg Middle School on South Main Street in order to rezone the property. The middle school had stood defunct and filled with asbestos for eight years.

DECEMBER —

An explosion on New Year’s Eve rocks Blacksburg’s Federal-Mogul Corp. plant on Industrial Drive.

JANUARY —

The Department of Education issues a final decision that Tech violated the Clery Act during its reaction to the April 16, 2007 shootings.

The move of bicycle shop Hokie Spokes from its North Main Street location to College Avenue sparks a chain of bicycle shop shifts.

Montgomery County registrar Randy Wertz is accused of incompetence following the results of analysis of November’s election. Many voters could not use new electronic voting systems because of glitches and operator inefficiency.

Tech student Sam Wendler dies in an off-campus apartment.

Crossroads Movies and Music, on Prices Fork Road, closes.

FEBUARY —

Many Tech students react in support of the Egyptian uprisings.

The Cellar opens a new storefront adjacent to its North Main Street restaurant, completel with a choose-your-own six-pack feature and specialty beers from around the world.

A plan to revamp the Virginia Cooperative Extension program, which provides 4-H programs to the state, sparks an investigation.

Ground is broken on Turner Place, a new dining hall on the academic side of campus between Randolph Hall and the ICTAS building. The $35.7 million project, which will include 8 restaurants and seat up to 700 patrons, should be completed in 2012.

Head coach Frank Beamer’s son, Shane, is added to the Hokies’ coaching staff.

Visiting philosophy professor Lauren Fleming dies from injuries she sustained in a December car crash.

Tech student David Roesler is trapped in a cave in Giles County overnight.

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A version of this article appeared in the Jun 20 issue of the Collegiate Times.