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NewsRoanoke.comFebruary 3 - 9, 2012 Community | news | Per spect ive

The Roanoke Star-Sentinel

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Libraries are not just places where one checks out books anymore, lets face it. They are also community centers, social spots, computer access points and even coffee shops. Witness the downtown Roanoke City li-brary’s ongoing series of events on its mezzanine level, and the new Roanoke County library in the Cave Spring area, which indeed does include a genuine coffee shop – as in Mill Moun-tain Coffee and Tea.

So it doesn’t seem out of place that Virginia Western Com-munity College spent close to

$500,000 on construction costs and another $300,000 for tech-nology upgrades (including 40 computers) on the Brown Li-brary’s main floor. Visitors now are greeted by an open, airy lounge featuring workstations, plush chairs and couches. There is a new self-serve coffee bar and rooms where students can work together on projects, using vid-eoconferencing and iPads that are available for lending. Stu-dents can access the internet via

[Community]

> CONTINUEDP2: Makeover

A Little Ice Anyone?

Photo by Stuart Revercomb

So far the winter of 2011-12 has been a bust for ice and snow lovers. Ski resorts in the mid-Atlantic states are singing the blues and Southwest Virginia has been pressing temperatures close to 70 degrees as recently as Wednesday. But

Roanokers have been heading indoors in droves to get their winter weather whenever the Roanoke Civic Center has made ice available for open public “free skates.” Hundreds of mostly young skaters took to the ice on a recent Sunday as temps soared outside. Perhaps Mother Nature will fulfill their winter wishes before February gives way to Spring’s warmer breezes . . .

Star City Cat Fanciers Hold Show

One hundred twenty five cats strutted their best stuff at this year’s Star City Cat Fanciers cat show. Eight judges called the breeds; in various classes; up one at a time. They examined each one closely and made their deci-sion independent of the others.

Sarah Sieffert from Lanham, Maryland entered her 10-month-old Turkish Angora, Lala, in the show. She’s been a breeder/exhibitor since 1970 and was in the Star City to “have some fun.” Sieffert says Lala branded in one show (beat 200 other cats to earn 200 points to earn her Grand Champion title) at eight months, when she became an adult.

“You can show them as early as four months and anytime

> CONTINUEDP2: Fanciers

Redevelopment Leaders Star at Regional ForumFor the past two-plus years,

the Roanoke Regional Forum has brought dialogue and inter-esting speakers to the dais, as a joint effort by Roanoke College and the Regional Chamber of Commerce. Past notables have included best-selling authors and network television corre-spondents. But one of the big-gest if not the biggest crowd ever turned out Monday night at the Jefferson Center to hear two home-grown stars: Ed and Kathryn Walker, who are in-volved with redevelopment, leadership and the arts, promot-ing their hometown tirelessly.

Ed Walker has become syn-onymous with downtown re-development (the Cotton Mills, Hancock Building, Patrick Henry Hotel etc.) and for cultural projects like Kirk Ave-nue Music Hall and 101.5 The Music Place, purchased via his CityWorks Foundation. Kathyrn Walker helped found the Batten Leadership Institute at Hollins University and is a major advocate for the arts.

“They are two people who believe in … the power of ideas and the power of com-munity,” said Roanoke College president

Mike Maxey during his introduction. On Monday the husband and wife pow-

er couple spoke about community, coop-eration, ingenuity and turning Roanoke’s liabilities – like its smallish size – into as-sets. It is vital that Roanoke connect with other cities its size, to learn from what has been done successfully elsewhere, noted Ed Walker.

There is a shift to a “network society” from a hierarchal one, a society where “ev-

erything is connected,” said Kathryn Walker. That affects Roanoke noted Walker, who advised the civic, cultural and business leaders gathered not to look for that one big donor or mega-company “to replace the railroad.” Instead we must “do a lot with a little. What Ro-anoke really needs is the best of you – people willing to take a risk.”

She still hears the occasional “there’s nothing to do in Roa-noke,” but that happens less and less these days, with assets like the Taubman Museum,

the greenways and more restau-rants per capita than just about any other city.

“I think Roanoke is becoming more self-confident,” said Kathryn Walker, “we’re valuing our size.” She also had a sug-gestion the next time someone complains about the Roanoke Valley: “ask them what are you going to do about that?”

Ever the optimist, Ed Walker said he wasn’t adverse to taking the occasional risky flier on a project, adding that the lower startup costs

Photo by Brendan Bush

Kathryn and Ed Walker discuss the Valley’s future at this week’s Roanoke Regional forum held at the Jefferson Center.

> CONTINUEDP2: Walkers

Progress At Countryside Coming Slowly

Roanoke City Planning Ad-ministrator Chris Chittum was pleased by the response he re-ceived to the initial sketches of the new park, trails, natural areas and greenway section around the old golf course at Countryside. The improvements are planned as part of the $1.5 million in Capital Improvement Project (CIP) funds that are earmarked for part of the now city-owned property.

Tuesday evening 60 anxious residents convened at William Fleming High School. City man-ager Chris Morrill started off by explaining that the input meeting in September 2011 had yielded an overwhelming consensus for a park and trails.

> CONTINUEDP2: Countryside

VWCC Library Makeover A Hit With Students

Photo by Gene Marrano

An $800,000 renovation at the Brown library is complete.

Photo by Valerie Garner

Chris Chittum and Anita Price study the new plans.

LatinLoving

P4– Mary Jo Shannon recounts her brief but very memorable experience learning the language of Latin.

FameBaseball

P7– Gene Marrano gives the inside story on the four new inductees to the Roanoke-Salem Baseball hall of fame.

Win?A Ouija

P7– Our own Wild Bill Turner breaks down the High School basketball picture and uses his remarkable Ouija skills to help the Cave Spring girls notch their first win.

HonorsHouse

P7– Delegate Greg Ha-beeb unveils the winning ar twork from his 2011 8th District “Back to School” ar t contest.

Photo by Beverly Amsler

Ryan Lutzkanin from Stafford, Virginia and 1-year-old Flash, a “Cornish Rex.”

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> Walkers From page 1

in Roanoke make it the ideal place to do just that.

As for smaller cities in general he spoke about the “untapped strength [that is] hid-den in plain view.” He had kind words for those working in the Roanoke City govern-ment offices and said City Manager Chris Morrill “has been absolutely stunning,” so far in his two years on the job.

Uncoordinated efforts by different groups – long a criticism of how things get done or don’t get done in Roanoke – results in a “massive amount of waste,” said Walker, who asked out loud how Roanoke can best leverage the assets it does possess. Turn weaknesses into strengths, “make some-thing interesting happen,” he implored those in the audience.

“Friends, family and what we are taught growing up help shape our direction later on,” said Walker, who used a slide show to talk about the nurturing family that gave Orville and Wilbur Wright the direction needed before producing the first successful flying machine. “[That’s] the root cause of most change.”

As for his hometown, small cities like Roanoke must “engage with the rest of the world,” said Ed Walker. The valley can ben-efit from a familial approach to problem solving in order to move ahead. Bridge the gaps between different groups locally or “we are doomed to mediocrity.”

Walker also said that Roanoke and Blacks-burg must learn to act as one locality, much like Seattle-Tacoma, Raleigh-Durham and

Minneapolis-St. Paul, leaning on each other for particular strengths. He’s envious of a job creating engine like the Corporate Re-search Center on the Virginia Tech campus and hinted he may work on the same model here. “We’ve got to be more connected,” Ed Walker insisted.

Expect both Walkers to be part of any movement to get more connected, to Blacksburg or communities elsewhere that are similar in size to Roanoke.

(The next Roanoke Forum presentation on Monday, May 14 at Fitzpatrick Hall features MSNBC’s JJ Ramberg, host of the Your Busi-ness program.)

> Makeover From page 1

Wi-Fi from the lounge and plug in their laptops when the bat-tery (inevitably) starts to fail.

The five study rooms fea-ture 42-inch HD monitors that connect to mobile devices. A classroom features whiteboard (touch enabled screen) technol-ogy. The “new” Brown Library main floor (the library has three floors in all) reopened to stu-dents in mid-January.

Dale Dulaney, the reference librarian for Virginia Western, said the renovations “have cre-ated a great atmosphere for

students to come in and do their work. They immediately made themselves right at home. There’s so much more poten-tial, we just can’t wait [to use it].” Dulaney likes that students can work on group projects, bringing up papers or Power-Point presentations on the large monitors. Interactive CD’s can be used by students or teachers, for subjects like anatomy.

It’s a new world said Dulaney, all about meeting the expec-tations college and even high school students have these days.

“They want a place where they can come and use whatever technology they are accustomed to using, and a place where they can be comfortable.” Dulaney likens it to a “Barnes & Noble feel. We’ve been getting a lot of oohs and aahs from students.”

With more classes promot-ing a team-based approach to the curriculum, the high-tech workplaces now located at the Brown Library become even more important. “For our pur-poses, for higher education, [students] are going to have this

type of stuff in the workplace,” said Josh Meyer, a spokesman for VWCC. “We have to give them the experience with it.”

The main floor at the Brown Library was closed for almost two years while renovations took place. “It’s not about stick-ing someone over in the corner [anymore to study],” said Mey-er. “The students love it. This is really becoming the place…to hang out or work between classes.”

By Gene [email protected]

It has been over a year since the neigh-borhood began working with the Planning Commission on a Master Plan that would eventually be adopted by Roanoke City Council.

The city purchased the golf course for $4.1 million in 2005 for development, about the same time the housing market went bust. The city hired Meadowbrook Golf, Inc to operate the course. At one point City Coun-cil voted to keep it open for 10 years until the economy turned around. Ultimately the city closed it on March 1, 2010.

The past two summers the grass grew tall and a farmer baled hay where once green fairways were home to golf carts and chal-lenging greens. The pool was closed and filled in, the indoor tennis building vacated and the clubhouse was boarded up.

The patio homes on the 10th, 11th, and 12th fairways were built and touted by real-tors as golf course villas. The entrance-way “Countryside Cottage” signs posted there once proclaimed it so.

After the 2010 closing the fairway homes were devalued significantly. A poll of patio homeowners showed a reduction in assess-ments from 11 to 13 percent for 2011. Their hope is that the improvements will bring pride back to the neighborhood, said resi-dent Rosanne Saunders.

Following the original golf cart paths will be linear walking trails that will wind through areas of wildflowers, shrubs and trees. The trails will have fitness stops for more active adults. The natural areas will be low maintenance for ease of upkeep by the Parks and Recreation Department. Sched-uled maintenance will be limited to prun-ing, bi-annual wildflower cutting and some mowing along the trails.

Underwood said the trails and Greenway would follow the topography. No neigh-bors wanted any bulldozing or leveling of the natural areas that are home to large oak trees. The park area at Lewiston and Ranch Road will have diagonal parallel parking. “Folks of any age and ability can use it,” he said.

The ADA accessible trails will connect to the Greenway, though it will be stand-alone to Ferncliff Drive for now. They will wait to connect the trail across Hershberger Road when the Evans Spring area is developed; that will be after the Valley View inter-change is completed sometime in 2015.

The pavilion will have rest-rooms, be lighted, have good visibility and the design will fit the neighborhood, explained Under-wood.

Spectrum Design’s John Garland and Alta Planning and Design from Davidson,

North Carolina teamed up and were select-ed to design a final working plan. The city is still negotiating the cost with the team.

City council members and Police Chief Chris Perkins attended the meeting. Per-kins and the Neighborhood Community Resource Officer Billy Wood were asked by the neighbors to look for safety improve-ments. Chief Perkins took notes on lighting needs; there are no streetlights and the city turned off what lights there were at the golf course clubhouse and parking area.

The sticky notes pasted on the dis-play boards will help refine the design, City Council and the Planning Commis-sion will be briefed and final plans will be brought back to the neighborhood in May. Construction documents will be ongoing through the summer.

Steve Boucher, director of Parks and Rec-reation and Donnie Underwood took ques-tions and suggestions. All in all everyone seemed pleased.

The only real vocal complaint was that it was not moving along fast enough. “Get it done … get started,” said Sharon Blevins of Countryside Drive. Construction is ex-pected to begin in the fall of this year.

> Countryside From page 1

> Fanciers From page 1

between four and before they turn eight months, they can be shown as a kitten. And that’s when you see most of them (competing) to get them accli-mated to being shown and han-dled by strangers; all the noises and the smells.”

Seiffert has a regime to get the all white cat ready for her big day. “She does get a mainte-nance bath during the week and then she will get a show bath either the evening before. . . or early in the morning Saturday.”

She’ll continue to show Lala until the end of the show sea-

son, April 30th, with the hope to be in the top three of her breed. Then Sieffert will breed her and Lala will go into tempo-rary retirement. “She seems to like showing, so she may come out (of retirement) when she’s finished breeding.”

Ryan Lutzkanin from Stafford, Virginia was show-ing his 1-year-old Cornish Rex, Flash. He says Flash won one round already that morning but was a little cranky. “He’s our house pet but he’s show quality so we bring him to shows. He doesn’t love it here. He’d rather be in front of the fireplace.”

Lutzkanin has shown him about three times. He’s won other shows in the Premier Class, which is for cats that have been altered.

“We’re going to show him until he gets his premiership as a Grand Champion. Once he’s a Grand Champion, then he’s done and we’ll keep him just as a house pet.”

Kathy Pritchard from Spot-sylvania, Virginia, is Flash’s breeder. She recently had the number one cat in Europe and last season she had three of the top 10 Cornishes in the coun-try.

“This breed is very, very hard because there’s so many curves you’re looking for… They’re supposed to look just like an Italian Greyhound; deep chest, tiny waist. You want big ears. They have to have a curly coat. You’re looking for curves on the forehead-no straight profile. Also, good temperament makes a big difference.”

If you’re interested in show-ing cats, she suggests you first shadow someone who’s already involved in the cat show circuit. “Just go but, she cautions, it’s a very expensive hobby. “It de-

pends on how far you want to go with it. If you want to run for a national or regional win, you’ve got to get out there every weekend. You’re talking $150 to $300 depending on where you stay, in motels, and gas. It is what you make out of it. If you go into it not worrying about winning, you get your best re-sults. You don’t want to show a cat that’s not enjoying it. You really don’t. It’s not fun for you. It’s not fun for the cat.”

Photo by Beverly Amsler

Bob Goltzer judges a cat from the long hair champion class.

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Nothing to Fear From ICLEI Says RC Clear Chairperson

By the narrowest of votes (3-2), the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors voted last week to continue its membership in ICLEI (the International Coun-cil for Local Environmental Initiatives), despite opposition from some local residents. Roa-noke County spends $1200 a year for its ICLEI membership, which gives the locality access to software programs that can help analyze the reduction of carbon emissions, and enables it to net-work with other ICLEI localities about their success stories.

“RC Clear,” Roanoke Coun-ty’s local citizen-led committee that is affiliated with ICLEI, has launched a “Save A Ton” cam-paign, urging every household and local business to do their part by reducing carbon emis-sions – the carbon footprint – by one ton a year. That’s about 26 cubic feet, or almost as large as a small home. Those who object to ICLEI, RC Clear or even its Roa-noke City counterpart, the Clean & Green committee, suspect ties to the United Nations or “Agen-da 21,” an international planning document that calls for clustered housing.

No one will mandate when you can turn on a light or where you must live assures Nell Boyle, the chairperson for RC Clear. “There’s no association that reflects anything [about] our work,” said Boyle. Indeed, RC Clear has focused on promot-ing homeowner energy audits, working with TAP contractors to visit a hundred homes, show-ing people how they can lower energy costs using simple meth-ods like additional insulation, caulking, plugging air leaks, etc. A round of free energy audits for local businesses is now under-way. A small federal grant helped launch the audits and RC Clear.

“What we’re trying to do is ed-ucate as many people as we can that there is a real important need for us to monitor our use of en-ergy and natural resources,” said Boyle, who now works part time for Roanoke City, helping busi-nesses do just that. “Its really ed-ucation as far as I am concerned. We also want to positively affect the greenhouse gas emissions. We live in a very beautiful area. That’s why I [want] to protect the environment. The members of RC Clear support that.” The Roa-

noke Valley’s air quality however has long been known as poor, with many calling for ways to reduce the carbon emissions that help degrade it.

Two Republicans on the Board of Supervisors – citing a lack of facts for any claim of U.N. domi-nance – voted with indepen-dent Charlotte Moore to keep the county’s ICLEI membership in place. Independents Butch Church and Ed Elswick voted against the membership. Moore has long championed ICLEI and RC Clear, and has made the en-vironment a centerpiece of both of her runs for Cave Spring dis-trict supervisor.

RC Clear has appeared at sev-eral energy expos and has pro-duced a list of ways to save on energy, starting with the use of compact fluorescent light bulbs, doing some weatherizing on the house, suggestions about mak-ing fewer car trips, etc. A mod-est marketing campaign and a new website (saveaton.org) has

recently been rolled out. There is also a tool online to help ho-meowners calculate the carbon footprint reductions associated with changes they make. The Roanoke Regional Commission will help oversee the Save a Ton website, which spans several lo-calities, including Roanoke City and Salem. “We think there are a lot of good success stories out there,” said Boyle; “we just feel like this is a really important community message.”

There are no mentions of Unit-ed Nations mandates or manda-tory cluster housing, although Roanoke County’s community plan has long called for “in fill” of areas already developed and planned housing developments as a way to reduce urban sprawl – which also leads to poorer air quality from longer commutes.

“We have to think about fu-ture generations,” said Boyle, who wants to assure residents that there is no ulterior mo-tive attached to RC Clear or the ICLEI membership. “The whole idea is to make people more aware of their choices [concern-ing energy]. Nobody is mandat-ing anything there. We’re all pro-tective of our rights, and that’s a good thing. In terms of anybody mandating any type of behavior change- that’s just not what we’re talking about here.”


Democrat Mayoral Candidates Make Final Pitch Before PrimaryIncumbent Mayor David

Bowers’ campaign for re-elec-tion is based on the progress Roanoke has achieved during his term. The Roanoke City Schools are accredited and the graduation rate is up. “We have a remarkable school system,” Bowers told the Roanoke Val-ley Democratic Women at their monthly meeting.

The crime rate is down with “some work to do in some neighborhoods.” Police Chief Chris Perkins’ Drug Marketing Initiative will target drug deal-ers giving them the opportuni-ty for a second chance or jail.

Bowers touted preservation initiatives like the Mill Moun-tain conservation easement and the Greenway that will someday connect with the sur-rounding localities.

During his term “all kinds of jobs have been created,” said Bowers. The future for Roa-noke’s economy is in arts, cul-ture and tourism. The muse-ums and zoo “need our help … they need a long term plan,” he said. “This will give Roanoke an economic development model to promote the economy in Roanoke.”

Bowers wants to see univer-sities in Roanoke. Examples he gave were “a pharmacy school, a law school and an art school.” He also wants to encourage expansion of the Smart Begin-nings preschool initiative.

“Keep a good thing going,” is Bowers’ message.

At a previous fundraiser Bowers told supporters that his opponent had hundreds of thousands of dollars in his campaign coffers. Bowers has raised over $35,000 in his cam-paign with a $25,000 check coming from a single contribu-tor.

Rasoul addressed that say-ing, “Unfortunately we are not going to be blessed with the rumor of hundreds of thou-sands of dollars coming from all corners of the world … The biggest donor in this campaign is myself.” Not being the insti-tutional candidate, Rasoul said he doesn’t have access to a lot of

deep pockets.Bowers has sent out mailers

and dropped literature at door-steps. Rasoul is also running a ground campaign knocking on doors and using social media.

Bowers claimed that he will not encourage continuation of the two-cent meals tax for RCPS that is slated to end in July. “That was the pledge to the people of Roanoke and I’m going to keep my pledge,” said Bowers. “It’s a matter of honor in a sense.”

His opponent Sam Rasoul said he would keep the meals tax permanently but reduce it. It would be used to “pay our teachers a fair wage,” he said. It will keep teachers from moving to other localities.

Localities will have a harder time making ends meet with funding reductions from the state and federal government and burdening them with man-dates. As chief financial officer for Kissito, Rasoul believes his experience will help the city “do more with less.”

He pointed to job loses at ITT and Food Lion and job creation misses like the Solstas Lab expansion that is expected to go to North Carolina instead of Roanoke.

He said most of the gover-nor’s Job Opportunity Fund goes to northern Virginia. Rasoul says he wants to be “a strong voice to say let’s bring those jobs here … make sure that Roanoke is in the conver-sation.”

Rasoul also plans to run a positive campaign. “I have a vi-sion for the area that gave me so much … a vision for the val-

ley that raised me and I want to give back.”

On his website Rasoul asks Roanokers to vote on a list of ideas. The one receiving the most votes will get a jump-start with half of his mayoral salary.

Rasoul said he grew up in Roanoke living in a downtown one-bedroom apartment. He said he worked two jobs to pay his way through college while helping his parents pay the mortgage. Rasoul attended

Roanoke College and then re-ceived his master’s degree in in-ternational business in Hawaii.

He lived in Botetourt County prior to moving to the city a few months ago. Rasoul, in answer to the “the residency question,” said he lives in the Wildwood neighborhood at Glade Creek apartments.

Rasoul’s message - “We’ve got to think outside the box in order to move this city forward ... we have to create an inclusive conversation with the citizens of Roanoke.” He said he would not run as an Independent if he loses the primary.

The Democratic Firehouse primary is Saturday, February 4th at William Fleming High School between the hours of 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Republicans will nominate their council candidates on February 23.



Sam Rasoul


Mayor David Bowers

Photo by Gene Marranor

A local homeowner undergoes an energy audit last year.

Independent Candidate Anticipated For City CouncilBrandon Bushnell’s campaign is in its

infancy. He has not yet pulled together his paperwork but there is no keeping a secret long in Roanoke political circles. Bushnell, 22 plans to run as an Indepen-dent.

Bushnell is serious. He already has a website started at www.brandon4roa-noke.com and is on Google Plus. He is not yet ready to make a formal announce-ment though, he said. That will come once he gets his petition signatures.

Brandon Bushnell is a technical librar-ian at Miller-Motte Technical College in

Roanoke. He graduated from Virginia Western Community College and re-cently moved from Salem to Roanoke City. He is active in the Occupy Roanoke movement.

He was one of the originators of Oc-cupy Roanoke. Their first gathering was dubbed “Occupy Wall Street” - a “flash mob” held at the Market building in Oc-tober 2011 where he held the 99% Proud and Loud sign.


Brandon Bushnell


PersPective | The Roanoke Star-Sentinel | 2/3/12 -2/9/12 newsRoanoke.com

Dead Language A Wonderful Part of Living

Latin is dubbed “a dead language.” For centuries after the modern Ro-

mance languages, derived from Latin, were spoken in France, Spain and Italy, Latin remained the language of the Roman Catholic Church, but today it is no longer required for the mass.

Latin is often spurned by stu-dents who prefer modern lan-guages. However, anyone who has studied Latin will attest how an understanding of the Latin roots of Eng-lish words enhances our understanding of English vocabu-lary. Latin phrases are also used in the fields of medicine, law and the theater.

I was intro-duced to Latin in my freshman year at Beverly Manor High School in Staunton. Latin I was a small class and its teacher, Mr. Frank Somerville, no ordinary teacher. He retired from a nearby college where he taught Latin and was pleased to have an opportunity to continue his career at the high school level. He lived near the school and was present only for this class.

Youngsters often describe teachers in their thirties as “old” – but Dr. Somerville was old by anybody’s standard. I remember him as short and slight of build, dressed always in a dark suit, with a white shirt and black bow

tie. He walked slowly and some-times used a cane. His snowy white hair, neatly coiffed, and a carefully trimmed white mus-tache gave him a distinguished appearance, and when he spoke his accent marked him as a na-tive of the South.

He knew I loved the study of Latin and gave me special atten-tion to encourage me. I finished the year with an A average and

could hardly wait for the second year to begin. But no one else in the class wanted a second year of Latin. The principal announced that the class would not be offered due to lack of interest. I was devastated.

But Dr. Somer-ville persuaded the principal to allow

me to come to his home for les-sons. I don’t know whether he was paid by the school system or whether he donated his services – at my young age I was only de-lighted that I could continue to study with individual attention. Each day I walked to his home on Opie Street in Staunton and under his tutelage translated Ju-lius Caesar’s accounts of the Gal-lic and Civil Wars. Dr. Somer-ville’s daughter, Betty, lived with him. She welcomed me warmly and often served me a small snack before I headed back to school. Both of my grandfathers died before I was born, and se-

cretly I adopted Dr. Somerville as my grandfather. And I believe he considered me as a surrogate granddaughter.

Mid-way through the year he began to discuss my compet-ing in the regional Latin tour-nament. I was not enthusiastic about it, but knew it was impor-tant to him. I wanted so much to give him the pleasure of having his student excel. However, it was not to be. Although I did my best it was not good enough to rank above average. I ached, knowing how disappointed he must be. When I told him I was sorry, he replied, “It was my mis-take, Maria (my Latin name). I should have had you read Virgil instead of so much Caesar.”

The following year Beverly Manor and three other rural high schools were consolidated, becoming Wilson Memorial High School at Fishersville, Vir-ginia, and my special relation-ship with Dr. Somerville ended. Latin was no longer an option at Wilson. I enrolled in French and later continued to study that lan-guage at Mary Baldwin.

When Dr. Somerville died, his daughter wrote to me, telling me how much teaching me had meant to her father. The feeling was mutual.

Vade in pace – (Go in peace – The Roman way to say “Good-bye”).

Mary Jo Shannon

Contact Mary Jo [email protected]

Holy Hedwig, What the Heck is Happening?

Come now, surely you can't be such a mug-gle that you haven't

noticed. Owls! Owls every-where! Dozens of owls, clutches of owls, whole parliaments of owls. And it's not just any type of owl. They're bright white, over two feet tall, and active by day instead of by night. They've been seen everywhere, barn-storming through Binghamton, mass-ing in Missoula, and chilling in Chicago. It's a veritable bliz-zard of owls. Mer-lin's Beard! What sort of wicked wiz-arding warning is this?

The nation has been invaded by snowy owls. Up until now, if you wanted to see a snowy owl, you'd have to travel north of the Arctic Circle. But for some rea-son, this year has seen a massive influx of snowy owls into the Lower 48. Ornithologists refer to it as an "irruption" of their normal breeding and roosting

habits. Some believe that the population of the owls' primary food source - Arctic lemmings - had a large spike, followed by a crash, resulting in a similar spike in snowy owls now left with nothing to eat. No one

knows for sure.But whatever the

reason, there's no doubt that snowy owls are everywhere, and it seems like a lot of fun. Folks are coming out in droves to get a look at these Hedwig look-alikes, caus-ing snowy owl traf-

fic jams across the country. However, snowy owls are the

largest owls in North America, weighing up to 4 pounds, and can cause some serious damage. At Logan Airport in Boston, 21 snowy owls have been caught and removed. One snowy owl even managed to make it all the way to Honolulu Airport, whereupon air traffic officials freaked out. It was the first and only snowy owl ever sighted in

Hawaii. And they shot it.Thankfully, some folks have

chosen a wiser course. A joint project of the Cornell Orni-thology Lab and the Audubon Society has launched a website where anyone can submit a snowy owl sighting or get help dealing with one. Scientists will analyze the response data and try to determine if this is all just a biological anomaly or a func-tion of global, um, warming, er, I mean, "The Evil Planetary Condition Which Shall Not Be Named."

So if you see an exhausted, hungry or wounded snowy owl, and you're a wizard, grab your wand, concentrate, point in its direction, and yell clearly and firmly, "Repairo!" For the rest of us muggles, we can't do magic, but we can use the power of the Internet.

www.ebird.org

Mike Keeler

Contact Mike [email protected]

Local Crossword for 2/3/2012

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

12 13 14

15 16 17

18 19 20 21

22 23 24

25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32

33 34 35 36

37 38 39 40

41 42 43

44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51

52 53 54 55

56 57 58

59 60 61

www.CrosswordWeaver.com

ACROSS

1 Inclined 4 Utter 9 Short-term memory

12 Central Intelligence Agency 13 Ornament 14 Leer 15 Brand of laundry detergent 16 Clark's partner 17 Licensed practical nurse 18 Headquarters of British India 20 Which local restaurant offers

$1.50 tapas and the full flavor of Mexico?

22 Only 24 Body of water 25 Common allergy causing plant 29 Fear 33 Water (Spanish) 34 Cover 36 Den 37 Literary composition 39 Keenly 41 Genetic code 43 Mr..'s wife 44 Area business bath remodeler

who provides the right fit, best

value, and has an A+ rating with the BBB.

48 Side note 52 Past 53 Smells 55 Deface 56 Ailing 57 Italian "dollars" 58 Pounds per square inch 59 Caustic substance 60 Absurd 61 'she had the drop on me, ted.

why didn't --- shoot?' (from salt)

DOWN

1 University (abbr.) 2 But I do like sleeping in a ----.

(from Where the Wild Things Are)

3 Leggy 4 Essential amino acid 5 Poem 6 State 7 Baby beds 8 Resulted 9 Exchange for money

10 Mistake

11 Not women's 19 Which local car detailing

business gives a 6 month guarantee on their hand wash wax service?

21 ___ seal 23 Snake like fish 25 Remnant 26 Ripen 27 Happiness is a warm ---. (from

the movie Elephant White) 28 Casino roller 30 Serving of corn 31 Cause of sickness 32 Stale 35 Dkm 38 Recruit 40 Like a lawn 42 Sound 44 Back of a coin 45 Unattractive 46 Tree trunk 47 Which chill and grille now

features Chef Michael Wright? 49 Pixies 50 Run quickly 51 Canal 54 Fled

Star-Sentinel Crossword

By Don WaterfieldFind the answers online: NewsRoanoke.com

Have a clue and answer you’d like to see?email: [email protected]

“”

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Why Work When You Can Be My Son?

Young Sir Garvin had a religious experi-ence the other day.

He found a ten dollar bill on the road. Stirred to a passing piety, he kept the Ten Com-mandments for the better part of an hour. Then he went out and spent the ten dollars.

My son is a wag and sin-gular wit. "I need some work, Dad," he begins. `This should be good,' I thought. `A request for em-ployment from a kid who would rather be clawed by a bear than break a sweat.'

"The Beg and Plead phone lines are now open," I settled com-fortably, yea smugly into a chair.

Speaking in capital letters, he begins, "I was an orphan child. Just got released from the Diphtheria Clinic. Only have one good ovary..." I try to interrupt. "Dad, do you mind? I'm tryin' to cre-ate a mood here. Besides, you should give kids a chance to say their piece. Y'never know what might push us over the edge." My dear son confuses ‘old’ with ‘gullible.’

Could consequences be more dire!? Like many par-ents, I occasionally harbor the urge to push him over the edge. Preferably a very high one.

He hoped for great advan-tage from this negotiation.

So, my son needs work to do. I suspect a thinning purse. Most jobs I give him, he goes immediately to his room and tells me his feet hurt.

I begin to think. Clean the bathroom? No, he just got over his fear of toilets. At one point he had enough dental plaque to obstruct his air-way, but he refused to brush because the toothpaste was in

the bathroom. That's out.

Plus, he has confid-ed to me that exertion [except while play-ing] causes him chest pains and fresh air makes him wheeze. So it will have to be a `white-collar' chore. Indoors. With low kinetic demands.

"This job can't be anything physical, Dad," he reads my mind, "threw m'shoulder out drinkin' a slurpee. Should be well in a coupla months; I'm young, I heal quick." My son, a respected voice in the pre-adolescent community, un-derstands that it is one of the daily line operations of child-hood to avoid work. He is not one to be crushed in the jaws of reason.

Doing the dishes is out. Cailan is convinced there's a monster in the dishwasher. Oh, he's never opened it up to be sure; must be a part of childhood mythology. I sense He’s looking for some house-

hold chore that will put him into a six-figure allowance.

Not going to happen. It’s beginning to look as if

his purse will remain thin. During one recent winter

storm, school was cancelled. Cailan managed his grief ad-mirably.

We decided to go sleigh-riding. Well, he called it sleigh-riding. I call it grounds for psychiatric commitment. When I was a kid, we content-ed ourselves to just go down the hill. Kids today consider the afternoon a total loss if they haven't had a brush with death.

But after sleigh-riding, there was work to be done. Naturally he disappeared into his room and began rubbing his feet with rather more dra-ma than I felt necessary. I en-tered and stared disbelieving at the mess. No one has ever made a sound case for Cailan being excessively decor-con-scious. In fact he considers any efforts to make him clean up his room, however feeble those efforts might be, an in-vasion of privacy.

He insists on disorder with a sort of `brass-knuckles' fe-rocity, telling himself he must merely keep his head until his father’s inexplicable pre-occupation with neatness and sanitation blows over. He and I have a fundamental dis-agreement: A personal incon-venience is not proof of the end of the world

I stopped at the door and sampled the air. "Son, did Dwayne your hamster die or do you need to change your socks?"

"Not funny, Dad. "The chore: we had to slide under the crawl space of the house and tack up some sagging in-sulation. The crawl space has spider webs and a dirt floor. Seeing this, Cailan was trans-formed.

"I love this job!!"I thought he'd hit his head

on a rafter."I can get dirty!" he ex-

plained, crawling off.Silly me.

Look for Lucky’s books lo-cally and on-line: The Oath of Hippocrates; The Cotillian; A Journey Long Delayed.

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&S u r f T u r f

It would be so great to get at least a little snow! My children keep waiting and

waiting . . .Remember two years ago

when we had not one, but three huge snow falls? During one of those big snows I told my kids, “stay out in this snow, don’t waste the opportunity, it may not come again for a long time.” That turned out to be some sage advice! For my children may have another big snow to play in soon, but there will never be three big snows again when they are ages seven and eight. That is a beautiful part of their history, never to occur again.

I have lived before in anticipa-tion of tomorrow. I have also, at times, lived in fear of tomorrow. It has taken God some time and work to change this in me but I finally have learned to live for the day. Living for the day - know-ing that it is precious and holds beauty and answers in it that I will miss if I am overly looking out for tomorrow. Sure we still must plan and prepare for the days ahead, but we should never forget where we are - today.

I hope my kids always re-member the year of the three big snows. If I could go back in time I would have stopped and grabbed their hands in the deep snow and said, “Let’s look around for a quiet moment and take note of this miracle of a day so we will not forget it.” But I cannot go back in time and God has taught me not to worry for yesterday either. What I can do is be thankful for an aware-ness of the present day and grab their hands today and say those words!

Winter has so many wondrous gifts to it. One being warm soup for dinner on a cold winters day. Serve up this delicious, hearty soup for your family this Febru-ary. Maybe this cold month to

come will bring another great winter gift – SNOW!!! What-ever happens I will be glad for the day!1 tablespoon olive oil1 small onion, chopped2 garlic cloves, minced2 carrots, thinly sliced4 cups chicken broth14-1/2-ounce can diced toma-toes in their juice15-1/2-ounce can beans, rinsed and drained2 teaspoons Italian seasoning1 cup orzo pasta2 cups meatballsGrated Parmesan

-In a large pot, warm the olive oil over medium-high heat, then sauté the onion and garlic until softened, about 2 minutes.

-Add the carrots, chicken broth, diced tomatoes in their juice, beans, Italian seasoning, and pasta. Bring the soup to a boil.

-Reduce the heat and add the meatballs. Simmer for 15 min-utes, or until the meatballs are heated through and the pasta is tender. Serve topped with grated Parmesan.

The Preacher’s Corner -

A Positive Contribution of Faith by Tim Harvey

Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends

on you, live peaceably with all (Romans 12:17-18, NRSV).

I don’t know about you, but I am already tired of the political campaign season and the negative ads, commentary, and unhealthy discourse that come along with it. It really is a shame that election cam-paigns need to be run in such a negative fashion.

But to be fair, political ad writers aren’t the only ones contributing to the problem of unhealthy speech in our society. A significant part of the prob-lem is the ease and availability of instant communi-cation. Many of us enjoy this technology, having either reconnected with old friends or remaining connected with new ones thanks to text messaging, Facebook, email, and blogs. The difficulty with these forms of communication is that they make it very easy for us to comment without thinking. We can be sorely tempted to make a quick comment before we’ve had time to consider what we’re saying (whether our comments are both true and neces-sary) or the effect it will have on the other person (how our comments will be received, and if it is our place to say them).

Whether we like it or not, we are all part of the problem. We are frustrated by unhealthy com-munication, and we sometimes communicate in unhealthy ways.

Please don’t read over this point too quickly on your way to the sports page. It is an important spir-itual matter. How is your speech these days? What about the thoughts that you have when someone angers you? When the driver ahead of you doesn’t go when the light turns green, what do you think, say, or gesture? When a coworker sends you an un-kind email, how long do you wait before you reply? When a neighbor criticizes your favorite political candidate (or party), how do you respond?

The New Testament gives us a great deal of help in the spiritual formation of our speech. In Matthew 5:21-26, Jesus describes the effect angry words have on our soul. In verse 22, he says that “if you say, 'You fool,' [to your brother or sister in anger] you will be liable to the hell of fire.” Now, calling someone a “fool” isn’t the most hurtful thing one of us could say to another. But in Jesus’ day, it was. The Aramaic word (the language Jesus spoke) which is translated “fool” is “raca.” To pronounce “raca” correctly, it almost requires you to gather up phlegm in the back of your throat as if you are go-ing to spit on the person you are insulting. Even in

our day, it’s difficult to imagine being more insult-ing than this. This is such an insult that Jesus says our souls are in peril for the action. Have you ever found yourself at this point in your anger toward another person?

So what is a person to do in light of the culture in which we live, a culture which does not encour-age us in our speech patterns? Consider again the verses from Romans 12 at the beginning of the ar-ticle. An amazing quality of these verses is that they allow us to make a positive contribution of faith to the negative discourse of our society. We need not be victims of someone else’s unkind actions! We do have a faith-filled response.

So, the next time someone really makes you an-gry consider the following options (and add your own to the list. There are many more that could be added!)

1. If the unkind words come through email, Facebook, or a text message, don’t respond right away. Wait 24 hours if you can. This gives you time to think, and time to pray.

2. Consider the circumstances of the other person. Is the angry response typical of them, or is it somehow out of character? If the angry words are typical, that will suggest one kind of response. But if the anger is out of character, ponder that for a while. What’s going on?

3. If you do need to confront the person for their words, actions, or tone, how will you do so? If you think “getting even” is the best response, re-member one thing: perhaps the worst part of get-ting even is that if you succeed, you will now be on their level. Is that where you want Jesus to find you?

A few weeks ago, I received a rather harsh email. Part of what made the email frustrating was that some of it was based on inaccurate information. Thankfully, I was out of town when I received the email, and not in a position to respond. Before I could respond, however, the person caught their inaccurate information and sent me a letter of apol-ogy. Their original concern remained, but it was much easier to respond to the concern after they had apologized for their misinformation. I con-sider this experience a true blessing from God, and look forward to a better relationship with a brother in Christ. May you find the same blessing in your own life, through the positive contributions of faith you offer to those around you.

Tim Harvey is the senior pastor at Central Church of the Brethren. Visit them on the web at centralbrethren.org

American Life in Poetry

How Is It That the Snow

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE The first two lines of this poem pose a question many of us may have thought about: how does snow make silence even more

silent? And notice Robert Haight’s deft use of color, only those few flecks of red, and the rest of the poem pure white. And silent, so silent. Haight lives in Michigan, where people know about snow.

How is it that the snow amplifies the silence, slathers the black bark on limbs, heaps along the brush rows?

Some deer have stood on their hind legs to pull the berries down. Now they are ghosts along the path, snow flecked with red wine stains.

This silence in the timbers. A woodpecker on one of the trees taps out its story, stopping now and then in the lapse of one white moment into another.

The Happy Chef’s son, Anthony, plows his way through one of the three big snows of 2010.

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The Holy Trin-ity Greek Orthodox Church presented Apple Ridge Farm with a check and a Troy-Bilt self-pro-pelled lawn mower at their annual Board of Directors recep-tion held on January 25th. The lawn mow-er was an item on the Apple Ridge Farm Wish List, said Peter Lewis, president and founder of Apple Ridge Farm. Apple Ridge Farm is a 96 acre Educational and Conference Center located in Copper Hill. The mission of Apple Ridge Farm is to transform the lives of underserved children and families through engagement in education, cultural and outdoor experiences. Over 100,000 children have been

served though the programs of Apple Ridge Farm since 1980. The Greek Festival is supportive of area nonprofits, rotating their participation in the annual festival and donat-ing a portion of the proceeds to each organization.

Photo (L-R) : Steve Peters, Father Peter Day, Pete Si-mopoulos, Janice Dunleavy, Peter Lewis and Dr. Paul Dallas.

Apple Ridge Farm Receives Gifts

United Way of Roanoke Valley Raises Over $6.14 Million in 2011 CampaignOver 400 people attended

United Way of Roanoke Valley's annual campaign awards cel-ebration at The Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center last Wednesday.

Debbie Meade, President and Publisher of The Roanoke Times and Chair of the 2011 Campaign, announced that the 2011 Campaign is projected to raise over $6.14 million, an in-crease of almost $100,000 over the 2010 Campaign. "With the economy still sluggish, this isn't an easy time to fund-raise, even for the worthiest of causes," says Meade, "The amount we've raised this year is a testament to the generosity and dedication of thousands of donors and their companies who know that to-gether, through United Way, we can advance the common good by helping others improve their lives."

Kroger earned United Way's

top honor, the Spirit of Com-munity Award. The award is presented to the company ex-hibiting outstanding year-round support of United Way and the community through corporate giving, employee leadership giving campaigns, corporate sponsorships, supporting spe-

cial events, encouraging volun-teerism among employees, and exhibiting year-round presence in community-building activi-ties.

This year marks the begin-ning of United Way of Roanoke Valley's new strategic direction to advance the common good in the community by focus-ing on Education, Income and Health. "During these chal-lenging times, our partners and volunteers are working hard to find and invest in the best solu-tions to improve lives and bring about lasting changes in our community," said Frank Rogan, President and CEO of United Way of Roanoke Valley. "When we LIVE UNITED, we can cre-ate a brighter future for our chil-dren, individuals and families."

To learn more, visit www.uwrv.org.

YMCA Gets A Face LiftThe face of the YMCA will be changing for

the first time in 43 years as the YMCA adopts an all-new logo and brand strategy to increase un-derstanding of the impact that YMCAs make in communities across the country. The Kirk Family YMCA was the first of the Ys in the Roanoke Val-ley association to get all new exterior signage.

The YMCA has been in Roanoke since 1883 - a year before Roanoke was chartered as an indepen-dent city. YMCA President and CEO, Cal John-son said, "The Y has always adapted to the needs of our community. We're excited to have a bold new logo that reflects the vibrancy and diversity of our organization. With the logo change, we're affirming our efforts to strengthen community by focusing our resources on youth development, healthy living and social responsibility. What hasn't changed, though, is the Y's strong mission and Christian principles. "

"The new emphasis on strengthening commu-nity couldn't come at a better time for the YMCA of Roanoke Valley. There are many exciting changes taking place at the YMCA of Roanoke Valley," said Johnson. "We are serving more mem-bers of our community through the expansion of the Kirk Family Y and looking forward to serv-ing more people with the expansion of the Salem Family Y."

The Y's former logo had been in place since 1967 and was the organization's sixth since its in-ception. The refreshed logo, with its multiple color

options and new, contemporary look, is said to "better reflect the vibrancy of the Y and the diver-sity of the communities it serves." The new logo's bold, active and welcoming shape symbolizes the Y's commitment to personal and social progress.

Fishburn Park Librarian Receives Surprise $1,000 Check

The Greater Raleigh Court Civic League along with Superintendent Rita Bishop made a surprise check presentation of $1,000 to Fishburn Park Li-brary Media Specialist Lynn Pagans.

Pagans received the money to purchase envi-ronmentally focused books for the library as part of the GRCCL pilot classroom grant program. The grant application was open to Greater Raleigh Court area elementary school teachers from Wa-sena, Highland Park, Virginia Heights, Grandin Court and Fishburn Park to help fund creative and educational classroom activities.

Fishburn Park Elementary School is a focus school which strives to establish a strong founda-tion for academic success for all students while fostering environmental stewardship. Fishburn Park will soon be accepting applications for stu-dents to be enrolled in their environmental fo-cus program during the 2012-2013 school year.

(Above L to R) Fishburn Park Librarian Lynn Pa-gans, Fishburn Park Students and GRCCL Presi-dent Chad Braby.

For more information about Fishburn Park visit their website at www.fishburn.rcps.info.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of SW VA receive Shining Star Award.

Linda Leap & Judy Pendleton; Cherry Bekeart & Holland LLP receive the Best Impact Supporter Award.

The YMCA’s new logo adorns the building.

Farm Organization Wants Sunday Hunting Ban Upheld

Allowing Sunday hunting would create a lose-lose situa-tion for Virginia citizens, and the state’s largest farm advocacy group continues to oppose it.

“Virginia Farm Bureau Fed-eration, through its grass-roots policy process, opposes hunting on Sunday,” said Wilmer Stone-man, VFBF associate director of governmental relations. “People are trying to couch this as a pri-vate property issue, but if it is, then you should be able to hunt and fish on private property 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, not just on Sundays.”

Virginia is one of 11 states that prohibit hunting on Sun-days.

The state Senate Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Re-

sources Committee last Thurs-day approved SB 464, which would allow Sunday hunting on private lands with landowners’ permission and on public wa-ters. Public land would still be closed.

The full Senate will vote soon on the bill, and similar House of Delegates bills also will be heard in subcommittee.

“I think this legislation dis-criminates against rural resi-dents,” said Bruce Richardson, a Northampton County farmer and Farm Bureau member. “Rural residents and those vis-iting the country should be able to enjoy a safe walk in the woods or around farm property on Sundays.”

For decades, Farm Bureau

members in Virginia have dis-cussed and voted in favor of op-posing Sunday hunting, Stone-man said. In policy discussions among elected representatives of the organization, members cited faith-based beliefs as well as the ability of horse own-ers and riders and landowners to use the outdoors one day a week without worrying about hunters.

“I have to watch out for hunt-ers wherever I go on my farm,” said Corky Shackelford, an Al-bemarle County farmer and Farm Bureau member. “I wear a blaze orange hat during deer season, because even though I post ‘No hunting’ and ‘No tres-passing’ signs, hunters go on my land anyway.”

Shackelford said people who live in the country and people who want to visit the country “deserve a day of safety and peace.”

Rural landowners have a re-sponsibility to be good neigh-bors, and “giving up one day out of seven so people can enjoy peace and quiet is not too much to ask,” said Richardson, who is a hunter himself.

Stoneman said that if hunters are allowed to pursue their sport on Sundays, conflict between hunters and the general public will increase. “That ultimately will hurt the sport in the long run. We want people to hunt, but not on Sunday.”

If legislation is passed that al-lows Sunday hunting on private lands, it is likely to expand to other property as well.

“If Sunday hunting is over-turned in any form, then there will be another bill next year and another one the next ex-panding hunting rights,” Stone-man said.

“It will just give people who oppose hunting a reason to further restrict it,” Richardson added.

With more than 150,000 members in 88 county Farm Bureaus, VFBF is Virginia’s larg-est farmers’ advocacy group.

Wilmer Stoneman - [email protected]

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Local Hall Of Fame Welcomes Four More Contributors

The Salem-Roanoke Base-ball Hall of Fame, which honors those that have made a signifi-cant contribution to the game locally, recently welcomed four new inductees. Among those honored were an ex-ballplayer who counted Manny Ramirez as a teammate at one point, and a former Salem minor leaguer who now runs a baseball train-ing center there.

Mark Sweeney played at the University of Richmond after starring at William Byrd High School. At Richmond, future NFL and major leaguer outfield-er Brian Jordan was a teammate. Signed by the Cleveland Indians after a tryout, Sweeney – now a lieutenant in the Franklin Coun-ty Sheriff’s Department – was on the same minor league club as slugger Manny Ramirez. During his acceptance speech he recalled pitching against the likes of Chip-per Jones (Atlanta Braves).

“I was overwhelmed,” said Sweeney about finding out he had been elected to the Hall, which sits in a small brick build-ing adjacent to Salem Memorial Baseball Stadium. Sweeney’s pro career ended in 1993 when he had arm trouble.

Also inducted was Ron Shock-ley, who pitched at Virginia Tech after starring in American Le-gion ball while at Northside High School – which did not have its own team at the time. Shockley later coached multiple sports in Roanoke City middle schools be-fore moving to Florida, where he has won district and state cham-pionships as a high school base-ball coach. “I think coaching and teaching is what I was supposed to do,” said a tearful Shockley, who called baseball “the greatest

game on the planet.”Inductee Fred Corbett has

been a mainstay as a coach and then president of the Cave Spring National Little League. Now a district administrator for Little League, Corbett, who also chairs the Roanoke County Parks and Recreation Commission advi-sory panel, extolled the slower pace of baseball, as he gave his acceptance speech.

The game allows for chatter on the bench and in the stands, building friendships, noted Cor-bett. He also said fans of Little League baseball or the game in general need to attend the Little League World Series in William-sport, PA at least once. “You have to put that on your bucket list,” he advised.

The fourth inductee was Dave Christianson, who passed through Salem as a minor leaguer for the San Diego Pa-dres 30 years ago. He came back when his playing days were over and began a career in sales with Shelor Chevrolet. Christianson also opened the Rip City base-ball training academy in Salem, where he has helped thousands of young players along the way.

“I immediately thought of

my dad. He spent thousands of hours… showing me how to love the game of baseball,” recalled Christianson. Being elected to the Salem-Roanoke Baseball Hall of Fame was like “going to heaven before I die,” said an emotional Christianson, who once smacked a 475-foot home run at Comiskey Park in Chicago during a high school playoff game.

The keynote speaker was Billy Sample, a former Andrew Lewis High School two-sport star in Salem (baseball and football). Sample, who as a football player took part in the “Remember the Titans” game at Victory Sta-dium, spent nine years in the major leagues and later became a game broadcaster. “This is full circle for me,” said Sample, part of the first Hall of Fame class 21 years ago. “Welcome to the new members,” added Sample, who lives in New Jersey and is trying to get his screenplay about minor league life turned into a movie. “We’ve really got an impressive group of people.”


Cave Spring Downs Pulaski 72-43 With Second Half Surge

Cave Spring pulled away from a 28-25 halftime lead by outscor-ing Pulaski County 44-18 in the second half, as the Knights won in unexpectedly easy fashion, 72-43, Friday night at the Cave Spring gym.

Cave Spring improved to 10-9 (3-4 River Ridge) as River Ridge teams scramble to improve their seedings heading into tourna-ment action. The Knights close their regular season with a pair of home games-Friday night (Feb. 3rd) against district-leader Christiansburg, followed by Tuesday night's rematch with rival Hidden Valley.

Ryan Gladfelter led the Cave Spring scoring with 22 points, while Amin Abuhawwas added 16, all in the Knight's second-half surge.

Cave Spring senior # 14 Aaron Cupp sidesteps a Pulaski de-fender before his foot slides across the baseline. Cupp finished with 10 points for the Knights.

Knight # 44 Michael Colozza battles Pulaski County # 10 Carter Brookman for a key rebound Friday night.

Hidden Valley Pulls Away For 70-50 Win Over Christiansburg

Hidden Valley's persistent defensive pressure proved to be the difference as the Lady Titans pulled away in the second half for the 70-50 win over Christiansburg in girls basketball at the Hidden Valley gym.

The Lady Titans improved to 14-5 (6-1 River Ridge) as they point to a rematch with Salem for the River Ridge regular season title.

Tyler Evans led Hidden Valley with a game-high 30 points, while senior Kelsey Crotty added 14.

By Bill Turner [email protected]

Lady Titan # 22 Kelsey Crotty drives to the basket for 2 of her 14 points against the Blue Demons.

Hidden Valley # 20 Gracie Whiteside gets position to pull down a Titan rebound against Christiansburg.


(L-R) Inductees Mark Sweeney, Ron Shockley, Dave Christian-son, keynote speaker Billy Sample and Fred Corbett.

We're on the regular sea-son home stretch with sev-eral district champions already crowned. Others are still in the balance with key games on the slate Friday night. District tour-nament action begins Friday February 13th as many teams face make or break contests in their quest for the road to Rich-mond. Let's take a look at this week's Wild Bill 'Big-11' Top-5.

#1-Patrick Henry: The Patriots hold firm in the top spot after their win over George Washington of Danville Tuesday night. PH (16-3) can clinch the West-ern Valley title with a win Friday night. For the record, PH has held the #1 spot since week one.

#2- Northside: The Vikings (12-7) move up after their win over William Byrd Tuesday night. Billy Pope's squad keeps getting stronger and a date against Rockbridge County, al-though not likely enough to win the Blue Ridge, will give clues on how they may fare in post-season play.

#3- William Fleming: Flem-ing falls to third after a loss at Franklin County. Irregardless, the Colonels may have enough firepower to make a statement in the Western Valley. Expect the regular season finale at PH to be a shootout in front of an overflow crowd.

#4- Glenvar: The Highland-ers continue to impress with a 15-6 record. They remain in the hunt for a first-round bye in the Three Rivers. Radford and Floyd County will be formi-dable opposition come tourna-ment time.

#5- Hidden Valley: The Ti-

tans improved to 4-3 in the ever-tough River Ridge with Tuesday night's win over Pulaski County. Hidden Valley controls its own destiny for a second place finish behind undefeated Christians-burg, but the road will be tough. The Titans close out district play with a pair of games against Sa-lem and the big rivalry game at Cave Spring.

Now, to the mailbag, where a reader posed an interesting question on winning vs losing.

Dear Wild Bill: With teams, from high school and college, no-torious for scheduling

easy opponents to insure wins - which is more likely in high

school basketball - an undefeat-ed team or a team that is win-less? (Adam/Lynchburg)

Answer: Great question, Adam. And, after some research, the answer was surprising.

In Southwest Virginia, there's only one undefeated team - the Galax boys. On the other side of the ledger, six teams are winless - 2 boys and 4 girls.

Finally, we close this week with the adage, 'he who laughs last, laughs best'.

As many of you readers are aware, after some Hokie faithful

blamed the Tech bowl woes on a curse, I offered to Ouija a Tech win. Result: no takers on the offer. Many suggested the stunt was ridiculous. Last week, in this column, I gave advance notice that I would "Ouija-a-win" for a local team. To avoid suggestion of a scam, I went to the sideline scorer, students and game an-nouncer last week to give notice of the upcoming effort.

Tuesday night, in appropri-ate regalia, of course, (envision a fuzzy purple hat) I attended the Cave Spring Lady Knight basketball game, Ouija Board in tow. The Cave Spring girls squad, who entered the contest 0-19, came away with the 40-36 win over, ironically (or maybe not), Blacksburg.

Just want to point out, the Lady Knights are now 1-19. Tech is 1-27 against Top-5 foot-ball opponents. If this were the American League West, the CS girls would be four games up.

See you next week.

Send your inquiries to: [email protected]

Hidden Valley used a strong second quarter to take a 31-17 halftime lead, and the Titans held on for the 64-48 River Ridge victory Tuesday night at the Hidden Valley gym.

Hidden Valley improved to 4-3 in district play, and controls their destiny for a second-place finish behind Christiansburg, as the River Ridge heads into the fi-nal week of the regular season.

Dylan Hodson led the Titan scoring with a game-high 30 points. Daniel Rowe added 9 points for Hidden Valley.

Hidden Valley # 2 Zack Ljung-guist drives into the Pulaski defense during fourth quarter action Tuesday night.

Titan senior # 10 Daniel Rowe connects on a late free throw to ice the game for Hidden Valley.

Hidden Valley Downs Pulaski County 64-48 To Move Into Second In River Ridge


Wild Bill’s Weekly Sports Roundup

Bill Turner


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Four Tips for Tax-Savvy InvestorsA century ago, author Mark Twain

wrote that the difference between a taxidermist and a tax collector is that the taxidermist only takes your skin. Today, the IRS isn't any more popu-lar. Why not see if any of the follow-ing strategies could allow you to keep more of what your investments earn?

1. Look into tax-managed mutual funds. Portfolio managers of tax-man-aged funds can use a number of strate-gies to help reduce the tax bite share-holders suffer. For example, they may strive to keep portfolio turnover low to help minimize taxable gains, or they may actively use losses to offset taxable gains.

2. Consider municipal bonds and bond funds. Because the interest on a municipal bond is usual-ly exempt from federal taxes, and sometimes state and local taxes, it may actually produce a better yield than a taxable bond with a comparable inter-est rate. The higher your income tax bracket, the more you may benefit from owning "munis."1

3. Contribute to tax-advantaged retirement ve-hicles. You can now contribute up to $5,000 annu-ally to an IRA plus an additional $1,000 per year if you’re over age 50 (for the 2010 tax year). Tradi-tional IRAs offer tax deferral — you pay no taxes on earnings until withdrawal — and may provide tax deductions. Roth IRAs offer tax deferral and qualified withdrawals are tax free, but no tax de-

ductions.24. Use gains — and losses — to your

advantage. If you have an investment and hold it for at least one year before selling, you'll pay a maximum federal tax of 15% on capital gains. The same rate applies for dividend income.3 Keep it for less than one year and you'll pay regular income taxes — up to 35%. Also keep in mind that if you intend to sell investments that have lost money, you can do so by December 31 and de-duct up to $3,000 in investment losses from that year's tax return. Additional losses can be carried over and used to

offset future capital gains.If you’d like to learn more, please contact Cindy

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There are other tax strategies you can use, but be sure to consult your tax professional and investment professional before acting.

1Income may be subject to the alternative minimum tax. Capital gains, if any, are subject to taxes.2Withdrawals before age 59½ are sub-ject to a penalty tax. Each type of IRA has respective income limits as well as deductibility rules.3Lower rates apply for long-term capital gains and dividends for taxpayers who are in lower tax brackets.

Tax laws are complex and subject to change. Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC, its affiliates and Morgan Stanley Smith Barney Financial Advisors do not provide tax or legal advice. This material was not in-tended or written to be used for the purpose of avoiding tax penalties that may be imposed on the taxpayer. Individuals are urged to consult their personal tax or legal advisors to understand the tax and related consequences of any actions or investments described herein.

BUDGET WATCHDuring the past week, the US National Debt has increased by $26.5 BillionUS Tax Revenue $2,330,890,000,000 (Trillions)Federal Budget $3,818,819,000,000New Debt $3,635,722,000,000National debt $15,293,059,000,000Recent Budget Cut $38,000,000,000

Remove eight (8) Zeros from federal data above as a household budget summary:Annual Household Income $23,309 61% of expendituresFamily Expenditures $38,188 164% of incomeNew Debt including Credit Cards $36,357 156% of incomeOutstanding Household Debt $152,931 656% of annual incomeFamily Budget Cuts $380 .25% (1/4%) of debt

Budget Watch

New Restaurant to Open in Partnership With Frank BeamerThe development group for

The Lofts at West Station, the second largest mixed use proj-ect in downtown Roanoke, has announced it will partner with restaurateur Stephan Parry and Virginia Tech Football Coach Frank Beamer for a new concept called Beamer’s 25. Twenty-five was Coach Beamer’s playing number at Virginia Tech.

The restaurant will be located on the ground floor of The Lofts at West Station, a 71-unit proj-ect at 357 Salem Avenue SW in Roanoke’s West Station District. The restaurant will seat 100 in

a century-old warehouse and will include elevated street-side dining with an open fire pit on Salem Avenue.

The project’s developer, Bill Chapman, said, “Coach Beam-er’s game plan for creating a winning program has been rooted on harvesting and devel-oping Virginia talent. Beamer’s 25 embraces those same prin-ciples, and will seek out the best foods and craft beers made right here in the State of Virginia.”

Beamer’s 25 will serve up great burgers along with 25 craft beers on tap, the largest se-

lection in the Roanoke Valley. It will also be a great place to catch the game. A building permit has been applied for and the restau-rant is scheduled to open in late Spring.

The project is a $7.6M invest-ment and opened to residential tenants in early January. The project was 75% pre-leased and is on pace to be fully occupied within a month. It is the second development for Bill Chapman Enterprises in the West Sta-tion District. The Fulton Mo-tor Lofts, a 22-unit mixed-use project at 400 Salem Avenue, was completed in 2008. Com-bined, BCE has invested more than $11 million dollars in five years in the downtown neigh-borhood.

For more information, visit the project’s website is www.loft-satweststation.com.

Co-Founder of JanSport to Speak at Roanoke College

Skip Yowell, co-founder of JanSport, will share his outdoor adventures and economic suc-cess next month at Roanoke College.

His lecture titled, "The Hippie Sharing the Vision of Founding JanSport," will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 7 in the Colket Center's Wortmann Ball-room. The event is free and open to the public.

Yowell's journey from a small Kansas town to Seattle led him to the top of the outdoor indus-try and, along with two family members, helped him to build JanSport. Today, JanSport is one of the most recognized brand names in outdoor equipment.

Yowell has been an active climber during his time with JanSport, and he even collaborat-ed with Rainier Mountaineering Inc. to create a five-day climb up

Mt. Rainier in Seattle. The climb, called the JanSport Seminar, is open to all employees of official JanSport dealers.

Now, Yowell tells the story of his adventures and expedi-tions. He is author of the book, "The Hippie Guide to Climb-ing the Corporate Ladder & Other Mountains: How JanSport Makes It Happen."

He will sign copies of his book on Feb. 7, after his lecture.

Yowell remains an ambassa-dor for the JanSport brand, con-sulting for JanSport international partners in North America, Eu-rope, Asia and South America.

His appearance at Roanoke is sponsored by the college's Hon-ors Program, as part of its annual Honors Conference Week. Triv-ial Pursuit is the theme of this year's conference, which is Feb. 6 -10, and each day represents dif-

ferent categories.Monday, Feb. 6, has a history

and geography theme, and it will include lectures on Salem's role in the Civil War and the topic of history as a vocation. John Long and Dr. Robert Willingham of Roanoke's History Department will give these lectures.

Tuesday, Feb. 7, will be a sports and leisure theme, and the day will include a hike in Shawsville and Yowell's evening appear-ance.

Wednesday, Feb. 8, will have an arts and literature theme. It will include a discussion at Mill Mountain Coffee & Tea in Salem and a Poetry Slam event in the Colket Center's Garrett Room.

Thursday, Feb. 9 carries a sci-ence and nature theme, and par-ticipants will learn the chemistry of tie dye. Lisa Goodwin also will give a public lecture on pediat-ric cancer and care at 7:30 p.m. in the Colket Center's Garrett Room. Goodwin is co-founder and managing director of Con-nor's Heroes Foundation, a non-profit group that helps families whose children are treated for cancer at the Children's Hospital of Richmond.

The week concludes on Friday, Feb. 10 with a talent show in the Wortmann Ballroom.

Roanoke's Honors Program is designed for students who excel in academics, have strong lead-ership skills and pursue numer-ous extracurricular activities. The program also offers students distinct educational opportuni-ties and classes. Honors students spend time each semester doing volunteer work throughout the local community.

For more information, contact Dr. Michael Hakkenberg, director of the Honors Program, at [email protected].

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Gongxi Facai, or Happy Chinese New Year. The year 2012 is the year of the dragon accord-ing to the Chinese zodiac and is known to be the luckiest of all the years. The Roanoke Chinese As-sociation organized the celebration held at the Fiji Island restaurant on January 28th.

The Chinese New Year this year was on January 23 and is based on the lunar calendar, instead of the Gregorian calendar, indicating the beginning of spring. The celebration lasts for 15 days and then the Lantern Festival is held. Older members give the children money in envelopes that they can save or spend any way they like. The children in turn bow to the elderly to wish them longevity.

In the days preceding the celebration, the Chi-

nese enact ancient traditions, such as getting a haircut and buying new clothes and shoes in preparation for the New Year. There is also alot of cleaning, the belief is that in doing these things one is cleansing out the disease and bad luck from the previous year and making room for the good luck of the New Year.

The celebration will end on February 4th at the Taubman Museum with groups from Roanoke College and Virginia Tech presenting various Chinese musical programs. The program begins at 12 noon.

Text and photo by Jim Bullington.

Chinese New Year Celebration: Year Of The Dragon

Winners of Art Contest Honored by House of Delegates

Five students from the Roa-noke and New River Valleys were honored Thursday by the Virginia House of Delegates and Delegate Greg Habeeb (R-Salem) for winning artwork.

Delegate Habeeb unveiled the winning pieces of art from his 2011 8th District “Back to School” Art Contest held this past fall. The art was hung out-side Delegate Habeeb’s office in the General Assembly build-ing. The winners were also welcomed to Richmond on the floor of the House of Delegates.

The five winners of the art contest were:

• Garret East, the son of Malinda Walters, from East-ern Montgomery Elementary School,

• Courtney Johnston, the daughter of Timothy and Jane Johnston, from Hidden Valley High School,

• Serena Fick, the daughter of Dorene and Ken Fick,

• Alexxa Forrester, the daugh-ter of Arlene Forrester-Lafon and Jason Dudding, from Craig County Middle School,

• And Willow Pope, the daughter of Sharon and Curtis Pope, from Fort Lewis Elemen-tary School

“I am so very proud of each one of these students,” said Del-

egate Habeeb. “Their artwork captures the theme of our con-test and presents the beauty of Virginia in many different forms. It was such a pleasure to meet these young people. I hope that more students will begin to see the value of creativity and expression.

Habeeb presented each win-ner with a certificate and took pictures with friends and family in attendance.

The art contest was initially launched in August of 2011 and closed in November. It was open to all students from the

8th District. “We will definitely be doing

this contest every year,” said Habeeb. “The enthusiastic re-sponse we got from teachers, parents and students has made this one of the best experiences I have had in representing the 8th District. I look forward to seeing more of the artwork that future students present.”

The 8th House of Delegates District includes the City of Salem, Craig County and parts of Roanoke and Montgomery County.

"Life in Shades of Gray" Exhibit Comes To Tech's Perspective Gallery

Life in Shades of Gray, an ex-hibit featuring the recent works of Kentucky artist Randy Sim-mons, will be on display Feb. 7 through March 3 at the Perspec-tive Gallery at VA Tech in the Squires Center.

Simmons, an associate pro-fessor of art at Paducah School of Art at West Kentucky Com-munity and Technical College, will be on hand for a Meet the Artist reception on Tuesday, Feb. 7, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the gal-lery. Both the reception and the exhibit are free and open to the public.

Simmons is currently serving as lecture artist in Assistant Pro-fessor of Music Alan Weinstein's Creativity and Aesthetics class at Virginia Tech.

Simmons works with charcoal on paper using a drawing tech-nique called chiaroscuro, or light-

dark, which originated during the Italian Renaissance period. On his website, he says his work is largely autobiographical, and that he often draws inspiration from social and political issues. His work has been exhibited in galleries across the country. He has also worked as a photogra-pher and with video shoots, in-cluding the shoot for Ben Folds' music video "Cologne" in 2008.

The Perspective Gallery is located on the second floor of Squires Student Center. Life in Shades of Gray will be on display during expanded gallery hours from Tuesday-Saturday, noon to 9 p.m., and Sunday, 2 to 7 p.m. The gallery is closed on Mon-days.

By Rachel [email protected]

“Libra” by Randy Simmons, charcoal on paper 2011.

Willow Pope, Alexxa Forrester, Serena Fick, Delegate Greg Ha-baab, Courtney Johnston, and Garret East at this week’s award presentation.

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VT Carilion Reports Group Settings Can Diminish Expressions of Intelligence

In the classic film "12 Angry Men," Henry Fon-da's character sways a jury with his quiet, persis-tent intelligence. But would he have succeeded if he had allowed himself to fall sway to the social dynamics of that jury?

Research led by scientists at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute found that small-group dynamics -- such as jury deliberations, col-lective bargaining sessions, and cocktail parties -- can alter the expression of IQ in some suscep-tible people. "You may joke about how commit-tee meetings make you feel brain dead, but our findings suggest that they may make you act brain dead as well," said Read Montague, director of the Human Neuroimaging Laboratory and the Com-putational Psychiatry Unit at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, who led the study.

The scientists used functional magnetic reso-nance imaging (fMRI) to investigate how the brain processes information about social status in small groups and how perceptions of that status affect expressions of cognitive capacity.

"We started with individuals who were matched for their IQ," said Montague. "Yet when we placed them in small groups, ranked their performance on cognitive tasks against their peers, and broad-cast those rankings to them, we saw dramatic drops in the ability of some study subjects to solve problems. The social feedback had a significant effect."

"Our study highlights the unexpected and dra-matic consequences even subtle social signals in group settings may have on individual cognitive functioning," said lead author Kenneth Kishida, a research scientist with the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute. "And, through neuroimaging, we were able to document the very strong neural responses that those social cues can elicit."

The researchers recruited subjects from two universities and administered a standard test to establish baseline IQ. The results were not viewed until after a series of ranked group IQ tasks, dur-ing which test takers, in groups of five, received information about how their performances com-pared to those of the other group members.

Although the test subjects had similar baseline IQ scores -- a mean of 126, compared to the na-tional average of 100 -- they showed a range of test performance results after the ranked group IQ tasks, revealing that some individuals' expressed IQ was affected by signals about their status with-in a small group.

The researchers wanted to know what was hap-pening in the brain during the observed changes in IQ expression. The subjects were divided into two groups based on the results of their final rank -- the high performers, who scored above the me-dian, and the low performers, who scored at or below the median. Two of every group of five sub-jects had their brains scanned using fMRI while they participated in the task.

Among the researchers' findings: 1. Dynamic responses occurred in mul-

tiple brain regions, especially the amygdala, the prefrontal cortex, and the nucleus accumbens -- regions believed to be involved in emotional processing, problem solving, and reward and pleasure, respectively.

2. All subjects had an initial increase in amygdala activation and diminished activity in the prefrontal cortex, both of which corresponded with a lower problem-solving ability.

3. By the end of the task, the high-performing group showed a decreased amygdala activation and an increased prefrontal cortex activation, both of which were associated with an increased ability to solve more difficult problems.

4. Positive changes in rank were associated with greater activity in the bilateral nucleus ac-cumbens, which has traditionally been linked to learning and has been shown to respond to re-wards and pleasure.

5. Negative changes in rank corresponded with greater activity in the dorsal anterior cingu-late cortex, consistent with a response to conflict-ing information.

6. Neither age nor ethnicity showed a signifi-cant correlation with performance or brain re-sponses. A significant pattern did emerge along gender lines, however. Although male and female participants had the same baseline IQ, significant-ly fewer women (three of 13) were in the high-performing group and significantly more (10 of 13) fell into the low-performing group.

"We don't know how much these effects are present in real-world settings," Kishida said. "But given the potentially harmful effects of social-sta-tus assignments and the correlation with specific neural signals, future research should be devoted to what, exactly, society is selecting for in com-petitive learning and workplace environments. By placing an emphasis on competition, for example, are we missing a large segment of the talent pool? Further brain imaging research may also offer av-enues for developing strategies for people who are susceptible to these kinds of social pressures."

"This study tells us the idea that IQ is some-thing we can reliably measure in isolation without considering how it interacts with social context is essentially flawed," said coauthor Steven Quartz, a professor of philosophy in the Social Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory of the California Insti-tute of Technology. "Furthermore, this suggests that the idea of a division between social and cog-nitive processing in the brain is really pretty artifi-cial. The two deeply interact with each other."

"So much of our society is organized around small-group interactions," said Kishida. "Under-standing how our brains respond to dynamic social interactions is an important area of future research. We need to remember that social dy-namics affect not just educational and workplace environments, but also national and international policy-making bodies, such as the U.S. Congress and the United Nations."

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Valentines Banquet To Be Held At Rescue Mission

There will be a Valen-tine's Banquet in the pri-vate dining room at the Roanoke Rescue Mission on Monday evening, February 13, 2012, at 5:30 p.m. Attendees will take a tour of the mis-sion, have dinner (served Family Style) and have a musical guest. The din-ing room can accommodate 100 people. This special din-ner is available for singles

and couples. Anyone is wel-come. The Modern Wood-men of America Fraternal

Organization has agreed to match your donation. If you would like to at-tend, please send a check for $5, made payable to Modern Woodmen of America, and send it to: Ernie Dale, 3531 Pe-ters Creek Road, # 507, Roanoke, VA 24019. They will present these

to the mission along with the matching funds.

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