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I have never been one for New Year’s resolutions. It just seems like anoth-er thing to make me feel like I have “failed” when I don’t get to the gym five times per week or when I go back to eating cookies for breakfast. I do -- however – view the turning of the cal-endar year as a wonderful op-portunity to reflect and aspire.

I reflect on the events of the passing year – but most impor-tantly I evaluate my response and attitude. Did I handle them with grace or awkward-ness? Kindness or animosity? As a supporter or antagonist? Did I grow from the experi-ence or drown it its wake?

But most of all, did I leave the world better than I found it?

I also use the New Year to dream about possibilities and aspire to be better. It’s exciting and comforting.

The past 12 months have been filled with huge life changes – in every category. Most of the changes felt like the proverbial rug being pulled out from under me and others like a 2x4 to the side of the head. But all of them seemed to have a silver lining – of some sort.

As I look back on the themes of 2009 – “friends” seem to sum it up best. It has been a

year of making new friends and recon-necting with old ones. It has been about leaning on them for support and holding them up in the most dif-ficult of times. It has been about

noticing the very special things in each person and aspiring to learn

from their example. Remarkable people sur-

round me. I am in awe of their humanity, generosity, integrity, and honesty – especially when the world seems to missing all those things. I am grateful for their energy, passion and drive – even when they are forced to run on faith alone. I am hum-bled by their accomplishments and inspired by their actions.

So, as you summon out the old and ring in the new, take the time to soak in the community of people who surround you – both physically and spiritu-ally. How can you learn from their example to better serve the community in which we live – both locally and glob-ally? How can you better care for the people you love and for yourself? It can be a wonderful way to “resolve” to make 2010 a fabulous year.

Sometimes solutions to life’s dilemmas come with hooves, a mane and a tail. Unbridled Change in Boones Mill makes life solutions their business, and they use horses to do it.

Founder and Executive Director Michelle Holling-Brooks parlayed her personal experience into a life calling. She recovered her emotional and physical stability on the back of a horse after experi-encing viral encephalitis and spinal meningitis as a young teen. She is now the only Certified Eagala Advanced Equine Specialist in the state of Virginia, and one of only fourteen in the United States.

That made Unbridled Change the perfect place for an anonymous client to ex-plore why she remained in an abusive marriage that includ-ed physical violence. Years of traditional psychotherapy did not result in a changed life that included healthy choices. False re-ligious beliefs complicated the issue further. A decision to move hours away from her home in an attempt to get healthy resulted in find-ing herself in the backyard of Unbridled Change. In twelve weeks change was indeed the name of the game.

Holling-Brooks and Cami Murnane MSW, Level One Eagala Certified Mental Health Professional, were the

two footed thera-pists that melded their skills with the unpredictable and

uncanny wisdom of their four footed friends. “It didn’t take long for all my ineffective cop-ing mechanisms to show up in the ring” said the anonymous client. “It became obvious to me that I needed new tools and new coping skills in order to make healthy choices, and

the horses provided those for me.”

“There was one time that one of our four footed thera-pists behaved in a way that was unique for him but re-vealing for our client’s situa-tion. Cami and I watched in awe as the light bulb went off in our client’s head. That mo-ment has become the defining moment for us and cemented why we do what we do,” said Holling-Brooks.

Photo by Christine Slade

Therapist Cami Murnane (left) and founder/executive director Michelle Holling-Brooks (right) introduce Diesel to supporter Sue Halterman (Center).

All Dressed Up for the Holidays

Mountain View,” the historic home in SW City built at the turn of the century and donated to the city by newspaper and banking magnate Ju-

nius B. Fishburn, is a stunning site at first glance from 13th St. / Memorial Ave. But if you look a little closer the sagging eves and rotten wood that is literally falling from its pillars and pilasters is a sad reminder that, like several other Roanoke city owned community treasures, the once grand home has been allowed to sink into a desperate state of disrepair and neglect.

But help is hopefully, if not slowly, on the way. In 2007 City

Council finally voted to fund $350,000 towards a $1.5 Mil-lion restoration of the building and roof repairs that stopped the worst of the damage from continuing took place shortly thereafter. According to the City Manager’s Office the roof work was part of a three phase restoration effort that was made possible through a combination of city funds and Community Development Block Grant funding.

The second phase will include an extensive exterior resto-ration scheduled to begin sometime in 2010 that will include help from “Friends of Mountain View” - a group that formed

Photo by Stuart Revercomb

Not A Good Time To Ask Council For Half-Million

There is little chance that Countryside’s indoor tennis building will get the repairs requested by the Blue Ridge Tennis group. The non-profit organization last month pre-sented to council plans to teach tennis to underserved youth in exchange for free use of the building. The group asked that council find funds to make re-pairs. They would also kick in free labor and donated mate-rial, said Bob Creamer, who along with Anna Balog spoke for the group.

Creamer and council re-ceived the bad news in an email from assistant manager, Brian Townsend. The inspec-tion by the Facilities Mainte-nance Division evaluated the conditions that included up-grades to meet code.

The previous lessee, Mike Johnson, who paid Mead-owbrook as much as $27,000

Countryside’s indoor tennis facility.

A Perspective on New Year’s Resolutions

[Equine Therapy]

> CONTINUEDP3: Tennis

Equestrian Therapy Brings Change for the Better

> CONTINUED P3: Mountainview

> CONTINUEDP3: Unbridled

Hot RodhokieP5– A team of top Tech Engineering students receives some serious gear for com-peting in the North American EcoCar Challenge.

MessagesMixedP4– Sometimes you can’t win no matter how well you listen to your spouse.

YearBanner

P9- Roanoke Valley high Schools racked up their share of State Titles in a variety of sports in 2009.

TunesLocal

P11– Roanoke based song-writer and performer Greg Trafidlo releases his ninth album while contributing to more than 50 others.

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Stephanie Koehler

By Stephanie Koehlerstephaniekoehler@cox,net

Fred First

Page 2 | The Roanoke Star-Sentinel | 1/1/10 - 1/7/10 NewsRoanoke.com

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CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF EXCELLENCE 1989-2009

It may seem early to begin looking at the May 4 city council elections but with the decision of the Roanoke City Democratic Committee to hold a primary, Democrat-ic candidates have to make their decision even earlier. A primary will take place on March 2 if more than three candidates run for the nomination.

Incumbent Dr. Dave Trinkle has al-ready announced he will seek reelection but Gwen Mason has yet to make up her mind. Trinkle and Mason ran with Alfred Dowe, Jr. in 2006 as independents in a “For the City” ticket. Mason recently lost her bid for the 17th District House of Del-egates seat vacated by retiring Republican William Fralin.

Bill Bestpitch was gathering petition signatures at the Democratic reorganiza-tion held on December 10. Bestpitch ran unsuccessfully in 1998 as an independent. In 2000 he won a council seat as a Demo-crat and served until 2004. In 2004 the Victory Stadium issue ushered in Brian Wishneff and Vice-Mayor Sherman Lea.

Valerie Garner, retired from an infor-mation technology career is entering the Democratic primary.

Garner ran as an independent in 2008 and received 13% of the vote. Along with being President of her neighborhood organization she serves as a council ap-pointed member of the Roanoke Neigh-borhood Advocates.

Garner has taken up writing and re-porting on a variety of Roanoke news on her website and for The Roanoke Star-

Sentinel. She primarily reports on city hall. As a member of the VCOG (Virginia Coalition for Open Government) it comes as no surprise that her platform includes government transparency.

“The city and administration needs some work on that … just because you can keep secrets doesn’t mean you should … it’s all about trust,” said Garner.

“I have attended most every brief-ing and Council meeting in the last two years,” Garner said. She added that she

believes that this will give her a leg up on what the current plans and issues are for the city.

She graduated from Leadership College in 2005 and has attended work sessions on code enforcement and the city budget.

Garner lives in Northwest City, has two adult children and is a member of Sweet Union Baptist Church.

Garner Announces Run for City CouncilWill Seek Nomination in Democratic Primary

By Staff Reportsinfo@newsroanoke.com

Valerie Garner and Governor Tim Kaine share a moment in downtown Roanoke.

Student members of the Hybrid Electric Vehicle Team of Virginia Tech (HEVT) recently received donated auto parts worth $87,000 from lithium ion battery manufacturer A123 Systems as part of the North America EcoCAR Challenge.

The donated prismatic lithium ion bat-tery modules and control systems will help the team with its competition goal of increasing the fuel efficiency of a GM crossover SUV, said team leader Lynn Gantt, a graduate teaching student from Yorktown, Va. “HEVT is aiming to prove they are automotive eco-engineers who will design and build the environmental vehicles of the future,” he said.

As part of the EcoCAR Challenge the Virginia Tech College of Engineering student team took delivery this fall of a 2009 General Motors crossover SUV, also donated. The competition tasks students with creating a more energy-efficient “green” automobile, according to event organizers.

As part of the multi-phase project, the students will incorporate a split parallel hybrid powertrain powered by a GM 2.4 L ECOTEC engine, fueled by grid elec-tricity and E85 (85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline) fuel. During phase 1, the team created a virtual model of a crossover SUV to improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions while retaining the vehicle’s performance and consumer ap-peal. The second phase, now underway, gives student teams the physical challenge of turning their cutting-edge design into reality. Phase 3 will include road-testing the cars in mid-2010.

“EcoCAR provides the opportunity for hands-on design and engineering expe-rience you can’t get in a classroom,” said

D o u g

Nelson, a professor of mechanical engi-neering and founding adviser of HEVT.

Virginia Tech is competing with 16 other universities in the challenge. Thir-teen of the schools will receive similar do-nations from A123 Systems, based in Wa-tertown, Mass., with the remaining three schools opting for parts from a different supplier, said Gantt.

The College of Engineering at Virginia Tech is internationally recognized for its excellence in 14 engineering disciplines and computer science. The college’s 6,000 undergraduates benefit from an innova-tive curriculum that provides a “hands-

on, minds-on” approach to engineering education, complementing classroom instruction with two unique design-and-build facilities and a strong Cooperative Education Program. With more than 50 research centers and numerous laborato-ries, the college offers its 2,000 graduate students opportunities in advanced fields of study such as biomedical engineering, state-of-the-art microelectronics, and nanotechnology.

- By Steven Mackayinfo@newsroanoke.com

Virginia Tech Engineering Students Receive Donated Equipment For EcoCAR Challenge Project

The 2009-2010 Hybrid Electric Vehicle Team of Virginia Tech (HEVT) stands in front of a recently donated 2009 GM SUV. As part of the competition, the team will re-engineer the car to use less fuel per mile and cut emissions. Pictured here (left to right) are team members Mike Kearney, a senior, Lynn Gantt, a team leader and graduate teaching assistant and Nate Grundmann, a senior. All are focusing their studies in mechanical engineering.

On Friday there could be a short period of time where the rain changes to snow showers on Friday morning, before ending Friday afternoon. Skies may clear a bit later in the day east of the mountains. Temperatures will stay below normal, topping out in the upper 30s. Both days over the weekend will see a mix of sun and clouds with light mountain snow showers continuing. highs on Saturday will only max out in the low-to-mid 30s, but on Sunday, we will only reach near 30 degrees!

NewsRoanoke.com 1/1/10 - 1/7/10 |The Roanoke Star-Sentinel |Page 3

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Contact us:540-774-0066

Will host a series of informational meetings for the 2010-2011 school year (see schedule below). Parents

and prospective students are encouraged to attend any of the sessions listed below in order to

obtain an application. Applications are not available at local schools.

Thursday, January 7th 6:30 p.m.

Governor’s School Tuesday, January 12th 6:30 p.m.

Governor’s School Thursday, January 14th 6:30 p.m.

Staunton River High School Thursday, January 21st 6:30 p.m.

Franklin County High School Tuesday, January 26th 6:30 p.m.

Governor’s School

For more information call the Governor’s School at 853-2116

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Dr. Michael Wolfe grew up in Pound, Va., graduat-ing from high school there in 1982. He attended the University of Virginia, grad-uating in 1986, and then entered medical school at UVA. Upon graduation from medical school he served his residency at Tu-lane in New Orleans, La., until 1996. “Mike” eventually came to Roanoke and worked as an orthopedic surgeon at Lewis Gale Hospital for five years before joining the Carilion Clinic where he now works in the Bone and Joint Center as an orthopedic surgeon.He met his wife, Erin, in Roanoke. They have two daughters, Katie and Mina, and make their home in Southwest County.

Roanoke Starof the Week

Dr. Michael Wolfe

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In the fifteen months since Murnane and Holling-Brooks began this adventure they have helped more than 130 clients. Domestic violence is not the only issue that plays itself out at the facility. Fami-lies, at-risk youth and corpo-rate employees all find change while working with the horses on the ground. Virginia has legislated funding through the Wounded Warriors Program to provide assistance for war veterans as they overcome Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. Their families are also assisted with the transitional nature of having a parent exiting and re-entering the home because of military deployments. “When “talk therapy” is not providing

lasting change and true heal-ing, equine therapy can often break through barriers” ob-served Holling- Brooks.

The clients are not the only ones with differing person-alities and adaptive behav-iors. An hour spent inside the stable can be very revealing. Some very human character-istics were displayed during a recent meal time. Willfulness, gentleness, curiosity and self-ishness all made an appear-ance while the hay was being parceled out. When one horse munched a carrot that only she received, other horses snorted their protest at the favoritism.

“A week after I ended twelve weeks of therapy, I made the right and healthy decision to

remove myself permanently from the abusive marriage. My son and I joke that I was willing to listen to a horse, when I wouldn’t listen to him”. “It took me more than twelve years and a few horses to make the right decision and I’m not looking back” said the anony-mous client.

More often than not new beginnings come in the most surprising ways - and certainly not just at New Years.

For more information visit www.unbridledchange.org or contact Unbridled Change, PO Box 157, Boones Mill, VA 24065 : Phone - 540-719-2171

> Unbridled From page 1

By Christine Sladehealed1@cox.net

a year operated the facil-ity while in roughly the same conditions it is today. Johnson had complained about the needed repairs and said in-spectors came out in July two summers ago. That was the last year Johnson leased the tennis facility. Meadowbrook could not lease it to Johnson because its lease with the city was pending. The city refused to lease it directly to Johnson who had also attempted to buy it.

Now the building has fur-ther deteriorated and John-son has moved on to another facility. The last year Johnson leased the building the rent was reduced from $27,000 to $14,000 a year. This was after finding that Meadow-brook was only paying the city $17,500 to lease the entire golf course and tennis build-ing. He agrees that the repairs were and are needed.

Townsend said the repairs did not include “the potential hazardous material removal (asbestos, etc.).” The major repairs were listed in four categories: $46-$50,000 for

the roof, HVAC system $100-$110,000, electrical $11-$13,000 and ceiling insulation $120-$122,000.

“This list is not exhaustive, and does not cover potential costs related to other aesthet-ic (painting, minor plumbing, flooring, carpeting, etc.).” ex-plained Townsend. The park-ing area that was actually part of a road is crumbling but was not included in his report.

“The estimate on these four major items is in the range of $277-$295,000,” wrote Townsend.

With the shortfall for fiscal year 2010 coming in at 3.5% below projections (almost $9 million short) the tim-ing couldn’t be worse for the group to be asking for any-thing close to this amount.

One wonders what due diligence the city performed on the building prior to pur-chasing the golf course, pool and tennis building for $4.1 million in 2005. The course needed almost $2 million to

continue to operate, the pool is filled in and the tennis building sits empty for lack of funds to repair. It may be used for something but reopen-ing as a tennis facility seems unlikely – at least at the city’s expense.

> Tennis From page 1

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in 2008 to encourage citizens to volunteer time and make contributions to restore the home. Pres-ently thirteen people are members of the group that is also seeking to secure funding needed to complete the restoration. Once the exterior phase is finished, the planned third phase will include interior restorations.

The President of the Mountain View Neighborhood Association, Greg Ervin, has also expressed an interest in bringing a group of neighbors out to volunteer in the spring. The city plans to hold a community restoration day in early May for interested citizens. For more information on how you can help save this treasured landmark that is now a community events center contact Michael Clark, Recreation Superintendent, at 853.1198 or email him at michael.clark@roanokeva.gov.

> Mountainview From page 1

People often “disconnect” themselves from their personal health habits and financial practices. However, it’s hard to change behav-ior, to improve your health or increase your wealth, when you don’t fully acknowledge the problems with your current situation. Try-ing to make changes without an identified starting point is like making a plane reserva-tion and not indicating the airport that you’re leaving from. You have to admit that you have a problem before you can take steps to address it.

Denial is common with both health and personal finance issues, even when there’s ample visible evidence (e.g., a bulging waist-line and increasing credit card balance) to the contrary. Several recent studies, for example, have found that many people said they were “healthy” even though they were overweight, smoked, drank too much alcohol, and/or never exercised. Examples of financial denial (e.g., “other people will need long-term care, but I won’t” and “I’ll be OK in retirement even though I haven’t saved any money yet”) have also been well documented.

Awareness of one’s current behaviors and shortfalls is the first of the 5 A’s of successful behavior change. The other four are ability (being able to make a change), ambition (a strong desire to change), attitude (a positive state of mind about changing), and action (taking steps to actually change).

Most people don’t have a clue how many calories they consume daily or how many dollars they spend monthly on incidental expenses such as food and entertainment. One of the best ways to increase awareness is to keep a Food and Activity Log to record everything you eat each day and every time you are physically active for 10 minutes or more, for a given period of time. A financial counterpart is an Income and Expense Log to write down what you earned and spent daily

for a typical month or two. Keeping written records, although tedious, has been shown to be an effective way to track current practices and make behavioral changes in eating, exer-cise, and spending.

Health Action Steps Ask yourself truthfully if you are in denial

about one or more aspects of your health.Record everything that you eat and drink

for several days, including the quantity of food and beverages consumed and their esti-mated number of calories.

Record each time that you are physically active for 10 minutes or more (e.g., walking).

Total the number of calories consumed daily and the total time spent on physical ac-tivity (exercise).

Wealth Action StepsAsk yourself truthfully if you are in denial

about one or more aspects of your personal finances.

Record everything that you earn and spend for a typical month or two.

Total monthly income and expenses to determine whether cash flow is positive (in-come greater than expenses) or negative (ex-penses greater than income).

For 24 more great strategies, monthly mes-

sages and more, check out the Small Steps web-site at http://njues.rutgers.edu/sshw/ .

For more information and helpful advice on a variety of topics go to Virginia Cooperative Extension website; www.ext.vt.edu and www.extension.org

This article was an excerpt from “Small Steps to Health and Wealth”, Barbara O’Neill, Ph.D., CFPÒ, Extension Specialist in Financial Re-source Management and Karen Ensle, Ed.D., RD, Family and Community Health Sciences Educator Rutgers Cooperative Extension

First Steps to Improve Your Health and Wealth

Work on the Market Garage is expected to be completed in March 2010. As part of the renovation, the entrance to the deck is being relocated to Luck Avenue adjacent to the former No 1 Fire Station. To facilitate access into the deck, the block of Church Avenue between Market Street and Jefferson Street will be converted from a one-way street to a street carrying two-way traffic.

While some preliminary work has already been accomplished, Transportation Division staff expects to implement the ac-tual conversion to two-way traffic on Wednesday, Dec. 30. Some of the traffic control measures in this block will remain in temporary locations to accommodate construction. At such time as the parking deck is completed and consideration is given to upcoming construction involving Center in the Square, permanent measures will be put in place.

As part of this effort, the signal at the intersection of Church Avenue and Market Street will be removed. That signal is no longer warranted and has been taken out of service to accommodate the construction for the past year. No traffic problems have been observed during this time. The multi-way stop signs that are currently in place will remain on a permanent basis.

Block of Church Avenue to Become Two-Way

Birders living in and visiting the Mid-Atlantic states are in luck as the region has been chosen to be among the select few to have its own Audubon Guide application. Based on updated and ex-panded versions of the best-selling se-ries of National Audubon Society field guides, "Audubon Birds Mid-Atlantic," puts the most authoritative and com-prehensive information about the re-gion’s birds at the fingertips of iPhone and iPod Touch users.

Now available in the reference section of the apps store in iTunes along with other apps in the Audubon Guide series, Audubon Birds Mid-Atlantic provides a wealth of interactive information in a mobile package, giving the region’s bird lovers a fun and exciting experience that makes bird watching richer, more informed and instantly sharable.

“I can’t imagine a more genuinely fun and informative way to use technology to connect with nature,” said Andrew Stewart, publisher of Green Mountain Digital, the electronic publishing com-pany that created the Audubon Guide app series in alliance with the National Audubon Society. “Everyone from ded-icated bird watchers to casual nature lovers and families just looking for fun outdoor activities will enjoy having so much detailed bird information at their fingertips.”

From Cuckoos to Copper’s Hawks, Audubon Birds Mid-Atlantic covers

396 species of birds found in New York, West Virginia, Virginia, New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. Each spe-cies in the app is described with rich and detailed information updated from National Audubon Society field guide books, including details such as appear-ance, habitat, behavior, diet, nesting, mating, migration, endangered status and more. All of this is accessed wire-lessly and in real time through interac-tive and intuitive search features with parameters such as common and scien-tific names, family, shape, range, habi-tat, color, and size.

Additional features include over 1,500 color photographs, more than 1,200 bird sounds, range maps for each spe-cies, and a geo-location search function that allows users to find which bird spe-cies are located in any zip code, state or region. Advanced technical innovations include the ability to create personal-ized life lists, post GPS-enabled bird sighting lists and upload user-created photo albums.

Audubon Birds Mid-Atlantic is among the latest apps in the expanding Audubon Guides series, which upon its launch last month enlisted new tech-nologies to spread the appreciation of nature.

"This is a giant leap forward in con-necting people with the nature that sur-rounds them,” said John Flicker, presi-dent of the National Audubon Society. "And it’s the first step in building a commitment to protecting the wonders these apps will help a new generation discover and savor."

In coming weeks, the number of Audubon Guide apps will grow from its current 13 to include new regional apps as well as field guides based on other subjects such as Insects & Spi-ders, Butterflies, Fish, Reptiles & Am-phibians, Seashells, Seashore Creatures, Mushrooms, and Whales & Dolphins, will be available in coming months. For more information visit: www.Audubon-Guides.com/app

Mid-Atlantic States Get Very Own Audubon Guides Bird App

By Stuart Revercombstuart@newsroanoke.com

PersPectivePage 4 | The Roanoke Star-Sentinel | 1/1/10 - 1/7/10 NewsRoanoke.com

1/4 cup each of red, pinto, garbanzo, navy, baby lima, black-eyed peas, black, great northern and kidney beans

6 strips bacon, cut into 1" pieces 2 tablespoons of butter 2 large onion (Vidalia) , diced 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 red pepper 1 yellow pepper, chopped 1 green pepper, chopped 1 chile pepper, chopped 4 cans beef consume 2 cans water salt and pepper to taste.-Prepare the beans by soaking beans ac-

cording to package directions.-In a large frying pan, cook the bacon until

it renders the fat and bacon is slightly crisp.-Remove the bacon pieces and add oil or

butter to the pan.-Surprise onion, peppers and garlic by

throwing them into the hot fat. Add 1 tblsp salt, 2 tsps pepper simmer for about half an hour until soft and reduced in volume by half.

-In a large stock pot, add beans, consume and water along with sauteed vegetables.

-Simmer for 2 1/2 to 3 hours until beans are tender.

-Correct seasonings. Remove 2 cups of soup, blend and return to pot to thicken.

-Add tobasco and/or cayenne to taste for last-minute zing.

Find the answers online: TheRoanokeStar.com

Have a clue and answer you’d like to see? email: puzzles@

theroanokestar.com

Star~Sentinel Crossword

By Don Waterfield

Local Crossword 1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8

9 10

11

12 13 14 15

16 17

18 19

www.CrosswordWeaver.com

ACROSS

1 Turf 4 Estimated time of arrival 7 Paddle 8 Zip 9 Vinton dry cleaners on E.

Washington Ave. downtown. 11 Toupee 12 Leader 16 Peaked 17 Loose gown worn at mass 18 Dekaliter (abbr.) 19 Looked

DOWN

1 Distress call 2 Tree 3 Plasterboard 4 Perplexities 5 Can metal 6 Cutting tool

10 Topper 12 Concealed 13 Moose relative 14 Wing 15 North by west

Local Crossword 1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8

9 10

11

12 13 14 15

16 17

18 19

www.CrosswordWeaver.com

ACROSS

1 Turf 4 Estimated time of arrival 7 Paddle 8 Zip 9 Vinton dry cleaners on E.

Washington Ave. downtown. 11 Toupee 12 Leader 16 Peaked 17 Loose gown worn at mass 18 Dekaliter (abbr.) 19 Looked

DOWN

1 Distress call 2 Tree 3 Plasterboard 4 Perplexities 5 Can metal 6 Cutting tool

10 Topper 12 Concealed 13 Moose relative 14 Wing 15 North by west

The Roanoke Star-Sentinel

The Roanoke Star-Sentinel is published weekly by Whisper One Media, Inc. in Roanoke, Va. Subscriptions are available for $44 per year. Send subscriptions to PO Box 8338, Roanoke, VA 24014. We encourage letters from our readers on topics of general interest to the community and responses to our articles and columns. Letters must be signed and have a telephone number for verification. All letters will be verified before publication. The Star-Sentinel reserves the right to deny publication of any letter and edit letters for length, content and style.

All real estate advertised herein is subject to national and Virginia fair housing laws and readers are hereby informed that all dwellings advertised in this newspaper are available on an equal opportunity basis.

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I went into my daughter’s room last night all full of emotion and I said with tears in my eyes, “I am going to miss Christmas. Thank you for sharing the season with me, I had a wonderful time with you.” She smiled and said, “me too.” And then she went on to chatter about her new horse books. But it was a wonderful Christmas and I always lament when it is over. It is like the end of summer for me or when a big snow begins to melt. I don’t want the beauty to end. But I have learned that things (even beautiful things) must end for new beautiful things to begin.

It is a New Year and it will bring lots of beginnings and endings to be sure, but through it all there is a God that breaks through the darkness to become human so that we can know that He is with us and that is a beginning that never ends. God Bless you in the New Year, may it be fresh and alive and new for you all year long and into the next!

Any kind of bean soup is always a must in my home on New Year’s Day. Enjoy this most deli-cious one!

By Leigh Sackettleigh@newsroanoke.com

She, for reasons I will never fathom, insists on giving Tsuga, our

six year old yellow lab, one more chance despite a history of unrepentant recidivism. But she feels sorry for him to the point of being willing to suffer hardship again and again on his behalf. Or more to the point in this tale, to offer my suffering as sacrifice for his freedom.

"Don't call him, he's okay, he'll not go anywhere. He needs to roam a little" she said as the dog wandered farther from us into the deep December snow.

It soon became clear that he had picked up a scent and also that he had suddenly and completely lost his hearing. We hollered the usual commands that bring him back, even as he moved away from us, down into the creek bed and into the meadow at the foot of Heart-attack Hill. He did not even bother to look our way.

I grabbed the leash from her, hoping faintly to intersect his path where the road comes closest to the pasture near the foot of the bluff, confident there he would take notice, re-pent, and come.

Mostly I hoped that catch-ing him would extinguish the "exhortations" of my dear life-mate that were coming heavy and mixed from the distance. I was over-heating, from the ex-cess of clothing, from the exer-tion, but chiefly from the heat of utter exasperation stoked by the conflicting directives aimed at my ego.

"Hurry! You've got to get him NOW!" she implored, fol-lowed immediately by "Don't you have a heart attack chasing the dog" and before the echo

from that dire warn-ing could leave the valley: "I could have HAD him by now!"

I refused to allow my manhood to be sullied by my panel of judges stand-ing casually back on the road, alter-nately cheering and booing. I slogged through the drifts toward the dog step by labored step in ur-gent slow motion as if in a futil-ity dream.

"He's getting away, you're los-ing him!" the blame-filled en-couragement just kept coming. At the bottom of an impossibly steep and rocky hillside, the snow piled up to my waist. The dog, with four wheel drive, was well on his way up the slope, while my snow-filled rubber boots spun without friction in the soft powder. Run, Forest, run. I grasped for saplings to purchase elevation, and fell face first three times only to gain as many feet.

"I walk in this stuff a lot more than you do, I should have gone to get him" she gloated. Then, in a dazzling retraction of all prior forecasts of dire conse-quences: "Just leave him alone, he'll come home. You're killing yourself just to prove you are still the alpha male," followed immediately by the whiplash-inducing reversal: "You're let-ting him get away!" Push. Pull. Advance! Retreat!

The vicissitudes of married life and pet ownership. Defeat was clearly in my grasp.

In my own defense, I shout-ed back to her at a higher vol-ume than necessary from that distance that simply walking in

this stuff as opposed to wind-sprinting up a near-vertical hillside were two different categories of effort not to be compared, so maybe she'd like to show me how fast she could scamper up Cardio-Hill through the drifts. The dog

left us to our marital discourse. I abandoned the hope of track-ing him, tucked my tail and made my way back to the road.

She, fresh and superior, strode triumphantly past a beaten man, hunched over, hands on knees, overheated, panting and fuming. Muttering to no avail in self-justification, I lumbered along behind her in the general direction that the dog had most probably gone after he left me stranded in the agony of defeat.

A short walk later, Tsuga ap-peared some distance down the road, his attention totally focused on the object of his adventure, a deer kill whose existence he'd detected from a quarter mile away-an inner-wolf trigger that had required his brief escape from domestic life on a leash.

And he was happy. And she was happy. And I, clinging to the vague notion that some tiny facet of abnormal human or animal behavior could be better understood from a de-briefing of this bizarre winter cameo, was considering the episode in my head as the three of us walked silently back to the house.

Fred First

The Recipe of the Week from The Happy Chef

Nine Bean Soup

Contact Fred atfred1st@gmail.com

Winter Alert: Mixed Message Warning

How does this sound for the begin-ning of a success-

ful, productive life? You are scheduled to take holy orders, you study fervently and devot-edly under Jesuit monks. After a while, you quit the church, take a job as a cub reporter, but that doesn't last so long either and you quit. You are hired to teach, and you fall in love with one of your students. You are twenty-six years old, she is thirteen. For obvious reasons you quit your job to legally continue the relationship. She roller-skates to the church for your marriage ceremony and takes her vows chewing gum with her skates slung over her shoulder. You take a job lec-turing at $5-10 per lecture to support your new family.

The year is 1913. The story is true. Remarkably true in fact.

These two people stayed married and in love for sixty-eight years. He died at age ninety-six. He was sent to the hospital, not expected to live. The family tried to keep the secret from her, but by some freakish accident, she heard about her dear – and famous -husband’s peril on the news, and stopped eating. They died within two weeks of each oth-er [1981], neither willing to live on without the company of the other.

Will and Ariel Durant. Nev-er heard of them? More’s the pity. He [and she] wrote some of the most literate, entertain-ing and insightful history that was ever set to paper. Although they wrote a number of books, none comes close to matching their magnum opus, The His-tory of Civilization. He never wrote a word of history until age forty-one, but from then

on it was a torrent of the highest qual-ity expository litera-ture.

This masterpiece was written in long-hand, eleven vol-umes of 1000-1800 pages each, taking five decades to write. I’m in my sixth reading of it. Beginning with a history of China, they patiently ad-vanced to The Age of Napo-leon [with notes left behind for yet two other volumes: The Age of Darwin and The Age of Einstein] but death by then had stilled their pen.

Of his and her inability to live long enough to adequately investigate their passion, he wrote “We could do almost anything if time would slow up, but it runs on, and we melt away trying to keep up with

it.” But their web-site adds, “…and yet not even time ever covered 110 centuries in fifty years.”

Of the woman he chose to marry, his foresight was much

rewarded. Ariel began helping him by doing research

and gradually became a for-midable historian in her own right. As you read the credits of the early volumes, Dr. Durant thanks his wife among many others for their help, Then, as a testimony to her prodigious growth, the later volumes, the covers of each volume an-nounce the author not as Will Durant, but as Will and Ariel Durant. In their work and in their life, Ariel confirmed her husband’s prescience.

The Durants’ prose, their

wit, humor and tolerance, the breadth and depth of their scholarship rewards me time and again. Be it literature, the arts, economics, theater, lit-erature, their work is beyond compare. As a poor example, take literature: these two not only explore the author and his/her works, but then com-pare and contrast it with lit-erature centuries before and that which came later. Their breadth of knowledge and scholarship is beyond descrip-tion. I still find gems previous-ly missed. You will look long and hard to find volumes as well-read, scruffy, underlined and as margin-annotated as mine.

In another column we shall explore the insight and wis-dom of this most exceptional man and wife. Until then, Du-rant warns us of something which has been true through-

out many centuries and civili-zations, and may have a par-ticular bearing for all of us today. Chillingly, they write: “A great civilization is not conquered from without un-til it has destroyed itself from within.” Hmmm.

I can imagine the Durants listening patiently to those who are convinced that 200+ year-old America will always be as it has been. To that opin-ion they would softly utter one word, “Etrusca’ – a civilization on the west coast of Italy that thrived on its world stage for 800 years in the Pre-Roman times, and now but a few have ever even heard of it.

Look for Lucky’s ‘The Oath of Hippocrates’ – available locally and on-line.

Lucky Garvin

A Tale of Two Historians

Contact Lucky atinfo@theroanokestar.com

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Ei g ht e e n - y e a r- o l d Philip drives us to Cawfields, where we

plan to begin our hike. We spent last night at his family’s 300-year-old stone farmhouse, and we listened to the rain and wind as we lay in our cozy beds. Linda, Philip’s mom, fortified us well with the tra-ditional Full English break-fast. Strapping Philip grips the steering wheel, gazes skyward and implores, “Are you sure you’re wanting to do this? I can carry you to the rail sta-tion just as easy.”

A few minutes later we’re standing in the rain waving farewell to the smoky Austin as it rounds the bend and out of sight, leaving us to really soak in –yes of course pun in-tended- our surroundings. We knew that the November rains in north England come with certainty, so we had planned accordingly. Our hooded rain coats will keep the wetness at bay for a while anyway. And actually, there are indications that the weather will change for the better. In the high wind thick clouds are scudding and we catch glimpses of patches of blue sky now and then.

Our plan is to hike this eight-mile section of Hadrian’s Wall, a section purported to be the most spectacularly situ-ated and well-preserved of the 2000-year-old Roman wall. As usual, instructions are vague, especially the part about the cross-country walk which will be necessary to get from the wall at Houseteads to the tiny rail platform at Bardon’s Mill in time for the once-daily –at this of time of year- train to Car-lisle. I hurry to catch up with my brother Kit and my niece Clare, as I drop my damp cam-era back into its plastic bag.

The ancient wall through here is majestically situated. It lies roughly east-west, curv-ing back and forth to follow the highest points and natural rock cliffs and outcroppings. To the North lies the Scottish border across the rolling Nor-thumberland Moors. To the south stretches plains laced with stone walls, populated with sheep and cattle. The stiff wind is blowing from the West, and we’re headed east, thankfully, so the rain pelts our backs most of the time.

The wild weather condi-

tions heighten the sublime feel of the experience. There is not another soul for miles, and my mind starts to wander. . . .What was it like for those Ro-man soldiers, the Centurions, to be stationed here along this wall, quartered in small stone guardhouses, or “milecastles” which are positioned at every Roman mile along the wall? I think I can hear the voices of the Centurions in the wind as it wails around the hood of my jacket. And they’re in Latin.

The sun is straining to shine through the clouds from the south. The rain is still blow-ing diagonally, but the sky is noticeably brighter. With her ever-bright smile and an out-stretched hand Clare directs our gazes to the North, where a rainbow stretches perfectly from east to west. Whoa…”magical, unreal”, we stam-mer.

Experts aren’t completely certain why the Romans built the wall. Begun in 122 AD, Emporer Hadrian’s creation was a huge engineering mar-vel. Was it to definitely mark the northern boundary of the empire? Was it to control the movement of people, or to keep the Scottish heathens at bay?

Whatever the case, it was manned for almost 300 years before the collapse of the Ro-man empire, quite an astound-ing amount of time when you think about it. And it was built in relatively wild country. Coal had been mined in the area since the Bronze Age, but otherwise it was barren sheep grazing land. I’m sure the diet of those Roman soldiers was bland at best and entertain-ment was whatever they could muster.

Housesteads Fort and the settlement of Vindolanda were

in the vicinity of the eastern half of the wall. Perhaps there were women at these places, and better food than their ra-tions when on duty at the mile-castles. However, real civiliza-tion, such as Londinium, with all of its delights, was a long way off - a fortnight’s march, maybe half that by horseback. And Rome? The Centurions manning the wall might be lucky to get to that great city at all in their lifetime. To sit in the Coluseum or stroll the Fo-rum was a very distant dream for most if not all.

It’s time now for us to veer away from the wall and find the train platform at Bardon’s Mill. We ask a sweet lady walking on a windswept lane for directions and she vaguely points, saying, “You’ll have to follow your noses a bit, I’m sure.” So that we do, wading through the mud of cow fields and squeezing through hedge rows and climbing over yet more stonework. We stumble onto the rail platform with 14 minutes to spare, just enough time to wipe off most of the mud on our pants. As we board the two-carriage train to Carlisle as the voices of the Centurions whispering in my ears fade.

But in the weeks that follow, the Latin which I learned in High School randomly surfac-es in my thoughts, and I know it’s a connection across the millennia to those centurions standing on Hadrian’s wall, braced to the wind, gazing to the north.

We were blessed to walk in their steps.

Hiking Hadrian’s Wall with the Spirits of the Centurions

By John Robinsonjwrobinson77@gmail.com

Early in the academic year, I led my junior-level biology students

into the forest behind North Cross School to identify some of the native flora and fauna on the campus. At one point, I picked up a wriggling daddy-longlegs, or harvestman as they’re more properly called, and showed it to my young scholars, using the animal as a “teaching tool” about the natural history and ecology of arachnids. Bright-eyed and full of questions, one high-schooler inquired, “Dr. Rinker, is it true that daddy-longlegs have the most potent venom for their size of all spider relatives?” I replied, “No, it’s not true,” much to her disappointment. In fact, the daddy-longlegs na-tive to our Virginia woodlands does not have venom glands or fangs. For an odd little crit-ter that looks like it’s straight off the pages of Dr. Seuss, the harmless daddy-longlegs seems to have inspired much angst among outdoor-goers.

How then did such a spe-cious myth originate about this inoffensive creature? As it turns out, it’s mostly in a name.

In the mid-18th century, well into the Age of Discovery, ships returned from the New World, laden with riches that included never-before-seen flora and fauna to enthrall Eu-rope’s centers of learning. To-bacco, maize, potatoes, orchids, butterflies, beetles, parrots and monkeys were just a few of the thousands of specimens – live, pickled, stuffed, and fossilized – that captured the attention of Old World intelligentsia. An immediate problem was, of course, what to name all these curiosities?

Carl von Linné, a Swed-ish scientist concerned about the cumbersome taxonomy of his day, decided to streamline the process of naming new species by ignoring common names and applying a unique Latin binomial to each newly described type of organism. For example, it was Linné who gave humans the scientific name, Homo sapiens (literally, “Man the wise,” a rather ex-alted epithet that we have not always deserved). Common names were ignored because they vary from region to region and from culture to culture. A robin in America, for instance, is not the same bird as a robin in Europe; their respective scientific names (Turdus mi-gratorius and Erithacus rube-cula) tell us this clearly. On the other hand, a white oak in North America (Quercus alba) is closely related to a red oak in Costa Rica (Quercus costa-ricensis) because they have the same first name.

Always in Latin, even when the vernacular is Chinese or Russian, the scientific name of an organism is a noun fol-lowed by an adjective: much like other Romance languages such as Spanish and French. An ancient Roman would recognize their common lin-

eage just from their respective names! Taxonomy then is one of the tools in the proverbial tool-box of us scientists to show evolutionary relationships among the world’s known species.

What does all this have to do with the daddy-longlegs you ask?

In the scientific literature, the innocuous daddy-long-legs in the Roanoke Valley is known as Phalangium opilio. With no venom glands or fangs, this species is an op-portunistic predator and will even slurp plant juices. Other so-called “daddy-longlegs” are fragile, web-weaving spiders distributed worldwide, such as cellar or pholcid spiders (Phol-cus phalangioides) – or are gangly non-biting crane flies, which are not spiders at all but insects related to the common house fly. (The term, daddy, is an old-fashioned British refer-ence to long-legged flies; it was used in Edward Lear’s 19th-century nonsense poem, “The Daddy-Longlegs and the Fly.”)

Though cellar spiders do have venom and venom glands, their short fangs would prevent them from penetrating human skin even if they did want to bite us. Thus, no reference ex-ists to show any pholcid spider biting a human and causing a detrimental reaction. So, if our daddy-longlegs is harm-less and other “daddy-long-legs” species are also harmless, then why this myth about their alleged venomous nature?

Apparently, the urban legend about daddy-longlegs stems from the fact that pholcid spi-ders are known to prey from time to time on deadly venom-ous spiders such as members of the genus Latrodectus (also called the black-widow genus). I guess someone extrapolated that, if a daddy-longlegs could kill another spider capable of delivering fatal bites to hu-mans, then it must be even more venomous than its prey. There’s nothing special about their venom, however; they just work more quickly than their quarry.

Sadly, the extrapolation was espoused by a few lurid television producers, fringe reporters, and incautious teachers; and the rest of the story, as they say, is history. If folks had minded the sci-entific names rather than the common names, and learned a little about the ecology and natural history of the various “daddy-longlegs” throughout the world, no responsible per-son would have promoted this unhappy error. Unfortunately, here in the Roanoke Valley, our little spindly spider-rela-tive is now the occasional ob-ject of unbridled derision and wariness despite its helpful na-ture as a generalist predator on arthropod pests. It’s all in its common name.

As a scientist, I am fasci-

nated by the power of myths, dreams, fairytales, and ar-chetypes in their cultural settings. Not just the naughty antics of the Roman pantheon, how-ever, or the wicked imaginings of the Brothers Grimm. I am also intrigued by make-believe

stories about the natural world that become embedded as cul-tural truths handed to the next generations as important les-sons about life.

On one level – a scientific one – this claim about daddy-longlegs is downright false. On another level, however, no myth emerges ex nihilo. Somebody observed some-thing and later told a tale that linked that observation with that conclusion. We scientists call this linkage between two events, related or unrelated, occurring together a “correla-tion.” And correlations often get us into all kinds of trouble – as manifested in other, but equally counterfeit, nature myths:

Ostriches stick their heads in the ground when they’re frightened.

A toad or frog that urinates on you will give you warts.

Bats are blind, and they’ll fly into your hair.

Elephants are afraid of mice.

Dogs see only in black and white.

Eating turkey makes you drowsy.

People only use 10% of their brains.

Perhaps in a later article, I’ll expose the fictions in these enduring urban legends. But my hope for this article is to correct an injustice toward our little Dr. Seuss character, the omnivorous harvestman that helps to maintain healthy forests.

Charles Dickens began his 1859 historical novel, A Tale of Two Cities, with the follow-ing declaration: “It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of in-credulity.” He could have been describing our own time – mi-nus the guillotine, of course! The natural world is filled with such amazement that I won-der why we feel obliged to add our own myths about its rich biodiversity. Spiders and their relatives serve an important function in the economy of nature: it’s Mary Howitt’s “The Spider and the Fly” meets E.B. White’s “Charlotte’s Web.” Yes, they can appear bloodthirsty, creepy, shadowy. But these adjectives are our imposed perceptions on them, blur-ring reality. Let’s focus instead on their remarkable ecologi-cal benefits and debunk their myths wherever we confront them.

H. Bruce Rinker, PhD

H. Bruce Rinker, Ph.D. BRinker@NorthCross.org

What’s in a Name?

Page 6 | The Roanoke Star-Sentinel | 1/1/10 - 1/7/10 NewsRoanoke.com

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From washing trains to helping children paint toy trains, volunteers at the Virginia Mu-seum of Transportation bring the Museum to life. Volunteer docents are on hand nearly ev-ery day to give tours, answer questions, and tell stories. Volunteers help with maintenance, staff the museum store, and help out in a multitude of other ways.

The Museum's 130 annual volunteers include both individuals and groups. Special thanks was recently given to Bob Davis, Barry Dudley, Gary Dudley, Marilyn Fry, Jim Fulghum, Nel-son Graybill, Charles Hardy, Joyce Higgs, Jerry Hubble, Bob Hudson, Ryan Jackson, Dayoon Lee, Phil McFarland, Peg McGuire, Wayne McKinney, Harry Messimer, Will Morse, Steve Parker, Greg Pruett, Aidan Rea, Erik Rhyne, Louise Scott, David Shields, Wizzy Strom, Ron Vanderpool, and Charles Wertalik for the in-credible service they have given the Museum this year.

The following groups and clubs have held one or many more work days at the Museum in 2009:

Junior League of the Roanoke Valley, Vir-ginia

On a hot day in July, Beth Cross, Amy Foster, Summer Harper, Christina Hedges, Ginny Jar-rett, Shannon Shaffer-Kartesz, Liz Lochbrun-ner, Pamela Price, and Nicole Terrill repainted the playground equipment in the Star Station Playground, which was originally funded by the Junior League. The group spread mulch to make this imaginative play place safer as well.

Norfolk & Western Historical SocietyThe Norfolk & Western Historical Society,

which recently celebrated its 25th Anniver-sary, is dedicated to preserving the history of the Norfolk & Western and Virginian Railways. In May, Ron Davis, Robb Fisher, Joe Shaw and Chuck Stewart spent a day washing locomo-tives in Claytor Pavilion.

Roanoke Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

Roanoke Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incor-porated is a public service organization which provides services and promotes human welfare, including sponsorship of a Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Day of Service. Special thanks to Gloria Randolph King, Shirley C. White, Donna W. Lee, and the Precious Pearls from Hurt Park Elementary School in Roanoke for all of their efforts. This year, they helped take cushions off the Museums special event chairs for cleaning and put stickers on about 5,000 brochures to update information.

Roanoke Valley Garden ClubMissy Rakes and Meredith Coleman are co-

chairs of the Roanoke Valley Garden Club's

committee that beautifies the Museum through lush plantings in the Rail Yard. Volunteering regularly throughout the growing season, they have planted and maintained the boxes on the dock and relocated the boxwood next to the fence near the streetcar where the shrubs are now thriving under their care.

Roanoke Valley O-Gauge ClubThe Club has been working weekly to redo

the Museum's popular model railroad exhibit, and donating new locomotives and scenery to update the layout. Look carefully to spot many new action features the Club has recently added. Through efforts coordinated by Jim Mo-linary, a former board member and officer of the Museum, the Club plans to redo the entire layout within a year.

Virginian Railway FansIn June, Ed Burnett, Greg Elam, Ernie Hub-

ble, Aubrey Wiley - Virginian Railway fans, one from as far away as Victoria, VA - scraped and repainted Ellett Station in its proper color scheme of gray with brown trim. Ellett Station, a typical rural railroad structure built in 1942, was relocated from its location on the Virginian Railway near Blacksburg to the Museum's Rail Yard a number of years ago.

Roanoke Valley Antique Automobile Club One Saturday in November, eighteen mem-

bers of the Roanoke Valley Region Antique Automobile Club of America spent the day polishing cars and chrome, cleaning windows and tires, and adding air to tires in the Advance Auto Parts Auto Gallery. Ron Vanderpool, a dedicated Museum volunteer and AACA news-letter editor, organized the work day.

Roanoke Ad fed and AccessThe Advertising Federation of the Roanoke

Valley (AdFed) took on the redesign of the Mu-seum's website as a project for their Create a Thon in September - staying up all night and coming up with a fantastic new design. Access also did additional work to create the new web pages for the Museum.

The Virginia Museum of Transportation is the Official Transportation Museum of Vir-ginia and is home to two of the most power-ful steam locomotives in existence today - the Class A 1218 and the Class J 611. The Museum regularly attracts visitors of all ages from across the U.S. and 45 foreign countries. Through ex-hibits, artifacts, and an outstanding collection of rail equipment, cars, trucks, airplanes, and more, the Museum tells the rich story of Vir-ginias transportation heritage. Learn More on-line at www.vmt.org

- Fran Fergusoninfo@newsroanoke.com

Volunteers Make a Big Difference at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in 2009

sPorts 1/1/10 - 1/7/10 |The Roanoke Star-Sentinel |Page 7

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For the 2008-2009 Patrick Henry Patriots, experience ruled the day. Though Head Basketball Coach Toree Dun-leavy had to sweat certain details, like selecting the best way to attack an opponent’s zone defense, she always knew that each game she would be rolling out a formi-dable lineup led by her three seniors: Kate Norbo, Latoya Flint, and Ally Doane.

The trio didn’t disappoint, leading the Patriots to a 17-7 season and a runner-up fin-ish to Franklin County in the Western Valley District, as well as a berth in the Northwest Region Tourna-ment (Patrick Henry lost to Stafford in the first round).

But as district competition looms just around the cor-ner, the 2009-10 team is still searching to replace its stars.

In addition to the three se-niors, the Patriots also lost LaShe Walker, who moved to West Virginia over the sum-mer. Besides the obvious void in experience, losing those four players has meant trying to find a way to replace over 35 points per game.

That’s a lot of production, but according to Dunleavy, it’s not the scoring that her team is missing - it’s the lead-ership.

“We really haven’t had someone step up into that role,” Dunleavy said. “It’s been hard, because we had a lot of that [leadership] last year, but we don’t have any-one filling that role yet.”

So far, it’s been the Achil-les heel of her young squad, which is understandably off to a rough start. At 2-5, the Patriots have already suf-fered four, double-digit de-feats, which is one more than all of last season combined. Indicative, surely, of a young team still searching to find their way.

“We’re still trying to find some chemistry on the court, and it’s been hard to come by

so far,” Dunleavy said. As always, though, there

are bright spots. For Patrick Henry, junior shooting guard Sarah Williams is just that. The team’s leading scorer (averaging just over 15 points per game), Williams should crack the 1,000 point barrier for her career sometime in the next 5-10 games.

In the backcourt with Wil-liams is sophomore point guard Shakeia Salters, who is recovering from a torn ACL suffered in the Patriots’ loss to Franklin County in the WVD Championship game last February. And down low, Dunleavy has been im-pressed with sophomore for-ward Zaynah Stephens. “She’s already hit some big shots and had some big rebounds for us,” Dunleavy said.

Those three players, among others, will be counted on to fill the void left by Norbo, Doane, and Flint. And the Patriots had better grow up soon. District play begins in less than a week, and this year the Western Valley Dis-trict looks to be particularly strong. Last year’s champion, Franklin County, returns all but one starter and is al-ready off to a 6-0 start. Join-ing them in the ranks of the unbeaten is G.W. Danville, who currently stands at 5-0. The William Fleming Colo-nels are 5-2 out of the gate, and Halifax looking much improved from last season, is off to a 4-1 start.

The Patriots are currently competing in a tournament in Pulaski, and will begin district play on January 5th when they travel to G.W. Danville to take on the Ea-gles.

Lady Patriots Searching for the

Right Mix

By Matt ReeveMatt@newsroanoke.com

Photo by Bill Turner

Fleming ballhandler #10 Miles Henderson finds the going tough as Cave Spring's #2 Quentin Dill and center Josh Henderson occupy the paint.

Photo by Bill Turner

William Fleming senior #44 Julian Hicks tries to deny a pass to Knight's big man 6'11" Josh Hen-derson.

Cave Spring used an impressive inside game to jump out to an early advantage and the Knights held off a late charge by the Colonels to win the opening night match-up 79-67 in the Holiday Hoopla basketball tournament at the Salem Civic Center Monday night.

Cave Spring pounded the ball in the paint to 6'11" center Josh Henderson as they took a 40-22 half time lead. The Knights extended the advan-tage to 19 after three quarters before the always scrappy Colonels rallied to cut the deficit to 10 points in the fourth. Cave Spring responded down the stretch to secure the final margin.

Josh Henderson led all scorers with 25 points with teammate Clay Lacy pouring in 22 for the Knights. William Fleming was led by Miles Hen-derson's 14 points, while Mack Tucker chipped in 13 for the Colonels.

Cave Spring Holds On to Defeat William Fleming 79-67 in Holiday Hoopla Matchup

The Ninth Annual VTRS Bench Press Competition will be held on Saturday, Feb. 27in War Memorial Hall starting at 10 a.m. The com-petition will host a Men's Open, Men's Raw Division and Ladies Open. The Bench Press competition is open to all Virginia Tech patrons and to the general public.

This year, for the first time, $50 cash prizes will be awarded to the first place winners for Men's Overall Open, Men's Overall Raw, and Women's Overall divi-sions. Spectator admission is free for all fans that want to come out and support the competitors. All participants will receive a free T-shirt.

A room block has been provided by Recreational Sports sponsors Days Inn

Blacksburg and Holiday Inn University for all competitors and spectators. Contact them directly to book a room or visit the Recreational Sports website. (See below).

Early weigh-in will take place Friday from 4-7 p.m. and on the day of the event, from 7-8 a.m. All weigh-ins will be held in War Memo-rial Hall, Room 124. A rules briefing for all competitors will begin promptly at 9:45 a.m. before the meet. After the competition, awards will be given for each division's first through third place win-ners from each weight class and the strongest male and female competitors will be honored as the Ninth Annual Bench Press champions.

Competitors are encour-aged to start training now.

"Hiring a personal trainer to help prepare for the competi-tion would be a great idea for participants who are looking to take their training to the next level," said DeWayne Moore, personal training supervisor for Virginia Tech Recreational Sports. There is also a sample workout pro-gram available on the Rec-reational Sports website, for those that would rather train on their own.

Early online registration is now available. Fees are $15 for Virginia Tech students, $20 for Virginia Tech faculty and staff, and $25 for all oth-er participants. There is an additional $10 fee to register for a second division. Walk-up registration will include an additional $5 added to

the early entry fees. Registra-tion forms can be found on the Recreational Sports web-site (http://www.recsports.vt.edu/special).

By Kelsey Georgeinfo@newsroanoke.com

Virginia Tech Rec Sports to Host Ninth Annual Bench Press Competition

sPortsPage 8 | The Roanoke Star-Sentinel | 1/1/10 - 1/7/10

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Virginia Independent School (VIS) Divi-sion III State Lacrosse Champion Roa-noke Catholic Celtics

The Region 3 VHSL Group AA Cave Spring Knights (Head coach Billy Hicks was named Coach of the Year)

The 2009 Group AA Division Champion Northside Vikings

The 2009 VIS State Volleyball Champion North Cross Raiders

2009 was a Banner Year for Our Local High Schools

Fleming Head Coach Mickey Hardy and the Colonels get kudos from the School Board after finishing as State Runner-up in the Group AAA Basketball finals.

The Region IV Division 4 High School Football Semi-Finalist Salem Spartans

Patrick Henry made it to their first ever boys soccer Group AAA state playoff and finished the season at 20-2.

2009 Group AA Division 4 state Semi-Finalist Hidden Valley Titans

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A good plastic surgeon may be able to create physical beauty, but he or she can't create something that's far more important and appealing: attractiveness. In fact, all women are born with the po-tential to be attractive, and that attractiveness doesn't depend on a woman's physicality. It comes from within.

Some women are lucky enough to be born attractive, and that's great. But all women can develop the skills they need to become more attractive. Here are the top traits that make people attrac-tive:

1. Self-esteem. Feeling good about yourself on the inside shows on the outside. Looking as though you're comfortable in your own skin -- rather than appearing to be edgy, nervous, fidgety, or self conscious -- gives you a radiance and an air of self confidence that we all find appealing. So develop a realistic (and not an inflated) sense of your own worth, and a positive self image. It will show!

2. Focus. A guy can go dinner with a beautiful woman, but within 20 minutes, the date will be over if there's no real sharing between them. For any woman -- beautiful or not -- to be attrac-tive, she has to focus outside of herself. She has to be fully present in the moment with the people around her to exchange energy with them. If she focuses outside of herself, she will attract oth-ers. If she's self-absorbed, it's a complete turnoff, and regardless

of what she looks like, people won't remember her as soon as she leaves the room.

3. Kindness. Attractiveness truly does come from within. A woman who is compassionate, giving, and caring trumps a wom-an with a pretty face every time. A genuinely kind woman with a big heart draws others to her, and she makes them feel good when they are with her. Her positive energy, which she shares so will-ingly with others, is the key to her attractiveness.

4. Grace. The movie star and princess, Grace Kelly, was appro-priately named. She had grace. That is, she had the posture, move-ment, gait, and stance that men find so attractive. Audrey Hep-burn had it, too. Women can have a beautiful physique, or a great nose, or wonderful cheekbones -- but, without that regal poise, it's all meaningless. Grace is the attribute that allows women to be attractive with every move they make -- or even when they sit still -- because of the way they carry themselves. Proper exercise and a high-quality diet are integral components of developing the grace that makes women attractive.

5. Social intelligence. Women don't need a degree from the "right" school, or a genius-level I.Q., to attract others. They do, however, need good bantering and mingling skills. Any woman -- however introverted she might be -- can show real curiosity about

matters that interest others, and can learn to ask the right ques-tions. If she listens mindfully to the answers, and can "bounce" off a vast array of personalities and types to create meaningful social interactions, she'll be as attractive as anyone could hope to be.

If physicality were all that mattered, then all women would visit plastic surgeons, and they'd all be beautiful. Plastic surgeons would control the attractiveness of women and decide which of them gets to be the most attractive. But that's not the way it works. A plastic surgeon can create a human "doll," and can move fat from one place to another to create beautiful roundness and curves, but he or she can't create attractiveness. That's something a woman has to do for herself.

The best plastic surgeons help women understand that cosmet-ic medicine is about far more than just "going under the knife." In fact, plastic surgery should be a last resort -- something women can do to add beauty on top of the attractiveness that, hopefully, they already possess or are learning to develop.

By James R. Lyons, M.D., a plastic surgeon and author of The Brown Fat Revolution (St. Martin's Press, 2009). Learn More at www.thebrownfatrevolution/index

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Community | News | Per spect ive

December 18 - December 24, 2009

NewsRoanoke.com

The Roanoke Star-SentinelPOSTMASTER: Dated material, please deliver by publication date

�e �rst time I saw the “Angel of Gran-

din Road,” he was in the parking lot of

the 7-11 on Grandin picking up cigarette

butts, candy wrappers and old scratch tick-

ets. He was tall, dark and handsome, but

very unassuming in his boots and winter

cap with ear �aps. His slightly aged, bony countenance

engrossed in street maintenance fooled me for a minute.

I knew the owners of the 7-11 were

always polite to the homeless and the

mentally ill. Funny, how easy it is to

judge a book by what you assume is

its cover. I thought that the African-

American man bent over in his clean-

ing mission was a destitute, homeless

person cleaning the streets for a bit of

extra cash. Boy was I wrong about James Hunter

Tarpley, 77, otherwise known by many

as the Angel of Grandin Road.

Little did I know that there is an im-

maculate park for children (a block

down from the Memorial Street Fire

Station) named the James Tarpley

Memorial Park in his honor, and that

there are two stars smack dab in front

of the Grandin �eatre with his name

inscribed on them. “James is an honorary employee at

Valley Bank,” said Su-san Stump, a bank ex-

ecutive and president of the Grandin Village

Business Association. “We love him as much

as he loves us; we’re a black and white fam-

ily.” Not too long ago

Tarpley chased a rob-ber down the street and held him until the

police arrived. He’s ended the careers of a

few notorious purse-

snatchers in the area, forced teens o�

the roof of the market, and generally

made sure that peace and order is kept

throughout the neighborhood.

“We’re family,” said Tarpley with

pride in his brown eyes. “I sort of

watch out for the neighborhood and

the bank, and they work with me too --

just like a family. Why, they’re as close

to me as my own brothers and sisters.”

Additional “family members” in-

clude all those in the Greater Raleigh

Court Civic League and other area res-

idents like Wade Whitehead, who has

known Tarpley for over seven years.

“James Tarpley stands for all that is

good in the world,” said Whitehead.

“He cares about human beings and

works to ensure their safety and happi-

MoveSmart

P4– The Smart Way unveils

the first of four new 57 pas-

senger buses that will begin

service in January.

Garland

SurprisingP5– Bruce Rinker unveils some of the history behind

Holiday greenery and some of

it’s not so pretty.

Champs!

StateP9– Northside brings home

a state title in a championship

game for the ages.

GiftBig

P12– State Farm gets in the holiday spirit by naming

Family Service of Roanoke the

recipient of a $16K Citizenship

Grant.

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> CONTINUEDP3: Tarpley

A Star for a Night

Photo by Stuart Revercomb

Four year old Elijah Tegenkamp of Christiansburg is all smiles as he steals the show from comedian Glen

Singer (aka El Gleno Grande) at last Friday’s Dickens of a Christmas celebration in Downtown Roanoke.

Young Elijah volunteered to help the comedian who soon melted to near tears as the joyfully smiling boy

responded to his “set-up” questions with an innocence and trust that would disarm the most desperate

Scrooge. “El Gleno” has appeared on “America’s Funniest People” and has performed his show on six

continents, but it’s not likely he has met as happy a fellow performer as Elijah. See more pics of last week’s

Roanoke Christmas Parade and the Dickens Celebration on page 7.

Roanoke County Dedicates

Green Ridge Recreation Center

Roanoke County held a ribbon cutting and dedication ceremony on Tuesday Dec.

15 to celebrate the completion of the County’s new $30 million Green Ridge Recre-

ation Center. Located at the intersection of Valleypointe Parkway and Wood Haven

Road, the new Center will provide recreational opportunities, programs for all ages,

and meeting space for the community.

�e state-of-the-art facility is the �rst recreation center to be constructed in Roa-

noke County. �e County’s only other recreation / community centers are located in

renovated schools, including the Brambleton Center in Roanoke and the Craig Cen-

ter in Vinton. Developed by First Choice Public-Private Partners, LLC, the design of

the building was intended to meet the leisure-time, recreation, and exercise needs of

persons of all ages, abilities, and incomes.

�e stately 76,000 square foot building includes a double gymnasium, �tness cen-

ter, two aerobics rooms, three multi-purpose program rooms, and an indoor aquat-

ics center with an adjoining birthday

New City Manager To Be Named SoonIf Colin Baenziger, the recruiter hired to

�nd a new city manager had his way, he’d

let it be known now who city council picked

behind closed doors on Friday. Baenziger

lives in Florida where “everything is done in

the open.” But in Roanoke the contract with

council’s choice for city manager is “in private

process.”In an email Monday he said that although

Florida is completely transparent, “the candi-

date pool tends to not be as good when people

know their names will be out there.” He indi-

cated that while it has been tough to recruit

managers for some cities, Roanoke was not

one of themBaenziger had several candidates �oat to

the top as far back as mid-October. One was

a young lady from the midwest and another

was a younger man from Florida. At that time

he said that while there were some local pros-

pects, being from Virginia was not condition-

al for selection. “Sometimes it’s a good thing to push people

out of their comfort zone,” said Baenziger.

Besides the $21,750 Baenziger is charging

the city for his services, Roanoke taxpayers

[Roanoke City]

> CONTINUEDP2: City Manager

M y wife, Sabrina, looked at

the arti�cial Christmas

tree and shuddered. “�at

thing’s been in my family forever. Why

we haven’t thrown it out is beyond me.

When I was a kid, I thought it was ugly,

and I still think it’s ugly. I’ve despised it

for years.” But let me back up. How did we

come to be looking at the ugly Christ-

mas tree? Over the last several Christmases,

Sabrina and I have felt an emptiness.

Not totally empty, just empty in an

important place in our hearts--the

Christmas place. Too much running,

too many gi�s for people who already

have everything they really need, and

even if they don’t, they can

go buy it. For us, Christmas

was becoming all wrapping,

no present. Sabrina felt we should try

something di�erent this year.

We should adopt a family for

Christmas. But who? We called the Bradley Free

Clinic and told them our di-

lemma. A family was chosen.

�e mother had captivated

the folks at the clinic; her

kids are well-cleaned, well-

mannered, and well-churched. �is

single mom takes her kids every day

a�er work to the YMCA to be sure the

family spends lots of time together.

We were told the family

had neither tree nor trim

for the Yuletide. Okay. First

things �rst. Sabrina and

my son Ches went out and

bought lights, ornaments,

tinsel and such. Later we

stood in our attic in front of

the ugly Christmas tree. Sabrina concluded, “Well,

let’s take it along. If they

don’t want it - and who

could blame them - we’ll

just �nd them another.”

We three loaded the car and drove

to the family’s home. In addition to her

three adolescent kids, the mother was

baby-sitting four others. Ches and I

struggled getting the big tree box into

the house and down into the sparsely

furnished basement where it would be

set up. �e mother chose a dimly lit

corner so the lights, once strung, would

cast a more festive e�ect. �e three of

us began to assemble the dilapidated

tree as the children stood silently by.

No surprise. We were strangers who

had arrived in a car which probably

cost as much as their house.

I set the �rst limb into its hooks.

A hesitant voice at my elbow asked,

“Can I help?” One of her sons.

“Sure! Set the limb right there.” I

�e Ugliest, Most Glorious Christmas Tree

Representatives of Roanoke County’s Parks and Rec Department along with

county supervisors and administrators formally dedicate the new Rec Center.

> CONTINUEDP3: Ugly Tree

James Tarpley keeps watch over

Grandin Road.

An Angel on Grandin

> CONTINUED P3: Green RIdge

[Christmas in Downtown]

Lucky Garvin

H. Bruce Rinker, PhD

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JANUARY 2-3

Administration

The Treasury Department—whose mission has ostensibly expanded to include manage-ment of government finances, the promotion of economic growth and stability, and the provision of safety, soundness, and security in financial sys-tems—will hit its debt ceiling (yet again) by year’s end.

In the final chapter of The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith argued that once nation-al debts have accumulated to a certain degree, they are rarely paid. Government officials, he argues, are both unwilling and unable to get serious about debt. They don’t want to lose popularity by raising taxes and they will never cut spending enough. Instead, they employ “juggling tricks” to push the debt problem into the future and hide the full costs.

The most improper “trick” Smith forecasted was cur-rency debasement, “by which a real public bankruptcy [is] disguised under the appear-ance of a pretended payment.” President Obama and his team of economic advisors would do

well to revisit Smith’s timeless discussion of “juggling tricks,” because despite the president’s “exit strategies” rhetoric, fur-ther debasement seems to be the inevitable policy path.

Indeed, the current admin-istration inherited a mess from former President Bush, but in his first nine months in office, President Obama has done nothing to curtail the vicious cycle of economic ruin. Instead, he has accelerated it. The tricks being played by Obama, such as his effort to distract voters from historically unprecedent-ed deficits by talking about “halving the deficit” and shift-ing attention away from fiscal crisis by focusing on the envi-ronment and health care, are similar to Bush’s tactics. They are tried and true schemes em-ployed by both parties because they conceal the real costs of government excess from vot-ers.

Our modern-day debase-ment has come, in part, be-cause it is impossible to keep the Fed and Treasury separate, a problem that has grown more

severe since the 2008 finan-cial crisis. But as many 20th century economists warned us—so long as these institu-tions exist—they will remain entangled. For example, the 1974 Nobel Prize winner in economics, F. A. Hayek, often warned of the monetary policy dance becoming an exercise of “holding a tiger by the tail.” James Buchanan, the 1986 Nobel Prize winning econo-mist, warned of the political legacy of Keynesian econom-ics as producing “democracy in deficit.” Economists like Smith, Hayek, and Buchanan have been consistent in argu-ing for government restraints because a government unable to constrain itself threatens to destroy the economic future of its citizens.

An alternative to such tricks exists. If truly implemented, debt repudiation could prevent people from being fooled again and again in the future. Rather than incur painful, gradual in-flation taxes, we would prefer to see politicians come clean. Debts will be erased once and

for all, and the legitimacy of the State will, in one fell swoop, be called into question. Rather than erode debt obligations through inflation, the debt could be repudiated through bankruptcy proceedings. Like individual bankruptcy cases, the United States government would admit that they are un-able to pay off existing debts. The repudiation forces future politicians to credibly commit to sounder economic policies

and, perhaps, would help to avoid future cycles of deficits, debt, and debasement.

Of course, our call for debt repudiation is not a new one. Like many good ideas in eco-nomics, Adam Smith was there long before us. “When it be-comes necessary for a state to declare itself bankrupt…a fair, open, and avowed bankrupt-cy…is both least dishonourable to the debtor, and least hurtful to the creditor,” he argued. In

other words, when the financial storm arrives—and it will—the juggling tricks must stop.

- Scott Beulier, Peter BoettkeThe authors are research fel-

lows at the Oakland, CA-based Independent Institute and BB&T Distinguished Professors of Capitalism. Scott Beaulier is department chair of econom-ics at Mercer University. Peter Boettke is professor of econom-ics at George Mason University.

Commentary: Hiding Debt Just a Juggling Trick

Commentary: Five Traits of Female Attractiveness

Psalm 1 says, “Happy are those who do not fol-low the advice of the wicked… but are like trees planted by streams of water.”

The psalmist is referring to those who are so immersed in the study of the Torah, the living tra-dition of God, that they can stand strong against the strong winds that blow others away. They had all been so immersed in the teachings and prac-tices of their faith that it has become their thinking, their seeing and feeling; their living and their dying.

I am not happy with the translations that use the word, “Happy,” however. In our culture “Happy” is not a sturdy enough word to bear the weight of sorrow, obligation, or disappointment while still bearing some sense of joy. “Happy” is a decorative word used to describe those in love, on vacation, or finding their children to be delightful. “Happy” is lottery winner or the football fan whose team just won.

“Happy” is not an adjective I would use to de-scribe the voice I hear in the Beatitude Psalm. That voice is wise, experienced, healed and reconciled. It is a voice of someone who has had to surrender false hopes and give up on shallow dreams. It is a voice of one who has come to appreciate what is a gift and not a right, and what comes to us only by grace.

I recognize the Psalmist’s voice in a memory of Welford Hobbie. Welford grew up in Roanoke, served as a pastor, and then became the much be-

loved professor of preaching at Union Seminary. I remember the last course on preaching I took from him. He was thin and weak because of the treatments. The treatments were to buy time, but Welford knew that while this cancer could be de-layed, it could not be beaten.

He didn’t have to teach that course. He didn’t need the money, and on the days he taught he had little energy for anything else. Yet, he did teach. When he couldn’t stand in class, he sat on a stool. He taught with his usual humor, keeping us laugh-ing while we were learning. And he gave careful attention when we preached our sermons, so he could give the feedback we needed. He was dy-ing and knew it, yet he was laughing, listening and teaching.

What was he? Happy? I suppose so, but that’s too light a word for me. He was something.

I can hear the voice of the psalm in Lou Emma Allen’s voice. Lou Emma was our maid and nanny in Greenwood, Mississippi back in the early 1960s. We couldn’t afford a maid, but my parents and two other families hired her because she needed the work. She resigned her job at the church because she didn’t want to be a cause of dissention. The session had voted not to fire her, so she could have kept her job. But the minority that voted to fire her was sizable, and so were the number of mem-bers in the church who wished to do the same. The reasons stated were manufactured. She was

demonized, small faults exaggerated into some-thing big (church politics can be just like national politics). The real reason was that it had been dis-covered she was an officer in the local chapter of the NAACP and had worked to register other blacks to vote.

So, here was an older woman, with an invalid husband, having to clean houses to make a living. She was a woman who had to face segregation on a daily basis. To maintain her sense of dignity was a spiritual fight. But she did it. And she was a woman who, even though she knew how to take a courageous stand, never stopped being a woman full of fun. Bitterness and anger were not for her.

She was… happy? She was something. She was something I want to be when I have to take a stand.

I hear the voice of the psalm in the true story Greg Jones tells in his book Embodying Forgive-ness. He tells of an Armenian nurse taking care of a Turkish officer in the early 1900s. In those years, as through the centuries, Armenians often were brutalized by the dominant Turks.

The Armenian nurse took exceptional care of this enemy of her people, this Turkish officer. She took special care of him even though he was too sick to take special note of her. He almost died, several times. But then he got better. And one day, a doctor was in the room and he told the patient that if it had not been for that nurse, the officer

would have died. And so the officer looked- that is, really looked- at the nurse who had been tend-ing to him.

“I know you, don’t I?”“Yes,” she said, “you do.” And he did. Years before, on a raid, after killing

her parents, he gave her sisters to his soldiers and he took this nurse, then a young girl, for himself.

“Why didn’t you let me die?” he asked.She answered, “I am the follower of him who

said, ‘Love your enemies.’”She stood there like the tree of our psalm

standing strong against the wind of revenge. I don’t know how I would have responded, but I do know I want what she had. I would rather be her when she looked in the mirror at night than the officer who allowed himself to be the chaff so easily blown by base needs and fears. I don’t know what you would call what she was, but I don’t think “happy” is the word. But I do want more of it.

Whatever it is three people are, I want to be it. Do you? I think it takes immersion in a Living tra-dition that speaks to us, and then, by God’s grace, penetrates us… and then even make us part of itself: the Living Tradition of God.

George Anderson is the Senior Minister at Second Presbyterian Church. You may contact him at: pastor@spres.org or visit them on the web at www.spres.org

Preacher’s corner: The Living Tradition of God by George C. Anderson

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Greater Roanoke Home & Garden Show Features TV Gardener, Celebrity ChefIncredible gardens and land-

scapes, the latest in home and garden trends, and DIY TV ce-lebrities highlight the Greater Roanoke Home and Garden Show that is coming to town January 8 - 10.

Paul James, the Gardener Guyfrom HGTVs popular Gar-dening by the Yard,will answer questions from green thumbs while Chef Lou Petrozza from Fox TVs Hells Kitchen will wow visitors with simple gourmet meals in minutes.

The show, at the Roanoke Special Events Center, features everything from the front door to the backyard, including the latest trends in kitchens, baths, fixtures and appliances. The venue will be packed with ex-hibits featuring garden displays, landscaping, water features, pools, spas, windows, doors, sunrooms and more. Visitors can save with show-only dis-counts and pricing.

Local builders and home re-modeling experts will be on

hand to help with your next project, with numerous do-it-yourself seminars available to augment your skills, including how to redesign or stage your home and how to make your home comfortable for all stages of life.

Foodies will enjoy samplings at the "Tastes of Roanoke," a complimentary offering of gourmet food, ice cream and wine. Kids (admitted free) will enjoy the interactive Kids Zone and live animals from the Roa-noke Wildlife Rescue Center and Mill Mountain Zoo as well as cupcake decorating.

The Greater Roanoke Home & Garden Show will be held at the Roanoke Special Events Center from 2-7 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 8; 10 a.m.-7 p.m. on Satur-day, Jan. 9; and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 10. Admission is $7 for adults and $5 for seniors. Children 16 and under are free. To learn more visit: http://show-technology.com/shows/Roa-noke/Roanoke.html.

In 2009, the housing and financial markets continued to struggle and the unemployment rate continued to rise, leaving many to won-der how they should plan for 2010. Virginia Cooperative Extension has advice on making solid financial plans for the New Year.

“We recommend saving three to six months of your salary in sav-ings, in the event of unexpected expenses or a job loss,” said Jennifer Abel, a family and consumer sciences agent in the Arlington Exten-sion Office.

Although financial experts have made this recommendation for years, it remains more important than ever with the current eco-nomic downturn. According to Abel, some Virginians who have lost their job have had more time to search for a new one because they have both unemployment benefits and an emergency reserve fund. Of course, a savings account will also come in handy with other types of emergencies, such as a flat tire or a trip to the hos-pital.

“Although a traditional savings account would be a good place to put three to six months of income, most banks have a low interest rate for these types of accounts,” Abel said. “Explore your options such as a certificate of deposit or a money-market account. While a CD usually offers a higher interest rate, you only get this rate if you leave your money in it for a certain period of time. On the other hand, most money-market accounts have higher interest rates as well, but they often have a minimum deposit of $500, $1,000, or

more.”Abel explains that the ideal savings account will generate interest

and remain “liquid,” or easily accessible to the client. In addition to saving for the unexpected, Abel encourages Virginians not to forget about the expected, such as retirement or college tuition for a son or daughter.

“Everyone should continue to save money for retirement, even during an economic downtown,” Abel said. “Many employers offer retirement benefits and ways to save money for retirement, but if yours does not, consider opening a Roth or traditional IRA.”

Although the stock market has remained volatile over the past year, a diversified set of stocks remains the most common way to save for retirement. “If history proves right, the stock market will have a greater return than other investment strategies,” said Abel, who cautions that the stock market is best equipped for long-term investments of more than 10 years. “Do not put money into the stock market that you will need in the near future.”

Abel also urges Virginians to prioritize spending for their needs, like housing, food, and medical expenses. “We do also encourage people to include discretionary money for fun, low-cost activities so that the budgeting process does not have to be burdensome,” she added.

Cooperative Extension Encourages Solid Financial Planning for the New Year

By Michael Sutphininfo@newsroanoke.com

Given the current economic situation, it is clear that maximizing personal assets is important. The American Society of Appraisers suggests that people take the opportunity at the beginning of the new year to resolve to document and assess personal assets.

“The contents of most peoples’ homes are worth tens of thou-sands of dollars and they don’t even realize it,” said Sharon Ring Rollins, chair of the personal property committee of the American Society of Appraisers.

When people count up their assets, they normally include the value of their home and other real estate, cars, bank accounts, re-tirement accounts, stocks and bonds, etc. What many people forget, however, is that their personal assets include the contents of their home including artwork, antiques, jewelry, collectibles, etc. The value of those items needs to be considered for estate planning pur-poses, to ensure that they are properly covered by their homeown-ers or renters insurance policies in case of a loss, and for sale or charitable donation purposes.

American Society of Appraisers offers tips to get started review-ing their personal assets.

Documentation. Take an inventory of the items in your house. Open cabinets and closets and document the contents with video or photos. Make lists of what you own, where you got each item, etc.,

and keep receipts.Make note of potentially valuable items. Make a list of items that

you think might be especially valuable, including family heirlooms, artwork, and antique furniture.

Get an appraisal of valuable items. If you think you have valu-able items and want to know more about their value, consult an accredited appraiser.

Review your homeowners or renters policies. These policies have a certain coverage amount for the contents of your home. Do a rough calculation of the value of the contents of your home if you had to replace everything. Does the amount in your currently pol-icy cover it? If not, talk to your insurance agent about raising the limit or get special riders for extremely valuable items. Owning a few pieces of fine art or a few good antiques may mean that the coverage in your policy is less than adequate.

“Appraisals are important documents like wills. They provide proof of the worth of a piece of property,” said Rollins. “An appraisal performed by an accredited appraiser will stand up in court, with the IRS, or the insurance company if need be.”

New Year’s Resolutions Should Include Review Of Personal Assets

By Lisa Schaumanninfo@newsroanoke.com

Becker's Hospital Review re-cently announced its list of the best physician executive leaders of hospitals and health systems in the country. Carilion Clinic's President and CEO, Edward G. Murphy, M.D., is listed among 30 healthcare leaders, "who excel on the leadership side of healthcare in an extraordinary manner." Murphy is the only Virginia physician executive on the list.

The Hospital Review covers business and legal issues in the hospital industry, and is distrib-uted to more than 10,000 health care leaders Nationwide.

Carilion Clinic now has over 600 doctors working through eight hospitals. For more in-formation, visit www.Carilion-Clinic.org.

Healthcare Magazine Recognizes Carilion CEO Among Top Physician Leaders

In preparing to visit the Orchard Villas, an active adult com-munity in Roanoke, Va., Roger Glover had braced himself for the worst. Owner of Cornerstone Homes, LLC, he made the trip from his home office in Richmond, Va. to see how he might res-cue the community after its building and development had come to a complete stop over a year ago. When he got there, he was amazed at two things – how beautiful and beautifully maintained the community was and the remarkable spirit of the residents.

“They have been through a difficult time this past year. As with many new communities across the nation, building stopped abruptly, and their future became uncertain. But that didn’t stop the enthusiasm that these residents share for the Orchard Villas’ original concept of single-story maintenance-free living and what they have been able to enjoy about their lifestyle so far. They have done an unbelievable job of maintaining the community while keeping the Home Owners’ Association in solid financial condi-tion.”

An experienced developer and a franchisee of Epcon Commu-nities, a national home builder specializing in planned lifestyle communities, Glover and his team at Cornerstone Homes decid-ed recently to purchase the unsold Orchard homes and remain-ing lots. The community’s model of ranch-style no-maintenance homes in a small community setting fit with the other Epcon communities Glover has established in Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina.

According to Glover, the community offers much more than charming villas with attached garages. "Because residents enjoy life without the hassles of exterior home maintenance and yard work, their quality of life is improved with more time to travel and focus on such things as hobbies, grandchildren, and continuing education. Monthly social opportunities are another appeal and range from book clubs to barbeques to regular classes in the club-

house and fitness center."When residents Chris and Chuck Arnold found out that Cor-

nerstone Homes was possibly purchasing their community, they took a trip to Christiansburg, Va. and visited Villas of Pepper's Ferry, another Cornerstone project. They were impressed with several things they observed, including the cohesiveness of the residents and the variety of community events.

“Cornerstone is a proven Epcon Community Builder,” said Chris Arnold. “We got a taste of Cornerstone’s quality, and that made us feel very happy that they are on board here at Orchard Villas.”

“We are thrilled to bring Orchard Villas on board and make this a seamless transition for current residents,” said Glover. “They deserve it. And we look forward to welcoming new residents who have been waiting for their turn to enjoy their retirement.”

Orchard Villas Community Springing Back to Life

Ed Murphy

The Orchard Villas, now being developed by Cornerstone Homes.

Are you a downtown Roa-noke cyclist in need of a place to spend a few minutes on your lunch hour? A road rider who is tired of spending winter nights riding alone indoors? A cycling gearhead wanting to see the latest carbon goodies? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions then your prayers have been answered. Keirin Culture, a road and fixed-gear bike boutique, has just relocated to a new downtown location at the corner of Kirk and 2nd (the former Anglers Cafe).

Owner Stratton Delany re-cently relocated into the reno-vated space from a smaller spot at Blackdog Salvage. The new location offers more space to show his line of Kazane bikes and components. He's also in-troduced several new lines to the shop including road bikes from Seigler, Ciocc, and Alan. The shop now stocks a larger se-lection of commuter bikes and components with more to come as the weather warms up.

While you're waiting for Spring you can come by the shop on Tuesday and Thursday for "trainer night." Here riders can bring their own or rent a stationary trainer and take part in group indoor rides. The new shop is equipped with an HD

projector and eight foot screen so riders can ride while watch-ing race and training videos. Rides start at 6PM and Delaney says a Wednesday session will be added if there is enough in-terest.

The shop will also serve as headquarters to the Kazane Racing elite cycling team. The team boasts one of the stron-gest rosters of road racers in the state and is also working to help those who are less fortunate. For 2010 the team has partnered with the Nianjema Secondary School in Bagamoyo, Tanza-nia. Team members will put on several fundraisers for the school, which provides educa-tion to students who otherwise would have no way to afford it. The school is also starting a road cycling program with bikes and parts collected by members of the Kazane team.

Keirin Culture Bike Shop Opens in Downtown Roanoke

Owner, Stratton Delany

arts & cultureNewsRoanoke.com 1/1/10 - 1/7/10 |The Roanoke Star-Sentinel |Page 11

The third annual Roanoke Regional Writers Conference is scheduled for January 22-23 at Hollins University.

Founded and organized by Valley Business FRONT Co-Founder and Editor Dan Smith, the conference opens Friday evening with a wine reception and introduction of teaching staff and speakers for the evening, Sara Elizabeth Timmins and Janis Jaquith.

Timmons, a filmmaker most recently from Los An-geles, will speak on “Telling the Story.” She has produced more than a dozen movies helping playwrights, screen-writers, writers, musicians and choreographers translate their vision to the screen.

Jaquith’s commentaries have been heard on the pub-lic radio show Marketplace, on National Public Radio’s (NBR) Day to Day and on NBR station WVTF. Having won a Virginia Press Associa-tion (VPA) award for edito-rial writing, she is a columnist and author.

The conference on Saturday is geared toward vocational and avocational writers who have the desire to become better at their craft and to network with other writ-ers from the region. The 24

classes and two round-table discussions will be on topics including writing and social media, translating your work to film/stage, media writ-ing, freelance writing and the law, freelance writing in this market, the short personal es-say, and writing local history among others.

Among those teaching classes will be John Ander-son, author of the recently published book, “Stand by Her: A Breast Cancer Guide for Men.” Anderson was prompted to write the book after his wife, sister, mother and mother’s best friend were diagnosed with breast cancer and his close encounters with the disease. He has since ap-peared on national television and has been asked by numer-ous publications to author ar-ticles on the same subject.

Other presenters include Blue Ridge Country editor Cara Modisett, Leisure Pub-

lishing Editor in Chief, Kurt Rheinheimer, two-time Pulit-zer Prize nominee Rex Bow-man, and Roanoke Star-Sen-tinel Editor Gene Marrano, among others.

The cost of the conference is $50 per person and includes the reception, coffee all day Saturday and lunch.

For additional informa-tion regarding the confer-ence schedule and to register, visit http://www.hollins.edu/news-events/writers/writers.htm.

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From the second annual New Year’s Eve Bouncy Ball Drop, Enchanted Eve in Vinton and the New Year’s Blast at the Roanoke Civic Center – not to mention parties galore at local restaurants and hotels, there is something for everyone who wants to celebrate New Year’s Eve in the Roanoke Valley.

At the second annual “New Year’s Eve Bouncy Ball Drop,” kids of all ages will gather in the atrium of Center in the Square, home to the Science Museum of Western Virginia, before noon for the countdown on Dec. 31. Look out below: more than 11,000 bouncy balls were dropped last year.

Because bouncy balls will be given out on a first-come first-served basis, it is recommend-ed that participants arrive by 10:30a.m. At noon, everyone will drop their bouncy balls from various levels to the first floor of the atrium. The event is free. For additional informa-tion, visit www.smwv.org or call (540) 342-5710.

The 6th annual “Enchanted Eve” is Roanoke County’s alco-hol-free community inspired New Year’s Eve celebration held in Downtown Vinton from 6:00p.m. to 12:00a.m.

Travel Through Time is this year’s theme; one that will “magically transport partici-pants through ten decades of fun and merriment …through numerous events and enter-tainment venues in buildings and public spaces all along Washington Avenue,” said the Tourism and Events Coor-dinator for Roanoke County Department of Parks and Rec-reation Wendi Schultz. There will also be special attractions, games, music, parades, food, live entertainment and fire-works at midnight. Schultz emphasized that the event will

be held regardless of the weath-er because most of the activities are indoors.

Admission fee in advance is $7 (ages 3-12 $3). Attendance of 3,000-5,000 is anticipated. For additional information, visit www.roanokecountyva.gov or call (540) 387-6078, ex-tension 251.

Presented by Sponsor Hounds, LLC, Roanoke’s New Year’s Eve Blast returns for its 3rd year at the Civic Center. The party includes two stages of live music. On the opening stage will be “Center Hill,” with a mix of 80s, rock hits and new music. “80’z Enuff” will be playing hits from the 80s and will ring in the New Year with the annual dropping of the “Roanoke Star.”

“The star drop is bigger than the ball drop in New York City,” said an enthused Elliot Broyles, an organizer for Spon-sor Hounds. Retired engineer Gary Greer built the seven-foot Mill Mountain Star replica with lights inside three years ago. This year he added additional lights to the star along with a champagne glass in front. The ball that drops in New York City’s Times Square is six feet tall.

The New Year’s Eve Blast is an age 21 and up event, held from 8:00p.m. -1:30a.m. in the Spe-cial Events Center at the Roa-noke Civic Center. The $25 ad-mission (in advance) includes all entertainment, the star drop and heavy hors oeuvres. For additional information, visit www.sponsorhounds.com/new years.html or call (540) 206-2414 or (877) 723-8496.

The 32nd annual Charity Ball for the Preceptor Omicron chapter of Beta Sigma Phi will be held on New Year’s Eve at The Hotel Roanoke & Confer-ence Center. The ticket price of $160 per couple includes a strolling buffet dinner for two, seating in one of two ball-rooms, live music and dancing and a champagne toast and balloon drop at midnight. For additional information and to purchase tickets, call (540) 342-5089 or visit www.new-yearsevegala.org.

You may just want to stay home, watch the Tech / Ten-nessee bowl game and munch onion dip, but its nice to know there are so many options on New Year’s Eve!

Variety of Events Set for New Years in Roanoke

Roanoke College has an-nounced several upcoming events. Roanoke’s theme for the year is “The Challenge of Intel-lectual Inquiry,” as the College is launching a new general education curriculum. Many events will focus, as does the curriculum, on what it means to study something deeply – to explore, inquire and examine. Happenings on the Salem cam-pus in January include the fol-lowing:

Art ExhibitJanuary 15 – February 26.

Olin and Smoyer galleries. Opening Reception: Friday, January 15, 6-8 p.m. Smoyer Gallery.

In Olin Gallery, Roanoke College fine arts faculty mem-bers Kate Shortridge, Eliz. S.-K. Heil and Scott Hardwig will present works.

Shortridge’s painting inter-ests have been about regional landscape, understanding sense of place and the interrelation-ship of people and place. Heil will present photographs that are an investigation looking at the landscape as a resource for information. Hardwig has been working with porcelain just since May 2008 and for this ex-hibition, he will show a series of vessels for table servings or other domestic uses.

Smoyer Gallery will host works by Roanoke College alumna Harriett Stokes. Upon receiving degrees from Roa-noke College and Virginia Commonwealth University, she taught for several years in Covington and Roanoke City schools. Stokes has been deeply involved with the arts com-munity and has served on the board of the regional art maga-zine, Artemis.

In 2007, she received the Lifelong Achievement award from the Arts Council of the Blue Ridge, and her works are included in many private and corporate collections nation-ally and internationally.

Performing Arts Series play

Saturday, January 23, 7:30 p.m. Olin Theater. $12/$7. Contact Olin Hall Box Office for tickets at (540) 375-2333 or order online at www.roanoke.edu/tickets. Box Office Hours: Monday – Friday 1 – 4 p.m.

and one hour prior to perfor-mance.

American Shakespeare Company presents “All’s Well That Ends Well.” In this funny, wise and bittersweet comedy, Shakespeare paints a sly por-trait of the human condition in all its motley colors. As her reward for beguiling the King of France of an unsettling af-fliction, the clever and tena-cious Helen receives the hand of Bertram, her heart’s desire. Unfortunately, Bertram’s heart has other desires. In its world of soldiers and clowns, count-esses and commoners, “All’s Well That Ends Well” tricks us into believing that lies are true and that truth is fantasy.

“Intellectual Inquiry: Does Theology Belong in the Acad-emy?”

Wednesday, January 27, 4:30 p.m. Colket Center Pickle Lounge. Reception to follow.

This event will feature a pan-el of endowed professors from the department of religion and philosophy—the Schumann Chair in Lutheran Theology, Dr. Ned Wisnefske; the Jordan-Trexler Chair in Religion, Dr. Gerald McDermott; and the Tise Chair of Lutheran Studies, Dr. Paul Hinlicky.

Moderated by Dr. Robert Benne, director of the Center for Religion and Society, the panel will reflect on whether religion should be taught pure-ly in a descriptive or analytical manner (“religious studies”) or whether it should be taught normatively (“theology”). Sponsored by the Center for Religion and Society.

“Internationalization: Broadening the Roanoke Re-gion’s Economic Impact”

Thursday, January 28, 6 p.m.

Jefferson Center Fitzpatrick Hall. Networking social begins at 5:30 p.m. Cost is $25 for RC community and Roanoke Re-gional Chamber members/$50 for others. For tickets and more information, contact Judy at (540) 983-0700 ext. 221.

Join the Roanoke Regional Forum for an interactive panel discussion exploring how the Roanoke area can be and is im-pacted by a global market. Pan-elists include Roanoke College faculty members Dr. Joshua Rubongoya and Dr. Elizabeth Gilster-Velazquez; Jeff Ander-son, Director of Virginia Eco-nomic Development Partner-ship; Ted Melnick, President of Novozymes Biologicals, Inc.; and Michael Newman, Vice President of International Sales and Global Marketing for Op-tical Cable Corporation.

Kandinsky Trio ConcertFriday, January 29, 8 p.m.

Olin Theater. $20/$12. For tickets and more information, please call the Olin Box Office at (540) 375-2333.

The violin/viola duo mar-colivia, comprised of Marc Ramirez and Olivia Hajioff, has concertized extensively throughout the U.S., Europe, South America and Japan. Be-sides receiving a Fulbright fel-lowship, the duo is also a recip-ient of many awards, including the BBC Young Musician of the Year, the Henryk Szerying Vio-lin Competition and the Euro-pean Violin Competition. They join the Kandinskys for the world premiere of Jon Grier’s exciting Piano Quartet “Locri-ana” and Schumann’s seminal, magnificent Piano Quintet in E flat Major.

Roanoke College Plans Varied Cultural Offerings

Photo by Jim Bullington

The ever popular Kandinsky Trio returns to Roanoke College's Olin Theatre on Jan 29.

Annual Writers Conference to Convene at Hollins

By Susan Ayersinfo@newsroanoke.com

Photo by Stuart Revercomb

Children take cover as 10,000 bouncy balls descend upon them at Center in the Square last January.

By Susan Ayersinfo@newsroanoke.com

Songwriter-performer Greg Trafidlo gave up the corporate world more than a decade ago to focus on his artistic pursuits, and lately his career seems to be gathering momentum.

The Roanoke County resi-dent, who once worked for ad agencies in Chicago and locally, recently picked up a first place prize in the novelty/comedy category for his song “Starbucks of County Down,” based on an old Irish tune.

It’s one of a number of song-writing contests he has compet-ed in. Trafidlo tunes have also been heard on the Dr. Demento radio show and on NPR’s Car Talk program.

Trafidlo, who co-wrote Star-bucks with Neal Phillips, also his partner in the folk trio Trifolkal, has just released his fourth solo album, “Carved in Song.” It’s a mix of different styles, with the Nashville tinge on some tunes - a reflection perhaps of Trafidlo’s forays to that capital of country music, where he shops his origi-nal songs to other artists. He has played at the historic Ryman Auditorium on WSM, the radio home of the Grand Ol’ Opry.

The former president of the Southwest Virginia Songwriters Association said that, “music has always been very important to me. It’s been my way of learn-ing things.”

Carved in Song also includes a searing send up of the Bush

White House years, “The Talk-ing White House Cleaning Blues.” Folk music legend and Grammy lifetime award winner Tom Paxton, told Trafidlo that he “loved” the song, and sug-gested Woody Guthrie would have too. Trafidlo has also played with Paxton recently. “That was a real big thing for me,” he adds.

“I hope it has a little bit more depth to it,” said Trafidlo of Carved in Song – often humor-ous, sometimes romantic. “Its really a challenge to write in as many different styles as I can. I’m really happy with [the new album] in a lot of ways.”

Trafidlo has been involved as a songwriter, session performer (guitar and other string instru-ments) and producer on over 50

albums. Trifolkal has released nine recordings and is working on a tenth; the other trio mem-ber is Trafidlo’s ex-wife, Laura Phillips. Their label is Kira Re-cords, named after a dog Phil-lips once had.

“It’s been part of my life for-ever,” said Trafidlo of his folk flavored music, which he first played professionally in the Chicago area where he also grew up.

See gregtrafidlo.com or cd-baby.com for more about Carved in Stone, or pick it up at Fret Mill Music; Trafidlo will perform with other local songwriters at Kirk Avenue Music Hall on Feb-ruary 15.

Local Troubadour Releases New Album

Greg Trafidlo debuts his new album, “Carved in Stone.”

By Gene Marranogmarrano@cox.net

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provides your home with:• Power conditioning and line noise filtration • An easy

installation that creates immediate benefits • An amazingly maintenance-free solution • An environmentally friendly

product that helps protect the earth

CERTIFIED ELECTRICIANS NEEDED FOR INSTALLATIONS

Rapture Enterprises, Inc... Air, Water, Energy

540-392-7770

Page 12 | The Roanoke Star-Sentinel | 1/1/10 - 1/7/10 NewsRoanoke.com

Three easyways to learnmore, enroll in aMedicareAdvantageplanor signup for a freeno-obligationappointmentwith a licensedagent:

Call 1-800-811-0422, TTY 877-225-3157 between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.,seven days a week.

Visit www.CarilionMedicare.com.

Schedule an appointment to meet with a plan representative at one ofthe locations below.

AnnualElection PeriodEnds Dec. 31

H8050_CCMR_Ad9_09_Ver01©2009 Carilion Clinic Medicare Health Plan (1-1-609)

Don’tMissYourChance to EnrollMedicare’s 2010Annual ElectionPeriodEndsDec. 31

Plan representatives will be available in Roanoke, RockyMountand Christiansburg from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m., Dec. 28 – 30, to answerquestions and take applications.

We invite you to consider Carilion ClinicMedicare Health Plan if you’reeligible formembership and looking for:

• Prescription drug coverage included in every plan• A health plan sponsored by Carilion Clinic with access to seven Carilion Clinichospitals andmore than 700 physicians, includingmore than 100 non-Carilion physicians

• Benefits and services youwant with low, predictable costs• Urgent and emergencymedical coverage when you travel

Carilion Clinic Medicare Health Plan, a health plan with aMedicare contract and an approved Part D sponsor, is availableto individuals who are entitled toMedicare Part A and enrolled inMedicare Part B who live in the Carilion Clinic MedicareHealth Plan’s approved service area: Bedford, Lexington, Radford, Roanoke and Salem, and the counties of Bedford,Botetourt, Craig, Floyd, Franklin, Giles, Montgomery and Roanoke. Those with end-stage renal disease are usually noteligible except in certain circumstances. Benefit limits and restrictionsmay apply and additional information should berequested beforemaking a decision about your coverage. If you join this plan, youmust continue to pay your Medicare PartB premium. For accommodation of persons with special needs at sales meetings, call toll-free 1-800-811-0422, TTY 1-877-225-3157, 8 a.m. – 8 p.m., seven days a week. A sales person will be present with information and applications.

Christiansburg Carilion New River Valley Medical Center,Montgomery Room

Monday, Dec. 28, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Roanoke Holiday Inn, Tanglewood Wednesday, Dec. 30, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Rocky Mount Carilion Franklin Memorial Hospital,Auditorium

Tuesday, Dec. 29, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.

1.

2.

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Call: 1-800-811-0422 to schedule an appointment or enroll

New

sRoanoke.com

Love yourself, for you are created by God to be a wonderful re-flection of Him.Search yourself, for if you do not you will always hurt others.Forgive yourself as you learn to forgive others.Set goals: for a small goal reached is better than a large dream unfulfilled.Expect more from yourself than you expect of others.Decide to become a leader of leaders, not a leader of followers.If you don’t know how to do something, admit it and ask for help.Touch someone’s heart everyday.Read: your world can change, along with your viewpoint, if you read the words of someone else.Be a lifelong student while being a lifelong teacher.Apologize.

Be more mature today than you were yesterday.Begin the journey toward being a safe person.Know when it’s time to lay a dream aside, and don’t forget to mourn the loss.Be willing to dream big.Accept your today: it is the beginning of your future.Work on your today by examining your past.Change something about yourself today.Affirm something about yourself today.Speak up when something or someone is wrong.Love the weak, but don’t ask them to build your strength.Find a mentor … be a mentor.If you want to be a leader don’t isolate yourself from someone who disagrees with you.Get up EVERY time you fall.

Establish a healthy value system.Reexamine your value system on a regular basis.Don’t sacrifice your value system for any person.Sacrifice for others, but don’t lose yourself in the process.Welcome change: it is inevitable.Learn something new everyday.Discard something old and useless everyday, even if it is a habit or way of thinking that does not serve you or others well.Be willing to cry.Help others to laugh.Break out in a song or dance often, if only in your heart.Remember, if you do not face your own realities, others will be forced to deal with them on a daily basis.

By Christine Slade

35 Ways to Live Life in the New Year